Entrepreneur Conundrum

So excited to have the one and only Carla White.  Below are just a few words from and about Carla. "Top Woman In Tech"Hi, I’m Carla, host of Radical Shift Podcast and your life and business coach. Named me “Top Woman in Tech” by FastCo because I'm the first woman to launch a mobile app. My app, Gratitude, has been in the top of charts for over 11 years with zero funding, marketing and a team of one woman. It’s been featured in Oprah, BBC, NPR, Telegraph and more. Your host at Radical Shift Podcast and author of the #1 selling books “Idea to iPhone“ and "Million Dollar Story", where I pull back the curtains on bootstrapped success even if you don't have a clue where to begin.https://carlawhite.org/https://hiro.fm/

https://go.amplifymyimpact.com/braceforimpact36691445https://www.facebook.com/groups/amplifymyimpact/?fbclid=IwAR0kqJjEcKHuP0SByWfad5fNLcCdFsg5XsGJ7H3UyT5c1z_tsqToqQfh87Y

Welcome to Entrepreneur Conundrum with Virginia Purnell. We are growing entrepreneurs share how they get visible. Hi, everyone, and welcome to the Entrepreneur Conundrum podcast. My name is Virginia Purnell. And today we have back with us Jodi Chaffee and how she helps families live more intentionally by creating systems and strategies for a thriving culture. Jodi is a seasoned podcast or homeschool mom and family culture expert. She has hosted our modern heritage, the Home and Family Culture Podcast, for three years and recently released her one hundredth episode. During this time, she has interviewed dozens of experts from Paralympic athletes to entrepreneurs and authors for more than three years. Jodi studied business culture and looked for ways to apply it to families. This resulted in a powerful framework for hacking successful cultures and applying it to families who want to live in intentionally and question the status quo. She has been featured on several podcasts presented at homeschool conferences and is a published author in a digital magazine. Welcome, JodiWell, like you mentioned, I have my podcast and I have to mention again that I'm relaunching as the host of the family culture movement and in the hopes to present the podcast is with a more concise objective about, you know, this movement that I want to create around family culture and the importance of having a thriving culture based on trust and constructive coping strategies and systems and strategies for tackling problems before they even happen in your families. So that's my been my obsession for more than three years. And I, I can I have developed frameworks and systems to help families to cultivate their family culture. And so that's been my obsession besides my own family, our own family culture journey that I've been on, it really was sparked by the conflicts and questions I had in my own little family as we were going through our own journey and following the path, the quote unquote success path of going to school and getting a job and, you know, those kinds of things. And that path kind of like dead ended for us. And I did what I didn't realize was that subconsciously we felt like that was the only path that we could follow, because that's what we'd always been taught growing up. And when that fact when that path ended for us and we didn't know what to do, that was where I was like, wait, what do we do? And how do I raise my kids in a way that they will be successful even if they don't follow that path. And so that's where this whole exploration of family culture came from, was how I could educate my children, raised my kids to be more intentional about their future and how my husband, Michael and I can also change our status quo from, OK, we're supposed to just follow this path like robots to no, we want to live a path that's off the beaten path for us and do things that are going to help our family to thrive and be successful even if we don't necessarily follow the status quo. And so that's where it all spurred from. And since then, my husband has quit his job and we're working on building our business and we actually moved in with my parents. So we're kind of doing a blended family type of thing. And. And so it's been a really interesting journey, but one where I've learned a ton and have really been able to develop these systems that have allowed our family to get to a place where our kids, you know, we're not perfect, but they're they're really growing and progressing. And my husband and I are really changing our our trajectory of where we're going with our careers and our happiness. And we've been able to make the transition to live with my parents and actually be OK with it. And because I know that can be scary, but we're really supporting each other in our respective life situations. And so. Yes. So that's been our journey. And it's something that we're learning a lot and growing a lot. And it's been interesting and fun. You just mix up the culture a bit. Exactly. Exactly. You're trying to learn all spectrums of this whole thing. What is the best advice you've ever received? Mm hmm. OK. That's a good one. So one of the first thing that first pops into my mind was when I first learned about what family culture was. I was actually a missionary for my church and I was assigned to serve in Hawaii. And that's a place where there's a lot of diversity, a lot of different cultures. And I had this experience where I went into a home of a newly married couple and they were from different countries and they were really, really butting heads with each other. And some of it had to do with some advice that they'd received that they that interracial marriages were doomed to fail. And so they were really upset about that. And they were upset about their cultural differences, kind of like they were almost believing that advice. And it really upset me because I just thought. Oh, my gosh, what am I going to do when I get married, if I marry somebody from a different country or, you know. The entire shows transcription is here but hit the link to jump over to Jodi's Facebook group!https://www.facebook.com/groups/familyculturestrategies/ 

Today we are joined by the automation king himself, Mr. Matthew King.  When you listen to the show today you will want to hear how Matthew works to keep the balance in life.  To keep a low number of clients and to keep a small amount of team members working for him.  After you listen to the show you can hit the link below to learn more.https://automationwolf.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewhuntme/

