BYOB Advanced Group Call 2024 08 15

Hello. Hello.

Hi. How are you?

Good. We're on the move. First things first. Go collect your cat and bring it.

Oh, that's right.

Okay. I'll be right back.

It. Keep moving. The dogs are like, oh, my God. He was hiding. Oh.

Look at the baby. Oh, but Luna really likes him.

Loves him.

I was worried, like, if Luna was like, what the fuck is this, Mom?

I mean, she is kind of like, what the is this? But she's like, he. Oh, my God, get off.

Too many animals.

No. So she was. But like, I don't know. He. He is not happy unless one of the dogs is chasing him. So, you know, I think he doesn't like being washed, but other than that, they're pretty good.

Do you think Luna thinks that this is, like, her child?

No, I think she thinks that this is a toy that she gets to mess around with. That. Yeah. But anyway, he's pretty cute. He's pretty smart. Yeah. Okay. We're not. We're not wanting to be held.

What made you decide to get on the cat train now?

I saw a mouse. Honestly, I was like, yeah, this house is too old to not have a cat in it.

Well, how are you? Good. I was just going to say this plan might not work because my first cat is like, well, watch a mouse and be like, I don't fucking care. That's. That's not my job.

Yeah.

The second one that is my special needs cat is a serial killer. I mean, he goes, we. We had to start letting him outside, otherwise he drives the whole house crazy. And he brings, like, to the apartment door. He brings in dead mice all the time. I mean, usually we have multiple ones per week.

Wow. I mean, they're. They're like the best hunter killer in the whole animal kingdom.

They're successful.

It's insane.

Yeah. Just even a few weeks ago, I don't know how it happens. We. We had a. We have a net on our balcony and Teagues managed to somehow catch a bird. And all of a sudden, I was alone to him. I was out in Berlin for work. All of a sudden, he pounces on the bed and starts doing, like this. And I woke up and I was like, teeth. What's going on? What is it? And I looked and he. I said, what. What do you have under your paw there? He had brought it with his mouth. A bird dropped it on my sheets and. And was pawing at it in my bed.

Oh, my God.

So there was like, bird, partly bird guts, and it was still alive. And the bird started screaming, oh, no, and you know how dogs do when they have something and they're not supposed to have it. Teats is like a dog. So when I said, no, no, no, and I tried to take the bird that was screaming away from him, Teague's like, this is great. You're ch.

No, no, no.

I'm not giving up my toy.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're fun little bastards, aren't they?

Yeah. So enjoy. You'll see if it works. Thank you.

Yes, we shall see. I mean, so far, he's very feisty, so I mean that at least he's cute. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But, yeah, no, he's been a fun little addition, so.

And Luna seems happy, so.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was. It was questionable in the beginning, I won't lie. But, you know, we're good.

It is weird. Yeah. So, okay.

A while. Tell me, what are we celebrating?

Getting back on track. Because, yeah, I. I definitely thought I was gonna have, like, a breakdown. I was just emotionally, like, done. I was exhausted. I just felt like I had a lot of calls where I was getting a lot of no's. And that is frustrating. And it's frustrating when they tell you it's price. And I know. I mean, I'm glad you made me raise my prices, because even now I'm seeing other coaches and I'm thinking, this is not expensive. I can be expensive. This is not expensive. But I know it's about. People just have no idea how much coaching cost.

Right.

And then they're just looking at a sticker price and thinking, that's a lot of money. And at the same time, it's like, well, do you want to change your life or not?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It has to be more about the urgency. And like, this. This is the time to do this.

Yeah. So. So, yeah, so I. I took the day, like, the. The week before, and then this past week, I was on a mini vacation, which was nice. I went to Toulouse for a wedding, so it was a. It was a long weekend, so that was really nice. And just when you're in a different place and you see something different, that helps. So I'm celebrating getting back on the train. I feel good this week. I have, like, been back to posting stuff again, and I've been communicating with some interesting people. And I just had a potential client call just right before this. And while he said not right now, he didn't seem. I have no problem with that because I was going to tell him also, maybe not right now, because he didn't. He wants to start, but he has other stuff going on in his life. And so I. I was going to tell him that, hey, I don't think it's smart if you start this now. You need to kind of have a clear mind. So he told me that, yeah, he is really interested. Didn't mention anything about the price. He said, yeah, I would like to do installments, too. He didn't want to sign up early because he. But I warned him that maybe when he comes back, I'm booked, so he would just have to go on a waiting list. And he said that's fine because he doesn't. He's fine with his job right now. So it's not. There's not too much urgency. Like he has to do it right this minute. But he said he knows what he wants to do, so once he has a clear mind, then he'll circle back around. So.

Yeah. Yeah. So you know, you know this. I love that you're getting this feedback and with your content, you know, you might want to focus in more on, like, the urgency. Like, if you're ready to make a change in the next three months, you know, like, here's the pain of feeling like you're stuck in a job and looking at the end of the year and being like, cool, am I going to actually change? Or am I going to say that I'm going to look and not do it again? Right, because that'll. That'll really get people thinking, like, oh, right, like I want this right now, you know, versus the. Oh, well, mentally, I'd like to start planning for. Planning for planning about a career change. Maybe I should book a call with Susan now. Right.

Our doorbell rang and our neighbor is here and he likes to tell us a lot about how we are as cat parents.

Oh.

So he's apparently telling Toma off about us being neglectful cat parents because we don't let Teagues in the apartment. The half a second that he arrives at our door and meows like maybe we're there a half a second later and he thinks we're torturing our child. Okay, so just listening. But German people are so fascinating. Like, I always joke, like, living on the German side of the border. I was just telling Tima the other day, like, I'm ready to go back to the French side. Like, I'm. You've got to make your company accept this because I can't handle the Germans anymore.

I've had human German roommates before. I get you. Yeah, yeah.

They're just really weird and anal about certain things. And it's like, huh? But. Yeah, so content, focusing on the urgency, kind of focusing on what do you want? Like, if you're looking to change your career by next year, the time to start is now kind of thing.

