Ep. 100: 100th Episode: You Asked...I Answered!

Almost 2 years ago exactly I launched the Sell it, Sister!® Podcast out into the world & I couldn't be happier with how it's gone. I know there's a lot of competition out there in the world of business podcasts, but my listeners show up regularly and share this pod with their friends. THANK YOU!

In this episode I asked people to share any question they wanted me to answer. I got some really excellent questions and did a pretty deep dive into my answers. While this episode is a little longer than usual, I hope it gives you encouragement that you don't have to have all of the answers or get everything perfect all the time in order to have success.

Thank you again! And if you love Sell it, Sister!® please keep sharing it and give it a review if you have a minute so that others can find it too.

Links:

Sell it, Sister!® course: sellitsister.net

Your Next Big Thing Workshop: https://erikatebbens.podia.com/ynbt_jan

• Want to read a transcript of this episode? Click here!

  Hey, if you usually get to the end of the episode and then hop off, uh, before the outro, cause you're a regular listener, you don't need to hear the outro again. Uh, just a little thing of note. I forgot something that I wanted to say. So I'm recording a smaller little snippet that is going to go at the end of the rest of the part that I already recorded.

  Uh, so it will sound like I'm about to wrap up. At the end of this episode, and as if it's gonna about to go right into the outro as usual, but in fact there is more to the episode. So just want to give you a heads up so that you don't accidentally skip past it and miss it. Cause I think you will really want to hear what I have to say.

  Welcome to the hundredth episode of the sell it sister podcast coming out almost two years to the day from when first launched this little baby. And I. Just could not be more, more thrilled with my community of listeners. You are all so amazing is a small but mighty crew of people, of dedicated listeners.

  It's it's so wonderful. I actually just, um, I never remember to go check. Testimonials. Like, I don't even think about it. And I got an email, uh, this morning and it prompted me to go look and there were some new ones on there. Oh my gosh, this is amazing. And so it made my heart so happy. So I would say if you have been listening and loving it, uh, I know I try to remember to mess, to remember, to, to say this in the episodes, but, uh, you know, share it out.

  Uh, tag as you're listening, post it on social media, especially like Instagram stories tag me there. Let me know. This just allows your followers and friends to know about this podcast. And then if. They are down with podcasts and they want sales and marketing help, then it will encourage them to check it out too.

  And, uh, the reason why I like to say this and to remind you to share it is not for vanity metrics, not so that I can hit some special, magical number and then get like sponsored by blue apron. Like, no, it's, it's not about that at all. This is truly a labor of love and it is a free resource that I. I'm just so grateful to be able to put out week after week for all of you, because, you know, I know what that, uh, can't always invest in all of the things to get all of the help in business.

  So it means a lot to me to be able to put this out for free. And so it also means a lot to hear back from you that you find it really valuable and useful and all of that, that good stuff. So without further ado, I am doing an ask me anything style, uh, episode. And I got some really great questions. Um, last week I put out an email to my list asking people.

  To submit their questions and I am really excited to answer these. I got, I think it's five really good questions. Yep. Five questions. And so I am going to, um, I'm going to answer them now. And I feel like these are really very, um, universal, I guess I would say like it, meaning that I, I feel like. Almost everyone listening will be able to, uh, learn a lot and be served really well by my answers.

  If you have something afterwards, you're listening to this, you miss the opportunity. Maybe you're not on my email list. You didn't see the email or whatever, and you have a question by all means, uh, slide into my DMS at Erica Kevin's consulting on Instagram. Or you can, um, if you go to my website, Erica turbans.com, there's an opt-in at the top.

  There's also a way to just get on my list or just shoot me an email and I'll make sure I get your question answered. So question number one comes from Lindsay who's who asks, how long did it take you to get where you are to find your sown of genius? I love being an entrepreneur, but the constant shiny objects, not just in terms of marketing, but also want to hear other people say, quote, unquote, you should offer X can be so distracting.

  So how do you cut down on the noise and stay true to your offerings? Oh, my gosh, I love this. I love this so much. Um, yeah. So interestingly, um, fairly, fairly early on, I read the book, the big leap, uh, where he talks about your four quadrants with zone of genius being the highest one. And I thought at the time I was like, Well, it's selling obviously like that's my jam, uh, silliest free sales and marketing.

  So that is my zone of genius. And the more I thought of it, and the more I actually was thinking, like, what do I love doing? Like, what is truly the thing that I could do for hours and hours and hours? And it was actually teaching, which this is interesting because I went to. School to be a high school teacher.

  And I actually taught high school for a bit and all throughout, when I was in high school, whenever there would be those like the counselor would do those different tests that would see like, you know, what type of future job should you have? I always ended up in the sector that was like teaching counseling, you know, things like things in that, in that realm.

  And I have realized in the last few years, That I am still a teacher. So for awhile I was like, Oh my gosh, like I went to school to teach and I only did it for a short time. And like, I even would have people like say from time to time recently, like, Oh, do you think you'll ever go back to teaching? And I'm like, No, I haven't done that in forever.

  Why would I, why would I go back to that? And I realized like, Oh, I am teaching. I just, I get to teach what I want to teach. I get to set my own hours. I get to set my own rates. I get to do all that. And that is a thing that really just feels super good. So like speaking, teaching, coaching, that is what I truly, truly, truly love strategizing all of that.

  Um, And then my zone of excellence is, um, the like, uh, you know, sales and marketing and business stuff. I feel like that's, that's how I view it now. So I would say it wasn't instantaneous. Um, it took a lot of just doing and then reflecting, honestly. Uh, and in terms of the. Offers and just, you know, marketing and anything.

