← The Journey with Morgan DeBaun
The Journey with Morgan DeBaun
Live Coaching with Morgan: Lane’s Shift from Operator to Strategic CEO
00:43:54
Morgan DeBaun is back with another live advising session featuring frameworks from her new book, Rewrite Your Rules. In this episode, she sits down with Lane, a branding and marketing agency founder who’s entering into the world of startups. ...
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- [00:00]
Morgan Debon
Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Journey podcast. I'm your host, Morgan. We are doing another live coaching session and advising session for rewrite your rules. I'm so excited because today we're talking to Lane. Lane is a serial entrepreneur and she has over 14 years experience as an entrepreneur growing her agency. But Lane has another idea. She wants to grow a startup. So we're going to get into that today and we're also going to talk about how can she make more time. She has a lot going on in life and in business and I'm really excited for us to figure out who does she need to hire so that she can have more time to work on her dream being a startup founder. Let's get into today's episode. Hey, everyone. I'm Morgan Debon, a passionate entrepreneur and life advisor. With the Journey podcast, you'll discover that success isn't about the destination, it's about the journey. I'm sharing stories of amazing people who've taken control of their lives. Join me on my own journey to discover the secret sauce behind reaching success. With permission from no one else. Lane, welcome to the show.
- [01:02]
Lane
Thank you for having me. I'm so excited.
- [01:05]
Morgan Debon
Yeah, I'm excited for you to be here. You are a very experienced entrepreneur. 14 plus years in business. Congratulations.
- [01:12]
Lane
Yes. This is my 14th year celebrating this month, so amazing. Technically I'm only 14. That's why I look so young.
- [01:19]
Morgan Debon
That's right. That's right. Entrepreneurship ages us backwards.
- [01:22]
Lane
Yes, it does.
- [01:23]
Morgan Debon
So tell me about your business. Yeah.
- [01:25]
Lane
So I am celebrating my year 14, which is exciting. And most of what I do is in the branding and marketing space. I call myself a branding and marketing specialist. Specialist. Not a generalist anymore. Because when I first started out, I started out as a copywriter and then I moved into content. Then I moved into actually. Okay, this is what it takes to actually build something. So I work with a lot of entrepreneurs, which I love. I think entrepreneur is in my DNA. My ancestors were entrepreneurs. My great, great grandma, my grandmother was an entrepreneur, my mom was an entrepreneur. So I kind of had to do my own thing. So when I stepped out of my last full time job 14 years ago, I didn't look back and it's not been easy, you know that, you know, as an entrepreneur. But I love what I do. I get to help people build a vision, take a vision and bring it to life. And that's what I can look at, is building a brand. I've helped some bigger name companies and I help small businesses just starting out. So the Business itself has kind of evolved over time but when I remember back when I first started how what everything I did was me building my own brand and I became known for the person you go to to help bring your vision to life. And so over the course of the last 14 years I've been able to do that and see just the major impact it makes in the lives of the businesses that I've helped. The personal brands and then the corporate brands. I kind of, I love what I do because I get to use my creative and my techie side of me, which I found is rare.
- [03:05]
Morgan Debon
Yeah.
- [03:05]
Lane
To have both. And it's great because I can help somebody with a website and figure out, you know, how to make their website look great and represent their company and then at the same time look behind the scenes and see if something's broken, how to fix it so that, that's what I get to do and use all the creative parts of my, my mind as a person who's in branding and marketing and then I get to help people make money which is I think what I really love doing what I do. So yeah, that's been kind of like my claim to fame if you will, as I've been an entrepreneur in the branding and marketing space.
- [03:40]
Morgan Debon
That's great. Yeah, that's awesome. I mean it sounds like you feel really good about what you do and how you do it. Tell me a little bit about your team and what it looks like now. Like what is your process? Like how many clients do you typically or projects do you have going on at once?
- [03:53]
Lane
Yeah, so I have a small team I call a Celine mean Machine. I work with copywriters, I work with graphic designers, video editors, content managers and a lot of the actual marketing aspect I'm giving marketing direction, I'm giving creative direction, but I'm giving it to teams of small teams of people who are helping on a per client basis. So what I found is this. Not all my clients are the same. As I mentioned, I worked with corporate brands and then small businesses. So my smaller businesses obviously don't have the resources to hire a full on team. And so we figured out how to scale what they need but still get them impact and help them start and build. And then my larger teams work with or bigger teams. I work with my corporate clients. We've got everybody from ad managers to people who will do posting on social media every day. So content managers are important what I do. But what I've learned is that not every client's the same and then the level of detail that in some of what I get to do as the director, that kind of came with experience. Right. And so I think with me and working with my team, we get to take on as many clients as I want. But I try to keep it small. I try to have a small percentage of smaller businesses, and then I take that back. A larger percentage of smaller business and a small percentage of bigger businesses. Because my bigger clients can pay more.
- [05:22]
Morgan Debon
Right.
- [05:23]
Lane
But at the same time, it takes longer to get them signed up as clients.
- [05:27]
Morgan Debon
That's right.
- [05:28]
Lane
So I can typically get a smaller business working with me sooner. Even though they don't have as many resources. As long as I have a good percentage of corporate clients, I'm okay. The business is okay. So that's kind of how I look at. I think that's so the breakup of the company. And even though the bigger clients take longer to get, I've been with some of the companies I've worked with now for 10 years because they want my expertise. And so our team delivers every time and we created results for them, making them millions of dollars. So why wouldn't they keep us around at the same time that I've scaled that down for my smaller business clients? Because I'm like, look, you can do this. I know we've seen it happen over here. So I get to kind of help the smaller person because I know what it's like when I started learn, like the game, if you will, and scale it to where they can use it and still start somewhere and then build and grow. So I love having both source of sources of clients. And I think that it was co. Early on, I realized I didn't want to limit myself to the type of clients that I worked with. And I think that served me well over time.
- [06:36]
Morgan Debon
I mean, Lane, you're on a really good track, right. I mean, you have the stability of having recurring clients that you know their business isn't going to go out of business tomorrow.
