How to Build Step by Step Without Burning Out

Here's a problem nobody warns leaders about. Big ideas don't kill businesses. Unplanned big ideas do. And most owners don't realize how much faith, time, focus, and positive energy it takes to bring initiatives to life until they're about halfway in staring at rising costs and shrinking confidence. And that's what we're talking about today on Marc Haine Live. Welcome to this episode of Marc Haine Live. Of course, this is where small business owners and entrepreneurs pick up core skill sets to help them create the show-stopping, jaw-dropping experience that their customers and their employees deserve. I am your host, Customer and Employee Experience Strategist Marc Haine. And today, my guest is Lisa Ascolese, known as The Inventress. And today, we are talking about how leaders can avoid the costly optimism and build big ideas and even products step by step without losing their money, momentum, or their sanity. So, stick around with us. And hey, if this is the first time with us, I'd like to say, hey, welcome!

Thank you.

If you find this episode of value, please go ahead and check out our past episodes. And if you haven't done so yet, please make sure you subscribe to this podcast. If you do, you'll get notification when I bring you fresh new content each and every week. So first off, I'm just going to thank you for investing your time with us because I know time is one of our biggest commodities. So, thank you for being here. So, let me describe a moment that doesn't get talked about enough in business. It's not the launch. It's not the pitch. It's not the big, hey, we're doing this announcement. It's actually the middle. In writing, we call that the messy middle. But it's that quiet, uncomfortable stretch where the excitement has worn off. The invoices have started to show up on schedule. And the results? haven't been realized yet. This is the moment where leaders stop saying, hey, this is so exciting! And they start whispering. It's like, did I miss something? Like, what happened? And that brings us to our Question of the Day. So, have you ever found yourself halfway into the big idea You know, you have a new initiative, a product launch, a project, wondering if you underestimated what it would actually cost you to see it through. And the cost is not just monetary. It's energy-wise, people-wise. It's everything. I'd love to know what your story is. Why don't you go ahead and share a link to this episode on your favorite social media platform? Hashtag your post #ExperienceLeadership and be part of this conversation. I'd love to hear your stories. As I mentioned, my guest today has lived what most leaders only discover the hard way. Lisa Ascalise, known globally as The Inventress, has developed hundreds of products, secured dozens of patents, trademarks, and copyrights, and continues working with her clients long after their ideas become successful realities. She is the author of The Inventress Guide to Inventing the Right Way: All or Nothing, Now or Never, a guide that blends strategy, mindset, and discipline. action to help entrepreneurs avoid costly missteps. Lisa doesn't just advise from theory. Everything she teaches, she has personally experienced herself. She calls herself a handholder because she believes success isn't built alone and that leaders need support just as much as they need strategy. Lisa, welcome to the show! It's so great to have you.

Hi Marc! So wonderful to be here. I have to say, I love your energy. I love your introduction. You are the man.

Thank you.

Love it.

Well, thank you very much. I'll let my wife know you said that.

Tell her, yes. Let her know. I love the fact that you've done your due diligence. Love it.

So Lisa, maybe you could start. Tell us a little bit about who your customers are and how you serve them.

Okay, so I'll tell you who I am. My name is Lisa Askew, known as The Inventress. My business is Inventing A to Z, where I help my clients develop products and businesses from a napkin idea all the way to the marketplace and everything in between the right way. So, from prototyping to manufacturing to marketing and all of the tiers that happen in between. You describe it, Marc, 50% of the way or halfway through the process. But I walk them through everything and leading them through this incredible journey from the beginning to And there is no end. So, I will not say end to the pathway to success.

So, when we have our big idea, why do we constantly underestimate what— I think we underestimate a ton of things. Like we underestimate kind of how much it'll cost. We underestimate timelines. We underestimate resources. Why is this like such a prevalent problem that we have?

It looks magical on television because everything looks magical. It looks— it's seriously, and really, and I, I've been working with people for so long that I get it. Everything from inventing companies, product development companies make you think that things are instantaneous. Oh, it looks so easy. Look, I just invented this thing, the sound machine. And so this sound machine, look how easy it is. Look at it. It's green and gray. How difficult could this be? I can invent this thing. You could develop it and we can have it on shelves in 6 weeks. It's smoke and mirrors. It is what it is. So, people believe what they see but they're not in between. They're not seeing the in-betweens. What I say to you, I develop products from concept to fruition the right way and everything in between.

Mm-hmm.

People do not know the in-betweens nor do they really want to get it because they want it to be magical too. It really— there's a missing link. There's a missing link.

It really does feel like the whole iceberg metaphor, right? What we see above the water versus what we see below the water, right? Everybody sees the products on the shelf. People see customers coming into stores. People see the excitement of success. But they don't understand maybe what's below the water and all the things that need to be grinded through and all the steps that need to be taken in order for that one special moment where it's sitting on a shelf.