[00:00:01] Welcome to Entrepreneur Conundrum with Virginia PR. We're growing entrepreneurs share how they get visible online.  Virginia [00:00:09] Hi, everyone, and welcome to the Entrepreneurship Conundrum podcast. My name is Virginia Purnell. And today we have back Christina S.O.S and she helps people become financially independent through affiliate marketing. Christina is an international keynote speaker, an affiliate marketer for 15 years. She started when she was 14 and knew no English. She's an independent businesswoman and she was born and raised in Hungary and now lives in Orange County, California. Welcome back, Christina.  Christina [00:00:41] Hey, Virginia. Thank you for having me again. How you doing?  Virginia [00:00:47] I am. Well, how about you?  Christina [00:00:50] And wonderful looking at the palm trees, enjoying the sunshine. Life is good.  Virginia [00:00:56] Can you tell us a little bit about yourself again? Just in case someone was it didn't catch the last episode.  Christina [00:01:05] Of course, of course.  Christina [00:01:07] So I'm originally from Budapest, Hungary, I was born and raised in Hungary and I got into entrepreneurship and marketing at the age of 14.  Christina [00:01:19] My dad gave me a book on affiliate marketing and it was written by a female entrepreneur. So I figured if she can make money with the affiliate marketing in the night, I can make it work too. And it was pretty much showing how to make money with the Click Bank offers on Google AdWords. Of course, I failed in the beginning. I kept failing and failing. But I remember the moment when I got my first check. You know, it was unreal. I was like, is this really a way?  Christina [00:01:51] I mean, it was just an incredible moment when my when when I could finally well, the first check of my artwork. And that was like a big push to keep going and to keep trying. Long story short now I am thanks to a flea marketing, I mean, in California. And I managed to move my parents and retire here, too. So they are they move from Hungary to to California as well.  Christina [00:02:17] Affiliate marketing and something I would highly, highly recommend to anyone who wants to work from the comfort of their home or to to who wants to travel and find the laptop lifestyle, then FDA marketing is the way to go.  Virginia [00:02:34] Awesome. It sounds like you've been able to do some pretty good, great things with with that scope of work.  Christina [00:02:43] Yeah, it's it's allowed me to not only to help my dad, and to actually travel around the world, but also to provide for my family and.  Christina [00:02:56] It's just I think it's the best feeling when you can give back to her parents right now. Nothing better than that.  Virginia [00:03:03] I agree. What's the best advice that you have ever received?  Christina [00:03:10] That's a good one.  Christina [00:03:12] The best advice I would say that I ever received is I always have a problem or a trouble having like a set schedule and like sticking to that schedule. And I got the add to just block two hours out in the day and get down, get done. What's the most important for that day? And even if you don't get the little things, you know, but like try to block out two hours and really dedicate to your to your work or to your business and take it from there.  Christina [00:03:46] And don't be too hard on yourself for not doing everything that you you want to get done.  Virginia [00:03:52] I like that part where I don't be too hard on yourself because we're always well, for me I'm always like, but he didn't get to that, that that that that I'd done.  Christina [00:04:01] And it keeps going in your head. It can it can get to you and it can cause depression and have mental issues. And then, you know, it affects your mood and your body and all that.  Christina [00:04:13] So I would say I don't want to be too hard on myself or don't be too hard on your colleagues or anyone much like working with you.  Virginia [00:04:24] Good advice. Thank you. What's the best advice you've ever given?  Christina [00:04:30] The best advice. OK, so I don't ask the question.  Christina [00:04:34] If I had to start over again, how would I do or what would I do? Which way would I go?  Christina [00:04:42] And I would say if I had to start over, I would doubt myself. If I could go back in time, I would tell myself to treat that silly marketing as a business.  Christina [00:04:54] There is too much in the game and the advice I would give myself is to pick one thing and one traffic source to master, or at least pick one traffic source. And master, that particular traffic switched on. Hop around between Facebook or Google or pop traffic or email marketing or affiliate marketing or whatever to pick one traffic source and become the master of it. And then you can go on to the next one.  Virginia [00:05:25] So true. Then you have all of your focus and all of your knowledge in one place and not getting all strung out everywhere.  Virginia [00:05:32] Yeah, exactly what big goals are you looking to achieve over the next one to two years?  Christina [00:05:39] I love that question. The past couple of years, I've been traveling a lot and I feel like I've reached to a point where I just want to give back more.  Christina [00:05:49] I feel like there affiliate marketing, provides such a good way of making money online that you can really follow your dreams if you want to settle down and have family that you can do a fair marketing match with, or if you want to keep traveling and exploring the world and you can, you know, use the free marketing as a source of income to pay for all of your, you know, passion.  Christina [00:06:16] Right. So I want to I want to be able to help other people to become financially independent thanks to a in marketing.  Christina [00:06:25] And my goal for. That's why I figured, well, is your time to really sit down. Focus. And in the next two years, that list 1000, 1000 people. Who have created, you know, financial independence with. And were you sure? That is my goal.  Christina [00:06:47] And if it takes three years or four years, it's OK to. I'm not going to be too hard on myself.  Christina [00:06:54] But yeah, I do have this to my timeline. What, eight months have passed from that already?  Virginia [00:07:04] How would that goal change your business?  Christina [00:07:07] You mean, if I reached the goal correct, it would create a sense of fulfillment. So it's not really monetary. Of course, it will have a monetary side of it, too. But my main goal is to actually achieve. And see other people being able to do what I am able to do. So I would I would say it would it would give me a big, you know, sense of fulfillment of being able to help while being able to help other people.  Virginia [00:07:41] A great way to pay it forward. Yeah.  Virginia [00:07:45] That's cool. What do you think, though? Is there one roadblock that's stopping you from achieving that goal right now.  Christina [00:07:53] I love this question. The number one roadblock, as you know, is that you are asking the question as if I was talking to myself in my head. I'm glad we can help.  Christina [00:08:07] Yeah, good luck. I mean, there are multiple distractions on the road of distractions in life, you know? So it's really, I would say, or road visuals, distractions that you need to be aware of.  Christina [00:08:21] Well, it could be family. It could be. It could be equal focus. I would say I don't know.  Christina [00:08:29] I'm really set on my goal and I always achieve it. Whenever I set myself a goal, I always achieve it. So I'm on achiever. And I'm in there all the time. So, I mean, you know, I show they're always like. Times when you feel like you're failing. But that failure is just a step towards winning.  Christina [00:08:53] So I never look at failure or like a roadblock, as you know, as like the end of it. It's just learning a lesson. It's a learning curve. So I'm not really concerned about roadblocks or failure. I always look at the end result and what I want to get out of it and what I'm going to get out of it. So that would be my.  