Kat
Hey, welcome back to the Guide Culture podcast. You’re with Katand Macy, the week of the last enrollment for School Sales for 2022 and 2022, which is nutso. And what a great way to end the year, I had someone tell me that her focus was going to be on sales only for q4. And that kind of focus. It just even if you don’t know where it’s gonna take you, it does something to your brain, it just shifts into a different mode when you have your focus on something.

Macy
Well, you know, I’m on this bandwagon of getting sold. You know who you are. And it’s just when you focus on selling, you get sold like okay, just real quick. Okay, yeah. So most of the time, not all the time, but most of the time you’re selling something that’s like not cool. I know we are most of the time, okay, if you’re selling some bug that helps eat your vegetables, like dietician, nobody wants to hear that it’s not sexy, it’s not cool. So what makes it cool? When someone is fired up about it, when someone has different presents about them, when someone’s talking about it differently, like when someone’s like, oh, what do you do, and they like light up. That’s what makes you look at them and be like, wait, what, tell me more, not the gut health, not the sales skills, not the boring thing that you do, but how you carry yourself when you talk about it. And you can’t fake it, no one can give that to you. You can’t pretend the only way you can be like that is when you are sold on yourself. And I just want you next time you look at like a speaker or maybe like a pastor at church. Or you can just tell if they are sold on what they’re talking about. You can just you can just feel it. It’s just a gut instinct. And you just know while they gone deep, not wide. They like focused on getting people bought in in some way. And the only way you can get like that is by selling I’m convinced it’s so true. I’m convinced more than ever, because we were sold on sales skills before other people were sold on sales skills. That’s what people got sold. That’s how people got sold on sales skills is because we were sold. But we were sold because we sold. Yes. It’s like the chicken before the egg really is. And so it’s hard, even if like one thing I just tried to get sold on myself was like having family dinner night. It seems like impossible for us to do that. It is literally not but it feels that way. And I was like I need like get sold on this. And what I found just from a little bit of research was the way like your kids feel more connected. And I just in my head. I’m like, okay, I got a new baby coming. It’s more important than ever for Rush to feel connected with us. As it’s like it starts now. So I like gotten sold on it by selling myself to believe that even though I don’t believe it right now, because right now my belief is we’re too busy. Right? And I don’t have time to make dinner. That’s my belief. But now my new belief is like Rush has to feel connected now. So that he had just well when the new baby comes. Yeah, but it’s only because I saw myself. Now I’m about to go sell often on it.

Kat
I was just about to say it’s in those moments when you put in less effort than most people even realize to get sold. And being sold as at this bubbled percolator of belief that spills out on to other people, right. And that’s why as leaders, you just go first, right? You just do. Like, who cares that no one else feels this way. Who cares that no one else is doing it. That’s the very reason you do need to be sold the most. And when people say like underground work, unseen work, behind the scenes work, it’s that like, getting sold, staying in the right headspace getting your heart right.

Macy
And this person you just told me the reason it’s full circle. You said she’s gonna focus this q4 on selling only. And I know like her business is going to be successful because of that. But like what I’m most excited about is seeing how she transforms after q4, because she will be unrecognizable from doing that. So she’s gonna have the skill. And I feel like when she has the skill to do it, that time is going to collapse on getting to that place of being sold. You know, that is tight. Yeah, but she will know exactly what to do on how to get there. Whereas most people are kind of just scattered. You know? So they don’t even know how to talk about it.

Kat
I want to talk about being focused. Well, let’s talk.

