272 – Mastering Industry Recognition: The Good Girls Get Rich Guide

by | Feb 12, 2024 | Podcasts

This week’s episode of Good Girls Get Rich is brought to you by Uplevel Media CEO and LinkedIn expert, Karen Yankovich. In this episode, Karen Yankovich discusses the strategies you need to adopt to gain industry recognition.

#GoodGirlsGetRich

We want to hear your thoughts on this episode! Leave us a message on Speakpipe or email us at info@karenyankovich.com.

About the Episode:

Hello, lovely listeners! I’m thrilled to share some valuable insights with you today.

Our topic? Well, it’s something that resonates deeply with me – the strategies you need to adopt to gain recognition in your industry. As each year passes and we embrace our roles as thought leaders, the importance of being noticed becomes increasingly evident.

I’ve always emphasized the power of LinkedIn on this show, and today, we’re delving into how it plays a pivotal role in creating a magnetic thought leader brand. It’s not just about pitching; it’s about positioning yourself as a force to be reckoned with, ensuring opportunities come knocking at your door.

Industry recognition is a game-changer, especially for women in business. It’s a key element in elevating your career and business while manifesting influence, impact, and income – the trifecta we often discuss.

We’ll explore the significance of awards, publications, speaking engagements, and networking in cultivating the industry recognition you deserve. Of course, I won’t shy away from acknowledging the challenges – the notorious imposter syndrome and dealing with criticism. But fear not, because I’m also here to provide actionable steps to kickstart your journey as a recognized industry expert.

So, grab your favorite beverage, settle in, and let’s embark on this exciting journey together!

Show Notes and Video:

Magical Quotes from the Episode:

  • “Creating thought-leader brand and doing outreach from that position of power is where this process becomes magnetic.” – Karen Yankovich
  • “Big missions take big money, and industry recognition is a crucial puzzle piece for elevating your career and business.” – Karen Yankovich
  • “It’s not what you know, it’s who knows you. Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.” – Karen Yankovich
  • “As your visibility increases, criticism will increase. It’s essential to navigate negative feedback and stay focused on your mission.” – Karen Yankovich
  • “Get clear on your unique value proposition. Identify what sets you apart from others in your industry and build your visibility plan accordingly.” – Karen Yankovich

Resources Mentioned in the Episode:

Join the Facebook Group

Help Us Spread the Word!

It would be awesome if you shared the Good Girls Get Rich Podcast with your fellow entrepreneurs on twitter. Click here to tweet some love!

If this episode has taught you just one thing, I would love if you could head on over to Apple Podcasts and SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW! And if you’re moved to, kindly leave us a rating and review. Maybe you’ll get a shout out on the show!

Ways to Subscribe to Good Girls Get Rich:

Read the Transcript

Karen Yankovich 0:10
Hello there, and welcome to the good girls get rich Podcast. I’m Karen Yankovich, the host of this show, and today’s topic is one that is near and dear to my heart. And, you know, I think that this has become the things we’re gonna talk about today are becoming more and more important as we, every year that we get older, and every year that we’re stepping into more of a role of a thought leader. And as we are custom crafting control of our destiny, you know, we have to think about the kinds of things we’re gonna be talking about today, and we’re talking about today are strategies to getting for getting recognition in your in your industry, right. So you know, we talked a lot about LinkedIn on the show, and I, this is a big part of it, right? Because when we, if you’ve listened to the show, before, you know that I’m not just looking for you to use LinkedIn, directly for leads, right, not like pitch, pitch, pitch, pitch pitch, I did the last thing I want you to do. In fact, it’s, you know, I don’t think there’s ever a need for cold outreach on LinkedIn, you know, creating that thought leader brand, and doing outreach from that position of power is where this process becomes magnetic. And that’s what I want for you, I want your brand to be magnetic. So that opportunities are finding you, okay, we’re not just sitting on the beach, like meditating and waiting for them to drop in our laps, you know, there’s things to do to do that. And we’re talking about some of those strategies today. And having that industry recognition really does help with that. Right. Like, we’ve had a couple of awards for this show. And, you know, top something, some podcasts on LinkedIn, right in the world, right? Those give us industry recognition, right, it gives me industry recognition. And that’s what I want for you. And it’s crucial, especially for women in business, to elevate your career, to elevate your business to elevate yourself as a thought leader and creating that, you know, we talk a lot around here a lot around here about creating influence, impact and income, you know, the women that I serve, very often have a big mission. And big missions take big money, right? Like if you want to be able to serve the what you want to be able to serve, we need to be doing this from high vibe place. And this, one of the puzzle pieces for this is the industry recognition that you have, right? I mean, let’s just talk about this for a second. I, you know, if I have never met you before, you never heard of me and I run into you, Macy’s as we’re, you know, I don’t know, trying on dresses for a wedding or something. And we’re chatting in the dressing room, and I tell you what I do I have absolutely no credibility there. Right? Like you don’t know who I am, you’re not going to be whipping out your credit card right there on the dressing room and saying, I got this, I want to hire you, right? I mean, that’s not how it happens. We need to be creating visibility and recognition. So that the, as we as as people do find us, we have that credibility, and it becomes a simpler path to that investment in you than that cold connection. If that makes sense. Right. Now, listen, I mean, at some point, if you’re getting industry recognition on a big level, maybe they aren’t gonna recognize your order and Macy’s, right. But truthfully, what we’re really looking for is are the right people to recognize your genius at the right time. We don’t need everybody and we don’t need it to be all the time, we need the right people at the right time. Does that make sense? Can you can you relate to that? You know, I mean, I’m sure that there’s been times in your career, that you have seen other people get industry recognition that you feel like you maybe deserved? Alright, I can tell you, it’s happened to me multiple times. Right? So let’s dive in a little bit to what this looks like. So you know, industry recognition is kind of a broad term, right? It’s kind of a broad term. It’s it is, you know, it’s becoming a known name, right. But becoming a known name gives you access to more opportunities, right? It gives you increased credibility gives you more influence, right? There was a Harvard business review a couple of months ago, so mid to late 2023. Actually, I’m going to look at it right here. Hang on one second, I

created an article that you can I’ll link to in the show notes how to become more visible at work. And it was such a great article, because it talked a little bit about, you know, we when we first entered the workforce, people talk we had to work twice as hard as everyone else. Right. But what people don’t tell you always is, it’s more than work, right? It’s about building credibility. Right? The impact of your hard work also needs to be visible to other people. You know, I’ve you’ve heard me probably say a lot, you know, it’s not like building the who you know, in your business, right? It’s not what you know, it’s who you know, but maybe even more importantly, it’s who knows you right? So this visibility, this workplace visibility, this industry visibility, this industry credibility is so important to getting your names mentioned in the rows where the decisions are made, right? And being included in the kinds of projects that shape your business in your career forever. Maybe landing a huge client or a huge promotion, right? If people don’t know what you’ve accomplished you, you can’t achieve your full potential for advancement. And this article that from Harvard Business Review talks a lot about this. And, you know, there’s, there’s strategies to do this. Right? You can, you can, you know, we’re gonna talk about this on the show. Okay, we’re going to talk about more about this as we, as we move on. Right. So let’s talk a little bit about the foundation of recognition. Right. So what are some types of recognition? Well, maybe there’s awards, do you apply for awards in your industry award, say that other people have given you, you know, have evaluated what you’ve done, and feel that you are worthy of this award. Now, there are some awards that you literally can buy at doesn’t necessarily make that a bad thing, okay? Because people do that a lot. That’s a big part of what marketing is. So when I say you can buy an award, right, it’s not. I mean, you could buy the cover of a magazine, things like that, right? But everybody can’t do that. Right? Everybody can’t do that. So if you are being asked to apply for an award, even if you have to pay 500 bucks to get it, they’re not doing that for everybody. So even though you know, there’s, there’s, there’s a little maybe it maybe it feels a little icky, or when you know, when you are, you know, when you see people number one, whatever in their industry, you know, sometimes you’ll know maybe, you know, did they pay to get that recognition, but you wouldn’t be offered that opportunity if you weren’t worthy of it, right? Publications. That’s why we incorporate PR into all the work we do in our she’s linked up world, you know, we’ve actually incorporated more done for you assets, because the women we work with are smart, successful, busy women, and they’re like, can you just do this for me, Karen, so, so now we’re doing a lot of that, because I want you to get those PR opportunities, I want you to land them not just know what they are, and just be ready for them. I want you to land them. Are you? Do you have a microphone in front of you? Right? You have like I have a, you know, fancy little microphone here. Right? Do you have a microphone? Are you on stage? Are you doing speaking events, like it’s not all of these things are not for everybody. But you know, a lot of people, myself included, didn’t really get back in the swing of things with their speaking careers on the other side of the pandemic. And PS if you’ve got a conference or anything that you’re putting together or that you know, of, and you think I would be a great speaker for I’d love that introduction. Because you know that those speaking engagements give you credibility. And I can tell you that from from personal experience, you know, when you’re at the conference, and you’re the speaker at the conference, you immediately have that recognition, right? You immediately have that, that industry recognition and industry credibility, because you had the microphone, that the founders of the conference, thought that you were worthy of bringing your message to the whole room, right. Of course, to get those kinds of opportunities, the awards, the publications that press the speaking engagements, you do have to take control of your personal brand, right? Personal Branding is so important when it comes to establishing that credibility and visibility. You know, I tell my, my, the people that I work with in my shoes linked up programs all the time. Yes, you can do outreach from email, yes, you can do outreach, you know, text, or what, however you want to do outreach. But when you do outreach from your LinkedIn profile, you’re bringing the power of that profile with you, right, you have that recognition. So as you’re creating this thought leader brand, and you’re creating that personal brand, and you’re putting this up all up on a LinkedIn profile that positions you as if you’re peers, with the most influential people in the industry, and you’re doing outreach from that place, it immediately elevates your personal brand, right? And, you know, as Jeff Bezos says Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room. Right? So. So it starts with you, though, are you creating that personal brand, so that people so you’re giving people something and making it easy for them to get to know what it is you do, right? It’s also really important that you’re consistent. You need consistency in your messaging, you need consistency in your presence, you need engagement across your platforms to build that recognizable brand. I would rather you do less platforms and do a better job with the individual ones you do than just throwing your crap out everywhere. You know, I actually have somebody that just joined our program recently, and she said, Do I need a website? I’m like, honestly, eventually, yeah, you’re gonna want a website. But we’re gonna get your clients just by using LinkedIn right now. Because because we’re going to establish her as a thought leader, right? We’re going to help her build in that consistency. So she’ll have that personal brand. We’re bringing years of expertise to this, right. She’s not a newbie. She’s new at what she’s doing now, but she’s not a newbie. So we’re going to whip that into, you know, like, Matt, you know, put our magic wand, hit our hitter with our magic wand and, and have her really showing up. So she looks worthy of people’s time and worthy of people’s money, and then showing up consistently on people’s timelines and in social media, right or on LinkedIn, or that one or two platforms that they’re doing. So that they are, you know, they’re building that foundation of recognition. Okay, so how, how else do you do this? Right? So how do we now now that we’ve got that foundation built? How do we how do we build some momentum there, right. So obviously, the first thing I’m talking about is LinkedIn, you absolutely want to use LinkedIn to enhance your visibility to enhance your authority, you want to have an optimized profile, you want to and go to LinkedIn profile training.com, if you need an optimized profile,

you want to publish some, some thought leadership articles, right? Engaging with your industry leaders tagging with some industry leaders, right. And you want to step into that place and start to build it, build relationships with these people build out your network, you want to leverage the power of PR, you want to talk about, you know, press releases, media appearances, guest blogging, guest interviews on people’s podcasts, all of these elevate your profile, right, all of these elevate your profile and help you to be seen as an industry authority. Speaking engagements and networking, right, I can do it. Maybe it’s time to do another show on this. But I can do an entire show on how to leverage your speaking engagements. Because you know, so many people I remember specifically, there’s one woman that I am friends with. And we’ve spent a lot of time together working on her strategies. And she was like one of those people that loved networking, and God bless her. She loves networking. But she was always at networking meetings. And then when I’d say okay, now I want you to follow up and do this, this and this from that networking mean, she’s like, I don’t have time. I’m too busy. I don’t have time for that. So it’s like, go to less networking meetings, right, cordless networking meetings and dive deeper into the ones you are going to connect with all the people that are there, look to get on the phone, like if you know, obviously in a targeted way, who were the people you met at that meeting that you want to follow up with? Follow up with them on LinkedIn, remember you kind of with the the the the authority of your profile showing up as that authority, when they asked you to introduce yourself at these networking events? are you introducing yourself as, hey, I’m the host of the good girls get rich podcast. Now. I’m Karen, animal LinkedIn consultant, right, you got to introduce yourself with that authority, so that you’re starting to build that industry recognition. Right? At those speaking engagements, you’re connecting with the people in the room, or you’re connecting with the other speakers, or you’re connecting with the organizers so that they know how to find you the next time, or you you know, maybe writing recommendations for the organizers about how amazing it was in your mind that maybe they’ll invite you back next year, right. And it doesn’t have to be in person networking or speaking engagements, you can do this with virtual networking. And virtual speaking, same thing, right webinars, podcasts, share your expertise and expand your networks. This is how you start to gain that industry recognition. Do you have any published work? Right? And I’m like, I have a little bit like, as I say, this is like pot calling the kettle black here. But you know, do you have books, ebooks industry reports, what is this? What is What are you doing to establish authority, and that is allowing you to share your unique insights. We have one student that we’re working with her she’s linked up accelerator program right now. And she crafted this solely to get leads, okay? I mean her because we were like how do we get warm? Because you know, I say no cold leads, right? Her ideal clients are corporate. And we were trying to see how does she build a network for these people? So what we decided to do, she decided to do was published a white paper and do outreach to did outreach, I think maybe 50 people, that person, frankly, are her ideal clients, but her outreach to them was, hey, I’m doing this white paper. I’m looking for authorities on a, you know, XYZ to interview as sources for this white paper. Are you interested? Right, so she actually like talk about like, doubling up her efforts, right, she created this white paper. So that positioned her immediately as an industry authority. By the way, like six months or a year ago, she was she a paycheck job, right? So this is brand new. This role she’s in right now was brand new. PS, this is what Barbara Cochran did, right. She created the Cochran report, right? She had one client, but she created a report around it immediately positioned her it’s an industry like giving her industry recognition, right. So my client did this, she created a white paper published it, right. All of these people who are our ideal clients are now featured in it. And now her follow up to them is hey, let’s talk about how we can further How can we get this are our collaborative work in front of more hands and PS, I can help you with this stuff if you want, right? So so many things that helped her establish authority and help her share her unique insights into the work that she does and allows her to let these people know that she even has these unique insights. Right? And they are now seeing her as an industry authority where six months ago they didn’t know she existed. So, and again, we talked a little bit About awards and recognitions, find and apply for industry awards, right find and apply for things that give you recognition to build your credibility. Okay. And you know, this isn’t all sunshine and roses. You know, there are some challenges to this. I know because we have such a strong mindset component in the work we do in our she’s linked up program. Because so many women come to us with these beautiful big dreams. Like I said, they’re mission driven women, right? So they’ve got these beautiful big dreams, but their energies here, they’re there, their vibe is not aligned with their, with their big missions, right. So and that is imposter syndrome, right? They just don’t know if we’ve done entire shows on this. Right? But they just don’t know they don’t you know, they You can’t let this get in your way. Because if you like imagine if, if Oprah had impostor syndrome, who gives a flying F what people think about you if you’re accomplishing your mission, right? So, and often when I talk to people about overcoming impostor syndrome, and they’re worried about what people say about them, and just can they really say these things about themselves? And can they really show up as this industry recognized industry expert? It’s not the people they don’t know that they’re worried about it’s the people they do know, right? It’s their friends, their family, their co workers out there, they’re worried about what they’re going to think about what they say, right? So just to I know, it’s easy for me to say this, but just let it go. And take that next step with courage with brave and hopefully with a beautiful community of strong people around you to carry you over that line, right. But you can’t if you let impostor syndrome, get in your way, you are never ever going to accomplish your big mission. And then, you know, criticism. You know, somebody said to me one time and it was so impactful to me, if you have a podcast, and we’re specifically talking about podcasts, you can take the same statement and move it across other things. If you have a podcast and all you have are five star reviews, I don’t believe them. Right? I feel like you just call all your friends and family to do it. Like not everybody’s going to, to align with your message, you’ve got to learn how to navigate that criticism as you’re creating this thought leader brand. Because that veers with that visibility comes haters, right. So what So what you’re gonna let that get you down, right, people that are not worthy of your time, you can let that get in the way of your big dreams if your big missions. So you leave you, you want to really be creating strategies for dealing with the criticism, dealing with the negative feedback, because as your visibility increases, that is going to increase, it just happens. Right? Now listen, I can tell you that there are times that I just let it go. Because sometimes it’s just like, crazy. But if I hear the same thing a few times in a row, you know, maybe I’ll pay attention to it and say maybe it’s something I need to work out, right. Like, for example. Many people, including people that I are in my program, sometimes say, can you really talk fast, I know that I am working on it, it’s probably not going to change. But I’m trying I pay attention to it where I can write is a criticism, I guess it is right. But it is also a part of who I am. And and if it’s if it’s so bad, that you can’t deal with it, then we’re not a good fit. But if you’re listening to this show, and you’re resonating with my message, and you can follow along, when people say to me, they listened to me on double speed on like, really? I can’t even imagine that, right.

