Listen to our exclusive interview with Michelle McGlade:
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Why do so many social entrepreneurs get stuck in their business? Is it business strategy or mastery of self? We got in touch with expert, Michelle McGlade to find out.
As 2019 Woman to Watch, award-winning CEO, best-selling author, speaker, digital marketing expert, and business owner, Michelle has leveraged 20+ years’ experience to build three successful enterprises and coached hundreds of leaders in the building, scaling, or exiting their businesses. Michelle believes success is an inside-out game and leadership of self is the key to building teams and unlocking your next level of growth in business and life.
Learn more about Michelle and her work at > MichelleMcGlade and unhideyourmagicquiz.com.
We also recommend:
- Christina Jandali: Growing Your Facebook Group and Selling
- Jim Lawless: Overcoming Fear and Operating With Risk
- Geoff Cook: What It Takes to Win in the App Space
Transcription of Interview
(Transcribed by Otter.ai, there may be errors)
Adam G. Force 0:03
Welcome to the Change Creator podcast where entrepreneurs come to learn how to live their truth, get rich and make a massive difference in the world. I’m your host, Adam Force co founder, Change Creator and co creator of the captivate method. Each week we talk to experts about leadership, digital marketing and sales strategies that you can implement in your business and like to go big visit us at changecreator.com forward slash go big to grab awesome resources that will help drive your business forward. What’s up, everybody? Welcome back to the Change Creator podcast, I hope you guys are all doing amazing. Another exciting conversation today it’s a bit of a treat. But before we get into that one, I just remind you of our last episode, in case you missed it, we spoke with Christina Jandali, and she is an expert in growing Facebook group. So if you missed that, definitely wanna go back and check it out because not only do we talk about just how to grow your Facebook group and start selling, by building relationships with people in the group, she talks about her journey, you know, to becoming a multi seven figure entrepreneur and just kind of like the stages that she goes through. And as entrepreneurs, we go through this evolutionary process. And so it’s a really great conversation, for multiple reasons. And I think you guys would get a lot of value out of that. So hopefully, you don’t miss that one. So go back, check it out, if you haven’t already. Today, we’re gonna be talking with someone by the name of Michelle Mcglade now, she was 2019 woman a watch, oh, she’s an award winning CEO, best selling author, a speaker, digital marketing expert podcast, I was owner, all these things. And so she has a ton of experience over the past 20 years, building up three successful enterprises. All right. As a coach, she’s worked with a ton of different leaders, to help them really understand how to exit their business, how to start scaling the business, many different angles there. And so, you know, for her success, like the way she approaches leadership with these folks is that success is an inside game. And that leadership of self is the key to actually breaking through to the next level of success in your life, but in your business, right. So she really focuses on this whole inside aspect. And we’re going to talk about how people are hidden and have armor and all kinds of stuff. And it’s really important because 80% of this stuff, guys is is this mental game, right? So really valuable conversations with people like Michelle, and I’m excited about it. So hang in there, we’re going to jump into that conversation in just a minute. We are doing if you’re catching this, this interview earlier on, we are doing a special for Memorial Day. So as you guys probably know, we’ve started our brand studio division. And what that means is we work with clients. So this is a do it for you service. And what we have found is a lot of people were coming to us asking for help to really kind of establish their brands, get their brand strategies in place, you know, who are they really talking to? What are those messages? How do we position them in the market? What is the identity and the image of the brand? How do we make it authentic and powerful, so people can connect, but also, you know, you attract the right people, right? There’s no confusion. And then we set up their website so that they have a high converting website. Right. So you know, there’s no sense of bringing traffic somewhere, that you’re embarrassed to show clients or it’s not set up with the right sales funnels and cash flow systems and things like that. And so we’ve been having a lot of fun working with incredible entrepreneurs doing this. And so for Memorial Day, we, my my grandfather was in World War Two, my father was in Vietnam, and I have all the respect in the world with people who have supported our country with honorable intentions, right? Nobody loves war, hate war, despise it. But I do respect the people who went out there with good intentions and did what they believed was right. And I want to respect that and celebrate that. And I’m going to use this as an opportunity to do something I’ve never done and usually don’t do, which is I’m going to offer 50% off our services between now and June 2. So you book a call. If we’re really great fit, we do a strategy call and we see if we are a good fit to work together. And then you know, we make a decision, right? So let’s let’s let’s move forward, build out this brand and start help you helping you sell more. And so between now and June 2, it’ll be 50% off of those services. But that’s it and we’re only taking six people so we have two spots open for June and four open for July. So that’s it. Alright guys, if you’re catching this after that timeframe, I’m sorry but we’d still love to talk to you. And you can sign up so just go to change credit. com Go to our services, and you’ll be able to book a call on the calendar we can see what’s going on and how we might be able to help you. Alright guys, without further ado, we’re gonna jump into this conversation. Okay, show me the heat
Hey Michelle, welcome to the Change Creator podcast How you doing today?
