EPISODE 60 - QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN INVESTING IN YOUR BUSINESS, TIPS FOR HIRING, AND CLARITY THAT CAME THROUGH MY HARDEST MOMENTS - INTERVIEW BY TAYLOR ALLER - PART 2
Danielle hosting the Vancity Business Babes “Passion to Profit” live event in May 2020. Photo by @allymatos
LISTEN TO THE EPISODE HERE:
This is part two of a conversation Danielle has with Taylor Aller, a past guest of the podcast, who asked if she could put Danielle in the hot seat for a change and interview Dani on the podcast, and Dani agreed!
So today, in part two of the conversation, Taylor and Danielle talk about questions to ask when investing in your business, tips for hiring, and starting a team and the clarity that came through some of Danielle’s hardest moments in business.
QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN INVESTING IN YOUR BUSINESS
Danielle and Taylor talk about the power of being a forever student and the power of investing in in your education as a business owner. If an investment is going to save you time, money, or if it’s going to help you grow, then ask what that is worth to you and put a price point on it - ex. “What is saving 5 hours/week of my time worth to me?”
Look at investing in your business from a different perspective - that investing in a program or a resource or outsourcing is not just money going out of your pocket, but tools to enrich your life. Ask yourself when considering a program or tool “Will this provide a return?”
Ask yourself how you can work smarter and not harder! As a business owner, you should be investing in sustainable practices and workflows. Invest in specific skill sets that will help you scale your business. As you grow, you will be able to niche down into the skills you need to scale.
TIPS FOR HIRING
Taylor asks Danielle:
“How do you know you need to hire a team member?” Danielle felt as though she was drowning in her workload, so she hired! As you are in the hiring process, ask yourself “What can you learn vs what can you outsource?”
“How did you wing it and what would you do differently?” Danielle didn’t have systems in place, so she had to learn HOW to outsource. She had to learn how to create systems and workflows and communicate work to her new hires.
Get organized and create systems before hiring. You can use programs like Trello, Asana, GSuite and more!
Know your workflows. Understand your workflows so you can understand how to train and outsource effectively.
Create training materials and videos to save time and help your new hires learn and save everyone time! You can use programs like Loom to record and store training materials.
Find your pain points and outsource accordingly.
Sometimes, you need to contract or hire an expert to help with your business - ie, bookkeeping, accounting, social media manager, SEO.
Sometimes, you can train others to take on easily teachable/trainable tasks - personal assistant, blog posts, etc.
Find people who are passionate about your mission and your brand!
STARTING A TEAM & CLARITY THAT CAME THROUGH SOME OF THROUGH SOME THE HARDEST MOMENTS IN BUsiness
After growing pains of creating a team, Business Babes felt ready to take on 2020 and then cue the pandemic.
Danielle never paused as she pivoted her business - like many others, she went into survival mode in the midst of fighting to keep her community thriving, and found herself on the edge of burnout, in a slight identity crisis and also ready to start a family!
Danielle knew that, as a mom, she wasn’t going to have the capacity to work 40+ hours a week and nurture her family the way she wanted to. She knew it was possible to support her family and her community at the same time, but she was gonna have to change the way she ran her business. As she faced one of the most difficult seasons of her life, she was forced to ask herself “What do I want my business to look like long term? Even when events are allowed again, is this what I want to pour all my energy into?”
From there she asked herself:
What she had to offer the world
Who she wanted to serve
How she could bring those elements into alignment with how she ran her business.
These questions gave her clarity, vision and passion to launch the Business Babes Podcast and nurture her online programs and community and nurture the programs that helped to generate passive income. Then, with events returning, she asked herself how the events fit into the bigger picture of serving her community and could execute those events accordingly.
There are really hard things in business that can cause you to shift, BUT, they can lead to really wonderful things. Allow the hard things to be your catalyst!
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transcript
Danielle: [00:00:00] Welcome back to the business babes collective podcast. Today is part two of our two part series on Taylor Aller interviewing me, flipping the script, putting me in the hot seat and asking all the juicy questions. So if you have not listened to part one that we released, that is the previous episode, episode 59- if you haven't listened to that, listen to that first because she starts with some really great questions of what I did before business babes, as well as the early days of when I first launched this community and also some of my biggest failures. So I think you're gonna really enjoy that episode if you haven't yet listened to it.
In this episode, we dive into talking about education, when you are growing business, what questions you should ask yourself when you are investing in a course or program or coaching, whatever that might be. I answer that question. We also talk about hiring - how I started to hire, [00:01:00] mistakes that I made along the way. And then I also share some tips for, if you are starting to grow your team. And then also the clarity that I have had through some of my hardest moments. So you're gonna hear about that. How six months into the pandemic, how I experience some of the hardest times in the business and how I have been able to actually gain a lot of clarity through those really really difficult moments. So I'm excited for you to tune in today. I think you're gonna learn a lot and learn a little bit more about my journey and hopefully you'll gain some insight into your own life and your own business through Taylor and I's conversation today.