  How do you say stay true? Um, this is, this is honestly really, really hard. I know it may seem like from the outside, like, Oh, I, you know, Erica never gets like swept up in that, like she's, she's clearly got it all figured out. And the reality is, is that, um, last year I had actually joined. A membership community.

  And I started going through some of the coursework and I realized that I was starting to get a lot of anxiety and I was starting to feel really stressed out. And I'm really just like, I don't know, like I was, I was really in my head about it and I kept both simultaneously like, Obsessing over doing this one thing that the program suggested it was like obsessing over it and I was avoiding it.

  And so I kind of just had to have a moment with myself where I got objective, almost like I kind of view it as, like, there are moments where I think to myself, if you were your own client, what would you say? Or like, what would you, what would you need to hear? And I was like, I. Feel like this program is pulling me away from myself.

  Like it's pulling me out of alignment with myself and what I with what I'm supposed to be doing and all of this. And that was really eyeopening. And it was in that moment that I gave myself permission to stop going through that course material, to put all the worksheets away and to go back to. What do I want to be doing?

  What do I want my days and my weeks to look like, how do I like working with people? Uh, you know, and, and on and on, right. Just kind of going through my own, like even just my own methodology. My next big thing offer framework that I have, that, that kind of goes through like three different areas of, uh, Of who you are and like your business and the people you serve and, and all of that.

  And it's, it's really this cool filter that allows you to really see like what types of offers. Are going to be best for you in this season of your life right now. And that is something that I have to constantly constantly go back to. And I have a course that I created in 2018. You can still buy it. It's called sell it sister to sell it.

  sister.net. Great course, I have so much good feedback on that course. And I recently was talking to some friends and I was like, yeah, you know, I have thought for years, like, why do I not have this passive evergreen funnel that just constantly is moving people into there? And it, it seems so silly. Like, it's this great resource and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

  Like all I was all in my head and I've, I've had this like circular conversation with myself for years. And I kind of realized, like, I feel like what it is is there's no community aspect to it. And I really love getting to know people. I love getting to know the people who I work with or who I'm impacting and who are investing in me.

  And so it felt sort of weird that somebody would be paying me not a massive amount of money, but it's like $650 that like, I would be. Driving a lot of people, hopefully, ideally to this thing to pay me $650 and that I wouldn't even know who they were. So like right now, like it's not that every now and then I'll get a sale it's by like one off, like it's fine.

  But just something feels very unaligned. It feels like I would want to. Allow, like, I would want to foster some sort of like community or relationship or channel or something that would allow me to better serve, uh, uh, like a volume of people going through it. Right. So in the past, when I've done like live launches and stuff, I did, I had like a Facebook group.

  I had a community container and I would be there and I could answer questions and. Because I don't have the answer to that yet. And because right now in this season, I just don't feel like finding the answer to that question. When I have other stuff that I love and feel super great about and totally aligned with and everything.

  It just feels easier to keep it on a parking lot list for now and just focus on what feels like a hell. Yes. Um, and. To really be mindful of when something feels off knowing that my body is trying to tell me something and I need to get quiet and still, and curious. And when I listened to my intuition, then my intuition will tell me.

  Hey, this is, this is what's going on. Like, this is why you're feeling friction. This is why you're feeling anxiety. This is why you're feeling like uncertainty or lack of clarity. And like it's time to it's time to really like ponder on this and not make any rash decisions or anything, but just really like, be honest with yourself.

  About what should say and what should go. So it's kind of a long answer, but I would just say trust that I'm not fallible or that I'm not trusted. I am fallible that I'm not infallible. It's also easy for me to be swayed by marketing and shiny objects, but generally speaking. My, my gut will tell me when something is amiss.

  And if I just kind of go back to okay. If, if you were talking to your own client and you'd be like, okay, who, you know, who are you? What do you want to be doing? Who do you want to be serving what you want your life to look like? And, you know, on and on and on. Just get curious and ask these questions. And then when I know the answers to those questions, look at what is happening and say, is this aligned or is it not?

  And if it's not, what do we need to do to get it, to get it back to that place. But. It's really hard. It's always, I feel like it's always an ebb and flow. Um, actually just last night, last night was a full moon and I was like doing a bunch of journaling and I was like, even right now, I'm in the midst of have a new marketing intensive, super jazzed about it.

  And I know it's not like it's not the final form of what I'm. Probably ultimately going to be doing this year in 2012. And, uh, actually I was boxed during my best friend. I was telling her all about this. And she was like, and I said, but I'm not gonna, I'm not going to try to like, you know, scrap everything and start over.

  Cause I know what I have is really good, really, really, really good. So I'm not gonna rush into. The next thing. And she said that is a real sign of business maturity. And I was like, you are right. It is like, not panicking, not feeling like, Oh my God, I have to go back to drawing board or I have to make it quote unquote perfect or whatever, like, Nope, just, just going with it.

  So yeah. Thank you for that question, Lindsay. Uh, Ruby asked, um, how do you structure your days, weeks and months? So your productivity is so high, uh, giving so much value in coaching classes, podcasts, et cetera, while your hours leave plenty of time to enjoy what you love in life. Oh my gosh. This is such a good question.

  I would probably say that for all of them, but truly I loved the questions I got. I being totally sincere. I feel like these all. Um, beautifully aligned with my larger truth and purpose and what I teach and what I hope to deliver to my clients, uh, and my listeners and, and all of that, because, um, it is so vital to, to think about these things.

