From Reluctant Entrepreneur to Business Leader | Racheal Allen

But the personal branding is super important because what it does is every time people see you, they are unconsciously associating you with your brand. So if they see you with the hat, that's what they're expecting to see you with. Now, it could be a different color hat, it could be a different graphic tee and a different pair of Vans. But now what you've actually done is you've built an emotional connection in people's hearts and minds because that image is what they see. And so what I realized is that I would get people who would say things like, 'Well, you always wear so much black. Is black your favorite color?' I actually really like black, so I leaned into that and I said, 'All right, all of the company branding for my company is going to be black, white, and cream.' So I stopped buying clothes that were any other colors so that I could always be on brand.

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Welcome to another edition of The Profitable Creative, the only place on the interwebs where you will learn how to turn your passion into profit. I am your host, Christian Brim. A special shout out to our listener, one listener in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Hello, Cheyenne. With me today, Rachel Allen. Rachel, welcome.

Thank you so much for having me.

I am so excited to have you here. I heard you speak at the Onward Summit in Auburn Hills. Is that Detroit area? Okay. Um, and I loved your presentation to this group of video geographers. So I, I'm wanting to get, uh, your, uh, expertise out to our, our audience. So I know you are a woman of many talents. Tell us what businesses that you have.

So again, super excited to be here, Christian. I am founder and CEO of Rachel Allen LLC. Underneath that umbrella, I have several wholly owned subsidiaries that include my nonprofit, which is Operation School, where we teach entrepreneurs how to manage and scale their operations through systems, automation, and delegation strategies with an emphasis on entrepreneurs from historically excluded communities. So that's a mouthful there. I also am founder and CEO of Opsidia, which is a management consulting firm that provides fractional operations support, technical assistance, and program design. I'm also co-owner of Centric Place, a first of its kind hub for Black arts, culture, entrepreneurship in Metro Detroit. And then kind of through the work I do with Rachel Allen LLC, it really encompasses my coaching, speaking, and writing, including I'm the recent author of Get Your Business Legit: How to Start, Launch, and Scale Your Startup.

Yes. And I think that's what you spoke on was your book. So we'll, we'll definitely dig into that, but I found your journey interesting to entrepreneurship. Uh, why don't you give us a little history on that?

So I consider myself a reluctant and a very non-traditional entrepreneur. My mother was the first entrepreneur that I had ever met, and she was offering business services to small businesses back in the '90s. So she was offering those consulting services to small businesses through like graphic design and small business operations. But as a result of that business not going the way that she anticipated, we had a lot of housing insecurity. We moved around a lot and I associated entrepreneurship with lack. So I never wanted to be an entrepreneur. In fact, the biggest dream that I had for myself was to be a schoolteacher, work a job that paid every 2 weeks. And be comfortable. And so fast forward to me being about 21 years old when I started with Farmers Insurance. I took the property and casualty exam, passed it on the first try, and then I had all of these different insurance companies offering me agencies. I had never sold anything before, and I think that was one of those moments I had this aha, that if I could pass the exam on the first try and have this opportunity, like, what might that, you know, look like? So one of the unique things that I learned through Farmers was that by starting a franchise, they essentially gave me a playbook to start any business. So I literally took all of the steps that they taught and I implemented that into a legal services company during the Great Recession. So just as insurance was starting to slow down, the legal services industry went through the roof and I was able to parlay that into business success. And then I was able to try a bunch of different industries until about 2019. When I got the idea for Operation School. And I realized that there were so many places in Metro Detroit where you could go to learn how to start a business, but there wasn't really anywhere to teach you how to operate a business. Uh, and so I've kind of sat on that idea for a little bit and, and then fully brought Operation School to the world. And the rest, as they say, is history.

I have an interesting question that came about. You said your mother's business did not work out as planned. Do you, put yourself, now knowing what you know and having the success that you've had, do you think that you could have helped her had you, had you been an adult now? Like, you now, could you help her then?

