Mara Eller (4:30)

Hi, I'm Mara Eller. I'm a teacher, writer, editor, and coach with a passion for transforming pain into purpose through the power of story. My signature writing program, Unearthing Beauty, teaches students a repeatable process for unearthing a fuller picture of who they are and claiming authorship over their lives, while also producing a polished personal essay. I also have another course called the Soul and Science of Great Writing, which is focused on the craft of prescriptive nonfiction. It walks you through the entire writing process, from vague idea all the way to a polished final draft while producing an article or essay to pitch, publish, or repurpose. And I'm here talking to you today because I've been a part of Steph's Mastermind now for a year, almost an entire year. That Mastermind, of course, called sold out group programs. Now, it was the messy middle when I joined, but it has changed my business and my life quite literally. It has been, this year has been one of the biggest periods of growth, personal growth ever in my life. Like top three, probably as a full grown adult. So I want to tell you about that experience and help you see if this might be something that could change your life. So I started out not even knowing which aspects of my business to focus on or what my core message was in the first coaching session with Steph, which I actually re listened to just last week preparing for this. Which by the way, how cool is that? That like, I can literally hear myself from a year ago and see how much I've changed. So I re listened to that. But in that first coaching session, Steph told me to focus on my favorite product that I thought I had to abandon because it was too hard to sell. And a few months later, I filled the program after doubling my price and all of that to a list of only about 250 email subscribers, I think it was like 240. My friends, my peers and clients all started commenting on how strong my emails were and that they had noticed a huge change in the way I was showing up. And then the next quarter, I doubled my email list. And then most recently, I finally launched the program on writing craft that I mentioned just a few minutes ago, which I had been dreaming about and working on, quote, unquote, working on for literally years. And then just this May, I realized that I felt confident enough in my business to find finally began phasing out of my day job and I met with my boss. And this fall, I'm officially part time. I'm a teacher and guidance counselor at a local high school. And so, like, the end date is in sight. I'm officially part time. All because I now have that courage and clarity that I needed to take the leap and make my business my sole source of income. So I haven't quite done that yet, but I've taken a big step in that direction. And it's kind of amazing the confidence that I feel about that decision. Not perfect, but like, somebody asked me, my boss actually asked me in that interview or that meeting when I said, you know, I. I feel called to, to step back from this work at this school and focus more on my business. And he said, oh, like, do you feel like your business is really going to be able to support you, basically? And I was like, yeah, they would never have said that or felt that a year ago. But in addition to all those business results, I have grown so much as a person, particularly in regards to my mental and emotional resilience. I know I'm capable of so much more now than I thought I was. The fact that I'm even recording this podcast is evidence of how far I've come. I could never have done this a year ago. I would have had major anxiety and no idea where to start. So I want to share my story with you today and share a bit about what the experience has been like for me in case someone listening finds themselves in a similar place to where I was and needs a little push to take the leap to join Steph's program. Along the way, I'll be sharing some life changing and business changing lessons that I've learned over the last year, so you'll get some practical tips that you can implement right away. I found Steph through the Hungry Authors Podcast. I listen to every episode. It's an excellent resource for aspiring authors out there. If any of you are listening and are not familiar with it. Hungry Authors I don't even remember what Steph was talking about for most of the episode, but something about the way she described her experience of being in the Messy Middle, which was the name of her program at the time, resonated so deeply for me. Steph seemed so authentic and approachable and like she really understood the mental and emotional chaos that threatens to overwhelm a solopreneur who's an expert at her actual job, maybe if she can allow herself to accept that term, but not necessarily an expert at all the other things that come along with it, and in fact far from an expert at those things. It was like Steph was inside my brain. Like she articulated what I've been feeling but hadn't quite been able to put words to yet. And that is sales lesson number one for today. The better you understand your client's pain points, the better you'll be able to reach them. So you have to get really clear on what your client wants, what their struggles are, and what it feels feels like to be them. In regards to the solution you're offering. This is probably not like brand new, you know, news to any of you