SPEAKER_01 0:04

Hey there, Maureen Chana here, founder of the MindSight Academy, neurocoach to executives, leaders, entrepreneurs, and a neuroleadership trainer using insights from neuroscience to help you deliver results by learning to work the matter, be in control of your brain, manage yours and other people's emotions, change behaviors, flourish and exceed expectations. Welcome back to another episode of Lead to Excel Podcast. This is the part two of the original podcast I did, where I had two guests, Caroline Lyons and Blessing and Akimio, where we are discussing the different aspects and importance of these aspects in starting a new business. Without wasting any more time, get comfortable and continue to listen in. The next question I want to bring up is profiting.

SPEAKER_00 1:05

Now, for me, this is my own personal, I don't know, people often run hobby and portray them as businesses. If you're set up as a charity be a charity and not for profit charity, if you're set up as a business, then you should profit. So you should have a strategy in place that sets where your money is coming from. How are you going to keep your light on? Because you could have given up a lucrative job in the city where you're earning top, top much money to start up something that you love to do. Just because you love doing it doesn't make it a business. That's more of a passion for. But if you cross the line and say this is going to be a business, you have to have a profit strategy in place. How are you going to make money? What are your thoughts, ladies? I'll start with you, Caroline.

SPEAKER_02 2:04

Yeah, um, no, I think that's like one of the things I want to touch on when I talk in uh on the day um is how important it is to see this hobby as no longer, it's not going to be a hobby anymore. It's going to be a business, and you may actually stop loving it in the way that you love it as a hobby, and you've got to think about that um before you start because you're going to put your whole life into it basically, and it's going to be you're going to have a different relationship with this um thing that you love to do currently versus turning it into a business. Um, yeah, and it's super, super important, and you've got to get good at um at valuing yourself and understanding the value, understanding how much you're worth or how much product is worth, and that is very hard. Like I've I've done it in a number of different ways. I've like I said, I've got a um a uh fintech company which is much easier to to um price, and but even then we still struggle sometimes, depending on um which which uh clients they are, how to price our software. Um but I also have another thing which I do as very much a hobby, and that's um I keep yoga. And each thing yoga I find very difficult to ask people for money for because it's more of a more of a hobby. So um, but over the I I have been doing a little bit of um selling of selling of that as well, but it's it's yeah, it's very I guess those two different scenarios um just show how how it's difficult to turn something into a into this what you do you you have you have to work it out and so the thing um I guess what you need to do is look into do a lot of market research, look at your competitors, see how they're pricing themselves, and then apply that to yourself and go, okay, what is it that I'm what I'm worth and how much should I how much should we be charging for this? And you need to have a bit of a um like a for I would say at least a five-year plan of where you how you want to start, what you want to make in the first year, what you want to make in the second year, and then third, fourth, fifth, for example. And then by the time you've done five years of your whatever this business is, you have another, you have another look at it and go, are we exactly where we want to be? Do we want is it is it successful? Is it um generating the income that we wanted to generate? Do I have a team now who I'm able to pay? Is it where do I want to go from here? And then again, you go through the whole um brand or business strategy all over again and uh and look at it again for another five years. Maybe it's something that's you actually get to a point where you go, okay, I don't really want to take this much further, I want to turn it into something else, or it's like you don't you just don't know. But um, but yeah, certainly the the most important thing I think when you're turn thinking about turning something that you enjoy doing into a business is making sure that you you get paid for it because it's not um like you said, if you're leaving a job in London where I know that I'm getting a certain amount, I need to be able to match that to the lifestyle that I have. So there's a lot of there are a lot of questions that you need to ask yourself about how much do I need to make just to keep this business afloat? How much do I need to make to employ other people? And and as you go on, you will um um you'll answer those questions and make yourself some KPIs or targets and work towards achieving those goals.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

Yeah, thank you for that. And and I think in your very first sentence, you you use my buzzword, which is value. Yes, how much you value yourself. I think it it it for me it was like I don't know, uh I think that's the advantage of having a business coach is someone who tells you hello, what's your value, who reminds you of your value, because we often forget.

