Authentic Branding The Secret Ingredient for Business Growth

In today's fast-paced business world, authenticity is the key to standing out and building a lasting brand. But how do you navigate the challenges of personal branding while staying true to your values?

In this eye-opening episode of La'Quita's Toolbox, I sit down with Zach Coleman, owner of an athletic-driven branding agency, to explore the intricate relationship between personal growth and business success.

Unmasking the Truth About Personal Branding

Zach shares his insights on:

• The pitfalls of "marketing fatigue" and how to avoid them

• Why retention is more crucial than acquisition for sustainable growth

• The importance of aligning your business with your personal values

Practical Takeaways for Your Business Journey

Learn actionable strategies to:

• Identify and attract clients who align with your values

• Create a sustainable lead flow without burning out

• Cultivate a community that supports your brand's growth

This conversation goes beyond typical business advice, delving into the personal transformations that fuel professional success. Whether you're a gym owner, an online entrepreneur, or anyone looking to build an authentic brand, this episode offers valuable insights to help you leave your mark.

Connect with La'Quita:

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Welcome back to another amazing episode of

Laquita's Toolbox. I am your host, Laquita

Mondley, and we are coming at you today

with another amazing episode and a really

great guest here. His name is Zach and I

cannot wait for you guys to meet him. So

for those that are returning listeners,

you know the drill. Get something to write

with and something to write on. Because we

know pen and paper, they don't forget, but

sometimes we do. And we want to write them

down to make sure that we can make proper

application of the tools that Zach will be

sharing with us today. But before we jump

into our conversation with Zach, let me

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Again, that's www. Covenant. [unk]press

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purchases with Covenantpress. Again,

that's WW, Covenant Press. Listen, Zach,

welcome. Welcome to the toolbox. I'm so

excited to have you, sir. How are you

today? I am doing fantastic. A little bit

sick, but overall, fantastic. Thank you.

Awesome. Every day that we can wake up on

this side of the dirt, I like to say it's

fantastic. And I really have to remind

myself of that on days. Yeah. But on this

thankful Thursday, welcome to the toolbox.

And take a moment, please, if you don't

mind, to introduce yourself to the toolbox

audience. Well, my name is Zach Coleman

and I own an athletic driven branding

agency that helps gym leaders build their

brand through community and digital

experiences. Now that sounds exciting.

Zach, how exactly do you do that? Because

when I think about, and I say that, and me

and my husband have a workout program that

we purchased and it's right on my Apple

TV. But you're talking in like, a physical

location gyms, right? I am. So how does

that work? Explain that to me, because I'm

curious. Well, I think we'd have to take a

little step back, right? I think that with

everything going on with the digital

marketing world, and if you just say

online world and digital world, I feel

like a lot of people kind of get what I

call marketing fatigue. They think that,

hey, I have to try everything. I have to

go on social media. I have to do this. I

mean, I own a marketing agency. And I'll

tell you what, I've had marketing fatigue

myself millions of times because you feel

like you just have all this stuff at your

capabilities to try things, do different

things. And I think with the online space,

if you're a personal trainer or doing

something online, you have a little bit of

a different type of strategy. Your

strategy isn't so much a physical

location. Like for me, for instance, I'm

in Arizona. So if I wanted to market a gym

that was local to me, their members and

the people that would be willing to go to

that gym to get that experience would be

only driving one or 2 miles, right? Where

if you're online, you're like, all right,

well, they can find me easier, but I have

a million. What is it? How many people are

in the world now? 20 billion people that

I'm marketing to now, instead of just this

two to 3 million there in my little local

location. And so when you're doing an

online thing, it's a little bit

differently. It's a little bit different.

You have to put a lot more money to your

Marketing. You have to put a lot more time

and energy to be seen from the People

online where when you're a gym, I think

that, or you're a Physical Location, you

think that you need to market to all those

people. But in reality, it's much easier

to take a step back and say, hey, you know

what? I really just need to focus on the 3

million people within a two to three mile

radius of where I live or where my gym is.

And so I think that would probably be, and

we work with athletes as well. We've

worked with athletes. We've worked with a

lot of online businesses as well. It's a

different audience, or how I would put it,

you have a much larger audience that you

have to start focusing on. So you said

something there with the burnout that

comes with marketing, and I thought that

was just me because I have no idea what

I'm doing. But to hear the experts say it.

So partnering or knowing when to partner

or having the right team members in that

time as a brand, and we're talking no

matter what brand it is. But for you,

specifically gyms, how necessary is that

for them in this day and age to be able to

keep their doors open and what, I mean,

like customer tension and not just

customer acquisition? Well, I think that's

part of the problem. I think that a lot of

people in this day and age, they just

focus on acquisition. I'm not going to put

any of my so called non vertical

competitors on the board here, but you do

see a lot of them kind of saying, hey,

just reach out to a million people and

just cold call or call a million people

and see if you can get people in the door.

And to be honest, when you're a personal

brand or you're under, let's say, 500,000

a year mark, you are going to have a lot

of those trial periods, you are going to

have a lot of marketing fatigue, finding

out your services, enhancing things,

building offers, I think that's common in

the validation stage of trying to grow

anything, let alone the owners around it.

