Ep. 27 The Stern Truth: Business Therapy Thursday with Laura Hudson

We’re back with another Business Therapy Thursday session. My guest on this episode is Laura Hudson of La Alegria Media.

Laura started her journey as a clothing business and moved on to digital marketing. After launching her own business in October 2024, she wanted to feel more stable as an entrepreneur. She jumped at the opportunity to connect through a Business Therapy Thursday session.

Laura took inspiration from her father and uncle, who started their own businesses, but was wary; according to some of her family members, only a perfect person could start their own business. This left Laura asking herself, can I be perfect like that?

Through our discussion, Laura and I dive into what it means to be a business owner. Anyone can own a business. It’s leadership that makes the difference. 

Laura has dreams of where she wants to take her business in the future. We get into how we can get in our own way when it comes to achieving our goals. We also discuss the process of pushing through failures and the huge impact finances have on your business.

The big lessons in this session that I wanted Laura to take away were to keep it simple and be clear on how you can help your clients. Showcasing your skillset can feel uncomfortable at first, but once you live in it, your confidence grows.

Connect with Laura here:

https://la-alegria-media.com/ 

Instagram: @laalegriamedia

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https://marshallstern.net/landing/bonfire

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I encourage you to reach out with feedback, topic suggestions, and share your own entrepreneurial challenges.

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Marshall Stern: Hi, I'm Marshall Stern and I've spent over 35 years leading and growing multiple small businesses. I know firsthand the struggles of entrepreneurship, feeling isolated, lonely, overwhelmed, and feeling like you have to do all by yourself. I've been through multiple recessions, and I have felt the highs and the lows. 

[00:00:26] I've been there, and I get it. This podcast is here to change that every week. I will bring you straight talking advice, real world strategies, and honest conversations about what it takes to succeed in business without the fluff, the gimmicks, or the sugar-coated. If you're ready to stop spinning your wheels and start making real progress, then you are in the right place.

[00:00:52] This is the Stern Truth. 

[00:00:00] Marshall Stern: Okay, here we go. Laura, how are you today? 

[00:00:56] Laura Hudson: I'm well. How are you doing, Marshall? 

[00:00:57] Marshall Stern: I'm doing really well. Thank you for asking. We were just chatting before we came in, came live onto the session. It's a little cloudy and cooler here today on the West Coast, but  I know you're down south in, I believe, Arizona.

[00:01:09] Laura Hudson: Yes, I'm in Tucson. 

[00:01:11] Marshall Stern: Oh, Tucson. Nice. I remember the last time I was like a, little wee Marshal and I remember going to Old Tucson, well Tucson and old Tucson with my father and that was just a blast. I remember that. 

[00:01:23] Laura Hudson: Oh, I have a lot of good memories of Old Tucson and going there as a kid too. That's a fun place.

[00:01:28] Marshall Stern: How far is it from where you are? 

[00:01:31] Laura Hudson: I believe it's about an hour or so away. Because it's a little outside the city, but. 

[00:01:37] Marshall Stern: Are you a  born and bred Arizonian? I don't even know what call. You're – is that what it is? It Arizonian a thing? 

[00:01:43] Laura Hudson: I think so. I think so. 

[00:01:47] Marshall Stern: Okay, okay. So obviously I want to get into a little bit more about you and where you're at in your business and what your business is, but I'm just curious, well, actually, okay.

[00:01:56] Tell me how, let's go there first, tell me a little bit about yourself. How long have you been in business and what your business is? 

[00:02:03] Laura Hudson: Sure. So, my name is Laura Hudson and my agency is called La Alegria Media. It means the joy in Spanish, so Joy Media kind of. And I have had the agency since October, so for a couple of months now.

[00:02:23] And I previously had another business that was a clothing business, but I just realized it was, there was a lot that was going to have to go into creating your own brand. and I wasn't quite prepared to deal with all of that. But I love marketing and I figured if I could kind of hone in on digital marketing a bit more, I might be able to, you know, launch a brand more successfully next time.

[00:02:49] And along the way, I started working in digital marketing for an agency that I'm currently with. And I've learned a lot more about SEO doing paid ads and digital strategy. And so now I'm just sort of launching my business on my own. I've had a few freelance clients as well in digital marketing for about the last, like 10 years or so, on and off.

[00:03:15] And so that's sort of my point in, in my business journey right now. 

[00:03:20] Marshall Stern: So, okay, so this episode's all, it's a Business Therapy episode. 

[00:03:24] Marshall Stern:  For those of you who are watching this, “What is Business Therapy?” It's basically, basically a deep dive coaching session, and I have no idea where we're going to go with this conversation.

[00:03:35] And the reason we call it Business Therapy came from a client of mine actually, who, at the end we'd been working together for about six months, or five, six months at the time. And at the end of the session it was more about, it was a really deep, powerful session. And it wasn't necessarily just like, step one, do this, step two, do that.

[00:03:51] Step three, are you meeting your goals? Are you doing what you said you would do, the accountability side, which is important, but it is also more the mindset and the inner work. And she said, you know, this feels more like a business therapy session. This was really good. So that's where I got the term from and then I was encouraged to use it, for sessions like this, which is I want to get to in a second.

[00:04:11] So you've actually, I know you just started this business in October, but you've been in business for a while because you were freelancing. So you're not new at this. Yeah. 

[00:04:20] Laura Hudson: I guess that's true. 

[00:04:22] Marshall Stern:  So I just wanted to acknowledge you for that. And I also want to acknowledge you for stepping forward in this opportunity.

[00:04:28] So I'm curious, why did you raise your hand for this opportunity? 

[00:04:33] Laura Hudson: I felt like, it's always good to talk to other business owners, to find out their experiences and if they have any advice for you. And I also feel that there is definitely some apprehension about, I guess, calling myself a business owner, like you just said.

[00:04:54] I've been in business for 10 years, and I'm like, oh, wow. That's, that is true. Although I feel apprehensive, I think sometimes about saying that. and I don’t know why. So I think that's a good thing to maybe, maybe address is like, why am I so afraid to say I own a business or I am, you know, starting a business.

