Wall Street to Work from Home w/ Cierra Lynne

by | Aug 11, 2020 | Podcast

 

[00:00:00] Hello, you guys. What’s up. Welcome back to another episode of Hear and Now , podcast. I’m so excited. You guys decided to join me this week because I have a very special friend on today. Hello. Hello. I’m so excited to be here. I am so happy that we were like connecting and then I’m like, let’s just have you on the show.

Like, let’s just do it. It’s just fun. , and I’m so excited for you to see her story because it’s really, really cool. And you could probably tell, I think working title this episode, wall street to working from home. So I’m super excited for you guys to hear your story. It makes you, you guys check out all the links in the show notes below, because they will be jam packed with lots of information and stuff for you guys.

So many good things. I’m so very excited. So why don’t you tell everybody a little bit about you and we’ll just jump in to some things. Absolutely. So hi everybody. Uh, my name’s Cierra Lynna and I am a business strategist. So for the last two years, I’ve been a full time entrepreneur. But as you can tell [00:01:00] from the working title, I did not start out that way.

So where to start with the backstory, take that as long, I’m walk you guys through it. So I actually went to college. It was the first. So my family to get a bachelor’s degree, they didn’t have the one that I wanted. So I created my own. I actually, I actually have three minors instead of a major, so it’s an interdisciplinary degree, but I have a business management, advertising and public relations.

And then women’s ministry is in there too, because for me, I am. It’s kind of hard for some people to realize sometimes, but I’m actually like a Christian feminist and people were like, how does that work? I was like, well, if you’ll look at the Bible, it’s actually yeah, exactly in there. Um, so. For me, it’s been a crazy [00:02:00] journey.

When I first graduated from college, I expected to go into conferences and conference work because I absolutely love events. There’s so many amazing things. I’ve always happened for me when it comes to events. Whether it’s like being a camp counselor or whether it’s a concert or whether it was an actual conference.

I’ve loved being behind the scenes. I loved being part of the strategy of it. I loved the amazing things that people could get out of an event and an experience and how it could be actually change people’s lives. So I thought I was going to go that way. Um, But while I was in college who work and all the part time jobs while taking 15 credit hours, 15 credit hours, and two part time jobs and an internship my last year, like it was pretty intense.

Um, Sometimes I will not lie. Like looking back. I’m just like, I was so productive. How was [00:03:00] I that productive? And right now I feel like I’m not able to get as much done, but I feel like I know more like how, how does that work? Exactly. It’s literally because. I don’t think I had gave myself any time to breathe or play, or I think I was a little bit, yeah, more of a robot then.

Um, I wasn’t doing much with the thinking for myself at the time it was following exactly what I thought I was supposed to do because I was the oldest in my family. Always been the person who got it. I’m an a instead of a, B I was, I graduated with honors from high school, six out of my class. Um, and then, so getting for college, being the first of my family to do that, um, I actually ended up in sales, which is not where I wanted to be, um, really at all, but by, I got promoted into sales with a call center job that I had, and.

[00:04:00] Then once you’re in sales, nobody wants you to do anything else because they’re like, Ooh, we like salespeople make us come make money for us. And it’s like, I can do so many other things, but all that recruiters are reaching out to me for, uh, via LinkedIn and like all the opportunities that I found that I most closely matched with my experience, because we all know that struggle.

Yeah. How do I actually get the experience? If no one will hire me without the, how, how it doesn’t make any sense at all. So I ended up just following sales and following sales and following sales. Um, after college, I didn’t know what my next step was. So I actually took a year off. Um, went back to Florida.

Um, Which is where I grew up and ended up connecting with an old flame. And we decided that we were going to get married. Um, and then after about eight months, [00:05:00] um, of being engaged, we were, I think we were six months until the wedding was supposed to happen. And it was like this giant wake up call of, he ended up using the Bible to justify marital rape.

Oh, my gosh. Wow. And he, it was a very abusive situation, mentally, psychologically. It had a lot of tells of becoming physically abusive later on, but the wear that it was having on me, I became a shell of who I used to be. And I was putting all of my dreams and everything that I had worked for aside in order to make this relationship work, because I felt like it was supposed to, and.

Once that one piece happened. It was like the straw that broke the camel’s back. And I called up the wedding and decided to go find myself at my grandparents’ summer home. I was like, I’ve got, I’ve got to get out of here. I cannot keep doing this. [00:06:00] Um, ended up on the phone with a friend from college and she was like, Hey.

Like we’re going to New York. And I was like, I’m planning on going to New York. That was my original plan was go to New York and get like this amazing. And so it happened very, very quick. Um, actually by the day that I was supposed to get married, which I now actually celebrate every year as my personal independence day.

Um, but by my personal independence day, which was August or October 25th, I was in New York. Oh, my gosh. Wow. Um, I ended up getting, once we have finished, we went up there for like a visit to just kind of double check of all the places that we were, the place we were gonna stay and everything. Um, by the 1st of November, we were physically in New York with all of our stuff.

And within 18 days I had a job. Oh my gosh. So. Like things were moving, moving forward and things were really starting to work out. I stayed in that one [00:07:00] sales job for about a year, which was extremely like weird because the turnover in sales jobs were so high. It’s usually around three to four months.

