Ep 035: Resources Galore

Blair Kaplan-Venables: 00:00:08

Ever wonder what success actually means?

Theresa Lambert: 00:00:11

How do you get it?

Blair Kaplan-Venables: 00:00:12

And how do you keep it?

Theresa Lambert: 00:00:14

We all want it yet sometimes it feels only some of us get to have it.

Blair Kaplan-Venables: 00:00:19

Hi, Teresa Blair here. We are two badass entrepreneurs, best selling authors, coaches and business mentors who have had success, built success, questioned our own success and reclaimed it. Let's be real for a hot minute. 2020 has been a roller coaster ride, and many of us started to wonder if they'll lose the things that made them successful. So we got curious, raw and real about what success is truly about?

Theresa Lambert: 00:00:45

Can you put it in a box?

Blair Kaplan-Venables: 00:00:47

How can you get it?

Theresa Lambert: 00:00:48

Can people take it away? Or are you the one with the power?

Blair Kaplan-Venables: 00:00:52

Does it mean the same to all of us? Or are we the ones that creatit?

Theresa Lambert: 00:00:56

from PGA golf pros to doctors, CEOs, entrepreneurs and spiritual mentors, we got together to meet with successful people from around the globe to dissect success for vibrant conversations and interviews. Make sure you click the subscribe button on the app store because each week we will drop a new episode to bust through the myths around success and dissect its true meaning.

Blair Kaplan-Venables: 00:01:24

Welcome back to another episode of dissecting success. It's me Blair Kaplan-Venables. I'm here with the amazing and remarkable Teresa Lambert. And you know what, something that we've been talking about over the last year or so and it's come up in conversations at events with clients and coaching? And beyond is resources. What are the resources that we have used to get to where we are today? What did we, you know, read, Watch, Learn go? What do we wish we know, we knew, and this episode is focused on some of the resources that we've used to build our business. And, you know, just some, some recap. You know, at the time of listening this, we've had a multiple five figure launch, I had a multiple five figure month. And you know, I had five figure day a couple weeks ago. And it's because I've used specific tools in my life. And I see every thing that comes my way as a potential learning opportunity. And, you know, some months I have not a five figure month, sometimes I have a smaller month. And, you know, how do we set ourselves up, to evolve, grow, learn, and continuously inspire while working on our business. So here we are today with another episode of dissecting success to empower you, to give you the momentum, you need to uplevel your business to inspire the fuck out of you.

Theresa Lambert: 00:02:50

Love that. So good. Yeah, resources. You know, I think that's so important than just something you, you mentioned, you know, I've been recently talking more about on my social media on my Instagram is, you know, that we've got to normalize fluctuations and things like that. And I know you and I've had a episode that we dedicated just to fluctuations in your business sales and your business revenues. And this morning, because I just finished up my free day, a master class on selling and attracting soul clients online, which was amazing. I had so much fun. And I was talking about this commitment to growth and this commitment to mastery. And that, for me, mastery is an attitude. It's an attitude that's rooted in the willingness and your commitment to show up and to refine your process and get better and better and better and better over time. And certainly, tools and resources have helped along that. But by having that mindset that you're always learning, you know, by by always looking for new resources, different ways of doing things. That's how you continue to be motivated to keep going, when it's not always looking the same. Or when a man feels harder, because let's face it, like, what's not all walking in a park, like it's hard to build a business and you and I work hard to build our business. That doesn't mean we hustle, that doesn't mean we're on 24 seven, and some of the tools and resources that I have used to help me with that, like a book that I would recommend reading to everybody that I sort of just came back into my mind actually this morning was Brendon Bouchard, high performance habits. And he talks about clarity being the number one indicator for high performance and so I always come back to do I have clarity around my process, my strategy, what I'm doing next how I want to show up my intention, my goals, right? Like when I have clarity, I show up differently. So that's a great resource right there.

