M.O.M. Radio Show #42 – Jeannie Spiro – Helping Other Mompreneurs
Jeannie Spiro was sick of working in Corporation America and knew she had an inner calling to do more. She eventually quit her job to work on her own business and help other mom entrepreneurs. Rosemary asks her a couple of questions about how she was able to achieve it and she talks a little bit about how other moms can successfully manage and prepare themselves to own their own business.
Key Takeaways:
5:45- When Jeannie joined a smaller company, she was able to learn the entrepreneurial ropes through her boss at the time.
9:30 – The mindset you need is to really prepare yourself. Have a bit of money saved, get a support system, and take care of the details.
14:00 – Jeanie has special marketing days. She focuses on her blog, newsletter, webinars, and social media.
17:22 – How do you convince your husband that what you’re doing is great? Jeannie says let your partner see inside your business. Share the good news with him, share the bad news, and the other ups and downs of a business. .
23:00 – Jeannie currently has an empty nest and talks a little bit about how she was able to transition into easily. She’s not feeling sad about them being gone, because she gets to help other people every day.
29:25 – In Jeannie’s newsletter, she always adds a little intro to talk about what’s really going on in her life. She doesn’t sugar coat it. She shows her valuable side, she is herself, and people love her for it.
32:25 – If you’re building a 6-figure business, you need to figure out who your clients are, what’s your niche, and then from there develop your business model.
40:00 – The biggest road bump is the feeling of being overwhelmed. Break it down, work on your website, offer a free product, and develop your newsletter. All you have to do is start with that.
Tweetables
“Moms want to live a life that allows them the freedom and flexibility to do what they’re passionate about and make great money doing it.” Tweet this!
“I’m no longer incognito. There’s like the whole ripple effect and I’m touching people and it scared me.” Tweet this!
“My advice is to go to your website and make sure your free offer is looking good.” Tweet this!
Mentioned In This Episode
https://www.acuityscheduling.com/
http://jeanniespiro.com/
Transcription
Rosemary Nickel:
Hi everybody! This is Rosemary Nickel with Motivating Other Moms and we have another great mompreneur, Jeannie Spiro. She is a coach, an online business mastery coach and she helps you with authenticity marketing and 6-figure success. Welcome Jeannie!
Jeannie Spiro:
Thank you so much! It’s great to be with you. I’m really excited to be here today Rosemary.
Rosemary:
Well, I’m excited to have you. Online is the place to be whether you have a business to business or an online business. It is the place to be, but it can be very overwhelming. There’s a lot to do. You have to take it like a little elephant, like I say, one bite at a time, even though we’d like to consume the whole elephant.
Jeannie:
*Laughter*. Yes.
Rosemary:
But, you help people get there quicker. What was your journery to start this business? What did you do before you became an online businesses coach?
Jeannie:
Well, the short story, I’ll give you the brief consolidated version. I went out of college, I went right into a job, didn’t expect to stay there, but it became a 25 year in corporate. The whole time I hated what I was doing, I was just doing it because I was raising a family. You know, you get wrapped up, you get wrapped the income and the routine of doing a job and the responsibility.
I was in insurance, health insurance broker, and I was working for a firm. I was very, very stressed out. In fact, it was about 9 years ago and I realize this sense of unfulfillment and I was really miserable. I was working really hard and spending late nights and barely sleeping, just constantly working around the clock and traveling around the country. I was starting to feel that there was something more for me, but I didn’t know what that was because I had shut it off.
Sadly one day when I was at work, I was in the office, and my boss, who I absolutely adored, he collapsed in his office and he died of a massive heart attack. It was the most devastating experience and I still get chills today when I think about what happened. I realized, my whole world kind of fell apart, I kind of had this breakdown. I realized that not only did I lose my greatest friends, but I realized it was a new beginning for me, because I couldn’t go down the same path he did. He died of stress and overwhelm and all of that.
So I quit my job and I went and I worked for a different agency, a smaller firm that allowed me be home with the kids part-time and really restart my life. I explored business coaching, health coaching, and tried to figure out which direction I wanted to go in. I knew I wanted to help other people and I knew I wanted to help women entrepreneurs, but I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do.
