Episode 57: How to Build a Business Made of Bricks, not Sticks!

Get ready because everything is about to change. There's a new way of living life and doing business that will blow your mind. This is a podcast all about the timing of life and the timing of success. It's what we call the Right on Time life. And you are listening to the Right on Time podcast with Amber McHugh. Hey, hey. Welcome to the Right on Time podcast. Boy, are you in for a treat today. I'm so excited to introduce you to Angela Henderson from Angela Henderson Consulting Man. In this interview, we talk about the stress and burnout that comes with being an entrepreneur. But we're also gonna go deep into the strategies that Angela used to grow not just one successful, but two and one of them actually both of them. She started when she was still working a full time job. So there's a lot that we unpack here. But you are definitely going to want to listen to the end. At the end of this episode, I asked Angela what is right on time for her in business right now. And she went behind the scenes and she went deep into some of the marketing that she is doing. She's sharing numbers, she's keeping it real life like Ang does. And she's going to break it down for you to give you some new things to think about from a marketing perspective as well. And I mean end to end, you're just going to hear it all. She's talking about the coaching, what she invests and pays for coaching. Angela is going to impress you. She goes there, she goes there in this interview. And if you want to dive into a real, real conversation, you are in the right place today, of course, because it's the Right on Time podcast. I am your host, Amber McHugh and this is going to be a fun listen. I can't wait to hear what you think about it. Be sure to hit me up and let me know over on instagram @amber McHugh or leave a review and subscribe to the Right on Time podcast for more of this magic. And I can't wait to hear from you. Let's do this. Angela Henderson, I am so pumped you are here. Thank you for coming to hang out with us.

Oh my goodness me. It is always an absolute pleasure to hang around you and your energy. So any day, anywhere, I will be there.

Thank you so much for saying that because I feel the absolute same way about you. Anytime I get to hang out with you and for as long as we've known each other, which is just over a year, maybe almost two now, we your energy from the jump, you are one of the most loving, honest, direct, supportive and real people I know. So I'm so excited to introduce you to everyone who's listening right now.

Yay. Well, thank you so much for letting me be here today. And like, again, any opportunity to hang out is a good day when I get to be with Amber. So thank you.

And speaking of it being a good day, what time is it for you right now?

Well, currently at time of recording here in Australia, we are just a little bit past 7:30am here in Australia.

Good, that makes me feel better. I get worried. I'm like, oh, it's so early. It's like 5:00am her time. It's 4:00am Should I, should I do later?

I always worry, but I always think though, they're like, again. And I know we're going to talk about this in a little while, but again, choice, right, Is I can choose to. It's your podcast, your rules. Same with my podcast, my Rules. And I've got choice. I can agree to commit and show up at 7:30 or I can choose not to show up. But the last thing I'm not going to do is bitch about it because it's my choice. And so again, that's one of the things that I think about often is another person that I'm working with at the moment was and even when I worked with you and your mastermind, for example, is I knew at time of signing the contract what time our calls were, what the layouts were, how I could access you, and I was responsible for making that decision. Right. So yes, it's early, but it's my choice that it's early. So I appreciate you thinking about me, but at the end of the day, it's all about choice.

Oh, so good. Which I want to before we dive too much more into this because we're going to circle back around to this. I know you chose to start. You've ran two businesses, successful businesses. Let's talk about the one that came before the business you're currently running. Which business was first?

So, yeah, so Finley and Me was first named after my son Finley. And it was an e comm business focusing on creating childhood memories through play, love and travel. And I got that idea one day when Finley was about nine months. He was just sitting on the ground playing with all these toys. But all the toys had been given to us and they were ones where you would like take a ball, put it in the mouth, and then these bells and whistles would start going. Which again, great. My kids also have iPads so I'm not against any electronics, but I was just looking down, going as an ex mental health clinician of 15 years, I'm like, surely there's other things to work on. Fine motor skills, gross motor skills spark creativity, imagination, but also have that connectedness between mother and child. So I went looking for different stores that had wooden toys, and there was nothing available at that stage. And so then that's when I started looking at supporting other mothers around the world who are creating these magnificent wooden toys that sparked all those things I talked about. And so again, we started with zero followers, zero email lists, zero idea of what the heck we were doing. And we ended up with over 70,000 people on our Facebook feed. We had over 20,000 on Instagram and an email list of 50,000 plus with over 1400 different products when we closed down. So, yes.

