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August 14, 2021 15 mins

Andie Monet was abandoned by her single mother when she was 16 and ended up homeless. She worked hard, learn how to sell and went in to earn five college degrees. Today she is a business consultant with a wealth of knowledge and a heart of gold. Listen to her inspirational story.

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Guest - Andie Monet
Host - Carl Grant
Producer -
Seth Grant

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Carl Grant (00:02):
Welcome to Rainmakers. I am here with Andy
Monet. She is CEO of her owncompany called strategic
solutions and developmentinternational Incorporated.
Welcome, Andy. Thank you somuch. I'm super excited. I'm
excited to have you as well. Andas, as I've gotten to know you a

(00:23):
little bit, you didn't have theeasiest beginning in life. And I
want to start out theconversation by you going back
and talking about you know, thethe cards you were dealt early
on and how you dealt with themand and how they kind of led to
your success today?

Andie Monet (00:42):
Oh, absolutely.
Yes. So I have a particularlyunusual start, most people, you
know, decide that they want toown a business, in their 20s
maybe, you know, if you'relucky, you're 18. But I actually
started mine at 16. Because mysingle mother had abandoned me
and I was left homeless. And sowhat do you do? You know, and
the first thing you have tofigure out is how to make money,

(01:05):
right? How are you going to? Howare you going to eat? How are
you going to, you know, find aplace to live and pay for that.
And so, at that particular time,I didn't even think I'm gonna
own a business, it was more outof survival. So, you know, I
went door to door I went tobusinesses asking if I could, if
there was anything I could dooffice copying, collating,

(01:26):
picking out trash, it didn'teven matter. And that was really
the beginning of not that I knewit then but the beginning of of
sales and presentation and, andmarketing myself, which I didn't
even know those words yet,really. So you know, it's like
jump out of the out of thefrying pan and into the fire.

Carl Grant (01:47):
And how does somebody with no backing or
support managed to get a PhD,you have a college degree and a
PhD?

Andie Monet (01:55):
I do I have five degrees, which I don't normally
share, because it soundsbizarre. But I my original
degree was in engineering andphysics, because I'm good at
math. And I'm good at problemsolving. And I mentioned that
because that has been oddly oneof my many keys to really

(02:16):
building my business, notspecifically engineering, but
the problem solving. Right?
That's what business is about.
But eventually, accountingdegree MBA Master's in
statistics and PhD in financeand economics,

Carl Grant (02:30):
it's unbelievable.
So tuck, talk to us a little bitabout your business what you do.

Andie Monet (02:35):
So I really kind of call myself an optimization
expert, because you have so manypeople who just, okay, we do
marketing, or we do streamliningoperations, or we do business
development, right. And allthose are super important. But
there's I don't think thatthere's very many businesses as
even for just for smallbusinesses, that really can be

(02:59):
really strategic at all of that.
And so not necessarily anexpert, even though after 30
plus years, I'm really, reallygood at it. But I mean, in the
sense of how can I take thispicture, because the business is
a living, breathing entity forme. And you can't just pick out
one piece and optimize thecompany, and you don't have to
optimize, but you know, you cando, Hey, I just want to do

(03:23):
business development and grow myrevenue. And that's great.
That's one one of manystrategies. But if you really,
really want to hone in onscaling the business, it's best
to look at all of those and howthey all interact together, and
how people interact with systemsand how your marketing and your
sales strategies interact withyour business development,
instead of making it you know,the silos, they're actually just

(03:43):
a comprehensive, complex system.

Carl Grant (03:48):
So to get new clients, you obviously have to
do some business development,you have to do some level of
sales, you're not, you know,obviously shy, he went door to
door as a young person, so, butI bet it's different selling
these higher end services, youknow, by a woman with five
degrees. And, you know, this isnot the same as when you were 16

(04:10):
years old. How do you go aboutdoing this more in a more
sophisticated manner today?

