Chris: Today and we are talking with Suzanne Evans doing secretarial work on Broadway and in one year deal herself into a six-figure income and now three years later as seven-figure income.

Suzanne: , thank you so much for joining us.

Suzanne: Thank you so much for having me.

Chris: You are just something else. We've been looking at your website just cracking us up with some other things you say. And right away you just admit that you failed math 2 times, you have no formal business training, and you launched your business from a 350 square foot apartment. But you’ve obviously built it into just an incredible success. And I want ask you first of all, one of the really key things that you say is turn your messes into success. Why do you talk about that?

Suzanne: I tend to say turn your mess into your message. Which means that many times, the people we work with are in the service related profession and they’re trying to hide their messes they’re trying to hide their challenges, they’re trying to come off as this person that has it all together. What they forget is that what people really relate to are stories and they are able to connect through empathy and if they can see that your test has become your testimony or if you’ve turned your mess into message the entity that they can connect to that, they can relate to that, that’s somebody else that they wanna work with. People go around this world trying to look perfect and that’s not what people are looking for they’re looking for someone that’s relatable. And so we always tell our clients make your mess your message. You can make a lot of money doing it.

Chris: And so how did you figure that out? You had a pretty unique story on how that happened to you.

Suzanne: Well for me it was funny but simple. I didn’t really have a choice. You know when I looked at what I had, which was being a secretary I was completely broke. I wrote this article a few months ago that’s kinda become very, very famous. Which is “That Damn Broke.” And I looked at what I had, I’d never been in business before, but I knew I wanted something else. And I said I’m either gonna lie my way through this or I gotta take all this mess and turn it into something that is monitizable, turn it into magic, turn it into a message and use that to kinda be my battle cry. To be my movement to be my marketing message that I share with the world. So, it came out of necessity. But what I learned through using that and doing that really kind of swallowing hard and going just hare who you are and you've been through. What I saw was that people went, “Wow, you’re really real. Wow, I can relate to you. I’ve been through that too.” Or, “I was worried that couldn’t launch a business. Start a new venture. Make more money because I have this going on my life and now I’ve seen you do it, I know that I can do it.” So it’s been probably one of the greatest lessons of my life, is me going, “This what I’ve got so I might as well use it.” That is what made many people attracted to our business and our brand and our investment.

Chris: And when you first stated out, you went out to Whole Foods Market, right?

Suzanne: I did, you know, I had I done what we call in marketing, run the course of my circle of influence. You know I had called the neighbors, I had called the friends, I called everybody after I had tortured everyone that I knew to torture to get this little business off the ground I said, "I’ve got to figure out where to get clients.” And I was literally shopping in Whole Foods one day and said, “I’ve got an idea, I just thought of something.” And my partners said, “Oh please, please do not have an idea.” Because she knows that always gets everybody in trouble. I said, “I’m gonna do talk to the general manager.” And I went and talked the general manager, and said, “I am no longer a life coach, I am a business coach.” Because at that time I was life coaching, and I said, “I’d like to put a life coaching nbooth in the Whole Foods.” And he said, “Well we don’t do that.” And I said, “Well there’s a guy in the back of the sore passing out chicken sausage samples. Surely people need coaching more than they need chicken sausage.” And he kept going, “But we don’t do that, we only do products.” And so I worked with him and worked with him and said, “It says, Whole foods, whole body, whole life. Come on what about the whole life piece?” And so I think I scared him enough that he said yes. And so every Sunday, I think it was two to five o'clock for at least 6 months. I set up a table in Whole Foods in the isle between the apples and the tomatoes and I talked to people, I asked them questions, I asked them what worked in their life, what didn’t work in their life. Did they want some coaching around this. And I got clients, I got customers, I got traction. And was it the easiest thing I’ve ever done? No, a lot never done now a lot of people would find it humiliating to stand in a grocery store and ask for business. For me it was my greatest life lesson. If you’re not willing to make a fool of yourself, you’re not really serious about business.

Chris: Okay, so you really built this from the ground up. I'm really curious about you deal with lot of people, a lot of businesses and what are some of the really common elements that you see when people come to you that they really struggle with and that really stops them and keeps them from going to that level of success that you are obviously teaching so many people to do?