Michele McGlade 5:07
I am lovely. Thank you so much for having me, Adam.
Adam G. Force 5:11
It’s my pleasure excited to have you here. You know, it looks like a really interesting background. So pin it down for me and everybody just to ground us in, you know, the short version of where you’re coming from and what you got going on today.
Michele McGlade 5:28
Yeah, you know, yeah, the short version of 46 years, right?
Adam G. Force 5:31
That’s right. That’s right. I’m really putting you to the Hemingway test, right?
Michele McGlade 5:35
Yep.I’m a corporate fall out who thought they wanted to own a business gave it a go and ended up being a true entrepreneur. I’ve owned and operated three enterprises. And I love, love, love business and small business and everything business I’ve got, what I learned is that anytime somebody is stuck in life or business, it always has to do with a disconnect between the heart and the mind. And so that is where a passion lies, and a fire lies inside of me. And that is really the type of work that I’m really committed to doing and bringing to the world.
Adam G. Force 6:12
I love it. And so, you know, this comes up all the time. And it’s been years for me, you know, I’m much older than I probably look. And, you know, you can learn all these things, like the strategies, taxes, and there are important parts of that business, right, like to do things the right way and understand. But that mindset, and I think even the mindset is one thing, which kind of leads into this concept of like discipline in your life, and without that discipline and, and I guess understanding, you said, connection between you said, mind and heart is that what you said?
Michele McGlade 6:50
Yeah, yeah
Adam G. Force 6:51
Connection. Yeah. It’s like, what you feel and want, right, I’m gonna let you describe what you mean. And like those desires those dreams, but then connecting it to have like, the mind actually control it. And I always think of like the master with the puppet, the mind is the master and your body is like the puppet, right? We got to say, hey, go, you need to get up in the morning, you need to go do this. You need to work on your stuff. Tell me tell me your your, your feelings and thoughts about the mind and heart connection?
Michele McGlade 7:21
Wow. Well, I got onto that. So first of all, it really actually starts one step back, which is you have to know that I am a high performer, I am somebody who did build a successful career in corporate use that skill set to build a very successful first go at business, only to find out that pushing rocks uphill, wasn’t the way that it was supposed to go. And every time I would get there, I would hit a ceiling, stop myself run myself to exhaustion, and just kept thinking, why can’t I break through? What am I What is it about me, you know, everybody says I’m successful. But I feel like there’s something more I feel like I keep getting stuck, I feel like I keep putting myself back to zero, and doing it over again. And that’s what really led me on the journey about the heart and the mind and, and through my own coaching and consulting just started to see what was happening to me, or had happened to me happened to other people and just beginning to unpack that. It’s so much more complicated than just like imposter syndrome. It’s so much more complicated than just mindset. I think that there’s space in this self transformation. And just like unlocking the complexities of who you are, there’s more space in there to really begin to understand and unfold why we’ve kind of given ourselves these mechanisms and mantras. I like to call them why we have created these personas, and we can’t break out of them. This making sense?
Adam G. Force 8:55
Oh, yeah, yeah,
Michele McGlade 8:56
You’re nodding your head
Adam G. Force 8:58
Because I’m like, I’ve been in that space. Like I’ve I barely read business books anymore. I’m reading more about that whole, like mastering the self kind of concept. Right?
Michele McGlade 9:10
And it’s, it’s um, so once you start like for high performers anyways, because I can only speak about the way I know, once you tear away you Will you take away like the external achieving what’s left is for you to figure out what it what have you been packing and putting armor on around you that you can’t see that is limiting you. But you’ve got to go on that journey for yourself. I believe that we’re all hiding from something, something we’re afraid of something that maybe something that happened to us when we were young that we just, you know, we learned that it wasn’t safe to do it this way. And those are the little things that are deep within that you’ve got to figure out for yourself and once you can kind of get right with that person, the real you in there, that’s when and I’m getting all of my little intuitive, yummy, juicy. And that’s when the real magic comes out. That’s who you are is able to shine.
Adam G. Force 10:09
It’s true. And so tell me a little bit about. So are you tell me the kind of work you’re doing right now just just get clear with people? Are you? Are you coaching people? Like are you doing more hands on work? I just get a little more clarity for me.
Michele McGlade 10:25
Yeah, well, you’re catching me right in a very interesting pivot I’ve been, I’ve been coaching for years and years and years. But I’m very specifically now coming together, I’ve got a framework built off all this experience, right. And I’m coaching and bringing people through the process to stop hiding. And I say, Stop hiding their humanity, and bring their magic to the world. Because at the at the very core of this, what we are holding back is what is makes us human. We’re holding back our emotions, we’re holding back our opinions, we’re holding back, you know, a spiritual connection, or, you know, things about our bodies, we don’t like things that you and I, Adam have, like 100% in common. So we’re just, you know, we’re really just hiding from ourselves. There’s the punch line people, it’s. And so I have a very specific framework that I’m coaching people through at this time.
