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- [00:00]
A
The social media sites and the brand stuff, it's today's language. They don't want just to do business with your company. They want to do business with a person, and they want to know you and they want to, like, feel you.
- [00:11]
B
People are nosy. They love to follow the story. This is why Snapchat was so popular when it came out. This is why Instagram Stories is popular. People want to follow the story. They want to see what's going on behind the scenes.
- [00:23]
A
There's nothing wrong with having, like, that desire for more and that, you know, the size of your ego is maybe the size of your success potential, but the size of your ability to compromise your ego is your ability to actually get there and maintain it. So you have to be able to bring your ego down. Nice. Shit is nice. But I think a lot of people have issues with the ego.
- [00:41]
B
You're going to sell to people who are feeling the pain. We think people make decisions based on pleasure, and we do sometimes, but people are usually making decisions because they want to escape a pain more than they're chasing a pleasure.
- [00:55]
A
Welcome back to Problems To Profit. So glad to have you all here. I. I have an exciting guest that I was reading some of her bio before we came on. I have not met her, but I already know she's going to be amazing. And she has something that I'm sure she's going to teach me, and I cannot wait for her to teach it to all of us on this show because I'm going to be digging, I'm going to be asking questions. I have barely dipped into the surface of what I believe she does. Man, I can't tell you my. I've not been more excited to start a show because I love when I get to learn something. Maya Elias, welcome. I am so glad to have you on.
- [01:28]
B
I'm excited. Thank you so much for having me, Preston.
- [01:31]
A
So with Problems to Profit, like, the. The premise of the show is we want to see how you became a prophet in your space. My belief, my model of the world is life is kind of. You know, people talk about the meaning of life, right? Like, you know, what is the meaning of life? And I, I. My mom always used to say love. And, you know, if there was a love is the only meaning of life, then aging would really be a shitty way to experience it, right? You'd be like, come on, God. Like, we got to talk about this stuff. Like, so I think truth always exists in a paradox. And, you know, can God create a rock so big that God cannot lift the rock. And the answer is yes, and the answer is also no. And so I think the meaning of life is love and problems. And so, like, I think our problems are our gifts. They're our guides, they're our teachers, and they're what helps us kind of frame that love, meaning while we're going through different struggles and challenges that escalate as we age, at different stages, all of that. And I know you lead leaders, you coach entrepreneurs, you help business people. So I think you probably have walked at least some of these roads and paths as well. I'd love to hear maybe a little bit of your story before we go into what you're going to teach. I want to hear, where did you start? Where did you begin? Where were you when you were dealing with the problems before you became the prophet in your space?
- [02:45]
B
Still dealing with the problems. Always dealing with the problems. But to your point, you know, life is about love and the problems because the problems develop us for sure. And I think, you know, what a lot of my current community sees of me now is, you know, the business coach, the seven figure CEO, the person that's worked with hundreds of clients and has had thousands of students and customers. And it's like those were. That was not my humble beginnings. And sometimes I think we see people that we admire online and we just assume they woke up one day and all did was post content for a couple of months and they just blew up.
- [03:19]
A
But wait, that's not you.
- [03:22]
B
That's. That's not me. So if you were hoping to interview, you're gonna have to go find somebody else for that story because that's certainly not my story. But, you know, my overnight success was 10 years in the making. And so I started back in 2008 creating MySpace pages for people who are on MySpace. And MySpace was really popular then for music artists and people in the entertainment industry. So I worked with models, musicians, and reality TV stars. And I started actually creating MySpace pages. And when I was in high school, just because I thought it was cool.
- [04:01]
A
It was.
- [04:01]
B
You know, the Internet was so fascinating to me back then and just being able to connect with people. And I didn't even know what building a brand was. When I was helping people build their brand, all I knew was people just wanted to look a certain way on the Internet. I wanted to look cool. The people I was working with wanted to look cool. The models I was working with, they wanted to be booked to agencies and book to magazines. And MySpace at the time was the platform that you needed to have to gain that level of popularity and. And notoriety. And so at the time, all I knew was somebody was willing to pay me between, like, 35 to 55 bucks to make a custom MySpace page. And I was 18. So I'm like, this is a lot of money. I'm out here balling. Like, that's what's going on in my brain. I'm making without getting a traditional job. And there was no part of me that sought out entrepreneurship. It was just a skill that I had that I thought was fun. And once I realized I could get paid money, I'm like, well, let me see if more people will pay me. And that was honestly my pricing strategy for quite a while. It's, if one person will pay me, I'm sure I can find more people to pay me. And so that was really how I started getting paid professionally on my own, as a freelancer. And eventually, you know, my space started to phase out, and people still wanted to build their platform, but they were now doing it on their own websites. And so I told people I was a web designer. I 100% was not a web designer, had never built a website in my life. But I'm like, this is where the people are going. This is, you know, what I need to learn. And so I would go on YouTube and look up how to build a website. And I got my first deposit. I think it was a 300 project. And this was the most amount of money I had ever made from one client. So I got that 150 deposit, and maybe I went to work me, YouTube and Adobe. I was figuring it out, and I really started to grow and develop, and I started to pay more attention to experts and what is branding. People are paying me for branding. I should probably understand what it is. So I started to really mature and grow as a freelancer and then an entrepreneur, and then, you know, getting more skilled in what branding was in building out websites, in being more strategic with it. And I would say probably maybe 2013, so maybe five years in is when I really started to fully understand that there was value behind what I was doing and taking it more seriously. And then that's when I dropped out of college full time to work for myself, which was the scariest decision of my life.
- [06:36]
A
But how old were you when you dropped out of college?
- [06:38]
B
I was. I was 23.
- [06:40]
A
Okay. Okay, cool.
- [06:41]
B
Yeah, I was 23. So started in 18, was going out of community college. That's where somebody offered me money. And I was in college even longer than I should have been. It was like I Should have graduated in years, but I was still there in a fifth year because I'm just not doing well in college. I'm more focused on creating MySpace pages and designing club flyers than I am on biology and whatever classes I'm failing. And so I finally just made the decision to drop out. And it was so scary because I'm a first generation American to two Liberian parents. Like, my parents came to this country with the thought of, you know, we're going to live the American dream. I think my parents were maybe 21 and 27 when they moved to the States. So they're thinking like, we're here, we're going to build a family. They're going to be very well educated. If you all know any Africans, you know how high of a priority education is. And so for their daughter to drop out of college to build websites and make money on the Internet, like that was not a thing back then. So I'm so glad I turned out to be successful because the amount of stress I put my parents through, they deserve this version of me now. So it's been quite a journey. I mean, you know, being in this space for 17 years now, which is just wild to even say out loud. But going from web design, then learning strategy, coaching my clients on messaging. I discovered my gifting and messaging when people would pay me for websites, but their websites weren't making them money because they didn't know what they should actually say on their website and then how to get people to actually go to their website. So I had to start to study those things. And as I was, you know, making money as a freelancer, I was also blogging about my own journey. And people are like, well, you're building your brand, people are paying attention to your blog, you're getting comments, you're, you're gaining, you know, visibility and popularity. How do you do it? So I started teaching people my strategy. And that's when I called myself. I think I said I was a business consultant. I didn't even know the difference between a consultant or a coach. All I knew was people wanted my advice and I didn't want to keep giving it away for free. So that's when I transitioned into coaching in 2014, and then again, just doing it more consistently. I think I was charging $125 for three coaching sessions. And as I discovered the value in what I was doing and just getting more clients, supporting them and watching them get results, I started to grow as a coach and then eventually went full time into coaching and left design in the past, and the rest is history. You know, I've coached hundreds of women now. I've increased my pricing. It's no longer $125 to work.
