Jennifer Takagi:
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Jennifer, welcome to Destin for success.
Jennifer Takagi:
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I'm your host, Jennifer Takagi and I have a super fun,
Jennifer Takagi:
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informative guest today, and I can't wait today we have
Jennifer Takagi:
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Virginia muskies, and we're going to talk about
Jennifer Takagi:
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collaboration, and building your business on collaboration.
Jennifer Takagi:
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Virginia is a sought after speaker, podcast host and mentor
Jennifer Takagi:
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who believes in the transformative power of
Jennifer Takagi:
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authentic human connection. Her work has helped 1000s of
Jennifer Takagi:
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professionals overcome networking frustrations. Haven't
Jennifer Takagi:
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we had those build high quality partnerships and achieve their
Jennifer Takagi:
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business goals with joy and purpose when she's not helping
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others create meaningful connections? You can find
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Virginia inspiring audiences on her business by referral podcast
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or leading impactful networking events. Virginia, thanks for
Jennifer Takagi:
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being here. We know each other from multiple like
Virginia Muzquiz:
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circles. Oh, we've definitely crossed paths,
Virginia Muzquiz:
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but never had a chance to actually sit down and have a
Virginia Muzquiz:
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conversation. So this is really awesome. Thanks, Jennifer. I
Jennifer Takagi:
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know it's fun. We met on the marketers cruise
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last year, and then again this year, and and then we work with
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Angel tussy and her, you know, have been in her stuff too. So
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super fun to have all the all the different connections. I
Jennifer Takagi:
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just want to jump right in on it. Like, I think referrals and
Jennifer Takagi:
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collaborations are amazing. I don't really do it as well as I
Jennifer Takagi:
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should, slash could. So how did you get into this? Like, what
Jennifer Takagi:
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led you to it? And what do we need to know?
Virginia Muzquiz:
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You know, I I got my start. Every time
Virginia Muzquiz:
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somebody asked me that question, I want to break into song and
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sing when I was a young warthog, anyway, but when I was a kid, my
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dad was an entrepreneur, and everybody knew John, so we would
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go downtown to the Union Hotel. We'd walk in, and the whole bar
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would be like John. It was like an episode from cheers. So like
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I learned connecting with people authentically in business from
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my dad, who was an entrepreneur, and I actually went into
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education. So my, like, all of my college degrees and
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everything are in education. And when I moved to St Louis to do
Virginia Muzquiz:
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my PhD work, I ended up having a family and deciding that I was
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going to stay but I didn't want to stay in education because I
Virginia Muzquiz:
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was overqualified for any sort of, like, high school positions,
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which is where I started. But if I wanted to go the doctoral
Virginia Muzquiz:
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route, then that was going to mean that I was going to not get
Virginia Muzquiz:
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tenure in St Louis. So I was either going to have to just be
Virginia Muzquiz:
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an adjunct making no money at the local community college, or
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I was going to have to follow the tenure process, which is
Virginia Muzquiz:
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like every seven years, you get booted out and you have to go
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somewhere else and beg for tenure. And I thought, like, I
Virginia Muzquiz:
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don't want to move my kids at 12, you know, like, the more and
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my husband. How am I supposed to ask my husband to, like, move
Virginia Muzquiz:
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with me seven times for a career I'm not even thrilled with,
Virginia Muzquiz:
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like, my job. My job was to psychoanalyze fictional
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characters and report my findings for discussion. And
Virginia Muzquiz:
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that sounds like a lot. The more I talk, you know, the more we
Virginia Muzquiz:
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were talking about whether or not Jane Eyre, you know, had
Virginia Muzquiz:
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gender identity issues, the more I realized that these people
Virginia Muzquiz:
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were crazy because there were real world problems happening,
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and I wanted to do something different. So I decided to stay
Virginia Muzquiz:
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at home with my kids, and that got old really fast. So one day,
Virginia Muzquiz:
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Linda came over. This is the perfect referral story. Linda
Virginia Muzquiz:
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came over and said, Hey, if you sign up and I sign up, Julie
Virginia Muzquiz:
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will get her car. And I was like, well, Far be it for me to
Virginia Muzquiz:
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force Julie to ride on a skateboard to work every day. So
Virginia Muzquiz:
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sure. Awesome lipstick. Why not? So never had any intention of
Virginia Muzquiz:
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selling it, never had any intention of doing anything with
Virginia Muzquiz:
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it. Just didn't want to be, you know, the one who kept Julie
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from winning her car and went to the first Monday night success