Adam G. Force 11:23
Yes. It’s interesting. And I know, the more I’ve gotten into this, because you know, I did the same thing I was I was director of strategic marketing at web D had a lot of fun, there was successful start around business as my second business. And I hit blocks. And mine were mostly around financial, I’m like, I’m doing all my stuff. I know all the strategies in the world. I’ve helped brands make, you know, tons of money, all this stuff. When it comes to doing business for yourself, you’re in a very different plane of existence and the way you feel and think and you’re bringing corporate mentality over versus flipping that like a total 180 into entrepreneur mentality. And I hit a block and i the only thing I could, I had to stop blaming all these things and blamed myself, right, which is kind of like what you were saying, right? And so I’m curious if you are what you’re seeing as a common block for people, like, you know, when I hear my wife or friend, they’ll say, Oh, well, I’m not a morning person. I can’t do this. I’m like, I’m in right away. Now. I’m like, yeah, that’s you keep telling yourself that. But that’s is not really, your whatever you want it to be whatever you believe is true is what’s true. The truth doesn’t really matter. Just what you believe is true.
Michele McGlade 12:38
Yes. And what you’re asking for the way I articulate that in my framework, it’s not just what we’re hiding from ourselves. It’s how we keep ourselves there, even though like you were describing, and I was, yeah, I feel the same way. Like I had an awareness that I was being held back, but I couldn’t how if I had the awareness, how could I not see that? What was I doing every day day in and day out? So the answer in the research that I’ve done, mostly, by the way, with high performing women, because that’s just the big network I have, but I believe the gentlemen have this exact as well. They might just articulate it differently. Is I’m too busy. I’m too tired. And it’s easier for you because
Adam G. Force 13:19
Yeah, oh, easier for you because oh, well, you’ve already made a million dollars. So of course your marketing is better. I hear…
Michele McGlade 13:26
You have a corporate background in this it’s easier for you. You know, and then the other one that’s also comes into play is I’m working hard I’m working so hard. This was one of mine. Like I’ll just work harder I’m working hard I Why can’t but now I’m working so hard. I’m exhausted but why can’t I seem to get to where I want to go and so it’s like these become and you really need to once you become aware of it look backwards because you attach these stories believe they’re just stories like a mantra you tell yourself day in and day out. You’re doing it so automatically now, but it was a choice at some point to put on that armor. You put it somewhere it was really good at the time. It kept you very safe. I’m positive did that but it becomes becomes so second nature. Most people don’t even recognize it as a story anymore.
Adam G. Force 14:23
Yeah, no and those all speak volumes, you know, like they stand out like yes, you hear those a lot from people and like one for me is Adam. You’re not detail oriented. Like you you can’t remember birthdays. You can’t do this can’t that that’s just coming from my fan like all through my upbringing. And now I read this book called The Four Agreements. I don’t know if you’ve read that beautiful book. And, you know, he calls it black magic. He’s like when that seed is planted like you’re saying there’s stories which create this armor like a mental armor. And so once that’s planted and you believe that story, I’m not kidding. oriented because I did something when I was young. And then all of a sudden, you’re always told this by yourself and everyone around you. So you believe it and what we believe becomes true. So now everything you that’s the way you behave, right? So it’s like, that’s what you’re getting at. Right? It’s like, and he called it black magic. It’s like you’re under a spell. You’re calling it the armor. And I’m seeing these synergies.
Michele McGlade 15:23
Think about it, I’m introverted.
Adam G. Force 15:26
Okay
Michele McGlade 15:26
That. Right? That would be one so that I must not be good at I can’t, you know, like, I must not be good at speaking or I must not be great at parties. Or I’m well, is that true?
Adam G. Force 15:37
Right? Right.
Michele McGlade 15:39
Yeah.
Adam G. Force 15:40
So now let’s go dig a little deeper. So I think we’re, I hope everybody listening is kind of getting into this flow of what Michelle’s kind of digging into which is, you know, we have certain things that we learn that we’re when we grow up, and we tell ourselves that become our truth, because this is just what we start to believe, right? We keep telling, we have our internal stories that we keep telling ourselves. And it’s like, if you can imagine a car getting stuck in the mud and keep spinning the wheels, spinning the wheels, and it’s just getting deeper and deeper and deeper. This is every time you tell that story. Right? You go deeper, it’s harder to get out of it. So the question is, how do we start? Understanding like identifying our own armor? Right? And how do we start taking some steps to course correct? Because that’s not easy.
