With Alina Vincent, founder of Business Success Edge, and a business strategist, speaker and the author of the brand new book “Teach Your Expertise: How to Grow a Business and Become a Success by Creating an Online Class or Program.” She’s also the creator of the 5-Day Challenge Launch Formula, which helped her grow her business from zero to over a million dollars in just 4 years.

Alina is passionate about helping entrepreneurs package and monetize their knowledge and expertise to create a leveraged and scalable business. Experts hire her for strategic advice and a simple step-by-step approach to creating successful online programs, engaged Facebook communities, and profitable 5-day challenges.

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Biggest takeaways (or quotes) you don’t want to miss:

• What resulted in Alina realizing she was not bringing her whole background, the entirety of her experience to her new business
• What makes Alina like so many other entrepreneurs! 🙂 “So eventually, I realized that I really didn’t like having a boss, or having someone tell me how much I get paid and when I get to be creative.”
• “So often, we get stuck in, here’s what I want to bring to the world, versus what the world actually wants from you.”
• The importance of leverage in growing your business. 

Check out these highlights:

5:46 How Alina got started on her entrepreneurship journey.

9:14 “My business went to six figures in the first 18 months, which is kind of unheard of.” – Alina

12:04 How Alina transitioned from photography to business coaching.

19:18 “I was in a such a mess again, because I didn’t know my value. I didn’t realize that. I was using my experiences as of five minutes ago versus my whole life to present who I was, I completely disregarded everything that I’ve done up until that point.” – Alina.

30:00 How to figure out what your skills are.

37:20 How Alina got known as the Facebook Lady.

45:00 Creating a Facebook challenge for low cost and low tech.

50:00 The two pieces that propelled Alina forward in business.

How to get in touch with Alina:

On social media:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/BusinessOwnersWhoThinkBig/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alinavincent/

https://www.twitter.com/AlinaVincent1

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Alina Vincent is a business strategist, speaker and the author of the brand new book “Teach Your Expertise: How to Grow a Business and Become a Success by Creating an Online Class or Program.” She’s also the creator of the 5-Day Challenge Launch Formula, which helped her grow her business from zero to over a million dollars in just 4 years.

Alina is passionate about helping entrepreneurs package and monetize their knowledge and expertise to create a leveraged and scalable business. Experts hire her for strategic advice and a simple step-by-step approach to creating successful online programs, engaged Facebook communities, and profitable 5-day challenges.

Learn more about Alina here.

Imperfect Show Notes

We are happy to offer these imperfect show notes to make this podcast more accessible to those who are hearing impaired or those who prefer reading over listening. While we would love to offer more polished show notes, we are currently offering an automated transcription (which likely includes errors, but hopefully will still deliver great value), below. 

GGGB Intro 0:00
Coming up today on Guts, Grit and Great Business.

Alina Vincent 0:02
So when that thing clicked, and I realized how much I can bring to the table, I’ve created a six-figure business. I’ve created a really good presence for myself on Facebook. That’s one of the ways I was getting clients for my photography business, is I was doing a lot of organic marketing without even realizing what I was doing. And that was unique. So not paying for any Facebook ads not doing and any sleazy promotional tactics. I was having a lot of conversation, there was a lot of visual storytelling. And people were asking me, how did I get myself so visible? So when all of this collapsed into one thing, I’m like, Oh, my God, I’ve been avoiding missing out. Yeah. And that was when I created my very first challenge. This is how the challenge is started about six years ago, that I created. instead of chasing after people one at a time, I said, I’m gonna do this really fun, practical, 21 Day Challenge, and I’ll offer it for $57. And almost overnight, I had 43 people sign up for it.

GGGB Intro 0:59
The adventure of entrepreneurship and building a life and business you love, preferably at the same time is not for the faint of heart. That’s why Heather Pearce Campbell is bringing you a dose of guts, grit and great business stories that will inspire and motivate you to create what you want in your business and life. Welcome to the Guts, Grit and Great Business podcast where endurance is required. Now, here’s your host, The Legal Website Warrior®, Heather Pearce Campbell.

Heather Pearce Campbell 1:31
Hello and welcome. I am Heather Pearce Campbell, The Legal Website Warrior®. I am an attorney and legal coach based here in Seattle, Washington. Welcome to another episode of Guts, Grit, and Great Business. So today I am super excited to bring my friend and somebody I really tremendously admire Alina Vincent on to the show today. Welcome Alina.

Alina Vincent 1:56
Well, such a pleasure to be here. Thank you so much for having me. Absolutely.

Heather Pearce Campbell 2:01
And many of you probably know Alina already, if you don’t know so Alina and I met through a mutual friend Jay Fiset. I overlapped with Alina at several events and I was just a fan from the beginning. I got to watch Alina present and I can say pretty conclusively that and I’ve spent some time in the online world I tend to like not stop getting myself educated on all kinds of things done a lot of online education and Alina’s courses. I’m just going to start by saying these are so brilliantly done they’re even in Jay’s words like you actually complete them like how miraculous is that so many we don’t complete but Alina her style of teaching like there’s just so much that I love about the way that you present your material and Alina and you make it do you actually make like the work that you teach feel really doable. So I just admire that so much about your work. You’re welcome. So Alina is the owner of Business Success Edge, she’s based in Nevada. Her business serves coaches, authors, speakers and experts by helping them create successful online programs, engaged Facebook communities. So if you are not familiar yet with Alina’s Facebook community, I think it’s called Business Owners who play big or who think big, think big. You need to go there are like 32,000 people in that group and she also supports people in building and creating profitable five-day challenges. So she’s a business strategist, a speaker and the author of the brand new book, teach your expertise how to grow a business and become a success by creating an online class or program. She literally like I consider her the original creator of the five day Facebook challenge so people everywhere have seen those now but they basically originated with Alina and so you have her to thank for how brilliant those work especially the way that she teaches them and she has created the five-day challenge Launch Formula which helped her grow her own business from zero to over a million dollars in just four years. She is passionate about helping entrepreneurs package and monetizes their knowledge and expertise to create leveraged and scalable business experts hire her for strategic advice and a simple step by step approach to creating successful online programs engaged Facebook communities and again profitable five-day challenges. So like I said at the beginning like if you want to watch a master really teach and especially in the online space teach digital course building teach how to do it the right way. You’ve got to connect with Alina. So Alina, I’m so happy to have you here. There’s so much more to your story that we can get into but I’ll leave it there for the beginning. Thanks for joining

Alina Vincent 4:56
That’s very kind of you Heather.

