Brave Biz Labs - 15th August 2025

Okay.

Hello?

Hi. Can you hear me?

I can. Can you hear me?

Okay, I can hear you. Great.

Look at that. Technology. Technology.

Happy Friday.

You too. How are you?

I'm good. I just got a little petty on behalf of a client and blocked someone who was trying to poach out of someone. One of my clients comment sections.

Okay, tell me what, so someone was trying to steal their stuff?

Yeah, so like this guy that comes to these calls fairly regularly and like, he's kind of been a problem. And I, I honestly, like last week he showed up with David Fryman here and I afterwards messaged David Prim and I was like, I can't tell if he was drunk or if he's had a stroke. I'm pretty sure he's drunk. But he was trying to like, sell his stuff in one of my clients comment sections and he's brought for me. He's only ever come to my free shit and like, he connects with my clients in my calls and I'm like, no, I'm done. You're out. Yeah, for everything. Blocked him from being able to sign up for stuff. If he shows up to the Zoom Room, I'm not letting him in whole thing.

Oh, I'm sorry you had to go through that. And good for you.

Well, yeah, I mean, like, I hate that.

Yeah. Pariahs.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So anyway, how are you? What are you celebrating today?

Oh, what am I celebrating today? You know, so I started. So I get to do a bunch of tech learning. So, like, I'm gonna get to learn to do Python coding and all these different things now. So I started it yesterday and it was hard. I knew it was gonna be, and that's okay. And so while I was doing, while I was working it through, I was kind of being Katie's fly on the wall and observing all of these things. So what was really cool is putting together all of the things that I have learned about ADHD and executive function and cliftonstrengths and emotional intelligence and all these things over the last several years that I've learned and putting them all together to get really fast, really clear on what was causing me challenges and then how to deal with it. And the part that you care about is I'm turning this into a series of LinkedIn posts about how the learning process is working for me and what I'm having to do and the emotional management I gotta do and all of this kind of stuff so that I.

Can put them on LinkedIn. Awesome. Amazing.

Yay. Thank you. I was like, please don't Say that's a bad idea.

No, it's a great no. Because honestly, like those kinds of struggles that people go through and that you're going through, they're so relatable. Right. And as you get better at like noticing with the fly on the back of the wall of your brain is like noticing in your own habits and writing about it, the better off you're going to be.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Awesome.

I had several pages of several post it notes, like six or eight of them.

Like, yeah, I love that you're calling it my fly on the wall. Flies to everyone.

You are the Lord of the flies.

Anyway. Hi, Ellie, how are you?

I'm doing pretty good. How about you?

Good. Happy Friday.

Happy Friday.

What are you celebrating today?

I am celebrating the launch or our formal announcement of the launch of C Suite CX. I'm going to be announcing on LinkedIn at 10am Pacific.

Amazing.

So after months of building and testing and tweaking, it's finally that time and. Yeah, it's. It's exciting and scary and all the things.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Congratulations. And you know this is the first of many launches.

Yes.

Yeah. Awesome. And Carrie, welcome. Hi.

How are you?

Good. How are you?

Good.

What are you celebrating today?

I should know that you're going to start with this question by now. I am celebrating that it is that I had somebody book a sales call after my webinar.

Awesome. Congratulations. How many people showed up?

It was a little less than last time, I think because I just did, didn't.

I didn't have as long of a.

Run up in terms of promoting it.

Right.

I had 35 people register, I think, and like 15 showed up.

That's awesome. Yeah, yeah. Really good. Yeah. Especially for August. Yeah.

You know.

Right.

Yeah, I, I mean, to the last, you know, I'm doing them monthly now, so it's like if somebody's already been once, they're probably not gonna. It's the same webinar. Right. They're not gonna sign up again. So it's like I keep having to try and reach new people and I'm again, if I'm doing it every month, I'm not. I have a month lead up is what I'm saying. You know what I mean? So I'm able to really promote it the way I was able to do the first one. But nevertheless, yeah, it was good.

Awesome.

Yes.

Want to answer questions? And also Ellie had some really good questions that she posted into Heartbeat. Okay, if I just jump into that or does anyone have any pressing and Are. Do you have to leave early?

Oh, sorry. Go ahead, Ellie.

I just realized I was like, I don't think that question's for me because I think she's getting question. I'm still waiting for my caffeine to kick in.

I know. I'm feeling likewise. Likewise. I have to.

I will have to leave probably around 11:30 because I have to take my boy to the doctor. But I don't have any pressing questions right now. Really.

Okay. My head. Okay, cool. Well, then, Katie, are you able to.

Share your Fathom notes after the call? Otherwise I was going to see if I could. Yeah, my fixer.

Join either one. Either one. Just remind me at the end if you want me to send Fathom notes. Or you can add yours right now.

Okay, let me see if mine can join quickly. I'm like, telling it to wake up. Usually I. Let's see. It says ad hoc meeting. Let me see if I can just put the link in here and get it to join quickly. We've become so reliant on our tools now. I'm like, I know, but I still have my notepad because I'm old school like that.

I know, I know. I do index cards, but I end up with, like, random index cards that have, like, notes that do not make sense at all.

Scribble, Scrabble.

