Midwest "farm" girl to.....??

[HoneyBadger302]

Figured I'd start a thread here to share where I've been, where I'm going, and my journey along the way. I'm a VERY long ways from "there" at this point, but for the first time in my 40+ years, am confident I'm on the right track.

I grew up a poor Midwest overgrown-hobby-farm girl, raising our own food, or hunting it if we wanted anything other than ground turkey over the winter. I have not been unemployed since I was 12 years old, most of my life working multiple jobs. "Work ethic" has not been a problem. Everything else has been.

I was raised and brainwashed so badly into the Scripted life it's almost embarrassing. I questioned it, but that is all I saw or was exposed to, so I ended up swallowing it hook, line, and sinker.

Honestly, until a layoff in the middle of the Covid pandemic, I was still very much rooted in the Scripted life. Dissatisfied, but chalking all of my financial "shortcomings" up to "poor" career choices. Part of me, that innate part of my mind, knew that wasn't true - that the system was designed to set me up for failure, but having zero other exposure, I didn't know what other conclusion to come to. Eventually my hard work would pay off.

It did - in my almost becoming homeless (only reason I am not was due to my boyfriend willing to let me and my pets move in with him WAY before either of us would have preferred). I had an okay job, but made poor financial choices, stuck between YOLO and how I was raised (really bad combination). I had a career I was working on, but fell for that "comfort trap" that the Scripted life relies on you falling for - which, like a good little child, I did.

That layoff, and inability to replace my income, led to my FTE. A friend told me he enjoyed podcasts - I had a p/t labor job (in addition to a day job in a weak attempt to make ends meet) where I listened to music every day. Bored with the same tunes, I started listening to some podcasts for some variety. Happened across episode 107 of Andy Frisella's MFCEO podcast, and it literally transformed my life. I honed in on the "Power List" and started one the next day. That was December 28, 2021.

Over the next year, almost every single day, I did my power list. Sure, I failed many days, missed some days, but it was always on my mind and most days, I "Won." 18 months later, I have a LLC that is set to bring in 6 figures this year. I've also raised my day-job income by 35% (with a pending increase). I also brought my scary-high blood pressure into a normal for me range, have significantly improved my health and strength, and lost some weight. One small step at a time, chipping away at things I've dreamed of my entire life, all the while significantly reducing my debt and improving my lifestyle.

There is a long ways to go, hence this journal, but my Power List is still here, and still active. As an INTJ with ADHD, loss of focus is common - this stupid little list keeps my mind on the big things, which impacts all the small decisions I make throughout the day, and has a subtle but seriously large impact on the choices I make.

Right now, business is going well, but my goal is to grow and move out of the day-to-day "in the weeds" work to a point where I can operate in my strengths of visionary rather than worker, while helping bring others up and on to their own journeys. Will try to keep this updated every few months with any news, updates, struggles, or wins. Hopefully someone else can find some inspiration in my journey as well.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Wow, so awesome to hear the positive changes underway. Congrats! And thanks for sharing.

 

[Parks]

Congratulations for taking control of your life. What industry is your business in? Hope to see you around.

 

[HoneyBadger302]

Congratulations for taking control of your life. What industry is your business in? Hope to see you around.

Project/Program management with a focus on the management of strategic implementation (not the development of said strategic plans - plenty of firms that do that out there, but the actual "let's see this executed" part of it). Good thing is my experience shows there is a need, bad thing is this takes a while, so building a reputation for showing successful implementations might take some time (plenty of PM experience, but this is my first client doing exactly this, and it's looking like a potential 3-4 years of annual contracts by the time it's said and done. It'll be at least one more year at a minimum).

My vision for the (next) big step is to operate more as a PMO where I can bring in PM's ready to move into program management, who would have their industry specific knowledge, who could take on clients in said industry rather than just being a generalist (which is more my own background - variety of industries and methodoligies I've had to utilize).

First step is landing one more contract and bringing in a coordinator to help me, even if it's just part time. Hopefully before too long be able to hire/work with with some kind of salesperson/junkie as that is not really my strength - I can do okay, but it's not a natural ability of mine.

 

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[HoneyBadger302]

Figured I'd post up an update on where I'm at and how things are looking.

Financially, my life has been able to do a complete 180 since last year at this time. I've continued to "live" off my day job (still need one at this point), and the business income has been reinvested in the business, paid down debts, and built up savings. Still a ways to go before I'm happy with where it's all at, but it did position me to buy an older house and get my own place, which makes it a lot easier to control my environment and some extra motivation to keep growing.

