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The Amazing Authorities Podcast
Patents, Purpose, and Global Scale: Sharon Jurd on Franchising, IP Protection, and Sustainable Growth
00:40:13
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- [00:00]
A
Welcome to Amazing Authorities with Mitch Carson. Head to MitchCarson.com to learn more about what Mitch can do for you. Mitch brings you the leaders in their field, Today's difference makers. It's Amazing Authorities with Mitch Carson.
- [00:13]
B
There's a word that is bandied around called entrepreneur. It's a French word and it means freedom. And our guest today is Sharon Jerd. She's the consummate professional and an entrepreneur who's had multiple businesses and now she gets to help people just like you. Sharon, welcome to the show.
- [00:37]
C
Thanks for having me, Mitch. I'm excited to be here.
- [00:40]
B
So tell us about your first business. We had the pleasure of a dinner on the beach in Pattaya, Thailand a few months back where I heard about your journey. But I want you to share this because I believe it was almost ingrained in you from a young age. When you were a young girl, you started making money when I recall.
- [01:01]
C
Yeah, I did. You know, I was always looking for ways not necessarily to earn money because I wasn't driven by the money because my parents didn't have a lot of money. So I, I really didn't understand the value. I didn't think that I would have a lot of money. But I, and this is at an unconscious level because when you're young you don't really think about it, but looking back, it was like, how can I help people? Or how can I give to people? How can I, you know, they've got a problem and I can solve it. That wasn't my thinking when I was young, but that's actually what I was doing and now I'm consciously aware of it in adulthood.
- [01:39]
B
Isn't that a, isn't that the formula for an entrepreneur anyway, finding a problem, solving it, the problem solution for an inventor, for finding the hole in the marketplace and filling it?
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C
Yeah, absolutely. And I, like I said, I didn't understand it at the time, but as you, you know, begin to mature and learn, that's what I do. Now I, people say to me, what are you going to be doing in five years time? I do not know. But what I do know is I'll be helping people get from A to B, pain to pleasure, whatever that will be. Yeah.
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B
And today, well, you're in the process of going through, of selling a franchise that you're the franchisor and you're in multiple countries with this. How did you get into what you're doing?
- [02:31]
C
The company's hydro cleaner and we clean split system air conditioners. So we're the only ones in the world with the machine and the like to do this worldwide. So we're in 47 countries and we fell into it because I'm a business builder. So I'm not come. I don't come from the air conditioning industry. I don't know anything about, you know, the remote. I always have trouble whether it's on cool or heat. That's not what I specialize in. I specialize in growing businesses. So I saw, as you said, an area in the world where people didn't know how to clean air conditioners and people were searching for that availability. So, you know, we grew it as a franchise here in Australia and then we license it all around the world. And, you know, so it's really exciting that our brand grew very quickly because people were looking for us. We didn't actually have to go out and find people. They were looking because there was this great gap in the air conditioning industry.
- [03:33]
B
So I've got my unit right here, which I turn on and off right here. I know this blue button that means on and off.
- [03:40]
C
Off. I can't help you much more than that, Mitch.
- [03:43]
B
Well, yeah, but I love how often. So did you find the whole you can't clean air conditioners without your system, or is it unique to his particular type? So is it for what. What do you clean with that machine?
- [03:58]
C
So a lot of people will clean the filters. So they'll pull the filters out and wash it in the sink, which you should do. But it's the coil and the blower fan behind that that harbors the mold which can make you very, very unwell. You can't see it. And so we have the devices to get up in the back of that. Some people will come in and just wipe over the thing that we call coil. It's a silver thing, but it's quite thick. And if you just wipe over the front, the mold is still in that thickness. So we have the tools to push that mold and dirt out. We have the cleaning agent to mold remediate and get rid of that for you.
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B
So because I. I'm anal about this. We talked about, I like clean, clean. And how often should you do this with your unit?
- [04:47]
C
Every year at least. But in Thailand or something like that, it could be every six months.
