Shownotes
Slack channels have become the standard for hosting communities for group programs and masterminds.
But Dielle Charon, a 7-figure sales coach, realized a Slack community wasn’t the best place for her high-ticket mastermind clients of Six-Figure Liberation to get the support they needed.
Ashley built Dielle a custom client portal to create a better experience for clients and streamline the co-coaching system so clients now get more in depth support, faster.
In this episode, Dielle shares more about her decision to close down her Slack channel, how her new client portal works for both clients and her co-coaches, and how it’s impacted client results.
01:28 — The decision to remove the slack community from a high-ticket mastermind
08:40 — Designing a forum for highly personalized support
12:21 — What it’s like running a group offer without a community component that people have come to expect
18:34 — How the right software and systems can turn an offer you’re not enjoying into exactly what you want it to be
21:22 — Why you need to constantly be innovating, and how you can develop the skill of innovation
26:06 — Creating the best co-coaching systems with better support delivered faster to help clients get better results
33:39 — 💻Screenshare: What the client coaching portal looks like for clients submitting requests
35:13 — 💻 Screenshare: The backend of the co-coaching system to manage client requests
👋 CONNECT WITH DIELLE CHARON
Dielle is a 7 figure sales coach who helps women of color coaches multiply their sales and experience freedom. She helps them create wildly successful online coaching businesses without the stress or overwhelm. She is the host of Black, Banked, and Booked Out Podcast, a sales and money mindset podcast for online coaches. Dielle went from struggling social worker living paycheck to paycheck, to building a multiple six figure coaching business with a 9 to 5.
Website: https://diellecharon.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@diellecharon
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diellecharon/?hl=en
WAYS TO WORK WITH ASHLEY:
⚡️ GET ON THE WAITLIST FOR OUR AIRTABLE TEMPLATE SHOP FOR ONLINE COACHES!
Waitlisters will be get the first chance to buy our life-changing Airtable templates and get EXCLUSIVE bonuses just for waitlisters. You will also be able to opt into my private podcast "Behind The Waitlist" where I am sharing DAILY updates on what it's like to be launching this thing!
https://systemsoverstress.co/template-shop-waitlist
⭐ APPLY FOR THE SHOW YOUR RECEIPTS CLIENT RESULTS VIP DAY
On our VIP Day, we help coaches create an automated client results system that clients actually fill out & proves your program works.
Apply for the Client Results VIP Day
—
👋CONNECT WITH ASHLEY
Website: https://systemsoverstress.co/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/systemsoverstress/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJJ01c-NTjI8eZzp2wwO7GA
Transcripts
I've been realizing that systems are really my next team member, like they have
Speaker:been becoming a team member in my business where if something isn't working, it may
Speaker:not be let's hire five more co coaches to get me out of the Slack channel forever.
Speaker:Welcome to Systems Famous, the podcast where we're revolutionizing the coaching
Speaker:industry by putting client results first.
Speaker:I'm Ashley Pendergraft, a systems and automation expert with over five years
Speaker:of experience in the coaching industry.
Speaker:Let's get into the show.
Speaker:Hello everyone and welcome to Systems Famous.
Speaker:I have Dielle charon here.
Speaker:Dielle is a coach.
Speaker:I think I could call you a friend at this point.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And Dielle actually, we were sitting by this amazing pool in a
Speaker:spa talking about podcast names.
Speaker:I had a whole other podcast name and she was like, eh, it's going
Speaker:to be called Systems Famous.
Speaker:So we can all thank Dielle for the lovely name of this podcast.
Speaker:Dielle, go ahead and introduce yourself and we'll go from there.
Speaker:Hi, I'm so excited to be here.
Speaker:My name is Dielle Sharon and I am a sales coach for women of color,
Speaker:but really all women are welcome.
Speaker:And I have two offers.
Speaker:I have a group program call it five figure freedom, which helps part time
Speaker:women of color coaches quit their jobs.
Speaker:And then we have a mastermind called Six Figure Liberation.
Speaker:And we help women have six figure launches in there.
Speaker:So that's what I do.
Speaker:Amazing.
Speaker:And I am in Liberation and I absolutely love it.
Speaker:So one of the reasons I wanted to have Dielle on the podcast today is because
Speaker:we set up a entirely custom beautiful one-on-one coaching portal inside of
Speaker:Liberation Group program coaching portal, and then actually replaced Slack for her
Speaker:high-end Mastermind altogether, which is a very like revolutionary decision to
Speaker:get rid of community inside of a group coaching program, especially one that
Speaker:is high ticket, all about community.
Speaker:Dielle, please tell us about that decision.
Speaker:What was happening with Slack in your mastermind and why
Speaker:did you want to get rid of it?
Speaker:Oh my gosh, where do I get started?
Speaker:I have so much to say.
Speaker:I've been a Slack girlie for a long time.
Speaker:I have had Slack for a very long time.
Speaker:I remember to even go to a Slack group was like, because Facebook
Speaker:groups were the thing back then.
Speaker:And so even to go to Slack was like revolutionary back then in itself.
Speaker:Like we have an organized Slack channel.
Speaker:And so I will say, I still have Slack for my low ticket offer and
Speaker:it works beautifully for that.
Speaker:But with masterminds, it's just a little different.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:For anyone who has a high level mastermind, how I describe it is
Speaker:with your low ticket offer, you are the best thing since sliced bread.
Speaker:People love you.
Speaker:They eat you up.
Speaker:They say such lovely things about you.
Speaker:They have positive experiences.
Speaker:They share their struggles.
Speaker:They share their questions.
Speaker:They still are clients, but they are so excited.
Speaker:They follow and implement really well.
Speaker:That's what happens in a lower ticket offer.
Speaker:But a higher ticket offer.
Speaker:And for the sake of this conversation, let's say a mastermind that's 10 K and up.
Speaker:I call those like my teenagers, in my lower ticket offer, those are my babies.
