In this episode, Chuck Anderson collaborates with a women's business strategist to explore the importance of a clear business strategy and staying focused on a unified direction. They discuss the concept of "heart business" vs. "head business," while sharing practical insights for strategic collaboration and long-term growth.

Guest Bio:

Yvonne McCoy is a highly sought-after women's business strategist who helps entrepreneurs and businesses achieve sustainable growth through strategic planning and collaboration.

Key Points Discussed:

- The importance of having a clear business strategy and staying focused on a unified direction (00:58)

- Finding overlap between passion and profitability in business (11:25)

- Recognizing one's own gift and the importance of being an entrepreneur (19:36)

- Strategies for regaining success after setbacks, focusing on purpose and vision (26:44)

- Practical insights for strategic collaboration and long-term growth (35:12)

Guest's Must-Read Book Recommendation:

"The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R. Covey

Links to Guest's Website:

Visit Yvonne McCoy's website at www.theonesmallchange.com for more information and resources related to strategic business growth and collaboration.

Sign up for her Free V.I.P. Profit Roadmap Workshop ...

https://www.theonesmallchange.com/MonthlyVIPProfitWorkshop

Was this episode helpful?

Please leave us a review and subscribe to the show to be notified of future episodes.

Until next time, keep moving forward!

Chuck Anderson,

Affiliate Management Expert + Investor + Mentor

http://AffiliateManagementExpert.com/

Hello, everybody, and welcome back. This is the Creative Collaboration Show.

Chuck Anderson here, and I have for you another

amazing guest. And as you know, it's our mission here to help you

to grow and scale your business and

make that big Impact in the world that you always knew that

you could make and that your business could make and, you know, you might be

just 1 good collaboration or Partnership away from that

big break, that big scaling moment that you're looking for in your business.

And today is someone that I have had the pleasure of getting to know over

the last Few months. We're working together on multiple

fronts. So I have with me Yvonne McCoy,

Who, women's business strategist, but really, I I

think, really smart men as well. And

And so anything to do with business strategy,

especially if you felt like you don't have a strategy

Or you could use a new strategy because what you're doing

isn't working or maybe even just feels like you're your wheels

a little bit. Well, we'll let Yvonne talk a little bit more about that as

we dive into this episode. So, Yvonne, welcome to the show.

Thanks, Chuck. Thanks so much. You know, and one of the reasons that I think

strategy is so important is I always tell people it doesn't matter how fast you're

going if you're going in the wrong direction. And so I think

that has so much I mean, that's Anderson I think that I've

learned over the years is that, you know, unfortunately, as entrepreneurs,

We tend to really be attracted to the bright shiny object. And so

we're always like, when something doesn't work, we don't say, why does

Does this not work? We go, Oh, I'll try something different. And I think,

you know, if you don't know where you're headed, it doesn't matter how many

different things you try because you don't, You're not headed in in

one unified direction. And,

and I think, unfortunately, I mean, my background,

So much of my life, I think, was based in

the expectations that my family

society had for me. And I think everybody has those limiting beliefs.

And, you know, Buckminster Fuller says We're all

born geniuses, and then it's educated out of us, which I think is is

absolutely true. And I made so many decisions in my life based on

the idea That I was good at math. I mean, when I got my

MBA, you know, I majored in finance and accounting,

which I absolutely hated because I was good at math, But I really

wanted to do marketing. I mean, I'm probably, you know, at that time I was

one of the few people who really liked to watch commercials, you

know, And, you know, here I am years later

actually being more involved in the marketing and much less involved in

in the accounting. Oh, absolutely not involved in the accounting.

So you know, I think it's really important to know where you're

going. And and That's probably the

biggest Anderson. You know? I mean, it can evolve as you go along,

but being true to yourself and what you're really good

at. Yeah. It's so true, and

and many of us live day to day. You Show? What do I

need to do today? What didn't I get done yesterday?

And it can sometimes feel challenging

to look beyond today or even tomorrow

or next week, let alone the next year

or 3 years. Some people have 25 year visions of of their

life and their business. And, and I know you come from the

corporate world where they probably did a lot of that that vision work,

as well. And so what's, you know, what's,

Your like, what's your journey on that? And so what's your what's

your kind of approach to to strategy with With

yourself, with your clients, you know, overall? I

think, you know, one of the things that I say to all my clients is

you have a heart business and you have your head business. Your heart

business is the one that you really wanna do, which is probably tied

more to your vision and your, you know, your long kind of thing.

