Building A No BS Business That Gives You The Freedom And Lifestyle You Want - Interview With Lisa Greensill - Part 2
“Until you see yourself, it's really difficult, because all you see is that imposter syndrome and all you see is what you don't know.
Like, I can get so much better at writing - we can always keep getting better. But I think that that's also what keeps you motivated because it would be really boring if you just went ‘Ah, I'm here.’”
Lisa Greensill
This week, we’re picking up where we left off on my interview with the incredible Lisa Greensill, one the awesome students I had the pleasure of working with in the No BS Agency Mastery, and generally a great human being.
If you want to catch up on Part 1 - go here.
So, let’s get right into it.
PS: Oh, my gosh, you were at an awards show?
LG: Yeah, the Women in Finance one. There were these massive stages and it was incredible, a proper production. There were big screens…and yeah, it was amazing.
PS: You have photos?
LG: I do.
PS: Are they on your website?
LG: They will be. I'm redoing my website, so we've got the new website [coming up].
PS: Are you? I was just checking it out. It looks amazing. I love it.
LG: I've got to fix it - I haven't done that since I was in your course, which is so bad?
PS: Why is that so bad? I think it's super clear. People will be the judge, but I think it's great.
I was actually about to send it to one of my current students.
LG: Yeah, it's great, but, you know, you evolve and…
PS: …maybe it hasn't kept up with where you've gone strategically.
LG: Correct. Even in the way things are written.
One of the things that you really taught me about writing is making things visceral - that really stuck with me.
I was telling a client about it the other day, and he got it, because then you can picture your clients being there. That was really effective.
PS: Amazing. I love it. OK, so tell me a little bit about a couple of key moments last year where I was just so excited for you.
But I want you to share how your life changed by changing the model of your business, because it's really not just about the business, it's really about the whole thing, right?
It’s about how our business affects our lives. So I seem to recall last December, you were doing pretty well and you weren't working.
LG: So I took [time] off, yeah.
I earned so much in that month - I had this huge December, which was double, triple what I’d earned the previous year, maybe even four times. And so I was able to then take the holidays off with the kids, because I'd put it aside and took it off.
However, I learned that didn't propel me into the next year. So it was a good lesson. It was great.
But I've learned that probably this year was even better, because I had a great December, a great January and a great February.
PS: OK, so tell us what it looks like now. Paint me a picture of how your business is operating now.
LG: So I still just work school hours, mostly Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 3pm, and pretty much do stick to that unless there's a little bit more.
I'm booked up till May, so I literally haven't done any (I know it sounds awful) but I haven't done any marketing because I've got this new thing, The Brandover.
So we're building that at the same time, and then I will get a lot more proactive.
PS: Where are all of these clients coming from?
LG: Referrals.
PS: Okay, so how are you getting so many referrals?
LG: Okay, so there's a couple of strategic partners, a few consultants, past clients, even some of the podcasts.
The podcasts and webinars are the evergreen material, and I'll still get people calling about that.
PS: Where did those referral partners and consultants come from?
LG: I did reach out to them.
It was your reach out [method].
My kind of strategy was more around connecting with those strategic partners who have got the reach, so they're consultants with financial advisors.
But it’s not just anyone - they’re ones that work with the type of clients that I work with, because I work with firms with one to three person decision makers
PS: A good market
LG: Right, and financial planners who are lifestyle-based. And, I don't know, I'm a bit into the universe and forces and I just ended up connecting with the right type of people who I just gelled with.
So at the moment, it's all referral based because I just haven't had time like I did. I was booked up from December and I already had jobs booked up till March.
PS: That sounds like a dream And you're now charging 15k for projects that used to charge six?
LG: Four.
PS: Okay, so you've raised your prices pretty significantly. You've shrunk them into these Intensive Days. It sounds like you did tons of outreach and some podcasts on authority building that has generated a referral network for you.
Take the credit, Lisa, take the credit.
LG: Yes. Yeah, I guess so.
I just feel like I know there's more which is exciting. I guess the exciting part is, if I really did implement it all, it's still there.
I intend to do it.
I remember saying to you, and I say this to clients, it's not just one thing.
It’s everything kind of pieced together.
And then the awards were really interesting, because I didn't really understand the power of them.
But award-winning companies now contact me, because I'm also the award winner.
So the financial planners that have won awards themselves will come to me because I guess they realise what it takes to win. So it does help.
PS: Of course it helps.
LG: I know, but it’s funny Pia.
I just lived in a different world where I was just in a box.
All those years, I didn't even realise, honestly, till I joined your course and the StoryBrand stuff. And I was exposed even more I guess, through people being all across the world.
I just didn't realise what possibilities were out there, to be honest, and it just makes me really excited.
PS: So you're booked up, you're working with the clients you want to work with? You've got referrals coming to you. What do you see as next?
LG: Well, the exciting part is, I met my ‘Steve.’
Aynsley and I just clicked.
This was late last year, I know I'd been putting it out to the universe. I just felt like that was really my missing link.
