Emily Hawkins -Scheduled episode - email schedule - DE

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Are you fed up with the corporate bullshit holding you back? Welcome to Invest in Yourself, the digital Entrepreneur Podcast. The ultimate launchpad for entrepreneurs ready to seize control and unleash their creative genius. Hosted by Phil Better, the podcast mogul, each week he's breaking the chains of conventional work with bold strategies, raw insights, and inspiring success stories from the entrepreneurs who took the risk and invested in themselves. This is your call to arms. Invest in yourself. Break free from someone else's rules and build the empire you deserve. Now, let's dive headfirst into today's explosive episode.

Thank you for listening, and welcome back to another exciting, electrifying episode of Invest in Yourself, the Digital Entrepreneur Podcast. I am, of course, Phil Better, the podcast mogul. And today we're about to explore the secrets of unlocking growth, profitability, sustainable success with a trailblazer who has made it her mission to transform small businesses. Our guest is the mastermind behind Leadership Leader Leadership, an innovative program that empowers small business owners to implement strategies that not only save money, but set the stage for lasting growth and prosperity, which we all want. With over a decade and a half of corporate experience, leading teams, redefining operations, and saving organizations millions, she's boldly stepped away from her corporate world in 2017 to pursue her passion for helping others. Thrived. Armed with a supply chain degree from the University of Tennessee, an MBA in global businesses from Georgia Tech, and a Robins Madison life coaching certificate, she has guided over 2500 individuals and businesses to unlock their true potential. Her groundbreaking work even earned her a feature in Forbes in 2020, a testament to her incredible impact.

She believes that true business transformation doesn't require fancy degrees or specialized know how, just curiosity and the courage to evolve. Get ready to be inspired, motivated, and equipped to take your business to the next level as we bring in the extraordinary Emily Hawkins. Emily, thank you so much for being here.

Oh, my gosh. That was like, the best introduction ever. I was either about to talk or be like the head of a wrestling match. Either way, I'm so in for it. I did your brother, so it's possible, Like, I have skills there as well.

I'll call the wwe. I have, you know, Triple H on speed. I'll let them know that we got someone for the next diva search, but we're going to focus more less on your wrestling career. We're going to focus on your entrepreneurial career for now, even though you have a budding wrestling career in the ground. But, Emily, thank you so much for being here. I'm going to start with, the first question that I always ask. What made you throw off the shackles of a decade and a half of corporate life to jump into the wild world of entrepreneurship?

I love that you call it the shackles. I think I like to call it the golden handcuffs. Because I think we're all lured. I say we, anyone who has been in the corporate world, we're lured in by safety, security, steady paycheck, amazing bonuses if you get the opportunity, great benefits. All of these really have the ability to turn into golden handcuffs. It's really hard to leave that stability. But I had an amazing opportunity to do so. And it was on the heels of a layoff.

I was not laid off. Actually, half of the company that I was a part of was laid off. So I worked for a tech organization, loved it. It was a startup. And I took My department from one, I was a department of one, up to 25 people in three countries. And we were doing this amazing. And I have a background in supply chain. I was in the supply chain side, but the tech side, we were doing a lot of switching.

And so half of that piece of the business left. And I knew about it because I was part of upper management. And so they were telling us, you know, hey, the layoffs are coming, they're going to be a Thursday, Friday event. And I was so naive. I was like, well, nobody on my team was affected, so like, I don't really care. That sounds horrible. But I didn't. I was like, well, you know, my team is sort of insulated and it's not really a big deal.

Well, what happened actually did affect me greatly. How we sat in this building because we were a small startup was people were intermingled. You know, it wasn't necessarily like your department's one place and another department somewhere else. We were all kind of co mingled together and I had an office with glass windows and I. The guy that sat in the cube right outside from me was tapped on the shoulder at 8am Thursday morning, taken downstairs and never came back. And the rest of the day I stared at that empty cube and all I could think about was, where did that guy go? I knew he had recently been divorced and so did he have family? Did he have friends? Just all these feelings went through my mind about, you know, when we let people go. It's really easy to look at from the bottom line, but it's. That's a heart count, you know, I could not sit there for another day.

So I ended up taking Friday off and I went home on Thursday. Night drank, I think two bottles of wine. I'm sober now, but at the time was helpful. I thought it would be. I woke up the next day feeling worse.