It’s almost the same as the service industry of it’s very, very short. Uh, but in that job, I actually was teaching small business owners. About their online presence. How does your website and SEO connect to Facebook? How does photos and actually showing people what you can do? How does that actually. Get you new jobs.

How do, how does all of that work? And I fell back in love with the online world and just started learning all that I could so that I can reteach people like what they needed to know in order to be able to use the product that I was selling. Um, so fell back in love with the industry, ended up having to leave that job because it was very toxic.

Um, worked my way up to wall street. By the time I was 25. Oh, wow. And then, uh, it’s always impressive when I [00:08:00] say that, like, it kind of happened on accident because I needed to get out of the other job. And then, um, I put out my feelers to some of the recruiters who had been reaching out to me on LinkedIn and somebody had a position and within a week I was on wall street.

I was, this is so cool. It’s very much shot. Hey look, mom, I made it kind of moment because of everything that I’d ever worked for. And. The probably the biggest. Not the biggest, definitely not the biggest, but one of my heartbreak moments was when I was there for about two months and was finally like about to start really doing it, new job.

Cause they took like a whole month and a half to just train you on how to do things. Wow. I finally get to the sales floor and it’s like, this isn’t, this is wall street. It doesn’t get better than this. And day one, something ridiculously toxic happens. And I was like, Oh, no. Oh man. I continue to [00:09:00] work there.

I was about another year before I decided that I was officially going to be out the door, but it was just one of those crushing things of everything that I had ever worked for all of the time and effort I put into my degree all of the time and effort that I put into my. High school and extracurriculars and everything that I had done was to get me to this point.

And then I took a look around at what was supposed to be the top of the mountain and I hated everything about it. Yeah. Yeah. Like, and I started looking at, and this was a very progressive company, so they had a lot of women in positions of. Prominence and a positions of power. And I looked at their lifestyles and the things that they had to do in order to quote, keep up with the boys, because so much more is expected of women in the corporate world, especially when you get into like the young adult age and like everyone’s trying to figure out like, so what are your plans for [00:10:00] your family?

And so it’s. Something that is in recruiter’s mind. It’s something that is in the hiring managers, vines of, when do you plan to get married? Are you planning on having any kids? How was that going to affect like your work life? Should we hire you? Because you’re a girl like that kind of rhetoric is in their head and like comes out through the things that they need.

Say to you, it comes out through like the things that you’re expected to do at work. And so it just, all of that was frustrating. And then for me, the two things that I knew that I was supposed to do was to travel and to speak. And for me, I was doing the speaking part because I was educating people and I was actually listening to their problems.

I was helping them find solutions. So for me, that part was kind of filled, but the travel piece. Well, not so much because if you get into a [00:11:00] company that has both vacation time and sick time, usually you have to save all of your vacation time in order to go home and see your family. Most people who end up a wall street were not born in New York.

So you have to save that for holidays. Got to say that for family time. Cause otherwise, like I do not want to get that phone call from my mother, excuse me. Um, so it became very much of a struggle of everything that I’d ever worked for and I don’t want it. How do I explain to people the fact that I actually hate my life and it became a very depressive place for me.

And I just kept trying to work through it and work through it and work through it. I ended up becoming very much of a workaholic thinking that if I could just get to the next stage, if I could just get to the next job, if I could just get to this, all that I have to do is put on my blinders and [00:12:00] dig in and work harder.

It made it worse because I wasn’t having any fun. I wasn’t able to actually even enjoy the fact that I was still living in New York after two years, what it was just. All about work. It was all about how to get to the next stage and I wasn’t able to enjoy any of it. It finally came to the breaking point when some toxic things started happening and with friends and my living situation at the time, um, Just because I was a toxic person at that time.

And I didn’t even realize that I had become so toxic and I had never quite healed some of the wounds and the scars from my abusive relationship, which blood leads into everything. And so it just got to the point where I was like, you know what? I’ve got to stop. I have got to get away from literally all of it.

So I decided what if I just take some time off? Go [00:13:00] back to live in my parents’ house because they had always made that an option for me. You can always come back home. You can always come back home

for me at the time. I couldn’t see another way out. And so I was about to figure out how to resign, like how the world do you resigned from wall street? When I found out that. My head was actually on the chopping block because in the sales community, if your numbers are just not there, we no longer have an use for you.

End of story. So it was a toxic environment to begin with. Someone was getting fired every single month. And so it just ended up being my turn and I was like, you know what? I will let you pay me to leave. I will allow this to happen. Seeing as I’m planning on leaving anyways, give me that unemployment money.

Please give me the suffrage pay. I will take it. So I was actually able to leave and. I was happy about it. [00:14:00] I was so happy about the fact that, that I was getting the chance to take a step back and figure my life out again. I think the email that I sent everybody on the floor to say goodbye was so long and thanks for all the fish from the hitchhikers.

Gosh, I’m 100% a nerd and a weirdo. And I love that about me. So,

so like that was the first time that I was able to say that I was happy in over a year. Yeah. And the fact that I was leaving wall street, I was just like, starting to feel a little bit of pressure. Cause I was like, how do I top this? Like, What do I do now? Because I was the first one of my family to leave the state of Florida.

