Ep. 126 - From Visibility to Profitability: The Real Path for Women

Sick of being seen but not paid? In this raw, unfiltered conversation, Shayna Davis reveals the brutal truth about why most women entrepreneurs have plenty of visibility but empty bank accounts.

She shares her journey from occupational therapist to influence expert, and how she discovered the "High Five" strategy that helped her land corporate contracts, high-paid speaking gigs, and a six-figure book deal. You'll hear why she initially avoided focusing solely on women entrepreneurs (and what changed her mind), plus the exact mindset shift that separates those who get checks from those who get likes.

Shayna doesn't hold back about the disappointment she felt in certain entrepreneurial circles and why she was willing to be "the only one in the room" to learn what actually works. This episode will force you to ask yourself: Are you building a real business or just chasing validation?

Connect with Shayna: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaynarattler/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shaynarattlerdavis Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shaynarattlerdavis/

Don't miss her FREE Influence Economy Playbook with visibility ROI calculator at influenceeconomyplaybook.com (use code: FREE)

As always we ask you to comment, DM, whatever it takes to have a conversation to help you take the next step in your journey, reach out on any platform!

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DISCLOSURE: Awards and rankings by third parties are not indicative of future performance or client investment success. Past performance does not guarantee future results. All investment strategies carry profit/loss potential and cannot eliminate investment risks. Information discussed may not reflect current positions/recommendations. While believed accurate, Black Mammoth does not guarantee information accuracy. This broadcast is not a solicitation for securities transactions or personalized investment advice. Tax/estate planning information is general - consult professionals for specific situations. Full disclosures at www.blackmammoth.com.

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro: Empowering Women to Lead with Power
• 2:00 From Therapist to Accidental Entrepreneur
• 6:00 Why She Was Disappointed in “Black Spaces”
• 9:00 How to Lead Without Apology as a Black Woman
• 13:00 The Myth of Balance vs. the Power of Harmony
• 17:00 The Reality of Burnout and Book Deals
• 21:00 Traditional vs. Self-Publishing Explained
• 25:00 Inside "The Influence Economy" Podcast
• 28:00 First Money Memory & Childhood Lessons
• 33:00 The Umbrella Brand Strategy to Land Corporate Contracts
• 36:00 Final Advice: Mass Market Appeal vs. Staying Stuck

Transcript

Stoy: 0:00

As we all know, the most important thing in our lives as women, let's be real about it. Women, business owners, our wives, the mothers, all, all of those things. And the most important part of it is the fact that we need to empower more women to be business owners. Mm-hmm. Get to do what they want to do on their, on their terms, as opposed to always being second tier. So with that, we're gonna bring Shannon Davis on. We're gonna chat about that. We're gonna chat about the power of women, how to empower more, what's going on in her world. Obviously hit upon her podcast everybody as well as. What she does every day to help us grow this industry as much as we can. So, Shannon, without further ado, in the great city of Dallas, Texas. Welcome.

Shayna Davis: 0:40

Thank you. I'm so glad to be here. No bs.

Stoy: 0:43

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So if, if we get a little down into some squirrels and rabbit holes, I'll try to get us out. But hey, this is legitimately being about being transparent. Yeah. And bringing no bullshit to the, to the real world. So let's start though with your journey and, and where you've come from to where you are now today.

