Strategies that Have Transformed My Business with (My Coach) Susan Sierota

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0:39Welcome to the Jasmine Star Show. And today I am bringing an episode that is near and dear to my heart because you are going to be sitting in the passenger seat of a woman who has undoubtedly changed my life. I'm here to introduce you to my own coach, Susan. Susan, welcome to the Jasmine Star Show. I'm so excited to be here, Jasmine. I know. I just cannot believe that this is actually going to happen. And before we actually get into your biggest power plays, can we go back to how we met? Because I really want to talk about a little bit of the grit and a little bit of the determination and a little bit of the luck.

1:17Okay. So there's two perspectives to our story. And I want you to jump in because, okay, I actually met you before you met me. Yes. Okay, great. So then I'm going to start it, but then I want you to jump in. I'm going to Okay. So there is an app that drops 2020 when the world feels like it's falling apart and everybody's craving a bit of connection and we don't actually know how to make it happen. And then this app called Clubhouse hits the scene and people are simultaneously beguiled and enthralled and everybody's clamoring to make a splash. And I remember I am a mother of a newborn. I'm waking up very early.

2:00I'm not talking to very many people. So I opened the app and I don't know how I came across a room with you and another woman by the name of Sumeya. And the two of you guys were talking about SaaS companies, software as a service. And me, starting my own tech stack in around 2020, 2021, I'm like, I'm going to learn everything I can. So I feel like I am going to college with these two professors. And every morning at 7 a.m. California time, I'm listening to their voices. So they become my friends as I'm making my daughter breakfast. And in preparation of breakfast, I am learning how to run a software company and think about product.

2:38And then months after listening to them, five days a week, religiously, five days a week, I develop the courage to, in the app, raise your hand. And so you literally press a button, And he shows a hand and then they bring you up on the audio stage. I think that this sounds so dumb when you say it out. But let me just tell you, just imagine this build up crescendo music playing because I'm like, she is going to raise her hand and she's going to, in front of other SaaS founders who know a lot more than her, ask a question. And so months of listening and I thought to myself, I am sitting with such a great opportunity to ask a question to two of the most brilliant people I have ever heard speak.

3:24I ask the question, you can start here. So what happens from your perspective when I come on and I ask a question? So you lit up the room first off. So I am so proud that you had the courage to come on and jump on stage. It was a lot of men. It was always men. A lot of men would come in. And And when Jasmine came on stage, she was so real. She was just like she is right now, like very much authentic in what she was doing and building. And she asked a question around how does she really drive additional growth in her business? And we started talking about some ideas for her to do that. And what I noticed, and Samay and I were actually texted in the background.

4:06We were always like hitting each other up on text. We're talking about just how magnetic you were and how we really were excited to see what happened. And so we were very hopeful that you would come back and tell us what actually happened and the results that you had. I recorded, Clubhouse is on my phone and I am on there, but I grabbed JD's phone and I recorded a video of myself asking the question because I knew in that moment that something crazy was going to happen. And I didn't know what it was, but I just knew I was like, you have to document this moment. So crazy because it was meant to be.

4:42And my voice was totally shaking. I was like, and I didn't know how to ask the question. And so got really great advice. And based on that advice, I went and deployed and I took a lot of the tips that you had mentioned. And in less than an hour, we had generated over$555 ,000 for the business. And I say that with all humility because I don't think we would have executed the way that you had encouraged us to do. And that piece of advice, our five minute, eight minute conversation on Clubhouse resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars that helped sustain the business. And so I went back to Clubhouse a couple of weeks later, raised my hand and I gave an update.

5:25And I said, I did what you said and oh my God, it worked. And you were so excited. And then it went silent. I would still listen to you, but I never raised my hand again. and then our paths re-intersect. Can you talk to me a little bit about that? Yeah, so I was super stoked. As I said, I was really hoping and texting with Samaya saying, I hope that you come back and tell us what happened. And there was just something meant to be in that conversation. And you came back up and really excited to see the results. And I just, it sat with me and I kept thinking about you and wondering how your business was doing.

5:58And so I reached out to you. And I, last night at dinner, I said, I started stalking. I did. And I reached out to Jasmine and I was like, there's something really powerful about you and what you're building and who you are as a human. And I want a front seat to the amazingness that you're going to create. And so just wanted to check in and see how you were doing. And let me tell you this. I don't think I've ever mentioned this part. So, you know, I am first generation Latina, first time founder, first time thinking that I can actually build a business, first person in my family to build a business.

6:32And so I've been raised with the belief, better for worse, there's an acronym, Tinstoffel. There's no such thing as a free lunch. And so when somebody asks something, somebody, I was raised to believe subconsciously, everybody's out for their own. And when I got a message from you and you're like, hey, I'd love to catch up. My first thought was, oh, what's coming? I'm going to get pitched. And I went in, I'm like, okay, what could you possibly be pitching me? And so then we had a conversation and all you wanted to talk about was ways to grow, improve, expand. And so then we ended the conversation and I thought to myself, something else is coming.