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meeting, and Terry the director, was going around the room, like,
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Jennifer, what are you going to do this week? And Jennifer would
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be like, I'm going to sell 10 lipsticks. And she'd be like, I
Virginia Muzquiz:
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believe in you. That's Oh my god. So she goes around the
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circle, and I'm like, I thought I was coming for coffee and
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crumpets. I'm not selling this crap to anybody. And she goes,
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she goes, I believe in you, and goes to the next person. And it
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made me so mad that I went out and sold stuff, and I was the
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number one Mary Kay sales representative in the St Louis
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market for like years after that, winning diamond rings and
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whatever. So that was like my first sort of collaboration,
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because you learn to collaborate with your hostesses. So you find
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a hostess, you turn that hostess into a referral source, and then
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you know, you then use the referral chain process and
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network marketing to make that happen. Join BNI business
Virginia Muzquiz:
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network international as a Mary Kay lady, and that was great,
Virginia Muzquiz:
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until it wasn't and I closed. Was my Mary Kay business, and
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started working for a guy who owned Sylvan Learning Center
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franchises. And the first year that I worked for him, joined
Virginia Muzquiz:
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BNI because I was in an area where I didn't know a lot of
Virginia Muzquiz:
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people, so I needed to borrow other people's influence in
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order to get my bearings. And after the first year, there just
Virginia Muzquiz:
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the phone wasn't ringing, and there just wasn't enough money
Virginia Muzquiz:
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in it for me to keep doing it. And so we started looking at the
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No Child Left Behind Act in the process of that. So here again,
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I'm like, Oh, great. Okay, I don't know how to do that, so I
Virginia Muzquiz:
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call up my mentor. Name is Teresa Simon. She's a owner of
Virginia Muzquiz:
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the BNI franchises. And I'm like, I don't know how to do
Virginia Muzquiz:
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this. And she's like, sure, you do. You just need to build a
Virginia Muzquiz:
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Power team. And I was like, Oh, yes, I do know that, because B
Virginia Muzquiz:
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and I taught me how to do that. So I went out into a into school
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districts, and I just started creating power teams. So I
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started finding all different people that were serving the
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same kids in ways that I didn't, who could then recommend me to
Virginia Muzquiz:
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the families, and in return, I found out what they needed and
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provided reciprocity. I understood that they couldn't
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give me all the referrals because there were other people
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who had skin in that game as well. So I just asked for third
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graders, because you know why in the world of education, you can
Virginia Muzquiz:
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have the most success, and they attend all the sessions, which
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means they're the most profitable. So lesson number one
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in building a great network is find a bunch of partners who
Virginia Muzquiz:
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know, who have in their network your most lucrative, most likely
Virginia Muzquiz:
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to be successful client and create reciprocal relationships
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with them. So I did that the first year we did about $186,000
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in revenue, which was better than zero. But by the fifth year
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of doing it, I had taught nine other people how to do that
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process in different school districts and areas in the
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territory. And the last day that I worked there, I turned in $2.5
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million in revenue by building a team of people who could build
Virginia Muzquiz:
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quarter million dollar business units. And then Theresa came
Virginia Muzquiz:
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back to me and said, Can you teach the members how to do
Virginia Muzquiz:
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that. And we bought a friend. We bought an educational franchise
Virginia Muzquiz:
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called the referral Institute. I did that for five years that
Virginia Muzquiz:
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that doesn't exist anymore. So I opened my own master connectors
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business in 2017 and I've been helping entrepreneurs build a
Virginia Muzquiz:
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quarter million dollar revenue stream by referral without any
Virginia Muzquiz:
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paid traffic or complicated technology for the last eight
Virginia Muzquiz:
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years.
Jennifer Takagi:
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Wow, I am so impressive because it, it is all
Jennifer Takagi:
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about the connections and who you know, and like bringing
Jennifer Takagi:
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those people in. Oh my gosh. So I'm an entrepreneur, and I know
Jennifer Takagi:
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a few people, but I don't, I don't like ask for the thing.
Jennifer Takagi:
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Maybe I don't know what to ask for. So is there like a clarity
Jennifer Takagi:
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piece that comes in when you, like, start seeking out who
Jennifer Takagi:
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would be a good partner?
