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Making Moves Podcast | Corporate to Successful Entrepreneur

The Making Moves Podcast (with business guru's Seema Alexander & Kelly Lynn Adams) is dedicated to helping 9 to 5'ers, side hustlers & entrepreneurs go from following the rules to creating their own. Get ready to be exposed to weekly bite-size trainings and inspiration about business building, money making, mindset training, and so much more. You will hear from top entrepreneurs and influencers (in all industries) tell the good, the bad and the amazing of the journey from employee to entrepreneur. This is the place to learn more so that you can be, do and have more.
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Now displaying: December, 2016
Dec 26, 2016

In this episode we have Brian Smith, founder of the UGG Australia brand. Graduating in 1978 as a chartered accountant in Australia, Brian came to America looking for the next big opportunity to bring back to Australia. While studying at the UCLA Graduate School of Management he noticed there was no sheep skin footwear in the U.S. With only $500 in capital he imported boot samples and over the next 17 years built the UGG Australia brand into a multi-million dollar international enterprise. He sold it in 1995 and the brand has continued to grow to exceed a billion dollars in annual sales for the past three years.

  • When you decide to jump in, you don’t know everything. Why should you? There are a lot of things Brian didn’t know that would have stopped him had he known. But once you have jumped in and started these then just become obstacles you have to overcome, they don’t become road blocks that stop you from moving.
  • You can’t give birth to adults. Every business started with someone conceiving the idea and then giving birth. The birth of UGG was buying six pairs of samples. But then every business goes through infancy and just lays there and every once in awhile you get a giggle out of it but you keep feeding it and changing the diapers and eventually it will start toddling. The business is getting articles or blog posts and customers are writing reviews and you are getting orders. Then it moves into youth, orders are coming in and production is good. If it’s a really good business it will hit the teen years. You want to be at every party in town. It’s a stupid dangerous phase for a business because it’s tempting to do all these big adult things you aren’t ready for. But eventually you get through that and it becomes a mature adult of a business.
  • You have to figure out what it is your market wants and then design your advertising to make them want to be in the picture. Find out who your target is and in a small way give them credibility so they know your product is what they are looking for.
  • Nearly always your most disappointing disappointments will become your greatest blessings.
  • The quickest way for a tadpole to become a frog is to live every day happily as a tadpole. There is nothing you can do to accelerate time, it just has to pass. The key word here is happily. You might as well get on to something you like doing while you’re waiting for the big thing to happen.

Advice

  1. Don’t move out of your day job until you are forced to do it because the new business demands your time.
  2. Try to find out what you can do better than everybody else and do it. Once you start out and really focus on something you will become an expert very quickly. It doesn’t matter what the product or service is, once you become an expert the money will start flowing. If you are going to be an expert on something, it better be something you like.
  3. If you are on the brink of becoming an entrepreneur, you’re about to be born. Just jump in, whatever you have conceived give birth to it. Take the first step but don’t mortgage your life for it. Start small and enjoy the ride because it’s going to be a fun one.

Contacting Brian

Website: www.briansmithspeaker.com

Email: brian@briansmithspeaker

Brian does a small amount of coaching. He won’t coach someone unless he is sure he can help. You can buy the book on the website or on Amazon.

Dec 19, 2016

“When you leave corporate you have to be careful that you don’t bring the lifestyle you used to lead into the lifestyle you are about to lead. There is hustle, grit and reinvestment. If you keep spending money like you did before you will run out of it.”

  • Gena was working in a law firm in New York City and making good money, but she was unhappy. She started meeting a lot of people in the coaching industry who needed help but couldn’t afford or want to work with a law firm.
  • While she was still at her law firm she started coming up with different ideas. She started brain storming different packages she could offer. She hired a web designer and had a website created. The website was ready the day she left her corporate job.
  • Gena almost had to file bankruptcy the first year because of her spending. She was making money; she just wasn’t making smart choices and investments. She was able to turn that around.
  • Gena created a legal program four months into her business that made over $20,000 in its launch.
  • The monetary issues came from investing in too many things. She was hiring coaches, traveling the world, going to workshops, conferences and events and buying different courses. She had a lot of great content but no time to implement it because she was always doing something else.
  • The biggest lesson Gena learned in her first year of business was invest in one thing, commit to it, complete it, implement everything you learn and then move on to the next thing.

