The Secrets of a Successful Startup

Want to break free from your 9-5 and start building a business of your own? In this Podcast, Chief Inventor Donteacia Seymore teaches you how to create an exit plan for your 9-5 and how to raise capital for your new startup. Learn how to take control of your life so that you can live it on your own terms.   Donteacia knows what it takes to develop a product, build a business, and get funded. She guides her clients through the process of launching an invention or business idea, developing funding and marketing strategies, and managing the day-to-day operations.

Dontecia has been an avid supporter of inventors since she is first one herself.  She provides inventors with initial support that helps them find the right product or service to sell as well as provides them with the tools that they need to succeed going into the marketplace.  Dontecia serves as a mentor and motivator for most of her entrepreneur clients. Her motivation and her mentorships allows entrepreneurs to find success in their own businesses.

Donteacia is a Forbes-featured, patented inventorwho’s guided more than 1,300 inventors on how to build, market and sell theirinnovative products. As an expert in demystifying the invention process, sheprovides inventors the education, support and tools they need to take theirinnovations from ideation to launch – all without depleting their savings or theirsanity. 

Visit www.freeinventiontraining.com to find out how Donteacia can provide you withthe
Listen in on the wealth of knowledge Donteacia has to offer. You will not regret tuning in!

Link to book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/080414138X/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_3SNQDSP7VSDPSRB1Z3DS

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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the co-host in this podcast are solely those of the co-host and do not necessarily reflect the official position, policy, or views of Stokes Law Group or The Entrepreneurial Leap. Any content provided by our co-host is of their opinion and is not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual, or anyone or anything.

Transcript

0:19

Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. You guys, I am incredibly excited to introduce to you. My very first podcast, interviewee. Don T SIA Seymour. Listen. Before I introduce you to her and you get the opportunity to hear what she has to say, because she drops some gems. Along the way during this interview. First and foremost, I want you to pull out a pen and paper because you're going to take. A ton of notes. She has so much information that you're going to receive during this 45 minute interview. But before we get started, let me tell you a little bit about who Don TCSC Moore is. Don TCF is an inventor. And a business coach. And she's guided hundreds of entrepreneurs from ideation to execution. And these same entrepreneurs have been able to raise over a million dollars for their products and services. How crazy is that Don TCL created her first invention, which actually led to operating her invention consulting company. Listen in as we cover topics such as raising capital for your brand, creating an exit plan from your nine to five and how you can break down large goals into small tasks. So stay tuned.

Shaunette 1:58

So Donteacia TCI, how are you today?

Donteacia 2:02

I'm good. How are you girl?

Shaunette 2:04

I'm doing good. So where are you living right now?

Donteacia 2:08

And Ryan is in Jacksonville, Florida. I do try, but you know, I haven't traveled a lot. Surprisingly, since the world opened back up, when we were in COVID, I went to the beach quite a bit when we were like deep in the pandemic, but the last year or so I've mostly been home working kind of like. Saying still, but I am looking forward to traveling a lot more this year, starting next month. So I'm looking forward to that. So, because of the

Shaunette 2:38

pandemic, were you able to build your platform, online, more as opposed to having to go to different cities and build

Donteacia 2:46

your business there? Yeah, so I actually started, my business was on online remote company to begin with. So we were always online, so we didn't have to adjust to. COVID and the pandemic, we actually were already running a full 100% online, remote business. So for us, we just kind of kept up with business as usual. We did see an influx of people that, started to work with us and became more comfortable with the. Of working with us remotely because before that, they were always like, where's your office. Can we come in and sit down and talk to you? And I'm like, you're talking to me. They're like, well, can we come sit down and talk to you? I'm like, we're virtual, we're a remote company. And so one of the goods side effects of that is we don't get the, can we come to your office as much anymore every now and again, there's still somebody who's like, I want to see you and meet with you in person. And I'm like, that's not how our businesses run, but people are a lot more. I don't want to say tolerant, but accepting of the fact that we do business 100% online with the exception of our live events. That's amazing.

Shaunette 3:49

Did you have to, so you didn't really have to pivot a lot since the pandemic started. It wasn't that much of a stretch when it came to continuing on your business.

Donteacia 3:58

We didn't pivot at all. We just, we literally were able to just continue to ease into what we were doing. We, like I said, we saw more clients and so we had to add some more processes in place and hire a few more people to support the influx. But other than that, like it was business as usual for us, nothing has changed.

Shaunette 4:16

That's amazing. I, for me, prior to the pandemic, I shut down my office. So in 2018, I was like, I'm done with this brick and mortar concept, less work from home. And then after that, the pandemic hit a whole year later. So I'm like, wait. Cause we ended, we got out of the office in September. So it was a few months there. We were trying to figure things out then 2019 I was working without no help. It was just me alone. So I had to pivot a little bit, but in terms of actually my client base, they were very used to meeting me via the phone. No zone just found. We only do zone zero. We were always doing zones. So my issue is I don't, I don't, I have to get up and put on makeup every day for zoom. You

