You're Already Worthy...Be Valuable with Lisa Zahiya

The intricate relationship between self-worth and business success is a path every business owner travels. Cat and Lisa explore how confidence in one's value impacts pricing strategies, the importance of building a business that can operate independently of personal emotions, and the necessity of continuous learning and feedback. 
The discussion also touches on the evolving role of AI in creative industries, the significance of client education, and the need for accountability in overcoming challenges. Ultimately, they emphasize the importance of authenticity and connection in business, advocating for a mindset that prioritizes growth and resilience over ego.


Lisa Zahiya is a nationally known business strategist and life coach who helps:

Business owners cultivate lives on their own terms;
Mission-driven entrepreneurs make more and give more;
Small business owners scale quickly through effective digital marketing and products.

After receiving a BS and a MBA from the University of Maryland, Lisa served as a director of marketing at Sylvan Learning Centers. 

"I had always dreamed of being a professional dancer and left my corporate career to pursue my dreams of dance. I opened the award-winning Studio Zahiya and traveled as a professional belly dance teacher and performer.

I found that I enjoyed the community of body positivity, confidence, and success that Studio Zahiya created for my clients. I then furthered my goal of empowering others by training to be a life coach and opened a very successful coaching business. I

I have now personally grown several seven-figure businesses reaching revenues of over 5 million dollars. I leverage this experience to help others pursue their dreams and have had six clients grow their businesses to over 1 million dollars in revenue."

Lisa is based in New York, NY and El Gouna, Egypt, where she owns Lisa Zahiya Coaching.

Transcript

Speaker 2 (00:00.27)
Today's conversation is a little bit different. Lisa and I met originally in Asheville in North Carolina. She and I were both part of the No Women. And when I started a relationship with Lisa, she was in the dancing space. She owned a dance studio here in downtown Asheville, but she's a boss. She has this really kind of soft and sweet demeanor, but her

presence is magnetic and can feel like a lot, especially if you're not expecting it. But the cool thing about Lisa is how she's just evolved. know, her primary focus at this point is in being a business strategist as well as a life coach. And she helps business owners cultivate life on their terms. opened an award winning studio and traveled as a professional belly dancer, teacher and performer.

I knew she would be perfect to have this conversation with.

Speaker 1 (01:10.86)
You asked me to do this based on something I posted about pricing and self-worth. What made you ask me that?

I had seen like post after post, charge your worth, charge your worth, be sustainable. And I was like, okay. But then a lot of it was like, well, you have to make money. Sure, sure. And I was like, but the reason we're having trouble with this is we don't have the confidence, not only in our product or our service, but ourselves and

I was just like, look, you're inherently worthy. I could hand you a million dollars right now and you would be worthy of receiving it. But if we're talking about it from like through the lens of like a professional service or product, well, that service and product has to be not necessarily elevated, but to a quality that is also worthy of receiving that amount so that it's an equal exchange because

We don't believe we're worthy of receiving it to begin with, let alone have the confidence. And I don't care what industry you're in. If you're struggling with that self-value component about can I receive this? I'm like bananas. Is everybody going to hate me? Is judgment involved? And I was like, we got to talk about this. We got to talk about it.

Yeah, there's like, I feel cringy when I hear people be like, I'm going to charge this because I'm worth it. Yes, of course you're worthy. Like you were saying, like worth doesn't really have anything to with your pricing and worth also has everything to do with your pricing because you have to have the confidence to do the work, figure out what you should price, understand your own market. Like essentially like you need to be confident to be an actual business person. I really

Speaker 1 (03:03.704)
have hard time when we get into the self-help-y part of business. I think we need to help ourselves and then be good business people. Because two sides of the same coin, you need to have a product. I see people raise their prices, but they have a terrible product. I'm like, well, nobody's going to pay that and you're going to crash and burn. You have to have self-worth to hear that you can get better.