I kept saying that I don't have a Steve. It does make it [easier] because you're trying to just find contractors.
PS: Because you don't do the design, right? Because some people do design also. But you're really the strategist.
LG: And I do the copy. And I really love, love, love that.
I realised that I want to get better at it.
But I found Aynsley and we connected on LinkedIn and we just finished our first project together.
And it's incredible. We had the best time and we really clicked
PS: Well, what's been your experience from Lead Product to upsell? Like for every lead product you do, how many of them do you actually upsell to a project?
LG: 100%.
PS: 100%?
LG: Yeah, but I don't do heaps and heaps of Lead Products. It might be one or two a month, because I have existing clients come back for big projects.
So an existing client will come back. And that's the other thing where I get stuff from and exists.
There’s kind of two phases - [the first] is the brand, website and copy, and then the next phase is their freebie download and the email nurture sequence.
And that [next phase] is usually the second project that they come back to me for which I sometimes quote in the first project. I've ‘got’ quoting - it doesn't take me long to quote, and I don't worry about it anymore.
Because when you taught us to work out all the pieces of your packages, you've already got it ready, and you're just kind of piecing it together, like little Lego pieces. So quoting is not an issue anymore, because I've also worked out what I do and don't do.
So it's like, ‘No, I don't do that.’
PS: Feels good.
LG: And I don't do anal work, and everything is a start-stop project.
I even had an existing client come back (and I love him), who really wanted me to help him with his ongoing blog.
I said to him, ‘I don't do ongoing work.’ Then I thought ‘Wait a minute, I'll do it in the Brandover models.’
So I just changed my thinking, because why would you say no, because it's ongoing income.
So it’s, intensive style, right, not in a retainer mode.
PS: Yeah. I think ongoing work is great, as long as it's in an Intensive model, and you're not at their beck and call.
LG: No, no I'm not.
And that's the best part from being part of the Program, the fact that I just am so clear around ‘Look, it's like start-stop projects, so you can’t just call [anytime]’.
My clients don't have my phone number.
I don't answer emails on weekends and I don't answer emails at night - I'll schedule them.
That was something you taught me is to schedule them.
So I might work on a Sunday sometimes to clear the decks. but I'll always schedule that email to go at 8.30am on Monday, and train them.
And I was telling Aynsley the same thing because she works early mornings because she's got kids and I'm like ‘Just schedule that email for eight’
She's like me, she over delivers, but you’ve got to have your boundaries because otherwise you get burnt out.
PS: Absolutely. Oh my gosh, Lisa, it's like night and day hearing you talk.
LG: I realise now how far I've come from talking to you because I think when you're in it every day or you say ‘I haven’t built authority’ all I'm seeing is what I haven't done, and it kind of does get frustrating.
Sometimes because you know, you're like, ‘I've got here by doing this, but there's still this I could do…imagine.’
And I just imagine where I kind of don't see the limit. It's kind of limitless now.
PS: Oh my gosh, that's amazing. I just love this transformation.
Tell me more - you don't feel as stressed about it anymore.
I know, I used to feel that stress too, right?
Even when somebody would book the call. I'd be like, ‘Oh, no!’ right?
LG: Yeah, same. I'd see the call and I’d be like, ‘Oh, what are they going to asked me to do…blah blah…’
But now I know what to do and what I don't do.
And I've got a certain style, right?
So it's, it's this conversational, relatable, authentic style.
And it's very distinct and it's different
It's very much what you do, but it's different to what a lot of branding agencies do, and particularly in the financial planning industry, right?
Because it's all very corporate and proper. But because I work with smaller businesses and I literally get their words, I just have this way of getting them to say things that they didn't even realise or they didn’t realise they said it that way.
And I'll see it, and then that [client’s] got goosebumps, because I'm just regurgitating what they've said.
And it just feels very authentic.
It’s pretty rewarding - it's very rewarding, actually.
You know, when you get off a call or one of those zoom chats, like, just feel really confident.
I've had a few this week and you’re like ‘Yep, this is how I do it, the app, this is how I do it, this is how it works.’
So listen, I'm definitely not the cheapest out there. I've been in the financial planning industry a long time, and I've been doing marketing for a long time.
So you have the confidence to say, ‘Look, you can go and find someone to do it cheaper, but you can see the work I've done that cost about this, and I'll just add a little bit on.’
And that's how it works.
And so that's why I find the pricing hasn't been a huge issue.
Because at that point, people go ‘Well, no.’ Because if you're not prepared to pay…
PS: Right, if $15,000 is five times as much as you were expecting, then you're not going to continue, right?
LG: Correct. But you're not going to get the same result. You're not going to get something that looks like that.
That's their choice.
PS: Yeah, I'm so excited for you, Lisa, thank you so much for sharing all of this.
And, you know, business is a marathon, not a race, and there's always more runway in front of us, right?
Because there's always farther to go.
So I'm just so overjoyed to see just how far you've come in less than two years and all the things that are ahead of you. I mean, it's just a joy.
