The Real Reason Your Business Strategy Is Failing

Speaker 2 (00:37) everybody, welcome to the Sugar Spice and Spirits podcast. I'm Natalie Filkington along with my co- Speaker 3 (00:42) Mindy Price and Speaker 1 (00:43) Kelly Williams. Speaker 2 (00:44) And today we are going to talk about business life in real estate. One of the topics that I like and one of the things that I think about is while they're busy playing checkers, we're playing chess. I think so many times in life, we just kind of go through the motions, whether it's in business, whether it's in personal, whether whatever, but we really need to be working five steps ahead. But before I jump into that, ladies, I have a sip of the day that you guys are going Speaker 1 (00:54) We're playing chess. Speaker 2 (01:14) Too la- Speaker 3 (01:15) Yes. been a while not to drink it. It's been sitting there. It just looks so good. Speaker 1 (01:16) And Speaker 2 (01:19) So I actually got this from Tim the Tank, Tim the Tank the official TikTok. And this is Pina Colada Punch. let's. Speaker 1 (01:26) cool. Speaker 2 (01:31) Cheers! Who doesn't like a good pina colada? Speaker 1 (01:38) shut up. That's good. Okay, that's Speaker 3 (01:42) Thanks Tim the tank. Speaker 2 (01:47) So it's a little bit of pineapple juice, some rum, really simple and some melo. Speaker 3 (01:51) And how do they get the recipe, Natalie? Speaker 2 (01:53) They have to subscribe to our newsletter. You can go to sugarspiceandspirits.com and go ahead and subscribe to the newsletter and then you have to verify the email address and we will get you out that newsletter. We'll do the tips of the day that come with the podcast as well as any resources, but also our recipes that go along with the podcast. So you'll definitely want to sign up for that. Speaker 3 (02:15) And that one's really good, y'all. Not that our others aren't, but it's really good. Somebody needs to go on a tangent. Speaker 2 (02:19) Let me get a step before. Speaker 1 (02:22) Yeah, that was really good. Yeah, for sure. Speaker 2 (02:26) That's why I filled it to the top. Speaker 1 (02:29) That's why we chose larger glasses. Speaker 2 (02:33) So I think, you know, what happens, was a personal situation that I was actually talking to you about. there's, um personal things in my life, obviously in business and you know, you really have to stay two steps ahead. Whether you're courting a new client, you're writing a sales pitch, you know, there's certain things that you have to do or you should be doing. You don't have to do it. You could just put your bid out there and see what happens. But you really need to be thinking ahead of this than that. this thinking outside the box, how can I better present myself, better present my information and better prepare myself for this customer, this conversation, this relationship. And I think when you don't take the time to pause, stop and think about everything, the bigger picture, you're really selling yourself short. There's a book that I read of the E-Myth. And when you're working in that quadrant, quadrant one, is the fire quadrant. When you're walking in, you're checking your emails, everything's on fire, you're having to do everything. You can't take a step back and take a look at the bigger picture. That's what you can't see the trees from the forest. Like when you're in it, you've to be outside of it. And it's really that kind of thing when you're really leading and you're really trying to excel and be better that you have to do. It's really important that you just pay attention to that. I know there was a situation with my personal that I'm doing and I don't want to go too much into it, but it's, it is paying playing checkers and chess and some relationships that are adversarial. You've got to stay a step ahead. You don't want to be running down the path, just reacting to everything that's coming at you. You want to be ahead of them. I think you did this too. You had a client reach out to you for a business speech and it was a different industry, but you're very familiar with it. but you still reached out to other people in the industry to get their feedback, their thoughts, their advice, to educate yourself, think outside the box. How could you make this the best presentation, entertaining value, where they'll be left with something more? And you did that by reaching out and helped you with your proposal for your clients, future clients. So I think it's really important, bigger picture-wise, that we are... Constantly playing chess. We're always sharpening our skill. We're always evolving always making ourselves better And if you're not you're stagnant you're dying and you're reacting that's just all checkers is that you move here the other moves there There's no Versatility in the players or the pieces like there is in chess and I just think that's really so Important and I have some stats that I can go over but I want you guys to add add to that Speaker 3 (05:20) So before you get into that, it's funny that you say that because for a second when you brought that up, like I can remember all these feelings that I had of inadequacy whenever I was reached out by this particular company for this particular group that was outside of my normal wheelhouse of where I speak. And I was like, I don't know. So I sent back when they had reached out to me, I was like, well, what is it that you're really looking for? When is your event? Who is the audience? And I asked some questions to keep the conversation going. But as I'm sending that email out, I actually had a lot of apprehension and is this the right place for me? Will my message really resonate? Even though the message that I have crafted and the lane that I like to stay in, it resonates across everywhere, but I do try to be very niche so it's not so much all over. But what I realized with this message, it can resonate and it can really hit home and inspire others no matter the audience that it's with. And so I bought myself a little bit of time and they came back to me and I was like, stop. before you say no to this opportunity because as I've gotten older and in my business, I've gotten better about saying no. If I'm not excited about it, I'm gonna say no and I'm gonna walk away. Yes, it may be leaving money on the table, but that's okay. I chose to be my boss so that I could make sure when I'm in a situation and I can inspire, motivate, and help other leaders in communication that that's what I wanna do. And so I'm really glad that I bought myself just a little bit of time, Natalie. because what I realized was my circle of influence