[00:05:14] I have a business. 

[00:05:15] Marshall Stern: I like that you went there. because I was actually going to ask you why? Why do you feel that way? I'm going to make an assumption. And correct me if I'm wrong here, I'm going to assume that you come from a background, a family background of not entrepreneurs, 

[00:05:31] Laura Hudson: Right. That is correct.

[00:05:33] Marshall Stern: Okay. So this is all new to you, this whole entrepreneurial business world thing? 

[00:05:36] Laura Hudson: Yes. 

[00:05:37] Marshall Stern: When you were younger, like you're young, but like younger, like a teenager, maybe even younger than that, what, what did you want to do with your life? Did you have, did you want to be like a princess? Like what did you want to be?

[00:05:49] Laura Hudson: I think when I was very young I wanted to be a veterinarian. 

[00:05:54] Marshall Stern: Okay. 

[00:05:55] Laura Hudson: And then, I think that evolved into maybe wanting to be a lawyer. 

[00:06:00] Marshall Stern: Interesting. Okay. 

[00:06:01] Laura Hudson: But I also realized that while I have a great acumen for doing research. I don't kind of like feeling as if I'm in constant opposition to someone else.

[00:06:15] And obviously being a lawyer requires you to kind of love fighting a little bit. Like you have to like the game of competing and winning all the, you know, all the time. Whereas I feel I'm a lot more cooperative and so I wanted to look for something where I could still do research and analysis.

[00:06:34] Because I love that. But we're more cooperating with people to build something and I think that's my attraction to marketing is feeling like I'm cooperating with bus other business owners in order to create more of what they already have. 

[00:06:50] Marshall Stern: Okay. So I'm going to go back to that question, but why you raised your hand.

[00:06:53]  So we're here now. Yes. I know we had a pre-call about this before. What would you really like to get out of our time together today? What would like, almost make you cry because you're so appreciative and you want to just shout to all your friends who are business owners and entrepreneurs, talk to Marshall.

[00:07:12] Marshall Stern: This was the most powerful session I think I've ever had. 

[00:07:15] Laura Hudson: I think, kind of feeling more surefooted about what, yeah, to feel more surefooted saying I'm an entrepreneur, and then also feeling like I kind of know that I will be able to make the right choices around like my finances and, and the way that I kind of carry myself as a business owner, I guess.

[00:07:42] Okay. I don't know if all that's possible today, but. 

[00:07:45] Marshall Stern: It's a lot of pressure on me. That's a lot pressure on me. I'm up to the challenge. Let's go game on. Are you confident in your ability at, well, tell me a little bit more about what your agency does specifically. Because marketing is very general, like quite general.

[00:08:01] So is it SEO ads management, what do you specialize in? 

[00:08:04] Laura Hudson: I really enjoy doing ads management and content creation. For my day job I also do SEO and a bit of web development as well. So I definitely have all that in my toolkit. So I think, I think those are kind of, you know, the four areas of, of business that we offer at my agency, and I love doing all of those things.

[00:08:32] Marshall Stern: So you said something just a few, like 35 seconds ago, your day job. So, so you're doing your business right now on the side or part-time? Is there a plan to transition into the, your agency being your business full-time and leaving the day job? 

[00:08:52] Laura Hudson: Yes, definitely. Probably in the next month or so.

[00:08:55] I would like to be able to give my notice and, go to my agency full-time. 

[00:09:02] Marshall Stern: Okay. How does that make you feel, the thought of doing this full-time being a business owner full-time? No job to back you up. 

[00:09:10] Laura Hudson: It's very exciting. But I do feel a bit of nervousness in there as well. 

[00:09:16] Marshall Stern: Okay. 

[00:09:17] Laura Hudson: It's a bit of mix of like excited anxiety, I think.

[00:09:20] Marshall Stern: Right. Yeah. No, fair. Fair enough. why do you, okay, I know you said you're not sure why, but what is, where does the apprehension come from? On stepping into that, “I'm a business owner”? 

[00:09:32] Laura Hudson: I think that maybe it has to do with my dad trying to start a business when I was a kid and there was a lot of doubt around his ability to be able to do that coming from my other family members.

[00:09:52] And they almost made it seem as if like being in business for yourself was something that only like special people can do. I had another uncle who actually owned a successful, electric company. And I think he was very highly regarded by people in my family as being just like this, you know, very,  perfect kind of person or something.

[00:10:20] Although obviously like that's probably not true, but as a kid that's what I was led to believe. And so I just wonder if I'm like, have, you know, enough perfection about my character? I mean, in some way maybe that's, that's the - 

[00:10:37] Marshall Stern: Sorry, enough, enough perfection. About what? 

[00:10:39] Laura Hudson: About my character. Like, you know, I think sometimes people.

[00:10:45] You know, I make mistakes, certainly. And of course I know that best because I live with myself every day. I think that there's some kind of maybe, feeling in myself that like you have to be perfect in order to execute, you know, good business plans and, and know how to develop and grow and 

[00:11:06] Marshall Stern: Okay. It's a lot of pressure. You're like, you, like you're, you're raising the, you're raising the bar very high for yourself. 

[00:11:12] Laura Hudson: Yes. 

[00:11:14] Marshall Stern: Here's the thing. Anyone could be a business owner. Like, you're doing it, I'm doing it. A lot of reviewers are doing it. Some not so well. Some really, well, like there are a lot of people, right?

[00:11:25] It's easy to start a business. It, it takes courage. Like, don't get me wrong, like it's easy. It logistically get a business number if that's what you need. Most people don't at the beginning, like you just start. That's it. You hang your shingle up. I put your website up, which is easy. Done. Growing it, stepping into the leadership role of it is different.

[00:11:47] Right. Waking up every morning knowing the buck stops with you is different. Do you have, okay. I know you just started this business in October, although you've been doing this for 10 years, but officially this business in October, do you have the bit of an idea, I know it's still early, but do you have a bit of an idea as to what you might want to grow this business into down the road?

[00:12:10] Laura Hudson: Yes, I do 

[00:12:12] Marshall Stern: Want to talk about that. 

