#22 Terri Couser: “Doing it ugly” led to the business of her dreams

In this episode, entrepreneur and business coach Terri Couser shares her journey from foster care to successful business owner. She emphasizes the importance of “doing it ugly,” not waiting for perfection, and showing up authentically. Terri's candid insights on the power of testimonials and the significance of choosing the right platform for your business are invaluable for aspiring entrepreneurs.

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Chapters

• 0:00 How Terri Couser started her business from scratch (foster care, teen mom, entrepreneurship)
• 3:55 What new entrepreneurs don’t realize about running a business
• 7:22 “Do it ugly” when building your business
• 12:49 Building a network: Your net worth is your network
• 18:08 3 tips on getting new customers
• 23:03 How authentic storytelling can help you build a stronger brand
• 28:10 How to use business credit the right way to grow your business
• 30:48 Credit repair 101: What really works and what to avoid
• 33:37 How to monitor and build business credit
• 37:07 Discipline over motivation: Staying consistent as a small business owner
• 42:19 How to choose the right advisors for business and financial decisions

Transcript

Terri Couser (00:00)

There's a difference between being productive and being busy. So we get busy with, “I need the right logo, I'm working on the right colors. I need the right website.” That's not the thing that's going to grow your business. That's not the thing that's going to grow and scale your side hustle. 

You need to spend time on how you get your client or customer transformation. How can you get them a quick win? You want to get your client and customer a result no matter what it is you do. I don't care if you make shirts, bake cakes, you do lashes, you're a video editor, you're a coach, you write a book, you want to get them a quick win so they have that confidence in you so you can continue to serve them, continue to help them. so doing it with what you have right now is the key.

Whatever the thing is you do, do that thing in excellence. Serve your clients and customers in excellence. That's what's going to actually grow and scale your business.

Tiffany (00:00)

Hello and welcome to Main Street Makers. We are so excited to welcome Terry Kouser here today. Thank you so much for joining us.

Terri Couser (00:09)

So excited and you said my name all the way right. Come on somebody, we're starting off good, look.

Tiffany (00:13)

I did. Yay. Yay. Awesome. Thank you so much. Tell us a little bit about your business because you are incredibly successful. You have built an incredible platform. I'm curious: Introduce us to your business, but also take us back to the beginning and like what those first few months looked like.

Terri Couser (00:19)

I'm excited to be here. Thank you for having me. My gosh, how much time do we have?

Honestly, I'm very grateful because what it looks like now is not how it started, right? And so if I can just give you a quick recap for everyone: foster care, group homes because both my parents struggled with addiction. That led to me being a teen mom at 17, right? 

So transparency — minority female foster care teen mom. It wasn't… it didn't look like this never in a million years and just to be honest, I couldn't go away to college, right? Because I had a little baby. So I went to a trade school to learn computers and that led to me working for TransUnion young, right? 

I learned financial literacy, credit leveraging. And then I went on to buy my very first house at 21, right? So teen mom, barely graduating high school, bought my first house at 21. And then later, literally retired myself from corporate America at the age of 38. So I have now been a self-employed entrepreneur, speaker of business coach since 38 and it has just been a blessing. 

I help other people kind of go from zero, look, zero to a hundred real real quick and it's been I've had a lot of dark days, right? So I think that we don't talk about that enough but my brand now I work primarily with entrepreneurs, small business owners, investors, a lot of still also first-time home buyers, because that's where my story started.

So that's it's still near and dear to my heart and just launching and scaling and just even understanding that there's value in growing yourself a side hustle, monetizing your passion, turning something that you love into something income producing so that you can build legacy and wealth. And so that's where we are now. Look, real quick recap.

Tiffany (02:27)

That is amazing and so, so, so inspiring. And I think anybody listening is going to be like, I can, you know, come from really anywhere and figure it out.

Terri Couser (02:42)

I think it's important actually appreciate you starting there because I think that you know the blessing and the curse with social media is everybody shows their highlight reels, right? You show you start a business and you got a Benz, the Rolex, you coming out of a jet. 

Look, anybody who's building a business going after your dreams. You have a vision. You know that it doesn't look like that. And so as you're going through and building and you see all these people having like what it looks like a massive success you're thinking like, ‘What am I doing wrong? Why doesn't my business look like this? Why is my side hustle… why aren't I generating more income?” 

So I think it's important to share that day one, year one, year five doesn't look like, know, what a lot of these people who are 10, 20, 30 years in what it looks like now. So the comparison can sometimes be demotivating.

Tiffany (03:31)

Yeah, I totally agree. yeah, social media, just love to put on a face.

Terri Couser (03:38)

Good, like a thousand percent. So I'm grateful it did not start off that way.

