Marketing and Sales Without Burning Your Life Down w. Teresa Prieto

This is the first time in the history of humankind that we've seen this amount of women entrepreneurs.

Welcome back to the Yes And podcast. And you guys know on season 2, I have collected the most incredible herd of unicorns to bring you the— not only the message of Yes And, but also to embody this Yes and life. And today we are going global because my goal for season 2 is to make sure that you guys know that you can build a business and a life that you don't need a vacation from. And there's somebody who has spent a whole lot of time with me the past couple months in person, looking over my shoulder, making sure I'm paying attention, all of the things at, um, at a retreat. And we're going to take you behind the scenes, not just for my brand and those conversations, but also what is working in the global market when it comes to marketing, when it comes to branding, when it comes to sales. And so without further ado, I bring you one of my good friends, an incredible hermanas, Teresa. Welcome.

How are you, Bunny Young? I'm so excited to be here. I'm like super stoked to be invited to this amazing podcast. I mean, I love you and I love everything you stand for. So I'm so excited to be here and to talk about anything I can help with.

I know, and, and we are going to be super loving and super tolerable of my Ecuadorian Spanish that is rusty and hasn't been used in however long. And like, let's start there. So where are you at in the world? Because if, if you don't know, like, my special guest today works all over the world with teams. With— I went to her LinkedIn and I sent the stuff that we do for like before the podcast episode, and it's all in Spanish. And so my team was like, 'And what do we do with this?' And I'm like, 'Well, I can get through some of it.' And so you've worked with teams and professionals all over the world helping them build the most incredible marketing machine, right? And your sales machine. And you have this incredible podcast as well. So where are you in the world? What are you currently doing that is super exciting that everybody wants to hear about?

Okay, so I am Teresa Prieto. I am from Mexico, but 11 years ago, some crazy thing came upon me and my husband, and we moved to Colombia to open the Sandler office. Sandler is the biggest sales training and leadership training in the world. It's actually an American company, and we moved from Mexico to Colombia to open the office in Colombia. At that time, I was, I was an image consultant. And because I have a graphic designer degree and an image consulting degree, I kind of like meshed everything and I was doing personal brand strategy at that time. So I used everything I knew about sales and marketing to open my business in a new country and get new clients because I think that's something that we can struggle, even if you're in your hometown, getting new clients. So we kind of like moved there and now I basically design and build the funnels, the marketing funnels, this lead machine that works 24/7 for our Sandler office in Colombia, but we have clients all over Latin America. As you said it, we have the number one B2B sales podcast in Spanish and we have been able to— Yeah, of course.

Let's take a moment for that.

Yeah. Um, it's actually called Máquina de Ventas, which is Sales Machine translated in Spanish. And we started the pandemic, the podcast. So it has been quite a ride. Uh, 11 years later, um, working with my husband and also growing businesses and figuring out like what's the best place for us to serve people. And yeah, it's been a lot of fun. And right now I am in Mexico, but I live in Colombia. So sometimes I'm in the States, sometimes I'm in Colombia, sometimes I'm traveling. So I move around quite a bit. And yeah, that's, that's the life.

And you, yeah, in the States though, you're also serving the Spanish-speaking population too. And so the fact that you went and you opened this office and that you're, you're coaching and consulting and training on these really important— do you know of any business that can survive without sales and marketing?

No.

So for those of you listening, it's like, oh yeah, that probably, that probably sounds good. Let me tell you some of the stuff that's coming up for me, and the stuff that, you know, you and I have talked about is when you're listening to Teresa, the, the thought in your head is like, oh well, that's probably simple for her to say. She has like, um, you know, a multi-million dollar company and followers and all of this experience and all of that. Yes. Yes, she does have a multimillion dollar company that her and her husband built, and she has like 7,800 followers on Instagram. I didn't look at LinkedIn. I mean, I have LinkedIn up. I could go look at it right now, but you did this with not a massive audience.