listening. If you are already business owners or you know, working towards any kind of offering that you sell to people, you've probably heard this concept of like you have to know your client and maybe you've heard the term pain coin, meaning you know, what is bothering them, what's keeping them up at night that is leading them to search for some kind of solution like the one you're offering. But what might be a little bit new is that you have to literally know the words they think and say in regards to this problem or aspiration. So how do you do that? By talking to them and asking them. Steph calls these customer conversations. It's not rocket science, but it might as well be for how effective they are and for how counterintuitive it seemed to me at first. So basically, you reach out to people who have expressed some interest in the solution you're targeting, and you ask if they would chat with you on Zoom so you can learn or, you know, whatever platform you use so you can learn more about their goals, their struggles, and what they'd want in a program to help solve it. For instance, the one you might be thinking about developing or have already developed. Of course, you don't say that upfront. You say that you know later, and then you write down or, you know, use this transcript service exactly the words and phrases that come up. Then you can literally use their words in your sales copy. Customer conversations also help to create really warm leads that are like halfway to saying yes to your offer, which is, you know, what you can. Then you know, next steps can follow up with them. Once you put together an offer and say, like, would you be interested in this? But the insight that comes from hearing their words, like hearing them talk about their situation and what's keeping them stuck and what they've tried before and why it hasn't worked and what they. How they want to feel like, the insights alone from that are so valuable. Sometimes we're offering something that we Wish we'd had three or five or 10 years ago that maybe we remember exactly what it felt like to be in that position. So that can be a powerful way to speak to your customer's pain point. And of course, that was part of what Steph was doing on that podcast that I first heard, because she'd quit her business when she was in that messy middle stage and knew what it felt like to feel so confused and overwhelmed and just full of self doubt and not. Not having any support during that time. But what if you're offering something that speaks to a pain point that we haven't personally, or at least not in the same way, like we haven't experienced ourselves. Answer customer conversations. So this was huge for me. I learned that I was a little off about what I thought was the pain point for my people. For example, for my program, all about the craft of writing, helping people to create concise, correct, powerful, beautiful prose. Those words seemed really great to me. But that is not the outcome that my people really wanted. They don't really care if it's concise or correct or eloquent. What they really care about is that their writing impacts people. Those other things are just the means to the end of moving people emotionally and impacting them intellectually. So as a result of my customer conversations, I was able to completely change and improve my messaging around this offer in order to speak to the people who might actually want to take it. And then I was able to fill the program the first time I offered it this summer. But back to my story of joining the Mastermind. So I heard Steph on Hungry Authors, and I immediately looked her up. I listened to several episodes of this podcast that you're listening to now and started following her on Instagram. And soon I started DMing her to figure out if this was something I might actually consider. Because I'd been growing my business for, I think about 4ish, 3 or 4 years at that point. And I'd come a long way, but I was in that messy middle where I felt like I don't know what to focus on. I don't know how to scale. Like, I've been kind of doing this as a hobby. Like, how do I make this into a real business and start acting like a real business owner? Like, I need some expert advice here. But I'll be honest, the price point was very intimidating for me. I never come close to spending that kind of money on my business. Like, not even close. Like multiple thousands of dollars is. Was just a crazy figure to me at that time. But I also had been wanting to do something to push myself to the next level. I'd been swirling and thought spirals for too many months, had so many questions which offers to develop how to grow my business. Like how to get from this, you know, profitable side hustle to, like, reliable main income. Like, that was a huge chasm that I had no idea how to cross on my own at the time. I was working over 30 hours a week at my day job as the guidance counselor and English teacher, and I was fitting in writing and editing stuff in the margins, which didn't have a whole lot of space in them since I was also parenting three young daughters and, you know, doing all the other life that happens. So I'd been trying to slowly grow my business so I could cut back on and eventually leave that day job to focus exclusively on my own business and finally make time for my own writing. I'd been making some money, but, you know, I didn't have to bring in very