Tiffany (03:43)

No, we're so grateful that you're totally open to be transparent. So during those first few months or even the first year, what helped you push through any uncertainty or fear that you faced?

Terri Couser (03:59)

Okay, look Tiffany do I have permission to be honest look like I have to ask the disclaimer, right?

Tiffany (04:07)

Please.

Terri Couser (04:08)

And the reason why I say that guys is that when I left my corporate job, I started with a cell phone, a laptop, a printer, my dining room table, a vision board taped to my dining room wall and just God and a dream. And so I didn't have a team yet. I didn't have no bunch of equipment yet. I just started. Now what I will say, the reason why I said, I be honest is because I left my job without a plan. I already was a mom, already had student loans, I had a mortgage, had a car note.

And I just was like I'm gonna change the world. I'm gonna do this I got some got a hold of some motivational speakers and I was like I can do this and I left a six-figure job All right I went back to college and had two degrees and I was doing the corporate America thing and so I decided that there was a bigger purpose for me and so I had a lot of dark days and the reason why It I guess it's so important because I'm the credit lady I'm the financial lady, but guess what when you're not earning income you don't have money for your mortgage.

You have money for your car note and so the thing that sustained me is I was like… this must work. I have no plan B. Like this must work. So it was purely discipline. The fact that I didn't have a plan B at that point and the fact that I really knew that I could help people right at the beginning I was helping first time home buyers and also helping people have multiple streams of income which are my entrepreneurs, my business owners, and my investors. So I was like I know I can help them. Like help me help them, right, come up with the plan. 

So I knew I had knowledge, skills, and experience. I was not a good entrepreneur. I did not know how to be a business owner. And that led to me making a lot of mistakes if I'm honest with you.

Tiffany (05:49)

I love the honesty because I also had a freelance business and I was a horrible business owner. I think it's just because most people don't know that it's going to take so much admin. They don't know what it's going to take. Like you have to be all of the things. Can you talk us through that a little bit?

Terri Couser (05:50)

Yes, all of the things I thought because I had knowledge skills experience and passion. I'm like, “I’m about to launch my business my phone's about to be off the hook. I'm not gonna have enough time to handle all these clients.” 

That's what you think — and keep that excitement because that's where it will go if you stay committed and you stay with the course and you grow with your business. But what happened is is you when you're used to having you know a paycheck come in like no matter how hard you work like I show up get my paycheck right that I didn't know customer service, didn't know marketing, I didn't have systems, I didn't have SOPs, I didn't follow up properly. 

Like and for me at the very least I had a service-based business so it wasn't a lot of like you know inventorying all those kinds of things but people don't understand even with a service-based business you're paying for you know Wi-Fi and cell phones and equipment and you're paying for subscriptions the things that help your business run you're paying for it like it was a lot. 

So what I would say to anybody out there starting is that you have enough skills and experience to launch and grow a brand, but also put in the same amount of time to learn every aspect of your business and understand in the beginning — before you're able to hire and invest and help — you are going to do everything. You're going to be customer service. You're going to be billing. You're going to be inventory. You're going to be marketing. You're going to be sales. And to be okay with doing, I call it doing it ugly. Meaning what my website looks like now is different than before. What my forms look like, my processes.

So it's like you launch you help people you adjust you get better you launch and so be okay with Growing with your brand because that's exactly what will happen as you help more people you'll get feedback from them — do it ugly.

Tiffany (07:55)

Yeah, doing it ugly. That's a beautiful, I mean, it's not, but that's a great way to put it. Because I remember when I first started freelancing, I got the advice to not bother with my website and just have a PDF of my portfolio. And I didn't do it and I wasted so much time. But looking back, it's like, you could totally do that.

Terri Couser (08:01)

Yeah. You can totally do that. I'm so glad that you shared that because it's like...

I call it, you know, you'll be obsessed with everything looking perfect. And there's a difference between being productive and being busy. So we get busy with, “I need the right logo, I'm working on the right colors. I need the right website.” That's not the thing that's going to grow your business. That's not the thing that's going to grow and scale your side hustle. You need to spend time on how you get your client or customer transformation. How can you get them a quick win? That's a nugget right there. Right. So everybody knows me. Hey, y'all. Hey, people that don't know me. I say I drop nuggets. Right. 

So the nugget is that, know, you want to get your client and customer a result no matter what it is you do. I don't care if you make shirts, bake cakes, you do lashes, you're a video editor, you're a coach, you write a book, you want to get them a quick win so they have that confidence in you so you can continue to serve them, continue to help them. so doing it with what you have right now is the key. Everything doesn't have to be perfect. They would rather get a result, a transformation, than your website colors and your logo being perfect. I'm just being, look, Tiffany said I could be honest, right?

