May 20, 2025 • 54 mins
Liz Steblay joins us to share her expertise on successful solopreneurship, drawing from her experience building multimillion-dollar businesses without employees. She reveals the essential strategies that help independent consultants and service providers build wealth and create sustainable businesses.
• Definition of solopreneur: self-employed person without employees who doesn't aim to grow beyond themselves
• Commit to one hour of networking weekly—just "one person in person once a week" keeps your pipeline full
• Create a North Star document that clearly explains your "why" for being self-employed
• Establish a clear niche—clients want to hire specialists, not generalists
• Build wealth and pay less tax through intentional financial planning
• Solopreneurs can still build significant businesses using contractors and fractional leadership
• The Professional Independent Consultants of America (PICA) provides community and resources
• Being self-employed doesn't mean doing everything alone—strategic outsourcing is key
Discover Liz's book "Succeeding as a Solopreneur: Six Keys to Taking the Leap, Winning Clients, and Building Wealth" and connect with her at sixkeys.info or through the Professional Independent Consultants of America at picawork.org.
www.PICAnetwork.org/why
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/solopreneurs-business-development-relationship-liz-steblay/
https://highmarkdistillery.com/pages/private-barrel-experience
Liz’s Profile
linkedin.com/in/independentconsulting
Websites
- ProkoConsulting.com (Company)
- PICAnetwork.org (Company)
- SuccessfulIndependentConsulting.com (Blog)
From the Zoo to Wild is a book for entrepreneurs passionate about home services, looking to move away from corporate jobs. Chris Lalomia, a former executive, shares his path, discoveries, and tools to succeed as a small business owner in home improvement retail. The book provides the mindset, habits, leadership style, and customer-oriented processes necessary to succeed as a small business owner in home services.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Did you just make up knowledge workers?
No, not.
Oh, dude, you're walking into aterrible spot.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Oh, welcome to my web .
You're going to insist, we'regoing to wield your experience
on me and how stupid I am.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Well, let me tell you a little bit about knowledge
workers.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Alan, look at you, ready to pontificate.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
And let me tell you where it came from A little guy
named Peter Drucker.
You may have heard of him, Alan.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Is he the UPS guy?
Oh Alan, oh, I almost made himspill his bourbon.
That would have been a win.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Welcome to the Small Business Safari where I help
guide you to avoid those traps,pitfalls and dangers that lurk
when navigating the wild worldof small business ownership.
I'll share those gold nuggetsof information and invite guests
to help accelerate your ascentto that mountaintop of success.
It's a jungle out there and Iwant to help you traverse
through the levels of owningyour own business that can get
you bogged down and distract youfrom hitting your own personal
(00:52):
and professional goals.
So strap in adventure team andlet's take a ride through the
safari and get you to themountaintop.
Alan, we got to get going.
We got to talk about thebeginning.
The beginning, yeah, I just gotto go back to it because this
(01:14):
guest brought flooded memoriesback and I'll never forget.
Right before tax time, when Iwas working at the bank, I had
made that big daddy job.
I was like, oh my God, here Iam making all this money that I
hadn't made.
I really jumped up my salaryand my bonus structure from
going from consulting to this.
(01:35):
And tax time came and betweenmy wife and I we were two W-2
employees with no other placesto put it.
You paid a lot in taxes.
So I went in there and I'llnever forget this.
I went in there and, as we allknow, I can be pretty colorful
and my CPA wasn't ready for whatwas about to hit him, and I hit
(01:55):
him with what the F is going onhere.
He says, well, this is what itis.
I'm like I don't have thatmoney.
He goes well, why didn't youhold it back?
I said I asked you he goes well, I just I did what you told me
you thought you were making.
I said well, I didn't realize Iwas getting this bonus and I
didn't realize those optionsactually came as income.
I said so now what he goes?
(02:17):
Well, you pay it.
I said well, I don't have themoney.
Said what do rich people do?
He go they're doing whatthey're doing.
Now he said have you everthought about starting your own
business?
I'm like, as a matter of fact,I am, that's right.
And so that became the.
I know what I'm gonna do yeah,again another lesson.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
You learned the hard way, right I?
Speaker 1 (02:33):
was a lot.
Uncle sam got a lot of money ohmy gosh, nowhere to go with it.
So that's, uh, that's my storyand my journey to oh, oh boy,
maybe it's time to become anentrepreneur.
So today we've got Liz.
Oh, liz, I forgot to ask how topronounce your last name.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Why don't we have her do it?
So you don't screw this one uptoo.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Let's not do it I know Go ahead, liz Stable, oh I
would have said Stable, I wouldhave, I would have.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Sure you would have.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Yeah, barrio Sarasota , I didn't do that one either.
All right, liz, great Liz,you're here with obviously
talking about solopreneurs andsuccessful solopreneurs, and we
can't wait to talk about yourjourney.
But I guess one of the bigthings I want to know before we
get started is that you went toUSC out in Los Angeles when you
(03:20):
were going to school.
There were you like I'm onlygoing here so I can be a
solopreneur.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
God, no, I never had any ambitions of being an
entrepreneur or self-employedsolopreneur or any of that,
although I did major in businessand I sort of had a dream that,
wow, someday it would be coolto have my own business Because
I'm the daughter of anentrepreneur.
But no, I didn't studyentrepreneurship when I was in
school.
I studied in school.
I studied organizationalbehavior.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Uh-oh.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
You know what that is right?
I think you need some.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
What Right I'm exactly right Corporate shrinks
yes, I've met them three times.
Have you been through a coupleof assessments?
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Any of them voluntary .
Speaker 1 (04:03):
No, nope, not one of them, no, three times though.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Big Trojan fan.
Dun, dun, dun, dun dun.
Look at her, she's got thelittle fight on yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Look at you.
You know I've always had a softspot for the Trojans.
You know, because growing up inMichigan you go watch Notre
Dame.
I always play them every year.
Yeah, and of course, a NotreDame.
I say I'm a Notre Dame fanbecause I'm a Catholic kid.
Go Pope, go Pope.
Oh baby, oh, I'm on the watchparty.
I was telling Alan, this iswork Right now.
(04:34):
Just to date it a little bit,the Cardinals are in conclave
getting ready to elect our newsuccessor Pope for our Catholic
faith.
Do you have a betting pool onit?
So, as a matter of fact, I'mgoing to.
After this, I said I will notdo that.
That's what sinners do.
I can't believe that.
What are the odds?
Again, yeah, I'll take theCatholic.
(04:55):
Give me 50 on the Italian.
I'll take 25 on the Asian.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
So I knew you would be betting on this.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Come on man, this is great, this is great you know,
speaking of USC.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
You know, Cousin Brad .
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
His wife Holly, who's a saint because she's married
to Cousin Brad Right, four-yearstarter at USC.
Women's basketball played withCheryl Miller.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Really.
Yeah, that is super cool.
Yeah, and now they have JujuWhitaker Juju is her first name.
She's really good.
Liz, are you a women'sbasketball fan?
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Not especially.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Okay, well, I'll hold this one for you.
So she is really good, I mean,and she is fun to watch and I
wouldn't say I'm a women'sbasketball fan, but I am a
sports fan.
She is an extremely goodathlete and a great role model
for a lot of young ladies.
So this has been just super towatch her blossom, kind of
taking on what Caitlin Clark andAngel Reese had built and the
(05:53):
people before them.
So it's cool watching women'sbasketball come back in.
But that's not why we're here.
Why are we here, chris?
We're talking about how tobecome a good solopreneur.
So first, I have to mentionthis is that literally just a
couple of weeks ago, somebodyasked me what that definition is
, and it was in a networkingevent and I was like huh, that's
(06:13):
interesting.
So, liz, you want to tell uswhat your definition of a
solopreneur is?
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Sure.
The short version is it's aself-employed person who does
not have employees and does nothave ambitions to grow bigger
than themselves and haveemployees in a larger company.
We just like to do the workthat we like to do, make a lot
of money and call it a day.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Like it.
So you came out of college.
You got your first job,probably in org behavior doing
something.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
No, my first job was selling car insurance.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Look at you, oh my gosh.
So you come to USC and youstart selling car insurance.
How fun was that.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Yeah, horrible Dialing for dollars, right, but
it was the job I could get right.
So there you go.
You got to start somewhere.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
So how did you?
You arced in throughout thecorporate world, but it was the
job I could get right.
So there you go, you got tostart somewhere.
So how did you?
You arced in throughout thecorporate world, and when did
you decide that it was time togo on this entrepreneurial
journey?
Speaker 3 (07:14):
It was by accident, so I had been through the
corporate world for a long timealready, so I'd worked for one
of the large.
After car insurance, I did acouple other jobs.
I ended up working as aconsultant for Pricewaterhouse
that's how old I am and thenthey became
PricewaterhouseCoopers or PWC.
(07:35):
Then my daughter was born and Isaid, okay, well, this model
isn't going to work anymore,because my whole life is not
about consulting.
And so I went internal to LeviStrauss and a position as
director of organizationalreadiness for the implementation
of SAP, which is like boring ashell.
And then I got laid off becausethey shut down the whole
(07:57):
program.
So I called a former colleaguethat I'd known through PwC and I
said, hey, I just got laid off.
Do you have any projects?
Do you need any help?
And he said Are you kidding?
How soon can you get here?
So I had my first consultingcontract following week, didn't
even have a laptop, and I justsaid, okay, well, I'll just do
this for a little while.
And then earlier you talkedabout how you were caught short
(08:20):
on taxes.
I discovered that rule thatfirst year, and also the rule of
not networking and not alwaysdoing business development.
I was caught flat footed.
At that point, I was a singlemom and I didn't have more work
lined up, and so that's when itbecame less accidentally
(08:40):
self-employed and moreconscientious, like how can I
make this work?
Speaker 1 (08:49):
That's interesting.
You brought that up becausethat is one of the ones I wanted
to get into, because I havechosen not to do the solopreneur
.
I've got 32 employees and I'mstarting to delegate even more
and more now, which has beenhard, but I built that.
And solopreneurs, especially inconsulting, as I've talked to
others about this, doing thework is one thing, but finding
the next gig and keeping thatpipeline filled is a whole
(09:09):
nother avenue and work effort.
How did you figure out how toget into that and how much time
did you put into it, like, say,per week, compared to your real
work?
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Yes.
So without that for sure, Ididn't really do much of any,
which is why I was caught flatfooted, and so actually I have a
book out now that I'm surewe'll discuss later.
But one of the six keys tosuccess, of being successfully
self employed, is to constantlygrow and nourish your network,
and so now I advise people thatyou need to spend at least one
(09:41):
hour a week doing outreach orbusiness development whether
that's reconnecting with an oldcolleague or sending
personalized emails or whateverat least one hour a week.
Now the rule of thumb is 20% ofyour time, which would be one
day a week.
Right, I don't know anybody whospends a day a week doing
business development or outreachor marketing, business
(10:06):
development or outreach ormarketing, but I do know a whole
lot of self-employed people whodo not even an hour a week.
So even if you just do one houra week, you'll be far ahead of
most self-employed people.
And I don't even call itbusiness development, because
like that sounds boring.
I just call it outreach andkeeping my network warm and
connecting with people.
When I was in person as aconsultant, my cardinal role was
(10:27):
one person in person once aweek, so that meant at least
once a week, no matter how busyI was, I was having coffee or
lunch or a drink with somebodyOne person in person once a week
, and that was enough to keep mypipeline going.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
After that very first Early on gold nugget right
there.
Just one hour.
I think that's easily toimplement in anybody's uh
business.
When you look at a week, if youjust find one hour or you got
drive time, you're sitting inthe windshield.
I know you guys listen to thepodcast.
A lot of them are drivingaround.
I would tell you one of thecontractors I know does a great
job of this is that I'll get acall from him once a month and
(11:03):
he goes.
Hey man, I'm driving betweenjobs, Just was checking in and I
can see what other things aregoing and I finally asked him
what are you doing?
And he goes, he goes.
I just come up with a list ofeverybody I want to talk to that
week and I know when I'm in thetruck instead of you know, just
listen to sports, talk radio orwhatever.
I said, well, you could listento my podcast he goes listening
to.
He kept going.
But no, I think that's a greatidea.
(11:23):
Just one hour once, once a weekand it's really hard.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
It's enough to keep your network warm.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Yeah, yep, it's hard to do that when you're when
you're busy, and when you youhave to.
You have to remember to do itor you're going to get caught
flat-footed, like like you justsaid.
I, chris, I'm sure I told youthis I've got a friend of mine
actually it's a friend of cousinbrad's's out in California,
double mention, very successfulsolopreneur, and he has a little
rule of thumb where, if youconsider you're working eight
(11:51):
hours a day, whether he does ornot, once an hour he does
something to advance hisbusiness and that's just his
little tick, tick, tick, tick.
