unExpectedly Successful
The to-go podcast for aspiring women entrepreneurs. Join us to hear the raw and genuine stories of women business founders who, despite it all, have created their own pathways to purpose and possibilities—the journeys of women like you and me in their most authentic moments.
You will hear inspiration and know-how, find role models, and, most importantly, discover the next step you need to take. This is an invitation to use their experience, knowledge, and personal story to help you craft your own journey to be unexpectedly successful.
unExpectedly Successful
Unlocking Your Entrepreneurial Superpowers: Disrupt, Sell, Thrive
Scare of sales? Get ready to embrace them as a key ingredient to your personal, professional, and business growth.
Embark on a transformative journey with Dr. Rana Salman, CEO & Founder of Salman Consulting. Once reluctant about entrepreneurship, Rana's work with her coach revealed her concerns about business ownership. As she confronted these hesitations, she ignited a newfound passion, and now, entrepreneurship is an integral part of her identity. In this episode, learn to craft your own strategic plan as Rana walks us through her step-by-step blueprint: from initial planning and overcoming challenges to successful execution.
Don't just listen to Rana's transformative tale; use it as a catalyst for your own journey of discovery, ambition, and growth.
✨ Engage & Connect:
Connect with Dr. Rana Salman by visiting 📌 salmanconsulting.com
RECOMMENDED readings and programs:
📖 Dr. Rana Salman’s book, Sales Essentials: The Tools You Need at Every Stage to Close More Deals and Crush Your Quota 💰, https://www.amazon.com/dp/1265224447/ref=nosim?tag=unexpectedl0e-20
🔍🔄 More information about the 360 Assessment, https://zengerfolkman.com/360-degree-assessment/
🧠 On Mindset - Soundtracks: the surprising solution to overthinking, https://www.amazon.com/dp/1540900800/ref=nosim?tag=unexpectedl0e-20
💬 On Communication - The 16 Undeniable Laws of Communication: Apply Them and Make the Most of Your Message, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZBD1HZ4/ref=nosim?tag=unexpectedl0e-20
📈 On Scaling Your Business through Synergies - Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork, https://www.amazon.com/dp/1401962327/ref=nosim?tag=unexpectedl0e-20
🎧 Listen to the show:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/66x3kimKtCA4dSHE51IOEj?si=486ebbd41f284f3d
🍏 Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/un-expectedly-successful-the-podcast/id1691434992
💌 GET IN TOUCH WITH ME
🌍 My websites - herpathtopurposeandprofit.com and ascendostrategies.com
📧 Partner With Me - griselda@ascendostrategies.com
1️⃣ Her Path to Purpose and Profit:
Join a community of like-minded women. Business coaching for aspiring women entrepreneurs and launch their venture.
Website: https://herpathtopurposeandprofit.com/
Who I AM:
I am Dr. Griselda Martinez, your transformational business coach, podcaster, public speaker, and author, passionate about fulfilling my purpose and helping aspiring women entrepreneurs find theirs.
Before being here, "I had made it" in my career. Yet, I remembered that the corner office or the big salary was not the end goal.
Instead, I knew I could have a much bigger impact by working with other women like me to find their purpose and use their businesses as a mechanism for its deployment. As a result, businesses are founded and rooted in purpose and passion that contribute to their community.
Subscribe now and join the un-Expectedly Successful tribe!
Let’s go!
Disclaimer: Some linked items are affiliate-supported, meaning a commission may be earned with no added cost for you.
One thing that I also want your listeners to is to find their superpower, because I think a lot of us look at our weaknesses and we were trying to identify all these weaknesses, but have you taken a moment to step back and say what is my superpower and how am I using it? Because everyone else thinks that their superpower everyone else has it. Well, no, there's something about you and it's not cheesy, it's reality that you do really well. Do you know that and are you using it?
Speaker 2:Great day everyone. Welcome back to Unexpectedly Successful, to one more episode of showcasing amazing businesswomen who have been right where you are right now and they'll share how they got to where they are, for you to take your own piece and run with it. Today we have Dr Reina Salman. She is the CEO and founder of Salman Consulting, which is a sales consulting firm helping organizations improve their sales practices to get them to results Not just to get them better, but to get them to results. Reina, dr Salman, she is most proud about the impact she has in the sales teams but, more importantly, the impact that she has in the individual that then builds them to then transform those organizations. So welcome, reina. It is super excited to have you in this show and I'm excited to hear all the insights about you and your business.
Speaker 1:Oh, I'm so excited to be here. Griselda, thank you for having me, and I cannot wait to delve into some of your experiences and life lessons.
Speaker 2:Awesome, All right, Reina. The first question is can you please tell me who Reina is for you?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a great question. Reina is a human being, that is hungry humble kind. Hardworking will disrupt, will be disruptive and will ask questions to help us create solutions that will help us get results.
Speaker 2:Okay, so kind hard worker disruptor I love that. Do you see disruption as a positive, as a negative, as a neutral? What is your take on that one?