Yeah, wine does that. Wine does that.

Right, right. And I went into my backyard and just started crying and was just like, this is not it. This is not the thing that I'm supposed to be doing. Because I just felt. It felt so yuck. It felt so like we're using people. And by the way, I was working for a cell phone insurance company, so we were not clothing children in Uganda. We were not curing cancer.

I wasn't using my skills for the good, you know, the greater good. I was making rich people richer. And so at that moment, that's when I decided I have to do something outside of this safety net that felt like, you know, working in the corporate world. So about. About a week later, I ended up talking to my husband and I said, I have a plan. And he just said, oh, God.

Sounds like most husbands when their wife says, I have an idea. But you came with a plan. So it was a little less stressful. Because if I have an idea, that's like, oh, God, I have so much to do. But you came with a plan.

So, yeah, he knows me. And my plan is never like, you know, this.

Oh, so it was an idea.

It was an idea one, phase two, you know, but my plan was so loose. It was, I. We have two children, and I want to be able to get them off the school bus. Because that was the other thing that was missing in my corporate life. They, my children were quickly becoming pictures in a frame. I was standing up supply chains all over the world, and that was already sort of in the back of my mind. And then watching this organization that I was standing at, these supply chains for, really not valuing people, it was like, I just can't be a part of this anymore. And so I said to my husband, I said, wouldn't it be great? Our oldest at that point was in pre K, so she was about to be in kindergarten riding the school bus and doing all these things.

Wouldn't it be great if I worked from home and I could get our kids off the school bus and I wouldn't miss time, I wouldn't travel, you know, all of these things. And he's like, I said, I need 18 months. Give me 18 months. And my daughter was at the age where this was possible. And he said, oh, I know you. I'll give you 12. And I was like, what? And this was to match my corporate income. Because what I felt like I had to do was match my corporate income.

What I would say to anyone that is staying because they're worried about that. I would not let that be the thing that keeps you where you are. Because guess what happened in those 12 months. I didn't match my income. But what did happen was I landed a bonus. We had a great bonus at work. It came six months earlier than we were planning as a company. I mean, Stars completely aligned.

And when they announced that we were getting our bonuses early, I texted my husband, and he's like, the minute that money hits your bank account, you're out. And I was like, love it. I'm in. And I can tell you, we cut back on everything. Like, we. We didn't have Netflix. We didn't do anything fancy. We bought bargain basement groceries so that I could make that specific bonus last us a year.

Because I said, if I can give myself a year, then I can do this. Hilariously enough, my business took off 11 months, 29 days and 15 minutes later coming down to the Wire. But it was such. I'm so glad I did it. I had no idea what I was doing. And I want anyone and everyone that's listening to this to know. None of us do. Not a single person on earth knows.

I. When I was a child, I thought that adults actually knew things, right? And now that I'm an adult, I'm like, we know nothing. We're just winging it, right? But actually, as an entrepreneur, I've gotten so much more comfortable with that. And I love it. I love the possibility of it. Because. Because as a. As a business owner, no one says to me, we've always done it that way, because guess what? I changed that up last week, and we're doing it different, and we're going to change it tomorrow, and we're going to do all these other things.

And I actually help businesses streamline their processes and their people. And so when they come at me with that, I'm like, oh, so that means we're going to kill that. We're going to get rid of it, and we're going to start with something fresh, and we're going to make more money. We're going to find money in your business. And so that is how I left. That was what unshackled me, was really being shaken that nothing is forever and that there is no safety net but yourself. And I love that now. I.

I bet on me every day of the week.

Love it. I love it. And I like how you were like, oh, it's not going to affect me. And then all of a sudden you see this gentleman in front of you get, get the tap. Which no one wants to have the tap happen to them. Especially in the corporate world when you hear layoffs are coming, you get the tap. And then it really, it shook you to the core. I love that how it shook you to the core.

Someone who was like, oh, I'm fine, we're insulated, we're good, we don't have to worry. And then just a simple tap, tap, and you were thrown for a loop. I love that your husband was very supportive, probably even challenging you to get it done in a year. He's like, oh yeah, you can probably do it in 18, but I, I bet you can do it in 12. And that just forced you to go even harder with, with you going down to the minute, like the mere minute of the 12 months, which I love. When did the, Was there any moment that self doubt came into you? Because obviously as entrepreneurs we, you, you mentioned it before. We don't know what we don't know. It's harder than we expect because we think we can do it.

