143: Burning Down Your Business Roundtable

Speaker A: Well, hey, there it is. Kate Cordzmeyer of the Success with Soul podcast. And I'm here for the last episode of season three, the last episode of 2023. And it's a good one. It is really something that I've been working on for months actually. And I went to some of my entrepreneur groups that I'm in and some of my friends and I asked them all the same question, which was if your business burned down tomorrow and you had to start over from scratch, what would you do? So I've brought together five savvy entrepreneurs to share their perspectives. And it's not so much about starting over as it is about sharing what's working for them now, the invaluable lessons that they've learned, and just the advice that they'd give anyone looking to start or pivot in 2024. So as for me, I'm actually in the middle of some very exciting changes myself and I will be sharing my full story next year. But for now, here's a little teaser about what I would do differently. So the first one, mortgage your house, mentorship. So I feel like coaching price tags have gotten so out of control and overinflated and I see coaches charging a hundred thousand dollars to work with them. I think coaching is so valuable obviously, and I think people deserve to be paid what they're worth. But there's a certain point that I just, I don't know, it doesn't sit right with me. I think there's no guarantee in most of these situations. And I've really been paying much more attention to accessibility and win win situations like my one on one revenue share partnership coaching program. So you're only paying more money when you're making more money. And we both are equally invested in our uh, you know, in your growth and, and all of that. Okay, so that's the first thing. The second thing is over hire. You know, I, I went through a phase in my business where it seemed like everywhere I turned everybody was talking about growing these huge teams or even just teams of 5, 10, 20 people, which if you are, have been a solopreneur and all of a sudden you have five full time employees, it's a very different situation. And everybody, I was saying hire before you need to. And what I learned is that that's actually not great advice. And while I have loved having a team and I've had some amazing team members, what actually ended up happening is that I created a mini corporation minus the big corporate budget. And I think that I, uh, wish more People were talking about actual profit and paying yourself. Kind of the whole point of having your business rather than just hiring and delegating and growing, growing, growing at all costs. So if I was starting over, I would really focus on having a low overhead, low lift, just simple business and maybe not growing a huge empire. Which brings me to my next point, which is the revenue is everything rhetoric. I feel like in the online marketing and coaching industry space, there is so much talk about six figure businesses, seven figure business owners. Um, everybody's talking about how their launches went. And I have been a part of this too. So this is not like cancel culture or anything like that. I just think that when we talk about revenue above all else, it makes you start to believe that your worth is measured in dollars and not, uh, in relationships or personal growth or even just enjoyment of life. So who cares if you make six figures or a million or whatever trendy benchmark is in if you're drowning in burnout? My friend and I were talking about this the other day and she said, I think there's a difference between having a business and growing a business. And I just love that so much because I think there, there's a lot of like, build an empire kind of conversation. And while that might be great for some people, I think that most people, especially if you are a busy mom, building an empire may not be what serves you best in this season of life. And again, going back to kind of this lower overhead, lower lift, easier to manage, just a business that serves what your needs are. And maybe that's five hours a week and you make a thousand dollars a month and that's enough for you right now. And that's okay. I think we, it just becomes so homogenized when we talk about things like you have to just keep growing. And maybe it's okay to not be in growth mode all the time. Maybe it's okay to be in maintenance mode or to never want to really grow beyond a certain point. Um, those are all the things that are on my mind now, which means that I'm thinking a lot more about some of the more passive, lower delivery, but still valuable ways of being in business, like affiliate marketing and like evergreen funnels. As usual, blogging with SEO, um, even YouTube videos. I just was having a conversation with a friend who is now in real estate and she's gotten four clients in the last five months from YouTube videos that she put up earlier this year. And I just love the set it and forget it, um, aspect of SEO like that. So those are some things I'm thinking about, as I'm moving into 2024, I'm looking for more white space. I'm looking for more self care beyond just spa days. Um, I'm looking for more boundaries and thought, work and healing and true rejuvenation. And so, without further ado, I think it's time to get into what everybody else would do if they were starting their business over from scratch in 2024. So I am excited for you to hear from these amazing entrepreneurs and I'll let them take it from here.

