[00:00:00] Melissa Kellogg Lueck: Welcome. I am marketing expert and business coach Melissa Kellogg Lueck and this is the Doing Business like a woman podcast, where we are exploring and teaching you how women are reinventing the way business is done and money is made to help you create greater impact and financial freedom, one business at a time.
[00:00:30] Melissa: All right, here we are. Welcome everybody. Thank you for being with me today. I'm so excited to get to share with you two of my favorite people on this planet, Markey Read and Mara Whitener. And we've got some really fun things to talk about. What we're gonna hop right in. Before we get too far in, I'm gonna ask Markey and Mara to introduce themselves and we have some really special news to share and exciting [00:01:00] announcement and some really great ideas to support all of you in growing your businesses in Q2 and beyond.
[00:01:06] Melissa: And so Markey, will you please introduce yourself?
[00:01:11] Markey: Hi everybody. Markey Read. I'm coming to you from Vermont. And I am a pricing specialist, so I help particularly women entrepreneurs understand how to price their services so that they are really getting paid for the value that they bring to their clients.
[00:01:29] Markey: And that's really that's, it's part of that, it's really owning your value and the worth that you bring, the, the high impact transformation that you bring to your clients.
[00:01:39] Melissa: Awesome, thank you. And Markey has been on the podcast before and I, I know I've heard from a lot of people that it's a very popular episode, hearing you talk about that, so I'm sure you're also gonna be excited to hear what she has to say today too.
[00:01:52] Melissa: And so, welcome Mara. Will you please introduce yourself?
[00:01:57] Mara: Absolutely. I'm Mara Whitener. I am [00:02:00] a business growth strategist and a fractional COO and I love to, I partner with female CEOs to work on helping them. Streamline operationally how they run their business. 'cause operations really is the glue that holds everything together, holds your marketing, your sales, your all your, your whole client experience, and you as the ceo, EO it holds it all together.
[00:02:26] Mara: And so I partner with CEOs to really help streamline that and align it to you and align it to your vision and what you wanna accomplish. So it feels really fun and easy to run and grow your business. Awesome. So I suppose I should
[00:02:42] Melissa: step back a little bit and just kind of give a background of how we all got together and, and what we're doing here together today.
[00:02:51] Melissa: Mara and Markey and I all met through our involvement with eWomen Network. We're all members of that [00:03:00] community. And as part of that, we all have connected in various different ways and times and discovered that we really have very similar philosophies and ways of. Serving women entrepreneurs. And so then we just got this idea to come together on, not only on this podcast, but we're gonna announce today a collaboration that we have coming out.
[00:03:26] Melissa: And so we all serve women in with similar visions, but in very different. Ways and so, but all, all ways that we each know are super important to businesses. And so it just really came together organically and I'm so excited for this, I, I have to just announce it. Okay, so go ahead. So what's happening here is we've come together to create a webinar, a masterclass, [00:04:00] actually a series of masterclasses, but we're gonna just talk about the first one first.
[00:04:04] Melissa: And we really have a vision for helping women entrepreneurs to grow their businesses, charge what their worth, and offer really great client experiences and, and, and efficiencies. And so we have created the CEO Accelerator for women, and our first masterclass is happening on May 14th. I almost said March, but it's May 14th, 2025.
[00:04:32] Melissa: And so you're all gonna be hearing a lot more about this from us, but we wanted to come on the podcast and just talk about it and talk about how. It's really gonna help you in Q2 and beyond throughout the rest of the year to really achieve your goals. And so we each have different things we're talking about.
[00:04:54] Melissa: So I'm gonna pass the torch over to Markey and just ask her to talk [00:05:00] about her piece in the masterclass, what she's gonna be teaching, and why we all need to be there. 'cause it's gonna be awesome. So Markey, take it away.
[00:05:09] Markey: Great. Thank you so much. We all are really excited about this. So the the, the piece that that I will be focusing on is how we can translate our experience and the wisdom that we've gathered from all the years that we've been working with people.