Absolutely. I mean, when you look at products on television, they didn't just get there. They went through the stuff. They went through the marketing, through the tears, through the struggles, through the therapy. But really, I'm like, it's really— and I have fast-track classes. I try to cover every aspect of the product development and business phase in my classes. But unless you've walked through it, you still don't get it. I could explain it until the cows come home, wherever that came from. I don't know when the cows come home. But I could explain it until I'm blue in the face. Until you've experienced it and you want to be there, you don't get it.

Okay.

And when I say you want to be there, when you're developing a business or a product, You have to really want to be there. You have to be there hook, line, and sinker. I mean, all of you has to be there. Otherwise, you really— because it takes that much.

Yeah.

When you see a successful product, it didn't get there because they manufactured it and put it on the shelf. It didn't happen like that. They had to be involved. I cannot tell you, countless inventors have said to me, Lisa, I invented a great product. I'm going to give it to you. You take it and I'll give you, I'll give you 90% of the proceeds. I go, wait, but do you realize what it takes to develop this product or business?

Yeah.

So, I'll do it? Do you know how many ideas I have in this crazy brain every single day? It's not that simple. You have to be present.

Why does it seem like excitement seems to override planning? Like, I've talked to restaurateurs. I've talked to optometrists who are opening up a new boutique eye clinic. I've talked to inventors and innovators. And it just seems like their big idea is so big. Like, even I myself, I've had an idea since 2012. And I know it's big. But I know that I don't have the capacity or capability to pull it off. But I know it's there.

Well, you—

hmm.

So, Marc, you haven't talked to me. So anyway, so because I'm, I'm happy, I'm glad for what you're saying. So you're underestimating what you can do because you haven't spoken with me yet. However, I'm glad you've not jumped into something that you're not sure about yet. Um, if you're not sure about something, if you're not feeling it in your heart— but you're saying 2012, right?

Yeah.

That's a long time ago and it keeps on coming back, right?

Yep. Actually, to be fair, it's actually 2009. But I really started kind of grinding it, grinding out the thought process in 2012. But having said that, I know a lot of businesses, they feel it in their heart. This is what I want to do. I'm going to open up this store. I'm going to do this. And somewhere along the 5 years in, you're walking through the store going, where's the love? Where's, where's the focus? Where's the passion?

Well, you know what, because, okay, first of all, it takes not the momentary excitement. If they're not feeling the love and excitement after they have put in the money, gotten investors, and all of those things, I mean, I don't know, it's really a hard thing.

Yeah.

Going in is important. Having a mentor who will Explain the process, the journey. I'm more honest than I really want to be. I'm so honest with my clients, they can't— I mean, have you seen some of my podcasts? I'm very honest. I'm like, if you're not, if you're not in it hook, line, and sinker, don't do it. Because we all have great ideas, especially if you're an inventor, every 5 minutes.

Yeah.

Ah, big thing. I'm one of those people. I have a journal. I journal it. I don't invent it. I journal it. I don't invent it unless I know I'm 100%. I do my due diligence. How much is it gonna cost? And this is what I teach my clients. The cost, the demographics, all of those things. Take a look at all of it. How much do you actually love it? Are you willing to put your whole self in? Are you in it or— 'cause it's gonna take a lot to market it. Inventing something is easy. When you're an inventor, marketing it is a whole different animal. You have to do this, right? You got to do this.

Yeah.

You got to do this. Your name has to be on everything. When I talk about— I mean, look at Facebook. You have to be as big as Facebook. You have to be as big as Instagram. You have to be out there pushing yourself constantly in order to have your business be the big success that you envisioned. You really do. Well, it takes us a heart.

And part of the challenge and the reason why I love that thing about having a mentor or a coach to help you along with it is because there's absolutely no way on this planet that one person who owns a business can understand marketing, finance, human resources, business operations. There's so many different departments at play here.

But yet, We seem to—

people jump into it thinking, how hard can it be?

That's right. And it's— I mean, I don't like to say hard because when you love something, it's really not. But you have to have that whole passion, right?

Right.

So, if you're a person who has the tenacity and the excitement about the thing, if you— you've met many inventors and entrepreneurs. Take that same energy and the excitement that they have when they first invented that business And keep that thing going, right? To keep that thing going because you have to. And businesses do fail because they don't. That passion doesn't stay and doesn't live because they've probably gone to something else.

So, emotional fatigue is a big component of it. It's we have a vision in our heads. We have expectations. They don't come to fruition. We start getting into the The cash flow issue. So, we start getting desperation. And all of a sudden now, the honeymoon is over. How do we maintain that mindset that this was a really great idea when we thought about it and this is worth making sure that we continue this investment? How do we keep moving that forward when we know at the core of what we're doing, we're not a happy camper?