- [09:29]
A
I was going to say, I'm ready to book a session. 125 bucks. Let's go. So you hit something, right? Well, you hit a few things that I want to dive into because they're just. They're interesting, you know. And you said, what is branding? You had to kind of really dial in to what is branding? And If I ask 10 people, what is branding? I'm going to get, especially in the marketing space, I'm going to get 10 different answers. So I would love to hear, like, just kind of the frame, you know, I've built my own framework for the differences between, like, marketing, sales, branding, how they align, how they align to culture, how they align to productivity, all of this. Right. And kind of the consistent, aligned messaging, which you dove into. But I'd love to hear, like, what is branding? Like, let's. Let's kind of make that one clear for the listeners, because I think it is one of those nuanced words that people hear it and they don't necessarily understand the meaning. It gets mixed. It gets lost in the noise.
- [10:22]
B
Yeah. I mean, when I think about a brand and branding, I think about it's your Persona. It's the perception other people have of you, essentially your reputation. It's not necessarily what you say you are or who you say you are. It's what other people say you are, but you. So you can't necessarily control what other people say, but you can influence it. And that's why people invest so much into their branding, whether it's their logo, their photos, their website, their copy, you know, the messaging and the words that you use. But essentially, it's the. The perception and the reputation in a particular industry or market. Like, you might have a brand that you have at work in corporate. You might have a brand as a family member within your family. So we're always branding at all times, even if we don't fully understand the concept of it. But you have a reputation with a specific group of people, and you influen even though you can't control what they say.
- [11:22]
A
I love that definition. I mean, and I think it works for people, and I think it also works for businesses, what people say you are. One of my favorite conversations when I'm working with entrepreneurs, I dive entrepreneurs in, and I'm like, all right, dude, we're going to measure or do that. We're going to measure culture, clarity, capacity and cash. And clarity and capacity are cause, culture and cash are always effect. And so when we're measuring these things, you know, the effect that is culture is caused from the entrepreneur, but its effect from the team. Does that make sense? Like if the entrepreneur has a strong enough brand with his team, then he will create a culture. And the first four letters in the word culture is cult. And what does a cult do? It's behavioral moderation. Like it gets people to behave in a certain way, which will then create the brand identity or culture identity of a company for that organization. Like, I love how you framed it. It's what other people say about you or what other people say your company is, you know, Right. And you can tie it into your marketing, like telling people who you are, showing people who you are before they show up. One of my companies, little fun story, little tidbit. I'd love to hear your, your feedback on this. Okay. We have a home building company. It's a very large one and or large in our market, 300 units a year, which we're in El paso, Texas, so 300 units is a lot here. Right. And I worked for home builders for years. And one thing I noticed is all of these guys had like horrible reviews. Like, you'd go online and you'd look at the home building company and they'd get one star reviews and they get this and they get that. And I was like, man, like, why? And so I got the opportunity to go work in the warranty department for a few days with one of my clients, was a home builder at that time, before I started building. And I realized these people were not bad or not all of them, Some of them were, but they just didn't have the right expectations set. So I took a very aggressive approach to managing and marketing our brand. One, we were be the sexy neighbor. Okay? And so we're already loud, we're already politically incorrect. Our signs would say things like, size does matter. So, you know, we're a little playful, but we build bigger homes. So I don't know what you're thinking about, babe. We build bigger homes. That's what we do. And then like right as you're walking up to the front door, here's what I would love to your feedback on. We have this sign and it's real clear. We reserve the right to refuse service to assholes. And it sets the brand. So quickly we started firing customers that would yell at our staff. And it was crazy because we had a great product, we had a great Service. We had great everything else. But if you yell at my secretary for something that is not her fault, like, if there's an issue, bring it up, please. We want to help you. But if you're screaming and calling her a bitch and insulting who she is, what she is as a person for something she probably didn't cause, like, she's not the foreman. She's not the. The trade, then we're done. Like, I just cancel your contract. Well, you know, for a few months, this was very rough. The realtors didn't understand it. Like, it was scary on contracts. And you know what happened later? They would condition their clients. Hey, you know what? You have to be respectful if you buy this product. Our reviews are high. We do great. We have a reverse marketing. We can actually tell you when somebody walks in the front door when they look at that sign and they're like, oh, that's offensive. We're like, dude, this is probably not the product for you, honestly. And if somebody's like, that's funny. We're like, welcome, brother. You want to come see the rest? You're gonna love it. You know, I'd love your feedback on that from, like, a branding context.
- [14:52]
B
I love it. I think the best brands are polarizing. It's very clear, and people know where you stand. And I think there's a lot of people who want, you know, a significant brand. They want to be seen a certain way. And it's like, well, what do you stand for? And this is where, you know, values comes play. A lot of people don't. You know, I think the most successful companies, people. Brands, know who they are. And I think a lot of people struggle with identity. Like, I mean, we just see the confusion with identity everywhere. People don't know who they are, flat out. And when I think about identity, when I'm working with my clients, we focus on, let's build the CEO, then let's build the business, because we got to build a business around who the CEO is. And a lot of you just simply don't know who you are. And so when we talk about identity, we start with values. Who are you? What do you value? How do you show up in the world? And let's be honest about what those values are. And so what I love about what you guys did is that you expressed your values without being generic. Like, these are our company values we value. Blah, blah, blah. It's like, no, we're just not going to work with. We're not going to work with people who complain. We're not Going to work with people who are rude. We're not going to work with people who are emotionally unintelligent. It's like you need to know how to express yourself if there's a problem, that's what your values are. And you explained it in fun slogans and in fun ways. And I would even say probably. I know playfulness is a value of mine. It sounds like playfulness is probably a value of yours, even if it's not written down. And so I love that the values.
- [16:24]
A
Are so clear in my top 10. And it's written down.
- [16:28]
B
Is it? I love that.
- [16:30]
A
Absolutely. I think, you know, we, we. I got to meet a guy named David Green and he was phenomenal. He owns Hobby Lobby, a debt free giant company that sells arts and crafts at higher margins than any other business. And the retail space. Right. And you know what he sat there and told us? He said, you know where a company logo came from? And we were all like, huh? He said, family crest. It came from a family crest. You know where your mission statement came from? Your family's values. The reason some families have like this dynastic ability to retain like the Rothschilds is they pass on values to their children. It's the one thing we don't teach anymore. And so like, I love the word values. I love that you said it. I mean, already you've got all the credibility that you can have for a person. I met like 10 minutes ago when we started a podcast. I'm loving where we're going. You said another fun thing though. You said coach versus consultant. And I got to tell you, I launched a coaching company. It was successful enough that we triggered the Tony Robbins organization. We got the lawsuit letters. I promise not to talk about the outcome, but I'm very happy with the outcome. So that's where I'll end that. But. But what was interesting is I was just a business guy. I was building homes, I had a brokerage, I had a title company and all this stuff, but I wanted to travel. So I opened a travel agency and a coaching company and I started coaching and I kind of felt like after the first year, coaching was just a dirty word to me. To the point that I've started coaching again since. But it took me a few years to overcome that negative belief around the word coach. Just because of the way the market treats coaches. Everyone wants to coach coaches. Like the people that buy the most coaching, I think, are a lot of times the people that call themselves coaches and aren't okay. You get a different sales hustle. From a different asshole on Instagram every 10 minutes. There's all these people that want to coach the coach. And I feel like when I put Coach on my YouTube or my Instagram it was like I invited more scam artists in which created a negative frame in the world for me, which I have since overcome. But I would love to hear your framework for coach versus consultant.
