Bernadette Doyle: Builds A $1M Coaching Business Twice

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Audio Transcription Of The Bernadette Doyle Interview

Intro [0:00]
When we’re young that we have an amazing positive outlook about how great life is going to be, but somewhere along the line we forget to dream and end up settling in Join Up Dots features amazing people who refuse to give up and chose to go after their dreams. This is your blueprint for greatness. So here’s your host live from the back of his garden in the UK. David Ralph.

David Ralph [0:26]
Good morning. Good morning. Good morning and welcome to another really sweaty episode of Join Up Dots. I don’t know what it’s like across the world, but we can’t deal with it. In the United Kingdom. We are on the record breaking sweaty day to day, and it’s like a war of attrition getting through it. But fortunately, I’ve got a lovely guest today who’s who’s already calming me and he’s already serving me to bring a chilled response to my body. She is a guest that’s joining us because she’s a lady with a fascinating storey entrepreneurial journey began at the age of 26, where she was successfully trading time for money, overwhelmed and constantly hustling despite how successful she was. Now, after the birth of her first son, she found that her own success had actually become an anchor. As the demands on their time grew. Suddenly she needed a team and a house to manage that team and our previous business model was simply unsustainable. Now soon after she fully switched to an online model and soon found herself freed of her constraints. By packaging her expertise into products and online programmes and connecting with customers by teleconference and webinar, she doubled her income in her first year as a new member all with time to spend with her family. And by 2008 Yes, a long time ago, she had generated a million dollars in online sales and even masterminded personally with Richard Branson off the surfboard for once, all with the free time to be a single mother to her two children. And she says what makes me unique, she says, what makes me unique is that I have built my own home based business to the million dollar level not just once, but twice. The first time I did it by working hard getting busy, and frankly, doing a lot of stuff I didn’t really want to do. But all I had to do to be successful. Then I got a huge wake up call when my son nearly died. That caused me to reevaluate everything. Now the second time I did it, I did it with a much simpler business model that works around my family, and allows me plenty of time off. Even though I no longer lead business events outside of my hometown. I’m still able to connect with and serve clients all over the world. So she now live living her dream life, or does she feel that she’s just tapping into what is possible? And does this all become easier when you clearly define your avatar and you know who you’re targeting? Well, let’s find out as we bring them to the show to start Join Up Dots with the one and only Bernadette Doyle. Good morning. How are you?

Bernadette Doyle [2:50]
I’m fantastic. What an introduction is

David Ralph [2:53]
lovely to have you here. And I was saying at the beginning that I am stripping down, I’m stripping down. I might even go a little bit further that does that. Why were you does that freak you?

Bernadette Doyle [3:04]
I think I can probably I can handle it.

David Ralph [3:08]
You could have said something better than that. I’ll tell you what, we’re turned on the zoom, and we’ll see what we can get. Let’s get straight into it. Because you have got a fascinating storey and one of the things that I believe and I know when I started doing the research, but just Ben was you started a long time ago. Now people are all jumping online now in 2019 and 2018. But by 2008, you’d already generated a million dollars. Now, that sounds great. But 2008 was a welder party technology was totally different. How did you do that back in those days?

Bernadette Doyle [3:44]
Well, I first I first got a glimpse of selling information online, actually in 2001. And I had this incredible mentor Her name was Dottie Walters. And she used to teach people how to develop businesses around speaking. And she rang me one day and she said, Bernadette, you know, I met this woman, and she’s selling downloadable reports over the internet. And it’s fantastic. People come and they put in their credit card and everything is downloaded instantly. And whenever I tell that storey like you and I that doesn’t mean anything today, because like we’ve all bought products like that. But actually back then it was it was visionary. And when she described this me just immediately, I thought that’s the business I want. Because at that point, I’d had employees, I had offices, I experienced enough of the pain of traditional business, to know a good business model when I saw one. And I was just captivated by it. I thought I have to make this happen. And you’re absolutely right. But then there was there weren’t the software. I mean, these days, you could get started with an online business overnight, no problem, you can get your Facebook page up and running. You can get a website up and running, you can get web presence up and running, you can be in business in 24 hours. But then it was like it was it was quite a slog to figure out how to take payments and you know what software to use even just how to get a list manager to grow my email list. So it was I think, just sheer determination. But because I was so captured, I could see all of the benefits of this type of business. And so I just couldn’t let it go really,

David Ralph [5:29]
you know, my big problem with that storey naughty waters bad doesn’t sound like a name that I would actually put trust in. It just doesn’t sound like somebody who is an online genius.

Bernadette Doyle [5:40]
Well, she wasn’t an online genius. I mean, she was a she was a leader of her own time. And the interesting thing about Dorothy, she wrote a book called speaking grow rich. She also wrote another book called selling power of a woman, which is based on her storey as a married, but young mum and literally going to sell advertising back in the day when you wouldn’t do it door to door. She was calling into newspaper offices and small stores. And with her two kids in a buggy. So, yeah, I’ve got a big place in my heart, Dottie Walters, and she helped an awful lot of people. In fact, I meet people who have online businesses today. And then when we start to swap storeys, we realised that we both, you know, connected with her back in the 90s or early 2000. So she helped a lot of people.