Speaker:They were just so squishy and so cute and so lovely to be around.
Speaker:And they're obsessed with me and I'm obsessed with them.
Speaker:And we're in this honeymoon stage and everything's so great.
Speaker:And then in the mastermind, you get the teenagers where they sometimes
Speaker:get upset and you don't know why.
Speaker:They have these growth spurts all of a sudden, and you're trying to catch up with
Speaker:them and their needs, and then they just get angry, and you're like, what did I do?
Speaker:What happened?
Speaker:What went wrong?
Speaker:And, It makes sense, especially if you're in the B2B space where the
Speaker:client is a little bit more mature.
Speaker:They like to put their foot down a little bit more.
Speaker:They like to assert themselves a little bit more.
Speaker:And so that's very, very normal.
Speaker:I do that in my own mastermind with my own coach, right?
Speaker:Like I don't listen to everything she says either because I have my own way.
Speaker:I've been in business for a long time, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker:So this is very normal behavior.
Speaker:I just want to normalize that too.
Speaker:So what I saw with my Slack channel, particularly for my mastermind,
Speaker:again, it's a jungle gym, it's a playground with my lower ticket
Speaker:offer, but for my mastermind, people weren't really using it.
Speaker:We were getting okay engagement, but there would be a few days
Speaker:where no one would really check in.
Speaker:So I was number one, number two.
Speaker:The conversations were so in depth that it really warranted a larger forum for
Speaker:us to really flesh something out and for us to really get in the weeds and look
Speaker:at things and give a video response back.
Speaker:And I couldn't really do that to the extent that I wanted to in Slack.
Speaker:And also, I kind of felt because everybody was a little bit older, more mature
Speaker:in their business, it was a little bit like a watch party and I know I am not
Speaker:the only one who has just popped into a Slack channel just to look at the drama.
Speaker:This popcorn, popcorn, just
Speaker:Just to get the popcorn and get the tea and be like, Ooh,
Speaker:what is Dielle going to say?
Speaker:Ooh, what is the coach going to say?
Speaker:Ooh, how do they respond?
Speaker:Oh my God.
Speaker:I can't believe they said that.
Speaker:I sometimes imagine like you have the magnifying glasses
Speaker:with your popcorn at a stadium.
Speaker:That's kind of how a community or Slack channel could be.
Speaker:We also have been in group programs where it's that person who needs just additional
Speaker:support and it just impacts the energy.
Speaker:So it's oh, okay, here's so and so again, coming in, bringing the energy down,
Speaker:talking about the same problem she's been talking about for the past four months.
Speaker:Oh, here's so, so again, spinning out again.
Speaker:So that kept happening as well.
Speaker:And I, how I knew it was a problem was.
Speaker:I didn't like being in there and it's my offer that's when
Speaker:I knew it was a red flag for me where I avoided my own community.
Speaker:That's how I knew it got bad and I knew that I had to make a shift so I was
Speaker:talking to Kirsten Rodin, a person that we both know and love and I remember
Speaker:saying to her casually like, "Man, I wish I could get rid of my Slack channel."
Speaker:And this was like a month before I was supposed to be onboarding my new
Speaker:clients, like starting my new clients.
Speaker:It was like a month before.
Speaker:And she was like, "Well, do it."
Speaker:And I was like, are you crazy?
Speaker:Like we will have to create something.
Speaker:I don't even know.
Speaker:In a month are you insane?
Speaker:She was like, no, now is the time to do it.
Speaker:If you don't like it, now's the time to do it.
Speaker:So we approached you and we have Softr and it's changed everything.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:I love how in depth it is.
Speaker:I love how specific we get.
Speaker:I'm sure we'll talk about all the bells and whistles, but I absolutely love it.
Speaker:I love it too.
Speaker:And we'll definitely get into it.
Speaker:What I love as a like petty person about Slack is the amount
Speaker:of distractions it can give.
Speaker:It's it becomes very much like I don't go in there.
Speaker:I've been in huge Facebook groups like that too.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:We're like, I'm here to get coaching and to get the result.
Speaker:But what I'm showing up for is not that it's not getting in and out.
Speaker:It is seeing how Dielle is going to respond to this person who said
Speaker:that they didn't like the coaching they got and there's just a lot of
Speaker:that and I'm curious so you mentioned the babies versus the teenagers.
Speaker:Do you think it's also like at that point you just have more to lose.
Speaker:So like the stakes are higher.
Speaker:So things are heightened, right?
Speaker:One hundred percent, that's all it is.
Speaker:That's all it is.
Speaker:And like I said, it's very very normal.
Speaker:So I want to be clear I'm not blaming anybody for doing this.
Speaker:Again I have done the very things that I'm seeing.
Speaker:And so I don't think any of it's a problem.
Speaker:That's why I didn't blame the client.
Speaker:I didn't blame myself.
Speaker:I was just thinking that this is not the best forum to get coaching
Speaker:and a high level mastermind.
Speaker:So I actually blamed the software.
Speaker:I didn't blame the client, didn't blame myself, didn't blame the
Speaker:program, didn't blame them and where they're at in their journey.
Speaker:I was just thinking, I don't know if this is the best medium
Speaker:to have these conversations.
Speaker:And so, yeah, I want to be abundantly clear.
Speaker:It's so normal to have a little bit of resistance when you're thinking
Speaker:about making changes that can impact a multiple six or seven figure business.
Speaker:Anybody would put up a fight, right?
Speaker:Anybody would go down swinging.
Speaker:I definitely do.
Speaker:And so I totally get it.
Speaker:And I just wish that the softwares out here understood the coaching industry
Speaker:better and the types of conversations that we're having and honestly, I
Speaker:wish they would build better software.
Speaker:I'm thinking about building my own because these developers aren't
Speaker:really understanding that a little itty bitty Slack message in a thread
Speaker:that goes away in 90 days is not the best medium when you're talking about
Speaker:creating a seven figure offer that could bring in a million dollars or could
Speaker:potentially lose you a million dollars.
