December 18, 2023 • 38 mins
We are live from the 2023 Intuit Innovation Summit. For this special live episode, Jannese and Austin are joined by EQ-certified business and leadership coach and solopreneur Mariela De La Mora. Discover how Mariela decided to go into business for herself and how she combats imposter syndrome while growing her business. Plus, hear the exciting news about season two of “Mind the Business: Small Business Success Stories.”
Learn more about how QuickBooks can help you grow your business:
For more resources and insights on how to scale your business, visit:
https://quickbooks.intuit.com/r/growing-a-business/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The views, information, or opinions expressed during this podcast are
solely those of the individuals involved and do not represent
those of Intouitt, QuickBooks or any of its cornerstone brands
or employees. This podcast does not constitute financial, legal, or
other professional advice or services. No assurance is given that
the info is comprehensive, accurate, or free of errors, and
the information presented is for general information purposes only. Into
It QuickBooks does not have any responsibility for updating or
(00:22):
advising any information presented. Listeners should verify statements before relying
on them. QuickBooks Money is a standalone Into It offering
banking services provided by Green Dot Bank member FDIC. Hi everyone,
I'm jinnyse Torres.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
And I'm Austin Hankwitz, and welcome to another episode of
Mind the Business Small Business Success Stories, a podcast brought
to you by Ruby Studios from iHeartMedia and Into It QuickBooks.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
In each episode, we chat with entrepreneurs and small business
owners as they share their stories about the successes and
challenges of owning and growing a business. This episode is
a very special episode.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
That's right, this is our own personal holiday gift to you.
This is a bonus episode, but it's not just any
bonus episode. We recorded our interview with business and leadership
coach mary Ella de la Mora live from the Into
It Innovation Summit, and we're really excited because at the
(01:25):
summit we talked to Mariyella about a very unique type
of entrepreneurship, and that's solopreneurship.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Yes, and Austin, even though you and I now work
with other people at this point in our career, we
are both very familiar with solopreneurship as it's how we
operated for so long and for so many people. Growth
does not include employees or building a staff. For freelancers
and artists and many others, it makes the most sense
to remain a solopreneur. But I'm curious, Austin, when you
(01:54):
were a solopreneur, how did you define success for your business?
Speaker 2 (01:58):
For me, I define success as progress.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Right.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
So rewind three years ago and Austin Hankwitz is over there,
pluging away, trying to write the best newsletter he could
host the best live streams possible and begin to monetize
his audience in a meaningful way. And as solopreneurs, we
aren't given a playbook. No one's saying go do this, now,
go do this, and now go do that. Right, we
have to make those decisions for ourselves. So when I'm
(02:23):
thinking to myself, Okay, I just quit my job, what
should I be doing now, keeping that idea of consistent
progress and one step at a time in mind was
paramount for my success. But Jenius, I know solopreneurship means
a lot of different things for a lot of different people.
What does success mean to you as a solopreneur?
Speaker 1 (02:41):
For me, it means doing more of what you enjoy
and less of what you don't because you are on
your own. So in the beginning of my journey, I
was trying to throw so many different things at the wall,
and not everything was necessarily worth my time and effort,
and especially not when you're trying to piecemeal a paycheck
with a bunch of different tasks and opportunities. So I
(03:03):
started getting really clear on what are those things that
I enjoy doing, What are those things that have a
higher return on investment for my time? And then what's
the stuff that I can automate to maybe a software
or maybe just removing it from my business processes altogether
that are going to allow me to make more while
not also working more. And I like to tell newbie
(03:23):
entrepreneurs and especially the solopreneurs, if you create a rat race,
that's your fault at this point because this is your business.
So you have to be the one that dictates where
those boundaries exist.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
One hundred percent. Now what do you say? We jump
into our great conversation that was recorded live from the
Intuit Innovation Summit with our guest solopreneur Mary Ella de
la Mora.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Absolutely, and a quick note to our listeners, don't forget
to keep listening after the interview, as Austin and I
share some major mind the business news with you at
the end of the episode.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Let's get into it.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Hey everyone, I'm Austin Hankwotz and I am Janice Torres
and this is Mine the Business Small Business Success Stories,
a podcast brought to you by Into It QuickBooks and iHeartRadio,
and we're coming to you live from the Innovation Summit
in Northern California. Austin, I don't know about you, but
I am so excited for two reasons. First Off, this
(04:25):
is my first visit to like a tech company, and
I'm just like, I get it. I totally get why
y'all are doing this, okay, and honestly, from a creator's perspective,
we couldn't do what we do without companies like you.
We literally rely on software and the brilliant people that
build it to do what we do. So thank you
first of all for everything that you do for creators
like us. And I'm excited because we're talking about things
(04:48):
that are near and dear to our hearts. Solopreneurship and
defining success in a different.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Way, absolutely right. And to help us dive into these topics,
we are joined by mary Ella de la Mora. Maryelle
is an EQ certified business and leadership coach, helping women
of color grow their businesses and their teams through proven
identity specific mindset and leadership practices. Prior to her solopreneurship journey,
(05:16):
Mariella worked as a director of marketing for sixteen years,
where she helped build multi billion dollar companies and startups
help them build their profitable brands while growing and leading
award nominated marketing teams all around the world. Today, she
helps entrepreneurs and working professionals become competent and empowered leaders
by infusing identity specific mindset, emotional intelligence, and business strategy.
(05:41):
Mary Ella.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yea. So let's rewind to the early days of the business.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
HM.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
You know, you have this great experience working for these
multi billion dollar companies and the startups. You've done this
for sixteen years. Now, where do the idea for this
business really stem from? And as you were sort of
getting your reps in, were there any really big obstacles
that you had to overcome that were like, wait a second,
if I could do that, maybe I can actually do
this for a living.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Yeah, the idea for the business it isn't like one
aha moment. I don't know. I rarely see that that's
the case. I think we all start with one small thing.
It's kind of like you just know to plant a
seed and then you just start watering that seed and
you're like, I don't really know if this is a
seed for like a fruit tree or a plant, Like
I don't really know what this is, but I'm just
going to start doing it. So I really just started
(06:33):
by a discovering that coaching was so much bigger than
like executive coaching, sports coaches, you know, things like that,
Like there was coaches for so many different areas of life,
and I just started sharing my story and you know,
helping people with marketing because that was a transferable skill.
So I was like, cool, what's my most obvious transferable skill?
And I talked about marketing and then I talked about
(06:54):
this other thing that I saw as separate, which was like,
how my identity was being challenged by trying to do
this thing. And then I found this is like where
the community came in because I had already built the
community that I had so many people that just had
followed me for that that they were like me too.
And that's what brought up the curiosity around why are
all of these brilliant, successful, high achieving people all having
(07:17):
similar struggles that I don't necessarily see to the same
degree outside of our community. It definitely self doubt exists
for everyone, but that's really what it was. It's like
starting to think about sharing your story. A lot of
the times will show certain things, but I really was
always kind of looking at what is like an unmet
need that I'm seeing happening that I'm curious about solving.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
You know, one thing I found with solopreneurs is like
that first time that you're successful. You don't actually believe
that you did that. Oh yeah, you think it's like
a fluke, and you're like, I don't have any idea
how this happened, don't ask me. Yeah, and if someone
asks you, okay, let's do it again, You're.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Like, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
I don't even know what to do.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Okay, So how do you combat those feelings to actually
own the success that you created.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
It took me a while because it's still happens. It
does not matter how much evidence you have. You're just like,
that's it.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
It's over.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Like I ran out stuff to say, so I have
had to because this is my marketing brain. That's like,
we need data, we need data. What is the data
that now? Because I've had to coach so many of
my clients through like yeah, but like I'm scared and
like I'm not booking sales calls and I'm just like,
but didn't you just do this thing like last quarter?
Like yeah, but it's only because like if someone referred
(08:26):
that person and this other person like heard about me
from someone else, and I'm like, but they wouldn't work
with you if you were like bad at what you do.
So I've literally had to create data. So like I
created something for my clients called success receipts, and it's
like if you were to go to a restaurant, it's
like what did you buy? Like what did you do?
So I'm like what did you do? Like what did
you do for marketing? How many offers did you make?
(08:47):
What thoughts were you having? What unhelpful thoughts were you having?
Did you get coached? What did you surrender? Like what
did you stop worrying about? Because success always comes with
like you let something go. You're just like, you know what,
I'm so tied. I'm just gonna like let it be.
