With Steve Feld, a certified business coach, author, podcast host, professional speaker, and mastermind facilitator. He is passionate about having small business owners and entrepreneurs achieve massive revenue and profitability growth utilizing simple proven strategies and tactics to build a long-term sustainable business. Steve takes the overwhelm out of business. He has owned, and operated 7 lucrative businesses while providing change management and process improvement for other businesses. He has operated within 3 Fortune 500 companies. And he has written 6 books about business for entrepreneurs.

Join us for this conversation where we talk about what should you do as an entrepreneur to bring profits to your business, and how you can free up your plate without burning out while doing the work.

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

• “I always try to hire people smarter than me…They’re going to actually help you, as the owner, grow your business faster than you even thought of, because they see it differently.”
• “Small-scale business should start practicing upselling, cross-selling and down selling.”
• “You cannot eat the elephant in one bite… you have to break it down”
• “(As) business owners we get so caught up in the daily muck, and we forget about some of the preventive maintenance things that we need in our business.”

“You cannot build a scalable business just by yourself… you need more than that.”

-Steve Feld

Check out these highlights:

• 09:11 Steve shares how how he started business consulting.
• 13:40 Help in deciding what and when to outsource.
• 18:36 What it means to “Eat the frog” and how it relates to your business
• 25:29 How Steve does his work: his first book on business breakthroughs
• 40:03 Steve’s final thought.

How to get in touch with Steve:

On social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bizcoachsteve | https://www.facebook.com/groups/entrepreneurialgrowthforum

YouTube: https://bit.ly/2AaIeGj

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevefeld

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BizCoachSteveF

Learn more about Steve, by visiting his website here. You may also book an appointment with him here, or listen to his podcasts at https://bizcoach.libsyn.com/.

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  00:00

Coming up today on Guts, Grit and Great Business™…

Steve Feld  00:04

Most small business owners don’t think of the end in mind. So when I say what are you gonna do when you hit your million dollars a year? You’re there like, I don’t know, how are you going to sell? I don’t know. Well, it’s like you’re trying to you have a bow and arrow, and there’s no target to shoot at is what you’re doing. That’s what happened in 2020. No one had an exit strategy, but you need to put these things in your business. So when it is time to sell or you’re forced to sell due to economic changes, or whatever, you have a business to sell.

GGGB Intro  00:40

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  01:12

Alrighty, welcome! I am Heather Pearce Campbell, The Legal Website Warrior®. I’m an attorney and legal coach based here in Seattle, Washington, serving online entrepreneurs throughout the US and around the world. Welcome to another episode of guts, grit and great business. I’m super excited to welcome biz Coach Steve Feld here today. Hi, Steve. How are you?

Steve Feld  01:39

Good. Thanks.

Heather Pearce Campbell  01:40

Good. It’s good to see you again.

Steve Feld  01:42

A long time no see, right. Yeah. 

Heather Pearce Campbell  01:44

So for folks who are listening, Steve and I met in kind of an online mastermind group recently and I just thought, ah, we should have a conversation on the podcast. So here you are, took a lot of arm twisting.

Steve Feld  01:56

I know it did

Heather Pearce Campbell  01:59

for folks, right. I can be tough on people. For folks that don’t know Biz Coach Steve. Steven Feld is a certified business coach, author, podcast host, professional speaker and mastermind facilitator. He is passionate about having small business owners and entrepreneurs achieve massive revenue and profitability, growth using simple proven strategies and tactics to build a long term sustainable business. Steve takes the overwhelm out of business, owned and operated seven lucrative businesses while providing change management and process improvement. For other businesses. Steve also operated within three fortune 500 companies and has written six books about business for entrepreneurs. Awesome. Steve, you come with some great experience.

Steve Feld  02:52

Seventh one is actually being edited as we speak.

Heather Pearce Campbell  02:56

I love that what’s due? Are you able to share a name? Or is that a secret?

Steve Feld  02:59

No, it’s how to start a networking group. Cuz I’ve done so much consulting for chambers and many other groups to ramp up their lead referral, social networking, and it’s like, wait a minute, I got a lot of experience here and was to write a book on how someone else can do it. Yeah, that’s awesome, great way to build your business.