Oh, absolutely. In fact, it took me a few years to realize that that is really what this work has always been about, is trying to go back in time and be a solution for business owners like my mother, right? So there's like this almost a childhood wound of sorts that says, if I could have helped her, maybe we would not have had these experiences. Now I can look back at that now and say those were all necessary and required. But what I am thinking about is there is an entrepreneur somewhere who isn't being given the tough information or the tough advice. Maybe they're the only entrepreneur in their circle or the first in their family. So they don't really have a community. And particularly for entrepreneurs of color, this is important because if you're not hearing someone give you advice that's contrary to your good idea, you might quit your job and bet the farm on a bad business idea because everybody's telling you, oh, that's great, we're so excited for you, not realizing those people are not going to be your customers. They're not going to support you and they're definitely not going to fund your startup idea. So I think, yes, I could have— I think my aspiration in doing this work is having, you know, to hopefully help a person like my mother. Um, but I also understand if it weren't for the lived experience that I have, then I wouldn't have the perspective that I have today to help my students. So it's a little bit of a rub there.

Yeah, I, I think that's, I think that's true of a lot of entrepreneurs that have— I use the word trauma very loosely, But because trauma is relative, right? You know, I mean, like, I'm not going to judge my trauma against your trauma or anything like that, but I think a lot of entrepreneurs start businesses motivated in part by those previous experiences, even if they don't realize that's what they're doing, right? Like, so it's a way for them to take control of a situation that they didn't have control of before. Or in your case, like my, my case is very similar in writing my book. I tell the story in, in Profit First for Creatives, but my motivation was we had a family business. You know, my grandfather worked in it, my dad and his brothers worked in it, and it was, it was what bound the family and we were always together. And then when I was 16, it went bankrupt because of the oil crash in the '80s in Oklahoma. And the loss of material things was not what traumatized me. What traumatized me was that everybody, uh, scattered because there was no way to make a living. And, and so my family dissolved, like, geographically. I mean, like, they just moved everywhere. And I didn't realize that it was a motivation, but I, I did realize very early on that I knew there had to be a better way. Like, I, I didn't, I didn't know what the answer was, but I'm like, there, there surely, it surely didn't have to end up like that, right? And so I, I share your, your motivation and, and, and wanting to serve others because of an experience that I had that I don't want others to have. So we are equally yoked in that. You got— you gave some Excellent tips, I thought, in your presentation based upon your book. So I'm going to put you on the spot and see if you can remember it.

Okay.

What are your, what are your tips that you prioritize? Because obviously there's a lot that you can teach people, but what are the most important things you teach in your book and in your consulting to entrepreneurs that are trying to make their business legitimate?

So I'll say there's, there's, there's so many things. I'll do my best to condense these to a few, right? So in the book, we talk about 11 in different focus areas, which includes things like get legal, operational, branded, noticed, profitable, scalable. But if we kind of break that into some smaller parts, one of the first things that I really encourage people to think about is finding something that they first have a genuine love and interest in. And so sometimes, particularly with creatives, we're told that we can't make money being creative. And I think that that is one of the biggest— That's fake news.

Fake news, Rachel.

It's fake news. And I think that's one of the biggest lies or myths that we buy into, which is if I love to do this creative thing, nobody's going to support it. And so one of the reasons why I encourage people to tap into that thing that is aligned with their purpose is it's going to give you the natural energy and enthusiasm to move that business forward. You know, I've lost count with the number, like which number startup I'm on because it's so many. And they would all come from a place that was a good idea or something I thought could make money. But because I lacked the natural passion and enthusiasm for it, I would get bored. I would get burnt out. I don't want to do this anymore. And I'm talking about I got these businesses like they were making money, right? I still wanted to quit it. With Operation School being that first real business that aligned with my purpose, it started to teach me other things that I could apply in other businesses. So that first one being it's got to be something that, that no one has to motivate you to do. No one ever had to wake me up early or keep me up late to focus on that business, whereas you had to drag me, you know, in other businesses, right? So I think if you're bringing that natural energy and enthusiasm to it, then let's walk through how do you get it legitimate, which is how do you make, make it so, so that if somebody wanted to lift the hood up from underneath your business, that you would not be afraid of what they would see.. And so for that, it means things like, you know, are you putting your money in the right places? And the right places could be not your personal bank account, right? Is your corporate money, is your revenue going into a bank account? And you're not writing personal purchases out of that account because there would have been a time and almost everything that you see in the book, Christian, are things I've done. So there's not a, there's no judgment here.— I didn't necessarily know, hey, what you're missing is accountability. There's no one over your shoulder to tell you, hey, that's probably not going to go well when you're ready for financing or when you're trying to run your numbers. So stop doing that behavior. So I would say making sure that you have some accountability in the way that your finances operate, that if anybody wanted to see your books at any time, you feel comfortable that you know what they are. You know your numbers, you have a system for tracking your revenue and expenses. So I think that's just one place to start. I will also say that I really encourage particularly small business owners and creatives to cut the clutter, or as I like to say, and I hope I can cuss on this podcast. Yes, you may. Cut the shit, right?

