Welcome to part one of my five-part series based on my Amazon bestselling book Legendary Business: From Rats to Riche$. In this episode, I introduce you to Maya, the first rat you'll meet in the book, and possibly the most relatable one for many entrepreneurs.

Maya is the short-sighted rat. She’s all passion, no profit. She bakes majestic, intricate cakes because that’s what lights her up, but her customers? They keep coming back for her pies. The ones she finds boring, simple, and easy. The ones she doesn’t want to spend time making.

Sound familiar?

We unpack how Maya’s mistake, focusing only on her passion, mirrors a trap so many business owners fall into. And I’ll be honest, I’ve been Maya too. I share the story of a past business my husband and I ran, and how a similar oversight almost cost us our growth. I also share why understanding your profit margins and doing the “unsexy” parts of business is what ultimately frees you up to pursue your passion in a sustainable way.

If you've ever felt frustrated that your most inspired work isn’t selling, or if you've ever ignored the “boring” offers that quietly bring in consistent revenue, this episode is for you.

Key Takeaways:

• Maya the Rat: Represents the common business mistake of prioritizing passion over profitability.
• But You Love It: Doesn’t mean it’s what your audience wants or will pay for.
• Highest Revenue: Often comes from what’s simple, scalable, and in demand.
• Don’t Shun Them: Small jobs (like pies!) lead to big opportunities (like custom cakes).
• Profit Margins: matter more than price tags so don’t trade all your time for very little return.
• Business Structure: Avoiding admin tasks can block growth, even if They aren’t fun.
• Motivation matters: Use rewards or accountability to get through the tough stuff.
• Automating or delegating: Replicates yourself, multiplies your capacity, and expands your growth.

Unlock the Secrets to Building a Resilient and Profitable Business at the Profit Connectors Club - https://profitconnectors.club/

About Sharon:

Sharon Galluzzo, Profit Growth Strategist at Profit Connections, is the author of several Amazon Best Selling books including “Legendary Business: From Rats to Riche$.” She ran a successful multi-six figure, award winning business for more than a decade before selling it for a profit. In her more than 19 years as an entrepreneur, Sharon has coached professionals across the country from franchisors and solopreneurs to businesses on the verge expansion. 

http://sharongalluzzo.com/

https://www.facebook.com/sharonagalluzzo/

https://www.instagram.com/sharon_galluzzo/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharongalluzzo/

Thanks for listening!

Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page.

Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!

Subscribe to the podcast

If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe in your favorite podcast app.

Leave us an Apple Podcasts review

Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. 

Welcome back. I am so glad that you're here.

