Sales and Cigars | Rebecca Whitman | What Should Entrepreneurs be Thinking About? | Episode 155

[00:00:00] Hey everyone, Walter Crosby with Healings Sales Development, your host of Sales and Cigars. My guest today is Rebecca Whitman and she's a life coach but before you decide you don't need a life coach and I'm not suggesting you do, she's got a really cool challenge that

[00:00:18] she's making available to us. We describe it in the conversation. We talk a lot about sales, we talk about her history. We talk about some great ideas on things that entrepreneurs should be thinking about that's going to help them become more financially successful. That gets us this freedom.

[00:00:38] So go grab a cocktail, go grab a cigar, strap in for another impactful episode of Sales and Cigars. Hey everyone, welcome to Sales and Cigars. My guest today is Rebecca. Rebecca, why don't you give a quick little entrepreneurial journey?

[00:01:20] How did you get to doing what you're doing right now? When you were a 10-year-old young lady, did you think that this was what you'd be doing? I did not. My childhood dream was always to be an actress and I went on a very merry chase as an

[00:01:37] entrepreneur. I graduated from Princeton, I moved to New York City. I answered an ad that said, circle me and I fell into the network marketing industry in my 20s which did not work out but it was a wonderful learning experience.

[00:01:53] I got to learn from self-made millionaires all about sales and sales management. From the network marketing profession, I was a Ford car salesperson in Jacksonville, Florida of all places, not where you usually see a Princeton grad selling cars in Jacksonville, Florida, Mike Davidson Ford.

[00:02:17] From there I found the internet and I got discovered by an internet startup company. They did a two-word search on monster.com, Sales and Princeton and they found me and I had my first six-figure job there.

[00:02:33] The company shut down, I moved to LA to pursue acting and I had a lot of free time so I studied a lot about the law of attraction and I was able to apply the law of attraction to my

[00:02:45] sales job as a director of admissions of an acting school and I started making six figures working part-time. What happened was the law of attraction did not work as well in my love life and

[00:02:59] I ended up having a really painful divorce and as my divorce was proceeding, my dad was dying and in one of our last conversations he asked me to write a book. I had no idea what I was going to write.

[00:03:12] A few months later I was sitting across the desk for my financial planner and he said, Rebecca you've lost your dad and your marriage but this year you're actually a millionaire with your investments because I own real estate and I have a stock portfolio

[00:03:27] and he said, I think you should write a book inspiring people what you did. So I wrote a book called How to Make a Six Figure Income Working Part-Time and in the book I divide life into seven key areas which I call my seven pillars of abundance

[00:03:43] and when you have those seven key areas of life you can be resilient and bounce back from anything be it personal health or financial and that's my story now. I coach people to go from burned out to balanced beautiful and abundant.

[00:03:59] So it's a very eloquent entrepreneurial journey that kind of walks you through not just the geography but the mindset shifts and the roles as they change as we grow. So I mean through that journey tell me something or tell me a story about a

[00:04:20] situation that where it looked like it was the end of the road there was a big problem is failure and we turned that into success. Sounds like there are a bunch of those.

[00:04:31] There's a lot. I remember doing that network marketing company and I like to say it was the best looking group of well-dressed broke people because we would go to the office and give our sales presentations and we'd be wearing nice suits and driving you know

[00:04:49] Mercedes and Lexus and BMWs and then we would come back and be sharing a one bedroom apartment with like eight people eating peanut butter and rice cakes for dinner. And I had some beautiful jewelry that my mom gave me and it was either quit the network

[00:05:06] marketing profession or sell my mom's jewelry and I ended up selling my mom's jewelry. I hung in there. There was a hundred thousand people in that company. It's now closed and I remember being at the annual the annual meeting and they called me

[00:05:24] up on stage for number three in the company for personal sales volume and I was like shocked. I didn't even think anybody in the company knew me. I just kept putting my head down and doing the grind day in and day out and that

[00:05:39] is a story that I look back on a lot when I want to quit something and I realize that if I can just whatever it takes just to stay in the game. Just stay in the game. Do my daily methods of operation be consistent and persistent

[00:05:54] and eventually my efforts will be rewarded. There's a it's putting your head down as a term I use a lot. Just being tenacious. Yeah. It's sticking to it. We might have lived in New York City around the same time and there was in my life it was

[00:06:15] something something similar where it's like why am I doing this. I'm not making any money. This is like completely commissioned straight out of college living in a studio apartment with a great view of an air shaft coming up the middle of the building.

