Hey, are your sales where you want them to be? If not, have you been able to pin down exactly why? Is it possible that something about your mindset has gotten in the way? In today's episode, Stephanie Nemchik is diving headfirst into that conversation.

It's time for the Becoming a Profitable CEO podcast and it's all about providing you with the tools to succeed on this ever-evolving business-building journey. My mission is to make sure you know you are not alone, that it is possible and that you, yes YOU, CAN do this. You matter, the world is a better place for having you in it, and your voice is needed!

I’m Teresa Cleveland and I believe we can all make a difference and that having a successful online business is one of the best, most effective ways to do that.

Let’s get to it!

Teresa: Stephanie, thank you so much for coming on with us today.

Stephanie: Yeah, thank you so much for having me. I'm super excited to be here.

Teresa: Would you share with our listeners something in your journey, a shift that made you look at your business a little differently and helped you as you're moving along the journey to becoming a profitable CEO?

Stephanie: I really think one of the biggest lessons that I learned very, very, very early on in my business and I talk about this a lot with my students and with my clients and in my Facebook group, too, is that entrepreneurship is really the same path as personal development. For me, one of the biggest lessons and shifts that I hit when I first started my business, even in this first year, was recognizing that as I was going to build my business and as I was committed to this mission of helping thousands of women all over the world to build businesses and lives that they're proud of and that they love and they care for, that it really comes down to also having to prioritize our own mental health, our own self-care, our own ability to actually, show up and be who we truly and authentically are in order for us to build that sustainable long term business.

And so for me, I very quickly recognized where my gaps were and where my weak points were and where my own limiting beliefs and the stories that I was telling myself were.

And it was really something that I had to fully commit to deciding that that was going to be a priority that I was going to work through in order to become a profitable CEO and be a business owner so that I could really show up and be there for the women that I want to work with. Also, like a lot of the work that I do, while I do work mostly in sales coaching and business mindset coaching and helping people build foundations and businesses, it's a lot of navigating in those self doubts and the limitations that we set for ourselves.

So we don't even realize that. That's why I think the work that I do as a certified neurolinguistic programming practitioner, which is basically the language of the mind and the science of mindset, and really the science of the neuroplasticity of the brain. That's why this is so important to us, because we all have to overcome those hurdles. And I think for me, that was the biggest mindset shift that I had to make as I was moving into building my business was really, "All right, I'm committed on this path of personal development and personal growth and really like digging deep, no matter how uncomfortable some of the conversations, whether they're with myself or with my mentors, how uncomfortable that they were going to get." And then I just had to get really real with that.

Teresa: That is incredibly true. I have long heard that being an entrepreneur is a crash course in personal development and we may not realize it, but we do immediately start hearing all of it, right? All the voices, all the things that we tell ourselves and the things that we didn't even really know we were telling ourselves. It's great that you shared that, because I want people to know that, those things you hear, you're not the only one. You're not the only one out there that is beating yourself up or wondering why you can't get further or what's wrong with you?

Stephanie: Mm hmm.

Teresa: And so I'm so happy we're going to talk about mindset today, because I see that coming up a lot. I'm over 12 years in now and I still have those days, especially as I made the shift in my business over this last year. I had a decent reputation and what I did and people refer people to me all the time. And then all of a sudden, not all of a sudden, I wanted to make the shift in my business. And then all of a sudden, that's where all of a sudden came in. I didn't expect it. I'm wringing my hands like, oh, my gosh, they don't know me. I have to now prove myself all over again and just all of that.

And it comes up for us all differently. And the crazy thing is that there's such a connection to sales. Obviously, when we're running a business, we need to make a profit. We need to make money. And I think that people don't really associate it with sales.

Stephanie: No.

Teresa: I've seen it show up early on for me that I would create a product and then I would put it on there, but I wouldn't tell anybody about it. I meant I wouldn't tell no one about it, I just didn't announce it to the world.

Stephanie: Yeah

Teresa: There were so many things in there. It's not just one thing like, oh, well, just think differently because we hear that, right? Just don't think that. Well, I think we have to acknowledge it. Right.

Stephanie: Yeah, exactly.