that I had around me and I started making phone calls to people that were in this particular industry. And what I realized was, my gosh, I actually, now this is not gonna happen in every situation. I actually have experience here. I have been there. I know 1000 % how to talk to these individuals and to hit home on a point that doesn't get hit home on very often. So I made another call to somebody that I, truly respect and I pitched my idea to them and they are on that side of the business for this particular group. I'm not gonna give all of it away yet because it's still like happening as we're talking. And I was so excited and I realized, wow, by moving this piece and doing this, I gave myself this opportunity to figure out, no, I absolutely can't do this and I can have an impact. What I could have found by doing that though was, actually I'm gonna pass on this one, but I'm gonna write it over here and then I'm gonna figure out later on can I come back to them and I would gracefully step away from it. But by relying and moving all of these different pieces strategically, I was able to put together a proposal that I will tell you frankly, if they don't choose it, I will be shocked. I will probably cry for a second and then I'll dry those tears. I have a new industry that I wanna start going after because I... completely forgot about that side of my business and my resume and what I've done in the past and it opened up so much and now I can be very strategic in the moves that I make for going there and I also have two more testimonials of individuals that I've worked with that I can use but I wouldn't have had that had I just initially taken that gut, my gosh, can I do this, am I qualified? And instead I was like, yeah, let me figure this out and then I realized there was this whole big new group that could be a demographic for me and a whole type of industry that I could work with that I hadn't really before where I actually am 1000 % qualified to work for and help and make a difference in. And it's just those pieces. Speaker 2 (08:51) That's hitting pause. You have the ability and the fortitude versus working in the fire quadrant where you're like, oh, I got to get this done. Let me submit an offer. Let me submit a bid. Let me submit my proposal. Or just say, oh, no, I don't want to work with you. Sometimes pressing pause and not being so reactory is important. And asking a few clarifying questions, drilling down. They may have come back and said, oh, it's a pool party. It's a this. I just need you to speak. It's going to be fun, lighthearted. Or they could have come back and said, they could have come back and said, no, this is completely business. This is, you know, you don't know until you ask those clarifying questions and by pressing pause, can still say no, but you're getting more information and you're not just reactory by thinking outside the box. Who can I call? my goodness. You're unlocking a present self or a past self where you're able to recall and pull up all of that, that you'd packed away that you're like, I'm not going back there again. recall it, pull it out and then like, yeah, I remember I got this. And so there's a value to that and not having to be so reactory and be able to play chess. Speaker 3 (10:00) And before we move on to Kelly, because I'm sure there's something that you want to add with this, there was also within the same couple of weeks where I went to lunch with somebody where I was thinking about working and consulting with their company and also potentially with this individual. And the more I sat there and the more we had a conversation, the more I was like, no. Like this is just too much of a headache. And I asked certain questions and I realized, well, if you can't be helped by your therapist and you can't be helped here, here and here, I am, I always say this, I'm not a doctor. don't play one on TV. And there were just certain things that I knew and I strategically walked away from it. Yes. Was it money away from my firm? Was it money away from my family? Yes. But there is a reason that I want to be in the position to say yes or no. I'm not. saying that I'm always going to say the right yes and I'm always going to say the right no, but being able to be in that position and thank you for recognizing that because it does take a long time to be able to sit back and push pause and not be so reactive because being reactive is also how get some people knocked off checkmate, know, different things happen when you're playing the game because let's face it the game of life and business but if you do it in a way that's true and authentic to yourself I think that you get a lot more out of it. Speaker 1 (11:11) Yeah, no, I think the pushing pause, knowing you and you like to be a perfectionist, and I think that's a great quality, and sometimes having something presented to you and the excitement around that. And you think, wow, what an opportunity. We jump at it sometimes before you take that pause, because if you don't move those pieces around and think, okay, do I have more on my plate right now? And it's not that you can't do it, do you have the time to do it? Do you have the ability to dedicate the time, the research, whatever it is, to that particular task at hand? Because at the end of the day, if it's not your specific, like you said, your wheelhouse, are you really giving them the takeaway that they want? So you are excited to jump into this new opportunity, but are you selling yourself short? Or are you saying, yes, I can do it? but you have so many other things that you've got going on that you don't give them the 100 % of Mindy, of Kelly, of Natalie that they deserve. being in the medical field as a physical therapist growing through my career, there have never been until now lately, but previously there weren't many opportunities to go outside of the clinical setting. mean, a physical therapist was known and paid for their clinical skills. So you didn't see a lot of therapists in a management position. When I had a few changes in my circumstance when my husband got sick, I needed to be in a position where I could work from home and take care of him. Well, you can't have your patients come to your house. So I had to really dig deep and look at areas that I felt like I was qualified to. to pursue that were outside of my hands-on experience. And I went into utilization management where I basically went in and analyzed documentation to determine whether or not these documents were appropriate for ongoing therapy. So I got to use my expertise for after 30 years of therapy in looking