Suddenly Solo: What Happens When You Have To Step Up And Get Clients, with Alli Myatt

Alli Myatt 0:03

She had been the person that was responsible for all the business development I had been maybe on, I could count on one hand the number of business development calls I'd been on. So here I am in this sort of compressed market. I don't know how to do it, and I'm feeling abandoned. So I was really scared that I wasn't going to be able to hold this off.

Leah Neaderthal 0:25

Welcome to the smart gets paid podcast with me. Leah Neaderthal, I help women land higher paying clients in their independent consulting businesses, but I've never been a salesperson. My background is in corporate marketing, and when I started my first consulting business, I learned pretty quickly that it's about 1000 times harder to sell your own stuff than it is to sell someone else's. So I taught myself how to do it, and I created the sales approach that I now share with my clients so they can feel more comfortable in the sales process. Get more of the right clients and get paid way more for every client contract. So whether your client contracts are $5,000 $100,000 or more. If you want to work with more of the clients you love, do more of the work you love, and get paid more than you ever thought you could, then you're in the right place. Let's do it together. Thanks for tuning in, and don't forget to rate, review and share. Hey there, Leah here, and thanks for tuning in. I hope that wherever you're listening to this, wherever you are right now, I hope you're having a great week, making some good progress in your business and taking some time for you. So if you had seen me back when my former business partner and I first started our consulting business, there is no way you would have taken one look at me and said, You know what, she is really good at selling. She's really good at getting clients, and I bet she's going to become a sales coach in the future, and that's because when we first got started, I didn't do any of the selling. I mean, I would be on calls with my business partner, and I would come to meetings, and I would sort of, you know, speak when it was my turn, but, you know, truth be told, like the selling part really freaked me out, like I hated it. I mean, sure, I felt comfortable when we were talking about the actual work and how we work, because, you know, that was sort of my role in the business, like doing the actual work and being behind the scenes and making the trains run. But when it came to prospecting or having sales conversations or reaching out to people or following up, I mean, I hated it. I remember very clearly there were a few times when, you know, we were set to have a call with a potential client, and my business partner would be running late maybe, or maybe she got pulled away to do something else, and I would have to have the call by myself. And I remember thinking in those moments like, maybe I should just reschedule till we can both be on the call. Or actually, what was really going through my head was that I was praying to the universe that the client would cancel because I just didn't want to have to do the selling part. That just wasn't my role. That was my business partner's role. She was much more comfortable doing that, and you know, they were mostly her contacts or people she had prospected, and I was perfectly content to let her take charge. But when you're trying to get a new business off the ground, and you're living in San Francisco and paying San Francisco rent and San Francisco prices, you can't have just one person doing the heavy lifting on getting revenue. And I was just kind of a complete waste of space in that area, like I just couldn't do it. And that's even though I came from marketing. But you know, as I had figured out pretty quickly, marketing isn't selling, and I just had no idea how to sell. And so eventually we had to make a decision that I had to go back and get a job. And so I did. I went back to work at a PR firm, but I have to say, like as relief as I was to have a steady income, I felt this like deep regret that I couldn't do the one thing I needed to do in the business at that point, which was to actually get clients. And that's when I decided to teach myself how to do it, because I didn't want to do it how I had had people sell to me before, and my business partner style wasn't even my style really like it didn't feel totally right. And so I had to learn how to do it myself in a way that felt right to me. And so that's what sent me down the path of teaching myself how to sell. I read everything I could get my hands on, which turned into 65 books, and I tried everything with my actual clients, anything that felt salesy, I ditched, but anything that felt good, I kept. And over time, I developed a selling methodology that felt really good, and it absolutely worked for my clients and me. That's the same methodology I used in that business to sell $3 million of work with a 90. 2% win rate, and it's the methodology I use to help a friend of mine double her consulting business in a year and then double it again in year two. And it's the methodology that I now teach our clients in the academy. But if you've ever felt, you know, like I'm just not a salesperson and you look at me, or you've ever thought like she's just a natural, I am here to tell you I am not. This does not come naturally to me, and I'll never forget that fear that I felt, you know, way back then, when I just didn't know what I was doing, and when I was so grateful that my business partner did so that, you know, thank God I didn't have to do it. And that's why I felt such deep empathy when I first talked to the client that I'm now talking to in this episode, Allie Myatt, because in their business, Ali's business partner did all the selling to and got all their clients. And so last year, when her business partner decided she didn't really want to run the business anymore and she went back and got a job, Ally was now responsible for doing all the business development and getting all the clients all by herself, and she had no idea what to do. So the conversation you're going to hear today is about, what do you do when you suddenly find that you're responsible for biz dev for the first time, and also when you find yourself alone in a business where you thought you'd have a partner. And it's also the story of a woman who reached out for help and focused where she needed to focus, and turned her business around all by herself. Allie Myatt is the founder of the equity practice, where she works with businesses and organizations to create liberatory cultures that upend legacy ways of working and enable teams to do exceptional work together. And I am so excited for you to hear her story. So take a listen to my conversation with Allie Myatt, and at the end, I'll come back and share a lesson that you can apply to your business, and then hopefully someday soon, you'll partner with us to help you build your consulting business, and you'll come back on the podcast and share your story. Enjoy, Ally. I'm so glad you're here. Thank you for being here.