- [06:44]
Lane
Exactly.
- [06:45]
Morgan Debon
Right. So that is huge. That covers your operating overhead.
- [06:49]
Lane
Yes.
- [06:49]
Morgan Debon
And then you've got your small clients. That seems like it brings you more joy. Like, when you talk about those clients, you have a lot more energy.
- [06:56]
Lane
It's true.
- [06:56]
Morgan Debon
You light up a lot more. Probably because. Well, tell me why, like, why do you love those clients more? Like, what's bringing. What makes you be like, yeah, yeah, I like these people.
- [07:05]
Lane
I think it's the entrepreneur in me and wanting to see that in everybody. Like, honestly, even the people that I hire that like my team, I usually work with freelancers even when I work with them and I interview them. I want to feel like they have some kind of entrepreneurial spirit in them because it means that they're going to take ownership and own what they do. And I don't have to micromanage. But when I work with entrepreneurs, small businesses, especially the newer in, when they're start first starting out, there is something in me that has like that startup spirit. Like, you can do this.
- [07:36]
Morgan Debon
Yes.
- [07:36]
Lane
That I think I want to help my clients see and make it possible for them and that, that is rewarding when you can help somebody get their business off the ground.
- [07:44]
Morgan Debon
Yeah, It's a huge, huge reward.
- [07:46]
Lane
Yes.
- [07:47]
Morgan Debon
So tell me a little bit about what made you decide you wanted to be on the show today.
- [07:50]
Lane
Okay.
- [07:50]
Morgan Debon
You seem like you got it going on.
- [07:53]
Lane
Well, you had posted and you had posted. You said, you know what, there's something that you think you might need help or coaching on. Because I saw the book and I thought, oh, this would be a really cool thing. And I think with what you have done with Blavity and then even with aquotech and just seeing the impact you've made, obviously there's still more to learn and there's. I'm always in growth mode. Like, I'm not thinking even in 14 years, I know everything there is about business or even about how to be successful in business. One of the things I know that I has been like a weakness or a struggle or a challenge, I should say. Like, I'm not the forefront person. I'm not the person that gets like in front of the camera all the time. I'm usually the person behind the scenes and I'm cool with that. Some of my clients are like, you're our best kept secret. And for them that's awesome.
- [08:46]
Morgan Debon
Yeah.
- [08:47]
Lane
But if I know, you know, like what I've done for them has been impactful. I don't know why I have this, this challenge, if you will, or maybe this. I don't know what it is. I don't know if it's a challenge. I don't know if it's a limiting belief of why I don't need to do it for myself. Like put my own social media stuff out there. Like if you were to, if you were following me in 2020, 2021, there was a lot going on. But 2021, on, I barely posted on social media. I have my channels, I have thousands of people on some of them, but I'm not very active. But I don't know why that is. I don't Know if it's because I've been so consumed in what I'm doing for my clients that I've neglected my own, like, brand, if you will, or if it's because I feel something like. Like something's off or like.
- [09:34]
Morgan Debon
Yeah.
- [09:35]
Lane
Or like, I don't need to do that.
- [09:37]
Morgan Debon
Why do you feel like you do need to have a social media presence?
- [09:40]
Lane
I think part of what I want to do or want to see for my business is being able to at least tell, like, the impact we've made and how we have been able to help other brands. I don't tell that story well enough.
- [09:56]
Morgan Debon
Why? Why do you want to tell that story?
- [09:58]
Lane
In case I do need to find other clients. I know that's important. You know, do your own marketing. And then I think also it gives credence to the 14 years. Right. So I know what I've done. I know the impact I've made, but not everybody who's following me or connected with me knows. And then if I were to want to go find another big fish is what we call.
- [10:19]
Morgan Debon
Yeah, totally. I call them a wh.
- [10:20]
Lane
Yeah.
- [10:21]
Morgan Debon
You want to go find a whale.
- [10:22]
Lane
Yes. You know, at least there needs to be something out there that shows what I've been able to do for clients on that same level.
- [10:28]
Morgan Debon
Yeah.
- [10:28]
Lane
So I have neglected to do my own market. It's kind of like the hairdresser who doesn't do their own hair, you know?
- [10:35]
Morgan Debon
Well, do you know who the CEO or owner of WPP is? The agency?
- [10:39]
Lane
No.
- [10:39]
Morgan Debon
No. Do you know the owner who owns Burrell Communications right now? No. It's a private equity firm. So why do you feel like people need to know you're the owner?
- [10:49]
Lane
That's true. I don't know why.
- [10:51]
Morgan Debon
I don't think you have to. My point is you can be exactly who you are. Like, you don't have to. If you have friction right now, like, I feel this pressure to be in front of the camera and for, you know, to win the awards and to be at Ad Color and to be on the list and do all the things, that's just, like, one pathway of many, many pathways to the outcome. Some people do that because they want the affirmation. They want the ego boost. They receive energy from being known and being out there.
- [11:23]
Lane
Got it.
- [11:23]
Morgan Debon
I don't know if that's you and your personality.
- [11:26]
Lane
I don't think it is. I'm pretty much an introvert. I mean, I am a very private person, personally. Like, private. And I think that has kind of spilled over into the business as well. Because, like, for instance, some of my clients, I know I wouldn't want to put their information out there because they wouldn't want me to. Right. So I need to be hidden from as far as they're concerned. But then there are some clients that are like, for instance, my small business owners. Most of them. Some of them are authors, Some of them are executives leaving companies and just starting the business for the first time, which is really where I love working with, because that shift is where I've been able to help them the most. I think mindset shifts. So they would be. There's kind of like in between where I could get more corporate or executives coming to me if they saw me working with other executives. But then there's that catch 22 where I would have to put my person on blast and say, well, you used my firm to help you, so there is that business etiquette that you have to have. But when you just said that, I realized there's a motivation behind wanting to have the limelight, if you will. That's not me.
- [12:38]
Morgan Debon
Yeah.
- [12:38]
Lane
Because I definitely get my reward more in the satisfaction of the client.
- [12:42]
Morgan Debon
Right.
