[00:00:36] Kc Rossi: Hey, Dolores, welcome to the show.
[00:00:39] Dolores Hirschmann: Thank you so much for having me, Kc.
[00:00:41] Kc Rossi: Yeah, it's my pleasure. I'm excited to dive in. I know you're also a long time fellow entrepreneur, and I'm so curious out of your two decades, what has been like the greatest business lesson that you have learned?
[00:00:56] Dolores Hirschmann: I've been personally, I think is a reminding [00:01:00] myself to go in and trust.
[00:01:04] There's many turns and swings and and roundabouts in business. And I think for my style, I'll speak for myself. It's easy to fall into self doubt, will the business make, it will have it. Cashflow or the clients will come or whatever it is. And the beauty of my journey is that I have 20 years to look back and I'm still here.
[00:01:27] I'm still standing. So it's every day that you are an entrepreneur is a day you celebrate and a day that you can count on that you made it. And so it just accumulates that self-confidence. And so the one lesson is to remember that you got it. Yeah,
[00:01:45] Kc Rossi: I love that. And you need that constant reminder.
[00:01:48] I'm wondering how you celebrate those wins for yourself, because I often see, especially with women entrepreneurs, they overlook that and they just keep plowing to their next to-do list or looking at what's [00:02:00] left in the inbox. So how do you personally celebrate those wins?
[00:02:04] Dolores Hirschmann: You know what let's just, I'm going to take it one step further because this is whether it's entrepreneurship or personal development, but the key to personal development is not to ever struggle.
[00:02:17] Again, the key to personal development is how fast you bounce back. And so when I go into self-doubt, which I do. I now have tools. And so what you just said is so critical because usually, I go to self-doubt because I'm not celebrating enough. So I fail to recognize my wins. But when I recognize that I'm there, that I know what to do.
[00:02:40] And it's okay, let's just look at the previous months. I don't know, invoicing or let's look at the testimonials from happy clients or let's look at, the last project that you launched. If you're doing business well, you are always stepping a little bit further from your comfort zone. Oh yeah.
[00:02:59] [00:03:00] And you will fail. And when I say fail is that you, we set up goals for ourselves that are away from our comfort zone. That's how we stretch. So we won't actually meet those goals. And as a coach, you always say, the Rover code is to set an impossible goal so that the client or the coachee will set a goal that is a little bit further on than we would do on their own, but not quite what you set up for that.
[00:03:24] And so that a little bit further goal you may or may not achieve, but in many cases, the fact that you actually took action is the celebration. So we have to be very careful. We S what we look at for a win and that we are not too harsh on ourselves.
[00:03:42] Kc Rossi: Yeah, that's so valuable. I love that I am right there with you with needing to push outside of that comfort zone, like that gentle stretch.
[00:03:51] So we're just incrementally making those improvements. We don't want to snap. So we're feeling behind the eight ball and I'm wondering. Do you [00:04:00] have, other than I liked the tips that you provided looking back at testimonials and, seeing the results of a launch or seeing the results that the client has experienced once you review that, is that enough for you to get like charged up and do stuff?
[00:04:14] Or do you actually do little things, get your favorite latte or get your nails done? Or like
[00:04:20] Dolores Hirschmann: a little so there's yeah, absolutely. So the tips I gave was were more like, okay, how do I get more? My self doubt that I don't know what I'm doing, and it's all going to fail. That's a testimony and all that, but also when we get into that kind of negative conversation, it's also a sign of.
[00:04:39] Exhaustion or burnout or just tiredness. I like, and it's time to self care. And so yes for me is definitely nails. Definitely like I now have forced myself because I. Like I say to us about her needed, but now I had a massage yesterday and I [00:05:00] forced myself to schedule it for four weeks from now.
[00:05:02] And so every month I have a massage, I started going to the chiropractor again. I used to go when my, when I was pregnant. But now I'm not pregnant or anything, but my body, it's falling apart a little bit. So I'm going to a chiropractor every week. And I decided I'm going to go twice a month to a chiropractor.
[00:05:19] And in one of those appointments, they have a massage therapist right there. And so I'll just schedule. So it's in my calendar. I had a facial, I booked another four, six weeks pre-booked because I am the first to say, I don't need it. Yeah, I'm all set. I'll call later and it's going to be six months before I call again.
[00:05:39] So if I totally walk away from a massage with another massage, then I'm holding myself accountable for that. Self-care in a productive way, not react. We
[00:05:49] Kc Rossi: totally need to do that. I love that. I want to underscore that scheduling our self-care and making ourselves a priority, making ourself like [00:06:00] A spot in our calendar.