Virginia Muzquiz:
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Yeah, there is. So the first there's a
Virginia Muzquiz:
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clarity piece that you need. And then there's also what I call a
Virginia Muzquiz:
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curation piece that you need. So the clarity piece, there are six
Virginia Muzquiz:
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basic things that you need to have clarity on. And you need
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these. You know, an entrepreneur Jennifer needs these, whether
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they're selling on their own, like they're direct prospecting
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and pitching themselves, or if they're asking a partner to
Virginia Muzquiz:
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pitch for them, because it should be the same pitch. If I
Virginia Muzquiz:
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pitch for me and you pitch for me, it should be the same pitch,
Virginia Muzquiz:
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right? It should be the same but it should be more effective when
Virginia Muzquiz:
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you do it, because it's a third party endorsement. It's not me
Virginia Muzquiz:
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going I'm so great, because what am I going to say about myself?
Virginia Muzquiz:
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Hi, Jennifer, I suck. Business with me. Like, even the people
Virginia Muzquiz:
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who suck say they're great, right? Like, because what do
Virginia Muzquiz:
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they say? They say 90% of drivers claim they're beyond
Virginia Muzquiz:
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they're above average. You know, like, we all, none of us think
Virginia Muzquiz:
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we stink at it so, and if we did, we wouldn't tell anybody,
Virginia Muzquiz:
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right? So the third party endorsement makes the clarity
Virginia Muzquiz:
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more leverage. It's a way to leverage that clarity. But
Virginia Muzquiz:
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here's what you need to have clarity around. One are the
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people that you want to serve. And there are two levels of
Virginia Muzquiz:
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that. The first one is your audience, which is, you know,
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the people that are maybe like, they're interested in your
Virginia Muzquiz:
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topic. And maybe they're sort of problem aware. They're like, I
Virginia Muzquiz:
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kind of struggle with that topic. It might not be their top
Virginia Muzquiz:
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of mind problem, their number one problem, their biggest, you
Virginia Muzquiz:
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know, challenge, but they're kind of interested in the topic.
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That's your audience. Now, inside your audience is your
Virginia Muzquiz:
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avatar, and those are the people who have recognized that I have
Virginia Muzquiz:
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a network that does not work for me. I go out there, I network. I
Virginia Muzquiz:
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collect business cards, like, do you have one of these? How many
Virginia Muzquiz:
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of these do you have? How many stacks of these do you have with
Virginia Muzquiz:
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rubber bands around them that you dump into a drawer and then
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you build another pile, and you dump it into the drawer, and you
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never want to open the drawer, because it's the drawer of
Virginia Muzquiz:
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shame, like when you open the drawer, you're like, I suck
Virginia Muzquiz:
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every time you open the drawer, because you didn't do anything
Virginia Muzquiz:
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with this, right? So, yeah, no. I mean, we all do it. We all do
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it, right? So the first thing really is to get clear on the
Virginia Muzquiz:
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audience, but then it's also to get clear on the avatar. So just
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like not all daisies are all daisies are flowers, but not all
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flowers are daisies, you need to decide, are you marketing to
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daisies? Are you marketing to peonies? Are you marketing to
Virginia Muzquiz:
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yellow roses? What are you marketing to? So that they are
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problem aware, they know they have the problem, their solution
Virginia Muzquiz:
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seeking. So inside your audience, there are these
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avatars that are problem aware, they are solution seeking, and
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they may even be solution aware. They might be like, I need a
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coach, and then they're going to go out and figure out who do
Virginia Muzquiz:
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they want to work with and be most aware. And that's when they
Virginia Muzquiz:
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become aware of you. So you need to be really clear on all of
Virginia Muzquiz:
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that. The second thing you want to be very clear about is, what
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is their pain point? Not what I think the pain point is, what
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they think the pain point is. So a great example is a
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chiropractor knows that the cause of all of your ailments
Virginia Muzquiz:
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are slight misalignments in your spine called subluxations. But
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if I go to somebody and say, like, I would like to fix your
Virginia Muzquiz:
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subluxations, I'd be like, whatever. Like, I did not wake
Virginia Muzquiz:
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up this morning thinking, Oh, these subluxations have to go,
Virginia Muzquiz:
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No, I think, Wow, I can't move my neck. Or, Wow, my back hurts.
Virginia Muzquiz:
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Or, Wow, I have a migraine all the time, something, right? So
Virginia Muzquiz:
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we need to call the problem what the audience and what the avatar
Virginia Muzquiz:
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call the problem, not what we call the problem. Um, so that's,
Virginia Muzquiz:
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that's number two. The third thing is, you gotta have clarity
Virginia Muzquiz:
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about your promise. Again. When I say my promise, right, my
Virginia Muzquiz:
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promise is, is, is multi layered. I'm going to help a
Virginia Muzquiz:
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solo entrepreneur so you know exactly who you are. It's you,
Virginia Muzquiz:
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you do all the things, you wear, all the hats, and I'm going to
Virginia Muzquiz:
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help you make a solid six figure revenue stream. Why? Because
Virginia Muzquiz:
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that's what most solo entrepreneurs long for dream of
Virginia Muzquiz:
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if they could just get to six figures. Right? So I'm going to
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do that, and I'm going to do it, no paid traffic, no crazy tech.