- [18:38]
B
Oh, I mean, I definitely understand your perspective being a coach and you know, being a coach for how many ever years and just seeing how things have changed and how there were so many pop up coaches in the last five years, there can definitely be a negative connotation around coaching. And that goes back to brand, right? It's like what's the brand that all of us that were responsible for as coaches have played into the negative side of, of the brand of coaching. And so, you know, as somebody who personal responsibility is another core value of mine, I'm like, okay, what, what role have I played into the negative feedback around being a coach? But when we look at the difference between coach and consulting, I look at coach as somebody that is pulling something out of you that's already inside and then kind of giving you a framework and a strategy to get you to the results that you want. And I think consultants can do something similar. They're usually looking at, okay, what's the problem? What's your end goal? Here's the strategy, here's the strategy and we're going to implement it for you. Coaches aren't really going to implement for you. They're going to tell you what you need to be doing. So that's how I really see the difference if we're just looking at it from a technical standpoint. But I do also think that, you know, anybody can call themselves a coach, which honestly I really have no problem with. I don't, I don't feel nervous about competition because I think the real true coaches, we know how to show up as our best. We know how to differentiate ourselves between the people who just chat GPT, five steps to do whatever and then the people who actually have experience. And so I think the best coaches, they have experience because they've either done it themselves or they have coached enough people that they can spot the problem without the client even having to say here's what my problem is.
- [20:22]
A
I like that I think I have a, and I came to it in a backwards way. You know, I got out of the coaching business and went and worked on my businesses and then they got automated and I got really bored and so I was like well, maybe I'll go back into coaching. But I had to define it. Like I had kind of come out of the coaching space where I'd had the coaches that were the gurus, if you will, and they were the everything coaches. They were like, let me help you with your fitness and your faith and your finance and your family. And it's like, how do you know all this stuff, dude? You're so full of shit. So to me, where I came down to coaching, it's like, you need to coach in your area of expertise. You don't need to be the everything to everyone. If you're a high net worth entrepreneur that's running like crazy and you found that you're good enough to build a large business but you're not good enough to automate it. I can be an automation coach. What I don't want to be is I don't want to necessarily be the guy working on your marriage. I don't want to be the guy telling you how to get a six pack of apps. I don't want to be the guy like doing all like, oh, let's go diet coaching. Like, you want my opinion, I'm a man, I have one on everything. But I am not probably the most credible source for the six pack of abs. Obviously, if you can tell by my giant head and tiny shoulders, you know, like, go find that coach, you know. So I kind of, I link the word coach to a niche and I link the word consultant to you're paying for an outcome and coach, you're paying for an education and a niche.
- [21:45]
B
I like that, I like that. And I do think with coaches, yeah, they can't guarantee an outcome but the goal still is to get transformation and you know, the responsibility is on the client to do the work but leveraging the coach to get there in the most efficient way possible because the coach is going to be able to look at your, your blind spots. But I do think what is interesting, I agree in terms of like really finding a niche and honing in on that. What I am seeing and what I think is important with building a personal brand. Now this is not necessarily for just, you know, corporate brands or company brands, but with a personal brand you can talk about different things but position yourself as an expert in like the one to two things. So it's like you could talk like, I talk about vacation, I talk about dating, I talk about being an aunt. But people know that they're paying me money to help them get clear with their messaging and increase their prices and get quality Clients. So it's like people connect with me on the non expert side of my life, but they pay me for the parts that I am an expert in. And it's something just. It's. People want to relate to you in different ways. I was having a conversation with a client. She is a peak performance coach. And I'm like, well, you're married with two kids under five. You have a two year old and a four year old. Like, what's more peak performance than keeping two toddlers alive? I'm like, talk about those things. Every piece of content doesn't have to be like, how to reach peak performance in the next 30 days. It can just be like, yeah, I had to switch daycares today and it was really annoying. I tapped into my mindset of XYZ and that's how I was able to get it done and still be happy at the end of the day in my marriage. Like, you don't need to be a parent expert.
- [23:28]
A
Maya, you're killing me. Like, I'm sitting here with my two gals that run the show on the side of the room and I'm looking over and they're like, yes. And they're smiling and they're. Cuz. I don't want to do that. Oh, gosh. Wow. Okay. All right, you know what? Hold on. I got to scratch my head over here. You're right. You told me so. You're smart, I'm dumb. You're gorgeous, I'm ugly. Thanks, guys.
- [23:48]
B
Don't you guys think his next piece of content should just be engaging with his audience and saying, do you guys think I should get Botox? Yes or no?
- [23:58]
A
Wow. Now, now I know we. I know why we booked the podcast girls. I understand completely. Okay, cool. You guys brought Maya in to close me. Oh, that's so good. I like that. So, so I'm writing down in my notes here. A consultant is somebody you're paying for an outcome. A coach is somebody you're paying to help you become who you need to be.
- [24:22]
B
I like that.
- [24:23]
A
So we've really gone from started with making 50 bucks for a MySpace account to 7 figure CEO coach. So tell us some outcome stories with different clients that you've worked with and some of the things that you've shifted and changed and helped them like realize like, I mean, you know, we already got one with my girls, like glaring at me and smiling and giggling in the corner and trying to be quiet for the show while giggling and smiling. But. So you're getting an outcome on here and I Don't even think I've paid you yet. But, like, you know, like, tell us some outcome stories of, like, what you've helped different folks do.
- [25:01]
B
Oh, yeah, Actually, just got off a coaching call a little bit ago, and some of my clients were just sharing some of their wins with me, and. Which is always nice to hear as a coach, like, hey, Maya, I paid you, and I listened to what you told me to do, and it actually worked. And ironically, one of my clients, so she's a photographer and an educator for other photographers, and she had a workshop where I think she was charging people maybe $400, but. And she's been a photographer for a few years now, and she's done really well as a photographer. She's made multiple six figures, and she's done it in a short amount of time because she's. That's. She's done such a good job with her craft, building trust with her audience. And when she came to me, she was struggling with wanting to increase her prices. And I'm like, girl, why did you pay me $10,000 just to charge these people $400? It doesn't make any sense. And she was like, just the fact that you called me out on that, it wasn't even, like, a business strategy of, like, here's the pricing strategy behind this, or here's what you should say. She was like, just the mindset transformation of you calling me out to say I believed in myself enough to invest $10,000, but I don't believe in myself enough to charge at least $1,000 for the services that I provide. So I finally helped her increase her prices. She was like, this is the most money I've ever charged. And she did a launch, and she booked out on her launch. I think she got like, 15 clients at a thousand dollars or something. So just seeing little things like that is so exciting. I love working with people where I can see their brilliance and they know they're good at what they do, but they just struggle with the money mindset. And I'm like, here's the price point that I need you to charge. Go on this webinar and say these exact words and then come back to me and tell me what happens. And so I did that with another client who she was a graphic designer, and she was charging a la carte. And I'm like, girl, please stop with these little 250 projects. Like, you have such a big community, and they trust you. And so she launched something, I think at a thousand dollars or 1500, honestly, she's at a level where she could have $10,000 packages. But I kind of got to stair step my clients sometimes. And she had 51 people sign on to work with her on this new offer we put together. And I just feel so excited when I see that because I'm like, you should have been doing this a year ago. But since you only just hired me this year, this is when you get the results. But I just get excited to see them get their wins.