[00:12:14] Laura Hudson: Sure. So I really enjoyed doing digital marketing. I also really enjoy real estate and looking at houses, and I just bought my first home, not too long ago as well. 

[00:12:31] Marshall Stern: Nice. Congratulations. 

[00:12:32] Laura Hudson: Thank you. And I have like fixed it up a bit and I am getting ready to rent it out.

[00:12:38] So I would like to make like real estate kind of part of. A little conglomeration that I would have. I would also like to start a clothing brand. So I would like to have a few different businesses, that I could always use digital marketing to help promote in terms of like getting people to rent my homes, doing digital marketing for my e-commerce business.

[00:13:04] I would like to have a brick and mortar bunch of maybe clothing stores as well, at some point. So that's kind of the direction that I would like to go in is, is to have this as a little bit of a launching path for other businesses. I feel like in my hometown there's not a lot of jobs and economic development.

[00:13:27] So part of my vision is trying to help people in my local community also maybe have better options for jobs and treating people very well in the employment arena. so that's part of why I want to be a business owner and have these different ventures, I think. So that's what I like to grow it into.

[00:13:47] Marshall Stern: It's kind of like a empire. 

[00:13:48] Laura Hudson: Yes. 

[00:13:50] Marshall Stern: Okay. No, I love that. what do you think could prevent you from achieving that? 

[00:13:56] Laura Hudson: I really think that usually the only thing that prevents people from executing these types of plans is themselves, I think. I think it's about getting your mindset right, and I think it's about.

[00:14:11] Just learning how to, because I'm definitely going to have challenges that come up, every business owner does, but it's just sort of like how you handle those and making sure that you see the challenge and then understand how to work around it and get through it and get over it, to move on and move forward with what you want to do.

[00:14:31] So I, that's, that's what I believe, I guess at this moment. 

[00:14:36] Marshall Stern: I till want to get to the apprehension about being a business owner. 

[00:14:40] Laura Hudson: Yes. 

[00:14:41] Marshall Stern: Because that's something that I truly, I truly believe that you need to own your space. And what I mean, not necessarily like digital space, but own the, your company and your role in the company and, and show up right confidently.

[00:14:58] And, you know, you could, there's a saying, fake it till you make. Which can be helpful. Right. And that's what some of us do. And maybe sometimes you do that. You fake it as a business owner until you actually feel like one. I mean, you are. Bottom line is, it doesn't matter. I mean, you are, you're a business owner.

[00:15:11] It's just a matter of being comfortable with it and confident in it, right? Do you think, well, my question like what do you think it would take for you to be able to own that? What do you think is the knowledge? Is it skill success? 

[00:15:25] Laura Hudson: I think success as a business owner would make me feel more confident. Yes. 

[00:15:31] Marshall Stern: Okay. So you, you feel you need to be successful in order for you to feel confident. So it's like that whole thing where people think you need to be successful to be happy. Uh oh. Right, right. But it's the happiness comes first. 

[00:15:47] Laura Hudson: Yes. 

[00:15:48] Marshall Stern: In order to be successful, you need to be happy. Then you could be successful.

[00:15:51] Now there's always right. But, okay. So I think what would be helpful for you is to decide right now, today and the time we have together that you're going to step into that leader's role. It's just a decision. And then from the decision, it's a mindset comes the actions. See, you can be a player or you can be a coach, right?

[00:16:15] You've heard that before. 

[00:16:17] Laura Hudson: Yes. 

[00:16:18] Marshall Stern: Which one do you want to be?

[00:16:18] Laura Hudson: Um… coach.

[00:16:20] Marshall Stern: For those listening, like, I'm not talking about like what I'm doing here, like coaching necessarily. It's being the leader or the employee. 

[00:16:29] Laura Hudson: Right. 

[00:16:30] Marshall Stern: Now, at times we, especially, you just started this business, although you've been in the business for a long time.

[00:16:35] At times, we all need to be a bit of a player. Right? At times we need to get in and be the, not the employee, but we need to be doing the work for sure. 

[00:16:45] Marshall Stern: That's what I'm doing right now. Although I am coaching because okay, the semantics, right? I am doing the work, but we need to be the coach or the leader for our business.

[00:16:53] Otherwise, if we're just a bunch of players, if we're just. We can do all the positions ourselves long term and win the game long term. You need some direction, you need a vision. You need someone, which is you, the leader of the business, to step into that leader's role and have a vision. I work with my clients all about getting clear on their why and their what, which is their basically vision and mission, and then filling that gap in.

[00:17:17] So you talk about finances, fear around finances or understanding the numbers. Maybe. What else? Is there any other, well, maybe let's talk about that for a second. Just because maybe something I'm, there's something else behind this. 

[00:17:30] I'll just a think maybe the - so was your father successful in starting his business or not successful?

[00:17:36] Laura Hudson: No, he was not, because I think he didn't understand the financial aspects of what he needed to do in order to execute his business. 

[00:17:49] Marshall Stern: Yeah. How'd that affect the family? 

[00:17:51] Laura Hudson: Not good. It was, yeah. Not a good, a good few years maybe. 

[00:17:57] Marshall Stern: How old were you? 

[00:17:58] Laura Hudson: I was about 8, 9, 10. 

[00:18:02] Marshall Stern: Yeah. So again, it’s a a decision because the past doesn't predict the future.

[00:18:07] Laura Hudson: Yeah. 

[00:18:07] Marshall Stern: Right. And in this case, you're not your father and the fact that he tried something. It's amazing. And even if you start a business, let's say this business and it doesn't work out, the next one may or if not the next one will. Right? So a lot of successful, and when I talk about successful people, I'm talking about like in business, like financially successful and right?

[00:18:31] Because success is, everyone defines success differently. So I'm just talking about like on this, on this real true like success, financial success, income, all that kind of stuff. But a lot of the most successful people, business owners, entrepreneurs out there have failed a few times along the way. Right. So that's okay as long as you learn from it.

[00:18:52] So what can you learn from, I know you were only eight, but maybe what your father went through. What can you take from that? 