And when they document it, like they've been able to
go back and be like, oh, I'm literally just not
making offers. And sometimes the answer is a lot simpler
(09:11):
than our minds want to make it. So I really
am an advocate of like document the things that are
working for you, because you are going to forget and
you're going to think it's over and you want to
show your brain evidence. Showing your brain evidence is like
a literal entrepreneurial skill because it'll say some crazy stuff
to you when it's scared.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
I love the idea of those success per seats I
need to check that one out for myself.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Yeah, in your recollection, what is felt like the big
break for you in business when where you're just like, ooh,
there's something happening here.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Oof.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
So I started my coaching business right before the pandemic,
and I just remember it took so long to get
my first client that I think at a certain point
you think like, I don't know, this is my take forever.
And I think a couple months in, I feel like
I found my groove, like I found my message, and
(10:05):
then it started to come back to back and I
remember telling myself if I land three clients in two months,
I'm going to quit my job. And I kind of
said that because I was like that's crazy, like that's
probably not going to happen. And then it did happen,
and so I think that was the moment where I
was like, oh, this is the thing. It can happen
a lot faster than you think, and it's not linear.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Absolutely. So I guess my first question right is we're
both solopreneurs, myself and Genia's here, So what does it
mean to you to be a solopreneur? Like what are
the advantages and the disadvantages that come with that title.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Well, first thing that came to mind was solopreneur is
like I came from corporate sixteen years. I was like, oh,
so your marketing, you're like product development, you are research
and development, your HR, you're like all the things. So
I think being a solopreneur really means like being agile, learning,
teaching yourself things, getting it wrong, kind of just being
(10:59):
willing to like messily wear all of the hats and
know that you're just going to do the best you
can because you're just learning. When you work for a company,
you kind of have to like vet things and there's
like layers, right, But when it's you, you're like I
can decide if I want to try again, if I
want to do something differently. So I feel like your
brain kind of clicks to become like a scientist in
a way. So I feel like the disadvantages it's all
(11:22):
on you, but the advantages is also all on you,
and you can just learn really quickly. And I think
for me, there's a lot of advantages in the sense
that like, part of the reason that I worked for
myself was that I'm a single parent. My daughter is six,
and I had climbed high enough up on the corporate
ladder that I knew it was never going to be
chill for me. So I'm able to like be the
(11:43):
PTA mom, go volunteer at school and like do those
things with her, and I can decide that I want
to take a month off in July to take her
on trips. So it really is the freedom, but it
is also like two sides of the coin of it
all being on you. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
I always tell people, if you on the fastest path
to personal development, go start business, yep, because you're going
to confront every toxic narrative that's floating through your mind
in one way or another, either by yourself or with
the help of a therapist. Right.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
Yeah, therapy is like a mandatory when you have a business.
I feel like it should be a business expense, honestly.
So what does success mean to you and your business
and how has that changed over time? I think now
it means feeling at peace and feeling like I'm in control.
(12:32):
I have freedom, I can make the decisions. That's also
difficult sometimes, but that and also feeling like I'm making
an impact and something that like really really really matters
to me and that's something that I didn't have before.
So I served first chen and I'm a daughter of immigrants,
so I feel like it just couldn't possibly be more
meaningful because I'm the one that decided, like what the
(12:52):
meaning is and who I wanted to help and what
problem I really like on fire to solve and think
about every single day. So that's what success means now.
But it used to mean like getting the accolades and
like my job title and how much money I made
and my grades. And it changed from some other system
deciding like what was good versus me sort of setting
(13:14):
that standard. And that's just huge because children of immigrants,
like we really just want to make our parents proud,
like we want to be their American dream, right. So
I think that's been the biggest shift, is like me
defining what that looks like for myself.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
I think a lot of solopreneurs, entrepreneurs, small business owners,
especially entrepreneurs and solopreneurs. Right, we see the headlines of
that one person who raised twenty million dollars at this
billion you know whatever, right, and we kind of benchmark
ourselves against that. It's like, wait, should I be doing that?
They're younger than me, They're all like whatever that looks
like the dynamic in actuality, like just having that self
(13:47):
reflection and saying what am I doing this for? What
is my path? Like? That's so powerful?
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Absolutely, So we know that the road to entrepreneurship is
a bit lonely. So how do you find the support
when you're self employed? And how or in his community
been to you in your business? Oh man, you absolutely
like need your community. I think that one thing that
I didn't realize I was doing early on, like before
I had ever made any money. I found community mostly
because I knew in my mind, this is a little
(14:14):
delusional to everything that I was raised to be like,
which is hard working, like he the hardest worker in
the room, you know, make your parents proud. And I
was like, I just want to go find other delusional
people who are like asking themselves the same questions, who
are like having this existential crisis, but they're all about it.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
And they're like, yeah, like this is what I'm thinking
of doing. And so I actually knew to find community
before I knew what I was selling. So I found
courses that had Facebook groups that had communities built in,
and I just like met as many people as possible,
and that helped to change my brain to say, maybe
I'm not so crazy, Like there's other people that are
asking themselves similar questions, and I don't think that I
(14:51):
could have done it honestly if that wasn't normalized for me,
Because I think that when you're doing something that you've
never done before, that maybe your family like hasn't modeled before.
It's so easy to go back and say like I'm
not cut out for this, or this doesn't make sense,
or it's taking too long, or I'm doing something wrong,
but your community will remind you like, no, this is
just part of what comes with the territory. Are you
the eldest daughter by anygs? Okay, yeah, I thought so too,
(15:14):
my eldest daughter.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Problems, Yes, so mary Ella, What would you say to
the small business owner or solopreneurs specifically right now listening
who just got started. Maybe they just you know, hit
that first goal. It's their big break, but they have
no idea where to start. As it relates to building relationships,
finding community, is it a conference? Is it the Facebook groups? Like?
How truly step by step? Can someone go out and
(15:36):
find those people?
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Oh? Man? I always think about like where are people
like me that are also like looking for the same answers.
So for me and what I've seen, it is like
these events in person, going to meet people. Some of
it could be online summits, it could be going to
join a group, even if it's just for the community,
Like there are these early stage entrepreneur groups where like
(15:59):
you're finding out what your thing is and like how
to monetize it, just anything where other like minded people are.
So I know that during the pandemic we couldn't go
and meet each other in person. I think that's why
I joined so many groups during that time. But yeah,
I honestly think that get on the email lists too
of like anything related to personal development and entrepreneurship, because
sometimes that's how you find out that there's like something
(16:20):
going on that you can join. So that's what I did.
I just plugged myself into email lists, podcasts, summits in person.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
So here's a fun question. Have you ever like looked
at your community for answers where like you didn't think
about something when then someone chimed in and said, oh,
actually you should think about it this way, and you
like took their advice and it worked.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
I feel like my business was kind of always the
result of feedback to some extent, not permission, but more
like validating yes, I have this need too. I also
struggle with this that really hit, that really resonated. So
I think your community will tell you what they need,
I guess in that sense. And that's still the case
because sometimes you'll see a problem or you'll see something
(16:59):
you want to do for them, but then they'll tell
you how they're thinking about it, which is kind of
like when I think about my marketing brain, I always
think about like speaking in your client's language. So a
lot of what you do learn in like building community
and listening to community is like how do they think
about that thing that you want to help them with?
So I think that's been really impactful too. I mean,
I think that.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Makes a lot of sense because you're kind of using
your community as that like test group, right, So you're
not just building a product and hoping you're going to
find people that are going to buy it. You're actually
building the excitement because you're building for the community after
you've received their feedback.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
Yes, that's really key because I think that's one I
don't gonna say like mistake, but I think that that's
an idea that I had at the beginning, is you
need to come up with the course and who it's for.
But it's like you haven't necessarily gotten that like validated yet.
So it's like the community does come first, honestly, and
not everyone thinks about it that way. But I hope
that that's like empowering to hear to start the community
(17:55):
first because you don't need to have the answers, but
you can start the community now just by talking about
the need that you want to solve for or starting
to share your story. And that actually, I think keeps
a lot of people like in waiting because they think
that they need to have the solution outlined one hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
So something I've struggled with, you know, as a solopreneur
is scaling. I only have so much time every day,
oh yeah, and I can only lean in on so
many productivity tools to help me achieve more in that
twenty four hour period. So as a solopreneur, what does
it mean to scale your business? How do you scale?
And does scale even exist?
Speaker 1 (18:32):
To me?
