In this BS free episode, Pia Silva, Owner of No BS Agency Mastery, shares how she went from struggling as an entrepreneur to making $40k+ per month, by doing less things for fewer people. If you are looking to boost your profits as an Entrepreneur (in stage 2) without giving up your time, you won't want to miss this episode.

You will discover:

- How do overcome the fear of niching down

- The one thing that separates the most successful stage 2 entrepreneurs from those that barely scrape by

- The most important word in business

This episode is ideal for for Founders, Owners, and CEOs in stage 2 of The Founder's Evolution. Not sure which stage you're in? Find out for free in less than 10 minutes at https://www.scalearchitects.com/founders/quiz

Entrepreneur, speaker, and author Pia Silva is a small branding agency coach, a partner, and a brand strategist at Worstofall Design. She helps small branding agencies go from drained & stretched thin to in-demand specialists with total control over their process. In 2021, she founded No BS Agency Mastery, a training program where she teaches 1-2-person branding agencies how to scale to $30-50k months while reducing their workload by up to 80% without employees. Pia has delivered a popular TED Talk on cultivating true confidence.

Want to learn more about Pia Silva's work at No BS Agency Mastery? Check out her website at https://www.nobsagencies.com/. You can get a audio version of her book "Badass Your Brand: The Impatient Entrepreneur's Guide to Turning Expertise into Profit" for free at https://www.nobsagencies.com/secrets or buy a copy on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3Fb4cKE

Mentioned in this episode:

Take the Founder's Evolution Quiz Today

If you’re a Founder, business owner, or CEO who feels overworked by the business you lead and underwhelmed by the results, you’re doing it wrong. Succeeding as a founder all comes down to doing the right one or two things right now. Take the quiz today at foundersquiz.com, and in just ten questions, you can figure out what stage you are in, so you can focus on what is going to work and say goodbye to everything else.

Founder's Quiz

Hello, hello and welcome. Welcome once again to

the secrets of the high demand coach podcast. And here with

us today is yet another high demand coach and leader in the

one and only, Pia silver Silva, who is an entrepreneur,

speaker and author and a small branding agency, coach, a

partner and a brand strategist. At worst of all,

design, we're gonna have to unpack that where they build

badass brands without the BS. In 2021 she founded no BS

agency mastery, a training program where she teaches one

and two person branding agencies how to create 30 to

$50,000 in revenue a month while reducing their workload

by up to 80% and doing all of it without employees. She is

also the author of the best selling book badass, your

brand, the impatient entrepreneurs guide to turning

expertise into profit, and has delivered a popular TED talk

on cultivating True Confidence. She's here with us

today. Pia, welcome to the show. So excited to have you

here. One thing that jumped out as we were going through

your bio again, and I've read it so many times that, but

it's the first time it jumped out is a lot of folks feel

like to scale. They have to add Right? Like it has to be

more they have to be more employees. There has to be

more stuff. There have to be more services. And very much a

big part of your message is that's not true. To do 30 and

$50,000 a month, you don't need to have employees. Why is

it so important to recognize that before going out and

trying to build, you know, the next version of your company?

I mean, listen, when you're a small business,

Simplicity is key. I think if entrepreneurs listening out

there when, when you're an entrepreneur, there are just

endless things to do. I think we all feel a little frenetic,

especially because there's so much information online, it's

like there's too many things to do. And simplification is

how we focus, not only our time and our energy, so that

the things that we actually do, do, you know, get the

attention that they deserve and the care that they

deserve, which levels up the value of what you're putting

out. But it also means that your audience is going to

really understand who you work with, how you work with them.

It makes you more referable. It makes you more memorable. I

mean, you know, I think the idea of we need to add product

lines or have more offers work with more people, that's

something you do when you're, I don't even know, 10 to 50,

$100 million company. We're small businesses. There are

plenty of clients to go around when you go super niche in

your market and your offer, and it's gonna make your life

a lot easier, and it's gonna make your offers a lot more

profitable, which is what I'm all about.

