Welcome to the Hourly to
Exit Podcast.
Ladies, I am so excited about
today's guest, Laura Posey.
Laura, welcome to Hourly to
Exit.
Thanks for having me today, Erin.
I'm excited to be
here.
Well, we have a ton to talk about,
but before we get started, would you
introduce yourself
to the audience?
yeah, so I'm Laura Posey.
I live here in Richmond, Virginia.
And, my whole job, what I do all
day, every day, is working with coaches
and consultants to show them how to
plan their entire year on one sheet of
paper, and then how to get it all done.
That is
amazing.
there's not a single person listening
to this episode right now who does
not want an easier and simpler way to
get things done.
So this is gonna be tremendously
helpful to everyone.
So I was looking at a recent,
webinar that you had on LinkedIn
where you talked about using your.
Framework to plan your entire
2023 on a single piece of paper
and be prepared for a success no
matter what the economy does.
And so when I think about your one page
business plan, this simple success plan.
I think about something that
I like to talk about, which is, is
there a Rembrandt in your attic?
And basically that is, in business
terms, not in, literally Rembrandt.
Yeah.
But in business terms, where we
have that hidden undervalued asset
that we just use in our business all
the time, and we don't even realize
how valuable it is because maybe
we haven't even put it in paper.
We just.
Goes through the process.
Every time we bring in a client, we go
through the process.
Every time we create a deliverable, we
go through that process and it's
just part of what we do every day.
And we're not thinking about the
independent value that it may have.
but when we talk, when we look at
whether or not you have a Rembrandt,
your addict, we look at all those
internal processes.
And, how do we systematize 'em if
they aren't already.
formalize 'em if we want to use
them to say, train people internally
to do what you do or to license it
to other people to do what you do, or
to turn it into a product that you
can sell separately or have available
separately.
So when I think about.
You're a simple success plan.
I'm wondering like, is that
the process that you went through
from services to framework
to product?
Yeah, I think the way so many things
start is I needed it for myself.
Mm-hmm.
And so I created it for myself and it
worked really well.
So I was like, well, let me see
if this works with my clients.
And so, yeah, started doing
that with clients.
And then over the years it's, just
evolved and grown as I've gotten
better at what I do.
now it's, really the center of everything
that we do.
Like, I just don't work with anybody
now unless we have a plan in place
first, because we all need to know
what we're trying to accomplish, where
we're going and what we're doing.
Yeah.
I mean, you say
that you, the one page plan generated
over 2 million in your business.
By that, do you mean that was, uh, that's
how you created your business or
that's how you use it, exploit it,
and there or both?
Um, a little bit of both.
Like it, it's been the.
The, I always talk in, when I'm talking
to folks about what I call a front door
offer and, you know, it's, it's the door.
You bring everybody in, and then once
they're in, then there's all sorts of
other stuff that you can do with them.
Mm-hmm.
And it's just been my front door offer
for so long now.
Mm-hmm.
Um, because it, it just sets the
foundation for everything, right?
Yeah.
So, um, not all, not all my money
comes directly from planning.
But it all starts with planning.
Well, let's back up and talk
about like yeah.
Who is your client?
Why do they come to you, and how
do you help them?
So my clients are generally coaches
and consultants.
Um, they're in the five, maybe they've
hit low six figures.
Um, and they, they don't wanna scale.
Like, they're not trying to
have a giant team and, you know,
rule the world.
They just wanna have a really kick
ass lifestyle.
They wanna make, you know, two 50 a
year personally in their bank account.
Mm-hmm.
Maybe they've got a part-time va
somebody to do their web stuff for them.
Mm-hmm.
Um, and they just wanna show up and,
and do great work.
And get paid really well and have a
lot of freedom and free time to live
the rest of their life and spend the
money that, that they're earning.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
I will say that has been me for many,
many years and until, uh, recently
may not recently, I've been, you know,
looking at doing other kind of more
scalable stuff and.
And expanding.
Um, but that was absolutely, you
know, having that flexibility and
yeah, being able to go to the tennis
match if you wanna be able to hype with
the dog if you want to, but still have,
use your expertise and be able to,
um, do good work at the same time.
Exactly, exactly.
And is there something, so
what are they feeling then?