Michele McGlade 16:35
Yeah, this was a, this was a question on my mind last year, because I it really started to be revealed to me in a much bigger way I would, I’d been talking about this stuff for years. I don’t know about you, Adam. But I’ve hired a lot of people for a lot of money to help me with what’s going up, you know, to clean up my head basically, is what I thought I needed. And for some reason I was last year, like walking myself through this process and such like a natural way. I’m like, What am I doing differently? Because I know all this stuff. But why am I able to be in a space where I can observe myself without judgment, and I can really let some of these things fall away and let more of who I am comfortably come out without fear, you know? So the answer to that goes back to my wellness route. So my first business was in wellness, I own clinics. And so and I’ve always been in the wellness industry, it’s just like alternative health and all that stuff is totally my jam. And what I had been doing last year was doing more, more time in nature, like more time alone, more not like I don’t want people to hear this not exercising and doing cleanses and buying books on those types of things. No, I’m talking about spiritual space is really talking about all this, drill it in. And I also embraced meditation and much like I’m already in the yoga, it’s very meditative for me and all that stuff. But like I was literally exploring meditation, everything from the waking up app, which is a great starter point for your audience, to some really like deep like 10 minute deep breathing types of like all kinds of stuff. And I would journal after that. And what I discovered is I was slowing down and really nurturing and getting grounded within myself and in just a way that I hadn’t before. And that is when I felt like some of this stuff was able I was able to see it more clearly I was able to see it. Because I believe See, here’s what I think we have the power inside of us to kick this in the butt. I mean, therapists they’re great, but I don’t know like why are we in therapy 10 years. Self Help and transformation. They help you be expansive and see, you know, and get inspired. But do they ever help you like the hermit crab, leave your small shell and go out naked and move into the bigger shell? They don’t but I think we can do that for ourselves. But the long this is kind of a long answer to your question, but is that you’ve got to get yourself in the right place. I’m not saying perfection. You know, I’m not saying you know, like hardcore paleo or something. I am just saying you know, when you feel good in your body, and when you’re nurturing your spirit and you need to have a spiritual connection because what I believe is our body we’re all vibration, and our body is a communication tool for us. And so things like for me now it might be different for you Adam or for you listening is that it might be meditation. For me it was like in journaling, which I had embraced in a new way for me it is going out walking in nature for me it is going on like a long drive. Sometimes I get communications if I’m in the shower, you know, but I know you’ve you’ve got to be having a level of awareness, and silence within yourself to to know when those moments are, when they are for you and where they are for you. And when you can get yourself into that place, then you’re ready to start talking about the ways you’re hiding. Because right now, if you’re listening, you’re like, Oh, yeah, I had my emotions, or I had my opinions, you have an awareness, great. But to begin to walk that back and let the armor fall away, you’ve got to take 10 steps back and start on the foundation of you just like in business, you have to have solid foundations, you have to have a solid foundation of you.
Adam G. Force 20:33
Yeah. Well, yeah, I mean, there’s a lot there, that’s deep. And so I, which I love, like, that’s, you know, again, that’s where I’m at. And I think that as entrepreneurs listening, what’s gonna happen is, you know, we, and I’ve coached a lot of entrepreneurs, myself through some of our programs, and it’s like, we go through different phases, right, and we become different versions of ourselves. So someone that’s making zero to 10,000 a month, they just started their business, you know, that’s one version, when you’re making 50,000 100,000, you will need to become another version of yourself and break the same thing for a million and up to a million up every time you’re, you’re constantly facing some kind of challenge to break through and become this next person. And I like, I love the conversations that you’re bringing to the table. Because what gets interesting to me, I had a mentor teaching me about like, cause and effect duality, and like really getting into what you would learn reading about metaphysics, right. And when you start looking at life in that way, and seeing yourself like you said, frequency energy, like more molecular, like, you will start noticing there’s laws in the universe. Right, and those laws, if you can abide and understand what they are, and start to buy them, you will understand how to play the game like mentally because you’re going to have certain cause affect the way you are. are you grateful in this world? Are you judgmental? Are you not judgmental, like all these little things, which everyone, I believe today defines as like the non tangible, I don’t take it seriously, it’s Fufu. Those are actually the big, big matzah balls that make a difference.
I feel like I’ve been woo-ey from the beginning. And I always kept running from it, you know, and even when I was in the alternative medicine space, like, like, literally with my business, I, I still didn’t run it run around loud and proud. So I feel like the universe just keeps pushing me there. And now I’m just fully like, yep, that’s the way it works. Like I know to be true, true. And I was thinking about something that came up as you’re talking is that for the social entrepreneur, like you can, you can frame this conversation a little bit different in the sense that this is about self leadership. And if you want to go out and make an impact in the world, you got to get right within yourself, you have, you have a responsibility, and leadership does not start external, it starts internal. And so this is also from me, and a lot of my clients, which are leaders and organizations, that it’s about getting right from within you and how you are showing up in the world that allows your team, you’re the culture of your organization, or even if you’re just a solo social entrepreneur, the people that you’re engaging with in your community, it impacts that.
Yeah.
Michele McGlade 23:21
But it starts with you.