SPEAKER_02 5:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

So once you lose sight of your value, I I think you've lost sight of your business to be honest. So because we can plan in everything and look at the market, for instance, for me as a having a cake company, some people are selling cupcakes for 18p, and you're thinking, oh my god, you're selling it for 18p. Do I compete for that? No, but uh if you had a strategy from the beginning to say I'm not in this to be the bottom of the chain, I'm not my strategy, it was never a price comparison strategy, therefore, it doesn't matter what anybody else is selling. This is what I'm worth, this is what mine is worth because of XYZ, and then you stand on that. So when when your competitors drop their prices, you don't have to, you stand where you are. You can choose to run at your own pace. So it's very important to value yourself, decide what your value is. You have to decide, you have to pay yourself because if you don't pay yourself, you can't sustain. If you can't sustain, you can't sustain the business. That's true, and it's only a matter of time, and the lights will be off. So I think it's important that we must address this aspect of profiting. If you don't plan to profit, you will not go. You plan to fail. And you have to worry about how to feel around it.

SPEAKER_02 7:13

Sorry? Say that again, Caroline. Oh no, I was saying it's um you have to find a way to feel comfortable with talking about money. Um, for some reason, it's people get a little bit like, oh, I don't want to talk about that part. But it's if you're just comfortable up front and you and you're assertive in the way that you sell yourself, then already your um audience are going to believe in what you believe in you, I think. If you're a little bit like, oh, I'm not sure, they're just gonna be like, Well, I'm not sure if she's worth it. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 7:46

Yeah. And that actually links back up into the mind, the business mindset. Yeah. Because it's the mindset that will really determine how you how comfortable you are with your value and your pricing. Because if you are not comfortable with it, people will pick it up. And in the training, we're going to be going through what I call neuroselling. So that's actually teaching people to sell. I mean, neuroselling, that's teaching people to sell based on how the brain works. So you understand how people will perceive you or perceive what you're saying, and so that you use the right communication, communicative terms to sell. Because one of the things a lot of people say is, I don't like selling, I'm not good at selling. But in one of the podcasts or so I did recently, I was saying that everybody sells. You know, even when you're trying to persuade your two-year-old or nephew or colleague or friend to do something that they are not really keen on, that's selling. Because it's it's all it is is persuasion, you know, being able to persuade someone to do something or see something the way you see it. So it's really been, you know, everybody has the ability to do it. But what Blessed said in terms of value, and I think Caroline, you said it as well, is the key. If you don't value, if you don't know your own value, then you will be in a price war with everyone else. When, you know, when people, you're you'll be looking everywhere to what people are pricing themselves. And the fact is that, you know, many people get into that trap, but the whole concept of the mindset is that once you recognize what you're doing, you know, and saying, Oh, I'm being affected by this price, you're able to stop yourself and check yourself and do something about it. Either talk yourself out of it or get in touch with your coach or mentor or whoever to help you. And that is why with this training, the value is just immeasurable because after the training, you've also still got us in the community to really help you so that if you need that extra help, we can still we're there to support you along the way. Because honestly, you will it will happen. You will get to a place where either you need to increase your prices or you need to do, or you need, or when you're setting your prices, and it's being comfortable and you know, I like the I like what Caroline said, aggressive, but it's that comfort, aggressiveness that no matter what happens, I'm not shaking. This is my value, this is my price, and this is what you're going to get. But the key is to make sure that you're giving value as well to people so that they know that they're getting good value from you. Definitely.