- [27:23]
A
That's so awesome. That reminds me of a story. I've got a friend, and she's like a world famous psychic medium. She's been on Oprah. Her name's Lisa Williams and she's cool as hell. And I have a little text message from her. Like, it's like a wow. Thank you.
- [27:38]
B
Right?
- [27:39]
A
It was the first time she ever made 100 grand in an hour online. And I had this. I was telling her this story, right? And I was giving her business coaching. I, at this point, never made 100 grand online. Okay. I'd never made. I mean, I'd made 100 grand, so. Shit. Sometimes I make 100 grand in the first hour at work. Like, you know, we do a lot of revenue, a lot of volume, a lot of high price point sales. So 100 grand is not exciting. But 100 grand online, I was like, I got the text and I was like, I had to call her back. I was like, so what'd you do? And I was telling her a story that I was coaching a guy at a big Wall street firm, top five Wall street firm. And after working with him and working on all the issues that I didn't want to work on because he'd hired me as a coach, I gave him this little framework and this formula for like. And it was a competition study, and it was measuring your competitors and doing this and doing that and nine. It's like three different trifectas of measurement and how to tune your business. And I was like, why don't you just teach some of your people this? And so she went out and she offered it for a $10,000 class online. And she sold like 12 or 15 of them. She's like, it's the first time I've ever made 100 grand in an hour. And I was like, you made that with my formula? My God, I got off my game, so I'm coaching you to be way smarter than me. Wow. So, I mean, so I'm. Sometimes it's the words you say, you can have gold in a box, but if you don't Open the box. You're never going to be able to use the gold. It's worthless unless you let it out.
- [29:04]
B
Right? So 100%.
- [29:06]
A
I love that.
- [29:07]
B
I love that. I think what's cool too, like being a coaches, it's almost sometimes you forget your, you forget to apply your own brilliance to yourself. It's like I tell my clients like, yeah, just go do this. Just charge this price. Just go say this on a webinar. And it's like, okay, when's the last time I did my own webinar? When's the last time I. I did this? It's like I have my clients doing the work that I also should be doing. And I think it is a little bit of like I've done this work for so long. Like I'm tired of doing it. I just want to watch y' all do it. But it is cool sometimes to be like to see them get the results based on advice that you gave them.
- [29:43]
A
You know, it's fun sometimes too when you know, we hired this high powered virtual CMO for online marketing and digital marketing to help us. I mean we've got got pretty sophisticated back end tech and so we were like, well, let's dial stuff and tune stuff. And the guy's amazing and he's been a full time CMO for large organizations. And so he came in and he's like, yeah, I'll give you four hours a week, 22, five a month. And I was like, all right, we'll try them for a month. A he came in and blew our mind. With all the back end connections that he made, I mean he immediately increased our output. He was immediately worth the value. But then he comes in and he looks at the way that we were. I think it was like advertising through messenger. It was just something one of my employees did. And the comment he made was, you know, I could almost waive my fee this first month because I'm going to take this strategy to all my other clients. Because your employee is a genius. And I was like, huh? He was like, you've only had success because of this one thing. And I thought back about that too. It's like I've gotten so much value out of the coaching for my different clients and different industries and different things as well. Because when you're exposed to like different ideas, different thoughts, it actually makes you better at your coaching or consulting for the next person you're bringing on as well.
- [31:04]
B
It's 100%.
- [31:07]
A
So I love it. You're not doing any web design anymore.
- [31:14]
B
No more. No.
- [31:16]
A
So now what is the target client that you're generally looking for in your business?
- [31:22]
B
So the, the primary group of people that I work with, they are experts in their industry. So whether it's experts at design or photography or peak performance coaching or health coaching, whatever it is, it's something that they do really well and they can take their skill set and help somebody else get a transformation. And they are looking to see how can I build a business around this or get higher quality clients that actually value what I do. And it's so interesting how we talked about the difference between like consulting and coaching because when I did run an agency where I would build out my clients funnels, I would write their copy, I would do their websites, I would do all of their design. I gave them the outcome, right? They had the deliverables of the landing page and the copy and all of that stuff. And it honestly made clients more lazy. And the clients who got the results were the people who paid for coaching because their identity shifted to your point and to your definition. You have to shift your identity to get the, to get the transformation. And so I love working with people who are already brilliant, but they come in and I shift their identity to think of themselves as a high level service provider that works with high quality clients who respect them and they charge accordingly.
- [32:41]
A
So diving into identity, what are you looking for? Have you ever niched out some of the limitations that you're looking for in, in the identity to kind of have that like you already know what you're going to fix on somebody generally when they, when they come in, like what are, what are the gaps that you know that you can fill for somebody in the first like 90 days, the life change you're going to give them.
- [33:07]
B
Typically the number one gap is going to be pricing because a prerequisite of working with us as you have had to have been in your industry for a minimum of five years. And I also want to hear about the results you've been able to get for other people because I'm not going allow you to go out there and charge high ticket and you don't have a high ticket service. So you need to actually have value in what you do. So a minimum of five years people do. Usually they're at five, between like five to 20 years of being in their industry, but they really have no idea how to price. Or maybe they've been in their industry in corporate where they were more undervalued and they just have no idea how to show up as an entrepreneur. And so the first thing we look at is, is how many hours are you working to make the money that you're making and how much money do you actually want to make and what do we realistically need to be charging? And then how do we articulate the value in what you do so people can make sense of the number that you're telling them? And that's where the messaging and the positioning comes into play, which is really where my area of expertise is. A lot of people don't know how to articulate their value. And a lot of people don't know how to articulate their value because a lot of people also don't know how to assess, assess or measure value. A lot of people are like, well, it's going to take me an hour to do this, so maybe I'll just charge $50. And I'm like, the value isn't in the time that's spent. The value is in what's the transformation they're getting because of the time that you spent. So that's really where we have to shift before we can even fully increase the price and start converting the clients.
- [34:39]
A
It's. Yeah, I wrote down price versus goals versus capacity versus offer. So you're versus messaging. I mean, you're balancing these four things to their outcome. You know, I mean, I really like that. You know, the most recent coaching business I launched, and I launched it because I was bored and I said, I'm going to charge 50k and I've taken on two clients. And the gentleman we hired was like, dude, like, you're charging a third of what you should be charging for this outcome. Like your two clients. Like, how long does it take you to generate that 50k? Either increasing their income or decreasing their expenses or adding inefficiencies or whatever you're doing. I'm like, oh, I can generally do it in the first year days. And he's like. And then like, I mean, I know, I know my target customer has got an EBITDA of over a million dollars. I know my target customer is a.
- [35:28]
B
Brick and mortar entrepreneur.