Alli Myatt 7:06

Thanks for having me. I'm really excited for this conversation. Yeah,

Leah Neaderthal 7:10

well, so let's just start out. Let's tell the good people who you are and what you do. Yeah,

Alli Myatt 7:15

I'm Ali. Alli Myatt. I'm one of the I am the founder of the equity practice, and what we do is we help people to create liberatory cultures that bring their teams together so that everyone can thrive. I live in Dallas. I have a lot of plant children, but yeah, yeah, really enjoying what I'm doing and really helping teams to create a better environment.

Leah Neaderthal 7:42

So just for everybody, when you say liberatory culture, can you just, just for context, how do you think about liberatory cultures, and what are you helping your clients try to achieve with

Alli Myatt 7:52

liberators? Thank you for asking that. I would say the liberatory cultures are similar to anti oppressive cultures, but for me, I wanted to focus on what we wanted, not what we didn't want. So what we're trying to do is to change how people relate to each other, so that we don't rely on control or domin dominating activities that can really be harmful, that we can we can be more of like, how do we share power? How do we take abundant care of people in the team? How do we act with reciprocity and things like that? So I wrote an article a few years back that sort of walks through how you can do that in talent and operation practices. So if people want to read more about it. That would be a good place to learn more if you want, if you if you're a nerd, and like reading

Leah Neaderthal 8:46

if you're a nerd, and like cultures where people feel safe and are not oppressed. What's the title of the article?

Alli Myatt 8:53

It's called, it's on HBr, and it's called, How to infuse liberatory principles into your talent practices.

Leah Neaderthal 9:00

Okay, so Barry, the lead that you were published in Harvard Business Review. No bigs. I just, I wrote an article. It's on somebody's blog. Actually, it's a Harvard Business Review. Okay, so Google. Allie Myatt in the Harvard Business Review. So humble and so And how long have you been doing this work, this

Alli Myatt 9:22

version of it has the business has been around for almost five years, but I started doing diversity, equity and inclusion work probably about a decade ago. So before we founded the equity practice, I was a COO where I was in charge of our talent, operations and finance and strategy work, which included Dei. So I really loved what I was doing and changing the outcomes for all of our team. And so it was sort of the inspiration for founding the business. That's

Leah Neaderthal 9:53

great. So the business has been around for about five years Well, so what was going on in the business? That brought you into this orbit. I mean, you sort of, you reached out for a reason, like, what? What was the reason? Yeah,

Alli Myatt 10:10

last year was a little rough. So if you notice, I said we, we founded, and so I founded the business with a business partner, partner, and my business partner decided that she didn't like entrepreneurship and decided to go back to work full time, and she had been the person that was responsible for all the business development I had been maybe on. I could count on one hand the number of business development calls I'd been on, and so I had no idea what I was doing. So asked someone who I really trust about, like, how she learned how to do business development, and she recommended you, and listened to your podcast, and was like, yes, like, I felt like you were speaking to me. So this is, like, feeling very full circle to even be having this conversation. Yeah, we reached out. I reached out, I think, and actually I must have reached out on Christmas Eve told you how panicked I was, yeah, that's why connected,