[00:05:28] Markey: And this is any woman entrepreneur who's been, has an area of expertise who may have only started her business, but she may have been in business for quite some time. She has a, a body of expertise and wisdom to translate that into how you're serving your clients and specifically being paid for that expertise.
[00:05:48] Markey: One of the things that happens for us as we age is many women start to feel invisible in the world, in society. The, the world itself starts to pretend like we don't exist. But [00:06:00] the truth is. Women have a remarkable experience and wisdom anyway, and the, and the more years we've gone around the sun, the more years we've been on the planet, the more we actually have to offer from per for perspective, from wisdom.
[00:06:15] Markey: And if you have been in your area of expertise for 10 or 15 years. Then you have a lot to say and you deserve to be recognized for that. You deserve to be recognized. You deserve to be recognized specifically in in what you're getting paid from your clients. And a big piece that's missing for Peaks folks is they don't know how to translate the number of years of experience they have into pricing.
[00:06:41] Markey: Because we say things like, well, I've only been in business for a couple of years. Well, maybe you were actually in your field for 20 years and then you decided to start a business a couple of years ago. Well, that's 22 years of, of experience. If you were only in, in a professional position for a few years and then you started [00:07:00] your business early, but you've been in business for 10 or 15, that's great.
[00:07:03] Markey: That's really great. In fact, is this really wonderful thing that after 15 years you get to automatically, you just automatically get the trophy called, I'm an expert. Just, I'm just gonna give it to you. If you've been in your field for 15 years, you're automatically an expert. And because of, because of all of that mixed messaging that we both get from society as well as what we give to people we often discount in ourselves what we will, the real power of what we bring.
[00:07:30] Markey: So my commitment is for you to understand how to translate that into. Pricing techniques. It's not just about raising your prices a lot. I mean, what I know is that any woman I've spoken to can raise your prices at least 10% without even like, without even blinking, just raise your prices. But the other piece is how do you communicate that?
[00:07:51] Markey: And there's pricing techniques in that, that there's pricing techniques that really help you communicate all of that, which gets into right into Melissa's zone of [00:08:00] the marketing. Communications and your messaging and right into ME'S area, and how do you now implement that all and bring that, you know, actually bring that into your operational on consistency.
[00:08:14] Melissa: I love that. So good. I'm so excited. And it really is something pricing that I talk with people with women all the time and I've actually recently referred people, quite a few people to you. So hopefully they give you a call. And okay, so then so first up, so Markey will be the first piece in our masterclass to teach.
[00:08:37] Melissa: And then and then I am gonna be following her and talking about how we flow in everything that she talks about with understanding your value and your expertise and how do we translate that into marketing and go out and communicate that to the world, right? And so what I often see is that [00:09:00] women especially when they're thinking about marketing, are often, often doing a lot of things and not really getting the results that they want to get.
[00:09:10] Melissa: And they feel like then the answer is, let me go out and do more marketing things, or I've gotta be on more platforms or sending more emails, when really I wanna dial it back and say. People want to connect with you. People aren't gonna remember all the platforms you are on and all the emails you sent, but they will remember how you connect with them.
[00:09:32] Melissa: And I wanna show you how to do that in a simple way that you can maintain and stay consistent with that also is aligned with how you like to connect with people. And that's really what I'm gonna be talking about. And from this session, you're going to learn the three fundamental marketing strategies and also what you need to be thinking while, while you're doing [00:10:00] those things to really connect with your best fit people.
[00:10:03] Melissa: And as a result, you'll have a one page marketing plan that you can walk away with and immediately feel confident that you can stay consistent with it and that you know how to get your message across. So that you're bringing in new leads and new sales conversations and and bringing in more business and revenue to your for the re remainder of the year.
[00:10:29] Melissa: Right. So so I'll be teaching that during our masterclass and then we are going to have Mara follow up. With, okay, we've got our prices. Great. We know how to communicate. We're creating connection with our best fit clients and bringing them in. But we really have to have a strong foundation to.
[00:10:54] Melissa: Client experience to really live up to all of the hype [00:11:00] that we're putting out into the world, for lack of a better way. So how are you gonna help us
[00:11:06] Mara: with that? Yeah. So what's interesting is, you know, operations is really, it's kinda like the redheaded stepchild of business. I feel like sometimes it's what people don't want to address and we duct tape it and, you know, we try to.