Wait, why? I mean, this sounds like you were growing an incredible business from the ground up. Zero to. I couldn't count fast enough. All of the followers and the engagement that you had. Why did you decide to close this down?

Yeah, Again, it no longer brought me joy. And I think it's one of the things that we don't talk often enough about is, say often to my own clients, is what you're doing bringing you joy? And is what you're doing currently in alignment for you? And if at any stage, in my opinion, that those two things start to be compromised, we really need to sit in it and assess. So that was one of the things is I'd been doing it for almost at that stage when I made the decision to start kind of pull back for eight and a half years. It served its purpose, but it's also okay. And I think as women, we forget to give ourselves permission to be able to pivot. We forget to give ourselves that again. If we want to close it down, it doesn't mean it's failure. And that, as you say, Amber, you're right on time. That that business was right on time for me, and it really ceded to where I then went to with the next business and for where I am now. Right. So it's okay to pivot, it's okay to wrap up, but we will actually be leveraging, which is always, again, the univers gives you what you need. I will. I'm just in the talks with the lawyers at the moment, but we'll be leveraging the Finley and me audience because we've still been posting on there daily and things like that, and we're turning it into a foundation. So I'm Just working with the legal team now to turn that into a foundation where I'll be able to take money from my consulting business and put it back into that business in order to be able to give back. So a very exciting time.

Well, that gives me goosebumps too, man. Okay, so then you mentioned the consulting business, which is your second business that you started and you're operating now. Give us the scoop on that.

Yeah, I mean, as. As I said, I'm an ex mental health clinician by trade, so an ex social worker. So naturally, I think we're giving people, I like to help people, et cetera. And in the consulting stage, it was never on the cards. Finishing up. Finley and me was actually never on the cards. It just kind of the cards played. It's the way it needed to. And so all of a sudden, over a course of two months, I had about 14 different coffee dates with people. And I don't drink coffee. I was having to drive 20 or 30 minutes. Then I. Then I was like, pretty much consulting. And then I realized, oh, one day when I was driving home, oh, if I charged all these 14 people for my expertise, I could have a secondary business. So that's where like, it was literally never on any of my goals. It was never on my vision plans. It was never on anything. And it was just driving home that day, I was like, oh. Because I was like, something's going to give. I can't just keep driving hours and back. Like, I love connecting with people, but I was like, this is starting. This is a bit much now. And. Yeah, now, yeah. Angela Henderson Consulting came around, and I work with women in business to help them get all those pieces in place.

So, yeah, flipping amazing. That's so cool. What I love in that is we think about things being right on time is we make plans. Yes. But we also leave room for magic in the middle and the unexpected. So I know running two businesses myself, there's a lot of unexpected that comes up. So what are those key ingredients that you go back to that enable you to grow to successful. Wait, one question actually, before we dive into this one. How long have you been running the consulting business?

We'll be going into our fifth year. And I say going into our fifth year because the first year, like I said, I didn't really. It was like, oh, again, I'll get a legal contract. Oh, what's my framework? Don't really have one. It really wasn't. And then also, I think it's also important to know that when people hear from me and People work for me. Even though I am an ex mental health clinician. At that stage of that transition period, I was also being bullied in my day job. So at this stage I also worked 40 hour a week. So I worked 40 hour weeks plus, had the one business, two kids, and was starting the second business. So for me is too. Not only is that I was also bullied through a workplace situation where I was in charge of a $3.5 million portfolio for individuals with severe mental illness. Found out that a not for profit organization was still siphoning who had taken their life. I found out that another organization was doing that. I reported that back and pretty much was told to say nothing. So at that stage I lawyered up because I didn't want to, I don't want to compromise my brand, but I still felt those people had a voice for those people who need the funds to get out of mental health facilities, but also for those people who had passed. So I lawyered up. And needless to say, you work in an adult mental health facility, they don't really consider your mental health. So during this transition too, as I was also going through anxiety and depression where I needed to be medicated and a variety of other things. So that kind of first year, though I consider it my first year in business, it really was kind of like couple clients. There was no website at that stage because I was really putting more so my own health in the front seat of that at that particular time.