Because you're journaling. So, my book, right? So, my book Right? Talks about the journey. But journaling the entire way is really important. So, when you look back at where you started, you have to remind yourself. You talk about the honeymoon, right?

Yes.

You're married. You've got a ring on your finger. You have to— and every day is not the greatest day on earth, right?

You—

if you go back to the first day that you invented that product— Oh, honey.

Yes, it is. Every day is magical.

Sorry.

It's true though. You have to. Yeah. But to your point, like I jumped into—

Seriously?

Into economic development. And I started being able to kind of step into other people's businesses. But it's amazing how I would step into a business and you walk in and you could, you know how you can smell dust? And you walk in and you feel like fabrics are coated. And it's like, where's the love? And you talk to the owner. The owner comes out and goes, oh, hi Marc. And it's like, how are things? Oh well, you know, it's really tough. And so, one of the things I used to do was sit down with them, have a cup of coffee and say, can you take me back to when you opened?

The journal. Go back.

All of a sudden, the lights come on. The eyes brighten. They tell us what it was like. And it's like, what happens between now Between then and now, what's going on?

The engagement ring. The engagement ring. Go back to the— well, before the engagement ring because you get nervous with the engagement ring. So, go prior to the engagement ring.

No, honey. I love my engagement ring. No.

No, really. And this is it. I mean, and I talk about this on my Motivational Mondays every Monday.

Yeah.

Where you started. You know, from the house you purchased, your first home, right? So, from walking through the doors, I use this as my example. The first home I ever purchased on my own. And I stood in the doorway and I said, oh my gosh, thank you, God, for this moment. I never want to lose this excitement. I never want to lose this feeling. Because I— and I did it, right? I did it. Same goes the person who invents or invented that product or developed that business. And they look back at that first day where they saw the business come to fruition. That first day, right?

Because the excitement would have been there. The excitement, the passion, the pride, Even the fear, right? Like all those feelings all wrapped up on day one when you open the door to that new business, or you have that first prototype, or you have the first customer coming and saying, what changed?

The patent.

Yeah, right.

The patent. When you received— when my clients say, Lisa, my patent came. My patent came in the mail. I say, please, A year, 2 years, 3 years. Remember the feeling of when you received that patent because it's a lot of work. And I don't say that. I don't tell them about the work then.

Yeah.

Not like that. I don't rob them of their joy in that moment.

Yes.

Because it is. There's a lot that comes with it. Keep that passion. And it's a truth. I don't care what. Keep that passion. Keep that excitement. And you will always live. Your customers will come back to you over and over and over and over again because you're keeping that business or that product alive.

It seems like especially when it comes down to like new initiatives, new ideas, kind of the big hairy audacious goals, it seems like from my experience that people who have never done anything like this will always offer feedback like, Why would you do this? Are you crazy? While other people can be like your biggest cheerleaders. What's the danger of listening to the wrong voices or even too many voices? And how does one know?

Well, I think that we have a great sense of discernment, right? We all have this great— it's actually very simple. Like, I'm going deep discernment. Going to the Bible. But we all have this great sense of discernment. You know who the people are who want to support you, you know who you should be speaking with. You know what I mean? You're not speaking to Mrs. Smith next door while you're picking up your mail and telling her about your great business because she's going to tell you, don't do it. You know what I mean? She's going to tell you not to do it.

Well, sometimes it's even the people closest to you that tell you not to do it.

The worst.

The worst.

Because they want to protect you. I'm not saying anything bad about— but I mean, your relatives and things like that, they're really Sometimes the worst people you could possibly talk to because they don't get it. If you're not an entrepreneur, you're not a business owner, honestly, to talk to somebody who's not is not the best way to start because they're going to talk you out of it.

Mm-hmm.

And it's easy when you love and respect another person to be talked out of what your passion is. Don't talk to anyone. In my book, again, I got to bring it up again, Marc, Until the Ink Dries. Until you have created something, have patented it, trademarked it, whatever, developed it, say nothing. Because you could be so talked out of the greatest passion you've ever had by a close family member or a friend who knows nothing about your industry or your mindset.

I love that. Hey, so I'd love to pull back the covers on an effective roadmap for people to execute their big bold ideas. And we'll get to that right after this.

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Welcome back! I'm speaking with the inventress, Lisa Ascolese. Lisa, so let's give— I want to give you a platform to tell us about your book. You've hinted to it a couple of times. Tell us a little bit about what your book's about, how we can apply it, what we can expect if we bite the bullet, go to Amazon, and pick it off a shelf.