And your head business is the thing that you could do with your

eyes closed. And the, and the goal is to find

The overlap. I kinda think in Venn diagrams. Right? So

to find the overlap where, you know You know, your heart

business, usually, you say, I would do this for nothing.

But then that's not a business. That's a hobby. And you can't

live on nothing. Right? And so what is it that you

can do from your head business that will

also either fund your heart business Or, you know,

combine the 2. So for instance, I I was just working with

somebody who, Wanted to work

with seniors to teach them computers. And, you know, as much as we

looked around and thought of ideas, we couldn't find a way to make that a

steady stream of, you know, Income. But then we

started looking at older people are staying, are getting

into business, are becoming entrepreneurs. And so now

she works with older people who older

entrepreneurs and and has started working with

coaches who have computer parts to their programs

so that they can make it easier. So it's just like

an extra little bonus that they get, You know, and she helps them to

make videos so that people know how to use you know, you can put those

together in a way that is exciting. Right?

And get both. Get the best of both. You know that you can make

money at something that is your heart, is also your

heart. And so that's been part of my journey, I think, is

that I think all of us have a a situation

in our in our life journey Where it you know, you have the

before this event and the after this event. Right?

And I had a situation where I worked for 15 years in corporate

And didn't get my tr contract renewed, and I was totally

devastated. I mean, at the at the end,

every May after Did the tax season, I would go to the shore for a

little, you know, decompression. And this year, you know, a marketing

person walked up to me and said, what do you do? And I burst out

in I don't do anything. I

mean, I was just like, you know, I was my job. I mean, that's how

I was brought up. You gotta have a job. Right? And it

was kinda at that point that I that, you know, it was it was it

was like being hit by a 2 by 4, but it was like, you know

what? I got unemployment. I got some money coming in. I can actually do

whatever I want to do for a while. And so I

decided that I would volunteer at

an adult literacy program because I couldn't read as a

child. And somebody took the time, and I always thought, Oh my God, Here's an

adult that's willing to say, I really need this help. And

the the the bad side of it was I was really bad at it.

The people that I had in my class, I mean, I could teach them math.

I could teach them, you know, decision making

and critical this and that, But I could not teach them to read.

But from there, I got into workforce, into their their

literacy workforce, where I went into companies and did training.

And, You know, there were grants to help raise the reading

level. Anderson company that I absolutely loved the project that I did,

I still call it my Wow project. They ended up saving a half a

$1,000,000. And they

basically got the people to start thinking about the process.

And what I learned is I'm really good at process. I'm really good at

seeing systems and patterns. And so from that

adventure, I ended up Doing coaching. I bought a book. I

bought a book that said 22 Strategies that Life Strategies You Should Know.

And I was like, the people in my class could really use this. And then

I started reading it. It was like, oh my God, I need this. Oh my

God, I need this. And it was by Thomas Leonard, the father of

coaching. And then I went on, I went to coaching school, and you Show,

here I am. And it, and, and it has evolved. I mean, I, you know,

the things that I taught. But what I find is

Everything is useful if you stay curious. And that

probably is the biggest before and after in the last year and a half

is the idea of don't be judgmental. You know, I used

to be a very Type A person and very fixate, and I and I

still slip into my Type A. But being

able to ask people questions and say, have you thought about this? What

about this? Why now? What is the purpose? Right? So

that they they get their creative things. And you find

people do not Show what their gift is. And their

gift is so amazing. I mean, you know and

it's really hard to know what your own gift is. Like, I said something to

somebody. I think I said something to you the other day. And I was

like, how could he have not thought of this?

But but it, You know, it's just a very you know, when we were talking

about, you know, packaging some of the VA

hours to do really to support this particular thing, And

I've said to other people diff things that were just throwaway things

in my mind that were really big

stuff. So, you know, if I, if I were going to

talk to somebody, I would say,

first of all, Being an entrepreneur is not for the weak of heart.