Right.

Okay, great. For our one listener in Wyoming, I hope they're not offended by—

He's a cowboy, so he's okay.

I think he'll be just fine. So I told people to cut the shit, which is there's so much conflicting advice on the internet around what we should focus on. And what I tell people, focus on, get customers, get people who want what you're selling. And so there have been times where I've been able to get customers without the fanciest proposals, without the fanciest, you know, branding. I just focus on solving a problem that people were willing to pay for.. And so once you get customers, you take the proceeds and the revenue that you've generated from that one customer and you put that back into your business. And so that's— this has been the way that I've been able to bootstrap all of my companies because I would constantly just reinvest into the company. So making sure that you have a business that looks bigger than it's supposed to, than it really is, you know, having the right kind of branding. And we can definitely talk more about that. But really, like, stay focused on the things that matter to your customer, which ultimately is getting people to pay for what you're offering, getting them to do that consistently, and then also reinvesting that and just putting it back into your company so that you can fund your own growth there. Love to unpack that a little bit more. Today's episode of The Profitable Creative is brought to you by Core Group. Are you tired of doing it all yourself? Do you feel like you have no plan?

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Yeah, I love what you're saying there because I think there are a lot of people that I don't mean— I mean that they're nefarious or have bad intentions, but they make things complex for— for just— let's just say unnecessarily. The reality of business is very simple. It's not easy, right? But it is simple. You, like you said, you gotta go get somebody to pay you that you can make money on by solving one of their problems. You know, that's simple. Is it easy? Absolutely not. I think you were preaching to the choir here around the finances because obviously that's what we do. And It's startling how often people just don't take care of that part of their business. I think a lot of people are uneducated on it. They don't know how to do it. They're intimidated by it. But as the owner, that's not an excuse. You know, I'm not a lawyer, but there are some things that I need to understand legally. I'm not a marketer, but there are some things that I need to understand about marketing and on and on, HR, whatever. I mean, like, Being a business owner, you got to know a lot about a lot of different things. That doesn't mean you can't involve professionals and should involve professionals, but that doesn't mean you don't still have a responsibility to understand what's going on. You nailed it. You come on stage, you have a look, and you talk about, you know, like, anytime you see me, you're going to, you know, you're going to see this look. And I was like appalled with myself because what happened was a couple of weeks later, I was at a meeting, EO meeting where we had a speaker. And one of my colleagues said, "Where's your hat?" And I'm like, "I don't know. I don't really do that anymore very often." And what I should have done when I came and spoke was I should have had my black t-shirt that said, you know, "I speak frequent movie quotes," or my Sasquatch one, or, you know, one of the shirts that I wear, and my cowboy hat and my Vans, because that's the image that I have out there on the internet. And I was like, "Man, I should have listened to Rachel before I came because she would have—" Yeah, but Talk about personal branding, why it's important.

