Episode 191: Woman-Owned Businesses in the Entrepreneurial World with Elizabeth McCourt

This episode is brought to you by my friends at Pitney Bowes. I know you know that name. And no matter what you send or how often Pitney Bowes has your sending solution, you can print postage from your office and take advantage of a special discount, such as saving $0.03 per letter versus the price of a stamp. Plans start as low as five bucks per month. Visit pb.com profit first to to learn more and sign up for a free trial. That's PB like, you know, peanut butter. PB.com profit first terms apply C site for details what do you think about this wind? It's so dry.

Yeah.

It's painful.

We went. We took the dogs for a walk yesterday, and we lasted maybe around the block. It was so, like, I felt like my face was frozen.

Yeah.

I can't handle it.

Yeah. So this will probably broadcast, like, in the middle of summer by the time this gets out, but. Yeah. Two days ago, it was 9 degrees. Yeah. This morning was 6, 16.

It was 8 on the way in.

And I get, like, itchy. My legs start itching like crazy. Me too.

That's funny.

I couldn't fall asleep last night because they were so itchy.

Oh, my God. It's the worst. So what do I do? I start itching my legs. And in the moment, there's relief. It's like, oh, finally it's going away.

It was like blood.

Then it gets worse.

I just demonstrated it now. I was itching, and then when I stop itching, I want to itch it more. And then you're right. They start scratching myself, and it becomes this, like, psychotic episode of leg itching.

Yeah, I know.

It's all how to moisturize.

What do you use? What do you do?

I use Gold Bond.

Isn't that for crotch rod?

Oh, God, no.

That's what it's made for. Yeah.

The powder is, isn't it?

The powder? Yeah. But they have a whole line of.

Of.

Of lotion.

Oh, I didn't know that.

And it's very. It's very. I love it. Like it. I use the healing kind. And it's. It's wonderful. Like, cures cracked skin if you.

And does it stop the itching?

Yeah.

My wife's like, oh, you have to use coconut oil.

That's good, too. No, some people break out with coconut oil.

I have. I've rubbed myself down with coconut oil.

I know. That's what I was gonna say. It doesn't work for me.

It does nothing. It makes me more itchy and then smelling, like, every time I itch. It smells like I'm at a. A Caribbean bar.

I know.

It's not the worst thing in the world. Try the lotion.

Who doesn't want to smell like a Caribbean bar?

That's a good point. That's a good point.

On that note, you are listening to the Profit first pod.

Been a while since we talked to you, but not that long. It's only been a week. All right, welcome. Episode 192.

My headphones are blowing out again.

Oh, Brian, I thought we had it all fixed up. It's blown out. Listen, it's all blown out. What the hell? We had it all fixed. All right, we'll get that.

Yeah. So you're listening to the Profit first podcast. Welcome, everybody. I'm your co host, Kristin Tina Bullock.

And I'm your host, Guy Mike Michalowicz, the author of. Well, hey, a brand new book that's coming out called Clockwork.

Yay.

I already had my first friend say, did you drop the l in that Mike? Get it.

Oh, Lord.

So here's what happened. I sent out the COVID How old.

Are your friends, really?

We're all two years old. I sent out the COVID and he goes, did you miss the l in it? I'm like, what?

He said back.

He'd remove the L. Oh, my gosh. I'm like, what a jerk. And I saw. I couldn't stop.

Imagine you printed like 2,000 copies.

Oh, my God. I had a friend, Barry Moltz. Barry Moltz, business hacks. He wrote it on the spine. They forgot the S. It said be ness b u I n e s s buiness hacks. 2000 books with beauty. This hacks. So you get them all reprinted. His publisher took care of it. So I'm the author of a brand new book called Clockwork. TikTok. So TikTok, Clockwork. And of course, Profit first. And you, my friends, you're listening to the show we call the Profit first podcast. This is where we discuss everything about profitability. And I'm joined in studio also by Kelsey Ayers.

Hello, everybody.

Who has an itching problem.

We just discovered Mike has the itching problem. So you know where you can find us? Stitcher, Tune in radio, Google Play, itunes, and of course, Profit first podcast dot com. What else?

Putting music back on is. I cut the music way too early.

That was. This is good.

Yeah. Yeah.

What's going on, folks?

So. So I got an itching problem. No, I wrote down a note to share with you guys, and I cannot read my own note. Oh, that's what I've started my quest to find a place to live.

Now I got in Maine, right?

We went to Maine. We went to Portland, Maine, and not a city for us, but the people are very nice.

Yeah.

We get there and someone. We were into a restaurant and another group of people come up to us and we all kind of were standing next to each other in line. They go, are you guys Mainers? And I'm like, no, I didn't even know you call yourself Main. Yeah, I'm like, no, I'm a New Jerseyers.

New Jersey, Yeah.

I don't know what you been up to.

Well, it was the holidays, so spending time with family and I had a day off yesterday which was super awesome. And I didn't do anything productive with it.

That's awesome.

Yeah, but you work too much, I think. Yeah, I mean, I don't. I think I still work less than a lot of people.

True.

Just don't handle it very well.

I didn't. Yeah, yeah.

I didn't say you work well. I mean, you just work a lot. What about you, Christina?

Yeah, it was just the holidays. It was really nice to actually have some time home and not be in my car all the time my first year.

Get a little closer to that mic.

I could remember.

There you go.

The first year since I could remember that I actually spent Christmas time stay home. We didn't do any traveling and it was very strange but very rewarding.

It's such a relief.

Yeah.

Well, we're gonna know from you listeners, what have you been up to? How was your Christmas? Now, when's this broadcasting? This is not until March. How is it? How was it four months ago for you? Yeah. Share with us what you've been up to.

