May 21, 2025 • 47 mins
Ann Carden shares her remarkable journey from childhood entrepreneur to successful business coach, revealing how she built and sold five businesses across multiple industries. Her story demonstrates the power of premium offers and strategic delegation for business growth and financial success.
• Started entrepreneurial journey at age seven running craft classes in her basement
• Grew up watching her father's success as a real estate entrepreneur
• Built a global handmade doll business that went international before the internet
• Created a manufacturing system with other moms to scale production
• Pivoted to fitness after selling her craft business, eventually building multiple health clubs
• Developed "Body Blast" as a premium offering that became a million-dollar revenue generator
• Sold her fitness businesses to focus on coaching other entrepreneurs
• Currently runs two businesses: high-end business coaching and a media/marketing agency
• Advocates for premium pricing strategy rather than traditional funnel approach
• Recommends letting go of tasks that don't require your expertise to scale effectively
• Believes in creating abundance while making a positive impact on others' lives
http://www.expertinyoumagazine.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yeah, it's Mindset Cafe.
We all about that mindset.
Gotta stay focused.
Now go settle for the last.
It's all in your head how youthink you manifest.
So get ready to rise, cause weabout to be the best.
Gotta switch it up.
Gotta break the old habits.
Get your mind right.
Turn your dreams into habits.
No negative vibes, onlypositive vibes.
What is up, guys?
(00:21):
Welcome to another episode ofthe Mindset Cafe podcast.
It's your boy, devin, and weare honored to be joined by a
true powerhouse in both businessgrowth, marketing and sales.
I want to welcome to the showAnn Cardin.
Honestly, her resume speaks foritself.
I don't want to give too muchof her backstory.
(00:42):
I want her to do that.
It always comes better from thesource, but she's had a few
decades of experience.
I don't want to give too muchof her backstory and I want her
to do that.
It always comes better from thesource, but she's had a few
decades of experience.
I don't want to put a number onit, but a few decades in
experience in business building,really having a high impact in
the marketing sector andunderstanding sales strategy.
So with that, we're going totie all that into the
(01:03):
entrepreneurial mindset andreally dive into her story, but
without further ado.
Anne, thank you so much forbeing on.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Hey Devin, Thanks so much for having me.
It's my honor.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
So let's dive in.
I always like to start withpeople's upbringing and kind of
see where that entrepreneurialside came from and so forth and
how the mindset was developed.
So if you could just kind ofgive us a little backstory on
you and so forth and how themindset was developed.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
So if you just kind of give us a little backstory on
you, yeah, my first business itwasn't a business, but my first
opportunity to make my ownmoney I was about seven or eight
years old, believe it or not,and I found a way to make money
in my neighborhood and ran somecraft classes in my basement and
charged kids to show them howto make these paper mache
balloons and it's really funny,that came out on a podcast one
(01:46):
day.
I didn't even realize that Iwas that young when I started
learning how to kind of make myown money, but as a kid my dad
was an entrepreneur and alwayshad his own business and so as a
kid I guess subconsciously Imaybe kind of picked up on that
or learned that, but I alwaysfound ways to make my own money.
I was always selling things Iwould find.
(02:07):
Back then not sharing my agehere but back then we had to
sell things like Christmas cardsand flower seeds and vegetable
seeds and things like that andgo door to door.
And then I sold Girl Scoutcookies and so I just kind of
learned that whole marketing andsales route and and I went the
corporate route after school andyou know, went to college and
(02:31):
went the corporate route and wasdoing business management for
about 13 years in retail for apretty big company, and then I
left that to be a stay at homemom and we struggled financially
with my husband's paycheck.
It wasn't enough and I, out offinancial hardship, started my
first like real business.
So that was, that was thejourney.
(02:52):
Since then I'm on my seventhbusiness.
I've sold five previous, I havetwo right now and, yeah, that's
the path.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
That is amazing.
And I do want to say somethingyou kind of were saying from
your backstory too.
I got to say the best strategythat I've seen is these Girl
Scout cookies.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
I was a leader in selling Girl Scout cookies.
Let me tell you are crazy andone.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
They are like crazy good too, but just the amount
that they sell every single yearand stuff like that.
That strategy is justimpressive.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Yeah, now they actually set up tables in front
of stores and things like that.
But we were never allowed to dothat back in the day.
We had to go literally had togo door to door and just sell to
friends and family andneighbors, and back then you
could go door to door and itwasn't a big deal People bought
from you.
But you know, I part of thewhole sales thing is I was
always just really excited aboutwhat I was selling and I think
(03:54):
that just came through.
And even when I startedbuilding businesses I was always
passionate about what I wasdoing and so that enthusiasm
just came through and it was areally natural thing for me and
so that enthusiasm just camethrough and it was a really
natural thing for me.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
No, that is so awesome.
So I mean you coming up with anentrepreneurial dad you know
what kind of impact I mean,because a lot of people don't
get that experience, you know,and myself included.
But what impact do you thinkthat that had on you?
You know, understanding thatyou don't have to have a job,
that you can, you know, createyour own way in life.
(04:27):
Do you think that really shapedyour entrepreneurial drive?
Do you think it, you know, ledfrom your growth, from, you know
, corporate, to to open up morebusinesses?
I mean, five sold two open, soit was crazy.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
I, you know, I think subconsciously it does things
for you when you're growing upas a kid, you're not really
thinking about that.
I never really thought about itso much.
I mean, yes, my dad had abusiness, and the one thing that
I will say I think reallyshaped things for me is I would
say that we were always probablyupper middle class and I saw my
(05:03):
dad make money and we hadthings not to sound arrogant or
anything, but we had things thatI did not see other people have
, and he always had fairly newcars and we had a boat and we
had a cabin and we had nicehomes and I really grew up.
I had such a great childhood.
(05:24):
I wasn't a spoiled kid by anymeans, but I did see that my dad
, because he had his ownbusiness, we were able to have
things that I didn't see otherfamilies have.
So I think, subconsciously,that I probably kind of took
that in, like there's biggeropportunity when you have your
(05:44):
own business, when you're doingyour own thing.
I don't think I really thoughtabout it, though, as a kid.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
What kind of business did he have, did you say?
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Did he have?
Yeah, he was in real estate foryears, so he ran a real estate
company for many years, but evenbefore that, before he started
his real estate company, healways was in some kind of sales
working for himself.
So he always was selling somekind of a product or something
where, and he was a go-getter hewas driven.
(06:15):
The other thing I did see thatI think really, he instilled a
work ethic in us that I don'tthink a lot of kids grow up with
.
I saw him work really hard,especially.
I remember more the real estatebecause I was older at that
point, and I remember, though hewould leave on the weekends to
go show homes and go.
You know, he was just, he wasvery engaged as a dad, but he
(06:39):
also worked really, really hardand I saw that and I saw, and so
I did really acquire that workethic.
And even from a young age Istarted serving in restaurants
and you know there's nothingthat will get you in front of
people and learning customerservice and and all of that like
(07:00):
serving in a restaurant.
I mean that will, that will doit.
So I did that from the time Iwas 14 and I learned how to work
really hard.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
So no, that's, I mean , that's awesome and I think
that does.
You know, maybe it didn't giveyou the direct like
entrepreneurial bug, but beingan entrepreneur, like you said,
that drive and that you knowwork ethic is a different.
It's a whole different ballgame.
And so I do wanna take a stepinto what was that first initial
(07:29):
?
Like the businesses, otherbusinesses, you sold.
What was that first pivot foryou?
Opening your business andrealizing that you can do this,
you can scale it and thenmultiplying it.
Number two, number three, likewhat were those mindset shifts
for you?
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Yeah, it's so interesting.
Now this will really date me.
But that very first business Iwas a stay at home mom and we
didn't have the internet and Ididn't have all the things we
have available today.
So I was looking for a way tomake money and I was pretty
crafty and I knew how to makethings in.
The craft industry wasexploding across the country and
I thought, well, I'm going to,I'm going to see if I can make
(08:07):
some craft items.
Well, long story short, thatbusiness went global before the
internet and I did that the oldfashion way advertising and
international magazines but Ikind of was running a
manufacturing company out of myhome and the one thing that I
learned is okay, if you're goingto grow this, if you're really
going to scale this, I didn'tthink scale at the time.
(08:28):
I thought grow.
If you're really going to growthis, you can't do this by
yourself.
Because I was making every doll.
I was doing every piece of thatdoll, all of it, and so I
quickly realized, okay, I needsome help, and I hired a whole
bunch of other moms to dodifferent parts for me, and so
it was almost like amanufacturing company, like I
(08:49):
had somebody that stuffed allparts and I had somebody that
cut dresses, you know, cut theclothes for me and and so people
were doing different things.
I had moms coming in and out ofmy home.
The cool thing about that was itdidn't just help my family, I
was able to help other familiesand I was able to help have a
lot of other moms make incomewhile they were staying home
with their kids.
But for that, you know, backthen this was again about 35
(09:12):
years ago I had I was makingover six figures in income 35
years ago, running this out ofmy home, which was really
unheard of.
I mean, you that was just now,that's nothing, but back then
that was that was a lot.
But yeah, I was in storesacross the country and I
remember the day I got a shipinto Iceland.
(09:35):
I thought that was pretty cool,call for you know, people had
to call you on the phone.
So but the mindset in that,quickly realizing I could not do
it all on my own and if I wasgoing to really grow it and
really make any kind of money atdoing that business, I had to
have help.
So that was probably the firstthing that I realized very, very
(09:55):
early on.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
No, and I think that is such a big lesson too,
because you start your firstbusiness, you're the one making
it and you realize that you'rethe bottleneck to the growth and
then, all of a sudden, you haveto hand over the reins
partially, and I can say formyself with my gym and when we
hired our first employee,especially our second employee,
(10:18):
and I had to hand over the reinsa little bit more.
It's like you, you have thisinternal battle, right, it's
like you have to teach thesepeople how to do this, but you
know that you could do it inyour mind better, right, and
sometimes it is only in yourmind.
