Pamela Jean's interview with The Entrepreneur Coach Bri Seeley

Hello.

Welcome back to the Entrepreneur Coach Podcast. I'm super, super excited to be here with a new friend and colleague. We met several weeks ago in Tulsa at an event and sat down and had a several hour coffee. We probably could have sat and talked for like two days. Really excited to bring her journey to all of you and her wisdom. Welcome to the podcast, Pamela.

Thank you so much. Bri. Thank you for having me here. I think it's so exciting and fun when you go to an event or you go to a function and and if with the anticipation of meeting someone, knowing that there's someone in this room I'm supposed to meet, there's someone in this space I'm supposed to connect with, I was just pleasantly surprised that that person was you. It's just been, you've been a gift to me so far. So thank you so much for being my friend and I look forward to our future friendship together.

Same same when we got to sit down and have coffee, I got to learn a lot more about your entrepreneurial journey and you've been an entrepreneur for a long time. So tell me, you first started at the was it the age of 19?

21?

21. Close.

Okay, 21.

Yes, I know from we talked and hopefully you'll dive into this a little bit more. It was at a time when there weren't a lot of female entrepreneurs and it just wasn't a normal thing that women did. What inspired you to take that first step? How did you find the audacity to say I'm going to be an entrepreneur and actually move forward with that?

Welcome to the Entrepreneur Coach Podcast. I'm the Entrepreneur Coach, Bri C. Lee. My mission is to help female entrepreneurs like you have the audacity to believe in the inevitability of your success. Then to gather the resources, tools and knowledge you need to create your most aligned and profitable pathway to your vision of success. This podcast is all about providing you with a nitty gritty behind the scenes look at what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. Forget the success point porn and the rags to riches stories. Each episode will pull back the curtain and share the reality of entrepreneurship. I cannot wait to be part of your journey.

Pamela Jean is a high performance coach, entrepreneur, business owner and champion for women whose coaching philosophy is deeply rooted in working on the inside to accomplish the greatness you are meant for on the outside. All while setting her clients up for a level of success that is unimaginable at the moment. Grace and grit style sum her up. She has been bullied Taken advantage of, failed and succeeded. Like you, she has been through her share of life experiences that have created her to be the strong woman and high level coach that she is today. Pamela believes that when a woman creates abundance for her life, she has the freedom to then give abundantly. And that is where you can make the most significant impact on the world. What inspired you to take that first step? How did you find the audacity to say, I'm going to be an entrepr and actually move forward with that?

My first business at 21, I started a portrait photography studio. I didn't have any experience as a photographer. I didn't know anything about doing it. All I knew is that I loved taking pictures. The current job that I was in, I was in the marketing department at a local bank in northwest Iowa. I was part of the team that put together the annual report for all of the investors. And I got to work as an assistant to the photographer, the male photographer that was hired for the this, this project. And I thought, oh my gosh, I love this. I never thought for a second that my hobby of photography could actually be a business like you could make money doing that. It just blew my mind that that was even a thing. After working on that project, I just really thought, you know what, I can do that I can learn how. I didn't realize at the time that the portrait world, the photography world, was primarily male dominant. I didn't really know that until I went to my first convention and people were like, and, and who are you? Who do you belong to? And I'm like, I belong to me. I have my own business. I started it, you know, a year ago and I kind of got that little pat on the head of oh, good for you. That's, that's really sweet. I knew at that moment that I had stepped into a space where women aren't taking that seriously, especially young women in that industry, because I was young and I didn't know what I was doing. I'll admit that a hundred percent and. But sometimes not knowing what you don't know is really the biggest gift for getting started on a new venture and a new journey.

How did it feel to have people patronize you for your dreams and then what was your natural inclination to do on the other side of that?

I'm the youngest of three and I have two older brothers and I grew up on a farm. So you're just born tough when that's how you grow. And that's what my experience was. I just was never ever given the idea from anyone around me that there's nothing I cannot do. When someone tells me I can't do something, that makes me want to do it all the more. And I will show you, I will prove you wrong. And I will show you in a very short amount of time that I'm legitimate, that I'm successful, and that I'm good at this craft. And you can run a business. I can run a business better. I think part of it is my upbringing. Part of it is I've just never felt like there wasn't anything I couldn't do. If I set my mind to it, I could do it. But I also knew that if this business venture didn't work, I'm employable, I'll find another job. I knew that it wasn't a dead end for me. I always had that ambition that I'll just figure out something else.