If he wants to play golf andcut the day short, then he will
come up with eight things thatday that will advance his
business and then he feels likehe can go out and play
guilt-free golf and it could bejust firing an email, picking up
(12:15):
the phone, that kind of thing,and it's a very simple little
metric that he has and he's justwildly successful.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Yes, the trick is to remember to do it successful.
Yes, the trick is to rememberto do it.
So I one of my favorite tricksis I have a standing calendar
reminder every Monday from nineto 10 AM, cause I'm a slow
starter in the morning and letalone on a Monday and it says
outreach and that's the hour Ihave set aside to do the
outreach.
Now, if it happens to beperfect skiing weather and fresh
(12:42):
powder, I might move that tothe next day, but it's on the
calendar so I make sure I get itI like it.
Why did?
Speaker 2 (12:51):
you choose Monday.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Because I just, like I said, I'm a slow starter.
I don't want to.
I just it's easy for me to likesend notes to people or reach
out to people or, you know,comment on people's LinkedIn
postings or whatever it is, andit doesn't take a lot of brain
power.
So I don't do any critical deepthinking on Monday mornings.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Fair enough, I don't, I've got rules.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Yeah, man, when's the last time we did any critical
thinking.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Well, I never make big business decisions on Monday
.
I always make it Tuesday, justso I can have time to think
about it, because Mondays in mybusiness are manic.
It's putting out the dumpsterfire on Monday, right.
For us in the home servicesworld, people had all weekend to
look at their house.
Look at what you did allweekend to look at their house,
figure out what they want you todo.
So we're usually manic andthings are going crazy.
(13:41):
So I never try to scheduleanything on a Monday, only so I
could be there as support.
Now I've got, I think, a lot ofbuffers.
That's helping me.
But back to being a solopreneurwhen you've got to make it
happen.
That's how I was in thebeginning.
I mean that's.
I felt very solopreneur-ish inthe beginning.
When I first started myhandyman business and got going,
all I had was one employee, hewas another handyman and I was
(14:05):
doing everything else.
And then, as eventually as Igrew, I became the sales guy,
but also the scheduler stillsolopreneuring.
So it's a pretty lonely world,right.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
It can be, but I do want to point out that just
because you're self-employed anda solopreneur doesn't mean
you're doing it all yourself.
You can have lots ofsubcontractors supporting you.
So, for example, I have twobusinesses, but the one that
really makes money is amatchmaking agency for
consultants.
We place them with Fortune 500companies.
(14:36):
Think of like a sports agent orcreative artist agency in
Hollywood represent actors, werepresent consultants.
Okay so so in that business Idon't have any employees.
It's a multimillion-dollarbusiness.
We've been on the Inc 5000 listof fastest-growing companies
twice and I still don't have anyemployees.
But I have a core team of fourfractional or contract leaders
(15:03):
who are running that businessfor me.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Beautiful.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
My CFO, our COO, our operations manager and our head
of talent are all part-time andthey're all paid on 1099.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
I think you're kind of pushing the boundaries of the
definition of solopreneur there, aren't you?
That one is pushing theboundaries a little bit, but
even a lot of a lot of executive, a lot of executive coaches or
independent consultants that Iknow they'll have.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
They'll outsource their social media planning or
strategy or they have a virtualassistant or a bookkeeper, right
for sure yeah, I do know, guess, as the former banker.
Yeah, I thought he was going tobe really good at bookkeeping.
I can do it Not so much.
Yeah, yeah, that's there's.
There's 17 years of pain andagony in there.
(15:51):
Actually, I'm going to say I'mgoing to take that back.
I've been in business for 17.
I would say only 15 years ofpain and agony.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
That's been good.
So if you had, to do over again?
Speaker 1 (16:08):
is that one of the decisions you would have done
differently?
I definitely would have gottenin, uh, I would have spent the
money for a good bookkeeper, uh.
But you know what I found,especially with that one just
brought that up, uh, when I knowthat's not the episode, but, um
, the definition of what a goodbookkeeper is for you is so
dependent on what you are inyour business and what you need.
You know, in the mastermindgroup I'm part of, I mentioned
(16:30):
it all the time.
I really had to workshop this alot to figure out what the best
one for me is, because I hadgone through three not so good
ones.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
I did too.
It took me a while to findGoldilocks.
The first one was too small,like couldn't think
strategically enough.
The second one was too big, wastoo expensive, and finally the
third one was just right.
I love that.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Goldilocks.
Just right Now is your focus onhelping solopreneurs who are in
the consulting space, or justanybody that defines himself as
a solopreneur.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Doesn't need to be consultants, financial planners,
executive coaches, interiordesigners maybe, but anybody
who's selling a service andtheir expertise.
I mean they may have otherphysical products, like download
this assessment tool for $10 orwhatever, but for the most part
, it's a knowledge-basedbusiness and, yes, my, my
(17:23):
passion and my specialty ishelping people launch and grow
their own business.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Man, that's a.
That's a great niche, I think,to be in.
In knowing that you saidsomething, I think it was good
that a lot of people say is hey,who do you work with?
I'll work with anybody.
Yep, again, you know networkingand I see you're already
shaking your head.
Can't say that, give mesomething specific, because I
might lock onto it and go yes,she knows how to work with
knowledge workers who are inconsulting or helping people out
(17:51):
.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
Yes, and that's actually the second key of my
book, which is, to be memorable,be known for something, you
have to have a niche.
You can't go to market as ajack of all trades or Jill of
all skills, because if you putyourself in your client's shoes,
they don't want to hiresomebody who maybe can do it or
has done it once before.
Your clients want to hire anexpert got it?
Speaker 2 (18:15):
did you just make up knowledge workers?
Speaker 1 (18:17):
no, not, it's not.
Oh, dude, you're walking into aterrible spot, oh really
welcome.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
You're gonna we're gonna wield your experience on
me and how stupid I am and well,let me tell you a little bit
about knowledge workers alan,look at you, ready to
pontificate and let me tell youwhere it came from.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
A little guy, guy named Peter Drucker.
You may have heard of him, alan.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Is he the UPS guy?
Oh?
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Alan.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Alan.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
Alan.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Oh, I almost made him spill his bourbon.
That would have been a win.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Oh my gosh, I can't even know where to begin.
I need to get back to Liz.
No, peter Drucker obviously isa well-known coach theorist, but
actually one who really helpedset up how business works, and
he is the one who coined theterm knowledge workers before
computers were even around andtalked about how they have to
(19:06):
utilize, how do you utilizetheir minds and their space and
what's their work output and howare you able to manage that?
And I use a lot of PeterDrucker's books.
When I was at SunTrust backwhen I was managing 400 people
and trying to figure out how tobest maximize and not only
manage but also figure out howthey're ticking.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Let me ask another dumb question so you can make
fun of me.
Yes, when do you need a coachversus when do you need a
consultant?
Speaker 1 (19:31):
You know, I'm so glad Liz is here, liz, I'll let you
take that one, because I'm stillspent for my Peter Drucker.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
I actually wrote an article, a blog article.
I've written dozens and dozensof blog articles.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
So are you saying that's a good question, Liz?
Speaker 3 (19:45):
It's a very good question.
The article says consultant orcoach.
Be wary of mixing the two.
So you would hire a coach ifyou want somebody to help you
figure out the answer foryourself.
You would hire a consultant ifyou want somebody to come in
diagnose the problem, puttogether the plan on how to fix
(20:07):
it and help you get that done.
So one is more help me, helpyou, and one is just don't make
this happen, Like Terry McGuire.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Yeah Well, she actuallyire.
Yeah well, she actually.
I mean, she actually putherself in that.
She's kind of that, that kindof person too.
She's the agent betweenconsultants and uh, I might
immediately went to I wonder ifthey all have headshots.
And it must be hard to managethe talent, right.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
I mean, this is like right out of the managing these
consultants it's not consultants, thankfully are a lot easier to
manage than I think actors Iperceive actors to be a little
bit more difficult to manage.
But, yes, a headshot'smandatory.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
A coach is more like a shrink right.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
They help you come up with the answers.
They're not going to give youthe answers.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
And then a consultant is just somebody with huge
depth of knowledge andexperience in a very particular
field that you need for yourbusiness.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Okay, confirmed.
I was waiting for her to sayyes.
I was like, yeah, I'm buyingwhat you just said.
I think that makes sense to me.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Now there are people who are both.
So, that's where they have tobe careful.
What is the client asking for?
Are they asking for you to helpdrive the solution or are they
asking you to help find thesolution?
Because if you go into asituation and you're being more
collaborative and asking toomany questions and you're not
(21:31):
moving the ball down the field,they can get frustrated and feel
like they've Damn it, alan.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
All right guys?
Yep, we had a little glitch.
Guess what.
You know what Technology isawesome.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
I asked such a good question.
I froze, liz.
You know what?
You broke the internet.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Alan, I did Dude.
I just literally had my routerupgraded this weekend because it
was time to rock and roll.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
And.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Liz froze and we went liz I thought she was thinking
for the right word, liz and he'slike, wow, she's really
thinking hard?
I think no I think we reallybroke it and so we're back.
But when we get liz back on,what does liz do?
She flashes our favorite drinkalan she's got a bourbon cheers.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
so let's stop for a minute.
What is?
Is this?
Did you craft your own bourbon?
So for a thousand bucks you canfill your own barrel.
You wax it, you name it, shestores it.
You get to create your ownlabels, you do the bottling and
you can do whatever you wantwith it.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Do you get to pick your flavor?
Like you know flavor profile onit.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
You can, if you wish.
I use her original recipebecause if I didn't want all 24
to 27 bottles, I could sell itback to her and she would
distribute it under her Highmarklabel.
But I've done three privatebarrels now and I always take
all the bourbon.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
So how many bottles do you get out of a barrel?
Speaker 3 (23:09):
Anywhere from 25 to 27, depending on the angel's
share.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
See now, this is really nice.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
I know.
You know what I actually.
I feel like.
I mean, I actually now feellike I'm in, I'm in the, I'm
ready.
I mean I think we're in thehigh wasp.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Liz, do you share?
Do you give it to clients orfriends, or is it just for you?
I?
Speaker 3 (23:28):
I have been known to share.
So this is.
I'm holding up a whole bottle,but get back here.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
You cannot fly to reno now.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Get back he also allows you to do half bottles or
small bottles, and so um oneyear for christmas, my company
did send small half bottles ofbourbon to clients beautiful so
that is so cool, uh, it worked.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
So, jelly on this one .
Oh my god, uh, alan's on thebourbon trail.
Chris can't seem to get therebecause, uh, it requires
somebody else to drive him andhe needs to not drink the entire
first tasting Uh, so that's whyI stay here in John's Creek.
But that is so cool that, uh,that you did that.
So obviously a little fun.
If you guys check out Liz uhand her book, uh, maybe you know
(24:13):
what you'll find a little bitmore about bourbon.
No, talking about solopreneursuccess, let's go all right.
So we've already hit on acouple of your uh, a couple of
your secrets.
I want to hear, uh, another one, um, and that is what secret
you're solopreneuring?
You're off, you get going, andthen what do you do to get out
of a rut?
Because a lot of us, I think,as we're doing, we all get in
(24:36):
them, right?
Yes, you know nobody's everasked me.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
I've been on dozens and dozens of podcasts and
nobody, because a lot of us, Ithink, as we're doing, we all
get in them, right?
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Yes, you know, nobody's ever asked me, I've
been on dozens and dozens ofpodcasts and nobody's asked me
that question.
So, liz, the reason why, yes,that is probably he's in a rut
and he's looking for some freeadvice.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
That was earlier this year, yes, but actually who are
we kidding?
Chris is a daily rut.
Yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
So when somebody's in a rut, that must mean that you
wouldn't call it a rut if youwere really loving what you were
doing.
So if you were really reallyloving it, you wouldn't be
calling, you wouldn't refer toit as a rut.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
What would you call it?
What would you call a rut?
If you loved being in the rut?
Speaker 3 (25:14):
I'm crushing it, I'm just knocking it out of the park
.
I'm living the dream I lovewhat I'm doing nope no kidding
guys.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Yeah, so in that situation, we had a guy, the
podcast that says man, I think,every day I feel like I'm going
to the candy store, I'm likedude, every day I feel like I'm
going to the shit digger stationand I'm digging out of yet
another hole.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Hit in the face with a shovel Right so if somebody
came to my office hours and saidthat I would counsel them to go
back to their North stardocument or their original.
Why so?
I run a bootcamp for people whoare thinking about making the
leap to independent consultingor solopreneurship and want to
(26:01):
do a really well-founded launch.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Did you coin that phrase, or was that another
famous person?
Speaker 1 (26:07):
I really don't pay attention to yeah, the North
Star, the North Star, that's anew one.
No, the North.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
Star document.
I don't know if I invented it.
I don't think I probablyborrowed it from somebody.
I think you did, but let's sayI did.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Yeah, drucker did it.