Macy
Okay, so I’m like fired up about passion right now. And because people look for their passion. I have triplet sister in laws who are 18 and so they are in freshman in college, looking for their passion, looking for their passion, looking for their passion. And I found this quote that says, it’s from an article, I need to find it and tell you who it’s like his name is Dan. That’s all I know, is his name is Dan. And he said, never loan someone money, who’s following their passion. Only loan someone money who’s starting a business, the more boring, the better. And he said that success is what fuels passion. Passion does not fuel success. And so when people, like this girl that you’re talking about who I am about to be focused on sales for q4, she will grow so much more passionate. And that’s what we’re talking about when we’re say getting sold, like you will develop passion. And how no one most people doesn’t don’t, you know, decide what they’re going to do. When they’re a child, right? It develops through life experience. And I think people underestimate the amount of like, reps and the amount of volume it takes to develop a passion. And it takes insane focus and commitment and perseverance. And that’s why I love talking about this million dollar, like cell, until you hit the million dollars. Because it reflects perseverance, even though I know for a fact your passion has faded in that year. I know it has, because passion is the feeling. And if there’s anything I’ve learned about feelings being a life coach certification is that they come and go, they come and they go, you cannot rely on feeling they are flaky as they can be. And relying on the feeling of passion will only make you flaky and untrustworthy and uncredible, honestly. And so that’s why I just love like people learning sales skills, committing to something not saying that that’s not going to take you somewhere else. I mean, both of us committed to two things in the past. And that very thing has moved us somewhere else. Because it’s just part of the journey, you know. And so yeah, I’m just like fired up about it being so putting your energy in one place, obsessing over it, and then looking up and reflecting. I think that that could change someone’s life, in just 90 days to like that one quarter, that’s nothing, that’s no time at all. And that’s going to set her up for an insane like two to three years, in my opinion.

Kat
100%. You know, people, there’s this one sweet girl in particular, who has a couple pots on the stove, she has her own business, and she helps a family business, which actually helps. I mean, she loves her family business. But she wears multiple hats there. So she’s wondering, which hat do I go into School of Sales thinking? Where do I focus?

Macy
Well, that’s a good question.

Kat
It’s a good question. So there’s kind of many facets to this. But if you’ve also wondered, oh my gosh, like, I don’t want to blow my chance to this one round of School of Sales, by choosing the wrong thing to focus on. Let’s talk about that. So I heard a quote recently, I read it in a couple of different books. So I can’t even find the page, it’s driving me nuts. But the principle is, the harder you try to learn, the less you learn, the harder you like, furrow your brow and you think hard and you’re like, got your pencil ready to write down everything someone says, And where am I going to use this? And how’s it going to work? And how perfectly can I do it? The harder you try, the less you do.

Macy
The second you said that everything made sense to me why she took the text of that test. And I was like, oh my gosh, she’s right. And I had like a flashback of all the times I felt like really good and in flow. And I literally was not trying. And all the stressful times I felt I was trying so I can’t even describe how true that is.

Kat
Yeah, so let’s kind of reconcile really quick. Because one of the worst pieces of advice when you’re like stressed you want your business to work for sure. Like, just don’t worry about it. It’s like I’m gonna punch you in this straight in the nose. You know? So that’s all we’re saying. It’s relaxing. Don’t worry. Okay, this is the advice that we give new students is choose a topic you have command over. So I’m gonna give you a real life example. Give it to in 2018 one year old gal Kitty here, sign up for the training. I was not successful in worldly terms, metaphorically, financially okay. And so I did have a business but I wasn’t. I mean, there’s been times where I like, just did not want you to look at it. I was so bad feeling about everything. So I was kind of just practicing random things. One of the main Costco membership, one of the main golden doodle, and one of them being getting Carl, my husband to workout early instead of late at night.

Macy
Okay, why would you say that you’d command over those things. Okay. So what

Kat
command means is not even. So what we typically mean is that you have a bunch of knowledge around it and you believe it. One of the reasons that those things specifically worked is because I just loved them. I love my dogs. I love my husband and I love Costco.

Macy
You would tell someone who doesn’t have a Costco membership that they need one?

