Michelle Weinstein Joins Us On The Join Up Dots Business Coaching Podcast
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Introducing Michelle Weinstein
Michelle Weinstein is my guest today, on the Join Up Dots business coaching podcast interview.
She is a lady who knows how to turn no’s into yes’s.
And how to turn maybes into sales.
She knows how to turn struggling businesses into rocking and rolling money making machines, all by the power of pitching correctly.
As she says ” I am a time-tested entrepreneur who has the unique ability to help you immediately identify business strengths to create a unique plan of action. More importantly, I will help you zero in on the hidden trip wires that keep you from achieving your financial dreams.”
She has knocked down the doors and impressed CEO’s at many billion dollar companies.
How The Dots Joined Up For Michelle
Her relentless pursuit towards buyers at Costco Wholesale earned her coveted shelf space that also led to national deals with The Vitamin Shoppe. Other current clients include the Washington Nationals and Tampa Bay Rays. Within in her inner circle are multi-seven figure entrepreneurs, famous comedians, professional athletes and coaches from the NFL, NBA, MLB & NHL.
As a result of these amazing relationships and opportunities Michelle has honed a unique skill set that will help you develop the most important and valuable relationships.
She will teach you how to open doors and meet people that you have always dreamed of meeting, but you never knew how to get to. That’s her genius.
So was this process something that was born in her, or created by many years of hardship, struggle and learning on the coal face?
And where do people go wrong – pitching to the wrong avatar, or not believing that they have the value that leads to the sales?
Well lets find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Michelle Weinstein.
Show Highlights
During the show we discussed such weighty topics with Michelle Weinstein such as:
Michelle shares the four letter word that makes all the difference to a new entrepreneur, and why it is the most important thing to learn.
Michelle talks about why being a standup comedian is the hardest entrepreneurial journey to take, and why they have to be used to failure every single night. However these failures are a gold mine that can lead to huge success.
We discuss how she found the diamond in herself by working in bars as a young lady, and how she can now see those skills are exactly the same as the ones she uses today.
and lastly….
Why your ability to be able to walk away from money sets out an amazingly powerful position to take, that actually can lead to more money.
How To Connect With Michelle Weinstein
Return To The Top Of Michelle Weinstein
If you enjoyed this episode with Michelle Weinstein, then why not listen to some of our favourite podcast episodes such as Simone Vicenzi, Yuri Elkaim or the amazing Geoff Thompson
Or if you prefer just pop over to our podcast archive for thousands of amazing episodes to choose from.
Full Transcription Of Michelle Weinstein Interview
Intro [0:00]
When we’re young, 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. 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 [0:24]
Yes. Good morning, everybody across the world, wherever you’re listening to. Thank you for tuning in to Join Up Dots on these pressing the button and getting it in your ears. I don’t know how you do it, but as long as you listen to it, that is great. Um, let’s bring on today’s guest. I’m not gonna do any preamble. I normally do a little bit silly stuff, but I’m gonna go straight with her because she’s a lady that we can really gain some great information from she’s a lady who knows how to turn nose into yeses. Yeah, she knows how to turn maybes into sales and she knows how to turn struggling businesses into rocking and rolling money making machines all by the power of pitching correctly. As she says, I’m a time tested entrepreneur who has the unique ability to help you immediately identify business strengths to create a unique plan of action. More importantly, I will help you zero in on the hidden tripwires that keep you from achieving your financial dreams now, she has knocked down the doors and impressed CEOs of many billion dollar companies. Her relentless pursuit towards buyers at Costco earned her coveted shelf space, but also led to national deals with the vitamin Shoppe of our current clients include the Washington Nationals, and Tampa Bay Rays and within an inner circle, a multi seven figure entrepreneurs, famous comedians, professional athletes, and coaches from the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL from the United Kingdom. That means nothing to me, but it sounds very impressive. Anyway, as a result of these amazing relationships and opportunities, Michelle has honed a unique skill that will help you develop the most important and valuable relationships. He will teach you how to open doors and meet people that you have always dreamed of meeting but you never knew how to get to. And that’s her genius. So what’s this the process something that was born into her? Or did she create it by many years of hardship struggle and learning on the coalface of life? And where do people go wrong? pitching to the wrong avatar, or not actually believing that they had the value that then leads to the sale? Well, let’s find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Michelle Weinstein. Michelle, how are you?
Michelle Weinstein [2:23]
I’m awesome. Thank you so much for that amazing intro. I’m like, Whoa, you did that a lot.
David Ralph [2:32]
You were looking at your picture. You don’t look about 82 You look a lot younger than 82. But you seem to have packed a lot into your life so far.
Michelle Weinstein [2:42]
I have I’ve gotten it in. I’m 38. I know you’re not supposed to ask the woman their age, but I don’t care. I’ll talk about it.
David Ralph [2:50]
I always ask a woman their age and then have a hit with how much do you weigh as well. And you do get the double whammy and they’re only going to share with one of them. They never give me the
Michelle Weinstein [3:02]
230 pounds.
That means and
David Ralph [3:10]
i think that’s that’s that’s really nothing is 130 pounds. I don’t know what that is in the United Kingdom because we weren’t in stones. But I imagine that you are light as a feather. In your in your life. Michelle, this this interests me big time. Because Yeah, that intro was very much Boom, boom, boom, shake the room. It was very much like yeah, this is her power. This is her genius. But you don’t get born with genius. Really? Do you just get a little diamond but you can polish into something. When did you start to find the diamond in you that could be converted into a business?