Evolving as people and saying, oh, now I

have different metrics of success that I'm

looking for. I think those kind of go hand

in hand, which is a different story. But I

think at the end of the day, yeah, myself,

I know how to do the things. And so that's

what made it very hard for me to slow down

and be like, I can do this, this and this.

I can do them all very well. But really

trying to find one or two things marketing

wise that you can do. And back to your

point, when you're under a certain amount,

there is a lot of businesses out there,

and I think it's very common for people

that are in the corporate world or people

that may be in leadership roles, a gym or

anything that may not necessarily be the

owner. Don't understand that, hey, top

line revenue, you're making a million

dollars you don't need, or they don't

necessarily have thousands of employees.

People are so used to seeing these big box

gyms or these 50 million to a billion

dollar companies and they're like, oh,

they have millions of employees. No, when

you're small, you maybe have one or two,

maybe three. And I think that when you're

smaller, you get into the grasp of your

first real move as a personal brand and as

you're trying to sell yourself is you kind

of transition into what I call going from

a me to an us. I mean, a me to a we.

Sorry, you go from a me to a we, which is

your mindset starts to shift and you go

from a manager to a leader because you

hear everyone just say, delegate,

delegate. So that's what you do, right?

You hire other marketers, you hire video

editors, you hire something. If you're a

personal brand and or you're hiring an

agency. I mean, I have the same problems

because I have to hire a team to do things

right. That you get to a point where you

realize that you're just getting fatigued

because you're a manager, you went from

doing the work to managing the work, which

is really, you're still changing time for

trading time for money. You just gave

yourself a different title. And for you to

really evolve into the we aspect and

becoming more of a leader, it happens

around that mark, right? You kind of have

to start saying, oh, well, you realize

that, hey, I'm making a good amount of

money, I'm happy, or I feel like I've

reached a milestone that I feel like I can

reach personally, but it's not about me

anymore. You start to get out of that

spectrum of wanting it all just to be

about this invisible number of success,

because you realize, bottom line is way

different than top line. And so you start

to be like, oh, I actually want to help

other people succeed. I want to help other

people learn this stuff. I want to start

not just delegating my services off, but

bringing people onto the team that have

similar values, have similar aspirations,

enjoy what they're doing. And so as you

start to become more of a leader, that's

kind of the transition period that a lot

of business owners or a lot of even

personal brands have to take to become

more of a we brand. And then to go to an

us, it's really just aligning that team

and yourself with the clients, the

clients. To go back to your original

hypothesis of, oh, what's different from

owning a physical location compared to

going online? Well, there's really only

two differences. One, a gym has an actual

location. So like I said, you could target

just the people within a three mile

radius. And your marketing is much easier

because you don't have to spray the wall

to the whole world. But two, you have the

ability to have group classes or sell

certain things in bulk. And so as an

online brand, if you're like an online

personal trainer and or an online

situation, trying to start building more

cohorts or building situations where you

can make the same amount per individual,

but being able to do it in a group setting

so that you're not spending your time

training one person or training just a

handful of people, being able to train a

whole bunch of people. And that's really

only the two differences that I see

between having a gym and an online space

is you have that, but really, at the end

of the day, it's expenses. Right? An

online brand, I see a lot of people

thinking that, oh, if I'm going to be a

personal brand, that really means I don't

have all the responsibility of hiring a

team. I don't have the responsibility of

owning a location and having the expense

of paying 2003 $4,000 a month for this

location. Pay that in the tools you need

to be successful online. Yeah, for an

online, it's a little bit different

because you look at a gym, for instance,

and a very healthy gym, a very healthy

gym. And this is in most industries that

have a location, restaurants, et cetera.

Gyms is about 10% profit margins.

Restaurants is about five. But that's a

different story. You have about a 10%

profit margin. That means they have about

10% of their profits that have to go to

marketing of not their profits of their

overall top line goes to marketing. So

usually about, that's where they only have

10% wiggle room there. So you have that

where you're online. People that are

online don't really think that way. They

just think, oh, I'm bringing a lot more

money into my pockets. But you do. You

have to put more to marketing. You just

have to, there's more people you have to

reach, and so you have to constantly put

more stuff out there and building stuff

online. And that's where a lot of that

fatigue comes from, is hearing someone

say, do social media or do this or do

that, and that bled into the space of

local retailers and local membership

things because they think the same thing.

They think, oh, hey, I have to be on

social media. I have to do social media.

Advertisement I have to do social media

posts of my workouts and stuff, though.

Those things can be effective. I've seen

that. What now? But there's no guarantee

even in that. Well, there's no guarantee

in anything, really. I heard this phrase

yesterday by, funny enough, one of my

coaches that really aligned with me, and

he mentioned something about, anyone can

kind of build a strategy, right? Anyone

could build a strategy, but it's the

person behind the strategy that makes it

effective. That makes sense. I like, know,

yeah, let me take a minute. Just, I know

you guys have been loving everything that

Zach has been putting out there, because

I've been loving everything that Zach has

been putting out there. So take this

moment, if you would, to go ahead and hit

those, like, share and subscribe buttons

on your favorite podcast listening

platform. And let's make sure that we get

this episode into the hands of those that,

you know, that it will be a blessing to,

because what he's talking about here,

these strategies and these principles are

not just for gym owners. These strategies

and these principles that he's talked

about so far for business owners, period.