- [35:29]
A
I've got, I've got my, my customer dialed in and. But he hit me. He was like, dude, like, we need to like, take this and expand it because, you know, you have fun with this, but you can only take 12 clients, you know, and still be dad to your kids and husband to your wife. Why don't we do this group coaching thing and charge everybody 15k? And I'm like, like, my God, like, there's a whole business Here. And I'm a brick and mortar guy. Like, I build homes, I make loans, I do all these things, and I'm like, this is going to be a seven figure thing in a year less. And it's easier than I thought. But it's never something I had framed. I'd always known because you watch Elon Musk, I mean, Elon Musk's business is not his brand. Okay? But his brand absolutely complements his business. You look at Jeff Bezos, you look at Mark Zuckerberg, these guys are all the leading entrepreneurs on the planet, and they all have a brand brand. And you don't necessarily need a social media brand, but you have to have a brand to those that matter, that are going to come and acquire your product, service, whatever, right? And so that price versus goals versus capacity versus offer. Like, one thing he forced me to articulate, which I was like. He was like, well, you know, you want your time to be not just something you enjoy spending, but you measure everything with money, don't you? And I was like, well, at least in business I do. And he was like, accept this. And I was like, you know, just stabs me, me, I love it. But I, I, I love the learning when, when you get smart people and they make you think, I think that's, that's the main job. The coach is there to make you think.
- [36:57]
B
Yep. I love that. That's so good. Yeah. That transition from one on one to group and scaling and knowing you're still having the same level of impact is just really Chef kiss.
- [37:07]
A
It's, it's so fun. And sometimes the group is more fun.
- [37:11]
B
It really is, actually. Yeah, it really is like, like watching everybody want to do the work and to win is just great to be in that environment.
- [37:20]
A
And I will say, some of the best marketing we've had for the coaching company that we launched, you know, and this is so savage. And maybe I'm wrong here. You can tell me. You're the expert, but it's making fun of coaches. Like, I think we did a recent one where we were like, hey, dude, nobody parks their fucking Ferrari in front of their jet. Like, I have the, I don't have a Ferrari. I got the faster car. I went with the McLaren, but I have the McLaren and I have three fucking airplanes. Nobody drives the McLaren to the airport. Why would you fucking do that? It doesn't hold the luggage. Nobody's doing that unless they're gonna take a picture. You probably don't own the car. You probably don't own the plane. You probably don't even own the fucking camera. Back off, motherfucker. And so, like. Like, I make fun of them, and then people are like, hey, how do I get where you are? Can. Can I sign up? And I'm like, oh, well, you can get in line, because I'm not taking everybody on at once. Sometimes the best marketing is shit. Talking about the industry's flaws, I have seen that.
- [38:08]
B
That isn't my approach, but I do think it could be funny when it's. When it's well done. But that's hilarious because, yeah, you're definitely not driving your car to your private jet. You have a driver, just.
- [38:16]
A
Yeah. Or. Or if you're driving to the airport, you're going to take the Cadillac where you could fit the luggage. I mean, look, I drive to the airport, but nobody's like, ooh, look at that Escalade in front of the airplane. Like, they don't care. There's like, there's one on every block. It's not sexy. Look at him and all his kids getting out. Like, what?
- [38:38]
B
That is so funny.
- [38:40]
A
Let's talk a little bit about the importance of developing a brand when you're in business. Because a lot of our clients on this show that watch the show, they're entrepreneurs. And I think a lot of entrepreneurs, especially the brick and mortar types that really consume our content. I come from humble beginnings. I grew up in the trailer park and thank God, have been blessed financially, had the psychology mother and the father that tried his hand at entrepreneurship and lost his way and accidentally sold me on becoming an entrepreneur as a result. And, you know, the biggest thing that I had to overcome with building a brand, and I think this is very common with, like, the brick and mortar entrepreneur, is we don't want to, like, show, I guess, the ego. Does that make sense? Like, there's nothing wrong with having, excuse me, an ego. There's nothing wrong with having, like, that. That. That desire for more and that, you know, the size of your ego is maybe the size of your success potential, but the size of your ability to compromise your ego is your ability to actually get there and maintain it. So you have to be able to bring your ego down. And a lot of the folks that I think consume this are watching this and saying, well, man, I don't want to look douchey with the fancy car and the fancy airplane. Like, I like having it, because let's not lie, my stuff is great. If you've ever driven a Ferrari and then a Honda, you're like, I. I don't really want to go back to the Honda. Like, the other one is cooler. Like, if I need to get into traffic, I can do it like that, you know, I mean, and, and you know, the self esteem for the Ferrari, like, if my wife gets mad at me, all I have to do is drive around in that car and then park it at the gas station, fill it up. I've got like three kids looking at the. For me, it's the McLaren and they're like, oh, can I sit in it? Yeah, sure. Take pictures, have fun. And like, you're the coolest guy in the world and your self esteem is fixed. Like, there's nothing. It's Prozac with four wheels. So, I mean, nice shit is nice. But I think a lot of people have issues with the ego. Like, sell us on why to build a brand. What does that add to your life? Kind of share that with the folks that are listening.
- [40:40]
B
Yeah, I mean, first of all, I really understand where you are and where a lot of brick and mortar entrepreneurs are, because I think it's one. It's the wanting to maintain the ego. But I think it's too you guys live in reality. One of my closest friends has built successful brick and mortar companies. He's been doing it for the past 20 years. And when we were working on building his brand, he's like, I just don't understand why I would be taking a picture and then talking about it. Like, it doesn't. He's like, I talk to people in real life. He's like, I started when we were doing door to door sales and you know, I'm literally going door to door. You would see me have flyers or I'm running ads so people can walk into my facility and have a conversation. And so I think it's the ego, but I think it's also, also a disconnect of like, no, I really do this in real life. Like how you said I fly the private jets. He's like, he's like, I've been on more private jets than you've ever known, but you'll just never know because where would that be advertised? I don't understand it.
- [41:35]
A
And so I'm like, help you sell a house.
- [41:37]
B
It just, that's like, I do it because it's convenient, not because it makes me look better at what I do. And so I do honestly understand that disconnect. And sometimes I do think when you haven't built an online brand and you just built a successful company, especially brick and mortar, there's this disconnect. Of is building a brand just kind of like showing off. And, and I understand why. Then we have like the making fun of the coaching space, especially in like the bro marketer space. And I see this more so on the male side than I do with women. I do see some women do it too, but I see it. I think it's more of a master.
- [42:14]
A
Guilty of the male side completely. Back when I was a little girl, maybe I didn't have that issue, but I'm guilty of the male side.
