Ep. 10 The Stern Truth: The Big Shifts with Rhiannon Franz

I sit down with Rhiannon Franz from REVIVE Marketing in this episode of The Stern Truth. She discusses her entrepreneurial journey from corporate advertising to small business ownership. I was fascinated by her story, including her initial side hustle as an Airbnb host that taught her the fundamentals of running a business while maintaining her corporate job.

Rhiannon shares her own Stern Truth - the stark differences between working in high-pressure corporate environments and founding her own marketing strategy business. We talk about her experience in advertising, working with major brands at top agencies, and how those skills transferred to entrepreneurship. She reveals that her ultimate business superpower is developing strategic plans to help small business owners clarify their vision and achieve their goals.

We also discuss the challenges of balancing entrepreneurship with motherhood, the importance of investing in business coaches, and why knowing when to outsource is crucial. Rhiannon gives advice to business owners trying to "DIY" everything and the mindset shift needed to move from player to coach.

If you’re a founder looking to scale, an entrepreneur considering making the leap from corporate, or a small business owner struggling to find your marketing voice, this episode will help you to navigate major business shifts and understand the value of expert support.

Connect with Rhiannon here:

www.rhivivemarketing.com
Rhiannon@RhiViveMarketing.com
Free Gift: https://www.rhivivemarketing.com/cash-out 

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I encourage you to reach out with feedback, topic suggestions, and share your own entrepreneurial challenges.

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Transcript

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[00:00:00] Marshall Stern: Hi, I'm Marshall Stern and I've spent over 35 years leading and growing multiple small businesses. I know firsthand the struggles of entrepreneurship, feeling isolated, lonely, overwhelmed, and feeling like you have to do all by yourself. I've been through multiple recessions, and I have felt the highs and the lows I've been there, and I get it.

[00:00:26] This podcast is here to change that. Every week I will. Bring you straight talking advice, real world strategies and honest conversations about what it takes to succeed in business without the fluff, the gimmicks, or the sugar-coated. If you're ready to stop spinning your wheels and start making real progress, then you are in the right place.

[00:00:47] This is the Stern Truth. Alright everyone, we're back. Welcome to another episode of the Stern Truth Business Unfiltered. And today I have a very special guest. We have Rhiannon from REVIVE Marketing. How are you doing? 

[00:01:03] Rhiannon Franz: I'm good. I'm good. It's so good to see your face. 

[00:01:06] Marshall Stern: It's great. Yeah, it's been a while. I know.

[00:01:08] We, we met, we spoke a little while back. You're in California? 

[00:01:14] Rhiannon Franz: California, Los Angeles area. Yeah. 

[00:01:16] Marshall Stern: Perfect. So, I'm coming to you from the 51st State of Canada. Okay. I'm not going to go there. 

[00:01:25] Rhiannon Franz: Politics right now. Canada. It's, it's wild. We're in wild times. 

[00:01:31] Marshall Stern: We are in wild. I thought we were in wild times the last like eight years, but we're It's, it's, it's back.

[00:01:36] Rhiannon Franz: It's back. 

[00:01:37] Marshall Stern: It's back. Okay, so here we are. We're going to talk about the stern truth, about your journey into entrepreneurship. This business thing we call it. When did you start? Tell me a little bit about your journey. 

[00:01:50] Rhiannon Franz: So, yeah, my background is working in advertising at the big holding companies. So I started as a straight out college grad in, big advertising.

[00:02:01] So Donnie Deutsch had a TV show back in the day, and I worked at Deutsch Advertising in Los Angeles. And worked on big accounts like Mitsubishi. That was like my first auto account. I grew up in LA Auto for the first five years of my business. I worked on Kia Motors, I worked on Lexus, and sort of had this grumbling in my stomach for something else.

[00:02:27] I was 25 and, I, I call it the quarter life crisis. You've graduated college, you have this career. You think that. You think you know everything. And I just needed to go somewhere else. So New York, LA, you know, I was in LA, grew up from Texas, went to LA. Now I needed to go to New York, so it was 2007.

[00:02:49] It was a good economy, but I went to New York City with no job, no place to live. One way ticket, couple suitcases. I booked a room at the YMCA in Harlem. And I interviewed, I interviewed at all the top ad agencies, McCann, Erickson, PhD, like, you name it. They all were like, we need a meet media supervisor.

[00:03:11] You're that right, that right mix for us. You let us know which job you want, and it was a great opportunity for me. I ended up at McCann Erickson working on Johnson and Johnson. Worked there for several years and, met my now husband on a blind date. So we were very young. We were 26. I was 26, he was 30, early thirties.

[00:03:31] And, we ended up wanting to come back to LA. So I came back to LA worked, went into sales and I did sales for about seven years on the publisher side. Ended up back on the agency side and, that's kind of when I started my first side hustle. So I like to talk about my side hustle because it goes to business unfiltered and stern truth of running businesses.

