The Power of Community and Confident Selling with Jac White

Guest: Jac White 

Host: Clarita 

Today we are joined by Jac White, a sales and business development expert with over 20 years of experience helping women grow their businesses with confidence.

Jac has built her career around helping women turn their natural strengths into authentic, effective sales skills; skills that don’t just sound good, but actually drive revenue and real client growth.

She is the founder of the HoneyBees Group and host of the Girls Make Bank podcast, where she continues to empower women to show up, sell confidently, and build businesses that support their lives.

With experience across brands like LearnVest, DailyCandy, The New York Times, and Armani Exchange, along with startups and consulting, she brings both corporate insight and an entrepreneurial perspective.

She’s also a recognized thought leader, with features in Forbes, Huffington Post, and Entrepreneur.

What we talked about:

•  Her personal journey into entrepreneurship 
•  The first step service providers should take once they decide to start their business 
•  Selling with confidence and truly valuing your services 
•  What we should—and shouldn’t—be willing to do when it comes to selling and evolving as service providers 
•  Pivoting and evolving your business over time 
•  What success means to her at this stage of her journey 
•  The ecosystem women are building through community and connection 
•  Hosting in-person breakfasts for women building businesses 
•  Creating space through virtual meetups and ongoing community support 

Connect with Jac:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacwhite

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamjacwhite

Podcast: https://www.honeybeesgroup.co/girlsmakebank

Website: https://www.honeybeesgroup.co

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

And I think we need to start creating our own economies. We need to start being willing to pay each other fairly and we need to be willing to charge fairly. I'm not saying never do work for your friend at a discount, right? But in general, I think we are the first and quickest to go to the discount or to go to the free or to lower our value in terms of what we're charging. Um, because it's more comfortable. And I want us to feel really comfortable being like, listen, this is a high value product and service that I'm delivering. And this is how much it costs. As women or as business owners in general, we're so afraid of the no that we feel like selling is our job to make people say yes. We follow up a hundred times. We like, we try to work the conversation so much to get people to say yes when really, I say get to know fast. It's not a quick yes, it's a no or a not right now. We spend a lot of energy working our leads and our prospects to get them to yes when maybe now is not the right time. And so I feel like a no or not right now is a blessing because it gives us the space to go focus on someone who's ready to say yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

Welcome to Begin Build Blossom, your business journey, the podcast where we share valuable insights, resources, and motivation to fuel your entrepreneurial spirit. Let's build a supportive community together. Don't forget to subscribe or follow wherever you listen to podcasts and be part of this journey. Let's pause for a moment to hear from our sponsors. You've built a name for yourself through hard work and dedication. But does managing the business side feel like a distraction from your true passion? Are you dealing with unmanaged finances? CME Accounting LLC is here to help. We specialize in organizing your financial records, allowing you to focus on what you do best. With organized books, you'll have more time for what inspires you. Whether that's expanding your influence, building relationships, or simply enjoying life. Don't let unmanaged finances hold you back. Reach out to CME Accounting LLC today and let us help you thrive. Visit our website www.cmeaccountinglc.com or email us at admin at cmeaccountinglc.com. Alright, let's jump back into our conversation. Good day and welcome to another episode of our podcast, Begin Bales Blossom, your business journey. Today we are joined by Jack White. Jack is a sales and business development expert with over 20 years of experience helping women grow their businesses with confidence. She's built her career teaching women how to turn their natural strengths into authentic, effective sales skills that drive real revenue and client growth. Jack is also the founder of the Honeybees Group and host of the Girls Make Bank podcast, where she continues to empower women in business. With experience across brands like Learn Vest, Daily Candy, The New York Times, and Armini Exchange, along with startups and consulting, she brings both corporate insights and entrepreneurial perspective. She's also a recognized thought leader with features in Forbes, Huffington Post, and Entrepreneur. Jack, we're so glad to have you here. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_02 3:50

I'm good. And thank you for having me. I'm such a huge fan of yours, and I appreciate everything you do. So uh thank you for bringing me on board to have a little conversation.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

Oh, thanks so much. And Jack, I remember we met through a podcast. Yes. I heard you on another podcast. I reached out. You were so wonderful. We were able to connect and have a conversation. And now it feels like I'm speaking to an old friend. Isn't that amazing?

SPEAKER_02 4:19

I feel the same way. And you are such a bright light and such a connector. And it is, I love this ecosystem that women are building. These women, small business owners, and service providers that were just connecting with each other and lifting each other up and supporting each other on our business journey. It's been one of the most rewarding things that I get to be a part of.