Andie Monet (04:15):
You know, one of the odd I say odd but I don't
really mean odd, but more thatpeople don't really think of
conscientiously or try to avoidis, you know, all business
development is partly marketing,right, all presentation. If you
come in and you're, you know,wearing coveralls and you want

(04:37):
to talk to a farmer, that wouldmake sense. But if you can't
wear coveralls to a fortune 500company, right? So presentation
is really one of the very, very,very first things you have to
consider before you even try toattempt to have a conversation
with people. I mean, my biggestclient is monster beverage at $4
billion, and how I talk to themand what I say to them And how I

(05:00):
present myself is notnecessarily the same way as how
I talk to, you know, Jane orjohn doe at the local hardware
store. And so and then I saythat not because you have to
change who you are or, you know,for women, you don't have your
nails done. Like, I'm not sayingthe money piece of it, I'm just
saying in the sense of, you wantto be honest, and you want to be

(05:24):
really respectful, and you wantto listen, I mean, that's the
all those things. They don'treally, I don't think they will
teach you in sales school. Theyjust teach you how to sell but
or, you know, marketing piece,but there's a piece before that,
right? And so, you know, respectfor the customers, let them know
that you're listening, ask themquestions, not just it's not

(05:45):
just about it's hardly everabout you, it doesn't matter how
wonderful I think I am or howmany degrees I have, or how many
businesses I worked with, or howmany, literally billions of
dollars, I've saved people over30 years, it's about them. And
they don't care about anythingelse, but how I'm going to help
them and their questions andtheir issues and their
challenges and who they are as aperson. Right. And so that that

(06:10):
building a relationship isreally important than way more
important than the money thatwill eventually come out of a
good relationship.

Carl Grant (06:18):
It's funny that you mentioned how you present
yourself. So I was going to Iget a little funny story for
you. I was going to a reception.
Several weeks back for a teamfrom Raytheon, government
contracting type business. Iknow them very well. Yeah. So
they recovered. There's a smallgroup of them moving to Austin,
and they were having receptionto welcome them to to Austin. So
I'm originally from NorthernVirginia where they are and I

(06:41):
know the the kind of uniformsfor for these types of meetings.
So I put on the khaki pants andthe blue blazer and the down
shirt. And you're somewhere nearAustin, if you if you know,
Austin, it's very casual here. Imean, you know, jeans and polo
shirt will suffice just aboutanywhere. And and so I wear my

(07:01):
Raytheon outfit, and I show up.
And the first thing I encounterare like a four star general
from the futures command who'swearing the Austin uniform,
right? Then the Raytheon guysshow up and they're dressed
appropriately for Austin. I looklike the doofus from DC with my

(07:24):
blazer on. So anyways, it'sfunny, I dressed for them, and
they dress for us. And, and Igot it wrong. So it all worked
out. But it was just kind offunny. Yeah. So the other funny
thing we were talking about wasin I know, you're comfortable
talking about this, I'm lookingat your picture on zoom right
now, Mike, and you told me,you've been doing this for 30
years, and you're 50 years old.
I said now I said that must be areally old picture. Because you

(07:47):
look about 20 years younger thanthen what you're claiming to be.
And so we were talking a littlebit about, and I tried to keep a
youthful appearance, I don't doit as well as you but how that
works in the marketplace, youknow, throughout your career,
because because you've alwaysgone to market, you know,
looking a lot younger than youYou are so how's that worked for

(08:08):
you?

Andie Monet (08:12):
You know, it's it's been challenging, I'll tell you
that. And you know, the youngerI was, the harder it was. But I
think my opinion is that younever want to be defensive. Any
editing time, right? It just,it's a life skill not to be, you
know, feeling attacked by bythings. But you also want to be

(08:33):
very strategic about how youcommunicate with people. And so
talk their language, again, it'sa relationship building, if if
somebody has a problem, thenspeak to them at their level,
and they'll, you know, they'llpick up a lot better than you
might think. And, you know, I'vehad five businesses before the,

(08:53):
by the time I was 20. And theseare things that I had to learn
the hard way. And there weretimes where I was defensive,
which re proved that I was notready to do business with them.
But it was a it was a learningcurve for me. And I think that
once if you're honest withyourself, and if you're honest
with them, and you really aregenuine that that will come out.