And so, I grew my business along side that job that I had, raising the family and all that kind of thing, and it took me a couple of years but finally I got to the point where I said, “Hey, I’ve done this! I’ve grown my business enough. I’m leaving my part-time job. I’m ready to go full-time into this.” And I did. So now, I get to help other women do the same thing. You know, grow their business around their family, grow it around their job, and eventually become a full time entrepreneur, which I absolutely love.
Rosemary:
I love the way you did it. I was in insurance as well and I saw the stress. It was just before I got married and I noticed a lot of people getting sick. You wouldn’t think insurance was that stressful. It sounds really boring, doesn’t it? *Laughter*.
Jeannie:
*Laughter*. It’s so awful. Yes.
Rosemary:
I noticed a lot of people getting gird and things like that and it’s because of stress and getting ill. I kind of saw the same things, not as devastating as you. I had goose bumps when you said that. That is an eye opening moment for sure and I’m sorry you had to see that, but at the same time it was a gift for you. When you left a bigger for a smaller job, what was the difficulty in that transition? I did the same thing and oh my gosh, I hated it, because I was so used to the big. Going to the small literally drove me outta my mind.
Jeannie:
So basically I went and worked for Untied Health Care, then I worked for Blue Cross, and then from there I went to work for a smaller brokerage firm. So, I went from these larger corporations to this small brokerage firm, which was still big, and then I went to work for a one person shop. That’s when I was working with an entrepreneur. The very first question I asked him was, “Mm.. What happens if you die?” *Laughter*.
Rosemary:
*Laughter*.
Jeannie:
Like, cause I went through this recently and he was like, “Jeannie, that was a fluke! I’m perfectly healthy, I can show you my records, I’m totally fine.” I stayed with him for quite a while. I was there for about 7 or so years. At first it was scary, because I thought, “Oh, this isn’t stable.” But, it was the best gift because he showed me how become an entrepreneur.
I watched him with him growing his business and what he did. He was a financial planner and he hired me to handle all the health benefits and consulting. I saw him running his business, I saw what it was like, the freedom, the flexibility, the amount of income he had. He was totally fine with me growing my coaching business along side. I never would have had that in a corporation if I worked for someone, you know, a big group, a big organization.
Rosemary:
No, you wouldn’t. That is a great tip for any moms that are listening. If you’re wanting to change jobs, if you’re really wanting to quit. I don’t suggest just quitting. It’s a really hard journey from zero to a successful business. It doesn’t happen overnight. It takes years to build. That is a great tip who actually go and work for someone who can be your mentor. That is just genius.
Jeannie:
And the part that’s really great about it was they can also understand what you’re going through. Maybe it’s a temporary job, maybe with the expectation that you’re not going to be there long term. A smaller business owner is possibly a little bit more flexible than a large organization that’s investing a lot of money, a lot of benefits, and all of that, into you. So, you have to look around that helps. It’s like that bridge job to get you to where you want to be.
Rosemary:
What were some of the struggles downsizing from a full-time job with benefits to a part-time job for your family?
Jeannie:
Well, I carried the benefits. It was rather scary at first. My husband didn’t have that with his job, so we had to recognize a few things. Now, I have two children in college and I’m self-employed and I think, “Oh my gosh, I’ve never been happier in my life.” But, I had to go mentally from being reliant on a job with benefits and you know, that steady income to I know need to make sure I’m making it.
It was definitely a mindset shift I had to go through. That preparation I didn’t realize. It took me time to understand that was what would end up happening. Had I known that going back, I might have prepared a little bit differently I guess, but I don’t know if I’d do anything differently, really. I just might have prepared myself a little bit more. I might have spoken to more people. I might have talked to more entrepreneurs about what do I need to do before I leave, that kind of thing. In the long run it’s all worked out so beautifully that I guess there was a bigger plan for me, I’m not sure.
Rosemary:
Yeah, I think one of the biggest struggles with people, I think a lot of people dream and think there’s gotta be something better than this. When they’re in their jobs they don’t know what it is and then there’s the fear of letting go of the financial part, the benefits, and being able to save for college and not knowing what the future holds is a big risk, but over and over again I see that it’s incredibly rewarding.