So like my wheelhouse is in the photo space, right? And the artistic side of business, most of us come into the space because we do this thing, whether it's photo or painting or drawing or, you know, insert medium here. we get kind of good at it. Not necessarily great, not like, it has to be the best art in the world. But like to a point and somebody goes, you could get paid for this.

because most creative endeavors are pretty expensive, right? And that's not to say you can't do it, you know, do what brings you joy. And we go, I could. And it's a non-regulated space. a low barrier to entry. I need a camera or the tools to do this thing and a way to take payment. And we enter into the space like, okay, cool. That's what I'll do. And we want to charge reasonably. Then we realize, I don't know.

anything about being a business owner. But we don't see it as that. It's just I don't know what I'm doing. I'm stuck. And it's like, well, you just spent years, maybe your entire life learning how to be decent at something. And again, most of us aren't really that great when we start businesses. I know I wasn't. We still have to put that same energy and enthusiasm and love into becoming CEOs because.

As

Speaker 2 (05:23.222)
the back end of the business itself, which also means you need to understand how business works and how to bring value to those things beyond, well, I want my work to speak for itself. Well, it does and it will, but you don't have any credibility and your authority was just annihilated because you said out loud, like, I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just hoping and hope isn't a strategy.

Yeah, you said something really important is like you have to have the same passion and learning for business as you do for the thing that you do. Like I always said, when I own the dance studio, I was like, I love business as much as I love dance, which makes sense. Now I'm doing all business, but I loved the business part and learning it. And when I see people be like, I'm just an artist. Like they're not mutually exclusive. Money is not mutually exclusive with art. Business is not mutually exclusive with art.

And in fact, all those things are combined with and parallel to self-respect. Because if you respect yourself, you will learn how to be a good business person.

Well, I respect that your business is separate from who you are. Mm hmm. It's not just me as the artist. Now I have this business, that business is me. It will be impacted by your own emotional regulation and self-respect. Your sales will mirror back to you where you may need to work on some things. yeah.

I think the more also we can learn how to have systems because you don't want your business to be determined by your own emotions because once you get employees, I need to have a bad day and still make money. So I need to learn how to build a business that's not me and it's not, because I'll see people not post on social media and then they get mad that somebody hasn't bought from them when they haven't been present.

Speaker 1 (07:17.858)
for months and they're like, but I was dealing with this, but I have kids, family, bad day, the things we all have. And I'm like, you have to build a business that can exist without that. Because if not, like I've been known to say, fuck your feelings, because the thing that will actually make you feel better is having a business that works.

Yeah, well, and that's when we have to start looking at the scary word of scale. You know, when I started the photo studio, I didn't name it after catford coats because inevitably I knew what I'm going to want to exit this at some point. Mm Like I know it's not going to be any time soon, but I know one day it will. And it's really difficult to sell a brand with my name on it if I'm nowhere in it. So first it was Studio 828 and then we scaled.

into an international brand. And I was like, man, it's not big enough. So we shifted to unforgettable. Many of us don't even want to like nobody's going to want to buy this. Is just the assumption that we make instead of looking at it and going, well, what do I want it to be in the first place? And there's a big difference between I just want something. I just want it to pay me. I just want it to be my income. OK, well, how much does that need to be?

Because when we're not looking at it and we're like, Oh, I don't know. I just want to, you know, pay my bills with it. How much are your fucking bills? Then we have to build the pricing and the value around that in an ideal state and say, okay, how do I get there? How would, how could I create that to be achievable instead of, well, I'm new. have to be inexpensive or cheap or affordable.

Well, maybe my service and product is an outer space where a sustainable rate makes sense in my market. Not to say that your market gets to determine your worth, but it still has to be valuable to them. Nobody's going to pay you if you're not solving a problem, alleviating pain or providing something that impacts their lives. And we all are over here making it about us.

Speaker 1 (09:17.902)
It reminds me of a couple of things. One is that I see people pricing based on a guess. And I'm like, you have to understand the actual pricing in your market. What's the lowest and what's the highest? The lowest, I try never to compete at the lowest. don't advise people because then you become a commodity. Like which loaf of bread is cheaper? My strategy that I teach is like, try to price at like 85 % and then deliver at 95%.

because you want to have long-term clients, like clients that will love you forever. The other thing that came up for me when you were saying that is that I used to have a dance coach and he said, whenever you feel worried about your business, go and either learn about business or get better at dance. And I promise things will get better. So instead of feeling stuck, use that as the impetus to learn.

