"Shock" or Scale Your Business Potential with Virtual Assistants with Michael Sherlock: An EOFire Classic from 2021

0:01Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire. brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like Content is Profit. Today, we're pulling a classic episode from the archives and we'll be breaking down shock or scale your business potential with virtual assistance. To drop these value bombs, I brought to Michael Sherlock and to EO Fire Studios. Don't be fooled by the name, hair color, or crazy shoes, Fire Nation. Michael is serious about business and she will show you how to shock your business potential.

0:33Today's value bombs, Fire Nation, vulnerability showcases your humanity. Michael's goal is to help jolt you and give you the energy you need to push you to realize you can scale your business and start to see the world and yourself in a completely different way and so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Michael and our sponsors. Imperfect Action hosted by Steph Taylor is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Imperfect Action is a bite-sized online marketing podcast for business owners who want to get straight to the point.

1:04Join Steph Taylor as she answers all your business marketing questions. Recent episodes include five must-knows to sell your online course, program, or membership, and four steps to grow your email list for your next launch. Listen to Imperfect Action wherever you get your podcasts. Michael, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. What's up, Fire Nation? Gosh, it's so exciting to be here. And, you know, this is such a great question. And I really think that many people believe that vulnerability is a fatal flaw.

1:40And I have always believed that vulnerability showcases your humanity, but also the truth behind who you really are. and I was thinking not that I'm going to suck up but I'm going to quote a couple things out of your new book because it just was appropriate. But you know you talk about in your book and I know I've heard this before from you with how you got your podcast launched. You know that moment where you were all ready and you were just about to hit send to send it off to iTunes and you went wait oh I'm just going to put it off for two weeks and then two weeks more and two weeks more until you know, your coach said, look, I'm going to fire you.

2:17You know, that is vulnerability to share that kind of story. And I know that from my perspective, I share a lot of things. I try not to share too much. But, you know, a year ago, as we went into the pandemic, my business suffered 100 % loss of all my income, because I had only planned one lane of income. And I shared this with my followers. And I had some people call and say, Michael, I can't believe you just did that. Why would you say that. It shows that you aren't organized or it shows you're not as great as you were. And I said, yeah, why would I try and pretend to be otherwise? I knew I should have had multiple income streams and I didn't do it.

2:56So here's the time I'm going to do it. But just as I had people questioning why I did it, I had so many more call and say, I can't believe you said that. Thank you so much. I've been in the same boat. I've been so afraid. I didn't want to show that maybe I didn't have it all together. And I believe that when we show our vulnerability, we show truth in a whole different way. And it might not always make us look like we're awesome, but it does make us look like we're human. Honesty, vulnerability, transparency. It makes us seem human. I like that word to use, Michael. I'm also going to say it makes us seem relatable because everybody has flaws.

3:33Every single person in this world has flaws. Everybody makes mistakes. Everybody, you know, in hindsight would have maybe done something different, this or that, whatever that might be. And I'll tell you straight up, like I got a lot of people questioning when back, you know, actually 91 months ago now, cause we've been doing it for 91 months when we started publishing our monthly income reports or like, you're, you're crazy because number one, like, that's just weird. Like sharing all your financials, you know, bringing your lawyer on for legal tip, your accountant on for a tax tip. Like, that's just crazy.

4:00Like, why are you opening up your kimono, so to speak, and showing people everything? Like, what if you have a really bad month or a couple of bad months in a row? And now all of a sudden you went from making hundreds of thousand dollars a month to like 10,$20 ,000 a month or 2000, or maybe you lose money one month. Like, isn't that going to be embarrassing? And I'm like, listen, I'm taking my audience fire nation on a journey with me. I want them to see me through the ups, through the downs. I want them to be rooting for me to succeed and commiserating with me when I fail. Cause those things are going to happen to me all the time.

4:31Like that is the ups and the downs and the rollercoaster of the journey that we're on and not to get too far off track because it's completely on point here. like so many people when they're about to launch their podcast, um, ask me in podcasters paradise, like, Hey John, like, should I launch my best podcast first? Like I've been recording episodes for a month and like my best ones are my last 10, obviously. Should I launch those first? And I'm like, absolutely not. Like you want your audience to be on the journey with you. Like I was a bad podcast host when I started, but I got a little bit better every day, Michael.

