Episode 155: Managing your Number One Client with Susan Vernicek

All right, we're all good here, Christina. And you know, we're going in through our, you know, our usual banter in studio now, by the way, I thought Susan was coming here, so I ran out. I'm like, Susan's here. And there's like crickets.

It was like, no, Susan.

And then he started crying.

Yeah. What did you say, Susan?

I was depressed. I'm depressed and I'm up there right now.

We were psyched to have you especially. Listen, I. I'm kind of a little bit of a stalker. Not by design, but it's become the way of you with your effing workout videos. And I'm not saying like a Matt myself. I can't stop watching your workout videos that are in fast motion. So here's the thing.

Fast motion. You like?

No, no, she hasn't. Fast motion.

Oh, that's cool.

I'll turn on Facebook and you'll see Susan's like, you know, she's on this, like, it seems like an extreme workout plan and diet plan and has transformed herself. Right, Susan?

Yeah. 30 minutes a day. It seems like it's more intense, but that's, that's the fast forward.

Awesome. Because she'll be working out and all of a sudden you'll see a baby crawling by. And during her workout, she'll be throwing the baby up in the air. Put the b. And she's back to it.

It's a good workout.

Yeah. All right.

So you are listening to the Profit first podcast.

It's the big one. Episode 155.

Woo.

There we go.

Yes. Here we go. Here we go.

Oh, I like that better. Do that for now.

Much better. Here we go. Here we go. You know what?

I have facial expressions every day.

What are you?

I'm a shark. I'm a vet.

Oh, you're a vet shark.

Vet shark. Yeah. That's a. It's a long story.

Welcome everyone to the Profit first podcast. I'm your co host, Christina Bolduc.

And I'm Mike Michalowicz, the author of Profit First. Tell me you have that book. How been listening to show and you don't have a copy in your hand and your palm and your paw. You should have one. I'm joined studio by my colleague Kelsey A. Hey, everybody.

Hey.

Hey, how you doing? Did your boyfriend call you a?

No, nobody that. No.

I bet you someone in your family tree was called A. I bet you they weren't. No. The lineage of your name.

You're justifying.

He knows.

And you, my friends, you are listening to the Profit First Podcast. This is a show where we explore every element of profitability, every aspect today's actually interest. I mean, they all are.

Oh my.

Every other episode sucked. This one's interesting though. We're going to talk with Susan Vrnacek, who is going to talk about going all in on a client. You know, so many of us see a big opportunity and say, go deeper. The client. Do more of the client. Sometimes that backfires. Sometimes it works. We're going to explore how to do it the right way and what Susan learned from that experience. And. Well, and other stuff too.

And other stuff too. You can find us on Google Play, Tunein, Radio, Stitcher, iTunes, of course, profit first podcast dot com. Our little home base there and anywhere you catch a podcast. We're there.

We're there. We're there. We're there.

What have you been up to, Kels?

Oo, yes.

Up today.

I like that. So exciting. I'm going to paint a mural at the Costa Rican restaurant across the street.

Really? Yeah.

Yeah. So I'll go there today and prime it.

Kidding me.

No.

And I'm so excited.

Shut the fuck. Front door.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

What are you gonna paint herself?

Money with my feet. Cause you smile.

You didn't specify what I should paint.

No. Oh my gosh.

I'll just paint like mini people. Like all of us on the wall.

All yellow stick figures. We eat here. So what are you gonna paint? That's wonderful.

So it's gonna be like a sunset scene with a house. He has little plates, like scenic plates.

Oh, nice.

So I'll kind of take from that. There's a little huddish house looking El Jefe with a rolling hills and the mountains in the background.

How did that come about?

Yeah, so he's got like some mural issues there and we always talk about me going to Panama because he really loves Panama and if he goes back, he'll live there. And when I was in Panama, I painted murals, so he knew that I painted murals. And we were talking about the other one and he was like, you can do. You can do that one. You can do a one right here. And so there's a whole wall there.

That's incredible. Yeah, you go. I think. Didn't you just book a flight for me to Panama City?

Yeah, I'm going to Panama for you.

Yeah. Yeah. I never even thought about going.

Yeah, I can't wait.

I can't wait. Christine, what you been up to?

Nothing crazy, you know, just hiking and enjoying the outdoors again. I was sick for like Ever. So I'm finally back in the swing of things.

Yeah.

Okay. Keep getting bit by ticks, though, which makes me a little nervous, but, you know, just pluck them off and keep moving.

You live, I think, in the most beautiful part of New Jersey, up the.