But, you know, you want to pay attention to these things, right? So because I hear that more than once I pay attention to it. I’m still looking if anybody has a suggestion for me what I would in my dream world, and maybe I need to invent it. I want a metronome, you know, those metronomes like the music metronomes that go back and forth. I want to put one on my desk, like right here while I’m recording the show, so that it paces me, but it can’t click metronomes click right. So it has to be silent. So anyway, you know that if you have a suggestion for me send it my way. But you see what I’m saying? Like sometimes there’s something you want to pay attention to. Other times, it’s just like, let it go. Right? But again, it’s it’s when you’re surrounded by a community of people that are lifting you up, and they are cheering you on for your big vision. And they are there for you as you’re stepping into this influencer role as you’re stepping into this role as a recognized industry expert. You know, that’s where you, you understand that it’s not personal, right? They help you understand that it’s not personal. So a couple of things you can do today to get started to be seen as a recognized industry expert. First, you have to really get clear on what your unique value proposition is what makes you different than everyone else, right? Identify what sets you apart from others in your industry and, and you know, it can be little right it can be something simple. But if there’s, you know, I can tell you like when I first started my business, this version of my business maybe 1015 years ago, I had a social media agency. It’s interesting that works coming back around to doing more done for you work because I kind of was pretty committed to not doing that again, but We’re doing more done free work around LinkedIn. So definitely reach out to me if you want to know what that looks like having us do a lot of this work for you. But 1015 years ago, I had a social media agency. And those of you that are running social media for people or I have friends, and we’ve interviewed people, we interviewed Bridget Brady a couple of weeks ago for up on the social media agency, having to stay on top of what’s happening on all the platforms. I don’t know how anybody does it, it was exhausting. It was exhausting. So I started to I was talking a lot more about your personal brand, I was starting all my people with LinkedIn. So I started to narrow my business in on LinkedIn. And now that sort of that started to be where my unique value proposition started to come into view, right? We have since then, and corporated PR strategies into our unique value proposition. I really believe that as you’re creating this thought leader brand and using tools like LinkedIn, to help you do that, we also want to have a pure component to that strategy. And you know, I’ve niched even further to mostly supporting women and not because I don’t want to help men, I’m happy to help you. I don’t really care what your body parts are, or how you identify, but I want women to feel more included in this. I’m not really trying to exclude anyone, right. So do you see how I’ve kind of over the years, I’ve identified my unique value proposition? I frankly, don’t know anybody else that serves that exact market. And then from there, you want to have a visibility plan, right? What is your plan? I have this here. I’m always looking for a better way to do this stuff. You guys. I bought this book this year, too. And this, there’s nothing in this planner, but marketing. What is my mark? What am I doing each day? What is my visibility plan? Because listen, I’ve got my calendar. I’ve got we use Asana. So I’ve got tasks in Asana, I got 50 billion emails in my email list. And they’re, you know, I can’t stay on top of it. I can’t. So this book right here, more visibility is so important for me that I needed to pull it out of all of that and make it separate. So I have a visibility plan. It’s a step by step plan that increases my visibility, we’re doing more real slightly, maybe you’ve seen them on Instagram or some other platforms, right. But you know, make a plan and work that plan and make it simple, make it something that you can do. Do you have a community, right? Maybe you have a Facebook group or LinkedIn group, where you’ve just got a community of people that you’ve been working with, building and engaging with the community, I think is so important, especially for women who are looking to have bigger, bigger dreams, in their careers in their businesses. You know, there’s another article that came out, I think, just today, actually, it was in the Wall Street Journal. And it was literally called the price women pay for networking with high status people. And it basically talks about the fact that networking is so important, right, and those tactics work really well for men. But for women, the stereotypes get in the way. So we’ll link to that in the show notes also. So basically, what it says is where women can do this is when they when they’re showing up for their community, oh, by the way, I fully recognize this sucks, right? I fully recognize that we should be able to network the same way men do without the stigma of she’s to this or she’s to that, right. But if we want to have success, we want to learn from things like these that these studies show us. And one of the things that showed us is when a woman is networking on that high level, right being seen as a recognized expert, when you’re doing it with the with the goal of elevating a community or elevating a group, it’s received better. It’s just came out today, right? I hate it. But it’s stuff, you know, we have to be we have to know this stuff. So that we can have success doesn’t mean you don’t want to do this stuff. By the way, I don’t really care what people think about me. But at the end of the day, what I do want is success, I want to help more women, I want there to be more wealthy women in the world. And if I’m going to have the industry recognition to do that, and the credibility, I’ve got to understand how I can best show up. Right now we do have a Facebook group, if you’re not a part of it, go to LinkedIn for women community.com. And join us there. And we spend a lot of time in that community helping women that are, you know, I feel like the minute you start listening to this show, you’re a part of our community, you listen to the show, maybe then you join our Facebook group, you’re all these are all my gifts to you. Because again, I want them to be more wealthy women in the world, right? So I have all these things we do to help you do that. At some point, if you resonate with my messaging, I’d love to chat with you. Because the next step in all of this then would be book a call, right Karen yankovich.com/call, get you to our calendar, and you’ll speak to me or one of somebody on my team about what your big mission in the world is. And if we think there’s a fit to support you with that, if there is we’ll tell you what that looks like. But either way, we have no end of ideas to help you achieve because more importantly, I’m you know, more importantly than us actually getting to work together directly is I want more women to have more money, women with more money can make better choices can make more choices gives us more choices, right? So it starts with my communities. It starts with this show, which starts with my free Facebook community. And then from there, right to Karen yankovich.com/call, if you want to know what it looks like to be a part of the deeper community to get some support with this, because I think you know, the more support you have the faster results, the faster, you will get these results. And we have no end of testimonials about that no end of testimonials about the beautiful things that happen to the women in our program when they join and really step into their thought leader roles in the next chapter of their lives and their business. So I hope that this resonated with you, you know, again, you know, I want you to have some success, we work too hard in this country, here in the US, and I’m sure in other countries as well. But we work too hard to not be recognized for the work that we do. And it’s time that we take control of that. And we start to create a plan to for industry recognition, for our personal brands for the work we’re doing and for the mission we have for the world. So if you loved what you heard today, you know, I love for you to share this episode, share it on social media, make sure that you tag me so I see it. We’re all about you know, raising women up help me help you by sharing this episode, I’ll share it with my audience, so that I can help you and get your name in front of my audience. Right. So this is how we support each other. You know, and in our she’s linked up family of programs, we create wealthy women of influence. If you want to hang out with some of these incredible, incredible women that I get to hang out with, just again, book a call on the calendar, there’s no obligation, these are very, you know, they’re not sales calls, there truly isn’t a fit to talk about what it looks like to work together. That’s really it. You know, I’d love for you to go into the show notes here at Karen yankovich.com/ 272. And there’s a link there for SpeakPipe. I’m always looking for ways for this to be more talking with you instead of at you if you leave a message on SpeakPipe I will reply personally and we get to have a little bit of a conversation which is fun. Maybe you’ve got a guest you think I should interview or a topic you’d like me to talk about. Love your reviews on Apple podcasts or wherever you’re listening to this show. And know that you know we’re here for you. I’m here for you. Whether it’s another episode of this show next week, you know, active engagement with you in our free Facebook group or seeing your name on our calendar so that we can talk about what it looks like moving forward. I am here for you. Okay, let’s lift each other up. And I will see you back here again next week with another episode.

271 – Behind the Scenes: Dee Taylor’s Insights into She’s LinkedUp and Working with Karen Yankovich

by | Feb 5, 2024 | Podcasts

This week’s episode of Good Girls Get Rich is brought to you by Uplevel Media CEO and LinkedIn expert, Karen Yankovich. In this episode, guest Dee Taylor shares about the success she’s had working with Karen Yankovich and the She’s LinkedUp Program.

Are you feeling overwhelmed by the relentless demands of running your business? Do you long for expert assistance to manage your membership program, or a tech-savvy partner to streamline your operations? You’re not alone. Running a business can often feel like a solo, exhausting journey. But imagine having someone wholly dedicated to your success, someone who shares your entrepreneurial vision and is committed to making it a reality. That’s where Deirdré Taylor steps in as your online business manager.

#GoodGirlsGetRich

We want to hear your thoughts on this episode! Leave us a message on Speakpipe or email us at info@karenyankovich.com.

About the Episode:

In this insightful episode, we’re diving deep into Dee Taylor’s incredible journey! Dee opens up about her initial reservations and how that first call with me set the stage for a transformative 12 weeks, bringing unparalleled clarity and direction.

We’ll explore the vital role of commitment and the remarkable success stories of those fully immersed in the program. Dee sheds light on the magnetic approach that reshaped her client interactions, leaving a lasting impact. Get ready to discover a unique perspective on the program, emphasizing the genuine care and support embedded in its essence.

As we gaze into 2024, Dee unveils her plans to scale impact and empower women in South Africa. Join us as we unravel the layers of Dee’s journey and tap into the transformative magic of my program.

Let’s make 2024 a year of profound business growth and impactful change!

Show Notes and Video:

Magical Quotes from the Episode:

  • “You create a kind of clarity. It’s like you help unveil what’s behind the curtain.” – Dee Taylor
  • “Your success is going to be dependent on how much you do the work and the outreach that you do.” – Karen Yankovich
  • “I want to know that in every fiber of my body… I want more women to have more money.” – Karen Yankovich
  • “At the heart of everything, Karen truly cares about the women in her program. She wants to see that you have the results and feel valued and supported.” – Dee Taylor

Resources Mentioned in the Episode:

Join the Facebook Group

Help Us Spread the Word!

It would be awesome if you shared the Good Girls Get Rich Podcast with your fellow entrepreneurs on twitter. Click here to tweet some love!

If this episode has taught you just one thing, I would love if you could head on over to Apple Podcasts and SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW! And if you’re moved to, kindly leave us a rating and review. Maybe you’ll get a shout out on the show!

Ways to Subscribe to Good Girls Get Rich:

Read the Transcript

Karen Yankovich 0:09
Hello, hello, everyone, welcome to the good girls get rich Podcast. I’m Karen Yankovich. I’m the host of the good girls get rich podcast. This is episode number 271. And I am so excited for you to meet our guests today. You know, you hear a lot you hear me talk a lot about how much I adore the women that are in my shoes linked up accelerator program and all the changes that they make in the world and the the importance of the of them stepping into this new identity and their personal brand. But we have what I haven’t talked a lot about is how we do some of the stuff behind the scenes. So today, I’ve got dear, she is on team, she’s linked up. And she has also gone through the program as a student, because it’s important to me that everyone on my team knows exactly what it is that we do and that we teach. So she’s coming here today with a couple of different perspectives, right, the one perspective of being behind the scenes, but also the perspective of a student. So D welcome, want to talk about a little bit about yourself.

Dee Taylor 1:13
Karen, it’s so it’s amazing to be on the podcast with you, of course. And it’s amazing to be able to share my experience of working with you and the ladies in your team to deliver and serve the women that we actually serve. So I think we’ve been working together for about 18 months, somewhere around there now. And I will definitely say that I’ve had the time of my life, I work as a virtual assistant. And it’s my job as you always say, to love up on your students. And

Karen Yankovich 1:51
all around here, I just released my microphone while you keep while you keep talking, talking.

Dee Taylor 1:57
And so of course, I’m in the business of love. Many years ago, I was actually told that part of my purpose in life is to love and so that’s why this being working on this team, is it means so much to me, because it means that I get to love I literally get to love and really hold space for the women, you know, because what we often find is that we are our own obstacles, we create our own obstacles through our thoughts, and everything that comes along with that. And many times, all we need is just for someone to cheer us along on our journey and to say, you know, it’s okay, it’s okay. You don’t have to, you don’t have to be perfect. You just have to take one step. Don’t stand still just do one thing today, if that’s all you can manage to do. So yes, yeah, yeah. Well,

Karen Yankovich 2:49
it is true. That is your number one job, job responsibility is to love up on our clients. And, and you know, it’s important, you know, we’ve had some, let’s just say hiccups with that, not for your fault for my fault, right? Like I remember a couple months ago, we were doing something and I was so I know I was completely swamping you to what I mean. And I’m like, I was completely swamping this poor woman, with some busy work that we just had to get done instead of going outside and finding somebody that could just do the busy work. And I woke up one morning, and I just felt like we were not serving our clients that I was pulling in too many directions. So I was like, that’s it from today forward. Anything that I asked you to do that’s on this side of the pre sale side of this business, you’re to say to me, are you sure you really want me to do that, Karen, because my job is the post sale, because I really, because it’s so important to me, that we’re serving up because there’s one thing that you said D that I want to bring out to people that are listening, and that is that we’re there for them, we’re loving up on them. And it’s not like the women that we work with. And man we’ve had a few men it’s not like they don’t have other people in their life that love and support them. But so often they don’t understand their big goals, right, like their family and their friends. And you know, I was actually talking I don’t know who was I was talking to recently. And you know, I was and you guys have may have heard me whine about this before listeners to the show. I was whining a little bit I think about my about health insurance here in the United States and how expensive it is. And I can talk to my entrepreneur friends about that. If I talk to my family and friends, they say Karen, just go get a job where they pay your health benefits. Do you know what I mean? Like that is not that is not supportive and helpful to me, right? They think it is they think it’s supportive and helpful, but it’s not really supportive and helpful to me and and you know, listen, my goal is let’s just make enough money that that number is irrelevant, right? Which is really what I want for all of the people that join our program. I want them to be thinking bigger and stepping into their you know, their bigger role whatever that next chapter is for them. It it can be bigger, but it’s it’s too far. When I see the only way that we can, I’m going to almost say guarantee success with this is with a community around you. Right? We’ve tried to do this ourselves many times over the years. And without the community around us, it’s a lot harder. Right with it’s a lot harder.

Dee Taylor 5:15
I like what you say. And and it’s definitely been, it’s definitely been what I’ve seen. And I think because we, ourselves are business people, we are business owners, and we, we understand, we walk in the shoes of every woman that comes into this program. So we all relate, we can relate. And so we understand the challenges that they’re going through. And I think that that is what sets us apart. It’s not, it’s not someone who works for someone who does something, it’s you who you are in contact, that’s high touch, it’s me, I understand the mind of an entrepreneur, I get that, Cindy, we all because we because you your team is is a people who, who walk in the shoes of every woman, we can so much apply what we’ve experienced. It’s our experience that helps others like us. So we go through with I mean, look at me, we were talking about me coming on this podcast, and look how many times I avoided

Karen Yankovich 6:18
oh my god, you guys have no idea. I said to deca, we talked about this, I was like, literally we’re recording this, I’m gonna just share this with you guys recording is at 7am here and, and Ds in South Africa. So it’s a little bit later for her. And at five o’clock this morning, I was laying in bed responding to some slack messages. I haven’t even gotten out of bed yet. And I was like, you know, and we were trying to do it over the weekend. And it didn’t happen. And I was like, Alright, I’m gonna get up, I have other things I need to do to get up and be showered and early for today. So let me get up and do it. Do it now. And then I get up, I get to my desk and I start messaging and look, where are you? Now? You know what I mean? Like, where are you now? Like, I took it, I jumped in the shower, quickly to be able to turn my camera on and like what are you? Like, is this? Is it really that? And I I’m saying that a little bit jokingly because here’s the deal. I even for like a big part of what we do is it’s mindset, right? Like, do you feel we want you to feel confident doing this stuff. And I said, is just get this the thought of getting on camera and being on the show is it. This is like the third avoidance, you know, and it was only a short of what is this morning, right? But, but I decided

Dee Taylor 7:23
to practice what I preach. And when I as I hold space for all of these women, I’m doing accountability calls with him I’m doing, I connect with him all the time. And when I speak to them, I tell them feel the fear, but do it anyway. And so now I am representing myself in that manner. And I’m saying I’m gonna feel the fear. But I’m gonna do it anyway. Because that’s the advice that I give each and every one of these women, these amazing women in this program, and those who have gone through the program, right now, it doesn’t stop there. Because because the alumni are as important as the current students. And I mean, that’s not something that we stop, we don’t stop loving upon them. If they were always there we are like that ever present we are that tree, when they come to us, and they want to lean on us. And they want to gain some strength or wisdom, whatever you call it through whatever the the hemophilia people out there. We are they we we literally stand there, we reach out. And women need us we are always there. So people move on and people can choose to do that. But those who still need it, they can still tap into us. After all, they often have the months of not being in the program. Because those are the dozen long lasting kind of relationships that we form with these women, you know, and they know that we’ve got their back no matter what, you know.

