Ask Me Anything with Bernadette

Good day, good day, good day everyone! Happy, happy Ask Me Anything episode on Shedding the Bitch Radio. Of course, I am Bernadette Boas. I am so thrilled that you are here with us. It is an absolutely gorgeous day here, um, where I am in Atlanta, Georgia. I hope it is wherever you might be. Um, our Ask Me Anything episode is, um, specifically targeted to you, specifically because you provide me some questions, stories, and challenges, whether that's through our Facebook, Twitter, Shedding the Bitch pages. You might send them through LinkedIn to me, which is perfectly fine, and that's where the majority of you, uh, do reach out to me, uh, as well as DM me in Facebook, which is getting more and more and more voluminous, which is fabulous. So wherever you might need to reach out to me Please be sure to do so if you have a question, story, or challenge that you're dealing with in your business or life. And what, what we do is on the first Tuesday of the month, we bring them right here onto the program so you can even participate and get even more, more tips and advice than what I might be able to provide back in your Facebook post or your tweet or a LinkedIn message. Now keep in mind too, if say on April 6th, you write me with a question or story or challenge, I'm, I'm going to respond to you, you know, immediately. Yet at the same time, it's most likely a question or a situation that someone else is dealing with. So that's when we bring them back into the first Tuesday of every month's Ask Me Anything episode in case other people can relate. Now, of course, no disclosure, confidential information, that kind of thing. But you always have an opportunity if you want to, to join me And you can even do that right now if you— because I'm, uh, streaming live. I'm streaming live on BlogTalkRadio at 1-818-572-2910. You can call me and, uh, we'll check you out in the studio as well as on our, uh, Shedding the Bitch Facebook page and YouTube. We are streaming live at the moment, so any of those sources, if you have a comment or a question, uh, please feel free to do that. I am streaming into those sources via StreamYard, so be sure— they always kind of provide a descriptor that you need to give them permission for you to, um, have your picture and your name shown to me, so then I can make sure that I'm addressing you as effectively as possible. All right, um, so we do have a number of questions. We're going to be addressing everything from How do you speak to your ideal client? It is the first Tuesday of the second quarter, so kind of what— so I'm often asked, and you, um, one of you asked, so what do I need to be focused on as we get into the second quarter? Um, as well as then, um, we're gonna have a conversation because this has come up a lot in the last, uh, 30 days from a number of other coaching and training programs I've been doing, but Someone wants to understand how is it that our emotions affect our thoughts, our feelings, our words, so forth and so on, and what can you do about it. So, um, great questions, but at the same time, if you have, um, any of your own, then be sure to reach out to me. Uh, and again, you can call me at 1-818-572-2910 on BlogTalkRadio. I should also say that if you happen to be out there live and you're streaming it there, then scroll down to this particular episode and you'll see a chat room. So there's numerous ways that we can be connecting together, um, during this next, um, you know, about 45 minutes to an hour. All right, so before we do that, I need to thank our new viewers and listeners. Uh, you have been coming and the, the program has been getting more and more visibility, which I'm thrilled at, and therefore you're finding it. And at the same time, you're also rating us, you're subscribing, you're following, you're liking, you're leaving comments, you're making suggestions on topics and guests. Please continue to do that. It helps us to continue to broaden our visibility out there to help as many powerhouse female business owners as we can. So please continue to do that, as well as our ongoing loyal listeners and viewers. Uh, thank you so much for the comments and likes and the tweets and the shares and the ratings and subscriptions, because it's you that's also helping these new, uh, viewers and listeners to, uh, to find us out there. Okay, now keep in mind, you can, um, certainly subscribe to our Shed the Bitch TV YouTube channel, uh, as well as, uh, follow us on Facebook, Shed the Bitch. You can also, if you stream your, your podcast on, you know, Apple Podcast or Stitcher or TuneIn or one of the other streaming services, uh, be sure to subscribe, follow, like, comment, uh, rate, all those good things. All right. Um, so the other, uh, thing I need to say thank you to, or the other entity I need to thank, would be North Georgia Tax Solutions, who is our ongoing sponsor. Of our Shed the Bitch programs. And Debbie Snelling and her team at North Georgia Tax Solutions provides full-service financial and tax services. Now, North Georgia Tax Solutions, she's just not Georgia, she is all over the country. So, uh, she and her team are fabulous. And if you want to learn more about her, you can go to ngtaxsolutions.com. And the you know, tell her I said hi. But certainly, certainly check her and her team out. They are fabulous. They are fabulous. All right, um, so in regards to, uh, Ask Me Anything, uh, like I said, we have those 3 questions. And again, you can post yours out on our Facebook page, Shedding the Bitch. You could post it into, uh, the Blog Talk Radio chat room or you can call directly 1-818-572-2910, and I will keep an eye out in the studio, and we'll make sure that you're sent over to me so we can get your question addressed. All right, so let's get into the first question, uh, and this has come up a lot because of course as, um, business owners, which majority of you are, Uh, you know, we spend our days, we spend our days and our nights sometimes in our sleep working to position ourselves, um, confidently, firmly, clearly, uh, and powerfully to our prospective client and even our own, our current client base. And I can't tell you how much time and effort not only should go into that but needs to go into that. It needs to go into really two things: really ensuring that you're, you're targeting the right ideal client. And once you have that, then how are you, you know, messaging them, and how are you talking to them, and