[00:11:21] Mara: Put band-aids on it and it's really one of the foundational things we should be looking at. But what happens is, and I know a lot of people right now could use some extra cash in their business. I mean, who couldn't use some extra cash flow? And so you, we can raise your prices, we can streamline your marketing, and you can start talking to your people and bring in more sales.
[00:11:41] Mara: But one, one area that most people don't look at is you can actually find a lot of hidden cash in just how your business runs. And it's not just a matter of pulling out your profit and loss and your expense sheet and going, what do I what, what can I cut? What don't I need? That certainly is a [00:12:00] starting point, but I'm gonna actually talk to you about the top three places I go and or the quickest ways to find some hidden, hidden cash, hidden cash flow in your business.
[00:12:12] Mara: The cool thing is, is you actually get a lot of your time back and things feel a whole lot easier. All at the same time. So who doesn't want that combination of more money, more time, and more joy? Hmm. So that's what I'm gonna share some insights on is really how can you go look to start analyzing how you do what you do to make it feel easier and have more money flowing in.
[00:12:37] Mara: I
[00:12:37] Melissa: love it. I love it. So what we have talked about or what we are talking about in this masterclass let's talk a little bit about the results that people can expect, because I think what and we'll start with Mara, just because I think it's so compelling. What, what you are, the results that you're [00:13:00] seeing people experience after just going through this masterclass.
[00:13:05] Melissa: Tell us a little bit about that.
[00:13:07] Mara: Yeah, usually just going through some of what I'm gonna share with you during this masterclass, people will walk away finding at least four to five figures in savings right away. And when I'm working one-on-one with folks, it's not unusual. In the first 30 days we're finding.
[00:13:24] Mara: $9,800 a month in savings, $11,000 a week, I've, I've found up to $300,000 a year in savings. Just by knowing where to look and how to put it all together is really where you unlock all of that money. But at the same time, people are going from 60 to 90 hour work weeks down to 30 or 40, and in a few months going down to their ideal work week.
[00:13:51] Mara: Like who sits around and go, I just wanna work two days a week. Guess what? You can. You just have to structure it, right. It's not out of, not out of reach. [00:14:00] So it's a lot of cash and a lot of time you get back.
[00:14:04] Melissa: I love that. Markey, how about with what you're gonna be teaching us with pricing is so great because we can actually acknowledge what we're the VA the worth that we're actually, we don't have to work harder.
[00:14:19] Melissa: We can just embody what we're selling and maybe raise our prices if it's appropriate. Right. Tell tell us a little bit about what we can expect.
[00:14:28] Markey: Right. So I always love what Mara has to say. Mm-hmm. So the the biggest barrier that I find for, for when we raise our prices, there's a couple things that happen, is that people think that if I raise my prices, people my clients are gonna walk away or I won't get, no one will hire me.
[00:14:44] Markey: And that's really not true. In fact, the more clear you are about what you do, the more, the more laser focused you are about what you do and who you serve, the more likely it is that you can actually. Price very clearly, and people will say, I want that. But the, what's underlying [00:15:00] it is our imposter syndrome.
[00:15:02] Markey: I don't know anybody who, in fact, in statistically 70% of leaders say that they suffer from imposter syndrome. And I know that women, that's even much higher, that's much higher for women. And so in, once we, once we start to really identify and understand that that's. Underneath it, we can, we can work with it.
[00:15:25] Markey: And another piece that we'll be we'll be working with is the difference between cogs and cost. And the, and cogs is cost of goods sold, and the other is cost of services sold. So when you try, when you sell a product. There's all kinds of really great formulas out there that help you understand how do you how do you look at your actual cost of goods and then you have a, a markup for your pricing.
[00:15:46] Markey: With services, it's much different. There's, there are a lot of other factors that come into selling services and really making sure that you're pricing them well. So we'll talk about how do you do that? How do you come up with a value for your time and for your, for your [00:16:00] knowledge, and then how does that translate into pricing?
