254. How to Keep the Hustle Alive in Tough Times – Interview with Megan Huber

Megan Huber 00:00
So I believe there are seasons of hustle. I believe that when you are in a growth mode or you're in startup mode or you're in launch mode, you're getting a book out there, you're getting a program out there, there are times and places for yeah, you're going to have to put in more hours. You're going to have to put in more effort. You're going to have to do things that are really uncomfortable for you. And dare I say you might have to sacrifice time that you're spending with your family just like we were talking about earlier.

Susan Sly 00:29
Welcome to Raw and Real Entrepreneurship, the show that dares to bring no nonsense insight to those who have the courage to start, grow, and scale a business. I'm your host Susan Sly.

Susan Sly 00:43
Well, hey, what's up Raw and Real Entrepreneurs. Here's the raw and real. So I'm doing today's show from Coronado Island in San Diego. Yes, home of Navy Seals in the United States, and I haven't run into Goose and Maverick yet but here's what I do want to say, we got into the hotel almost at one in the morning. We drove from our house in Scottsdale. I had had meetings in Tucson which is a two hour drive. So I went to Tucson, did meetings, came back, was supposed to get back at four, got back at six, threw stuff in a bag. We're listing our house, and my guest today and I were just talking about the last time we washed our hair. But you know what? It's all good because it's all about choices. So if you are new to the show, I want to welcome you. This show is about Raw and Real Entrepreneurship. We do not hold back. Our guests bring the goods, they're not going to sugarcoat anything. And I am so fired up about my guest today. She is absolutely amazing. So for the last 10 years, she has been a rock star executive coach and she coaches six figure earners and seven figure earners. And she does not hold back. And on top of that, she has a master's in education. She has a family, and she is a complete badass. She is a person that I would absolutely have at my dinner table with my family or definitely drink some cocktails with. So Megan Huber, welcome to Raw and Real Entrepreneurship. I'm so excited. You're here.

Megan Huber 02:06
Thanks for having me. I'm so ready to dive into this conversation.

Susan Sly 02:09
Oh, let's go. So, um, first and foremost, what was the first business you ever had?

Megan Huber 02:16
Okay, actually, you may not know this, the first vision I— business I ever had, you know, I was a teacher. We had our daughter almost 12 years ago. And I came home, I had— I'm one of those people that did not fall in love with being a mom at home. I love to lead. I love to work, I love to innovate, I love to create, and I was like, What on earth am I going to do? Even though I had a degree in business, I taught business education at the high school level. I even taught entrepreneurship to high schoolers. I didn't, I didn't leave thinking I was going to start a business. So you know what I actually started doing? I got started just by going to networking events. In person networking events. Teachers don't have to do that. I never had to do that. So I started doing that. And my husband had been in health and wellness his entire career. He's 11 years older than me. So he had a little bit more experience over me. And he was attached to a network marketing company by the name of Shaklee. You've probably heard of it. It's been around since the 60s. And he was a personal trainer. I did that for a year because it was right there. Shawn was already connected to it. So my first dabble in entrepreneurship was network marketing. I actually think that's a phenomenal place for people to go learn how to do things like basic marketing, sales and networking. It was great for me in my transition. So that was actually the first one, I'd say the first like real one. It was my first coaching business. And I was working with brick and mortars, dog groomers, chiropractors, financial planners, insurance agents, graphic designers, website developers, you name it, and everybody has a hard time making decisions, taking action, following through with what they said they were going to do. And that's something I was really good at. So that was my first coaching business that I started back in 2011, 2012.

Susan Sly 03:59
I love it. And you know what, I'm, one of my best girlfriends is Lori Harder. She's the founder of Lite Pink, massive coach. So Lori and I met in a network marketing company called Isagenix. I've had that business for almost 18 years, and made millions and millions and millions of dollars. And here's the thing, and I love that you were so candid about it, I you know, if you're a shamer of network marketing, just leave my show. Your— this is not for you. The show isn't about network marketing. But here's the great thing about network marketing, you're going to learn personal development. There's not a good company out there where they're not saying read Think and Grow Rich, read, Rich Dad, Poor Dad. All of the personal growth, you're going to have to be a leader, you're going to have to if you're going to make anything over $100,000, learn how to bring out the best in people. You're going to have to show up when you don't feel like it, and you're going to have to learn how to sell. I can't think of any of those skills, they don't translate to anything, you know, any other business, Megan. So thank you for that. Let me ask this question. So going back to networking events. I was just having a conversation with Henry DeVries. Henry is a New York Times bestselling author. He's a Forbes columnist. I've got a speaking event coming up with Henry. And we were talking about networking pre COVID, and networking during COVID. So because you do network, what, you know, for you, what, you know, what did you do differently during COVID to still continue to build your brand and to get out there and meet people?