much to make Our ends meet as a family. So I hadn't really put a lot of pressure on myself yet, which was great. But I knew I had to up my game like a lot before I could ever quit my day job. And I had no idea how to do that or I also, you know, had so many ideas of how to do that and no idea which ones to choose or how to do them well. So when I found Steph's offer, I was really intrigued, but it also seemed like it, you know, it was definitely a leap financially and I wasn't sure if it was a leap in other ways as well. I wasn't sure if I was truly ready for it. I was worried that I was still to beginner rather than really in the middle. But Steph encouraged me that since I knew I could help people with my expertise and already had some of the basic infrastructure in place, like, you know, email marketing system and some followers on Instagram and a website and some offers that I'd, you know, successfully sold before some success stories. So she convinced me I was ready and I took the blunge. Since I knew how limited my time was and since I'd busted my butt over the summer to bring in some money with editing work, I decided not to take any editing work for the rest of 2023. I joined in October so I could really invest in Steph's program. Like, if I was spending a thousand dollars a month, I was going to make sure I was using it. So I'm going to share now what I did that helps me be successful in the program. But I want to mention a product. This doesn't mean that what I did is exactly what you have to do. Steph says that we should use her program to support us in whatever ways are most supportive at the time, rather than feeling like we have to do certain things or we're wasting it. Like it's a good, you know, it's all about balance. But I also knew I paid for things. I'd paid for things before and not use them or not completed them. Like, raise your hand. Here's the teacher in me. Raise your hand if you've bought a course and never finished it or maybe never even started it. I am definitely raising my hand. So I was determined not to do that this time. So here's what I committed to do. And I would encourage any of you listening who maybe have already joined the Mastermind or might join it in the future or any coaching program. Make yourself a list of things that you commit to doing. You know, you can Control what you do a lot more than you can control the results. And Steph is going to be big on results and you will see results. But start with thinking about what you're going to do and make a list and try to stick to it. So here are the things that I committed to doing and for the most part, did actually do for the last year. First was show live every Tuesday to our coaching calls. That's when the calls have been for live coaching. So it's every week with, you know, a couple of holidays thrown in. I showed up every week live if at all possible, and I committed to listening when I couldn't show up live. I also committed to asking a question each week or almost every week for that live coaching, if I could think of one. So every week I'd think about what I could possibly ask to get more clarity in my business. Like, if I hadn't made that commitment, it would've been really easy to just kind of passively attend and, you know, sort of listen and learn some things. But by having that goal of asking something, I pushed myself to think more about my business and to pinpoint areas where I could use a little more clarity. Sometimes I had pressing questions in advance, but other times I would just find one by doing some reflection. So I started it out by asking a question the very first week, which was basically, which of my 17 offer ideas should I focus on? I was so confused. So confused. I literally, like the night before that or the week, couple days before that, I made this huge, like, mind map of all the things that I cared about and wanted to do and offers I had, and it was like a giant mess. And that was actually an improvement from the mess that had been in my mind. Like, my business was very unfocused, shall we say? So I listened to that recording, as I mentioned the other day, and it was so cool to hear how confused I was and also to hear what I thought I wanted to focus on. Steph started by asking me, you know, what my income needs were at the time. And since they were very low, I had a lot of freedom to pursue the offers that were the most exciting and, like, deeply resonant to me. So the two big ones that I mentioned were my Unearthing Beauty personal narrative course and starting a substack for sharing content and lead generation. And I've now done both. It's hard for me to celebrate my progress because it's hard for me to see my progress. I'm always focusing on the gap between where I am and where I want to be. But being in Steph's program has really helped me to look at the gap between where I was and where I am now and really see my progress because she has us celebrate our wins inside the Slack Channel. And also things like this where you can listen back to your coaching from a year ago and see how far you've come. So in my first six months inside the Mastermind, I focused a lot on unearthing beauty and I was able to fill the program at double the price thanks to Steph's coaching. And I got so much clearer on my messaging, really focusing on results and what makes my program uniquely positioned to ensure those results. I sent way more emails