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B
Yeah, and then that's important because then you breathe better, don't you?
- [04:57]
C
Oh, yeah. So a lot of people will wake up in the morning if they've had their air conditioner on overnight, where their nose, you know, they just feel cloggy, you know, and snuffly and that is breathing in the toxins from your air conditioner. That's not it, people. I've got allergies. That's actually the toxins in your body.
- [05:15]
B
I'm calling the guy today because I woke up this morning. I occasionally get nosebleeds and it's. Yes, it is plastic symptoms. So I, I mean, when they come in, they may not have that device what they're talking about that you're referring to, but it's still better than nothing, isn't it?
- [05:33]
C
Nothing, exactly. Yeah. So you do something.
- [05:36]
B
Yours is the Rolls Royce of cleaning.
- [05:39]
C
Yes. Nobody has anything close to what, what we do. Yeah, but it. Do something, Mitch. Do something.
- [05:47]
B
Well, I am going to do something because I, I, I have to use a saline wash every morning in my.
- [05:54]
C
Yeah, yeah.
- [05:55]
B
Cleared out. And I wonder if it's allergies or I'm in Thailand or what. But I suspect it's exactly what you just described.
- [06:03]
C
Yes. Yes.
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B
All right.
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C
So as soon as, like, if I sleep with the air conditioner on, I'll have the same symptoms. When it's clean, I get it cleaned and then the symptoms go away. And then when the symptoms come back, I know it's ready for another clean.
- [06:16]
B
Well, that's pretty straightforward. Okay. Well, I know that that's, that's, that's my next step today. Thank you. Very timely tip. Sharon.
- [06:26]
C
Jerry.
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B
So long. Did it take you to build it to where it is today?
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C
So we started franchising in 1st of July 2010.
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A
Okay.
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C
15 years in. We didn't start international expansion out of Australia until 2018. And then you're eight years in Australia and then we went international.
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B
Okay. Wow. And what else do you do? I know that that is something you've ticked a box on, but you're also helping others.
- [06:56]
C
Yeah. So I have SMJ Coaching Institute where I coach others to grow their businesses. Whether they have a bricks and mortar business or a coaching business. I help them build the foundations securely so then they can grow. And we always grow internationally. When anyone coaches with me, we don't look at, you know, dominating their suburb or their state or their region. It's. We build international companies and we do it around people's lifestyles. So we go, what's your lifestyle? What does that look like for you? And how does this business model fit into that rather than the other way around, people trying to fit their life around their business?
- [07:37]
B
You know, it's interesting you, you mentioned this. I have a model which is unique in America. I still have that business Where I've thought about it, but I'm also a little bit older now and I don't want to put in that kind of energy. But I guarantee people TV coverage in a certain amount. So I work as a publicist. It's a model because I only work with a guaranteed format because I found the hole in the market with publicity and a lot will. Publicists will cash your checks and say we'll try to get you here. And it's in their best interest to drag it out to give you TV station a month, maybe a radio show the next month because they're still cashing your ten thousand dollar a month check because that's how they. It's almost like the divorce lawyers where you go through a divorce, they don't want you to settle quickly, they want to keep the fight alive because it's a disincentive for them to get you and, and Bill settled up before you go your. And I know because I went through a divorce, it's the same with publicists. So I came up with the model of guaranteed publicity and, and I. It's under get interviewed guaranteed dot com. I want to franchise that because I think that model, I was thinking to the U.S. well, here's what happened. I shared it with a friend who then said, oh, isn't that great? And then he comes back to me several months later and says I'm going to franchise that model. I've connected with the franchise association. It's different than what you proposed, but would you mind doing the training for us?
- [09:17]
C
Okay. Interesting.
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B
Yeah. Isn't that interesting? It's not the exact model I mentioned. It's a derivation of it. It starts with a podcast teaching people how to podcast. And then there are the upsells that go from there. But having franchisees all throughout America and, and he's got loads of money and knows that he can't necessarily do it unless he hires a publicity expert like me to help with it and podcast expert like me to help train the franchisees. And part of me thinks, God, he just ripped me off entirely and you know, very much just ripped me off with this whole concept idea. This idea. And he's got very deep pockets to go and make this happen and the energy to do it. Now, one hand, how often do you hear things like this because you're in the.