Adam G. Force 23:23
Yeah, you know, and I think that’s such an important point. And so tell me a little bit about your framework, tell me about not you don’t have to give away the secret sauce, you know, but give us the high level, like, love doodles sensitive about each step, like tell us a little bit about the process. So people can say, hey, that’s, that’s interesting, you know, like, I want to I want to get a taste,
I don’t mind giving it away. Because I do think that just having an idea of what what it it’s its simplicity into, you know, it starts with simplicity. And it leads to the complexity of you is basically right, so I, we were already chatting about the first part. So there’s a four part framework that I use with my clients. And the first part is all about the internal navigation systems, we’ve got to get right with yourself. And I talked about some of the ways that are accessible for everybody. There’s an endless number of ways for you to start connecting with yourself. Meditation, breath work, moving the way you move your body, like it’s creating space for your energy, energy. Okay. So that’s the first part. The second part is really all about. It’s about some of the the ways that you’re hiding and creating again, space. You don’t, you don’t facilitate a transformational journey in six weeks. Okay, so I’m not gonna do six, any six weeks, anything that people were talking nine months to a year minimum, right. So, in my framework, when I’m working with people, we’re talking about a two month process of documenting and looking at the ways you’re hiding in an exercise is through observing it and others so that you can then reflect and see within yourself. It’s just it’s that top layer of Cake of the present moment of the wager hiding and learning about it and understanding it. Okay?
Okay
Michele McGlade 25:07
The third part of the framework is the real interesting part, because now we’re talking about the pattern complexities. And one of the things you and I didn’t talk about, we talk about what we’re hiding. We talked about how we do it, but it’s also where we do it. And when it’s so it’s differentiating between am I showing up at home versus work with my parents versus my siblings, with my spouse versus my kids, like, you start laying all those pieces out, you can have an infinite number of convert conversations, connections between those points. So the armor is much more than just one layer. We’re talking about unpacking the multiple layers and the patterns that you’ve developed in the person that you’ve developed, depending on where you are. So the third part of the framework is about unpacking that it’s much more than the present moment, but the entire lifetime. Okay? Yeah. Because when you when you can articulate it, and teach it, that means you’ve learned it for yourself. And that’s where the, that’s when it falls away. Yeah. The last part of my framework is really nothing. I don’t have to do anything at that point. But there is a major phase that happens there. It’s about being in a community of fellow hiders, articulating your story clearly to them, so that you can be witnessed in that journey. And they’re doing the same so that you can heal together, there’s something really important that came out of my research of having the community and teaching the community. And what happens is what that what everybody wants, and the transformation at the end is now you are uninhibited, you are more of your true self. You don’t feel like there’s a stuckness that has to come out. You’re more connected within and the articulation of what is next for you is able to flow. Most people when they come in are saying I feel stuck. I have more to give I have something magical inside that wants to come out. Well, yes. But it’s not that you’re trying to figure out what it is. It’s that it’s sitting there and you packed it down so tight. You can’t hear it.
Adam G. Force 27:08
Yeah.
Michele McGlade 27:11
Thank you for this, this is like, Oh, just magical to have this conversation with you.
Adam G. Force 27:17
Yeah, no, I love talking about these things. And I feel like it’s just a lifelong journey of understanding yourself and learning how to manage emotions. And you know, I see people a lot of times getting angry and and you know, we all do it, right. We all do it. We have emotional responses and things like meditation and learning more about mindset has taught me that, you know, like, one thing I’ve always realized is one never blame, complain or justify stuff. Like it’s always on you, right? But it’s also that a situation that’s occurring is not what actually makes us emotional or upset. It’s the way we choose to think about that situation. And it really puts it in perspective that like you’re in control here, like you know, and and the more you get deep on those metaphysical things, you really start seeing how this plays out. When when somebody very intellectual starts explaining that in detail, you’re like, holy shit.
Michele McGlade 28:12
I have a great example for you and your list…
Adam G. Force 28:15
Yeah, fire it up. Yeah
Michele McGlade 28:17
But we do something called the hiding map. And that is the the, you know, the documentation of the journey and want so one of the deep, I’ll share with you kind of how one thing showed up. You said emotions. And Funny enough, in my research, women specifically say that they’re hiding their anger. So I’ll just toss that out there for me. But I grew up so my parents had me in high school. And so I didn’t even live with my parents right away. I lived with my grandparents with my mom, right? And we moved in together. And they were very young. And they were very much like oil and vinegar. And my dad would go out and party and come home. And so what I’m basically trying to paint the picture of is that it was tumultuous. It there was a lot of fighting. And it would upset me, right? I was I would cry, of course. And I was afraid I had fear that you know, at night when I would hear them screaming that they were going to come in so I very early on, learned to hold in my emotions. Because crying wasn’t a lot. You know, crying wasn’t good. You’re being very Don’t cry, and then a fear of explosive emotion. So like I had some strange, strange things around that. And so I just became this very quiet. unexpressive child. Yeah, well, that set me up for a lifetime of how that story. That armor was very protective. Right. It was very protective, but then it didn’t serve me.
Adam G. Force 29:44
Right.
Michele McGlade 29:45
I wouldn’t express how I felt.
Adam G. Force 29:47
Right.
Michele McGlade 29:47
I wouldn’t ask for what I wanted.