It's really, it's the same exactthing, but or a problem happens
and you're like I'll just fixit, you know, instead of
(10:45):
teaching them how to fix itRight, and so, like that's that
first lesson, believe me, Ilearned that same one and it was
like once you, once you let goa little bit, you're you know,
instead of white knuckling thebusiness, it's like you can, you
can all of a sudden breathe alittle bit more and you realize
that the team essentially likecause you created what's really
cool, is like before theinternet, before everything.
Like you know a lot of moms.
I remember my mom that shewould, they would go to like
either book clubs or likeTupperware, party things and
(11:07):
whatever.
And you were creating thislittle business.
You know network club thing.
You know with the local moms,which is cool Cause they all got
to communicate.
You know, hang out with eachother, work and do stuff
together.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Actually, no, we didn't do any of that.
No, I was a company, I was no.
They were coming in and out andnone of them knew each other.
They were all just different.
You know, they, I, they werejust moms.
I knew and I would say, hey, doyou want to help with this?
And so no, they there was.
There wasn't a club to it atall.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
No, yeah, no, I get that part.
I didn't mean club in thatsense.
I meant club in the sense oflike it more of a community
style where it's like they areemployees, right and everything,
and they're still doing that,but at the same time, I'm sure
that you had more than one momin your home working right yeah,
really, at different times.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
And a lot of times when I say coming and going,
they were picking things up,dropping things off.
So once in a while I would havesomebody in my home working, but
that was not very often, yeah,so it was very different because
I, you know, I didn't reallyhave the space to to do that,
but I was really still running amanufacturing company out of my
home.
(12:17):
It's just they were takingthings back to their house,
doing it, bringing it back.
So there was there were takingthings back to their house,
doing it, bringing it back.
So there were there wereconstantly moms coming and going
, yeah, so that was my, mymisunderstanding, because I
heard manufacturing at home andI was like, oh, that's crazy.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
You know, I completely get what you mean now
.
So I mean you took it global,which is that's impressive at
even in today's day and age,right, but you did that before
the internet and everything likethat Like you.
So what, what gave you the ideato start?
Just you know marketing in youknow international magazines
(12:51):
Like why did you want to goglobal versus just a national
like what was that whole youknow decision?
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Yeah, so I, you know, I I think things just kind of
evolve and I don't even reallyremember exactly where I got
that idea or how that happened.
But there was an internationalmagazine called Country Sampler
and it was the number one craftmagazine and it was kind of like
all the major real, the realcrafters were in that and so it
(13:18):
was.
It wasn't it was so expensiveto advertise in that, but I was
in stores already across thecountry.
There were a lot of craftstores and so I could be in
stores all across the country,rented space in those stores and
and then I got the idea to goahead and advertise in that
magazine and that was the thingthat really took it global.
(13:40):
But boy, back then I mean thecost, the expense of that I
would tell people, you know thatthat ad would cost about $1,500
back then, for you know, likean eight page ad or a quarter
page ad, and you would alreadybe three issues in paying for
three issues before you everfound out if that ad was going
to pull.
(14:00):
So it was so expensive to dothat.
But you know, my dolls ended upon the cover of the magazine.
You couldn't buy the cover,they had to be selected out of
1000s of crafters.
So that was a pretty coolmilestone for me.
But I think it just evolved.
I, you know, as I wanted tokeep growing and doing things.
That was just kind of a natural, natural progression.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
No, that's so awesome .
Please tell me you have atleast one of the magazines with
your dolls on the cover.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
I have it somewhere.
Okay 30 years ago I do.
I did keep it.
Yeah, I did keep it and andeventually I went into the
pattern piece of my business.
The market was kind of shiftingand so I started design and I
did all my own doll designs andso that was the thing that made
them very unique.
They were signed, they werenumbered and I did my.
(14:52):
I had a collection, so to speak.
So I would have people waitingfor the next set of dolls to
come out.
And I remember the lady thatcalled from Iceland.
It was really kind of cool youwouldn't think old dolls could
impact somebody.
But I remember when she calledshe said her husband was in the
service and she traveled arounda lot and she said that those
(15:12):
dolls gave her so much happinessand comfort because she felt so
lonely which almost chokes meup now, which sounds so crazy.
But she said I just wait for thenext ones to come out because I
just I just love them and I'm,I just surround myself with them
and and I just thought that was, that was a really cool thing.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
So yeah, that is, that is an awesome thing.
That's not even cool, that'samazing.
That's such a, that's such alike a proud moment as a
business owner when someone cantell you that and and maybe for
not even you to have thatrealization and tell someone
said that you know, that's soawesome.
But I could say from adifferent standpoint and I could
(15:51):
see where, like that craze orthat, like you know, limited
line drops and stuff like, doyou remember, like back in the
day with Beanie Babies?
Yeah, yeah absolutely, and Iknow some of those ones were
like numbered and stuff likethat, and I remember having
friends like where their momscollected them, like there was a
wall and you couldn't touch thewall and I was like I was like
that's, I was like that's crazy,you know.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Yeah, and it was you know that that was what it was.
I had a.
I had a line that was a Noah'sArk line.
So I was doing and I had tigersand I kept adding to the
collection and so I would havepeople that would collect them,
which was super crazy.
But yeah, I mean, gosh, it's so.
It's so crazy to think aboutthat and I'd kind of forgotten
that story.
(16:29):
But yeah, you know it was, itwas, it was a lot of work.
So eventually I went into thepattern side of things and then
I was rinse and repeat.
Right, I was just creatingpatterns and designing, which I
did love the designing, but Ihated the pattern part.
It was so boring.
And so when I finally sold thatbusiness, when I decided to get
out and exit, I was able tosell my designs and sell my
(16:52):
patterns, which I did keep themjust to have, but started
selling them so other peoplecould make my dolls and I didn't
have to make them anymore.
So, yeah, that was that wasanother way to scale too.
It was another revenue streamfor me as well.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
So yeah, that's I mean.
That was going to be part of mynext question.
Was that exit process, right?
What I mean?
What was the decision like?
Why did you want to sell?
And then from there, what wasthat you know?
Now you're fully letting go ofthe reins.
Yeah, when you sell, like, whatwas that you know?
Mindset process.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Honestly, I was kind of over it.
I had been doing it seven years.
It was a lot of work and youknow, again, I had a lot of
people that were working for meand it was it was still pretty
labor intensive, even though andI was doing, you know, craft
shows and going and doing thingslike that and always traveling
to the stores to and andshipping like UPS was coming to
(17:46):
my house every day shipping bigboxes, and you know I just got
tired of it after a while.
And then, when the marketstarted changing and a lot of
things were being imported and Iwent into the pattern side of
it, it was another revenuestream, but I also saw a shift
in the market where it wasalmost I almost couldn't buy the
stuff to make my dolls as cheapas now the imports, like from
(18:08):
China and some of those placeswere coming in.
So I saw the market changingand evolving, just like it does
in anything, and that was thereason I kind of went into the
pattern side of things.
Once I did that, though, Ididn't love the pattern side and
I did still see the marketchanging and turning and I
thought this is my time to getout.
(18:29):
So I had the opportunity tosell and I didn't know what my
next thing would be, whichyou'll probably ask, because I
don't think you knew what mynext thing was, which was
fitness, and so, anyways, I madethe decision to sell, that I
had no idea what I was going todo beyond that it was.
It was tough.
(18:50):
It was a tough decision, but Ialso was finished like I was
done.
I was really tired of it.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
So so what when you did sell?
How long was that break inbetween the business number one
and finding out what you want todo for business number two?
Speaker 2 (19:06):
I wish I could tell you for sure, because I don't
really remember but what didtranspire?
That is, I had gained a lot ofweight in that first business
because it was fairly sedentaryand I never had a weight problem
in my whole life, and so I wasat this kind of crossroads where
I wasn't happy.
I wasn't happy with myself.
By this point my kids were inschool and I thought I don't
(19:29):
know what my next thing is goingto be, but I do know that I
need to get in shape and I needto take better care of myself.
And I didn't feel good.
I you know, I just, I wouldeven say I felt a bit depressed.
It was kind of selling thatbusiness and not knowing what my
next thing was going to be.
So I started, I really jumpedinto fitness and loved it, fell
(19:50):
in love with it, got in the bestshape of my life and I had.
I decided I was going to, like,become a trainer and I had, you
know, become a fitnessinstructor, learn about
nutrition.
And I had, you know, become afitness instructor, learn about
nutrition.
So I had to and you're going tolaugh I had to actually send
away four books to learn all ofthis stuff and get certified and
(20:10):
all of that.
And I had binders I probablystill have them, they were like
this thick that got shipped tomy house and had to learn all of
that stuff and I startedteaching fitness classes.
I didn't even really think aboutit being a business, as much as
I felt so good and I was in thebest shape of my life and I
thought I want to help othermoms feel this good and at that
(20:31):
time there were not a lot ofhealth, there weren't health
clubs and things around so much.
So I decided to start teachingfitness classes in a community
hall.
Long story short, fivelocations later I have this huge
health club.
Now I open a weight loss center, then I open a second health
club in a second.
So I'm running four businessesat one time and was able to sell
(20:53):
all of those, which was amazing.
But I was in fitness andnutrition for 20 years.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Oh, wow, I mean that's a huge accomplishment.
One, to open multiple locations, but two, it just shows you,
like you know, rewinding to whatwe said in the beginning, like
the work ethic of your dad andeverything like that really set
a tone for you know, yourmindset, your work ethic, but
(21:19):
also you having that thataccomplishment of building that
first business like that wasn'teasy, you know to to grow to
what you did grow to, and so,like that bug of that work bug
and that drive doesn't go away.
I can say even from fromexample, like COVID hit and most
people are super happy aboutstaying home Like it was driving
me nuts.
Like I, I like to be doingthings.
(21:41):
Like I built an, an online mealplan company and I didn't even
send meals, I didn't make meals,but I built that up just to do
something, you know, and there'slike and so.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
I wish I would have had all this available when I
was doing fitness and um.
It would have been a gamechanger, yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
So I mean you, you have these different health
clubs and you have, you know,the gyms and everything like
that.
Why did you decide to sellthose and to pivot from there?
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Yeah.
So you know, I built a programso when I was teaching classes
in a community hall and that,the thing that really kind of
helped me grow which is still amodel that I use today in my
business One of the things thatreally helped me grow is I
created a premium offer.