Today, I am going to be starting a five part series focusing on

one of the resources that is available to you. It's called

legendary business from rats to riches, and it actually is my

Amazon best selling book. So the way that this book is organized,

there are five of the most common mistakes business owners

make in their business, how to identify them and how to get rid

of them. So what I thought I would do is I'll make this a

five part series, and each podcast will focus on a

different chapter of the book. Now the book is called legendary

business from rats to riches, because it is based on the fable

of the pied piper. If you know the story of the pied piper, the

pied piper came into a city of Hamlin. Hamlin is overrun by

rats. They, no matter what they do, they can't seem to get rid

of these rats, and so they bring in this specialist, this Pied

Piper, and what he does is he makes an agreement with the

towns people, and they say, Okay, we'll pay you this much

money get rid of our rats. So he plays a tune on His flute and

leads our pipe. I guess it's not a it's a the Piper. So he's

playing a pipe, not a flute. However, he leads the rats out

of town, drowns them in the river, and comes back and asks

for his payment. And the people in the town decide that they are

so clever that they are not going to pay the piper. And for

that reason, something terrible happens in the town. I won't

talk about it now, but there is a terrible end to this story,

and that's where we get the phrase pay the piper. If you

don't pay the piper, then something bad might happen. So

this is the the story that I centered my book on, and the

idea is that in your business, there are rats that come in and

they cause havoc, and they keep you from getting the success you

want. They keep you from getting the sales you want. They keep

you stuck. They keep you in a place where you are not

accomplishing what you want to accomplish in your business. And

so I have given each of these mistakes that business owners

make, a name, a backstory and an actual illustration. So my

business book has pictures in it. Yes, I think that's one of

my favorite pieces of detail in my book is that I actually hired

an artist to come in and design each of the rats so they're very

cute, and they actually incorporate the the pieces of

this, the challenge that that rat, rat represents. So as I

said, there are five rats which are represent the five most

common mistakes business owners make. And so today I'm going to

talk to you about Maya rat. And Maya is so cute. She's so cute,

if you get the book, she's in there. She is a short sighted

rat. She has big thick glasses. And what I'm going to do on

these little podcasts, I'm going to tell you some of the

backstory, I'm going to tell you some of the reasons why I made

the choices in the book that I made. So Maya has these big

thick glasses because she is a short sighted rat. She can't see

the big picture. All she can see is what's right in front of her.

So I actually chose the name Maya because as people age,

there is something that happens to their eyes, which is why

people need readers as they get older. And is called myopia. I

believe that is the correct pronunciation, and it just means

that you get really near sight, like you can't see things you

need help. So that's where I got Maya from. So there's a little

tidbit that nobody knows why she's called Maya, and now

everyone will know, because I just shared it with you. So Maya

is a near sighted ride. She is short sighted. She is an avid

Baker. She loves to bake elaborate, majestic, beautiful

works of art in cake. So she likes to make these really

beautiful, elaborate cakes. And that's the jumping off point

that we take with Maya in her business. So Maya opens up a

bakery, and she wants to make all of these beautiful,

elaborate cakes. This is her passion. This is where her fun

lies. This is where she gets her joy. This is the thing that she

wants to do so much. And she heard someone say, If you love

what you do, you'll never work a day in your life. So she has

taken that idea to heart, and she thinks that is. She just

makes, just makes these cakes, and wants to make these cakes,

and these cakes are going to be the thing that is going to make

her fame and fortune, and that is where her mindset stops.

Because what happens when Maya opens her bakery is that people

are not flocking to her for these gorgeous, elaborate cakes.

They actually love her pies. She makes amazing, delicious pies

that everyone wants. However, Maya doesn't like making the

pies. The pies are boring. They're very easy. Just slap the

ingredients together, put it in the oven, and there's a pie.