[00:16:03] Markey: And and the, the piece that, you know, me's gonna help you find hidden cash, well, what I'm gonna help you find is cash that's waiting to come in. So between the two, you know, expect to find that, to discover that there is much more money waiting to happen right now in your business. So it's not, you know, it's not about like waving the magic wand, right?
[00:16:26] Markey: There are some, you can make a lot of small changes that have a really big impact in your business. It's all the little changes in the operational side. It's little changes in your pricing and how you put together your offerings. Those two things together start to really add up to, to real dollars, like real dollars.
[00:16:44] Markey: I mean, if you can, you imagine even making another $5,000 a month without actually serving any more clients, without taking on more time. That right there is very doable. And then it's quickly gets into 10 and 20,000. And then of course, we have [00:17:00] the lovely Melissa who's gonna help us put together our fabulous messaging so that we can actually communicate all that amazing expertise and the goodies that we bring, you know.
[00:17:11] Melissa: Yeah. And then doing it in a much simpler way. So it's again, giving you time back because not none of us, if we're running businesses and serving clients, have time to sit around for 40 hours a week and try to do marketing. And that's what I often hear. And so all three of us really believe deeply in simplifying our business.
[00:17:31] Melissa: And creating greater efficiencies. And so that's my zone of genius is doing that around our marketing. And so we are here to really help you to save time and find money in your business and show you how you can make more right away without. Working more, right? Without more hours, but making some simple changes like Markey was saying.
[00:17:56] Melissa: So, so now you kind of have an idea of where we're [00:18:00] coming from and how we got here and, but also what your. Your zone of genius ladies is also, I would love to hear from you what you're seeing out in the marketplace and why you feel this masterclass is perfectly timed and so important for us to be a part of now.
[00:18:20] Melissa: So Mara, do you wanna share? Sure. A little bit about what you're seeing out there?
[00:18:25] Mara: Yeah, this is a, this is a really hot topic. I mean, every year as as a CEO, as an entrepreneur, you should be reevaluating things in your business and reviewing what's happening and, and looking at ways to change things and are you on track towards your goals and all of those things.
[00:18:41] Mara: This is just regular habits you should be in. But what I am finding within the last year, and especially this year people are going through and especially women. A lot of shifts, a lot of, what am I doing here? Is this all worth it? [00:19:00] You know, I really love what I do. I really love my mission. I'm really passionate, but gosh darn it, it feels a little heavy sometimes or it feels like a lot and, and it's a really great time this time of the year and this year, specifically right now, to reevaluate where you are.
[00:19:21] Mara: We all go into the beginning of the year and we, and we set big goals and they're great, but guess what? Life happens sometimes. Sometimes we, I'm just gonna speak from personal experience, which I think these ladies can resonate with, and probably a lot of you out there hi hormones, perimenopause, many, like all the things happen and just.
[00:19:40] Mara: In life in general. If you, if you have children, if you have just you're living in general, it happens. And you have to know how to shift with that. And you have to know what your priorities are in life. And you have to set things up in a way that let you be you and let you focus on what you want to and let you have the growth [00:20:00] that you want to.
[00:20:00] Mara: And what I love about, and I think what the, the three of us share is. This passion to help female entrepreneurs really simplify things and to really make it easy and to really allow you to step in to your business and be you because there's so many new, new ways to do business. And gosh, it gets hard in all of that noise of, of the shiny object syndrome, what is really where you need to focus.
[00:20:29] Mara: And I think that's what the three of us love to come together, and that's part of what you're gonna get is. This isn't just three people coming together and we're just gonna present and you're gonna get valuable tools. We have purposely put this together to all tie together to really actually connect it for you and connect the points and show you how to put these three things together to then make the best of 2025.
[00:20:59] Mara: I could go [00:21:00] on for hours about this, but I'll, we'll save it for May 14th. Yes. I'll stop for now. You'll have to come on the 14th and hear all about it.
[00:21:10] Melissa: Awesome.
[00:21:11] Mara: How
[00:21:11] Melissa: about you, Markey? What are you seeing from your perspective?
