0:36
Hello, hello. I'm so happy you are here. Um, I don't know, I, my brain might have left the building, so we'll see. We will see. But if you were listening last week, then you know that I am coming in with a conversation about mindset and sales. I am just going to be very open with you right now - this could be a little tough love, so just be prepared. The only reason it's gonna be tough love is if you're connecting with what I'm talking about, like you're feeling it. You're like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Val shut up. I know, I know, I know, I know." And you probably do know, but you're going to need to hear it.

1:17
You're going to probably need to hear it from multiple people in multiple different ways. So let me be one of those ways to start it off. Why aren't you selling? Why are you allowing yourself to say, "I don't like to sell," and you're giving yourself permission to actually like, believe it and to like really hold onto it.


Are you feeling that? I've been there. I have been there so many times. And that was the reason why I wasn't making any sales. For one, I obviously was not even attempting to make very many sales. But for two, I was telling myself, "Well, it's because you're not really very good at it." It's like, "Well, of course I'm not good at it, I don't do it, let that sink in." You can't be good at sales, if you aren't selling.

2:05
And here's the tough love. If you are not going to be willing to sell, you need to stop being in business because you're not in business. And that's the tough love. That is the point that I had to get in my own head. It was the only thing that would get through my thick skull, was if I don't start making sales, which means actually working on the selling of my stuff, then I needed to shut my shit down. Because there is no business without sales. And that goes with services, that goes with everything.

2:47
If you are not willing to have a conversation in all of the ways that you can have a conversation - email, face to face, Zoom, you know, calls, you know, whatever you're doing, however the sales are going out there - if you are not willing to do any and all of that, then entrepreneurship is probably not for you. And dig into that. Dig into why you think you can have a business without doing the most important part.

3:19
'Cause here's what I would do. Here's what I would do. I would create the most beautiful workshops ever created. And when I thought I was being good, when I thought I was being so much better, you know, I would even set up that I would start marketing the week before, the week before the launch. And I'd send an email and then I wouldn't have any sales, and then I'd be all pissed off.

3:44
But I'm like, "I suck. That's why." Well, I sent one email to, in my case, a very unresponsive list, a very unengaged list, you know, for multiple reasons. One reason was because the list was not targeted. A second reason was because I didn't email very often so they really didn't know me. So how was I expecting to get traffic to my sales page? For one, how was I expecting to get sales?

4:16
And I can remember the very specific thing, that the moment when I really, really felt bopped upside the head with the fact it was absolutely doing it to myself. It was absolute sabotage, you know, because for me, if I didn't get that marketing part in there, if I wasn't actually doing the sales and I couldn't fail, then nobody can tell me that my stuff's garbage, and I couldn't fail. Because I failed on purpose. Obviously, subconsciously, I was failing on purpose. So I had control of the fail and how the reaction would be because it's scary to put your stuff out there. It is. It's scary.

4:48
So I did the tough love with you. I'm totally going to be honest. You really have to take that idea of sales, and what you are thinking about sales, the negative things that you're talking to yourself about sales, and you need to flip the conversation. And you might need the super tough love, like I had to do with myself.

5:20
And that's why I'm here. I'm not here to - this has absolutely nothing to do with you personally, or with your stuff. This is about the mindset of becoming an entrepreneur, of owning your own business. Instead of just, "I have a business and this is what I do. And gosh, I hope that people will come and get my stuff," and then beating yourself up every single day when there's no sales, when there's no notification of sales. I'm talking from experience. 

5:54
So, if you're connecting with anything, what I'm saying, hit me up, because I'm talking from experience. I've been there. Gosh, I still go there. Because there's still times where I'm like, "Oh, my god, is this one? Is this going to work?"

6:06
And I can feel the procrastination kick in. Because my brain always wants to go back to old habits, because old habits are comfy. So my brain wants to kick in and go, "Okay, well, I'll work on that tomorrow. I'll work on that tomorrow." And then next thing, you know, I'm creeping up on that deadline, which means that the sales are not going to come in, if I'm pushing a deadline, and not giving them enough time for people to get noticed.

6:31
So this is why I'm able to come at you with tough love is because I've been there. And none of the nice hand-holding conversations was helpful for me, none of that was helpful for me. I really had to get in my head and be a bitch in my own head to myself, of girl put your big girl panties on. And it's time. And it's time to do this.

6:57
'Cause I had to have the conversation with myself. Do I want to just shut my businesses down? I could. I could have. Absolutely. I am only in business because I want to, because I have goals. I have things that I want to hit. I have trips with my family that I want.

7:17
And I had to put all of that front and center of why do I want to do this. And why am I not? And I had to get over the scariness of putting myself out there. Because we're not ever going to please everybody, our stuff is not going to be for everyone. And that's okay. But it's still — I mean, if you're having a rough day, it's still gonna kick 'ya. It's still gonna kick 'ya and you're just like, "Oh, my God, everybody hates me."