Virginia [00:09:18] Those are some wise words that are that are in there. Thank you. You're welcome. What are you doing to get visible and to stand out online?  Christina [00:09:31] What I do actively is I'm being active in groups that are related to ethnic and marketing or online entrepreneurship, updating my social media all the time. I get organic traffic, but I also buy, you know, Adshel, whatever I got, I want to get the word out there.  Christina [00:09:52] I'm given that I'm an affiliate marketer.  Christina [00:09:54] I really know how to how to buy traffic, how to buy Facebook traffic. I am able to get the word out there and get as much visibility as I want. If it really is about, you know, reaching a goal. So I do two things. I do provide a little value in groups and respond to questions that may arise, you know, regarding online entrepreneurship, performance, marketing. I also I want Edge to get more visibility to get to be known by people who may not know me yet.  Christina [00:10:32] So I would I would say that those are the two powerful ways to get to get known in one industry.  Virginia [00:10:41] Awesome. Thank you.  Virginia [00:10:43] With all the success you have achieved, what is your biggest challenge now?  Christina [00:10:51] My biggest challenge is actually to stay put, because, you know, like once you achieve a level of income, then you can get very lazy and it can.  Christina [00:11:05] Money can get to your head. So I think I'm over that when you you know, like when you go out and spends a lot of money on stupid things like expensive bags or expensive trips that are not very necessary or I don't know when it was really awful feeling in the beginning to spend the money however I want to.  Christina [00:11:27] But then I think a list. Is this the result of of the fact that I'm from a poor family, you know?  Christina [00:11:36] And that I never could have like an expensive bag. And it was like fulfilling to buy one. But it doesn't really make you happy in the long term. You know it does momentarily. That happiness does not stick with you. It just becomes like an object that you already have or is having. You get used to it. Right. So once you're on a level of like convenience, comfort zone is a big enemy. So I always tried to challenge myself not to stay in the comfort zone because you don't grow in a comfort in your comfort zone. You only grow outside of it. Right. So that's one of the biggest challenges to not stay in the comfort zone. Virginia [00:12:20] Yeah, I was going to say because it's nice in the comfort zone.  What would you like to share that I haven't asked you yet?  Christina [00:12:34] What would I like to share?  Christina [00:12:37] Which I would like to share if if I if I look back, you know, for some reason I. I would say, I mean, it was a it was a tough journey, but for me it was never a failure.  Christina [00:12:53] I think my biggest takeaway would be for me or my message that I would like to send to everyone with this gash to even if you are failing at the moment, don't give up, because if you look at the long term picture, you will be you will get to where you want to be if you keep going. So there are people who give up at the first try and they're happy or who don't give up.  Christina [00:13:19] And I would like to encourage everyone to be that person who gives up after the first try. So there is always a solution. There's always a way. I just have to find it.  Virginia [00:13:30] Thank you. And thank you for the great interview, Christina. How can people find out more about you and what you do?  Christina [00:13:41] Thank you, Virginia. People can find me on https://iamqueenconsulting.com Or they can find me on Facebook if they type in Christina Cszekeres. Or if they go on the gram, they can find them by I am FB Queen.  Christina [00:13:58] And they can follow me there.  Virginia [00:14:00] Great. So, Christina, thank you again for sharing with us and we will catch you later. Virginia [00:14:08] Hopefully everything you've got will go well for you this year on your goals.  Christina [00:14:12] Thank you, Virginia. I was a pleasure being here. Thank you for having me. You're welcome. Virginia [00:14:22] Thank you so much for joining us today. Be sure to subscribe and leave some, leave through a review and I'll catch you on the next episode. 

Time Stamp01:02:So what led you to become an entrepreneur?03:31: You had mentioned that you approach projects differently than most. I was reading something about that. So can you elaborate on that a little bit?05:19: What are some of the big goals that you hope to achieve in the next one to two years?08:07: How would that goal of moving more from the done for you to your course change your business?10:03: So what's a roadblock that has been stopping you from achieving this goal?11:33: What are you doing to attract more business and to become more visible online?14:51: What is the best advice that you've ever received?17:29: What is the best advice that you have ever given?20:53: What would you like to share that I haven't asked you?23:25: How can people find out more about you and what you do?Mentions & ResourcesDistinctDigitalMarketing.com Drab to Fab ClarkCreativeStudio.comClark Creative Studio FacebookPremature Optimization

Time Stamp of Questions:00:45: So for those that might have missed the first little episode, tell us about yourself.01:28: How did you get started doing that, helping others, realize that?04:41: What's the best advice you've ever been given?08:06: So what's the best advice you have given?10:39: So what are some big goals that you're looking to achieve in the next one to two years?12:15: What would achieving that goal mean to your business?14:24: What would be your biggest roadblock in achieving your goal?17:59: What are you guys doing to get visible, to stand out online?21:16: How can people find out more about you and what you do? Resources and Mentioned ItemsDistinct Digital MarketingEalier episodeHindsight HacKing PodcastHindsight Hacking Facebook GroupCory E Carter.com  NowMyDream22.comClickFunnelsOne Funnel Away ChallengeSusan LiteransonJamie Atkinson - Podcast for Profit Lab, Content Launch Secrets, Offer Blue PrintKatrine Jones - CF Design SchoolHacking Your Why eBookHacking Your Perfect Day eBookHacking Your Goals 

Time Stamp of Questions: 01:24: How did you go from being with all these big marketing agencies to going out on your own?03:16: What do you like most about the work that you do?04:36: What's the best advice you've ever received?05:42: What's the best advice you've ever given?07:06: What are some big goals that you're looking to achieve over the next one to two years?09:25: So with those goals, how would that affect or change your business?11:20: What do you think is the number one roadblock from helping you achieve some of those goals?13:11:  What do you do to get visible online?15:39: What would you like to share that I haven't asked?17:04: Where can people find  you? Resources and Mentioned ItemsDistinctDigitalMarketing.comCyberpunk Geeks Facebook GroupSeymourDigitalMedia.comPower of Eight by Lynne McTaggart 