I actually took pictures of my handwritten notes and I put it into chat GPT the other day to have it try to take a first pass of summarizing it. And I did a pretty decent job. That's cool. I wouldn't anything to save time because we don't have enough of it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's super smart.

Okay, I'm gonna share my screen just so you guys can see what I'm reading. All right. Okay. So tightening up your acuity booking flow for working sessions, free and paid terms and conditions. I mean basics. Payment cancellations and reschedules, confidentiality, IP rights. When you say all this. Okay, so let me go through this in two sections. So, like, let's talk about it as you're using acuity for free sessions that are sales calls. And then how. I suggest using acuity for payment if you're using acuity for payment. Okay, so for sales calls, we want it to be fairly simple. We want to have like, an. Like an intake form that they're answering questions that helps you sort out if they're the right client for you or not. And then we just want a simple terms and conditions checkbox that they are required to press. It says that they agree to getting emails from you and that they can unsubscribe at any time.

Actually, along the lines of this. Maybe this. The other question I have can dovetail into this, because the other thing that came up was around the terms and conditions, around compliance and data, specifically as people are filling out forms, like, in states like California.

That'S.

So compliance and stuff. You want to talk to David about that?

Okay. Yeah, yeah. Because somebody was mentioning about, like, do you have this on your website? Because if somebody is filling out your form, you want to make sure that this is on your website.

Yeah.

You have, like, some privacy policy stuff already on there, but it may not be robust enough.

Yeah. So definitely talk to David about that. I can't legally give you advice on that. And also, you don't want the advice from me on that, because I don't. I don't know what. How it's different in California and things.

Okay, so I'll tag. I'll tag David.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And just be very specific about it because, like, I wouldn't have gotten that. That question from this. Okay. Okay.

So.

So then this.

Logistically, for the flow, it. Once I get my T's and C's.

Yeah.

Putting it into Acuity Booking, you think just like a checkbox for the.

Yeah. And. And for sales calls, it's. I agree to get to get calls or I'm sorry, I get. I agree to get emails from Ellie. Because that way you can. If you do a newsletter, you have permission to market to them. If you're doing a push or you're, like, inviting them to a webinar, they can't be like, oh, this is spam. I didn't agree to get emails.

Mm.

Right. But really, like, your booking process on Acuity for a sales call should be as simple and easy as possible. We want a little bit of friction because we don't want, like, people who are like, oh, I'm gonna try to sell her on my MLM to people who, like, go through and book really quickly. We want it to be thoughtful. We want you to be able to, like, sort for. Is this a real lead or not a real lead?

Okay.

Right now, I would not use Acuity for, like, your contracts and stuff.

Right.

Okay. I would use another system. You can use Acuity to process your payments. The only thing with that is that, like, you're gonna have to use. Have it sync up with Striper Square regardless. So I like Acuity for payments if they're agreeing to pay a monthly retainer because it just does Auto bill. Okay. Do you, you can also do that on stripe and square. But you don't necessarily have to like it's, it's six of one, half a dozen of the other. Right. If you're doing like a coaching relationship where you're working with someone a couple times a month and they, they're going to be like booking their sessions through acuity and paying through here, it's very elegant to do it that way. But you're still going to want to send a contract to them. Okay, you can use DocuSign. I really like Sign now. I've been using them for my one on one clients for forever. Okay. It's really intuitive.

Sign now. Okay, I'll have to, I'll look into that. I hadn't heard, I don't think I've heard of Sign now. I've heard of like hello Sign and I'm sure there's all of them.

The key here is find the one that is most intuitive and easy for you to use. Right. You know, as simple as possible. And then where do you place the flow before payment and their intake form or on the confirmation page? Okay, so what I like to do is when I have a new client starting, I like to send them like a welcome email. And the welcome email, so first and foremost on the sales call, have you gone through holistic selling yet?

Yes.

Okay, so first and foremost on the sales call you are booking that onboarding call with them, right. And like that's on the calendar, they have an invite that is their deadline. Then you send a welcome email. And in that welcome email you want to go through and say, okay, first and foremost you need to go and sign your agreement. And you should get an email from this email to go and do that. Let me know if you have any trouble. Second, here's a link for you to submit payment based on our payment terms. So go ahead and do that. And of course like you need to customize that per client. And then thirdly, you know, if you have any other like forms, documents that they need to fill out, like here's the link to that form or you can look below the signature of this email and answer the questions in line and send it back. And then fourth, like confirming that our call is going to be on this date at this time, please let me know if you want to add anyone else to that meeting, so on and so forth, you know, looking forward to get getting started with you. You can also say like after you say you need to go and sign your agreement, I will need this back by midnight on this date and then the payment, I will need this back by midnight on this date or whatever.

Okay, so it sounds like the booking flow for paid is more through the email than acuity.

Yeah, okay. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Okay.

If you are thinking you want to do like a one off session option, I would just keep it real simple. I would have like terms and conditions that are like, there are no refunds. You know, I hold no liability for any of this. You could also like, if they buy like a $500 session, have like a form that they, you send out that they have to give, that they have to do a digital signature on through sign now or docusign. And if they don't do it before the call, like before you get into the meat and potatoes of the call, say, okay, I'm sending this to you again, I need this back before we dive into the stuff.

Okay.