Sure. So, my book is a guide to anybody who's developing a business, a product, anybody who's an inventor. Believe it or not, you are in business, people. I've had so many people say to me, I'm inventing a product. Am I in business? Yes, you are. So, The Inventor's Guide to Inventing the Right Way: All or Nothing covers everything. Or thank you for the beautiful picture. From starting your business, starting your product development, naming it and claiming it, every chapter has all of the insights necessary to develop your business or product. And it's chock-full of incredible affirmations. After every chapter, there's an affirmation. And then in the end, there is a journal for you to journal your journey. So, The Inventor's Guide to Inventing the Right Way: All or Nothing, Now or Never is, I mean, it speaks for itself. I was just on a show on ABC. Sandra Buchman. She goes, Lisa, that's such a long title. I go, put it all in there anyway. It doesn't matter. Put it all in there because it is all or nothing, now or never. If you don't do it now, you'll never do it.

Right? So, why is it taking— so, why is taking things step by step so critical in kind of the product development? Like we have the initial idea and then, we want to jump in. We want to make things happen. But to your point, it seems like a lot of times we kind of leapfrog over some critical things. So, tell us a little bit about what success looks like versus what failure looks like when it comes down to the plan.

So, let's talk about failure. So, failure comes with not understanding what it takes to develop a product or a business.

Right.

When I'm taking you step by step through the process, I'm telling you, I'm giving you all of the pitfalls, all of the huge obstacles that you will possibly face, giving you the financial aspects of it, parts of it that's going to be very, very costly. If you take your time and go step by step through the process and understand all of the financial pitfalls, you'll be more successful. Understanding what you're going to go through first before you dive in will help you to prepare your pocketbook, your bank account for the process. So, step by step is super important.

And so, in kind of like a 30,000-foot view, can you summarize what those steps look like? Like what can people expect if they want to start moving their ideas forward? How can we help the audience fill in a little bit of their knowledge gaps today?

Okay, so in a business, if you are building a bit of a, a building and you're starting an ice cream store in a building, what is that building going to cost, right? You're naming the business, you're getting a trademark for the business. What are those incidental fees that you're going to face? Understand every aspect of every part of that business before you get started. You have to. So I'll start in the inventing world. Okay? So in the inventing world, know that the product that you're developing is something that the whole world can use. So do your due diligence. Who can use it? And I'm not saying that it can't be niche, but do your due diligence. See how many people— is it just your mom, your Aunt Nancy, whoever can use it? See how many people could actually use this product. Don't waste your money. Yeah. Developing a product that the whole world can't use. Not to say that you can't market this to everybody, because in today's society with social media and marketing and YouTube and all that stuff, you can sell anything. But don't have it be the most difficult thing that you do. Who's your audience? Where's your audience? What is it going to cost to build this thing? And are you financially equipped to do it? How much extra money Do you have to build this product or this business? Can you get a grant? Can you get funding? Put together a business plan so that when you do approach a bank or you look into getting a grant, what's the feasibility? Step by step, what is the feasibility of getting money if you don't just have money? growing on trees like we all did growing up in the backyard. All had money growing on trees. If you don't have money growing on the tree in the backyard, find out the feasibility of getting money or how much money it's going to cost step by step by step.

Would it be fair to say that most business startups suffer because they're under-financed? They're under-resourced?

Yes, and they don't know.

Yeah.

So, I mean, for— I talk about, I talk about this all the time. I was on, um, SiriusXM Radio almost every week talking about piggy bank. Piggy bank. Anything I ever wanted to do growing up, I piggy banked it. And this is a real thing. I still do it. So envelopes. If you want to have a patent, guess what? Put away $15 a week or $20 a week or whatever it is. towards that patent. And I say this to my clients, really. Anything that you want to build the prototype, this is going to be the cost. Put the money, set the money aside in order to do that. It's a fact. It sounds old school, but listen, we all, we go back to where we began, right? And it's—

Right.

I always go back to where I began. This is how I teach my clients. Piggy bank anything that you want to do and you can have it. Stop buying— nothing against Starbucks, just saying. Put away the $5 or $10. I don't know what the cup of coffee is these days because I don't do it. I make my own cup. Put away the money and get prepared. Be prepared for your finances.

Yeah.

And it's really— you can. I've never gotten a business loan. I've saved my pennies to get my first patent.

Wow.

Really.

Yeah.

Just being honest.

I mean, I'm sure there's people out there who will say, they'll call up and they'll say, oh my God! As an investment, never use your own money. Use other people's money. But those are strategies, right? And that's not what we're really talking about today because ultimately, it's this idea that your resources are tied to your mindset. And so, people who are risk-averse or they have a scarcity mindset, You're going to take your— you're never going to expand on your idea because you can't take the first step in fear. Is that fair?

Right. Absolutely. Absolutely not.

Yeah.

And I mean, today we're living in a time where you do have— we have resources to get money, get grants, and there's crowdfunding and all of those things.

Sure. Yeah.

But you have to have that fearless mindset in order to do that too.