If you do it right and put your whole heart in it and really commit to it and are consistent with building your business, all of that appears for you. It is a mindset shift. Can you pin point some of the mindset shifts that happened for you that could maybe benefit other people around that area? Around the, “Oh, I gotta have this job, because I have to have the benefits and I have to have money for college or retirement or…”
Jeannie:
Well, the good thing for me was that I did work with a financial planner for such a long time that I was always saving. I was very secure in benefits and I knew what I needed. I had a life insurance policy and all that kind of stuff, so it was transferable. A couple of tips I can suggest is that prepare! Prepare for it. Physically prepare for it. Do the tangible things that you need to do, because even when you make the leap or you become an entrepreneur, you still will second guess yourself, but you’ll have the security in knowing you’ve done the things to set yourself up.
You’ve maybe saved money or you’ve got your insurance policy or your disability policy. You’ve already kind of cut out the extra things that you don’t need when you are no longer working at a full-time job. Financially, you’re not so burdened, because the emotional component of working for yourself; maybe some loneliness, or not being a big office, or having someone to bounce ideas off of ideas all the time; that can sometimes get to you and make you question everything that you do.
Some of what I did, not only just to prepare in advance was also to kind of give myself a support system. I’ve always worked with a coach. I’ve always found that somebody can help me and mentor me in different stages of whatever I’m going through is like the best thing that I could have. I also have colleagues and friends that I talk to. I mastermind with them. I have a really good support group that way. I get out now, I get out a lot.
So, mentally, I don’t feel like I’m isolated. I don’t feel like I’m a solopreneur, all by myself, waiting for my family to come home. I treat this like a job and a business that it is and then at the end of the day, you know, I go about my life. I get back to work the next, kind of like I’m still in an office, except I have the beauty of being right here at home and the flexibility of taking a little extra time off when I want. It’s working for me.
Rosemary:
What is a typical day like for you? How does it operate, so someone can get an idea of how they might want to operate their business.
Jeannie:
Well, the big thing I found was, because I work with a lot of clients one-on-one and I do private coaching plus group coaching and I run courses, was that I had to get really organized. I have a lot of sales conversation. A lot of people will call me to talk to you about your services, so I have all those types of calls all the time. For a long time, they were all over my calender, then I streamlined them. I set up a tool, I love, it’s called Acuity Scheduling.
Basically, I have that and use that to schedule my sessions with clients, my sessions with get acquired calls or sales conversations, and then I also have a podcast. So, I have certain days where I do the podcast as well. I’ve chunked them together, I use the scheduling tool. I know that Tuesdays and Wednesdays those days that I’m doing all of the chatting and all that.
Mondays is my marketing day and Thursdays I’m doing podcast and interviews and I’m doing a lot of product creation. Fridays I just usually kind of use that as a spill over day and then Friday afternoon I take off. I don’t work at all. I have shorter days. I don’t have the typical I start at 8 and I work till 5. I usually start at 9 and I end around 4.
At night time, I actually kind of go back to Facebook or LinkedIn or Twitter and I just use that for socialization purposes. My marketing time is structure to Monday for me where I am setting things up. I’m writing my article. I’m doing my blog posts. You know, all that kind of thing. That’s done on my marketing day.
Rosemary:
Some people might not understand exactly what marketing is for online. Can you explain a little bit about that?
Jeannie:
Absolutely. For online marketing, there are several things I’m always doing. I’m writing my newsletter. I’m writing, which is also a blog article, I write a blog post. I have social media tweets and posts like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. I also use that for my day where I’m creating a podcast, I mean, excuse me, a webinar or I might be doing networking, social media networking. I do a lot of that where I go into groups and networking with people and finding colleagues.
I also use that for the day to connect with people. You know, other colleagues I might want to speak with as well. All of those are marketing activities. I also look for other opportunities where I could speak locally, network locally, so I’m constantly in motion. I’m constantly building out my opportunities for more business and that’s really what I do with my online marketing.
Rosemary:
How has the change, I know it’s been years since you done it, but when you first made the change over from working to full-time business. How was that change for you for you and your family?
Jeannie:
Well, we went through a really rough time. My husband, in the beginning, didn’t really understand what he was doing with my online business. I don’t know if you get this at all, but a lot of people don’t understand having an online business. In the beginning, my husband thought, “Okay, great. You’re making money. You’re doing this on the side,” and then I said, “But, do you now see how much more I’m making on the side versus how much I’m making at my job?”
So, I had to work with him over the course of time to show him that I was actually doing really well, then when it came the time for that discussion of, can I leave? Do you think it’s a good idea? I think it’s a good idea, can we discus this. We went back and forth. We actually argued a lot for a good 6 months because I made that discussion, because he was scared. He was scared. I was no longer scared, but he still was.