Blair Kaplan-Venables: 00:04:59

Whoo. I got to add that to the list. We got to make sure in the show notes for this episode, we list all these resources. Blair and Teresa's resource list. I don't know we'll come up with a better name, I'm sure. Okay, I love that because I've never read that book and I'm really into listening to audiobooks, but I was thinking back to my business days, my Sorry, my business development days professional development days. And in 2005, I became an educator at Lululemon Athletica and Winnipeg, they were just opening the store in Polo Park Mall, and I had the gift of being an educator with them. And they did a lot of professional professional and personal development. And so we had a library of books to read, tipping point, Good to Great a whole bunch of other books, but I didn't see them as Oh, I'm gonna use this to build a business Monday because at that time, I didn't know I had a dream to build a business. But when I did start my business and just a little recap, if this is the first time listening, or if you haven't heard the story in a while, I worked for Lulu lemon for about three and a half years. Winnipeg, Edmonton, Vancouver, I left Lou Lemmon to start my company where cabling communications, I was 23, it was the beginning of the recession, I was like, I want to do PR, I'm just gonna make my own opportunities, you know, build, build my own damn door and walk on through it. But Lou lemon, they were the company, they were the people who opened up the possibilities for me to love yoga, and live a certain lifestyle. And so after three and a half years of living a certain lifestyle, I was still living it. But now I no longer got the perks of Lu lemon employees, which is complimentary yoga. And so as a co lead shit, yoga is expensive. And so I was now looking for a way to still live my lifestyle, less of a cost and I couldn't find a way to do so. So long and short of it. I started a health and wellness coupon company and I went to all the things in Vancouver that I want to try travel and art and fitness and yoga. And I got some really big names in the fitness and wellness and health industry to be a part of my coupon book. It was living free Vancouver it morphed to be online to living free Canada and I've kind of followed a group by model. But anyways, I was out and about networking my face off. And in the beginning of my business, I did a lot of barter, because like I needed to learn and I had skills to give. But I did a barter with a business coach. And it was my first time working with a business coach. We didn't do tons of work together. But she said before you work with me, I want you to read e myth revisited by Michael Gerber. Okay, e myth revisited. And so I bought it, and I devoured it. And the biggest lesson it taught me 13 years ago was to build systems in your business, work on your business, not for your business. And that is something that I've carried along with me. And I'm actually I started rereading the book last year, and then I stopped because I need to listen to books, I think I retain information better. So I'm not going through all my favorite books, and re rereading them with my ears. But I recommend if you are just starting out or you want to uplevel you've never heard of this book emeth revisited by Michael Gerber. It changed my frickin life.

Theresa Lambert: 00:07:57

I love that I have not read that book, but systems systems stumped and you know that I love my tech and automation. I think that is so important. But having systems in place and having like just a way in which you do business that takes some of the things out of your hand, especially if you in your business for yourself like a solopreneur and you might have some, you know, consultants and other support that helps you with finance, you know, accounting, bookkeeping, graphic design, like whatever you want to bring in into your business, but we do so much still on our own within our businesses. And so you know, to be able to do it well and not work 100 hours a week or more. Which is easy to do. Totally, you need really good systems. I love that e myth revisited.

Blair Kaplan-Venables: 00:08:48

Yes. Oh my gosh, I'm like, I can't wait. I'm gonna listen to it. I have a lot of driving coming up in my life. Lots of time driving, my new thing is while I'm at home doing chores, I spend that time listening to music. And now when I'm commuting, I spend the time listening to podcasts and audio books. And as part of like Blair 2.0 or maybe 3.60 because I'm turning 30

Theresa Lambert: 00:09:10

next time and stay with me later this month now that you're living in an differently like land I was gonna say you're different part of the land.

Blair Kaplan-Venables: 00:09:21

I am in a different part of the land.

Theresa Lambert: 00:09:25

We all thought then Blair from Blair land to Teresa from Teresa land.

Theresa Lambert: 00:09:32

Okay, so um, but no, you can bring that book because would you bring that book because I love reading books. Actually, I'm like a book. Like I love having a book in my hand and I actually like not tarries I'm one of those people like I will highlight fold pages but this is also becomes a resource for me. So all of the books I've read, I will go back to and pick them out and you know, read them again.

Blair Kaplan-Venables: 00:09:57

I love that yes, I for sure will bring that Okay, so let's talk about it. Couple more business books like, what what other business books do you recommend to your clients or to the people in your life, Teresa?