What you've been up to.

Go sit on her something.

So can I do a shout out real quick?

Yeah.

Are we there? We're there, I think.

Give me a shout out.

So this comes from David King from Skygo Motorcycles in the Philippines. He said he started implementing the profit first concepts about four months ago. And he said back then when they. Their business was first starting out as an owner, they had like a feel for everything. But as the business grew, so did the complexity. So he said the profit first system has enabled him to keep things simple and slowly gain back that feel that he wasn't feeling anymore. Um, but you no longer had to track percentages or didn't spend 80% of his workday in meetings and neck deep in reports. Now he spends 80% of his working hours talking to different people at different levels of the organization. And he's just says that within four months into profit first he feels like a startup again. He's hungry, he's energetic and he's very thankful. Shout out to you, David.

David.

That's awesome.

Congratulations, my brother. Keep it going. I've never. I've ridden on a motorcycle once. I've never driven one.

I rode on the back of like a motorbike once.

Oh, like a dirt bike?

Yeah, yeah, they're fun.

Have you.

I've driven a dirt bike. I've never done an actual. Like I've ridden on the back of a motorcycle, but I've never operated it.

That'd be fun.

Dirt bikes are awesome.

Yeah, that'd be fun to ride dirt bikes. Maybe we should do as a group thing.

Yeah, I think it's pretty scary.

Oh, really?

Do a quad. You can do the four. The four way.

Yeah, I'll do a quad. That's good.

Okay.

Do you guys have any shout outs? We want you to call us. What's the number?

Mike at 844-87-67221. That's right. 844-876-7221. And there is a recorded thing. There's no one live there, but we'll have a message waiting for you. And we want to hear about your prophet. First testimonial, then we'll play it on air and supposedly there was hundreds of them that are interned.

Supposedly there wasn't hundreds of them.

It was so confusing. Was there any?

Yeah, there are a couple. A couple.

And so where are they? Like we still have to get them queued up.

Yeah, exactly.

Okay, okay. But we want to get yours. Don't be so shy. Brag and promote yourself a little bit. All right, a couple more things, then we'll get down to the business at hand. I want to thank our corporate partners and make the show a reality. So thanks to Fundbox, Nextiva and Receipt bank, they are main supporters and make the show a reality. We'll give you more details on those folks in just a little bit. But today the task at hand is talking about women owned entrepreneurial businesses.

I'm sorry, women.

I know your speech is all off.

What is wrong with me?

It's the first day back from the holidays.

Is it?

Yeah.

No first day back. Every single episode. I'm effing things up.

I'm just nervous.

I am nervous.

Have a little grace with yourself. We all do it. You just talk the most so it's more obvious.

Listen. You're obvious.

I like how you slam me and talking. You would be tough to date. Like you would just like insult the crap out of your signature.

I know.

She's like, you're an idiot, but you're a nice idiot. I like you, fool.

I'm like a sour patch kid.

Okay.

Oh, my God.

Commercial.

First you're sour, then you're sweet.

Yeah, yeah. You are a sour patch kid. All right. Are you a women owned? A women owned business? You asked. All right. For women. Women. Women. Just women. Now I'm all confused. For women owned entrepreneurial businesses. Yeah, that's we're talking about today. And we have a very special guest. Her name is Elizabeth McCourt and she is a certified leadership coach, speaker, and writer. Trust me, none of that stuff is easy. A background. She has a background in executive recruiting and financial services for over 20 years, and she works with individuals and teams as a strategic partner in both their professional and personal goal setting and achievement. Her passion is in languages and travel. And I gotta ask her what languages she speaks, but here's a couple things you may not know about her. She gave a TEDx presentation, why you Should Spill youl Secrets. Mm, that's some pretty nice. Her first book was entitled Sin in the Big Easy. That sounds intriguing. And she's a triathlete.

Yeah.

Nice.

All right, it's official. Welcome to the show. Elizabeth, welcome.

Hey, guys. Thanks for having me. And thanks for the kind introduction.

Thanks for not hanging up on us during that calamity.

To start, I want to get involved in the fun.

Can you tell us about those women owned businesses?

Yeah. What are they telling me about? Women owned? First tell me about what languages you speak.

Well, I think a beer does me well with a little more of my German. So I do conversational German and I also. Yeah, yeah, stupid. And also Spanish.

Oh, I say Spanish. That is right in Spanish. Best Perfectoi. Perfecto.

I just got back from Germany, so now I'm speaking Spangledeutsch a little bit. So it's.

Wow.

That's awesome.

Wow. So I want to talk a little bit first about your journey from intrapreneurship to entrepreneurship. And then I want to get the lessons from you of how it translates. So how did you become an entrepreneur yourself?

Well, you know, it's. It's interesting because I. I have been an entrepreneur in the past, but prior to doing my current business, I was 17, 16 years as a recruiter for an organization which is very much full commission based. And I like to call it an entrepreneurial type of venture because Obviously it's your own book of business. If you don't work, you don't make money. So you're, and I guess there's a new catchphrase, you're an entrepreneur, but within an organization. So an entrepreneur. So I was doing that for a very long time and, and every year I made the evaluation like, am I better to stay or am I better to go? And a few years back I decided that for me it was better to go and start my own entrepreneurial venture rather than working within an organization.

Well, what's the evaluation you go through? I don't know if you have a specific script, but what are some of the considerations in moving on to your own entrepreneurial endeavors?

