118. Building Your Business Selfishly (And Why That's Actually Good) with Colleen Florendo

When Colleen Florendo's sisters called her selfish for not lending her clothes, she didn't realize that word would become the foundation of her entire business philosophy. 

Today I'm talking with Colleen, an embodied messaging strategist and selfish(ish) leadership guide, about her journey from blog writing on Upwork to creating a totally unique offer that didn't take off for six months, but when it did, she couldn't keep up. 

We're diving into why she stuck with an offer nobody understood at first, how she transitioned from done-for-you to mentorship (and why that was terrifying), and why portfolios might actually be commoditizing you instead of helping you stand out.

Plus: What "selfishly express" actually means and why AI makes going deeper non-negotiable. 

Connect with Colleen: 

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Andrea Elibero: Hello and welcome to Solepreneur Scaling Stories. I'm Andrea a certified OBM turned business coach, helping VAs OPMs and done-for-you. Service Pros turn their unstructured expertise into a signature method and a business that pays them for outcomes, not hours. So if you want a business that gives you freedom instead of taking it, you are in the right place.

[00:00:23] Andrea Elibero: Okay. Hello. Hello and welcome back to Solepreneur Scaling Stories. I am excited 'cause I am joined today by the lovely Colleen Flore, who is an embodied messaging mentor and selfish leadership guide, and we're going to get into what that means. Welcome, Colleen. How

[00:00:41] Andrea Elibero: are you? 

[00:00:41] Colleen Florendo: good. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here and just, you know, yap away with you.

[00:00:50] Andrea Elibero: Awesome. So can you first off, like introduce yourself and let everybody know what it is exactly that you

[00:00:56] Andrea Elibero: do in your business? 

[00:00:56] Colleen Florendo: Yeah. So I am a embodied messaging strategist [00:01:00] and selfish thought leadership guide. I would say, I mostly help people sort of like surface their of inner thought leadership and outer thought leadership and kind of find the intersection of that. I do that by day and by night I'm like a dance and enthusiast.

[00:01:21] Colleen Florendo: So you'll find

[00:01:22] Andrea Elibero: what type of

[00:01:23] Andrea Elibero: dancing? 

[00:01:23] Colleen Florendo: a lot. I do like chair dance, heels class, jazz funk right now is my new thing. So yeah, it's, it is a form of expression. 

[00:01:34] Andrea Elibero: it. 

[00:01:35] Colleen Florendo: being able to, you know, translate that into dance has been so, so helpful for my own, like, own journey. Yeah.

[00:01:43] Andrea Elibero: Oh, okay. I love that. Uh, because some people would not like if you hear that, right? Like, oh yes, like, yeah, that's just for fun. But it's really cool that it's actually business related for you, and that helps you because you do these things that are really creative

[00:01:58] Andrea Elibero: for your business, you [00:02:00] know? And so then you get to do these fun things that actually help you to be even

[00:02:02] Andrea Elibero: more creative. 

[00:02:03] Colleen Florendo: think that's a like common misconception is like, you know, you, you only have to do business things or like read only like personal development books to help you, 

[00:02:11] Andrea Elibero: Yeah. 

[00:02:12] Colleen Florendo: in all its forms. You know, whatever arc you wanna do will always have like an impact, like a positive impact to your business.

[00:02:21] Colleen Florendo: I would say.

[00:02:24] Andrea Elibero: Cool. Amazing. Um, okay, so you were talking about being a selfish leadership guide and when it's written, the ish is in parentheses, and so can you explain that?

[00:02:33] Colleen Florendo: So, okay, so. It didn't have the parentheses before. The selfish thing was the message that I've been kind of, kind of working on myself. Like in my head 

[00:02:46] Andrea Elibero: Hmm. 

[00:02:47] Colleen Florendo: I was called selfish a lot because I have sisters, so they're like, oh, you don't wanna lend me your clothes? You're so selfish. Oh, you don't wanna like hang out and do this thing I wanna do.

[00:02:57] Colleen Florendo: You're so selfish. And I was like, I always struggle with that. [00:03:00] And that ended up for me, like being more people policing, like self-sacrifice. Um, but like when I moved to Sweden, I, you know, I kind of like realized like being selfish is sort of like being selfless as well, right? 'cause I'm choosing 

[00:03:19] Andrea Elibero: What do you mean? Yeah.

[00:03:21] Colleen Florendo: and I only learn how to do that.

[00:03:24] Colleen Florendo: Without the guilt, without like the shame 

[00:03:27] Andrea Elibero: Hmm. 

[00:03:27] Colleen Florendo: when I 

[00:03:27] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm. 

[00:03:28] Colleen Florendo: which of course is like a new environment. Like no one lives here that I know except my husband and my friends, right? So there was so much like space to like experiment. Um, but I added the ish part is because I wanna focus on the word self.

[00:03:45] Colleen Florendo: Like a lot of 

[00:03:46] Andrea Elibero: Hmm. 

[00:03:47] Colleen Florendo: start with, you know, outer external. Like, oh, let's look at what people are doing. You know, how can you make your messaging better than theirs? Versus like, how can we go, inward and like, you know, what [00:04:00] do you wanna say? Like, what do you wanna be known for? I think was one of the things that I have been kinda helping people kinda unravel, which is not a, 

[00:04:10] Andrea Elibero: Hmm. I love

[00:04:11] Andrea Elibero: that. 

[00:04:11] Colleen Florendo: ahead.

