Today, I issued my first ever invoice - $4,000 for my first week as a Lean Transformation Coach!! And I feel GREAT!! It is what I am here to do ... my purpose .. my super power!!
My Story ......
How I won my first corporate contract ~$100k (6 months) .. doing "ME" ????
So .. I went through a period of high stress and depression which lead me to taking a sabbatical from corporate (GE) ~18 months ago. I walked away from a very successful career to start my lean six sigma training business where the "big" money is really in working with corporate clients.
While, I have sold several individual training products ... I haven't been able to win a corporate contract till now.
I totally credit this program for boosting my confidence to be able to do this.
I realized I was focusing on the wrong thing ... I really don't like core six sigma due to it being such a rigid methodology nor do I really enjoy implementing financial systems and I think prospective clients were able to pick up on that. I was always drawn to the common sense process improvement approach and the team based problem solving side of work. That's why I was successful at GE. I would do my day Job during the day and then at night.. I would focus on improving all the processes and consistently exceeded my managers expectations.
With Marisa's program, I discovered my true superpower which is "turning chaos into greatness" using a common sense approach.
So, my new (5 times pivoted) product is now "KaizenProductivity" - Learn How to kick start your process improvement efforts, know which problems to fix first & continuously change for better.
I help individuals and businesses become masters of their process improvement efforts and help them to continuously change for better by teaching them to plan and launch process improvement workshops, generate improvement ideas that everyone believes in so they can start fixing them.
This is where the story gets great .....
After joining the EPM program, I flew to Virginia to interview for a permanent job with one of the largest software companies in the world. My job was going to be a presales consultant that would present the functionality of the software to finance managers with the goal of closing a sale. After spending most of my career implementing financial systems, one would think this is the greatest opportunity in the world ... but why was I so nervous and why did the interview feel so forced.
I realized that I was interviewing only because I needed the money ... after 18 months of being an entrepreneur, I certainly did not want to go back to full time corporate work. And I sure did not want to do financial systems sales for that matter.
That was only one of several interviews for permanent roles where I was just going through the motion with no offers (except the one I turned down because I was being underpaid ... and now i know I probably would have said no even if it paid what I was asking. I was just not getting excited about these roles).
While away for the that pre-sales consultant interview, I logged into Live Your Message Academy and I watched Marisa's training on finding your Niche and your Super Power. I was so convicted by this lesson.
Following the lesson, I updated my Linked in profile - my headline now read : "Become a Master of you process improvement efforts and continuously change for better" and I updated the summary section with my new product mission.
I changed my current title from "Oracle Functional Consultant" to "Lean Transformation Coach". Since I had done a little of each type of work, I wanted my profile to reflect the type of work I was interested in.
Upon returning home ... my phone rang. It was a consulting firm that wanted to place me with a potential client as a Process Improvement Consultant to to do Lean Transformation Deployment & Coaching. He came across my LinkedIn profile ... he told me.
While talking to the recruiter, I spoke openly about my newly discovered super power, I even told them about my new upcoming product launch. We laughed on the phone ... they could feel my excitement and my passion in my voice. They fell in love ????!!
They liked me so much, they decided ... instead of placing me with the firm ... they would hire me directly to come in and "kick start" their own internal improvement efforts!!
And I said "YES!" Start date November 14th.
Hopefully, I can turn this around from 1:1 to 1:Few soon!! Feeling so blessed!! Thanks for reading ????
Note: I literally spent my last 2k on Marisa's program and crossed my fingers. (Teary eyed)
Today, I issued my first ever invoice - $4,000 for my first week as a Lean Transformation Coach!! And I feel GREAT!! It is what I am here to do ... my purpose .. my super power!!
Thank you Marissa ... the last 18 months of feeling defeated and going through the motion brought me to an email from Josh Turner which led me to your program and now I am right where I should be!! I remember opening that email and watching the interview between you and Josh and me saying to myself ... I think my prayers have been answered!!
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OK. My name is Jennifer Holbus. I'm from Atlanta Georgia. My business is Professional Edge Training and Consulting and my product is Kaizen Productivity.
What was your inspiration go into business?
My inspiration for going into business was to get out of corporate. I worked with GE for 12 years. And I was really passionate about my work but it would never promote me to management because they thought I didn't have executive presence but I realized that they just did not want to get me out of doing because I was so passionate I was good at what I do. They wanted to keep me doing. So I decided I would start my own business do my own thing. And have more impact working with, you know many different clients. So there's one employer. [37.4]
So why does your work matter to you?
Having an impact--that's the biggest part for me. I value that more than money. Just being able to go into an organization and change what they do so much that they can see immediate impact.
So what was your business like before EPM?
Before EPM I had a training business that was primarily training videos and you know, it was not experienced type training. And it was just blah.
80% of my students did not make it through my training. And I was looking for a way to actually make more students complete the program. And then I came into--I came upon Marisa's program and she was talking about the experience product and I was like oh my goodness this is what I've been waiting for.
That is the reason that I joined EPM. It was to create an experienced training product for my students.
So were you concerned about investing in EPM?
I was, only because I had just spent 18 months trying every training out there and 90 percent of them I did not complete. So yeah I was skeptical. I did literally give Marisa my last $2000 and crossed my fingers.
So tell me about your experience in going through EPM.
It was good for me. I liked the collaboration. I like the fact that Marisa did not leave any students behind. She rewarded those people that participated. She motivated you to want to complete the program. So I did like it.