Yeah, I love that. You have a problem if you have

more product lines than people, right? That's just,

that's usually, that's usually problematic. And here's what I

love about what you do. There's so many people who are

in that I call it the startup entrepreneur stage, and it's

them, and they look down on themselves because it's just

them. And so they go out and they kind of build their

company in a way that requires them to get more employees,

and then they wake up and they're like, what's wrong

with these people? I don't want to manage all of these

folks and what you offer, particularly in the agency

world, but there's something for everyone to learn here, is

that you don't have to add people to add profit to add

and you don't have to trade hours for dollars. There is

another way. In other words, you can optimize for that

stage. You don't have to leave it behind and graduate to the

next. It's really, really cool. So one of the things

that jumped out for me as I was going through your work,

and this is something I'm constantly working with, our

coaches, on our scale architects, is this idea of

niching down right? And everyone's heard that.

Everyone you know kind of knows that, but so few of us

do it, particularly in this stage. And so the big question

that I have for you is, first off, just from your

experience, why is it so important we want to make sure

we cover that? And then two, there's this inevitable fear

that comes with it, right? And how do we manage that feeling

of saying no or scarcity that tends to come along,

especially in the early days of trimming down our market?

Yes, well, I've been there too with the fear

that if I narrow my niche, then I'm gonna leave money on

the table because, oh, there's all these people around that

would hire me if only I was working with them. But what

happens is, when you are working with everybody, you

are not memorable to anyone. So it makes it very hard to

remember who you work with. Remember what you do. In the

early days of my agency, we did any kind of design work,

branding, design, logos, banners, whatever it was for

any kind of small business or large e commerce service

businesses. So why would anyone remember me, unless it

was just we need some sort of design work, and they really

liked me, and frankly, I made it work for a few years on the

fume. Of people liking me and being around a lot, but it

wasn't the same kind of pull that I experienced once I got

really specific. I work with one to three person service

businesses. I built badass brands in one to three day

intensives. These are the packages. These are the

prices. All of a sudden, everyone that I spoke to, they

remembered who I worked with. I had a very specific

personality, so that helped right our company is worst of

all design badass brands that is not for everyone. So

there's kind of an intersection of these

different things happening. And it meant that when people

that knew me interacted with someone who was clearly a fit,

I would come to mind immediately. It was an easy

intro. So why do we niche? Because we want to empower the

people around us and our audience to remember us and

know exactly who to introduce us to. And we want that intro

to feel organic and powerful. It's a really good intro when

you introduce to people where it's like, Hey, this is

exactly who you work with. Hey, they are specialists in

your kind of business. That's an exciting intro to get. Hey,

they do design for everyone. You said you need a designer.

That's a weak intro, and you're gonna be at a race to

the bottom when it comes to pricing, if that's how you

position yourself.

It's so true. I heard it said, and it was said in a

very different context, but it's amazing how frequently it

applies some of the most important decisions in your

life, many of them are made when you're not in the room,

right? And referrals is such a big one, right? And if we're

not clear on who we are and what we do, I spent a lot of

time in the church world, and there's this saying that if

it's missed in the pulp at the pulpit, it's, I'm sorry if

it's foggy in the pulpit. It's mist in the pews. And there's

this idea that if we're not clear, then it's even less

clear for anyone around us. And you mentioned a word in

there that a lot of folks don't really associate with

marketing or think or understand its power, and that

was pool, right? This idea there was pool there, but you

ask any entrepreneur, and they're desperately looking

for momentum, and those two go hand in hand. So what do you

mean by pool, and what does that look like when you start

to get this niching down, right?

Well, you know, I say we build badass brands for

our service clients, and a badass brand I define as

having two critical characteristics. And the first

one is it repels as much as it attracts. So that's that pull

branding. I am repelling people who are not a good fit,

which is, by the way, the fear that people have when they

niche. They're scared they're going to scare people away. I

want to scare people away, right? I want lots of people

to say that's not a good fit for me, because only if a

group of people can say that's not me, can another group of

people be magnetically attracted to me and say that's

exactly who I need to hire. So pull branding is ultimately

what we should all aspire to, and one of those pieces is

having a really clear niche.

Yeah, you've got a really clever question for

getting to the bottom of that, and that is asking yourself,

as an entrepreneur, when you're trying to figure this

out, what do I not stand for but stand against? How'd you

come up with that question, and what are some really

interesting responses that you've heard from clients?