[00:04:12] Andrea Elibero: Yeah, no, I love that because, so there, it's multidimensional, right? Because one, as women we are often, uh, the selfless

[00:04:20] Andrea Elibero: ones and we can feel guilty. You know, like focusing on ourselves or focusing on our business and like for instance, for my audience, right of

[00:04:29] Andrea Elibero: service providers, it is so common that I see my, my clients, people that I talk to, people that I've worked with myself in the past, like bend over

[00:04:37] Andrea Elibero: backwards for their clients at the expense of themselves.

[00:04:41] Colleen Florendo: mm.

[00:04:42] Andrea Elibero: When the selfish auction you might think is to focus on, and I tell people like, your business is your, you know, that should be your VIP

[00:04:49] Andrea Elibero: client and. People feel bad

[00:04:52] Andrea Elibero: doing that, but in actuality, when they do that, then they're able to give more to their clients. Right? Because it's like [00:05:00] when you are focused on everybody else then, and not nourishing yourself, then you're not giving the best version

[00:05:06] Andrea Elibero: of yourself. 

[00:05:07] Colleen Florendo: And you start to resent your own business. And I think 

[00:05:10] Andrea Elibero: Yep. Mm-hmm. 

[00:05:11] Colleen Florendo: that like service providers experience, um, it's 

[00:05:15] Andrea Elibero: Yes, 

[00:05:16] Colleen Florendo: out, but I hate this. a 

[00:05:18] Andrea Elibero: yes. 

[00:05:19] Colleen Florendo: like experience, I would say. Yeah.

[00:05:22] Andrea Elibero: Yes. Yep. Those aren't my people. Um, or the ones who don't

[00:05:29] Andrea Elibero: wanna get to that, to that place. So, okay. So now you're really focused on messaging and leadership and whatnot, but, uh, I am imagine you did not start from this place. So can you share a little bit about your business journey? Um, specifically when did you start and what did it start

[00:05:43] Andrea Elibero: as? 

[00:05:44] Colleen Florendo: for sure. So I started a free, as a freelancer, I would say, 

[00:05:50] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm. 

[00:05:51] Colleen Florendo: on Upwork, 

[00:05:54] Andrea Elibero: Hmm. 

[00:05:54] Colleen Florendo: So that's what I started doing after the pandemic because I, I was one of the few that was not laid [00:06:00] off but I was like, fuck y'all, I'm gonna leave you before you leave me. So I left them, I left corporate before they could leave me.

[00:06:11] Colleen Florendo: and then Upwork 

[00:06:12] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm. 

[00:06:19] Colleen Florendo: I think a lot of copywriters, 

[00:06:20] Andrea Elibero: Hmm.

[00:06:20] Colleen Florendo: artists, blog writing, I would say.

[00:06:22] Andrea Elibero: Yeah.

[00:06:23] Colleen Florendo: Um, and then eventually I, I don't know, I got some ad about copywriting and I heard this thing that the more related your work is to bottom line of the client, the easier it would be to get a client.

[00:06:40] Colleen Florendo: So it was like the reason why I selfishly chose that, have no shame.

[00:06:45] Andrea Elibero: Hmm.

[00:06:46] Colleen Florendo: Um.

[00:06:46] Andrea Elibero: it wasn't something that you embodied, it was like,

[00:06:48] Andrea Elibero: okay, like this is a strategy. I'm

[00:06:50] Andrea Elibero: gonna go there. Yeah. 

[00:06:52] Colleen Florendo: was more marketing 

[00:06:52] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm. 

[00:06:53] Colleen Florendo: so I said it makes sense. I said writing 

[00:06:56] Andrea Elibero: Right. 

[00:06:56] Colleen Florendo: writing, so why not? Um, [00:07:00] but it was not in the sense that like, oh, this is like, you know, my purpose, my mission. It was, it wasn't 

[00:07:06] Andrea Elibero: Right. 

[00:07:07] Colleen Florendo: was also like

[00:07:08] Andrea Elibero: Yeah.

[00:07:09] Colleen Florendo: selfishly I wanted to be able to immediately kind of. I have my own income as I migrated to Stockholm. I didn't want 

[00:07:21] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm. 

[00:07:22] Colleen Florendo: I selfishly didn't want to be seen as a housewife. Nothing wrong with being a housewife, it's just a personal preference, so, so yeah, that was one of the reasons why I started my 

[00:07:32] Andrea Elibero: So, okay, so, so you're like, okay, I have this job. I'm gonna leave screw you

[00:07:36] Andrea Elibero: people, like, I'm gonna do some copywriting, like blog writing, and I'm getting

[00:07:42] Andrea Elibero: clients because I need to start making a business and creating

[00:07:45] Andrea Elibero: my own income. And then what was. Like, so after, so you started, right. Okay. So we have our business going and then what was the next like level transition that you experienced?

[00:07:57] Colleen Florendo: I think the next level was, [00:08:00] I would say booking out as a copywriter and for an 

[00:08:04] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm. 

[00:08:05] Colleen Florendo: exist in the copywriting space. what I mean by 

[00:08:09] Andrea Elibero: Oh, do tell, yeah.

[00:08:12] Colleen Florendo: It felt like there was just, you know, launch email, sales pages. What else? Content, right? 

[00:08:20] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm. Near

[00:08:21] Andrea Elibero: standard fare. Yeah.

[00:08:22] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm. 

[00:08:22] Colleen Florendo: so, there's just, just, I'm so bored with it.

[00:08:27] Colleen Florendo: And it felt like some people were not ready for sales pages. Some were pretty good at writing sales pages, but they're like some lack specificity and some parts of it. So I. It took a while for it to take off, but eventually when it did, it was like I sold this thing called the Plug and say Playbook, 

[00:08:49] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm. 

[00:08:49] Colleen Florendo: just like a playbook of words for like how the people explain their problems, their desires and it's all read and very specifically and tangibly, which a lot [00:09:00] of my clients then, which mostly like coaches struggle with, um.