- [42:22]
B
Yeah, sorry. You were just born that way, so you're automatically guilty. So I'm sorry. But yeah, definitely more on the, the male and masculine side. It's like we have the fancy cars, we're doing the private jets, we're doing all these things. And I do think because sometimes men tend to be more ego driven, at least outwardly. So we see that and we subconsciously, subconsciously say, like, well, I want to have that. When I think about building a brand, I think it's, you're just naturally telling your story, like, what are you doing? And so I even remember when Instagram first came out and people would be like, well, why am I taking a picture of my food and telling people about it? Like, who cares? And it's not that you ate chipotle. It's the fact that you uniquely always get a chipotle bowl and you pay for the extra guac and somebody that follows you was like, I always get the chicken as well and I always get the extra guac. And it's that connection at the end of the day, like, people are buying into a version of themselves that they see or that they desire to be. So that is kind of why, why the bro marketer stuff works with the fancy cars and stuff. Because it's like, dang, if I join his coaching program, could I have a nice car? Could I do the private jet? And so again, it's not about the ego, but it's what are people aspiring to do or what are people aspiring to be or what are people aspiring to have? And so, you know, I think when people see my brand, I talk about, like, working out, I talk about being with my family, I talk about my faith. And none of that really has to do with messaging, but it's like, like, but this is, you know, especially being a black woman and being a black woman of faith. It's a more targeted group. And so people be like, well, I love how you're so bold and talking about your faith, but I've also just, I haven't seen that many black women make money. And I specifically want to work with you because of what I see and because I see that you're doing it authentically. And so I'm not showing anything that feels foreign to me. It's like they might see me either in my home or they'll see me in my high rise, or they'll see me just having fun with friends. It's not a, let me show off this stuff. It's. This is the life I get to live as a result of the choices that I've made. And I can help you make some of those choices if you decide to work with me. And I don't do it in, like, a. You can have a nice high rise if you join my coaching program. But that's what branding is. I don't even have to sell the coaching program in that way because the brand is speaking for itself.
- [44:45]
A
You know, one thing I. And I agree with that, you're talking about rapport effectively. One thing I realized with the coaching and the accidentally building a brand, and, I mean, I don't have, like, a huge brand. I think I have, what, 40,000 people on Facebook or I think 100 and some thousand on TikTok. And, like, they blew up because I gave good business advice and because I was not shy about, you know, when I had a fight with, you know, like, you know, a major player on stage, I was like, hey, this is what's going on. And people wanted to follow the story. Like, they wanted to see who I was. And so there was. Was. It hit me that, like, the social media sites and the brand stuff, it's today's language. They don't want just to do business with your company. They want to do business with a person. And. And they want to know you and they want to, like, feel you and like, and. And. And it is the rapport with the guacamole. Like, I mean, I've. I've had little instances like that where I go to a local restaurant here. People like, I love that place. And I'm like, me too.
- [45:44]
B
Yeah.
- [45:45]
A
Okay, I get it. Bromance, right?
- [45:49]
B
It's like, did we just become best friends? Yes.
- [45:52]
A
I also do green enchiladas there, you know, like, what? Okay. Like, that's the thing. You didn't like the sauna in the shower at the house, but you. The enchiladas got you.
- [46:04]
B
The enchiladas got you. Yep. That's really it. It's so real, though. And what you said about people want to follow the story I'm like, like, people are nosy. They love to follow the story. This is why Snapchat was so popular when it came out. This is why Instagram Stories is popular. This is why reality TV isn't going anywhere. People want to follow the story. They want to see what's going on behind the scenes that. Where maybe other companies or other brands are not showing it. Like, even when you think about the Kardashians, it's easy to talk about the Kardashians for sure, but so many people follow their stories, story simply just out of being nosy. You don't even have to like them to follow them. It's like, I'm just nosy at this point, and I'm following the story. And you know what? I might just go ahead and buy that lip gloss that they're selling. I'm here anyway.
- [46:55]
A
You know, there's a thought I've never had. It's just never hit me.
- [47:01]
B
I hope it stays. Like, I don't think you need any lip gloss. You're good.
- [47:06]
A
I appreciate the coaching, the Botox that the girls made fun of me for earlier, though, you know, I'll work on that. Maybe not the lip gloss. Jeez. Well, this is more fun than I expected it to be. Okay, so let's, let's dive in to if, if, if you're say, like, like, take me as. As a new client, right? Like somebody that's starting out, building a brand and doesn't know anything they're doing. What are the first two, three things that you're going to teach and advise on that I need to start looking at? Let's, let's give the listeners like, hey, here's two or three hacks that are just like, wow, this is like, you know, obviously I don't want you to go through the whole program, but I want you to give me two or three hacks that are just. Just enough. A little bait on the hook that's going to get them to call Maya later and, like, get them to show up and, like, watch one of your webinars.
- [47:58]
B
Okay, well, I think the first thing I would say is, what, what are you trying to do? Like, what do you want to create? And I would need an answer. So I don't know if you want to actually answer that or you just want me to go through what, the process.
- [48:09]
A
No, no, no, I'll answer it. I'll. You know what? I think I can answer it for me and maybe men. Okay. Because for men, for us, once you go out and you have the success. And you make the money and you do all that. You're like, oh, shoot, this is not what it was sold to be. There's so much more than this was. You can have all the wealth in the world. You know the difference between 10 million, 100 million and a billion? You drink the same margaritas on the same fucking beaches. You get there maybe on your airplane, or maybe you. You pay for a seat, but you're going to the same place. You may not own the island you're on, like the guy in the billions, but you're on the same fucking island as the guy in the billions if you're at the 10 million spot. So after about 10 million in net worth, money's just a scorecard. Like, there's no difference, in my opinion, in the lifestyle of 10 million versus a billion in net worth. And so I think guys then start saying, oh, shit. Every insurance company on earth tells me if I retire, I'm two years from death. And that's not untrue. Men need to be productive. And so after we generate a certain amount of wealth and income and our family's fine and our kids are set and our wives taken care of, then we start saying, okay, well, impact. How do we become immortal? Obviously, we're going to die, but how do we leave a message? How do we leave something that future generations are going to benefit from? How do we leave something that is our core competency, our core skillset? For me, it's business. It's automating companies, okay? But for me, for different men, it's going to be different things. But for men in general, I think the goal is live forever in some way, some aspect of you continues when you're gone.
- [49:43]
B
Oh, I really like that. So. Well, the question I would be asking is because, you know, people are coming to me and they're wanting to create like, a coaching program or online course, build a brand around their philosophies. And so if you came to me and said that, I would say, okay, are you trying to create a coaching program for men who have created their financial wealth and they've made millions and they're realizing that they want more meaning behind what they do? So then I would just clarify, like, okay, is this what you're trying to create? Is this what your philosophy is? And is this what you want to teach other people?
- [50:17]
A
So I'll just give you mine, okay? Because I'm kind of giving you broad men because there's going to be people watching that aren't me, and I'm Sure. The women are going to be, based on your client list, easier answers. And so I'm going to give you the hard one since we're not necessarily in the niche, but it's fun anyway, right? For me, I'm an economist, hard knocks Congress, not by education, but it's what I study, it's what I love. And I look at AI, I look at quantum computing, I look at robotics and I look at what companies are designed to do, which is create more efficiency and what that's going to do to disrupt employment. And this is an international threat, this is a global threat. Like you know what will happen in 10 years that could happen in two years. Everybody's worried about what's going to happen in two years. It won't, it's going to happen over the next 10 to 20 years because there's a certain amount of buy in, but it's already beginning is going to be the larger companies are going to get very, very, very efficient. What does that mean? Less people. So I want to bring entrepreneurship back to the main stage as it was when people were first generation immigrants like your parents were. Okay? Back when this country founded and formed, there was no going to work for Walmart. Like you were the grocer that was buying all the goods from the local farms and selling them and creating a convenience. But you had a small business, you were the farmer, you were the person doing this, you were the person doing that. Everybody had a small business. And unless we figure out a way to create compelling heart to heart sales and understand entrepreneurship, at least at its fundamental levels, we are, are fucked as a society because there's two competing forces that are coming to hit, okay? One is mass unemployment. Two inefficient governments that have borrowed and spent more money than they can ever pay back. And so there's like the idea that there's going to be this universal living wage is economically bullshit. It's just impossible because the governments need about three lifetimes to pay back the debt, assuming everybody keeps working and paying taxes. And then the big businesses, when they get rid of all their staff aren't going to have people to buy their shares. So we're going to have a small business revolution whether we like it or not. And I want to make it a little easier with my videos, my courses and the leaders that I'm training with my processes for that to absorb into the marketplace and for there to be less pain and less stress and something that's already going to be painful. The asteroid's already going to hit. I Just want the right people, the right leaders to have bunkers so that they can go out after it hits and like re revolution, know, rebuild society.
