212. From Dolls to Dollars w/ Guest: Ann Carden

Ann Carden shares her remarkable journey from childhood entrepreneur to successful business coach, revealing how she built and sold five businesses across multiple industries. Her story demonstrates the power of premium offers and strategic delegation for business growth and financial success.

• Started entrepreneurial journey at age seven running craft classes in her basement
• Grew up watching her father's success as a real estate entrepreneur
• Built a global handmade doll business that went international before the internet
• Created a manufacturing system with other moms to scale production
• Pivoted to fitness after selling her craft business, eventually building multiple health clubs
• Developed "Body Blast" as a premium offering that became a million-dollar revenue generator
• Sold her fitness businesses to focus on coaching other entrepreneurs
• Currently runs two businesses: high-end business coaching and a media/marketing agency
• Advocates for premium pricing strategy rather than traditional funnel approach
• Recommends letting go of tasks that don't require your expertise to scale effectively
• Believes in creating abundance while making a positive impact on others' lives

http://www.expertinyoumagazine.com/

Chapters

• 0:00 Introducing Business Expert Anne Cardin
• 1:25 First Entrepreneurial Venture: Craft Business
• 9:40 Building and Scaling: Manufacturing Strategy
• 15:28 Transitioning to Fitness Business
• 23:34 Premium Offer Strategy
• 34:33 Growing Through High-End Services
• 39:17 Business Mindset for Growth
• 46:48 Legacy and Final Thoughts

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Yeah, it's Mindset Cafe. We all about that mindset. Gotta stay focused. Now go settle for the last. It's all in your head how you think you manifest. So get ready to rise, cause we about to be the best. Gotta switch it up. Gotta break the old habits. Get your mind right. Turn your dreams into habits. No negative vibes, only positive vibes. What is up, guys? Welcome to another episode of the Mindset Cafe podcast. It's your boy, devin, and we are honored to be joined by a true powerhouse in both business growth, marketing and sales.

Speaker 1: 0:34

I want to welcome to the show Ann Cardin. Honestly, her resume speaks for itself. I don't want to give too much of her backstory. I want her to do that. It always comes better from the source, but she's had a few decades of experience. I don't want to give too much of her backstory and I want her to do that. It always comes better from the source, but she's had a few decades of experience. I don't want to put a number on it, but a few decades in experience in business building, really having a high impact in the marketing sector and understanding sales strategy. So with that, we're going to tie all that into the entrepreneurial mindset and really dive into her story, but without further ado. Anne, thank you so much for being on.

Speaker 2: 1:08

Hey Devin, Thanks so much for having me. It's my honor.

Speaker 1: 1:13

So let's dive in. I always like to start with people's upbringing and kind of see where that entrepreneurial side came from and so forth and how the mindset was developed. So if you could just kind of give us a little backstory on you and so forth and how the mindset was developed.

Speaker 2: 1:25

So if you just kind of give us a little backstory on you, yeah, my first business it wasn't a business, but my first opportunity to make my own money I was about seven or eight years old, believe it or not, and I found a way to make money in my neighborhood and ran some craft classes in my basement and charged kids to show them how to make these paper mache balloons and it's really funny, that came out on a podcast one day. I didn't even realize that I was that young when I started learning how to kind of make my own money, but as a kid my dad was an entrepreneur and always had his own business and so as a kid I guess subconsciously I maybe kind of picked up on that or learned that, but I always found ways to make my own money. I was always selling things I would find. Back then not sharing my age here but back then we had to sell things like Christmas cards and flower seeds and vegetable seeds and things like that and go door to door.

Speaker 2: 2:19

And then I sold Girl Scout cookies and so I just kind of learned that whole marketing and sales route and and I went the corporate route after school and you know, went to college and went the corporate route and was doing business management for about 13 years in retail for a pretty big company, and then I left that to be a stay at home mom and we struggled financially with my husband's paycheck. It wasn't enough and I, out of financial hardship, started my first like real business. So that was, that was the journey. Since then I'm on my seventh business. I've sold five previous, I have two right now and, yeah, that's the path.

Speaker 1: 3:00

That is amazing. And I do want to say something you kind of were saying from your backstory too. I got to say the best strategy that I've seen is these Girl Scout cookies.

Speaker 2: 3:14

I was a leader in selling Girl Scout cookies. Let me tell you are crazy and one.

Speaker 1: 3:22

They are like crazy good too, but just the amount that they sell every single year and stuff like that. That strategy is just impressive.

Speaker 2: 3:31

Yeah, now they actually set up tables in front of stores and things like that. But we were never allowed to do that back in the day. We had to go literally had to go door to door and just sell to friends and family and neighbors, and back then you could go door to door and it wasn't a big deal People bought from you. But you know, I part of the whole sales thing is I was always just really excited about what I was selling and I think that just came through. And even when I started building businesses I was always passionate about what I was doing and so that enthusiasm just came through and it was a really natural thing for me and so that enthusiasm just came through and it was a really natural thing for me.