Yeah, yeah. And also, you know, I mean, especially September, as, as Westerners in the Northern hemisphere, we're trained so profoundly to like, want to start stuff around September. Right. There's that back to school energy and it's just like it gets ingrained in us and it's just like it's Pavlovian, right?

Yeah. I almost actually think it's worse in Europe.

Oh, really?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I definitely have planned to start posting about back to school kind of thing. Like, like what. Where do you want to, what, what do you want to do now with yourself? Like, holiday's over. What do you want to do now?

Yeah, you're back to the real world. Right. And also, like, look at the job market, you know, so like, I know in the United States, like, you know, people will hire for a bit in the fall, but then they go into a shutdown because of the holidays. And like, people are in and out and like, it's. For some companies it's a financial end of the year, for others it's not. But like, there's just so much going on at the end of the year that like, there's no opportunity to apply for a job. But, like, that doesn't mean they're not going to be hiring come January 1st or 2nd. Right. And right now is the best time to start strategizing and planning for that job change. Right? Because like, let's say you get your ducks all in a row and you're able to land a job before like, November shut. The November shutdown. Right. And that's if you're going for American clients. I'm not sure about the European market, like, what their typical, like, slowdown period for hiring is. But also like, if, if people have a bonus that's going to be paid out in, at the end of the year. I know in France they have the 13th month, right. You know, you want to make sure you get that and then you can move on to the next company. Right? So you want to, you want to start planting that seed. Like, if you want to change your job in the next six months, this is what's coming up. You do not want to wait until like two months before you're ready to go because at that point it's going to be too late. Right. People are all already going to have applications in for their job openings that they're not going to be, that they're going to be on hold for hiring for. You know, they're already going to have their list of people they want to reach out to interview, like come January 2nd. Right. And if you want to be on that list, you have to start right now. You know, likewise, you know, if people want to start, like being able to negotiate higher pay, like, you know, it's helpful to get some job offers. You know, maybe they, they want to find a better job within their company. You know, how do you, like, you want to start doing that now and you want to build up the case for all the reasons why that's the case. Does that make sense?

Okay. Yep. I will write some post about that.

Yeah. And honestly, I would have this be what you're writing about for the next three weeks. Some variation of this.

Okay.

Right. Just like treat it like a mini launch.

Okay, Let me just open what I wanted to share. So what I've been posting about the most lately is a series that I've been doing and I'm calling it Harmful Lies We Tell Ourselves to Justify Staying in a Toxic Work environment. And. Like, the purpose is that people realize that these ideas that they keep telling themselves are not real and that they can, they can change and kind of why and how, like little tidbits. And so what I've. What I've covered already, so I thought we could like brainstorm some because you're quite good at thinking outside of the box. Yay for neurodivergency. So I will tell you the ones I've already did. And then we can. Yeah, brainstorm out loud once I just find the freaking thing. Okay. So the one of them is if I continue to work hard, the leaders will recognize my efforts.

Yeah.

The next one we talked about, changing jobs is risky. It's safer to stay with where I'm at and with what I know. Another one that I wrote is I know I'm not going to get this salary anywhere else, so I'm gonna stay. So I'm trying to think of some other ones to write about.

Yeah, I mean a big one, especially in the startup world is I have, I have options that'll best. Do I want to leave those, do I want to abandon those? You know, and, and you can say that's one of the hardest decisions to make. You know, it's a big gamble. It was a big gamble for you to take this job in the first place. Right. But like, now that it's toxic and you know, it's like, really degrading on you, on your health and your mental health and, and it's eating away different parts of your life. Like, the choice, the choice really boils down to X, Y and Z, you know, and sometimes my clients, when they start working with me and they're not sure if they want to walk away their, their options that have invested yet, we will come up with a strategy for them to get different job offers. They have more negotiating power internally, but also, like, we start working on how they can set better boundaries and, and take back some more control of their life where they are. Because, you know, the other thing about this is, like, you, like, wherever you are, that's where you are, right? Like, how you are in one workplace is likely to be how you are in the next workplace. So if we can fix how you're being in this workplace and help you really establish what those boundaries are and how to make this healthy for you, you're far more likely to create a healthy environment in your next job. And the benefit is maybe you don't have to leave. Maybe with, with some coaching and some, like, development on your end, you're able to negotiate that, that this is going to be the best place for you and still take your options. Yeah, right.

The.

What is the other one? You know, like, like the carrots is continually dangled in front of you. You know, like your manager keeps telling you, oh, well, if you just get better at this one thing, then you'll be the next step for this promotion. And it keeps not happening, you know, and you're hired in your job that was a step down for you with this kind of, like, promise that, like, you'd only have to be here for a short period of time before they would move you up. And it's been how many years now? You know, and like, and it's just like, you know, it's just, it's constantly dangled in front of you. You always feel like you're on the cusp of getting that promotion. Well, let me tell you, if they've been doing that to you for, like, more than, you know, six months, a year, the promotion is never coming. You know, that's a lie that they told to try to get you in the door because they saw how qualified you were and they wanted you in a, in a job that you know they would benefit from. You know, they don't have your best interests at heart, And the longer you continue to believe them, the more of a fool you're going to feel like at the, you Know in one year, two year, three years when it hasn't come true. Right. What else do you hear from your clients?

Toxic management. Just managers that are mean, essentially. Like not even, not even that the job has so much pressure, just that it's the leadership. The bosses are just assholes.

Yeah, yeah. So what do they do? Give examples.

So one of my clients was mentioning that the boss, no matter who fucked up and even then it wasn't like big fuck ups, they, it would, the boss would go off on them in public in front of all the other employees and berate them publicly and. But that happened to everyone, not just her.

Yeah. Yeah. So talk about that. Okay, Talk about that. I mean, that's something that so many people have experienced. And when you get specific about it, like, you know, having an abusive boss, like, that's, that feels like really, really big, you know, but if very specific examples like that, you know, someone might not even have a boss that screams at them, but they may have a boss that makes like derogatory statements and meetings that like just are like nasty digs, you know, but they're going to read that and it's going to be like, oh my God. Yeah, it's been, You know, and then you could even have it be an engagement post where you're like, what's, what's the most ridiculous thing you were yelled at at work or yelled at about at work, you know? Yeah, we can all tell stories. I got yelled at for printing like pamphlets on the color paper she told me to. So much fun.