Heather Pearce Campbell 4:57
Absolutely. Well, I’ve gotten to know you better and there are a lot parts of your journey that I love, some big transitions that you made in your life and career. And being a former photographer myself, I especially love that like you were in photography originally, when you came to the states and set up this thriving photography business, I giggled when you told me the part about, you know, delivering photography services as the main thing. And then they got a site of business coaching, which I think is how you transition into, like the business building business coaching space, is that right?

Alina Vincent 5:34
Yeah, that’s exactly how it happened with a lot more stories along the way.

Heather Pearce Campbell 5:38
So talk to us about those days of the photography work. What did you What did you love? Like, how did you originally get into photography?

Alina Vincent 5:46
Well, the interesting thing is, there’s a little bit more to the story that started before my photography business. Because growing up, I never even once would have thought that they wanted to have a business because I was a third generation teacher. So my parents were professors of the university, my grandparents were professors in the university. So I grew up with this notion that the only way to be valued and productive in life is good degrees and teach if that’s the only way to kind of be right. And so I went to school, I get degrees. This is when I came to the United States from former Soviet Union. I’m from Pakistan originally. So in my 20s, I came here to go to get more school. So I was getting kept getting degrees, I was teaching at the university, I worked as an instructional designer, helping integrate technology into online education and create those hybrid and online classes that everybody now has to create in this school system. So eventually, I realized that I really didn’t like having a boss. And I really didn’t like having somebody to tell me how much I get paid. And I really didn’t like that. Anytime I wanted to be creative, I had to get permission. And I had to get permission for pretty much anything I wanted to do. So eventually, I started realizing that wasn’t quite me. So this was like, right after the 2008 recession, that I went to my husband, I said, I think I want to quit my job. And I think I want to start a business. And he just looked at me, he said, as long as it makes you happy, which was not quite the response that he wanted. I was hoping he would talk me out of it. But he totally supported me. And I quit my job. And they started the business without knowing anything about the business. And the most interesting thing is people often ask me how much of a culture shock was coming from former Soviet Union to America. And I can tell you that that was nothing compared to the culture shock coming from the academic world to the world of having your own business. Yeah, so the hardest part was, I didn’t realize that you cannot just be good enough to have a business like it’s not enough. So I felt like I was completely invisible. Nobody knew what I was doing. Everybody was questioning how long I’ve been in business. And I couldn’t get clients. I felt like the whole entire, like the first few months of me, having my business was chasing after people trying to convince them to work with me in their responses were like, Well, I have a camera and my brother can take my picture or whatever it was. So I realized really quickly that I had to learn about marketing. My first thought when I started my business was like, Yay, photography has always been my hobby. I’ve always I was everywhere always was a camera. So I thought like, I’ll start that business. And I’ll spend years learning more about the stuff I love which lens to use with all of those Photoshop tricks on how to get better. Yeah, no, I spend our whole entire first year learning about marketing, learning about like, all of those things like how to network and how to create sales, yes, all of that. And I got a coach. That was one of the bright decision, it didn’t even realize I accidentally hired the lady. And it turns out later that she was a coach, and she had the mastermind, so I had a coach in the head of the mastermind, and they think that’s what changed the trajectory of my business. Because she made me focus and made me narrow down what my specialty, she helped me raise my prices, she helped me figure out how to actually explain what they do. And my business went to six figures in the first 18 months, which is kind of unheard of. And I kept learning more about marketing and I kept like I switched my I went through a whole bunch of different niches from the do our photography to stock photography to pretty much I’ll do anything for anyone photography, and eventually became known as the marketing photographer. And what happened is they would come to me and we would have like three four hour sessions, they would get their hair, their makeup, and the whole entire time I was talking to them, what kind of business do you have? And who is your ideal audience and the kind of message do you want to portray and how the how you’re going to use these images in your marketing in a started getting that feedback that they weren’t getting more coaching from me while I was taking their headshot that they were getting from their own coaches. So when the time came, and I realized that my photography business was not scalable, because I was still trading hours for dollars, and I basically stopped making money as soon as I stopped working. And as I was looking at creating a more leveraged and scalable model, where I could leverage my time leverage my efforts and serve like hundreds of 1000s of people at the same time, the decision was pretty easy to go from like, I’m no longer a marketing photographer. Now. I’m going to help people learn more getting in help them build their businesses online.

Heather Pearce Campbell 10:41
I love that there’s, there’s a lot of pieces of that story that I love. I mean, one, your background in instructional design really shows But clearly, you also just have a knack for business like, like the photographer.

Alina Vincent 10:55
did not think that. I had like zero business skills and zero business activists I thought selling was a bad years.

Heather Pearce Campbell 11:06
Well, you’re not alone in that, right. So many people when they go to start a business, right? We all, at least most of us initially started from the standpoint of word technician wanting to do a certain thing. And we think we can do that thing relatively well. So, therefore, we can build a business around it. And what we learned was you learned in a hurry and luckily applied all of the skills and the education that you were getting is that you have to learn marketing and sales and business systems and technology, right, all of this other stuff that gets layered on but obviously you adapted you combined that knowledge grew your own business, and then quickly outgrew your own business. But I just love that piece about people hiring you photographer photography and really getting the business coaching piece. So tell us a little bit about that transition period, from photography into business, other business coaching, whatever you did next.