- [52:45]
B
Oh, I like that. Why am I thinking about what's the show with the, the zombies, the Walking dead? I love that show. Did you watch it?
- [52:57]
A
Oh my gosh, I love that show.
- [52:58]
B
It was such a good show and I'm like, wow, what would my usefulness be if I was like in there? Like nobody's going to give a about messaging. Then I need to know how to like farm and crop for food. And it kind of sounds like that's what you're saying.
- [53:11]
A
Like what at the table or on the menu. You really are, are you one of the zombies or one of the people? Like, I mean you have to have a function of value and the ability to sell and the ability to communicate and the ability to add value and create and you know, a lot of it's going to be online but a lot of it's going to be interpersonal, heart to heart sales, brick and mortar. And so I mean those are the guys and gals that I generally help. But it's, it's, you know, this is coming, like this is not, not going to happen. The question is a big when, not if. And there's a lot of things that could push back the when or accelerate the when. But you know, the reason I coach is because I feel like that's the best way that I can live forever. I can leave a lasting meaning, you know, is have that information out there.
- [53:57]
B
Right. I love that. So if you were coming to me and you told me, okay, this is my philosophy, this is what I believe, here's what I want to coach people on. I would immediately start crafting messaging in my head just because that's what my brain does. But then I would get confirmation from you. It sounds like. Are you wanting to help people become irreplaceable entrepreneurs or irreplaceable business owners?
- [54:18]
A
Yeah, I generally focus on small business. So I mean when I say small business it's kind of. I, you know, my book helps anyone who's starting out and you know, my group coaching is anyone who's already in business that's not quite in a million. My one on one coaching is anybody that's over a million in ebitda. And so you know, I've kind of built little tiers. My courses and videos and book, they work for everybody but like my group works for everybody that's already started a business, you know and then my one on one Is like, if you're already in big business, you know, I could take 12 at a time, which also gives me the ability to be very picky and pick the people that I, you know, resonate with and have rapport with. But, you know, and I'm not actually having any trouble selling it, but it, you know, I. It's. It's fun to do this because I'm here, and while you're playing with me, somebody else is hearing this. This and thinking, oh, wow, Maya can help me with this. Like, let's, let's, let's. Let's dive into what I want to create.
- [55:14]
B
Absolutely. I want it to be an example where somebody can say, okay, even if I couldn't work with Maya, what would be the question she would ask? So I kind of know what to do next. So it's really figuring out, well, what is your IT thing? What is the philosophy that you believe so much in that you're like, I have to help people with this now. I have to help people with this today. And helping one person is not enough. And like, with you, it's like, I need to help every small business figure out how they can just making sure that they're not replaceable by AI and we're already seeing people being replaced by AI and so thinking about, what is the philosophy that you believe in now and why is it urgent? What makes it relevant and urgent right now? Obviously, you know, with your niche, we see that it's relevant. Right now. We're seeing people being replaced left and right by AI even if it's not a. I think we're kind of replacing people a little bit prematurely, but it doesn't really matter. It's happening anyway. And then talking about, well, who values this the most? And I go into audience, right. So we have, like, your position of, like, what your stance is. Then we got to talk about the people who also values this. Who's going to be most affected by this, who's going to or currently does feel the pain of this. Because you're going to sell to people who are feeling the pain. People are, aren't. We think people make decisions based on pleasure, and we do sometimes. But people are usually making decisions because they want to escape a pain more than they're chasing a pleasure. So who's being most affected by the possibility or the reality reality of being replaced by AI? That is who we need to be talking to. And then I think about time frame. Like, the value is in the outcome.
- [56:58]
A
And the time frame. I want to compliment you because. Because you know, it's so true. If you go to any sales trainer, anybody who is good at training salespeople, what is fomo? It's fear of missing out. It's hey, you need to avoid this pain. Like, I mean the reason that if you go look at the BLS data, you know, the only jobs that we're really creating in this country right now are in the medical field. Wonder why? Because it's easy to sell. They're already in pain. Right. So how do you get people to wake up, up and know that pain is going to come? Like pain is the number one sales tool, but it's, how do you articulate it authentically without them perceiving you as the threat and they see the threat as the threat and you as the solution to the threat while still talking about the thing that is really there. Like you have to be that friend, that guy that's like, hey, this is real. We should talk about, about it. Yeah, but I do want to help.
- [57:58]
B
Yeah. Oh, I love that. That's really good. That's a good point too. Like making sure you're not seen as the threat just because you're talking about the threat and it has to be real. It's like it cannot be this made up perceived threat. It's like, no, this is real. This is proven. There's data to show what I'm talking about in the pain here. So definitely speaking on the pain.
- [58:17]
A
Fun story. Real quick. Fun story. Like when I was, when I, when I first got on TikTok, I just started dropping being truth bombs, right? Like truth bombs about business. And you know what, go figure. People are interested in that because talk about a Covid recession, everybody wanted to make money. I started during that time and they're like, what do I do for money? Like, and so they followed my brand. Well then I made this video and it was all about people working from home, like employees specifically. And I was like, you need to stop asking your boss to work from home. And like if you are asking your boss to work from home, you are asking your boss to do a con, you know, a cost benefit analysis of your value to somebody in India where there's no payroll tax, no self employment tax, no Medicaid, no Medicare, no this, no that. They're a va. They can work from home, their home. Just like you can work from your home and they're gonna look at their $4, your $25 in America, plus Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, all this and you're out, you're losing. And it was funny. The video got a million hits, and I lost followers. And so that was a great teacher for me that I need to really. Doc. Well, at that point, this is a few years ago, I needed to doctor my message to make sure I wasn't the threat because I looked like this corporate dickhead CEO. I was telling them something that a year or two later turned out to be absolutely fucking true. All these people were like, I'm gonna work from home. I'm making a hundred dollars an hour. I'm gonna go Timbuktu and buy a million dollar home. Those are the people getting foreclosed on right now. Those are the people that got replaced. If you were at 100 bucks an hour, they found somebody for 30 bucks an hour in India or Bangladesh or somewhere like that. And that $30 an hour person over there is $150 an hour over here person. So you're fucked. And so I told them the truth. But I look like the demon. I looked like this rich white asshole, which, if you remember, Covid, Let me tell you what, I didn't know what racism was.
- [60:06]
B
We were not rocking with y' all.