I can confirm this.
Drucker did not, so she gets it.
Drucker did not.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
He's too busy delivering packages.
And even if you haven't doneone and you already are
self-employed, chris, it'simportant to understand your why
.
Why am I doing this?
Why am I taking this path?
How do I want this to change mylife?
(26:44):
How do I want this to change myfinances?
How will this change myrelationships, my home,
environment, my health?
And you have to be very clearon the why.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Because, being self-employed, as you know, is
the hardest job you'll ever have.
You have to figure things out.
Just a basic why, or is it aChris?
Speaker 1 (26:56):
why Wait?
You mean hypothetical.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Chris, is this the character in a?
Speaker 1 (26:59):
book, Chris?
Or is this the guy over here onyour left, Chris?
Damn it.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Why me?
Why now?
Why?
Speaker 3 (27:06):
Why Because, if you feel you're in a rut, it's
probably because you're notaligned with your original.
Why?
What's your original purposefor being self-employed?
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Going to Vegas big boat, fast cars yeah, reno, then
out to tahoe and back.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Did that too, yeah no , I like to have a little fun
golf you know, yeah, that'sright.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Well, you know what happened.
Yeah, I had to go do christmaswith the family, kidding,
kidding everybody.
Sarcasm coming through thepodcast.
All right, um, no, you're right.
Uh, back to the why.
You know, going back on it.
You know, here we are, 17 yearslater.
The kids are now out of thehouse, but they were in middle
school and grade school when Istarted the business and
(27:47):
everybody says, well, you didthat so you can be with your
kids more.
I'm like nope, I did it to makea lot of money and it didn't
happen in the beginning.
It's a lot of money thing, but Iyou know what I I just got done
telling somebody else they'regetting ready to start coaching
their kids in baseball.
when I said, dude, probably thebest times of my life were out
there on the baseball field, thesoftball field, with my son and
my daughter screaming at theump, uh, yeah, usually uh just
(28:10):
barely getting kicked out orgetting censored yet again from
another watching from the hillwhere you had that, whatever the
the boundary was that youcouldn't cross I'm sure I'm not
the only one who had thisdistinction, but, uh, I was the
only one at this tournament atleast.
Uh, my daughter also playedtennis at a usta tournament
where she actually, uh, told theusta person to have me removed
and uh, oh she I did not knowthis story the lady comes over
(28:33):
from the net and says sir um,that player has asked that you
uh, please.
I said that player is mydaughter.
She goes yeah, I think it'd bebest.
Probably.
I'm like fine, that's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Liz, I got a question for you.
So you're a champion ofsolopreneurs and this podcast.
For how many years we've beendoing it?
Three, three and a half, threeand a half years.
You know we're focusing onscaling and we talk to a lot of
solopreneurs, but the wholemindset is is getting out of
being a solopreneur and scaling,but it sounds like you're
championing people who remainsolopreneurs.
(29:08):
So what's the exit strategy fora solopreneur?
So, yes, there is a, there's agood question.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
there's often a junction where somebody's
solopreneur business is going sowell they're at a decision
point.
Do I bring in people to help megrow this into a larger
organization, which would bemore of a longer term equity
play, which leads itself to anexit strategy in the more
(29:38):
traditional path?
Or do I just raise my prices tomeet because demand is
outpacing right?
Or do I just raise my prices,keep it small and make more
money, sock that money away andthen the retirement account is
the exit strategy?
So it depends.
It goes back to your North Stardocument.
(29:59):
Why are you doing this?
There's a lot of headaches withexpanding, but on the other
hand, it's an equity play, soyou should be here on this head
how many headaches do you have,chris?
Speaker 1 (30:12):
Well, let's see how bold am I now?
Yeah, so yeah, I get the NorthStar document All right.
So you actually brieflymentioned this Kickstarter class
or a class that you have.
How can people find this classand go check it out?
Speaker 3 (30:26):
Yeah, my name's hard to spell.
The name of the book Succeedingas a Solopreneur is hard to
spell, so I created a landingpage which will take you to the
book or more about me, or to myorganization called the
Professional IndependentConsultants of America.
The landing page is sixkeysinfo, not sixkeyscom, because that
(30:46):
was too expensive and I'm allabout keeping expenses low.
So, sixkeysinfo will take youto find the book, to find out
more about the organization PICA, and on PICA's website is my
boot camp.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
So cool.
You started this PICA group.
How long ago did you do that?
Speaker 3 (31:07):
We just celebrated our seventh birthday, although
technically I started it nineyears ago.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
Nice.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
It took me two years to go live.
Okay, so that's how that mathcan use your fingers.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
Oh yeah, that was hard.
I know that's what I was doing.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
I'm like what happened the gestation period
was two years, which is a longtime to launch a baby business
did launch a baby business.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
That's a great phrase .
Two years to launch my babybusiness, all right.
So you launch your baby and sonow peak is an organization
people can join, obviously, meetother consultants, get a chance
for community.
What do you guys do to buildthat sense of community?
Speaker 3 (31:46):
Yeah, so we do when, when I had too many thoughts,
yeah, no not too many, but toomany keys hit the keyboard at
the same time, which is ananalogy.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
She's in the middle of her day, ellen.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Yes and I am in the middle of my day.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
It is a few hours earlier than us.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
So to build community , a few different things.
One I hold office hours once aweek where members come and ask
questions and maybe meet othermembers.
We do meetups for differentgroups.
So once a quarter there's ahealthcare, life sciences,
biotech group that does meet upand networking.
(32:25):
We do in-person events wherethere's critical mass.
So last week in Denver I hosteda solopreneur happy hour and 25
people came.
And then we there's about oncea quarter, twice a year we do an
event up in Oregon.
It's just where somebody sayshey, let's get some people
together and go do this thing.
So that's all very organic andwe have a private LinkedIn group
(32:49):
.
So you have to be a peak ofmember to have access to that
group and that's where peoplewill post things like hey, I'm
working on my website, I'veretweaked the headline, what do
you guys think?
And then we'll offer feedbackto each other.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
So do you have one in Atlanta?
Speaker 3 (33:01):
yet we do have several people in Atlanta and I
think it was two years ago I wasdown there and I did a
solopreneur happy hour.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
All right, hey, alan and I would be fun to be at your
happy hour.
Speaker 3 (33:13):
Yes, we would, I'm sure.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
And we can identify as solopreneurs if we need to.
But no, we'd love to hang outand do that stuff.
But that's awesome, thatoutreach.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
Have we established?
I'm going to ask another dumbquestion.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
You ready?
Speaker 2 (33:26):
This is three Did we say what PICA stood for?
She did what.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
Professional Independent Consultants of
America.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
Okay, she did what.
Professional IndependentConsultants of America?
Oh, okay, pica, because they'retraining P-A-C-A.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
It's right in her background.
17 syllables is a lot.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
So that's why we call it PICA.
And had I known this?
So I started the business,working on the business nine
years ago.
That was before the termsolopreneur was even part of our
language.
I agree that was not a phrasewhen I that was before the term
solopreneur was even part of ourlanguage.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
I agree, I, I.
That was not a phrase when Istarted mine 17 years ago, which
is why when I said years ago,yeah, so that's why I was at a
networking event and I want togo back to networking.
Go ahead, alan.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Well, I just Googled PICA and it says the definition
of PICA is craving and chewingsubstances that have no
nutritional value.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
That and chewing substances that have no
nutritional value.
That might be.
Speaker 3 (34:17):
P-I-C-A.
Yeah, there is a syndromecalled PICA.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
yes, Did you know that, chris?
I did not know that.
Okay, so quick.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
Okay, look at you, holier-than-thou, Mr
Waiting-for-the-Pope, yeah, I am, but I didn't have to Google
that.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
You Googled it.
Speaker 3 (34:31):
That's not your knowledge I know, peter trucker,
you don't I used ai, oh, you dobut to find out more about pika
, the organization, you wouldneed to go to picatnetworkorg
okay I'm gonna do that whileyou're.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
Yeah, please don't engage in our conversation,
please can you be present,please, please.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
Independent consultingorg will take you
there too.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
All right, you know what, listen, I'll kind of hang
on this the adults are gonnakeep going.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
Yeah, we're just gonna keep going.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
All right, you know what listen, I'll kind of hang
on this.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
The adults are going to keep going, yeah we're just
going to keep going.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
All right, please, without this.
So god, there was another bigone, one of the things as
solopreneurs I think I have pika.
Yeah right, you got you got alot you got a lot more.
We picking on chris, but yeah,there's a lot more with alan, my
uh, my steadfast co-host, who Iuh, by the way, he's not paid
to be here and I said, hey, man.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
You're getting every dollar's worth.
I'm getting every dollar'sworth.
All right, let's back to Liz.
Please.
So I like that beingself-employed can be scary.
We've got your back.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
I do like that.
What a great tagline.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
That's where I was going with this, See.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
I actually did something good, right, chris?
Yeah, you did, okay, so let's,let's build on that, because I
just had another guy tell mehe's in a franchise network and
he goes yeah, this otherfranchisee doesn't really
believe in networking.
And I looked at him, and helooked at me and I went.
We had one word and it wasfailure.
I this guy is going to fail.
(35:51):
And I said I don't know how youcan grow your business sitting
in office and starting up afranchise business, especially
in home services, withoutnetworking.
So it's a scary thing.
But when you went, when youwere in the corporate world, we
didn't call it networking right,we did our thing, we worked
around, we worked our networks,we did what it had to do to get
(36:13):
things done.
Similar to you, liz, and yourbackground, I was at Accenture
for years, so you learned thatpath that we didn't call it that
, but you knew how to do that.
Bizdev yeah, you did BizDev.
You channeled up.
We use words like channel up,channel over, so you didn't know
that.
What do you tell somebody who'sthinking about doing this?
(36:36):
And they're like I don't evenknow what networking is and I
don't get what you're saying.
Speaker 3 (36:42):
Yeah, it's, even if you call it business development
.
Really, one of my favoritearticles I've ever written is
business development equalsrelationship development,
because it's about developingrelationships, establishing
trust, becoming known forsomething.
Nobody is going to hire asolopreneur without first having
(37:04):
a conversation with them, andin that conversation you're
looking to build credibility andtrust.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
So you can call it whatever you want, but basically
you need to connect with otherpeople somehow.
But I would tell you, some ofthe best articles I've read are
been you know, sometimesnetworking for introverts,
introverts are a betternetworker than extroverts
because they get more out of theconversation and they dial in
and dive in.
Because you don't care aboutwhat we think.
I really don't care about whatyou think, so back to me, but
(37:46):
they listen better.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
They tend to be better listeners.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
Don't we All right?
Speaker 1 (37:53):
So Alan is a learned introvert.
No, this is not fun, let's goback to I'm kidding, so it.
But he's right, and we'vetalked about this and actually
that's how alan and I met.
He was the uh, he was thepresident of our jans uh john's
creek chamber association, partof the uh business association.
Yeah, but you were still thechamber.
Yeah, we said whatever, but hewas a president.
And then later I get to meethim.
Later he goes.
You know, I I hate doing thatstuff.
(38:14):
I'm like, no, you don't, you'rereally good at it.
He goes no, I had to learn howto do it.
And I'm like but you developsuch great relationships and
that's what liz, that's what youknow you guys have both taught
me is that it's so big to be innetworking.
I love to talk to people, asyou know you love talking to
people I know I like I lovelistening really Liz.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
Liz does listening, liz define listening for us does
it actually mean I'm an active?
Listener.
Yeah, listening for the Gap sothat you can start talking again
.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
So I can interpose my wisdom about Peter Drucker?
Yes, of course so you know.
Speaker 3 (38:50):
Earlier you asked me about the difference between a
coach and a consultant.
I just had a term pop into mymind marriage counselor.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
Been there too.
Are you suggesting we need oneJust?
Speaker 1 (39:03):
saying Alan, he is so hurt with this extroverted
introvert.
All right, let's get back toLiz, shall we?
Speaker 2 (39:12):
I've been listening the whole time.
No, you were on your.
Speaker 1 (39:15):
Google phone.
I'm actively listening.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
I'm Googling the article she said was the best
one she ever wrote.
Speaker 3 (39:20):
Business development equals relationship development.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
That's exactly what I Googled.
I do.
I agree with that one.
That was a great line.
Let's talk about your book alittle bit more.
So when did you decide to writeit and why?
Speaker 3 (39:40):
Let it and why?
Let's ask your north star whydid you write your book?
I'm going to use north star alot from now on.
I did it a little bit backwardsmost people write the book and
then they said oh well, now Ihad to develop an organization
and services and consultingright and use the book as a
calling card.
I sort of did it backwards inthat I started the organization
and coaching people and runningworkshops and running my
bootcamp and blogging right.
So I've been blogging for nineyears and finally I realized
there's got to be a better wayto help more people than having
(40:03):
live workshops.