Donteacia 5:11

have to do all that. No, you just, this is a special occasion. Me getting up and make up for you was a special occasion. No, no, no, no, no, no. I understand. Well, so here's the thing. We're real people and they understand that we're real people. Um, I would like to believe that I have a pretty decent skincare routine also, so I don't have to like wear a ton of makeup, but. When we get on. And when we're talking about the product, they're not wondering why I'm not wearing lip gloss or lipstick, they're talking about their problem, their product. You know, I think about it. A lot of people in regular everyday life don't wear makeup. So it's not something there's nothing extra that I have to do to get ready for our clients. Um, when we're doing our live. So, and those, those are at nighttime. So most people are kind of relaxed. Anyway, I look five calls. Um, now when I do a lot of the recordings and maybe some like live promotional videos, obviously I wear business attire and I dress up for those occasions, but just conversations with our clients, they just want to make sure that they're, they're supported that we're helping them with their products. And they're not concerned about whether or not I am zoom ready. I'm zoom. Ready if I got the content, right. If I answered your question,

Shaunette 6:26

Yeah, I think your community is pretty amazing. I've had the opportunity to actually engage with you all on several occasions. And from what I've seen, you all are like a family. How do you build that family environment with your clients? I don't see that a lot with most service. Um, so it's interesting. I think it's, you know, for the people who, uh, who are coming in and catching this late, who haven't watched and listen from the beginning. So I'm not CCC more chief inventor and founder of creation nation. We help aspiring inventors build their amazing products and launch them into the market. So I think it's really easy to answer this question because of what I just said. There aren't a ton of community sport inventors, right there. Aren't a ton of people who are out there having one-on-one conversations or one to many conversations, talking about the process. There isn't a really, a safe place for inventors to go and congregate and have the conversations they want to about their product. They're afraid. There's a ton of conflicting information out there. So I think just being a voice, being an available voice and being an available group of people that knows what it's like and knows what each of the challenges are when it comes to product development, that knows about the scammers out there in the industry and who can all relate to very similar stories. They already feel like family. Before they even gotten to us cause I'm like, oh my God, we found our tribe. We found people who understand this process, who knows how hard it is. Um, and then I think also because I'm an inventor, I think it'd be different if it's like, I know how to build products, but I've never done anything myself, but because I'm an inventor, a plantain inventor had a product, went through ups and downs, a whole lot of downs, a few ups, but the ups were massive. Because I've been through those experiences, I've been scammed myself. Right? Cause there was no, there wasn't a me then. So I had to learn everything through trial and error. And so, because I've been through the process and I understand the pain behind it, I understand the sacrifices. Just having those honest conversations, about having to pull my daughter out of private school, because it was either private school, um, or.

Donteacia 8:38

Well, actually it would be the private school or just paying the bills because of the company was taking up so much money. I mean, because my dream was way bigger than right now. And then the conversations about my daughter coming outside on the way to school and the car was done and she thought someone stole the car, but really it was repossessed because I couldn't afford to pay for it anymore. So having those really honest conversations about the sacrifice. It took for me to get to where I am, because I didn't have someone protecting me along the way and saying, don't give that person$10,000, don't do this thing. because I didn't have that person, I made those sacrifices that affected me and my family significantly. And so people can relate to. And because they can relate to the human side of our community and the human side of me, then it they're a little more open about sharing their own personal vulnerabilities around the product development process. And you know, when people share their vulnerabilities, it's like your instant family. That is like talking to a stranger on a plane.

Shaunette 9:42

Yeah.

Donteacia 9:43

I always say when I meet my great people on the plane and we have these really amazing conversations and then we're gone and I'm like, wonder what happened to that person.

Shaunette 9:52

Right.

Donteacia 9:53

And so it's kind of nice because they don't have to wonder what happened to that person because we're all still around.

Shaunette 9:57

That's true. So what do you do when your dreams are bigger than your finances?

Donteacia 10:03

You walk by faith, not by. Yeah, it wasn't really the best way to say he walked by faith. You walk by faith and you do the work. I think that's the biggest thing there's there is. there's a saying that I really love it. It says when you realize you've only been living half a life, the other half will haunt you until you develop it. That once you realize the, the size of your dreams, there's no getting away from. Yeah, and there's no getting away from it. So the only thing you can do is walk into it and do the work and be prepared for what comes as it comes. and then also be smart about it, right? So there's some ways I'm not team put your job and go full head on into your dreams. I'm team, come up with a plan, do the step-by-step piece by piece. You see your job as a silent investor. Get a second job. If you have to, those are things that no one coached me on because back when I started this. Journey that was 10 years ago. So people were just like, quit your job. Like all everybody had the homelessness story. Everybody had the sleeping in my car and hero story. And so that was so common back then to where it was like, I'm quitting my job and I'm doing this. If I knew, then what I know now, I would've done that completely differently. I wouldn't have quit my job, my job for the entire year, no matter how terrible it was. And I would have changed the perspective narrative around it. It's like, my job is now my silent investor for my. So instead of me having to find an investor and find this money, I'm going to take$500 every paycheck or a thousand dollars every paycheck. And I'm going to invest in my dreams and that's going to carry me through this next week, this next month. And I'm going to create a plan to exit by the end of the year at eight months. So it becomes a different conversation when you are planning your way through this process, and you're taking it step by step in small digestible financial pieces where you're paying 300. Here and$500 there versus having to come up with$10,000 all at once. It's a different conversation that you're having at that time.