Northwestern part, right in the little point there.

Yeah. Yeah. But. But because there's so much woods around you, you're gonna get everywhere.

There's sticks everywhere.

Yeah.

This year is horrible.

Yeah.

What about you, Mike?

Well, I went to Dr. Moy. This is the story. He's my dermatologist. Right. He's the funniest guy on the plant. First he comes in, and he's these big goggles that sit on his head. Yeah. Every time he acknowledges his head to say yes, they fall down. So it's like, oh, it's good to see you. And I fall down. I'm like, good to see you, Dr. Moy. And he goes, oh. You know, he's looking at me. He had the worst skin I've ever seen today. Literally.

Oh, no.

I wanted to diagnose him, and I don't want to give you the details.

Are you feeling dry skin?

No, like Potussi. I swear to you, just this one growth. I'm like, there was a planet being developed on his face.

Oh, my God.

And it was just. It was comical.

What is he supposed to do?

But, I mean, he's looking me. Oh, you're mold. They're growing. You say small. He's giving me all these things. I'm like, your face.

Stop talking about me. Let's talk about you.

And then the best thing is you're in a conversation and have another man pull your pants down is the funniest thing.

Okay.

No, we're talking. He's looking. He's like, everything's fine. And all of a sudden, he's pulling my pants down. He keeps talking like there's no way starters to say, now's the part where you move your trousers. No, he just.

Yeah.

Like it was a cheap movie or something. It was a great experience.

It was really funny.

It was very funny.

Good.

Yeah. Dr. Moy. And the whole time. Oh. And the worst part is. Here's the worst part.

Oh, boy.

This is the worst part. The whole time, when I was. Before I got de pantsed, those goggles, he keeps throwing them up because they're distracting. When he pants down, he had to put the goggles. He put the goggles on.

Oh, my goodness.

He needed to magnify things.

Oh, Lord.

Isn't that funny?

The only time that's just a whole uncomfortable situation.

This happened today? This morning.

It's so funny. You know, you can get facials there.

Really?

Yeah. For free. Well, through your insurance, if you have.

Insurance, you can get a facial.

Interesting.

Is it a dermatological facial?

Yeah, it's like microdermabrasion. Yeah.

And your insurance did cover.

Yeah, I'll pay.

Lucky duck. Hey, hey.

Let's get a massage person here.

Okay.

Write that one down.

Yes.

Yeah, I did that in my old business. We set up the massage room. Like, we can put in the podcast room and just have people walking through the deck.

Yeah, awesome.

Like 15, you know, not like, you know, whatever.

Amazing. My voice teacher actually does a lot of that kind of body work to kind of get you, like, in sync with things. It's amazing. Like, even just five minutes in the table, like, change your life.

Okay, let's do that.

Okay.

Okay.

You know, we started a shout out line, Christina.

Oh, we did?

Yeah.

What's the number?

You don't even know.

You didn't even know this old John.

This is a shout out line that you can call and we'll play a testimonial for. Actually, in a second, you'll call it out, Christina.

Okay.

The Phone number is 844-876-7221. Dial that number not right now, but in the next second or two and give us your shout out. Have you turned your business to become permanently profit? Are you following the profit first method or maybe some other method, but you're now permanently profitable? We want to shout it out. We want to share. So who do we got today that we're gonna share from our hotline?

Today on the hotline, is Justin Thornton.

Here it is.

Hello, my name is Justin Thornton. I'm the owner of Specialty Lawn Care in Morgantown, West Virginia. I was calling to let you know that my accounts, I mean, I have money. More money in my tax account now than I would have had in my entire account, you know, a month ago before reading the book. So I am profitable forever and immensely. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Good job, my brother. Hey, Justin, if you're listening live right now, the Back Door. Been there, been there, great bar. The Back Door in Morgantown. It's like this little. It's in this alleyway. You get down there. I've never been sober in the back door because. Let me know. Because my school was rivals back in the late 90s with West Virginia, and when my best friend from high school and grade school went to West Virginia. So I visited like you Know five or six or seven times for games. And I'd be wearing my Virginia Tech regalia. And everyone's like, oh, like they're nice in West Virginia. They don't beat you up before the game, after a game, or during. They will punch you in the face, but otherwise they'll get you wasted. So everyone's like, I'll get him the drink. You know, can drink more. Which, by the way, they can. So the back door was awesome.

Awesome.

Write that down.

Make note at that door. Take note of that.