Yeah. Well, that's, that's my personal account. The one we use for the business is actually a bit larger, like we're 60K and above, but that has been like the last number when we, I mean, we started doing social media in 2018 and I think at the 2020, we were maybe 5K, something around that. We were below 10K and it hasn't been in like the past 5 years that we've like grown a little bit more. I think our chat, our biggest channel has been YouTube. That's something we've, we've learned about our audience. Like our audience is business owners who have very complex sales cycles, who have a lot of decision makers that sell very technical stuff. They have to learn kind of like custom-made stuff. Like they have to know the needs of the client in order for them to make a quote. And that usually turns out to be really long sales cycles. Like a lot of leads get lost in the way because you have like this Conversations and we'll see, and I'll talk to someone else. And all of these approvals become like year-long sales processes. So the moment that I started like focusing on who my audience was, I discovered some like very specific characteristics. Like what was it that made special or created the biggest impact in whose life? Because the Sandler System, if you Google it, you can see It works for Fortune 500 companies. It works for solo business owners. It works for, like, it works for many type of companies, but I had to choose who am I going to serve? Who's going to have the biggest benefit of working with me? And since me and my husband were not corporate people, we have never worked in corporations. We were always entrepreneur. I don't know, like we've always found companies. We kind of like connected with our life and we said like, let's go all in, in this market. And we understood that the people who were following us like to study, like to be the best, like to go deep. And that's something we learned. And that's what we chose podcast and YouTube because people who use YouTube regularly, it's people who are used to consume large format content. It's not like the funny thing. It's not the instant. It's not like this, you know, Instagram, TikTok stuff. It's deeper. They want to learn something. They want to have paper and pen and like they treat it as a course. So that's why YouTube has been our main, our main channel. And right now we're above 120K.

You knew, you knew that's where my question was, is how, so you have 120,000 subscribers on YouTube. When did you start the YouTube channel?

So we started in 2018, but the podcast started in 2020. And in 2021, we decided to upload the podcast, start uploading the episodes on YouTube and we grew 60K followers in the last 6 months. So it has been like really recent that we kind of like grew really fast.

I have like so many follow-up questions to this, and I know that like if listeners, you know, are really tuning into this, it's the fact that you stayed consistent, you understood where your audience was and what kind of content would be valuable to them. And I think that's so special. And it's not that I'm saying that the Sandler System is not like great. However, I want to push back in one area with you.

It's you.

It is you, and it's your husband, and it's the way that you deliver the information. Because I have gone through Sandler trainings and I have fallen asleep. And you know, I— you know I love business and I love money and I love using business to create wealth. The way that you bring that sales machine— and I was laughing earlier giving myself kudos on actually translating the name your podcast correctly. However, it's like the, the way that you deliver the information to your ideal audience. If we go back and you like slow it down, what you shared, it's the aspect that you figured out who you and your husband would resonate with. So who your ideal client was. This is like 101. It's the thing that we join every course and then we get frustrated cuz we gotta start over and, and say the same thing. But if you knew the answers to these questions, you wouldn't be buying another sales course. This is where people are like, I'm not listening to Bunny's podcast anymore. Yes, you get to create a freedom-based business and the simplest aspects, like what you were saying, of taking a complex funnel and making the next logical decision, the simplest decision, the most straightforward decision, nurturing. If you have a long sales cycle, how having systems is what you were talking about for this nurturing. And the way that you put together this information goes back to your branding. It goes back to— you present who you are and your relationship with your husband and the life that you have and the company that you've built. And then Sandler is like the, the riverbanks, the system around that flow. And so I, I I'm not minimizing Sandler, and I'm also not going to let you not step into the spotlight here in the aspect that your personality.

No, I, and I agree. I, I think that you have to find the way of doing whatever your business is, because a lot of people have businesses, they've created the IP and the systems, and then there's people who have adopted other systems and have franchises and there's like big franchises that are very successful, but I believe that it comes down to being consistent and kind of like your endurance. Like, I don't know, last week I was listening to a podcast and someone was saying like being passionate means how much are you willing to endure for this that you love. It's not saying that, oh, I love this. It's about how much pain are you willing to go through in order to make this your mission and your passion and, and show the world that you want to create an impact in this. And I think that it's never a straight line. It's a lot of trial and error, but the willingness of trying and being wrong or optimizing stuff. And, and as you said, going back to the basics, because you basically hear every single marketing course especially tells you, who's your audience? But I always feel like people underplay it. I don't know if you feel the same thing. Like, people is like, oh, think about your audience. And it's like, so general. And it's actually very deep. And it's like a lifelong journey. It never ends.