So before we jump in, I do wanna mention a little bit about our. Events coming up in both San Diego and Vancouver on May 15th. Our San Diego chapter is hosting a networking mingle that is at a gorgeous winery. To check out more details or to get tickets. You can go to business babes collective.com/san [00:02:00] Diego. And in Vancouver, we are host. An event on May 18th, passion to profit- so it's gonna be a networking event as well as we're. We have a panel to find out more details about that, you can go to business babes, collective.com/vancouver. So if you are feeling lonely and you feel like you just need some connection and community in your life, and you're wanting to do that in person, come join us for one of our events, we would love to meet you and love to see you there.
All right, let's go ahead and jump into the episode today. Welcome to the business babes collective podcast. I'm your host, Danielle Wiebe in this podcast, you'll learn tangible business tips and strategies on how to grow successfully and sustainably. We'll also interview seasoned entrepreneurs, so you can listen in on their stories and see behind the scenes of what it took to grow and scale their businesses. Let's dive in as we discuss the wild, exciting, crazy challenging rollercoaster [00:03:00] ride of entrepreneurship.
Taylor: So tell me, I know that you're a big fan of education. You obviously went to university, but I know you're like one of those people that is a forever student, I feel like every time we connect, you're like, oh yeah, I'm taking this new course over here. Like, oh yeah. I started this other new book over here and oh yeah, I'm doing this course now here too. Yeah. And I love that because you and I are the same. We're always constantly hungry. We have like an appetite for new material and learning mm-hmm . But if you could boil down like two or three things that have really helped you in terms of educations or training, or even perspectives on that, what would be some of those?
Because I know a big base of business babes is education. You know, it's education empowerment. And I like to say enjoyment because it's so much fun getting to be a part of the community, but education is a huge pillar of the community that you've created, a lot of your events are based around education you have so many tools provided for education and courses. So tell me what was a little bit about your education journey mm-hmm and what are some of the big [00:04:00] impactful things that you've learned around learning? That you can share with us.
Danielle: Ooh. Okay. Oh my gosh. So good. So yeah, I mean, it's insane. Like when I think even back to when I first started and just the, the different things I was investing in, and I think everything, all the courses and everything that I've invested in has made a positive impact in some capacity and all in positive ways.
Taylor: I want people to know exactly how much you are a fan of learning. If you could like ballpark the amount of money you have spent on, oh my gosh. Right. A learning beast.
Danielle: Yeah. Well, okay. Cuz if you think about it this way, like I know that we have listeners all around the world, so this is gonna like very much, very depending on where you live, but you think about how much you spend on university, right and all the money that goes into that. And that's like your four years, and then you get whatever your degree, if you, if you finish and all of those things, which is great. But if we were [00:05:00] willing to spend that much on our degree and then as we get older and as we, we get clearer, On what we want to create, what we're doing for our careers or our businesses, all of a sudden, we think, oh, now we're not gonna spend the money anymore. It doesn't like, to me, it doesn't make any sense.
Taylor: It's like, same. I'm now in other areas, like becoming a partner, becoming a parent, like why don't we keep investing in those educations too. Exactly. Exactly. Those are my massive roles I wear, you know, exactly like most people. So anyways, continue.
Danielle: No, it's so true. And so it's, I think like a lot of people are so hesitant to like invest because they just see it as money going out of their bank account, but how I see it is like you're investing in something and in that you're gonna learn something and it, and you are going to be able to yeah, whether it be grow your business and to a certain extent it's gonna be helping you with your parenting. Maybe it's with meal prep. I don't know, like whatever [00:06:00] education or a hobby, even that you're doing that, like, you know, we were really passionate about and you're gonna invest in your hobby. And I think a lot of people and as adults, for whatever reason, we don't feel, maybe we don't feel worthy that we don't wanna invest in our own growth or our own learnings.
I don't know what it is, but there's list something holds us back from investing. And I'm not saying that we should just spend money on anything. I, I do not believe that either. I think that what I have learned in my investing journey and just to give you a ballpark yeah, it's I think I probably spend, I spend thousands and thousands of dollars, like every year in my education, you know, I just recently, when I got pregnant with Rosie, invested in this course, that was almost like $10,000. Just for this one program. Mind you, you know, it comes with, came with coaching and everything like that, but that allowed me to learn so much about something I knew nothing about, which was building a online course and having it be an evergreen course and all the automations that went into that, like there was so much that was just so over [00:07:00] my head and that I knew that I needed that support I needed that coaching. I needed that framework to, to be able to do that. Sure. I could have learned it all by myself. You know, I could have watched. A thousand YouTube videos and blog posts. And, you know, for some things I will do that, I'll do my own research, but for this specific thing, I knew I wanted that support.