So wild.

Yeah. You know, something else is like you, you just found out that you're the one that's getting thrown under the bus. You know, you're the one getting blamed. And that won't speak to a lot of people, but the people who are just finding out or that's been going on for them, you know, that's going to hit really hard. You're the scapegoat. You know, the other one is like you're seeing the writing of the on the wall for this company, like things are not going well and you're constantly wondering when they're going to announce going bankrupt or losing funding. And while sure, like you might believe in what they're up to, you don't know how much longer you can take the stress of that, You know? So how do you start setting yourself up to have your next job lined up or to just jump ship if you can. If you can find a job that's far more secure, where there's a very clear path to advancement. Then let's get you that right. Toxic co workers. You know, like maybe you have a narcissist, maybe you have someone who's constantly backstabbing, undercutting you on the team, but they're a high performer and they'll never leave, they'll never get fired because they provide too much to the business. And you can say, guess what? Any company that keeps these people on because of their high performance does not give a about the mental health or well being of other people that work for them. And it's never going to change. And so you have a choice. You can stay here or you can move on. But know that you, if you stay here, this, this will just. What's coming up for you.

I'm just trying to think of like some other things that I've heard. But yeah, the, the co workers was another thing that, that I sometimes hear as well.

Yeah, you know, that's not, it's not quite relevant for European countries. But you know, if you were to target some Americans, you know, you're thinking about wanting to start a family in the next couple years and you've seen people get managed out after they have kids or as they get pregnant, you know, and how do you find a company that is going to be more friendly to you as you start growing your family and starting your family?

It does happen here. Not so much in France, but in, in Germany and Switzerland. It does.

Yeah. Okay.

But Switzerland honestly is, they're the rednecks of Europe.

Really.

You wouldn't think that. I definitely didn't think that until I started meeting Swiss people and going to Switzerland more often because Choma's best friend moved to Switzerland. And.

You know, now that you say that, I definitely know, like I, I met some friends with people in the French court that I was in when I was there and. Yeah, yeah, that tracks.

No, I mean really, it's. So his girlfriend is Swiss and people. And people were horrified when she said that she was going to go back to work after maternity leave. They said, who's going to take care of your baby? She said daycare. And Swiss people are still very much about. After you have kids who stay home for a while and you go back when they are like a few years old. And then on top of that, the minute that she told her she was on contract, but her contract has always been renewed every single year. It's just, that's how that company functions is that they, they always have contracts that expire and the minute that she told them she was pregnant they didn't renew her contract. And she even told them, I'm only staying for the usual four months and then I'm coming back. And they. They didn't renew her contract. So it's. And then I talk to a lot of German women who are penalized for this, taking maternity leave. So. Yeah. So it is something else we can talk about.

Yeah. I mean, and that's something that you could. You could write like two posts a month about that it doesn't need to be your main focus, but, you know, they still need jobs, they still need to make money, And then you can do a nod to. And it's even worse in the United States, you know.

Okay.

Yeah. You know, and the other thing. I know there are restrictions in France, but, like, you know, having to work outside of your normal hours, you know, the overtime, just being done with overtime and not being compensated for it and like, the expectations and the firefighting that you have to do. Yeah. I was once, like, threatened, like, to be fired if I went to one of my really close friends, 40th birthday parties, like where we were flying to Vegas. Yeah. Because our team wasn't going to hit its numbers. And it was just like, you know, if you do, you're not a team player. We only want team players. Yeah.

Reminds me of when I worked in the US And I called in sick, and I never called in sick before, and they told me, wow. We just. They said first they tried to convince me to come in and they said, yeah, but can't you still come in? And I said, no, like, you don't understand. I'm vomiting, like. And they even said, yeah, but, you know, already your desk is away from everyone else's. And, you know, if you can't make it to the toilet, like, you can just have a trash can next to you. This, like, they said, story.

Tell that story.

Okay.

But continue. I want to hear the rest of the story, too. That's wild.

And then when that didn't work, they knew to try a new tactic. And they know about that. I loved my colleagues and that I was really close to my colleagues. And they said. And so then they tried that and they said, oh, you just, you know that you're such an important part of the team and you're really going to let your team down if you don't come in. You know, that's like, if no one's there to do your job, that's going to put a lot of stress on the other team. Like, on the rest of the team. Do you really Want to cause so much problems for them. And they were really, really guilting me. And so I. And then they even said that, yeah, they said that, you know, we just thought that, you know, you cared more about the team. We can't believe you would leave them hanging like this. To the point I felt so bad. It was early on in my career, I felt so bad that I called the person that, like, I worked for, who was like a senior, very senior level on the team, and I said, I'm sorry, do you feel like I'm letting you down? And she said, girl, you're fucking sick. Like, don't come here. I don't want to get sick. And she goes, no, like, you're not letting us down. Like, be fucking sick. And she was pissed. And she said, they're jockeying with you because they. And she said because they know they can. She said they would not ever dare to say that to me. And yeah, it's like, it's. The people know that they will get away with. And yeah, it's just. Even when. But this is. This one is crazy. I probably can write like a whole book alone on this because I also asked similar to you, I asked off for a holiday party that a close friend was having, and I asked months in advance, and the boss just ignored my request and continued to ignore it. And then when I finally asked, he said, oh, well, it's too late to give it to you now.

Yeah.

And then I asked for another time off and he said, oh, no, like, I just can't organize for someone to take your shift. And then I just was like, this guy's such a dick. Yes.