Business has done well, but struggling to find that next contract. My current client/contract will likely renew for part of next year, but is looking more and more like it may not renew for the entire year - not because I didn't do a good job, but just the opposite - have done a great job, and all of their objectives are chugging along, moving forward, getting implemented, and they may not need to utilize me once we get through their CRM migration.

It will be a great reference, and may have opened a door for some potential future contracts with sister organizations in other areas, and have made a solid connection that may be able to help bring that to fruition. All of that is more in the "idea" stage though than the execution stage, so in the meantime...

...still trying to find more contracts/clients. Ideally, I'd like to eventually find a bigger client where I could start to expand and bring in employees/freelancers under my umbrella - I know this model can work, so it's finding my angle that will really help set me apart, and then getting the proverbial foot in the door. Prefer to keep my current focus, although I will pivot if money says that's not where the need is greatest.

Staying focused can be hard somedays - there are times I find my mind wanting to switch to a new idea, or think something else might come to fruition faster, so maybe I should switch, but then I go back to EVERYTHING I've heard from the people who I have followed and who's advice I respect, where it's "stop idea hopping and stick it out until that idea proves itself one way or another" at which point I squash those thoughts and double down on where I've been headed.

Honestly, this has been working, I just had goals this year for more growth than I've been able to produce. I know once I can really put my current contract to a "business resume" it will help give me a lot more credibility. If I can get even one more of the sister businesses to use my services, then that can open up a whole market. Just need to stay the course...

I joined a business/entrepreneur group that has been great from the perspective of building a business, or seeing the things people are dealing with while trying to grow their businesses, breaking into the next level, etc, but the majority of people there, while business owners, are not much better than the average rat-racer in that they are stuck where they are at with no exit plan, which is NOT how I want things to be down the line for me - my goal is to really be at a level where the business is something I am managing overall, but not in the weeds - if valuable enough, sell it and move on to my other "future" ideas. Part of why I appreciate this forum once you get through the weeds of everyone who is hunting for an idea :/

 

[HoneyBadger302]

Exploring over this winter had me digging into ways to find new clients as applications through job boards for open contracts was NOT working since I'm just another in a pile of resumes they get.

A few searches showed that many companies/organizations post about their shiny new strategic plans (cool), and I realized I could cold contact these places and offer my services. Didn't seem like a great option, but an option. Then I started narrowing my search, and based on my current contract(s) focused on the non profit space, which showed up with a variety of RFP's for developing their strat plans. Well, if they will pay contractors to do that (like my current client), then that is an opportunity for me to get a toe in the door with an organization that is already looking for outside help - they aren't asking for my specific services yet, but it's a much warmer contact than out of the blue.

Only struggle for me is going to be the fact that sales is not a natural strength for me - I can do it, but it's going to be a harsh learning curve until I can afford to bring someone in to help in that regard. Prepared to grow though - by the end of this year I want to be positioned to dump the day job and feel reasonably comfortable doing so. May or may not dump it, but want to be in a position to do so.

First two luke warm responses sent out, working to find a few more to get out the door before the month is done.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Financially, my life has been able to do a complete 180 since last year at this time. I've continued to "live" off my day job (still need one at this point), and the business income has been reinvested in the business, paid down debts, and built up savings. Still a ways to go before I'm happy with where it's all at, but it did position me to buy an older house and get my own place, which makes it a lot easier to control my environment and some extra motivation to keep growing.

Nice, congrats on moving the needle!

 

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[BizyDad]

Only struggle for me is going to be the fact that sales is not a natural strength for me

Sales was not a natural strength for me either.

What finally got me over the hump was redefining what sales actually was. I'm not sure if this helps you but...

I used to think sales was pushing my product on somebody and taking their money. Okay, it was a little more nuanced, but basically that was it.

Once I discovered question-based selling, and adopted a mindset of curiosity, when going into sales meetings, things changed dramatically.

Sales presentations felt more like conversations. I just kept asking questions, and people kept talking. And through that process I would figure out if I could help them, or maybe they didn't need me at all.

As time went on and I got more experience, I learned to ask better questions.

I have been a high performing salesperson pretty much everywhere I've been the last 20 years. But I hardly ever go "by the book". I just can't bring myself to do it.

But I can have conversations and I can tell stories about what I've done for other people.

And in the process of doing that, I find people I can help.