Thank you for sharing that. Because it is something that comes up, I mean, especially in the last couple of years with what we've all been going through, I mean, heightened levels of anxiety. I know in my daughter, I think we saw a little bit of depression that I didn't realize until she started seeing friends again, like, oh, now I see what's happening. So bringing awareness to this and allowing ourselves to take care of ourselves is so important. So thank you for sharing this for all of us.

I'd also say, I mean, today is are you okay? Day at time of reporting, right. And again, right on time. And I think the conversation around that is get curious with your friends and family. Because at this particular stage we have been ingrained to just say, yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine, everything's all right. But the reality of it is if you take a moment and get curious and ask a few more additional questions, more than likely the layers will start to show and most people are not okay. And so just be mindful of that. Right? So it's just something to consider.

You know, one of the things that right on time, the conversation goes where it needs to go. We had not planned this part of it or talked or had a list of any of this. But even if you. Third times when I'm like, something doesn't feel right, I may not even know what it is or what's happening. And actually, very recently I thought, who should I talk to about this? Because something is off and I can't explain it. And there are people out there to help and have conversation with. So. And even as entrepreneurs, like, yeah, reach out, like, let's talk about this as colleagues, let's support each other. You know, with my team, we're like, it's all fair game. Anything anyone needs, especially in seasons like this here for it. Even if you can't describe it, do you find with your background that that comes up that, hey, okay, we can't. You can pinpoint it because you're a professional, but I don't know, I have no clue.

So I guess the other there too, Xander is. I think it starts with stress and then it leads to burnout and then it leads to a full blown mental health diagnosis. And so there are characteristics that we have to consider with that in order to get a full blown mental health diagnosis. You have to. It has to technically be exhibiting in all three areas of a child's life and all three areas of an adult's life. So for children, it's typically home, school, community. For adult, it's typically work, home, community. And so again, it's. If you start noticing that potentially like relationships are faltering in home life, but then it's also in the community and things at work are a bit rocky. Not saying that anyone has a full blown mental health diagnosis, but you have to start looking at why is it impacting all three areas. For children, for example, when I used to diagnose them, if they came to me and said, oh, we've got a behavioral problem at home. But I went and spoke with teachers, I would then speak with, say, their basketball team. And they didn't exhibit those same behaviors and those elements. Normally there was a root cause that was going at home, parents separated, a child's been died, diagnosed with cancer, whatever. So it's not necessarily full blown mental health diagnosis. It's more of an adjustment disorder to something specific that's happened in one component of life. So. Exactly right. Is that the thing is it starts to look like stress and then people start to feel it more and it can be like people are Sleeping more or sleeping less. It can be that people are eating more or eating less. It could be that people are moving more or moving less. Right. And so it's just understanding these kind of things that start to shift in you. And one of the things that I say to a lot of my clients is, is just start to keep, like, don't make it anymore, don't put any more pressure, but just write like a little. You can have like a sticky note by your desk what's been going on for this day. Because once you start to understand the patterns, it's very easy to go, oh, actually, data doesn't lie. And this actually is happening. I'm not getting any sleep. And we know sleep is a key factor to other contributing elements in our world, right? So drug and alcohol, for example, dv, for example, et cetera. So, yeah. Yes.

Wow. Okay. Love this. I know when you said sleep is an important factor, I'm like, oh, yeah, I know. Now I have chronic migraines. If I don't get my hours of sleep, I gotta go into proactive, don't get a migraine mode the next morning. And if I mistake, I'm woken up in the middle of the night for some reason, like, okay, gotta get myself back to sleep fast or I'm gonna be off. And then the mental health impact leads to stress this all. So we gotta take care of ourselves as entrepreneurs.

So, yeah, again, I know we weren't going to chat about this, but I can never, if there ever comes a way to chat about it. And it just naturally led that I think it's important. If you break your leg, you go to the doctor, you break your tooth, you go to the dentist, you have a heart attack, you go get help. But again, a lot of people won't ask for help. And in my opinion, with eight people in Australia taking their life every single day, it is eight too many. So always ask for help.