than I ever imagined I could have sent. Still like a third, as many as probably Steph would recommend, but so many more than I would have dreamed I could send. And just in case this resonates with anyone like I send, I'm a writer and I'm an enneagram4. I'm. I'm just deep by nature. So these are not like little fluffy sales emails. Nothing wrong with those, I suppose, but not for me. Like, these were meaningful. And I was still able to send something like 12 or 15 emails for that launch, just about that program, which for me was huge. And I also used some of Steph's scrappy sewing methods to, she calls it shoulder tap to shoulder tap. People who had, you know, clicked on the link or expressed interest at some point do personal invitations. So, you know, like I mentioned, my list was really small. It was only 240something people. I'd already run this program three times to most of those people before. So this, you know, it took a little work. But I, I really learned that this kind of work is not, you know, beneath me or certainly or beneath anyone, that it's like people, especially when we're selling something that's really personal and maybe is a higher price point, people really need that personal contact and it can make a huge difference. So that ended up being a big success for me and then my other big success. About these initial two goals that I articulated on that first coaching call was that I've finally now started my substack publication. It's called One True Sentence. I write about language, emotion, and the lived experience through a slightly unconventional Christian lens, exploring the ways that we can harness the power of words to bring us closer to ourselves, each other, and God. Steph will probably say that that means to be more specific and concrete, but I feel pretty good about my ability to describe it. It's a lot clearer than it was a year ago. So I've finally started that and I also finally started my other online writing program that I had literally been working on for two years. So that's huge. But I want to go back to something I mentioned before, which is results. One of Steph's big coaching points is client results. And this is sales lesson number two for today. What you're selling is results, not features. So this. Sorry, let me start that over. What you're selling is results, not features. So the key to success in business is to get really clear about the tangible results your clients will see when they work with you and then to make sure that they really can achieve those results. Now, it's not that we're guaranteeing that every client will achieve the same result. Rather, we're guaranteeing that if the client follows our process and engages with our program, he or she will have a very good chance of achieving the stated result and we'll definitely see tangible progress toward that goal. Steph calls this promises, not. I'm sorry, she calls it possibilities, not promises. And she has a great podcast episode about it that you should definitely check out. But our job as coaches or teachers, as entrepreneurs in a service based business is to know what the results are that we're offering and make sure those are the results that our people want. That's step one, know what the results are, and step two, make sure we are delivering those results to the people who invest their time and attention, who do their part. We can't make anyone do anything. If they don't show up and engage with our materials, you know, they're not going to achieve the result, and that's on them. We can try to encourage them, incentivize, you know, inspire, but ultimately we can't make them do anything. So the people we're concerned about here are those who are showing up and engaging. So I've heard Steph say more than once, if you really don't feel confident that you can deliver the results your program is designed to deliver, if you don't feel comfortable mentioning the powerful, tangible results in your sales copy, it's time to make your program better. And I love this because it really shows so much integrity. This is not about, you know, promising this dramatic change and then like, wishing people luck. We are in the business of delivering results. Steph is not here to teach you the bells and whistles, to make your offer seem glamorous and hoodwink people into buying it. I could never work with someone like that, like that would just be so gross. Rather, she is all about delivering results, both for us, her clients, and for our clients. So much of her coaching is about helping us to see the value that we're offering and to really believe in our ability to change lives for the better. And that's what I'm in it for, ultimately. And it's the same for her. In fact, if you don't, deep down believe at least a little bit that your product or service can change people's lives for the better, then you probably shouldn't join her program. It's. It's really that simple. Like, this is foundational for her approach. Now, if you believe it deep down, but have trouble talking about it or find yourself doubting that belief, that's totally okay. You'll be in great company. But ultimately, it's all about helping people. And, like, that's what she helps us get fired up about. Okay, so back to what I did to be successful inside her program. I showed up to live calls and I asked a question. Most weeks, being able to talk through a question live often brings up things that you