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Because what are the two things? I don't have any money to pay
Virginia Muzquiz:
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for. I don't have any money to do paid traffic, and I need
Virginia Muzquiz:
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simple tech. A tech, like most solo entrepreneurs, are not
Virginia Muzquiz:
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techie. They speak and they talk to people and they heal and they
Virginia Muzquiz:
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but they're not techy. They're not building funnels. And so I
Virginia Muzquiz:
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have a I use, I use Google workspace. So I teach people how
Virginia Muzquiz:
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to build, like, a quarter million dollar business on
Virginia Muzquiz:
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Google workspace for $14 a month. Like, it's not that hard.
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You don't need a whole lot of schmoozy stuff to do it. So once
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you're clear on your person, once you're clear on the
Virginia Muzquiz:
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problem, that the pain, the way they describe it, and the
Virginia Muzquiz:
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promise that they want from you, then you want to get into what I
Virginia Muzquiz:
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call the I lost my I just lost my train of thought, the
Virginia Muzquiz:
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process. So you want to have a simple and easy to follow
Virginia Muzquiz:
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process. My friend Johnny Byrne, he's like, he's got this process
Virginia Muzquiz:
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that teaches you how to do great presentations online. You design
Virginia Muzquiz:
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it. You design, you develop, you deliver. Three steps. You know,
Virginia Muzquiz:
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when you start designing, when you stop designing, when you
Virginia Muzquiz:
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stop designing, you start developing, when you start when
Virginia Muzquiz:
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you finish developing, you deliver. And then you're done.
Virginia Muzquiz:
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You have the milestones in place. So what is that process
Virginia Muzquiz:
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that you're going to use. The The fifth thing is your
Virginia Muzquiz:
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packaging or your pathway. What is the client going to do and
Virginia Muzquiz:
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how are you going to deliver it? Is it going to be coaching? Is
Virginia Muzquiz:
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it going to be laser coaching? Are there videos? Are there
Virginia Muzquiz:
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meetings? Is there one on one? Mentorship? Is it a mastermind?
Virginia Muzquiz:
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What is the, what is the method that you're going to use in
Virginia Muzquiz:
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terms of delivery? And the last thing is your pricing, and most
Virginia Muzquiz:
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people are priced all wonky and wrong, so y'all are pricing
Virginia Muzquiz:
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yourself way too low, and you bet you're just getting lost in
Virginia Muzquiz:
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a sea of yuck because you just don't stand out. No, you can
Virginia Muzquiz:
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always say it's $100,000 but for you, I'll give you 90% off in
Virginia Muzquiz:
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exchange for a testimonial. You'll get some attention. I
Virginia Muzquiz:
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mean, you gotta, you gotta be priced properly against your
Virginia Muzquiz:
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competition, so that the clarity around that right, the clarity
Virginia Muzquiz:
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around that is, is really key. And then the next part is when
Virginia Muzquiz:
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you look at your network so you open up your drawer of shame.