[00:06:01] So it actually, when we ink it, it's going to happen. I love that. And I'm on the same page with you. In fact, right now you can tell, I do need a haircut. And I said to my bestie, I'm like, I'm just going to schedule that. Like I have an appointment this week and I'm like, I have to put it in the calendar like five weeks from now, put that in the calendar because I respect whatever.
[00:06:22] Schedule and otherwise I'm just like, you can wait another week. Oh, I don't really need it. And I think a lot of women entrepreneurs do that. So I love that tip of scheduling self-care and also too it can be simple stuff even things that are free, a walk in nature, like your favorite, whatever, a cup of tea, or even giving yourself time to explore a new recipe.
[00:06:44] Whatever lights you up, right? It doesn't necessarily have to even cost anything, but I think to prioritize ourselves, I'm really digging down. So thank you for sharing your personal thing.
[00:06:55] [00:07:00] I know your strength is really helping individuals, entrepreneur be very clear with your communication. And so I'm wondering what most people bump up against time and time again when it comes to clear and effective [00:08:00] communication.
[00:08:00] Dolores Hirschmann: Yes. And, so here's the thing, first of all, I am English as second language. So I always say, speak to me in plain English and I making a joke. My English is good.
[00:08:09] It's not a problem, but there is this tendency in any language. It's not just English speaking in the English speaking world is that if we're not. Sure of what we do, or we are a little bit lacking that self-confidence and I'm speaking to, to your listeners, to my audience, which is mostly serves entrepreneurs, meaning the product or service you sell is usually yourself, your brilliance, your genius, is not a shoe.
[00:08:38] And and so it is really hard to speak clearly about what we can give to someone else in a service or program. And so we tend to hide behind very big words or we try to make it too sophisticated because we're so unsure that if we speak simply, it may be too basic. And I'm not adding value and the [00:09:00] truth.
[00:09:01] That we also have this mindset that for someone to pay us money, to accomplish something for them, what we do has to be really hard. And if you've done your work well, you're running a business with a genius that comes easy to you. That's the ultimate best business, do something you love and charge a lot of money for it.
[00:09:24] And so there's a whole journey of mindset and guilt and self doubt around. I can charge all this money for something that I would do for free all day. And that's where the magic happens. When you give yourself permission to recognize, and we all have one of these to recognize that there's something that you are really good at, like almost a genius app.
[00:09:52] It doesn't matter what it is. It could be organizing drawers, it could be cooking, it could be clarity. And that you love doing it. You've been doing it [00:10:00] pretty much all your life and you've. Had how friends and family with this skill, this genius, and never charge a penny when you recognize that is a genius that you have or other people don't have, and that is solves a need and a pain point that people are suffering from.
[00:10:19] And that, unless you turn a business, turn this into a business with systems and a plan and cash flow, and the ability to get help. You're never going to be able to serve the world with your genius. And so it's really I'm now I forgot the original question, but yeah, people get get stuck in communicating in a very complex way because they don't give themselves permission to understand that what they offer is actually quite simple.
[00:10:49] And that's it so far. Awesome.
[00:10:52] Kc Rossi: So what I'm hearing is to simplify the message and don't overthink it, just be so clear. So crystal [00:11:00] clear that your prospective client is like, boom, Dolores does this. I don't have to guess there isn't a lot of industry jargon in there. I'm not scratching my head being like, what does that really mean?
[00:11:11] And so I really enjoy that. I'm wondering. How can someone, if we have a listener that is I just can't condense down what I do to help solve the problem. What sounds sexy enough? As far as a tangible result, what is something that they can do? What's a little exercise or practice that they can work on to just be so like poignant and effective with an engaging message.
[00:11:39] Dolores Hirschmann: Yes. So I'm going to give you two scenarios. Scenario one is you're a business owner. You've worked with some clients and you've received some testimonials. So the homework here is go read the testimonials and read and grab the words people use. Don't paraphrase. Grab the testimonial, [00:12:00] read the testimonial and grab, what is that?
[00:12:02] What did that person accomplish? Usually a testimonial is like what had a great experience with Dolores because now that I've worked with her, I have a clear message and I'm getting clients. What did they get? They got clarity and clients. Yeah. And so that's, if you have a running business with testimonials now, what happens if you've never worked with anybody or you've worked with people, but you never asked for testimonials because you were too shy.