Michelle Weinstein [3:46]
You know, I think like you said, we all have something in us. It’s just do we get to find it in our lifetime. And I would say I’ve found my little diamond that I started to dust off. When I was 18 years old. My my family had immigrated to this country from Russia. And my grandparents, I would go stay with every single summer in New York City in Manhattan. Have you been there?
David Ralph [4:11]
I’ve been there many times. Yes.
Michelle Weinstein [4:13]
So hustle and bustle well in Manhattan, he in the you know, this country have to be 21 to drink but to work in a bar. You only have to be 18. So there was this bar around the corner from my grandparents house and I applied for a waitressing job cocktail waitressing job, and I got to learn the basics of sales in the bar. Like That was my first cocktail waitressing job. And in college, I also had the same career path. I was a cocktail waitress in college and you know, I made a lot of money and I didn’t really understand why I mean in college, I was pushing like high end tequila shot, like 20 $40 shot, which is very expensive. So it was a really high Mexican restaurant area where people from Mexico would actually come up and and have, you know, have a good night. But all of the same skill set that I use in the bar are very similar in what I use today, selling on the phone and you know, doing things on the phone. And it’s identical. And I don’t even, you know, took me 20 years to figure out the correlation of it. But you know, having people buy more drinks than having people and trying to get better tips and treating them well, and building relationships and building rapport, and asking them about their families and their personal lives and getting to actually know the person and not that it’s just another transaction. And I think that’s really what it boiled down to is that in any sales relationship, and as an entrepreneur, I, I have this mission of reminding everybody that they signed up for a 24 seven sales job. If you’re not in a job, and you’re thinking of starting one, just know that you’re going to be a 24, seven salesperson. And when you get to start to people start to get to know people for who they are and people and not it’s not a transaction, everything will shift. Everything from I agree with that.
David Ralph [6:16]
Yeah, I agree with that. Totally.
Michelle Weinstein [6:18]
So you know, I know we’re in a bar chit chatting and stuff. But I hung out a lot in bars between the age of 1718 to about 21.2.
David Ralph [6:29]
It’s funny, because when I was younger, I never went to bars. And then I moved to the City of London, and it was bars all the time bars lunchtime bars in the evening. And I don’t think I developed any skills in there other than emptying my bank account. I don’t see a being a business zone that taught me anything at all, other than how to get served, because that’s a skill in itself, how to get to the bar and actually get focused on by the bar made and stuff. You know, that’s the only thing that I learned. So with yourself, did you see it as a business learning environment? Even at the time? Did you think this is an opportunity? Or was it just Oh, get me out of here. Get me out of here?
Michelle Weinstein [7:09]
No, I mean, I loved it. I love to talk to people. I love to meet people. I love making all the money I made at that age. I was like, awesome. You know, I was like probably making $50 an hour. On average. I mean, I made a lot of money in college, and I made a lot of money in the summertime at this job.
David Ralph [7:31]
$50 an hour in a bar.
Unknown Speaker [7:33]
Yeah, tip.
David Ralph [7:35]
My God, my God, he was he just drunk people but didn’t know the exchange rate. Was it Mexican?
Michelle Weinstein [7:43]
I think it was a combination of both. But if you think about in college, the tequila shots were 20 to 40 $50. So everybody’s tab was about $100 every round. So on $100 most people in the state tip about 20%. So that’s $20 You know, every hour just from those people. Now imagine other people. Yeah, it was a lot. I actually got fired from that job to my senior year of college.
David Ralph [8:15]
Yeah, well, I can understand with America and this isn’t why you aren’t here. But it’s just popped into my head. In the United Kingdom. If you want to drink you can drink from, I don’t know, 16 I think it is. And then you can drive from 17. And it’s it’s kind of got a natural progression up. But it’s the same across the country. You know, where you stand in America from my memory. Different states have different drinking levels, and you can get pregnant in one state, but you can’t do it in another state and that that’s just rubbish in it. You never know where you stand. You could be in a bar. Just generally chit chatting with a lady thinking that you might get lucky that night and you could end up in prison that evening, even though it was all white somewhere else.
Michelle Weinstein [8:57]
Correct. Yeah. And the drinking age is very different in different states. And the fact that I could work in a bar, serve drink, but I couldn’t drink them was funny.
David Ralph [9:09]
It’s just madness. It’s madness. And I think Trump will get in there and sort that out. Yeah, just make it boring. Can culture Yeah.
Michelle Weinstein [9:17]
We’ll see how that all goes.
David Ralph [9:20]
We already know how it’s gonna go. Michelle. We voted him into power and you’re all panicking big time. As we sit beside going with Don’t let him into our country. Don’t let him over here. Let’s talk about the pitching skills that you’ve got. Because that is one of the things that I know so many people struggle with, as you say, because selling is icky. Nobody likes to do it. Now. I I bought, I came from the City of London where I was really big on cold calling. That was my job. I used to pick up the phone I used to bang and just sort of sell things. And it’s literally like I do now because you know we’ve been to so about meeting we’re having this conversation is, it’s very much like a cold calling environment. And I can see the skills that I built up from London for many years translating very well into a podcast as you have from the bar to where you are. But a lot of people haven’t got that synergy of career history there. They want to create a business, but they’ve never had that ability to connect in a cold call or connect in a bar Connect. So are there sort of tips that we can give them to actually get past that? That icky? Give me your money, I’ve got a product giving you money, because I think so many entrepreneurs spend too much time in the free zone at the beginning, giving stuff away for nothing instead of getting paid for it.