I think there's a lot of considerations. I mean, one is what is it that you will do when you're an entrepreneur? Like how will you evolve? Will you do some of the same business? Will you do some different businesses? For me, that's what I had to decide to do. And money obviously is another consideration. When you're working for an organization, obviously, and commission too, you have substantial financial considerations. So there's an evaluation of, you know, what do you need to get started and how long can you, how long can you sustain yourself in the beginning part of an entrepreneurial venture when you're not making the income that you are used to at your prior organization? And then also is, I think the other consideration is do you want to be on your own? Do you want to lead your own organization? Do you, do you like working by yourself? Do you like working with people? So what kind of, you know, what kind of decision maker and leader are you interested in being? So I think those are the three things that I evaluated when I was doing and I recommend people do as well.

Well, you talked about the money side, right? And that's what the show's all about. Profitability. How do you know you're going to make money in your new venture? I mean, just to set the stage here, when you're working for another business as an employee, even as an intrapreneur, you have predictability. You know how much income is coming in every week. How did you know when you decided to make your own venture that it would be profitable?

You know, I think there's, there's a risk evaluation there because, you know, whatever you were, and I was full commission. So it's very different, very up and down. So it wasn't a sort of a guaranteed income. So I was used to that lows and highs of commission based business. So I Think that's very helpful to be used to that mindset. And then, you know, everybody told me, I spoke to a ton of people before I made the leap, and they said, you know, do not expect to make money in your first year and be okay with that. And so that is both a personal evaluation then, of course, with your family, your partner, sort of letting them in on what you're going to be doing and what changes you're going to have to make in your lifestyle or not to sort of get yourself up and going. So I think it's an important conversation to have because profitability is certainly not instantaneous when you become an entrepreneur, but.

It'S not even necessarily guaranteed after a year. So I'm thinking for the folks listening here, they're looking to build a business, improve their existing business, start something new. And I hear you, you may not make money in that first year, but did you have like a, you know, we're going to pull the parachute if it doesn't become profitable in two years. Do you have to pick a number for the outer range, too?

I do think that it's a, that's a very personal question, like, how, how long can you, you know, what's going to make sense for you and your family? And, you know, eventually, if, I mean, you have to, I think you have to do a lot of, a lot of different things at first to see what's going to be profitable, what angle is going to work. And, and I also tell, like younger, younger entrepreneurs sometimes I say it is totally okay to start a side hustle, start doing what you want to be doing a little bit on the side and then, you know, and then, you know, just, it's not as you're testing it out or you're being chicken or whatever, but that's, that's also okay to do before you jump in, feast first, because I had someone talk, tell me, you know, if I don't jump in feed first, it's not going to work. And I said, that's, that's not exactly true. You can.

Sorry.

What'S. What would the difference be, though, between shifting into the entrepreneurial mindset that as a side hustle and then transitioning full time versus jumping into, you know what I mean, instead of making the switch and being an entrepreneur right away and then having a side hustle to make money? Like, is there a benefit to having the reverse, if that makes sense?

Yeah, I think. Well, I think that when you're, I mean, let's face it, when you're all in and it's all you. I mean, you better have the stomach for it because it's, it's scary, it's risky. It's. You sometimes feel like, oh my God, what did I do.

Right?

Exactly.

Yeah, it's a little delayed sound effect saying, basically, we confirmed you're totally spot on. Bazinga.

Yeah, bazinga. So, yeah, so I think that's, that's the thing that. What kind of stomach do you have for that going? It's definitely a mindset and there's definitely, I think that there's preparation.

Do you, do you think women owned businesses face different challenges in achieving profitability than a male owned or mend owned businesses? I would say, Kelsey.

Well, I, you know, I do find that women tend to be a little more risk averse. Women do tend to think that they need to have 100% of their ducks in a row before they say yes. And I always encourage people, including myself, to jump before you're ready. You're never going to feel 100% ready, but you're gonna have to embrace the risk. And I do think men certainly are a lot better at doing that than women. Women tend to, you know, we all have that because everybody has that voice in their head that tells them that they can't do it, they shouldn't do it, it's not going to work out. And I think sometimes it clamors a little bit louder for women.

Do you think there's some psychology behind that? Because I agree with what you're saying. I have my own beliefs. More curious about yours. Do you think there's a reason that women in general are more risk adverse when starting a business than the man counterpart? Counterparts, perhaps one word and Kelsey's all over me. Counterparts.

Hard to come into.

Yeah, I think that, I think that it's cultural. I think it's shifting in our, you know, in our culture, what women can do. I think that maybe it was sort of cultural or, you know, you know, it's sort of like pink blankets or blue blankets. We had very much that kind of old school lifestyle. And I think that, I think that I'm hoping that it's changing the future of the new women that are coming up and going into the job market and becoming entrepreneurs. And I think it's just tough to get rid of that old mindset a little bit of, you know, you have to work a little harder, hustle a little more if you're a chick.

Yeah, I agree. I think there's a cultural influence or societal influence. I think there's Also hard wiring. I mean, women are matriarchal and I think there's a sense of the surrounding community be their direct blood lineage or other people. And when I've seen men launch businesses and women launch businesses, my interpretation is the guy's like, well, I'm risking this and this and this and I may fail when I see women launch businesses and they say I'm risking this and this and this and this may cost everyone, my family.

You know, it's a very good point. I think that maybe it's, it's a little more selfless versus selfish for women perhaps when starting a venture because you do think about how what you're doing is going to impact other people.

Yeah, yeah.

Do you think there's anything about the current climate that makes it easier for what, mess up a word that makes it easier for a woman today to start a business as opposed to, you know, when you first had your first business?

I luckily I had just very encouraging people around me always. So I feel very fortunate. But I do agree, I think that, I think that there is certainly a push for more women to be entrepreneurs and more organizations I'm seeing that want to help women become entrepreneurs. And so I'm, I am seeing that there's more support and more open mindedness and certainly more men encouraging women. I mean, let's not forget that there are many, many men who have supported women, who have been mentors to women and brought them up and brought them through and helped them to do what they need to do.

