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Episode 50

E50: How To Plan Your Entire Year on One Sheet of Paper with Laura Posey

Feel overwhelmed by the prospect of creating a traditional business plan? Laura Posey distilled this strenuous process into a one-page business plan. Laura helps business consultants, owners, and coaches focus on what’s most important. “You've got all the pieces and parts that you need. There's probably nothing else that you need to learn. You just need to put it in the right order.”

In this week’s episode, we talk about:

  • The Success Circle framework, which guides business owners to set priorities aligned with their ultimate goal.
  • How a one-to-many model complements and supports Laura’s one-to-one service, which has become her premium offer.
  • Lessons learned from people who don’t diversify their assets and the value of having multiple streams of lead generation.

Check out the links below to get started with your simplified business plan.

Other Resources Mentioned:

More About Our Guest:

Laura Posey is an internationally-recognized speaker, author, and consultant. She is known as The Simple Planning Specialist for her unique ability to simply and easily laser-focus her clients to get dramatic results. Her Simple Success Roadmap is used by over 3000 companies from startups to Fortune 100. She is the author of "How to Plan Your Entire Year On One Sheet Of Paper", and co-author with Jack Canfield of "Mastering The Art Of Success".

Connect with Laura Posey:

Connect with Erin and find the resources mentioned in this episode at hourlytoexit.com/podcast.

Erin's LinkedIn Page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinaustin/

Think Beyond IP YouTube Page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVztXnDYnZ83oIb-EGX9IGA/videos

Music credit: Yes She Can by Tiny Music

A Team Dklutr production

Transcript
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Welcome to the Hourly to

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Exit Podcast.

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Ladies, I am so excited about

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today's guest, Laura Posey.

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Laura, welcome to Hourly to

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Exit.

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Thanks for having me today, Erin.

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I'm excited to be

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here.

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Well, we have a ton to talk about,

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but before we get started, would you

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introduce yourself

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to the audience?

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yeah, so I'm Laura Posey.

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I live here in Richmond, Virginia.

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And, my whole job, what I do all

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day, every day, is working with coaches

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and consultants to show them how to

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plan their entire year on one sheet of

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paper, and then how to get it all done.

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That is

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amazing.

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I there's not a single person

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listening to this episode right now

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who does not want an easier and

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simpler way to get things done.

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So this is gonna be tremendously

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helpful to everyone.

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So I was looking at a recent,

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webinar that you had on LinkedIn

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where you talked about using your.

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Framework to plan your entire 2023

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on a single piece of paper and

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be prepared for a success no

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matter what the economy does.

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And so when I think about your one page

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business plan, this simple success plan.

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I think about something that

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I like to talk about, which is, is

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there a Rembrandt in your attic?

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And basically that is, in business

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terms, not in, literally Rembrandt.

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Yeah.

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But in business terms, where we

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have that hidden undervalued asset

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that we just use in our business all

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the time, and we don't even realize

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how valuable it is because maybe

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we haven't even put it in paper.

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We just.

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Goes through the process.

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Every time we bring in a client, we go

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through the process.

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Every time we create a deliverable, we

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go through that process and it's

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just part of what we do every day.

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And we're not thinking about the

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independent value that it may have.

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but when we talk, when we look at

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whether or not you have a Rembrandt,

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your addict, we look at all those

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internal processes.

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And, how do we systematize 'em if

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they aren't already.

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formalize 'em if we want to use

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them to say, train people internally

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to do what you do or to license it

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to other people to do what you do, or

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to turn it into a product that you

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can sell separately or have available

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separately.

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So when I think about.

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You're a simple success plan.

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I'm wondering like, is that

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the process that you went through

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from services to framework

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to product?

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Yeah, I think the way so many things

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start is I needed it for myself.

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And so I created it for myself and it

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worked really well.

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So I was like, well, let me see

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if this works with my clients.

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And so, yeah, started doing

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that with clients.

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And then over the years it's, just

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evolved and grown as I've gotten

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better at what I do.

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now it's, really the center of everything

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that we do.

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Like, I just don't work with anybody

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now unless we have a plan in place

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first, because we all need to know

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what we're trying to accomplish, where

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we're going and what we're doing.

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Yeah.

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I mean, you say

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the one page plan generated

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over 2 million in your business.

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By that, do you mean that's how

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you created your business or that's

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how you use it, exploit it, and

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there or both?

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a little bit of both.

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I always talk in, when I'm talking

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to folks about what I call a front

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door offer and, it's the door.

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You bring everybody in, and then once

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they're in, then there's all sorts of

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other stuff that you can do with them.

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Mm-hmm.

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And it's just been my front door offer

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for so long now.

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Mm-hmm.

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because it, just sets the

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foundation for everything, right?

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Yeah.

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So, not all my money comes directly

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from planning.

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But it all starts with planning.

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Well, let's back up and talk

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about like yeah.

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Who is your client?

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Why do they come to you, and how

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do you help them?

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So my clients are generally coaches

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and consultants.

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they're in the five, maybe they've hit

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low six figures.

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and they, don't wanna scale.

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Like, they're not trying to have a

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giant team and, rule the world.

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They just wanna have a really kick

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ass lifestyle.

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They wanna make, two 50 a year

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personally in their bank account.