Leah Neaderthal 11:08

yeah. And I'm so glad you did, right? So, so you mentioned the word panic. I mean, what did it feel like to be the only person in the business at that point, you know, and knowing that you would have to take on this part that you hadn't really been a part of before, yeah,

Alli Myatt 11:25

it was, it was probably one of the hardest things I've gone through professionally. I often tell people it was like a business divorce, and I was going through all the feelings of like, abandonment and like, all these things of like, nobody wants to hitch the wagon to me and and on top of it, the DEI world, because we're sort of known our brand is in racial equity. And dei in 2023 it started to tighten up a lot, so we were already struggling to find business. So here I am in this sort of compressed market. I don't know how to do it, and I'm feeling abandoned, so I was really scared that I wasn't going to be able to pull this off. It didn't want to work for anybody else. I really believe in the work that we're doing, and I'm supposed to be doing it, but you need clients do the work and if you want to pay bills and eat so super scary.

Leah Neaderthal 12:23

Yeah. So all right, so it's Christmas Eve. You're in this moment where you where you're looking at the marketplace, and you're looking at your own business, and you're looking at yourself, and you're sort of in this low point. So so let's fast forward to where we are now, and then we'll talk about how, how we got there, how you got there. So bring us up to speed. I mean, like, where are things now? Because, because I don't think anybody wants to envision you, like, in this panic moment, you know, like, it's even because, because even thinking about you in this like, panic moment is like giving me anxiety. So, like, and I'm sure the less the rest of the listeners also. So how are things now and then, we'll talk about how we

Alli Myatt 13:03

got there. Yeah, things are better so, and I keep trying to remind myself, because it's really easy to fall into the scarcity trap. When we started working together, I think I had maybe 45 days of cash on hand, which was very scary for me. And now we're closer to four months, which is really good. And so I don't even know that

Leah Neaderthal 13:27

that's awesome.

Alli Myatt 13:28

Yeah, that I got a big contract, as you know, in December, and that helped a lot. And I know how to do business development. I don't. I wouldn't say I'm like the best, but I actually feel pretty confident that I know what rituals and practices will help me. Like, even now I took January off, and so it's February, kept getting back in it, and they'll have these moments of like, oh my gosh, the pipeline, but I know I have the tools to be able to address that. So I like, calms me down, because I feel like I have what I need to be able to do that part of the work,

Leah Neaderthal 14:06

yeah, well, and it leads to, like, what prompted me to invite you on the on the podcast also is, like, I saw your post about, like you're getting these contracts, you were closing some of these deals. And I was like, Ally, look, you are doing this, you know, like you are doing this, this, this thing that you know somebody else had done, and when, when it came fully on your plate, you know, you were worried, could I even do it and look at you like, I don't know. I think you're, you're, I'm gonna celebrate you. I'm gonna sit here like saying all these nice things about you, because I know that how humble you are. And you're not gonna say not going to say this about yourself, but like you can do that, you are doing this. Yes,

Alli Myatt 14:46

yes, and I think it makes me a better consultant too. Like being able to be in conversation with potential clients just helps me to understand what people are thinking about more, like I was just out of that. Yeah. And I actually like it, and then realize now that I probably should have been doing it all along. But, yeah, how do you learn things as you get older? Yeah, the business development part. Or yeah, I do think I should have been doing it all along. But isn't that interesting

Leah Neaderthal 15:14

how I mean, even when I was running the consulting business like I had to learn how to sell, because I saw my business partner doing it, and she was like, out front, and she was very comfortable in that. And I was like, Well, I'm just going to let you do that, right? That was, like, a very comfortable place for me to be, because I'm so comfortable in the background, just like doing the work, making the trains run, you know, and so, you know, yeah, should I have been doing it then? Probably. But I think we we stay where we feel like we can do the most good. And for a lot of us, it's like doing the work. I don't know if that was the same for you.