[00:03:54] And that, I tell, I tell people all the time, I'm like, if you're going to start a business, start it while you're in corporate. Do your, your first attempt in learning your failures while you're still have a day job. Because I learned so much doing that business. I invested in a real estate, property in Austin, Texas.

[00:04:15] Because that's where I'm from. And I had a super host, I was an Airbnb Superhost. I had a Airbnb house there. I had to learn what a P and L was. I had to create a corporation. I had to do expense reports like for my own business. Like I learned so much about running a business doing that. I ended up doing a couple other real estate investments over the coming years, while working a corporate job.

[00:04:40] I ended up moving more into like freelancing and, which I'll, I love to talk about. It's really just trading dollars for hours. It's not flexible, it's not all these things that are promised when you're a freelancer or consultant, or now it's called fractional, right. So this, anyway, I could talk about that too, but this time of my life I was, freelancing and then running the side businesses and so.

[00:05:07] I did that for several years through the pandemic and, I like to call the pandemic the great reevaluation. We all have a pandemic story, something that we changed, something that happened. You know, and so my couple of my evaluations were one, I sold all the real estate that we owned and invested in the home we have now.

[00:05:27] So that was a that was a big shift to give up. Businesses, but we did great on the investments. You know, the, the, the economy was changing. We kind of, made that decision. And then the other one was, shifting into, deciding to own my own company and run my own business. And so leaving corporate, that decision to start my own company and do my own thing, at the, in the last couple years.

[00:05:55] So that's a long story, but it's been a journey. 

[00:06:00] Marshall Stern: So I'm living vicariously through your earlier years in New York, in the ad agency world. Yes, and I guess LA because that was kind of like, that was my thing. That's what I wanted to do. I was like a 30 something guy. Yeah. That was my favorite TV show, and I remember coming out of University College, that's what I wanted to do.

[00:06:18] Rhiannon Franz: Mm-hmm. 

[00:06:18] Marshall Stern: Unfortunately, I graduated. In the early nineties. So, and it's not about me, but I, it just, that's what I wanted. But there's like, no one was hiring, it was a recession in the 90, early nineties. Yeah. But interviewed at all the big agencies here. 

[00:06:32] Rhiannon Franz: Yes. 

[00:06:32] Marshall Stern: And that's how I got into this business. Yeah. Or not to this.

[00:06:35] That's how I got into my previous business, which was a sign company. Because it was like, kind of like ad related. You were doing stuff for, like promotional stuff for companies. But yeah, I, no one would hire me, so I started my own business. 

[00:06:47] Rhiannon Franz: I love that. Yeah. 

[00:06:49] Marshall Stern: What's it like in the ad industry, like the whole marketing?

[00:06:54] What's it like doing this? 

[00:06:57] Rhiannon Franz: Stressful. 

[00:07:00] Marshall Stern: Yeah. 

[00:07:01] Rhiannon Franz: I think that, I always read a poll once that said that of the top, like 10 most stressful jobs working in advertising is like. One of the jobs that can kill you, like it is high stress. Yeah. It's, the environment is stressful. The expectations are stressful.

[00:07:18] I mean, you're dealing with hundreds of millions of dollars. It's not like a, mm-hmm. You know, a, a little, couple pennies here. Like it's, it's a large amounts of money. People really take it like you're doing open heart surgery. It is a very high pressure, high intense situation. You come into work every single day with pressure.

[00:07:38] It’s also highly competitive, which is great. It's a sink or swim mentality. I am definitely a swimmer, so I just always kept going, but it was. I do think there's a shift with Gen Z that we're seeing across all industries, but my day as being a, you know, custom Gen X millennial person was like, you work the hours, you grind and you grow.

[00:08:05] And that's kind of what we were told is like every. Amount of working overtime is an opportunity because you're learning, which is true, but you know, just sort of the expectation was so high and so intense. I'll give you an example. Working in New York City was fantastic, right? Like I got taken to all the top restaurants by all the sales reps.

[00:08:28] So you name it, like she, she reservations, I got to do it. I got to go on boondoggles going, traveling with publishers because they paid for us to go. Because they got our undivided attention and could sell us on, you know, why we should invest money with them. I got to go on the Forbes yacht and like go around the city and like see the Statue of Liberty from the Forbes yacht.

[00:08:53] Like crazy. It, it is like nobody gets to experience that stuff, right? Like it's very, very, yeah. Few people get to experience that. On the flip side of it, it was. Four o'clock in the morning and we have a presentation the next day. And I met McCann Erickson in the this tall high tower building trying to print my deck for the next day.

[00:09:17] Because we still had to print our decks for our clients. Okay. And I can't find a printer that works. So I'm going to every floor and like looking at what name it is and like on my little laptop, like listening for a printer that I think is printing because I need to print this deck. And the presentation's the next day.