Virginia Muzquiz:
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And you get all those business cards out, need to look at a
Virginia Muzquiz:
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business card and be like, Okay, this guy is he a referral
Virginia Muzquiz:
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partner? He's a he is with celerity Media Group, so he
Virginia Muzquiz:
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clearly is doing some sort of digital marketing, something or
Virginia Muzquiz:
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other. So could he be a client? Yep, could he for me? Could he
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:15:18
be client? Yep, could he be a referral partner? Yep, he goes
Virginia Muzquiz:
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in the both bucket. So if I look at this financial advisor, I go,
Virginia Muzquiz:
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Oh, that could be a client, because they're probably not
Virginia Muzquiz:
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going to refer me. So I put that in the client pile. This guy is
Virginia Muzquiz:
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a department manager of due diligence. I have no idea what
Virginia Muzquiz:
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that is. He can go in the neither pile, right? Like so you
Virginia Muzquiz:
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gotta sort them. Just sort them. So you know what it is. Could
Virginia Muzquiz:
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they be a partner, right? So, could they be a client? Might
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:15:46
they would? Are they an audience member? Are they a potential
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:15:50
referral source, or are they both, or are they neither? And
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:15:52
you can just throw those away. Why have them sitting there? If
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:15:56
you don't need them personally, I don't actually throw them
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:15:59
away. I do like an auction. Like, hey guys, I have cards
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:16:02
from all these people. You know, we, a bunch of us, get together,
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:16:05
and we're like, here's all the cards I don't want. Does anybody
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:16:07
want to look through these? And they're like, oh, man, this
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:16:09
one's hot. And I'm like, okay, great. I got your card from
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:16:12
Virginia. Musk, super easy entry, right? So we have these
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:16:15
card swaps, um, so that's just, you know, you just have to have
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:16:21
clarity around around those two things, and then you need a
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:16:24
strategy for each of the like, how do you going to reach out to
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:16:27
somebody who could be a potential client? How are you
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:16:30
going to reach out to someone who could be a potential source,
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:16:33
and if they could be both, how are you going to do that? So you
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:16:35
just need those three approaches. So most people
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:16:38
aren't following it because they don't know what to do because
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:16:41
they don't have organization and strategy around that.
Jennifer Takagi:
00:16:45
Gosh, I love that. And I kind of glanced over
Jennifer Takagi:
00:16:47
on my desk, and I don't know how many years this has been sitting
Jennifer Takagi:
00:16:50
there, I'd have to pick it up to look and so that means it just
Jennifer Takagi:
00:16:53
needs to go in the trash can, right? No, I ordered new
Jennifer Takagi:
00:16:56
business
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:16:57
cards. Are they your business cards or are
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:16:59
they other people's business cards. Yeah, they're mine. Oh,
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:17:02
those came, yeah,
Jennifer Takagi:
00:17:03
they're, they're, they came in which the
Jennifer Takagi:
00:17:06
company I use. They're usually perfect, but they, they're not
Jennifer Takagi:
00:17:09
quite right. And I don't know why I kept them, like, I
Jennifer Takagi:
00:17:12
wouldn't give it to you, because you'd look at it and go, that
Jennifer Takagi:
00:17:15
there's something not quite
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:17:18
here. Okay? I don't know how, I don't know
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:17:20
how, how PG Your show is, but I, I got a business card sent back
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:17:27
to me, and my name was spelled V, I G, I n, a, Oh, okay. And I
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:17:34
handed the card to Michael Mayer, the author of seven
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:17:38
levels of communication, and he's like, did your parents
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:17:42
really name you after the lady parts? I had just gotten a box,
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:17:49
and I was in such a hurry I grabbed the box, I'd even look
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:17:51
at the cards and literally, like, like, one of the top
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:17:54
influencers in the referral space goes, Did your parents
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:17:57
really name you after lady
Jennifer Takagi:
00:17:58
bits? Not really what that was meant to
Jennifer Takagi:
00:18:02
meant to be. Yeah, it's very interesting, because usually I
Jennifer Takagi:
00:18:05
can lay out things and I'm like, Oh, that's not quite right, and
Jennifer Takagi:
00:18:07
I can fix it, but somehow, either I didn't fix it, or they
Jennifer Takagi:
00:18:10
didn't fix it. And so I'm like, and I just looked over there. I
Jennifer Takagi:
00:18:13
was like, why is that still safe?
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:18:17
Fire starter. But you know, if now to the
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:18:20
point I thought You thought, I thought you were saying you had
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:18:22
a big stack of cards that were like a year old, like, Oh, I do.
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:18:25
I do. Those are not. Those are not. Those are not fire starter,
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:18:32
okay, what you do? No, what you do. You grab those cards. I'm
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:18:36
not kidding you. You grab those cards, and you divide them into
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:18:39
the piles that I told you. And you go to LinkedIn, and you say,
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:18:43
Hey, we met a while back. Thought I'd connect here. That's
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:18:48
it. You may not remember we met a while back. Thought we thought
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:18:52
I'd connect here. Okay, some people are going to be like, Oh,
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:18:56
hey, thanks for reaching out. I don't remember meeting you.
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:18:59
You're like, great, that's okay. Let's meet now.