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Maybe they've got a part-time va

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somebody to do their web stuff for them.

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and they just wanna show up and

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do great work.

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And get paid really well and have a

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lot of freedom and free time to live

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the rest of their life and spend

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the money that, they're earning.

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Yeah.

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I will say that has been me for many,

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many years and until, recently,

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I've been, looking at doing other

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kind of more scalable stuff and.

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expanding.

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but that was absolutely, having

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that flexibility and being able to

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go to the tennis match if you wanna

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be able to hype with the dog if you want

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to, but still have, use your expertise

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and be able to, do good work at

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the same time.

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exactly.

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And is there something, so

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what are they feeling then?

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Like, what is, their pain when

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they go, I need to go talk to Laura.

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Yeah, so generally they're at that

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place where, They've bought, every online

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course that there is on marketing and

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LinkedIn strategies and lead generation,

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and God only knows what else.

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Now, it's all about ai, right?

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Mm-hmm.

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Everybody's buying all the AI stuff

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and they're just like, none of

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this is working.

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I don't know how to put all

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this together.

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I know all this stuff, and I'm

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still not earning enough money.

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so I sit down with him and.

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say like you've got all the pieces,

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parts that you need.

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It's probably nothing else that

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you need to learn.

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You just need to put it in

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the right order.

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You gotta start with like, what do you

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really want in life?

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Like, let's get really serious

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about your lifestyle and figure out

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how much that's going to cost.

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And then let's build a business

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to deliver what it is that you really

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are looking for.

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And so we, walk through a plan,

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and we, look at the basic stuff like,

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what are your goals?

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But we look at money goals, but,

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how much time do you wanna take off?

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How do you wanna feel in

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your business?

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Mm-hmm.

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what's on your bucket list that

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you wanna get done, that you're

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actually gonna get done this year?

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Like, what are you committed

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to doing that's like super fun or

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super interesting?

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And then we start looking at what are

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the changes that have to happen in

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your business if you're gonna make

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the money that you wanna make.

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And so I use a framework cuz I

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love frameworks, that I built called

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the Success Circle.

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And it looks at the 12 areas of

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your business.

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and we literally like colored in like

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the, you remember the old life wheels?

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Mm-hmm.

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And you would color in the little

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pieces of pie to see how well your

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wheel rolled.

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We do the same thing for business.

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And it helps people realize like, oh,

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this is where I need to actually invest

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more time and money.

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This is what's holding me back.

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So we start putting together

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like, what are the projects that need

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to happen to make those changes?

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And then how are we gonna get 'em done?

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Well, it sounds like prioritizing, Yeah.

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Because you can't do do it

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all.

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Yeah.

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and I think so often it is

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just folks are.

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Putting all their time and energy into

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the wrong things.

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They're often getting the cart

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before the horse.

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it doesn't matter how good your lead

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gen is, if you don't know who your

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target audience is, if you don't

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have a good offer.

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Mm-hmm.

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Like a really good offer.

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Right.

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If you don't have good core

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messaging, if you don't know what

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your buyer's journey is, it doesn't

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matter how good your lead gen is.

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Like, you're just gonna piss 'em away.

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So Let's get those things

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in place first.

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Right.

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And we can start talking about lead

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gen and you probably already know

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everything you need to know about lead

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gen and it's not working because you

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haven't done all the other stuff first.

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Yeah, that is so true

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because I find that a lot of.

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Business coaches are trying to

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turn us who aren't marketers.

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Into marketers.

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Yeah.

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And I'm not a marketer.

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I will never be a marketer, Hey, I

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know what I know.

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I don't know.

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And so I just need answers.

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For that.

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Yeah.

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And then I need to move on.

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I don't wanna become an expert marketer.

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And so, just kind of getting to

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the basics and getting to like,

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so we can start implementing and

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executing on, right.

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Whatever the process will be

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Who should I have conversations with?

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What offer am I gonna make to them?

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How am I gonna frame that offer in a way

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that they go, oh my God, where have you

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been all my life?

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what does it take to get them to where

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they're ready to have a conversation?

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and it's just conversations.

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You don't need a fancy website.

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You don't need automation.

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You don't need any of that mess.

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Right.

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If you can talk to another human

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being, huh?

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You're good.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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I was talking to a colleague of mine

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who was starting a new business

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without a website and she was doing

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like, cause she just hadn't gotten to it.

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Yeah.

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But she had all these contacts and

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her basically her business is putting

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people together.

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So like I couldn't talk to people.

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That's what I do, uh, sales without

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a website, which we now think

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is unthinkable.

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One of the things that makes me insane

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is, I'll just make my little one IP

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little detour, is how focused people

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are on trademarks.

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Like the first thing people wanna talk

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about is trademarks.

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I'm like, who cares?

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Right?

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You have a solution cares.

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Oh, but I got this sexy logo.

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Man, I don't want anybody to

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take my logo.

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Exactly.

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Alright, whatever.

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Yes.

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Let's get to the basics.

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I love, that.

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Okay, so for our evolution

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of like having a framework and.

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Kind of productizing it mm-hmm.

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And using it as a lead generator, how

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did that process look for you?

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Something that happened organically

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and you're just like, Ooh, but luck.

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Will it luck?