Just note, Harvey Weinstein's not one of them or Kevin Spacey or.

I know, God.

Oh my God. Here's a question for you. When it comes to driving profitability, you know, one of the common lease beliefs is keep that secret sauce secret yet. Elizabeth, you go on the TEDx platform, the biggest speaking platform in the world, and you come out there and say you should spill all your secrets. Explain yourself.

I think, well, I think, let me put the caveat there is that you should, whatever your secret is, you should have evaluated yourself first before you spill it out to someone, because there is that.

But I do feel like that's a woman's perspective.

Yes, but, but I do think, I mean, what's this sort of like nobody's going to do if you, if the, if the four of us here hear the same opportunity, we're all four are going to come at it at different angles just because of who we are and our life experiences. So I think this sort of keeping a stranglehold on, you know, what, what you do, it's all top secret. I actually don't think that gives you the opportunity to learn, evolve, get input, and most importantly, really connect with people on a deeper level. Because, you know, really successful leaders, entrepreneurs connect with people that in turn oftentimes give them opportunity, which of course leads to profitability. Of course.

Yeah, I agree.

Now you also, when the pre interview, you were talking about a nonlinear path to success and that that's an okay. Or what I'm interpreting is almost an expected path. No, when someone, a man or woman, starts a business, it seems very linear, the business plan. We say, here's the numbers I'm going to hit and here's how I'm going to serve people. What I'm hearing from you is it's much more fluid than that.

Well, I think so. I think that, you know, when you say that I'm, quote, unquote, a new entrepreneur. Well, your life experience, your 20 years, your 30 years, whatever it is, your 10 years of life experience has influenced who you are and what you're going to do with your business.

Right. So how does that affect us, though, going forward? I mean, so we have this history that we're carrying along with this, but how does that service in developing our business and perhaps taking a nonlinear path, jumping around?

Well, I do think that all those life experiences you've had and everything you've done informs how you both go forward with your business. Of course, business plan, how you react to stress, different situations, different people. All of this life experience and what you've done affects who you are today as a person, and that affects who you're going to be as an entrepreneur.

Okay, so now tying these two things together, you talk about your history, you talked about spilling secrets. You know, I think one thing that women entrepreneurs done that I've seen is they can connect at a much deeper level with their clients, their vendors than a guy entrepreneur. It seems like an inherent advantage that women just seem to be able to connect at a deeper level. Yeah, it's not true, but that's my observation.

No, I agree.

Okay, so if you agree, what does spilling secrets, how does that play into that? How does your history play into that? How does that support that deeper connection?

Well, not to use that overused word, authenticity, but if I did, I used it. I know, I know, but that's, I think that's, that's one of the things that nobody wants someone who's so stoic, by the book, ticking off the boxes. I mean, you have to do all those things, but who are you as a person? Like what can you, I mean, why you should spill your secrets is really about like what can you tell someone to really connect with them and not just make a how much money are you going to make me? Kind of conversation. But can you understand that person? Can you have empathy? Can you, can you give something to that person that other people can't? Because you've been able to expose a little bit of yourself and be able to make that connection with them. I think it can be very powerful.

So how do we monetize that? And I gotta be careful cause that sounds negative, right? Like how do you make money out of deep connections? But how can you leverage that? You know, competition exists. Say I have a business, I'm a woman owned business and I want to differentiate myself, but I'm in a, in a field like accounting or booking. I mean these are very saturated fields.

Right, right.

Does, how's it being a woman? Where's the advantages I can leverage to stand out, attract more profit?

Well, you know, I think that I can use my recruiting career as an example because it is a male dominated industry and I could not. My old boss used to say, you know, you have to do it like this, you have to talk to people like this. And as a woman I could not do that because then I would be a, you know, you know what? So I just did it my way and I talked to people and I coached people and I had conversations and, and that made me extremely successful as a recruiter. And I didn't do it the standard way. I did it a very different way of really being able to connect with people and to give them the information they needed to make a decision. And in turn, you know, especially I say in 08 and 09, when the market came crashing down because I was in financial services, people came to me because of how I had treated them. And I still find that to be true today in my business that people do come to me and I don't even realize what I've done, but I've connected with them in some way and always, I guess I should never be surprised, but it always makes me feel great when someone, you know, does something really, you know, out of the sort of out of the ordinary or just exceptionally good to refer me business or give me business. And really our conversations had nothing to do with that. I have built a relationship which is essential.

What I'm hearing too is it sounds like if you build deep connections and inherent ability for many women is that it also supports a long term Play. It's not the quick buck necessarily. It could be, but it sounds like it also serves you perpetually right because.

I mean, isn't it more important to get. I mean, think of the stress if you don't have any repeat business. I mean, that's extremely. If you're one and done every single time, that's a tall order. Every week you start. But if you develop relationships so that even if that person isn't giving you regular business, but they're referring you people, I mean, that's certainly, that's how you build a pipeline. Building relationships builds that pipeline, which builds your business, which builds profitability.

Do you have any tips for somebody who isn't naturally inclined to have deep relationships? You know, somebody who is more of the old school, I guess, mentality and don't know how to have those conversations that bring you to a different level to create different, you know, a deeper trust?

Yeah, I think, I mean, everyone has something. It could start simple. Like everyone has, you know, a family, a pet can notice something about someone. So just, just notice what someone is saying. If you're, if your client is talking about their grandson, the next time you talk to them, you might want to ask about the grandson. I mean, it's, it could be that simple. It doesn't have to be. You know, I tell that you're my deepest and my darkest. In fact, I wouldn't recommend that to do that. To clarify.