5:01And now you're my 3 ,000th and like 245th episode. So I've gotten a little bit better over the years, you know, frankly, but I was terrible. And my audience was rooting for me. I had to get emails where they would say, John, like you're actually not terrible anymore. It's so nice that you're not terrible. So I love that you shared that. Be open, be honest, be transparent. We want the best version of you, Fire Nation, not some weak pale imitation of other people. So back to you, Michael, your company is called shock your potential. What is the meaning behind this name? You know, it's been such a fun journey.

5:37Cause like you, you know, I love the story about how you came up with entrepreneurs on fire, you know, shock your potential actually came by a complete accident working when I started this business and I was ready to promote my first book and write my second book. And, you know, my person sitting down to do my website said, well, you know, what do you stand for? How are you different? And I said, well, I'm kind of shocking. You know, I have really colorful, weird hair. My name is Michael. I'm a girl. You know, I talk about really serious business stuff, but I do it with flair. But my whole goal is to help people reach their potential.

6:07And they looked at me and go, shock your potential. And I went, oh, hey, that sounds great. But what it really means on the day to day basis is that, you know, we all know we have potential, but often, many times we hold ourselves back, even if it's once a year, once a month, once a week, That those times where we know that we need to step in or lean into the greatness, but we're afraid or it's just the unknown and that hesitancy that when I work with people, maybe they didn't go after that promotion they wanted. Maybe they avoided going for the close of a sale or maybe they had a hesitancy in opening their business or growing and scaling their business.

6:49And my goal is really to get people to see if you know that that potential is there you do yourself in the world a disjustice by not stepping into it. And if I have to shock you by kicking you in the pants or giving you that jolt of energy to remind you you can then you take it from there and you'll start to see the world and yourself in a completely different vantage point. I talk about shock your potential. This will be the actually the name of my third business book. But I take the letters in the word shock and I break them down to what it means to really move yourself or your business forward.

7:24And I don't know, would you like me to share those little? I love acronyms, Michael. Let's break this down. So the S is for stand out. And that's how do you stand out or do you stand out? And in reference to even what you write in your book, it's about kind of getting to that super niche point. the point where you know what makes you truly different than others that may be kind of in your field. And I always say, you know, what are the words that people use about you behind your back? If you don't know, you know, you probably don't like the words they're using. So you have to control that dialogue.

7:57And the H is for hone your skills or hire your deficiencies. So there's some things that we need to do ourselves. And if we're not good at them, we do need to hone it. If you're be a podcast host and you're not great at it, you got to get better at it, right? But there's also elements of what we do where we can hire our deficiencies. And I'll talk, I know a little bit about that as we go through. But the O is operate as if you're already there. And I don't mean fake it till you make it. I mean, if you want to be the best podcast host, you want to be the next Oprah, you know, you'd look at those people who are next in line on the way, you know, like you talk about a year out from you, 10 years out from you, 30 years out from you.

8:35And you take, you take time to review them, learn from them, ask them questions or people around them so that you begin to operate more in a sphere of what you are capable of, which actually allows you to see much beyond where you think you're capable of. And the C is for cultivate people and opportunities that are going to get you there. So it would have been great. You know, when I first started listening to you, I was like, one day I'm going to be on Entrepreneurs on Fire. I'm just going to do it. I know I'm going to do it. And here I am. But you know what? If I would have tried to do this three years ago, five years ago, even a year ago, John, it wasn't the right time.

9:11But now is the right time for my business. And now is the right time for me. And as we cultivate different people and opportunities, they bring us along the journey. But the one I love the most is the K. And for me, that stands for know your worth and know your value. And that means we have to believe in ourselves even when our heads are telling us otherwise. You know, those moments of doubt that keep us from moving forward, when we spend time really working on how we know and believe in our worth and our value, then it gives us the courage in those moments where you're like, should I hit send on that?