SPEAKER_01 4:43

Thank you. I agree. And also, you are such a big part of that for me. I join in on your Honeybees group, um, the virtual calls as well as the breakfasts in the city, and I've enjoyed them immensely. So maybe you can tell us a little bit about that before we dive in. Sure.

SPEAKER_02 5:05

So I am all about bringing women business owners together. I think most of us are working from home. We used to go into an office, and now since starting our business, we're kind of home, and it can be really isolating and lonely. And so I host a monthly virtual free community call. The whole purpose is to meet one to two to three other women who are building businesses that um you want to connect with separately. And then once a month, I host an in-person breakfast in the city in New York City. And I cap it at 10 people because I really want us to be able to talk to everyone and make connections and meet people that live in our city that are also building businesses and find ways like you and I have built a real genuine connection and friendship and support system for each other. Find other women who are building businesses that you want to support and be in community with.

SPEAKER_01 6:11

Yes, yes. And I just love that so much. And I've actually brought people along with me because brought a lot. It's so good. I don't want to keep it to myself. I want other people to benefit. And I feel like we've made connections just within our networks. Um, people are meeting each other, and I absolutely love that. So thank you so much, Jack. For first of all, being visible on a podcast, so I can know you know that you're there and I can reach out. And you know, to actually have that opportunity to reach out and to connect even after that first connection. So thank you for that. All right, so let's do a segment we call rapid fire. We just like want to know a little bit about you. So, one of the things we ask is one word to describe yourself now, and one you would have used to describe yourself as a child.

SPEAKER_02 7:00

One word to describe myself as a child would be fearless. I was not afraid of anything, and nobody was gonna tell me no. I wasn't afraid of anything or anyone. And one word to describe myself now would be self-assured. Not that I don't ever have self-doubt, but I am very clear about the woman that I want to be, and the mother and wife and friend, and sister and daughter that I want to be, and who I am and what my priorities are, and what I'm not willing to negotiate on in my life.

SPEAKER_01 7:47

I love that. Because for me, that has been a journey where I used to feel that way, and then life happened, and I became very doubtful and oh my gosh, it was different. And I'm slowly getting back to that point, that points. So I'm really glad you mentioned that. You know, I love that. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 8:06

And I love the way you phrase that question because who you are at different stages of your life, you are described, you will describe yourself in different ways because I was always fearless, even into adulthood. And then now I do, I am afraid of certain things, right? And so I do think depending on where you are in your life, you will describe yourself in a different way. And I think that is actually a good thing and not negative thing, and like finding your way back to certain things. It's like it's all a part of the journey, right? And so I love that you kind of let us go back and then find out where we are now.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

Yeah, well, thanks for going back there, we just and um talking about childhood. Is there one childhood memory that pops up for you that's something that you really enjoyed or not? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:03

I grew up in a huge family. I grew up in South Florida with lots of aunts and uncles and cousins and brothers and sisters and grandparents. And so it's not one memory, but I have a childhood full of memories of just being at my grandmother's house for every holiday, every birthday, every Sunday family dinner, just kind of like being crazy with my cousins and my aunts and uncles and running all through the house and outside. And so, not one specific memory, but when I think back to my childhood, it was full of family and people that I loved and people who loved me. And that I think is really special.

SPEAKER_01 9:52

Oh, that's beautiful. Yeah, I grew up with a large family as well. So when you said that of just remembering all those, oh my gosh, there is something about growing up in a huge family. I love it.

SPEAKER_02 10:02

It's true. And I thought everyone had big families because I mean, my cousins and my siblings are my best friends, and a lot of the other families we knew were bigger families. And it wasn't until I became an adult that I realized that not everyone had 27 first cousins and five siblings and all of these aunts and uncles, that a lot of people have really small families, and something sweet about that too. But we have just a very big, loving everyone is in everyone else's business kind of family.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

Now that's the part the in your business, but okay, another day. So if there is one place you could travel to right now, where would that be?

SPEAKER_02 10:49

I would I would love to go uh to South America. I uh have been to Peru and I've been to Panama, but I think there are so many beautiful, I mean, I love traveling. I think traveling really informs who you are as a human being. And especially being in the United States, I think it's super important for us to get out and travel to other places because our we're pretty insulated here. But I would love to spend more time in South America.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

Okay, great, awesome. So before we continue um to the business part of things, I just wanted to know if there's one book or movie you would like to recommend.