Like, what is, what is their pain when
they go, I need to go talk to Laura.
Yeah, so generally they're at that
place where, They've bought, you know,
every online course that there is
on marketing and LinkedIn strategies
and lead generation, and God only
knows what else.
Now, it's all, uh, it's all
about ai, right?
Mm-hmm.
Everybody's buying all the AI stuff
and, and they're just like, none of
this is working.
I don't know how to put all
this together.
I know all this stuff, and I'm
still not earning enough money.
Mm-hmm.
And so I sit down with him and.
And you know, say like it, you've
got all the pieces, parts that you need.
It's probably nothing else that
you need to learn.
You just need to put it in
the right order.
You gotta start with like, what do you
really want in life?
Mm-hmm.
Like, let's get really serious about
your lifestyle and figure out how much
that's gonna cost.
And then let's build a business
to deliver what it is that you really
are looking for.
And so we, you know, we walk through a
plan, you know, and we, we look at the
basic stuff like, you know, what
are your goals?
But we look at money goals, but,
you know, how much time do you
wanna take off?
How do you wanna feel in
your business?
Mm-hmm.
Um, you know, what's on your bucket list
that you wanna get done, that you're
actually gonna get done this year?
Like, what are you committed
to doing that's like super fun or
super interesting?
Um, And then we start looking at
what are the changes that have to happen
in your business if you're gonna
make the money that you wanna make.
And so I use a a, a framework cuz I
love frameworks, um, that I built called
the Success Circle.
And it looks at the 12 areas of
your business.
And, and we literally like
colored in like the, you remember the
old life wheels?
Mm-hmm.
And you would color in the little
pieces of pie to see how well your
wheel rolled.
We do the same thing for business.
And it helps people realize like, oh,
this is where I need to actually invest
more time and money.
This is what's holding me back.
So we start putting together
like, what are the projects that need
to happen to make those changes?
And then how are we gonna get 'em done?
Mm-hmm.
Well, it sounds like prioritizing,
like Yeah.
Yeah.
Because you can't do do it
all.
Yeah.
And and I think so often it is
just folks are.
Putting all their time and energy into
the wrong things.
They're often getting the cart
before the horse.
You know, like it doesn't matter how
good your lead gen is, if you don't
know who your target audience
is, if you don't have a good offer.
Mm-hmm.
Like a really good offer.
Right.
If you don't have good core
messaging, if you don't know what
your buyer's journey is, it doesn't
matter how good your lead gen is.
Mm-hmm.
Like, you're just gonna piss 'em away.
So like, Let's get those things
in place first.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
And we can start talking about lead
gen and you probably already know
everything you need to know about lead
gen and it's not working because you
haven't done all the other stuff first.
Yeah, that is so true
because everyone, you know, I find
that a lot of.
Business coaches are trying to
turn us who aren't marketers.
Into marketers.
Yeah.
And like I'm not a marketer.
I will never be a marketer, you
know, Hey, I know what I know.
I don't know.
And so I just need answers.
For that.
Yeah.
And then I need to move on.
I don't wanna become an expert marketer.
And so, yeah, so just kind of getting
to the basics and getting to like,
so we can start implementing and
executing on, right.
Whatever the process will be is.
So
who should I have?
Who should I have conversations with?
What offer am I gonna make to them?
How am I gonna frame that offer in a way
that they go, oh my God, where have you
been all my life?
And.
You know, like what does it take to
get them to where they're ready to
have a conversation?
Mm-hmm.
And, and it's just conversations.
You don't need a fancy website.
You don't need automation.
You don't need any of that mess.
Right.
If you can talk to another human
being, huh?
You're good.
Yeah, absolutely.
I, I was talking to a colleague of mine
who was starting a new business without
a website and she was doing like, you
know, cause she just hadn't gotten to it.
Yeah.
But she had all these contacts and
her basically her business is putting
people together.
So like I couldn't talk to people.
That's what I do, you know?
And, uh, great sales without a website,
which we now think is unthinkable.
Right.
Yeah.
One of the things that makes me insane
is, I'll just make my little one IP
little detour, is how focused people
are on trademarks.
Like the first thing people wanna talk
about is trademarks.