Megan Huber 05:27
Yeah, that's a really good question because I believe that you better build relationships with people long before you ever need them. I think that's one of the biggest problems that we see with business owners is, they need to make more money, or they need that public cash. And they haven't really focused on building those relationships. So it doesn't matter how long you've been in business, that is something that should be your priority every single week. And you know, never like poopoo on the person who you might be networking with, because you have no idea who they're connected to. You know, it's interesting, I've been in the online space for a lot of years. So I was already pretty accustomed to working out of my house, sitting in my home office, being on zoom all the time. As a coach, I do a lot on Zoom. So it was pretty customary for me to kind of transition into how are we going to do networking differently and who is leading networking opportunities differently? A lot of us got really tired of the same old, you know, private messaging each other. Everybody kind of got this feeling after a while, like, you're just reaching out to me because you want to sell me but where are we actually learning about each other? Where are we having elevated conversations? Where is somebody facilitating a conversation where we're actually getting to know people, and then facilitating that connection on the other side. So I started looking for people who were really pioneers and leaders, and putting together you know, people call them different things like a podcast mixer, and actually facilitating a conversation in breakout rooms where people can get together. I started looking for those things. I joined a brand new kind of membership style program. But it was facilitating networking, and it was facilitating referrals for people who have really high in one on one services. So I, you know, integrated that into what I was doing, because in person stuff wasn't happening. And then I'm also a leader, too. So I started conducting my own brain trust. It's totally complimentary. It's once a month, it's bringing leaders and entrepreneurs together in the same room. Obviously, there's still facilitation, you start to facilitate people getting to know each other, prompting them with questions that nobody's asking them, and then, you know, figuring out a way for them to further connect with each other, and they can do whatever they want to do with that on the other side. But that's been really fun for me. Sometimes I think we're sitting here wishing and hoping and looking for what someone else is doing out there when we've got really brilliant ideas here. We're all leaders. Why not just go start your own way of networking with people? And it's also a really great way to position you as a leader instead of someone who's just following along and joining everybody else's stuff, which obviously that's great, too. I do that too.

Susan Sly 08:05
Yeah, well preach it. Thank you for that. That, it's interesting when you think about the businesses that were incepted during the recession. So you've got Uber, you've got Instagram, you've got things we use all the time now that we're a bunch of people sitting around, having pizza, thinking about this, like their ideating. And they, they actually executed on it. And one of the things I believe is that the people who took action during the pandemic, instead of shutting down, gaining this 30 freakin pounds, and you know, just like feeling sorry for themselves, the victim mentality, the people who got out there and continue to hustle and figure out a way, those are the businesses we're going to be hearing about in three years, four years, five years of the unicorn businesses, the double unicorns, it's huge. So we were talking before the show about the concept of hustle. Yeah. And so there are a lot of like, you know, Instagram posts is like, you know, hustle till you fall over, sleep is for people who are, you know, stupid or whatever. And I used to think that way until I gave myself Multiple Sclerosis at the age of 27. I'm like, okay, maybe I have to shift that narrative. Let's talk about the difference between hustle and burnout. And I love what you shared before we went, you know, and started the show, but can you talk about that?

Megan Huber 09:25
Yeah, you know, it's interesting being in the online coaching and personal development space, because, you know, I'm a former athlete, I was a competitive athlete growing up, I was a competitive tennis player. My brother was a professional baseball player. He's four years younger than me. So I grew up in a household where it was all about drive and ambition and physical activity and being the best and practice made perfect and let your bat and your racket do the talking, not your mouth. And you know, when I came into this, like whole personal development and coaching world, I'll be really honest, I was really

Megan Huber 10:00
really, really shocked about a lot of the things that I saw. And look, I know we're women, I know there's so much conversation about like masculine and feminine and ease and flow and balance, and I am all for that. But I was so shocked because there was a part of me that was like, Oh, my gosh, like, is the way that I approach life and business and how I pursue things wrong? I mean, I'll be really honest, I really thought, am I just doing this the wrong way? Are other women going to kind of come after me in this personal development space and throw stones at me, or shun me, because I'm doing it the wrong way? And it's going— you're just going to get burned out and exhausted. But I think we have to number one, stay really, really true to ourselves. So I'm never going to let go of that, the way that I was raised, and the way that I was successful in anything that I've ever done. So that being said, you know, we see all this like ease and flow, and you should just like, go put yourself out there, and people should just come to you, and you don't really have to do anything after that. And I call bullshit on that. That's not actually true. So I believe there are seasons of hustle. I believe that when you are in a growth mode, or you're in startup mode, or you're in launch mode, you're getting a book out there, you're getting a program out there, there are times and places for, yeah, you're gonna have to put in more hours. You're going to have to put in more effort. You're going to have to do things that are really uncomfortable for you. And dare I say you might have to sacrifice time that you're spending with your family, just like we were talking about earlier.

