You have a highlight from the last month that you'd like to talk about.
Um, well, both they, um, you know, like everything in life is intertwined.
Your weekends are intertwined with your work and, and likewise.
So, um, actually I had my birthday, uh, last week and so, and then blended into
Memorial weekend and actually the launch of my course and so lots, lots to
celebrate.
That's a birthday present.
Isn't it?
As an entrepreneur, it's like when it actually comes to fruition, you're
like, yeah, that's cool.
So speaking of course, uh, we'll dive right in with that.
So you've got, um, we want to know for visionaries and leaders out there, what
are three resources that you recommend?
Absolutely.
Uh, and.
You know, certainly, um, if you look at the shelf behind me, I'm pretty
obsessed with various, uh, business, business books.
Uh, but, um, at the end of the day, I think, uh, through the journey, you
realize that some of the foundational books, those that are really, uh, focus
on your mindset and just making the better quality of decisions, right?
Making better decisions is what matters.
And so perhaps my first recommendation as a result is Ray Dalio's principles.
That's, uh, something that I absolutely loved and I read it multiple times.
And every time I read it, I get new insights because there are some books
that we just can get what we are ready to get from it at the time.
And so that would be my first recommendation for those who haven't
read it and really want to be better decision makers for their own, uh,
sake, um, and their own, uh, growth, uh, as well as, um, make better
decisions for their business.
Um, and their projects.
The second book that I loved, uh, is traction.
Uh, at the end of the day, attraction, um, trumps all problems.
Uh, and so before we learn to fundraise or do whatever else we need to do as,
as startup founders in particular, we better figure out traction.
Um, and yeah, I love that.
I love that book.
And then lastly, um, I am excited about my program that just launched how to
get your first paying customers.
It is truly the program I wished I had as an first time founder.
And I wanted to build something very practical is if someone takes your hand
and walks you through con with confidence and clarity to how to get that early
traction.
So that's what the program is about.
It's on elevatorlab.com slash program.
Paying customers.
Let me drop the link for that right now, cause you did send it over.
It'll be easy for people to check out while we're talking.
Um, that's something that is incredibly, um, it's deceptively hard to do.
Um, there's a lot of people who claim they can help you do that and the right
way, you know, or the, the fastest, et cetera.
And, uh, no, I don't, I don't touch that, um, that market with a 10 foot pole.
Um, because it's, it's hard to create a program like that, that also incorporates
integrity.
Um, it's just, it's just so hard, but you've got a, you've got quite the
background, so I'm excited to dive in and take a look into myself, see what's there.
Um, now we're going to be diving into your vision.
I think I want to circle back to, in fact, I'm not going to circle back.
I'm going to do this right now.
Um, where does your drive come from?
Blada cause you've done a lot.
How did you develop the drive that you have?
Wow.
What, what, what a question, Jackson.
Um, I, I think it's a drive for self improvement.
I think I just get this adrenaline rush from picking the next step, the next
goal that, um, allows me to learn and become, um, more proficient in the
world, more proficient, bigger, better, and support others, um, on the way.
I think one of the things I realized, uh, that beyond all of it, the biggest
impact that really brings me joy is helping others be part of, you know, that
growth and that of course, uh, requires you to grow constantly yourself because
you can't really lead others unless you lead by example, I truly believe in that.
And so that certainly puts a lot of pressure on me to continue to develop
and grow, um, yeah.
Oh, that's awesome.
Oh, that's self improvement and, and whatever drove you to that.
We'll save that for the show or another day.
Um, but those of you who are here, Blada's background with eggs, eating with
companies, being involved in venture capital and beyond, there's, there's
just so much about what she's been able to do, uh, that allows me to just be
super excited for this interview.
So without further ado, we're going to dive into a little bit of a break.
We'll come back.
We'll go from there.
All right.
Welcome in to vision pros live with Jackson Callum.
I'm your show host.
We'll be doing interviews for visionary entrepreneurs and guest leaders who
are building fantastic visions out there.
Hey, what's up and welcome into another episode of vision pros live.