[00:18:59] Laura Hudson: Well, I think he learned a lot in the process of failing his, with his first business that he started. and I think that if he would've maybe traded again. Or maybe a couple more times.

[00:19:12] You know, I think he would've probably made it because he's a very smart person and he's really hardworking and  people like him and respect him a lot, so I feel like naturally, so I think he’d be good as a business owner would've been a good business owner. 

[00:19:30] So I think just pushing through failure maybe is something I can take away from being in that experience is that, you know, because I've now heard so many, you know, when I went to this retreat not too long ago for business owners. the lady who was leading the retreat, she had like five or six businesses before she found success in her digital marketing agency. And just hearing other business owners say things like that, like, oh yeah, this is my, like sixth or seventh try at launching a business.

[00:20:04] You know, it's like, wow, that's incredible. And I love that they have the courage and the just, yeah, the audacity really to just keep going and just say, you know what? I learned a lot in that venture and now I'm going to take what I've learned and I'm going to do it a little differently this time. 

[00:20:22] Marshall Stern: Yeah. So, okay. So yeah, I mean, I failed. I had two businesses until my third one was sustainable. 

[00:20:32] And my second business was a complete flop. Okay. And it was just, I didn't, I misjudged the market. This was in my twenties, early twenties. Misjudged the market. Didn't do my, I didn't know, like zero market research, zero target market research, anything.

[00:20:48] And I totally misjudged it. It was a hobby business, but I did lose some money. And, but I learned something, I learned a valuable lesson. Right. And that was, know what you're getting into, like research the market. Timing, timing, lots of things. Timing is everything. so, and I took that into my next business, which I had for 29 years, which I just, I would not, I keep saying just sold, it's now coming up to two years.

[00:21:14] So I sold almost two years ago. By the time, you know, it might be two years when, when this, when people are listening to this, because it's coming up very shortly. But it's all about learning and it's all about growing. 

[00:21:26] And the fact right now you're growing right now, the fact that you raised your hand for this opportunity, for this Business Therapy coaching session is stepping maybe outside of your comfort zone a little bit, because a lot of people had this opportunity and a few of you took it and you're doing it.

[00:21:41] So that's growth. Okay. So I want to acknowledge you for that, first of all, first off, so the finances, financial part of the business. What do you think you need to know? Or what, what do you think you don't know that you might need to know? If that makes sense? 

[00:22:00] Laura Hudson: Yes. I guess I think that sometimes, maybe other agency owners talk about different.

[00:22:10] Tools that they use, different software that they integrate with the tools they're already using to maybe automate parts of the agency or to better serve clients. And I'm concerned a little bit about the cost around some of those subscriptions to different tools. Maybe how quickly you actually need to start doing that in order to be competitive with what other clients are experiencing in the market.

[00:22:40] And I think a lot of times as well, there's a little bit of fog around how much AI is really. Helping agency owners, and how much additional training or coaching or kind of like keeping up with the changes in technology you actually need to do to be a successful agency owner. 

[00:23:04] Marshall Stern: Fair enough. Okay.

[00:23:05] So I might become unpopular by saying this and some agent marketing coaches might. Like me for saying this, but I think the reason why you might be feeling this is because there's some truth to what you're saying. A hundred percent. So I want to validate that, but I think it's overcomplicating things.

[00:23:27] What I mean by that is I think there's some marketing gurus out there that make it complicated because, well, why do you think they do that? 

[00:23:37] Laura Hudson: Well, to sell courses. To sell their new software that they've designed or their new AI automation package. 

[00:23:47] Marshall Stern: Are you overwhelmed with all these things like C-R-M?

[00:23:51] Like all what? Here's the thing. Like a coaching platform and that and I actually got me. Okay. So I responded. I followed this, this platform. I had a website and I was doing this and I had this piece there. While people aren't, that are listening to this won't know what I'm doing, but with my hands.

[00:24:07] Like I had different pieces everywhere. I had CRM here, I had a website here. I had whatever email provider or what do you call it? Lke AWeber, I was using all over the place. Calendly, all this stuff. Zoom and everything. 

[00:24:21] Marshall Stern: And then they came out with this, there's a bunch of them now, a platform all in one.

[00:24:27] And CRMs do that, right? All in one. Just are you overwhelmed with this not integrating with this and having 15 apps and six this and that and all these subscriptions, whatever, no more. You don't have to worry about that. We have this one platform, one low fee of blah, blah, blah, blah. It's not a low fee, but one low fee of whatever it is, and you have all this stuff and it's a robust and you can build a company and rather than having to piecemeal, it's all together.

[00:24:53] It sells. That's marketers, right? 

[00:24:55] Marshall Stern: And there's a benefit to that for sure, but it can be overwhelming because you're not sure what, and you can actually - and I understand the fear on the finances because it can be very expensive having trying all these different apps. But in the end, what do your clients want?

[00:25:10] Laura Hudson: Results. 

[00:25:11] Marshall Stern: How can you get them results? 

[00:25:13] Laura Hudson: By keeping it simple and just. Doing the things, you know, that work. I mean, just following the formulas that you've used before, that have been successful. 

[00:25:26] Marshall Stern: Yeah. I mean, look, HubSpot, Zoho, I'm talking about CRMs of course,  Salesforce, which is very robust. There's tons of them, right?

[00:25:37] Laura Hudson: Right. 

[00:25:38] Marshall Stern: For some people, Google spreadsheets might be all you need. 

[00:25:44] Laura Hudson: Okay. 

[00:25:44] Marshall Stern: At some point, yes, you need, you might need to migrate to something a little bit more, right. That you can expand to and grow into. But is that really going to, at this time right now, does it really make you more productive and more efficient to have all these different? No.

[00:26:01] So sometimes we can listen too much to all the outside noise, especially in your specific industry or for me, in coaching. Okay. I'm going to give you a quick example. This ages me. Well, not really, because I've only been coaching for 13 years, but about 12 years ago, or 11 years ago. So. Telesummits. I don't know if you've ever heard of Telesummits.