But were there moments of self doubt or was there a moment of self doubt where it was like, I, I may have made a mistake?

Yes. And it was day one. And I will, I will tell you what it was. I was getting my office set up because apparently I needed an office. This makes me laugh now. But anyway, I realized that I needed a printer. Again, looking back, I have no idea why I needed this printer, but at the time is very important. And in that moment I was like, oh my God, I am tech support.

I have to install this. Like, I have worked for companies where you just call someone and they like install all the things, right? And I was like, oh my God. So I was like, you know what though? I've got this. So I was doubting myself for two seconds. Went down to Office Depot or something that's near my house. I was so proud of this damn printer. Like, I'm buying it with my business bank account. Like, and I don't remember, they were like, do you want a warranty on it? I remember getting a warranty because I thought that's what businesses did.

Like, I don't know, it was so hilarious. I took a picture of myself and posted it on social media that I had installed this printer. That's how proud of it I was. But, um, hilarious. Yeah. And anyway, that was just day one of doubt, right? But what I realized in that moment, in literally Putting that printer together and posting it online, everything is figureoutable. You know, if I can put a printer together, which I feel like, you know, if you remember the movie Office Space, they, like, take one out and, like, beat the printer. If you could put a printer together, then you could solve world hunger if you've given enough.

So I just felt this huge, like, empowerment. And I'm so glad that that happened day one, because that's what's helped me tackle all of this. My father was asking me the other day, he's like, gosh, you're so successful. Like, was your. Was this your mba? And I was like, no, this was just being scared and saying, well, I don't have the funds to hire somebody, so I better just go figure it out. Let me watch some YouTube videos. Let me ask some people some questions. And I know this podcast in general is about investing.

Investing in the right mentors, investing in the right rooms to be a part of. And that support that you end up coming along with you having a team of people now is absolutely extraordinary. But day one, there was none of that. It was really just, I made a dollar. How am I going to reinvest this into the business? How am I going to keep this alive long enough to actually make money for my family? And that kind of thing that. That year gave me that opportunity, which was great. And I do want to preface it with I was selling the wrong thing for, like, forever. And that's why it took me so long.

It's actually hindsight being 20 20, it wasn't that I was selling the wrong thing. It's that I was selling the right thing to the wrong people. And so it took me about seven years, by the way, to get that full circle moment. Because what I did was I thought these people that I was selling the thing to were the right people. They weren't, but I was running out of money. And desperation can do two things to you. Desperation can make you crazy and doing dumb things, or it can make you super scrappy and resourceful. And that is what it did for me.

All these people were coming and saying, like, I really need help getting out of my job into another corporate job. And I was like, I can help you with that. I hired people all over the world. And so I for. I went dark for 30 days. I filmed a course, put a course together, and I started selling that because that's what people wanted. So the thing that I do now, nobody wanted because I was selling it to the wrong people. So I created what the audience needed.

And what was so great about that is it gave me the bandwidth to actually go out and pursue this, what I'm doing now. So do not be scared or ashamed of coming up with something to make money that is not exactly what you want to be doing. Because it kept the dream alive and it kept me free from the corporate world. So. And it got me featured in Forbes. So let's not be upset about that.

Yeah. Something you may not love got you into Forbes. That's huge. No one's gonna, no one should complain about that. If someone complains about, oh, I wasn't doing the right thing, got me into Forbes, like, oh my God, like, please, you're lucky you got into Forbes, a huge magazine. Big, big names are in there already with, with doing things wrong, quote, unquote wrong. Because it wasn't wrong. It, it taught you wrong for like seven years.

Going after the wrong people. When did you realize? Not when did you realize? How did you figure out who were the right people that were meant to be working with you?

So that feature in Forbes opened doors for me. And one of the doors was a mastermind that I was a part of. And the mastermind was all six and seven figure business owners. And I've had huge imposter syndrome. Walking into this room, being selected out of thousands of people to be in the room. It just felt, um, it was a group of about 20, 20 entrepreneurs and there were like thousands that had applied to be a part of it. So huge imposter syndrome in that moment. Right.