at documentation to determine, and I was on the insurance side, which a lot of people don't like the insurance people. But I really felt the compassion of that therapist, of that person that they were treating and felt like I did a really good, honest job. But it took a lot for me to think I was okay. I had to move a lot of pieces to think, am I qualified for this? Because all I've ever known is hands-on. And so I had to actually kind of rethink things. And over time, I actually moved into a very high management position. So yeah, you definitely have to step back and make sure that the decision that you're making is something that's going to benefit you, but benefit the people that you're also serving. Speaker 3 (14:01) But I think a lot of what also helped you in that field that you were in is the fact that you've had your company in Louisiana for almost 25 years. you run that organization. And so thinking of it as thinking of those different pieces that play in. And so while, the insurance side of the business that you were doing was very difficult, you could look at it as a business person. You could look at it as a therapist. You could look at it as a human that's having to view those claims for kids and whatnot. And so I do think that that definitely helped you and helped you figure out those strategic moves, whereas somebody just coming in from the clinical side, I it would have been very different. So just wanted to make sure I threw that out there. Speaker 1 (14:41) Thank you so much. Appreciate that little vote of confidence. But you're right. You're right. Being a business person, it's funny because owning the business, when we first started the business, yes, I was out there doing a of the assessments and determining who, know, with my business, wasn't determining who was appropriate for the services. Anyone was appropriate for the services. So it was a little bit different. But you're right. It was still that putting on that business hat versus that clinical hat. So it was a little bit different. I had to think about the money exchange, the revenue, insurance dollars. And so it was, as a therapist, you're constantly fighting and trying to prove why this person needs therapy. And then from the standpoint, all of sudden I was on, I had to say, I need more. I need more for you to tell me why this person needs therapy. So was a little uncomfortable at first. But at the end of the day, I really felt like I was doing everyone justice. And it was, I had to take a pause because I wasn't sure that that's the side that I wanted to be on because I was didn't like to tell people no. So totally different story. but yeah, I mean, it definitely had its had its same parallels with the business that I have, which is non medical. So yeah, it was that's that's a good point. I hadn't really thought much about that. But you're right. Speaker 3 (15:59) And I don't know if you even wanted to talk about it on the subject today, but we think about the strategic moves that you make. Oftentimes, a lot of that goes with communication. And I think that in the role that you were in, Kelly, and why you were able to move up to a larger role and a managerial role was because you were able to communicate and articulate. the comments and the reasons that you needed more information and you could back it up with the clinical skills that you had. you know, you were thinking about all of these things, but you are also giving the tools to your team so that you can help them. And Natalie, I think in any game, live, chess, checkers, if you're not a great communicator, that is going to be a detriment to success in many different ways. Speaker 2 (16:41) Yeah, absolutely. Communication is key, I think, and everything in life. If everyone just walks around with a chip on their shoulder or pissed off or angry for whatever reason, whatever ails you, you really miss out on some huge opportunities to grow and build friendships, relationships, and just being involved in life. So I do have some statistics here because I think it is important when we're looking bigger picture and we're growing our business and we're doing what we need to do. because so many times we get caught up in the weeds, especially like in real estate. What's your long-term strategy? What's your long-term strategy in business? It's like you've been on autopilot, you've been in a successful business for 25 years. What do I need to do in the business? You're re-engaged, checked back in. It's like, okay, now all this stuff's cleared up. I'm in a good head space. I'm in a good mindset. And let's move forward with the growth pattern and everything. And that's that vision. So you've got to have a long-term strategy. 47 % higher revenue growth on companies that have that long-term strategy. 36 % higher earnings growth for companies that have that long-term strategy. And this is not just for the business. You as an individual should be growing and pushing yourself, being a better team leader. Like I was, listening to a book right now and I listened to a lot of books. you guys haven't, haven't realized on the book that one of the team members is the CEO came in, took over this company and he's newer and at a couple of weeks in, and one of the team members has said he didn't need to work on himself personally because he's already, he's been doing the business for 15, 20 years, he already knows everything. And the CEO said, so you're not looking to grow or be better? He goes, no, I already know everything. So you're still year one in this position because you've refused to allow yourself to grow and do anything better. You're not a good fit for our team. You know, like, I'm sorry to see you go. However, that's not what we're looking for. fit our dynamic here anymore. So if we go into Harvard Business Review, Long-term goals, 60 % more likely to succeed, are two times more likely to survive the past five years. And the US Small Business Administration, the SBA, if you're a small business and you're not familiar with the SBA as far as a resource, government, grants, loans, that type of thing, no matter what your business is, it's always great to get familiar with the SBA, the programs and stuff that they have out there. But 70 % of businesses fail. within 10 years for poor planning. And I think as we are tackling the podcast here, like we definitely aren't playing checkers. We're playing chess. We're in it for the long term. We're in it for the long, long time. know people on my Facebook page are probably like, Natalie, where's this podcast? We've heard about it. Where is it? Where's it