Speaker:There needs to be a bigger, more robust communication forum.
Speaker:totally.
Speaker:And that's where Softr comes in.
Speaker:So most folks don't really know what Softr is.
Speaker:I'll give a brief overview.
Speaker:I was in circle and I was kind of having similar issues where I was like,
Speaker:people are asking Airtable support questions and it's hard to answer them.
Speaker:It's hard to see what's outstanding.
Speaker:So we integrated like a support ticketing system that we of course
Speaker:built on the back end of Airtable.
Speaker:And the moment we created that feature, our circle engagement completely dropped.
Speaker:So I was like, Oh, they're not even they're not here for community.
Speaker:They're here for the support ticket.
Speaker:Circle clearly isn't the platform to do it.
Speaker:So we built a beautiful front end.
Speaker:Softr is a web builder that uses your Airtable data and makes
Speaker:it into a beautiful website.
Speaker:So now Diella's clients, my clients, they have this cute little magic
Speaker:link, no login required, where they can go inside of our Softr community
Speaker:and they can see databases of mindset and launch reviews, coaching calls.
Speaker:There's just so many resources inside of it.
Speaker:So tell me what are some of your favorite features that your Softr
Speaker:community coaching hub has now that Slack just wasn't able to hang?
Speaker:I would say the main thing that it's allowed us to do is just keep
Speaker:everything more organized while also going more in depth with our clients.
Speaker:And so we have two places where clients can get direct feedback, really three.
Speaker:The first two is we have a mindset section where they can write in mindset
Speaker:questions about their sales, about their launches, plans, any of those things.
Speaker:And then they also have a review section where they can submit in the sales page
Speaker:to us and we'll review it within 48 hours.
Speaker:And then they can submit in their webinar.
Speaker:So I am designated to do all of the webinars.
Speaker:And so I will literally spend 20 30 minutes on a Loom video critiquing
Speaker:somebody's webinar slide by slide.
Speaker:Whereas number one, it would have taken me a week to do that inside
Speaker:of Slack because I had to find it after remind myself to do it.
Speaker:I have to upload it back in.
Speaker:There was no automatic system to let them know that I posted it.
Speaker:So all of that is taken care of by Softr and also it's so much more organized for
Speaker:me to make sure that I answer everybody's question and that everybody is served.
Speaker:And then the third thing is we actually, and yeah.
Speaker:Ashley helped us put this together.
Speaker:We have a diagnostic tool called launch doctor where someone could put
Speaker:in what's going on with their launch and then spit out a response on what
Speaker:they need to fix, what they need to change with corresponding trainings
Speaker:to help them further their knowledge.
Speaker:So that's really cool as well.
Speaker:And that's often also in Softr as well.
Speaker:And so I've have personally loved it and it's funny.
Speaker:I was nervous.
Speaker:about taking away the Slack channel.
Speaker:Of course.
Speaker:I was very, very nervous.
Speaker:And in the same breath, I also had my client event and I had one of
Speaker:my clients who was in the round previously, where she saw our very
Speaker:entertaining circus Slack channel.
Speaker:And she pulled me aside and she was like, Dielle, you getting
Speaker:rid of the Slack channel.
Speaker:I'm so excited.
Speaker:I'm so excited to see what the experience is going to be like now that I don't
Speaker:have all of those distractions.
Speaker:And, I just remember being like, ugh, we made the right decision.
Speaker:It's such a distraction free platform because it is, it's a get in and get
Speaker:out, but that can be jarring for, group program founders, mastermind founders,
Speaker:but also the audience themselves who are like, but my people love the community.
Speaker:They love the community element of it.
Speaker:And Softr isn't the best at community.
Speaker:All now we're just talking about this offline of how you can't really tag
Speaker:people in comments and it's not that type of chat function that Slack has.
Speaker:And so that can be a deal breaker for people when they don't understand.
Speaker:But I kind of want to push back and I'm curious your thoughts too of is
Speaker:community, the main result people want?
Speaker:Or do they want the get in, get out, distraction free?
Speaker:Have you had anyone say, Oh, I wish I had community and what
Speaker:do you miss having community?
Speaker:What are your thoughts about community being a feature of a program?
Speaker:Several things.
Speaker:So, the community is often a hot mess.
Speaker:People want the community, but it's a hot mess!
Speaker:right?
Speaker:It was so funny.
Speaker:There were people that reached out to me, and they said that they either
Speaker:left a group program or they left a mastermind because of the community.
Speaker:That was a deal breaker for them.
Speaker:Specifically, they were like, the Facebook group was just such a Debbie Downer.
Speaker:And so, it's people want community until they get it, right?
Speaker:People want that idea until they actually have the realities of people
Speaker:posting just whatever they want, whenever they want with no moderation.
Speaker:And then, you know, we think about everything that happened in 2020 with
Speaker:Marie Folio and how she moderated her group and it blew up in her face.
Speaker:So even with moderation, people don't like monitors.
Speaker:Just saying all that to say, there have been several people who have come up
Speaker:and tell me like, we like that you don't have this free for all community because
Speaker:I have left masterminds because of it.
Speaker:And me, personally, I'm in several other masterminds.
Speaker:I don't check the community.
Speaker:I literally don't even click the box to be added in my Slack channel.
Speaker:Don't do it.
Speaker:I don't download Circle.
Speaker:I just, I have my own communities and programs to manage.
Speaker:If I need something, I'll hop on the calls.
Speaker:If I need you, I'll hop on the calls, I'll schedule the calls,
Speaker:I'll put it on my calendar.
Speaker:Or, I'm going to get everything I need at the live event that you do.
Speaker:I also...
Speaker:I have limited my community features and community things
Speaker:significantly as well myself.
Speaker:But I know that everybody is different, right?
