What Your Business Needs in 2024 with Dr. Liz Lasky

Ep 179 - Dr. Liz Lasky

[00:00:00] Amber Hawley: Business owners are increasingly being pulled in so many directions, feeling like they aren't reaching their full potential in business and life despite their type A ways. With my background as a therapist, entrepreneur, and as a dot com dropout with ADHD, I interview and coach high achieving business owners like you who want to stop struggling for success By using psychological systems strategies and the occasional care confrontation, this is the easily distracted entrepreneur, your place to slay, overwhelm, perfectionism, and shiny object syndrome so that you can get done what matters most to you.

[00:00:39] Amber Hawley: Today, I'm joined on the podcast by a very special guest, Dr. Liz Laskey is the founder and CEO of the Laskey Institute of Coaching and the coach training program for helping professionals. Dr. Liz is committed to helping people get what they want in business, life, and love. And she is the author of the book, Get What You Want.

[00:01:00] Amber Hawley: I recently met Dr. Liz and she is amazing. I think you will really enjoy this conversation we have today. Today we're going to be talking about the power of utilizing summits to build your business. And it's perfect timing because she is hosting a summit called The 2024 therapist, 21 ways to get what you want in business and entrepreneurship.

[00:01:24] Amber Hawley: And it starts today. Dr. Liz graciously invited me to be a part of the summit where I talk about using my ADD framework to get the right things done in your business and to grow without overworking. So sign up today because sessions are only available for 48 hours and I promise you there are so many great sessions and knowledge bombs and best of all, it's free.

[00:01:48] Amber Hawley: The link to sign up is in the show notes or you can go to amberholly. com and sign up there. Hi, Liz. Welcome to the podcast. 

[00:01:56] Dr. Liz Lasky: Hey, everyone. Thanks for 

[00:01:57] Amber Hawley: having me. Yes, I'm very excited. Well, I'm really excited because this is a very timely conversation because your summit is coming up. So today we're going to be talking about the power of having a summit, among some other things, and how you can build your brand and your audience by using summits or utilizing being on summits.

[00:02:21] Amber Hawley: But yeah, so yours is coming out. I think it's Like, this next week is by the time that this comes live. March 25. Yeah. Very exciting. 

[00:02:28] Dr. Liz Lasky: My upcoming summit is called the 2024 Therapist. 21 ways to get what you want in business and entrepreneurship. And I have put together an incredible cast of characters. You are so excited.

[00:02:40] Dr. Liz Lasky: That's one of them, as you know, um, and for everyone listening, if you want to just have a little bit more amber, then come on over to the summit. We introduced, we introduced and interviewed, um, 21 therapists who are in business and who are in entrepreneurship and in the entrepreneurship conversation. And we're talking all about how to embody the role of an entrepreneur, uh, as we go into this year.

[00:03:06] Amber Hawley: I love it. And I think, I mean, there's so much I like about what you're doing with this particular summit is, I think it is important for us to kind of look at that, like, how do we embody being an entrepreneur in 2024, right? Because it's, it's just the last few years, so much has changed. And I think like, Sometimes it is about stepping into that business owner hat or that entrepreneurial like mindset and hat that it, it behooves us to take some time to take a look at that.

[00:03:39] Amber Hawley: Right? Yes. 

[00:03:40] Dr. Liz Lasky: And I, and actually from this summit, I have noticed and been thinking more and more that there actually is a difference between the business owner and the entrepreneur. Oh, absolutely. And those two concepts have become more and more clear to me as these interviews have gone on. And I'll tell you a bit about what I mean by that.

[00:04:04] Dr. Liz Lasky: When I, when I say the business person, many of us who are listening to this, many of us in this world are business owners, small business owners at that. Many of us, and I think that this is sort of the secret sauce of our society, as many of us are doing these side gigs, or as we love to call them in pop culture, the side hustles.

[00:04:23] Dr. Liz Lasky: Um, I don't love the hustle part, but I'm good for anything on the side. And, you know, the, Any of those can really be seen as a business where you're generating money, um, and if you're not generating money, I always joke that you just have a really expensive hobby. You're doing a lot of things, but you're not making money, so it's really just a hobby.

[00:04:42] Dr. Liz Lasky: So if you are income producing on whatever you're doing, providing services, providing products, then of course you have a business. But just because you have a business, that could mean you're self employed, it could mean that you're working, it could mean you're making money, It doesn't always mean that you're an entrepreneur.

[00:04:58] Dr. Liz Lasky: It doesn't mean that you have that entrepreneurial spirit. It doesn't mean that you have that. I, the, you know, the, when I think of an entrepreneur, tell me what you think of this. Cause I think you and I are one in the same. The entrepreneurs are building companies to sell them. The entrepreneurs are thinking 10 steps down the line, the entrepreneurs are waking up in the middle of the night having 10 ideas a mile a minute, 10 ideas for the best friend a mile a minute.

[00:05:23] Dr. Liz Lasky: The entrepreneur is this person who is, who is generating, who is creating, who is constantly in motion. And there are many business people who are also entrepreneurs. And I'm finding more and more, there are a lot of business people who are not, and they don't care to be, they really don't care to be the entrepreneur.

[00:05:41] Dr. Liz Lasky: And it was, and I think it's a really important point of difference for us to acknowledge and to recognize that we're all, a lot of us, and everyone probably listening to this has a pretty healthy side hustle. And it doesn't necessarily mean that you have to be that entrepreneur or that you have to be creating a company to 

[00:05:57] Amber Hawley: sell it.

[00:05:58] Amber Hawley: Absolutely. I mean, I think there is a huge distinction to be made. I agree. And like the people that I work with, or even people in my circle, it makes me think about the book, um, uh, e myth revisited, which I think is like, like one of those seminal books that everyone should read as, as a business owner or entrepreneur where he's really talking about.