Michelle Weinstein [10:42]
Yes, I, I completely understand where you’re coming from. And my biggest mission now, in the last six months, and going forward, is how to love the four letter bad word sale. Right? It’s like this four letter bad word. And it is icky. And it’s it is, you know, sleazy, and how can you actually love to sell where you’re not lazy, you’re not pushy, and it’s not icky. So I am all about this topic. And, you know, I think it really starts out and I wrote this ebook, guide, it’s about the self confidence Manifesto. And until you can really be okay with yourself, then you can start picking up the phone, because just like you in the podcast and cold calling, that’s how I met you. I cold emailed you, right? Well, I couldn’t call you because I didn’t have your number. But there has to be something in it for the other person. And I think if you can think about that, if you’re going to be cold calling to, you know, start a podcast or get an influencer to help you out or call that entrepreneur you want to go work with because you really want to get out of the cubicle department, and you’re sick of your job, and you hate driving there every day and you’re sick of 30 minute commute back and forth. And you really want to make a change, you know, self confidence with yourself start first and then being okay, with this cold call thing. Whatever you want to call it is really about stepping back and saying, you know, how can I be of service to that person? What would pique that person’s interest? How could I be a value to them. And when you can figure out what your value is and what your worth is to the other person, it’s not a cold call anymore. It’s like, if he doesn’t write me back, it’s his loss. You know what I, I really don’t know what to say that it’s gonna be a complete disappointment. But I guess I’ll just have to follow up again, and then next week, and then I follow up again the next week, because I know what I’m able to provide. And when you’re eight, when you know what you can bring to the table, provide value, whatever you want to call it, you’re gonna just keep following up until you get what you want. Because they, they need what you want to and you know that, and that’s what I think it really boils down to is that you know what you have. And over time, you also build what I call your resilient muscles. And if you don’t want to just collect a paycheck every two weeks, and you really want to get out of that cubicle, you have to build really rock solid resilient, because in the beginning, it’s going to be a little bit difficult. But over time, each time you get a little like, you know, when it’s building that confidence slowly step by step because as Mel Robbins always says you can’t build confidence without putting things into action and trying. I think a lot of times people think we’re just gonna, it’s just gonna happen and it’s not gonna happen. None of us are born with that. None of us.
David Ralph [13:51]
I love the fact that you say, it will be a little bit difficult. It’s bloody difficult, I think. sugarcoat it, I went into creating my business, literally thinking that I could outwork the next person, that I could do it in six months, and three and a half years down the line on certain regards. It’s amazing. And others, it’s kind of undone. It’s like, I’ve got parts built on certain bits that are bringing me in income. There’s other bits I want to have done. It’s hard, isn’t it? It’s more than a little bit difficult because you just don’t know what you don’t know until you find out you don’t know it.
Michelle Weinstein [14:27]
Yes. And you have to get really, really okay with being in the unknown. Because, you know, at a job, like I had this job out of college, and I’m gonna call it the J. ob, and I hated it. And I was the financial analyst. I’m still friends with some of the people I worked with there though, because they were cool. But I mean, I was sitting in a cubicle, inputting numbers and spreadsheets. I was a financial analyst. I got a degree in finance. from college. I got a degree in finance and I got a degree in sales. Because I worked in the bar all four years. So I now understand that that was my hardcore sales training course. And, you know, I just, I couldn’t stand it. I just, I wanted to get out of there so bad, but it’s really about just do you want to make a change? Do you want to get the paycheck every two weeks? Or do you want to be like us and the unknown, you know, you’re not really sure where those next dollars are coming from, and really setting yourself up for that success. So you can see, like you said, You’ve got money coming in a few places, but not from others. And it’s been three and a half years. Sometimes that takes a really, really, really long time.
