- 011: All things Women in Business with Heidi Rowan
Heidi’s Story
- Heidi worked for an ad agency, radio, and selling internet to higher education.
- She got laid off from her job, and her dad recommended that she become an insurance agent at All-State.
- She started her agency from scratch in 2004 and grew pretty quickly. She opened a second office in 2008 right before the market crash.
How to get through difficult times
- Control what you can control. Let the other things go.
- Control your attitude.
- Be a positive leader.
Marketing and getting Leads
- You should have a lot of different sources for leads.
- Don’t put all of your lead generation in one bucket.
- When you have multiple sources of leads, if one lead source is underperforming one month, you’ll still be okay.
Being successful as a business owner
- Have a good attitude. Your employees will match the attitude that you bring inn.
- Know you’re core values and mission statement.
- Hire, fire, and evaluate on those core values. This will build a company culture around your values.
- These values and mission statement can be fluid. They can change. That said, you shouldn’t be changing them all of the time.
- It’s easy to train skills and software, but you can’t train core values. Hire people that align with your values and train the skills.
How do you keep everything together?
- Hire the right people to do the right things. You won’t be good at everything.
Advice for new agency owners
- Find mentors or other people in the industry.
- Bounce ideas off of other business owners.
- Be willing to try new things.
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16m - Sep 1, 2020 - 010: Surround yourself with a tribe of mentors with Katlyn Eggar
About Katlyn
- Katlyn is currently the Director of Education and Development at Quantum Assurance International
- She started in the insurance industry in 2011. She started from scratch with her husband.
- Since they started from scratch, they had do everything from selling door to door and managing their phone system.
Tell us about the messy side of owning a bussiness
- There are a lot of difficult parts of growing a business.
- You HAVE TO be willing to do the hard things.
- There will always be hard things about business, but it will get easier.
How to get through the tough times of business
- You need to have moments to shift your perspective
- Get a good night sleep
- Pick up a phone and talk to a mentor
- Go listen to a podcast or do something entertaining.
- Don’t give up! Keep going.
Getting input and Mentorship
- Mentorship is important because you need a constant stream of input and positivity.
- Podcasts can be a great source of inspiration, input, and positivity.
- There are a lot of people in the industry that you can learn from.
- A life coach can also be a great source of mentorship and positivity.
- Social media can also be a great place to find people that can help you.
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19m - Jul 24, 2020 - 009: A Positive Attitude in Your Professional and Personal Life Jennifer Matthews
About Jennifer
- Jennifer has been an Allstate agent for 9 years, and owned an agency for 7 years.
- She has been in the insurance industry for 17 years.
- She loves it, and can’t imagine doing anything else.
- She is passionate about growing other people in her agency.
How to keep a smile on your face?
- Everyone has a calling on this earth. If you are working to fulfill this calling and do God’s work, you’ll be happy.
- Understand that it’s okay to make mistakes as long as you learn from them.
- Plant and grow or you’ll have to go.
What qualities do you look for when hiring?
- Personality is more important than skills because skills can be taught.
- Favorite question to ask: Tell us about the hardest decision you’ve ever had to make.
- We look for:
- People with big hearts,
- kindness,
- people that volunteer,
- people that have a love of learning.
How do you keep your team motivated?
- We play a lot of games.
- We dance every day at 3.
- We make music videos and take pictures.
- We have a lot of dresses up days.
- We love to have a good time.
- It’s important to make sure that your day is fun. You need to make a good company culture. Work hard, play harder!
How do you deal with competition?
- We are a team!
- We all have different skills and different abilities.
- There is a lot of competition, and we have a stack rank, but we also work as a team.
- We do a lot of split commissions, and encourage helping each other out.
How does the positive environment relate to sales?
- When you’re in the right mindset, you’ll perform better.
- Each day, we start with gratitude and goal setting mode.
- This helps our team have a growth mindset and it helps them perform better.
- If people enjoy their real life, they’ll bring that joy to their work life.
How have you stayed positive during the pandemic?
- I take things one day at a time.
- I have an incredible tribe of people that I lean on and they lean on me.