SPEAKER_02 11:30

I am a sucker for any young adult trilogy that comes out. So Hunger Games, Twilight. I mean, that's sort of my like pleasure reading is any anything young adult. So if you're looking for something fun, I often revisit those books that I read in like my early adult time.

SPEAKER_01 11:54

Awesome. Thanks so much for sharing that with us. And um, talking about business, what is one of the highest moments you'd say you've had in business so far?

SPEAKER_02 12:04

So I have had Honeybee's group for about seven years now. And a couple of years ago, I pivoted my business to work with female founded companies and solopreneurs. And making that switch has been both one of the hardest things that I've ever done because I'm flexing my muscles in ways that I didn't before and need to be out and be visible for so many reasons. It's been a growth period for me. But seeing the women that I'm actually helping and seeing their businesses grow, and I'm so passionate about helping women make money and grow businesses that work for them, it's been so much more rewarding than probably any of the work I've ever done in my career.

SPEAKER_01 12:56

Oh, okay. I could see that. Yes. And um, if you were to look at the opposite side of that, what's one of the not so good moments you've had?

SPEAKER_02 13:06

Self-doubt and challenging myself. Like learning new things and doing new things is really hard. And I talk about doing uncomfortable things all the time. Selling is uncomfortable for a lot of people. And pivoting my business, kind of I had to eat my own dog food, and I have to do a lot of things that I don't feel good, comfortable doing that are really hard. I've had to learn a lot of new things, and a lot of self-doubt can creep in and a lot of uncertainty can creep in, and a lot of failure and testing and you know, pivoting creeps in. And I think for entrepreneurs, that's really hard, especially when what you're selling is your own skill set and your own services. When things don't go perfect, you tend to, or at least I tend to really get down on myself. And so that's been the hardest thing for me to balance is staying confident and knowing that what I'm doing and what I know has real value while being humble enough and vulnerable enough to pivot and share and lean on my community when I need them.

SPEAKER_01 14:27

Yes, yes. It sounds like um while you were speaking, I just thought of being comfortable, being uncomfortable, right? One of those things you have to do when you learn as an entrepreneur for sure. It's true. Can you bring us back to maybe the first time you thought about starting a business? Do you remember that moment?

SPEAKER_02 14:46

Yes. So I grew up in a family with entrepreneurs um and small business owners in the traditional sense before like VC funding and all of that. And so I always knew entrepreneurship as a path to, I didn't think of it as a career, but as a path to making money and owning a business. And so when I started working for startups, um, sort of in the early middle stage of my career, it was a version of owning a piece of a business and being an entrepreneur that was new to me. I've been married for almost 23 years. And our and our son is um seven and a half. So it took us a long time to get him here. And when we got pregnant with him, I sort of decided that I want to take a real maternity leave. And one of the blessings of having worked, had a whole career before he was born is I felt confident taking time off. And I knew there would be job opportunities when I was ready to go back. And I always use consulting as sort of in between my startup roles. I would like work for a friend for a little bit, but I always thought of it as like a side gig. And when I was thinking about going back to work, working back at an early stage startup was not appealing to me. It did not provide the lifestyle balance that I wanted in this new version of my life, right? You asked me what's a word to describe you before, what's a word to describe you now. I think of my life in phases also. Um, and so I started consulting. And at first I was like, oh, I'll consult until I ramp back up to a full-time role. Um, and then COVID hit and there were no full-time roles, and I just was consulting and realized that actually I loved it. I loved being able to work within companies, work within teams, work with individuals, but pick up my son from school and do things on my own schedule. And I could really lean into the areas that I was strong in and the work that I liked doing and could leave the rest of it behind. And so maybe a couple years into COVID, was like, oh, I think I found my next full-time role. I think it's work, it's my own company. And now I'm gonna formalize this, and this is what I'm going to do. The first two years were just kind of like rolling with the punches. And so I never really set out to be a consultant and and have my own company in this way. But when I look back on my life, it is totally a natural path and progression. So I don't know why it was a surprising evolution at all.

SPEAKER_01 17:45

Yeah, and I like how you mentioned flexibility because um just that phase of your life, that that stage, that is that becomes so much more important. And I relate to that very much because that's when I transitioned as well. So thanks for mentioning that. And um, once you decided that this is your new full-time role, what were those steps that you took to, I know you mentioned you formalized it. Let's think of maybe somebody who who's now making that decision, maybe listening to you helped them just realize this is what I'm going to do. And they now need to take those next steps. What would you say that was for you?