I created a program called bodyblast back then and it it had
(22:30):
its own brand and it became amillion dollar offer for me.
And back then again that waskind of crazy to think about,
but that one little programliterally put me on the map.
I mean we would have a waitinglist for people that wanted to
do that program, but it was alsoa premium price.
It was, you know, like fourtimes what my health club fees
were.
And so because of that itcombined and this is not even I
(22:53):
mean now it's so common it'sridiculous to even talk about
that it combined fitness andnutrition.
So people got amazing resultsfrom it and I would have people
that would travel literally 30miles to come to my body blast
and they would carpool to mybody blast.
And it was through that that Ikept expanding my location.
(23:14):
I just kept, I bootstrapped, Ikept expanding as I had the
money.
And then eventually, when Imoved into my larger location,
which was 16,000 square feet,and we put in, you know we had
everything from a spa to, youknow, the weight loss center, to
an indoor track, to you know,all the kind of the amenities.
(23:36):
But I was in a small town too,so we were still kind of limited
on what we could do, but thatone thing really helped it grow
and, you know, just reallyhelped it continue to expand and
yeah, so I think I forgot yourquestion.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
No, no, no, no.
So I mean that answered a lotof it.
But what was that point thatyou know you wanted to sell
those businesses?
Oh, that's why that was yourquestion.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Yeah, it's been a long day.
I think you're my third podcasttoday.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
I got you.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
Yeah, you know, I was running four of them at the
same time and even though I hadstaff and I had team in both of
those locations, I still wasdoing a lot with those, you know
, with those businesses and thebusinesses.
So one of the weight losscenters and one of the health
clubs actually I I knew I wasgoing to sell that at some point
.
As I continued to grow andinvest back into that business.
(24:30):
I really looked at that like,wow, this could, as this thing's
really getting big, this couldbe a retire kind of a retirement
plan like this.
By by this time I'm gettingolder and I'm thinking this
could really be a nice littlenest egg, you know.
So that became part of my gameplan was to sell those.
(24:50):
Then, when I opened the othertwo, I thought, okay, I'm going
to sell these two and I want tokind of downsize and go more.
A high-end training center,which was what my second club
was, and I want to have theweight loss too.
And so I was running, but I wasstill running all four at one
time and then it got to be somuch I'm like, okay, I need to
(25:10):
let go of the big ones.
I had a buyer.
It's somebody that was veryinterested in taking it over and
making a good offer.
So it was a little hard to notsay yes to that.
And I already had the other two.
So I wasn't really giving up onwhat I still loved, but I was
just sort of making a shift andkind of uh kind of letting go of
(25:31):
a lot of the work.
For me it was like okay,getting some freedom back into
my life, and, um, so I, I didthe other two and and then I
quit doing those.
I decided to sell those twowhen I worked with a business
coach in my last two businessesand it was so impactful for my
business and I thought, oh mygosh, this is my next thing.
(25:53):
I want to take everything I'velearned and I want to help other
people in their business,people in their business.
And I stepped into businesscoaching and it took off and I
was like I don't want to dothese clubs anymore.
I don't, I want to go intocoach, I want to go full-time
into coaching, and so that waswhen I made the decision to sell
those other two.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
No, that's so awesome and I love the fact that, like
you're, you know you going intocoaching because, even like,
when we launched our franchisemodel or side of the business,
like I, hired a mentor and acoach who launched, built his
own franchise, scaled it andthen, you know, has walked the
(26:34):
walk is so crucial there.
I mean now in today's day andage, like a lot of coaches are
just a coach and that is theirbusiness.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Don't get me started.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
And so but honestly, but honestly, like that was one
of the things, like when I waslooking into your, into your,
your background and everythinglike that, because I mean
there's so many coaches quoteunquote that want to come on the
show and that, sorry, like Ican't.
I've interviewed a couple andit's the same talk every single
time and it's like you've nevereven walked this walk.
You don't know what's on theother side.
And the same thing for personaltrainers.
(27:07):
There's every.
Every one of their mom is apersonal trainer now, but a
little, you know, small amountof them actually have done the
work, understand the schooling,got certified, you know, like
yourself and like myself, andit's a completely different you
know world.
So now you got into coachingright and you're seeing that
blow up.
I'm assuming that's still oneof the businesses you currently
(27:28):
have right.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Yeah, it actually is.
I help coaches, consultants,professional entrepreneurs
really grow high-end businesses.
So they're working with reallypremium clients.
That's where I'm very differentfrom a lot of the market.
A lot of the market go thefunnel route and I help people
work at the really top end oftheir market so bringing in
(27:50):
really really high-end clients.
An example one of myconsultants you know closed a
$400,000 deal, so that was, youknow, so working kind of at that
level, so like minimum fees formost of my clients that they
get is like $25,000 and up fromthere.
So but that's one of the thingsthat makes it different.
(28:13):
But then I also have my mediaand agency side, my media and
marketing agency expert in you,and that is where I'm starting
to really build that out becausethat will be an exit strategy
for me as well.
So I kind of have two sides.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
Okay, so then the marketing side, you're building
it to exit eventually, but thenthe coaching is something that
you're going to most likely keepbecause I mean, at the end of
the day, you are the coach,right?
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Yeah, I am the coach and I do really still love it.
The interesting the marketingand media side, though, really
came naturally.
So I was already helping peoplebuild their influence in the
market, build up their brandthat was part of their marketing
build out their marketingstrategies, their sales
strategies, and so Expert In youkind of became my brand, and I,
(29:01):
you know, I wrote a book aroundthat and everything.
And then, as I started buildingthat, I wanted to be able to
offer the services and not say,okay, you need to start a
podcast, but go over here and gofind somebody to do that for
you.
And what I found is I wassending my clients away to go
get their book written, to goget featured in the media, to
(29:24):
get their podcast launched, andI was sending them other places
and I thought, okay, this is notleveraging what I can do.
And so I started building myteam, and so now I have a team.
We can write their book, we canget them featured in the media,
we can launch their podcast, wecan do their content.
So I have a good size team thatcan do all those pieces for
(29:46):
them, and it was just a naturalfit.
So now that's starting to kindof take off on its own.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
No, that's amazing and I think that that will scale
.
I mean, you already have abackground in it.
You've gone above and beyondand have been able to scale and
the proof is in the pudding ofwhat you've done.
It's like I already know thatside is going to be an amazing
exit strategy for you as well.
I mean, I've known plenty ofentrepreneurs, whether they're
(30:15):
still an entrepreneur or not,and the side that people I feel
like get kind of strung up on isthe sales, is the marketing.
You know, because they have thecard that says I'm an
entrepreneur now but there'sstill that side of the coin that
you do need to sell and learnand continue to grow on your
sales and understand thatmarketing is an ever changing
(30:35):
game.
How can they shift theirmindset to embrace the sales and
marketing aspect of theirbusiness?
Speaker 2 (30:42):
I think a lot of them .
They get very confused.
There's a lack of clarityaround what they should do, and
so one of the reasons I kind ofstarted it is because I went
down some of the wrong paths,especially when I came online
and started working, when I wasout there working with small
business owners and I wasspeaking on stages and I was
(31:03):
networking and I was meetingsmall business owners.
That's how I got my firstclient.
So I've actually coached inover 80 industries.
But when I came online and Istarted working with coaches and
consultants, the game wasdifferent.
Right, everybody was taughtfunnels, everybody was taught,
you know, start something lowticket and then ascend people.
And I just after doing that, itwasn't working for me and I was
(31:26):
bringing in the wrong clientsand I thought I need to figure
this out.
So I think the first thing Iwould say is you've got to
figure it out.
You cannot, you can't doanything really with your
business if you don't sort oftake that attitude.
And for me, I had to really goback to my roots, like Ann,
(31:46):
what's worked for you in thepast, like what's really helped
you grow.
And it goes back to what Ishared about.
I had a premium offer, an offerthat was higher than you know
those low gym fees right, thoselow, those low fees and it was
it attracted like the doctorsand the lawyers, and I coach,
you know, I train the mayor andyou know all these higher level
(32:10):
people.
And so I started looking at thatand I thought that's what's
missing in this business and Ihad to shift my marketing and I
had to learn that.
So I think for a lot of peoplethere's confusion and they go
that sort of funnel route wherethey're trying to sell something
really low and they burn outand they and it takes a lot of
(32:32):
volume and it's.
It's just a tough businessmodel.
But you have to have themindset of look, that is the
business.
Until you get it to a placewhere you can pay other people
to do that for you and you'vegot working systems, you've, you
know how to market, you knowhow to sell.
Now you can scale that and givethat to other people and train
(32:55):
other people.
You have to learn it foryourself.
You just do.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
No, I agree, and I think that I mean I like your,
your take on like the havingthat, the premium, because
there's there's two sides of thecoin of like when you're
selling right, you could buy aG-Shock watch right, which I
believe, believe me, I haveplenty of them and I love them
but also then you know, peoplebuy Rolexes right and it's like
(33:20):
there's a market for both.
So not every business model hasto start that funnel approach
because if you're only leadingin with that, that free offer or
the you know, buy this and geta crazy discount, your clientele
that you're hoping to get mightnot be even interested in those
kinds of offers.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
They won't be to start yet, right.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
And then it's like not to say that you can't have
the full staircase of of offersbut even for like us, like with
our gym, like we're not thecheapest, we're not the most
expensive, but it's like this isour offer.
We don't discount our offer,you know, and and devalue the,
the value.
You know we'll do otherincentives and so forth, but the
(34:03):
value of the membership isstill the membership, like
that's the one thing we don'tnegotiate.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
Yes, and you know, here's the thing If people
really did the math, if theyreally did the math and I
actually did this at one pointwhen I had my gyms I did the
math.
Okay, what is my premium offerbringing in and what is the what
number one, what's the overheadof that which was so minimal?
And then what is the overheadof my volume offer?
(34:29):
And I would have had toliterally lose like three
quarters of my members to offsetwhat I was making on the
premium.
So when you think about apremium business, it's, it's a
top-down approach.
Everything becomes.
So you start high and theneverything becomes you know,
you're, you're next year down,it becomes, they become down
(34:51):
cells.
Like we would use that premiumoffer, they would come in for
the body blast and then we wouldsell them a gym membership to
keep them, so that you knowkeeping that, that reoccurring
revenue.