And so mm-hmm, , I think that the biggest thing that I've learned is if it's going to save you time, or if it's gonna save you money, or it's gonna help you grow, like help you. Maybe make more money in your business or help you save hours of your week or whatever that is then what is that worth to you?
And so putting kind of a, maybe a price point, if you want to figure out if something is worth your investment is putting a price point on like, what is saving five hours a week of my time over the next year? What is that worth in a [00:08:00] dollar amount? Mm-hmm mm-hmm . And so if I feel like this course is going to give me that then it's worth it. Or if I feel like this coaching is gonna give me that, or if I feel like, you know, whatever else, investment is gonna give me that. And so that's something to, just, to, to think about or even like, how do you value other things that you invest in, whether it be parenting or your relationship or whatever counseling, all of that stuff.
Like, what is. Worth to you, right? Mm-hmm what is, what is learning that skill or learning how to meal prep? Right. What is that skill worth to you or learning a hobby, maybe you wanna learn how to paint and you're gonna invest in that. And that is a really important thing to you. So I think it's just like looking at it in a, from a different perspective of, it's not just money going out of your account.
It's enriching your life in some capacity and. That's how I look at my investments. When I, you know, specifically when I look at my business, it's [00:09:00] like, okay, is this going to bring me a return on my investment of either time or money? Hopefully both. Yeah. In the long run.
Taylor: That's an awesome equation to look at through learning and it kind of filters into a lot of different structures when it comes to business. But especially when you're looking. Scale a business. Mm-hmm , you know, you, I, I don't wanna say you, but I can definitely speak for myself. I know that when I look to scaling my business or when I'm working with my clients and helping them scale their businesses, the first thing is what do we what do we need to learn here in order to reach that next stage?
Because just like how we go through grades in school, you know, you can't. Wow. I mean, Most of us, can't go from like grade six to grade 12, you know, like we, we need to kind of incrementally learn what we need to learn. And of course there's gonna be exceptions, you know, and sometimes we need to repeat a grade and like there's all of these different things that come into it. But especially when it comes to scaling, there's so much learning that needs to be there. And also learning how to outsource, learning, how to delegate, learning, how to do HR, hiring, learning, how to do payroll. Like there's so [00:10:00] many things of building a team and scaling that requires new skill sets that we don't just have inherently in our DNA.
Like I don't, I don't know about you and I don't have it in my DNA to know how to do payroll and taxes. You know, I don't have it in my DNA to know how to fire somebody or how to hire somebody. You know, those are things and skills that I'll need to learn and eventually learn how to outsource. So tell me, when did you kind of know when were some of those light bulb moments in your business when you realized, okay. I think I need to scale, you know, I know for you learning is one of them when you're thinking, okay, I've gotta learn a whole bunch of new things here. Like this is a big indicator when you need to learn a lot. That usually means you're going to. Stage mm-hmm but what's another indicator for you that you kind of needed to scale when it came to business babes, what was like one of those flags that started waving?
Danielle: Yeah. Well, I think a lot at the beginning, you know, some of the things that I invested in that, um, were helped me because. As I shared a big thing for me was not having those boundaries around my time. Uh, not understanding [00:11:00] like how to create systems, how to work smarter, not harder. All of those things, cuz for me, ingrained in my mind was working hard and I knew how to work hard.
I knew how to hustle like crazy, but I knew that that wasn't sustainable. So for me, the first things that I invested in were like a course on productivity, a course on, um, like creating, uh, digital, like how, like even the tactical of like digital files and how to organize them. Like those types of things that I didn't really know what I was doing when it came to that.
And so a lot of it at the beginning was productivity, organization, all of that. And then now it's more so I invest in specific skill sets that I want to learn. So for example, the course that I took that was gonna teach me how to have action takers club be an evergreen course, and how to create the systems and how to create the automations [00:12:00] and how to do all the things and on the back end and so that was a specific skill that I wanted to learn in order to scale the business. Um, and I recently took a program specifically on podcasting because I wanted to learn all the things on podcasting and how to grow the podcast and all of those things, how to create content, like really great content that people wanna listen to.
And so those are all things. So they're, they're more specific. I feel like when I was earlier on in business, they were a little bit more broad mm-hmm and then as I grow, it's more specific and more niche, if that makes sense. Mm-hmm so whenever I wanna kind of like add a skill to my portfolio of like things that I know how to do, I'll take a course specifically on that skill. Whereas the beginning I needed, like all of the education. So I would take these like business courses that I feel like would give me a really broad perspective of like, just how to run a business, how to make it successful. I took like marketing courses. I took [00:13:00] email marketing. I took, you know, like I said, productivity courses, like all those things that were more broad mm-hmm and then now it's more specific mm-hmm and, um,
Yeah. I mean, like you said, like, I wish, I honestly wish that I would've taken a course on like yeah how do you hire someone before I hired, you know, my first two people tell us, I didn't know what I was doing.