how are you hitting a nerve to where they say, I need that product, I need that service, I need to know this person. I need to follow them. I need to, you know, always buy from them, uh, subscribe even to their, you know, product service or product subscription service, whatever the case might be. Uh, yet, yet some of us spend not only months but years working on really niching, uh, that ideal client base. And what I mean by that is many of you struggle with, especially if you're, you're just starting out and then you're evolving, right? So in the startup phase, what I find many of, of business owners are doing is their product and service can support anybody and everybody. I can sell my product or service to anybody and everybody. And yes, you can. Certainly you can. Well, and not in all cases, not 100%, but certainly you can. However, you don't have the time, the money, and the resources to do that. And plus, I always say, coming from a retail background and a technology background, I always say, you know, the wider you are in the amount of, you know, in this case, the amount of people you are targeting for your business, the shallower you're going to be. The wider you are, the shallower, because you don't have the time, money, and resources to devote to marketing and messaging and selling and closing and fulfilling and supporting all of those various types of clients at the beginning. Um, so what you want to do, especially if you are in those initial phases— and, and I even sometimes call the startup phase like 1 to 5 years um, because so many struggle with this. You know, they're out there, they're reacting, they're, you know, doing something, they are making some sales, but it's not, not, not their ideal client just yet. So if you were to spend any amount of time each and every day working on something, um, it needs to go in ensuring that you are, you know, really niched in who it is that you're targeting. Okay, so let me give you a for instance, uh, for myself and then even a client. So for myself, when I started out in 2008, I was coming from corporate into, um, into running my own business, and it was consulting and coaching. And being that I, you know, had a corporate background, I thought, well, I could support them and I could support businesses, business owners. You know, I knew enough about business to where I can help people in their business, but I can also help and continue to do what I was doing in corporate for 25 years. I can continue doing that. But those two markets are huge, first off, and there is no delineation of like who in the, in the corporate market. It was just corporate businesses. It was just business owners. There was no delineation of industry, of sector, of gender. Of level of individual or level of organization, like revenue or number of employees. There was none of that, and which is common, very, very common for those in the initial startup phases. And yet at the same time, I was absolutely killing myself for the first year, year and a half, trying to not serve them. Gosh forbid, I wish I had gotten enough to where I was serving them. I was just trying to, you know, nail the, nail the messaging to where they— I got their attention. And this is long before all the noise of social media that we have today. So, um, so here I was, and which is a commonplace for many, and think about it for yourself, is this where you are? Where, you know, there was just so many different ways I could have cut up, you know, and spliced that those two target markets, um, and make them very, very narrow. Because the narrower you are, the more niched you are, the deeper you can go. If you're only talking to— say you're only talking to, um, retail— or I'll go with my scenario— retail organizations with more than, uh, 1,000 employees that generates $100 million or more in the United States. Um, and they are brick and mortar versus even e-commerce. So you see how I could— I went, you know, I could go broad from corporate and then I could start splicing it in such a way that it becomes very narrow. And then, you know, there's— yes, there's fewer. There's fewer in that. But just think that if I got that narrow and that you got that narrow, and then I said, okay, I'm going to market a message just to them. I'm going to always speak to retail brick-and-mortar businesses with, uh, you know, 1,000 employees or more earning $100 million in revenue or more. I'm just going to speak to what it is that they're dealing with, what their challenges are, what their opportunities are, what their needs are. I'm going to hit on getting their attention, as opposed to if I was talking to any business owner running any type of business of any size in any country, in any industry and sector, so forth and so on. Does that make sense? So I can always tell, even when, when I'm working with a business and they've been in business for 3, 5, 7 years, I can tell that they are still a startup. Because the amount of years you've been in business doesn't reflect, doesn't, you know, align necessarily to what phase of business growth you're in. Because I've had businesses that have been in business for a year and they have been, you know, laser-focused on who they're serving, how they're serving them, you know, how they're messaging them, how they're supporting them. They're solid in the infrastructure they've built to support it. So forth and so on. And then, and they have, you know, revenue being generated, some small, some large. And then I've been in businesses that have been in business for 7, 10, 12 years, 15 years, and they are at early stage because they, they, you know, have lasted this long because maybe they have one core solid client base. And in this, in this instance, they had like 5 logos, as I call them, but they had 5 core customers that they were able to generate enough business to kind of pay the bills. And yet they never were moving beyond that. They weren't moving beyond that. And it was because they were going after everyone within, within their marketplace when their product, manufacturing product, really served best this specific niche of that client base. And yet they had been in business for 12 years. So what you really want to do, especially if you're listening and you're on the newer stage, let alone if you're the 3, 5, 7, 10 years in, is look at who your ideal client is and make sure it's as nichey as possible. Because trust yourself in that, that you have a product or service that if