Speaker B: My name is Ali Stewart and I am a hiring strategist and director of operations at my business Essential Ally. If I had to burn my business to the ground and start all over again, I would definitely trust my instincts and stop listening to the status quo. When I first started, I was so concerned about getting clients. Of course, I had invested so much money into my business and the time and I had taken this big risk and I definitely wanted to see a return and to prove to myself and to my family that I could do it. And so I paid for a coach and I paid for a bunch of courses that made some really big promises and I had no success with that. I spent a lot of time and energy going down those paths. And um, what I found was as soon as I stopped listening to what these coaches were telling me and what these courses were saying that I had to do to be successful, that's when I started actually being successful. When I leaned in to what makes me special and what I'm good at and what feels most authentic to me. That is when my business started snowballing. So definitely, um, I would not waste time listening to other people, uh, who don't really know my situation and know me. I would trust my instinct and, you know, maybe the advice of a few close friends and colleagues. The other thing I would do is I would start thinking of a way to diversify my income as a service provider. Most of my income is made by my services and so there is definitely a limit to what I can make and I can get maxed out very quickly. And I've chosen not to have a team and have a big empire. I do hire independent contractors for project support occasionally, but it's not, I don't have any long term team members, so I am limited in the way that I can grow. And it took me a year, year and a half into my business before I diversified my services. I originally was just working with retainer clients and um, about a year in, I started doing hiring projects as well, so I have a base income of my retainer clients and then hiring projects as they come in, and sometimes I have a waiting list for those, and sometimes it's crickets for a while. So that's been really great and it's helped me diversify my income. And I've also recently built a small course. And so it's nice to not be fully dependent on one, one avenue. Because it's really scary when you are fully dependent on retainer clients and something happens and you need to part ways with one. And then, uh, you're, you know, you're starting from scratch when it comes to finding and replacing that income. So diversifying income has been really important to me and to my business. So I wish I would have thought about how to do that, uh, sooner. And it was something that I did think about at the beginning. I just didn't really know enough about the online business world to really know how I could do it. So now that I have the information that I do have, I would a hundred percent start with not one offer, but maybe two or three so that I wasn't fully dependent on one. Other than that, I think I would do a lot of things mostly the same. My business has been built largely via, uh, referrals and word of mouth and relationships. And that has been incredibly meaningful and rewarding to me, uh, to see my business grow that way. So I would keep that and, uh, just throw away the, the trying to fit into the mold that all the people say you need to fit into.

Speaker C: Hi. Hi. My name's Andrea Jones and I'm a social media strategist obsessed with social. And I love the question of the day, which is what would I do if I had to start over again? Now, for context, I do have 13 people on my team, a membership with almost 200 people. We have about 15 to 20 clients at any given time, um, in our agency, uh, plus dozens of digital products. There's a lot, there's a lot happening, um, and I love it. And if I were to start over again today, I would focus on video marketing. So for, for more context, I, um, started, uh, at my business in 2014, but I was a content creator for a decade before that. I started my first blog in 2004. I started on YouTube in 2007. And y', all, this was not cute back then. Okay? People thought I was weird. I went to the first VidCon in 2010. Um, and, you know, my, my free time outside of work. I worked in the spa industry at the time. Um, in Atlanta, Georgia was spent creating video content and blogging and being on social media which back then was like Facebook and Instagram was just starting. So I come from a content creation background but I really love the medium of uh, video and knowing what I know now about the rise of platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels and all of the things that we consume, I would definitely triple down on video knowing what I know now. So if I had to start over I would build more uh, of an education based company. So I started my business as um, a service based company company and really stayed there for a long time. Um, I, I kind of started my uh, membership in 2018 but didn't really focus on it until 2020 when the pandemic hit. So I think if I had focused on education based training to begin with, um, I could really build more of an education company. So I'm talking like a low cost membership or just a suite of low cost products. I would also have an affiliate play in there as well doing more things around tech, you know, like how to set up your home studio. I'm um, all about being super casual too. So it's not you know, the fancy stuff, it's how do you show up and look like a real person behind the camera. So I would do like affiliate marketing there and then I affiliate marketing with other things like email marketing or you know, branding or things like that where I could promote other people's offers. Um, um, so that's what I would do. I would have more of an education focused company and I would do lots of content marketing. So if I were to think about like how would I grow this, how would I get leads? Um, I do think I would do a short term done for you offer. Um, um, so either you know, writing video scripts or hooks or you know, something custom customized. Um, because my experience has taught me that the services are a little easier to sell initially because people understand them a little bit better and um, services typically are a higher cost so you don't need a large audience to sell services. So I would definitely start with a few services to build up my revenue and then as soon as my revenue was built up really focus in on the education side. Um, um. So my long term plan for leads and customers would be content marketing. YouTube of course, but also micro platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels and even Facebook reels. I had a client go viral over a million views on a Facebook reel last week. So you know I would, I would do things like that um, to really educate about how to leverage video as a tool to grow your business. And then I do lots of collabs just like this one to really get in front of new audiences. And um, that that's what I would do if I had to start over again today.

