Michelle Ricketts 3 Keys to Going from a Hobby to a Business | DFS 295

Welcome to destined for success. I'm your

host Jennifer Takagi and today is one of my favorite days. It's

Potter Palooza Day where I get to meet amazing people and

interview them and bring their stories of success to you. My

guest now is Michelle Ricketts. She is a business consultant. 35

years of corporate experience, and now she is helping

entrepreneurs and business owners alike create the life of

their dreams. Michelle, welcome to the show.

Thank you, Jennifer. I'm so thrilled to be

here with you on pod Palooza Day.

I know it's so exciting. I have to do everyone.

So tell us a little bit about you and how you became so

passionate about what's going on in your world?

Absolutely. Well I did is that you said I

started in corporate I was in three major industry. So I

started in media, then transportation and logistics and

financial services on the credit card side of things. And then I

also had an event business that I didn't event series for

entrepreneurs because I wasn't event coordinator at the time as

a hobby. And that series really showed me I know crazy, right?

There's a reason I never did it is a reason I never did it full

time, it's too much work. I appreciate all the event

coordinators out there. But it really showed me that

entrepreneurs had gaps between some of the things that I

learned in corporate and the the even knowing that they had

access to some of this information. So that's really

what drove me to want to do something with entrepreneurs. So

after being restructured in my career, for the third time, I

decided that none of that I want to move into being an

entrepreneur myself. And so that really is the thing that

spearheaded me and has really enabled me to start to work with

entrepreneurs and I'm loving it.

That's so fun. I was in the federal government.

And they came in one day and said you have a choice, she can

retire, relocate. And I was like, I'm too young to retire.

But I'll take the packaging go. And that's

exactly excellent. I know when

somebody's gonna pay you to do something else. I always say to

people, yes, let them

Malaka CPA, who is also a financial planner, and

I was like, hey, this just came up and he goes, every client

who's ever come to me who said they worked for the federal

government or any corporation and they had any type of

retirement. I said go like if they will let you you need to go

just do anything else, because you like done your time. So now

now that I left, and now that I'm starting my entrepreneurial

journey, what do I need to know that? Like, would have been nice

to have known back then?

Absolutely. Well, there's some real key

things. And when I'm working with business owners, that one

of the things that I focus on is their foundational piece. So

it's that that incubator piece of being able to set up their

systems and their processes, so that they have something that

they can then delegate to others. So they are not doing

everything in their business. We hear about working on your

business versus working in your business, yes, you want to work

on it. So being able to focus on their business, one of the key

things I look at is being able to schedule, I was amazed,

Jennifer, I'm sure you use the calendar, right, and you are in

the government and different parts of life. But entrepreneurs

don't tend to do that. And they're scheduling and they've

got it to do list and they've got the personal thing. And it's

getting all of those together. My brother calls me the queen of

calendar. And it really is about being able to focus on I say, my

calendar is my life. I don't have to think about I don't keep

it up here. I look at it, what do I need to do I look at it the

night before I see how I have to set up my day, where do I have

to be? What do I have to wear, etc. So being able to integrate

your personal calendar, your to do list your tasks, all of those

things into one place, and hopefully electronically, and

not on paper because electronic is much easier. But even if it's

on paper, you still want it in one place. Right? Jennifer? Can

you relate?

I can and I was looking at my calendar. I think

Monday today's Wednesday, I was looking at Monday and I thought

there there's an overlap that is never gonna work. And I'm

getting your I have my knee replaced. I really hate to have

to do that. But that's better than what I've been living with.

And somebody scheduled a podcast interview. And I don't know that

it's gonna be dead in time for me to get to my pre op

appointment. So I had to break down and just do a reschedule

and then send an email and say, hey, if what I rescheduled it to

you doesn't work, but I have a gap in my calendar. And what's

happening is I put something on my personal calendar, and it's

not allowing any time before or after. So like everything lined

up beautifully. If I got to the doctor on time, if I got out on

time we're going to do all the things but guess

what? Life happens.