So I took all of my best blogs,materials from all of my
workshops, things I've learnedfrom myself and other
solopreneurs, and I put all mybest thinking in this book.
And so now I'm thinking why amI even running this organization
?
People should just read thebook.
Speaker 1 (40:19):
Right.
So why did I write my book?
Just because I wouldn't know Ididn't.
I don't know I did.
I did because?
No, I did it because I keptjoking about it.
The whole reason, my whole whywas was I, uh, I joked about it,
uh, that I wish I would havehad resources like this when I
started my business.
I wish I had a podcast like wehave before.
(40:41):
I did this because if I wouldhave listened to all this
beforehand, I think I would haveescaped a lot of stupid things
that I did and mistakes.
I probably would have gottenscared a lot quicker.
Speaker 2 (40:52):
But, entrepreneurs are just so freaking stubborn.
I mean, it's the awesome thingabout it.
Speaker 1 (40:56):
I definitely would have kept going.
There's no doubt about it.
Speaker 3 (40:58):
I mean it is one of the character strengths of a
successful entrepreneursolopreneur, and some people
call it grit, I call itstubbornness.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Yeah, you know I and I.
I find out about myself.
You know you're optimistic, youstart to solve problems.
So I wrote my book because Iwas hoping that people would
avoid making the same mistakes Idid, or pick up just a couple
little gold nuggets off that.
I didn't want to make it aheavy read.
Actually, we joke about PeterDrucker.
I'm not going to, I'll jokeback.
It took me a lot I mean, thatwas a lot of reading, a lot of
(41:30):
annotating for me to reallydigest what he was saying.
You know, when you think aboutthe seven habits, which is
another great book, I meanthat's not one.
You just read over the weekendand go got it.
Okay, oh, look at me, I'msuccessful.
No, you really got to digest it.
My book is you can read it overthe weekend and go got it.
I see his journey.
It was a good read.
I picked up a few things.
I'm going to put that in mylife.
(41:50):
That's all I want to do.
Speaker 3 (41:52):
Well the thing about my book.
So the subtitle is Six Keys toTaking the Leap Winning Clients
and Building Wealth.
It goes sort of from beginningto end, right?
Is this even the right path forme to be self-employed Then?
If so, how do I launch mybusiness?
How do I determine what myniche is?
How do I grow it?
How do I find clients and winclients?
(42:14):
How do I price my services?
That's all in the middle of thebook.
The last two keys in the bookare about how to build wealth
and pay less tax.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
That's something I don't think are in a lot of
books, that last piece of it.
Speaker 1 (42:29):
So would you say that somebody doesn't have to read
all seven chapters?
Could they bounce around?
Speaker 3 (42:35):
Yeah, and they do, and that's what people have told
me the chapter and get it.
Speaker 2 (42:41):
Is that what you're asking, chris?
Speaker 3 (42:42):
no, if you're, if you've been established and you
know your niche and you don'tneed to build your website and
you can skip those chapters.
Speaker 1 (42:48):
Go straight to the ones that talk about building
wealth and paying less taxthat's honestly the way I built
my book too, cause I've hadpeople say you know, I really, I
really uh, identify when youtalked about training your
employees and and that theydidn't talk about the first
couple of chapters, about yourleap, because they'd already
been in it and they're trying toscale.
You know what I mean.
So I, I, that's why I like ittoo.
(43:09):
So, um, all right, liz, hey,can you put us on the touchpoint
networking list, especiallywhen it comes to bourbon?
I'm going to tell you the nexttime I fly out to Reno and we're
getting together, but when youcome to Atlanta you might want
to change your phone number.
Speaker 2 (43:23):
Liz.
Speaker 1 (43:24):
You probably do.
No, I'm a lot of fun.
Alan, he is a lot of fun.
You know, when I came throughReno, they were having the
bowling tournament.
Do you know?
They have bowling bags that youcan carry your bowling balls in
.
Speaker 2 (43:38):
Yeah, you're from the .
Speaker 1 (43:39):
Midwest.
Yeah, but the roll-arounds.
Oh, like a suitcase Like a golfbag.
Speaker 2 (43:47):
Oh yeah, dude, it was like a suitcase, that's super
lazy.
Speaker 1 (43:50):
No, that's super cool .
I was like, dude, these guysare serious.
Because, yes, I'm from theMidwest.
Yes, bowling was the sport ofKings when I grew up.
It wasn't horse racing, itwasn't, it wasn't polo, it was
bowling.
But no, yeah.
So I was in Reno, it was abowling conference, and I was
there by myself and I'm walkingaround I'm like, oh my, wow,
these guys are super.
Speaker 2 (44:11):
What could they possibly talk about in a bowling
conference?
Speaker 1 (44:14):
No, they had a bowling competition there.
Oh, it was downtown and I waslike, you know what I was doing.
I was trying to figure out howto get there, because I was like
dude, if they're there, there'sbeer, I'm going to have fun.
Yeah, and I can gamble on it.
Yeah, and I'm going todefinitely do that.
And you know who you pickAlways, always, you 100% pick
the biggest, fattest guy.
As a fat guy, I can say that.
Speaker 3 (44:36):
But now you also know there's bourbon in Reno.
Speaker 1 (44:39):
So I'm coming to see you, liz, look out, we're coming
to find you.
All right, liz, this has beenamazing.
How can everybody find you?
We talked about a couple otherthings.
You and I are on LinkedIntogether.
Love that part.
Speaker 3 (44:57):
How do people find you your tough name and
everything else?
We're going to find out sixkeys dot info.
Now it could be the numeral sixkeys dot info, or you can spell
it out s-i-x info.
They all go to the same placebeautiful.
Speaker 1 (45:07):
All right, liz gotta, we gotta ask our questions
because, um, I just love askingthese.
But the first one what's yourfavorite book Besides yours?
Speaker 3 (45:17):
Oh, besides mine.
Now, that's the twist, and ofcourse, it can't be mine.
Well, what's a book you'drecommend to a solopreneur
starting up?
Yeah, well, to a solopreneurstarting up would be my book,
but another really good one isName your Price by Kate Dixon.
Speaker 1 (45:33):
Oh, haven't heard that one Nice one Name your
Price by Kate Dixon.
Ooh, haven't heard that oneNice one Name your Price by Kate
Dixon.
Speaker 3 (45:38):
It's set your terms, raise your rates and charge what
you're worth as a consultant,coach or freelancer.
Speaker 1 (45:45):
And for those just listening, man, this thing is
dotted up, dabbed up.
Speaker 2 (45:49):
She has annotated it.
Speaker 1 (45:50):
She has annotated it at her fingertips, I mean this
is like she was studying for anopen book exam.
That was awesome, fingertips, Imean.
This is like she was studyingfor an open book exam.
Speaker 3 (45:57):
That was awesome, all right now let's get some fun
stuff.
What is the favorite feature ofyour current home?
The view from my office,because I live on the outskirts
of town and sometimes I seewildlife and or the neighbor's
horses go by.
It's terrific.
Speaker 1 (46:11):
What's the coolest wildlife thing you've ever seen?
Speaker 2 (46:15):
And know that Chris is afraid of wildlife 100% Watch
this.
Speaker 1 (46:18):
I'm going to tell her a story Go.
Speaker 3 (46:19):
So we were up at the my partner has a house at Lake
Tahoe and we saw a bear in thebackyard and we were up on the
deck and I saw it go past thehouse.
I said, oh, it's going to comeout by the garage.
I'm going to go take a picture.
So I went down, went in to openthe garage door to step out to
take a picture of the bear whichI thought would be in the
(46:41):
street.
The bear was in the garage, sothat was the coolest wildlife
thing I ever saw.
I'm out of here, got to goeverybody.
Speaker 1 (46:53):
So my daughter is in Asheville, north carolina.
They have small black bears innorth carolina and she had just
gone back.
Alan, to go back, uh, to workin you.
Like how I did it.
It was horrible, damn it allright.
So she goes back, she sends usa video.
She's out tanning on the frontof her house and a black bear
came out from behind her car andshe videos it.
(47:14):
I can't share the video becausethere are a lot of chris
systems in there.
This girl is just like chris.
There is a lot of and a littleblack bear and she scared it as
much as it scared her and hewent right and he went and hid
in the, but they're right nextto her house.
I'm like girl, that's enough.
You need bear repellent?
Speaker 2 (47:36):
I don't even know what that means, but you just
got to have it.
I know what it means.
Liz Chris is not visiting youanymore.
Speaker 1 (47:43):
At least not in the night.
I'll tell you what if he comesup and I got that bourbon in my
hand.
Speaker 2 (47:48):
Liz, if you protect Chris, he'll come and visit you.
Speaker 1 (47:51):
No, I'll tell you what.
If come and visit, no, I I'lltell you what.
If I had liz's bourbon in myhand and he came up, you'd be
full of courage, I'd be in.
Hey dude, it's me or thebourbon let's go.
I'd like to see that oh god, I'mscared, I'm running my ass off.
I just have to run fast.
I just have to run faster thanyou, yes, which means I have to
trip everybody.
All right, liz.
So one of the things that wetalk about we haven't talked
(48:13):
about here, but we did so.
We love customer service,because Al and I are customer
service freaks A hundred percent.
What's a customer service petpeeve of yours when you're out
there and you're the customer?
Speaker 3 (48:26):
Unsolicited text messages.
Speaker 1 (48:30):
I tell you what dude?
I'm getting a lot of those.
In fact, I hate them.
We have a mortgage in the houseup in athens and I had to go
out there and do some updatingbecause you know austin's
primary but I'm, you know, doingall the whatever's behind it
and, uh, I signed up on theirwebsite and I just could.
They just kept pounding me andI was thinking, oh my god, I'm
late on a mortgage payment orsomething because you know I
(48:51):
haven't had one for a little bit.
Thank you.
But I was like what the hell?
Right, and then you get those.
And then, well, forget aboutpolitical who.
Those are the worst yeah, yesyeah, that's a good one, but I
tell you what I think it'scoming more and more.
You know, in canada you have todo a two-factor opt-in, and as
an employee, as a as a personsending them.
(49:12):
It's really strict in canada.
Here, here in the us, it iskind of strict because I have to
do this.
Speaker 2 (49:18):
Well, it's supposed to be, but there's no
enforcement.
In Canada, I think there isenforcement.
Speaker 1 (49:22):
Yeah, double opt-in.
We do have to sign up on the10LDC to do what we do, but we
are not obnoxious with our textmessaging, says Chris.
Speaker 3 (49:32):
No, he's really not.
I don't do it.
Speaker 1 (49:36):
Our text messaging says chris, no, he's really not.
I don't do it, kind of allright.
So back to our another thing.
All right, let's go.
All right, here we go, give usa diy nightmare story, and we
like fire, we like impaling,loss of limbs emergency services
yeah water flood I'd like totweak the question a little bit
to my worst contractor story, orbest contractor story.
(50:02):
Okay, I'm going to have to tuneout.
It has to be twice as bad,twice as bad.
Speaker 3 (50:07):
It's because I wasn't going to.
I wanted to add a walk-incloset in my house, but at this
point I was a single mom and Iwasn't going to try to do it
myself.
So a friend referred acontractor and he was from out
of town so he was going toliterally come into this when I
lived in San Francisco.
He's coming into town, he andhis buddy, they're going to redo
(50:30):
my closet.
It's going to take two days butthey're going to be long days
10, 12 hour days so that theycould go home.
Great After late the firstnight I couldn't find the cats.
It was probably around 10o'clock and I went outside,
called the cats I could hear themewing, found one but not the
(50:58):
other and I came inside couldstill kind of hear the mewing
the contractor had sealed a holein the wall and put the cat in
the wall.
Speaker 1 (51:05):
Dig it, mic drop wow story, liz, that one rocks it.
I mean, I'm sorry if you're acat, um, intentionally no, they
had no clue.
No, the cats are quiet, dude,you had no clue.
Speaker 3 (51:16):
He was in there.
This story is awesome.
Speaker 1 (51:20):
It's really good.
Speaker 3 (51:22):
Yeah, well, the guys had gone out to lunch and they
came back with their boots,whatever, and the cat had been
in the room and got scared orspooked and went into the dark
place to be safe.
Speaker 2 (51:35):
So did you have to kick a hole in the wall?
Speaker 3 (51:37):
I had called the contractor.
It was like by this time, 10,15, 10, 30.
I'm like Mark, dude, you got tocome back.
The cat's in the wall.
He's like oh, liz, don't pullmy leg, come on, I'm exhausted.
I said I am 100% certain thecat is in the wall.
Speaker 1 (51:56):
You have to come back and open the wall.
I've had in 17 years of doingthis.
I've had re-dos and we've hadcallbacks and we've had people
call with quote-unquoteemergency situations.
I've never had that.
That one actually tops it.
Well done, liz.
She's in the top 10.
Well done, hey.
Everybody, I hope you enjoyedthis episode.
