WHY Not Wednesday with Laura Rau

There's a certain kind of coach who believes what we believe.

Who leads people to greatness, who gets people unstuck, who unlocks all of your passion. A coach who helps people discover what drives them to tap into their superpowers. That knowing your why is the first step to untap potential.

To focus.

To breakthroughs.

A coach who's looking for a better way.

Are you that coach?

Hello everyone and welcome to why Not Wednesday. I am so excited to introduce you to our guest today, Laura Rao. She is a certified Y coach as well as a career ownership coach with the Entrepreneur Source. She provides an educational experience for people to explore business and franchise ownership. Laura volunteers as a score mentor and brings 30 years of financial management corporate financial management experience to the table. Her specialty is entrepreneurship and small business management, finance and strategic planning and small business planning and business law. So Laura has facilitated and taught classes on business startups, business planning, finding your niche, franchising fast track startups at Score Vets 2 Industry, the San Diego library and other virtual and in person venues. She owns two franchises, is also a certified public funds investment manager with an MBA specializing in finance strategy and business law. Laura, man, that is impressive. Let's bring you on. How are you today, Laura?

I'm good, Dan. It's nice to see you.

You know, I want to go back to school after reading your introduction. You have done so much in your career and what, what of all those things, what is the one thing you just absolutely love the most other than what you're doing right now?

Well, the reason I'm doing what I'm doing right now is because I like talking to entrepreneurs. That's my favorite thing. I do it all day long. I do it for free. Sometimes I do do it for free. I just think it's great. I'm fascinated by what people do for work and them finding their niche.

Love that. Love that. So let's, let's start like we do every show, Laura, if you've watched before, one of the first things I like to do is let everybody who's watching know what your yos is. So let's start with that. Your why is simplify your how is better way and your what is right way. So what that tells me is you believe that success happens when we make things simple, uncomplicated and easy to understand. How you do that is by finding better ways and sharing them with others. In your case, your clients and ultimately what people can count on from you is a right way to get predictable and reliable results. Does that sound like you and tell me what that means for you.

You Absolutely. That sounds like me. I mean my whole career simplifying processes has been important to me. I'm the person that takes the sausage factory and tries to make the sausages in less steps. I shorten it to. I believe success happens when things are simple, uncomplicated and easy to understand. I provide strategic coaching and I've gathered the best tools and resources I could find to achieve success, self sufficiency and get predictable results. I'm very risk averse. So I've done everything I can to provide stability and predictability in my educational journey.

And you know, we were talking a little while ago about your journey until into law school and the how that that didn't fit for you and I love that story. Tell me, tell me a little bit about that because I think it'd be interesting for our, our audience to hear why it didn't fit and now how you know why it didn't fit.

So after I graduated from college with a bachelor's in econ, I started an MBA JD program and the first year was fine. Contracts, law, real estate, torts, that was fine. But when you got to the second year and I was going to school at night working full time, you had to get up and argue one side of an argument and then the instructor would have you try to argue the completely opposite side of that argument equally as strongly, equally as passionately. And I couldn't do it. You know, my why is simplify right way, best way. And so I would find what I thought was the right answer and I had trouble veering and arguing equally as strongly the opposite. So it wasn't for me. I never wanted to be a lawyer. I just wanted to be a cfo. That was my life's dream. But so what I learned did help me get to my goal.

Love that. Love that. So thank you for. I know we veered off a little bit but that was so interesting. We were talking about that in the pre show. I wanted to share it. So who's your ideal client, Laura? Who do you love working with and what's the biggest challenge they come to you with?

My favorite client is somebody who is dissatisfied with what they're doing. They want to go in a different direction. They are considering starting their own business and have no idea where to start and how to get started and really how to evaluate what the options are. So in that case I provide a lot of tools, strategic tools, the DISC assessment, the Y assessment, some questionnaires to really paint that picture of Their ideal life. And then we learn about different concepts and models in different industries to see which can reach that high standard. And then also I've gathered tools and resources so we can test drive anything that looks interesting.

Interesting. So these are people you mentioned earlier. You love entrepreneurs and you mentioned during this question, you love seeing all the different ways people are doing their, their work. What, what, what about what in your makeup makes you want to work with these creative different ways that people are doing things?

I think if you find a business. Yeah. Where that meets your lifestyle goals, that is work that you enjoy doing every day, you like the people in the industry then and satisfies your why, then that.

Business can help you achieve all the rest of your goals. It won't feel like working. It'll feel satisfying, it'll feel fulfilling. Your family will see you happy and feeling needed and valued every day. Yeah, I'm also very risk averse. So I had a change in my thinking. I used to think, you know, 20 years ago that corporate employment was the most secure and stable option. I no longer believe that. I now believe if you do it the right way.

Right.