Speaker 1:I think, depending on what you're trying to accomplish right If you're trying to accomplish something for the goodness of the team and being disruptive and being the one that stands up and say have we thought of that? And also, griselda, the way we communicate it right, because everyone has should be able to voice their opinion in a safe environment and, as a disruptor, our job is to ask questions that causes people to say, oh yeah, I haven't thought of that. We're asked the question. Why not?
Speaker 1:That's something I learned early on in my career that the question why not? Is so powerful because when I ask it and someone tells me, because we've done it this way, that's not enough as a seller, that's not enough. That's when we go well, what does that mean? Let's unpack it. Just because we've done it that way Doesn't mean it's the right way to do it in this time, during this time. So I think being a disruptor is a good thing. You got to align it to the goal of what you're trying to do, and also the way you disrupt is also important. You don't need to be a bully about it. It's the way the intent behind it is.
Speaker 2:Awesome. I love it. The why not? Question and it is often a question that makes us reflect right and even if we don't fully acknowledge it at that moment is something that will come back to us like, really, why not? And especially when we talk about changing environments and perspectives, that is a very powerful question, I agree. So, reina, I know you are a powerhouse for the audience. Reina finished her master's and PhD before she was 30. She became part of corporate America. She was successful in doing that. Then one day she launched her own consulting. So tell us about that journey, reina.
Speaker 1:I think I come from a family of immigrants and business owners that were in the service industry, and so, griselda, I saw the greatness of owning your business, but I also saw how hard it is to own a business, and so I stayed away from it. In the beginning. Early on in my career, I wanted to go to school, I wanted to have this corporate job, I wanted to have my weekends off, and then, as I started growing in my career, I also wanted impact, purpose, autonomy and I want to get things done. I think a lot of high performers we want to get things done, and I recognize that in a large corporate environment there's a lot of hurdles and bureaucracies because they have to put systems in place, and I wanted to do it.
Speaker 1:I wanted to go fast, and that's and I also wanted to make an impact, and that's when I hired, I had a career coach where he asked me questions about what is that next phase of my career is going to look like and he went through an exercise and I recognize my superpowers, as we were talking through, and also some of my areas of strength and areas of weaknesses and as a result of these discussions I recognize, okay, there's it's time for me to go on my own. I have the experience, I've had the lessons and, of course, I'm going to learn a lot more lessons as you open your business. But I was ready, I felt ready and so that's kind of the journey that I took.
Speaker 1:Was it easy? Absolutely not. I mean all of your listeners they're. If they have a business, they know it's not easy, Because you're letting go of your predictable revenue that you get a paycheck every month, you're getting go, you're letting go of that security blanket and now you're on your own, and now it's your name on it, so everything matters.
Speaker 2:How interesting, rena. You said that as as the daughter of immigrants into this country and entrepreneurs, which is something that a lot of immigrants we just need to do as an immigrant myself. Right, because we create our own possibilities. That's what I love about business ownerships that we create our own possibilities and pathways there. But it's interesting that you mentioned that you stayed away from that intentionally and then that you were in this process of being coached. It was like digging deeper into why you needed to take your next step as a business owner. Can you walk us through that moment, like, how is it that in your conscious efforts, you were walking away and then, through coaching, actually that was what was the result of your next.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think, you know, as my conscious effort was I was doing really good in sales and I was making great income and I was traveling and I was getting to do things that I wanted to do and I was.
Speaker 1:I wasn't unhappy, I was doing great, and so when I had that coach, I was in my you know, in your mid 30s and you're trying to figure out what is next for me, and I asked around and I got this coach and it was this objective party. It's not your partner or your husband that really cares about your mom, that loves you and thinks you're the best. It's someone that really is objective and they have the science and the tools to ask you questions. That gets you to think. And as they were, as he was asking me these questions and also about the fears, what am I afraid of? Going on my own right, I wanted autonomy, I wanted efficiency, I knew what I'm good at and I knew that I can help.
Speaker 1:So what was my fear, and my fear was was was failure. I you know I was.
Speaker 2:I built my name.
Speaker 1:I built a brand for for many many years and now I have to go on my own and so that was. What was holding me back is failure and seeing how hard it is to own a business. And you know and I had to also separate myself that I am me and I can create my possibility in terms of how I want my business to be.
Speaker 2:And so it was. It was a process right.
Speaker 1:But the minute I recognize that, that's when it switched and that's when I was like, oh, okay, the possibilities and being realistic, to Grislder right, like the first few years, the first year you got to get into it, knowing that you're not going to make the money that you used to make, that there is going to be times when you're totally alone. You're building right and it takes. It takes a lot of grit and it also takes you got to surround yourself with a support system Because at the end of the day when you want to give up.
Speaker 1:you want someone that is next to you, that loves you, that sees your strength to say hey, let's, let's step back a little bit. You're just having these moments and so so, yeah, I would highly recommend, if you're going through a change, to have someone outside looking even though. I do coaching to other people. I needed it. I needed that someone else.