Alli Myatt 15:54

Yeah, I think part of it was so when my business partner and I were trying to figure out who would do what. It felt like I would be a better fit for the client facing like client work, and so she was taking more on of our ops and our business development work. And I have learned like this. I've learned so much about about myself in the last year. I just turned 50. And so when you turn 50, around 4950, you go through your Chiron return for those astrology people, which you get to like, work on your deepest wound, your like life wound. And this, I'm realizing that I give away a lot like, I take care of other people before I take care of myself. And I think that that was part of it. Was like, I didn't pick the role that I wanted. I was like, well, whatever you don't want, I'll pick up. Was kind of what happened. And, yeah, I'm realizing I do that a lot. I give away a lot. So, like, this whole this transition has been really illuminating about the ways that I wasn't taking up space and wasn't caring for me as much as I was taking care of somebody else.

Leah Neaderthal 17:13

Oh, wow. What a cool thing to observe or to get the ability to observe. And then, you know the lessons that you take from that? Are you still in sort of observing behavior mode, or are you in, okay, I'm going to do something different with this knowledge

Alli Myatt 17:32

mode. Yeah, I really like the three, the three types of profitability that you talk about, because when I was doing my reflecting on the year, I was realizing, and I've talked to you about this, like the work wasn't feeling always great, and I was realizing I wasn't having enough time to create what I wanted. So what I'm doing is I'm being very dogmatic about that Monday and Friday is like, I'm starting there, like, if I want to go to It was wild. Like, even when I was in January, went to sign up for facilitators training, and they had an option in February, and I was like, Oh, I can't sign up for this, because a client might need that time. What are you talking about? Like, this, this client that doesn't exist and hasn't claimed this time. I'm like, saving it for them. And I realized that I did that, so I went ahead and scheduled it February. So I'm trying to be like, more like, claiming my time, protecting my time, is where I'm starting, and we'll see where it takes me this year. Oh,

Leah Neaderthal 18:37

I love that. And just for everybody, what all is talking about the three types of profitability. Are financial profitability, obviously making money, professional profitability, doing the work you love, with clients you enjoy. And then emotional profitability, you know, are you having fun? Are you just time for the people and things that matter? And are you optimistic about the future? So oftentimes we really only think about the financial part, but at what cost right to either your time or the space you take up, or the work you're doing or the joy you find? Right? Absolutely,

Alli Myatt 19:10

yeah, it's so important. Because I realized last year too that I wasn't doing the work that I love the most. And I was like, why am I doing that? I work for myself, that's crazy. So it's just been a lot, like, this year has been really, it's been hard, but it's been really, I'm like, really hopeful about, which feels really weird, like, when you think about what's going on in on, you know, in the country right now, it's nice that the business feels like, like like, this little cocoon of possibility right now, that's how it feels, which is good to have, given that the external world feels chaotic and pisses me off daily.

Leah Neaderthal 19:53

You and me both, I know, well, that's, I mean, that's amazing that you've created this space. That feels like you can, can, I don't mean to put words in your mouth, but like you can direct how this goes. Right? I love that. That's amazing. What are the two or three of the biggest game changers that have sort of brought you to this point of either, like, being able to get clients, but also, I think some of these other things, like taking up your own space, that sort of thing. I mean, what? What are the biggest game changers that have helped you along the way?

Alli Myatt 20:30

Yeah, I love being in the academy. I'm so glad that, because I think we talked in January originally, and I was like, Oh, I don't have money for this, which was dumb, like, are you going to get money if you don't figure out how to make money? But I realized, like, it was actually right on time when we started, we started the week that my business partner got a new job. Like it was, like, it just kind of like, perfectly aligned. And so it's been really helpful for me to, like, learn that business development or sales, it's really a conversation. And the tools that I love the most are the ones that are about, like, keeping it conversational and keeping the conversation going. So when you reach out to somebody and you get time on their calendar, you don't end a call unless you have time again, like you just keep putting it on the calendar and you keep you keep them engaged. Like, I've learned, if I don't do that, then they it's harder to get them back. It's sort of

Leah Neaderthal 21:25

like it's impossible to get them back. It's impossible to get there exactly.