Speaker:And everyone has different philosophies on community.
Speaker:How I've been thinking about it is you get community on the calls.
Speaker:I try to like, be funny and entertaining, engage the chat,
Speaker:see everyone, wave to everyone.
Speaker:I bring in funny anecdotes from past conversations, like I try to make sure
Speaker:that we have community on the calls.
Speaker:I also do live events you can't get more community than being in
Speaker:person for several days at a time.
Speaker:I have a live events business model.
Speaker:That's how I built community.
Speaker:. I have a two day conference.
Speaker:And then on that third day, we do just Liberation where
Speaker:it's Liberation only people.
Speaker:So we have that feature as well.
Speaker:And then on top of all of that, they get one on one coaching to with a coach
Speaker:as well to get that touch point too.
Speaker:So when I look at my program, I'm like, People can't really say that we don't
Speaker:offer community, we don't offer all those other things because there's just
Speaker:so, so many touch points that we can do.
Speaker:And when people say community, I also think people mean network.
Speaker:And so is there just a clear way for them to talk with one
Speaker:another, which we do provide.
Speaker:We provide a directory where it's very clear on Here's how
Speaker:you can get in contact with me.
Speaker:Here's how you can follow up with me.
Speaker:And they peer coach with one another.
Speaker:They set that all up.
Speaker:They self initiate.
Speaker:They, you know, message each other and they set all that up themselves.
Speaker:So they do have the interaction with other people.
Speaker:So when people say community, I think they mean a robust network.
Speaker:And then on top of that, I think people do like some sort of buzz, like
Speaker:a little snack crackle pop, right?
Speaker:They do a little energy and they do a buzz.
Speaker:Which Softr kind of removes.
Speaker:And so I was thinking like what I really want more than anything is
Speaker:just a very active wins page where people are just posting their wins
Speaker:and like just being in the energy of this program is working, people are
Speaker:getting results, people are happy here.
Speaker:That's like the only sort of buzz and open forum that I would not allow, but what I
Speaker:think is best for my clients and myself.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And that's a big thing when you're rolling out these features is just like creating
Speaker:community of actually like using the features that you have the wins section
Speaker:and Softr in, in Liberation is quiet.
Speaker:But there's so many ways that we could amp that up by saying it on the call.
Speaker:Here's the wins, drop the wins form in the chat.
Speaker:There's just so many different ways that you can do that.
Speaker:And I often think about as I'm getting some pushback of Oh, I could
Speaker:never abandon my Slack channel.
Speaker:They need the community.
Speaker:It's what are your clients missing out on?
Speaker:Because you're gripping onto the fact that they can have these long threads
Speaker:back and forth with each other.
Speaker:There's so much on the other side of that.
Speaker:These incredible reviews.
Speaker:The directory that Dielle is mentioning is also inside of Softr inside of Softr.
Speaker:You're able to totally customize what your students like.
Speaker:profile fills out.
Speaker:So like your Slack bio could never your circle bio could never leave
Speaker:very specific questions that you could ask related to the program related
Speaker:to the brand, which is really cool.
Speaker:And something else that I'm a part of I don't even think you're,
Speaker:I don't think you're in it.
Speaker:There is a WhatsApp group of Liberation girlies.
Speaker:And it's so nice.
Speaker:And it's we know it's unofficial.
Speaker:It's a little rogue.
Speaker:You have decision days, which is like these big, you know, Day long things
Speaker:were like planning on doing an LA meetup.
Speaker:There's so much community that you can orchestrate and encourage
Speaker:people to do outside of like you specifically managing it.
Speaker:I think that's so much more like beautiful and inspiring to me.
Speaker:Wow, these, these people want to self organize and that's
Speaker:what the best communities are.
Speaker:Yeah, 100%.
Speaker:And it brings me back to when I was working in higher ed and I was in
Speaker:program management and we would get emails from the students all the time.
Speaker:And I think that's why I'm also not faced by it all the time.
Speaker:They're like, can we do this?
Speaker:Can you bring in this speaker?
Speaker:Can we all get together for a pizza party and do this?
Speaker:And every single time we had our calendar on what we were supposed
Speaker:to do as their program managers.
Speaker:But then we would say, here's 100 go self organized, go at it.
Speaker:Send you put together a group chat, put together your own dooDiellee poll.
Speaker:Here's a hundred dollars to pay for the tickets to whatever you want to go to.
Speaker:Go for it, right?
Speaker:And so self organizing is also really, really important and
Speaker:really, really crucial as well.
Speaker:But also when I look at my program, we offer so much community.
Speaker:We offer so many calls, so many ways for you to see the other clients and so
Speaker:many opportunities to stay connected.
Speaker:You were thinking about cutting out Liberation, we were considering
Speaker:shutting down this mastermind.
Speaker:And 1 of the reasons was because of the Slack channel.
Speaker:Talk to us a little bit about how, like that process and how you
Speaker:decided to, revive and keep going.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:I wanted to close my mastermind for several reasons.
Speaker:A lot of it had to just do with how my clients were interacting with me
Speaker:and how I was interacting with them.
Speaker:My thoughts about them, their thoughts about me, all of that had to be
Speaker:cleaned up and worked on and retooled.
Speaker:And I think it also gets to a point, especially after the seven
Speaker:figures, like me and my seven figure friends joke all the time.
Speaker:Like anything goes, like we can cut anything out.
Speaker:You know that you have a real seven figure earner on your hands when they
Speaker:have cut things out of their business.
Speaker:That's what you do because when you're scaling to multiple six figures, you
Speaker:think you need to add all these things.
Speaker:So you basically sell your soul to make a million dollars.
Speaker:Like I'll do anything to get to that income level.
Speaker:And then once you're there, you realize all the ways that you've
Speaker:crossed your own boundaries.
Speaker:You realize what's important to you.
Speaker:You realize wait, my clients who are successful, they do X.