- [12:43]
Lane
And not necessarily going after a public, external cognition. Yeah.
- [12:47]
Morgan Debon
Which is fine. Some people. That motivates them.
- [12:50]
Lane
Yeah.
- [12:50]
Morgan Debon
Good for them. But for you, you're actually motivated by the result and the reward and the transformation. Right. And I think you're smart to say, okay, the world is changing. Things are moving. Let me make sure that I'm not being a bad entrepreneur, basically by neglecting, like, should I do the social media? Should I not do the social media? Everybody seems to be doing it.
- [13:10]
Lane
Yes.
- [13:11]
Morgan Debon
But it's kind of. It's like a cognitive bias in some ways. I talk about that in the book. Like, our cognitive bias is that the thing that you see most often is oftentimes just you reinforcing it with yourself. Right. So, like, because you think that everybody has social media and because you feel like this little birdie is saying, well, you should be doing it too. You should be doing it too. So then you notice it more.
- [13:33]
Lane
That's true.
- [13:34]
Morgan Debon
But what you don't see is the mountain of other people that make a ton of money that we don't know about. Who owns this building? I don't know.
- [13:41]
Lane
I have no idea.
- [13:42]
Morgan Debon
Who owns this podcast studio? I don't know. Doesn't matter. Because it's a good product. It's consistent.
- [13:48]
Lane
Yes.
- [13:48]
Morgan Debon
And the website was great. Good prices. We're here, you get my money. So most people don't know who owns the businesses that they interact with.
- [13:57]
Lane
That is so true.
- [13:58]
Morgan Debon
So you don't need to have that pressure on yourself.
- [14:00]
Lane
I love this. Okay, you're right.
- [14:03]
Morgan Debon
So let's talk about other ways that we can get more clients and you can have a wait list of clients so that you have more stability. And you can remove this kind of back of your mind of saying, well, what if this happens and this happens and this happens. I want to make sure I'm maintaining my income level or growing it. We're talking about maintenance, but actually we need to talk about growth for a second. Because the way you introed it was from a. If I lose someone, I want to replace them.
- [14:28]
Lane
Yes.
- [14:29]
Morgan Debon
But that's an interesting. You're starting from the back foot.
- [14:32]
Lane
Yeah.
- [14:33]
Morgan Debon
Right.
- [14:33]
Lane
Yeah.
- [14:34]
Morgan Debon
What's that about?
- [14:35]
Lane
So I have had the honor, opportunity, blessingness of having some really great clients, great corporate clients, six figure clients a year. That's great. For several years, I haven't had to be concerned about that. And what I realize is if I do want to grow, I do want more of that. And I think over the course of time, I've realized how to scale that. So it's not so much about losing so much as it is, am I ready to gain?
- [15:09]
Morgan Debon
I see.
- [15:10]
Lane
Positioning myself for bigger clients. More bigger clients.
- [15:13]
Morgan Debon
When you say, am I ready to gain, do you mean do you have the capacity? Like, if you had five clients today, say, hey, six figure contracts, five clients, are you ready? Can you manage that capacity internally?
- [15:26]
Lane
I could probably handle three of them.
- [15:28]
Morgan Debon
Okay, so, yeah. So we've got some room, some wiggle room.
- [15:31]
Lane
Yes.
- [15:31]
Morgan Debon
Oh, that was fine. Three is great.
- [15:32]
Lane
Yeah.
- [15:33]
Morgan Debon
Right. So you already are like, yeah, I could take more income in without having to, like, necessarily scale the team that much more.
- [15:39]
Lane
Exactly.
- [15:40]
Morgan Debon
That's great. So we do have some opportunity.
- [15:42]
Lane
There is.
- [15:43]
Morgan Debon
So let's talk about it.
- [15:45]
Lane
Yes.
- [15:46]
Morgan Debon
So what do we want to do now that you've removed the pressure?
- [15:49]
Lane
Yes.
- [15:50]
Morgan Debon
And this, like, societal rule that you need to be the public phase and be on speaking engagements.
- [15:55]
Lane
I love this.
- [15:55]
Morgan Debon
Da, da, da, da, da.
- [15:56]
Lane
Yes.
- [15:56]
Morgan Debon
Now that you don't have to do that.
- [15:57]
Lane
Yep.
- [15:58]
Morgan Debon
What do you want to do?
- [16:00]
Lane
I would love, like, my ideal client makeup. My ideal workday would look like me working with three to five bigger clients and even their teams. Because one of the reasons I've been so successful in doing what I'm doing with helping my bigger clients scale, especially their teams need more help than actually my agency would give them. And so I have my team doing, like, the core work. But then I'm training them on how to be more self sufficient.
- [16:31]
Morgan Debon
Right.
- [16:31]
Lane
So ideally I'm doing that three to five, you know, bigger clients. And then at the same time, I'm still working with my small businesses and bringing them on because my executives that I work with right now, because of the shift that's happening in corporate America, there is a huge opportunity there and a huge need, even a gap that's, that needs to be filled from executive women who are just saying, you know what, done my part, need to do something else. And they're second wind. They're not sure how they want to do it or what they need to do. Even I want to be available for them. So ideally, if my corporate clients are kind of like my team is running them, then I could be that person walking alongside these executives and showing them a better path forward and giving them their second win outside of corporate America. And that would be, I think, ideally how I'd want to spend the next three to five years even.
- [17:28]
Morgan Debon
Awesome.
- [17:28]
Lane
And helping former career women exit and then have a landing pad, if you will, as entrepreneurs.
- [17:34]
Morgan Debon
That's right.
- [17:34]
Lane
And so that's what I'm thinking right now. And that's kind of how I was ending last year, going into this year with this idea of where do I want to go now? That's what I had in mind when I was having that thought. So this question is awesome because it, it's reminding me of, okay, this is ideally what I would want.
- [17:56]
Morgan Debon
Right.
- [17:56]
Lane
Yeah.
- [17:57]
Morgan Debon
And you already have actually almost everything that you need right now. So this is a transition that I think of as right now your owner and operator.
- [18:05]
Lane
Yes.