Love that. A woman that also teaches in the photo space, she always says we either win or we learn.

think a big thing is people don't learn how to like have customer service. And I think a huge thing that I see in that is like lack of systems and lack of communication. And something like, did you tell people an expectation on how long it's going to be until they get the photos? You know, like I'm working right now with a real estate developer and they email people, this is where your house is. This is how many more weeks there's been a little problem. Just tell people what's happening. But like, we don't know the basics.

Yeah. Well, I think client education is huge and not just like in communication of like, I ordered your album or whatever is late and la la la, but also in setting those expectations and the boundaries, right? The, okay, there's a rescheduling and cancellation policy and that goes in like the coaching space or in any service based space. This is my boundary.

Speaker 2 (11:07.514)
And this is the service I'm going to deliver to you and this is the opportunity that's available to you because of it.

Don't you feel like that really goes back to self-worth because you have to feel confident in yourself enough to say those things. I think people don't say them a lot because they're scared. I always say this is like me being funny, but I say be a bitch up front. You don't have to be bitch later because it's a lot easier to say to somebody like, Hey, I have this boundary. It's a lot easier than being like, Hey, you canceled. I'm not going to do your call again. And they're going to be like, you never said that. Or you're so nice to people that you eventually get mad.

That's a big one. And I think that's for anyone like business, employee, stay at home, retired. Any of it is in your people pleasing. You're abandoning your own boundaries. And when we abandon our boundaries, then resentment comes to the table and that's take it back to pricing pricing that pricing is a boundary. They only bought my bottom package. honey.

You mad at having to do work and you're the one who said how much it cost. Guess what time it is. Right. And then that stirs up a whole like, I couldn't possibly, nobody will pay. And, you know, that I think that's really when you know, you do have a valuable service and product is when you're the one providing or creating and you know the impact that it has and the work that it takes.

and you value it at a higher level than the price tag you put on it.

Speaker 1 (12:43.374)
Yeah, absolutely. I think that's really interesting. Also, it just annoys me in general when people are like they only and I'm like, start with being grateful. Somebody's paying you and you set the price. So like I've definitely done things before and been like, oh, I could have charged more, but that's a lesson. I'm not going to be mad at the client. If somebody is like this cheeseburger is $12, I'm not going to be like, can I give you 16? You know, Like.

It's your fault. And also just take it as a lesson, but like be grateful that somebody gave their hard earned money. It is harder than ever for something from you. So I'm going to tell you what I've said recently to, to it in a slightly different space, but I'm curious what you take on this. It's like things that are artistic services that have what people could say, like, people could use their phone or they could use AI.

Somebody said this to me, it was about design, but it's very close. And I was like, educate them why you're better and also be better. Like people are like complaining about it or they're just like mad about AI. And I was like, you can get mad at it, but I don't think it can get mad back unless you ask it to cause it's a high. like, like this is a great opportunity for all of us to get better and to talk about why. And like you like,

AI will replace people who are sort of neutral to not that good. But if you're very good, you in fact, there's an opportunity there because you get to differentiate yourself. So what do you say when people say stuff like that in the photography space?

Well, look, AI isn't going anywhere. And in fact, it's getting better, faster, stronger every second. And we can either leverage it as a tool to be better, faster, stronger ourselves and in how we deliver what it is that we do. Or we can sit there and complain about it and cry because maybe AI is doing a better job than we are. And there is something to be said about

Speaker 2 (14:51.042)
like a headshots, for example, you know, something to be said about just picking up a library of 50 images for 50 bucks or $20 or whatever it is. Like you might even get all of your fingers if they're in the shot now, like as come that that far. But it still isn't you. And while that may work as like a substitute for fodder, nothing's going to replace authenticity. That's the one thing I cannot replicate.