you serve that client base, that niche, really well, and your product is really, you know, powerful or quality or whatever the case might be, and you're building your revenue stream to where you're even able to reinvest and, and go to the next niche, move to the next sector. Um, and then not only that, but then based on product or service, you're able to get reviews and testimonials and and ratings and all kind of other things. So then you have proof, social proof, that what it is that you're doing and what your business is doing is, uh, viable and valuable and creating an impact. And therefore, trust me when I say that as you are sharing that out there, there's people paying attention. There's people paying attention, all of a sudden going, oh, wait a minute, you know, I'm not necessarily in retail brick and mortar, but I am in, you know, I am in e-commerce, or I am in technology, I am in manufacturing. And yet what they're— what the product or service that they have is definitely translated, you know, can be translated into my industry, which, which in many, many, many, many cases is true. I have a friend visiting Coco today. So you'll have to, uh, you'll have to mind her chirping. Um, it is a puppy, but she sometimes sounds like a parakeet. Um, so, you know, so that is the whole premise of why people really— and a lot of you as business owners struggle with this. A lot of you get uncomfortable, you get scared, you get desperate, you get all of a sudden anxious about the fact that, oh my God, someone, you know, like a coach is telling me that I have to go from here to here. And gosh, I'm giving up so much business. Um, my question I'd give back to you is what business do you have currently? Because trust me, if you came to me and you said, oh, I'm on in all of these industries and sectors and niches, and you're producing and you're serving at top quality and you're getting the top quality rate that you, that you deserve and earn and, and are reflective of the product or service that you had, then who am I to say, oh no, no, no, no, you got to get niched? I mean, you know, no one's going to do that. But that's not the case. That's not the case. Because what I have to remind, um, remind everyone on time and time and time and time again is 90% of business owners— doesn't matter how long they've been in business— 90% of business owners earn under $100,000. Why do you think that is? That's a question you can ask yourself. Why do you think that is? Okay, so say you now have your very niche, niche, niche, niche client base, and in this case we'll use the retail brick-and-mortar, um, $100 million or more, 1,000 clients or more, or 1,000 employees or more, right? So the question that I received was, how do I speak to them? Well, this is— I'm going to assume Um, which is probably not what I should do, but I'm going to expect— I'm going to expect that you sat down and you've laid out all the fears, frustrations, challenges, obstacles, opportunities that that niche has that they're dealing with. You've done research, you know, by either, you know, studying other companies, uh, comparing various companies in the retail brick-and-mortar $100 million above. You've specifically researched that organization. Maybe you've gone— if they're public, maybe you've gone as far as pulling their 10-K down and looking at, you know, their annual report that emphasizes, that actually documents their opportunities and the challenges that they're having, the needs that they're working on, the initiatives that are coming up. And so I'm expecting that you've done all of that. And if you've done all of that, then you have the content of which how you want to speak to them. Now, I had the best lesson very early on in my, um, technology sales career. Um, it was the first year— not even the first year, it was the first few months— when, um, I was in my late 20s, early 30s, and I had this technology company pursue me and bring me into their company. I had been in retail probably since I was 14. And they wanted me to come in as a consultant to their retail base. And that's a story on its own about like, am I capable of consulting, you know, top retailers in the world? That's for another story. But here I went to their training, their indoctrination, but their sales training that was for a couple of weeks long. And I'll never forget this. Granted, they were a technology company of which then I was serving the retail organization, but I wasn't technical. I was very business. Yet at the same time, my last career, my last job had me blending. I called myself a translator, had me blending business and technology so I could speak the language enough to where I can make sure that the IT guys were speaking appropriately to the business people and vice versa. So in this session, in this sales class, they, um, the instructor had asked one, you know, the students, so can employees, can someone give me an idea of how you go about, you know, what, what you say, how you go about selling what it is that we offer our client base? And so someone started scribbling all these features and functions of, of the technology that they were offering. And, you know, many of you know me, I can't, you know, I can't remain quiet when there's something amiss. And I was just like, what? I'm like, yeah, no, that is never going to work. And, uh, because here it was technology individuals discussing how they're going to sell a business executive in retail, in this case, in retail. And so I was like, no, that is not going to happen. That's not going to work. You could do it, but it's not going to work. And it could be why we have the problem, the challenges that we currently have. And, you know, the, the instructor slash VP of an organization that I did not know, he was like the big VP, uh, says to me, okay, so why don't you share how you would go about it? So this is how you should go about selling your client. Okay, so I said, well, selling them feature functions or your products and service, that's not what it is that they need. They're not looking for you to give them, you know, a fancy box or, you know, fast reporting. They're not looking for you to give a, a pretty product in a box with a bow on it, whatever the case might be. They're not— that's not what they're looking for. They're looking for you to solve a problem for them. You're looking for for that, or they're looking to us to help them in some way, shape, or form achieve their goal, achieve