But it's, it's a very differentapproach.
But if you really do the mathand think about it, you're
working.
It's higher profitability, ittakes less team, it's less I
(35:11):
mean, it's just less management.
It's an easier, easier modeland a lot of people this really
kind of kills me like in thecoaching and consulting space,
people that are real experts,like maybe they come from
corporate and they've been a CEOand now I see them selling
something like a littlemembership site or like a little
course and I'm like what?
(35:32):
That is just nuts, right,people would be paying you to be
, like you know, an outsourceCEO.
And so I see these real expertswho are devaluing what they do
and it's kind of it's reallykind of heartbreaking.
But it's because they fall intosort of that funnel kind of
(35:52):
idea.
And you see a lot of highticket stuff out there too,
people talking high ticket andthey're talking about a few
thousand dollars.
I don't lot of high ticketstuff out there too, people
talking high ticket and they'retalking about a few thousand
dollars.
I don't call that high ticket atall, but it really is about
understanding the value youbring to the market and then
building a business around that.
And that's where expert in youcame from.
It's like, okay, what's yourexpertise, let's build value
(36:13):
around that.
Speaker 1 (36:14):
No, I do agree with what you're saying too, cause,
like even for our franchiseadvisor I mean we paid you know
mid forties for for him and youknow, and we still get extra you
know advice, and he's on ouradvisory board and so forth but
if he would have sold a coursethat was $99, I would have been
like Nope, yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
You're not very good.
You're not.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
You're not my person and so he broke out the number
and I was like oof.
I was like that's expensive.
But I was like I talked to mybusiness partner.
I was like if we do this, wecan move some stuff around, we
can make it work.
And it was like the value wasthere.
He knows his value, but also Iknew his value, and so it was
(36:58):
like you make it work.
And so it's like that, thatfunnel approach again, it only
really works for certainindustries and certain things,
not for everything.
That's where I think a lot ofentrepreneurs get mixed up is
they're like oh, I need tocreate my free offer.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
It's like maybe maybe , maybe not just going after,
yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
Exactly and what your business model is right.
Speaker 2 (37:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
It's like that's huge for me and I love that you
bring that, you know style oftop-down kind of thing, because
a lot of businesses are reallymissing that especially in the
coaching industry.
They are yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
I see people.
They'll have these hugemembership sites or these huge
membership groups, you knowcommunities.
They'll have hundreds ofthousands of dollars and they're
still selling things low.
And I'm not saying there'sanything wrong with that,
because they've already built itright.
They've already built thevolume.
But I'm like you need to beteaching people how to do that
and charging a half a milliondollars.
(37:50):
I mean you need to teach peoplehow.
You built a multimillion dollarbusiness and you can still have
.
You still have all that.
You don't have to give that up.
But where are your half milliondollar offers?
Where are your million dollaroffers that you could be selling
?
Teaching people what you'vedone?
And people miss that part.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
I will say that is.
I've seen a few people now thatare doing that and it's almost
this.
I don't know, maybe it justrubs me the wrong way.
I love the idea if it's donethe right way, because, like now
I can tell, it's almost like areverse pyramid scheme kind of
thing and it's like no oneeveryone's getting brought in to
become a coach and so basicallythe bottom level people are the
(38:33):
only ones really servingclients and then, once you
upgrade a level, you start tocoach the first level of coaches
and then you move up a level.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
I'm not talking about that.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
Right, right, right.
But I'm saying that's a newermodel.
I'm starting to see where it'slike the top one or two people
are making seven, eight figures,but it's only because they have
this coaching pyramid systemdown.
I'm like I don't know about allthat.
Speaker 2 (38:56):
That's one way to build a business.
It's no different than you owna club and you bring in a lot of
trainers.
It's the same kind of thing,right?
You train them the way you wantto train them and they're
training your clients and yourdepend.
It's the same model.
It's really not a pyramid, it'sjust a way to build a business
where you're multiplyingyourself.
(39:22):
Here's what I don't love aboutthat model.
I've been in those kinds ofprograms and I think they just
suck.
I mean, I'm just going to sayit the way it is.
I just I think they're terriblebecause you don't get the
person that really knows whatthey're doing.
I've been in programs whereI've known more than the person
coaching me and that you'repaying big bucks for that and I
think that is out of integrityand that's why I absolutely
don't love that model.
But let's say, for example,someone has built a multimillion
(39:44):
dollar business, maybe they'vedone it with a Facebook
community and then they've gotall the ways that they've done
that.
They could be taking someonewho has the funds and show them
how they built, how they didthat and literally helped them
do it, and they could becharging that client a million
(40:04):
dollars, like one client andcoaching them.
And when you're coaching peopleat those high levels, you don't
need a lot of those clients,but I see a lot of people that
aren't even offering those kindsof offers.
So I'm not you're talking aboutscaling a different way.
I'm talking about where is yourpremium offer, where you're
taking, maybe, private clients,charging them, you know, a
(40:27):
million dollars, a half amillion dollars, and then
teaching them exactly what youdid and helping them get there.
And that is a very differentmodel, right?
No, I completely.
Speaker 1 (40:35):
I get it and that is a very different model, right?
No, I completely.
I get it.
It makes a lot of sense andactually the coaching thing does
make sense when you put it thatway.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
I don't know, maybe it was just, maybe it was just
the coach like, well, I wasgonna say it doesn't mean it's
good right it doesn't it doesn'tmean it's done well in a lot of
in a lot of businesses and tome there there's a lot where
they're just all about the moneyand they really don't care, and
that is, to me, that's out ofintegrity.
(41:03):
If you are responsible forpeople under you, you have other
people coaching.
I'm going to be watchingresults, I'm going to be looking
at that.
But yeah, I'm not a fan of thatkind of model.
I'm not a fan of big groupmodels, things like that.
That's why I just choose themodel that I have and I just
work at a higher level and Ionly work with so many clients.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
No, I agree, and I think that is smart of you to go
that route.
To me it's just more impactfulon a personal level for you and
for the client as well.
Yeah me, it's just moreimpactful on a personal level
for you and for the client aswell.
A question I do have is likewhat is the biggest, or what are
maybe a couple of the biggest,that growth strategies a
business owner that's feelingstuck could start to implement
(41:48):
or look at, to maybe start toshift their business?
Speaker 2 (41:53):
The one thing I would say is you have to go premium.
You have to have some kind of ahigh level premium offer that
that alone can grow yourbusiness really, really fast.
If you've already validatedwhat you do and you're already
good and you get good results,that is a very easy next step
for you because you can, you cantalk about those results and
(42:17):
people will pay you really goodmoney.
Here's an example.
I'm just going to throw thisout If I can help you literally
and for real, if I could helpyou bring in a $50,000 client in
the next two weeks, what wouldthat be worth to you?
$50,000.
Yeah, that would be a andthat's one client, right.
(42:38):
Once you learn how to do that,you can do it over and over and
over again.
So that's that's what I'mtalking about.
When you so when you developthat premium offer and you've
already got results and youalready have proven systems and
things like that, you canactually grow so much faster.
(42:58):
So that would be the firstgrowth strategy.
And that's what I learned whenI kind of said what, why am I
not loving this business?
Oh, wait, somewhere I went thisvolume route and this low end
route and I'm bringing in thewrong clients and I'm not
bringing in clients where I getto actually utilize my skills
because they're not ready forwhat I know, and so that was
(43:19):
where I learned that.
So that's one.
The second thing is you do haveto let go of things and you do
have to realize, even if youwant to do the main thing, I
still coach in my business, andso that's strange to a lot of
people, but I charge enough thatit's worth it for me to coach
in my business.
But there's all the other thingsI don't do, Like I don't book
(43:40):
my own podcast, I don't do myown editing, I don't.
You know, I do still do a lotof my content because obviously
it's part of my brand, butthere's so many things I do not
do.
I have people that that do alot of those things for me and I
get to do the stuff I love.
So that's the key and that canhelp you grow faster too, to let
(44:03):
go of a lot of the stuff thatreally holds you down and
bottlenecks you.
So I get to be the face of mybusiness.
I get to do the fun things, Iget to get out and speak and and
do my show and and all of that,and so I think those are the
two things I would say.
Speaker 1 (44:17):
No, those are.
That's awesome advice, and Ithink the delegation thing is
huge, as hard as it is, as hardas it is to to start, it is
definitely a huge thing.
I do want to ask a finalquestion, and I know I didn't
shoot this ahead of time becauseI want the first thing that
comes to mind, but what, andI'll and actually for you, I'm
going to give you a one thingyou can't use is the high ticket
(44:40):
, right, but this is the thelegacy wall, right, and I will
say it's not a tombstone, asmany times I say that people
still give me tombstone answersSometimes.
This is basically the legacywall and on this legacy wall you
can leave any lasting messagethat you've learned along your
journey, both inentrepreneurship and just in
(45:00):
life, right?
What would that message be forthe up and coming generations?
Speaker 2 (45:07):
When you oh gosh, let me think about this For me, I
want to be known as someone whomade a difference in the world,
but also had success along theway.
So, because I believe that wehave that opportunity, I believe
there's abundance, but you haveto come after about, you have
to go after abundance with theright heart and you have to
(45:30):
serve people and being able toserve thousands and thousands of
people through the yearsProbably a million people.
If I really look at all the um,the social media and all that
that I've done, um, I just feellike there's no, there's nothing
that's more rewarding to leavea legacy.
I want people to have goodthoughts and and how I impacted
their life when they think of me.
Speaker 1 (45:51):
I love that.
Where can people connect withyou and learn more about?
You know not only your coaching, but the marketing side and
everything that you got going on.
Speaker 2 (45:59):
Yeah, well, first of all, you can find me all over
social media, and I have aYouTube channel.
I'm on LinkedIn, facebook,instagram, so, but you can go to
my website at annlcardinthere's an L in the middle, com,
and you can, you know, get freeresources there.
You can see different thingsthat I offer and if you want to
(46:20):
book a call, you like anythingthat I'm talking about you can
book a call with me there.
Speaker 1 (46:24):
Awesome.
All that will be in the shownotes, guys.
So make sure you guys checkthat out.
Make sure you guys follow heron social media.