Kat
Yes. Like, I was willing to at least learn how to sell it. Yeah, because I had silly thoughts in my head to back it up. You know, I wasn’t an expert on Costco. I just thought, here’s something that’s worth someone else having. That’s good. Right? And that is honestly, the heart of selling is what is the what is worth someone else having done this or selling? Right? It’s when you think about, oh, gosh, well, how am I gonna make a million dollars? How am I going to do this? How am I going to live my passion? How am I going to have purpose is when you get it all wrong. And I would actually tell you listening to this, do not sign up for School of Sales, if that’s what you want. If you want to find your passion, your purpose, and your money like that is just not the heart to come in with. Not to say those things won’t happen as a byproduct of being sold, and therefore knowing how to also sell. But it’s just not, it’s not valid, because you end up having this mental thing of I’m going to focus so hard, and getting everything right. And then your brains like concrete.

Macy
Yeah. And it can’t see other ways it can be used. That’s very true. Well, it’s just if you’re so like, tunnel vision over one thing, your brain is literally not able to open up and see otherwise it could enrich your life. Like I just think about the people in our bubble who have been so successful in it. Like I think about Mallory, and she literally sold a she was like teacher kind of energy came in network marketing came with network marketing. And she sold a dad on teaching his son like how to use scissors at home. And he literally had no idea that that’s what he was supposed to do. But this little boy was in school and like he did not know how to use scissors. And he should have known how to use scissors. And it just like felt so relaxed and like pure. And Julie, when she believed it, she sold it so well. And now she’s you know, in the Guide Culture team, and she’s one of the best coaches and one of the best leaders that I’ve seen, you know, in a really long time. And she came in really not know, you know, just like, hey, I want to be better. Sarah Stapleton came in wanting to be a better mom. And some people come in, and they are like, so focused on their business, but they are like, relaxed, because they just like, No, they just have belief and know that, like they’re going to make whatever work.

Kat
Because, you know, the original point this girl’s family business is the people who end up successful are the ones who like, you know what, I just know that someone can benefit. And you know, I don’t know how to communicate it, I just know. And it’s pure, they walk with such a hope in their future. Not like my life’s on the line not like how do I make money doing this, of course, like that’s a byproduct, always a byproduct. And it’s awesome. And I hope you make a ton of it and do great things with it. When you just think about the other person who will benefit from what you have to do whatever that is. So for the growth of family business, if you are, let’s think helping with, gosh, I want to say accounting for some reason, I don’t know, if you’re helping with the accounting in the business, and you know that your dad and mom, the owners of the business will be just like so at peace when you do this right or something, then that’s the focus is who is the recipient of what you’re selling? And you get sold so that other people because, honestly, what sells you is how other people benefit. Like Macy’s fired up about family dinner because of Rush. Yeah, because she wants her butt down at the dinner table.

Macy
It’s making the dinner for me. I want to when I think about him, though.

Kat
Rush being excited for the baby and everyone, that picture of this can be awesome. And doesn’t have to be this bumpy road, because of what we do now. It’s for someone else. It’s for love that you sell. It’s for love that you get sold. And like I said before, that’s the work of a leader. And the cool thing about School of Sales is that it is a holistic approach. So it focuses on the mindset, the heart of you as a person, and how to translate that and focus that back on to the person who will receive what you have. Right. But it starts with you. And you have to be willing to surrender to that. You change and then you articulate what what’s in it for someone else. Yeah, that’s really effectively. Like it works so well. And okay, going back to the brain when you can choose something that you just simply believe in, even if it’s not your biggest moneymaker, like the Costco, gold noodle thing, okay? When you just practice skills there with a relaxed mind says, you know, if I believe this, then I have every right to sell it. That’s when the skills actually see deepest into your brain, you will understand it in such a way that when you think about something, maybe harder, like, your product that’s in your brain is like, oh, wait, that’s actually a really simple concept. Like, let me just apply what I did for selling an iPhone. If I’m practicing selling iPhones, I love an iPhone, I’m just gonna apply to my business is a transferable skill that you can apply to every last little thing in your life. And that’s a very big deal, too. Because there’s more things in your life and the people in your life. They need more from you than just your products, right? They need belief. They need like your kids need to be sold something that’s probably different than the skincare you sell. Your kids don’t need one compact makeup. But what they do need to be sold on is that they can go be a good friend. Right? So if you can take your brain and sell them on things that you already believe in, even if you’re not sold on your product. Yeah, like you wish you were, that’s fine. And it’s good.

