October 2, 2023 • 39 mins
Imagine being a fourth-grader with your own thriving sticker company. That's exactly where our guest, Tracey, began her entrepreneurial journey over 30 years ago. Now, with a master's degree in education, over a decade of creating courses for adult learners, and a knack for successful collaborations, she is the go-to expert for course creation. Join us as we tap into Tracey's wisdom and learn about her transition from done-for-you to done-with-you course creation models, aligning her work more closely with her passions and her clients' needs.
We've all felt the pressure of juggling multiple roles, haven't we? That's why we'll also be discussing Tracey's balancing act between her full-time job and her side-passion, which is fueled by her creative genius. Hear her candid advice for other women who are trying to make this work, emphasizing the importance of setting personal goals and having a plan. We promise, you'll walk away with practical tips to navigate this challenging but rewarding journey.
Finally, Tracey will share insight about her new offerings, including her Focus Group Formula program, designed to assist clients in validating their offers and marketing their programs. We'll also hear about her unique experience of manifesting an empty Disney bus on her way to an enriching mastermind event, and her belief in the power of finding your tribe. So, sit back and get ready to be inspired, because Tracey reminds us that if we focus on helping just one person with our work, then we have truly maximized our day!
To Connect with Tracey, just click on the link below:
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Jessica Rosario
Certified Executive Coach & Business Consultant
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jessica Rosario - Busines (00:18):
Hello and welcome to the Maximize
your Day podcast, a place forentrepreneurs who are building
their business in pursuit offreedom and flexibility to do
the things they love.
I'm your host, Jessica Rosario.
I'm a New Yorker turnedFloridian who knows a thing or
two on how to effectively manageyour time while juggling
multiple priorities.
I'm an ex-corporate leader whowalked away from my 9-5-ish to
(00:42):
launch and grow my business.
In this podcast, I shareinsights on mindset, business
productivity, habits andstrategies to help you take
control of your to-do list andmaximize your day, which will
help you feel more confident andless overwhelmed and getting
more done in less time.
I'm so excited you're here.
Go ahead, listen in.
(01:06):
Welcome back to the Maximizeyour Day podcast.
This is Jessica Rosario, yourhost, and I am here today so
excited to have Tracy beinginterviewed on the podcast
because she is just such awealth of knowledge when it
comes to course creation andeducation that I know that
you're going to take awayseveral nuggets within this chat
.
So a little bit about Tracy.
(01:26):
She's a curriculum expert andshe has a master's degree in
education and over 10 years ofexperience creating education
for adult learners in highereducation and corporate health
care.
She has been an entrepreneurfor 30 years and blends her
experience in business andeducation to help high integrity
coaches and service providerscreate online courses that
(01:46):
create impact and deliver one ofthe most important things,
which is transformation Tracy.
I am so thrilled to have you onthe call today.
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - (01:56):
Thanks for having me.
Jessica Rosario - Business (01:57):
I'm excited to be here Of course,
of course, and just a littlebackground of how we met.
Tracy and I met about a yearago.
We were at a marketing eventhere in Disney and that was a
lot of fun because we were ableto connect with quite a few
people some who were in our ownbackyards and just being able to
share ideas and how differentwe all are within our own
(02:19):
businesses and our own niche andindustries, but with one common
goal and was to be able toserve others in their businesses
and really help them increating systems and improving
processes and all of that.
So it was just a very excitinggroup to be part of.
And then fast forward a yearlater we're at another
(02:39):
networking event with some ofthe same people.
So that was really neat to beable to connect with you on both
areas, both avenues, one herein my backyard in Florida and
then the other one in California.
So that was a lot of fun.
So, tracy, excited to have youhere.
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Cou (02:57):
I'm excited to be here.
It's funny.
I have so many imaginaryinternet friends I like to call
them that I never get to meet inperson.
And then I've already been withyou in person two times.
Like it's awesome.
Jessica Rosario - Busines (03:09):
Right , that's so much fun and I feel
like ever since the worldstarted to open because we kind
of shut down and everything wentvirtual and I don't know you,
but when that marketing eventcame up last year, I was just
like, oh my gosh, I want to gointo an in-person event.
I'm just so tired of sitting onZoom calls with sweatpants and
a Zoom shirt, right.
So it was really exciting to beable to come out and get to
(03:31):
meet other people and just knowthat there are other people that
are doing similar things.
Right, we're similar spaces,but just so strong in our own
niches and our own focus.
So very cool.
So, tracy, 30 years as anentrepreneur, tell me more about
that.
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Co (03:50):
It's actually more than 30, because
I started my first business inthe fourth grade, which sadly
don't do the math was longerthan 30 years ago.
I started as a sticker companyin the fourth grade and I had a
sales force and it was amazinguntil the school principal shut
us down.
I've always had some sort ofentrepreneurial something Like I
(04:10):
had a grandmother that was abig crafter.
She was always making somethingand so I was making things with
her and then we'd find ways tosell the things that we were
making.
So it's definitely way beforethat.
But I started my first legitbusiness at 17, when I may or
may not have falsified my birthdate on an application to sell
(04:31):
Mary K Cosmetics.
So that was like two months tooyoung and so I might have
fudged that a little bit butstarted with some direct selling
and then various productbusinesses.
I didn't move into servicebusinesses and tell like six,
seven years ago and then sort ofthis more from done for you,
(04:54):
course creation, which I didn'tlove, to more of a coaching now
around course creation, which Ido love very much.
So it's been a weird road.
But then I've held various jobsthroughout that whole time too,
like I was never really afull-time entrepreneur and tell
this business, so Wow.
Jessica Rosario - Busine (05:13):
That's awesome.
So what led you to go from, Iguess, the doing it for you to
more of the strategically kindof partnering with entrepreneurs
and doing it with them,coaching them on it?
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Co (05:26):
Yeah , I mean.
So.
It's kind of two schools ofthought there.
One is that, even though I'm ahuge introvert and I was not
looking for connection when wemet last year, like I knew I
needed it but was not lookingfor it because, wow, being in
that room always terrifies me- Iwas gonna say introvert Tracy.
Jessica Rosario - Business (05:42):
What , yes, yes.
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Cou (05:43):
Yes so, but I love people and I
like I want to be around people.
So doing done for you coursecreation is very isolating.
It's very I don't know.
It's just sort of a.
You know, I know people who doit, do it really well and love
doing it.
So I don't want to put it down,but it's sort of a drudgery to
me, like it just doesn't feelaligned with what I want to do.
I have, I have perfected sort ofa done with you model that
(06:07):
works a little bit better but itstill has me spending a lot of
time being creative, you know,creating content for my client,
and it's really reallyemotionally and mentally
draining for me over.
To do that for 30 hours a weekis just, it's just a lot where
coaching is something that itboth lights me up.
It, you know, it really fuelsme and I have this philosophy
(06:31):
that if I do it for you, it'sdone for you.
That's great and you can pay methe money, you know, because
that that command's kind of ahigh price tag.
But if I coach you through theprocess and I kind of empower
you to know my framework forcreating courses and how to
create education in a way thatit's going to stick with your
learner and get them theirresults.
You can do it again and again,and again, and that's sort of my
(06:55):
crusade.
There's a sign on the wallbehind me back there that says
no more crappy courses.
I really want, if you come intomy world you should leave at
least knowing a little bit moreabout how to do that, and not
for not having to be a struggle.
So it's sort of a half crusade,half.
Please don't lock me up behindmy computer.
I want to be with the people.
Jessica Rosario - Business C (07:15):
So I love that and, you know, I
don't think there's anythingwrong with that, because one of
the things that I work on withmy clients is truly working on
their messaging and knowingtheir business from the inside
out.
When I first started in business, I actually was doing business
consulting and I used to writebusiness plans for companies and
what started to happen wasthese business plans were
(07:37):
presented in organizations as ifthey were their own, and it
turns out that the entrepreneurthemselves, a business owner,
didn't know their business.
So it got to a point where Ifelt this misalignment of
integrity of okay, I'm basicallytelling you all the ins and
outs of your business, but youdon't know your business and
you're the one that's doing yourbusiness every single day.
(07:58):
You know your clients, you knowyou're passionate about your
business, your heart is in yourbusiness.
So I actually stopped doing itwith them and when I started
doing the done with you part ofthe business planning, it felt
so much better because theclients were walking away
feeling like, okay, if I need tomake a change on my business
plan, I can do that.
(08:19):
So it sounds like very similarto what you're talking about you
teach them to strategies thatthey need to make an update or
something like that.
They know what areas to lookfor and what they need to do as
they continue to move forward,so I think that's brilliant.
I love that.
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - C (08:32):
Thank you, yeah, and I want to be the
cheerleader, the accountabilitybuddy, the, you know, the
support person.
You know a lot of times myclients, they'll get stuck on
some piece of tech and I canjust like I can quick hop in and
I can do that in 15 minutes andnot hold them up.
The whole thing is keeping themunstuck.