David Ralph [15:43]
Which is the glory of it is that it’s all practice, isn’t it? It might be taking a long time, but you become better by doing it consistently. You know, I’m always struck by stand up comedians, and how they go from having a joke in their bedroom, to actually creating it into something that other people think funny. And you just know that they have failed, failed, failed so many times until they’ve taken that joke, and they found that angle that makes it fly. And then they’ve got to go again and get something else. But all the time they’re practising. And I think that is the issue, or one of the major issues that stop entrepreneurs getting going, they get going. But then they think it’s a quick get rich, quick scheme. And they don’t realise that every time they put a spade in the ground, they’re building up muscles. Every time they put that spade in the ground, they’re building the foundations, everything is get rich quick. And that’s not how it’s built. Michelle is it
Michelle Weinstein [16:41]
now I I personally know a lot of entrepreneurs that are you know, millionaires now, not one of them was the get rich quick. A lot of them was fail millions of times and have a lot of struggles, and then all of a sudden, everything clicked. But none of it was the get rich quick. And if you see those things on Facebook that get your six, seven figure business in the next six weeks. I think that’s Hocus Pocus. But that’s just my personal opinion. And I love comedians. My best friend, by the way is the comedian. Okay, so I even have some jokes. She’s writing for me. Yeah, I did like a little pitch Queen comedy show. And I have this video. We made it about two weeks ago. I’m not really sure what to do with it. It’s hilarious. But I had her on my podcast actually success unfiltered because she being a comedian is like the hardest, entrepreneurial journey. Anyone could ever go on that and being an actor I interviewed an actor to, and I hope to interview more because they have to sell themselves more than like anybody else that you would ever imagine. And you would never think that you’re like, Oh, well, they just get booked. No, no, no, no, no, they don’t just get booked. She basically lived in her car drove the country to gig after gig. And now, to this day, she still has to sell herself every day to get gigs than to increase increase her prices, because her value has increased and, and not do what she did 20 years ago and do gigs for $100 or 500. Now it’s 5000 to 10,000. But that takes a lot of, you know courage to say those prices and get paid what you’re worth and make sure it’s worth your time. And she never knows where her next dollars, like would have no one books her right. So yeah, I mean, those are some of the toughest entrepreneurial roads you could ever take.
David Ralph [18:39]
So So how to saus pitch in that regard. Let’s take the stand up comedian, as we say,
Michelle Weinstein [18:44]
yeah. I’ve taught her everything she does. I
David Ralph [18:48]
bet you did. Yeah. And that’s why we’ve got you on the show. So is it about the case of having something that you finally believe is so valuable that somebody can’t say no to is that when it really comes together? Instead of going 50 $50 $100? When you say 5000 5000? Or you’re not having me? Is that where it comes always as several stages before that to the pitch?
Michelle Weinstein [19:14]
Um, I think there’s several stages and I think it depends on what level so first, you have to know where you’re at right? your belief in yourself and you knowing your worth. That has to be set first. And then from there, you need to set up what I call your boundaries. And your boundaries are what will help you make a good pitch. Because if her name is Monique, okay, Monique marvez. So, let’s go over this example. She had a gig it was two weeks ago in Miami. She’s been doing it every single year almost. They call her up. They say Will you come? She says yes. doesn’t even know the price but just says yes. And then She gets there. And you know that feeling when you are like, God, this is a waste of my time. I can’t believe they’re paying me this little what the hell am I doing here? I don’t understand why just said yes to this, I just had to fly across the country six hour flight. And this is all I’m getting paid. And then you’re like pissed off at yourself. Because you know what, it’s your problem. You didn’t set your boundaries. So, this is now how it goes. Monique? What are you worth to fly from LA to Miami for one night? To do this gig? Well, I mean, I should be paid 3500 minimum, okay, 3500. Now, if it’s 3500 for one night, you can there is no negotiation, that’s number one, you have to set a boundary of no negotiation. And number two, you have to stand firm and be able to walk away. And I think that is the key, when you can be when your ability to walk away from something feels okay. You know, that people will respect you. Also, when you pitch your self and your price, and your value and your worth, people will feel it. So guess what happened? She told the guy called her back. And and also they have to pay. This is not how normal comedians have done it before, but they need you get per diem per day travel. You know, I negotiate car services for her. We only want to be picked up in the black cars. You know, we there’s a certain standard that you need to set for yourself. So for her as the comedian, I said you need a black card pick you up at the airport, you need a five star hotel for the night, you need a ride back to the airport, and you need about 100 bucks per diem per day. So 200 if it’s a turnaround going there and coming back, okay, so she sends a message that guy, my rate is 3500 Plus, round trip airfare to round trip cars to the hotel black cars and a five star hotel, which is typically these gigs are in really high end hotels that they’re in Miami on South Beach. And he said, I’ll get back to you in an hour. And I said you, you know, Monique, you’ve got to be willing to walk away and not do this gig. If he does not just tell you yes, there’s no negotiating the second you negotiate down, you’ve just lost your power and your value and your whole pitch to the next person is not going to be the same. Also a lot of people talk, right? So if your price there’s one price for one calibre of type of clientele, and then you go do something else. And now you’re like wiggling and diving. Because sometimes we do this, because we really need the money, right? You’re like, Oh my god, but if I don’t do it, and they only give me 2500. Well, 2500 is better than zero. No, no, no, no, no. This is when you miss opportunities. And this is when we get clients that we don’t want to work with because we end up just taking everything because it’s that next dollar coming to us. And when you can walk away, bigger dollars will actually present themselves to you.
David Ralph [23:17]
And you actually believe back? Can I just jump in there you say believe it? Yeah. Yes, yes. I won’t even say anymore. But you just 100% believe I said it wasn’t gonna say any more on an app. So I’m just like, yeah, you totally, totally believe but if you walk away from money, more money will come to you or bigger opportunities for money.
Michelle Weinstein [23:40]
Yes, I will get into that next example after I finished this one because that just
David Ralph [23:45]
apologise. Okay, so I’m excited I had to jump in.