I'm like, who cares?
Right?
You have a solution cares.
Oh, but I got this sexy logo.
Man, I don't want anybody to
take my logo.
Exactly.
Alright, whatever.
Yes.
Let's get to the basics.
I love, I love that.
Okay, so for our evolution
of like having a framework and.
Kind of productizing it mm-hmm.
And using it as a lead generator,
like what, how did that process
look for you?
Something that happened organically
and you're just like, Ooh, but luck.
Will it luck?
Did someone help you formulate that?
Um, did you use a lawyer for
any part of it?
How did that look for you?
Um, yeah, so I, I it's definitely
been, you know, an iterative process.
I started selling it literally just
one-on-one, like the people that I knew.
I, I did a lot of, um, Speaking
at one time.
So, you know, when you're on a stage,
like whoever's facing the back of
the room is the, the, you know, the
intelligent one.
People just believe what
you say when you stand on a stage.
Mm-hmm.
And, um, and so I would get up
there and I'd talk about planning and
people would come up to me afterwards
and go, wow, I really wanna learn
more about that.
Let's have a conversation.
Okay, great.
We'd make the sale.
And, and I'd work with them
one-on-one.
And, and so then I just started
thinking like, you know, tired
of traveling.
And the one-on-one is okay, but I
really wanna reach a broader audience.
Mm-hmm.
And so I just looked at, okay,
what, what it, you know, what do I do
with the individual people that works?
What is the process that I
take them through?
Mm-hmm.
And then looking at that and say,
well, how would I take a group
of people through this process?
What would be different and how
would I manage that?
Um, that group and, and how much
time do they need?
Like when it's one-on-one, we just
lock ourselves in a room for a day and
we crank it out.
Mm-hmm.
But if you've got a hundred people,
you can't get it done in one day.
So, you know, I just started looking at
like, okay, well what does it take?
Do, how much time are, are people
gonna need to take this idea that
they've learned and, and get it
done so we can go on to the next idea?
Um, and a lot of it, quite honestly,
was trial and error.
Mm.
Like, well, let's try it.
How many people can I do in a one day?
Well, I can deliver the content.
I just can't deliver.
I, I can't help everybody.
Mm-hmm.
And so, you know, then it, then I
was like, well, let me just make it
an online course.
If I'm, if instead of me repeating
myself all the time, let me just record
everything, all the training, add a
workbook to it, you know, traditional
online course, and then it just
becomes a marketing exercise, right?
That's where you do turn into a
marketer, right?
And that's where I, I sort of got
my marketing chops, was marketing
my own stuff.
And um, and then I realized like, You
know, nobody's life changes from taking
an online course.
Mm-hmm.
Because most of the time they don't
finish it and it doesn't matter.
Like, I tried every kind of thing I
could think of to like, if somebody
stopped moving forward to nudge
them and, and I just couldn't get
people to finish.
And so, um, I thought, well,
what if I just.
Do it live.
Like what if I just do the training
live and answer the questions live and
we'll do the work on the calls live
and just stretch it out and how
will that work?
And that seems to be the, the magic
formula right now.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Um, I, I just do it with, you know, a
hundred, 150, 200 people at a time.
That's a big cohort.
Wow.
It is.
Um, and I, you know, I've got a co-coach
that is on the call with me, so she's
kind of running the back end in the chat
and everything so I can just show up and
do, um, and it works really, really well.
Like people actually get stuffed done.
It is super important
to have that live component.
It is just so
important.
It mm-hmm.
It is.
And, and I think it's just
completely scalable.
Like I was.
Thinking about it the other day and
um, I was like, well, how many
people could we handle on a call
like that might I, I'm like, we
could do 500 and we could do 500
with the team I have right now, so.
Mm-hmm.
Like, right.
Let's see what that would look like.
Mm-hmm.
Well that is kind a daunting, I'll
couple of things.
One, you know, everyone kind of.
Gets the
need to the scale to go from
the one-to-one model to the one
to many model.
Yeah.
But they're not sure how it, it looks.
But there are a couple of things
that I think prevent them from
making that leap.
One is just, you know, I get paid,
you know, More for the one-on-one
stuff than I do for the one to many.