Speaker:And then my clients who aren't successful, they do Y.
Speaker:I wonder how I can just get more X people or how I can
Speaker:foster and facilitate X better.
Speaker:And I'll just cut out the Y.
Speaker:Like it's not worth it.
Speaker:So many things just become not worth it anymore.
Speaker:And so that's why you see so many seven figure people being like, this
Speaker:is shut down, not doing it anymore.
Speaker:But I think the brilliance of you Ashley and your work is that software
Speaker:can help us bridge the gap where if we had a dream vision where I was like,
Speaker:I just want to answer their questions without the drama and the spectacle
Speaker:show and the spectator aspect of it.
Speaker:Like I just want to be able to do that.
Speaker:I just want to look at their webinar and give them feedback, but we
Speaker:don't need the drama to go with it.
Speaker:And again, the drama is normal.
Speaker:The drama happens.
Speaker:The drama happens at every single mastermind I've ever been into.
Speaker:That's what I think software can do and what systems can do and how systems
Speaker:can help you not be stressed out.
Speaker:And so I think that's the beauty of it.
Speaker:And I'm really just, I'm proud to know you.
Speaker:I'm proud to know Kirsten.
Speaker:I'm proud to know systems people that have solutions.
Speaker:And...
Speaker:I'm glad to also have, for lack of a better word, the business maturity to
Speaker:be like, okay, this is what I want.
Speaker:If I can't have what I want, I'm going to continue to fight for it and
Speaker:find it and refine it and tweak it.
Speaker:I'm fine to keep tweaking to get to what I want versus completely
Speaker:throwing the baby out with the bath water, which is what so many people do
Speaker:Thank you for saying that.
Speaker:And my systems philosophy is like the reason I go so hard for Airtable and so
Speaker:hard for Softr is you are not going to hit a ceiling with what it can do for you.
Speaker:You are one of my favorite clients because you're like, I have this idea.
Speaker:Can I do that?
Speaker:Can this be automated?
Speaker:And the answer is always yes, because your systems foundation is on such
Speaker:a scalable, customizable platform.
Speaker:You can't do all these bells and whistles and these magical launch
Speaker:doctor things inside of Slack or in a spreadsheet, like it just wouldn't happen.
Speaker:And so that's why I love working with people who like, see the, see
Speaker:the potential and really, you can wake up from a dream and be like.
Speaker:Send me a DM.
Speaker:Can, can I have an automated content calendar?
Speaker:Sure can.
Speaker:Let's do it.
Speaker:Really all of that is the sky's the limit, which is so fun.
Speaker:point.
Speaker:And I talked to Jasmine, one of our other friends, I talked to
Speaker:Jasmine a lot about this too.
Speaker:When it comes to being a CEO, you have to be a visionary.
Speaker:And I always say, I tell my clients this all the time.
Speaker:The number one skill of staying in business is creativity.
Speaker:You will leave this industry so fast if you do not have creativity skills,
Speaker:if you're not innovative, if you aren't able to think of something and then
Speaker:know the people that can help you put that into life, like that's all,
Speaker:I'm just been realizing where I am.
Speaker:Like, that's a lot of my job is just coming up with ideas.
Speaker:Lots of ideas, over and over and over again, ideas about my clients,
Speaker:ideas about my content, ideas for my team, ideas for a book I want to
Speaker:launch, ideas for my YouTube channel.
Speaker:You have to constantly be strengthening that idea and that creativity muscle,
Speaker:and then you meet really cool people like Ashley, who can just make
Speaker:it happen like candy, you know?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Tell me about how you strengthen that skill.
Speaker:I think that a lot of people who, are the CEO want to be in that visionary role.
Speaker:And oftentimes they don't know what to ask for.
Speaker:They don't even know what's possible.
Speaker:How did you , hone that skill?
Speaker:I feel like it's been pretty innate, but is there anything for someone
Speaker:who's struggling that they can start to practice that a little more?
Speaker:Where are you putting other skills above that?
Speaker:Where are you trying to follow some magical checklist versus
Speaker:fostering your own innovation?
Speaker:Where are you prioritizing people pleasing versus your own ideas?
Speaker:And so I think we all have that skill, but we're often not
Speaker:prioritizing it or going there first.
Speaker:I remember I had a, I had a client and she was very like, how E and
Speaker:she was like, but how do I do this?
Speaker:And how do I do that?
Speaker:How do I do this?
Speaker:And so I stopped her.
Speaker:I said, I want you to exercise your own creativity.
Speaker:It was something creative too.
Speaker:It wasn't like a very simple thing I can answer.
Speaker:It was something very creative and specific to her brand and specific
Speaker:to what she wanted to put out.
Speaker:And I was like, I can give you ideas, but I'm just exercising my muscle, which is
Speaker:fine, but I want you to start exercising yours and she came up with the best stuff.
Speaker:And I told her I looked her dead in her face.
Speaker:I said, I never could have come up with that.
Speaker:You had to come up with that.
Speaker:Like you had to exercise that muscle and you had to go out and do that.
Speaker:And so I think all the time we have ideas, but we often say, Oh, that's not possible.
Speaker:Or I want to get rid of my Slack channel.
Speaker:That's an idea.
Speaker:And the first thing that's going to come up is my brain saying, You can't do that.
Speaker:No one's going to buy.
Speaker:No one's going to hate it.
Speaker:They're going to revolt.
Speaker:Your, customer support is going to go through the window.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:You can't do that.
Speaker:But I had an idea.
Speaker:So where are we fostering our ideas?
Speaker:Where are we telling ourselves like, No, what if this isn't crazy?
Speaker:How could we do it?
Speaker:How could we do this?
Speaker:And I think such an important CEO skill, and I think you're great at is to say.
Speaker:You don't know, you don't have to know how to build the software build that I built.
Speaker:You don't have to know, but you have to know to think about asking
Speaker:and seeing if it's possible and then knowing to ask somebody else.