Susan Sly 11:35
Or doing your hair

Megan Huber 11:36
Or do your hair. You know, I think the important word to use here though, is sustainability. That ongoing without checking yourself, or weaving in time for rest, time to, for healthy eating, time to drink water. You know, growing up with a brother that became a professional athlete, and watching that my entire life, they are some of the best at self care. They know how to rest, they know how to relax, they know how to take care of their bodies, because it's their instrument. If they lose the body, they lose their entire career. It's in their calendar. It's part of their world, it's part of their day. So are they hustling and grinding? Absolutely. But they're also taking care of that, that, that the best tool that they have, which is their body and their mind. So I think we need to not be silly about the fact that even though we're in seasons of hustle, that doesn't mean that you're not taking care of yourself. It doesn't mean that you just throw out nutrition, or drinking enough water or relaxing or getting enough sleep. You can still do those things while you're in those seasons of hustle, but plan for that, you know, I think there's there's not enough pre planning and preparation for that on the front end. When you know you're going to go through a season of hustle, go ahead and plan for a season of quiet or still or rest or relax. Like go ahead and put that in the calendar and have a mind frame around, this is the season that I'm entering, and this is a season that's coming next. It's just like, again, with professional athletes. They know when they're in season. They know what happens in the offseason. They know when they have days off and they're planning for that. It's why they're successful for as long as they are at their craft.

Susan Sly 13:18
I just feel like someone needs to drop the mic right now. Because I love the analogy you gave and I love what you shared about the athletic aspect of it. So you know the, the listening audience knows I was a professional Ironman triathlete until I got MS. And that's what ended my career. But there are so many nuances to that like yes, okay, on a Sunday, I would train for eight, nine hours. But then Monday was easy recovery day, it was a 20 minute easy run, 20 minute flush up my legs, there's massage therapy, there's ART therapy, there's all those things. And, and if even if you look at you know, the listeners now I'm a huge New England Patriots fan. And I love Tom Brady and how he went into his 40s as you know, arguably I don't care what anyone listening thinks the greatest quarterback of all time. And so Megan's outside of Tampa. So you know, she had Brady there too. But if you look at some of the people criticizing his diet, oh, like he, you know, he only does this or whatever. It's because his whole diet regime was about anti inflammatory. His whole way he set up a season and went into his 40s was because he had the periods of hustle. And then the periods of rest. Yes— that, Megan. And when you know, when you, the other thing you said about when you're launching a course, you're launching a book, last year, one of the best pieces of advice from you know, that I heard, I always front-end load my week. So I do more Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday than most people would do in you know, even two weeks so that by the time I go into Thursday, Friday, I'm in responsive mode, not reactive mode. Yep. And so last year

Susan Sly 15:00
someone said, hey, you know, what if you did the same thing with your year? So, you know, here we are beginning of the year. And my question to everyone out there is what have you accomplished? And if you accomplish nothing else this year, could you ride on what it already you know, what you've already done? And that's the big thing. What about, switching the narrative, someone listening and saying, you know, I want to start a business, Megan, or I want to do this, I want to, you know, but I'm a mom, and I'm tired. What do you say to her?