[00:09:06] Colleen Florendo: Yeah, like, so I created an offer. I like productized it. Um, I would say templatized it in a way. Um, so that was my like next level, if was, 

[00:09:19] Andrea Elibero: okay, so let's dig in. Yeah, let's dig into that a little bit. 'cause it's kind of like, okay. 'cause I, because you said, oh, I didn't

[00:09:25] Andrea Elibero: take off right away and so I wanna back up to that and something else. Uh, in addition to that is, so one is, oh, you saw this gap,

[00:09:36] Andrea Elibero: I imagine. And so I'm curious how, okay, so lemme back.

[00:09:41] Andrea Elibero: So like, offer creation, right? Like, that's my baby. Like I love doing

[00:09:44] Andrea Elibero: like offer creation and these types of things and Yeah, exactly. When you think of a copyright, you think of the standard things that we

[00:09:50] Andrea Elibero: were just talking about, and then you created something that was really different. And so I'm curious how that

[00:09:55] Andrea Elibero: came about in your mind, this idea.

[00:09:58] Colleen Florendo: Yeah, so I think it [00:10:00] was more like I had clients who, who wanted their sales pages reviewed, and 

[00:10:08] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm. 

[00:10:09] Colleen Florendo: like, you know, most of it are, are written really well, but there were just some bits that they struggle with, which is the parts where you, you have to talk about, you know, the specific date.

[00:10:21] Colleen Florendo: Daily, like experiences that your clients are struggling with, 

[00:10:25] Andrea Elibero: Hmm. Mm-hmm. 

[00:10:26] Colleen Florendo: the microscopic level, like they were struggling with its specificity. So I focused on 

[00:10:30] Andrea Elibero: Okay. Mm-hmm. 

[00:10:31] Colleen Florendo: as the whole kind 

[00:10:32] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm. 

[00:10:33] Colleen Florendo: positioning of that offer. And the reason why I say it took a while to take off because it's not a sales page technically, it's what I'm saying.

[00:10:42] Colleen Florendo: It's a playbook, right? People are like, okay, 

[00:10:44] Andrea Elibero: Yeah. 

[00:10:45] Colleen Florendo: playbook? 

[00:10:47] Andrea Elibero: Yeah, yeah. 

[00:10:47] Colleen Florendo: that? It's like, does it.

[00:10:49] Andrea Elibero: Because it's something you use across

[00:10:50] Andrea Elibero: everything. 

[00:10:51] Colleen Florendo: And the 

[00:10:52] Andrea Elibero: Yeah. 

[00:10:52] Colleen Florendo: for me, like people don't know. Like they think, okay, I paid for a sales page, and then it. It ends there, [00:11:00] right?

[00:11:00] Andrea Elibero: Right,

[00:11:01] Andrea Elibero: right, right, right, right. Yeah. 

[00:11:02] Colleen Florendo: grab the words from your sales page,

[00:11:05] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm.

[00:11:06] Colleen Florendo: sit on a post, you sit on an emec.

[00:11:08] Colleen Florendo: There's so many ways to, you know, really increase the, I would say, be able to use the words that you paid for. Does that 

[00:11:19] Andrea Elibero: Hmm. 

[00:11:20] Colleen Florendo: That's what I 

[00:11:21] Andrea Elibero: Yeah.

[00:11:21] Andrea Elibero: no. Yeah, totally. And I think that's really cool. And what made you stick with it as something that you said did not take off? Like why, why didn't you just

[00:11:31] Andrea Elibero: abandon it and say, okay, this is not

[00:11:33] Andrea Elibero: selling. 

[00:11:33] Colleen Florendo: Yeah. Because I think like it was just, I didn't wanna sell the same things as everyone else

[00:11:40] Andrea Elibero: Okay.

[00:11:40] Andrea Elibero: You're like, you're like, no, but that's fair, right? You're like, this is boring. Like I wanna do

[00:11:45] Andrea Elibero: something different. And so it's almost like you created a new category

[00:11:47] Andrea Elibero: of thing. 

[00:11:48] Andrea Elibero: So you created a, like a whole new category of thing. And so, so it was because then you were like, okay, I don't wanna do like this thing 'cause it kind of bores me and I'm really interested in this. And is that right?

[00:11:59] Andrea Elibero: Is

[00:11:59] Andrea Elibero: that [00:12:00] accurate as to why you stuck with it 

[00:12:01] Colleen Florendo: it's also like it was either that or I do a custom. Right? Either a typical offers or custom. And custom is 

[00:12:10] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm 

[00:12:10] Colleen Florendo: so exhausting

[00:12:13] Andrea Elibero: mm.

[00:12:14] Colleen Florendo: Like.

[00:12:14] Andrea Elibero: So this is another selfish

[00:12:16] Andrea Elibero: thing. I love this theme. 

[00:12:17] Colleen Florendo: I 

[00:12:17] Andrea Elibero: Yeah, 

[00:12:18] Colleen Florendo: of sending all these proposals, right? Like I 

[00:12:21] Andrea Elibero: yeah, yeah. 

[00:12:22] Colleen Florendo: to like, Hey, I want that checkout done, right?

[00:12:26] Colleen Florendo: So I stuck 

[00:12:26] Andrea Elibero: Yeah. 

[00:12:27] Colleen Florendo: I did some betas that did really well. 

[00:12:29] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm. 

[00:12:30] Colleen Florendo: didn't 

[00:12:30] Andrea Elibero: Hmm. 