Speaker 2:Walk us through that moment of you deciding. This is a time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I think that the the once I decided, then I wrecked. I needed to put my business head had on, and that's when I recognize, okay, we, I need to have a safe strategy in place, and even if it was not you know, it's still new but I needed to make sure that I have the right things in place as a start, as a goal, and I also wanted to meet with other entrepreneurs, and so I started going on LinkedIn and I've identified people in my city that were entrepreneurs that have their own business, and I reached out to them and people are so kind like we're afraid to ask for help, but people want to share and they want to help others because they've been helped. And so I've met with amazing. I mean, I've met with a person that had that. She was a CEO of her company, took her company from very little and then she sold it and she's now almost like a person that I look up to and we have a regular coffee.
Speaker 1:And then, when I reached out to her, I said look, I opened my business, I had I have questions, I researched you, I showed her that I did my due diligence and I would love to have a cup of coffee and I thought, oh, this person didn't even answer me. Guess what she answered when I sat there and the best advice she told me is stay laser focused. She's not tried to be everything for everyone and she holds me accountable to that. So when I meet with her and she's pretty busy but whenever I meet with her, she always says how are you staying focused? Because if you want to be good at something, you got to stay focused instead of spreading ourselves to think, right, like, yes, we can outwork, we can work really hard, but there's also a law of diminishing return at the end. So where do you focus your strength and your efforts? So that's where what kind of the process that I had.
Speaker 1:I did my qualitative research, like result that you and I know, and then I took what I learned and then I sat there and I created a strategic, almost like a strategic plan. It was one year. I identified what, what am I selling Like? What is my product? What is my solution? Who are my target audience? And I also have myself accountable to a number. Right, like, just like I was in sales, I had a goal. I had a number that I needed to achieve. Now, that number was also lower than I expected. That I usually do, because I also wanted to make sure that I'm also giving myself hope right Like this. This is about building, this is about acquiring, this is about creating, and I created a website.
Speaker 1:I mean, all of it was very scrappy because I didn't have capital, but I also knew that I needed to. If someone is Googling, selling, consulting, they need to find who. We are right. There's building blocks that you need to be put in place.
Speaker 1:So, after I did that strategy, I also started building my brand on LinkedIn, and this is really important for you, for everyone. That is intracremular. You got to go, I call it, where your tribe is, where your customers is. Some of them may be on Instagram, some of them may be on LinkedIn, some of them may be on Facebook. Be very clear where your buyers are, at your prospects, and then start showing up, start building that familiarity and even if you're not known it's about consistency you start showing up with things that are relevant to them and then you start building what I call your network and your tribe and you're starting to learn more about them. So that's data coming in, but they also start learning more about you and you start building a brand, associating it with what your purpose and what your mission is.
Speaker 1:So those were some of the things that I did, and one of the best things that I did is I decided that, hey, I'm known for my hard work. I'm known for being a seller-seller. I was doing it for a long time. I was doing sales consulting for in other companies, but I needed to build my brand and to do that, I asked amazing sales leaders in our industry if I can interview them and start writing a blog about what they believe are the best practices. And that helped me in also getting and I was very honest with them. I was like you know, this will help us both, because I need also to have to increase my brand recognition.
Speaker 1:And I also will write the article and will feature you, and so that gave me also the opportunity to get noticed by the network. So then you start associating yourself with folks that are really also good at what they do. So it's putting these building blocks. And also, every six months, or look back at your strategy, because what I found, if you look at my first year, I was going in all these directions and I had to bring it back and focus, and I had to also get rid of some of these solutions or packages, that it wasn't my sweet spot, that I was just trying to be creative, and so it's also the lessons that are learned through the process.
Speaker 2:Awesome, awesome. So you gave us a really good blueprint here for the audience listening. So the number one you said I'm ready, I need to create a strategy. So, first thing, you started to create your own network with a different type of people that you needed surrounding you for that new season. So you went to LinkedIn, did your research, reached out and then started connecting with those people. Number one for my audience create a new network for this new season of your life. Number two create a strategic plan. And on this one, strategic planning sounds a little bit scary, but basically what you did is you created a goal of where you wanted to be and then reversed engineer on how you were planning to get there.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, yeah, absolutely. Like when you think about strategic planning, you look at all the business books. It sounds, you're right, sounds complex, but you start with the goal and you say how am I going to get there? And you have to get there. You have to be clear about who your target audience is. You have to be clear about what you're selling, the packaging and, through my interviews with these amazing entrepreneurs, one of the things that they kept saying it ran a package, your solution package, your product. If you're selling a coaching package, what does that include? And so that includes your solutions and that strategic plan and that plan. The pricing model how you're going to price it the marketing or the building of the brand how are you going to build it? And you don't need a big marketing plan, but just holding yourself accountable that I am going to update my LinkedIn profile to be relevant to my buyers.