Right. Because you just want to make sure that like if, if they say that they followed your advice and went and did something and it hurt their business, you're not liable for it.

Yeah, yeah, that's like definitely part of it. Because I'm like, I want to make sure that I get all of this covered before they can even book the call. So that way, like, you know, it's just right.

And I.

Emotions, you know.

Totally.

Totally. And really, like, don't be afraid to be a hard ass. And this goes to all of you. Right. So like if you get a yes from someone on a sales call and you're like, great, let's schedule your onboarding call. You set it for like next Thursday and you don't hear back from them for the payment and the, and the contract, but you get on the call and they're. And they answer or you know, you get on Zoom and they're there. You would say, awesome. You know, I still haven't gotten this and this. So I'll give you a minute to do that. Well, before we dive in. Right. And then if they have any hesitations or if they have any concerns or, or things they want to talk through before they sign it, you're at least already on the phone with them. What I never want you to do is like to cancel that call because they haven't gotten this to you. Yeah, right. Because that's, that's a deadline. Like they're like, some people just procrastinate.

Yes.

Like, oh my God, like I forgot to.

People procrastinate.

No, no, I know. I don't. I'm perfect. I never did that ever. Yeah. So we just want to make sure that like we are holding their hand all the way through. Do I change anything for free intro calls or keep lighter consent?

I think you already covered that.

Yeah, I mean it's. I mean a sales call is a sales call is a sales call.

Yeah.

You know, and also like with, with Zoom right now, like it tells them it's being recorded. Yeah. On Zoom. I also don't always recommend you do it on Zoom. I do like doing a phone call, but I know for B2B most, most people want to do it on Zoom.

For the initial 20 minute call. I actually did switch it to just a phone call.

Oh, great. Okay, awesome.

Yeah, that way I'm going to try that first. If it becomes an issue, then I'll change it. But I figure I'll just test it this way first.

Okay, awesome.

And so I think all of that sounds good. And then I think the only other things we didn't touch on is if you use anything like a monthly website care plan. And I don't. I guess this could be a question for Katie or you, Carrie, if you have anybody that actually goes in, like checks for updates, plugins, like if you guys have anybody that goes in.

What did you build your website on?

Squarespace?

I mean, I, I don't know that that's necessary unless you're changing things on the website constantly. Are you doing changes on the website every month?

Not every month. I mean, because I was launching, I was like tweaking with it. But I just heard that there are these services where people actually go in and there are tools like Termageddon, which I think is a hilarious thing, which is a service that looks specifically at making sure your terms are up to date. Because policies are always changing from state to state and that like, we can't keep track of all of them. And so there are, you know, companies who look at terms specifically website.

I just want to pause here because I think this is a great moment to talk about the bottom feeders of the business world.

Okay.

Okay. So anytime you register an LLC, you're going to get 10 tons and tons of letters in the mail about all the compliance shit that you're going to have to do. And you should sign up for their thing so you don't miss any of these things. It's all a scam. You get those compliance reminders regardless if you pay for it or not. Okay, Right.

So they target you. How real is this?

Yeah, talk to David. Honestly, like terms and conditions. Like I would put it in your calendar to Once a year, check in on it, your conditions and, like, privacy policy and all that stuff. And honestly, and I say this, this is not legal advice. This is just advice that I've gotten in the business world is like, you know, I think we're all heading towards the European model of privacy, hopefully. And so just, like, gear it towards what would be legal there versus what's legal here. Just so, like, your butt's covered either way, especially if you do end up getting clients in Europe. But, like, anyone who's saying, like, we're going to check on this once, I'm like, no, I don't buy it. Like, there are so many people who figured out the scary thing that they can sell to to get, like, you know, business own new business owners who don't know any better. And I'm getting. I'm getting the sense that that's one of them.

Yeah, there's some. There's something for everyone.

I know, but they're so convincing, you know, And I'm sure it's what, a hundred dollars a month? And then they go, I, yeah, I don't know.

I still have things on my to do list. Like yesterday when I met with David, he was like, oh, you need a virtual address if you don't want to put your real address here. And I was like, okay, cool, Yes, I will do that. And then he's like, you can't use your registered agent's address because they won't actually forward you the mail. I was like, oh, okay.

Then you're right.

Yeah. So these are things that we learn along the way.

Yep. Yeah. And there are absolutely co working sessions or I'm sorry, co working locations that you can pay to use their address. You know, if you don't want to do that. If you don't want to use your home address, that is.

Yes.

But yeah, there's that.

On a side note, I did take a peek at Carrie's website, and Carrie, I. My website aspires to grow up to be like, your website one day.

Oh, my gosh. My website is going through a revamp.

I'm like, look at all these icons. I'm like, Carrie is everywhere all at once.

Not very well.

Like, you're on all the platforms. I'm like, there's some icons. I'm like, which one's this one? Like, whoa.

Trying, trying.

That's awesome. And I really like the term viq.

Oh, thanks.

Appreciate that.

Thank you.

Awesome. All right. Helpful for everyone. Yeah.

Thank you, Katie.

Of course. All right, what other questions do we have? Today.

What am I? My question can't be addressed in eight minutes.

Name it, we'll start it.