You said spill your secret.

I know. Can you imagine that first meeting? I killed someone. I know, I know. Are we connected though? Can people go too far? In all seriousness, Elizabeth, I mean, when it comes to building deep connections, we all know that person that starts telling their sob story, you know, and it's a big turn off.

Absolutely. Yeah. I would say there's, there's definitely something that you want to share with a partner or with your friends that you're not going to share in business. I mean, I think that's really good sense. And if someone, if you don't have good sense about this, ask, ask one of your good friends if you should tell a certain story and they will tell you the truth. You never tell that story. But I think that, yeah, I think if, yeah, if you're confused about that, you know, have a conversation with someone that you trust because I don't tell you. I don't think you should tell everyone to everything because that is, it's also annoying and would make repel someone, I think.

Yeah, yeah, I agree.

Now you made an old school reference, so I'm gonna Make an old school reference. It used to be yesteryear that if you were a woman, there were certain business opportunities or certain career opportunities that were better to pursue. Oh, you should be a nurse. Like, you know, it used to be a female dominant space or a flight attendant. You used to be mostly female dominated. And that's shifting, which is a great thing. But I'm wondering, in the entrepreneurial space, are there certain businesses that are a better opportunity for a woman than a guy? What's the leg up for women or chicks, as you would say?

Chicks.

That's what she said. She said chicks earlier. I'm not throwing out chicks. She threw chicks.

I said chicks. I think in the coaching space, it's certainly more women than men in the coaching space. I do think. I do think recruiters, I think that. I think. I don't. I don't know if that is heavily dominated. In my. In my industry, it was heavily dominated male. But I think that's a really. Can be a really great space for women. I honestly, I never see any barriers. If someone told me I couldn't do something, my. My sort of response would be, watch me.

Yeah, it was funny. It reminds me of a story. I have a friend, her name is Christina Harbridge, and she started a debt collecting business. This is back quite a while ago, maybe almost 20 years ago. And debt collecting used to be a threatening. They call you on the phone, they don't stop calling, you better pay this money. And you know, very threatening. She was the first debt collecting business to be empathetic. They would call you and say, listen, you have a debt that's due, but we know you can't pay it. That's okay, but let's figure out a strategy. And she used a much more matriarchal kind of Persona because that's who she was. Nurturing. That's the word. Much more nurturing. And the debt collecting ratio they had compared to the competitors was they were collecting double, if not triple, the amount of money from people. And people felt good about it.

Yeah. Well, I feel like that makes sense to me as a receiver. I want to talk to someone, somebody who will listen to my story. Whereas I will just avoid somebody. Exactly. I'm scared. And I don't think they're going to understand my reasoning or my rationale.

Yeah. Hey, I got to ask you a crazy question, Elizabeth. You have a career. You're coaching, you're speaking. You're also writing books.

I am.

I've done it too. But most people cannot pull that off yet. It's a life dream, I bet you, for many of our listeners. And how did you do it? And you're writing another book?

Yeah, I am. I am, I like to say with my. I was pitching my nonfiction book when my novel got picked up, Sin and the Big Easy. And I like to say I'm doing a talk with it called how to Write a book in 15 years or less. Don't do what I did because. Because we do. I mean, as you know, it's hard. You just. You sabotage yourself. It's not good enough. I mean, I think I must have edited that book a gazillion times, and it still feels like a runaway train. Like it's out there now. But I'm. I'm absolutely thrilled. And I think for me, it was. It was just about the more I wrote, the less self conscious I became. So I started publishing more nonfiction work and blogs and, you know, things in publications. And I think I just. The volume, I had to care less. So that was actually very helpful.

Interesting. And going back to the profitability component, can you pursue things like that? I don't know if sitting in the Big Easy, it was an opportunity for you to have an outlet for what you wanted to do, or if that is also a financial goal. How do you reconcile making a living and pursuing something like this? Or does it all actually work together?

Well, I think for me, it all works together because I do write fiction and I write nonfiction, and I need that creative outlet to think strategically. So, believe it or not, doing art and looking at art helps me strategically solve problems. It sounds like it doesn't make any sense, but that's how I do it. So for me, this does help my. That other side of my brain process and balance out. But I think novel writing, I mean, I think that, you know, my plan is not to be John Grisham, but it is something that I love to do. And if people enjoy it and get something out of it, then, you know, then that's an extra bonus. But like I said, my sabotaging yourself and taking way too long to write a book, that's the leadership spin on the. The thriller that I wrote.

That's interesting. It seems like there's lessons for your business from the book you were writing and your experience. And that book, Sin, the Big Easy, I think that hasn't released yet. That's coming out in March.

Yeah, that's right. It's coming March 6, 2018. I just did the final galleys a week ago. It's really exciting.

Coincidentally, Kelsey's birthday.

No, he's lying.

So why don't we summarize real quickly. There's many women entrepreneurs listening to the show right now and they want to start women owned businesses. What are your tips to getting started and successfully pulling off a profitable business?

Well, one is figure out what you're good at and how that might translate into income. Income. And because that's sort of the strategic part of business planning, another thing I would do is do talk to other women entrepreneurs. I mean, if you can get yourself in some sort of a mastermind and, and have a support, build a support system so that you can ask those crazy questions when something goes wrong or you don't understand something or you need to figure something out like make your own support support system. I would also say read, read, read. You have some fabulous books. There are tons of books out there that you can further educate yourself. I'm a huge fan of educating yourself through reading. And I also think that you know that to understand that you're not going to be instantly profitable, but to really, you know, get a steel stomach and have that commitment and keep on trying things and, and don't be afraid of failing at a few things you're doing along the way. I mean, that's really important to have resilience.