their, um, their, you know, initiative, their pro— their project. They're looking for us to solve a problem, to create emotional transformation and change. They're not looking for us to just simply sell them a box. This, you know, Apple will always tell you This isn't about having a, you know, having a phone that's pretty, you know, that has buttons that allows you to get into Instagram and Facebook and all that kind of good stuff. This is selling engagement, connection. It's selling, um, it's selling, uh, freedom because you're free from, you know, being tied to your desk, you know, and tied to your laptop. You know, it's, it's all the emotional connection that drives someone to spend $1,000 on a phone. This, this box is not what, what makes it $1,000. Not even the Apple brand in this case makes it $1,000. It's the impact, it's the change, the transformation, the solution, the problem solved, being solved. Is what is going to draw your client into you. So you simply need to understand what their fears, challenges, um, opportunities are, problems are, pains are, and then speak to them. So lay out kind of a conversation that you would have even with yourself. Many business owners neglect the fact that they may be their ideal client. So you may be your ideal client, whether it's a product or service. So therefore, sit down and say, okay, so what is it that I do? What is it that I sell? What is it that I offer? And what is it going to do to my life? How's it going to change my life? How's it going to change what I do at home, what I do at work, what I do out in the world? How's it going to change the world? How's it going to change work? How's it going to change life? And get to the— get to the, the real reason why people spent. And it's not, you know, for the tangible, okay? It's not going to be for the tangible, it's going to be for the intangible. So just make sure your messaging and your convers— your, your— well, let's stay with messaging— is a conversation with your ideal client about what it is that you know they're going through, that they're dealing with, that they're looking for that they have opportunities with, that they're dreaming about, that they're struggling with, they're suffering with, and talk to them about how your product or service helps them achieve the opposite of that. So if they're, you know, struggling, if they're fearful, if they're, um, you know, banging their head up against the wall because of X, Y, and Z, then you're going to give them freedom and you're going to give them, um, productivity, and you're going to give them focus, and you're going to give them results, and you're going to give them opportunities to, to, uh, you know, create. You know, you're, you're going to help them move forward. So understand their pains, problems, challenges, and fears. And then, you know, what is the opposite of you solving those? What is going to be the opposite? What's going to be the result of you solving those? Okay, and then just write and speak and present and position and create, you know, messaging that reflects all of that to your client. Because what you're looking to do through all of this is you're looking for them to finally say, oh, okay, well, I need to learn more about exactly how they're going to do that. So now you're gonna, you know, once they realize that, oh my gosh, they get me, they understand what I'm going through, They know that I can achieve the opposite of what it is I'm going through, and that's what I want is the opposite of what I'm going through. Now I want to understand how they do that. So now you can get into the features and the functions and the buttons and, and the box and all of that stuff when they start asking, okay, so how do you exactly go about doing that? So if you really want to understand how to speak to your ideal client, sit down and speak to yourself first and see how that goes. Okay. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. Let me get some water. Let me just check. Just let me just go through all of my little screens that I have up in front of me and just make sure. Excuse me. Okay. I've been talking all morning. And I have a bunch of stuff to go for the rest of the day, so bear with me, um, in a dry throat. All right, so our next question, um, is all about, uh, she didn't say to me, it's Q2, what do I focus on? Um, I just realized the, the other day as I was actually the last part of last week when I was pulling together the questions, I realized, well, you know what, it's the first, you know, it's the first day of the first business day of April, which means it's also the first business day of Q2. And I love, I love, I love, I love, even though every day is an opportunity to start over, every day is an opportunity to hit the reset button, so forth and so on. I do love those point in times where it's almost like January 1st, you know, its resolutions start on January 1st. If you're neurotic like I am, I only start goals on Mondays, like especially fitness or health or diet. Um, I'm drawn to Mondays because then I can like run loose on the weekend before Monday comes around. However you operate, it's okay. Um, but so what we want to do though is she, she had asked, so what, what should I be focusing on? It's a new month. Um, and I kind of just translated it to it's also a new quarter. So what should, you know, one be focused on? Well, again, it depends upon where you are in your business, what it is that you, you know, really, really, um, kind of need to work on in your business. If you are established, okay, and many of you know I, you know, really work with those that are struggling to break through from 5 to 6 figures. Remember 90% of business owners earn under $100,000 a year. 90%. So I am very drawn to helping those that are in that camp. But at the same time, there's many, many, many of you, a good part of you, that are also struggling to go from 6 figures to 7 figures and break that ceiling. So, um, when it comes to, you know, what should you work on, at any point in time, but let's say it is, you know, first, first day of April, business day yesterday, and it's a new quarter, it's a new month. Um, the first thing I would do is go back and look at the first quarter, go back and look at what happened in January, February, March. Where were you focused on? What did you plan to do? What did you actually do? Um, and you know, why did you achieve whatever it was that you achieved? Either more or less than what you laid