Time of Questions:01:10: What was it like growing up?02:15: What inspired you to become an entrepreneur?04:08: So what are some of the common mistakes that you see business owners making?05:16: Do you have any tips on how to get out of your own way?07:21: Thank you. What's the best advice you've ever received.08:01: What's the best advice you've ever given?09:45: What are some of your goals that you wish to achieve with your company in the next couple of years?11:32: Do you think there's any roadblocks that are stopping you from getting that stretched out as far as you want to get it?12:56: Weekly self evaluation14:07: What's working for you guys to attract more business?15:51: So, is there anything that you would like to share that I haven't asked you yet?17:33: How can people find out more about you and what you do?Virginia Purnell:Welcome to Entrepreneur Conundrum with Virginia Purnell, where growing entrepreneurs share how they get visible online. Hi everyone. Today, I'm talking with Chris Williams about how he helps businesses scale and grow. Chris has over 20 years of experience in entrepreneurship for profit leadership and socially responsible marketing engagement. He has helped creative agencies build wealth and agency owners develop innovative winning strategies. His expertise includes lead generation creative team building and allowing owners to focus on what they do best. Apart from leading his own agency, Chris hosts a private mastermind for creative agency owners looking to scale and optimize their businesses. Welcome Chris.Chris Williams:Thanks, Virginia. Super excited to be here.Virginia Purnell:I'm excited for you today. I'm excited to talk to you about all of the things that you have done.Chris Williams:I don't know. It might be boring.Virginia Purnell:Well, time will tell, I guess I'm sure you have a few good stories up your sleeve.Chris Williams:Yeah. How can I help anything I can do to help your audience? I'm all in. Let's talk.Virginia Purnell:What was it like growing up?Chris Williams:Wow, that's a deep question. And I think this is part of the entrepreneur journey too. So growing up for me, I had a very disciplined family, but a very abusive family. That's that's a deep dive right there, but I, I think, and I, in fact, I know now after years of therapy and, and tons of time spent healing, I know that that part of the hardness of, of growing up and figuring that out and learning to is actually, what's made me really good at some of the things I do professionally, because it's a lot of problem solving a lot of risk management, a lot of those things that you don't want kids to have to deal with, but those traits when they can kind of be turned into a positive thing as an adult can become really positive. So that's a fun question to start with because it's deep, but it's also like, yeah, you know, it was a very disciplined life, but a very hard life. And, and that's, that's part of who I am, right? It's that's life. We gotta, we gotta heal and we gotta grow and we gotta use those things to our advantage.Virginia Purnell:Yes, we each have our own story and it's important. And part of who we are. What inspired you to become an entrepreneur?Chris Williams:You know, when I was 11, I, I wanted to cut grass and I realized I could make, you know, 20 bucks a yard. And that was better than anything else I could think of doing to make money. And I would want to buy stuff at the local pet store. I was really into fish aquariums and frogs and turtles and anything like that. So I traded my next door neighbor for a lawnmower. So they had a lawnmower and they hated cutting the grass. So I was like, Hey, if I can have your lawn mower, like, and keep it at my house all summer, I will cut your grass for free all summer. And then at the end of the summer, the lawnmower is paid off. It becomes my property. So I did that. And all of a sudden I was able to like, have a lawnmower, have some equipment that I got five more yards that summer. Cause I had tools now. And then I hired someone, I was 14, so I hired someone to drive me around eventually, cause we couldn't drive at yards that I went elsewhere. And I started learning about people and systems and selling like at a young age when I was 11, I started out and that launched everything for me because it gave me a taste of what could happen with hard work and with structure and with people helping me,Virginia Purnell:That's really inspirational. And it's kind of fun. Like I can like see you out there, like trying to convince someone to, to drive you all around.Chris Williams:I had a 30 year old woman driving me around. So funny. And then I would go spend all of my money at the pet store every day. I'd go back to the pet store and just blow it all and then go back and cut grass.Virginia Purnell:At least you had motivation, right?Chris Williams:Yup.Virginia Purnell:So what are some of the common mistakes that you see business owners making?Chris Williams:You know, I think the most common mistake we all make me included over and over and over again is me. I am almost always the problem in my own business. I think for a while, Oh, it's the person I hired or it's the economy or it's, whatever's coming up in the news or it's the holidays and I'm not getting any sale, whatever, that's, that's all a bunch of bull. What's true. Is that in my own head and in my own heart, I have to decide number one, am I going to go freaking get the work done and do what I need to do, not be busy, but am I going to do the right things? And number two, am I going to stop doing the things I don't need to do? Which typically is 90% of the problem. Just not becoming the roadblock, not becoming the thing that's in the way of my myself or my family or my clients or my, my team succeeding. It's almost always me. That's the biggest hassle of being an entrepreneur is being me.Virginia Purnell:Do you have any tips on how to get out of your own way?Chris Williams:Yeah. Yes I do. So I am always in, I have been, I've been doing this for probably 15 years now. I'm always involved with the coach or a therapist or a mentor or a mastermind group or people that I respect that are actually structurally allowed to speak into my life. So there's lots of categories you just mentioned there, but spouse or partner doesn't cut it, right? Cause they're kind of either too hard or too soft on you depending on the day and how the kids are acting and all that stuff. It's somebody from the outside who can look in at me and say, Hey, love what you're doing, but I'm noticing some trends here. And I think if you just kind of cleaned this up or took advantage of this or stopped doing this, you could really overcome something here. Where, they're in a place where they can really help me. So sometimes that's been a therapist right from healing, from stuff in my background. Sometimes that's been a coach that I've hired for very specific reasons to help me get through something challenging in business. Sometimes it's been mastermind style groups where I could actually hang out with other people like me that were at my same level, and learn together.Those things have been super, super impactful and really helps me grow because they've been honest and they've been pointed exactly where I need to go. And I'm going to say one more thing about the coaching side of that. Anybody listening, I