- [10:14]
C
All the time.
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B
All the time. All the time. What he did, what I didn't do is I didn't take action on the idea quickly. Now I'm going to blame it on. I've had some health challenges and. And good luck, buddy. Because it's not as easy as you think, but inside of me, I feel a bit betrayed.
- [10:32]
C
Yes.
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B
How would you counsel somebody like that?
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C
Well, firstly, if you have an idea, you must act quickly.
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B
Okay.
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C
Yeah. So immediately, without hesitation, even if it doesn't come off or grow, but you know, to protect your intellectual property or the processes and systems around it. So firstly, you know, people go, oh, well, I hadn't got around to it like you, you know, I didn't act quickly. Um, so that's on you. The other thing is 100%. Yeah, you know, the other thing is we, you know, which is a little bit harder. You go, hey, someone wants to copy me. It was a great idea. And pat yourself on the back about that. But it's really letting it go because they will never be able to do it like you.
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B
No, they won't.
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C
So I've had people come to my events, sit in the front row, take all the notes and say that, you know, on the pretense that we want to work together. Then they go, I'm going to go and do it myself. They never end up doing themselves the way I do it. And so people will buy off people. So the people who like you, Mitch, or who like me won't buy off them because they don't like them or resignate or, you know, connect with them in the same way. And I live in a world of abundance, so there is plenty out there for all of us. So someone goes, oh, they've taken all my clients because they've copied me. That's not true. There is plenty of clients, plenty of opportunity.
- [12:00]
B
Totally agree.
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C
And they're doing it for different reasons. They're doing it for money.
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B
Right.
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C
So he sees an opportunity to make money. You do it because you want to help people and you really give in that way. He will tighten up his system so he's not so giving, and then the universe will take it away from him. So I keep going. If you give, give, give, the universe will give back and. And live in that abundance mindset and you'll be fine.
- [12:25]
B
Well, my thought on this is, wait, let them go ahead and create all these systems which I live in Asia now. I don't. I have no desire to go back and live in the US Anymore. None. I have the accent. I can't get rid of it. Born with it, but no desire to return to it, to practice it. There's. I live in Asia and I thought, okay, I'll go through this process because also I don't have, honestly, self, self confession admission. I don't want to work that hard anymore. Also, I'm 65. This is time to slow down. I'm podcasting out of enjoyment. I don't need the money. I'm more in a position of enjoyment doing this. And if I'm to do it, I could certainly cut my teeth on this concept and in a smaller market like Malaysia, Singapore, even a small country like Australia or New Zealand, and do it. And I would be plenty satisfied because the concept would work anywhere. Yes, people need publicity, so that's how I mentally went through it. But also, I feel like there's a knife in my back. Yes, people do funny things with money, don't they?
- [13:37]
C
Yes, they do. And the other thing is you don't want to be carrying around that angst or that anger or frustration around it because you know, that's just a heavy weight. That's what you're saying. You feel like the knife's in your back. That's that heavy weight you're carrying around. So you really need to release that and, and move on. And you may feel like it's not affecting because you're going, okay, I don't want to do the US but there's still that.
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B
Oh, there is that.
- [14:05]
C
That you need to go, I need to release that wishing well. And you know, because you'll be thinking about it and people who. More intently than you, intensely than you, Mitch. But some people get very focused on that person. And the minute they get focused on that person, then they, they're not focused on growing their own business and their own life. And so for the, the people who are listening to your podcast, you know, don't move your focus to focus on your competitors or other people, you know, ripping you off or, you know, doing similar things. Stay focused on your path, what you're doing. Put the blinkers on and just let them go and do whatever they want to do.