Speaker 1: 4:07

No, that is so awesome. So I mean you coming up with an entrepreneurial dad you know what kind of impact I mean, because a lot of people don't get that experience, you know, and myself included. But what impact do you think that that had on you? You know, understanding that you don't have to have a job, that you can, you know, create your own way in life. Do you think that really shaped your entrepreneurial drive? Do you think it, you know, led from your growth, from, you know, corporate, to to open up more businesses? I mean, five sold two open, so it was crazy.

Speaker 2: 4:40

I, you know, I think subconsciously it does things for you when you're growing up as a kid, you're not really thinking about that.

Speaker 2: 4:47

I never really thought about it so much. I mean, yes, my dad had a business, and the one thing that I will say I think really shaped things for me is I would say that we were always probably upper middle class and I saw my dad make money and we had things not to sound arrogant or anything, but we had things that I did not see other people have, and he always had fairly new cars and we had a boat and we had a cabin and we had nice homes and I really grew up. I had such a great childhood. I wasn't a spoiled kid by any means, but I did see that my dad, because he had his own business, we were able to have things that I didn't see other families have. So I think, subconsciously, that I probably kind of took that in, like there's bigger opportunity when you have your own business, when you're doing your own thing. I don't think I really thought about it, though, as a kid.

Speaker 1: 5:51

What kind of business did he have, did you say?

Speaker 2: 5:53

Did he have? Yeah, he was in real estate for years, so he ran a real estate company for many years, but even before that, before he started his real estate company, he always was in some kind of sales working for himself. So he always was selling some kind of a product or something where, and he was a go-getter he was driven. The other thing I did see that I think really, he instilled a work ethic in us that I don't think a lot of kids grow up with. I saw him work really hard, especially.

Speaker 2: 6:26

I remember more the real estate because I was older at that point, and I remember, though he would leave on the weekends to go show homes and go. You know, he was just, he was very engaged as a dad, but he also worked really, really hard and I saw that and I saw, and so I did really acquire that work ethic. And even from a young age I started serving in restaurants and you know there's nothing that will get you in front of people and learning customer service and and all of that like serving in a restaurant. I mean that will, that will do it. So I did that from the time I was 14 and I learned how to work really hard.

Speaker 1: 7:07

So no, that's, I mean, that's awesome and I think that does. You know, maybe it didn't give you the direct like entrepreneurial bug, but being an entrepreneur, like you said, that drive and that you know work ethic is a different. It's a whole different ballgame. And so I do wanna take a step into what was that first initial? Like the businesses, other businesses, you sold. What was that first pivot for you? Opening your business and realizing that you can do this, you can scale it and then multiplying it. Number two, number three, like what were those mindset shifts for you?

Speaker 2: 7:47

Yeah, it's so interesting. Now this will really date me. But that very first business I was a stay at home mom and we didn't have the internet and I didn't have all the things we have available today. So I was looking for a way to make money and I was pretty crafty and I knew how to make things in. The craft industry was exploding across the country and I thought, well, I'm going to, I'm going to see if I can make some craft items.

Speaker 2: 8:08

Well, long story short, that business went global before the internet and I did that the old fashion way advertising and international magazines but I kind of was running a manufacturing company out of my home and the one thing that I learned is okay, if you're going to grow this, if you're really going to scale this, I didn't think scale at the time. I thought grow. If you're really going to grow this, you can't do this by yourself. Because I was making every doll. I was doing every piece of that doll, all of it, and so I quickly realized, okay, I need some help, and I hired a whole bunch of other moms to do different parts for me, and so it was almost like a manufacturing company, like I had somebody that stuffed all parts and I had somebody that cut dresses, you know, cut the clothes for me and and so people were doing different things.

Speaker 2: 8:56

I had moms coming in and out of my home.

Speaker 2: 8:58

The cool thing about that was it didn't just help my family, I was able to help other families and I was able to help have a lot of other moms make income while they were staying home with their kids. But for that, you know, back then this was again about 35 years ago I had I was making over six figures in income 35 years ago, running this out of my home, which was really unheard of. I mean, you that was just now, that's nothing, but back then that was that was a lot. But yeah, I was in stores across the country and I remember the day I got a ship into Iceland. I thought that was pretty cool, call for you know, people had to call you on the phone. So but the mindset in that, quickly realizing I could not do it all on my own and if I was going to really grow it and really make any kind of money at doing that business, I had to have help. So that was probably the first thing that I realized very, very early on.

Speaker 1: 9:57

No, and I think that is such a big lesson too, because you start your first business, you're the one making it and you realize that you're the bottleneck to the growth and then, all of a sudden, you have to hand over the reins partially, and I can say for myself with my gym and when we hired our first employee, especially our second employee, and I had to hand over the reins a little bit more.