Heather Pearce Campbell  03:22

Totally, totally. Well, I mean, even in like reading your bio, I think gosh, isn’t it fun to meet people like at a mastermind event or a networking group or whatever, but then later get to learn all of these additional details right? Because it’s not like we’re going to talk about every single thing like this that we do when we first meet folks and so that is the joy of it. Well, I’m so happy to have you here today. Why don’t you share with folks who don’t know you a little bit about how you got started in business what what was interesting to you about the world of business

Steve Feld  03:58

It started way back when you know I’ve pretty much started I was the kid selling the snacks out of the locker in elementary school. So and then it morphed into this you know as you progress through your schooling years turned into term papers and doing people’s taxes.

Heather Pearce Campbell  04:20

Term favors meaning that you were writing other people’s term papers

Steve Feld  04:24

No, I’d actually buy people’s who are graduating. Give me your term papers, what were on the test, what was on the test, give me your test results. I buy those and then for the next class coming in I’d read, format them and sell the answers.

Heather Pearce Campbell  04:44

Oh my gosh, Steve, that’s hilarious. College. Right. And kids if there’s any kids listening to this podcast to not do that,

Steve Feld  04:53

We don’t do that nowadays,

Heather Pearce Campbell  04:54

right. The disclaimer will be different.

Steve Feld  04:57

You’re gonna get

Heather Pearce Campbell  04:59

Not as we do, right? Yeah.

Steve Feld  05:03

It’s a lot harder to do this nowadays, you’re gonna get caught?

Heather Pearce Campbell  05:06

Yeah, definitely don’t do that. But it makes for a funny story. Got it? So you had an entrepreneurial bent, then pretty young. It sounds like. Yeah.

Steve Feld 5:07

Yes.

Heather Pearce Campbell  5:08

Yeah. Where did that come from? Was that a familial thing? Was that just an individual personality trait? Where do you think that comes from?

Steve Feld  05:22

Well, my parents each owned a business. So that kind of started at all afraid there in you know, being young, it’s, you have to you have to work in your parents business. Yeah. 

Steve Feld  05:34

Yes, just the way it is. 

Heather Pearce Campbell  05:36

It is the way that it is.

Steve Feld  05:38

But I started learning about the business side of business from them, because they each have their own businesses. And it was like, wow, there’s more to this than just stocking show. It’s like, Well, why do I have to mark put the marker or price things like this? Well, there’s a thing called mark a cost of goods and all these things. So I started learning at a very young age of, wow, there’s more to this than just selling the stuff that you put on the shelf.

Heather Pearce Campbell  06:05

Yeah, but it seems like you liked it, obviously, for you to keep going and pursuing like, it felt like a natural fit for you.

Steve Feld  06:12

It absolutely is. And then I’ve always had mean, the few jayvees I’ve had, I was always one that would create a department or setting the procedures and everything else. So they kind of let me run the show. In keeping my entrepreneurial spirit that way. And even the businesses I ran for other people, I always said, you have to give me the keys to the business. So I’m going to run it like it’s mine. And they always did. And we turned them around.

Heather Pearce Campbell  06:41

It worked out well. That’s awesome. Well, I know one of the things that you say is that entrepreneurs and business owners hire you to help them break seven figures without burning themselves out, right?

Steve Feld  06:54

I’ve been burned out.

Heather Pearce Campbell  06:56

Oh, my gosh, so many, I mean, and now, you know, in the midst of this pandemic, I think a lot of people who maybe didn’t experience burnout before have experienced burnout.

Steve Feld  07:08

We definitely saw 2020 with business, small business owners, that’s who I like to work with. They don’t have the systems and the processes in place. And they were grinding every day. And then when the pandemic it’s now they’re in hyper, crazy mode, because they don’t know what to do. They don’t know how to pivot shift. They don’t have systems. And unfortunately, a lot of them are gone. And a lot were created. But those are now we already did the math and were groups, the entrepreneurs that hopped in and through the pandemic. Odds are that if they make it to the end of the year, it’d be amazing.

Heather Pearce Campbell  07:46

Yeah. How do you help people avoid burnout? Talk to me about your special sauces?

Steve Feld  07:53

Well, the big thing is, they’re trying to do everything themselves. And believe me, I get it. I’ve been there at the beginning, you kind of have to, but at a certain point, you’re going to start realizing you’re killing yourself. You. I don’t look at it. Like I’m only seeing a business. I’m saving relationships, marriages, everything, because I’ve seen it happen. If you don’t like doing accounting, this is the most common one. I hear his business owners. They don’t know accounting. They hate doing it. Meanwhile, they’re trying to do it. So they spend Saturday and Sunday, their time off

Heather Pearce Campbell  08:29

their evenings, late evenings till one in the morning, right.