And I can do that so much betterin a coaching sort of enabler
(08:54):
role than I could if I was justdoing it for you and then you
never really know how it getsdone.
Jessica Rosario - Business (09:00):
Yeah , yeah.
So what would you say are someof the key elements to make a
course impactful for someone?
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Cou (09:09):
Key elements.
The first person foremost, andmy clients get annoyed with me
because I always, we always,come back to this.
But you have to know exactlywho you serve and what problem
you solve.
So the very first thing is yourcourse has to actually solve a
problem.
I hear so many of the coursegurus say just pick a topic,
something you're excited about.
Well, I could teach you allabout, like rescue dogs or
(09:32):
rescue rabbits or like all ofthe things.
It doesn't mean that that issomething that you actually want
to know about and we'll pay for.
So that's the first thing, andit's more than just them paying
for it.
Are they invested enough inthis problem or in the solution
to actually consume the contentyou're going to create for them?
Because you're going to get,you know, you're going to put a
lot of time and effort intocreating this content and then,
(09:54):
if it's not something, you canhave a great sales page, a great
hook, and they'll buy it, butthen they're not going to
consume it because it doesn'tserve them.
And I think the other thing isthat you need to leave a trail
of breadcrumbs of like littlewins for them throughout the.
You know my two biggest pieceof advice Give them wins, give
them early, give them often,because that those little shots
(10:17):
of dopamine that they get bylike hey, like she asked me to
apply this to my business, orshe asked me to complete this
worksheet, or you know whateverthat is.
Once they do that, then they'relike I did that, I'm cool, I'm
good, I'm going to move on tothe next one and they get
another shot.
And those are the things thatkeep them going forward.
It has to be consumable, it hasto be engaging, or they're not
(10:38):
going to consume it or engagewith it, and then they don't get
results.
Jessica Rosario - Business (10:42):
Yeah , it's like celebrating those
quick wins right in the business.
It also creates momentum, yeah,and we get momentum by doing
the thing, the dark thing, evenwhen we don't want to do the
same thing.
What would you say is one ofthe most common challenges for
some of the clients that youwork with when they come into
your space?
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Cou (11:03):
You know, I think one of the
biggest things they're just,they just get stuck in all of
the, you know, analysis,paralysis and choosing the exact
right platform is like thething.
You know, like my very firstlead magnet I ever created was a
quiz that like suggested whatmight be the best course
platform for you, based on somefactors, because and that it
(11:24):
actually works, because peoplewill take the quiz and they'll
go.
It says think, epic, I'm goingto go build over there instead
of agonizing Is this the rightthing?
And I speak from experiencebecause I did the same flipping
thing when I started my business, you know, build over here.
And then, oh, this looks shiny,maybe I should try this.
And I migrated my product somany times and wasted so much
(11:45):
time that, like, that's probablythe biggest thing.
And then getting caught up inlike it, can I manage the tech?
What kind of equipment do Ineed?
Like, oh, maybe I won't startbecause I don't know the answers
to these things.
It's little minute, littlethings that pile up and keep
people overwhelmed and stuckthat we, you know they've got
(12:05):
brilliance inside them, they'refairly certain that they can
make an impact in the world, butthey let themselves just stay
bogged down by imposter syndromeor overwhelm of all the things,
the tech whatever.
Jessica Rosario - Business (12:17):
Well , it seems like, especially in
today's world, where everyonelike, there's these new
platforms that keep popping up,or these new outlets that keep
popping up, we're experiencingit right now.
Did you hear about threads?
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Cou (12:31):
Yes , I'm on thread my gosh, so I'm
an early adopter.
There you go.
Jessica Rosario - Business C (12:35):
So you know, and I am too I mean
I'm just browsing right now, butbut the reality is that we get
so caught up in these thingsthat by the time we look at it,
I mean I remember when Clubhousewas a thing.
I mean I guess it's still outthere, but it's really not a
thing anymore.
But people started doingcourses on Clubhouse.
I can teach you how to elevateyour platform on Clubhouse.
(12:58):
Already there's one of theinfluencers that I follow and he
actually posted today.
Anybody want to learn threads?
I have a course for threads for997, and obviously he was just
being funny about it.
But we get so caught up indoing all the things.
One of the things that I findwhen I start working with
(13:19):
clients is that they invested inbig platforms.
And when I when I talk aboutbig platforms, I'm talking about
like funnel building, highlevel FG funnels, click funnels
the biggest one is has beenclick funnels so far but they
get completely overwhelmed withtechnology and what they need to
(13:40):
learn and they didn't realizeit was just this big thing.
But they bought the idea ofbeing an all in one platform.
Mind you, I use an all in onenow, right, but I didn't start
with that right.
So I'm using FG funnels andtell me, have you experienced
some of that from clients thatare stepping in, that they
bought these big things thinkingthat that was the end, all be
(14:02):
all, and it turns out they don'teven need that big thing yet.
They're just not there yet.
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - C (14:07):
Right , yeah, yeah, I've had clients
come to me who went all in,usually in Kajabi, like it's.
You know they bought like thehigh end of Kajabi because they
thought they'd need that someday, but their course isn't built
and they're not making any moneyand they're taking money,
putting it on a personal creditcard or taking money out of
their household budget to payfor Kajabi every month.
And while I encourage people tochoose a platform that you can
(14:32):
stay with, like that will growwith you, you know, I built my
first course in Teachable, whichwas great, but I couldn't email
from Teachable, I couldn't do asales funnel from there, so
eventually I had to migrate outand, spoiler alert, I'm an FG
funnels as well.
So I mean there's some realityto.
It's good to have somethingthat does all the things, if,
(14:52):
that's, if you're ready to doall the things.
It's good to have a platformthat grows with you.
But the best course that I'veever personally taken was drip
to my email Nice, the idea thatyou have to have all of the
bells and whistles that you haveto have, you know, progress
reports and all of these things.
It's just ridiculous.
Good learning doesn't have tobe packaged that way.
(15:13):
But you know, this course thatI took I think it was 12 weeks,
might have been only I think itwas 12 weeks I got an email
every Monday with like a littleyou know affirmation and a video
to watch and sometimes a linkto a song.
It was all a re-inspiringyourself sort of thing.
And it was amazing and I'llalways remember those lessons.
(15:33):
And it wasn't shiny or no,fireworks went off when I
finished a lesson.
None of those things happened,it was just good content
delivered to me efficientlyevery week.
Jessica Rosario - Business (15:43):
Yeah , that's like.
That's like a course that Ipurchased.
That was like $37.
I think it was less at the time.
I think right now it's $37.
But I have used that so manytimes this, over and over and
over again, when it comes towanting to refine my copy or
rebuy something on my websitethat I don't like the way it
looks or whatever, so those arethe best ones.
(16:04):
It's like.
It's almost like the gift thatkeeps on giving the best courses
are.
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - (16:09):
They're the ones that you pulse the
information you need out of fornow and then you can go back and
reference that again, and again, and again, because the
content's probably delivered ina way that you remember what's
in there and then you know thatyou can go back in there and
refresh your memory, get someadditional lessons from it.
It's the ones that are likehave all this knowledge packed
(16:31):
in that's not delivered in anycertain way, we forget, you know
.
Like did I take that?
What was it about?
Like did I learn something?
I feel that way about, likemost of my college and grad
school years.
Like did I actually learnsomething from that class?
Jessica Rosario - Business (16:45):
I'm not sure.
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - (16:46):
Didn't tell you what it was.
Jessica Rosario - Busine (16:48):
That's so funny.
Yeah, it was so expensive too.
Yeah, so I totally get it.
So, tracy, let's changedirection a little bit and tell
me more about you outside ofbeing the entrepreneur.
What do you love to do?
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Cour (17:03):
Oh , I love to be at home.
Long story, but I'll make itshort.
14 years ago almost 15 yearsago now I went through a pretty
horrendous divorce, startedsingle parenting my kids they
were ages six and nine at thetime and my ex-husband and I
lived with our children in mydream house, in my dream
neighborhood, with my dreamneighbors, like it was all
(17:24):
wonderful.
And suddenly the kids and Iwere forced out and we bounced
around our rental houses andsome other places.
In 2017, I actually discoveredthat my old house was for sale
and nothing like it should havenever worked.
I shouldn't have been able tosell the house I owned at the
time Like nothing should haveworked and it all did.
(17:46):
I just manifested the shit outof moving back into this house.
So this is my happy place andmy kids now are 23 and 20.
My son still rents my basement.
My daughter's away at college.
She's a senior in college nowNice but like, I love to be in
my home.
I'm a weirdo who, like, thinkslike cleaning my house is fun.
Gardening all of that stuff,you know, is a blast.
(18:09):
I play volleyball on a summerbar league volleyball team here
in Minnesota, which is super fun.
Thursdays volleyball day, soit's tonight.
Love that.
Yeah, I have two rescue dogs anda bunny and I don't know I love
my business has always been thething that I do for fun.
I don't know it makes me asuper nerd, but over all of
(18:32):
those years that I was a singlemom, I always knew that.