Shayna Davis: 1:02

Yeah. So you want all the way back, like giving thanks to God testimony, or you want me just to start at kind of the business world? So I'll start kind of in the middle. I went to school to be a therapist, not like, um, like a counseling type therapist, but like I was, I went to school to be an occupational therapist, so I was in the rehabilitation world. We worked with, you know, the physical therapist and the speech therapist and. Shortly after graduation, I kept getting all these calls from like my therapy friends and these other companies like, come, you know, have a contract with us. Have a contract with us. And I was like, there's only one of me. And the last time I checked, there's only like so many hours in the day. Like, how am I supposed to like. Do all these contracts, you know, and I'm saying this to, um, he was in physical therapy school at the time that I was in occupational therapy school. And I was like, I don't get it. Like clearly there's something that I'm missing. And he was like, well, you don't see all of the patients, like you hire other therapists and you bill the. Companies and then like you take the profit. And I was like, wait a minute, what? And he was like, legit. Like you will send a therapist out. You will pay that therapist about$40 a visit, but you will bill the company$85 a visit. So that means that every time somebody sees a patient, they get$40, you get 45. I was like, oh yeah, sign me up. Right? So why do I say that? I say all that to say. That quickly after graduating from school to be a therapist, I ended up by default, um, being a business owner. So then quite naturally, you know how this thing works. People were coming to me like, how do you start a business and how do you grow a business? Like, oh, maybe you should teach classes at the church. You know, all the things. And so I was actually a business coach before I even knew that there was a such thing as coaching. Like I always thought coaches were. Like just for sports or life coaches? Honestly, if I can be real, I thought it was like for people that just really didn't know what they wanted to do with their lives, so by default they were just like, oh, I'm gonna coach people. Like we're gonna be transparent. I thought it was fufu. I thought it was for people that really had no direction or didn't have anything else to fall back on. So speeding up the process after being a business coach, I, I started to, you know, to get into more leadership stuff. I accepted a calling to ministry in 2018 and what I realized to fast forward to where I am now, especially for women. Far too many of us have visibility, but we don't have profitability. And so I just looked at like, no, like for years I was teaching business owners like how to get corporate contracts, how to get corporate sponsors, you, you know, like not stepping over dollars to get to dimes. And I just decided, and I think I told you this, like it was only a couple of years ago that I just went all in on women. I never wanted to be, I. The brand that was just for women or were just for black people or just for whatever I wanted to be like, no, not like the, it's for anybody and everybody. But I never wanted to focus just on a particular gender or just on a particular race. But then I was looking around me and I'm like, all these women are seen, but they're not paid. They're not paid well enough anyway. And so that fast forwards to kind of where we are now, of me really figuring out how I can help women turn their visibility into profitability, how can they turn their influence, you know, into a lasting legacy? So that's kind of the fast forward version of. To now, to now. Dang, I'm old. No you're not. That's s of my adult. And that just from 2004. To now 2025 of the the Yeah, I'm up there.

Stoy: 4:45

Yeah, that's, it is a chunk though. I mean, I know

Shayna Davis: 4:48

it's a big chunk. That's a long time.

Stoy: 4:49

That's, that's a long time. A lot of, a lot of has happened in that time period too. Uh, let's, let's hit to that a little more. So because we had discussed, you know, hyper focusing or niching down whatever terms are out there to do, so. Yeah, because I did the same thing a couple years ago as well. What before that, what. Made you not do that. Right. What made you not wanna focus on women or, or minorities? What made you go, Hey, I'm open to everybody. Yeah. Have you really got deep rooted into that and figured that out?

Shayna Davis: 5:20

I, I did. You know. What I've learned is, is that regardless of how you position yourself and regardless of how you want, you naturally attract what you are. So if you're a black woman, the bulk of your audience is likely to be black women. If you're a white man, you, you know, like it's not uncommon for your audience to mirror you, but if I can be, just keep it all the way real. I was disappointed with the rooms that were full of black women. I was disappointed with the rooms that were full of black people. Why? Because I didn't see the level of commitment. I didn't see the level of growth, and I doggone sure didn't see the level of outcomes that I was seeing in some of the other rooms. And so I said two things to myself. Whether it was right or wrong, I said, number one. I want to become more comfortable with the fact that most of the rooms that I'm in that are really growing me, that there's only two or three of me, like I don't even care anymore, and I'm going to go to the places that are going to help me become more. And if it looks like this and it doesn't look like that, I don't want anything to do with that, even though that's who I am. Like even though I'm a woman, even though I'm a black woman, I don't want to be in circles that seem like there is a lack of commitment to excellence and that there's a lack of commitment to growth. And that meant, and by default, I thought, well then I guess that also means I need to be very intentional about building something that is not just for us. Because what if I'm not the only person that has this level of perception about how we roll now? Is that everybody Absolutely not. So before you start sending me death threats and telling me like I'm a woman's worst enemy and all this other crap that I, I know some of you are thinking right now, it wasn't, it wasn't deep for me. It was just like, go where you can grow. And then emulate what it is that you see where, where you're growing. And I just didn't want anything to do with people who were staying stuck, especially since I lived in raggedy Memphis, Tennessee. Sorry, IANS. They get mad when you talk about how raggedy Memphis is. It's rag. I lived, I lived in raggedy Memphis, Tennessee, and everything that I saw around me was regressive. I wanted nothing to do with us.