I love that perspective because so often we attach ourselves to something and we're like, this has to be the thing and if it's not the thing, then what? And we worst case scenario, ourselves into a big black hole. And then we don't ever take that first step forward.

Correct. I'll give my dad the kudos that he just, he didn't treat me differently because I was a girl, because I was small. I mean, I was a tiny, grindy little girl. If I wanted to go and do hard work out with my brothers and my dad, it wasn't like, well, you have to, you better sit back. You're a girl, you can't do this. I never, ever had him tell me I couldn't do anything. Now, obviously I couldn't lift the things that they could do, but I was always included and it was never an idea of I can't do something. So I really appreciate that. From him, I learned a hard, hard work ethic from both of my parents. They were extremely hard workers. I appreciate learning that gift from them, but I was just never, ever taught there's something I can't do. If you can't do it right now, we'll figure out a way it's not, I can't do that. How can I do that? That's always been my mindset, even from a really young age. And I think that that really is just my parents. I have to thank them for that.

That's actually an entire episode on this podcast. Because that approach is something that literally will make or break a person. If you're approaching it from the I can't. You're immediately shutting yourself off from possibilities. But if you approach it from the perspective of I wonder how I could. I even was laying at the chiropractor this morning on like the rolling table and it's always a good time for me to get into alignment and activate my body. And I've been really playing with this idea of what's my tipping point. I've been aiming at this big goal for a long time. I wonder what my tipping point is going to be. My mindset has been I don't know my tipping point and I don't know how it's going to play out and I don't know. And that literally immediately closes every single door. And so this morning I was laying on the chiropractic table dwelling in this like beautiful curiosity of like so excited to see how this tipping point plays out. And I wonder what it's going to look like. I already know what it's going to feel like because that's my job. It's not my job to know how it looks. I really love that question. I think that's a big one that can kind of determine, determine the success or failure of entrepreneurs as well.

I've approached things from a no excuses mindset. We all have a past, we all have history, we all have our own forms of trauma experiences. Things that like you say, make or break you. But what I do with those is up to me. What I do with those things is completely up to me. I could have stayed working at the bank 9 to 5. I could still be there today if I wanted to be. But I knew that wasn't where my gifts were going to be used. It didn't set my heart on fire. And I liked what I, I've always liked what I've done because I figure every moment in time is so purpose filled and I'm going to do something great in that moment no matter what it is. But I always just felt that if this doesn't work, if my first business doesn't work, I'll just go do something else. I'll figure something else out. I'm employable, It'll work. I just always have that belief.

Which actually brings us into like the perfect next question that I was going to ask is you walked away from photography. You were two decades in photography.

Actually a little more than that. About 10 years ago I started feeling this stirring of women in that industry, in that portrait world were floundering. They were drowning in their businesses because they're doing it all. They're single moms, they're married moms, they're doing it all, they're wearing every single hat for every person in their life. Here's the thing that was the scariest for this group of women, and I think it goes across the board as entrepreneurs, they were not charging enough for the personal product that they created and produced. When you're selling something that is so personal, it's really hard to put a proper value on it because you're too personally entwined with your product. So I'm seeing these women work till they are exhausted to the point of collapsing and they're not making any money. They have this cash flow that's going into their businesses and out of their business so quickly that they were not keeping enough for themselves. And a question I would ask them is, if you lost your significant other, the other person that's helped maintaining your household, what would happen to you and the rest of your family? That question alone brought tears to many women because they were like, well, without the additional income from someone else or someplace else, I couldn't continue this. I couldn't do this anymore. That really pushed me into understanding how a businesswoman knowing the profitability of their company is so very important. So I started pouring into women in that industry with that topic in mind and really stayed there for a long time. And as life happens and things change, it just dawned on me that it's not only this group of entrepreneurs and women that need help. It's all entrepreneurs need help with that profitability and that business management side. So that was my nudge to look, look beyond the portrait world and go into other areas of business coaching and life coaching and helping those women who have been burning the candle at every end. I mean, they're at this end, at this end, and they're burning up in the middle. They're just on fire. Create a balance that is. Is a comfortable, peaceful place for them. Because everyone wants balance, peace, happiness. Is that not what everyone really, really wants? And to teach them how to harness that for themselves. Now, I still take care of some of my portrait clients. I've been doing it for 34 years. So that little handful of people that I love to nurture and take care of because I'm still creating the legacies for their families through portraits. And I think that's a really, really important mission. But it was about 10 years ago when the idea of spreading coaching beyond that was birthed in my mind and dove in head first, feet, feet first, seven years ago. And it is like there's no looking back now.

