Get Bigger, Better Results By Doing Less, with Gina Pellegrini

Success demands momentum, and top entrepreneurs know how to keep it with the entrepreneur's playbook for uncertain times. My copy was free at uncertaintyplaybook Coach. That's uncertaintyplaybook Coach. Hi, Shannon Waller here and welcome to Inside Strategic Coach with special guest Gina Pellegrini, one of our fabulous long term associate coaches. Gina, I am so happy we get to have this conversation and introduce you to anyone who may not know you, your long and storied history with Strategic Coach and your very cool business. And there's an alignment on teams which I love between the two of us. So anyway, just thank you very much for joining us. I'm very excited to dive into a conversation with you.

Thanks for having me. I'm very excited as well.

Great. So let's talk about your entrepreneurial story and I always find it fascinating, so I can't wait to hear it. But how did you start off as an entrepreneur? Because like a lot of people, you've made a leap. You kind of guessed and bet on yourself. But how did you get started as an entrepreneur? What was the first step in your journey?

Well, I would say the backstory is I worked with a financial advisor for 17 years and probably nine or 10 years into my work with him, I was licensed and I was selling his existing clients and I wanted to start getting commissions. And I worked on this for a couple of years. And then he had us meet with the general agent. And the general agent said I wouldn't give her any commission because someday she's going to leave you and therefore you're going to lose that commission. Now, mind you, when I was looking at commission, I was thinking like 3% or 5%, and I was selling little policies like they were on their children and or term conversions, things like that. So I started thinking about things that I could do internally in the agency to help other advisors hire and train and work more effectively with their team, because I was doing that so well with Tom. And then someone asked me to come and work with them in their office in New Jersey. So I flew out there for the weekend. On my flight home, I decided I was going to start my own business.

Wow. And where were you based then?

In Chicago. Okay. So I took a Friday off. I went there for the weekend. I worked with them on Saturday and Sunday, flew home on Sunday night. And my choices were to stay where I was to become a financial advisor. I was married to one at the time, and I didn't think that was going to work well, or go and start my own business and continue helping financial Advisors hire, train, and work more effectively with their team. So I went in the next morning, I gave my notice of six months. I got the team up and running and left in about three and a half months. And I've had my business now for 35 years.

Bam. I'm going to assume there's like no regrets with that.

There's no regrets, actually. When I was working with Tom early on, he said that I wasn't ever going to make a lot of money when I was working with him. So that was my challenge. Right. And I was making good money. When I left him having no idea if I was going to make any money, I hired a full time team member. And I did that because I knew that the only way I could grow is to do the things I needed to do in the business versus do everything in the business. And that was before I was even in strategic coach. Like, I just knew that in working with Tom. Right. So here I am.

And the irony for me is if Tom actually had been, I know he's a good guy, but if he had been a little more generous, your future would have been, could have been, probably would have been incredibly different.

I would have been his succession plan without him ever really thinking about that at that point. Because I started with him when he was a year and a half in the business, but I learned so much about entrepreneurship in watching him build the business and have me as what he considered early on as a cost and yet ultimately realized I was the investment that helped the business get where it needed to get to.

And I just have to know, and this is off roading a smidge, did he ever regret. He was like, oh no, I've made a mistake.

Yes. Well, first when I gave my notice, his response was, I think the only reason people hire you right now is because you work with me. And I said, people that I work with outside this agency don't even know who you are. So I don't think that's the case. I just want to bring up the one thing that you said to me is that I would never make a lot of money and I'm making good money. I think I can make more. And he sent me this beautiful handwritten letter after just saying how proud he was of me. You know, like he didn't go backwards and say should have, could have, would have. He was just, I'm really proud of you and you're going to be a smashing success.

Oh, that's good. Yes. Interesting. Hopefully he had an awakening out of that process. So tell us about Your business and what you created over 35 years. Holy mackerel. And again, it's about teams, hint, hint, as you've already mentioned, which I just find so fascinating and you've been so incredibly successful and created intellectual property around it. So tell us all about your business.