Karen Yankovich 8:52
And if you know if you’re listening to this, and you were a student a year ago, or two years ago, three years ago, you’re probably still getting messages from me introducing you to people saying, You know what I you know, we’ve got this new person in our program, her name is Mary and Mary, and you and Mary really need to know each other. Because to me, it’s those deeper relationships, that is where the abundance comes into your life, right? And having these conversations about that and confidently doing that, like getting it back to that confidence thing, right? So many of the women that we work with, they have these big dreams and I love their big dreams. But if but you know, we all know what what like New Year’s resolutions look like, right? Like this is the year I’m gonna lose 20 pounds, I’m gonna hit seven figures, I’m going to do all the things and by February there’s a date in January I remember what it is but they call it like, I don’t know like the failure date or something like this is the day everybody drops their resolutions, right? So something has to be done differently right? So I know that these women have these beautiful big dreams dreams up here, but their energy and their and their alignment is something is down here. So what we like to do is try to align that and you know I like it Love, that we want to do hard things, I want to do hard things. And at the same time, we want to do it with the foundation of our comfort zone. Right? Like, yes, we want to, I want to push you a little bit out of your comfort zone. But I’m not asking you to, you know, climb a tree, if you have, you know, if you have height fears, you know, like, it’s not, it’s not that I’m asking you to overcome, you know, lifelong fears. But I am going to ask you to push yourself a little bit outside of your comfort zone. So that you can achieve the kinds of successes that you want to have. And successes isn’t always about just money, right? Like successes is, you know, sometimes financial successes help you spend more time with your family. And then you’re being more of a successful parent, or grandparent or whatever, right? And not that you can’t be successful. If you have a full time job, you absolutely can. But you can. For me, I want the women that we work with to create, to create their life and then build a business that supports that life, right in a way that gives them more freedom. And, you know, can be done incorporated into the way they want to do that. So even if they have to, they’ve got a podcast interview scheduled and they’re, you know, a little bit like, oh my gosh, this is the first one I’ve ever done. I’m you know, it’s okay, do it. Because then, and that’s why we ask by the way, that’s why I like to create those those relationships with our alumni and our current students, because one of the biggest fears and do you tell me if you if you agree with us, one of the biggest fears that I think we have to help our our students overcome is the fear of getting on the phone with people doing outreach to people, and not really knowing why. Right, like not just saying, wow, this person seems like a really cool person, I don’t know where, what or if we could do together, but I’d love to explore the possibilities, get to know them better, and explore the possibilities. That is where the magic happens in the work that we teach. And it takes confidence to do that. So if I rebuilding, helping them build relationships with, with kind of like people that are like in our family already with other family members, it helps them get confidence because that second or third or fourth one, you’re more and more confident with, right? And that you know the next interview, you get d and the one after that on the one after that, you’re gonna be a lot more confident. So So tell me this, like I said, Dee, and I’ve been working. So she’s like Dee said, we’ve been working together about 18 months. And her sole role is the client concierge. And she’s linked up accelerator program, but because she knows so much about every single one of our of our clients, obviously, there’s a lot I asked from her on the front end, from a marketing perspective, how do we reach these? What are their greatest fears, things like that, right? So so Dee is, so she’s, you know, definitely a big part of everything we do around here. But a couple months ago, I asked you to go through the program as a student, because I want it and I truly I mean, listen, D I’ve talked about this on some of these episodes, you know, many, every single person that’s on my team right now, are contractors, right? They’re a part of my team, but they also have other clients, you know, and I’m cool with that. And I and I think we all need to understand, that’s the way we do business and in 2024 and beyond. So I asked you to go through the program as a student for a couple of reasons, right? I wanted her to understand fundamentally how we are what we’re doing and what we’re teaching, but also, practically, what is there things that don’t align? Are there things that don’t make sense? Or we add, you know, because sometimes, you know, you’re tweaking it tweaking a tweak, and you don’t realize that you pulled things out of alignment, right, so, so tell us a little bit about how that was, how was it to go through the program as a student?

Dee Taylor 13:45
It was, it was interesting. I think, really going through the program really gave me the experience of understanding what these women are going through, there’s so much to do. But it helped me figure out how better to support them. So in the advice that I can now give them I can say to them, You know what, yes, you got to do that that way. But you can also try it this way. Because I have the experience of having you that sort of just me, I find the better way that works for me to do things. And so I then share that knowledge with people with the with the ladies on the team. It was great also from experiencing it from the student perspective for myself personally, because now I was going through the program, and I was not implementing some of the strategies and things so it gives me greater I can put more weight behind my words when I say Karen’s program is absolutely amazing. Because because you know and the strategy work and things like that because at know how many times during my 12 weeks I was coming to the coals and I was celebrating the fact that I had another VIP call or I had a yes. Client. And I remember Kevin, at one point, you said, Oh, I’m not sure if I should have because now what if you get too many, make sure you don’t make sure you don’t give away my hours.

Karen Yankovich 15:18
Correct exam. So tell us a little bit about that. Because that’s really, you know, you guys know that our listeners to the show, that if you Google me, and if you know, if I’m speaking at a conference or being interviewed on a podcast, we’re often talking about LinkedIn, right? LinkedIn, and PR, but those are the tools that we use, right, they’re not at the forefront of what we’re doing. So the very first thing that happens when somebody joins our program, the full show is linked up accelerator 12 week program, is that I get on a call with them. And we dream up what their big, fat juicy contract looks like. And I’ve said this on the show a million times, we’re not looking for you to sell one pen at a time, we’re looking for you to get a distributor that wants to buy 100,000 of your pens. Like that’s what we look for on that first call, what is a big fat juicy contract, I’m not looking to change what you do, I’m not looking to to make you just overcharge people, I’m looking to really you know, get creative and create a big fat juicy, lucrative contract. So and then we want to reverse once we know what that is. Everybody on Team she’s linked up knows exactly what to do to help you reverse engineer your personalized strategy so that you’re landing that contract before the end of your 12 weeks. But you how many did you land within that 12 weeks?

Dee Taylor 16:35
I have, I have three VIP days in the 12 weeks, and I’ve landed two clients

Karen Yankovich 16:44
to how many VIP days did you have before the 12 week started?

Dee Taylor 16:49
You see that happened on the first call. On the first call with you, I’ve never even considered a VIP client, I never considered what that VIP thing could look like. And so definitely in my case, I can say that with that first call, you create a kind of clarity, you create a kind you sort of help. It’s like you help the curtains unveil what’s behind the curtain. And so we go into our 12 weeks with this clarity that we never had before, not really knowing exactly how that would work. But we’re now able to express it better. Because I remember after the clarity call, I called it my clarity call. Because that’s what I feel like I got from them. I went into a discussion with a with someone who reached out to me on LinkedIn for a discovery call. And when I was asked certain questions, I just your voice can just plays over in my head. Some of the things you say in those videos, it plays like a record in the back of my head. It’s almost as though when someone says that word in a year that replay. And so so it definitely positions it differently. Because it’s in that first 12 weeks itself talk most in your head, you literally just pull from that cup all the time. And if you are doing the you that’s the other thing. You know, there’s a saying that says something like God helps those who help themselves. So people often say, Well, God, God, I’m praying, and God’s gonna help me but we are asked to, we are asked to do our part. And the same with this program, we must if I don’t do what I’m supposed to do, I cannot get the results, that that the tools that have been put in place. So you have to you have to make the commitment. And it’s one of the greatest commitments to yourself, you make as a business owner, when you sign up for this program. It’s the strongest commitment. So you are going to commit to do your 12 weeks and you’re going to do it as it gets done. And I think that for the last 18 months, we have seen people have really done it, where they’ve where they’ve done everything according to the book. I’ve seen people have success, not necessarily, for example, in a monetary thing, but they have success in all areas, aspects of themselves that they didn’t even understand whether that is in confidence, and in showing up as a thought leader. And eventually I see that happening. I mean, the other debt is someone who was in the program is a year ago, a year and a half ago. And it has been in the in the society since it’s now paying off, you know, all that all everything that it’s all come together. And I was thinking over the weekend that that’s one of the things that you know, you have the Germans you are the fitness instructor and you’ve invested in these people and all of that and now they leave the program, you know the gym program, and in six months time the result the results are there. but because of the foundation being laid, and the foundation is what we are so key in, you don’t always know what’s going to happen post, you know, so that was

Karen Yankovich 20:07
so but let me i Do you know how much I 100% agree with you. In fact, when I talk to people on the arm when on calls that are interesting the program, and they asked me, you know, well, you know, what kind of success can I expect? I said, to be honest, your success is going to be dependent on how much how much you do the work and the outreach that you do? Vyas there’s also and I want to circle back to this, when we have created our strategy in a way that of course, there’s we’re not expecting you to sit on the beach and let the millions drop on your head. There’s things you need to do. But when you do those things, not only are you seeing quick results from that outreach, but you’re but you’re creating a magnetic approach. And one of the things you said about that first VIP call you got it was the guy found me on LinkedIn? Yes. So that’s what I mean about that magnetic approach. You didn’t sit back. And you know, like, how many of you I mean, I’m not saying people didn’t find you on LinkedIn last year or the year before. But once you start doing this work, there is a magnetic component to this. So when you found this guy, and when this guy found you on LinkedIn, tell us a little bit about the first engagement. How that how did that call go? And did he did he?

Dee Taylor 21:15
Yes, yes, he’s now client. Yeah, he’s on him is one of my monthly retainer clients. And I mean, he is so even though I don’t normally work with men, it’s not sort of what I put out there. But we worked really well together. And he was a good match. And I often say, it’s because my profile looks so much better, that people can see themselves being support.

Karen Yankovich 21:42
Yeah. So it’s not that it was done. It was done in a way that was created a magnet, a magnet, right? Yes. Yeah. So I do remember you saying to me, when you had that call that like, not only did you hear my voice, and what was my voice in your head, saying, I want you to tell everybody what it was saying.

Dee Taylor 21:59
This so many voices already. But the main voice, it keeps always saying and this was specific to the second client as well that I got, I needed to add a zero, I needed to add a zero, it was as simple as that. I had to, I had to uplevel scale that. And so that’s what I did, like, and that it was add the zero to the pricing. And schedule, the next call, took shape together on a calendar, don’t give them the opportunity to disappear. And then you got to try to get them and get feedback from them. sheduled the next call, and I’ve been doing that with every single call since then. And every single core i have it happens like that, I we do the talk, I do the proposal, we have the call and then I sign the business. I am doing every exactly I say I follow the formula. I follow

Karen Yankovich 22:58
this for all of our students, of course, but I especially love it for you because you when you’ve experienced the successes that there are there for our students, you can speak from experience, when you say this, if when there if you say you know they are struggling one of the things that we incorporated in 2023 was accountability coaching into the program, because not because I think ours were our people need to be babysat. But because I think that sometimes when things are starting to get hard, we retreat, we stick our head in the sand, we you know, and I didn’t my goal is to do everything in my power to help you get those contracts, you know not? It’s really not I mean, yes, I can help you build a thought leader brand. And yes, you know, but at the end of the day, and you know this because there are times when we talk about wins on our weekly calls, and I go, okay, can next week, everybody come to me with a client win. You know what I mean? I love that your wins are I took a walk everyday this week, and I got to spend the day with my granddaughter, I love those being your wins, because that’s a big part of what we do. But I also want to keep you focused on the on the money because because more money gives us more choices, and I want more women to have more money. So I and you know this, right? Everyone on our team knows this because I have to keep you all focused on that so that you guys can keep our students all focused on that. Right. And, and that’s important. It’s an it’s an important piece to me, it’s important to me, because I’m not just looking to bring people into this program and take their money, right, I want them. You know, we we have kind of like a, a, I guess it’s like a mission, a company mission or something that every single person in the company understands that the value of this program is 10 times what our students invest, you know, and I want that I want to know that in every fiber of my body. I want you to know that with every fiber of your body. And I want our students to know when they add a zero, their services are still worth 10 times that right so it’s really about the ripple effect of thinking bigger building one Wealth and creating a, just this beautiful supportive environment where women are supporting each other from a place of abundance where they can start charities donate money, you know, take their kids to Disney World for a month, you know, or week, whatever, right? Like they can do the things that are important to them. And the fact that you’ve experienced that personally, I think gives you gives you an even more you niq ability to chat with our clients that are struggling, right, because sometimes they do struggle. Some I mean, you know, that you did listen, you know, just coming here a big part of what we do. Is this, right? Are you building your thought leader brands, so that you, you know, part of that is being more visible? And so sometimes there are people, you know, there’s all different places where we have impostor syndrome and triggers. Right. So, you know, I think I think I appreciate you for doing the hard work so that you understand what they’re all going through. Yeah,

Dee Taylor 25:55
thank you, I appreciate the opportunity as well, I think it’s because I have an understanding of what they go through when they when they do and there are times where where people do disappear, because it becomes too much. Yeah, you know, I’m like a mother hen who tracks you down. I’m Tech, I’m gonna track you down, and I’m gonna enfold you in my arms. And I’m gonna say it’s okay. But let’s, how can we get? How can we get through this? And more importantly, how can we get through this together. And so I like to think of it as I like to think of it as that I was speaking to one of the students earlier today. And I was saying that at the heart of everything, at the heart of all of what what this is about, is that Karen truly cares about the women in her program, she truly truly wants to see that you have the results she wants to she wants to, to have you feel that you have been valued and supported, through your experience here with the she’s linked up team that’s at the heart of everything. And that really speaks to to that concept of love that we spoke about earlier. You know, we really, really, really just want to love up on our people, because they are worthy. And they deserve that love. And you may not find that outside of of where you are, you may have that readily available to you. But none of us can have too much love. Yeah, that was me receiving too much love. So

Karen Yankovich 27:30
let me ask you this. I mean, every our podcasts that, you know, the person that’s listening to this right now, has heard me talk a lot about who we think we best serve, and who should not only I mean, listen, this podcast is a part of that process, by the way, right? Like, if what you take away from this interview today is that you listen to next week’s podcast, I’m cool with that. Right? Like, I think that everybody’s in their own space in in where they are in their growth, right. And you know, this podcast is one of the things that I give to the to my community and to the world. And if you’re listening every week, I love that, in fact, if you’re listening every week, and you love the show, I’d love a review would be a good time for that. But also, then, you know, the next step would be and if you feel aligned with all of this, I’d love to see your name on our calendar, because because the next step would be to, to grab a spot on the calendar and speak to me or somebody on our team about what it might look like to get some support. And those are definitely not those calls are done in the same energy of here today. Right? I am going to say this, but I don’t want this to be intimidating by you. I don’t want you to be intimidated by this. I’m picky about who we bring into this program. Because I want to know, in my heart of hearts that we can, I need to know that I see a quarter million dollar business in your future. And if I’m not sure you’re ready, then I will give you some ideas. But either way, I want you to book that call. And I tell you that because it’s not like I’m going to just try and sell you in his program. It’s not that at all. If I think in fact, we’ve got a couple of different things we can do to work with people. And then of course, if we think it’s a fit, and you just and you think it’s a fit for now, we can talk about what it looks like to get you that that additional support. So do who you think if you’re listening right now, tell him about like, Who do you think we best support? Like, how do you Who is the woman listening right now and isn’t sure? If if she should book a call? Right? What are your thoughts on that? Who is the WHO DO WE Who do you think this program is for?

Dee Taylor 29:35
It’s definitely for that woman who’s looking for something. She hasn’t been able to put a finger on what that is, but she knows that something needs to be different. Something needs to change. And she wants to at the heart of everything that she does. She wants to make an impact somewhere. So she’s in some form of transition. She there’s definitely this thing of transition. Maybe it’s a new job, maybe it’s going off into another direction going to do some passion work, maybe you are in the passion work. But you really, really want to take that next level, you want to take your business to a completely different level, you don’t know how to do it, we have the tools to help you to help you do that. It’s all about impact. It’s all about making and realizing the dream, making that alive. Living the dream being alive in the dream, this program, and the tools and techniques and the strategies and all of that it’s, it’s it’s geared towards that it’s written around that it’s a it will help you uplevel everything. And I’m surprised it’s called up level media in the, you know, the company. It made absolute sense when when I went through that experience. It really is about it’s about leveling up. You’re afraid, and that’s okay. It’s alright to be afraid. Take one step, the ones that Karen, that you mentioned today, it’s a call on the calendar, it’s a no obligation call on the calendar is one step towards your future, the future you that you that’s going to be making the impact that you want to make in the world. And in your life, your family, your kids, your grandchildren, whatever that is. It’s not it’s this is not the time for us to play small. There’s only so much time that we have time. And there’s only so much that we can do while we are still here. And so that’s the woman that doesn’t

Karen Yankovich 31:41
matter. Doesn’t matter what they’re doing. Like what like what are they doing right now? Does it matter? If they’re just starting? Does it matter if they’ve been doing it for 10 years? Doesn’t matter if they’re an entrepreneur and corporate or totally chose to tell me the truth? What do you think? Sunny

Dee Taylor 31:54
for me, it doesn’t feel like they matter that matters. It doesn’t feel that that that matters at all. The only thing that matters is that I need to make my dream at the core of who I am, I want to make an impact. I want to make a difference in the world. I want to make a difference. That that’s the calling within me. No matter where I am. Karen, there are things that you can help people with that I think you don’t even realize yet that you that you can we all have gifts in all spheres. Whether you come into the world into cannons world now and you’re not ready right now. It’s exactly as you said, Karen, it’s that discovery call that call you’re not pitching, you’re not selling you they may not be ready right now. But they will be ready in the future. I will read in the future. And something about that call a call with with with you from a strategy perspective and what you give in that call. There’s something that you unlock every time you speak to someone I see the women’s faces, I see what happens when they in those calls, because obviously I do some of the work in the back end. So I see that I see that. It’s, it’s like there’s a light, there’s something that that changes. And I’ve seen evidence of that in looking at how some people have to embrace that change. And I’ve seen people who have been fearful of the change because right now when they are in the mindset, they’re just not ready. But that’s okay. Because

Karen Yankovich 33:28
you’ve said and it takes some courage to say yes, it takes some courage to say Yes, right? Yeah, you’ve

Dee Taylor 33:32
sown the seed. And your job is really just to sow the seeds don’t germinate when it’s ready. Yeah. And so it doesn’t matter where she is. She just has this deep, deep longing to make that impact. Yeah.