So I love what you shared about that, which is I imagine that if you are wearing your Vans and your graphic tee and your cowboy hat, that you feel the most like yourself. And one of the things that I had to embrace, uh, I'd say just a few years ago was what is it that I need to look like? How do I need to dress, um, so that I can feel the most like myself? And what that means is I would realize like in my corporate career, you know, I would wear heels because I was an executive and I felt like I needed to project a certain image. But then I'd be uncomfortable. I wouldn't be able to move as quickly as I wanted to. I'd be hurting for the next 3 days. And I would never be able to fully show up as myself because my feet are hurting. And that's just a very small example. And I said to myself, when I work for myself, I'm going to do whatever I freaking want to do, right? And one of the big shifts that I made very early on is I show up in flats. These are these super cute shoes I wear called Rothys. They're washable flats. I probably own about 20 different pair. I also wear Nike Air Maxes. So I'm known to show up in Nikes, but I never want to think about my feet hurting. So that's the first thing. I was like, my first non-negotiable rule is I'm going to be comfortable wherever I show up. But the personal branding is super important because what it does is every time people see you, they are unconsciously associating you with your brand. So if they see you with the hat, that's what they're expecting to see you with. Now, it could be a different color hat, it could be a different graphic tee and a different pair of Vans. But now what you've actually done is you've built an emotional connection in people's hearts and minds because that image is what they see. And so what I realized is that I would get people who would say things like, well, you always wear so much black. Is black your favorite color? I actually really like black. So I leaned into that. And I said, alright, all of the company branding for my company is going to be black, white, and cream. So I stopped buying clothes that were any other color so that I could always be on brand. So what that allows me to do is less decision fatigue. I can go to my closet at any point in time, pull out something that looks and feels good and is flattering on me. But also, it kind of continues that professional or polished version of people because every time they see me now, they're— and people have caught me out on it. Well, I know which— I know what you're going to show up in. I was expecting you to be in a— I knew you was going to show up in a blazer or whatever that was. And so I kind of have a little fun with that now. But I think at the core of the personal brand for me is I want there to be something that when you think of me, you see this image in your mind that's a reflection of who I actually am. And so I think why it's important for small businesses to own that is because we get that level of creativity in that process, right? So nobody else can tell us what that look should be. We get to decide that. But I think the way that I've kind of taken it to the next level is constantly modeling that every time I'm seen, and it just kind of doubles down. So now people who follow me know that they're going to see that. It's almost an Easter egg, right? I'll quickly tell you, I did some press for the book that came out. And I literally had my followers was like, I saw it. You wore a different— I was on the news station, 3 different news stations in 3 days. And I wore a black, a white, and a cream blazer for each of those appearances. And that was on purpose. But like now people think, oh, every time I see her, she's super polished. It's really me just kind of having a little fun with how you're going to see me. So I could obviously talk more and more about that as well.

Well, the thing— and I'll be honest with you, when my marketing director started talking about my personal brand, I'm like, What, what are you talking about? Like, I don't have a brand. But the reality is, this is, this is the reality, that every person, uh, every business person and every business has a brand. The question is, are you being intentional about it, right? And I was not comfortable with that, that whole line of thought, but it doesn't really matter what I I think about it, it's, you know, just like you said, what, what's going to resonate with them? How are they going to connect with you? And what's their expectation? Because that's what a brand is. It's a memory of, of something. And, and if, if you're not consistent in that memory, you're going to confuse them. Oh, great.

And I definitely think this is a place where, again, the more that we are ourselves the more people can find us. So when you wear that cowboy hat, there's somebody else who sees themselves in you. When they see that, it gives them more permission to be themselves. I mean, it could be, it could be. So I definitely encourage us to lean into that, which is the more comfortable you get to be in your brand, the more that you're getting people who do resonate with that. And so I think there's some authenticity that, you know, we like to kind of make connection with when we see that in other people.

Hey listeners, are you ready to turn your passion into profit? Then grab a copy of Profit First for Creatives. Click the link in the show notes to purchase a copy. And if you're not ready to make that full commitment, you can download a free copy of the first chapter. Check it out right now. And another topic you talked about at the Onward Summit was you were talking about being that guy, like, uh, that, that you as a business owner know, uh, and can describe what you do so that other people can refer you, um, because it's very clear in their mind, oh, I got a guy, I, I know I know who can fix that. That's Rachel.