Steve Feld  08:33

Trying to figure this out. And it’s like, so there’s all the time they’re spending, the frustration, the aggravation, and the headache. They could have paid someone very well; they’re actually bookkeepers and are very reasonably priced. Yeah, someone could do this. It would take them one hour. What took you 30 hours? Yeah. And they love it. So why are you doing this to yourself?

Heather Pearce Campbell  08:58

When did you start consulting with businesses? Right? You got this early business experience, you decided it clicked? When did you start consulting with businesses to help them fix these sorts of problems?

Steve Feld  09:09

Yeah, well, my first business I wrote business plans, marketing plans, operational plans, and then it was all for tech, startup tech companies, because Tech was hot. And then they asked me to coach them to get VC money. So I had to teach the techies how to speak business. We all know what happened to the tech bubble. It persists. So did the business. And then I went into the business. My second company, after I cried for three days, for literally, not figuratively. I went to the companies that were still around and started noticing they’re stressed, they don’t know which way to go. And it’s like, I started working with them consulting them like wait, you don’t have systems you don’t have processes. You’ve been just riding the wave. And it’s great for the time being but all waves crash into the shore. Its history has proven this so many times. So at that point, it was like starting consulting, and my second company, and then it’s just kind of morphed. I’ve owned a couple other businesses, I bought a failing retail store and turned it around. And they really couldn’t figure out how I did it. And like, I’m using everything I’ve been teaching for years.

Heather Pearce Campbell  10:21

Have you always been a systems and procedures guy? Is that the way you think is in systems? Yeah.

Steve Feld  10:27

Because if it saves time, and effort and money, it’s gonna help the business in the long run. Plus, most small business owners don’t think of the end in mind. So when I say, what are you going to do when you hit your million dollars a year? You’re there? Like, I don’t know, how are you going to sell? I don’t know. Well, it’s like, you’re trying to have a bow and arrow, and there’s no target to shoot at is what you’re doing. That’s what happened in 2020. No one had an exit strategy. But you need to put these things in your business. So when it is time to sell or you’re forced to sell due to economic changes, or whatever, you have a business to sell. And I see it too much too many times, like business owners, they want to get out and retire. But they don’t have a business to sell. They’ve been working in it for 50 years. And I feel so sorry for him. Because you didn’t build a business to sell or business. You didn’t build a business. You have a great hobby. This gives you a great lifestyle.

Heather Pearce Campbell  11:26

Right? You built yourself a job? Yeah. Right. But if you had approached it differently, created differently, you could actually have an asset outside of your job that has value, right?

Steve Feld  11:39

I see it. Yeah. It said, it’s like, you know, I’m building something in my business. So it’s like, I know, some of my coaches underneath me have approached me like, hey, one day when you ever retire, let us still buy your business. See, I’m telling a business.

Heather Pearce Campbell  11:56

Right? Yeah, so talk to us about how people that are building a business with an exit strategy, how they think differently than somebody that’s trying to build essentially a job that is sustainable.

Steve Feld  12:10

The first thing is, they realize they need to start managing the business not being managed by the business. So you cannot build a scalable business, by yourself or with your spouse, or even your kids. You need more than that, because I always look at it. Like, if you go on vacation, who are you taking your time to your spouse and kids, who runs the shop? No one. So you need employees. And you need to hire, I’m a big believer, and I’ve done this dad knows how long, I always try to hire people smarter than me in those roles. So if someone is good in marketing, and their marketing guru, great, you take over the marketing, here’s my vision, and we work on it. They know way more than I do, but they’re learning from me, and I’m learning from them. They’re gonna actually help you, as the owner, grow your business faster than you even thought of, because they see it differently.

Heather Pearce Campbell  13:10

Yeah, I love that. Yeah, bringing in outside perspectives and, and identifying how you help people identify it. I think the challenge a lot of small business owners face is when to do these various things right, when to take certain things off their plate, when to hire the next person, when to outsource that particular piece? Is there some general guidance you can give to folks listening about that?