Taylor: Yeah. Tell us, tell us, tell us, tell us, because I'm sure there's business owners listening right now that are like, I think I need some help right now. And the idea of hiring somebody makes my stomach fall up my butt so I'm just avoiding it because yeah. There's so many clients I work with and that's exactly how they feel. So tell us, like, what was it like when you decided you needed to hire a team member? How did you know you needed to hire a team member and how did you wing it? How did you do that?
Danielle: well, okay. So I think one of the things that I always suggest for people cuz I feel like I did it the opposite way where I felt like I was drowning and so I hired two people actually at the same time. Um [00:14:00] which ended up working out, cuz they were amazing people shout out Nancy and, and Sydney, but
Taylor: I love you Nancy and Sydney.
Danielle: Yeah. And they were my first, the first people on the business babe team. But I like to be honest, I felt really bad because I had no systems in place. I was so disorganized. I was over like, just over my head in work mm-hmm , but I didn't know- I had no idea even how to outsource. And so, the biggest thing like I, yeah, to be honest, Taylor, I just, I literally wung it. Like, I honestly don't even remember what I, I was like, okay, I have these two people, like, what are they supposed to do? So I would just like tell them to do things. And I'm like, I don't even know if that's the right thing to tell you to do. I have no idea.
So , it was, it was really messy at the beginning. Yeah.
Taylor: Yeah. We're just so normal and okay.
Danielle: We figured it out along the way. Like thank goodness they're incredible people and very gracious, but we figured it out along the way. But now what I suggest for people is, Hey, if [00:15:00] you can be, if you can organize yourself first and like, These kind of systems in your business first so that you know what you're doing on a daily basis, you know, what your pro processes are when it comes to doing the day to day of your business, having a task, task management software, something like I, we use Asana which I love, but there's lots of different ones that you can choose, but even using that for yourself. So you know how to even delegate to yourself, cuz if you get good at delegating to yourself, different tasks, breaking them down into smaller tasks, all of those things, and you start creating those, kind of, workflows for yourself. You are gonna be able to then, when you bring someone onto the team, you can show them and you can say, look at this workflow, this is how we do this. And, and it's all there. And you can make a job description and you can tell them exactly what they need to be doing, and you can schedule it for them and all of tho those things. And I didn't have any of that when I started, [00:16:00] uh, and everything was in random folders and didn't know how to find anything.
And it was just, it was kind of completely chaos to be completely honest with you. Mm-hmm um, and so, so when Nancy and Sydney came on a team first, we sort of created those systems together. And we sort of got organized as a team, which, you know, when I think back on it, I'm like, oh, how beautiful. But it was, it was very messy and just overwhelming for, for everyone. And so for sure, that's why it's like, Hey, if you are thinking of hiring someone, create some systems for yourself, get organized yourself, know what your workflows are, all of those things. And then when you bring someone on and record yourself doing things, that's what, like, I wish that I would've done is recorded myself, you know, putting a blog post up on the website.
So, then I could have that as a training video and I could put that into a Google doc and I could have all these training videos of recording myself, doing things, and then have that [00:17:00] for if I hired someone, they can just watch all these videos. I don't even have to train them cuz they can train themselves.
Taylor: Exactly.
Danielle: Those are all things that I wish I would've done. And then I always suggest for, for people to do, if they can, before they hire um, but yeah, it, and, and again, it depends on who you're hiring too, because for me, as well, something really important was having my finances, and I, I think getting that organized and getting that really clear was the best thing that I ever did for my business and investing in that someone to do my taxes and bookkeeping and they did like a total overhaul of everything and just like cleaned it all up. And the peace that I have from that is like, unlike anything I can describe.
Taylor: It's like an elephant getting removed from your chest.
Danielle: Like exactly. Oh gosh. Yeah. It took time, took a lot of time because the first I would say, yeah, like the first four years of the business, I was just winging [00:18:00] it. So everything was super and, you know, we had accountants, but they weren't necessarily ones that had worked with my type of business before. And so hiring the right people and having them on board and, and investing in that in your business too. Like you know, we pay a monthly fee for that all to be handled.
But for me, it's just such a relief and I don't have to deal with that anymore. So in some ways it's worth it to hire an expert at what they do, if it's like an accountant or a bookkeeper, if that's not a passion of yours, or if that's not something that you wanna particularly learn. And then sometimes it makes sense to hire someone who can help you with a lot of different things who can be like your assistant, right who you can train and you can teach on how to do what you're doing. So that's another thing is like, do you wanna hire an expert? For example, a social media manager who knows exactly what they're doing and they know more than you do, and that'll be a contractor for you and they can do all these things.