I had to get him to that place of understanding that, no matter what, this was a great opportunity for us, for me, and for our children. It was almost like we went into consoling ourselves, we had to console each other through it. When I made the leap, he couldn’t be more happy. I’m able to be home more, I’m not working around the clock, which I was for 2 years. When I was really doing all of it.
He sees the benefits. I spend a lot less money. I mean, basically our expenses have gone down because I’m working from home now, which he didn’t see before. There’s really been a lot of pluses. My family is really happy that I can be available for them and see them. My kids are now in college so I can go and visit them and have that flexibility, which I really didn’t have and I wouldn’t have if I was still in a job.
Rosemary:
Yeah, it’s amazing how much money you save when you quit your job. *Laughter*.
Jeannie:
It’s true.
Rosemary:
That you were putting in your job. *Laughter*.
Jeannie:
That’s right.
Rosemary:
Yeah, that’s actually one of the struggles entrepreneurial moms have is having to prove yourself to your spouse that this is really going to work, this is working, and if I have more time I can make it work even better.
Jeannie:
Yes, absolutely.
Rosemary:
Well, congratulations to you. Is there any tips you have on that area for moms that are building their business?
Jeannie:
Just as far as making that transition or?
Rosemary:
How to communicate with your spouse to make an easier transition and help them understand, because for you, you’ve been doing it all along. You see it, you see the progress. For him, it’s kinda like an overnight thing, in his head probably of, “Oh, she wants to come home.” Not necessarily out of the blue thing, yet they weren’t thinking about it the way you been like constantly thinking about it.
Jeannie:
Absolutely. So, I think you have to invite your partner into your business. In the sense..you’re not taking an active role, but understanding what’s going on. Sharing good experience. Sharing the good, sharing the bad, sharing the income. My husband didn’t know the first year how much money I lost and I lost money the first year I was in business, because I was spending money to make money. Then the next year, I was afraid to tell him how little I was doing because I wasn’t sure how he’d react.
And then, by the end of the year, I showed him exactly how much money I made. He’s like, “Why didn’t you show this to me all along?” or “Why didn’t you invite me into this earlier?” And so, I think the thing is, it’s about..it’s not just your business. It’s about taking pride in what you’re doing and sharing it with your partner. Letting them see it, letting them be witness to what’s happening; not just the late nights and the long hours, and webinar that you have to put on, the teleseminar, and you frantically doing it; it’s the good stuff too.
You want them in and that’s going to help before you make a transition. You can start having those conversation. The more you talk about it before you leave the job, the better it is, because they’ll know what’s going on exactly. And then even when you leave your job, and you’re starting your business as a mompreneur, you still want involve your partner. You want to share the good, the bad, the ugly, because this is your passion or it should be, so let them be apart of it.
Rosemary:
I love what you said about sharing. Making sure you’re sharing the good stuff, because it’s kind of like if you go to a social event with your girls and you start talking about the stuff you don’t like about your husband and that’s all you talk about. In their minds, they’re thinking, “Wow, her husband sucks.”
Jeannie:
I know, that’s right.
Rosemary:
So when you’re out there saying that stuff and when you don’t say any of the good stuff, that’s all they have to go off of. So, this is the same for the business. If you’re just complaining about, “Oh my god, I’m running late. I should have had this done already. There’s so much pressure, why am I doing this.” And, that’s all he’s getting, it’s a negative connotation to your business.
Jeannie:
That’s right. Totally.
Rosemary:
So, I’m glad you pointed that out. It’s a good point. How did this help you with your relationship with your kids? How did it change it? How old were they when you were able to go home full-time?
Jeannie:
They were teenagers. It was really..so my transition happened when they were..they were young when I started working home part-time. I felt like the first 8-9 years of their lives, I wasn’t around. I was traveling all the time and I didn’t like that. When I made the next transition of being able to be home and having a more flexible job, they were like, “This is so great. She’s here. This is so nice.” So, they were used to it.
My job working for the entrepreneur, I worked from home a lot anyway. They were used to me being around. When I made this jump, because what happened for awhile, I was growing my business at the same time helping run the family and manage everything around the house and then my part-time job. I had all of that going on.