Oh, my goodness. Ange, I just love you. Thank you. And ask for help on the business side front too. We are here for you. So, Ange, I want to ask you two successful businesses, what is the secret? Like how it's hard to get one going, You've gotten two going. How is this possible?

Yeah, I mean, what I mean first I always say is I talk about the foundations. So the foundations for both businesses were the same. And it's what I teach my clients is number one is if. If your product is a turd, we're screwed from the beginning. If it looks like a turd, if it smells like A turd. It probably tastes like a turd. And I can't put Nutella or pink feathers and glitter on it. A turd is a turd. So it is so important that again, right from the beginning, the foundational pieces is making sure that you've got a product that is going to be able to help transform people and make you money, but more importantly that it brings you joy and alignment. Because if you're just chasing the dollar, it's going to fall down. And what I talk about with the foundations is like, it's like the three little pigs. Most businesses to me are a business made out of hay or a business made out of sticks. They're structurally there, but it wouldn't take much for it to crumble. So my whole philosophy is building it with bricks. And bricks might cost a little bit more, bricks are a little bit heavier. So again, if you think about it, it would take longer to move those bricks. But if you're really genuinely in your business for the long haul, you're going to want to build it with bricks. Because things like Covid, people dying, separation from partners. Right. There's going to be other variables that come, but if you can put a business of bricks, even with those other componen, you'll still be stable and you'll still be standing. And yeah. So key like product messaging, understanding, ideal client funnels, those are the key foundational elements that I consider to be important for being able to build not one, but two businesses.

Oh my goodness, I could not agree more. It's funny, in the middle of our Covid shutdown in our photography business and we saw impact certainly with our consulting clients as well. I was talking to a client and we were, she was, was navigating shutdown with ease, not a lot of stress, had a way forward, had a plan to get through it, and knew it was going to be okay. One way or another, it was going to be okay. And we were sort of digging into why. Why is this okay? Right. Even though everything is not okay. And we talked about foundation being the key thing that we saw in so many businesses that were navigating rocky waters, choppy water, really with a lot of ease and really with some unexpected grace, like, oh, okay, I'm gonna be okay. Like, whoa, what a relief. Mind blown at the same time. And so I think you're spot on and like, go for the bricks, go for the bricks. If this is something you want to do long term and you're serious about it.

Yes. And I just think it's like everything Else builds around it. Right. If you build one solid foundation, like you said, it becomes easier to build other elements or other, even revenue streams ins of that primary foundation. Right. So again, to me it's key, but because businesses are so wanting to get the next dollar and where is the next transaction coming from and things like that, which listen, I get you've got to feed your family and all those things, but I would also say things like don't start a business if you don't have capital in some way. Right. Or whether or not you're going to be putting down like your credit card maybe or that you've got inheritance that you can use. You know, I still worked in my full time role as a mental health clinician being able to ensure that I had four weeks annual leave. I had, I bought four weeks of purchase leave, I had sick leave, I had one rdo off a month. Like I really leveraged, still working full time to my advantage. So really be mindful that I think there's this myth or this perception out there in the world that you can literally just leave your nine to five. It's, it's not like that. It's. There's blood, sweat and tears. And I'm not saying work harder. I'm all about working smarter and having a business with ease and elegance and grace. But there is a reality that you still have to work to get it up off the ground. Because if it didn't, I mean, we'd all be millionaires, right? So. Yeah. And so if you're going to do it to me, just do it right from the beginning. Get those foundations in place from the beginning, you know, spend again. You might have to spend a little bit. And that's like my leads to. My second thing is that the importance of investing, Amber, is that I believe the transformation occurs when the transaction takes place. And I also believe that obviously my, for myself is when I pay, I pay attention. So when I first started, I may have only been able to afford a $10. Well actually when I first started just would go to free events. Events and what I found with free events, they were great but typically they weren't. There wasn't a return on investment. So then I paid $10 to go to something a bit more specific, better people. Then I started paying for like, you know, $800 ticket to you know, a three day event and then I started paying for masterminds. I've worked with you also. You know, my new coach that I'm just signed with is, and he's $45,000 for six months. Right. Like, so there's things like that, but it didn't start that way. But once you start slowly investing and getting a proper website set up and getting support so that you don't. Harder. I'm telling you, the magic just comes from it. And it's not just that. It's your confidence shines. You're also saying to the universe and energetically, like, I'm here to play bigger, I'm here. You step up, you walk with a pep in your step a little bit. You're proud. Right. So my second thing is, yeah, foundations first, but investing second.