[00:06:20] Amber Hawley: You know, the business owners propensity to work in their business constantly, and they're not working on their business. Now, as a business owner, you still need to work on your business because otherwise you're it's going to impact your profitability, probably your efficiency, and you're more likely to burn out if you do not like address some things.

[00:06:39] Amber Hawley: And at the same time, like you're saying, I think there is I think there's like a mindset and an approach to people who I would say have that entrepreneurial spirit. Then it maybe isn't just about selling a business, but it is about creating something that can stand on its own. Right? So even if you're like, uh, I, the people that I work with that I feel like are in entrepreneurial space, they'll still set something up.

[00:07:07] Amber Hawley: So it could be Even if they're not going to sell it, right? Like, and I, I think there's that idea of how can I build something that can run without me? Right. And how can I, and I feel like people who are in that space, like you're saying, there's more innovation and there's more risk taking probably that's happening.

[00:07:26] Amber Hawley: Whereas the person who's like, I want to, I do this thing really well and I love it. And I want to build something that makes me money Because I love doing this, and then, you know, and that's where I'm happy. Like, they're not, there doesn't, I'm not trying to say they're not ambitious, but I'm, but it's more like I, I'm starting 

[00:07:46] Dr. Liz Lasky: to even wonder if we could categorize it as a type of intelligence.

[00:07:50] Dr. Liz Lasky: Because I'll take me and, uh, I'll take me and my best friend, for example, best friend Jen. I talk about her all the time. I think the last time you and I spoke, I told you about my best friend, Jen. So my best friend is an artist. She's an art therapist. She makes ketubahs, which are the Jewish marriage contracts, um, that are often, oftentimes created into pieces of art that, uh, that you keep for, for life.

[00:08:14] Dr. Liz Lasky: Um, she made my ketubah and it was, it was, It was gorgeous. It was totally, like, it was a full on art piece that you would really see in an art show. And everything she makes, she does paper cutting, she does, uh, painting. And I'm over here in my horse and pony show, being a therapist, you know, trying to sell coaching services.

[00:08:36] Dr. Liz Lasky: I have a school of coaching called the Coach Training Program for Outgoing Professionals, where I teach master's level clinicians how to coach. I have year long coaching programs where I'm coaching, you know, therapists on their business. And my best friend, Jen, could be truly running a huge art house of Jewish art and making ketubahs.

[00:08:57] Dr. Liz Lasky: She does not have the same entrepreneurial drive. that I do, for better or worse. Yeah. Now, I would be embarrassed to put a crayon to paper, so you don't want me to create it. I'm very creative, but I'm not artistic. 100 percent same. Yeah. She is so artistic, also so creative, but when it comes to things like the drive to make money, the drive to have systems, the drive to talk about marketing, the drive to talk about marketing and sales, the drive to talk about monetization.

[00:09:33] Dr. Liz Lasky: She is, she is always so supportive of me, but it is never like head to head, let's think of this, we're both so jazzed about it. There are times where I'm like, oh my God, I'm just going to apologize at the thing I need to rant about, sorry in advance. And she's there and she's smart, so she knows how to hold it, but we have different types of intelligence around that.

[00:09:54] Dr. Liz Lasky: Mm hmm. And it's and like I said, there are things that she does that I couldn't do in any capacity. So I don't, don't at me on it yet. Like, don't come for me because if you have ideas, like I want to know that because I might be wrong and I'm open to looking at that too. But I'm starting to think it's a certain kind of person.

[00:10:13] Dr. Liz Lasky: It's a certain type of intelligence. is a certain type of person. The surgeon is a certain type of person. The, the gardener is a certain type of intelligence. The entrepreneur is a certain type of person. And I even remember when I was first, when I was starting my first coaching business and at the time I had invested I invested a lot of money for the very first time in my young adult career, um, and I joined a coaching program.

[00:10:40] Dr. Liz Lasky: It was 10, 000. And at the time, that was a huge deal for me. And by the way, I'm always going to be the first person to tell you that invest in coaching immediately. It is. You will save so much time, you will save so much everything if you invest in the right coach. So I would do it again and again and again.

[00:10:58] Dr. Liz Lasky: And I had no cash, by the way, and I decided I was going to get a 0 percent interest credit card and I was going to go and I was going to, you know, really, I was taking a chance. It was, it was PS long story long, best decision I ever made for myself. But I remember at the time going and joining this coaching group and starting my business.

[00:11:19] Dr. Liz Lasky: And I was looking around and I could not understand why nobody else, not nobody, but all my friends, why they didn't want to create businesses too. Like it just, didn't make sense to me. I remember my sister being like, Oh my God, what happened here? Did you join Scientology? That all you want to do is like, get into the 42nd street subway station and try and get everyone to join, you know, how to, how to market a business.

[00:11:43] Dr. Liz Lasky: And I, I honestly, in my naivete when I was young, honestly, truly didn't have an understanding of why not everybody wanted to do this, but not everybody wants to do it. Now, a lot of people own, like I said, own their own business. Own your own business. Love that for you. But not everyone wants to be an entrepreneur.

[00:12:00] Dr. Liz Lasky: Not everyone wants to be in charge of it. Not everyone wants to create at that level. I think it's a beautiful thing, by the way. I think it's a beautiful thing. But I do notice that there's a difference. And there's certainly a difference. You know, I'm a therapist. I'm a clinical social worker. There's certainly a difference for therapists.

[00:12:16] Dr. Liz Lasky: Therapists, we don't learn the business skills, uh, in school that we oftentimes need to build out a private practice. For those of you who are therapists, or perhaps you're a consumer of therapy, you know what it's like to go and to be paid. And many of those people are making between 75, 000 to 100, 000 a year.