Tiffany (09:27)

Yeah, it makes so much sense and it's hard because I think sometimes that's like the fun part or one of the fun parts is the logo, the pretty stuff, but you can definitely get caught up in it.

Terri Couser (09:38)

To be honest with you — if we're gonna be honest — you can have the perfect website, the perfect logo, the perfect everything, but if your product or service is trash, look…

Then they're not you're not going to get more customers. You're not going to get more clients. They're not going to get referrals. It's because you help somebody say, my god, she did my hair great. my god, she helped me start my business. She helped me buy a house. whatever the thing is you do, they're going to because you do it in excellence, right? Do that thing in excellence. Serve your clients and customers in excellence. That's what's going to actually grow and scale your business.

Tiffany (10:16)

Yes, yes, I love that. I really love that. So was there a moment early on when things didn't go as planned? Like a setback that maybe was a valuable lesson later?

Terri Couser (10:28)

So many setbacks. So many setbacks. I'll say one in in particular and just another transparent thought here, right? So because I'm a single mother, right? And so I remember some nights where I was crying. I was like, why did I leave my job? Like this might not have been wise. I honestly — maybe we need to talk about this more just in general. 

Like I felt guilty. I felt like was that responsible of me to go after my dreams knowing that I have children now, have mortgage, I have student loans. Like I remember many days just saying like, is this what I'm supposed to be doing? Especially like year one to three where I was really still figuring out how to be a good business owner. But I also again held onto the fact that I knew that I could help. And I remember this one particular time there was an event that I was able to sponsor. 

Now y'all, I didn't understand that the word sponsor meant that you pay money. Like, so I already couldn't even afford the tickets for the event. It was like, I'm going to be a sponsor for this great big event. And then I got approved to be a sponsor and they gave me this great big bill.

I said, oh no, like it was more money than I had, right? But it was a phenomenal opportunity, right? And so I remember, quick nugget, your network is your net worth, right? I had some business, I had some friends, one was a broker and one was a financial consultant. And I said, “Hey guys, we have an opportunity.” You hear my language? “We have an opportunity to sponsor this event.” And it was like a big name person and we had been doing speaking events in the community and they were like, “My God, yes.” And I was like, “I need this amount from each of you.”

The takeaway, take people with you to the top. I got approved to be a sponsor, right? But I had two other partners come with me. They actually paid for it. And I ended up spending a lot of money, like all my savings and checking to be honest with you, to get like signs, t-shirts, all this stuff. 

And the lesson is that your network is your net worth — and take people with you. But I spent all my checking, all my savings, everything I had because I believed in it. Now it actually did not end up how I imagined because I was like, “I'm about to do this event and my phones are going to be off the hook. This is the break that I need.”

People at the event did not care about me. They cared about me but me like the the people, they were not like, you know, I need to call Terri to get some help. And so I'm like waiting literally like the next day I'm like crickets, y'all, crickets.

I remember feeling that guilt again. Like, was that a wise decision? I invested, I spent my checking, my savings, like, honestly, entrepreneurs and business owners are gonna have to dream, there's a certain amount of risk. Now, you assess, you know what I mean, the risk that you can handle. But I just believed it would turn into something big. Three months later, it did turn into something big. There was an opportunity, they hired me, and I now made close to seven figures with that opportunity.

Tiffany (13:39)

That's amazing! Oh my gosh.

Terri Couser (13:40)

With those first couple of months, I was like, oh, no!

Tiffany (13:47)

What did I do? Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, I mean, that's the thing. It's like you never really know where anything is going to lead you.

Terri Couser (13:49)

Yeah.

You have to plant seeds, right? One thing I do believe is that, you can't expect other people to believe in your brand more than you, right? So it does take blood, sweat, tears, sacrifice. If you're not willing to sacrifice some plants and seeds and invest into your business, then how can you expect somebody else to, right? And so that's one principle that I was firm on, like I'm investing in me, I'm investing in me, I'm investing in me, no matter what the outcome. That takes a certain amount of faith, if I'm just honest, because you're investing without knowing there's a guaranteed seed outcome but I do believe there's a principle to sowing and reaping right so you sow a seed you may not know when the harvest will come but it will eventually come.

Tiffany (14:33)

Yeah, that's beautiful. Yeah, and I think that's inspiring for people who are scared to take risks, either of starting a business or just taking it, you know, that leap, whatever it is.

Terri Couser (14:45)

It's scary, but you're betting on you.

Like at the end of that, I know I'm a worker. I didn't leave my job to not work. And so at the end of the day, I was like, if I have to drive Uber, do Doordash like in between, like it's humbling, right? That's another thing that I would say to anybody listening is that sometimes you have those humbling moments and you have to do what it takes. 