Karen Yankovich 33:46
Well, you know, it’s interesting that you’re saying that because this there was a woman that I spoke to over the summer. And one of those calls and for whatever reason, it wasn’t the right time for her. And she but she and if you’re listening, you probably know who you are. She’s popped into my you know, she replies to emails every now and then and I’ve reached out to her so we’re saying that we’ve stayed in contact right. And you know, she she sent me a message because we’re talking about is now the time like we’re talking about is now the time and she’s like I don’t know I do a little bit different. I think you serve coaches and something something better and I’m not sure that I can be helpful. So I kind of what so what I did was I went back to our initial call, which was recorded and I listened to it because I’m like it was six months ago. Why did I think she was because if I don’t think you’re like if I think you’re a good fit, and I think I can help you. It’s hard to get rid of me. And I don’t mean that in a bugging you kind of way but like I just I want more women to have more wealth. And if I think we’re a perfect fit, I want to be able to support you right. So which is by the way, one of the reasons why on those initial calls we do look to get some quick response, you know, to quick quick enrollments not because I need to fake scarcity or anything like that, but we like the more time that goes by like we kinda like forget. So I listened to the call. I was like, oh, because I was like, Why did I think she was such a great fit? I was like, Oh my gosh, we this, I remember now I reminded her that I just sent the link to her. And I said, You know what, I just watched this, maybe you want to watch this? If it doesn’t feel aligned, still let me know. And I’m here to support you at any time. But before you decide if this is a good fit or not, you need to watch our initial call where we had that conversation of is this a good fit? And I sent her the recording, you know, and I haven’t talked to her yet. So we’ll see if she ends up joining now or not. But, you know, it is that first conversation I spend, we spend whoever does the call with him does a lot spends a lot of time really kind of uncovering like, what are they like we I ask a lot of questions, because I want to know, if I want to know myself if I think I can support this person. And there are times that I, if I don’t, I will tell you this if there were times that I wasn’t sure. And I let them kind of convinced me to join the program anyway, I’m always I’m almost always like, yeah, I was kind of afraid this was gonna happen kind of thing. You know, I mean, for example, if your business is, you know, if you truly want to sell one pen at a time, this is not the program for you, you can’t use a LinkedIn strategy to make 99 cents, you know, so you know, direct sales, things like that there may or may not be a fit, if you can convince me that you have a big mission, and you want to speaking platform, or you’re writing a book or something like that, maybe I maybe I would, I would do that. But anyway, on that initial call, I sent her the recording, and I’ve never done that before. But I was like, let me just send her this. And you know, because at the end of the day, I want it to be a hell yes. And we were getting to the point that if it was a yes, it wasn’t going to be a hell yes. And I was like, I don’t want just to Yes, I want to hell yes. So I want to remind her of why I thought it was a great fit. And then why she thought it was a great fit. And if it’s not anymore, that’s okay, too. You know, because I want people completely. I want you all in, and it’s not a lot of work. It’s not all in physically it is I guess some degree, but I want you all in mentally, so that we can we can make the magic happen. Right. So, Dee, this has been so fun to do this, this was kind of an impulsive decision. And I’m so glad we did this because it was first of all, it was fun. You know, I don’t know that I asked you enough about your perspective on on this, maybe I need to do that more. But I think that, you know, the reason I do this show is to help more women have the confidence to take that next step. It doesn’t have to be with me, right? It can be with whatever you’re whatever you’re feeling. But I love that you’re here to say this stuff works. It doesn’t have to be you know, I mean, I would love to work with you guys. But it doesn’t have to be Karen. But know that when you when you grab the when you when you get pushed a little bit, the magic does start to happen. And the clients do start to come in and and do I remember how I Found You was through a Facebook group. I was looking for some help. And you were posting in Facebook group, you don’t have to do that anymore. Right? You don’t do that anymore. Tell me what’s next for you. What’s next in your brand d is d is very committed to helping women in South Africa have income. So tell me a little bit about what’s in it for you as you think about 2024 and 2025?

Yeah, so definitely, I mean, the game when we spoke about your ideal client for this, I was literally I met that actually. I mean, I at the heart of what I thought of what I do from a business perspective, is that I want to make an impact. And that means for me, it means that I can’t I can’t play small, I have to show up and I’ve got to show up big because I cannot scale anything and make the impact I want to unless I do what, what what you’re basically asking me to do even coming on a podcast. You know, we’re here with your South African community, right?

Dee Taylor 39:04
Okay. So yes, yes, yes, yes. Yes. So so I’m definitely I’m definitely continuing my maths, my strategy as I do my I do everything according to what I’m supposed to do. Some weeks, I give myself grace, some weeks, I don’t do the amount of outreach I’m supposed to do. But in other weeks, I supersede that. So, you know, I continue to, I continue to take the the what the foundational kinds of things that we learned in the program and I do them, I just do it maybe a little differently to what others would do it. For example, if I’m supposed to do five, then five a day then maybe I’m doing I’m doing 20 A week, you know, instead of you know, the in terms of the recipe, but I still am still getting the same results. I mean, since I did the program. I’m still I’ve got calls booked every week. I’m having conversations with people in the DMS. I have new people that reach out to me And it’s only through continuing to do all of those things that I will eventually reach to have the reach and impact that I want for the women in South Africa. Particularly women who have sick kids that cannot cannot work and earn an income. My business supports them. And my business supports them being able to do work and have an income for their family. And I can’t do that without doing what my LinkedIn strategy tells me to do, it’s not negotiable, it’s not negotiable. I can fit the I’ve got the strategy, I got that from someone like you who is knowledgeable and understands how this works. How I do it, you know, I the how I end up doing it, that I can play around with, but I’ve got my framework, I’ve got my structure, I’ve got the recipe, how I choose to make the cake or make the pot of food is going to be up to me, if I’m not going to do all of what I’m supposed to do, then it’s going to not taste as good as it should taste. Right, you know? And so, yeah, so So for me, it’s definitely about, it’s definitely about scaling this year. Definitely about that. Big on my radar. And yeah, so far, it’s so far. That’s the end of January and on target. January,

Karen Yankovich 41:22
I’m so excited to hear that. Yeah. The thank you, first of all, thank you for all you do for me and for our clients, but also for being here today and sharing your experiences with my podcast audience, I think this is I like providing a little bit more behind the scenes, I feel like, you know, one of my goals this year is to is to feel like I’m less talking at people and more like I’m talking with people. So if you heard this conversation and have a have a thought on, you know where anything you want to say if you have any ideas for me, maybe from this, it’s inspired something in you, you know, I want to hear about that. In the show notes, if you go to Karen yankovich.com/ 271, you can, you’ll see all the notes from this episode, and there’s a link in there for SpeakPipe. I personally respond to everything in that from SpeakPipe. Myself, I like to and again, it’s how we have a little bit more how I do a little bit more talking with you than at you wherever as you can see, we’re still doing video, which, for this show, if you’re listening to this on audio know that you can come on over to my YouTube channel and watch the video if you want to see, you know, my Italian hand gestures, you can do that. And, you know, if you liked this, I would love for you to share this with your audience. You know, tag me tag D, we’ll put all of our social media handles in the show notes, tag us both, we’ll share it with our audience. And that’s how we create that ripple. That’s how we start to bring, you know if the extent of our relationship is that you’re a podcast listener, we love our podcast listeners, and we want to love up on them too. So give us a chance to do that by sharing this so that we can share it with our audiences. Right? And then, you know, remember that, you know, we’re here for you, right, grab a spot on our calendar. And if you decide you want to work with our team, you get to that just work with me to get to oops, this lovely woman over here you get to work with as well. And she’s, you know, she’s the first person you meet. And know that we’ve got a lot of fun things planned for you in 2024. And, you know, help us help you write. So thank you so much for being here. I am very much looking forward to seeing what 2024 unrolls for us and for our programs and for our students. We’ve made some serious changes in the program this year that I’m really excited about. And I can’t wait to kind of dive into all of that. And, you know, thank you for being who you are. And if you’re listening, thank you for being who you are, and I’ll see you here next week.

270 – How to Use Your Comfort Zone to Catapult Your Wealth

by | Jan 29, 2024 | Podcasts

This week’s episode of Good Girls Get Rich is brought to you by Uplevel Media CEO and LinkedIn expert, Karen Yankovich. In this episode, Karen Yankovich talks about not stepping out of your comfort zone but rather embracing it!

#GoodGirlsGetRich

We want to hear your thoughts on this episode! Leave us a message on Speakpipe or email us at info@karenyankovich.com.

About the Episode:

Today, let’s flip the script on the comfort zone narrative. It’s not the enemy – it’s your foundation for success. I get it, we’re often told to step out, but let’s embrace, understand, and leverage our comfort zones.

Remember, success isn’t exclusive to discomfort. I’m all about pushing for growth, but you don’t have to abandon what you’re great at. Your comfort zone is the sweet spot for abundance. In our Accelerator Program, we focus on mindset work to reshape beliefs about what we excel at.

Picture this: building a business around your passions and comfort zone – that’s the path to financial growth. It’s about balance, stepping out when needed, and always returning to your strengths. If 2024 has you itching to level up, let’s chat. The She’s Linked Up Accelerator Program supports ambitious women on this journey.

So, if you’re ready to embrace your comfort zone and become a wealthy woman of influence, let’s connect. Book a call at karenyankovich.com/call. If you enjoyed this, share on social media, leave a review, and keep shining in your comfort zone. Here’s to your success!

Show Notes and Video:

Magical Quotes from the Episode:

  • “I want to normalize your comfort zone… It’s not a bad thing to know what your comfort zone is.” – Karen Yankovich
  • “Your comfort zone, when properly understood, should be the bedrock for wealth building, and we know this because we do things like taking strengths-based tests.” – Karen Yankovich
  • “Success doesn’t only come from stepping outside of your comfort zone… It’s a misconception that your comfort zone is not where success can happen.” – Karen Yankovich
  • “I don’t want you to abandon your comfort zone… We need to just understand it, have the clarity of it, and then balance it with a little bit of discomfort.” – Karen Yankovich

Resources Mentioned in the Episode:

Join the Facebook Group

Help Us Spread the Word!

It would be awesome if you shared the Good Girls Get Rich Podcast with your fellow entrepreneurs on twitter. Click here to tweet some love!

If this episode has taught you just one thing, I would love if you could head on over to Apple Podcasts and SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW! And if you’re moved to, kindly leave us a rating and review. Maybe you’ll get a shout out on the show!

Ways to Subscribe to Good Girls Get Rich:

Read the Transcript

Karen Yankovich 0:10
Hello, and welcome to episode 270 of the good girls get rich podcast. I’m your host, Karen Yankovich. And I’m excited about this topic today. Because this is a topic that helps us lean into what we do well, that is the heart of everything we talk about on the good girls get rich podcast, right? Good girls get rich, meaning when you do what you’re good at, that’s where the abundance comes into your life, right. And we spend so much time fighting that we spend so much time thinking we need to be better at something and learning things that are not our natural talents. And then we hear people say things like, and you need to be outside of your comfort zone. And I get that I probably agree with that. I do think that, you know, miracles happen when we step outside of our comfort zone. But what I want to talk about today is loving your comfort zone, understanding your comfort zone, incorporating your comfort zone into everything you do normalizing your comfort zone, not not making it a bad thing, it’s not a bad thing to know what your comfort zone is. And to be really clear that you want to spend a lot of time there, right, because that’s what you’re good at. Now listen, I’m the first person to push people to take the next step and take the next step. So I’m not saying we want to live in our comfort zone. But we want to spend a lot of time there. For example, when I first started in my business, podcasting wasn’t as much a thing blogging was a bigger thing. And I was writing a blog post every week and writing is I like writing I really like reading and my childhood. You know, in my childhood, I thought that I would be an author as when I grew up writing, but yet writing was never really something I did. I’m not very good at journaling. So but that’s what I was holding on to do I have a blog every week. Well, when I shifted to a podcast, I’m like, This is my thing. This is my comfort zone. Blogging was not my comfort zone, my podcast is more my comfort zone. So I leaned in to my comfort zone, created this show, and built a business around that, right. Because again, when you do what you’re good at the abundance happens, that’s where we build more abundance in our life. So I want to normalize and stop demonizing your comfort zone. Okay, and that’s what we’re gonna be talking about here. So, you know, success doesn’t only come from stepping outside of your comfort zone. You know, I may have told this story before on the show. But I remember having years ago, I have a friend who’s happens to be a really good cook, and I happen to be a really good cook, but I just don’t always have a lot of time for it. Right? So I said to her, you know, she was I forget what it was she made. And I was like, I want you to cook for me. And she’s like, well, you know how to cook. I’m like, I know, I know how to cook. But I don’t have time for it. She’s like, That’s ridiculous. That’s ridiculous. You’re not paying so you can’t pay I’m not letting you pay me to cook for you. That’s stupid. The reality is, it’s not stupid, because she happens to be a really good cook, she could have built a really great business around cooking for people like me, who loved her food, right? But because it was her comfort zone, she felt like it wasn’t valued, right, it wasn’t valued. So you could have, she could have had a lot of success, just staying in her comfort zone, bringing in a little bit of extra money, you know, making great salads for people like me that, you know, at the time, I was like single living alone. And I just didn’t want to I was like I’d order a pizza on Monday and eat two slices every day till Thursday, like that was my dinners because I was busy. And you know, I don’t as much like cooking for myself as I like cooking for my gigantic family. Right? So. So there’s so it’s a misconception that your comfort zone is not where there’s no success can happen in your comfort zone. Right? There’s plenty of opportunity to have success in our comfort zone, we just have to, you know, we just have to really kind of embrace it, and we have to know it and understand it and get really clear on what it is. And then and then just rethink rethink that, that maybe it’s a misunderstanding and maybe your comfort zone is actually the foundation for growth and success. Right. You know, there’s, there’s, there’s so much work, we spend a lot of time in our choosing accelerator program on things like mindset, right? Because so many people that I speak to, they’ve got these beautiful ambitions, right? They want this is going to be their year 2024 is going to be their big year. But their energies here, right? So we need to raise their energy to match their ambitions to match their mind. And that’s mindset work, right? Well, sometimes we need to do a little bit of mindset work, right? And understand the power of beliefs, the power of beliefs, that shape our ability to grow and succeed. So when we believe that we’re really good at what we do, right, that’s our that’s in our comfort zone that’s redefining the value of our comfort zone. Right one of the people that do that really well is Carol Dweck and her book mindset? It’s a great book. And it’s a great way to kind of understand how you can think differently about what you’re great at. Okay, so again, we talk we’re talking about here, I want there to be more wealthy women in the world, right? That is my, that is at the heart of why I do the show is at the heart of all the work that I do. Your Comfort Zone, when properly understood, should be the bedrock for that wealth building. Right? It should be that we and we know this, because we do things like take strengths based tests, like the Gallup test,