But these. These stories, these personal stories, like the fact that you've gone through builds so much trust with your audience and it becomes your why becomes kind of your battle cry. Like, I've. I've worked in shit jobs or I got treated like garbage. That's why I'm so passionate about helping people get into better jobs. That's why. Because you deserve better. You deserve to be treated like a human. You deserve to work in an environment that honors your ability to take care of your health. You know, And like human nature, everyone loves a fest. If you're sharing a shitty situation like that, everyone else is going to want to share it too, right? So you're gonna get comments, you're gonna get engagement on those posts. That's not saying that all of yours have to be negative, but, you know, it's just. It helps.

Mm. Yep. Okay. It. Okay.

Yeah. And then on the flip Side, like the cool things that you get to do when you're working a job that respects your time. You know, I never could have had a dog, like, for any, like, during any of the jobs that I had because it was so demanding the time. Like, you know, the schedules were unpredictable. You just can't plan taking care of a dog, you know, with a schedule like that. You know, like having a really regular show, social life, working on personal goals, like maybe you have a fitness goal of running a marathon. You know, the cool shit that people get to do when they have work that's aligned to them, that allows them to also be human and that they're not just recovering from all the time. You know, the other element here is like, because you help people get out of really toxic environments, like, there is a lot of, like, building up of their own worth, you know, like your, your self esteem is. Just gets eroded in these kinds of environments, you know. And so part of the work with you is like they, they relearn what their worth actually is, you know, and you can say most of my clients actually don't believe it in the beginning, but once we really start digging into your experience and your skills and this and that and the other thing, and we really identify what, what the market is asking for that you match up for most of the time, people are astonished that they can make more money. They're astonished that they can go for higher titles. They're astonished that they can, like, get out of where they are. Because oftentimes like these workplaces will tell them, you should be grateful you have a job. You know, your only skill set is in this industry or in this company, you can't transfer. Like an abusive relationship. It's very isolating.

Yep.

Yeah. And, and I, I would just make sure like every post you do, like, if you're ready to change jobs in the next, like, you know, two to six months, now's the time to start. And if you don't know where to start, that's exactly what I do. I help you, you know, figure out what you want, Identify your strengths and your skill set, and help you leverage yourself into a job, a career that actually matches your worth as a human and your, your goals with your life.

Okay.

The other thing that might hold people back from making a change is like the judgment from friends and family. You know, you just started this, you just joined this company a year ago. What are people gonna think, you know, oh, well, we all have to do our time, you know, especially, you know, with like Boomer and Gen X who, like, were with companies for decades.

It still shocks me. Like, Tomas dad was with his company almost his whole entire career. And you know what he got when he retired? A watch. Not like a Rolex or something, just a watch. So Fidelity doesn't really bring anything.

No. And that doesn't, that doesn't even happen anymore. Yeah. Now it's like they actually try to manage you out because typically you have a higher salary and they want to make space for younger people to move into leadership. Okay, what else?

So. I'm debating about other strategies to get clients. So I'm doing some cold outreach. Since it's automated. I don't, I don't worry about it too much. Like, it's not. It doesn't take that, that much time. And it does seem to occasionally work out and convert to client. And then, and then I am getting clients based off of, based off of my content. So I'm trying to figure out what else I should do.

Yeah, so let me just go through a laundry list of options. I'm not attached to any of them. We can also come up with other stuff. You know, you could do webinars, you could do public speaking just for the cap. You do public speaking, we can pitch you to different events or different networking groups. What else? Yeah, we could develop some lower ticket stuff that you could sell directly that gets people into your pipeline, you know, like the resume checklist or whatever. You know, you could partner up with folks who are in touch with your ideal clients and create some referral relationships, you know, for instance, you know, like people who potentially help Americans live the expat life in Europe. You know what else. You could do what I call lazy webinar, which is kind of like a Q and A session, you know, and that could be, I mean, you could honestly do like a Q, a resume review session, you know, where. Because that's something that people, like, really have trouble with. It's the thing that they get most freaked out about when they're thinking about doing a job change. But you also, you can't give all the answers in that. Right. Because you can say, cool, like, what do you want to go for? And they'll be like, oh, I don't know, like something like this. And it's like, okay, well, you want to be really specific about what you're going for. And this is one of the things I help my clients with. And then you want to go through like the, the resume that they're showing you, and you want to say, okay, cool. Like, you know, if you wanted to go for this, you might want to change it. Here, here, here, and here. If you wanted to go for this, you might want to make these edits, you know, and if you want to talk more about this, let's book a time to talk. You know, that could also be something that would be really helpful for you to do in your cold outreach. Like, by the way, I do a monthly resume review session, a group one. So if you're thinking about doing a job change or if you're like in the process of changing your job and you don't think your resume is cutting it or your CV is cutting it in that session, you know, I'll, I'm happy to give you feedback.

Foreign.

What else? What, what's striking for you?

I think that's the problem actually is that there's too many ideas. And I think that I'm trying to find the right idea.

Okay, so let's, let's not worry about the right idea. Let's go, go for the funnest idea, the one that you think you'll have the most fun with, because that's the one that's going to be the easiest for you to take action on. It's going to be the, you have the most energy doing.

For me, it's Q and A sessions are quick and dirty and so super easy for me. I don't need to prep anything. I just show up and do it. Then. So this kind of CV review during this kind of Q and A session. And then anything where I talk is super easy because I can talk about this stuff all day long. So anything like webinars, any kind of public speaking or invitation to events, I can do all of this and that's easy and fun for me.

Yeah, yeah. And speaking events, I mean you can go because of your, your thing. You could go to like women's groups, you know, you could go to like any kind of networking environment and ask, you know, do you have an event coming up that you're looking for speakers, you know, so women in marketing, women in science, anything, You know, and you could go and you could say, you know, I actually have a workshop or you know, a 30 minute training that's based on how to position yourself to get that next raise, to get that next promotion, or to get job offers from companies you really want to work for. You know, it's been really popular with folks in your industry and I was wondering if you have any events coming up where it might be a good fit for your, for your audience or if you might Want to like offer this virtually. And then we just want to make sure to formulate that talk. So it's not you giving away everything because you have teacher energy, right? Yeah.

Oh, yeah, no, no, I'm. That's the problem. That's why I am. I try to be careful because I do this because I want to help people. So then people get so much that they think that that's enough that they need.