No, it's like your husband. Okay, well, I separated from my husband in 2014, so that stuff could end. We did get back together though. But I, I look at the both— I mean, marriage as well and entrepreneurship have been such a gnarly personal development journey for you. And you're right— or for me. And you're right, the aspect that It doesn't end. It's like the more that I discover about myself, the more that I discover the value that I can bring into this world and who I can bring it to. And I do, I, I want to give the audience the behind the scenes of a conversation that we had at the retreat in a second about my personal brand and that conversation that we had about who am I and what am I going to be when I grow up. However, I want to ask you a question that you can fully tell us to edit out of this podcast episode because this is something that I'm passionate about, which is overcoming your fears and also the aspect of being a female and being a Latina and being in entrepreneurship. And there's a— I have, I have lived in South America as well as coached a lot of entrepreneurs from that area, Central America and South America. And there is this aspect of it's not safe to be seen and it's not safe to be wealthy because then you become a target. And this is not localized to South America and Central America or to like the Latin community. However, what is very common in entrepreneurship is this fear of being seen or this fear of failure or fear of success or whatever it is. Is this something at all that occurred to you personally or you and your husband? And as you're gaining the last 6 months, all of these followers, how are you meeting yourself with the fear of success or the fear of being seen in this community?

I bet you've heard this advice from so many content creators about the importance of marrying well. Of like choosing wisely your life partner or your husband or your wife or whatever format of partnership you, uh, accept in your life or looking for. And one of the best decisions I think I made was knowing and having a relationship with my husband because I think I grew up with a lot of self-doubt. I think I didn't believe in myself because I have ADHD and in my family, I'm the 6th of 11 kids. So I was almost like invisible, which I don't blame my parents. I mean, 11 kids, come on. Um, so I became like really independent, but also like very, like I accepted my fate kind of like whatever they believed of me, if I, if they believed I wasn't able or didn't have the skills to succeed, then I was going to be that because that's what I learned to believe. That's what I knew about myself. That's how I thought people saw me. And when I met my husband, he, we, we met when I was in college and Like he kind of like saw me in a way like I, I had never been seen before. And I don't, and I don't feel like the, the physical aspects, like, oh, you're pretty or that, like I, like he saw me as like really smart, like really capable at like very good at what I was, uh, studying, which was graphic design at the moment. And then I had a hunch that I wanted to go into image consulting. And I found out a school and I said, but I don't have the money to go through the program. And I was like, and he was like, yeah, you have your dad. And my dad is very well off. And he said, just like pitch him the idea, like just tell him. And if, and if you don't get a yes, then we'll look into like somewhere else or we'll see whatever we'll have to do. And so when I pitched him. And my dad actually said, okay, get a scholarship and I'll help you with the rest. And I had to pay my dad and he said, you'll pay me back whenever you start making money, um, from this. And so I did the whole thing and you got the scholarship when I, I got the scholarship and then my dad, I borrowed money from my dad and I was, and then like 2 years later, I started working with a lot of projects as an image consultant. So I was actually able to pay him back, uh, in small payments, basically. And I think that was like the first time when I understood the meaning of you have to expose yourself to so many nos to get a yes. And sometimes because of different aspects of your life. You might think the answer to everything is no, and that can get in your head, you know? So yeah, I, I had a lot of doubts. I, I didn't believe in myself. I didn't see the skills in me that I'm clearly good at, but I also kind of like was brave once. Like I exposed myself that one time. And that one time led me to believe that I could do so much more. And then I got into a lot of self-development and I think having sales training in your pocket also gives you a lot of skills for life, not only for sales as your business. So I think that. Yeah, it has been like a while since I started like working on myself, and I think that execution is the best friend of self-confidence because it gives you evidence.