I was a wreck for a good 2 years, so when I went let go of the job, they were like, “Oh my gosh mom, you’re so like, happy. You’re so relaxed. You seem better. You can be here. You’re not working all the time.” I was frantic trying juggle all the clients I had. At the same time I was managing my own insurance business and then, you know, running one of the kids to soccer practice or baseball or something like that. They were thrilled because I’m available, I’m present, I listen to them, I’m relaxed. I’m not crazy anymore!
Rosemary:
*Laughter*. I would imagine that helped your relationship with your husband as well.
Jeannie:
Yeah, Andrew has been really great. He really, we went away for a long weekend a couple days ago to celebrate the empty nest. My children are officially off together, both in college, and we decided to celebrate. He was just amazed. I don’t have the pressure of I have to go back to the job.
Granted, I set it up so that I had, you know, I had clients all day Tuesday, all day Wednesday, and then Thursday I was stacking more things on today, but tomorrow I’m going to leave because my brother is turning 50 and I’m going get to spend a long weekend with my brother and his family. It’s kind of nice because I’m not asking anybody for vacation. My husbands like, “I have to do that and you don’t!” So, he sees the benefits.
Rosemary:
Yeah, it’s an incredibly freeing feeling not have to ask for permission to live your life.
Jeannie:
Exactly, I love the way you put that.
Rosemary:
It really is kind of being in school and raising your hand to go to the bathroom. *Laughter*.
Jeannie:
I know and don’t you find it’ll be hard to go back to that?
Rosemary:
You know, I think every entrepreneur thinks about it and it really doesn’t take much when you really start thinking about the ramifications. *Laughter*.
Jeannie:
*Laughter*. I know.
Rosemary:
Being controlled in a setting and you can’t be your creative self and it just really takes…just thinking about it I can feel myself just dying a little bit. *Laughter*.
Jeannie;
I know.
Rosemary:
So tell me about empty nest. This is something I don’t get a lot of one the show. I love to talk about it when I have the opportunity, because one of the reasons why I started my business is to get moms to find something that they’re passionate about and start building it, whether it’s slowly and then they just go gang-busters after their kids leave or do it really fast and enjoy the benefits now.
It takes a lot to do that when you have smaller kids, but one of the reasons I say that is because my mom worked her entire life at the same job. She went to college most of her life and she invested a lot into her security. She retired and she didn’t do anything with it; any of the stuff she had done in college. She retired and got depressed and she didn’t have any of her family around because she was..you know, they were all busy during the day and she died within 2 years.
I knew another woman, same thing happened. She had a very close knit family and she died within 2 years because she didn’t have anything for herself. So now, you have empty nest and you have something for yourself. It sounds like that transition has been relatively easy. Can you speak along that topic about how important it is to have something for yourself?
Jeannie:
Absolutely. I did go through a grieving period. In fact, I went through it before my husband did. I started grieving..so our son is 20, he went to school 2 years ago and so when he started going to school, I was going through a grieving period, but I was purposely setting up my business, completely making sure it was flexible, freedom based, and so forth. So when my daughter just left for college, I was ready.
My husband was really depressed, really sad. But, I’ve been building and growing and working with women entrepreneurs all over the world for the last four and a half years, really, helping them live their passion and do what they’re excited about. So, everyday I get excited about helping somebody else live what they’re meant to be doing. For me being able to transfer my energy into that, me being able to do it and then helping other people do that, it’s like a rebirth.
I get to help people step into their brilliance and their zone. So, I’m not feeling as sad as I thought I would have been as an empty nester. Of course, I miss them, I love them to pieces, but everyday I get the opportunity to do something, to help someone, do, and live in their passion, then I get to have the joy of being with my family and traveling and seeing them. We talk to them all the time. Luckily they have Skype and FaceTime and all of that.
So I don’t..I think you’re right about this, had I been in a job that I hated and had been doing something that was keeping me chained to a desk and I was miserable and I was doing it for the money, I don’t think I would have handled this empty nest as well. It’s really a great opportunity.
We worked so hard to raise our children for 18 years and then they go off and then it’s, “Well, what do we do as women?” Do we end up staying stuck in being that role of, “Okay, this is in my identity.” or do we move into something that we want for ourselves. I think it’s okay that we have that. I love being a mom. It’s the greatest job I’ve ever had. I also feel like I needed to do something more for me and I think I’m a better mom, wife, because I have this business.