Not at all. Because it's not, it,

it just is, You know, you're shooting at a a moving target is

what's happening. And if you can't I mean,

that's why I came up with my system. You know, I don't know if I

told you, but, you know, in March of 2020,

I was in the hospital for 5 days, not for COVID, but For

something else. And when I came out, we were in COVID shutdown

and I had lost all my clients because I was, I had a lot of

nonprofit clients at that point. And

I suddenly was scrambling. I mean, I was really scrambling, like, what am I gonna

do? What am I gonna do? And, you know, I went and looked at

the mounds of stuff That I had collected over the years,

that I had been practicing on and not implementing. Right.

And said, what are the, what things in here are gonna help me to get

some clients right away. And that's how I came up with my VIP

profit roadmap. I mean, I didn't name it that, but that's what it ended

up being. And, You know, the first part of it was what we talked

about, was having a vision,

having a purpose, knowing where you're going. Right?

And in in my in my mini course, it's

called dead reckoning, which is a sailing term. But that's how I lost

the £150. I mean, my

doctors were saying to me, you're killing yourself, because I was over

400 pounds. And, you know, I

knew, I knew the formula for losing weight.

You know, you eat less than you, you know, you, you burn more than you

eat and all that Anderson, but I did not have a big enough why.

Apparently dying wasn't a big enough why, because we're all gonna die anyway.

Right? Show, Show, But when my grand

when I I realized that my 1st grandchild was coming along, I wanted

to be really active with them. I didn't Want to be the kind of grandmother

my grandmother was, although I loved her to death. She, you know, she never left

the kitchen. And so

that was my why. You know, when I got ready to eat something, I was

like, is this gonna let me play with my grandkids? Or is this gonna

keep me from playing with my grandkids? Do you know that?

And that was that was the thing that changed everything. And that

was, you know, so when I started getting clients, it was kind

of like, what is my purpose? What am I trying to do?

So One of my purposes was

because I didn't want to feel salesy. I wanted people To

feel better after they talk to me than before, whether

they signed up to work with me or not. So that I could

come from kind of like, I'm giving value

to the world, you Show? And that was part of my

vision, and that's kind of how it started. And then it we went into,

You know, you can't do a transformation without understanding how

change happens, and you have to be innovative to stay, to stay

relevant. And from there it went into,

how do I stand out from the crowd? I have a certain uniqueness.

What's my profit uniqueness that attracts my ideal client to me.

And so that's what the VIP stands for. It's it's your Vision, your

Innovation During Change, and your Profit Genius. And

The thing that's interesting about it is,

although it doesn't say it, the whole thing is Not

only are you a very important person, but you're actually the

CEO of your business. And that's what I want you to see,

that you don't have To make decisions based on somebody else that

you have a way to make decisions for yourself. So

it probably drives my clients crazy when they go, what should I do? And I

don't, And I go, I don't know. What's the purpose of what you gotta do?

What are you trying to do? You know? And so, but they learn how to

work through it. So that because that was the way I was. I was

like, just tell me what to do. You know? And then when it didn't work,

it was like, why would they tell me to do that? You know? And never

take responsibility for it myself.

You know? Well, I love You know, being purpose

I love that that answer to that question, by the way, because I I have

clients ask me all the time, what should I do? And In my style

of coaching, especially with the mentoring, I always have an answer for it. I'm like,

oh, you should do this and you should do that. But when we're really Looking

at it and we're really being purpose driven is like you don't necessarily

have their answer, but but what is their answer? And

I. The other thing I love about that question is we should probably be

all all asking ourselves that with everything we do. Like, what is the purpose

of what I'm doing? Am I doing this out of habit? Am I doing

this out of routine? And is it getting me

closer to my goal or further away from my goal? That was the other thing

you said. When you really knew your purpose, is this getting me

closer to the way I wanna be with my grandchildren, or is this taking me

further away from it? And that's a great check-in. And

then am I doing the right things? And are the things that I'm

doing or trying to do Even in alignment with

that. And and kind of also learning the

difference between, strategy and tactics.

You Show, I mean, it's kind of it it it's

it's interesting because, you know, we we talk about, let's say, building our

email list. Well, you don't necessarily have to have a

large email list to get traction.

Right? And so, you know, I did a lot of,

you Show, people like do giveaways. So I did giveaways.

Right? And I got a lot of people in my email and they downloaded the

freebie Anderson they unsubscribed Or they never opened the

email afterwards. So that was like, this is not, you

know, this is this is a tactic, but it's not working for

the people that I want. You know, I found speaking on summits

were much better. I mean, I got a much smaller Add

to my email list, but they were much more responsive.