Stoy: 7:32

I think that's a common theme. It was same thing for me, right? Like one, yes. Everything you said plus, where's the money go? Where? Where's the money trail too? Yeah. On top of it and like, yeah, we're not all in it for money at like, I, I only bring people on who are badass, who care more about people than money. Yes. So again, come at me if you need to, but we need to talk about the money in terms of there, there really isn't any money in. Black society, minority, smart, uh, society, women society if you will, on the scale at which we are talking about and getting into those rooms. Those rooms that we are in are predominantly white males, so let's be real. It just is what it is. Now, are there regression things? Are there suppressive things that have caused these issues? A hundred percent. Mm-hmm. But that's also the reason I didn't go so far into my niche as well, is'cause one, I've never seen really anyone like me. And when they were doing it, they weren't doing it for us. And so that, that cycle continues. And it was 23 for me. And when I got rid of my partnership that I was like, nah, I got, I gotta get back to, to who I am and who I help. Right. And gotta be the one to at least try to lift them up into this space, into this world and separate us from saying, oh, we're never gonna be like them. We're gonna do it our own way. Well, guess what has not worked? Since the bombing of Tulsa, doing it our own way. Yeah. It just hasn't, like, obviously there is bits and pieces in there, but like it hasn't, so it's like someone needed to, and I was like, you know what, it's time. And that's why I chose as well.

Shayna Davis: 9:03

Yeah. One of the things that you just said was, you know, the fact that there was, there were very few people that looked like you, that were doing what it was that you wanted to do. Is part of the reason why I have now reached back and I am more committed. Um, now I still don't care whether what their race is, but the reason why I am doubling down and going all in on no, like my show is for women like men, there's, there's nothing that I'm gonna share here that you can't benefit from. But you know, like, I won't allow you to work with me personally or whatever. The reason why I doubled down is because I did figure out. How to make sure that I could get in those male dominated rooms. I did figure out how I could get the same level of checks that these white men were getting. And so I recognize it doesn't have to be this way, although it, the boogeyman in the room is the fact that historically it has been this way and since I figured it out and there's nothing special about me, you know, I didn't come from, from money. Now I didn't live in the van down by the river either. You know, my family was relatively. You know, middle class for the area that we lived in, I figured out and mastered how to do what the good old boys were doing, and so now I've just reached back and said. What if I just experiment with, if more of us would get there? If there were more examples and I, but I was okay with the fact of I'm gonna show them what's possible and I'm gonna show them the how to of how to get it. But it's gonna be on them to be willing to adopt the mindset shift that they not wanna just go, but they wanna do what it takes to go. And so much of that is, is in here and it is here in here and not, you know, in what you can like articulate on paper. And I said, I'm gonna test it out. And if they don't wanna go. Then I'll be, I'll be right back to whoever wants it. Don't get it. You know what I mean? Whoever wants to cut these checks, whoever wants to go is gonna get it. But I said, I just wanna test it out and see if maybe we've gotten to a point where we're tired enough and we have a strong enough desire to want to see something different that I can, that I can get them to go. And thankfully they're going and they're growing, so I'm glad I did. But I was willing to be like, I'm not so committed to just rocking with my women that if they decide that they don't wanna go and they don't wanna grow, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna stay with them.

Stoy: 11:23

I wonder if that like timeframe,'cause we both did it around the same timeframe. I wonder if that mindset shift of like where we're at in society, those people just need that little push of someone sense to come in and say. I'm gonna show you the way, but you gotta do work. Like, thi this not easy. It's not a, it's not a, you just don't win the lottery. Like this isn't like the Tua girl. Like, you're not gonna make it quick like that. It's just not gonna happen. But I'm gonna be with you and I'm gonna show you how to grind to get to this, to wherever you want to go, right? Mm-hmm. And we all have different aspects of success and where we're at. I wonder if it just took that little like timing, but also that, just that like you, you either get on the ride or, or we're, you know, bye.

Shayna Davis: 12:05

It, it definitely may be, but I've always been a little bit ahead of my time. And for those of us that are unicorns, you know, people talk about the significance of being ahead of the curve, but part of being ahead of the curve means that it's gonna take the majority a lot longer to catch up, which means sometimes it can delay you getting the traction in the area that you really want to be. And so. When I was growing up, so my parents separated when I was like six years old. My dad raised me, my dad had custody, my dad raised me. My mom had got me on Tuesdays and Fridays and paid him child support. Like that doesn't happen a lot, especially with a black man that's in his early, that's in his late twenties and has a daughter like you just in our community, that's not. That's not the norm. And so, and by doing that I always spent a lot of time with my grandmother and I was always told like, you have an old soul. And you know you're gonna have to, if when you get a man, he gonna have to be older because he is gonna have to be more mature because you've always been a little bit ahead of your time. And so I think some of it is, you're probably right, there are probably some things that people had to go through and they had to experience to be ready. But I think I've just recognized that in a lot of the things that I do, I'm just a little bit ahead of the curve and I have to be. I have to use that p word that I don't like, which is patience. And I have to be patient sometimes and wait for people to, to kind of catch, you know, kind of catch the wave.