That's what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur, business owner, change agent leader. It takes you saying, “I'm going to get this done no matter what, even if I have a couple of months of a hard time.” And so I just knew that I was a worker. I didn't come this far to say it I was not going back to my job. said, look, that was my pride. I said, will not. That was my pride. I'm just being honest.

Tiffany (15:25)

That's amazing. So did you drive Uber for a minute? Did you have to do that?

Terri Couser (15:32)

Look Tiffany! For six months. I had really good credit. I had a black Audi Q8, so if anybody's ever drove Uber you know, if you have the black, get to do Uber black and you get to have a higher amount. I live near the airport. But what I will say, because I'm a business coach now, I do everything with parameters. I said I need this amount of money, I'm gonna drive Uber for six months, I gave myself six months, and I gave myself a time. Like I always say, do you want hobby money or do you want business money? Like do you wanna work it like a hobby or work it like a business? 

So I literally, evenings, weekends, whatever, and six months to get myself out of that hole, running my business full time, about to pick you up and take you to the airport at night and on the weekends. And I didn't share that a lot in the very beginning. Now I tell everybody because I understand that those moments of just doing what it takes to not let my dream die is what led me to where I am now with an international brand and 20 streams of income. Driving Uber.

Tiffany (16:32)

That's so amazing. I think it's so… all of this is so inspiring for people who are in that right now. I had to work in a used bookstore, which actually I loved. But I mean, I worked there part-time while I was starting my freelance business to survive. So yeah.

Terri Couser (16:45)

Yeah. Yep, to survive.

That's a thousand percent true.

Tiffany (16:55)

That's awesome. So let's circle back to what we were talking about. Doing it ugly, basically, is how you phrased it. So what do you think is one thing a small business owner can do right now today to start positioning themselves as credible and professional?

Terri Couser (17:03)

Yes.

Absolutely. So one thing I will say is that in the very, very beginning, I helped a group of people for free in exchange for testimonials, right? Like I literally held a workshop, a credit where this someone's helping first time home buyers. And I said, I've got 15 of my friends, Isaid, “Let me help you for free.” Buy a house and work on your credit. Do this. And I said, what I would like from you is if I can help you that you share my brand, you send referrals and you let me use your information as a testimonial for you as the business owner too. 

Like I said, I don't care what I care if it's makeup, if it's landscaping, if you're a painter, like if you can help some people for free in the very beginning. Then it may only be one or two people for exchange for a testimonial. You saying you're great is one thing somebody else saying you're great is a whole nother thing. So I knew the power of testimonials because that's results, especially when you're new, right? So I'm a business coach now. So I say do you do the thing you say you're gonna do. Does your product do the thing you say it's going to do?

One of the best ways to prove that is by helping a couple of people for free. Be clear. Can I share your testimonial? Can you give me a video or something of that nature that will help establish you as an expert or help establish you at least somebody credible right away? 

Number two, I would say be very clear about your promise, right? About your offer. You know, I make the best cakes that are, you know, vegan, but they taste amazing. Well, you can make vegan cakes, but they can taste like trash, right? They can be yucky. So make sure they taste amazing.

Like be very clear, you know, I help mothers on postpartum lose 50 pounds in a year You know, I help you know business owners launch a scale their business and secure, you know funding in 90 days Be very clear about who you help How you help them and what their result would be if you can start to articulate that over and over and over again Not only will it help you attract the right clients and customers but it will help you hone in on exactly what you need to do to get those people that specific result. So that's something I would say you can do right away. 

And the third thing I'll say is pick a platform. It’s post-COVID and guys, I am a whole geek. I read all day long. Like I read, I follow everything. And so post-COVID, the way we do business is different. E-commerce is huge. People are online now that were never online before, especially like our elderly community and everything. So you need to be somewhere. I don't care where it is, right? I prefer YouTube, right? Second largest search engine, just a nugget right there. 

But I don't care if it's Instagram, TikTok, whatever, pick a platform and show up for your audience right now — tips, do's and don'ts, testimonials, encourage them. That will help you also build that know, like, and trust factor. And that's not new. People do business with people they know, like, and trust. So show up for your audience and pick one platform to master. Three things. Did that help, Tiffany? Look.

Tiffany (20:17)

My God, that was so helpful. Yes. Because I think a big thing that a lot of small business owners do is think they have to be everywhere, but you're saying pick one.

Terri Couser (20:27)

My god, being everywhere is exhausting. I'm not even everywhere.

Quick nugget, right? You have to know who your ideal client and customer is. So I know the age group of my clients and customers. I know their pain points are usually first generation entrepreneurs, first generation homeowners, first generation wealth builders, right? And I know that they're usually the reason why I picked YouTube for me is they're Googling how to start a business, how to launch my business, how to earn income, how to buy a house. So I started answering those questions. So for anybody out there, who's your audience? Well, maybe you have a younger crowd. Well, maybe they're on Tik TOK, right? 