  And really the reason that I, I came to this, I was talking to my stories last week, um, about how I, I got to this place. Is when I had like every other business I've ever run before, whether my own or for other people, it was hustle, hustle, hustle. And just that, that's what it was like, there was no way around it.

  And you were just supposed to be grateful for whatever you got out of the hustle and everyone else was hustling. So if you questioned it, it was like, who are you to question us? That's just the way it is. Like. Calm down, shut up, just do what needs to be done, you know, that's it. And at the end of 2016, I was so tired.

  I was so burnt out. I hated everything. I wanted to send my whole business on fire and it was successful. Like that was the thing. It was on the one hand. I just come off of like two months of massive success and accolades and all sorts of things. And yet inside I was just dead. And so I took some time, again, going back, I took some time away to reflect.

  Um, that was really scary. That was really terrifying to be like. Um, yeah, so for like a few months, I'm just, I'm not really going to work my business. Like that's just sounds horrific. Even now. I'm like, Oh my God, how could I, I love what I do. I can't even imagine that some, uh, During that, that quiet, reflective time and going inward checking in with myself, your intuition never lead you astray.

  Your intuition always knows. Um, and I just got really, really curious and I was like, I need some, I need to be doing something different. And I don't know what that looks like. And I don't know how I'm going to be able to do it. But it can't look like how it does now. It just can't. Um, and that it was those asking myself those questions and getting curious and getting still, uh, enabled me to start to envision what an alternative could look like to that.

  And again, just like with the marketing and the offers, this takes it's, you know, testing, tweaking, experimentation, um, constantly. Reflecting and being like, is this working? Is it not? Do I like this? Do I not? Um, and just adjusting, adjusting as they go and not judging myself. Uh, that's really key is like, not that I, not that the judgment never creeps in, but that I can kind of capture it and go like, Oh, you're judging yourself.

  Why are you judging yourself? Do you need to be no. And then just having that self-compassion and seeing how I want to move, how I want to move forward. And so. Really, it comes down to, um, you know, what is going to be most sustainable for me and what are my, what are my priorities? So in the past, I used to work a ton at night and a ton on the weekends and at the time.

  This was, this was okay for a bit because Jack was really little, um, Chris was working really weird, uh, shift schedules and the Navy, we didn't have childcare nearby. And then I was homeschooling like we needed, we needed the flexibility. So it was good. It was good until it wasn't, it was good until I was fitting work into every nook and cranny of the day.

  And I was just exhausted and there was no, there was no separation. Um, and I was becoming like bitter and resentful and I hated it. And so it became really essential with my current business with Erica Tobin's consulting that unless I really, really, really wanted to, I would not work evenings or weekends.

  So that was first. Then over time, I realized, you know what? I like to have a buffer between the weekend and like coaching calls and stuff. So I started doing CEO Mondays, and I have lots of different episodes on, um, my weekly workflow. And I think I have one on my CEO Mondays, and I know I have one on my money Monday practice.

  Like I know peppered here and there. Throughout the history of the podcast. I have some episodes that directly talk about my workflows and stuff. Um, and my, my like weekly structure, but I just found like, that always gave me a day to do my financials. Do planning, do content creation to any important admin.

  Like it would just always be there. And I would also like on Fridays, I kind of wanted to. Not have a lot of calls on Fridays either. So I could wrap up each week. Right. So I could kind of start and end each week feeling very like calm and, and not frazzled and just know that I always had that buffer of time.

  So that's why mostly. Not always, sometimes I'll do some, some calls and stuff on Fridays, but, um, mostly my client calls and my group coaching are Tuesday through Thursday. And I usually do not work later than 4:00 PM. And I usually don't start my calls until about 11 I'm often at my desk around 10:00 AM.

  I like to have really like slow mornings and do a bunch of different stuff for myself in the morning. Usually at my desk around 10, and then I will, you know, my calendar is open for calls in between usually 11 and four at the latest. Uh, and that is really it. And then starting this year, I switched. So I have AB weeks.

  So. Um, the a on the eight weeks, I like people can't book and calls with me. That is what the B weeks are for. So a weeks are a lot of like, uh, creation week. So let's say creation weeks and then call weeks. Um, yeah. And it, it might continue to change. And so what I then do when I know like that that's my schedule is, um, going back to Lindsay's question about offers is I really have to think of like, Again, with my offers, um, what is going to work in the structure of a new offer with how I want to work.

  Uh, and Oh, also one thing I should say about offers, especially with marketing, this is really important. And I want to be sure to mention this. I could technically do done for you marketing for people. Like I, I fully know that I'm. Capable. I don't want to, I really, I truly don't want you. I know I could make more money and all of that.

  I don't want to do it. So I just, that's just a line in the sand. I've drawn for myself, um, that I D I don't do that. So if there's something that you're like, I know I could make money at it. I really don't want to do it. You don't have to do it. That's I get now, now granted, if, if we were in a real pickle and I needed to make some money quickly, could I suck it up and do it temporarily?

  Absolutely. But overall, I don't want to, so don't bake it into any of my offers and that directly ties in with like how I want the structure of my, my life to be so, yeah. Um, and kudos to all the done for you people out there, you. You are all the real MVPs because God, I don't want to do it myself. And I'm so appreciative for anyone.

  I, I outsource that I hire because Oh, having stuff done for you is chef's kiss. Um, so yeah, so I, I, then I am very mindful of how my offers fit into that schedule. Um, that is very intentional. And then the other stuff is just, um, planning, um, batching. And also what I say no to and what I just kind of let slide and what is not yet complete and just making peace with that truly.