Michelle Weinstein [23:48]
I know I appreciate you jumping in, because it’s one of the hardest concepts to really grasp your head around. But here’s the thing. And you want to know why. When Monique went to go do that gig number one, she couldn’t believe the guy told her Yes, I knew that was gonna happen when you stand your ground, you know your worth, and you’re not gonna budge. That’s it, take it or leave it. And that increases your confidence for the next one. And this is how you can start rising above the rest. Until then, if you’re just going to wheel and deal, you know, it doesn’t get you anywhere. And I understand because I’ve been in a place where I’m like, I have no idea how I’m going to make money next month. I get it. But you have to but you have to think about what’s your future goal? What’s your end goal? Not how am I going to make it right now? Right? Like when we go into scared, are you going to come from a place of abundance or a place from scarcity. So So on this gig we’re in with Monique, a lot of her past was coming from a place of scarcity. It’s hard to change our path. Right our path is what’s created us and who we are But if you want to change and you want to be a millionaire, whatever, you’ve got to hang around millionaires, right we are, who we hang around we are, who we are, and who we’re with. If you want to live a healthy lifestyle, you can’t hang around fat people, it’s just not gonna work. Right, they’re gonna want to go to McDonald’s and the Healthy People are going to want to go to salad place. And they’re going to want to go to the gym and go on hikes and the fat people are gonna want to just, you know, hang out at the McDonald’s in the movie theatre and eat popcorn and candy. It’s a different lifestyle and a different type. It doesn’t it’s the same when you’re pitching yourself and working client. You know, I work with a lot of entrepreneurs who want to grow million dollar plus service based businesses, where they sell high value ticket offers. So high ticket offers like $3,000 to $50,000. Now, which correlates into what Monique sells, because her high value ticket is herself, but that her minimum is 3500 a night for a show like that’s it. We don’t go below that anymore. That’s it, you know, up upwards of more depending on what the content is going to be about. Like if it’s a corporate gig, it’s a little bit challenging to do those because you have to watch your words and you can’t say any bad word. So those gigs are more work to prepare for. And you know, it’s a little bit different calibres. So there’s sometimes more expensive. But my point is when Monique went to Miami, guess what, on the plane, she’s excited at the gig, she’s excited, she got paid what she’s worth, she’s getting picked up in a black car, she’s staying at a five star hotel, $100 day per team, whatever it is, she’s in a great mood and going to deliver amazing results for her client. Right? When we don’t get paid what we’re worth. And we’re sitting there and we have those thoughts in our head. I can’t believe I took this gig for this little amount of money. Oh my god, I just want to go home. I, I I needed the money. And I should have just asked for more. I know I know. I’m worth 3500 I just don’t get why just took 2000 when you start having those thoughts, your performance of whatever your services or performances that you’re delivering, will suffer.
David Ralph [27:16]
But I play some words, and we’re gonna jump back into this because this is there’s so many golden there is like mining for gold. But he’s Jim Carrey.
Jim Carrey [27:25]
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 [27:51]
Now powerful words on that you got to find the thing that you love, and you’ve obviously found the thing that you love. And literally everybody who’s rocking and rolling out man today has found the thing they love. But I’m really fascinated about this moment, this mental moment where you can stand firm on your price. I was watching Ed Sheeran the other day, Ed Sheeran is doing away for himself. He’s making a few dollars every now and again. And he was telling a story how he had to travel across England on a train to this gig. And when he got there, no one turned up. And when he got home, basically he was out of pocket. So he’d actually lost the money during this. But it was his moment of saying I will never let that happen again. I will never actually be out of pocket by doing a gig. Was that in the same way was that his moment? When he set his boundaries? He decided that it was going to be one way or not from then on?
Michelle Weinstein [28:46]
Yeah. You know, with Monique, we actually discussed this in the interview I did with her. on my show. She talks about how she went to her one of her first gigs. And she got there and they’re like, we don’t do comedy here. And she’s like, What are you talking about. And this is like in the beginning of her career. And the guy’s like, we don’t do comedy here anymore. We cancelled it a couple weeks ago. And she created her own comedy show there by getting people off the street to come in. And she just did it anyway, because she drove hours. I can’t remember how many to go to this gig when she was just starting out. For them to tell her there is no comedy show that she thought she had a comedy show. It happens all the time.
David Ralph [29:31]
I have done so many webinars over the last few years that I must have sold X amount of tickets. And as you know, Michelle people booked for these things and don’t turn up. And in the early days of Join Up Dots. I wasn’t that proficient in the marketing. So I might get four people booked onto a webinar. And I would say probably four or five times in the early days. I just did it to an empty room. There was no one there. But I knew that it was still an ability to practice it was still having the ability to You know, try a different way of doing it and mess around and see if this button worked. And that button worked. Yeah, and I don’t think there is a huge boost to yourself when you’re not actually after any money, as you say, I wasn’t interested in anything, but I gained so much confidence, about the technicalities of doing it. Because there was no one in front of me that I was, you know, in the early days, I used to try and get money, anybody that come along, I used to get money because I had to pay the bills. Fortunately, now I’ve got a business that I don’t actually have to sell, I just tried to over deliver on the value every time I can, and the sales naturally occur is
Michelle Weinstein [30:38]
the same thing like that. We are doing that right now.
