1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,040 Kirsten Graham, tell me about your vision. 2 00:00:05,200 --> 00:00:10,560 So as a business coach, one of the things I noticed was that clients struggled with lead generation 3 00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:17,280 and female clients really struggled with the fact that they tried to do everything and they were 4 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:22,880 really beating themselves up because they couldn't get it all done. So one of my passions is really 5 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:28,880 helping entrepreneurs understand that they deserve support in their business and that marketing is 6 00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:34,320 changing quickly every day. But if you show up authentically as yourself, which I feel like 7 00:00:34,320 --> 00:00:39,600 video marketing, social media really allows a person to do, you're always going to have business. 8 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:44,560 If you share your expertise and your experience and people can see that you really care about 9 00:00:44,560 --> 00:00:50,000 them through your content, they're going to connect with you. And it's really powerful, 10 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:57,440 I think, for a lot of our clients who've never had a team member to see them grow as a result of that. 11 00:00:57,440 --> 00:01:03,440 So my vision is to have more business owners have the support that they deserve in their businesses. 12 00:01:04,240 --> 00:01:10,720 I love that. Now, Kirsten, you could have put on sunglasses and you could have called your business 13 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:18,240 the 12-figure coaching program, and been all about the jets and the hype and the bro marketing 14 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:24,560 stuff and all that. You settled in and chose the six-figurebusinesscoaching.com, which I'm a big 15 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:32,400 fan of for a lot of reasons. Moving gears a little bit, how did you get started with the six-figure 16 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:37,440 business coaching program and also your other program? You've got the video marketing method. 17 00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:44,480 Where did this all begin? Yeah. So one of my clients ages ago was Jeannie Wilson, and she 18 00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:49,520 built an agency. And when she was one of my clients, I helped put together a focus group. And 19 00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:55,360 I'm going to date us. This was back when Facebook first had fan pages. Remember that was like their 20 00:01:55,360 --> 00:02:01,440 first business page? Yeah, right. And it was really when most businesses were starting to 21 00:02:02,400 --> 00:02:08,320 utilize LinkedIn because they realized it wasn't just a resume site. Same thing with email marketing 22 00:02:08,320 --> 00:02:13,280 and blogging. Those two things were really just coming on the scene for local businesses. Online 23 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:18,960 businesses had really already adapted, but local businesses often lagged behind. And so 24 00:02:18,960 --> 00:02:24,320 we put together a focus group to find out what business owners knew about those four topics. 25 00:02:24,320 --> 00:02:29,280 And then she taught classes. And that was fantastic. But what happened was a lot of those 26 00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:33,520 business owners that took the classes realized they didn't want to do it themselves. So they 27 00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:39,360 hired her agency. So she had a lot of growth really quickly. And again, I'm going to date myself. 28 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:43,440 This is before Zoom and before Skype and before all the easy tools that we have now. 29 00:02:43,440 --> 00:02:48,880 I said to her, I've read a book about outsourcing overseas. Would you want to try that? And she said 30 00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:55,040 sure. And so we went on this journey of building her agency with people from all around the world. 31 00:02:55,040 --> 00:03:00,720 We like to say if it could be done wrong, we did it wrong more than once and just got knocked down 32 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:05,280 and got up and got knocked down and got up and ended up building a great team and just learned a 33 00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:13,840 lot about who you have to be to really lead an offsite team. So it was really fun and powerful. 