Speaker 3 (18:32):
I found like scaling comes in so many ways it
almost seems like it's this big system or something, but
I think scaling a lot of times is like how
do I do what I'm doing more efficiently, better with
less of my time. So in a small way, one
of the things that helped me scale even without a
team is I'm a coach. So there have been eras
(18:54):
of my life for a long time where I was
like on fourteen coaching calls a week, but in order
to get to fourteen coaching calls a week, I had
to struggle with six because I was spending so much
time I was trying to figure out how to help
them and solve their problems. And then what would happen is, oh,
I'm having three different clients have a similar problem. I
just created a framework, you know, and like a lot
(19:16):
of times, you're doing it live, and then that framework
helps you help the other clients, so you're spending less time,
people are getting better results. So scaling could literally just
be getting better at what you do, delivering it faster, better,
and then eventually it's also things like using systems, like
I have content going out today that I'm not posting,
you know what I mean. It's things like that. It's
using you know, software and systems to help you automate
(19:37):
and schedule that actually pushes some of those things out
for you.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Yeah. Delegation, right, really being able to identify what you
might be really good at but also might not be
that great at, and then hiring people that can really
help support you there. Yeah, I think sort of a
lesson that I've learned throughout my solopreneurship journey connect conspective.
What you said earlier is, you know, it's not about
making more money a solopreneur, Like that's eventually going to
(20:01):
cap out because I have so many hours a day.
It comes back to am I able to drive my vision,
my purpose, reasons why I'm doing this and feel good
about that and be able to hit the mark every
single day on that Like that to me is scale.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
Yeah. I like that. It's consistency. It's almost like creating
a system for that. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
I mean I think I would argue too, that it
would involve raising your prices so that you're actually making
more by not necessarily working more. Yes, because I think
that's a mistake that a lot of entrepreneurs make. We
tend to undervalue our skill set because we've been kind
of programmed to see our abilities as like a dollar
per hour. You know when we're trying to figure out
(20:38):
how to scale. It's also how do I charge for
the transformation versus the time?
Speaker 3 (20:44):
Yes, yeah, that's so important.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Coming up on Mind the Business Small Business success.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Stories, Playing it safe actually works against me because I'm
not giving myself or my business what it needs, like
cutting off the oxygen to the business. And there have
been times where I've pulled back and been like, Okay,
we need to cut here and I need to stop
doing this, and then I actually struggled more. We'll be
right back after the break.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Welcome back to Mind the Business Small Business Success Stories,
brought to you by iHeartRadio and Into It QuickBooks. So,
as a solopreneur, what are the essential tools and resources
you use to run your business? How did you find them?
How are you implementing them? Give us the play by play.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
Yeah, this is where community is important because you'll go
in and it's like, what do you guys use for this?
And then people will give you their two cents because
there's just there's just so much. So I do use
QuickBooks for my bookkeeping. I do have an accountant though,
because I don't know that I should be trusted with that.
But oh my gosh. We use Canva for design, Zoom
(21:56):
for meetings, squadcasts for podcasts, and dscript to do like
AI automatic transcripts. So like I love now. I'm just like,
how could we do this better and faster? How could
we take a coaching call and immediately extract snippets are
used Slack for like my community and I have a
little hub for everything, and I think it helps me
feel like I can do it all without doing.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
It all one hundred percent, right. Having that tech stack
is really important.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Yeah, it's true, And I think one of the things
that scares people about this solopreneur journey is when you
are starting to think about hiring help. Yeah, it doesn't
always have to be people right away. It can be
the software, absolutely. You know, something as simple as like
calendarly or squarespace scheduling can take those minutes that you're
spending going back and forth when can we hop on
a call? Those things all can help you scale without
(22:44):
necessarily having to hire too.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
Exactly. I'm thinking of flow desk to have an automated
email sequence that when someone opts in, they get three
emails or five emails introducing them to you and your brand,
and how you can help them like that is kind
of scaling and then having the calendlies and we use
later for prescheduling, social media and all those things. So
like these things can also like work for you. And
(23:05):
as a solopreneur, I feel like we also are like
the most adept at getting the most done with those
resources because we don't default to just hiring, so you'll
become like an accidental like tech x.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Well, actually, you know, speaking of QuickBooks, QuickBooks money is
going to be a game changer for solopreneurs. Right is
offering business banking tools with a game changing five percent
annual percentage yield. It allows entrepreneurs and business owners to
business differently. So I'm curious, Mary Ella, how do you
set yourself apart from your competitors? How do you do
business differently?
Speaker 3 (23:40):
I think that a big part of what I do is,
like I focus on what my specific community needs, meaning
like how their backgrounds and their lived experiences are creating
specific challenges that I can solve. So I'm a leadership coach,
I'm a business coach, and I'm a leadership coach. I
kind of give you an example that when I was
certified as a leadership coach. We were taught someone has
(24:03):
a certain emotional intelligence ranking in a certain area, how
do we build it? But I always come in with
the curiosity of, like, why is this particularly hard for
my people? And then if you can solve a niche
problem for your people. That's what I think sets me
apart is that I really do center the first gen community.
I don't just say I want to help them because
I'm first gen. I'm actually like studying them and studying
(24:24):
their brain, studying why do they struggle with the things
that they do, why are they so great at the
things that they're great at? And how can I become
the best person with that lens. That's I think how
anyone can set themselves apart is really thinking about like
your specific person. But that's always been it for me.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
That's so powerful.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
Yeah, I really love that approach. So I know you've
probably learned a lot of lessons along the way as
a solopreneur. What do you wish you'd known at the beginning?
That's a good question. I think it's that I'm going
to learn how to hold ups and downs and like
I don't want to say positive emotions or nega of
(25:00):
emotions because there aren't. But I wish that I knew
that solopreneurship was going to introduce me to like the
full human experience, because I think that for such a
long time, and many of us think like, something's wrong
with you because you're having a hard time or because
you have self doubt, but it really is part of
the process, and so I think, instead of judging it,
(25:20):
it's like, Okay, well, what do I need? How can
community help me? How can a coach or literally going
to therapy? And I don't really see them as like
positive or negative anymore. Sometimes I even look at what
you would perceive to be negative emotion, like something like
imposter syndrome, right, and being like, okay, imposter syndrome is
showing me that, like I'm doing something that passed me,
(25:42):
didn't think was possible, and now I'm like, okay, bring
it up. Now. This is telling me I'm adding in
the right direction. It's getting comfortable being uncomfortable, yeah, constantly,
and then what feels comfortable, You're like, what's next?
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Yeah, what's been the hardest lesson that you've had to learn?
Because you know, despite what social media says entrepreneurship, it's
not always unicorns and rainbows.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
Man, there's been a lot. I don't know if it's
like a lesson. I'd say that, like, my relationship with
money is probably tested more than anything in my entire
life because you don't have a paycheck. I mean, I'm
an escorp now, so I have a paycheck, but I'm
also the person who provides the money for the paycheck.
The hardest part for me, and I think this is
(26:25):
very much like a first gen thing and being a
single parent that I'm like, I have to learn how
to trust myself. And I think the harder lesson was
more that sometimes like playing it safe actually works against
me because I'm not giving myself or my business what
it needs, like cutting off the oxygen to the business.
And there have been times where I've pulled back and
(26:47):
been like, Okay, we need to cut here and I
need to stop doing this, and then I actually struggled more.
So I think that that is probably one of the
hardest lessons. Was like, your relationship with money is an
entrepreneurial skill.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
One hundred percent. So I struggle with this, But I
really want to hear your answer, especially for the person
listening right now who is also probably struggling with this problem.
I've got contractors, I've got vendors, I've got all these
things that I'm managing behind the scenes as a solopreneur.
What tips, tricks, hacks, ideas, how do you really hone
in on that skill and be able to sort of
organize that and keep it flowing. So you're scaling your.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
Business with like getting everybody kind of doing well exactly
needs to be done. I have just found like one
of the biggest challenges is like there isn't actually like
clear written expectations. It's kind of like you bring someone
in and then you're like, Okay, I'm just going to
like verbally explain it to them, but you don't have
like standards like do we have a policy on like
(27:42):
what have I actually documented what it is that I want?
And that's part of scaling is almost like turning a
decision into a policy and so bringing people into your
business like having clear like this is exactly what I
want you to do by when how do we know
that we're actually giving clear instruction? So I think is
that's like part of it. And I think also just
(28:03):
clear priorities because I think part of even where like
contractors will struggle is like we'll tell them this is
what we're doing, but then we'll come in with like
a bunch of conflicting other things and then we're not
planning far enough ahead sometimes and you know, things happen.
But I think that just leaders will send conflicting messages
to like their teams, and then that's kind of what
keeps everybody scrambling, and it's inevitable. But I think creating
(28:27):
systems of like and then how do you want to
be kept informed when all those things and you're not
going to know all that stuff up front? Literally every
single time something goes wrong, every single time, I'm always like, cool,
do I need to make a decision about this? And
if so, I'm going to document it. And if something
went wrong, why what is the root cause of this
so we can solve it one time forever. So I
(28:49):
think a big part of leadership is like what's the
root cause? Instead of just being like, oh, we forgot
to loop in this person, it's like, how can we
make sure that this doesn't happen in the future. And
even when I give back to contractors, it's never about
like why did you do this? It's like what happened
in like the process that this was missed, and like,
how can we make sure that like we clean this up.