So if your service is spectacular and the quality of your work communicates who you are and visually the messaging that you stand for, AI can't touch it. There's no reason photographers can't be using AI. Right. Like I saw an ad the other day and it was just like animated videos of you. Like you type in the prompt, like, OK, what you look like, dark hair, red lip, wears all black, blah, blah, blah, blah. But

It's not me and it might be an avatar of me, but the fastest way to connect with your audience in any brand space is through authenticity, whether that's your voice or how you communicate or how you show up and how you stand out above the rest. Because AI is so mainstream at this point, you know, the commodity, all the providers at the bottom.

all racing for two, 300 bucks. There you're fighting with AI now. Yep. Stand out up here. Be at that 85 to 100 percent. Right. To where, oh, no, I want to work with her because the byproduct of working with a creative may be the assets that are delivered. But the impact of your work is the transformation they experience with you because of it.

Yeah, I actually think AI will really replace the bottom of the market and it'll actually give people at the top of the market the opportunity to charge more. So like in a way that's exciting, but I think this is a huge thing that is not talked about, especially in the era of like Instagram memes about worth and self-worth and support a small business because like you should support me because I'm a small business. And I'm like, no, you should buy for me because I'm good at my job. There's so much there about like,

Speaker 1 (17:16.152)
people should buy from me just because I am. And there's very little, I see people standing out who are willing to get better and learn and pay for education and get criticized. So how do you think, you get better at accepting criticism? Buckle up. Buckle up.

In the creative space, I think that's why judging and awards is so valuable. And I don't know what that looks like in in the coaching space or the executive space. When I started my business, it was in 2012 and it was on a wing and a prayer. And I barely understood manual. Barely. But I needed to make money. I had another business that was just crumbling right before my eyes and like had to figure it the fuck out.

coming from Food and Bev, I knew service was like the way I'll get better every time I shoot. Right. But service has got to be be the way. And I didn't start really improving in my craft until I started seeking out criticism, whether that was portfolio reviews, award submissions with feedback and critique. Like because you do work really hard on your

your craft and I don't care what industry you're in, but you don't know what you don't know. And so that feedback is critical for your improvement. And that's how you condense space and time. instead of it taking you six years to get somewhere, maybe it takes four, maybe it takes three. And then you leapfrog and you're like, man, now I want to call all of my old clients back. Right? Yeah.

Yeah. I think for me as a coach, the way I've done it is one, I constantly am asking my clients for feedback. So like we're saying, how could this be better? What else do you need? And people have said stuff and I've been like, you know, making sure that, you know, I also like to look at my business every couple of months and be like, what could make this better? Here's how I can get better as a business owner. And here's how I can get better as a coach.

Speaker 1 (19:21.688)
Cause that's also, there's two things. There's the skill of business and the skill of whatever you do.

Well, and into coaching, you know, one of my biggest lessons was really appreciating how to transform what I knew intrinsically just from rinse and repeat. Right. Like I do this every single day and this is what I've learned. And so in those sales conversations, especially is where it comes up because the people I'm coaching, they don't understand the intricacies and the nuances of buying signals versus

hesitation and, and la la la. So they can't have the conversation in the moment or they can, but they kind of fumble through it. And I'm like, but this and this and this and this. they're like, but that comes from doing and translating that knowledge into actionable one, two, three, so that it's digestible for somebody who wants to learn how, because a lot of that just comes from doing.

And just putting in the reps of whatever it is over and over again, until you can look at it without the, the emotional attachment and the, the worry, am I doing this right now? It's how can this improve? How can this process? All right. This means this, what are the potentials here? And really kind of analyzing it from a critical space instead of it being my life's work, right? So that somebody else can step into that space and

really build their North Star and their customer service and what it is that they create for people in a way that's meaningful, that they can learn it faster instead of taking the six years to get.

Speaker 1 (21:07.086)
Absolutely. I was listening to Brene Brown something at one point and she was talking about how not good enough and I'm better than you are both sides of the same coin. It's coming from the same place inside of us, either having to prove ourselves, I'm so good or I'm not good enough. I think in business, see the inability that I should charge what I'm worth and the inability to learn and get better as two sides of the same coin.

Cause if you see ego, it's all ego, right? Because whether I think I'm not good enough or I think I'm better than you or I'm judging other people and their businesses, that's all the same ego. And when I take myself out and I work on my self development and my self worth over here, and then I work on my business over here, when I come into my business as like, believe in myself, I want to bet on myself, I can get better.