[00:09:35] And of course I, you know, we're working on it till the last minute and it's four in the morning. So like, it's other side of like, it's just the expectation. You show up to work the next day, your boss has the printed decks on their desk ready to go. So it's like the two sides of those like expectations.

[00:09:52] But then there was like the fun side too. 

[00:09:55] Marshall Stern: So tell me about, so then you have the transition to your own business. So how does that, how does it relate? Not don't relate, but what's the good, the bad, the stuff you, we don't hear about with. 

[00:10:07] Rhiannon Franz: Yeah. Yeah. I think, So Stern truth, Truth about the transition is, I would say for me, I had an advantage because I did ad sales, and the biggest shift for me was going from.

[00:10:21] A buyer or strategist to sales and I went, I had a boss that told that like, put it so eloquently that when you're an employee, your employee mentality is you come into work every day and your inbox is full. I mean, I was getting 500, 700 emails a day that had to be filed, looked at whatever, something, okay, so inbox full, you show up to work as a sales person.

[00:10:48] Inbox empty. No to-do list. No task list. You have to create it yourself, right? You have to push yourself to say, how many outreaches am I going to do in a day? How many calls am I doing in a day? And I mean, you have sales goals and you have, you know, these things you have to reach, but how are you going to get there?

[00:11:04] You have to figure that out yourself. And that shift for me was the hardest. And luckily, I. Did that shift? I think it was 26, 27ish when I made that switch from being a buyer and a strategist to being a salesperson. And it was the hardest switch, but like one of the most amazing tools that I have.

[00:11:29] Yeah, because. You name it, like smile and dial, like a no is just the first step to a yes. Like I learned all these sayings. I had a boss that gave me, like CDs for my car. So I was like driving around listening to like motivational, like sales, sales things before YouTube, you know, was a thing. It was like CDs in your, in your car, like motivating a salesperson.

[00:11:53] So that shift gave me that sort of foundation that is really hard. To go from. 

[00:12:00] Marshall Stern: So actually just remind me of something. Because you know, we get used to what we, what we have, right. YouTube podcasts, all that kind of stuff. Everything's at your fingertips. But I remember I was a huge Success, success Magazine subscriber.

[00:12:14] Yeah. And every month, with a Success magazine was a cd. And it was one of these thought leaders, Jim Rohn, John Maxwell, who's my mentor, Darren Hardy, who was a publisher at the time. And I remember because we'd put it in our car. Well now cars don't have, most cars don't have CD players. 

[00:12:30] Rhiannon Franz: Yeah. 

[00:12:30] Marshall Stern: But, yeah, I remember that.

[00:12:33] That  was great. I have a whole library of these success. CDs. Right, 

[00:12:40] Marshall Stern: That's what we did. 

[00:12:41] Rhiannon Franz: That's what we did. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And it was, one of them was a Jack Canfield. He had like, yeah, he had his Chicken Soup for the Soul, but he had his whole sales thing and like motivation mindset shifts, like, yeah.

[00:12:54] That, that CD collection changed my mind, like changed my life. Like it changed the way that I thought about everything. 

[00:13:04] Rhiannon Franz: And that’s what pushed me, motivated me. 

[00:13:07] Marshall Stern: Success principles or something. I have one. I think that one.

[00:13:09] Rhiannon Franz: Yeah. I, I have that one. Principles. That's right. Yeah. 

[00:13:11] Marshall Stern: Yeah. And, and he talks about how, I remember in that he talks about how they went to a hundred publishers to get chicken soup published. They got a hundred no, and I think he said he was in the shower and he was ready to give up and then went to one more, and then it was the hundred first.

[00:13:26] Rhiannon Franz: Yes, yes, exactly. That kind of stuff. And, yeah, it was right around the time of, like my boss was talking to me about like money. Like what are you going to do with your money? Like the, the why of why you're doing what you're doing. Mm-hmm. And I had never, like, I just had a different upbringing, like the, my blue collar childhood, you know, upbringing was like.

[00:13:52] The money that I was making in sales was another level of money that I hadn't seen. I didn't know how to handle that level of money. Like that was not something I was used to. So that was another shift for me was going from saying like, oh, I'm used to a large amount of money being, you know, $50,000, $80,000 a year.

[00:14:12] Like when I made my first six figures, I was like, oh my God. I went and bought myself a coach purse. Like I thought coach was like. Luxury coach. Right. I thought that was a luxury bag for myself. Like I did not grow up around money. I didn't know how to deal with money, so, mm-hmm. When I made my first, I think it was like, it's probably one of the biggest commission checks I got, but I got a very nice commission check that was over six figures, and I knew I was going to use that for a down payment on a condo, and that was like, damn, I am.

[00:14:47] Taking this check, like even the bank teller like looked at me, this like young 30-year-old, you know, going and pulling this money out for an escrow check and she was like looking at me like, and I said, this is mine. I earned this. Yeah. Wasn't given to me like this, you know, trying to think of 

[00:15:05] Marshall Stern: Probably thinking illegal or something.