Teresa: So what are you seeing with that? Because I as I have talked with prospects and clients, when I see they're not making sales, it's usually something they're telling themselves. I know I will just come out sometimes and say, what are you afraid of?

Stephanie: Yeah, totally. And I think you hit the nail right on the head. When you talk about people, people just genuinely don't associate mindset in our own personal development and our own story with sales. The thing is, sales are literally the heartbeat of your business. To be in business, you have to be making money whether you want to believe that or not. If you are a business owner, if you are a CEO, if you are an entrepreneur or solopreneur, course creator or whatever it is that you are, if you are running a business, you have to make money. You have to to. That is what a business is.

And these conflicting beliefs, people think that sales and especially female entrepreneurs really think that sales is this pushy thing. And I don't want to come off as a sleazy salesman or I don't want to pressure people or like I had actually one of my clients one time when she very first came to me on the very first call that we ever had, she was like, I don't have time for sales.

And my immediate question was, are you a business owner? She said yes. I go, then you absolutely have time for sales because we have to get comfortable with sharing what we offer and allowing ourselves to alter and change this perspective that we have around, what sales exactly is. And there's really a couple of things that come down to it. One, you have to believe in what you're doing. You have to believe in and love, your offer and your product and your service in order for people to want to buy.

A lot of times that really comes down to the very beginning. Part of the mindset is not feeling confident in what you offer, not feeling like you can deliver what you're saying you offer. And so it's in anything that I do with my clients, whether it is my private one on one coaching or even my programs that I offer. Mindset is always the very first piece and it's always the very first piece because it's always the piece that people miss.

Teresa: I need more followers. I need to be more visible. It's like all these other things and the very things that we're avoiding, they still fall to the bottom of the list because how many people do we hear that say, I don't have time for social media, all the things that are going to put it out there. So what do you think is the best way for someone to even realize that? Because I think in any process, the first thing is awareness. We have to be aware that that's what it is. So what are the symptoms that are around this so that people can recognize it?

Stephanie: Yeah, well, I think the very first step is, like you said, the awareness of it. But just like recognizing your language, both the language that you have with yourself internally so your self-narrative. As well as what you're saying externally, a lot of times limiting beliefs are sitting in the "I don't have time for sales. I'm not good at this. I am too passive." That was when I heard one time was I'm too passive to do sales.

Those are all limitations. Those are all unserving beliefs that are literally the things that are stopping us from taking that small action that we need to do every day in order to move ourselves towards sales. Really looking at the language that you're using, a lot of times when you hear the justification statements, I'm not doing this because or I am doing this because. A lot of times when you hear those, 'if' and 'then' statements, those cause and effect statements as well. Like 'if' and 'then" and 'because' statements, if you are saying those things internally to yourself or even externally to people in conversations that you're having, whether it is specifically around sales or just around your business in general, those are 100% limiting beliefs.

They are absolutely stories that we are telling ourselves. Typically with how human behavior works and with how our internal representations work, they're not usually the real root of the problem. And so it's very important to recognize those things, because when you can recognize a language that you're using, you can then begin to identify what is the real problem here. Is it actually OK? Yes, I'm not making sales because I'm literally not doing moneymaking activities every day, like creating content or connecting with people or showing up or whatever it may be that like your business specifically, uniquely decides what your moneymaking activities are.

And that's a very real thing too. Sales is a skill. So it is a skill you have to practice that. You have to learn it. You have to understand what are the things that you need to do in order to actually make sales. There's a process to it. And that's why I built Your Authentic Sales System. I want people to see that it is actually a simple system. It doesn't have to be difficult. However, it does need to start with our own attitude towards it. And this is also what I teach my clients.

That there are two things that you have to absolutely focus on when you are a business owner and when you are building and growing your business as a sales professional, which is what you are. The only things that you can control are your attitude and your effort. And so sometimes that effort is really a lack of maybe not understanding, what are the activities I actually really need to be focusing on and that's part of the skill. However, when there is emotional baggage tied behind why you're not doing those things, that's where the mindset comes in. And so that's really the shift.

Teresa: I like what you said earlier, and sometimes it is just looking at it to see, is this true?

Stephanie: Yeah.

Teresa: And what if because this I think this is just as legit and tell me what you think as business owners. We can't do it all. We can't know it. Right?