Jackson Callum founder and CEO of first-class business, and I'm excited
to have a lot of Latina on the stage today.
Uh, this is somebody who is a CEO, startup mentor and advisor at
elevator lab.com that's elev eight, the number or lab.com.
She's a tech startup founder with an eight figure exit, senior executive,
former senior executive at Dell and the Boston consulting group partner at
Wharton venture lab, i-club ventures and debut tech.
Um, so we've got, we got a whole list of accolades behind what she's
been able to accomplish.
And I love bringing on guests with that level of depth of experience
because there's so many mountains they've been able to see over the top of.
And so we're in for a treat today.
Have your pens and papers ready.
Um, in addition to that, I always want to give resources that can help
all walks of life move forward.
Um, we do that in the form of these sponsors.
We have a new one today.
So the first one is of course, Melissa gray with the law spot.
Um, I was very close to canceling the show, um, when she applied to be on our
show, because I don't like most lawyers, they're pretentious, they're kind of
sending, they don't speak to you as a human being.
Usually I couldn't have been further from the truth though, with Melissa.
Um, Melissa is a nurture first that also has that same type of self improvement
discipline skill that Vlada talked about.
She wants to bridge the gap between the free solutions out there, like legal
zoom and your super highly paid retainers, where the attorney just doesn't care
enough about your success as a business owner, which is why she created the
lawspot.com I've I went through a $20,000 trademark lawsuit for one of my brands
that we already owned the name of.
Had we been smart enough to, I shouldn't say smart enough, maybe dedicated, maybe
wanting to be wise stewards enough to have counsel in place that we trusted.
We wouldn't have had to go through a $20,000 battle.
Um, so I highly recommend checking that out and seeing how it might help you as
you research, who's going to represent your brand in times of need.
Then there's the healing Institute.
The healing Institute was created by Permalia par parham and Permalia ultimately
helps people with all, with, with healing and all aspects of life.
But instead of doing it by herself, she's joining forces with other providers
out there.
So she's got a catalog of providers and she's building an international wellness
community.
This is emotional healing, integrated healing, therapies and coaching.
Each one of these, uh, these entities, or rather these categories represents a
subject matter where she's pulling experts together to help people know where
they can get help for their different circumstances.
It might be, uh, you know, a men's health coach might be a women's life coach.
Uh, she's trying to gather all the service providers into this one platform
so that it's easy to show up and know whether, whether you're looking for
somebody in coaching or you're looking for energy healing, you've got your
options all in one place.
So you can register, uh, today at the link below, there's two different
registration options.
You can either register as a provider or you can register as a potential client
as well, um, and experience that for what it is.
It's going to be really fun to see her expand this over the next several months
as well.
Then there's the water project.
The water project is something that is near and dear to my heart
because I make it so, um, what do I mean by that?
I have never been without water in my life.
I've never had to worry about where I'm going to get my next cup of water.
So when it came across my radar that there was millions of people out there
who don't even have access to that.
I was like, I just can't ignore this.
In fact, I want to do more for it and more about this.
So the water project transparently shows you where your money goes towards.
If you commit even $5 to one of these communities, they'll actually send you
the social media update.
They'll take pictures.
They'll show you what they did with the project and how it came to fruition.
You get to see the general issue, generational impact that you're making
in the lives of these individuals.
So as long as I'm rocking this microphone and I have the privilege of, of
doing a job like this, I feel like it's my responsibility and duty to draw
attention to opportunities like this.
These kids, they celebrate water, like my kids celebrate Christmas day.
And we've got 8 billion people in this world to help.
So I hope that we can do more to do just that.
Now, if you're in an economic position where you can't help, but you could
share this message with others and please do that.
Just tell people about the water project.
Let's work together to see who we can help out in life.
And if you've got another cause that you'd rather see us talk about, then
don't hesitate to drop that message.
And don't hesitate to drop that in the comments.
It's not a competition.
There's a lot of people to serve and we look forward to joining forces
with you to do just that.