Well, you just mentioned crowdfunding and it was crowdfunding is one of those things that makes entrepreneurship so much more different because you're not only building a product or a service or an offering. You're also building a community, right? Yeah, you are. And it's like, it's totally different. Like the people who actually contribute to crowdfunds emotionally, are automatically tied to your brand. Whether it's a good brand, bad brand, whatever, they're tied to it because now they have a vested interest.

Right, right. And what's important to know too though with crowdfunding, with any kind of funding, you also have to put everything into that. You have to market too. I mean, there's no— one of my clients came to me and said, I put together a platform, a crowdfunding campaign and no one I said, well, who knew?

Yeah.

It's the same thing. People have to know that you're out there in order to build this following.

Right, right. Fascinating. For the people who are connecting with this, how can they get hold of you if they want to use your services?

So, go to my website. It's inventingatoz.com. My Instagram is @the_inventress. info@inventingatoz.com. Love to walk you through the process. Have a consultation with you, 10-15 minute consultation on you, Marc.

Well, thank you very much for the invitation. Yeah, so all the links are in the show notes. So, please make sure you connect with Lisa because when you have this idea, nothing is more frustrating than having this idea and not knowing how to move forward. with it. How do you help people decide what they can afford? Like afford now versus later. Like how do you, when somebody's got the idea and they need to be able to move it forward, what work do you do with them to say, this is what you need now. This is how to build a budget. This is what you're going to need in the future as people move forward?

So, I build a step-by-step plan based upon, I mean, my step-by-step plan is the same for everybody. But it's based upon how you are willing to start. So, I mean, for example, the idea starts with a drawing, right? Start with your drawing. What does that take? Are you going to get a graphic artist to design that piece? But starting step by step and taking a look at your budget is where you start.

And so again, part of it is not knowing again because I believe that most people who are in business they're incidental entrepreneurs. They might not have the skill sets to know it. And so, just the mere fact that it's like, I know this is going to cost me hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars. So, I don't have it. So, I might as well not play. So, are you there to help them walk through the budgeting process as well? Or do they need a separate accountant for that? How does that work?

Well, you should always have an accountant. But I definitely take you step by step through. I mean, always have an accountant. I'm not your accountant. But definitely step by step through things. I understand what things are going to cost. So, it's a matter of can you afford it or can't you?

Yeah.

It's either you can or you can't. These are the costs. You know, inventing is not something that you have to do. It's something you want to do. So, set aside money in your want-to-do account.

Mm-hmm.

And I will take you step by step through whether it's a, you know, getting a patent, getting together a business plan. And you can go step by step through those financial obstacles.

Yeah. You know, when people launch their new idea, whether it's a product, a service, is it fair to say that it seems like when launching this new project, program, or initiative, our mindset is set in one particular way. But our mindset needs to evolve along with the project. So, as the project changes, So much of our mindset has to change along with it. Is that a fair assessment?

For sure. Because most inventors or business developers are still in that space. They're still in the developmental space. They haven't gone over there yet. They haven't gone to the marketing space yet. So, what I do with my clients is tell them, listen, this has to be sold. This pen is not just going to be built. It has to be sold.

Right.

Every business owner, every inventor is so stuck on inventing and developing the business that the brain hasn't gone there yet. It stays in the developmental stage for a very, very long time. So, what I do is I make sure you make a list of the places you see the product being sold. Where is it being envisioned? Where is it being sold? In the beginning, at the beginning stages. And it's a hard thing to do. It really is. But if you're not seeing it on a shelf, it's not there. See it where you want to see it being sold. Envision it. Make a list and put together that business plan or that sell sheet for that space it's going to be sold.

It's almost like the the envisioning process is almost as important as the financing process. Like, you've talked multiple times now in our short time together. You talked about journaling. You talked about visioning. Like, imagine it, vision it on shelves. And so, it seems to me that the outcomes need to be almost vision boarded to the point where you understand exactly what success looks like from every facet.

Exactly! Exactly. I have— I talk about like the journaling and having a canvas and writing on your canvas what you want to see. Like, I mean, what you want to achieve on your canvas. Write it. Where do you see it? Where do you want that canvas? What do you want on that canvas? And how do you want it to explode? See yourself on a billboard in New York City, right? See the product everywhere but take the steps to make it happen. as important as when you started. Like you said, you walk into a restaurant, whatever. They were excited about the restaurant in the beginning, making those tacos or those burgers, those special burgers. And then, in the end, they're like, ah, all right. Here's a burger. Here's a burger, Marc. Here's a burger.

But it feels like that, doesn't it? Like for the customer, it actually feels like that. It feels like the love is gone.

The love is gone.

And it changes in the offering at the end.

It does. It does. But it takes a community to keep that excitement.

Yeah.

It can't just be you. It takes a community. It takes a family. It takes a whole bunch of people who are like-minded in order to keep you there because we fall down but we got to get back up. It's normal. You know, I'm sure in anything that you've done, right, in your career, in your business, you fall down but you got to get back up. You have that amazing wife over there who is saying, let's go, Marc.