I mean really, I, I need to like flesh out. So I'm starting this, right. I have this video program right now, as you know, and then I'm, I'm starting. I've had a lot of, I've had a fair number of people who, when they come to a sales call situation say things like, I really, you know, I've already got my content pillars, I know the tech. I have all this stuff I really just need to learn. Like the part about speaking on camera. So when somebody does that, I'm like, well, you know, I'll give them a six week program. But I've been, I've been asked about that enough that I want to like make it an actual like, you know, offer with the name and blah, blah, blah, blah.

Yeah.

So one of the things I've discovered about working with attorneys is that they want, they crave structure. Right. So like a lot of times they'll ask me, and I know we've had this conversation before, even if I don't offer it, they'll ask me like, well, do you have something that shows like the process that we, you go through to get from point A to point B?

Right.

So what are we doing here? What are we doing here?

What are we doing?

And I need to flesh out and put into proper messaging. So I mean, it's going to take longer, this new program and I'm not sure where to begin. I do think I've made mistakes in my positioning and my messaging in the past because, you know, we, you and I talked a little bit about this on the phone the other day. I don't feel like I'm, I've positioned myself well because I get a lot of pushback on price and I know part of that is the attorney thing too because they're like obsessed with knowing, you know, they want immediate action and what's my ROI and what's like they have these, they're, they're really challenging to sell to.

Yeah.

So, yeah, I guess my, my. This is a bigger question, right. I need to really work on my positioning and my messaging, but at some point I need to flesh out at least something that I can give to them that shows them how we get from them being goobers on camera to looking like they have their crap together.

Yeah. So my answer is actually going to be very contrary to where you're going with this because I don't think that's the problem.

Okay. The Pricing?

No, no. I mean, like, I don't think they actually need to see what the actual program is. I think they need to see that, like, there is an roi.

Okay.

Examples. They need to see like, like case study, little like anecdotal examples of, of what you've done for other clients to help them grow from point A to point B. And then like, the thing that's really going to make it worth that much more money is you can say, listen, like, what I do with my clients is going to be different every time because you might be like, I have to do an assessment with you.

Yeah.

You know, right. If you went to your doctor with like a knee that, like a bad knee, and the doctor's like, well, here's my knee program, like, is that always going to help you? No, it's not. Okay. It like, could help some people, but like, if you really have something wrong with your knee and you need like a knee replacement, you need the doctor to actually look at it and see. Oh, okay, cool. Well, here's, here's what's actually going on. Here are the three surgeries that are going to be best. Right. So on and so forth where I. Okay, so there are two things that I think are getting in the way of you being able to charge more. One, we've talked about this a lot and I hope you don't mind me saying this in group. And like sticking to the sales process. Yeah, Right. Like that shoots you in the foot every time when you go off of the sales process. Like, it becomes really hard for you to draw them where you need them to go. And also, like, it's meant to hold them accountable to give you an answer. Right, Right. And then you're left. If you don't stick to it, you're left like, trying to chase them, which honestly, like, kills your self esteem because that's not fun. No, totally true. But also like, instead of leaning into, well, here's the program I've designed. Lean into like, baby, this is bespoke. Yeah. Like, no, like, if you want to go to Udemy and find some like, bullshit video course on how you can do this, like, be. My guess is 20 bucks. Yeah. But if you want someone who will give you bespoke feedback and develop you in a way that, that really develops your strengths, helps you cover up your weaknesses, helps you develop you as a brand.

Yeah.

Like, that's what I do. Okay. And, and it's a, like, yeah, there is a process, but it's, it's all based on what that first Assessment reveals. Right. And I don't develop the program until we start working together. Because what my clients need is going to be different every single time. Right.

Okay.

But the program is designed to take you from where you are now to help you reach your goals.

Okay.

And then you bring it back to all the things that they just said that they need or want in the sales call. Okay. Right. It's not about, I'm going to 10x your results. Like, everyone says that, and it's bullshit. No.

Yeah.

But if they say, hey, listen, I want to be able to bring. Bring in like a million dollars in new clients next year. Yeah. They. Amazing. So we'll make that the goal. Yeah. Like, that is what we will work on. And then it's not about, like, this bullshit promise that they know you tell everyone. Right. Like, oh, my God, you're gonna partner with me to help me reach that goal.

Yeah.

Amazing. Right?

Okay.

Right. Yep.

Like that's. And. And like, when you confidently say that, hey, listen, like, I will. I will customize what we do to help you reach that.

Yeah.

Like, oh, my God, that's that much more inspiring. But of course, like, that's a bigger investment. Right.

Okay.

Right. Because if they're bringing in a million dollars in new business, even if they do half of it, even if they do a third of it. Right. It's going to be worth the investment. Yeah. Right. And then, of course, you have to say, and like, these skills, like, once you have them and once you, like, have this brand and once you have, like the whole kit and caboodle here, like, you get to do this for the rest of your career. Yeah. Right. And then, of course, like, think about it. Like, if you wanted to start your own practice, you could.

Yeah.

Have the ability to bring in clients. Like, if you wanted to make partner, like a named partner, like, that's a major thing. If you wanted to, like, be competitive with other law firms and get offers other places, like, that's something that they're going to look at. Right. Okay. Right. You need to separate it from what they're going to be doing with you.

Okay.