She puts out amazing content.
But make sure you guys sharethis episode with a friend,
right?
Help bring them up, becausehelping bring your circle up
only helps in having a rippleeffect and bringing yourself up
as well.
But without that even beingsaid, and taking a second again
just to say and thank you somuch for taking the time out of
(46:46):
your day being a busymulti-serial entrepreneur, thank
you so much for taking the timeout of your day to hop on the
Mindset Cafe.
Speaker 2 (46:53):
Thank you, it's been so much fun.
Yeah, it's Mindset Cafe.
We all about that mindset.
Gotta stay focused.
Now go settle for the last.
It's all in your head how youthink you manifest.
So get ready to rise, cause weabout to be the best.
Gotta switch it up.
Gotta break the old habits.
Get your mind right.
Turn your dreams into habits.
No negative vibes, onlypositive vibes.
What is up, guys?
(00:21):
Welcome to another episode ofthe Mindset Cafe podcast.
It's your boy, devin, and weare honored to be joined by a
true powerhouse in both businessgrowth, marketing and sales.
I want to welcome to the showAnn Cardin.
Honestly, her resume speaks foritself.
I don't want to give too muchof her backstory.
(00:42):
I want her to do that.
It always comes better from thesource, but she's had a few
decades of experience.
I don't want to give too muchof her backstory and I want her
to do that.
It always comes better from thesource, but she's had a few
decades of experience.
I don't want to put a number onit, but a few decades in
experience in business building,really having a high impact in
the marketing sector andunderstanding sales strategy.
So with that, we're going totie all that into the
(01:03):
entrepreneurial mindset andreally dive into her story, but
without further ado.
Anne, thank you so much forbeing on.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Hey Devin, Thanks so much for having me.
It's my honor.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
So let's dive in.
I always like to start withpeople's upbringing and kind of
see where that entrepreneurialside came from and so forth and
how the mindset was developed.
So if you could just kind ofgive us a little backstory on
you and so forth and how themindset was developed.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
So if you just kind of give us a little backstory on
you, yeah, my first business itwasn't a business, but my first
opportunity to make my ownmoney I was about seven or eight
years old, believe it or not,and I found a way to make money
in my neighborhood and ran somecraft classes in my basement and
charged kids to show them howto make these paper mache
balloons and it's really funny,that came out on a podcast one
(01:46):
day.
I didn't even realize that Iwas that young when I started
learning how to kind of make myown money, but as a kid my dad
was an entrepreneur and alwayshad his own business and so as a
kid I guess subconsciously Imaybe kind of picked up on that
or learned that, but I alwaysfound ways to make my own money.
I was always selling things Iwould find.
(02:07):
Back then not sharing my agehere but back then we had to
sell things like Christmas cardsand flower seeds and vegetable
seeds and things like that andgo door to door.
And then I sold Girl Scoutcookies and so I just kind of
learned that whole marketing andsales route and and I went the
corporate route after school andyou know, went to college and
(02:31):
went the corporate route and wasdoing business management for
about 13 years in retail for apretty big company, and then I
left that to be a stay at homemom and we struggled financially
with my husband's paycheck.
It wasn't enough and I, out offinancial hardship, started my
first like real business.
So that was, that was thejourney.
(02:52):
Since then I'm on my seventhbusiness.
I've sold five previous, I havetwo right now and, yeah, that's
the path.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
That is amazing.
And I do want to say somethingyou kind of were saying from
your backstory too.
I got to say the best strategythat I've seen is these Girl
Scout cookies.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
I was a leader in selling Girl Scout cookies.
Let me tell you are crazy andone.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
They are like crazy good too, but just the amount
that they sell every single yearand stuff like that.
That strategy is justimpressive.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Yeah, now they actually set up tables in front
of stores and things like that.
But we were never allowed to dothat back in the day.
We had to go literally had togo door to door and just sell to
friends and family andneighbors, and back then you
could go door to door and itwasn't a big deal People bought
from you.
But you know, I part of thewhole sales thing is I was
always just really excited aboutwhat I was selling and I think
(03:54):
that just came through.
And even when I startedbuilding businesses I was always
passionate about what I wasdoing and so that enthusiasm
just came through and it was areally natural thing for me and
so that enthusiasm just camethrough and it was a really
natural thing for me.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
No, that is so awesome.
So I mean you coming up with anentrepreneurial dad you know
what kind of impact I mean,because a lot of people don't
get that experience, you know,and myself included.
But what impact do you thinkthat that had on you?
You know, understanding thatyou don't have to have a job,
that you can, you know, createyour own way in life.
(04:27):
Do you think that really shapedyour entrepreneurial drive?
Do you think it, you know, ledfrom your growth, from, you know
, corporate, to to open up morebusinesses?
I mean, five sold two open, soit was crazy.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
I, you know, I think subconsciously it does things
for you when you're growing upas a kid, you're not really
thinking about that.
I never really thought about itso much.
I mean, yes, my dad had abusiness, and the one thing that
I will say I think reallyshaped things for me is I would
say that we were always probablyupper middle class and I saw my
(05:03):
dad make money and we hadthings not to sound arrogant or
anything, but we had things thatI did not see other people have
, and he always had fairly newcars and we had a boat and we
had a cabin and we had nicehomes and I really grew up.
I had such a great childhood.
(05:24):
I wasn't a spoiled kid by anymeans, but I did see that my dad
, because he had his ownbusiness, we were able to have
things that I didn't see otherfamilies have.
So I think, subconsciously,that I probably kind of took
that in, like there's biggeropportunity when you have your
(05:44):
own business, when you're doingyour own thing.
I don't think I really thoughtabout it, though, as a kid.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
What kind of business did he have, did you say?
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Did he have?
Yeah, he was in real estate foryears, so he ran a real estate
company for many years, but evenbefore that, before he started
his real estate company, healways was in some kind of sales
working for himself.
So he always was selling somekind of a product or something
where, and he was a go-getter hewas driven.
(06:15):
The other thing I did see thatI think really, he instilled a
work ethic in us that I don'tthink a lot of kids grow up with
.
I saw him work really hard,especially.
I remember more the real estatebecause I was older at that
point, and I remember, though hewould leave on the weekends to
go show homes and go.
You know, he was just, he wasvery engaged as a dad, but he
(06:39):
also worked really, really hardand I saw that and I saw, and so
I did really acquire that workethic.
And even from a young age Istarted serving in restaurants
and you know there's nothingthat will get you in front of
people and learning customerservice and and all of that like
(07:00):
serving in a restaurant.
I mean that will, that will doit.
So I did that from the time Iwas 14 and I learned how to work
really hard.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
So no, that's, I mean , that's awesome and I think
that does.
You know, maybe it didn't giveyou the direct like
entrepreneurial bug, but beingan entrepreneur, like you said,
that drive and that you knowwork ethic is a different.
It's a whole different ballgame.
And so I do wanna take a stepinto what was that first initial
(07:29):
?
Like the businesses, otherbusinesses, you sold.
What was that first pivot foryou?
Opening your business andrealizing that you can do this,
you can scale it and thenmultiplying it.
Number two, number three, likewhat were those mindset shifts
for you?
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Yeah, it's so interesting.
Now this will really date me.
But that very first business Iwas a stay at home mom and we
didn't have the internet and Ididn't have all the things we
have available today.
So I was looking for a way tomake money and I was pretty
crafty and I knew how to makethings in.
The craft industry wasexploding across the country and
I thought, well, I'm going to,I'm going to see if I can make
(08:07):
some craft items.
Well, long story short, thatbusiness went global before the
internet and I did that the oldfashion way advertising and
international magazines but Ikind of was running a
manufacturing company out of myhome and the one thing that I
learned is okay, if you're goingto grow this, if you're really
going to scale this, I didn'tthink scale at the time.
(08:28):
I thought grow.
If you're really going to growthis, you can't do this by
yourself.
Because I was making every doll.
I was doing every piece of thatdoll, all of it, and so I
quickly realized, okay, I needsome help, and I hired a whole
bunch of other moms to dodifferent parts for me, and so
it was almost like amanufacturing company, like I
(08:49):
had somebody that stuffed allparts and I had somebody that
cut dresses, you know, cut theclothes for me and and so people
were doing different things.
I had moms coming in and out ofmy home.
The cool thing about that was itdidn't just help my family, I
was able to help other familiesand I was able to help have a
lot of other moms make incomewhile they were staying home
with their kids.
But for that, you know, backthen this was again about 35
(09:12):
years ago I had I was makingover six figures in income 35
years ago, running this out ofmy home, which was really
unheard of.
I mean, you that was just now,that's nothing, but back then
that was that was a lot.
But yeah, I was in storesacross the country and I
remember the day I got a shipinto Iceland.
(09:35):
I thought that was pretty cool,call for you know, people had
to call you on the phone.
So but the mindset in that,quickly realizing I could not do
it all on my own and if I wasgoing to really grow it and
really make any kind of money atdoing that business, I had to
have help.
So that was probably the firstthing that I realized very, very
(09:55):
early on.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
No, and I think that is such a big lesson too,
because you start your firstbusiness, you're the one making
it and you realize that you'rethe bottleneck to the growth and
then, all of a sudden, you haveto hand over the reins
partially, and I can say formyself with my gym and when we
hired our first employee,especially our second employee,
(10:18):
and I had to hand over the reinsa little bit more.
It's like you, you have thisinternal battle, right, it's
like you have to teach thesepeople how to do this, but you
know that you could do it inyour mind better, right, and
sometimes it is only in yourmind.
It's really, it's the same exactthing, but or a problem happens
and you're like I'll just fixit, you know, instead of
(10:45):
teaching them how to fix itRight, and so, like that's that
first lesson, believe me, Ilearned that same one and it was
like once you, once you let goa little bit, you're you know,
instead of white knuckling thebusiness, it's like you can, you
can all of a sudden breathe alittle bit more and you realize
that the team essentially likecause you created what's really
cool, is like before theinternet, before everything.
Like you know a lot of moms.
I remember my mom that shewould, they would go to like
either book clubs or likeTupperware, party things and
(11:07):
whatever.
And you were creating thislittle business.
You know network club thing.
You know with the local moms,which is cool Cause they all got
to communicate.
