463. From News Anchor to Jet Pilot: The Real Cost of Reinvention with Stephanie Goetz

Summary

Into The Wild – Episode 463: From News Anchor to Jet Pilot: The Real Cost of Reinvention with Stephanie Goetz

Air Date: April 21, 2026
Host: Renée Warren
Guest: Stephanie Goetz – Pilot, Flight Instructor, Executive Coach, TEDx Speaker, and Emmy-Nominated News Anchor

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Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the journey of Stephanie Goetz, who transitioned from an Emmy-nominated news anchor to a jet pilot, aerobatic competitor, executive coach, and leader of a groundbreaking aviation movement. Host Renée Warren and Stephanie discuss the highs and lows of reinventing oneself, overcoming doubt, entrepreneurial mindset, the significance of mentorship, and building impactful ventures like The Pink Jet—a movement that merges aviation, philanthropy, and empowerment for women and breast cancer awareness.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Stephanie's Unlikely Journey: From Minnesota Roots to Reinvention

• Early Life & Career Beginnings

  • Grew up in Minnesota in a traditional Midwest family.
  • Dreamed of being a tennis pro or singer/actress; worked in her father’s pharmacy.
  • Pivoted from pharmacy (after struggling in college chemistry) to broadcast journalism, initially aiming for sports, but wound up in news (03:12–06:45).

• Burnout and Realization

  • After nearly a decade as a main news anchor, realized she’d lost passion (07:01).
  • "There was a part of me inside that was kind of withering away and saying, I don't love this anymore, but what on earth am I going to do?" – Stephanie [07:20]

• Leaping into Entrepreneurship

  • Explores PR, marketing, and communications roles, but realizes entrepreneurship was her true calling.
  • Created a roadmap and saved aggressively before leaving her anchor job, relying on her own drive and minimal initial resources (08:24–11:15).

• Building GETS Communications

  • Began GETS Communications, specializing in executive coaching and media training.
  • First clients took months to secure; early work included small projects before landing big names (e.g., T-Mobile, Microsoft, Nike) thanks to referrals (11:17–22:01).

Lessons in Entrepreneurial Mindset

• Resilience and Belief

  • The necessity of pushing through doubt:
    • "You can just, like, take a backseat. I'm driving." – Stephanie [13:50]
  • Highlighting the impact of not giving up—success often hinges on outlasting the quitting point (16:51).

• Referral and Over-Delivery

  • Doing exceptional work leads to word-of-mouth growth and bigger opportunities (19:02).
  • "If you can undersell and over deliver, you will always have great clients..." – Stephanie [21:32]

• Networking and Giving

  • Building genuine relationships, creating value without always expecting immediate returns:
    • Instances of “Goodwill” paving the way for major deals down the road (25:47–26:53).
  • Abundance mindset—supporting and connecting others, even “competitors” (28:57).
    • "When you become that person and when you are that person and really come from a place of abundance…there's no one like me. Just like there's no one like you." – Stephanie [29:02–29:48]

The Art of Not Quitting

• Cycles of Business Development

  • Balancing time between growing the business and servicing clients (16:40–19:01).
  • Accepting that growth often follows sustained effort; the “long tail game” (16:51).

• Pricing and Value

  • Advocates for fair pricing (especially for women); flexibility based on context and opportunities for increased visibility or referrals (26:57–28:19).

• It's Not About Having Millions of Clients

  • "With what most people do anyway, they don't need every single person on earth to be a customer." – Renée [29:48]

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The Pink Jet: Aviation, Philanthropy, and Empowerment

How Stephanie Fell in Love with Flying

• Accidental First Flight

  • Invited by an 80-year-old flight instructor to do a TV story; unexpectedly put behind the controls of a Piper Archer (31:23).
  • "I take off on my own power for the very first time. And I'm just thinking, where has this been all of my life?" – Stephanie [00:26 & 31:46]

• A Dream Deferred and Reawakened

  • Years after that first flight, gets the chance to pursue a pilot’s license with her now-husband as instructor (34:44–36:14).
  • Became a multi-rated pilot and instructor, training alongside running her business.

The Birth of The Pink Jet

• Joining Forces for a Greater Cause

  • Invited to help launch a pink-painted L-39 Albatross jet, a symbol for breast cancer awareness and women in aviation (42:34–44:35).

• Tragedy and Leadership

  • After the sudden death of the project's founder, Stephanie was asked to become president and has since grown the initiative into a global phenomenon (45:16–47:24).

• Impact and Inspiration

  • The Pink Jet inspires young girls to enter aviation, supports breast cancer nonprofits, and has a visible presence at major airshows worldwide (47:51).
  • "We get emails and messages kind of on a daily or weekly basis saying, you've helped me keep going to show and know that I have a space in the flight deck..." – Stephanie [47:51]

• The Power of Individual Uniqueness and Saying Yes

  • “Everything that's happened in my life has always happened because I chose to have a conversation with someone and be curious and then chose to step into it without knowing the full picture. Because you can't.” – Stephanie [50:06]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Reinvention:

  • “It's been a really amazing, incredible journey… door after door, opening or closing, and me choosing to step in…” – Stephanie [02:39]

• On Doubt:

  • "Part of that had come already because I had started a nonprofit years before... If I ever had even, like, a twinge of doubt. I just... I'm going to keep going." – Stephanie [13:50]

• On Referral Power:

  • “You came recommended from Microsoft. And I was like, you've gotta be kidding me.” – Stephanie [19:01]

• On Overdelivering:

  • “If you can undersell and over deliver, you will always have great clients...” – Stephanie [21:32]

• On Curiosity:

  • “If you want to be great, you have to be willing to be a beginner again when you've been an expert for years.” – Stephanie [37:32]
  • "Always be curious, because it doesn't matter if you're the best in the world. There's always something new." – Renée [38:21]

• On Abundance Mindset:

  • “When you become that person and when you are that person and really come from a place of abundance... there's no one like me. Just like there's no one like you.” – Stephanie [29:02]

• On Chasing Opportunity:

  • “You can't know the picture. If you're going to want to know the full picture, you'll never succeed.” – Stephanie [50:06]

• On Being Wild:

  • “Being, like, wildly optimistic about what can happen if we truly follow our gut and put in the hard work.” – Stephanie [51:15]