and, and, you know, what’s your, you know, what are your strengths? And we know what are, you know, we know all that all the tests we take to understand what our strengths are, right? So we know that there’s value in understanding our strengths. And then we completely demonize staying in those strengths and being in and understanding our comfort zone and really hanging out in our comfort zone. Right? So I won’t, but what I want you to do is leverage this, I want you to leverage your core strengths, leverage your passions, build a business around what you’re passionate about, build a business around your comfort zone, and then leverage that for financial growth. Right? Like, can you imagine if, you know, like, I mean, listen, at the end of the day, I don’t know, I don’t know why this is the example I’m thinking about right now. But I happen to be, you know, short, I’m like five foot one, if I’m lucky, right, my dad is a basketball coach, my dad is like six foot something my mom is short. I might be a great basketball player. I’m not but I might be I could be. But I’m certainly not going to be a center. Right? Because I’m not building on my strengths. Like my strengths would be Listen, I’m not going to be able to out jump, no matter how good I am not gonna be able to have five, one, I’m not gonna be able to out jump those six, five people, right? So why would I not play to my strengths and say, Alright, I got, I can I’m little I can get around things, I’m going to play to my strengths. And I’m going to be a point guard, right? Like, so that’s just like one on one example of what I’m talking about here. We do not have to create a business, or learn skills that we don’t want to do. I mean, listen, there are times that we we you know, just as we’re bootstrapping our businesses, we’re building things that we might do stuff we’re not going to want to do. I’m not saying that never happens. But you’re never going to if you hate web design, and you built your butt, you can do it because you built your own business, but you hate it. And it’s not a passion, you’re never going to build a well a profitable business, you’re never going to get wealthy from building a business around web design, because it’s not in your comfort zone, you might hate it, right. I mean, thankfully, in this world, and the 2024 world we live in now, we’re learning more even about learning in schools and our kids, I think it’s getting better. I know, when my kids were little there was there was a lot of talk about, you know, like, we were forcing kids to learn a certain way, right, we’re forcing them to learn a certain way. And that wasn’t the way that and that and that all kids learn in the same way. So we were taking them out of their comfort zone and expecting them to learn, right. And then I remember hearing a Cubs conference one time, and there was somebody talking about, let’s just talk about, let’s just say it’s, you know, medieval times or whatever kings and queens in medieval time, and like you’re giving it a book, and you’re forcing them to learn this in social studies or in history. And they’re reading this and they’re failing, right? But what this person said was, what if you made this a video game, and each chapter you had a beat the game. And at the end of the game, you needed to know who the kings and the queens were and the, and you needed to know what their strengths were and what you know, what they what you needed, what weapons you needed to get through to the next level, right? Those same kids that can’t pass a history exam, right, but learn differently, because reading is not their strength, put them in their comfort zone of video games, and they’re going to learn the content. What difference does it make how you learn the content, right? So that’s what I’m talking about here. We feel like we have to fight our comfort zone, instead of embracing our comfort zone to achieve the things that we want to achieve. There is a way to do this with a balance of growth and comfort. Okay? I mean, listen, we can’t just if you can, and if this is what you want. That’s beautiful thing. If you’re in a place right now with your business where you’re bringing in a couple of clients each month, and it’s you know, you’re bringing in maybe a six figure income that’s probably putting about 50 or $60,000 in your bank account, right after you pay all your bills as an entrepreneur, which I personally to live in the United States don’t think that’s enough money. Certainly not in Bergen County, New Jersey, where I live. So, but if that’s what you want, and you’re comfortable there and you’re not looking for more cool, that’s beautiful, that’s amazing. But if you’re like, I want, I want to be wealthy, right? Now, I’m gonna have to push you a little bit outside. I want I understand your comfort zone. But I had to push you a little bit outside of your comfort zone and say, All right, how do we how do we get you visible and this is this shows up most likely in the world, in my world with the women that I work with, with imposter syndrome. Let me talk a minute, and I’m gonna talk I want to talk about impostor syndrome. But before we do that, I want to talk a little bit about the shoes linked up programs that we, that we offer, you know, like I mentioned to you earlier, are ambitious. In our in our energy, our vibe are not always aligned, right. And we work really hard to get them aligned with things like my weekly mindset calls, weekly mindset work, surrounding yourself with a group of other really ambitious women who want to build wealth, right? Creating a program that puts the most influential people on your calendar, right, the most influential people in your industry or on your calendar, these are the things we teach in our choosing accelerator program, we want you in your comfort zone, but then we’re going to take you outside of your comfort zone a little bit and help you create a visibility plan and a marketing plan. So that you can have people on your calendar that you’ve only dreamed of, okay. It’s it’s so much fun to watch the women in our program as they start to go through this. And they start to build these programs. And they build these relationships. And they’re featured in newspapers and magazines and interviewed on podcasts and things like that, much of which is outside of their comfort zone. But we do it together. So we hold your hand, as you’re stepping into our we hold your hand. And as you step outside of your comfort zone, if you’re a part of our shoes linked up accelerator program, you absolutely need to know about this check if especially if you liked the show, just book a call on my calendar, Karen yankovich.com/call, get you to the calendar, it’s talked to somebody about what it is we do. If we think it’s something we can help you with, we’ll tell you what that looks like. And it starts with a call, you know, if you’ve listened to the show, and you have not yet been on my calendar, or if you’ve been on my calendar, and for whatever reason, it wasn’t the right time to work with us book a call, right? We’re happy to talk to you again, we’re happy to support you in any way you can to help you get to the next level. Because that imposter syndrome that I talked about earlier, is in our way, and I want it out of your way, right? There is not an impostor syndrome in your comfort zone, right. So we need to understand your comfort zone. And then as you step out of your comfort zone, right, I want you to understand where it is, step out of it it with little baby steps. Because if you if you step out of your comfort zone, if you like jump out of your comfort zone, and let me tell you something, many women in my program are looking to do that they’re looking to jump into it. And that’s cool. I’ll support you anywhere you need to be supported, right? But maybe you just want to take a baby step here and there. Maybe you want to take a new challenge at a new strike. Maybe when I say things like, I really like to see you do more video, maybe the first couple of videos, you’re not gonna put your face on camera, right? Because you’ve got this imposter syndrome, you’re worried about what people are going to say whatever you’re worried about, right? It’s typical, it’s normal, it’s okay. All right. But if you want to build generational wealth, you need to understand your comfort zone, you need to leverage your comfort zone, you need to to be comfortable in what you’re teaching and with the products and services that you’re doing. And then maybe step outside of it enough to to get to that next level. Right? Does that make sense? So you don’t have to abandon your comfort zone, right, we need to just understand it, have the clarity of it, and then balance it with a little bit of, you know, discomfort, as we step into the next role and the next role and the next role in our life and in our business, if that makes sense. So this is a short one, I just kind of wanted to just talk a little bit about that, because I hear so many people talking about that. In fact, when I researched this episode, I I every time I put something in there, like in Google, or wherever I was looking to research for this episode, I all I kept seeing everything there was was about stepping, there’s two TED talks about the importance of being outside of your comfort zone, there was nobody talking about the importance of understanding your comfort zone, of using your comfort zone as the foundation for everything you do. And then building your business from there. And that’s what I want you to understand today. That is okay. That’s a beautiful thing. It is where amazing things can happen. And it’s a way to build your business in that in a way that helps you feel that confidence. Maybe feels a little bit outside of it. Like when I say I want you outside of your comfort zone, I don’t want you to like if you are an accountant, I don’t want you to become a writer, right? I just want you to be a great accountant and maybe do a couple things to take to level up your life as an accountant. Right. That’s what I’m talking about here. This is available to you. But all of this starts here. It’s all up here.

So if anything I’ve said to you today resonates if you think you’re like oh my gosh, I’m allowed to hang in my comfort zone and view wealthy woman. That’s where that’s the place I want you in right now right now. Okay. That’s the place I like to spend time and that’s the place I like my clients to spend time in our members of our choosing. Have an accelerator program, I want them to be spending time with that mindset. You can be in your comfort zone, understand your comfort zone, leverage your comfort zone, to build wealth to take the next level to step outside when you need to write and do things that are maybe a little uncomfortable here and there. But doing doing it from a place of what you are amazing and great at. Okay, so remember in it, she’s linked up, our goal is to create more wealthy women of influence in the world, I think more women with more money change the world. You know, these are women that are understanding their comfort zone, loving their comfort zone loving on their comfort zone. And then you know, blowing it blowing their business out of the water and really doing amazing things in the world. They’re building more income, more influence and more impact in the world. So if you want to know what it looks like to be one of these amazing women, just grab a spot on our calendar, Karen yankovich.com/call, we’ll, we’ll have a conversation about that. If you love this episode, or, and I’d love for you to take a quick screenshot of it and share it on social media, tag me so that I get to see it and that I can share it with my audience because I want there to be more wealthy women in the world. So I want you to get more visibility anyway that I can do that. I’m happy to do that. If you love this episode, I’d also love a review. I’d love for you to follow the show on wherever your whatever podcast player you listen to, so that you don’t miss an episode. You know, at the end of the day, this is how we this is how we do it right. We support each other. I am so down for supporting your growth. And in return, I’d love for you to just share this episode so that I get some we get some more growth on this end. And we’re all we’re all just expanding the ripple that we make in the world, right? We’re expanding the ripple that we make in the world. In the show notes. There’s a link for SpeakPipe you can leave us an audio message there. I love your audio messages. I respond to every one of them personally, it makes the show a little bit more interactive, a little bit less me talking at you and more of me talking with you. So I love having an opportunity to do that. And you know, just remember that rising tide that lifts all boats. I am here to support you. I do this podcast to support you to help me help you by getting this message out to more people and wishing you so much success as you step into the next year of your business and your life. And I will be back here next week with another episode for you

269 – Legal Safeguards for Entrepreneurs: In-Depth with Sarah Waldbuesser

by | Jan 22, 2024 | Podcasts

This week’s episode of Good Girls Get Rich is brought to you by Uplevel Media CEO and LinkedIn expert, Karen Yankovich. In this episode, guest Sarah Waldbuesser shares how entrepreneurs can legally safeguard themselves.

Sarah Waldbuesser, Esq., is an attorney for coaches and online business owners. After several years at a law firm and a few career jumps, she ended up falling in love with online business and loves helping entrepreneurs achieve their dreams in a smart and protected way. She is also an adventurer, traveler, and food and wine lover. When not at her computer, she loves hanging with her 2 little kiddos, having wine with friends, flying around the globe and connecting with other online business owners.

#GoodGirlsGetRich

We want to hear your thoughts on this episode! Leave us a message on Speakpipe or email us at info@karenyankovich.com.

About the Episode:

Hey there, fabulous listeners! Today’s episode is a game-changer. I had the pleasure of chatting with the amazing Sarah Waldbuesser, the brain behind Destination Legal. We dove deep into the legal side of entrepreneurship, and trust me, you don’t want to miss this!

Highlights You Can’t Afford to Miss:

  1. Lock it Down with Contracts: Sarah spills the tea on why contracts are your secret weapon. Get those iron-clad agreements in place before you dive into any business venture to save yourself from legal headaches.
  2. Guard Your Online Space: If you’re rocking an online business, you need to know about privacy policies and terms of service. Neglecting these could land you in hot water, so pay attention!
  3. LLCs and Incorporation Unraveled: Feeling overwhelmed by the whole LLC thing? Sarah breaks it down and explains why incorporating is a smart move. It’s not as scary as it sounds, promise!
  4. Refund Policies 101: We tackle the nitty-gritty of refund policies. Sarah’s advice? Don’t spend a dime until that contract is signed, sealed, and delivered.
  5. Trademark Tricks: Ever wondered about trademarking? Sarah spills the beans on why it’s a superhero move for protecting your brand and intellectual property. But watch out for trademark bullies!
  6. AI and Legal Talk: The conversation gets futuristic as we talk about AI and its legal implications. Sarah warns against copying AI-generated content and stresses the importance of transparency.
  7. Free Legal Lightning Calls: Drumroll, please! Destination Legal is offering free legal lightning calls. Yup, you heard that right. Get on the line and sort out your legal concerns – no strings attached.

I’m urging you to share this episode, connect with Sarah for your legal needs, and dive into the resources Destination Legal has to offer. Your business will thank you later!

Show Notes and Video:

Magical Quotes from the Episode:

  • “Contracts are the backbone of any successful business. Ensure clarity and protection with every agreement.” – Sarah Waldbuesser
  • “Trademarking is not just about protection; it’s an investment in your brand’s future success.” – Sarah Waldbuesser
  • “Navigating the legal landscape can be daunting, but knowledge is your best defense against potential issues.” – Sarah Waldbuesser
  • “Artificial Intelligence introduces new legal considerations. Stay informed to stay ahead in the business world.” – Sarah Waldbuesser
  • “Your brand is your most valuable asset. Safeguard it through strategic legal measures and proactive thinking.” – Sarah Waldbuesser

Resources Mentioned in the Episode:

Join the Facebook Group

Help Us Spread the Word!

It would be awesome if you shared the Good Girls Get Rich Podcast with your fellow entrepreneurs on twitter. Click here to tweet some love!

If this episode has taught you just one thing, I would love if you could head on over to Apple Podcasts and SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW! And if you’re moved to, kindly leave us a rating and review. Maybe you’ll get a shout out on the show!

Ways to Subscribe to Good Girls Get Rich:

Read the Transcript

Karen Yankovich 0:00
Hello, and welcome to the good girls get rich podcast. This is episode number 269. And I’m your host, Karen Yankovich. And I’m excited to have Sarah Waldbuesser here with us today. And what I’m excited about for today’s topic is, first of all, as I was researching what I was going to do with this show with Sarah, I realized that I have not done this in 269 episodes, which is crazy, because it’s such an important topic. And it’s, you know, one of these things like I want you to be you know, if you’re if you’re, if this is not the first time you listen to this show, you know, my mission in this world is to that’d be more wealthy women in the world. Women with money can change the world. So as we build our businesses, and as we build our impact and our influence our income, we also want to be smart about it right. And that’s why I’m excited to have Sarah here today. Because Sarah is a an attorney. So Sarah comes to she is Sarah Walb user Esquire. She’s an attorney for coaches and online business owners. And after a few years at a law firm and a few career jumps, she ended up falling in love with our online business, and loves helping entrepreneurs achieve their dreams and a smart and protected way. She’s also an adventurer, a traveler, a food and a wine lover. And when she’s not at her computer, she loves hanging out with her two little kiddos, having wine with friends, flying around the globe and connecting with other online business owners all things that sound like sounds amazing to me. So, Sarah, thank you so much for being here today. And, you know, shame on me for not bringing this topic sooner to my audience, because I think it’s so important. And as I was reading through your stuff, I’m like, Oh my gosh, I need to do half the things she’s talking about. And we haven’t even started talking yet. So

thanks for being here.

Sarah Waldbuesser 1:34
Yeah. Thanks for having me. Hey, it’s better late than never. Yeah,

Karen Yankovich 1:37
yeah. You know, it’s so interesting, because, you know, as an online, I mean, my journey I’ll speak for myself, my journey as an online entrepreneur, especially in certainly in the beginning, was like bootstrapping things, right? Like, what can I do? You only need a contract? Where do I find a contract? Let me Google and find a contract. Let me Google and find this. Like, let me find this. We’re talking to your friends and saying, Hey, I need to quickly I need a contract for this. Do you have one I can modify, right? But as your business grows, we got to remember to change that stuff, right? We got to remember to, to be to pay attention to that stuff. Right? So tell me a little bit about your journey. Because I can tell you, I have a few attorney friends and none of them are happy. Like I don’t think a single one of them are saying I love being an attorney, and fighting family law cases or fighting or litigating. They’re all like, what’s my next chapter? Right? So tell me a little bit about your journey. Yeah,

Sarah Waldbuesser 2:27
absolutely. I love that because I have some attorney friends as well. And many of them are also not happy. Um, so you know, like most and not like most, but I first went to law school for two reasons. One, I didn’t know what else to do. You know, when I graduated college, many decades ago, it was people you still at that point where like, one career, you had to pay long career, right, you were doing for 4050 years, and I just had no idea what that might be. And so I was like, well, I’ll just go to law school, because I’m sure I’ll figure out something. I just wanted to help people. And I was like, you know, lawyers can help people. And so I thought I might do something like human rights law. You know, I have a huge interest in travel and international stuff. But like many people, I got sucked into those high paychecks coming out of law school. So I ended up working for a law firm in Washington, DC. And I knew I knew pretty quickly within the jumping into the fire. Yeah, exactly. I knew quickly within, I would say six months that that just wasn’t for me, I I didn’t love the long hours. Of course, I had no desire to kind of be in the corner office and make partner and do all this stuff. So I stuck it out for about two years. But after that, I kind of had another career. I went back for a master’s in public health. I worked in international, worked with international health treaties and kind of brought in legal and public health policy, and was able to travel because again, that’s that’s a recurring theme. It’s a passion of mine. And it was great for a while, I did get to travel for work, but then I spent many months out of every year sitting in a windowless office writing government reports that nobody probably ever read, and was about 10 years ago, where I, you know, just wanted more I was supposed to, I was in this great city, and I had great friends and I was supposed to have my dream career. And I just wasn’t happy. So I started Googling things like work and travel trip, like I own the only career I could think of was like a travel agent and Right, right. So I was like, what else is there and I stumbled upon a podcast of these two guys that were running a business from their laptop, they were living in Bali, this was like 2011 2012 and it like hit me like lightning of like, wow, people. You can do this now. And they were offering I have a course and on a tropical island in the Philippines on how to start your first online business. So I lost my job and cash in my 401k, much to the chagrin of my parents, right. And I went, and I started my first online business. And actually, at the beginning, I really fought doing anything legal because I didn’t like being a lawyer. So I was like, How can I, I’m not gonna like this. I don’t want to do it, right. But my first business was called the bootstrap lawyer. And I definitely had some like, in betweens, between that and where we are today with destination legal. But what I found during that time period of starting this first business, I was doing some consulting, I was traveling the world that is digital nomad. And I just kept meeting so many online business owners who had legal questions, once they found out I was attorney, you know, it opened the floodgates of exactly what you were just saying, like, you know, I Googled this and what’s what contract do I need? And what about a privacy policy? And so, you know, that’s how destination legal was born. And I will say like, even though I admit I don’t love talking about privacy policies all day, but I do love what legal does for people and what it does for yes, I would love that, especially women, because I agree with you, the more wealthy women, the more happy women doing what they love, the better off we all are. And so I think of my contribution in that is the legal piece and making sure people are protected, have the right contracts, right? Trademarks, right terms, because with legal in business, it’s not a matter of if it’s when you will run into a legal issue. So that’s kind of the short story of how destination legal was formed. You

Karen Yankovich 6:44
know, that’s so interesting, because I actually just had, before we recorded this, I had a call with our I run a 12 week program called she’s linked up that is, supports women entrepreneurs in kind of building relationships and building their brand. And there was one woman on the call who was struggling a little bit with, I know how to do this, I do this really well, but my heart is over here. But I know I can do this. And I don’t know where she’s gonna land yet, to be honest. But what I what I said to her is, we’re not really thinking about the journey, because at the end of the work you do with these, these people that you already know you can serve, is that transformation is what lights you up, right? It’s not, you know what I mean? So that’s so exactly what you just said, and I’m certainly not advocating for do a business that you hate, and then just be happy at the end result. Not saying that at all. But maybe sometimes there’s a happy medium. And it’s always a good place, when you know the the name good girls get rich, really comes down to the, in my mind, what that really means is do what you’re good at. And, and and stay there. And don’t let people tell you not to do that, because that’s where the abundance comes in. And sometimes we feel like we need to do things that are hard, right to, to be able to, you know, build that wealth we really want to build but what you’re saying is, I know how to do this, even though the this itself doesn’t necessarily jazz me up. But the results of all of that and the women that I get to change their lives, I get to transform as a result of it is what Jazz’s me up, if I’m hearing you correctly,

Sarah Waldbuesser 8:12
I love that it’s so true. And like, you know, one of my first trademarks that I ever registered was protect your passion, because I love working with people that are passionate about what they do. But I think you that is such a great point. And it is something I’ve struggled with, because I’m like, you know, sometimes we get sucked into Instagram and seeing business owners just living these amazing lives and everything is perfect. And they love what they do every minute of the day. Right? We know that that is not always true. But I have had to tweak my mindset around that because exactly what you said, I am good at it. It is needed and valuable. And so I look at it from the perspective of what I my contribution to the world. And you know, I think if I had some other desire to like be a chef or you know, whatever, that I would maybe follow that. But honestly, I can’t think of anything better than helping women run businesses and protecting their brands and making sure they’re keeping their sales and it provides me the freedom and flexibility that I know, we all want as business owners.