So then that's where you want to show up. My advice to anybody listening is don't just pick whichever one you like. Think about who is your ideal client and customer and where do they show up? Maybe you're an author who wants speaking events. Well, maybe you're going to be on LinkedIn. Do you see what I mean? So pick a platform where your client customer shows up and then master that and a lot of eventually look for another day you learn to repurpose some content and show up on like maybe a top two but in the beginning so you're not overwhelmed and so you can stick to content creation schedule, pick one platform and master it.

Tiffany (21:35)

I love that. Yes, that is a way to help you stay sane for sure. That's great. Yeah, or just that will be all your time and then you won't have any time to work. So what's one mistake you see business owners make when they're creating their online brand presence and how can they fix it basically?

Terri Couser (21:40)

Yes, because you will go crazy off all these platforms.

Very true.

Yeah, absolutely. I would say especially now we were talking about like social media being a blessing and a curse is comparing yourself to other people or trying to copy somebody who's like super successful you being authentic you being sharing your story like I'm a single mother of three Teen mom was in foster care, right? Some people are gonna say my gosh other people gonna say I struggle with being a mom. 

No, I had turmoil in my youth. I mean I wanted to do go to college — I couldn't because of these barriers and so being authentically you is sharing your story Really helps you stand out and so talk about why you started your business Talk about why you want to help people, know share you know why this is important to you. I think that especially like in this AI age right, like being really authentic. Really set you apart because people will be drawn to… there's a lot of people to do credit. There's a lot of business coaches. Why is someone drawn to me? 

I'm specific — building wealth and legacy because I know if something happens to me my boys have nobody right, but my parents are deceased now I'm an only child. I'm still unmarried cuz God ain't doing yet doing God right so but this is where you know I grind with a certain purpose within my mind because I was in foster care. 

That's so important to me that if anything happens to me that they're taken care of and so that's what I would say to anybody out there be Authentic with your story share your story share why you started share who want to help and that is going to make you stand out and don't compare yourself to other brands or try to copy any other brands.

Tiffany (23:36)

Wow, that's so inspiring. I want to run out and start my own brand. It's so great. Yeah, that's so helpful. Yeah, storytelling is something we in marketing talk about a lot, but it is true. And it's like, it's not even a marketing tool. It's just telling, telling it like it is and being honest and apparent or transparent. 

Terri Couser (23:42)

Such an overhead, Tiffany!  

Yeah, honestly in the very beginning of my brand, I didn't share my story. Like I'm way more successful now and it's because I started being really transparent. I didn't share that I was a teen mom. I did not share that I was in foster care. I didn't share the both of my, like I did not share because I really had the fear for anybody out there. I had the fear of judgment. I had fear that people would say like, she doesn't, like she can't be an expert. Look at where she started. And the reverse ended up being true. That because I was honest, people

because I say I messed up sometimes. My business wasn't going good, I had to drive Uber. I had dark days in the beginning. I didn't start with a great big, the more honest I got, the more people were drawn. And so what I would say is like, don't be scared to be true about your story. The people who judge you, they weren't your client or customer anyway. The people that are like, I don't like her, she was a...

You weren't going to invest with me anyway. And so it's a way to repel people who are not for you. And that's okay. That's one of the things I'll say in the beginning. Everybody's not your client. In the beginning, I took everybody because I needed some, I got you, I got you. Now I'm like, we may not be the best fit. Right? You get, you get confident enough to say this is not for me.

Tiffany (25:14)

Right. Yeah.

Yes, that's so awesome. And it makes sense too, because when you're building a brand, you're not supposed to be for everybody.

Terri Couser (25:24)

Tiffany, come on! Look, that is the key. I always say if you're helping everybody you're helping nobody. That's why I said earlier: Be clear about who is your client and customer, and how you help them. That's the scarcity mindset. We think like if I'm clear about I help women who just had a baby lose weight. Well, then I'm not going to get all these other you're still gonna have some outliers. But it the reverse actually happens you start to really attract who needs your help.

Tiffany (25:50)

That's beautiful. And I think, yeah, I think that's very scary for people to limit themselves like that.

Terri Couser (25:58)

It was scary for me. It was scary for me. And then I started to learn, especially with like an industry like credit. It can be a lot of people that are in this space — and I'm just honest — are not the best ethically, are not doing the right things. I started my channel because I really wanted to educate people because I saw so much bad information. And people are like, get an 800 credit score and get a Rolex and get a jet. And I was like, you bet not. Look, that's the feeling in me. You bet not. You better buy a house, a business.