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Important Timestamps

• 00:26 – Stephanie’s first flight and defining moment
• 07:01–11:15 – Realizing burnout, building the leap to entrepreneurship
• 19:01 – Referrals & overdelivering ("You came recommended by Microsoft…")
• 26:53 – How a small act of goodwill led to a major business deal
• 31:23–38:39 – The story of discovering aviation, being a beginner again
• 42:34–45:16 – The creation of The Pink Jet, painting and launching the movement
• 47:51 – Real impact: inspiring women and girls, empowering survivors
• 50:06 – The principle of saying yes, trusting curiosity
• 51:15 – What it means to be a 'wild woman'

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Resources & Where to Find Stephanie

• Instagram: @jetgirl.stephanie (personal)
• The Pink Jet: @thepinkjet (Instagram and Facebook)
• YouTube: Jet Girl Stephanie

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Summary

Stephanie Goetz’s story is a masterclass in reinvention and the power of curiosity, resilience, and authenticity. This episode illustrates how saying yes to new opportunities—even when the path is unclear—can lead to unimaginable impact, whether building a business from scratch or helping young women see themselves in aviation. Stephanie and Renée’s candid conversation is loaded with concrete advice, memorable anecdotes, and uplifting encouragement for anyone considering wild new horizons.

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For more inspiring stories and actionable advice, follow Into The Wild wherever you get your podcasts and join the conversation with Renée Warren and her incredible network of fearless women entrepreneurs.

Transcript

[A]

And I got a call out of the blue on my desk phone from an 80 year old flight instructor and said, you should do a story on aviation. So I did. And I didn't know that I would be in the airplane flying it. But like any flight instructor, as I know now, of course, they put the newbie in the left seat and they fly from the right seat. So I get in the left seat of a Piper Archer and we taxi out to the Runway and he tells me how to use the controls. I push the power up, we get to flying speed and I take off on my own power for the very first time. And I'm just thinking, where has this been all of my life?

[B]

Hey, it's Renee. And welcome to the into the Wild podcast. Each week I'll unravel growth, mindset, methods, authority building techniques, and the secrets to living an integrated life. Plus chat with expert guests to teach you the fearlessness needed to step into your greatness. Are you ready for it? Let's get wild. This podcast is a Martel Media production. My next guest is a professional pilot, flight instructor, aerobotic Competitor, Executive Coach, TEDx speaker and Emmy Nominated News Anchor. Named NBAA's Top 40 Under 40. She flies everything from a Bobardier Global 6000 to a pink L39 Albatross military jet and air shows, all under the banner of the pink jet. This is why I love her. Her organization is dedicated to promoting breast cancer awareness and empowering women to break into aviation. Her work sits at the intersection of aviation, philanthropy and personal development, using leadership coaching, public speaking, and mentorship to inspire the next generation of aviators and women who refuse to play small. In this episode, we discuss what it takes to fly into spaces you were never expected to occupy, how she turned a pink military jet into a movement, and why. The same confidence that keeps you steady at 500 miles per hour is the same confidence that changes everything on the ground. Please welcome the incredible Stephanie Goetz.

[A]

Hello, Renee. How are you?

[B]

Oh, so good. I absolutely love your content. I think it was somebody on my team, probably my creative director, saw your Instagram account and said you need to meet this person. I mean, obviously with the Pink Skirt project and what I do and what you do and being a pilot of what you have licenses for multiple different aircraft. You have a pink jet that puts out pink smoke or whatever the heck it's called. It's quite fascinating, yes.

[A]

It's actually a life that I didn't even anticipate that I would have. It's just been a really Amazing, incredible journey that I've been on. And from door after door, opening or closing, and me choosing to step in and choosing to say, you know what, I actually am going to try this out, even if it feels a little bit uncomfortable. So it's been a fascinating ride. I never could have painted this life at all.

[B]

Give us a quick background story of where you come from, because you have, like, a handful of different career paths.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And now you're doing something so fascinating. Tell us about that.

[A]

Yeah. So I grew up in Minnesota, so a Midwest girl in kind of the traditional, lovely Midwest family. And I wanted to either be a professional tennis player or a professional singer or actress. I was in theater. I sang. But I went and worked a really long time in my dad's pharmacy. So I was there for like eight or nine years, dusting off the pill bottles all the way to being kind of a pharmacy tech or at least supporting a lot of what they needed. And I loved that side of it and then went to college for pharmacy because I just thought, I really like this side of medicine. Well, I went to my first chemistry class. I came out and I was like, that sounds like another language, because I don't understand any of this now. I loved chemistry in high school. I had a phenomenal teacher. I kind of blame him. And I say, listen, you were too good of a teacher. You made it too interesting and enjoyable. That when someone who maybe isn't as qualified or good at teaching it teaches me, then unfortunately, this was a little bit more difficult. So I ended up going a different path, and I didn't really know what to do. That path ended up being broadcast journalism. And the reason I went that path and how I got there was that I really knew that. I loved storytelling. I loved sharing stories. I loved interaction with people. But more so, I loved sports. So I grew up playing sports, playing tennis, basketball, running, track, doing some diving. And I absolutely loved watching sports and analyzing it. And I grew up having two brothers, and they were huge athletes as well. And my dad was an athlete. So I wanted to go into sports broadcasting. Well, most of the jobs that were available were in news because sports broadcasting is a much smaller pool of people, and you're doing kind of all the work. You're recording the video, you're shooting the games, you're editing, then you're going live, and then you're anchoring at everything. So I went into broadcast journalism and absolutely loved that. And I went on the news side of things, but got to do a ton in sports. So I got to do sports broadcasting. I got to do some sideline reporting, anchoring reporting, and all of that. And so I kind of got to do both. Well, at some point, I loved it. Until I didn't. And it was about eight or nine years into being a main news anchor at the top news station in the region, in the Midwest, that I was working at. I was working at the NBC and the CBS station. And as much as I loved it, there was a part of me inside that was kind of withering away and saying, I don't love this anymore, but what on earth am I going to do? I have a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism. I don't want to go back to school. I'm in my late 20s. Like, what am I supposed to do here? And so at that point, I kind of tried to figure it out and looked at people kind of adjacent to me who had similar degrees and similar skills, and what were they doing? Well, I found that there were people that were doing pr, that were doing communications, that were also doing marketing. But as I talked to them and asked them about what they were doing, I realized, I like this, but I still don't love it. What is this? Well, I didn't realize inside of me, entrepreneurship was something that was a huge part of me and always was. I always admired the people that had started something. I knew I would be really great at leading teams and inspiring people and motivating them to do great things. But I didn't have the opportunity to do it until finally I kind of had this feeling inside of me that was like, you need to go do things that motivate people that support them, whether it's through keynote speaking or training from what you've learned. And that sounds pretty nebulous and pretty like, okay, what's the path for that? So I had a friend of mine who was a motivational and inspirational speaker, and he did keynotes and trainings and stuff. And I just asked him all the questions, like, how do you create a roadmap of six months of how you're going to make money and who do you reach out to, and how do you get clients and taxes? Like, how does that all work? So he was gracious enough to tell me how to do all of that. And then from there, I finally just gave in to what I really wanted to do. And it wasn't necessarily working for a corporation in their executive comms or doing pr, although I do all of that now, but I get to do it as my own business owner. So I left broadcast. I Saved up a bunch of money beforehand and was living very, very lean on a relatively lean salary. And I left with no clients, no nothing, but kind of a roadmap that I had built a business plan going forward. Then I started GETS Communications, the executive communications firm right now. Coach executives on communication and their presentations, influence presence, and then, of course, media training from my time as a broadcaster. So I just left and it was the best thing I could have ever done, but it took time to build that up. Build and build and build. As any business owner knows, you start from scratch, you're going to be just at your desk or out meeting with potential clients for months before you get something. And I was fortunate that within that time I was able to start to build the client base, but just was hustling and grinding it out, but it didn't feel like it because I loved it so much. There's so much in there. But then we'll get into aviation.