And so, you know, it's not enough to just say, I want a big email

list. You know, you want an A responsive email list. You

know? And that's one of the benefits, I think, of

having affiliates. Because When

an affiliate sends somebody to you, they've given you the the the

the star of approval. Right? They've said, this is

somebody I think is interesting that you might like. Right?

So they aren't necessarily as cold As,

you know, as a a a giveaway or someplace else. Right?

And if they see that person promote you more than once, they may, you Show,

You have to get the message of the time when you're ready. So even, you

know, part of my thing was I wouldn't I didn't post on

social media because it's like, Oh my God. How many things can I talk about?

And, you know, that kind of stuff. And then I began to realize

I repost stuff all the time now. I go back to for, like, 2 years

ago, and I look at what I posted, and I go, oh, I haven't talked

about that for a long time. I'll repost that. Right? Because I have what I

call the rule of 3. Anything you do, you should be able to find 3

uses for it. Right? Whether it's you repurpose

it, Whether you use it in a newsletter, whether you use it as a

talking point, you put it in a video or whatever. And that way

you stay consistent with what You're talking about,

kind of. And so, you know, now what I talk about all the

time is my VIP, your vision, your innovation,

and your profit uniqueness. But, but

now I'm starting to get traction because, You know,

I can relax and I talk about, you know, those 3

things and I talk about my dog. Do you

know? And people always open pet pet

posts. Do you know? But the thing is

People are not always ready to hear your message that day.

Sometimes they have to hear it 2 or 3 times. And and I have a

group that I work with and I'll come back to that group and I'll go,

I know you told me to do this. I know you've told me repeatedly

that this is something I should look into, but I just heard it from so

and so, and it made so much sense.

I don't know why that is, but but but, you know so

just being consistent and being visible Show

that people know that you're out there. You're not a flash in the pan. That

you, you know, you're vulnerable. You share

your mistakes. You're like, I'm like you, I make mistakes too.

Right? But this is how I reset, because I can reset.

Because I know what my vision is. I know where I'm going to. I know

this is part of the innovation process. So, you know, one of my

mantras is fail forward faster.

Yeah. That's a good one. You know? Yeah. So

Well and then extract the learning from that. Right? What did I learn

from this attempt that did not Work that gets me closer

to what I do want, and that's that's, Blair Singer. You mentioned Bucky

Fuller earlier. One of my mentors, Blair Singer,

was Going through Bucky Fuller's stuff, so I got a

lot of that. But that's one of the things that we took away is, like,

look, even though you tried something and it didn't work, There there were

things that you did achieve along the way. What were

those things? Yes. And maybe, just maybe, that's really

what you really were after all along. And that that

was a very interesting takeaway from that. I I

think I used to think

that success was you do something, you either succeed or you fail.

Now I know That it's an

experiment. Because everything is constantly

changing. And so you do something, you fail,

You evaluate, you keep going, you know, you

extract, and then you, you know, you succeed. And and

for me, The analogy that I that I

use is life is not a light switch.

It's not binary choice. It's not off or on. It's a dimmer

switch. At one end is the off, the other end is the on. And

in between, there are a myriad of options.

You know, you may not be able to do it a 100% the way that

you want to do it, but there's some place in be in between that you

can give yourself permission. You know, for instance,

you may wanna make a $5,000 ad buy, but

you've got, you know, A $50

budget. Right? So you don't say, well, I'm, you know, I'm

not gonna I'm not gonna spend the $50. You say, where can

I spend the $50 that makes more sense?

Do instead of doing an ad buy, do I

see if I can, you know, Buy something else that's

gonna, you know, amplify what I'm doing? Or do I say, I'm gonna save

this until I can have more money and and get into

a summit? Right?

And so that's the kind of thing that that's how you wanna be, you know,

thinking and looking at patterns and stuff. I mean, one of the one

of the big initial patterns for entrepreneur

is that they're really good at what they do.

And so when they need to move grow past

themselves, there's not that support or that

infrastructure to do that. And they don't know how to bring that on. And

so typically they've hired friends and family because they were

available in the right price, But they're not the right

person. And so then they're, like, upset

because they can't get the kind of results they want with the people that they

have. Right? And what they don't understand

is it's not them. It's not those people. It's them.