So without further ado, Vlada, thank you so much for joining me on vision pros live.
I'm excited to have you here today.
Hello.
So happy to be with you.
Absolutely.
So diving in hot and heavy, what is your vision for those that you serve?
My vision is to allow to, to be their supporting force, um, in being their best
self, uh, in living the lives they want to be.
I love that.
And, and so being their best self, who's they, what, what types of people
do you find yourself serving most often?
Yeah.
So just reflecting on my entrepreneurial journey and building startup, one of the
things I am most proud of is the fact that I'm a business owner and I'm a
business owner because I got to hire a lot of, um, teachers and, um, and I'm a
big advocate for supporting teachers in that transition to corporate if they
desire to do so, uh, because they just have a lot of amazing and transferable
skills and it's not only teachers, but there are a lot of people who, um, not
based in resume, but their actual skillset are just amazing and, uh, often overlooked
in their actual screening and interviewing techniques.
And so I was blessed to discover, um, so many talented individuals, uh, who got
to grow, uh, and lead, uh, different functions within, uh, class tech from
sales to customer success, to marketing, and, uh, you name it, even though they
walked in on day one, not knowing a thing about any of those functions.
And, uh, that's just been life-changing for them in terms of, um, what they
did financially was such a, an amazing growth, uh, opportunity for them, uh, to
show their leadership, but also, um, because we were serving, uh, schools and
families and teachers that allowed them to serve a bigger purpose, a bigger
mission, but still be in that alignment with student success, which is what they
set out to do.
And so in a way that allowed them to be better versions of themselves, but now
they're at a bigger scale and, and, and sort of launching into, into corporate
world.
So, uh, that was very, very meaningful experience to me.
I'm also very excited to support those who want to become entrepreneurs,
especially launching their own startups.
And that's something I've done informally for years and something I can do now
full-time at Elevator Lab.
Um, whether they're aspiring early stage entrepreneurs, uh, moving from corporate
startup world, whether they've tried five different startups and it didn't work
out and now they want to mentor in someone to, uh, to be the partner that
they missed, uh, in their prior attempts at the bat.
Um, and so that just, um, really, really is so fulfilling to see folks, uh, be
able to pursue what they want to pursue.
And it's never an easy road.
No, it's never an easy road, but what's so neat about the, the
other side of being a visionary, being an entrepreneur, working in the
capacities that you have, you begin to realize that the principles, like you
mentioned Ray Dalio, right?
They, they are the same no matter the venture.
I saw that as an SEO provider.
I did not know a lot about SEO.
Matt Cutts, the search director of Google taught us the side of an expert is
somebody who will go get the answer, not somebody who knows it all.
So as I was building websites with fire departments, um, schools, um, plumbers,
HVAC, uh, it did not matter what the industry was.
Right.
It was the same principles over and over and over.
And our ability to refine, like our, our commitment to those principles was
what ultimately led to the results.
So you've, you've done that with class tag to the tune of 5 million users.
And we'll be talking about that journey from idea to exit further as well
as we go, but thank you for highlighting that this is something that's really,
you know, every entrepreneur and the world can benefit from
understanding these principles.
Yeah, I absolutely agree.
And I think the same applies now as I'm building, um, sort of a mentorship
platform, certainly a lot of the same lessons are very transferable.
Some of them are new for me, for example, uh, building my personal brand as
someone who was hiding behind the company and doing everything in the name of a
company.
Now I am the product effectively.
So that, uh, you know, there are still some new things that I got to learn,
which is what makes this journey so fun.
Right.
Do you just get to stretch yourself?
Um, I actually recently heard something, uh, a quote from Jeff Bezos that I
absolutely loved.
And he was talking about, we are all given the gifts, right?
So for example, you're, um, a great speaker or you're, um, just social or
you're great at math.
Those are things that they're given by nature and you can't really be proud of
them.
You can be grateful for them, but the things you are really proud of other
things that you've developed yourself.
Right.
And I sort of, I never thought of it this way, but it really resonated with me
because I think that the things I really, you know, it sort of takes pain to,
to feel the game, right?
