The Secret to Scaling Your Business Effectively with Kareen Walsh

What if you could be in two places at one time? How about three times or ten times? Imagine the impact you could put out there to the world, to the people that already know you, expand to people that don't already know you. And really it scales your time so you're not stressing out, burning out and trying to do everything at once. Now that's what we're talking about here is smartly scaling yourself through a business model, your mindset, but also technology. Because all of that is packed in this episode. But I brought Karene Walsh on the podcast. Hand selected her because she has a different way of thinking. She's a visionary, but she's a business strategist that gets into details and gets stuff done. She works with business owners probably just like yourself to scale from this kind of stuckness or where maybe the thinking that you've been in a while where you don't feel like you quite scale. And that's where she breaks through some of these barriers, through a whole bunch of means that we'll talk about here. And we happen to talk about a cool piece of technology that both of us have been obsessing over. You probably heard me talk about it, but it's a cloning technology to scale. Really truly what you're doing in so many places. It's like a new form of media and way to connect and scale your business as well. So that's what you're going to get from this episode. I urge you to test out my clone. It's of this podcast every 600 plus episode that's already been recorded, including this one with Kareem. Go check it out at hustleandflowchart.com clone C L O N E Totally free and you'll be able to ask text, voice or even FaceTime with me and go deeper on this episode, ask further questions. Follow ups, you can ask also about other episodes and topics on there. Go check it out hustleandflowchart.com clone and enjoy the episode.

See you there.

Hey, before we jump into the episode today, I want to shout out one of our partners, HubSpot and they have been tackling this customer service dilemma. They have a brand new service hub from HubSpot. It's a whole new platform that's combining service and support together in a single platform to deliver the best possible experience not only for your customers but for your team by freeing up their time. Because everything is AI powered. So this thing's a big win win and improves everybody's experience and has them coming back for More of what you got going on. Go check it out for your over@HubSpot.com service. Now, onto the episode we're going. I'm happy that you're here. I'm happy we did this ASAP because of a lot of reasons we'll get into. But how you doing today?

I am doing really well. I just came off a call with my founding members for my Heykorian app. And as you know, Joe, it's like, when you launch something new, you're like, is this valuable? So it's one of those calls where it's like, these things are not working right. Like, it always starts with the. The what's not going well? And then it turned into. But I really am loving this. And so I'm trying to bask in the what's going well right now, today.

Is that something. Do you prompt them to start with the. Oh, this really was bad? Like.

I.

Well, I always want to know because I. For me.

I've never shied away from the challenges because, you know, I think the hard is what shapes us. Right. So, yes, I will always be like, okay, guys, what's not working? Like, what don't you like? What are the things that you find are clunky or. Or wasting your time even? Or are there even areas you haven't even touched yet because you could care less? Like, they are the actual people I'm building it for. So, like, why wouldn't I ask the hard questions to see, you know, what's what? So, yeah, I. I have no fear around the hard. Like, it's just. That's just the seasoned skin I think I have after being in the game for so long and seeing many things, you just have to be willing to tackle it, you know?

That's cool. Yeah, I like that. It's not. We don't need to sugarcoat anything. We gotta get in, get out and. Well, I wanna talk about the app because this is something that will. It'll make a lot more sense later on. But the hey Kareen app, like you just mentioned, I didn't realize it until we just started talking, but I'm talking about cloning all the time on this podcast, and I've had Dara, the founder of Delphi, on last year. It was his first podcast episode. Yay.

But the power of cloning, and the reason why I'm bringing it up right now is that's literally what you've done with this app. So I'm just gonna seed it there. Let's go deeper into the app and the whole cloning thing shortly. But the whole idea is that the stuff that we'll talk about here is likely on your app as well. It's also, you know, I have a clone for my podcast, which is cool. It's all built with Delphi, same technology that you're on too.

So, yeah, the why behind it, right?

Like, yeah, well, what's your why?

I guess, yeah, I was finding that as a seasoned entrepreneurial business coach and someone who has advised many business, I'm also an investor. Like, I've been in and out of so many systems and processes and. And grew up in tech. Right. Like, my background is in tech delivery. Very complex projects, very complex way of doing things. But I've always had the lens of operational efficiency. Like, that is just my ammo. Like, it's how I live and breathe. And when I looked at my own business and I was like, I. I can't really clone myself. And my approach.

Has been a struggle for me to scale honestly in. In a coaching stance because people come to me because it's me. And when I found that, I would try to be like, you know, why don't you go work with so and so or try to train someone else to do things in a similar way. My methodology is something that has. Was kind of created from experience that was really hard to duplicate via another human. Right. Because they are bringing their human experience into it as well. And it'll be a little bit tweaked and it won't exactly be how I would want to deliver it. So loving tech advancement, loving the fact.

