In Episode 64 of the Wealth On Any Income Podcast, Rennie is joined by Estie Rand. Estie helps business owners earn more money with less headaches. The founder of Strand Consulting, a multi-national small business consultancy, she has spent the past 12 years dedicating herself to guiding all those who have a talent, skill, certification, education or idea to turn it into a professional and profitable business. Estie believes that EVERYONE can do what they love, earn buckets of money AND have time for their life and family.
In Episode 64 of the Wealth On Any Income Podcast, Rennie is joined by Estie Rand. Estie helps business owners earn more money with less headaches. The founder of Strand Consulting, a multi-national small business consultancy, she has spent the past 12 years dedicating herself to guiding all those who have a talent, skill, certification, education or idea to turn it into a professional and profitable business.
Estie believes that EVERYONE can do what they love, earn buckets of money AND have time for their life and family.
In this episode Rennie and Estie cover:
Get Estie’s 3-Day Marketing Success Challenge at https://estierand.com/freegift
About Estie
Estie Rand is an award-winning business consultant, exceptional marketing strategist, avid speaker, and founder of Strand Consulting, a multinational business consultancy that’s focused on helping small business owners scale their businesses to make big profits. She believes very strongly that people can build professional and profitable businesses doing what they love, and she’s here to guide them so they can bring their vision to life with a lot more ease.
Estie has been a certified professional coach for over 12 years and she pours all her experience into her work, making her services highly valuable and effective to anyone who seeks them. Through Strand Consulting, Estie is able to help small business owners around the world by providing business and marketing strategies that will allow them to launch and scale their businesses.
Learn more about Estie at https://estierand.com
If you'd like to know how books, movies, and society programs you to be poor, and what the cure is visit wealthonanyincome.com/tedx. You'll hear Rennie's TEDx talk and can request a free 27-page Roadmap to Complete Financial Choice™ and receive a weekly email with tips, techniques, or inspiration around your business or money.
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Rennie Gabriel 00:09
Hi, folks. Welcome to Episode 64 of the Wealth On Any Income podcast. This is where we talk about money tips, techniques, attitudes, information, and provide inspiration. I'm your host, Rennie Gabriel. In past episodes, we spoke about how to build an income and expense report, how to measure the level of pleasure based on where you spend your money, how to track your money in 5 - 10 seconds, what to look for on a net worth statement to see how close you are to Complete Financial Choice™. And last week, we had Erik Luhrs, who's a Highly Uncommon High Performance Coach. Today, we have as our guest, Estie Rand. Estie helps business owners earn more money with less headaches. The founder of Strand Consulting, a multinational small business consultancy, Estie has spent the past 12 years dedicating herself to guiding all of those who have a talent, skill, certification, education, or idea to turn it into a professional and profitable business. She believes that everyone can do what they love, earn buckets of money, and have time for their life and their family. Estie, welcome to the Wealth On Any Income Podcast.
Estie Rand 01:29
Thank you so much. I am so excited to be here.
Rennie Gabriel 01:33
Cool. And now, is there any shift happening in your business based on the kind of people that you usually work with?
Estie Rand 01:41
Same people, big shift in how we work with them.
Rennie Gabriel 01:44
Hmm. Okay, tell me more about that.
Estie Rand 01:47
So, for the last 12 years, I have been building and then running a full service, micro-business consultancy. And that was the dream. You know, 12 years ago. The world's a teeny bit different, just a tad. And I'm really different, at the end of a divorce and a lot of lifestyle changes as well. And what we're looking to do now, the mission just got a lot bigger. The world got bigger. What I've been standing on a soapbox and saying for a decade plus, which is this is the future of business, everybody can run their own thing, can do their own thing. And at some level should have some of their own thing in their back pocket. There's no reason not to. You don't have to be dependent. The technology makes it so easy. This is where the world is going. Gen-Z is not going to sit in front of a computer at a desk for 10 hours a day. The future of business is changing. And it's changing that every individual can do what they love. And this is what I talk about. And so as a consultancy, I wasn't able to scale it big enough to service everyone I wanted to and keep it affordable enough that everyone could access it. And so what we're doing now is moving much more into trainings, community, and certification of other marketers and guides. So that really, everybody has access to professional level Business Services, no matter how small they are, in a comprehensive way. Right?