No one cares. Right. Right. They say that they care because they are not sold on what you're going to get them. Right. Okay. Right. Y. That makes sense.

Yeah.

Okay. Thank you. Welcome. All right. I got a jet for my kids doctor's appointment. Okay, cool.

All right, I will talk to you later. And it was nice to meet you, Ellie.

You too. Take care.

See you later. Bye. Bye.

Okay.

Was that helpful for everyone?

Yes.

Okay.

Yeah. No, I think it's. It's easy to get pulled off of.

Yeah.

Especially as you're getting to know it.

Yeah. Yeah. You know, and that's why I say practice. Practice makes perfect. Pair up together, practice with each other. Try, like, sell each other your shit. Not for real, but, you know, tell.

Like, maybe for real.

Yeah, but I mean, like, do. So do some improv. Tell the other person who they're supposed to be and what they're supposed to act like and have them go through the process with you.

Yeah, no, I was checking out Carrie's page and I was like, oh. I was like, this video stuff, I was like, it sounds cool. I was like, I don't know if necessarily I'm gonna do that now, but it's interesting for some of the women that I know in other groups that might be looking at doing that. And video is such a component of what we're doing now.

Yeah. Yep. 100%. Yeah. But I mean, like, if we can. A lot. A lot of what our clients will sign up for is like. Like, that we understand their vision of what they want for themselves, for the company they work for, and that, like, we will help them get there, like, through hell and high water. Like, it'll happen, you know, if they show up and do the work, if they implement the changes that we suggest, if this. Like, we're not guaranteeing it just willy nilly, but we are saying, like, if this is your goal, that's what I'm gonna help you reach.

Yeah.

I think the other part that's interesting is, especially now that I've gotten to launch and I'm. And I'm directing more energy towards, like, the content piece, I'm spending more time thinking about, like, what's that balance between providing enough value or even that initial call of, like, how do you not just give stuff away for free? I was talking to somebody that was like, I gave away 100 hours of free consulting. And I was like, oh, whoa, how did that happen?

Oh, yeah.

And I was like, yeah.

And.

And so. But also part of it is because of, like, your course and stuff like that. It was like, it's very top of mind for me of, like, do not give away shit for free, whether it's online. But it is very, like, how do we. How do we engage? Right. Like, it's trying to find that line of, like, how do we make sure we're engaging people?

Let's do a little role play right now. What's something that someone would say to you that would have you Being like, oh, my God, here's how to fix it. Tell me, tell me the thing that they say. Like, here's this problem that we have in the company.

You know, they could say, like, oh, we just ran our retention analysis and, like, churn. We actually, for the first time, our retention is below 90%.

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. You know, so how you would deal with that? Say, you know, a lot of my clients, when they come to me, they have a similar issue going on. You know, it happens. And also, it's not. It's not unfixable. What else is going on?

So you. So you acknowledge. Which in the course, you're like, you acknowledge. You normalize, and then you. And then you ask, like, what else is going on?

Yeah, what else is going on? What other problems is that causing?

Okay, right.

What do you want it to be instead?

Okay, yeah, I think where I'm like, oh, what segment is that in?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You go into fix it mode because you're a fixer. Yeah, right. Your sales. Sales brain has to go into, okay, cool. We're just collecting energy whenever you say, oh, yeah. You know, a lot of my clients, when they come to work with me at first, like, they have a similar thing going on. And yeah, it sucks and it costs you a lot of money if you keep it that way. But, like, that's one of the things that we'll work on. Right. And you. But you really want to get them talking about what they want instead or what other problems it's costing and how, you know, it's. It's causing and how much it's costing them.

So it's helping them understand the cost of not changing more than building.

Yeah. You want to help that you're the.

Person to fix it.

Yeah.

Because, like, so. So, okay, so let's use a house example. Okay. So if I have a leaky roof and I notice, oh, my God, like, there's a. There's a drop. Drip, drip. That happens every time it rains. And. Oh, no, like, that's bad. Like, I want to bring in a roofer to just come and fix it. Right. But imagine, like, there's so much water damage in the joists of my roof that if they come and just, like, patch it up, like, my whole roof is just going to start rotting in. Right. So you. You want someone who's like, okay, great, like, let me look. Because I want to make sure we. We fix the whole thing. Right. Because we don't just want to, like, patch it up because we're it up there's moisture in there. Like, that's going to create a lot more issues. It could also, like, the moisture could travel down. It could turn into black mold. It could turn into this, it could turn that. Like, you don't want any of that. So it's like, you want someone who's going to come in and, like, dig a little bit and see. Okay, cool. Actually, yes, we're going to patch this up, but we actually need to go in and we need to remove, like, this portion and redo the drywall behind because it's. It's moist back there. And, like, I don't want this turning to black mold. I also don't want wood rot, like, settling, setting in. I don't want this going on for you. Like, this is. And this is how serious it can be. Like, you might need to get a whole new roof and redo the structure of this wall, which is going to cost you $150,000 two years from now. Or we can do 20,000 right now. And it's gonna be invasive, and it's gonna, like, you know, create some things, but, like, it's gonna fix the problem, and it's not gonna become more serious over time.

Mm.