You know, entrepreneurship waswhere I was going to be, where I
wanted to be, but of course Ihad to have a job that had
insurance and I had to have allof their reliable income.
So my business was the thing Idid on the side that lit me up
and was fun for me.
So I do struggle with drawing aboundary there between personal
(18:56):
and professional, becausethey've been intermixed the
whole time.
But my family is inNorthwestern Wisconsin.
I spend a lot of time there.
They're getting on in age and Ilike to go there and do nice
things for them to make theirlives easier and, yeah, trying
to find time with my kids when Ican Like that's.
All the moms at home are like oh, these kids are home for the
(19:17):
summer.
I and this is the first summermy baby has not been home for
the summer, and I'm sad.
Jessica Rosario - Business C (19:22):
Oh , yeah, I get it.
I actually my kids are olderalso and my oldest daughter just
had a baby, so now I'm agrandma and I love having him
over to sleep over and stufflike that, but I also love
giving him back right.
Like I always say, I got myjust sci-fi fix, so I love
having that little boy here andjust being able to watch him
(19:44):
grow.
So I love that.
But what a story, tracy.
Talk about your life going infull circle with your house and
being able to get back there.
I just I love your story.
So do you see that part Ididn't know about you, so I
think that's so neat to be ableto hear that, and also your
passion for animals and all that.
So, yeah, awesome, love it,love it.
(20:05):
So tell me something else.
As far as the women, there wassomething that you talked about.
You talked about security andhealth insurance and having that
as a single parent and whatnot.
So there are women that arelistening to this podcast right
now and there are women that areworking full time, trying to
build a business on the side ortrying to make something work,
(20:26):
and they just don't know how theheck they're going to be able
to do that.
What are some of your words forthem?
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Co (20:33):
Yeah , I mean, I think a lot of that.
So much of it is mindset and Ihave a former client who's in.
I'm a partner in a mastermindgroup and she's a member of our
mastermind who's reallystruggling right now.
She works a full time job.
She's building her business onthe side.
Her full time job is reallytreating her unfairly and she
has these moments where she'slike I'm going to quit, I'm
(20:53):
going to go full time in mybusiness and I feel like there's
just this delicate balance andI wrote this teeter-totter too
for a long time that for so manypeople and my client Willow, is
this way her job allows her tobuild her business.
She does have some downtime inher work day where she can work
on her business and it's payingher a salary and paying her
(21:16):
benefits and doing all thosethings.
And I think appreciating thatis huge, even when your boss is
being a jerk and you don't wantto go and all the things.
But to be able to say thank youso much to this job for
allowing me the mental space orthe freedom or whatever to build
this business on the side,because the minute I can, I'm
stepping over here.
I think that's huge versusresenting it right, resenting
(21:41):
that job that you wish youdidn't have to have.
I have found in myentrepreneurial journey that
when I have at least a part timejob, and.
I was lucky when I leftcorporate.
I'm a medical assistant bytrade.
It's how I got into the wholeteaching thing.
I taught medical assistingafter my divorce and for some
extra cash, and I was able totake a job in the clinic working
(22:05):
20 hours a week because theypaid me full time benefits.
And so there are those jobsavailable in a part time job
where you can get benefits butWillow you most of your time to
pursue your business.
I believe you'll adage thatbusier people get more done.
I think when you're forced toprioritize a little bit, then
you're just more effective,versus I've had periods in my
(22:26):
life where my business is theonly thing I'm doing and I get
really lazy and I'm not showingup for my audience the same way
that I was when I knew I onlyhad a certain number of hours a
week to do it.
So I think, really embracingthat like you have to be in a
job for a little bit longerbefore you can really step into
your dream If you can thinkabout that in a way that you can
(22:47):
be grateful and appreciate it,it's so, so helpful but also
being really conscious of likethere's a runway right, if I
want to leave this job in sixmonths, what are the benchmarks
I have to hit, what should I bedoing?
And in planning for thataccordingly, so that you can,
when you parachute, you can doit.
When I left corporate, my bosswas amazing and I was in an
(23:10):
education job in corporatehealthcare, in the ambulance
service.
She was incredible.
It was a very misogynisticorganization but she was the
buffer between me and all ofthese guys who thought they
should tell me who to be.
I literally got told in ameeting once that I should just
sit here.
Why don't you just sit thereand look pretty?
I wasn't allowed to have anopinion about anything.
Jessica Rosario - Business (23:30):
Wow .
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Cour (23:31):
So she sheltered me from that to a
great degree and I knew she wasretiring.
She was, her plan was to retirein July of 2019.
And I was like, deb, when yougo, I go, like, and there's my
runway.
I had like a year and a half toplan.
I'm going to jump into mybusiness full time.
She went to a meeting in May ofApril of 2018 and came back to
(23:53):
me crying that these liketerribly misogynistic bully men
had like made this 60 some yearold woman like she's like I'm
done.
I'm done, I'm retiring in July.
You know, I'm not doing thisanymore.
And I was like, well, when yougo, I go.
And suddenly now I had a twomonth runway instead of a guy
(24:13):
ended up leaving before she did,because I didn't want to endure
a day without her and because Ihad my my new manager because
she stepped down came to me andreprimanded me for taking every
other Thursday afternoon off totake my daughter to therapy and
told me I was no longer allowedto do that.
Jessica Rosario - Business (24:32):
And .
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Cours (24:33):
I said If you're going to ask me
to choose between my daughter'smental health and this job,
that's not a question for me.
And he goes.
Well, I guess I am.
I'm like shove it, we out, yeah, but thankfully I had had that
mindset for a long time that youknow, is planning that runway.
I knew what it was going totake.
I was building my business asquickly as I could to make that
(24:55):
transition Somewhat less yeah.
Jessica Rosario - Business C (24:58):
So it's doable and it's not always
planned out the way we expectit to be.
You know, I heard you say oneof things for you was that you
said you left before your bosssaid, even though that wasn't
your original plan, you know.
So I have a similar story too,and I remember being interviewed
by Pat Flynn.
You're familiar with Pat Flynn,so I was interviewed by Pat
(25:19):
Flynn in 2019.
And I remember him.
I remember asking him thequestion when do you know it's
the right time to quit your job?
And you know he gave me thisall explanation about you can do
this and X amount of emergencyfunds and this and that.
And then he's like I would say,by the end of 2020 or something
like that.
I think he said when do youproject yourself by the end of
(25:39):
2020?
Right, and I said, oh no, likeI refuse to step into 2020 being
a W2 employee for anyone otherthan myself.
And I literally manifested that.
That was in my affirmations.
I read it every day, Ijournaled it, I cried about it.
I talk about this in previousepisodes too, and I did that
almost in all of 2019.
Halfway through the year, Iknew that I was on my way out
(26:02):
and Alex kept cheering me on.
He was like we could do it.
We could do it, let's go, let'sgo.
And every day I will walk inwith my resignation letter in my
bag.
I would change the date againand sign it, keep it in my bag
and change the date again, and Idid that all the way through
Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving Igave my notice and I left on
December 13th of 2019 and gavemyself the whole holidays and
(26:26):
then we got COVID.
Oh no, that's a whole notherstory.
But the thing is that there'snever there's never a best time
or a great time, no matter howmuch we plan it, no matter how
much we envision certain things.
I think that if we work towardsit and keep that mindset of you
know, let me use my job now tofund my dreams in the future and
(26:49):
listen, there is nothing wrongwith building your dreams
alongside of JOB.
I have clients that do that.
They love it, especially whenthey love their job right,
there's no reason why theyshould leave.
But I do also believe that ifyou're feeling undervalued or
you're feeling burnt out and youknow you've given your all in
everything that you do in yourJOB and you can do it 10 times
(27:11):
better in building it foryourself.
Groves, you're in the rightspace.
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Cou (27:15):
Yes , yes, yes, and I love that.
I also carried my resignationletter in my bag, but mine was
not dated and when, when thetime came, I actually did print
out a new one, but I was totallyokay with just like handwriting
that date on there and handingit in Like it.
Just, you know, like whatever,whatever empowers you, but yeah,
(27:38):
I love that.
I mean, and knowing that youcould, I've done this like in
jobs that I had, especially inmy 20s, where something would
happen and I'd be like I givemyself permission to rage quit.
You know, like now we know wecall it rage quitting, but like
if I throw a fit and tell you totake this job and shove it,
it's okay.
And knowing that it was okay todo that meant that I didn't feel
(27:58):
like I had to do that.
It's empowering to carry yourresignation in your pocket.
Jessica Rosario - Bu (28:02):
Absolutely .
I love that.
I love that.
I remember also when it wasAlex's turn to quit he quit in
2018.
And I kept telling him you goin there and you tell them about
this, that and the other.
And when it was time for him toresign, they were like well,
why are you leaving?
He said, well, I'm building acommercial cleaning business
here in central Florida.
And they were like, oh, give usa quote and, believe it or not,
(28:24):
they're one of our largestclients now.