I’m the first one of my family to get a degree. I’m the first one of my family to make a life for myself outside of the family unit. What do I do now? Yeah, because especially like. I mean, I, [00:15:00] this probably is true everywhere, but especially in the Southern Baptist community that I grew up in appearances are very important.

Yeah. So my parents welcomed me back home. They’re like, yeah, go ahead. Take a couple months. Figure things out. Mmm. And then I started figuring out our remote jobs. I want to be able to travel. I want to be able to write, I want to be able to speak, let’s figure out what I can do. And then I came across some, I think it was like the bucket list, bombshells or something.

And, uh, they were like, Teaching you how to start your own business online. And I was like, Ooh, setting my own rules and schedule. I like this factor, this, so I really just completely dedicated myself to the process. And within, I think maybe three months I’d started my own business. I started as a brand new web designer.

Uh, kind of really digging into some of my roots with my, um, my advertising and my [00:16:00] public relations. Um, definitely with, you know, the business management in there too, like reaching back to my roots. I was like, it was not even a few months before I realized that what people really needed help with was the strategy behind it all like, yes, having a beautiful brand presence is important, but more important is your entire online presence.

So back to that, Sales job that I’d had. I was like, there is so much more than I need to be teaching these people in order for them to actually see success. So I started pivoting at that point. Um, and that’s when I started building the BuildaBiz method. Um, and yes, it sounds like build a bear on purpose.

No purpose because it’s cutesy and it’s fun. And that’s who I am. So, so I started building it at that point, started developing, started testing it and to where it is now, where it’s the six step process to go from zero business concept to paying clients in six months or less. And so really all that I’ve focused on in the last two years [00:17:00] was private clients and really building, developing this, make, testing it, making sure that like it actually gets people to the $5,000 Mark of, and that’s who I really considered to be biz babies.

And who I really serve is if you haven’t paid $5,000 a month in your business yet, We’ve got to get you to that point before we can start thinking about advanced launch strategies. We’ve got to get you to that point before we can start thinking about comfortably being able to outsource and hire and, and grow things to bigger things.

Once you’re at the $5,000 a month, Mark, that’s when you can retire yourself about depending on obviously your own personal expenses, but that’s about the point when you can take things full time. Right. So, yeah. Yeah. That’s where I voted for the last two years. Um, and then did you want me to go ahead with COVID what happened this year?

Goodness gracious. What even happened this [00:18:00] year? I think I posted on Instagram, like yesterday, there was a hailstorm that happened in August in Florida and I posted on Instagram yesterday, all hail. The mess that is 2020. That’s amazing. It’s such a court. I’m such a corny silly person, but it’s hilarious.

Um, so the, for me, the big thing was I, if I wanted to stay, if I only wanted money, I would’ve stayed on wall street. If I only was interested in. Money then I could’ve stayed in corporate for me. This is more about mission. This is more about heart. This is more about actually helping people. I’m a very authentic person.

And even as a sales person, I was the odd one out because I refuse to sell people something that they don’t need. Well number one or two something that’s completely out of their price point and is going to be things ridiculously uncomfortable. I was the person [00:19:00] who was like, all right, honestly, here’s the higher package, but basically from what you’ve told me, you can get by with the basic one.

Yeah. Like I would actually tell people like you don’t have to spend money. And which was like the number one naughty. No, no. And salesperson school, I’m always pushed for the upsell and I’m just like, No, no, I just, I would feel bad about that because it’s just like, it’s just not, like you said, it’s not being authentic.

It’s not being yourself. And it’s just like, you’re reading off a script that you actually want to have that genuine connection with a person if you’re trying to sell them. Right. And the thing is like, yeah, I am still a full believer in scripts, but you should know your scripts and your basically your bare bones, your skeleton of what that conversation is supposed to be.

You should know that in and out so that you can veer off script so that you can figure out exactly how to have a real conversation with somebody and help guide them through the buying [00:20:00] process. If they are the person. Okay. Who is a best fit for this. And that’s something that I teach, um, both in the BuildaBiz Academy, that’s coming up, but with my one on one clients, yeah, it’s a client interview.

It’s not a sales call because it’s a mutual interview. If you are a salesperson and you’re going to be trading your time and you’re going to be working with them, one-on-one, this is a mutual interview to make sure that it’s going to be mutually beneficial. I can not tell you how many times that I’ve gotten on the phone with somebody and could I have pushed them?

To make a financial contribution and actually decide to work with me. Yes. But within a couple minutes of talking to them, I realized what they needed was something completely different. Or I realized that, you know what? Right this second. I could give you the answer of paying me lots of money, but that’s not what you need right now.

And I would 100% push them in the right direction and tell them, you know what? You probably want to go check out this other influencer. They actually [00:21:00] have a better handle on that rather than what I do. Could I help you? Yes. A hundred percent. But if you’re looking to do this, here’s a person who actually is like a cornerstone on that.

Yeah. And I’ve never had someone be upset with me for the fact that I’m not going to sell you something. I never had that they were always usually surprised of the fact that, Oh, that’s awesome. Thank you for being a real person. Usually like I cannot tell you how many times I will be on a phone with a client and be like, you know what.