Right? So that's a pattern that if you know that that's there,

you can go, okay. How can I avoid this? How can I really

Figure out what it is that I need to have done and look for the

right person? Mhmm. You know, one

of the takeaways, And I wanna make sure that we,

you know, get everything in in the time that we have. You know, one of

the takeaways that I got from what you've been saying here is that

That really stands out to me is knowing the difference between a strategy

and a tactic. And, you know, that's one of

the things that, You know, we complement each other very well. Everyone

knows with my work with affiliate marketing and recruiting affiliates,

that is very tactical. There's strategy that drives the

reason why we do that, but it is a tactic. Whereas what you're

talking about as well is strategy. Like, really, You know,

what what is your overall strategy, and does it line with your purpose

and and your reason why? And, And

that leave kinda leads me to the theme of our show a little bit, which

is collaboration, which is partnership. I know you and I have collaborated

on some things. I just wanted to get you to weigh in on that a

little bit, maybe, as a strategy or a tactic, but,

you know, how has collaboration and partnership played a role in

In your business and maybe the role, the businesses of your

clients? The first thing I'm gonna say

is Many of the things

that I was waiting until I was competent

and confident Because there's this thing called the confident

confident loop. I

waited before I started to get into Community and get

into, collaborations.

What I would say to anybody out there Is that is one of the

first things you should do as you're starting. It will

speed the growth of your business. It will keep you from making

mistakes. So you should, you know, if you're not

networking, you should be networking. Even if you don't have a product to

offer, You should get out there and just say, this is

what, you know, this is what I'm thinking about doing. What do you know

about this? What do you, Can you tell me about this so that you can

start to hone in? You cannot, it is

very difficult to grow your business alone. Believe me, I have tried. I have

tried everything. Right? And and the amount of growth that I've

had with affiliates has been amazing. I mean, and

we have just been working together since November. I mean, so we're talking

like only 2 months. And if I had done

this Back in March of

2020, it would have been an

amazing thing. So I think you you wanna kind of you

know, Going with the idea of knowing what your vision

is and your long term planning, do those things

now So that you're building the right

things. I mean, it's the same thing with I told people about videos

is that When I started doing

videos, they were horrible. I mean, they were kind of like, you know,

prisoner This is her videos.

Right? But the thing that I'm very glad

about is because I was new and nobody really

Saw them by the time I started getting traction, I was much better.

So do the things that you are afraid of doing

Early in your in your business Show that when you really start

getting traction, you will be so much better as opposed to

Being really well known, and then you make a biddy video, and people go, how

could they be really that good and and be this bad? Do you know what

the video? So Community

collaboration, the relationships.

And, and, and, and I thank you for that, Chuck, Because now when I

talk to people, I say to them, you

know, I'm looking for long term relationships. If that includes

affiliate, You know, being affiliates for each other, great. If not, let's do

a workshop. Let's let's do a LinkedIn, you know,

live or something like that. But I want the long term relationships,

because they serve you better than just a one time sale.

Right? And so that's the thing that I would say to people is,

don't think that you have to wait till you're an expert before

you try stuff. Try stuff when you first start. So

when you make your mistakes, you know, it not a

lot of people see. I mean, I did my

my first, I like, I'm doing I do a thing once

a month. I do 2 monthly things. One is just kind of a

fun thing. It's called Yvonne's Productivity and Profit Hour. And,

the first two times I did it, nobody showed up, I was just there

by myself, and then the next time, like, 1 person showed up

and, you know, we had a nice comp it was nice because it was very

intimate. I mean, and then, you know, gradually More people came, but

a lot of those people ended up being clients because I had a chance to

have FaceTime with them and they didn't have to book a call.

Right? And I'm I'm doing 1, this coming

week, and I was like, oh my god. I haven't advertised

this. Do you know? What was I thinking? And I have

15 people that are signed up. You Show, just from networking,

telling other people I know about, and, you know, that are checking and stuff like

that. So start before you think you're ready

is what I would say. Yeah. And sometimes you just have to start with that

1 person, and that grows to 2 that grows to 4, that grows to 8,

and and you can do the math from there. It grows very, very quickly.