Alina Vincent 12:04
Yeah, it was interesting, because on one hand, I was making more money than I was making in my job at the university. And it was like, I could set my own hours, sorta, which means I set my hours to be 80 hours a week, I guess. It’s like, hey, why stop? Anytime I work.

Heather Pearce Campbell 12:22
Right? Yes, entrepreneurs are the crazy breed who will spend 80 hours a week, you know, to avoid working 40 or whatever it goes, for somebody else.

Alina Vincent 12:33
Yes, we’re live that reality. Yes, absolutely. And the pain point, like the big pain point there was that I couldn’t take time off. And I in order for me to increase my business, I would have to like double the hours I worked and I already was working kind of nonstop. And because I have a little bit of this, like, addictive personality is like, well, I can make more next week I can do more. It’s like, well, all I have to do is work more. So it ended up being this kind of a really bad chase of like, I can make more money. I just have to sleep less hours

Heather Pearce Campbell 13:05
I know that feeling. I feel like I’m a little bit in the middle of that little merry go round.

Alina Vincent 13:10
Yeah. So and this is one of the things I’m really watching right now and looking at, like what’s leveraged, what’s not because it’s really easy to get caught up in this excitement of like, I love doing this. I love working with people. I love doing I don’t have a need sleep, I don’t even need to eat. Like, yes, of course, I could squish my hours and put another appointment in the middle. And it’s okay for a little bit, especially if you’re younger. But yeah, it was starting to kind of Yeah, not be a good thing, creating other side effects of my life. And at the same time, I was trying to find myself so I knew enough that I needed to go more leveraged. So I published two books while I was still in my photography business. So you mentioned I have a brand new book that just got released called t-shirt expertise. My last book was six years ago, that was still photography business. So I was trying to see like, oh, if I do a book that’s going to give me more credibility, maybe I can start teaching people I started teaching photography classes, I started teaching, like, even back, went back to our local college and was doing evening classes because I’ve always been missing that teaching piece. Like I always wanted to learn something and teach people. So what I loved when I was working at the university, and when I was an instructional designer is I had this access to people like there was constant interaction. And when they went into photography, I definitely have my creative outlet. But I had less of the teaching abilities because I could teach people like here and they’re like, oh turn this way. This is going to be better posted and the people are saying like now I know how to take good pictures because you’ve taught me so it’s always been part of my like, I cannot teach Yeah, but I was missing this big interaction and they impact this. Many people like teaching a few 100 people class at university. It also filled me with joy. So I was missing out in the photography. So all of those pieces kind of started to come together and I started to experiment with what to call myself because I didn’t want to be a marketing photographer. So I went back and forth like, I am a visual marketing expert or I am x y. So like all of those creative titles were, when I would tell them to people, they would have no clue what I was talking about. And one day I attended a business conference, one of those three-day life events. And that was one of my first ones in this industry in this kind of online coaching business industry. And somebody sat next to me. And at the table, we were given an assignment like Introduce yourself. And I couldn’t even introduce myself because I couldn’t figure out what my current label so I would introduce myself like I used to be a photographer and that this and now I help people with their visual marketing identity or whatever jibberish I was talking about, it sounded really good at the time.

Heather Pearce Campbell 15:47
Anybody listening can actually relate to what you just said, especially in periods of transition, or branding are up leveling? It’s like, how do I convey what I do in a way that people really will get, right? It’s a real piece of figuring out that business. It’s a struggle.

Alina Vincent 16:05
so many clients that I work with right now, this is where they’re stuck. They’re stuck on creating, they’re finding that new, creative new ways of calling themselves to separate themselves from everybody else. And yet, if you separate yourself too much, nobody even understands what you’re doing. So it’s a definite struggle. So this guy who sat next to me, he goes, none of that makes sense. You’re business coach because you help people market themselves. I’m like, Yeah, no, no, the business coach, I had this a little bit of luck. Yeah, no. Like, there are 1000s of business coaches in this room. And I’m not wanting to definitely not that. He’s like, No, your business coach. And I seriously so lunch was over, I walked away. And I was thinking about like, a guest that actually describes what I do. And I guess I have been teaching and coaching people for years. I just never put that label on it. So I went back to him. I was like, huh, I guess you’re right. And turns out he was he had another event, he was leading an event. Turns out he was a big deal. And I didn’t even know when I was sitting next to him. So I came to his event about two weeks later, he was actually teaching people how to start a coaching business. And he became my coach for the following two and a half years so and he helped me kind of wrap my brain around this like how do you create a business that does not require you to be there one on one all the time with people. So that was kind of that that was the funny transition? Because I remember and for a while, I was still like another business coach. I called myself a business strategist. Because if that felt a little bit more creative, some still a business strategist.

Heather Pearce Campbell 17:36
Yeah. No, I like it.

Alina Vincent 17:37
That’s the transition.

Heather Pearce Campbell 17:39
Yes. Well, I love it. You know, it’s real, it’s honest, I think a lot of people can relate to the, you know, two steps forward one step back, what am I doing? Do I call it this? Do I go this direction and I think it’s just truthfully the nature of business and the nature of evolution and growing right. And or the thing I love about where you’re at now because I can see it like your inclination and your natural ability to teach right? Your background in instructional design or technology or whatever. And then…

Alina Vincent 18:13
All of it.

Heather Pearce Campbell 18:14
And then where you’re at, it’s just like the perfect combination of all your skills.