- [18:05]
Morgan Debon
Of your agency. Effectively. Right. You need to move into owner.
- [18:10]
Lane
Yes.
- [18:11]
Morgan Debon
Not operator.
- [18:12]
Lane
Yes.
- [18:12]
Morgan Debon
Right. It's the same transition as a founder that I've gone through when it's like founder person wearing all the hats, doing all the things, answering the emails, taking the sales calls.
- [18:21]
Lane
Yes.
- [18:21]
Morgan Debon
Making the decks, everything. Even though I had a team, it was still me as like the quarterback. Right?
- [18:28]
Lane
Of course.
- [18:28]
Morgan Debon
To owner.
- [18:29]
Lane
Yes.
- [18:30]
Morgan Debon
Where I do the things I want to do, like dream up the Afro Tech vision or say like, okay, we need to start our AI transformation for the company. Instead of waiting for this to happen to us, let's be proactive and anticipate that this is happening and get ahead of it.
- [18:44]
Lane
Yes.
- [18:44]
Morgan Debon
Right. Like I'm setting the vision, the strategy, I'm solving problems. There's a fire, of course I manage it. My, my chief of staff is here. She says we're like whack a mole.
- [18:53]
Lane
Yeah.
- [18:53]
Morgan Debon
You know, one Mole comes up here, whack it.
- [18:55]
Lane
Yeah.
- [18:56]
Morgan Debon
Okay. That's my job. And then over here. Oh, somebody quit over here. We didn't expect to quit.
- [19:01]
Lane
Oh, yeah.
- [19:01]
Morgan Debon
Gotta whack it.
- [19:02]
Lane
Yeah.
- [19:02]
Morgan Debon
You know, gotta hire somebody else. Right. So that's my job. I enjoy that.
- [19:06]
Lane
Yeah.
- [19:07]
Morgan Debon
I don't want to be looking at the editorial calendar every day. I know, but back in the day.
- [19:11]
Lane
That'S what I did.
- [19:12]
Morgan Debon
I was the founder.
- [19:13]
Lane
Yep.
- [19:14]
Morgan Debon
So for you, when I say transition from owner from operator to owner for the agency first, what would you need to do to do that?
- [19:23]
Lane
I think the first thing I'd want to do is hire a pm, because right now I am pm. Okay. And I think that person's role would take on the role of giving more creative, operational, functional. Get this done. The quarterback. Yes, exactly. I knew I would need that person because for me, the way I work is, I think in strategy, I think in goals. So when someone hires me to do something, the first thing I do is, okay, I set the plan, I set the time, I set the goal, but I don't have to be the person doing that when I'm able to pass that on. And what's cool about how I've grown the business is I've done my research, I've done the work of knowing who it is I need to hire first and even doing some of the work in some cases, like, for instance, copywriting. I knew how to hire a copywriter because I started my business doing it.
- [20:21]
Morgan Debon
That's right.
- [20:21]
Lane
For so many years. And I knew what I was bad at about it, and I knew what I was looking for to make it better.
- [20:26]
Morgan Debon
Yes.
- [20:26]
Lane
And so I've gotten great at hiring people who were better than me. Good. And had no ego about it whatsoever. Because I wanted the business to be better.
- [20:36]
Morgan Debon
Yes.
- [20:36]
Lane
So now that I've been PM so long, I think that person would be my first hire. And I think I could hire well because I've done it and I knew who I'm looking for and I want to. I know how I want it to be better.
- [20:47]
Morgan Debon
That's right.
- [20:48]
Lane
Yeah. So that would be the first thing I do.
- [20:50]
Morgan Debon
So to write that job description, there's a framework that I use called your CEO task and your operating tasks.
- [20:55]
Lane
Okay.
- [20:56]
Morgan Debon
So your CEO tasks are tasks that only you can do. That's your owner tasks.
- [20:59]
Lane
Yes.
- [20:59]
Morgan Debon
Right. Those are all the things that, like, you're the CEO, you're going to go get the leads, you're going to take the first calls, you're going to close the deals. You're going to be the rainmaker. Right. Like, you're doing the strategy, and then the operating task is. Once the strategy is written today, you're still delegating everything out. You're still checking the timelines, you're still checking in with people. You're still doing the interviews and making the hires. You're formulating the teams, you're making sure that everything makes it back to the client. You're doing all of these other operating tasks that technically someone else can do.
- [21:28]
Lane
That's right.
- [21:29]
Morgan Debon
No one else can set the strategy. No one else can close the clients. I mean, someone could. You could hire a salesperson, but for now, you enjoy talking to people. Like, on the back. Yes. So you keep those. And then you write out this long list and that becomes the basis of your resume that you're looking for and it becomes the basis of the job description that you're going to write.
- [21:49]
Lane
Yes.
- [21:50]
Morgan Debon
And then that helps you. It's good to hire someone who is obviously always better than you, but sometimes it is okay to just hire someone who just gets that job done.
- [21:59]
Lane
Got it.
- [22:00]
Morgan Debon
And the key from a cash flow perspective is you take all that time that's saved to go close that other client.
- [22:05]
Lane
Yes.
- [22:06]
Morgan Debon
So maybe for the first year of that person being here, you technically aren't taking home more money, but you have way more time.
- [22:13]
Lane
That's good, right? I love it.
- [22:15]
Morgan Debon
And because you have a lot to work with, you know, you have a lot in. You've got money coming in and out. So you have a lot of flexibility in terms of, like, you could choose to flatline your income for four months or five months so that you offset and pay this person that you're about to hire so that you can go close a whale.
- [22:35]
Lane
I love this. That definitely puts it in a better, much more doable perspective because you're right. It would make sense to put the time in to getting the right person on the team to take care of these other tasks. And then free me up. Yes.
- [22:52]
Morgan Debon
To go make more money.
- [22:53]
Lane
To make more money. Right.
- [22:54]
Morgan Debon
And we wanna go after the big whale. Because to your point, yes, you could have a couple of smaller clients, but are they gonna be recurring? Are they gonna be a retainer like you need? Because you're gonna add a headcount. It needs to be stable.