Karen Yankovich 9:21
Oh, that’s so beautiful. All right. So let’s start with the crummy stuff. What are mistakes you see a lot of business owners making when you when they bring you in? What are some of the most common mistakes that that we’re making?

Sarah Waldbuesser 9:34
Yeah, absolutely. So I think the obviously one of the biggest mistakes is just ignoring legal. I think it isn’t the most sexy, I know that it’s kind of like legal and money in taxes or like, we don’t want to think about it. But that is a mistake. And no. I think one of the awesome things about legal and maybe you can attest to this is once you have the right templates or contracts and terms in place. You do feel more are confident and empowered in your business? And so as long as you don’t, there’s always this little thing in the back of your mind of like, am I gonna get in trouble? Am I gonna get sued? Or am I gonna lose money? And so one mistake is just kind of ignoring it and pretending that it’s not there. Because as I said before, it’s just a matter of when it’s not if something will happen. Well, we all you know, I think the other mistake is, everyone wants to think 100% of their clients are just the most amazing people and 99% of them will be, but I can promise 1% are gonna cause you a problem. And that’s when you want to have something legal to refer back to. So I would say just in not implementing soon enough. The other mistake is also what you said at the beginning, like googling for contracts, we call these ranking contracts, because they’re, like, pieced together, and you have no idea if it’s protecting you or not. Right, right. Right. You don’t know what you don’t know, borrowing a contract from someone, which couldn’t be copyright infringement. And you could get in trouble with whoever, you know, Attorney drafted contract or something like that. So you know, borrowing, copying, like really not stepping up as the CEO was a business owner, and buying, you know, your contracts or templates from a trusted source, I would say, that’s another big mistake that people make.

Karen Yankovich 11:20
Oh, gosh, I hope everybody’s listening to this, or whoever’s listening, I can’t wait to hear how you can help us with this. Okay, so are there any other mistakes that that you see a lot that we should be focusing on, like, let’s just get rid of all that, let’s get this all out of the way. So we can talk about the good stuff.

Sarah Waldbuesser 11:35
So legal, I like to talk about legal kind of as a toolbox, because it’s something that you add to as your business grows, or almost like a stepladder, like at the very beginning, when you’re just starting out. Most business owners, if you’re a service provider, you know, a coach or product you might just be offering, like one thing, like maybe you’re doing a one on one service or one on one coaching. And then to at that point, you really only need your one on one contract. But as you grow, and as your business grows, you’re going to need to add on things to that. So something I see is, you know, you might have a one on one contract, but then you release a membership site or an online course, will you need terms of purchase for that, right? Anytime. You know, a good blanket rule is like anytime you’re paying somebody, or someone is paying you, you need some kind of contract in place. So whether that’s, you know, terms of purchase for a group program, or course, a service provider contract for hiring people, or retreat contract for hosting a retreat, you know, when you’re doing anything in person, your liability, just UPS UPS up. And so, you know, an affiliate program partnership, again, anytime money is involved, you want some legal protection there. So that’s just a good rule of thumb to keep in mind and not to get overwhelmed. Again, it’s like a toolbox, you don’t need everything at the beginning. But as you grow, you want to add on to it. The other big thing is not protecting your brand with trademarks. And this is something that can be a little bit overwhelming, but like so awesome trademarks, you know, I will praise them forever, because of what they do for your business, meaning they actually allow you to own your brand name, they it gives you so much power in your industry, nobody else can use something similar. And so something I see a lot is people not trademarking at all. And then one of two things happens one, they they have built a brand, not a name they don’t own. And so that’s like, you know, it’s basically like driving around seeing an empty house and just setting up shop there. And then all of a sudden, the family comes home from vacation, right? So if you don’t own it, and you’re investing all this money, you can lose it at any time because somebody else could get the trademark and then you’d have to stop and rebrand which can be really disappointing for people and so not

Karen Yankovich 13:55
more expensive than the trademark in the first place. So not doing

Sarah Waldbuesser 14:00
that not even thinking about trademarking and not doing the research before naming your business or your program. So, even if you’re not going to get a trademark, it’s still a good idea to make sure it’s not trademark where you invest a lot of time and money. Right? Oh, such

Karen Yankovich 14:17
and so important. Okay, so, so where do people start? Like if I am, you know, if I’m a business owner, I’m growing my business, especially like if I am you know, I’ve had this side hustle. And now I’m stepping more deeply into it. And I really wanted to be a full time business. I want to be making quarter million dollars half a million dollars a year with this, you know, top line income in this business. What are the first things I should be doing?

Sarah Waldbuesser 14:39
Yeah, so the first two things are, you want to make sure you have a contract in place for any services that you’re offering. So like that’s number one, even before you become an LLC or anything like that, making sure you’re not offering services and opening yourself up to liability without a single contract in place. It’s like that’s the number one most important thing, because that’s what keeps you out of court. And so after that, it just again, it depends what you’re doing. So if you have a website, there are certain things that you have to have that are legally required in the US in most countries, like a privacy policy, if you don’t have this, on every page of your website, or any page where you’re collecting emails, you could get fined, your Facebook ads won’t be approved. So there’s things like that website, Terms of Service. So getting your website protected. And then a contract for you know, your one on one services is typically that starting place, within the first year, six months to a year, it is a good idea to incorporate as an LLC, and there’s a couple you know, you can do it at any time. You certainly can do it at the beginning, there’s no harm in that it does make some things easier, you can get a you get your EIN number from the IRS, you can you get your business bank account, clear accounting, and having an LLC offers legal protection because it separates your business assets from your personal assets. So it’s a great thing to have. But what I find is, people get intimidated because they don’t want to do it. And so then they just stop with their business thinking I have to be an LLC, you really don’t you can be a sole proprietor for a little bit and becoming a, you know, an LLC, you can do it yourself,

Karen Yankovich 16:21
I would just say I think I did that myself, I did that. And the EIN myself, it was really pretty simple.

Sarah Waldbuesser 16:26
Yeah, go, don’t go to LegalZoom like you just Google Secretary of State and actually, whatever state you’re in, we have a product called Happy Hour, your LLC, which is just like 20 bucks, it’s just a guide on how to do it go to Secretary of State, here’s what you type in, go to the IRS, here’s how you get your EIN, because there really is something that you can do. And I think people get intimidated by that. Well, I

Karen Yankovich 16:52
want to go back a second to the contract, because I’m not disputing one for one second, that the importance of a contract Anytime somebody’s paying you for something. But what I do see different flavors of and I personally have different flavors of or have had different flavors of this over the years is when to actually get that contract signed. So you know, the marketer in me, and and because I focus a lot on women who we are the Queen’s of second guessing ourselves, you know what I mean? So the marketer of me is not looking to put any roadblocks between the Yes, and the credit card. You don’t I mean, not because I’m trying to trick anybody into doing it, we have a very low if almost no refund rate, right. That being said, I want you to make that decision, I want to just I just want to be able to do it for you change your mind and take decide to pay your kids lacrosse camp instead, you know what I mean? Instead of investing in yourself, right? So what we do now, and maybe this is not the way we should do it, we do that. And then the next thing that happens is they get the next day or whatever, they’ll get a contract, and then they sign it and send it back. And we have, I’m gonna say we have 100% success rate doing that. But there’s a part of me that always thinks, should I be getting the contract? Before I get the credit card? Does it matter? How much does it matter? We say that how much does that matter

Sarah Waldbuesser 18:07
in question and one that I’ve gotten a lot over the years because I know the importance of closing the deal. And sometimes if you’re on the phone or however. And so it is fine to do it how you’re doing, you know, in a perfect world, we have the contract signed, and then they pay, you know, but in just a you know, a less than perfect world, you know how you’re doing it is fine. Here’s the caveat to that. And you are doing it right. You need you should have it signed within 24 to 48 hours. And then you’re good. The thing is, don’t go out and spend all that money in that sign. Yeah, what can happen is they could get the contract and change their mind. And if they if they haven’t signed a contract yet, you have no policies in place you have, you have no no refund policy in place. So you really would have to give back that money. So just don’t go buy a new couch immediately. Wait until the contract is signed. So that’s the only caveat. And I’ve you said you haven’t run into an issue of some seeing the contract and being like nevermind, but you just want to if you are taking payment upfront, you just want to make sure that it’s signed within 24 to 48 hours, and definitely don’t spend any of that money until the contract is in hand.

Karen Yankovich 19:30
Good advice sounds like really sounds like really, really good advice. Okay, so what about using things like DocuSign or electronic signatures any reason we can’t anything wrong with doing anything like that?

Sarah Waldbuesser 19:38
No, it’s perfect. That’s what we suggest. DocuSign Dropbox sign, you know, there’s a lot of great software these days like dubsado and Satori that allow you to kind of actually do signing of the contract invoicing, scheduling all in one which is amazing. Dropbox, or DocuSign is great because once you sign it party gets a copy. And it’s kind of done. So, yeah, those are all considered, you know, actually, they’re more, you know, that’s what’s used these days, I haven’t, you know, I have to go in person next week and sign some, you know, documents for my family with a notary and stuff. And who does that anyway? No,

Karen Yankovich 20:20
I know, it’s so it’s so true. So I have a friend who’s an attorney, and I had another friend who was buying a buying house, and they needed something, they needed me to sign something as a reference for her, and they needed an original signature. And she’s like, I need you to sign it and fax it to me. I’m like, fax it to you. What do I go to, like, 19? Ad? Like, how do I, you know, like, how do I do that? So I basically like because I know Tech, I basically was able to sign it with my apple pen and a different color, and be able to email it to them. Like it looked like she was like, I said to them, they were she was like, Wow, I’m like, Yeah, they were in Florida. I was in New Jersey, you know, but and it was, you know, done. But it’s so funny how I feel like the legal world is like the last world to come around to the fact that fax machines don’t exist anymore, you know, and so funny.

Sarah Waldbuesser 21:04
And, you know, I, some lawyers, I’m definitely not what I’m like, well send emails and then follow in hardcopy, yes,

Karen Yankovich 21:13
yes. But the problem was that I had an attorney that did that. And the problem with that is you stop you opening things, and then you miss things, because it’s just you’re just getting diluted by stuff. Right. So yeah, that’s crazy. So thank you for being an attorney that doesn’t do that as being on the other side of that. I appreciate attorneys that understand that. I have another question for you. Because but I do want to move to trademarks. Before we get to that, you know, one of the one of the one of the things that I kind of take as a reality of being an entrepreneur, but maybe shouldn’t be, you know, we live in a we live in a world right now where everything’s disputable, right? And if somebody what I hear from almost every entrepreneur I know is you’re not going to win the dispute refund the money if people want their money back, like even and I can I can think of one, I think of what the situation was. But I can think of one time where like, somebody Wait, this was years ago, but somebody had asked for their money back about something. And I Oh, no, I know what it was I had, oh, anyway, doesn’t matter. It was it was years ago, I had documentation on top of documentation and lack of documentation that contracts were signed and emails were signed. And this was said, and that was it. And frankly, you just don’t I just You just don’t when that stuff. Right. And I and so is there a way that we can know that we want to I don’t want I want people that join my program to be a hell yes. I am not looking to keep people’s money that are not interested in being there. I really am not. That being said, once I’ve started putting out money and paying my team to support you and things like that, it’s hard for me to read, it’s hard for me to say yes to a refund. How can we minimize that? Or can we minimize that?

Sarah Waldbuesser 22:42
Yeah, it’s a good question. It’s a hard one. Because some, you know, again, this is not going to be the 99%. But the the 1%, who put up a stake, and it really depends on the situation. So if they if they do a chargeback, you know, even if you show all the contracts and all the information you still might lose, although I still I’ve seen people when chargebacks once they show the delivery of the program, they show the contract to stripe or the credit card company. So, you know, that’s kind of situational. If they’re just asking for a refund. And, you know, I guess it’s different. So are they asking for a refund? Or have they stopped making payments that they contractually? Oh, so these are two

Karen Yankovich 23:26
different light, then that’s another good question. Because I don’t I don’t know, I shouldn’t probably say this publicly. But I haven’t I don’t even go after that. Because yeah, they go through and it’s just not worth it to me.

Sarah Waldbuesser 23:36
Yeah. So if you have a strong no refund policy in place, and someone is asking for a refund, it’s within your legal rights to say no, you agreed to this, we delivered what we said we would, that’s the end of it. If they you know, if they tried to come and get that money, they would probably lose if you went through arbitration or something like that, assuming you could show that you delivered your product right. So but I will also say your contract is your starting point. So it’s your it’s up to you as the business owner to enforce it or not. If someone is asking for a refund and you know, maybe they have a sob story and you feel bad and you want to give a partial or full refund that’s up to you to do so those are pretty situational. On the other side, when if they owe you payments. And they agreed to let’s say a six month contract and for months and they’ve they’ve ghosted you, there’s a couple things that you can do. And again, it’s just how much of your time and money is it worth it? Like for $700? Maybe not for $7,000? Maybe so write a couple things. First, you can send, you know, a nice email and hey, like, here’s the here’s the contract. This is what you still owe. You know, do you need a more extended payment plan? Do we need to pause it like some people prefer to try to work with it and see what, yep, that doesn’t work, you can send a demand letter which either you could have an attorney send or it’s just more strongly worded like, here’s what you owe, here are the dates that you owe, you have 10 days, or we may take further legal action. And then then you really have two legal actions. One is you could go to collections, and you know, you send a copy of the contract to them, they go after the money, and then they take a percentage of that. Or you could bring a claim. So whether you depending on what your contract says, when you go to small claims court, or bring a claim for arbitration or mediation, typically, you know, if you have a solid contract, they will side with you and get the judgment. So, again, that’s a longer process. So is it going to be worth it? For a right? Okay,

Karen Yankovich 25:49
so I feel like this is gonna go longer than I want it to go. But it’s okay with you. Let’s keep going here. Let’s dive into trademarks. Tell me a little bit about why they’re so important. Yeah,

Sarah Waldbuesser 26:00
absolutely. So a trademark. It basically designates who owns who selling goods and services, right? When you see someone if I’m walking down the street with a white cup with a green circle, you know that I went to Starbucks and I didn’t go to Dunkin Donuts. If I have a shoe with a swoosh on it. You know, it’s Nike and not Reebok. So they exist. So the consumers know who’s selling something. And so in, you know, in the online space, the business world trademarks are everywhere. People have, you know, one or 1000 of them, you know, Kim Kardashian has 700. Amazon has 900. Yeah, so they’re very powerful because they allow you to own the name of your business or brand. Without it. As I said earlier, it’s like building a house on land, you don’t own building a brand without owning it. Because once you have the registered trademark, you can tell someone in your industry not to use that name or something similar. Now, again, it does have to be within your industry. So for example, there’s dove chocolate and Dove soap. Both are registered trademarks. But if I said I had the best piece of dub for lunch today, you would know that I meant chocolate. Right? Right. Right. So they really are powerful in that respect. It’s important. You know, if you ever want to sell your business or sell off pieces of your business, owning that intellectual property, having a trademark is almost a non negotiable. If you’re selling products on Amazon, they have the brand registry that you need to have a trademark for. So it really is just a powerful business asset that as you grow, you want to think about and so you know, I always get asked, What should I trademark? And really, it’s something you know, trademarking is almost more emotional. Because really, you want to trademark those business names that you love, and that you would like, be really upset about if somebody else started using it. So whether that’s your podcast name, your business name, your retreat, name, your group program, your online course, your T shirts that you’re selling, you know, so you really want to think about it that like if you had to stop using something tomorrow, and how would you feel? And that’s when you want to think about, oh, it might be time to protect that

Karen Yankovich 28:17
now, is that something you can do yourself? Or does that something you it’s time to hire an attorney to help you

Sarah Waldbuesser 28:21
with that, so you can do it yourself, but it is time to hire an attorney for that. And here’s why it is pretty it is complicated. There are 45 different classes of goods or services you have to pick right one, you have to describe it the right way, you have to submit a specimen. So people if you try your own at least 50 to 60% fail because they get something wrong, that they would have gotten right with an attorney. I have people come all the time, who tried it themselves or who went to LegalZoom and it’s just a mess. Whereas if you had an attorney from the beginning, it would have been okay, so it’s one of those things like I can fix my toilet but should I right, like so. There are certain things that you want to invest in and trademarking is one of them. Yeah,

Karen Yankovich 29:08
Okay, interesting. What are your thoughts on and I’m and I’m not sure if this is even still a thing anymore, but I know it was for a long time, not being able to use like Entrepreneur Magazine trademarking the word entrepreneur, and so many people can’t use it in their podcasts, can’t use it in their programs can’t use it in their Facebook groups, right? Like, is that still a thing?