Steve Feld  13:38

I’d say look at where your time is spent. What do you spend the most time on? Well, if you’re growing a business, hopefully sales, could you replicate yourself with a salesperson, but odds are, you’re probably the reality is you’re probably spending 80% of your time on an admin kind of work. The busy work and that’s, I mean, I identified it years ago and one of the in this business and it was like, Great, let’s bring on vas, let’s bring on strategic alliance partners, all these things. Next thing I know, it frees up so much time and they love it. And it didn’t cost a lot to begin with. So I just started slowly and over time, it’s like, wait a minute, I’m getting my plate free so I can focus on my clients.

Heather Pearce Campbell  14:27

Yeah, as well. And that time on it I love you know, it’s it’s, I think probably a boring challenging thing for people to do like okay, for attorneys, right. We’re all used to tracking time for other people. They may not be but it’s without that I think without a concrete time on it. We tell ourselves certain things about how we spend our time that just are not entirely accurate.

Steve Feld  14:54

That’s it and I did a program like this Where does your time go? So every 15 minutes, there was an alert that came up on your computer, and you had a piece of paper near you, and you had to log what you just didn’t last 15 minutes. So you do it quickly, and then you get right back to your task. And it was amazing. When I did it. It was like, I’m doing a lot of busy work. And I’m thinking I’m busy. And it’s the wrong busy. And I’ve done it with some of my clients, and they were shocked. They’re like, I was swamped all day. But you only made one call all day.

Heather Pearce Campbell  15:32

Right? And I think that, you know, in my life, like anytime I’m feeling frustrated about something, whether it’s on the parenting side, whether it’s on, you know, just managing life, generally versus managing a business. It’s like, anytime you reach that point of frustration, I think slowing down and doing a time audit of your day of work or your week, right and looking at, like, where are your time and energy resources going? It becomes so clear why you’re frustrated, right? Where you’re not having effective use of your energy or time.

Steve Feld  16:13

Yeah, I mean, I even have close to me, it’s like, it’s just a pad of paper, but it has my daily actions. And I just do a tick mark that would call outreach. And then Sunday’s Oh, my man, I killed it. I made 1000 calls a day, when I looked down, I made five, but they were five appointments. So they were good. Next days. I mean, I didn’t make any calls. And I made 30. And I want to bore you, but you need to track it to really find out your results. And it’s not like, Oh, my God, it’s gonna take a lot of time. I mean, I’m using just tick marks on a notepad that’s printed out next month on my desk.

Heather Pearce Campbell  16:49

Right? Well, and I love that example of how simple it can be. Because I think so often, around any new activity, there’s the activation energy that it takes to just decide to do it. And it’s often because we we overestimate the size of the task,

Steve Feld  17:05

especially for salespeople. I mean, I’ve owned and operated a district office for a large insurance agency. So it was like, I have to ask my guys I can make calls did you make today? Oh, lots lots doesn’t mean anything. Your lots of my lots are totally different. Yeah, we just had these sheets and little simple tick marks. And they were shocked. Because they also know, I didn’t get the results, why I didn’t make enough calls. Or I didn’t do this activity enough. And it was so simple. They were like that you can’t be simpler, making this easier.

Heather Pearce Campbell  17:45

Now having something that you can actually measure. So you’d have people start with a time on it, outsource, obviously the things that should not be on their plate that are causing them the biggest rub the biggest frustration.

Steve Feld  17:59

Yeah, and you know, small business owners, we’re all guilty as charged here, too, is we’re known to chase those shiny objects. The next thing, and I’ll tell you what, that’s the one of the biggest killers of small business owners. It’s like we’re always, because we’re not spending enough time on the one that we just looked at. If we spent enough time and just focused on one or two things, we’re good, but when you try to make 10 things on, you wonder why you’re stressed.

Heather Pearce Campbell  18:29

Well, it’s that whole concept, right? I forget what they call it, like swallow the frog or whatever. Like I always get it wrong. Oh, eat the frog in the frog. Do the do

Steve Feld  18:39

the biggest B hog day hag? Yeah, big, hairy, audacious goal first, then all your daily tasks after that are easy. Yeah, if you have to call that client and tell him there’s an ups do that first thing in the morning. Otherwise, you get stressed out all day, and you shut you down.