Speaker 1: 10:20

It's like you, you have this internal battle, right, it's like you have to teach these people how to do this, but you know that you could do it in your mind better, right, and sometimes it is only in your mind.

Speaker 1: 10:33

It's really, it's the same exact thing, but or a problem happens and you're like I'll just fix it, you know, instead of teaching them how to fix it Right, and so, like that's that first lesson, believe me, I learned that same one and it was like once you, once you let go a little bit, you're you know, instead of white knuckling the business, it's like you can, you can all of a sudden breathe a little bit more and you realize that the team essentially like cause you created what's really cool, is like before the internet, before everything. Like you know a lot of moms. I remember my mom that she would, they would go to like either book clubs or like Tupperware, party things and whatever. And you were creating this little business. You know network club thing. You know with the local moms, which is cool Cause they all got to communicate. You know, hang out with each other, work and do stuff together.

Speaker 2: 11:19

Actually, no, we didn't do any of that. No, I was a company, I was no. They were coming in and out and none of them knew each other. They were all just different. You know, they, I, they were just moms. I knew and I would say, hey, do you want to help with this? And so no, they there was. There wasn't a club to it at all.

Speaker 1: 11:38

No, yeah, no, I get that part. I didn't mean club in that sense. I meant club in the sense of like it more of a community style where it's like they are employees, right and everything, and they're still doing that, but at the same time, I'm sure that you had more than one mom in your home working right yeah, really, at different times.

Speaker 2: 11:57

And a lot of times when I say coming and going, they were picking things up, dropping things off.

Speaker 2: 12:01

So once in a while I would have somebody in my home working, but that was not very often, yeah, so it was very different because I, you know, I didn't really have the space to to do that, but I was really still running a manufacturing company out of my home. It's just they were taking things back to their house, doing it, bringing it back. So there was there were taking things back to their house, doing it, bringing it back. So there were there were constantly moms coming and going, yeah, so that was my, my misunderstanding, because I heard manufacturing at home and I was like, oh, that's crazy.

Speaker 1: 12:30

You know, I completely get what you mean now. So I mean you took it global, which is that's impressive at even in today's day and age, right, but you did that before the internet and everything like that Like you. So what, what gave you the idea to start? Just you know marketing in you know international magazines Like why did you want to go global versus just a national like what was that whole you know decision?

Speaker 2: 12:58

Yeah, so I, you know, I I think things just kind of evolve and I don't even really remember exactly where I got that idea or how that happened. But there was an international magazine called Country Sampler and it was the number one craft magazine and it was kind of like all the major real, the real crafters were in that and so it was. It wasn't it was so expensive to advertise in that, but I was in stores already across the country. There were a lot of craft stores and so I could be in stores all across the country, rented space in those stores and and then I got the idea to go ahead and advertise in that magazine and that was the thing that really took it global.

Speaker 2: 13:40

But boy, back then I mean the cost, the expense of that I would tell people, you know that that ad would cost about $1,500 back then, for you know, like an eight page ad or a quarter page ad, and you would already be three issues in paying for three issues before you ever found out if that ad was going to pull. So it was so expensive to do that. But you know, my dolls ended up on the cover of the magazine. You couldn't buy the cover, they had to be selected out of 1000s of crafters. So that was a pretty cool milestone for me. But I think it just evolved. I, you know, as I wanted to keep growing and doing things. That was just kind of a natural, natural progression.

Speaker 1: 14:23

No, that's so awesome. Please tell me you have at least one of the magazines with your dolls on the cover.

Speaker 2: 14:29

I have it somewhere.

Speaker 2: 14:31

Okay 30 years ago I do. I did keep it. Yeah, I did keep it and and eventually I went into the pattern piece of my business. The market was kind of shifting and so I started design and I did all my own doll designs and so that was the thing that made them very unique. They were signed, they were numbered and I did my. I had a collection, so to speak. So I would have people waiting for the next set of dolls to come out. And I remember the lady that called from Iceland. It was really kind of cool you wouldn't think old dolls could impact somebody. But I remember when she called she said her husband was in the service and she traveled around a lot and she said that those dolls gave her so much happiness and comfort because she felt so lonely which almost chokes me up now, which sounds so crazy.

Speaker 2: 15:20

But she said I just wait for the next ones to come out because I just I just love them and I'm, I just surround myself with them and and I just thought that was, that was a really cool thing.

Speaker 1: 15:31

So yeah, that is, that is an awesome thing. That's not even cool, that's amazing. That's such a, that's such a like a proud moment as a business owner when someone can tell you that and and maybe for not even you to have that realization and tell someone said that you know, that's so awesome. But I could say from a different standpoint and I could see where, like that craze or that, like you know, limited line drops and stuff like, do you remember, like back in the day with Beanie Babies?

Speaker 1: 15:56

Yeah, yeah absolutely, and I know some of those ones were like numbered and stuff like that, and I remember having friends like where their moms collected them, like there was a wall and you couldn't touch the wall and I was like I was like that's, I was like that's crazy, you know.