[00:06:35] But it was what you just described. Just keep doing the work that I was told I was supposed to do by the guys that were being driven around in limos. And then it just starts to boom. It just starts to happen.

[00:06:52] I don't know that it gets easier but it gets more comfortable. I think if you stick with it because you never know when that one phone call that one meeting is going to turn it around. I mean that's a that's a great failure to success story.

[00:07:06] I love it. Thank you. If you think about an investment you made like what would be the most worthwhile investment you made over the last few years. The best investment I ever made this is so I'm a little different than your typical guest. I'm like metaphysical meets business.

[00:07:28] So I believe in the law of attraction. I call myself the magnetic abundance mentor. I believe that I magnetize opportunities and I was renting in Los Angeles.

[00:07:39] I had not purchased anything and I remember going out to a club in Manhattan Beach and it wasn't like hey where are you from? What's your sign? It was like hey do you rent or do you own? And I was like wow.

[00:07:53] I mean I was getting this message from everyone like the goal is to own real estate. And I was like in my 30s I was like oh wow I better start paying attention to how I can own real estate.

[00:08:04] And on the on the porch of this really beaten down house I was running. I mean it was so beaten down that I got rained on in my own bed like the roof was leaking. I got a flyer and it said that real estate person is available.

[00:08:22] Call this number and I was like okay I'll call. This guy had never sold anything in his life. He barely spoke a word of English but I was like you know what I'm just going to give this guy a shot.

[00:08:34] And he found me a condo in West LA right off Wilshire Boulevard for only $150,000. Now this was in 2003 and that was an incredible investment. Now it's probably worth $800,000 that same place but I sold it.

[00:08:53] I made a couple hundred thousand dollar profit few years later and then I put that down on another condo. And then I pulled the equity out of this condo did another one and now I have a duplex and it all started from that first investment.

[00:09:08] And had I not answered the flyer on my porch I don't know if I ever would have been in the real estate game like I am now.

[00:09:16] It's interesting like somebody but somebody was doing the thing that we just talked about putting their head down and going sticking flyers on doors of houses. You know if it's a beat up old house where you get rained on in your own bedroom you probably need real estate

[00:09:33] but high probability of somebody pulling a trigger on something but they just did the work and it pays off that person made a sale.

[00:09:43] If we think about the last couple years right through last three or four years where you developed a new belief or you took on a new discipline of something.

[00:09:58] You seem like somebody who's really focused on what your thoughts are is those are going to come back to you in that magnetic way as you describe. Is there anything new that you've tried and developed that's really helped you take it to the next level?

[00:10:17] That is a great question. So I teach that you either have an abundance mentality or a scarcity mentality and I was thinking that was just money for so many years like people have a scarcity mentality around money.

[00:10:32] Like there's not enough money to go around. There's not enough money to pay my bills. I don't I have too much months left over at the end of my money and I got that but just this year I volunteered 200 hours of my time to coach a leadership program.

[00:10:48] And I and I didn't think I had the time. I didn't think I had the energy and I learned a concept that I can have a scarcity or abundance conversation around energy.

[00:11:00] I was saying to myself I'm so tired. I'm exhausted. I need a coffee. I didn't get enough sleep.

[00:11:08] I'm just there's just you know too many things I want to do and not enough hours in the day and I don't have time and I had a scarcity conversation around time and energy.

[00:11:18] And when I started to say to myself that there's plenty of time. I have plenty of energy. I stopped using the word tired exhausted. I was able to coach that leadership program and up level my businesses and I've never had more energy.

[00:11:36] I started waking up an hour earlier and doing what I call power hours meaning very focused productive hours of time.