Alina Vincent 18:23
It is now but that’s not how so when I said okay, I am a business coach now. Okay, I’ll try this for a little bit. It was not smooth road. So I went through almost four months where I let go of my photography business. And I said, Okay, I’m not going to take any more clients. So that income stopped. And they said, Okay, how hard can it be? I have a aivd in theoretical physics, I already created one six-figure business-like now all I have to do is just like snap my fingers and have another profitable business. And for the first four months, I could not get a single client and because in the business coaching world you can have you started going under after that high end ticket offers where you work with people one on one, you have a strategy session and you say like here’s my package, and that did not work for me whatsoever. Conversation kind of went like this. Oh, you are a photographer. Why would I hire you as my business coach like what kind of how long you’ve been coaching it’s like well, about five minutes now. So I was in such a mess again, because I didn’t know my value. I didn’t realize that. I was using my experiences as a five minutes ago versus my whole life to present who I was like I completely disregarded everything that I’ve done up until that point and was starting as if I was starting from scratch and I dug myself a big hole because we went through most of our savings. We went through a lot of like I talked to a lot of people and got zero people interested in working with me. So the big magic moment came after it was basically I got to a point where I had to dust off my resume and they started sending them. Interestingly enough, my to the two universities I was applying for one was in Portland, one was in Seattle. So your life could have been completely different, right?

Heather Pearce Campbell 20:07
You could be my neighbor, I know.

Alina Vincent 20:11
So I remember I was sitting in the car thinking like, I need to get that next client or else. And of course, was that attitude that you never get anything, right, because like, almost out of desperation, almost like I gotta get it or else sign on the line. I need you to pay me or I can pay the mortgage. And that’s when something snapped together. And they realized that what I was doing is I was completely disregarding everything that I’ve done up until now. And everything you just said, I have a degree in computer science, I good with technology, I can speak technology, I can learn something, and teach it the next day. And I’ve done this before. And I have an engineering degree. So I know how to break things apart. I know how to create processes on how to simplify things. And I have the creative southern side that allows me to be like super out of the box come up with like, these intuitive solutions have a strong intuitive side, so I can so that I can use my brain and I can use all of those other interesting powers that we all have. So and I have helped people create programs, I have five international awards for the online courses I’ve designed. So I’m an award-winning instructional designer. So all of those pieces. When I started my coaching business, I completely forgot what they had. Like, it’s almost like I have the brain like is like Yo, I’m a brand new person, I’m going to be a brand new coach. And of course, you don’t stand out. Of course, nobody wants to work with you, because you don’t believe in yourself. So when that thing clicked, and I realized how much I can bring to the table, I’ve created a six-figure business, I’ve created a really good present for myself on Facebook. That’s one of the ways I was getting clients for my photography business, is I was doing a lot of organic marketing without even realizing what I was doing. And that was unique. So not paying for any Facebook ads not doing any sleazy promotional tactics, I was having a lot of conversation, there was a lot of visual storytelling. And people were asking me, how did I get myself so visible? So when all of this collapsed into one thing, I’m like, Oh, my God, I’ve been missing out. Yeah. And that was when I created my very first challenge. This is how the challenges started about six years ago, that I created. Instead of chasing after people one at a time, I said, I’m gonna do this really fun, practical, 21 Day Challenge. And I’ll offer it for $57. And almost overnight, I had 43 people sign up for it. So I went from like, not having a single client, everybody saying, Yeah, no, this is great. Good for you. I’m so glad you’re doing something with your life kind of responses to this, like, oh, you’re going to teach us how we can get clients from Facebook ourselves. And that’s how my business got started. So I did that a 21-day challenge. And three people who finished the challenge, said, Oh, my God, we can see how much we can learn from you. We can see how much he can help us with all of the aspects of our business. And they paid me $2,000 a month for six months. So that was like the biggest say they have ever had. And it’s because by teaching and by giving them value, I showed them what’s possible. So that was kind of the next transition moment that said my next business on the map.

Heather Pearce Campbell 23:23
Well, I hope for folks that are listening, like that moment, and I want to take you back to that moment where you know, you had this recognition, kind of this lightbulb moment of like, Oh my gosh, I could bring my whole self to what I’m doing right now, like you had all this brilliant background and like, knowing you now and like actually seeing your work in action, it’s really fun to hear this story because like, you know, not just anybody can show up and design a course and make it like so straightforward that people can consume, they’re empowered to take the next step. They do it and it shows up in your Facebook challenges as well, which I’ve been through and anybody listening, like I just highly recommend you do it for the experience. Like even now I’m still intimidated by Facebook, full stop. Like, I’ve never figured out that platform. We’ve been talking for months about doing a Facebook challenge. And you know, you’d been doing it in your photography business like no problem. And like the joy of bringing all your skills to the table. How did that recognition happen? Like you were in this moment of desperation that talk to me about how you actually fit that puzzle together?