Yes. Execution is the best self-evidence of confidence, right? Like that's gonna be the Instagram quote. And yes, sales help you be more successful in your business. And of course, yeah, you're constantly selling. You are constantly selling. Like, for any of us that have children, you are selling bedtime, you are selling vegetables, you are selling fruit, you are selling going to school, you are selling time, not putting hands on your sister, you know, like You were selling not pulling my hair, like, all the time. And I just think about if you really slow it down on a daily basis, I mean, you're selling getting out of bed to yourself. You're selling your dreams to yourself every single day. And that's why I asked you that question, is because there's this belief, like, in society that this is hard or that it's going to take hustle or that, you know, in order to be a great businesswoman, you can't be a present mom. Or, you know, the most successful women have an X amount of divorce rate. You're going to be threatening to your husband's security because you're the breadwinner in my situation. And there's so many reasons why not to. It really just takes one to do it. And that can be— you can figure out what your one is. And that goes back to the very simple marketing question of like, who are you doing this for? And for most of us, for most of us, we're doing this either to provide directly for the version of ourselves from 5 years ago, or we're doing it for our younger version of ourselves, like our, our child version of ourselves, so that they have a life that when we were kids couldn't even fathom or couldn't dream of in perception of like the safety and the opportunities and all of that. And so I'm so glad that you shared that about the sales skills because the first person and the only person that you ever really have to sell continuously is yourself. And the more that you believe in who you're working with and what you're doing and all of that— there's two things that I was talking about in this little challenge that we did recently, an abundance challenge, and that was confidence and competence. And so competence is your belief in what you do. Confidence is your belief in who you are. And that, it's just like such a beautiful segue that you've, you've given me as a layup, um, to the conversation that we had when we were together in Texas, which is I've owned a company in some way, shape, or form for 21 years. We had this moment where I was sitting there like writing in my journal being like, if the next thing for me is not to create another multi-million dollar company, like let's, let's assume that 9 companies at The current moment is enough to have on my plate. Who am I? Who am I outside of making more companies? And also, yes, you know, it's okay for me to not create another company, and that doesn't mean that I can't make money. Do you remember me sitting there going through all of this, like, at the mastermind table?

Yeah, and I think that it's a question that we have to ask ourselves every once in a while, because the easiest path to enter the comfort zone is not asking yourself tough questions, the questions that you don't even have the answer to at the moment, and that's okay, and that's like something to think about and ask people and like kind of like roam in your head, like what's, what's that and why is that important? Because I have this thing that I do and I don't know why I do it, but I always kind of like set fire when I've transitioned in my life between like being a graphic designer to image consulting, then to image consulting to like marketing funnels and all of that. So. I have this thing that I do that I just like remove it from my life and I never go back. I'm just like that. Like one burn, I say this is it. Yeah. Everything's burnt. And a lot of people ask me today that why did I stop being an image consultant? Because I was actually very successful. I was a reference for image consultants in Latin America, and I was very well known. And a lot of people say like, hey, don't you miss it? Don't you like feel like you want to do it again? And first of all, I dress myself every single day, so I still do it, okay? And I dress my kid and I dress my husband, so Yeah, I still do it and I have like 8 sisters. So believe me, I get a lot of WhatsApp messages with pictures of like, should I wear this or should I wear that? So I still do it. Um, but I felt like the transition every single time I've done those transitions are because my future self is calling me. And telling me this is closer to the life you want for yourself in the future. And when I was moving from image consulting to building the business with my husband, I, it was kind of like hard. Like I kind of had this, this loss, you know, I, I was going through it and I, And I was talking to my coach and I was like, shouldn't it be like easier just to like, if it's meant to be, I should be able to let it go and be like, oh, this is fine. Like, you know, when, when like the relationship has become a burden and then you say, oh, this is way better, like the freedom, you know, but it didn't feel that way. And I was talking to my coach and she's like, no, because this is getting you out of your comfort zone. You're going out into something like unknown for you and you're going outside of this perfect shell you've built and it's working awesome for you, but you know, in the conversations and questions you're asking yourself, like you could do so much more and the type of mom you want to be, because one of the main things that made me move from image consulting to be solopreneur to the type of business I have now is because I wanted to have a maternity leave, a 6-month maternity leave. And I knew I had to have a team and I knew I had to have systems. And I felt like the business I had with my husband, even though I wasn't operating in that business, I felt like it was a more family vision. Together and kind of like fitted my future self. And I had to go through this like struggle and pain of saying goodbye to this amazing stage of my life, to step into another age and era of myself and, and see what I was capable of doing in that arena as a businesswoman, as a team builder, in leadership, in marketing, and in scaling. So yeah, it starts with those questions. It starts with asking, who am I if I don't have this? If I'm not doing this thing, if I don't have this house, if I don't have this car, if I, I'm not the business owner, or if I don't have a 7-figure business, like it starts with that. Who am I? And I, I think we should ask ourselves so much, many times, this in our life, not just like once. Yes.