So when he told me about it, Iwas like, oh, you didn't tell
them all the stuff that I toldyou.
Right, I had the same thing.
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Cours (28:35):
I had the same thing.
I'm like I'm going to go, I'mgoing from the education
department of an ambulanceservice and did like, doing
freelance education.
I certainly, like didn't burnany bridges with, you know, with
the person that was there.
I let them know that it wastheir company culture that was
forcing me out.
But like, hey, if you needquality education, you know
where to find me Exactly.
And of course they never didwant quality education, so they
(28:57):
never looked for me.
Jessica Rosario - Business (28:59):
And it's a okay.
The beauty of entrepreneurshipis that we get to know who we
want to work with.
So you know that that's allgood.
So, tracy, who is your idealclient?
Who is the person that'slistening to this podcast right
now and is saying, oh man, Ineed to work with her?
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Co (29:17):
Yeah , I always say I describe my
ideal client as high integrityentrepreneurs, mostly female.
I have worked with some maleclients, but I feel like so much
of what we do is women in ourbusinesses is intuition based.
It's, you know, like aninternally alignment kind of
thing, and I work better withwomen than I do with men.
I don't I'm sorry for any menwho might be listening.
Jessica Rosario - Business (29:40):
But I say.
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Cours (29:41):
I say high integrity because the
transformation, the results,have to matter to you.
If you're wanting to build acourse because you want to make
money while you sleep and you'relooking at this as a stream of
passive income and you're nevergoing to touch those clients,
they're just going to take yourcourse and whatever then I'm not
your girl.
That's not the kind ofeducation that I build.
(30:01):
It's possible to do that and doit well, and certainly we can.
We can talk about that, but Ifind that the best education is
the stuff that you build andbuilding a package or a
container for it where peoplehave access to you so that they
can ask questions, so that theycan get feedback, so that they
don't stay stuck in a concept,because that's really when we
(30:23):
talk about something beingconsumable.
That's it right.
If I'm going to get here andthen like this is really hard
and now I'm stuck and I can'taccess you, I'm not going to get
my money's worth and I'm notgoing to get my results.
So my ideal client is someonewho really, really cares about
those results and they want tomake a big impact in the world.
They don't want to sell a fewcourses and make a few bucks.
(30:43):
They want to really reallyteach their expertise, really
help their ideal client findthat transformation so that they
can learn and grow andhopefully come back and buy from
them again.
But it's more for the service,the heart centered course,
creator.
Jessica Rosario - Business Co (31:00):
I love that and I know I'm going
to drop your links in the shownotes also, so anyone that wants
to connect with you they canfind you there.
But what are some ways, or isthere anything new and exciting
coming in your offerings.
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Cours (31:12):
I have something sort of new.
It's a product I've had for awhile.
I basically honed the system.
I call it the focus groupformula and it's the method that
I use to sell my very first, myfirst DIY course, which I don't
offer anymore because, again, Ijust don't think it's the best
way to serve my clients.
And when I launched my groupprogram and I teach this method
(31:35):
of basically marketing, gettingfeedback, validating your offer,
making sure that it's good witha group of your ideal clients
but also on the back end, sortof marketing that and offering
them seats in the firstiteration of that program, I've
sold this as a $97 product for along time and I taught it in my
mastermind group yesterday anda few of us got talking about it
(31:59):
and you know, there's thiswhole buzz around.
Like there's somebody in ourworld is doing Ilya Finklestine
is doing pitch me your project,the idea of, like you know,
maybe you want to work with mebut you don't fit into one of my
containers, tell me.
You know how that'll work.
I'm sort of experimenting withsome of that this month and in
doing that I want to offer thisfocus group formula program at a
(32:22):
super low price and maybe kindof start a movement around it,
maybe normalize the idea of.
That is perfectly okay whenyou're not sure how to proceed,
to bring some people around youand ask them.
You know, to bring your idealclient into a Zoom call and say
here's what I want to build,here's how I think I want to
(32:42):
build it, what do you think?
How should I price it and isthis something that you'd buy?
And that that's okay and also asuper empowering way to launch
a product when you already knowyou've got five, six, 10, 15,
maybe 20 people who are waitingto buy it and you know I've sold
it for $97.
It's definitely worth $97.
(33:03):
But I want to start like justkind of making that more
available getting some more eyeson it because I really think it
has the potential to push someof my ideal clients who are
stuck in the overwhelm and pushthem sort of into the okay.
Well, now you have buyers,let's get to work Right.
And it worked well for me and Iknow it can work well for other
(33:23):
people.
So that's that's sort of theexciting thing that's coming.
I'll be launching I'm not sureif it'll be a July or August
cohort right now of my groupprogram, which I call the course
creator college.
It's 12 weeks to getting yourcourse created in the right way
so that we really are deliveringthose results now becoming soon
.
Jessica Rosario - Busin (33:40):
Awesome , awesome.
Well, there you have it.
You've got multiple containersof and I'm on threads yes,
multiple containers on how towork with her, and you already
know where to find her.
So, tracy, one last questionthat I have for you.
Actually, I have two lastquestions, so one of them is how
do you maximize your day?
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Cours (34:03):
I have had a focus especially for
2023, on really making surethat I am spending as much time
as possible in my zone of genius, that I'm doing less of the
things that just don't light meup.
Trying to delegate some of thosethings out Nice, I just keeps
me more motivated when I knowI'm going to wake up in the
(34:24):
morning and not do my accounting, but I'm going to do some
creative something or other thatmakes me happy, and also to I
mean, I've just did this likebig adventure into my human
design and really just doingkind of what I want when I want,
which sounds immature and sortof frivolous, but when I'm
(34:47):
feeling like creating content,then that is exactly what I do,
and when I'm feeling like, oh, Icouldn't possibly create
content, well then that's agreat time.
To find an administrative orCEO task, but to really seize
those opportunities where I'mexcited and I'm inspired and,
instead of trying to stick to mycalendar, jump in and doing
those exciting and inspiringthings when the moment is there
(35:08):
and taking advantage of thatenergy.
It's really clicking for meover the last few months and I'm
really excited about that.
Jessica Rosario - Business Co (35:16):
I love that and talk about
boundaries right, not just forthe people around you, but for
yourself.
It's guilt-free working,guilt-free learning, guilt-free
taking the time that you need,guilt-free binge watching
Netflix, so you know what I mean.
So there's just so many thingsthat you can potentially do, and
I love that you're looking atit from that standpoint.
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Co (35:39):
Yeah , this is my dream life in
business.
So why am I trying to shovemyself into a box that I don't
actually fit in, when I could bejust flourishing in the being
me?
Jessica Rosario - Business (35:51):
Yeah Well, we got to talk about that
introvert thing, because I donot believe that that is not how
I met Tracy.
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - C (35:58):
We'll talk more about that.
I think I'm an extrovertedintrovert, like I can force
myself to appear as an extrovertbut at the end of the day it
sucks all the energy out of meto do that.
It's like it's not fun.
Jessica Rosario - Business (36:11):
But so you go to the events and
then you crash after.
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Cou (36:15):
Yep and sometimes cry before, like
I tell the story in themastermind that I'm in that I
met my mastermind partners atthat event that I met you at.
I cried on the airplane on theway there.
I was so nervous and anxiousabout being in a room with a
bunch of people that I felt likeI was probably less than you
(36:36):
know and all of the mindsetstuff that comes in that I was
crying on the plane and I, whenI got on the Disney bus to take
me to the resort, I prayed andprayed and prayed that no one
else would get on that bus.
I just needed to be by myselfand I was in an empty Disney bus
.
I manifested myself in an emptybus and the only reason that I
met these gals was because theperson who was supposed to
(36:57):
organize the group dinner, herflight, was delayed and so she
messaged the group thread andsaid can somebody else host?
You know like coordinate?
And I knew if I didn't say yes,I would go to my room and I
would hide and I wouldn't meetpeople.
And so I was like I'll host itand I did, and I love the rest
of history.
I met seven of the mostincredible women at that event
(37:20):
that I'm still best friends with.
We've started a companytogether and I talk with them
all day, every day, and likethey make my life and my
business better, and so I highlyhighly recommend biz besties
for everyone.
Jessica Rosario - Business (37:35):
Yeah , I love that, and I've always
talked about finding your tryright.
Who are your closest five?
And I remember years agosomeone said to me that
friendship is like a mathequation they should always
multiply and add to you and notdivide and subtract, and I
thought that was such a neatthing, especially the women in
(37:55):
your mastermind.
I know most of them, right.
I met them at the same eventthat we've been at right and I
just love absolutely everysingle one of them.
But it just goes to show youthat when we put ourselves in
the right groups, in the rightspaces, then everything just
starts to fall into place, and Ijust love that you guys were
able to put that together.
I love having you on my show.
(38:18):
I cannot wait to share yourmessage with the world, because
somebody is out there and Ialways say if you focus on the
one, if one person takessomething away from this podcast
episode, then we've done ourjob to serve the women that
we're called to serve.