I love how you said about the client interview. It’s a mutual interview because they’re going to invest the money and me, but I’m also gonna invest time. So I want to make sure that it’s going to work for both of us. And I had a meeting with this person who was just looking to get like market research, but it ended up being a sales call.

I was like, I don’t like that sneaky feeling. Because I don’t want to get roped into something. That’s not going to work out for us, but you just want the money. And so [00:22:00] that doesn’t, that doesn’t sit right with me. And so I love how you said that because it’s just so like, it’s so comforting to know that there are still people out there who genuinely value relationships and like authentically being who you are.

You know, there’s more of us than you think. And I’ll get to that in a minute.

The more of us than you think we will definitely touch on that. But, uh, when it came to me, the hardest part of being an entrepreneur. And being a very authentic strategist coach, someone who wants to help the frustrating part was two thirds of the conversations that I was having month over month, which was, I was having anywhere from 15 to 20 calls a month on average, and two thirds of them.

If not three fourths of them were people who were willing to put in the work, but could not afford any sort of one-on-one help whatsoever. And it started [00:23:00] to kick something up in my brain. , probably about six months ish before 2020 hit. Okay. I love how we’re saying 20, 20 hit as if it’s like a hurricane or something mean.

I mean, it’s been a dumpster fire for sure. But yeah, I love it. About six months prior to I was like, okay, I need to start offering something else because. Only 1% of entrepreneurs. And this is a stat that were given only 1% of entrepreneurs are actually making it out of the first year of being an entrepreneur.

Wow. And like, that’s a ridiculous number, number one. And two, the thing that I would hear in the coaching world a lot is that if someone can’t afford it, then they’re not your client. Now, this is something that honestly I have taught before. And I do [00:24:00] teach still of when you’re first getting started, you don’t have the band  with really in order to be able to service everybody, when you’re first starting, you have to stay stuck on your prices because that’s a mindset thing.

You, a lot of times, you’ll undercharge just in order to get some money in the door. And so in order for your longterm success, you do have to stick to that in the beginning of. If they can’t afford you, then they’re just not your client because you can only service so many, like you have to start thinking of yourself more as a boutique rather than like Walmart, because you only have like for a service based entrepreneur, how many clients can you actually work with at one time?

Six, maybe total. Yeah. If you’re only looking for six people, you can easily meet a hundred people a week on social media. Like if you’re only looking for six people, that’s where it, like having the idea of a mutual interview, a client [00:25:00] interview comes into play because you’re only looking for six people.

And if you sell somebody something and you undercharge yourself and they’re not the right client, then they’ve taken somebody else’s spot. Oh yeah. And that’s what you have to really think about it as at the beginning. However, now that I’m a year and a half in, at that point, I started thinking it was like, I’ve got to do something else.

I was feeling like that call like that deeper, like heart gut, like inside of my person push to do something right. And to make it easier for people to actually see success in their business before they have to start investing big money. Because if only 1% of entrepreneurs are making it out of the first year that it begs the question.

Cool. Okay. Or the 99% being served by. Yeah.

So like the 99% who [00:26:00] was who’s their client, like who, who is the person that is servicing them? Nobody. Yeah. Nobody and. So for me, it’s almost like a forgotten people’s kind of thing. Cause I mean, I started my business from unemployment checks. I understand the struggle of being on every single influencers email list, just to get all of their freebie, to try to hodgepodge something together there.

I know the struggle of spending all of my time. Like five or six hours on Pinterest doing research to find three or four freebies on the same topic to try to figure out the how behind the what, because that’s what they tell you to give people in your free offers is tell them what to do, do not tell them how to do it, make them pay for the how to do it in that position.

I’ve been in that spot of researching for five or six hours, just trying to find. Which [00:27:00] things are the same between these five things, which things are different, which things might, how can I do this? Just to get some money in the door to see if we have a viable concept before we actually start investing big money into it.

Right. So. When 2020 hits, I’m going to laugh every single time. I say that for the rest of the year, actually, probably for the rest of my life, because we’re going to continue to talk about, Oh yeah, it’s going to be in the history book. Sounds scary. So we’re in 2020

actually enabled me to take a step back from my business because. Social media was going nuts. This was about, this was probably around March before it really, really hit and started affecting me personally was in March. So in February I started feeling like this is now the time that you’ve got to. Take some time and figure some stuff out.

And then March happened and several of my [00:28:00] clients had to take a step back just because of finances. And so I took a hiatus for about three months or so

really took a look at what is it that I want to do? What is the change that. I want to see happen here. And then that is where the BuildaBiz Academy came in. Yeah. So ridiculously excited about this, but it is, is terrifying. The idea itself was terrifying of taking my high level program, the BuildaBiz method that I’ve spent two years building, developing testing.

And now taking it from a one-on-one program and turning it into a low level membership that people can actually afford when they’re in that time period of their business, because anyone who’s starting a business, especially now, but anyone who’s actually starting a business online, it’s usually to [00:29:00] help fill in the gaps where their current income is not helping, is not able to cover.

So you’re doing it out of a place of need. You’re doing it at a place of possibly desperation. You’re doing it. In order to get money in the door. You’re not necessarily thinking that I want to go full time with this thing right here. You’re thinking, how do I find something that I can do online that will start bringing me in money?