You know, hang out with eachother, work and do stuff
together.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Actually, no, we didn't do any of that.
No, I was a company, I was no.
They were coming in and out andnone of them knew each other.
They were all just different.
You know, they, I, they werejust moms.
I knew and I would say, hey, doyou want to help with this?
And so no, they there was.
There wasn't a club to it atall.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
No, yeah, no, I get that part.
I didn't mean club in thatsense.
I meant club in the sense oflike it more of a community
style where it's like they areemployees, right and everything,
and they're still doing that,but at the same time, I'm sure
that you had more than one momin your home working right yeah,
really, at different times.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
And a lot of times when I say coming and going,
they were picking things up,dropping things off.
So once in a while I would havesomebody in my home working, but
that was not very often, yeah,so it was very different because
I, you know, I didn't reallyhave the space to to do that,
but I was really still running amanufacturing company out of my
home.
(12:17):
It's just they were takingthings back to their house,
doing it, bringing it back.
So there was there were takingthings back to their house,
doing it, bringing it back.
So there were there wereconstantly moms coming and going
, yeah, so that was my, mymisunderstanding, because I
heard manufacturing at home andI was like, oh, that's crazy.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
You know, I completely get what you mean now
.
So I mean you took it global,which is that's impressive at
even in today's day and age,right, but you did that before
the internet and everything likethat Like you.
So what, what gave you the ideato start?
Just you know marketing in youknow international magazines
(12:51):
Like why did you want to goglobal versus just a national
like what was that whole youknow decision?
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Yeah, so I, you know, I I think things just kind of
evolve and I don't even reallyremember exactly where I got
that idea or how that happened.
But there was an internationalmagazine called Country Sampler
and it was the number one craftmagazine and it was kind of like
all the major real, the realcrafters were in that and so it
(13:18):
was.
It wasn't it was so expensiveto advertise in that, but I was
in stores already across thecountry.
There were a lot of craftstores and so I could be in
stores all across the country,rented space in those stores and
and then I got the idea to goahead and advertise in that
magazine and that was the thingthat really took it global.
(13:40):
But boy, back then I mean thecost, the expense of that I
would tell people, you know thatthat ad would cost about $1,500
back then, for you know, likean eight page ad or a quarter
page ad, and you would alreadybe three issues in paying for
three issues before you everfound out if that ad was going
to pull.
(14:00):
So it was so expensive to dothat.
But you know, my dolls ended upon the cover of the magazine.
You couldn't buy the cover,they had to be selected out of
1000s of crafters.
So that was a pretty coolmilestone for me.
But I think it just evolved.
I, you know, as I wanted tokeep growing and doing things.
That was just kind of a natural, natural progression.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
No, that's so awesome .
Please tell me you have atleast one of the magazines with
your dolls on the cover.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
I have it somewhere.
Okay 30 years ago I do.
I did keep it.
Yeah, I did keep it and andeventually I went into the
pattern piece of my business.
The market was kind of shiftingand so I started design and I
did all my own doll designs andso that was the thing that made
them very unique.
They were signed, they werenumbered and I did my.
(14:52):
I had a collection, so to speak.
So I would have people waitingfor the next set of dolls to
come out.
And I remember the lady thatcalled from Iceland.
It was really kind of cool youwouldn't think old dolls could
impact somebody.
But I remember when she calledshe said her husband was in the
service and she traveled arounda lot and she said that those
(15:12):
dolls gave her so much happinessand comfort because she felt so
lonely which almost chokes meup now, which sounds so crazy.
But she said I just wait for thenext ones to come out because I
just I just love them and I'm,I just surround myself with them
and and I just thought that was, that was a really cool thing.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
So yeah, that is, that is an awesome thing.
That's not even cool, that'samazing.
That's such a, that's such alike a proud moment as a
business owner when someone cantell you that and and maybe for
not even you to have thatrealization and tell someone
said that you know, that's soawesome.
But I could say from adifferent standpoint and I could
(15:51):
see where, like that craze orthat, like you know, limited
line drops and stuff like, doyou remember, like back in the
day with Beanie Babies?
Yeah, yeah absolutely, and Iknow some of those ones were
like numbered and stuff likethat, and I remember having
friends like where their momscollected them, like there was a
wall and you couldn't touch thewall and I was like I was like
that's, I was like that's crazy,you know.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Yeah, and it was you know that that was what it was.
I had a.
I had a line that was a Noah'sArk line.
So I was doing and I had tigersand I kept adding to the
collection and so I would havepeople that would collect them,
which was super crazy.
But yeah, I mean, gosh, it's so.
It's so crazy to think aboutthat and I'd kind of forgotten
that story.
(16:29):
But yeah, you know it was, itwas, it was a lot of work.
So eventually I went into thepattern side of things and then
I was rinse and repeat.
Right, I was just creatingpatterns and designing, which I
did love the designing, but Ihated the pattern part.
It was so boring.
And so when I finally sold thatbusiness, when I decided to get
out and exit, I was able tosell my designs and sell my
(16:52):
patterns, which I did keep themjust to have, but started
selling them so other peoplecould make my dolls and I didn't
have to make them anymore.
So, yeah, that was that wasanother way to scale too.
It was another revenue streamfor me as well.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
So yeah, that's I mean.
That was going to be part of mynext question.
Was that exit process, right?
What I mean?
What was the decision like?
Why did you want to sell?
And then from there, what wasthat you know?
Now you're fully letting go ofthe reins.
Yeah, when you sell, like, whatwas that you know?
Mindset process.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Honestly, I was kind of over it.
I had been doing it seven years.
It was a lot of work and youknow, again, I had a lot of
people that were working for meand it was it was still pretty
labor intensive, even though andI was doing, you know, craft
shows and going and doing thingslike that and always traveling
to the stores to and andshipping like UPS was coming to
(17:46):
my house every day shipping bigboxes, and you know I just got
tired of it after a while.
And then, when the marketstarted changing and a lot of
things were being imported and Iwent into the pattern side of
it, it was another revenuestream, but I also saw a shift
in the market where it wasalmost I almost couldn't buy the
stuff to make my dolls as cheapas now the imports, like from
(18:08):
China and some of those placeswere coming in.
So I saw the market changingand evolving, just like it does
in anything, and that was thereason I kind of went into the
pattern side of things.
Once I did that, though, Ididn't love the pattern side and
I did still see the marketchanging and turning and I
thought this is my time to getout.
(18:29):
So I had the opportunity tosell and I didn't know what my
next thing would be, whichyou'll probably ask, because I
don't think you knew what mynext thing was, which was
fitness, and so, anyways, I madethe decision to sell, that I
had no idea what I was going todo beyond that it was.
It was tough.
(18:50):
It was a tough decision, but Ialso was finished like I was
done.
I was really tired of it.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
So so what when you did sell?
How long was that break inbetween the business number one
and finding out what you want todo for business number two?
Speaker 2 (19:06):
I wish I could tell you for sure, because I don't
really remember but what didtranspire?
That is, I had gained a lot ofweight in that first business
because it was fairly sedentaryand I never had a weight problem
in my whole life, and so I wasat this kind of crossroads where
I wasn't happy.
I wasn't happy with myself.
By this point my kids were inschool and I thought I don't
(19:29):
know what my next thing is goingto be, but I do know that I
need to get in shape and I needto take better care of myself.
And I didn't feel good.
I you know, I just, I wouldeven say I felt a bit depressed.
It was kind of selling thatbusiness and not knowing what my
next thing was going to be.
So I started, I really jumpedinto fitness and loved it, fell
(19:50):
in love with it, got in the bestshape of my life and I had.
I decided I was going to, like,become a trainer and I had, you
know, become a fitnessinstructor, learn about
nutrition.
And I had, you know, become afitness instructor, learn about
nutrition.
So I had to and you're going tolaugh I had to actually send
away four books to learn all ofthis stuff and get certified and
(20:10):
all of that.
And I had binders I probablystill have them, they were like
this thick that got shipped tomy house and had to learn all of
that stuff and I startedteaching fitness classes.
I didn't even really think aboutit being a business, as much as
I felt so good and I was in thebest shape of my life and I
thought I want to help othermoms feel this good and at that
(20:31):
time there were not a lot ofhealth, there weren't health
clubs and things around so much.
So I decided to start teachingfitness classes in a community
hall.
Long story short, fivelocations later I have this huge
health club.
Now I open a weight loss center, then I open a second health
club in a second.
So I'm running four businessesat one time and was able to sell
(20:53):
all of those, which was amazing.
But I was in fitness andnutrition for 20 years.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Oh, wow, I mean that's a huge accomplishment.
One, to open multiple locations, but two, it just shows you,
like you know, rewinding to whatwe said in the beginning, like
the work ethic of your dad andeverything like that really set
a tone for you know, yourmindset, your work ethic, but
(21:19):
also you having that thataccomplishment of building that
first business like that wasn'teasy, you know to to grow to
what you did grow to, and so,like that bug of that work bug
and that drive doesn't go away.
I can say even from fromexample, like COVID hit and most
people are super happy aboutstaying home Like it was driving
me nuts.
Like I, I like to be doingthings.
(21:41):
Like I built an, an online mealplan company and I didn't even
send meals, I didn't make meals,but I built that up just to do
something, you know, and there'slike and so.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
I wish I would have had all this available when I
was doing fitness and um.
It would have been a gamechanger, yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
So I mean you, you have these different health
clubs and you have, you know,the gyms and everything like
that.
Why did you decide to sellthose and to pivot from there?
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Yeah.
So you know, I built a programso when I was teaching classes
in a community hall and that,the thing that really kind of
helped me grow which is still amodel that I use today in my
business One of the things thatreally helped me grow is I
created a premium offer.
I created a program called bodyblast back then and it it had
(22:30):
its own brand and it became amillion dollar offer for me.
And back then again that waskind of crazy to think about,
but that one little programliterally put me on the map.
I mean we would have a waitinglist for people that wanted to
do that program, but it was alsoa premium price.
It was, you know, like fourtimes what my health club fees
were.
And so because of that itcombined and this is not even I
(22:53):
mean now it's so common it'sridiculous to even talk about
that it combined fitness andnutrition.