Speaker 2: 16:09

Yeah, and it was you know that that was what it was. I had a. I had a line that was a Noah's Ark line. So I was doing and I had tigers and I kept adding to the collection and so I would have people that would collect them, which was super crazy. But yeah, I mean, gosh, it's so. It's so crazy to think about that and I'd kind of forgotten that story. But yeah, you know it was, it was, it was a lot of work.

Speaker 2: 16:33

So eventually I went into the pattern side of things and then I was rinse and repeat. Right, I was just creating patterns and designing, which I did love the designing, but I hated the pattern part. It was so boring. And so when I finally sold that business, when I decided to get out and exit, I was able to sell my designs and sell my patterns, which I did keep them just to have, but started selling them so other people could make my dolls and I didn't have to make them anymore. So, yeah, that was that was another way to scale too. It was another revenue stream for me as well.

Speaker 1: 17:05

So yeah, that's I mean. That was going to be part of my next question. Was that exit process, right? What I mean? What was the decision like? Why did you want to sell? And then from there, what was that you know? Now you're fully letting go of the reins. Yeah, when you sell, like, what was that you know? Mindset process.

Speaker 2: 17:26

Honestly, I was kind of over it. I had been doing it seven years. It was a lot of work and you know, again, I had a lot of people that were working for me and it was it was still pretty labor intensive, even though and I was doing, you know, craft shows and going and doing things like that and always traveling to the stores to and and shipping like UPS was coming to my house every day shipping big boxes, and you know I just got tired of it after a while. And then, when the market started changing and a lot of things were being imported and I went into the pattern side of it, it was another revenue stream, but I also saw a shift in the market where it was almost I almost couldn't buy the stuff to make my dolls as cheap as now the imports, like from China and some of those places were coming in. So I saw the market changing and evolving, just like it does in anything, and that was the reason I kind of went into the pattern side of things.

Speaker 2: 18:20

Once I did that, though, I didn't love the pattern side and I did still see the market changing and turning and I thought this is my time to get out. So I had the opportunity to sell and I didn't know what my next thing would be, which you'll probably ask, because I don't think you knew what my next thing was, which was fitness, and so, anyways, I made the decision to sell, that I had no idea what I was going to do beyond that it was. It was tough. It was a tough decision, but I also was finished like I was done. I was really tired of it.

Speaker 1: 18:55

So so what when you did sell? How long was that break in between the business number one and finding out what you want to do for business number two?

Speaker 2: 19:06

I wish I could tell you for sure, because I don't really remember but what did transpire? That is, I had gained a lot of weight in that first business because it was fairly sedentary and I never had a weight problem in my whole life, and so I was at this kind of crossroads where I wasn't happy. I wasn't happy with myself. By this point my kids were in school and I thought I don't know what my next thing is going to be, but I do know that I need to get in shape and I need to take better care of myself. And I didn't feel good. I you know, I just, I would even say I felt a bit depressed. It was kind of selling that business and not knowing what my next thing was going to be.

Speaker 2: 19:44

So I started, I really jumped into fitness and loved it, fell in love with it, got in the best shape of my life and I had. I decided I was going to, like, become a trainer and I had, you know, become a fitness instructor, learn about nutrition. And I had, you know, become a fitness instructor, learn about nutrition. So I had to and you're going to laugh I had to actually send away four books to learn all of this stuff and get certified and all of that. And I had binders I probably still have them, they were like this thick that got shipped to my house and had to learn all of that stuff and I started teaching fitness classes.

Speaker 2: 20:22

I didn't even really think about it being a business, as much as I felt so good and I was in the best shape of my life and I thought I want to help other moms feel this good and at that time there were not a lot of health, there weren't health clubs and things around so much. So I decided to start teaching fitness classes in a community hall. Long story short, five locations later I have this huge health club. Now I open a weight loss center, then I open a second health club in a second. So I'm running four businesses at one time and was able to sell all of those, which was amazing. But I was in fitness and nutrition for 20 years.

Speaker 1: 20:58

Oh, wow, I mean that's a huge accomplishment. One, to open multiple locations, but two, it just shows you, like you know, rewinding to what we said in the beginning, like the work ethic of your dad and everything like that really set a tone for you know, your mindset, your work ethic, but also you having that that accomplishment of building that first business like that wasn't easy, you know to to grow to what you did grow to, and so, like that bug of that work bug and that drive doesn't go away. I can say even from from example, like COVID hit and most people are super happy about staying home Like it was driving me nuts. Like I, I like to be doing things. Like I built an, an online meal plan company and I didn't even send meals, I didn't make meals, but I built that up just to do something, you know, and there's like and so.

Speaker 2: 21:50

I wish I would have had all this available when I was doing fitness and um. It would have been a game changer, yeah.

Speaker 1: 21:57

So I mean you, you have these different health clubs and you have, you know, the gyms and everything like that. Why did you decide to sell those and to pivot from there?