out to do. And this has to be— if you're business owners, you're CEOs of your business, so this has to be truth. This has to be pure truth and honesty and reality. It— this can't be, well, you know, I, you know, I, uh, a family member got sick, or, or I just, you know, I kind of got into a funk, or you know, my client base wasn't really, you know, back yet because of COVID They're not really fully opened yet. Get rid of any and all of the excuses, or at least turn those excuses into reasons that you can then kind of justify and come up with a solution. Because it's in the past, there's nothing— you know, you're not— I don't want you spending so much time focused on the past, but I want you to look at it and go, okay, so what am I going to do differently as a result of whatever it was that got in my way? Uh, and be sure that when you're looking at it, looking at that, it's not only looking at the external of how the world was working against you if you didn't make your goals, or that the world was working for you and the universe was working for you. Um, if you did make your goals. So really look at it with very clear, clear, honest, truthful eyes and simply kind of assess what happened January, February, March, and what then, as a result of what your plan was at the beginning of the year, what it— what does it now need to be in April, let alone in Q2, in order for you to continue moving forward. Now You may say, well, I really don't want to change my original goals. I just need to then readjust and come up with new strategies and plans for going forward to catch up. Yay, awesome, perfect. Or you may say, well, now I've set myself up to not, you know, not have a realistic plan, and therefore I'm going to set myself up for disappointment, um, or even failure, and therefore I'm going to readjust. Okay, awesome. Um, I mean, those are your decisions. Now, if I was coaching you, I might, you know, I might challenge you to say, okay, well, wait a minute, you know, can you still catch up? Can you really make up what it is that you, you know, kind of lost out on in the first few months or one month, whatever the case might be? You know, do you still want to hit that goal? You set the goal, there was a reason you set the goal. You know, do you still want to go after that goal for the reasons that you stated, the why that you defined? And if you say, yes, I want to, I want to, but I'm going to suggest get rid of the but and just restructure whatever that plan is. You know, change up what you're doing from a prospecting and sales perspective, change up your products or services, change up your pricing, change up who you're targeting. You know, there's so many levers that you can pull and change and adjust in your business in order to, to ensure that you achieve whatever plan it is that you're laying out. Um, but you know, to kind of— what should you focus on at the beginning of a period, I'll call it, is look at where you've been, what you've planned, how you landed, and whether or not you're going to continue moving forward with that original plan or you need to change it. Um, and then you put a new plan in place, um, for what it is that you're going to do going forward. I mean, it's really as simple as that. Now, what's not so simple, and what I find many of you struggle with, and it's probably the big reason, uh, one of two actually, big reason why, uh, 90% of business owners, you know, don't break through from, you know, from into the hundred thousands Mark, is you don't know your numbers, you don't know your metrics, you don't, you don't really— you, you didn't really lay out. And if you did, um, they weren't done in such a way that you then have been tracking them and assessing them and adjusting them, you know, all along in the— over the last several months. Uh, so you, you as a CEO, because that's what business owners are, are CEOs of your business You need to wear that CEO, you know, hat, let alone a mindset, which we'll get to in a second. But you need to have your numbers. You need to have your metrics, your KPIs, whatever you want to call them. You need to know what it is you're working toward in, in your business. What is your revenue goal? What is your net income goal? What is your profit goal? What is your, you know, number of client goal? What is your number of products sold? What is your lifetime value of a customer? What is your average ticket of a customer? Whatever the appropriate metrics are for your business, you need to have them as part of your plan. So what I'll often see is, yes, people will have— especially after I work with them— they'll certainly say, all right, so this year I want to achieve $500,000 in, in, um, gross revenue, uh, and, and they might say, and, you know, at a profit of— if they're a product, let's say 12% Um, and, uh, they may be able to say, and I'm going to take a percentage of that and reinvest it in X, Y, and Z. Um, and that would be, you know, if I start working with someone and they have at least that much information, that is far more advanced than the majority of you. Majority of you have that number, the $500,000, without real good justification or how you're going to get that number. It's just like, okay, I'm gonna get that number, that's the number I want to get. It's— it doesn't say, okay, so of the $500,000, what is my profit or my net income? Or, you know, what are the products and services and the pricing that's going to get me there? How many do I need to sell? How many— you know, what does my funnel need to look like if I'm in a services business? What does my funnel need to look like in order for me to— if I have— if I want to get 10 clients a month, that means I need 100 leads, of which I'm going to convert you know, 50 of them into, you know, some degree of a follow-up. And then of that 50, I'm going to get 20% of them on a call. And of that 20%, I'm going to close 5%, which gives me my 10. Whatever the case might be, that they— that many of you struggle with. You can't— you can't express that. Or, or, um, or, uh, and I'll lean down and get it. Or you can't show it to me laid out for yourself. Um, and if, if you indeed want to break that $100,000 or that million mark, uh, and you would think, oh, well, those people in the, you know, in the hundred thousands, whether it's $101,000 or it's $500,000 or $700,000, oh, they got their shit together, so to speak. Yeah, maybe not. Yeah, maybe not. That was the biggest lesson I had when I went into