So I started being really clear about like, you know, the person who's going to be drawn to my brand is leveraging credit for income producing assets, income producing information, legacy, wealth building, right? You want to retire your spouse, you want to change your zip code. You want to, you know, send your kids a college with no student loan debt. So you started businesses income producing so you can do better for them. So the people who want an 800 credit score for red bottoms, they're not my client. They're not going to be drawn to me.

And so, and that's okay. That's the message. It's okay.

Tiffany (26:58)

Yeah, definitely. And I'm curious… you obviously know a lot about credit. That's definitely a big sticking point for a lot of people because it's so difficult and it can be such a challenging field to navigate. So how do you explain credit as a tool to someone who's only ever seen it as debt or risk?

Terri Couser (27:03)

Yes, too much.  A thousand percent. 

And what I will say is that it's about being a good steward right especially if you're going to be an entrepreneur And growing scale your business you have to get good with managing money like because there's nobody else There's nobody hanging up like you're gonna have to get good with what's coming in what's going out what you're paying for all of those things.

And so what I would say is that it literally just matters what you're using your credit for? Period. Like I am very big on simplifying everything. So when I say you're leveraging credit to build wealth, I'm going to put it in two buckets: income producing information, income producing assets. 

So what's an example? Income producing information could be investing in a training, a course, a coach, a masterclass that's then going to help you grow and scale your business, invest in real estate, do those things that's going to bring you back income. That way you can pay the credit back and have a surplus and continue to grow. Same thing with income producing assets, starting and growing a business as an asset. You know, I'm also a real estate investor. I've been real estate investing since 2004.

So this is where you buy it you do something like house hacking you buy a duplex you live in one unit. You rent out the other unit. Well, the tenant's rent is paying for your mortgage. You're getting tax write-offs You're building equity you're living rent free and now you're using that money to grow and scale your business That was a wise use of your credit So using your credit for assets not liabilities and I'll take a step further real quick, Tiffany, like for people to say, “Well I work hard, no, I want the Benz.” 

I don't want to shame anybody who wants nice things. Like it's okay to want nice things, but what I will say is the order and what you do things can dictate your success so when people are not financially literate. They'll just go by the Benz I got a thousand dollars a month car payment. I'm like what can you live in that car?

Right. But when you're leveraging for wealth, you get the income producing duplex first. Maybe the duplex yields you $2,000 a month and your car, then you get the Benz and the Benz is a thousand dollars a month, but you put the income producing thing in place first. It's going to pay for your liability and still give you a surplus. So leveraging means using your credit for things that are going to bring you a return in ROI.

Tiffany (29:33)

Yes, I love that. That's very, very helpful because you do. Yeah, because you have to. It is. It's very confusing. What are some of the most asked questions when it comes to credit repair that you get?

Terri Couser (29:36)

Was that helpful? Because listen, it's confusing.

So I think there's a lot of bad information out there. So people will be like, I want to do a credit sweep and they'll pay like all this money to somebody who's like, give me $5,000 now sweep your credit. And let me, let me say this part slow. 

Cause what I'll always say to people is if that person could really erase all your credit, everybody would have an 800 credit score and they would be a billionaire. It's just not true. It's just not true. Now the blessing is that you can absolutely repair your credit. 

And so being really clear about what you want and understanding your credit doesn't even have to be perfect for you to leverage it to build wealth. So takeaway number one is financial literacy is something that's going to pay you for a lifetime. Do it yourself. It doesn't take that long. Literally we help people get results in like 30 to 90 days. Instead of paying somebody a hundred dollars a month for two years — that's ridiculous, that's $2,400, that's your down payment — learn how to do it yourself. 

Number two, it can get turned around quickly. Right? Like nobody should be in credit and credit repair more than 12 months. 

And then the third thing would be to be clear on what it is you want to do with your credit because you're trying to get an 800 credit score when you can get a mortgage for your approval so you want to be a first-time homebuyer with a 620. So when you're clear about what you want to do with your credit you can usually get to that goal a lot faster. And then transition obviously into business credit.

Tiffany (31:28)

Yeah, that makes sense. And I will say we have had other business owners that we've talked to who say that their CPA is absolutely vital for their business. They're basically the mentor. So it definitely depends, but it makes sense. If you can do your own bookkeeping, then go for it.

Terri Couser (31:40)

Yep.

Then go for it. And mind you, that may be one of the things that you've leveraged some of your credit for, help people heavily with business funding, right? That's a wise use of your money. If you get a business line of credit for working capital, right? So part of your working capital is a CPA to keep your book straight because you want to be free to run your business and they keep you out of trouble and help you invest. That's a wise use of that money because if they're good, look, come on somebody, they're going to help you make that money back, right? And save money and not have to owe the IRS the millions and trillions of dollars.

That's a good use of your working capital to run your business for daily operations.