coming? When's it coming? Because we haven't launched, but we've recorded so many episodes. And it's not because we Speaker 3 (19:36) Why are you gonna lie? Speaker 2 (19:46) Enjoy each other's company. We like the sip, the beverage of the day. We do. Some of them, some of them, but we do enjoy each other's company. Absolutely. but it's really about setting it up for success. Most podcasts fell in the first, you know, first six months because they're not consistent. They're not posting the seven episodes. They're not, it's like that seven year itch. You know, you're not intentional and you have to be. Speaker 1 (19:49) But we do. Speaker 2 (20:14) intentional, you have to look bigger picture. So do you just launch a podcast or do you set up a business and do you set it up in a way that's setting yourself up for success and the business and the company agreement that you're setting up? Are you long-terming it or you just chat GPT and go into an attorney getting a boilerplate template and going forward with that because then you're setting yourself up for potential failure. Partnerships are like divorce. And if you don't set it up like thinking forward thinking, what are some of the potentials and possibilities that can come in this new joint venture and this new partnership? What if one of us does this? What if one of us does that? What if, what if, what if, what if, and you've had a what if happen in your family business, the business, you have to have the forward thought to be able to have those conversations before it happens, before it gets tough so that you're not, well, hurt that you won't let me do what I want to do but that doesn't fit our business plan. Having the same goals and visions all mapped out beforehand sets you up for so much more success. Not saying that you still won't end up possibly in divorce or in a lawsuit with your partners. However you want to you want to be as preventative as possible. Just like if your marriage is going south and somebody is saying hey I'm having issues I'm having moments I'm not happy anymore. You better pull yourself up by the bootstraps and figure it out as a couple and work on it as a couple. And if you're not willing to do that. Speaker 1 (21:45) I think in any business, life, medical, in any scenario, you have to expect the unexpected because it will derail you in a moment. And it really doesn't matter how well you plan. You may have 15 points lined out and you're like, oh, I got this. 16 is going to kick you in the butt. It'll come. It will come. And the thing is, is that if you've got 15 in place, 16's not gonna overwhelm you so much because you're like, okay, I have a strategic plan for scenario one through 15. So 16, okay, I need step back, pause, think about how I do this, reach out to my resources, and whatever it could be, whether it's your marriage, whether it's your business, whether it's you wanna go buy a new car, whatever. All of a sudden, you're faced with a dilemma or a situation that you weren't prepared for. if you just jump into that scenario and fly by the seat of your pants, which I'm known to fly by the seat of my pants. Yeah, she is. I've got wings on the pockets here. Speaker 2 (22:58) How's that go? Wings on the pocket? Wings on the water. Speaker 1 (23:01) in some situations, but there as I've gotten older and as I've dealt with my business and recent changes in my business and changes in personnel because of, you know, I had to take my father was CEO of my company. And when he was number one ready, I'm like, he said, I'm done. I'm tired. Here you go. I was like, okay, well, here we go. So I had to feel some very big shoes. And then we had some personnel changes for unforeseen reasons, but you have to make some very uncomfortable situations and you have to be prepared to stand by those conversations, decisions, and put on your business hat and take off your personal hat. And sometimes because you realize that even though you may hurt people's feelings, it's not personal. It's about the longevity. It's about the success stories. Speaker 2 (23:34) those conversations. Speaker 1 (23:51) and you taking care of yourself and your people. I'm responsible for a lot of people being in charge of this business and I don't want to see it fail. So I have to think four or five steps ahead and that's what chess is. You think if I do this and they do that, I'm gonna do that but if they do that, so that's what chess is. You don't think about just one or two steps ahead. You always have to think outside the box and for those unforeseen circumstances and you have to be ready for that checkmate. Speaker 2 (24:19) Not only are you dealing with your family and the business, the family business, but you're also dealing with the patients who need your services and value that and families value you and what you provide. So it's a much bigger picture and family businesses are really hard because that's where you have to have those tough conversations. And a lot of people, that's how you start. It's free, cheap labor. It's hope and a prayer. It's it's, you know, let's go out on a whim and make this happen. But there comes a point if you really want to grow and it really depends on what your mission statement is and what all of that looks like, what you have laid out, because you'll always refer back to that, is where you want to go. And if you have some family members and positions, it's tough to have those conversations, but implementing SEO might be an option for you. I know Mindy, you've got some thoughts and experience with SEO, but that can help. optimize a business or get an executive business coach to come in somebody that has an extra set of eyes. I know you do coaching for businesses, but that extra set of eyes to come in from a different looking glass and give you that perspective, which can change everything. And nobody wants to have that tough conversation with uncle Steve, but somebody needs to talk to uncle Steve and remove him. And whether how you do that, I would remove tactfully or, know, like don't be cut throat the that you're not. And they may not come to the family barbecue, but where are your goals? Where do they align? Still keeping compassion in everything with your growth. It's really hard. One other thing that I have, did you have something you wanted to say? Speaker 3 (26:00) do because I think it's important because so often we hear don't do business with family and don't do business with friends. But the reason why is because you don't lay the expectations in the very beginning. If you can have those tough conversations from the beginning, the