  Uh, that is a lot of it. Like, it, it may seem like I'm doing a lot, but for everything you see that is going out, there's all sorts of ideas on the backend that have not yet been executed. And I have a really amazing BA who helps, uh, I. And just so, so incredibly grateful for her and I cannot stress enough how good it is to outsource even link super part-time, uh, to outsource tasks and stuff in your business.

  Oh my God. It's just, it's it's, life-giving it truly, truly is. Um, and that, and what those tasks are, can look different for every entrepreneur and every type of business. And. And everything. Um, but that is it. It really makes, it's such a huge difference. I cannot, I cannot even begin to tell you like to, to get to a certain point.

  Like you, you cannot keep going past a certain point without help, um, or driving yourself just to complete burnout. Um, okay. Next question is from Stacy. Um, She says, uh, where did you get started and how has your niche shifted through the years? Um, and then actually I'm going to sort of pair this with Jenna asked.

  I'd love to hear how you got your first car. Okay. So I hated my life at the end of 2016. And then in early 2017. I started to get curious about what it would look like to be completely online and have a service. Like I was selling products at the time. So to go from products, to services, me being the service, I didn't even know business coaching was a thing really, and truly, which is laughable looking back.

  But I was like this. I love giving people advice on their business and I give good advice. But do people pay for that? Is that a thing that it turns out it is? So I just, I started to get really curious. I started to do some research and do just some like brain dumping of what it could look like. And then late in the summer, I believe of that year.

  I want to say maybe August I hired my first coach. Um, this was, so this was so essential, cause I, I was like, I know how to run businesses, but I've never sold myself as the person product. And I've never been entirely online. And I know I'm smart enough to figure all this out, but I would like to actually start making money sooner than later.

  So I don't want to try a linear all this. So I hired my first coach. I was like, I just want somebody who does exactly the thing I want to do. And I want them to tell me how to do it or give me ideas, give me guidance. So I hired my first coach and then I posted on Facebook. I remember it must have been like timber.

  Uh, I said just said something about like, this is my new business. This is what I'm doing, whatever. I don't even remember my tattoo artist, Joe Wood, who owns parasol tattoo in Saratoga Springs, New York. Who is amazing. He reached out and was like, I, he was running a different shop in town at the time he'd been there for years and he wanted, um, guidance and he knew already that I was good at business.

  We would talk about it when I was getting my, my, um, Tattoos and everything. And, um, so he, he wanted some help. And so I was like, great. We met up at this local coffee shop. I didn't even know how to do a discovery call. We just like met up in town at this coffee shop. We talked about it. I was sweating bullets the whole time.

  I remember I was so nervous. I was like, Oh my God. Like what I, what if I don't know? What, what if, what have you paid me money? And then I'd like, screw this up. Like I just, you know, I was all in my head. Um, but we agreed to, uh, he, we would do partial trade, which I, I don't, I don't do that anymore, but, um, it was, it was great.

  Like I got part of it was tattoo credit. Part of it was money. And, um, I did this whole, like, Debrief on the tattoo shop. He was running at the time. It wasn't his own, but, um, I interviewed some of the other staff there and everything, and I created this beautiful, like nearly 50 page document on the, my advice.

  Right. It was like this huge project. I got it. Like professionally printed and bound is really proud of it. But it also, this is why I don't do done for you. It felt like homework. It felt like I was in high school or college all over again. It took me so much time. Oh my God. It was exhausting, even though I was super proud of it, even though it was amazing.

  I was like that didn't that, that, no, I, this is not what I want to do and I didn't love that. It was just like, okay, here's the plan? Like good luck. Um, so that, that felt, that felt really. Off. Um, and then some of my other, I was trying to think back to like, Oh my gosh, it was a while ago. Like where did my other people come from?

  Um, a lot of them were people who I kind of knew at the time, several of them were also from the world of, um, network marketing, just because that had been the industry. I was most recently in, um, some others had just been. Some other connections that I knew that were, uh, small business owners. One might, I feel like the first that was totally out of the blue, at least that I can remember where I was like, who is this person?

  And how did they find me? I actually had to reach back out to her on Instagram over the weekend. Cause I was like, Abigail, do you remember how you found me? She was like, I think it was Instagram. I think I'm pretty sure it was Instagram. I'm like, okay, cool. Cause I literally could not remember. Um, so yeah, she, uh, is asleep coach and she found me by that point I had figured out how to do proper.

  Discovery calls and it was super great. And, um, we worked together for, gosh, I think it was maybe four months. It was awesome. And we are still, we're still in touch, which is really cool all these years, all these years later. Um, so yeah, so that's sort of where I got my first, uh, my first people from, um, and Oh, and then I did so sell it sister.

  That course I. Initially ran it as a two part in person workshop where I was living at the time and it was called business basics. And, uh, that was sort of the springboard into creating the course. And those people, um, paid me for the workshop and they got all the materials and then like some of them went on to become clients and stuff as well.

  Um, how it has shifted over the years is I would say that, um, Initially I kind of was like, well, I'll just, you know, I know a lot about network marketing. I know how to be successful in that industry. I asked them how to be successful outside of network marketing, but I can, I can work with those people.

  That's sure. Like why would I. Why would I not work with those people? Um, but then over time I realized I was like, you know what? I just, I, it doesn't light me up anymore. I just, I don't really want to, so I stopped doing that. Um, after a time I also stopped helping people who were like super, super, super brand new to business.