I think she just looks at me and goes, why? No, what's interesting to your point though when you talk about community and so on, it's like I've done multiple episodes. We talk about coaches and actually going out and selecting coaches to help you with different aspects. It's not— I think when people think of coaches, they go, oh, I'm going to hire a business coach. And then, they just go out and months later, they're going, but nothing's changed. It's like, but what did you want to change? Well, I wanted my marketing to be better. I wanted my finances to be better. And it's like, well, you hired one coach. That's like going out onto a football field and saying, I have one coach but I still can't kick worth beans. And it's like, we have to realize that, look, even if you mirror sports, you have different coaches for different things.

Right.

And so, you know, to go out and use people like yourself to even turn around and say, you might say at some point, oh, you need an accountant. Let me recommend some people. Or let me show you how you can shop for an accountant who's going to help you through your finances. Right?

Right. You don't leave anybody hanging. So, I mean, yes. I mean, I would say to people out there, talk to someone first and foremost. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I'm going to say it. Who— a free mentor, right?

Yep.

I mean, I— and I'll mentor anybody for free for the first 15 minutes, but I'm not saying me. I'm not doing that. But yeah, maybe me. But speak to somebody who actually cares about what you're doing, really. Yeah, don't hire 5 different consultants. Don't do it, because today everybody's a consultant. Everybody, when I look at Instagram and all these— I'm a consultant, I've been doing this for 5 minutes. Speak to someone who literally cares about what you're doing and can give you, um, history about how things work. I mean, it goes— it's— it doesn't— history does repeat itself. Go back to the basics of communication, what it takes to market, all of those things. Go to a person who is willing to help you because they know what they're talking about, they want to lift and inspire you, and they're not a naysayer, right? So I mean, it's pretty simple.

Yeah.

So go to a person who doesn't cost anything first, who knows what they're talking about, and then if you have to pay for a consultant after that— because you just do, you got to pay for, you know, what you're going to get. You get what you pay for.

Yeah. So, as people kind of take this information in, they have their big idea. They want to go forward. I'd like to talk about some pitfalls and cautionaries. And we'll get to that right after this.

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Welcome back! I hope you are getting tons of value from today's episode. As you can tell, Lisa and I are passionate about today's topic. If you belong to an organization that could use our help, or you might be planning a leadership retreat, or a conference, or somebody you know is, drop us a line. We'd love to explore how we could be of service to you and your people. I know that when we're doing this, it's sometimes really hard to find the resources. But our contact information is in the show notes. So, go ahead, connect with us. We'd love to see how we can serve you. Lisa, it's funny because you just saw that last little plug. That's a piece of software I developed for speakers. And so, to your point, that speaker timer software, as I got into the professional speaking, I got really tired of seeing speakers break the fourth wall of speaking, which is breaking, going from I'm here to serve you to now I'm looking out for myself. And so, I saw lots of bad habits. And so, I developed the speaking timer to your point. But I didn't have coding. So, I went out and I hired somebody to do the work for me. And I spent oodles of money on it without realizing that, oh, operating systems are going to change. I'm going to have to invest more money. Oh, it changed again. I have to invest more money. It's changing again. I have to invest more money. And so, this was something I didn't fathom because what I had in my head was I thought, you know what? If I invent this speaker timer that professional speakers can use that will vibrate in their pocket instead of them going, so, how much time do I have left? Right? Or, I only got a few minutes so I'm gonna rush now. Right?

Yes.

I thought if I could give them something that they could section out, they could put it in their pocket. It'll vibrate very subtly as they're giving their presentation so they know they can move forward and all. And I thought, this is going to be just absolutely fabulous. And it is. What I didn't bank on was that there were things I hadn't even been aware of, which is as much as I thought I could build it and just leave it. But then, all of a sudden, it stops working because the operating systems change. Things evolved and the investment keeps on going. So, I know with business operators, business leaders, innovators, the fear of failure can really hold people back because they hear those kinds of stories. And they're like, well, I never want to be caught with my pants down. So, what do we need to do in order to change that mindset first of all? And how do we become more prepared? I mean, obviously, had I talked to you first, I probably wouldn't be in this boat.

Well, I mean, congratulations. I think it's an amazing, amazing product. I don't know how far you've gotten. And we could talk on a different day and time about your product. And I can help you with how to build it, rebuild it, whatever. I don't know where you are. So, I mean, it's important to do Have someone, like I said before, have someone— you have to do your due diligence— who is in the industry, who can help you. Honestly, honestly, you can't do this on your own. And I'm saying you can't— I don't say much about can't because you can, you must, and you will no matter what. You can do anything. But honestly, you can do things when you have help and you have guidance from the right people.

Right.