Estie Rand 03:10
There's tons of people out there helping small businesses. For the most part, they know their piece. And this is not a bad thing. It's a great thing, very often. The problem is you. . . a lot of times find what you might call the blind leading the blind, and nobody's malicious. We're not talking about the morons - right? - the people that are out there to scam - we're talking about people who genuinely just only learned the thing they learned and they learned it as the only ping... The only - I'm trying to say piece and thing at the same time it came out as "ping", unhelpful - it's the only 'thing' there is. And so they come out and they say "Instagram is your answer. I'm gonna show you how to do it. It's fantastic." Now for some people, it works, for some it doesn't. When it works, they're like, "Well, I'm right." And when it doesn't, like, "Well, obviously you're wrong because I've gotten it to work before. It must be you, not me." And, and everyone believes that - the person teaching you believes it. The person who just wasted their money believes it. 'I'm broken. The Instagrammer expert couldn't help me. The Facebook ads person couldn't help me. The branding expert, I did the logo. I did this, did this . . .' You know, and there's so much confusion. There are so few people that really get it and the people that really get it, typically, and let's just be very honest, they charge extremely high prices, and they take not a lot of clients and they're not so accessible. The end. And that is the marketplace.
Estie Rand 04:21
And what I've always wanted to do from day one was to, that's why I went to a full service consultancy. I wanted business owners who typically get these like piecemeal freelancers who don't know all the moving parts to be able to come to me. And I would take all these freelancers, and they would come under my umbrella, which is exactly what we built. And then we'd give them this kind of one-stop shop where they can get all the answers and everything would make sense. And if they took only one piece from us, it would be part of their cohesive whole. I would use the word holistic, but it's been destroyed. But that's kind of what it would mean if that word hadn't been completely shredded, at this point. Authenticity is on its way. It's not there yet. It's getting there. I won't even talk about the word "coach" - don't even get me started. So many words. So many words. It's such a shame. And so, now to go out and train the business owners, right? So turning our more extended offers into more of like a 30 day, kind of, just concise training that really shows them the whole map. Right? We call it the marketing map. It shows them the whole thing. This is the landscape. It's like you're so set on learning how to do a right turn. I'm going to go ahead... You don't even know how to put gas in your car. But I'm going to learn how to do a right turn. Not going to help you.
Rennie Gabriel 05:34
Yeah.
Estie Rand 05:34
Not going to help you. And so teaching them the whole lay of the land, of how you drive the car and how you make the right turn, and the left turn, and go straight. And how you, how you map out the territory. What all the moving parts are, and then certifying the marketers and the guides, to service them. So that when you hire someone to do your logo, they understand that it's part of the bigger picture. Just getting your logo won't help you. And hand picking those that we certify, so that... I want to change the way this is done. Because I see it. I see when it doesn't work. And I see people who, you know, they just they flounder and they fail. And I'm a mom. I have five kids. You know, you want to be there for your family. You want to be there for your children. You want to just be there for yourself. Forget if you don't have a family or you don't even want to build one, but you want a break. You want to do something you enjoy. I see it with so many people. And like, I just want to . . Can I tell you a story? Not that I've let you get a word in edgewise so far anyway. Can I tell you a story?
Rennie Gabriel 06:26
Yeah, one of the things you're talking about is one of the things I wanted to address, which is what we spoke about in the introduction, it's - earn buckets of money and have time for your life and family. And at the same time, yes, you have five kids, so that certainly takes up a lot of time. And you're also divorced, which you mentioned. So how does that tie into what you're talking about? And I'll use the expression, how's that fit into 'having it all'?
Estie Rand 06:52
So I mean, it definitely fits well into my identity crisis. Right? Because what I was building from the beginning was that vision where I could build a business where I could be there for my kids all the time, and now I can't because my kids are only with me half the time. So I have to redefine what "all" means for me. And I . . . and this is something that I believed for a long time. But this is my own personal journey. I have to begrudgingly or graciously, or anything in between, accept what's in front of me. What's best for my kids is to have time with both parents. There isn't, there isn't a better way. It's so hard when like, the best is still not good. It's not that it's not good enough. Like it's still not good. It's not what I think is good, but it is what it is. And it's the best that it can be. Everyone's like, I don't know if I should say sorry, or congratulations. I'm like, I'm really sorry that this is the best it can be. It's both - you know. Like it's sad that this is the best case scenario. And it is what it is. And so redefining what is my "all", what do I want to do? So I want to be able to be present for my children at every opportunity. And this is I think is part of where the expansed vision came from. I have more time on my hands. I can do more. I can dive deeper into my passions. I can make more of an impact. Everybody has their role and I think it does change as your life changes. You know, I didn't think I'd be an empty nester until I was a lot older. My youngest is four. I'm an empty nester every other week right now. That's all I am. Right? I just, I fast forwarded 15 years, that's all.
Rennie Gabriel 08:14
Okay, now, because I lead by example, I donate 100% of the profits from the work I do to the charity Shelter to Soldier. I know there's a charity that you're working on establishing. Tell me about that.