Speaker D: Hey there. I'm Dama Joo and my businesses are damajoo.com and thrivecart template shop. I'm um, a funnel strategist and thrivecart expert who loves helping online business owners build a profitable and impactful online presence through strategic funnels and all the automation you have never knew you needed. I'm kind of a marketing automation nerd actually. Big time nerd. Totally obsessed. Yeah, let's just say I'm obsessed. I'm um, obsessed with equipping biz owners like you crush those dreamy revenue goals without having to work 247 on your business with the help of clever, strategic, thoughtful, non annoying marketing automations. Plus the whole other side of it, the selling side conversion optimize built to sell funnels, um, and gorgeous templates um, to help you shine the best light on your digital products. So that's what I do. I met Kate ah a couple years ago and we met in a big high ticket program and became friends and have been clicking. So when she asked me the other day if you m if your business burned down to the ground tomorrow and you had to start over totally from scratch, what would you do? I had to give it a long hard think because I've um, been in business for a few years and I've made a lot of payments, pivots along the way and I love what I'm doing now. So that made me wonder what would I do differently? I have been simmering on it but I took some time, gave it some, give it some thought. So let me dive into the three things that I would do differently. Um, and the first thing that jumped to mind immediately was um, not obsessing over a cutesy, super specific or overly clever brand name. In fact I started my business as Details to Dama and I had in mind a I started as a Pinterest manager. I also thought maybe I'd mess around and do some VA work. I didn't like that very much. Maybe I do this, maybe I do that. So I tried to keep a general business name but even still Details to Dama a year later did not resonate with me anymore. Um, and case in point, it took me a few years but I just rebranded my website from details to dama.com to damage you.com which is my name. And the reason why I didn't just go with my name in the first place is I was nervous. What would family friends say? What would people who went to high school would say, blah, blah, blah, who cares? I just wish I had started with my name in the first place. Because if I can tell you any one thing that is definitely going to happen when you run a business online is what you want to do will change what you do on a daily basis. What will change, how the market responds to the offers you're putting out will change. That will cause what you sell to change. And what's working now definitely will change. I've seen lots of changes in the past few years especially, and most importantly, what lights you up will absolutely change over time. I had no way of knowing I was going to niche down into becoming a thrivecart expert. And I would sit around dreaming up templates and designing templates for folks. I didn't think that's what this was going to become. I started as a Pinterest manager and then I was an ad manager. Then I did this and I started building funnels and I got into summits. And I just don't stress too much about a cutesy, overly specific business name. Go with your name if you're comfortable with it or if not, go with really general. Because what you're going to want to do, what you're going to do in your business changes. Um, the other thing that I wanted to, number two is avoid, if you can, making that big impulsive decision to burn it all down. Now I'm not saying if you've known for six months it's time to close a program and you just haven't done it. That's different. But I'm saying I have seen a lot of people come and go. They built these, imagine these amazing businesses, built a great reputation and then burned it down. Six months later came to find out they're actually kind of rebuilding it back up again. I've seen that happen a lot. Um, so when you're feeling like burning it all down and making a pivot, can I recommend pivot instead? Start talking about this is how you do the pivot, by the way. Just start talking about the new thing that you're interested in focusing on. I started stopped talking about Pinterest and eventually started talking about funnels and then starting talking about ThriveCart and Airtable and marketing automations. I'm going where, where my joy is and where my zone of genius is. And it wasn't going to be Pinterest forever. In fact, it was Pinterest for like five minutes. It wasn't Pinterest for five minutes, but I got bored with it. And so when you're ready to pivot, just start talking about the new thing. Keep your brand because you are your brand. You don't have to burn it all down. I've seen friends, um, you know, let go of lots of clients let go of really like functioning, working, productive, profitable funnels because they were feeling the urge to burn it all down. So be careful with that, um, do so very carefully and slowly, um, because maybe there's just another way to go about it. And then the last thing that I wanted to share is too many people tell you, niche, niche, niche, niche, niche, have the one course, have the one thing, be the one thing. Um, but in my opinion, I would say put out a variety of offers until you figure out what works best for you. And I'm not just talking about the what. I'm talking about the mechanism. For example, um, group coaching program versus self study. Low ticket versus high ticket. Um, a live workshop versus a pre recorded workshop. Pre selling something and then recording and delivering it later. All those things work differently for different people and you're just gonna have to try it out and see what works for you. I like teaching live. It stresses me out. But I'm so glad when it's over because it's done. And now this is like a digital product I can sell on repeat. Um, I love that. I don't love the feeling of pre selling something and then people are waiting or I feel like they're banging down my door for the thing. I get nervous and I get really stressed out by that. That doesn't work for me. One on one results based coaching doesn't work for me. It impacts my mental health and my joy. I feel very stressed. I love self study stuff, I love templates and so figure out what works for you. Um, and not just what works for the audience and the customers, but what you feel good delivering and just try it out. And once you figure out like, hey, I hate one on one coaching, don't ever sell it again, no matter what anybody said. All right, hope that was helpful. Can't wait to see where you take this. If you are starting from scratch, what are you going to do differently? I'm super excited to hear the rest of this podcast. All right, bye.