David Ralph [30:42]
Yeah, we are we are, we’re trying to provide the best value we possibly can. So that people will listen to us and over the audience increases because they share it with other people, which then you can actually monetize or whatever you want to do. But it’s all about providing the value in a way that is believable for the listener. And what I love about podcasting, as you know, you never know who’s listening half the time you going out and you can see the audience growing up and getting up bigger, bigger and bigger. But you still, you only get a very small percentage of people that connect with you from listening to your shows. But it doesn’t mean that it’s not worthwhile doing it somebody out there, it will change their life, or they will hear one snippet, which will make them operating in a different way. And when once they start communicating with you can start building up that relationship. But more often than not, No One No One mentioned that you at all, they just take your podcast, they take your knowledge, take your time, and they don’t do anything with it. Michelle?
Michelle Weinstein [31:41]
Well, I look for action takers, though, I’m all about take one thing and put into action. But real quick, I’ve got another example. Because the little Jim Carrey thing you said about the accountant, I actually help CPAs right now. So I help CPAs sell tax plans to their clients. And a tax plan is a very high level service for high net worth individuals are really complicated businesses with business owners that make a lot of money. And this is so they can pay less money to the IRS and keep it to themselves. So that’s what a tax plan is. And CPAs traditionally, or as Enrolled Agents in this country, they usually give away a lot of advice for free. And they hate it. They’re like I never make any money. We go through all the school and you know, they’re just frustrated. And they know they can they know they can save their clients more money. But most people charge so little for the work that then they’re just like on a hamster wheel working and working and working all the time. And yesterday, I actually did a client meeting with a CPA and their client. And you know, they have a very complicated model of their business. And they owe a lot of money and we can save them a lot of money. And we were really firm on the price. There was an $11,000 tax plan. Okay. And we have a follow up call with them today. But I made sure with the CPA, I said are you okay from walking away from this because he wanted the one of the husband was a husband and wife, the husband wanted start negotiating. And I said, You know what, we stay really firm. There’s a lot of work here. And there’s also a lot of value to you because he even said I see the value. But when people start to go down their own questions in our head, you know, that little voice in our head that starts to ask us questions for ourselves, then it derails us from our goals and everything we want. That’s called the wife. Yeah, the wife, or wife number two, whichever one you want to think about it as. But anyway, my point is that even in the CPA world, just like Monique, the comedian world, it’s still the same, the process is the same. And the CPA, I’ll call her Amy, just for to put a name with her. And I, Amy and I had a call last night and I said, Amy, are you okay? from walking away from them today, if they don’t see the value in you, they don’t want to pay you for the work and they don’t feel like saving upwards of $30,000 a year in tax to pay you 11,000 this is not the right client for you. And that’s the biggest thing and as you can when you start to see that in real life, and you can actually step away from it. I can tell you, Amy’s next client is going to be awesome. You know, she learned a lot from this experience. We we did the best we could we delivered a lot of value. But also one thing I want everyone to know and a lot of the CPAs I work with, they’re like well, I need to convince my client to pay me these fees none and in an interview, there is no convincing going on. If they don’t think your degree in accounting is good, your extra certification to become an expert in tax planning your three part CPA exam that you sat for, and all this continuing education and they want to pay you peanuts for that, guess what, they’re not a good client. If they value you, then people will buy. But in sales, I think a lot of times people miss the boat, they think they need to convince the other person. And I want to be the first to tell you, there’s no convincing going on at none whatsoever. And if we can only deliver, like you deliver value every day, I deliver value. And if people can resonate with that, and you attract that, then that’s the right person for you to work with. So I can’t wait to see what happens today on our follow up call. I’m okay with whatever outcome happens, I always wish them nothing but the best. And I hope they find an accountant that does the work that they really want. And if they want it for cheap, guess what you get what you pay for, you pay for something cheap, you’re gonna get something cheap, and you’re gonna end up paying the IRS a lot of money. Or you can pay a premium, we can save you a tonne of money, and you have to, you know, work with people that charge more money. It’s your choice. It’s like buying a car, do you want a Toyota? Or do you want to, you know, a Tesla you choose.
David Ralph [36:16]
And And the key thing to this as well is that if you go for people that are haggling over the price, they’re generally crappy customers anyway, I, you know, early days of Join Up Dots, I had one or two people that bargain with me, and I went with it. And they were the worst, they were the worst, they were connecting with me every two seconds and asking for this and asked him for that. And it was just, it was just a nightmare. And now literally, I don’t budge on anything. And the customers that come through to me are great. They’re great, you know, and the beauty of it as well Michelle, as you know, and this goes out to the listeners, if you can get the good customer that pays you more, you will actually be increasing your income but decreasing your work. By eBay expect quality, you provide quality and they don’t get involved somehow. And I saw this once on a podcast or I heard on a podcast, Chris Ducker and Pat Flynn, the the entrepreneurs, one from the United Kingdom, one from San Diego, and I had this little show once and they were talking to these frazzled overworked entrepreneurs. And they had some kind of coaching business. And he was saying double your prices. And I was saying we can’t double our prices, we won’t keep our clients and he will lose a few clients that don’t want you and the ones that do want you will stay and pay them more money. And they would go we can’t we can’t. He was going Dublin, Dublin, Dublin. And he was just sort of shouting Dublin all the time. Anyway, they came on the episode maybe I don’t know, six weeks later. And they were kind of Oh, my life is lovely. All the hoverboard people let me and I’ve just been left with three clients instead of 30 clients, we’re earning the same amount of money. And now I can take my kid to school and I can do all this total different mindset by understand the scarcity and abundance, it’s a difficult path to cross isn’t it?