[00:11:46] And I would start my first power hour hour at 7am and then go to the gym like everything changed when I when I change my internal dialogue around time and energy and was very conscious to switch that to there's plenty of time you know when I when I am committed to something

[00:12:06] and I really want something time and energy expand. Hey thanks for being part of the sales and cigar community. I wanted to share that I wrote a book The Seven Critical Mistakes CEOs Make with Their Sales Organization.

[00:12:19] The CEOs who've read it tell me I cut to the chase quickly get to the point explain exactly what they're experiencing why they're experiencing it and how to fix it.

[00:12:29] So if you want a free copy go check out the link in the show notes. Now let's get back to the interview.

[00:12:34] It has everything to do with what we say to our in our own head right that that gets us to go down a path if we ask our brain a shitty question.

[00:12:44] Excuse my language we're going to get a shitty answer. Yes, if we figure out how can we do this how can I help these people how can I how can I give you're going to figure out a way to do it and that that's a great that's a great story just being able to

[00:13:03] help other people and help yourself at the same time that's like win win win. Yes, in your mind.

[00:13:10] You know if you think about other quote unquote experts in your space and we don't need to name names or anything but is there is there a piece of advice that you hear people putting out on social media or or just out into the to the world and it's just

[00:13:32] awful and it's counterproductive. I kind of help you with this in my world. I there's all of these fake gurus that are telling people that you know, cold calls don't work or email campaign right that specific things no longer work the world has changed.

[00:13:57] And you know, nothing works and everything works right it's a function of whatever we put our mind to as you just said, I mean that's a perfect example.

[00:14:07] So I mean those are the things that sort of just irritate the crap out of me when I hear somebody telling telling sales people that they shouldn't get on the phone and talk to people because we're all humans right that's how we interact.

[00:14:21] So in your in your world and your space that kind of grinds those gears. Yeah, absolutely. I, I believe in creating a side hustle and I believe in multiple income streams and a lot of business coaches.

[00:14:37] They have you buy a high ticket program, you know anywhere from, I don't know they go anywhere from $10 to $80,000 max out your credit cards.

[00:14:47] You've got to get your job. You got to burn the bridge to take the island and people get in debt, they even go to jail they go to they go to court they get behind they lose their family and I've seen this, they lose everything.

[00:15:05] The coaches are just completely self serving. And the way I coach people is keep the job, have health insurance for yourself and your family don't get into survival mode.

[00:15:17] Don't do anything unethical or more or illegal. Find something that you're passionate about and create a six feet your side hustle.

[00:15:26] And then you can either have multiple income streams, you know the average one percenter has seven to 10 or you can eventually leave that job when the side hustle is making a comfortable living.

[00:15:38] But I just, I don't believe people should just jump ship and invest everything in something and have that survival do or die mentality because it seems like your philosophy of sales coaching is very similar to mine.

[00:15:51] And if you come from desperation, and you come from neediness people are going to smell that and they're not going to want to buy from you. So I teach people to come from contribution, not desperation.

[00:16:04] And people can people are very sales averse. And if they feel that you're just trying to say or do anything to make a sale they're just going to run the other way. But if you really ask good questions and they feel that you're trying to help them, then they are more likely to be your customer.

[00:16:21] I 100% agree. The words I use that you use one of them is like, you know, sales is about helping people. Let's figure out if we can help each other. Let's figure out if there's a fit and if there's not.

[00:16:34] Okay. There's some time in the future maybe, maybe not now. But if we can't help you, there's no reason to try to put a round peg into a square hole.

[00:16:45] And I think it's the responsibility of the salesperson to accept that and be the driver of that. And once we start sounding salesy, we sound like that proverbial, you know, when you ask somebody to describe the salesperson, they immediately describe the either the use car sales guy with the plaid jacket in the gold chains or the insurance sales guy with the clip on tie and the short sleeve white shirt.

[00:17:15] And those are just stereotypes that exist. But it's so that's what my purpose is to elevate the profession so that we are more consultative, we ask questions, we try to help. I completely agree with what you're saying. Is there an area and this might be a challenging question.

[00:17:42] But I like challenging in your business right now, you've gone through levels and changed and you keep going it sounds to me like you're somebody that's always looking for to level up and to figure out a next way to be helpful and for yourself.

