Why do you think leaders hide from funding their vision?
And the second part of this question
was how can leaders lean into funding their vision?
Yeah, so to answer your first question,
why do leaders hide from funding their vision?
I really think it can come from two places.
One, a fear of taking on obligations
that they feel like they're maybe going to lose control
of the vision that they have for their brand
when more people are putting their hands on the business,
they maybe feel like their voice
and their vision will become diluted.
And then the other thing is that,
when you think about funding,
there's a few different routes you can go.
You can go VC, you can go traditional bootstrap
where you're spending your own money,
you can go more like traditional bank loan routes,
where you're getting a loan from a bank.
Either way, I think a lot of people think about
incurring debt when it comes to funding their vision,
instead of looking at it as a strategic partnership
and something that can help accelerate your growth.
So I think that there's maybe just a lot of misconception
and fear around funding your vision.
Where do you think that fear comes from per se?
I think fear comes from the unknown
because maybe a business owner
hasn't gone through funding before.
They have a lot of unanswered questions
and obviously you don't wanna go to like the bank
to get your questions answered.
But what I would recommend is talking to other business owners
who have funded their vision
and learn about how did they fund it?
Did you go VC, more traditional?
What did that mean for your business?
And then talk to a few different founders
who have funded their vision in different ways.
Try to get real life experiences and testimonials
from people to help them you make the best decision
for your brand.
That's awesome.
Then Angela, how do you think the leaders lean
into funding their vision?
I think exactly that.
Network with other founders who have funded
their own vision in different ways,
learn from their successes,
but also from their failures or things that they wish
they would have done differently.
A lot of the things that are avoidable in business
are avoidable just by chatting with people
and learning from their experiences.
You could listen to podcast interviews
if you don't have a large network yourself.
And just learn, try to take in as much information
as possible to confidently lean into going out
and seeking funding for your brand,
be it trying to raise capital
or going a more traditional route.
Have you ever gone through that path yourself?
I have for a different business,
and I've also assisted people who are fundraising
through VC, through different rounds of funding.
And I've seen firsthand how different types of funding
impact businesses differently.
And at the end of the day,
it really depends on what your goals are
for growing your vision and what type of funding
that makes sense for you.
What were the lessons that you learned through that path?
So one of the lessons that I've learned through
getting traditional funding for my own brand
is that you really need to have a plan
and understand how that money is going to impact
your business and help it grow.
For helping clients through fundraising
through VC and private equity,
I've learned a little bit more about the different goals
that those firms have.
For example, VCs can place a lot of pressure
on your business, which can be really great
because you now have the accelerated growth
maybe that you were looking for.
But if you don't want that pressure
and you don't wanna grow so fast and rapidly,
then maybe something more traditional
would be great for your brand.
So it really just depends on,
do you wanna grow rapid and fast and have some more pressure,
or do you want to be making regular loan payments
and have more of a debt incurred
and have pressure in a different way on your brand?
So when it comes to the implications
or the positive things of funding,
what did that do to your business after that?
Yeah, so we have talked a little bit about the pressure,
but obviously there's a lot of good things
that come from funding as well,
mainly being able to fund your growth plans,
especially if you're starting out in business,
cashflow can be pretty tight for your brand.
And so when you fund or get a loan for your brand,
you're able to just sort of grease the wheels
and make sure that you have enough cash on hand
to be able to fund your expansion efforts.
And so that is really where the positive things come from
when you are seeking funding,
be it through BC traditional route,
both of those achieve the same goal
just in a little bit of a different way.
That's awesome, well, thank you for sharing that.
I know I went a little deep into that
and some of that was, yeah,
but I think you answered it perfectly, that was awesome.
Thank you for sharing that, Angela.
I have one more question for you.
And that's all on your,
whatever you know in your field.
It's a very simple question.
Angela, what tips do you have for entrepreneurs,
maybe leaders in what you have learned in marketing?
And if I can find the question to put on the thing again,
I just wrote it, yeah, right here.
Nope, it's not it, that's it.
What tips do you have for entrepreneurs, Angela?
Yeah, so my biggest tip for entrepreneurs,
especially because when you get into business,
there are so many things that are now on your plate
and you have to focus in so many different areas.
My biggest advice is it is okay to pick one lane
in your marketing and completely own that
and then expand and grow from there.
I think that there's a real fear
that if you're not everywhere all the time, all at once,
then your brand is going to suffer.
However, the opposite is actually true.
When you take the time to really learn and grow
in one marketing channel,
you are going to know one,
what performs well for your brand.
Two, you're going to have spent the time
in the right place for your brand,
so you're going to be making more sales,
which means you have more money to then go
and expand your marketing channels.
So to put a bow on that,
I'd say it's okay to focus on one lane
and actually doing that, focusing on one marketing channel
will set your brand up for even more success.
What's the other side of the situation?
What could happen if you're focusing
on multiple channels at once?
If you focus on multiple channels at once
and you do not have a team or the infrastructure
to support that, you are essentially
just spreading yourself too thin online.
A lot of what you are doing as a founder
or an entrepreneur is setting up everything for your brand.