Right. Ultimately, like, you want this. This home to not only be comfortable for you and safe for you, but you. It's an investment for you. You know, you have equity in this house. Like. Like, what happens if in three years, you wanna sell it? And there's this massive thing, like, you're gonna have to take that off the price, and it's going to make it a lot harder for you to sell it. Right, Right. So you want to help them understand the full scope of what's actually happening for them, while they're also kind of dreaming with you about what they would like instead. Right. And it's not just, like, what they want for the company. It's like, what does that mean for them in the company? You know, because, like, as they're talking, say, they're like the director of hr, and they're like, listen, like, you can say, you know, what are your goals with. With your career? And they may say, you know, I would really love to be the Chro and all this stuff. And you can say, you know, like, if you are able to lead a project that goes from having, like, 85% retention to even 92% retention and do this and do this and save the company this much money, that is an amazing argument for why you should be chro at either here or somewhere else.

Right.

You know, like, that is like, that would be such an incredible case study, and I would love to help you do that. You see, like, you're tying the human emotion because it is true. If someone's able to do that huge of a jump and save the company a couple million dollars a year, you know, by bringing in the right person. Not. Not even by doing the work themselves, but by bringing in the right person and then the interim, it saves them like five hours of work a week because they're not having to, like, do all this recruiting.

Yes. Yeah. And then you kind of bring that same thread through the storytelling on social and.

Exactly. Okay. Yep. Yeah. So you just. You normalize. And anytime someone hears. Oh, my. A lot of my clients come to me with similar problems. What they're actually hearing is, oh, my God, thank God I'm talking to the right person.

Yeah. I definitely tried to weave that into the website so that the website can kind of help me tell that story.

Right.

Even before I get on these calls or like, it kind of reinforces that.

Yeah.

And so, yeah, definitely want to almost have them arrive primed to be like, hey, yeah, this is the right person.

Yeah, yeah. But like, we want to hit that at every level.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I do see a Jennifer on the call, so I want to make sure that Jennifer has questions that I'm not.

Just like, no, no, you're good. Jennifer, do you want to hop in and Nelly. We do have one rule on the call. There's no apologizing for taking up space.

Ah, okay.

No, I'm taking notes and enjoying the conversation. It's. It's helpful for me too. I didn't have any specific questions for today.

Okay, cool, Cool.

So go for it, Ellie. Keep going. Because you're helping me a lot too.

What else?

Okay, well, since we don't have any other questions, I would be curious, Katie, because you've seen a lot of these. Um, if I could drop my website in here, I would love to get your first impressions. Yeah, I'm not touching anything, at least for now. But if there are any things that you're like, hey, first impressions. Things to think about for, like, any future iterations, I would welcome all of that first impression.

This is gorgeous.

Thank you. I didn't build it. I worked with a very talented person to build it.

Yeah. I mean, from the colors to the design, like, it looks high brow and well designed without being too much. So really well done. Gain the clarity you need to make high stakes decisions with confidence. And this is great. Part of my brain is like, I Wonder if we need to, like, talk revenue or if this implies revenue. I think it does. I think it does. I think it's elegantly done. Um, One thing I might. And. And just see, I could be off base here, but see what the response is. And like, the kinds of people you get. Clarity is. Is an odd thing. It's a hard thing to sell. What people want more than clarity is knowing that they're doing the right thing. And it's kind of the same thing, but it, it carries different energy.

Is it more certainty that you're then hitting on?

Yeah, that's a great way to say it. Certainty. Like, so, so clarity, certainty, and confidence are kind of like a trifecta of vagueness. Right, right. Like. Like, if you're selling confidence, what does that mean? Are you selling Spanx? Because I feel more confident in Spanx. Right. But I don't know what that means. If you're selling clarity, it's like, okay, am I more clear about what I want to order for dinner? Am I more clear about my mission in life? Am I more clear about what, like, we want to speak to. What is the actual thing. Thing that they're getting? Right. Because clarity, clarity, confidence, certainty, like all nice things, but what does it get them? Right.

That's a good thing for me to keep in mind. Yeah.

Like, you know, I, I don't know if you've been on a call yet where I've talked about the, like, four columns of symptoms, problems, solutions, outcomes. I talk about it all the time, so you're going to hear it multiple times. So take out a piece of paper and I want you to draw four columns and I want you to do symptoms all the way to the left. Problems, solutions, and outcomes. Right. So where we want to market and put like marketing, includes our websites, is we want to market with the symptoms that they're experiencing right now and the outcomes that they want. Right. We, where we tend to do this as experts is we want to focus in on, like, what's the root of the problem that they have that they're not thinking about because they're so in their symptoms. And then, of course, like, we want to talk about, like, what we'll do for them to fix all this. Right. Those, those two central columns aren't things that get people to buy. Okay, right. Clarity and building confidence and finding certainty. Those all kind of fall into the selection solution column. Okay, Right. So we want to nudge it towards what's the outcome? What does clarity get them?

Okay.

Right. I bring experience from hundreds of Companies blending operator depth, investor insight and people centered frameworks to help leadership teams quickly identify what matters most and move with precision. Again, again, like this is very much in the solutions. Ariel. We want to nudge it towards outcomes.

Okay.

Right. We want to talk about like to increase revenue retention, to do this, to do that, you know, because like people really only spend money on three things. Getting laid, getting paid, and living longer. Right?

Yes.