Stephanie: (Laughs)

Teresa: I've met some people. (Laughs) But we can't know everything about everything. So how do we distinguish between, 'oh, I'm hiding behind this' or 'this is not my area of expertise.' Right? For me, I have a copywriter. I'm so good with that because I have a million thoughts at once. We've talked about this. I've got ADHD and have a hundred thoughts at once. So having somebody who is able to take all of that and put it together cohesively and making me sound like a rational person, you know, is wonderful.

So I know that's not my strong suit and I know that people can learn to write copy. And I know that people can learn to sell. Most things in our business or things that we can learn. I could take the course on copywriting, I don't want to. Yeah, that's not the best use of my time. So how do we distinguish between something that is truly mindset and something that is just like, 'you know, that's just not my gig?'

Stephanie: Well, you know, I think the first step is really personal awareness. Just really honestly sitting down and taking an evaluation of the things that you want to do and the things that you don't want to do and really identify okay, what is the reason behind that? Am I not wanting to focus my time on sales or marketing because I haven't learned those skills yet or I haven't even attempted to learn those skills?

Or is it because there's something else hiding behind it? Everything that we do in business, especially now like we live in the age of Google, you can learn anything that you want. There are still libraries. Information is at our fingertips.

And so to be a business owner, the very first step is to really identify what are your main priorities and tasks and responsibilities that you have to commit to as a business owner. And as a business owner, as a CEO, your number one goal, especially when you're first starting out or like the first couple of years, before you have a team and before you scale and all that fun stuff, is you have to really identify my main role is growing and building the business, and that entails moneymaking activity.

My personal philosophy is that you have to really have a general understanding of all of the moving parts of business. You don't have to be an expert in every single thing. It's always kind of been my own philosophy. And I think this probably goes back to just the way that I was raised. I grew up around business owners. My dad owns his own company. My brother owns his own business. All my uncles have their own businesses. All of my friends that I grew up with, all their families owned their own businesses. That's all I've ever known. I've always seen that.

And there's so many different areas or so many different moving parts of a business as the owner, the CEO, the head of that company, whether it is just you right now or you have a team. You have to have somewhat of a general understanding of what those moving parts are. Once you do that, you can see right here, maybe this area, maybe operations, you have an understanding of how it works, but you know that you don't want to do it.

And that's fine. That's totally fine. However, when you're starting out, those moneymaking activities, you've got to work towards building that skill set and getting good at it. And yes, as you scale, as you grow. Haing sales calls is not your jam, that's fine. You choose a different sales vehicle or as you get to a point, once you have built your business and can hire on a team to do your marketing and sales for you, that's also OK.

But you still need to know your numbers. You still need to know where you're at

Teresa: Especially today. We're so good at what we do and there are so many people who get into business and that's where they kind of reach that plateau that I talk about. It's like I got out there, I was excited about it. I'm good at this. It's a good d product, it's a good course, or whatever it is. Then they've come up against not having that infrastructure, not knowing the business side of it. I want everybody listening to know you don't have to wait until you know that stuff to build your business, but understand that it's going to come with it. I did an episode not too long ago about what being a CEO means to me and to me it's the mindset piece of it. And so when you get into your businesss, if you're starting out and think 'I'm just really good at making dog food and this is my thing and all the dogs love it, my friends ask me about it. So I want to show other people how to make this great dog food. It's out there and people want to know.'

So obviously you're going to start making some money and all of that. But then that business structure comes into place. In that, I think that's when the fear starts coming up and some of the first self talk starts coming up. Maybe not the first, but some of that first stuff when you realize that you've ventured into this territory that you don't know about. Right? Like, I don't know the ins and outs of that. And fortunately, that's a learnable thing. I have a course on that. You help people build their foundation as these things and work through the mindset. Sometimes that indication is we're just going to feel that in our stomach or in our chest or wherever you feel in your body, those things when it's off.

I like what you said earlier, though, about the confidence when we, and I can say this for myself, when we are in that place, that, oh, I know this is a good thing, but then it's like, oh, but I don't know who to sell it to. And then the doubts start coming in. If I don't want to put it out there or if someone else doesn't want to put it out. There are a lot of times it's because you're not confident either in the product and knowing your audience or knowing the best way to do it, to deliver it to the people.