Megan Huber 15:34
I'm a mom, too,

Megan Huber 15:36
so are you. I get tired too. So I, I do empathize with that, I totally understand that. And I think that, we also get to recognize that we have, we get to have multiple different identities, and mom is one of them. Being the leader of the house, or the housekeeper, whatever you wanna call it, you know, those are certain identities. And for those of us who are creative, and we're visionaries, and we're leaders, and we're entrepreneurs and business owners, that also gets to be one of our identities. So I think part of it is allowing yourself to say, Hey, I get to choose to have multiple identities here. I have a really good story I'll share about this too. And it goes along with what you're talking about, especially in regard to front loading at the beginning of the year. I do the same thing you do with the week. So you know, you asked me earlier, what was my first business and, you know, I started a coaching business in 2011. And I have an interesting journey, because I actually left that business. And I worked for one of my mentors, who's an extremely well known coach in this industry. And she's had her company for about 20 years, her name is Gina DeVee, of Divine Living. And I was her right hand for four years. And while I was there, worked with hundreds, if not thousands, probably thousands of her clients. And was running all of the year long group coaching programs and certification programs. I knew the ins and outs of every single aspect of running, running a multiple seven figure online coaching business. And clearly, I'm not there anymore. So I left that company in December of 2016. And when I left, I had not started a side hustle on the side. So I say that because a lot of people think oh, well, you probably just had like a stack of cash or a stack of clients kind of in your back pocket to make it easy to leave. And I was making a six figure income while I was there, which isn't phenomenal, but I was employee for somebody else's company. So it is what it is. When I left, we were living in Santa Barbara, California at the time. So you know, it was pretty much taken what I made to live in Santa Barbara, California. When I left, I wasn't sitting on a stool of clients, I was not sitting on a pile of cash. And so I knew going into it, I wasn't a brand new business owner in my mind, because I'd done it before. And I basically just run half of somebody else's company. So I had confidence. I knew what I was doing, I knew exactly how to execute. And I knew exactly what to focus on that was going to make me money. And that was going to build my brand and build relationships really fast. And I had a very specific goal. I wanted to make multiple six figures honestly as fast as I could. And I hit multiple six figures, actually more than multiple six figures, in the first five months. That was not because I rested on my laurels. That was because number one I had, I had a vision. I knew exactly what my vision was, I knew exactly what my goal was. And I even made a list. I still do this today. I made a list on a sheet of paper. And my question to myself was, what is everything, and I mean, everything that could possibly slow me down from reaching my goal of the exact number of clients I want to acquire and the exact amount of money that I want to make? And it was super duper high profit. I had no overhead at the time, which was one of my smart choices that I made. So I wrote down everything from my family could be a distraction. In what way? My mindset could be a distraction. Creating graphics can be a distraction, thinking I need a website can be a distraction. All those things is what overwhelms us and makes us feel in our minds even more tired than we really are physically. So that was one of the most helpful activities I ever did for myself. I literally, I kid you not, I think I focused only on three activities every single day. And my number one was get on as many calls with as many people as I possibly can and build relationships. Tell as many people I know what I do, who it's for, how excited I am. And I filled my calendar up. It's not, I was not working 60 hours a week. I was able to do that in probably 30 to 35 hours a week. I just utilize my time in a very efficient way. And it produced phenomenal results. Now it was literally head down success blinders on. I wouldn't say I was burned out at the end, but 90 days later, I needed to come up for air. So there was that season of okay, 90 days,

Megan Huber 20:00
most humans can go, go, go, go go and push for about 90 days. And then you do need to kind of like, let's just ease up a little bit, let's recalibrate, let's get re grounded. Let's recover a little bit, then let's go again. And that was my cycle that I follow. I mean, honestly, I have followed that cycle for the last five years since I left that company.

Susan Sly 20:20
It's the, that's so good. Like, if you can't name it, you can't claim it and meaning like, asking yourself the hard questions like, what could physically get in my way? And there's something so cathartic about naming everything, because then it doesn't have the power over you. Because what, you know, what I've observed in, you know, in human development, is that what exhausts people the most, and especially women, is the what ifs. What if, what if I'm building this then, you know, my husband loses a job? And what if, what if, what if, and that can be so paralyzing. And the statistic is 91, or sorry, 61% of Americans say they want to start a business, 91% of them never do.

Megan Huber 21:06
Wow.

Susan Sly 21:06
Yeah. It's crazy when you think about it. So I, because it's Raw and Real Entrepeneurship, life happens, right? And I get, you know, as a former athlete, you know that you're not feeling well that day, or you have PMS or you know, whatever. But you still got a match. So you got to play. Yeah, right? How do you, being the woman you are today, when you've got clients to coach or you've got a, you know, an interview to do or you've got, you know, whatever it is that you have on your calendar that is an important income generating activity, and life is happening, How do you show up even when there's all this stuff going on background?

Megan Huber 21:50
Yeah, so a couple of things. And I got, I got another good story for this one. So here's where, here's where I start with that. You know, again, I think being an athlete like really, it, not that athletics and playing sports is the only thing that equips you. It's just my journey, and I know that world really well. When you're an athlete, there's so much preparation with how you're going to go into the arena, you know you're going to go into the arena, and you know, there's an opportunity, there's a possibility that you're going to lose. You're not out of reality that something isn't going to go the way that you wanted it to go. Like Tom Brady knows, every single time he throws the football, it's not necessarily going to result in a touchdown. He knows there's a possibility that he could get sacked. You know, the difference between someone like him that's so successful, and someone that's not, even in business, is people are not preparing for, for the potential setbacks. And they're not preparing for how they're going to work through it when it happens. We have to plan for setbacks, we have to expect that things are not going to go the way that we want them to go all the time. So that we are not just completely thrown out on our back bent out of shape from a, from an emotional and a mental perspective. And you know, part of that is just being really mentally and emotionally mature, knowing that, of course, not everything is going to be hunky dory, of course, life is going to happen. But pre— I cannot say this enough. I'm going to emphasize this. You know what's going to happen. We just don't know when and we don't know to what magnitude. We don't get to choose that. We don't know what it's going to be. But please predetermine, Who am I going to be when that happens? What are the thoughts? Go ahead and decide. What are the thoughts I'm going to think when that happens? You know, working out at a gym, or if you're a runner, it's a really good example, every human being had basically like a point where it starts to hurt just enough, and we all want to stop. And each one of us has like our own like, okay, it's hurting, I've hit my stopping point. Even though even though you know, like, you could probably do more reps, right, you can. It's gonna happen to every single person in business as well. So pre— you know what's going to happen. Pre decide, what am I going to think, What am I going to do? You know, is there some mantra that I'm going to say to myself, is it a breath? Is it like closing my eyes and taking three breaths? This can be really, really subtle. And my example, my story for this is something that happened to us very unexpectedly in August. So this is pretty recent, August of 2021. My husband is 50 now, he turned 50 in December. He was 49. My husband has been in health and wellness his entire career. We work out at the gym all the time. If you saw my husband, he kind of looks like he's got like shaved head. He's got a lot of muscles. He's very lean, like you would think like maybe he was military before, but he wasn't but people always make that assumption. He had a heart attack in August, and he was not feeling right. And he was not feeling right for a couple of days. But it really just