[00:26:22] Telesummits used to be the big thing. Okay. This is before Zoom and actually even before Skype, although Skype never, just never took off, but it was before Google Meets and all that stuff. And so it was basically, you know, you see these summits where, like in your case, even though like the event you went to is kind of a bit of a summit, marketing summit because you had bunch different speakers.

[00:26:43] So, but a Telesummit is where for one week - and they still exist, but now it's usually on Facebook or Zoom or whatnot - you have 15 speakers, 3, 4, 5 a day on a specific topic. Like for the coaches, it was like “Growing your list, “Growing your coaching business”,  “Join us for this five day Telesummit”, and they bring speakers from all over.

[00:27:05] So like a long story short, so it probably was around 11 years ago. I remember I spent the entire, not the entire, but good part of this one summer. And I signed up for every single I followed all these experts in the coaching space. Well, there were more marketing, but they said they were marketers for coaches and coaches for marketers.

[00:27:22] Like it was all sort of this thing. And I went, I started to go to all these Telesummits and listen to all these people and it was about grow your mate email list. So one person would say, do this, and the other person would say, do that. And you get on, the other person would say that you go do that, and the other person says this.

[00:27:35] You go do that. Right? Yes, probably after about three weeks of this, but I still had it three weeks to go because I had signed up for more. I was just a, wanted to be a sponge that summer. I was so exhausted. I was so overwhelmed and I was actually further back than I was before. Yeah, because now it's like, you can imagine just like everything, so much information coming at you and you can only we're, our minds are a computer and really.

[00:28:03] There's not a lot of ram in that, in that head of ours. Like we can only hold so much at one point right before we, it starts to, it starts to get lost. So what do you think you need to do in your business right now in the next six months? If you're going to go full out, what systems do you need to, do you think you need to have in place?

[00:28:24] Laura Hudson: I think I just need the CRM system that I already have and it's integrated with my website and my email marketing, and it's one of those all in one kind of things. And I really think that's it. And I don't need any other software because all the reports I can generate from ads manager and the meta systems that I have.

[00:28:50] If they do Google ads or anything, I can just use GA4 or GSE. So. All of those are free. 

[00:28:58] Marshall Stern: No idea what any of that is, you just said, but that's okay. You do perfect. but I guess my point is keep it simple, 

[00:29:08] Laura Hudson: Right. 

[00:29:09] Marshall Stern: Okay. Because otherwise you will get overwhelmed. And if you're, you know in groups with other people in your industry it's just about knowing, being aware that you're going to hear other stuff, and that's what I call the shiny object syndrome. Oh, I should try that. Oh, I haven't heard about that one before. I should try that. It's like I client it once and she called it the squirrel syndrome. Because squirrels are cute.

[00:29:38] Like, and it's funny because it hasn't happened yet, but sometimes you'll see me turn over there because I see some, it's a squirrel. Not in my office, but on the fence outside my office. The window. Right. And it is literally like just, they like to walk back and forth. It's, oh, look at the cute squirrel.

[00:29:53] That's what these are. Yeah. Some of them are good, some of them might be helpful, but it's really going to help your clients more than you're already doing. Because it's all about connecting with clients, prospects, building your client base, prospecting, stepping into that role as the leader of your business and being confident to go to prospects and say, this is my business.

[00:30:15] Where are you at in your business? Can I help? Or maybe I can help. Right. As opposed to - because they don't care about all the stuff that you have. Right. I, I learned a long time ago, I'm assigned a printing company and I was originally, I was part of a franchise. And I would see not just the franchise, but even after I left the franchise, I was on my own.

[00:30:34] I would see other sign companies printing graphic companies in the city and throughout Canada and the US on their websites, promoting all their latest, greatest equipment, their multimillion dollar printer, their this, their that. 

[00:30:48] Who cares? 

[00:30:49] Laura Hudson: The average person that doesn't know what those things are.

[00:30:53] Marshall Stern: Laura. Laura, I always say. Nobody cares what you or I do. Like the nuts and bolts, the details all they care about, or more importantly, how we do it. All they care about is that we understand them and we can help them. 

[00:31:08] If there's something out there that truly can help you help them. Easier systems, processes.

[00:31:15] That's one thing, but a lot of the other ones that come out there that once are one are $30 a month. Oh, it's only $30 a month. Oh, it's only $15 a month. Oh, it's only $200 a month. A lot of those are the only people getting rich with that are the app developers. So just stick to my advice is just to get really, really clear on how, how you help your clients and simplify it.

[00:31:39] Build relationships. Be confident. You're confident in your skillset. Yes. 

[00:31:43] Laura Hudson: Yeah. 

[00:31:44] Marshall Stern: So then just step into that role that leader's role be. You might need to be uncomfortable for a while, but be comfortable being uncomfortable. Does that make sense? 

[00:31:55] Laura Hudson: Yes, absolutely. That makes me feel a lot better. 

[00:32:02] Marshall Stern: So that was a bit of a, tell me more about that.

[00:32:05] Laura Hudson: Tell you more about what? 

[00:32:10] Marshall Stern: That sigh of relief. 

[00:32:12] Laura Hudson: Oh. I think it's just realizing that some of the nervousness or anxiety is just natural. It's just a part of being a business owner going into entrepreneurship. I think, some of my colleagues who are in this mentorship group that I have also talk about this a lot, they'll just like start doing things that are pretty normal for us to do, maybe making each other a video and like, how to do something. 

[00:32:45] Marshall Stern: Yeah. 

[00:32:45] Laura Hudson: Or a new way to solve a problem. And they'll be like, I'm so nervous all of a sudden, I don't even know why I'm just talking to you guys. You know? And it, it's just very helpful to understand that that's, that's going to happen a lot. It's not, anything abnormal and that we all feel that way sometimes.

[00:33:04] The pushing through it is, it's the best option. And, yeah, afterwards we might be able to be proud of what we have done or we might have a learning opportunity, say, I should said that better. 

[00:33:22] Marshall Stern: Okay. Let's back up there for a second because I  want to catch on something. Okay. 