[00:12:29] So then find 10 people you want to. And say, I'm going to help you for free or for very little money. I'd rather you charge a tiny bit of money then free, that's your choice, but I'm going to do this in exchange for your testimonial and the testimony. A key tool in marketing and it's not oh, Dolores is great.
[00:12:50] She's so fun. No, that's not a testimonial. A testimonial, it was very specific. Is what was your life? What did your life or your business or whatever. Look [00:13:00] before you worked with Dolores in this case, or Kc. And what does your life for businesses? After, what is the one thing you celebrate the most? Or, you can phrase that question of this work together.
[00:13:17] And what would you say to a prospective client? Those are like three steps. So if you're able to collect that information from past clients or clients that are doing a barter. Then that, that they identify as the outcome is what you talk about. I like
[00:13:34] Kc Rossi: that. And circling back to a really key point that you said before, don't paraphrase.
[00:13:39] You see exactly. Information like the voice of customer data, is what we say in marketing. So use that because other people are going to be able to self identify when they're like, oh my gosh, that sounds like me. That sounds if she's reading my mind. Yeah. She's reading my mind. And that's what we want when people are looking at our content.
[00:13:59] I'm wondering [00:14:00] too, because we are in. Massive digital age, especially post COVID. So there's more and more people going online, creating online businesses. What is something people can do to stand out in the crowd to silence the noise a little bit and just cut through. So people look at them and go, wow, I really what that person has to say.
[00:14:22] How can we slow the roll
[00:14:24] Dolores Hirschmann: yeah, the riches and the niches. And it's very scary to niche down because we don't want to leave anybody out. But it is important. It's down at, for me, I work with only service business owners ages 40 and up men and women, mostly women, but men and women, and that are in the 30,000.
[00:14:47] Or more gross revenue they've started, but they're just getting a little tired of grinding and not seeing results. So that's specifically. [00:15:00] Audience that I attract and I talked to them. And now if you get the outlier, I do. I'm a coach, so I'm an, I'm a leadership coach. I don't no longer take on or see coaching clients, but there's people I know from my network.
[00:15:15] And I always have one CEO from a big company that I'm coaching as a coach, not so much as a marketing and communications, and I love them and it's great. And is the outlier and I have something to offer, but it's not who I talk to.
[00:15:32] Yeah. All right. Awesome. Cool. So what have you seen change in the coaching space or in the digital marketing space since COVID has hit? What changes have you seen? What kind of pivots have you seen?
[00:15:47] Yeah, lots. First of all, there's definitely an exhaustion of online contents. There's an overload of online content.
[00:15:57] There's a much shorter attention span [00:16:00] and this. I lot of value that clients are putting a lot of value into the personalized service. And I think it's clear for anybody listening to us right now that, do it yourself. Content is okay, but it doesn't necessarily move the needle for everybody. And so one of the strategies that we use and I've used internally and we promote is that we pay up pretty much for every hour of.
[00:16:31] Online content or coaching that you have with us, you'll have a private implementation time. I'd masters in Claire, we've built a whole side of done for you where we actually implement for you or with you. You either give us homework or we sit in a zoom with you and write a newsletter together.
[00:16:49] When I say we do it with you or for you. I mean it, that we will ride your newsletters or we will do whatever needs to be. And so there's definitely a need for that [00:17:00] more one-on-one Space for people to take action. And the other thing I've done this for many years in my company, and this is a hack, but done that like online programs do it yourself kind of programs are great training tools for our teams.
[00:17:16] So what I do is I consume a lot of do it yourself programs that I never do. I buy them and I give access to my team for specific purposes. If we want to revamp our content, okay. I'll give my content manager and you do it yourself course. And then we measure the progress. There's a system inside of my company.
[00:17:39] We make sure that there's an accountability around it. So if I buy this program, it's a 12 week program. Then the goal is okay, consume the content 12 weeks and the week 13, please present the plan of how we're going to roll this out. And when you do that as a job and you I've held jobs, With companies when it's a project and you have an expectation of when you do it, [00:18:00] because it's part of your job.
[00:18:01] And so you actually do consume the content because it's a part of a bigger project with clear, measurable outcomes.
[00:18:09] Kc Rossi: I liked that. I think we often can get into a course carousel and I think as marketers get smarter and the copywriting gets even better. Sticky. It's Ooh, I need that. That's like the next shiny trends.