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Did someone help you formulate that?

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did you use a lawyer for any part of it?

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How did that look for you?

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it's definitely been, an

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iterative process.

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I started selling it literally just

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one-on-one, like the people that I knew.

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I, did a lot of, Speaking

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at one time.

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So, when you're on a stage, like

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whoever's facing the back of the room is

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the intelligent one.

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People just believe what

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you say when you stand on a stage.

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and so I would get up there and

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I'd talk about planning and people

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would come up to me afterwards

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and go, wow, I really wanna learn

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more about that.

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Let's have a conversation.

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Okay, great.

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We'd make the sale.

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and I'd work with them one-on-one.

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And, so then I just started

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thinking like, tired of traveling.

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And the one-on-one is okay, but I

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really wanna reach a broader audience.

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Mm-hmm.

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And so I just looked at, okay,

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what do I do with the individual

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people that works?

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What is the process that I

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take them through?

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And then looking at that and say,

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well, how would I take a group

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of people through this process?

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What would be different and how

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would I manage that group and, how much

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time do they need?

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Like when it's one-on-one, we just

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lock ourselves in a room for a day and

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we crank it out.

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But if you've got a hundred people,

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you can't get it done in one day.

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So, I just started looking at like,

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okay, well what does it take?

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Do, how much time are, people gonna

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need to take this idea that they've

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learned and, get it done so we can go

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on to the next idea?

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Mm.

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Like, well, let's try it.

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How many people can I do in a one day?

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Well, I can deliver the content.

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I just can't help everybody.

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And so, then I was like, well, let

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me just make it an online course.

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instead of me repeating myself

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all the time, let me just record

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everything, all the training,

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add a workbook to it, traditional

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online course, and then it just

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becomes a marketing exercise, right?

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That's where you do turn into a

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marketer, right?

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And that's where I, sort of got my

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marketing chops, was marketing

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my own stuff.

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and then I realized like, nobody's life

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changes from taking an online course.

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Mm-hmm.

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Because most of the time they don't

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finish it and it doesn't matter.

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Like, I tried every kind of thing I

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could think of to like, if somebody

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stopped moving forward to nudge

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them and, I just couldn't get

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people to finish.

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And so, what if I just.

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Do it live.

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Like what if I just do the training

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live and answer the questions live and

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we'll do the work on the calls live

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and just stretch it out and how

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will that work?

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And that seems to be the, magic

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formula right now.

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Yeah.

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I just do it with, you know, a

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hundred, 150, 200 people at a time.

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That's a big cohort.

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Wow.

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It is.

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and I've got a co-coach that is

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on the call with me, so she's kind

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of running the back end in the chat and

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everything so I can just show up and

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do, and it works really, really well.

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Like people actually get stuffed done.

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It is super important

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to have that live component.

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It is just so

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important

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mm-hmm.

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It is.

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And, I think it's just completely

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scalable.

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Like I was.

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Thinking about it the other day and I

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was like, well, how many people could

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we handle on a call that might I, I'm

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like, we could do 500 and we could

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do 500 with the team I have right

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now, Like, right.

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Let's see what that would look like.

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Well that is kind a daunting, I'll

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couple of things.

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everyone kind of.

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Gets the

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need to the scale to go from

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the one-to-one model to the one

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to many model.

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Yeah.

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But they're not sure how it looks.

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But there are a couple of things

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that I think prevent them from

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making that leap.

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One is just, I get paid, More for the

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one-on-one stuff than I do for

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the one to many.

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Is it going to cannibalize my

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one-to-one work?

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How will those clients view me if

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there's the worry about cannibalizing

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kind of the premium work, let's call it.

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And then the other is, how do

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I, if I have a relationship-based

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referral-based business, How do

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I grow an audience to be able to sell

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one

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to many?

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Yeah.

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so the, first question in my

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experience has been, that the one to many

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actually supports the one-on-one one,

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and I end up with more one-to-one

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than I want.

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Mm-hmm Because of the w to many.

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Cuz what happens is they come into the

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w Toman environment and they go,

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mm, I need more.

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Right.

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I'm a bigger business.

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I, just need more.

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Can I talk to you about that?

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Do you do that?

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Mm-hmm.

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And so then we have the conversation

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and it goes, from a thousand

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dollars sale to a $20,000 sale.

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Right.

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and it's like, okay, yeah.

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Can do that.

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so rather

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than being a replacement, it's

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more like another ladder on the

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step of working More intense.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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I mean, it, just, Again, like I bring

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everybody in that one door, right?

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And some of the folks that come

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through that one door go, no, I need

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a whole lot more.

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so we just have the conversation and

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then we, move into the one-on-one.

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so I think it, actually helps you

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to have one to many.

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the list piece.

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Right.

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Everybody's like, email's

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dead, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

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I've been hearing that for 15 years.

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it still works.

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the beauty of email is that it

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is an asset that you own, right?

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You, have these addresses that

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you can use and yes, some of

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'em are bad and blah, blah, blah.

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But you have people that you

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can communicate with whenever

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you want to.

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And so growing that list I

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think is really, really important.

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I'm not a, giant fan of building your

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business on somebody else's platform.

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Mm-hmm.