Yeah, yeah, Yeah.

Okay, so maybe I will start with this where once a month I review cvs.

Yeah.

This is an easy thing to implement.

Yeah.

And then I'm not overwhelmed. The only bad thing is that I need to make money going to the U.S. i made me broke because I. Yeah, I had to pay all this myself. And then. Yeah, a lot of money is going out and not coming in. So I'm trying to. That's why I think too I was a bit stunted because I was trying to figure out what business wise makes sense.

Yeah. So I mean, I mean, here's the tough thing about businesses is like we have our timelines. The universe doesn't always go to those timelines. Right. So I mean, if you need, if you need cash now, then you, you know, what are the smaller ticket things like the one off sales that you could almost do? You know, is it like a €200, like CV redesign? Is it, you know, interview prep? Like what's the thing that people will spend money on really quickly that they're asking for already that you could just say, hey, listen, I'm offering 10 spots, 10 things of this. Who wants it? What do people ask for?

Yeah, I would say, well used to it mostly was CVs. People just wanted to pay me to work on their cv. Now it's more so people wanting to change their.

Job.

But they've been applying and it's not working and they don't know why. So they don't necessarily know it's their cv. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't, but they just want to have the answer of why.

Yeah, yeah. Why aren't I getting the job? Yeah. Which one have people been wanting to like sign up for? Like just quick session with you?

This like, I mean, both of them, like the cv, they just want one session and then usually about what's wrong, they're okay. Usually signing up for like two, three sessions, but no more than that. So then when I try to talk about my program, they're like, no, no, no, I don't want to program, I just want to meet a few times.

Yeah. So I Mean for something like this, I, if you're wanting like an influx of cash and also to set people up to want to work with you, I would offer as a one time session, like you're not solving everything in that one session. If they want to continue to work with you, they can sign up to work with you. But I would say I'm only opening up like 10 of these sessions. It's, I don't know, 350, 400, €500. And you could do like a solid 90 minutes with them, you know, and you could do like a review of their CV beforehand and really help them figure out like what is keeping them from getting the job. But also in that session you can say, you know, one of the things that we're not figuring out in this session because you don't know is, you know, you know what your skill set is. We're not figuring out really like why you want to move into this industry or so on and so forth. And that's stuff that I do work on with my one on one clients ongoing. So it gets people in the door. And then if people are interested in working with you, you can say, cool. So one of the things that I actually offer is if you decide to sign up for one of my, for my program, whatever you spent on this is credited towards. Because it would basically be like your onboarding call, You know, and that would actually be a really natural sell if you're doing CV review with people. Because like you saying, okay, cool. So at the end of this, you know, I do have a few sessions open each month and I'm offering it to you guys first. If you are actively applying for jobs and not getting anywhere with it, you can actually sign up for a one off session with me where we will go through everything that you're doing and figure out what it is that's likely getting in the way of you getting the job offer and we'll create a strategy for you to fix it. Right. Notice how I'm saying that we're going to create a strategy for you to fix it. The strategy might be working with you. Right.

Okay. Okay.

This is also something that you could reach out to any clients or any people who said it was too expensive to work with you long term and say, you know, I was thinking about you. I've decided to do this little mini offer that'll help you like fix this problem. You know, here's the information. Are you interested? Right. Because I mean the people who are most likely to buy from you are the ones that have already talked to you.

Okay.

So. Okay.

I will maybe write up the text for this and then let you review it in Heartbeat.

Yeah.

I have two quick questions, so. Because I know we're running out of time. So, one, I am a bit annoyed. So I converted a client. Yay. She was going on holiday, so she said, oh, I want to make sure that we have our first session while I'm still on holiday, but I'm going to Morocco, so let's schedule it for when I get back. We did this. Great. And so I checked because she was getting back the day before, and then the next day we were having our first session. She still hadn't paid.

Okay.

I don't normally like that. I tell people they need to pay first before we get started. She agreed to pay him. She wanted to pay in full versus installments. So I got on the call with her, and I said, hey, like, I don't know if something happened. It didn't get your payment yet. And she said, yeah, I came back late into Paris from Morocco. My flight was delayed, but I'll get on that and do that. And I said, okay, great.

Yeah.

It's been now two weeks. We went ahead and had her first session.

Yeah.

She didn't pay. I had my assistant send her an email on Monday reminding her about the payment. And then, like, yeah. And she hasn't responded.

Yeah.

So how do I proceed?

Yeah. So I would reach out and say, hey, like, you know, just want to make sure you're okay. We haven't heard back from you. You know, I'm getting worried that maybe something happened to you. Right. Connect on the human level. Because she may feel like an asshole at this point for having forgotten. Especially, like, if she has any ADHD happening. Like, it could just become, like, an executive dysfunction thing that, like, she feels shitty about it, so it becomes that thing that's hard to do, you know? Also, something might have happened to her, so you want to touch base on that in the future. What I would recommend doing is if she hasn't paid by the time you all say cool. All right, well, before we get started, why don't you go ahead and do that? I'll wait and you just, like, say, okay, cool. Like, we're gonna get started as soon as all that set up. You know, it's awkward, but it's awkward because they made it awkward.

Yeah.

You know, but it also ensures that, like. And sometimes people just need, like, someone to hold their hand while they're doing stuff.

Yeah.

You know, as she booked her second Appointment with you. Okay. Yeah.

And then I'm a bit annoyed because it's like, I know she's fine because she's posting all over LinkedIn. So then it's like she didn't get into some kind of accident or something. So then I was. And yeah, so then I was a bit annoyed because obviously I didn't get paid for this first session and I, I went against this feeling telling me, no, you shouldn't do this first session. You should have wrote her and canceled it. But then I said no, like, I want to do it in good faith.

And well, okay, so I actually don't think you should have canceled it. I. Because here's the thing. Like, that is an out. If she decided she didn't want to do it, like that's, it's like. Or if she's even questioning if I still want to do this, then she, like, she's out.

Right.