[00:21:15] Markey: Well, I think there's two things that I see. First of all, our current environment that if you live in the United States, there's just.
[00:21:22] Markey: It's a lot. There's a lot going on, right? And it's a time I've been in business for 35 years. I have gone through, I think at least three recessions, at least one pandemic, and a few other fairly significant things in the world, plus my own ups and downs. And I know through all of those ups and downs I have.
[00:21:44] Markey: Doubts about whether or not I should raise my prices. I look at my pricing every year and I make decisions about that based on all kinds of things. And sometimes I have chosen to not raise my prices because I was afraid of what was happening in the inner [00:22:00] world. And what I do, what I've come to see is that that was always a mistake.
[00:22:05] Markey: And I never ever want anybody to gouge their clients on pricing. That's never what I'm about. But what I do want you to look at is how do you structure what you're doing so that you are getting the rewards? I mean, as Mara said, look, you know, we, we love our businesses and we want you to love your business too.
[00:22:23] Markey: And so, and, and if you are struggling to just barely make it, and you, yo-yo from, I love this and I'm going to, you know, reach the pinnacle to, holy cow, I think I'm burned out and I gotta, I gotta just drop it all, which is normal by the way. Welcome to being a human. And if that's the case, then what's happening is, is that you haven't really.
[00:22:47] Markey: Found the center, the center for yourself. You haven't, you haven't really identified with your center and so pricing to me, while it sounds like you know, we're gonna look at a bunch of spreadsheets and yes, I have spreadsheet tools I can help you with. [00:23:00] It's much deeper than that. It's really much deeper and it's about understanding how do you.
[00:23:06] Markey: Bring that forward, whether it's through your messaging, your operations, or your pricing. And the trends that I see that's in the bigger world. And then there's the individuals that by, by the time we hit April, may, June I. You might have had a few knocks in the year. Mm-hmm. And some things that set you back, you know, life happened and and made it, made you kind of go off kilter just for a little while.
[00:23:33] Markey: I know two years ago almost to the day now, I broke my wrist, so I broke my left wrist and that threw me for a big loop. I had never broken a bone before, and to break a wrist was a big deal for me because I use my hands all the time. And that, that it, it, it, it skewed things for me, but it didn't mean that I didn't end up having a good year.
[00:23:57] Markey: In the end, I. I just had to make some [00:24:00] adjustments, and so the, the piece that I see for us is, as women business owners, is that it's easy for us to get distracted by, whether it's hormones or the economy or our family's needs or our personal needs, our own physical, personal, emotional needs. Those things can have us do, get derailed from what we really want in our business.
[00:24:21] Markey: There is a balance to find between allowing the external world to yank us around and what's true for us and how do we keep making progress on what's important for us. Mm-hmm.
[00:24:34] Melissa: I love that. So good. So,
[00:24:38] Markey: and what do you see, Melissa? What are the trends you see? Right,
[00:24:42] Melissa: well, yeah, I think I see, I see people, women struggling, you know, having come through this first quarter and there is a lot of, you know, uncertainty economically in the world and so forth.
[00:24:58] Melissa: And so it is a lot [00:25:00] about, okay, well how do I take what's going on and continue my path forward? And so, and I think business and the, the behavior of consumers, the behavior of buyers is changing and it's always changing. And so I think what we really need to pay attention to is how, you know, what are those changes telling us and how can we.
[00:25:28] Melissa: Pivot and adapt to those changes. And so for me, from a marketing perspective, it's not about being on all the places and doing all of the things. It's really coming back to, like you were saying, Markey, of being aligned with your values, your mission, the work you wanna do in the world, and the money you need to make in the world, right?
[00:25:50] Melissa: To support yourself and your family and coming back to connecting with yourself. And then also. O thinking about how can I connect with those people that I'm best [00:26:00] suited to serve? And so, you know, what that requires is tuning out a lot of the noise, tuning out a lot of the, the shiny objects and the squirrels, and coming back to really what I know.
[00:26:13] Melissa: Helps me, you know, what I'm successful at and how I connect with people and really being strong and consistent in that. And so, and I've seen so many of my clients when they do that, that's when they really are able to move the needle when they simplify and cut out so many of the things that are not bringing them joy and are not bringing them clients.