So you want to make sure. We get this out

and we get this shared to as many people

as possible and make sure that you're

going to go in and check these show notes

so that you can know how to get in contact

with Zach. Because I know you're going to

have a thousand questions for him. Just

like questions. I have a thousand

questions for him because, you know,

whether it's the online space where under

the products that my husband and I use and

we got it during COVID just to be able to

spend some more time together. But yes,

workout is a program and I like the

program and it's an online workout program

and it's called Strength of seductions.

It's for couples. But I'm also looking at

it as a business owner. They put a lot of

money into that marketing and to that

branding and to all of the things. And

this is just online. I can't imagine. And

it's the couple that created it, even

building their personal brand. So when

you're talking to gym owners that aren't a

part of a big box franchise, how much of

their success in this space depends on

their ability to build a strong personal

brand that helps draw people to that

business or does it not work like that?

Well, I think it's funny because I think

we just kind of said the definition of

branding within that last statement we

talked about before the break, which was

it's the people behind the strategy that

actually makes the difference. I think

that if we wanted to go deep into this

conversation, I always tell people, I'm a

marketer that hates marketing and it's

because that marketing fatigue and the

premise of everyone thinking that they

have to push the tangibles, they have to

say, I need a website, I need to put

content out there, I need to do this. But

none of that's as effective as the person

behind the leadership roles, the business

owners. And that in itself is branding.

That in itself is branding. You go to any

sort of like these people that you were

talking about that you work out online. If

they're very authentic and you can feel

it, that you probably wouldn't be watching

them if you didn't feel that they were

authentic, if you didn't feel that they

had authentic, they were there to help,

they had a vision in line with what they

were doing. You probably would not be

watching them. You probably would be like,

they don't match me. They don't match who

I am in situations like that. So it is

very important, I think, that a lot of

people fall into the trap. I fell into the

trap too, because I do the tangibles for a

living, which is I was in this identity

trap, so to say. I was literally pushing

content out there constantly. I was trying

to do all these things because I thought

that that's what I needed to do and I had

the team to do it right. I had to take a

step back and I had to tell myself, what

do I want? How do I want to lead? What are

the things that are going to make me happy

personally? And that's why I said earlier

before on like KPI, personal KPIs, because

those personal KPIs, me going to the gym

and going for runs, getting my meditation

in doing that stuff for myself actually

has helped me be much more clear minded in

the actionable items that I need to do to

make it to that next level. I like it.

Coming back to your original question, I

think that it's very important. I think

that smaller gyms do have the problem of

they try to do too much at once, they try

to do too much at once. They try to go in

and say, oh, we want to sell products or

we want to. Actually, that's the biggest

one I see is they say, let's sell products

now, when in reality it's like, hey,

you're now trying to compete in the online

space, not the local space. So you'd have

to put way more towards marketing for

that. Nothing wrong with that. But until

you have like three or four locations, if

you're a gym owner that's at stage four

and you're expanding and you need to start

worrying about design consistency and you

have a little more budget, then, yeah, you

can kind of kill two birds with 1 st by

some of the marketing efforts that you do.

But it's down to the leadership. I always

say my superpower is I can see a company

online or even in person and I can tell

how good that company is at actually

giving results and being there for the

contribution of everyone just by seeing

their marketing collateral, just by

saying, how good are they doing here? How

good are they doing there? And I may be

biased because I do it for a living, but

if you think about it, all that marketing

collateral, all that marketing material

comes down to how they're leading their

team and how they're trying to get

clients. And if they're doing it in a way

that's skeezy. They have bad customer

service, they have this. And that's pretty

obvious up front. And that's part of the

way the leadership roles are as people.

And that's why branding in itself is much

more than just that logo or that website,

those are definitely a part of it. Those

tangibles do play a part. But those

intangibles of being authentic and

actually serving people that you want to

serve, that you can help and being able to

identify the problems and solutions that

you can do for a particular type of person

are going to be what gets you from that

stage two to stage three, which is

basically just what you did to get to 250

to 500,000 depending on what you're in,

what business you own, isn't going to get

you to a million, isn't going to get you

to 3 million. It's a completely different

set of objectives and solutions and

results. And I feel like a lot of people

miss that. And that's part of what holds

them back and that's part of what even

gives them burnout when they're trying to

make it to that next level. When we're

trying to make it to that next level. And

I'm looking at this for me personally from

more than a gym standpoint, because

everything that you're saying and have

said, it works for online model for gym.

It works for an in person model for gym,

but it works in an online model. If I was

selling lipstick or trainers or cars or

whatever, if we're not having some of

these things, like we'll take it back to

something that we briefly ran over when I

commented, is this more customer retention

focus or is it more customer acquisition

focus? And you commented, unfortunately, a

lot of people or a lot of gyms are just

more focused on a customer acquisition

focus. If that's the focus of any company.

When we're looking at scaling and growing,

I can see why fatigue and burnout happens.

According to what you said, you will

forever and ever and ever be judging what

we're doing or we're looking at our

bottom, we're looking at our earnings, and

it's like, gosh, we lost 50 people, but I

gained 150 people. But did that balance

out? It's so annoying to me because you're

correct. I always tell clients, your

biggest metric for business growth isn't

your client acquisition. Yes, it's

important and you should always be

focusing on your marketing and spreading

your message. But it's the retention.