[00:18:23] So I really liked this mindful consumption and an action plan. After you have consumed the content, how are you going to implement it? Who's going to be accountable to do a little debrief on it. That's a great tip in general. I think that's fabulous. Other than exhaustion. Did you see any other kind of trends coming up or suggestions when people are dealing with changes from are changing global, because of COVID, globally, we've had these shifts and these changes and some of it hasn't been so easy.
[00:18:58] And so I'm just wondering what kind of [00:19:00] guidance that you could share. For people that may be like, gosh, like I did get knocked down and I'm trying to bounce back up. So what can I do? How can I be helped? Yeah.
[00:19:09] Dolores Hirschmann: And so it is important that we all go back to basics and go back to each one of us that minute from the personal space is go back to what is our healthy routine.
[00:19:21] Even if we never leave the house. And what is our health routine? How many hours can I be in the computer? Because now we are. Yeah in the computer at night for entertainment, Netflix and in the computer all day for work. And so there is definitely a need to shift some habits. On the professional side, I think there's a lot of, again, back to basics.
[00:19:40] I'm actually in this process in this week, when we're recording this, I'm running a challenge called client attraction. And the goal of this challenge is a five day challenge. We're actually, I'm taking people through very basic marketing knowledge that most of them have done, but they've gone so far from the.[00:20:00]
[00:20:00] Essence of that strategy or that the reason why you do it, that they're in a rabbit hole of, I should be doing this and I should be doing that and I'm not good enough or whatever. And so I'm going back to basics, like at the end of the day, to get a new client, you must meet us, meet a person, establish a relationship with them, create a nurturing way of creating a trust-based kind of back and forth.
[00:20:27] And when the. That lead is ready and they have the need, don't have, they have to need what you do, right? Not every buyer will be a buyer because. If that person trusts you and they have the need, then the sale will happen. And I understand it just that basic journey gives you the permission to say, okay, I'm going to do it all high tech or I'm going to do at all low tech or the ideal is let's do a hybrid.
[00:20:57] How can I automate some messaging, [00:21:00] but also send it something in the mail, something in the mail,
[00:21:05] Kc Rossi: absolutely. I love that. I love the duo combination of circling back to basics. Not only in your personal life, what's your healthy routine, what sustains or elevates your energy and. The other flip side to that, which is wait a second.
[00:21:22] You're so right. People have veered off with all the different trends. They jump on the trend, train,
[00:21:29] Dolores Hirschmann: know what it means, but they do it.
[00:21:31] Kc Rossi: And, we all fall prey to that. And it comes with that good intention. Like we're all trying to grow, have a bigger impact. So I like this idea of circling back to basics.
[00:21:41] In general, I think that can serve the audience very well, approaching it with fresh eyes as well. Not coming about it with, oh, I already know that I've already done that, but literally being like, okay, fresh eyes, clean slate. How can I optimize this? How can I, Approach it in a new and fresh way.
[00:21:58] So I think that's awesome. [00:22:00] What do you have coming up exciting on the docket? How can people learn more about you, maybe this upcoming challenge and what you do in
[00:22:07] general?
[00:22:08] Dolores Hirschmann: Yes, absolutely. So masters in clarity.com is where you will find everything masters in clarity.com. We have a book that we released this year.
[00:22:18] I think you got a copy, Casey called clarity. One of the things I'm excited about in October is we are going to start implementing this audit workshops and it's going to be a workshop 90 minutes where we will help you audit your business so that you know where to focus your energy. This is based on our methodology.
[00:22:39] But it's important to understand that. That we don't need to throw the baby in the bath water, add the baby with the bath. Whatever the baby with the bath water or whatever that expression is, but that it's always about, okay, let's take stock. What is really not working great and focus on that. So we're going to be running this all to workshops consistently to help people [00:23:00] find their footing
[00:23:01] Kc Rossi: oh, that's fantastic. I'll make sure to put the links in the show notes and I appreciate all of your tips. If you wanted to leave our listeners with a final piece of bright light wisdom, what would you like to share
[00:23:15] Dolores Hirschmann: trust? Trust your intuition does know that if you're there to serve powerfully distrust, that the how will come.
[00:23:25] Kc Rossi: I love that brings us right back full circle to how we started the podcast, which is all about your biggest lesson in business. After being an entrepreneur for two decades, I'm all about self-trust too. So I'm right there with you. Thank you so much for being here and until we meet again, my friend, breathe joy.
[00:23:43] Thank you so much.
[00:23:44] Dolores Hirschmann: Thank you.