7:12Surely something else is coming. And then like maybe five, six weeks later, you're like, hey, just tapping in. How is it going? Do you want to set up a call? I thought to myself, this is, no, no, here it comes. Here it comes. And then we have another conversation and there's nothing. And I asked you on that second call, Why are you doing this? I remember that. And you had said, I think that more women need to start businesses. And I think that I have a lot of experience. And my goal is just to help you. And I still was like, I don't know. I don't know. And then five, six weeks later, you're like, how is it going?

7:51It was after the third call with no expectation and no pitch that I was like, okay, I'm done. if I don't work with you, I'm going to stalk you for the rest of my life. I'm like, I'm going to get my claws in you. And this is how we have now worked together two years. Yeah, two years. Two years. And we meet on a weekly basis. And you have changed me. You've changed my business. You've changed my leadership from the inside out. And so I know that my goal here is I made a promise that everything I learned, I was going to share. And so I want to use a lot of the principles you've applied to my business and apply it to the broader spectrum of people who are listening.

8:32Awesome. And so I want to say thank you. I just really want to say thank you. I want to say thank you back. The point I don't want to get lost in that story is that I work with a lot of people and I do charge for my time. I have a belief that you should charge what you're worth and more. And then free up that frees you up to have impact hours if you want to do that. And there's not really a middle ground. And it was you that had me calling you and checking in every six weeks. There's so much amazingness behind your intellect, your authenticity, your desire to help others that even being able to watch you do that is inspiring to me.

9:17And so thank you for letting me be part of your journey. Thank you. Thank you. And right now I want to be embarrassed. I want to recoil and I want to make a joke and be like, okay, moving on. Nothing easy here. But what I really want to do is have a very open conversation around the struggles that I have had as a founder and how those struggles are patterns that you see and with the people that you coach. And one of the things that we talk about is, you had said, if I quote, being a CEO requires thriving in the ambiguity of paradoxes and opposites. Yes. And it took me a while to understand it.

9:52So if people are like, are watching or listening and be like, wait, what in the world? And it took you a while to repeat the same thing again and again and again. And then the minute it clicked, I started seeing big shifts. So can we talk there? Absolutely. So being a CEO and building business is the hardest, hardest. I mean, can we just, can we drink martinis at seven in the morning? Totally. It is get kicked in the stomach time and time and time and time and time again and get up. And what I think is really, really difficult about it is you have to live in paradoxes and opposites. So whether it is the act of building, which is letting chaos reign, or the act of scaling, which is really reigning chaos in.

10:32At the same time, you have to have really a big heart to do what you do and to lead and inspire. And you've got to have some really tough decision making. You've got to balance really quality and velocity at the same time. You have to be really optimistic and believe in the future that you can create. Like when everything is telling you it might not be possible. And at the same time, be paranoid of everything that happens around you. Can we talk about that one? Yeah. to believe that anything is possible and then be paranoid that it's not. What are some of the things that you have coached me over the years and then the other CEOs that you coach?

11:12How do you move us through that? Because there have been plenty of times where I get on a call and I'm feeling okay. There's plenty of times that I'm not feeling okay. And so what are the things, so somebody who's listening might not have a coach. How do we self-talk our way? And actually this is advice for me because I only talk to you once a week. I need to hear you in my head like every single day, every minute of the day. So I think it starts really with like giving ourselves credit for what we're doing. Oh, you're so good at that. Right. It's so important because we as builders tend to look at what's wrong, what we're not doing right.

11:44It's what makes us successful because if we just spend all of our time giving ourselves pats on the back, like the business wouldn't move forward. And so we really become experts at finding what the problems are. What are the problems we're going to jump in on and fix? And so what happens in that process is we lose confidence and we forget to really step back and look at where we've come from and what we've done. And it's not just from an emotional standpoint that that's important, but look at what you've been building. And one of the big things that you do really well is you double down and triple down on what's working and what your key strengths are.

12:17And so there's the process of really stepping back and saying, what am I doing well? Isn't just about let's feel good. It's about how do I then triple down and get action on the things that I am really good at? Can you give a real example? And I'm putting you on the spot. And if it doesn't come to you, no worries. But like, I really want to use this as an opportunity. So to be clear, to be clear, if anybody's listening or watching and they think that I'm interviewing my coach because I think you need a coach, that's actually not the case. What I want to do is I want to open my business and kind of like extrapolate real examples that people can start applying to themselves.