Heather Pearce Campbell  18:58

Right? Right now a good example of that is that I had to call a client recently who had an unfortunate response from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, right? Not a fun call to make and you can get some wild results out of the USPTO. But there I was having to make that call. And you know, the thing about tackling those kinds of things. First in your day is like one there over but two, it actually went surprisingly well. He was like, You know what? No big deal. We started this process. So long ago, my business has actually changed and I no longer attached to that phrase. I was like, oh

Steve Feld  19:39

yeah. And if you left it for the end of the day, your mind is building up this anxiety. And these crazy, unrealistic scenarios. And then when you do make the call, you’re shaking, you’re hyperventilating, your heart’s racing, and they’re like, Okay,

Heather Pearce Campbell  19:56

right, fine. Well, it is interesting how many times the trepidation that we have about something is so different than actually what happens when we just go do the thing. It reminds me of going through a house remodel years ago, where basically everything on the list was new, I’d never done, you know, half of that stuff before. And each time that I started a new portion of the project, and I did a whole bunch of the work myself, I get through it and be like, Oh, it really wasn’t so bad, you know. And so it was a, it was a constant experience of like, exercising that muscle of just doing it and stopping with the planning and the trip. Like you can only do so much of that, right? Make the plan, execute the plan. Yeah.

Steve Feld  20:42

Some days, you gotta pull that trigger. It’s like, Oh, right. Ready, aim. Ready, aim. Ready, aim, right? And if granted, folks, we’re gonna make mistakes, part of life. But if this is one thing I learned from my coaches is like, Listen, your best guess if you planned well enough, will still be pretty darn good. Even if you miss the mark a hair. Yeah. But if you keep planning, the mark will actually go farther and farther away from me, because you’re making it so difficult on yourself.

Heather Pearce Campbell  21:15

Yeah. What else do you see particularly in this small business space that keeps small businesses stunted and not growing the way that they could be?

Steve Feld  21:26

They’re also hanging around and talking to people that stumped them. I’ve seen that in one of my businesses, the people I hung out with, in like businesses, were negative. So every day we get on calls to complain. And then one day, I’m like, my business is dying, and I can’t figure out why. And then I reread all my agreements over the weekend, and Monday came, and I did a mind shift. And it was when they called him like, I can’t talk and hung up. And next thing, you know, all that stress, that hatred, the build up the false premises, gone, my business started taking off almost immediately, once I got rid of that negative energy, all the people who said you shouldn’t do this, it’s a bad idea. But I don’t know, life, and then included a family member. And it was hard, but it was, I had to do it for myself. And it really helped me. And then I started hanging around like minded people with businesses that were positive and growing. Oh, my gosh, the shift was amazing. Like, we were in a mastermind group, the stuff that comes out of it is just off the charts. And I fully believe in mastermind groups, because I see the magic. All right,

Heather Pearce Campbell  22:49

right. It’s just the idea of like, what are you surrounding yourself with? Right? And it can be people, it can be books, it can be, you know, even your entertainment, like how are you spending time and is it supporting the direction of your life, but also the direction of your business?

Steve Feld  23:07

That’s it. I mean, I’ve cut watching news out, cut me by reading newspapers, reading blogs, those kinds of new things. And you know, what, I haven’t looked back, that’s been a long time, and I don’t miss any of it. And I am so much happier. So when people bring up that negativity in the world, I just like, shut it down. I gotta go, Hey, I can’t talk. I don’t want it in my world, because I know what it will do to my me as

Heather Pearce Campbell  23:36

well. And I think we all have to clearly understand our tolerance levels, right? And I talk regularly both about risk tolerance in business and you know, how you, you know, work to kind of protect your risk tolerance and keep your business safe, but also, our tolerances generally, you know, like you, I have found, particularly in recent years, that as a mom to two little people who require a lot of time and attention and nurturing, and running a full time business and, you know, just trying to like manage family life. I do not have capacity to drag myself down in other ways. If I want to feel like I’m thriving, and I’m winning, and I’m at least doing a manageable manageable job of being a good mom, and you know, serving my clients I just can’t, like now is not the time I cannot tolerate it.

Steve Feld  24:31

I totally agree. And I see that with a lot of business owners, they get into certain groups, and it becomes almost a bitch fest. And it’s like, you know what, how harmful This is to your psyche and everything. It’s

Heather Pearce Campbell  24:44

It’s like being in a bad relationship. Right? That’s it? Yeah, I’ve been there too. We all have you haven’t lived until your relationship.

Steve Feld  24:55

Unfortunately, everything I talk about and work on my clients. I have been through a And I’ve been the good, the bad and very ugly. Right? 