Does it totally does. So yeah, that's something

I put a little star there. I still need to figure that out,

like, what do I do and Patti? So that's great. And I'm gonna say

I'm, I'm kind of a just do it, girl. And so I literally decided

that I was going to start this business. But I was going to

take a month off. And I did take a month off. And the very first

day of the month of the following month, my phone rang

and this woman said, Hey, Jennifer, I'm in Oklahoma City.

We're in Fort Worth, and we're going to do a conference in a

couple months. Can you come do all day training? Yes, I can.

Okay, I thought that was the rest of my life like I would

just keep bringing. It didn't know.

Unfortunately, it doesn't. Yeah, it doesn't,

then it's a matter of planning that. And that's I mean, you

bring up a great point, planning, putting things in your

calendar. So it's not just about your meetings and tasks. It's

about the things you've got to do in your business looking at

how am I generating leads? Am I networking? How am I getting

myself out there so that others know about my business, because

as you said, the business doesn't just come to you, right,

you've got to make sure you do the work around it. And you've

got to have the time to do the work around. And I call it time

blocking Jennifer, where people actually put what they need in

their calendar. And that way, they have the time to do

whatever it is in the calendar and block and you only have so

many hours in the day. So when you look at that time, and you

guys, you said things can't overlap, you got to have

different things done at different times. So having that

blocking of time and tasks and lead generation and sales. And

all of that is definitely something that you need to be

able to do in your business.

That and for your life because we aren't

entrepreneurs, and just so that we can work 80 hours a week,

right? We got freedom. So I don't have children. But I've

got a lot of nieces and nephews and I'm called upon. Can you go

pick this one up? This one car's broken? Can you help out? Yes.

And I tried to say yes, as much as I can. But it's that family

time. My husband's like, well, what time are you going to be

off the video? Well, yeah, later, babe, like later. And so

again, you have to book that into like, Absolutely. All the

other aspects of your life as well.

I say I love that. Jennifer, you're so right.

I say work life integration. People talk about balance,

you're not gonna ever have balance? No, it's integrating

the two. So they work together and you hit the nail on the

head. It's putting the personal things in the calendar, as a

person and relationship whatever relationship it is, date night,

put it on the calendar time with kids picking up kids running

errands. I even put my grocery when I'm going grocery shopping

on the calendar, because you don't do it if you don't have

time for it. Work Life integration. Absolutely.

I had somebody staying with me and I had to

bake my best friend's granddaughter's birthday cake

and bake also, now mostly just from coming to your house. Yeah,

people I love. And I woke up early. And the night before I

had gotten on the app, and I had ordered all the things I needed

to bake this cake. And, like guess that was staying with me

was like, Wait, where did those groceries come from? And I was

like, I ordered them last night because Oh, wow, I thought you

got up really early. It was like, No, I ordered them last

night, because that's how I'm gonna save time. I don't have to

go. I know the ingredients I need. And so I ordered them.

That's awesome. So that foundational piece critical.

Even all these years later, I can have a little more work on

that. So what else? What's the next PM? Foundation? Let's

pretend.

Yeah, so the foundation is there. So one of

the other things then you want to be able to do is have your

what how are you going to make revenue you have you whether

it's your product or your service, whatever that is. But

you also want to be able to make revenue that doesn't involve

you. And that's having a recurring revenue. So sometimes

it's going to be a subscription, or it's going to be a package of

something, but you want to look at what can I put together. And

an example I was just talking to someone about as a personal

trainer, they have, whether in person, they're doing a lot, but

they have downtime in the middle of the day. And if you can set

up with another time zone, that you can do something online as a

personal trainer, you're now making revenue in a timeframe

you weren't before and with clients in a place that you're

not there. Now that still requires them. But if they then

take that and make it into a program that they can offer, or

they do something offline, that's showing exercises and

develop a program that something that they can now offer to

clients that doesn't require them in person. Business owner

can do the same thing and it's just a matter of looking at I

love your baking analogy. So Baker, you could actually share

your recipes and have that as a subscription. So it's something

that doesn't require them. And then now you've got a recurring

revenue stream. So you may want to pull that baking out and use

it for something else. Yeah.