Tiffany (32:23)

Yes, exactly. Yeah, definitely. So you mentioned business credit. How do you tell others how to build business credit?

Terri Couser (32:32)

Oh, it's such a beautiful thing, Tiffany. It's such a beautiful thing. So what I will say is the reason why I say it's a beautiful thing is because you can build it so much faster. You have so much more flexibility, so many more options. And literally, like I kind of tell people to differentiate, you know, with your personal, it's your personal name, your date of birth, your social, you you build your one credit profile with three bureaus. But with your business, each EIN has its own borrowing power. 

So let's say you learn how to be launched. You have three businesses. Let's say you are an author, a personal trainer, and you walk dogs. And you have three EINs. You can literally build business credit for three EINs. Let's say you learn how to secure fifty thousand dollars in funding in 90 days, times three. It's a hundred fifty thousand dollars for your leveraging wisely. Look, remember we said leverage it wisely, right? So the blessing with the business credit is that you can do it for each EIN for each business. You have more options, you can scale it. 

So what I would say is that make it a priority, or at least something that you pay attention to especially when you're… Listen to me and the reason why I'm saying that is because you're with being an entrepreneur your money can go like this. That's what we talked about like you have high months, you have low months. 

So on any month that's low you want to maybe have a business credit card a business line of credit a term loan that you're using responsibly that maybe pays for your virtual assistant or pays for your systems that keeps your business out there or Pays for you know your iPhone because you're a podcaster or you a Youtuber, you know what I mean? 

You want to it pays for your Wi-Fi because your whole business runs on zoom and you know all these systems so it's very good to use the business credit as a way to keep your business running and scaling and just use it for wise wise things. And start from the very very beginning.

I would say one of the things that I love is Nav Prime — and I talk about it all the time because part of it is doing the work and the other part is monitoring it — you have to pay attention to that.

I did all this work, is it actually showing on my business reports and my personal reports? Are they separate? What's there? So just being very clear about also tracking, that's a success principle, tracking what you're doing so you can then know how to continue to grow it.

Tiffany (34:47)

Yeah, that makes sense. Nav Prime gives you credit reports, business and personal some personal credit reports that you can…

Terri Couser (34:57)

and for much cheaper. People don't understand business is business. They will charge you $100 just for your credit report. So one of reasons, transparently, one of the reasons why I like to Nav is because I was broke. Honey, I need to see my reports. I'm not paying you $500 for my credit report. I need to see it now for $79.99.

Tiffany (35:18)

Yes, yeah, they can get expensive if you get them directly from the bureaus.

Terri Couser (35:22)

It's actually very expensive. That's another thing that people kind of miss is that with consumer credit, there's a bunch of consumer laws. It's regulated. They can only charge you for certain things, certain amounts. But when you're an entrepreneur, you're a business owner, business to business. It's not regulated. There's not a bunch of laws. You don't have a bunch of rights. And so they can charge you whatever they want. So when you find services that are credible and legit and they can get the job done for a lesser amount, that's wisdom. Leverage the tools you have access to to grow and scale your brand of monitoring.

there.

Tiffany (35:53)

Yes, yes, definitely. We love to hear it. So you built your business while being a mom and juggling multiple roles. How did you stay consistent and avoid burnout when you had limited resources and time?

Terri Couser (35:56)

Yes. Look, who said I avoided burnout? Look, can we be real right? It can be very it is and I would say can be it it's very overwhelming, especially in the beginning until you have systems in place. That's one thing that helped me trim and one of the very first things I invested in before you could get like No AI and funnels all those things like now is like my very first funnel. They kind of streamlined one of my processes was seven thousand dollars, right, and it I earned $90,000 — $90,000 — from that funnel in the next 90 days and it still kept one paying me.

Tiffany (36:47)

Wow.

Terri Couser (36:49)

Yes, and so what I would say is that I was able to invest because I had some credits at that point but it was a good investment. So what I would say is stick to a schedule. So if I could give you some tangible things right now, stick to a schedule, right? Like I even now I have an office in my house, my home office. I don't do work in my bedroom. I don't work in my dining room. Like I go to bed at a certain time. I wake up at a certain time. That discipline and consistency, especially as an entrepreneur or somebody who's building your side hustle is going to be critical to your success. 

And let's say you have a full-time job and you're working your side hustle. Maybe you're saying every Saturday morning I'm working on my business or every one hour every evening set some parameters. Number two: Set a place in your house or wherever you actually do your work. There's even like mental to that like you know it's business time. Look it's go time right to do it and then number three be okay with taking breaks right but don't quit like Jesus I would never be where I am now had I stopped during those dark days so if you really are the time you're like I just can't do anything.