And, you know, is, is it more important who you are or what you do? I have never answered the question, and I rarely use absolutes, but I've never answered the question of who am I in my head. I've only answered it in the world. In my audience, in my community. And that's not saying that I've answered it through what I'm doing, but I found the answer on who am I, not in my head, because I can sit in front of my head, I can sit in front of those worksheets, and I can fill it all out. And what it comes down to is I end up filling out what I've done. It's— it is— you, you've got to translate this for me because like, it's ironic because when I try to explain in words who I am, I end up with labels of what I've done. And the only way that I have found to really share who I am— and this was a little bit about, like, you know, what we were talking about at CEO Mama— is the only way that I have found to share who I am with you is to be me in a relationship with you. And that's through speaking, and that's through podcasts, and that's through coaching. And I still don't necessarily have the words, but there's two parts of that. Like you can jump in and you can provide your feedback on what I just shared as well as is it more important to know who you are or what you do?

I believe what you do is a translation of who you are. Like, I think there's a lot of people who don't know who they are, but because they do certain things and it doesn't mean their job. I mean, they speak to their mom every day, or they sing songs to their kids, or they have specific hobby, or they have this favorite workout, or this routine, or whatever thing they do in their day to day that brings them joy, open up like a window, uh, or sheds light into who they are. And I think the more you expose yourself to doing things that bring you joy, you'll discover more who you are or bring you any sense of emotion. Because I think all the things, also the things that bring you anger or that make you sad also tell you who you are, what you value. If it doesn't like, um, there's like this phrase in marketing that if it doesn't shake people emotionally, like Marketing messaging has to shake people emotionally. And if you're not shaking them, then it's not meaningful to them. Wow. Nice fireworks. So there you go.

I mean, that's the mic drop moment.

Yeah. So, so I, I think that when in life, anything that moves you emotionally gets, gives you a glimpse. Of who you are, and that's your day-to-day life.

Okay. And the thing that I personally have struggled with is translating that onto social media. Translating— I mean, my husband can explain to you what I do, which is fine. We love him. He's amazing. And some of it gets lost for me trying to put it in words. To create a brand. And also it gets lost for me, and I know I'm not alone here, I know there's a ton of people listening to this podcast who feel the same way, that when I have to be posting 4 reels a day in order for the algorithm to recognize who I am, I lose so much of who I am.

I think there's two things. So there's like your personal brand words. So I think that unicorn-like, um, spirit you have, it has to be one of your main words, and you have to communicate it through this randomness and this messaging, like, through everything. It has to be your image, it has to be The, the colors you use, like the, the, the words you use, like there has to be a lot of elements tied back to this idea of yourself, this funny, this random, this like crazy creative, you know, you call it yourself, this unicorn-like, um, entrepreneurship's style, you know, and I think a lot of people think, oh, I've said this several times. I shouldn't repeat myself, but personal brands are built on repetition. So you have to get tired of saying it and showing it and having like a tagline or a message. That it's kind of like your promise, like what is that you're delivering to people. So for example, knowing, I always tell people like, you have to know where are people in your audience right now. And I mean like their struggles, what's like the pain in their life. So I'm going to give you the example of my business so you can see how specific you have to be. So you have to say, um, I know my, my clients are doing in revenue $500K or $1 million, but their sales cycle is a mess. Like one month it's amazing, two months it's really bad, one month it's amazing, three months it's really bad. Some of them sell, the biggest percentage of the sales of their business are done by the business owner. And some of them have kind of like 5 to 10 people teams, but they rotate a lot. These people do not stay in the company for long. So it's being a struggle to get consistent results. So consistency in sales. Is a challenge. So you see that I painted a picture. It's like you can relate as a business owner and say, this guy is not sleeping well. Every time he gets in bed, he's thinking, how am I going to finish this month? How, like, he's thinking about, or this month is closing, maybe I survived. Next month, it's going to be another struggle. And just knowing what are they thinking about at night, what is keeping them up, being very specific, that is their A point. And then the dream, what are they dreaming about? What do they want? So they want consistent sales every single month. They want to know and have the peace of mind. Of knowing and having a plan of how many calls or how many new people or how many leads I need to bring in, in order to get to my ideal revenue, even if I stayed with the same percentages, my closing rate and like everything, every, all the rates in your funnel are the same. How many volume do you have to bring at the beginning of your funnel so, so you can get the revenue you want? And for a business owner, it means how much profit are you taking home? And that connects to your dreams, to like having the life, taking your family on vacation, buying that home, buying that boat, or getting experiences, spending more time with your family. Because when you have sales figured out in your business, and you're not going to let me lie here, you have more peace of mind. Once you delegate sales, It's like another game here. You're able to take so much more time off and having that journey is key. Like I turn entrepreneurs that have these things and turn their life into these results, like very specific and just repeat it to them like every single day. And you can bring examples of like testimonials and you can tell stories of how that translated in your life. You can talk about the way you do it, which is this Unicorn system of doing things. And yeah, it's, it's about getting to know your audience basically, but like, like, you know, yourself. Because most of the time, the story of your audience is your own story. Not all of the times, but most of the times. I love that.