Speaker E: Hello, hello, this is Jordan Gill, founder of System Save Me. And if my business were to burn down tomorrow and I had to start totally over from scratch, what would I do? Here's the thing. I am known for systems for VIP days, for collaborations and other things too, but those are the main three and I honestly would lean as lean on those because they truly, truly are my strengths, uh, and where my zone of excellence and genius and all the zones lie. So because I've built an incredible network and because I like to get things done very quickly, I would connect with all the people that I'd met over the years and get really clear on where I could support them or where I could support their clients and create opportunities where I guess expert in their communities or I do podcast interviews or something along those lines to then generate interest in my VIP day. And I probably, again, not that I don't do system stuff anymore, I now, um, have somebody on my team who is a master at it. So I probably would be doing VIP days in the realm of collaboration where I would help support people in making sure that they are tracking their collaborations properly, how to get more collaborations, positioning themselves, et cetera. So I would go high ticket for sure. Starting out low ticket freaks me out, not because it's bad, but because there's just not a lot of profit margin. And uh, you know, with my collaborations, could I get the volume that I needed in order to sell a bunch low ticket in order to create that revenue? Again, sure. Uh, but I, I'm honestly not great at the volume game. I, I like curated, quality oriented opportunities. And that's not to say I don't have any low ticket potentially in the future of this new business. But starting out for sure, high ticket is where I would go and I would generate leads quickly through collaboration. So again, because of the strong network that I have, like, I have people that I could voxer, that I could text, that I could call. So even if my social media, you know, wasn't around either, I would still be able to contact people and still be able to get the ball rolling on some collaborations. So it's funny because it feels very, uh, synonymous to how I started my business, uh, back in 2016. Although, uh, I did start with monthly retainers for about five months, five or six months, and that didn't last very quickly, very long, uh, and I moved to VIP days very quickly. So it's interesting that again, even after seven years of business, I would start my business pretty similarly to how I did start my business in 2016, because I didn't ever really rely on or lean on kind of shiny objects like social media, like, um, I don't know, ads, any of that stuff. It really has been relationships for me. And the beautiful part about relationships is the fact that unless one of us, you know, passes on or I guess, decides to go off the grid, like, I always have those relationships. And so it makes me feel very confident and comfortable in whatever happens in my business. Like, I know that I can always get back up, dust my knees off and start again, which is pretty cool. So, uh, that's how I would start my business if I had to do it all over again.