Versus she showed up for the appointment. It's like, oh, cool. I'm so excited to get started with you. Remember, like, I, like, we, I need this before we jump in. So go ahead right now. And you know, do you have the email with the link to do payment and the link with the agreement? Okay, cool. I'll wait while you do that. And then you get to have that conversation around, like, cool. Like, I actually don't provide the service without being paid first, you know, and then if it's, if she's like getting squirrely, then you get to have that conversation of, oh, it sounds like something's changed for you. Right?

It's.

Things are only as awkward as we make them. Yeah, right. It's our business. So, like, if, if we're, if we're like, just like straightforward and clean about the payment process, then the client gets to be straightforward and clean about the payment process. Right. But yeah, you know, like, everyone goes through this at least once, you know, and frustrating it, but it's like, it's, it's the best learning situation possible because you're never going to do it again. Yeah. Right.

Okay. Do you have two minutes?

Well, this goes until 2:30, so you have another half hour.

Oh, yeah, that's right. Long day.

And like, you're like, we're running out of time. I'm like, oh, she must have a really big thing she wants to work on. All right. Okay. Yeah, good.

Then I don't have to stress about it. So, so yeah, so then tomorrow I will reach out to her and say, hey, like, are you okay? How is everything? I haven't heard from you, blah, blah, blah.

Yeah.

My next thing is I think tomorrow shit a brick because I clearly am all about investing in myself. But I went from one extreme to the other. I never wanted to invest in myself because I just thought I will try to make it on my own and it didn't work. Now I'm all about throwing money at other people to help myself. So I met a lady who helps teach people how to invest. And now I'm like, oh, I should do that because of the fact that, well, I'm not getting any younger, I don't have any kind of retirement. Obviously. I know like smart people invest, essentially. And so I went to her free webinar and obviously I know the, I know the game. Like give a free webinar to suck people in. Like, no shame to my game. It worked. And so now I'm thinking about hiring her and I'm trying to decide, is this a smart idea?

This is a smart idea for you in the future, right? Because right now as you're stressing out about the money like coming in and you don't have that, like, are you gonna feel good and grounded about investing it when you're worried about your own cash flow and paying for your own personal expenses?

Yeah. And that's the problem because I know that investing is a long term strategy. And so I feel like, should, is there any good time to start investing or is it always something else? You know, like, I mean, so, because.

I know you, here's, here's how I kind of read this is. I see this as putting more stress on you, right. And becoming something that you feel like you're spending money on and not doing, not getting the full benefit of right now. So I say let's you and I focus on doing like a money making sprint over the next three to six months where you're just doing whatever you can to bring cash in and you're setting aside money so that you can pay her without getting stressed out about it and also have some money to play with so you can start investing in three to six months. You know, she's not going anywhere. She like, you know, she'll, she'll be there for you to invest in later. You know, this is something that I recently just did. I was saving up $50,000 so that I could sign up for a program that'll teach me how to buy boring businesses. It's $10,000 and they recommend that you have between 30 and $40,000 to invest in your first business. And so I didn't want to do it before I had that money because I wanted to get the full benefit of it. Right.

Yeah.

And so, you know, there is the pre planning that'll make sure that it is going to be most beneficial. Everyone, everyone is going to tell you that you need to start right now because here are all the reasons. Right. Like you spent the first part of this call planning out how you're going to do this with, with your clients. Right. You know, for some people, sure, starting right now is really smart, but for other people, like you have to get, like they have to get their finances like in order before they can do that. Right.

Yeah.

Because how will it feel if you sign up for it and then don't have any money to start investing?

Yeah.

You're just learning the theory you're not actually practicing it and utilizing her. What's, what's the program? Is it one on one? Is it group?

It's group. And it's like it's a session a week over 16 weeks where she teaches you from pretty much the start to, to getting to investing.

Yeah. Yeah. So you know what, tell her you're so excited to start then in the next cohort. Mm. You know, it sounds like a great program, 100%. But like I want you to get the most out of it. Right. And if we can work out how you have consistent cash flow in the business, then you get to have a lot more fun with it and you get to really suck money away without you being stressed out about paying her. Finding, you know, money to play with in the investing side.

Hi, Katie.

And also for your expenses in your business.

Yeah. And I guess that, that goes back to my question before, like what more can I do in my business to make money?