He's an ego, right?

Speaker 2 (22:02.356)
No, I remember I was talking to my mentor and we were talking about ego, the image somebody has, right? And coming up and how they show up and down to what they wear and how they behave and how they interact with people. And she was like, now I can't help but see it. And it makes me so sick, right? To just see it in motion because that was me. And I still haven't.

Like now it makes me sick because I know it was me and like there's some some guilt around that. Right. But she also says, you know, guilt is self-correcting. And that was a really big, like, breathing moment for me, because I definitely have a way that I show up out in the world, you know, in the photo space versus like chilling at home and, you know, in my PJs and just. Looking homeless and right, just being every day, whatever.

I do try and keep myself in check in those moments. And I think that compassion, both for self and for others, is a really great part of my system to keep myself in check so that it's no longer about like, I'm the best and strongest and baddest ass and actually be like, no, I'm a human being. And this is just a form of self-expression. And I'm really excited to connect.

Absolutely. And when you remove the ego, you make the business stopping about you and start being about the client. If you make your business all about your client, you will win.

Yep, 1000%.

Speaker 1 (23:31.242)
Then the other things can be about you, you know what mean? Like your therapy session, where it should be about you. It's really an interesting thing of this idea of like needing to build yourself up enough and believe in yourself enough that you can stop thinking about yourself. Even like people to me are like, you post all the time and I'm like, yeah, I stopped making it about me. I'm willing to do things that are uncomfortable for myself so I can help more people.

And I think that's where people get tangled up in the face of the brand piece Because you do have to build yourself up and do that work in order to be able to be the face of the brand and build the authority and the credibility that you need for people to even pay attention, but There comes a point where yes, it's about you, but it's not about you and it's all about them So even if you're standing there and six selfies later, right?

All of that messaging needs to be about what they're getting and not about it could be based off of a personal story of this is what I learned. Blah, blah, blah, blah. Doing X, Y and Z. So they have somebody to identify with. But that's where the buck stops. Right. Everything else is connect and people aren't paying attention unless it's going to impact them in some way, or form.

I think that this goes to a bigger point that what's helped me in my business a lot is having guidance, having coaches, but also being in rooms with people who are better than me, more experienced than me at business. Like as soon as you said that, I was like, yeah, when I read that Donald Miller book and I took the thing from him, you know, like changing the lens from making me the hero to making the client, the hero and me, like the Yoda, the guide, which is what you're saying. But it just makes me be like, go invest and learn from people who've done it already. Talk about the

the quantum leap. I've seen people make business mistakes and I'm just like, gosh, I wish you had asked somebody.

Speaker 2 (25:28.204)
The people that you're coaching and that you're working with, when they start to kind of go a little sideways, things aren't going as planned. Life is life thing. And all of the things there's what I see is typically two different factions, the ones that are immediately like, my God, cat help. And then don't look at me. I'm not here. I'm not coming to calls like. In complete and total avoidance, the ones that are moving through.

not just making more money, but like really solidifying those systems and processes and la la la are the ones who are reaching out. Those in avoidance are, you know, there's excuses involved and I just couldn't do it. And I feel and it's like, look, you can take the hit fall down. I get it. Like we all have that. But you didn't come into a coaching space to build this thing, to run from it.

yeah.

Speaker 2 (26:24.31)
And it's to be accountable to where they're responsible is is really tough. And I think that's where like the CEO-ness comes into play is taking that responsibility and being like, shit, OK, I did X, Y, Z, and this occurred. Help me fix it, please. How can that happen again?

I think typically what I see with clients, which goes into the self-worth ego thing, is that people either come to me for help. It's just about how fast can they get up? I was watching a video of Mr. Beast this morning and he, you know, people like him at that scale, they're making like 20 million dollar mistakes. And he's like, but I just got up and fixed it. You just because they're not tying in self-worth. If you think I'm a fuck up because I did this, no, just fix it. What I see in people is one, they

They don't want to like they get into like a please mom thing. So they don't want to tell me. And I'm like, your job isn't to please me. It's I'm here to help you. They want to hide or they want to blame. So they'll blame something in their lives. Maybe they blame me. Maybe they blame something's happening or they get rebellious. I did this thing. It didn't work. This isn't for me. I'm leaving. And I'm like, right. And a lot of times you see that happen.