Suzanne: They want a magic pill. They want the rewards without the work and that doesn’t mean they don’t show up with a lot of desire and a lot of passion and a lot of excitement but I quite I often I see people lack hunger. You know one of my favorite quotes is: Live your life for a few years like most people won’t so you can live the rest of your life most people can’t. And I see tons of people and I have to say especially women who really have a desire to change their financial situation. They have an idea they’d like to start a business, but they're not really willing to do whatever it takes, and building a business is very hard work. It is not a 9-5 existence. It is much more difficult than having a job. Sometimes people will come to me and I’ll say, “Well why do you want to start a business?” And they’ll say, “Oh, ‘cause I don’t wanna have a job.” And I note, that’s a huge red flag for me that this is never work for them, because a lot harder than having a job. And I think they work and work ethic and putting in the time and putting in the hours has really on the become a dirty word for us. It’s almost become something negative and you if you talk to any highly successful person and they will tell you it was struggle, it was hard, it was tough, getting up to 20 times in a row. It was that 80% of what they did failed but 20% worked and they just focused on that 20%. And do I think we live been in a day and age and society where people want a magic pill, they want a magic bullet and no such thing exists. People will come up to me and say, “Oh, I can’t wait to get where you've been.” You know, “I want to be an overnight sensation.” And I go, ”Oh, okay yeah. A 5 year 19 hour workday overnight sensation. Alright, yeah. I totally get it.”, So that’s what I think most people struggle with, everything else can be figured out. You know marketing and business building and how to make money, you can go to Barnes & Noble and buy book on that. What you can’t buy is work ethic. What you can’t buy is the tenacity to understand that you are going to have to get knocked down 20 times and get up 21 to make this work.

Chris: So do you think tenacity is one of the most important things?

Suzanne: Absolutely. I like to say that marketing, business building strategy, really make the past easier, tenacity make the past possible.

Chris: Okay, so what about the businesses where they had the tenacity, they’ve been doing the work, I see a lot of people like this, but they aren't getting the results, they aren't getting the breakthrough. What do you do with those guys?

Suzanne: I think that that’s BS for the most part. I mean I see a lot of people who look very busy, but they’re not doing the work. There’s a big difference between looking busy and doing the work. There’s a few challenges, I mean certainly, you have to have the right mode, you need to start with a good business model that’s monatizable that has structure and the strategy to be able to be profitable. The you need to make sure that you’ve got the right strategy in place, the right marketing in place. That on a daily basis you have automated systems that allow you to collect leads and convert those leads into customers. Third you need to know how to sell. Most people want to be in business but they don’t want to have to sell. And it’s really just crazy talk, because you’re not in business if you’re not selling. You know whether a virtual business or a brick-and-mortar business if you are not asking people on a daily basis to work with you or buy your product or program or service have some sort of consultation with you, then you’re not in business. And then fourth of all you have to back it all up, with follow up and action. I was very committed that I would call people for opportunities until they said yes we’d love to have you or they told me to buzz off. And it's never easy hearing no, but I’ll tell you what, it’s a lot easier hearing no than it is not being able to pay your bills, not be able to grow your business and you’ve got to come up with a ton of no’s to get to the yes’s. At the end of the day business really is the numbers game. You know I say all the time, ”How many times have we bought crap? ”We have all bought stuff that wasn’t very good. Everything is sellable as long as you put in the effort. Now I am not a proponent of going out there and not having a great product, program or service. The reason I love working with the people I love working with is they’re very connected to their movement. They have a service or product or program that truly can transform of the world, but the truth of the matter is everything comes down to numbers. So if you ask enough people you are going to get enough no’s, you're gonna get some yes’s. be your number one focus. The other thing that I recommend and this may surprise a lot of people, all of my clients have aspired to take an improvisation class. You know what improvisation is, for some of your listeners, that is a theatrical style class where people are improvising things and situations. That’s what sales is. You have to be able to have a conversation with them and dance in the moment and go to unexpected places and hold the space for difficult conversations. And discuss money and answer questions on the fly and be able to represent your value. And a lot of that is improvisation, which is what we encourage all of our clients to take part of.

Chris: So many people think sales is just hitting people with a barrage of information. We get a lot of that rather than actually listening.

Suzanne: Right, yup. Absolutely there is a lot of sales to be made in the silence.

Chris: Except not on the radio.

Suzanne: No, silence is never good on the radio.

Chris: Okay. Another thing you talk about and it’s very interesting, because I know there's a lot of people out there now they are simply trying to create a virtual business. They want to sit home, they wanted be a part of the computer. And they want to make some products and sell them from their chair. What do you think about that?