Oh, so good. And what do you think about. I'm going to keep going with your brick by brick analogy because I love this so much. But, you know, you don't have to make all of the moves and all of the investments at one time. You stepped like it was brick by brick, brick by brick by brick. So as you think about making investments, as you think about things that are a priority when we're, when we're building a business, how do you prioritize what brick to put in place first?

I always, for me, I always look at, like, I'm curious about what is the biggest return on investment for my time and energy? Because there's only so many hours in a day, right? And then, yes, we all have the same 24 hours in a day, but at the end of it, there's too many variables. If you've got kids, you don't have kids, you're dealing with death, you're not like, it's not the same 24 hours for everyone. So for me is, it's just really understanding that what is my return on investment? So whenever I look at hiring someone to work with, particularly, I'm always going, okay, what do I need right now to learn from that particular individual? So I might interview two or three consultants that I want to work with, but my decision will always come back as, do they have what I need right now to get me there quickly, quicker? And if the answer is no, then I'm like, I'm out. So, like, they're, they're. It's not that they're a bad human. It doesn't mean that I won't work with them again. It just means what do I need right now? So for people, like, if you're out there right now and you're like, okay, I really, I want Facebook ads. My whole thing is, okay, Facebook ads are great. But if you, what you really need, though, is getting your website up and Converting. And there's various variables that need to have a website converting. So. But they, a lot of people think they need one thing, but it's actually, again, that foundational piece they need Amber. So it's like, oh, I'm running Facebook ads. I'm spending $3,000 a month. I'm not getting any conversions yet. Because you're taking them, driving them back to a place that's not speaking their language through messaging, not having clear call to actions on what to do. So of course you're going to lose the conversion because your foundational piece, that website, that primary ecosystem, isn't firing in a way that it needs to be.

Yeah.

Always, always return on investment. Like, what do I need right now that is going to help me grow, even if it means I'm not going to make money right off the bat? That. Yeah, right. So.

And don't skip those critical steps. What a great point. Like, all right, let's fire up the ads. Well, is that going to be effective? And I've seen, like, we've had some campaigns that are effective. Then we've had someone look at the ads and then the funnel coming through and they're like, oh, here's why it's all messed up. So there's something to, okay, put it in action. You might DIY it for a minute. It. But then get the expertise and be, you know, one of the things that's so important to me that comes up around, you know, you as well as a human and who you are. You seem so open to possibility. You are direct. You are clear. You clear. I mean, anybody you are listening right now and you can tell the angel is going to. She's going to tell you, telling you what is up. But there's so much love and openness around it, too. You're like, yeah, give it to me. Okay. All right. Okay. And you don't seem to have awkward resistance. I don't know where that term just came from, but if you resist it, you're like, no, this is why. This is it. It's direct and it's focused. There's reason behind it, and it's not wishy washy. You're pretty direct. Has that benefited you in growing your business?