And if it continues to bring me in money, then I’ll think about possibly going full time with it. But right now I just need something to help me cover this bill. So when I finally took the step back and really stepped back into that mindset and was like, you know what. There is nothing out there that does what I want to do.

So I’m going to have to build it. Let me build the thing that I wish that I had access to when I first started my business. So that’s what we’re doing, taking all of this high [00:30:00] level strategy and turning it into a self paced course membership platform where it’s video lessons and. Workbooks upon workbooks because I’m a huge believer in the copy.

Customized paste. Well, forget the customized portion because, because if you are going to see success in your business, you do need to model what people have done before you they’ve paved the way they were. The pioneers. They’ve seen success with it. They’re going to tell you how to do it. Sure. Copy it, but then customize it.

It’s got to fit you. It’s got to fit your personality. It’s got to fit the way that you work. It’s got to fit your lifestyle. It’s got to fit your message. It’s got to fit you in order to work before you paste it into your life. So you can see the levels of success that you want. So by scale, back, and then digging down.

Oop to my sound go a little bit. You’re good. Okay. I touched something. My hands is working [00:31:00] against me again. Um, but actually being like, alright, how can I make this applicable? To almost anybody, how do I do this in order for anybody to be able to see massive value from this? And so this is the response to the overwhelming need for comprehensive business strategy and training on a budget, because there are tons of coaches out there who can help you with one on one support.

Okay. But if you’re not to that level and you just want to try and see if you can turn the skills that you already had into a business, you need something like this, where you can learn on your own time, actually spend your time doing things that are going to turn you a profit. What are the foundational pieces that you actually need to be doing?

If I was able to spend that six hours that I was typically spending on Pinterest [00:32:00] into actually building the business itself. How much further would I be? Right? How much further would all of us have been? Because when you get a job in corporate, you get somebody to shadow. You get somebody to show you.

Here’s exactly how to do that. This, this, this, this, this, this, this, okay. When you’re an entrepreneur, the cool part is you get to figure all that stuff out for yourself. The hard part is you’ve got to figure all that stuff out for yourself, nobody to teach you how to do it. And it started feeling like you have to earn your way into conversation with the cool older kids who have done it before.

And if you can’t do it via. Your financial situation, you can’t pay to be part of those conversations. Then you’ve got to start seeing success in your business so that you’ve got the same level of success. So that now this person is like a colleague of yours, rather than someone who can teach you. And so I was never the person in high school who was [00:33:00] like, okay, Get away from me, sophomore, junior, like when I was a junior in high school, I was the one who went and sat with the freshmen and like, alright, y’all pull up a chair.

Let me teach you a few things because I wish someone had done this for me. So it’s really cool how this is like echoing that of really building that up. But you were talking about earlier with wishing that there were more people who were authentic. And that’s where the partner program comes in. So I wanted this to be bigger than just me and I wasn’t expecting it to get as big as it has so quickly, but this is really starting to become a community that is for entrepreneurs by entrepreneurs, because there are so many of us that have that mission who have that heart who want to help quote the next generation of entrepreneurs to bring in some more lifeblood because.

If most service-based entrepreneurs are serving the entrepreneurial community. And then only [00:34:00] 1% of us is making it through the first year. We need some more people to get money in their business so that they can actually spend with us comfortably so that we don’t feel guilty about the fact that we’re not that we’re charging what we’re charging and.

We just need some lifeblood in here. So the partner program has blown up so much more than I was expecting because I mean, you’re even a part of it, many of us, right? There’s so many of us who want to, to teach the younger generation to get them to the point of having true success so that we can work with additional entrepreneurs.

Like I want with the BuildaBiz Academy. For this to break the system because the system itself is broken. I want to break the system so that it becomes so normal for people to be making money online and to have side hustles that it’s not stigmatized [00:35:00] anymore. It’s not really seen as a risk it’s seen as, Oh, Hey.

You’re diversifying your portfolio and you’ve got multiple streams of income coming in. Like, I don’t know where that, like you have to have a full time job in order to prove that you’re successful and have benefits came in, but it’s not true anymore. And so we might as well have several. Streams of revenue coming in.

We might as well try and see what happens. So that’s where this is coming in is we want to create a very beautiful, safe space for people to try to build your own business online and to see what could happen. Yeah, exactly. I was like, I like what you, you said about the whole like societal standards, because so many of my friends were like, I need a job this summer and I don’t know if I want to actually go to work, especially with COVID stuff.

Like who wants to wear a mask all day long? Like standing there in a restaurant. Like it’s not, [00:36:00] it’s not it. And I was so, so often I’m like, you are organized. You are a good person. You have a personal relationship with people, try virtual assistance, try this, you know? And they’re like, no, like I don’t want to risk it.

Like I, and I’m like, you would rather make money, minimum wage in a restaurant on the beach then being at home from your computer, working on your own time. They’re like, no. Yeah. Like I was so I was like, okay, but it’s so sad to say like, Only 1% of entrepreneurs make it past the first year. Like you said, like, what are the other 99% doing?

Like who is there to coach them along the way? And that’s why I’m so, so happy that you came up with this idea because I had no idea who does what I do until you actually start to build and get into the communities and actually like, make it big to find the people that are going to be like your people.