I love it.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
I feel like you have a bit of an engineering
brain because I'm thinking, like, it sounds like you're talking
about SOPs or standard operating procedures, right, Yeah, And that's
one of those things I had to figure out too,
when I was looking at getting additional support, Like I mean,
we have an SOP for how to record a podcast
episode or like how to book a podcast guest, and
you don't think about how many steps you have to
(29:30):
take personally to do this. But then when you're trying
to explain to somebody else like how this actually works,
writing things down is very very useful.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
Yeah, and then you actually get to empty your brain,
because that's the thing about when you have a business.
Your brain is such a busy place that I think
about an SOP as like emptying it out. And if
I'm going to give directions, sometimes what I'll do is like, hey,
we forgot to do this, or I'm like I we
literally didn't forget. I never told you to do it,
And then I'm like, can you write that down for me?
You don't even have to be the person doing it
(29:58):
if you have somebody supporting me. I'm just a big
visionary thinker and I don't like writing words down, but
you can actually ask for help to be like, can
we just document that this is going to be like
our decision moving forward on how we want to do stuff.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
So I guess my last question here really that I'm
super curious about is if I rewind my solopreneurship journey
about two years ago. Now, it was so hard for
me to like really stay on track, and so I
had a time box. I'm not sure if you guys
seen that, be like sort of figure out when am
I going to do specific things on my to do list?
What time a day I'm going to accomplish those things.
That's how I was able to stay on track, knowing
(30:30):
that I didn't have a boss to, you know, report to,
and no one was really holding me accountable. So I
want to hear from you now, talking to the solopreneur
out there listening, how can you sort of share your
experience of staying on task, staying productive, making sure that
you're holding yourself accountable. How have you able to achieve
those specific things? Yeah, without having someone micro manager and
you know kind of keeck you into gear.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
It's funny because I would have struggled to answer this
question like even six months ago, a year ago, because
I feel like I don't like to use this smart
but I was, like I felt like I was like
a hot mess all the time. So I've had to
figure out how to be more efficient because I'm scaling,
so it couldn't just be like me back and forth
with like my assistant all the time or just figuring
it out day to day. Now what really helps me
(31:11):
is like I go into the week more peacefully when
I spend Monday mornings meeting with my assistant going through
last week's stuff. So we go into clickup, which we
use for project management. So I use Mondays for decisions
and delegating, and then I get coached and then I
have time to just like work on my stuff, so
(31:31):
like I don't take client calls on Mondays. So I
think having like designated focuses for the day really helps
because task switching it just takes a lot out of me.
And I think for most people, you're using like different
skill sets and different parts of your brain. So now
it's like Monday's decision day, Delegation Day, CEO day. I
coach on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Wednesdays are mostly for me
(31:52):
to just do work in my business. Friday, I'll mostly
take that for like wrapping stuff up and then taking
the afternoon off before my daughter gets off school. So
I think sprints like dedicated focuses and planning up front
so that you're not sitting down at your computer going,
oh my god, what am I going to do? Like, Okay,
I need to work on my business, but there's twenty
different things. You're not spending that time making those decisions.
You're making those decisions up front.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
So one of the themes that I've heard you speak
on several times throughout our conversation is this idea of mindset.
So what's your favorite mantra or quo or something that
you like look back at when you need that extra motivation.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
There's so many. I literally made a deck of cards
with my mantras on it if I get to my clients.
But I think the one that I lean into the most,
that gives me the most piece is like, my success
is inevitable. And I say that from this perspective of
like if you just keep problem solving and showing up
to solve that problem, it's impossible for it not to work.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
I wanted to say that again one more time.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
My success is inevitable, and if you keep showing up
to solve the problem, there's no way that it's not
going to work. It's like, literally impossible. How could you
feasibly spend your entire life trying to figure out how
to make this thing happen and not make it happen.
It's literally impossible. So whenever I'm like, oh my god,
this is taking too long, oh my gosh, like maybe
I shouldn't do this, it's like, it's okay, it's inevitable.
(33:16):
You're just freaking out because it's not happening now. But
when that thing happens, you're going to be worried about
another thing, another goalpost or another problem. Every level has
new problems. That's another one. Every level has new problems,
and you are solving the problems you are equipped to
solve right now. So don't wish on problems that you're not.
You don't even want those problems right now. Because I
(33:36):
think we always think it's going to be better when
we get to like some other place, and then you
get to that place and you're like, oh wait, that
was easy, like the stuff I was worried about. And
not to scare you, but that's just part of like
you become a different person who can handle different stuff.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
My success is inevitable. Yeah, I like get that as
a tattoo, right, My success is inevitable. That is so
cool doing chills right now. Just listen about that. That's incredible.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
I mean, I think that's the quotable quote of the day. Y'all.
Mary Ella, thank you so much for being here. It's
been a total pleasure. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
Wow. I mean, what an experience and what a conversation
to share it with our first live audience for Mind
the Business. Mary Ella really shared some very meaningful insights
and wisdom on that stage. We had so many people
coming up to us after and saying how they felt
like they needed to hire mary Ella as their life
coach after this discussion, Austin, what resonated most with you?
Speaker 2 (34:41):
I may or may not have been one of those
people trying to hire mary Ella now as a life coach.
Oh my goodness, she was incredible. I think a couple
of things stood out to me first was community. Right,
at the end of the day, being a solopreneur is
very lonely, and it takes a toll on our mental
health for sure. And so by identifying and surrounding yourself
with people who are also solopreneurs, learning from them, from
(35:03):
their mistakes, from their accomplishments, everyone has a unique experience
and something to share. Another thing that really really stood
out to me was her comment around consistency. Right, if
you stay consistent over time, success is inevitable. At the
end of the day, we're putting in hours upon hours
of hard work to achieve this goal in our dreams,
and just by doing that, we are setting ourselves up
(35:26):
for long term success. I also think there's something to
be said about the imposter syndrome, especially myself. I'm definitely
on the younger side, right, and so what I'm surrounded
by all these successful solopreneurs like yourself Jennie's, it just
gets me so excited and really puts a lot in perspective.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Yeah, I think it's important for us as solopreneurs to
really believe that the success that you've achieved is not
just an accident, It's not just a fluke. It really
is about what you did, Like you mentioned Austin showing
up consistently. And I think one of the really key
points that mary Ella shared with us is write down
all of the things that you do in your business.
(36:00):
Start to standardize those things, because inevitably, you know you
may want to look for additional support at some point
down the road, depending on where you are in your journey,
and being able to pass on that knowledge in a
really formalized way through procedures is super useful. And also
I think it just helps you understand, like, what are
all these different things that are happening in my business
(36:21):
versus trying to keep everything in your head. It's important
as a solopreneur to make sure that you are leveraging resources.
Technology is our friend, and software like QuickBooks money is
one of those really key tools that you can use
to make sure you're not wasting time chasing somebody for
an invoice and you can get back to doing the
thing you're supposed to be doing, which is growing that business.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
Now for our exciting news, Jennie's give me a quick
little drum roll please, We.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
Are coming back with season two at the beginning of
twenty twenty four. We'll have brand new episodes featuring more
solopreneurs sharing their stories of struggle and success. Subscribe and
follow the show and keep an eye on the feed
so you don't miss out on the amazing insights and
knowledge from these business owners.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
I cannot be more excited. This series has been so
eye opening for myself as a small business owner, solopreneur, entrepreneur.