- [14:46]
B
Well, it's almost. Think about it, it's a relationship in life. When I had a partner, I was the very first. I've come up a lot of ideas. I've been copied so many times.
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C
Yeah.
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B
That I haven't got enough fingers. I had with a partner and we left quite amicably where I taught him the live events business. I've produced about 2,000 events in my life, so I know the business backward, forward, upside down, live events in person, live and virtual. That's been my core business for 30 plus years. Before that, just as a speaker, but doing, producing the Events and Chat GPT came around and I produced the very first Chat GPT event in the world in Las Vegas. It'll be coming up to three years in February. The very first one, 563 people. I put it in a room in four days. That's how hot the topic was.
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C
Yeah.
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B
Loads of money.
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C
Yes.
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B
Had a partner, he knew. He knew the technology better than I did. So the marrying was I produced this, I brought in the news media. We became famous in America overnight. Literally. I knew the formula, how to get us traction. We then replicated this four more times and then all of a sudden we had hundreds of competitors in the market. Then it got flooded. That's the cycle. And I didn't have enough uniqueness. Like you have uniqueness in your franchise Franchis product. You have unique technology or something, or patent. Whatever it is that you do with that, you can't do it. Talk to us about what you. How you would make yourself unique. Slash using a patent to protect yourself. Because getting copied is eminent in some way, shape or form. If you've got a hot idea, yeah.
- [16:38]
C
You can have, you know, the patents, the trademarks. We've got design registrations.
- [16:45]
B
Right.
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C
That protects you to a certain point. So I. This is how I got it explained to me. It's like, you know, the swinging bridges, you know, you see over, you know, rivers and stuff, you know, with the wooden slates.
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B
Yeah.
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C
Well, you're taking out a wooden slate like you. So design registration takes out a slate, you know, a trademark, a patent, and it just makes it more difficult for someone to cross the bridge to coffee you. But you're not going to take out all the slates.
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B
No.
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C
So you just have to take out. Because you could spend hundreds of millions of dollars taking out all of those wooden slates across the bridge. But what you do, you take out enough to get people to be hesitant and not copy you.
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B
That's the gem. That's the. To hesitate. To get the pause of like, oh my gosh, they're already in the market. I may have to reconsider. That's the gem you've just shared.
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C
Yeah.
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B
Hesitate.
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C
Yes. So we thought we would have five years before someone would copy, you know, our intellectual property. They have not. They do other methods, but haven't even come close. Because when what I teach in growing your business is that you get so far in front of your competitor they can't catch you, so you have to be developing and moving very, very quickly initially. So you're so far in front, it's Just too hard for them to catch you. And so. And we keep that because as you grow businesses, you can't become a little bit complacent and go, I've got a great, you know, product. But we're like our catchment bags under our air conditioner. We're up to design number 42. So we have kept designing and designing.
- [18:26]
B
Improving, improving, improving.
- [18:28]
C
Yes. And so, you know, a gentleman, you know, a company copied our very first bag. It leaks water over people's homes. It doesn't work well, you know, and he can go and use that. And we're not concerned by that because, you know, he's got another 41 steps to catch us, you know, so we haven't, you know, just sat comfortably, you know, we.
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B
You innovate. Innovate.
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C
Well, in 15 years, we're up to machine number 12, so.
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B
Wow.
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C
Every time we're moving forward with our intellectual property.
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B
And you, you stated something. You, you con. You can't rest on your laurels.
- [19:08]
C
No.
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B
And for example, I know that in China, they don't have intellectual property enforcement there in their country. Their belief is. And it's. And I don't know if they're wrong at first I got angry when I heard about it because we have patents. You spend money on patents and ip. Their view is, you better continue to innovate because we're right there, we're going to copy you. I know speakers, Sharon, you'll appreciate this. Speakers who've gone. One of my speaker friends, Joel Bauer, that I brought into the speaking business 23 years ago. He got a gig in China. He sold his product on day one, on day two, there was somebody in the hall. It was physical back then that had copied it overnight and had it out there for half the price. Distributing it in the hallway in China.