Cakes are creative and intricate, and they light her

fire. That isn't what her particular customers are buying,

and Maya has focused all of her energy, all of her advertising,

everything on cakes. Yet that's not the thing that's keeping her

in business. The pies are what is going to keep Maya in

business. So what's short sighted about Maya is that she's

running her business focused only on her passion, and she has

not understood the concept that you need to run a business like

a business. Yes, if you love what you do, you'll never work a

day in your life. Is a very common expression. However, in

reality, if you're running a business, there are very likely

many boring tasks that you need to do, repetitive tasks, things

that you have to take care of in your business so that your

business can be successful, so that your business can grow, so

that your business is legal, so that you are actually doing

things, creating a foundation in your business, so that you can

have the growth and success that you want. And for Maya, that's

and for me, so I will tell you I am a little bit of my husband

and I are Maya in this story. I'll give you a little back

story on that in a second. We, you know, we are folk. There are

things that we don't want to do in the business that are just so

boring, that just are life draining, however they're

necessary, and you have to do them. You have to do the admin

task. You have to do the ordering. You have to do the

repetitive stuff. You have to do all the stuff in your business

that your business requires to function as a business. So if

you can change your mindset into running your business like a

business, while pursuing the passion and things that you

love, you actually can get a really good balance. So let me

take you back to the business that I ran with my husband. My

husband and I had a business that we ran for over 11 years,

and then we sold it for a profit. And when we started that

business, we were Maya, we had a very particular, very expensive,

very creative, Passion Driven service, or product that we

wanted to sell to our clients, we were this was going to make

us. We were going to this was it. We were so convinced that we

knew exactly the one thing, the cake, if you will, the elaborate

cake that was going to make us all the money. And we were

advised that that might not be the case, that the case in our

business might be that there's a boring, little, repetitive

service that we will actually make a lot of money doing. And

we did not believe that. We were like, no, no, no, it's going to

be the cakes. It's going to be the cakes. And after about a

year in business, we realized that we were wrong, that if we

would focus on the pies in our business, that service in our

business, that was Maya's pies, that we actually not only made a

whole lot of money, because that's what our customers were

buying. Our customers were buying pies. They were buying

cakes occasionally. However, they were buying pies daily at

insignificant numbers. So we actually realized that if we

changed our

business model to focus on what our clients were buying and what

we made the most money in. Because honestly, the cakes

weren't the best profit margin, right? They're the they are the

exciting, creative piece of our business. They're not the money

making piece of our business. So like Maya, we had to adjust our

focus on what we were focusing on, on the pies. So my question

to you is, what in your business? If anything, is that

thing that you're like, Oh, I really want to do this big

thing, this big creative ex thing that I just put my whole

heart into. Do, and people aren't buying at the rate that

we need to keep our business going, or are are not really

buying all that much, however, they might be buying something

else in our business. So the mistake that Maya rat is making

in her business is that she is focused on only her passion and

not on her whole business. And she's not focused on everything

in her business and focusing on what is actually paying the

bills, what is making her the most money. So in the in the

book itself, the chapters are very short. I may have mentioned

that my goal in writing the book was to write something that you

could read for, you know, 1015, 20 minutes, put down, and then

come back later and read another chapter. So first part of the

chapter is the story of the rat. So we've already told you Maya's

story, I've told you my story, and then the second part is,

now, how do you fix that in your business? And for Maya's

problem, for our problem, what we needed to do was focus on

what was making us the most money and the most profit.

Because you can have a very, very expensive product that you

don't make a lot of profit margin on. And don't forget,

whenever you're running your business, your time is also

profit. You have to figure out where your time is best spent.

Are you trading dollars for hours? And what that means is

you are work. The amount of time that you're working on the

project is the is, is where all your focus and money are going.

So if it takes me three hours to do a task in my business and I'm

charging $30 for it, that's $10 an hour, and if I've only

charged $40 for the product, then I'm only making $10 in

profit, or in that in the in the difference. Of course, profit

includes expenses and a lot of other things. However, if I'm

doing something that I'm charging $40 for, and I've takes

me three hours to do. Then $30 of that project is my time.

However, if I charge $40 for something that takes me 15

minutes or 20 minutes or an hour to do. Now the difference

between that project say it takes an hour and I'm charging

$40 for it. Well, now all my all my money, isn't taken up in

time, and if I can do more than one thing at one time, that

actually increases my profit margin as well. For example,

let's take it back to the bakery. When Maya makes pies,

she doesn't make one pie at a time, she makes five pies at a

time and puts those five in the oven, and then she puts makes

another five and puts those five in the oven, and then makes

another five and puts those five in the oven. So now she's got 15

pies that she is baking at one time, and it has only taken her

an hour to do that. However, the cakes take a lot more of her

time, because between the baking and the stacking and the

decorating and the getting the getting all of the things and

the design and now a lot more of her physical time is being taken

up. So that's more of a dollars per hour model where it's all

everything that she's doing, she's doing herself. So anything

that you can do in your business that will automate it, that

will, I like to call it replicate yourself. Some people

don't like that term. I do because it's how do I make

another me to do the things that I need to do in my business? And

if I can make three or four me's, now I can get even more

done. So how can you replicate what you're doing in your

business, so that you're actually making more money per

hour because you have stacked and replicated what you're

doing? So it takes you less time, and your output is even

higher. If you happen to be a coach and you're listening to

this, it's akin to doing one on one coaching that every person

that you work with takes an hour of your time plus, as opposed to

doing a group program where you're spending that same hour.