I've had so many people reach out to me saying
that they've learned so much from the incredible entrepreneurs that
we've interviewed over the last several months, and twenty twenty
four is going to be a blast.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
I am so excited for season two. I just have
gotten so much incredible feedback from folks that are tuning
into the show, learning so much, and most importantly remembering
that this is not a sprint. This journey through solopreneurship
is a marathon, and we are here to support you
every step of the way.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
Well that's it for our very first live episode. You
can find me on social media at Austin Hankwitz.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
And you can find me at jokierro Dineto podcast.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
You can learn more about mary Yella by visiting her
website Marielladala Mora dot com or on Instagram Atmaryella dot
Dala Mora. You can follow Into It QuickBooks on all
social media at QuickBooks. To get the tools you need
to start, run and grow your business, head to QuickBooks
dot com today.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
We also want to hear from you, so be sure
to leave a rating and review.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
This podcast is a production of Ruby Studios from iHeartMedia
and Into It QuickBooks.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
Our executive producer is Mollisosha, Our supervising producer is Nikkia Swinton.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
Our head of post production is James Foster.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
See you next time I'm QuickBooks. Money is a standalone
into it offering banking services provided by Green dot Bank
member FDIC only. Funds and envelopes earn annual percentag yield
apy can change at any time. Money movement services provided
by intowit Payments, Inc. Licensed as a money transmitter by
(38:55):
the New York State Department of Financial Services
The views, information, or opinions expressed during this podcast are
solely those of the individuals involved and do not represent
those of Intouitt, QuickBooks or any of its cornerstone brands
or employees. This podcast does not constitute financial, legal, or
other professional advice or services. No assurance is given that
the info is comprehensive, accurate, or free of errors, and
the information presented is for general information purposes only. Into
It QuickBooks does not have any responsibility for updating or
(00:22):
advising any information presented. Listeners should verify statements before relying
on them. QuickBooks Money is a standalone Into It offering
banking services provided by Green Dot Bank member FDIC. Hi everyone,
I'm jinnyse Torres.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
And I'm Austin Hankwitz, and welcome to another episode of
Mind the Business Small Business Success Stories, a podcast brought
to you by Ruby Studios from iHeartMedia and Into It QuickBooks.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
In each episode, we chat with entrepreneurs and small business
owners as they share their stories about the successes and
challenges of owning and growing a business. This episode is
a very special episode.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
That's right, this is our own personal holiday gift to you.
This is a bonus episode, but it's not just any
bonus episode. We recorded our interview with business and leadership
coach mary Ella de la Mora live from the Into
It Innovation Summit, and we're really excited because at the
(01:25):
summit we talked to Mariyella about a very unique type
of entrepreneurship, and that's solopreneurship.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Yes, and Austin, even though you and I now work
with other people at this point in our career, we
are both very familiar with solopreneurship as it's how we
operated for so long and for so many people. Growth
does not include employees or building a staff. For freelancers
and artists and many others, it makes the most sense
to remain a solopreneur. But I'm curious, Austin, when you
(01:54):
were a solopreneur, how did you define success for your business?
Speaker 2 (01:58):
For me, I define success as progress.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Right.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
So rewind three years ago and Austin Hankwitz is over there,
pluging away, trying to write the best newsletter he could
host the best live streams possible and begin to monetize
his audience in a meaningful way. And as solopreneurs, we
aren't given a playbook. No one's saying go do this, now,
go do this, and now go do that. Right, we
have to make those decisions for ourselves. So when I'm
(02:23):
thinking to myself, Okay, I just quit my job, what
should I be doing now, keeping that idea of consistent
progress and one step at a time in mind was
paramount for my success. But Jenius, I know solopreneurship means
a lot of different things for a lot of different people.
What does success mean to you as a solopreneur?
Speaker 1 (02:41):
For me, it means doing more of what you enjoy
and less of what you don't because you are on
your own. So in the beginning of my journey, I
was trying to throw so many different things at the wall,
and not everything was necessarily worth my time and effort,
and especially not when you're trying to piecemeal a paycheck
with a bunch of different tasks and opportunities. So I
(03:03):
started getting really clear on what are those things that
I enjoy doing, What are those things that have a
higher return on investment for my time? And then what's
the stuff that I can automate to maybe a software
or maybe just removing it from my business processes altogether
that are going to allow me to make more while
not also working more. And I like to tell newbie
(03:23):
entrepreneurs and especially the solopreneurs, if you create a rat race,
that's your fault at this point because this is your business.
So you have to be the one that dictates where
those boundaries exist.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
One hundred percent. Now what do you say? We jump
into our great conversation that was recorded live from the
Intuit Innovation Summit with our guest solopreneur Mary Ella de
la Mora.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Absolutely, and a quick note to our listeners, don't forget
to keep listening after the interview, as Austin and I
share some major mind the business news with you at
the end of the episode.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Let's get into it.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Hey everyone, I'm Austin Hankwotz and I am Janice Torres
and this is Mine the Business Small Business Success Stories,
a podcast brought to you by Into It QuickBooks and iHeartRadio,
and we're coming to you live from the Innovation Summit
in Northern California. Austin, I don't know about you, but
I am so excited for two reasons. First Off, this
(04:25):
is my first visit to like a tech company, and
I'm just like, I get it. I totally get why
y'all are doing this, okay, and honestly, from a creator's perspective,
we couldn't do what we do without companies like you.
We literally rely on software and the brilliant people that
build it to do what we do. So thank you
first of all for everything that you do for creators
like us. And I'm excited because we're talking about things
(04:48):
that are near and dear to our hearts. Solopreneurship and
defining success in a different.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Way, absolutely right. And to help us dive into these topics,
we are joined by mary Ella de la Mora. Maryelle
is an EQ certified business and leadership coach, helping women
of color grow their businesses and their teams through proven
identity specific mindset and leadership practices. Prior to her solopreneurship journey,
(05:16):
Mariella worked as a director of marketing for sixteen years,
where she helped build multi billion dollar companies and startups
help them build their profitable brands while growing and leading
award nominated marketing teams all around the world. Today, she
helps entrepreneurs and working professionals become competent and empowered leaders
by infusing identity specific mindset, emotional intelligence, and business strategy.
(05:41):
Mary Ella.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yea. So let's rewind to the early days of the business.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
HM.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
You know, you have this great experience working for these
multi billion dollar companies and the startups. You've done this
for sixteen years. Now, where do the idea for this
business really stem from? And as you were sort of
getting your reps in, were there any really big obstacles
that you had to overcome that were like, wait a second,
if I could do that, maybe I can actually do
this for a living.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Yeah, the idea for the business it isn't like one
aha moment. I don't know. I rarely see that that's
the case. I think we all start with one small thing.
It's kind of like you just know to plant a
seed and then you just start watering that seed and
you're like, I don't really know if this is a
seed for like a fruit tree or a plant, Like
I don't really know what this is, but I'm just
going to start doing it. So I really just started
(06:33):
by a discovering that coaching was so much bigger than
like executive coaching, sports coaches, you know, things like that,
Like there was coaches for so many different areas of life,
and I just started sharing my story and you know,
helping people with marketing because that was a transferable skill.
So I was like, cool, what's my most obvious transferable skill?
And I talked about marketing and then I talked about
(06:54):
this other thing that I saw as separate, which was like,
how my identity was being challenged by trying to do
this thing. And then I found this is like where
the community came in because I had already built the
community that I had so many people that just had
followed me for that that they were like me too.
And that's what brought up the curiosity around why are
all of these brilliant, successful, high achieving people all having
(07:17):
similar struggles that I don't necessarily see to the same
degree outside of our community. It definitely self doubt exists
for everyone, but that's really what it was. It's like
starting to think about sharing your story. A lot of
the times will show certain things, but I really was
always kind of looking at what is like an unmet
need that I'm seeing happening that I'm curious about solving.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
You know, one thing I found with solopreneurs is like
that first time that you're successful. You don't actually believe
that you did that. Oh yeah, you think it's like
a fluke, and you're like, I don't have any idea
how this happened, don't ask me. Yeah, and if someone
asks you, okay, let's do it again, You're.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Like, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
I don't even know what to do.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Okay, So how do you combat those feelings to actually
own the success that you created.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
It took me a while because it's still happens. It
does not matter how much evidence you have. You're just like,
that's it.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
It's over.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Like I ran out stuff to say, so I have
had to because this is my marketing brain. That's like,
we need data, we need data. What is the data
that now? Because I've had to coach so many of
my clients through like yeah, but like I'm scared and
like I'm not booking sales calls and I'm just like,
but didn't you just do this thing like last quarter?
Like yeah, but it's only because like if someone referred
(08:26):
that person and this other person like heard about me
from someone else, and I'm like, but they wouldn't work
with you if you were like bad at what you do.
So I've literally had to create data. So like I
created something for my clients called success receipts, and it's
like if you were to go to a restaurant, it's
like what did you buy? Like what did you do?
So I'm like what did you do? Like what did
you do for marketing? How many offers did you make?
(08:47):
What thoughts were you having? What unhelpful thoughts were you having?
Did you get coached? What did you surrender? Like what
did you stop worrying about? Because success always comes with
like you let something go. You're just like, you know what,
I'm so tied. I'm just gonna like let it be.
And when they document it, like they've been able to
go back and be like, oh, I'm literally just not
making offers. And sometimes the answer is a lot simpler
(09:11):
than our minds want to make it. So I really
am an advocate of like document the things that are
working for you, because you are going to forget and
you're going to think it's over and you want to
show your brain evidence. Showing your brain evidence is like
a literal entrepreneurial skill because it'll say some crazy stuff
to you when it's scared.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
I love the idea of those success per seats I
need to check that one out for myself.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Yeah, in your recollection, what is felt like the big
break for you in business when where you're just like, ooh,
there's something happening here.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Oof.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
So I started my coaching business right before the pandemic,
and I just remember it took so long to get
my first client that I think at a certain point
you think like, I don't know, this is my take forever.