I tell you, I'm 80% done with a boozy cookbook,

and every recipe is gonna have some kind of, you know, Bailey's

or kulula something fun. I

love it. I love it. I love it. That's

amazing. Yes, and it's just it's something else. And yet, it's

something fun, which is the other thing too, if you can get

fun into that equation, that's even better. So you've got that

foundation, now you've got something that's going to

generate you recurring revenue, that to be able to market all of

that you need to have a brand. So part of that is developing

your intellectual property. So it's having something that's

just you. And in some cases, it may be about trademarking and

all that. But you don't have to start with that. You start with

what is you know, and yes, a logo and a website and all that,

that's great, but that's not a brand. Those are just the stuff

that come along with it. You often are your own brand, and

how do you market yourself? How do you market your business, as

well as having talking points that you can come on a podcast

with someone like you, Jennifer, and know how to articulate what

your business is in a way that others can understand it? So

having those talking points, having your call to action? All

of those things you're familiar with Jennifer right?

Yes, and I just want to throw out there you

mentioned you know, you need a website, but like the other

stuff is more important. We are on potty Palooza and those of

you who are listening and you don't know potty Palooza, you

need to know potty palooza. And it is the brainchild of Michelle

Abraham and Kimberly Crowe. Michelle, has she started a

podcast business a long before she had her own podcast, and now

she has it all.

She's the queen of podcasting.

I don't believe she has a website.

Yeah, that's a good point.

She didn't have a six figure business.

There's a podcaster. Pastor and

and doing all the backend a podcast and she

does not have a website. So when the people tell you, you have to

have a website to have a business. I'm just gonna say

maybe not like I've invested 1000s and 1000s. I've been

screwed every which way to Sunday on? Oh, yeah, we'll fix

that. They didn't fix it. Oh, yeah, paste this will integrate

that they didn't integrate it. Oh, I'll make you a sales cart.

Oh, but wait, I'm not going to connect it to anything. Yes,

I've seen it all. I've done it all. And yes, I'm a martyr about

it at this point. Now my stuff works. And I'm very, very happy.

But it can take a long time. So just so you know, website

doesn't necessarily have to be the first thing on your list. I

love that. Story, and I love it. Yeah,

I'll add to that, too, as you say that. Did

you know just a fun fact? Michelle Abraham was previously

Michelle Ricketts. Yes, I did. Live in the same city. So it was

confusing. Yeah,

yes. Yeah. But anyway, what I was

gonna say what I was gonna say about this, they were saying

about not having a website. So yes, you and I are back when

websites were the thing to have. And I paid lots of money for the

first one I had. And it wasn't what I have one. Now, because I

still have the domain. However, people can have a landing page.

And one of the things that my brother's team does digital

Samurai, they actually help businesses with all the IP stuff

I was just talking about. So but we use landing pages and Google

Sites. And so you don't have to spend 1000s and 1000s of

dollars. And when you have a landing page, you can actually

actually gear that towards whatever it is you're promoting.

So is it part of palooza? Or is it your boozy baking book or

something else? So you can you can change them very easily. And

so that's one of the things we work with clients on, but also

having those other call to action, talking points, their

branding, all of that we work with them on that as well. Gosh,

that's often awesome. So we've got our

foundation, we've got our how to make revenue. Is that branding

piece that third or is that part of the revenue? Do you have a

third point? Yeah,

that the branding is kind of the third

point. But yeah, that intellectual property and being

able to develop that as part of that and sometimes you get to a

point where that is then now you want to do trademarks and all of

that. But first you got to develop and see what that is.