[00:12:34] Dr. Liz Lasky: And they're okay with that. But then we also see therapists who have group practices with 10 people who are making seven figures, who are really expanding and doing digital products and courses and things like this. So I think that it really, it depends on the person. It depends on the 

[00:12:52] Amber Hawley: person. Yeah. I mean, Yeah, so I get where you're going.

[00:12:55] Amber Hawley: I think when I first heard you say it, I was thinking something different. And then, like you're saying, no one's coming for you. Well, at least I won't. But, but I will say, because I do like that idea of like, you're thinking about something, you're noticing a pattern, like talking about it doesn't mean you've cemented it in stone, right?

[00:13:13] Amber Hawley: Like it's, it's this, like, process. I do think. Like when you said it's an intelligence, I'm thinking people who know for themselves, this is what I want. This is what works for me and my lifestyle. Like this, like, you know, an artist like creating things and making money and making enough money that they get to live the life they want to live.

[00:13:36] Amber Hawley: Like, I think that's important. That's a type of intelligence to me of like knowing, knowing yourself. Yeah, knowing yourself, just like I have said multiple times, like I built a successful group practice that I sold last year. And I'm like, I, I never, I, I, I had great moments with it and it was never my passion.

[00:13:57] Amber Hawley: I always kind of kept it small because I just like smaller than I could have because I just wasn't into it. I was like, this is not what I love. And now I've been able to create like the things that I love doing. So I think it is like honoring your own way. 

[00:14:12] Dr. Liz Lasky: Not everyone wants to be the 

[00:14:13] Amber Hawley: boss. Right, right.

[00:14:15] Amber Hawley: I mean, I love being, don't get me wrong, I love being the boss. Like that's my, that was where I was like, people would say, well, you could hire a contractor. Like, oh no, I want to tell people what to do because I want them to do it my way because I believe my way is better. That's all there is to it. I feel like I fucking know shit.

[00:14:31] Amber Hawley: And that is why we always had more clients than clinicians, right? Like getting clients because I feel like I understood that part, like that part I love, but I do think. On the one, the caveat to the, this is, I do think that entrepreneurial skills can be learned, but you're right. Like some people, it might not come as natural.

[00:14:53] Amber Hawley: And I guess I say that for a couple of things. Well, one, when you talk about taking out the money on a credit card, Yeah, I mean, something I have done and I would do because it's that risk taking, right? So that's the risk taking. Hopefully, though, it's a calculated risk that you've like vetted the program, you know, you're making sure like, but it's always a risk, right?

[00:15:12] Amber Hawley: Like that's and it can be scary. And there's some people who would never do that. And that's totally fine. There's all kinds of risks that people take, right? Pivoting is a risk like for me, that was a big thing and that's what I'm seeing a lot of people with too is like pivoting from something that's a known thing that they've been making money at, but they want something different.

[00:15:31] Amber Hawley: They need something to be different. I guess what I do see though, is so many of the people that I've started working with, they are like, I don't know. I don't understand anything about marketing. I don't like all of this feels foreign to me. It doesn't feel it feels weird to sell and like writing copy for a website's very different.

[00:15:49] Amber Hawley: Like it feels uncomfortable as they like process and go through it. They actually can grow to become very entrepreneurially minded. But like you're saying, maybe is it like they're Their core way of being. I think some people, like, they learn it and they get comfortable with it because they may have shut down parts of themselves because of so many things.

[00:16:13] Amber Hawley: Like, I'm thinking if you have a high need for security, there are people that I know that are amazing entrepreneurs, but they would never put a course or a coaching program on a credit card because their need for security, financial security is so high. That doesn't mean they're not entrepreneurial, right?

[00:16:32] Amber Hawley: So even though I just said that, like to understand, 

[00:16:35] Dr. Liz Lasky: you know what, let's take the conversation bigger than that. Okay. Because I think that I don't want to get in the weeds of whether it's good or bad to be a business 

[00:16:43] Amber Hawley: owner. No, that's what I was saying is I actually think you're saying there's no value judgment.

[00:16:49] Amber Hawley: That's what I thought was really great about it. It's like knowing yourself. I 

[00:16:52] Dr. Liz Lasky: think what I'm taking also from from what you're saying right now, and I think the and and I want to get into sort of what I see in the industry, especially with the people that I coach, there's a risk either way, there's a risk whether you take a chance and take out that 0 percent interest credit card, there's also a risk to stay Still, no matter what, no matter which way you go, there's always a risk.

[00:17:15] Dr. Liz Lasky: The time's gonna go by anyway. You know, the time is gonna go. So we just really have to decide in that moment what's gonna serve us the best. It might be to stay safe. Totally understandable. It also might be, okay, let's take a little bit of calculated calculated risk. Me personally, in my experience, my risks have always been very calculated.

[00:17:37] Dr. Liz Lasky: I'm not the type of person who is going to just, I don't know, give up everything and sell my house and forget my family and all those kinds of things. Because, oh, this, this sounds like a really good opportunity. Like that, that. That doesn't feel comfortable for me there. And there are people who do it.

[00:17:52] Dr. Liz Lasky: There are people who do those kinds of things. But I think for me, I figured out what feels the best in my own personal integrity and my own professional integrity and my own, uh, business integrity. And all of those things I think have sort of come through my own experience in business and also as a business coach.

[00:18:09] Dr. Liz Lasky: Yeah. And the other thing that I, that I, that I was thinking about while we were sort of getting into the weeds of, of business, business owner versus entrepreneur, whatever we were saying, you know, I think, um, I think the overarching more important conversation is really how to stay in motion. How to stay in motion when you are a business owner, how to stay in motion when you need to monetize something, how to stay in motion when you need more clients, how to stay in motion where you want to increase your impact, how to stay in motion when you had a shit day and you're ready to give up.