9:46And you're like, yes, yes, you are ready for this. Do it. But that knowing our worth and knowing our value grows us farther and faster and allows all these things to kind of cycle again. So much value here at Fire Nation. I was taking notes like a banshee. I want to go through a couple things. First off, I love that phrase that you use, Michael. You do the world an injustice by not living in your zone of fire. And, you know, I did add that zone of fire part, but I mean, you do the world an injustice, Fire Nation, by not living in your zone of fire. So don't do the world an injustice. Be you, be the zone of fire.

10:23You know, shock the world with your amazingness. And then I love that acronym stand out, hone your skill or hire your deficiency. So key there. I mean, when people come to me all the time, they're like, John, how do I grow my podcast audience? I'm like, how about you become a better podcast host? So when people listen, they're like, wow, this is actually really good. Like work on your skills, hone your skills. And of course, hire your deficiencies. I have so many deficiencies. I hire people to make up for my deficiencies. Operate as if you are already there. Now, I did put a little asterisk here because I'm a big believer in the worst advice that I've ever received is fake it till you make it.

10:58Now, I know that's not what you're saying here, Michael. It's really important, Fire Nation, that you are authentic, genuine, open, vulnerable, as what Michael and I have been talking about all episode here. But you do have to understand at the same time is that success leaves clues and that all ships rise in a high tide. And when you surround yourself with the right people and you operate in that zone, you are going to rise so much faster because you're the average of those five people. cultivate people and opportunities so critical know your worth know your value and fire nation if you think michael's even close to being done dropping value bombs you have another thing coming as soon as we get back from taking our sponsors she will be on fire if you're a startup with big goals then it's important to find a crm that can keep up but i get it when you're in startup mode it can be tough to know which platform is right for you and your business here's the good news From marketing and sales to supporting content and everything in between, HubSpot's all-on-one customer platform has startups covered.

11:54And with the HubSpot for Startups program, you can save 30 % to 90 % on a platform that scales right along with you, increase leads, boost revenue, improve your customer experience. HubSpot for Startups helps you do it all. Plus, they offer 24-7 customer support, integrations with more than 1 ,500 of today's most popular apps, and a constantly evolving library of resources and articles created to specifically help startups scale. HubSpot is trusted by some of the world's most successful startups and more than 100 ,000 companies around the world. To see if you're eligible to join the HubSpot for Startups program and take your growth to the next level, visit hubspot.com slash startups.

12:32Hosting on Airbnb is something I hadn't really considered until a couple of years ago, and I'm so glad I did. After purchasing an investment property in our community, we wanted to find a simple way to share it with those traveling to Puerto Rico for a vacation. We thought, why not earn some extra cash? Turns out Airbnb is a perfect fit. Getting started was simple with the Airbnb setup guide, which provided a ton of insights into what amenities and features guests love the most. And by following tips from other hosts, within about six months, we earned super host status. With how easy it is to get started, I'm just sorry I didn't do it sooner.

13:06Later this year, we'll be traveling to see family in California and Maine for a couple of months, and we're considering putting our own home on Airbnb while we're away. That's right. While you're away, your home could be an Airbnb. Find out how much your home could be worth at airbnb.com slash host. Michael, we're back. And I know you mentioned a little bit about this towards the beginning part of the interview, but I want to dive deeper here. You recently went from two to eight remote employees in the same year that you lost 100 % of your business due to the pandemic. How the heck does this happen?

13:43Oh my gosh. You know, I first say, you know, when I, right before the pandemic hit, I had my first two remote employees for several months and we were gaining a lot of traction. But as I alluded to before, I was being fed. I had all these speaking and training engagements all over the world. I had the most incredible calendar booked up for the next 18 months. And because I was being fed on a regular basis, I wasn't hungry. I wasn't going to have to scrounge for more food, you know. And as you look at this, you go, okay, that's great. It's wonderful. But it keeps you from understanding how do you take care of yourself in winter?