Is it going to cannibalize my
one-to-one work?
How will those clients view me if
I, so there's that, you know, the worry
about cannibalizing kind of the premium
work, let's call it.
And then the other is, you know, how
do I, if I have a relationship-based
referral-based business, How do
I grow an audience to be able to sell
one
to many?
Yeah.
Um, so the, the first question in
my experience has been, um, that
the one to many actually supports
the one-on-one to one, one to one,
and I end up with more one-to-one
than I want.
Mm-hmm Because of the w to many.
Cuz what happens is they come into the
w Toman environment and they go,
mm, I need more.
Right.
I'm, I'm, I'm a bigger business.
I, I I just need more.
Can I talk to you about that?
Do you do that?
Mm-hmm.
And so then we have the conversation and
it goes, you know, from a thousand
dollars sale to a $20,000 sale.
Right.
And, um, and it's like, okay, yeah.
Can do that.
Um, so rather
than being a replacement,
it's more like a, another ladder on
the step of working More intense.
Yeah.
I mean, it, it just, Again, like I bring
everybody in that one door, right?
And some of the folks that come
through that one door go, no, I need
a whole lot more.
Mm-hmm.
And then so we just have the
conversation and then we, we move
into the one-on-one.
And, um, so I think it, it actually
helps you to have one to many.
Mm-hmm.
The, the list piece.
Right.
You know, I mean, the.
Everybody's like, email's
dead, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
I've been hearing that for 15 years.
Um, it still works.
Um, and the, the beauty of email is
that it is an asset that you own, right?
You, you have these addresses
that you can use and yes, some of
'em are bad and blah, blah, blah.
But y you have people that you
can communicate with whenever
you want to.
Mm-hmm.
And.
And so growing that list I
think is really, really important.
Um, I'm not a, a giant fan of
building your business on somebody
else's platform.
Mm-hmm.
So like Facebook groups and LinkedIn
groups and blah, blah, blah, blah,
whatever the newest thing is.
Um, you know, doing TikTok videos
and, you know, I mean, just TikTok
recently, You know, states are
going, Hey, we're banning TikTok.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
It's
a pretty big state.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
I don't know anybody that's
banning email.
Mm-hmm.
Um, so I think it's, it's super
helpful to start building your list
and, and the easiest way I've found
to build a list is one to speak.
Mm-hmm.
Podcasts on stages at your
local chamber of Commerce, wherever
your people are.
Go speak and even if you don't get
paid to speak right away, get in front
of people and offer them something.
Mm-hmm.
Have a free, something that su
supplements the whatever you're
talking about.
And about 80% of your audience
will opt in.
Mm-hmm.
And so, you know, if you think about
that, okay, if I'm talking to 200
people, I got at least 150 new names.
To add to my email list.
And they're op, like they're on
their phone texting.
Mm-hmm.
The code.
Right.
And they're getting the stuff.
Mm-hmm.
And that, that's just a, a, a one
to many way to build a list.
Mm-hmm.
Now it's interesting what you mentioned
about TikTok and um, cuz I hadn't even
thought about, you know, cause we, you
know, pre the issues that we're having
in 2023, you know, we've been told
to make sure you own, you know, kind
of your audience.
And so you connecting, you're
collecting those emails even if
you don't have a list that you
have that a way to reach out to them.
But you know, the world is getting
more volatile, you know, with Yeah.
Issues like TikTok with, you know,
Twitter, I mean, people who had
massive Twitter.
Um, yeah.
And maybe that's, you know, the
less viable things that are going on
with, you know, uh, with Facebook.
And so you really are more
vulnerable than we ever have been
when we're trying to build Yeah.
You know, part, uh, any asset
on somebody else's platform.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah.
That that is,
uh, yeah, that is crazy.
There's a reason they call it rented
media, right?
Mm-hmm.
And, and if you're building on
rented land right.
Somebody can come along and take
your house whenever they feel like it.
Right?
Right.
They can change the algorithm.
I know like with Facebook
advertising, when Apple came in with
all the privacy restrictions mm-hmm.
It devastated.
Absolutely devastated
some folk.
Because their entire business was built
around Facebook advertising and
this data that they could no longer get.
Mm-hmm.
And it, they lost access to the data.