Stoy: 13:31

You just define who I am. Everyone calls me exactly what I, I don't like slowing down. I don't like waiting for you to catch up to. You don't have to catch up to me like, right, like my brain, I'm, I'm going this, this way, this fast, but can you, can you be closer? Can you, can you like, at least be in the wagon or something and not like behind the dust where you can't even see it?

Shayna Davis: 13:52

Can you at least be in the water and not still on the shore? Like where the, you haven't even gotten to the park where the sand is yet. You're still on the grass, like you're still in the grass or the concrete in the parking lot. Can we get a lit? Can you be in the water, like where the water's coming up to your toes?

Stoy: 14:06

Exactly. Exactly. So what's your day to day look like? When you're helping these, I mean, I know, Hey, don't do that. Don't, don't, don't big eye me

Shayna Davis: 14:15

no day is the same. Like people, I've had three people just this week ask me like, what's a typical day for you? I was like, what is this? What's a typical day like? What does that even mean? People have typical days.

Stoy: 14:25

Yeah. If you clock in nine to five, right. But what's your day to day look like and what, where do you focus your energy? Right. And now I'm asking you as the business owner. You know the the black woman business owner is, I'm asking you like, what does your day-to-day look like in terms of what do you like to execute? Where do you like to see yourself?

Shayna Davis: 14:43

Yeah. I'm actually glad that you asked this question the way you did because I think we've been sold a myth that there's really a such thing as balance, and I don't believe in balance. I think balances for ballerinas. I do believe in harmony though, and that basically just means that I give attention to what needs attention now. Balance means that everything is gonna get equal amounts of effort, resources, and intention at all at one time. And if you're a parent, you know that if your child is sick, that's what gets your attention. And so as a business owner, it's very seasonal for me. It really depends on, like my focus gets what it is that I'm growing right now. So I'm in the process of getting a. Traditional book deal. Nothing wrong with self-publishing. I've self-published four. I just know now is the time for me to get, I'm just, we're on the no BS PO Wealth podcast, right? Mm-hmm. I don't do anything that doesn't pay me anymore. I don't have to, you know what I mean? And when I say that, I don't, I don't mean that to be like, you know, haughty or whatever, but I've paid my dues for a very long time. I've, you know, spoken for free at places because you needed the logo placement. You needed the, you know, the brand alignment. I've paid my dues, I've I've given back. I've done all of the things and I'm grateful to say I'm at a space and place in my business. The depth. Of experience that I have now that I don't have to do things for free anymore. And so if I'm gonna put a work out into the world, like a book that I know is going to change people's lives, I believe that I should get paid to do so. And my own business coach says she performs so much better when she's paid well. So why am I saying that? I'm saying that right now I'm in the process of getting a traditional book deal. So a lot of my time is spent. On what it takes to get a traditional book deal. I hate the industry. It's opaque. It's archaic, archaic. It's a bunch of donkeys. But you gotta, you gotta play their rules. So the best way that I can answer that for you is, is it depends on what I'm focused on. If I am focused on launching something new, my time looks a lot different than if I've just launched it and I now have people in programs that you know, that I have, that I have to work with. So it looks very different right now. It looks like Get up in the morning. Check my email, you know, like the boring stuff. Eat a banana because I eat a banana every, every morning. And then, you know, there's some things that I just have to do because I have to get done. But then I immediately go into book mode, stop to cook dinner, and then I go into book mode again until sometimes one or two o'clock in the morning.

Stoy: 17:16

See, I can't do, I can't do those late nights.

Shayna Davis: 17:18

Yeah. I don't do early mornings though. Like, let's be real. Like I don't wake up until I wake up.

Stoy: 17:22

Yeah, that's fair.

Shayna Davis: 17:23

That's usually like between seven or seven 30. I'm not laying around till nine. That's fair.

Stoy: 17:27

My body gets me up at like five, five.

Shayna Davis: 17:30

Oh, no. Oh, no. I get mad if my husband turns over at five, like, lay still too early.