LG: Thank you. And also you always saw the potential in me when I didn't see. So until you see that in yourself, it’s difficult.
So I’m just sad I can't come back because of my timezone, but maybe one day.
PS: If you ever move to the state side, then you will be perfect. We will welcome you back.
LG: Maybe we’ll do a No BS Event somewhere.
PS: Yes, that is also on the docket.
LG: In person, past and present [members] - I will be there.
PS: I will keep that in mind.
OK, I have one last question.
You know, you invested in yourself to join our Program at a time when you had just lost your biggest client, and you're getting paid hourly.
So I know that that is not an easy decision.
And maybe even taking a leap of faith.
What would you say to somebody in that position now who's like, ‘Ah, I think maybe I should wait a little longer till I have more money or I should save up’
What was your thinking around that?
LG: I'm very much a ‘life-is-short’, ‘gut-feeling’ person.
I just knew I needed to do something.
I'd always wanted to be part of your Program, and I decided ‘It’s now or never.’
Otherwise, you’re just going to be spinning your wheels.
So, if people do similar stuff to what we do, and they're looking for the same kind of goals around lifestyle and running a business that they love, that doesn't have to be a huge business (because I never wanted to build a huge business - I wanted to build a lifestyle business), then I just think it's definitely the best decision, the best investment I've made.
I've told people that over and over and over.
PS: That's awesome.
LG: I'm an example of what happens when you just take a risk because, honestly, then I didn't have the confidence.
I mean, I sound confident now but I really wasn't at all back then.
And it was being part of the Program and really working out what you love to do and just part of that whole process that has kind of got me here.
And I've got so, so far to go.
But it's been one of the best things I've done for me, not only the business, but me.
Me personally, which is even more important than the business.
Because, you know, when you find work out what you love to do, and then you can see your potential. That's very powerful.
PS: I agree. And oh my God, you are showing up like such a confident badass right now, Lisa?
Yeah, you seriously are.
I do remember that. I remember having to talk you up a little bit sometimes.
But you're so good at what you do.
I mean (selfishly) I love when I see people who are really, really good at what they do. And they're just like, not doing all the things.
I'm like, ‘Oh, my God, let's just do all the things around you. And you're gonna soar because you've got the goods.’
LG: Yeah, right.
Until you see yourself, it's really difficult, because all you see is that imposter syndrome and all you see is what you don't know.
Like, I can get so much better at writing - we can always keep getting better. But I think that that's also what keeps you motivated because it would be really boring if you just went ‘Ah, I'm here.’”
PS: Words to live by.
You can always get better, and you can feel confident where you are.
And if you can do that, then life is enjoyable.
Thank you so so much, Lisa, for coming on the show.
Thank you so much for sharing your story and all the ups and the downs.
I'm so delighted to reconnect with you and see you.
LG: Thank you so much for letting me tell my story.
Oh, my God, I love Lisa so much.
She has so much energy.
She's so great at what she does and she implemented so many aspects of the No BS Agency models so well, and had such great results.
And I love that she got to show us warts and all, right?
Because there's always farther to take it.
And what I love about teaching this model is that you can take a piece and implement it and have immediate results.
Take the Lead Product and replace your free proposals and quoting with it and immediately see an easier pitching process where everybody's upselling, and you're not wasting all your time with pitching.
You can implement the Magic Hour which is the way that we present work, which shrinks the amount of back and forth down from sometimes weeks and months to literally half an hour.
Magic Hour usually means that people have maybe one edit, like ‘My name here is different’ or ‘Can you switch that photo right there?’ and then it's done.
Each of these strategies can be implemented into your business with results.
And it's just about adding, changing, tweaking this, this, this and it will make your business tighter and tighter and tighter and more and more profitable.
And the more profitable it is, the more freedom you have.
Like Lisa said we're all about freedom and lifestyle and just kind of loving our businesses here at No BS Agency Mastery.
So if that is something that is piquing your interest, and if you are like Lisa was and you're just kind of like
‘I'm not sure where to get my clients…’
‘I don't really have a business structure…’
‘I've got lots of work to do, but I'm working all the time…’
‘I don't know what kind of ceiling I'm putting on myself in terms of income…’
And you want systems that make things feel easier, you want a process for sales that feels more authentic to you where you feel confident and excited to get on these calls, because you have boundaries and you know what you sell and you know what you don't and you're detached from the sale because you know you've got leads coming in.
If you want all of that, go to nobsagencymastery.com/apply.
Tell us a bit about your business and hop on a call with one of my team, and let's see if this is the right time for you to No BS your agency.
Here’s what you need to get…
Running a No BS Agency isn’t about getting all pieces of the model perfect.
In fact, you may have to tweak and test how it will work for you, your market and your clients.
However, the beauty of this process is that even if you just start with implementing one aspect, you can see massive shifts and results.
P.S. You can always jump on a call with my team if you want to learn all my tools and strategies to scale up your agency like Lisa - just go here to get started!