, That’s why I so wish I had this when I started doing this too. So like, [00:37:00] I really, really would encourage everybody. Who’s looking to start a business to check this out because I think I was going to make it big for sure. I’m like, sorry. Of course those things of like, it’s, it’s extremely, we want to make it extremely easy and completely remove the barrier for people to.

Even start deciding whether or not they want to start their own business. So with the Academy, we want people to know that this is 100% mission. This was 100 percent heart, the partners who are a part of this, they’re doing guest trainings. We’re going to teach you, how do you do workflows? How do you.

Like, if you want to be a virtual assistant, like, why don’t you hear from a virtual assistant, what their day looks like? Why don’t you hear from somebody who does the type of thing that you’re thinking about doing 10 things that they wish that they had known before they started doing this particular thing and.

I mean, I started [00:38:00] advertising as far as like a cross promotional opportunity, because like, obviously, you know, like the, the partner program is awesome. As far as the kickbacks you guys are getting and like the way that you’re able to like, nurture your, actually nurture your leads to the point where when they’re ready to spend money.

Here’s the  preferred vendors list of the people who actually believe in this, who believed in you and made it possible for you to learn the things you needed to learn at such a low price with such low risk. Like. There’s a lot of really cool things there, but for the majority of it, most of the people that we are accepting as partners, like the only thing that I’m asking is that they’re mission minded like we are, and that they’ll fit into the community basically of it actually being a community.

There’s like nothing out there. That’s truly, co-collaboration like this. [00:39:00] Yeah. And I’m like, obviously freaking excited about it, but like it’s $35 a month for you to get in and to have access to workbooks upon workbooks, video lessons, step-by-step tutorials, here’s what button to click on these platforms to get this result that you want.

Here’s how to do it. Here’s what we suggest. And to actually have. People who are going to teach you how to do this, and then presents you with the different options of this might work for you. If you have this type of personality, this might work for you. If you want this type of business and getting rid of a lot of the conflicting information, that’s out there.

Getting rid of a lot of the overwhelm of having to research, to find the right information by giving it to you all in one spot. And so with having the $35 a month, Thing most people would just kind of stop there and say that that’s low enough, [00:40:00] we’re being generous enough or you’d have, you know, mastermind calls with me every month for you to have like four trainings from guest experts.

On top of all of the coursework on top of having there’s an affiliate program where you get 25% per person per month, that you bring our way. So it’s a viable source of income too. Most people would say that that’s enough and they would stop there. But now you can do seven days.  you have the access to a seven

day free trial and then we’re taking it a step further, the first whole module, which actually teaches you how to build your own successful lucrative business plan. What are your skills that can actually turn you a profit? How do you find your, why? How do you set yourself up for success from the beginning?

By having a sales mindset with it. How do you monetize them? All that, that first whole step one chapter. [00:41:00] It has three different workbooks to it. It’s got three different things, video lessons to it, and we’re offering that for free. You don’t even have to sign up for the seven day free trial. You can go check out right now and see whether or not the skills that you have are you’re able to monetize on and what you would want to monetize on.

It’s not, and sometimes it’s not even the things. That you think that you want to do because you have so many more skills than you think that you do. You’ve been building this tool belt your entire life, but the things that you know how to do are so normal to you, that you just don’t think that anybody would pay for it because you don’t mind doing it.

That’s so true because we all have different personalities. We all have different things that we’re really, really good at. So. The thing that you like to do, that you don’t mind doing, that you would want to do for money. Other people hate doing, and can’t wait to pay you to do it. They don’t have to. So we’re giving you that option for free as well.

And then on top of it, if that wasn’t enough, there is a [00:42:00] scholarship program in which all that we’re asking you to do is copy and paste. Pre-written stuff that we’ve already done. Some of your channels spread the word about this, and we will cover you for the month. And if you need it another month, we’ll do it again.

Like we want to get this information into your hands so badly that we want you to know this. This is about, you may believe in you. We want you to be successful. And in fact, we hope you outgrow us. We hope you get to the point where you no longer need us. And if you love it and you want this to be a viable stream of income for you as well could become a partner, become a partner.

I have clients who’ve gone through the entire thing before one on one clients who are like, I don’t know if I would have. Really recommended somebody to do this at the $5,000 Mark, but at $35, I’m going to make sure that all of my clients do this so that I can work with them better. [00:43:00] Because I’m having to help them understand and go through some of these things.

Cause she’s a designer. And she’s like, if they don’t understand their own brand voice, how am I supposed to help them build their website? How am I supposed to? So by having something like this, that you can very easily point people to and say, you know what, go get some home train and first learn how to be part of this community and do it successfully.

And in a way that is not slimy. In a way that is very authentic in a way that’s easy to do it in a very organized way. Here’s how to do things in what order, in order for you to be able to have all the foundational pieces you need in order to be able to make sales quickly in order to be able to get to the point where you’re making good money with as little over little overhead as possible.

Yeah. So. We’re ridiculously excited about this. And I keep using the Royal we. I’m writing all the content that way, because it is bigger than just me. Like we have [00:44:00] in two weeks, just two weeks of it being available for people to be partners. We already have almost 25 people in here.