Stoy: 17:36

I th what you just said is, is vitally important though, in the way you answered it. Business owners, we, and, and I'm sure you have this stressor too, you know, you have other things you need to be working on while doing the whole deal. Like, let's be real. It's not like you're like, have everyone under the sun do everything. So you could just focus, but that's still going on in your background. It's just allowing you to prioritize what needs to be addressed. Now, knowing that, hey, I'm gonna get to that, I think in our society, nope, let me reword that. I know in our society we do this instant gratification thing where things need to be turned around in four minutes and. As business owners, that's not, that's not viable for your business.

Shayna Davis: 18:10

Yeah.

Stoy: 18:11

And it doesn't make sense if you want to actually grow, otherwise, you're gonna be stuck in the weeds doing those, those things every second of the day. Never having the time to work on the book deal. Yeah. Never having the time to go speak, to do content, to do podcasts because you are so stuck on trying to turn whatever it is around in, in such a quick time. Also, I want you to go, go ahead.

Shayna Davis: 18:33

No, I was just gonna say, I get so much done. I'm highly efficient and I'm highly productive. And people ask me all the time, like, how do you get so much done? And I say, I just do it like I don't you, you know? Like I just do it. And here's the thing, I'm not one of those radical people that's like, and I never watch television and I never do this. Like, listen, I watch my reality tv, I watch television probably. At least four days out of out of the week. So, but I just get done what needs to get done and I don't, I think that there's excuses and reasons and I just don't tolerate excuses and I don't have excuses in my life and I just get stuff done. So if that means that I have to stay up late to get something done, if that means I have to be super tired, if that means I have to put out something that was just good and wasn't. Perfect. I just get done what needs to get done because I've always had a lot of irons in the fire. I don't just have my business. My husband and I are launching a church. I just helped him, you know, promote a book. You know, I'm helping him get speaking engagements. I have my podcast, like there's always a lot going on and a lot that has to be done. And I just do what needs to be done, however that looks, you know? And some days I get a lot of rest, and some days I get none. It's just the name of the game.

Stoy: 19:51

Yeah, and I think that's an important part. Like you just said, that you get rest. You do have days where you just watch tv. Those are times where you need a reset. That's cool. But the other times when you're full go full go. Because if you do, you'll get way more done in that hour that you blocked off to do something. You'll get it done in 15 minutes and then you'll have, and just keep going. But I wanna get back to this traditional book. Okay. Not a lot of people know the traditional book route as much anymore because they all do self-publish and, and, and go that route. Talk us through what that means and kind of where you're at in that process, just to highlight it for our listeners.

Shayna Davis: 20:26

Absolutely. So I wanna talk about the difference between, there's three different types of publishing. There's self-publishing, there's traditional publishing, and then there's what's called hybrid or vanity publishing and. I think all of them have their place and there's absolutely nothing wrong with any of them. There's advantages and disadvantages to both. Self-published just means that. You are gonna write the book, you're gonna be responsible for the cover being designed. You're gonna be responsible for the editing. If you do any most self-published books, I'm, I'm like, there's no way anybody edited this because there's like all these typos and grammar errors or whatever you are gonna be responsible for getting it distributed, even if you put it on KDP with, with Amazon, and you're gonna 100% be responsible for the marketing and all of the costs that are associated with all of that Traditional publishing means. That the company is going to pay you in advance, in advance to write the book. You're gonna have access to their sales and marketing teams, their editors. You're gonna have access to their cover designers, and they're going to distribute it for you. They're also going to help you sell it. Now, you still better have a platform in place. You still better have your own promotional plan, or else they won't work with you, but they absorb the cost. You get the bulk of the benefit and there's major credibility that goes along with having a traditional published deal, and it can open up greater doors, bigger clients, better exposure. The hybrid or vanity is, it's a company that will do some of these things for you, but you have to pay them to do that. You either have to pay them directly to do it, or you pay them in what's called a book buyback, where they do these things for you, but you have to agree to buy. You know,$10,000 worth of books or$20,000, you know, worth of books. And so obviously self-publishing is easier to get to market. It takes less time, but it's all you traditional publishing. On average, it can take you three years by the time that you. Find the agent, submit the proposal, they shop it around to a publisher. A publisher says yes, by the time it takes them to produce the book, it may be two to three years before your actual book comes out, but somebody's paying you to write it. So when I get the deal, I won't have to be as focused on some other things that produce revenue because I will have a six figure check. Now, everybody's not gonna get six figures, but I'm positioned to do so. I'll have a six figure check. That is paying me to write the book. And then on the hybrid side, you just got somebody that, that's kind of sharing the exposure and the responsibility with you. Here's what I want people to know. Vanity and hybrid publishing is still self-publishing. So then what I have found, because I've used one of those, I've used one of those types of companies in one of the four books that I wrote. They didn't do anything for me that I didn't do for myself and my other books, and I'll never do that again. So I will always either self-publish or traditional publish. I don't see the reason to pay somebody to do what I can do. Um, myself, or I can hire somebody on Fiverr and pay them$5. You know, like I just don't under, I don't understand that. And so I know some people that, hey, it is do do what you wanna do if you don't have the time or the expertise or whatever. Just for me, I don't like paying people to do something that I can do for myself, so I'm either gonna do it myself or I'm gonna let somebody pay me to do it, but I'm not paying somebody to do it for me.