[00:12:31] Colleen Florendo: like and anything, but it was like really knowing who I was talking to. I think it, at first it was for everyone. Then I realized, oh, it's more of the spiritual people who kind of struggle with it, 

[00:12:48] Andrea Elibero: mm-hmm. 

[00:12:48] Colleen Florendo: a lot of them use like 

[00:12:50] Colleen Florendo: frequency. 

[00:12:53] Andrea Elibero: The Quantum Leap and all of The

[00:12:54] Colleen Florendo: does it 

[00:12:55] Andrea Elibero: yeah. Yeah.

[00:12:55] Colleen Florendo: Um, 

[00:12:56] Colleen Florendo: so 

[00:12:56] Andrea Elibero: Right. 

[00:12:57] Colleen Florendo: them with that. And it was also out of a, [00:13:00] I don't wanna give people a reason to compare me to another person who's also probably good at what they do. Does 

[00:13:08] Andrea Elibero: Oh, 

[00:13:09] Colleen Florendo: like

[00:13:09] Andrea Elibero: okay.

[00:13:10] Andrea Elibero: Yeah. I love that. Mm-hmm. 

[00:13:14] Colleen Florendo: writer, like at the end of the day, it's a matter of preference,

[00:13:20] Andrea Elibero: Right, right, right, right,

[00:13:21] Colleen Florendo: pricing could be a factor, but 

[00:13:23] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm. 

[00:13:24] Colleen Florendo: like, oh, I like this style more versus

[00:13:27] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm.

[00:13:27] Colleen Florendo: Right.

[00:13:29] Colleen Florendo: I was like, I don't wanna be compared to anyone else. Like, there shouldn't be any comparison because like, there's nothing like it. So, so I stuck with it.

[00:13:42] Andrea Elibero: And how long did it take you until you were like, okay, this is working?

[00:13:45] Andrea Elibero: How you know? Until, yeah. 

[00:13:47] Colleen Florendo: months.

[00:13:48] Andrea Elibero: Okay.

[00:13:49] Colleen Florendo: Just 

[00:13:49] Andrea Elibero: Okay. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

[00:13:52] Colleen Florendo: at some point I didn't even know people were buying it 'cause I couldn't keep up. I was like, wait, I don't, I only have capacity for like, know, [00:14:00] three a month. Um, but yeah, it was, it was, it was amazing. Yeah.

[00:14:07] Andrea Elibero: That's really cool. I think there's so many good lessons

[00:14:09] Andrea Elibero: in this as well, you know, is that you're like, no, I did this for me, but in the end you made something really cool.

[00:14:15] Colleen Florendo: Hmm.

[00:14:16] Andrea Elibero: You know that other, that was unique and that people needed, I imagine that they loved

[00:14:20] Andrea Elibero: doing it because they got a lot of use out of it, and it's really kind of like that foundational messaging that you need across

[00:14:26] Andrea Elibero: everything. So that's

[00:14:27] Andrea Elibero: really cool and it, but it came from this selfish place, but call it like this nourishing place for you. And so I think it's such a good lesson there is that you don't have to just do what everybody else does, one and then two. Keep talking about it. Keep doing it. Don't just say, oh, I talked about it once and nobody wanted it.

[00:14:47] Colleen Florendo: Yeah.

[00:14:47] Andrea Elibero: Right. And just give

[00:14:48] Andrea Elibero: up. Because it takes time, especially when it's new, and especially when one your audience doesn't, you know, doesn't associate you with that thing. Two, in your case, it was something like totally unique that people had to take time [00:15:00] to wrap their

[00:15:00] Andrea Elibero: mind around. 

[00:15:01] Colleen Florendo: yeah, for sure. And I feel like I'm assuming, what is that thing I wanted to say?

[00:15:11] Colleen Florendo: What's the thing that people wear when they're like, wanna wear a skinny, a dress that's super tight and they want

[00:15:17] Andrea Elibero: Alex

[00:15:17] Andrea Elibero: Banks. 

[00:15:18] Colleen Florendo: So I'm assuming people didn't really like understand what it was at first. Like is it an underwear? Is it like, like what 

[00:15:25] Andrea Elibero: Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:15:26] Colleen Florendo: like tights with no 

[00:15:28] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm. 

[00:15:29] Colleen Florendo: what is it? And I think 

[00:15:30] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm. 

[00:15:31] Colleen Florendo: like talking about it.

[00:15:32] Colleen Florendo: Right. when you're really set on. I just don't like any of these, like offers that are being offered in my niche. it 

[00:15:42] Andrea Elibero: Yeah. 

[00:15:43] Colleen Florendo: that you feel like you would buy yourself. would say, yeah.

[00:15:48] Andrea Elibero: Yeah. No, that's amazing. And so, okay, so that was like the next level, and then was there another level after that?

[00:15:54] Colleen Florendo: Another that will be 

[00:15:55] Andrea Elibero: Another growth? 

[00:15:56] Colleen Florendo: to leave done for you work. [00:16:00] Um, 

[00:16:01] Andrea Elibero: Okay,

[00:16:01] Colleen Florendo: Done? 

[00:16:02] Andrea Elibero: so okay, so you're doing was this playbook was, it was still, was kind of like done with you.

[00:16:07] Colleen Florendo: No, it was done for you?

[00:16:10] Andrea Elibero: Ah, okay. So, so it was a playbook that you took them through, but you were, you

[00:16:13] Andrea Elibero: were crafting it for them. Okay. So you were doing, first you were like writing all the things, then you're like, okay, I'm gonna give you

[00:16:19] Andrea Elibero: this playbook, but I'm still gonna write it. So it's still

[00:16:21] Andrea Elibero: done for you. Okay. And then you were like, hmm.