And what I found though, in sitting in that room was what I am fabulous at, which is operations, streamlining processes and people. Everyone in this room was really struggling with that. They were all salesmen, they were marketing people. They were amazing at selling and marketing their products. And they weren't as sure of the piece, the other piece, the back end. And so what I did, it's just who I am. If you get to know me, I'm going to help you. I'm going to ask questions and I'm going to get in there.

So there were a couple guys in there that they were telling me about operations, people on their team. And I was like, I just, can I get on the phone with them and I can probably like solve some of this. And one of the guys at one of the events, because there were three live events, came to me and he was like, I don't know what you said to my head of operations, but she's on fire and she's so productive. And so the. Another guy in the group, I did something similar. And at one of the events, they pulled me aside and they were like, why are you not selling this? And I was like, this what? Like this what? And they were like, your operations, this is your genius. And it's a premium service. It's not a commodity.

It's something that every business needs. And I was like, for real? Because I tried selling that back, you know, like all these years ago, and nobody wanted it. And they said because you weren't selling it to business owners, you were selling it to employees. Well, no kidding. That's when the lights went on. And in that room, they said, tomorrow, we want you to stand up in front of the group and pitch to the group. What you do. Watch hands go up.

And I was like, can we do that? Is that something we do here? Like, I felt so disingenuous. I was like, ooh. They were like, we got you. Do it well, we will tee you up, we will ask you questions to force you to do it. And so by the end of me standing up there for about 20 minutes, three hands went up and I was the fractional COO for three different businesses in a matter of 20 minutes. And I just. My mind was blown. And ever since then, what was really fascinating was I've worked with so many other businesses, a lot of brick and mortar, a lot of blue collar businesses, and I just thought this is where the magic happens.

This is really where the fun is, where people that are craftsmen, you know, they're really great at what they do, should have the luxury and ability to continue to love and do their craft. And that only happens if they have an operations sidekick that says, yeah, you go do that and let me buffer all this noise and make sure that what you're doing, that your customers love you, that you're keeping more money, and that your team loves you, and they're excited to be here. And it's just awesome. I just love what I do.

I love that it's. It's great when you hear someone loves what they do when they're able to help other people. With you being pretty much the. The dam of operations for most of these business owners. Holding back the craziness, what are some of the tools that you suggest business owners implement to help them with that operational aspect of their business?

Oh, my goodness. What a great question. And the reason this is a great question is because I think that this is like, that opinions. You know, everyone is like, has.

Everyone has an opinion. And just like, everybody has a yes, yes, yes.

You know where I'm going with this. It's the same, right. What I would say. And I'm gonna just shock you with my answer. Whoever's listening to this, whatever tools you have are the right ones. What? Yes, whatever you have is the right one. When I come into businesses, I joke that they are Dorothy and I just say, look down, look, you're wearing the shoes. You can do whatever you want.

Oh my God. You have the right tools. You chose those tools and they are probably exactly what your business needs. You're probably just underutilizing them. So you're not aware that maybe some of your systems do some of the same things and that it's really cool that if you were a 10 million doll business that you would need the souped up version. You need the basic right now. So take it all the way down and really use the basics, a hundred percent of the basics of what you have. And then when you start to feel it like busting, that's when you upgrade to the next level, but not before.

Because we don't need all the bells and whistles like we think we do. Shiny bobble syndrome is real for entrepreneurs. And one of the first organizations that I worked with had $30,000 of unused systems. Yep, exactly. So that's typically what I find is that a lot of businesses have, they have a task shrapnel and system shrapnel too many. And they're trying to do all these things because somebody said this was like the thing they needed and it probably isn't. There's a good chance right now that you have a one stop shop system that does one thing really well and other things kind of well. And I would rather you double down on that because it will save you money.

So decide what the thing is that you needed to have done well. Choose that platform and then use everything on it to the nth degree. You will save so much money. You will find all these hidden gems inside of that tool, whatever it is, because they all have them and do not buy another system. Don't do it.