Rosemary:
Yeah, I think I.. I kind of see it over and over again. When I have the ability to talk to someone from the older generation who has already lived their life and maybe even be re-creating their life later in life. I loved having the conversation, because what I see is kind of what you mentioned. You have have something to do everyday that you’re passionate about, that you’re excited about, and when you’re working in a job that you don’t love and you’re just going through the motions, the only thing you do love is your kids; and then when they leave, you don’t have that anymore.
Jeannie:
That’s true.
Rosemary:
Your passion is gone, but you had two passion. You have your passion business and your passion for your family, so you still have something to get up and look forward to.
Jeannie:
Absolutely. Everyday! *Laughter*.
Rosemary:
Good for you.
Jeannie:
Yeah! Thank you.
Rosemary:
I love that. I got goosebumps, just because it’s so important for me that women have something that they’re passionate about and they do something that they love every day for themselves. So, tell me a little bit about authentic marketing. What is authentic marketing?
Jeannie:
So, it’s really about infusing yourself in your message. We all have about the ‘Like No One Trust’ factor that people are going to do business with you when they’re like no one trusts you. And so, authentic marketing is about letting people in to let them know as personally as you want to be without revealing the private. The way I think of it is..a lot of people come to me, who have been following me on my Facebook page for a long time or on my newsletter for a long time, and they feel like they know me.
I often will go to events and I’ll walk in and someone will say, “Oh! I’ve been on your mailing list for years!” and I don’t know who they are. It’s because I’ve done a decent job of them getting to know me. When I write my newsletter, I also include at the top of my newsletter a little bit about what’s going on. Going through the empty nest, I had a skin cancer spot removed at one point and I have a face scar. I share some of the things that are going on in my life, personally. Not all the good. I don’t believe that I have to show you that life as an entrepreneur is shiny and rosy and beautiful all the time, because it is hard!
So I show the good, the bad, and the ugly and that’s how I do that in my newsletters. I write a newsletter every Thursday, sometimes I use video, sometimes I don’t, but I always put a little intro in there that talks about what I’m going through personally, where I’ve been, photo of us, something. Again, good, bad, the ugly, and that’s authentic marketing. That’s relational marketing, especially you’re trying to work with people one-on-one or let them eventually buy your programs or services. They’re going to invest in you when they feel like they know you. It’s a much easier a conversion and that’s why I think it works best.
Rosemary:
Yeah, I couldn’t agree more with that. It really does. It pulls the right client to you that lets them self select on, “I really like what she’s about and who she is.” As opposed to trying to sell somebody on who you are, it just naturally happens by using authentic marketing. I love that.
Jeannie:
I tell you, I have a lot of clients that are from outside of the US and they constantly will tell me, and I will say, “Well, how..You’re coming from New Zealand or Australia, how was it that you found me and why is that you want to choose to work with me?” and they’ll say, “It’s because you’re a mom. You’re down to earth. You’re easy going, you appear as you are. I’ve been reading your newsletters and you’re not this big old hypie 6-figure business coach standing on a huge stage. You’re just like me.”
That’s exactly what I think is important for the listeners to know. As your marketing your business, let yourself come through your work. Let your marketing..let you transfer through your marketing. Be yourself. Because those people who are ready and wanting to find you, are going to resonate with you. Don’t pretend to be somebody you’re not. Don’t pretend to be a huge business coach if that’s not where you want to be, if that’s not who you are, if that makes any sense.
Rosemary:
Oh, it totally makes sense! That’s one of those things that I talk about a lot as well. You don’t have to be a big, bright shiny object. You don’t have to be Oprah. You don’t have to be the big large coach to have a very successful business, a very happy life. If you want to be that, go for it. That’s great, if that’s who you are, but a lot of people aren’t and you don’t have to be that. I guess a lot of people feel like they should be that and they try to duplicate that, but you can’t duplicate other people. You just have to duplicate who you are.
Jeannie:
So, what were the struggles for you to get to a 6-figure income for your business? Well, the things that I had to work on, really first of all, was number 1 was I really had to clearly identity what I was doing with my business and who I was meant to be working with. It made me really understand how to carve out myself and who I was meant to be working with. I always say there are really several steps to this process that I went through.