And what's going to be able to tie into that making money while

you speak or while I'm sorry while you sleep.

I love that and I'm just going to throw out

there from my own personal experience because you know,

it's my podcast is all about me. Not really, sorta my business

has changed so many times. I'm coming up on 10 years as an

entrepreneur, sometimes full time sometimes like vacations a

little bit. much, not always fully focused, which happens,

right? That's easy to do. Yeah. But I started out doing

leadership development training. And I still do. That is still

something I do. I love to do it. I love it when the great state

of Oklahoma calls and says, Will you do a two day training on

transitioning into a management role? Yes. Sign me up. I'm happy

to do it. Right. But then I got into energy work and energy

healing. And it was like, Wow, I love healing people. I love

changing their life. I, I was at an event and at lunch, somebody

goes, Can you fix her back? And I was like, Yeah, probably. And

I did. It's not me. It's the work, right? It's not me. It's

the work. Yeah. So I love that. But then it kind of came full

circle. And now I'm the 12 Minute Success Coach based on a

book I wrote, and you know, coming up with this on my own, I

need to trademarked out. I'm just saying, yes, yes, I totally

need you. But I can help you break your goals into small

increments. And that's a 12 minute success. But the energy

healing I do is quick and easy. It's not years and years. It's

quick, it's easy. So I say all that to encourage people to go

ahead and do it because it's going to evolve. Michelle told

us this morning on her keynote talk, how she waited too long

have a podcast because she didn't know what she wanted to

talk about forever. It doesn't have to be forever, it can

evolve, it can grow. I'm not the same person. I was in

kindergarten, because I can time now.

Absolutely. And I love that. I love that

because that's one of the things that sets me apart from or

differentiates me from other business consultants or coaches

is because the wellness piece wellness practitioners, yes,

yes, yes, absolutely. All day long. It's the one thing that

has helped me through my entire life. I do a keynote as the

tenacious speaker, and it's about being able to get through

stuff. And part of that is my health and wellness background

that has always supported me. And yeah, so I absolutely love

that because people a lot of times and business owners ignore

what their body is trying to tell them, their body talks to

them, it tells us what we need to do, it tells us what we don't

need to do. And we need to listen. And sometimes you need a

practitioner, like yourself, to be able to help to get through

that. So I applaud and support all practitioners, alternative

practitioners as well. Because, yes, medicine is one thing, and

there's some things it'll identify, but a lot of times,

it's not the pills and the remedies, and all of that they

give you in regular medicine is some holistic approach.

Yeah, I'm a big both and kind of girl, like,

everything has its place. And I'm getting ready to have my

knee replaced. And I really hate that I have to do that. But I'm

not willing to wait another three or four years because the

last six months have been horrible. So I'm all about

those. Well, I feel faster because the work I do.

Absolutely. Yeah,

you know, absolutely, absolutely. So

Michelle luck with that. Good luck with that.

I'm gonna bounce back so fast, they're not

gonna do well. So tell me, how are we gonna get ahold of you

have anybody in the audience? If you want to work with Michelle

or find out more about her and how she shows up in the world?

How are we gonna find you?

Absolutely. Well, for your listeners, I'm on

all the social media platforms. So Michelle Ricketts, or

cohesion services and you recognize my picture. From here,

I do look like this. And everything. And that's the

that's the best place. LinkedIn is always probably the best one

to get to me that you can go there but I am all on social

media platforms or cohesion. services.com is my website as

well. Yes, I do actually have the domain first. It's 2014.

We have to have these days. I've got a lot of

domains. Now I need to go through and see which ones I'm

actually going to use and which ones I can drop. Michelle has

been awesome. I love that. Get your foundation. Figure out how

you're gonna make revenue and build that brand and make sure

that it's fun. I have loved our time together today.

Thank you as well and that thanks for having

me as a guest. It's been wonderful.

I look forward to seeing you again. I'm

Jennifer Takagi with destined for success and I look forward

to connecting with you soon.