Alli Myatt 21:30

And people don't say no to that, like booking a call from a call, like, I think that's brilliant. The proposal and the email also brilliant, because it like, makes it feel less formal, so we're just having a conversation. So even when I do forget to book a call, when I send you the proposal in the email, you're more likely to want to chat about it. So like, that has been really helpful to like, think about it as this might take two years to like, keep moving the ball along. It might go away for a while, it might come back, but it's really just a conversation of, like, how I might be able to support people, and that's been really helpful, along with, like, some of the technical tools to just, like, understand who's in my network, who, who could I outreach to? How should I set up my CRM, which I'm now doing because I got rid of my old one. And you know, how do I leverage LinkedIn? All of those things have been really helpful. And like, I feel like I have the systems in place to have, like, these regular rituals and rhythms that support the business and meet.

Leah Neaderthal 22:36

Yeah, it's interesting. Well, I have so many, like, questions and thoughts. But I love how talking about rituals and rhythms, because rituals is not really a term you would expect to be in this space that's like, you know, driven and about money and whatnot. I mean, shine the light on how you think about rituals and rhythms.

Alli Myatt 23:03

Yeah. For people who like follows, Myers, Briggs, I am a strong P, which means I am horrible at, like, work planning. Like, if I work, I'm a planful P, they say, so I can produce a work plan, and then I never work on it again. A lot of times, my peers will think, like, What are you talking about? You're not a J. I'm like, I'm totally not a j. So I have to use rhythms and rituals to keep me on track. And so some of the think rituals that have been helpful. Like, daily I send out what's called a shoulder tap, which is just reaching out to people about something that I know they might be interested in. Like I had one of my former colleagues posted something that I was like, Oh, I'm thinking about this idea. I saw that you posted this, do you want to chat? And she immediately signed up for time to chat. And so, like those, those types of rhythms of like, doing that every day, posting regularly, like all of those things have made it feel because it I get why people don't focus on this. It feels like, well, I have to do all the client stuff. When am I going to have time for working on my business? But you have to work on your business if you want to have clients. And you know, eventually, like, eventually the like, there will become a time when you need to be able to attract things. And so it's important to have, if I don't have rhythms and rituals, it doesn't happen if I forget to do it right, like it's happening on Saturday and Sunday. So like, the rituals and rhythms protecting time to, like, do my marketing and things like that has been really helpful for me. That's

Leah Neaderthal 24:42

great. I think, you know, all your, yeah, no, I think that's, that's great because it's just integrating it into your life. You know, the same way that, like, making coffee is a ritual, or, you know, doing yoga is working out every day is a ritual, your bedtime ritual. But. Right? Because if, if it's something that you want to be a part of you, right, or part of your business, or what have you, it can't just be a when you get to it thing, right? Exactly, because you'll never get to it, especially if you don't want to do it, if you don't know, if you don't want to do it, you don't know how to do it, and it doesn't feel good, you'll never get to it, you know? Yeah, so, but I like also what you're talking about around things like the shoulder tap and using it again in service of it's just conversations. You know, to you make it sort of conversational. It's not like, let's do a big campaign on something. It's like, Hey, is do you want to talk about this?

Alli Myatt 25:37

Right? And sometimes it, you know, it doesn't turn into something right away, but I know that. I believe it will eventually. Could possibly, if I'm the right person, turn into something, you know, six months, 12 months, 18 months, 24 months down the line. That's how I'd like to think about it. Now,

Leah Neaderthal 26:00

it sounds like you really, you know, just relative to where you were before. It's like there's a lot more trust in the process, right? It's like, if you didn't know how to do something, you would probably feel a lot more frantic than you are sounding right now, right? But I, what I'm picking up for you is just like, a lot of like, calm and trust, not just in the process, but in yourself, is that something that's a part of this? I'm just, I'm curious.

Alli Myatt 26:24

Yeah, I think taking off January, I turned 50 on inauguration day, so which I didn't like? Who like? You know, no judgment for people's preferences. But that was not what I preferred. It was enough. No

Leah Neaderthal 26:42

judgment for people's preferences. Okay, let's just you know for everybody that that day did not go our way, right, and the day that was important also did not go our way. So I'm sorry that that was that happened to be a happy you know what was supposed to be a happy day for you, and like, a monumental day for you, it was maybe not that.