- [23:07]
Lane
Yep, exactly.
- [23:08]
Morgan Debon
But it doesn't eat into your time. When you add that 1, 2, 3 clients, your time is still protected. So then the question becomes, let's talk about these executives, these women that you wanna do, because that's really a separate business. It is like that's a consultancy. That's brand image. That is strategy. That is. I'm a senior executive VP at this big financial company and I've been working for 25 years, so I've got a lot of money, you know, but either I got laid off. Confidentially, they never really say that. They say they resigned or they're moving on or they're exploring other things or they're looking for board work.
- [23:42]
Lane
Yep.
- [23:42]
Morgan Debon
They never say they got laid off.
- [23:44]
Lane
That's true.
- [23:44]
Morgan Debon
Because usually that's not how it works at that level. But they, they want to save face. Like they want to be known. They still want to be able to go to Cannes and go to add color.
- [23:52]
Lane
Yeah.
- [23:52]
Morgan Debon
Go to Africa and speak on stages. So they know they need to have some sort of brand that is an incredible customer to be serving.
- [23:59]
Lane
Yes.
- [24:00]
Morgan Debon
Those are our sisters. Like those are the women that they have been corporate warriors and they deserve to be seen regardless of the title that they hold at this corporation.
- [24:08]
Lane
Exactly.
- [24:09]
Morgan Debon
So I think that building that business in packages so that it's really clear. Do you do packages already with them?
- [24:17]
Lane
Yes, I do.
- [24:17]
Morgan Debon
So tell me how you're working with them already.
- [24:20]
Lane
So typically what I do is we'll do a. I love to do packages in months. Monthly retainers. I basically call it a retainer.
- [24:29]
Morgan Debon
Yes.
- [24:29]
Lane
You retain my services. And so I have three month minimums.
- [24:34]
Morgan Debon
Great.
- [24:34]
Lane
For everybody. It doesn't matter where you came from or what you work with.
- [24:38]
Morgan Debon
Anyone listening or watching this? Lane's got it. Yes, that's it.
- [24:43]
Lane
Yes. And so that way go in the conversation with an understanding that this is a retained service.
- [24:48]
Morgan Debon
Yes.
- [24:49]
Lane
And with that I. It depends on where they are. If. If for instance, my author executive, she's given herself a couple of years before she's retiring and she's decided this is her going to be her path. She's going to be an entrepreneur, as you know. And so what we've done is I've put her on a five month retainer and for that she's going to get, of course the books and stuff done with. She's working with a publisher and once the publishers get done, we start our marketing campaigns.
- [25:16]
Morgan Debon
That's right.
- [25:16]
Lane
And so the marketing campaigns are a part of that service. Pre launch launch and then post launch.
- [25:22]
Morgan Debon
Yes.
- [25:23]
Lane
Then if she wants to continue retaining services that could look like social media packages, that could look like maintaining your website package, it could look like getting you booked and speaking. That's a package of services that I offer.
- [25:34]
Morgan Debon
Right.
- [25:35]
Lane
So I provide the services based on the need, and that is it is a separate business, to your point. Because what I found is there's different needs for each executive. Not everybody wants to be a speaker.
- [25:48]
Morgan Debon
That's right.
- [25:49]
Lane
Not everybody wants to do consulting.
- [25:50]
Morgan Debon
Right.
- [25:50]
Lane
One of my clients told me, she's like, I do not want to do coaching.
- [25:54]
Morgan Debon
I do want to be an executive coach.
- [25:56]
Lane
No. She's like, I can't do it. I can't do it. I can't do coaching. So we found other paths for her. And so what I've done, and this is what I think is incredible about what I'm able to offer them, is because I've been an entrepreneur longer now, I can actually show them different streams of income, different paths of income. And so what I've told every single one of them is we need to take your expertise and we need to turn it into a framework. We turn that into a framework, and then that becomes the basis of whatever you do, whether you want to do speaking, coaching, consulting, or author, Whatever you want to do. It's your actual experience that we're going to leverage and turn that into your brand. And so that's the package that I offer and what that looks like for each executive. I customize that for them, but minimally, it's three months. And then it's usually something that they're fine with because they know they're gonna get the result.
- [26:50]
Morgan Debon
That's right. Have you turned your own framework into something that can be followed?
- [26:55]
Lane
Yes and no. I have a framework for branding. It's called My5VS. It starts with vision, then there's value. And value is actually two components of value, your value, and then what you actually value as a company, your village, your tribe. And so that framework, I actually use that going in with every client I work with, and that has helped me and the team streamline my work. Because at some stage, I'm working with you on vision and value. Right. Your values. Then I figure out what it is you do, and that becomes the value. And that's the basis of the brand.
- [27:28]
Morgan Debon
Yes.
- [27:29]
Lane
And then we build your village and your tribe around that. So that helps shape the work that we do. It also is what I use in my discovery frameworks.
- [27:38]
Morgan Debon
I see.
- [27:39]
Lane
So you have to pay for my discovery sessions. I learned that hard way.
- [27:43]
Morgan Debon
Yeah, that's smart.
- [27:44]
Lane
Because I would give proposals out that would have, like, all the answers. All the answers. And then they'd be like, oh, let me think about it. Oh, I didn't know it was gonna be so much. And I'm like, I just gave you a multimillion dollar business plan. I need that back. Yes. You know you can't take it back. Yes.
- [27:58]
Morgan Debon
No, no, you can't take it back. You can't take it back at all.
- [28:01]
Lane
I had to start charging for it.
- [28:03]
Morgan Debon
Layna's giving y'all real game. She's 14 years as an entrepreneur. So you've learned a couple things.
- [28:08]
Lane
You have to learn some things the hard way.
- [28:09]
Morgan Debon
That's right.
- [28:10]
Lane
Yeah. So when I realized I was giving away, you know, your intellectual property. Yes. So I stopped doing that.
- [28:17]
Morgan Debon
Yes.
- [28:17]
Lane
So you do have to pay for a discovery session. So I use that framework as well during the discovery session.