would only hire a coach or a mentor, or going to hire someone or buy into a mastermind or whatever. There's tons of them out there. Lots of really good, what you want to do. Aright. If they just sell how to do it, that's very different. And it's weak compared to someone who's actually done what you want to do and is still doing it, and has, has that kind of proof. That's a really important thing. Otherwise I hear a lot of sad stories of people wasting money with coaches or mentors or whatever that they shouldn't be. Shouldn't they, they shouldn't be selling. They shouldn't be on the market, you know, so find somebody who can help you and get help.Virginia Purnell:Thank you. What's the best advice you've ever received.Chris Williams:Oh wow. Best advice I've ever received. I would say, is being honest with me and being honest with the people around me, honest, and kind. I think those two things: be honest and be kind. The golden rule: do unto others as you'd have them do unto you, is so important. That's kindness. And that honesty that comes with it is just not, not beating around the bush with what's right or wrong for you or others, but standing up and being brave and knowing what you need and know how to say it.Virginia Purnell:Sometimes it's hard being honest with yourself. So I like that one. What's the best advice you've ever given?Chris Williams:Hmm. Wow. I wish I was one of the people who could just roll out quotes constantly and they're like, Oh my gosh, I'm gonna write that down. I would say the best advice I've ever given is probably the stuff we tell our kids, which is to be honest, and to be kind and to love and be active in their communities and to understand who they are internally, spiritually, their faith, their personality, their own head and heart, their skill sets, those kind of internal things. So, knowing who they are as people, and I would say anybody who's listening, same thing, knowing who, you know, who you are and ground yourself. And then be honest about that and be kind as you're, as you're honest, and as you invest in your community, that that's the stuff that makes us enjoy our next door neighbor when they're that way or our fellow family member or anybody else we hanging out with that's, that's the kind of person I want to be. And I think if we're that kind of person as individuals, we're going to make fantastic people as business leaders, we're going to make fantastic community leaders, parents, you know, partners, whatever we are in life. And so many hats we wear. Yeah.That's the foundation.Virginia Purnell:I liked that I had to talk with my son about that this morning. He can't just act this certain way right now and then expect to be a completely different person when he gets bigger. He's laying that foundation.Chris Williams:Hmm. Good advice.Virginia Purnell:What are some of your goals that you wish to achieve with your company in the next couple of years?Chris Williams:Good question. I have two companies, Virginia, you know this. But for those listening, I have a creative and digital agency that works with surgeons and super niche specialties and very unique communities around the United States. So that business is growing and scaling and I work less than 30 minutes a day in that business. I love running a business that grows well and has high profit margins, and that doesn't require the owners work. That's, that's just my thing in entrepreneurship. I love that. I also have an agency that teaches that process to other digital and creative agency owners. So they can do the same thing. We have a mastermind that we teach. We have online training, we have tons of free material in the Facebook group. We have all those different things but my goals surround those two things because I love building profit margins. And I love figuring out how far I can separate money in time.So making a lot of money in a very small amount of time. And that's not because I'm lazy and it's not because I need more money at this stage. It's because I like the machine. I'm not a car mechanic. I've never been a car guy, but if I was, it would be, that's the kind of machine I like to work on. I like working on machines that are business and systems and people oriented. I like building other people. So, my goals all revolve around financial goals and I measure all my financial goals by a month or by a quarter. And then the time goals that are associated with that, just separating out money as far away from time as possible. Getting those two things stretched out as far as you can. I just wanna see how far I can take that.Virginia Purnell:That sounds like a fun goal that I want, that I want to incorporate too. Do you think there's any roadblocks that are stopping you from getting that stretched out as far as you want to get it?Chris Williams:Oh yeah, absolutely. It comes back to me again. And even though I'm good at and practiced at systems and people that helped me, I still am constantly trimming things that I need to stop doing that I know I can train and delegate this thing out, which would free up time to either be more free or go find the next more productive thing I should be doing based on my unique skills and abilities. So there's lots of people in our world around us who can help us do the things we do really well. And for me, my roadblock is consistently like literally weekly. I check back in on how I did that week. I look at what I should have done and I think are all these things on my calendar. I'm looking at my calendar on my screen right now, all these things in my calendar, the things that were really the best use of my time, or could I find someone else who could do these? And almost always, I can find someone who can do them. And then if I can't afford that person because of whatever the profit margins are on my product or service, I forgot a way to sell those products or services at a higher profit margin to a slightly different niche. And, and that way I can incorporate someone in to let them do that work. So I can go to the next step.Virginia Purnell:I like that. Being able to, and it's because lots of people do self-evaluation but they do it in longer intervals. Let's say where you're talking about doing it weekly.Chris Williams:Yeah. Yeah. In fact, to go a step farther in that I don't think through years, like a 12 month year anymore. I think through my year, the way I function as a business person and as a regular guy in my family, our year revolves around 90 days. So every quarter is a year in our, in my, my mentality. And so every week in that quarter is like a month there's 12 full weeks in every quarter of the year. There's that little odd couple of days at the end that we do a bunch of planning and looking back in our business. But those 12 weeks are what are now my month. So every week I consider it, like I just burnt an entire month of my year, every week. Is that big a deal? I want to make every freaking one of them amazing. And I want to crush it again the next time. So I really want to make sure I do it right every day.Virginia Purnell:You must really love birthdays.Chris Williams:I get to have 4 birthdays a year now.Virginia Purnell:What's working for you guys to attract more business.Chris Williams:Ah, yeah. So two things that are really, really, I