[00:33:26] We might be proud of something, or it might be a learning opportunity. We need to celebrate our action steps. We need to celebrate our wins more. So first off, I want you to be proud of yourself every single day. You get up and you do what you do. Whether you land a new client or so, if you land a new client, woohoo, absolutely great.

[00:33:51] If you have a prospect call, a call with a prospect. You reach out to someone. You do something that scares you. You be proud, right? If you get up and you, you work on client work, yeah, you can be proud, but push yourself to actually. Get out and be the coach and work towards the vision because it's very easy.

[00:34:07] The one thing I, the one warning - I know you've been, you've freelanced for a while. The one warning I will give you is it's very easy in your industry. Okay. Same with my industry, service-based industries, even, especially trades like big time in the trades, to be the employee. To get stuck being the player.

[00:34:27] And client comes in, you serve client, next client comes in, you serve client. And then eventually, like, especially if you built a word of mouth business, which is what we all, that'd be awesome, but at some point that does dry up. And for like the home renovation market, especially here, I know, I know Arizona's gone through ups and downs in the economy over the years where we are.

[00:34:49] It's been like just a more or less a boom for like forever. the trades are always busy, so they don't ever have those, very rarely do they have those lulls. Okay? So they're stuck. A lot of them are stuck in their business, right? At some point it does. It will slow down and they're exhausted. So two things happen when you're stuck as the employee.

[00:35:13] I'm not saying you are, but it's just a warning. Two things that happen when you're stuck, get stuck as being the player or the employee of your business. Number one, eventually you are not going to get any more clients because you've just been focusing on the clients you have. So you have to block time for prospecting, business development, networking, meeting people, your own growth.

[00:35:31] And the second thing is you just get exhausted. You end up focusing on so many activities that drain you of your energy, and even types of clients who drain you of your energy. And that's when a lot of companies, a lot of people give up and they say, what's this? Is it worth it? And they end up just going back to a job.

[00:35:51] And then after another year or two in the job, they say, oh my God, this is worse. Is it worth it? And then they go back and try the business thing again. Right? So. Two things to be aware of. How are you on, business development? Oh, oh, another side.

[00:36:11] Laura Hudson: I feel like that that's a good warning because sometimes I do get very meticulous about fixing client's accounts or like making sure things are going as well as they can. 

[00:36:24] Marshall Stern: Okay. 

[00:36:25] Laura Hudson: And I could see myself getting very inundated in that and not stepping back and saying, okay, it's time for me to go prospect.

[00:36:35] It's time for me to see what other things I can do here, to help my business grow. Thankfully I have a pretty decent network of digital marketers that I am involved with, so I feel that I have great teammates that I can reach out to and see, hey, I have a project, can you help me? You know, with this website it's taking up a lot of my time or -

[00:37:04] Marshall Stern: Right.

[00:37:04] Laura Hudson: I could get a help to lighten my workload by,  delegating responsibility to other people. 

[00:37:15] Laura Hudson: I just will have to very much do what you're suggesting and block out that time. And once, you know, my Google calendar says, okay, it's time for you to switch your focus. That I actually do that. And, you know.

[00:37:29] Don't ignore the notification. 

[00:37:32] Marshall Stern: Oh, no. There, I mean, trust me there. I mean, there's a lot. We don't, you know, we don't have like all day, there's a lot of different things that you can do. 

[00:37:39] But yeah, if it's a matter of the one fear I have is when I asked you about the vision for the business.

[00:37:46] Yes. So you have this vision of, it's not a fear, but it's fear for your agency and I never, I didn't really push you on it. So you, you talk about the clothing store. And you talk about the real estate ventures. Right. But there's nothing really about your agency except that your agency is going to support those ventures.

[00:38:11] You'll be the marketing agency for those ventures. So it's this little conglomerate, right? 

[00:38:16] Laura Hudson: Right. 

[00:38:17] Marshall Stern: But not, no. Talk about growth for the marketing agency. 

[00:38:20] Laura Hudson:  Yes, because I think what I would ideally like to do, hire employees to help me manage the agency. We're lucky in my area, we have two pretty big marketing agencies already in Tucson.

[00:38:41]  So we have a pretty good talent pool and I feel like. I'm going to a couple of networking events this week, and so I'm hoping to kind of run into some of those people that work for those agencies, make connections. and over the long term, I would, yes, definitely like to hire more staff to help me manage the agency, help with prospecting, develop a sales team.

[00:39:09] Develop it solid, SEO team, paid ads team, email marketing team, and kind of segment the work a bit more so that, we really have specialists in all those areas who can help deliver really concrete,  digital marketing to all of our clients. 

[00:39:27] Marshall Stern: So, you know, what role that is for you then? Talking like that? 

[00:39:31] Laura Hudson: Be that coach. 

[00:39:33] Marshall Stern: You're talk, talking like a co you're talking like a business owner.

[00:39:36] Laura Hudson: Good. 

[00:39:37] Marshall Stern: The leader. Yes. That, so I think we're, I think we're done here. You're, you' business owner. But, no, but seriously, like that's what it's all about. Right. Building, so you build the team. 

[00:39:51] So that you could focus on your clothing store chain.

[00:39:55] You want to open or empire your real estate empire, your this, your that. That's going to take more than just you. So that's why I want to go there with the agency. Because you need a team. 

[00:40:07] Laura Hudson: Absolutely. 

[00:40:08] Marshall Stern: Right. You'll need, whether it's a coach or a mentor, SEO, like other specialists in your industry at some point, probably not in the not too distant future.

[00:40:19] A bookkeeper. Okay. Just highly rec. I was fired after a year doing my own books. My accountant fired me. He said, now, he said, I love you, Marshall. You're great, but you're fired as the bookkeeper. Call Jan. She'll do it for you. And it was the best investment back then. Right? Yeah. So it's a matter of bringing people on your team who - it takes a village.

[00:40:49] It does as they, as they say. But you're going to be the leader of that village. 

[00:40:54] How does that make you feel? 

[00:40:56] Laura Hudson: Excited. Very happy. Yeah. 