[00:16:26] Colleen Florendo: So I think it was like at the end of 2024. I was 

[00:16:33] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm. 

[00:16:33] Colleen Florendo: you know, I've been in a lot of these businesses, groups, like INS and out of their launches, and I was like, they're just, is just not everything. It's 

[00:16:47] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

[00:16:50] Colleen Florendo: can say. Oh, you can have like, I don't know, this ebook of all the copywriting techniques that you can pull from.[00:17:00] 

[00:17:00] Colleen Florendo: People 

[00:17:00] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm. 

[00:17:01] Colleen Florendo: buy. So I think at 

[00:17:03] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm. 

[00:17:04] Colleen Florendo: that's when we kind of saw the market kinda, we had smarter buyers, right? More 

[00:17:13] Andrea Elibero: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. 

[00:17:16] Colleen Florendo: and the type of messaging that's being taught to go with the, the copywriting that I used to do we're just very, say surface level.

[00:17:27] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm.

[00:17:28] Colleen Florendo: And I said, I just can't keep selling something I no longer believed in. So it was another selfish thing. Basically, my entire business is built on selfish reasons. Um, so yeah, so 

[00:17:42] Andrea Elibero: Love it. Yeah. 

[00:17:43] Colleen Florendo: transitioned to embodied messaging. Like, you can't just promise this. Like, I think I had a coach before who told me like, okay, what's the highest amount of.

[00:17:54] Colleen Florendo: Sales you've done for a client a launch. she's like, 

[00:17:59] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm. 

[00:17:59] Colleen Florendo: [00:18:00] messaging. And I was just like, Ugh. 

[00:18:03] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm. 

[00:18:04] Colleen Florendo: so there was like 

[00:18:05] Andrea Elibero: Yeah. 

[00:18:06] Colleen Florendo: factor why I made the switch. Um, yeah. I hope that answered your question.

[00:18:15] Andrea Elibero: Yeah. And so, so in your offer now, so you're not doing done for you, what is it that you're doing?

[00:18:23] Colleen Florendo: I'm.

[00:18:23] Andrea Elibero: Is it more coaching? Is it more a

[00:18:25] Andrea Elibero: mix? 

[00:18:27] Colleen Florendo: Um, I do a 

[00:18:28] Andrea Elibero: Okay. 

[00:18:28] Colleen Florendo: VIP weeks, and 

[00:18:31] Andrea Elibero: Hmm. 

[00:18:31] Colleen Florendo: more long term, I call it voice coaching 

[00:18:37] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm. Okay. So you're working

[00:18:39] Andrea Elibero: with people to help kind of like they're doing things and you're pulling things out

[00:18:42] Andrea Elibero: and

[00:18:42] Andrea Elibero: mentoring them and whatnot. And so also I see a number of people who, you know, take this thread of going like, I did the same, right. Going like from done for you into either done with you or coaching. And it is a

[00:18:58] Andrea Elibero: big shift. [00:19:00] And I'm curious if you could go into that a little bit in terms of. How, how the

[00:19:06] Andrea Elibero: transition worked in order for you to be successful in this area. 'cause this was, is a brand new

[00:19:12] Andrea Elibero: area. 

[00:19:13] Colleen Florendo: Yeah, I would say I initially. Okay. I was scared shitless, I'll be honest.

[00:19:18] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm.

[00:19:19] Colleen Florendo: Super scary. 

[00:19:20] Colleen Florendo: I was scared shitless to transition to mentorship, and I think

[00:19:23] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm.

[00:19:24] Colleen Florendo: was sitting on it for like months.

[00:19:27] Andrea Elibero: Mm. What was it? That was

[00:19:29] Andrea Elibero: scary. 

[00:19:29] Colleen Florendo: it was like, oh, do I know enough? Am 

[00:19:33] Andrea Elibero: Yeah. 

[00:19:34] Colleen Florendo: safe enough to mentor someone?

[00:19:36] Andrea Elibero: Mm.

[00:19:36] Colleen Florendo: You go from like an implementer to like

[00:19:40] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm.

[00:19:41] Colleen Florendo: a guide, it's different, 

[00:19:43] Andrea Elibero: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's a different responsibility.

[00:19:46] Andrea Elibero: Yeah. 

[00:19:46] Colleen Florendo: I was a 

[00:19:47] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm. 

[00:19:48] Colleen Florendo: for that. Um, so what I did was I reached out to clients who were interested and working together and that

[00:19:58] Andrea Elibero: Existing

[00:19:58] Andrea Elibero: clients 

[00:19:59] Colleen Florendo: [00:20:00] interested.

[00:20:00] Andrea Elibero: Okay. Yeah.

[00:20:01] Colleen Florendo: 'cause that felt safer to me. Like, okay, They already, 

[00:20:03] Andrea Elibero: Yeah. Mm-hmm. 

[00:20:06] Colleen Florendo: So what better way to just do this? So that's how I made a transition and that kind of me the confidence to like, you know, fully 

[00:20:14] Andrea Elibero: Yeah. 

[00:20:15] Colleen Florendo: I would say.

[00:20:16] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm.

[00:20:16] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm. And this is, yeah. And this is something that I see a lot, especially when people are

[00:20:23] Andrea Elibero: launching new things, is that you don't have the proof yet. You know, it's like you don't have the proof that it's going to work. So, and the thing is, is that confidence

[00:20:30] Andrea Elibero: comes after, right? Like after you're like, okay, like I've done the thing.

[00:20:35] Andrea Elibero: Now I see like I'm not gonna die. The tiger's not going to eat me. Right? Okay. I feel good

[00:20:38] Andrea Elibero: about this. And so it is one of those really pivotal moments of launching and doing the thing. When you don't have that confidence yet, because confidence is not this like innate thing, right? It's like something that comes,

[00:20:51] Andrea Elibero: like 

[00:20:51] Colleen Florendo: and flows. 