David Ralph [6:30]
Brilliant stuff. Let’s give it a round of applause, yes. Now, if you look back on those sort of simple days, where we are now because what I’m very aware of as I developed my own business is there’s too much choice. And one minute, there’s this sexy thing, and one minute, there’s that sexy thing. And I always go back to Jesus. And I say this to people, you know, Jesus worked in a in a time where there wasn’t Facebook, there wasn’t I think, and even if we went back to I suppose 2000 was when I first remember hearing the word Google, you know, it was a totally different game Really? Now, is it too complicated? Now? Is it too much choice? Is it easier going back to the days of Dottie where there was one or two things and you, you didn’t have to plug this thing in and plug that thing in? You just kind of made it work?

Bernadette Doyle [7:24]
Well, I think any anytime in business or in life, there’s a set of challenges. And I I agree with you that right now there is too much choice. And I see people being overwhelmed with what I call analysis paralysis, they’re so caught up in trying to make the right decision that they don’t make any decision, they don’t move forward at all. So I think what’s really important at this stage is to really develop good skills of discernment and decision making. So one of the things I say to my clients is just because you can doesn’t mean you should, yeah, and it takes discipline, because and I find this even marketing my own business. So I use Facebook, I do a little bit on YouTube. I’m not using Instagram, I’m not using LinkedIn, not because those aren’t viable channels or platforms. It’s just, you know, I recognise I can only do so much with the resources I’ve got. So I’m not trying to be everywhere. So and I think that’s, I think that’s a decision that we all have to make every day like we’ve we’ve a lot the same 24 hours every day, and how far we move forward each day, each week, each month comes down to the decisions we make about how to use that time.

David Ralph [8:32]
And is it simple enough to say that if you found the one thing you do, and you become so good at that publicity isn’t needed sort of word of mouth takes care of itself?

Unknown Speaker [8:46]
Oh, I

Bernadette Doyle [8:50]
I’m not, I’m not convinced about that. I mean, that some level, you’ve got to get started and you you have, you have to be putting yourself out there. I know people who have highly successful businesses, and they don’t advertise at all, they don’t actually promote, they’ve got a waiting list of clients. But my view then is well, if you’ve if you’ve been able to create that sort of demand without doing advertising, what would be possible, if you did promote yourself a little bit, you know, maybe, you know, I don’t know if there’s any virtue and being the best kept secret, really, my view is like, if you’ve got something that makes a difference to others, then you really do have a duty to get this, get the message out and to share it.

David Ralph [9:32]
Because back in back in, back in the day, I was everywhere, I did everything I possibly could, and it killed me, it really did kill me. And I stopped all of it. And I always say this to people, you can go over to Instagram, you can go over to Pinterest, you can find evidence of Join Up Dots everywhere. But it doesn’t mean that I’m doing it now. And what I realised was bad by podcasting back was my lead generation, that was the thing that really worked. And that’s what business into it. And once the penny dropped on the bat that people generally want to listen to a podcast, they don’t want to look at a podcast, they don’t want to read about a podcast, they want to listen to it. I just channelled all my energies into bed and I went down probably 20 hours a day, we’re really doing all these stupid little images and things that I bought was going to make a difference now with somebody else if somebody else is coming along to you, and they say, Bernadette, I know what you’re saying. I know what you’re saying, but I just haven’t got the money to pay. I haven’t got the money to do it. How can I get going? How can I get going right at the very beginning? What would you say?

Bernadette Doyle [10:41]
Start where you are?

David Ralph [10:43]
What does that mean? Start

Bernadette Doyle [10:44]
Wait, start where you are. Because one of the things that stops people or sabotage is people do it to sabotage themselves, I think sometimes is they they wish that they had a different starting point. So If only I’d started sooner, I’ve only had started when Bernadette did if I waited until I’d finished my degree If only I’d waited until after I had kids. But the fact of the matter is, all we’ve got is where we are. And you can look at any success storey and nobody ever starts out without like this perfect, you know, starting blocks, most people have some form of obstacles to overcome. And so rather than try and figure out what is the grand plan, in my experience, the best thing to do is wholeheartedly commit and do your best in, in what you’re doing. So you know if you’ve made the decision that you that your podcast and as you’re saying, and I can see how much effort you put into this, how much you care about it, how passionate you are about it. And that can’t help but then start to create other or other opportunities, because it’s it’s not the podcasting. It’s the passion behind it. It’s the commitment that really is what gets things moving and business. So people are trying to figure out what should they do, but actually better. The question is, who do I need to be when I’m doing it? And how do I need to show up? Because I personally think the energy of commitment. That’s what makes the magic happen.

David Ralph [12:09]
I totally agree with you. And it’s amazing. I teach people how to start online businesses. And I’m very sort of open with this. It wasn’t part of my game. It was just something that I found that I could do very well. And so people came along. And I teach a process, which is now down. It works. I absolutely know it works, because it’s been proven time and time again, some people go through it, it doesn’t work at all, because they just haven’t got that passion. And they come back with the excuses. And oh, I haven’t done much this week. And I haven’t done that. And all those kind of things that it used to bother me. And I used to think to myself, how can I get back passion into that person so that when they come home from that work day’s work, and they’re tired? I think at least I do another two hours tonight, I do another two hours to get that ball rolling. I don’t know what the answer is Bernadette, do you how do you instil passion into some when ultimately it just goes in? And it comes out a couple of days later?