12:52And so when there was a time of you saying, Jasmine, you're really good at doubling or tripling down on what you're good at. Sometimes I don't see that. You know, it takes somebody else to see that. So has there been examples of you're just like, okay, we're doing three things and I see you cutting this out and tripling down on this. Like, let's bring this idea into an example. One of the clearest examples is your software business. So when we were working together and you were spending the majority of time on your software business. And that is great. But your business is in a stage now where the visioning and the partnerships and all of that have really been put in place.

13:32And now what you really need is the nuts and bolts operating. Yep. You have a COO who's amazing at nuts and bolts operating. And so in order to take your business to the next level and start really achieving progress towards your bigger vision, you needed to step away from that business and you needed to learn how to trust that your amazing COO could run with that and be able to really put a hard line on things that you've always touched that was your baby to then triple down on what you are amazing at which is creating a future inspiring others you take all of these complex ideas and you simplify it into action and frameworks better than anyone I have ever met.

14:20And so being able to really figure out how do we expand your voice in doing that and adding value and the impact that you can have outsized results in versus worrying about the bugs in the software is a really good example. It's not a bug, it's a feature, baby. Come on now. Do you remember we were sitting at the table in the kitchen and you were talking about, Jasmine, you need to get out of the weeds and you need to empower your team to do what they do. And I sat in a chair and I looked at you and I felt, Susan, like I was on the outside of myself looking at myself, knowing I was being an obstinate child and I was fighting for my limitations.

15:02I was literally saying, no, Susan, I need to be doing. Okay. I've got to say That quote in my mind goes down in one of my all-time favorite quotes working across every CEO I've ever touched. Jasmine and I are sitting there and she's struggling, which most CEOs do, to really take your business to the next level. I say all the time, our businesses grow us more than we grow them. And you have to stop doing everything that made you successful while it's working because it's not going to work forever and do the next thing. And that's so hard. Say that again. You have to stop doing what made you successful to do the next thing.

15:36You have to stop doing what made you successful to do the next thing. And that's scary and uncomfortable. And going through that emotion takes most people a lot of time to process. And I watched in literally a period of five minutes of Jasmine debating and questioning herself to just sit there, turn to me and say, I don't know why I'm sitting here fighting for my limitations. And my mind was blown. my mind was blown. So when we go through these things and somebody is sitting there and they know that, or they have like an idea, okay, it is time for me to stop doing what got me here to get to the next level.

16:20What are like the first three action items that somebody needs to do to extrapolate themselves from what that is? Because sometimes you're like, I know it, I don't know how. Yeah. So the biggest thing that helps us is really taking a minute on a regular basis and stepping back and looking at what do I need to achieve for the next 12 months? Because we tend to jump on problems, not plans. And to have that longer view, and even if you're building and you don't know what that view is going to be, but really laying out what you want it to be, and then saying, where do I need to put my time to achieve that plan?

17:00And that's where we find, I think a lot of us spend time on the problems, and that's not what we need to be doing. And that's what I did for years. Right. And so it opens up the internal dialogue of being able to say, okay, what does the business need for me differently now and for the next 12 months than it did before and yesterday? And really asking that question will then be able to look at things and say, Jasmine, you need to be doing this thing on your next business. Okay. So that's action item number one. What do I need to achieve in the next 12 months? and I'm focusing on a plan and less on the problems.

17:36Yes. And then once I do that, what would then be the next step? So then the next step is to look at the work that you're no longer going to be doing and ask the question, is that work going to be what needs to get done in the next three to six months? Sometimes there's a transition period, but it allows us to say, well, if we keep doing the same thing, we'll get the same results and that doesn't get us to the plan. Or we might answer that and say, you know what? While we're building this new thing, we need to keep this train on the reels. And depending on the answer, then looks at do we resource it with someone else and resource that work or do we let it go?

18:23And then three? Execute. Ideas, strategies, plans are all great. But they don't matter at all unless we execute. And it's hard. I say that so simply. It's so hard when you have a baby to hand that baby off to someone else or to say, you know what, we're getting a couple hundred thousand dollars a month on this initiative and I'm going to stop doing it. I grew up at Procter & Gamble and it's one of the best case studies about how diluted focus dilutes your results. Because P &G went through a big thing where they literally said any brand that's not number one or two were going to divest. And they sold off 30, 40 % of the businesses that they had and they grew.

19:13And the board, you hear the stories of the CEO who went through this. Okay, but I want to pause there. I want to pause because somebody's listening and this is such a big, big, big thing is that they let go. They cut back 40 % and grew. Yes. And I think as business owners that are not Procter & Gamble, we worry about letting go of different types of revenue streams. And so I want to let that like really sit in. They cut back and they grew. And you are in Procter & Gamble. And like this ideology is like now coursing through your veins. And how then does it apply now? Well, you were going there.