[B]

We'll say that one for the end, because that one's the best part. I mean, it's not the best part, but it's the prettiest part.

[A]

It's the flashy, fun part.

[B]

It's so flashy. This is really interesting because there's a lot of people, especially listeners, that go from corporate and want to go from having a job to starting their own business. You took the chance. Before you left, did you have any customers?

[A]

No, I had not one. I didn't have one because I couldn't. So being a main face of a news organization, I wasn't able to say, hey, I also do communication services and training. That was not going to jive. I was 100% with the news organization at that time. In the background, though, what I was doing was I was building up conversations with people that had connections in corporate America or anywhere that I could start to actually reach out to people softly and say, hey, just letting you know, this is what I'm doing. I'm loving the time and experience I have here as a broadcaster, but that chapter is closing and I'm actually launching, coaching for this and this. So I started those conversations and that wasn't public, but I was able to do that and have those conversations. The bigger thing that I think anyone who's wanting to launch something is you have to switch your mindset on the income side of things for a moment while you're building things. So when I left my broadcast career, you can't just leave with no money. You do have to pay the bills. If I'm not going to have Money coming in for a minimum of three or four months. I have to build up that Runway beforehand. So I looked at what can I live off of like very minimally for four months. And I'm also not going to contribute to my 401k over that time. I can make that up later. And that to me was hard because I'm a huge saver when it comes to retirement because I really, really value compound interest. But I knew that if I was giving money there it would go less into the business. And so about six or eight months beforehand I said I need to save up, let's say, I don't know, $20,000 or something. And I need to have that in eight months. And, and so what am I going to do? What am I going to cut out? I was not going out to dinner, I was not going out to hang out with friends very much. And if I was, it was like having a club soda or something instead of having a glass of wine. Cause I couldn't afford it. But that was for the investment long term. And so then once I left, I was paying myself, if you will, a salary off of my savings that I had built up. But this wasn't like the absolute last resort savings, this was to start a business savings. And so I lived off of that, only had to really tap into it for like a month and a half or two months because I was hardcore grinding it out every single day, reaching out to potential clients. And I finally got a 200 session and then I got another three or $400. And then after that I was building out a much stronger set of services that people were taking. I was able to work with T Mobile in the first three months.

[B]

Dang.

[A]

And that was incredible.

[B]

You talk about this like this is the dream. You can be built with this hustle, but oftentimes it's the belief in the outcome that is so worthy of the grind. And there's probably doubt, there's probably moments when you went to bed and you're like, oh my gosh, I don't even know if I can do this. And there was no clear fallback plan. So you believed in yourself enough to do it. What kept you going in those moments of reaching out probably to your network, to like cold calling, to getting all those no's, those doors closed in your face. What kept you going?

[A]

Well, I was really lucky that first of all I had a couple of people around me that already had done this on a different scale. Not at like their own consulting firms or that sort of thing. So they knew this path. What I fully believe in is that you're gonna have a much harder time if you do it fully alone. So find someone who. It doesn't have to even be a label as a mentor, but someone that, for those first few months, you can be tapping into and saying, hey, I just got a quick question about this. What about this? Can you help me with this? Cause for me, I was even negotiating rates that I'd never done before, and I'm like, well, what's the standard rate? I'm not really sure. Is this too much? Is this too little? I want to work with this client more longer term, so they can only afford this. But maybe that's better because I will still work with them long term, and it's not diminishing my worth. It's just I want to actually work with them, and I'm okay with that and learning those things over time. And so for me, the biggest thing was I just wanted this more than anything. And so I didn't really care what it took. I also knew as I started talking with people that I was solving a solution that the world needed. So people needed communication, training. They needed to be able to influence. They needed to be able to inspire and motivate their teams, and that's what any industry needed. So I was filling that gap. When anyone is looking for what they want to do, whether it's a product or a service or anything in between, thinking about, what does the market need? What's out there right now that you're going to solve this problem? And a lot of times, if you go on like Shark Tank and watch these products that are pitched, it's because they saw that this didn't exist and they were the one to create it. So on the belief side of things, I didn't even think much about or doubt very much because I didn't have time for that. I was just like, I am just going forward and doubt. You can just, like, take a backseat. I'm driving. Part of that had come already because I had started a nonprofit years before in honor of my brother, and it was a mental health nonprofit. When I started that and officially launched that, there was a twinge of doubt. And they're like, wait, wait, wait. I just announced this to millions of people. I have to do this now. Like, officially, that was a bigger step forward. So I'd already had that step into, well, people are now counting on me to do this, so I have to step up. So in those moments of if I ever had even, like, a twinge of doubt. I just. And to this day, it's not like 10 years in, which is amazing that I'm 10 years into this as a business owner. It's not like you don't doubt anymore. It's that you just know how to manage it better. What happens now can be that I look on either side of me and maybe look at what other people are doing. And that's a really not good place to go now. It's good to look at best practices, but when we start comparing ourselves to other. Teddy Roosevelt famously said that comparison is the thief of joy. And it's not only a thief of joy, but I think it's the thief of your business. Because if you're constantly saying, well, oh, so and so is doing this and oh, they're succeeding so much and that you don't know their spreadsheet, you don't know their P and L. You don't know what's going on inside, but you need to be doing what specifically on your path. So I think those were the biggest things is I just didn't even let the thought come in as much as possible. If I did, I'm just like, I'm gonna keep going. Plus, I learned from great mentors and people who had done it before. And one of those greatest pieces of advice from someone who I am very close with, who helped do mergers and multi billion dollar mergers in some of the largest tech companies in the world, he told me, he's like, even for us, we'll throw maybe quote proverbially throw five or six things at the wall. Like, meaning five or six reach outs or ten reach outs. And he's like, it's always a percentage game. If we're lucky, we get 20% to come back to us with an email or a response. And maybe 10% or 50% of those we might get an engagement with or we might actually get work with. So if I just play the numbers game, I'm like, well, if I get one out of like 15 or 16, I just need to throw like 30 things at the wall.