Retention or lower churn rate. If you're a

gym, it's lower churn rate. Like how do

you keep members on longer? That's what it

comes down to. And I've seen it go both

ways. You could talk about it in any

industry. I think ecommerce, for instance,

if you're selling products online.

Retention is a very hard metric to push

for. Right? You're usually just trying to

sell one off products to people over and

over and over and over again when it's

like, how could you find a way to have

this be more of a retention based model? I

mean, I would say that's being more human

to human and building something that

relates. I think that's why subscription

box companies have gotten so big. Yeah. In

the coaching and speaking space, or let's

say coaching space, that has been

something. And even for me as a podcaster,

in any space, subscription services have

been the aha. Like, oh, this is the next

bright idea. No, it's not. It's not the

next bright idea. You just figured out

that you can actually make more money when

you keep people than trying to get new

people all the time. But that's my

soapbox. We won't get on it today. I've

had clients for eight years. I've had

clients ever since I opened the business,

and some of them I adore and I'll do

anything for. I'll go over the wall for

them because they pay us a lot of money

and we built good relationships. That's

not always going to happen though, right?

Things change, things grow, people

rebrand, people evolve, and so there's

always time to let people go, or vice

versa. But at the end of the day, what you

said is true. I've come to a period where

I'm in a B to B space. I'm not in a B to C

space. I don't have to market to 3 million

people. I have to bring more quality to a

smaller amount of individuals. I mean, I

sell ten clients, I'm at a million. So why

would I focus so much on acquisition

myself if the retention and making my

clients happy is my main metric for

success? Because it's going to hurdle. So

I don't need to bring on ten clients a

month. I don't need to bring on 20 clients

a month. And that's a large number for the

type of business I'm in. But if you're

like a gym or an ecommerce store, of

course those numbers are much higher

because you are b to c. But I need one. If

I can bring one client a month on and like

you said, just grow at a steady pace where

I can really watch my team and I can

evolve the inner workings of the business

as I grow, instead of trying to, what you

said, bring on 150 and then, oh, what

broke? Let's fix this. And drop 50. I feel

like companies too much. Why do you think

there's so many hiring and firings all the

time? I think so many companies are like,

oh, we need to hire on all these people

all the time. And then it just causes

their we of their team to be disoriented

and uncommuntative, and then it just

causes even more problems because no one

sees the inner workings. I mean, I told

you earlier, I kind of can by seeing

certain things, but majority of people

can't. I agree with you 100%. I think

retention is by far the most important

thing that anyone can try to bring on into

their business. And you could just call

that the reoccurring model if you want to.

But I look at more as, how can I continue

to bring value to people as they evolve

and as they grow? As they grow? I'm really

big on retention, having moved from

employee to, I like to say, partner with

those that work for me. We're in a

partnership. I've been an unhappy

employee. I've been an even unhappier

supervisor. And it usually, in the end,

boil down to retaining the right people in

the right positions and how much that cost

versus, oh, we're always doing some type

of hiring because this person quit. This

person moved on. This person did something

and an amount of money and energy that it

went through when we could have just done

a couple of simple things and this person

would not have left, at least in that

manner that they left. Because even as you

said, as your b to b, like, a lot of my

customers are business owners, and they

come on the show for exposure, or we have

companies that come on, okay, I want to

buy a slot, whether it's here on the

podcast or on my TV show. It's companies

who want to expand in their advertisement,

and they want to advertise on streaming

TV. It's hard to get that customer, but if

I get a set amount of customers, I'm good

now, keeping them past three months, six

months, one year, two year on as sponsors

for. It's easier to do that. And even

then, if they said, okay, LaQuita, we have

maxed out what we think we can do in your

space, but we love what you've done for

us, but it's time for us to move on to a

bigger space. Great. But them leaving in

that manner, they're still a cheerleader

for me. They're still advocating that,

hey, if you want to start out and have

your ad dollars add up and give you a

great ROI, advertise on her podcast.

Advertise on her TV show. Come be a guest

just on the TV show. Come be a guest on

the podcast. Know you have a function

going on. Invite her to be a speaker.

You'll see an ROI, though. They may be

like, okay, LaQuita, we've moved on

because now I'm on John Maxwell stage, or

I'm on Valerie Burton's stage. I'm. I'm on

Mr. Beast podcast or something like that

now. Great. But they're still going to

give me positive raving reviews. That's

going to help bring in. Either they're

going to introduce me to their replacement

client, or that replacement client is

going to say, hey, how did you hear about

me? Oh, I heard about you from John,

because he's been singing your praises for

two years. So I want to come over here and

become a part of that. It's so much easier

to do. Is. It is. And it's funny because

going back to the digital marketing space

and the way the world has kind of pushed,

like, social media and the situation is

the world has become very transactional.

It's become very transactional. And

there's nothing wrong with doing a CTA.