Stick with us, stay until theend.
Don't forget to like this thing.
Hey, share this thing.
(52:16):
Hey.
If you don't like this thing,don't tell anybody.
But if you like this thing,start telling some people.
Man, because we're getting upthere.
Man, we're going aftersmartlets, we're taking them all
out.
Joe Rogan, don't got nothing onme.
Mike Rowe, he doesn't like that.
(52:37):
We're that cool.
No, he does actually.
Um, we've been talking.
Speaker 2 (52:39):
Good chance have you.
Oh, I have something what teaseeverybody?
Speaker 1 (52:42):
hey, everybody make it a great week.
Get out of here, go make somemoney cheers everybody, thank
you for listening to thisepisode of the small business
safari.
Remember your positive attitudewill help you achieve that
higher altitude you're lookingfor in the wild world of small
business ownership.
And until next time, make it agreat day.
Did you just make up knowledge workers?
No, not.
Oh, dude, you're walking into aterrible spot.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Oh, welcome to my web .
You're going to insist, we'regoing to wield your experience
on me and how stupid I am.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Well, let me tell you a little bit about knowledge
workers.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Alan, look at you, ready to pontificate.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
And let me tell you where it came from A little guy
named Peter Drucker.
You may have heard of him, Alan.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Is he the UPS guy?
Oh Alan, oh, I almost made himspill his bourbon.
That would have been a win.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Welcome to the Small Business Safari where I help
guide you to avoid those traps,pitfalls and dangers that lurk
when navigating the wild worldof small business ownership.
I'll share those gold nuggetsof information and invite guests
to help accelerate your ascentto that mountaintop of success.
It's a jungle out there and Iwant to help you traverse
through the levels of owningyour own business that can get
you bogged down and distract youfrom hitting your own personal
(00:52):
and professional goals.
So strap in adventure team andlet's take a ride through the
safari and get you to themountaintop.
Alan, we got to get going.
We got to talk about thebeginning.
The beginning, yeah, I just gotto go back to it because this
(01:14):
guest brought flooded memoriesback and I'll never forget.
Right before tax time, when Iwas working at the bank, I had
made that big daddy job.
I was like, oh my God, here Iam making all this money that I
hadn't made.
I really jumped up my salaryand my bonus structure from
going from consulting to this.
(01:35):
And tax time came and betweenmy wife and I we were two W-2
employees with no other placesto put it.
You paid a lot in taxes.
So I went in there and I'llnever forget this.
I went in there and, as we allknow, I can be pretty colorful
and my CPA wasn't ready for whatwas about to hit him, and I hit
(01:55):
him with what the F is going onhere.
He says, well, this is what itis.
I'm like I don't have thatmoney.
He goes well, why didn't youhold it back?
I said I asked you he goes well, I just I did what you told me
you thought you were making.
I said well, I didn't realize Iwas getting this bonus and I
didn't realize those optionsactually came as income.
I said so now what he goes?
(02:17):
Well, you pay it.
I said well, I don't have themoney.
Said what do rich people do?
He go they're doing whatthey're doing.
Now he said have you everthought about starting your own
business?
I'm like, as a matter of fact,I am, that's right.
And so that became the.
I know what I'm gonna do yeah,again another lesson.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
You learned the hard way, right I?
Speaker 1 (02:33):
was a lot.
Uncle sam got a lot of money ohmy gosh, nowhere to go with it.
So that's, uh, that's my storyand my journey to oh, oh boy,
maybe it's time to become anentrepreneur.
So today we've got Liz.
Oh, liz, I forgot to ask how topronounce your last name.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Why don't we have her do it?
So you don't screw this one uptoo.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Let's not do it I know Go ahead, liz Stable, oh I
would have said Stable, I wouldhave, I would have.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Sure you would have.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Yeah, barrio Sarasota , I didn't do that one either.
All right, liz, great Liz,you're here with obviously
talking about solopreneurs andsuccessful solopreneurs, and we
can't wait to talk about yourjourney.
But I guess one of the bigthings I want to know before we
get started is that you went toUSC out in Los Angeles when you
(03:20):
were going to school.
There were you like I'm onlygoing here so I can be a
solopreneur.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
God, no, I never had any ambitions of being an
entrepreneur or self-employedsolopreneur or any of that,
although I did major in businessand I sort of had a dream that,
wow, someday it would be coolto have my own business Because
I'm the daughter of anentrepreneur.
But no, I didn't studyentrepreneurship when I was in
school.
I studied in school.
I studied organizationalbehavior.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Uh-oh.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
You know what that is right?
I think you need some.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
What Right I'm exactly right Corporate shrinks
yes, I've met them three times.
Have you been through a coupleof assessments?
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Any of them voluntary .
Speaker 1 (04:03):
No, nope, not one of them, no, three times though.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Big Trojan fan.
Dun, dun, dun, dun dun.
Look at her, she's got thelittle fight on yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Look at you.
You know I've always had a softspot for the Trojans.
You know, because growing up inMichigan you go watch Notre
Dame.
I always play them every year.
Yeah, and of course, a NotreDame.
I say I'm a Notre Dame fanbecause I'm a Catholic kid.
Go Pope, go Pope.
Oh baby, oh, I'm on the watchparty.
I was telling Alan, this iswork Right now.
(04:34):
Just to date it a little bit,the Cardinals are in conclave
getting ready to elect our newsuccessor Pope for our Catholic
faith.
Do you have a betting pool onit?
So, as a matter of fact, I'mgoing to.
After this, I said I will notdo that.
That's what sinners do.
I can't believe that.
What are the odds?
Again, yeah, I'll take theCatholic.
(04:55):
Give me 50 on the Italian.
I'll take 25 on the Asian.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
So I knew you would be betting on this.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Come on man, this is great, this is great you know,
speaking of USC.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
You know, Cousin Brad .
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
His wife Holly, who's a saint because she's married
to Cousin Brad Right, four-yearstarter at USC.
Women's basketball played withCheryl Miller.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Really.
Yeah, that is super cool.
Yeah, and now they have JujuWhitaker Juju is her first name.
She's really good.
Liz, are you a women'sbasketball fan?
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Not especially.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Okay, well, I'll hold this one for you.
So she is really good, I mean,and she is fun to watch and I
wouldn't say I'm a women'sbasketball fan, but I am a
sports fan.
She is an extremely goodathlete and a great role model
for a lot of young ladies.
So this has been just super towatch her blossom, kind of
taking on what Caitlin Clark andAngel Reese had built and the
(05:53):
people before them.
So it's cool watching women'sbasketball come back in.
But that's not why we're here.
Why are we here, chris?
We're talking about how tobecome a good solopreneur.
So first, I have to mentionthis is that literally just a
couple of weeks ago, somebodyasked me what that definition is
, and it was in a networkingevent and I was like huh, that's
(06:13):
interesting.
So, liz, you want to tell uswhat your definition of a
solopreneur is?
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Sure.
The short version is it's aself-employed person who does
not have employees and does nothave ambitions to grow bigger
than themselves and haveemployees in a larger company.
We just like to do the workthat we like to do, make a lot
of money and call it a day.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Like it.
So you came out of college.
You got your first job,probably in org behavior doing
something.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
No, my first job was selling car insurance.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Look at you, oh my gosh.
So you come to USC and youstart selling car insurance.
How fun was that.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Yeah, horrible Dialing for dollars, right, but
it was the job I could get right.
So there you go.
You got to start somewhere.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
So how did you?
You arced in throughout thecorporate world, but it was the
job I could get right.
So there you go, you got tostart somewhere.
So how did you?
You arced in throughout thecorporate world, and when did
you decide that it was time togo on this entrepreneurial
journey?
Speaker 3 (07:14):
It was by accident, so I had been through the
corporate world for a long timealready, so I'd worked for one
of the large.
After car insurance, I did acouple other jobs.
I ended up working as aconsultant for Pricewaterhouse
that's how old I am and thenthey became
PricewaterhouseCoopers or PWC.
(07:35):
Then my daughter was born and Isaid, okay, well, this model
isn't going to work anymore,because my whole life is not
about consulting.
And so I went internal to LeviStrauss and a position as
director of organizationalreadiness for the implementation
of SAP, which is like boring ashell.
And then I got laid off becausethey shut down the whole
(07:57):
program.
So I called a former colleaguethat I'd known through PwC and I
said, hey, I just got laid off.
Do you have any projects?
Do you need any help?
And he said Are you kidding?
How soon can you get here?
So I had my first consultingcontract following week, didn't
even have a laptop, and I justsaid, okay, well, I'll just do
this for a little while.
And then earlier you talkedabout how you were caught short
(08:20):
on taxes.
I discovered that rule thatfirst year, and also the rule of
not networking and not alwaysdoing business development.
I was caught flat footed.
At that point, I was a singlemom and I didn't have more work
lined up, and so that's when itbecame less accidentally
(08:40):
self-employed and moreconscientious, like how can I
make this work?
Speaker 1 (08:49):
That's interesting.
You brought that up becausethat is one of the ones I wanted
to get into, because I havechosen not to do the solopreneur
.
I've got 32 employees and I'mstarting to delegate even more
and more now, which has beenhard, but I built that.
And solopreneurs, especially inconsulting, as I've talked to
others about this, doing thework is one thing, but finding
the next gig and keeping thatpipeline filled is a whole
(09:09):
nother avenue and work effort.
How did you figure out how toget into that and how much time
did you put into it, like, say,per week, compared to your real
work?
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Yes.
So without that for sure, Ididn't really do much of any,
which is why I was caught flatfooted, and so actually I have a
book out now that I'm surewe'll discuss later.
But one of the six keys tosuccess, of being successfully
self employed, is to constantlygrow and nourish your network,
and so now I advise people thatyou need to spend at least one
(09:41):
hour a week doing outreach orbusiness development whether
that's reconnecting with an oldcolleague or sending
personalized emails or whateverat least one hour a week.
Now the rule of thumb is 20% ofyour time, which would be one
day a week.
Right, I don't know anybody whospends a day a week doing
business development or outreachor marketing, business
(10:06):
development or outreach ormarketing, but I do know a whole
lot of self-employed people whodo not even an hour a week.
So even if you just do one houra week, you'll be far ahead of
most self-employed people.
And I don't even call itbusiness development, because
like that sounds boring.
I just call it outreach andkeeping my network warm and
connecting with people.
When I was in person as aconsultant, my cardinal role was
(10:27):
one person in person once aweek, so that meant at least
once a week, no matter how busyI was, I was having coffee or
lunch or a drink with somebodyOne person in person once a week
, and that was enough to keep mypipeline going.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
After that very first Early on gold nugget right
there.
Just one hour.
I think that's easily toimplement in anybody's uh
business.
When you look at a week, if youjust find one hour or you got
drive time, you're sitting inthe windshield.
I know you guys listen to thepodcast.
A lot of them are drivingaround.
I would tell you one of thecontractors I know does a great
job of this is that I'll get acall from him once a month and
(11:03):
he goes.
Hey man, I'm driving betweenjobs, Just was checking in and I
can see what other things aregoing and I finally asked him
what are you doing?
And he goes, he goes.
I just come up with a list ofeverybody I want to talk to that
week and I know when I'm in thetruck instead of you know, just
listen to sports, talk radio orwhatever.
I said, well, you could listento my podcast he goes listening
to.
He kept going.
But no, I think that's a greatidea.
(11:23):
Just one hour once, once a weekand it's really hard.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
It's enough to keep your network warm.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Yeah, yep, it's hard to do that when you're when
you're busy, and when you youhave to.
You have to remember to do itor you're going to get caught
flat-footed, like like you justsaid.
I, chris, I'm sure I told youthis I've got a friend of mine
actually it's a friend of cousinbrad's's out in California,
double mention, very successfulsolopreneur, and he has a little
rule of thumb where, if youconsider you're working eight
(11:51):
hours a day, whether he does ornot, once an hour he does
something to advance hisbusiness and that's just his
little tick, tick, tick, tick.
If he wants to play golf andcut the day short, then he will
come up with eight things thatday that will advance his
business and then he feels likehe can go out and play
guilt-free golf and it could bejust firing an email, picking up
(12:15):
the phone, that kind of thing,and it's a very simple little
metric that he has and he's justwildly successful.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Yes, the trick is to remember to do it successful.
Yes, the trick is to rememberto do it.
So I one of my favorite tricksis I have a standing calendar
reminder every Monday from nineto 10 AM, cause I'm a slow
starter in the morning and letalone on a Monday and it says
outreach and that's the hour Ihave set aside to do the
outreach.
Now, if it happens to beperfect skiing weather and fresh
(12:42):
powder, I might move that tothe next day, but it's on the
calendar so I make sure I get itI like it.
Why did?
Speaker 2 (12:51):
you choose Monday.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Because I just, like I said, I'm a slow starter.
I don't want to.