Sarah Waldbuesser 29:27
It is still a thing and I wrote a whole blog post on this and

Karen Yankovich 29:31
he will have to send that to me what

Sarah Waldbuesser 29:34
infuriates me that this happened, this is an anomaly. They should never have been able to get that trademark. And the fact that they did and now they’re really going after entrepreneurs, which is like, out of integrity. Right? Right. Right, because their moms are newer and the way newer, like these are not competitors with your magazine.

Karen Yankovich 29:56
Right and your magazines presumably supports these people. Yeah. Exactly so that you are trying to put out of business because they are using the word entrepreneur. It’s like using the word ice cream.

Sarah Waldbuesser 30:05
You know, it infuriates me, It upsets me. But if someone comes to me wanting to trademark printer, I won’t do it. And I tell them there’s no point because they will challenge you. They have the second brakeless law firm like doing this. And it’s really unfortunate. It does upset me. But yeah, it’s still a thing. Sadly.

Karen Yankovich 30:26
Well, I’m sorry. I’m sorry to upset you. I’m sorry. I’m sorry to upset you with this. But trademark

Sarah Waldbuesser 30:31
bullies. That’s like a trademark bully is what Yeah, yeah, yeah,

Karen Yankovich 30:35
yeah. Okay, so I want to talk, I want to dive into one last topic here. And it might be it’s maybe it’s a beast, and maybe, you know, maybe it’s not something we can do on this. But talk to me a little bit about AI. Are we right? Like, I have such a love hate relationship with AI? Mostly today. I love it. If a year ago, I was like, Oh, heck, no, I’m not doing this. But there are really what I stand for, like this people that refer to the work that I do is I help people be consistent, but lazy, right. So if there’s a way that I can be, I can be simplify things, by using AI to take some things out of my head that I didn’t, we’re taking me an hour to get to, I’m all down for doing that. But at the same time, I don’t use it to write my stuff. You know, I might use it to give me ideas. Like if I have an idea for a podcast, I might go into AI and say, Okay, this is my thought, what can I say about this? Give me some titles around this. Give me some ideas around this right? And then of course, I make it my own? I think, right? Like I think that’s what I’m doing. But what are yours? It’s such a it’s such a, I feel like it’s new, but it’s an explosion. So it’s a big deal. So tell me a little bit about what you’re where you’re what you’re seeing on that topic.

Sarah Waldbuesser 31:44
Yeah. And it is a big one. And actually, we can also include because I did a blog post on five legal things around AI that will Awesome. Well, you know, I would say I use it too. And I do think it’s a great tool. There are some legal issues around it around copyright around ownership that I think are still being worked out. I would say you’re using it the right way. So use it for ideas, use it as a tool, but don’t cut and paste responses from it. Because for two reasons. One is actually if you do that, technically under Chapter CPTs terms, you have to tell people that it was written by AI. Really, yeah. So it says like, if you’re just you know, taking something from AI and putting it on to the world, you’re supposed to say that. So really, a lot of people don’t realize that.

Karen Yankovich 32:37
I’m thinking about like, maybe bios, right? Like if I go into chat GPT. And I say I’m Karen Yankovich. I’m the host of this podcast, and I do this and I do that blah, blah, blah, write me a 250 word bio.

Sarah Waldbuesser 32:48
Yeah, I think that’s fine. It’s more like if you’re doing entire posts and writing books and papers and things where that’s where they’re consulting. One thing is, with AI, you can never know that it’s original content, because you know, maybe for your bio, because it’s your name, specifically, right. Any other prompts that you put in, technically, someone else could put in the same prompt, so you can’t copyright anything that comes out of AI because to get registered copyright in the US it has to be invented or written created by a human. And so there’s been some challenges around this at the copyright office with AI art and things like that. Still a developing field for sure. I think it has exploded, but I think we’re still at the very beginning. So I’m with you any tools that can make things easier, go for it. But just always put your own spin on it is what I would say. Yeah,

Karen Yankovich 33:50
Okay, interesting. And I’m sure there’s a lot more to happen with that we’ll learn about this over as it just is growing so incredibly fast. Yeah. Which is a little scary. You know, I’m not gonna lie. It’s a little scary.

Sarah Waldbuesser 34:01
Trying to think about it too much.

Karen Yankovich 34:05
Right. There’s something about like, AI. Yeah. Anyway, I don’t even get into it. Because it’s mind boggling. My mind can’t even wrap it around some of the things that that happened, but I do think I do think we want I feel like I want to be conscious of the limitations but but available to the ease it could bring to my life and my business. Right. So I say it’s like it’s your assistant, not your director of marketing. Yeah. Right. Like, yeah, so,

Sarah Waldbuesser 34:30
like your intern. Checking. Right, right. Right, right. I will check everything.

Karen Yankovich 34:37
Sir. This has been so good. So tell me a little bit, you know, I mean, I’m listening. I’m like, I’m in how do I learn more about Sarah, how do I get take the first couple steps to get some help? Because it’s time for me to be able to sleep better at night around the issues in my business?

Sarah Waldbuesser 34:54
Yeah, absolutely. So we’re at destination legal.com And we’re on Instagram Facebook at destination Legal are on LinkedIn you can find me Sarah web user, or destination legal over there. And you know, destination legal really helps people in two ways. One is we have a template shop that has over 30, downloadable, customizable with directions easy to use, like literally from download to use 15 minutes for coaches and business owners and everything from, you know, everything we talked about today. So whether you need a one on one contract your website protections retreat contract terms for our course. It’s all there in the template shop. And then we also offer a done for you full service trademark package. So if you’re listening, and you’re like, oh my gosh, if I had to rebrand tomorrow, I would be devastated. And it’s time to trademark definitely reach out to learn about our package, what is protect your passion. But, you know, we not knowing where to start is something that I hear all the time, right and just being overwhelmed and daunted. And so what we’ve started doing, which I really enjoy are these free legal lightning calls. Because legal lightning, they’re strong like lightning, they’re powerful. And basically, they’re just free mini audits for people that are lost and want some guidance. So you can hop on the phone with me or someone from my team and just chatted out, you know, we learn about your business and give you an action plan on what you need. And when and so that has been really helpful for people, it’s almost like going to a therapist and just venting, sometimes just getting it out is helpful. So when he wants interested in a quick 15 minute powerful chat, that’s it destination legal.com forward slash lightning.

Karen Yankovich 36:45
Awesome. We’ll put all that in the show notes too. And you have a checklist,

Sarah Waldbuesser 36:50
right? Yes, we also have our coach’s legal checklist, which go over the four most important things that you need to think about if you’re growing a coaching business as well. Awesome,

Karen Yankovich 37:01
awesome. I think I’m actually so we’ll put all this in the show notes. But I think I’m also going to put this on. If you were to Karen yankovich.com/tools, you’ll see a lot of you’ll see a lot of tools that I use that I recommend to other people. So maybe we’ll put it on the Tools page as well, so that people can easily find it. Because I’m always sending people, my programs and stuff there. You know, to stuff there that you know, just to make it easy of finding things. So definitely what we’re gonna put out, make sure that gets on there before this is live, so but we’ll put it in the show notes. And then also, if you go to the Tools page at my website, Karen yankovich.com/tools, you’ll find a link to something there. We’ll figure out what that makes most sense, but maybe the checklist, or maybe your library, maybe that sounds actually pretty cool, too. So or maybe people will say, All right, well, Sarah, this has been so good. I don’t know why maybe I needed to wait 269 episodes to find you. So thank you for being here today and offering this beautiful level of service to our listeners. And you know, if you’re listening and you are a woman that is stepping into a new role is stepping into maybe your maybe your side hustles you know becoming your business or you’re just leveling up like it’s just time to level up six figures is just you know, barely doesn’t six figure business, let’s get real. Do we know by now that that’s not enough money, you know, because by the time you pay all your stuff, you could be working at McDonald’s, right? So I want the money in your bank account. So that’s what we do in our shoes linked up family of programs. It’s all about supporting women to build wealth to build a business that drives wealth to your business, not just the stuff. And it’s interesting when we when you were talking about all the different social media platforms and people doing all that stuff. Yeah, I do that stuff too. But to me, it’s about visibility. I just like to me, like where’s the money? Where’s the money? Where are the people with the money in their hand, that’s who I want to talk to, I don’t really need to be dancing on tick tock and I have nothing against that. But I’m busy. So if that resonates with you, I love to see your name on my calendar, just go to Karen yankovich.com/call. And grab a spot on the calendar and we will talk about what it might look like to get some support as you move into the next chapter of your life with some branding. And you know, we’re talking a lot in 2024 about reinvention and rising right reinvent and rise. So that’s what I’m here to support you to do. So let us your name on the calendar. And if this spoke to you and it’s something that you you know think can be helpful to other people and I mean come on, we probably all have a million friends that need to hear this. I’d love for you to share this episode on your social take a quick screenshot, share it on social use the link use the hashtag good girls get rich tag me tag Sarah, we are both committed to supporting you. So we’ll share it with our networks if we see it for tags so that we can you know, we can share that as well. Follow this show wherever it is you’re watching because that just will you’ll get to see you’ll get to meet more of the incredible people I get to hang out with like, Sarah, I love sharing them with you. So follow this wherever it is you’re listening. And then, you know, there’s a part of me that we moved to this video format a couple of weeks ago because I really felt like talking me talking into my microphone with a blank wall in front of me just seemed like me talking at you. And I know that I’m still talking at you hear, like, I know that it’s even with video, I’m still kind of talking at you. So we we also in our show notes, have a link to SpeakPipe, where you can go to Karen yankovich.com/speakpipe. Leave me an audio message. I love to know what you thought about this episode. If there’s a guest, you think I should interview if there’s a topic you’d like to hear me talk about, I respond to every one of those personally. So I love getting messages on SpeakPipe. So check that out. You also can go to Karen Yankovich TOCOM slash SpeakPipe. And that’s where you can get right to that link as well. So, but first and foremost, know that I’m here to support you with the show. And we’ll be back here next week with another show. Sara sounds like you’re pretty supportive of your community as well. So thank you for being here for our community. And it’s been a real pleasure getting to know you. And I’ll see you guys all back here next week.

Sarah Waldbuesser 41:07
Thanks so much.

268 – The Joint Venture Advantage: Karen Yankovich Unleashes Strategies for Growth

by | Jan 15, 2024 | Podcasts

This week’s episode of Good Girls Get Rich is brought to you by Uplevel Media CEO and LinkedIn expert, Karen Yankovich. In this episode, Karen Yankovich talks about the joint venture strategies you can use to grow.

#GoodGirlsGetRich

We want to hear your thoughts on this episode! Leave us a message on Speakpipe or email us at info@karenyankovich.com.

About the Episode:

Welcome to Episode 268 of the Good Girls Get Rich podcast. I’m your host, Karen Yankovich, and today, we’re diving deep into the world of joint ventures. Get ready for some game-changing insights on turning your connections into profitable collaborations.

First things first, let’s talk about the power of strategic planning and commitment. I’ll walk you through the process of finding the perfect partners for your ventures. It’s all about being crystal clear on your audience and goals. And guess what? I’ve got a gem for you – the concept of a joint venture media kit. Imagine having the perfect assets to make your collaborations seamless and successful.

But that’s not all! We’re unlocking the potential of LinkedIn for your joint ventures. Clear communication and conflict resolution are the keys, my friends. I’ll share some actionable tips on outreach, and you know what magic word I love? “Collaborate.” It’s a game-changer.

Ready to take your joint venture game to the next level? Explore the She’s Linked Up programs at karenyankovich.com/call. Let’s make the next 12 months your most successful yet. Tune in, take notes, and let’s get ready to rock those joint ventures!

Show Notes and Video:

Magical Quotes from the Episode:

  • “I’m finding, the more that I do it, the more I see people doing it wrong. And you know, I don’t often say that someone is doing it wrong.” – Karen Yankovich
  • “I am so committed to creating processes with my clients that build ease into their client getting stuff right, using LinkedIn to get a few people a week on your calendar.” – Karen Yankovich
  • “How do we create a process where we’re putting people on our calendar for potential joint ventures that lead to contracts, not just new friends?” – Karen Yankovich

Resources Mentioned in the Episode:

Join the Facebook Group

Help Us Spread the Word!

It would be awesome if you shared the Good Girls Get Rich Podcast with your fellow entrepreneurs on twitter. Click here to tweet some love!

If this episode has taught you just one thing, I would love if you could head on over to Apple Podcasts and SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW! And if you’re moved to, kindly leave us a rating and review. Maybe you’ll get a shout out on the show!

Ways to Subscribe to Good Girls Get Rich:

Read the Transcript

Karen Yankovich 0:10
Hello, and welcome to episode 268 of the good girls get rich podcast. I’m your host, Karen Yankovich. And I really wanted to spend some time on today’s topic, because it’s something that is a big part of all of the work that I do, all of the work that we do on our show is linked up programs. And I’m finding, the more that I do it, the more I see people doing it wrong. And you know, I’m not very often saying that people do things wrong, there’s lots of right ways to do things. In this case, I there’s so many people wasting a lot of time. And that is the topic at hand is collaborating with other people, other people on your LinkedIn network, other people in whatever networks, you you know, you put you hang out in,

looking to build joint ventures, right to have joint venture opportunities, affiliate opportunities, things like that, right. And, you know, way back in the day, back 2020 2012 2013 2014, I was an affiliate for Marie Forleo. And you may remember those days when Marie Forleo would launch B School, and then 65 million people would be posting about the school over the place, right? That’s not what I’m talking about here that I know, there’s some people that do that. And I definitely think affiliate marketing is still really valuable. That’s not what I’m talking about here that what I’m talking about here is the power of joint ventures. You know, you’ve heard me say on the show, if you’ve if you’re a longtime listener, that there’s three kinds of relationships, that I think we should be using LinkedIn to build one, obviously, who are the people that could buy from us, right? Like who’s gonna sign a contract? One is, who are the journalists that write about the things that you are expert in? And are you building relationships with them a podcast host that the newspaper magazines, the TV hosts, right, those kinds of things. But that third category, which I typically you have in the middle category, but it’s probably the most powerful business building wealth building category is joint ventures, who are other people that have an audience of people similar to your audience. Right. And, and using LinkedIn, to have a consistent stream of those opportunities. So that your name is getting in front of new audiences, audiences that you’ve, you’ve curated, right? Because you you’re looking for people that have an audience, similar to people that you want to get in front of? Do you have a commitment to that as you move into 2024 2025? and beyond? Right, so so, you know, maybe you have had conversations, like,

you know, Wow, I love what you do, tell me more about it. And then I tell you what I do, and you tell me what you do, and we say, okay, great, so great to get to know you. I’m going to keep my mind open. And if I think of somebody to send your way, totally going to do that. Have you had those conversations? Those are great conversations to have right, great conversations to have. But if you think back over the year, or years or decades, that you’ve have those had those conversations, what is the success rate? Of those conversations? Have you actually ever turned any of those conversations into business? Okay, confident, successful business, women have no problem saying, Great, let’s make a plan. And that’s what we’re talking about here today, how to actually how to have joint ventures that actually turned into business, because here’s the thing, I am so committed to their, to creating processes with my clients that build ease into their client getting stuff, right, using LinkedIn to get a few people a week on your calendar. So that and, and those few people being researched and targeted so that it leads to opportunities, right. This is a it’s a simple process. It’s not necessarily easy. But it’s a simple process. It doesn’t take a lot of your time every week, and it works really, really well. But if you’re doing three of those calls a week, and you’re having these great, I’ll let people know, you know, let me know if you know anybody that should, you know, I should talk to, if you’re having three of those every week, and they’re not going anywhere, you’re completely wasting your time. And I don’t want there to be any waste of time. There’s always gonna be a little bit of time, like we can’t be perfect with this stuff. But I wanted work as as I want to work as smart as I can. And and frankly, you know, the smarter I work, the less I have to work right, the less hours I have to put right here at my desk. So so that’s what I’m talking about here today. How do we create a process where we’re putting people on our calendar for potential joint ventures that leads to contracts, not just new friends? Okay, so joint venture, you know that I’m using the word kind of loosely here, because there’s so many different ways this could go you could make a joint venture partner and affiliate partner, right, you can give them a special link that tracks back to your products and services and they would get

commission, sometimes, you know, you can say just use just tell me that, you know, Mary sent you, and then you send me a thank you note or a commission, right? Sometimes you’re just kind of swapping introductions to each other, right. And there’s lots of different ways that you can, you can facilitate it, we’re gonna get to that later. Right. But I just wanted to kind of talk about what a joint venture is. So it doesn’t necessarily have to include monetary exchange, it can write it can, but it doesn’t have to the benefits of this. So So now, when you’re having these conversations, right, when the conversation is, you know, it starts out really paraphrases, I’m gonna just go really high level with this here. But if the conversation starts out with, you know, hey, Mary Taryn, I, I just came across your profile here on LinkedIn, I saw you, you know, in this Facebook group, or wherever, wherever you saw them, right.