[00:20:52] Andrea Elibero: you do it.

[00:20:53] Andrea Elibero: And so it takes a lot, you know, to, to do the transition

[00:20:56] Andrea Elibero: and to do the thing. And I like how you're like, okay, [00:21:00] like, let me do this with people who like, like to ease the transition

[00:21:03] Andrea Elibero: into it because people, you're doing it, people

[00:21:05] Andrea Elibero: already trust you and so,

[00:21:08] Andrea Elibero: Yeah, 

[00:21:08] Colleen Florendo: exactly. And that, that felt safer. And I think 

[00:21:11] Colleen Florendo: like 

[00:21:11] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm.

[00:21:13] Colleen Florendo: talk about like, oh, you're playing it safe. Like, yeah, but sorry, like, this is what I'm capable of right now. Like safe doesn't necessarily always mean bad. Um,

[00:21:23] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm.

[00:21:24] Colleen Florendo: so I think I was gonna say something else, but now I can't remember.

[00:21:29] Andrea Elibero: Well, no, you actually reminded me of a, uh, client of mine. We had this conversation like literally yesterday where, you know, we've already had mapped out her ideal client, you know, all of these things and. For her marketing, she's her focus. And what she really, where she loves marketing is inside of Facebook groups.

[00:21:46] Andrea Elibero: And so there's one where it's kind of like more newer people, but they're her people, but newer, so, and then there's another one where it's like, oh, that, but like more established higher income earners and whatnot. And so. What going through it, it was [00:22:00] basically in the conversation like the TLDR of it is that decided that, okay, it's not a waste of time, like marketing and having an offer for the lower quote unquote like lower level group because that feels safer and is a good transition point in a good stepping stone to working

[00:22:16] Andrea Elibero: with the higher level. So, um, so it's

[00:22:21] Andrea Elibero: kind of the same thing, right? It's okay. Like, and obviously like as long as we're not gonna stay

[00:22:25] Andrea Elibero: there forever, you know, and like, and not get to the point where we

[00:22:28] Andrea Elibero: actually want to get to. So it's like, okay, like let me get a couple clients and like build that and then we're going to keep transitioning up.

[00:22:34] Colleen Florendo: And I, I, 

[00:22:35] Andrea Elibero: I think that's totally fair. 

[00:22:36] Colleen Florendo: grease, right? Sometimes to, to get through something, you need some grease, right? So 

[00:22:43] Andrea Elibero: Yes, yes, yes. Okay. I was like, the country, the musical,

[00:22:47] Colleen Florendo: so

[00:22:48] Andrea Elibero: that's what my brain was like. Greece

[00:22:50] Colleen Florendo: you gonna use 

[00:22:51] Andrea Elibero: cooking. Got it. 

[00:22:52] Colleen Florendo: right? It's just like, I 

[00:22:53] Andrea Elibero: Yeah. 

[00:22:53] Colleen Florendo: this 

[00:22:54] Andrea Elibero: Yes. 

[00:22:55] Colleen Florendo: other thing. Right? 

[00:22:56] Andrea Elibero: Yeah.

[00:22:57] Andrea Elibero: yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Awesome. Yeah, [00:23:00] very good

[00:23:00] Andrea Elibero: example. Um, okay, I'm gonna make an abrupt left

[00:23:04] Andrea Elibero: turn because I wanna get to this topic. I always ask my people like, Hey, is there anything that you wanna talk about? Uh, do you have brought something that I think is really the word I'm looking for? I wouldn't say prevalent, but that's not the word I'm looking for. But anyhow, really

[00:23:18] Andrea Elibero: important for people who are implementers and we were talking about. How a lot of people are asking, you know, when you're doing something where you're more of like the implementer type person, you are judged on your

[00:23:33] Andrea Elibero: portfolio and how much you cost on

[00:23:34] Andrea Elibero: these things that are, and not as much on your, um, on your thinking on being a thought leader and things like that.

[00:23:42] Andrea Elibero: So we're talking about basically the role of

[00:23:43] Andrea Elibero: portfolios in hiring. And so then I'm gonna. Hand the microphone over to

[00:23:49] Andrea Elibero: you 

[00:23:49] Colleen Florendo: it.

[00:23:50] Andrea Elibero: because you had a really good, uh, thoughts on this, so I would, so if you wanna just wanna

[00:23:54] Andrea Elibero: like jump in? 

[00:23:55] Colleen Florendo: sure. So I, I love my portfolio. I think I wanted to like [00:24:00] it out there first. Like the people I 

[00:24:02] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm. 

[00:24:03] Colleen Florendo: amazing, but at some point I felt sort of like commoditized in some way. 

[00:24:10] Andrea Elibero: Yeah. 

[00:24:11] Colleen Florendo: when you go book shopping, they say don't judge a book by its cover, but you will. Right. Like, you 

[00:24:18] Andrea Elibero: Yeah. 

[00:24:19] Colleen Florendo: So that's how I felt about my portfolio. I was just like, oh, 

[00:24:23] Andrea Elibero: Hmm. 

[00:24:23] Colleen Florendo: but does, it doesn't explain why I used that word and not that other 

[00:24:28] Andrea Elibero: Hmm. 

[00:24:29] Colleen Florendo: And know, I kind of

[00:24:33] Andrea Elibero: No, but that's, but it's so interesting, so I'm gonna

[00:24:36] Andrea Elibero: pause you for a second because it's really important. 'cause a lot of people worry about their portfolios for

[00:24:41] Andrea Elibero: that very reason, right? Because they're like, no, like I do these amazing things. Like, oh, do I need a portfolio? People asking for portfolios, or I don't have a

[00:24:49] Andrea Elibero: portfolio, you know?