And something that you and I are incredibly passionate about and that we've built a friendship over is our lives and the non-negotiable that the company works for us. And I, like, I'm hearing you talk and I, I realize that we've spent a good portion of this episode on sales and on marketing and on business. However, something— I want to go back to something that you shared, which was you had a really successful business and you let it go. You said no to it to say yes to your family, and you chose that. You had the foresight to look and say, here's what's going to work best for my dreams, here's what's going to work best for my desires, here's what's going to be aligned with my values. And here's what I want to choose, which, you know, that's something that we bonded over was because, yeah, I could build another company. I know I'm good at it. I could continue building the 9 companies that I have, and I don't have to directly be involved in building those companies right now. And the most important thing to me right now goes against basically all of society's definition on what I should be doing in my 30s and what I should be doing at the— somebody referred to it the other day of like, this is your prime. I'm like, wait, so it all goes downhill from here? And I, I want you to spend some time, you know, just kind of sharing what the mindset was. I don't think it's an accident that in the past 6 months your podcast took off. Because I've seen you create more and more and more space unapologetically for your dreams, for your desires. You're not subscribing to the aspect of one day you'll do it, one day you'll retire. You're literally traveling, traveling the world and doing it with your family and showing, you know, your family what it looks like to have this freedom based life and have this yes and life, which is something that I'm so incredibly passionate about, which is why I asked the, the question about Instagram and about social media, is because I think at some point we think we've got to— we've got to do it the way that everybody tells us, we've got to live life the way that everybody tells us we have to. And for me if it's outside of freedom and if it's outside of permission, building the systems that you and I talked about, I can see how very short-term there's an ROI to more freedom and more permission, and I love that. Long-term though, I think that we end up sacrificing when we get stuck in the shoulds and the have-tos of sales, of marketing, of business, of life. And so how do you wrap brain and your mind around setting those goals and knowing what, what is your, your 20% that you do in your business that leads to your 80%? And what do you have to tell everybody who's listening, who's like, this sounds really, really great. I want 120,000 subscribers on YouTube. I want all of these things. And I also want space and freedom and abundance in my life and time for my family and time to sing at bedtime, all of that kind of stuff.