And all of them will fold into this because if you can be the hero who finds the right consultant that can save your company $10 million, probably getting a bonus at the end of the year. With that bonus, you're probably buying like a cooler wardrobe, a sexy car, buying a better house, you're going to be a more alluring partner. And because you're going to be so valuable to your company and hopefully this new partner, if you trip and fall in the woods and break your leg, they're going to make sure you get medical attention. You don't die in the woods. Right. It's it like our brains do make this jump subconsciously. Right. But we need to like just plant the seeds of more money, more success, you know, more people valuing you. Okay. So partnered with founders, executives, investors at critical inflection points. The only thing here is I would flip it a little bit so this portion happens earlier.

Okay.

And it might be kind of like the add on to the critical inflection points.

Okay.

Because that way people very quickly, because they may not reach that point, we want them being like, oh, yeah, we have that. We have high churn, we have stalled growth, we have this. Boo. Okay, keep reading.

Okay.

I would want this to jump a little bit more. Maybe italics, Maybe you have it bolded, maybe you have it underlined. Because these are really good numbers.

Thank you.

We want to call attention to it. Oh, the other thing is, as you get client testimonials, I want it really early on. So it might be right here. You want to kind of literally going.

Back and forth about that in design.

Yeah.

And we. So the testimonials are like right after that.

Yeah.

When people were scrolling on their phone, at least some of the initial feedback I got was like, they're like, why isn't the first face I see yours? And they're like, it's right. And, and so that's why we flipped it. Because I heard it enough times from enough people. That's like, when I'm going to your website, I'm actually trying to figure out like, who am I trying to work with. Right. So.

So like the first testimonial, simple fix. You just don't have a picture on it. Right? That's simple. Just have it and then you can have it again somewhere else that does have a picture. Okay, Right. We just, we just want there to be like immediate social proof. Right. Where I've led, advised, or spoken. My first thing is like, okay, but like, where. What did you do? Where. Right. Because like, if you spoke like for 10 minutes at a company and I'm like thinking that you're going to be. I don't know, I would, I would rather say where. Where we've partnered.

I. So I also went back and forth on that because I didn't want to lead people, mislead people, because partnered is so vague that, like, when we did the logo wall, that partnered could mean different things to different people. And then I didn't want people to think, like, as an example, HubSpot was somebody that I partnered with differently because, like, I was on the board of advisors for Women in Cloud. I was on the actual team at TEDx Seattle. I worked at Insight. Right. So I didn't want them to think the partnership was at the same level. And then we thought about, like, do you do the hover over the scroll to be like. Hover over the logo to be like, this is what each partnership was.

Okay, I think you're overthinking it because.

I have a tendency to do that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because this actually makes me question it more than just the word partner. This makes me think that maybe you've like, led and advised it. Two of these, but only spoken at the rest of them. Right. You're over explaining it. When and whenever someone over explains, I think they're trying to, like, buff themselves up.

Okay.

Themselves sound like more experienced. And this is something that unfortunately, like us women do a lot because we see other people being dishonest with it and we are like, no, you can't think I'm dishonest. I am so honest. Right. If someone asks what you did at, say, Atlan and you spoke there, you can say, yeah, they brought me in to do a keynote talk at this thing, you know, because X, Y and Z was going on, you know.

And then the other part is because I do want to do speaking engagements. I think that was the other part. But yeah, it does. Like, I think if I keep the language underneath, it's probably fine.

Yeah, yeah. Awesome. This is a great picture of you.

Thank you.

Okay, so for this portion, I know I've kind of jumped around. Instead of saying I speak at conferences, executive events, and leadership forums. I would say, do you have a conference, executive event, or leadership forum that's coming up?

Okay.

Right. Make it more about them and then go into, you know, I have, I have talks designed around this, this, this, and this that are designed to inspire your, your team to get those creative juices flowing so they can come up with like, okay, creative solutions to problems, blah, blah, blah, blah. Make it more about them and less about you.

Okay. And then I can also shorten this section too.

Right. And then if you did want to have a portion at the top where, you know, you could do it with. Work with me, or you could have its own speaking page that goes into, you know, what, like what your specialties are for speaking. Absolutely. But yeah, we just want to make it more about them and their event.

Great call out.

Yeah. And then. This, I mean, it looks, it looks brilliant. Looks really, really well done. And honestly, like, it's just gonna take you putting it out there and people seeing it to see what's working and what's not working.

Yeah. At some point we just gotta let it go and see what happens. Well, thank you for taking a peek, for sure. Already been some very helpful feedback, of course.

And.

And I'm going to implement some of those changes.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And honestly, I think. None of the things that I said are like, dire. So if you don't want to implement them right now, you don't have to feel like you need to because it already looks really good. You can let it be for a couple months. And also, if you did want to go and edit, like, I think it would give it a boost.

I'm gonna go in and edit the things that I feel comfortable editing without breaking stuff.

Well, great. Love that. Yep.

Because I edited something on, like, one of the other pages that wasn't even linked to anything else. And I messed up one of the codes that was like fixing one of the colors. You know, like, there's all this back end stuff. And I messaged the web designer. I was like, I did a thing. I was like, I don't know what I did.

Their favorite email.

I was like, I can tell you what I did. And I stopped doing anything because I didn't want to try to fix it because at some point I would not know what I did.