Yes, 100%. I mean, because the reality of it is it will repel the people who don't want that right now, and it attracts the people who do. Right. So it definitely plays to my advant. But I think to even to go back, Amber is. I've never looked at failure, has never been an Option. So when the first business came about, failure was never like, the word failure was like, never. It was other people projecting that onto me. What if this fails? What if you blow this money? What if? And I'm like, but what if it succeeds? What if it flies? So to me, failure has never been. It's never even been in my vocabulary because I'm always like, I'll make it work, I will adapt, I will pivot, I will look for opportunity. And again, I have choice. So, yeah, so to me, failure has never been an option for me. And I think so again, that plays a significant role as my mindset has been really crucial. Even when I first started business, I wasn't going. My mindset. My mindset, but I'm here to tell you is that mindset plays just as much as strategy plays a significant role in this piece. So, yes, we've got foundations, yes, we've got investing, But I would say the last piece there, Amber, is taking responsibility. And taking responsibility isn't just about owning what you do, but it's also taking responsibility for your mental health, taking responsibility for your relationships, taking responsibility for your mindset. And because I had this kind of core theme where I'm like, every day I wake up, it is my responsibility for what I do and what I need that has allowed me to get to where I am. Because there's no excuses. Again, there's. The only person that's, you know, you've got one finger pointing at someone, you've got three fingers pointing back at you, is, it's not the husband, it's not the husband who's causing you to fail in business. You might think it is. It's not your children who's keeping you up at night. You might think it is. Again, you choose to find a schedule that then will work and allow you to adapt. Right. So again, choice. So for me, Amber, is it's always been to me, what would you say, kind of my zone of genius. And I giggled just yesterday, actually, a lady, Kelsey, a friend of ours, had connected me to be on another podcast with someone and the lady wanted to do like a pre calling. So I booked in for like a 15 minute chat so she could connect with me. And again, I show up, I'm on a call with you today. I'm in a hoodie. I showed up on that call with her. I'm in a hoodie, Right. And when other coaches have told me that that's not going to get me to where I am, I've always just kind of stayed in My space about wear the hoodie. And so this lady says, thank you so much for introducing Angela to me. However, she is not stylistically appropriate for the podcast. Literally use the word that. And so now I've got choice. I can react and go crazy, or I can just sit there and laugh. Right. Because I respect that lady's decision about her podcast. Her rules her podcast. But when she was interviewing me, I was like, listen, I'm going to call it straight how it is, and I'm not going to fluff around and I'm going to show up on a hoodie. And if that's not what you want, then I'm probably not. So stylistically, I wasn't the fit for her. So, again, you know, but because I've got a pretty big backbone, it's already did. I mean, like, again, I'm sitting here laughing because I'm just like, whatever, because there's certain people who want me to be a certain image or want a certain thing, but because I've always stayed true to talking about mental health and always stay true to, yes, of course I still dress up and I can look nice and polished. But again, even when I'm about to go for my next branding shoot and I'm looking up for, like, I'm literally buying different hoodies, it's not the high heels, it's not the purses. And that's okay if you do do that, because that's you. But for me, it isn't. I need to continue to show. Show up the same way. Because if all sudden my feed is bombarded now with all these polished photos, people, there's going to be a disconnect there. Right? So staying true to who I am and that directness has again allowed the people who need me in their world to come in and those to repel. And as I say, with your right on time statement that has carried through immensely throughout the last couple of years for me is also divine timing. The universe is giving you who and what you need at any given time.

So, yes, which is why we kind of let these conversations flow. It's right on time for who? Someone out there. And I just got. I got a comment on the hoodie situation because I know when we are coming into a conversation, like, oh, and it's going to be like, chill. We're going to be. And this, to me, is what it is to be a modern CEO. Like, I happen to have a jacket on today because I was like, oh, I haven't worn a jacket in a while. I think I Would like to have that energy. Today I was going out and about and I wanted to feel a certain way, so I brought it. But other days, yoga, other days, dress, dress, dress, dress like hair down, messy, wind blow like whatever or polished. We get to choose. Going back to your point here, choice and taking responsibility. Now, one final question. Actually, I have two final questions. This one is on the response. You know, sometimes when we're in it, it's hard to see if you're not taking responsibility for something. So I don't. Do you have a way to sort of like, all right, check yourself, check yourself on if you are taking responsibility. And you know, people talk a lot about needing accountability, but are we being. We're, we're business owners now, like to some of these things we have to hold ourselves because at the end of the day, it's you at the computer, it's you running the business, you the CEO, this is your show. So we've got to have some personal accountability, responsibility. How do you know if you need to check yourself? What should you look for?