Megan Huber 25:00
felt like muscle soreness, and we worked out at the gym all the time. So we just thought, like, okay, muscles are sore. And it was going on for like three days, we were in our car, it was early in the morning, we were on our way to the gym. And I think we had already dropped our daughter off at school, or maybe she didn't have school that day, I don't remember. And he was like, starting to freak out a little bit. And I'm like, let's just, let's just go, let's just go to the hospital and see. We found out that his Widowmaker artery was 99.9% blocked, and another artery was 86% blocked. So immediately, it's like you're getting admitted, stents are going in. This is like a young, super healthy guy. So you know, that's an example of, we did not expect that. Not in a million years do we think Shawn would be having a heart attack as healthy as we are. And you, you have to roll with that, you know, you have to feel the feelings. Um, I tend to kind of be like, Okay, I want to fix everything. And you know, I'm not always the best wife when it comes to that. Because a man also does want you to be emotional with them and ask, hey, what can I do for you, instead of just trying to be the fixer and the protector and the strong one. I have a tendency to be that way. But it happens. And again, it's prepare for that and know how you're going to handle that. But more importantly, know the kind of person that you're going to be so that you're not in like, just complete reaction mode.

Susan Sly 26:20
Well, firstly, how is he doing now?

Megan Huber 26:23
He's doing great now.

Susan Sly 26:24
So I resonate with that story, because I'm turning 50 this year, and my husband is turning 53. And it's that, you know, we work out and we clean and we do all of these things. And I had a, I had a good friend, her name is Sandy and her husband Chuck was super, super fit. And they had a basement. They had tricked out their basement with his epic home gym. And he you know, kisses her, was like, Babe, I'm going to work out and he didn't come upstairs. Wow. And in these, you know, you, there are some things you can you know, you really think, okay, I can prepare for, okay, I've got a traffic delay for kid pick up or I can prepare for a meeting's going over. But these life events, and I love what you're saying. And you think about how you want to show up. And I know for myself, and I'm sure, and I want to ask you about this. So my anchor is that I want to be an advocate for the women of technology. So that you know, 10 years from now, looking back, I, my legacy is going to be helping 1000 women turn their businesses into technology companies, right? Yeah. And so I sit with something when something's happening, I say, Well, what would Susan who has helped launched 1000 women-led technology companies, what would she do in this moment? Right? Or my other one for my personal health, I've done Boston six times. Boston Marathon bombing survivor. I will be qualifying to go back in 2023. Because I keep saying it's personal, right? Yeah. And so I keep saying, what workout with Susan, who has done four more Bostons choose to do right now. Right? So she's, you know, like, even this morning, what, four hours of sleep I got? I was at the gym. Right? Because that's what she would choose to do. So what is yours? Like, in you know, how do you, you're maybe having a challenging day or your daughter's sick or something's going on. You've got a roster of clients, how do you anchor yourself to show up? Because I get you because you know, so just so similar as an athlete, you show up and you do your best on that given day. So what is your anchor?

Megan Huber 28:42
That's a really good question. I have a you know, kind of similar to you. I actually work with a guy out of Scottsdale. I'm in Scottsdale quite often, we should connect. I work with a guy out of Scottsdale, his name is Michael Bernoff. If you have— if you have not connected with him, Susan, make sure you connect with him. And he teaches, he's got a human communication Institute in Scottsdale. I go out there all the time. And I was talking to him recently and he was like, hey, you know is there anything you need help with? And I was like well, there's just one place that I feel like I've been stuck and I've been stuck in the same place for a couple of years. And it just like, at this point it's a pattern. And he goes, okay, I know exactly what's going on. And so this is what I now do. He said to me, if you think about yourself 10 years ago, with like 30 year— I'm almost 40. So he goes, would 30 year old Megan be really satisfied with where you are today in that particular category I was kind of stuck in. And I said, for sure. Like she's over the moon like, she doesn't need me to do anything else. She's so satisfied. He goes okay, I want you to think about a year from now. I want you to think about 40 year old Megan which is actually in like four and a half five months now. And he goes would 40 year old Megan be satisfied with where Megan is today? And I said oh my gosh, like absolutely not. So similar to you. I think about okay,