Talk about that a little more. Yeah. So kind of in this context, you know, I, I love talking to small business owners who think that they have so many service offerings that, that mean, that makes it a good thing for their business. And I hate to hurt feelings, but I actually think it's contrary. I want you to be so good at one thing that when people think of that thing or that word or that industry, they think of view. So in my lane, I have carved myself out as an operational excellence leader. So if you hear the word operation, I want you to think Rachel Allen. Now, do I do other things? Absolutely. But I needed to kind of define my niche so that the business can find me. And I got to tell you, Christian, you know, I've been doing Obsidia, which is my management consulting work now full-time for almost 3 years. And It is a 7-figure company. It's some of the most fun work I get to do. I never advertise or market for this work. And it's in part because I've built a reputation where when other people are looking for operations people, they know to send them to me. So I constantly keep a pipeline of leads and new business opportunities because there are people who are seeking me out. So when I encourage people to be that guy, what it means is Do not confuse your prospects and your customers. If you are a person who is known for just for doing audit, be the audit guy so that when everybody needs an audit, they're going to come to you. When we think about this in the skilled trades, it's a floor guy, a tile guy. You and I know that a guy who does hardwood floors and the refinishing of hardwood floors is not the same guy who's going to put in some laminate vinyl flooring for you, right? That hardwood guy, is going to be like, no, babe, all I do is hardwood floors. And so the reason why I think that's important is because we all have a mental Rolodex of people and trusted experts and, and folks that we know are seasoned in that way. Why can't we do the same thing as it relates to our businesses? So I always encourage people, carve out a niche for yourself. And then if you offer ancillary services, that's a cherry on top. But you can't be so general in your service offerings that people are like, oh, well, she does this, she does this, she does that. I don't really know where to place her. I think where people have started to really get clear about my service offerings is definitely operation. And then I get into the— okay, I do some speaking, but even when I speak, I only want to talk about these topics. So like, you can't hire me to speak about anything you want me to talk about. The only thing I'm going to come talk to you about is entrepreneurship, and getting your business legit. So in that way, niches are in— the riches are in the niches. Let me say that again. The riches are in the niches. So a lot of times we're so afraid of being so niche that we're not going to make money. It's actually contrary to that. The more specific you are and the more focused you are, the easier it is for people to refer you and bring your name up in spaces and conversations and send you— ultimately send you business.

I couldn't agree with you more. That was probably my biggest business failing, was not being specific enough. And I, I think we tried to be specific, but to your point, I think most business owners, uh, don't want to limit themselves. It's, it's kind of a— I, I think, uh, maybe a fear thing, maybe a ego thing. Like, I can do lots of things. I don't want to be pigeonholed as, as one, just having one skill. But to your point, if, if you can connect with somebody instantaneously, that they know that's what you're known for, uh, it does make the marketing a whole lot easier. It's, it's like, um, you know, there was some plumber, uh, that, that was like the toilet guy, and that was all they did. Right now, you know, as a plumber, you're licensed, you know all of this stuff. That might be humbling to say, I only work on toilets. But from a business standpoint, it was brilliant because, you know, if your toilet wasn't working or it was overflowing or whatever, you knew who to call. You didn't have to go through the 100 different plumbers that— right. That's right.

And it goes back to making sure that we're building a connection with people in their hearts and minds. It's also part of my personal brand to do things like have colorful language, right? These are the things that differentiate me from other people. When I'm working as a fractional consultant, I'm also going to be very direct and I'm going to give you advice that you might not like, and that becomes who I am. But the niche, the niching there is because this is all I'm focusing on. I'm going to bring in a CFO who is going to focus on the numbers, but I'm only going to focus on your operational systems, the policies, the procedures. I don't even want anything else. And I also kind of name that if we're not careful about niching ourselves, then really what we're saying is we are a generalist, we're not expert. And so there aren't millions to necessarily be made as generalists. And I'm going to say that You know, I have had businesses that made money, didn't make money. At this phase of life, I only want to run businesses that make money. So I want to be able to comfortably call myself an expert in the space that I'm in. And the way you become an expert is to be good in a very specific area. So whenever I have a business owner who's pitching me something, let's say it's a service or whatever, if they give me too many things that they do, or we do marketing, we do communications, we do operations, they're mediocre at best in those 3 things. But if you come to me and say, we just do marketing, and then I'm going to even say, well, what kind of marketing? Digital marketing, right? When you tell me digital marketing, if I hear someone say, well, we do digital marketing and we use these platforms and we help creative entrepreneurs do A, B, and C, that's the firm I'm going to go with because what it's telling me is, you know how to solve my exact problem. So again, I think it's a scarcity mindset. When entrepreneurs are so reluctant to niche down because in their mind they're saying, well, I want to get all the business, not understanding the people who just want the toilet guy, just want the toilet guy, and they're going to call him for the toilet and then be like, hey, can you fix this other thing while you're here? But they're going to call him for the toilet. And that's just definitely the way that I want everyone thinking about their own business.

Hey, listeners, are you ready to turn your passion into profit? Then grab a copy of Profit First for Creatives. Click the link in the show notes to purchase a copy. And if you're not ready to make that full commitment, you can download a free copy of the first chapter. Check it out right now. You mentioned a word that is dear to my heart, the scarcity mindset. And I'm curious if you're, if you're willing to share it. The, you know, you said you grew up in East Detroit, a lot of housing insecurity. How did you break out of that scarcity mindset? What, what allowed you to think differently?