didn't know you needed coaching on. And Steph is there for it all. Like, no question is off limits, that vague. Like, I feel icky about this thing in my business, and I don't know why. Please help me. Like, sometimes those questions are the best. You just have to be brave and ask for help. And you'll be surprised how many other people comment that her coaching on those questions is helping them too, which is another huge point I want to make. Group coaching really is so valuable, so much more valuable than individual coaching. Steph is not blowing smoke about this. I've learned so much in the last year from listening to her coach others. Um, sometimes her coaching with them will emphasize things she said to me or clarify questions I've been asking without having the words for them yet, or just help. It helps me to realize how common many of my struggles are, which is huge. And I'm going to touch on that again in a little bit. And there's another cool thing about it, if you'll allow me to geek out for a moment. It wouldn't be me if I didn't include some brain science or learning insights. But hearing Steph coach people over and over again in combination with having her coach me one on one activates what is called mimetic learning. This is when we learn how someone else's brain approaches problems and we internalize it on a deep level. Mimetic. It comes from the root. Mime imitation. So when we hear how someone else's brain works over and over, we internalize it on a deep level and we can start anticipating how that person might respond in similar situations in the future. So when I'm listening to her coach someone else, I'm often thinking about how I might respond in a situation the person is describing or how I might coach them if I were their coach. And then I get to hear what Steph says and improve my mental model even more. And as a result, I can now almost hear her voice in my head when I encounter many struggles or questions for my business. And I can coach myself through them by imagining what she would say. So there's really so much value there. Plus there's just that sense of camaraderie that you get from being in this messy middle of business with other people. So high, high value from the group coaching. But now back to what I did to be successful. Another thing I also tried to do was to submit something for feedback every week or two. So in her current model, you can submit up to four things for feedback per month, which means like eyeballs on your submission. It could be something like email drafts or sales page or a webinar recording or sales call recording and so on. I think this is a good time to mention, you may have heard Steph talk about her co coach, Cammie. Cammie joined the team about halfway through my first round and it was a six month program then, it's now a year. And to be honest, I wasn't really sure how I felt about that at first. Like I had joined because I trusted Steph and I wanted her advice, not some other person's. But I quickly saw that Kami added a lot of value. Steph had wisely realized that she needed some help to provide to kind of prompt, thorough coaching. She wanted to give her clients inside Slack where we, we can submit any questions we have and get feedback within 24 hours. And now that Cammie's on the team, we get responses to our coaching sometimes much faster than 24 hours, like the same day. And she's really great at her job. Like Steph of course screened her like made sure that she was a really great expert salesperson in her own right. But they also discuss, discuss our questions together regularly to make sure that they're on the same page. They keep track of all their coaching so they can see, you know, what conversations each other has had with us. And now we get two perspectives, two brains on our business instead of just one. Their advice is always similar, but sometimes they have slightly different takes, you know, different things stand out to them. They have slightly different backgrounds and slightly different emphases, and that's really beneficial. It's not only, you know, double the, double the coaching, double the, double the input, but it's also a great reminder that with almost everything, there's no one right answer, but many right answers. Which brings me to sales lesson number three. The process of growing our businesses is always going to be messy because it requires experimentation. When I joined the messy middle, I thought Steph was going to help me get out of the middle stage and help it not be messy anymore. But about three months in, I realized that wasn't it at all. Instead, she was helping me to accept the inherent messiness and learn how to make progress anyway. If you wait for everything to be perfectly organized and planned and prepared, you're never going to actually do it. By the time you're done preparing, the landscape will have changed and you'll have to start over instead. This is what I've learned. We have to name our priorities, pick a target, lay out some basic steps to help us get there, and then dive in. Sometimes it can feel like you're building the plane while you're flying it, but that's okay. And perfect progress is so much better than perfect stagnation. The last thing I did that led to my success in the program is that I asked lots of questions in the coaching channel. In Slack, there's no limit to these, and you get a response in 24 business hours or less. So if