Alli Myatt 27:02

I mean, I left the country, so that helped. I'm not doing this with you, but I, like, spent the month really just reflecting on, you know, what I learned the year before and what I wanted to be true. I also did a drawing challenge. So I started drawing every day, and that has been incredibly grounded. So I've been on calls where people are talking about really stressful, traumatic things, and I'm just over there coloring away, and it just like calms my nervous system right on down. And so like having those types of things, and like being really intentional about my time and trying to take care of myself and center my emotional profitability, I think has been good. And I just have this sense of, even though the market is still, I mean, with all that's going on with the government, it's touching every sector, and, like, everyone's being affected. So it's like, you know, but I still, I just have this gut feeling that it's going to be okay. Maybe I'm, you know, in denial. I don't know, but, like, I just have this. I'm like, No, I'm going to do these, I'm going to do this every day. I'm going to keep at it and it'll be fine. Maybe I'm delusional, we'll find out. But I don't think well, and

Leah Neaderthal 28:16

I remember you said something in our listening session that happened right after the election, because I woke up after the election and I was like, Oh my God, I need to be with people like, I need to be with our with the academy, like, with our members and and so we hosted this session just to, like, share our thoughts and feelings. And it was really, really meaningful for me, and I think it was for, you know, a lot of the women and you shared a story about how I think maybe it was that morning, or recently you had remember the story about the butterflies. No, wait, it was the butterflies or the girls. Yes,

Alli Myatt 28:53

both. I went for a walk. I've been walked. I walked so much that week, like on election day, I think all I did was walk. I don't think I did any work, because walking is another thing that I do to help, you know, make me feel more present. And I remember walking that day, election day, and it was warm in Dallas that day. So I saw these butterflies. The monarch butterflies were like, flying. I was like, oh, you know, they're flying. And then I heard the children playing. So I'm really close to a school, a girls school, and they were outside playing. And you know, that's a light, full squeal that little kids have, which always just like that. And their laughter, it's just like pure joy. So I heard them, like, squealing and playing. And I was like, Yeah, we're still here. The butterflies are still here, the little girls are still playing. And you know, when I think about where we are now and like, why I do the work that I do, and why I think a lot of people do the work that they do, it's like, we have to remember little. Girls on that playground deserve a better world than what some people are trying to create for them. So it just keeps me grounded. It's like, you know,

Leah Neaderthal 30:09

well, and I've thought about that story a lot since then, you know, just like, yes, girls are still playing, butterflies are still flying, you know, like we let's just keep our feet on the ground and be here,

Alli Myatt 30:24

right? Yeah, one day at a time. Yeah. Was

Leah Neaderthal 30:28

there anything else that you feel like made a big difference for you, whether it was a mindset or a tool or some shifts that happened,

Alli Myatt 30:36

you know, when you're talking about, like the community gathering, it made me remember that when my business partner left, one thing that really hit me that first week that she left, and actually was, it was literally the week that she, I think we started the boot camp, and I was like, I wanted to, like, talk through, like, the the ideal Client with her. Like, just like, I'm a verbal processor, and there was nobody in Slack. I was just in Slack by myself. But

Leah Neaderthal 31:07

I have in your company slack by your in your company slack by yourself. There's,

Alli Myatt 31:11

yeah, there's nobody to, like, hop on a huddle with, right? Like, nobody's in there. And I'm used to, like, I need to talk through this, and we would just hop on a huddle. But they have the academy slack right with all these women sharing and getting feedback and all these things, and so it was sort of like, I think I would have been so much more lonely if I hadn't been part of the community. And that was actually really helpful, because you get such great feedback and you get so much encouragement. It's just, like, a great you like, attract really cool people. So it I'm not just, I mean, I guess I'm cool, but like, the people that are in your universe are just, like, really kind and smart and just generous with their feedback and willing to pour into each other and like, I think that was really helpful, of like, not only like the coaches giving me feedback, but also getting it from other people. And knowing I was building something with other people was really helpful as well.

Leah Neaderthal 32:14

That's really nice. Yeah, I can imagine looking into a staring into an empty slack and being like, where is everybody

Alli Myatt 32:20

I know I didn't like that?