  Um, because what I realized was even though I can help them. I it wasn't using that like highest part of my strategic, uh, strengths. Like it, I felt like I was just saying the same stuff over and over again, that felt more like a checklist of things to do as a new entrepreneur, like get an email provider and then, you know, set up a freebie and then.

  Use the freebie to grow your list and here's how you set up social media. Like it just, it, it was, it felt too basic. And, um, while that stuff is really important and while I want people to have success and be helped and everything, it just was not lighting me up. So I, I also let that go. Um, and then I just, over the years, as I worked with different.

  People. I started to realize like, again, going back to getting curious, reflecting and all of that, I think to myself, like what problems do I really love helping people solve? What could I talk about all the time? What feels really like fun for me to do with people? Um, What are the characteristics of those people?

  Like where are they at in business? What are they experiencing? Um, what are they like hoping to have fixed or resolved that is in my wheelhouse and just, you know, asking myself all of these really good questions to just keep refining, refining, refining. And I would say that like, Honestly, it's still, it's still evolves over time because at the end of actually the beginning of 2019, I stopped offering my previous group program, which was called success squad.

  I'd been running it for 18 months. I was starting to feel like. It didn't really want to offer any more, but I felt like I should, it was open for quarterly enrollment. I actually had a really unsuccessful launch that January. I had one person, like I had been successful for 18 months. And it's funny because when my intuition was starting to tell me, it's time to let this go.

  But my brain kept saying, yeah, but it'd be really stupid if he let it go. And like, You know, like people need it, they get a lot of value from it, blah, blah, blah. Like, but I went with my head rather than with my heart and lo and behold at a really crap launch. Um, my heart wasn't in it. So it was no surprise that I had one person re up from the previous quarter and I had one brand new person in it.

  And I was like, I'm not running, it's a group program. I'm not running it with two people. So I reached back out to them and I said, Hey, I will, I'm just going to convert you to one-to-one clients, if that's fine, no other charge, whatever. We'll just do that. They were both totally down with it. That was really, that was awesome.

  But I decided for all of, um, when was, so that would have been, gosh, like what is time in these like pandemic times? I feel like time is just a mystery nowadays. Uh, That. So that would have been like basically all of last year, I guess, was the end of 2019, early, early 20, 20. Um, then so all of last year I was like, I'm not going to do a group program.

  Um, I'm just going to do one-to-one. I had one-to-one my one-to-one six month coaching and my one-to-one intensive and that was pretty much, that was pretty much it, uh, until. I decided I got the like inch, my intuition hit on, um, doing rebellious success, uh, which I launched in October of 2020. We started in December of 2020.

  And now the second cohort is going, so all of this, the sales, like a lot of words being spoken there, but all of that to say that that was very, um, That was very intentional because I just felt like something needed to be reworked. And with the way that I had success squad structured before, um, both in like the layout of the offer itself and, um, the price and who I was marketing it to and everything, something was just not right anymore.

  And I was going to give myself time and space to not. Rush to find an answer. I was just going to focus on people who were much more established, um, and needed help either with their offers, um, their marketing or with scaling up their business. And then I just knew in the future, if another group program was meant to happen, I would know like when the time was right.

  I would know. And I would know what the offer would be. And that is what that is, what happened. And I know that this will, it will continue to shift. Um, because the thing that I always say is like the, you, you learn from the doing and a lot of the offers I've come up with. And a lot of the shifts I've made in my own business truly came about from doing the work with people and then really analyzing it and going, you know, what did I love?

  What did I not. What should I keep? What should I toss? And just again, refining, refining, refining. So that is, that is how it has, has shifted, um, for me. And it's really been more about like, just, um, yeah, like what, what do I get super jazz to do? And the, in the way that I want to do it with the people I want to do it.

  With, and I'm not again, not judging myself for wanting to change and for wanting to refine. And there was actually a point in time. It was like the middle. I think it was like the middle of last year where I was talking to somebody who I had spoken to about success squad again, my previous group program, um, I asked her many times if she wanted to join, it was always, no, we're not, you know, it was always like, not right now.

  Not right now. I was just like, I do want to work with you someday. I keep schedule right now. And we were like chatting and she was like, yeah, I think at some point, you know, um, I definitely really want to do success squad. And I was like, Oh, I don't, I haven't had that since December. Like I'm, it's, it's done.

  And it really made me realize like, Oh yeah, other people are not paying attention the same way that we pay attention. Uh, so. Nine times out of 10, if you, unless you drastically pivot, like you do a total, one 80 in your business for something people aren't going to notice, like those micro changes so much.

  And if they do and they judge you for it, they're not your right fit people anyways, because unless you're, unless you're adjusting your stuff based on like scarcity or panic, or, you know, like. Fear or obligation or any of, kind of those more like icky feelings. Like if you're, if you're adjusting based on any of those, I'm gonna advise against that.

  But if you're adjusting because it true, if you truly feel led to make an adjustment in your business, then I just say like, unapologetically, go with it. I know that times easier said than done. Um, but again, at the end of the day, like you're the one who has to live with your business and your offerings and, and all of that.

  So. Make yourself proud first, uh, and happy and, and all that good stuff. And they, last question comes from Diane, who will actually be on an upcoming guest episode, uh, which I'm really excited. Um, To put out, uh, for all of you to listen to. Um, but she asks when evolving from strictly one-to-one coaching slash consulting to a more leveraged business model, group, coaching courses, mastermind membership.

  What factors do you need to consider when choosing your next level business model? I feel like we've come full circle and I didn't even plan it that way. I swear this is the order they came in. So this is great. So going back to offers and how you want to work and everything. So I actually have a workshop and it's really low cost.