Shaunette 12:12

That makes so much sense because when you're slapped with. Anyone's prices. You're like, oh my God, where am I going to come up with that amount of money? If you're not a, entrepreneur that has that, capital for your business, you know? Did you find that a lot of your clients needed to a lot of fundraising for their businesses? And what avenues did you suggest for them?

Donteacia 12:37

So I don't believe any of our clients needs fundraising until they've actually built their prototype. And that's just because the process can be affordable if you do it in a strategic way, if you do it in a way to where you're working with a designer first, and you're just paying$600 for your designs, you know, you're working with an engineer and the engineer could be anywhere from 500 to 2000, but you're working with them over the course of a few months. Able to, again, break those payments down. It's a$500 every few weeks. and then you have your prototype. That's an, and it processes longer, right? Because you're spreading it out and you're paying it in increments. But instead of you like saying, okay, I can't do this. Cause it's gonna cost me$4,000 to do this entire thing. When you're like, okay, I can do this over the course of the next six to eight months because I'm paying it off in$500 increments. I'm doing this over the next four months, because every two weeks I'm giving$500 towards my dream. And so I feel like when they do it that way and they come up with their, they come with their prototype, they then can fundraise for manufacturing. I think that's the best place to raise money for me is for manufacturing. I don't advise anyone to raise money before that because you don't want to tap into the well too many times. Saving that cast and cash infusion for when it's time to mass produce your product. And in that case, we, we have, different areas or different ways we help them raise money. One of one really successful way is crowdfunding is how I raised mine. First, 15,000. I did another 40,000 with family and friends. and so we talked to them about having successful crowdfunding campaigns and we've had several. Actually going on to have very successful, multiple five-year crowdfunding campaigns as a result. And then we have one person who did a family and friends around who they're like$50,000 from family and friends, but it's, there's a PR there's a strategic process to it. Like you're not going to go here and be honest and say, Hey, can you write me a check for 10 grand? He's like, I'm going to have a demo. I have my prototype. I'm going to have a demo day. I'm going to get my family excited. She had a whole barbecue around it. She had the newspaper there or her product launch demo day. And she was able to raise$50,000 from her family because they felt at that point, they were investing in a real business and a real, so you're going to treat them like regular.

Shaunette 14:52

Exactly you don't. I see people pitching their businesses at, you know, different. You know, get, get togethers, but that's so informal, you know, when you actually create a stage for your business and present it in a more formal fashion, then people may potentially take you a little bit more serious than you just talking about it over drinks in a bar. Like, let me tell you about this idea that I have, you know, so let's go back to your process. I want to know a little bit more about. How you find your, your ideal clients? Because like I said, you guys are like your own tribe. So how do you find your own ideal, your ideal client?

Donteacia 15:37

So, you know, they found me if I'm being honest,

Shaunette 15:40

you just attract them.

Donteacia 15:43

Um, initially they found me, I started out, just having the conversation. About what I was doing. And so people started to refer people to me, right. And they started and I started to have larger conversations and they start to refer more people to me. And then in that time, I began to realize who actually responded the best to what we were doing, who were the more successful, the more focused, who wanted it more with more passion and drive around it. So my ideal client, I didn't come into this business with the idea to start with. So, you know, I was just like having coffee dates and lunch dates. Cause I had my own product. Yeah. I had my own product company, so I wasn't trying to start a consulting business. And it was just like, here's what worked for me. And so then coffee dates, there were too many and I couldn't keep up with them and it was like, okay, well let's just have a zoom. Very informal. And so people will just hop on zoom and we talk about the product process. And then I had one person. My very first client was through a friend of mine here in Jacksonville who had sent his cousin to me cause she was developing our product. She was running into some issues and she needed help. She became my first paying client because she needed a lot of mentorship. And then maybe two months later there was another paying client. So there was like three or four. Individual one-on-one paying clients. And then I realized I couldn't keep that up. Right. And we had just sold our product company. I was like, I can't keep that up. So we'll, we'll do 10 tops and we'll put them in a group. So it was very accidental. Right. I wasn't, I hear all the like traditional thoughts around knowing your customer avatar and knowing exactly who you want to work with. And that's good when you start seeing. Money on marketing, but when you're just getting started, honestly, you just need to have the conversation because who you think is your ideal customer may not actually be your ideal customer. I thought my ideal customer was going to be someone in their mid thirties that was really into like innovation. And I'm like first adopters new technology and just have all these ideas for inventions. Our best customers are in their mid to late forties, early fifties that are professional. Who are looking for a change or looking to start their third chapter, they're looking to leave some legacy. They're looking to have some like freedom over their lifetime and money. And they've actually become our ideal customer just based on our interactions and experiences with them. But initially I thought it was someone else. Right. So sometimes it's not who you think is you kind of have to, you have to have. You know, fill it out. And entrepreneurship is not a quick win journey. It is a long winding journey where you're going to learn a lot of things. And so while it's cool to kind of market to one particular person, sometimes you're marketing to the wrong person and you don't.

Shaunette 18:40

Yeah. Your taste changes as well. And your style of teaching and your just in general, your life changes. And so who you attract will also change.