The right way entrepreneurship is that can be more stable, the most stable option for you. But it takes a little work and a little evaluation.

And so what you, what you do and what I think what you do is you simplify that for people, right?

Yes, I do.

Because I can see, I can tell you, being on this entrepreneurial journey, there's a lot to it. Right. There is no show. You show up to work every day and then a check gets directly deposited every two weeks and somebody gives you a W2 at the end of the year and you just take that to your account. It's all very simple. There's so much to keep track of. So your why of simplify? I can see why people would just absolutely flock to you and want to work with you to help them simplify everything that's going on when they're doing that. Right?

Yes. I believe I found a way to get predictable results. Absolutely. And that's what people. The fear of the unknown is probably the biggest thing that stops people from going after their dreams. So finding a simple, straightforward way that's proven and provides predictable results can help people get past that and move forward towards where they really want to be and create their ideal life. Create that self sufficiency that many people have always longed for.

Yeah, I love that. I wanted to say hi to Danica. She says she's excited to be here. Danica, thank you for joining us. So what are the common mistakes people make when they are trying to. When, when. What's their biggest challenge? When they, when they're starting their own business.

More than when people. When I ask people if they've ever wanted to have their own business, many people say yes. The most common request I get is people who say they've always wanted to have a bar, a restaurant, a bakery, a food business. Sometimes they back it up with and I also want to spend more time with my family. And sometimes not really understanding the commitment of the business is a challenge. So they want to spend more time with their family, but they choose a business that is nights and weekends and long hours and the facility and you know, perishable inventory. So what I like to do is look at their long term goals, look at their why, look at their lifestyle preferences and throw options out there. And all of my clients, but one went into a different direction that was more aligned with what they want to spend their day doing and more aligned with their lifestyle, their long term goals.

So it sounds like you go into an evaluation and you mentioned the why. So tell me how that has played into the work that you're doing with your clients. You have them discover their why, their how and their what. How does that impact the choices that your clients are making?

I'm going to go back and finish my, I'm going to add something onto my earlier question and then I will answer the why? Because they're somewhat related.

Sometimes people don't really focus on their why. Sometimes they, they focus on what's right in front of them. So let's say their aunt or uncle wants to retire from their dry cleaning business and they want to sell it. Well, it's familiar, they know it. So they jump into the first opportunity that comes to them without actually doing a frank assessment of what's most important to them. And that may be a great business, but it may not be a great business for them. So I think that.

Understanding your why and will avoid the common mistake of just going to the first thing that comes available to you that you hear about that opens up. Wow, I would really like to have my own business. Maybe I'll do that. Well, before you jump at that first opportunity that comes to you, let's talk about what you're really looking for. What your what? Your why is.

So.

So what is a one valuable free action that our audience can implement to help them not make that mistake?

Good question. I think the most valuable thing somebody can do is let go of all other people's expectations and Maybe even your own, and do a vivid description of what might be the ideal situation for you. If you could have control over all the variables. A magic wand to choose what your ideal lifestyle would be. What does it look like really? Let's start there and then see if anything can measure up. Do we really need to wait 20 years before you're, you know, working 20 hours a week, making a decent salary? Some people want to work semi absentee and they're ashamed to tell me like, no, what do you really want? Do you really want to go to all your kids games and you know, volunteer in the classroom? Then let's talk about that because there are.

Possibilities for every situation.

Right, Right. I love that. So you have them articulate and write down where they'd like to be and that helps you understand where they can go because I see that all the time. Right. You can't volunteer at your, like you said, at your child's classroom and be there for every game and at the same time run a 24 hour dry cleaner. Right. So you kind of take all that and say, okay, which one do you evaluate and look at? Which one is the one that you want to work on?

Right, Exactly. Identify your U 2.0. What do you want your next career to look like if you had complete control? And then let's see what measures up.

Okay, so what's the, what's, you know, I've got a question. What's the fastest way to succeed as an entrepreneur? You've done this for a long time, so what's the fastest way to get there?

The fastest way to get there is, in my opinion, is to do a thorough vetting. First of yourself, the frank assessment, including your why, what motivates you, what do you find fulfilling? How do you like to work? What are your lifestyle preferences? And then look at the business and does it fit those from an objective standpoint? I like to do a little weighted average analysis sometimes. And then while you're talking to the other business owners who've done that business before, ideally you work in that business. If you can't work in that business, then you talk to the other business owners to make sure that what you're viewing on the outside, on the surface is really how the role of a business owner actually is and actually would feel for you. So if the role of that business, the role fits you, then let's talk about what it would take to ramp up.