Speaker 2: 22:07

Yeah. So you know, I built a program so when I was teaching classes in a community hall and that, the thing that really kind of helped me grow which is still a model that I use today in my business One of the things that really helped me grow is I created a premium offer. I created a program called body blast back then and it it had its own brand and it became a million dollar offer for me. And back then again that was kind of crazy to think about, but that one little program literally put me on the map. I mean we would have a waiting list for people that wanted to do that program, but it was also a premium price. It was, you know, like four times what my health club fees were. And so because of that it combined and this is not even I mean now it's so common it's ridiculous to even talk about that it combined fitness and nutrition. So people got amazing results from it and I would have people that would travel literally 30 miles to come to my body blast and they would carpool to my body blast.

Speaker 2: 23:10

And it was through that that I kept expanding my location. I just kept, I bootstrapped, I kept expanding as I had the money. And then eventually, when I moved into my larger location, which was 16,000 square feet, and we put in, you know we had everything from a spa to, you know, the weight loss center, to an indoor track, to you know, all the kind of the amenities. But I was in a small town too, so we were still kind of limited on what we could do, but that one thing really helped it grow and, you know, just really helped it continue to expand and yeah, so I think I forgot your question.

Speaker 1: 23:53

No, no, no, no. So I mean that answered a lot of it. But what was that point that you know you wanted to sell those businesses? Oh, that's why that was your question.

Speaker 2: 24:02

Yeah, it's been a long day. I think you're my third podcast today.

Speaker 1: 24:07

I got you.

Speaker 2: 24:08

Yeah, you know, I was running four of them at the same time and even though I had staff and I had team in both of those locations, I still was doing a lot with those, you know, with those businesses and the businesses. So one of the weight loss centers and one of the health clubs actually I I knew I was going to sell that at some point. As I continued to grow and invest back into that business. I really looked at that like, wow, this could, as this thing's really getting big, this could be a retire kind of a retirement plan like this. By by this time I'm getting older and I'm thinking this could really be a nice little nest egg, you know. So that became part of my game plan was to sell those.

Speaker 2: 24:50

Then, when I opened the other two, I thought, okay, I'm going to sell these two and I want to kind of downsize and go more. A high-end training center, which was what my second club was, and I want to have the weight loss too. And so I was running, but I was still running all four at one time and then it got to be so much I'm like, okay, I need to let go of the big ones. I had a buyer. It's somebody that was very interested in taking it over and making a good offer. So it was a little hard to not say yes to that. And I already had the other two.

Speaker 2: 25:23

So I wasn't really giving up on what I still loved, but I was just sort of making a shift and kind of uh kind of letting go of a lot of the work. For me it was like okay, getting some freedom back into my life, and, um, so I, I did the other two and and then I quit doing those. I decided to sell those two when I worked with a business coach in my last two businesses and it was so impactful for my business and I thought, oh my gosh, this is my next thing. I want to take everything I've learned and I want to help other people in their business, people in their business. And I stepped into business coaching and it took off and I was like I don't want to do these clubs anymore. I don't, I want to go into coach, I want to go full-time into coaching, and so that was when I made the decision to sell those other two.

Speaker 1: 26:12

No, that's so awesome and I love the fact that, like you're, you know you going into coaching because, even like, when we launched our franchise model or side of the business, like I, hired a mentor and a coach who launched, built his own franchise, scaled it and then, you know, has walked the walk is so crucial there. I mean now in today's day and age, like a lot of coaches are just a coach and that is their business.

Speaker 2: 26:44

Don't get me started.

Speaker 1: 26:45

And so but honestly, but honestly, like that was one of the things, like when I was looking into your, into your, your background and everything like that, because I mean there's so many coaches quote unquote that want to come on the show and that, sorry, like I can't. I've interviewed a couple and it's the same talk every single time and it's like you've never even walked this walk. You don't know what's on the other side. And the same thing for personal trainers. There's every. Every one of their mom is a personal trainer now, but a little, you know, small amount of them actually have done the work, understand the schooling, got certified, you know, like yourself and like myself, and it's a completely different you know world. So now you got into coaching right and you're seeing that blow up. I'm assuming that's still one of the businesses you currently have right.

Speaker 2: 27:29

Yeah, it actually is. I help coaches, consultants, professional entrepreneurs really grow high-end businesses. So they're working with really premium clients. That's where I'm very different from a lot of the market. A lot of the market go the funnel route and I help people work at the really top end of their market so bringing in really really high-end clients. An example one of my consultants you know closed a $400,000 deal, so that was, you know, so working kind of at that level, so like minimum fees for most of my clients that they get is like $25,000 and up from there. So but that's one of the things that makes it different. But then I also have my media and agency side, my media and marketing agency expert in you, and that is where I'm starting to really build that out because that will be an exit strategy for me as well. So I kind of have two sides.