Yeah. I mean more of what you're doing right now. It's, it's, right now it's, it's that consistency game. Because I guarantee you there are people. You look so grumpy. I guarantee you there are people who are watching you post who are thinking, I think I want to work with her. I think I want to work with her. Like the more you put yourself out there, the more experiences you let them have with you, like faster it's going to, or the more it's going to speed up their decision making process to book a call with you. You know, so doing, doing pop up trainings, doing open Q and A sessions, offering smaller ways for them to be in your world. You know, one of the things that it's really important for us to remember as business owners is that like There are absolutely people out there who will discover us online, hop on a sales call, and then just decide to give us their money. Right? But like, I want you to think about it. So there are only three types of people who go to a pool party, right? They're the Katie McMahon I. Right, who show up wearing their bathing suit under their clothes and they wave to people as they, like, strip down and jump in the pool, right? And then they get out and they have snacks and drinks and like, hang out with people, right? But they're in the pool. And then there are the people who, you know, show up and they, like, brought stuff and like, they didn't bring up anything. Suit. They're never getting in that pool, right? They're gonna have snacks, they're gonna have drinks, they're gonna hang out with people they might put their feet in, but they're never getting in the pool. Those are the people who will like your stuff. They'll comment on your post, they'll show up to your webinars, they'll ask questions, they will be butts and seats, and they will be your biggest cheerleaders, but they're never gonna buy from you. It's your responsibility as a business owner to build out your business. For the third type of person who's showing up, they have their bathing suit in their back. They're going to hang out for a bit. At some point they're going to go change and then they're not going to dive into the deep end like the Katies. They're going to get in on the steps and they're going to ease their way in because, like, they don't want to shock their system and it's a little chilly and they have to get comfortable, right? And eventually they'll get, they'll get all the way in. But your business, like the steps and the, and the shallow end for you is going to be Q and A sessions, pop up, trainings, lead magnets, things like that that let them get to know you and feel like they've had an experience of you that's not a shock to the system. That's not high pressure, right? And the more you, the more you get out there and offer that stuff, stuff like the faster they're going to end up in the deep end. Deep end being spending money with you. Yeah, right. You know, coaching is just like, it's so trust based, right? And what does it take for people to build trust with someone? It usually takes time. It usually takes experience and getting to know them and like showing up and seeing that you, you know, are consistent in how you show up every single time. And money loves movement. So the. The more you move, the more you do, the more you put out there, the more you invite people in, you know, the money will come to you, You know, and. And the other thing is, like, these sessions don't have to be like, solve it problems or solve it sessions. You know, you can have a session on Toxic Workplaces, you know, you know, we're going to talk about, like, the cost of a toxic workplace and what it does to you, and we're gonna. I'm gonna give you opportunities to share your stories. Right? Because it's really. It's really lonely being in a toxic workplace. You know, that gives people an experience. I remember I got clients, I did a healing workshop from. From Toxic Workplaces, and I got clients for byob, like, the first iteration of BYOB for it. Because they were like, oh, my God, you're right. Like, I can heal myself from this. And I can also make sure this never happens again by starting my own business. So, you know, and that's the beautiful thing about coaching and webinars is it doesn't have to be something with slides. And actually, I don't. I don't necessarily recommend something with slides in the beginning, because what you want to showcase is that connection you have with people. You know, how you're holding space for them, the questions you're asking, like what you're modeling, you know, Brave Biz Labs that started off as a lazy webinar used to be available to the public every single Friday, you know, until I realized I was just giving too much away for free. Right. But I mean, like, David Fryman came from that. Lauren Lefkowitz came from that. Like, you know, I've gotten so many clients over the years from that call. You can do some variation of that. And, you know, the Q and A session for CVS is absolutely one of those versions.

Yeah.

You know, and I mean, how you would start that is like, welcome to the support group for to people in Toxic Workplaces. Hi, I'm Susan, and I actually help people get out of toxic workplaces. So whenever you're all ready, book a call with me separately. But for right now, we're here to offer you whatever support you need to just make it through. Right. And it's also great market research for you, because as they're talking about all the things that they're frustrated with, that they're dealing with, all the toxic instances, you know, you can note those down and eventually use them as content. Naming them, obviously you'll anonymize it, but.

Yeah.

Yeah. What's coming up for you?

Yeah, no, I think it's good. And then, like you said, I can also direct people to this through cold outreach.

Yeah, yeah. And then something free that you're offering. It's. It's the support system. It's a gift, you know? Yeah. There's something that I learned. I'm in an ADHD seminar this week, Monday through Friday in the mornings, and there's something I learned on Tuesday, and it was that, you know, why our brains are constantly, like, ruminating in all the ways that we suck and we're not good enough and we should be doing this and we're behind on that because we're so understimulated by being just happy. Like, being content is not interesting enough for us. Like, our brains would rather to rather put us through excruciating mental, emotional, physical pain by focusing on all the things that we see ourselves as fucking up with. Because it's interesting, because it's stimulating.

Oh, God.

Right.

Like, when you. I mean, it makes sense the amount of times I'm ruminating, like, there's so much more I can do with my own business. Why am I not doing more or why am I not spending more time on this?

Exactly. So then that becomes the stimulation. That becomes the thing that keeps your brain engaged. Right.

Why can't I stimulate and just sit down and do it? That would be great.

Yes. But here's the thing. Like, now that you're aware of it, when you catch yourself, you're like, oh, my brain is understimulated right now. Cool. What would be stimulating for my brain? What would be fun for my brain? What would be a challenge? What would be something that's, like, outside the box or has a novelty that I could do, You know, because that is what our brains need more than anything is we need novelty. I think that's why so many people with ADHD turn into coaches and therapists and help burst. Because, like, each new person you deal with is novelty. Right. They come with a. A whole, you know, new set of problems and. Yeah, exactly.

Yep.

And I love my work, so.

And I think, too, that's why I felt good going to the south, because everything was novel. So I was like, oh, look at this, look at this, look at this. And I haven't felt that good in a while because is. I'm just in my normal routine. And I think that really much fed my curiosity. I was getting stimulated in, like, Basically the right way that I was. Yeah. I felt even more creative and more energy and.

Yeah, yeah.

So yeah.

Yeah. I mean, even, even like the Wikipedia, like wormholes that we fall into, that's novelty, right? It's just like, it's stimulating for our brain. It scratches that itch.

Oh my gosh. This is. The Wikipedia is like the worst invention ever for people with adhd because honestly, the amount. And you know, they hyperlink to other stuff. So then it's like you fall into like three hours later, you're like, yeah, what the. Did I originally look up? Because I've just clicked on so many sub links. Oh, wait, what about this? What is this? And then click. Oh, wait, what about.

Yeah, Yep. So I mean, like in your business, sometimes you need novelty. Actually, all the time you're gonna need novelty.

Yeah.

Right. And that's also where you shine. That's where you're gonna have the best energy. That's where people are gonna resonate the most with you.

Yeah. Cool.

What are you curious in?

What am I? What?

But like, what. What areas of the world, what topics, what subjects, what things do you find curious that you want more information about that you'd like to experience?

I mean, how long do you have? This could be like a ten hour discussion.

Yeah.

Cool.

So make a list.

Okay.

Make a list of everything that you're curious about. And when your brain starts going into all the ways that you suck notice. Oh, wow, my brain is really understimulated right now. I need something interesting to focus on. I need some novelty. What is that novelty?

I one time saw someone mention about this about. It would be great if we had like some kind of platform where for ADHDers who pick up and buy all this for random hobbies and then they drop it because, well, we do it because we like want to do it and then all of a sudden we don't want to do it anymore. And if we could all just like kind of trade this stuff around.

Yeah. So I mean, what's the city you live in right now?