Bernadette Doyle [13:05]
Well, I I don’t attempt to honestly, David because I don’t think that’s my job. It’s you know, I require of my clients that that they’re bringing their A game. And it’s one of the reasons that I screen clients. It’s one of the reasons that I don’t invite everybody into my programmes. You know, and that’s one of the things that I’m looking for, like, you know, it takes huge, you know, it takes a huge amounts of resilience and commitment to get a business off the ground, because you started from a place of inertia. And it that’s the hardest time it’s when you have to put in the most effort for the least return. And not everybody not everybody has that. You know, some people they’re just looking for, you know, the quick, the quick fix. You know, it’s a bit like the person who goes on a diet on a Monday and then because they haven’t got their ideal body by Thursday, they want to quit,

David Ralph [13:57]
have you met my wife?

Bernadette Doyle [14:01]
She might not be your wife, if you carry on saying things like

David Ralph [14:04]
I go through that same storey every single week.

Bernadette Doyle [14:10]
She didn’t tell me to say that. No,

David Ralph [14:12]
no, she she wouldn’t. But no, she she gets on the way every day, every day. And I say just leave it get on it once a month, get on it every two weeks and stop at know. And so the we ride a roller coaster of weight loss. But anyway, so So you’ve been really bad. It’s not your job. It’s about screening the clients and basically turning away with Deadwood and there is dead words, you know, and we’re not missionaries, we’re business owners.

Bernadette Doyle [14:39]
Yeah, I’m not really comfortable with the phrase dead word. But I

David Ralph [14:44]
know we we know that as soon as we speak. There’s there’s certain people out there that just just a victims and they play the victim card don’t play?

Bernadette Doyle [14:53]
Well, yeah, I mean, I I do. I do my best to weed those people out all areas of my life. To be honest, I was at an event last year, and I sat down at lunchtime. And it was like a big communal table. And there were a couple of people that were just complaining about the event. And they were complaining about the promoter of the event ever complaining about the hosted event, they had all these list of complaints. And I and I just removed myself from the conversation I thought I don’t I really don’t need to listen to this while I’m having my lunch. So, and I’ve been in business long enough that I just know that there are some people that together with that we’re going to rock it. And I’ve mentored many people to a million dollars and beyond in their businesses. So I know when we get that combination, right, the sky’s the limit. And I’ve realised that if the combination isn’t right, then it can be painful for both parties. So yeah, I think I have a duty to make sure that I’m really only offering what I can do with the people who are really great fit.

David Ralph [15:57]
So is that what we’re saying? Not that would

Bernadette Doyle [16:00]
know, you’re not gonna get me to say,

I know I just said it, but

David Ralph [16:07]
I’m not gonna lie about and just slide it back into the conversation. Just close to the microphone, I’ve got the powers I use.

Bernadette Doyle [16:18]
You got all of the power, you’ve got the microphone, you’ve got the editing capabilities, and you probably just get a put that on some sort of loop, send it to me, and I’ll make it my ringtone. Yeah.

David Ralph [16:30]
Yeah, that’d be pretty know, because I got surrounded by and I did a podcast episode on this wet but you have to cut your loser friends away that I said, and I got surrounded with so many people that that kept on coming up to me and going, David, I want to do what you do, I want to do what you do. were five years ago, six years ago, they just thought I was an idiot for doing it. And now they’re saying they want to get on the bandwagon. And I just knew that they were dragging me down. I just knew and no matter what, and I spent a lot of time going, Okay, I meet with you tonight, we’d go out for a drink and stuff. And my energy levels were just being sucked out. They didn’t fuel me up with energy. I didn’t come back guy. Brilliant. You know, that was a great, really inspiring conversation. I just came back thinking that was wasted three hours. You know, I don’t know why I did it. And so I think that, that is one of the big things that we have to be aware of in in business, really those energy levels? And is that somebody that is going to fuel me up? Or is that somebody that’s going to suck me dry?

Bernadette Doyle [17:32]
That is so true. And I have a review that I do at the end of every day. And one of the questions in my daily review is what energised me today, and what drains me. And I do that because I it’s not just people that can be draining. Sometimes it could be a set of circumstances, sometimes it could be an environment, sometimes it could be that I was working on something that isn’t really my zone of genius. But what I found is just by paying attention, you ought to massively start to weed out the non energising things are the things that drain you and you start to make more more room for the things that really you do get energised and juiced by. So I think that’s a great, a great thing to do.

David Ralph [18:13]
So what would be something that you’re really brutally aware now isn’t in your zone of genius, and yes, you can do it. But it takes you four times as long in the quality’s not as good.

Bernadette Doyle [18:25]
So, for me anything technical, I’m just not, you know, I’m just not great with figuring out technical things. And even though I can do it, if I kind of force myself, it’s not good output. And probably in such a bad mood. By the time I finished it, it’s better if I hand that stuff over to someone else.