Ha ha ha

Speaker 1 (27:44.428)
I might get in trouble for saying this, like people who have like family money or a spouse who can support them, not everybody, but I'll see them leave more quickly because their backs not against the wall.

Right. They're not hungry. Well, and you know, then there's the argument of like, well, no, I don't have to be. But it's like, well, do you want the business or not? And either answer is fine. Right. But like you have to own it either way. And I think, a lot of at least in the creative space, you know, something occurs like that. And they're already living so lean that it's not just that this happened. Get up and fix it.

Yes, those are the things that we have to do, but it's the impact and the domino effect of what happened on their lives that they can't get past or through because that impact is so much more than the initial loss of whatever. Right. That client leaving or the charge back or insert thing here, like now all of sudden they've paid their mortgage and there isn't any money there. Right. And or they got into a huge fight because now the bank's overdrawn and da da da da.

It's okay. Like I understand in that hurts that sucks. Huge. But this is the part where you do have to get up and look at it and fix it. Like there is no other way.

Yeah

Speaker 1 (29:09.41)
There's no other way, period. And like you have to go from there's a problem to like, how can I solve this problem? You have to go into problem solving mode or it's never going to work. Listen, it's going to happen. The charge back, the somebody wanting a refund, the somebody coming early, this illegal issue. Like I had a mentor say to me once, they're like, if you had never a legal issue yet, it's coming. But when it happened, it made me feel better.

because they were like, this is part of it. Like you want to ensure against it. You want to have all these things. But like I had somebody once and they were like, they were so protective of how well they done with clients, like a hundred percent renewal rate this that they weren't growing. I was just like, you know, when you go, people are going to, people aren't going to be happy. It might not have anything to do with you. Also, you might make a mistake. Get ready. It's coming for you.

It feels like it's going to break you. Like I've gotten real close to like, don't know where I'm going to get this money from. And you do the juggle, you do the like pushing this off for this. And it's not like that doesn't happen later. You just get better at handling it.

Well, that's where the survival mode comes in. I remember for years and that was like my own ceiling. You know, my second year in business, I think I only made 14,000, but I was also a hundred thousand dollars in debt. And so I made that year to live on 14 % of what I owed. And so it was a whole lot of that magic cup, you know, like power gas bill, you know, la la la. It's not that those things don't happen now, but now it's about.

leverage instead of desperation. Yeah, now it's OK. How can I leverage this opportunity by putting this one off or delaying, you know, my responsibility here to really move the needle over here? And, know, that might look like, well, I paid for this, you know, insert amount coach here, but this other opportunity came up and the value of this is 10 X.

Speaker 2 (31:12.366)
What that would have been, I need to let that money go. And you go, man, survival skills, thank you. What you learn in that, oh my God, space will serve you inevitably because it also gives you the drive to be hungry enough to face what you're responsible for.

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 1 (31:29.582)
Absolutely. Last thing I would say on that is you have to be willing to be uncomfortable though. I see people who are like, but then I can't buy my whatever or like do my, like you have to, it's not easy. I see a lot of people who want it to be easy. When I started my business, the dance studio, like people all the time to me are like, I need money for this. And I'm like, get a job. I had a job in my business for a long time.

No, would bartend. I bartended at Ressa's OT, Athena's and Temptations like simultaneously while working at Blue Cudzoo and starting the studio or yeah, a two eight and just like managed it just to get to a baseline. Yeah, it was like I'll make 50 bucks here and 100 bucks here and you wheel a deal. And, you know, that's again, just kind of a race to the bottom, but it's

just enough to keep you going so that you can really build this thing.

Yeah, but man, it's worth it. And it's like satisfaction feels better. Like if everything had been easy, I don't think I would feel satisfied.

Now, let me ask you this. Is that satisfaction because of the output and believing that it has to be challenging or because of your the impact of those challenges for you?