Yeah, it sounds like the fail forward approach. Elizabeth, where can our listeners find out about you and your organization?

They can find me@mccourtleadership.com and, and my email is ElizabethCourtleadership. It's really easy if you wanna email me. I even have a resilience quiz on my website. Yeah. And I tweet @EC McCourt. I'm pretty active on Twitter and then my book is already available on Amazon if you wanna pre order it.

Definitely sin in the Big Easy.

I love that.

Elizabeth McCourt, thank you so much for joining us today.

Thank you guys. It's been a pleasure.

Yeah, that's been fun. All right, guys, here's what we're gonna do first. Punch me, Christina.

Oh, yeah.

What's wrong with the volume is way too loud. Yeah, we gotta fix that. Something's wrong. But here's the deal. We're gonna recap what we learned. We got some listener mail pattern baldness. And we got some other things. But first, I do want to thank our corporate partners. Make the show a reality. Fat Daddy Fatback. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Yes. Fat Daddy Fatback jeans and Fundbox. Fundbox is a one stop call or one call you can make if you do not have invoices or invoices that are not being collected quickly enough. So you have invoices out to clients that are not paying them and you need that money. Fundbox will pay those invoices in its entirety on the spot. It's basically a cash flow accelerator. Of course, when you get the money in from the client, then you return the funds to Fundbox. But it's a great way to bridge a cash tight situation. Receipt Bank. It's a system to scan in your receipts, hence the amazing title of the company. Oh, that's smart. What's its profit?

Wasn't those ironic titles.

I know. Could you imagine? Receipt Bank. The one thing we don't do is receipts. That would be ironic. Do you know any ironic company names? Does anyone ever pull that off?

I can't think of any.

Yeah, I can't think of any either. I think that would be really risky. Sometimes restaurants may do it. Yeah, like, you know, a restaurant could be like far, far away and it's like in the middle of a city or something. Which isn't so ironic.

Yeah, like, as long as it's not gross. A restaurant could do it.

That's a great restaurant title. It's not gross.

That's not great.

Where you guys going? Oh, it's not gross. No, but where are you going? Oh, it's not gross. And then nextiva voiceover P Phone system. Do I have a call with those guys this week? Do you know when I'm talking with them?

Yes, you do. On Thursday.

I can't wait. I can't wait. This is. This is. We are fully rolling out their new CRM which integrates directly to their phone system. And it is so sophisticated as such degrees of intelligence, all these dynamic rules, all these different things that I am going through a training personally to understand how this thing works before we roll it out. But I'm really excited. So listen, if you need a voiceover IP phone system or you need a CRM or you need anything to automate your business. Communications. Next step, Daddy Fat back. Oh, Ruby. All right, so now we go on to what we learned, right?

Yes.

Okay. Whoops. So who wants to go first?

I'll go.

Okay. I appreciate the enthusiasm.

Sure.

What do you want to talk about? I mean, what's in your list?

I mean, so what's going on?

What's going on? Hang on.

So my favorite thing was when she talked about when she was doing recruitment and she approached it her own way. She didn't go by the script that she was given. I think that's critical. To everything. I think no matter what you go into is trust your own intuition and your gut when you're communicating with people. Because you have to be authentic, otherwise you get no results, you know?

Yeah. Oh, good one.

I love that.

What'd you get Christina?

I mean, mine was very similar. My takeaway where she talked about being okay with realistic expectations and know what you're getting yourself into, but to not lose yourself in the process.

Don't talk yourself out of it.

No.

And, and I especially connect with that because, because I, I'm very. Almost like an empath. Like I, I. And I think you are a little bit too, Mikey. Told yourself, like a co crier. Like I, I do like, I feel what other people are feeling and then I'm, I tend to make self sacrifice to help others and. No, you can't do that. You gotta.

Right, Right where So you, you'll do things to serve others, but compromise yourself.

Right?

I've seen that.

Yeah.

And it's a wonderful but dangerous trait.

Yes.

Right. I've seen you do incredible things for other people. I'm like, holy shit. But you're at your own cost and it's not sustainable.

And especially not in a business.

Especially not in a business. Yeah, I'm a co crier, but I'm not like a self sacrifice. Like, I mean, I'll make sacrifices, but I won't compromise myself too much. Yeah, I'll just sit there and cry a lot.

Little baby.

I was crying on the airplane. So you know this. You guys know my father had a very close, near death and he's had a miraculous recovery. But I was coming back from London and I don't know what to do. And I'm the kind of person like, I gotta do something. So I'm like, My father was, we thought he had about 24 hours. I'm like, I'm gonna start writing his eulogy. You know, I don't know. I don't know when he's supposed to write these. Anyway, so I'm riding on the airplane and I'm sandwiched in the middle seat between two.

Oh, no.

And the tears are coming down, snot, boogers, flopping. And I'm like, I felt embarrassed for them. Like you're sitting as this guy crying and you know, and then I do the, like I rub my elbows, my elbow, my eyes with my hands and my elbows are sticking out. I elbow them.

Oh, geez.

Did they either of them ask if you were okay or kind of like ignored you?

Because I bury myself down.

But I'll say on the flip side, like, there was a woman crying next to me one time, and I did ask if she was okay, and I think I embarrassed her more.

Like.

Yeah, that's what I think they're afraid of. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think if anyone. If I ever see someone crying, I would just say something like, I don't know what you're. What's going on, but it's okay to cry. And if you need anything. Yeah, yeah, something like that.

I know. And I really wanted to touch her. And I was like, I don't think that's like, you know, a lot of people don't.

Like, that would be.

That's my, like, natural reaction was like, you know.

Yeah.