[00:18:43] Dr. Liz Lasky: And you know, for those of you who, you know, none of you were privy to our little entry conversation before we started this. But today, the day that we are, you know, uh, recording this podcast episode is not a particularly happy, perfect, shiny day for me and my business. I feel like I'm hitting a little bit of a road bump.

[00:19:03] Dr. Liz Lasky: And, you know, I think it would be, um, uh, a lot out of integrity for me to be like, Oh, everything's perfect. The sun's always shining over here. And you know what, that's just not life and it's not the life of any entrepreneur. Um, so. So what, you know, I think the point there is really how do we keep emotion?

[00:19:21] Dr. Liz Lasky: Yeah. And I think it's one of the things that we don't have high enough standards for ourselves on. I think when we wanna, uh, create whatever it is that we wanna create, I think we're very easy to excuse ourselves when we have a feeling. And by the way, I'm a, I'm a therapist, I'm a clinical social worker, so I'm all good with a feeling, like I love that you feel, and feeling is great, and feel all day long, and feel, feel, feel.

[00:19:51] Dr. Liz Lasky: And what I see happen all the time is that we feel something and we let it derail us. And so, for example, the moment that I'm in now, where I feel like I'm in a little bit of a, what should we call it? Is it a mindset challenge? Is it a bump in the road? Let's call it a bump in the road. That feels easy.

[00:20:07] Dr. Liz Lasky: It's like a little mini funk, right? Yeah, a little funk. I guess I'm having a little temper tantrum today. Um, yeah, I'm feeling a little, I feel like a little funk today. And so my choice, my choices are the following. To keep it moving or to give up. I don't know how long I'm going to give up for. Maybe it's going to be 15 minutes.

[00:20:27] Dr. Liz Lasky: Maybe it's going to be an hour. Maybe it's the rest of my life. I have no idea. Or I could keep things moving. My choice is going to be keep things moving. It didn't, it wasn't always like that. There were many times where I was very Happy to give up and very happy to have a temper tantrum and very happy to, you know, get attention that way and what's life and who am I and all of those good questions we ask ourselves when we're in a funk, but I think that I think the important thing is to keep moving.

[00:20:55] Dr. Liz Lasky: And I have some very specific ways of, of, uh, ways that people can keep moving in order to expand their business. So maybe we could talk about that a little bit. 

[00:21:07] Amber Hawley: Yeah, I think first I want to come back to one just to Like just so that it's clear that I was saying I actually loved your the thought sometimes getting in the weeds is helpful.

[00:21:19] Amber Hawley: And here's why I think sometimes people need to hear us say things in a certain way for it to connect to them and then be like, Oh, yeah, I just didn't want anyone hearing like this was the one way to be some way I thought that what you were saying is helpful. We're not having a value judgment that this way is better or worse.

[00:21:37] Amber Hawley: It's literally about kind of like how we're approaching our businesses or thinking about it. Cause like you said, not everybody. 

[00:21:43] Dr. Liz Lasky: I just think that sometimes people think that the be all end all is the entrepreneur. Totally. And that's not true. I don't think that's the case. Yeah. I'm starting to see that more and more.

[00:21:52] Dr. Liz Lasky: And that clarification really came from the upcoming summit, the 2024 therapists, because being able to talk to all of these people about business stuff, and by the way, people are making a lot of money, like these are not, some people are not making a lot, a lot of money. Some people are You know, under six figures, but they're happy and feel like they're, you know, living a good life.

[00:22:14] Dr. Liz Lasky: And that's great. And by the way, there are lots of people who are making lots more than that, and they don't feel like they're giving a good life. So jokes on who, you know, but there, I, it was very clarifying for me because you're right. There isn't a value judgment. And I think the be all and end all should not be that you go for entrepreneur status necessarily.

[00:22:31] Dr. Liz Lasky: I think there's room absolutely for both, no matter where you are. It's the same advice. I would have the same advice for anyone. 

[00:22:38] Amber Hawley: Yeah, well, that you need to keep moving or that 

[00:22:41] Dr. Liz Lasky: keep moving and I know exactly how. Oh, yeah, I know exactly what you should be creating in 2024 to help keep that moving. Okay, awesome.

[00:22:49] Amber Hawley: And I do want to get to that because I think it's important. But yeah, I just wanted to be clear because I actually thought that was great. I love that. And that's what's so cool about doing something like you're doing interviewing 21 people and because you do start to see a pattern when you get to talk to people like that.

[00:23:03] Amber Hawley: I agree with you on the motion thing. And like you said, it's not about, it's not about judging people or being critical, but it is something I noticed as well, that some people will, Let everything derail them and keep them stuck because they're really attached to that like feeling or the they've that thought they're having, uh, about themselves in that funk.

[00:23:24] Amber Hawley: They believe it, they've taken it in as a belief and it allow, allows them to stay stuck. And I think it is hard 'cause I've certainly had those days, like sure where I am, I'm, and sometimes more than days, honestly, like in the last few years have been hard. But I think like. over time, the longer you're in business.

[00:23:43] Amber Hawley: For me, I would have, I would have my temper tantrums. I would actually, I do a thing I call Armageddon planning. So I literally used to plan out, I have a budget if, and I share a budget template in my, in my, um, memberships. And one of them is like, one is, Uh, SHTF, shit hits the fan, and the other is Armageddon.