And I think a couple months in, I feel like
I found my groove, like I found my message, and
(10:05):
then it started to come back to back and I
remember telling myself if I land three clients in two months,
I'm going to quit my job. And I kind of
said that because I was like that's crazy, like that's
probably not going to happen. And then it did happen,
and so I think that was the moment where I
was like, oh, this is the thing. It can happen
a lot faster than you think, and it's not linear.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Absolutely. So I guess my first question right is we're
both solopreneurs, myself and Genia's here, So what does it
mean to you to be a solopreneur? Like what are
the advantages and the disadvantages that come with that title.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Well, first thing that came to mind was solopreneur is
like I came from corporate sixteen years. I was like, oh,
so your marketing, you're like product development, you are research
and development, your HR, you're like all the things. So
I think being a solopreneur really means like being agile, learning,
teaching yourself things, getting it wrong, kind of just being
(10:59):
willing to like messily wear all of the hats and
know that you're just going to do the best you
can because you're just learning. When you work for a company,
you kind of have to like vet things and there's
like layers, right, But when it's you, you're like I
can decide if I want to try again, if I
want to do something differently. So I feel like your
brain kind of clicks to become like a scientist in
a way. So I feel like the disadvantages it's all
(11:22):
on you, but the advantages is also all on you,
and you can just learn really quickly. And I think
for me, there's a lot of advantages in the sense
that like, part of the reason that I worked for
myself was that I'm a single parent. My daughter is six,
and I had climbed high enough up on the corporate
ladder that I knew it was never going to be
chill for me. So I'm able to like be the
(11:43):
PTA mom, go volunteer at school and like do those
things with her, and I can decide that I want
to take a month off in July to take her
on trips. So it really is the freedom, but it
is also like two sides of the coin of it
all being on you. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
I always tell people, if you on the fastest path
to personal development, go start business, yep, because you're going
to confront every toxic narrative that's floating through your mind
in one way or another, either by yourself or with
the help of a therapist. Right.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
Yeah, therapy is like a mandatory when you have a business.
I feel like it should be a business expense, honestly.
So what does success mean to you and your business
and how has that changed over time? I think now
it means feeling at peace and feeling like I'm in control.
(12:32):
I have freedom, I can make the decisions. That's also
difficult sometimes, but that and also feeling like I'm making
an impact and something that like really really really matters
to me and that's something that I didn't have before.
So I served first chen and I'm a daughter of immigrants,
so I feel like it just couldn't possibly be more
meaningful because I'm the one that decided, like what the
(12:52):
meaning is and who I wanted to help and what
problem I really like on fire to solve and think
about every single day. So that's what success means now.
But it used to mean like getting the accolades and
like my job title and how much money I made
and my grades. And it changed from some other system
deciding like what was good versus me sort of setting
(13:14):
that standard. And that's just huge because children of immigrants,
like we really just want to make our parents proud,
like we want to be their American dream, right. So
I think that's been the biggest shift, is like me
defining what that looks like for myself.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
I think a lot of solopreneurs, entrepreneurs, small business owners,
especially entrepreneurs and solopreneurs. Right, we see the headlines of
that one person who raised twenty million dollars at this
billion you know whatever, right, and we kind of benchmark
ourselves against that. It's like, wait, should I be doing that?
They're younger than me, They're all like whatever that looks
like the dynamic in actuality, like just having that self
(13:47):
reflection and saying what am I doing this for? What
is my path? Like? That's so powerful?
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Absolutely, So we know that the road to entrepreneurship is
a bit lonely. So how do you find the support
when you're self employed? And how or in his community
been to you in your business? Oh man, you absolutely
like need your community. I think that one thing that
I didn't realize I was doing early on, like before
I had ever made any money. I found community mostly
because I knew in my mind, this is a little
(14:14):
delusional to everything that I was raised to be like,
which is hard working, like he the hardest worker in
the room, you know, make your parents proud. And I
was like, I just want to go find other delusional
people who are like asking themselves the same questions, who
are like having this existential crisis, but they're all about it.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
And they're like, yeah, like this is what I'm thinking
of doing. And so I actually knew to find community
before I knew what I was selling. So I found
courses that had Facebook groups that had communities built in,
and I just like met as many people as possible,
and that helped to change my brain to say, maybe
I'm not so crazy, Like there's other people that are
asking themselves similar questions, and I don't think that I
(14:51):
could have done it honestly if that wasn't normalized for me,
Because I think that when you're doing something that you've
never done before, that maybe your family like hasn't modeled before.
It's so easy to go back and say like I'm
not cut out for this, or this doesn't make sense,
or it's taking too long, or I'm doing something wrong,
but your community will remind you like, no, this is
just part of what comes with the territory. Are you
the eldest daughter by anygs? Okay, yeah, I thought so too,
(15:14):
my eldest daughter.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Problems, Yes, so mary Ella, What would you say to
the small business owner or solopreneurs specifically right now listening
who just got started. Maybe they just you know, hit
that first goal. It's their big break, but they have
no idea where to start. As it relates to building relationships,
finding community, is it a conference? Is it the Facebook groups? Like?
How truly step by step? Can someone go out and
(15:36):
find those people?
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Oh? Man? I always think about like where are people
like me that are also like looking for the same answers.
So for me and what I've seen, it is like
these events in person, going to meet people. Some of
it could be online summits, it could be going to
join a group, even if it's just for the community,
Like there are these early stage entrepreneur groups where like
(15:59):
you're finding out what your thing is and like how
to monetize it, just anything where other like minded people are.
So I know that during the pandemic we couldn't go
and meet each other in person. I think that's why
I joined so many groups during that time. But yeah,
I honestly think that get on the email lists too
of like anything related to personal development and entrepreneurship, because
sometimes that's how you find out that there's like something
(16:20):
going on that you can join. So that's what I did.
I just plugged myself into email lists, podcasts, summits in person.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
So here's a fun question. Have you ever like looked
at your community for answers where like you didn't think
about something when then someone chimed in and said, oh,
actually you should think about it this way, and you
like took their advice and it worked.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
I feel like my business was kind of always the
result of feedback to some extent, not permission, but more
like validating yes, I have this need too. I also
struggle with this that really hit, that really resonated. So
I think your community will tell you what they need,
I guess in that sense. And that's still the case
because sometimes you'll see a problem or you'll see something
(16:59):
you want to do for them, but then they'll tell
you how they're thinking about it, which is kind of
like when I think about my marketing brain, I always
think about like speaking in your client's language. So a
lot of what you do learn in like building community
and listening to community is like how do they think
about that thing that you want to help them with?
So I think that's been really impactful too. I mean,
I think that.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Makes a lot of sense because you're kind of using
your community as that like test group, right, So you're
not just building a product and hoping you're going to
find people that are going to buy it. You're actually
building the excitement because you're building for the community after
you've received their feedback.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
Yes, that's really key because I think that's one I
don't gonna say like mistake, but I think that that's
an idea that I had at the beginning, is you
need to come up with the course and who it's for.
But it's like you haven't necessarily gotten that like validated yet.
So it's like the community does come first, honestly, and
not everyone thinks about it that way. But I hope
that that's like empowering to hear to start the community
(17:55):
first because you don't need to have the answers, but
you can start the community now just by talking about
the need that you want to solve for or starting
to share your story. And that actually, I think keeps
a lot of people like in waiting because they think
that they need to have the solution outlined one hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
So something I've struggled with, you know, as a solopreneur
is scaling. I only have so much time every day,
oh yeah, and I can only lean in on so
many productivity tools to help me achieve more in that
twenty four hour period. So as a solopreneur, what does
it mean to scale your business? How do you scale?
And does scale even exist?
Speaker 1 (18:32):
To me?
Speaker 3 (18:32):
I found like scaling comes in so many ways it
almost seems like it's this big system or something, but
I think scaling a lot of times is like how
do I do what I'm doing more efficiently, better with
less of my time. So in a small way, one
of the things that helped me scale even without a
team is I'm a coach. So there have been eras
(18:54):
of my life for a long time where I was
like on fourteen coaching calls a week, but in order
to get to fourteen coaching calls a week, I had
to struggle with six because I was spending so much
time I was trying to figure out how to help
them and solve their problems. And then what would happen is, oh,
I'm having three different clients have a similar problem. I
just created a framework, you know, and like a lot
(19:16):
of times, you're doing it live, and then that framework
helps you help the other clients, so you're spending less time,
people are getting better results. So scaling could literally just
be getting better at what you do, delivering it faster, better,
and then eventually it's also things like using systems, like
I have content going out today that I'm not posting,
you know what I mean. It's things like that. It's
using you know, software and systems to help you automate
(19:37):
and schedule that actually pushes some of those things out
for you.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Yeah. Delegation, right, really being able to identify what you
might be really good at but also might not be
that great at, and then hiring people that can really
help support you there. Yeah, I think sort of a
lesson that I've learned throughout my solopreneurship journey connect conspective.