See? Yeah. I am not a toucher, but I've grown to appreciate that people like that. And then I've. I don't know if I told you guys this. I went too far. So, like, I don't like to hug people. Like, if someone's like, hey, how you doing? I'm like, hey, good to see you. So I don't like to hug men, women, whatever. But women in generally, it's weird. In a business meeting, handshake, handshake, handshake with guy, guy, guy. Then women come, and if it's a guy, woman hug.

Yeah, right.

Which I think is kind of sexist and weird.

Yeah.

So whatever. So now I'm like, okay, I get the dog. Some women. Then it's like a air kiss.

Yeah.

Some women, it's a kiss on the cheek. So I'm like, all right, whatever. I'll kiss on the cheek. Then I'm like, now I just realized that's too far. So I don't want to kiss anyone on the freaking cheek. But I've been doing it. And then my wife's like, why do you kiss women on the cheek? I'm like, cause you're supposed to. She's like, no, a hole.

I'm like, what?

I don't want to. And I'm doing this.

Yeah, yeah.

Because sometimes women will. A person will come at you, and you're like, I guess they're supposed to kiss them. And they do that turn away from.

You, and it's like, ah, I know. Or like, you go in for a kiss, and they don't want the kids.

And it's like, oh, yeah, it happened recently. I'm like, I don't hug. I don't even want to freaking hug. I just want to send, like, I want to write a note, nice seeing you, and just hand it to him.

Yeah.

Paper airplane.

Pleasure meeting you. Pleasure spending.

Like a whiteboard.

Yeah.

Pleasure meeting with you for this last three hours. Yeah, exactly. Stay away.

Oh, my goodness.

It's not the germs. It's just this kissing thing. It's total nonsense. I can't believe I swore twice. I don't swear that much anymore. I swore twice on this episode.

I didn't even know.

You bring it out in you.

Yeah, yeah. All right.

Yeah. I feel like full time's asshole to me.

Well, you are an. No, you just really are. That's not. That's not a swear. That's not swear. You're a nice asshole. You're tough on me.

I think it is. I think it is a swear.

It's assholes.

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

What are the words? There's the F word, the S word, the C word, which I actually never. That's bad. You're saying a hole or asshole.

Yeah, yeah.

There's supposed to be seven. What's the other? Damn. Is that I swear?

Yeah, technically.

Damn. And then what? Hell.

Oh, yeah, that seven.

Oh, hell.

Yeah.

Yeah. I've never used a C word ever.

Good.

I don't actually ever see it used. Even in, like, the most hostile situations. I don't hear that word sometimes.

Yeah, rarely. I don't like that.

So here's my takeaway.

Yes.

Don't use the C word. Do things that take you away from work. So she said writing the sin in the big Easy, that book, that there was also therapy or clarity really is the right word on her business life.

Yeah.

So I thought that was pretty wild. She also said it's okay to have a side hustle. You know, that used to not be cool. It was called moonlighting. But there's a lot of momentum. What was your side hustle? I actually saw something on Amazon saying, selling whatever products they're selling, let's get the side hustle going. And deep connections. I think that's a huge advantage for women. I think our society needs it more than ever today. I would leverage the hoo ha out of that if I had it. The more I had that skill, the more I'd use it.

Yeah, I agree.

That's a good one.

That was a good one. That was a good one. All right, where are we?

Christina, Listener go.

Let me hit the button. Let me hit the button. Crank it up here. You got mail pattern baldness. It's Kelsey's responsibility now. You gotta fix this. It's getting too old.

We need a new sound, Kelsey.

God.

So our listeners who don't know what this is? This is emails that we typically get. Sometimes a letter, sometimes a gift. Hint, hint, hint.

He doesn't like to be touched, but he loves gifts.

It's true. I love some of the gifts we get.

Oh, yeah.

I mean, just think about it. The food we get sometimes. Amazing.

Yeah.

I got a guitar. Someone sent me a guitar.

Yeah. Coasters.

Coasters came in today.

Yeah, but don't encourage food because you get mad too.

You are eating. It's a double edged sword.

Yeah, I get really bad. Well, you two both do. Also, we shouldn't be doing this.

It's hard because it's on my desk.

I know.

It's on my wrist.

It's the worst place. It's right where you are and it's.

Within eye distance from me, so I can't look at it and not eat it kind of constantly.

I do get pissed.

Yeah.

Okay, so don't send food, but I'll take other gifts. Other gifts. All right, so what's our listener mail today?

So this comes from Vivian. She's a franchise spa business called La Vida Spa. And her question is. Based on your Q and A, it sounds like I should reduce my therapist's pay from the total income to come up with the real income. However, they are all W2 employees, all 12 of them. They do get paid a commission per hour of massage. So though, although it's not a project, it is contingent on the number of clients they see. Plus their time is her product. So is she correct in assuming that she should deduct their pay from the total income?

Vivian, I got a short answer for you.

Oh, hell no.