Heather Pearce Campbell  25:05

Isn’t that the human experience? I know, this is how we learn to create our boundaries and make different decisions. And right, it’s all part of it. So talk to us. I know that at the start, we were talking about one of your books, the 45 minute break through, do you want to share a little bit because I’d love to hear some client stories, I’d love to hear the way that you do your work.

Steve Feld  25:29

Yeah, that was my very first book. And it’s 45 minute business breakthroughs, how to find at least 10,000 over $100,000 in your business, all without spending more money on marketing, marketing, or advertising. And that book, I mean, I have hundreds of strategies like lead gen and everything else, but we just highlight eight simple ones. And, again, I mean, one simple one is like your upselling. In the most common way I can explain, for those of you who have been to any fast food restaurant, would you like to supersize that? So you’re upselling in most small business owners are not upselling. They’re not bundling their services to distinguish themselves differently from their competitors. They’re not down selling. So let’s say you know, I always use the example. It’s like, Hey, would you like to buy the Ferrari? No, I can’t afford it. Oh, sorry. Too bad. That’s what most business owners do. But if they go, oh, you can’t afford the Ferrari? Wait, I got a Lexus. No. And then you can go all the way down to your Hugo. So they don’t have these processes in place to really capture more sales. They think it’s, it’s this way, and we’re done. Mm hmm. So there’s, it’s so easy to implement these things, and they don’t cost.

Heather Pearce Campbell  26:51

Yeah, it’s about like, having support probably to think creatively about your business and just how you serve the same client, either in a slightly different way, or in a different stage of their journey, right?

Steve Feld  27:04

Oh, absolutely. And we even looked at joint venture ships, and like, who can give you business? And then who can you give business to? And that takes it’s a little hard on some businesses, because you have to ask a lot of questions, because someone might think, well, they would be sending the business. Well, let’s talk about how the customer journey is through you and your business. So like with legal, it’s like they can come to you like, before bad things happen, or after bad things happen. Right?

Heather Pearce Campbell  27:37

Yeah. Yeah. At different stages of the journey. Do you have a legal foundation built out? Or are we simply responding to a wildfire that has erupted? You know, and we handle that? And then we have to go backwards and build out the foundation? Yes. Very different.

Steve Feld  27:53

Yes. It’s also preventive maintenance on a lot of things, which business owners we get so caught up in the daily muck, and we forget about some of the preventive maintenance things that we need in our business. And I see that a lot. I’ve had to move some clients, it’s like, Hey, I gotta take you back, like, two beginning days, and put some foundational strategy in, because that’s why you can’t grow. You have a weak foundation and matter.

Heather Pearce Campbell  28:21

Yeah, absolutely. So this book, though, the 45 minute break through, so you walk people through some ways that you said they can find up to 10,000 to $100,000, just sitting inside their business.

Steve Feld  28:34

Yeah, and I’m more than happy to give the book away. So that’s really easy. Gonna get you the link for that, I think. And then we also use proprietary software, so I can really get down into it. That very, it’s like, so I can take any business owner, and we run them through our proprietary software for about 45 minutes. And we can find them depending on their size 10,000, or over 100,000 of hidden annualized revenue. And I’m not doing it behind their back, I’m doing it right. Like we’re here, right here, on camera right in front of him. And I asked him questions, I let 497 million algorithms do their job. It’s not only that, it’s like, we also come up with an implementation schedule that we can adjust per the client. So now we have a plan of attack to go after it. And then it gives us a report. Sometimes we are usually charged for the report because the report is gold. It’s on everything we talk about. And we also create a roadmap for that client. So it’s like, okay, it’s not theory. It’s, let’s do it. We have a system to do it.

Heather Pearce Campbell  29:43

Can you give us an example of a client like a type of business or a client that you’ve walked through this process, like, bring it to life for us a little bit?

Steve Feld  29:51

Hey, I even worked with a paralegal. How’s that? They were stalled for years at a certain income level, we actually went through in certain things like, Do you what kind of marketing Do you have? Do you have a market dominating position? And their first question was like, What the heck is that? Well, they’ve been in business for five years. And it’s like, well, tell me your elevator pitch. And it was just like, it’s a train wreck. Yeah, no wonder you’re not resigned with anyone. So let’s work on that. Once we cleaned up, it was amazing. They came back a week after that. They said, I went to two networking events. And I got 12 appointments. Everything, all your cars, your lf you have now a solid market dominating position, you don’t think that’s important? Go to any networking thing. Those who ramble have no one wanted to talk to him afterwards, those who have a specific clear message, and it’s short to the point. They have a line of people who want to talk to him.