The first step was really client clarity. When I had the client clarity, my messaging was clear, my marketing was clear. From there, I looked at, okay, now I have to create what’s in my head and I have to make sure I can teach that. I can show somebody else how to do the same thing. I wasn’t teaching how to create a 6-figure business when I first starting out. I was just teaching how to grow a business online.
Now what I’m really doing with people who are not anywhere near 6-figures, I’m teaching them how to get their first couple of clients online. The three simple things you need to do to start getting clients immediately. So, what I did was got very clear about what it is that I could teach, what it is that I did. I perfected that and then I began working with people on that. I put together a system, a process, I call it the Signature System and that Signature System became multiple revenues streams for me.
It wasn’t just in working with people one-on-one, it was in my mastermind programs. I was also using that in all the courses that I was teaching and still teach. I actually have a program called, Attract Your Clients Quick Start program, which is basically the six things I did when I was first starting out that need people to start to attract clients on. What I did was I looked at..here’s this system. All the things that I know, how can I monetize it? Then I began to put it into place and launch it.
I started building my list. I knew exactly what to layer upon the next thing. Depending where you are in your business, you may not go right to creating a course or a program. You may need to work with clients one-on-one and that’s what I did in the very beginning and still do! Because that’s part of my business model that I love.
If you’re building a 6-figure business, you really have to make sure that you got client clarity and who you want to work with, your niche, what you specialize in and make your messaging and so forth better. You have to think about what it is that you provide and what you do and then you need to figure out the money, the revenue behind it. That’s your business model. There’s so many different business models that you can create, but I like to look at it on an online perspective. It’s unlimited potential on what you can do and how you can make money as long as you know exactly how to automate and build it and launch and the differently strategies around that.
Rosemary:
That’s where you had, at the beginning when you were talking about how you had to invest money to make money, you kind of had to learn that all upfront when you didn’t make money the first year.
Jeannie:
That’s right. Exactly. I took courses and things like that.
Rosemary:
Yeah, a lot of people skip that. You can piece-meal it together, but the other thing is hiring out and delegating help, because you can’t do it all. That’s again, that’s investing money that you might not have, but the people that I see excel and get to 6-figures quicker, and you can, are the ones that actually get virtual assistants, get website help, and help with their email campaigns and things like that. Those are the people that get to the 6-figures. They’re sweating it every time they’re hiring somebody they don’t have the funds and they’re sweating it, but they’re the ones that make it to the 6-figures and they can do it in a year with the help of other people.
Jeannie:
Absolutely they can.
Rosemary:
Is that what kind of happened with you with your business?
Jeannie:
It’s exactly what happened with me. I mean, the first year I lost money, the next year I made, I think it was like $65,000 the next year and I thought, “Well, this is great. I think I can leave my job and then the next year it was over 6-figures and so now, I don’t have any. I’m confident that every year I can continue to grow. I grow about 15% to 20% every year.
I have to also say, at this point, at this stage of my life, I’m not ready to grow to the million dollar mark. I don’t want that, because when you get to that level, you’re taking on a lot more staff and obstacles. I like where I am. I like being in the multiple 6-figure mark, because it’s a manageable lifestyle business for me. That’s who I like to help. Be able to create that, so it’s manageable. You have time and you enjoy your life.
Rosemary:
Yeah, I love that you mentioned that, because I think that a lot of people want they’re thinking multimillion dollars, but they don’t think about what comes with the multimillion dollars. I think, I don’t know about you, me being the insurance industry, there’s was a lot of high-end clients and I watched their lifestyles and they were so buried in the responsibility of being a multimillionaire.
Jeannie:
Yeah, I know. I see it all the time.
Rosemary:
It totally turned me off to ever wanting to be a multimillionaire. *Laughter*.
Jeannie:
*Laughter*. I know!
Rosemary:
It’s like wow! I like the idea of 6-figures and it’s comfortable in creating, and it can be multiple 6-figures, and creating that life to where you’d have the freedom, you have a ton of freedom to do what you want and do what you love without all the responsibilities of having a large staff and what entails.
Jeannie:
Yes, definitely.
Rosemary:
I agree with you. There might be a time when I might love being a multimillionaire, but right now, it’s like I want to enjoy my life, my family, and my business.
Jeannie:
I agree. I do too.
Rosemary:
I look at Oprah and it’s like, “I wanna be Oprah.” and it’s like, really? You want people, you know, sucking up your time and you can’t go out and have a cup of coffee at Starbucks in silence? Nope. I like sitting on my little corner at Starbucks not being anybody.