I think comes to a couple of things. One, and I think that's the most important, is having the conversation about goals with yourself and with whomever is your life partner. Your, uh, because they can make or break your goals, the probability of your goals happening. Can be determined by who you are surrounded with. And that's a reality because they can become your biggest cheerleader and partner and just like help you get there or don't care. And not even like, I don't, I don't think it's like sabotage you. It can be just not doing anything. Like, not, uh, making you feel better when you feel like you're losing everything, or making you feel capable when you feel you're not capable, connecting you with the people and the skills. Because I feel that that's very important to male people, like males or men who have, uh, power and authority and connections and have a woman in their life that wants to build something. A way of empowering them very easily is selling them very well with connections that can help them because that's, that's believing that they, that they can be whatever they want to be. They need the, the abilities, they need the connections, and they need the resources and providing those things. There's nothing wrong with that. So one thing is that, and then the second one is learning to say no. I think that when you have your goals and you know what do you really want, what do you really love, and those things will give you a lot of information about what should you focus on. What are the key activities, like 3 things a day that you need to focus that actually move the needle on the things that matter to you? And in reality, that looks like saying no to a lot of things. And I have this reputation in my company where I'm the one who's like saying no to a lot of things. And, and that's because I've learned to be really respectful of my time, my life ecosystem, the way I want to live my life. And that's something that a lot of people don't understand. And we have to be very aware, especially if you're a woman, that Businesses have been run by men historically. This is the first time in the history of humankind that we've seen this amount of women entrepreneurs. So we're kind of creating this model that works for the needs of women. The system wasn't built for women. So once you understand that, you get that you are being revolutionary and that it's okay for people not to get, to understand, or to support, even in your own company. I've had conversations with my admin person on as to why the company should pay for my kids' plane ticket and hotel. I was, I was giving a talk in Orlando in front of Sandler clients in 2021. My kid, 2023, my kid, 2023 or 4, no, 2024. My kid was born in 2022 and he was a year and a half. So my husband and I were traveling to this like sales summit in Orlando. And I was actually giving a talk in front of 500 people around marketing funnels and how to create more leads. And the admin is like, yeah, but like you should pay for your kid. And I'm like, well, no, because like, who's going to take care of my kid? Like my husband and I go on business. So whatever I need, the business needs to provide. And this is my business. And, and the expenses, I, I manage that, you know, I decide that. And I think that we have to have, be brave to have those conversations and to stop people in their tracks. And kind of like shock them, like leave them with the, I can't believe she did this, you know, because once that simmers and once that, like, they think about it, they, and, and actually my admin is a woman. So now she tells me, like, I kind of like think about that moment every single time. Because it actually made me think about the way I'm running my motherhood and like how the way I, I decide over work and my kids and the way I choose and the way I, I, I run my life. So I think that if we are business owners and are in the position of power and are in the position of making decisions, we have to understand that we're creating a new model. We're creating a model that hasn't been done ever. You and me, we're doing the same thing. And that's why it's, it's shocking for people. It's crazy for people. And I, I was talking to someone, uh, about Natalie Ellis, uh, from CEO Mama. And I was telling them like, she is a 10-figure business owner. She's very successful. And she has only this amount of funnels, very few products. And She's very, a very active mom and she has this much free time. And I was talking to a man actually, and he was like, no, she must be doing something that she's not telling you. And like, there must be something weird here, or like she had money before, or someone's giving, do you know? And I was like, that's so funny because it's that mindset exactly. The mindset of thinking that it can be done and that it's not a decision. And like a lot of people say, oh, this is, this is how a job is supposed to do. This is how running a company should be like hustle and working and, and just like thinking about that and, and being exhausted, you know, and. I think that once you understand and actually love the idea of creating a new way of doing life and work and having your own business, you start having fun with it. You'll just, you know, like, if they don't like it, I don't care, you know? So yeah, I, I, those are kind of like My mantras right now. And I have to say, I wasn't like that all my life. I was, I used to be the perfectionist. I, once in a while, I go back to those patterns because there's, they're always with you, but I'm more aware of like, this is not for you to solve. And I release myself from the guilt. But I was very perfectionist. I, I used to work a lot of hours and when you've been around graphic designers enough, you'll see that they are night owls. They don't sleep. They have very poor time management and it's, it's a, so I come from that and moving towards having systems in order and like being very Being honest with myself and respecting the promises I make to myself, that's been kind of like the basis of getting to where I am right now.

That's so beautiful. And I know we are heading towards the end of the episode, and I would be remiss if I didn't ask you, uh, because you brought up like how to generate more leads in your company. And so I want to know if there's a universal— this is me with a magic pill. I want to know if there's something universal that would apply to our audience. And I also have to tell you that my daughter in school was having a conversation with an administrator and her teacher about the aspect that they said, you need to sit in your chair and you need to listen. And she's like, I don't want to sit in my chair for very long. Like, I don't want to. Do the things that I don't want to do. I don't know if it was math or reading or whatever it is, but she's like, was having this conversation with the administrator and the teacher to be like, I, if I don't want to do it, like, I, I don't have to do it. And the teacher or the administrator said, this is preparing you for work. Like, in order to go out in the real world and get a job, like, you're gonna have to do that. You're gonna have to— wrong answer, right? You're gonna have to, you're gonna have to do some things that you don't necessarily enjoy. You're gonna have to sit for a certain period of time. Like, you're, you're gonna have to do all this stuff. And she's like, no, I don't. My mom doesn't. And I was just like— I had this conversation at like parent-teacher conference because the teacher was like, whoopsie, what do you do that your daughter thinks that you can do whatever you want? Like, I've tried to explain to her that that's, that's probably her perception, but that's not actually your reality, that you just get to do whatever you want all day, every day, and you don't have to sit at a desk. For 8 hours a day. And I'm like, well, no, that's, that's pretty much the reality. You know, like, we pretty much go to Disneyland when we want to do it, and it's a choice. It's a choice because, like you said, I'm in alignment with my value, and I know what my non-negotiables are. And I didn't start here. This is not where I started. And so I think that's all really, really important. And I wanna ask you the magic pill, magic wand question. So globally, based on all of the thousands of individuals that you've worked with, if somebody on that's listening to this podcast were to say, I want more leads, and you have no other information about their business, what's your response?