Stoy: 23:55

Yeah.

Shayna Davis: 23:55

That's just my own personal philosophy. Yeah. Of though.

Stoy: 23:59

That goes for all PR and stuff like that too. Like, I don't like to pay to play stuff because I can do it. No. If I can do it, there's no need to pay you to do it.

Shayna Davis: 24:07

Correct. And I've done that too. Like I, I started off like having a PR company or whatever and I was like, first of all, I read your pitch. It wasn't even good. I. You know what I mean? Like communication is just a gift of mine. And I was like, okay, I know how to pitch. Why am I gonna pay you to pitch? The only time that I have done that is when I've worked with someone that they had the relationships that I didn't have. And some of those people won't pay attention if you're not being pitched by somebody that they have the relationship with. And it doesn't matter how great my pitch is, they don't say yes in that way. So I have done it. That way one time, but outside of that, I'm like, no, I know how to pitch. Nobody can pitch me better than me.

Stoy: 24:46

No, you're really buying relationships at that point. Like, and that's,

Shayna Davis: 24:49

that's a, and that's there's a for too.

Stoy: 24:52

Absolutely. Absolutely. So we've ran all the way through that. The one thing we haven't talked about is your podcast. Yeah. So lay it on us.

Shayna Davis: 24:58

Yeah. So the name of my podcast is called The Influence Economy, and most people are like, oh, that's cool. What does that mean? So the influence economy is where your visibility. Intersects with intention, and it creates tangible results like life-changing, income lasting legacy, and shaping an industry. And it's really about recognizing that your influence is currency, especially for women, like influence is the new currency for women. But the problem is, is that we haven't been taught how to be strategic about it. We haven't been taught to treat our currency like a valuable asset. As a result of that, we're not getting a return on investment. We may be visible, but we're not necessarily profitable. And I was there, I was on the cover of magazines, I was on the inside of magazines. I was on stages. I had celebrity clients, and so I was having influence, but my bank account did not match the level of influence that I had. So I know what it is to be visible. And not be profitable. And so the influence economy is really about how do you turn that visibility into profitability? How do you turn that influence into life changing income? And I teach a strategy that I call the High Five. And the high five is corporate contracts, corporate sponsors, high paid speaking engagements, major media appearances, and traditional book deals. I don't believe that we should step over dollars to get to dimes. If we don't have to, most of the reason that we're, I don't wanna say settling, most of the reason that we, that we have. Dime opportunities is because there has not been someone to teach us how to get the dollar opportunities. And years ago when I talked about being a business coach, I taught people how to land corporate contracts and corporate sponsorships. So now that we fast forward now and we live in this influencer world, and I'm, when I say influencer, I'm not talking about your IG influencers that. Have a different product that they're promoting, you know, every week, and a company is sharing them to do that. But what I am talking about is that if you are a person who is already impacting people through your expertise, through your skills, or through a message. Then you have influence. Everybody has influence somewhere. I'm just teaching you how to take that influence and how to take that visibility and be intentional about it so that you can actually make life changing income that is gonna give you the life that you know you were born for. And so that's what the show's about. We share a lot of different strategies. A lot of times it's just me. Sometimes I do have guests on and it's about, you know, how do you win on your terms in the influence economy, because I do believe that influence is the new currency.