(09:15):
And that is one of the ways thatI've just out of, you know,
blessings, I was able to, to beable to be as successful as I am
is to know that, hey, it's notabout me again. And, you know,
if I were in their shoes, whatwould I think? Right? And to
really be honest about that,would I want like even now in my

(09:37):
50s would I want to work with a20 year old and you know, maybe
but I would have to beconvinced, right? Because I'm
pretty smart. And I don't justsay that, you know, because I'm
older. I just like I'm smarterthan the average person, right?
But everybody can bring value tome and it's just a matter of

(09:59):
being able to see And hear it?
And maybe if I think thatthere's a possibility there to
ask them some questions, youknow, but I always take it from
if I were on their side, lookingat me and what I have to offer,
how would I react to that, andthen try to be proactive about
it, you know, frame it, where Ijust say, look, I look young, or
I even told, you know, this ishow old I am. This is why I

(10:20):
think I'm experienced, or theseare the, you know, situations
that I've been in. You know, I'mearly, early, early on, I'm a
hard worker, I'm diligent,there's really honestly, nothing
that I can't do. Because if Idon't know what now I'll figure
it out. And that's what reallywas the successful part. You
know, I couldn't figure it out.

Carl Grant (10:41):
Yeah, so So, in the business, I'm in where I, I help
emerging startup companies, Ihave to, I meet with college
students, you know, I have tobecause the, the ideas and the
risk comes a lot of times at avery young age. And so I have to
take people who are younger thanmy kids very seriously. And I
do. And so I can relate to a lotof what you're saying. So one of

(11:03):
the things I noticed about you,Andy, the moment we started
talking is that you are veryrelatable. And I don't know if
that is a chemistry that I havewith you. Or if you are able to
pull that off with everyone youmeet with but but you seem like
you click instantly with people,do you find that's just a gift
that you have? Or is thatsomething unique that I'm

(11:25):
experiencing?

Andie Monet (11:26):
You know, it's always so embarrassing to talk
about myself sometimes, but butthat I've heard many, many, many
times. And I am blessed to beable to do that. Because I
didn't really know that thatwas, that was one of the things
I figured out over the yearsthat it only, you know, 20 years
later, 20 years into it. I waslike, Oh, I guess if people keep

(11:46):
saying it, I must be good at it.
But I think that it really comesfrom the fact that, you know, my
mother had some mentalchallenges. You know, she told
me at five years old that I hadto grow up. And at 16, she
abandoned me. And so there's apart of me that, that took years
to struggle through feeling,wanted, or loved, or accepted.

(12:09):
And because I had to deal withthat, personally, it's really
important for me to have otherpeople feel comfortable spending
time with me, not because Ineeded but because I know what
it's like to not feel connected,right. And that's really,
really, really important,important part of me as a

(12:31):
person, but of course, me and mybusiness as well.

Carl Grant (12:36):
So you've mentioned blessed several times now, and I
can't ignore that, because noteverybody talks with that lingo.
So tell me about the blessingsin your life and where they come
from?

Andie Monet (12:48):
Well, in only a very short period of time, I
honestly feel like you know, thechallenges that we have in our
lives, no matter how tragic ordifficult they are that that
were protected by the Lord andthat they're there to help build
us as people. And one of thebooks that I'm writing right

(13:11):
now, which hopefully will be outby the end of the year, is how
our trials and our struggleshelp us become the superhero
that we are. And because I wasabandoned at 16. And there were
so many things that my momactually did prepare me for. And
I do think that my mother is ablessing that she made me the

(13:32):
successful person that I amtoday. But you have to be able
to look at that. Look atyourself in the mirror and be
honest and be open to thepossibility of even
acknowledging that the crazinessthat happened in some people's
lives, whether your parents oryour school, or whatever happens
in your life can actually be awonderful, wonderful gift. And

(13:53):
once you change your yourperspective to even consider
that option. life becomes anamazing and amazing miracle and
blessing and adventure.

Carl Grant (14:04):
And if somebody wants to do business with you,
and to reach you, how can theyfind you?

Andie Monet (14:10):
Well, the best way I think is to email me which is
Andy s s d hyphen, i n t l COMMBut you can also go to my
website, I have a personalwebsite and the business website
but I like people going to mypersonal website because it kind
of tells you a little bit aboutme as a person. And that's just
my name. So it's www dot Andymonet.com which is a n di e mo n

(14:37):
e t calm.

Carl Grant (14:39):
Well, Andy, I really appreciate you doing the show
today. I can tell you a littlebit of time we've gotten to know
each other. I think your lifeexperiences and your approach to
what you do have made you abeautiful human being inside and
out. And I appreciate you takingthe time to talk with us today.

(14:59):
And I would like to encourageour listeners if you like what
you heard today and pleasesubscribe, please rate the
podcast and share it with yourfriends. Thank you so much,
Andy.

Andie Monet (15:09):
Thanks What a pleasure to speak with you.
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