Speaker 1: 28:28

Okay, so then the marketing side, you're building it to exit eventually, but then the coaching is something that you're going to most likely keep because I mean, at the end of the day, you are the coach, right?

Speaker 2: 28:39

Yeah, I am the coach and I do really still love it.

Speaker 2: 28:43

The interesting the marketing and media side, though, really came naturally.

Speaker 2: 28:48

So I was already helping people build their influence in the market, build up their brand that was part of their marketing build out their marketing strategies, their sales strategies, and so Expert In you kind of became my brand, and I, you know, I wrote a book around that and everything.

Speaker 2: 29:04

And then, as I started building that, I wanted to be able to offer the services and not say, okay, you need to start a podcast, but go over here and go find somebody to do that for you. And what I found is I was sending my clients away to go get their book written, to go get featured in the media, to get their podcast launched, and I was sending them other places and I thought, okay, this is not leveraging what I can do. And so I started building my team, and so now I have a team. We can write their book, we can get them featured in the media, we can launch their podcast, we can do their content. So I have a good size team that can do all those pieces for them, and it was just a natural fit. So now that's starting to kind of take off on its own.

Speaker 1: 29:52

No, that's amazing and I think that that will scale. I mean, you already have a background in it. You've gone above and beyond and have been able to scale and the proof is in the pudding of what you've done. It's like I already know that side is going to be an amazing exit strategy for you as well. I mean, I've known plenty of entrepreneurs, whether they're still an entrepreneur or not, and the side that people I feel like get kind of strung up on is the sales, is the marketing. You know, because they have the card that says I'm an entrepreneur now but there's still that side of the coin that you do need to sell and learn and continue to grow on your sales and understand that marketing is an ever changing game. How can they shift their mindset to embrace the sales and marketing aspect of their business?

Speaker 2: 30:42

I think a lot of them. They get very confused. There's a lack of clarity around what they should do, and so one of the reasons I kind of started it is because I went down some of the wrong paths, especially when I came online and started working, when I was out there working with small business owners and I was speaking on stages and I was networking and I was meeting small business owners. That's how I got my first client. So I've actually coached in over 80 industries. But when I came online and I started working with coaches and consultants, the game was different. Right, everybody was taught funnels, everybody was taught, you know, start something low ticket and then ascend people.

Speaker 2: 31:22

And I just after doing that, it wasn't working for me and I was bringing in the wrong clients and I thought I need to figure this out. So I think the first thing I would say is you've got to figure it out. You cannot, you can't do anything really with your business if you don't sort of take that attitude. And for me, I had to really go back to my roots, like Ann, what's worked for you in the past, like what's really helped you grow. And it goes back to what I shared about. I had a premium offer, an offer that was higher than you know those low gym fees right, those low, those low fees and it was it attracted like the doctors and the lawyers, and I coach, you know, I train the mayor and you know all these higher level people.

Speaker 2: 32:10

And so I started looking at that and I thought that's what's missing in this business and I had to shift my marketing and I had to learn that. So I think for a lot of people there's confusion and they go that sort of funnel route where they're trying to sell something really low and they burn out and they and it takes a lot of volume and it's. It's just a tough business model. But you have to have the mindset of look, that is the business. Until you get it to a place where you can pay other people to do that for you and you've got working systems, you've, you know how to market, you know how to sell. Now you can scale that and give that to other people and train other people. You have to learn it for yourself. You just do.

Speaker 1: 32:59

No, I agree, and I think that I mean I like your, your take on like the having that, the premium, because there's there's two sides of the coin of like when you're selling right, you could buy a G-Shock watch right, which I believe, believe me, I have plenty of them and I love them but also then you know, people buy Rolexes right and it's like there's a market for both. So not every business model has to start that funnel approach because if you're only leading in with that, that free offer or the you know, buy this and get a crazy discount, your clientele that you're hoping to get might not be even interested in those kinds of offers.

Speaker 2: 33:39

They won't be to start yet, right.

Speaker 1: 33:42

And then it's like not to say that you can't have the full staircase of of offers but even for like us, like with our gym, like we're not the cheapest, we're not the most expensive, but it's like this is our offer. We don't discount our offer, you know, and and devalue the, the value. You know we'll do other incentives and so forth, but the value of the membership is still the membership, like that's the one thing we don't negotiate.

Speaker 2: 34:09

Yes, and you know, here's the thing If people really did the math, if they really did the math and I actually did this at one point when I had my gyms I did the math. Okay, what is my premium offer bringing in and what is the what number one, what's the overhead of that which was so minimal? And then what is the overhead of my volume offer? And I would have had to literally lose like three quarters of my members to offset what I was making on the premium. So when you think about a premium business, it's, it's a top-down approach. Everything becomes. So you start high and then everything becomes you know, you're, you're next year down, it becomes, they become down cells. Like we would use that premium offer, they would come in for the body blast and then we would sell them a gym membership to keep them, so that you know keeping that, that reoccurring revenue.