34 00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:17,600 And then she and I decided to partner because again, like I said, marketing's changed so much. 35 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:24,560 And 16 years ago, 14, 15 years ago, I feel like you could have an agency create your content 36 00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:29,360 because it could be somewhat generic in some ways, but that's just really changed. I think as a 37 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:33,840 business owner or a brand, you have to show up. They have to get to know you. They have to 38 00:03:33,840 --> 00:03:38,160 see who you really are, what your brand's really about. I think that's getting harder and harder, 39 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:41,200 not impossible, but harder and harder for an agency to do. 40 00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:49,840 I love the story. I disagree with the concept of it getting harder as well as that it was working 41 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:56,720 because statistics show that over the last 100 years, 96% of businesses have lost within 10 42 00:03:56,720 --> 00:04:03,840 years. Exactly. 4% have survived and that has not changed. They have always lost with the generic 43 00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:10,880 method. They have always lost with it was never right when they were doing it wrong. So, but I 44 00:04:10,880 --> 00:04:16,400 think you're just acknowledging that way in a softer way than I am where I'm going head on at 45 00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:22,080 the math and say, oh no, no, no, no, no, this has always been hard and always been almost impossible 46 00:04:22,080 --> 00:04:28,240 and always been almost impossible for those who aren't doing it right. So at the same time, 47 00:04:28,240 --> 00:04:32,240 we live in the here and the now and the present, right? And because of programs like what you set 48 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:38,000 up and what I'm trying to set up as well, more people can access greater formulas for success 49 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:44,320 as we continue to distribute the services that we offer. So I got to know, I'm going to make an 50 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:51,280 assumption here and move past the what's your why right into Kirsten, what's the story behind your 51 00:04:51,280 --> 00:04:56,960 why and feel free to share your why at the same time. Yeah, I think the story really boils down to 52 00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:03,520 just seeing so many clients, so many business owners beat themselves up because they can't do 53 00:05:03,520 --> 00:05:09,600 it all. Or like you said, seeing people who have a great business idea, they're smart, they're 54 00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:15,440 outgoing, they've got all the pieces to be successful except for the marketing. And sometimes that comes 55 00:05:15,440 --> 00:05:21,680 from support. So for me, the story behind the why is helping business owners really understand 56 00:05:22,240 --> 00:05:28,240 that they deserve support in their business and that getting their voice out and heard is what is 57 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:34,400 going to help them be one of that 4% that survives. And also innovating and changing. I think that's, 58 00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:40,080 you know, the reason the 4% survive is because they do innovate, they do change, they are looking 59 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:46,800 at trends, they're not staying stagnant. That's hard to do if it's just you, right? Because it's 60 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:54,720 like drinking out of a fire hose trying to keep up with information. Right? Yeah. Yeah. And so our goal, 61 00:05:54,720 --> 00:05:58,240 you know, is just really to help the smaller business owners, the ones who maybe are just 62 00:05:58,240 --> 00:06:04,560 too afraid to hire, you know, who are maybe too afraid to get on camera at first. So to help them 63 00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:10,800 overcome those fears and realize that they can create incredible content just be in themselves, 64 00:06:10,800 --> 00:06:16,640 and that they can be awesome bosses and leaders of their team, and that they can take their business 65 00:06:17,280 --> 00:06:21,680 to new heights, often larger than what they imagined they could before they started working with us. 66 00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:28,080 I love it. It's one of the hardest things to do. Literally, there's really not much harder of a 67 00:06:28,080 --> 00:06:34,160 career than what you've chosen to do. And I again, I've looked at your materials that are actually 68 00:06:34,160 --> 00:06:38,960 ahead of how long you've been at this game as well. And just because something's hard doesn't mean 69 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:44,080 it's not worth doing. In fact, I would say the opposite. It makes it all the more important to 70 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:51,920 dive in. In the upper echelons of entrepreneurship, solopreneurs are not called solopreneurs. 