Yeah, I love this question, because when it

comes to branding businesses, most branding agencies ask,

What do you stand for, right? And the the answer is,

usually, you know, I stand for honesty. I stand for

integrity, you know, high value. And these are just such

boring, trite answers. If everybody builds their brand

on those answers, all the brands are going to look the

same. But when you ask yourself, what do I stand

against? It forces you to figure out what you really

care about, because when you ask people what they don't

like, they get a lot more heated. They get there's a

little more fire in their belly, and it's a great way to

find some opportunities for distinction. So for example,

why did we stand against all the BS and waste that I was

experiencing doing these traditional branding clients

that would take months and months and months, and I was

chasing clients and scope creep, and it was a headache,

and ultimately, I didn't feel like the client got the best

result. So badass brands without the Bs is really

founded on the idea that I stand against the way that all

of these agencies are delivering, including how my

agency was delivering, and that allowed me to go, wow.

Well, then the opposite of that is like, no BS, and our

entire brand needs to embody that, from the way that we

talk to the process that we take our clients through.

Yeah, I love that because, you know, even for

something as simple as like research, for this show, we

look at coach websites all the time. Look at client websites,

and they're so. Boring. It's like, there's so little that I

can tell, like some of our best guests, I've been worried

about the interview, because it's like, it's so boring. And

then we get them online, and you get their real

personality, and you get their like, their real story and

their passion, and it's just It's remarkable. And why do

you think it's so common for us to bury that like, you get

it in person, and then as soon as it goes to written form or

any other format, it's like, it's all the same. Why do we

do that?

Yeah, I mean, that's really the crux of what

I've always done, branding businesses, because we work

with one to three person service businesses. They're

experts, they're they are the core reason that people hire

them. So I also have seen that all the time in person, this

person is dynamic. They're exciting, they're interesting

online. Well, this is why I think it happens people are

scared. They're scared to say anything that's going to turn

people off, not understanding that the reason that people

hire them in person is the reason that they're going to

hire them online. So it's a opportunity missed, but also,

usually people's brands are going to be informed by them

and what they think it should look like. And a lot of people

will build a brand and a website or write their own

copy based on what they think writing should sound like,

because they're not copywriters, and you know,

part of my job is to pull out from people, no, this is

what's interesting and special about you, and give them some

branding mess, some brand messaging that they probably

feel a little uncomfortable about, but that is exactly

them, and then encourage and coach them into really

embracing that. I've definitely pushed clients into

saying stuff that, they go, Oh, I don't know if I can say

that. And they say, that's exactly why you need to say

it, because that's what's gonna get people's attention.

And it's authentic. I don't want you to say it just

because it's gonna get attention, but it's authentic

to you and it will get attention. And that's, you

know, well, that's the chef's kiss.

I love that. So you started off the show with

this, this idea that Simplicity is key, and we've

talked a lot about why it's it's so helpful in the sales

process, right? Making you more memorable, making it

easier to recommend you. Make it easier to sell what you do,

what I found. One of the things that was really

interesting is I was interviewing different coaches

early in my coaching career, I started to notice there was

this really, really big gap between what I would call,

like a high demand coach, folks that were doing really,

really well, completely booked, you know, 500,000 plus

an hour, and the average coach in the US is like $68,000

something like that. It's just two tremendously different

groups of people, and it wasn't because of how smart

they were. It wasn't because of their background or their

experience. The one thing that was almost universally present

in high demand coaches and universally absent in low

demand coaches was a structured process for

delivering what they did. Just you could slice it right down

the middle, and, and you talk a lot about this, and have a

very interesting way of doing this for yourself. From a

branding perspective, what have you found is so important

about this idea of structuring what you do and, and how's

that showed up and helped your clients?

Yeah, well, in the creative services world,

people are not buying they can't see the product that

they're buying, right? We're actually buying a promise that

you're going to create something amazing for us. We

can look at your past work and say, we like it. We don't know

what you're going to make for us. It's the same in coaching,

I'm buying the promise that this person is going to help

me get the outcome. I'm looking for it. Get the

transformation I'm looking for. So how are we going to

feel secure and safe that we're going to get that

outcome because we can't see it. It's not like walking into

a store trying a pair of pants. These are the pants I'm

buying. Well, a process and a structured a structured

process, something you've done over and over again gives the

client that trust. It tells them I have done this before,

the same way to get these results. So you can trust me

and the process. Now, what we do inside that process for us,

every brand is custom. It's specific to the client, but

the process is the same, so we know we'll get the outcome.