Speaker 2: 35:02

But it's, it's a very different approach. But if you really do the math and think about it, you're working. It's higher profitability, it takes less team, it's less I mean, it's just less management. It's an easier, easier model and a lot of people this really kind of kills me like in the coaching and consulting space, people that are real experts, like maybe they come from corporate and they've been a CEO and now I see them selling something like a little membership site or like a little course and I'm like what? That is just nuts, right, people would be paying you to be, like you know, an outsource CEO. And so I see these real experts who are devaluing what they do and it's kind of it's really kind of heartbreaking. But it's because they fall into sort of that funnel kind of idea. And you see a lot of high ticket stuff out there too, people talking high ticket and they're talking about a few thousand dollars. I don't lot of high ticket stuff out there too, people talking high ticket and they're talking about a few thousand dollars.

Speaker 2: 36:03

I don't call that high ticket at all, but it really is about understanding the value you bring to the market and then building a business around that. And that's where expert in you came from. It's like, okay, what's your expertise, let's build value around that.

Speaker 1: 36:14

No, I do agree with what you're saying too, cause, like even for our franchise advisor I mean we paid you know mid forties for for him and you know, and we still get extra you know advice, and he's on our advisory board and so forth but if he would have sold a course that was $99, I would have been like Nope, yeah.

Speaker 2: 36:33

You're not very good. You're not.

Speaker 1: 36:35

You're not my person and so he broke out the number and I was like oof. I was like that's expensive. But I was like I talked to my business partner. I was like if we do this, we can move some stuff around, we can make it work. And it was like the value was there. He knows his value, but also I knew his value, and so it was like you make it work. And so it's like that, that funnel approach again, it only really works for certain industries and certain things, not for everything. That's where I think a lot of entrepreneurs get mixed up is they're like oh, I need to create my free offer.

Speaker 2: 37:08

It's like maybe maybe, maybe not just going after, yeah.

Speaker 1: 37:14

Exactly and what your business model is right.

Speaker 2: 37:17

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 37:17

It's like that's huge for me and I love that you bring that, you know style of top-down kind of thing, because a lot of businesses are really missing that especially in the coaching industry. They are yeah.

Speaker 2: 37:29

I see people. They'll have these huge membership sites or these huge membership groups, you know communities. They'll have hundreds of thousands of dollars and they're still selling things low. And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that, because they've already built it right. They've already built the volume. But I'm like you need to be teaching people how to do that and charging a half a million dollars. I mean you need to teach people how. You built a multimillion dollar business and you can still have. You still have all that. You don't have to give that up. But where are your half million dollar offers? Where are your million dollar offers that you could be selling? Teaching people what you've done?

Speaker 2: 38:06

And people miss that part.

Speaker 1: 38:08

I will say that is. I've seen a few people now that are doing that and it's almost this. I don't know, maybe it just rubs me the wrong way. I love the idea if it's done the right way, because, like now I can tell, it's almost like a reverse pyramid scheme kind of thing and it's like no one everyone's getting brought in to become a coach and so basically the bottom level people are the only ones really serving clients and then, once you upgrade a level, you start to coach the first level of coaches and then you move up a level.

Speaker 2: 38:41

I'm not talking about that.

Speaker 1: 38:43

Right, right, right. But I'm saying that's a newer model. I'm starting to see where it's like the top one or two people are making seven, eight figures, but it's only because they have this coaching pyramid system down. I'm like I don't know about all that.

Speaker 2: 38:56

That's one way to build a business. It's no different than you own a club and you bring in a lot of trainers. It's the same kind of thing, right? You train them the way you want to train them and they're training your clients and your depend. It's the same model. It's really not a pyramid, it's just a way to build a business where you're multiplying yourself.

Speaker 2: 39:22

Here's what I don't love about that model. I've been in those kinds of programs and I think they just suck. I mean, I'm just going to say it the way it is. I just I think they're terrible because you don't get the person that really knows what they're doing. I've been in programs where I've known more than the person coaching me and that you're paying big bucks for that and I think that is out of integrity and that's why I absolutely don't love that model.

Speaker 2: 39:40

But let's say, for example, someone has built a multimillion dollar business, maybe they've done it with a Facebook community and then they've got all the ways that they've done that. They could be taking someone who has the funds and show them how they built, how they did that and literally helped them do it, and they could be charging that client a million dollars, like one client and coaching them. And when you're coaching people at those high levels, you don't need a lot of those clients, but I see a lot of people that aren't even offering those kinds of offers. So I'm not you're talking about scaling a different way. I'm talking about where is your premium offer, where you're taking, maybe, private clients, charging them, you know, a million dollars, a half a million dollars, and then teaching them exactly what you did and helping them get there. And that is a very different model, right? No, I completely.

Speaker 1: 40:35

I get it and that is a very different model, right? No, I completely. I get it. It makes a lot of sense and actually the coaching thing does make sense when you put it that way.