retail consultant that I just mentioned, is the fact that these businesses, as big as they were and as wealthy as they were, uh, lacked a great deal of the foundation and infrastructure that they really needed to be a very viable, profitable business. And that's what the work that, you know, the company I worked for, that's what we did, is help them kind of get those things in place. So don't be surprised and don't compare and don't, you know, look and go, oh, they have their stuff together and I don't have my stuff together. Um, you know, get the foundational operational plan and tracking that you need in place to be a true CEO business owner. Um, and that is what you should be focused on if you're not there yet. And if you're there yet, And then what should you focus on is just either you're going to continue doing what you're doing. Maybe you're ramping up, maybe, you know, what you're— what the results you're getting is steady and is strong and it's going to meet your plan. Woo-hoo! That's awesome. And if not, then you probably already know what levers need to be kind of, you know, adjusted in order for you to be able to, you know, reach the end objective that you have for yourself.. So depending upon where you are, you know, there could be very foundational things, there could be infrastructure things, they could be operational things, there could be sales and marketing things. And then it brings me to the second, the second point of this is a good reason. And I'm gonna, I'm gonna say it's, it's gonna be a tight, a tight second. Let's say it's like equal to the fact that they don't have infrastructure and processes and they're not wearing a CEO hat. Is the— those 90% that haven't broken through the $100,000, it's all mindset. It's all mindset. It's, you know, it's questioning whether or not, you know, you're worthy to, you know, you know, to earn $100,000, especially if you never have in the past. It— you're questioning whether or not your products and services are even needed or good enough or quality enough. Um, you're questioning whether or not anyone likes you. And wants to do business with you. Um, you're beating yourself up because someone else has something that's much prettier and, you know, and sexier and different than you do. Um, it's all mindset. It's all mindset. And so, um, I, I actually, you know, kind of use, use a, a term that, you know, you should be spending 80% of your day on mindset, 20% on your skill set. And I actually had a few people challenge me in a very good way to say, I think it's more like 90-95% mindset, you know, 5% skill set, 5% your work work. Um, and I can't, I can't object to it, object to that, because this will lead into our next question. But keep in mind, um, you know, if you are questioning yourself, if you are doubting yourself, if you are feeling desperate, if you're feeling like lack Like, oh, you know, you're getting up and you're, you're like, God, no one is showing up for my challenges. No one's showing up for my work. No one's buying my product. No one's going to my website. No one's calling me. No one wants an enrollment call. I mean, all of that negative self-loathing attitude and communication within yourself is affecting how you're going out in the world, because most likely you're like, well, no one's going to show up anyway, so I'm not even going to bother. And, and when I say even bother, you may show up and say, okay, so they might not show up, but then you're not going to be— you're not going to feel, um, uh, secure and confident enough to go and create new product or beef up the products and services that you have, or go and form a partnership or find a joint venture partner or, or an affiliate, or, or, you know, go and get that public speaking you know, opportunity, or, or go and find that, that, you know, um, outsource, uh, entity that can help you bring your product to market. You're not going to do those things. You're not going to take those chances, do that creativity, take those risks, because you're all like questioning your worth and your value and, and all of that. So if there's something that you need to focus on, um, look at whether or not you know, why you're, you know, you're where you are. And maybe that's doubting or being stuck or frustrated, overwhelmed, whatever the case might be. Even look at, well, no, I feel great and I'm moving and my business is steady. I just want to go to the next level. Okay, then just ask yourself, what's keeping me from going to the next level? For this person, is it all this junk that, you know, this mindset, this, you know, fear to where you're not taking risks and looking for new opportunities? Or for this person who is steady and growing, but they want to go to the next level, is it because, you know, you just haven't, you know, kind of taken those risks to form those more strategic, more higher value, um, uh, relationships or partnerships or products or services or, you know, contracts, so forth and so on. So just ask yourself, what is keeping me from the next level? And then address it. Okay? And that's what you should be focused on. If you're not generating revenue right now, you need to every day be focusing on revenue-generating activities. You know, if you, you know, if you're not generating— if your marketing messaging, Facebook ads, boosts, your Twitters, your Facebooks, your Instagrams are not attracting what it is that you want, then look at it and say, okay, so, you know, What do I need to change up here? What am I not, not conveying? Why is it not hitting? And what do I need to change about it? It's really that simple. It's not rocket science. What's working, what's not. What's working, what can I do differently to accelerate it? What's not working, what do I need to do to improve it and change it? Okay. All right. Now that does lead us into our third question about, uh, that I got about emotions and thoughts. And really it came to mindset. They didn't really know the words, you know, emotions to, to, to, uh, or beliefs to emotions to, uh, thoughts to feelings. So let me break that down. But it came to mindset. Like the question was basically You know, how does my mindset affect whether or not I'm going to be successful in doing this or not? And it has everything to do with it. Like I said, your skill set is not the issue. You possess and you have everything that you need. And if you don't, then learning a new skill is easy. That's the easy, easy part. What's not so