And, you know, that's kind of how it goes with collaboration and affiliates in all

of the things that you're doing. And so I

speaking of collaborations, I you're a great person to collaborate as

with as well, and one of my, recommendations to

people listening in here is that if you're if you're in need of a

better strategy or maybe the strategy you're You

have could be better. Maybe it isn't aligning with your purpose the way

it could be. Connect with Ivan. And, Ivan, you have a

workshop that you do, every month. You wanna tell everybody

about that? Sure. It's called the VIP profit

work, the VIP profit road map.

Simply work less, absolutely earn more. And

I I sometimes joke that that's kind of, A

false title. Because once you find out what you really like, and that you can

make money at it, sometimes you actually work more. But you

enjoy it more. And so we go through the

idea of, how does the

vision, the innovation, and your Profit Uniqueness, and

I do some exercises with you and, things

to to help you to hone in on that and help you. I

really want you to get some insights, but I also want you to leave with

some actionable steps. So it's I think it's time well spent.

Well, I know that it's time well spent. I've heard from some of the people

that have attended your thing, and nothing but good things to say

Say about you, Yvonne. So and all of the collaborations and

the generosity even with our network has been,

fantastic. So So thank you. And just for everyone listening

in, if you're watching this on video, the link to sign up for Yvonne's

VIP Road map workshop is right beneath this

video. And if you're listening to this on a podcast, just go into the

player that you've got there, and in the show notes will be a link there

as well. Go ahead and sign up and connect with Yvonne. Time

with Yvonne is time well spent. And this has been time well spent,

but We're out of time because we're, other we could

definitely and you and I know this. We could we could do this all

day long. Absolutely. Before we wrap up, I just

wanna ask you because, you know, part of our social experiment, I've been

asking everybody this question and, about learning

and books and so much of, you know, my great information,

great mentors have come from books. And so I asked

everybody while they're here, what is either your favorite book or

a must read book that you You think everybody,

should read next or at some point in their life?

Well, you Show, there are a lot of them, but my favorite Go to is

the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

And I I just love the kind of

progression and the growth progression that goes that he takes you through.

And and I and I don't know. It it just

either I read it at the right time that it's just stuck with me, but

it's it's worth a read as far as I'm concerned.

Probably once a year. Alright? It's it's so foundational

just as a way to be, a way to approach

problems, a way to approach relationships.

Mhmm. So many good takeaways. My

favorite is think win win, And, that is

something that, I and and my other favorite

is begin with the end in mind. Oh, those are all and those

are all my philosophies too. So that's probably the reason we

That's why we love that both love that book so much. Well, We're gonna add

that to our learning library, and we'll put your name beside it because, you are

the one to, recommend it. And, yeah,

great great recommendation. Well, Ivonne, this has been a

great 30 minutes or so that we've spent together. Hopefully, everybody has got a

sense of who you are and how you can help. And if by the way,

if you have not Registered for Yvonne's webinar

yet. Go ahead and do that immediately after we sign off

here. And And, you know, let

this time that we've had here mean something. I want you to take 1

takeaway that you heard us talk about here today. Maybe it's to

revisit your purpose and your strategy or or, you know,

is what I'm doing get getting me closer to what I want

or further away? Or maybe it's just to go and sign up

for Yvonne's workshop because that's an action step that's easy to do and

will help you, especially if the answer is I don't know.

And if you don't know, then you can go to Yvonne's workshop and find

out, and she will help you to draw out the

answer that's right for you. Yvonne, this has been a

great time well spent. And, if you were to leave

our Listeners here with just one final piece of

advice or words of wisdom, what would you say to them?

Because it's the beginning of the year and we've all set goals, and

we've been talking about SMART goals. I would say SMART goals.

I would say make SMART goals. And the e is in my book

is for ethical, But the r is for reward.

So the celebrate, as entrepreneurs, we tend to do something,

and before we finish, we jump into something else. So reward and

celebrate your not not completion, but

your progress because you're never finished. Not until you not

until you're in the grave. There you go. Reward

yourself for the progress. I think those are beautiful words to end

The this episode by. So, thank you, Yvonne. Thank you to

our listeners. And remember, you could be just one great Collaboration

or partnership away from that big growth curve that you're

looking to achieve in your business. And in the meantime,

keep moving forward, and we'll see you on the next one. Thank you, everybody.