Yeah.
So it used to be when you went
into, to set up Facebook ads, I
mean, you could set up, you could
build audiences by all sorts of stuff
you should not know about people.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, Uhhuh.
Mm-hmm.
And.
And when you would, when somebody would
opt in, um, through a, an Apple device
and, and certainly Windows devices
is as well, um, Facebook would
gather whatever information they
could from that device and learn
all sorts of stuff about you.
Mm-hmm.
Right?
That, that they could then resell
to advertisers.
Oh, and Apple put the kibosh on that.
And so, you know, now suddenly
Facebook is going well.
Um, we don't know as much as we
thought we did, and the stuff that
we do know we're not allowed to
tell you anymore.
And so mm-hmm.
It really wrecked a lot of people's
businesses.
Mm-hmm.
Um, and so I, I am a big fan of having
multiple streams of lead generation.
Mm-hmm.
Um, and, and, you know, build some
on the socials.
Um, just don't.
Make it everything, right.
Builds up, you know, builds
stuff on stages.
But has the pandemic taught us?
Stages change.
Yes, absolutely.
Again, like I know lots of people who
were stage speakers whose businesses
disappeared overnight.
Mm-hmm.
I have a, a colleague who had
a $700,000 business just disappeared
overnight.
Mm-hmm.
That was the entirety of his
business was live.
Doing live.
Yeah.
It just
went away.
Mm-hmm.
Um, pivoted pretty quickly, right?
Mm-hmm.
But, um, So just lessons learned
and, and having watched a lot of
people get in big trouble, you know,
it's you diversify your assets.
Mm-hmm.
List, building your email list is an
asset diversify.
Absolutely.
Well, speaking of assets, I mean,
with your simple success plan, is it
registered in the copyright office?
Does it have a trademark?
How does, how, how does it,
you, you deal with the IP part
of that?
Um, yes.
So I, um, the Simple Success Plan
is a registered trademark.
Mm-hmm.
Um, I have the paper around
here somewhere.
I can look it up.
Um, yes, I used an attorney,
I'm clapping.
Yeah.
Cuz I didn't wanna deal with that crap.
Like, I just don't wanna deal
with that crap.
You definitely, yeah.
And, and, and I've been on the, the
other side of things like the, originally
the simple success plan was called,
um, the one page strategic plan.
Mm.
How turns trouble there?
Somebody owns, somebody has
a trademark on the one page.
Mm-hmm.
For like a ridiculous
number of codes.
Yes.
Mm-hmm.
Right?
And so he sent me a very nice
email and said, Hey, I own that.
Was it nice?
It was okay.
It was nice.
And we had a conversation and,
and, um, and I've, I've been on that.
Like I, I had a business, um, A
little side business and I got an email
from, or I got a letter from Media
General, uh, the attorneys for Media
General, letting me know in no uncertain
terms that they own the trademark for
the term Virginia business when it
comes to any sort of publication.
That is shocking
to me what people were able to get
trademarks for.
Yes.
I mean, like you could never today,
but there was a time and you get Yeah.
And I'm like, well, I'm not gonna
win this battle.
So change the name, right?
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Change business.
Wow.
I was curious about the Weather Channel
when I said, I'm like, when I noticed
I, how do you get a trademark on
the other channel?
You know?
Well, Intel owns pretty much it.
It any word.
Followed by inside.
Um, have a, have a friend who,
uh, started a business called,
um, brand Inside.
And they were, they do, uh, branding,
but they do like internal branding
and employee development
and stuff.
Mm-hmm.
And Intel sent them a very strongly
worded letter letting them
know that they were in violation
of their trade.
And I'm like, wait a minute, wait
a minute, wait.
They make.
Chips, and this is a service
marketing company, what the hell?
And Intel was like, no, we own
all that shit.
Wow.
So, yeah.
Crazy.
Right?
That is crazy.
Well, I mean, you know, I guess it
falls into the super trademark category
of things, like anything that's
even associated with these like massive,
uh, trademarks.
Yeah, kind of.
They just gobble everything up, which
is pretty obnoxious, but you know.
This is what it is.
Exactly.