Donteacia 18:50

Yeah, I agree with that 1000%, I think I am attracting versus of myself, our ideal client. My ideal client is now becoming versions of myself. and, and that could have a lot to do with the fact that they see a little bit of me in them. And so, and, and, and because I like, I'm a doer and I like doers, we're attracting more doers. And so it's 100%. Changed over time, especially as you get older and as you start to value your time more there's things that you won't get anymore. Right. And so like who I would work with before, you know, it's like, well, I'm not really going to try to get that client. Cause I don't want to deal with the headache of having to, have the kind of conversations needed to push them over to the other side. So it does change as your business changes and as you change.

Shaunette 19:41

That makes perfect sense. So the way that your calls are set up, you do individual calls with clients and then group calls, and then I would assume workshops, right?

Donteacia 19:51

Yeah. So, no, we don't do anything individually.

Shaunette 19:54

No more individual calls that's having

Donteacia 19:56

that individual calls in two years, it's been two, two and a half years. We used to do individual calls, that were about 45 minutes to an hour. And we actually changed our business model January 1st, 2020, right before the pandemic. So we changed our business model that December. So, so the catalyst for that is I had an aunt who had. And she passed in 2019. And I was telling her how unhappy I was, with how things were going. She was having a conversation with me about life in general. And I told her just like how hard things were. And I just didn't feel fulfilled. I didn't feel like I was really helping people. I felt like more people got off the phone in tears and disappointed because they couldn't move forward and work with us because our prices were so expensive. And I didn't know how to make it make sense because I was told I needed to have a high ticket. Like I needed to have something that was 6, 10, 15,$20,000 to have true value in the marketplace. Right. If I value myself, my prices will be really hot. And so I struggle with that because most of the people that we were helping, they just didn't have. Grand on hand to drop like that. And it was a lot of disappointing cause there was a lot of stress and a lot of struggle. And you know, she gave me permission to live life on my own terms because you know, it's not promised and there's things. She was, she would have done differently instead of listening to the way the crowd suggested it be done. So, she passed out October, November. I changed the business model, launched a new business model, January one with a webinar. Training where we saw direct from the webinar for$1,250. We dropped from 6,000 to 1250 whereabouts,$2,000 now gone up. Cause we, we have more team. But we were 1250. And then right after we dropped the 1250, we had our first multiple six figures. Without me having to take a single phone call,

Shaunette 21:53

that's amazing.

Donteacia 21:54

I didn't want to have to do anything that you didn't want to do to make it, and I didn't have to, but more importantly, we opened up the opportunity to way more people or we had to like, have all these calls and I probably get maybe like, yeah. And then in one week we brought in a hundred and something people.

Shaunette 22:16

That's amazing.

Donteacia 22:16

Right? And so it was just an easy and that's, that was validation for me. Like, okay, this is the way your business is supposed to be run because you get to help more people and you, you're not starving in the process. Like

Shaunette 22:32

they talk to each other. Cause I see that it's not that they have a relationship with you. It seems that they. No one another. Right. And then they'd bring their friend, their inventor friends in, and then it just still becomes that tribe. And they have not just a group resource with you. Themselves.

Donteacia 22:52

Yeah. So they're all friends, they're all friends, man. Sometimes I'm a little jealous about being so on the outside. So on the outside and when I last live event, like they all, after the event, they all went to a festival that was happening over at armature. Well, they cause the night when we were still, you know, like cleaning up and everything, and then with the team, we all went over to that same festival. And then we ended up actually sitting at the table next to them because we were all eating at the same restaurant and they were just, they had plans. They were going on the water boat on the river. It was a whole thing. All right. So the great thing about that though is again, this is, they don't have people in their lives. That are making those same kinds of sacrifices. Right? There are a lot of people who they tell about their invention and they're like, you're crazy. Like, what do you mean? What do you think? What makes you believe that you can create something that's going to be special? And so to have other people who have the same desires and fears, I think makes it a lot easier for them to like let their guard down and lean into those relationships.

Shaunette 24:05

That's pretty amazing. So how do you get them, your clients specifically? How do you get your. And to these product based business, because the majority of them are inventors. So they are inventing products. How do you introduce them to distributors? Manufacters get them in the right hands, like you said, without, cause you've vetted them, the, your network prior to now, but not in this.

Donteacia 24:37

Yeah. So initially we were just, we would tell people how to do it the way I did it, which was go to Upwork. You look forward designer, you look for an engineer and, you know, you know, maybe the odds ever being in your favor, like Upwork has a quality team and they'll make sure you're not getting stiff. Well, we had a few people who didn't have great experiences with their designers and engineers on Upwork. So we would started to create and white list in the black list. So it actually was through trial and error of our inventors who are climbing we've now had over a thousand vendors come through. So we have a pretty substantial whitelist blacklist. And so, it started out white list, black list, who are those who are just bad. Slow bad work, chardy work. They were on the blacklist. Don't use these engineers and designers. and then we had all the people who did really great work. And then we realized that Upwork was a challenge even for, some of our people, even if we gave them directions on how to do it. And then in the height of the pandemic, when everything's shut down and we didn't know what manufacturer was still manufacturing domestically, who had changed over there was just, and there still are supply chain issues. There was just this huge gap. Us knowing who was doing what? So we spent a lot of times in the emails and on the phone trying to figure out who was still working. And that's when I realized that we needed to create our own, database that we can. In a, in a moment's notice do a requisition. So we actually created our own software and SAS platform. So we built T P Y, which is, an acronym for the product yard. It was originally the product yard, but now it's T P Y, it looks like to pay it.