Estie Rand 08:28
So there's a few. There's, there's two really, like, I don't know which one I'll do first that I have in my mind. And it'll just depend as it flows, I guess. One of them, I call it in my head, Pay it Forward. And it's come from recently, just all of the stuff I've been going through and needing help. And just thinking to myself. You know, a friend of mine helped me out and I'm like, I said to him, I'm like, I'm going to pay you back. And I'm going to pay it forward. And this idea of almost like a backwards charity. Right? Where we have all these, like, you know, charity campaigns and GoFundMe. And like all these, like, where everyone's asking for money. And my vision is where people are offering. It's a backwards charity. I want people when they're so happy, something's helped them, they've finished something. Like I know for me, like, you know, helping people with their businesses, but also with divorce. And well like there's . . . I have a big list now of things that I get to go through. That you want to pay it forward, that you put out there like I want to help someone with this. You know, so, and it's a place of giving where you can't come on and petition for something. You can come on and receive but in order to receive you also have to give because everyone always has something to give. If you don't have money, maybe you have time. If you don't have time, maybe you just have a certain insight. Maybe you have a connection. Like everyone has something to give and putting people in that frame of mind when you're needing something. What can you give and to get access to this. I see it as a site, because I have a CIO. I was a CIO for many years. A Chief Information Officer - CIO, database architecture. I'm a data geek. I speak marketing. I speak geek. I speak Martian. I speak a bunch of languages and English sometimes, but quickly . . .
Rennie Gabriel 10:06
Oh, yeah, so I've been watching, I've been looking at the stopwatch. Yes, pretty quickly. Okay, go ahead.
Estie Rand 10:12
It's not on purpose is just my wiring. As we say it's a feature. I don't think of as a bug. I think of it as a feature.
Rennie Gabriel 10:18
I'm sorry. This is an aside. I can just imagine you in the south.
Estie Rand 10:22
Oh, man. They'd have to put me on my quarter speed. Play me on . . .
Rennie Gabriel 10:29
Or what would it be like to listen to someone who speaks to you like this, Estie?
Estie Rand 10:37
Actually, really painful. I had a client like that not so long ago. It's hard. It's hard for me.
Rennie Gabriel 10:42
Anyway, okay.
Estie Rand 10:43
It's hard. I was once in a meeting, and I was talking and it was a team meeting, my clients and was like this staff and he's like, "Guys, who put Estie on 2X? Could someone change the speed? Who pressed the 2X button on Estie on the playback?" It was live. I got lost. What were we saying?
Rennie Gabriel 11:02
That's okay. I'm was going to ask you, we were talking about paying it forward.
Estie Rand 11:06
Oh yeah. Oh, the charity, Pay it Forward. So Pay it Forward is one of them. And the other is, you know, I come from... I have an interesting background - I'll just leave it at that. And my part of people that I am very drawn to help because of my background is victims of abuse and domestic violence and sex trafficking. And so one of the other charities that to me, this one dovetails very much more with my business as well, right, with guiding people, but to empower, educate, emancipate, employ - victims of abuse, domestic violence, and sex trafficking. And give them their lives back and give them the power to do whatever they want. And so - but there's a lot of education and empowerment in there.
Rennie Gabriel 11:47
Got it.
Estie Rand 11:48
But that one's a little less clear. What exactly we'll do. The Pay it Forward, it's pretty clear because it just kind of landed. It's like a, it's a tech. It's a it's a tech backwards charity. And I can see exactly what it looks like and how it works.
Rennie Gabriel 12:00
I get it. I get it. I'm looking forward to seeing those. One of the other questions I want to ask you is, what insight did you get from having your business, having the children and being married? And then it didn't work. So was there an insight that came from that?
Estie Rand 12:17
Ah, so many, so many insights. But, you know, if you'd asked me this question six months ago, I probably would have had a different answer. And three months ago, probably a different answer. Where I sit today, I think the best insight I have is just that, you know, everything is temporary, they say. Things work for a season. It's not . . . And this has been my own internal work. I didn't fail by building a really successful business and getting divorced. And my marriage did not fail because of my business at all. I have no, there's no doubts or concerns. I didn't do anything wrong. It is what it is. And what worked, worked for a season, and now it doesn't. And so I'm going to build what's going to work for this season. Do I think it's going to last forever? No, I don't. I am under no delusion that it's going to last forever. And so to me, I guess the biggest lesson is just you do what you can with what you have when you can, and then when that shifts you do what you can with what you have when you can.
Rennie Gabriel 13:18
That sounds like that's a fit for almost anyone at any time.
Estie Rand 13:23
Yeah.
Rennie Gabriel 13:24
Now let me ask you this. What do you have so that if someone says "Oh, I want to talk to Estie. I want to... I like what she had to say. I want to work with Estie." Is there some valuable free resource or someplace you can direct people so they can connect with you?
Estie Rand 13:41
Totally. So it's actually really simple. If you go to my website, estierand.com/freegift. So estierand.com/freegift. Pretty simple, because it's a free gift at the end. And you know, it's free. They're currently . . .
Rennie Gabriel 13:56
Yeah, how much does that cost? No, go ahead.