So when I first started, the umbrella that I was under with Tom was Northwestern Mutual. So when I first started my business, I worked with financial advisors with Northwestern Mutual. I knew everything inside and out from the computer system to how the phone works, etc. So I was doing hiring, helping them hire someone to support them, whatever the role might have been. And back then they didn't have any junior advisors or succession planning thinking they were hiring. You know, it could be somebody to do new business or client service or whatever it might be. So I was hiring, I was training inside and out, like paperwork, client service, how to answer the phone, how to make appointments. And then I was also doing consulting work. And I did that for a long time. But I really cut out the training of the insides of Northwestern Mutual because one day I woke up and said, I have all my eggs in one basket and I need to go outside from here. And I realized that there's a lot of other companies that I could be doing the same thing with. So that's when my consulting started getting bigger and working with teams versus just doing the training of. And even though I love the training of, that meant I had to stay on top of every minute change that was happening and that wasn't how I wanted to spend my time. So I kind of went from that to doing more consulting work. And then I wrote a book, the Appointment Scheduler. And that was to help financial advisors bring someone else in their organization to schedule other appointments because that's their number one activity in the office. And then I went from the book and I really expanded the business into training people to be on the phone for financial advisors to then make all of their appointments. So it went from the book to one on one training to then group training because again you can only do one on one for so long. Then it went to group training and then really the explosion then came, you know, like if I bring up a self managing company right now, the explosion happened when I said I gotta make some changes, right? So I am not the only income generator here. So I went from that level of the book to one on one training, group training, and then we outsource to financial advisors to schedule their appointments for them. So I gave myself five years to replace the income I was making. For consulting services. And we did it in, like, three and a half years. And so that service, now we usually have about 35 advisors a month that they're outsourcing all their scheduling to us. And we still have the training program and we still have the book. So all three are going. But the virtual scheduler, which is where they outsource to us, is really the main income generator. Without me, that's phenomenal.

To be able to build as we talk about and coach yourself managing company. But you're so strategic, Gina, to have these awarenesses that you're like, oh, I have all my eggs in one basket. I need to branch out. Oh, this is getting too heavy on me.

Right.

Better way to say that. I'm sure you know too much on just one person. So now I need to outsource that. And by the way, providing virtual support is not exactly the easiest business on the planet.

No. Right.

Like, you are incredibly successful in what I would consider from everyone I know to be very, very difficult.

Yes. And I think the main reason the outsourcing worked is because they don't have to hire, train, or manage. Right. Yet it is the number one activity that has to happen in their office. And so when they have team members in their office, they procrastinate getting on the phone. And the financial advisors also struggle in letting go, Just like they had struggles of letting go to do the paperwork or client service. You know, it's the stages that they go through. You know, it could be an exponential business if I want to just keep bringing on what we call relationship managers. But, you know, some of them have been working with us, meaning the advisors, for 10 years, and that person is very instrumental in their company that they don't have to think about or worry about them.

That's like the best of both worlds. You get spectacular results. What a lot of people consider to be the hassle of managing, like, all of those things, and you just handle that crude, crucial, crucial business activity. And that's one of the things, Gina, that's always impressed me about you, your business model. Everything else is you help people produce incredibly important results. Like, it is so tangible. And so, yes, this is happening. No, this is not. It's not.

Right.

Theoretical. These are appointments in people's schedule, AK money in their bank.

Correct.

Which, again, to have really got the system down, to be that predictable and that successful.

Yes, yes. And it kind of takes me back to. You brought up teamwork a little bit. So, as I said, when I first started, I hired somebody to work with me and then when I moved to Chicago and you know, the virtual thing was not even close to being on the radar. Right. So I came to Minneapolis in 94, I was a one woman show again and realized very quickly I needed to bring somebody in and I brought someone in. And then I just kept building on the team because I say teamwork makes the dream work. And I want my dreams to come alive. Right. It allows me to do all the other things that I want to be doing. And having people on my team that can manage themselves because they know what they're there for and I trust in their abilities and continue to expand in their abilities.

So one of the key concepts at Coach is unique ability teamwork, which is twofold, actually. So this means understanding what your unique capabilities are. And we'd love all the profiles to help you figure that out and put language around them. But what do you love to do? What are you best at? What are you passionate about? What gives you energy? Now, the cool thing about it is for me to be able to do my unique ability, which is like a few things, I need to be surrounded by people who are just as brilliant in everything else.