71 00:06:53,040 --> 00:06:59,840 They're called wantrepreneurs. And, you know, while that's a little bit of a dig, you know, and a 72 00:06:59,840 --> 00:07:06,000 disrespectful thing to say, the reality is it's very, very rare to see somebody who's trying to 73 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:12,560 do it by themselves, you know, and get it done. I've never seen it happen. I've seen people claim it. 74 00:07:13,280 --> 00:07:18,000 They don't go very far when they limit respecting those who have helped them move along the way. 75 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:23,280 So the other thing that we'll talk about in this behind the scenes segment is a double-headed 76 00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:29,200 question. I'm going to hit both at the same time as well. One is, why do you think leaders hide 77 00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:33,520 from finding their vision? And this is a pointed question. So feel free to, it's a, what's that 78 00:07:33,520 --> 00:07:38,960 word? It's a leading question. So if you disagree with it, feel free to. Why do leaders hide from 79 00:07:38,960 --> 00:07:46,800 funding their vision? And how do leaders then lean into funding their vision? What can they do 80 00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:55,280 to really build this dream or pipe dream that they've been, they've had the idea they want to 81 00:07:55,280 --> 00:08:01,920 put out there? How do we guide more people to actually do that? Yeah. I think the first step is 82 00:08:01,920 --> 00:08:07,680 they have to see themselves as leaders. And that I think can be a very big challenge to step into 83 00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:14,000 that role of being CEO of your business, CEO of your life. So I think that is the first part of 84 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:18,960 that challenge is seeing yourself as a leader and knowing that you're capable of learning whatever 85 00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:26,320 skills you need to learn in order to be the visionary. Again, you can't really be the visionary 86 00:08:26,320 --> 00:08:32,160 of your business and dream big and create great things when you're so busy doing all the little 87 00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:39,280 tasks in the background. And some people do those tasks because they're hiding from stepping into 88 00:08:39,280 --> 00:08:45,120 leadership. And often I think they're scared of their vision, right? So who am I to make this come 89 00:08:45,120 --> 00:08:53,040 true? Who am I to do this? You know, who do I think I am? Right? And so the first part is understanding 90 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:58,160 that if you are going to own a business, you are automatically putting on the CEO hat. And there 91 00:08:58,160 --> 00:09:03,280 isn't anything that you can't learn about leadership and being a great leader. The second thing is 92 00:09:03,840 --> 00:09:09,520 getting funding for your vision. You know, I think that people find money for what they find 93 00:09:09,520 --> 00:09:17,760 important. And I over the years of what I like that quote a lot. We do we find money for things 94 00:09:17,760 --> 00:09:24,400 we find important, right? Netflix, Amazon, alcohol, you name it. There's all sorts of things that 95 00:09:24,400 --> 00:09:31,360 people find money cars, houses, boats. Yeah, I would literally live on ramen noodles and peanut 96 00:09:31,360 --> 00:09:35,600 butter and jelly before I would give up my support team. Literally, you know, that's how important 97 00:09:35,600 --> 00:09:41,920 they are. So yeah, we, we definitely find the money for what we find important. So part of me thinks 98 00:09:41,920 --> 00:09:46,160 that we need to educate more people like having conversations like this. Because sometimes people 99 00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:51,200 don't know what they're missing. They don't know that they're afraid to be leaders, or maybe they 100 00:09:51,200 --> 00:09:56,880 don't know that in order to have time to be the visionary and to really create the business that 101 00:09:56,880 --> 00:10:02,080 you want, you do have to fund it. You do have to find money to invest in your business. But from 102 00:10:02,080 --> 00:10:07,440 one on one coaching over the years, I've seen business owners waste so much money on so many 103 00:10:07,440 --> 00:10:12,960 things. And, you know, going out to dinner and writing it off. Well, that's great. You know, 104 00:10:12,960 --> 00:10:17,680 going to a million conferences. Well, that's all great. So they often invest money in their 105 00:10:17,680 --> 00:10:23,680 businesses in the wrong places, or just buying a tech solution, right that they they put on their 106 00:10:23,680 --> 00:10:28,720 