[B]

I think that's where people give up. Like even for us in our coaching program for this society we launched in August and we're now April. And people are like, well, how many people do you have in the program? It's not like it's hundreds, but we add a few every week. And it didn't start like that. Like there were a couple months where there was nobody added. And now it's just the belief that you can make it work. Because there was data and you had receipts to show that there's at least a handful of people already paying you. Yes, that's proof enough. And they're getting all of the most amazing coaching from me and my team, obviously. And there was like a couple months we weren't hitting targets and then we got more serious and we refined things. But everything is a long tail game.

[A]

It is.

[B]

And like I coach in the program is people think it's all about like, oh, they need to change their offer. It's rarely ever the offer. It's the fact that they just give up too soon completely.

[A]

I've heard quotes from billionaires say the biggest difference between someone who succeeds at something or someone who's great and those who are just good or mediocre is they just didn't quit. And it's easier maybe said than done sometimes, but sometimes you just have to keep going and investing in it. Because what I've seen over the years is that it's kind of like that planting of a seed for a flower, for a tree, sometimes like an oak tree, is going to take a really long time to show results. But we don't ever question whether that seed is going to bloom into something. As long as you water it the right way and tend to it the right way, we know that it will. I think what's hard is that it's not a guarantee that you're going to get X amount because you do reach out in a certain way. There's also so much out there right now to get the business. Is it doing more on LinkedIn or Instagram? Is it doing it more on YouTube? Is it individual reach outs? Is it networking at events? I mean, how are you getting that business and those clients? And everyone has a different take on how to do that. But there is like a common thread that I learned from my mentors in consulting and business development is that they always said if they focused more on the work then on the business development, inevitably a few months from now they wouldn't have as many potential or wouldn't have as many clients because you have to focus on the work. There's always this balance that if it's a season of business development and it's 80% business development and 20% of the work, because there's not as much work, well then all of a sudden get ready for a lucrative time coming up because that's probably going to come to fruition because you've put in that time and then the business development goes probably to 20 or 30%. Cause you're working more on the work. So I'm always conscious of how much am I actually developing my business and my client base and my reach outs. Cause if I'm doing less of that, it's just inevitably going to be that I'm probably going to have eventually a little bit of fewer reach outs potentially. Now one thing that truly I think is one of the best business development tools in the world is, is doing great work. It sounds simple.

[B]

I was gonna say this.

[A]

Yes. The amount of referrals, this was so amazing. One of my greatest, I feel like, wins. And when I felt like I actually made it to this certain level, it felt incredible. Microsoft was one of my clients. I helped develop their media training program within the company and it was like truly one of the most fun programs I got to run and really felt very prestigious because you're dealing with top level executives at one of the top companies in the world. And it was a very, very fantastic, well run program. A few months into that I got an email out of nowhere from what I was wondering if, is this a scam? And it was from Nike. And I'm like, okay, first of all, dream brand. I've been wearing it since, I've been playing tennis since five. And so I just was like, this has to be a joke or something. And it was Nike reaching out and saying, hey, we'd like to do some media training as well and of our executives. And you came recommended from Microsoft. And I was like, you've gotta be kidding me. That is the greatest referral I could have ever had.

[B]

And I got to work with them for years, a hundred percent.

[A]

It's that investment that if you do great work, but if you also do like kind of selfless work, there are times where I'm not going to count and penny pinch every single hour and every little minute detail. Sometimes, yeah, I'm probably actually going to work more than the client is giving me. Potentially a few more minutes or an hour or two, I am not going to be worried about that. Because at the end of the day, what I'm giving, if I'm doing it in a selfless way that I feel comfortable with, what I am being paid for, it will all wash out in the end. It will all come back to me as well. And I've seen it time and time and time again.

[B]

Oh yeah, some of my biggest clients and when I was running an agency, same thing, like we had the client that pretty much paid the bills and like almost every other client was profit. But for that client they Trusted us so much that we always went above and beyond, despite some of our like mentors suggestions on pulling back. But we just knew because they stayed with us for five years.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

For us, a small team, they were paying us $25,000 a month and that was a lot for us. But we just did so much work so that we built that relationship. Now anytime a prospect wanted to speak with a current client, they were always like, absolutely, I'll get on a call, I'll send an email. I mean you should be doing great work all the time. But it's like creating that margin in your work that is like they're expecting this, but it's like that 5% margin that you've already put in to what you are going to do that goes above and beyond. And your customers are like what?

[A]

It's the old adage that people have probably heard, but it's so true. And no amount of evolution of our times will, I think erase this is that if you can undersell and over deliver, you will always have great clients and you don't want to marginalize yourself by any means. But I'm saying if you say this is the product and then you deliver over above and beyond that, your clients will absolutely love you and they'll send you many more.

[B]

Yeah, it's like the ultimate resume.

[A]

Yeah, definitely.

[B]

And you still do this work today?

[A]

Yes, I do. I love it because I get to do it kind of where and when I want or I get to choose or feel like I want to reach out to certain clients. And if I say I really want to work for this company, then I just get to go start courting them and it's really fun.