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So like Facebook groups and LinkedIn

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groups and blah, blah, blah, blah,

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whatever the newest thing is.

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doing TikTok videos and, I

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mean, just TikTok recently, states are

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going, Hey, we're banning TikTok.

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Yeah.

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It's

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a pretty big state.

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Yeah.

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Mm-hmm.

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Yeah.

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I don't know anybody that's

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banning email.

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Mm-hmm.

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so I think it's, super helpful to

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start building your list and,

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the easiest way I've found to

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build a list is one to speak.

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Mm-hmm.

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Podcasts on stages at your

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local chamber of Commerce, wherever

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your people are.

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Go speak and even if you don't get

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paid to speak right away, get in front

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of people and offer them something.

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Mm-hmm.

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Have a free, something that

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supplements the whatever you're

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talking about.

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And about 80% of your audience

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will opt in.

Speaker:

And so, if you think about that, okay,

Speaker:

if I'm talking to 200 people, I got at

Speaker:

least 150 new names.

Speaker:

To add to my email list.

Speaker:

And they're op, like they're on

Speaker:

their phone texting.

Speaker:

The code.

Speaker:

Right.

Speaker:

And they're getting the stuff.

Speaker:

And that's just a one to many way

Speaker:

to build a list.

Speaker:

Now it's interesting what you mentioned

Speaker:

about TikTok cuz I hadn't even thought

Speaker:

about, cause we, pre the issues that

Speaker:

we're having in 2023, we've been

Speaker:

told to make sure you own, you know,

Speaker:

of your audience.

Speaker:

And so you you're collecting those

Speaker:

emails even if you don't have

Speaker:

a list that you have that a way to

Speaker:

reach out to them.

Speaker:

But the world is getting more

Speaker:

volatile, with Issues like TikTok

Speaker:

with, Twitter, I mean, people who

Speaker:

had massive Twitter.

Speaker:

And maybe that's, the less viable

Speaker:

things that are going on

Speaker:

with, Facebook.

Speaker:

And so you really are more

Speaker:

vulnerable than we ever have been

Speaker:

when we're trying to build Yeah.

Speaker:

any asset on somebody else's

Speaker:

platform.

Speaker:

Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

That

Speaker:

is crazy.

Speaker:

There's a reason they call it rented

Speaker:

media, right?

Speaker:

and if you're building on

Speaker:

rented land right.

Speaker:

Somebody can come along and take

Speaker:

your house whenever they feel like it.

Speaker:

Right?

Speaker:

They can change the algorithm.

Speaker:

I know like with Facebook

Speaker:

advertising, when Apple came in with

Speaker:

all the privacy restrictions mm-hmm.

Speaker:

It devastated.

Speaker:

Absolutely devastated

Speaker:

some folk.

Speaker:

Because their entire business was built

Speaker:

around Facebook advertising and

Speaker:

this data that they could no longer get.

Speaker:

it, they lost access to the data.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

So it used to be when you went

Speaker:

into, to set up Facebook ads, I

Speaker:

mean, you could set up, you could

Speaker:

build audiences by all sorts of stuff

Speaker:

you should not know about people.

Speaker:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

And when somebody would opt in,

Speaker:

through an Apple device and,

Speaker:

certainly Windows devices as well,

Speaker:

Facebook would gather whatever

Speaker:

information they could from that

Speaker:

device and learn all sorts of

Speaker:

stuff about you.

Speaker:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

Right?

Speaker:

that they could then resell to

Speaker:

advertisers.

Speaker:

and Apple put the kibosh on that.

Speaker:

And so, now suddenly Facebook

Speaker:

is going well.

Speaker:

we don't know as much as we thought

Speaker:

we did, and the stuff that we do

Speaker:

know we're not allowed to tell

Speaker:

you anymore.

Speaker:

And so mm-hmm.

Speaker:

It really wrecked a lot of people's

Speaker:

businesses.

Speaker:

and so I, am a big fan of having

Speaker:

multiple streams of lead generation.

Speaker:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

and, build some on the socials.

Speaker:

just don't.

Speaker:

Make it everything, right.

Speaker:

Builds stuff on stages.

Speaker:

But has the pandemic taught us?

Speaker:

Stages change.

Speaker:

Stages change.

Speaker:

Yes, absolutely.

Speaker:

Again, like I know lots of people who

Speaker:

were stage speakers whose businesses

Speaker:

disappeared overnight.

Speaker:

I have a, colleague who had a $700,000

Speaker:

business just disappeared

Speaker:

overnight.

Speaker:

That was the entirety of his

Speaker:

business was live.

Speaker:

Doing live.

Speaker:

It just

Speaker:

went away.

Speaker:

pivoted pretty quickly, right?

Speaker:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

So just lessons learned and,

Speaker:

having watched a lot of people get

Speaker:

in big trouble, you diversify

Speaker:

your assets.

Speaker:

building your email list is an

Speaker:

asset diversify.

Speaker:

Absolutely.

Speaker:

Well, speaking of assets, I mean,

Speaker:

with your simple success plan, is it

Speaker:

registered in the copyright office?

Speaker:

Does it have a trademark?

Speaker:

how does it, you, deal with

Speaker:

the IP part

Speaker:

of that?

Speaker:

yes.