David Ralph [18:45]
Now I can do a bit of everything. And that’s one of my issues. I’m I can build websites, I can do the technical stuff in that. But I’ve become Tony well. And I used to say this Bernadette, I used to save it, actually, I’m going to play some words, and I’m going to come back, I’m gonna give cliff hanger, here we go. Let’s listen to some words. And then we’ll come back to this,

Jim Carrey [19:03]
my father could have been a great comedian, but he didn’t believe that that was possible for him. And so he made a conservative choice. Instead, he got a safe job as an accountant. And when I was 12 years old, he was let go from that safe job. And our family had to do whatever we could to survive. I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which was that you can fail at what you don’t want. So you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.

David Ralph [19:29]
powerful words, bear from Jim Carrey, let’s go out and do what we love. Now one of the things that I used to do, and I’ve always done it, and I’ve referenced it many times on Join Up Dots is a motivation rocket, as I called it. And when I meet the right person, it only takes me you know, a couple of text messages. And that person will change direction and just explode that there’s a guy, I’ll give you a reference, I just received a text message this morning, a guy called Lucas Gordon in Denver, I’ve never met him. I went over and looked at his work, he sort of connected with me, and just a couple little pushes here and there. And he came back to me today and said, David, I’m on fire. I’ve sold three portrait sessions, I’ve sold a couple of artwork, I’ve got a big contract coming through, you know, it was just that push. Now, my motivation rocket, I can fire it in to the right person. And it just works wonders. But because it was kind of almost so easy. I didn’t reference value to myself, it was just something I could do. And you know, I could sit down in a pub with somebody and I can see them feel better, and just feeling inspired to go out and create magic. That was something about I brought into my business now because I realised, actually, that’s the easy stuff. That’s the stuff I can just do naturally. So that should be the core part of my business, which I didn’t push into it because it just felt something he do.

Bernadette Doyle [20:57]
Yeah, I see that all the time. You see that clearly a place where you’re very gifted, and you can make a massive difference. And it just comes so easily and naturally to you. You can’t even remember learning it. And because it’s so easy and natural. Often people don’t think that they can charge for it. Because, you know, it seems so obvious. And I would say a lot of the work that I that I’m doing with clients is helping them identify what is that natural genius you have, and giving them permission to charge for it? Because that’s the thing that you should be charging most for. That’s where you’re adding the most value.

David Ralph [21:29]
Yeah. And do your clients battle you in the same way?

Bernadette Doyle [21:34]
No, I spoke to someone the other day. And it was a call for us to talk about, potentially her joining my programme. And I didn’t offer her my programme, because she was arguing with me so much. And I thought I I don’t want to work with clients that argue with me. You know, I know, I if people want to double or triple their income, I can show them how to do that. And I need clients that are just on board and just like Okay, show me what to do. And I’m going to do it.

So yeah, I’m a bit more ruthless than I used to be.

David Ralph [22:09]
And what about the ones where they go? Actually, it sounds great. You know, it’s a little bit too pricey for me.

Bernadette Doyle [22:20]
Honestly, I don’t really I don’t really get that. Because normally those sorts of concerns, I would have flushed out of a conversation before it got to making an offer. So I don’t really hear that,

David Ralph [22:33]
which is brilliant, because so many people I speak to they’re still trapped in that, where they go through the get the client in, they go through the process, and then they get to that closing point. And I was talking to a guy called Dan Locke, who is a high yield closer guy. He says, Yeah, yeah, he’s very, he’s doing very well out there. And he just can breeze past five grand, 15, grand, 20 grand, first Grand, you know, and he puts calls out to show how to do it. And when you listen to him, he’s not actually doing anything at all. He’s just coming to doing stuff. He’s just having a conversation. But the people close at the end of it. It’s all remarkable. So what is your process been the weeding bows kind of people out before you even get to that, that kills so many people’s chances.

Bernadette Doyle [23:23]
So I started as far upstream as possible. So even in my promotional emails, my promotional posts, I’m saying who this is for who this is not for. So I’m I’m screen, you know, I’m getting people to self select and self qualify. And if people decide that they want to have a call with me, or one of my team to talk about working with us, the next thing they have to do is fill out an application. And we have questions on the application, which show us whether someone you know what stage of readiness there are, and whether they’re, they’re going to be someone we can help? Well, no. And then the final piece is that we have a conversation. And in that comment, we’re not we’re not pitching or selling or going here, our programme is great. We’re asking questions. And we were asking questions, because one, we want to verify for ourselves that this is someone we can really help. But also in answering those questions. And having that conversation, it gives us a sense of who we’re dealing with. So if someone comes on and, you know, they, they’re complaining about all the other coaches that they’ve worked with, and nothing’s ever worked, That, to me is a red flag, because I’m like, well, the common denominator here is you. So I don’t know that all of those other coaches can be so powerful, like, what what’s not working? Is it the wrong strategy? Or is it that you’re not executing or implementing the strategy. And I it’s not my job, to keep someone interested, it’s not my job to be propping people up. And motivated, people are going rah, rah rah, I look for clients that are really committed, they’ve got a really huge why they’ve got something important that they want to do in business for every reason. Because I know that’s the person I can help. And that’s not to say that they’re not going to need encouragement, or that they’re not going to need you know, somehow. But Dan Sullivan, you know, he’s got a phrase to this. He says, He looks for clients that come with batteries included. Yeah. You know, like when the toys when they used to say, yeah, batteries, batteries included. And and I think that’s a great way of looking at is like, is this person bring in some self systemically self sustaining energy of their own? Or is this person going to really be requiring you to do all of the work even to get them engaged and excited?