However, you're now servicing many more people, so one to

many, as opposed to one to one. So I'm Hope I'm not getting

anyone lost to what I'm trying to say is that whenever you have

a task, if you configure a task or a product, figure out what is

the biggest profit margin, what is the biggest bang for your

buck? And. For your time. So when I work with my clients, we

actually have a tool called the dynamic sales accelerator, and

we actually work through this to help you identify your highest

profit offering your highest profit product. And how can you

refocus your business so that you are actually giving people

what they want, not what you want them to have, however, what

they want and what they're buying at the highest profit

that you can so that you can actually inject more money into

your business and help you create a process where you're

actually making money reliably, and then you can bring in things

like the cakes. So in Maya's case, if she were to advertise

and focus on the pies and bringing in all the money that

the pies are going to make her, because that's what her clients

want. That's what her clients are buying, then she can then

she has money, she has time, she has less stress. She is focused

on her business, on the things that are making it grow, and

then whenever she gets a chance to do the cakes, she has all of

that stress and anxiety lifted from her, because it's not all

riding on one cake, because she's taking care of all the

business stuff with the pies. So now she can focus on the cakes.

It gives you, gives her more joy, it gives her more focus and

allows her to actually create and be in that space in a joyful

way, as opposed to what is this costing me, or what else am I?

Am I not getting done? So focusing on the bigger picture

of your entire business, focusing on what people are

buying, and of the things that people are buying, what is that

thing that gives you the highest profit margin? These things can

fulfill the part of your business that is required for

sales. Because sometimes people are like, Oh, I don't want to

sell. And I've said this before, I'll sell it. Say this again. If

you're in business, your job is to sell. You're a salesperson no

matter what you're doing, because if someone isn't buying

your service or product, then you don't have a business. So

that exchange of money, of energy, if you need to use that

word, that exchange of money is the definition of business. So

we really do need to focus on that part. However, the things

that people are buying that is your highest profit margin

doesn't have to be, you know, you don't have to dread those

things. If you can change the way you're looking at it like,

wow, I am making so much money with these pies, I will gladly

make all of these pies because they make the cakes available.

They make room for those cakes to come in and for me to enjoy

doing that kind of thing. Um, so that's one piece of of the

puzzle is we really need to be focusing on as business owners.

We need to look at our business not just through the lens of

passion, but through the lens of good business practices. So

figure out what is making you money, what are people buying?

And focus on that for your advertising and your marketing,

and get the people in with the thing that they want, and then

you can sell them the thing that you really like. So if somebody

comes in reliably to buy pies at Maya's bakery

when they have a birthday, if they love Maya's bakery, they're

going to ask Maya to make the birthday cake or the wedding

cake, because they've got that relationship with her, and she's

created that community around her pies that then people can

step into the next thing and the next thing and the next thing.

Because small jobs lead to big jobs, we need to never, never,

never be in that space of ugh. That was just $20 or that was

just X number of dollars. Because small jobs lead to big

jobs. I've seen it in every business that I've ever been in.