When people start a business the first thing they think about is making money. They don’t think about protecting that money and that’s where the legal comes in. The legal is there to protect your business and your brand, your income and your assets both personally and professionally. Gena tries to make law less scary, more approachable and easier for people to understand.

Three website documents it’s important to have at any stage of business.

  1. A website disclaimer: people come on your website and read different articles and it’s important that they understand the role you are taking, who you are and who you are not. I’m not a medical professional, I’m not an accountant, I’m not a therapist etc. If you aren’t a professional you want to tell them that because if you don’t and something happens to that person you could get in trouble.
  2. Privacy policy: This is legally required in several states. But when you have an online business you are technically marketing to every single person in the world. The privacy policy says I won’t sell any of your information or spam you.
  3. Terms and conditions: this protects the content on your website. When people come on your website you are saying your material is yours and they can’t use it.

How to contact Gena

Gena and her wife have a Facebook group for women entrepreneurs called Gena and Jordanna Your Magical Business.

Gena has a lot of freebies on her website www.genashingle.com/sign-up. Her website also lists all the things she does.

Dec 12, 2016

Today we are talking about planning for 2017. We want to share with you five key steps that will really help you plan 2017. These are things we collectively do ourselves that have worked for us.

  1. Review (audit) the year. You really want to see what has worked for you this year. Is it the projects or partnerships or just a clarity in your message? Then you really need to look at the other side. What’s not working for you? A lot of times when things aren’t working for you, you are either not in alignment or you have a missing link somewhere. This audit is critical because it will allow you as you start to plan for next year to really focus on building on your strengths and to look at the things that are not working as opportunities.

 

  1. How do you want to feel next year? Do you want to feel empowered? Do you want to feel motivated? Do you want to feel free? Identify how you want to feel next year because once that clock turns if we haven’t planned well we scramble and get really immersed in the day to day, week to week and month to month activities and we don’t really stop and set the intention of how we want to feel for the whole entire year.

 

 

  1. We all have a million and a half ideas of what we want our year to look like. This is an opportunity for you to write it all out. Do a physical brain dump of everything that you’re potentially thinking that you want to bring to fruition next year. Once you start to put all that together the next step is to categorize it. Then prioritize the top three categories (or top three main projects) that are really going to impact you and make you feel the way that you want to.

 

  1. Pick the top three things you’re going to do in the next 90 days. These need to be tangible things so you see results in 90 days. Once you’ve identified three (you can have 3-5, I would not go more than 5) plan weekly or bi-weekly the tasks that need to get done with each goal. There is something called the Daily Action Planner. You can look it up, it’s an amazing planner. If you’re one of those people who likes to write things down and categorize it will help you with your 90 day planning.

 

 

  1. We’re all entrepreneurs and it’s hard sometimes to keep yourself accountable. One of the biggest issues people have is breaking promises made to ourselves because there is no one keeping us accountable. Find a group of people you respect either in your mastermind if you are part of one (and if you’re not you should really consider it) or other accountability group and declare your goals for next year. Declare them and allow people to give you constructive feedback and challenge you on some of your goals.

 

We’re both coaches, strategists and business people in our own right. A lot of what we do is help people just like you build and grow your brands and scale them, make them profitable and really get you clear on what your goals should be for next year and how to get there. So if you’re looking for additional support check us out. Our websites are www.seemaalexander.com and www.kellylynnadams.com. We also both include a 30 minute free consultation. Whatever you want we are there for you and that’s the whole intention of this. We want you to have an incredible 2017.

 

Dec 5, 2016

Jenny Power’s background is in special events, marketing and PR. She used to work in the non-profit sector raising millions of dollars for worthy causes but working mostly by herself. She didn’t have anyone to bounce ideas off of so she started going to networking events. That’s when she noticed two types of people at these events, neither of which she was looking for. It was either the old boys club, guys drinking beer and hanging out, or it was a sorority mentality where you walk in and feel awkward and look for someone to talk to. She thought there had to be a better way. That is how she came up with the idea for Running with Heels, one of the top exclusive women’s networking organizations in the city.