Or do you want someone [00:19:00] who you're gonna bring into your business? You're gonna teach them everything. Right. So that takes the training and, you know, investment of your time, but they're gonna be kind of like more a part of the team so that's kind of something to think about too, or maybe you just need a virtual assistant to he to help you five hours a week.
And that's okay too, to outsource editing or writing or, or blog posts, whatever. So that that's like a whole, whole other thing. And I am not an expert in teaching people how to, how to outsource or how to hire, but I'm just, I, I share what I've learned. I share what I wish I would've done differently.
Taylor: Yeah. Let's like recap that to some actionable items because there were some really juicy treasures in there. Like firstly. Try to get organized yourself. Like you said, record what you're doing. Just use zoom record. What you're doing screen record it. Talk over it, create a little file of training videos.
Make sure you have a system in place using a management software for [00:20:00] tasks like Asana or Monday, or, you know, all the different. Ones that exist. Trello. There's so many. Find one that works for you. And then take your time sharing that with somebody else, allow yourself to have the financial support, to be able to pay somebody to be on the team, whether you want that to be in house or somebody outside of the house. So hiring out a contractor or bringing somebody in. And then deciding and shifting as you go, what are you going to bring in as a skillset? Or what do you want to learn as a skillset and having that kind of be your guidepost on who you hire, or maybe if you're gonna DIY it, or if you have like a Jiller Jack of all trades in the business too, they can help you with some of that as you grow.
Yeah. So, so good. And I think you're totally not alone in the winging it thing. I think there's so many people where that's, where they started. And luckily there's fantastic people out there who are willing to walk with you and to be that first hire. And there's such a special relationship that. Forums between colleagues like that, they are that first person that you hired, the first [00:21:00] person that you worked with.
So mm-hmm, those of you debating hiring that could just be the next special person for you in your business that'll grow with you. Yeah. And then become that person that you look back on and say like, remember when we did in person events and then now there's a pandemic and we can't .
Danielle: Yeah, exactly. Well, and I will say also like find people who believe in the vision and the mission of your brand. I think that was the thing that really worked with our team is that we were all really passionate about, like, this is what we're trying to do. This is the mission. Everyone believed in what we were doing. And I think that's what really helped us to thrive. Even in the midst, in the midst of like, just chaos.
I mean, to be fair too, within that year, when I hired, we also launched into four other cities for our chapters. So it was, when I say chaos, it was chaos. Like it was insane. And it was so exciting at the same time. Like there was so much growth and all of the things, but when I look back and I'm like, man, like, yeah, there, there could have been a [00:22:00] lot of things that could have been simplified. And I probably would've been able to work a lot less if I would've just put these simple systems in place beforehand. And I think my mindset was, I don't have time to put these things in place, which is silly, cuz it's like, if you invest the time now you're gonna save yourself so much time later.
So I just wanna encourage people if you're in that place right now where you're just like, I, but I don't even have time to pull back so I can organize my business. Yes you do, because it's gonna give you so much time in the future instead of just like continuing to be on a hamster wheel, basically. Yeah. What I was doing.
Taylor: Up until the pandemic hits. So yeah, exactly. Let's switch gears here. Let, let's talk about that because I think like many of us, all of us, the pandemic lasted way longer than we expected, but it totally rocked our worlds right. For some more than others. And I think entrepreneurs were a special breed of people where that just hit way harder [00:23:00] and that's your community, your community that you've built is women entrepreneurs who come together during struggle and your business model was in person events and connecting these women and building that community. And overnight you get the phone call, you get the Twitter post, you get the whatever saying not right now, we are shutting things down, you know, and a week goes by a month goes by a quarter, goes by and you're thinking, huh? Now what? So walk me through like paint the story for me of you getting that news of just kidding, you can't do your business anymore. And you have an entire community of women looking at you saying help. Yeah, because you're the person they turn to this community. I know this is a community I turn to when I need help. So not only are you kind of that business owner yourself, but you're also very much a leader in this space and having all of these women turn to you saying, what do we do now? How can we move forward from this? How did you manage those two roles? Paint that picture. [00:24:00] What was it like waking up, getting that news. How did you feel?
Danielle: Yeah. So I think, well, at the beginning I was really in denial. Like I , I remember like hearing all these things coming out and everything and I'm like, it's gonna be okay. It's gonna be okay. Like, we'll, we'll still be able to do our event. We had an event planned for the end of March and we were just, you know, continuing on as if this event was gonna happen and all this stuff was gonna pass and it was gonna be fine.