Absolutely Love that.
So thank you for being on theshow, tracy.
(38:38):
This was so much fun andgetting to learn so much more
about you.
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - C (38:42):
Thank you so much for having me.
It's so fun to be here.
Jessica Rosario - Business C (38:46):
As always.
Thank you so much for listeningin.
Don't forget to subscribe tothe show to be notified the
second a new episode is releasedand share with your friends who
you believe could benefit fromlistening.
Contact me at JessRosariocomforward slash podcast to share
your feedback, ask questions,make topic suggestions or even
(39:07):
be a guest on my show.
You never know if your topicwill be next until next time.
Maximize your day and own it.
Hello and welcome to the Maximize
your Day podcast, a place forentrepreneurs who are building
their business in pursuit offreedom and flexibility to do
the things they love.
I'm your host, Jessica Rosario.
I'm a New Yorker turnedFloridian who knows a thing or
two on how to effectively manageyour time while juggling
multiple priorities.
I'm an ex-corporate leader whowalked away from my 9-5-ish to
(00:42):
launch and grow my business.
In this podcast, I shareinsights on mindset, business
productivity, habits andstrategies to help you take
control of your to-do list andmaximize your day, which will
help you feel more confident andless overwhelmed and getting
more done in less time.
I'm so excited you're here.
Go ahead, listen in.
(01:06):
Welcome back to the Maximizeyour Day podcast.
This is Jessica Rosario, yourhost, and I am here today so
excited to have Tracy beinginterviewed on the podcast
because she is just such awealth of knowledge when it
comes to course creation andeducation that I know that
you're going to take awayseveral nuggets within this chat
.
So a little bit about Tracy.
(01:26):
She's a curriculum expert andshe has a master's degree in
education and over 10 years ofexperience creating education
for adult learners in highereducation and corporate health
care.
She has been an entrepreneurfor 30 years and blends her
experience in business andeducation to help high integrity
coaches and service providerscreate online courses that
(01:46):
create impact and deliver one ofthe most important things,
which is transformation Tracy.
I am so thrilled to have you onthe call today.
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - (01:56):
Thanks for having me.
Jessica Rosario - Business (01:57):
I'm excited to be here Of course,
of course, and just a littlebackground of how we met.
Tracy and I met about a yearago.
We were at a marketing eventhere in Disney and that was a
lot of fun because we were ableto connect with quite a few
people some who were in our ownbackyards and just being able to
share ideas and how differentwe all are within our own
(02:19):
businesses and our own niche andindustries, but with one common
goal and was to be able toserve others in their businesses
and really help them increating systems and improving
processes and all of that.
So it was just a very excitinggroup to be part of.
And then fast forward a yearlater we're at another
(02:39):
networking event with some ofthe same people.
So that was really neat to beable to connect with you on both
areas, both avenues, one herein my backyard in Florida and
then the other one in California.
So that was a lot of fun.
So, tracy, excited to have youhere.
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Cou (02:57):
I'm excited to be here.
It's funny.
I have so many imaginaryinternet friends I like to call
them that I never get to meet inperson.
And then I've already been withyou in person two times.
Like it's awesome.
Jessica Rosario - Busines (03:09):
Right , that's so much fun and I feel
like ever since the worldstarted to open because we kind
of shut down and everything wentvirtual and I don't know you,
but when that marketing eventcame up last year, I was just
like, oh my gosh, I want to gointo an in-person event.
I'm just so tired of sitting onZoom calls with sweatpants and
a Zoom shirt, right.
So it was really exciting to beable to come out and get to
(03:31):
meet other people and just knowthat there are other people that
are doing similar things.
Right, we're similar spaces,but just so strong in our own
niches and our own focus.
So very cool.
So, tracy, 30 years as anentrepreneur, tell me more about
that.
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Co (03:50):
It's actually more than 30, because
I started my first business inthe fourth grade, which sadly
don't do the math was longerthan 30 years ago.
I started as a sticker companyin the fourth grade and I had a
sales force and it was amazinguntil the school principal shut
us down.
I've always had some sort ofentrepreneurial something Like I
(04:10):
had a grandmother that was abig crafter.
She was always making somethingand so I was making things with
her and then we'd find ways tosell the things that we were
making.
So it's definitely way beforethat.
But I started my first legitbusiness at 17, when I may or
may not have falsified my birthdate on an application to sell
(04:31):
Mary K Cosmetics.
So that was like two months tooyoung and so I might have
fudged that a little bit butstarted with some direct selling
and then various productbusinesses.
I didn't move into servicebusinesses and tell like six,
seven years ago and then sort ofthis more from done for you,
(04:54):
course creation, which I didn'tlove, to more of a coaching now
around course creation, which Ido love very much.
So it's been a weird road.
But then I've held various jobsthroughout that whole time too,
like I was never really afull-time entrepreneur and tell
this business, so Wow.
Jessica Rosario - Busine (05:13):
That's awesome.
So what led you to go from, Iguess, the doing it for you to
more of the strategically kindof partnering with entrepreneurs
and doing it with them,coaching them on it?
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Co (05:26):
Yeah , I mean.
So.
It's kind of two schools ofthought there.
One is that, even though I'm ahuge introvert and I was not
looking for connection when wemet last year, like I knew I
needed it but was not lookingfor it because, wow, being in
that room always terrifies me- Iwas gonna say introvert Tracy.
Jessica Rosario - Business (05:42):
What , yes, yes.
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Cou (05:43):
Yes so, but I love people and I
like I want to be around people.
So doing done for you coursecreation is very isolating.
It's very I don't know.
It's just sort of a.
You know, I know people who doit, do it really well and love
doing it.
So I don't want to put it down,but it's sort of a drudgery to
me, like it just doesn't feelaligned with what I want to do.
I have, I have perfected sort ofa done with you model that
(06:07):
works a little bit better but itstill has me spending a lot of
time being creative, you know,creating content for my client,
and it's really reallyemotionally and mentally
draining for me over.
To do that for 30 hours a weekis just, it's just a lot where
coaching is something that itboth lights me up.
It, you know, it really fuelsme and I have this philosophy
(06:31):
that if I do it for you, it'sdone for you.
That's great and you can pay methe money, you know, because
that that command's kind of ahigh price tag.
But if I coach you through theprocess and I kind of empower
you to know my framework forcreating courses and how to
create education in a way thatit's going to stick with your
learner and get them theirresults.
You can do it again and again,and again, and that's sort of my
(06:55):
crusade.
There's a sign on the wallbehind me back there that says
no more crappy courses.
I really want, if you come intomy world you should leave at
least knowing a little bit moreabout how to do that, and not
for not having to be a struggle.
So it's sort of a half crusade,half.
Please don't lock me up behindmy computer.
I want to be with the people.
Jessica Rosario - Business C (07:15):
So I love that and, you know, I
don't think there's anythingwrong with that, because one of
the things that I work on withmy clients is truly working on
their messaging and knowingtheir business from the inside
out.
When I first started in business, I actually was doing business
consulting and I used to writebusiness plans for companies and
what started to happen wasthese business plans were
(07:37):
presented in organizations as ifthey were their own, and it
turns out that the entrepreneurthemselves, a business owner,
didn't know their business.
So it got to a point where Ifelt this misalignment of
integrity of okay, I'm basicallytelling you all the ins and
outs of your business, but youdon't know your business and
you're the one that's doing yourbusiness every single day.
(07:58):
You know your clients, you knowyou're passionate about your
business, your heart is in yourbusiness.
So I actually stopped doing itwith them and when I started
doing the done with you part ofthe business planning, it felt
so much better because theclients were walking away
feeling like, okay, if I need tomake a change on my business
plan, I can do that.
(08:19):
So it sounds like very similarto what you're talking about you
teach them to strategies thatthey need to make an update or
something like that.
They know what areas to lookfor and what they need to do as
they continue to move forward,so I think that's brilliant.
I love that.
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - C (08:32):
Thank you, yeah, and I want to be the
cheerleader, the accountabilitybuddy, the, you know, the
support person.
You know a lot of times myclients, they'll get stuck on
some piece of tech and I canjust like I can quick hop in and
I can do that in 15 minutes andnot hold them up.
The whole thing is keeping themunstuck.
And I can do that so much betterin a coaching sort of enabler
(08:54):
role than I could if I was justdoing it for you and then you
never really know how it getsdone.
Jessica Rosario - Business (09:00):
Yeah , yeah.
So what would you say are someof the key elements to make a
course impactful for someone?
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Cou (09:09):
Key elements.
The first person foremost, andmy clients get annoyed with me
because I always, we always,come back to this.
But you have to know exactlywho you serve and what problem
you solve.
So the very first thing is yourcourse has to actually solve a
problem.
I hear so many of the coursegurus say just pick a topic,
something you're excited about.
Well, I could teach you allabout, like rescue dogs or
(09:32):
rescue rabbits or like all ofthe things.
It doesn't mean that that issomething that you actually want
to know about and we'll pay for.