That I'm always like, what's the latest?

And then realizing that the thing I've.

Been wanting to do was truly clone myself, then finding Dara and finding this.

Platform and being like, clone me, please.

Here's the way.

I can't even tell you, Joe. The day I got the test platform.

You know, of my. My full app experience, I was actually in Japan on vacation, and the team sent me the first iteration on test flight. And I was able to go in and I almost wanted to cry about the freedom that it created for me, knowing that my capacity is no longer.

A blocker for people to have access.

To the gifting of. Of getting through whatever challenges they're facing.

As they grow their business.

It's not on me, the person anymore. They can now have a system to leverage and get that care and support. And it has been just so.

Relieved. Like, it's like this relief came over me, like, I'm no longer the blocker of scaling My impact because of, you know, and I'm leveraging technology to do it.

So the why of it all, why.

I decided to build the app, why I decided to clone myself this way, was because I feel like I have so much to offer others that it's almost like been selfish that I haven't been able to reach them all. And I get requests now, all the time to work with me. But now my price point is also so high and quite exclusive to be in the room with me where I was like, there's got to be another way. And so this was my way of being able to have impact, leverage technology, reach the people that want to be reached, but also centralize all my stuff in one place. So, so freeing, right?

It is, right? It's. It's similar to how I think of it as well with cloning. And I didn't even understand the tech until early, what, last year when I found Delphi, the platform originally. But my vision was for this podcast was to like make an engaging two way conversation that people can tap into from, you know, 600 plus episodes. So from everything in the past, it's like you can ask anything, combine it. So just like you, it's not. And you know, in this case it's like leveraging my guest information as well. So it's not even just me. Yeah. And then I, I see it as like, this is the best form of us online because it's all based off of our published material. Like we wouldn't publish our stuff unless we were proud of it or thought it was the best stuff we could do. And now the AI clones are literally enhancing that and making it 24,7 tons.

Of use cases and grows with us. So the coolest part about it too, because I'm all about evolving. It's like not only is everything I've ever done, my methodology, my books, my podcast, my coaching sessions, like I fed the machine to learn my approach so that when people come and ask their questions, they're actually being. It's a coaching moment. Like we've curated it so that you get questions asked back to you, you go a little bit deeper as if you're in a conversation with me. And it's pretty phenomenal the response I'm getting from the entrepreneurs using it right now. But it's going to grow with me. Like everything I create going forward, I now feed into it as new content and it then is serv to everybody who uses it. And it's really cool to have that growth with me. Like the tech is going to grow with me versus what I've done in the past. And a lot of I'm sure your listeners are and people viewing this, your show, it's like we constantly do the things we've been taught, like build an online class and go purchase that class and then that just sits there stale.

Right.

You can, you can keep selling and it still has impact, but it's kind of like this. That's all that that was. And then it's oh, let me create the next level and then the next level. And it's almost like this laborious back end process. And you wonder, and I've done this. This is why I'm talking from experience. I've done it time and time again where it just no one's watching. Like no one's going in and watching. But did I load all those programs into my AI and like make sure that if you had a question, you'll get served up the answer? Yes. And at least now you're going to use it when you need it versus go sit through something, learn it and never use it. Right. Like, so it's this really cool integrative way to be of support to others, which I'm excited about.

I like it. Yeah, it's like a companion, the way you're describing it.

Right, Exactly. I call it your entrepreneurial guide. Like what hey Korean is all about. Yeah.

And it totally is. And that's the power of like, you know, the fact that you loaded everything in there. That's where I guess walk me through kind of like as you're building this out. Because I know there's a lot of people interested and because they're interested in cloning, definitely go get the hey Kareem app. How can they get it, by the way? Just so. Because yours is like set up in a unique way.

Yeah. So my app is the centralized. What I wanted was one place to go. So here's what I realized for entrepreneurs. Like, you cannot learn much if you're just going to social platforms and getting like bite sized information. Right. And there's a lot of noise that comes with that. So I felt that my platform people come to me and they follow me and they watch and they interact and they love the information, but they are also distracted and not really taking the action they need. So I wanted like one centralized place. Everything about how to interact with me is now on the app. So you have access to my books, you have access to my workbooks, like all my freebies. You have access to any article, new article, new writing. I put out my old podcast that I retired. I'm gonna have a new show coming out next year so that will all be there. But it allowed me to create and curate the experience for anyone in my community. So this app is the centralized information of all things to then also take action. So it's different than just like a standard website, right? Like you can go to my sites, those sites still exist where you go to Kareem Walsh.com or HeyKorean.com and you could still get information. But my whole vibe is about action. So it's like how can I be in action with you? And I literally sign all my emails always walking alongside you because I'm like let's go. Like what else are we going to do next? Like we are always in motion. That's the entrepreneurial way. So the app itself is the best way to just have a focused time on the things that you want to do regarding your business. Like, and I, and I believe you're a reflect Your business is 100% a reflection of who you are as you lead it. Right. It's, it's all about your leadership style. So in the app we talk about leadership, we talk about relationships. It's, it's about your own self care is important. There's, you know, how you build your business. The strategy side, like I just wanted one place and make it super easy. So there's a free version of the app and then there's the paid version of the app. And members on the app obviously would get more access to me as well as to special events or programs that I offer the AI as part of the membership to be able to chat and get on demand coaching. But really the vision behind this was because I know how distracting life is now and information coming at us. I wanted a curated environment where people are coming with a focused intention and being able to support them in that way directly.