Speaker:And I think that so often, especially maybe you know, six figures and under.
Speaker:They're like, okay, I have to now look into Airtable.
Speaker:I have to compare all these things.
Speaker:I have to do the work to like, bring this to life.
Speaker:And of course, I'm a systems expert.
Speaker:So I'm, I'm biased, but please, if you have those types of ideas,
Speaker:go seek out systems experts who can help one, you know.
Speaker:Tighten down the learning curve and even tell you if it's
Speaker:possible to actually build it.
Speaker:So you can just keep moving and keep ideating because that can, the
Speaker:little nuances, all of it can like really slow you down, but to be able
Speaker:to articulate your vision, see if it's possible with an expert, have
Speaker:them build it and just keep moving.
Speaker:That's another way to kind of keep that, keep those ideas moving along.
Speaker:100%.
Speaker:100%.
Speaker:And I really do think like anything you want is possible.
Speaker:Anything you want is possible.
Speaker:Sometimes I say things to my team, they're like, you're crazy, right?
Speaker:I'm like, no, Ashley will figure it out.
Speaker:Somebody will figure it out.
Speaker:And then they go and they figure it out.
Speaker:And so I think again, like software and systems.
Speaker:are just a solution for so many problems, especially at the scaling level.
Speaker:I agree.
Speaker:I wanted to talk about your co coaches and how they are able to.
Speaker:Take on more and you're able to delegate.
Speaker:So the front end of software is so beautiful.
Speaker:The backend I think is even more beautiful because it's these amazing interfaces
Speaker:where the team gets to receive all of the launch reviews, all the different
Speaker:questions they're auto assigned based on, you know, if it's a webinar, if it
Speaker:goes to Dielle, if it's this, it gets.
Speaker:Divided evenly into these two coaches.
Speaker:There's so much power and flexibility and organization on the back end.
Speaker:How has the experience of having software and having this Airtable
Speaker:review database been for your team?
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:We love it.
Speaker:It's very easy to navigate.
Speaker:Like Ashley said, things are auto assigned.
Speaker:So, the clients pick specifically what they want reviewed or looked at.
Speaker:And then they select it, and then it will auto assigned to a
Speaker:particular coach based off of their expertise and their specialty.
Speaker:And so if it's copywriting that goes to someone, if it's mindset
Speaker:that goes to another person, if it's webinars and launches that goes to me.
Speaker:And so it's really cool just to have everything delegated , and auto assigned.
Speaker:And what I love about it, too, is I, as the CEO, get to control how much
Speaker:I want to be involved and then how, how least I want to be involved, too.
Speaker:And what I like about it, too, is there's very little disruption.
Speaker:If I wanted to go on vacation and if I had a Slack channel, then it would
Speaker:be very evident that Dielle was gone because then I would have to find a
Speaker:co coach to jump in the Slack channel.
Speaker:They don't know the co coach, right?
Speaker:But now, like all summer.
Speaker:I was on like at least eight different trips.
Speaker:I went to LA.
Speaker:I went to Austin.
Speaker:I went to so many places.
Speaker:I went to Tampa.
Speaker:I took a beach vacation with my family.
Speaker:I went to so many different places.
Speaker:I went to New York.
Speaker:I went to so many different places and The client disruption was none, right?
Speaker:No one knew when I was gone, unless they checked my Instagram stories.
Speaker:No one knew that I was gone because everyone kept being served.
Speaker:And again, not only were people still being served, but their
Speaker:experience was not disrupted.
Speaker:It wasn't like a new coach entered and then they were routed to someone else and
Speaker:they had to not tag me and tag someone.
Speaker:They could just...
Speaker:Keep doing what they were doing.
Speaker:And so I thought that was just so nice where I could still be a human and
Speaker:have the part time business that I want to have and travel the way that
Speaker:I want to travel while also the client experience not being disrupted, disrupted.
Speaker:And then often I will pop in and Take over the questions for the day.
Speaker:Like it takes about four hours for me to get a retwist for my hair.
Speaker:And so often on those days, and like my team can often see like, Dielle as
Speaker:a hair appointment, she'll probably be in Softr for those four hours
Speaker:that day where I will just say, Hey y'all, I'm taking over for today.
Speaker:And I will go in and I'll answer everybody's questions.
Speaker:I will go in and I'll do, I'll do the work for the day because I've just felt
Speaker:like connecting with my clients that day.
Speaker:And so we have not got, which I honestly have been shocked by.
Speaker:We have not gotten any complaints on the coaches on where's Dielle.
Speaker:We have gotten no complaints.
Speaker:I do a good job of making sure, if I'm gone for a week, I then double up
Speaker:and take a few days off of my coaching team that respond to questions.
Speaker:I always say, Hey, it's Dielle.
Speaker:And they're like, Dielle responded.
Speaker:What a treat.
Speaker:But they're never like, upset at somebody else's coaching.
Speaker:And then sometimes, and this is just the in general, like
Speaker:what happens with co coaches.
Speaker:Sometimes I look at what my co coaches said and I'm like, I never
Speaker:would have said it like that.
Speaker:They said it so much better.
Speaker:They were so much more patient than what I would have been like, right.
Speaker:Because they're just not as attached.
Speaker:And I was just like, I never would have said it that way.
Speaker:And a million years never would have gotten there.
Speaker:And so, I think that's just, that's super cool too.
Speaker:Everybody needs co coaches.
Speaker:Like having co coaches is so amazing, but there's a lot of resistance in there's a
Speaker:lot of resistance to having co coaches.
Speaker:I think something that our friend Kirsten says so much is like, Scaling
Speaker:intimacy, like intimacy doesn't always have to mean access to Dielle.
Speaker:It can mean access, like quick responses.