don't know, maybe I have to go into four things that are really crushing it right now. Cause there's really four things. We're really, really good at getting referrals. So I follow a really structured referral script that I learned, oh, year's ago from a guy named Wayne Cotton. Anyway, I love that referral script. We use it all the time in our agency. We sell high ticket and we get referred to very specific people in our market. And that's been really, really cool. So love getting referrals, do it in a structured way if you're going to referrals, follow a script, ask intentional questions about who you want to work with. Be surprised how many people you can meet and work with that way. They're the warmest best clients ever. That's in our creative agency that works with surgeons. In our elite agency that works with other creative and digital agency owners, we do a lot of free content in our Facebook group and that's been really wonderful. It brings a lot of people in our community and we also have webinar type structure. We have courses online that all feed in from some paid traffic that comes into those products. That works really well if you're dialing on your message, but again, on any of that stuff, you have to know how to sell it organically. And ideally build a referral before you can do well on anything ads. If you're running paid ads, if anybody's listening, running paid ads, you have to figure out the organic human connection before you can replicate that in a paid ad. Otherwise you just spend a bunch of money on Facebook or Google and you wish you hadn't. And then the third thing is Instagram right now, Instagram is doing really well for us. We do a lot of teaching and training and education and ideas on Instagram. And that's really fun. It's a great place to meet people and the people who want to engage with us more, step up and do that. That's been really cool.Virginia Purnell:Thanks for sharing. So, is there anything that you would like to share that I haven't asked you yet?Chris Williams:You know, I think the next thing I would want to say is for anybody listening in right now, use Virginia as an amazing example of someone who's leading in what she's doing and she's creating content. She's creating, not just content that are her own ideas, because it's so easy for us to all talk about ourselves, but she's actually pulling content from lots of other resources like me and so many others. I'm not the best speaker she has in this podcast by any means, she's got amazing people. The thing that she's doing though, is she's sharing and building a space for people to learn and grow. And that's critical if you're going to hire anybody to do any kind of work for you, hire people who are leaders like Virginia, because it allows space in your own agency, your own model to really bring another leader in, not just a doer. Okay?So it's great to have people who just get the job done, but when you have somebody get the job done, who's actually an influencer and a leader. And has that mindset to be forward thinking and building, they're going to build into your team. They're going to build into your clients. There's going to be so much building and value there that you just can't, you can't get by just hiring out a job. It's important to find a leader who actually wants to impact the world and that will impact your business and your clients in a really special way. So that honestly, Virginia, you don't even know I was going to be going that path, but that's, that is the truth about what you're doing. It's the truth about who you are as a person. And so that's what I would, that's what I'd want to say. If there's anything else I could say, that's it.Virginia Purnell:Well, thank you very much. How can people find out more about you and what you do?Chris Williams:Couple of easy ways. Social media handles are all the same for me. Chris Williams, HQ, So C H R I S W I L L I A M S H Q, like headquarters. So @ChrisWilliamsHQ on any platform and then our Facebook group is absolutely the best place. We do tons of Q & A in there. We dump tons of content there. We don't even ask for email addresses. It's just free and anybody who's a creative or digital agency owner in that space will likely be blown away by what's in there. So that's Elite Agency Inner Circle. If you just look in Facebook for Elite Agency Inner Circle and that right there, you can ask to join the group. And if you are in that space, we'll let you in and you just ask questions, we answer them. It's super straightforward. And there's tons of amazing rockstar agency owners in there who are constantly answering questions and helping people grow.Virginia Purnell:Thank you again, Chris, for coming on and for sharing all of your advice and words of wisdom with us.Chris Williams:Absolutely. Virginia. Thanks so much for having me. It's been really fun.Virginia Purnell:You're welcome. Have a great day.Chris Williams:Okay.Virginia Purnell:Thank you so much for joining us today. Be sure to subscribe and leave some love through a review and I'll catch you on the next episode.Resources and Mentioned ItemsDistinct Digital Marketing.comElite Agency Inner Circle Facebook Group@ChrisWilliamsHQ InstagramSocial Media: @ChrisWilliamsHQWayne Cotton

Times of Questions:01:20: What was it that inspired you to become an entrepreneur?02:34: What do you like most about the work that you're doing?03:42: What are some common mistakes that you see your customers or clients making?05:58: What are some of your big goals that you're looking to achieve over the next one to two years?10:52: So, what's a big roadblock that is stopping you from achieving your goal of growing your agency?14:38: So you've talked about inner work and attracting the companies. Is that the only thing that you do is kind of their law of attraction aspect or is there more that you do to attract or for marketing your business and for getting new clients?16:34: Is there something that you would like to share that I haven't asked you?20:19: Where can people find out more about you and what you do? Virginia Purnell:Welcome to Entrepreneur Conundrum with Virginia Purnell, where growing entrepreneurs share how they get visible online. Hi everyone. Today I'm talking with Olga Fomenko. Olga grew up watching her father build businesses in post Soviet Russia where free enterprise was not even a thing. She inherited his free spirit and started her first business at the age of 17. After moving to the US and working hard on other people's businesses for years, she got a taste of the American dream, decided to become a full time entrepreneur and never looked back. Through highs and lows, she built herself from ground up in the online business space and now is helping others to do the same. Today Olga is an integrator and an online business manager for high net worth business owners. She is passionate about working with virtual teams, building systems that allow business owners to have the life they dream of and all things marketing. Olga is continuously learning and growing and believes that your network equals your net worth. That's why she enjoys being a part of the number of amazing communities of entrepreneurs and business owners. And that is actually how we met and got to know each other a few months