ones that you say, no, we'll be fine. mean, think about how many families fight. I was so lucky with my brother when my mom passed away and we were like. Speaker 1 (26:23) everything. Speaker 3 (26:24) thing is split like this. know what mom's wishes are. We know what we're going to do. Like that was so easy and luckily we had that relationship. But then I have other family members that are outside of my tiny little family and I see other things that happen and those conversations because you don't want to talk about it and people's feelings get hurt. And there are really greedy jerks that are out there and people that are very selfish and all about them and that's all that they look for. And you don't know that until it comes to money or something else and you don't want to think the worst in people. But I would say this, if you go in thinking the worst and you write down what could happen if, what are you worried about if and you write those things down and then you have the conversation with the friend with the with the brother, sister, the uncle, the cousin, that you know, whoever it is that you're going into business with and you're like, hey, these are some concerns that I have. Let's bring in a third party. Let's talk to an attorney. Let's line these things out right now. You have the opportunity. This is not a personal attack on you and hopefully you're not having to say these things. I'm just being very direct right now. This is these are the things that are bothering me. These are the things that I think we should talk about. How would you see this situation going if they're like? Why are you even thinking that it's like hey, I predict. Success. We're going to be so successful that there's going to be things that happen. to me. Yay! Speaker 1 (27:42) Speaker 3 (27:47) We're going to be so successful that these are conversations we need to have. And it's great if you have conversations, but people's memories are short. Do you remember when we talked about this and then all of sudden this happens and they're, don't remember. So you get this stuff put in writing when it comes to business, when it comes to anything family related, when it comes to money, especially, and you put it in writing from the beginning. It's not going to. solve everything, you're not going to think of every gray area that's going to happen. But as Kelly said, you've got steps one through 15 and whatever that situation is, 16 pops up and it's like we can handle this because we had one through 15 covered. But imagine if you dealt with one through 15 and now you're on 16. Now you're why you mean you're on one through three and you're like, don't do business with family. if you. Family and friends and whatever, just in general. Speaker 2 (28:35) Anybody, not just me. Speaker 3 (28:40) And so now you're in a position where it's like, these tough conversations were had, but as difficult as it seems, wouldn't you rather have those conversations right now than in the future when you're like, I wish we would have talked about this, hindsight's 20 and 20 or whatever that saying is. so yes, you can do business with friends. Yes, you can do business with family. Yes, you can do business with those people that you really want to and everybody saying don't. Why don't they wanna do business with that person? Well, terms changed. Well, were your terms in writing or were they on a handshake? And I do believe there's something with handshakes. But then so and so wasn't married and they got married and this person got in their head or their parent passed away or they got a divorce or feelings change, emotions change people. You line up business and it's there. And then all those gray areas you talk about, then put them in writing. Because when it comes to business, those are things you need to do. So instead, like thinking of our podcast, it's like, what are the steps we need to take to make sure that when this thing takes off, and you're probably watching this now, we've got like 2 million followers or something. I'm just kidding. Speaker 1 (29:53) Amen! Speaker 3 (29:55) What is that word? What do you put in the universe? What's it Manifesting. We're manifesting. But in all seriousness, in anything, you put it out there. And so when the questions come up, it's so much easier. It's so much harder to do that in the beginning. But wouldn't you rather do it where somebody's feelings get a little bit hurt and you can talk about it or you don't know and you're uneasy versus, imagine this. Something is creeping up on you and you see it coming in your gut. And here you are a month later. and six months later and it's bothering you and a year later it explodes. And what you thought would happen two months ago, three months ago, a year ago is happening. And you've been stressed out about it instead of handling it from the beginning. And when you can have those raw conversations and then it's like something comes up, it's like, Hey, let's talk about this. Wow. Those are the successful businesses. The entrepreneurs that say, I've got this great idea and this is what I want to do. versus seeing past it, what are the obstacles? Not letting those hold you back. You don't wait till there's everything perfect. They say, I'm a perfectionist. There are certain things that I would like to be in line, but if I waited for everything to be perfect, I would never get anything done. But you think ahead and you see the things that could happen and you make strategic moves so that you can be more successful. Speaker 2 (31:17) Everybody has their own motive. Everybody has their own. You've got your own business. You've got your own business. I've got my own business. What are my thoughts? Like, how do I see it growing? How else could we expand? What else could we do? I want to have a mariachi band show up on our podcast and seeing on Cinco de Mayo, but that may not fit the everything else. You know what I mean? So it's just how I don't have mariachi on Cinco, but that kind of thing. Speaker 3 (31:43) So it's birthday, by the way. Speaker 1 (31:44) And coming back to everything that we're talking about, when you have those conversations and you decide to go into business or whatever, it goes back to one of our previous podcasts. And that is being your authentic self. If you approach your new business owners, your new business partners, a person that you're now their boss. I took over as CEO and now I have new business partners. And our very first corporate meeting was, hey, what are your goals? What do I expect from you? What do you expect from me? Because I'm going to be a