- [20:03]
C
Yes, overnight.
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B
That's how fast they operate.
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C
I know, I know. How we've protected our intellectual property. A lot is like our machine. We get different suppliers to design different parts of the machine and we assemble it here in Australia so we. No one sees the. The complete machine supplier doesn't.
- [20:29]
B
No.
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C
He knows he's making this, but he doesn't know what it makes.
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B
Oh, isn't that clever? Oh, the assemblies in Australia and then it ships out to your. To your franchisees.
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C
Yeah. To all around the world. Yeah.
- [20:43]
B
Oh, isn't that clever? Isn't that clever? Okay, that makes a lot of sense. Makes sense, you know, and what you do. There's a, A metaphor I heard years ago which applies to this beautifully. I haven't forgotten, I think comes back from when I was in business school. Italian racing. Italian racers are taught to remove the rear view wind mirror immediately only look forward. Don't worry about what your competition is doing behind you. Just look forward, keep dry, put your foot on the gas and go. Don't break your. If you break, just keep. Just keep pushing.
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C
I was actually taught to drive my. By my dad. Exactly that. Don't worry about who's behind you. Just worry about who's in front of you. That's how I was taught to drive a car myself.
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B
Well, isn't that a good installation?
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C
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, yeah. So we. And the other thing, just as an FYI, don't share this normally. So this is just for you guys. Mitch, the other thing that I want to mention is the pushback because, you know, when you buy our equipment from Hydroclean, you sign a license. So what we did, we thought that someone would come along and sell machines individually and not have someone sign up to a franchise or a license agreement. So we went and started a company in our competition. So it's called sais. And so SAIS is Specialized Air Conditioning Equipment. And so we can sell that machine individually, worldwide as our competitor. Stop the competitor coming in with another machine, selling them individually without a license or a franchise.
- [22:24]
B
So.
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C
So we went in competition to ourself.
- [22:27]
B
That's smart. Yeah.
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C
So we have two companies that I'm not like, I don't hide that I'm the sole director of both. But when you're looking at as a consumer, it looks like we're in competition to each other. But we stopped the competition competing with us by being our own competitor.
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B
Oh, that's a great tactic.
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A
Tactic.
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B
And the strategy works. Yes, sure. So that. And, and have you enjoyed the journey?
- [23:00]
C
Yes. Well, franchising is very interesting. Very interesting.
- [23:05]
B
What would you have done different? Knowing what, you know, 15 years later, what would you have changed in your journey?
- [23:13]
C
It would have been me because I always go, if shit's going down in your world, you always look within. Because I'm a coach. I thought that I could coach the franchise partners and the licensees. You know, I thought I would coach them in business and show them how to grow. They saw me with a different hat on. And so they wanted to know the marketing, the research, the development, the resources. If they wanted a coach, I then went external for a coach because I tried to coach them and then they couldn't see me as the coach. They saw me as the franchisor.
- [23:46]
B
Right.
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C
So there was this bit of gray area. And once I learned that I was not their coach, then we had a better relationship. So yes, they do come to me and ask me about growing the business, but not in the true sense of a coach where you meet up regularly and coach them through their challenges because there's some personal things that they don't want to share with me as a franchisor, but they have shared with their coaches. So what I would have done differently is not try and coach them, be their true franchisor and be a franchisor. And. And once I brought those external coaches in, the franchise worked very well then.
- [24:30]
B
So why did you switch to the private sector and why are you a coach?
- [24:38]
C
Well, a good friend of mine said to me, you're doing this with your eyes closed, Sharon. You need to be out on stage. It came from speaking on stage, telling people how to sell. And so a friend of mine said, you need to be sharing how you say you can sell franchises, you know, and not any franchises, but other things. You need to be sharing this from stage. Then when I started speaking from stage, people were wanting to work with me more closely. Hence the coaching business grew. And then it evolved into my group program of coaching coaches because they could see me as a coach having transitioned from a full time role in Hydro Clean, you know, and being the franchisor to having this other business. So people were wanting to leave their day job and transition into coaching and evolve as a coach. And they saw me doing that and then being successful at coaching. So I attracted a lot of people who are wanting to change their life and do the coaching. And with the coaching, that was my passion. That's what I was trying to do in Hydro Clean. And so it just kept dragging me to keep doing that. So, yeah, so it just grew from there. And I just get. My heart gets warm around helping people have their successes and you know, and how they grow themselves and how I see them change and evolve and the like.