SPEAKER_02 18:23

So I was already a couple years into sort of consulting when I started really saying, okay, this is what I'm gonna do. When people are first starting consulting or first branching out and starting their own business, whatever that looks like. I always tell people to sell before you build. A lot of times when you first start your business, the things you do are like get a logo, spend money on a website, do all of this marketing and sort of expensive kind of work, and you come up with all of these ideas of things you think you're gonna sell or people are going to want to buy. And I always caution early entrepreneurs to just take a beat for a second and to first just go out and start selling, talking to people, especially as service providers, because what we think people need and what they actually need or how they want to buy it or how they want to work with people are often different. And so if you spend all of this time and energy and money creating this thing that nobody wants, you've wasted a lot of resources. And so before you do that, go out and talk to as many people as possible. Find out what their problems are, have a list of all of the things that you know how to do and that you're good at and that you enjoy doing, and just see where you can work with people and how much they're willing to pay you and how much money you need to make in order to survive. And just start selling and start working and start collaborating and getting clients because you'll very quickly figure out okay, here's the type of work I like doing. Here's how I like working with people, here's what people actually need. Now let me put together an offer. Now let me refine my pricing now that I know what my costs are, how much people are willing to pay. Now let me build a brand and go out and do things. I think selling something and starting to make money and starting to work and get clients is the best first step when starting a service-based business. People are buying you and your service. Most of the time, you're selling to people you already know. They don't care about a website, they don't care about a business name, they don't care about a logo. They want to know that you can do the thing you say you're gonna do.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

Thanks so much. And I'm I'm hearing selling and I'm thinking, oh my gosh, good, probably the best first step, but the most intimidating. It's easier sometimes to just focus on the other things. I think little it's comfortable to do that. It's comfortable, yeah. So now is a good time to talk about. Um, tell us the name of your business and how you help people to do that, what you just actually talked about just now.

SPEAKER_02 21:26

So the name of my company is Honeybees Group. I work with women service providers and women founder-led sales businesses or companies with founder-led sales. And my goal and what I do is I help women sell their services better. So most of the women I work with have come from corporate. So they had a career, they are so good at what they do, but now they're starting their own businesses or they've been in business for a while, and they Don't feel good pricing, packaging, and pitching their services. And there are so many reasons why women don't feel good talking about money. And it goes back to our childhood when we were told, like, don't be pushy. It's rude to talk about money. Smile more, right? There are all of these subliminal messages about money and women that we pick up on from a very young age. I think it's total crap. I think women are actually the best sellers. To be a good seller, you need to be focused on like value exchange. Most women really want to deliver a good service and get paid fairly for that service. We're relationship-driven. We love to collaborate and like create really symbiotic, strong working relationships. Women can be fantastic sellers. And so I love to train them and build their confidence and their skill set around selling and make it feel good and create an ecosystem within their business that allows them to make money doing what they love and what they're good at.

SPEAKER_01 23:17

Let's pause for a moment to hear from our sponsors. You've built a name for yourself through hard work and dedication. But does managing the business side feel like a distraction from your true passion? Are you dealing with unmanaged finances? CME Accounting LLC is here to help. We specialize in organizing your financial records, allowing you to focus on what you do best. With organized books, you'll have more time for what inspires you. Whether that's expanding your influence, building relationships, or simply enjoying life. Don't let unmanaged finances hold you back. Reach out to CME Accounting LLC today and let us help you thrive. Visit our website www.cmeaccountinglc.com or email us at admin at cmeaccountinglc.com. Alright, let's jump back into our conversation. And you mentioned value. Yes. A lot of us as women entrepreneurs, we do provide a lot of value, but it's very difficult, challenging, uncomfortable to put a price to that. So sometimes we're probably more comfortable just doing it anyway rather than charging, especially if it's people we know, even though it's people we don't know. So how would you like? Can you speak a little bit on that?