different leader than somebody else. So when you come to the table and you bring your different personality and you tell them, this is me, I don't do things the same, but these are the goals I have for the company. Let's bust our butts for the next so many years. Let's build this sucker up and let's make it successful. And that way we can kind of kick back from coast or whatever the case is. But that way, if they know what your expectations are and you have, like you said, you have them in writing, let's all sit down, let's have a little pow wow, tell me your goals, tell me this, tell me that. But when they know the direction that you're coming from, and we really hit hard in that podcast on being your authentic self. present yourself as you are. Don't pretend you're something you're not. Don't go in there and give a fake resume because it's gonna bite you in the butt. You go in there and you say, hey, I'm not everybody's cup of tea, I'm maybe someone's shot of tequila because I tend to be a little harsh on the outside. But for the most part, what you see is what you get. And if you don't like it, I may not be the right fit for you, you can move along. But I'm not gonna surprise anybody. I'm not gonna surprise anyone because What I bring to the table is the most transparency I can afford to give you. And I just, really feel like that's important. We've often touched on that as women business owners who sometimes get looked over sometimes because we're women, unfortunately, but we really have to kind of take that, take the bull by the horns and just say, this is how we things done. Whether it's personal life, whether it's professional life, whether it's entertainment, it doesn't matter. But being that person that they know, this person I went into business with, there's not gonna be any surprises because this is how she thinks. You gotta be prepared because when Mindy or Kelly or Natalie walks in the door, yeah, here's what you can expect. And I think it's only fair to the people that you work with to know what for them to know what your expectations are. And I think that just really allows people to accept you and move forward and make a lot of those goals a reality. Speaker 2 (34:46) Yeah, well if you're looking to sell in five years, they need to know that and it's not just comparing last year's P &L to this year's P &L and where we're at, there's a strategy behind it to make things Speaker 3 (34:56) You know, it's so funny you just said that it's a little off topic, but it's not. It's like transparency and listening and picking up because I think as leaders to like we may come in and we have expectations, but I know all three of us will listen to others opinions and we're not saying ours is the end all be all. has to be our way. If you can show me why I need to understand why this makes sense, then we pivot and we move forward and we make sure everybody's on the same page and we do that. So there's this open communication, not just authoritarian. Speaker 1 (35:26) I Speaker 3 (35:27) Yeah, right. you said, yeah, goodness, you said something and my watch went off. I should have had it on do not disturb. and there we are. But, you know, being able to move and pivot and I still cannot think of what I was going to say. It was really good, by the way. Speaker 1 (35:45) It'll come back to you. Speaker 2 (35:46) So outside the box thinking you're four times more likely to outperform revenue. it's that new idea. It's it's may come to you. It's right now. We just did a show, you know, talking about you and what you provide the 24 hour in home daycare focus daycare. Excuse me, Lord. In home care for various situations and patients. But if you could actually provide a daycare service, even not even like a parent watcher, you know, giving a family a chance to get away. I have lots of friends that their kids have autism and they're heavy, heavy autism. We're talking men children that are 20, 25 and the parents can't get away and they have these, these men children that are prone to seizures and acting out and have, you know, mattresses around the room and they don't ever get a break. And it's because it takes a special level of care for that. takes a special level. in working within a church or working within an organization. Maybe that's something, but it's that outside of the box thinking and then implementation because you can sit there and have all the brainstorming ideas. I know our texts are filled with brainstorming ideas, but it's that implementation that comes into it. Also outside of the box thinking, your 30 % higher valuation on your business, average 30 % higher. Speaker 1 (37:08) You Speaker 2 (37:11) I think those are things that really hit home when you really want to play ball. Like, did you come to play ball and run a business or did you come to do a hobby? It's like when you go into cake baking business, are you really doing it because you love baking cakes or are doing it because you're doing a business? What are you doing? Why are you doing it? And start with yourself. If you're the business owner, what is the purpose and go from there? Speaker 1 (37:35) And if your purpose is because you just like to bake and you want to bake a cake every once in here and there for your friends, that's great. But if you want to make it a business, then stick to your guns and follow the steps that you need to make it. Speaker 2 (37:45) And hire that new person to take the role. Speaker 3 (37:47) That's exactly what I was thinking. I was like, look, if that's your passion, then you do it and it's your passion project. Then you hire somebody to come in, you oversee it, you oversee the quality, you look at it, it's beautiful, you see the smiles that you're making. And that's just from the entrepreneur side. Like if you're looking at it from a business, but that's thinking forward, that's playing checkers. It's what's next. darn it. Speaker 1 (38:10) And a lot of these, know, if you watch Shark Tank and you'll see someone like, oh, I thought about that five years ago. I wish I would have acted on it. A lot of people's businesses come from their experiences or their ideas. And that's how my business got started. When my grandmother had cancer, my father, rather than put her into a home, he Speaker 3 (38:16) Why? Speaker 1 (38:40) quit his job, moved, and moved in with her and took care of her. And during that time, I lived in Houston, they lived up in Denver City, and I would have to fly in every once in a while, and as a therapist, I would have to teach him how to get her in and out of bed, how to do this, how to do that. And he