Take note of that. One last thing. I want to thank our corporate partners. We'll talk about them in a little bit. Fundera, Fundbox, Nextiva Receipt, Bank Zero. And make sure you listen to Turning Points. You can get that on your podcatcher. It's hosted by me and it's sponsored by American Express. It's a cool six series episode exploring the turning points of business. All right, let's get to our guest.

Let's do it.

Her name's Zuna. Well, it's a long story.

It's a nickname.

Her parents called her Zazuna and I renamed her Susan. Susan.

What a privilege.

I know. I know a lot. People don't know. I rename people. Oh, well, you know I renamed you Kebby.

Yes, you did.

Renamed you Fireball. Yeah, I renamed Zazuna. Susan. Suna Vrnacek is a friend of mine. She is an entrepreneur, motivational speaker, author and name changer. Susan. I'm sorry, we gotta take a pause for the giggle. The giggle girls here. Your mission, Susan, is to provide women with opportunities to. I'm starting to laugh. To discover the vast powers of self acceptance, appreciation and achievement. And Susan, you're a football player, too. Welcome to the show.

Welcome, Susan.

Thank you. Thank you.

Or Susan.

I like my new name.

Well, Susanna, we played football together. Remember that?

Oh, I know. I think you owe me a hundred bucks because I got surgery.

You messed up your knee, I think. Right.

Good job.

Well, here's the good thing. Is that I scored a touchdown while I did it.

Yes.

It was worth it then. Do you remember that?

Yeah. Yeah. You were running a flag pattern. Oh, yeah. Basically, you were crossing the line. Someone threw it over you, snagged it and bolted for the end zone. And then you. I thought you got twisted up.

It did. I tore my. I tore my meniscus.

Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I don't know if that's the same game. My finger got ripped down. Yeah. Was that the same thing?

No, yours was a week before me and Then.

Oh, that's right.

Oh, man.

Yeah. And it was like, what are we doing as adults? Playing football?

That's when I stopped. I said, all right, I'm 30, I'm done.

Yeah. Yeah. But that was a good time, Susan.

It was fun.

Another major risk you took in your life was you committed your business to focusing on a key client. And there were some great wins out of that and there's some challenges. Tell us about your business and then how you went all in with this client.

Yeah. So, you know, I started my online magazine about almost like pretty much 10 years ago, and I left my full time job in 2010. And then over the years, I took your course. As soon as I left my job, I picked up bartending on the weekends. I got a $200 office for Monday through Friday, and I took your first million club class.

That's an old. You two don't know about that. It's old school. Okay.

Yeah, very. Yeah. So that was like my first, you know, that was like my launch out of my quitting my corporate job. And then over the years, I just, you know, went my own pace. I stayed focused. I try not to get overwhelmed. And, you know, digital media is always changing, always evolving and growing. And so I was doing that and, you know, creating different revenue streams. And then just a few years ago, 2012, I believe it was 2012, I landed a really big client, a really big contract leverage, leveraging my passion in marketing and leveraging the magazine in content marketing. And their goal was to reach my audience, women and moms. And so I worked with them actually for like three years. And it was my biggest contract. We did content marketing. I put everything into them. And leveraging the magazine, our magazine was their top five revenue traffic driver to their website.

Wow.

Their business grew, their social media grew, and then they got acquired.

Okay.

Yeah.

So we're talking.

Which was good.

Yeah.

Which was great. Great for them. You know, it was, you know, they had such success. I learned a boatload. I know that what I did worked and. But. But then they didn't really need me anymore because the other company didn't need me. And it just. The other company I worked with for a little bit with the transition and helping them and showing them all the metrics and the content and all that kind of stuff. But a lot of my other side, all of my other revenues I really didn't focus on because I was going really hard on them. And so once they were gone, I was like, shit, I'm back at square one. And so I'M never doing that again. And to this day I'm constantly adding revenue drivers and you know, it's always fine tuning and touching up. And you know, when I implemented the profit first strategy with my accounting and my bank account, that just eased a lot of stress and has really helped me maintain a cash based business. I don't have any credit card debt, I pay everything with cash. And you know, that was just, it was a big, huge experience that I learned from and I'm so glad that it happened in so many ways. And yes, but you know, that's what happened.

Well, this is what we want to explore because I think many of our listeners get stuck in that one magnificent client who seems to be the end all, be all and then they disappear one day. So let's kind of put some backfill in first. Identity magazine, that's your magazine. What is the magazine about and who's a target?