I like that. And that's where there's a couple things I picked up on there. Like you mentioned distractions because I can agree more. Especially when you have like courses and all these things. It's like well that's now you know what? In this like goldfish attention span that we all share because of whatever social media. But also it's just like I feel like it's notification bombardment, you know, emails, it's texts, it's all the above and it's not our fault but we're all dealing with this crap and I don't think it's improving. But the fact that if you can have a central Place that's also, you know, on all the devices and something that can be. So I know a big piece of Delphi is the accountability factor, and it's only going to get better is Dar and the team are telling me. But you said, like, stay in action. Like, it's not only I feel like it's not always our fault that we're not in action, but other factors like this. But explain, like, I guess, how you would approach people that are maybe feeling stuck or maybe the momentum's burning out, like some common things.

Yeah, so. So most of, most of the time when we're inundated with information that does not apply to what we're trying to accomplish in life, we get overwhelmed, we get shut down, we get frustrated, and sometimes, you know, it can even lead to, like, depression because we are not seeing the progress in our actual lives that are we're trying to accomplish. Right. So I definitely was, you know, if you, if you talk to me about 20 years ago was a very aggressive goal getting person. I still am. I. I call myself now a recovering overachiever. I still achieve a lot, but I'm like recovering from the toxic side of overachievement. You know, where when you set goals and then you just charter towards them and it's almost like tunnel vision and then you have no life. Right. As I was doing my own evolution for myself and, and figuring out who do I really want to be in this world and like, what is the impact I want to have and how do I want to show up in it, I realized if I did not have the discipline around my actions every day and around the intentions I have towards whatever that target I call it, your ultimate vision is for your life, your business, your relationships, all the areas. Right. Like, it has to be a full view, not just one directional to have a healthy life, in my opinion, then it's really hard to know what action to take. And all of a sudden you're becoming this sponge of absorbing information that doesn't really apply. So I came up with different tactics that helped me get out of my own way because I first always test everything out on myself before I share it with anybody else. And the tactics that I've put in place and that I now share with others is really the discipline of knowing what the target is, what's the destination I'm trying to get through. So clarity, number one, it's like clarity on that first. Then once you're clear on the destination, it's okay. Now how do I get there? Like, what are then the goals, if you want to call it, or the pit stops along the way right to that destination. Like, how do I now charter my course towards it and stay in what I call aligned action? So I have different exercises for that. I have, you know, clarity on your vision basically comes from you can. If anyone wants to go through it. It's my SLP program. It is a free program which basically helps you just remind yourself. It's like, what are you. What are you going after right now? Get clarity on that vision. And there's vision work where I prompt you through things, there's a workbook, you go through it, etc. But it's something that then once you're clear on the destination, I teach you the way I break down goals and actions against goals. And it's really a framework that helps me stay focused. But then sometimes I'll get distracted because we all do sometimes. So I do my monthly retrospective call, which is really about staying in aligned action. And there are four key questions you ask in order to get to the point of, okay, what's the aligned action I'll take next? What are. And. And it's really simple. It's like, the first question is, what's going really well? You want to continue doing? What are the things you want to celebrate? You always want to start with celebration when you're going through this mini assessment, because the things that are going well, you want to keep doing and like, almost put into overdrive, because that's what will make you show up.

And if you also know some of the good stuff, too, when we're all.