Michelle Weinstein [38:01]
It is and you’re gonna have to try it out and see what works for you. But when you can, when you’re ready to take that what I call leap of faith, and or in the CPA world, some are just so fed up, you know, they just can’t deal anymore. When you get to that point, it’s even easier to set your boundaries. And I you know, for everybody listening, and if you’re in this space, like set three boundaries that you’re not going to budge on anymore. And I mean, I love what Pat and Chris did, you know, I think that’s awesome that they encourage these I that’s my I preach that all day long. If you can have five clients versus 100, you’re gonna make more money off the five, if you can deliver even more value to them, spend more time with them. And, and five people will pay you what you were making up 100 just start a little spreadsheet and do the math because that’s what we’re doing with the CPAs. Most CPAs Okay, traditionally charge their client around either $452,000 per year per client. We show them how you can do it for around 10,000 to upwards of $30,000 per year per client. Most people want more clients, more clients more client. No, no, you don’t need more. You just need the right one. Yeah, obviously it depends on what industry you’re into. And there’s other variables but it it goes to a lot of industries. You know, if you’re a coach or you’re a comedian, or you’re an actor, I mean, an actor could do 10 small little jobs, or they can keep pushing and pushing for that one really big role.
David Ralph [39:46]
So that sub summarises Michelle because there’s been so many things and I’m with you totally but I’m aware that a lot of our listeners are new entrepreneurs or they’re wanting to be can we summarise the whole episode in four Steps?
Michelle Weinstein [40:01]
Yes, we can. Number one, you’ve got to work on your mind that that’s got to be number one first. Okay? Number two, I think, all day every day. Because especially if you’re just starting out, you need to work on building business relationships really anywhere and building rapport. Because that is what’s going to be the foundation for anything that you do. Number two, I would say set up your boundaries. What are those walls that you’re going to put up that you’re not going to budge on? You know, maybe it’s the type of clientele maybe it’s your prices? Maybe you know, like you said, you had those new ones that you took and they were complete headache. You can actually avoid all of that completely, but you need to set your boundaries then I would say let’s have at least three boundaries. And then really put things into action. Just like you did your webinars. The no one showed up. Yeah, I do Facebook Lives sometimes the no one shows up. I’m totally cool with that. I love doing it. What I love if people were there to interact with me, heck, yeah. But if not, Hey, you know what, they were busy. But you need to build that resilience muscle and you need to build that confidence. And if you can do one small thing every day, that will get you to where you want to be. If you do not put yourself out there and you don’t try something small every single day, you’ll probably still be stuck.
David Ralph [41:42]
You say you see that’s what we do in Join Up Dots listeners, we take you from selling shots, overpriced shots to Mexicans. I forced that masterclass all within 40 minutes to get that anywhere else. Michelle, how much would somebody need to pay for that advice?
Michelle Weinstein [42:02]
Who knows, but I always say you can listen all day long and be inspired. But I’m all about take one thing and actually do something today, wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, make one step into the direction of what you want to do every single day. And I’m saying like 510 minutes, or just do one thing.
David Ralph [42:25]
Right? Well, I’m gonna do one thing now. And I’m going to play the words that created the whole show of Join Up Dots 2005, this guy stood up and said, magical words, listen to him every time gonna hear it again, Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs [42:38]
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 well worn path. And that will make all the difference.
David Ralph [43:14]
A bit good. And they have a not the best word,
Michelle Weinstein [43:17]
though. That’s awesome. Yeah. Huh.
David Ralph [43:20]
Now I always ask this question. So you’re gonna get it as well. But you are here now. And you’re not the same person that you were as an 18 year old girl. You’ve gone through a journey. When was it that that that girl from the bar really hit her stride and really started making things occur? When was your big dot?
Michelle Weinstein [43:42]
I would say my big.is the went well, I’ve had two big dots, I would say one was about 10 years ago when I started my left company. And we got into Costco vitamin Shoppe I pitched on Shark Tank. I did a lot in that eight or 10 years. I can’t even count how many years that was. And then I would say my next door was about six months ago when I launched my new brand personal brand, the pitch queen. And really how can I take my mission globally and take what I’ve learned over the last 20 years to help all of you not only get to where you want to go a little quicker, but probably save some money. I call my last eight years of my life my $2 million MBA programme. I had a lot of mistakes, a lot of trial and error. My last company did not make it. So I had to close it down. But I tried everything I could. And I said you know what this is? This is the biggest stepping stone to go to the next level. And now that I’m able to help people on a worldwide level on a platform that I can, you know, like you said a small percentage will resonate. But for that small percentage, I know I’ve made a difference. I’ve gotten emails I’ve gotten LinkedIn emails. I know People are listening and doing something and putting something into action to get to where they want to go. And we all have our gifts. And I finally completely dusted off the diamond that I found inside myself. And you know, my gift is showing you what’s possible as it relates to probably the most important skill set in any entrepreneurial journey, which is yourself and pitching and selling yourself, be at raising money, or just getting your products and services out there. Because I’ll leave it with this. If you don’t do it, you’re actually doing the people that you can help a disservice. And we all start these companies and do all this stuff. And then we’re all scared to pieces when you have to go and sell and pitch yourself, which doesn’t make any sense to me. Because people need to know about you. And if you don’t talk about you and your products or your services, then how are you going to be able to help people like the CPAs, right? They, they are not great at sales A lot of times, but they have so much knowledge and you I’m like you guys can save so many people so much money. I’m like, I am not an accountant, and I need your services. But if you’re too scared to tell me about them, because you think I’m going to think you’re too expensive. What the heck is going on? You’re doing me a disservice by not telling me because you’re scared of what I’m going to say are you going to Am I going to tell you? No, am I going to reject you Am I going to say you’re crazy, whatever your thinking is in your head, you actually are hurting the other person on the other side. And when you can start to see it from that point of view, you want to just talk about it all the time. Because you’re like, well, if I don’t say something, then that I’m actually hurting that person. And when you can see it from that side, then you’re gonna start talking about your product, your service, your business, your, you know, comedian, actor, or whatever it is that you can provide that other people need. You’re just gonna start being a chatterbox, and that confidence will slowly increase.