Jennifer Takagi:
00:19:03
Okay, during I'm a note taker. I wrote that
Jennifer Takagi:
00:19:06
down
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:19:07
during COVID, when the world, like, first shut
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:19:10
down. And I'm like, Okay, I just moved 58 BNI chapters online. I
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:19:14
have no idea what I'm doing. I need to, like, pivot. I'm
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:19:18
watching Jay facet pivot. I'm watching him on a guy. They were
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:19:21
my mentors. And I'm like, Oh, my God, how do I pivot? And then
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:19:24
there were days when I was just super depressed, and I was like,
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:19:27
Oh, I'm so depressed. And I thought, wow, if I'm depressed,
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:19:29
I wonder who else is depressed. And so I found this big box of,
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:19:32
like, other people's business cards, and I just started
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:19:35
calling people out of the blue, like, Jennifer, hi. My name is
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:19:38
Virginia muskies, and your business card is in a box, in a
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:19:41
shoe box on my desk. So I'm just calling because COVID, this
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:19:45
thing sucks. Are you okay? Like I'm lone. Are you lonely? I'm
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:19:49
lonely. Are you lonely? And we, I did hundreds of 1000s of
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:19:53
dollars of businesses and referrals in COVID from that
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:19:56
shoe box full of business cards I made. I I made. Connections. I
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:20:00
took notes. I was like, Who are you looking to me? Like, who
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:20:03
would be helpful for you to meet? Since we can't network,
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:20:05
I'm just going to figure out who I know that you might not know.
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:20:07
Maybe you would do the same thing. Couple people got their
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:20:10
shoe boxes out, started doing the same thing, and that's where
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:20:13
the the shoe box exchange thing happened. But there were, you
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:20:16
know, we just, we just sucked it up, and we were like, well, you
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:20:20
handed me your business card a long time ago, so I wonder if
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:20:22
you're still in business. I wonder if you're still meeting
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:20:25
people. I wonder I suck. I didn't follow up, but neither
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:20:27
did you.
Jennifer Takagi:
00:20:30
It's so true. I've heard this story several
Jennifer Takagi:
00:20:33
times from somebody who I'm gonna say they spoke on a
Jennifer Takagi:
00:20:38
summit, and they collected all these emails, and a number of
Jennifer Takagi:
00:20:43
months later they were going to speak on another summit. So they
Jennifer Takagi:
00:20:45
emailed all those people who had registered for the first one,
Jennifer Takagi:
00:20:49
and she got like, 70% unsubscribe and the other person
Jennifer Takagi:
00:20:54
said, Well, how did it go with inviting people? She goes,
Jennifer Takagi:
00:20:56
everybody unsubscribed, and she goes, Well, when was the last
Jennifer Takagi:
00:21:00
time you emailed him? And she was like, Well, I never did. It
Jennifer Takagi:
00:21:02
was like, Oh, so you collected their email and then you waited
Jennifer Takagi:
00:21:06
till you needed something and emailed him again. Like, yeah,
Jennifer Takagi:
00:21:10
that doesn't, that doesn't, right. That's that whole thing
Jennifer Takagi:
00:21:14
of, will you marry me on the first date? Kind of,
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:21:17
yeah. And, you know, there are, there are
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:21:19
formulas for writing great welcome series. And my good
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:21:24
friend Rob Goyette has 52 weeks every Monday, for your first
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:21:29
year, you're going to get, you know, a personal like an A
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:21:32
nurture email from Rob with a little, you know, like a little
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:21:37
story and a tip or whatever. And you know, those are really
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:21:42
valuable to build so that people are consistently hearing from
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:21:46
you, you know, once a month, once a month, once a month, or
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:21:50
once a week or whatever, with some level of consistency. But
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:21:54
you know, you're not perfect. Nobody's perfect. We don't all
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:21:57
follow up the way we're supposed to follow up. And sometimes you
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:22:00
just have to say, oh man, so sorry. You know, so sorry I have
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:22:05
and I don't know how kosher this is. I mean, I have reached out
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:22:08
to people from my Gmail and said, Hey, Jennifer, I noticed
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:22:11
you unsubscribed from my email list. What did I do wrong? And
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:22:15
and I said, I won't email you again after this. Like I'm
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:22:18
emailing you from my personal account asking, What did I do
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:22:20
wrong? And some people are like, leave me alone. And I'm like,
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:22:23
Okay, I'm done. Like, I won't, I won't. I said it at the very
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:22:26
beginning. If you don't answer, I will not communicate with you
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:22:29
again. I swear. I just want to know. And usually it's because
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:22:32
they join, like, because I promoted somebody, or I made an
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:22:36
ask, and i i They somehow got on the email master too soon,
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:22:41
because I'm they're supposed to the way my automations are set
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:22:44
up. They're supposed to be in the welcome series, and about
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:22:47
halfway through, then they get the email master tag, and then
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:22:50
they should be getting emails. And I was like, Oh, crap, you
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:22:53
know? Like, I screwed up my automation, so I apologize for
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:22:58
that. And then they're like, Yeah, I get it, you know? I'm
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:22:59
like, it click here if you want to resubscribe. And some do and
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:23:03
some don't, right? So that's just a tip for everybody before,
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:23:07
like, put people in your nurture sequence, in your welcome
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:23:10
sequence, and that should end with an invitation to a
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:23:14
conversation or to something like or somewhere in there you
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:23:17
want to invite them to have a personal interaction with you.