Yes.

So what it sounds to me like what you have very intentionally created is what Coach would call a unique ability team.

Yes.

So you are very clear, Gina, on what you are best suited to be doing what you want. And then you've just curated, I'm sure, people who get what they're up to and are growing and expanding to your point. So they're not static, they're not stagnant, but they're growing in their capabilities too.

Absolutely. And I'm always working on getting rid of more off of my plate. Because when you think about if it's a new book, if it's a new service, if it's whatever it might be, you're at the helm and then eventually you let those things go. Right. So as I'm working on another product right now, it's the first time that I'm looking at something that I say I created it, but I'm not going to be involved in it. And it's going to be a big step. But again, when I look at the abilities of the people on my team, I mean, most of them have been with me for more than five years. The two that I have on my team, out of 11, the two that I have on my team are a year and a half and three years and they'll be lifers as well. But everyone else is over five years. Nice. And that says a Lot, considering some of them have been with me for 16 years. So.

And I don't know about you, but I find with people that I've worked with for a long time, there's just this ease, there's this shorthand. You don't even have to say full sentences half the time. They get you. They know where you're coming from. You've had enough experience together. There's some safe assumptions you can make.

Right.

And then you can spend your time on the new stuff.

Absolutely.

It's just the ease of teamwork and the last amount of time it takes. I think it's kind of cool.

Yes, absolutely.

So, okay. We're going to talk about another step in your entrepreneurial journey. However, I want to know what your new thing is. This is very exciting.

So it is a product. It's still around scheduling, but I want to find a way to make it global because we can work with people in the U.S. but you know, they're going through our training program or they want to outsource us and there's seven hours difference. It doesn't work. Right.

Yeah.

So yet I know the impact like this is the most important thing to me. The impact that it could make in people understanding the systems and the language and the how tos, you know, of really letting go of all the calls and allowing someone to set your day up. Just like you are a doctor or a dentist, you know, they don't set up their day. Someone else does it for them. And this allows that financial advisor, and quite honestly, any company that they have salespeople on their team, but it allows that financial advisor to be freed up and do what I assume they came in the business to do. Right. Meet and greet opportunities and then, you know, work as much or as little as they want to make the money they want. That's what we all want as an entrepreneur. Right? Yeah.

Having known a lot of financial advisors over my many years at coach, you know, I just know the headache that you are taking off their shoulders. But there is a mindset shift of that rugged individual having to do it all themselves. To the person listening, this could be you. We all, at some point, if there was an encyclopedia that had the term rugged individual, at some point, all of our pictures would be there.

Right.

That's just kind of how it works.

Yeah.

So that's kind of a big deal. But that is a shift that you help people make as a coach. You know, it's like, oh, you don't have to do all the things you can outsource this, that is not your unique ability so that you can do what you love to do and are most passionate about. So before we get to your coaching, because that's going to be really cool, you have had another dream that your team has helped free you up to make happen and one I just think is the coolest. So can you please talk about something that you had talked about at various coach conferences when I would get to see you and that it has been a reality for a few years now. So talk about something that's completely different than virtual schedulers and relationships.

Exactly. So I had a 25 year dream. I think it ended up being a 27 year dream by the time I did it to open a boutique. And I have never really been involved in retail at all. But Treza, who lived in Italy, she brought me to Marshall Fields in Chicago one time and at that point they had everything in drawers. It was like the most eye opening experience for me. I think I was 12 years old and she bought me a yellow wool skirt, V neck sweater and a black dickie. And I wore that until it was shredded. But I just saw like the beauty and the involvement from the salesperson. And I just always said someday I want to have a boutique. And you know, that was when I was young, but didn't even know what that meant. And then going back to a self managing company, I realized that the only way that I could ever do something like that was to create that service, the scheduling service. And therefore my dream came alive. And I've had a brick and mortar store in June. It's going to be six years.

Oh my goodness. I was thinking five, but that's almost six. That's amazing.

Yes. It's so much fun. It's only open four days a week. I have somebody that pretty much does a lot. My niece Christina is with me in both businesses and I'm not making really any money with it, but I'm having a blast with it. I mean, who can be making money in retail these days?