What you said earlier is, you know, it's not about
making more money a solopreneur, Like that's eventually going to
(20:01):
cap out because I have so many hours a day.
It comes back to am I able to drive my vision,
my purpose, reasons why I'm doing this and feel good
about that and be able to hit the mark every
single day on that Like that to me is scale.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
Yeah. I like that. It's consistency. It's almost like creating
a system for that. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
I mean I think I would argue too, that it
would involve raising your prices so that you're actually making
more by not necessarily working more. Yes, because I think
that's a mistake that a lot of entrepreneurs make. We
tend to undervalue our skill set because we've been kind
of programmed to see our abilities as like a dollar
per hour. You know when we're trying to figure out
(20:38):
how to scale. It's also how do I charge for
the transformation versus the time?
Speaker 3 (20:44):
Yes, yeah, that's so important.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Coming up on Mind the Business Small Business success.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Stories, Playing it safe actually works against me because I'm
not giving myself or my business what it needs, like
cutting off the oxygen to the business. And there have
been times where I've pulled back and been like, Okay,
we need to cut here and I need to stop
doing this, and then I actually struggled more. We'll be
right back after the break.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Welcome back to Mind the Business Small Business Success Stories,
brought to you by iHeartRadio and Into It QuickBooks. So,
as a solopreneur, what are the essential tools and resources
you use to run your business? How did you find them?
How are you implementing them? Give us the play by play.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
Yeah, this is where community is important because you'll go
in and it's like, what do you guys use for this?
And then people will give you their two cents because
there's just there's just so much. So I do use
QuickBooks for my bookkeeping. I do have an accountant though,
because I don't know that I should be trusted with that.
But oh my gosh. We use Canva for design, Zoom
(21:56):
for meetings, squadcasts for podcasts, and dscript to do like
AI automatic transcripts. So like I love now. I'm just like,
how could we do this better and faster? How could
we take a coaching call and immediately extract snippets are
used Slack for like my community and I have a
little hub for everything, and I think it helps me
feel like I can do it all without doing.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
It all one hundred percent, right. Having that tech stack
is really important.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Yeah, it's true, And I think one of the things
that scares people about this solopreneur journey is when you
are starting to think about hiring help. Yeah, it doesn't
always have to be people right away. It can be
the software, absolutely. You know, something as simple as like
calendarly or squarespace scheduling can take those minutes that you're
spending going back and forth when can we hop on
a call? Those things all can help you scale without
(22:44):
necessarily having to hire too.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
Exactly. I'm thinking of flow desk to have an automated
email sequence that when someone opts in, they get three
emails or five emails introducing them to you and your brand,
and how you can help them like that is kind
of scaling and then having the calendlies and we use
later for prescheduling, social media and all those things. So
like these things can also like work for you. And
(23:05):
as a solopreneur, I feel like we also are like
the most adept at getting the most done with those
resources because we don't default to just hiring, so you'll
become like an accidental like tech x.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Well, actually, you know, speaking of QuickBooks, QuickBooks money is
going to be a game changer for solopreneurs. Right is
offering business banking tools with a game changing five percent
annual percentage yield. It allows entrepreneurs and business owners to
business differently. So I'm curious, Mary Ella, how do you
set yourself apart from your competitors? How do you do
business differently?
Speaker 3 (23:40):
I think that a big part of what I do is,
like I focus on what my specific community needs, meaning
like how their backgrounds and their lived experiences are creating
specific challenges that I can solve. So I'm a leadership coach,
I'm a business coach, and I'm a leadership coach. I
kind of give you an example that when I was
certified as a leadership coach. We were taught someone has
(24:03):
a certain emotional intelligence ranking in a certain area, how
do we build it? But I always come in with
the curiosity of, like, why is this particularly hard for
my people? And then if you can solve a niche
problem for your people. That's what I think sets me
apart is that I really do center the first gen community.
I don't just say I want to help them because
I'm first gen. I'm actually like studying them and studying
(24:24):
their brain, studying why do they struggle with the things
that they do, why are they so great at the
things that they're great at? And how can I become
the best person with that lens. That's I think how
anyone can set themselves apart is really thinking about like
your specific person. But that's always been it for me.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
That's so powerful.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
Yeah, I really love that approach. So I know you've
probably learned a lot of lessons along the way as
a solopreneur. What do you wish you'd known at the beginning?
That's a good question. I think it's that I'm going
to learn how to hold ups and downs and like
I don't want to say positive emotions or nega of
(25:00):
emotions because there aren't. But I wish that I knew
that solopreneurship was going to introduce me to like the
full human experience, because I think that for such a
long time, and many of us think like, something's wrong
with you because you're having a hard time or because
you have self doubt, but it really is part of
the process, and so I think, instead of judging it,
(25:20):
it's like, Okay, well, what do I need? How can
community help me? How can a coach or literally going
to therapy? And I don't really see them as like
positive or negative anymore. Sometimes I even look at what
you would perceive to be negative emotion, like something like
imposter syndrome, right, and being like, okay, imposter syndrome is
showing me that, like I'm doing something that passed me,
(25:42):
didn't think was possible, and now I'm like, okay, bring
it up. Now. This is telling me I'm adding in
the right direction. It's getting comfortable being uncomfortable, yeah, constantly,
and then what feels comfortable, You're like, what's next?
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Yeah, what's been the hardest lesson that you've had to learn?
Because you know, despite what social media says entrepreneurship, it's
not always unicorns and rainbows.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
Man, there's been a lot. I don't know if it's
like a lesson. I'd say that, like, my relationship with
money is probably tested more than anything in my entire
life because you don't have a paycheck. I mean, I'm
an escorp now, so I have a paycheck, but I'm
also the person who provides the money for the paycheck.
The hardest part for me, and I think this is
(26:25):
very much like a first gen thing and being a
single parent that I'm like, I have to learn how
to trust myself. And I think the harder lesson was
more that sometimes like playing it safe actually works against
me because I'm not giving myself or my business what
it needs, like cutting off the oxygen to the business.
And there have been times where I've pulled back and
(26:47):
been like, Okay, we need to cut here and I
need to stop doing this, and then I actually struggled more.
So I think that that is probably one of the
hardest lessons. Was like, your relationship with money is an
entrepreneurial skill.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
One hundred percent. So I struggle with this, But I
really want to hear your answer, especially for the person
listening right now who is also probably struggling with this problem.
I've got contractors, I've got vendors, I've got all these
things that I'm managing behind the scenes as a solopreneur.
What tips, tricks, hacks, ideas, how do you really hone
in on that skill and be able to sort of
organize that and keep it flowing. So you're scaling your.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
Business with like getting everybody kind of doing well exactly
needs to be done. I have just found like one
of the biggest challenges is like there isn't actually like
clear written expectations. It's kind of like you bring someone
in and then you're like, Okay, I'm just going to
like verbally explain it to them, but you don't have
like standards like do we have a policy on like
(27:42):
what have I actually documented what it is that I want?
And that's part of scaling is almost like turning a
decision into a policy and so bringing people into your
business like having clear like this is exactly what I
want you to do by when how do we know
that we're actually giving clear instruction? So I think is
that's like part of it. And I think also just
(28:03):
clear priorities because I think part of even where like
contractors will struggle is like we'll tell them this is
what we're doing, but then we'll come in with like
a bunch of conflicting other things and then we're not
planning far enough ahead sometimes and you know, things happen.
But I think that just leaders will send conflicting messages
to like their teams, and then that's kind of what
keeps everybody scrambling, and it's inevitable. But I think creating
(28:27):
systems of like and then how do you want to
be kept informed when all those things and you're not
going to know all that stuff up front? Literally every
single time something goes wrong, every single time, I'm always like, cool,
do I need to make a decision about this? And
if so, I'm going to document it. And if something
went wrong, why what is the root cause of this
so we can solve it one time forever. So I
(28:49):
think a big part of leadership is like what's the
root cause? Instead of just being like, oh, we forgot
to loop in this person, it's like, how can we
make sure that this doesn't happen in the future. And
even when I give back to contractors, it's never about
like why did you do this? It's like what happened
in like the process that this was missed, and like,
how can we make sure that like we clean this up.