SPEAKER_00 10:46

I'll finish. That's great. One main thing I always say to myself, I always remind myself is if someone wants it, if someone wants a reduced price, I'll rather add value. So instead of instead of reducing the price, I'll add I'll give you more. I'll give you more of whatever that thing is, I'll add something else. Absolutely because once you are open to reducing your price, where does it stop? You know, once exactly flipped with slope, and they think, oh, I've got that somehow, I can get a further more, I can get something else, I can get what if if they know that that's where you are, that's it, take it or leave it. But okay, otherwise I'll throw in this for you as well. I'll give you the kitchen towel, I'll I'll give you a couple of toilet rolls, I'll give you a couple of this, but my standard price is this. Yeah, um, I think they have a lot of respect and confidence in you and your price is your product as well. Okay, thankfully, this is going great. I think you'll just want to run through the structure of the program now, Maureen. It can lead to that.

SPEAKER_01 11:47

Okay, you have mentioned this briefly at the beginning, so I'm going to go through it again. And um, if you go on to the um websites that that has the information on the course, if you click on um, there's a link there that will take you to the agenda for the whole program. And it starts off with the first week being a live session. So that's going to be um the first the first week basically is a live session, and then the second week is self-directed, and the third week is then a live virtual session. So there'll be a specific time where everyone comes online for the live sessions, and then um it's going to last for about three, four hours, but four hours maximum. It could be less, it could be, you know, it could be between anything from two to four hours, depending on the topic, depending on the structure of it. You know, there could be there'll be breaks in between, obviously, where people can then go into um a chat room and just work together or have to work on their own. It just depends on what it is. The self-directed weeks, that is the weeks where we're not live, is where you go into the academy and you have a module accessible to you for that particular um week and you work on that module, you know, so it's self-directed, so you do it at your own time in your own pace, whenever you want to through that week. But every week you're going to be given work to do. So you're going to leave every week with something to do, and that's why we've structured it this way, so that you're not kind of left on your own, given so much information, and then you go off, and then you just then sometimes you get stuck, which is normal, but then you have nowhere to go. So this way, when you work on the work from week one, you can come back and say, actually, I struggled with this, I struggled with that. But even within the week, if you're having issues, you can actually post it into the forum on the leadership community, and we'll be able to also help you depending on um what problem you're having. Or it could even be from someone in your cohort because you'll be able to work together throughout. So, as much as you're doing your coming on your own, you're going to form great relationships, people that you'll be able to work with, people that will support you along the way. And then the final week is a live session as well, just so that we touch base again. And then after the training, there's going to be a live, you can join the live monthly coaching session that I do. And sometimes I bring guests depending on what people want. So sometimes Caroline will join us, blessing will join us as presenters or facilitators, depending on what it is people are asking. So there's there's so much for people to gain on this training. Um, like I said, it's the name is Launch Your Startup Business, but after the launch, you still have us to support you along the way as well.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

Thank you, Maureen. So, what would you say are maybe one or two benefits for attending this program?

SPEAKER_02 15:02

It will give you is um some insight into what it is that I do from a from developing a brand strategy with people. It will ask some questions that you may not have asked yourself and give you some insight, give you some things to think about and a better, better understanding of how important it is to develop a really thought-out brand to support your business. Um which I take for granted because I'm so I've I've done this for so many years, but I know that when I speak to people who haven't ever thought about their brand before, it just makes them go, oh gosh, I need to think about this, I need to think about that. And um and yeah, I think that that mainly will be it. It's just um having a better understanding of the importance of brand, the importance of purpose, and the importance of um authenticity as well in how you deliver your um your brand and your business. Uh authenticity is something that I keep coming back to, but but it's um how we how you can be your authentic self across different um online channels, like uh how to be um your brand on Instagram versus how to be it on Twitter versus how to be it on LinkedIn. Just lots of different things that you need to consider um that you may not have you may not have asked yourself before just because it's not been something that you thought about. So I hope that's what I'll be able to share.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