Shaunette 26:19

Okay. So you never told me the behind the scenes development of the name and I love the name by the way. It's it's cute. I love it. It's a very,

Donteacia 26:34

uh, so yeah, so, it was funny because it looks like TP, which is you still building a house, a foundation, right. but it's actually TTY because it was formerly called product yard. This is where products are built, where they're built. They're grown in. but the products is not a sexy SAS name as a service. And because we called it TQI for short and all of our team meetings, we decided to just name it, the phonetic spelling of the acronym T P Y. So that's why it's spelled T E P E Y because it's team. Yeah. And

Shaunette 27:10

so I tell my clients that the more. The name, the best, the better your chances are to get a trademark certificate because who is thinking like that, you know, like why, and then you just add some, some, you know, eat in the middle. Yeah. You have a new brand

Donteacia 27:31

name. Yeah, unless, unless you're a teepee, Y looks like TP and then you have to fight them. Cause they think you're trying to brand the word CP. That's not what we're branding. We're not branding TP. We're branding T P Y. So you have to have that conversation, but,, it's a special name for us because the product R is actually an idea. Now, six years ago at a coworking space in Prague at like one o'clock in the morning, I was talking with a friend who was also traveling for a year who was in the tech space. And we were talking about how great it would be if I could build a company that actually managed the development of product development and like that. And so I was like, he's like, well, would you call it? That's what I call it. A product jarred. And there was a tech startup accelerator in that, in that coworking space. If the space was no five and the, the, the company that was in there was called the startup yet. And so I had spent a lot of time talking to the founders of the startup yard and I was like, I want to call my business, my business. When I do this, the product yard, he was like, go for it. And so the products are, I was just an idea that was born in a tech space or in a co-working space in Prague at one o'clock. And I created the framework for that space. I have this notebook that says good ideas only. And I actually wrote out the framework in that space and about six pages and I drew it out and said, one day, One day. And does that set aside and that day became a reality in 2020.

Shaunette 29:17

Oh my God. Donteacia. I love hearing these stories, like just manifestation stories, because it's a matter of believing in yourself. Right. And then the world will believe in you. Did you watch, Kanye? I know you did. Okay. So. The two, I been listening to the college dropout all week. I have my own opinions of, you know, Kanye now, but, but to see this man have enough gall to have someone following him with a camera.

Donteacia 29:56

Back then

Shaunette 29:57

talking about it's a documentary and this documentary going to last for you. How long are you filming for about a year? He said, no for life. This is going off forever. You are literally witnessing greatness. And then also, yes. And he was getting the jacket is straight in his face, the ultimate rejection. How do you counsel your clients on dealing with rejection?

Donteacia 30:25

By telling them it's a normal part of life. If you're not getting rejected, you're not, you're not asking enough people. You're not putting yourself out there enough. No one is rejecting you. You're not doing anything. You know what I'm saying? Like someone has to not believe in what you're doing. Someone has to believe that you're crazy that you're out of. Like you have, like you said, the audacity be unmitigated, gall, right? If you aren't having people tell you no. Right. And you aren't putting yourself out there right. There should be doubters in what you're doing, because your dreams should feel unrealistic to some people, right. It should feel maybe like it's not it to someone for you to say, okay. Yeah. I'm actually putting myself out there because all you got is a string of yeses. Either. What you're doing is. We're not asking enough people. You're not, you're not right. Like, cause it has to be like, well, I don't really know if this is going to work. Someone has to say that you need to actually say I put myself out there. Right? Nobody, nobody that's successful. No one is successful. Now can say everything has always worked out for me. No one nose

Shaunette 31:38

in business. You're going to get a lot of nos before you get yet.

Donteacia 31:43

Oh, you know, no, it's actually very powerful. And I think that people try to avoid. But the truth is the faster you can get through the nose. The faster you can get to the yes. Yes. I'm saying because it's all numbers game. It's a numbers game. 2% is going to take you up on what you're offering almost guaranteed 2%. We'll take you up on what you're offering. Get to a hundred notes. You'll have two yeses. You know what I'm saying? Like 2%, we'll take you up on that. So the fact that you can get through the nose is the faster you can get to this. Absolutely. Right. And so like, I'm like, yo, you're not getting enough nos. You're not asking enough people, but then more importantly, once you learn how to be okay with no, right.