I would say know your audience like the palm of your hand. And there's certain key information. So it's pain, desires, objections, and obstacles. That's it. If you want to keep it simple, you can go very in depth, make a list of 10, and then just try them out and switch copy and, and just like try to make like, how can you describe a pain point in different ways, and that can be different hooks for your message, your email, or whatever. And then you have to decide where is the place where they hang out, and it can be online, but it can also be offline. And I actually believe a lot in creating leads offline. So last week we had Columbia Tech Week in Bogotá, and it was this major event with like people from all over the world, um, with tech companies and, and, um, investors. And there were like a lot of parties and stuff like that. And me and my husband have had a lot of clients from the tech world and startups. So we went to a lot of cocktail parties and networking events and all of that with the right messaging and just like making, having a mindset of making friends. Because in the end, people buy from their friends, from people they like. And you don't have to do a lot of convincing. There's no convincing in real and good sales. You have to like show yourself and be a friend and be like the best kind of like advisor for your audience or for the person you have in front of you. So I believe in a lot of offline presence and just doing the networking right, keeping in touch, being there for people, making new friends, having an open mindset that will give you more leads that the online world could ever give you, because especially if you're looking to having clients that are closer to your philosophy, when people know you in person, I don't know what is it, but I think it's the energy. Like we as humans kind of like feel our warmth or whatever, and people connect and just like in person leads usually have a higher closing rate. Than online leads, and that's just like a fact. I love that. So get out there, go to places, go to events, like even if you don't want to, just try it. Get yourself out there.

Go do the thing.

Because that will give you, yeah, because that will give you so much freedom. You can always start over when you know people.

I love it. Okay. Speaking of knowing people. There are so many individuals that listen to this episode that want to stay connected to you. And so what is the best way to stay connected to you in English or in Spanish?

Okay, so this is gonna be a toughie, people, so bear with me. Um, my Instagram is the easiest way and my Instagram is my name and my last name. It's above here, so it's Teresa P-R-I-E-T-O, official with one F, not double F, one F. Okay. So it's my name, my last name, and then official. That is my own, um, yeah, that's my Instagram. And then my company's is Sandler. Yeah, it's Sandler Dan Macias, which is Sandler and then D-A-N M-A-C-I-A-S. That's the handle of my business. If you want to see what we're doing in marketing and if I didn't make myself clear or you're like lost, go into my Instagram and I'll give you just a link and whatever I can do.

And we have everything. We'll have everything linked below this.

I do my own, my own thing.

Yeah. And we'll make sure that we have everything linked below the show notes as well. So. Thank you so much for the value that you brought. And I mean, we were joking before we hit record that we were going to try to do 30 minutes. We've doubled that because there was just so much value.

You can't.

So 10 out of 10. I strongly encourage everybody who's listening to go to the show notes, click on the Instagram bio, go give her a follow, go see what she's doing, go check out her podcast. You know, even if you don't speak Spanish, that would be my homework for you and your challenge. Because, uh, in my experience, I speak Spanish, I speak French, I, I have sign language background. Obviously I'm struggling with English. However, the— like, what you shared though about being— the energy of it is so obvious in your podcast, whether you're fluent in Spanish or not. And so that would be my recommendation. But thank you, thank you, thank you so much for being here.

And YouTube subtitles, guys, like it translates.

So hey, I watch— I'm a nerd, I watch with subtitles on even if it's in English. So there's, there's that. Sometimes I'll switch the subtitles to other languages so that I can continue to work on my, my learning.

So Awesome.

And speaking of learning, I want to thank all of you who listen to this episode, this incredibly powerful episode all around. We talked about marketing, we talked about image, we talked about branding, we talked about sales, number one podcasts, the fears, all of that. And I just know there's so much here, so I hope you took notes. I hope you listen again. It means the world to us when you write a review, when you share this podcast Like we were talking about, this podcast's intention is to grow organically. We're not running ads, we're not doing any of that stuff. So please, please, please take a moment to share this podcast with someone else. If you have an idea of what you would want to hear on the next episode of the Yes And Podcast, shoot us an email at hello@bunnyyoung.com or shoot me a message on my Instagram @thebunnyyoung. And until the next episode of the Yes And Podcast, I am Bunny Young, your host, and I will see you in the next episode.