Theresa Lambert: 00:10:08

You know, there was different books for different reasons. One that really impacted me actually in the way I show up both as a leader when I still ran an organization, and now in my business is called blooped by Bruce and Bruce Boone, stop a like, call it like a after grid travel company quite a long time ago. He's very well known. And his book is about his journey of building this dreadful business really, and how he started and it's all about like, the loop tail is all about paying it forward. And then how things come back to you. So you know, you and I, we talk a lot about leading with value, giving and not having this expectation. But we know we have this deep knowing that things come back. So loop tail by Bruce Poon is like a super, super awesome book that I would really recommend. And it also has a really cool section in it. So for any of you who are building businesses, maybe you're forming teams, maybe you are leading an organ is when you're learning to see notes is another cool business book. And it's a little bit different. And it's a beautiful story. But there is a section in a book that's called Death of HR. And it really, really struck me along with so many other things that he talks about in this book, but it's all about building communities within your business, building spaces thinking outside the box, and how he just formed this thing. He called it the Culture Club. And it made me just think as we're talking about this, and as you shared about your experience with Lulu lemon and the community under yoga and all the things that they offer. This had sort of a very similar feeling for it. So lube Tale by Bruce Poon, I would highly recommend it will give you a very different perspective on paying it forward, and also on how to to lead and set yourself up for success within organizations.

Blair Kaplan-Venables: 00:12:11

Ooh, I'm excited. I like it. You know, this got me thinking about some other books that really I set out to read because I heard great things. It wasn't necessarily for, you know, my professional development or anything by Malcolm Gladwell. I love anything by Malcolm Gladwell. I love the research and the storytelling. And I find that I take so much away from that, because I'm not that traditional business person. I'm a life person who empowers people. And I have the social media and public relations skills and public speaking and writing skills. So I draw inspiration from anything I read. And so anything from Malcolm Gladwell like the tipping point, and I was also thinking about what other books have I read that have really, like, inspired me or impacted me? And I just listened to green lights? Have you heard it? Green? Have you heard of it? It's Matthew McConaughey. And, for me, what really inspired me was it I listened to it because I love listening to him. I heard it was good. It probably would have been really good to read to. But green lights, I think it's green lights, or is it green light. Anyways, he tells a bunch of little stories about but his whole family had to sing, you know, called green lights. And the way he tells stories is so brilliant, that it's how I want to show up on social media and when I work on my third book, because you know, the I'm resilient project books gonna be coming out in the fall, and then I'm going to be working on my third book, I want to follow a similar structure and it really inspired me. So I don't want people to feel like they need to be restricted to listening to business books, like listen to all sorts of audiobooks, I keep saying listen to books, cuz that's just how I roll these days, reading books, listening to books, whatever it might be like, you can learn from absolutely anyone like I just listened to Jessica Simpson's book and her story. Her stories are so powerful that you know I've taken away a few different lessons that I'm applying to my business and I didn't listen to Jessica Simpson's book because I needed a business book I listened because I heard great things about it and I you know, if you don't like a book you stop reading it. So there's no like you don't lose anything from it. But yeah, like there's some celebrities out there who've published books and some I can't even listen to or read like I start reading it and to me it's boring but sometimes I get very much sucked in and I yeah and their story.

Theresa Lambert: 00:14:41

Yeah, have you read Marie folios everything is figure routable Oh such a good book. Oh so good. Oh Gretchen Rubin to happiness project. I actually need good know that.

Blair Kaplan-Venables: 00:14:55

What her What's her most recent book, I listened to her most What?

Theresa Lambert: 00:14:59

I don't know. demos.

Blair Kaplan-Venables: 00:15:00

Oh, I lied. That's Glenn and Doyle what's Glen and Doyle's book? Oh,

Theresa Lambert: 00:15:04

she wasn't untamed. I don't know. But oh, it is Oh, so many good books, so many good books. And you know, and I agree with you like yours classics like I really enjoyed thinking grow rich. But you know, that was a much harder read for me then loop tail or everything is bigger audible. Also Mel Robbins, the five second rule or God, what is their other book called? And I listened to some of us anyways, there were so many good books. And, you know, I think one thing here too, that I want to add is that, you know, sometimes we think in business, that it's the most motivated person that actually, you know, is successful. But I really believe it's the people that figure out how to show up when things don't go well. And so books that I tend to be drawn to books that share experiences of people, but they're sharing their stories, and it wasn't easy and what they did when it didn't work and how habits and rituals. And you know, this growth mindset that we started with really helps us to show up when shit goes wrong. And that is how I feel like we make it in business. So anyways.