easy is if you don't have If you don't have belief in yourself, if you feel like you're unworthy, if you are doubting and questioning and beating yourself up, if you're comparing yourself to others or judging yourself, if you're feeling desperate or, or lacking, then all of that is going to feed into, into how you act and therefore the results that you get. But let me back it up a little bit and just break it down. Okay, so it basically— it looks like the fact that what you believe in is what drives your emotions, which drive your thoughts, which then drives your feelings. Then I add— I always add in there— then which drives your words, and all of that drives the actions that you take or don't take. Which then drives your results. Okay, so beliefs, emotions, uh, thoughts and feelings, words and actions, all— or words drive your actions, therefore your results. So just sit back and consider, if you were to— looking at, you know, the last two questions about how do I speak to my client, or, or, uh, what should I be focused on this year, Um, you, you know, you could look at it and say, okay, so what's, what's driving these fears, insecurities, negativities, doubts that I have? What we call bitches here in the Shedding the Bitch community world. Uh, you know, you might be able to then, you know, kind of go back into your childhood, into your teens, into your, um, you know, 20s, into that last, you know, business relationship you had, or contract, or employer, or whatever you have, and kind of come up with with scenarios, experiences, encounters, uh, something that, you know, triggered your belief that you have in yourself now. That might be, you know, you're not good enough, you're not worthy enough, you're not pretty enough, you're not wealthy enough, you're not this, you're not that, so forth and so on. But you have to really kind of go and what I call excavate your soul to really uncover the source of the beliefs that you have. Because you sitting at home, you know, and looking at the computer, maybe a blank computer, going, well, who's gonna buy this stuff? I did that when I started writing my book, um, back in 2010. Uh, you know, I started writing, I was probably 3 or 4 chapters in, and, you know, I kind of looked at it like, who's gonna read this? Like, who would care about my experience as a corporate bitch and my journey to shift you know, out of that state of being? Who, who would care? And I happened to raise that up in a group mastermind session. It was quite a large one, like 20, 24 people or something like that. And they were all like, are you kidding me? You know, who doesn't want to get into the, into the head of someone who's just really nasty? And then how did they change? And I'm like, really? And they're like, yes. And that allowed me to kind of gain the confidence to continue moving forward. So think back on maybe the last situation, which could have happened 5 minutes ago, that triggered your bitch, that triggered that, that belief or emotion, thought or feeling, um, or even the words that you— because a lot of us, we are more aware of the words that we're using to ourselves than the next level, which is your feelings, which then your thoughts and your emotions and your beliefs. So if the first thing is that you recognize that you're talking bad, poorly about yourself, then stop and kind of say, okay, where's this coming from? And then, you know, if you can find a time when you just felt like, you know, like you weren't worthy enough, or who's going to show up for this? Like, who's— you know, no one showed up for my last one. So all of a sudden your feelings are like stress, desperation, feeling of lack, not good enough. You know, kind of say to yourself, why is this happening? Why am I feeling this way? And you might have to go all the way back to where, you know, you look at the beliefs that you have of yourself and say, where did those beliefs come from? What triggers this belief that I have of myself? I've mentioned to you, you know, this community, uh, a number of times that for a good amount of time, you know, uh probably till I was 45, not a good amount of time, most of my life, I really felt like I didn't belong, didn't fit in, wasn't wanted. Uh, and when I looked at it at about 45, 46 years old, it was, you know, something that happened in my childhood. And I mean, like, when I was 3. And so, you know, but the moment I kind of recognized that, that, oh my gosh, it was that that triggered this lifelong dialogue to my, you know, within myself, I was able to look at it and go, well, that's not true. I mean, I belong in my family, I belong with my friends, and I fit in, and, you know, these people love me and like me and whatever. So it's not true. And yet I've held on to this for 45 years. So I'm gonna, you know, kind of look at it, I'm gonna apologize to myself for it, I'm gonna, you know, kind of say, okay, I no longer, you know, need you, you're not serving me any good at any, you know, point in time, and I'm going to let it go. So if you're thinking that, you know, you're trying to figure out why you're not where you are, or why you're not— you know, you don't have the business that you want, or why you're, you're still single, or why you're, you know, you're, um, always seem to be struggling maybe financially, then just go back and spend time looking at your beliefs, emotions, feelings, um, thoughts and words, um, because they're all going to impact it. So let's get practical. Let's get a very simple scenario of this to kind of lock it in. So say, say you wake up on the wrong side of the bed and it's because maybe you went to bed, um, and you were really concerned about whether— let's just keep something simple— whether or not you know, you just rolled out a website with your products and you're worried that no one's going to show up and no one's going to buy it. No one's even going to come and look at it, let alone buy it. And so you go to bed and maybe you have a very restless night's sleep. So you get up in the morning, and most likely you had a restless night's sleep because if you went to bed with those thoughts and feelings and emotions in your, in your heart, your heart and your head, you're gonna, you know, have a bad night's sleep. So you get up in the next, the next morning How do you think you're gonna feel? You probably still feel crappy or insecure or doubtful or desperate. Um, and then if you don't do anything to shift all of that junk, then you're, you know, probably going to drag yourself to your desk. You may not even want to go to your desk and open up your computer, or maybe you all of a sudden put the phone on the other side of the house because you really don't want to whether or not anybody showed up or anybody, you know, even, you know, uh, visited, let alone purchased. So you start avoiding or ignoring or pretending it's not there, or, you know, just finding yourself on the couch eating bonbons. So that's your beliefs. Your belief that no one's going to buy, no one's going to come and even visit. You know, that belief of, you know, it's not good enough. That product isn't, you know, what people need, not quality enough. I didn't make it perfect. So those beliefs are then fueling your emotions, which is stressed, frustrated, um, scared, that desperate fear, which then— that all of those emotions feed how you feel about yourself. Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, your thoughts. So you're— that's why you're thinking, oh, okay, well, no one's going to show up. I'm not good enough. You know, I was an idiot thinking I could do this. So it's feeding your, your thoughts, of which then you're feeling crappy and you're feeling insecure and you're feeling like, you know, you just want to sit on the— sit on the couch and eat bonbons. Of which then it goes even further to say, well, then those thoughts, feelings, emotions, and beliefs are then creating the words that you're saying to yourself internally and then what you're using externally. So say all of a sudden you're having this conversation with yourself about not being good enough, not the product not good enough, blah blah blah, and then someone comes into the room or someone calls or someone sends an email, and the next thing you know you're like, you know, leave me alone, I'm not in the mood to talk, you know, um, I don't have time for you, whatever the case might be. All of a sudden your words and your behaviors and your actions are reflective of all your beliefs, emotions, uh, thoughts and feelings. And then the result, because you're putting all this out in the energy, or all this out in the world, right, as energy, and your results are most likely when you open up that computer, could be the fact that no one showed up. No one. Because, because the next level to look at would be, did all that fuel how you presented it, even online? You know, how you messaged it, how you priced it, how you positioned it, whatever the case might be. All right, so now say you get onto that computer as miserable as you are and you see that, oh my gosh, there are visitors and there are purchasers. Well, what do you think is going to happen? All of a sudden you're like, woohoo! And all of a sudden you shift in a more positive, productive, optimistic, um, self-loving place. And then the rest of your day you're just like energy, the Energizer Bunny, just, you know, moving, moving, moving, moving, moving, right? Have you had this happen to you recently? I know I have. So consider that, consider that. Now let's go the opposite way because I don't like to always focus on the— uh, let's go the other way. You get up in the morning, you're in a fantastic mood. You— nothing even happened the night before or before you went to bed. You just woke up and you're in high energy, you just feel good. Maybe you had some great dreams and you're in a great state of mind. Well, the next thing you know, you're excited even, even when there's challenges and roadblocks and there's that still that fear that you could open up that computer and not see any visitors or any, any, any, um, purchases. But your state of being, your mindset is in such an energized, focused, optimistic, positive thing that you're, you're like, you know what, if they— if no one showed up, that's okay, I'll just figure out what I need to do next. So your, your, you know, words and actions are now being fueled because your state of being is in a more open and abundant and productive and effective and positive and optimistic state. And even with challenges or obstacles or fears, you're, you know, you're confident to say, well, that's okay, I can deal with all those. I've done it before and I'll do it again. And yes, I may not have any visitors or sales right now, but I just need to figure out what I need to tweak and what I need to do differently, and I'm going to do it. I'm determined and focused. It's why, you know, those that are successful those that have broken through, you know, from 5 to 6, 6 to 7, and even far, far, far beyond. It's because it's not as if they never have a bad day or they never feel insecure or doubtful or, or fearful or unworthy. It's just that they know what it takes to shift out of that mindset in order to be productive and effective and focused and clear and determined and persistent to keep moving forward. So yes, your emotions and beliefs and thoughts and feelings and, and words certainly impact, um, your success or lack of. So spend time each and every day focusing on that. All right, um, let me take a look here just real quick. Um, and you know, I just want to remind you that, uh, each— the first Tuesday of every month is Ask Me Anything, and you could post your stories, questions, or challenges out on our Facebook Shedding the Bitch page. You can shoot me a DM on Facebook. You can send me a private email on LinkedIn. Uh, you can go to blogtalkradio.com/sheddingthebitchradio and use the comment section to post your questions or your comments. Find a way to reach out so you get the support that you, that you want and need, okay? And then lastly, um, I do want to share that— I do want to share that on our Shift, uh, our Powerhouse Maverick Shift to Riches page, um, every Thursday at 1 o'clock we have a Powerhouse Maverick training session. This week we're going to talk about how to deal with haters, uh, which has been a top-of-mind, uh, topic for many of my clients recently. Uh, so be sure to go onto Facebook, look for the private group Powerhouse Maverick Female Business Owners and join in. And every Thursday at 1 o'clock we, we have a training session and, uh, you're more than welcome to join in. We'd love it. All right, so for everybody here in the Shedding the Bitch community, thank you so much for joining us and we will see you right back here next Tuesday at noon Eastern time. Take care, everybody. Bye. Thank you for listening to Shedding the Bits Radio with Bernadette Boas. Join Bernadette every