Stressed out or just distracted, overachievers never celebrate. I didn't celebrate for years. I accomplished a lot, but we don't celebrate. So I always start with celebration because then it also raises your energy to talk through the hard stuff. Because the second question is, what do you need to stop doing? It's really that introspective of, wow, I need to really stop doubting myself that what I truly want isn't for me, or I need to stop binge watching shows and put that time into actually reaching out to new potential clients and trying to close a new deal. Right? So the stop doing is a really key question to be a little bit more introspective of, like, what's really holding me back from inching more towards that goal. And then the third question is, what do you need to start doing? Because sometimes you don't pause enough to realize that, like, oh, if I just did this small little tweak over here, or if I asked this question or if I, if I just did this instead of the things that I'm now stopped doing now I've created capacity. So what should I start doing? Right? And then the last step of that exercise is now what's the one action you're going to take from, from now doing this mini assessment. And I do this every month. It's a, it's a free call that I run with my community because I, it gave me so much traction. Like when I went from running a self employment type business where I like to say I was like pimping myself out right to earn. Was it like yeah, consulted role? Yeah, I was, I was a strategic consultant and I would help deliver really complex tech projects and I would advise.

On different things and I was like this is not sustainable. Like this is not a business. Like I don't want to run myself to the ground for the earnings that I need. Like it just something had to tweak and I did my SLP program. I got clarity on my vision of what I want. And then I asked myself, okay, if I'm going to scale. At that time my goal was like, let's, what would it mean Kareem, to like bring seven figures into your business? Because I never thought in seven figures before. It was a new concept for me.

I only thought where were you before?

Just for reference.

I've been a six figure earner since my mid-20s.

Right.

Like just whether it was income through corporate jobs or like running my own consultancy, like you know, doing consulting work, it's always been in six figures because I never thought to think in seven.

And that's a big distinction right there. I wanted to. And thanks for sharing because I think most people don't think that way or like the consulting thing kind of does keep you trapped in obviously yourself. You're pimping yourself. So yeah.

And you're the only one doing the work and you know, it's self employment was a great cash cow for me. And that's why I originally went into, it was like why am I letting this company earn off my time as an employee? Like let me go manage my own cash. I was learning all the different ways of managing my money and so I was like, well let me just go into contract work, you know, and see what that's like. And I'm, I'm not adverse to risk because I always have the willingness to shift when I need to. So I was like, let's try it out. And that the first time I went into it I Made more than I made as an executive in a tech company, being a contractor, and then I could manage my own cash flow. So it was also about my financial IQ at the time that I was working through. But I definitely had mindset limitations on the amount I thought I could earn. And so that was a big mindset shift for me to be like, what if I just thought even bigger than that? Like, who would I have to become? And this is really what I coach people on today. It's the who do you have to become in order to stand in that ultimate vision? And so when I put the goal out there, I was like, I want to see what it would take for me to build a seven figure business, but only use 10% of my time was the challenge I gave myself. It was so juicy, Joe. Like I. And I know how to do it, but I was like, let's see what that strategy would be. Because when you, when you put the.

The time.

Freedom.

Because people generally go into entrepreneurship because they want their freedom. Like they say that all the time. Right. But you're locking yourself down as an entrepreneur to that business unless have the right mindset of how, what freedom means to you and how are you going to leverage that business as an asset to give you your time back and the money in the bank. Right. Like it, it requires a specific mindset to do it. So in that year when I put that goal together, I was like, okay, well, with all the things that I know how to do and the. What I enjoy doing and the relationships that I have and the trust that I have in the market and you know, like, I was just assessing, I was like, okay, 10% of my time. What would that mean? That would mean that I'm no longer doing the work. Very poignant about the work I do at the rate I charge for the work I do. And now I can go sell other people's expertise to my clients. And so I built a consultancy company, I still have this boutique consultancy company to see what that would take in order for me to scale my business. And I did it in less than six months. I was sitting on it. I was sitting on it, Joe. I just had to get out of my own way in that regard.

And you had the model, obviously you were already in it. So you just had to expand or scale from yourself being the prize, the product, the service, the everything to others around you. Hey, I'm pausing this episode really fast to shout out another show you should follow. It's called this Old Marketing. It's hosted by Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose. These guys are expert content marketers. This show is Also on the HubSpot podcast network, the audio destination for business professionals. Now Joe and Robert, on this show they break down all of the latest content marketing trends and things you got to know as a business owner. To attract and retain customers, they break down old marketing strategies. Called this old marketing example from the past and applies to the now. So super useful. It is entertaining. They love to rant. Joe and Robert do. So I always love a good rant and just go check it out yourself. Go check out their latest episode. Listen to this old marketing wherever you get your podcast. Are you tired of the hassle of building sales funnels? I totally get it. I've been there. You started your business not to be change your laptop all day. You built it for freedom. And thankfully there is an all in one platform that makes it easier for you so you can focus on attracting customers online. The platform is called Kartra and it gives you all the tools you need to grow your business. The best part is Kartra comes stocked with all the done for you campaigns so you don't have to worry about thinking about building from scratch. Everything is designed, connected and written for you already. It also leverages AI to help you with some of this writing. All you got to do is just customize this to your liking and then boom, you got a fully built sales funnel for you. This is marketing made easy. So go try it out for free. 30 day free trial over at hustleandflowchart.com Kartra will get you there. So again, that's hustleandflowchart.com K A R T R A. Because I was gonna ask and maybe you know, like about the relationship side because I feel like I've been stuck in, in that because I started off doing a lot of consultancy work and then over time started expanding and I do some here and there, but at the same time it's always. There's a leverage aspect to it. But like on the relationship side, do you have any, any friction there? Anything that was like stopping you from making the leap? Like the external side, you know, you were talking about the internal mindset, but.