- [28:22]
Morgan Debon
Awesome. Yeah, that's great. I mean, that is coaching, right? It's like you're having a real conversation.
- [28:26]
Lane
Yes.
- [28:27]
Morgan Debon
Okay, so you have a startup or there's something else that you want to do. Tell me about it.
- [28:32]
Lane
So this year is all about increasing income for Jones Lane Agency. That's the name of my agency.
- [28:38]
Morgan Debon
Yes.
- [28:39]
Lane
So that I can bootstrap the finished bootstrapping, I should say. I've already started my startup, which came to me during COVID and I just was slow about it because I was like, I don't know if people really need that, but the more and more I keep running into clients and running into challenges, people need it. And so now I put a fire under myself to get it out there. But building a startup and it's in the tech space and it will help mostly enterprise level clients better manage their files, but make their teams be better at storing online files. So it's like a version of Dropbox and I hate to use brand names, but it's actually built more around helping your team be more organized and plan better. So it's a little bit of project management built into the software as well as online file storage. And then the reason I'm doing it this way is because I run into a lot of clients. My bigger fetch clients, especially where we have teams split all over the place. I mean, some of my clients have teams in different countries. Teams in different parts of the country. And if they're all sharing the same file storage, but some people are uploading files twice because they named them differently. It's the same file, but you don't know that when you go back and look for it, then there's some people who they put it in a folder that it's supposed to be. And so there's just this chaos when you go to look for something or when you need to work on a project.
- [30:13]
Morgan Debon
I think we've all had these flashbacks. I'm looking at my Google Drive. We have Notion, Dropbox, Salesforce, Google Drive, Slack Files is too much.
- [30:23]
Lane
It is.
- [30:24]
Morgan Debon
It is a big problem.
- [30:25]
Lane
It's a big problem. And so I want to try to help us solve it with this software. I've named her Branjelica.
- [30:33]
Morgan Debon
Okay.
- [30:33]
Lane
So she will be like a digital AI on your team. A digital team member helping you stay organized with your files.
- [30:40]
Morgan Debon
Cool.
- [30:40]
Lane
So she's going to ask you a bunch of questions before you even hit save and upload, just to make sure you're putting it in the right place. Keyword, tag your files and then use any AI to pull out the meta so that all your files are organized. But most importantly, you can find them later when you need to access them.
- [30:58]
Morgan Debon
That's right, yes. What's holding you back from getting Brangelica the venture funding that it needs?
- [31:02]
Lane
I think not having the knowledge enough to know what to do. Like, when I started my business, it really was out of being more of like a rebel. Like, I was like, I am not working for another person. I am not going to go back to a job. Even though all the little jobs that I saw, like, I had one time I had signed up for Career Monster or something, and it would send you, like, these job opportunities, and I never turned it off. So when I first left my last job, I was like, oh, this is tempting over here. Take this job over here. Take this manager job over here. But out of the rebel in me was like, I'm going to make this work. And so I did what I had to do. I went to all the networking meetings. I joined Rotary Club, I joined Chamber, I joined these leads groups where every single morning I was out of the house every morning for breakfast at a leads group meeting to see who I could meet and who they could introduce me to, I did that. But for the startup, I'm finding it, like, weird to connect with people in this way. And I think one of the challenges is I don't want to overshare what I'm doing because the idea is still relatively new. Even though I've started development, I still need to get it out there before so that there's at least a beta out there. So that's one challenge. And then secondly, I have connected with some tech hubs in the area and I go to, like, a couple of meetings. Like, they have weekly events you can attend. And I've gone to a few of them. Some of them I went every single Week, six months straight. But it was just like I wasn't really getting anywhere because the business keeps calling me back like, hey, you need to, you know, work on with this client or get this project. So there could be a couple of things to answer this question. It could be time. Haven't really given it time. But two, I think there's a little bit of apprehension about am I doing this right?
- [32:59]
Morgan Debon
If you. There's no right way to launch a startup.
- [33:02]
Lane
Yeah.
- [33:02]
Morgan Debon
Trust me, there is no magic rule book. There's nothing.
- [33:07]
Lane
Yeah.
- [33:07]
Morgan Debon
Okay. So I think you can let that one go. That you're doing something wrong. You're not doing anything wrong. I think maybe there needs to be a little more clarity on what is it that you're trying to accomplish, because it's not like a small business where you're like looking for clients and things like that. Right, right. It's not. That's not exactly what you need. So when you're going to these events, what's your intention? What would be a successful outing for you?
- [33:28]
Lane
So I think for me right now it's really just knowing, like, if. If I was going to go the venture capital route, for instance, where do I. Where does the startup need to be in order to even qualify for. For the best opportunity to get funded? So an outing for me would be somewhere to learn that. Okay. Because it's not something I just would know how to do or know what to do.
- [33:50]
Morgan Debon
Yes.
- [33:50]
Lane
So if I were to go to an outing, I want it to be more of a, what can I learn from this?
- [33:56]
Morgan Debon
Okay. And you feel like you haven't been able to get that answer here?
- [34:00]
Lane
No, I think it's because of the path I took. So initially I joined one of the tech hubs and they have weekly events where they have guest speakers come in and you learn a lot. And I was learning a lot, but it wasn't getting me to where. Okay, where do I need to take? What step do I need to take next?
- [34:15]
Morgan Debon
Yes.
- [34:15]
Lane
So I think for me, I do need to get some clarity around what is in the area. Like, and then where do I get the learning opportunities to take it to the next step?
- [34:27]
Morgan Debon
I think that you have a pathway that you think everyone else is taking to make a startup happen.
- [34:33]
Lane
I think you're nice and I think.
- [34:34]
Morgan Debon
You'Re like, attached to some. I don't know who or what or what we were watching on HBO Silicon Valley Lane. I don't know what you were doing. I'm like, was it me who was the problem? Because I'm like, that's not actually how it goes.
- [34:49]
Lane
No, I think, I think part of where I have kind of gotten misled, if you will, could be is it.
- [34:57]
Morgan Debon
These hubs, these incubators.
- [34:59]
Lane
Yes.