So that's the first thing, andit's more than just them paying
for it.
Are they invested enough inthis problem or in the solution
to actually consume the contentyou're going to create for them?
Because you're going to get,you know, you're going to put a
lot of time and effort intocreating this content and then,
(09:54):
if it's not something, you canhave a great sales page, a great
hook, and they'll buy it, butthen they're not going to
consume it because it doesn'tserve them.
And I think the other thing isthat you need to leave a trail
of breadcrumbs of like littlewins for them throughout the.
You know my two biggest pieceof advice Give them wins, give
them early, give them often,because that those little shots
(10:17):
of dopamine that they get bylike hey, like she asked me to
apply this to my business, orshe asked me to complete this
worksheet, or you know whateverthat is.
Once they do that, then they'relike I did that, I'm cool, I'm
good, I'm going to move on tothe next one and they get
another shot.
And those are the things thatkeep them going forward.
It has to be consumable, it hasto be engaging, or they're not
(10:38):
going to consume it or engagewith it, and then they don't get
results.
Jessica Rosario - Business (10:42):
Yeah , it's like celebrating those
quick wins right in the business.
It also creates momentum, yeah,and we get momentum by doing
the thing, the dark thing, evenwhen we don't want to do the
same thing.
What would you say is one ofthe most common challenges for
some of the clients that youwork with when they come into
your space?
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Cou (11:03):
You know, I think one of the
biggest things they're just,they just get stuck in all of
the, you know, analysis,paralysis and choosing the exact
right platform is like thething.
You know, like my very firstlead magnet I ever created was a
quiz that like suggested whatmight be the best course
platform for you, based on somefactors, because and that it
(11:24):
actually works, because peoplewill take the quiz and they'll
go.
It says think, epic, I'm goingto go build over there instead
of agonizing Is this the rightthing?
And I speak from experiencebecause I did the same flipping
thing when I started my business, you know, build over here.
And then, oh, this looks shiny,maybe I should try this.
And I migrated my product somany times and wasted so much
(11:45):
time that, like, that's probablythe biggest thing.
And then getting caught up inlike it, can I manage the tech?
What kind of equipment do Ineed?
Like, oh, maybe I won't startbecause I don't know the answers
to these things.
It's little minute, littlethings that pile up and keep
people overwhelmed and stuckthat we, you know they've got
(12:05):
brilliance inside them, they'refairly certain that they can
make an impact in the world, butthey let themselves just stay
bogged down by imposter syndromeor overwhelm of all the things,
the tech whatever.
Jessica Rosario - Business (12:17):
Well , it seems like, especially in
today's world, where everyonelike, there's these new
platforms that keep popping up,or these new outlets that keep
popping up, we're experiencingit right now.
Did you hear about threads?
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Cou (12:31):
Yes , I'm on thread my gosh, so I'm
an early adopter.
There you go.
Jessica Rosario - Business C (12:35):
So you know, and I am too I mean
I'm just browsing right now, butbut the reality is that we get
so caught up in these thingsthat by the time we look at it,
I mean I remember when Clubhousewas a thing.
I mean I guess it's still outthere, but it's really not a
thing anymore.
But people started doingcourses on Clubhouse.
I can teach you how to elevateyour platform on Clubhouse.
(12:58):
Already there's one of theinfluencers that I follow and he
actually posted today.
Anybody want to learn threads?
I have a course for threads for997, and obviously he was just
being funny about it.
But we get so caught up indoing all the things.
One of the things that I findwhen I start working with
(13:19):
clients is that they invested inbig platforms.
And when I when I talk aboutbig platforms, I'm talking about
like funnel building, highlevel FG funnels, click funnels
the biggest one is has beenclick funnels so far but they
get completely overwhelmed withtechnology and what they need to
(13:40):
learn and they didn't realizeit was just this big thing.
But they bought the idea ofbeing an all in one platform.
Mind you, I use an all in onenow, right, but I didn't start
with that right.
So I'm using FG funnels andtell me, have you experienced
some of that from clients thatare stepping in, that they
bought these big things thinkingthat that was the end, all be
(14:02):
all, and it turns out they don'teven need that big thing yet.
They're just not there yet.
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - C (14:07):
Right , yeah, yeah, I've had clients
come to me who went all in,usually in Kajabi, like it's.
You know they bought like thehigh end of Kajabi because they
thought they'd need that someday, but their course isn't built
and they're not making any moneyand they're taking money,
putting it on a personal creditcard or taking money out of
their household budget to payfor Kajabi every month.
And while I encourage people tochoose a platform that you can
(14:32):
stay with, like that will growwith you, you know, I built my
first course in Teachable, whichwas great, but I couldn't email
from Teachable, I couldn't do asales funnel from there, so
eventually I had to migrate outand, spoiler alert, I'm an FG
funnels as well.
So I mean there's some realityto.
It's good to have somethingthat does all the things, if,
(14:52):
that's, if you're ready to doall the things.
It's good to have a platformthat grows with you.
But the best course that I'veever personally taken was drip
to my email Nice, the idea thatyou have to have all of the
bells and whistles that you haveto have, you know, progress
reports and all of these things.
It's just ridiculous.
Good learning doesn't have tobe packaged that way.
(15:13):
But you know, this course thatI took I think it was 12 weeks,
might have been only I think itwas 12 weeks I got an email
every Monday with like a littleyou know affirmation and a video
to watch and sometimes a linkto a song.
It was all a re-inspiringyourself sort of thing.
And it was amazing and I'llalways remember those lessons.
(15:33):
And it wasn't shiny or no,fireworks went off when I
finished a lesson.
None of those things happened,it was just good content
delivered to me efficientlyevery week.
Jessica Rosario - Business (15:43):
Yeah , that's like.
That's like a course that Ipurchased.
That was like $37.
I think it was less at the time.
I think right now it's $37.
But I have used that so manytimes this, over and over and
over again, when it comes towanting to refine my copy or
rebuy something on my websitethat I don't like the way it
looks or whatever, so those arethe best ones.
(16:04):
It's like.
It's almost like the gift thatkeeps on giving the best courses
are.
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - (16:09):
They're the ones that you pulse the
information you need out of fornow and then you can go back and
reference that again, and again, and again, because the
content's probably delivered ina way that you remember what's
in there and then you know thatyou can go back in there and
refresh your memory, get someadditional lessons from it.
It's the ones that are likehave all this knowledge packed
(16:31):
in that's not delivered in anycertain way, we forget, you know
.
Like did I take that?
What was it about?
Like did I learn something?
I feel that way about, likemost of my college and grad
school years.
Like did I actually learnsomething from that class?
Jessica Rosario - Business (16:45):
I'm not sure.
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - (16:46):
Didn't tell you what it was.
Jessica Rosario - Busine (16:48):
That's so funny.
Yeah, it was so expensive too.
Yeah, so I totally get it.
So, tracy, let's changedirection a little bit and tell
me more about you outside ofbeing the entrepreneur.
What do you love to do?
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Cour (17:03):
Oh , I love to be at home.
Long story, but I'll make itshort.
14 years ago almost 15 yearsago now I went through a pretty
horrendous divorce, startedsingle parenting my kids they
were ages six and nine at thetime and my ex-husband and I
lived with our children in mydream house, in my dream
neighborhood, with my dreamneighbors, like it was all
(17:24):
wonderful.
And suddenly the kids and Iwere forced out and we bounced
around our rental houses andsome other places.
In 2017, I actually discoveredthat my old house was for sale
and nothing like it should havenever worked.
I shouldn't have been able tosell the house I owned at the
time Like nothing should haveworked and it all did.
(17:46):
I just manifested the shit outof moving back into this house.
So this is my happy place andmy kids now are 23 and 20.
My son still rents my basement.
My daughter's away at college.
She's a senior in college nowNice but like, I love to be in
my home.
I'm a weirdo who, like, thinkslike cleaning my house is fun.
Gardening all of that stuff,you know, is a blast.
(18:09):
I play volleyball on a summerbar league volleyball team here
in Minnesota, which is super fun.
Thursdays volleyball day, soit's tonight.
Love that.
Yeah, I have two rescue dogs anda bunny and I don't know I love
my business has always been thething that I do for fun.
I don't know it makes me asuper nerd, but over all of
(18:32):
those years that I was a singlemom, I always knew that.
You know, entrepreneurship waswhere I was going to be, where I
wanted to be, but of course Ihad to have a job that had
insurance and I had to have allof their reliable income.
So my business was the thing Idid on the side that lit me up
and was fun for me.
So I do struggle with drawing aboundary there between personal
(18:56):
and professional, becausethey've been intermixed the
whole time.
But my family is inNorthwestern Wisconsin.
I spend a lot of time there.
They're getting on in age and Ilike to go there and do nice
things for them to make theirlives easier and, yeah, trying
to find time with my kids when Ican Like that's.
All the moms at home are like oh, these kids are home for the
(19:17):
summer.
I and this is the first summermy baby has not been home for
the summer, and I'm sad.