And, you know, I really liked the work that you’re doing. And I think there’s a lot of alignment in what you do and what I do. And I think we serve a similar audience, I’d love to connect here on LinkedIn and get to know more about you. Right? So isn’t that first off, first and foremost, a connection request that you’re like, like the except versus, you know, buy my stuff, buy my stuff, right? So especially if you’re doing this, if you’re coming at this with a really strong LinkedIn profile. So let’s say Mary says, Sure, I’d love to connect your next message is, well, you know what, let’s jump on a quick call, you know, I kind of like these calls to be 15 minutes, but you know, 15 minutes to a half hour, just to explore possibilities of, of, you know, supporting each other. How can we best support each other? And I do this sometimes with people, guests that have been on my podcast after the show, or, or people that have interviewed me, right, I’ll have a follow up, call with them and say, you know, how can we support each other beyond this, and it’s not just okay, I’ll let people know if I, if I think of you, right? I want to be on their calendar, I want them to be on my calendar. And I flat out say that, I say, here’s the deal. When I talk to people about joint ventures, I really want to leave this conversation with a plan. Of course, if I think that it’s a good possibility, right? If there’s a mutual agreement, that that is a good fit to be in front of each other’s audiences, I want to leave this conversation with a plan. And you know, often maybe that means they interview me in their Facebook group, or they interview me on their podcast, or they send out an email to their email list with a link to my you know, LinkedIn marketing quiz, or, you know, something, something like that, but very, something very specific. And again, it depends on who they are, what their audiences and what I’m promoting at any given time, right? Being really specific about that, and actually almost making it a requirement, right, here’s an, you know, there’s ways to to have a higher level of success with this, and we’re gonna talk about that. And then at the same time, you need to do something for them. Right. And, you know, this is where it gets a little tricky, even for me, because, you know, as much as I have my podcast, and I can certainly interview people on my podcast, we only have a guest every other episode, which means I only do maybe 25 guests a year. And of those guests, I really like to sometimes incorporate my team or my students, right. So don’t actually have a lot of guest spots for the good girls get rich podcast. But there’s other things I can do, right? I can create, I can do a live video I can do, you know, I can interview them on LinkedIn, I can, you know, send out I can send out, you know, I can interview them on LinkedIn, and then send out a follow up email, right, with a link to their lead magnet, you know, I would typically ask to be made an affiliate, why not? Right? Like, why not? So so these are different kinds of things you can do with this action oriented approach to Joint Venture Marketing. And this is where it makes a difference, because now you can measure the success, right? It’s not just Okay, nice to meet you. Right? I hope that we cross paths again someday, right? Like, it’s, you’re making an actual plan, you’re putting it on the calendar. And you’re, you’re you’re, you know, setting yourself up for more success. So if you’re only getting on the call with one or two of these people each week, and by the way, you can easily do that, right? It doesn’t take a lot of work. And think about how the value this could bring to your business, right?

You’re likely to if you’re doing your research, right, and you’re and you’re targeting right, you’re likely to really build some powerful partner relationships. Okay, so let’s talk about identifying the right partners here. Now for a second. You know, obviously, you know, I listen, my podcast is called Good girls get rich, my program is called the she’s linked up that, but that doesn’t mean I only work with women, right? That’s who my folks who my content and my strategies are targeted for. But we’ve had many men in the program. I’ve worked with many men privately, I don’t care what your body parts are, how you identify, I just feel like women need to be more feel more included in this. That being said, I’m probably not going to want look to be grab a partner relationship with, you know, truckers of America right? Now, if there’s a women’s truckers of America, maybe I would write but you know, you want to identify the right partners. You don’t just want to get in front of any audience because what you’ll find yourself doing is spinning. And this is where like you

really start leaning into your role as a thought leader, when you are really clear on the audience’s you want to reach and you can say no to audiences that are not a fit. Because if you don’t do that, you’re gonna find yourself just spinning your wheels work with people that you don’t want to work with maybe, you know, maybe even, you’re not leaving space in your in your life and your calendar and your business for the for the ideal people, right? So you really want to be picky about who your joint venture partners are. There’s so many places you can find them.

You know, you can you can find them. Maybe there’s Facebook groups, well, first of all, in the Facebook group, who are the owners of the Facebook group, right? Maybe you want to interview the owners of the Facebook group, the people that own the group, right? If you think that that group is targeted to yours, because maybe what they’ll do is share that interview in that group, bing, bing, bing, now you’re getting value, right?

Within the author within these Facebook groups, especially business, Facebook groups, there’s like a, hey, let’s all connect on LinkedIn today. I love those posts, it doesn’t mean I connect with everyone on those posts, I absolutely do not. That being said, I will cherry pick through it. And if I see this is a way to kind of, you know, curate some possible joint venture partners, I look at their audience size, I look at who they are, who their audience is. And if I think it’s a fit, then my outreach will be Hey, I just saw your, you know, posts on the LinkedIn feed on the blah, blah, blah, Facebook group. And then again, it looks like our audiences are aligned, I’d love to be connected here on LinkedIn. But you want to actually follow up with these people. I actually, if I have a, like, we use Asana for tracking stuff. And I have an Asana project for my joint ventures. And if it’s somebody that I think would be a great joint venture, I will put it into asana and I, I have a personal commitment to doing a lot of joint ventures every year. Right? And you don’t always see that right as, as somebody that’s, you know, on the other side of of this microphone, because, you know, sometimes I’m just a guest in their group, right? So I have a and maybe you’re not in that group, right? So you don’t always see that. But it gets me in front of a ton of people, right? So do you see there’s so many I could talk, we could do a whole show on just ways to find these partners. All right, but then let’s talk a little bit about how you can structure an action oriented joint venture, okay, action oriented being key element number one, put it on the calendar, make an actual plan, make an actual plan, typically, I if I think it’s a good fit. And if let’s just say if one of the items is that I’m going to my pieces of this is going to be I’m going to interview with them on this show, what I might do is what I would probably do is send them the application to be a guest, even though I’ve invited them, we have an engine that starts with the application. So I would then I’d ask them to please complete the application. So that starts the engine, but I’ll fast track it, I’ll fast track it, I’m gonna make sure a fast track the approval of it, because we get a lot of applications, right. So and we don’t approve, you know, probably most of them because again, I don’t do that many interviews on the show. So I would start with that. And then I would but I would put it in a sauna. And then I would follow up don’t gotta get the application back did I send them the calendar to book their spot on the show. And once they booked their spot on the show moves rather project right on in Asana so that we can start the engine rolling for the Podcast, the podcast interview, but at the same time, I want to know like, Okay, if you have a group and you want me to speak to your group, let’s put it on the calendar.

You know, and then having an actual plan for this makes gives you a higher percentage of success. And when you talk, when you’re talking to people, like if you wanted to do one joint venture a week, that’s 50 a year, right, you can easily do this with just a little bit of outreach doesn’t take a lot of time and think of the hundreds or 1000s of people you could get in front of if you’re doing this, right. So you want to make sure that they’re that you are looking for people specifically in your niche. And then of course, I use LinkedIn to build these relationships. There’s a couple reasons I do that, obviously, I think LinkedIn is the place to do this. But you know, if I’m reaching out, like, let’s just use the Facebook group owner, as an example, if I think I want to do a joint venture partner with a Facebook group owner,

if I message them on Facebook, I don’t have the same credibility I have when I message them on LinkedIn, because LinkedIn, I get that I have the power of my profile that’s joining me in this conversation, right. So they if they don’t really know who I am, they can check my profile out. Right. So this is really why I want to use LinkedIn to do that. Not everybody’s on LinkedIn. Right? So. So it may or may not be the, you know, be the place for every joint venture partner but but that, to me is the place that I want to start these relationships. I want to start these relationships on LinkedIn. And you know, think big, who’s got an audience of people that you want to get in front of, right? And you want to make sure there’s a couple things you want to think about. You know, for me, especially in this kind of crazy world we live in, you want to make sure your values and goals align, right, like you want to make sure they’re not going to be on your, you know, in front of your audience, talking about things that don’t align with your goals. Right. So so you’re you’re now structuring this this action oriented joint venture plan by picking a topic picking a couple

bullet point, all this can be done on that first call, you might have to book a second call to do this, right. But all this can be done on that call and you can get creative, there’s lots of different ways that you can create an action oriented joint venture. The most important point, though, is that it’s action oriented. Okay. So, you know, I want to just take a break here for one second and talk about the fact that this is a big part of what we help you with in our shoes, linked up programs. You know, I am so anti spam on LinkedIn, I do not want my clients banging on doors cold calling, I mean, that is so unnecessary in this market, cuz you can see the process I’m talking about here today are such a huge, such a huge way to gain traction and gain success. I would much rather you doing that. So we have we custom design these lists for you in our she’s linked up program, you know, you get a custom design list of how you can curated partner potential partners for you, that you can then go after, and then we help you with the scripts, we help you build the relationships, we help you put it on the calendar, we help you maximize the profitability of it, because I want every single person on your calendar to actually be leading to profit in your business. The strategies we teach and she’s linked up are not just here, do these couple things. And you’re gonna have a great LinkedIn strategy. Oh, no, no, no, I want them to put money in the bank, I want to track the money it’s putting in the bank, right? Like that is the piece I want there to be more wealthy women in the world. Okay. So when we’re, when we are coming together as a community, like our she’s linked up, beautiful, amazing community. And we’re supporting each other, and introducing each other maybe to some of these joint venture partners. Like magic happens, magic happens and money is made. So if you want to know what it looks like to be a part of this amazing, amazing community, just go to Karen yankovich.com/call. There’s links below, grab a spot on the calendar, and we can chat and see if one of our programs is a fit for you. But this is the kinds of things we’re talking about on the show today are exactly the kinds of things you are going to have a working strategy for on the other side of your time with us in our shoes and accelerator programs. All right, moving forward. I’d love to sit here and tell you that it’s all sunshine and roses, right. But sometimes there’s challenges. Sometimes there’s challenges. Sometimes maybe, you know, the person that you’ve created, the joint venture with maybe isn’t as

prolific as you are, maybe in putting content out or the email, you know, maybe they’re not, maybe they’re not quite sure how to explain what you do. Right? So there’s, you know, or maybe they’re just maybe they shouldn’t do it, right. So I mean, listen, at the end of the day, we can’t force people to take to hold up their end of the bargain. I’ve honestly never really found that to happen. But I acknowledge that it absolutely could happen. Right.

One of the ways that I like to navigate challenges is to help avoid challenges. And one of the ways we do that is by actually creating like a joint venture media kit. So having a media kit that’s got a couple of emails that your joint venture partner can copy and paste to, to promote your products and services, having some content that they can send out some social media swipes and images, right.

You know, having a kit that literally has in there things like your bio, and your headshot and some topics that you can you can talk to their Facebook group or their audience or you know, their private community about right, having like, make it easy for them, right, take a little time upfront to do this. Again, these are things we do for you on our choosing up community in our accelerator program, and take the time to do this and you will have a higher, you’ll eliminate a lot of the challenges. So you will be navigating challenges, you’ll be eliminating challenges, right, the better job you do up front with creating like a specific media kit for joint ventures. And again, it was more energy there, the universe starts to show up and deliver it’s just win win win win win. Because the reality is the key to a successful joint venture is very clear communication, and very clear conflict resolution. Don’t be afraid Don’t like if they say they’re gonna send out an email on the 15th. And they don’t send out an email on the 15th reach out to them and say, hey, you know what I was checked, I signed up for your email list because I wanted to I didn’t want to put it on you to prove you know, your that you’re sending out the emails or anything like that. I wanted to take that responsibility myself. But I saw I didn’t you know, I didn’t. I haven’t seen the email that we discussed yet. Is there something happened? Is there something I can do to support you to make sure that that gets done the way we agreed, say something like that instead of like bashing them all over plays? Well, I had this plan with Mary and she never, she never did like no clear communications. We are grownups. Okay, I am all about eliminating drama. Right. So clear communication also helps eliminate the possibility of there being challenges. Obviously, we want to live that leverage LinkedIn for this right. LinkedIn can be such a powerful tool for finding and connecting with potential partners. You know, doing research using Sales Navigator finding people even in your community, right maybe

even going into a group that you already belong to, like, for example, maybe there’s a conference that you’re attending, and maybe they have a LinkedIn group, go through the members of their LinkedIn group, you know, and see if there’s any members there that, that you think would be a potential joint venture partner for you. And now your outreach can be, you know, hey, I just came across your profile, I see, we’re both members of this group in that group. I know we don’t really know each other yet.

But I really liked the work you do, if possible, by the way, I would, if they have a podcast or a blog, like reference, something you read, or listen to listen to episode 27 of your podcast, I love this, this or this, I’d love to connect here because I think there might be opportunities for us to collaborate, right? That word collaborate on LinkedIn is, is the beautiful is a beautiful word, such a powerful such a profitable word. So you can do things like that, right? Again, you’re initiating these conversations just by using the word collaborate. But remember that, especially if you’re doing this, and I’m calling this cold outreach, but it’s not really cold, because you’re doing so much research before you do this outreach. Remember, though, that the the, I’m gonna go the less hot it is because I don’t really want to refer to what it’s called, the less hot it is, the the better your profile needs to be, right? Because you need to show up as somebody, they’re like, Heck, yes, I want to meet this person, right. So it’s important that you do that when you’re leveraging LinkedIn to do this. And remember that when you’re creating these joint venture opportunities, you don’t have to have a podcast or anything like that. To do that. You can simply do a LinkedIn life with them. Right? Like, there’s lots of ways you can email your list, you can, you know, I mean, you there’s so many different things you can do, you can market them on social media, you don’t have to have anything fancy, like a podcast to be able to hold up your end of the joint venture bargain. When I first started marketing, Marie Forleo, I made my money back on that program. And the first year that I started marketing her I had almost no lists. Right. But I you know, I mean, I was, you know, I reached out, I did, I did some warm outreach to some people. And you know, it, I had almost no social media following and no list at that point. And I probably quadrupled my investment in B School in that first year that I was an affiliate for her, right? So. So there’s ways that you can do this without, you know, you don’t have to be seasoned, I guess is the point here. All right. So I want to just kind of recap a little bit here. So we talked about, you know, identifying the right partners, making sure that you are really getting really, really clear on who your audience is. And who else has an audience like that. structuring a joint venture that’s action oriented, not, hey, I’ll let you know if I think of anybody, right? Those words are the kiss of death, navigating any challenges that might come up, right, by create by by proactively creating assets for them, or, you know, being really clear with your communications, leveraging LinkedIn for these joint ventures, because we know that that’s where the most powerful relationships are built in the inner on the internet and in the world, right. And, you know, do this today, do this, I think some people that you could reach out to today for a joint venture, and start putting these on your calendar, if you have not, if you took our marketing, planning, free training that we did in the fall of 2023, you will have a spot on your marketing plan for joint ventures, right? How many? How many? What’s your commitment, once a month to month, three a year, whatever it is, start filling those spots, right, start filling those spots.

Obviously, this is stuff we’re happy to help you with. In our shooting deaf community, we hold you very accountable to filling your spots on your marketing plan. Because that’s what builds your business, right. And we help you do that. We hold your hand through it every step of the way. In fact, as we move into 2024, we’re incorporating meant we’re incorporating done for you assets into our she’s linked up program, which is huge. We’re just doing it for you like we’re done. I’m done. I want to make this as easy for you as possible. So we’re doing a lot of this for you, which we’ve never ever done before. So if you want to know what that looks like, absolutely grab a spot on the calendar, Karen yankovich.com/call get you to the calendar. And you know what, if we’ve talked before, maybe it’s time to talk again, if we’ve never talked, let’s talk I am you know, I’m really clear about who I can help. And we’ve actually come up with some new ways to support people this year that might not necessarily be ready for our full choosing to accelerator program. The only way to find that out is to book that call. Alright, so even if you’re not sure if you’re ready, don’t worry about it. Let’s chat. It’s we’re looking forward to getting to know you. And getting to know a little bit about your business and helping you make the next 12 months the most profitable 12 months of your life. So you know that I’m always here to support you. My you know, we are talking about 21st century marketing here. This is not spam. This is not reaching out to a million people. This is just timeless marketing, human to human marketing. It’s the foundation of everything we do in our shoes linked up programs. My goal is for them to be more wealthy women of influence and

The world. And I am so blessed to get to hang out with so many of you in our shoes linked up accelerator programs.

I want to I want you to see what this amazing community is like as well. So if you loved this, what you heard today, if you listened before, if you love what you heard today, you know, I love to hear from you. So make sure you’re following the show on Apple podcasts or wherever you listen, I love your reviews, if you can leave a review, that would be amazing. And that gives me a sense of what kinds of topics you’re interested in, right? There’s a link in the show notes to speak pipe where you can leave an audio message. That’s another place, you can leave me some feedback on what kinds of things you’d like to see me talk about, or maybe I guess that you’d like to see me interview. And I love those messages because I get to respond to every one of them personally, we get to have it makes this podcast more of a two way conversation, right? If you again, if you love the episode, share it on social media, use the hashtag good girls get rich tag me, because I want to make sure that I see your post so that I can share your posts with my audience. So just go to Karen yankovich.com/ 268. You’ll see all the information for this episode, you’ll see the link to speak pipe.

And you’ll see you know any links we talked about here today. As I move into a new year, I am so committed to building deeper relationships with you. So that’s why I love to see your name on the calendar. That’s why I’m talking about things like joint ventures and that’s the kind of work that I want to help you with as well. So I am here with you every week. I look forward to seeing you back here next week. And let’s kick some business booty. See you then.