[00:17:56] Is there an area in your own business where you'd like to take that next step or have better results.

[00:18:04] Yeah, there's two things that I'm looking to do and I just invested in an appointment setting team. I'm looking for more leads, just like any you know good sales manager, and I'm looking for systems because my goal in having money is not to have money so I can buy a job.

[00:18:26] A lot of people own businesses but they don't have any time freedom so I call that a buy a job. I want to have money so I can have freedom.

[00:18:36] The goal is the same thing though right we're coming from places it allows us to be and do the things that we want to do. Right.

[00:18:47] It's a lot of people have money but they don't have freedom. And that is to me that is the goal like money and systems that's why I'm looking to figure out now my business more systems.

[00:19:01] So I have more freedom to do what I want when I want where I want and with who I want you know in the first three years of launching my coaching business I have been pretty much you know even though I'm a burnout coach and I'm not burned out because I know how to live holistically within these seven areas.

[00:19:18] I've been hustling, you know, more than I ever have just to get this business off the ground and I am really looking to systematize everything.

[00:19:29] Yeah. And that's a common thing we've focused on doing a good job. We focused on our clients to be able to provide value to them and one day we stick our head up and it's like I know how to do this.

[00:19:43] I do it every day but I haven't been able to create an SOP or we haven't taken the time to put that system in place so that it becomes easier and more scalable. Yes. That's the word scalable.

[00:19:58] Yeah. That is my next cut and my business is to scale.

[00:20:04] Well that is a, and the trick is to break those SOPs down and for salespeople that is so hard to really look at it and create that, those steps right because we just do it. We don't think about it.

[00:20:23] But it really takes one of those power hours you're talking about that really break down those steps over a period of time.

[00:20:30] Once you do it, it becomes, oh and then you can teach other people how to do it. You can put that as part of your programs. There's some great value there. Yeah.

[00:20:41] So I think what results are you most proud of in your life over the last, you know, your career? I mean there's probably a bunch of them but if you had to pick one, was it the book fulfilling that little objective with your father or was it something else?

[00:21:03] It wasn't the book, but that was a huge thing. Gosh what career highlight am I most proud of? I would say being voted life coach of the year by the International Association of Top Professionals.

[00:21:19] Thank you. I was only a life coach for a couple years and they reached out to me and I got to go to a beautiful Gala at the Bellagio in Las Vegas and I saw myself as big as a movie screen and I got this beautiful trophy and I was just blown away that anybody even knew I was a life coach because I'd only been doing it a few years and

[00:21:48] I really feel like that event and just the caliber of people there and getting that award really built my confidence and it really helped me be more well known in this space. Validation from your peers, that's awesome. Yes, thank you.

[00:22:04] Especially when it comes out of the blue, maybe not comes out of the blue is the right way to look at that but it wasn't something you were striving for just somebody recognized it and you didn't go looking for it. That's a wonderful thing. Thank you.

[00:22:22] So let's talk a little bit about your 777 challenge like help us understand that we're going to have some some links in the show notes and we're going to have ways for people to get a hold of you but I think that's something we should highlight.

[00:22:38] Yeah, so my 7 pillars of abundance are spirituality. I believe you should have a morning practice that sets the tone for your day some kind of a connection to the divine whatever that is for you.

[00:22:52] The second pillar of abundance is fitness. I believe that moving your body changes your biochemistry it gives you the energy and the confidence to face your day. The third pillar of abundance is emotional and we talked a little bit about that.

[00:23:09] You know, switching from scarcity to abundance from fear to love having the right emotional set point is so important.

[00:23:19] The next pillar is romantic having a partner that believes in you or if you're a busy CEO like the people who listen to sales and cigars making time to have a date night at least once a week is my recommendation.

[00:23:33] The next pillar is mental which is exactly what you're doing right now by listening to this podcast working on your mental growth your mindset mental could be learning a new skill listening to an awesome podcast like this.

[00:23:48] The next one is social making time to socialize with people that are like minded that have achieved what you want and believe in your goals and dreams and finally financial and everybody thinks financial is what you focus on you make money you make money you make money.