There's nothing wrong with saying, hey, a

give and take or to ask for something,

especially when you're giving good value

to people. But so many times I get people

that will just look at me as a number and

be like, oh, we can find someone else that

does this who says, I want to work with

you. I don't feel jolly or happy when you

could pay me five grand a month or ten

grand a month. I mean, in fact, I had a

client last year, and this kind of goes

hand in hand with what you were saying

earlier with your own partners, is going

from a me to a. We isn't necessarily

having to be team members. You can have

partners that follow similar values as

you, and you can have clients that follow

similar values as you do. And sometimes

people fall through the cracks. You think

that they match certain things and they

don't. And at the end of the day, it's

okay. It's like we just don't match the

same values. And I had a client last year,

and they were, they were paying us ten k a

month. We had a guaranteed year contract.

So that got us end of the year. We did our

due diligence. He seemed like a really

great guy. We brought him on, and then

about a month and a half into the

contract, he completely shifted. I mean,

he was okay on the phone, but those emails

that came through sporadic mean, trying to

change our services, trying to say, you

have to do this desperate. He had

something, what I call in my industry's ex

girlfriend syndrome, where he was blaming

everything on us compared to what happened

to him in his last relationship. But I

eventually canceled out his contract. I

didn't go after him for the extra money. I

just was like, you know what? Yes, we

would have about 50 to 60 that we're

losing out on this year. But at the end of

the day, I was like, I'd be spending more

in therapy. I can't do this. And so I had

to let them go because I couldn't handle

it. And those are the situations that I

just see happening and not letting people

go, but having those situations are what I

see happen on a normal occasions for a lot

of people, which make them kind of unhappy

and is part of the reasoning why they

can't shift their mentality to that next

stage of growth in a positive manner. And

a lot of it is due to the effects of being

able to have us market on social media and

do all that stuff. And I'm just not a fan

of cold, cold leads, cold calls, like

anything like that. I'm like, I'd rather

have someone come to us because they want

to come to us. So all of our marketing is

war marketing, which to me is more of a

branding tactic than it is a marketing

tactic. I'm sorry, people on here that do

marketing may say otherwise, but I don't.

I think that war marketing is really just

branding. I'm neither. I'm not a marketing

expert, definitely not a branding expert,

but I came also from a space of having

been a network marketer for a while,

guaranteed. It's so much easier to deal

with the warm market than it is a cold

market. And in this social media driven

age that we live in, no matter what your

business is. I had a previous podcast

guest, she was 75 and she's out here in

these social media streets killing it.

She's doing 1000 times better on TikTok

than I ever would hope to. It's like, go

ahead, grandma, you do your thing. But

people, that's where you get your warm

market from. I was in an interview this

morning where when we're showing up in the

places we need to show up as our authentic

self, just from a personal branding

perspective, I've had clients to tell me,

oh, I've been following you, and then

they'll tell you about the different

things and stuff that you've said or done

or whatever was captivating to them. And

then they came and they did business with

me. It wasn't, well, Laquita, tell me what

you offer. It was, no, I know you have

this. This is what I want. And how do I

pay and when can we get started? By the

time they came to me, to me, that's a warm

market, because now they're familiar with

me, because they've taken the time and did

their due diligence. Whether it's 18

months, twelve months, six months, most of

the time when something like that happens,

it's usually around the 18 to 24 month

mark for me, where that happens, and

especially if I've seen them show up

where, okay, I noticed that person. I

didn't notice when they subscribed to my

email campaign, but I did notice when they

hit a reply or when they sent a message or

something like that, because I'd like to

do that part as a human touch. I'm

actually looking at that. I've seen that

name before, or I enjoy live streams, so

I've seen that person comment before, and

now here I am having a real life

conversation with this person. And now

that person has become my client. To me,

it's so much easier to do that. I'm not

picking up the phone to cold call. I'm

just not doing that. I'm just not doing

that. I know you'll hear it from multiple

people, and I'll be honest with you, it

goes both ways. And I think that that's

kind of a problem within the energy a lot

of business owners put out into the world

is they don't match their own values.

Right? For me, for instance, I don't do

cold calling either. The only way I'll

email someone cold is if there's an intent

involved. If it's like, hey, I knew you

were already looking for this stuff. I

heard it from the grapevine that you're

looking. I heard someone gave me your

information and you're looking for it. I

thought I'd reach out. Yeah, then I'll

reach out and make an introduction. But I

think that I've spent so much money and

time on making sure the people that come

in and want to work with me match my

values, like, match our stuff. And I think

that I'll get people on the call and

they'll be like, our first call and

they'll be like, oh, so tell us about some

of the clients you've worked with. And I'm

like, didn't you go through the six emails

I sent you or our website where we spent

hundreds of thousands of dollars on making

sure that you got enough information about

us so you felt like we were a good fit.

And they don't. And I'm not asking people,

of course, to spend hours and hours and

hours of due diligence, but it should go

both ways. People should be looking at

vendors or looking at the people they want

to partner with, just like the people that

are looking to hire them. They should be

having an equal opportunity there to be

like, yeah, I think we relate to each

other and we would be a good fit to work

to each other. I mean, when that client

left last year, one of our partners prayed

with me. He was like, they were working on

part of the solution with us, with them.