Blair Kaplan-Venables: 00:16:22

Yes, I love that. Oh my gosh, okay, so I'm going to throw in one more book. And maybe we can just have all time what my favorite book is. And it's interesting to me, because it's a musician's book. And so now when I listened to their music from that specific era that he wrote the book and hear the stories, he told, is really interesting to see what's going on his life and how he wrote stories. And to me, it really sparks creativity to think back to that. And so I think we should before we move on to maybe some of our favorite tools, why don't we share our favorite book of all time, and I'll go first so you can dig into your, you know, memory in a maybe you don't have one of all time, but if you know me, you'll know that my favorite band of all time is Red Hot Chili Peppers. And I absolutely love scar tissue, scar tissue from Anthony kitas. And it's about a certain period of his life and like, you know, his childhood and then being in the band and what's inspired him to write the songs. And I just, I've read it a few times. I love it. I will not lend it out. It's been beaten. It's been to like every beach I've ever been to it's, it's absolutely brilliant. And actually fle wrote a book. I can't remember exactly what it's called right now, because I wasn't planning on talking about it, but I'm just feeling really inspired. So fleys book is called doo doo doo acid for the children. And Holy shit. Okay, I didn't know what to expect. Because right actually, peppers is my favorite band. I knew I had to read it. I got it. As soon as it came out, and I listened to it, and it's fle reading it. And he is such a brilliant writer, like Anthony akitas. His stories are very fascinating, especially because it ties into writing no ties into like the writing of the songs. But fleas book acid for the children was so good. I listened to it twice in a row. And now maybe I'll listen to it again, I have a couple trips coming up in the car. Now just talking about this. But if you have a favorite musician or artist, and they put out a book, like dive into it, because it really like gets you inside the brain. And and shows you how things came to be because we only see the finished product. But behind that finished product is this huge journey. And that's what me and Teresa are on this huge journey, this business journey, but we're letting you in on the process. It's not just showing you a finished product. It's us showing you the highs, the lows, the good, the bad, the ugly, the less ugly, the beautiful, the sunrise, the sunset, and you know, I find inspiration and everything. So I empower you to dig into your favorite musicians or artists or celebrities books and see what their life is like. So, Teresa, have you been inside your mind?

Theresa Lambert: 00:18:59

Yes, it's my I would say probably one of my all time favorite offers is Paulo quail. And his book The Alchemist is just next level and I would recommend everybody who has dreams and who believes in transformation and listening to your hearts like I think that that story has vd like really captured me and I was reading it a long time ago in my 20s before I went traveling and found my path here and again. It's about a journey. It's about a journey of a young man who is dreadful traveling and so anyways you you want to read this The Alchemist by Paulo credo He also wrote tomato really really cool books that are just Yeah, very deep, very deep and fill up philosophical reads but yes, I would have to say the owl missed by pojo Cagle, it's not a business book. But that definitely speaks to my heart.

Blair Kaplan-Venables: 00:20:07

I love that I've never read that either. Oh, my God, look at us, we're gonna we should build, you know, what we should do is we should build out our library and put it somewhere where people can like, you know, go and download or listen to her order. The books that we are really inspired by. That can be really cool. Okay, so we've been jamming for about 20 minutes, I think what we should do is kind of rapidfire not go too deep into some of the software that we use to make our magic happen. Some of the tools that we love, so and just like different topics, like for example, I've been in business for 13 years, and it was only last year I started using QuickBooks. I was just doing everything on my own because I was like, I don't want to pay for a software. Holy shit changed my life, QuickBooks. That's how I do all my invoicing and billing and it's brilliant. What about you? What do you use for managing all that?

Theresa Lambert: 00:20:56

Oh, my God, actually, for accounting, I use Xero. I swapped because my bookkeepers using that and I love QuickBooks. I also recently started using honey books, which I really love and I'm able to send contracts to clients and they automatically sign in there was like a proposal pop that they can follow on they can schedule it's a beauty. Beauty cool tool. Oh, my God, I have so many Canva websites, but you don't invoice through Canva Do you know I don't invoice through Canva. So honey book and zero. And actually, I mean, I do most of my stuff to be honest through kajabi.