I see this a lot with women too. And one of the first conversations I have with them is what are your revenue streams and how much are you charging? I would nine times out of 10, they are undercharging, they are overworking themselves, they're sacrificing themselves for their businesses. And that's the first thing we go in and do. Just launching a women's Mastermind. And the first three enrolled in Mastermind all got to raise their prices immediately. And I see this a lot with specifically photographers as well, because they charge for their hours that they are with the client. And the things they forget to charge for are the hours that got them to the point point where they could do an Entire shoot in 45 minutes used to take four or five hours. They learned and honed their craft so much that now it only takes 45 minutes. Does that mean they should only charge for 45 minutes? No, it means they need to charge for the, the wisdom that they've gained to make it just a 45 minute shoot. And then the editing on the other side. I think as women, we tend to look at more of an hourly thing until we get trained or start to see the bigger picture of like it's more than just hours that I am. Even with coaching clients, I charge for more than just the hours that I'm coaching them because my brain is constantly thinking, oh, I need to tell this person about this, because it's going to help with that solution that we were talking about in their last call. It's such a bigger picture thing than just charging an hourly rate.

It really is. And if you get yourself into a position of exchanging dollars for hours, you will never come out ahead. Ever. You'll never, ever come out ahead. I've been in business for 34 years. The amount of money that I've invested, 34 years worth of education and knowledge and workshops and classes and courses and all of those things. Hundreds of thousands. It's so much money. There has to be a return on that investment. Here is even the bigger thing. Just because I'm an entrepreneur and I work for myself doesn't mean I shouldn't have whatever salary I choose to have. I create my own income. I create my own paycheck. So I shouldn't pay myself last? No, you pay yourself first. Because you as the business owner, the entrepreneur, are the most valuable asset that your company has. Without you, you don't have a company. Yep.

I say this all the time. If you're not taking care of yourself, you don't or won't have a business. Not only should you be Paying yourself, your business should be paying your healthcare and your dental care and all of those things should be taken care of by your business. And you have to consider the expenses for all of those when you are looking at the price of your goods and services.

Absolutely.

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You know, one of the really poignant questions that I ask when I'm working with an entrepreneur who's really struggling with understanding pricing and wrapping their emotions around pricing or getting their emotions out of the pricing, whichever way you want to look at it, is if you went and took a job with another company tomorrow. Like, I'm not, I'm not going to be an entrepreneur. I'm going to go work for XYZ Financial or investment company, just working somewhere else. When you fill out the application and they ask you compensation required, what do you put there? Oh, well, I'm, I'm worth at least a hundred thousand dollars a year. Okay, great. How come then does your company not pay you what you deserve and what you require and desire? And then I get that look of well, yeah, but it's just me. And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. It is not just you. You are your company. Your company should be taking care of you in the way that you require. Yeah.

At what point did this shift for you? Because I'm guessing at 21 you didn't like immediately just put yourself on salary. This process specifically in your journey?

That's a great, great question. At 21, I had my first daughter and not making money was not an option. It was, if I don't make money, I'm gonna have to go get a 9 to 5 or go back to the bank or whatever. It wasn't optional to not make money. I didn't have an extra income coming in so I could figure it out, take my time, work through and become profitable. I had to learn business sense and business savvy out of necessity, really. It was not a luxurious tiptoe. And through business it was like we're diving in and we are going deep and it's gotta work. So I learned that really quickly, more out of forced necessity. But what I think was most important about that is understanding the basics of most small businesses do not make it past five years. And I knew that going in. Once I decided I was going to start a business, I just started absorbing as much knowledge, business ownership that I could because I wanted to figure out how to do it. And I read that and I thought, I'm going to defy the odds that will not be me. I knew that just reading that, that I was not going to be that statistic. That was part of it. But also realizing that after five years you can start seeing bigger and greater returns. There is no, and I want to, I want everyone to hear this, There is no get rich quick plan. It doesn't exist. If you're listening to online advertisers and marketers and course owners and operators saying do this for 90 days and make your first, you know, 50,000amonth, it's, it's not going to happen. I can promise you that is false. It's not true. You have to invest the time part of it is you want to grow at a healthy rate of growth. If I grew from day one to day 30 so fast, I would have had growing pains in my business that would have put me out of business. Business simply from too fast of growth. So growth has to be slow, methodical, calculatable. It's important that your growth is manageable because growing pains can put you out of business so, so fast. Knowing in the beginning I was in for the long haul, it was going to be at least five years before I really started to see some momentum. Seven years is when I really got to see some great profits coming back. It takes time. It is a marathon, it is not a sprint. If anyone tells you otherwise, please don't listen to that advice because it's not good advice.