I think that's such a beautiful question because if I'm really being honest, there were levels to that and there are constantly levels. So I'm constantly going up and up and up and up and up where there's like an expansion, an expanding of my consciousness. But I would say at an early age, I lived on the east side of Detroit, and I thought the whole world looked like the east side of Detroit, as crazy as that sounds. So I thought everybody was as poor as we were, or that they lived in the same conditions. And it took me getting exposure to other communities, other people, friends' houses. You go to people's houses, it's like, wait a minute, they live like this? This is wild. What? You know? And so that started kind of expanding that. As I started to get more and more and more exposure, what I started to realize is that my whole life had been based in decisions that were made from a place of scarcity. And I gotta say that it wasn't until I started to meet my basic needs fully that I was able to move into that self-actualization. So I talk a lot about Maslow's hierarchy of needs as being one of the really pivotal kind of frameworks for how we move across that. You know, I, as a person who dropped out of high school, had a baby at 17, I was on welfare twice. I was always stuck in this cycle of self-sufficiency. So I would start businesses from a place of I gotta make money and I need to make money fast, right? So even the way that I would run those businesses then looked very different than the way that I run them now. Once I was able to keep the lights on, pay the mortgage on time, you know, be able to have some money saved in the bank. When you take the pressure off, then you're able to look around and say, okay, well, what else do I need to address? Oh, maybe I can focus more on my health, or maybe I can focus on my relationships or education. But when you are stuck in a hamster wheel of lack and poverty and not having and scarcity, you never really get to that place. And so, you know, I would love to say that I've always had this mindset that, like, you know, I was destined for great things and I knew I was going to go really far. I will tell you that I didn't fully, fully, fully feel like, okay, I've struggled enough. Enough is enough. I was about 40 years old. I'm only 41, Christian. I was about 40 years old when I had the big epiphany of like, okay, You have been in hustle and survival mode for way too long. It is time to start looking at the world around you from a place of— if you've been able to manifest all of these things without any real intention, what could it look like if you were more of a deliberate creator? And what if you used your energy to attract and to focus on the things you actually wanted? So I started using some of those concepts in my businesses. In my relationships and, and all of the aspects of my life. And it started to change everything for me. Um, so I feel like that's a, a roundaway answer of me saying that moving into an abundance mindset actually created more, more opportunity, again, more clients, more six-figure contracts. Um, but I recognized that that was only able to be possible when I was able to kind of get out of the hamster wheel of just trying to keep the lights on. Yeah.

And, and to me, what's the thing that's helped me is the, uh, my peers in, in Entrepreneurs Organization to see what's possible, right? And so I, I think we, we get in our own heads. It really, it, it really doesn't matter what your upbringing was. I think the natural inclination is, is to believe what's in your head is true and that's all there is, right? But when you are exposed, like you saw Neighbors, or you're with another business owner and you see what they've accomplished, you're like, oh, okay, it is possible. And I like the way you said that it's ever increasing because there really is no limit to it, right? I mean, maybe someone like Elon Musk that is a mad scientist that comes up with all of these billion-dollar ideas, maybe he's at that upper limit, but I don't know. I'm not there yet. My business coach, he asked me a question one time when I was trying to decide what to do, and he said, "Well, what if time and money were not factors, were not limiting factors?" right, and start thinking about things from that perspective. Just set it aside for a moment. Even if you don't believe that time and money are factors, just set it aside and what's possible. But then he followed it up with this statement that I was just like, oh, well, that was profound. He said, because all the time and all the money are already out there. And I'm like, what do you mean by that? And he's like, well, I mean, if you've got a great idea, the money will come to you to fund it. If you've got a great idea, people will want to work on it with you. And, and literally it does become all the time and money is available to you. So I've really been trying to rethink that limitation of what's possible by not putting limits on myself. That's right.