Speaker 1:I am going to start showing up three times on LinkedIn or wherever the platform that your buyers are. I'm going to engage with my buyers, so those are kind of like holding yourself accountable and having some metrics around that. And then also, what are your? I did a quick SWOT analysis because I wanted to know and SWOT is strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats trying to figure out, well, what is my, what is Solomon Consulting Strength, what is our competitive differentiator, but also what is our weaknesses, what is our internal weaknesses, and also what are things that are not in our control, the threats that we need to be aware of. Like we weren't aware, covid is going to happen, so how do you address such a threat? And then there's also the opportunities that are out there that we can also take advantage of, and so that was kind of the basis of that plan. And even if you don't have answers, you know now that, wow, I need to be looking out for these things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you know, it's interesting because, as you say, maybe if, even if we don't have answers, once we know that we have a gap, we recognize it and our brains are amazing, right, just the creativity that comes around and then you start seeing potential solutions that you hadn't paid attention before because you didn't need those solutions, and so just bringing the awareness to I need this helps us finding those solutions and filling in the gaps. So that's really awesome. So, number one create your network that you need. Number two strategic planning. Number three the strategic plan has to be linked to a brand, wherever your tribe is. And then you talked about you didn't have capital, so you did the bootstrapping, the scrappy way, right, and when I work with clients, my ladies here, they say I need money. Can you give us your insights on that statement, reina?
Speaker 1:Great question. So yeah, we do need I mean, you need a little bit of money, but at the end of the day, Is that a stopper for anyone aspiring to have their own business. So, to be honest, you've got to make sure you can feed your family right.
Speaker 1:Yes, and that's the thing where I had that right. I knew that my kids are not going to starve if I don't make it the first six months because I'm building, so anyone who's also getting into it also, especially if you are a woman with a family or a man with a family if you're young and you're 20, you are one of my kids.
Speaker 1:They can live on nothing. They can live on Roman noodles, right, but when you have a family it's a little different. So, knowing, going in, knowing that hey, I need to make sure that I have my kids are okay, and I was fortunate that my husband and I, we were okay, we could survive with me not making an income the first six months or so. Now, to create the company, do you need a lot of money? In the United States, you don't. There's a lot of opportunities where you can build your own company through by LLC, getting an LLC, having a website, you can build your own website. It takes more time. So now you're giving up time and time is money, right, and I had to learn that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Sometimes you got to you have to hire people because they can do it efficiently while you are selling and making money and so. But when you start your business, you can absolutely create your own website if you're trying, if you don't have the capital. And then it's the, the prospecting and the hustle. The hustle becomes really important where now all your, your, your, your time should be spent thinking all I need is one client. All I need is and that was something when my coach said that he said all you need is one client you have sold so much in your life, do you not think you can get one client? And I was like, of course I can't Easy busy.
Speaker 1:And turning point that's how we need to think of it. It's the small blocks, right. It's the small, small wins that we get. And once you get that first client, you do an amazing job. You deliver, you, you, you, you. You delight them, you take care of them. And guess what? People want to work with? People they trust and that they know that they have the good intent and motives and that are competent. These people will take you with them and that's how businesses start growing.
Speaker 1:It's almost like a viral, like a virus it starts spreading and your name starts spreading. And so so when you think, do you need to have a lot of money? You don't. You need to make sure you're. If you are, if you are have a family that the first year you're not going to make, you may not make the money that you used to make, but putting a business together in the beginning in my experience did not. Because I am again. I'm a services, I'm in the services industry, right? Yes, why? Services and my brains are what my products are. I like to package them in a way that are their product ties, but I don't have software. I'm not creating a software. That's where it starts, where you start needing that capital.
Speaker 2:Yes. So, reina, I am going to lever to what you just said. Now, your, your superpower is in your brain, right, and your expertise, in your experience and your knowledge and, from my audience, a lot of these, these women are there, right, they're experts in their field, they know what they're doing. They, they do the extra at all times as as an employee. And and then you talked about can we get to that first sale, and when, when we, when we break it down to that is like, hmm, it's, I mean, it may be, it may be challenging, but it's not impossible, right, it's, it's doable.
Speaker 2:And then you talked about one key element to you creating this, or getting to your first sale, is knowing your ideal client, and and Reina is an expert in sales, so I'm going to leverage on her expertise Can you walk us through your own process from the sales perspective, for you, for you to get to your ideal client? Because one of the issues that that I hear working with my clients is anybody can use my client, my services or my product, and that's that's a little bit of a if you don't focus. Going back to your earlier comment, right, we need to be focused on that ideal client. So can you walk us through a strategy to get us there?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so. So I want your, your, your, your listeners, to look back at their wins and and as, and identify. I call it the buyer profile and buyer persona. So buyer profile is the typical organizations where you see that they have a problem that you can solve. Right, what is that type of company? It could be a small business, businesses, local businesses in our community. It could be startups with X amount of capital that they have an X amount of employee. It could be a large organizations and specific industries.