  It's called your next big thing. You can get it and go through. It has a whole workbook. You can go through my whole framework and figure out for yourself. I'll be sure to get that into the show notes here. Also put the sell at sister course just in case anyone wants it and doesn't mind that it doesn't have, does not currently have a, a group container or anything to it.

  Um, I really like to think about what I want the offer to do for me first. Uh, Who I want to serve with the offer and how I want to serve people. So at this point in time, I do not have a membership. I know memberships are popular. I know memberships can be really lucrative, but there's a lot of other elements to a membership that need to be considered.

  One is that, I mean, you can start a membership and have it for two months and shut it down if you want. That's nothing. It says you can't do that. But ideally, a membership is going to last for a while, a considerable length of time, which means that energetically, you have to be willing to hold space for people for.

  The foreseeable future for an unlimited amount of time. And if that feels really hard, you need to then hire a really good community manager and have them do it. And, you know, it's still probably good. Like you're still gonna need to pay some attention to that, to that space. Right. Um, and, uh, you, unless you only have enrollment periods, During very select windows of time, you are going to need to be regularly driving people to enroll in it.

  Right. So it can be very energetically taxing, depending again, on who you are, the season of life you're in how much time you have, like just all of, all of these different factors. Um, and so right now I feel like. At this moment in time, that is not something that I want to be doing. You also have to, like, I don't necessarily agree with the fact that you have to always be creating like tons of content for a membership.

  I think a lot of memberships can be really overwhelming with too much content, but again, you, you have to be like, There has to be something that you are giving people so that they want to stay, right? Like you gotta be, you gotta be doing stuff with it right now. Again, this is not to say memberships are horrible.

  I am in several memberships. I'm very grateful for them. I just don't. I just don't want to do that right now. Right. Um, so that, that is something to consider. Uh, again, going back to courses every time I think about new courses. Cause again. I'm like, well, okay. I have, I have cell sister. I'm not doing really anything with that, whatever, but what if I created a new course and then, and then that would be different.

  And then I could make a bunch of passive revenue on that course. So my brain starts to go through just that normal train of thought that we have as online entrepreneurs. But like, it's just something not right about it. There's just, and I feel like what it for, for me right now. And again, this might change like.

  Six months from now, I might get this incredible intuitive idea, kind of like I did with rebellious success last September. And then I like immediately whipped it up in like two weeks and launched it. Um, and it's been phenomenal. Like I not saying that's not gonna happen the course, but right now I'm like, well, If I don't really want to take, like, I don't, I don't want to take a course right now.

  Like I'm not really in that place where I feel super jazzed about taking a course, at least not one that would take me longer than like a couple hours to complete. Uh, so I, I'm kind of like, uh, I don't really, I don't really feel super jazzed to like, to like, create that for somebody. Else and then like hold space for it.

  And it like in the full way that I would want to, it's just a little bit, Hmm. It's not sitting right with me. Um, because I feel like what is more exciting to me than a course that like, historically there's always like this chunk of people who like. Don't complete a course, some who don't even start a course.

  Um, there's other things also to consider like about presenting a course like instructional design and just, um, different learning styles. Like there's, there's just, there's a lot, there's a lot that goes, or there should be a lot of thought that goes into it. Let me say that there are unfortunately a lot of people out there who don't, uh, do that, which is why.

  Uh, courses kind of get this bad reputation. Cause there's so many just crap, total crap courses, um, out there, but in theory to be ethical, like there's, there's a lot that you really should consider if you're making like a robust course. Um, and so what actually really lights me up right now is more doing intensives and then like, Like really like getting to the heart of what will move the needle forward for somebody and giving them solutions that they can implement.

  And then seeing the quick wins, like it's respectful of my time. It's respectful of their time. Um, it's like invigorating for me. It, uh, makes them feel really good, which then creates this sort of like. Uh, like flywheel of momentum of like, Ooh, I feel good. It's working. So I'm going to do it more so than it works more.

  And like, Holy crap. Now things are really going well for me and my business. Like it's, it's, it's stuff like that. Like that is what lights me up. So that is what I've been more leaning to. Um, and it's also really nice because it, it means that like, I can still charge a good amount, uh, for an intensive, and I don't necessarily have to deal with some of the, the other nuances of like that I would with certain different types of offers.

  So I know that was a really long answer, but I could just, I could talk about this all day long. Because, uh, I think that it's so harmful when somebody just says this one type of offer is the best for everyone. Or even like, Oh, this is a good, I'll give this last example. And then I'll, I'll wrap this up. I did an offer intensive recently with an amazing, brilliant woman.

  We designed a new offer, um, kind of like a. A really high touch, um, group program just for, uh, just for a handful of members at a time. Really, really awesome. Um, and she could do ongoing cohorts, like quarterly, super fantastic. And this would get her away from so much of the, like done for you. One-to-one work that she does.

  And she told me on our discovery call that she just finished a program that was 12 months long to teach done for you service providers, how to start an agency. And she realized midway through. She actually didn't want an agency. Um, it was nothing against the program or the person running the program.

  Like she said, the program was great. She just realized there were elements of running an agency that she would not ever want to do, at least not at this point in her life. And she was like, had I known what some of those things would have been about having an agency before. Investing in a year long program about creating agency.

  I wouldn't have wasted my own time and money, but I didn't, I didn't know that because there was no like, Hey, this is good for you. If, and this is not good for you. If there was, there was nothing that like filtered people. And so, um, I feel like when we see these, these big launches of programs that are like, everyone should have a course, or like you should have a membership or you should have an agency or whatever, or like you should just teach what you know, where, you know, there, there's all different things where, where people are selling the idea of one type of offer.