and I had a discussion one day, and we thought, you know, there's got to be some way that people of normal means, who are not rich, can afford Speaker 3 (39:01) way. Speaker 1 (39:10) to keep their loved ones at home. And that's what he and I did. So he and I racked our brains and he actually ran into a gentleman who had a similar business and we kind of picked his brain a little bit and we just started doing some research and we put our company into play and decided that the way we set it up, 24 hour care, seven days on, seven days off, at a lower rate, it's just, Speaker 2 (39:13) where basements came in. Speaker 1 (39:39) It benefits those who just cannot pay those higher rates. And it all stemmed from my dad refusing to want to put his loved one into a home. And she was very well, she was easy to take care of as far as what she had going on. She did not have the Alzheimer's, she did not have dementia, she did not have autism. required so much additional care. Those are very special circumstances and sometimes in-home care doesn't work for that. Sometimes you need those specialty facilities. So I'm not saying that the choice that you make is always just keeping it home. It's an alternative. So, but you always have to, like you said, think outside the box and think about those ideas and think about where you want to go with your real estate business. I mean, when we all three, worked doing in different careers and all of sudden we come together and we're like, let's put this podcast together. The whole purpose of the podcast is not to share our experiences, but it's to open people's eyes to different opportunities out there and realize that you have to stay within your comfort zone for a short period of time, but open that door and just jump out there and go for it. Speaker 3 (41:01) So Natalie and I used to be on a radio show and Speaker 1 (41:06) They were the dynamic duo. Speaker 3 (41:07) And they coined us sugar and spice, but you never knew you may have listened to another podcast and heard this You never knew who was sugar who was spice and so for this particular Podcast thinking ahead thinking steps in I was driving one day and I was like well We're bringing Kelly in on it So we need a third name and they'll have to guess who's what so I wanted the name of the podcast to be sugar spice and tequila and so it was my idea that we would showcase the tequila every week because there's so many tequilas and another day I'll tell you about how Speaker 2 (41:37) Thank you. Speaker 3 (41:37) I went on my tequila journey. It was a very expensive one that led me down this journey and I was like, let's let it be sugar, spice and tequila. So everybody knows there's going to be alcohol. And so we'll feature the tequila. Then we'll get into all the things. And then Kelly was like, that's too limiting. again, thinking ahead, it needs to be something different. And we thought about different names. Natalie thought about some, I thought about some, and Kelly came up with spirits, sugar, spice and spirits. And so there that goes, but it's about thinking ahead because I was like, I don't want the podcast just to be for fun. That's great. I love hanging out with y'all, but we have so much to offer and to say, I think it can be bigger than that. And so let's have a little fun with it. And so with the spirit. So again, it's like, why did we do certain things and being strategic in your chess moves, you know, being in there. And then I have to tell a funny really quickly because you got really deep there. so I did digress for a minute, but you said something about these ideas of different things. And we had another podcast before, and I've been carrying this around with some different notes and I grabbed a sheet of paper in case I needed some notes. And one of the things was not being so dependent on technology. And one of the things we did not get around to talking about particular episode was something about, you know, cause we talked about how dependent we are and some of the best ideas it says here, it says smart. devices gone dumb, the proliferation of smart gadgets that solve nobody, the problems nobody had. Think about all the things that are out there, but then you think about all the problems that are still out there. You mentioned Shark Tank that got me thinking. And then something you just said made me think about that. It's like, Speaker 1 (43:10) What? Speaker 3 (43:23) There are so many problems you can still solve by being ahead. You're still gonna have those one hit wonders. You're still gonna have those people that do go viral on social. Like, I don't know when that's gonna go away, if it's ever gonna go away. But there are still those problems you can solve. So if you're in your business and you're having these meetings and you're thinking ahead and then you realize, if I only had this and this existed and I could create it, that'd be amazing. So here's my thing, if you think of that idea, would you please get with us at sugarspicesandspirits.com? You could even email me at info at sugarspicesandspirits.com. And there's Wiley Cat. But it's so funny, you think about all this stuff and smart devices gone dumb and the things that have been invented and those people that have just gotten lucky. It's kind of like winning the lotto though. You do have those. Speaker 1 (43:59) and then Speaker 3 (44:15) folks, but then if you really want to be successful in business and you wrote it down because you said it, long-term strategy. What is that long-term strategy? Because if you just keep trying to come up with that one-hit wonder and trying to make it happen and doing it on your own or going in a partnership and everything's not lined out, you're not setting yourself up for success. Speaker 2 (44:35) Yeah, no, absolutely. I'm going to bring up Shark Tank real quick. This is going to be a tangent, tangent text. I'm going go ahead and call it. Mine's almost gone. talking about Shark Tank, we would watch that like every Friday or whatever night it would come on. And I would make my kids play the guessing game. What did they value their business at? What was their business evaluation? If you're an entrepreneur and you're not watching Shark Tank, I think you're missing out. Because there's a lot of value in the business feedback that they give. and it's funny, Barbara Cochran came up as my memory of 11 years ago when I took the picture backstage with her. So I think Speaker 1 (45:04) Absolutely. Speaker 2 (45:13) Shark Tank adds a lot of value as a business owner. So that's how I taught my kids how to evaluate business and