Don't do it. I love that it's, it goes against the kind of the grain, but I think it's, it's very important that you have to understand the tools that you have, use them to their full capacity until they're ready to break, and then you get to the next level instead of trying to buy, buy brand new and make it work for your business and get all the bells and whistles which you don't use. But I'm surprised $30,000.

Oh, my gosh. And you know what I really like about working with a lot of the blue collar businesses that I do? They don't do that. They're like, what's the bare minimum? I want to buy the absolute bare minimum.

And I'm like, can I get it for free? Is it possible to get it for free? Yeah, because usually a one person shop and they're like, I need to make sure I get the most money to my. My family. So, yeah, the free, freebie, freemiums are the best for those. When did you decide to work with the blue collar or focus on blue collared individuals instead of just looking at those corporate white collar people?

That is so funny. I would love to say that I had some like, immaculate business plan and, you know, in year three, I was planning on doing this. No, no, no. They started coming to me and I was like, how interesting. I remember the first one that came to me was a garage that, you know, they, they fixed cars. And they said, I know that you work with online businesses, but I really think what you're doing could help us. And I was like, well, okay, let's have a conversation. So we started talking and I.

My mind was just blown. I was like, well, of course. What was I thinking? This works for everyone. It most definitely works for a garage. I've actually helped two different mechanic shops. Now a floor and tile company, an H vac company, because guess what? It's all people. It's all systems, it's all service, and why not? And so one, you know, I started working with one, and then it was like a moth to a flame. Like they just came.

And then a lot of what I've done to this point is referral, which is so wonderful. One business who works with me and then they start bragging about me to somebody else who then hires me and brags about me, and they hire me. And I'm like, this is so fun. And so it's really fun. My favorite story was a gentleman that came to my front door selling roofs and, you know, do you need your roof redone? I was supposed to be on a call at the point that this was happening. But I honor businesses. I honor people selling. I think that is such a hard job that I stood there and I was like, be kind to this person.

I don't know how often they sell. You know, just be nice. So I said, you know, not to sound 1950s housewife, but I don't make roofing decisions in my house. I make a lot of decisions. Roofing is not one of them. And he was like, oh yeah, you're taking care of the children. Then I got mad. I have children, I do take care of them.

But I was like, actually I run a business from like right there. My office is right in the front of the house. And he said, oh, what do you do? And I said well I help businesses streamline their people, their processes and, and I, you know, make over their operations. And he said, can I tell you a secret? And I was like, okay, this just got weird. Um, sure. Why not?

Very worried about what secret's coming, right?

Exactly. And he said, I'm the owner and I need your help. And I was like this is amazing. One of the most amazing partnerships I've had. Absolutely phenomenal. And again, you can't plan that like there's no CRM. There was no target marketing. I was joking with him the other day because we were working on his customer journey and I said sometimes you have to think about it non linearly because a lot of things happen.

We want them to happen step one, step two, step three. But life usually is very non linear. So that's honestly how most of my business has come to me is some like strange coincidence like that. One of my favorite stories is when I, I meditate and I was asking for a sign in my meditation, I was like, give me a sign that I'm in the right direction. Literally within about an hour of that, I get a call booked on me by a company. Never heard of this company. They found me on the interwebs and I get on the phone with them, you know, on a zoom call. They're a sign company.

Oh my God. No no no no no no, don't. We're stopping this. This is no assign company a sign company.

And ended up working with them for the longest time. Absolutely phenomenal. They actually do all my swag for me. It's fabulous. They're amazing people. So I just find it funny how we can have these best laid plans and then the universe is like haha. Hold my beer.

Universe is very a fan of the hold my beer saying. As I've come to learn over the last 600 interviews I've done, it really likes to just pop in and say yeah, no, that's not how it's going to work. With that saying, I want to know, what do you do to invest in yourself to become a better version of yourself? Either a better leader, a better salesperson, or just a better human. What do you do to invest in yourself?

So there are several different things. One is spending time in silence. That is incredibly important to me. To spend at least 15 to 20 minutes a day in silence, not looking at anything, not doing anything. I could be meditating, but again, it's just being. I think as business owners, we feel like we've constantly got to be going. But if you're going so fast, it reminds me of being like on a speed train. If you looked out a window of a speed train, you see nothing.