[00:15:06] What did you do? 

[00:15:07] Rhiannon Franz: Right, right. Yeah. Like. Who gift, or you know, your parents gifted you this, like, great to those parents and I hope I can do that for my kid. But, you know, this was something that I earned and like that, that shift was, was so hard also because it was like, oh, what do I do with this check?

[00:15:25] You know? And it was like, oh, I'm going to invest this in real estate. And that was the first piece of real estate that I bought. And that's when I saw Oh, the power and investment. 

[00:15:33] Marshall Stern: Yeah. 

[00:15:34] Rhiannon Franz: And what you can do with money. 

[00:15:36] Marshall Stern: Mm-hmm. Lots of shifts. So, speaking of shifts.

[00:15:42] Yeah. So you mentioned your kid, you have a four and a half year old. 

[00:15:48] Rhiannon Franz: Yeah. He's about four and a half now. Yes. Four and a 

[00:15:50] Marshall Stern: half now. So what's it like to. We talked about this at the beginning, before we got on here. 

[00:15:57] Rhiannon Franz: Yeah. 

[00:15:57] Marshall Stern: The, you know, the struggle of the juggle. Is it a struggle of the juggle?

[00:16:00] Rhiannon Franz: Yes. Yes. I think that we, I grew up in an area, era of like, she can have it all. Like, as a mom you can have a, you know, a career. You can be a mom, you can be a wife, you can like, have all these things and like, go get it. And I'm so glad that I grew up in that era because I do think that there's. An element of like, just go after it.

[00:16:22] I loved lean In, right? Like the book about right? Like, why am I, Cheryl Sandberg's lean in? And to me that was so powerful of like, just push on the gas because when the baby comes, when you have a kid, you're going to make decisions that you don't even know you're going to make. So just put.

[00:16:43] Put the foot on the gas and don't let up because you know that someday you're going to have a kid. It's kind of the premise that I took away from it. So by the time I did have a kid and I waited, I didn't have mine until I was 39 when I had my son. So I pushed my career all the way. Mm-hmm. And then, and it was a major shift for me, but I had built all of this up.

[00:17:05] So being where I am now, it is definitely. I think as a society we're moving away from like, she can have it all to like, something's got to give. Yeah. So you're going to be career some hours of the day. You're going to be mom some hours of the day. And if you're lucky, you get to be wife sometimes of the day and get like date night and you know, some, some things like that.

[00:17:29] And then sometimes you have yourself, right. I was going to say, yeah, you have to put yourself in there too. Now. I clearly lost that what was it last year, the year before? I think I was setting my quarterly goals and I set everybody else on my quarterly goals. Yeah. But myself, and by the end of the year I was like.

[00:17:50] Wait a minute. I'm so burnt out. Yeah. I'm so overworked. I am. So all these things. And so this year I was like, wait a minute. It's because I wasn't on the list. Like, oh my God, I forgot myself. And I think that is such a true statement for us as, as moms, as women. It's like, oh my gosh, we put everybody else on the list of priorities.

[00:18:12] Rhiannon Franz: But me. Was not on the list, so. 

[00:18:16] Marshall Stern: Well, even when you mentioned it just a few minutes ago, it was boom, boom, boom. Oh yeah. And then, oh yeah, there's myself, then there's myself. 

[00:18:23] Rhiannon Franz: Yeah. 

[00:18:24] Marshall Stern: And that's a difference, a big difference between stereotypically between men and women fathers and mothers and fathers, right?

[00:18:31] Men are from Mars, women are from Venus, all that kind of stuff, because. I fed my kids. 

[00:18:36] Rhiannon Franz: Yes. 

[00:18:36] Marshall Stern: After I ate.

[00:18:37] Rhiannon Franz: Yes. 

[00:18:38] Marshall Stern: Like, no, you guys wait. They could be, yeah. Not, they weren't screaming or whatever, but I was just, I got, you know, I had to get up, I had had to make coffee. I had to eat something. Yeah. Then I'll take care of the, the oxygen mask analogy.

[00:18:48] Yes. Whereas my wife, it's like it's 12 o'clock and. But she's in her pajamas and still dealing with the kids. 

[00:18:56] Rhiannon Franz: Yeah. 

[00:18:56] Marshall Stern: I remember those days, right? 

[00:18:58] Rhiannon Franz: Yes. 

[00:18:58] Marshall Stern: Maybe it wasn't that bad. 11 o'clock. 

[00:19:01] Rhiannon Franz: Yeah. Yeah. But it, but it is, it is a difference. And I think as a society. Kind of going back to societal norms. Like societal norms have shifted.