To feel that you've persevered and you've, um, you became a different person
as a result.
That makes a lot of sense.
And that's a, that is a fun quote to meditate on and think about.
It's one of those things where it's like, you know, okay, as a host, I want to
make sure to validate it the right way.
But also I'm writing a mental note.
Like I got to go ponder such a deep thought, uh, you know, and think about
that further.
And, uh, so yeah, what, you know, how does that apply in my life?
But it is easy to see when we are developed, when we work hard to develop
something, it is far easier, um, to, to feel appreciation for it because we
know what we have or put in, in order to establish that.
So as far as your personal life goes, what, what's your vision for yourself?
My vision for myself is, um, to support, um, hopefully thousands of
entrepreneurs out there who want to build a future, um, that they better
future that they imagine and to support their visions.
I think, um, that really what drives me and motivates me is, um, I've seen how
transformative, um, the idea to exit journey is, uh, for me, both in terms of
personal qualities, in terms of outcomes that can be life changing.
And I want the same for the folks.
And I love when people are so passionate about how they want to change the world.
And I get to be a small, um, source of energy and source of know-how behind
them to just give them a little push that they might need to succeed.
I love that.
So I'm going to double down on that question.
Um, why, why for you do you want to make that happen for you?
You've had your, your fix, right?
You've got your, um, your accolades and victories and you've helped people
along the way.
Why do you feel so inspired to do that?
I think at the end of the day, everyone comes here with a, with a mission and it,
uh, perhaps takes a lifetime to figure out what that mission truly is.
But the closest I can come to understanding of that mission is, um, I get energy back by
giving energy.
And, and so for me, it just multiplies.
And so I feel that when I do, you know, my free events, my programs, one-on-one
mentorship, just the energy gets right back to me.
And, um, and, and I think that means that I'm doing something right.
And then I'm doing something I'm supposed to be doing.
There's a huge one win in that.
That's awesome.
We're going to dive into a dark subject now.
So what's the worst leadership experience that you've ever had?
When I was the worst leader or someone who was a both.
Um, gosh, well, I recently actually posted very openly about a failed M&A experience,
which was extremely painful when, uh, we were about to close our series a round, uh,
a private equity fund approached us and, um, really wanted to do the deal, wanted to buy
business.
Uh, everything was aligning and they said, walk away from the term sheet.
We, we gonna buy your business.
And we went through diligence, everything was moving.
And then they pulled out at the 11th hour when, um, when effectively the purchase
agreements were already, uh, circulated to the investors.
So it was like the very, very last bit a week from that point, basically the deal was
supposed to close, right?
That we just had some technicalities back and forth legal.
Every other diligence was complete by that.
Wow.
And, um, so that was certainly like the lowest low for me professionally because.
A, I was naive.
Um, and I, I felt that at the time I actually let now as a wise theirself, I know that I
shouldn't have taken that route, uh, because, um, I just had too much at stake to do it,
but it was so, so tempting.
It was so, so tempting to go and all.
And, and so I think, uh, that was to me the worst leadership experience because I gave
into temptation.
I gave into, um, and, and just didn't put, uh, the right, um, protections in place, um,
that, uh, can really secure the team can secure the company and, you know, secure, you know,
what stakeholders needed to secure.
So I got to a very dark, uh, place, um, because, um, you know, because I, um, just didn't know
better.
And most importantly, through that process, I also, in a way said goodbye to the business
because I already felt like I've sold it.
Right.
It's been three, four months of that diligence when I sort of already mentally prepared that
I'm no longer running the business as of, you know, a couple of weeks from now.
And so that required a whole, um, energy shift, shift mentally, right.
To a get myself on track because I knew very well that I can't put the company on track,
the team on track unless I'm on track.
So somehow magically I had to embrace that role again.
And that company that I've been building for eight years or the time, maybe six years or
so, um, and love it again in a way, right, because at CEO and leader, you are the source
of energy for everything that happens.
And the moment you're, uh, your light dims, it just doesn't work the same way, right.