7:45
It's like, no, maybe the one person who was having a bad day and they came at 'ya. That's it. That's it, it could happen. It can happen. But we get to delete those, we don't even have to pay attention to any of the negative things that come in. So that is one of the things that I do like to look at is okay, so when I'm looking at stuff that I don't want to do, or you know, self-sabotaging, or any of that, you know, what's the very worst that could happen?

8:11
What is the very worst thing that can happen? You know, one of the worst things that can happen is somebody takes your workshop, and they think it's absolute shit. And they come back, and they're just like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, you know, it could happen. Absolutely. But you get to take a look and see, is it constructive criticism? Or is it just their bad day unloading on you? You know? Is there things that you can learn from it? Or are they just negative people, and here's your refund, and go away and block, block, block, delete, you know, that's about one of the worst things that could happen, honestly.

8:44
You know, if you put it out there, and you're making sales, because the other thing is that all of a sudden, nobody buys — well, if you are marketing a little bit more ahead of time, like I said, I got to a point where I was like, yeah, it's five days before and look at me, and that, that was a good step for me. But if you are marketing, let's just use two weeks if you start marketing two weeks before, for a live event or whatever, and you're not seeing signups or you're not seeing sales, well then you get to have the chance because you gave yourself time, then you have the chance to do some tweaking on whatever your sales page, you know, for example, or you know, change your emails, you know, what's, what's not connecting, but it gives you the time in there to do it.

9:34
And then there's also the other thing. If it's a launch, and you plan on doing it again down the road. Well, now you know that you need to really like rip and tear on everything right? Because you weren't connecting. So next time you launch, you come at it at a totally different angle because they didn't connect — go through any any of the possibilities of what the negatives are for getting out there and making sales and putting yourself out there. It's not easy.

9:59
But I don't know what I talked about last week. This was why I wanted to talk about it this week, sales this week was because last week I was telling you. Just because we love our job, because we love our business, doesn't mean that every day is going to be unicorns and roses, and endless coffee. It doesn't mean that it's going to be great every single day and every single thing.

10:27
But sales has to be a top priority, or you're not in business. And I can say that because there was a lot of years I wasn't in business, a lot of years, because I wasn't making the sales. Because I wasn't making that priority. I was playing online, I learned a ton of stuff. It's all been useful now. But in the last few years, now I definitely have a business because I am out there and I am hustling and I am making sales.

10:57
And I know the word "hustler" has got this bad connotation, but you know what, sometimes you have to hustle, it's business. That's how we want to improve — there are going to be days where I am busting my ass and working a 10-hour day and loving it, loving it. Because I'm just in, I'm in a groove, we're going to do this. The next day, I might work an hour because guess what, I just worked two days where the work the day before. So I might just work an hour and that's okay.

11:26
But you have to be doing the ick stuff, the stuff that's icky to you. And I know for a lot of people, that's sales. So I really want you to pay attention. I'm gonna have to stop myself from saying "really," I'm doing it again. I probably do this, we do we need to really count? Maybe I need to really count so I can try and improve not using that word.

11:53
So, I want you to pay attention to sales. And when the word 'sales' pops into your head, what feeling are you having when you hear the word 'sales'? What is your body doing when I tell you to go make a fucking sale? What is your body doing immediately when I tell you go make a sale, go talk to somebody and go sell something? Does your body shut down? Your shoulders up about your elbows telling me to kiss my ass, tell me to kiss your ass? You don't wanna? I don't gotta. You know.

12:30
Is it like a total gut reaction of "No, I don't want to do this, and you can't make me"? Pay attention. Pay attention, because you want to be a business owner. And to be a business owner, you have to bring in money. Sales bring in money, new clients bring in money. So, I'll leave you with that.

12:54
But get over any conversation about "sales are icky." No, every single business, Nike does not care. They're not going to be in business if they don't make sales. Adidas, they don't care. Sales are not icky; sales are the only way to keep all of those people employed. Think of it that way, too.

13:18
That was something that also helped. I wanted to be able to outsource more. Because outsourcing makes me feel good. Like to be able to pay somebody else and know that they are going to be able to pay some of their bills, because I could bring them on for projects. That takes sales, that takes money.

13:38
So maybe that can be part of your process to switch to sales. You know, it's not about you. Maybe that'll help. I don't know, I don't know exactly what's going to help you because I don't know exactly what you're feeling when you think of sales and doing sales, you know, besides maybe some fear.

13:57
So, all right. So, a bit of tough love, but I'm giving you how-to. I want you to be in business. And I want you to have a thriving business. So, we want you to make sales. I want you to go make sales right now. Like, go pick a product, go pick a service and go talk to somebody right now, right now while you're feeling amped up.

14:19
All right. Thanks for being here. I'll chat at you next week.