David Ralph [25:38]
I can you spot that Bernadette? Can you support that just in a in a conversation through a completed form that those batteries are included?

Bernadette Doyle [25:48]
Yeah, I think you can I think, for me, it’s like, it’s the end of the day, it comes down to a gut feeling and a sense about the person. But there are things The reason I have a question areas, because sometimes the way a person answer their questions indicates Okay, this is something we need to explore a bit further. So yeah, yeah, I think you can

David Ralph [26:08]
now with your business, let’s go back in time, Ben, because businesses do change how? from one to 10? We do it on a scale, because it’s easier to reference. How difference is your business now to the business that you first made that million dollars in online sales?

Bernadette Doyle [26:27]
Oh, that’s a good question. A sixth?

David Ralph [26:32]
Also, it’s really pushing up to the higher levels of being totally different.

Unknown Speaker [26:37]
Yeah.

David Ralph [26:38]
Yeah. And in what way? Is it different? Is it just more streamlined, more professional? Or? Where do you scale that six?

Bernadette Doyle [26:46]
Um, well, I, I would answer that based on like, what I’m doing in business compared to what I was doing back then. So I hit my first million and I had no presence on Facebook. Whereas now would be present on Facebook every single day. And I use Facebook strategically to grow my business. So in that regard, that’s that’s one of the the things that’s different than the thing that hasn’t changed, is the underlying message. So I’m still working at this, you know, we’re basically with people who, they’ve, they’ve got some level of expertise, and they want to find a way to package that and get paid for that online. And that hasn’t that hasn’t changed at all over the last 1012 years. And, you know, then the mess, the language that you would use to connect with that audience that hasn’t really changed. But, I mean, yes, software, I don’t, I don’t think I’m using any software now that I would have been using in 2008. part for my email,

David Ralph [27:47]
because I was speaking to a guy the other day, and I said to him, this is so complicated. I said, I don’t actually understand what you’re doing. I said, this is how I operate. And this is total transparency. Again, if it’s more than three steps, Ben is too much. I look at everything and up being okay. Customer hears or sees or something customer connects? And then how do we get it to the point of sale, and three steps, but he must have had about 28 steps where there was a CRM management system working here. And this was going out to a team and stuff. And I said to him, How do you know? You’re at 20? How do you know the bits that are actually really working? couldn’t answer it. Now, with your business? Are you now down in that clarity? Do you know where your 20% is? So you can channel all your energies into that?

Bernadette Doyle [28:39]
Yeah, I think the 8020 rule is so important. And actually, I credit that with me hitting my first million, because of the funny thing was, what I’d done in the year before was I’d looked at what is the 20% of my customer base is generating 80% of the revenues. And I’m going to double down on that. And in doing that, I also ended up cutting out what you would say is dead would

say he said again.

David Ralph [29:09]
I mean, the street now and that’s all she’s saying. She going to Starbucks, and they say what’s your name Deadwood.

Bernadette Doyle [29:16]
So, I bet, but not just customers like some it was actually some products and things that didn’t make sense. And that would like confusing things rather than really adding value. And I think it’s I think it’s crucial to do that constantly in business. I don’t think you just do it once, and then you’re done. I think it’s a really great question to be asking yourself, and I love your rule of three. I think that I think that’s a really good principle to apply to anything to go. If you can’t explain it in three steps. It can’t be done in three steps too complicated.

David Ralph [29:46]
Yeah, I agree with and I’m interested with your sort of pruning analogy. I know you didn’t say the words, but with your business. Is that thing, isn’t it, where you look back on it and you actually go doesn’t make sense that that kind of made sense at the time. But it doesn’t mean that I’ve got to keep it as part of my core offering of my business is time to get rid of it. And I and I’m always tweaking my website and my business looking at it thinking with that rule of three. Does that make sense to bat avatar does that clearly as soon as they land on that page? Does that make sense? And I would say a lot of it back in the day didn’t I think it was just kind of messy. It was me trying things, throwing that up hoping to get a few coins here. few coins where if it’s not clear, you’ve got to get rid of it. Um, yeah.

Bernadette Doyle [30:36]
Yeah, definitely.

David Ralph [30:38]
I was expecting a longer answer that from Bernadette.

Bernadette Doyle [30:41]
Sorry. You said, there’s nothing to add to what you said you sum up perfectly.

David Ralph [30:46]
I did it brilliantly. Well, let’s play some more motivational words to fill the gap, you see a gap to fill his Oprah,

Oprah Winfrey [30:54]
The way through the challenge is to get still and ask him. What is the next right move? not think about, Oh, I got all of this stuff. What is the next right move? And then from that space, make the next right move, and the next right move, and not to be overwhelmed by it. Because you know, your life is bigger than that one moment, you know, you’re not defined by what somebody says, is a failure for you. Because failure is just there to point you in a different direction.