  • It started out as a dinner party series and has now branched out to a lifestyle business.
  • They do lunches and workshops and masterminds and social events.
  • They are invitation only. They take a lot of time to curate the event and make sure the right people are there. The right people for them are senior level women executives and established business owners.
  • There are a lot of networking events out there. If someone that applies is not a fit for them Jenny will direct them to one of the other events that her friends run.
  • In terms of revenue streams they do ticketed events and an annual membership. Members are invited to events earlier and the events are small so everyone gets personal attention.
  • Members have the opportunity to be profiled in their newsletter and to participate in masterminds called “Running in Circles” which are circles of women that get together in New York once a month.

Networking tips

Jenny wrote an article “The Secret Networking Tip” for Motto by Time, Inc. She was tired of seeing articles telling people to “fake it till you make it” and “just act like the best version of yourself”.

  • Don’t do that imposter thing and pretend to be someone else. It’s too hard to remember all of these acts you are playing.
  • Jenny’s #1 networking tip: love me or hate me, I’m always myself.
  • If you don’t know something, ask a question. So many people are afraid if they don’t understand some industry lingo or someone is talking about something a little out of their range.
  • Ask questions. People love to have those teaching moments. They love to have the chance to teach someone something they know.
  • Act like yourself all the time. It’s okay to be vulnerable. It shows confidence to say I don’t know something and I want to learn it.

Advice

Hire a virtual assistant. You might not want to have a salaries person or someone in your house when you are just starting out.

Immerse yourself in a community of entrepreneurs.

Contacting Jenny

Website: www.running-with-heels.com

Facebook: Running with Heels LLC

Twitter @heelsandspiles

Podcast: Broadcast Broads Building Businesses

Dec 5, 2016

Jenny Power’s background is in special events, marketing and PR. She used to work in the non-profit sector raising millions of dollars for worthy causes but working mostly by herself. She didn’t have anyone to bounce ideas off of so she started going to networking events. That’s when she noticed two types of people at these events, neither of which she was looking for. It was either the old boys club, guys drinking beer and hanging out, or it was a sorority mentality where you walk in and feel awkward and look for someone to talk to. She thought there had to be a better way. That is how she came up with the idea for Running with Heels, one of the top exclusive women’s networking organizations in the city.

  • It started out as a dinner party series and has now branched out to a lifestyle business.
  • They do lunches and workshops and masterminds and social events.
  • They are invitation only. They take a lot of time to curate the event and make sure the right people are there. The right people for them are senior level women executives and established business owners.
  • There are a lot of networking events out there. If someone that applies is not a fit for them Jenny will direct them to one of the other events that her friends run.
  • In terms of revenue streams they do ticketed events and an annual membership. Members are invited to events earlier and the events are small so everyone gets personal attention.
  • Members have the opportunity to be profiled in their newsletter and to participate in masterminds called “Running in Circles” which are circles of women that get together in New York once a month.

Networking tips

Jenny wrote an article “The Secret Networking Tip” for Motto by Time, Inc. She was tired of seeing articles telling people to “fake it till you make it” and “just act like the best version of yourself”.

  • Don’t do that imposter thing and pretend to be someone else. It’s too hard to remember all of these acts you are playing.
  • Jenny’s #1 networking tip: love me or hate me, I’m always myself.
  • If you don’t know something, ask a question. So many people are afraid if they don’t understand some industry lingo or someone is talking about something a little out of their range.
  • Ask questions. People love to have those teaching moments. They love to have the chance to teach someone something they know.
  • Act like yourself all the time. It’s okay to be vulnerable. It shows confidence to say I don’t know something and I want to learn it.
 

Advice

Hire a virtual assistant. You might not want to have a salaries person or someone in your house when you are just starting out.

Immerse yourself in a community of entrepreneurs.

Contacting Jenny

Website: www.running-with-heels.com

Facebook: Running with Heels LLC

Twitter @heelsandspiles

Podcast: Broadcast Broads Building Businesses

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