[00:41:00] Marshall Stern: Okay. Okay, so before we go, one of the things I like to do with my clients is to leave with an action step, some accountability. 

[00:41:13] Laura Hudson: Okay. 

[00:41:14] Marshall Stern: Okay. So I know we've talked about a whole, like a bunch of different things and maybe we're not done.

[00:41:19] But what is it that you can commit to, and I will follow up with you, but what is it that one thing you can commit to doing at least one thing that will really move the needle for your business, make a difference? 

[00:41:31] Laura Hudson: I think right now the biggest thing I need to focus on is prospecting, and getting new clients.

[00:41:39] Marshall Stern: Okay. So define your prospecting process or what you're planning on doing. 

[00:41:47] Laura Hudson: So I've been collecting businesses in a Google spreadsheet for a little while now, who I'm running across who do not have a very good website, or they are missing some elements that would help them a lot with digital advertising embedded in their website.

[00:42:08] Or if I see an ad on Facebook or Instagram that doesn't look very good, I put them into my CRM and I think making them some Loom videos about what I'm seeing that I think I could help them with and making sure to send those out is something I need to do. 

[00:42:29] Marshall Stern: Okay. Okay. So how many of those can you - I know you have that right now, the full-time job.

[00:42:34] Laura Hudson: Yeah. 

[00:42:34] Marshall Stern: So how many of those can you do in a given day or a given week? 

[00:42:38] Laura Hudson: I think last week I did five videos. 

[00:42:43] Marshall Stern: Okay. 

[00:42:43] Laura Hudson: So I think it's reasonable to try to aim for maybe even just a couple more, maybe seven this week, because I haven't made any this week actually. 

[00:42:52] Marshall Stern: Okay. Okay. Perfect. Anything else? Or what about your job?

[00:43:00] Laura Hudson: Well, I think, you know, I'm really at the point where, you know, if I get like one or two clients of my own, I can actually,  leave my job. 

[00:43:11] Marshall Stern: Yeah. 

[00:43:12] Laura Hudson: And so I, you know, I'm excited about being  a full-time business owner and. I'm really, really looking forward to, to making that transition permanently. 

[00:43:25] Marshall Stern: So is that sort of the goal is to get one or two clients, new clients to be then to be able to then leave your job?

[00:43:33] Laura Hudson: I think so. Okay. I believe that's fair.

[00:43:36] Marshall Stern: I know you said the beginning, you were talking about like possibly within the next month. 

[00:43:40] So, but the motivating fact could be one or two clients. 

[00:43:43] Laura Hudson: Yes. I feel like as long as I can pay my bills, I can leave.

[00:43:48] Marshall Stern: Yeah. So, don't get me wrong. And for people who are listening, I'm not encouraging you to quit your job.

[00:43:53] A hundred percent. No. But first of all, it's not my place to do. Okay. In fact, for a lot of people, having the job while you're getting the business going is a good thing. It can also be a bad thing if you do it for too long, because it is a safety net. Right, and not only is your time limited, but you tend to sort of not push as hard on the business because you know you have the job.

[00:44:20] Whereas if you get rid of that, then it's like, okay, now. Right. But I do understand we have bills to pay, so it's about building the business up to a point where you can confidently, because it's solve the confidence where we can, you can confidently step into that full time business owner role.

[00:44:39] Laura Hudson: Yes. Right. And it's interesting because, you know, you're saying like a job for a lot of people is a safety net, but my firm is going through layoffs right now. Because we were actually acquired, recently by another company who is, you know, changing things. And so it may not be that much of a safety net for very much longer.

[00:45:03] So that's also part, I think of the motivation for me to like, okay, we've got to get some clients so we can just quit. And that way they don't have to lay off you or one of your other colleagues, you know, maybe you can save a job for somebody else who actually isn't at this point where they want, you know, their own agency so. 

[00:45:21] Marshall Stern: Okay. Yeah. Okay. So it's, it's time to get prospecting, get some, get some new clients into the business. 

[00:45:28] Laura Hudson: Absolutely, yes. What else? 

[00:45:30] Marshall Stern: What else can you do other than the videos? and you're going to some networking events. What else? What else? Yes. What else can you do for business development? 

[00:45:39] Laura Hudson: I think I've also realized that, just because online there's a little bit of mistrust.

[00:45:47] That just going actually to the businesses themselves and just introducing myself, and saying, hi, you know, this is what I do. If you or anyone you know needs help with this, please give me a call. Schedule an appointment with me. I'd love to talk to you. About how we can help you. So I think in my CRM there is a little prospecting tool that we can use to kind of do a digital check and see what businesses are most underdeveloped in their digital presence online.

[00:46:19] Marshall Stern: Oh, okay. 

[00:46:19] Laura Hudson: And so I can actually just go to those businesses and say, hey, I'm noticing you have some problems with your SEO. I've noticed here. you know, website is missing some really key features that I think could help you get more leads or help you get more sales. so I think that's something else I would, I will start to do more because I actually just bought this little tool, that shows business owners where they're ranked on Google and help them with their review process and that kind of stuff.

[00:46:52] And so it's a way to just like, you know, say, this is what's going on with your online presence, this is how I can help you fix this. And so I'd really like to start just meeting face-to-face with either like managers or, or business owners. I'm going to see them in person and then maybe reach out to like some Chamber of Commerce type of groups. 

[00:47:14] I'm going to this business networking group today. And then one of my friends who's a realtor is having a big, kind of just meet and greet this weekend. So, okay. I'm going to go there, and he actually wants me to talk a little bit at the event, so then nice afterwards I will definitely, I know he has some business owners that are going to be there.

[00:47:38] I'm definitely going to talk them up and see what I could do to help their gym grow or to help their content creation. You know, maybe partner with some people that I know in that space too. 

[00:47:53] Marshall Stern: And how are you in sort of the face-to-face scenario talking about your business?

[00:48:00] How's that for you? 

[00:48:02] Laura Hudson: Well, I haven't really done that very much yet. So tonight will be my first opportunity to start doing that. And I'm hoping that I worked in customer service for a while and my role at my agency now is client facing.  So I'm just hoping that I can kind of let that experience shine through and help me to to people. 