Speaker 1:So you got to start there. You got to identify well, what type of companies am I going after? Because companies have different companies, have different approaches and also you may not be offering them what they need. And so start with that type of companies and and then also, within these companies, who are the buyer personas? And those are the titles of the people that you're going after. Where do they sit in the organization? What is their role and responsibility? How do you help them solve the problem? What is their initiatives, what are their problems? Where you can say, man, I can help them. And then you go on LinkedIn and then, if you, if you want to, if you have to invest in a tool, invest in sales LinkedIn sales navigator because that's when you can create those lead lists and that's where you can stay really focused, because that's when you can go okay, type of company, size of company, location, titles, and then LinkedIn is going to spit out a list for you and then you start saying who am I?
Speaker 1:am I connected to anyone in that list? Do I have another in someone in my network that knows them? Because the the the fastest way to get in front of someone is through referrals, right? And so I'm looking through my connections. I see, oh my God, griselda, you are connected to this VP or SVP at this company. And if I know you really well, I'm going to reach out and say, griselda, you know I here's, here's what I'm. I'll set up a call with you. If I haven't talked to you for a while, I'm going to let you tell you what I'm doing and I'm going to ask you if you can help me, and when, when. If you say yes, I'm going to make it as easy as possible on you to make that introduction, because I'm going to even craft the email for you and say hey, I know you're super busy.
Speaker 1:Here's what you can use to introduce me and then CC me on that email and I will take it from there and and and. That's where you start becoming strategic in terms of connecting. Now you may have you may have thought oh, I want to work with startups and that's my buyer profile, that's the type of organization within these organizations I'm going to work with the VP of HR, whatever. And then, as you start the lessons learned, as you start growing, you recognize okay, what are the lessons learned? Maybe this is not the right buyer person, maybe it's not the right titles I'm going after.
Speaker 1:I should be going after the L and D leader versus someone else. So there's always also lessons, and that's what I want your, your listeners, to know that always be open minded when you are creating a new company, because you're learning as you go. There's failures, that happens along the way and you got to make sure to to take that in and to be open and to listen to what is said, but also what is unsaid, and that's things that I've learned the way.
Speaker 2:So you talked about providing value, and then you also talked about social selling as a strategy. So tell us about what social selling is and how that is important for sales, and in from your own perspective.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. You know social selling and people define it different way. It's simplest form to me it's using social media to research to research your existing customers and your and your brand. To create and generate leads, to nurture existing relationships, to prepare for your sales call so you can take an outside in perspective and and and and also to build your brand and familiarize and so you become a familiar face to your prospects. When you think about cold calling or cold email, I do believe they're important.
Speaker 1:And when you include social, when you start showing up on someone's feed and they're part of your buyer persona and they keep seeing and they seem value in what you're sharing, they're like oh man, resilde, you know what you're talking about. You share some great points about what, what is relevant to me as your prospect, and you start nurturing these relationships and you start showing up on their posts and you add insights by commenting and then, a few months later or whatever, you see that they've done something in their organization or they posted something that compelled you to reach out to ask for anything. So you go to email and you reach out with a customized email and now when they see your face and your name, they're like oh yeah, I know I've seen Resilde. She's not a stranger to me, she's more of a warm face. So there's an increased chance of them saying yes, I want to meet with you. You're not cold, you're not a stranger to them, because you've already started adding value and you've already started positioning yourself as someone that is relevant to them.
Speaker 2:We've got to be relevant to our audience. I love that. I love how you put into perspective how, even if it's distant and we don't know who is watching us, we, then we're not the stranger. In some level they already trust us, they already know who we are and they already got some value from what we're talking about. And one of my mentors says you know, the best way to help someone is by helping them. And so just how do we start helping them, even if it's far?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's helping them.
Speaker 1:And the idea here is when you're having a business, yeah, we want, of course, revenue and money. I mean, this is a business, it's not a hobby. It's a business, yes, but to get there, you got to make sure that you have, you are offering something that is helping someone, and that that help is so valued that they're willing to pay for it. And that's where it's really important that you also know your value right and that you are looking at this as a business, not not not just offering free solutions. Your time is money and you are. You've gone that far. You have experience, you have expertise. You need to make sure you're getting paid for it. Or, if you're not getting paid for it, how is it going to help you in generating leads? There has to be a purpose and a reason.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, okay, and one of the hardest things, even for myself and, I'm sure, for my audience, is to say you know, I'm adding X value to their lives. How do I set a price that reflects that value? And working on mindset that is like, oh my God, is it too much money or are they going to be willing to pay for what I offer? All these questions that come to us from your own experience, rena, as a business owner how did you go about that? And knowing that you do add value and making sure that you do add value, I think it's also important to be competitive in your pricing Right.
Speaker 2:So you also need to look at what is out there and what are.
Speaker 1:you know what is realistic? Because if your price is so high and you're acting like and you're focusing on selling value, people can see that as well. It's too much Like, I can't afford it. But when you sell value, it's about packaging your solution and aligning it to a business problem. And if you solve that business problem and think about it from an ROI perspective, what does that mean to the organization? And that's where your conversations should be. It shouldn't be about your products. It should always start with okay, you have a high turnover rate X, y and Z.