[B]

Oh, that's awesome. And then how long is your like cycle from intro or cold outreach to closing?

[A]

Very good question. So in the beginning I always gave myself a six month window because that was also what my mentor had told me. And part of the reason that he had mentioned that is because he was also working with multibillion dollar clients, but multimillion dollar deals. So those of course took a long time. So I would give myself like let's say from there to six months later, but a lot of times it would be three months, two months. There were times where it was certainly within that month we were signing things and starting the engagement. Now, I mean if, especially if there's a referral, to me, it's within the few weeks.

[B]

It took a few months to figure this out, but ours is 21 days and so we have a full time salesperson she'll know because we have like essentially two sides of the room. There's like the media team that creates the content that helps feed the sales pipeline. They both can't do their jobs without each other. So we'll know on a day to day basis how our content is performing based on what our revenue goals are. And she'll say every morning we get a report saying like offer sent out, conversations started. And so based on those red, green or yellow dots, we'll know, okay, this content that performed well two weeks ago, we gotta do that again because we gotta feed the revenue engine. Of course this is not to like intimidate people that don't have this stuff in place, but to know that for instance, if you're just putting content out on social media to like showcase your talent, just know that everything is important and it needs to speak to each other from the sales to the content. So we have like Dana who's in the content world and Moira, who's my salesperson. They chat every single day.

[A]

I'm curious and I'll ask you a question then so that what does that conversation look like between them? What are they looking for to then eventually land a sale?

[B]

So it's a long tail game and I've had my podcast, this podcast for five. It'll be six years in a couple weeks.

[A]

Wow, congrats.

[B]

Sometimes you don't know because it was a heavy cost for the longest time and now we're like, oh, here's the roi.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And so when they speak, so we have like our weekly revenue syncs, but on a day to day basis it's just them seeing each other's daily briefing. And it's like, oh, like Moira's had way too many reds. So then Dana goes back and be like, well, what's the content? That doesn't necessarily create, as we call bangers with, you know, a lot of followers or viral posts, but it feeds the revenue engine. And so we're always trying to figure out like we do weekly hand raisers on Mondays. So like today for instance, being a Monday, I can't post anything on stories because she put up a story about like the hand raiser, meaning like, hey, if you want to grow your business, blah, blah, blah, direct message me the word grow and I'll send you information about how you can work with me. And so like the Monday hand raiser is good for Moira. So then when Moira sees the content come in with people say grow or you get new followers, then she goes in right away and she's communicating with these people because, like, people that follow you are showing intent for two reasons. They like your content or they want to buy from you eventually. Or they don't know.

[A]

Yes. Yeah. Or they're just curious and they're like, I see something in here that speaks to me, but I just wanna follow for more.

[B]

Exactly. And so for the most part, it's like cold. Like, hello to maybe 21 to 30 days later, they're either sent an offer or something happens, or they follow. Just. We'll know within the first month whether or not they're there to become part of our community, or they're just watching from a different.

[A]

Which is fine. But you never know that it could be years from now that they actually buy something eventually. Because there was an instance where I worked with an executive at a big telecommunications company, and I had helped him, and he loved the work that I did. So he's like, I really want you to work with my wife, who. She was a fabulous interior designer but needed some communication and confidence coaching. So I did two hours with her, and I was like. He was a friend as well, so I felt I didn't really want to charge him. But I said, hey, will you donate to this charity that I founded? A couple hundred dollars is fine. It's no big deal. That Goodwill, I think, does matter when your gut says, don't charge or at least do something different or make this different. Because six months later, he came back, he came to me, and he goes, what are you doing for the entire month of, like, September and October? And I'm like, I don't know. I'm working, having my clients and everything. And he's like, I need you for a huge launch, and it's going to be big, basically for all of September and all of October. I needed you to find talent. I need you to coach them. I need you to do the communication training that paid three quarters of my salary for the entire year.

[B]

Whoa. I got ghost bumps. Yes.

[A]

I learned that from my mentor. He said, there are just some things that you do because there's no explaining it in your mind. It's just your gut saying, I believe that I need to just move forward with this, and I just want to either give you this or a discount. And I'm not saying discounting your rates at all. And I think especially women should not be discounting their rates because we're already paid less per dollar. But I think we also can't get caught in the trap that we have to charge so much because it's somehow our worth. It is this beautiful balance of what you feel comfortable with and what also the market can give you. Like, there are many times, depending on the economy, where I'm going to get paid a little more and I'm going to get paid a little bit less. And does it diminish my worth and what I do? Absolutely not. But I'm still going to negotiate to what I feel most comfortable in. And sometimes that's a higher rate, and sometimes that's a little bit of a special rate and something on top of it. So I always ask them to introduce me to someone. Are there two or three people in your network that I can have an actual email introduction to? Is there something else I can be a part of that gives me more visibility? Like, I do a lot of speaking. So I'm seeing for this nonprofit event that you have or something like that, that gets my name and my visibility out there. So it's just finding other things that add worth and value as well to your overall offering if you can't get the full amount.

[B]

There's a woman in my community, Jenna, she's so good at this. She rented this gorgeous space in Vancouver, and it was very expensive, but she hosts, like, gatherings and trainings and people, like, use her facility. She's always like, oh, hey, babe, your event's coming up. Do you want to co host a dinner here again? And I'll invite my community in. She wants to help. And actually, our friend here that just left, Chris Winfield, he's part of Super Connector Media. His talent is complimenting you on all your blind spots.

[A]

Oh, love that.

[B]

But also introducing you to the right people. He's like, you have to meet this person and they'll make the introduction.

[A]

No, those people are literally gems and unicorns and find them and study them and keep them nearby. I mean, they are so important. And you can also be that person, because when you become that person and when you are that person and really come from a place of abundance, like, there are a lot of coaches like myself in this space. And if I said that I am not going to introduce a fellow coach to someone because I was scared of this scarcity mindset or had a scarcity mindset that there's not enough to go around, I think that that just creates more scarcity in your business. But if you say, listen, I'm doing this out of the goodness of my heart, I believe in what they're doing. And there's no one like me. Just like there's no one like you. We are all individually our own person. And so when we know that our value and our worth is very specific and that someone else can't do what we do exactly that way, then we will never run out of business as long as we keep feeding it too.

[B]

With what most people do anyway, they don't need every single person on earth to be a customer.