Leah Neaderthal 32:26

Is there anything else that that you want to share that sort of helped you? Yeah, I

Alli Myatt 32:31

think like whenever, what's been helpful is, like, whenever I need a template. You like? Do you have a template? Tell me exactly what to say. You are so great. There's so many templates, so you don't have to, like, recreate the wheel. I think that was what was really helpful. Of like, having this community where it didn't have to, like, figure it out on my own, um, was helpful. And I think, yeah, for me, when I started, it was very it was still scary. I didn't know if it was going to work, but, like, the mindset that I had was like, I'm gonna try it, I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna follow the directions and see what comes from it. And I think that's like, whenever you're learning anything like music, when you're learning music, you're like, you learn your scales, and you learn how to put your fingers on the piano and all the things, and then you learn how to play music, and then eventually you learn how to improvise, right? If you keep practicing. And so I sort of see it like this. It's a practice of, you know, I learned so much from just trying things and realizing, like, some of my shoulder early shoulder tops. I'm like, Oh, I see why people didn't respond to that. And now I like, feel like I have, yeah, it's like, if you can treat it like an experiment, like, and not be so, like, one thing that you say is, like, make it so, like, ship it, don't, like, overthink it, you can always fix it later. And it's like, if you treat everything like, Oh, I'm learning from this, and I'm going to continue to iterate, then it stops you from, like, getting stuck, I think

Leah Neaderthal 34:02

totally. I mean, I know how true that is, because I literally had to learn that, like career perfectionists over here, you know, recovering perfectionists, and it's a big mindset shift. And even it can be a mindset shift even before a behavior shift, because, you know, but those two things go hand in hand, but I did. I think it is sort of freeing when you're like, just try it, make it so, I know,

Alli Myatt 34:25

right? And if you find a mistake, you can fix it. That's fine. You're not gonna like, perfectionism is impossible, like it just isn't. And when you think about nature, like flowers aren't perfect, like they have little imperfections, or like, trees have little, like, leaves have like, different, they show up differently, and it's still beautiful. So it's like, why are we trying to be this, like, symmetrical thing? Like, where did we learn that? Because that's not what nature looks like. So, yeah,

Leah Neaderthal 34:53

yeah, oh, that's, that's beautiful. Um, Allie, so fill in the blank for me. Um. And I almost didn't work with you, because

Alli Myatt 35:05

I thought I didn't have money. Couldn't make it work. Yeah, that was the big that was the one thing. I was like, Oh, I don't know if I should spend money on myself, but given that, like, because, like I said, we have 45 days. So I was like, but I'm it was the right thing, and I had enough. That's the funny thing about scarcity, is it tells you it's almost like energy, right? Like, if you're like, oh, I don't have this thing, then you won't. But if you're like, you know, I'm going to lean into this, then sometimes resources flow in, and that's been my experience so far. So

Leah Neaderthal 35:49

totally. I heard something earlier this week that was like, you know, I was sort of listening in on somebody else's pitch for, like, their program or whatever, and they said something that was that really sort of struck me, because it's so true. It's like, if you think, if you, if you think you can, can do it or pay for it, or whatever you you will, if you think you can't, you won't, but the truth is, you'll pay either way,

Alli Myatt 36:15

exactly, exactly. I mean, I can't even imagine what would have happened if I hadn't joined like, I wouldn't know what I was doing. Probably the business would be done, I'm guessing. But yeah, it's Yeah. Gotta keep moving

Leah Neaderthal 36:36

forward. Yeah. So Allie, what would you say to somebody who's in the position that you were back then, maybe in a partnership, a business partnership, where somebody else did all the client development and all the business development, and then suddenly it's in their lap, and

Alli Myatt 36:53

they didn't expect that, yeah, especially if they go through some sort of business breakup, I would say, I'm sorry, And I hope that they give themselves space to, like, deal with all the emotional Fallout, because it really is kind of like a business divorce, like, you have to, like, disentangle all the financial stuff. Like, it's just a lot. And so I hope that they give themselves space to feel that. But I think you can do this. It's just about like, it's like when you eat an elephant, like, how do you eat an elephant one spoonful of a time? I'm a Texan, so we say these horrible analogies about harming animals, but you eat it once, one spoonful. You do it like, one step at a time. And so, like, I think if you can not try and do everything at once and just sort of like step through. I think you can learn it, especially if you join something like the academy, because it's like a roadmap, then you don't have to, like, do it yourself.