Yeah, you mean like my clients clients?

Yeah.

Maybe network or just like response to the change.

Correct.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So what was interesting, how it scaled so quick and it scaled quickly with one client which is pretty epic, right? Like, and that client is still a client of mine 10 years later. Like it's pretty wild. So with the relational side so we can get in our heads around in relationships. Because this is, this is common in any form of relationship where as humans, we tend to have the conversation in our heads before we actually have it out loud. And the problem is when you have it only in your head and you're not listening to the answer of the person on the other side to truly understand what is possible, you're probably stopping yourself from what is actually possible. Right. Like, we get caught up in our own mind in the conversations based on doubt and fear most of the time that stop us from putting out there. So the way I had approached scaling at that, in that specific year, the first time, was I had coached this amazing executive into the role that he was in, in the firm. And we had this awesome bond between us where the trust was there for me to say, hey, for your initiatives for next year, tell me what's going on for you, like, what are you going to be wanting to accomplish? And it was December of we were talking about the year coming up and it was an hour long conversation. And Joe, I swear, he like, he broke down every single initiative he had, who on his team he was going to assign it to. And I had now been in under the hood of that business for six months already. And so I knew everybody. I helped groom everybody. No, I think I was only with them maybe three months at this time, but I had groomed them, I had the relationships. I knew his team and I knew where his gaps were based on what he told me those initiatives were. So I was still very strategically consulting. But the leverage of who had to come in to help make it happen was not going to be me. So the advantage I had was listening. I asked the question and then he broke down everything he wanted to do in that year. And I said, okay, are you okay if I go talk to each of these leaders to reiterate what your initiatives are with them, your direct reports, and then can I talk to them about what I believe the gaps are of the skill set that they're going to need in order to get it done. Would that be okay with you? He was like, of course, Karine, you make all the things happen. Please go see leadership right there. I mean, it was pretty awesome. And as an executive leadership coach, which, you know, I've been doing also for several years, it's like you want to get to the root of what is their guiding force, like, what is it that they truly tie to their own success for and then assess with who's reporting into them to see can they actually accomplish it so that everyone's successful and I was very fortunate to have that advantage. So then I had a meeting one on one with every single leader. We went through the initiatives and I was like. And then I would identify the gaps on their team and I said, hey, if I were able to source you, those people, those experts, because I know the culture, I know you as a leader, would you be open for me to bring those people in for you? Of course, Kareen, we trust you. You're like, the trust was there, relationship was there. So when it comes to relationships and leveraging relationships and my business, 100% has been referral based and relationship driven. I always make sure I'm having the conversation and asking the right questions before doubting myself to say, oh no, that's not possible. Right. Like having the conversation in my own head is generally what people end up doing, especially if they're fear based versus possibility based. Right?

Yeah. Do you like, what's the other questions? And you line those out already. Like, what's your process or how do you recommend it? Is it dependent on personality? Like, are you writing stuff out? Are you talking it out? Are you actually talking it with someone else to kind of like extract? Because so many ways to answer. Yeah, yeah.

What's possible on the sales cycle and specifically or in a, like in any specific type of cycle you want to talk through.

Or I'm going more like into that whole breaking, you know, the mindset of being, you know, kind of like that whole previous self, the one like where.

Are you stopping yourself and where are you actually kind of stretching yourself like that. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, I would say where the signs. Let's talk about the symptoms of like where you're, when you're stopping yourself. The symptoms show up when you are agitated, frustrated, angry, resentful. If any of those emotions are coming up, you're probably not articulating what it is you actually want or desire. So if those are the four, you know, the different energies you're feeling, like the low vibe energies I like to call them, or the things that are like weighing you down because it's not your true self. We are all here. And this is truly from my heart and my. And also my observation. It. We are here to like love and connect with other people. It's one of our human needs where if we were able to be seen in return and receive that love and connection in return, our communication would be like stellar all the time. Right. We'd be able to just be really easy and everything would be so in flow. But the thing in order to articulate our needs, we have to love ourselves first and feel that we are worthy. Right. In order to just put it out there. So when we don't do that, it's when we feel heavier in our situation. So if you think about the heavier vibes, like the frustration, resentment, etc. It's a quick action you can take is to ask, ask yourself, what is the thing I wanted to say that I didn't say and write it down or verbalize it, voice memo it, etc. Because it's for you to get it out of your system. You have to clear that the vocal side of your life in order to then get practice in sharing it with other people. Because sometimes just that awareness of, okay, like, I really should have proposed this. I missed my opportunity. But I really want to make sure that the next time that opportunity comes, I'm really clear on my articulation. Like, it will come by asking yourself that question. What's the, what's the one thing I, I should have said that I didn't say? I mean, that happens in all types of relationships, right?