I had a question that popped into my mind, I would submit again. I didn't wait for clarity to ask the questions. I just stepped out with courage and let them be messy. Many times, simply the process of writing out my questions in Slack brought more clarity than when I had started typing. And then I would get coaching that would bring even more clarity. So an insight that comes up for me about this is that courage leads to clarity, not the other way around. We might be tempted to think that getting clear will lead to more courage, but it's really we're getting it backwards for the most part. When we have the courage to ask questions and try new things and take a risk with our messaging, we learn so much more than we would if we played small and didn't take those risks. We get feedback, positive or negative, usually some of both, and we adjust. Approaching your business from that perspective means that nothing is wasted and no launch is a failure as long as you learn from it. It's such a powerful lesson. Both for business and for life more broadly. Unless you think real or successful business owners don't have to be courageous anymore because they've arrived. Let me tell you, that is not true. Steph always leads by example, and it's been so illuminating to hear about the ways she still has to coach herself through the mental and emotional obstacles that putting herself out there for launches can bring up. Curiosity is another buzzword that comes up for me a lot when I think about my experience. So much happens when we get curious about what's going on, both in our business and in ourselves. It's almost like curiosity leads to courage because curiosity shifts us out of fear and gets us focused on possibilities. You know, gets us open to other explanations or other options. So curiosity leads to cur. To curiosity leads to courage, and then courage leads to clarity, and then clarity leads to confidence because you have a better sense of what works and what doesn't, what matters to you and what you can let go of and what you're capable of, which is huge. So I've got a lot of great C words here, Steph. You can thank me later for all of this alliterative copy ideas. But I do have two more final things that I want to talk about today. Concepts that have radically changed the way I approach my business and that spilled over into my life as well. First one is minimum viable output. Steph talks a lot in the program about knowing your MVI or minimal minimum viable income, that lowest number for your revenue that will keep your business and your family afloat so that you have a realistic idea of what you must sell. When you know your mvi, you know what you must do and also where you can like experiment more freely. So knowing your MVI leads to freedom because everything over that is optional, so there's way less stress or sometimes there's a very clear motivation to get your button gear. Can need that mvi. Either way, it's pretty important. So MVI is not a concept that is unique to Steph by any means, but there's a corollary concept that is perhaps more unique. Minimum viable output. I'm not sure. I don't think she uses that exact term. You can take me later. But I'm using it to indicate the lowest, simplest, easiest investment of time, energy and other resources that we can make in order to move us toward our desired outcome. As I mentioned before, we often think that we have to make everything perfect before we offer something to our audience. We have to have a gorgeous sales page or the curriculum fully planned and all the Videos recorded with a professional videographer and whatever it is. But that holds us back. Instead, Steph teaches this minimum viable outcome concept to reach your minimum viable income. Her approach can be boiled down to that, I think, and it's kind of revolutionary. I'll say it again. Minimum viable output to reach your minimum viable income. Her approach is that it doesn't have to be like perfect or even close. Like, what is the, like minimum output? What could. What is the minimum effort you could put in to move towards your goal? So some ideas that she's even used and in fact often uses. Use a Google Doc for your sales page. You don't even need a web page at all. Sell people seats in your program while you're still designing the curriculum. Record your podcast while you're walking around your neighborhood. Something is always better than nothing. Or at least it tends to be for the kind of people her program attracts. You know, high achieving, perfectionist, leg miser. So what actually enables us to do this minimum viable output is that we have her expert coaching to confirm what actually is minimum, because there is a level of crappiness that would be unacceptable. Right? But she uses her experience to help you know exactly what you must do and also what you don't need to worry about in order to move forward. And then in the process, through that mimetic learning I mentioned, we learn how to anticipate what really is a minimum viable output from us. And the crazy thing is that her approach actually results in better programs or offers in the long run because you leave yourself room to make adjustments based on client feedback. If you spend hours and hours and thousands of dollars and, you know, all this energy making a perfect sales page or perfect recordings, for example, and then halfway through the program, you realize that the result