David Ralph [31:26]
Once again, brilliant words. That’s why I’m so in your business? Are you aware of your next right move over time, because I give you the storey about myself at the moment my business is going through a big transition. And I always know because it’s brilliant. I’m coming up to my close down for a month and go off on vacation time. I always know that my business becomes more profitable when I come back. And there’s always a kind of niggle before I leave like this something I should be doing and I can’t quite see it. And then I have four weeks off, and then I come back and I know exactly what it is. And I sort of steam into it. Are you at a point where your business is kind of quite happy? Or do you have those niggles in your head? Do you look at what Oprah saying, Oh, yeah, I know exactly what my next right move is?

Bernadette Doyle [32:16]
No, it’s funny what you just said, there’s like, if you got to the point where your businesses just happy. And I remember a few years ago that I thought there was this place that I wanted to arrive at and business where it’s just that everything’s just ticking over nicely. And now we’re just, we’re just at maintenance. And the realisation I had is that if you’re actually that point, and it’s fine to get to that point, you’re actually plateauing. And there’s nothing wrong with plateauing. But if if that plateau becomes permanent, you really have reached your limits of growth. One of my highest values is growth. So I want to be in a in a situation when, when there is, let’s say, around 20% of niggles or not quite sure or new, or building out a new system or whatever, because that that to me means I’m growing and learning. So I I look for that kind of balance. If If everything today, you know, in a day was like, oh, my goodness, I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know what my right move is. And you’re actually you’re living in chaos permanently. That’s not right, either. So I think for everybody is to find that level of balance of like, How much is it kind of maintenance and how much is new growth.

David Ralph [33:28]
But you do need that bit of time, don’t you? And certainly in the build stage where you kind of go, pew, I’ve got to that first level, that survival level, and I can I can rest a little bit here, I can recharge, because I didn’t do that I and I look back on hindsight. And I was just going up like this mountain that was never stopping. And every achievement that I made, I didn’t blink, I just kept on going and I just wore myself out. And I always say to people now just take a break, just rest, you know, your business will be better, why not being in your business, you need that plateau at sometimes.

Bernadette Doyle [34:04]
Yeah, I came across some interesting stuff around this recently, which is if you take a full day off, where you completely unplug, and you’re not on social media or anything that’s kind of like business related. So ideally, you would need to be on screens at all, you get like several days worth of reboots, just from taking that one absolutely unplugged day. And apparently, what we, if we take a full week off, we get rejuvenated for about eight weeks after that. So the optimum schedule for an entrepreneur would be to look at your year. And then every eight weeks, take a complete week where you completely get out your business. And use that time either to go on holiday or it could be staying at home and have a staycation. But you’re just not doing business things. And that apparently is the optimum timeline. So that you’re, you’re continually recharging and then able to have that nice burst of growth and profit that you just talked about.

David Ralph [35:04]
Because one of the things that I’m thinking about bringing into my business, again, is just bad thing where, you know, my listeners will be so bored of it. Oh, he goes again. But I totally disconnect. I have a PC in front of me a desktop. And then I turn that off. And that’s it. There’s no phones, there’s no landline, there’s no nothing, I can’t get a single notification proved to me. And I go off for a week or time or weekends or a month, and I’m totally disconnected. And people keep on saying to me that it should be your thing. That should be your thing that you teach people, they’re so stressed everything at such a fast pace, how to do that. But once again, it’s kind of

Bernadette Doyle [35:43]
Yeah, I know,

David Ralph [35:44]
I know. But how do you actually do that, but you’re not fighting people’s addiction, but being connected all the time.

Bernadette Doyle [35:53]
It’s an it is an addiction. And I think that’s amazing. If you’re able, if you’re able to do that, and you’ve put in place the habits or the discipline or you know, whatever you want to call it, so that you are unplugging on a regular basis. I agree with the people that are saying, Yeah, you should package that and sell it and teach it to others. Because I actually think that’s one of the big problems of being an entrepreneur online is that this constant, being plugged into everything, and not then really having the space that we a big thing about being a business owner is about how making decisions. Really, I mean, you could actually say that’s what success comes down to is like the decisions you’re making. And you know, the one that we all start with this decisions about where to put our time. But if you’re frazzled and frantic, and you’ve got lots of different distractions coming at you from all different angles, how can you possibly make a good decision in that environment? So yeah, and I saw someone advertising recently place that you could go to that have no Wi Fi, and they were making the no Wi Fi selling point. And it made me chuckle because like who would have thought that even 10 years ago? Yeah. Now Now people will pay a premium to go somewhere that doesn’t have Wi Fi.