Yeah, so our main target is it's women, it's moms and entrepreneurs. And we empower women to discover their power of self acceptance, appreciation and personal achievement. We call it the Getales in the game of life. And it's really a self help empowerment magazine that we have a variety of articles. I have over 150 contributors that contribute when they want, when they can, when they have a story, an experience or tips or advice that they want to share to our readers and to our women. And the goal is when they come to our site, they feel safe, they can embrace their flaws and all. It can be perfectly imperfect. You're not gonna find celebrity gossip, you're not gonna find trash talking. You're not gonna find anything that's gonna make you wanna change in any way. We're here to uplift and to embrace your identity and just to cheer each other on. And so with that, with the magazine, it just continues to grow. And I published books and I get to do private, intimate workshops and I've done retreats and all that kind of fun stuff.

Okay, so you have the magazine, it's circulating, it's growing in popularity, more women and women entrepreneurs specifically are discovering it. And then this one client comes your way. Do they come to you because of this magazine or why did they come to you?

Yeah, yeah, so they were introduced with me because of the magazine and my audience. And then they background checked me, my Facebook, my LinkedIn. My LinkedIn is what actually closed the deal. All the recommendations and the reviews was what made them want to work with me. And so they wanted to work on content marketing. We wanted to Talk about the products, teach people about label reading and ingredients, and then push that through with social media. Break down those articles and social media bites and posts and Pinterest and infographics, and just really spread the message and do giveaways and just build that engagement. And so that's how they. We connected. We were introduced, we connected, we talked, we brainstormed. And then I had a ton of, you know, ideas for monthly articles, monthly content, and in addition, they had banners and advertising. So you're capturing all those points, those touch points with banners and articles and social media posts. And so people, my readers, are seeing the product and the brand over and over again. And so that's what we did.

Okay, so you start focusing on this client. You're serving them. It sounds like they're thrilled. How long did you work with them? How many years?

Three years.

Three years. Okay, so you're working with them three years, and then that acquisition moment comes where we're about to find out what happened. But I suspect a lot of it goes away at any point during those three years. Did you say, I'm going too much all in on this, or did you just feel like this is just getting better and better?

No, I definitely had that torn feeling of, oh, this is like, this is awesome. This is great experience. And I'm all about the opportunity. I always see the opportunity. Sometimes I see the opportunity too much, and I don't really, you know, take a step back to say what's the right decision. So, yeah, I struggled with me being all in, but at the same time, I was getting. I was pregnant. I was. Then, you know, I was getting married.

Inappropriate. She said she was inappropriate.

You know, then I was. I found I was pregnant with twins. And, you know, think financially, and you're like, oh, geez. And I just, you know, kind of just stuck in it.

Okay, okay, so, all right, so you're feeling stuck, but at the same time, it's making you money. You're. I assume you're getting more and more profitable over these. This three years. Is that true?

Yep. And I. And I'm. I'm securing a program, a content marketing pro program, leveraging the magazine. Like, I saw all these opportunities of this, what this can do in the future for doing this for more companies, for more small business owners and entrepreneurs that are looking for affordable brand awareness and exposure and looking to get content out there and leverage an already existing readership. And so I just kept thinking, oh, but this is good for my resume. This is good for results. This is good for Me to see what works and to show people that our magazine was their top five traffic driver. And we took their social media from, you know, X to X. And I just kept focusing on that. That it just, it just was too. It kept me, it took me away from the other priorities that I needed. And the balance, it took me away from the balance.

Well, that became apparently clear the day the acquisition happened. So tell us when the acquisition happened. How did that affect you? What happened to you?

Well, they gave me a heads up and they just said that they loved everything that we've done for them. They loved working with the magazine, they loved all the content. But at this point, they were being acquired and that the other company, it was a Mediterranean company, they had a team in place in Connecticut and if they needed, if they wanted to continue with the content marketing piece, that they would reach out to me. And I had a few conversations with that company, but nothing really panned out. But they gave me a heads up and they gave me. They said, we're gonna, you know, because obviously, you know, it takes time for the transition for that to happen.

Yes.

So during that transition, we continued to drive the awareness to their. About their products and just, we just slowly dissolved it until the other company took over. And so as that was happening, I was trying to get everything else back up, live in my business on the other end that I, that I slacked on and kicking myself. But at the same time, I'm like, okay, what are my takeaways? What are my lessons? How can I leverage this success with this for future business?

Did it hurt profitability? Did you lose profit because this client went away? Or did you have enough of a Runway to get new clients in while this one faded away?

I never went into debt, so that was a good thing. And I never had to. I never missed my bills, which was good, and never had to charge anything. So it definitely took a. I definitely took a hit. And then there was about another year until I got back up and running to the income that I had at that point.