But I'm still having a blast. Well, it's so fun. And you know, some of us have got to benefit from your beautiful sourcing and creations. So you could call it a passion project or whatever names people have for this sort of thing. But I love that you had wanted to do this since you were little.

Yes. Right.

Since you're a young, young girl. And then to have that come to fruition however many years later, who cares? And it brings you so much joy. Like not everyone can see you right now, but you are Lighting up as you talk about it. And it's so much fun. So I just love that.

Well, and even going back to when I was little, I knew the name of my store because my nonna, my grandmother always called me Bella Gina. So I always said, my store is going to be called Bella Gina Boutique. And it brings me joy every day, even when I'm saying it, because it takes me back to her. Right. Yeah.

It's so you too, by the way. Go check it out online. It's definitely there. And I love all your clips, Instagram and YouTube. And it's just really fun to see that. So you also have created enough time to be a strategic coach, associate coach. So talk about your experience in coach. What difference? Like when you joined, the difference it made to your own business, then becoming a coach yourself. I'm curious about your entrepreneurial journey as per strategic coach, too, because that's a whole other, you know, complimentary path that you've been taking at the same time.

So when I was still working with Tom, Jim Malone.

Yes.

Gave to me, I think it was a cassette tape of Dan Sullivan. And he said, I want you to listen to this. I listened to it, and then I went to his office the next day and I said, I don't know why you want me to listen to this. I'm not an entrepreneur. And he goes, you will be. So six months later is when I was. That's when I started my business. I went to hear Dan. I think it was called the great crossover. I went to hear Dan speak, and I was like, I'm going to get in this as quickly as possible. I was in the first group that they launched in Chicago. And I can honestly say that when I was in there, like, I just made the income requirement, yet I think there might have been 20 of us in the room. And they were all five to 15 times greater in income than me. So I really felt like a little minnow with a bunch of sharks. And I was just like, I don't know, is this the right thing for me? But I also always knew that when you're with people that are bigger and better, that's how you're going to learn. Right. So I was on that journey. And then my next step was when strategic coach decided to have. I forget what we were called, but Dan would be the coach and there would be 10 people at a table. And we were facilitators.

Yeah.

So we were facilitators with a big group. There might have been a hundred people in the room.

Yeah, we did several large, large, large workshops in convention centers. Because that's the only place that was 100, 120. It was crazy.

Yes.

Rosemont Convention center was one of them. Yes. So you were one of the chosen facilitators to help walk people through so they'd have more of an individual experience.

Absolutely. And then one day, Babs came up to me and she goes, you know we're grooming you to be a coach. Right. And I said, a Dan. And she goes, yes. And I'm like, oh, no, no, no, no, that's not going to happen. However, I'm here. There you go. And you know, the thing of it is, what gives me so much joy is watching the transformation of people and reliving backwards my own transformation. So when I'm sharing stories of where they are and the fear that they're having, I still remember that. Remember my first workshop? I remember when I was in the gap, like, I remember those things. So it's the transformation, but it's also helping them push through. Going back to the words you use, rugged individualists, because they are such a rugged individual, regardless, some of them can have a part time person or they can have 150 people on their team and they're still a rugged individual. And that's why they're signing up for strategic coach. Right?

Yeah.

That and then watching people truly get balance in life. Because I don't think there's any other program out there that really melts the two together so perfectly. They'll talk about grow your business. Grow your business, Grow your business. Work hard, work hard, but never the balance that we provide the guidance on.

Right? Yeah, that's a really good point and I appreciate you saying that because, you know, there's personal courses you could do out there. There are industry specific, there are grow your business like crazy. But how do you become the best whole person that you possibly can? So you show up in what is called best self. You are growing your business. You're doing your unique ability. You're building a fabulous team around you. You're making the impact in the world that's important to you. You are there for your family.

Right.

Let's be clear. You're not on your second, third, fourth, fifth family. So that would be good, right? So I think, yeah, that's a great way of putting it because we really look at our clients as you, the person. Right. Of which your business is a huge part of you. Let's be clear, we also talk about free days. When are you disconnecting from your business? And getting perspective and rejuvenating yourself, making oneself young again so that there's a whole other perspective. I love how you said that. That's really true.