Stoy: 27:39

Yep. Description. Check it out right now. Go ahead. You can move from, you don't have to listen to the rest of us. Just go now and go do it. That's fine. We're good with that. Alright. As we end up towards the end of this, we always ask two questions. Okay. One's deep one's could be deep. Okay. Alright, so what was your first money memory? Ooh. My first money

Shayna Davis: 28:00

memory. My dad said I was always. Wired to be an entrepreneur. I wish I was in my bedroom because I have a picture of, I'm six years old and I'm sitting in front of, it was like this big wooden. I don't know, some kind of cable or something probably used to be wrapped around it, but I turned it on its side and made it a, a table. And I took the, um, the top of the, of a, of, of a board game and I flattened it out. And I wrote, I wrote, I wrote yard sale on it. And just to show how much of a perfectionist I am, and I say, I'm not a perfectionist, I'm just, um, committed to excellence. All of my letters were in all caps except the A. So I crossed it out and then put a big A over the top of it because I was like, everything has to like be the same. And I had so much junk on there that nobody would, that ever would want to buy, right? And no one bought it. But my dad was so in admiration of my commitment to what it is that I wanted to do, that he bought every single thing on the table and actually paid more for it than what it was that I charged. So I think that that's a, when you ask like about a money memory, like I've made some great money in my life, but when I think back, like memory wise, I, I can't help but to remember that situation.

Stoy: 29:14

Reflected back on that feeling, right, because you just, joy and smile came through. Yeah. Think back through now, like you being an entrepreneur and all of that, how much of that 6-year-old girl is in all of that today? Oh,

Shayna Davis: 29:24

she's in, she's in all of it. Like I was talkative, I was ambitious. I had am I had ideas. I was always being told to sit down, like be quiet, be still, you know, whatever. Um, and I just, I realized at a very young age. That there is something about me that is different and I couldn't, you know, couldn't articulate it or put my finger on it, but I knew that it was something that I should not allow to be squashed. I. Now, I didn't always go about it the right way, like I was kicked outta school and always an in-school su suspension and problem child. So much so that I think like my junior year of high school, that my dad like hired a psychologist, like, something is wrong with this child. There's no way that this child is this smart, but has this horrible of conduct. Conduct. Something's got to be wrong with her. And so I didn't always learn, I didn't always know how to channel it properly, but there was always something about the way I thought and the way I did things that I knew was gonna follow me through life.

Stoy: 30:31

That's hilarious. I did not picture you being the one getting, um, you know, suspended and stuff like that. Oh,

Shayna Davis: 30:36

I was bad. I would listen. My senior year of high school, I organized the largest food fight that I've, that they probably have ever had in the United States of America. I planned it for six weeks. That's

Stoy: 30:47

impressive.

Shayna Davis: 30:48

Oh, I, I had a whole planning committee and I had it all mapped out, and I had who was gonna buy what and how they were gonna do it, and where they were gonna be placed. So it was, it was pretty badass. Now, I also got slammed to the floor, and they wanted me to finish out the last few weeks of my senior year at an alternative school. So it didn't all end the way that I thought it would, but Oh, yeah, I was bad.

Stoy: 31:06

I was, I was always like, you forgot to plan the exit and the exit strategy of how to get away without doing that. But hey, it was, well,

Shayna Davis: 31:13

that's the part that I didn't care about. Like I, I've always, I've always kind of. I was always the kind of kid. The reason why I always got in so much trouble was because in my mind, although I knew there were consequences, I really didn't care. I don't even know. It was so much that I didn't care as much as it was like, you can't make me do something that I don't wanna do, regardless of what I know is gonna happen as a result of it. And even that carries through to 47-year-old Shane. I'm just a lot more refined now. I would like to think.

Stoy: 31:40

It's still in there though. That, that, that scene is still in there. She's just

Shayna Davis: 31:43

right there.

Stoy: 31:44

Yep.

Shayna Davis: 31:45

She's just right there. She's not like, so far in my distant path, like she's right there to the point that sometimes I have to tell her, I got this. Please sit down.

Stoy: 31:52

Please sit down.

Shayna Davis: 31:54

Be quiet.

Stoy: 31:55

As we've gotten through that amazing story, what is one thing that you wanna leave our audience with, that they can take an actual step today? Absolutely. Like literally listening today and start to take that next step forward in their lives. Because you and I both know we're here to help people. The thing is they need to be helped and they need to understand they're not alone. So what's that one thing they can take today?