[A]

No, Say it louder.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

That is so true.

[B]

Well, you're another coach. Or it's like, yeah, but realistically, sure, I could probably have a million people in my program, but is that necessary? No. For, like, a subset of the population that needs my specific type of coaching is more than enough to build a great business and to leave a lasting impact. So we get so scared to do what's already being done. But it's like, no, you're here. You're unique. People want you.

[A]

Yeah. Because there's going to be someone that's potentially wanting someone else over me. Cause they actually might click with them better or identify with them more or vice versa, where they just feel more comfortable with me over someone else. And I mean, I've seen that plenty of times go both ways, that sometimes, for whatever reason, they say, hey, I'm going with this coach. And then I see. Thankfully, most of the time they come back, they come with me, and they're like, listen, I love how you work so individualized, and it's very empathetic, but holds my feet to the fire and all of that.

[B]

And also, there are some people that hire both.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Because they're like, I need both. Just like, fire hose me with all the information and let's go.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

I'm in this season. Oh, my gosh. Okay. I want to talk about the other pink side of you.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

That is so amazing. So what caught my eye was your Instagram account, because you fly pink jet, and I know you've flown many different types of aircraft, but there's something about this. I knew you do this for breast cancer awareness. And first of all, how'd you get into flying?

[A]

Yeah. Well, if someone would have said, you'll be flying a pink jet in air shows and at events and inspiring young women and supporting survivors of breast cancer and everything, I would have said, that sounds incredible. Where do I sign up? I would have never imagined it. It's really incredible. I got into aviation later in life, so aviation was never on my radar. I didn't have anyone in my immediate family who was a pilot. We drove to every family vacation, as every good Midwesterner does. You can't possibly fly you drive. And so we would drive out to western North Dakota from Minnesota, where I'm from, we'd drive to western North Dakota to see all of my family out there. My uncles are all cattle ranchers and so we would spend our summers out there horseback riding and being on the farm. So I was used to just driving everywhere. It wasn't until 2014 and I was a news anchor at NBC and CBS and I got a call out of the blue on my desk phone from an 80 year old flight instructor and said, you should do a story on aviation. And I was like, okay, that's fine, that's great and interesting, but it's not breaking news. Sure, okay, I'll go do a story. So I did. And I didn't know that I would be in the airplane flying it. But like any flight instructor, as I know now, of course, they put the newbie in the left seat and they fly from the right seat. So I get in the left seat of a Piper Archer and we taxi out to the Runway and he tells me how to use the controls. I push the power up, we get to flying speed and I take off on my own power for the very first time. And I'm just thinking, where has this been all of my life? Where has flying been? And this incredible feeling, I was like, this is the most remarkable thing I've ever experienced. And who's hiding aviation from me? Because I've never really thought that I could be a part of it. So growing up, as I said, driving to every family vacation and not going to air shows or being around aviation really in any way, shape or form, I didn't get introduced to it. And I had also remember, I didn't really love chemistry in college. Well, I counted myself out of stem, science, technology, engineering and math. And so I just thought I wasn't very good at that and also knew aviation demanded a lot of that. So aviation was like all around me as a newscaster. I had flown in a Blackhawk helicopter, covered the Blue Angels, got to fly in World War II bombers, but I never counted myself in for all of those reasons, for no particular good reason. But once I actually got to fly and realized that feeling of flight, that self actualization as well, that comes from pushing yourself, training and learning and growing, I was like, well, that speaks to me as well as the adventure and the freedom of flight. So I just got the bug. But there was nothing I could do about it because I didn't have time or resources or any support system around. Well, how do you even do this. So I just kind of let it be a dream deferred, which was a little sad, but I was like, okay. Well, a few weeks later, I met a guy who had his own airplane. It was like a mid sized plane, a turbo commander, a turboprop, and he flew it for business and fun. We started hanging out and I got to know him more and then got to know more about aviation through him. So over the years, I was able to learn about aviation and be around it and fly with him occasionally. And about five years after that, so I'm 34 years old and I'm running my business, five years into my executive coaching business, and I'm like, I can't not be flying. I need more of this in my life. So I asked him and I said, could I move forward with my pilot's license and would you be my instructor and what's the path? He was incredibly supportive and he was my instructor through mostly all my ratings. And now we're married and he is my husband.

[B]

And there's a. There's spoons.

[A]

Hey. I mean, we're still married through it all, through all the flight instruction. And it's so funny. I'll talk to men or women who their significant other is a pilot and they're like, oh, I could never train with my significant other. And I'm like, well, it has to be a unique understanding that when you're in the flight deck, you are the student, they are the pilot, and no, you do not have the baggage from home or who didn't do the laundry or something. You have to focus just on this is a professional relationship, so you can actually get the best and most out of the training, which we did. I wouldn't say there weren't times where we were both like, okay, done for the day, but 99% of the time we really were focused on training, doing things well, being safe, and being as excellent as we could. So I just went full steam ahead and went in about a year and a half, I got my private pilot commercial rating, multi engine, and then my flight instructor rating. So I instruct as well. And then multi engine flight instruction rating all the way up to a jet type rating in like a year and a half. Whoa.

[B]

Okay. Did you live in an airplane? How many hours a week?

[A]

Yeah, surprisingly I didn't. So this was when I had a full client base. This was right before COVID So I was traveling to all of my clients and I wasn't doing virtual. That didn't really exist at that time. So I was flying out to Nike, flying out to Microsoft, flying out to New York and Miami and LA to go work with clients one session and then come back and do some virtual. But it was rare. So I'd do client calls in the morning and work in the morning, and then I'd go out in the afternoon and fly for a couple of hours to ground school, come back at night. But I had my flight instructor at home, essentially, so I was able to ground school over dinner or ask more questions and all of that.

[B]

Oh, that's so awesome.

[A]

You can plow through it pretty quickly. Like, I got my pilot's license in six weeks, which, again, is also very quick.

[B]

You know, it doesn't appeal to me, Although I do like getting to places faster.

[A]

Right. And so I think you have a good gig right now with what you guys have that you're able to do. But it's okay. Not everything is for every person. No, it's good that we know that about ourselves.

[B]

But also, what I love about the story is that curiosity, too.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

For you, not being like a young buck, thinking, I'm gonna just go out and become a pilot. This was later in life.