Jeannie:
Yeah, I know! I tell ya, the first time it kind of nerved me when I went to an event and a couple of people came up to me and they were like, “I know you! I know you!” and I thought, “I don’t know you..” and that made me a little nervous. I’m going to be totally honest because it was like, I’m no longer incognito. I’m not just doing this for my silo. There’s like the whole ripple effect and I’m touching people and it scared me. Then I realized, okay, this is what I built and I’m okay. I like this. I can control it.
I don’t want every detail of my life out there on display, so I’m selective about what I share and I think that’s sometimes you lose that the bigger you get. The higher the pedestal and all that, you lose that. A lot of the people that I work with, a lot of the women, they don’t want that. They want to live a life that allows them freedom and flexibility and to do what they’re passionate about and make great money doing it. That’s been my goal all along.
Rosemary:
Yeah, I couldn’t agree more. So, figuring out what you really want and if you want that big lifestyle, you know, that’s perfectly okay. I just don’t think most mompreneurs want that, but they feel guilty about their business not..or think that they’re a shamed of their business because it’s not as big as somebody else’s. Don’t compare yourself to somebody else. Just be in your business where you’re comfortable and where you’re loving it.
Jeannie:
Absolutely, yes. Great advice.
Rosemary:
To me, that’s success.
Jeannie:
What are some of the biggest struggles, road bumps, for business people for online, for creating an online business? What’s the biggest hurdles?
Rosemary:
Number one it’s really, it feels overwhelming. There’ so much to do. You really have to look at what is important for you to have. You have to have an online business cart, which is basically your website. That’s number one. Number two is you really need to have a good free offer. When you have a website that clearly speaks to those that you should be supporting and working with and then, on your website, you’re directing them to that free offer. That free gift, audio or whatever it might be that you choose, it basically then allows you to get the permission and make sure you’ve got people on your mailing list that want to be there.
When you do those two things and you begin blogging and using social media to drive traffic to your free offer. To drive people to your mailing list and begin that communication to get into their mailbox. That’s the first step. That’s really what you need to do and if you’re not doing a good job of having a good free offer that’s converting, you’re not driving traffic to it, you’re not building mailing list, then you need to work on that. The next piece of it is just making sure you are providing good services that what you see what you have make sense, it’s clear to what your market needs.
And that way then, when you’re writing your newsletter and when you’re promoting yourself, which you should be doing, you’re pointing back to a solution that someone needs. I offer promotions and so forth in my newsletter all the time, but I’m also providing a really good value, so people will continue to come back over and over again. That’s the beginning authentic relationship marketing. When you just start with that, when you start developing that tribe, that’s the most important thing you need to do because that newsletter, that beginning stage of connecting with them, that’s what’s going to make you grow the fastest.
I know there’s all these things you can be doing online, I focus specificity on people really layout their free offer, their website, and then start converting more people. I teach them how to use webinars and teleseminars to get their message out and drive more traffic to whatever offers they have or their sales conversation, so that they can, whatever business they’re looking to make, they can make this simple.
You don’t have to make this so overwhelming. I really stream line the process. My advice is simply go to your website, number one, make sure your free offer is looking good. It makes sense and it’s something that people want. Not just a newsletter, but something that people are looking for and then begin driving traffic to it and start communicating to that tribe. That’s the most important thing to start with.
Rosemary:
Yeah, I couldn’t agree more. There’s so many times, I don’t know about you, when I’m out speaking and I ask their free offers and they’re like, “What? What’s that?”
Jeannie:
*Laughter*.
Rosemary:
That’s the most important thing of all!
Jeannie:
And, it’s not your newsletter.
Rosemary:
*Laughter*. Well, thank you Jeannie for being on Motivating Other Moms radio. I appreciate your time, your insight, and your authenticity. You can check out Jeannie at jeanniespiro.com and I’ll have that link available on the show notes as well.
Jeannie:
Well, thank you for having me and it’s so great to be here and share all about being a mom entrepreneur.
Rosemary:
It’s an awesome thing. I wouldn’t do anything different, how about you?
Jeannie:
Not at all!! *Laughter*.
Rosemary:
Nope! Alright, you have a great day.
Jeannie:
You too. Take care.