Speaker 2: 40:42

I don't know, maybe it was just, maybe it was just the coach like, well, I was gonna say it doesn't mean it's good right it doesn't it doesn't mean it's done well in a lot of in a lot of businesses and to me there there's a lot where they're just all about the money and they really don't care, and that is, to me, that's out of integrity. If you are responsible for people under you, you have other people coaching. I'm going to be watching results, I'm going to be looking at that. But yeah, I'm not a fan of that kind of model. I'm not a fan of big group models, things like that. That's why I just choose the model that I have and I just work at a higher level and I only work with so many clients.

Speaker 1: 41:26

No, I agree, and I think that is smart of you to go that route. To me it's just more impactful on a personal level for you and for the client as well. Yeah me, it's just more impactful on a personal level for you and for the client as well. A question I do have is like what is the biggest, or what are maybe a couple of the biggest, that growth strategies a business owner that's feeling stuck could start to implement or look at, to maybe start to shift their business?

Speaker 2: 41:53

The one thing I would say is you have to go premium. You have to have some kind of a high level premium offer that that alone can grow your business really, really fast. If you've already validated what you do and you're already good and you get good results, that is a very easy next step for you because you can, you can talk about those results and people will pay you really good money. Here's an example. I'm just going to throw this out If I can help you literally and for real, if I could help you bring in a $50,000 client in the next two weeks, what would that be worth to you? $50,000. Yeah, that would be a and that's one client, right. Once you learn how to do that, you can do it over and over and over again. So that's that's what I'm talking about. When you so when you develop that premium offer and you've already got results and you already have proven systems and things like that, you can actually grow so much faster. So that would be the first growth strategy. And that's what I learned when I kind of said what, why am I not loving this business? Oh, wait, somewhere I went this volume route and this low end route and I'm bringing in the wrong clients and I'm not bringing in clients where I get to actually utilize my skills because they're not ready for what I know, and so that was where I learned that. So that's one.

Speaker 2: 43:21

The second thing is you do have to let go of things and you do have to realize, even if you want to do the main thing, I still coach in my business, and so that's strange to a lot of people, but I charge enough that it's worth it for me to coach in my business.

Speaker 2: 43:37

But there's all the other things I don't do, Like I don't book my own podcast, I don't do my own editing, I don't. You know, I do still do a lot of my content because obviously it's part of my brand, but there's so many things I do not do. I have people that that do a lot of those things for me and I get to do the stuff I love. So that's the key and that can help you grow faster too, to let go of a lot of the stuff that really holds you down and bottlenecks you. So I get to be the face of my business. I get to do the fun things, I get to get out and speak and and do my show and and all of that, and so I think those are the two things I would say.

Speaker 1: 44:17

No, those are. That's awesome advice, and I think the delegation thing is huge, as hard as it is, as hard as it is to to start, it is definitely a huge thing. I do want to ask a final question, and I know I didn't shoot this ahead of time because I want the first thing that comes to mind, but what, and I'll and actually for you, I'm going to give you a one thing you can't use is the high ticket, right, but this is the the legacy wall, right, and I will say it's not a tombstone, as many times I say that people still give me tombstone answers Sometimes. This is basically the legacy wall and on this legacy wall you can leave any lasting message that you've learned along your journey, both in entrepreneurship and just in life, right? What would that message be for the up and coming generations?

Speaker 2: 45:07

When you oh gosh, let me think about this For me, I want to be known as someone who made a difference in the world, but also had success along the way. So, because I believe that we have that opportunity, I believe there's abundance, but you have to come after about, you have to go after abundance with the right heart and you have to serve people and being able to serve thousands and thousands of people through the years Probably a million people. If I really look at all the um, the social media and all that that I've done, um, I just feel like there's no, there's nothing that's more rewarding to leave a legacy. I want people to have good thoughts and and how I impacted their life when they think of me.

Speaker 1: 45:51

I love that. Where can people connect with you and learn more about? You know not only your coaching, but the marketing side and everything that you got going on.

Speaker 2: 45:59

Yeah, well, first of all, you can find me all over social media, and I have a YouTube channel. I'm on LinkedIn, facebook, instagram, so, but you can go to my website at annlcardin there's an L in the middle, com, and you can, you know, get free resources there. You can see different things that I offer and if you want to book a call, you like anything that I'm talking about you can book a call with me there.

Speaker 1: 46:24

Awesome. All that will be in the show notes, guys. So make sure you guys check that out. Make sure you guys follow her on social media. She puts out amazing content. But make sure you guys share this episode with a friend, right? Help bring them up, because helping bring your circle up only helps in having a ripple effect and bringing yourself up as well. But without that even being said, and taking a second again just to say and thank you so much for taking the time out of your day being a busy multi-serial entrepreneur, thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to hop on the Mindset Cafe.

Speaker 2: 46:53

Thank you, it's been so much fun.