Estie Rand 13:58
It will be a free gift - estierand.com/freegift. It's a 3-Day Marketing Success Challenge. It's not going to be there forever. We are changing it up to something else shortly. But there's always a cool free thing at that link. So whenever you hear this, at estierand.com/freegift, there's a cool free resource. If you get there in time, you'll see something called the 3-Day Marketing Success Challenge. It gives you the clarity and strategy to market yourself successfully. With any level of resources, kind of, you know, with what you've got, where you're at, with what you have. And then when we change it up, it'll be something else, but that will do something similar.
Rennie Gabriel 14:35
Okay, because this will be broadcast on November 8. So people . . .
Estie Rand 14:40
It'll still be there then.
Rennie Gabriel 14:41
Yeah, yeah. But they may not be listening to this until a week, two or three weeks later because I do have people who start going through the podcast at the beginning and just go one by one. So who knows when they could get to this one. Last thing is, is there a question that I should have asked you, that would also give value to the listening audience? Like maybe five steps that someone could use..?
Estie Rand 15:09
Yeah, I would say, you could ask me, what are the steps someone should take if they do have an idea, a talent, a certification, a skill, something, and they want to turn into a business or they're already dabbling, and they want to turn it into a more professional or profitable business. And I would give them three steps, which really subdivide into 12. But 12 is going to be a little long. But the 12 is kind of - its four in three different categories. Right? So they want to brand themselves. Right? So we're going to call it branding, it's a buzzword. It doesn't mean what you think it means. It doesn't mean a logo, and you can learn more about it in the challenge or whatever else you'll find that the free gift, I talk about this. But there's got to be some unique identity. There's got to be something that you're coming out the door with for your people, that they care about. Right? That's your brand. Your brand is the unique offering that you have. It's the problem that you solve for people. This is your brand. Your brand is the thing that you do for people. A logo represents that your color, your name, all these cute things. The only important thing is the problem you solve for people. That's your brand. That's what you stand for.
Rennie Gabriel 16:10
Yep.
Estie Rand 16:10
You need some sort of "marketing" - I'm putting little quotation marks in the air, okay. And again, I'm going to redefine marketing for you. If branding is being redefined as the problem you solve, marketing is being redefined as how you let people know that you solve it.
Rennie Gabriel 16:24
Yes.
Estie Rand 16:25
The end. That's all marketing is. That's all it really is. And yes, I have a lot more information. I can detail out to you and show you that's all it is. But that's all it is. So if that's a phone call, or a meeting, or social media, or an ad, or a connection from a friend, or a speech that you give, or a flyer... I don't care how you let them know. Your brand is the problem you solve. Your marketing is how you let people know you solve it. And you don't have to do any of the things I just mentioned. Or you could do all of them. It doesn't matter. If you find a way to let people know you solve a problem for them, you've got marketing. And then the last thing you have to do is you need to sell. And everyone looks at sales and they think of that like proverbial used car salesman. It's like - 'this isn't a lemon - of course, it's not a lemon. This is the most amazing car I've ever seen. And you're going to get in and you're gonna drive and all the girls - all of the guys are going to love you. And this one goes super fast and super slow when it needs to - the super fast when it needs to. And I'll make all those right turns, even if there's no gas in the car. It's going to be absolutely fantastic.' And people think of sales in this like, you know, sleazy, like, emotional sales context. That's not what sales is. Sales is just, once you solve a problem for people, and they know about it, how do you then take them from, I know you solve this problem, to, I'm going to pay you money. It's just that journey to close the deal. That's all it is. And again, that could be a conversation. It could be a quote - unquote, sales funnel, okay? It doesn't matter. It's a process. Sales is just - what is the psychological process? Anything from a conversation, to a piece of paper, to like, it doesn't matter. How do I get someone from, "Oh, you do this", to, "Hey, please do this for me."
Rennie Gabriel 18:02
I love the fact that you've got three steps. Yes, there's more behind them. But you also have unique definitions for brand, marketing, and for selling. Thank you. And Estie, thank you for being on the Wealth On Any Income podcast, and to my listeners. Thank you for tuning in. You can listen to the Wealth On Any Income podcast on your favorite platform. And please rate, review and subscribe. And if you'd like to know how books, movies and society programs you to be poor, and what the cure is, then log on to wealthonanyincome.com/TEDx. Estie heard my TEDx talk and she liked it.
Estie Rand 18:46
I loved it.
Rennie Gabriel 18:47
Thank you. And you'll be able to hear it and can request the free 27-page roadmap to Complete Financial Choice™ and receive a weekly email with tips, techniques, or inspiration around your business or your money. Again, that's wealthonanyincome.com/TEDx. Now, next week, we're going to have Blair Dunkley, who will talk about how mindset is not what will support you to succeed. And he can profile you and discover how you think from just a few short sentences. Until next week, be prosperous. Bye bye for now.