14:20You know, it's the grasshopper and the ants and who's going to make sure that there's food throughout the whole season. And so with those two employees, I remember, you know, right after I saw everything cancel for the next 18 months, I'm not going to lie, John, I sat in the corner, I curled up in the fetal position, I stuck my thumb in my mouth and basically cried for about 24 hours. And during that time, I thought, okay now you're done feeling sorry for yourself get up now what are you going to do all right i said okay you've always wanted to create an app to go directly to the people that love your work create the app all right you've taken a year off the podcast to figure out what it means figure out what it means relaunch the the podcast you've always wanted to gain affiliates to work with go get them and so i i spent time looking at this list and i said okay in order to do this i can't do this with my two.

15:11I need to invest in my company right now. I need to take this opportunity of a breather and say, I will never be in this position again. And so I knew that I needed someone to help me with the app. So I hired someone for the app. I knew I needed somebody else for the podcast. I hired that person. And all of a sudden, now here I am a year later with eight remote employees. All mine are based out of Kenya, which I'll talk a little bit about. And I have this amazing team that because of what we do, I've had over, I've been on over 20 podcasts just since December. You know, I have over two dozen affiliate relationships that are going to bring, that are bringing in great income now and will bring great income in the future.

15:51The podcast relaunched to an entirely new level. So now we have sponsors where we never did before, all because I hired people to focus on the areas that would actually grow my business. And what's really interesting through this is that as people watch from the outside, kept asking me, Michael, what are you doing? Like, how are you doing this? And, you know, where did you find these people? Which is a great story in and of itself. But, you know, I said, look, my entire team is remote out of Kenya. And I can afford this kind of talent. They're great for me. There's challenges with it. But I had so many people say, well, how do I get a Lorna, who's my director of marketing?

16:29How do I get a Josie, who's now my podcast manager? and they can you introduce us to people so in the middle of all this craziness i actually started a second company called kukua biz and kukua means growth in swahili and because i'd had so many people that i interviewed for just my eight positions i started matching them up with my friends who have their own small businesses and all of a sudden now we have this great opportunity to match incredible talent at an affordable rate for you know those of us in in the u.s canada you You know, gosh, we actually have somebody coming in on Australia, Belgium, and the UK as clients.

17:06But we're matching these, and we're not only making great opportunities for these small business owners to grow and scale in a way they didn't think they could, but we are providing this incredible opportunity for these talented professionals in Kenya who have severe unemployment and not as many opportunities as the rest of us to really become a part of a global workforce. So it's just been an incredible win-win. It's been a whirlwind, but man, I got to say the pandemic's been the best thing for my businesses. Oh man. And this is what I am always trying to preach for our nation is that before the pandemic, Michael was living in her comfort zone.

17:46She had things set up. It was comfortable. It was cozy. It was nice. All the magic happens outside your comfort zone. When you're outside your comfort zone, that's where all the magic happens. Like Every new project that I've undertaken over the past 10 years has been outside of my comfort zone, from physical products to courses to communities, now a traditionally published book. I haven't just stayed in my comfort zone of doing this, just having amazing conversations with amazing people. No, you have to get out of your comfort zone, stretch your limits, be anti-fragile. What would you say to Fire Nation right now, Michael, who wants to grow and scale their business, but they're worried about doing so much within all this uncertainty that is now around us.

18:26You know, it's where I was too. And, you know, when everything first fell apart, my first thought was, I'm going to have to let my two people go. I mean, how do I do this when I've lost all my income? And once I got past that fear, and I realized to your point, I will never grow if I don't take this opportunity right in front of me right now. But before I even hired the first two. The reason I knew it was time to grow and scale by adding people was because I knew it was time. And I know that sounds funny, but it was keeping me up at night. You know, it was bothering me when I was doing tasks that I needed to be done, for instance, in social media to promote my business.

19:03But I was tired of doing it. I couldn't juggle that and be my own sales person and create my materials and, you know, the and, and, and. And when it reached that point, and I recognize that I will not grow to anywhere near where my possibility is or my potential is until I add people, then this is the time to do it. But the decision then to go from those two and continually add over the next couple months to eight, it just made more and more sense because I was able to allow people to get more singularly focused. So now I have one person who only does one part of my business in all these different areas.