Adam G. Force 29:50
Starts hurting you more than anything.
Michele McGlade 29:52
Well, yeah, like going into the workforce. I didn’t ask or mentioned when I needed help or when I was struggling
Adam G. Force 29:59
And those things can go very unnoticed by the person themselves. You’re saying, well, that’s just how I am. No, it’s not just how you are right? It’s like…
Well, I mean, I would literally, I will I had Fibromyalgia in my 20s because I was so unexpressive and I just tight and everything inside I was got myself sick. Yeah. in the workplace, I ran myself to the ground never asked for help, right? Yeah, my entrepreneurial journey. So this ended up playing out. And you, I mean, now I’m like all mushy, gooey Wui. And like, I’m thinking about like crying, for example, oh my god. Like, if you met me in my 20s, I would have been horrified if a tear was shed in front of you for any reason. Now, I can stand up in front of hundreds of people and I can get really emotional and teary eyed. But it still creeps up that that pattern, that person, that I’ve told myself, that moncho is that if if I do start to cry, sometimes somebody called me out on this once I kind of smile through it, I don’t get like the ugly cry.
Oh, there you go.
Michele McGlade 31:07
I’m aware. Right, I can articulate all the way. That’s just one. That’s just one pattern.
Adam G. Force 31:14
Yeah, and there’s a lot of them. Like,
Michele McGlade 31:19
I’m a master at it, right?
Adam G. Force 31:23
Well, it’s and I want to be respectful of time. But I do want to also ask a business question. So you’ve had three different companies and stuff? I mean, tell me a little bit about your process. You know, I think a place that I like to touch on as far as business goes for people is getting leads closing sales, like business models, especially in the coaching space, do we do groups? Do we do one on ones? How do we model something where we can in the coaching world where we can detach ourselves a little bit and not be so time for money oriented? That’s fine in the beginning, but I have entrepreneurs who are like, well, I can close a call and do the one on one and get those things. But how do I get to the next level of revenue and take on more clients and start? You know, growing that? So I’d like to understand? How do you approach client adoption and leads? And can you share a little bit on the model?
Michele McGlade 32:25
Yeah, well, I’ve tried all of those models. So I just want to let you guys know, this was not like, I think people don’t tell the dirty part of their story enough, you know, like, so yeah, I went into I went from corporate into a local brick and mortar business model. And honestly, I did very well, because I was a business development and partnership person. And that’s what I did. But when I came online, and I started doing the training, the training company, the memberships, the small groups, the one on one, that’s all the stuff you’re talking about. I struggled. I really struggled with that because I love connecting with people in person.
Adam G. Force 33:12
Okay, yeah.
Michele McGlade 33:13
But this was this is what’s interesting. And where I’m going with this is that my entire business development career in corporate, I worked with people all over, I’d have to pick up the phone, this is before zoom, you guys I am a little older, I’d have to pick up the phone, develop relationships get through the gatekeepers, right. So I had something I was doing.
Adam G. Force 33:33
Yeah,
Michele McGlade 33:34
Something I was doing that kind of…So the one thing I want to say, as my cat makes an appearance on this interview, is that you first of all, do not buy into the idea that there’s one business model, and that’s the way to go, you really need to think about who you are, what you love to do in your skill set. Okay. Now, if you want to scale Yeah, I mean, you got to move beyond the one to one. So then hire for your gaps hire for the gaps in your skill set. You know, I think that’s a mistake people make is you do not want a company full of you. But if you do want to scale and you do want to do the group programs, but maybe the group programs aren’t something you love, then you’re going to be hiring coaches to run
So, every time I tried to do somebody else’s recipe, it didn’t work for me, as soon as I just own the fact that I know, I know how to do it. As long as I’ve got the foundations there. I’ve got great ideas. I’ve got ways, you know, that maybe people haven’t tried before. So that’s my advice. I don’t know if that’s what you’re looking for. But, um, in terms of like, I’m just looking at some notes here because I was just doing a talk on the lead gen and like, how do you social and how do I get clients, first of all, and people might want to grab a pen and paper but I’ll just run this down fast for the sake of time I did an hour presentation on it, but how to connect to close is what I called it. And first of all, you’ve got to cultivate, you have to think about what you want to cultivate. So who who do you want to connect with and grow your relationships with what kind of this is like target market stuff, right? But where are the gaps in your network? Maybe you need power partners, I don’t know. But who do you want to grow your network with? This is how you leverage your time because you can’t connect with everybody. And you don’t want to, and why. And to evaluate this on a quarterly basis in your business, because you always want to be growing your network, but they’re the gaps are going to move around. And then separate from that when you’re creating and putting content out there. This isn’t my formula. But it came from my friend Ron Reich’s I want to give him you know, credit for it. But I think it’s really genius that the content that you’re putting out there needs to speak to the people that you want to, you know, grow your business around. But this is what he says, first of all, you got to put content out there that teaches people who you are, like, what makes you you, what are your little quirks and you’re in geniuses and superpowers, then you need to put content out there that communicates your value, so that you can separate the people who are going to resonate and not resonate more quickly. You’re already doing a lead gen process and a funnel process there by communicating your value. And then and then of course, sharing your framework and you know, the transformation that you offer, or, you know, a process that you’re going to bring people on. And and make it intimate. I don’t like the one too many sort of stuff. I like the when I’m connecting. So I’ll give an example. Last year, I wanted to grow my network of professional working women. I was coming back into the podcasting space. So I was creating a new show where I interviewed women CEOs
Adam G. Force 37:01
Yeah, yeah…
Michele McGlade 37:02
I’d put the content out there, I would see who was engaging with the content, you’re probably doing this too, I would, I would engage in it with their tribe around the interview, we created the content we created. And then I would add them to my network and bring them into a direct message or outreach or a one on one coffee. So super intimate. And that’s what so that’s what I’m great at. Right? That’s what I’m great at is the intimacy and the deeper relationship, not as I mean, the one to many is the podcast interview right?