Speaker 1:How much does it cost for your turnover rate? I'm going to give you that number. Or you know industry wise, you can say and usually it costs that much, okay, what if we can reduce turnover rate by X and Y? What if? And we can save that much, how would that impact your business? And people start thinking oh, that is almost, could be millions of dollars. So, then when you share your solution, you're aligning it to business outcomes. It's going to be much less than those ROI metrics, right?
Speaker 2:Wow, I love that. I love that You're not selling your product, you're selling the solution and we go back to the introduction for you, because if we shift that perspective, then really it's an investment and it's much less than what they would not have or be losing at that point. We're losing, right.
Speaker 1:Now one of the things that I wanted your listeners to know is that we're losing a lot to indecisions, because people are afraid, especially in times of uncertainty, to make decisions, to take those calculated risks. And so just what you said, griselda, is very important. What are we losing if we don't take action? Right, because what ends up happening in the sales process? Our deals get stuck and people are not making decisions. So how do we increase that sense of urgency? Bring it back to that business problem and talk about what happens if we don't take action. What are some of the scenarios that can happen if you don't take action and solve that?
Speaker 2:problem. Raina, I'm going to take a turn here and I am going to ask you this very question what would have happened if you had not taken that step into becoming a business owner?
Speaker 1:What would I have not, if I think I would have found my way because I wanted to make an impact. If I didn't have my business, I would have still be doing research and sales and working for organizations that have the same values that I do. So that's kind of where. But I don't envision now that I'm in it. I don't envision myself not having, you know, going through that journey to get to it.
Speaker 2:So it has the investment been worth the return? Yes yes, yes.
Speaker 1:Is it easy?
Speaker 1:No it's not easy because there are sacrifices, right. So I work a lot and I love to work, and so I'm working on weekends. I integrate life and work together. But would I do it any other way? Absolutely not. I love waking up and thinking okay, what are we going to do today? We have these much customers we're going to talk to. How are we going to help them? And the conversations that you have with people also bring in ideas, and when you have that mentality of thinking in possibilities, I think it makes you see things in a different way.
Speaker 2:Thinking in possibilities. Oh my God. So every conversation is a possibility?
Speaker 1:Oh, it's a possibility and it's a gift. It's a gift when I sit with an executive, when I sit with a VP, when I sit with a sales rep. This is a gift that I have 30 minutes with them to not only help them but also learn from them. And I tell you the minute we start opening ourselves and listening to what is said and what is said that possibility comes in. A lot of my programs that I've created is based on really actively listening to people. What are their needs, what are their pains and also what are they may not be seeing. That, based on my conversation with them and based on my experience, I come back and say whoa, okay, let's step back, let me provide you things that I'm seeing and let's bring all these worlds together.
Speaker 2:I love it. I love it because, as an expert, you may be seeing things that for you are easy, for you are obvious, but for the people on the other side, who don't have your expertise, the knowledge and experience, it's not obvious to them. Right? That's so. That's another moment of us recognizing our competitive advantage, where we differentiate ourselves and continue to learn on what our strengths are, and that's exciting. That is exciting, I think.
Speaker 1:I think Rizalda, I know we're almost done, but one thing that I also want your listeners to is to find their superpower, because I think a lot of us look at our weaknesses and we were trying to identify all these weaknesses, but have you taken a moment to step back and say what is my superpower and how am I using it? Because everyone else thinks that their superpower, everyone else has it. Well, no, there's something about you. It's not cheesy, it's reality that you do really well. Do you know that and are you using it?
Speaker 2:So how can my audience go about becoming clear about their superpower? Because I know we tend to say this is just normal, this is just something everybody does. So what would be an advice for my audience to look into that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so self-awareness is so critical. This is something, it's a gift, and it's painful as well, but through self-awareness, you can do several things.
Speaker 1:One is, if you don't have kind of the capital to do a formal 360 assessment and hire someone to coach you and to do all the actual full view, you can have it self-reflection, like sit in a every day, think of your day and identify, have a self-reflection where you say, well, what went really well, what I do really good, what were also areas of improvement, what were some areas that are blind spots for me that I need to improve on.
Speaker 1:And the more you do that, the more you recognize, okay, wow, I do this really well, I can get things done really quickly, I can connect the dots, I can whatever that is, and couple that with really having a open conversations with people that know you have work, that know you're at home, their partners, your customers, and ask them these questions as well and then compare, because that's where blind spots also happen. Sometimes we may think we have a strength and our people around us that we trust, maybe like, ooh, I don't think that's. That is a strength. Or we may think that this is a weakness and they say, well, no, this is great at what you do. Or they may say, you're really good at this and I'm like, oh, yeah, but I thought everyone else has put at it as well.