19:43And that kind of attention to detail allows them to get much deeper in things that I ever could. I mean, we're doing things with our Shock Your Potential app that I would have never even thought possible because I have somebody who can dedicate 100 % of their time to it. And so as we grow out, if you're sitting here right now and you're like, I know, and I've been saying to myself for months, if only I had someone, then you already know it's time. The only question is, what's holding you back? And for most people, it's really the uncertainty of whether or not they can afford it or whether or not they want to give up some of their profits at this point in time.

20:16So let's talk about this Kenya equation. How did that come into focus? It's such a great story. So I had a client of mine who had offices based in Singapore and Bangkok, and they also had remote teams in Kenya and in Kathmandu, Nepal. And so as I worked with this client for a couple years, I did a lot of work with the Kenyan team. And in fact, when I went to visit their offices in Singapore and in Bangkok, the head of the Kenyan team flew to Singapore and we met and we became friends. And so as I learned more about her culture and, you know, what her team was doing and the affordability, frankly, of working with people from that area, I said to her, I go, how can I, I need someone like you.

21:02And she said, I'll work for you. And I said, I can't hire you. You work for my client. And now fast forward, she actually works for me now. I don't work with that client anymore. But she got me connected with other people. And lo and behold, one of the other people who worked for that client, who also now works for me and heads up all my staffing, we just, when I came back to them and said, okay, not only do I need more people, but I know there's opportunity here. You know, how can we help build this? And because I am so invested in my team and these people, they've just found the most incredible talent.

21:37And we call them talent. So we match them with clients. We match our clients with talent. And it's deeply personal to me, especially when I see the differences we make in their lives. But it's so exciting to me also to see that small business owners who really need this now more than ever, that we can make a difference and allow them to grow. And frankly, it's a complete competitive advantage against people who are still hiding in their shells and saying, I don't know, I'm just going to wait until this blows over and maybe I'll get back to speaking and training again. Wow. I mean, that is a fascinating story in Fire Nation.

22:11Sometimes you just don't know what decisions are going to lead you down what path until you just start making decisions and taking action and being open to what the world is going to bring to you. Now, let's talk about a resource that you can recommend to Fire Nation if they know they're ready to build out a team. Yeah, well, I actually have a couple of resources. And the first one is, if you're even thinking about this, we do have a course. We just have put it up. It's a 10-lesson course. It's regularly$49, but we're going to have a deal for Fire listeners for$29. And what – I know. We're going to give them a great deal.

22:45and the course is really to help you go through the questions about you know is this the right time who do i want it's actually going to put you through quizzes like your own leadership persona what you want out of somebody how do you know whether or not the perfect fit for your business so we have that all built out now if you really are cost conscious though you can also download the shock your potential app and you can go into our entrepreneurs segment of the app and for the executive membership price of$5.99 a month, which you can basically take the whole course in that month in case you didn't want to stick with it.

23:22You can get the whole course there too. So you can spend$29 or$5.99, your choice. But one other thing I just want to say, and yes, there's more, is that if you decide that you want to work with our Cuckoo Abiz clients, your first week of service is on us if you reference being a part of Fire Nation. Whoa. I mean, come on now, Fire Nation. Come on. So listen, Michael, you've got so much value to give Fire Nation. You've got so much awesomeness going on. What of everything that we talked about here today, do you want to wrap up like a nice red bow? What do you want to make sure Fire Nation gets?

23:58Let's talk about anything right now that we didn't get to get to yet, and then we'll say goodbye. You got it. Well, first of all, if they have any questions, just email me at info at shockyourpotential.com or michael at shockyourpotential.com and reference Fire Nation because then that way I know where you've come from. But I think this is the real key to leave with just thinking about is that, you know, when we are really truly, we wanna leave a legacy and we wanna leave a legacy because of our business. That means we have to take good risks that make sense, but good risks also mean growing. And every time you are faced with that decision of should I grow this business or not, if you are really trying to leave a legacy, then making the decision to grow the business is always going to feel a little bit uncomfortable, but should always take you leaps and bounds.