I believe in the mission of this because we believe in people. Yeah, because we are heart-centered because we are mission minded because, and we honestly, this is a passion project. For me more than anything, this is a passion project because I want to take the first step and be the change that needs to happen.

Absolutely. So that’s the part, that’s how it’s going to set you apart because there’s so many people that just want it for the money. Not for the actual genuine connection. It keeps coming up today is to genuine, authentic connection. Yeah. And that’s, and that’s honestly how. I’m teaching them to sell. How do you build an honest, genuine connection that turns into money so that you don’t feel slimy while selling so that you don’t spam all of your [00:45:00] friends and family so that they block you cause they’re sick of seeing your stuff.

How do you be an authentic person and still make money online? That’s what we’re teaching. Yes. I’m so excited because there are so many times that I’m just online and I’m scrolling and I’m looking at what all of my friends are doing and all of my biz buddies are doing. And then I’ll see someone do something really spammy.

I’m like, no, no, I want, I want to teach you, but I don’t have like that relationship with you. So yeah, I’m not going to slide up into somebody’s DMS and be like, Hey, I saw this post that you did. It was really creepy and slimy, and she’s not doing this anyway. Like, no, like you can’t do that, but I’m so excited for how much this is going to change.

And I’m so excited for how many people’s lives we’re actually going to be able to effect. And even if someone’s getting into this and they only know, want to make an extra $1,500 a month, an extra $500 a month, this will teach you how to do that. [00:46:00] If you want to actually get to the point of replacing your income, you want to get to the $5,000 Mark.

This will teach you how to do that too. It’s all about how do we make this as easy as and foolproof as possible. For people to do this. And that’s where it is. That’s what I love it. I love it. So let’s get into like the nitty gritty little details. Who is this? Who is this for? Like what kind of entrepreneurs can do this?

And, um, when do you actually launch? So I’ll ask you the second question first. Now it’s available now. I’m the founding member. Exclusive bonuses and all that stuff. And on August 17th, which is a Monday after that obviously is still be available. Um, but it is currently available now and we have steps one through two already done.

So you guys don’t have any context for what that means. So [00:47:00] this is. What it is right now is teaching you exactly what skills you have, how to monetize on them and then digging into, okay. How do you set up your services? The things that you want to do. For sale. How do you do that? How do you come up with your own brand voice?

How do you do at least a little bit of branding and design so that people can see who you are and start to have that brand recognition? How do you figure out who your audience is? How do you figure out, how do you figure out how to talk to them and still be authentic? How do you set up packages in a way.

That’s going to be irresistible to your clients. How do you price yourself so that you are taking into account all of your current expenses, how often you want to work and then. Figuring out what that looks like. How do you do that? You put it in the calculator is what you do. Thanks for that. I am 100% a believer that, um, [00:48:00] math should do itself.

So we’ve got spreadsheets and things like that, and like ridiculous resources that we wish we had that will actually calculate it all for you. Oh, so nice. So. This is basically for anybody who has either thought about starting their own business online, or who has started a couple of businesses. Some have really panned out yet, or if you’ve started a business, but you haven’t hit the $5,000 Mark.

So basically anyone who we would consider a biz baby.  is perfect for this. So I, I will say that this is 100% for the Queens Kings and by not, or nonbinary sovereigns who 100% are work, work by net. And because this is going to take work, like all of the workbooks that are in here, they’re comprehensive everything that this is, this is not a get rich quick scheme whatsoever.

This is just refocusing your efforts into. [00:49:00] Something, that’s going to turn you a profit faster. So it’s still work required, but this is for anyone who wants to take the. Skills that they have and start making money off of them so that you don’t have to go back to school to learn anything. You can actually take the things that you know how to do right now and turn that into a business.

A lot of times people think that you need a new, like brand new society, like degree. No, no one online looks at your resume at all. There is no resume on the, in the entrepreneurial community. Like. Oh, that’s literally just, what do you do? And like, how do you do it? It’s so true or like, they’ll message me and be like, do you do this?

I’m like, yeah. They’re like, okay, you’re hired. I was like, great. Sounds good. Right? Like, it’s not like anything that you’ve known how to do before. So we’re going to teach you step by step exactly how to do it. And [00:50:00] this is 100% for the people who want to try. Right. Who want to try? This is for the people who want.

To see their income grow. This is 100% for the people who are more on that self paced kind of thing, where you can kind of hold yourself accountable a little bit. Cause this is, this is not like a one on one support thing where we’re going to be checking in on you all the time. No, this is self paced on purpose because you have a busy life and like you need time to be able to go through this stuff, but.

We’re going to make it as simple as freaking possible, but it does still require work. So if you’re, and that’s not to scare anybody, but that’s just to say like, you’re going to be trading the type of work that you do. Yeah. Right. Is, is really what it is. And this type of work can be really rewarding. It can be very, very fulfilling and.

Like there, [00:51:00] most days I get to the end of the day and I’m just like, what did I even do today? I feel the same. And then I actually look at the list of all the things I accomplished and I’m just like, I was extremely productive, but I don’t feel like I was working. Oh yeah. Yeah. Because we love what we do because we’ve gotten the opportunity to craft our jobs.