- [35:00]
Morgan Debon
They just want to all day.
- [35:03]
Lane
Sounds great when you sign up for it. Because I mean, one of them, I was paying monthly 10 and so. And I fell into it. So now I'm like, okay, I know as an entrepreneur I wasn't. My time is the most valuable thing I have. So I had to kind of pull back from that and then reassess. So I think I'm still in the reassessing phase. So I don't know that I have like this preconceived way of how it should go. I just know the path I took didn't work.
- [35:30]
Morgan Debon
Yeah, that's right. I think that startups are in phases. So right now you're building the product and you're looking for most likely a team to build the product.
- [35:40]
Lane
Yes.
- [35:40]
Morgan Debon
Like, that's actually what you need. And to get like that's the end goal is the product out in the world. And product has clients.
- [35:47]
Lane
Yes.
- [35:47]
Morgan Debon
Okay. To get to a product out in the in the world and the product has clients, you need to build it.
- [35:53]
Lane
Yes.
- [35:53]
Morgan Debon
To build it, you need to hire an engineer.
- [35:56]
Lane
Yes.
- [35:57]
Morgan Debon
Tire an engineer. You need to find the engineer and you need money to pay the engineer.
- [36:01]
Lane
Yes.
- [36:01]
Morgan Debon
Right.
- [36:02]
Lane
Okay.
- [36:02]
Morgan Debon
So those are the problems we're solving.
- [36:04]
Lane
Yes. So I have the development team.
- [36:07]
Morgan Debon
Great.
- [36:08]
Lane
They're actually in the Ukraine.
- [36:10]
Morgan Debon
Even better.
- [36:10]
Lane
They have even started on development.
- [36:12]
Morgan Debon
Amen.
- [36:12]
Lane
So now it's me bootstrapping. Right. So as I'm getting money, I'm putting it into development. Get money put into the development. Great. And then this. So where I am is trying to figure out, okay, what stage of development is good enough.
- [36:25]
Morgan Debon
Yes.
- [36:26]
Lane
So someone giving me good advice on that because I've had all kinds of people giving me input. And then once I figure that once I actually do get the product to where it's good enough to get some sort of funding. Okay, then what is the best option for that?
- [36:39]
Morgan Debon
Okay, let's rock that for a second.
- [36:41]
Lane
Yeah.
- [36:41]
Morgan Debon
The product shouldn't be good enough for funding. The product should be good enough for a customer. Too many entrepreneurs build for investors. They build to raise money instead of just building a business.
- [36:52]
Lane
I see.
- [36:53]
Morgan Debon
And once you have a business, then you will get funding.
- [36:56]
Lane
Got it. Okay.
- [36:57]
Morgan Debon
So release the pressure of like building for a pre seed investor or an angel investor and trying to figure out what they want, because what they want changes it changes all the time.
- [37:08]
Lane
Wow.
- [37:09]
Morgan Debon
When I was raising money, it's 100% different than what it's gonna be today if I was raising money.
- [37:14]
Lane
Got it. Okay.
- [37:15]
Morgan Debon
The goalpost moves based off of the market, based off of the debt availability, based off of what industry is hot right now. It will constantly change. What will never change is as if a company is making money and has a big enough market, which yours does and can be solved with technology more efficiently than whatever the product is or the world is doing now.
- [37:37]
Lane
Yes.
- [37:38]
Morgan Debon
An investor will be interested.
- [37:40]
Lane
I understand now. Okay.
- [37:41]
Morgan Debon
So focus on the business. And you're a business owner.
- [37:44]
Lane
That makes sense.
- [37:45]
Morgan Debon
So you got this.
- [37:46]
Lane
Yes.
- [37:46]
Morgan Debon
You know how to run a business.
- [37:48]
Lane
Yes.
- [37:48]
Morgan Debon
That's much easier than saying, how do I raise money? And what's the paycheck look like?
- [37:52]
Lane
And how am I going to meet these people?
- [37:53]
Morgan Debon
And da, da, da, da, da. Get the product up and running enough to have clients.
- [37:58]
Lane
I love this. You know what that does is it lets me be my introverted self.
- [38:03]
Morgan Debon
That's right. Stay where you are.
- [38:04]
Lane
Focus internally right now. Keep focused on internally. And then when we're ready for external, I'll know because the product will be.
- [38:11]
Morgan Debon
Ready and it'll be ready. Because you'll have clients.
- [38:13]
Lane
Yes.
- [38:14]
Morgan Debon
So. And you have clients that can test this for you.
- [38:16]
Lane
Exactly.
- [38:17]
Morgan Debon
So get there. And then as it gets bigger, you don't necessarily need venture funding, because if the product is right and they're willing to pay, it should offset the cost because you don't need the company to pay for your salary.
- [38:29]
Lane
That's right.
- [38:30]
Morgan Debon
Right. So a lot of founders, they're trying to raise venture because they're trying to replace their income.
- [38:34]
Lane
Right.
- [38:35]
Morgan Debon
You don't have that problem.
- [38:35]
Lane
So that makes sense for them. But if we don't, if I don't need it for that, then I don't. I can focus on just getting the product out, getting customers.
- [38:43]
Morgan Debon
Yes. You need time.
- [38:43]
Lane
Yes.
- [38:44]
Morgan Debon
We've solved your time problem.
- [38:45]
Lane
Yes.
- [38:46]
Morgan Debon
Okay. We've got a pathway for that. And you need to build the product.
- [38:49]
Lane
That's right.
- [38:50]
Morgan Debon
And then you need customers.
- [38:51]
Lane
That's right.
- [38:52]
Morgan Debon
And then once you have customers and you've got money coming in, you've got cash flow coming in, you've got ARR and all the things, then you can go out into the world and say, do I want an investor or do I not want an investor because my product actually is fine.
- [39:05]
Lane
Got it. Oh, my gosh. I can't tell you how you just saved.
- [39:09]
Morgan Debon
Like, I wish I had talked to you months ago. So you were stuck go to all these meetings that you didn't want to go to.
- [39:14]
Lane
I didn't want to go to. It was not helping me.