No, don't. Don't know. So first of all, let's clarify what a W2 employee is. That is someone that you're playing directly on payroll. Could be part time or full. Full time. So these are employees, they're not subcontractors. A subcontractor is someone that works for another spa, for example, and they could also work for you. That's where you're basically. When there are subcontractors taking money from your clients and handing it over to another business owner, which is a subcontractor. But these are employees of yours, so that means that they are part of your expense line. Now, as I explained that, it already may be almost too confusing, like, well, if they're contractors, where should I put them? And so forth. If in doubt, any expense you incur, including employee payroll, goes into the expense or we call operating expense account. Because if you modify your income, say you take making $100, and you pay $20 in payroll, and you take out the $20. Now you're saying the company's income is really $80. That's not true. And that's what the real revenue adjustment does. That was designed specifically for businesses like home construction, retail stores, where there's a huge amount of money that comes from the client but instantly gets transferred to another entrepreneurial business. So home contractor that maybe builds a house, they may do $10 million in revenue, but they have subcontractors to the tune of, say, $3 million that do the plumbing. Another guy owns an electric business. He does electrical. You're basically taking money from the client and instantly handing over to someone else. The client could have hired them directly and. And got the electrical and plumbing. You're just helping coordinate that. So you're not a $10 million business. You're a $7 million business. 10, minus the 3 million subcontractors. So hopefully that clarifies it. Most businesses are not that structure. And, Vivian, your business at spa, you have employees. They are an operating expense. So you make $100 for your business. That's $100 of income. Allocate your money toward expenses and see if you can afford your employees. If you can't afford to have operating expenses, you got to address that. That's your business. Telling you, you either need to. It's difficult decision, but sometimes remove some employees because you're. You're paying too much. Build more efficiency or somehow increase margin very quickly without hiring more people. All right, Vivian, I hope that helps. You got mail pattern baldness. Yeah. Okay. I actually do.

You're the one who hit it again.

I do. I do have male pattern. I know. Oh, no, I really do have it. Confession hour, and my son is starting getting. He's only 16. Like.

Yeah.

So you have a widow's peak. You don't. Oh, you do a little bit. You got baby peak. You got, like, Mount Rushmore over there, and you've got, like, shouldn't throw stones in glass houses. And I got receding hair, so whatever. No, widow peaks are awesome. That's what you want to have. That's a sign of youth. So my son had a widow's peak, and now he's getting actually a recession of his hair back here in his 60s. Listen, he's got a full head of hair. You would never know. But he's clearly going down my path.

Yeah, well, my dad. Dad and brother both started losing in high school, but my dad, at the time there was a basketball player he played basketball. There was a basketball player, a famous white basketball player at the time who was bald, and so his name was Toby. So everybody called my dad Toby because he was a bald basketball player in high school.

Yeah. You never know. Alex is 30 and he's got. You know, he keeps his head shaved now, too, because.

Yeah, it's the thing.

Like, he has nothing up here.

Yeah.

It's all sides.

Yeah. So that's what I may do. Listen for.

For God, the Michael Port look.

Oh, yeah. Well, he can really pull it off. He looks.

Have you felt your scalp at all?

If I have a lumpy head?

Yeah, if your head would, like, look weird.

Oh, yeah. No, I have a very weird shaped head. It's like a. A pineapple ran into a pancake. It's just like. There's flat spots, twisted and gnarled. It's disgusting.

I find that very hard to believe.

It's twisted and gnarled. No, I know, I know. So maybe next episode we'll talk about my baldness, how to fix that. But we better get out of here.

Yeah.

All right. Take us out.

Okay.

Quickly, quickly. People are just sitting there.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah.

So we've covered quite a few topics on this podcast today, but we want to know what you learned. So leave us a comment. Leave us a review. Rating iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, Google Play, and of course, Profit first podcast dot com. I want to see you guys all there. And then you have to check out Profit first professional dot com.

Why? Why? Because we have hundreds of accountants and bookkeepers and coaches throughout the globe who have specialized in Profit First. They've devoted their careers, the growth of their organizations into mastering Profit first so they can deliver to you. If you own a business and you want to be more profitable, that's what Profit First Professionals do. They'll work with you one on one to ensure profitability using the Profit first methodology. Right before we did this, I was on the Zoom Call. Oh, you guys are jet getting all fired up. I was on that Zoom Call, and we had easily 20 new members that came on this month.

Crazy every time. So many.

So many people. It's unbelievable. These are PFPs that are being trained by our crew here. They follow the methodology we've developed called Profit first, and they're devoted to driving profitability in your business. Here's how you take action. Go to profitfirstprofessionals.com right now, and you've no excuse not to do it. You're on your phone right now on your iPad, or how Wait, maybe, maybe you're in the car.

That's your excuse. Don't do it now.

Yeah, don't do it right now. But you, you within five seconds you can pull over an emergency breakdown name. The officer comes over you, okay? Oh, I'm not officer. I'm not profitable enough until now. You do that.

Good luck getting out of the cops love that.

That might work. It might work.

Cops love it. But go to profitfirstprofessionals.com right now, click on the find option and we will hook you up with a profit first professional. Okay? It's that simple. Oh, and one more thing. Do it now. Okay. Next week.

Week.

Next week. We don't know what's going on. Right? Cuz we, our guests, we don't know what's going on. To be determined within the next couple months. We got some amazing stuff coming up. That's all I know.

Yes.

All right. Let's get the hell out of here. Bye everybody. Pitney Bowes is the industry leader in mailing and shipping solutions. No matter what you send or how often, Pitney Bowes has the solution that precisely fits your needs. Weigh, print, mail and save. You and your business will save time and money when you print postage. And you won't need to wait in line at the post office anymore. You know what I'm talking about? You also won't need to worry about putting the correct amount of postage for on the letter or package you're sending. Happened on January 21st. USPS mailing and shipping costs went up again. But you'll save $0.03 per letter with a Pitney Bowes solution. These discounts are not available at the post office. Beat the increase. Don't stand for it my friends. Whether you're sending a letter or a package, you'll be paying less and saving money if you're using a Pitney Bowes sending solution. Plans start at just five bucks a month. For our listeners, Pitney Bowes is also offering a free trial. Haha. So you're sure to find the solution that's right for you and your business. Now here's the deal. You got to take one simple action. Go to their website. But go to the website with profit first in it. It's pb.com profit first and there you'll learn more and you can try the system for free. Now don't forget terms apply and you got to see the site for details. But go right now to pb.com profit first. And we thank them for sponsoring the podcast.