And he's like, let's jump on a call. And

he prayed with me. And I appreciated that

ability for him to be not just like, oh,

well, sucks, you'll get the next one. I do

feel like we all just need to be able to

say, hey, what are my values? What are the

things that I really, because what I

portray myself and who I am, and that is

branding, right? What I portray myself,

who I am, and I don't care what it is. If

you want to be an ahole and that's your

personality, then you're probably going to

attract other aholes. But that's your

right to be that type of person because

that's who you want to be. I would say

there's trauma involved in the reason

they're like that, but that's a whole

different topic in itself. But I could go

off in many different directions with

these conversations. But yeah, I feel like

being able to kind of figure out who you

are and going even further back to is it

important for gym leaders or business

owners to brand themselves personally?

Yes, I think it's important for everyone.

And I think that, yes, if you're just

starting out and you're finding yourself

totally understandable why you're at a

certain spot. But I think that the

correlation between business growth and a

human and being, who they truly are,

really kind of intersect at a similar

spot. And I think that's why you see a lot

of business owners that make it to what we

call in the business world the value death

period. And then they either quit or they

decide they have to pivot because they

personally find different metrics for

success. And I think that correlation, and

you and I talked a little bit before we

jumped on this call about me and having

children. That was a huge thing for me

personally. That helped me even pivot the

way I am marketing my business. And so

that shows you how the personal business

owners behind the scenes or the ones

building the personal brand themselves,

why it's so important for them just to be

themselves and market the way they want to

market. Absolutely. I know you said that.

I thought about one of my husband and I in

2017, we owned a virtual call center, and

we were subcontractors through a larger

company called Arise. And the reason that,

for me, that I chose to partner with that

is because I've been a military wife at

that point, he had just retired, so a

military wife for like, 24 plus years. And

one of the things that was hard for me was

to maintain a career because we were

always moving every couple of years. And

so when I saw this company, and it allowed

the individuals who took the calls from

the major companies, they were contracted

with lots of major brands, and the people

who were answering the phones were doing

it from home, and they created their own

schedule. That resonated with me in a

special place, as a wife, as a mom, as

someone who lived a transient life,

because we go where the army says we had

to go, that was something that, with that

company, they resonated with my personal

core values. And I was happy to do

interviews with other women, other single

parents, other single dads, or even people

who, this was their part time job because

they need to meet ends meet. Like, all of

those things at one point had been my

family story. So to be able to empower

somebody, because that's how I felt.

Empower them with not only a way to earn

extra money for your family, but be able

to do it and keep your priority. Your

priority. When you started to have

children, that shift happened. For a lot

of us, that shift happens. But sometimes

we don't get to do what we want to do

because somebody else is telling us what

we have to do, and somebody else is

telling us, you're going to do this 65

hours a week, you're going to do this 40

hours was a week, and I'm only going to

pay you. I'm going to max you out at $30

an hour. That's all you're going to get

from me. But you're going to do everything

that I tell you to do when I tell you to

do it. And your family has to fit in when

they can fit in where now you can do

exactly what you want to do. Even today

with us, like success for me now, I've had

so much fun at that program for my

grandbabies today. You did, and I did. It

was so amazing. But there was a time where

I wouldn't have been able to do that.

Yeah. Even as a business owner, I would

have been afraid to do that. This isn't

just me being somebody's employee, this is

even me being a business owner. How that

transition has happened for me over the

years where there would have been a time,

I would have been like, honey, can you

video it for me and I'll watch it when you

come back because I've got to do this. But

as we grow and we evolve and we understand

our power, we take more responsibility in

our personal development. You'll see that

shift. And that's how we are able to

connect with people and know when we are

aligned. Some people don't even know what

that means to be aligned with your ideal

customer or their mission, their vision,

their core values. Are they in alignment

with yours? They don't know to check for

it because the things that are put before

us is, are they going to pay? You know how

hard that would have been for some people

to walk away? Yes. You do know how hard it

would have been for some people to have

walked away from that toxic client either.

Like, man, just make it to the end of the

contract. No, that's not more important to

me. It was very hard for me, I will admit

it was a very hard decision. But I

remember right when he was gone. So here's

the funny thing with that client, and I'm

not going to say who he is because I'm

just not that kind of person. But other

people will figure out themselves when

they try to buy his products. But he owned

a health and wellness ecom brand. And I'm

looking at it and I'm saying, I'm like,

because of the type of person you are, I

would never feel comfortable buying your

products. Like, there's no way in heck I

would rely on your products. How do I know

that they're even safe? Because if you're

this type of person, then do you really

care? Do you care enough to think about

the client and the services that you are

providing? And that's branding in itself,

right? That's what it really comes down

to. And back to your point, I think it's

very important for people to realize is

you mentioned, hey, business owner. You

had to realize it. Even as a business

owner, that's what I had to go through.

Because when you first start a business,

no matter what business you're in, even

when you're probably doing the call center

stuff with your husband, I learned so much

in the first year of business that I

learned many years in the corporate world.

And it was one of those situations where

when I was out, I was learning so much.