Speaker:

So the Simple Success Plan

Speaker:

is a registered trademark.

Speaker:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

I have the paper around

Speaker:

here somewhere.

Speaker:

I can look it up.

Speaker:

yes, I used an attorney,

Speaker:

I'm clapping.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Cuz I didn't wanna deal with that crap.

Speaker:

Like, I just don't wanna deal

Speaker:

with that crap.

Speaker:

You definitely, yeah.

Speaker:

And, I've been on the, other side of

Speaker:

things like the, originally the

Speaker:

simple success plan was called, the one

Speaker:

page strategic plan.

Speaker:

Mm.

Speaker:

How turns trouble there?

Speaker:

Somebody owns, somebody has

Speaker:

a trademark on the one page.

Speaker:

For like a ridiculous

Speaker:

number of codes.

Speaker:

Yes.

Speaker:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

Right?

Speaker:

And so he sent me a very nice

Speaker:

email and said, Hey, I own that.

Speaker:

Was it nice?

Speaker:

It was okay.

Speaker:

It was nice.

Speaker:

And we had a conversation and,

Speaker:

I've been on that.

Speaker:

Like I had a business, A little

Speaker:

side business and I got an email from,

Speaker:

or I got a letter from Media General,

Speaker:

the attorneys for Media General,

Speaker:

letting me know in no uncertain

Speaker:

terms that they own the trademark for

Speaker:

the term Virginia business when it

Speaker:

comes to any sort of publication.

Speaker:

That is shocking

Speaker:

to me what people were able to get

Speaker:

trademarks for.

Speaker:

Yes.

Speaker:

I mean, like you could never today,

Speaker:

but there was a time and you get Yeah.

Speaker:

And I'm like, well, I'm not gonna

Speaker:

win this battle.

Speaker:

So change the name, right?

Speaker:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Change business.

Speaker:

Wow.

Speaker:

I was curious about the Weather Channel

Speaker:

when I said, I'm like, when I noticed

Speaker:

I, how do you get a trademark on

Speaker:

the other channel?

Speaker:

Well, Intel owns pretty much it.

Speaker:

any word.

Speaker:

Followed by inside.

Speaker:

have a friend who, started a

Speaker:

business called, brand Inside.

Speaker:

they do, branding, but they do like

Speaker:

internal branding and employee

Speaker:

development and stuff.

Speaker:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

And Intel sent them a very strongly

Speaker:

worded letter letting them

Speaker:

know that they were in violation

Speaker:

of their trade.

Speaker:

And I'm like, wait a minute, They make.

Speaker:

Chips, and this is a service

Speaker:

marketing company, what the hell?

Speaker:

And Intel was like, no, we own

Speaker:

all that shit.

Speaker:

Wow.

Speaker:

So, yeah.

Speaker:

Crazy.

Speaker:

Right?

Speaker:

That is crazy.

Speaker:

I guess it falls into the super

Speaker:

trademark category of things, like

Speaker:

anything that's even associated

Speaker:

with these like massive, trademarks.

Speaker:

Yeah, kind of.

Speaker:

They just gobble everything up,

Speaker:

which is pretty obnoxious, but

Speaker:

This is what it is.

Speaker:

Exactly.

Speaker:

So, but

Speaker:

I want to, kind of go back to the

Speaker:

point like, if you'd not been able to

Speaker:

get Simple success plan, you couldn't

Speaker:

get the first one you wanted.

Speaker:

I mean, there's another one.

Speaker:

At the end of the day, the value and

Speaker:

the trademark is the transformation

Speaker:

that you provide.

Speaker:

And you can exactly whatever name you

Speaker:

want on there, you know, who cares

Speaker:

what it's called.

Speaker:

Yeah, it is.

Speaker:

Yes, exactly.

Speaker:

But once you do have, you're

Speaker:

known for that transformation,

Speaker:

you do wanna make sure that.

Speaker:

Everyone knows that's yours, and

Speaker:

therefore that's why you want

Speaker:

that trademark.

Speaker:

So they know it's your idea,

Speaker:

but we should not like let the

Speaker:

tail wag the dog.

Speaker:

Is that what it's Yeah.

Speaker:

That we, gotta

Speaker:

have, well, it gets into that,

Speaker:

getting bogged down in minutia

Speaker:

that isn't growing your business.

Speaker:

Right?

Speaker:

Right.

Speaker:

Like I see folks are like just obsessed

Speaker:

about their website.

Speaker:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

and they're spending hours and hours

Speaker:

and hours and I'm like, You don't

Speaker:

have any traffic,

Speaker:

like nobody's gonna see it.

Speaker:

Like just exactly right.

Speaker:

Put up a nice looking page.

Speaker:

Got some info on it.

Speaker:

You can add more later.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

It's a website.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

I'm sure we've all been guilty

Speaker:

of that for sure.

Speaker:

Oh yeah.

Speaker:

like, these are all lessons, like

Speaker:

when I say, God, it drives me crazy

Speaker:

when people do this.

Speaker:

It's because I've done it.

Speaker:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

Right?

Speaker:

and I've learned not to do it

Speaker:

because I've watched it fail.

Speaker:

Well, we are about halfway through,

Speaker:

gosh, we are halfway through 2023, so I

Speaker:

don't know how that happened exactly.