SPEAKER_02 24:38

Yeah. I think we have been conditioned to feel that way. I think um we feel bad asking for what we're worth and for that money. And I always start with the fact that you're why. Like, why are you doing what you're doing? You have a family to provide for, you have causes that are important to you. We don't think of ourselves as sellers. We think of ourselves as lawyers, accountants, graphic designers, health coaches, but we all have something to sell. And I think sales has this very negative connotation because most of us remember bad sales experiences, feeling pressured to do something, feeling like we were being taken advantage of. And so when we think about asking for money, those are the things that come up. And we're like, oh, I do not want to be that. So I'm gonna do it for free or offer a discount because we want to be nice and we want people to like us. And the thing that I want all of us to understand is that I will almost never ask for a discount when I'm working with a woman service provider because I value the work that they are doing. And I think we need to start creating our own economies. We need to start being willing to pay each other fairly and we need to be willing to charge fairly. I'm not saying never do work for your friend at a discount, right? But in general, I think we are the first and quickest to go to the discount or to go to the free or to lower our value in terms of what we're charging, um, because it's more comfortable. And I want us to feel really comfortable being like, listen, this is a high value product and service that I'm delivering, and this is how much it costs. And if you can't afford it or it's not the right investment, that's okay. That's okay. But this is what it costs. It's hard, it's hard. It takes practice, it takes practice. Even for me, I've been in sales for over 20 years, and I can tell you the mental shift that happened when I was working for another company and selling somebody else's products and services versus when I started consulting for myself with my own company. I also went through this, okay. Like now I'm feeling less confident about asking for money. So I totally get it. I'm not immune to this. When you are the service provider, it feels really personal. We don't want to be rejected. We want everybody to say yes. What I'm saying is it's okay if people can't afford to work with you. You have to get paid fairly for the work that you do because it's valuable.

SPEAKER_01 27:39

And I enjoyed listening to you say that. And I just hope somebody listening right now who's going through that reaches out. The reason I'm saying that, it took me so long to get to that point. I'm still working on it.

SPEAKER_02 27:51

Yeah, we all we're all work in progress.

SPEAKER_01 27:53

We are all a work in progress. Yes. And then, but now where I stand, I realize it is just so important. And I just wish I had known this. Like when I started um this business, that I had worked on that path, the selling, the mindset shift, and um how to handle rejection and don't see it as rejection. I've learned that it's actually helping me to refine what I provide and at, you know, the rates I provide them at. So I remember, for instance, I had an instance where somebody did um start working with me. We decided on the rate and everything, everything was going fine. But later they said they came back and they said, you know, maybe we should look at the price again. And the former me would have been, yeah, let's just reduce it. But instead I said, you know what, I understand. We went through the process, it worked out well, but at the end of the day, we were not, we're not working together anymore. But it ended where the person said, you know, once I get to a point, they would reach out again. So I felt really good because I just there was something about the worth, the value that I felt that I was um bringing to the table. And it's not like I won't work with people um to know if somebody really has a situation and we can um we can work through that fine. But I think what I realized in that moment is the value that that person sees when they look at my work. What I came out of that thinking was that person probably also needs to do some work that I'm doing myself. So I felt like um those experiences kind of help you to grow that muscle, to build that muscle. Um, so I just wanted to share that because I'm not right there yet, but I feel like I'm learning and I just feel like maybe being in a working with you, I'd probably not have to spend that much time getting there. I would have probably gotten there a lot faster. Thank you. So I'm glad that you provide that service.

SPEAKER_02 29:51

You said two really important things there that I just want to make sure people catch because it's super important what you said. Number one is not being afraid of the rejection and the saying no. I think as women or as business owners in general, we're so afraid of the no that we feel like selling is our job to make people say yes. We follow up a hundred times. We like, we try to work the conversation so much to get people to say yes when really, I say get to know fast. It's not a quick yes, it's a no or a not right now. We spend a lot of energy working our leads and our prospects to get them to yes when maybe now is not the right time. And so I feel like a no or a not right now is a blessing because it gives us the space to go focus on someone who's ready to say yes and to go focus on the productive things in our business. So I like to reframe that quote unquote rejection as like get to know fast so that you have the space to find people who are gonna say yes because we all have those moments where we're like following up, you know, we're trying to convince people to work with us. And I'm just those clients never end up being the best clients, right? So I think that was really important what you said. And the other thing about holding your price and holding your value is there is someone out there that is the right fit for everyone. So if your service at your price is not the right fit for someone, that's okay. Because there's somebody else who can do what that person needs to do, unless they're totally off the wall, like not being realistic. But there's someone else that maybe charges less, has less experience, does something a little differently that they can find. And again, you know, it's about finding the right fit clients for you. And price is a big part of that. Because if somebody can't afford or isn't willing to pay for your services, it's also not going to be a great client because they're always gonna be sort of like second guessing. You want to get the people who are like, oh my gosh, I can't wait to work with Clarita because I know she's gonna give me exactly what I need and get my books in check and keep me on track and you know, do all the things I need to do. So those two points I just wanted to pull out because I think they're really important and something that a lot of people struggle with, quite frankly.