But then you just get caught up. You get

caught up in like, oh, I have to survive,

I have to grow, which is fine. There's

going to be part of you that has to make

that next sale or has to do something, has

to learn, has to grow, especially at the

very beginning. But you lose yourself. You

lose yourself in the process of trying to,

how do I explain it? It's like you're

chasing this invisible number. You're just

like, oh. And a lot of it came down to I

was very unseen and unheard as a child. My

dad was an NFL player. I played soccer

growing up and I'm not going to go deep

into this story too much, but my business

was growing around that traumatic

experience of, oh, if I make it to a

million, I make it to 2 million, top line

people will see it and I'll be heard by

all the people around me. Very similar

situation, but different occurrences

happen to gym owners because I did. I

started taking up working out as a way for

me to really, it was a way for me to

reduce my anxiety and my mental health and

all that. But I didn't realize that at

first either. I was like, oh, I'm going to

look buff. I'm going to do this, I'm going

to showcase it. And as a business owner,

you start to be like, well, is this

important? I mean, when my first child was

born, my first child was born, I remember,

and I was just talking about my wife about

this the other day and I'm thinking I'm

going to do some sort of speech on this of

some sort because I'm going to have three

children now and each experience is going

to be uniquely different and better. But

when I had my first child, I remember we

were at the hospital and I got a call from

a potential client that I've been over

serving like crazy, going back and forth

over and over again to try to make a sale

and say, hey, we need to jump on a call at

like twelve. And it was like 1015. And we

were at the hospital, it was like day two

and I'm like, love, I have to get home. I

have to get on this call. It's a potential

large sale. And I did, I went home, I was

like five minutes late because we rushed

home from the hospital and I'm like, I'm

sorry, guys. I just had my baby and I

jumped on this call. I look back at that

and how ungrounded and unpresent I was

around my family. And I'm like, man. And

it's very easy for business owners of any

size to get trapped in that mentality, no

matter how big you are. I see $20 million

business owners that still work 50 hours,

5100 hours, work weeks, and they're

miserable. And it's like, all right, well,

I'm not saying money is not important.

Money is an energy. And the trade

associated with money is really irrelevant

because people consider money's value

differently, even with the economy, no

matter where you're from. And so I look

back at that situation, I'm like, there's

no way I'm doing that. I did better on my

second one, my third one. I'm of course,

like, you know what? No, I'm taking two

days off. I may do a couple of slack

things with my team, but no, I'm even

thinking about taking two weeks off and

just simmering down and being present

around my wife and my kid because I want

to be around my family. Yeah, and you're

right. No matter being in this space, in

the leadership space. I know when we

opened the call center, my husband

retired, and we were living in Germany at

the time, stationed in Germany. We're

having this conversation. It's like, okay,

well, what do you want to be when you grow

up? No, I don't want to continue to be a

government employee. I don't want to be a

government contractor. I've been there.

I've done that. There's some security in

it. Yes, there's a lot of headache in it.

Absolutely. But I started to realize how

those things were defining me instead of

me defining me. So I don't want that. So

what do I want to do? Well, this business

came across, that partnership with arise

at the time it came to me, was brought to

me. I was like, okay, Lord, let's find out

about this. So the more I found out about

the business, the more I wanted to do it.

So I said, okay, honey, when you retire,

this is what I want to do. I'm going to

own this business because I can do it no

matter where I am. We can do it legally

from Germany. I'd done that research as an

American. Or if we have to go back home

stateside, I can do it there. Well, for 24

years, my whole identity had been wrapped

up in his career. You walk in a place and

you're not known by who you are. But at

that time, he was master Sergeant Monley

in some branches, first Sergeant Mundley

and he worked in the intel industry, in

the military intelligence field. And so

all of the things and stuff that go with

that, and now here we are. That's no

longer going to be the case. Well, who am

know or if I'm dealing with my children.

I'm Dariel Devante, Denise, David and mom.

But who am I? That part was, I was

unpacking that and so, oh, now I've got to

be this wonderful business owner, got to

have this fabulous company. So I'm dumping

all of my time in it because the four

older children had been off to college and

they were gone. We just had the one

youngest son, and he was very independent.