[00:24:06] Then you can hire a personal trainer look really hot attract the love of your life go on spiritual retreat socialize with other couples to your mindset work and be happy. But in my paradigm finances are the last piece of the puzzle to click into place.

[00:24:22] So my offer for you guys and this is a very inexpensive amount to invest in yourself. It's called the 777 challenge each day for seven days I'm going to give you a tip tool or strategy to get that level of abundance to a level 10.

[00:24:43] And after seven days you'll have all seven pillars of abundance in alignment so that you can level up and whatever it is you want to achieve.

[00:24:54] So I've used the seven pillars of abundance to manifest my soulmate get in the best shape of my life. Fine amazing investment deals so whatever it is you want.

[00:25:06] I'm sure you can invest $7 in having it and this is all going to be in a link tree that link tree link that Walter is going to share with you guys but that is my challenge for you guys to do the 777 challenge and then message me on LinkedIn or

[00:25:25] Instagram LinkedIn is Rebecca Whitman Facebook is Rebecca Whitman Instagram is at Rebecca E Whitman you can also message me through my website Rebecca Elizabeth Whitman with a Z.

[00:25:40] And I can't wait to see if you take the challenge and if you don't want to take the challenge you can just go to my website and take a quiz and see where you're in and out of alignment in these seven areas some areas you guys are crushing and the other areas need a little bit support and this free quiz will take you two minutes and you'll kind of get an assessment of where you are in life.

[00:26:04] Well they could do both right.

[00:26:06] And then really focus on the get some awareness of where they really have the balance or where they're where they're set up or where they have some challenges to work through and then the 777 challenge will help them get back on track in those areas and maybe go a little farther in the other areas.

[00:26:29] I love it.

[00:26:30] That's why you're a master sales strategist because this is a new way for me to pitch it first you take the quiz. You figure out what's working and what's not working and then you use the inexpensive $7 training to level up where you need to level up.

[00:26:46] Exactly Walter I'm going to use that from now on. Well it's how I model my business. It's hard to go figure out where we should start unless we know where we are and everybody is unique.

[00:27:01] And I think the other comment I had on that is that I like the fact that the financial is sort of the foundational piece but at the end because if you start to get the other components in alignment right.

[00:27:14] That financial abundance that those opportunities start to open up because they've always been there. We just didn't see them.

[00:27:25] We weren't open to go in and grabbing them so I think that's a go to the website. We're going to have the website in the show notes go click that show note go do the quiz and then go do the 777.

[00:27:37] I think that you know if you have any any thoughts about making any improvement in your life. I think we can invest $7 in that I don't see the I don't see how that's a life changer right it's a freaking cup of coffee at Starbucks.

[00:27:58] At least a fancy cup of coffee at Starbucks. So Rebecca I appreciate you that focused on the Elizabeth because my mother-in-law is Elizabeth with a Z right and I that's where I went so Rebecca I appreciate you taking the time great great advice and I hope I hope some some of these listeners get out there and do your challenge.

[00:28:22] Thank you so much for having me on your show Walter I really appreciate your time. Thanks. I love sharing secrets when I figure them out that's why I created this program called sales hire in secrets.

[00:28:34] Early in my sales management career I was terrible at hiring sales people they failed more often than not then I discovered the secret that you can't hire sales people the same way you hire everyone else.

[00:28:46] That's why everyone fails in sales hire and secrets. I'm going to teach you all of the secrets the secrets to understanding what you really need your sales person to do how to attract an ideal candidate with a unique job posting.

[00:29:01] I'll teach you how to save time and money by only interviewing candidates that are a good fit. I'll share the secrets to an interviewing process that ensures success and the one big secret that everybody gets wrong is how to onboard a good sales person so they ramp up quickly and stick around.

[00:29:22] I'm doing the sales hiring secrets program on a monthly basis. You click the link below to figure out when the next sales hiring secrets program is scheduled and you can sign up. Click the link below and you get all the details and it's designed for you to bring your entire team so you can get everybody up to speed quickly.

[00:29:43] Thanks. Look forward to seeing you on the other side.