back. Welcome, Olga.Olga Fomenko:Hey Virginia. Thanks for having me.Virginia Purnell:Thank you for joining us today.Olga Fomenko:My pleasure.Virginia Purnell:So what was it that inspired you to become an entrepreneur?Olga Fomenko:I don't know if you get inspired to become an entrepreneur or you're born to be an entrepreneur, but I usually say that my story has started with watching a movie and reading a book. I watched the movie The Secret. And then a few months later I read the book by Kim Kiyosaki and she's the wife of Robert Kiyosaki. Her book was the Rich Woman and that's where I learned about, Rich Dad, Poor Dad book. And that's how it all started for me. I mean, that's how I started to pursue the career of an entrepreneur on a full time basis. But I think I was an entrepreneur all my life because I always tried to do something. I always try to start a business. I always try to find opportunities to make extra money and do all kinds of stuff.Virginia Purnell:What do you like most about the work that you're doing?Olga Fomenko:Well, my favorite part of working with other business owners is that I get to really be a part of something bigger. I get to be part of different visions and help other people, other entrepreneurs to achieve their greater goals and greater dreams. And through that I get to learn different things. I get to learn different things. It's not like unlike taking a course on how to launch a podcast or how to launch your book, I actually get to do that with my clients. And that is what's really, really exciting for me.Virginia Purnell:It must be fulfilling to be able to see the business owners reach their dreams and to reach their goals and knowing that you were able to help them get there.Olga Fomenko:Yes, absolutely. That's my favorite part.Virginia Purnell:What are some common mistakes that you see your customers or clients making?Olga Fomenko:Well, you know, we will make mistakes as we're building businesses. Like one of my mentors likes to say, "your business is broken, if you do things right, it always will be.' The mistakes are the parts of the process. And part of the progress. I deal with digital marketing, team building, systems building and in the businesses. So many mistakes that I get to, I would say maybe challenges that I get to solve are around those topics. You know, like people don't hire the right way. They rush into the hiring process, get somebody on board just to get them just because they need help as soon as possible. They don't think through that process. Some people try to rush through launches, not thinking that through, not assessing all of the you know, pros and cons, all of the certain strategies that they pick and that may result and the difficulties or you know, lower results then they expect. So I hope that answers your question a little bit.Virginia Purnell:It does. Thank you. I like what you said about like mistakes isn't the like a bad part cause it's like what Thomas Edison said, he's like, I didn't do a hundred wrong things to get to or make a hundred mistakes to get to the light bulb, or a thousand, he's like, I learned like it was a thousand step process to get there. And I'm totally butchering that quote, but it was something to that effect. Like it, it didn't, he didn't do everything wrong. It just took him the process to get there, to know what not to do.Olga Fomenko:For sure. Yeah.Virginia Purnell:So we kind of talked about you helping your clients reach their dreams and their goals. What are some of your big goals that you're looking to achieve over the next one to two years?Olga Fomenko:Oh, my goal is actually to keep building my agency and keep helping the business rockstars to create jobs and build the new economy. You know, like today's, this is going to be the most important saying for the country and for the world is to build new businesses, create new jobs, create new opportunities. And through my skills, I'm seeing an opportunity to be a part of that. And actually you know, take on more businesses where I can come in and help to create those opportunities and help to grow the bottom line of the businesses so they can afford to bring on new team members so they can afford to scale and you know, and become bigger, better, stronger for the good of the society and for the for the good of the new economy of that we're going to be building in the next two years.Virginia Purnell:It's crazy how everything has shifted kind of all of a sudden, hey?Olga Fomenko:I didn't know. It's kind of all of a sudden because I have been in entrepreneurship full time for 10 years now and I got started a little after 2008, and when 2008 recession was happening, I was not aware of what is going on besides that I moved to California and I couldn't find a job and I couldn't understand what's going on. But once I started to study this and I started to read the books of Robert Kiyosaki and Donald Trump and you know, all of the real estate guys, I started to get into the understanding that the market goes through the cycles, real estate markets, stock market, all of that goes through the cycles and sooner or later we're going to have a recession again, like sooner or later the market is going to fall and we're going to see that again. And for the last three, four years experts, financial experts, have been saying that the recession is inevitable.We don't know how it's going to happen, but we know it will. So that's why you always want to be preparing because even when we're out, like I know that officially we're not in the recession yet because this crisis is not finished, but once the crisis is finished, we're going to go into recession and there will be time to rebuild and overcome that and brands where you're going to go on the top of a mountain for a little time for a little, you know, period of time and sooner or later another session is going to hit. It's the cycles, the normal cycles of life, like humans are always, even in crisis, the planet always lives in crisis. There's always all of these different crises happening around us, so it's all a matter of being prepared for them and knowing that the next crisis is coming and just make sure that you are built for it. You're built for it emotionally. You're built for it financially and educate yourself about what has happened in previous crises and crises, right? They've been happening all the time. So if you're educating yourself about what has been happening, that it's going to be easier for you to pivot and the new crisis and understand where things go and how you can not just survive it, but actually thrive in the next crisis that is inevitable. Just like this one was.Virginia Purnell:Thanks for that reminder, about like everything has its cycle and yeah, it was, it is inevitable. Like it's going to come. And just to get ourselves in a position, like you said, like whether it's mentally, emotionally, financially, like just get, get ourselves in that position and be aware and be prepared.Olga Fomenko:Yeah.Virginia Purnell:So, what's a big roadblock that is stopping you from achieving your goal of growing your agency?Olga Fomenko:Don't think anything is stopping me right now I am actually feeling in the momentum. I feel terrible for people that are out of momentum and are experiencing all of the challenges