Around us. Absolutely. And our lifestyles and not the other way around, because when you have a normal job, if you want to go make plans with your friends, you got to check your schedule first. You’ve got to like, see if you can get the day off, you’ve got to know we’ve crafted these things around us. And that’s what we teach you, how to do of how do you turn this into something that you love to do?

How do you do it correctly so that you can have less failures? That’s awesome. Yeah, because honestly, businesses giant experiment. It really is. It’s all about adaptation. It’s all about trying new things. Like personally, [00:52:00] this is the third iteration of my business and I’ve been at it for two years. So like, we want to give you the space in order to figure some of this stuff out.

Just see if it works. Just try it like that. Just have to try , just like this is literally it. You just have to try it. We’re going to tell you exactly what to do, how to do it when to do it. All that you gotta do is show up, be yourself and be honest, when you’re building this business, when you’re building the things for yourself, this is not about other people’s expectations.

This is not about obligation. This is not about what you feel like would be impressive to other people. Yeah, no. This is about you creating the life that you actually want. Absolutely. That is so motivating. I didn’t tell you. This is just so motivating. It’s funny. Cause I put up a poll on my Instagram. I was like, what kind of people do you guys want to see on the show?

I’m like business owners, no matter what, because they want to see people. Creating the life that they want to live and doing it happily authentically, [00:53:00] and honestly, and that’s just, that’s in a nutshell and I love it.

So, so excited. First of all, then you got to come on the show today. It was so amazing. Um, so yeah, I’m so excited about that and I cannot wait for the launch. Are you getting people getting in. And trying out your program. I cannot wait. I’m so excited. I’m so happy that I’m part of the partner program because I’m like, I love it.

This is great. Exciting. And it’s, I think that’s probably the biggest thing that I’ve taken away from this just even so far. And it’s only been a few weeks, like the BuildaBiz Academy did not exist in June and it’s August. It’s insane. That’s what I’m saying. And like, we already have like, How many modules do I have in there right now?

10. Oh, wow. I think we’ve got 10 modules that are in there already for people to do. And we’re going to continue to build this out. So like there’s two to four new modules coming out every single [00:54:00] month on top of all of the guests or expert trainings on top of the monthly mastermind calls. So like we’re still building this, we’re still creating this community and.

Like the thing that has been the most exciting to me is that how much other entrepreneurs believe in this is how much. How many people who are out there who are mission-minded, who were like, you know what? I wish that I had this and yeah, 100% sign me up. I want to be a part of this. I want to help people.

I want to actually be making a difference in people’s lives. And so, because we’re curating this community, like it’s such a safe space and it’s such an amazing place to get started to ask your questions too. Really asked the nitty gritty stuff and the things that like nobody else actually like talks about, like, how do you price yourself appropriately?

You take everything into account. Like how, [00:55:00] what are 10 things that you wish that you had known before you started working with clients? We’re going to go over that stuff so that you are fully prepared and that you feel as confident as possible because confidence comes from experience. But if you don’t have experience, then confidence comes from preparation.

So. We want to prepare you as much as freaking possible so that you can see the levels of success that are waiting for you. Yeah, that’s amazing. I’m so excited. This is so great. I love it so much. Oh my gosh. Everybody’s listening to this. Like it’s an hour long. I know, but I love it. Jam packed with good, good nuggets of advice and stuff like that.

So where can people find you? And, okay, so the build a biz academy.com. So it’s. Biz as B I Z. Okay. And there’s the in front of it, there were a couple other people who were like, [00:56:00] build it as this buildup, is that, and like, they’re all like dead links. So it was just like, all right. The BuildaBiz academy.com is ours.

I’m also on Instagram at build a biz Academy and then myself, you can find me at cierra. dot lynna, it’s spelled Lynna, but it’s lynna for. Reasons

for a reason there’s a whole backstory, but we’re, we’re way over time. So that’s me on Instagram. , there’s also the passionately ambitious entrepreneur group. That’s still available. That’s for free, , that we have on Facebook. , so we’re, we’re mostly kind of pushing people over more towards Instagram.

Facebook is becoming a very. Kind of toxic place I feel and kind of like inundated with, , A little bit, too much noise. So for us being the authentic kind of community that we are, we’re really moving over to Instagram. Right. , there are like things coming up as far as like the blog and all that [00:57:00] that’s not available yet.

So the buildabizacademy.com at BuildaBiz. Academy on Instagram. And, um, there’s also like the link in the description to go like follow me and follow my personal stuff, which is literally just more about having fun. I love that. That’s so fun. Yeah. Make sure you guys check it on the links down below. Um, everything will be there.

Make sure I got everything. Not forgetting anything for you. Um, but I’m so happy you were able to come on this show. This is so much fun and there will be, there will be more to come. Don’t worry. You’ll be back. Oh, well, thanks. I’m glad to have open invitation.

Sure. Yeah. I’ve loved this. This has been so much fun. . Obviously the connection is like, Oh yeah, for sure. This is awesome. Okay. Thank you guys so much for tuning into this week’s episode. , and there’ll be so much more fun in the next few weeks, so,  yeah. Thanks so much for listening. Thank you, Cierra.

And we’ll see you [00:58:00] guys next time. Bye.