And that's what those coaches are selling to they're saying,

I have a process I'm going to take you to through to get you

that result. And since you want that result, how are you

going to believe I'm going to get you there? Process does a

lot of the heavy lifting.

Yeah, it's so true. It's so true. So pulling this

together, we're niching down that allows us to simplify

what we offer and simplifying what we offer, we can create a

consistent process. All of that builds competence and

confidence for us, builds trust with clients, delivers

awesome results. But the one thing that I want to add to

that, that I picked up from your book is what I think at

some point in time you. Called the most important word in

business. I may have got that wrong, but I think that I

remember that and and it was yes, no. I'm kidding. It was

no. And so we've kind of alluded to how this happens.

But why is no so important? And what are we saying no to

in this stage?

Oh my gosh, we're saying to we're saying no to

everything except the things that you need to do to move

your business forward. We're saying no to the wrong

clients. We're saying no to activities that aren't

directly supporting the building of our value, our

skills, our marketing, our sales. It is so hard for

people to say no in the beginning a lot. I think,

because there's a lot of people pleasers out there,

there's a feeling. I have students of mine who say, you

know, this person isn't a good fit. Is there a nice way to

tell them that I'm like, it's nice to say, you're not a good

fit. You don't you don't have to help everybody it. In fact,

it's more helpful to say, you know, maybe I could help you,

but I'm not the best person to help you. You don't have to be

mean saying no, but you gotta say no, because there's an

opportunity cost every time you take a client or a project

that isn't within your niche. What is with that doesn't work

within your existing process? It creates a lot of waste. It

creates a lot of extra time and getting in the habit of

saying no to things so you can put your limited hours in a

day, there's only 24 hours in a day. Put that time and

energy towards the things that are really gonna matter.

That's how you're gonna move your business forward.

Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I love that. It's

so powerful. It's so hard to do sometimes, especially when

you already have the client and there's relationship and

there's all that. It's, it can be a bit to untangle, but it's

worth it?

But it's addictive. I will say, do it the easiest.

Yes, yes, yes. That's, it's, it's, yeah,

it's, it's a virtuous cycle, right? The closer we get, the

more likely they are to refer, the more likely they are to

refer, and the more likely they are to refer. The right

people, the more of the right people we get. And it just it

cycles. And cycles can feel intimidating to get that cycle

going, but it's powerful once you do. So Pia, there's a

question that I ask all my guests, and I'm very, very

intrigued to see what you have to say about it. So the

question's this, what would you say is the biggest secret

that you wish wasn't a secret at all? What's that one thing

you wish everybody watching or listening today knew?

I wish they knew that. Well, I kind of shared

it, but it's the most important one that repelling

people is one of your biggest opportunities and strengths. I

think everybody should embrace that and lean into it. And I

know that if you're, especially if you're in a

business where you're struggling, that's the thing

you're trying to do the least, and I want you to lean into

it.

Yeah, it's so good, so good, so counterintuitive

at first, but it just starts to make so much sense so

quickly. Pia, fantastic, fantastic advice for folks,

not just for the branding world, not just for the

coaching world, but entrepreneurs across the

board, so much that they can get out of this. For

particularly those in the branding world who want to

know more about the work that you do, where can they find

more and connect with you?

Yeah, well, I actually brought your

listeners a little gift. You mentioned my book, and thank

you so much for reading it and mentioning it. It's called

badass, your brand, and I actually recently put it on a

private audio feed. If you're interested in learning more

about how we basically built a half a million dollar business

just two people working less than 50% of our time. You can

go to noBSagencies.com/secrets, and

you can grab a free copy of the audio. You can, of course,

go buy it on Amazon or grab the audible, but I thought I

would give that to your listeners.

That's amazing. As someone who read

it and doesn't lead a one or two person agency. There was a

ton that I got out of it personally. So don't let that

intimidate you. And if you are in branding or anywhere close

to it, it's a must read. I really do believe that. Pia,

thanks for being on the show. Really appreciate that and the

offer that you made here for everyone. Head over to

noBSagencies.com/secrets. We'll put that in the show

notes for you. Get a copy of her book. Get it on Amazon.

You won't regret it. But Pia, again, thank you for being on

the show really an honor and privilege for anyone, everyone

who's listening today. You know your time and attention

mean the world to us. I hope you got as much out of this

conversation as I know I did, and I cannot wait to see you

next time. Take Care.

Thank you so much, Scott.