Shaunette 32:27

The key is to believe in yourself. Cause it shouldn't knock you on your ground, on the ground. You know, you still should be able to believe in what you have to offer to the way

Donteacia 32:39

you build up. Like. Right. Callous as to where certain small things don't bother you as much anymore. And I think that there's this book, God, there's this book, this guy wrote, and it was called like, it was like the year of know or something like that. And his whole, his, his whole, I always get the title wrong. I'm going to look for it now. It's not the tried to collect like a a hundred. Well, his, so his was, no, he wasn't trying to collect a hundred nos. He was trying to get comfortable with no. So he was asking for things every day, just so he can get comfortable with no. So it didn't bother him if someone told him no. Okay. So, I mean, it was like a hundred nos or something like that. I got to find out. I got, I can never remember the name of this book when I talk. I read it like twice, which is so it's so crazy. and it's caused, so I remember, but, but it's such a great book because he talks about, like I said, just easily, just very comfortable with no. Oh, I think it's called the rejection method. Okay. I'm going to look it up. I think that's actually, I'm like, it's something that. Is 10 method. I'll look it up for sure. Cause I don't, I I'm, I could be not being right with that, but I'm, I'm gonna figure out the name of the book and I said to you, okay. But yeah, it's it's it was a powerful book. Yeah. I don't know I'm going to get stuck on this now. what's the name of the book? Yeah. With knowing that you were to receive a lot of notes. What was it about your, your own product that just kept you pushing? Can you tell us about your invention a little bit? Yeah. And, and the name just came to me. Okay. What is the name of that rejection?

Shaunette 34:43

Rejection proof.

Donteacia 34:45

Okay. Yeah. And his goal was to go, to try to get a note every day for a hundred days. Yeah, I mean, right now I need it such a great, great book. And, yeah, so it was a great book and, but when it came to my product, So my products I thought looked silly to be, tell me about, so my products was mobile grip gear. I was big into fitness back then actually used to do amateur, but not like I was like, I'm just not getting back into my group. But before I was like an amateur fitness competitor, so I was big into fitness. I used to run the bridges and Jacksonville. This is back when phones were a lot smaller. I had an S3 at the time, but I hated my arm, man. And like holding my phone in my hand, because back then they didn't have smart watches and stuff. But for you to track your runs, the Nike app, there has to be movement of your arm, right. Which is why people held it on their arm band, or they put it in their hands because they had to be that movement for it to clock the miles. and so I would have to hold my phone and it was annoying. And one morning I was out running the bridges and my daughter called and I'm trying to get to my phone as a whole thing happening and. I was dropped my phone in the river, trying to get to, so I grabbed the phone with my hand. And I wasn't, it wasn't even about the phone. I was more afraid like that. My daughter was calling me at 7:00 AM and I couldn't get to my home almost sung in the river. That was a panicky moment for me not being available. And so, I started running with the phone in my hand, like gripping it and really, really hard. And I was like, I really wish there was a product that would allow me to hold my phone in the Palm of my hand. And so I came out with the glove. Initially the glove is called mobile grip gear and it was supposed to be a glove that allowed you to have the phone in the Palm of your hand. Right. But I realized that because I was doing so much lifting that it would make more sense if I flip the phone to the back of my head, So I had a glove that you can put on the back of the hand was a case that was a lot like the arm band. It was a case with a clear face. And you had your phone on the back of your hand. And so you could work out, run, you can track your workouts with your apps and everything with your phone in the back of your hand. So I created, I was created as the, at the forefront of mobility apparel, basically. Yeah. Yep. So the, the gloves, all of that stuff, those are a part of my baby invention. So I actually sold that company in 2016. I believe

Shaunette 37:21

you teach your, your clients how to build a product and then sell it. Is that part of your business

Donteacia 37:29

is now we used to just help them build it. And then we would, you know, release them to their destiny and wish them well. And we found out that a lot of them struggle once they left with us. Well, we had such a structured way of doing things and it was very, very clear, very 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Seven. And so when you introduce people to such a structured way of moving through a very difficult process, and then you say, all right, go out there and be great. Someone else will help you with this next step. Usually they don't find that same level of structure. And so what we realized is we had to create, a next level for those who have products who wanted more support, more structured support launching it. So now we have a full services. That's amazing. So do you give them the tools to. Costs. then now like building products is expensive. So how do they compare the different prices with the diff, because you have a whole resource of, you know, people that they can tap into, how do you then teach them how to choose the best person to work? Well, I saw it's believing. I saw good feeling. Okay. I told him, I said, listen, we're going to put some really great people in front of you, but you have to work with someone that feels good. Every person we hire in our company is all based on. Um, I have yet to hire someone that wasn't a good decision. It's like, you know what? I love this person's energy. And I had to very more recently, two very competitive people applying for our CMO position. And they were both extremely competent. The one I went with, it was all good. It was like, and the other one would have been just as amazing. But I think that obviously I feel like I made the right decision, but it's like, what feels good? We have people who will work. You know, contractors and they don't feel good about it. And then they're surprised when things go south and I'm like, everyone's style is different. Like communication styles, work styles. Some people need to be handled with kid gloves. Simple. Some people like get straight into the point. I'm a straight into the point person. Like don't give me no fluff. Don't give me no filler. Tell them how to get there. Let's do this. Right. I have very thick skin when it comes to like work, but some people don't and so they need someone who's a bit more. A bit more emotionally compassionate, a compassionate contractor. Some people like I don't need compassion. I just need you to get this done. So there's something for everyone. I told me, listen, ask, ask the question. So we provide them with questions to ask as well. So they're getting the answers they need, but makes it a decision based on how this feels for you and if something doesn't. So that feels good initially. And at some point it doesn't feel good. Listen to that. Right. It doesn't feel good

Shaunette 40:19

and be comfortable with walking away from that relationship, you know?