Speaker:

Insane, insane.

Speaker:

but what, new happened in 2023?

Speaker:

I used to ask, what do we see

Speaker:

ahead for 2023?

Speaker:

But now I'm gonna have to say, ask,

Speaker:

what, kind of changes happened

Speaker:

in 2023 as we were coming out

Speaker:

of the pandemic?

Speaker:

And, People quiet, quitting, and, all

Speaker:

kind of gig economy.

Speaker:

Like what's going on?

Speaker:

I think it's the rise of ai.

Speaker:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

Like, that's what I'm seeing mm-hmm.

Speaker:

in the world.

Speaker:

hear so many folks going, oh, I

Speaker:

need to learn ai.

Speaker:

And I'm like, do you even know what it

Speaker:

is or what it does?

Speaker:

Like you just, you've heard you

Speaker:

need to learn it And I keep, people that

Speaker:

are like, oh, it can write all your

Speaker:

copy, it can do all your copywriting, it

Speaker:

can do all of this, it can do this,

Speaker:

it could do this.

Speaker:

it's like, it's gonna work all

Speaker:

this magic for you.

Speaker:

And I'm like, well, yeah, it does a lot

Speaker:

of stuff, but you still gotta have

Speaker:

the right prompts.

Speaker:

And like, there's work that goes into

Speaker:

it and, I think there's still just

Speaker:

no substitute for humans getting

Speaker:

together even on Zoom talking.

Speaker:

AI does not have a personality.

Speaker:

AI has no eq, AI can't read the room.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

And it's like, oh, we can, do

Speaker:

a promotional video using ai.

Speaker:

I don't know how to do it.

Speaker:

But somebody could do that.

Speaker:

I could say, I need a video

Speaker:

though of me.

Speaker:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

Fake me, right.

Speaker:

Talking about this.

Speaker:

and I could get AI to write the

Speaker:

script and da da, da, da, but it's

Speaker:

gonna suck, right?

Speaker:

or I could just sit down and record

Speaker:

a video and talk about what I need

Speaker:

to talk about.

Speaker:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

And let people see the real human, who

Speaker:

makes mistakes and, that has, doesn't

Speaker:

do hair and makeup, and is just like,

Speaker:

a normal person.

Speaker:

Right.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

At the end of the day, like if what

Speaker:

you do is something that someone could,

Speaker:

six months ago could have gone on

Speaker:

Google and figured out without you,

Speaker:

then you're in the same position

Speaker:

like you need you.

Speaker:

Right.

Speaker:

That's not where you should be.

Speaker:

Right.

Speaker:

If you're an expert, yeah.

Speaker:

It shouldn't be just.

Speaker:

Out there for somebody else to

Speaker:

like kind of sift through, a database

Speaker:

and come up with whatever it is

Speaker:

that you do that's special for Right.

Speaker:

Getting delivered to your clients.

Speaker:

that's still is necessary to

Speaker:

differentiate you from everybody else.

Speaker:

it's crazy.

Speaker:

I mean, they, the things that I see

Speaker:

people building as businesses and

Speaker:

I'm just like, I'm pretty sure

Speaker:

a machine does that already.

Speaker:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

Like how are you doing it differently

Speaker:

than the machine?

Speaker:

Like, I love my accountant.

Speaker:

I adore my accountant.

Speaker:

Fabulous person, right?

Speaker:

But my accountant doesn't give me

Speaker:

tax strategies.

Speaker:

She just takes all the junk eye giver

Speaker:

and puts all the numbers in the right

Speaker:

boxes and makes things balanced.

Speaker:

Cuz I don't really care

Speaker:

about doing that.

Speaker:

Right.

Speaker:

Right.

Speaker:

I'm pretty sure a machine can do that

Speaker:

because there's software out there

Speaker:

that doesn't.

Speaker:

Well,

Speaker:

they haven't.

Speaker:

Yes.

Speaker:

She

Speaker:

just takes my junk and puts it

Speaker:

into this software that she uses.

Speaker:

Right?

Speaker:

Right.

Speaker:

so I'm like, Hey, how long is

Speaker:

that gonna be?

Speaker:

Like a

Speaker:

job.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

If you're not providing some

Speaker:

type of strategic advice behind that,

Speaker:

you're not able to like say, okay,

Speaker:

Laura, what do you want, retirement

Speaker:

to look like.

Speaker:

Let's figure out, and, lifestyle

Speaker:

issues and how do you finance them and

Speaker:

how, it has to be something other than

Speaker:

just the numbers.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Or, if you are a writer, it has

Speaker:

to be something more than just,

Speaker:

Putting together some webpages.

Speaker:

It has to be something

Speaker:

unique.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

I mean, AI can write your book

Speaker:

report for you.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Because book report isn't necessarily

Speaker:

your opinion, right?

Speaker:

and AI's gonna be better at

Speaker:

the research, so if you're just

Speaker:

putting out facts and regurgitating

Speaker:

stuff, other people have said mm-hmm.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

AI's gonna eat your lunch, but, Yep.

Speaker:

If you actually have an opinion

Speaker:

and, a strategy and a, viewpoint,

Speaker:

a framework, yes.

Speaker:

All those things.

Speaker:

Love that.

Speaker:

All right.