So, I think there are a few things I would add there, which is I also have had a mastermind for the last 5 years that has really helped push the needle for me there. So, 5 years ago, when I started Operation School, I joined 2 friends who did not know each other. I knew them, but they did not know each other.. And we said, we're going to just be accountability partners. We'll meet every week for an hour at 7:30 in the morning. We've been doing that consistently for 5 years. And if I were to list for you the accomplishments that each of us respectively have achieved, it would be mind-blowing. Where I think the accountability has helped come into place, there were areas of each of our businesses where someone was further more ahead or, you know, kind of pushing the needle or the envelope, and we were watching in real time what was possible. And so one of the things that I love about the way that I'm able to kind of leverage my brand now, I recognize I am just another extension of showing someone what's possible. Because there are people who started with Operation School with Me 5 years ago, you know, they attended a workshop, and now they see massive conferences, they're seeing the growth, and they're like, it's possible. And so I say that because even though I am exhibiting what's possible for other people, I still need people in my life to show me what's possible. Yes. So there's this kind of ebb and flow of like, I do hit limits sometimes, true, where I kind of try to play small. And what I love about what you shared, Christian, is, you know, some of the best business success stories all have coaches. I just met with my coach, they actually have several coaches for different things. So I'm a lifelong learner. I'm somebody who's an overachiever. When I was writing my book, and I knew that I wanted to move more into the speaking and, you know, the, the author space, I hired an accomplished speaker and an author, right? I want you to tell me what I need to know to get there faster. So in that same way, I'm always looking to kind of you know, kind of break through those upper limits and those limiting beliefs myself. But I simultaneously recognize for a lot of people, I am someone that they feel is relatable, and they're seeing some of my success as being relatable for them as well.

What would you say is your best bit of advice? And I know you've got lots in there, but from your book, if you were going to give us one of the top 3, I won't even say has to be best, what would it be? Or give me 3.

I don't care. All right, I'll give you— I'll give you 3, right? Systems. So you need systems in your business. You need technology to run your business when you are not there. So many times we think that we're so smart and we need to touch everything, be a part of everything. We don't. For every function of your business, and that's every department, every task, everything that has to happen on the back end, you should have a system tied to it. So there were, I would say, if I go back 3 years, so I created Operation School 5 years ago, you know, for a number of those years, half of those years, I was a one-woman operation doing all the things myself. And I was having fun with it. But I was also burning out and crashing out and working too many hours. And part of the reason why we were able to scale into a place where we now have about 7 employees that work full-time for Rachel Allen, is there was a system that I could delegate to other people. So the next one would be delegation. You can't delegate ideas, you can only delegate tasks. So I needed to create systems around this is how we handle finance and accounting. This is how we handle programs, operations, things like enrollment or data and evaluation, like all of these different elements of the businesses. There was a set of tools that we used to manage them.. And so now by having that technology in place, we can then automate a lot of that. So there's a lot of my businesses that happens on autopilot. I also can literally look almost a 30,000-foot view on everything that's happening in my company because of the tools that we use. So I would say systems is the first one. Automation is the second, which is how much of your business can you put on autopilot? There's so much technology. Today, it makes no sense when I see business owners doing things manually or trying to figure a process out. And then going back to that last piece, which is delegation. I have purposely made myself the least important person in my business, which is, you know, let's just use this week as an example. When I have big calls on my calendar, I can work from home. But you know what? The office is going to be open. It's going to be clean. And we have an incubation space. So there's a space that runs whether I'm in the country or not. Work gets to move forward whether I'm there or not. And I empower people to make decisions, to make mistakes, so that if I'm not there, I'm not impeding anybody's progress, right? People feel like they are fully able to do their job without me. And then on top of that, I have kind of fired myself from being the final decision maker, meaning I have— I'm going to say this as a way of saying it's important advice. Is to not create a business that you are handcuffed to. So in the early days of my businesses, everything revolved around what I thought, what I wanted, what I needed. And I realized all I'd actually done is created a job that I hated. And that's not why I got out of corporate America. And so now I've actually built my business around the lifestyle that I want to live. And so this is really the work that I'm leaning more into these days, which is helping people to create both a business and a life that they love. So I create things that speak to the lifestyle that I want to have. So I would say systems, automation, delegation, but also really— here's the bonus, folks. Here's the bonus: being clear about the life that you want. Entrepreneurship is not just about how do I make money, or how do I serve people. At the core of this, and this might be a little controversial, you started a business because there are things that you want to do, there are pursuits that you have, there are hobbies that you want to experience. And if all you've done is created a 24-hour job for yourself, you can't be the person that you desire because you're married to your business. And so now what I'm really focused on is helping people get clear about that life up front, and then we go build businesses that support that. So again, I have a team that allows me to travel the world. We take what's called restorative pause in our programs, which means there are times of the year we're not open to the public. We're focused on internally being a better team and putting better systems and technology in place. We also are an organization that operates with very little stress, and that's on purpose. So when things are stressful, it's something's off there. But ultimately, I want to see people create businesses that they actually want to be a part of.