[00:19:10] Yes. But they haven't shifted that much. Yeah. And those are areas where I do tell my husband constantly, like I try to, I'm a communicator. I know sometimes an over communicator, but sometimes I do have to like remember and be like, thank you for being a co-parent. Like, thank you for doing this thing that you're doing.

[00:19:30] And sometimes it's me going out with my mom friends, which. It's taking care of me. It's like taking time for me and hearing other stories and or talking to my other friends and being like, oh, like they didn't do that. Or like, oh, this didn't happen. And then I like, come home and I'm like, babe, like, thanks.

[00:19:48] You really are like, we, we do it together. 

[00:19:53] Marshall Stern: Well, it's, it's funny me hearing that because it's like you're saying babe, thanks. It's like, but why? It's like, right. It's like, you know. When my kids were younger, you know, my mom would call and say, oh, honey, what are you doing? And I'd say, oh, just, you know, my, you know, my wife went out with the, or with her mom friends or whatever.

[00:20:12] Yeah. And she goes, oh, so you're babysitting the kids? I said, no, I'm not babysitting them. They're my kids. 

[00:20:18] Rhiannon Franz: Right, right. 

[00:20:19] Marshall Stern: You don't babysit your own kids. You 

[00:20:21] Rhiannon Franz: You don’t. Exactly. 

[00:20:22] Marshall Stern: But, and she, she didn't understand that. Right. Because my father never, you know, and Yes. What do you mean you're, and when she'd come and visit.

[00:20:29] Why, what are you changing the diaper for? You know, your father never changed one diaper. Yeah. A lot of men back in the day, going back to 30 something, the show, of course a lot of men didn't, weren't even in the delivery room. 

[00:20:42] Rhiannon Franz: Right, right. Yeah. And so I agree with that. Yeah. And I think so as a society I do think we've shifted better into more co-parenting, but you're right.

[00:20:52] I still think there's an element of, but I do think, I guess what I'm getting at is like recognizing. The effort and as a yes, yes, yes. Partner in life. Like, I like when he recognizes my effort and I like to recognize his effort. So yes. 

[00:21:07] Marshall Stern: And if he's watching this, you're appreciated. 

[00:21:09] Rhiannon Franz: Yes. Yes. 

[00:21:10] Marshall Stern: Or listening.

[00:21:12] So I'm curious about you like now in RhiVive. Yes. What, what's your big focus for your clients? What's your sort of, genius zone? 

[00:21:24] Rhiannon Franz: So it's interesting because I feel like I've just started to refine this, RhiVive this, even more, and that is really business strategy because I've run my own businesses, I've been a part of such large corporations, and I would say that in my corporate jobs, that's usually where I would get my hand slapped.

[00:21:49] Like I would get in trouble for like asking too many questions. Or like Rhiannon, just do it like Rhiannon. Don't you just know? And I'm like, no, I don't. I don't know unless I know what is the, what is the vision? Where are we trying to go? What are the goals? What are the objectives I can get us there? I just don't really understand where it is that you want to go.

[00:22:10] Mm-hmm. And so that's, that's really my superpower. And, there's a book I'm reading right now called The Unicorn Team, I think. Okay. And it's calling me a strategizer. So there's like. The vision person, there's the strategy person, and then there's the mobilizer person. And I'm a strategy person. Like I love coming up with strategies.

[00:22:33] Like you tell me where you want to go, you be the vision, right? You gimme your vision, you tell me what you want to do, I'll figure out how to get you there, and then get this team to like help you get there. But having that strategy mindset and having that ability to like. Talk through with my clients. So I, I sit down with all my clients and I do what's called a vitality plan.

[00:22:53] And I sit down with them for two hours and I ask them a series of questions. And a lot of them are, seem out of context to what they think they're getting on the phone with me about. And that's because I dig into their business. I want to know where are they trying to go, why are they trying to get there, what kind of things that they love about themselves, what kind of things do they not like about their business, their industry, things like this very like.

[00:23:16] Thought provoking questions and people a lot, the reason it takes two hours is sometimes the clients are like, oh my gosh, I don't know. And I have to like sit there and like, wait, because I want this gold. Like I want this nugget of information to like flow out of them. And people be like, that's a good question, you know, and like takes a while.

[00:23:34] So I book this amount of time more to like give thinking time and when I get that information from them is when I can really. Craft a business strategy and a voice, a marketing voice, and a vision, and a, you know, all these things that they need out of these like pieces and nuggets of information. But I think that's really, what I'm finding now is my, yeah, my superpower and like what I really love to do.

[00:24:01] Marshall Stern: Okay. So all this stuff is good. This is great. It's like I love it. It's your superpower. You've done all this stuff. Tell me the hard stuff. Tell me the hard stuff. 

[00:24:14] Rhiannon Franz: I mean, the hard stuff is being visible. Like for me as a business owner, the hard stuff is letting people know that I can have the superpower.