David Ralph [47:00]
Well, I’m glad you dusted your diamond off. Because I think the skills required across the world and every single person who’s been listening to this podcast today will take something away, I’m sure. Well, this is the part of the show that we’ve been leading up to. And this is the part that we call a 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 step into a room and see the young Michelle, what age would you like to speak to? And what advice would you give? What are we going to find out because I’m going to play the theme. And when it fades, you’re up? This is the Sermon on the mic.
Unknown Speaker [47:41]
With the best bit of the show, sir man.
Michelle Weinstein [47:57]
I was so in a daze just listening, the sermon on my head. All right, I would talk to younger Michelle, let’s go back nine years 10 years ago. And I would tell her that I am like an energizer bunny. And I keep trying and going and going and going and my batteries just don’t run out. And I would say in all areas of my life, I should have probably stopped a few things a little sooner. For example, my last company, we had a lot of challenges. It was the meal prep food production manufacturing company. I had zero background in manufacturing and a whole bunch of other things. But I believed in the service the product, what we’re selling all day long, I miss it every day, I go buy other meals from another guy now. And I would say that it’s the hardest thing to do. But when you have your own company and you think it’s time to like close the doors and move on because it’s just not working or you don’t have the right team in place or for us we were underfunded to when is the right time to say it’s time to close. And I would say we were about a year and a half two years further in the hole. And we should have stopped two years ago. It also is the thing in my personal life, there’s friends that I hang on to for too long, and sometimes you need to let them go. Or guys I’ve dated and give them for more chances. And sometimes it’s best to just cut the cord. So if I would tell my younger self something, I would say what are areas in your life that you can just cut off a little bit sooner. So you’re not wasting any time you’re not creating any more heartache. You’re not wasting any more money. And how can you just propel forward a little bit quicker? Because I kept holding on to things and thinking oh, I can make it work. Oh, I know this will work. Oh, there’s this like in the business world. There was one more deal that might happen. Or there was this other thing that just might happen. It’s just around the corner. Well, I just wait three more months. I think we can Pull it off, or, you know all these things. And as an entrepreneur, it’s probably one of the hardest things for other people that have had a business that maybe you had to close their, you know, pivot or change. And that’s what I would tell my younger self. And that’s what I’m doing today. If something doesn’t feel right or something, if I need to pivot, I’m making quick shifts. And I mean, quick. I don’t really give myself much thought. And I wish I would have done that more in the last 10 years.
David Ralph [50:29]
Right advice, Michelle was the number one best way. But our audience who’ve been listening today can connect with you.
Michelle Weinstein [50:35]
The best way is on Instagram, I’m at the pitch Queen, or on my website, the pitch Queen calm. And I always love email. And if you guys want to send emails to Hello at the pitch queen.com I actually answer all of them. So I love lots of emails, I have like OCD, I think it’s cool. I want to know what people are putting into action. And that’s like, what makes me smile every day. So email, Instagram website, and then you know, I’ve got a really, I’ve got a cool guide that I think would really help you guys about what we talked about. So I’ll email it to you, and you can email it to whoever you want, or post it somewhere on your website, you guys.
David Ralph [51:20]
Yeah, and we’ll have all the links on the show notes. Thank you so much for spending time with us today, joining up those dots and come back again, when you got more dots to join up. Because I do believe, Michelle, that by joining up the dots and connecting our past is the best way to build our futures. Michelle Weinstein, thank you so much. Thank
Michelle Weinstein [51:37]
you so much for having me. This was awesome.
David Ralph [51:42]
So the four steps to making sales, setting your boundaries, such a big one. And I know, certainly I struggled with it, I still struggle with it. If somebody comes through to me, I still struggle to say it’s x amount of 1000 pounds, whatever, but you’ve got to do it. And if a person walks away, then fine. And then if the next one does take you up on it, then you’ve won Anyway, you know, because you’ve got a better quality of customer really, really important that show and I do recommend going over to Michelle’s website at the pitch Queen because she’s got so many videos on there and, and bits of information that will really help you guys out there to start making money right from the front. Until next time, if you did like that show, please tell somebody about it really get it into their ears. It’s the quickest way of me growing my audience. But um, until next time, I will see I’ll be sitting around waiting for you.
Outro [52:36]
David doesn’t want you to become a faded version of the brilliant self you or 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.