You see, like, colors sort of like mashed together. But if the train stops, what do you see? You see trees, you see birds, you see leaves. You see all these beautiful things. So sitting in silence and just taking a breath to me is hugely important and a huge investment in my creativity, in my life. I also make sure to work out at least 45 minutes a day. That's super important. Six days a week. And then investing in trainings, books.

I'm in a lean book club. Yes, that is an actual thing. Lean management book club. So I'm chronically investing in learning from others that have done either what I've done or just similarly always investing in marketing programs, sales programs. I try at this point in my. My life to only invest in one thing a year. A larger investment, I should say. At the beginning, I was trying to learn all the things, so I was definitely investing more.

But now I really want to focus my attention on one skill that I'm trying to hone and craft. And so I'll invest one thing a year in whatever that that skill is. But that's really, really important to me.

I like that. I like that. Sharpening the knife 100%. Sharpening the knife with one aspect, making sure that it's nice and sharp until the next year. We are coming near the end of the episode, which I hate because I'm having such a great time learning from you, Emily. So I'm going to hit you with two questions. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Oh, wow. I see myself doing what I'm doing now, but doing it bigger because there is a. In the U.S. 75% of small businesses fail within the first 12 years. And I want to change that. I want it to be that 75% of businesses succeed past year 1512-15. I want to be an active contributor in that movement because I feel like small businesses are the backbone of our communities. And if we can keep more small businesses open, think about the jobs that we can create, the lives that we can create for those families, the families that those, you know, businesses support.

I just feel like that is the answer to so many things that are broken, especially in the U.S. and so that's what I want to be a part of. And I know in 10 years I'm going to make a real good dent in that. I just know it.

I one of the things I say nearly every episode is that entrepreneurs and small business owners are the backbone of the economy because they, they make the jobs, they reinvest in businesses because they're going to smaller businesses and working with smaller businesses. They may not be able to compete on price with the mega corporations but you know you're getting, you're not buying someone else a new yacht, you're putting a kid through school with this coming to the end. I have your 10 year old self, Emily. She's a pleasure to have beside me. She's very smiley but I would love to know what is a piece of advice you would love to be able to hand back to that 10 year old self.

It is okay to not like school. It is okay. You have not found the thing that lights you up yet. And when you do it's going to be like a dog with a bone and you're going to be so excited and you're never going to let go. You're going to make the world better. And what you need is not inside a book. Play the game. Get the check boxes as I call them so that no one can ever doubt you.

But just know that they mean nothing.

I love that. That's some great advice for both young and old. Emily, I'm going to jump off stage here. I want you to let my audience know where they can find you, where they can work with you if they're looking for a leader shift in their life and want to get help from the Emily. So the floor is yours.

Well, thank you. You can find me at Emily Hawkins the number 4, the letter u.com so emilyhawkins4u.com if you are interested in working with me, if you go to that website and you scroll down because I love to have a one stop shop. I like you to be able to find anything and everything you need in one place. You can find a treasure trove of free content from me, a few assessments that you can take about your specific leadership style, what area of your business you should focus on right now that could potentially be saving you millions of dollars. And then of course if you just want to talk with me directly, I give you that opportunity as well. So that is where you can find me on any platform. You can, you can actually do Emily Hawkins, the number 4 the letter U.

And you will also find I love it. Emily, I want to thank you so much for being here. It was a pleasure chatting with you. I thoroughly enjoyed our time and I'm looking forward to having you back on to see where you are in the in the coming years.

Thank you so much, Phil. This has been so incredibly fun and you're great to interview, so thank you.

It was my pleasure. To my audience, make sure you check down the show notes down below because that's where you're going to be able to connect with Emily. Go to her website, check out all her social media just down below in the show notes or of course going Emily Hawkins for you and you'll be able to find her online. I want to thank you very much for listening, Emily. Thank you again for being here and as always, my audience. Remember to Invest in Yourself.

Thanks for joining us on Invest in Yourself, the digital entrepreneur podcast. The podcast mogul reminds you that your journey to freedom and success starts with one powerful move investing in yourself. If today's episode sparked your fire, hit that follow button on Spotify and drop us a comment. Share your wins, your challenges and what drives you you to break free from the corporate grind. Remember, you're your best investment. Always invest in yourself because your potential is limitless. Until next time, keep hustling and take control of your destiny.