Okay, so a good year hit. Now let's go into the lessons learned. You had this torn feeling. I first want to explore that part. As you're going more and more in with this one client, you said you had this torn feeling. I'm sure some of our listeners right now say, you know what? I got that one big client and it makes me nervous. But man, so much money. What do you teach them? What's the lesson? You can depart.

You have to follow that gut and you have to Figure out the solution to release that feeling. Because I could have. I could if I outsourced a little bit quicker, a little bit sooner, and a little bit cleaner is the word right now. But that's not the right word. Like more efficient. If I was a little bit more efficient in choosing the right people to help me execute this whole big project, I wouldn't have felt that way. But I couldn't let go. I wasn't managing well enough. I was all in. And I had fear of letting somebody else and then the fear of training somebody else. And, you know, I just lacked on getting those systems in place. It could have been so much easier. So if you're having those feelings, you've got to figure out, figure out a solution just for your mental health. Figure out the solutions of how you can resolve that stress or that torn feeling even if you're not losing the client. How can you outsource it? How can you get somebody on team to help you continue it so you can grow? Because I was so stuck that I wasn't able to grow because I was so in it.

Right.

It sounds like an all the eggs in one basket scenario. And while I was making money for you, it sounds like you also knew throughout this three years that this could go away any second.

Exactly.

Okay, so what I'm hearing from you is make the hire. You can then seek out other business and therefore diversify your portfolio of clients and be profitable on a more stable basis. Okay.

Yeah.

All right. So, okay, so there's one lesson learned. Trust your gut. Now the acquisition hits and you went through some steps to save your business. What are the steps you can depart to us on saving the business and keeping it going?

What I did was I looked at all my revenue drivers and then I looked at what are some other revenue drivers, and I just brain dumped and just scrapbooked a ton of ideas and what makes the most and what do I like to do the most? And how can I attain these clients and these drivers and build these revenue drivers? And so that was the book launch. So I started working on my next book series. I secured two years of paid speaking gigs, which launched my speaking career, and my workshops, my intimate workshops that I do for my signature identity V. So I was able to, you know, the first step was going back to the drawing board of looking at what makes me money. Now, how can I enhance those drivers and what can I write down for the next drivers to implement, to add? So like now every year I try to add another revenue driver, and then I just I focus on that revenue driver for that year. But at the same time, my team and I are fine tuning and perfecting all the other ones just to make sure that they're all still moving forward and bringing in, you know, meeting our goals and stuff like that. But the first step was just going back to the drawing board and seeing, okay, what is already pulling in money and how can I pull in more money and how can I deepen those pockets. And so the one, the biggest thing that hit after this acquisition was my speaking career. And I landed a huge two year contract with Wounded warriors and I traveled the states and I did. I was hosting private workshops for the caretakers, the women, the caretakers of our Wounded Warriors. And I can't even tell you that was the most. It's not even about money at that point. It was, I feel like God was sending me there for me, you know, like I'm there for these women. But I left crying in my hotel room at night because of how amazing the opportunity is to provide an opportunity for these women to speak up, to share their successes as caretakers and as women and as moms or as wives, you know, whatever their role is, all the layers of their identity are. And I was able to provide these workshops, these intimate workshops and creative space for them that they don't get every day because they're taking care of our soldiers, of our veterans. And that was a huge turning point into, for speaking in workshops for me. So that was the initial, that was my first transition point.

Now, well, I was expecting you to say is you lose this client of yours and then panic ensues, pick up the phone, call anyone, sell any service. But it sounds like the ideal opportunity fell into your lap. Is it divine intervention? Is it? You were now open to considering new projects and stuff like this may have always been sitting out there.