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:23:20
That's not a sales call. And right around that, right after
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:23:24
that email, that's when I subscribed them to the email
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:23:27
list. So I make put them on the general email list.
Jennifer Takagi:
00:23:31
Well, I recently did that because some
Jennifer Takagi:
00:23:33
people had actually completed some forms, and then I did not
Jennifer Takagi:
00:23:39
follow up. And so I did. I sent him an email from my Gmail
Jennifer Takagi:
00:23:43
account, and I was like, Hey, you completed this form. This
Jennifer Takagi:
00:23:46
was what you said. I didn't follow up, but I want to follow
Jennifer Takagi:
00:23:50
up now and and, you know, offer a call about this and so, but
Jennifer Takagi:
00:23:56
yeah, it was like, I don't really want it to go through my
Jennifer Takagi:
00:23:58
main CRM, because this is, I want them to see that this is
Jennifer Takagi:
00:24:02
like, actually, from me, from me.
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:24:04
And another thing you can do, and you, you
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:24:07
know, you are great on video, right? So you can use loom and
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:24:12
actually create personal videos that are like, hey, you know
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:24:16
what? I'm just dropping into your inbox to say, you know,
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:24:19
thanks for filling out XYZ form. I, you know, lost track of time,
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:24:24
didn't get back with you, but you you do matter to me. So I
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:24:26
just wanted to say, hey, and would love to chat with you. If
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:24:29
you'd like to connect. Just click on this button here, and
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:24:32
let's get on for 15 minutes so you can tell me about you. And
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:24:34
when I get on those 15 minute calls, I don't make it about me
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:24:37
at all. I just like sit and listen to people what they have
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:24:40
to say, and see if I can connect them to somebody or be helpful
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:24:43
in some way. And so those calls are really valuable as well.
Jennifer Takagi:
00:24:47
I love that. It's such a great idea. You've
Jennifer Takagi:
00:24:49
given us so many good ideas on things to do to get started. So
Jennifer Takagi:
00:24:55
I know in the show notes we'll have your LinkedIn. I also know
Jennifer Takagi:
00:24:59
you've. Got a super simple and awesome opt in. Tell us what
Jennifer Takagi:
00:25:05
your OPT in gift is, your CCTC or CTC
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:25:10
report? Yeah, so it is a free report that I
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:25:15
did called how to crack the collaboration code so you can
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:25:18
find, cultivate and monetize strategic partnerships that will
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:25:22
grow and scale your business. So it's all of it's all the tips
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:25:26
and secrets I reveal a lot of the myths and the things that
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:25:30
maybe you are watching other people doing and thinking, well,
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:25:33
if they're doing it, I should doing it. I should be doing it,
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:25:35
and you shouldn't. And and so, you know, there's a whole lot of
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:25:41
like, just stop doing this and instead do that, right? So it's
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:25:45
a, it's a nice, it's a nice segue into, into really, really
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:25:52
understanding why your network is working or isn't working and
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:25:57
what you can do about it.
Jennifer Takagi:
00:25:59
Well, I love that you said what you know you
Jennifer Takagi:
00:26:01
shouldn't necessarily be doing that I had a little period of my
Jennifer Takagi:
00:26:05
entrepreneurial journey where the word just would trigger me
Jennifer Takagi:
00:26:10
into like self doubt and frustration, and probably in the
Jennifer Takagi:
00:26:16
end, a lot of anger and and it was because I worked with
Jennifer Takagi:
00:26:19
coaches that said, just do this, then that will happen. And and
Jennifer Takagi:
00:26:25
the just do this ended up being extremely complicated. Required
Jennifer Takagi:
00:26:28
a lot of tech hiring a lot of people to help with the tech,
Jennifer Takagi:
00:26:32
and then the that never came to fruition. And so, like, I love
Jennifer Takagi:
00:26:39
that you're like, there are some things we just don't need to be
Jennifer Takagi:
00:26:41
doing as entrepreneurs, and we need to focus on the things that
Jennifer Takagi:
00:26:44
we're good at, and do that, and do more of that, and connect
Jennifer Takagi:
00:26:47
with the right people.