[00:24:02] Amber Hawley: So shit hits the fan is bad. Armageddon is real fucking bad, right? Like really bad. But I do that because I went through this period of, like, when I had the group practice where I was feeling so angry and pissed and resentful, and I did that plan and I said, Okay. If everything went away, what would I, what would I be left with and how would it work out?

[00:24:22] Amber Hawley: And I did the math and I was like, okay, I'm going to keep going as a group practice. I was like, this doesn't make sense. Like, but I think it's really good to like allow ourselves to be in that funk or Or to feel the feelings and then sometimes some innovation comes out of it. But yeah, like you're saying, it's like at a certain point, then you're like, okay, now done now what?

[00:24:43] Amber Hawley: Now how can I fix it? Yeah. You know, 

[00:24:45] Dr. Liz Lasky: I mentioned before that I have a school of coaching, um, where I teach master's level clinicians how to coach. We do it through the International Coaching Federation curriculum. So nothing I teach is made up by me. It's not, uh, my own method. It's not, I lost a hundred pounds.

[00:25:02] Dr. Liz Lasky: I'm teaching everyone else to lose a hundred pounds. It's, it's really evidence based practice. And they have this concept in coaching that is called the who and the what, and the what, write this down. If you're listening class, just kidding. I don't care if you do or not, but I love, I can, I think about this almost every single day.

[00:25:19] Dr. Liz Lasky: So the, what, the, what is the mind, the, what is the, how to, the, what is the details. The, what is what you're going to do between now and the next week. in order for you to organize your kitchen, right? That's the what. We need to know what the what is, right? But the other piece is the who. The who is the heart.

[00:25:39] Dr. Liz Lasky: The who is the whole person. The what, the, remember the list and the details and all of those things, that is the problem. That's just the problem. The who is the person. The who is asking questions of how do I want to show up in the world? How do I want to take up space? How do I want to show up as a leader?

[00:25:59] Dr. Liz Lasky: If I was functioning in my highest ideal self, how would I be showing up for myself and those I serve and my family and the community I serve? That's the who. Us therapists specifically, and I can say this because I teach therapists, therapists are so good at feelings. We put that in the who category, but we get stuck there.

[00:26:20] Dr. Liz Lasky: And we stay there because we have comfort sitting in those feelings, but you have to have those feelings and the who and those deep questions with the what. It's a scale. It's the scales of justice with the who and the what, you know, we really have to have both. Otherwise you're just doing shit and it has no meaning.

[00:26:39] Dr. Liz Lasky: Right? You're just doing the what and you're problem solving, but it's like going to the gym, you know, every day for 45 minutes and you know, you weigh a hundred pounds, but you still feel disgusting about yourself. Right? That's, that's, you know, the what without any of the who, but the who, if we stay there, we're just a bag of feelings and we're not going to get anywhere.

[00:27:00] Dr. Liz Lasky: Yeah. So we really need to have the, we need to have a relationship with both. We need to be able to have those feelings, but also have the plan, get the, and integrate those two. It's one of my favorite, my most favorite coaching concepts. 

[00:27:16] Amber Hawley: Yeah, I've never heard it said in that way, but I really do like that because, yeah, like I've seen that, but not had that way of articulating it.

[00:27:25] Amber Hawley: You 

[00:27:25] Dr. Liz Lasky: gotta go to class. We gotta get you into coaching class, Amber. 

[00:27:30] Amber Hawley: I think I'm good. I think I'm good. No, I mean, I'm, hey, I'm a lifelong learner, so I always will, um, but yeah, like, but this is the thing about. Like, that's, I mean, I, the way I would probably word it is like, because I build up these strategic plans and these ways for us to get shit done or to grow our businesses.

[00:27:50] Amber Hawley: But we do have to honor the emotional side, right? Like, so like you're saying, it has to be both, like, it's just different ways of speaking about it, which I think is so great. This is why I know what you just said is going to connect to somebody listening and that's going to make sense to them that it hadn't made sense before.

[00:28:07] Amber Hawley: Right. So I love that so much. So, okay. So you're talking about getting into motion and you're noticing I, I, now I, because I didn't write the word down. I don't remember if you said it was like this takeaway that you noticed like a pattern with the people you were interviewing, or if you just, these are, I know you have these strategies about how to get people going to, 

[00:28:28] Dr. Liz Lasky: right?

[00:28:29] Dr. Liz Lasky: Yeah. I mean, I just have some ideas of the ways that I think people should be in motion. for 2024 and beyond. Okay. And I think no matter what, whether you're a therapist or you're a practitioner, you're some kind of healer, you're listening to this, or you're some type of coach. I think that no matter what you are, whether you're one of those, or you're a dentist, or you own a pizza shop, I think that whatever it is, I think you need to have all of these.

[00:28:52] Dr. Liz Lasky: Maybe not a pizza shop, but the jury's out on that one. I'll have to come back. Um, okay. The first and foremost, Number one thing that you need to have, and you cannot go anywhere without it if you don't have this, is a clear offer. Yes. You must have a clear offer, and I don't care what it is. It could be a 45 minute around, walk around Central Park where you look at birds and that's your offer.

[00:29:18] Dr. Liz Lasky: It could be if you're a therapist, a 50 minute or a therapy hour where in your modality is CBT. I don't care what your offer is, but you have to have. One signature offer that is so fucking clear. If you do not have this one offer, nothing can be built around it. And what I'm going to tell you is what I call my signature suite.

[00:29:44] Dr. Liz Lasky: And if you can only build out a signature suite, if you have clarity on offer. So that's number one. Okay. And by the way, let's not get crazy about what an offer needs to be. I think this is also where people get stuck that people think, Oh my God, like what, how am I going to do it? And how am I going to collect money?