I think it's a little bit of everything. And you know, when I first started, when I first. So the contact for the wounded war is she attended my number eight. So when I first published my book in 2011, after I left my job, I said, okay, nobody is buying this book, nobody knows who I am. How the heck am I going to get this thing out? What am I going to do with it? How am I going to implement it? So I said, you know what, I'm going to tie it in. I'm going to do a 48 state touring workshop. It just came out of my mouth. I don't know where it came from. And I'm like, I'm going to host These workshops in different states. And the gift will be the book and I'll just package it into the price of the workshop. So I did eight and then I ended up getting engaged. But my eighth one was in Arizona. And it was, the workshop went, it was supposed to be three hours, it went five hours. It was the most successful workshop that I've had out of those eight initial touring stops that I did. The woman in there at the time, she was, she didn't have a job and she, she had a phenomenal experience and transition within that workshop just in her confidence. And so a few years later, that's what happened. She had reached out to me and right after this had all happened, and she said, let's talk about your speaking, your workshops. I know that I saw you in Arizona and now that I work for the programs for the caretakers, I'd like to hire you, I'd like to bring you and support these women. And so here I was. That Arizona wasn't profitable. I lost like 150 bucks. I lost my plane ticket. It wasn't profitable. I believe in not canceling your events. Even if there's one person or three people, you do not cancel because you get so much out of it. You get experience, you get, you know, the people who are there are meant to be there for a reason. You practice, you learn how to make it even better. There's just. I don't believe in canceling anything. And so I didn't. Even though I was not profitable. But here I am, years later, a two year contract, you know, seven workshops. There's just. And the timing. So I think it's a little bit of everything. It was just me showing up earlier in my years and divine intervention and the universe and, you know, maybe my dad watching over my back, who knows?

And just raw integrity. I mean, you show up to an event where there may be one person the world knows, but the one person I know knows you're integral is yourself. And so that sustains integrity. Integrity. So, okay, so one thing I'm hearing is you diversified your offering set. You weren't just helping this one client with one thing. You start speaking, you had the books, you're doing these workshops. Did you. How did you start finding more clients and did you diversify or did you stay in a niche for clients?

So my, I started the workshops and the speaking are always for women. You know, there's for a women audience. It's for my signature identity 5. It's a self help, empowerment, hands on, interactive workshop. So that is that's my niche for there. I travel, I get hired, and I speak with small groups that I can interact with, and they can interact like no more than 50 in a room. That was that. Then the books. I have my books, and it's the get all A's and the Game of Life. And I started with my entrepreneur edition because I have a ton of entrepreneur readers and. And I was able to sell advertising in the back of that book. And I have advertising on my website. I have products and shirts. I have my deals for you program. That is a program for small business owners and entrepreneurs that need marketing help. That, you know when you get those emails saying, can you share this on your Facebook page? Can you tweet this? Can you share this to your email list? Well, I took that because I couldn't do that for free forever, everybody, and built a program where it allowed us to do that for these companies that are a member and leverage my social Media, leverage my 10,000 email list and my Facebook page that we posted for them on their behalf. So I built that revenue driver. And so my main focus is women and female entrepreneurs now. And just like my number one, those are my top two readerships.

Okay, so what I'm hearing is you stayed very loyal to a specific community, women entrepreneurs, mom entrepreneurs. And you just started offering a more diverse product offering. So you stayed in one community and just found more things that they could use.

Yeah, Yep. Books, my workshops. And. And then if they need help with the marketing, they can leverage the magazine. They all write for the magazine. And then, you know, people are reading their articles, they see their banner, they see their services, they see that they're offering a discount for identity readers. So it's all those touch points.

On.

The mat within the magazine.

But one thing I love that you did, and maybe we can explore this further, is you saw your clients demonstrating a certain behavior that they wanted you to promote them for free. And you said, hold on, if people want this, maybe there's an opportunity to monetize that. Is that a strategy to finding new product offerings?

Yes, I. Yeah. And how do you do it? But I love about it is that it, like, you know, we talk about win, win, wins. It's a. It was a win, win, win for everybody. It was a win for us because it was another little revenue driver. It was a win for the entrepreneur, small business owner because it's at the time was only $365 a year. Now it's only $500 a year. So it's pennies for you know, for unlimited, for a year of our support for them. And it's a win for our readers because they' discounts new leaders, new mentors, new authors. And they're getting, you know, $5 off. They're getting free shipping, they're getting free consultation. They're getting whatever the deal is. It's almost like Groupon, but it's for small business owners and entrepreneurs.

So back to profitability. And my final question to you is, listeners are listening in. They, I know, are in the same position as you. Either they were at that point where that big client went away and maybe panic has struck it in, or maybe they're starting it scratch again like you had to restart over, basically. What do you advise your entrepreneurs, your huge following? What do you advise them to? Getting profitability in the door.

Well, the thing that really shifted for me was your system, of course.

Perfectly.

Like, seriously, that just forced me to get organized. I have my tax account, I have my operating account. I have. I even have my event account. So every now and every. Every time I get paid, I even put. Even if it's $5 in an event account. So if I ever have event again, I have that cash flow.

Beautiful. That's so beautiful. All right, I'll take that as the divine answer.

Yeah.