- [26:07]
B
Yeah, I don't think there's any greater payoff, especially as one gets more mature. I don't want to say old. I'll just say where you've made your mark. You've got an inscription on your tombstone in, in Wait. So when the time comes, how do you make people feel and what legacy do you leave? And if you've affected people with their hearts and their pockets, which that helps the heart feel better when you've got some dough in your. In your pocket. Yeah, that's a real mark, isn't it?
- [26:43]
C
Yes. You know, I Wake up every day saying, whose life am I going to change today? Go to bed and say, whose life did I change today? I know the money will come from doing that.
- [26:55]
B
Yes.
- [26:56]
C
So I don't wake up going, how much money am I going to earn today? How many more new clients am I going to get? I focus on the giving. That. How do I change people's lives? And all of that comes with that.
- [27:07]
B
You know, was it always like that? Or is that something that came after you've already made your mark and were financially secure?
- [27:14]
C
Well, I own two real estate offices, Mitch. You know, back in the day, I was top 1% worldwide in gross closed commissions. I was money driven. I didn't give a shit about people. I really did it, Got it. And that's being completely honest. I, um, I look back at that time and I was just, I'm making, you know, millions of dollars and get out of my way. Um, I didn't hurt people. Like, I didn't go and, you know, hurt people, but I didn't truly understand a lot of times what they were going through. And during that time in the real estate, I really understood that, you know, they were selling their house or buying a house for the very first time, yet I was doing it every day. And I had to really care about these people doing this one possibly transaction for their entire life sometimes. And I had a real, a realization about that. And that's when I started to change how I look at things and how. And my behavior around that. Yeah.
- [28:15]
B
Was there some emotional pivot point in order to change that behavior, or was it a slow process? Was it an evolution or a quick pivot?
- [28:25]
C
Oh, no, it was a quick pivot. And it was something so very simplistic. It was Christmas, and all of my team, their clients were coming in with gifts and thanking them and inviting them to their housewarming. And I was not. Everyone loved me because I got better results than everybody else, but I didn't have that personal connection with them. It was, it's like the, you know, if I think about it, probably not as extreme, but you think about that doctor with bad, bad bedside manner. You know, I had had the tools. I got the more money than they ever wanted. But no one wanted me at the barbecue, you know, no one wanted me at the housewarming.
- [29:02]
B
Because you hadn't shown your heart.
- [29:04]
C
Yes, exactly. Yeah. I was very. I had to be professional. This is how it was. I got the job done, but I never really connected on a true level. And, and, and that was an instant pivot. For me.
- [29:17]
B
Who was your model to two, two questions? Who is your model to create the earlier version of Sharon Jerd? And who is your model to make that pivot?
- [29:30]
C
Yeah, good question. I, I really don't know. I've been asked this question a lot because I was a trailblazer in real estate. I was the only, I was in the Century 21 brand. I was the only female single director of a real estate company in Century 21. And then I had two offices, I was only single female there. But I had a real drive to prove something to somebody that because I was female, I was young. And most of the people who owned real estate offices at the time were 60 male, handed down generational. In the towns that I was in, I was the first new real estate office in 25 years in the township that I opened up in. So I really, I, I didn't know anyone doing, you know, I was a cattle auctioneer as well. You know, I, I, I'm a country girl, we're in a rural town. So I was auctioning property, cattle, horses, pigs, chooks. And I was the only female registered auctioneer at the time.
- [30:39]
B
What's a chuck?