Speaker:

So as you know, this is the Hourly

Speaker:

to Exit podcast where I encourage

Speaker:

female founders of expertise-based

Speaker:

businesses to build a business that

Speaker:

they can hopefully sell someday.

Speaker:

So, As the female founder of an

Speaker:

expertise based business, do you

Speaker:

have plans to sell your business?

Speaker:

What's the next chapter for

Speaker:

your business?

Speaker:

Yeah, so I actually have somebody who

Speaker:

wants to buy it, and I just keep mm-hmm.

Speaker:

pushing him away because I wanna get

Speaker:

the valuation up.

Speaker:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

Significantly higher.

Speaker:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

I also have, a colleague who would

Speaker:

be like the perfect fit To take it over.

Speaker:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

And, so we're just starting to have

Speaker:

some discussions.

Speaker:

I'm not anywhere close to

Speaker:

ready to go.

Speaker:

I'm just having way too much fun.

Speaker:

And

Speaker:

so, um, that's the beauty of building

Speaker:

a business that you love, like

Speaker:

you, there's no urgency to Yeah.

Speaker:

I've built it to suit my lifestyle.

Speaker:

And so I work really hard in the winter.

Speaker:

And then I take summers off and

Speaker:

the rest of the time I work about

Speaker:

three days a week.

Speaker:

And that totally suits me.

Speaker:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

And mean, gosh, I love the income.

Speaker:

like it's just nothing like

Speaker:

getting the check that, right.

Speaker:

So every two weeks it's like,

Speaker:

whoa, look.

Speaker:

So

Speaker:

when you talk about increasing the

Speaker:

valuation, like is there something

Speaker:

specifically that you're working on

Speaker:

to help do that?

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

So, it's always about replacing

Speaker:

yourself, right?

Speaker:

people wanna buy your cash flow,

Speaker:

they don't wanna buy your ip, and

Speaker:

so it's creating the machine that

Speaker:

anybody can run.

Speaker:

Right?

Speaker:

And, like the guy that, wants it,

Speaker:

he's got other properties and other

Speaker:

lists and other.

Speaker:

Experts who do different things,

Speaker:

he just doesn't have this piece.

Speaker:

And so it's a nice addition

Speaker:

to his puzzle.

Speaker:

and so, he'll just market my stuff to

Speaker:

all of his other lists and market

Speaker:

all of his other stuff to my list.

Speaker:

and because everything can

Speaker:

be delivered, in a pretty turnkey

Speaker:

manner And obviously he can replace me

Speaker:

for less than what I cost, right?

Speaker:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

so it'll throw off a pretty good amount

Speaker:

of cash, but yeah.

Speaker:

We know that

Speaker:

revenue generator is your ip, right?

Speaker:

Yes,

Speaker:

It is

Speaker:

it.

Speaker:

No, I totally get that.

Speaker:

It's the, thing is though, so just for

Speaker:

as an example, I have a good friend,

Speaker:

colleague who is the most magnificent

Speaker:

IP I've ever seen.

Speaker:

I mean it is.

Speaker:

So her frameworks are beautiful.

Speaker:

Her books, mean, big corporate clients,

Speaker:

like the whole nine yards, but she

Speaker:

never built anything outside of herself.

Speaker:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

Other than the ip.

Speaker:

And she tried for probably four

Speaker:

or five years to sell the ip.

Speaker:

And could not get a buyer.

Speaker:

Yeah, it's not, we don't create

Speaker:

IP like, just cuz it's pretty Right.

Speaker:

It is the leverage that we

Speaker:

get out of it.

Speaker:

Like how we Yes.

Speaker:

Deploy it.

Speaker:

That is where the Exactly.

Speaker:

Yes.

Speaker:

And she just never trained anybody to

Speaker:

do what she does.

Speaker:

And so she was going to, she

Speaker:

was trying and, people just said,

Speaker:

We'll just wait for you retire

Speaker:

and then we'll just go get it.

Speaker:

Right.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

So I didn't mean that as a slam dunk.

Speaker:

Yeah, no, no, it's okay.

Speaker:

Be where I wouldn't be where

Speaker:

I am without all of my ip.

Speaker:

Right.

Speaker:

I mean, that's what's gotten

Speaker:

me here.

Speaker:

I mean, so

Speaker:

that's, that's how we get out of

Speaker:

this selling our time business is

Speaker:

by creating these things that Yes.

Speaker:

And.

Speaker:

Exactly.

Speaker:

Generate revenue without us.

Speaker:

Yes.

Speaker:

All right.

Speaker:

that's the key is the generate

Speaker:

revenue.

Speaker:

People wanna buy your cash flow,

Speaker:

and if you are a hundred percent

Speaker:

responsible for your cash flow, when you

Speaker:

retire, there's,

Speaker:

no cash flow.

Speaker:

Exactly, Unless you become

Speaker:

employee machine.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Yes.

Speaker:

All right.

Speaker:

So, one of our missions here is to

Speaker:

create more wealth in the hands of

Speaker:

women to create an economy that works

Speaker:

for more of us.

Speaker:

And so I love to introduce

Speaker:

the audience to organizations who

Speaker:

are doing great work in that area.

Speaker:

Is there one that you'd like to share

Speaker:

with the audience?