Kat
Because all transfer, it’s just so good. Because it’s just like puts you in this posture of what’s in it for other people, not what’s in it for me. And I just thought about Corinne. And Corinne is one of our amazing coaches. But we were talking about the coaches retreat how when she first did her labs there, this is probably 2018, 2019. She was in like the kitchen of a restaurant, because she worked at a like wedding venue type thing. And she would take her break, go into the back kitchen with all the cooks and all the chaos and do her rep. And she really just focused on her getting better. That’s all she had. She was like, I want to be better. I want to serve other people better. And she actually had a last minute not go to the coach’s retreat because she was pitching what like a $15 million wedding, like trying to get equity is insane.

Kat
Going from basically working the event side like a back kitchen event facility moving out west a couple years ago, she stayed in Guide Culture bubble as a coach, has never ever stopped being a coach. And yeah, she just pitched a $15 million equity deal.

Macy
Like her boss was like I need you like to pitch, like I can’t do this, I need you to you know, and I just think about her posture. At the beginning, like our sales call that we did. She based was like, I’m either going to college, or I’m going to learn sales skills. I don’t know which one to do, she ended up not going to college, getting sales skills. And she’s like, I don’t really know where this is going to take me. But I know that I’m gonna be better because of it had that posture. And every time I go recall her I just feel like her face was like smiling. It was relaxed. It was receptive. She was always like nodding, and she always paid attention. And I can just can tell that she had the right posture, taking in information. And now look at her. And she didn’t do this for that. But that’s what came with her attitude. None of us could have predicted this. No, of course not. Now, if someone would have told her she probably would have. She would have been panicked, honestly, and probably had the right thing.

Kat
She always has done the next right thing and just those little wins of you know, booking the wedding venue. I mean, I remember 50 million sounds like astronomical like, to me. But it was like last year, the year before she did 2 million in one quarter. You know, she’s like these, like compounding wins. The way I would describe Corinne is hopeful. It’s like this quiet, confident, hopeful, not knowing of like, I know what the future is, but also like a certainty in what she can control now. And that’s just so exciting. That’s what hope is, like, I know now that there’s something good coming, even if I don’t know what that is, yeah. And I just encourage you, like, if you can get on board with that mentality, I encourage you to and if you can, now would be a great time for you to do School of Sales. If you’re listening to this, and it makes you feel like freaked out. I could never surrender like my brain to like, relax. I don’t know. Yeah, like I want you to be successful. I want you to absorb as much as possible. And, and that takes like an open handed and open hearted mentality to know that you actually can become like limitless with the skills, but it does take that you take a deep breath.