Stephanie: Exactly.

Teresa: And again, there are people who can help with all of those different things. So I think those things that come up are very different than those other limiting beliefs, because distinguishing between whether it's a limiting belief or just limited knowledge.

Stephanie: Exactly. And I think that that's a really good point to bring up, too, because you have to really look at business from a holistic approach. But then it's also one of those things, too, where when you do come up to a certain thing and it really kind of comes into discerning whether or not it is like literally a skill building thing, whether or not you still need to learn those skills and do those things and and teach yourself how to do whatever it is that you're trying to do. Or if it is like literally an attitude, if there's emotion behind it, if there is baggage that is there, if there's feelings that are coming up when you're approaching something, it is most likely some form of a limiting belief in a mindset behavior.

And the thing is to especially when it comes to mindset, it's really important to discern the difference between 'being' and "I am" this is a fixed thing, vs. the learning process. And I see that so much in entrepreneurs, especially in the online business world. There's all of these people out there that are promising this or promising that overnight. Yes, it seems like people have overnight success. However, what you don't see is that all of that learned process prior.

So when people come in, they're so naive. I'm not saying that in a bad way, but it's really true. I was totally there, too. We're like, you have a skill. You're good at something. Yes, that's great. Now let's go do it. THEN there's all of these other things that come along with it.

Teresa: And then you do a search and it's like, "oh my God, these people are already doing this. Bazillion people doing what I want to do and oh my gosh, they have it so together!" Even a website, you know, and it's like the website looks so nice, like what am I going to do? Like I could never do that or how am I going to get to that place.

Stephanie: Exactly. And those are the moments too, to really look at a situation and say, OK, what are all my options. So yeah, maybe I feel like I could never build a website that great. Great. What are your options. You could hire VA to help you do that. You could hire a web development designer to do that. You can take the time to teach yourself how to do that. You can take the time to watch videos on how to build a super simple Squarespace. Or you could even do a course on what are.The most simplistic elements of a website that you need. There are so many different ways and approaches that you can do. And the thing is that people always stop themselves before they even really start, because we've never, unfortunately, in our society and our culture today is we don't teach people how to think.

All we teach people is that you have to do, do and do. And if you're not good at something immediately or if you don't have immediate overnight success, it means you are a failure. I really, truly believe that this whole idea that's going around the Internet and that all f these people are saying charging your worth and pricing even as well, is that it's wrong. You know, in my personal opinion, I think that charging your worth is completely irrelevant to your business because your service, your product, your offer has nothing to do with your individual worth.

It has everything to do with the value of that service and that product. And that does not directly correlate to who you are as an individual, right?

Teresa: Words are so important because I think that's what they mean. Charge what value you're giving. That service, the worth of your service and knowledge and everything. Thank you so much for sharing that, because I do believe that words are important and even with the most well-meaning things, the fake it till you make it. That's another one that I think sometimes can throw us off.

Stephanie: Yeah, I think it's important to just really know that and recognize and I think that that's why it's important in the work that I do is because I challenge my clients to think differently and to challenge and to question and to not be afraid to speak out.

I know the first time I told somebody that what I had just mentioned about charging your work, I was met with so much resistance. And, yes, I understand that. And I get that and I feel that and all of that.

However, like when you actually look at it, that simple deletion of the word service or product or program. Charge what your services are worth, charge what your program is worth, charge what the product is worth. That simple one word deletion changes the entire identity and representation that somebody has of themselves.

And that's kind of where that big difference comes in, is that small thing that people don't recognize and realize subconsciously alters the way that we view ourself, which then alters the way that we show up in our business, which then alters the way that we actually allow ourselves to sell.

And the other thing about that is, as well as the whole charge of worth. Yes, you're just starting out in your business and you're trying to charge six, seven, eight thousand dollars for a coaching package when you've never coached somebody in your entire life and you have no idea or you're still trying to build up your skills and your own confidence in your delivery of that product.

Yes. You're going to struggle to sell that. You're absolutely going to struggle to sell that. And yes, that does for sure, going with the confidence and the mindset thing. But that's where it's really important to objectively look at here's what I can control of this, and I need to learn and allow myself to grow and actually move through the steps of skill building and getting really good at what I'm doing so that I can also feel confident in sharing that offer.