[00:24:50] Andrea Elibero: Or it's like I'm a systems person.

[00:24:52] Andrea Elibero: Like, What do you want? 

[00:24:52] Colleen Florendo: show 

[00:24:53] Andrea Elibero: what?

[00:24:53] Andrea Elibero: do you want to see? Yeah. Here's my really cool Zapier

[00:24:56] Andrea Elibero: automation. Like, Yeah, 

[00:24:58] Colleen Florendo: but if you can, you [00:25:00] know, really. So anyways, going back to we got here, I was like, okay, how 

[00:25:04] Andrea Elibero: Yeah. 

[00:25:06] Colleen Florendo: show people the way I think? 

[00:25:09] Andrea Elibero: Hmm. 

[00:25:10] Colleen Florendo: just having the portfolio. Right.

[00:25:12] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm.

[00:25:13] Colleen Florendo: for me, that felt like I was selling without selling because I was sharing the way I was thinking, why did I explain it thus that way?

[00:25:20] Colleen Florendo: Like why is it positioning that way of a certain thing? Right? The more I shared about that, the more people were 

[00:25:26] Andrea Elibero: Hmm. 

[00:25:26] Colleen Florendo: Hey, 

[00:25:26] Andrea Elibero: Yeah. 

[00:25:28] Colleen Florendo: I wanna work with you. 

[00:25:30] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm. 

[00:25:31] Colleen Florendo: actually had a client last year, she's a. A systems person, which is, 

[00:25:37] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm. 

[00:25:37] Colleen Florendo: when you mentioned Zapier. Um, and she's like, yeah, you know, I was taught like this messaging techniques or copyright techniques like the ada, the past, the typical ones.

[00:25:48] Colleen Florendo: And she's like, I just don't understand it in a way that feels good to me. And I was 

[00:25:54] Andrea Elibero: Hmm. 

[00:25:54] Colleen Florendo: she said I have to, I also, she also had a portfolio problem.

[00:25:59] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm.

[00:25:59] Colleen Florendo: like, [00:26:00] 

[00:26:00] Andrea Elibero: Yep. Mm-hmm. 

[00:26:00] Colleen Florendo: can't you show? be honest, um,

[00:26:04] Andrea Elibero: Yeah.

[00:26:04] Colleen Florendo: and also most of those that like systems are, are private. I don't think clients, I'm 

[00:26:12] Andrea Elibero: Right, right, right, right. Yeah. 

[00:26:13] Colleen Florendo: but I'm assuming systems 

[00:26:14] Andrea Elibero: Right. 

[00:26:15] Colleen Florendo: story.

[00:26:16] Colleen Florendo: Um, so I was like, okay, let's create from, you know how she has a DHD. So I was like, how do you do it for yourself? She's like, okay. I create systems for how my brain works. I was like, okay, 

[00:26:29] Andrea Elibero: Hmm. 

[00:26:30] Colleen Florendo: that's your message. Like right there. You just said it to me. So our whole message was like educating people on how to create systems around their brain.

[00:26:40] Colleen Florendo: So like, oh, how does your brain work? Oh, my brain works like this. I think in fold, I just don't know system steps. I'm just putting random stuff

[00:26:46] Andrea Elibero: Right.

[00:26:46] Andrea Elibero: Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:26:47] Colleen Florendo: in 

[00:26:47] Andrea Elibero: Yeah. 

[00:26:48] Colleen Florendo: Okay. That's how do we create stuff the folder way or like you're a notes app person. I'm not the best 

[00:26:55] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm. 

[00:26:56] Colleen Florendo: I'm not sharing the best examples for system people.

[00:26:58] Colleen Florendo: They might hate me for this, [00:27:00] our whole, my whole point was that everything we created was to kind of build a case on how you can create systems 

[00:27:09] Colleen Florendo: around 

[00:27:10] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm.

[00:27:10] Colleen Florendo: your brain versus 

[00:27:13] Andrea Elibero: Hmm. Mm-hmm. 

[00:27:14] Colleen Florendo: like, oh, my six figure. I know. Launch systems, 

[00:27:20] Andrea Elibero: right, 

[00:27:20] Colleen Florendo: that 

[00:27:21] Andrea Elibero: Yeah, yeah, 

[00:27:21] Colleen Florendo: will probably 

[00:27:22] Andrea Elibero: yeah. Like plug and

[00:27:23] Andrea Elibero: play, right? Yeah. 

[00:27:24] Colleen Florendo: I don't understand this.

[00:27:25] Andrea Elibero: Yeah.

[00:27:26] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm. 

[00:27:27] Colleen Florendo: uh,

[00:27:28] Andrea Elibero: So basically, instead of

[00:27:30] Andrea Elibero: portfolio, you're like, let me bring you into how my

[00:27:33] Andrea Elibero: brain works, because that's deeper than just like, here's a surface level of like, look at my pretty graphics or the pretty

[00:27:39] Andrea Elibero: words on the paper. 

[00:27:40] Colleen Florendo: Exactly. Exactly. And it makes the person.

[00:27:43] Andrea Elibero: And are you doing this through like content on your website, like all the things, or is this something that you include, like you have an example like that you would give them instead of a portfolio?

[00:27:53] Colleen Florendo: Yeah, so they would basically walk away with sort of like, I don't wanna say a manifesto, [00:28:00] let's call it like a playbook again, 

[00:28:03] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm. 

[00:28:03] Colleen Florendo: that they can pull from and like, okay, this is the 

[00:28:05] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm. 