You have to continue to give, um, not only guidance and goals and, and whatever support
and monitoring of whatever else you give, but that energy that pushes everyone forward,
right.
That vision. And so I just didn't have it in me.
And that required an incredible transformation that thankfully I was able to go through in
a very short order.
Um, and, um, and to make things, um, anyway, to make things even worse, it was the backdrop
of this was the beginning of war in Ukraine where my family was bombed and my team was
bombed. So there were a lot of compounding factors at the time, but I, I felt like the
worst leader one moment because I gave in, but I'm actually really proud of how we came
out of that, but it, it took a major, major transformation.
Oh, I think you get a trophy.
Um, for, for that experience, um, on this show, like all the experience we've ever heard
that that might take the cake.
Um, that's a lot to be going on.
Thank you for diving into the details.
My, my best wishes, uh, to you and the family as well in the process.
There's, there's so many things I want to linger on and, and highlight that of what
you said, because I think a lot of people think entrepreneurship is easy and simple.
You know, they want to oversimplify it and your aspect of like walking us through that
mergers and acquisition reality.
Um, and now when you're, when you're playing the game of entrepreneurship at the next
levels and you're getting to those stages, there's a lot of challenges that there's a
lot of potential traps.
There's a lot of disappointments that can occur.
Expectations can, can be offset offsetting and, and make you feel bad.
There's a lot of things that can happen.
Make you feel bad.
There's so many things you can't even really comprehend until you're in the middle of that.
It would, and the, what I, what it made me think of was an Olympic swimmer who's swimming
the mile, right?
And they get to the end of that race, right?
They've put everything in it to try to break the world record, putting them at their maximum
possible output.
And they're about to come out of the water and the ref goes, no, you got to go again.
Um, like, and there's like whatever, it would never happen in the Olympics, right?
Nothing would ever occur like that in a professional environment like that.
As entrepreneurs, we go through that all the time, you know, and that merge and acquisition
is what reminds me like, Whoa, you know, you, you're trying not to mentally quite quit,
you know, towards the end of that, or giving your all to the, it doesn't matter which side
you're giving everything you can, and then you've got to, oh my gosh, like just step
right back into it.
And there's, there's money that's on the line, but more importantly, that is the resource
in the vehicle.
You have your team in that vehicle.
There are people whose lives matter, education, children, there's so much that goes into that
that, and then you have to muster, like you said, the strength to shoulder the load that's
on you, right?
But also that's on everybody else.
And I think the glamorizing world of Instagram and Facebook and beyond forgets to think through
these realities and prepare for them.
And so I'm grateful for you sharing that because it's just like, wow, that's it.
That's a lot of stuff that we should consider as leaders, but also recognize that you said
this led you to your proudest moment.
This led you to one of the greatest personal victories, perhaps.
I'm sure there's other people on the team who felt the same way.
And it's like, I wouldn't sacrifice the hard times I've been through because it usually
fortifies and strengthens the relationships that I have with those that I love.
So that was beautifully said.
Thank you.
Absolutely.
And I think, you know, when I reflected this to why did I fall into that trap, right?
It was because I didn't know better because there were not other people, other entrepreneurs
and founders who've in the tune of thousands went through the same traumatic experience.
They just don't talk about it.
Right.
And I know that privately, a number of my friends, friends, entrepreneurs came back to me because
I've shared privately first and they said, oh, my God, you totally saved my business.
You saved even my life because so many entrepreneurs have been so
tight in the heap with their businesses that they can't separate it.
Right.
And then the same, you know, that was one of the main motivations for starting Elevator
Lab because, you know, my pain can be your gain.
Right.
I've, you know, went through a lot of painful experiences, made some mistakes, learned to
do better, learned some things that work and others than don't.
And why repeat it?
Why start from scratch?
Yes, it was absolutely turning to people who have your experiences is absolutely incredible.
I've been through maybe a dozen, maybe a dozen mergers and acquisitions, you know, to the
stage where they got to either completion or close to I'm in the middle of one right
now that I have equity in and it's been going on for years.