I like to use some of the score tools. Let's look at how you'd get clients, let's look at the competition. Let's run the numbers. What activity level do you need to achieve your goals? I have a handful of spreadsheets and if anybody would like to talk about them, I'm happy to give them out. I don't charge for them. And they can test drive their own business idea. Absolutely. And most of these questions don't take more than five or 10 minutes. You're looking at the branding, you're asking yourself a few questions. What you're doing is you're actually looking at the natural learning that you would learn during the first two or three years of business, organically bringing it up front and putting some thought into it, saying this today, this is what it looks like will be. If I'm opening a dry cleaners, I need to have, you know, 100 customers a month with five items each to hit my break even. We'll keep it simple.

So you, you, you take the numbers and you, and you plug them in so that you know what, what the goal is and what it's going to take. Right. So you, then I love that. That's, I love the simplicity of that. Right. It's just plug and play and then you know where you got to go and how many hours you've got to put in. How does the wide discovery help in that?

I think the, one of the best uses, not the best use, is to help you focus on what you enjoy the most because that's where the big win is. So my why is simplify better way and helping me focus on that, keeping the process simple and straightforward and easy to understand and looking for the best tools and resources I could find and sharing them with my clients provides helps me leave out all the noise of everything else and focus on what I do invest. That's also where I add the most value. So it's very gratifying to me. And so when other clients, one of my clients is contribute, he does insurance and he likes to help people have a better life. It gives him great joy.

To help families. And so once he realized that he was already heading that way, it just makes everything so much more simple for him. This is what I do. This is how I do it. And if you, if this helps you, great. And if it doesn't, you know, we wish each other well and go our separate ways. It saves time.

So he's driven by helping people, making a difference. So what you do is you help him understand or build things into his business where he's feeding that. Because you said something really important. When you're simplifying when you're finding better ways, when you're living in your yos, that's when you're at your best. So you're bringing that to your clients by. And does that play into your messaging? Laura?

Absolutely. Yes. Yes.

What I usually say to clients is when you play to your strengths, you get notice, field valued, and have unlimited energy.

Hey, I might have heard that somewhere before, Laura. And I love that those are our strengths. Right. I think one of the things, when we tell people what we believe, what our strengths are and we put that out there, we attract people who are looking for those things. Right. So your clients, if you're putting that in your messaging, are looking for simplicity, are looking for a better way, and are looking for the right way. And if they're coming to you and that's what they're looking for, and those are your biggest strengths, it makes your job a lot easier, I'm sure.

I like to see it when people have clarity about which way to go instead of just moving forward blindly.

You mentioned that so many people just, hey, I want to be an entrepreneur. And my uncle selling his donut shop. So I'm just going to go, I'm going to own a donut shop. Never baked before, never managed employees before. I can see where that would be. Just a mess, right? Because you're just learning as you go and you're taking over an established business. Well, let's go back to you, Laura, because this is the keystone question. And Larry, Larry Levine is going to get mad at me if I don't ask this question. What is your biggest why not moment? A time when you said why not to something and it turned out really well for you.

That would be about four or five years ago when I spent 30 years in corporate finance. That's all I had ever done. And a coach, a TES coach named Paco called me and, and said, do you want to have your own business? And I said, absolutely not. That sounds like way too much work. And he said, what do you want? And I wanted portability to be able to go between my parents and my children and my siblings. And he suggested doing the educational journey that I now do. And so I went through it with him in the end of the, at the end of the program, he said, why don't you just do what I do? And I had never before thought about having my own business. I was corporate through and through. I liked the structure, I liked the security. But I found that in my case, finding a business that fits my niche, that fits my why that has the lifestyle needs and the daily tasks. Talking to entrepreneurs that I absolutely love has been immensely rewarding and, and feels more like a calling than a job. I love it. And so I hope to be able to pass on the kindnesses and insights and guidance that Paco showed me to other people to help them find their niche, find that ideal lifestyle, find self sufficiency and feel rewarded and valued by it.

Yeah, and you said something earlier that really stood out to me. You said that.

If you find, if you focus on what you do well and your lifestyle needs and having your own business can be more satisfying and stable than corporate employment.

Tell me more about that because I know that's interesting, especially for those people out there that are doing the corporate ladder and climbing and they see the retirement at the end of the rainbow. Right. We've all been there and then we're not. So what's, how do you, how do you, how do you, how do you see that stability?

Well, I work best with people who are risk averse and so a lot of people view having your own business as risky. And there are ways to avoid and mitigate that risk, which we talk about, no matter what industry it is. The truth is, is if you find a really good fit for you, there's always room in almost every industry at almost every time for the best to prevail. And there's probably some things that you've done in the past which would translate in unexpected ways to new.