I believe Andy has a similar style to me. And he probably has already written at least a couple of threads about the topic, so I am tagging him. @Andy Black

I hope this helps.

 

[Andy Black]

Thanks for tagging me @BizyDad.

Yeah, I don't feel like I'm doing sales. I lean into being the helpful and enthusiastic mechanic in the blue oily suit rather than the salesman in the crisp white shirt.

I've a whole thread here:

GOLD! - HOT! - MARKETING - Andy's Inbound/Sales Braindump

I was asked this a while ago: If you were to start your business from scratch, how would you approach prospecting? Given that you don't cold call. And you don't know many people in the business world to "spend your money on diesel and coffee" with. And you've already reached out to your friends...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

And a podcast here:

Sales For Techies, Creators, and The Introverted

In this episode of Let's Chat Sales we chat about why founders, creators, developers (and anyone that thinks they can't sell) should know how to sell. In particular: Why the right mindset is so important. How to get started selling. Why you shouldn't wait. Would love to know what your...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

 

[Andy Black]

Project/Program management with a focus on the management of strategic implementation (not the development of said strategic plans - plenty of firms that do that out there, but the actual "let's see this executed" part of it). Good thing is my experience shows there is a need, bad thing is this takes a while, so building a reputation for showing successful implementations might take some time (plenty of PM experience, but this is my first client doing exactly this, and it's looking like a potential 3-4 years of annual contracts by the time it's said and done. It'll be at least one more year at a minimum).

My vision for the (next) big step is to operate more as a PMO where I can bring in PM's ready to move into program management, who would have their industry specific knowledge, who could take on clients in said industry rather than just being a generalist (which is more my own background - variety of industries and methodoligies I've had to utilize).

First step is landing one more contract and bringing in a coordinator to help me, even if it's just part time. Hopefully before too long be able to hire/work with with some kind of salesperson/junkie as that is not really my strength - I can do okay, but it's not a natural ability of mine.

Where are you getting leads and work from?

Are you utilising LinkedIn? Seems to me there'd be people on there working for large enough organisations they'd need a programme or project manager.

 

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[HoneyBadger302]

Sales was not a natural strength for me either.

What finally got me over the hump was redefining what sales actually was. I'm not sure if this helps you but...

I used to think sales was pushing my product on somebody and taking their money. Okay, it was a little more nuanced, but basically that was it.

Once I discovered question-based selling, and adopted a mindset of curiosity, when going into sales meetings, things changed dramatically.

Sales presentations felt more like conversations. I just kept asking questions, and people kept talking. And through that process I would figure out if I could help them, or maybe they didn't need me at all.

As time went on and I got more experience, I learned to ask better questions.

I have been a high performing salesperson pretty much everywhere I've been the last 20 years. But I hardly ever go "by the book". I just can't bring myself to do it.

But I can have conversations and I can tell stories about what I've done for other people.

And in the process of doing that, I find people I can help.

I believe Andy has a similar style to me. And he probably has already written at least a couple of threads about the topic, so I am tagging him. @Andy Black

I hope this helps.

Thanks, yes. The interesting thing is I've had sales jobs in the past, and generally did really well....IF I could sell to people at least interested in the product. Learned to ask the open ended questions and really listen to the responses and kind of read between the lines a bit.

I am not a "charismatic" sales person though, and I just don't give off those vibes.

I can do sales, and do pretty decent at it, but my approach is very different from the typical sales person mantra/demeanor. Ii build off trust and finding what someone actually needs though, not just selling with that typical charisma the field seems to attract/desire.

Where are you getting leads and work from?

Are you utilising LinkedIn? Seems to me there'd be people on there working for large enough organisations they'd need a programme or project manager.

I shut down my LinkedIn after some Internet creepo started stalking my profile after not liking a response I had to a completely unrelated post. Plus, as I'm still at my day job, actively looking for clients on a site they're all on raises flags I don't want to have to justify, so honestly haven't been using it since there's no way to separate the business from me as an individual when it comes to profiles.

 

[Andy Black]

I shut down my LinkedIn after some Internet creepo started stalking my profile after not liking a response I had to a completely unrelated post.

Eugh. What is wrong with people? Can you block them?

I'm still at my day job, actively looking for clients on a site they're all on raises flags I don't want to have to justify, so honestly haven't been using it since there's no way to separate the business from me as an individual when it comes to profiles.

Don't actively look for clients then? Post so referals can check you out. That's what I do.