I just it's easy for me to likesend notes to people or reach
out to people or, you know,comment on people's LinkedIn
postings or whatever it is, andit doesn't take a lot of brain
power.
So I don't do any critical deepthinking on Monday mornings.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Fair enough, I don't, I've got rules.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Yeah, man, when's the last time we did any critical
thinking.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Well, I never make big business decisions on Monday
.
I always make it Tuesday, justso I can have time to think
about it, because Mondays in mybusiness are manic.
It's putting out the dumpsterfire on Monday, right.
For us in the home servicesworld, people had all weekend to
look at their house.
Look at what you did allweekend to look at their house,
figure out what they want you todo.
So we're usually manic andthings are going crazy.
(13:41):
So I never try to scheduleanything on a Monday, only so I
could be there as support.
Now I've got, I think, a lot ofbuffers.
That's helping me.
But back to being a solopreneurwhen you've got to make it
happen.
That's how I was in thebeginning.
I mean that's.
I felt very solopreneur-ish inthe beginning.
When I first started myhandyman business and got going,
all I had was one employee, hewas another handyman and I was
(14:05):
doing everything else.
And then, as eventually as Igrew, I became the sales guy,
but also the scheduler stillsolopreneuring.
So it's a pretty lonely world,right.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
It can be, but I do want to point out that just
because you're self-employed anda solopreneur doesn't mean
you're doing it all yourself.
You can have lots ofsubcontractors supporting you.
So, for example, I have twobusinesses, but the one that
really makes money is amatchmaking agency for
consultants.
We place them with Fortune 500companies.
(14:36):
Think of like a sports agent orcreative artist agency in
Hollywood represent actors, werepresent consultants.
Okay so so in that business Idon't have any employees.
It's a multimillion-dollarbusiness.
We've been on the Inc 5000 listof fastest-growing companies
twice and I still don't have anyemployees.
But I have a core team of fourfractional or contract leaders
(15:03):
who are running that businessfor me.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Beautiful.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
My CFO, our COO, our operations manager and our head
of talent are all part-time andthey're all paid on 1099.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
I think you're kind of pushing the boundaries of the
definition of solopreneur there, aren't you?
That one is pushing theboundaries a little bit, but
even a lot of a lot of executive, a lot of executive coaches or
independent consultants that Iknow they'll have.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
They'll outsource their social media planning or
strategy or they have a virtualassistant or a bookkeeper, right
for sure yeah, I do know, guess, as the former banker.
Yeah, I thought he was going tobe really good at bookkeeping.
I can do it Not so much.
Yeah, yeah, that's there's.
There's 17 years of pain andagony in there.
(15:51):
Actually, I'm going to say I'mgoing to take that back.
I've been in business for 17.
I would say only 15 years ofpain and agony.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
That's been good.
So if you had, to do over again?
Speaker 1 (16:08):
is that one of the decisions you would have done
differently?
I definitely would have gottenin, uh, I would have spent the
money for a good bookkeeper, uh.
But you know what I found,especially with that one just
brought that up, uh, when I knowthat's not the episode, but, um
, the definition of what a goodbookkeeper is for you is so
dependent on what you are inyour business and what you need.
You know, in the mastermindgroup I'm part of, I mentioned
(16:30):
it all the time.
I really had to workshop this alot to figure out what the best
one for me is, because I hadgone through three not so good
ones.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
I did too.
It took me a while to findGoldilocks.
The first one was too small,like couldn't think
strategically enough.
The second one was too big, wastoo expensive, and finally the
third one was just right.
I love that.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Goldilocks.
Just right Now is your focus onhelping solopreneurs who are in
the consulting space, or justanybody that defines himself as
a solopreneur.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Doesn't need to be consultants, financial planners,
executive coaches, interiordesigners maybe, but anybody
who's selling a service andtheir expertise.
I mean they may have otherphysical products, like download
this assessment tool for $10 orwhatever, but for the most part
, it's a knowledge-basedbusiness and, yes, my, my
(17:23):
passion and my specialty ishelping people launch and grow
their own business.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Man, that's a.
That's a great niche, I think,to be in.
In knowing that you saidsomething, I think it was good
that a lot of people say is hey,who do you work with?
I'll work with anybody.
Yep, again, you know networkingand I see you're already
shaking your head.
Can't say that, give mesomething specific, because I
might lock onto it and go yes,she knows how to work with
knowledge workers who are inconsulting or helping people out
(17:51):
.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
Yes, and that's actually the second key of my
book, which is, to be memorable,be known for something, you
have to have a niche.
You can't go to market as ajack of all trades or Jill of
all skills, because if you putyourself in your client's shoes,
they don't want to hiresomebody who maybe can do it or
has done it once before.
Your clients want to hire anexpert got it?
Speaker 2 (18:15):
did you just make up knowledge workers?
Speaker 1 (18:17):
no, not, it's not.
Oh, dude, you're walking into aterrible spot, oh really
welcome.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
You're gonna we're gonna wield your experience on
me and how stupid I am and well,let me tell you a little bit
about knowledge workers alan,look at you, ready to
pontificate and let me tell youwhere it came from.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
A little guy, guy named Peter Drucker.
You may have heard of him, alan.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Is he the UPS guy?
Oh?
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Alan.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Alan.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
Alan.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Oh, I almost made him spill his bourbon.
That would have been a win.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Oh my gosh, I can't even know where to begin.
I need to get back to Liz.
No, peter Drucker obviously isa well-known coach theorist, but
actually one who really helpedset up how business works, and
he is the one who coined theterm knowledge workers before
computers were even around andtalked about how they have to
(19:06):
utilize, how do you utilizetheir minds and their space and
what's their work output and howare you able to manage that?
And I use a lot of PeterDrucker's books.
When I was at SunTrust backwhen I was managing 400 people
and trying to figure out how tobest maximize and not only
manage but also figure out howthey're ticking.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Let me ask another dumb question so you can make
fun of me.
Yes, when do you need a coachversus when do you need a
consultant?
Speaker 1 (19:31):
You know, I'm so glad Liz is here, liz, I'll let you
take that one, because I'm stillspent for my Peter Drucker.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
I actually wrote an article, a blog article.
I've written dozens and dozensof blog articles.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
So are you saying that's a good question, Liz?
Speaker 3 (19:45):
It's a very good question.
The article says consultant orcoach.
Be wary of mixing the two.
So you would hire a coach ifyou want somebody to help you
figure out the answer foryourself.
You would hire a consultant ifyou want somebody to come in
diagnose the problem, puttogether the plan on how to fix
(20:07):
it and help you get that done.
So one is more help me, helpyou, and one is just don't make
this happen, Like Terry McGuire.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Yeah Well, she actuallyire.
Yeah well, she actually.
I mean, she actually putherself in that.
She's kind of that, that kindof person too.
She's the agent betweenconsultants and uh, I might
immediately went to I wonder ifthey all have headshots.
And it must be hard to managethe talent, right.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
I mean, this is like right out of the managing these
consultants it's not consultants, thankfully are a lot easier to
manage than I think actors Iperceive actors to be a little
bit more difficult to manage.
But, yes, a headshot'smandatory.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
A coach is more like a shrink right.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
They help you come up with the answers.
They're not going to give youthe answers.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
And then a consultant is just somebody with huge
depth of knowledge andexperience in a very particular
field that you need for yourbusiness.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Okay, confirmed.
I was waiting for her to sayyes.
I was like, yeah, I'm buyingwhat you just said.
I think that makes sense to me.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Now there are people who are both.
So, that's where they have tobe careful.
What is the client asking for?
Are they asking for you to helpdrive the solution or are they
asking you to help find thesolution?
Because if you go into asituation and you're being more
collaborative and asking toomany questions and you're not
(21:31):
moving the ball down the field,they can get frustrated and feel
like they've Damn it, alan.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
All right guys?
Yep, we had a little glitch.
Guess what.
You know what Technology isawesome.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
I asked such a good question.
I froze, liz.
You know what?
You broke the internet.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Alan, I did Dude.
I just literally had my routerupgraded this weekend because it
was time to rock and roll.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
And.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Liz froze and we went liz I thought she was thinking
for the right word, liz and he'slike, wow, she's really
thinking hard?
I think no I think we reallybroke it and so we're back.
But when we get liz back on,what does liz do?
She flashes our favorite drinkalan she's got a bourbon cheers.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
so let's stop for a minute.
What is?
Is this?
Did you craft your own bourbon?
So for a thousand bucks you canfill your own barrel.
You wax it, you name it, shestores it.
You get to create your ownlabels, you do the bottling and
you can do whatever you wantwith it.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Do you get to pick your flavor?
Like you know flavor profile onit.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
You can, if you wish.
I use her original recipebecause if I didn't want all 24
to 27 bottles, I could sell itback to her and she would
distribute it under her Highmarklabel.
But I've done three privatebarrels now and I always take
all the bourbon.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
So how many bottles do you get out of a barrel?
Speaker 3 (23:09):
Anywhere from 25 to 27, depending on the angel's
share.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
See now, this is really nice.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
I know.
You know what I actually.
I feel like.
I mean, I actually now feellike I'm in, I'm in the, I'm
ready.
I mean I think we're in thehigh wasp.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Liz, do you share?
Do you give it to clients orfriends, or is it just for you?
I?
Speaker 3 (23:28):
I have been known to share.
So this is.
I'm holding up a whole bottle,but get back here.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
You cannot fly to reno now.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Get back he also allows you to do half bottles or
small bottles, and so um oneyear for christmas, my company
did send small half bottles ofbourbon to clients beautiful so
that is so cool, uh, it worked.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
So, jelly on this one .
Oh my god, uh, alan's on thebourbon trail.
Chris can't seem to get therebecause, uh, it requires
somebody else to drive him andhe needs to not drink the entire
first tasting Uh, so that's whyI stay here in John's Creek.
But that is so cool that, uh,that you did that.
So obviously a little fun.
If you guys check out Liz uhand her book, uh, maybe you know
(24:13):
what you'll find a little bitmore about bourbon.
No, talking about solopreneursuccess, let's go all right.
So we've already hit on acouple of your uh, a couple of
your secrets.
I want to hear, uh, another one, um, and that is what secret
you're solopreneuring?
You're off, you get going, andthen what do you do to get out
of a rut?
Because a lot of us, I think,as we're doing, we all get in
(24:36):
them, right?
Yes, you know nobody's everasked me.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
I've been on dozens and dozens of podcasts and
nobody, because a lot of us, Ithink, as we're doing, we all
get in them, right?
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Yes, you know, nobody's ever asked me, I've
been on dozens and dozens ofpodcasts and nobody's asked me
that question.
So, liz, the reason why, yes,that is probably he's in a rut
and he's looking for some freeadvice.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
That was earlier this year, yes, but actually who are
we kidding?
Chris is a daily rut.
Yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
So when somebody's in a rut, that must mean that you
wouldn't call it a rut if youwere really loving what you were
doing.
So if you were really reallyloving it, you wouldn't be
calling, you wouldn't refer toit as a rut.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
What would you call it?
What would you call a rut?
If you loved being in the rut?
Speaker 3 (25:14):
I'm crushing it, I'm just knocking it out of the park
.
I'm living the dream I lovewhat I'm doing nope no kidding
guys.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Yeah, so in that situation, we had a guy, the
podcast that says man, I think,every day I feel like I'm going
to the candy store, I'm likedude, every day I feel like I'm
going to the shit digger stationand I'm digging out of yet
another hole.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Hit in the face with a shovel Right so if somebody
came to my office hours and saidthat I would counsel them to go
back to their North stardocument or their original.
Why so?
I run a bootcamp for people whoare thinking about making the
leap to independent consultingor solopreneurship and want to
(26:01):
do a really well-founded launch.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Did you coin that phrase, or was that another
famous person?
Speaker 1 (26:07):
I really don't pay attention to yeah, the North
Star, the North Star, that's anew one.
No, the North.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
Star document.
I don't know if I invented it.
I don't think I probablyborrowed it from somebody.
I think you did, but let's sayI did.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Yeah, drucker did it.
I can confirm this.
Drucker did not, so she gets it.
Drucker did not.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
He's too busy delivering packages.
And even if you haven't doneone and you already are
self-employed, chris, it'simportant to understand your why
.
Why am I doing this?
Why am I taking this path?
How do I want this to change mylife?
(26:44):
How do I want this to change myfinances?
How will this change myrelationships, my home,
environment, my health?
And you have to be very clearon the why.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Because, being self-employed, as you know, is
the hardest job you'll ever have.
You have to figure things out.
Just a basic why, or is it aChris?
Speaker 1 (26:56):
why Wait?
You mean hypothetical.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Chris, is this the character in a?
Speaker 1 (26:59):
book, Chris?
Or is this the guy over here onyour left, Chris?
Damn it.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Why me?
Why now?
Why?
Speaker 3 (27:06):
Why Because, if you feel you're in a rut, it's
probably because you're notaligned with your original.