  The reality is, is that all types of offers work. They all work. Like I work, I've worked with people and I work with people who sell low cost, um, low cost, uh, like courses and digital products. They make multiple six figures, super, super, super successful. Right. And then I work with other people who are done for you.

  Super high-end like. Multiple five figure contracts. They're like booked out. You know, they, they get the same clients year after year for, uh, for their launches, like for this person to help them with their launches. Right? So there, there are literally people at every, every point on this spectrum, um, who are having success, doing various things, right?

  Anything can work. You have to find what works for you. And also you might do, you might create an offer. Like again, I'll go back to sell it. Sister. I love that course. I'm super proud of that course. Um, I especially love when clients. Who have been my clients for other things, but they like got bonus access to it when they were like, I'm going back through it.

  I just want to, like, I just want to sort of get clear on the foundations of my business again, before I move forward. And I just went back through it and Oh my God, it was so good. And I forgot how good this was. Like when I hear that, I'm like, yes, I'm super proud of past of past era. Right? I'm super proud of her.

  I'm super proud of what she. Uh, of what she created and it's why I don't feel super weird when even though it doesn't have a community component anymore, when somebody just buys it as like a one-off, um, because I know if they go through it it'll work and of course they can always reach out to me with, with questions.

  Um, but it, it, it doesn't. It, it, it doesn't like serve me in the same way anymore. It doesn't feel, it doesn't feel great, uh, in this moment in its current iteration to be promoting it a whole heck of a lot. Um, so you will, you will likely have things that you create and that you do, and you put out there that.

  You may start offering them briefly and then being like, oops, I don't love this thing. Just kidding. Not going to offer it anymore. Or you might offer them for a long time. Like, I love, love, love. I have the best memories of the 18 months that I ran successful audit. Like loved it. Some of those people are.

  Uh, dear friends of mine, someone on to be like long-term clients. One of them, I send her art as, um, onboarding. Thank you gift to all my new one-to-one clients. I adore those 18 months, but I, I am never going to have that same exact offer in that same exact way. Again, Lisa, I'm pretty sure that I won't. Um, so even I would say it's all about experimentation.

  It's all about not, not trying to overthink it too much. The outset try something. You'll learn from the doing of it. You'll learn what is working, what isn't, you can tweak it, you can adjust it. You can completely get rid of it. You can entirely revamp it. Uh, you, you were the boss and don't worry what other people think if they loved it and they missed out and they wished you still had it and you don't have it, then it is what it is.

  Again, it's, it's your business. It's your choice. Um, but I would just, I would just say it's, there's like a, there's like a fine line between like being mindful as you create something as to why you're creating it. Um, versus. You know, just trying, trying different things out and trusting that, uh, you don't have to get it right on the first on the first try.

  So I don't even know how long I've been recording this for, this is me a long episode. Um, I hope if you've made it this far, that this gives you a glimpse into, um, what it's really been like since, I guess it's actually, I guess we're coming up this. Summer really will be four years since I've been seriously, like embarking on this journey to what I do now.

  And then in September, we'll be, uh, like from the point I actually announced it out into the world. So a lot, a lot has changed. Um, and also a lot has stayed the same and I hope that this is. Encouraging that you don't have to have it all figured out ever that there's really not a place where you have it all figured out.

  Um, and that ultimately you have to do what is right for you because it doesn't make sense to leave a job and then create a business for yourself that feels. Like a terrible nightmare that you have to wake up to, uh, every day. So keep, keep adjusting it. Um, I'm gonna keep adjusting mine and keep going, you know, constantly going more and more to the sweet spot, but I also love what I have now.

  Um, and I know, I know what's possible and I'm glad, uh, in year one and year two and year three, that even. When things were maybe not exactly how I wanted them, that I just kept being curious and experimenting and, um, trusting myself and I just kept moving forward. So. Thank you to all of you again, thank you.

  If you're a longtime listener or you're brand new here, I have some other exciting episodes planned for April. Uh, thank you to everyone who sent in your amazing, amazing questions. I'm so grateful for everyone. I'm so grateful for two years. I'm so grateful for a hundred episodes. Don't forget, please. I would love it.

  If you share this out with others so they could benefit. From it too. And as always happy selling.

  Okay, so just kidding. Um, episode, not ending quite yet. It will soon I'm gonna keep this brief. Uh, but right after I. Finished recording. All of that, I got up, got myself a snack, and I was starting to think about Joe Wood, my first client. And I was thinking about how he actually went on to open up his own shop.

  And I remember when I got my first tattoo with him at his new shop, he was telling me that he took that plan. I made him for the other shop and he actually used it to. Help him, uh, with his new one and how he, one of the things he did was to create, um, swag bags, like cute little, uh, paper bags that had like the really cool stickers from the shop and, um, all the aftercare and just like all of those, you know, all of those random.

  Those random things. So everything was like branded and, and looked really nice. And so when he gave that to me at the end of my appointment, I was like, Oh, this is so cool. I had like pins in there and stuff. He was like, yeah. Remember, like, that was one of the suggestions that you gave me. Um, when you gave me your, uh, your like, plan that you did like that I, that I got, um, like.

  Yeah. W I think it was like a year before, so a year and a half before. So I was having that thought as I was making my little snack. And then that led to the thought of Oh yeah, because the thing that I did for him was it was about customer experience. So it was, how could they improve customer experience at the previous tattoo shop that he worked at, but then when he was opening his own, he wanted to be sure he implemented.