[A]

It was later in life. And one thing I've learned, especially in aviation, if you want to be great, you have to be willing to be a beginner again when you've been an expert for years. I learned that, and I continue to learn it. So anyone who's a pilot or an aviator or an aerospace knows that there are astronauts who've landed the space shuttle multiple times. There's a gentleman who has done that, and he is a dear friend of ours, and he says even to this day, he's still learning new things about aviation. And this person was in space. So you have to be humble enough to know that there are a lot of things you don't know. But also, at the same time, be an expert in something and be confident enough to have that ability to say, I definitely know this. I also have room to learn this.

[B]

A, B, C is our motto here. Always be curious, because it doesn't matter if you're the best in the world. There's always something new. It's new discoveries. Remember, like, the ways we used to do things, we thought, oh, gosh, there's no other way, and there's never gonna be another way. Until someone's like, here's the new way. You're like, oh, that makes a lot of sense.

[A]

I love that you said that. Because as I was thinking about what was important to me, especially to make sure people Know, especially new business owners or those that are wanting to do it, is that if you're a current leader or a business owner, curiosity is table stakes for you to be successful. Because you should always be questioning things. Not from an interrogative standpoint, from a curious standpoint. Like you said, there's a lot of processes that were done a certain way because at that time when you were that size of a business worked. But now that you've expanded or gotten bigger, it doesn't work anymore. And frankly it's slowing you down. And so being willing to, I don't know whether it's take a yearly audit or a six month audit or an audit when you feel that a system is not serving you anymore. Be curious, ask questions and then be willing to say, let's throw this away completely. Having that perspective of someone who's brand new to an organization instead of having kind of your older eyes and older mindset on it is really beneficial to getting rid of things that no longer serve you, especially as you're growing. Because you're going to need different things for different sizes and times.

[B]

Well, look at Kodak when they're like oh, we don't need to go digital and now that's all we got. We got our foam, we hardly use film anymore. And it's like if you're not curious, you won't know that there is a time to actually be innovative, that the market's shifting, there's new creations, innovations, inventions that might be important for your industry.

[A]

Definitely. And it's a beautiful balance. And we've seen use case unfortunately after use case about it of large corporations that crumbled because they weren't willing to move because they did get too big and they were too bureaucratic. If startups can operate even a tiny bit more like more structured organizations and more structured can have a little bit of startup in them. That's where you really thrive and that's where you succeed. Because you have to be willing to change and not be so big that you can't make those changes cause there's too much in place. It's just not going to be good.

[B]

Okay, so now tell us about your innovation and your pink jet. How did you land on this thing?

[A]

Yeah, so over the years, so I've only had my pilot's license for just coming up on six and a half years and through that time all those ratings, but also I've been able to achieve five jet type ratings. So what those are is every jet that is certified, every type of jet has its own required training that the FAA requires you to go through. And often it can be anywhere from two weeks to 30, 40 days of training in a simulator, ground school with PhD level training. So that's a really big deal to get a jet type rating because it's just pushing yourself to a whole nother level of learning, knowing and also understanding emergencies and abnormalities if they come up while you're flying. So I've been very blessed to fly in business aviation. So I flew for a charter company out of Nevada, which I loved and flew A citation CJ3 for them. And then I was able to work for my dream job, which was NetJets. So I flew for NetJets for several years. Loved flying for them. The people, the culture, the aircraft, the processes, the standard operating procedures are like nothing in the industry. They're phenomenal. And so I got to fly the Citation Latitude for them, which is about a mid size 35,000 pound max gross airplane. And then most recently was flying the Bombardier Global 6000 for them. And that's an aircraft that can go basically almost nonstop anywhere in the world. So you can go 12, 13 plus hours from LA, over to Europe, over into the Middle east, wherever you want to go, it will take you there on one tank of fuel.

[B]

Oh, we need that, Dan.

[A]

Yes, the Bombardier line, especially the Globals, are like nothing in the world. They're phenomenal aircraft and very well made.

[B]

Canadian, right?

[A]

Yes, they are. They're a phenomenal company and the engineering is really second to none. So they're just so good. And to get to understand flying internationally and the processes that go into that was something that I just truly loved in that time. I also got to fly a very fun aircraft called the L39 Albatross. It's a Czechoslovakian made military trainer jet. So it looks like a fighter jet, but it's a trainer jet. It's basically like a T38 for those in the US military. They will fly those as the trainer up to the next step to go to an F16 or an F22 or F35. So you're taking incremental steps in aircraft to make sure that you're flying as safe as possible, especially as they get fast. So I was already flying jets, but I wasn't flying single seat essentially aircraft. You're flying with crew a lot of times in those airplanes. So I had been flying single pilot in the Citation 5, which is the 560 series. It's like a CJ3. And then I was able to get introduced to the L39 Albatross at the Reno Air Races. Some friends of mine flew for them, and I was just like, where has this airplane been all my life? It's incredible. So I mentioned to my husband about it after getting to take a flight in one back home, and I said how amazing it was. Well, I didn't realize that the next thing would be him looking on like, trade a plane, or controller.com, which is where you purchase airplanes, to see what the cost was of an L39 albatross and if we could buy one, next thing, you know. Because he had wanted to be in the Norwegian Air Force. He's from Norway, and unfortunately, he got cut on the last day of cuts back in his 20s. And it was devastating for him. But then he had an incredible career at McKinsey and Company. He was a partner at one of the leading management consulting firms in the world. So it worked out okay. But he always wanted to have that side of his life. And we ended up buying an L39 Albatross. Now, it was not and is not the pink jet. What it was was I was gaining experience and learning how to fly in this airplane, occasionally instruct in it. And then a couple years after we had purchased it and after I'd been flying it, I got a call from a girlfriend of mine who's a former Air Force fighter pilot, and she's like, you got to learn about this organization where they're trying to build this pink jet, and they're trying to build this organization around breast cancer awareness and empowering women. So I listened. I got connected with the founder and owner and listened to him, and I was like, this could be really incredible. Wow. I think this is remarkable, but we'll see what happens. Well, they ended up getting the jet painted pink, everything donated, the paint, the resources, the time, which is probably anywhere from 80 to $100,000 donation. That's huge. It's really expensive to paint an airplane. And I was the person to go pick it up with another pilot and fly it to the world's largest air show, which is Airventure Oshkosh in Wisconsin, of all places. But it's the best air show we absolutely love going every year. I ended up being there to pick up the airplane, and I saw that it was bright pink and everything he had dreamed of. And I was like, this is truly something that the world's never seen. This, I don't think. And it's going to love it. So it was born just a couple of years ago, repainted And I was able to help kind of from pretty early on, the founder and the founding pilots to build the initiative from the ground. Unfortunately, about a year after this beautiful birth of this airplane, the founder, Steve, passed away in a car accident. So suddenly the organization was kind of realizing, like, what are we going to do? Are we going to keep moving forward? What can we do? And the family certainly said, this is something that's incredibly powerful. So it'd be wonderful to keep moving forward. But all of us pilots, of course, felt the same way. We're like, this has to continue on. Amazingly, they wanted me to be the president, and so I stepped into the president role of that last year. And from there I do as I do with any company or organization, and I just kind of go full speed ahead. And we've been wonderfully moving as fast as we can in the best safe way and everything to build and grow this in a way that is sustainable and that is making impact. So now we have a dozen air shows that we have flying, and we're also going to other parts of the world to represent. So I'm going down to Chile next week for the Fidei 26 conference, and that's one of the largest in the Southern hemisphere. And I'll be down there speaking for women and empowerment and on behalf of the pink jet. So the doors it's opened and the opportunities, but also the way that we're able to support breast cancer nonprofits through support, whether it's partnership, donations, giving them visibility, partnering with them in really big ways has been phenomenal. And then the amount of young girls that are getting into aviation because of the pink jet is something that I think I didn't realize how incredibly captivating it would be to them. We get emails and messages kind of on a daily or weekly basis saying, you've helped me keep going to show and know that I have a space in the flight deck and flying airplanes. There was even a woman who said that she was in the midst of her training and saw it taxi up on the ramp. And she said, you literally kept me going in my flight training. I was about to quit like that next week because it was too difficult, and now she's a commercial pilot.