Heather Pearce Campbell  30:52

Yeah, it’s the whole like, you know, peeking somebody’s interest just enough that they want to follow up, right? You don’t have the whole conversation right there at the event. But you need to have enough clarity that they go, Oh, I’ve got to follow up with this guy, Steve, because he said something that was really interesting to me, and I need to know more about it.

Steve Feld  31:10

That’s it. Yeah. That’s amazing how that clarity also helps you in your mission. So it defines who your target market is. Most businesses are there. Everyone’s my client.

Heather Pearce Campbell  31:20

Oh, my gosh, they get it. So wrong, right? Yeah. painful, painful.

Steve Feld  31:28

I hear that too much. And I just want to like, it kills me inside. I think it kills something inside me because I can prove it wrong in less than 10 seconds.

Heather Pearce Campbell  31:38

Yeah, we like businesses get so afraid to really speak to such a specific niche that they’re excluding people. But you need to actively exclude people from your messaging from your services, right? Or you’re doing it wrong.

Steve Feld  31:56

I’m not everyone’s cup of tea, and they’re not mine. Right.

Heather Pearce Campbell  32:00

Right. Absolutely. So what are some quick ways for folks that are listening? What you know, I know you’ve got a zillion ways that you can help people improve things and look for more profit in their business. What are one or two quick ways that somebody could quickly increase profits?

Steve Feld  32:17

Quickly, like we just mentioned, upselling, cross selling. So I’ll use Would you like an apple pie, whether your happy meal, cross selling is a simple one. Down selling, oh, sorry, we couldn’t get you into this. But I do have this other product. So it’s your you still have something for them. Or maybe you have a first time buyer discount to get them introduced to it. And a lot of people aren’t taking advantage of that. Joint ventures are phenomenal. And I’ll use them like landscapers because they see your stuff. And they look and they see your pool’s damage. They don’t do pools, but guess what they know someone who does they refer and get a referral fee. So that’s extra income for just referring to a client? Yeah. Oh, my gosh, and bundling. So setting yourself apart from your competitors, by bundling a few products and services together. Now no one could compare apples to apples and think you’re a commodity. Like, what’s the difference between you? And the next one? Well, here’s what I got. I don’t know what they got. And then they can’t compare it because you offer a bundle.

Heather Pearce Campbell  33:27

Yeah. Nobody else doing it that way. You know, I think for some people, this sounds like work like oh, it I mean, I’m so good at doing my thing in this particular way. This just sounds like a bunch of mumbo jumbo to go create all you know, what do you say to those folks who are thinking like, oh, this just sounds like a bunch of random work that may or may not make sense for my business.

Steve Feld  33:52

Exactly. That’s where we sit down with them. And but we also say we’re only doing one thing at a time, you cannot eat the elephant, one bite. So you have to break it down. It’s like well, once you get to a certain point, let’s look at say, you know, upselling what could you offer on top or Amazon is a mastered this for those of you haven’t caught on, it’s like custom people also have liked, that’s upselling. And then when you go to your checkout, whatever they’re doing, they’re doing down selling to, to something a little lower, a little less. These things can be implemented in any business, if it just takes a little bit of thought, but it’s also what we think it usually is, isn’t it? Because I’ve tried it by myself. That doesn’t work. But second, I started involving my coach, and they asked questions. It was like, Oh, this is even better now. And it doesn’t take long, but you do have to put some thought into it. But once it’s in place, guess what? You’re good. You don’t need to revisit it every five minutes. Maybe annually

Heather Pearce Campbell  35:02

And I think that businesses that do it well are just thinking very thoughtfully about the client experience and the client needs. And like, Who of us doesn’t want to be thoughtful about our client experience? Right. And I think the other thing that if I were to guess, based on the businesses that you work with, might surprise them is that it doesn’t create, it doesn’t require creating like a whole bunch of new stuff, or services or offerings. It’s really looking at what you already have, right? And being creative about how you present it, how you bundle it, how you price it, how you position it compared to other things that you offer.