I always say is if you are at a day job, a nine to five day job, you've just been hired, you sign a position description, there are certain KPIs that need to be met within that position description. And all of a sudden I find that especially women, we become CEOs and we forget that we have responsibilities. So I say, check yourself and go, hold on, what'? My current position description. And once you start understanding what your position description is, which is like posting on social media potentially, or showing up or asking for the sale or whatever that is, is you start to go, oh, actually I'm not being responsible. Because the thing is, if you look at those KPIs and aren't doing it, technically, if you were in a 9 to 5, you would get pulled into your office, boss's office, they would probably have a speaking to. You potentially would get like, what is it? Like? Written up. All right? And if you didn't make changes, changes, you then would pretty much be like, bye, bye. You know, you're without a job. So I believe that women in particular, because that's who we both predominantly work with, is that we need to understand what is our position description, what are our key responsibilities? Because in my opinion, especially when I'm talking to women about selling, one of your key responsibilities is selling. You need to ask for the sale, you need to do. And again, you don't need to do anything. But if you choose not to do anything, just like you would choose to not do those things in a job, you'd be without a job. If you choose not to take responsibility and choose not to look at your position description, then what ultimately you're doing is you're choosing not to be in business. And that's okay if that's what you want, but just be mindful. So I always say check, kind of look at your. Like, what is your position description for you right now? Because that will evolve as you bring on more team and things like that. But right now, your position description should equal almost those responsibilities that you need to be focusing on.

Oh, I love it. And if there's something that someone. I'm not doing, but it needs to get done, done. It's okay to fire yourself, get fired. I've been fired a few times by myself. I bet you have too.

100%. Like, you are like, bye, bye, Felicia. Right. Like, we need to get rid of this. This is not your zone of genius. But again, it goes back to even that essence, asking for help, understanding that your position description is no longer fitting your position description. You now need to potentially look at hiring people who can do that, whether or not that's a coach or whether or not that's a va. And so again, again, the evolution, and I think it's important for women realize that you're evolving every single day. So just like I did with Finley and me, I evolved and now I'm here. And I would suspect that in another 10 years, I'm going to evolve and I might not be doing what I'm doing now. It will evolve. It's okay to evolve. But it's also, as Denise Duffield Thomas will say, it's safe. And it's safe to make more money, it's safe to have more wealth. It's safe to give yourself permission. It's safe. So always know that there's an element of it's safe. Even when you might feel it's unsafe.

Even when it feels a little woo. Oh, my gosh. And I just love chatting with you. My truly final question is because this is the Right on Time podcast. I have a Right on Time question for you.

I love it.

As you look at what's happening in business right now, what are some things that you think people should pay attention to or avoid or what's like top of mind for you from a business strategy perspective?

Yeah, I mean, right on. Right for me right now is looking at visibility strategy for people. And there's three key things that I look at. Visibility is you can have organic visibility, partnership Visibility and paid visibility.

Yeah.