Alina Vincent 24:29
I don’t know if there was like, one specific moment, but I think it was this whole like I tasted the taste of entrepreneurship. I tasted that freedom. I’ve tasted that potential. I started seeing more of what other people doing. And I think it’s more of self-pity, like, I’m smarter than you. You know how we all think like, well, if they can do it, I can do it. Right. And, like seriously, I’m like, Why can I get it? What’s wrong with me and like I went through a lot of that Like, why is it not working? And what I realized is, I was looking at just like the last three months, so the last like four months. Yeah. All I was bringing, like, if somebody would ask me, do you have any other clients? I would be like, No, you would be my first, which is not what anybody wants to hear. But if you if I would have said, Hey, I have 20 years of teaching at the university level, I’ve created a six figure business. So I can definitely like, it’s a completely different position. So it’s, it’s that positioning piece and this regarding, like, right now, when people come to me and they go, I don’t know what they can teach, or I don’t know what I can create a course around, or I don’t know what they can offer to people. It’s like, okay, however old you are 30 5060, like, your whole entire life prepares you for this moment. So you don’t need to learn anything else. You don’t need another certification. You don’t need another, somebody to tell you that you’re ready. Just looking at your life, your life experiences, like all of the different lessons learned almost celebrations, or the worst possible traumas and situations that you’ve experienced in your life. They all give you the ability to teach somebody who could be in your situation, and give them that relief and give them that solution. So that was the big realization that I have to bring all of myself, I have to bring different pieces of me. And looking back. I know, the reason I didn’t like being a big university is I didn’t have the creative outlet. So when I was working in the university for 16 years, I’ve always like, I’ve gotten to scrapbooking, I’ve done my car, may I’ve done knitting, I’ve done crocheting, I’ve done painting. So it’s almost like I had to come home. And then that’s left brain of like, some kind of artistic creation. When I was doing photography, it kind of went the other way. So I was only doing creative work and less thinking and logical and processes. So where I am right now, the reason that’s working so beautifully is I use my whole entire brain, the left side, and the right side on an everyday basis. Like every single day, there are creative solutions. There’s even writing copy or creating, like designing whatever you want to do for your website, and solving problems and teaching people. So what where I am thriving right now is I get to use every single one of my experiences, even the little things where like, like people always say like, so yeah, I have this degree in something or I have this, I have this job as something, it’s still added to something. One of my clients was saying like, Well, I have nothing to bring to the table. I’m like, Okay, tell me your life story. And she’s like, well, blah, blah, blah. I’m like, Okay, what kind of hobbies you have? What did you do as a child? Turns out, she spent like, 13 years as a violinist, like, okay, you have to use anything. Because if even if you just mention it, like a classically trained violinist, like it shows the persistence, it shows patience, it shows dedication is show sticking to something shows mastery, like, how can all of those little things, even if you were a dog, groomer, even if you were, if you had a newspaper out, every single thing you’ve ever done, always leads you to something. And the way I was thinking before was like, Well, okay, so I have this degree in physics, how’s it going to help me with my photography? business, right, usually disregarded, or Yeah, I have my photography, business. How does it help me was coaching, like, throw it away? And in reality, every single thing you’ve ever done in your life brought you to this point where you have your own unique solution to something even when you don’t realize that you have it. And I think that’s the beauty like this is what I love helping people right now. Pool, that unique story, that unique solution that they can provide. And often that’s not what they think they’re going to be creating, or the business they’re creating. It’s something that they are setting up like they’re sitting on a goldmine was that that’s what their genius thrill.

Heather Pearce Campbell 28:52
Well, the thing I really love about this conversation is the timing, like how many people need to hear this right now. Like we’re in the midst of this crazy time. People that were not entrepreneurs before are having to shift and consider that path. People who were entrepreneurs, but maybe we’re not showing up online in the way that they wanted to now are really having to consider that path. And so for folks listening, I mean, the power of that statement of like, literally everything you’ve done in your life has led you here, you have what it takes to do the next thing. And regardless of whether you think your experience combines to create something obvious or something that you know, people will want, there is something in there like Alina said, You’re sitting on a goldmine. So how do you help I mean, aside from just listening and learning life stories, for somebody that’s listening to this conversation now, how do you help pull out of them? And obviously, you know, one thing I’ll put a plugin for the importance of mentors and like even in your own path, hiring business coaches. hiring people that can help you see that next step. So maybe that’s the answer. But is there anything that you can say to folks who are listening about right now how to figure out what it is that they’re sitting on?

Alina Vincent 30:11
Right? Okay. Well, first of all, in my book, in chapter two, there’s a whole questionnaire on how you can find that niche and how you can narrow down, I have two pages of questions that you can ask yourself. And it’s questions like what comes easy to you? What can you do in your sleep? if somebody were to put you on stage right now and tell you to talk for the next 15 minutes? What is it that you want to talk about? And there’s more questions? There are more questions like that. And very often, it’s like, like, I was talking to the lady yesterday. And she says, Well, I think I want to do this. But everybody always asks me to do XYZ. But I still want to do this. It’s like, no, if people are asking you all the time to do something, they’re telling you what they were paying for. They’re telling you what they were the best in, that they are the ones who recognize that unique expertise that you have. So often, we get stuck up, here’s what I want to bring to the world, versus what the world actually wants from you.

Heather Pearce Campbell 31:09
Well, and I love that for and if you’re listening. So I’m going to put a link to Alina’s book in the show notes, be sure to visit legalwebsitewarrior.com/podcast, find the Alina’s episode, and we will put a link to her latest book, which will be live by the time this conversation is published. But I love that chapter to two pages of questions.

Alina Vincent 31:32
And okay, so let me tell you this. So the book is called Teach Your Expertise, you can go to Amazon and find it right now. Yeah. So the second chapter or I think it’s chapter one. Okay. So somewhere there, in the first two chapters, you will find, like my process of starting to think of how do you recognize that expertise, choosing your hot topic, I call it a hot topic. And then how do you narrow to something that people actually want to buy. And then in the rest of the book, there are 20 inspirational stories from people just like you, from people who always been entrepreneurs all their lives, from people who switched from niche to niche to niche from people who went from corporate, and went into, into business, from people who went from academic world kind of like me, and then started their own business, or people who were housewives, and then started their own business, or from people who had a brick and mortar business. For example, one of my clients, they have, it’s a couple, actually, Antonia, and Greg, and they’ve had a hands-on body working business. So they have a chapter. So I would highly, highly recommend you read the rest of the book as well because you’re going to hear real-life stories of people who are trying to build their online business and succeeded and creating an online program was part of that. But even bigger than that is how they’ve used their life story, how they lose their experiences. And sometimes you go with the idea, and this is it. Sometimes you try an idea, and it’s not quite there, you try another idea. And that’s tough. And it’s totally okay because everybody is on their own journey. But I would highly recommend that you read everybody else’s chapters as well. Because not only you’re going to see how different people with different backgrounds were different stories, overcoming different like, from addictions to traumas to death, like there’s a lot of really powerful stories, but also every single chapter, they’re going to tell you what helped them move that needle, what helped them focus on that idea, what helped them to stick to that idea and to continue moving, and how that led to their success and entrepreneurial freedom, if you want. So that’s kind of a blank for the book.