Macy
Yeah, and be open to it and to kind of combined like because I know we talked about like putting energy in one place like focus and also like, be relaxed. What we’re really talking about is like, be relaxed, like in the process of learning the skills. Yes, you know, and learning it with open hands. And then when you have the skill, like be really focused to grow your passion and I just, something about like, obsessing over the dollar sign, it just, I had been there, listen, I get in weird funks where I’m like obsessing over the money and that this and that. And the second I shift to like the person, I shift to think about Corinne and the Sarah, and, like, I can feel a shift in my heart, in my mind. And like, so you you have a relaxed learning sales skills, and then you get insanely focused on the people and how you can serve them whether it is family dinner, or whether they should use a highlighter, or they should get a Costco membership. You think about them, and you obsess over using your skills to help the one person the Kat, the Shelly, like whoever’s in your heart. And that’s where passion drives from, from that energy, that specific energy. So it’s like kind of combining the two it is relaxed while learning is 100% relaxed, while learning in the posture of selling for the person. Yes, and the money is always a byproduct. Always, always, if you have not read Business Secrets of the Bible, just read I think it’s the first few chapters, but he’s just talks about how like anyone who is like super wealthy, they’re wealthy because of how they’ve helped people. And I was thankfully I was always taught, like I was always taught like, when someone had a lot of money when there was a mansion, it was like, well, they’d like serve people really well. I’ve never like oh, there but no one has ever told me that they’re actually it’s not until I was an adult, someone put that thought in my head that like having a lot of money is like their bad. And I’m like, what? And I’m so thankful for that. And I would just encourage you just like when someone seems to be like very wealthy, like, I would just look and be like, how are they serving people? They hurt? Not like what did they do to make money? But how do they help people and like, how did they develop that passion? Even people like Sara Blakely, or like, you know, these entrepreneurs that you love, like go learn their story. Not necessarily like what they sold their business for? But there was no strategy, what was your strategy, but like, what is their path? Like, what did they care about? And I think you’ll be very like, I mean, we’ve talked about Eric Yuan, from Zoom. Yeah, he’s like, I just wanted to see my girlfriend and not have to ride the train for you know, 12 hours, like I just wanted to see her without the travel. And that’s how Zoom was created. It’s not like what it’s worth now, but his heart for it. And you’re like, oh my gosh, and then, Mallory’s husband works for Zoom. And I was asking her about Zoom. And she was just like, the culture is so amazing. Like, he cares so much about family. He will randomly be like, hey, here’s a $300 like, dinner gift card, like go have dinner with your family tonight. Or like, whatever. That’s just kind of his, his North Stars, this family. And I immediately thought about why sort of zoom like, yeah, that makes sense. That’s on brand. It feels right. And his success is because of that heart. Yeah, you know, it’s so true. It’s just, it’s just really matters. It does matter.

Macy
I hope that this feels good.

Macy
This is what we plan on talking about. No, this is like what we talked about behind the scenes today.

Kat
Yeah. At the end of the day, the only thing that matters to us is that you win. And having this heart and mentality and I just hope that this message even if you’re like huh, like you have a hit in your gut somewhere and you can be like, you know, I get it I get something deeper is happening. It is so much your how you develop is going to be like your heart toward people. It makes you saying the way that you’re just kind of like just a magnet to people. When you have a boring business. Like suddenly you’re in the backroom of your family’s business doing the unsexy work was such a joy that people notice. And they see you and they want to promote you and they want to buy from you. They ask what they can buy from you. I mean, that’s what’s possible when you take on like this mentality. So it’s huge. It’s huge. And this week, September 30th, is the deadline for personal sales the last one of the year and just to have this going into next year is huge. I remember I was in November 2018. And it was like six weeks at the time and just I remember, so that was 2018, 2019 I’ll never forget the best year of my life. Truly, Lucy was like growing, it’s been one year. And I just loved watching her grow. It was like her and I grew together so much, you know, and it was the year that just like, it was like, everything changed. But it was because of that. I mean, who knows what have happened, but it was cool knowing that I got to start January like how I really needed to, you know, buy the Guide Culture team. Oh my gosh, you know, so thank God like it happened when it was supposed to and that to me it was like a little bit of a head start. No, no, no, that’s a whole different story for another day. How I was even implementing anything to keep my life straight?

Macy
Wow. Yeah. And you can’t see but she’s got little red eyes and emotional feeling about her and Lou that year. We’ll have all the information about School of Sales in the link in the show notes. But if you’re listening to this, and at any point, you’re like, wait, like, I either had a lightbulb moment or I feel that or man that like really stuck out to me, message us on Instagram and let us know @theguideculture. We want to know what resonates with you. It’s so important to us. I was talking to someone yesterday and she’s like, I don’t wanna take up too much of your time. I don’t want to say you know, in the message and I said, this is the most important use of my time, like talking to you is the most important use of our time. And so we want to hear from you. So message us, let us know, send us a voice memo so we can hear you and we’ll talk to you. Bye!