He was in the 9th grade going to the 10th

grade. So I spent insane hours, insane

hours building that company to where my

husband would come in looking for me and

come in the office and just stand behind

my computer looking like, when are you

coming down these stairs? Or my children,

or then I noticed my grandchildren would

come in and come to the office and say,

oh, you're working, and then just turn

around and leave, not come give granny a

hug or anything like that. And I realized

after doing that, now, let's be clear, I

was not a genius in the first 90 days. I

wasn't even a genius in the first year

with that. It took me a while for that to

resonate with me and know that, okay, this

can't be, this can't continue. We've done

that for 24 years because the army ran our

life and we didn't have no, we didn't have

a walk away power. But now we're not going

to reverse that role to where now I'm the

person that's doing it. But I have full

control. My husband had no control. I will

have full control. And this is a decision

I'm making, and it's an unhealthy decision

coming from an unhealthy place. So what

are we going to do about it? So then you

do the work. And I found that over time,

it didn't hurt my business. Those clients

who were going to be connected to me, that

divinely connected to me, they're still my

clients. Those people who are going to

resonate with me because of who I am

authentically, even in transparent moments

where I've shared pieces of the story, and

I'll find that, oh, no, we're going to

connect with you even more. You're going

to connect with me, but you have to build

the personal brand. Yes. You have to show

up and be authentically yourself. Yes. But

it's showing up from the healthy part of

you and having some firm boundaries in

place that where I'm from, it's a saying,

all money isn't good money that has a

powerful meaning and believe it and know

it and operate in it, and you'll find that

you'll have a healthier, happier life and

business. Because in those terms, we've

defined success for ourselves instead of

letting other people, clients included,

define it for us. Because we've left

corporate, because we don't want to be a

slave to the corporate plantation. Don't

come into your business and then do the

same thing. Yeah. And it's very easy for

you to do it, too. I'm not going to say

there's nothing wrong with it, but as

people, what makes us comfortable, it's

what we've learned. And so you do have to

adapt and change. When I opened my agency,

I came from the corporate world, working

with large brands like the Suns. I worked

for Pearson Education. But a lot of the

stuff that we did was production based,

the tangible stuff. We created a lot of

the tangibles. And so that's how my agency

slowly started to grow, was in that way.

And I kept asking, what's wrong? Why am I

not happy? Why is this not working for me?

And it wasn't until I was like, it's

because I'm not really helping people. I

am. I'm giving them stuff, I'm helping

them get clients, but if they're still

unhappy personally, then they're still

going to have roadblocks on them finding

their success. Right. Which is what we've

talked about. And so that's where I came

to my realization, where I'm like, oh, I

need to go out and speak more. I need to

go out and I need to start consulting more

and helping them understand the importance

of branding as a person and helping them

really build that within their brand.

Because if I don't, then there's a good

chance that they're not going to be able

to go from here to there because they're

not going to know how. Yeah, that's real

good. That's real good. It has to start on

the inside of the person. It has to start

on the inside of the person. And when

that's done, you'll see the positive

impact in their personal life, but

definitely in their brand, in their

business. You'll see that growth, even if

that growth means I transition from this

to that. Because am I showing up in this

business? Because again, it was from an

unhealthy place, and I'm trying to give

1000% for something that's actually not in

true alignment with me. So I need to make

that pivot so that I can show up from a

healthy place. And this thing that I'm

doing now is in perfect alignment with me,

and let's watch it grow. And it doesn't

mean that the first business didn't make

money. It probably made a lot of money.

But were you fulfilled even if it meant,

okay, my business name or anything? I'm

not rebranding, but perhaps I'm going to

change my target market. I'm still going

to do what I'm doing, but maybe I need to

change my target market so I'm more in

alignment with who I am and my ability to

serve people. Because am I serving people

or am I serving. I mean, the corporation

is a group of people, but am I serving

them? Because just helping them close

sales, that doesn't mean I'm serving them.

But how am I serving them? We could

definitely have many conversations. That's

a fun conversation right there that I'd

love to have, actually. Am I actually

serving them? Well, actually serving the

people that we said we're serving. Right.

Well, get this. It wasn't until I went on,

about a year ago now, I went on a

spiritual walk. I had a spiritual day with

one of my coaches. He was great guy. And

it was actually probably one of the only

coaches I've had that actually has helped

me through the things that I feel like are

tangibly needed to make it to the next

level. And I remember coming home crying

to my wife because I'm like, my feelings

of being unseen and unheard. I was over

serving clients. I was over serving. I was

expecting too much out of my business. And

it wasn't until I had went on a spiritual

walk I realized that I'm like, my family

is there for me. They hear me, they see

me. I'm just putting too many of certain

types of emotions and expecting too much

out of what I am doing for others that I'm

not looking at. I can transition those

emotions in those situations towards other

parts of my life. And I think that comes a

lot with getting burnout in business.

You're just expecting too much on

something making you happy when that

should only be a leg to the chair. Yeah.

Listen, this is an amazing conversation.

Let me go ahead and apologize to you for

not being mindful of your time today. It's

all good, but I'm definitely looking

forward to our next conversation, and we

can dive more into that, because I'd

really like to unpack that spiritual day

that you have. Because as humans, as

business owners, we've got to realize that

we're triumph beings. We're spirit, soul,

and body. And when we take care of all of

those components, it shows up for us in a

magnificent way. So I definitely love to

have to dive deeper into that experience

and how it helped, not just on a personal

level, but how you were able to see the

fruits from that in your business. Yeah,

definitely would love to. Listen, I know

I'm over my time. I apologize. But please

let the toolbox audience know how they can

connect with you and stay connected to you

and what you have coming up. Yeah,

definitely. So we've recently come out

with our private podcast. This private

podcast is a three episode series limited

to people that are looking to get out of

being stuck and move to building a much

more sustainable lead flow that can be

worth their while as they continue to grow

slowly and steadily. And through this

private podcast, you'll be able to

discover and be able to build the three

pillars that really help you start to

cultivate that community that you're

really thriving to build within your brand

and your business. You can find us, and

you can reach out to us through

that@leavethatmark.com. And you'll be able

to subscribe to that private podcast and

hear more of me talking. Make sure you

guys reach out and get subscribed to his

private podcast because I know he has some

amazing jewels to share. Listen, Zach,

thank you again. Those of you that are

tuning in to Laquita's toolbox, if this is

your first welcome, welcome. I know you've

been blessed by the content you received

today for my returning listeners. Hey,

y'all, thank you for tuning in. We

appreciate you, as always. Until next

time, I am your host, Laquita Monley. You

guys be blessed and have an amazing rest