We got two more things for you. I want to learn more from you where our listeners can find out about you. But first, I got a sound for you. And Christina and Kelsey last week figured out what it was. But since we haven't aired that one yet, you don't. Haven't heard it yet. You gotta guess, Susan, what this is. Are you ready?

I gotta guess what it is. Okay.

All right, guess what it is. Here it is. You ready? Did you hear that?

I heard it.

What do you think that's from.

From a movie? Yes, close.

It's a movie.

Creepy.

Creepy. Yeah. If. Do you need another hint? You can phone a friend, which is either Kelsey or Christina.

Yeah, I'm phoning a friend.

Phone a friend. The friend cannot give the answer, by the way. The friend has to give a hint. So who do you want, Christina or Kelsey?

Kelsey.

Okay, think of a scary movie.

That was horrible.

I should know this. I love.

All right, now we're gonna call. You can phone Christina now. One more hint. Christina.

I don't know. Christina.

I don't know. She gives a really good.

Maybe give her a number.

13.

13 ghost.

Oh, that's a good guess. That's from Friday to the 13th. That's Jason. That's Jason from Friday the 13th. As a prize for losing. We will send him over for a visit. All right. Hey, so where. Susan, can people find out more about your wonderful organization? Identity magazine, all that stuff.

Identitymagazine.net. you can find out everything there. I've everything, me, the magazine, everything. Just go there.

That's how Jason stuck in. One more time. That's how you do. Everyone go to Identity magazine. Susan, it was a joy having you and we totally missed having you in the studio.

Yeah, I know. I'm so sorry. I'm so bummed. These twins, they gotta get in preschool.

I am thinking like a little if we'd love to have you down here, maybe if you're up for. And we gotta figure out a little barter. It's gotta be a win for you. But those crazy workouts you're doing, I think we'd all like to do it here. Event space.

Yeah, we'll do them on.

That'll be funny if. Think about it. If you're up for it, we'd love to learn from you.

Sure. We could do a video. All we gotta do is hit play. We could do insanity.

There we go.

Nice.

All right, Susan, we'll see you later. Thanks for joining us today. Or it should say Zuzan. All right, my friends, we'll see. Here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna recap what we learned in just a minute. We're gonna do a special sound effect just for Kelsey because she wanted one and. But first. Oh, I knew that.

There you go.

One more time. But first. There we go. We're going to talk about our corporate partners and do the special thing for Kelsey. So thank you, Nextiva. That's our voice over IP phone system. Go to nextiva.com. you need a phone system. Start by checking them out. I think they're gonna be a perfect solution. Receipt, bank. All those receipts that pile up your account and your bookkeeper. Hopefully they're profit first. Professional saying. Hey, I need your receipts. You're like, oh, oh. You're going through your wallet, your shoebox. Just keep going. Uh, you don't have to anymore.

That happens to me all the time.

It does. I noticed you do it a lot. I go, hey, where's my receipt? Drink no more. You could just pull it up on your phone and say, here it is, and then go, I don't know how to open the app on the phone. Xero, thank you for being such a wonderful and faithful sponsor. We'll see you later, alligator. But this is your last chance.

Everyone.

Go to Xero. Dot com. That's spelled an X. It's X E R O. This is a cloud accounting software built from the ground up. It's been a joy working with you and we hope to see you back real soon. Fundera. That's a one stop shopping for your loans. They educate in the loans. You can go to fundera F-U-N-E-R-A.com and check out what's going on for loan options. They'll teach you everything. And of course fund box. That's a cash flow accelerator.

Yeah, man.

Okay. And here's the sound. Oh, that's not it. It's an owl. It'll take a minute to start.

Go.

What the hell's going on? I've made up my mind. It's a video. So that's the hint. Here comes. Come on, talk. Oh my God.

Should be alone.

Fast forward. That's what I wanted to play for you, but I missed it. Cuz the beginning.

Cindy la. Time after time.

Here, here's the. Yeah, now let me play over that.

It is very close. It is.

You thought Jason was Cyndi Lauper. It does go with it.

It does.

Yeah.

Here with James.

Does anybody else know what I'm talking about?

Okay, that's funny. So you thought Jason last week was Cyndi Lauper. Getting jiggy with it. Well, that was her. I pulled up her.

Yes. Getting jiggy with it.

You did? No, no, I pulled up her video for you and there's like this. That's such a good song. Yeah, I pulled that video for you and I didn't realize there was a whole banter in the beginning.

So I thought you were playing like a clip from an old movie.

I know.

I was like, how are we gonna guess that?