Shayna Davis: 32:15

The best advice that I can give you, because we talked about like, how do you take advantage of these more, you know, these higher value activities? And it goes back to the conversation that we were talking about, about niching. I have a different perspective on niching because I'm always looking for mass market type of opportunities. So if you take myself for example, you know. I talked about like, you know, people who are impacting people'cause they have a message, skills, or experience. I believe that if you have a message, experience, or skillset that you should have a podcast. But a podcast without a business model is just a hobby. What I recommend that people do is they have their podcast at the center, but they build an ecosystem around their show of these high five opportunities. Because I started landing high five opportunities. 15 years ago, but it's much easier now that I have a podcast. So this is something that everyone can implement today if they want these bigger opportunities. You have to think about your brand and you have to think about your expertise in broader themes. I call it an. Umbrella brand. So you have to ask yourself. So if I take myself, for example, I don't brand myself as a podcasting expert, even though my podcast is in the top 3% in the world. Even though podcasting is central to the strategy that I teach, I position myself as an influence expert, not a podcast expert. Why? Because a podcasting expert, although it's just one way that I serve the arena. Today show's not bringing me in for that. A corporation is not bringing me in to teach somebody how to podcast. Now they could because they want their executives to be personal brands nowadays. But let me give you another example. Say you're a health coach, I. And you teach women how to lose weight. Yeah, that's a great niche expertise. But what if you marketed yourself as total women's wellbeing? One is specific and one is scalable. So the assignment that I have for everyone that is listening, I want you to ask yourself, how can I package my area of expertise in a broader theme? Because that's gonna make me attractive to major media. That's what's gonna make me attractive for a corporation to pay me to come and speak or to do a workshop. Or even sometimes a seven figure consulting deal. I literally just got off of a call with a mastermind group and there was a woman in our group that submitted an RFP, which is a request for proposal for just less than a milli. Why? Because during this process she stopped saying, I help women do X, Y, and Z. And she started looking at the broader scope of how she helps people, and now she's put in this proposal with a corporation on the west coast. Through the two phases of her executing that is just just less than a milli. I'm not saying that you can't get to those types of amounts by being just a very small sliver niche, but it's going to be more difficult. You need to look at how do you give yourself mass market appeal, and that's the way that you do that is by looking at your stuff in broader themes.

Stoy: 35:19

I love that. Absolutely love that. Yeah, and everyone take that to heart, right? I mean, as you're going through it, I was thinking the same thing, like you're not changing your niche, you're just broadening just the, it's

Shayna Davis: 35:29

just one way that I serve the arena. So my master arena is influenced, one of the ways that I serve that is I teach women how to create million dollar multimedia empires with a podcast at the center. But that also means that it's Women's History Month right now, in the month of March, a major media outlet could bring me on to teach, you know, how does a woman own her voice? How does a woman own her influence? A corporation could bring me in to say, Hey, how do my leaders, um, you know, use the visibility that they have and the influence that they have to drive more impact and make us more money? Like, I can serve my master arena in any way that I want to. But I won't be able to serve it in these other ways over here if I only focus on being a niche expert and not trying to be a mass market brand. And if you don't want that, that's fine, but if you're tired of stepping over dollars to get to dimes and you're tired of having conversations with people that they would love to work with you, but they just can't afford it, then this is how you get to the point that you can, you can really get your coins.

Stoy: 36:29

In order to do so, you need to communicate. Yeah. This is what we ask all the time, is just reach out. Yeah. The content we create, the conversations we have, you're not gonna go anywhere unless you have that con that conversation. So take what you just learned, um, from today's podcast and really reach out, whether it's DMing us or whatever you wanna do on social media, I don't care. But in order for you to take that next step, you need to reach out. So without that, hey, I, I appreciate everything that you do, um, all the influence that you bring, and I cannot wait. To chat a little more off topic, off off camera, a little bit about that.

Shayna Davis: 37:05

Can I give your audience a free gift?

Stoy: 37:07

Yeah, absolutely you can.

Shayna Davis: 37:07

So I have something that's called the Influence Economy Playbook, and it really starts to teach you how you can turn your visibility into profitability. And it's consists of three different things. There's a playbook in there that has sophisticated strategies. There's a visibility checklist and there's also a visibility ROI calculator that you can actually calculate the activities that you're doing to see if they're giving you a return on investment. And so they can get that@influenceeconomyplaybook.com. But the important thing is put in the coupon code free and then you don't have to pay for it.

Stoy: 37:39

You heard it. It's gonna be in the description too. You heard it. So go get your free playbook right now. I appreciate you. Absolutely. Thank you.