Donteacia 40:23

Yes I have. So I do this thing where I explained to them about the scientific, the science behind that feeling like our body. There's a big central nervous system, right? That goes through the middle of our body called our Vegas nerves and our Vegas nerves. They actually end in our gut. That's where they start. They go from my gut all the way up to our brain. It takes. Four seconds for our brain to process from our gut to our brain. Like what? So we are in danger and we'll pull it in our gut before our brain, either process that we're in danger, there could be someone sneaking up behind us and we don't even hear them or see them, but our gut senses it and immediately there's a reaction. And then you find out two or three seconds later, what you're good is responding to. So there's a subconscious. Part of you, that's working on your behalf without you even being able to compute what's happening, which is why it's so important.

Shaunette 41:19

There's a book called the body, keeps the score, and it talks about that. Your body is going to tell you before your brain was. And for sure, because you're storing your old experiences in your, your body. And those are those indicators. That's going to tell you, Hey, this is happening again, either fight or flight, you know? So that is so true. I love how you put that. You have to go with your gut because honestly you are the person that's going to have to deal with the consequences of hiring that person. And your business and you want to make sure that you're comfortable with that relationship in general. So I have one last question and I will let you go. What are some behind the scenes tips that you can suggest to other entrepreneurs on how to scale their businesses and what has worked for you?

Donteacia 42:13

I feel like I, so I would say this, I feel like scale your business is a buzz phrase. I don't think that everybody should be scaling their business. Yeah, I think that's the biggest thing I'm not ready. Yeah. So I think that's like a buzz phrase, like scale your business. I think the first thing you have to determine is what type of business you want to have. Right? So people don't do well with a million dollar business. They won't be able to sleep. They won't be able to eat some people. Their sweet spot is right at 300,000. Right. And it may, that may be good income, good revenue. If the costs are low and the profit margin is high for some people 300 K is a really good living. Right. It's especially if you're in Jacksonville, you can look real, real good here. Open a hundred K. Right. So I think that first you have to determine like what you want your life to look like, and then you have to build your business around. cause I do have friends who were like, I want a simple life. I want to be able to travel. I want low stress, you know,$150,000 is enough for me because I spent nine months out of the year in a place where rent is a thousand dollars a month. Right. And I don't want the stress of having an entire team. So I would say, what is it you want? What kind of lifestyle you want? And then what is going to. For you financially to live that life. So you went back into it and then you would build your business around that. Right. And so for that could be 300,000 or$3 million. It really just depends on what you want your life to look like. And then it's also okay. If that changes. Yeah. If you thought you wanted a seven figure business, you get one and you realize that's not for me. I have a mentor who probably makes this again when he was making eight figures. He was making around maybe like anywhere between seven and$10 million a year, he, he hit this elusive 10 million and he thought it was like, when I hit 10 million, this is going to be awesome. He hit 10 million and he realized he sacrificed so much in his marriage and time with his kids, that the sweet spot for him to have the kind of life he wanted to his family was actually 1,000,005.

Shaunette 44:28

Oh, wow.

Donteacia 44:29

He's sold his eight figure business.

Shaunette 44:32

Oh wow.

Donteacia 44:33

Because he was like, I don't want to spend my time this way. And so he has his, he still had a seven figure business, but he made a decision that, that. With the sacrifices too great. Right. The cost was too great for that is they haven't determined like where you are in your story and in your journey. Like my daughter is in college now, so I kind of have like this free reign to work all day.

Shaunette 44:57

Yeah. Yeah. I can change a little bit.

Donteacia 45:01

Yeah. So before I was like, I got to make sure I've talked to my daughter, which means there's only so much we can do. There's only so much time I can give this business because she's my priority. And now that she's in college, I'm like, I got to pay for college. Right. We're working 12 hours a day. So it just depends on where you are in your story. And it, the only person whose opinion and vision matters.

Shaunette 45:28

Yes.

Donteacia 45:29

Right. So you have to write that vision down, back into it and then create the task associated with it, with achieving that number. I think that's what people make the biggest mistake. They have this big goal and they'll put, we'll just say a million. Cause people like the million bait like that around the dollars, but then they have no task associated with getting to it. Right. They're like I got, I, I wanna make a million dollars. And then I actually had a friend who came over, who was a contractor and he was talking about how much money he wanted to make. And I said, well, how much, how many clients do you have to serve a month to make that happen? He's like, I don't know. I was like, well, if you don't know, and how, you know, how much average per week do you have to make per day? He's like, I don't know. You're never going to get to$250,000. If you don't know what you have to do to get there. If you know that you need 10 clients a month to get to 250,000, if you know that every time you go live on social, you get a client. That means you gotta go like 10 times. Right. If you have to be able to break that down into tasks associated with your goals, otherwise you're just spinning your wheels. A lot of people spend time in busy. Yeah. They're not doing anything that's positive or income producing.