That's bringing people in and having that good experience with

you will create an environment where people want to come back

and do more work with you. And the second part of Maya's story

that's really important is that Maya is avoiding the things in

her business that she doesn't want to do. I did not ignore

things in my business that I didn't want to do. However, I

dreaded it. I dreaded doing the admin tax tasks and the taxes

and all of the things that were, you know, very numbers based and

very focused and very, you know, very rigid and structured. I'm a

really creative person. I love people. I'm all about people. So

tasks, I actually have to focus and get the necessary tasks

done. However, I. Know how critical that piece of the

puzzle is, and even if I dreaded it, I still managed to get it

done. I might have complained and kicked and screamed a little

bit. Yeah, yeah, I did. However, knowing that if I get that piece

done, my business is that much more secure, and that I can

actually grow and scale my business because I took care of

the business piece that had to be done. So if you are, you

know, oh, I, if I, if I love what I'm doing, I'll never work

a day in my life. So I don't have to do the things that I

don't enjoy. If that is your viewpoint and you want to have a

successful business, I will challenge you that taking care

of the whole entirety of the business is actually what's

going to get you where you want to go. It's going to give you

the business of your dreams, and it's going to allow you to

create what you need to create in your business. Like I work

with my clients on the Seven Pillars of profit. There are

seven areas in your business that you have to have structure,

systems and processes, and if you can actually shore up all

seven of those areas, that's when you can scale and have have

a bigger business, you can make a bigger difference. It makes

more for you. So in so those are the two pieces. Focus on what's

really making you money, not just what you're passionate

about. And sometimes they can be the same. I will take a step

back. Sometimes they can be the exact same. However, if they're

not, don't be myopic. Don't be so near sighted about it that

you miss the opportunity to actually focus on what people

want that will serve them, that will bring them into that will

actually create that relationship. Because that's a

powerful open door that if you keep closed because you just

don't want to see it, it will hinder you. So open the door,

open your eyes and see, do the analysis, see what's really

going on in your business, and then do the things that you

don't want to do that have to be done in your business. Sometimes

there are things that don't have to be done that are really

annoying, and then you don't have to do them. And you know

what? You don't have to do them yourself. You can bring someone

in to do it for you. You can delegate that to someone on your

team. You can hire someone. There are all kinds of options

for you to get the things done that need to be done in your

business. It doesn't always have to be you. And if you are, right

now, a solopreneur, and you are the one who has to get all the

things done, then figure out a way to do it. What motivates

you? What can you do to keep yourself on task and to do the

things that you need to do myself? Procrastination has been

an issue, so sometimes I would put something off so long that

had I done it at the beginning, it probably would have taken me

15 minutes. Well, now so much time has passed I don't even

remember all the things that I need to have in front of me so

that I can get it done. So now it's going to take me an hour or

two hours, because I procrastinated and I put up all

of this work that you know that didn't need to be there. So

figure out what motivates you. Are you motivated by rewards.

Set up a reward system for yourself. Put up a chore chart

if you need to say you're going to buy yourself a Cadbury egg,

whatever it is that that will motivate you figure out what the

reward might be. And if you're the kind of person who is not

motivated by rewards, however you are motivated by negative

input. I read a story one time that I thought was really neat.

This guy had $100 bill cash, money that he handed to his

friend, and he said, If I do not finish this task by the end of

whatever time in three hours, you get to keep my $100 bill. If

I do accomplish it, I get the $100 back. That's sort of a

negative motivation. I know if that's the right way to say it,

or that's how I'm describing it, where the cost, there's a cost,

there's a pain point, there's something you could lose. If

that's something that motivates you, then use it and ask for

help. Ask someone that you call up a friend and say, Hey, I need

some motivation. I need somebody to keep me accountable for

getting this task done. Please help me. Ask your partner, ask

someone that you work with, ask your kids. I'm sure your kids

would love to tell you what you're doing wrong. They love

that stuff. So figure out what motivates you and put those

things in place so that you have a support system around you as

well. So that is what I wanted to share with you about Maya

rat, who is a character in legendary business from rats to

riches. She is the first rat that you encounter in the book

and. And additionally, we have a workbook as well, same name

legendary business, from rats to riches workbook, and it actually

takes the concepts in the book a deeper level, so you can

actually work through that item in your business and brainstorm

and figure out where Maya rat is coming to cause you difficulty

in your business, so that you can be the pied piper, so you

can kick Maya out. So those are that that's the resource. I'm

going to put the links in the in our portal, so that you can

access that the book is available on Amazon. You can buy

it from there. You could also purchase it from me. No worries,

either way, the workbook, however, is only available

through the link that will be in the portal. It is not available

on Amazon at the moment. So you can get the book, read the book,

you can use the book alone if you get the workbook, you really

do need the book to make the workbook make sense. So if you

wanted to do both of those, I will put that resource into our

portal. Our community is called profit connectors, dot club, C L

U B. That's profit connectors because you are making the

connections. Profit connectors, dot C, l, u, B, and you can go

in there. It's free to join you. Just go in and inside that

portal, there is interviews. It is all the podcasts, interviews

that we've had, all the podcast episodes, bios and photographs

of our guests, links to all the gifts that are within the

portal. There'll be a link in there for the book and the

workbook, and if you want to go get that, I encourage that.

Thank you for joining me for part one of legendary business,

from rats to riches, meeting all of the rats in the book. And

remember, I encourage you to keep showing up, your future

self will thank you, and remember it's your business and

your impact. Go make it matter. Thank you for joining me. You.