And I'm like, you know, like just, you know, I'm in the middle of one right now that I
like finish what y'all are doing with this already.
Oh, you know, get it done.
I'm pretty far removed from it, but there's supposed to be stakeholder meetings.
There's supposed to be all sorts of things that are supposed to happen for something
that I'm never going to hold my breath for.
But something that's still important, you know, enough to keep in mind.
And, you know, that's there's, there's, there's levels to this that happen.
And you've been through some pretty serious levels of M&A's and behind the scenes on it.
I think it's so important for people to prepare for diving into the best.
What's the best leadership experience you've ever had?
Best leadership experience.
Well, maybe just continue on that story and that transformation just to close the full
loop, not that, you know, it's the lower the lows, right?
The higher the peak.
So I do think it's somewhere in the top of those experiences.
But I think what what I realized is that after that M&A broke, first I did about 10 hours
of Pilates because that was the only thing that I needed.
Yes, exactly.
I needed some sort of medication or sports or some, you know, some substance.
And I was like, no, I'm going to go for sports.
And I did 10 hours until it physically hurt.
And I was like, okay, now I'm ready.
I slept. And the next morning I had a new plan.
And the new plan was I had to come back to the team and to the investors as a new vision,
right?
I needed a new vision of how we're going to build a stronger business and how we're going
to move forward as a team.
And so within effectively a quarter, we turned profitable.
So at the time we were scaling as most software companies, not profitable, right?
So it was much more focused on rapid growth.
But we really had to change our priorities, change sort of key business metrics we're
looking at, how we evaluate the project, the priorities and things like that.
We also, unfortunately, had to take some cuts from the team.
That was just what was needed.
And again, that was the worst and the best.
I think I handled it as, you know, as best as I can.
But also in a way that was very transparent for the folks that unfortunately had to say
goodbye to as well as the folks who stayed.
And that required a lot of, again, a lot of speed, but also a lot of human sort of
understanding, right, of the pain that other folks are feeling.
And so I tried to balance the two.
And we came out with a stronger business.
So we came out as a stronger, leaner team.
And we continue to grow about 30 percent ahead of plan and was exceedingly profitable
business as well.
So that was a big, big turnaround in a matter of three months.
That's amazing.
And it's awesome that it occurred that way.
It's always hard to reflect back on those who missed out on the process, whether it's
a personal choice on their end or we make a mistake as a leader and somebody doesn't
have that blessing happen.
They don't get to be a part of it.
But it's also very important to stay centered around those who remained there and how that
affects their lives for the good moving forward.
It's a really hard game to balance.
So, yeah, absolutely.
And I think one of the things that intuitively I opted to do right is to take responsibility
that it was my mistake.
Right.
I was very open with the team and saying, hey, this was so, so good that I got lured
into that based believing words, believing sort of kind of early actions that would
indicate that it's a done deal, but then it's just, you know, that didn't unfold in the
way we've foreseen it.
And I kind of own the mistake.
Absolutely.
So principles and I'll add in Darren Hardy's the compound effect because that's also at
play in this leadership example.
Right.
Again, back to Pilates, you could have chose pills.
You could have chose a lot of different things to deal with that circumstance.
And there was a compound effect that sounds very positive.
I mean, it wasn't there for it.
I didn't see it all happening.
But I can just imagine, right, using a physical exercise, a cathartic therapy to allow you
to get through the emotions of that, put you in a position of strength to be able to deal
with that in a way that had you turned towards other types of substances, you know, would
have had a compound effect for a negative.
I don't think you would have had the same type of outcome.
So as leaders and visionaries out there, it is truly the small decisions that we make
like that one that propel us into a position to make the better decisions that usually
lead to the better results as well.
We're going to dive in on that.
That's one lesson.
But I'm going to give you the chance.
This is your opportunity for if and try to play this game with me.
If this was the last chance, Lada, that you had to share a powerful lesson with the world,
what powerful lesson can other visionary leaders learn from your experience?
Be yourself and be vulnerable.