Professions. But if you find something that you absolutely love, you like the people in the industry, you like the work, the daily grind is things that you enjoy doing and it fits your lifestyle, then there's an opportunity for you to really grow and blossom. And we will talk about ways to do that way before you seriously considered, you know, jumping into it. So those are all good things about entrepreneurship, which I've found and I've learned. And you know, I specialize in proven frameworks like franchises and distributorships and dealerships. So there's really a way to get all of your questions answered. So there's a couple things going. The truth is corporate employment, whether it's the gig economy or.

Just corporate industry, there's really not a lot of stability. At the C suite level, it's less than two years average 10C suite level, less than two years. So you might have a great job that pays you well over six figures, but it's only going to last for two years and you're going to be out of work for a year or two. And the stress of that, especially if you have kids in college or you're helping out with your parents, is tremendous. So if you can take control, if you can find something that uses everything that you have in a way that you want to use it, then having your own business can really open up a lot of possibilities and many good things for you.

Love that. Brian Smith is giving us some love. He says love the positive influence. Thank you for listening, Brian. So, you know, how did you learn about us, Laura? How did you learn about Y Institute? And why did you decide to join and become a certified Y coach?

I saw you on LinkedIn and I thought I needed something else to kind of focus to help people find their niche. I do have some really good questionnaires and assessments, but there was a little piece that I found was missing. And so I called you up, got on your schedule. You did my why assessment first. Just the Y simplify. And I thought, wow, that's so me. And then when we did the yos, I thought, oh, my goodness, this is. This is me to a T. And gave me the clarity and eliminated the noise that I was looking for. And so then I became. Went through the certification process so that I could provide the same that you. The gift you gave to me. Give that gift to clients.

Love that. That's a great story. You know, often. And thank you for sharing that, Laura, because, you know, as we grow, as we're starting to talk to people, it is so important for us to remember that this assessment, this discovery that we're sharing with the world makes a difference in the lives not only of our coaches, but their clients, or I guess I should say, not just their clients, but also our coaches, because it gave you that clarity and understood one of the things you said, and I don't want to say it for you, but you talk about the language. I think you said something about the language in the pre. I want. I want to let you say it in your own words about what you learned when you discovered your yls.

I don't remember exactly what I said at the pre show, Dan, so you may have a little bit off.

Let me prompt you, because it was around the words that it gave you versus what you always knew. But I don't want to use. I want to let you say it because you said did a great job of it.

So obviously in my career, taking repetitive processes and streamlining them and coming down the steps was something being what I called being strategic about. It was something that was important to me, and I've always done it, whether it was Year end or month end in finance or the educational journey in my current, what am I current profession. So having the why allowed me to articulate what I was trying to do. I would just say I would streamline or be strategic about it, not really focusing on simplifying the process. So people who have the why of simplify, like me, have probably been simplifying everything in their life from day one. Checklist to do list.

So it put into words what I'd always felt about how I like to operate both as work and at home. And for that I was very grateful.

Excellent. And I'm sure your clients are grateful because I know that's the, you know, for you. It's about helping them simplify things and make their lives easier and make the correct choices so they can get those results that they're looking for. So Solora, what would you say to a coach? And I talk to coaches every day. I'm on a tour right now and visiting some of our coaches. But what would you say to someone who is thinking or considering joining Wise Society and becoming certified?

If you're a coach and you want to help your clients get to the next level and focus on what is most rewarding and fulfilling to them, then helping them discover their own why will help them do that, will help give them the clarity they need to articulate.

Their personal mission.

Tell me about, you mentioned.

A client, a female utility executive that you were working with. Tell us that story.

I was working with a female executive. She was at a crossroads, had multiple options on the table and one of them was a job paying a lot more. Seemed like the right fit for certainly the high salary was very attractive. However, she had some red flags. She was like, you know, gosh, it would be so nice to make that level. I mean, I think it was 300,000 a year or something. Really nice, big salary.

And she was, she was attracted to it, but she had some red flags. So she was looking at multiple options, entrepreneurship and employment. After she did her why, it gave her the clarity of picking the job that felt the most right to her, the one that felt like it was a long term play that would provide her that long term satisfaction that she was also searching for. So she decided not to be blinded by the big salary and to take the one that fit her the most. And I asked her, so why'd you do it? Why'd you choose that? And she told me at the end of the day, the big salary job is probably a short term play for her. She may be really happy with it. For a year or two but it didn't seem like it was a long term fit. It didn't really fit her ideal working environment and so she went for the one that she trusted her gut. She was already thinking that there was a she might consider doing something else so she went the different way that more perfectly aligned with her. Why? And because she was sure that over the long term she'd be happier, more fulfilled, she'd make up the money in a not too long period.

Yes, I love that. You know that's a great story and I love how you tied her finding her why to making the right decision for her in the long term. Betty Burch thank you so much for the comment. Love having you on with that. What do you say we end on that note?

Laura why not? Dan.

Love it. Thank you so much for being on and we will see you all next week.

Thank you.