You know, I mean, I don't know if you did this on your own. Did you? Develop this on your own and go to a manufacturer on your own?

I went— I did. I developed the idea on my own. Then I went to somebody who could do the programming for me.

Oh, okay. So, okay, that's fine. So, and I mean, there's nothing wrong with that. So you did what you knew you could do on your own, which is— is it protected? Don't tell me that. Say nothing else about— I hope it's protected. Never mind. We'll talk off air anyway. I think it's a great idea. It keeps people on track. Like, you know, at my conferences, I have my daughter who has a timer. It goes, ah, cut!

That's it.

Enough. So, that's a great product. So, I mean, just understanding your terrain. As I said to you before, I walk people through the process. This is the cost. Technology will change and it has changed. Technology has changed for so many of my clients from the When they started 2 years ago, especially if it's something that is a technological device to today.

Yeah.

It's like, wait, what did I just spend my money on? What did I just spend all that money on? But you can't do that to yourself. You just can't do that to yourself. Let it go. Things change. It just does. The process changes. And when you talk about fear of failure, you know what? In order to Succeed, sometimes you have to fail a little bit. You kind of do. And I don't even call it failure. I don't even like those words. I don't call anything failure. I just don't. All of it is a learning process.

Right.

If I didn't do the things that I did and I said, wow, oh my gosh, I probably shouldn't have done it that way, I would not have known to do it this way. I think it's advancement. You know, it's advancement. Whenever you learn from something that you did that you could do better, holy cow! I'm so glad I did that so that I know how to do it this way.

So, what's going on with us and our brains that we think that if we're going to do something brand spanking new that we've never done before, we're going to do it perfectly?

Doesn't happen.

Right?

It just doesn't. No, just it's— and I tell you this. I used to be afraid to say to my clients, you are going to have at least 5 prototypes. They're all going to be wrong. I was so afraid to say this years and years ago.

Right.

Right? But it's a fact. You'll build this pen in the way you think this pen should be built and the manufacturer will get it wrong 70,000 times. All right.

All right.

50,000 times. They'll get it wrong. And you'll say, why couldn't they just get it right? Why didn't I get it right? Why? Well, this was not working the right way. And you'll have to do it again and again and again. It's just the way it is.

Yeah.

So nothing is perfect. Nothing is always. And we're gonna fumble and walk over. And don't beat yourself up. Just keep on getting up. It's a part of the process. And at least you're here.

I would say failure is valuable.

100%, right? I love it.

Because you do things based on your own intuition and your own thoughts and your own experiences. And then, you try something and then you realize, oh well, this aspect didn't work. Or I went too far with this aspect or whatever. And so, you learn from it and you have to move on. And if you spent $100,000 to learn that, that's a $100,000 lesson you just learned.

But you have to be prepared for that. That's what I was saying before, earlier. So inventing or a business, if you're working a job, yeah, nobody, nobody real— well, maybe some people want to work 9 to 5s, I don't know. But having, doing, creating a business or a product is a luxury. Remember that. It's a luxury. You don't have to do it. So you set aside X amount of dollars to do that thing.

Right.

Because you don't have to do it. So, when you're putting money into that business or product and it's $100,000 or $50,000 or $10,000 or $5,000, whatever the thing is, don't get mad at yourself because it's something that you're investing in the side thing, in that side hustle if you want to call it a side hustle or whatever the thing is, the luxury. Because it is. It's a luxury. And then, if it happens to work out and you become wealthy from it, or you make money from it, wow! You win.

You win.

Yeah. And then, you keep on making that thing better and better and better. But give that to yourself.

For the people tuning in, so you just made— so obviously, one of the very first cautionaries is you can't be under-resourced. You have to have the funding and you have to have the mindset in order to move any idea forward. Fair?

Mindset first. Mindset first, right? I mean, of course, you have to have all of the pieces. But what I don't want is for the listener to be, to get— what's the word I'm looking for? Discouraged. Get discouraged because they don't have the financing. Don't be discouraged because you don't have the financing.

There are solutions.

Get your mindset first. There are solutions to everything.

Yeah.

They don't have the financing for the thing. Let's look at grants. Let's look at, I mean, crowdfund. There's things that you can do. Don't be discouraged. Don't think you can't do this great thing that you can change. You may possibly change the world.

So, are there any other cautionaries or any other pitfalls we should be aware of as we try to start taking our big audacious goal and try to develop it out?

So, I mean, work with people you trust. Like use your sense of discernment. We all have it.

Yep.

Rely on yourself. Excuse me. Your own intuition to know who you should be working with.

It's super important. A lot of times, we will have a sense. We'll start working with somebody and we'll get a sense that it's not working out. But then, we convince ourselves that, oh well, we invested so much in them at the moment. So, we'll just see. We'll just play it out. And then, 5 years later, you're looking at it going, I should have made the decision. I should have pulled the plug on that person 3.5 years ago. How do we test out emotion versus logic so that we're making better decisions?