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

There's a, group here in Richmond

Speaker:

called Safe Harbor, and they help women

Speaker:

who are in abusive relationships.

Speaker:

Safely get out with their kids.

Speaker:

they help set them up in new

Speaker:

careers, new houses, absolutely

Speaker:

everything they need.

Speaker:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

they take care of all the legal work

Speaker:

as well to make sure that they, have

Speaker:

all the protections that they need

Speaker:

and, um, just great organization.

Speaker:

Love it.

Speaker:

Thank you.

Speaker:

So we'll have that in the show

Speaker:

notes so everyone can find them and

Speaker:

support their work.

Speaker:

And so I know you have an offer as

Speaker:

well, some goodies that you'd like

Speaker:

to share with the audience as well.

Speaker:

Yes.

Speaker:

Yeah, I'm a big fan of giving people

Speaker:

for yourself because it, it's useful, so.

Speaker:

I have a, it's a single sheet

Speaker:

of paper.

Speaker:

It's called the Daily Success

Speaker:

Checklist.

Speaker:

you do like fill it out every single

Speaker:

day, and it keeps you focused on your

Speaker:

long-term goals, keeps you focused

Speaker:

on your projects that you're working

Speaker:

on right now.

Speaker:

Keeps you focused on the things that

Speaker:

make you a healthy, whole human being

Speaker:

and it keeps you focused on the most

Speaker:

important tasks that you need to

Speaker:

get done each day.

Speaker:

And then it helps you end the day with

Speaker:

a reflection so that when you finish that

Speaker:

piece, you are done with work for the

Speaker:

day, whether that's at 10 o'clock in

Speaker:

the morning or six o'clock at night.

Speaker:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

And you can walk away knowing that

Speaker:

you have done everything that you

Speaker:

needed to do today move things forward.

Speaker:

It's settled.

Speaker:

You can go leave, work and be a

Speaker:

whole human being.

Speaker:

You can be present with your family.

Speaker:

You can be present in your life and not

Speaker:

be thinking about work all the time

Speaker:

and not wake up

Speaker:

in the 3:00 AM Not that that ever

Speaker:

happens to me.

Speaker:

yeah.

Speaker:

No, it, it, such a fabulous tool

Speaker:

for just looking at it cuz it, one

Speaker:

sheet of paper, it's like this

Speaker:

is what I can get accomplished today.

Speaker:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

And so you do exactly what you

Speaker:

are capable of doing that day.

Speaker:

And then you're done.

Speaker:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

And so there's not this endless list

Speaker:

that's haunting you and hanging

Speaker:

over your, head and it's always

Speaker:

keeping you focused on the important

Speaker:

things mm-hmm.

Speaker:

That are really driving the

Speaker:

business forward.

Speaker:

And there's room in there for

Speaker:

all the little petty stuff that

Speaker:

has to get done.

Speaker:

Cuz let's face it, there's little

Speaker:

petty stuff that has to get done.

Speaker:

But it's my number one tool

Speaker:

for focusing in getting stuff done.

Speaker:

And so you can just hop over

Speaker:

to the website.

Speaker:

It's simple success plans.com/daily.

Speaker:

Great.

Speaker:

And download it.

Speaker:

And there's a whole tutorial video

Speaker:

and downloads and fillable versions

Speaker:

and printable versions and all.

Speaker:

Fantastic.

Speaker:

Well I need one of those cuz I

Speaker:

do have some of those 3:00 AM

Speaker:

moments too often.

Speaker:

So Yeah, and I'll get,

Speaker:

we'll get you with, get you Outta

Speaker:

those, fix me up.

Speaker:

So we will have the, links to all

Speaker:

of those in the show notes as well.

Speaker:

Where else can people find

Speaker:

you?

Speaker:

easiest places to just hit me

Speaker:

up on my website.

Speaker:

I mean, you can find me on Facebook.

Speaker:

I have LinkedIn profile.

Speaker:

I never hang out there.

Speaker:

I hang out on Facebook.

Speaker:

I'm not an Insta gal.

Speaker:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

Again, like I have a profile, I

Speaker:

don't do anything.

Speaker:

Right.

Speaker:

so yeah, hit me up on Facebook, hit me

Speaker:

up on the website.

Speaker:

you can just shoot me an email and,

Speaker:

ask me questions.

Speaker:

I love to talk about business and

Speaker:

meet new people.

Speaker:

Fantastic.

Speaker:

Well, thank you so much, Laura.

Speaker:

You've been tremendously

Speaker:

generous and I know everyone wanna

Speaker:

follow up with you with those very

Speaker:

helpful resources.

Speaker:

Thank you.

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About your host

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Erin Austin

Meet Erin Austin, a Harvard Law alum with over 25 years of copyright and contracts experience. As the go-to advisor for professionals with corporate clients, Erin empowers entrepreneurs to be their own advocates, standing out for her commitment to transforming expertise into empires through the creation, protection and leveraging of intellectual property assets. Explore her blend of legal expertise and entrepreneurial insight on ThinkBeyondIP.com and the "Hourly to Exit" podcast. Off the clock, you'll find Erin in the great outdoors or connecting with business coaches to elevate 6-figure consultants into 7-figure powerhouses.