Speaker:Y'all I send in like my launch emails and then in four hours, I'm getting, and I'm
Speaker:getting my response back from a co coach and I, I don't care if it's from Dielle
Speaker:or not from Dielle, like just the fact that I get those answers and I get that
Speaker:feedback and I'm able to keep moving.
Speaker:That speed is so incredible.
Speaker:And to have that not land completely on one person's.
Speaker:Shoulders is it's so much more valuable for your clients.
Speaker:How were you able to train your team to answer like you would or
Speaker:you know, with your philosophies in, inside of something like this.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:So every single month we have like a training meeting where I've kind
Speaker:of flagged some things where I'm like, I love how you responded.
Speaker:I would have just thought about it this way or I would have.
Speaker:It's often say everything you said, but at this too.
Speaker:So it's not like the answer was wrong, but this was maybe something
Speaker:that you miss that the client also said that could have influenced
Speaker:your, your response back to them.
Speaker:So we have meetings.
Speaker:We also just have rubrics.
Speaker:I have very clear rubrics on especially with our copy reviews and with the content
Speaker:that our clients are submitting in, I'm like, they have to have all these things.
Speaker:So when you're looking at, you know, a piece of content or
Speaker:emails, are they checking off these boxes are very, very important.
Speaker:But then also it's required that they go to my live events.
Speaker:So they were there during my two hour live events.
Speaker:They were seeing me answer questions.
Speaker:They were seeing me teach material.
Speaker:They were both there during our live event and we're actually hiring
Speaker:somebody else and they're going to be there during decision day.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:And so we often are teaching anyways.
Speaker:And so just have your co coaches come to your teaching events, right?
Speaker:Where you're teaching your merge showing up, they're going to be there
Speaker:during emancipation, my conference.
Speaker:And so just.
Speaker:Integrate them into where you're already teaching, but don't forget
Speaker:you have a curriculum too, right?
Speaker:You have a curriculum and I think with co coaches Kirsten I were talking a
Speaker:lot about this because she just hired co coaches for her mastermind and she
Speaker:talked about this on her podcast So it's not like it's not public information,
Speaker:but she was more hiring on expertise But not necessarily coaching skills.
Speaker:She has a team systems and mindset mastermind.
Speaker:And so she was more hiring on, do they have team experience?
Speaker:Do they have systems experience?
Speaker:Are they like, there was this one candidate that was from the UN did
Speaker:like leadership work at the UN, like very, very like amazing resumes.
Speaker:But when they did those test coaching calls, it was a hot mess.
Speaker:They couldn't hold a room.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Like they couldn't hold a room.
Speaker:They were pinging and pogging with the clients.
Speaker:It was just super, they didn't have enough confidence to hold a group coaching call.
Speaker:And so we, I told her, I said, you have to hire for holding
Speaker:a room and coaching skill.
Speaker:Then you can train anybody on your particular process.
Speaker:And so I think that's helpful for people to know as well.
Speaker:Yeah, especially when you have now, when you have these types of submission
Speaker:process, you have a database now of past answers, how other coaches responded.
Speaker:You can have internal notes.
Speaker:You can't do that in a Slack channel where you're like, okay, scroll
Speaker:these thousands of messages, but only in the last 90 days because
Speaker:then they get, then they disappear.
Speaker:You just can't have that type of robust database.
Speaker:So it also serves as a training portal for your, for your own team, which is great.
Speaker:So this is Dielle's beautiful, Softr client portal.
Speaker:This is a networking coaching portal.
Speaker:So you can see up here are all of these different tabs.
Speaker:So let's say I want to submit a sales and launch review.
Speaker:Beforehand, what did you do to y'all?
Speaker:Did you have a sales channel where people could just say, Hey, review
Speaker:my slides or how did that work?
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:And then oftentimes what happens with those types of things is They
Speaker:don't give you all the information that you wanted or that you need.
Speaker:So there's like this followup of Hey, can you put in your power at
Speaker:75, which is Dielles messaging tool.
Speaker:So with these types of builds, you're able to get all of the answers
Speaker:that you need to help them faster.
Speaker:So we'll say my income over the last 12 months, my business model, power 75.
Speaker:let's say I'm submitting my sales page.
Speaker:Great.
Speaker:And then, so I'll submit.
Speaker:So that submits and then we'll see what it looks like on Dielle's end.
Speaker:But then there's also down here.
Speaker:There's a database that we can search by submission type by business model.
Speaker:So we pop this open and all of this is back in Airtable data, which you'll see
Speaker:in a second, but then we get to see, not only does this person get to see
Speaker:their sales page review, but so do I.
Speaker:And that's so valuable.
Speaker:So like when I'm working on my webinar, I will pull up my other like
Speaker:Liberation sisters, webinar reviews.
Speaker:So I get extra coaching as well.
Speaker:And it's such a seamless process on the student ends.
Speaker:So we've got all of this.
Speaker:It's just the best.
Speaker:So there's sales and launch mindset and sales coaching one on one coaching.
Speaker:What this is, is it's just embedded in acuity link scheduler.
Speaker:So her coaches can get the coaching calls.
Speaker:All of this is handled.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:Iconic, love it.
Speaker:So this is what it looks like when a client sends it on the back end.
Speaker:I only get to see ones that are assigned to me, which is really nice.
Speaker:So I don't have to get overwhelmed.
Speaker:I don't have to see everybody else's.
Speaker:And if I ever wanted to take somebody else's, I could just reassign it
Speaker:to myself and I'll pop back up.
Speaker:And so here is all of the client's information and I can literally They
Speaker:want me to review their sales page.
Speaker:I can click on their sales page here and I can share my answer, which is this
Speaker:sales page looks amazing and then I can submit a loom video to which we often
Speaker:submit a loom video talking something out so I could put the loom video shareable
Speaker:link here and then all I would have to do is change the status from answered
Speaker:live and database and then I'll even send them so An email, and I like the
Speaker:fact that it sends an email because then they, they just click on it and then it
Speaker:shows them their exact link and so they don't have to go searching for an answer,
Speaker:which is what you have to do in Slack.