I live right outside of Strasbourg.

Okay, cool. So like maybe you, you organize a, like a hobby exchange in Strasbourg. You know, are there, are there like hobby clubs that you could go and visit and like do a class with? Right. Because remember, like, your work is hyper relevant to everyone. Everyone has a job. Everyone could be miserable in their job. They'll know someone who wants to change their job. Like you getting out into the world and investigating things that have nothing to do with your work is going to. They're all going to put you in front of people who are potential clients or potential referrals.

Yeah.

You know, and it has the added benefit of getting you out of that shitty conversation you're having in your head.

Yeah.

I had a. A mentor once. What did he say? He said our. Our reality is defined by the two conversations we're having. The first one is the conversation we're having with ourselves in our own head. And the second one is the conversations we're having with other people. And if either one of those goes to shit, like, our reality goes to shit. Right. So it's our job to notice when it's going to shit and to change it to the other conversation. And it's so true for people with adhd.

I find this is really something that's quite difficult, is because we're so all over the place. It can be quite hard to stay on top of things in a business.

Yeah.

Obviously there's good things that come with having a neurodivergent brain, but it often feels. Because maybe it is about this negative self talk. It can feel like there's a lot of drawbacks. And sometimes I find like, Jesus Christ, I lose so much time. Hyper focus doesn't come enough as, like, as it should. But even then, hyper focus is so wild that I won't eat all day because I've fallen into hyper focus. And then obviously that's not good for the body. So then it's like sake.

Yeah. Well. And this is why it's so important to find the things that are fun for us to do in our business, the things that we enjoy that we like, really, really do get sucked into because we're more likely to do that more.

Right.

Because it gives us dopamine.

Yeah.

You know, like, we are highly, highly addictable. Right. So let's use that to our advantage. Let's find the parts of our business that we can get kind of addicted to doing.

Yeah, yeah, that's true.

And it doesn't necessarily have to be stuff. And I think this is why, honestly, a lot of ADHDers buy a bunch of courses. They sign up for this and that and the other thing, and. Because it's all just variety and it's novel. Yeah. Right.

And I find I've never met an adhder who doesn't like to learn. You know, there are people out there that just aren't really interested. Every ADHDer I know love to learn new.

Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. I guess I just need to focus on this. Like, just not. Because I guess I keep Questioning what is the right way to run my business and what's the right way? Yeah. And it's like, what's the smart way? What brings the most money? When really I just maybe should just go back to focusing on keeping it simple, doing what I want to do. And that's why I have a business. It's not to make myself miserable by, I don't know, doing something that I think is dumb.

Yeah. You know, there's this question that I absolutely hate, and it's like, who's your best self that you want to be? Because whenever I'm asked that question, I think of, like, my idealized version of myself, right? Who went to Harvard, who, like, owns three houses, who, you know is perfect, the perfect weight, and, like, always dresses perfectly and La, la, la N. That's not helpful. The helpful question is, who's my. What's my favorite version of myself? Right? My favorite version of myself that I enjoy the most, Right? My favorite version of myself is, like, the witchy one who, like, sometimes, like, has dirt under her fingernails because she was gardening and who had, like, a goofy conversation with her best friend about seeing a cute dog, you know, who, like, is working on something interesting, who's having fun and connecting with people. Like. Like, it becomes less about, like, this judgment of goodness and badness for, like, being the best and more about, like, what is it that I really personally enjoy, right? So I want that to be your homework. Like, who is your favorite version of yourself that you most enjoy being? I can hear the purring.

He's, like, so needy. So he. He's like, I need attention. No, I need out. No, I need attention.

Make up your mind.

And then, like, he will be screaming in five minutes because all of a sudden, he's decided he's hungry. Oh, Lord.

Yeah.

So. But clients seem to love him. He knows when I'm on the phone and he comes and Clients, Really? God. I'm like, yes.

Yeah.

He knows that you're taking my attention, and now he wants to redirect it to himself. I think that's good, this reframing, because it is true. We think of this ideal version of ourselves where we're society's idea of perfect. We're still very much influenced by society. Even people that are more reserved, like, even people that are more, like, removed from this idea. Because I tell people all the time, fuck society. Fuck what they say. Like, if you want to be a painter, become a painter. You can do it, right? And even me, just like you said, what is. What's the best version of yourself. I'm envisioning someone who is a huge successful career coach that is like, I don't know, Tony Robbins level. And. But if I'm thinking about actually what I really want, I don't want to be Tony Robbins level. He has to have a humongous team and it gets too far away from him himself. That's what society tells me, what I should want.

Yep. That goodness has been bestowed upon him because of his success and all the material goods he has. Right. But just because it's. It's good by society's norm doesn't mean that you enjoy it, doesn't mean that it brings you joy. Yeah. Right. And like.

Exactly.

Or if we're not. If we're not investing in things that bring us joy.

Yeah. Yep. I think that's.

Yeah. Cool. So you have your homework, you have business homework, you have personal homework. Anything else you need to say?

No, I think that's good. But I do think you're right about having a lower ticket item and that I think that's really great this 90 minute session. But what they pay can roll into the program. I think that's a nice thing to get people in the system and then for people to also test me and they can, they can really see the value I provide because I could review CVs in my sleep.

Yeah.

And it's one of those things that.

Like, you can't help them with everything. It's not like you reviewing their CV is actually going to open up more questions than it is going to answer.

Yeah.

And you can start off with that. Like, you know, typically this will open up more questions. And so if you're curious end of this. About working together, then what we can do is set up a separate time to talk about that. But I want to make sure you get the most out of this session. So let's dive in, you know.

Okay. All right.

Awesome. Anything else?

No, no, I think we're good. I think that that's enough to. To focus on for the weekend.

Well, and just a reminder, tomorrow because I'm in my session, Brave Biz Labs is actually at 1pm my time. So it'll be 6pm your time or 7pm and co working is going to be immediately after.

Okay.

Okay, cool.

Okay.

All right. You know where to find me if you have any questions.

Yes, sounds good.

All right. Bye, Susan. Bye.