And then yeah, as we got closer and closer and it was like, oh my goodness. Yeah, we're gonna have to either cancel this event or pivot this event, we're gonna have to do something because we're not gonna be able to host this in person. And so I think, at the beginning as much, I was like, as I, yes, I had this like thought of whoa, this is really scary and this could totally like basically shut down my business. I think I was almost like running off of adrenaline of, okay we're just gonna fix [00:25:00] this. Like my mind immediately went to like, how are we going to make this work? So we pivoted the event to a virtual event right away. And we basically rallied everyone we're like, we're still gonna have the event. It's just gonna be virtual. And that first virtual event was actually pretty cool, pretty special because at that point, everyone had been in quarantine for about two weeks. And so everyone just like, it was like this. Yeah, there was something so special about that event because we, everyone was coming together online and everyone was feeling really like confused and lonely and scared and all of that.
Taylor: And so there was, this was before virtual events were like the norm yeah. Like nobody, like 80% of people have never attended the virtual event before. And it's like, uh, what are we doing? Did I log in?
Danielle: Right, exactly. Exactly. So it was, it was really cool. And we had live music on the virtual event and we, you know, all these things and so that was really neat. And then, so I was like, okay, well this pandemic thing, I guess it's not going back to normal anytime soon. So [00:26:00] we're gonna host another virtual event. So we did another one and I was just sort of like running and it was funny because before that time, when we were at the beginning of the year, our team had like sat down, we had, we had mapped out the entire year of events. We knew the venues. We knew like what speakers we were gonna pitch. We knew all of like different vendors, everything. And so we were were like at the point where
Taylor: From chaos to like the peak of organization
Danielle: yeah, we were super, exactly. We had gone through these, you know, growing pains of figuring it all out and then we're like, okay, this is the year like 2020 woo as most people were. And then it was like, okay, like, I guess we have to pivot this entire thing. And in my mind, I was going back to like, okay, how do I fix this? How do I, and I never really gave myself that ability to pause and to think I just went into this kind of survival mode, I think it was like, how do I keep this community going? How do I exactly, like you said, help these women who are [00:27:00] feeling lonely, who are feeling all these things. And I just was like, let's just do this. And so we host another virtual event. Then after that, it's like, okay, well, we're gonna do a virtual conference. We're gonna do it in September. And this is what it's gonna look like.
And, and then in between we launched the online action takers club at the exact same time. Like it was, it was nuts. We were doing so much as a business. And so I never like gave myself that space or that time to really think like, What do I want this business to look like? Because I think at that point too, we thought it was just gonna go back to normal. It's gonna go back to normal. Yeah. So it was trying to fill in the gaps. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And so that was, so then we did the conference September, September, 2020. And at the end of that conference, it was like a week later, I was just like, hit with really bad burnout and it was, to be honest, that was like a really, really low point for me, because I also was feeling very overwhelmed and confused on what my brand [00:28:00] even was anymore and what value I had to bring to my community.
Because for me, I always saw myself as this event host, who would bring people together in person. I felt like that was my skillset. The conference, the online conference that we did was, was, was an actual, great success. But it took everything out of me. Like I was totally dead after that. And so it made me kind of reevaluate and think, okay, what do I want my business to look like? And even if events do come back, do I wanna be doing them the way that I was before every single month? Just doing event after event, after event, never really having this time to really think like, what do I want long term, what do I want been in business or my life to look like? And, you know, thinking about the future, like, well, You know, what if we have kids and what's that gonna look like?
Well, sure enough, in October, we found out we were pregnant. So going through that, going through [00:29:00] like the burnout, the identity crisis, the what am I doing with my life type of situation. And then finding out I was pregnant and being so excited, like we were so excited that we were pregnant, but at the same time feeling this like, oh my goodness, like my life is about to change in a very, very big way. And I had no plan. I didn't know what, what my business was gonna look like. I didn't know what my life was gonna look like. And so that was, honestly a really challenging time.
On top of that, I had a lot of nausea. I was completely exhausted at the beginning of my pregnancy. So that fall was one of the most challenging seasons I think that I've had. And then I just had this, I don't know this moment where it's like, ok, what do I truly want to bring to the world and what skill sets do I feel like I have, and that I've built up until this point? And something that I had [00:30:00] wanted to do a long time ago was to start a podcast. And I had actually recorded my first episode at the beginning of 2020 cuz I was gonna launch my podcast. and then I just put that on and then I put it all on hold when the pandemic hit. So then in the fall I'm like, okay, well I guess I'm gonna start the podcast then. And so we started the podcast in December that year.
Then we launched action, take girls club as our online course in January. And, and then, yeah, the rest is basically we created the evergreen course. We launched the podcast and also, of course, we're continuing to do the mastermind, which, which Taylor's part of as well. And so. Has been the last couple of years and it's really just been, trying to figure out who I'm serving. And I feel like I've gotten so much more clear over the past couple of years, and I feel so much more aligned with what I'm doing now.