[00:24:23] Like, I think even figuring out what the superpower exactly was very difficult. Early in this business, one of the things I read or heard was, it's hard to read the label on the outside of the jar when you're in it. Oh, and I think that's true. Yeah. Right? 

[00:24:42] Marshall Stern: Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:24:43] Rhiannon Franz: Like I think that's true for everybody.

[00:24:45] And I'm a marketer and it was very frustrating to me that I couldn't read my own label because I, I just was, I don't understand why I can't see it. And so it, it is been very frustrating. And that is, that has been. Like rounds and rounds and rounds of iterating my message and changing my byline and changing my headline and changing my niche.

[00:25:11] And like all of these iterations of what I've had to go through over these last couple years to get to where I'm at now. And will it change? Probably, but it's been very difficult to read my own label, because it's hard to see ourselves. 

[00:25:30] Marshall Stern: That's why I like the Undercover Boss, that TV show.

[00:25:32] Right. I used to love watching it. Right? 

[00:25:34] Rhiannon Franz: Yeah. 

[00:25:34] Marshall Stern: Because it is, yeah. You almost have to become a customer of our own just to see what the outside sees outside world sees. Yes. 

[00:25:42] Rhiannon Franz: But 

[00:25:42] Marshall Stern: Most people don't take that shift. 

[00:25:44] Rhiannon Franz: They don't. They don't. But they could hire me to do it and I'll, they could just 

[00:25:48] Marshall Stern: You'll do it. You'll do the, you'll do it. You're all about the shifts. You'll do that. You'll help them with the shift. Yes, what do you think separates, here's a question for you. 

[00:25:57] Rhiannon Franz: Okay. 

[00:25:57] Marshall Stern: What do you think separates. Because obviously you've had, you've had different businesses, you work with businesses of all, all sizes.

[00:26:03] Like what are, what kind of size of business would you say? 

[00:26:06] Rhiannon Franz: I mean, like, the biggest was like a four partner law firm, and that was like a little too big. Like that was too many people. Okay. Like I feel like I worked really well with personal brands or, one to two people. Like, you know, this landscape architect company I worked with was a, was a couple and like, 

[00:26:22] Marshall Stern: Okay. 

[00:26:22] Rhiannon Franz: One to two is really my sweet spot.

[00:26:25] Marshall Stern: Okay, perfect. So what would you say would be. Separate those who struggle to grow from those who actually are on the right path toward achieving the vision that they have for their company. What do you think it is? 

[00:26:42] Rhiannon Franz: I think the first step to, to me, is knowing that they've tried everything that they can try on their own.

[00:26:50] And I think that that's been a big aha moment for me because I tried helping clients who. Are like brand new or coming to me with a business idea and like that it's, you got to try flushing it out. You got to try it, you have to give it, you have to give it a beat. And then it kind of like dawned on me like I did name my business RhiVive like, and it was sort of serendipitous, but like, yeah, I must have understood something about myself that I can revive what you already have.

[00:27:21] And that to me is where I think for people they need to have that shift. They need to be ready and open to a change. And that's what's hard because people will spin themselves to death and try all the things and DIY it and build their own websites and go on all these chat threads and hire multiple people off of fiber and get frustrated because stuff isn't working and they don't know why it's not working.

[00:27:49] And it's hard to teach yourself. I like, I taught myself how to build websites on Squarespace. I taught myself how to build email newsletters through flow desks and mailer light, and how to link your DKIM and your DNS on your backend and like, figure out how all this stuff works. Like this is a lot of work.

[00:28:08] To me, it was with the goal of like, I'm going to be able to use this and sell this for other people, but to be your own business and like have to service all your clients. And learn all this stuff. Like you have to be ready to be like, I've tried it, I've tried it, Rhiannon, help me. 

[00:28:28] Marshall Stern: Yeah. And yeah, and I think it's again, going back to the shift, right?

[00:28:33] It's a shift of knowing when, when the time, when it's the time. Because we all, I talk about being, we have to be the coach, not the player. 

[00:28:41] Rhiannon Franz: Yes. 

[00:28:42] Marshall Stern: Right. So when we start a business, a lot of times we have to get in there and we're, we're playing, we're the player, we're, we're the marketing strategist, we're the coach.

[00:28:50] Coach, we're the, web developer, whatever we're doing the technical work, the skill, yeah. 

[00:28:57] Marshall Stern: But at some point it's a step back and you actually have to be the leader or the coach and bring on players to help you to get to the next stage, whether it's employees, subcontractors, strategic partners. Mentors, accountants, bookkeepers, lawyers, all that stuff on your team.

[00:29:12] Rhiannon Franz: Exactly. And I know that for me, the one of the biggest shifts, another big shift that I have had as a business owner. Yeah. And I tell people this all the time, is like, everyone should have a therapist and a business coach. Yeah. You got to do the therapy work of like all these blocks and things that are happening.