And a lot of people go into online business and just think I'm good at something. Now I'm going to charge-

Teresa: So-and-so is charging such and such. So I'm going to charge this.

Stephanie: Totally.

Teresa: It is true. I see that in groups where somebody will say, Oh, I've been doing this work, what would you charge for this? I've been charging this. And so many people immediately are just like, oh, you need to raise your price. And I think you don't even know what her skill level is. You don't know anything about this. I think that's just a really dangerous thing for both the person asking and the person who's going to hire her. They show up and it's like, oh, well, at this rate, I expect this level of work.

I'm so happy you're talking about this, because all that goes on in our mind as we're creating the program and the sales page. And then listen to those things that are coming up and write them down. One of the things I've been doing with clients lately is when I will suggest something, when there's like this automatic response, " Well, I can't because." Or I don't have enough time and I'm like, OK. I feel like what we do with that though is that it immediately lets us off the hook to what you were saying before about not having immediate success.

Stephanie: Yeah.

Teresa: Also, we don't like to feel uncomfortable. Yeah, totally. And it's OK to feel uncomfortable. It's OK to break out in a sweat every now and then and really think it through.

So when they say "I don't have time" and I say "OK, get a piece of paper. Write that down and see if that's true. Then what? Yeah, exactly what you were talking about, alternatives. Because instead of saying, "oh, I don't have enough time, so now, I just have to find a new idea, that idea is out the window" and it's like, well no, let's examine that.

It really is part of the growth as you grow your business to really look at that. I know myself. There are programs, I've gone back and recreated that early on. I did. And I did just that. I threw it away. I'm like, oh, that didn't work. Like, why didn't it work? Was it the right whatever, no analyzation at all. So it applies to ourselves as much as it applies to our services.

I know you have a free guide. Tell us about that, because I think this would be just good for people to start considering where they're at. Share that with us, please.

Stephanie: Yeah, definitely. Well, I just want to touch on a point that you had mentioned, too. I really think it's all about taking full ownership of the I don't have time kind of aspect of it.

And this totally is in correlation to what I do in sales. And my free guide of Your Authentic Sales System, The Art of Selling is really all about taking ownership of the priority of what actually you're choosing to do. Because the I don't have time statement is always like, OK, well, what are you prioritizing instead? It's not that you don't have time to do it, it's just that you are prioritizing other things right now. And that may not be a priority. Whereas when you alter and kind of are able to change the way that you're approaching those statements and the way that you're viewing them and the way that they're an end all be all. It completely changes the way that you're able to actually show up and what you do and be able to be there and I think that it's a really good point to make as well in sales and what my free guide is all about is allowing yourself to see that, yes, there is an art and a science to sales.

Yes, it absolutely is the heartbeat of your business. And yes, if you are a business owner, it is a priority that you have to make, you have to do. However, it is also something that is uniquely yours. And that's what the Art of Authentic Selling really talks about in the free guide. It's a very comprehensive guide in helping you actually build. What are the core elements of a very simple sales system? Attracting your audience, accelerating the connection, affirming and acknowledging those objections. Because actually what those objections are is really fears or that you haven't built that trust up there and really asking to serve them.

And so those are really the most simplistic version of sales. Those are the steps that you go through. How you get through them is uniquely different for everybody else. What is working for my business and the way that I focus on doing sales and how I create connection and how I work with attracting my people and connecting with my people, the things that I do are different than what you're going to do in your business. And I think that that is like one of the biggest things that people see in sales is that it's an end-all, be-all. There's only one way to do it.

And that's really not true. You really just have to figure out what feels right to you and how you're going to move through even those mindset things to be able to build a system that really feels good to you. I'll be honest. For me, social media marketing is not something that I love to do. It's not something that I love to do.I worked very hard to separate this whole online social media perceptive world with who I am as an individual.

And so for me, spending a ton of time on social media feels really draining. However, what I do love to do is, I love to write. I love to write, I love to teach. I love being on video. I love training people. And so I know that one of my sales vehicles in the way that I attract people is through live video. And I also know that social media is an important part of online business.