And now that we are like, we're going to have our first in-person event, which is so exciting [00:31:00] in just a couple weeks in may and or May 18th. And it's just, it's really exciting because we're doing this event but it's in a different way because before it was like, we were doing them every month and and it was this like constant kind of hustle, I guess, to get them planned and executed. And so now I feel like with the in-person events, I'm trying to be so much more intentional of like, how does this fit in with the bigger picture of how we're serving our community and what we have going on already with the podcast and with our courses and the mastermind. And so I'm trying to like bring it all together, whereas before it was like all these different things that we did.
Taylor: Tell, tell me more about that, like moment of clarity in the past little while. And I think, I mean, I could speak for myself because you and I became moms within months of each other, which was super fun. And our little girls at the best we're totally biased. Yes. But , um, I, I know for me and like most parents out there, like the moment you become a parent, your whole [00:32:00] life changes on a dime. Yeah.
And it, it makes a lot of things very clear. It brings a lot of things into perspective. And like you had shared at the beginning to circle back, you know, with you and Brent, even your reasons for doing things become totally different. Yeah. Even if the actions stayed the same. So tell me what was some of the clarity that came through the pandemic? You know, the business made it through, you guys made it through what was some of the clarity that came on the other end of that? What is that reflecting back to you now?
Danielle: I think it really trying to figure out, like, what do I want the future of the business to look like when I am a mom and realizing that, and I knew that things needed to change. As far as we had gotten to this really good place with the events and everything was kind of like more organized at the beginning of 2020. But if I'm honest, like, yeah, I was still working, even though things were more organized. Like I'm still working 40 plus hours a week, which yeah, is a full time job. And there's nothing wrong with that. But I'm like, well, when I, [00:33:00] when I have my baby, I'm not gonna be able to do that. Right. And so at at least for the first, you know, several months, and so figuring out like, how am I gonna cut those hours down from 40 hours a week? to like 15, like 10 to 15 hours a week.
Like that just seemed impossible. To me. So it's like, well, I know that other people have done this. I know that it's possible. I know that I can build this more online business. That, um, you know, can support our, our family and can support my community. And I think the other thing was is that for the in-person events, as amazing and fun as they are to host, you know, you are limited to people that are in the room. Right. And so, you know, launching the podcast and having these programs and, and opportunities online- now I'm able to grow and scale this business basically with no limits because it's all online. And so it was thinking about, well, what do I want the long term vision of my business to look like?
And I had [00:34:00] thought about that before, but it was always so far in the future and it was, you know, oh, well, yeah, I'll do that in, you know, a few years from now or whatever, and I always kind of pushed it off. Whereas, in this moment, it was like, well, this is the time like I'm pregnant. I have a baby coming in nine months.
Taylor: There there's an end date.
Danielle: There's a deadline relatively I, yeah. So it was like, it was just that like motivation, I think. And that urgency that I needed to build my business in a way that I wanted it to look like long term that fit in still with the, with the bigger picture of the impact that we wanna make for entrepreneurs, which is yeah, it's building community. And I think yes, in person, community is so powerful and there's nothing that can replicate that, but you can also have virtual community and that's a way to have a more consistent feeling of community feel. And so that's with action takers club and the mastermind. And so it still all fits within the vision, but it's just doing it in a [00:35:00] different way that works with the schedule that I have now and, and the business that I wanted to build.
Taylor: And I think that also, obviously it works for you and it's your business. You get to create it that way. But I think it also really works for the community. Because there's so many of. That can't, you know, access live events or that aren't in a place where there's a chapter or, you know, there's limitations around scheduling or whatever that looks like and cost even and there's so many things that you guys are offering that can kind of hit anybody no matter where they're at, right? Like if in person isn't a good fit, whether that's schedule or timing or location or whatever that looks like, there's going to be another place where business babes can show up for you, whether that's free content through the podcast like this, or whether that's through online courses or whether that's through the mastermind or working one on one, or even just connecting through the Facebook group with the other amazing entrepreneurs that are in there and connecting and asking for out there, there's a different kind of prong that goes out more.
It's a lot more. [00:36:00] Stable because there's so many different legs that are there. Yeah. And they're there with purpose. Like it's organized, it makes sense. And that's such an incredible shift to have had happen, you know, in the middle of a pandemic, you find out that you're pregnant, you know, it's, it's a, it's a hard thing to walk through, but it sounds like it was such a powerful catalyst for really shifting things and allowing things to get clear that allows you then to just show up better and have the impact that you're needing. And as somebody who receives that impact, I'm so grateful, but oh, I think that that is a really, really cool shift.
And I think you're not alone in that story. I think there's other business owners where the pandemic was really hard and that adjustment, that denial that you mention, was totally their experience, but then maybe that catalyst was part of their experience too. And I think there's so many things that became a lot more accessible because of that, you know, and I have family members with disabilities and there's so many accessibility factors that it's like, why wasn't this here before two years ago?