Heather Pearce Campbell 33:41
I’m so glad that we naturally got there, right. Yeah, that’s the next big thing on your list. And, you know, underscoring the importance of story and seeing how other people did it even sometimes, despite the odds. I mean, there’s a woman that actually applied to be on my podcast, and I find her story very interesting. It’s about how she was a swim instructor, right? pre-COVID. She’s entirely transitioned her swim lessons online to be virtual, like how on earth like, I don’t even know anything yet about the details of how she’s done it, but she’s done it and she’s done it successfully. So if you can teach lessons, you know, swimming lessons online, virtually, like I’m pretty sure there are lots of other things you can be doing online. But the other thing I love about your share is this idea that sometimes the ideas have been tapping at the window, right? People have been and this is part and I did an episode on the intuition that I love. But sometimes, like, we’re already sitting on the solution, and we don’t even know it because of what you said like we’re attached to an idea, but actually, you know, we’re a degree or two off and it’s actually right here because people have already been telling us what they would hire us to do.

Alina Vincent 34:59
We’re going to tell you a story on that. You know how we, when we talk about our transitions and our journeys, everything’s like, Okay, and then they made that decision can the sky parted, the sun was shining, I manifested everything I want it, it’s not quite the same. So I’m going to tell you about my choice for the topic for my first challenge because that was also a struggle. So the as I was, when I was a photographer, still had the photography business, I told you that I was, like, starting to get traction on Facebook, I started to get clients, I started to get strangers reaching out to me saying, like, I’ve seen your work on like, like, they would call me and say, hey, how do I sign up to work with you? I’m like, Do you know who I am? Yes, I’ve been following you online for a little bit. Like, do you want to know how much it is? No, I just want to know, if you are available next Tuesday. I mean, it became that easy, because they could see from what I was posting what the experience of working with me would be, what people were talking about what the results were. So all of that contributed. So people, like I would go to networking events. here locally, I’m part of the women network and a few other networking events. And people who saw me when they first started my business about a year after all the people I was looking after them, I’m like, Oh, my gosh, you’re so much further business than me. You’ve been doing business, they started coming to me and saying, wow, I see you everywhere on Facebook, you’re so visible. How did you do that? And so when it came to, for me to choose that topic for that first challenge for the first online digital training that I wanted to create, I asked people, what would you like to learn from me, and they said, We want to know how you do Facebook, I’m like, ah, I don’t want to be known as a Facebook lady, anything about that. And I was trying to, like, I’ll teach you to like, I was going for generic stuff, like, I teach people how to get from point A to point B. And everybody’s like, whatever. We’re like, I’m really good at seeing the big picture and the small steps, and they can help you walk you through. And people go, whatever. So people need like, all of that is so general, pretty much every business owner can stay the same exact thing. And what people wanted for me was they wanted to know how organic and you get clients from Facebook, and there were screaming and kicking. And they like they had to drag me to this idea. And I created that challenge. And that was called Facebook traffic explosion, later renamed it to get clients from Facebook, which is a little bit more of my language. But, and I did it and then they started to get known as the Facebook lead, because people started saying, like, oh, I just did this challenge. It was awesome. When she’s doing it again, please make sure to sign up, I started getting people asking me to speak on stages and talk about my process and my methods. I had big names in the industry, like people with 100,000 people lists reaching out to me and say, I heard that you have this training that’s really good, and people getting results. I would like to promote you, I’m going to send an email to my list about your work and like, did you get the wrong number, but it was unbelievable. And I did not be like one little bit that I was becoming known as a Facebook ad. And they kept saying like, No, I’m a marketing strategist, no one this, like, I would actually correct people when they called me like a Facebook marketing expert, seriously. And then about a year or two. After that. I eventually said, Oh, that’s what people want for me. And this is how I really remember myself. And this is the that’s the box, they need to put me in their heads for me to be known for that. And then for a while there, I still feel like like to know, this Facebook lady, even though people still call me like their Facebook lady. And then for the last three years or so once I really started, got my formula for the five-day challenges. When I started teaching this, then my focus became like, okay, now I want to be known as the five-day challenge experts. And now I’m way happier there. But it’s still you have to go with where the market is and what they want from you not with how you see yourself or how you think it reflects on you.

Heather Pearce Campbell 38:59
Well, and that’s such a great example. Because you’re right, some people might pick something initially and it sticks. But for most people that’s not how it works. You have to try something tested, tested, tested. And well, you know, it’s really great to think that like we can create our own market for something, you know, for most people, that’s not the case like we have to get back to business fundamentals of what does the marketplace need? Right? Certainly, some artists can create a marketplace for their work because they’ve got a brand name established or something. But most of us live in the real world. And we are in some kind of marketplace and it responds in certain ways. And we have to take that information. But I love that example of like, you know, people letting you know along the way, what they’re looking for what their actual need is. And it’s a really good reminder for us, I think to be observant to really be listening to the folks that we’re connecting within business because there’s so much that we can glean If we just pay attention.

Alina Vincent 40:03
And so there are specific words and phrases you can be looking for or specific questions you can ask yourself. So number one, what are people always asking your device with? That’s a really good signal. Another one, if people say like, Oh my gosh, you make it look so easy. Like, what is those things that people tell you about? Oh, you always look so great. Are you? Are you so great? Was tails or you’re so good at understanding XYZ? So what are those things that people compliment you on? And you just dismiss? And because for most of us, it’s like, well, doesn’t everybody know that doesn’t come easy for everybody else? That was my thought was Facebook to like, isn’t everybody else’s doing the same thing? Man, one of my clients said, No, we’re all struggling. So what did we all want to have what you have? Because we don’t know how to get there? And I was just thinking like, well, how hard can it be like, it came so naturally to me, and then certain things don’t come naturally to me whatsoever like I have to learn or I have to find somebody else to do it. So watching out how other people recognize your expertise, and instead of dismissing it, write it down. say like, oh, three people this week asked me about, like, how do they create such a beautiful, whatever banner for my Facebook profile? Or people say you’re so good on Facebook life, or people say, wow, I love your clothes. I love your style. So what is that one thing that you keep getting compliments on, or people say like, you’re so good at it, I wish I was like you. So those are really good signals that for that’s what everybody else around you recognize us as your unique expertise.