So, but
I want to, you know, kind of go back
to the point like, you know, if you'd
not been able to get Simple success
plan, you couldn't get the first
one you wanted.
I mean, there's another one.
At the end of the day, the value and
the trademark is the transformation
that you provide.
And you can exactly whatever name you
want on there, you know, who cares
what it's called.
Yeah, it is.
Yes, exactly.
Exactly.
But once you do have, you're
known for that transformation,
you do wanna make sure that.
Everyone knows that's yours, and
therefore that's why you want
that trademark.
So they know it's your, your idea,
but we should not like let the
tail wag the dog.
Is that what it's Yeah.
That we, uh, gotta
have, well, it gets into that, you
know, getting bogged down in minutia
that isn't growing your business.
Mm-hmm.
Right?
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Like I see folks are like just obsessed
about their website.
Mm-hmm.
You know, and they're spending
hours and hours and hours and I'm
like, You don't have any traffic,
like nobody's gonna see it.
Like just exactly right.
Put up a nice looking page.
Got some info on it.
You can add more later.
Yeah.
It's a website.
Yeah.
I'm sure we've all been guilty
of that for sure.
Oh yeah.
I've, I've, like, these are all
lessons, like when I say, God, it
drives me crazy when people do this.
It's because I've done it.
Mm-hmm.
Right?
And, and I've learned not to do
it because I've watched it fail.
Yeah.
Well, we are about halfway through,
gosh, we are halfway through 2023, so I
don't know how that happened exactly.
Insane, insane.
Uh, but what, what new
happened in 2023?
I used to ask, you know, what do we
see ahead for 2023?
But now I'm gonna have to say, ask,
you know, what, what kind of changes
happened in 2023 as we were coming out
of the pandemic?
And, you know, People quiet,
quitting, and, you know, all kind
of gig economy.
Like what, what's going on?
I think it's the rise of ai.
Mm-hmm.
Like, that's what I'm seeing mm-hmm.
Uh, in the world.
I, I, I hear so many folks going, oh, I
need to learn ai.
And I'm like, do you even know what it
is or what it does?
Like you just, you've heard
you need to learn it and.
And I keep, you know, people that
are like, oh, it can write all your
copy, it can do all your copywriting, it
can do all of this, it can do this,
it could do this.
It, it's like, it's gonna work all
this magic for you.
And I'm like, well, yeah, it does a lot
of stuff, but you still gotta have
the right prompts.
And like, there's work that goes
into it and, and I think there's still
just no substitute for humans getting
together even on Zoom talking.
Yeah.
AI does not have a personality.
AI has no eq, AI can't read the room.
Yeah.
And it's like, oh, we can, we can do
a, you know, I can do a promotional
video using ai.
I don't know how to do it.
But somebody could do that.
I could say, I need a video
though of me.
Mm-hmm.
Fake me, right.
Talking about this.
Mm-hmm.
You know, and, and I could get
AI to write the script and da da,
da, da, but it's gonna suck, right?
Mm-hmm.
You know, or I could just sit down and
record a video and talk about what I
need to talk about.
Mm-hmm.
And let people see the real human,
you know, who makes mistakes and, you
know, that has, doesn't do hair and
makeup, and is just like, you know,
a normal person.
Right.
Yeah.
At the end of the day, like if what
you do is something that someone
could, you know, uh, six months ago
could have gone on Google and figured
out without you, then you're in
the same position like you need you.
Right.
That's not where you should be.
Right.
If you're an expert, yeah.
It shouldn't be just.
Out there for somebody else to
like kind of sift through, uh, a
database and come up with whatever it is
that you do that's special for Right.
Getting delivered to your clients.
That's still, that's still is necessary
to differentiate, differentiate you
from everybody else.
It's, and it, it's crazy.
I mean, they, the things that I see
people building as businesses and
I'm just like, I'm pretty sure
a machine does that already.
Mm-hmm.
Like how are you doing it differently
than the machine?
Like, you know, I love my accountant.
I adore my accountant.
Fabulous person, right?
But my accountant doesn't give me
tax strategies.
She just takes all the junk eye giver
and puts all the numbers in the right
boxes and makes things balanced.
Cuz I don't really care
about doing that.
Right.
Like I'm pretty sure a machine can
do that because there's software out
there that doesn't.