[00:48:28] Marshall Stern: So can I give you some unsolicited advice? 

[00:48:30] Laura Hudson: Yes. Please. 

[00:48:33] Marshall Stern: So what I would do in these events, like networking even, especially face-to-face, is not talk about your business. See everyone there at networking events, especially business networking events are all there to talk about themselves.

[00:48:50] Now, when you're at, like the event you went to, they mentioned the marketing, you know, with all the speakers and whatnot, that was a bit different because you're all in the same boat. It's an industry event, so you're all sort of just getting to know each other and supporting each other. So I go with more of that mindset.

[00:49:05] So be interested. Not interesting. 

[00:49:08] The more interested you are. And the person you're talking to in front of you, the more they will connect with you. Now, some of them might just be depending on what kind of event this is, or a future event. Some of them I've been to a lot, some of them are, they don't want to hear it, they don't really care, they just, boom, there's a business card.

[00:49:22] Hey, you need some life insurance. Boom, right? You need some, whatever it is. A photocopier. Photocopier? I don’t know why I said photocopier, but you know, marketing services, you need a coach, hey, I'm a coach. Like, but other people, when you just ask them questions and you engage conversation with them about.

[00:49:38] What they're there for, what their business is. People love to talk about their business, get them to talk about their business. They could say, oh, hey, yeah, that's great. I work with businesses similar to yours. What? I'm just curious, like, what do you, what do you do currently do for marketing or for that?

[00:49:53] And then you can get to the conversation for that. because they'll, they're going to say, oh, what do you do? Say, well actually, I help businesses like yours, right? Attract new clients, whatever it is, traffic, eyeballs, clicks, all that kind of stuff, right? But it's not like, hi, I'm Laura and I can help your business grow.

[00:50:10] Laura Hudson: Yes, I like that much better. It seems more natural. 

[00:50:14] Marshall Stern: Yeah, and most people will appreciate that, you know, there's always this whole, okay, what's your elevator pitch? Then there's this time where it was like, okay, oh, I help, small to medium sized businesses,   be visually seen or you know, whatever it like through, like for my sign companies.

[00:50:30] And I try, I tried that a couple times and it's like, it sounded icky, first of all. It's like I help them. I can't remember what builder awareness in the community. Oh, really? How do you do that? Well, I do it through effective signage and graphics. Thanks for asking. Here's my card. It just isn't natural.

[00:50:49] Yeah. Right. What's natural is, hey, how are you doing? What's your business? Oh, how long have you been in business? Oh, that's great. Oh, I know someone who has a business similar. Just connecting with people and being interested. And at some point they're going to say, hey, by the way, what do you do? Awesome. Right.

[00:51:05] So anyways, okay, so you have a few things to do. Well, you've got some networking events. That's awesome. The videos, seven videos, that's great. And then some more prospecting. And the goal is to get a couple clients in the next month. 

[00:51:18] Laura Hudson: Yes. 

[00:51:19] Marshall Stern: Excellent. Anything else you want to add to that? 

[00:51:21] Laura Hudson: I don't, I think also just, reminding myself of this conversation like that, having confidence and, just stepping into that leadership role, being the coach. Like kind of keep my eye on being that person every day and remembering that that's my job is not to play every part. You know, it's not to do every little thing in the business, but it is to be the coach.

[00:51:49] It's to be the leader of it. 

[00:51:52] Marshall Stern: So I was waiting for you to add that one. So that, that one, I would like you to actually put on a Post-It note on your phone, on your computer, whatever it takes. And just every morning you get up. Today I'm the coach. Today I'm building, I'm going to, this is the beginning of building the dream team, right?

[00:52:10] Yeah. And listen, it's people who are still with us, if, thank you for being with us. I know it's - we've been on for over an hour. but here's the Stern Truth. It's not going to be easy. It's just not, otherwise, your father will probably still be in business. Otherwise everyone would be in business because it'd be so easy.

[00:52:31] It's not easy. But if we're intentional and we're consistent and we surround ourselves with people who lift us up, encourage us, not blind faith, but like encourage us to help us become our best, whether it's coaches, mentors. People on your team, people in your network that you can go to.

[00:52:52] Industry professionals then, and we don't try to do it all by ourselves, being a player, we have people playing different positions. It's not going to be today, it's not going to be tomorrow, but it could be a little bit the next day, a little bit the next day, a little bit the next day. And now you have this dream team and you've built, you're on the path to building that empire.

[00:53:10] I know I used the word empire, but whatever it is that you want. The multi-business conglomerate. 

[00:53:16] Laura Hudson: Absolutely. I like the word empire though. 

[00:53:19] Marshall Stern: It's a good word, empire. It's a good word. Okay, so don't go anywhere. I'm going to end the recording now, but I do want to thank everyone that has been staying here and I'd love to hear your comments.

[00:53:29] So remember, you know the whole PODCASTY thing? Subscribe, review, like share whatever, but also give feedback, right? You can go to thesterntruth.com. You can go email me, Marshall@marshallstern.net. Everything's in the show notes. Plus as well in the show notes will be a link to Laura's website so you can get in contact with her, follow her on socials, reach out to her if you would like to get some guidance and some help on, on all things marketing.

[00:53:54] I'm sure she would love to have a conversation with you. Is that right? Yes. 

[00:53:58] Laura Hudson: Absolutely. 

[00:53:58] Marshall Stern: Okay. Awesome. Thank you everyone for watching and being part of our Business Therapy Sessions, and we'll see you again next time. 

[00:54:06] Thank you so much for tuning in to Stern Truth. If you found today's episode helpful, we would love to hear from you. 

[00:54:12] Please like, share and leave us a review. Also, if you'd like to be a guest in the upcoming episode or join us in one of our Moment Accountability Group sessions, simply email me to marshall@marshallstern.net. That's marshall@marshallstern.net.And don't forget to hit the subscribe button, so never miss an episode.

[00:54:32] Until next time, keep pushing forward and meeting with confidence.