Speaker 1 (32:52.398)
I think I definitely think both affect me. Like I definitely think that I am working through still the mindset of like, it has to be this hard. You know, when you like do some sort of physical challenge, whether it's like just a hard day working in the yard or you run a marathon and you sit down and you eat that meal and you're like, yeah. And maybe you have an iced tea or a beer depending on who you are. It like is so good. Like it wouldn't be that good if I hadn't worked hard all day. I love that feeling. And so like,

I don't want to just sit on the plane business class and fly to a beach vacation. I want to do it when I've earned it. There's something that feels really good about like it's really like the beer after the day in the

It's that accomplishment instead of the expectation and the entitlement.

Yeah, I hope that I never ever do something that I've, you know, now I'm, I'm able to do things for myself because of the business. I hope I never do something and just expect it. I hope I always have delight.

yeah.

Speaker 1 (33:55.512)
Sitting in the front of the plane, buying a little, even just buying some guacamole, I'm like, yeah, you know.

Well, I remember a time when I couldn't. Yep.

You know, and like that doesn't go away. Like it actually becomes on a much larger scale. You're like, that cup now has $30,000 in F to site where we're that's going to come from.

And I don't know if you do this, but I sit there and I call it like giving money direction. Okay, I'm giving money direction to go here, to go here. I want to be responsible for this $30,000 plethora of things, right? Or one thing. I think it's really exciting to figure out where it's coming from. And one of the best things that I learned was to appreciate data. I'm sure this is not just creatives.

But we're like, we're artists. We hate numbers. We're not good at math and blah, blah. And the second I started really getting into spreadsheets, I had a coach give me a spreadsheet or just around like understanding cost of goods and expenses and versus investments and blah, blah. And I was like, oh, this gives me the capacity to know like how much networking I need to do. How many people I need to get in front of? How many one on ones do I need to have? And da da da da in order to meet this goal, that $30,000 cut.

Speaker 2 (35:15.756)
That changed everything. Because then it wasn't, I feel like, because it's not about feelings. There's the difference between how I feel about something and my instinct. Like my gut instinct is rarely wrong, whether it's about people or circumstances or location or whatever. But instinct and me being sad one day and deciding that this judgment over here is bad, wrong and different are two different things.

Once I have the capacity to understand where my money goes anyway versus where I direct it, changed everything.

And really understanding that your business is an evolving math problem, but there is a math problem that will tell you what activities you have to do to get the thing you want. I always tell this story, but a client whose husband was in the Marine Corps and he was in charge of recruitment. I was talking to him once and he's like, yeah, we have a quota every month of getting people to sign up to give four years of their life to the military. Like this is a big sale and it's bigger than anything we're all selling. They have a

quota and then they had ways we always hit our quota. Two days in, I am looking at what's happening and if it's not up to quota, we turn one of the levers up. 10 days in, we double our effort if we're not there. And he was like, we always hit our quota because we understand what affects it. And then when COVID happens and these things can't happen, you just turn up the other levers. And I was like, I guarantee you, whatever you're selling is easier than selling joining the military.

So if he can do it, you can do it.

Speaker 2 (36:56.046)
1000%. That's awesome. I think that's another thing about self-worth that comes into play. Well, KPIs are outside of me, right? And what I bring to the table, but they're not, right? They're act, their actions, their connections. You have to know what those are instead of just making it about the drama of making it about me versus making it about the connections.

and ways in which I connect with other people.

There's this adage, it's Alex Hormozi and he's like, if you're under a million a year, not enough people know who you are. So spend every day, connect with a hundred new people. But like, you gotta be willing to like start telling people what you do. What's final word of advice on pricing, self-worth, business, feeling good about yourself?

Yep.

Speaker 2 (37:49.88)
When we make a business a business and take it outside of ourselves, that will have more impact on, at least it has for me, my self-worth than the narcissism of making it about me every day.

Amen. Yeah, the I think that's a huge point is that like, I'm not good enough is ego. And we should deal with our ego no matter where it's making us fall.

I'm so glad we got to do this.

I was like, are we starting a podcast?

We are now! Have a wonderful day, love. Bye!

Speaker 1 (38:26.54)
Bye.