[00:30:01] Dr. Liz Lasky: And what do they need to have? And what should I be wearing? And are they going to do it on zoom? And how many of this, and do they have to walk away with that? Just if you're a coach, coach. It's an hour coaching session. That's your signature offer. That's it. You can leave it like that. Do not get seduced by these extraneous decisions that are keeping you stuck.

[00:30:20] Dr. Liz Lasky: Yes. That's what I mean about being a movement. So number one, you got to pick your signature offer. That's number one. And it has to be so clear. Once you have your signature offer, then you can do a couple other things. From there, you can build out a signature course. And again, I'm not talking crazy. I'm not talking like you need to have a full year course.

[00:30:44] Dr. Liz Lasky: You can have a six module course, right? So give me a topic on, for example, on, on like a typical listener right now. Give me a, give me an example of someone who might be listening, who, of their offer. What would an offer be Amber? 

[00:30:59] Amber Hawley: Um, let's see. One that comes up a lot lately is. Uh, training the trainer, so to speak, so like they're, they're disseminating their knowledge like their particular theory or whatever.

[00:31:12] Dr. Liz Lasky: Perfect. Give me a topic. What would be a topic? Oh, perfect. DBT. Okay. So let's say, for example, you have your one signature offer and your signature offer would be, uh, providing services through DBT framework. Okay, that's your offer, right? And by the way, you're going to want to, you know, have an ideal client.

[00:31:32] Dr. Liz Lasky: You're going to want to do all those things, but we need to know what the offer is first. So that's 

[00:31:35] Amber Hawley: number one. Okay. Yes. And just real quick, just for those, cause I I'm doing that notorious thing that therapists do. Dialectical behavior therapy is what DBT is just for anyone else who's not lit, who is not a therapist who's listening.

[00:31:49] Amber Hawley: So that's what that is. 

[00:31:50] Dr. Liz Lasky: Yeah. And, and it's a, it's a very cool modality that, um, really deals with the present. Okay. We love that. So let's say for example, you, um, that's your, that's your offer. Okay. You're, you offer sessions in that area. That would be your offer. Let's say you wanted to build a course, but you wanted to teach specifically social workers how to do that.

[00:32:13] Dr. Liz Lasky: Right. Then you could have a very. Short, it could be four weeks, it could be six weeks, I would, it could be a 90 minute, you know, you would want to have create some kind of training and you would think to yourself, well, what are six things that people would need to know if I were to teach them about DBT?

[00:32:31] Dr. Liz Lasky: Well, they would need to know who Marsha Linehan is. That's week one, they would need to know, for example, what distress tolerance is. That's number two. They would need to know the top, uh, diagnoses where you would use this. You would need to know, you know, you know, four, five and six, right? There's your, there's your six weeks.

[00:32:50] Dr. Liz Lasky: Now, the other thing, the third thing, so we have your offer, you have your signature course. And the third thing that I think everyone should have is a signature talk. And the reason for that is because if you want to monetize, if you want people to know about your course or your offer, if you want to be able to share a little bit about you and what differentiates you from everybody else, then we need to get your story.

[00:33:16] Dr. Liz Lasky: People are most compelled to buy something when they hear someone's story. So we want to get people, I think, into their signature talk. In my year long coaching program, for example, I know for sure everyone has an offer, everyone has a course, and everyone has a story. I even brought in a story. story coach from here in New York City, someone who, uh, is a story, is a story writer who took over for me because she could do it better than me and taught everyone how to write their own signature story.

[00:33:46] Dr. Liz Lasky: Those I think are three things that you need to do. Then from there, if you have the time, if you have the passion for it, you can write a book, you can do your email newsletter, you can write a blog, you can do whatever you want from there. But if you want to sell something, then you need to have that talk.

[00:34:00] Dr. Liz Lasky: So you can show up at that PTA meeting. You could show up at a podcast like this. By the way, do people know you can pitch podcasts? It's a podcast people sell your stuff, but you have to be able to say, well, let me tell you about my signature offer. That's why we want to have those things, uh, right out the gate.

[00:34:17] Dr. Liz Lasky: So when I think about what's coming up in 2024 for any type of professional, it's really having your ducks in a row like that, but staying in motion. And once you have that talk, you can be in motion anywhere. At the country club, at bowling, at the hairdresser. Hey, what do you do? Well, let me tell you a little bit.

[00:34:38] Dr. Liz Lasky: You know, I went to high school here and what ended up happening was this and that. And now what I do is I really help people get from A to Z. Oh, wow. How do you do that? You know what? Why don't you come in for a session and I can let you know. But all of that really comes from helping yourself really know what your story is and getting that down.

[00:34:55] Amber Hawley: Absolutely. Well, and the thing I like about what you're saying is there's kind of two parts is like one, making it simple, right? And I think we can notoriously as business owners, like overcomplicate things. And like I say, like, sometimes we build this box around ourselves, and then it like, like restricts us.

[00:35:15] Amber Hawley: from moving forward because we're like, well, I can't do this until this happens. Like if, if this happens, then I can do this. And it's like, no, no, no, no, no. You have to do the thing. And then like, and then you can do the other stuff. So I love this simplification. And like you're saying, I think that process is helping people articulate what they do.

[00:35:34] Amber Hawley: And this is where I think so many business owners or entrepreneurs, whatever they get into this place of, They know their process. They know how to help people. They really can be give transformational results, but they don't know how to talk about how they help people. And that's the thing. So I like the, I like the journey you're talking about.

[00:35:56] Amber Hawley: And I agree. I think I think that offer or like how you're helping people with what problem is the first part. You need to know that before you can even figure out that ideal client or your branding colors or whatever, you know, like, Oh my God, the 

[00:36:11] Dr. Liz Lasky: branding color. Can I tell you that when someone is like, Oh, I've been working on my website or I need to, I'm making my logo, I'm working on my branding colors.