[00:26:36] Melissa: And so, and I also want everyone to know that if Q1 wasn't great for you, you're not alone, number one and number two, it is not too late. To achieve all of your goals and even more for 2025, it is not too late. Like Markey and Mara said, we can make these simple changes, these small [00:27:00] tweaks really focused, really strategic, really smart with our help.
[00:27:04] Melissa: We're here to help you do that and you can achieve everything that you wanna achieve for the year. And so as we wrap up, I would love Mara and Markey to give a couple examples just of people that you've worked with in the past and kind of that before and after. And and then and then I'll go over the, obviously we have the date, May 14th, but I'll talk a little bit about the format of our masterclass 'cause it's gonna be really unique and exciting.
[00:27:38] Melissa: But first, Mara share a little bit maybe a story of someone that you've worked with.
[00:27:44] Mara: Yeah, I've got, oh goodness, I've got tons of stories. But one, that's one that's really lighting me up right now. She's a current client in my partnership program, which is my one-to-one. I'm like in the weeds with my CEOs and [00:28:00] we're really like just putting it together and, and and growing.
[00:28:04] Mara: But initially she was working average, like 60 hours a week was a slow week for her. It could be 60 to 90 hours and just after one session and just getting really clear where she needed to spend her time, she was down to 40 hour work week, work weeks in less than 30 days, and has now dropped even lower in the last several months and is making more money.
[00:28:29] Mara: It, it really is, you don't have to work more to make more. She's on track to double her monthly income in, in three months just by making little shifts. And so we initially found $9,800 a month in savings. We've taken her from 60 to 90 hour work weeks down to now less than less than 40. I'll constantly get message, you know, I was, I was with my, with my family last weekend and they just keep commenting on, on how [00:29:00] happy I am now and like, just my face has changed and my color has changed and her health is improving.
[00:29:06] Mara: And so your business is you. So when you simplify your business. You are a be like you can be more you. You're a healthier you, you're a happier you, you're a more joyful you. And so tho that's the feedback that always lights me up. I love it when my clients will come into Voxer and they're like, oh, I had time to do this for myself and I had time to do this for myself.
[00:29:32] Mara: And, you know. I've made this much more money or I've done this, whatever, based on their, their picture of success is which doesn't always involve money. Little, little tweaks can make huge, huge differences. And so she's current, she's a recent, she's experiencing the same things everyone else there is experiencing in Q1, and that's what we've been able to do.
[00:29:58] Mara: She's happier. [00:30:00] Making more money and working less than half the time.
[00:30:05] Melissa: Hmm. Awesome. I love it. How about you, Markey? Tell us about,
[00:30:10] Markey: so, I, I I'm gonna talk about Sue. She's an accountant and she is somebody who works with numbers all day long. Right. Was really, she was really undervaluing her, undervaluing her time and her level of expertise.
[00:30:26] Markey: And when we first started working together, I, we, she knew she was under pricing. Like she knew that, but she didn't. She really was terrified. She was terrified of raising her prices 'cause she was just sure that no one was gonna hire her. And part of that is you know, particularly for accountants and bookkeepers, their, their market tends to be fairly hyper-local, you know, so they, they feel like they get kind of trapped in their own, they own community.
[00:30:49] Markey: And we, I'm in a very rural state which kind of. People think there isn't, people won't pay. They entrepreneurs that I know in Vermont [00:31:00] tend to think that somebody else won't pay it in Vermont, which is not true. 'cause we pay for value. And the what happened was, is that we, I said, we looked at her numbers, we looked at all of her, her offers, and I suggested that she could raise her rates by 50% without, like, without even, I mean, she was that much under pricing.
[00:31:22] Markey: She, she practically went into heart palpitations. She, she was like, no way. There's no way I could do that. There's no way. There's no way. She just really fought with me. This is the thing that's interesting for me is that women tend to argue for lower pricing. Whereas men may be underpricing, but as soon as we have that conversation, they immediately, they're like, yep, got it.