Shaunette 46:46

That is so true. You know, I don't think that I learned that until recently to like what you said to set the goals and back into, I love that that's. A lot of us just start business and just, we're just like, okay, well, the money will make itself. I don't know how much money I'm going to make this year, but I hope to be a millionaire by the end of this year. But we get to the end of the year and you look back at your finances and you're like, I didn't make that difference. Because you never set goals at the beginning of the year and action steps to achieve that goal. And I didn't realize that I'm like, well, the money will come. I'll be a millionaire. Everything will flow. No,

Donteacia 47:31

some of the times those tasks are uncomfortable for the best of us. I told you, I just now started creating content. Right? I've had people tell me for the last two years, you need to create content. If you want to go to eight figure. There you're, you're gonna, you're not going to be profitable. If you pay for all of your traffic, you got to create content. And I pushed back from, and I pushed back from it and I pushed back from it. But I also noticed every time I went live, every time I did content. Yeah, but for whatever reason, I just couldn't get to a place that was a thing for me yesterday, accurate highers month worth of worth of content. I'm very excited about our new content strategy, because it's like, I'm tired of paying for every single person that comes in our door. Right? So these tasks are going to make my life easier. So even the best of. You know what I'm saying? It takes time for us to sometimes say this task is a task you need to be doing. And until you do it, you're not going to fully step into your vision. Yeah.

Shaunette 48:34

One thing that you kind of highlighted without really highlighting is that, um, at the beginning of even your entrepreneurial journey, just for social media, it wasn't a thing to post content. We weren't doing reels that way. Necessary a necessary component of marketing. We were just doing, trying to John and get people on our mailing list. Honestly, you know, now we have to stand up in front of a camera and show our audience. This is who we are either. You love it or you hate it. And if you love it, hire me. Right. And I think it's hard because a lot of, for me specifically,

49:15

I'm

Shaunette 49:15

an introvert. I will go in, do my thing. I will stand on stage and present a whole workshop, but when I'm done, I go back into my shell and I have a hard time doing that on social media. I can't just sit there and do Tik TOK dances and say, hire me, you know? So. With entrepreneurs, we have to find that sweet spot. And instead of dancing in front of Instagram and doing your thing, you have to really educate the people.

Donteacia 49:43

I'm not doing that shit. So doing that, there was no death in any of my videos. Let me start here. No, and I actually love to dance. I dance all the time every day, but there was no nappy. So I think that you have to change again. This is the perspective, right? So I had to change the narrative. I actually just finished up code's all MBA program. And during that four week intensive, I changed my perspective around what perspective, around what we do for our clients before it was like, we help inventors. Build products that can change the world. And now it's, we help transform inventors into who they need to be to impact their lives with their products, with their creations. When we made it about the. And less about the Mack rope, you know, of society. It became, how do I show up on camera to help this person to serve this person? What's they do with that? Hopefully will change the world, but that's not what I'm trying to do anymore. I'm not trying to change the world. I'm trying to change them. So what information do they need from me? That's going to help them grow into who they want to be. And when that clicked for me, Right. I was like, we've been doing this all wrong.

Shaunette 51:07

I love it. So you're speaking to a specific audience, not just everybody.,

Donteacia 51:11

I'm speaking to a person who has an idea who is tormented and don't know what to do with it. Our ideal client is who we want to come into the funnel, but who I speak to is I speak to the core of that person right now, our other marketing and all of that stuff. That'll like, be like women, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But when it comes to me, sitting in front of the camera and talking, I'm like, yo, listen, here's what you need to do. Here's what you need to avoid. Here's what you should look out for. There's something inside of you. That's beautiful and special and great tap into that. You know what I'm saying? So I'm not saying, Hey woman, who's 40 years old who wants to in corporate America, I'm like, Hey person, who can't sleep at night. I personally feel like their life And then what comes from that hopefully is the end result of as regional.

Shaunette 51:57

That's amazing. That is so amazing. Well, it sounds like you, your formula is working and it's working for you and your clients. And I just love what you're doing. I love what you're doing for the community. Please, please, please keep on doing it and come back to Tampa.

Donteacia 52:14

I'm coming back, girl, I can't wait. I tried to give myself a year though, of not sitting feel

Shaunette 52:19

rent is ridiculous,

Donteacia 52:22

crazy for twice, Twice what it is here in Jacksonville for the say I live on the river downtown and for a place that's this large it's over 2000 square feet. My condo for something this large in Tampa, it would cost me twice as much.

Shaunette 52:39

I bet. I bet. Well, thank you. Thank you so much for joining me. We, we should do this again. I think we need to do this probably in like months, you know, as, as you start to build more products and services in your own business, we need to bring you back on again. So thank you. Do you have anything that you want to tell the audience, that you are wanting right now?

Donteacia 53:05

So here's the thing. We have one thing we all. That's it. Everybody has a million that we have one thing, and that's how to help you build your products. If you want to know more about the process, go to www.free invention, training.com. Watch the training is me 90 minutes explaining the entire process from start to finish. You'll have an opportunity to join us and work with us at the end, but even if you don't, you will leave that training more knowledgeable, more full, and more ready to get out there and work on your.

Shaunette 53:34

Awesome. Well, I will put your information in the description bar so that they can reach you. and thank you.

Donteacia 53:43

You're welcome, girl. You're welcome.