Oh my God.

But when you identify it, all of them, right? You know the ones I'm talking about too, where you wish you said something and you didn't and then you're resenting things later, right?

We all got them.

We all got them. But that's just human nature, right? Like, and it's the fear of being judged, it's the fear of rejection, it's the fear sometimes of even success. Like, what if they actually say yes to the thing that I'm asking for now I have to follow through.

Big one.

That's a big one, right? So, but being truthful with yourself to say I, because I'm feeling this heaviness, like, where does it stem from? Get clear on, like, oh, if I had just said this thing. Because every time I'm sitting in the doubt of myself and I. And I'll tell you just, even my own challenges that I'm facing now, which is what again, this app is helping me do. It's. I've always wanted to speak on really large stages. Like I do keynotes, but to smaller groups, right. But I really feel that I have, I have a purpose and a mission to be the guide for people to accomplish whatever it is they want in their life. And I have so many different ways to help people do that. But I've always stopped myself from getting on large stage. There's no reason I shouldn't be on a large stage like that's. Just me stopping myself. So in my challenged mindset, I was like, why am I stopping myself? And I had to start asking myself the harder questions. And the reason behind stopping myself is like, well, where do they go after they hear me speak? I don't have a place for them to go and care for them. I'm only one person. Where's my capacity? I don't want to scale a team. Like all, all the, the, the things that I felt not ready. But now that this app is here, I was like, oh my gosh. Now I feel this like extra pillar on for my stage where it's like, go to my app and start talking to her first. And then like if she's not able to answer you, then yes, let's get into a room. And then I feel like everyone's cared for from the moment I step on the stage and gift the way I know how to gift and make sure people see, feel, value and seen to. Now go and have the care that they, that they need after the fact. Because that's just part of who I am. Right. So but those were blocking me, you.

Know, that's, that's huge. And like the fear of success I think is one that most of us don't think or consider. I've definitely, when I first learned about it, I was like, holy, yes. That's like, that's been so many blogs for me over the years because it's all like the what ifs start popping up. All these things that I haven't done yet. Like.

Now I have to do all these things and wasn't thinking about that, you know, and most usually it's before the fact, but.

Right.

Yeah, it seems like that's a, that's a pretty common one. Common a lot.

Yeah, it's a, it's a human experience because we were taught to stay in a box and be compared to other people and like if it's not competitive, it's not worth it. Versus like charter your path, but do it your way, be recognized for your way and keep on moving forward. Right. Like it's a shift in the mindset of consistent evolution requires you to step forward into something new, learn from it, drop what's not working, pick up what is and keep evolving that. Right. Like it's it. But it's, it takes inner work to see life that way and also treat your life that way. Right?

Yeah, it takes. Yeah, I mean it's that consistent. So it's the check ins. Like, are you checking in? I think you might have mentioned it but you're, like, checking in, obviously, all the time about the one thing. Right. That you wanted to say.

Yeah.

It sounds like you're checking in monthly on those other four questions too. Is that kind of.

Yeah. So the retrospective. Yeah, so my retrospective exercise is done monthly in regards to whether it's a business goal you have or a personal goal, yet whatever. Whatever it is you want to focus on, on those calls. When I hit the seven figures in my business that year, I was actually doing it weekly because I wanted traction. Like, I wanted to make sure that I was staying in aligned action against my goals. I had other big goals that year, too. I wanted to publish my first book, and I did that. But there was a windy road to get there. But because of this practice and this discipline of consistently assessing and being true to myself on what's working, what's not working, what action do I have to take? And just realigning every week, I mean, I got there so much faster.

So it was really helpful thinking about this because I've. I've the clone side the app. So. Hey, green app. Definitely go get that, y'. All. And I think the. With the links@heykareen.com download.

Yeah. Or just heykareen.com now you should get all the links to download. So we'll keep it super easy. We finally. We're ready.

You're ready. All right.

We're ready.

Check that out. I'm curious for you. Like, how have you. Or will you use your own clone?

I totally use my clone.

Oh, of course you do. I've done the same.