Suzanne: You can eventually do that. I mean, some people have been very successful at selling online products ns programs. But especially for a startup small business owner, nothing is going to happen sitting behind your computer. Unless you are a ultimate, ultimate SEO, pay per click expert you are someone who studies how to draw traffic online and you are really accomplished in that area you are not gonna start a business behind the computer. And even most of the people who are what I just said, the accomplished people in online marketing did not initially start their business behind a computer. They got out, they met people, they shook hands, they connected and spoke places, they networked. That’s really what it takes to grow a business in this highly technological age. We have some great opportunities to get our message out free and fast. But nothing in the world will ever top face to face connection. So we say that the layers of how we like to connect with people and we encourage our clients to connect with people. Is first face to face. Next phone to phone. After that e-mail to e-mail. But those are really 3 ways that we prefer people to connect and in that order, face to face, phone to phone, email to email.

Chris: So you went pretty quickly to a 6-figure salary. Now did you have to invest a lot into your business or how did you actually get from point A to point B?

Suzanne: I actually invested 47 dollars into my business. That is what I invested to get started. And I have built a multiple 7 figure business without a single bank loan, without any type of investment or any type capital. And I was in a day job when I first started my business and I worked a 60 hour weekday job while I started my business and I actually called it my business loan. Because it afforded me the opportunity to not worry about not paying the rent while I got the business going. And then I slowly transition out of the job, of course, into the full-time being in business. And I tell people all the time you will need an investment of some type. Whether it’s updating their saving, or their 401(k) plan or you’re maybe fortunate enough to have a partner or spouse who’s happy to support your venture, or you're in a day job. You will need to be able to pay the rent and pay the light bill until your business has taken off and you are sustaining yourself through the business only. But for me I had no capital, no startup, no investment. Just 47 dollars and a day job and I worked my business. I built my business before work after work and during lunch.

Chris: And what’d you spend the 47 dollars on?

Suzanne: It was an online printing company that you could get 250 free business cards but you had to pay for shipping. Shipping was something like 19 dollars and then I bought a domain online, which I think was like 15 dollars or something like that and I then bought a sign, that sign I used at Whole Foods, on sale at Staples could get a sign printed it was 25 dollars, and 1 day only it was like 12 dollars. In total it was like 47 dollars that I initially invested in the business.

Chris: If you wait long enough you can even get the free shipping, if you’re really patient they’ll send you that e-mail eventually.

Suzanne: There you go. Well see I wasn’t patient enough.

Chris: It would have been 27, right?

Suzanne: That’s right.

Chris: Okay so let’s go back to when you started. And like you said you started with 47 dollars, you built it into a 7-figure income for yourself in just a few years. What were some of the hurdles?

Suzanne: Oh, everything! It’s amazing because it can be the most simple thing that kind of blows your mind. Like how do you setup the right accounts for your business? What kind of entity do I need to be? I remember it being a big deal that I found out I could get a FedEx account. I mean I know that sounds crazy but it starts with those little things. Then of course the big things are you do things that don’t work. You need to be marketing a minimum of 3-5 hours a day when you’re in business. So I’m out there marketing, marketing, marketing. And you launch something that no one pays any attention to. Or you create something that no one signs up for. And you have to test and analyze, you have ti figure out, what about this didn’t work. And I try to tell all of my clients consistently, please remember that over the last few years, 80% of what I’ve done has not worked. 80% but we have nailed that 20%. And we find that 20%, we rinse and repeat and repeat and we just innovate or re-create what did work. So I think the biggest hurtle that I have had has been sticking with it. You know I’ve never had an issue of sticking with it, but I on a daily basis understand why people don't. Because you have to pull yourself up by the bootstrap 100 times a day and you remind yourself why you do what you do. And why you’re in the game and you have to remind yourself that this just falls in the 80% keep looking for the 20%. I love Paula Dean’s family, they had an interview the other day, the harder I work the luckier I get. And it's true. We live in a time where people would like I wanna work less and make more. Well I'm very fortunate that I can't do some of that now because I have such a great team. But at the end of the day your name is on the door like my name on the door, buck stops with you and you’ve gotta keep picking yourself up and in some cases to picking your team up to keep going. And they can always contact my team @ support@suzanneevans.org and we’ve got some great free goodies for those of you in business. Who wanna have a wonderful DVD that shows you step by step really how to make meaning make difference and make money at launch your movement. We’ve got that gift for you at suzanneevans.org.

Chris: Wonderful. Well thanks once again for joining us.

Suzanne: Thanks for having me.