SPEAKER_01 32:36

Yeah. And you mentioned the second guessing, and I felt like that's the the point I picked up on because if you're second guessing now, it just does not lead to a very good experience. And I just had worked up to a point where also just believing in my price. So when I before, I'd be like, ah, maybe I did something wrong, but I had gotten to a point where I was so confident that I knew that it was just we were just not aligned at this time. Yes, so it takes a lot to admit that it's not me, it's the alignment right now, and for me, that is huge. So being able to get to that point is great. That is really important, yes. So tell us when we hit honey bees group, how did you come up with that name? What's the story behind that name?

SPEAKER_02 33:25

So it's interesting because I have always been obsessed with bees and honey bees. Um, I think as a sort of species, they're pretty fascinating. They have this their own way of communicating. I love the queen bee aspect where there's all the workers' bees and then there's a queen bee. They work together as a team to achieve their mission. If a bee finds really good nectar miles away from the hive, they come back and they tell everybody about it. So, and they're pollinators, right? So, for so many reasons, I think bees are just really super cool. Save the bees. And so when I was thinking of my name for the company, I kind of went through this whole exercise and I kept coming back to honeybees and I kept coming back to honeybees. And then finally, kind of doesn't fit. It's not like a, it's not a super descriptive thing, but it's personal to me. And I think that's what branding is all about is what feels good to you and what are you building your brand around. And I love that I call my the people in my community my honeybees, my girls, my honeybees. And so there's nothing deep to it aside from the fact that I think bees are really cool and I want to pollinate and help women pollinate their businesses and make money and share information freely with my hive.

SPEAKER_01 34:55

Yeah. And as one of your honeybees, I will say I love the name and I think it is it matches perfectly. Thank you. And um, as you grow the the business, um, could you maybe tell us like what it was like getting your first clients and how you actually get clients now, how you've been growing in that in that area.

SPEAKER_02 35:17

Yeah. So my first clients were people I knew, people from past work experiences. And I was just emailing them saying, hey, I'm starting to consult. Here's the type of work I want to do. Let's have a conversation and catch up and see if I can support you or someone you know in any way. And I used those first calls really as market research. And, you know, what were people what was going on in people's businesses? What kind of help did they need? How did they want to work with people? I was really clear from the beginning how much money I needed my business to make. This is something that I think a lot of first-time early entrepreneurs don't get right, is everybody kind of picks these arbitrary numbers, like I want to make$50,000,$100,000,$250,000. Be really clear about how much money you have to make. What do your bills look like? What does your lifestyle look like? What kind of taxes do you have to pay? What kind of costs are there? And so I had this number in mind of like, okay, I need a business that generates X. And then I use that to kind of reverse engineer. These are how many clients I need. This is how much money I need each client to pay me. And that was in the beginning. And then as my business has evolved, I've gotten more deliberate about how I work with people. In the beginning, it was all over the place. Sometimes I worked hourly, sometimes I worked on a flat fee for the project, sometimes I was on a monthly retainer. I was testing to see what did I like doing? How did people want to pay me? Where could I get the most money for the work that I was doing? I can say for um highly skilled people, do not charge hourly. Sorry, this is not answering your question, but I want to make sure if anybody's in this stage, don't charge hourly when people work with me. They're not just getting one hour of my time, they're getting 22 years of experience doing what I'm doing. I can't charge a fair hourly rate for 22 years of experience. So that was in the beginning. I had to figure all of that out. And then now I have set ways that I work with people. And sometimes I go outside of that if there's really someone I want to work with or a company that needs something specific. But I've figured out, okay, this is how I like working. Here's how I can best help people, because there are some areas where people need support. And I'm like, I'm just not the best person. Like I have, if you're a product-based business, if you sell like a physical product, I'm not the best person to help you from a sales perspective. That's a totally different business. And so I'm really clear about who I help, how I help them, and how I charge for that now. And so I work one-on-one with women. I run workshops and work with small sales teams to really help level them up.