It's such a hard thing to do. It really is. And I get asked this question. It really is. But be quiet. How about that? Be quiet in a place that you meditate. Think about it. Don't rush into anything. Don't listen to the naysayers as I mentioned to you before. Just think about how you feel about the thing. What's happened?

Yeah.

This is where journaling is important too. What have you journaled? What's happened in your business? Really, come on. It's really pretty basic and easy.

Mm-hmm.

Where have we gone? What has this person promised us? Are they honest with us? Do we have conversations, right? You can't be afraid to talk to the person you're working with. You know what I mean? Same as your doctor, right? If I have a doctor I can't pick up the phone and have a conversation with, I don't want to have that. I don't want that doctor. And I'm not saying I'm calling the doctor every 5 minutes. But this is a person who's really important in your life, right? You're spending money. All of my clients know they can call me almost 24 hours a day. And this is the worst thing I could possibly say. At my last conference, one of my clients said, yep, I call Lisa at 2 AM. She picks up the phone because I'm going, it scared the hell out of me. No, I'm kidding. But I mean, I do. Like, my clients are really important to me.

Boundaries, Lisa. Boundaries.

I know that. I mean, I know I shut my phone off. I mean, and there's only one or two. But they know. Because it's a big deal.

Yeah, yeah.

When you're putting your life savings into a thing, which you should not— mortgage your house, don't refinance, don't do all that stuff for a product. Don't do it. I'm telling you, don't. You'll work with companies who'll say, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, isn't your grandmother dying? Take her out the house.

Whatever.

It's a sure thing.

What's there to risk? You just sign over your house. It's never gonna go.

It's good.

You got a sure thing.

I'm not that person. I will I say to you, if this is not something you believe in, I cannot believe in your product more than you do. It's not going to work out. If I have more passion for your product than you do, if you're calling me, you can go, yeah, what's going on? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, uh-uh, no! Let's go, let's go, let's go!

I love that you're so positive. Like, you modeled how important being positive about the idea is. And so, I love a lot of what you talked about today. So today, we talked about you're passionate about your product. Journal. Make sure that you have a way to rewind yourself so that when you're having the bad days, you can go back to it and remind yourself why you're doing it. I think it's brilliant.

Yes.

And then, this whole idea around finances and stuff, being able to know that it's not necessarily a mortgage in your house or you don't have the funds for it. There are different mediums for it. And then, there are people like yourself who could serve them. to help find those obstacles and those knowledge gaps to help them overcome it. As we wrap up, do you have any last thoughts about what we've been talking about today?

I just love where we are. I appreciate being on your show. I really appreciate you. I love your invention. Let's talk about that at a later date.

Oh, that wasn't my invention. That wasn't my invention. It wasn't yours? This is mine. I mean, the speaker app. But that's not what I was referring to at the beginning.

Oh, okay, okay. Because I like that. Well, the speaker app. No, the speaker app.

The speaker app is one, but then I have another invention that I—

All right, so we gotta do that. All right, so, you know, I look forward to connecting with you over it. We'll say my final words are just do it. Just, just, just all or nothing, now or not, uh, now or never. All or nothing, now or never. Just do it. Take your time. Don't rush into it. Talk to me. I will guide you, direct you. I'll give you people you need to help you. I'm not just going to say, yes, come to me and just do this. I will direct you and guide you and tell you what you need to do because I love what I do. I love what I do and I feel blessed to be here.

This has been absolutely fantastic. Could you just remind everybody one more time how they can get a hold of you?

Website, inventingatoz.com. info@inventingatoz.com. Instagram, @the_inventress. Find me anywhere. Facebook, Lisa Ascalise. LinkedIn. I'm just all over the place. You are brilliant.

Thank you so much for sharing with us today. I love your knowledge, your passion. I love the passion you put behind your expertise. It was absolutely brilliant. Thank you so much for doing this.

Thanks for having me, Marc. You take care. Have a great day. Take care.

Thank you very much.

Okay, bye.

And if you have connected with this and you'd like a complimentary 30-minute brainstorming session with yourself and your team, feel free to book yourself on my online calendar. The link is in the show notes. It's the one that says meetwith.marchaine.com. And if you have this big bold idea, why don't you go ahead and connect with Lisa as well? She's offering you 15 minutes to help you discover what it is in your brain and what you need. This is a good opportunity. As always, I am at your service. If you haven't done so yet, please make sure that you subscribe to this feed. Follow me on social media. I'm publishing things all the time. And of course, if you subscribe to the podcast, you'll get notification each and every week when we go live. And so, I'm so grateful that you're here with us today. Thank you for investing your time. My name is Marc Haine. I hope you stay safe, stay healthy, and I hope, I hope you dare to be the exception. Bye for now.