If anyone tells you otherwise, they're just trying to take your money. So exactly now, can it happen quickly? Yes, it very much can. You know, I shared Pamela with you on, on your podcast that I just had my client hit their first six figure month and this woman in particular, I met her five years ago. She was on the verge of bankruptcy five years ago and now at her five year mark last month and this month will be her second six Figure months, in my mind, that is fast. Like five years to make that big of a pivot is fast. I know there's a lot of people that are like five years is not fast. So I think it's also about kind of mitigating perspectives and expectations as well in the process because, you know, it can be really hard. I've found this, and maybe you have as well, that I kind of like got to Entrepreneur island and then burned the boats and then had the pressure on me to be like, it's gotta work. And sometimes that pressure can create diamonds, which thankfully in both of our cases, it did.

It has. Yes.

Sometimes that pressure can break a person as well. It's really important to understand are you a burn the boat kind of person or are you a. I need to have just like a paddle boat docked at the island to make sure, just in case.

Yeah, well. And when you step into the entrepreneurial arena, into that ring, if you will, there is no, I kind of want to start a business. Either you're in or you're out. There is no, I don't really want work more than 30 hours a week. Can I do this by working less than 30 hours a week? No. The answer is no. You have the luxury of potentially setting the times of the day that you do work. But if you're going to be an entrepreneur, the days of to five only working 30, 40 hours a week will not exist. As an entrepreneur now you have times where the ebb and flow is. You are just working like a mad woman and then you can have some downtime and then you have to vamp up again and then you have some downtime. So there a flow to it, but it is not a punch the clock. I'm a business owner. I can do whatever I want. No, that is a misconception of what it is to really be a business owner.

I've been lucky to get to a place where I have a lot more flexibility and freedom to work or not work. But I think that the that point of leverage, you have to get to a certain point in your business to be able to pull the leverage handle. And you have to be committed to pulling the leverage handle if that's truly what you want as well. Because there's also a lot of work work to build the systems and operations you need to build in order to have your business function in a really effective way while you're sitting by the lake reading a book or whatever.

Well, and I think that's the importance of the work that you're doing. Bri is when you're bringing in an entrepreneur into your course, you're teaching them to reach a certain point, a certain level where you can start leveraging your time, leveraging your processes, leveraging everything about your business. You're creating a business that doesn't have to have you to run it. Because think about big picture. This company doesn't need you, the creator, to maintain itself or to continue to be successful. That's the whole goal. Either you're going to sell your company or you'll close your company or you'll give it to family. But eventually you're not going to be the company anymore. And those are really your three options. So to create your systems in a way that your company can run without, without you being present 24 7. That's your goal.

Thank you so much for being a guest today. If you would please tell everyone where they can find you, how they can connect with you, how they can carry this conversation on past just this episode.

Absolutely. So my website is really the best way to find me and reach me. Pamela jean a new life.com there's several tabs there that you can click through to get to know me a little bit better. Also, I have a podcast called Pamela Jean A New Life Podcast and we're on Apple Spotify by all of the normal places. There's also a tab on my website for you to click on as well that you can hop over there and take in as well. Those are the main ways to reach me. I'm on Instagram and LinkedIn also.

Thank you so much for joining us today and for all of your wisdom. We really truly appreciate it. If you found this episode particularly resonant, please share it with a friend or colleague who needs to hear this information. Don't forget to be subscribed and I will see you all again next week.

Week thank you for joining me for this episode of the Entrepreneur Coach Podcast.

I hope you gained valuable wisdom from.

This episode and have at least one.

Thing you can act on today.

As I always say, listening to this episode will not change your life. What you do afterwards will. Please be sure to leave a rating and a review of the show, and don't forget to share this episode with a friend or colleague who could use it. Last but not least, please have the audacity to believe in the inevitability of your success today. You deserve it.