- [30:41]
C
Yeah, like a, like, you know, a chicken.
- [30:44]
B
That, a chicken?
- [30:44]
C
Oh, yes, Yes, Chickens. Yeah. But even then, I didn't even know what that meant. I didn't even think about it. I was just head down doing what I had to do. And, and from a promotional PR exercise that was worth its weight in gold. But I never took any advantage of that because I was just doing, I didn't, I didn't know. Yeah.
- [31:15]
B
Wow. And okay, so that was, I mean, we all look at some model of a person. I mean, if I were to answer the question, I, I could give you distinct answers because I identified. Okay, I want to be like him. I want to be like him. Was there a figure that you looked at as a model? It's like, okay, I want to take on that role. We all have our unique thumbprint. There's only one, Sharon. There's only one. However, there's something to piggyback on.
- [31:44]
C
Yeah. And what, who I looked up to at that time was Charles Tarby, who owned Century 21, Australasia.
- [31:51]
B
Okay.
- [31:51]
C
So he was the franchisor. And even I modeled Hydro clean on century 21, that family orientation, you know, he knew everyone in his system. He knew their partner or wife or husband's name, their children, you know, he knew everything about them.
- [32:11]
B
Personal touch.
- [32:12]
C
Yeah. So when I grew hydro clean, we called it the Hydro clean family. And we Call it franchise partners, not franchisees. We're partners in this. And I really looked at making it a family where that, you know, they can call me on the mobile. In franchise systems, people cannot get to the directors. You know, there's just so many layers and they never get to talk to them. They're just some, I, you know, see, talk and interact with my franchise partners and licensees.
- [32:42]
B
Now as a director, the CEO, is that what you're using a direct. Okay, so we have director level which is below the vice president and then the. Well, and you use managing director, I guess. Would that be all right? That's like British labeling.
- [32:56]
C
Yeah, yeah. So CEO, so the top level.
- [32:59]
B
Got it.
- [33:00]
C
I'm the big kahuna.
- [33:01]
B
No, I get it. But yeah, director in America just for people to listen.
- [33:05]
C
It's lower level.
- [33:06]
B
It's lower than, you know, you're a manager, then a director, then an assistant vice president, vice president, senior vice president, executive vice president, president, then the CEO. I mean it goes.
- [33:18]
C
I'm the CEO.
- [33:19]
B
Got it. All right, all right. You're chief bottle washer.
- [33:22]
C
Yes, yes, I'm the do it all.
- [33:25]
B
That's what I used as my title for my agency. In my, my business I, I would refer to myself as I'm the chief bottle washer. When someone asks who I am and, and you know, CEO is my title. But I jokingly said I'm the chief bottle washer.
- [33:41]
C
And talking about that, what I also modeled with Charles is that he had his own office and so he was in the trenches. So people were going, oh, you don't know the market. Well, I do because I own my own franchise. I own my own office. So I've always been in the trenches with the franchise partners and the licensees. So I'm in the current, you know, environment, you know, so I, I feel their pain as well when you know things are a bit tougher. I know what's going on by being operating at that level as well.
- [34:18]
B
Okay, well that makes a lot of sense. So what's your middle name?
- [34:24]
C
Marie.
- [34:25]
B
Okay, so Sharon Marie Jerd, SMJ Consulting.
- [34:30]
C
Yeah.
- [34:31]
B
Is that right? SMJ?
- [34:32]
C
SMJ Coaching Institute. Yeah.
- [34:35]
B
Okay, well that's a, that's a long one.com and if go to AU in there, they'll find you. And what kind of programs do you offer so people will know?
- [34:45]
C
Yes. So one on one coaching. So if you're in business three years or above, so you've got some momentum, I'll help you grow those foundations and out at a very fast pace. So that's not one of my coaches, that's me direct. And then I have my, my group program, which is my master coach program. So people will have a product or a modality. They might have hypnosis, they might be selling a product, they might be a massage therapist. They come into my master coach program and I help them build that out into a coaching program where they not working on an hourly rate. So I have like clients who are doing $40 an hour for a massage and now they're getting 2,500amonth for an hour. So I show how they can build it out into a coaching program where you're working less and earning more by the tools you have in your tool belt. Doesn't matter what your product or service is, you can still build it out into a coaching program.