Adam G. Force 37:36
Not paid.
Michele McGlade 37:39
What would happen for me is I was always in sales roles, but I’m not that great of a closer but when I do it this way, when I make it intimate and I let people know who I am and my values, not just what I’m selling, by the time I get them into like a coffee chat or sharing about my framework or sharing about the work that I could help them with most of the sellings done most of the things done. So that’s my I just laid out for you my lead gen process because I do really high level executive coaching. So I don’t want or need a lot of clients. So I’m not…
Adam G. Force 38:10
Yeah, yeah. Which is nice.
Michele McGlade 38:14
I hope that anyone listening to this, that you hear that I am aligning it to who I am, that’s the most important thing.
Adam G. Force 38:23
I love that because I think there’s a lot of people out there who they see all these things, and they want to copy them, like call that a recipe. And it very rarely works the same for a number of reasons, you don’t really know what’s going on under the hood with those companies. There’s different things that come into play with timing, who their audience already is, and like all these things. So you just can’t do the same thing. Because you just don’t have all the same, you know, pieces. The only thing I think that can be copied is key, like core principles, which is like what you’re saying, like do something that aligns to and yeah, like, you know, speak to the audience clearly and have certain types of content, that’s fine. But certain, like, I’m going to copy this, I’m going to do it this way, because that’s what they do. Like, I agree, you got to do you.
Michele McGlade 39:14
Yeah, I think that you know, the folk, you know, the focus of cultivating your focus. I think the way the creating the content I laid out is really powerful. I’ve seen that work as a recipe.
Adam G. Force 39:25
Oh, that’s great. Yeah.
Michele McGlade 39:27
By the time I said, you’re connecting, and you’re connecting one to one and doing the one to one outreach, a lot of people don’t want to do that because they don’t like putting themselves out there and they don’t like being rejected. And this is just part of business so that by the time you’re closing, this is the other thing I want to say is it makes it the set, you’re already 80% of the way there, but if I am what I sorry, I lost my train of thought which haven’t
Adam G. Force 39:51
Oh, been there, been there
Michele McGlade 39:53
Here’s the tip that I do want to say about closing because I think this is also a recipe and it’s important is that You know, that’s the formula I use day in and day out, week in and week out. But when I’m not if I was launching something, and I am actively, like, let’s say, filling a mastermind that’s going to launch in June, then I am I want to give this stat I am actively selling, I need to be reaching out one to one to people and getting them on the phone 10 to 20 people a day. So most people aren’t willing to go to that extent and put themselves out there and get the rejection. But I think you all need to hear it. Because that’s how much they’re doing. You know?
Adam G. Force 40:32
No, I love that you brought it up. And I love the concept. I like to reverse engineer.
Michele McGlade 40:37
Yeah,
Adam G. Force 40:38
I want to get 10 new clients this month. Okay, how many calls? Do I need? Oh, to get that many calls? How many people do I need to reach out to? Or like, what do I do in my facebook group, I connect with people, but there are numbers that make it reality, right. And you can’t expect to get 10 clients because you reached out to like 15 people, you’re gonna reach out to probably 400 people, some of them will get back to you. Some of them book a call, some of them become clients. And you reverse engineer, I’ve always found that to be the most helpful. So I could be like, Yo, I got to reach out to at least 11 to 15 people a day for now. Right? And I used to that’s the kind of stuff that and I was like listen to this guy. I don’t know if you know john Lee Dumas I interviewed him I was on his show and stuff. And I follow him. I like he’s such a cool dude. He does a lot of great stuff. And he was he had his new book come out this year. And, you know, I asked people who I coach, I asked entrepreneurs, I’m like, Alright, so you’re gonna start doing a market, okay. I’m like, well, maybe get out on some podcasts and stuff. And we’re talking about numbers. I find that when I go on a podcast, I get nice spikes and everything, right? clients, all that stuff. So I’m like, why don’t you think about this getting out on podcast? I’ll give you my one sheet or you can make your own, copy it and pitch it to people? How many do you think you should get out in a month? What would be a high number for you? And they’d be like, I don’t know if I can get on like five to 10 in a month. That would be good. I’m like, Yeah, what do you think John Lee Dumas, how many shows you think he went on per month to promote his book? over 125 a month? He was on? I mean, that’s several a day.