And in a time where iOS is changing and Facebook ads, I believe, have both cost us significant money over the last little while. All right, you know, like 40. Well, for me it was at one stage, $40 per lead. Right. Which it used to be like $8 back in the day. It's not sustainable. So I again, going back foundations is. I've had people who I've been in masterminds with who have particularly been dependent on launch model strategies, and they typically are evergreen strategies where Facebook ads has predominantly allowed them to grow. So they've been putting in 100k plus money into their Facebook ads. And these people, again, I said these three people, let's make that very transparent. Three people, not copious amounts, but three have messaged me going like, listen, what should we be doing? And they're freaking out. The problem is they didn't build their foundations and they didn't have other visibility strategies in place, which was their organic. They kind of let fall by the wayside and they forgot to continue to nurture relationships and build partnership relationships. So I would predict of the three people that I've spoken to, two won't be in business in three to six months if ads continue to go the way they have because they've been so reliant on the launch model, but then also have lived this lifestyle based on the money that they're coming in that you can't. I mean, you can go back and try and ask someone for favors now, but if you haven't built partnerships and just relationships with people, asking someone now to send it to their email list or to support you is really kind of, in my opinion, feels a bit yuck. Right. So to me right now is really businesses. Yeah. Understanding those three areas of visibility and really being true because you don't want to have all your eggs in one basket like they have. And that. Yeah. I mean, I'll give you an example is I just did of lot a, a workshop a couple weeks ago. It was a $37 like, build your strategy workshop. We had 225 people come in. Now, that's not a lot, by all means. I wanted a thousand people in, but I stopped ads because ads weren't working. But I've also built relationships along the way. And so I reached out to a couple of people and said, listen, I know you run a really great membership and I know that this helps so many people. It's one of my top workshops that I do. I. Would you. Would you be willing to surprise and delight People, your crew, by giving them access to this. And they said, cool. So of that 225 people, but again, I had partnerships, I had relationships, and I was able to like go into a bank. I had put so much effort into these relationships that I was able to start to pull out, AKA a favor because I wasn't just doing hit and run. So of the 225 people that signed up, this is a rough number, but I know it was more than 150of those came from partnerships. I also know, side note, my audience was probably fatigued with me promoting some of the things my audience is probably over. But of the 225 people, maybe 15 came from ADS. Very small amount, Amber. The rest was partnerships and email list on my group. So small number. But of that small number and because I was willing. The partnership component too is different when someone has your back and starts promoting you. It's different to a cold audience lead where you're paying for the lead and they know nothing about you because someone else is actually. So it sits on the fence, I believe, of like a cold, warm lead because they're going, Angela knows her stuff. Da da da da. Versus who is this lady? So of the 225 people, and because I was able to partner, you might think, oh, well, how much money did you really make off of only 225 people? Well, we closed just yesterday at $48,000 off of five sales only. So again, like, I think it's important I share that about the essence of partnership, But I also just want to show that you don't need large numbers to be able to make money. Again, if you've got good foundations and a good product in place. Right.

Poop is poop.

I know a turd is a turd, my friend, but partnerships, right? And so my strategy moving forward for the rest of the year is in my launch in November. Pretty much it's all partnerships is that I'm focusing on. And it doesn't necessarily. When I say partnerships, that wasn't an affiliate. All I did was give that particular crew a code to their paid membership people. And they didn't. It wasn't an affiliate marketing. It was just a partnership. It was a referral. They scratched my back, I scratched theirs. So again, I know it's a little bit long winded, but I wanted to share that because I think it's important that people understand the essence of partnerships are key because again, your network equals your net worth. And so if you're not nurturing relationships, look into it. And my team and I have this thing that we've just built where every month I reach out to five people that I haven't spoken to a long time and we put it into airtable. We document who I reached out to the date that I reached out to them because relationships have always been key. It's been a little bit busy but I wanted to go back to make sure that I was nurturing those relationships. So yeah, relationships and looking at your visibility.

Okay. For you who are listening to till the end of this podcast, man, Ange just dropped some gold. How to track and follow up with people and love people up in a systematic way. Plus that behind the scenes on the launch activity. Oh Ang, you blew my mind from end to end in this episode. Thank you so much for your time. Before we go, you have got to let people know where to find you because. Because you need Ang in your life.

Listen again, if you want to connect in any way, I always say head to my website which is angelahanderson.com au or just head over to Instagram and just follow me on. My handle is just AngelaHenderson Consulting. So whatever works for you, find a way and yeah, it'll be lovely to connect.

Oh my goodness, you're the best. Thanks for being here. I hope you have an amazing day and you know I'm going to connect. We'll be in touch.

All right, my friend, thank you so much.

Love you. Oh my goodness. Wasn't that good? It was so good. I am so glad and grateful to you for hanging out with us through this episode on the Right on Time podcast Today. Coming up very, very soon is the annual planning event of the year for freedom seeking entrepreneurs and modern CEOs. If you are a business owner that wants to get in on the latest trends and wants to set yourself up for success, success in the year ahead, you have got to join us in the Plan A Thon. This only happens once a year. You are going to get so much momentum and engagement and connection and energy in this event with more than 20,000 other entrepreneurs and business owners and you are going to blow yourself away with what you are going to get done through the rest of this year. So if you have not not joined us for a Plan A Thon yet and you are not signed up for the 2022 Plan A Thon yet, head on over to theplanathon.com and we're gonna make sure you get all the info on the pre party and the main event so you don't miss a beat. Can't wait to see you there. You're right on time.

Sam.