[00:28:06] Colleen Florendo: I am working from. So my 

[00:28:08] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm. 

[00:28:09] Colleen Florendo: Okay. Her main, I would call it her counterculture perspective. 'cause I think her perspective to be.

[00:28:19] Colleen Florendo: To have a weight, to have gravitas. It, it is counterculture. So 

[00:28:23] Andrea Elibero: Yeah. 

[00:28:24] Colleen Florendo: are the other systems people saying? Right? And they're like, okay, you 

[00:28:29] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm. 

[00:28:29] Colleen Florendo: all of these things and it'll be fine. She's like, that's not how it works. 

[00:28:34] Andrea Elibero: Yeah. 

[00:28:34] Colleen Florendo: walked away with the whole like bank of angles, you could say.

[00:28:41] Andrea Elibero: Hmm. So, yeah, and so I think it sounds to me what you're saying is basically just like, go deeper

[00:28:47] Andrea Elibero: period. Like take the time to look under the hood and be like, why do I do the things the way that I do them? And instead of like, okay, let's like go to clients with the surface

[00:28:56] Andrea Elibero: level, whatever. It's like, no, it's everything.

[00:28:58] Andrea Elibero: Like, let's go another

[00:28:59] Andrea Elibero: layer [00:29:00] deeper. Is that

[00:29:00] Andrea Elibero: accurate? 

[00:29:01] Colleen Florendo: I think especially with ai, like 

[00:29:04] Andrea Elibero: Right, 

[00:29:05] Colleen Florendo: is a non-negotiable at this point.

[00:29:08] Andrea Elibero: Mm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, such a good point. Um, okay. Amazing. Thank you so much for diving into that because I think that is really important. And for people who are like, wait, I don't know, or I don't do anything unique or different, I would, I would argue that yes, you a hundred percent, do you just have to take the time to. Go through it. And I think that the easiest way is to do that with

[00:29:31] Andrea Elibero: somebody else, because you can't see, a lot of times, like you can't see why you're special because that's just

[00:29:36] Andrea Elibero: how you are. 

[00:29:37] Colleen Florendo: Yeah.

[00:29:37] Andrea Elibero: It's like you need somebody else to be like, oh, no, that's really cool. So I think that's,

[00:29:40] Andrea Elibero: that's really helpful. 

[00:29:41] Colleen Florendo: time to like really sit with your, I don't think a lot of us do 

[00:29:46] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm. 

[00:29:46] Colleen Florendo: Like, 

[00:29:48] Andrea Elibero: No. Yeah. 

[00:29:49] Colleen Florendo: and then, oh shit. I don't know what I do. 

[00:29:53] Andrea Elibero: Right. Right. And a lot of people are just so focused on, oh, I need new clients. I need clients that I want to get, like more money. More [00:30:00] money. And the way that you get there is actually pausing, you know, and being intentional. And then that's how you make things sustainable, and that's how you make things intentional. And that's how you have a business that you

[00:30:11] Andrea Elibero: don't. 

[00:30:12] Colleen Florendo: Yeah. I love that.

[00:30:14] Andrea Elibero: So, okay, last question. Um, if you had to pick from your

[00:30:20] Andrea Elibero: own journey, one big top tip that you would like to share or guidance or piece of advice, advice that you would like to share with other, with service providers, what would that be?

[00:30:30] Colleen Florendo: I think it's that you are more creative than you think,

[00:30:36] Andrea Elibero: Hmm.

[00:30:37] Colleen Florendo: and I think this goes back to the plug and say, I created, like, do not be afraid to, don't know, just create something unique. I mean, if you really love it, you know people will get behind it. It will just 

[00:30:52] Andrea Elibero: Hmm. 

[00:30:53] Colleen Florendo: And I'm not saying to give up your other offers, I'm just like, if you're not creating for yourself as well.[00:31:00] 

[00:31:00] Colleen Florendo: I feel like that's the whole point of like entrepreneurship, right? Because we didn't wanna 

[00:31:05] Andrea Elibero: Hmm. 

[00:31:06] Colleen Florendo: caged in some 

[00:31:08] Andrea Elibero: Mm-hmm. 

[00:31:09] Colleen Florendo: So

[00:31:10] Andrea Elibero: Yeah. be selfish. 

[00:31:12] Colleen Florendo: Yeah. Yeah. I love it.

[00:31:15] Andrea Elibero: Yes. Awesome. Uh, okay. And how can we stay in touch with you and do you have any freebies or gifts or whatnot that, um, I will be thinking in the

[00:31:24] Andrea Elibero: show notes. 

[00:31:25] Colleen Florendo: so you can find me on selfishly express. I will be sharing a, a freebie called Work of Heart to basically purge all the shoulds on how to show up, um, around messaging, copywriting, a little detox from all the rules basically. Yeah.

[00:31:45] Andrea Elibero: That sounds fun. I'm excited to dig

[00:31:47] Andrea Elibero: into that. Thank you so much for being here with us, Colleen, and sharing all of your wisdom openly and vulnerably. And I am, yeah, excited to dig into

[00:31:57] Andrea Elibero: that freebie. 

[00:31:57] Colleen Florendo: so much for having me. 

[00:31:59] Andrea Elibero: [00:32:00] That's a wrap on today's episode, and thank you so much for listening. If anything we talked about today made you think, okay, well, what does this actually look like in my business? That's exactly what a free business audit is for. In just 45 minutes, I'll help you identify your unstructured expertise, pinpoint what's keeping you capped, and map out what your signature method could look like.

[00:32:21] Andrea Elibero: There's a link in the show notes to grab your spot, and I will see you in the next episode.