I think the, you know, as they say, there is only one of you and many of others.
And so the only person you need to compete with is you the day before and just get to
more authentic self and just discover more guidance from within.
I think a lot of folks are looking for guidance from outside, but there is a lot of guidance
that's right here.
Wow.
A lot of folks, I'm going to write that down.
Are looking for guidance outside.
Help me finish that quote one more time.
A lot of folks are looking for guidance outside, but there is more guidance right inside of
you.
That's right.
I love that.
That's that is something that resonates super well with me.
That's also why we have the show.
Vision pros, you know, it's, it's not about me controlling people's visions.
It's not about somebody's coach control.
No, it's not about me.
It's not about somebody's coach control.
No, you have within you what you need to succeed and the ability to find your confidence to
lean into that, to really own that is a gift that nobody can give you.
You got to, you got to be willing to take that for yourself.
So that resonates.
We're going to dive into more about the headline.
We've talked about the schools and the 5 million student users that are the parent
use families that are using that.
And 25,000 schools, we talked about startups and how those go together.
The journey from idea to exit.
We mentioned that you have a program related to that.
This is the time, whatever questions you feel I should be asking, guide me to those, of
course, but whatever you'd like to share in terms of how the program works, how people
can move from idea to exit the next five, 10 minutes.
It's your time.
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, there are a lot of misconceptions in startup world, right?
And including one that you mentioned about overnight success, right?
Which just doesn't exist.
It's been years in the making.
And the most important decision actually in the startup journey is what is the problem
you are solving, right?
I think a lot of folks get fixated on building the right product, finding tech co-founder,
kind of getting into the product mode when that's step five in the process.
And the first four steps is really understanding who their best position to serve.
That should be step number one, because it takes a really long time to build this business.
And you better really like those people and you're really better talking to them for years
and years to come and serving them, right?
And listening to what they like and don't like and want to do better by them and all
of those things, right?
That's why who is really critical.
And then it's what and what problem you solve for them, which is the hair on fire problem,
which is so, so difficult to find and is worse every hour you spend on trying to find it.
Because if you start building a solution to a wrong problem, you're going to spend a lot
of money and a lot of time in the wrong place.
And then lastly is the how.
And in the how part, just in summary, it's all about building a business rather than
building a solution.
Because there are many more solutions than there are businesses, right?
It doesn't mean people are willing to pay unless you really found the right problem
to solve and position it in the right way that actually solves their critical pain.
And so, again, the common mistake here is that folks spend years and years and millions
of dollars building that audience or accumulating those users who are just the wrong users.
Maybe they don't have a budget.
Maybe it's not their core problem, whatever that is, right?
So that's a mistake number three, which is really way before you actually like build
something.
People in ideal scenarios should be willing to pay to solve their problem, even if your
MVP is so ugly and so bad, right?
But if it's a really important problem, they should want to do it.
Wow.
That's a hard thing to resonate with.
Let's healthy debate that because I'm stuck in a little bit of a dilemma too with what
we're building.
We build what people need more than what they want.
And that's a hard sell.
They need what they want.
Yes.
A lot of people gravitate towards what they want and ignore what they need.
Think of young kids who want to get married and are not ready for that.
You're not going to talk them out of it.
It's not happening.
They're going to do what they want to do.
Again, the people choose alcohol or going to the bar over spending time with their boy
or their family all day long.
I shouldn't say everybody does it, but those are examples.
We spend time on Netflix knowing that we could have played the guitar and developed our talent.
So it's a challenging reality for somebody like myself to say, okay, how do I create
this drive for people to want to buy not only what's ugly, but what they still aren't going
to admit that they should be doing?
Yeah.
Well, I think that's a fantastic objection.
And I totally take it.
It's an honest one.
I'm like, man, help me out.
Yeah.
Well, at the end of the day, it comes down to what subsegment you're serving.
And if you go through a famous adoption curve, there is early adopters, and then you go through
the stages until you actually become hitting the early majority and then the business is mature.
So in every customer trend, consumer trend, or any trend in general, there is that adoption curve.