[00:36:18] Dr. Liz Lasky: I honestly, I'm like, you need to go somewhere else. And by the way, those are important things. I'm just not your girl for that because I'm rather come on in. Let's get quick. For example, if you sign up for me with me to do a year with me, I know you're going to walk out of there with your signature offer, your signature course, your signature talk, and we write a book in 90 days.

[00:36:38] Dr. Liz Lasky: And the whole time I'm teaching you not only how to implement, but I'm also teaching you how to sell because you can create whatever you want, but you have to learn how to monetize that. Yes. So you have to have those ducks in a row, but you really need someone who can help you with monetizing. If, if you don't know how to do that, it is the absolute non negotiable that you need to have.

[00:37:02] Dr. Liz Lasky: Otherwise, like I said before, you have a hobby. If you're not making money from your business, it's a hobby, a very expensive one that you're losing money at that. 

[00:37:13] Amber Hawley: Yeah. And I think again, like I mean, I love all the things because I love to have like a polished look and I love branding and I came from marketing in operations before becoming a therapist and like, and I've seen people who will never, who keep putting off making it their website.

[00:37:31] Amber Hawley: And I think for a similar reason, it's like that keeps them from monetizing at scale because it's like, it's not easy for people to buy from them. Right. Right. Right. Right. You could have a quick and dirty one page website and make it easy for people to buy 

[00:37:45] Dr. Liz Lasky: from you. I have heard of people making, I know people have made six figures from a Google doc.

[00:37:51] Dr. Liz Lasky: Let me tell you this. If you're, and if you're listening to this right now and you're like, all right, Liz, I'm ready to roll. What do I do? And this is what I say to everybody. Take this advice. Every single person could do. You and I should do it too, Amber. Okay. Make a list of 50 people. 50 ways that you can pitch whatever program you're pitching.

[00:38:09] Dr. Liz Lasky: Make the list of those 50 people and your job is to go and tell those 50 people about your service. Now, should you maybe have a one pager or a PDF that you can schlock together in Canva or can you do this with a word with a Google Doc? Yeah, totally. Do you need a, you know, a full on website? Absolutely not.

[00:38:33] Dr. Liz Lasky: Last year, last summer, I ran a summit and this past summer, I sold 90, 000 from a, uh, from a PDF. Mm hmm. When we don't take action in this way, that is when we get stuck and we are colluding with ourselves. 

[00:38:53] Amber Hawley: Right. We'll see. And this is the thing. You are processed. Like that to me is why, why that works for you.

[00:38:59] Amber Hawley: Because you are very sales focused. You have a sales process. Like you're saying it's like, I'm running a business. Right. Exactly. So like, and I say that only because I do know some people who, again, like I say like Like, really, unless you're somebody like you, but again, that's that entrepreneurial mindset, right?

[00:39:19] Amber Hawley: Like you're, that's just how you're kind of wired and oriented when you're not like that. You do need to have something for people. No, 

[00:39:27] Dr. Liz Lasky: really? No, I disagree. My entrepreneurial mindset is I'm building another company right now and I'm in the beginnings of it. I have one company. I'm building another company.

[00:39:36] Dr. Liz Lasky: The second company I'm building is, I'm building it to sell. That's my entrepreneur spirit. The way that I did that truly is monetizing a product, and that's it, and that's what a business is. You do not need to have an entrepreneurial spirit to know how to monetize. Oh, 

[00:39:53] Amber Hawley: no, no, that's not what I meant. Yeah, sorry.

[00:39:55] Amber Hawley: That's not what 

[00:39:55] Dr. Liz Lasky: I meant. I don't, I, I wouldn't put that in, in an entrepreneurial category, actually. I think that was just me making a good business decision. 

[00:40:03] Amber Hawley: Really, I guess I'm talking about people who that that's not what I meant. I meant 

[00:40:07] Dr. Liz Lasky: like, but I have the skills of how to do 

[00:40:09] Amber Hawley: that, right? Yes, there's a skill set there.

[00:40:11] Amber Hawley: So we'll take the word since we've now kind of made that whole entrepreneur business thing, like a thing I'm going to let that go. I was like, we're going to put that aside because that's not what I meant at all. What I'm trying to say is. Because I'm going to stand by this because I do see people who continue to never put their website together and keep talking about, I want to do this and build this.

[00:40:31] Amber Hawley: And they don't have that. They don't monetize. They're not out there actively getting leads and talking to people. They don't have a process. And I'm like, the website. for some people, depending on how they're approaching it, they need that because there needs to be somewhere for people to go to like, find out what the fuck they're selling because people don't know they exist.

[00:40:52] Amber Hawley: And what's happening is I see them in feast and famine because, because they don't have, you have a consistency that you're putting in. And that's what I want to point out to people is like, if you are consistently doing that, right? Like there's a thing called like the dream 100. That's When you said the 50 people, it makes me think about that.

[00:41:09] Amber Hawley: You're putting in that work and that process to have that consistency. If you're not, and you don't have a website or no way for people to find you, and you're not putting yourself out there on social or you don't, you don't have a list or you're not doing anything. You will not consistently make money.

[00:41:25] Amber Hawley: You will get referrals here and there, but you will be in a cycle of feast and famine. And I guess that's what I've been seeing with people a lot in the last few years. So it's like, have a foundation, but I agree, don't let something like a website keep you from growing or selling or doing things. But I think in the long term, I just want to make that caveat of if you're not going to be out there, like with some kind of process, trying to make money and monetize, I think you're doing yourself a disservice by not like having something, right?