Blair Kaplan-Venables: 00:21:35

So, so let's talk about what is kajabi.

Theresa Lambert: 00:21:38

So kajabi is an all in one platform, they've actually just added podcasting. So you can push your podcast through kajabi now as well, which is pretty cool. And you can monetize podcasts, it has email marketing functions, you can build websites, landing pages, products, like private program membership sites. Yeah, pretty much like anything I could possibly ever need for my online coaching business is in kajabi. So I am in love. I love kajabi I know I talk about it a lot. And it's an incredible tool. And you know, what I'm gonna do too is I'm able to offer people 30 day trials as well. So I will put that in the show notes as well for anybody who wants to try it out. But yeah, I I love it. It's not inexpensive. But at the beginning like Blair you said I kind of was like why pay, you know, why pay that much. And I was trying to use all these different tools to save money. And in the end, I was like, it is so frustrating to have everything on a different platform and nothing communicates with each other. And so now, everything is pretty much connected. And then I just use a few additional tools for things that, you know, kajabi can't yet do. But they keep adding.

Blair Kaplan-Venables: 00:22:57

I love that you know what, so I'm actually on the other fence. I'm a Kartra girl, I've actually been hiring someone to do my kartra stuff, but I'm learning to do it all myself on my empowerment group coaching program that's launching in the fall is all going to be done through kartra. But I also have a WordPress website, and I use MailChimp. So they all work harmoniously together. And I'm excited to kind of learn, like a more sophisticated way to operate those three, but I'm new to it. Because I you know, for me, it's always I'm always every every time I hear you talk about kajabi I googling Karcher, kajabi kartra kajabi. And I think there's a lot of similarities there. And I actually went into start designing something the other day, and I found it really easy to use and fun. So I definitely see how you love kajabi the way you do. So if you are looking at building a program with, you know, hosting courses, building websites, whatever you might be doing, and you want to talk about kajabi or kartra We are your girls, I mean, I can't talk about kajabi because everything with momentum, which we're going to talk about soon comes out in kajabi. And I have a lot of I'm part of different group coaching programs, and they all use kajabi. So I'm I'm falling in love with kajabi. So we'll see if kartra can keep me We'll see what happens. I mean, time is of the essence. Okay, so my websites and WordPress, you build your website fully in kajabi, which is super cool. And then Canva. So let's talk about Canva because we both love Canva. And I'm not a graphic designer. And I think it depends on what you're doing. Because you know, there's lots of things you can design in Canva social media graphics, like Teresa has some killer stuff going out right now. But we've also tried to design things for print. And it's not always the best quality. So I think when it comes to designing stuff for web, brilliant, my friend brenly, and I'm hoping Bradley is going to come on as a guest sometime in the future. She printed out a book hardcover book, she designed it all in Canva and printed it out and actually looks really good. So

Theresa Lambert: 00:24:50

that's so awesome. Yeah, I love Canva you know, and it's, it's so affordable too. I mean, I have a free version, which I used for a very long time and now Like, upgraded to the pro version, but yeah, I mean, I love designing stuff. I never really knew how much I loved designing stuff, until I started sort of my coaching business and started just designing things and graphics. And like, I mean, I keep mine pretty simple, but the dad definitely impactful, but it's so fun. You know, I just, I just have fun, do it. Like, I didn't realize how much I was enjoying it. But I totally agree with you adores things that I wouldn't touch that I'm like, let's just hire somebody to do that.

Blair Kaplan-Venables: 00:25:29

I love that that's so true. And, um, okay. So we could probably keep going on tools. And I think this episode, like, we're gonna keep having episodes like this as we evolve. And there's tons of tools that we do use that we haven't talked about. But I want to talk about something I wish I knew about that I wish I had when I started my business. And maybe you could add into that. But I can tell you what I wish I had, which is a tool, but it's also more than a tool to resource is I wish I had a mentor. I wish I had a mentor. I wish I understood what a mentor was, I wish there I wish I would have known that people like me and Teresa existed in some sort of capacity. And yeah, I had a business coach. But that was different that was to teach me how to build systems. I want to I wish I had someone to guide me on the journey to build a six figure multiple six figure seven figure business, because I would have started doing this years ago, like I'm 13 years in, Why wasn't I doing this five, six years ago, seven years ago, 10 years ago. And I really wish that I had a mentor or a group coaching program that would have helped me elevate myself and uplevel me and give my business the momentum I needed years ago.