  That same advice in how to make sure that, uh, the clients of his own shop had a really, really amazing customer experience. And then, and so then I was thinking, I was like, dang, I should have, I should have included that in there that he like went on to like take that plan. Uh, even though I like never did, you know, full hardcore 45 to 50 page printed down free plans anymore that he took that and like went on to use it a second time.

  Then my brain was like, why, why did you not talk about that? Your win to Stacey's question about how you, your niche has changed over the years, how your business has changed over the years? Um, how, what, why, why did you, why did you not mention that that's like an integral part of the, the story is that I actually didn't start out.

  As a sales coach, I was helping people with customer experience. So I don't want to keep this really long, but I was like, Oh my God, Stacy had this really great question. And I did talk about like it again, it's still, it's still has evolved, but no shift in my business so far has been as great as the one from.

  Customer experience consultant to sales and marketing coach slash strategist. Uh, so let me backtrack just briefly. This also took me down a rabbit hole of trying to figure out then, um, that client, I mentioned who we think found me on Instagram. I all went all the way back in my, um, invoices to figure out when we first started working together.

  So here is how Erica Devin's consulting really started. At first, I was one thing I'm obsessed with is raving fans and creating more raving fans that help to give you repeat and referral business. Uh, and so when I was very first starting in late summer of 2017, I was like, Oh, I'm going to help people with their customer experience so they can get more repeat and referral business.

  This is something I'm really good at, and I love talking about it. Um, and so I started doing some voice of the customer research, which is basically you just find people who are in your, uh, potential like target audience for the thing that you want to do. And you just. Basically interview them. So you can, it can help inform your, your offers and stuff and, and some of your like messaging copy and things like that.

  So just talking to all these people and they're like, yeah, yeah, Erica, that sounds really cool. Um, but I don't have enough customers already, like I'm struggling to get customers and clients, so I don't really need, I don't need a customer experience plan. I need any customers and. It was really confusing because when I worked with Joe, the shop that he worked at at the time that he wanted help for was a very busy tattoo shop.

  Um, so it wasn't a matter of like getting more clients. It was like, how do they like really improve their experience so it can improve their, their reputation. They can get more repeat, repeat, and referral business, and it can just generally be a better experience for everyone overall. That was a totally different type of business than most of the businesses.

  So I ended up working with, and so I just kept plugging away at like, I was like, uh, I, I was giving these talks about raving fans and all of these statistics about word of mouth marketing and on and on and on. I was like, Solidly for like five or six months. I was all about customer experience. Mind you this whole time, I'm working with a coach and I'm like, I don't, I don't know what's going wrong.

  Like why, why am I having so much trouble actually getting clients for this? Like, I think it's a good idea. She thinks it's a good idea. Like where's the disconnect. And finally, as I've mentioned, like a billion times, this episode, I got curious, I started to reflect yada, yada, all of that. And I was like, okay, if people don't need customer experience because they aren't getting enough customers, what are they not doing that is preventing them from getting customers?

  And what is it that I. Could potentially help them with that will allow them to get more customers. And that is when it hit me. I was like, Oh, the thing that people always tell me I'm really good at is selling, like not making people feel weird when I'm selling to them and people in general, especially women like really have this hangup around selling.

  And that was when it all clicked into place. And at that point, even though I know I said in my earlier answer to this question that it was refine, refine, refine. Then I also said at the end, you can scrap anything if you want ever and change and totally up to you. This was the moment where I didn't throw out everything I have.

  I had a lot of. Good stuff. I still, some my earliest blog posts are still on my website. They're still really good, but I did a one 80 and I stopped talking about customer experience and I started talking about sales and that was when things really took off. And part of why. I think I forgot to even mention this story is I often forget that I wasn't always doing sales.

  And now when I think back I'm like, why did I ever think that I should, that I should have been selling customer experience? Like it's totally woven into like what I do and advice. I give them everything. But. Uh, it's, it's not like the one thing, like what, that doesn't even make sense now that I would think that, but at the time, the reason why it made sense was because I couldn't see that the thing I'm good at isn't intrinsically like a skill or an understanding that a lot of people have.

  I just am. I'm so used to doing it that I couldn't get far enough outside of myself to actually realize, Oh, this thing that is not like a huge, enormous, terrifying problem for you actually is for other people and you can help them solve this. So that at that point I changed everything. Uh, I never looked back and when I went.

  Back into my Stripe account. I was like, okay. So when did Abigail and I start working together and it was June of 2018. So my encouragement to you would be, you might be doing something and like, it feels, it doesn't feel terrible. You're like something is off just skit. See if you can get. Curious about what that might be thinking about, you know, what is it that is just like your total, just like the thing that you can jam out on all the time that you love.

  That seems super easy and super obvious and fun. Almost like the thing that you feel like you shouldn't even deserve to get paid for it. And try leaning into that because what this shows me is that essentially about a year from when I was like starting to conceive of this business to the time I started to work with Abigail, that is how long it really took for things to take off for me.

  And it took. Instead of getting super discouraged and just quitting. I got really curious, changed what my focus was. And after that, I literally just became those known as a person who talks about sleeveless reselling. And that was the pivotal moment. So I just knew, I was like, I have to include this in the episode.

  It's such a key part of my backstory. So again, thank you to Stacey for asking that question. Thanks to everyone else. Um, who asked me all the great questions and thanks for hanging with me on this longer than usual. Ask me anything a hundredth episode.