Michele McGlade 42:08
That just I think people really need to see, you know, and John’s running a real business that’s profitable. And he’s been growing that I know, a little bit behind the scenes there. And he is a really nice guy, by the way.
Adam G. Force 42:20
Yeah.
Michele McGlade 42:21
I don’t know him super well, but I’ve heard him speak and things. And I think, you know, yeah, I just anytime you you want to get yourself into this negative Nelly thinking or what they have that you don’t have to remember, you can’t see under the hood, you don’t know what’s really going on.
Adam G. Force 42:38
Of course
Michele McGlade 42:39
And at the end of the day, it is it can be a numbers game. That’s why I wanted to put that number out there. I wanted people to understand that, you know, even after, however long I’ve been entrepreneurial over 10 years, it’s still have to do that.
Adam G. Force 42:53
Still do it
Michele McGlade 42:54
Yeah, the foundations are always the same new business books will keep coming out. But the foundation’s never changed because they work. And my thing is, is business is just people. So is the more I can just connect and be myself and let them be themselves. magical things happen. They always do.
Adam G. Force 43:14
That’s it. And if you know those foundations, then it goes back to your point of you don’t have to copy a specific model from somebody, you could do whatever model you want. Just follow those principles, understand people psychology, how it works, you know.
Michele McGlade 43:28
And work on you and just be show up as your best self. And when you’re not get down to the Get down and under the hood and see what’s going on.
Adam G. Force 43:38
Yeah, when you know, and this will wrap up here I can talk and talk and talk. But I one thing I always remember too is like people like oh, it didn’t work out. And I did all this stuff. And I’m not getting any any money for like a month or two months. And I’m like, Whoa, like, one how many people visited your sales page or whatever you’re doing? And it would be like a very small number, right? So you can’t even really judge it on that. But then the other thing is, it’s like people like oh, my campaign failed. So I’m like, bummed out. And they they would get doubt and all this stuff. I’m like, you know, like guys like Milton Hershey, who went bankrupt, like five or six times, banks, when you give them a loan, this guy kept going and going like a maniac. He’s not the only story like that. There’s a million of them. And like, some of the greatest people today with the greatest businesses, they fail. Like even the woman who wrote Harry Potter, she was rejected by 12 publishers, you know, like, after six wouldn’t most people be like, Oh, well, I guess this is no good.
Michele McGlade 44:32
No good after one?
Adam G. Force 44:34
Right? Exactly.
Michele McGlade 44:35
So it’s like that one person tell you that your idea is bad.
Adam G. Force 44:40
No way. All I Ever think is don’t ever change your destination. Just you might change your approach.
Michele McGlade 44:47
That’s right. Well, I’ll share this tidbit. It’s it I did the whole as I mentioned the online courses treat. bishops of course I had the funnels. It took me two years to master that to get it to like the seven to 10k A month, because I was great at business, but I knew nothing about digital and content marketing. So I had to go to school on that. And I made some bad investments. I paid some bad. You know, I hired some wrong people, which happen. Two years.
And that’s not even the bad two years. Geez.
No, and the only reason I broke it is because here’s what it is. I built the wrong business. I didn’t love that model. So I was trying to follow somebody else’s formula.
Adam G. Force 45:27
Yep
Michele McGlade 45:28
And I got it to work. But I didn’t love that model. It just wasn’t me.
Adam G. Force 45:32
Yeah. Listen, I think that’s a good one to wrap up on. appreciate all your energy and insights today, just sharing your story and talking about the mental game and stuff like that. So, again, great talking you with Michelle
Michele McGlade 45:47
Could I invite your listeners to…
Adam G. Force 45:49
I forgot to let you…Yes, yes. Yes. Where do people find you? And where do they connect with you and learn more and all that stuff?
Michele McGlade 45:56
Yes. Well, my name is pretty unique. So you can just find me Michelle McGlade. I’m mostly on LinkedIn, MichelleMcLean.com but I was thinking if the hiding conversation was really resonating for you, I’ve got an assessment. It’s unhideyourmagicquiz.com. And you might just enjoy digging in a little bit deeper by taking me by taking the quiz.
Adam G. Force 46:21
Okay, we’ll put that in the show notes for people. I just wrote it down. So unhide your magicquiz.com? You guys can check out Michelle. How do you pronounce your last name again? It is Glade? Yes, like McGlade. Yep. McGlade. Perfect. All right, Michelle. Thanks again. Really appreciate it.
Michele McGlade 46:41
Thank you so much, Adam.
Adam G. Force 46:46
Thanks for tuning into the Change Creator podcast. Visit us at Change creator.com/gobig to get access to free downloads and other great resources that will drive your business forward.