Jessica Rosario - Business C (19:22):
Oh , yeah, I get it.
I actually my kids are olderalso and my oldest daughter just
had a baby, so now I'm agrandma and I love having him
over to sleep over and stufflike that, but I also love
giving him back right.
Like I always say, I got myjust sci-fi fix, so I love
having that little boy here andjust being able to watch him
(19:44):
grow.
So I love that.
But what a story, tracy.
Talk about your life going infull circle with your house and
being able to get back there.
I just I love your story.
So do you see that part Ididn't know about you, so I
think that's so neat to be ableto hear that, and also your
passion for animals and all that.
So, yeah, awesome, love it,love it.
(20:05):
So tell me something else.
As far as the women, there wassomething that you talked about.
You talked about security andhealth insurance and having that
as a single parent and whatnot.
So there are women that arelistening to this podcast right
now and there are women that areworking full time, trying to
build a business on the side ortrying to make something work,
(20:26):
and they just don't know how theheck they're going to be able
to do that.
What are some of your words forthem?
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Co (20:33):
Yeah , I mean, I think a lot of that.
So much of it is mindset and Ihave a former client who's in.
I'm a partner in a mastermindgroup and she's a member of our
mastermind who's reallystruggling right now.
She works a full time job.
She's building her business onthe side.
Her full time job is reallytreating her unfairly and she
has these moments where she'slike I'm going to quit, I'm
(20:53):
going to go full time in mybusiness and I feel like there's
just this delicate balance andI wrote this teeter-totter too
for a long time that for so manypeople and my client Willow, is
this way her job allows her tobuild her business.
She does have some downtime inher work day where she can work
on her business and it's payingher a salary and paying her
(21:16):
benefits and doing all thosethings.
And I think appreciating thatis huge, even when your boss is
being a jerk and you don't wantto go and all the things.
But to be able to say thank youso much to this job for
allowing me the mental space orthe freedom or whatever to build
this business on the side,because the minute I can, I'm
stepping over here.
I think that's huge versusresenting it right, resenting
(21:41):
that job that you wish youdidn't have to have.
I have found in myentrepreneurial journey that
when I have at least a part timejob, and.
I was lucky when I leftcorporate.
I'm a medical assistant bytrade.
It's how I got into the wholeteaching thing.
I taught medical assistingafter my divorce and for some
extra cash, and I was able totake a job in the clinic working
(22:05):
20 hours a week because theypaid me full time benefits.
And so there are those jobsavailable in a part time job
where you can get benefits butWillow you most of your time to
pursue your business.
I believe you'll adage thatbusier people get more done.
I think when you're forced toprioritize a little bit, then
you're just more effective,versus I've had periods in my
(22:26):
life where my business is theonly thing I'm doing and I get
really lazy and I'm not showingup for my audience the same way
that I was when I knew I onlyhad a certain number of hours a
week to do it.
So I think, really embracingthat like you have to be in a
job for a little bit longerbefore you can really step into
your dream If you can thinkabout that in a way that you can
(22:47):
be grateful and appreciate it,it's so, so helpful but also
being really conscious of likethere's a runway right, if I
want to leave this job in sixmonths, what are the benchmarks
I have to hit, what should I bedoing?
And in planning for thataccordingly, so that you can,
when you parachute, you can doit.
When I left corporate, my bosswas amazing and I was in an
(23:10):
education job in corporatehealthcare, in the ambulance
service.
She was incredible.
It was a very misogynisticorganization but she was the
buffer between me and all ofthese guys who thought they
should tell me who to be.
I literally got told in ameeting once that I should just
sit here.
Why don't you just sit thereand look pretty?
I wasn't allowed to have anopinion about anything.
Jessica Rosario - Business (23:30):
Wow .
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Cour (23:31):
So she sheltered me from that to a
great degree and I knew she wasretiring.
She was, her plan was to retirein July of 2019.
And I was like, deb, when yougo, I go, like, and there's my
runway.
I had like a year and a half toplan.
I'm going to jump into mybusiness full time.
She went to a meeting in May ofApril of 2018 and came back to
(23:53):
me crying that these liketerribly misogynistic bully men
had like made this 60 some yearold woman like she's like I'm
done.
I'm done, I'm retiring in July.
You know, I'm not doing thisanymore.
And I was like, well, when yougo, I go.
And suddenly now I had a twomonth runway instead of a guy
(24:13):
ended up leaving before she did,because I didn't want to endure
a day without her and because Ihad my my new manager because
she stepped down came to me andreprimanded me for taking every
other Thursday afternoon off totake my daughter to therapy and
told me I was no longer allowedto do that.
Jessica Rosario - Business (24:32):
And .
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Cours (24:33):
I said If you're going to ask me
to choose between my daughter'smental health and this job,
that's not a question for me.
And he goes.
Well, I guess I am.
I'm like shove it, we out, yeah, but thankfully I had had that
mindset for a long time that youknow, is planning that runway.
I knew what it was going totake.
I was building my business asquickly as I could to make that
(24:55):
transition Somewhat less yeah.
Jessica Rosario - Business C (24:58):
So it's doable and it's not always
planned out the way we expectit to be.
You know, I heard you say oneof things for you was that you
said you left before your bosssaid, even though that wasn't
your original plan, you know.
So I have a similar story too,and I remember being interviewed
by Pat Flynn.
You're familiar with Pat Flynn,so I was interviewed by Pat
(25:19):
Flynn in 2019.
And I remember him.
I remember asking him thequestion when do you know it's
the right time to quit your job?
And you know he gave me thisall explanation about you can do
this and X amount of emergencyfunds and this and that.
And then he's like I would say,by the end of 2020 or something
like that.
I think he said when do youproject yourself by the end of
(25:39):
2020?
Right, and I said, oh no, likeI refuse to step into 2020 being
a W2 employee for anyone otherthan myself.
And I literally manifested that.
That was in my affirmations.
I read it every day, Ijournaled it, I cried about it.
I talk about this in previousepisodes too, and I did that
almost in all of 2019.
Halfway through the year, Iknew that I was on my way out
(26:02):
and Alex kept cheering me on.
He was like we could do it.
We could do it, let's go, let'sgo.
And every day I will walk inwith my resignation letter in my
bag.
I would change the date againand sign it, keep it in my bag
and change the date again, and Idid that all the way through
Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving Igave my notice and I left on
December 13th of 2019 and gavemyself the whole holidays and
(26:26):
then we got COVID.
Oh no, that's a whole notherstory.
But the thing is that there'snever there's never a best time
or a great time, no matter howmuch we plan it, no matter how
much we envision certain things.
I think that if we work towardsit and keep that mindset of you
know, let me use my job now tofund my dreams in the future and
(26:49):
listen, there is nothing wrongwith building your dreams
alongside of JOB.
I have clients that do that.
They love it, especially whenthey love their job right,
there's no reason why theyshould leave.
But I do also believe that ifyou're feeling undervalued or
you're feeling burnt out and youknow you've given your all in
everything that you do in yourJOB and you can do it 10 times
(27:11):
better in building it foryourself.
Groves, you're in the rightspace.
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Cou (27:15):
Yes , yes, yes, and I love that.
I also carried my resignationletter in my bag, but mine was
not dated and when, when thetime came, I actually did print
out a new one, but I was totallyokay with just like handwriting
that date on there and handingit in Like it.
Just, you know, like whatever,whatever empowers you, but yeah,
(27:38):
I love that.
I mean, and knowing that youcould, I've done this like in
jobs that I had, especially inmy 20s, where something would
happen and I'd be like I givemyself permission to rage quit.
You know, like now we know wecall it rage quitting, but like
if I throw a fit and tell you totake this job and shove it,
it's okay.
And knowing that it was okay todo that meant that I didn't feel
(27:58):
like I had to do that.
It's empowering to carry yourresignation in your pocket.
Jessica Rosario - Bu (28:02):
Absolutely .
I love that.
I love that.
I remember also when it wasAlex's turn to quit he quit in
2018.
And I kept telling him you goin there and you tell them about
this, that and the other.
And when it was time for him toresign, they were like well,
why are you leaving?
He said, well, I'm building acommercial cleaning business
here in central Florida.
And they were like, oh, give usa quote and, believe it or not,
(28:24):
they're one of our largestclients now.
So when he told me about it, Iwas like, oh, you didn't tell
them all the stuff that I toldyou.
Right, I had the same thing.
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Cours (28:35):
I had the same thing.
I'm like I'm going to go, I'mgoing from the education
department of an ambulanceservice and did like, doing
freelance education.
I certainly, like didn't burnany bridges with, you know, with
the person that was there.
I let them know that it wastheir company culture that was
forcing me out.
But like, hey, if you needquality education, you know
where to find me Exactly.
And of course they never didwant quality education, so they
(28:57):
never looked for me.
Jessica Rosario - Business (28:59):
And it's a okay.
The beauty of entrepreneurshipis that we get to know who we
want to work with.
So you know that that's allgood.