So your time is already insanely valuable.
And so you want to focus on the area
where you are going to get the most traction
in your marketing because you're already so thin,
you don't want to spread yourself even more thin.
Focus on bringing in more demand for your brand
and making those sales.
I want to add to that.
A lot of times the people have success in multiple channels
and that not necessarily doesn't have to be a good thing.
What if your infrastructure is not ready
to have the growth that comes with it?
If you, let's say you're handling 10 clients right now
and that's what your marketing team is doing,
is getting you 10 clients a month and you can handle that.
And you started advertising or whatever channels
you choose and it's 5x, it's 50 clients a month.
Do you have the infrastructure to onboard
those 50 clients a month and fulfill it
and make sure they're happy?
So you don't want to be growing at a pace
that you can't handle.
It can destroy your brand faster than you can expand it.
That is one mistake entrepreneurs make again
and again and again.
Because oh, I can advertise and get X amount of clients
but can you handle X amount of clients?
How are they gonna be happy without losing quality
instead of quantity?
So I think that's a very big,
I think thank you for sharing that.
Yeah, focus on one channel.
I think you have some thoughts you wanna share there Angela.
I think I see it in your face.
Yeah, I just, I love what you're saying
because it's so true is if you are putting a gas on the fire
you wanna make sure that you have the ability
to then service those clients.
And so by focusing exactly like you said,
you're on one channel and then slowly growing
once your infrastructure is in place
and you have the ability to serve those clients
that is going to set you up for success.
A lot of what I do in marketing is focused on one,
obviously bringing in more people to purchase from a brand
or become a client.
But two, make sure that that client experience
and the followup after somebody purchases is rock solid.
So then you can maximize what you had already done
in marketing and get referrals for your brand.
Essentially, if you are able to create a wow experience
for your customers and clients,
they will go out and refer you business.
And so now all of the time that you spent
and all of the money that you spent getting that one person,
they will go out and be an advocate for your brand.
And so it creates this great network effect.
But exactly like you said, Harry,
if you don't create that wow experience,
now you have somebody working against you
where they're saying, don't work with them.
It was a nightmare.
I did not have a good experience.
That's not something that you want.
As a business, you're trying to create great experiences
for your customers and clients.
So make sure you have the processes in place
to support that.
That's crazy you mentioned that.
And I had an experience yesterday.
So I had a team of people coming in
doing some handyman work in my house.
And I was starting to talk to the guy.
He used to own his own company for handyman services.
And he said, hey, and COVID happened.
I lost a lot of business.
So I ended up working for someone else and he does,
he gives me the jobs and I do it for him.
Now, I don't know if he's an independent contractor
or he's on payroll.
I don't know what it is.
Either or in the process, what he did was
there's a sideboards that you're supposed to grab.
You're supposed to switch one or the other out.
And he got the wrong sideboard.
And he cut it in place and put it back in there.
And in the middle, I said, hey man,
this is the wrong sideboard.
And he's like, oh yeah, but it was like $45.
I don't know, it doesn't matter.
You gotta go, so change it.
It's not what you do.
As a business owner who is thriving
and making sure a customer's having great experience,
he overlooked that part and not saying
that he needs to learn a lot.
But a thriving business owner would have made sure
that a customer had a great experience.
But now in the future, I'll make sure
that I don't recommend any of those people
because I do not have a great experience.
And it was as small as switching that out,
making sure, hey, that was a great thing.
Because before that point, he did such a great job
making sure I had a great experience.
But until that point, when it was like, oh my gosh,
you know what I mean, he didn't care about
what my house looks like or what it looks like.
So that is that small process.
And that's the difference between
buying a Lamborghini for yourself
and going in a Honda.
People buy both cars, both cars do the same thing.
But there's a difference between the experience
you have from buying a Lamborghini
to driving it forever in a Honda.
There's two different things.
Not a saying either are bad or worse.
That's people pay for experience when they pay for a car.
And that's same with digital marketing,
that's same with any business,
that's same with any experiences you have with any business.
And that's what you can charge.
This much money, you can charge this much money,
you can charge this much money.
That's the only difference.
And most people don't understand that, it's that experience.
Yes, absolutely.
I love that real life example
because I think it's so relatable.
Everyone has had a need in their home,
even if they're renting,
somebody comes in and performs maintenance
and you can really relate to that experience.
One, it's kind of annoying
because you have to set the time aside,
you have to be home,
you have to make sure that your schedule is adjusted.
And so then to have that experience
be either really great or subpar,
it really makes an impact.
And I love also your Honda versus Lamborghini experience.
There's really nothing stopping you as a service provider
from that Lamborghini level of service
when you are helping your clients,
other than making sure that you have your systems in place.
That is really what's going to help support you
and be able to provide that excellent service
to your clients.
Thank you for being here today.
I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live.
I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions
as these episodes continue to move forward.
This is going to get more and more fun.
We'll have more and more engagement as well.
We'll invite people to participate in the show
and thank you for giving us your time and attention.
Have an excellent time building out your vision
and becoming a Vision Pro yourself.