Yeah.

So how many years have you been coaching now?

I think this year might be 28 or 27. Somewhere around there.

Somewhere around there.

I think the most astonishing part is I've been in the program for 30 years. I started at age 7.

We all did. Just so you know.

Yeah. Yes, exactly. That to me, with or without being an associate coach has transformed my world. Like, I would have never thought of writing a book. I would have never thought of having 11 people on my team, a self managing company, you know, going to Cabo for a month in January. Like those would have never been on my radar without strategic coach.

That's very cool. I mean, you talked about what you love to see is the transformation in people, but you are just excited to be a coach today as you were 27, 28 years ago. So tell me about that. Like, what is it that keeps your excitement so high? Because you coach our virtual workshops. Like you are someone who brings your enthusiasm. It's not dampened is kind of what I'm saying, which happens in the world. So tell me about what keeps you so energized about coaching.

What's to come for them? Because I didn't know what was to come for myself. And I didn't realize at the time early on that I was making an investment in myself. You know what I mean? I thought I was making an investment in my business, but not in myself. So what keeps me so energized is I know that people feel the same way when they're coming in. You know, sometimes they're kicking the tires. Is this going to be the right investment? Who are these people? What are they do? They don't understand my business. You know, I have to be a rugged individual and to watch them, help them shift. Yeah, it energizes me, you know, like I could do this all day long and then I'm ready to take a break and do it again for another seven, eight hours. Because the exchange that happens in the day with people questioning themselves, questioning others, challenging me of the guidance that I'm giving them, the challenge is probably what I enjoy the most. Like, bring it on. I can't wait to break that down. That's how I feel. I am.

I can't take free days. You're like, yeah, yes, you can.

Do you want to? You know, so that, that energizes me. And again, I'll Go backwards and say. It also energizes me to see where they are, know where I was, and I know that they can get there because I did. Others did. Thousands have. Right. And it calls to the opportunity of community, too. Right. If you're in your first workshop, by the time you get to your fourth workshop, you already feel community. And this could be in your group, let alone outside. I could be coaching a room and someone else is coaching another one, and these people co mingle in breaks and lunches, and the community just expanded and it just keeps evolving. So I feel that there's so many opportunities for an entrepreneur, and if they want to have that true balance in life, fantastic.

I just appreciate all of the energy and positivity that you bring. To me, it's really fun. And I don't know if everyone's aware, but every single one of our coaches is also an entrepreneur in the program. Right. Like, that's part of our deal. So it's not that we have trainers, nothing gets trainers, but it's like, that's how we roll, which is also a little bit unusual.

Right.

So one other thing I wanted to ask you. I mean, we have so many really cool concepts. So let me ask you this. What is a favorite concept and or a favorite tool that you just love, that you couldn't live without, or that you love coaching or you see makes the biggest difference, whatever success criteria you want to put on it. But what's the favorite concept and or tool?

So I think the gap. I'm going to say the gap. Understanding that I lived in the gap before I understood what the gap was, it allowed me to embrace and open up to any other concept that came down the pipeline. Because I've had so many years. Right. It's hard to say of all those concepts what I love the most, but I feel the gap opens doors. Instead of saying I can't do it, it's how am I going to do it? Right.

Yeah.

But my tool is definitely the impact filter. And the reason being being a 3484 in Colby, I don't really have a whole lot of follow through and I don't want to have a lot of thought. So the impact filter gives me or shows me that I'm committed, and then therefore, there'll be wheels that someone else can take on from there.

Yep. So I'm just going to recap. If anyone's not familiar with the gap, our gap is how we measure against the ideal. Ideals are fabulous. They're very useful. Except when we measure ourselves against Them. And everyone has an ideal picture of their business, their partners, personal, their relationships, their bodies, their health, their friendships, their week. You know, we all have ideals. And when we measure against that, since the world has a vote, it usually feels like we're falling short. And that's not a fun place to come from. And actually, even if it's not fun internally, it's really also not fun for people around us, which I think people don't realize. They're like. And what we talk about says, turn around. Look where you came from. Like, measure the gain. And it's been really fun talking about all of your gains, Gina, because they're like, it's so fun. And you look back and you're like, damn.