Megan Huber 30:00
I'm on a growth path, and would my future self a year from now be satisfied with the way that I'm functioning, operating, being, thinking, influencing myself and other people today? And so I anchor myself back to that question and connect to my future self a year from now. So that's one thing that I do. The second thing that I do is in the category of influence, and sometimes I think the word influence gets tossed around. So in such an interesting way, now on social media, and you know, a lot of people are like, I don't want to be an influencer, when they're connecting to the idea of what we see on social media. However, we're actually all influencing people. We're influencing people, the way that we hold ourselves. We are influencing the people, the way that our tone of voice is influencing people. We're influencing people, the way we walk into a room, we are influencing the woman at the checkout counter at the grocery store. And so one of the questions I asked myself is, who do I want to influence and in what way do I want to influence them? Because I could be such a, not like it's this poor, pink paint over it positive, everything is good, and everything is positive. But how do I want to demonstrate to another woman how to navigate when things like that happen? And I just asked myself that question, what do I want them to see? What do I want them to aspire to? And it's not an emotional freakout. It's not, you know, projecting that onto my team or my clients. It's handling it in a mature way. And also being really in integrity and transparent about what's going on and being really respectful of everybody's time and role that they're playing in that. So just asking myself that question, Who do I want to influence today and in what way do I want to influence them? That question then activates the best way that at least I can come up with in that moment to move forward through those situations and circumstances. Even if they're not, you know, not, not good ones that I would prefer.

Susan Sly 32:12
You're the third person who's mentioned Michael to me. So that's like, you know, when the third person mentions the book, or this, you know, I'm like, okay, yeah. So thank you for that. Who do I want to influence and how do I want to influence them? And you know, as you were sharing that, the person that came to mind is Mother Teresa, because you know, back in those days, no one would have said Mother Teresa is an influencer. But I can promise you there's not one influencer on Instagram that has more impact than Mother Teresa who had no social media, right? Or, you know, Nelson Mandela, or you know, all of those people. You know, Princess Diana didn't have social media because it didn't exist. And you think about what it really takes to influence it's, it's just huge. So I want to ask you the, you know, there, let's, let's face it, like, you know, the day we're doing the show, we've got a potential invasion of Ukraine. We have China circling Taiwan, we have, you know, pandemics still looming, we've got global uncertainty, we have all these things. And you are definitely a resilient woman. So if you lost it all today, and you had to start your business from scratch, right? Because it was like, we don't have food on the table, we don't have a roof over our head, just pretend you have like a limited amount of savings. And that's it. And you got to start from absolute zero, what would you do?

Megan Huber 33:39
Yep. So the first, Okay, so the first thing I would do is number one, I get really, really clear on what direction am I going to go in, like, you know, if I was going to make it super simple and not get into, like, you know, what industry am I going to be in. What is my offer and who is it for? Right? Like, what do you need? Like, what's the bare minimum you need to make money? Well, you need a person to sell to, and you need something to offer them. And then you've got to put the offer in front of that person. We over complicate it. And again, it's like do nothing fancy. Know the ideal client, know the offer, now we have to figure out how to get that in front of them. So I would make those two decisions first, and I'd make them very, very quickly based on what I'm the, you know, probably a very acute problem that someone is experiencing right now today that I know I could solve. I don't have time to go try to figure that out. I know I can solve this. That's exactly the direction I would go in. The second thing I would do is start building, actually the second thing I would do before I started building community, I would start telling people. I would look into my Rolodex, I would look at all the people I had been building relationships with, and I would start connecting with them and I would let them know how excited I was, what I was up to now, and I would also ask them how I could support them. I think that that's one of the pieces that