So, tracy, who is your idealclient?
Who is the person that'slistening to this podcast right
now and is saying, oh man, Ineed to work with her?
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Co (29:17):
Yeah , I always say I describe my
ideal client as high integrityentrepreneurs, mostly female.
I have worked with some maleclients, but I feel like so much
of what we do is women in ourbusinesses is intuition based.
It's, you know, like aninternally alignment kind of
thing, and I work better withwomen than I do with men.
I don't I'm sorry for any menwho might be listening.
Jessica Rosario - Business (29:40):
But I say.
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Cours (29:41):
I say high integrity because the
transformation, the results,have to matter to you.
If you're wanting to build acourse because you want to make
money while you sleep and you'relooking at this as a stream of
passive income and you're nevergoing to touch those clients,
they're just going to take yourcourse and whatever then I'm not
your girl.
That's not the kind ofeducation that I build.
(30:01):
It's possible to do that and doit well, and certainly we can.
We can talk about that, but Ifind that the best education is
the stuff that you build andbuilding a package or a
container for it where peoplehave access to you so that they
can ask questions, so that theycan get feedback, so that they
don't stay stuck in a concept,because that's really when we
(30:23):
talk about something beingconsumable.
That's it right.
If I'm going to get here andthen like this is really hard
and now I'm stuck and I can'taccess you, I'm not going to get
my money's worth and I'm notgoing to get my results.
So my ideal client is someonewho really, really cares about
those results and they want tomake a big impact in the world.
They don't want to sell a fewcourses and make a few bucks.
(30:43):
They want to really reallyteach their expertise, really
help their ideal client findthat transformation so that they
can learn and grow andhopefully come back and buy from
them again.
But it's more for the service,the heart centered course,
creator.
Jessica Rosario - Business Co (31:00):
I love that and I know I'm going
to drop your links in the shownotes also, so anyone that wants
to connect with you they canfind you there.
But what are some ways, or isthere anything new and exciting
coming in your offerings.
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Cours (31:12):
I have something sort of new.
It's a product I've had for awhile.
I basically honed the system.
I call it the focus groupformula and it's the method that
I use to sell my very first, myfirst DIY course, which I don't
offer anymore because, again, Ijust don't think it's the best
way to serve my clients.
And when I launched my groupprogram and I teach this method
(31:35):
of basically marketing, gettingfeedback, validating your offer,
making sure that it's good witha group of your ideal clients
but also on the back end, sortof marketing that and offering
them seats in the firstiteration of that program, I've
sold this as a $97 product for along time and I taught it in my
mastermind group yesterday anda few of us got talking about it
(31:59):
and you know, there's thiswhole buzz around.
Like there's somebody in ourworld is doing Ilya Finklestine
is doing pitch me your project,the idea of, like you know,
maybe you want to work with mebut you don't fit into one of my
containers, tell me.
You know how that'll work.
I'm sort of experimenting withsome of that this month and in
doing that I want to offer thisfocus group formula program at a
(32:22):
super low price and maybe kindof start a movement around it,
maybe normalize the idea of.
That is perfectly okay whenyou're not sure how to proceed,
to bring some people around youand ask them.
You know, to bring your idealclient into a Zoom call and say
here's what I want to build,here's how I think I want to
(32:42):
build it, what do you think?
How should I price it and isthis something that you'd buy?
And that that's okay and also asuper empowering way to launch
a product when you already knowyou've got five, six, 10, 15,
maybe 20 people who are waitingto buy it and you know I've sold
it for $97.
It's definitely worth $97.
(33:03):
But I want to start like justkind of making that more
available getting some more eyeson it because I really think it
has the potential to push someof my ideal clients who are
stuck in the overwhelm and pushthem sort of into the okay.
Well, now you have buyers,let's get to work Right.
And it worked well for me and Iknow it can work well for other
(33:23):
people.
So that's that's sort of theexciting thing that's coming.
I'll be launching I'm not sureif it'll be a July or August
cohort right now of my groupprogram, which I call the course
creator college.
It's 12 weeks to getting yourcourse created in the right way
so that we really are deliveringthose results now becoming soon
.
Jessica Rosario - Busin (33:40):
Awesome , awesome.
Well, there you have it.
You've got multiple containersof and I'm on threads yes,
multiple containers on how towork with her, and you already
know where to find her.
So, tracy, one last questionthat I have for you.
Actually, I have two lastquestions, so one of them is how
do you maximize your day?
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Cours (34:03):
I have had a focus especially for
2023, on really making surethat I am spending as much time
as possible in my zone of genius, that I'm doing less of the
things that just don't light meup.
Trying to delegate some of thosethings out Nice, I just keeps
me more motivated when I knowI'm going to wake up in the
(34:24):
morning and not do my accounting, but I'm going to do some
creative something or other thatmakes me happy, and also to I
mean, I've just did this likebig adventure into my human
design and really just doingkind of what I want when I want,
which sounds immature and sortof frivolous, but when I'm
(34:47):
feeling like creating content,then that is exactly what I do,
and when I'm feeling like, oh, Icouldn't possibly create
content, well then that's agreat time.
To find an administrative orCEO task, but to really seize
those opportunities where I'mexcited and I'm inspired and,
instead of trying to stick to mycalendar, jump in and doing
those exciting and inspiringthings when the moment is there
(35:08):
and taking advantage of thatenergy.
It's really clicking for meover the last few months and I'm
really excited about that.
Jessica Rosario - Business Co (35:16):
I love that and talk about
boundaries right, not just forthe people around you, but for
yourself.
It's guilt-free working,guilt-free learning, guilt-free
taking the time that you need,guilt-free binge watching
Netflix, so you know what I mean.
So there's just so many thingsthat you can potentially do, and
I love that you're looking atit from that standpoint.
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Co (35:39):
Yeah , this is my dream life in
business.
So why am I trying to shovemyself into a box that I don't
actually fit in, when I could bejust flourishing in the being
me?
Jessica Rosario - Business (35:51):
Yeah Well, we got to talk about that
introvert thing, because I donot believe that that is not how
I met Tracy.
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - C (35:58):
We'll talk more about that.
I think I'm an extrovertedintrovert, like I can force
myself to appear as an extrovertbut at the end of the day it
sucks all the energy out of meto do that.
It's like it's not fun.
Jessica Rosario - Business (36:11):
But so you go to the events and
then you crash after.
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - Cou (36:15):
Yep and sometimes cry before, like
I tell the story in themastermind that I'm in that I
met my mastermind partners atthat event that I met you at.
I cried on the airplane on theway there.
I was so nervous and anxiousabout being in a room with a
bunch of people that I felt likeI was probably less than you
(36:36):
know and all of the mindsetstuff that comes in that I was
crying on the plane and I, whenI got on the Disney bus to take
me to the resort, I prayed andprayed and prayed that no one
else would get on that bus.
I just needed to be by myselfand I was in an empty Disney bus
.
I manifested myself in an emptybus and the only reason that I
met these gals was because theperson who was supposed to
(36:57):
organize the group dinner, herflight, was delayed and so she
messaged the group thread andsaid can somebody else host?
You know like coordinate?
And I knew if I didn't say yes,I would go to my room and I
would hide and I wouldn't meetpeople.
And so I was like I'll host itand I did, and I love the rest
of history.
I met seven of the mostincredible women at that event
(37:20):
that I'm still best friends with.
We've started a companytogether and I talk with them
all day, every day, and likethey make my life and my
business better, and so I highlyhighly recommend biz besties
for everyone.
Jessica Rosario - Business (37:35):
Yeah , I love that, and I've always
talked about finding your tryright.
Who are your closest five?
And I remember years agosomeone said to me that
friendship is like a mathequation they should always
multiply and add to you and notdivide and subtract, and I
thought that was such a neatthing, especially the women in
(37:55):
your mastermind.
I know most of them, right.
I met them at the same eventthat we've been at right and I
just love absolutely everysingle one of them.
But it just goes to show youthat when we put ourselves in
the right groups, in the rightspaces, then everything just
starts to fall into place, and Ijust love that you guys were
able to put that together.
I love having you on my show.
(38:18):
I cannot wait to share yourmessage with the world, because
somebody is out there and Ialways say if you focus on the
one, if one person takessomething away from this podcast
episode, then we've done ourjob to serve the women that
we're called to serve.
Absolutely Love that.
So thank you for being on theshow, tracy.
(38:38):
This was so much fun andgetting to learn so much more
about you.
Tracey Lewis-Stoeckel - C (38:42):
Thank you so much for having me.
It's so fun to be here.
Jessica Rosario - Business C (38:46):
As always.
Thank you so much for listeningin.
Don't forget to subscribe tothe show to be notified the
second a new episode is releasedand share with your friends who
you believe could benefit fromlistening.
Contact me at JessRosariocomforward slash podcast to share
your feedback, ask questions,make topic suggestions or even
(39:07):
be a guest on my show.
You never know if your topicwill be next until next time.
Maximize your day and own it.
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