Steve Feld  35:46

I totally agree. I mean, most of my one on one clients are CPAs. So when I said, let’s come up with three packages, they all thought I was off my rocker, right? I mean, for CPAs it is this way, it’s always been in this whole industry ever since the dawn of numbers. It’s like once we introduced three levels of packages, they were blown out of water, and they offered it to their clients, all their clients took the top package, all of them very rarely in the middle of the middle first. It just changed their lives, their model, their cash flow, their customer experience, and they are so much happier now. Like we’re not selling anymore.

Heather Pearce Campbell  36:30

Yes, well, this is it. So I’ll share a recent experience in my business, I launched a program last year called the Catalyst Club program. It’s a $25,000 small business legal protection program. And I didn’t do any launch I didn’t like there other than just talking about it in the course of my normal conversations. But I have found that even just by positioning that this is for small business, and entrepreneurs that are either very near to or have scaled past the $1 million a year in revenue, they have legal needs, they probably mostly have not gotten those legal needs met, because they’ve grown quickly. They need to have some holes in their legal foundation, and they need some support that will help them continue to scale. Right. But it takes like a couple sentences to explain this. And I’ve added it to like people will inquire about. I have this thing called a strategy session. And that’s really a deep dive, get to know your business kind of session. Just mentioning, by the way, I also have this other program, it includes the Strategy Session automatically as the kickoff event to the services, the number of clients that I’ve come back to and said, Oh, that’s me, I’m making well over a million dollars in revenue a year. I think we need this other program that took nothing other than five minutes to mention, like this is who it’s for and what it is. And they self-select.

Steve Feld  37:57

That’s it. It’s and a lot of business owners think they’re facing small oh my god, no one’s gonna do this. You don’t know until you try it and, and make it an attractive package. And it’s all the things like you said you already have in your business, you just put it in a package in a box and put a bow on it.

Heather Pearce Campbell  38:15

That’s right and identified it with some brackets that help people self select. Oh, that’s me. That’s where my business is at this level of growth that I experienced this year, whatever, right? And then they feel like, oh, my gosh, you have the solution for me. You’re talking to me, right?

Steve Feld  38:33

That’s it. And I mean, the CPAs that have gone with the package programs, because now to retain versus getting paid once a year and begging to get paid once a year and hope you get paid and not chasing payments. It’s making life easy.

Heather Pearce Campbell  38:48

Oh, I love that. Steve, I feel like we could talk all day. I want to know, because for folks that are listening, I’m sure they’re thinking, Okay, where can I find Steve online? Where can I learn more about his clients, about this whole software system about his book? Where do you like to show up?

Steve Feld  39:05

I’m on my website bizcoachsteve.com. Biz Coach Steve. Yep. And then I’m on LinkedIn. I’m more than happy there. That’s a good place to connect. And then I also have a Facebook group which is well Biz Coach Steve.

Heather Pearce Campbell  39:21

I’m loving the consistency Steve.

Steve Feld  39:25

And then we also have, you know, podcast biz coaching coffee newsletter, the full beam.

Heather Pearce Campbell  39:32

I love it. Okay, so we’ll share all the links, you’re everywhere. It sounds like such a way to connect. Yes, we’re gonna share all the links, including the link that I think takes them to your book, right? So it’s complimentary. Yep. So go. Be sure to check this out. This is the one that Steve talked about will help you find up to $100,000 Just sitting in your business. Hello. run over there and get it. Steve, such a pleasure to have you here today. What thought would you like to leave people with?

Steve Feld  40:03

I mean, it’s one thing that I learned the hard way. And I had a beat in my head is always ask for help, and small business owners and notorious of not asking for help. And they’re like, I can do it. I know what I’m doing. I’m telling you, folks, I after owning all these businesses and work with so many business owners, that was the number one thing was the best thing I ever did was get help in my business.

Heather Pearce Campbell  40:25

I love that be willing to ask for help. I was watching a show recently that had a new mom on the show. And they said, they asked her the same question, what’s your one piece of advice? She was like, ask for help. Right? And we don’t do it well in our society. So that’s huge. I love that. Steve, thank you so much for being here today. I really look forward to connecting with you again very soon.

Steve Feld  40:48

Thank you for having me.

GGGB Intro  40:52

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. For key takeaways, links to any resources mentioned in today’s show and more, see the show notes which can be found at www.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 too. Keep up the great work you are doing in the world and we’ll see you next week.