- I have a great community of support.
- I watch the sunrise every morning and have a solid routine.
- If you’re having a rough day, start it over again at noon.
- Sometimes instead of one day at a time, take it one hour at a time.
- Today is a gift so unwrap it willingly.
- If you say something out loud, it is more likely to happen.
- Don’t be afraid to reach out for help when you need.
- Make the choice to be happy and present every day.
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15m - Jul 7, 2020 - 008: Being brave and fearless as she moves forward - Alison Doner
About Alison
- From Ohio.
- Mom of 4.
- Allison has 2 physical Allstate offices.
- She’s built a large team with Allstate, and been very successful there.
- Allison is a natural hard worker, and she is always going.
How to make difficult changes
- Alison has always been a hard worker, and some may even call her a workaholic.
- She would say that she wasn’t a workaholic, but instead she just loved what she did.
- In the last few years, it wasn’t feeling fun anymore. There were corporate changes at Allstate, and a lot fo pressure from clients and she just decided that it is time to transition out of Allstate.
- It’s a lot easier to make a brave decision if you are prepared. Have savings and a backup plan. Be independent enough to be able to make decisions for yourself.
- Be in control of your own life.
- Put a lot of time and effort into these big decisions.
- Self discovery can be hard. You need to be willing to look in the mirror and see the whole picture.
- Don’t define yourself as one thing. Be willing to change your mind and pivot.
- Sometimes you need to jump ship and come back later to grow.
- Making a change isn’t a failure.
- We are all works in progress, and we can all get better.
- Ask others for feedback from family, friends, and peers. What do they think of your current situation?
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23m - Jun 27, 2020 - 007: Being Fearless As A Business Owner with Ami Bennett
About Ami
Ami is an Allstate Agency Owner in Washington State. She has 3 children, and she’s married to her high school sweetheart. She has been an Allstate agent for 11 years, and worked in an agency for another 8 years before that. Even before that, she worked as a telemarketer for insurance. Needless to say, she’s spent a lot of time in the insurance space. Ami has a team of 15 people across 5 locations.
How to be Fearless
- Ami is incredibly competitive, and she likes winning and being successful.
- She has a positive mindset, and makes a plan to win the day.
- Ami doesn’t have fear because she takes calculated risks.
- Ami believes that “Everything is Figureoutable.” She Doesn’t worry about things because she knows that she’ll figure it out and that it will work out.
- When she doesn’t know what to do, she’s the first to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask questions.
- Don’t be afraid to help people out. There are enough “Wins” out there for everyone.
- What you give will come back to you 100 fold.
Balancing your personal life and work
- Find the right dynamic for you!
- In Ami’s case, her husband ended up managing the home and house while she focused on the agency.
- This worked great for them. Make sure that your home life is organized so that you can dial in and focus on your business growth.
Number 1 Tip for someone starting a business or getting to the next level.
- Set goals!!
- Get your goals out of your head and on paper. Ami puts her goals on a white board.
- Break goals down into smaller, more actionable pieces.
- Review your plan regularly and keep yourself accountable.
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27m - Jun 19, 2020 - 006: Failure is NOT an Option with Judy Wiggins
About Judy
Judy Wiggins is an award winning and recognized Allstate agency owner in the Houston, Texas area. She has been living the small business owner dream/rollercoaster ride since November, 2012 after leaving a 12 year teaching career. She owns two locations and currently employees nine people on her team. She loves collaborating with other small business owners, especially women owned business as we have our own unique challenges and strengths. She has been married to Michael for almost thirteen years and they have one son, Luke, who is eight. As a family, they love to travel, go for daily walks, and seek out adventures. She loves to binge watch TV shows, read, run, and when she’s in the mood, cook and bake. Judy also truly enjoys working in her community and being of service to others.
Notes
- When Judy bought her agency, the advise she received was: “Don’t screw this up.”
- Judy decided that failure is not an option, and she decided not only to not “screw it up,” but to do amazing.
- Her team was extremely successful early on.
- When you set a goal, commit to it and follow through.