SPEAKER_01 38:25

Okay, wow. I love, I love that you shared that journey there to where you're working basically with just um people that you know within your network. And now you've expanded that. And that brings in networking there as well, where you have workshops and other ways of meeting clients. You touched on pivoting earlier. If we can just focus on that just a little bit, what made you decide to pivot? What should people consider when thinking of pivoting?

SPEAKER_02 38:51

For me, it happened during COVID, where many of my friends either left the workforce or they were laid off and didn't have full-time jobs and needed to make money. And a lot of my friends were like, Hey, can you help me learn how to do a sales call or how to find my right target audience, market somewhere? And so I was just helping my friends. Two of my friends bought really expensive coaching programs that did not deliver. They basically were learning how to post on Instagram and not learning how to sell or, you know, make money in a way that works for them. I call myself the anti make seven figures in your sleep by posting on Instagram sales coach. And I just said, you know what? I can do it better than this. This is not right. This is not how I believe women should be selling. And I've built now a consulting business. And so I know how to do this. And I pivoted. And in some ways, I'm I was building a whole new business, even though it was still Honeybee's group and I was still doing sales training. It was a whole new business in so many ways. And it was really hard. And like I said before, I had to do the hard work that I was asking everybody else to do for the first time. Now I have to become visible. I was a B2B service provider before, which is wildly different than what I can kind of consider myself a B2C to B service provider now. So that's how I pivoted. I think there are certain phases that people are in business where they make pivots or evolutions in their business. So after year one, typically things start to formalize, right? You've now you've been working and you're like, okay, now I'm gonna refine things. At year three or five, your business is now maybe a little different and you need to make more money, or you are making more money. And so things in your business need to change. And so maybe that's when you pivot. And pivot can look different for different people. For me, it looked like I was changing who I was working with and how I was working with them, but it was still all about revenue generation. For someone else, a pivot could be hiring a team for the first time. And now your company is still doing the same thing, but you're pivoting from the role doing the day-to-day to now being a CEO. So pivoting can look different for a lot of people. I think we think it all means one thing, which is doing something different in a different way. But I think we're constantly evolving and pivoting our businesses, especially in this marketplace where everything feels very shaky and kind of uncertain. We need to be really nimble and willing and able to react without just kind of always pointing our business in a different direction.

SPEAKER_01 41:58

Yeah, thank you so much for that perspective. I really appreciate that. And as we come to a close, what does success look like for you? And what does it mean to you?

SPEAKER_02 42:07

Yeah. So success to me means peace and flexibility and freedom. So peace of mind knowing that I have enough. I have enough money in the bank. Should something go wrong, that I have enough money to do the things I want to do. I don't need all, right? But I want enough. It looks like peace of mind where I'm not worried about where my sales is coming from. It looks like flexibility where I can take time off to enjoy my life and go on vacation. And I have a business that keeps running, or I can plan for that. And it looks like modeling for my son the type of work ethic that I want him to see me working hard and also taking time off to do things as a family.

SPEAKER_01 43:08

I love that.

SPEAKER_02 43:10

Can you tell us how all listeners can reach you? So you can find me on LinkedIn, um, Jack White. I have a podcast called Girls Make Bank, where I talk all about selling and building a service-based business for women. And you can always find me at honeybeesgroup.co. I invite you to visit there and to sign up for one of our monthly virtual community calls. That's a great way to sort of say hi, poke in, and meet some other great women.

SPEAKER_01 43:44

Yes, I concur. I I love your great.

SPEAKER_02 43:47

And meet Clarita because she's she's there a lot of the time.

SPEAKER_01 43:50

Yes, yes. I always look forward to it. Well, thank you so much for being with us today and for sharing so much with us. And I I really hope that um some Somebody who's listening, which is how to connect.

SPEAKER_02 44:02

Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 44:04

Alright, see you soon. A quick note before we wrap up the insights and experiences shared by our guests are their own. We love creating space for real conversations about business and growth, and everyone's journey is unique. Therefore, this podcast is for informational and inspirational purposes only. It is not meant to replace legal, financial, or other professional advice. So we encourage you to take what's useful, do your own due diligence, and build what works best for you.

SPEAKER_01 44:45

Thanks for listening to Begin Build Blossom Your Business Journey. We hope today's conversation gave you the insights and inspiration you need to move forward on your own path. Don't forget to subscribe or follow wherever you get your podcast so you never miss an episode. Do you have feedback? We'd love to hear from you at podcast at cmeaccountinglc.com. Join us again next week for a new episode.