and difficulties that came with this crisis. But to me personally, it's been a blessing because what I do is actually needed in the online and the digital world. So I had more requests for help than normal. And I have actually been working on my personal mindset and have been doing a lot of inner work to prepare myself to help all of those people that are requesting our help because nothing is stopping me from achieving my goals. But it doesn't mean that it can't change. And the matter of you know, a few moments because it's, it's really, it's truly inside of you the confidence that you can go through certain challenges and you can help other people. So working on myself has become my main focus for the last few months so I can build my confidence to the level that I can help other people. And you know, like Zig Ziglar, used to say that if you help enough people to get what they want to, you can have what you want. So that is my mantra. I want to help as many people as possible and through that I will get the reaches that I am dreaming of and I have no doubt this is how it works.Virginia Purnell:I totally agree with you. It's amazing how like when you focus on others and on helping others, that you get what you need or you get the help that you need. Like it doesn't matter whether you're low, you're low, just like emotionally or something like that and you're helping others and then you, you feel better. And it's fun how it works that way too in the business world.Olga Fomenko:Yeah. I've seen that over and over again that, you know, we don't want to,and I don't know, like maybe there are people that think differently, but to me it's really important that people that I work with, my mentors, my support group, my coaches, even my clients, that they are confident, they know they can help their audience, they know they can help their clients because if they're not confident about what they're doing, then it's very, very hard to believe them. You know? Like if you don't believe in yourself, then how can your clients believe in you? I, I think that inner work is the most important work that we have to be focused on all of us. It doesn't matter what industry you're in, what you're doing. I think it's the most important thing.Virginia Purnell:I agree. Cause it's like, yeah, like, like you had said before, like if you're not confident in yourself, others around you are going to see it and that's not gonna help you get what you want in essence, right? You're just going to repel the people. So you've talked about inner work and attracting the companies. Is that the only thing that you do is kind of their law of attraction aspect or is there more that you do to attract or for marketing your business and for getting new clients?Olga Fomenko:Well, you know, up until this point for the last nine years, my business was mostly word of mouth. But actually in the last few months I have been working on the revampion of my market and systems and ready to do some lead generation. So I'm an expert at digital marketing, right? So I know what to, how to help clients to create lead generation systems. And it's interesting that I barely had to do it for myself. So now I'm actually revamping my marketing and looking into it from the perspective of let me do for me what I do for my clients and put in some systems in place for organic marketing, put in some systems in place for paid marketing and working on also some information products that will be ready beginning of next year. It's a large project so I'm not really talking about it quite yet, but that that is something that I'm preparing for early on, if that makes sense.Virginia Purnell:It does. Thank you. Is there something that you would like to share that I haven't asked you?Olga Fomenko:Well, you know, it depends on who you are, where you are in your life and your business, which your aspirations are. I know that a lot of people are going to have to pivot. A lot of people are going to have to make drastic changes and what they're doing regardless if they had a job or had a business, or were in school, it really doesn't matter where you were, things are going to be different. I keep saying that we are going to be building the new economy. The economy that existed up until February 2020 is not coming back. We're going to build a new normal. And you know, I heard this from one of the doctors actually listening to, you know, one of those coronavirus videos. And his doctor said a really, really great thing that I love. He said that, I really hope that you don't go to that old normal where we were all locked in our shells, on our screens.You know, like thinking about our jobs and not thinking about our families and our environment. And you know, like this lockdown was a good thing for many, many, many people because they got to spend more time with their families. They got to go hiking, they got to journal, they got to sing and dance. And you know, like while I'm sure many, many people struggled, I also hear a lot of great stories of how people could reconnect with themselves and the planet. My favorite favorite book of all times is the Little Prince and you know, and the Little Prince, there was this really cool moment when his dad said that, if every person would sweep their front porch, our planet would be such a better place. So I believe that if we'll do the in our work and we will think about people that are around us and the planet that this beautiful organism that we were a part of and we just reconnect with one another and create the new world, the new normal, the new economy, the new possibility is I think we totally have a chance to do that as a humanity. And I want to believe that this is why we as humanity were given this challenge so we can actually create something better than we used to have. So that's what I got to say.Virginia Purnell:Such great words of wisdom. I hope that we don't go back to "normal" either and that we do look out for one another more. And we do value, let's say the little things more and our family. Not saying that our families are little things, but just not everything is behind a screen and not everything is so self absorbing, I guess.Olga Fomenko:Yeah. Definitely.Virginia Purnell:Where can people find out more about you and what you do?Olga Fomenko:Well, I am on Facebook. I am on LinkedIn. My site, my blog site is under redevelopment right now, but it's OlgaFomenko.com. And I'm actually sharing a lot of ideas about business building, marketing, social media, team building and personal development, which as you probably know, it's for clarity and my favorite topic. So I pass to do this and I promote personal development all day, every day, every chance I get because that's what changed my life and I think it's an opportunity to change a lot of other people's lives. So that's what I love talking about.Virginia Purnell:Great. Thank you so much, Olga, for coming and joining us today.Olga Fomenko:Thank you for having me.Virginia Purnell:Thank you so much for joining us today. Be sure to subscribe and leave some love through the review and I'll catch you on the next episode.Resources and Mentioned ItemsDistinct Digital Marketing.comOlgaFomenko.comKim Kiyosaki - Rich WomanRobert Kiyosaki - Rich Dad Poor DadThe Little PrinceZig Ziglar