Speaker 1:So that's kind of a scrappy way to do it. And the more formal way is, of course, to do a 360 assessment. That is valid and reliable testing assessment, and then a coach comes in and reads it for you and it really shows you your grades versus your score, versus how others scored you on specific competencies in specific areas, and then you do a coaching plan.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love that and I totally appreciate you bringing us to a do it yourself version of the 360, reina. I mean it makes sense, but I had not seen it in an advice way. So for my audience, for a 360 assessment, do it your own, do it yourself. You find the people who know you in different capacities so family, friends, business partners, clients, etc. And then you start asking them questions what am I really good at, what are our points of improvements, etc. And then you inventory all of that information and then you start finding patterns and I can put money you are going to find patterns. It's so powerful to just hear what people can see on us that we may not be aware. So thank you so much for that, reina. A couple of items, and you mentioned this in the in the previous part of the conversation failures, and you told me that you wanted to talk about failures, failing fast and failing forward. Can you share, on your own journey, what this has been for you and how you've gone about it?
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, failing is part of learning. It should not define you as your identity, because if you're not failing, you're not learning. If you come in and you think, hey, I'm going to create this business from one shot, I'm going to be successful at it, look at other leaders. It's the people learn as they go and so failing fast, meaning okay, I failed, I didn't do a good job, I lost this deal, I'm going to take maybe 24 hours. This is my process.
Speaker 2:I think 24 hours of grief.
Speaker 1:I call it I. I really let it out. I go do my run. I'm a runner, so I get I run, I come back, I talk through it, I get my frustration out, I write out what happened, I talk about what could have been better, I debrief all that but then there's a moment within 24 to 48 hours where I say, okay, now I've got to move forward Because if I keep looking back it's going to stop me from take go to that next chapter. So you fail fast, but then you move forward and you take those learnings with you.
Speaker 1:Is it painful? Absolutely it's painful. Rejection and losing and failing is painful. There are studies that show us it's the same kind of I guess and I'm not a neuroscientist the same kind of neuro pathways that I weighed the brain processes. Pain is similar. Physical pain, rejection is the same. The same type of processing happened when we get rejected Wow, and to me in sales we get rejected a lot, and that's that's. That's also part of failing fast and failing forward and learning from it. And you also got to take care of yourself. Yes, I work a lot and I can tell you I can outwork a lot of people, but I also know that I will not miss my run every morning. That is something that is very important to my health, that is important to my mindset and to my, to making sure that I'm taking care of myself and, in turn, my business and my customers.
Speaker 1:So those are the you have to make sure that you have put in place also a support system, because at the end of the day you know, I think I have a question about moms as well right, like there's. I'm a mom, I have two kids, I have two amazing boys. For me to do this, I have to have a support system of people in my life that can help me, that can help me with, with, with, with every component of it, right, and also knowing that we're not perfect. We're not perfect as moms were not, and our kids don't expect us to be perfect. They don't want perfect moms. They want these moms that are working hard and hustling and winning and losing, because that's the real world, that's the real go ahead and you know we're not perfect, but we're perfect for them, right?
Speaker 2:That's all they know. They're stuck with them.
Speaker 1:And the funny thing for your audience, when I was getting you know, when I was getting my PhD, I I didn't have time to read a lot of nursery rhymes for my kids and so I would bring in my marketing and I searched articles and I would read them as if I'm reading a rhyme and till now my kids, I, I recognize when I say a marketing term.
Speaker 2:There has like oh my God, so you were. Oh my God, I love that's right, yeah, that you were exposing them early on to marketing sales.
Speaker 1:I was trying to finish my homework and be a mom and I was like, oh my God, I can do both. It's in the tone. It's in the tone.
Speaker 2:So give us an example of something that you recall doing that, because I'm sure this is for the records.
Speaker 1:What is it? I think all my Harvard business business review articles. I think there was an article about managing authenticity that I probably read to them. I think Cotter's marketing that the law, the the 22 law of immutable branding. If I remember right that I remember 22,. I was like one two.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, I think you're onto something here, reina. How do you? How to turn Harvard business review articles into children's books?
Speaker 1:Hey, you got to do what you got to do and that's why it's always about also integrating. Yes, trying to integrate.
Speaker 1:You can't the reality of it when you're a business owner, that balance it's not really real in the beginning. Yeah, you got to be also realistic about what you can and cannot do. And the last thing that I would also tell your audience as moms like recognize, yes, there are going to be sacrifices. Like I remember my kids great school. They would always have donuts donuts at like 10 or 11 in the morning. I could never make that donut. I knew I'm not going to have that donut morning but I also knew that that was okay with me not being there. But there were things that were non-negotiable that I will be there for and that's when I would work around that. So there's spirit teacher conference. I was there. There's a basketball game and I was in town, I was there, I had my laptop, but to them mom, was there.
Speaker 1:So that's where you got to pick right. You got to pick what is your non-negotiable, if you're a mom, and what are things that are really sacrifices that you just they're not a priority.
Speaker 2:Yeah, prioritizing your time is definitely a key component because, yeah, you have to just manage the 24 hours you have in your business. That's amazing, and I love how flipping the articles sounds silly, but you were also given them knowledge. You were exposing them to things that are valuable in their lives. So being creative and innovative as a mother and as a student and as a now businesswoman, I'm sure they took lessons from that. So it's just part of the investment overall.
Speaker 1:I think, yeah, I think your kids need to see and I think COVID also helps our kids see what we do, because they were right there.