Leah Neaderthal 37:52

You guys should know that. I literally told Allie at the beginning of this, you don't have to talk. You don't,

Alli Myatt 37:55

I know. I talk about the account, I know, but I tell people all the time, well, thank you. Yeah, it's been really helpful. I don't I couldn't have figured this out. I had no clue. I mean, I've been a recruiter before, but I've never done any, like, fundraising or anything like this, like, I just some of the things I just wouldn't have come up with. It's just not how my brain works. So,

Leah Neaderthal 38:17

yeah, well, that's why you plugged in. Yeah, I'm glad. Um, Allie, where can people find you

Alli Myatt 38:25

in Dallas? No

Leah Neaderthal 38:28

walking somewhere around Dallas, walking,

Alli Myatt 38:30

coloring. Um, so they can find me at my website, which is www the equity practice.com, I'm also on sub stack and blue sky if you're a social media person and on LinkedIn. So would love to connect with people. There we go. Awesome. I will say, like, when I, when I listen to the podcast a lot, a lot, especially if I'm driving, and I'm always like, oh, I want to be on it. So I'm super like, when you asked, I was like, Oh my God. Like, I just never, yeah, this is like, check,

Leah Neaderthal 39:04

life goals, life goals, business goals, awesome. Well, you deserve it. You've put in so much work, and you have really pushed through and figured out some things. And it's just, I feel so lucky to have, you know, had a front row seat. So, yeah, no, you should. I hope you are very, very proud of yourself.

Alli Myatt 39:26

I am, I am like, I did it, I did it, I didn't give up. So, yeah, thank you so much for all your support. I appreciate it, of course,

Leah Neaderthal 39:37

of course. All right, Ali, thank you so much for being here. Yeah,

Alli Myatt 39:40

thanks for having me.

Leah Neaderthal 39:45

All right, I loved that conversation with ally. And if anything Allie said resonated with you, I hope you'll reach out to her and thank her and let her know. So I want to pull out a lesson that you can apply to your business, and there's just so much you can take from what Allie shared, what. Whether it's thinking of business development, not just as a habit or as a consistency thing, but as a ritual, which I think is just such a beautiful reframe, or whether it's about staying grounded and holding on to the mindset, then things are going to be okay, or even her point about surrounding yourself with community and how important that is. There are so many things, but I wanted to offer a thought about Ali's story that might help you, too, and that is because I hear this all the time. So many women tell me I'm just not a salesperson. And as you heard, you know this doesn't come naturally to me, either. And then there's this worry that I hear that if they learn how to get clients, they'll be forced to be salesy or act like a salesperson, which they're gonna hate naturally, because everybody hates that. But here's the thing, you don't have to be like that. I mean, that's not our vibe, that's not our approach. But even beyond that, I want you to know that you actually don't have to love selling. You don't even have to like selling, but you don't have to like it to be good at it. I mean, I'm gonna be honest. I'm a sales coach, and selling isn't even my favorite part of running a business. But, you know, like my clients, I learned how to do it and I got good at it. And even more importantly, you can be really successful at it without being a natural, without loving it, and even without liking it. I mean, I've had clients who didn't like selling, and I'm talking about who really resisted it, end up making $100,000 more in a year than they did in the previous year. I've seen clients go from getting paid $40,000 for a project to getting paid $75,000 for the exact same work. I've had clients go from doing a lot of tactical work to selling in strategic work, where they get paid for their brain, and go from doing a lot of small projects to working with fewer clients and getting paid more so they didn't have to take on as much and had more time for themselves. And I've seen women finally start charging and getting paid 10s of 1000s of dollars for work they had been doing for free because they knew how to sell. They knew how to get clients. Because really, I mean, at the end of the day, you're always going to gravitate towards the parts of your business that you love. That's just human nature. But getting clients is really what fuels the business. I mean, it's what keeps the doors open and keeps the lights on and keeps you with work to do. So if you're sitting there thinking, I just don't love this, you know I'll never be good at this, I want you to know that's not true. You don't have to love it. You just have to do it, and when you do, you might just surprise yourself. Thank You!

Transcribed by https://otter.ai