- [39:19]
Morgan Debon
Yeah.
- [39:19]
Lane
Yes. Because at the end of the day, the product still needs to be developed, and that wasn't helping me yet.
- [39:24]
Morgan Debon
You know, so, you know, there's something that I talk about in the book in terms of, do you need a mentor or an advisor? You need a product development, like, go to market advisor, like a B2B SaaS advisor. Someone who's done what you want to do.
- [39:39]
Lane
Yes.
- [39:39]
Morgan Debon
That has real life experience. Not someone who's an executive coach, who's never done this.
- [39:44]
Lane
Got it.
- [39:44]
Morgan Debon
Who their biggest business is. Executive coaching. Exactly. Not that person.
- [39:48]
Lane
Okay.
- [39:48]
Morgan Debon
You want someone who has a retired entrepreneur, someone who has angel invested in these types of products before, who can say, hey, Lane, don't waste your time over here. That's the shiny object in the press and the media. Focus on this. And if you're gonna go to these networking events, that's who you're looking for. You're looking for someone with that experience that's already done it, that has an exited startup already or has angel invested in companies that are really good at this, so they know what's fluff and what's real.
- [40:15]
Lane
Okay.
- [40:16]
Morgan Debon
And then they're gonna be able to say, okay, cool. You've got a hundred thousand dollars a month in monthly recurring revenue. That's the milestone. Let's go out and raise some money.
- [40:27]
Lane
Okay. You just helped me write initially start a business plan. Now a work plan, workflow for me for the next three to six months. I'm gonna find that person, that mentor to help me with that. But at the same time, not a mentor.
- [40:41]
Morgan Debon
Advisor.
- [40:41]
Lane
Advisor.
- [40:42]
Morgan Debon
A mentor is someone who is, like, emotionally invested in you over a long period of time throughout your career. So mentor is like that college professor that you talk to and you. Or that person you call before you get another job, and you're like, should I take this job? Should I not take this job? And then five days later you're like, should I come back to work after I had a baby? Should I not come back to work?
- [41:02]
Lane
Right.
- [41:02]
Morgan Debon
That's a mentor.
- [41:03]
Lane
Okay.
- [41:03]
Morgan Debon
They care about you. An advisor is helping you solve a problem.
- [41:06]
Lane
I see.
- [41:06]
Morgan Debon
I'm an advisor. I'm not a mentor to a lot of people.
- [41:09]
Lane
Yes, I understand.
- [41:10]
Morgan Debon
Yeah.
- [41:10]
Lane
Okay.
- [41:10]
Morgan Debon
So an advisor.
- [41:11]
Lane
Advisor. Okay.
- [41:13]
Morgan Debon
They're solving one specific. A particular problem. When they solve that problem, you move on.
- [41:18]
Lane
Yes. And the problem right now to solve is the product Development, getting that product. Okay. This is really, really good.
- [41:25]
Morgan Debon
Yeah.
- [41:25]
Lane
Oh, my gosh. I'm excited right now. I get.
- [41:28]
Morgan Debon
We can end the episode.
- [41:29]
Lane
We can. We can. Life has been improved.
- [41:33]
Morgan Debon
Yes. Life has been improved. We have rewritten the rules. These are things in the book.
- [41:38]
Lane
Yes.
- [41:38]
Morgan Debon
So we talk about this in the book. But for you, you have so much going for you and you have a lot of options, which I'm sure is also overwhelming because you're like, I could do this, I could do this, I could do this. So my thing for you is hire the project manager.
- [41:54]
Lane
Yes.
- [41:54]
Morgan Debon
Because the most important thing for you is time.
- [41:56]
Lane
Yep.
- [41:57]
Morgan Debon
And then for your business executives, making sure that framework is really clean so that you know you're not putting a lot of mental load there, even if it is time. Not draining all your energy mentally.
- [42:09]
Lane
Yes.
- [42:09]
Morgan Debon
All your mentor energy is on this ambiguous product market. Fit the creative, fun stuff and release the pressure of what you think a startup founder is supposed to do. Because a startup founder oftentimes doesn't have this kind of experience that you have and has never run a business before.
- [42:27]
Lane
True.
- [42:28]
Morgan Debon
And if they have, it's been with a big corporate entity, like maybe they had a P and L at some company, they've never built it from scratch with a real team. You're really a second time founder.
- [42:37]
Lane
Yes. Because with the whole building your own business anyway, as an entrepreneur, you are a founder.
- [42:43]
Morgan Debon
A startup is just a business.
- [42:44]
Lane
It's so true.
- [42:45]
Morgan Debon
So just treat it like that.
- [42:47]
Lane
Okay. Okay. That's fair. That's awesome. Because you're right. I wouldn't have done branding and marketing had I not had a branding and marketing service to provide. Right?
- [42:55]
Morgan Debon
Yes.
- [42:56]
Lane
So with this, I can't expect to have traction or getting any real funding.
- [43:02]
Morgan Debon
Or a million dollars.
- [43:03]
Lane
Yeah.
- [43:03]
Morgan Debon
Like, for what?
- [43:05]
Lane
What are they funding?
- [43:05]
Morgan Debon
What are they funding?
- [43:07]
Lane
Yes. Okay, well, this is great. Because then that means even getting back into the development side of things. Like, I will be the person determining what the product cotas is. Right.
- [43:18]
Morgan Debon
Those are Cotas, right? That's right.
- [43:21]
Lane
Yes.
- [43:21]
Morgan Debon
All right, Lane, thanks for joining the show today.
- [43:22]
Lane
Oh, my gosh, thank you.
- [43:24]
Morgan Debon
So fun.
- [43:25]
Lane
Yeah, Exciting.
- [43:25]
Morgan Debon
I look forward to using Branjelica Brangelica.
- [43:28]
Lane
Yes, I will send it to you.
- [43:30]
Morgan Debon
All right, y'all, see you next time. Bye. Thanks for listening to the Journey podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure you leave a review and head to our Instagram and YouTube to leave a comment. I look forward to hearing how this podcast has made an impact on your own Journey.