You know, like, why couldn't I do these things from the comfort of my own home when my disability doesn't allowed me to [00:37:00] leave? You know? And I think that that's a really important thing that is delicious and kind of builds out the meat of the business in a really great way. And it's so fun to hear that that also serves you better.
And I think it's really inspiring too, for other people to notice from this story and hearing their story, that there are really hard things that can happen in business that cause you to shift, but they can lead to really wonderful things. Yeah. And it may not be right away. It may be two years later, nine months later, you know, ongoing later. But that it can be a powerful catalyst. Yeah. Not always, but most of the time it can be, especially if you have help you take the time to think about. That's awesome.
So tell me, what are some of the visions or goals that you have now? What are some of the pictures you have now looking forward for business babes? What are some things you have coming down the pipeline that you're excited about? What's some of the picture that you can paint for us. I mean, obviously we have our in-person event, May 18th. If you're in Vancouver area, that's where we're gonna be. But what are some of the other [00:38:00] pictures and things you guys have coming up?
Danielle: Yeah, we have a lot of exciting things coming and really it's just continuing to grow our community, our online community. I have absolutely loved this podcast. It's been one of my favorite things that we've done. Just conversations with incredible people that I've gotten to interview and just to be able to speak into people's lives in this capacity has just been such a, a blessing and I have loved it.
So continuing to grow this podcast is definitely something. And we have some exciting things happening with that as well. And just, I find the podcast community really supportive. And so, you know, cross promotion when it comes to other podcasters and having each other, as guests on podcast has just been really fun. So growing that, and then also our in-person event coming up on May 18th, which is really exciting. So that's our [00:39:00] first in-person event since 2020, and then yeah, continuing to grow action takers club, continuing to refine that content, making it better and better. And then the mastermind and, um, growing that and doing some more in person, little smaller, more intimate, incredible events with our mastermind members. And I can't wait for that. So that's gonna be starting in the summer and I can't wait.
Taylor: I can't wait either. I'm so excited about that. Okay. Last question. It's one, you ask all of your guests and in our interview, I flipped it on you and asked already. So I feel like I have a sneak peek into this, but can you tell us all, what are you most proud of?
Danielle: I think I'm most proud of yeah, not giving up and things got really, really hard. Not giving up, um, and continuing to evolve the business the way that it's evolved over these past couple of years. And just, I think that like all my challenges, now how I see them, because [00:40:00] of, you know, because of having this podcast, because of having this community, when I go through challenges, it's this like light at the end of the tunnel of, okay, I'm going through this challenge, but this is going to someday be -I'm gonna be able to encourage someone else who's going through a similar challenge and just the community. Like, I am just so proud of this community, the people that I've gotten to meet, and then those people being able to meet each other and connect with each other and collaborate with each other. Like it just, it honestly brings me so much joy to see people to come together, to support one another.
Like when I see our mastermind members, just like, You know, cheering each other on and supporting one another or collaborating together, like there's actually just nothing better. And so, yeah, just continuing to do that, I think, and I'm proud that I'm able to do this business. And continue on and [00:41:00] also grow a family. And I think that's really cool. And, and I'm excited to continue on with that and show little Rosie girl what's possible for her too.
Taylor: yes, she, well, she's got a powerful mama. Let me tell you she's gonna grow up with an incredible model to look at. That's awesome. And you should absolutely be proud of all of those things and more. Thank you for giving me so much of your time today. Thanks for letting me ask you some juicy questions. This was so much fun to flip the script and put you in the hot seat today. It was such a blast. Thanks so much, Dani.
Danielle: Thanks, Taylor. You're awesome.
I can't wait to see you in person.
Yay. Yeah. Join us on May 18th, the in-person event, we're gonna have so much fun.
We have incredible speakers. We have, um, our whole mastermind group is gonna be there. It's gonna be great. And we have food and prizes and photo booth and oh, I just can't wait to be actually in real life in person with people, it's gonna be so special. So if you are in the Vancouver area, come [00:42:00] join us. Or if you are in San Diego, there's also an event happening there on the 15th.
So go check that out, but yeah. We'd love to, to see you in person and be able to do life in person together again.
Taylor: I know. Get to see each other in real life and feel energy, not through a screen.
Danielle: exactly. Exactly.
Taylor: Oh, I can't wait. It'll be so fun.
Danielle: All right, we'll see you on the next episode, everyone.
Taylor: Yeah, bye
Danielle: If you love this episode, make sure you screenshot post and tag us on Instagram at business babes co. Want to know when the next episode goes live? Subscribe on your podcast app, and while you're there, leave us a review. Until next time, keep dreaming big, setting goals and taking action.