Heather Pearce Campbell 41:33
I love that in the piece about write it down. Like, again, pay attention to it and write it down. Because, you know, it’s one thing to hear it. But even this exercise, so I launched a personal and this will be outdated by the time this interview airs. But I launched a personal passion project this week called the leap lab, where I’m walking a group of 10 women through it’s really just like some personal development work like the midst of COVID. There’s a lot of constraints for people that are juggling multiple balls, maybe they’ve got small children, maybe they’re caretaking for somebody like still trying to run a business right on top of all of this. And one of the things and we’re two days in but the power of writing things down even from like a journaling perspective. But what you’re saying here is recording what you’re getting from folks, because seeing it on the page, it’s really different than having thoughts be running around, you know, taking up space in your mind. And there really is something powerful about putting pen to paper, putting it down, it forces you to look at it in a way that often we haven’t done yet. And so I just want to point that out. It’s really, really great tip, especially if you’re still in the business building journey of processing, what should come next? What does this look like? Where am I headed if you’re struggling with any of those pieces.

Alina Vincent 42:50
And you can take it one step further. So the reason I like that kind of teeny little ideas, sometimes it is going to be a project, sometimes there’s going to be a program sometimes on this. But if you are still testing the market, if you still like being torn, because we’re all multi-passionate, multi-creative, we all have like all of these amazing ideas. This is where I love the idea of five day challenges because you can easily test something. And in five days, you’ll know if this is something your market resonates with if you have access to a market if it’s something that people want to learn from you, like I have so many people say like who’s ever gonna learn that who’s ever gonna want this? Who will? Like, do a five-day challenge? Seriously, in five days, you’ll know who you are. And they go, Wow, people said they’ve never heard it this way before. Or they said this was such a unique perspective, or things finally clicked. Like all of those things, and the best boosting self-esteem. It’s not like yes, the one thing is to say like, Oh, we have to work on your confidence. And you have to do all this inner work. And yes, say those affirmations and you’ll believe in yourself. And of course, it plays a part. To me, one of the easiest ways to increase somebody’s confidence and increase somebody’s understanding of the value they can provide is get them to do a five-day challenge. Because there’s nothing equals to a reaction of the people who are learning from you and telling you in real time, oh my god, you just blew my mind. I’m looking at the world completely differently. My business relationship with life health is going to be changed because of these five days. And like you completely can transform how you see the value of your brain bank, cuz you’ve touched somebody’s life. And we overthink we sit back We’re like, I’m going to go out when I would I feel like I’m an expert when somebody tells me they an expert when I visible enough. When they already have 10,000 people on my list then I’ll launch something and then reality go was your idea and test it right away. You’ll know if there’s going to be traction for it. And you have nothing to lose. You’re not building these massive year-long masterminds and then having a hard time not feeling them. You taking five days and you’re doing a five-day challenge. If you know how to do it. It’s gonna immediately tell you if there’s a market for that and if your market is Something that your market wants?

Heather Pearce Campbell 45:02
Oh, yes, well, and you know, I’ve been through your training, highly, highly recommend it. Still that’s the next big thing on my list. I mean, I call it big because it feels big to me. I’m still intimidated by Facebook, working on it. But I, I’ve done well on LinkedIn, like I know how to connect on LinkedIn and use that well, for my business, I’ve still got to figure out Facebook land, but the speed to market that you’re talking about the ability to like really play with an idea and get that instantaneous feedback, I think is just genius. And we all I think could benefit from being more experimental, more playful in our businesses.

Alina Vincent 45:38
Yeah. And there’s also a part like was, again, if we’re talking about the five-day challenges, it’s a really low cost, low tech, and you don’t need to have anything in place, you can run the whole of their challenge for like, under 10 bucks, versus if you creating a program, and if you creating like a big marketing launch, sometimes it takes six months to even get to a point where you even talk to a human being, because of we kind of get stuck in the development and process of creation, the content versus going and talking to people and making that offer right away. So for me, a five-day challenge is the easiest, simplest, like it’s almost like a no threshold way of testing new ideas.

Heather Pearce Campbell 46:17
So you’ve heard it here, folks. If you have not yet considered a five-day challenge, I highly recommend that you check out Alina’s work. Alina, where do you like to connect with folks?

Alina Vincent 46:27
The easiest way is go to my Facebook group business owners who think big find their joy in it. Because anything that I do will always let you know about their like, I mean, you can join my list, there’s a whole bunch of free gifts, there are lots of ways of doing it. So if you want to be really connected with me is join my Facebook group. This is where I run all of my five-day challenges This year, we’re doing five of them. Next year, we might even do more like anything I did my business was started with a challenge. So if I want to fill a life event, we do a five-day challenge. If I want to fill a program, we’ll do a five-day challenge. If I want to launch a book, I’ll do a five-day challenge. If I want to get one on one clients, I’ll do a five-day challenge. So anything like to me is the easiest and fastest marketing tool to gather everybody who’s interested in that topic, and then lead them through. Here’s the next step. And here’s the next step. So you’ll find out about everything we have going on. So that would be way number one way number two is go grab the copy of my book, teach your expertise. And there’s going to be a link to get whole bunch of gifts that come with the book. And again, you’re going to be connected with me that way.