I love it.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
I feel like you have a bit of an engineering
brain because I'm thinking, like, it sounds like you're talking
about SOPs or standard operating procedures, right, Yeah, And that's
one of those things I had to figure out too,
when I was looking at getting additional support, Like I mean,
we have an SOP for how to record a podcast
episode or like how to book a podcast guest, and
you don't think about how many steps you have to
(29:30):
take personally to do this. But then when you're trying
to explain to somebody else like how this actually works,
writing things down is very very useful.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
Yeah, and then you actually get to empty your brain,
because that's the thing about when you have a business.
Your brain is such a busy place that I think
about an SOP as like emptying it out. And if
I'm going to give directions, sometimes what I'll do is like, hey,
we forgot to do this, or I'm like I we
literally didn't forget. I never told you to do it,
And then I'm like, can you write that down for me?
You don't even have to be the person doing it
(29:58):
if you have somebody supporting me. I'm just a big
visionary thinker and I don't like writing words down, but
you can actually ask for help to be like, can
we just document that this is going to be like
our decision moving forward on how we want to do stuff.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
So I guess my last question here really that I'm
super curious about is if I rewind my solopreneurship journey
about two years ago. Now, it was so hard for
me to like really stay on track, and so I
had a time box. I'm not sure if you guys
seen that, be like sort of figure out when am
I going to do specific things on my to do list?
What time a day I'm going to accomplish those things.
That's how I was able to stay on track, knowing
(30:30):
that I didn't have a boss to, you know, report to,
and no one was really holding me accountable. So I
want to hear from you now, talking to the solopreneur
out there listening, how can you sort of share your
experience of staying on task, staying productive, making sure that
you're holding yourself accountable. How have you able to achieve
those specific things? Yeah, without having someone micro manager and
you know kind of keeck you into gear.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
It's funny because I would have struggled to answer this
question like even six months ago, a year ago, because
I feel like I don't like to use this smart
but I was, like I felt like I was like
a hot mess all the time. So I've had to
figure out how to be more efficient because I'm scaling,
so it couldn't just be like me back and forth
with like my assistant all the time or just figuring
it out day to day. Now what really helps me
(31:11):
is like I go into the week more peacefully when
I spend Monday mornings meeting with my assistant going through
last week's stuff. So we go into clickup, which we
use for project management. So I use Mondays for decisions
and delegating, and then I get coached and then I
have time to just like work on my stuff, so
(31:31):
like I don't take client calls on Mondays. So I
think having like designated focuses for the day really helps
because task switching it just takes a lot out of me.
And I think for most people, you're using like different
skill sets and different parts of your brain. So now
it's like Monday's decision day, Delegation Day, CEO day. I
coach on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Wednesdays are mostly for me
(31:52):
to just do work in my business. Friday, I'll mostly
take that for like wrapping stuff up and then taking
the afternoon off before my daughter gets off school. So
I think sprints like dedicated focuses and planning up front
so that you're not sitting down at your computer going,
oh my god, what am I going to do? Like, Okay,
I need to work on my business, but there's twenty
different things. You're not spending that time making those decisions.
You're making those decisions up front.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
So one of the themes that I've heard you speak
on several times throughout our conversation is this idea of mindset.
So what's your favorite mantra or quo or something that
you like look back at when you need that extra motivation.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
There's so many. I literally made a deck of cards
with my mantras on it if I get to my clients.
But I think the one that I lean into the most,
that gives me the most piece is like, my success
is inevitable. And I say that from this perspective of
like if you just keep problem solving and showing up
to solve that problem, it's impossible for it not to work.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
I wanted to say that again one more time.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
My success is inevitable, and if you keep showing up
to solve the problem, there's no way that it's not
going to work. It's like, literally impossible. How could you
feasibly spend your entire life trying to figure out how
to make this thing happen and not make it happen.
It's literally impossible. So whenever I'm like, oh my god,
this is taking too long, oh my gosh, like maybe
I shouldn't do this, it's like, it's okay, it's inevitable.
(33:16):
You're just freaking out because it's not happening now. But
when that thing happens, you're going to be worried about
another thing, another goalpost or another problem. Every level has
new problems. That's another one. Every level has new problems,
and you are solving the problems you are equipped to
solve right now. So don't wish on problems that you're not.
You don't even want those problems right now. Because I
(33:36):
think we always think it's going to be better when
we get to like some other place, and then you
get to that place and you're like, oh wait, that
was easy, like the stuff I was worried about. And
not to scare you, but that's just part of like
you become a different person who can handle different stuff.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
My success is inevitable. Yeah, I like get that as
a tattoo, right, My success is inevitable. That is so
cool doing chills right now. Just listen about that. That's incredible.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
I mean, I think that's the quotable quote of the day. Y'all.
Mary Ella, thank you so much for being here. It's
been a total pleasure. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
Wow. I mean, what an experience and what a conversation
to share it with our first live audience for Mind
the Business. Mary Ella really shared some very meaningful insights
and wisdom on that stage. We had so many people
coming up to us after and saying how they felt
like they needed to hire mary Ella as their life
coach after this discussion, Austin, what resonated most with you?
Speaker 2 (34:41):
I may or may not have been one of those
people trying to hire mary Ella now as a life coach.
Oh my goodness, she was incredible. I think a couple
of things stood out to me first was community. Right,
at the end of the day, being a solopreneur is
very lonely, and it takes a toll on our mental
health for sure. And so by identifying and surrounding yourself
with people who are also solopreneurs, learning from them, from
(35:03):
their mistakes, from their accomplishments, everyone has a unique experience
and something to share. Another thing that really really stood
out to me was her comment around consistency. Right, if
you stay consistent over time, success is inevitable. At the
end of the day, we're putting in hours upon hours
of hard work to achieve this goal in our dreams,
and just by doing that, we are setting ourselves up
(35:26):
for long term success. I also think there's something to
be said about the imposter syndrome, especially myself. I'm definitely
on the younger side, right, and so what I'm surrounded
by all these successful solopreneurs like yourself Jennie's, it just
gets me so excited and really puts a lot in perspective.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Yeah, I think it's important for us as solopreneurs to
really believe that the success that you've achieved is not
just an accident, It's not just a fluke. It really
is about what you did, Like you mentioned Austin showing
up consistently. And I think one of the really key
points that mary Ella shared with us is write down
all of the things that you do in your business.
(36:00):
Start to standardize those things, because inevitably, you know you
may want to look for additional support at some point
down the road, depending on where you are in your journey,
and being able to pass on that knowledge in a
really formalized way through procedures is super useful. And also
I think it just helps you understand, like, what are
all these different things that are happening in my business
(36:21):
versus trying to keep everything in your head. It's important
as a solopreneur to make sure that you are leveraging resources.
Technology is our friend, and software like QuickBooks money is
one of those really key tools that you can use
to make sure you're not wasting time chasing somebody for
an invoice and you can get back to doing the
thing you're supposed to be doing, which is growing that business.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
Now for our exciting news, Jennie's give me a quick
little drum roll please, We.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
Are coming back with season two at the beginning of
twenty twenty four. We'll have brand new episodes featuring more
solopreneurs sharing their stories of struggle and success. Subscribe and
follow the show and keep an eye on the feed
so you don't miss out on the amazing insights and
knowledge from these business owners.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
I cannot be more excited. This series has been so
eye opening for myself as a small business owner, solopreneur, entrepreneur.
I've had so many people reach out to me saying
that they've learned so much from the incredible entrepreneurs that
we've interviewed over the last several months, and twenty twenty
four is going to be a blast.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
I am so excited for season two. I just have
gotten so much incredible feedback from folks that are tuning
into the show, learning so much, and most importantly remembering
that this is not a sprint. This journey through solopreneurship
is a marathon, and we are here to support you
every step of the way.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
Well that's it for our very first live episode. You
can find me on social media at Austin Hankwitz.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
And you can find me at jokierro Dineto podcast.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
You can learn more about mary Yella by visiting her
website Marielladala Mora dot com or on Instagram Atmaryella dot
Dala Mora. You can follow Into It QuickBooks on all
social media at QuickBooks. To get the tools you need
to start, run and grow your business, head to QuickBooks
dot com today.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
We also want to hear from you, so be sure
to leave a rating and review.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
This podcast is a production of Ruby Studios from iHeartMedia
and Into It QuickBooks.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
Our executive producer is Mollisosha, Our supervising producer is Nikkia Swinton.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
Our head of post production is James Foster.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
See you next time I'm QuickBooks. Money is a standalone
into it offering banking services provided by Green dot Bank
member FDIC only. Funds and envelopes earn annual percentag yield
apy can change at any time. Money movement services provided
by intowit Payments, Inc. Licensed as a money transmitter by
(38:55):
the New York State Department of Financial Services
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.