19:53I just, I cut you off. So please go back. But I'm like, we got to pause there for a second. Okay. No, it's great. And you're hitting on it. It's like, I use P &G as the starting place one because it's in my DNA and how I think. But also if at that large of a global scale, you can cut back so much and stop doing things and still be able to actually grow from there and grow a lot faster than you were, says a lot. And every single CEO I work with, whether it's through coaching or board worker advising, the number one thing that gets them better results is focusing, is making a list of what work they aren't gonna do.

20:31As we're CEOs and we're building our smaller businesses up, it's so scary to let go of that revenue. It's so scary to look at it and say, I'm doing a shotgun approach. Right now I need cash. Nothing else matters but cash. And so I'm gonna do these five things. And there's this leap of faith that says, look, our job right now is to accelerate learnings. We accelerate learnings, we will get longer term to the revenue. And I know short-term cash is a path that we have to watch for, but you'll get that. And you have to have blind faith and a lot of times to say, if I do less, I will get more. Because what that means is every ounce of your being, every shower thought that you have, everything that you're doing is going to making one thing successful.

21:11And if you have a team and you step back and the team is all shooting at a bullseye and they got their bow and arrow out and they are amazing people and they are doing such a good job and they are hitting that bullseye every single time. And then you pan out and you see that they're each hitting a separate bullseye. You're like, that's not gonna get the momentum them to get that thing off the paper. And so really being able to step back and say, let's put all of that energy. We're not going to work less. We're not going to do less. We're just going to put all of that into one or two things and accelerate our learnings because then we'll know what works.

21:43And actually finding out what doesn't work is equally as important because as long as we are accelerating our learnings, then we get to move on to the next and find what really is game changing on our revenue side faster. Okay. So normally in podcast interviews, people will start off with Like, how did you get here? And I don't like that because I want people to immediately understand what is going to be the benefit of this particular episode. And so the benefit of this episode, from what I hope we've kind of already hit the ground running, was using my business as an example of the strategies you deploy against with the CEOs that you work with.

22:17And then you had mentioned that you grew up in Procter & Gamble, but you were also a two time exited founder. You are very familiar with venture capital. Capital. You sit on boards. You do things that the 1 % of 1 % of 1 % women actually do. Can you give us like a brief overview now? Because I want to make sure that there is a difference of being a player and a coach. And then there is a difference of being a coach who is or once was a player. And I really do appreciate the fact that when you speak to me, you're like, I know how you feel. I have been exactly there. So can you bring us like a little bit of an origin story?

22:52What brought you here and then why you are so passionate about helping other CEOs? Yeah, absolutely. So chapter one in this book of Susan was big companies. So I started at Procter & Gamble. I spent almost 10 years there in brand management, which the great thing about starting at a place like that in Procter is just known for getting results through people. It's an up or out organization. You either get promoted or you leave. And you can't get promoted if you haven't developed a whole bunch of people to take your place at every level. So it really teaches you to the importance of really leading through people and through values.

23:29So did that. Then went from there, went to Miller Molson Coors, whatever the name is now. Did that for around five years to turn around a$2 billion brand. And then from there, took over Pete's Coffee ahead of growth right when they were expanding nationally. So that was super fun. We bought coffee.com, so that dates myself. And started the home delivery business before e-commerce really was a big thing. So that was chapter one. Chapter two was the world of startups. So my first company was a fintech company, a fintech SaaS company. And if you've ever heard of reward checking accounts, that's what we created.

24:17And it was a software to actually reward consumers for doing behaviors that were more profitable for the banks. We were on a mission to win the war with the megabanks because community institutions really do help small businesses. And really got my love of helping small businesses grow into bigger businesses, into bigger, because that's where all the jobs come. It's what makes us amazing as a country. So built that. Today, it's still the largest account opening platform in the country. And did it under this weird name called Casasa because we did like a Intel Inside kind of branding strategy to really move the needle.

24:50And built that to 350 plus people and exited that. And then thought I was done building. Actually moved up to Tahoe, opened up a CrossFit gym. Yeah. And started coaching and sitting on boards and doing some project work and just having fun. and lost my dog at the time. And that happens. But what really almost broke me was knowing how long he'd been suffering. And I let him down. I was like, how does no technology exist to help us with this problem? And so went back to the world of operating and started this company called Waggett, which was a, gosh, by all things, a hardware company that was a collar and app for consumers and a B2B SaaS platform on the backend for data and pet health.

25:45It's been around six years building that. My board and I thought we were building a billion dollar business and the pandemic hit and we had semiconductors in our product and we had one of the big car companies come buy out our manufacturing plant so they can manufacture her. And so had some challenges and so we had a much earlier exit than we had planned. I say we like sold parts and step back and really affirmed how much I wanted to help other people building because it can rip your heart out at times. And I had so much great support from my board and my community and our customers. We just had such an amazing team to get through that and get us to our exit and wanted to be able to go back to helping others.