Yeah. No, no, no, no, no. Okay, what else we got to do? Oh, what did we learn today? Who wants to go first? I'll go first.

You go first.

Time. Time after time. Play. Time after time. I wrote it down.

Can we flip our papers?

Yeah, here it is. All right, here it is. The torn feeling, like you got to effing respect that.

Yeah, Yeah.

I feel like so many episodes we hear the same thing.

I used to date this girl.

The one with the skin rash all over.

That was Dr. Moy. And we did date for a little bit. Oh, until he put those glasses on. Embarrassed me. I had a torn feeling we were dating. And you know what I'm talking about. You know the exact glasses I'm talking about. Kelsey.

I do know.

It's hysterical. They are like, like you know, welders, like, welders would be embarrassed to wear glasses of this size. It just swings down.

You're gonna have some serious apologizing to Dr. Moore.

No, he's, like, completely oblivious to social standards. I think he's totally oblivious.

He's wearing blood pants.

He just says whatever.

He pulled down my pants in the middle of a conversation. Not related to pants pullings. The torn feeling. You gotta trust that torn feeling. So I dated this girl for a short period of time, and the whole time I was like, this is not right. Not right. And I continued on the relationship. So that was a big hit.

That's a no. No.

Yeah. Listen to your torn feeling and become. Oh, and the other thing is you can become an employee of the company you work for. Like Susan or Suzanne started her business to. For, you know, financial freedom and personal freedom. And yet she became an employee to this company. And one day they said, you're fine, Right?

Yeah.

So watch out for that. What are your takeaway, Christian?

Don't put all of your eggs in one basket. And she talked about how she did it. You know, you work on getting a new. You know, I forget the term that she used, but a new client every year. Put your focus on that client. But as you're doing that, have your other team kind of fine tune your other clients so that you can keep bringing in new ones so you have a focus for a year so that all your clients feel important. But it's important to have multiple. Because if you go with one, your fate. I would be nervous about it.

You're facing someone else's hands, you know, who fake it. Who focused on one person. Jason. He would go after one person. Murderers do that. Murderers focus on just one thing. One client. What was your takeaway? That was a leap. That was a big leap.

Yeah, only a little.

What was your takeaway?

I mean, my takeaway is I'm grateful that it happened. I think that it gave her the space.

Yeah.

To sit back and figure out who she wanted to serve and how she wanted to serve them in new ways that she wasn't thinking about before. And it opened up all these avenues that were way more fulfilling for her. So the work that she's doing matters to her. It impacts her in a way bigger way. So I'm grateful that it happened. And I think that's important. It's all part of the journey.

That's a great takeaway.

Thank you.

That's a great. I think a lot of people. And when I say a lot of people, I'M talking about myself. I lose that big client, panic ensues tomorrow. I need that big client. She allowed herself the space is what I'm hearing, to learn from this.

Well, and you don't have to wait until you have that big loss to go back to the drawing board. She talks about, you know, you know, looking at her revenue drivers and saying, okay, what do I want to focus on? What do I like doing? And then how can I expand on that? And who can I help while I'm helping myself?

There's a common theme. If you. If you do what you like to do, if you focus on what matters to you, profitability follows.

Right.

Thank you.

All right, we gotta get rock and rolling out of here.

Yes, sir. Well, you know.

Where the hell the script am I?

So you can leave a comment on profitfirstpodcast.com of course, leave us a rating at stitcher, itunes, any podcast, or tell us how all over the place that we are. We'd love to hear from you.

Yeah, leave us a comment. We'll respond in kind of. And go to profitfirstprofessionals.com Please, please, please. Not for us, for you, for you, for you. Do you care about you? Do you really care about you? Well, then you go to profit first Professionals. Why? Because I'm doing it again. Go to profit first professionals. Why? Because. Wait, tell me number three, number point of three. The reason is our members are accountants, bookkeepers, and coaches. We call them the ABCs who care about driving profitability in your business. The most important element of your business is its profitability. That's where sustainability comes from. You more than deserve profitability, your business starves for it. So make it happen. Go to profit first professionals.com. click on the find button. Step one. Step two. Step two. Fill out the form. Step three. You'll be connected with a profit first professional. These are all independent businesses. They become certified in their method. I've personally trained them. Our team has trained them. And you will get to evaluate them on your own. So if you like the first profession you're connected with, work with them. If you want to evaluate more, do that. But definitely engage a profit first professional to drive your business to the highest levels of profit. Eva.

Eva.

Eva. All right, we're out of here.

Thanks.

Bye, Jason.