- Be willing to make adjustments and pivots. Business is hard, and things are always going to change. Be willing to make adjustments as needed.
- Make changes gradually and strategically.
- Build a great team!
- Serve your community! When you serve and help others, they will come back to you for business in the future.
- When crisis (like COVID-19) hit, find creative ways to engage with people and help them.
- If people don’t see you all of the time, they will forget about you. Stay engaged and stay connected.
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26m - Jun 16, 2020 - 005: Upgrading Yourself with Amy Masters
Amy Masters is a Salon owner of 28 years. Amy is a leader and go-to expert in the nail industry. She is known for her public speaking and motivation to be your best self. In 2016, she clicked into the digital world, creating online international courses for hustling business women, teaching techniques on how to be profitable. Amy hosts a weekly show interviewing industry leaders on Tech Talk Worldwide along with her weekly inspirations on Masters Mindset Mondays. Her mantra is to spark ignite and shine.
Create Your 2.0 - Upgrade Yourself
- Just like a phone, we need an upgrade.
- When you get a notification that a new version is available, don’t hit “remind me later.”
- Commit to updating and upgrading to the newest version of yourself.
- You you afraid of the update? Are you afraid of change?
- Each morning you need to upload and put yourself in the right mindset.
- It takes 5 seconds to spark an idea in your mind.
- You can choose to implement the idea, or you can move on to the next idea.
- Those 5 second ideas can lead to 5 minutes of action and 15 hours to shine.
- We don’t have to be perfect! We just need to be the best version of ourselves today.
- What do you work for? What is your purpose?
- Take care of yourself. If you neglect yourself, you won’t be able to keep going.
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31m - Jun 5, 2020 - 004: Figure out who you are! Branding with Stephanie Simpson
About Stephanie
Hi, I’m Stephanie Simpson. My superpower is helping people feel good about themselves. I don’t take pretty pictures of people, I SEE my clients, and reflect back the beauty that is already inside them. It’s time to be seen, to value ourselves, and to live life with abandon! Confidence is power that can change your life and your business.
Are you attracting your perfect client? Do your images represent who you want to be in your business and career? Your brand needs to help you attract abundance to your life and communicate YOUR superpowers, so there is nothing you cannot achieve.
No matter our stage in life or business, there are times when we need a boost of self confidence, to let go of self doubt and being our own worst critic. It’s time to step into the spotlight and show the world what you’ve got.
What Makes me different?
- You need to find out what makes your brand unique and different.
- Find your special sauce.
- Be authentic to who you are.
- “You don’t brand yourself. You are yourself, and that becomes your brand.” - Amy Joe Martin
5 Tips to figure out who you are:
- Define your company What sets you apart? What is your brand promise? What do you offer?
- What is your personality? Don’t try to be someone you aren’t be authentic.
- Who is your target client? Who are they? Where do they shop? What is their life like? What are their pain points? How can you solve their problems? Think of 25 ways to make your clients happier.
- How will they feel when you solve their problem? You aren’t selling the product. You are selling the emotion that they feel when their problem is solved.
- What does that look like?Now that you understand your personality, target client, and what you offer to solve their problems, you can now create your brand image. Think about colors, textures, fonts… Look at it from a bird’s eye view. What feeling does your brand portray?
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19m - Jun 4, 2020 - 003: Becoming a Confident You with Nicea Degearing
About Nicea
Nicea Degearing has been a TV news reporter and anchor on ABC 4 and is now the host of Emmy award winning morning show Good Things Utah. In her spare time, Nicea MCs local events and appears in commercials for local businesses like the Utah Honda Dealers. She has two daughters who attend high school, and you can often catch her being an obnoxious dance or swim mom. Her favorite child is her golden doodle named Miles.
How to gain confidence and put yourself out there
- Don’t ask yourself: “I wonder if I could do that.”
- Instead, say: “That looks interesting. I think I’ll try it.”
- Stop questioning yourself.
- Believe in yourself, even when nobody else does.
- Don’t be fake, but when you act confident, confidence will come.
- Stop chasing the opinions of others.