It is epic. Oh, my gosh. So here's my most favorite way to talk to her. I will go in there and literally, like, hey, Karine. Or hey, Karine. If you had to pitch to an entrepreneurial podcast that you don't have a relationship with, like, what would you say are the top three things that differentiate you from other coaches out there? Like, I will go and, like, have her pull out things that, of course, I know, but she articulates it so much better.

It's. It's grammatically correct, which, you know, my editing.

Close to you and you.

Oh, my gosh.

So good.

So that. But really, I. I would say the most common thing, I'm seeing my users use it for, like, my. My founding members. It's. It's for the guidance on when they're doubting themselves. Like, so it's like, how do I. I want to exit my company. I'm not sure how to exit my company. Like, what's the approach I should take, you know, and then it dialogues things back and forth to spark again those inner questions, but in a very safe environment because it's a conversation, you know, with the AI and based on a lot of learnings and methods of how to get you to the root of what it is you truly want and then help you step into action. So I love talking to her. I use her quite often. I also obviously, because I'm still making sure that the machine learning side and the way we've kind of curated sounds like me and is representative of my approach. But it's so much fun. What's that? What's your favorite part about your clone?

I. I've, I've honestly to dive deeper in each of the episodes. Like I'll pull out. It helps me sometimes with creating some content, like derivative content, follow up content. Starting to actually interview myself. I've done this a few times where for the podcast, like just dialogue back and forth maybe about a topic or something else and that becomes new content. Like. Yeah, it does as well. Now with the video avatar that like just rolled out. That's, that's what I'm going to do a lot more is like, hey, I'm just gonna talk with myself on certain topics. Maybe go deeper about this. Like what do we talk about with Korean. Okay, well here's a few other ideas that I had and based off of the interview. You know, Right. Articulate.

It's so smart and, and it just keeps evolving. Like it, it's really, I mean even. You know, I've used Hey, Karine. To just even give me the summary of the social post to go with the. Either an article I've written or you just have to like put in the whole link and be like, how would you summarize a social post about this? And you're like just sharing the link. It reads it and then it gives you the information to basically have it.

Right in your own voice. You could do it for emails, social media, blog posts, show notes.

Yeah, my content team uses her all the time for that too now because like, you know, it's, it's. If you're gonna. If you don't want me to rewrite what you're writing for me, why don't you just go ask her?

Literally trained on how I write and speak. Exactly.

No, really, it is such a great tool. But I would say though, the main purpose though is actually for my members. But yeah, I do use her. I do use her and I love it. It actually does give me more efficiency on My own time of where my time should be spent which is with my clients to help them scale their businesses and you know, run my mastermind and like be in my coaching stance which I love which has been so much fun too.

To evolve is like what's the journey look like after? So the app is like home based basically. Like that's gonna be where it's the easiest way.

Yeah, yeah.

What's it look like for.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you know, I have different methods of if you want to be in the room with me as or actually what I always say is if you want me under the hood of your business, like I get all up in your business if you want me to be as a entrepreneurial coach. But then it gets a little personal too because your business is all about how you're leading it. And so the. The who you have to become is what I focus on truly next. And everyone can also my CEO conundrum quiz and find out what role they're meant to play in their business. Because I would say that that was a big. That's the biggest game changer working with my one on one clients is them identifying their zone of genius and leading from that place. So that's just hey karen.com CEO if you want to take that quiz. But the reason why I bring that up is that in my evolve methodology when I work with my clients we go through the six part method and I do it in different ways. Sometimes the client just needs day one like I do two day immersives is my favorite way to work with a client because we get so much done in the two days where I'm under the hood of your business but also helping you get clear on your vision. How is it that you want to lead in that business? Who is it that you need on your team? What tech do we have to bring in? All the things. It's very much a deep dive. But I go through my evolved methodology because in that methodology we actually think about your exit before we do anything else. Because if we know how you want to exit your business or exit your role in your business, then the strategies we put together to make that happen is what we work through. So there are different ways to work with me one on one. Yeah. With your exit in mind. Who you have to become with your exit in mind. Imagine framing your business that way and then what. What you actually show up for becomes so much easier.

I mean that's. It puts the whole picture because those are all the unknowns. You start to kind of force your Brain, right? It's like a constraint you're now giving yourself. Because we talk about the distractions. And I think one of the things you talk about too is kind of keeping people focused on the, on the path. So you're not just getting busy, you know, and kind of getting in that trap because that's, yeah, that can totally take you off course out of your systems, out of your routines, and that makes everything right.

Well, that's because I, what I. One of the things I say, it's like, are you running a busyness or a business?