Why?
What's your original purposefor being self-employed?
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Going to Vegas big boat, fast cars yeah, reno, then
out to tahoe and back.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Did that too, yeah no , I like to have a little fun
golf you know, yeah, that'sright.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Well, you know what happened.
Yeah, I had to go do christmaswith the family, kidding,
kidding everybody.
Sarcasm coming through thepodcast.
All right, um, no, you're right.
Uh, back to the why.
You know, going back on it.
You know, here we are, 17 yearslater.
The kids are now out of thehouse, but they were in middle
school and grade school when Istarted the business and
(27:47):
everybody says, well, you didthat so you can be with your
kids more.
I'm like nope, I did it to makea lot of money and it didn't
happen in the beginning.
It's a lot of money thing, but Iyou know what I I just got done
telling somebody else they'regetting ready to start coaching
their kids in baseball.
when I said, dude, probably thebest times of my life were out
there on the baseball field, thesoftball field, with my son and
my daughter screaming at theump, uh, yeah, usually uh just
(28:10):
barely getting kicked out orgetting censored yet again from
another watching from the hillwhere you had that, whatever the
the boundary was that youcouldn't cross I'm sure I'm not
the only one who had thisdistinction, but, uh, I was the
only one at this tournament atleast.
Uh, my daughter also playedtennis at a usta tournament
where she actually, uh, told theusta person to have me removed
and uh, oh she I did not knowthis story the lady comes over
(28:33):
from the net and says sir um,that player has asked that you
uh, please.
I said that player is mydaughter.
She goes yeah, I think it'd bebest.
Probably.
I'm like fine, that's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Liz, I got a question for you.
So you're a champion ofsolopreneurs and this podcast.
For how many years we've beendoing it?
Three, three and a half, threeand a half years.
You know we're focusing onscaling and we talk to a lot of
solopreneurs, but the wholemindset is is getting out of
being a solopreneur and scaling,but it sounds like you're
championing people who remainsolopreneurs.
(29:08):
So what's the exit strategy fora solopreneur?
So, yes, there is a, there's agood question.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
there's often a junction where somebody's
solopreneur business is going sowell they're at a decision
point.
Do I bring in people to help megrow this into a larger
organization, which would bemore of a longer term equity
play, which leads itself to anexit strategy in the more
(29:38):
traditional path?
Or do I just raise my prices tomeet because demand is
outpacing right?
Or do I just raise my prices,keep it small and make more
money, sock that money away andthen the retirement account is
the exit strategy?
So it depends.
It goes back to your North Stardocument.
(29:59):
Why are you doing this?
There's a lot of headaches withexpanding, but on the other
hand, it's an equity play, soyou should be here on this head
how many headaches do you have,chris?
Speaker 1 (30:12):
Well, let's see how bold am I now?
Yeah, so yeah, I get the NorthStar document All right.
So you actually brieflymentioned this Kickstarter class
or a class that you have.
How can people find this classand go check it out?
Speaker 3 (30:26):
Yeah, my name's hard to spell.
The name of the book Succeedingas a Solopreneur is hard to
spell, so I created a landingpage which will take you to the
book or more about me, or to myorganization called the
Professional IndependentConsultants of America.
The landing page is sixkeysinfo, not sixkeyscom, because that
(30:46):
was too expensive and I'm allabout keeping expenses low.
So, sixkeysinfo will take youto find the book, to find out
more about the organization PICA, and on PICA's website is my
boot camp.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
So cool.
You started this PICA group.
How long ago did you do that?
Speaker 3 (31:07):
We just celebrated our seventh birthday, although
technically I started it nineyears ago.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
Nice.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
It took me two years to go live.
Okay, so that's how that mathcan use your fingers.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
Oh yeah, that was hard.
I know that's what I was doing.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
I'm like what happened the gestation period
was two years, which is a longtime to launch a baby business
did launch a baby business.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
That's a great phrase .
Two years to launch my babybusiness, all right.
So you launch your baby and sonow peak is an organization
people can join, obviously, meetother consultants, get a chance
for community.
What do you guys do to buildthat sense of community?
Speaker 3 (31:46):
Yeah, so we do when, when I had too many thoughts,
yeah, no not too many, but toomany keys hit the keyboard at
the same time, which is ananalogy.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
She's in the middle of her day, ellen.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Yes and I am in the middle of my day.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
It is a few hours earlier than us.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
So to build community , a few different things.
One I hold office hours once aweek where members come and ask
questions and maybe meet othermembers.
We do meetups for differentgroups.
So once a quarter there's ahealthcare, life sciences,
biotech group that does meet upand networking.
(32:25):
We do in-person events wherethere's critical mass.
So last week in Denver I hosteda solopreneur happy hour and 25
people came.
And then we there's about oncea quarter, twice a year we do an
event up in Oregon.
It's just where somebody sayshey, let's get some people
together and go do this thing.
So that's all very organic andwe have a private LinkedIn group
(32:49):
.
So you have to be a peak ofmember to have access to that
group and that's where peoplewill post things like hey, I'm
working on my website, I'veretweaked the headline, what do
you guys think?
And then we'll offer feedbackto each other.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
So do you have one in Atlanta?
Speaker 3 (33:01):
yet we do have several people in Atlanta and I
think it was two years ago I wasdown there and I did a
solopreneur happy hour.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
All right, hey, alan and I would be fun to be at your
happy hour.
Speaker 3 (33:13):
Yes, we would, I'm sure.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
And we can identify as solopreneurs if we need to.
But no, we'd love to hang outand do that stuff.
But that's awesome, thatoutreach.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
Have we established?
I'm going to ask another dumbquestion.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
You ready?
Speaker 2 (33:26):
This is three Did we say what PICA stood for?
She did what.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
Professional Independent Consultants of
America.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
Okay, she did what.
Professional IndependentConsultants of America?
Oh, okay, pica, because they'retraining P-A-C-A.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
It's right in her background.
17 syllables is a lot.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
So that's why we call it PICA.
And had I known this?
So I started the business,working on the business nine
years ago.
That was before the termsolopreneur was even part of our
language.
I agree that was not a phrasewhen I that was before the term
solopreneur was even part of ourlanguage.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
I agree, I, I.
That was not a phrase when Istarted mine 17 years ago, which
is why when I said years ago,yeah, so that's why I was at a
networking event and I want togo back to networking.
Go ahead, alan.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Well, I just Googled PICA and it says the definition
of PICA is craving and chewingsubstances that have no
nutritional value.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
That and chewing substances that have no
nutritional value.
That might be.
Speaker 3 (34:17):
P-I-C-A.
Yeah, there is a syndromecalled PICA.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
yes, Did you know that, chris?
I did not know that.
Okay, so quick.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
Okay, look at you, holier-than-thou, Mr
Waiting-for-the-Pope, yeah, I am, but I didn't have to Google
that.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
You Googled it.
Speaker 3 (34:31):
That's not your knowledge I know, peter trucker,
you don't I used ai, oh, you dobut to find out more about pika
, the organization, you wouldneed to go to picatnetworkorg
okay I'm gonna do that whileyou're.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
Yeah, please don't engage in our conversation,
please can you be present,please, please.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
Independent consultingorg will take you
there too.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
All right, you know what, listen, I'll kind of hang
on this the adults are gonnakeep going.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
Yeah, we're just gonna keep going.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
All right, you know what listen, I'll kind of hang
on this.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
The adults are going to keep going, yeah we're just
going to keep going.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
All right, please, without this.
So god, there was another bigone, one of the things as
solopreneurs I think I have pika.
Yeah right, you got you got alot you got a lot more.
We picking on chris, but yeah,there's a lot more with alan, my
uh, my steadfast co-host, who Iuh, by the way, he's not paid
to be here and I said, hey, man.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
You're getting every dollar's worth.
I'm getting every dollar'sworth.
All right, let's back to Liz.
Please.
So I like that beingself-employed can be scary.
We've got your back.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
I do like that.
What a great tagline.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
That's where I was going with this, See.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
I actually did something good, right, chris?
Yeah, you did, okay, so let's,let's build on that, because I
just had another guy tell mehe's in a franchise network and
he goes yeah, this otherfranchisee doesn't really
believe in networking.
And I looked at him, and helooked at me and I went.
We had one word and it wasfailure.
I this guy is going to fail.
(35:51):
And I said I don't know how youcan grow your business sitting
in office and starting up afranchise business, especially
in home services, withoutnetworking.
So it's a scary thing.
But when you went, when youwere in the corporate world, we
didn't call it networking right,we did our thing, we worked
around, we worked our networks,we did what it had to do to get
(36:13):
things done.
Similar to you, liz, and yourbackground, I was at Accenture
for years, so you learned thatpath that we didn't call it that
, but you knew how to do that.
Bizdev yeah, you did BizDev.
You channeled up.
We use words like channel up,channel over, so you didn't know
that.
What do you tell somebody who'sthinking about doing this?
(36:36):
And they're like I don't evenknow what networking is and I
don't get what you're saying.
Speaker 3 (36:42):
Yeah, it's, even if you call it business development
.
Really, one of my favoritearticles I've ever written is
business development equalsrelationship development,
because it's about developingrelationships, establishing
trust, becoming known forsomething.
Nobody is going to hire asolopreneur without first having
(37:04):
a conversation with them, andin that conversation you're
looking to build credibility andtrust.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
So you can call it whatever you want, but basically
you need to connect with otherpeople somehow.
But I would tell you, some ofthe best articles I've read are
been you know, sometimesnetworking for introverts,
introverts are a betternetworker than extroverts
because they get more out of theconversation and they dial in
and dive in.
Because you don't care aboutwhat we think.
I really don't care about whatyou think, so back to me, but
(37:46):
they listen better.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
They tend to be better listeners.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
Don't we All right?
Speaker 1 (37:53):
So Alan is a learned introvert.
No, this is not fun, let's goback to I'm kidding, so it.
But he's right, and we'vetalked about this and actually
that's how alan and I met.
He was the uh, he was thepresident of our jans uh john's
creek chamber association, partof the uh business association.
Yeah, but you were still thechamber.
Yeah, we said whatever, but hewas a president.
And then later I get to meethim.
Later he goes.
You know, I I hate doing thatstuff.
(38:14):
I'm like, no, you don't, you'rereally good at it.
He goes no, I had to learn howto do it.
And I'm like but you developsuch great relationships and
that's what liz, that's what youknow you guys have both taught
me is that it's so big to be innetworking.
I love to talk to people, asyou know you love talking to
people I know I like I lovelistening really Liz.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
Liz does listening, liz define listening for us does
it actually mean I'm an active?
Listener.
Yeah, listening for the Gap sothat you can start talking again
.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
So I can interpose my wisdom about Peter Drucker?
Yes, of course so you know.
Speaker 3 (38:50):
Earlier you asked me about the difference between a
coach and a consultant.
I just had a term pop into mymind marriage counselor.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
Been there too.
Are you suggesting we need oneJust?
Speaker 1 (39:03):
saying Alan, he is so hurt with this extroverted
introvert.
All right, let's get back toLiz, shall we?
Speaker 2 (39:12):
I've been listening the whole time.
No, you were on your.
Speaker 1 (39:15):
Google phone.
I'm actively listening.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
I'm Googling the article she said was the best
one she ever wrote.
Speaker 3 (39:20):
Business development equals relationship development.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
That's exactly what I Googled.
I do.
I agree with that one.
That was a great line.
Let's talk about your book alittle bit more.
So when did you decide to writeit and why?
Speaker 3 (39:40):
Let it and why?
Let's ask your north star whydid you write your book?
I'm going to use north star alot from now on.
I did it a little bit backwardsmost people write the book and
then they said oh well, now Ihad to develop an organization
and services and consultingright and use the book as a
calling card.
I sort of did it backwards inthat I started the organization
and coaching people and runningworkshops and running my
bootcamp and blogging right.
So I've been blogging for nineyears and finally I realized
there's got to be a better wayto help more people than having
(40:03):
live workshops.
So I took all of my best blogs,materials from all of my
workshops, things I've learnedfrom myself and other
solopreneurs, and I put all mybest thinking in this book.
And so now I'm thinking why amI even running this organization
?
People should just read thebook.
Speaker 1 (40:19):
Right.
So why did I write my book?
Just because I wouldn't know Ididn't.
I don't know I did.
I did because?
No, I did it because I keptjoking about it.
The whole reason, my whole whywas was I, uh, I joked about it,
uh, that I wish I would havehad resources like this when I
started my business.
I wish I had a podcast like wehave before.
(40:41):
I did this because if I wouldhave listened to all this
beforehand, I think I would haveescaped a lot of stupid things
that I did and mistakes.
I probably would have gottenscared a lot quicker.
Speaker 2 (40:52):
But, entrepreneurs are just so freaking stubborn.
I mean, it's the awesome thingabout it.