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:26:48
So yeah, and you don't need a lot. Here's a
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:26:50
really interesting thing, and I'll just leave you with this
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:26:53
thought. A lot of solo entrepreneurs come into the
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:26:55
space, coaches, consultants, you know, experts. They come into
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:26:59
the space and the first thing they think they need is, like, a
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:27:02
whole bunch of tech, and they need a CRM, and they need a
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:27:04
website, and they needed this, and I needed that, and I'm like,
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:27:07
you know, you're going to spend 14 months spending money before
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:27:10
you ever make a dime, so and wait for it, and then you're
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:27:13
going to spend all that money, and you're going to make it all
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:27:16
happen, and it's going to be non converting, because you've
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:27:18
actually set yourself up for failure by creating a website
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:27:23
that you like, but you don't know if you're if the person
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:27:25
looking at it is going to care. So it's really important that
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:27:28
you build out something work your business manually. There's
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:27:34
a way to do some minor automations using Google
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:27:38
workspace and save yourself the hassle and the distraction of
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:27:44
complex, complicated tech, until you've got something that's
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:27:48
converting and you actually you're like, yeah, like $1,500 a
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:27:52
month for go high level makes a lot of sense, and I already have
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:27:55
funnels that work, so now all I have to do is translate them
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:28:00
into go high level, rather than building everything in go high
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:28:04
level, only to find that it's a waste of time. And I can only
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:28:07
say that because I have wasted 10s of 1000s of dollars on crap
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:28:11
that doesn't convert because I listen to everybody else. And
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:28:15
got Infusionsoft with Twilio with plus this with every
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:28:19
integration known to man, I mean, and then paid traffic to
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:28:23
stuff that doesn't convert, like it was a complete and utter
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:28:26
money pit. And I'm on a crusade, don't do it yet. I'm not saying
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:28:32
don't do it at all. I'm saying, if you're a solopreneur and you
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:28:35
have not cracked a quarter million dollars, don't do it
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:28:39
yet. Where
Jennifer Takagi:
00:28:40
have you been the last eight years of my life?
Jennifer Takagi:
00:28:44
Like, I mean, here I am. Here you are. Thank God you finally
Jennifer Takagi:
00:28:49
showed up at the right time, apparently, um, but I did, like
Jennifer Takagi:
00:28:55
I did all the things everybody said, you know, just do this
Jennifer Takagi:
00:28:58
that will happen. Like, who finds my website? Like, nobody
Jennifer Takagi:
00:29:01
finds my website unless I give them the link, because I met
Jennifer Takagi:
00:29:04
them and they need to go to my website to book a call, right?
Jennifer Takagi:
00:29:06
Like, that's how that happens. But I did have a conversation
Jennifer Takagi:
00:29:10
with somebody recently, and she was like, it was going to be
Jennifer Takagi:
00:29:13
$10,000 to set up my Kajabi website. And I was like, Wait,
Jennifer Takagi:
00:29:17
stop, hold the phone. Like, what do you really need? And you
Jennifer Takagi:
00:29:20
know, now that I've lived it, i i can tell people you don't need
Jennifer Takagi:
00:29:24
all that. So I love that you've simplified it in so many ways
Jennifer Takagi:
00:29:29
for so many people, and made it where it's like, actually
Jennifer Takagi:
00:29:32
doable. Virginia, this has been a lovely conversation for me.
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:29:36
Thank you so much. I really, really
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:29:38
appreciate getting to come on the show and share. You're a lot
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:29:40
of fun. You're such a ball of energy. I love it. Love it so
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:29:43
much.
Jennifer Takagi:
00:29:44
Well, let's wrap it up with one last thing.
Jennifer Takagi:
00:29:46
What's your final thought when someone says success? What is
Jennifer Takagi:
00:29:50
your definition or idea of success? Or a takeaway for our
Jennifer Takagi:
00:29:54
listeners,
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:29:55
my definition of success is to experience
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:29:59
what. Want to experience in your life, to learn and grow in ways
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:30:06
that fill your soul and to contribute massively to what is
Virginia Muzquiz:
00:30:11
most important to you in the world.
Jennifer Takagi:
00:30:15
You heard it first here people. I'm Jennifer
Jennifer Takagi:
00:30:18
Takagi with destin for success, and I look forward to connecting
Jennifer Takagi:
00:30:21
with you soon. You.