you want to promise is actually different than what you thought. It's just way harder to go back and change it. So the result that the offer that we can deliver actually ends up being better when we use this minimum viable output approach. The second thing that I still want to talk about is a phrase that Steph used to describe what I can so easily start doing sometimes where I overthink something to the point of inaction. Of course this is related to the minimum viable output. You know, it's like I want to sync through every detail and every eventuality before I actually do something. Um, I am a big overthinker. Like, I overthink to the point of inaction. Any other overthinkers out there, I'm gonna trust that some of you are Nodding your heads or raising your hands. I know I'm not alone. So when I first started this program, I remember my first 90 day plan, which is what she has everyone submit at the beginning to set goals for the first three months. In that document, I said I wanted to quote, prepare to start my substack. And she was like, prepare to start. What have you just started? And we've laughed about that ever since. As she continued to coach me, she noticed that I'd come to coaching calls with all of these what if questions, like, like I mentioned, like, what will I do if this happens? Or how would I handle that? Or, you know, what if I needed to change something? You know, should I do it this way or that way? And finally she said something that has changed the way I think about my overthinking. See? Told you it was a problem. I'm thinking about my overthinking, but hey, I'm making progress here, so maybe that doesn't count as overthinking. But she called it indulging in confusion. And by this point, I'd probably been in the program at least six months, and she knew that I was someone who wanted straight talk and that could handle being called out. And that phrase is so perfect. I love to indulge in confusion. It doesn't feel great because it's a thought spiral. Like, definitely a form of anxiety, but it was comfortable and it was keeping me safe because it kept me from acting, from taking a risk by actually doing something. Steph talks a lot about how our brains are really good at keeping us safe by trying to stop us from stepping outside of what is familiar and therefore comfortable. And I was indulging confusion because it was familiar, it was comfortable. But by naming it now, I can recognize when I start doing that and push myself to pick one of the imperfect but perfectly good options and just try it. Which goes back to that experimentation idea. I can adjust if needed, and I will learn something and I will do something, which is better than doing nothing. I was so often getting stuck in that confusion spiral, but now I can see that that is an indulgence that's not ultimately helpful and give myself that push. I need to get through it, and if I need a bigger push, I bring it to coaching and get a nice, strong, loving push from Steph. I've grown so much over the last year that it's been really hard to encapsulate, so I've tried today, in addition to the specifics I mentioned at the beginning of the episode about doubling my email list, massively clarifying messaging, filling my existing group program while doubling the price, and finally launching a second group program and running it successfully. I've also grown my capacity so much, it's another C word for you there. The clearest example of that is, I think, with how many emails or newsletters I've sent over the last year. I mentioned sending a lot more than I would have anticipated being able to do with my Unearthing Beauty launch. But I also increased how many emails I was sending in general. And if you work with Steph, you'll learn fast that she's always going to tell you to send more emails. So this is, this is a big thing to. To work on. Um, and it was a really big thing for me because I had been emailing my list very inconsistently, like once or twice a month on average, maybe like 15 emails in the year, the whole year leading up to messy middle. Now I'm sending my list quality content almost every week. And that's when I'm not launching an offer. I never would have thought I could do that, but I am now. I can talk about money with so much more ease, including big numbers that used to terrify me, which has helped me to land some much bigger, you know, higher ticket editing contracts that, you know, I would have never thought. Like, I felt uncomfortable naming prices that are less than half of some of the contracts that I've now successfully landed in sales calls and, you know, through emails and stuff. Like, I'm able to charge what I'm worth and I'm able to put myself forward for much bigger projects now because, you know, I've grown in my sense of my own capacity, my own value of, like, what I bring to the table for clients. And I've also just gotten comfortable talking about these things because I've spent a year around other business owners who are doing the same thing and using even bigger numbers than I use. So it's kind of like, you know, they say you become. We become who we're around. And some of that I think is just sort of osmosis. Like I've. I put myself in a position to be surrounded with like, real business owners who are doing the work. And that has started to become normal for me now. I also know how to conduct an effective sales call with integrity, which I really