Speaker 1 (40:56):
I definitely would have kept going.
There's no doubt about it.
Speaker 3 (40:58):
I mean it is one of the character strengths of a
successful entrepreneursolopreneur, and some people
call it grit, I call itstubbornness.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Yeah, you know I and I.
I find out about myself.
You know you're optimistic, youstart to solve problems.
So I wrote my book because Iwas hoping that people would
avoid making the same mistakes Idid, or pick up just a couple
little gold nuggets off that.
I didn't want to make it aheavy read.
Actually, we joke about PeterDrucker.
I'm not going to, I'll jokeback.
It took me a lot I mean, thatwas a lot of reading, a lot of
(41:30):
annotating for me to reallydigest what he was saying.
You know, when you think aboutthe seven habits, which is
another great book, I meanthat's not one.
You just read over the weekendand go got it.
Okay, oh, look at me, I'msuccessful.
No, you really got to digest it.
My book is you can read it overthe weekend and go got it.
I see his journey.
It was a good read.
I picked up a few things.
I'm going to put that in mylife.
(41:50):
That's all I want to do.
Speaker 3 (41:52):
Well the thing about my book.
So the subtitle is Six Keys toTaking the Leap Winning Clients
and Building Wealth.
It goes sort of from beginningto end, right?
Is this even the right path forme to be self-employed Then?
If so, how do I launch mybusiness?
How do I determine what myniche is?
How do I grow it?
How do I find clients and winclients?
(42:14):
How do I price my services?
That's all in the middle of thebook.
The last two keys in the bookare about how to build wealth
and pay less tax.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
That's something I don't think are in a lot of
books, that last piece of it.
Speaker 1 (42:29):
So would you say that somebody doesn't have to read
all seven chapters?
Could they bounce around?
Speaker 3 (42:35):
Yeah, and they do, and that's what people have told
me the chapter and get it.
Speaker 2 (42:41):
Is that what you're asking, chris?
Speaker 3 (42:42):
no, if you're, if you've been established and you
know your niche and you don'tneed to build your website and
you can skip those chapters.
Speaker 1 (42:48):
Go straight to the ones that talk about building
wealth and paying less taxthat's honestly the way I built
my book too, cause I've hadpeople say you know, I really, I
really uh, identify when youtalked about training your
employees and and that theydidn't talk about the first
couple of chapters, about yourleap, because they'd already
been in it and they're trying toscale.
You know what I mean.
So I, I, that's why I like ittoo.
(43:09):
So, um, all right, liz, hey,can you put us on the touchpoint
networking list, especiallywhen it comes to bourbon?
I'm going to tell you the nexttime I fly out to Reno and we're
getting together, but when youcome to Atlanta you might want
to change your phone number.
Speaker 2 (43:23):
Liz.
Speaker 1 (43:24):
You probably do.
No, I'm a lot of fun.
Alan, he is a lot of fun.
You know, when I came throughReno, they were having the
bowling tournament.
Do you know?
They have bowling bags that youcan carry your bowling balls in
.
Speaker 2 (43:38):
Yeah, you're from the .
Speaker 1 (43:39):
Midwest.
Yeah, but the roll-arounds.
Oh, like a suitcase Like a golfbag.
Speaker 2 (43:47):
Oh yeah, dude, it was like a suitcase, that's super
lazy.
Speaker 1 (43:50):
No, that's super cool .
I was like, dude, these guysare serious.
Because, yes, I'm from theMidwest.
Yes, bowling was the sport ofKings when I grew up.
It wasn't horse racing, itwasn't, it wasn't polo, it was
bowling.
But no, yeah.
So I was in Reno, it was abowling conference, and I was
there by myself and I'm walkingaround I'm like, oh my, wow,
these guys are super.
Speaker 2 (44:11):
What could they possibly talk about in a bowling
conference?
Speaker 1 (44:14):
No, they had a bowling competition there.
Oh, it was downtown and I waslike, you know what I was doing.
I was trying to figure out howto get there, because I was like
dude, if they're there, there'sbeer, I'm going to have fun.
Yeah, and I can gamble on it.
Yeah, and I'm going todefinitely do that.
And you know who you pickAlways, always, you 100% pick
the biggest, fattest guy.
As a fat guy, I can say that.
Speaker 3 (44:36):
But now you also know there's bourbon in Reno.
Speaker 1 (44:39):
So I'm coming to see you, liz, look out, we're coming
to find you.
All right, liz, this has beenamazing.
How can everybody find you?
We talked about a couple otherthings.
You and I are on LinkedIntogether.
Love that part.
Speaker 3 (44:57):
How do people find you your tough name and
everything else?
We're going to find out sixkeys dot info.
Now it could be the numeral sixkeys dot info, or you can spell
it out s-i-x info.
They all go to the same placebeautiful.
Speaker 1 (45:07):
All right, liz gotta, we gotta ask our questions
because, um, I just love askingthese.
But the first one what's yourfavorite book Besides yours?
Speaker 3 (45:17):
Oh, besides mine.
Now, that's the twist, and ofcourse, it can't be mine.
Well, what's a book you'drecommend to a solopreneur
starting up?
Yeah, well, to a solopreneurstarting up would be my book,
but another really good one isName your Price by Kate Dixon.
Speaker 1 (45:33):
Oh, haven't heard that one Nice one Name your
Price by Kate Dixon.
Ooh, haven't heard that oneNice one Name your Price by Kate
Dixon.
Speaker 3 (45:38):
It's set your terms, raise your rates and charge what
you're worth as a consultant,coach or freelancer.
Speaker 1 (45:45):
And for those just listening, man, this thing is
dotted up, dabbed up.
Speaker 2 (45:49):
She has annotated it.
Speaker 1 (45:50):
She has annotated it at her fingertips, I mean this
is like she was studying for anopen book exam.
That was awesome, fingertips, Imean.
This is like she was studyingfor an open book exam.
Speaker 3 (45:57):
That was awesome, all right now let's get some fun
stuff.
What is the favorite feature ofyour current home?
The view from my office,because I live on the outskirts
of town and sometimes I seewildlife and or the neighbor's
horses go by.
It's terrific.
Speaker 1 (46:11):
What's the coolest wildlife thing you've ever seen?
Speaker 2 (46:15):
And know that Chris is afraid of wildlife 100% Watch
this.
Speaker 1 (46:18):
I'm going to tell her a story Go.
Speaker 3 (46:19):
So we were up at the my partner has a house at Lake
Tahoe and we saw a bear in thebackyard and we were up on the
deck and I saw it go past thehouse.
I said, oh, it's going to comeout by the garage.
I'm going to go take a picture.
So I went down, went in to openthe garage door to step out to
take a picture of the bear whichI thought would be in the
(46:41):
street.
The bear was in the garage, sothat was the coolest wildlife
thing I ever saw.
I'm out of here, got to goeverybody.
Speaker 1 (46:53):
So my daughter is in Asheville, north carolina.
They have small black bears innorth carolina and she had just
gone back.
Alan, to go back, uh, to workin you.
Like how I did it.
It was horrible, damn it allright.
So she goes back, she sends usa video.
She's out tanning on the frontof her house and a black bear
came out from behind her car andshe videos it.
(47:14):
I can't share the video becausethere are a lot of chris
systems in there.
This girl is just like chris.
There is a lot of and a littleblack bear and she scared it as
much as it scared her and hewent right and he went and hid
in the, but they're right nextto her house.
I'm like girl, that's enough.
You need bear repellent?
Speaker 2 (47:36):
I don't even know what that means, but you just
got to have it.
I know what it means.
Liz Chris is not visiting youanymore.
Speaker 1 (47:43):
At least not in the night.
I'll tell you what if he comesup and I got that bourbon in my
hand.
Speaker 2 (47:48):
Liz, if you protect Chris, he'll come and visit you.
Speaker 1 (47:51):
No, I'll tell you what.
If come and visit, no, I I'lltell you what.
If I had liz's bourbon in myhand and he came up, you'd be
full of courage, I'd be in.
Hey dude, it's me or thebourbon let's go.
I'd like to see that oh god, I'mscared, I'm running my ass off.
I just have to run fast.
I just have to run faster thanyou, yes, which means I have to
trip everybody.
All right, liz.
So one of the things that wetalk about we haven't talked
(48:13):
about here, but we did so.
We love customer service,because Al and I are customer
service freaks A hundred percent.
What's a customer service petpeeve of yours when you're out
there and you're the customer?
Speaker 3 (48:26):
Unsolicited text messages.
Speaker 1 (48:30):
I tell you what dude?
I'm getting a lot of those.
In fact, I hate them.
We have a mortgage in the houseup in athens and I had to go
out there and do some updatingbecause you know austin's
primary but I'm, you know, doingall the whatever's behind it
and, uh, I signed up on theirwebsite and I just could.
They just kept pounding me andI was thinking, oh my god, I'm
late on a mortgage payment orsomething because you know I
(48:51):
haven't had one for a little bit.
Thank you.
But I was like what the hell?
Right, and then you get those.
And then, well, forget aboutpolitical who.
Those are the worst yeah, yesyeah, that's a good one, but I
tell you what I think it'scoming more and more.
You know, in canada you have todo a two-factor opt-in, and as
an employee, as a as a personsending them.
(49:12):
It's really strict in canada.
Here, here in the us, it iskind of strict because I have to
do this.
Speaker 2 (49:18):
Well, it's supposed to be, but there's no
enforcement.
In Canada, I think there isenforcement.
Speaker 1 (49:22):
Yeah, double opt-in.
We do have to sign up on the10LDC to do what we do, but we
are not obnoxious with our textmessaging, says Chris.
Speaker 3 (49:32):
No, he's really not.
I don't do it.
Speaker 1 (49:36):
Our text messaging says chris, no, he's really not.
I don't do it, kind of allright.
So back to our another thing.
All right, let's go.
All right, here we go, give usa diy nightmare story, and we
like fire, we like impaling,loss of limbs emergency services
yeah water flood I'd like totweak the question a little bit
to my worst contractor story, orbest contractor story.
(50:02):
Okay, I'm going to have to tuneout.
It has to be twice as bad,twice as bad.
Speaker 3 (50:07):
It's because I wasn't going to.
I wanted to add a walk-incloset in my house, but at this
point I was a single mom and Iwasn't going to try to do it
myself.
So a friend referred acontractor and he was from out
of town so he was going toliterally come into this when I
lived in San Francisco.
He's coming into town, he andhis buddy, they're going to redo
(50:30):
my closet.
It's going to take two days butthey're going to be long days
10, 12 hour days so that theycould go home.
Great After late the firstnight I couldn't find the cats.
It was probably around 10o'clock and I went outside,
called the cats I could hear themewing, found one but not the
(50:58):
other and I came inside couldstill kind of hear the mewing
the contractor had sealed a holein the wall and put the cat in
the wall.
Speaker 1 (51:05):
Dig it, mic drop wow story, liz, that one rocks it.
I mean, I'm sorry if you're acat, um, intentionally no, they
had no clue.
No, the cats are quiet, dude,you had no clue.
Speaker 3 (51:16):
He was in there.
This story is awesome.
Speaker 1 (51:20):
It's really good.
Speaker 3 (51:22):
Yeah, well, the guys had gone out to lunch and they
came back with their boots,whatever, and the cat had been
in the room and got scared orspooked and went into the dark
place to be safe.
Speaker 2 (51:35):
So did you have to kick a hole in the wall?
Speaker 3 (51:37):
I had called the contractor.
It was like by this time, 10,15, 10, 30.
I'm like Mark, dude, you got tocome back.
The cat's in the wall.
He's like oh, liz, don't pullmy leg, come on, I'm exhausted.
I said I am 100% certain thecat is in the wall.
Speaker 1 (51:56):
You have to come back and open the wall.
I've had in 17 years of doingthis.
I've had re-dos and we've hadcallbacks and we've had people
call with quote-unquoteemergency situations.
I've never had that.
That one actually tops it.
Well done, liz.
She's in the top 10.
Well done, hey.
Everybody, I hope you enjoyedthis episode.
Stick with us, stay until theend.
Don't forget to like this thing.
Hey, share this thing.
(52:16):
Hey.
If you don't like this thing,don't tell anybody.
But if you like this thing,start telling some people.
Man, because we're getting upthere.
Man, we're going aftersmartlets, we're taking them all
out.
Joe Rogan, don't got nothing onme.
Mike Rowe, he doesn't like that.
(52:37):
We're that cool.
No, he does actually.
Um, we've been talking.
Speaker 2 (52:39):
Good chance have you.
Oh, I have something what teaseeverybody?
Speaker 1 (52:42):
hey, everybody make it a great week.
Get out of here, go make somemoney cheers everybody, thank
you for listening to thisepisode of the small business
safari.
Remember your positive attitudewill help you achieve that
higher altitude you're lookingfor in the wild world of small
business ownership.
And until next time, make it agreat day.
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