Megan Huber 35:00
we forget often is we're, you know, we're business owners. We're always thinking like, I need support from this person, or I could really use support here, let me go ask them to help me. And I believe we should absolutely be asking more, especially as women for help and support. And there— and yes, let's do that. But let's also say, Hey, I see this is what you're up to, how can I support you? And then you know, you can let the conversation keep going and, and let them know what you're up to, and how they can support you. And there's like a whole way that I would show people to do that. So let people know because I think people genuinely want to help and people genuinely want to serve, they just need to know what we need help with. So I would do that. And then I would also start building a community. And I would build a community, not from the intention of I'm going to start selling them my product or my service tomorrow. But I'm going to build a community and build this brand. And I'm going to pour into those people and I'm going to add value. And I'm going to find out what their needs are, I'm going to find out what their wants are. And then when the timing is right, I'm going to start making offers to them. That is exactly what I did in January of 2017. That's exactly what I did. When I rebooted my business, I was at zero, I was at zero, but what I did have was vision, and I had connections, I had relationships, and I had free social media platforms. That's exactly what I did. And I didn't stop. Um, you know, I'll tell you, when I built my community, I built it in a Facebook group, because at the time that was really, really hot. And it's what I knew. And it's where a lot of my relationships were. I knew my people were on that platform back in 2017. And in my mind, I was not going to make an offer to that group that I was building for 90 days. That was my original plan. I was like, I'm just gonna, I'm going to build this community, I'm going to pour into them, I'm going to teach, I'm going to give value, I'm going to find out about them 90 days. And once 90 days has passed, then I'm going to start making offers. They started asking me on day four, what are you offering and how can we work with you? And that was my sign. It's like, okay, they're asking, they want it, that was my sign, you got to go make offers now because these people are hot, and they want it. So I didn't have to do it for 90 days. And the rest is history. Like I said, I did multiple six figures pretty fast, just with a, I mean, I'm telling you, I had a Facebook group with 200 people in it at first. And you don't have to have that many people. And you can do really well really quickly. So that's what I would recommend people do.

Megan Huber 37:34
And that, I love that you said, I'm not going to offer anything for 90 days. And let them come to you. Let them drive. Even your offering. Because it's one thing for us to think this is what we're going to offer. But even, even in technology, like with Radius, we had a product, Megan. And then as we started to take it in the market and start to pilot it, we let the customers drive the nuances around that product. And I think that is so key, regardless of the business that you are starting. It's let the feedback happen. And don't be afraid of it. So what platform do you use now for community?

Megan Huber 38:15
Predominantly, Facebook and Instagram now, and then I also have a podcast. So it's kind of all three of those together. You know, I really built the majority of my business on Facebook, because it was so hot, it was working so well. You know, the capability that groups allow for business owners and leaders and community builders is really high on that platform. The platform has changed a lot over the last year. So it's you know, you can't be as successful organically as you used to be even a year ago. So now I've really shifted over to Instagram a little bit more, and I have my own podcast. So those three combined are what I focus on today.

Susan Sly 38:55
Well, and let's I mean, the listeners know. So like I'll talk about like NFT's, blockchain, where things are going. So my friend is in charge of building one of the largest data centers in the world for Facebook Meta. So there's, I'll share with everyone a little thing that is going to happen with Facebook groups, and it's going to involve Oculus and VR technology. So for people like Megan and myself, the groups will be reborn in such a different way. They will be VR, there will be rented spaces. There will be a whole different experience in I don't, you know, I do talk about the metaverse, but let's call it a digital playground. One of my startups that I mentor and I'm an advisor and a co founder to, guudguuds, we're doing like think about like, a digital playground of good where it's impact transactions where people are, you know, showing up in all of the commerce has like a positive gif on the back end, and so on and so forth. But think about showing up and doing an event with Megan, in a Facebook group, when you've got your glasses on, she's got her glasses on, you're like right there with her. And so the people who are innovators like Megan, in this space and really powerfully impacting people's lives, they're still going to stay on Facebook. So funny story, Megan. So I like you. I'm sure you do. I do my life plan for the year. And I am going to borrow that question that Michael asked you, you know, would 40 year old Susan be proud of where 50 year old Susan is? And the answer is, heck, no, no, I wouldn't. Like there are a lot of things I've done and career pivot and stuff. But I'm like, no. But this year, the first two months of the year I am you know, I was on a lot of airplanes, I recorded a new LOD like there's so many things. I'm launching my incubator in Miami in partnership with Jared Yellin and Grant Cardone, there's a lot of things that are going on that people haven't seen, because I spent the first two months just no matter how little sleep I got to that point. Yep. It was, I knew that because I want 60 year old Susan to look back at 50 year old Susan and go, you know what, damn girl, you really like that, that two months made a massive impact, right? Yes. So thinking about this period of time and where we're at right now, the thing I want to say to everyone is what Megan is doing, and because she knows how to hustle, and because she knows how to innovate, that impact she's going to make and then using the technology. Where I'm going with the story is so because I wasn't proud of where I am, and a lot of listeners are like, Oh, Susan, you should be proud. No, like, if you know me really well, you understand why. But anyway, that's a different story. I have set my intention in my life plan to get my blue check. But here's the thing, I wasn't gonna buy it. I refuse to buy it. Yes, I've been in Forbes and CNN and all these things. But I wasn't going to frickin buy it. Literally a week after I wrote that I have my blue check. My friend texted me she's like, Oh, congrats on your blue check. And I'm like, oh, on which platform? I had no idea. So Facebook gave me my blue check. And the reason I share this story, and then I'll throw the last question to Megan, you've got to be intentional. You've got to focus, you have got to understand that whatever business you're in, you're going to adapt to the technology, Megan knows where her people are. She's not afraid, she's bold. And you've got to make a very solid decision that the effort you put in now, your future self is going to be proud of. So Megan, final question to you. You have coaching groups. You have you know, you're you are, this isn't coaching, if you want to hire Megan, it's not for you if you have to question can I afford it? It's the person who says I can't not afford it. So I just want to be clear, right? So I want you to share, like, who is your ideal client this year? Who do you want to serve? What do you want to do to add value to them? And you know, I'd love to hear I'm very curious about that.