And I'm going to just say this for a second, that I would have never been able to embrace all those gains if I didn't break through with the gap.

So true. You'd have a very different perspective about those.

I had most of my life a totally different perspective. It was never good enough. There's gotta be more. What about. What about. That also stems back to my very strict Italian feather. But I do feel that I never saw. Even when I was working with Tom as an employee, I never saw what I was doing. It was always like, I had to do more. I have to do more. It allowed me to become an entrepreneur, but still, it took me three times to hear the gap before I realized I lived there. Right?

Yeah. When it's the water you swim in, you don't realize. And then you're like, you get a little bit of space in distance. You're like, oh, there's a whole other way. And here's the ironic thing, and we teach this very early in year one, if anyone's wondering, we coach it. And there's also a great book about it. But when you are actually able to get into the gain, and that becomes your point of reference, instead, you are no less ambitious, no less successful, in fact, because you have a track record of success. Last time I checked, most people were like, ooh, let's do more of this, right? Like, ooh, if I did that, maybe I can do this too. So they actually become, in my experience, I think yours too, you know, happier, more positive, way easier to support and work with. They don't feel like they have to do it all themselves, and they actually get more successful, and they enjoy it so much more, which is actually how it happened in the first place. When Dan was coaching an entrepreneur who just had the most fabulous quarter he'd ever had and he came into his workshop and was like. And Dan's like every achievement you just made you was like a bug on the windshield. You just wiped it off. And then he went to then the flip chart, now we have smart boards and drew it and he said you're in the gap. And then years later we got the GAIN concept. But yeah, it's very fun to do that.

Yes.

And then the Impact filter is such an incredible thinking tool. And this by the way is available on our website as a download. So it's out there which is what's the project? What's the purpose, importance and ideal outcome. So you were talking about when you do this, you know you're committed. So there's an intellectual sale. What am I doing? Why am I doing it? What's it look like when it's done and done really well and then you get to the best and worst best result if I do take action and this turns out way better than I thought. Worst if I don't take action and maintain the status quo or it goes poorly. I filled that one with a team yesterday. It was so fun just to get aligned and on the same page. And then the success criteria which are how do I ensure the best and prevent the worst. Let's be clear. And then that becomes a checklist which is really cool.

It's a perfect checklist.

Yes. For those of us with not a lot of mental energy for finishing or following through to Godsend.

Right. And also it allows not only am I committed when I fill it out, I'm getting the clarity and building on the confidence, but then it's going to go and I'm going to use others capabilities. Yeah, right, yeah.

Dan talks about the first 80% of any project is actually filling out the Impact filter and then you pass it to the next person to do their 80%.

Right.

It gets you out of rugged individualism. That's a really good point. I love that. Oh my gosh, Gina, this is so fun. I'm excited about your new product. So good luck with that. I love that you're stepping into new adventures, global ones. How cool is that? And I love your excitement, enthusiasm for coaching. I of course love Bella Gina Boutique and the engine that powers the whole thing is still very much alive and well and functioning as a self managing company. So you're such a great testament to how well coach principles and tools and thinking work. And then you're a fabulous communicator about them. So you get to help other people transform their lives too. And I just hope everyone gets to have an experience with you. So thank you so much for sharing your path and your passion. I love every second of it.

Thank you. Loved it as well.

Right. So, Gina, I really love and appreciate hearing all about your path and your passion. If people want to learn more about you, how can they find you on social media, your company, all the things, how can people reach you?

The company name is Pellegrini Team Consulting. We are located in Minneapolis. I'm on LinkedIn. I really am not a big Facebook person or really LinkedIn, but I'm there.

I'm on there. That's what teams are for, right?

Exactly.

That's great. And as I was saying, if you want to connect with Gina in terms of strategic coach, Please check out strategiccoach.com, tons of fabulous resources, upcoming workshops with you, 1-800-387-3206 in North America. And again, as I said earlier, I really do hope people get to have a taste of Gina because you bring so much fun and so much energy to what you do. So, Gina, thank you again. Just really enjoyed our time together.

Thank you. Shannon. It was awesome.