Speaker:They don't, it never gets lost or anything like that.
Speaker:And then it sends an email and it also submits it in the
Speaker:portal and then it's gone.
Speaker:It's all cleaned up.
Speaker:It's not overwhelming whatsoever.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And that is so revolutionary.
Speaker:I forget just people who are not in Airtable.
Speaker:Truly Dielle just sent me an email.
Speaker:That's going to say, Hey, your sales Q and a is live.
Speaker:Here is the direct link to it.
Speaker:Have a great day.
Speaker:Don't respond to this email.
Speaker:And then I get to click that link and go right to my coaching.
Speaker:So there is no going into your Gmail at all to send these type of
Speaker:automated emails to your clients.
Speaker:I just, I forget that people are in like the dinosaur ages of doing that sometimes.
Speaker:And even just those little things are just so transformational for you and
Speaker:your team and ops and all of that.
Speaker:So it's just like chef's kiss.
Speaker:It's such a beautiful system.
Speaker:The only thing I want to share is what if systems can help you be less stressed?
Speaker:What if?
Speaker:What if, right?
Speaker:And like I've been realizing that systems are really my next team member,
Speaker:like they have been becoming a team member in my business where if something
Speaker:isn't working, it may not be let's hire five more co coaches to get me out
Speaker:of the Slack channel forever, right?
Speaker:That's not the answer.
Speaker:But that very well could have been the route that I went.
Speaker:Down right being like, well, if I don't like my Slack, you know I just don't
Speaker:want to be here and I'll just hire it all of it out Which I know coaches
Speaker:that have done that I have friends that have done that where they can't stand
Speaker:being in their community because it's So overwhelming and there's so many
Speaker:things that happen or it's can there be a software that can help you do?
Speaker:What you want it to do?
Speaker:That's
Speaker:And in the long term, it is going to be the more affordable option, even though
Speaker:these builds are not cheap, but to be able to set it up once and then your
Speaker:admin team, you know, can maintain it.
Speaker:It's.
Speaker:The ROI, the ROI is for sure there.
Speaker:What would you say for folks who are listening to this are like,
Speaker:do I need a software portal?
Speaker:Oh my God.
Speaker:And this is something I need.
Speaker:Like when I like that you sometimes also tell people like you don't need this yet.
Speaker:You don't, you don't need this system yet.
Speaker:Calm down.
Speaker:When would you say is like the best time for someone to, to have this
Speaker:type of custom portal for their mastermind or their membership?
Speaker:a really good question.
Speaker:So I always say like Whenever you want to hire someone or you want to change your
Speaker:business model, whenever you want to make a change, you just want to make sure you
Speaker:actually have clients there to a pay for the change or clients to make the change
Speaker:make sense for, for instance, right?
Speaker:And so, for instance, if somebody wants to have a designer, For their next launch.
Speaker:I'm like, okay, just make sure that people buy in the launch
Speaker:so that the beautiful sales page you have actually is put to use.
Speaker:So that's going to be my same feedback here.
Speaker:It's do you have enough consistent demand for this offer where you know that
Speaker:community will be an ongoing thing that you're going to need support in right?
Speaker:And community will always be something that you're going to have to think
Speaker:about and manage and navigate.
Speaker:So Yeah, I wouldn't do it if you're still trying to figure out how to
Speaker:even fill up a 10 person group.
Speaker:I don't think you need a Softr bill.
Speaker:That's not the problem you should be solving.
Speaker:You should be solving for how to fill it.
Speaker:But this was my fifth round of Liberation.
Speaker:that I went ahead and I did this and looking back, I did wish I do it.
Speaker:I did it maybe around the third round.
Speaker:But making sure that you have a solid offer and that this offer
Speaker:is here to stay is important.
Speaker:And yeah, but I do think you can do it relatively soon.
Speaker:Yeah, the most I appreciate when folks come to me very grounded
Speaker:and not This is what's going to make my next launch sell out.
Speaker:Like it's, it's a great feed.
Speaker:It's like an.
Speaker:Features are amazing.
Speaker:Features will be one of the reasons people buy, but it's not the reason.
Speaker:So if you're coming to any type of build or any contractor thinking like,
Speaker:this is the thing that's going to like, turn this all around for us, that's not
Speaker:always like the most like grounded place.
Speaker:And there's like a lot of expectations there.
Speaker:So I really the, yes, this is good.
Speaker:This is going to make our experience even better, make it more scalable.
Speaker:let's look at it from that perspective.
Speaker:Totally.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Well, Dielle, thank you so much for being here.
Speaker:Tell the folks where they can find you and tell them about Liberation and maybe
Speaker:tell them about both your programs and see which one is the best fit for them.
Speaker:Awesome.
Speaker:Of course.
Speaker:So you can find me anywhere.
Speaker:Dielle Charan, Dielle Charan on Instagram, Dielle Charan on YouTube,
Speaker:Dielle Charan website, anywhere, Dielle Charan, and I have two offers, five
Speaker:figure freedom and six figure Liberation.
Speaker:You can learn.
Speaker:We talked a lot about Liberation today.
Speaker:You can learn about Liberation.
Speaker:If you go to Dielle Charan.
Speaker:com slash mastermind and you can get all the details there.
Speaker:Beautiful.
Speaker:Thank you so much.
Speaker:And if you're interested in a software build, we do offer
Speaker:these at Systems Over Stress.
Speaker:So there'll be links in the show notes for that.
Speaker:And we'll see you on the next episode.
Speaker:If you are committed to getting your client's results and creating
Speaker:the go-to coaching program in your industry, we want you to join us.
Speaker:Click that subscribe button on your favorite podcast app or YouTube
Speaker:to see all the system strategies and behind the scenes stories of
Speaker:what it takes to create the most impactful coaching program you can.