So people got amazing resultsfrom it and I would have people
that would travel literally 30miles to come to my body blast
and they would carpool to mybody blast.
And it was through that that Ikept expanding my location.
(23:14):
I just kept, I bootstrapped, Ikept expanding as I had the
money.
And then eventually, when Imoved into my larger location,
which was 16,000 square feet,and we put in, you know we had
everything from a spa to, youknow, the weight loss center, to
an indoor track, to you know,all the kind of the amenities.
(23:36):
But I was in a small town too,so we were still kind of limited
on what we could do, but thatone thing really helped it grow
and, you know, just reallyhelped it continue to expand and
yeah, so I think I forgot yourquestion.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
No, no, no, no.
So I mean that answered a lotof it.
But what was that point thatyou know you wanted to sell
those businesses?
Oh, that's why that was yourquestion.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Yeah, it's been a long day.
I think you're my third podcasttoday.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
I got you.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
Yeah, you know, I was running four of them at the
same time and even though I hadstaff and I had team in both of
those locations, I still wasdoing a lot with those, you know
, with those businesses and thebusinesses.
So one of the weight losscenters and one of the health
clubs actually I I knew I wasgoing to sell that at some point
.
As I continued to grow andinvest back into that business.
(24:30):
I really looked at that like,wow, this could, as this thing's
really getting big, this couldbe a retire kind of a retirement
plan like this.
By by this time I'm gettingolder and I'm thinking this
could really be a nice littlenest egg, you know.
So that became part of my gameplan was to sell those.
(24:50):
Then, when I opened the othertwo, I thought, okay, I'm going
to sell these two and I want tokind of downsize and go more.
A high-end training center,which was what my second club
was, and I want to have theweight loss too.
And so I was running, but I wasstill running all four at one
time and then it got to be somuch I'm like, okay, I need to
(25:10):
let go of the big ones.
I had a buyer.
It's somebody that was veryinterested in taking it over and
making a good offer.
So it was a little hard to notsay yes to that.
And I already had the other two.
So I wasn't really giving up onwhat I still loved, but I was
just sort of making a shift andkind of uh kind of letting go of
(25:31):
a lot of the work.
For me it was like okay,getting some freedom back into
my life, and, um, so I, I didthe other two and and then I
quit doing those.
I decided to sell those twowhen I worked with a business
coach in my last two businessesand it was so impactful for my
business and I thought, oh mygosh, this is my next thing.
(25:53):
I want to take everything I'velearned and I want to help other
people in their business,people in their business.
And I stepped into businesscoaching and it took off and I
was like I don't want to dothese clubs anymore.
I don't, I want to go intocoach, I want to go full-time
into coaching, and so that waswhen I made the decision to sell
those other two.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
No, that's so awesome and I love the fact that, like
you're, you know you going intocoaching because, even like,
when we launched our franchisemodel or side of the business,
like I, hired a mentor and acoach who launched, built his
own franchise, scaled it andthen, you know, has walked the
(26:34):
walk is so crucial there.
I mean now in today's day andage, like a lot of coaches are
just a coach and that is theirbusiness.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Don't get me started.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
And so but honestly, but honestly, like that was one
of the things, like when I waslooking into your, into your,
your background and everythinglike that, because I mean
there's so many coaches quoteunquote that want to come on the
show and that, sorry, like Ican't.
I've interviewed a couple andit's the same talk every single
time and it's like you've nevereven walked this walk.
You don't know what's on theother side.
And the same thing for personaltrainers.
(27:07):
There's every.
Every one of their mom is apersonal trainer now, but a
little, you know, small amountof them actually have done the
work, understand the schooling,got certified, you know, like
yourself and like myself, andit's a completely different you
know world.
So now you got into coachingright and you're seeing that
blow up.
I'm assuming that's still oneof the businesses you currently
(27:28):
have right.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Yeah, it actually is.
I help coaches, consultants,professional entrepreneurs
really grow high-end businesses.
So they're working with reallypremium clients.
That's where I'm very differentfrom a lot of the market.
A lot of the market go thefunnel route and I help people
work at the really top end oftheir market so bringing in
(27:50):
really really high-end clients.
An example one of myconsultants you know closed a
$400,000 deal, so that was, youknow, so working kind of at that
level, so like minimum fees formost of my clients that they
get is like $25,000 and up fromthere.
So but that's one of the thingsthat makes it different.
(28:13):
But then I also have my mediaand agency side, my media and
marketing agency expert in you,and that is where I'm starting
to really build that out becausethat will be an exit strategy
for me as well.
So I kind of have two sides.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
Okay, so then the marketing side, you're building
it to exit eventually, but thenthe coaching is something that
you're going to most likely keepbecause I mean, at the end of
the day, you are the coach,right?
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Yeah, I am the coach and I do really still love it.
The interesting the marketingand media side, though, really
came naturally.
So I was already helping peoplebuild their influence in the
market, build up their brandthat was part of their marketing
build out their marketingstrategies, their sales
strategies, and so Expert In youkind of became my brand, and I,
(29:01):
you know, I wrote a book aroundthat and everything.
And then, as I started buildingthat, I wanted to be able to
offer the services and not say,okay, you need to start a
podcast, but go over here and gofind somebody to do that for
you.
And what I found is I wassending my clients away to go
get their book written, to goget featured in the media, to
(29:24):
get their podcast launched, andI was sending them other places
and I thought, okay, this is notleveraging what I can do.
And so I started building myteam, and so now I have a team.
We can write their book, we canget them featured in the media,
we can launch their podcast, wecan do their content.
So I have a good size team thatcan do all those pieces for
(29:46):
them, and it was just a naturalfit.
So now that's starting to kindof take off on its own.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
No, that's amazing and I think that that will scale
.
I mean, you already have abackground in it.
You've gone above and beyondand have been able to scale and
the proof is in the pudding ofwhat you've done.
It's like I already know thatside is going to be an amazing
exit strategy for you as well.
I mean, I've known plenty ofentrepreneurs, whether they're
(30:15):
still an entrepreneur or not,and the side that people I feel
like get kind of strung up on isthe sales, is the marketing.
You know, because they have thecard that says I'm an
entrepreneur now but there'sstill that side of the coin that
you do need to sell and learnand continue to grow on your
sales and understand thatmarketing is an ever changing
(30:35):
game.
How can they shift theirmindset to embrace the sales and
marketing aspect of theirbusiness?
Speaker 2 (30:42):
I think a lot of them .
They get very confused.
There's a lack of clarityaround what they should do, and
so one of the reasons I kind ofstarted it is because I went
down some of the wrong paths,especially when I came online
and started working, when I wasout there working with small
business owners and I wasspeaking on stages and I was
(31:03):
networking and I was meetingsmall business owners.
That's how I got my firstclient.
So I've actually coached inover 80 industries.
But when I came online and Istarted working with coaches and
consultants, the game wasdifferent.
Right, everybody was taughtfunnels, everybody was taught,
you know, start something lowticket and then ascend people.
And I just after doing that, itwasn't working for me and I was
(31:26):
bringing in the wrong clientsand I thought I need to figure
this out.
So I think the first thing Iwould say is you've got to
figure it out.
You cannot, you can't doanything really with your
business if you don't sort oftake that attitude.
And for me, I had to really goback to my roots, like Ann,
(31:46):
what's worked for you in thepast, like what's really helped
you grow.
And it goes back to what Ishared about.
I had a premium offer, an offerthat was higher than you know
those low gym fees right, thoselow, those low fees and it was
it attracted like the doctorsand the lawyers, and I coach,
you know, I train the mayor andyou know all these higher level
(32:10):
people.
And so I started looking at thatand I thought that's what's
missing in this business and Ihad to shift my marketing and I
had to learn that.
So I think for a lot of peoplethere's confusion and they go
that sort of funnel route wherethey're trying to sell something
really low and they burn outand they and it takes a lot of
(32:32):
volume and it's.
It's just a tough businessmodel.
But you have to have themindset of look, that is the
business.
Until you get it to a placewhere you can pay other people
to do that for you and you'vegot working systems, you've, you
know how to market, you knowhow to sell.
Now you can scale that and givethat to other people and train
(32:55):
other people.
You have to learn it foryourself.
You just do.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
No, I agree, and I think that I mean I like your,
your take on like the havingthat, the premium, because
there's there's two sides of thecoin of like when you're
selling right, you could buy aG-Shock watch right, which I
believe, believe me, I haveplenty of them and I love them
but also then you know, peoplebuy Rolexes right and it's like
(33:20):
there's a market for both.
So not every business model hasto start that funnel approach
because if you're only leadingin with that, that free offer or
the you know, buy this and geta crazy discount, your clientele
that you're hoping to get mightnot be even interested in those
kinds of offers.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
They won't be to start yet, right.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
And then it's like not to say that you can't have
the full staircase of of offersbut even for like us, like with
our gym, like we're not thecheapest, we're not the most
expensive, but it's like this isour offer.
We don't discount our offer,you know, and and devalue the,
the value.
You know we'll do otherincentives and so forth, but the
(34:03):
value of the membership isstill the membership, like
that's the one thing we don'tnegotiate.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
Yes, and you know, here's the thing If people
really did the math, if theyreally did the math and I
actually did this at one pointwhen I had my gyms I did the
math.
Okay, what is my premium offerbringing in and what is the what
number one, what's the overheadof that which was so minimal?
And then what is the overheadof my volume offer?
(34:29):
And I would have had toliterally lose like three
quarters of my members to offsetwhat I was making on the
premium.
So when you think about apremium business, it's, it's a
top-down approach.
Everything becomes.
So you start high and theneverything becomes you know,
you're, you're next year down,it becomes, they become down
(34:51):
cells.
Like we would use that premiumoffer, they would come in for
the body blast and then we wouldsell them a gym membership to
keep them, so that you knowkeeping that, that reoccurring
revenue.
But it's, it's a very differentapproach.
But if you really do the mathand think about it, you're
working.
It's higher profitability, ittakes less team, it's less I
(35:11):
mean, it's just less management.
It's an easier, easier modeland a lot of people this really
kind of kills me like in thecoaching and consulting space,
people that are real experts,like maybe they come from
corporate and they've been a CEOand now I see them selling
something like a littlemembership site or like a little
course and I'm like what?