- [60:07]
A
For a little bit what racism was until I realized I was wealthy and white, and I was like, holy, man. You know, I thought minorities were cool. Like, you know, like, the gay population's like 5%. The black population's like 5%. Speaking as an economist, you know, I'm a rich white guy. I'm the top 1%. There's only 1% of me. Leave me the fuck alone. You know, like. And sorry. I make jokes about everything, obviously, but, like, I had never gotten more hate from a video where I was telling the truth than at that moment. And I was like, jeff, jeez, this is crazy.
- [60:41]
B
That is so funny.
- [60:44]
A
Hey, I put the fu in funny.
- [60:48]
B
Oh, man, that's hilarious. It's like, we're already gonna be pissed because you're a white guy, so just don't piss us off even more. Oh, man, that's so good. But that is a really good example. It's like, people were already feeling threatened, and then you were definitely perceived as a threat. And then, of course, it doesn't help because of the climate of where things were.
- [61:11]
A
It was hilarious, like, and, you know, I got pretty thick skin. I'm like, all right, what should I learn from this? Well, no amount of makeup's gonna change this shit, you know? So either I need to be quiet, or I have to be a little more sensitive or just radically fucking honest. And, you know, anybody that Got close. They were like, wow, this guy's real. He's legit. There's nothing but love here, here. But on a 30 second video, maybe I won't figure out who the he is, you know, like.
- [61:40]
B
Right. Yeah. Well, that's also the risk with brand, right? It's like you gotta risk people not really following you like that. And you know, to my point that I said earlier, like, when you're building a brand, you're gonna have to be polarizing sometimes. And polarizing doesn't mean intentionally being an. It doesn't mean like, let me be offensive on purpose, but it really is like, like, this is my clear stance. And the people who agree and rock with it or want to see a level of transformation in, in my perspective will be attracted to it. And you're also going to repel people. So that was definitely an example of, of what that was. And then we weigh the cost of like, okay, am I strategically repelling people or am I really pissing people off? That, yeah, that I desire to have.
- [62:25]
A
There's a benefit to repelling some people. Like, I like my sign. We reserve the right to refuse service. To act they're. You have to be somewhat polarizing because there are the customers you don't want. Like, there is just the people that you don't want to have. And you know, like, I'm a big believer. Mean people need hugs too, but there's more mean people than me and I can't give that many hugs. So, like, if you're my one mean person, I'll hug the out of you. But like, I don't want all of them. Like the rest of you guys, stay over there. Find another person to hug you, you.
- [62:49]
B
Know, so, yeah, find a therapist at this point because I'm not her. So yes, we definitely want to repel people. So yeah, find your people. Answer that question of like, who was feeling the pain of this now and who do I desire to work with? Right? Like, there's thresholds, right? I desire to work with people who are actually experts. They've been in their field. They can actually get a result for people. That's an example. So figure out who your people are and figure out who your people aren't so your messaging can repel those people. You know, the wrong people cost you more money than not having them. There are some clients where I'm like, I would pay you three times over to never even breathe the same air as me. So you definitely want to just make sure that you're, you're rocking with the right, right people. And then when you're positioning the value of what you do, you know, we talked about the sense of urgency around what you do, thinking about, well, what is the time frame that they can learn what they need to learn or that they can get the results that they, that, that you want them to get. So is it an eight week program? It is a, is it a year long program? Like we want to make it seem possible for them? Yes. There's going to be challenges and all that working with you, but does it feel like it's possible if they get access to your system, access to your blueprint? So that's, that's how I would approach it. If somebody came to me and said, I have this idea, I want to work with you, what are the, the first three things we do?
- [64:13]
A
I love that. So I got, who is my person, what is their pain and what's the languaging? They need to hear me. Which, which I mean, you know, in a lot of cases, that language, a lot of the haters did attract my fans because some of them weren't repelled, wanted to stay and fight. But then the people that were in their networks that saw me because they had commented or whatever, saw me as well. And they're like, and you know who your fan is? The one that fights the people that fight you?
- [64:43]
B
Oh yeah, I love them.
- [64:45]
A
I love the ones that fight the people that fight me, like when I say something and like they get triggered, like, but you know, and the way I look at anything, like I really enjoy triggering people. And this is probably a little bit sadistic, but I feel like if the truth triggers you, it ain't me, baby. It's the truth that you're getting hurt by. And that ain't my fault. Like, that's your conversation with God. Like I'm also a person of faith. If he made you need to live a lie, just remember, just remember living a lie is really interesting. You're a person of faith, you said, right? I mean, me too. So you remember Jesus on that 40 day fast, right?
- [65:21]
B
Yeah, Yes, I remember Jesus and his 40 day fast.
- [65:24]
A
Yeah. And then here comes Satan, right? And Satan's like, hey, you know what Jesus said? He says, get behind me, Satan. Well, you know what Satan means in ancient Aramaic, right? What's that crazy thought? Which demon do you need to exercise? Which, which truth are you not willing to live? What lie are you telling yourself? Am I triggering you or is it the truth? Back off or keep coming like you, you know, I, I, I like triggering Stupid people. Like, I have no prejudice except for stupid people. And I love triggering them with truth. It's so fun.
- [66:01]
B
This is what I said about, like, being polarizing, but not for the sake of triggering people or just being an. But there's an archetype, and I actually have. If y' all go to myelias.com identity, I'm gonna get this up for you guys. I have these six brand archetypes. If you're trying to figure out what's your voice, right, like, how do I build trust? How can I find my voice of polarizing. And you're the archetype of one of my closest friends. You are the disruptor. You're going to say what other people are not going to say. You're going to challenge people. You hate the status quo, and you're going to say some. That's probably offensive. And you're like, I didn't really mean to be offensive, but I did need to tell the truth, and I wasn't going to sugarcoat it.
- [66:42]
A
Yeah. I mean, well. And I. I think, you know, if there were too many people like that, it would get a little rough. But there needs to be a certain percentage of the population like that that's like, hey, you should probably, you know.
- [66:57]
B
Right. Well, we thank God for the presence of the world. We need that little percentage of people that's just going to piss people off and maybe get them to think a little bit differently.
- [67:05]
A
So I like to think I'm in the top 1%. Oh, my gosh, Maya, this is great. I am so grateful to have had you on the show. Thank you so much for coming on. You know, I want people to find a place where they can get a dose of your energy, where they can come and learn how to build a brand. I think it's such a critical need. And every single thing you said, you language it differently than me. But I could hear the same things that I've had to learn over the years from experts and brilliant people. And I don't think anybody's put it quite as simple and gentle as you, which is really refreshing. Where do people go to get a dose of you daily or weekly? Where can they find mind to.
- [67:50]
B
Thank you so much. So, yeah, on social media, I'm always on Instagram at Maya Elias M A Y A E L I O U S and if you want to watch me live, you want to ask me questions live, go to mayaelias.com evolve where I do a weekly webinar teaching you how to reinvent your brand. And create amazing messaging and offers in a business model that you are excited. So I would love to have you.
- [68:17]
A
Amazing. Maya, you are a gem. You are a gift. Thank you so much for coming on Problems to Profit and all you out there. We will put her website, we will put her social media in the show notes. We'll collaborate with her on the post. That way you guys can engage with her. This is critical. This is needed. If you are not building your brand in the market that's coming, you're not at the table, guys. You're on the menu. Find an expert, find somebody. If it's not Maya, find somebody. But I've not heard many people put it anywhere near as simply and easily as Maya put it. So, Maya, thank you so much. You're a rock star. Have an amazing day on purpose.