Well,
they haven't.
Yes.
She
just takes my junk and puts it
into this software that she uses.
Right?
Mm-hmm.
Right.
You know, so I'm like, Hey, how long
is that gonna be?
Like a
job.
Yeah.
If you're not providing some type
of strategic advice behind that, you're
not able to like say, okay, Laura,
what do you want, you know, retirement
to look like.
Let's figure out, you know, and,
and, or, you know, lifestyle issues and
how do you finance them and how, you
know, it has to be something other than
just the numbers.
Yeah.
Or, you know, if you are a writer, it has
to be something more than just, you know,
Putting together some webpages.
It has to be something
unique.
Yeah.
I mean, it, AI can write your book
report for you.
Yeah.
Because mm-hmm.
It book report isn't necessarily your
opinion, right?
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Um, and AI's gonna be better
at the research, so if you're just
putting out facts and regurgitating
stuff, other people have said mm-hmm.
Yeah.
AI's gonna eat your lunch, but, yep.
Yep.
If you actually have an opinion
and, and a strategy and a, a viewpoint,
a framework, yes.
All those things.
Love that.
All right.
So as you know, this is the Hourly
to Exit podcast where I encourage
female founders of expertise-based
businesses to build a business that
they can hopefully sell someday.
So, As the female founder of an
expertise based business, do you
have plans to sell your business?
What's the next chapter for
your business?
Yeah, so I actually have somebody who
wants to buy it, and I just keep mm-hmm.
Um, pushing him away because I wanna get
the valuation up.
Mm-hmm.
Significantly higher.
Mm-hmm.
I also have, um, a colleague who
would be like the perfect fit to.
To take it over.
Mm-hmm.
And, um, so we're just starting
to have some discussions.
I'm not anywhere close to
ready to go.
I'm just having way too much fun.
And
so, um, that's the beauty of building
a business that you love, like
you, there's no urgency to Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, it, I, I've, I've built it to
suit my lifestyle.
Mm-hmm.
And so I work really hard in the winter.
And then I take summers off and
the rest of the time I work about
three days a week.
And that like totally suits me.
Mm-hmm.
And I, I mean, gosh, I love the income.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Um, like it's just nothing like
getting the check that, right.
So every two weeks it's like,
whoa, look.
So
when you talk about increasing the,
the valuation, like is there something
specifically that you're
working on to,
to help do that?
Yeah.
So, you know, it's always
about replacing yourself, right?
Mm-hmm.
People, people wanna buy your cash flow,
they don't wanna buy your ip, and
so it's creating the machine that
anybody can run.
Mm-hmm.
Right?
And, and the like the guy that,
that wants it, he's got other
properties and other lists and other.
Experts who do different things,
he just doesn't have this piece.
Mm-hmm.
And so it, it, it's a nice addition
to his puzzle.
Mm-hmm.
Gotcha.
Um, and, and so, you know, he'll just
market my stuff to all of his other
lists and market all of his other
stuff to my list.
Um, and because everything can
be delivered, you know, in a pretty
turnkey manner or it's mm-hmm.
Um, so it.
And obviously he can replace me
for less than what I cost, right?
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Um, so it'll throw off a pretty
good amount of cash, but yeah.
We know that
revenue generator is your ip, right?
Yes, it is.
It is
it.
No, I totally get that.
It's the, the thing is though, like, I,
so just for as an example, I have a,
a, a good friend, colleague who is
the most magnificent IP I've ever seen.
I mean it is.
So her frameworks are beautiful.
Her books, I mean, big corporate
clients, like the whole nine yards,
but she never built anything
outside of herself.
Mm-hmm.
Other than the ip.
And she tried for probably four
or five years to sell the ip.
Mm-hmm.
And could not get a buyer.
Yeah.
Um,
Yeah, it's not, we don't, we don't
create IP like, just cuz it's
pretty Right.
It is the leverage that we
get out of it.
Like how we Yes.
Deploy it.
That is where the Exactly.
Yes.
Yes, exactly.
And she just never trained anybody to
do what she does.
Mm-hmm.
And so she was going to, she was
trying and, and people just said,
well, you know,
We'll just wait for you retire
and then we'll just go get it.