[00:29:33] But a business coach like you, like the one, the person that I work with is like. Wow. The breakthroughs that I have been able to have, I am so much further along with the amount of money I've spent on that. 

[00:29:48] Marshall Stern: Yeah. 

[00:29:49] Rhiannon Franz: Aand I mean easily, I would say I'm three years ahead of where I would be now. Like that would be my quantifiable because I'd love to quantify everything or measure or have data.

[00:30:00] And so I'm, I feel like I'm three years ahead every year of coaching that I pay for. So I like really love to tell people like, yeah, invest in coaching. Because I'm telling you, yeah, it's going to be worth it. Right? It's same thing with marketing, like marketing costs a lot of money, but yes, you're going to be at least, at least a year ahead, okay?

[00:30:24] Yeah. Let's be conservative with an investment of $10,000, like $10,000 in your business. In marketing is going to get you at least a year ahead. Like that's, 

[00:30:37] Marshall Stern: But I want to add something to that. Yes. Investing in marketing, but investing in someone like yourself. 

[00:30:43] Rhiannon Franz: Right. 

[00:30:43] Marshall Stern: People right. In marketing, because a lot of people try to do it again themselves. 

[00:30:48] Rhiannon Franz: Right.

[00:30:49] Marshall Stern: And not only do they actually. Well, they actually go backwards, right? And they access, like I used to do my own like years ago. I was growing a Facebook group and I did my, the own, my own Facebook ads. And it was a lot easier back then. It was probably like in 2014, 20 15. 

[00:31:04] Rhiannon Franz: Yeah. 

[00:31:05] Marshall Stern: I didn't work at the beginning, but then it stopped working and I couldn't keep up with algorithms.

[00:31:11] Rhiannon Franz: No. 

[00:31:11] Marshall Stern: Right. So just you have to bring on Yeah, bring on the experts. Bring on the people in your team. 

[00:31:17] Rhiannon Franz: That's what's interesting is that the, the, the people that come to me for the most part come to me because of paid ads. Like that was my background. Yeah. You know, I worked in the agency for a decade.

[00:31:30] Yeah. Like building two decades, building or selling or, you know, around advertising. So like. I understand ads all day long and I'm like, you're trying to swim with these huge fish. Okay. Yeah. Like, yeah, you're in a little pond here. Yeah. Let's do all these other things first and I promise you're going to get a faster, better return.

[00:31:50] Marshall Stern: Yeah. 

[00:31:50] Rhiannon Franz: Then going and trying to play over here. 

[00:31:52] Marshall Stern: Yeah. Well, it is overwhelming for, I mean, people coming in, especially new entrepreneurs coming into the space where they. It's global, the whole global economy. Yeah. There's so much we can do and it gets overwhelming. Yes. So it's, it's, I think it's really important.

[00:32:08] Yes. Coaches obviously, obviously being, I have a coach myself and it's really, really important. But also just bringing on experts on, on to your team like yourself. So, we can focus on. What we do best. Right. And what our superpower is. And let everyone else, like people like yourself and you know, the bookkeeper, the accountant.

[00:32:30] Marshall Stern: I first year in business in 1994, when I had my signed business, I did the books myself. Yeah. Every Saturday I would go in, or every Sunday I'd go in. I loved it at the beginning Because it's like, this is my baby. I get to. My accountant fired me after one year. Said, you're out. We're getting yourself, we're getting you a bookkeeper.

[00:32:45] Rhiannon Franz: Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:32:47] Marshall Stern: and now, and then I had my weekends back and then I started having kids and whatever.

[00:32:52] Rhiannon Franz: Yeah. And, and I do think that that analogy plays true. Exactly. Like, would you go to a doctor for a broken leg and they're like, oh, I'm not sure how much this is going to cost, or how to fix this. Exactly.

[00:33:03] Like, let me get back to you, or like, let me send you a proposal. Or like, you know, all these things where you're like, no. Like you want to hire an expert, you go in and they're going to fix this for you. Yeah. 

[00:33:16] Marshall Stern: So before we go, there's one thing, because I always hear it not just, in the coaching space, but in your space as well, or, I know a lot of like virtual assistants hear it as well.

[00:33:27] It's a famous line, I will hire you when. 

[00:33:32] Rhiannon Franz: Mm-hmm. 

[00:33:34] Marshall Stern: So what's the like I'm sure you, you've heard that in your years. I'll bring you. Yeah. I'll hire you. You give a proposal. I'll hire you. When? When what? Yes. Or when I have enough money. When I have enough clients. Well, when's that going to be? Right?

[00:33:47] Well, when I have more business. Well, how are you going to get more business with if you don’t…? 

[00:33:52] Rhiannon Franz: Exactly, and, and I'm guilty of it too. I mean, you know, I think we all come against societal norms is, is the scarcity mindset and that we are, you know, the great depression of holding onto things and like, don't spend this money and like.