Megan Huber 43:18
Yeah, so I, you know, I've been in, like I said, I've been in this coaching industry for 10 years. And there are, there are, I have a heart for a certain segment of people who are course creators, leaders, coaches, experts, influencers. And there are so many service providers that are helping people who are just getting started. And it's kind of like a dime a dozen, and it's awesome. And I've also played in that space as well. And then you've got people who are making like eight figures, and there's places for them to go, or people who are making multiple, seven figures. And what I've noticed, honestly, over the last probably six, seven, maybe even eight years, I'm like, where do the people go, who have found themselves kind of in the in between, and they're making many multiples of six figures. In fact, a lot of people get stuck around like 500, 700, 800k, some people even get started in like low seven figures. And they've taken all the group coaching programs, and they've been in the stuff with all the newbies where the conversation is only about who's my ideal client or what am I going to do, and they're looking for a much more elevated conversation. They're looking for leadership skills, they're looking for team development, because you know, honestly, in order to go from where you've gotten yourself kind of solo, like five, you can get to your, you can get there, get to 500k by yourself or 750. And maybe you had a VA, they're kind of stuck because it becomes a very different skill set. And it becomes a very different conversation at that level. And that's really where my heart is. And it's really where my expertise lies. It's with that person who has an established business. They have a very specific skill set. They have in demand products and programs. But now, you know, it's not that they need to figure out how do I, how do I sell my stuff, they really have to start building leadership skills, team building skills, they have to figure out how can I remove myself from being the deliverer of all the things in my programs to my clients? They really have to start thinking about, if I were going to run my business as if I were going to sell it one day, right? Because, you know, we're either going to work in our businesses doing all the delivery until we're 95, or we've got to bring other people in to deliver. We've got to have systems that our clients can follow so they could get results if we're there or not. They really have to shift into not just building a business, but now running a company. So that's where my expertise is. And I run mastermind groups and group coaching programs that are built to teach that and also to bring that caliber of female entrepreneur into the room together, because they are looking for a very different conversation.

Susan Sly 46:00
I love that. And thank you for being so specific, because it's the you know, I personally believe, Dave Asprey was on the show, and Dave said, Here, these are not in the particular order, Megan, but some of them are funny, and we'll laugh about it. They said, I said, so what does someone you know, Dave has, you know, Bulletproof Coffee, he's got, you know, all these different companies. And he's, I don't know what the total is, if he's over the billion mark yet. But anyway, so Dave said, here are the things you need, if you're going to be successful, if you're going to be a multimillionaire, so here's the list Megan. All right, you need to have two dishwashers if you have children. You need to have someone who comes in and does your laundry. So I didn't have the two dishwashers, but I did hire the laundry person because I had the laundry person and then she got old and kind of retired and I didn't have anyone and I was doing laundry resentfully. I'm like, you know, no, this is not working for me. You need a therapist. So that's, you know, all well and good. But you know, he has this list. And then the last thing he said is, you need a coach. I don't care if you're a coach, you need a coach, and you need a coach who is capable of coaching you to a level that you haven't been at. And if you're stuck, right, then that's the the piece, and it doesn't, you know, you and I were talking offline, and I was, I'm a certified coach. I don't do any personal coaching. I'm building a tech company. But you know, people say well, can you coach me? I'm like no. My Rolodex, I have excellent coaches. But I'm not going to refer you to anyone that you're not ready to be with yet. Yep. It doesn't make sense. And I love that. And there's so many people out there for you to serve, which is amazing. And so, Megan, how do people connect with you? So someone's listening, and they're like, oh, my gosh, that's me. I want to work with Megan, how do they do that?

Megan Huber 47:50
Yeah, thebest place to go is my website. It's MeganJohnso Huber.com. There, you can find on my social media outlets, my Facebook group, Tribe of Legends, I have a podcast, Built To Last. All that information is in that one place. So that's the best place to go.

Susan Sly 48:06
Awesome. So MeganJohnsonhuber.com, and follow Megan on Instagram. And after you listen to this, tag Megan and I both. Give us a five star review because leaders ask for what they want. You all know that. And I want to acknowledge everyone for being here. And please, by all means, if this episode has been helpful for you, it'll be helpful for someone else. Share it on your social, tag both of us. And with that, God bless. Go rock your day. This has been another episode of Raw and Real Entrepreneurship.