Have a bad day. Don't have a bad week. Don't have a bad month. Don't have a bad year. Have a bad day. I am done. This person yelled at me. This person didn't pay an invoice. Ma, I got a shut off notice. I am done. Drink some tea and go to bed.

And then the next day you get back at it because the discipline is what equals success hands down not inspiration, not motivation, not even passion. If I'm being honest, discipline is what gets you massive success.

Tiffany (38:19)

Yes, I love that. And actually, I had a professor in my grad school program who I did a writing program and she said the best advice she could give any of us is ‘butt in chair.’

Terri Couser (38:32)

Come on somebody, I love it, I'm gonna use that one. Look, Tiffany's professor said, look, I love it.

Tiffany (38:38)

It did help though. I was like, okay, I just need to sit here. Even though I stare at my screen for an hour, I'm here.

Terri Couser (38:45)

Thank you. It's the truth because the reason why discipline is so important is because every day you're not going to feel like it. You can love what you do. 

There's going to be days you're sick. There's going be you have a headache. There's going to be days that you're overwhelmed. There's going be days I'm a single mom. You got a bad grade. The school called me. Um, this parent teacher night and I forgot. You know what mean? Like you're going to have all of these distractions come to be honest with you. As soon as you start on your legacy building and your wealth building, all the distractions happen. You start your business, your car breaks down. You start your business. You know, somebody borrows money from you, doesn't pay it.

You start like if that's how it's like the universe saying how bad do you want it? And I'm just gonna take a step further. You know, it's like they ever hear the saying “greater level greater devil?” Well, you have to be able to handle at this level before you can be blessed with an increase because more money doesn't mean your life is easier. It means the problems get bigger. Yeah $500 problem with the auto with the car now you make more money now you got a $90,000 payroll problem, right? So it doesn't it doesn't it doesn't it isn't like it goes away. It's just that you get better at managing it.

Tiffany (39:49)

That's such good advice. And yeah, and you can start today. Start here. Start where you are.

Terri Couser (39:56)

I recommend it, start today. One thing COVID taught us, and I really mean this, is that we're not promised tomorrow. Growing and starting my business was by far the most difficult thing I've ever done in my life and by far the most rewarding. 

If I had to go back and go through all the ups and downs, times I made money, the times I lost money, the times I was crying at my dining room table, I had to honestly, and I mean this with everything, like if I had to go back, I would 1000 % choose this path all over again because far beyond my years, all of this will still be here and the people that I've helped, like the people, the days that you're like, why did I do this? You'll get like a text, like I bought my first house. I launched, I got my first client. 

Like, you know, I have people like one of my clients who sent me a picture of her, husband, and her two kids, “We spent the very first night in our house for Thanksgiving.” They don't even know. Sometimes, I literally, cry. I do. I'm such a crier. I'm a little bit older now, so I think I might be going through menopause, dude. But I cry at everything. But it's those things that make you feel like, I'm so glad that I did this. You know that you impacted somebody. So it's by far the most rewarding thing you would ever do.

Tiffany (41:06)

That's amazing. I love that so much. Well, thank you so much. Do you have any sort of final words of wisdom for folks?

Terri Couser (41:16)

Yes, so what I will say is that I don't take business credit or financial advice from anybody I would not trade lifestyles with. Let that sit right there.

A lot of times, so many of us are going through building something and we're not having results, but you're asking somebody about financial literacy, the car just got reposed. You're asking somebody about building a business that isn't a business owner. You're asking somebody about parenting that doesn't have kids. You're asking somebody about relationships that is on their fifth wife or husband. Like pay attention to the source, especially in this age that we're in, there's so much information. There's so many people out there. So I kind of ask myself, I'm very respectful, right? But I take things with a grain of salt. If you don't have the outcomes and results I desire respectfully you may not be able to guide me in this area. So everybody out there, entrepreneurs, small business owners, aspiring entrepreneur, investor, as you are building this dream, this passion going after your vision, just be mindful of who's speaking into you and being aware of you being in control and being able to also make your own decisions.

Tiffany (42:26)

That is excellent advice, especially with social media and YouTube and yes.

Terri Couser (42:30)

Everybody's an expert. I'm like how? Like you just because you said just because you said you're an expert like what did you help? Where's your credentials do you have? You have a microphone, you're an expert.

Tiffany (42:39)

Yes, yes, exactly, exactly. Well, this has been so fun. Thank you so much for joining us. And we just, mean, the nuggets, the nuggets, like you say, but we have so many of them. So I'm really, really excited for our listeners to hear this episode. I think it's going to be really inspiring for everybody.

Terri Couser (43:01)

Thank you so much for having me.

Tiffany (43:03)

Yeah, and we'll have to have you back at some point for sure. Awesome. Okay, thank you so much.

Terri Couser (43:05)

Let's say less, I'm coming back.

Thank you.