learn math real quickly just to be able to evaluate their business. Speaker 3 (45:23) Kiyosaki's board game that you had to play cash flow Speaker 2 (45:26) Cashflow rich, so Rich Dad Poor Dad Robert Kiyosaki, but Cashflow Quadrant, how to get out of the rat race, just plugging in passive streams of income and how that works. And they also have it for kids or for teens too. we. Speaker 1 (45:38) You know, there's out there, it's unfortunate that when you Google stuff, and we all know our smartphones listen to us, and so there's no telling what sort of shark tank things are going to pop up on our phones next. But it's one of those things where if you don't think 10 steps ahead, you could likely get taken advantage of. into a business opportunity that's not really kosher. It's not really true. It's not really authentic. And you need to do your homework. You need to do your due diligence because it takes a smart person can get rich. It takes a lot to hang on to those riches. But you have to do your homework. You have to make sure that you really think about all the steps that it's going to take and don't trust everyone. And that's sad to say, unfortunately, because not everyone is looking out for your best interests. Speaker 2 (46:40) they are, even if they are, I mean like we wouldn't want to have anything come between us. However, I'm sure we'll have a knockdown drag out at some point where it's like we have to come to an understanding on this. What does that look like? But by forward thinking as much as we can, we will have had a lot of the tough conversations and set that expectation because you don't get married expecting to divorce. You don't go into it, so you don't even have to have malintentions. You both can have hearts of gold and still end up on, you know. Speaker 1 (47:11) Yeah. Might have. have. But no, you do. think everyone goes into it. Speaker 3 (47:12) I he's a book. Speaker 2 (47:19) As somebody who's been divorced, it's very, very hard. I'm the only divorcee in this group, and I can tell you, I fought for my marriage, and I fought hard for it, five marriage counselors and still divorced. With that being said, not everybody fights for their marriage. Not everybody fights like they should, but you never get married with the expectation of divorcing. you can have good business partners. whole point is you can have good business partners, pure of heart, pure of... everything be in complete alignment and life situations change or whatever and you end up. Speaker 1 (47:54) Well, your business partner is like a marriage. mean, because nine times out of ten, you spend more time with your business partner than you do your spouse. Speaker 2 (48:02) Are we married now? Speaker 3 (48:04) I'm very married, on 23 years, but please dear Lord, I hope and pray that it stays that way. But if for some reason my husband was no longer with me, I never want that to be, it's called prenup. It's called all the things that I said, like these are the things that would be lined out. And we just got real serious and on a real, come on, we're doing a tangent, because that was off. Whatever, okay, so. Speaker 1 (48:28) weird wall. Speaker 3 (48:34) So, Speaker 2 (48:35) weird. Speaker 3 (48:38) my gosh, I want to tell y'all. It's so funny because the cats right here. So thinking ahead. So very first episode that I was going to call it because of one of our friends. So idioms, we were going to have an episode that we talk about different things and different ways and how people understand it and our kids and yada yada. But you know, the cats meow, the cats ass like, what does that mean? Like super cool, like amazing, wonderful. So our first episode, had the cat that looks like this one. This is Wiley. We had Bullet that he's hanging out in the background. And then I edit it and I have an arrow pointing to the cat. And then at one point in time, like, no, we're trying to be so serious on this episode. And he literally walks across and you see his tail and his booty. And we just keep going. Like we are just so serious. So we were joking around with different people and they're like, my god. you you got a name at the cat's ass. So literally we had it in Riverside, which is a platform that we use, named the cat's ass. But then the more we researched and the more we talked about and the more things we learned about things indexing, realized that that's the best episode. Like it's like, we're not that cool yet and we should not start out with that as our first name. But again, it's about being strategic. And so at first in my mind, I'm like, that's strategic. That's funny. Like that will get people's attention. Speaker 1 (49:45) not the best. Speaker 3 (49:59) but it doesn't tell you what it's about. And so we change the name of it so that our first episode really talks about what it is. And then I think about, you know, here's Wile E. Cat over here. It just, it makes me laugh because there are different things and you can have fun in different situations. You can laugh about this, but then strategically it would not make sense to be the lazy cat. You know, it's like whatever the main heart of this topic is when we go back and listen and we think about what were some points that we wanted to drive home to you, we're going to name the episode that. So you can go back in and you can look and you can hopefully find some value because we try to bring a lot of lightheartedness, but we also try to what we call the main dish. Like we try to dig into, you know, what that is. And I do love this topic, Natalie, you know, instead of playing checkers, it's about playing chess and it's about being really strategic. Speaker 2 (50:51) Yeah, absolutely. If you guys have a show idea, if you guys have any thoughts, think Mindy kind of summed it up because really in life, if you're playing playing checkers, you're playing short term, you're not playing to win. Right. Play chess, invest in yourself, invest in your business, invest in and being better overall and how you can add value. If you have a show idea, if you have a thought, if you have a drink, a beverage, go on our website, sugarspiceandspirits.com. Be sure to subscribe. Go to the email, your email, confirm the email and you'll get our newsletters where we'll give the summaries of the show, the podcast, also recipes, hot takes, just a fun, fun, informative. Also like and share with your friends. Go to wherever you listen to the podcast. Be sure to subscribe. We'd love to have you go on our growth journey with us. and thanks for listening. Speaker 3 (51:44) Here's to you. Speaker 1 (51:45) Cheers.