Heather Pearce Campbell 47:29
Oh, that’s awesome. So for folks listening, be sure to check out the show notes. They’re going to live at legalwebsitewarrior.com/podcast to find Alina’s episode. Oh, Alina, I mean, there are so many resources there even in those two links. And for people that haven’t yet been inside your Facebook group, a lot happens there a lot of interaction, a lot of exchanges, a lot of teaching, so I highly recommend it. Two questions before we sign off one. You’ve done lots of amazing work. I mean, you’ve really done some phenomenal things. What is one thing that you’re still working on in your own business?

Alina Vincent 48:05
Oh, I think my biggest struggle or biggest I’m still..

Heather Pearce Campbell 48:13
Next challenge.

Alina Vincent 48:14
Next challenge. Yes. Is the building the team and trusting my team and outsourcing more things to my team. Oh, we’ve got about that, right. I know, I do have an amazing team. We have six coaches in our team, we have like two or three people working on more admin side of the business. And I still feel that sometimes I do those, like $3 an hour down. Something, it’s easier to do it than outsource. So that is definitely something I need to so I need to become more of a leader I need to become more of a CEO versus being the day to day operation. So that’s definitely one of my next steps is separating myself a little bit more not from teaching, not from touching people, not from the Yes, yes. But more from like, hey, I need to set up a page I can right now. It’s like, hey, let’s go set up a page.

Heather Pearce Campbell 49:08
Isn’t that I know. And for me, like I have, there’s a very impatient side to my personality, where if I, if I know how to do the thing, and I want it done in like 10 minutes, right? It becomes cumbersome, but it’s just the reality of like you have to outsource, outsource, even if things take a little longer to free up your time. So yeah, I think..

Alina Vincent 49:28
For me it’s more planning ahead because I have so many ideas that I go through. And sometimes they change and like a five, like five minutes before. So I might already have a page or might already have something. I’m like, Oh, I have this bright idea. And it’s 10 o’clock at night. I’m gonna think when it runs out totally. So there’s a little bit of that number. It’s being like more of leadership skill. So how to manage a team. We just hired two more people on our team. So the team was growing. So it’s for me kind of like where am I letting go or where I’m trusting which I’m becoming way better. They was in a second thing, it’s more planning ahead so I can make their lives easier, versus they have to be on the whim, like, Hey, we’re changing everything, by the way. I get it, I get it.

Heather Pearce Campbell 50:10
Yes, that’s an exciting spot to be at. And then the final question is, what do you want to leave listeners with today? So for folks who have been with us so far, you know, either a piece of advice and action they can take, what do you want to leave listeners with.

Alina Vincent 50:25
Ah, I’ll probably I would love to leave you with two pieces of advice. Like, if you are not quite where you need to be in business, if you’re not quite reached that success, I think there’s two pieces that really propelled me forward. So number one is having a mentor, like having a coach having a mentor, having somebody who’s already created, what you’re trying to create, has a proven track. And they have a method, a system a blueprint. Because, yes, you can get there on your own. But if you want to shortcut your path, follow somebody who knows what they’re doing somebody you trust, somebody who has proven success, and reach the results that you want to reach, not just teaching about that, but actually doing it and living it. And so you can see exactly how it’s working right now in their everyday life. So that’s number one. Because I would not be where I am right now, if I didn’t invest in myself some really high ticket prices, which were super scary, which were like, never spend that much money before. But it’s really saved me like easily five to 10 years of getting where I am right now, because of those shortcuts, because you can learn from their mistakes. And they’re going to tell you exactly what the next steps look like, what to avoid, and what to focus on. That is the number one advice. And number two, you don’t need to be anything other than you are right now to create a super successful business, you’re already an expert, you already have that unique voice. And it’s everything. It’s your style. It’s your humor, it’s your expertise. Don’t try to chase for a unique idea. there’s pretty much no unique ideas. And you don’t need to figure out how to stand out because there’s no other human being on planet Earth, who has your experience, your expertise, your background, your stories, and your style and who you are like that essence that you bring into this, your gifts, your talents, your everything that makes you, you. So that’s what makes you stand out. So don’t chase for a unique idea, because uniqueness comes from who you are. And don’t wait for a sign that you’re ready. You are ready right now. And there are people right now in this world who need you who can only give that transformation from you. So they’re waiting for you. So make sure you don’t sit in your home and hide and think So go out there and share your gifts.

Heather Pearce Campbell 52:45
That last one is my favorite. I mean, yes to the business, mentorship, and number two, just that piece about like, you’re ready. There’s nothing, there’s nothing else that you need to do. If you have the idea. You’re ready. You just have to move.

Alina Vincent 52:58
Even if you don’t have an idea, just start moving true, you’ll find it.

Heather Pearce Campbell 53:04
That’s true. Even if you don’t have the path. Yes, you don’t have to understand the how, oh, Alina, I’m so grateful to get to spend time with you, you. I mean, I feel like the tip of the iceberg. There’s so much more. But this was so amazing. And you’ve shared so many great stories and examples from your own journey from other people’s. I know that folks that are listening to this are going to really feel inspired to take action and to stop doing the self-talk that keeps right keeps us playing small or keeps us not taking the step because means you’ve done it in a big way. And I really, really love the piece of your journey about bringing all of your brilliance and expertise in your whole self to your business. And I hope people leave with that. Thank you again.

Alina Vincent 53:51
Thank you for having me.

Heather Pearce Campbell 53:53
Yes, so great to have you.

GGGB Intro 53:57
Thank you for joining us today on the Guts, Grit and Great Business podcast. We hope that we’ve added a little fuel to your tank, some coffee to your cup and pep in your step to keep you moving forward in your own great adventures. four key takeaways links to any resources mentioned in today’s show and more see the show notes which can be found at legalwebsitewarrior.com/podcast, be sure to subscribe to the podcast and if you enjoyed today’s conversation, please give us some stars and a review on Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcast so others will find us to keep up the great work you are doing in the world and we’ll see you next week.