[00:31:41] Markey: No problem. Gonna raise my rates. Women will argue and fight for those lower prices, and big reason is they want to, they think they need to remain accessible. They think that lower prices means accessibility, and that's not actually equal to them, to each other. So Sue, she finally, she's like, all right, I'm gonna raise him.[00:32:00]
[00:32:00] Markey: Only by 30%. 'cause that was like all she could, I said, you know, I always say to her people, your prices should, should make you a little nervous but not frighten you. Right? So 50% was frightening to her. It was really freaking her out. So 30% was like.
[00:32:16] Markey: Okay, so she started, she started quoting the newer prices. She, people were saying yes, some people walked away, which at first made her like confirmed her panic and then she realized, 'cause we'd done a lot of work on ideal client as well. She realized that those people were not her best clients and they were gonna be difficult clients.
[00:32:36] Markey: They were gonna be really hard for her to provide the level of service that she's committed to at the rate that they wanted to pay her especially. So she let 'em go, and then a couple, few months in, she's in her car talking to a new prospect, and the person's talking to her about what she needs a good fit.
[00:32:54] Markey: Everything's going really well. All of a sudden, she hears herself, quote. 50% [00:33:00] increase that we had talked about originally. Just, you know, just right out, just came right out of her mouth and all the person on the other side of that conversation simply said, great, when do we start? And the big change was it wasn't because suddenly she was talking to people who could afford much higher, you know pricing.
[00:33:21] Markey: What she had done is she had embodied it, it came out of her body rather than out of her scared monkey mind. And this is the big piece for pricing is that it has so little to do with the actual number or number of zeros or number of commas or any of those things that you're charging. It has to do with what's going on inside our monkey mind, our imposter syndrome, they're both the same thing.
[00:33:44] Markey: They will get us to, they will convince us that we should always discount, always discount, always discount. And I was so proud of her when she, when she called me and told me right after that conversation, she was just like. I could tell she was just floating and it was exciting [00:34:00] for me to see that she finally owned that space really, truly in her, in her bones, in her organs, in her blood, like it was all, it was in her body, and it was no longer in her scared head.
[00:34:15] Melissa: I love that just makes me love you even more every time we have these conversations. That's what I love to teach my clients too, is just really embodying that value, right? Because then exactly like you said, then it comes out. That confidence just comes out of you. You don't have to have sales scripts or perfect marketing copy or, you know, the perfect website or you know, the perfect branding.
[00:34:42] Melissa: Like all that stuff is wonderful and it works. And that's what I love to talk about. And so as you're talking, I'm thinking about my client that came out of a field that she had never had her own business she was in, a corporate setting for many, many years. And [00:35:00] so when she started her business as a coach, she had, and you talk about the smarty, those decades of value and of experience, but she had herself convinced that she was bad at business and so she wasn't gonna be successful.
[00:35:13] Melissa: Right. And so when we started working together, you know, I was really able to help her get connected to all of that value that she has inside of her. And that just going out and sharing that with people is really all she needed to be doing as far as marketing. She didn't have to have the perfect Instagram grid or you know, the YouTube channel or all these other things that we think we have to have.
[00:35:38] Melissa: But I said, you know how to connect to people and you know how to teach people. So let's just go out and do that. And so, you know, it's been, and so I've helped, helped her create a plan and how to do that. And she's been consistent with that and she's now doing her own webinars and you know, we can see, and you know, I love the numbers too, like we keep track of.
[00:35:59] Melissa: You know, the [00:36:00] progression of her webinars are bringing in more and more people and she's able to see how that converts to consultations and how those consultations revert to client or become clients. And so so this work is, is really so so integral and so important for women. And so, and I love the, well, you can all see how we've all come together. The three of us have come together, how it's such a beautiful collaboration. And so as we wrap up, I want to just give you some particulars about how this is gonna work. So the event is on March 14th and we will have a link to the sales page in the show notes.
[00:36:46] Melissa: And so that will be available where you can come and register. And when you guys hear the price, you're gonna freak out because it's so accessible. It's only $47 to join us for this [00:37:00] collaboration. And how this is gonna work is we are all gonna be live, that the all three of us are live teaching and also mentoring and coaching on this call for two hours.