- “Who you are is what you are best at.”
- “What you bring to the table is enough!”
- Forge your own, unique path. You are best at you.
- You may be the juiciest apple on the tree, but some people just like pears. Stop stressing about what other people think of you.
Focus on CONNECTING with people
- Listen as much as you talk.
- Talk to people. Not at them.
- Be YOU.
The balance of Yes and No
- Say yes before you are ready. Be willing to branch out.
- Also, be willing to say no.
- It is okay to say know in a kind and polite way.
- When you say no, you are prioritizing.
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17m - Jun 1, 2020 - 002: 3 Ways to Grow your Online Presence with Jennifer Allwood
About Jennifer
Jennifer lives in Kansas City with her husband and four incredible humans who call her Mom. They have 3 bio kids and a bonus kiddo who came to live with them last year. She love love LOVES decorating her home. She blogs, has a podcast, and has a book. She speaks on stages, and has a whole lotta people who keep up with her on Facebook and Instagram where she has over half a million followers.
3 Things you can do RIGHT NOW to grow your online presence:
1 - Go Live on Facebook
- Do 2 Facebook lives EVERY week.
- Going live on Facebook expands your reach by 6 times.
- It is hard, but you will quickly get over it and learn to enjoy it.
- Where does the fear of going live come from? How can you overcome those fears?
2 - Use your stories like crazy
- 75% of people look at the stories on instagram before they go on the feed.
- Instagram is business on the front (in the feed) and a party on the back (in the stories). Have fun! Get good at partying in the back.
- People buy from people they know, like and trust. If they don’t know you, they won’t want to buy from you.
3 - Use your DMs
- Connect with people and have conversations with them on your personal, business and instagram DMs.
- The DMs are where your relationships are built.
- People are feeling lonely right now. DMs will make them feel good.
- Make it personal. Instead of typing out a canned response, record a 30 second video or audio and send it to them. You will blow their minds!
- This will make people feel seen and validated.
Fear is not the boss of you
This book is for any woman who has ever been overwhelmed with indecision, paralyzed with fear, or just plain stuck. With no-nonsense biblical truth, Fear Is Not the Boss of You is a loving kick in the backside that will catapult you into ACTION. Successful entrepreneur, business coach, and girl next door Jennifer Allwood is your guide to show you why you can't stay stuck, teaching you how to get out of your own way and get on the road to fulfilling the life of your dreams--even if you're afraid.
Whether you're thinking of launching a new business, adopting a child, writing a book, or competing in a triathlon, Jennifer will motivate you to move from paralyzing fear into courageous obedience and action. With stories, straightforward truth, and practical tips you can apply today, Jennifer will show you how to:
- Identify how and where you are stuck
- Determine what's holding you back
- Get out of your own way
- Empower those around you
- Experience the incredible joy that comes from trusting a big God to do big things in you and through you
This is your gutsy invitation to go after the big dream God has called you to . . . because fear is not the boss of you.
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23m - Jun 1, 2020 - 001: Welcome to the Lady Biz Life Podcast!
17 years ago toady, I opened my first business. I was a broke, single mom with very little college education and zero business experience. I know what it’s like to feel scared, desperate and confused. I knew I had to keep pushing for my little girl. I knew I had to do whatever it takes to give her the best life I could, and show her the example she needed to grow into a strong, independent, and smart woman.
So I hit the ground running. I was going to create the life I wanted and be who I was meant to be. It was challenging, stressful and full of obstacles. I wanted to give up so many times. I was stressed, overwhelmed and exhausted! I didn’t quit. I worked hard, I went through many sleepless nights, telling my daughter it was going to be okay, until after several years I perfected my passion for life.
Fast forward 17 years, I’ve built 7 successful businesses. I believe when you are confident and aligned with their purpose, you are unstoppable! I believe that every business no matter what type of business it is, has the same center core of how to make the business successful; a healthy mindset and belief in yourself. From my past experience in the insurance, commercial real estate, health and beauty and coaching industry there is one common theme; your mindset matters in everything you do.
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19m - Jun 1, 2020