My favorite part was discovering my super powers and I went through the process that she used to help us figure out what our ikigai was and mine turned out to be transforming chaos into greatness.
What was your biggest break down in EPM?
The program was just really fast paced and I wasn't able to keep up. But I did get through it because I just developed my own pace and I just went at my own pace. So I didn't try to do what everybody else was doing. And it was OK to go at my own pace.
What was your biggest breakthrough?
My biggest breakthrough was finding my niche, finding my tribe and discovering, you know, my story, my wounds and base on my wounds discovering the tribe that I wanted to work with because I want to work with people who had the same wounds like I did. And so you know I was thinking back to when I was nine years old when I had a lot of abandonment in my life and that came through my life as making me feel like I was stupid all the time like I wasn't smart enough. And I realized that there are people out there that are just like me who experienced the same type of wounds. And those are the people that I want to work with. You know the people when you talk to them and tell them your story and they're like, "oh my gosh where did you come from? You're just like me." So I discovered my story and through that, the tribe that I wanted to serve.
So how did you like working with Marisa?
I love Marisa. She is a powerhouse. She knows her stuff. She cares about her students and she always over delivers, you know? And she always comes up with more and she doesn't just put a program together and go lockstep through the program. As she's going through the program, she surveying the students seeing what's needed and she's adding and changing the program as she goes along. And it's just great.
So what is your business like after EPM?
After EPM my business just took off. Essentially, I went from you know not making any money to having clients that, you know, respect me and want to work with me. I'm not afraid to show up to work, I'm not afraid to speak up, I do have leadership skills even though my company didn't think I did. You know I'm coaching executives and they respect me and listen to what I have to offer. So it's beautiful.
So how has your mindset changed after EPM? [8.7]
After EPM, you know, going through EPM I discovered that my self didn't matter. Nobody cares that I have an MBA and that I'm a lean Six Sigma massive black belt and you know nobody cares. They just want to know what can you do for me. And so that was a big turnaround for me because I spent a lot of time talking about myself and how good I am at what I do. But I never focused on what I can do for the client you know. And that's really all they care about. You know what can I get for my $2000 eventually.
How much money did you make during EPM?
During EPM, four weeks in and I signed my first client and that was $100,000 for six months.
And after EPM?
After EPM, I was able to get that up to one year and added another $150,000. So from zero to six months, a quarter mill.
And how do you feel about that?
I feel great. I love it.
Cool. So what was the most incredible thing about having an online business?
The most incredible thing about having an online business is that the world is my market. You know there are so many people online every single day and every single one of those are a potential client. There's many people on the internet who have similar businesses like mine or they're going through the same struggles as mine. Having the groups that Marisa put together the camaraderie and everybody supporting each other, it's just a great place to do business. And you know there are no walls.
Can you describe your lifestyle a little bit?
My days are pretty uneventful. I work a lot and even though I have my own business now, I still put a lot of hours in. You know when I was working in GE, I worked nonstop for 12 hours every day. I didn't see my child and my husband had to take him to his doctor's appointments, my husband took him to all his paren-teacher conferences, soccer games--I didn't see him at all. And now, you know. I'm able to--I can take him to a soccer games, if I can take him to doctor's appointments and make my own calendar and we're able to do a lot of things that we couldn't do before. You know so we like going out to eat, taking long road trips, going on vacations. So, yeah. I need to answer this--her kids are supposed to be with my--let's see if she's messaged me. Let me see if this is urgent because I think Nate's with her kids.
The next question was how's your family supports you?
My family's very supportive. My husband's--Okay. So my husband is very supportive, very supportive. When I have to travel for business he jumps right in. He picks up the slack and he's just very supportive. And my son, I mean he's maturing, by me not being home. You know, when I was home I was beating him a lot. So I mean he's also benefiting from from me not being home he's stepping up and making dinner and doing things. And they support me. just moral support. is telling me how great I am and you know, keep up the good work and stuff and they're proud of me. My son I think they forgot I'm shooting.
Tell me about the impact you have with your clients.
My clients. It's just amazing. You know, right now my client is like for 400 million dollars in revenue. And coming from a company like GE that has, you know, close to 200 billion in revenue. I bring a lot of experience that they've never seen, a lot of things that they, you know, most people in that firm has been with the firm for 20 years and they have never experienced the things that I have. So I'm able to bring a lot of value and a lot of tools that I've used over the years and I'm able to have immediate impact with them.
How do you feel about that?
I feel great. I feel good knowing that I am having such impact, that my customers are happy, I'm happy.
Last time you mentioned something like--you mentioned something you know, that you are happy to do. You want to see your customers happy, if only you don't have to pay bills--
I'm having, you know, a lot of impact. Like quick wins you know they're they're just little things that I do that can turn things around for them real quickly. And to me it's nothing big but to them, it's huge. And I really love what I do--so I'll do even if I don't have the experience in it, I'll do a lot of research and I'll find the answer for them and they just love it. My clients love me. I love what I do. And yes I'll do it for free if I didn't have to pay my bills and you know, if my husband would let me, I'd do it for free.
That's wonderful. So what would you say to someone who's considering EPM. [4.4]
Go for it. It changed my life. You know it gives you everything you need from beginning to end to launch a product. Tools that you can apply, you know, you're applying as you're learning and you can earn as you learn. So I say go for it.