[00:37:12] Melissa: So it's not the, like those online summits that we've all gone to where. You know, you watch videos here and there we're all gonna be live with you. You're gonna be live with us. So we have this community. But we all, you also have direct access to us live on this masterclass. And so it's gonna be super valuable as a format.
[00:37:35] Melissa: And that's what we want. We really wanna help you to, to gain your momentum back and know that there are small changes that you can make, and you're gonna have a plan that you take with you from this class that you can implement and go on and achieve your goals for the rest of the year. And of course, we'll also be available for, for follow-up support for you as well.
[00:37:58] Melissa: So [00:38:00] is there anything that I missed, ladies, about our format and the, the, the particulars of this masterclass?
[00:38:08] Markey: No, I just wanna say that if you think that, you know, oh, I don't need this, maybe I can go figure it out on my own. Or I'll just go ask Claude or chat GPT for my suggest for some suggestions.
[00:38:20] Markey: Yes, you can. You can, you can Google it even. You can Google your pricing. But remember that Google is just information. And same with all the other ai. It's information, it's not wisdom. And what you're getting is the combined wisdom of the three of us who have been living and breathing this with our own businesses as well as with our clients for decades now.
[00:38:45] Markey: And I encourage you to show up to fig, to to hear how can I make some small changes, some very specific small changes that are gonna have a big impact on the rest of my year. That's really what we're this, that's what this is about. This [00:39:00] isn't about like, we're gonna revamp your whole business in two hours.
[00:39:03] Markey: No, this is about making some very specific small changes that're gonna have a really big impact on the rest of your year.
[00:39:11] Melissa: Mm-hmm. Yes. Awesome. Thank you for pointing that out. Yes. Any last words, Mara before we wrap it up?
[00:39:19] Mara: I don't think so, other than just be there, I promise the, the small changes, the, the aha moments, the things that come out, even if you've been in business for 10, 15 years, I mean, I see the same, if not bigger aha moments for seasoned entrepreneurs than I do for new folks.
[00:39:39] Mara: So this is really for. Anyone at any stage that would love a fresh perspective, a new way to look at things and just come in open-minded. You may know some of this stuff, you may just hear it differently. This time. But I really, really [00:40:00] encourage you I mean all three of us, like Mark you said, have just had decades of experience and most likely we've either personally experienced what you're experiencing or we've worked with someone that's experiencing what you are experiencing and we're bringing all of that.
[00:40:17] Mara: We've picked out the top of the top tweaks and changes that we can give you, that you can quickly implement, that you can leave that workshop and go, okay, I am gonna do this, this, and this. And then you can just watch. I. The magic happen, and I know all three of us love to hear when the magic happens afterwards.
[00:40:37] Mara: So, so yes, please come join us. On the 14th, it's, it may seem daunting to take that time out of your schedule, but I promise you, if you don't take the time out to dedicate to you to, to dig, dedicate to your business you'll miss out.
[00:40:56] Melissa: Yes, yes, yes. And it's all for [00:41:00] $47, which is a steal of a deal. To leave this masterclass, finding four figures of found money in your business, saving five to 10 hours a week, and simplifying your marketing and messaging so that you can stay consistent and bring a new business, so, mm-hmm.
[00:41:20] Melissa: Very exciting. So thank you ladies so much for being here. And for all of you listening, go and get signed up and we will see you there live with us on May 14th. We can't wait to be with you. So thank you all so much for being here, and we'll see you very soon. Bye bye-bye.
[00:41:38] Melissa Kellogg Lueck: Hey, if you like this podcast, I wanna invite you to become part of my community . The link is in the show notes. Each Friday, I'm gonna deliver to your inbox my weekly celebration, as well as my thoughts on the latest and business and marketing. I wanna keep you in the know about my upcoming events.
[00:41:59] Melissa Kellogg Lueck: Free [00:42:00] trainings, book clubs, all the fun things, even some free gifts. And of course, I'm gonna let you know about these new podcast episodes. I'll see you there.