wasn't sure was possible before. And my favorite example there is when I had to do a call. Well, I had a call scheduled with someone who had shown some interest in my Unearthing Beauty program. She had clicked on the link. And so I'd followed up under Steph's direction to say, like, hey, I'd love to, you know, I saw you were interested but you didn't join us. Like, I'd love to chat with you and learn why and you know, I'm always looking to improve my program and your feedback would be so valuable. And so she wrote back and said, sure, I'd love to tell you why I'm not joining your program. And I was like, oh, lonely. This sounds like the most awkward conversation I could ever imagine. So I brought it to coaching. I was so nervous and unsure how to handle it. But by using Steph's framework and her tips in that coaching call, I felt really good about my call. I felt like I, I did a great job. I listened for over an hour and used the other tips that Steph offered and got to know the person and heard what she was looking for and tried to show her how my program could provide those things. And the person ended up joining my program. Like, I was shocked. And I just love that story because it shows, I think, the power of how in a completely non sleazy, like, non pushy way, you can really use Steph's sales strategies to like move the needle in serious, serious ways. So this stuff really works. She's really excellent at teaching sales skills with integrity. But what really sets her coaching apart from my experience is that it's so character driven. She's not coaching you to seem confident or capable or to promise things that you can't deliver or to push people into something they don't want or need at all. Like that couldn't be farther, farther from the truth. She's coaching you to become the kind of person who can speak powerfully about her beliefs and abilities, who can listen deeply, who is self aware, who is continually working to improve her products and services so she can help customers even better, who has the skills and habits to embody the dynamic, resilient, truly excellent version of herself that she aspires to be. Or he. I don't know how you put a price tag on that, but I guess stepped in with this program and she even speaks directly to this aspect of her program. She calls it the your sold out identity, which is part of her revamped curriculum. So if you're on the fence about joining sold out group programs, let this be your nudge. Take the leap, stop indulging in confusion and take courageous action toward clarity. Steph's made it a year long program now, which is so smart because I know from experience that it can take about six months to really get momentum going. But if you show up for her coaching and implement her feedback, you will be amazed at the difference it will make in your business and your life. You could be in a very different place by this time next year. And this is not sponsored. I promise. I am doing this because I really do care, you know, both about stuff now as a person and about the difference that this kind of experience can make. I'd also love to connect with you. I'm happy to answer any questions you have about my experience in the Mastermind and I'd also love to get to know you. Apart from Steph's program, I'm on Instagram at Mara Eller, which should also be in the show notes, so you can look me up. And particularly if you consider yourself a writer or have any aspirations of writing something, whether to eventually publish or simply for yourself, I invite you to find me on substack. And um, I'll tell you, since Steph always says not to let an opportunity go by without pitching our offers, I'll tell you a little bit more about the program that she helped me with so much over the last year. I had basically no idea how to talk about this program before and I think I even just called it a class. It was really so bad. Um, like I had no idea how to communicate the value of it. So as a final proof of how much I've grown, let's see how I can do now. So it's called Unearthing Beauty. It's a hands on, VIP, transformational personal narrative writing experience. It's built around the idea that we all live inside certain stories that we've created based on things that happen to us. And then these stories become our reality, for better or worse. But when we name those stories and unpack how they came to be, we gain the power to rewrite them, to find new interpretations which lead to new meanings which can completely change our lives. So in the program, I walk students through a repeatable process to identify a formative event from their lives, unpack its meaning, and then craft it into a powerful narrative full of beauty and insight. Along the way, you learned so much about writing and narrative craft, and you get feedback on your words from me every single week. When you finish, you'll see your life with a fresh perspective. You'll have a polished personal narrative to share, to share however you might like, and you'll be well on your way to writing a book length memoir. If that's something that appeals to you so you can learn more or hop on the waitlist@maraeller.com unearthingbeauty or you can grab a free exercise for personal narrative writing to dig into right now@lauraeller.com part of your story. Thank you for listening today, and as Steph would say, I'm wishing you the courage and clarity to go after what you love. Take care.