Speaker A: Okay. And our next guest is Lachelle Barnett. She forgot to introduce herself in her audio, so I'm just introducing her here very quickly. Lachelle is a mental health and addiction therapist and adjunct professor at Indiana University and a personal brand strategist.

Speaker F: One of the things that I really love about this question, well, one is hearing other people's answers and how insightful, uh, that can be. But also because it made me realize how much I would not do differently. Right? Yes. There are a few key things that I would have done differently and they would have made a big difference, but mostly I wouldn't change a ton. And that is a good reminder for me personally, and I'm pointing it out, uh, for anyone who happens to be listening, simply because in this entrepreneur space, there's the opportunity to beat yourself up emotionally and have time, scarcity. I'm not far enough along. I made this mistake. This other thing didn't work when really, if we take a careful look, oftentimes it's like, well, at least for me personally, so many of the things that I have done, I would not change. Right. So it was a good reminder for me. So here are the two or three things that I definitely would change. So number one, I would have done a better job, um, of being able to transfer or being able to identify, maybe is a better way to say it, the skill that I already possessed into the skill that I was bringing in to my business. Right. So I'm a licensed therapist by trade. And there are all these things that you address as a therapist, um, everything from designing programs and curriculum. Because I was, um, my specialty was in trauma and addictions. And so unlike most therapists, they do a lot of one on one work. And addictions is treated 99% through group. So there's a lot of group work, there's a lot of opportunities, um, to use other people's curriculum as well as

Speaker E: curriculum that you create yourself.

Speaker F: Uh, and then there's all the mindset, personal development kind of stuff. So there was a lot of things that I could have Pulled from. And I would have just done a better job of selecting and identifying the thing that I wanted to leverage and build my brand on. Um, more specifically, right, I think focusing on skills, it would have been a huge, um, a huge benefit for me. Okay, so that would be number one. The second thing that I would say that I would do differently is I would have done more vision, mission kind of work. Right? So when I started my business, it was on accident. I had no intention of being an entrepreneur. This was not a goal. This was God saying, just kicking me in the back and saying, get out here. And so there were some foundational pieces as it relates to what I might consider to be more branding elements that I did not do, um, did not know, did not value. And, you know, for some people who are more side hustles and not trying to build something big, perhaps this is not necessary. But for me personally, it would have been a huge asset for me to understand my destination, for me to be able to map out what it is that I was trying to build, which is more mission, vision kind of work. Um, those two things would have really accelerated, um, my business. Everything else from a offer, you know, marketing perspective would not have been different. So I ran ads, uh, pretty early in my career. I started with mid ticket kind of stuff. I have, you know, thousands of people in a Facebook group like, uh, build funnels. All of those things would have stayed exactly the same. It would have simply m been me being a bit more focused on the front end. Hope this helps someone.

Speaker A: All right, uh, y', all, there we have it. What would you do if your business burned down tomorrow and you had to start over totally from scratch? Or maybe you are starting totally from scratch right now. Whether it's over or for the first time. I am curious what came up for you as you listen to these expert entrepreneurs share what they would do differently, what they would do today, and what your plan is Moving forward into 2024. See you in the new year.