[00:34:08] Moving into a mindfulness of an abundance mindset is very difficult and saying like, I'm going to invest this money in myself. I'm going to invest this in my business and this is going to get me this thing. And that's very hard to trust. And for me, the first time I did spend in coaching, I was like. Oh my God.

[00:34:29] Like in corporate where I grew up, like you just, you don't spend that money on yourself. Right. But as a business owner and seeing where you want to go, it's a, it is a shift and it is difficult to make this decision. So, but like, I'll be ready when it kind of goes back to what I was saying about that, the data and looking at where do you want to go is like, well, if I invest this money now I'm going to get my business.

[00:34:54] Faster, further, quicker. So, right. It's, what is it, the, it's quick, it's faster, it's cheap. Like, yeah. Can't have all three. So it's kind of like, it, it kind of ties into that too of like, yeah, sure. Like have, you could sit there and wait all the time, or you can keep paying these people to do it fast and cheap, but when you're finally ready to go.

[00:35:15] Okay. I see, I see what's possible now. 

[00:35:20] Marshall Stern: Yeah. 

[00:35:20] Rhiannon Franz: And that's whenever it's time to hire. 

[00:35:23] Marshall Stern: Well, right now we're just ending, you know, when we're recording this, we're just ending, about to end Q1, right? Yes. So when people hear this and if they listen to the recording, I just want everyone listening and it's like, okay, it might be Q2, now it might be Q3.

[00:35:36] Now, are you ready to hire? Are you ready to go to the next step? What if you had done this and brought on someone like Rhiannon or bus, maybe not me, business coach or a mentor, a guide two months ago? Two years ago? 

[00:35:50] Rhiannon Franz: Right. I mean. Exactly. And so it's, it's never too late. I think, you know, if it's never too late to create content, it's never too late to write emails.

[00:35:58] Right. It's never too late to pick up the phone and smile and dial clients. Right. Like it's never too late to start. It's more of like, yeah. Making the decision and going and It's hard. It is very hard. 

[00:36:09] Marshall Stern: Yeah. Perfect. Perfect. Okay, last thing. Advice for other business owners, people who might be new in business or kind of like at that point where they're just like, I just, I'm, I don't know.

[00:36:19] I don’t know what the next step is. 

[00:36:20] Rhiannon Franz: I think the number one thing is you are a brand. Every single one of us is a brand. And that, that's hard to realize, like how you put yourself on social media, how you put yourself on LinkedIn, how you show up is your brand. You are a brand. So if you're thinking about making a change, you're still in corporate and you're thinking about making a change.

[00:36:42] Still be on LinkedIn, still update your profile, still be looking at what types of things you could be talking about if you are currently have a business and you're like, okay, I'm not sure where to go. Look at yourself the about you, about us, about your business. Like people want to know who they're buying from and why they're buying from you.

[00:37:02] So like showing up and being as your true, authentic self, that's going to be, that would be my number one advice is like to look at that. 

[00:37:12] Marshall Stern: I love that. I love that. Okay, so we're going to put, people want to get in touch with you. We're going to put your content contact info in the show notes. 

[00:37:19] Rhiannon Franz: Yes. 

[00:37:20] Marshall Stern: What's, if you wanted to say people who might be watching this on YouTube or listening? 

[00:37:25] Rhiannon Franz: Yeah, absolutely. They can go to my website, RhiVive Marketing, and I spell it with my name, www.rhivivemarketing.com and, they can check out my Cash Out Blueprint. So it's https://www.rhivivemarketing.com/cash-out It's also on my homepage of my website so that you can download my freebie and it'll give you kind of some tips on creating packages and pricing for your business.

[00:37:54] Marshall Stern: I'm going to go do that right now and do that right after this. 

[00:37:56] Rhiannon Franz: Okay, great. 

[00:37:57] Marshall Stern: I'll put that in down below or in the show notes or wherever it is on this thing or whatever people are listening or watching and Great. That's awesome. Thank you so much for being part of our journey here and we're right at the beginning.

[00:38:10] We're going to have many more episodes, so hopefully we can have you back and you can tell us more shifts. Because there's been a lot of shifts here. 

[00:38:17] Rhiannon Franz: A lot of shifts today. Yes. 

[00:38:18] Marshall Stern: A lot of shifts. Thank you and thank you all for listening and we will see you again next week. 

[00:38:22] Rhiannon Franz: Thank you.

[00:38:26] Marshall Stern: Thank you so much for tuning in to the Stern Truth. If you found today's episode helpful, we would love to hear from you. Please like, share and leave us a review. Also, if you'd like to be a guest on the upcoming episode or join us in one of our Momentum Accountability Group sessions, simply email Marshall@marshallstern.net. That's Marshall@marshallstern.net, and don't forget to hit the subscribe button, so never miss an episode.

[00:38:46] Until next time, keep pushing forward and meeting with confidence