Speaker 2:They were listening to.
Speaker 1:They were seeing that environment of hustle and hard work and losing and winning. I mean, I think COVID did a lot of. Yes, it was devastating, but there was also something about it that brought families together and connected.
Speaker 2:I agree, I agree. Okay, one very important question for this show, reina were you expected to be successful?
Speaker 1:So I yes, I expected myself to be successful.
Speaker 2:I love that answer.
Speaker 1:I mean, I'm going to be honest with you, I didn't. I didn't think it was going to be easy because I came from very little. I came here and we didn't know the system, but I knew that my parents sacrificed a lot to get us here. I knew that they put everything they have to get us to this land of opportunities and I knew that if I worked hard, that I will make it. Now I know that I'm going to end up in sales. I didn't. I did. That was something where I was finishing my PhD and I needed to find a job.
Speaker 1:I need to pay my debt and I applied to a sales consultant firm. I got the job and then, quickly, I went into sales and learned how to start learning the professional way of selling. But I really knew and you got to believe in yourself. But it wasn't easy, right? Of course I had times and moments where I felt, oh my God, I can't do it, I can't make it, I'm scared, I don't know. But that belief in my gut, I knew that I am worth it and I can do it. And it's going to take a lot of hard work and I may be working twice as hard as everyone else, but I have that grit. So that's the honest answer. I wish I could tell you no.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, I mean, it's it. I mean it was, it was. You knew that you were going to become successful, because you had other instances where you had just done the same. This was just a new adventure, right, and? And you've talked about the sacrifices and you've talked about the hard work and you've talked about the the efforts that have taken from you. So it's not like easy PC but, but it's not impossible either.
Speaker 1:It's not impossible. I think at the end of the day we are. We all can, if we want to and we put our mind and efforts and hard work and to do to accomplish our goals. There's the opportunity cost.
Speaker 2:What does that mean? Yes, what does it mean.
Speaker 1:You have to give something to get something. And if you're willing to give something to get that something and you're willing to put the work and the discipline and this is something, griselda, that I think is also important as business owners, you have to have perseverance, but you also have to have discipline, because discipline helps you have structure, helps you have routine and there are times when you're not motivated to to do what you want to do as a business owner. But if you have that discipline in place, where every morning I have in my calendar this is blocked to what I do, then even if I'm not motivated on this plan that I need to get that done.
Speaker 2:I love that, I love the, even when we don't feel like it. Our discipline would get us through Absolutely, and we it's not. It's not a matter of whether or not I'm going to do it, it's just part of what I do, non-negotiable.
Speaker 1:Non-negotiable and the reality of it also, griselda, is that you may try it, and I said that to another person yesterday. I said you may try being an entrepreneur, and it's okay to say this is not for me. What we don't want is when you're on your you know, god forbid on your death bed and you say what if? And that was kind of for me also, that what if? Because I didn't want to get in that time where I'm living in an environment where I can try and test things, and that's where you want to avoid the what ifs.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, Not. We don't want to regret at the end of our lives that we did not do something we need. We needed to do. And with that, Reina, what would be one word you can give our audience of your business ownership journey? One word to summarize this Grit, Grit.
Speaker 1:I love it Just do it, just the belief that when you fail it's a learning and you get back up, and I think a lot of immigrants have that because we learn it from our families, we learn it from our own experiences. That it's that grit of okay, and I heard I learned that from my dad. My dad has the amazing grit no matter how much he falls, the man will get back up and that's something that we for me, that's that. That's definitely my journey.
Speaker 2:So for my audience, reina is also an author and it's gets about the topic yes, sales, essential sales. So tell us about that, reina, and how my audience can connect with you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely so.
Speaker 1:Last in June, I think, june yeah, few months ago I published my first book by McGraw Hell, which is one of the top three publishers in the world.
Speaker 1:I'm very fortunate and humbled by that and the book is called Sales Essentials and in Resolda, everything we talked about is included in this book, plus more, and it's really about how do we sell and it's the foundational and essentials and any business owner folks you got to be able to sell your product, your solution, and you got to be able to influence it behavior, because at the end of the day, I always say I always say that if you're not selling, it becomes a hobby and that's what you don't want. You want it to be a business. So you got to make money out of it. And to make money, we got to sell and that's what sales essential is. It's going to give you kind of the tools and the building blocks to help you get that deal. And, of course, linkedin Raina Solomon connect with me and mentioned Resolda's podcast, so I also can connect and relate to the conversation and please send me feedback and input. I want to learn from you all as well.
Speaker 2:Awesome. I love it, and this is not an easy task. So congratulations, dr Selman, for your first book being published and we look to the ones coming up next. Thank you again for your insights, for your lessons, for sharing your own journey from that experience of becoming a sales person for all of our audience. We need to sell, we need to sell a brand, we need to sell our businesses, we need to sell our expertise. So go back and take notes of what Raina shared with us today and I hope that we hear the successes from you implementing these strategies Until next time, more to come.
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