So that is one of those skills where, yes, I can learn how to do it. No, there's not mindset, emotional baggage that's tied to it. It's just something that I don't enjoy doing because I feel like it's extremely draining for me personally. So I've hired somebody to help me take my content and put it into posts. Those are the kind of trade-offs that you can do.

Teresa: You know that it's not part of any baggage because you've looked at it.

Stephanie: Exactly. Exactly.

Teresa: And that's with so much in our business, is just that looking at it.

Stephanie: Yeah.

Teresa: I just want to go to what you were saying, not being like, oh, I have to work that hustle, that grind. I have to go, go, go and fall into bed. I have a colleague who is got her own thing about the whole hustle and grind, which I love that she's addressing that because we don't have to do that.

Stephanie: Yeah, we don't.

Teresa: So understanding that and having a process and working with someone like you in this does show like, OK, it's a balance thing. And it doesn't mean it's always going to be 50/50 or 25/25/25/25. It's there's that balance in your life. Some days it could be 80/20, some days you know, it'll be what it'll be. It's so important to stop and look at those things rather than falling into that knee jerk reaction and pulling back, protecting ourselves for some reason. And I love that.

In your guide, if someone is going to download it, because I think this is important. We all download stuff and we go to open it and it's just like, oh, I don't have time for this right now. Or Oh, this is a little more than I anticipated. If someone were to download your guide, how much time should they invest in really sitting down and going through that realistically, how much time should someone play on investing and doing it?

Stephanie: Well, I'll be very frank with you. I spent considerable time putting it together and there's action steps in there. There's background of why you do certain things, why these things are important. There are examples of these things as well. And it is a 19 page guide. It's a very comprehensive guide. It goes in depth.

Especially if you're starting out, especially if you're struggling with sales, if you're not generating consistent revenue, if you're having a hard time signing clients, if you're really struggling with working through, how do you build sales skills? Like what even is it? Well, the very first step is to know what to do and know the process.

I would suggest maybe an hour or two hours to really get a brief overview of it. However, that one to two hours has been the last ten to fifteen years that I've spent working and building this knowledge and have taken that ten to fifteen years of being in sales and operations and really building my own authentic system. I had to overcome a lot of the mindset blocks of the capitalism, high pressure sales mindset that's all data driven, all numbers all the time.

when I first started out in sales, I had never done sales in my life and I had a six-figure monthly goal that I needed to hit every month. I've launched several multimillion-dollar new market launches where I literally built from the ground up with no marketing dollars. I've put in the work to build these businesses and finally decided if I'm going to work 80 hour weeks building somebody else's business, I'm going to do it for myself. I've spent 10 to 15 years building that and really building a system that felt really good, that felt really authentic with connecting with myself, but also connecting with the people that I'm working with to overcome a lot of that super high-pressure sales mindset.

I've taken all of that knowledge and all that experience, and I put it into a guide. However, that free information can help you cut off that 10 to 15 years of trying to build your business and or not having a business is wonderful.

Teresa: And that's why I wanted to say that, because it's an important piece of the business. And if you're in it to grow your business and this is not something that you're just here for a minute and gone tomorrow, it's an important piece. As we grow our mindset and understand this as business owners, we just keep shifting, right? You just grow up a little bit more and mature more as a business owner. As you hit these hurdles and you face them, you look at it and say, OK, what can I do about this? So I love that you've got this available for everyone to download and we'll make sure and put that link in as well.

Stephanie: Yeah, I think the other thing that like that I love about it is it does offer 20 moneymaking activities that you can do today to actually begin to generate revenue. And one of my mentors always talks about a thing that's so exciting about sales and that you should really prioritize every day is building on a relationship or building a new relationship. A lot of times, especially in sales, you hear these terms thrown around money making activities. What's your moneymaking content?

That's literally like how are you building a new connection or how are you building on a connection to actually build that trust so people are willing and ready to buy from you? And so especially if you've never heard that term or if that term is very new to you, check it out, because there are a lot of really great things that you can do to start building that so that you get your people primed and ready to go and ready to buy from you, essentially. So I enjoy it.

Teresa: I can tell it definitely comes through. All right. Well, Stephanie, let's jump over. I want to ask you some of our questions that we ask our guests.