Theresa Lambert: 00:26:38

Yeah, hands down. And you know what I would also say to that it's a small group coaching program. And when I say small, not small in terms of impact, but small in terms of group size, which for me, has a far greater impact, because I feel like when we're able to come together as a group of entrepreneurs to write and share and learn, you know, from each other, but be guided. And when I'm part of like a group of, you know, 1012 entrepreneurs that are all going through different things and different stages of their business building journey, I learned so much, I learned so much. And I feel like that's really important. And something you just said, right? Like, if we don't really know how to set ourselves up in a way that we have a foundation where we can grow from, eventually we'll have to start bringing all those things in. So if you would have known it from the beginning, right, like to your point, you know, your business might look different today, very different today than it is and now you're doing it and you're like oh my god, like this makes such a world of a difference too. Because it's also simplifies. And I know that like, you know, you and I teaming up to create momentum, which is our six month business accelerator that's starting up again, in January, like we actually have our kickoff call December 15 vendors in Alibaba that you can drop in with right now that basically secures the pricing that we had for the last round, and the price will go up at the end of September. So if you're interested, the link will be in the bio, check it out, drop on the waitlist or just join if you're ready, or contact us, like if you have questions, but the thing that I love about that, and what we've been doing is by putting our two heads together, and sharing and teaching people all these like different kind of pillars, systems, processes, tools, right while giving them one to one private mentorship, it all together like that didn't exist. It like maybe it exists now. But I you know, in the format that we are experiencing it. Um it's just so cool. And I love it. And I see the impact it has on our clients that are inside that space.

Blair Kaplan-Venables: 00:29:06

So it's not too late like I've joined a couple group coaching programs over the last few years and that's really what skyrocketed my business. It really helped me change my business model from the done for you to the done with you and done by you model which has really helped me up level because I was at a capacity. And it's what you know, what inspired us to create momentum because we're both part of group coaching programs and you know, you don't know what you don't know. But when you're in a group with with facilitators and experts, you evolve in ways that you didn't know existed. And you know, momentum is intimate. We have 10 spots available. We pretty much sold out half of the spots last cohort during our beta launch, it went super well. We're you know, soon gonna be wrapping up our first cohort. It's amazing. You can learn more about it at Teresa Lambert coaching slash momentum. And you know, I want to empower you to check it out. If you have questions about it, let us know it's it's phenomenal. Watch this transformations of the people who are in it now the transformations of us as leaders and mentors and coaches, because we all learn from each other. And I know I'm having so much fun leading it, like every time I create something for the team, and for the group, it's just so inspiring that I take it and share it with my network in a, you know, a different way. But what we do is we really customize what we teach, and inspire so people can uplevel and grow their business in ways unimaginable. And so without, without further ado, why don't we wrap this up? I mean, I feel like we can keep talking about resources. So we should save this for another episode. So we talked a lot about bucks. We did a rapid fire about tools, like software and whatnot. And then we talked about group coaching. And that's something that, you know, if you're new in your business, or you've never done it, try it out, even if it's not with us, try it out, see how it impacts you. Not every groups the same. You know, there's been some groups I've been a part of, and I don't feel the jive. There's some groups that I feel part of the family and I just want to hear, take my money, and I'm a part of it ongoing. And you know, without all of those things, reading books, listening to books, systems, software, tools, mentorship, I wouldn't be where I am today. And I could probably say the same about Teresa. So thank you for tuning in. Oh, go on. I just I was like she's thinking. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of dissecting success. We're excited to have momentum Cohort Two coming out. This is kind of the first time on our podcast. We're really talking about it. You're gonna start hearing more about it that some amazing guests coming up. And thank you for joining us on the success path today. Peace out.

Theresa Lambert: 00:31:44

That's a wrap for another episode of dissecting success. enjoyed this episode? Make sure to subscribe to Blair Kaplan-Venables and Theresa Lambert's podcast dissecting success on the App Store.