chief technology officer hat they've never worn in their life, right, decide to invest in this random 107 00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:33,440 software, they got excited about it said conference, and come back and then tell their tech team, 108 00:10:33,440 --> 00:10:37,840 Hey, I bought this software, I'm going to change the world, even though I'm not a doctor who knows 109 00:10:37,840 --> 00:10:44,960 how to use it. Like, what are we doing? You know, I love your nurturing nature as you go about this. 110 00:10:45,920 --> 00:10:51,040 You reminded me of a story too, of my business partner at restaurant connect, Adam Christopher, 111 00:10:51,040 --> 00:10:55,600 the time he told me about when he was a sous chef at a James Beard award winning restaurant. 112 00:10:55,600 --> 00:10:59,760 And he would go on the back when it was stressful without realizing he'd go and find onions to chop 113 00:10:59,760 --> 00:11:03,440 because he knew they were going to run out of onions. And Carl Bergemeier, rest in peace, 114 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:09,600 came and shredded him and said, What are you doing back here chopping onions, we need you 115 00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:15,280 guiding the front lines, right. And he destroyed him in the process, of course. And then Adam 116 00:11:15,280 --> 00:11:22,400 politely turned that on me and said, Jackson, busy is broke. You need to produce results. 117 00:11:22,400 --> 00:11:28,880 Yes, go do something productive. Stop looking at all this online stuff. Yes. I was like, 118 00:11:30,480 --> 00:11:36,400 I printed out the word produce on the office vision of what I wanted my office to look like 119 00:11:36,400 --> 00:11:41,680 and put it in front of my desk. And was like, Yep, he's right. I need to learn to do that. 120 00:11:42,400 --> 00:11:47,520 Yeah, but sometimes that's harder than chopping those onions. It's harder than playing in camp, 121 00:11:47,520 --> 00:11:52,560 playing in camp, creating all kinds of cool graphic designs. You know, it's, it's harder than going 122 00:11:52,560 --> 00:11:56,560 to that conference and learning new things that you're not going to have time to implement, or 123 00:11:56,560 --> 00:12:00,640 you can't implement fully because you know, you don't have the, you know, you don't have the skills. 124 00:12:00,640 --> 00:12:06,000 I think that's another huge misconception. And our culture is, you know, I need to know how to do 125 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:11,120 everything in my business. Why? Like, I don't have to, I don't have to know how to edit a video 126 00:12:11,120 --> 00:12:15,440 to give feedback on what I like or dislike about it. You know, I don't have to know how to log into 127 00:12:15,440 --> 00:12:20,560 my Canva account and design a social media post to get feedback. I love this. I don't like that. 128 00:12:20,560 --> 00:12:26,800 Change that color, please. You know, I can give constructive criticism and feedback and compliment 129 00:12:26,800 --> 00:12:30,960 what they've done without knowing how to do something myself. And I think that's the other 130 00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:37,600 thing is that smaller businesses or startups or solprenuers often feel like their self-worth 131 00:12:38,160 --> 00:12:42,240 is tied up in them knowing how to do everything in their business. And there's some sort of level 132 00:12:42,240 --> 00:12:46,560 of pride that comes with that. And that's something I'd like to change. I want to have a lot of pride 133 00:12:46,560 --> 00:12:50,320 in the fact that there's a ton of stuff in my business that I can't do and that I don't want 134 00:12:50,320 --> 00:12:54,560 to do because I would have produced. I want to do what I'm good at doing. And that's where I'm 135 00:12:54,560 --> 00:13:00,160 going to have impact. Absolutely. I can't wait to dive in super deep on these thoughts even further 136 00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:06,160 on how to incorporate virtual assistants in a way that does uplift the business. And it is very 137 00:13:06,160 --> 00:13:11,920 evident from your leadership, the way you've gone about this conversation, that you have a ton of 138 00:13:11,920 --> 00:13:15,840 wisdom to give us. So thank you for your time. You're so sweet. Thank you. Thank you for being here 139 00:13:15,840 --> 00:13:20,400 today. I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live. I'm looking forward to seeing 140 00:13:20,400 --> 00:13:25,360 your reactions as these episodes continue to move forward. This is going to get more and more fun. 141 00:13:25,360 --> 00:13:29,360 We'll have more and more engagement as well. We'll invite people to participate in the show. 142 00:13:29,360 --> 00:13:33,440 And thank you for giving us your time and attention. Have an excellent time building 143 00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:42,720 out your vision and becoming a Vision Pro yourself.