Let's start with a question from another guest. What have you invested in for your business that has had a positive return?

Stephanie: I mean, there's a lot of money in my business. When I when I first started my business, I very consciously made the decision that I was going all in and that I knew I was going to need to build skills. I knew I was going to need to learn online. Business was a new space to me. So I was going to need to invest a lot of time and a lot of money in understanding how it works and what are all the moving parts?

I've invested like well over fifteen thousand dollars into my own knowledge and experience and working with some of the best leaders in the knowledge industry and the best coaches in the knowledge industry, including Tony Robbins and Dean Grazioso and Marie Forleo and Amy Porterfield. And some of the coaching experiences and the programs that I've invested specifically with them have been the most transformational for me because it's literally given me a framework to understand how the online business world works and what's important in it, so that then I can use my talents and my skills in my own zone of genius to then build off of that and grow from that. And a coach.

Teresa: Yeah, that's something I really want to start asking our guests is about the coaching. Everyone that I've talked with has invested in a coach to grow themselves. It just makes sense. Is there any one of those that stood out that brought the greatest return or not? It doesn't even have to be financially.

Stephanie: Honestly, I think probably Marietje for Legazpi school, it was one of the first programs that I ever did. It was a big investment. I was actually still working at my corporate job at the time when I invested in it. And for me, it was such it had such an impactful experience because it was really kind of the first introduction I had not only to the online business space, but to this attitude that I had always adopted in my life, this like positivity and optimism, just really being able to strive for anything that you want to do that you can create.

But just really this positivity and optimism around doing something that feels really good and doing something that feels really good to you and that actually impacts and changes people's lives. And I had never really been in environments prior to that that held that space. And so for me, like hearing that message and also going through the program was amazing as well as fantastic for just like General Business Foundation. It helped me a lot just in growing my own business, making sense of all the moving parts and stuff.

And it was just one of those things where I was like, holy crap. Like I can actually do something that I love to do and make money from it and not have to hustle and work 75 hour weeks for somebody else. It really gave me hope.

Teresa: It's good stuff, I've heard that that one is really good for those coming into the online space, because it is a whole different world. I talk with my daughter. She works in the legal field, and sometimes I am excited and I tell her something. You can just see she doesn't understand and I'm just like, you people don't get it. Once it happens, she's like, oh, but, you know, it is just this other place, that we think differently. I think there's so much more that we realize this is accessible and doable. And we didn't learn that growing up in society, that if you think you can pretty much do it.

Stephanie: Yeah, totally.

Teresa: All right, then. Well, let's jump into our bag of would you rather questions.  Would you rather have a cook or a maid?

Stephanie: I would definitely rather have a maid because cooking and baking is that's my, like, zone of flow. I love to cook.

Teresa: What's your favorite thing you make?

Stephanie: Lasagna or a ham sandwich. I have the weirdest, like the weirdest cravings, but like, I love lasagna. And I have a gluten allergy, too. So, like, I always love when people come over to my house and I can make lasagna for them because I make really super good gluten free lasagna and people never know that it's gluten free and it's fantastic. But yeah, it's just I don't know. For me, it's a meditative process. I love cooking so much. Yeah, lasagna is my jam. I eat that stuff like Garfield.

Teresa: All right. Sounds good. Last but not least, what is the question that you would like for us to ask another guest?

Stephanie:  You know, I think probably what their best resource or tip is for someone that is working towards the next level of their business. Like what would they suggest to do as the first step in even identifying when it's time to take your business to the next level and then if they have any resources or tips to do that.

Teresa: I like that. All right. Well, thank you so much for being here and sharing all of this with us. I definitely suggest people get that guide, check it out and mark some time off in your calendar, because it's good work. It's good for you. It's good for your business. It opens your mind to some things that maybe you hadn't thought about before, or maybe it's been in the back of your mind and now it's actually pulling it out and the timing is right. Stephanie, thank you so much.

Stephanie: Thank you so much for having me and letting me be here. This has been such a fun time.

Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Becoming a Profitable CEO. I'll be back next week but in the meantime, let's continue the conversation. Head on over to our Facebook Group at ThePurposefulCEO.com/Facebook and share your take on today's episode.