Man, you just nailed so many great points, and I'll opine on a couple of them. I think knowing what you want, what success looks like, is key because entrepreneurs can get trapped on this hamster wheel of grow, grow, grow, more, more, more, and never be satisfied or reach that success. Because they don't know what it looks like, right? Uh, and, and, and two, I think part of that is, is that the business becomes their identity. And, uh, they, you know, like you, you said, um, all the decisions ran through them. You know, listeners, there are some of you that are doing that, uh, on purpose. You may not consciously be doing it, but you, you, you do it because you want to be needed, you want to feel important, you, you know want to have control, whatever, but it doesn't, it doesn't need you. And, and in fact, I, I think overarching, the way I'd summarize what you said is, is creating a business, something completely separate from you. It's not you, it functions without you, and, and it is, it is not your identity. It— treating your business like a business, getting it legit, as, as you coined the phrase, is, is a powerful mind shift, a mindset shift, because then you're not, you know, like you said, just building a job that you don't like. I love, I love all of that, Rachel.

I love it all. Yeah, I think it's so important. And I'm, you know, I'm saying this because being married to my work for year after year after year cost me a lot. And so I have no qualms about sharing that During that time, I was— I found it difficult to raise teenagers. I went through a divorce, my second divorce, actually, and my husband was my business partner. And there comes a point in time where business cannot be your whole life. But again, when all of the decisions you make are rooted from a place of scarcity, you think, well, if I need more money, I just have to work more. And I'm here to tell people, I promise you, It's the other way around. I didn't realize that when I was more rested, when I was more clear-headed, when I was, you know, more focused on all of the things that were going on, I was actually a better CEO. And I was better able to make decisions in the best interest of my company, versus getting burned by taking projects just because it paid money. And every time I took a project just because it paid, I got burned. It was the worst customer, the worst, like the worst thing I ever did. Well, I actually started to be able to move away from that, even if it cost me money. So now I look for things like energy matches. I know when a client is going to be a headache to work with when I meet them in the process. And what I've learned is to just say, even though I may not say, I think your energy is bad and I don't want to work with you, I may say, we're at capacity, I cannot support you right now. Because I also have said, if I'm going to invest this much of my time, energy, and resources into business, it still needs to be fun and enjoyable and I need to like it. And so when I take on work that I don't want to take on because I thought it was going to pay me a good check, it's actually miserable. And again, that's not in alignment with what I've chosen in this place in my career. So, you know, I spend a lot of time talking to entrepreneurs about just getting super clear. And for me, getting clear means being done with work at 5 PM, not working on the weekends. Being able to have people be respectful of my boundaries. So when I take a sabbatical, and I say, I am off in the month of August, I am off 2 weeks in December, 2 weeks in January, that I have customers who hear that in the beginning when they sign their agreements with me, who are respectful of that, who are saying, hey, I can't wait to get back, versus I'm going to email you while you're on sabbatical. Those are the kinds of things that I see as alignment that I didn't always have. And so I think what that allows me to do is be more present with my work, to be more relaxed, and also to be more focused to do my best work.

I love everything you said. How do people find out more about your work?

So people can learn more about my work at RachelAllen.com, and that's R-A-C-H-E-A-L Allen, A-L-L-E-N.com. I'm also on LinkedIn, Facebook, a little bit of Instagram. Surprisingly, I hate social media. It's a necessary evil, but you can find me there.

Rachel, thank you so much for your time, your experience share, your vulnerability, your candor. I appreciate it all. If you like what you've heard, rate the podcast, subscribe to the podcast, share the podcast. If you have suggestions, drop us a message and let us know what you'd like to see on the show. Until then, ta-ta for now.

And that's a wrap for today's episode.

Of the profitable creative. Until next time, you money lovers, and don't forget, Profit First for Creatives is live via Amazon. Link below.