Okay, so pro tip for everyone, myself included, that will keep your website designers from murdering you is anytime you want to mess with something, make a duplicate of the page that you're trying to edit. Just make a duplicate. Because that way, if you screw anything up, you're not affecting the thing that they built. And also, if you're able to do it and successful, you can just sub it back in.

That's so smart.

Or, like, if it's impossible to do that, they can see what you did, and they can go and make those changes. If you're just, like, not good at expl. Because I have a hard time explaining what I want visually. Like, I have to kind of, like, just make it happen and then be, like, kind of like this. Does that make sense? You know? But if you just. Yeah. Make a duplicate of the page and go in and edit the duplicate rather than the. The original. They will love me.

You actually show, like, how.

I mean. Yeah, maybe. Hold on. Let me.

If not, I can probably.

No, yeah, let me just.

Like, I do half the things in my life.

I know. Let me see. Which one. I just have to figure out where I have my password saved.

That's so smart. I almost felt like. Do you remember the movie Zoolander? That moment where they're like, the files are in the computer?

I haven't seen that movie in so long.

Oh, you make a duplicate. Don't totally fudge up the live version.

Oh, my gosh.

They.

Yeah, they will love you. Is this how I log in? Okay, you guys are gonna have a first sneak peek to the website that I've stalled out on.

I have a very specific appreciation for level of effort for any website changes.

I know. Well, and it's hard when you already have one because there's, like, really no impetus to really, like, push it forward.

Okay. Love that picture.

Thank you. I just got all my new branding done. Okay, so we want to go to pages, and then I think you just go to this wheel and duplicate page.

Okay.

So that's it. So whatever page you want to have, you go to the wheel next to it, and then scroll down a little bit, and then duplicate page. Don't hit delete button.

Okay. I think I should also check with her because I think what I did was I did set. I created a page, but then it's, like, somehow linked to, like, other parts of the website. So it's almost like I have to, like, put some sort of wall or, like, make sure it's not connected to other stuff that it.

If you have it not.

On.

Not active, it won't. It won't go.

Okay.

All right.

Okay.

Yeah. So, like, this is disabled.

Okay.

Oh. So hold on. So how would you do that? You would do.

Well, I don't want you to accidentally mess Something up.

Trying to, I mean this isn't live yet so it's fine.

But I really like the colors too. These are great colors.

Thank you. Yeah, I'm obviously it still needs like fixing and I need to go through and like edit the, the language because it's all the language from my old site and I need to pare it down, but. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Awesome.

All right. Any other questions? Jennifer, did you think of anything?

No, I've been taking wicked notes though.

Okay, good. Awesome. All right, well, I'm sorry.

Convincing my pen to work.

Oh yeah. All right, well then let's do main takeaways. Who wants to start us off? Main takeaway from today.

For me it was many things but as it always is. But I think it's just sticking to the sales script.

Yeah.

I've been thinking a lot about this, this space lately and it's the comment you made in one of our other calls about it's a luxury service.

Yeah.

You are a luxury. I am a luxury service and that's okay to be.

Yeah, yeah. It's the difference between going to Forever 21 and finding something that you're going to wear once and going to like a, a boutique that's going to make a, a bespoke custom dress for you.

Yep.

Right.

And how you feel when you're wearing it. Like that's a big deal.

Yeah, yeah.

So yeah, that's been, that's been living happily rent free in my head for a while, so.

Good, good, good. I love it.

Jennifer, what is your service?

I am an executive development coach. My background is in, it's, it's merving. My background in ADHD and executive function. CliftonStrengths and also consulting on creativity and critical thinking and problem solving. Wow, thank you.

That's quite a blend.

I've had a lot of different experiences.

Yeah. Are you able to drop like your website or LinkedIn in the chat? I'd love to take a peek and learn more.

Absolutely. Yes. My, and my website builder is my 17 year old son. So.

So wow, that's handy. I don't have one of those.

I know, right? I keep telling him, I'm like oh you just need to. I. And whenever somebody's asking things like Squarespace and stuff, I was like oh, I should, I should offer him up. But seriously, after college applications are in then maybe.

Yeah, I don't miss those days. Yeah, no, I only have a very finicky 15 year old shih Tzu.

We have a finish. She's out there.

Well if, if I can't see this. After we drop, you can find me on the hard app.

Yeah?

Yes. I'm trying to get it to work and I'm using my phone, which I don't normally do, so it's just like.

No, it's all good. While you're doing that, Ellie, what's your main takeaway today?

Main takeaway is to not fix.

Right.

And to, like, look for where the else the water is going. Like, and to help them appreciate the full scope of the damage. And, like, to dream about, like, what could be.

Yeah, yeah.

And to duplicate pages.

Yes. Awesome. All right, well, you both know where to find me. We do have co working today from 1 to 4, so if you want to join that. If there's anything you're procrastinating on. Not that anyone here procrastinates. Don't know what that is, myself. Feel free to join in. How we do it is we check in for the first 10 minutes and then we go off camera and on mute, and then we check in in the last 10 minutes and just hold each other's feet to the fire. Cool. All right, I will see you all very soon. Have a good weekend. Bye.

Bye. Have a good weekend.

Bye.