[B]

Well, we hope one day going to put this out into the universe that you'll do a flyover of the Pink Skirt project event. We talked about this.

[A]

That would be amazing. Well, we do have an air show coming up in Canada.

[B]

I know, but it's over on the

[A]

other side of the country.

[B]

I mean, that's awesome. That you're going to come up here anyway. What is the Instagram account for that? Because there's one for the jet itself, right?

[A]

Yeah. So it's pretty simple. It's just the pink jet.

[B]

The pink jet, yeah. Go check it out. The dream is that if I ever were to see you, I'll have a matching one piece. And we would go out flying and we would promote the jet and promote the event. Absolutely.

[A]

We both have pink flight suits, as I do wear a pink flight suit and pink boots, which by the way, the origin story of that. I credit so much of this to my husband. I was going to my first air show with it and I just was so focused on the logistics of getting the airplane to the air show and all this. And he's like, you know, you're going to need a pink flight suit and like pink boots. And I'm like, duh, I haven't even thought of that. He's like, all right, let's get one made. So we have this amazing tailor up in Bellevue, Washington. Bellevue Alterations. Definitely give her a plug. Cause she makes these. She's amazing. And she. From scratch. Well, from the other military flight suits that I had purchased, she made this pink flight suit and then we spray painted military boots pink.

[B]

Because when I saw your flight suit, I went online to see, I'm like, well, I want one of these too. And they don't exist. So I knew it had to be custom.

[A]

They do not exist. Exactly. So cool. It's kind of a one of a kind thing. I'm sure you can get one made if you really want to.

[B]

So I'll just drive around town in it.

[A]

Why not?

[B]

It's so cool. I love it. And like, what an inspiration to. From the original part of this interview, talking about just going for it, even when there was like a trickle of sales to just opening it up. And like, here's the thing about abundance too, is like you knew the opportunities were gonna come. They weren't there yet, they weren't in front of you, but they were going to happen. And then the pink jet probably didn't even surprise you in a way. There's probably a part of you that's like, oh, okay, of course this is happening.

[A]

It was kind of like everything that's happened in my life has always happened because I chose to have a conversation with someone and be curious and then chose to step into it without knowing the full picture. Because you can't. We can't know the picture. And if you're going to want to know the full picture, you'll never succeed. It's just not going to be possible, at least in that line of work. And for me, it just was continuing to say yes to something that aligned with me, what my gut was saying, my ethos and authenticity and saying, we'll see what happens from here. Because I also know there's so much evidence now of what I do. And every woman and guy out there can take this in their own confidence with business is I can make great things because I put in the time. I do it well. I find people around me that are way smarter than me, and I have them help me out or do something or support me. So as long as I have all those things, anything that's going to come into my field is going to be great because I have a hand in it.

[B]

I love it. One last question for you. When I ask you what it means to be a wild woman, what is that for you?

[A]

It's doing things your own way and the way that you're meant to do. I grew up with a lot of challenge and tragedy and family loss early on, and I learned very quickly that we're not guaranteed tomorrow and we're not even guaranteed today or anything ahead of us. So we do have to make the most out of every single opportunity we have. And that opportunity is going to be different for every single person. So try not to look left or right too much. Just look straight ahead. Kind of have those blinders on of following your own gut and what you're supposed to be doing, because it's not placed there just for fun. It's placed there because you are meant to fulfill it, not anybody else on either side of you. As wild as it might sound, you are supposed to fulfill that. And so listening to that and stepping into that, things will start to happen in your life that will acknowledge and support that path going forward. So being, like, wildly optimistic about what can happen if we truly follow our gut and put in the hard work.

[B]

Amen. If people want to go online to find you, where can they go so

[A]

they can see me on my YouTube channel as well as my Instagram, and it's just Jet Girl. Stephanie, as well as the Pink Jet is the handle for, of course, the Pink Jet aircraft in our organization on Instagram and Facebook. And we just love to have you come up to an air show or see us or reach out. It's always fun to connect with amazing people.

[B]

Well, thanks for joining us today.

[A]

Yes, thanks so much for having me. And thank you for everything that you and your team does because you're truly changing the lives of people and giving them their life's best work. Wait.

[B]

Before you go to support this show, please rate and review and share it with your business besties. It means the world to me to get this message. Message in front of more women who are also on the pursuit of greatness. Tune in wherever you subscribe to podcasts, watch us on YouTube and follow me on Instagram. Reneewarren this show is produced in partnership with Martell Media.