And so if you're, let's say, if you're talking about, let's say, something that's a healthier
choice as opposed to not, right?
There is this early adopters who have certain criteria that makes them early adopters that
would actually want to need what you provide as opposed to those who only need it, but they
don't want it because they're not there yet mentally.
And so that's why it's so important to start from that first segment.
And that's something we talk in the program a lot about how you get your early customers, right?
People get overwhelmed with every strategy on earth.
And there are many of them, right?
Instead of saying, I only need a handful of people who have the kind of criteria that make
them an appropriate early customer.
And then you start educating the rest about problem, about solution, and it takes longer,
longer, longer to get there, right?
As famous like kind of 95-5 rule, I think it was John Miller, if I'm not mistaken, who
talks about it.
Effectively, a small fraction of the market is in market to buy anything right now, unless
you're selling bread or milk or some of the daily essentials, right?
For most of our services, only a small fraction is buying in this very moment.
Correct.
And so then you need to overlay that fraction that is ready to make that purchase with the
early adapters.
And that's your immediate market.
Everything else go through brewing process in your funnel.
Yes.
I love that.
Thank you for acknowledging it.
I will admit to those who are listening.
I have one of the hardest business models there probably is, going after because not
only that, entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs are ready for scale.
They may be in the 5% want to, you know, are in a position to buy, but are they educated?
Right.
There's a huge education process for the people that if we're going to work with them, like
they have to qualify as well.
And our qualifications are very, very different.
Our qualifications are very, very difficult.
But can we, can we, if we leverage that as an excuse and say, well, we're just going
to ignore people's wants and force people to eat vegetables, right?
That's a bad attitude.
And I was a leader.
So we don't, we create other means of helping people find what they want, really associate
and believe in what we're up to so they can nurture.
But it's, it's a nurturing based path.
There are far easier business models out there.
Most of you have ideas that are far easier and far more fun to fulfill, frankly, you
know, whether you're selling popsicles, you know, like in a, in a ice cream truck or you
are, you know, I don't know, running a athletic gym for high schoolers who are trying to get
into gymnastics.
The business models out there are so far and wide that you probably have something that's
a little more relatable to every day person.
And even still, you still like the formulas out there are awful.
I highly recommend working with somebody like Lada to figure out how do you see beyond what
you can't see for yourself?
Right.
Because you, you know, you're walking in blind to entrepreneurship and the cliff's edge are,
those are many.
So, so find mentors that you can really trust this for.
I'm super grateful for this, Lada.
This was an awesome conversation.
We're going to have links as well with the show down below the episode.
We'll have links for action steps that you can take to get involved with Lada and her
programs.
We'll try to keep those updated together, of course.
So if the programs change shift or she comes out with a book, this New York Times bestseller,
we'll want to, we'll want to put that on there when that happens.
Also, everybody is listening and all of you visionaries out there, there's a button in
the top right corner.
It says, be our guest.
If you've got a vision to share, you're out there trying to help people out.
It doesn't matter if you have 5 million users like Lada has had or worked at venture capital
firms and beyond.
Even if you are just getting started and you're brand new, if you got a heart to care for
others and you've got the disciplines to move that vision forward, we want you on our stage.
We want this to be the first place that you land.
That's always a fun opportunity for those who make it later.
We can look back and celebrate that and be like, cool, we found that person.
So we do look forward to having you on the show as well.
Also, if you have a comment to question anything like that, please leave it in the, you know,
give us a chance to come to bat and to serve you.
Lada and I will both get in there and connect you to the resources you might need.
Like comment and share this video before I close this out.
Vlada, is there anything else that you'd like to share?
Just make it happen.
Thought counts, but action counts much more.
So whatever you've got on your mind, make it real.
That's right.
Vision Pros.
You heard it from Vlada Laquina.
I would agree.
Let's go make this, make these things happen.
We got 8 billion people to serve and we'll see you on the next episode.
Take care, everybody.
Bye bye.
Thank you for being with us.
Bye bye.