(35:32):
That is just nuts, right,people would be paying you to be
, like you know, an outsourceCEO.
And so I see these real expertswho are devaluing what they do
and it's kind of it's reallykind of heartbreaking.
But it's because they fall intosort of that funnel kind of
(35:52):
idea.
And you see a lot of highticket stuff out there too,
people talking high ticket andthey're talking about a few
thousand dollars.
I don't lot of high ticketstuff out there too, people
talking high ticket and they'retalking about a few thousand
dollars.
I don't call that high ticket atall, but it really is about
understanding the value youbring to the market and then
building a business around that.
And that's where expert in youcame from.
It's like, okay, what's yourexpertise, let's build value
(36:13):
around that.
Speaker 1 (36:14):
No, I do agree with what you're saying too, cause,
like even for our franchiseadvisor I mean we paid you know
mid forties for for him and youknow, and we still get extra you
know advice, and he's on ouradvisory board and so forth but
if he would have sold a coursethat was $99, I would have been
like Nope, yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
You're not very good.
You're not.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
You're not my person and so he broke out the number
and I was like oof.
I was like that's expensive.
But I was like I talked to mybusiness partner.
I was like if we do this, wecan move some stuff around, we
can make it work.
And it was like the value wasthere.
He knows his value, but also Iknew his value, and so it was
(36:58):
like you make it work.
And so it's like that, thatfunnel approach again, it only
really works for certainindustries and certain things,
not for everything.
That's where I think a lot ofentrepreneurs get mixed up is
they're like oh, I need tocreate my free offer.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
It's like maybe maybe , maybe not just going after,
yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
Exactly and what your business model is right.
Speaker 2 (37:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
It's like that's huge for me and I love that you
bring that, you know style oftop-down kind of thing, because
a lot of businesses are reallymissing that especially in the
coaching industry.
They are yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
I see people.
They'll have these hugemembership sites or these huge
membership groups, you knowcommunities.
They'll have hundreds ofthousands of dollars and they're
still selling things low.
And I'm not saying there'sanything wrong with that,
because they've already built itright.
They've already built thevolume.
But I'm like you need to beteaching people how to do that
and charging a half a milliondollars.
(37:50):
I mean you need to teach peoplehow.
You built a multimillion dollarbusiness and you can still have
.
You still have all that.
You don't have to give that up.
But where are your half milliondollar offers?
Where are your million dollaroffers that you could be selling
?
Teaching people what you'vedone?
And people miss that part.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
I will say that is.
I've seen a few people now thatare doing that and it's almost
this.
I don't know, maybe it justrubs me the wrong way.
I love the idea if it's donethe right way, because, like now
I can tell, it's almost like areverse pyramid scheme kind of
thing and it's like no oneeveryone's getting brought in to
become a coach and so basicallythe bottom level people are the
(38:33):
only ones really servingclients and then, once you
upgrade a level, you start tocoach the first level of coaches
and then you move up a level.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
I'm not talking about that.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
Right, right, right.
But I'm saying that's a newermodel.
I'm starting to see where it'slike the top one or two people
are making seven, eight figures,but it's only because they have
this coaching pyramid systemdown.
I'm like I don't know about allthat.
Speaker 2 (38:56):
That's one way to build a business.
It's no different than you owna club and you bring in a lot of
trainers.
It's the same kind of thing,right?
You train them the way you wantto train them and they're
training your clients and yourdepend.
It's the same model.
It's really not a pyramid, it'sjust a way to build a business
where you're multiplyingyourself.
(39:22):
Here's what I don't love aboutthat model.
I've been in those kinds ofprograms and I think they just
suck.
I mean, I'm just going to sayit the way it is.
I just I think they're terriblebecause you don't get the
person that really knows whatthey're doing.
I've been in programs whereI've known more than the person
coaching me and that you'repaying big bucks for that and I
think that is out of integrityand that's why I absolutely
don't love that model.
But let's say, for example,someone has built a multimillion
(39:44):
dollar business, maybe they'vedone it with a Facebook
community and then they've gotall the ways that they've done
that.
They could be taking someonewho has the funds and show them
how they built, how they didthat and literally helped them
do it, and they could becharging that client a million
(40:04):
dollars, like one client andcoaching them.
And when you're coaching peopleat those high levels, you don't
need a lot of those clients,but I see a lot of people that
aren't even offering those kindsof offers.
So I'm not you're talking aboutscaling a different way.
I'm talking about where is yourpremium offer, where you're
taking, maybe, private clients,charging them, you know, a
(40:27):
million dollars, a half amillion dollars, and then
teaching them exactly what youdid and helping them get there.
And that is a very differentmodel, right?
No, I completely.
Speaker 1 (40:35):
I get it and that is a very different model, right?
No, I completely.
I get it.
It makes a lot of sense andactually the coaching thing does
make sense when you put it thatway.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
I don't know, maybe it was just, maybe it was just
the coach like, well, I wasgonna say it doesn't mean it's
good right it doesn't it doesn'tmean it's done well in a lot of
in a lot of businesses and tome there there's a lot where
they're just all about the moneyand they really don't care, and
that is, to me, that's out ofintegrity.
(41:03):
If you are responsible forpeople under you, you have other
people coaching.
I'm going to be watchingresults, I'm going to be looking
at that.
But yeah, I'm not a fan of thatkind of model.
I'm not a fan of big groupmodels, things like that.
That's why I just choose themodel that I have and I just
work at a higher level and Ionly work with so many clients.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
No, I agree, and I think that is smart of you to go
that route.
To me it's just more impactfulon a personal level for you and
for the client as well.
Yeah me, it's just moreimpactful on a personal level
for you and for the client aswell.
A question I do have is likewhat is the biggest, or what are
maybe a couple of the biggest,that growth strategies a
business owner that's feelingstuck could start to implement
(41:48):
or look at, to maybe start toshift their business?
Speaker 2 (41:53):
The one thing I would say is you have to go premium.
You have to have some kind of ahigh level premium offer that
that alone can grow yourbusiness really, really fast.
If you've already validatedwhat you do and you're already
good and you get good results,that is a very easy next step
for you because you can, you cantalk about those results and
(42:17):
people will pay you really goodmoney.
Here's an example.
I'm just going to throw thisout If I can help you literally
and for real, if I could helpyou bring in a $50,000 client in
the next two weeks, what wouldthat be worth to you?
$50,000.
Yeah, that would be a andthat's one client, right.
(42:38):
Once you learn how to do that,you can do it over and over and
over again.
So that's that's what I'mtalking about.
When you so when you developthat premium offer and you've
already got results and youalready have proven systems and
things like that, you canactually grow so much faster.
(42:58):
So that would be the firstgrowth strategy.
And that's what I learned whenI kind of said what, why am I
not loving this business?
Oh, wait, somewhere I went thisvolume route and this low end
route and I'm bringing in thewrong clients and I'm not
bringing in clients where I getto actually utilize my skills
because they're not ready forwhat I know, and so that was
(43:19):
where I learned that.
So that's one.
The second thing is you do haveto let go of things and you do
have to realize, even if youwant to do the main thing, I
still coach in my business, andso that's strange to a lot of
people, but I charge enough thatit's worth it for me to coach
in my business.
But there's all the other thingsI don't do, Like I don't book
(43:40):
my own podcast, I don't do myown editing, I don't.
You know, I do still do a lotof my content because obviously
it's part of my brand, butthere's so many things I do not
do.
I have people that that do alot of those things for me and I
get to do the stuff I love.
So that's the key and that canhelp you grow faster too, to let
(44:03):
go of a lot of the stuff thatreally holds you down and
bottlenecks you.
So I get to be the face of mybusiness.
I get to do the fun things, Iget to get out and speak and and
do my show and and all of that,and so I think those are the
two things I would say.
Speaker 1 (44:17):
No, those are.
That's awesome advice, and Ithink the delegation thing is
huge, as hard as it is, as hardas it is to to start, it is
definitely a huge thing.
I do want to ask a finalquestion, and I know I didn't
shoot this ahead of time becauseI want the first thing that
comes to mind, but what, andI'll and actually for you, I'm
going to give you a one thingyou can't use is the high ticket
(44:40):
, right, but this is the thelegacy wall, right, and I will
say it's not a tombstone, asmany times I say that people
still give me tombstone answersSometimes.
This is basically the legacywall and on this legacy wall you
can leave any lasting messagethat you've learned along your
journey, both inentrepreneurship and just in
(45:00):
life, right?
What would that message be forthe up and coming generations?
Speaker 2 (45:07):
When you oh gosh, let me think about this For me, I
want to be known as someone whomade a difference in the world,
but also had success along theway.
So, because I believe that wehave that opportunity, I believe
there's abundance, but you haveto come after about, you have
to go after abundance with theright heart and you have to
(45:30):
serve people and being able toserve thousands and thousands of
people through the yearsProbably a million people.
If I really look at all the um,the social media and all that
that I've done, um, I just feellike there's no, there's nothing
that's more rewarding to leavea legacy.
I want people to have goodthoughts and and how I impacted
their life when they think of me.
Speaker 1 (45:51):
I love that.
Where can people connect withyou and learn more about?
You know not only your coaching, but the marketing side and
everything that you got going on.
Speaker 2 (45:59):
Yeah, well, first of all, you can find me all over
social media, and I have aYouTube channel.
I'm on LinkedIn, facebook,instagram, so, but you can go to
my website at annlcardinthere's an L in the middle, com,
and you can, you know, get freeresources there.
You can see different thingsthat I offer and if you want to
(46:20):
book a call, you like anythingthat I'm talking about you can
book a call with me there.
Speaker 1 (46:24):
Awesome.
All that will be in the shownotes, guys.
So make sure you guys checkthat out.
Make sure you guys follow heron social media.
She puts out amazing content.
But make sure you guys sharethis episode with a friend,
right?
Help bring them up, becausehelping bring your circle up
only helps in having a rippleeffect and bringing yourself up
as well.
But without that even beingsaid, and taking a second again
just to say and thank you somuch for taking the time out of
(46:46):
your day being a busymulti-serial entrepreneur, thank
you so much for taking the timeout of your day to hop on the
Mindset Cafe.
Speaker 2 (46:53):
Thank you, it's been so much fun.
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