David Ralph [37:16]
I interviewed who’s got a company called video blogs, a nice guy called Joe Holland. And basically, for all of us making online videos you can go on, and you can get kind of pre recorded stuff that makes it look sexy, and you can slip it in. And he was in his office once and he bought himself out and really fed up. I’ve grown his business from my basement to where it is now. I don’t know how to go further. I don’t know how to do it. So what he did was hire an RV and get into it and just drive around America. And so he left people in charge of his company. And he said he’s profits went up 20% because he was just sitting there driving along, and they need come up with a great idea. And he would jot it down on a pad. And at the end of the day, he would send a list of things to his team, who would Ben do it. And he said it was that freedom of thought. And there was a guy the other day that I did a podcast episode on john paul to Julia, who I hadn’t heard of before. And he created Fatone, tequila. And he’s the founder of Paul Mitchell hair products. And he is a billionaire 3.8 billion, 4 billion. He hasn’t got a computer, he hasn’t got a phone, he hasn’t got email, he hasn’t got anything, which kind of, you know, I’m very disconnected. But that blows my mind how you run these $2 billion companies? And they said, you know, what does that give you? Then he said time to think he said it’s just time to think I just think with no distractions at all. Now, if he’s at that level of success, Ben, surely that’s a huge learning curve for every other Tom, Dick and Harry, there’s got to mobile phones in their pocket. And they’re constantly dealing with distractions, isn’t it?

Bernadette Doyle [39:05]
Yeah. And it’s interesting that you say that, because someone that I was influenced by when I was really getting started is someone called Dan Kennedy. And he he doesn’t have an online presence, really. So a lot of his advice was for business owners. But back then he he was absolutely ruthless about distractions. So his office only answered the phone for two hours on a Tuesday and Thursday, I think he had a secretary that came in then. And if you phone in early any other time, they’d be a message that said, you won’t get to speak to a real person outside of these hours. And he just had so many things in place, that meant he was really hard to reach. He was not available at all hours on the end of the phone for any emergency that his clients wanted to dump on him. And he credited that with a lot of success, it meant that he was really being protective of his time, he had time to work on what he wanted to and his business and wasn’t putting out other people’s fires.

David Ralph [40:06]
Yeah, I think he’s absolutely spot on. But let’s play our last we never normally get to free speech us. But we’re going to do it on this one, because this is a guy who created the whole theme of Join Up Dots. And in many ways he he was somebody that struggled with overwhelm until he came back stronger, stronger, and realised that simplicity was what makes a business here, Steve Jobs,

Steve Jobs [40:28]
of course, it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later. Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something, your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the world well worn path. And that will make all the difference.

David Ralph [41:04]
Now, obviously, they’re the kind of words that we hear all the time. They’re used on many speeches across the world. But when you listen to them, can you really reflect on your own storey and think to yourself? Yeah, actually, I can, I can really see how those dots join up.

Bernadette Doyle [41:18]
Absolutely, I mean, it’s funny, because when I first started, I really wanted to do sales training. And I the feedback I got from the market very quickly was that that was too general I needed to specialise. And because I had skills in cold calling, I actually started to focus on that. And it makes me laugh, because, you know, when I was 10 years earlier, a teenager, you know, dreaming about my future, I had not put in my dream journal, I want to be this, you know, well known cold calling trainer. That’s where I started. And, and I know if I look back now I can see direct connexion between starting there. And and what I’m doing today, and of course, what it really comes down to is I help people connect with new customers, and I help people to grow their business. And that’s been the consistent theme. But there have been moments on those journey where it felt like I was closing doors and stepping really with a lot of faith into something quite unknown. And I think it’s so true that you, you can’t see how the dots will connect. And if you try to when you’re on the journey, you’ll make yourself crazy. So I do think you know what you’ve played from Steve Jobs. And from Oprah today. The connexion is really about trusting yourself. And then taking that next step.

David Ralph [42:36]
He’s funny, you said cold calling, because I used to do cold calling up in the City of London back in the late 80s, and 90s and stuff, and I can absolutely link hour upon hour upon hour of cold calling to podcasting, totally, where we’ve been a second of connecting with a total stranger I’ve never spoken to you before. It’s all about trying to bridge that, that that connectivity, make the person feel comfortable and lead them down a path. And that had no relevance at all, I thought, but when I look back on it, I think Yeah, but that was the skills that I’ve taken to where I am today.

Bernadette Doyle [43:12]
You see, I take that one bit further, and I give it go. So in this grand plan that you’re I would never really get to see, because it’s a much higher level than the newer I that there’s like we’ve been going through this perfect training course in life, to equip us to get to where we are. So you there’s no way if someone said to you in the early 90s, or what you’re doing here in the city of London.

I mean, actually, if they talked about podcasting, Batman he was

David Ralph [43:41]
talking about I still do it.

Unknown Speaker [43:43]
Yeah, actually, that’s true. But it’s, I just love that. And that That, to me is the reason why no matter where we are in life, whether we’re where we want to be where we’re on the journey, what really matters is to show up every day, and just every every day, do your best where you are, and know that just that commitment to doing the best in the place. You’re at committing to be just better than you were yesterday. That that is what leads the doors to open. And so yeah, that’s that’s my philosophy.

David Ralph [44:15]
I think that is a perfect philosophy. And it leads me to the last question that I always ask every guest is pretty much the only question that is on every single episode. But when you look back on your life, is there a big doctor, but you go yes, that that was the moment that was the conversation that was a book I read, that really opened the doors to where I am now.

Bernadette Doyle [44:37]
Yes, I remember being on a plane. And reading Robert Kiyosaki Rich Dad Poor Dad, and having to put the put the book down in my lap, because I just had such a big insight. And it was the moment I realised that my my model of trading time for money, that there was no leverage in it, and that I have to change it. And it was scary, because I realised I was going to have to stop doing some things that were right then paying my bills. But yeah, that that was a huge Aha,

David Ralph [45:07]
I had that on audiobook, I couldn’t get past it, I just couldn’t get that the person doing the audio reading was so boring. I just couldn’t leave. Should I shouldn’t actually buy the book and read it myself because I couldn’t do that audiobook thing.