One other thing I'll also say here is that um through the training, you're going to get there are people that will probably come in rather. There are people that might or you might be listening to this and go, Yes, I want to start a business, but I don't even have an idea, or I have too many ideas and I don't know which one to pick. This also what we're going to be helping you with is as well, is actually sipping through all those ideas so that you can pick the right one for you. Yes, because just starting a business for the sake of it is pointless. I've heard I've seen so many people ask that question which one is the right one? So we're gonna help you find out which one is the right one for you and for the and then find out the audience that that is right for. Like Caroline said, in branding, you're you'll be able to really decide who am I selling to. So in the fair in the second week in particular, we are now going to really look at the ideas that you have so that you can decide on the right one for you. And one of the things is that we do in that week is really finding out what your value is, what is your personal value, what is your personal purpose, so that you can then figure out what the right business is for you at that time. And sometimes you might find that it's something you want to do, but you don't have the skill to do it, but that's okay, because you can develop that skill and we can direct you in the right direction of how to develop the particular skill that you need. But nothing is, you know, anything is possible, basically. It's just how ready and prepared you are to put in the effort. So definitely look through the agenda because it's packed full of different things, and we're going to come back and do an um more of these sessions, touching on different aspects of the training that we're going to be looking at in the you know through the eight weeks, but it's really packed full of so much to really help people get to grips and confidently set up their own business. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 18:50

I think um one main benefit as well I want to highlight is having a business body. It makes a big difference. Having someone who is there, either they've done it before or or they've learned from that area, so you don't have to jump in that puddle, you know, yourself. So having a business body from the very beginning all the way through is what I don't know, more than any money can say. So I think one of the main advantages I want to put across is the fact that you would have a business body, and there'll be other people as well in the cohort who are on the same journey as you are, so you don't feel so alone. Um, you can easily ask those questions when they come up either in the forums or you can contact one of the presenters and have your questions asked so you don't have to spend three weeks trying to figure it all out. Someone's asking the information you need at hand when as and when you need it. So if for nothing else, the fact that you're not going to be starting this exciting but scary journey on your own is a great advantage.

SPEAKER_01 19:49

Absolutely. Yeah, I agree. It's having the body, but also having experts, because it's three of us in particular have done this, you know, we've got so much experience, but also we know people that we can bring in to also help with different areas. So, because of our network, you've got not just the three of us, but even our networks to also help you, um, you know, your journey through this whole and as I said, exciting, but also can be challenging um journey ahead. But it's one to embrace because once you do it and do it well, it's so fulfilling, you know, it's really fulfilling. But like in anything in life, you've got to put in the hard work and you've got to realize that you know things change and their challenges, and it's really being in a position whereby you you learn to embrace them as opposed to being afraid of them. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 20:51

Perfect. Okay, ladies, I'm going to wrap this up now, unless you have anything else you want to add.

SPEAKER_01 20:58

No, I think we've done, I think we've we've given so much for people to think about. And we'll be back. We'll be back. We'll be back.

SPEAKER_00 21:11

Um, thank you so much for watching. Thank you for listening. Thank you, Caroline. Thank you for more, thank you, Maureen, as well for your time this afternoon. And we I'm looking forward to when we have an uh another conversation on this topic. But um, for now, I'd like to say to everyone who's watching or listening, thank you for joining in. I hope this has been beneficial. Do remember that whatever ideas you come up with, they are from you. So those ideas don't own you, you own them. So you can do what you need to do to bring them um to reality. So we're here to help. If there's anything we can do for you, do feel free to get in touch with us. But we look forward to interviewing again soon. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 21:49

Thank you. Thanks, Blessing. Thanks, Caroline. Thank you. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 21:54

Okay, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 21:55

Bye again. Thank you for tuning in. And please don't forget to subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to it. And remember to leave a five-star review for us so that other people can also find this podcast as well. And my offer to give a one to one session with a lucky person who has reviewed is still open. So leave a review because that lucky person might be you. So I look forward to seeing you in our next episode. Bye for now.