Because most of us are running a busyness and we don't really know the initial frameworks of what it takes to actually run a sustainable business. And when we can declutter the busyness and really focus on this is the actual monetization process of your business. This is who you have to become if you want to lead it or exit. And this is what exit looks like. So even if it helps also because you know the pain then is a shorter cycle when you know that you're doing it to remove yourself from it in the future. Again, it's a, it's a different approach you'll take towards building it. Just like I had to think about 10%, only 10% of my time in that business, in order for it to get to the point I wanted it to be, I had to exit the full time role and only be 10% in it. 100% owner, 10% involvement, right? And it reframed exactly the methods, the operations, the who I brought in, the how I did it for that business.

I mean, to be honest, I think that's my biggest takeaway is that constraint of 10% because it's so easy to just fill time, you know, without a constraint and let alone a 10% of my time constraint. Like it's a heavy constraint, right? But why not?

Like that's, but why not? Because you're so operational thinking, right? Like, and you always are Systems managing. So 10% of your time actually could happen quite quickly if you, if you just shift how you look at things and then it's really being clear on where's the 90 of your time actually want to go, right? Is it more time with family? Is it to vacation, more travel, Is it to start investing in other businesses? Is it like because you're gonna have the capacity, like entrepreneurs don't know how to turn it off. We, this is how we show up. We're always finding solutions, building business, putting it out there, right? So the cool part about having that kind of mindset towards your business is that it allows you then the freedom to navigate your life a certain way. After all, the accolades of success for the businesses that you have because you can just weave in and out with ease.

I mean, what you're. You're speaking to all of us because you're right, we can't turn it off. And that's why we can fill that time. We're not. Yeah, we might have fun sitting around watching binge binge watching something for a bit, but let's be honest, in our heads, we're still working out those problems.

Oh, yeah. In our head, we're like, why am I wasting all this time? I'm addicted to the show. But I'm like, oh, my gosh, I should have. And then we start shooting all over ourselves, right? Like, it's just. It's like it's a cycle because we're so productive. Like, productivity is a huge part of the entrepreneurial mindset for sure.

So, Karina, like, so everyone, before you get on out of here, go download hey, Karine. The app@heykareen.com. i'm so pumped that it's built on the same technology I've been talking about.

Me too. I was so excited to see that too. I was like, we get each other.

Like, yeah, we had no clue for everybody. We had no clue until literally as we hit record. And I was like, yeah, it's legit. Like, 20 different apps. And like, there was nothing out there. This was a year ago. But like, yeah, yeah, so get. Hey, Kareem the apprentice. And I guess to wrap it up here, like, what's. What's one thing you would have told yourself your younger self. And you might have already mentioned it here in the episode, but, like, what stands out as the thing you're like, damn, I wish I told myself that back then. Let's call it, I don't know, like, when you're first starting out just to kind of lead yourself on that path.

I mean, the first thing that came to mind was have more fun.

Is the thing that I probably would tell the younger version of myself because I was such a. Like, like I said, like, this goal getting, like, almost obsessive overachiever that it was like, people would tell me it was like the bull by its horns and start knocking things down. Like, that's the. The intention and attention that I had on things. So I would say, probably have more fun. Not that I didn't, but I would have more of it. And then I didn't really learn this until my early 30s, I think it was where. Where it was the permission to pivot. So I think if I were to give myself a gift, the younger version of me, a gift, it would be the permission to. To pivot faster. So I'm a highly responsible person and I. Integrity is one of my core values. Like the follow through for me is. My top three core values are love, creativity, and integrity. Like, follow through is everything. So when I. And so that translates into highly responsible. Like when I say I'm going to do something, I will follow through on that thing. It was really hard for me to let things go. And so I'd let things drag on probably a little longer than they could have, whether it was a career decision or working for a specific company or a relationship I was in. So I would probably tell myself that concept of the permissioning to pivot when it's just no longer a fit for me so that I could evolve faster, you know, going forward.

But I like it.

Wow.

And I like the reframe you input on. My question was what's the gift I would give my younger self? Is that it's truly a gift. And it is. I hope.

Yeah.

I think you're having more fun now. It seems like.

Oh, I'm having a ton of fun.

Good.

That's what it's all about. Needs to be.

It has.

We're the ones in control.

That's right. And we choose this, like entrepreneur. Entrepreneurial life is a choice. So it's like choose wisely. Unlike where you're. You're putting your energy, you know, you're the master.

So there you go. Leave it on that cool Korean. Hey, I appreciate you. I'm stoked that we got to do this. And I can't wait to use your app too, because I'll be definitely.

Thank you. I can't wait to hear how it goes and. And also from your listeners. However I can serve, that's what I'm here for. So don't hesitate to reach out. I really appreciate.

Sam.