Like, you know?
Right.
Yeah.
So I, I didn't mean that as a slam dunk.
Yeah, no, no, it's okay.
Be where I wouldn't be where
I am without all of my ip.
Right.
I mean, that, that's what's
gotten me here.
I mean, so
that's, that's how we get out of
this selling our time business is
by creating these things that Yes.
And.
Exactly.
Generate revenue without us.
Yes.
All right.
Yes.
That's, that's the key is the
generate revenue.
People wanna buy your cash flow,
and if you are a hundred percent
responsible for your cash flow, there's,
when you retire, there's, there's
no cash flow.
Exactly, exactly.
Unless you become employee machine.
Yeah.
Yes.
All right.
So, uh, we.
You know, one of our missions here is to
create more wealth in the hands of
women to create an economy that works
for more of us.
And so I love to introduce
the audience to organizations who
are doing great work in that area.
Is there one that you'd like to share
with the audience?
Yeah.
There's a, a group here in Richmond
called Safe Harbor, and they help women
who are in abusive relationships.
Safely get out with their kids.
Um, they help set them up in new
careers, new houses, um, absolutely
everything they need.
Mm-hmm.
Um, they take care of all the legal
work as well to make sure that they,
they have all the protections that
they need and, um, they're just
great organization.
Love it.
Thank you.
So we'll have that in the show
notes so everyone can find them and
support their work.
And so I know you have an offer as
well, some goodies that you'd like
to share with the audience as well.
Yes.
Yeah, I, uh, I'm a big fan of
giving people for yourself because
it, it's useful, so.
Mm-hmm.
Um, I have a, it's a single
sheet of paper.
It's called the Daily Success
Checklist.
And you do like fill it out every single
day, and it keeps you focused on your
long-term goals, keeps you focused
on your projects that you're working
on right now.
Keeps you focused on the things that
make you a healthy, whole human being
and it keeps you focused on the most
important tasks that you need to
get done each day.
And then it helps you end the day with
a reflection so that when you finish that
piece, you are done with work for the
day, whether that's at 10 o'clock in
the morning or six o'clock at night.
Mm-hmm.
And you can walk away knowing that
you have done everything that
you needed to do today to move
things forward.
It's settled.
You can go leave, work and be a
whole human being.
You can be present with your family.
You can be present in your life and not
be thinking about work all the time
and not wake up
in the 3:00 AM Not that that ever
happens to me.
Yeah,
yeah.
No, it, it, it, it's a, it's a such
a fabulous tool for just looking
at it cuz it, it.
It's one sheet of paper, like,
it's like this is what I can get
accomplished today.
Mm-hmm.
And so you do exactly what you
are capable of doing that day.
And then you're done.
Mm-hmm.
And so there's not this endless list
that's haunting you and hanging over
your, your head and it's always
keeping you focused on the important
things mm-hmm.
That are really driving the
business forward.
And there's room in there for
all the little petty stuff that
has to get done.
Cuz let's face it, there's little
petty stuff that has to get done.
Okay.
Um, But it's my number one tool
for focusing in getting stuff done.
And so you can just hop over
to the website.
It's simple success plans.com/daily.
Great.
And download it.
And there's a whole A tutorial video
and downloads and fillable versions
and printable versions and all.
Fantastic.
Well I need one of those cuz I
do have some of those 3:00 AM
moments too often.
So Yeah, and I'll get,
we'll get you with, get you Outta
those, fix me up.
So we will have the, uh, links to
all of those in the show notes as well.
Where else can people find
you?
Um, easiest places to just hit me
up on my website.
I mean, you can find me on Facebook.
Mm-hmm.
Um, I.
I have LinkedIn profile.
I never hang out there.
I hang out on Facebook.
Um, I'm not an Insta gal.
Mm-hmm.
Again, like I have a profile, I
don't do anything.
Right.
Um, so yeah, hit me up on
Facebook, hit me up on the website.
Um, you can just shoot me an email
and, uh, ask me questions.
I love to talk about business and
meet new people.
Fantastic.
Well, thank you so much, Laura.
You've been tremendously
generous and I know everyone wanna
follow up with you with those very
helpful resources.
Thank you.
Thanks.