[00:41:56] Amber Hawley: The other 

[00:41:57] Dr. Liz Lasky: thing that I just want to say is, and if you're listening to this and you're thinking, oh my god, how do I start? Where do I do? Truthfully, I think get a coach. Like, I know there is a reason why I keep my people, my coaching program is a year long program. I know I can get you somewhere totally different in a year.

[00:42:15] Dr. Liz Lasky: You know, I, I'm not the biggest proponent of a six week. Let me show you how to do your business. You need time because you need time to feel the feast and famine. You need time to feel scared. You need time to have your mindset check with your coach. You need to have someone who's in doing this before you.

[00:42:32] Dr. Liz Lasky: And, and there, you know, we underestimate, especially in the therapy world, we underestimate the power of advice. Oh, absolutely. So not only is it coaching, but it is also Get advice, get advice on how to take movement and how to make those moves now. Otherwise, you'll be here for one more year in the exact same spot.

[00:42:58] Dr. Liz Lasky: And if that's where you want to stay, we love that for you. God bless it. But if you want to be somewhere else, then it's time to reach out for help. It really is. Yeah, I 

[00:43:07] Amber Hawley: agree. And I like the, I, I am going towards that only having the one year option right now. I give, I do six months or a year, but the reality is in less than a year, you just don't see enough.

[00:43:19] Amber Hawley: There's so many pieces to come together to actually like embody those changes, the mindset, the strategies. People get sick, you go on vacation, shit happens, life, life's, you know, like, I agree, like it takes time. And that's something I did too, from the very beginning, I've invested in coaches and like who I worked with depended on what was the challenge at the time, right?

[00:43:42] Amber Hawley: And so that's why I like, I mean, I've spent a few years with some coaches. And then it's like, not because they weren't so wonderful. It's like, I'm looking to address a different issue. Like I've done speaking programs and I've done, you know, like traditional business coaching. I agree. I think it's like, you need those people to help you push your comfort zone.

[00:44:02] Amber Hawley: Like the person that I work with now is somebody who's pushing my comfort zone of things that I'm like, I don't like doing that. Like, I don't, that doesn't feel comfortable to But if I don't push my edge, I'm going to stay in the same place. Right? Yeah. Like, I love, I love that advice so much. I think it's really important.

[00:44:19] Amber Hawley: And I love, I love that the, the approach of it being. Really, don't let there be barriers. Make it simple and just, just fucking do it. Make it clear, right? Well, I am exactly, I'm like super bummed that, uh, we talked about other things in the beginning. I mean, not, not at the, before we started recording is what I meant to say, because now we're about out of time, but I love having this conversation with you.

[00:44:45] Amber Hawley: I think it's good because I like that we're challenging. Like each other to think about these things, because I do think like people are hearing different ways because what's going to hit for them is going to be how somebody says it. And you might 

[00:44:58] Dr. Liz Lasky: be listening to us and disagreeing with us too. And I think that's totally valid because you know what?

[00:45:03] Dr. Liz Lasky: And I always say this, I might be wrong. Yeah, you know, and I'm open to exploring that. I know I've helped a lot of people along the way, but do I have every single piece figured out? No, I don't think any of us do. So I think I'm open to learning. I think it's one of the most important pieces of building businesses too, is always being of a learning mind, myself included.

[00:45:24] Dr. Liz Lasky: I know you are too. Yeah. Um, so I'm glad, I'm glad we could chat like this and push back a little 

[00:45:28] Amber Hawley: bit. I do too. No, it's, I think it's good. It's a, it gets us thinking. I, the only bummer is now we didn't talk about summits, but you could always, I know I was like, you'll have to come back, but, and also you can go ahead and sign up for the summit and actually get to hear you have these conversations with the 21 different entrepreneurs and figure out like, Yeah, see the different ways.

[00:45:56] Amber Hawley: And again, that's the other piece I love is I'm really, I think my thing is like really not having value judgments about things in life. And I think for so many neuro spicy people, that's the problem is we're told like, this isn't the right way to do something. And it's like, no, there's all different kinds of ways, right?

[00:46:15] Amber Hawley: And you have to honor your own self. And so I think anything that supports like learning that so many people do it differently, I think is really, I don't know, I think it's good overall for everyone. 

[00:46:29] Dr. Liz Lasky: Well, thank you so much for having me and for allowing me to share my voice and it's been wonderful and I'd be happy to come back and, and I hope we've helped a couple people today.

[00:46:38] Dr. Liz Lasky: Yeah, absolutely. 

[00:46:40] Amber Hawley: Well, so obviously we're going to have all the information about the summit and everything else, but if people wanted to, uh, touch base with you, find out more information, what is the best, where's the best place for them to go? The 

[00:46:51] Dr. Liz Lasky: best place to hang out with me is over at my house at LizLasky.

[00:46:55] Dr. Liz Lasky: com. L A Z L A S K Y. Um, I have a fun newsletter that we pump out content and by the way, We, I mean me, I don't know why I always say we. I'm pumping out content all the time. We also have a great freebie on my website. It's 101 coaching questions. So if you are a therapist and you want to figure out how to coach or if coaching might be for you, then certainly please reach out and I'd be happy to connect with you more about that or download the freebie.

[00:47:21] Dr. Liz Lasky: The freebie is really for anyone, whether you're a therapist or not. And, uh, we have learn to coach programs and we also have a lot of coaching programs. So come on over, check us out. And yeah, 

[00:47:32] Amber Hawley: wonderful. And yes, every, all of those links will be in the show notes. I am on your newsletter and I will say I do like it.

[00:47:39] Amber Hawley: It's a fun, it's got your vibe, your fun vibe and, but really thought provoking. So I appreciate that. Thank 

[00:47:46] Dr. Liz Lasky: you. Thank you so much.