- [35:46]
B
That's interesting about a. I live in Thailand. Massages are $7. Here. It's like, how do they.
- [35:54]
C
$40 for a massage? Oh, my God, that's just.
- [35:57]
B
Well, I lived in America and I would pay $80 US for a one hour massage. And it was negligible whether it was good or not. You know, I didn't know. But here I don't care about throwing away $7. I'll just find a new one the next time. That is better.
- [36:12]
C
Yes, yes, exactly.
- [36:14]
B
That's strong enough to rub out my knots.
- [36:17]
C
Yeah. Because people have a lot of tools in their tool belt. Sometimes they don't realize, you know, just, you know, going through a divorce, you know, relationships, children, you know, buying and selling homes. Because we coach people holistically, you know, so you have a lot of tools. So I. People will go around to conferences all year. You would have seen it, Mitch, when you were running events, they go and get all the certificates, all the learnings, but they can't bring it together. They can't. They go, I'm still not huge failing.
- [36:45]
B
And they have shiny object disease. But I would suspect one of your superpowers, Sharon, because you have results to prove it is you find this dull gem and you show them how to rub it and get shiny.
- [36:59]
C
Yes. Yeah.
- [37:00]
B
How to glisten.
- [37:02]
C
Yes. And being known in like, people go, oh, there's too many coaches in the world, you know, because like, it's easy to say, oh, hydro clean has got this intellectual property in the coaching. I show them what their intellectual property is. I bring that to their conscious awareness. We've all got an individual intellectual property. And so we bring that to the forefront so they can stand out in the crowd, you know, wow.
- [37:26]
B
Well, great well, you've been a great guest today, Sharon. And one more time, where do they find you?
- [37:32]
C
So smjcoachinginstitute.com yeah, and they can go there. There's a button there called discovery session and they can arrange to meet up with me and chat.
- [37:42]
B
All right, well, fantastic, mate, I'm glad. And we'll talk about the chooks. What was the other one? You had a chook and you had some other word that was Australian. I'll have to think about it.
- [37:56]
C
I get on a roll and then I forget I'm Aussie.
- [38:00]
B
I didn't forget it. And I think the listeners appreciate your very cool accent because you are exotic according.
- [38:07]
C
I thought you had the accent, Mitch.
- [38:09]
B
Yeah, well, that's one way of looking at it, you know, and, and wherever we'. Well, the true American accent if we're to play the history and this was pointed out by a man from Boston. Bostonians have their own. They were first. That was the first settlement in the States and, and he made the, made the, the comment astutely. All the rest of you have accents. I speak correctly and it was pretty funny. And it's true.
- [38:36]
C
That's what I say here when I'm in Australia.
- [38:39]
B
Oh, that's fine. It's, it's all good. Good. Laughter but fantastic information. I know when we are able to pull out the hot button, the big points and AI will help me with this. One of the tools I use. It'll bring up the key takeaways which we'll share. But there were multiple in this, in this session and I thank you for your time today.
- [39:02]
C
Sharon, thank you.
- [39:03]
A
Let Mitch Carson help you. Mitch's background includes starting his first business in college and selling it for more than seven figures by the age of 28. His second startup with partners Planet Recycling Inc. Was sold in 1993 to Waste Management. Mitch has trained over 600 speakers, authors, coaches, consultants, CEOs and helped them reach their goals. Many have gone on to be New York Times best selling authors, Wall Street Journal authors. Many have been able to experience a life transformation as few are able to see, experience and realize their personal power. Many have gone on to become keynote speakers in their native countries, become authors and recognized experts. Let Mitch help you reach your goals. Head to MitchCarson.com or scan the QR code now to learn more.
- [39:59]
B
Sam.