Bernadette Doyle [45:23]
Alright, well, you can, but they, there were a couple of things that I got from it, which was one was he said, this goes back to your friend in the RV. If you’ve if you’ve got a business, and you can’t go away for three months, and when you come back, it’s running better than when you left, you don’t have a business, you have a job. And there are lots of people in the online world who described themselves as being an online business over owner will say they have an online business. But you know them and I know them, they are actually people that just have jobs, and they and which isn’t, there’s nothing wrong with that. By the way, you know, if you found a way to make a living and you’re enjoying, and you getting paid that way, then then do that. But but don’t call it business. And if your goal is to have a business, if your goal is to get to a point where you’ve created an entity that can exist without you, and adding value and making a difference and making profits without you, then that is something different. So just be clear what you’re doing. And then make sure that you’re you’re doing the right things for whichever Your goal is brilliant stuff.

David Ralph [46:25]
Brilliant stuff, right? Okay, this is the part of the show that we’ve been leading up to when we’ve been joining up your dots. And this is the piece that we call the Sermon on the mic, when we’re going to send you back in time to have a one on one with your younger self. And if you could go back and speak to the young Bernadette, what age would you like to speak to him? What advice would you give her? Well, we’re gonna find out because I’m gonna play the theme. And when it pays you up, this is the Sermon on the mic.

Unknown Speaker [46:55]
We go with

Unknown Speaker [46:59]
the show.

Bernadette Doyle [47:14]
Right, I would get back to some old guns in 1996. And I will be talking to the version of myself who just started her own business. And the advice I would give her all these years on is

that

just know that a successful business is all really about adding more value to more people. And you what you want to focus on is finding ways to do that, and finding ways to do it that isn’t all dependent upon you. And so it’s going to be really important to make the distinction between working in the business and working on your business. And making sure that even if you have to work in the business to start with your taking that regular time to step away, and work on your business and look at what you’re doing and look at the bigger picture. That would be my advice.

David Ralph [48:08]
And I think that’s advice for everyone, no matter what part of the process you’re in. You don’t want to be in a place where Yeah, you’re earning money, but you can’t see life. And I speak to so many people. They’re like cave dwelling creatures. They go into their office on a Monday and they come back out on Friday. They just transcribing and not seeing any sun at all. That’s not what you want. Although it’s quite nice today, because it’s bloody hot is untrue. Well, Bernadette, what is the number one best way that our audience can connect with you?

Bernadette Doyle [48:40]
The best way is to come over to my website, which is Bernadette Doyle, calm. And I’ve got lots of resources and goodies there for you to check out. And other places do come and join me on Facebook. I didn’t mention earlier I’ve now a Facebook group, which is for business smart with heart. And I would love to welcome your listeners there. Well, we we do quite fun things yesterday, I posted a picture of myself as an elf. So that will give you an idea of the flavour of what we’re doing there.

David Ralph [49:08]
We will have all the links on the show notes and make it as easy as possible. Bernadette, thank you so much for spending time with us today and joining up those dots. And please come back again, when you got more dots to join up. Because I do believe that by joining outpost dots and connecting our past is actually the best way to build our futures. Bernadette Doyle. Thank you so much.

Bernadette Doyle [49:27]
Thank you,

David Ralph [49:30]
Bernadette Doyle. Oh, yeah, I like that. I like that. I like that lady. And I like that conversation. Because, yeah, you don’t want to build a business and be in the business. You want to leverage your expertise to gain the hours back. And I think what she said that really resonated with me was the fact that she filters her clients upstream. So before they even get to her, she knows that they’re the right clients. And they’re not just the ones that, that drag your business down. And all of us go through that journey of having wrong clients. And it’s a real fine tuning process. But as you do fine tune it and you become more selective and you say no, actually, you’re not right. For me, it allows breathing space to get the good people in. And no matter what business you’re doing, ultimately ends up with a person now either buying it online or they’re being coached by you or they’re buying your products, whatever, it always ends up with the right person. So make sure it’s the right people come into your business and life will be a lot easier for you. Until next time, thank you so much for being on Join Up Dots on not on Join Up Dots. That was be stupid. I’d have a million people on Join Up Dots at the same time wouldn’t here with me. Thank you so much for listening to Join Up Dots. And if you need any help at all, in any stage of your business, if you’re sitting in a cubicle wanting to change, if you’ve got a business that’s not doing anything, or if you’re overworked distressed, hi Sheba, we’re building the products for you to take you to the next level. Come over to Join Up dots.com and I will see you there and if you need any help drop me an email like so many people do. See you later. Bye bye.

Outro [51:13]
David doesn’t want you to become a faded version of the brilliant self you are wants to become so he’s put together an amazing guide for you called the eight pieces of advice that every successful entrepreneur practices, including the two that changed his life. Head over to Join Up dots.com to download this amazing guide for free and we’ll see you tomorrow on Join Up Dots.