Ep. 315: From Solo Side-Hustle to CEO with Tasha Booth

Shannon Mattern: Tasha. Thank you so much for being here on pep talks for side hustlers. Can you share a little bit more with our listeners about you and what you do?

Tasha Booth: Yeah, absolutely. First of all, thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited to be here. I actually have two sides to my business. So my agency side is called the launch Guild and we are a course launch and podcast launch support agency, as well as systems set up some migrations. I have a team of 22. Yeah. At last count, who knows by the time this airs, it might be like 44. Right? So, um, yeah, we do everything in the digital marketing implementation space, basically for coaches and course creators. And then the other side of my business is that I coach and mentor VA's online business managers and project managers on how to start, grow and scale their own businesses.

Shannon Mattern: I love it. So I want to dig in to, how did you get here? What's the origin story? Cause I was reading before we hopped on and I'm like, I can so resonate with this. So tell me, tell me, you know, how, how your business came to be.

Tasha Booth: Yeah. So I think I've always had like that entrepreneurial spirit I've owned a dance studio. I taught Zumba to the point of where, like where I was making like thousands of dollars a month teaching Zumba of all things. Right. Um, I've just always wanted to like have my own business. And so I've kind of floated in and out of that. But, um, this part of my business started when I was a blogger and I just had a hobby blog about frugal living, a frugal, healthy living. And I, I was working a full time job and everything, but I started seeing people reaching out in, in Facebook groups and everything in the blogging Facebook groups that I was in and they were looking for virtual assistants. And so I was like, you know, I have time and I have student loan debt. Like, let me, let me go do that on the side. And it just really grew very, very quickly to the point of where four to five months in, I was making more doing that part time than I was in my full time director level job, and then eight months. And I put in my, my, uh, eight weeks notice basically, um, and went full time and kind of never looked back.

Shannon Mattern: I can very much relate to that, except for it took me three years to get to the place where I was comfortable leaving my day job. But what I love about that is like, you know, you, you saw an opportunity to kind of step in and help, you know, and step in and, and, and make some money it's. So I think that that's just so key when you're, when you have this desire to kind of figure out like, I don't, I, I'm not in love with what I'm doing. I want to do something different, just being open to different opportunities. Um, and just being, trying, not trying to like be by yourself in a room all alone and figuring it out. Yeah.

Tasha Booth: Yeah. And what I realized quickly were was that the things that were simple for me and that came easy to me did not come easy to everybody

Tasha Booth: Else. Right. I think so often, like I hear people be like, well, why would anybody pay me for like inbox management or like setting up their email? And I'm like, that's really hard for some people and they're totally willing to pay you for them, not to spin, spin their wheels for like three hours doing something that you could do in 30 minutes. Right.

Shannon Mattern: That's a lesson that took me so long to learn that, that the things that just come naturally to me, that I would just think, Oh, this must be easy for everybody. Or everybody must, um, nerd out on this stuff like I do, or, you know, why would someone pay me for, you know, to like change a color on their website when it's like, you can do it in a few clicks and then you feel like, I don't know about you or like your, your, your clients, if they ever run into this, but just thinking like I'm taking money from people for things that like, I shouldn't be charging so easy.

Shannon Mattern: Right. You have to just flip your mindset on that. Absolutely. I totally agree. Yeah. So you started, um, you started, you know, doing VA services, you built that up to the point where you replaced your day job income, which is so awesome. And then left your day job. How did that then turn into what you're doing now with agency and then with, uh, with the mentorship? Yeah. So when I first started as a VA, I was offering basically anything and everything under the sun, anything that people would pay me for, I would do. Right. And then what I realized was like, if I was going to move from a nine to five, I wanted to make sure that what I was creating as my own business was aligned with what I wanted to do and what I loved doing. And so I really took some time to kind of narrow it down and to see where was the intersection basically, between what I loved doing, what people were willing to pay me for and what I felt really, really good at.

Tasha Booth: Right. And that for me was, was tech. And a lot of it was working with coaches and course creators on their launches. Um, but what I realized quickly also was that I couldn't be their, everything. I can be their designer and their Facebook ad strategist and their copywriter. And so I was basically like, what if I created this agency where I had a team of experts who could specialize in all of those things were basically like your business in a box when it comes to digital marketing implementation. And we're able to, because we work, you know, all day, every day, basically together, we're already a cohesive unit when they hire us, which takes the guesswork out of like, is this person gonna work out? Is this going to work? That sort of thing.

Shannon Mattern: So tell me about like your first hires. Like, how did that go? Because I have not gotten to, like, I shot, I honestly, like I was doing web design. I kind of got to that same point where I'm like, Oh, I can't be your everything. And then, and then started dabbling in kind of building my own team. And then I

Shannon Mattern: Decided I don't want to create the same kind of day job that I had, you know, I want, I want something different. So I pulled back from that and I went all in on courses and training and I don't do any one on one services anymore, which, which I love. So I love to hear from other people who, who did that and have done that successfully.

Tasha Booth: Yeah. So those first, probably three hires were just the hot mess express. I, what I teach now when I'm teaching my, you know, my VA's that I train about hiring is that you always want to be proactive in your hiring. So you want to look at what are my needs three months, six months a year from now instead of like, Oh crap, I need somebody right this side. And I was very reactive in my hiring where it was like, Oh, I need somebody right this second, of course, you're going to just hire the first person.

Tasha Booth: You're not going to vet them, you know, as well as you should. You're not going to be able to train and onboard them as well as, as you should. They're not going to feel connected to you, or like there's a place for them to ask their questions. And so those hires did not go well. So after I got over those first three, I did a couple things. Number one, I got coaching support in terms of how do I help my team and how do I step from the implementer, which is where I started to the CEO to that leadership position. Cause it's a very different place. And I think especially for a service providers who are used to being the doers, right, then becoming the leaders and saying like, no, I need to delegate this instead of do it myself. So such a mindset shift in terms of it.

Tasha Booth: So got over that and started creating some really great internal systems, some really great SOP standard operating procedures so that it was an easier process to be able to onboard my team member. We now have an amazing workbook that we create for each new team member that has basically like everything they need to get started. You know, like when you were in corporate America or I don't know if you've had this experience, but like the first day they're like, you know, here's the bathroom, here's the fridge, you know, all of those things, we don't, we have similar things when it comes to our businesses, right? So here's what your email signature needs to look like. Here's the zoom link for our team meetings. Those sorts of things, all of that was no nothing that I had even probably a year and a half, two years ago still didn't have. But once I started building that infrastructure and deciding what I wanted my business to look like three, six, 12 months from now, it became so much easier.

Shannon Mattern: I love that. And I think it is, you know, even an, even for me, who's a solar preneur. Like I'm not going to be solo forever. I would imagine. So just even having those systems in place, you know, so I'm not reinventing the wheel every time I'm doing like a partner webinars or something like that. I mean, that's, that's, that's invaluable pieces of our business. So that's like when it's time to hand it over, I can hand it over, you know?

Tasha Booth: Yeah. And one key tip, I know that a lot of CEOs and entrepreneurs are visionaries and they, we don't like being in the weeds. Right. So when I tell people like you have to create this whole library of SOP, they're like, Whoa, Tasha, slow your roll. They're like, that feels really overwhelming and scary. And I do not want to do that, but it doesn't have to start off as like this huge undertaking. The first step is the next time you do the process, record your screen as you're doing the process, that's the beginning of that SOP of that operating procedure. And then when you do hire that new team member, you can hand them the video and say, okay, now you write and document the whole process and it helps their learning in learning the process even better.

Shannon Mattern: Genius genius. So you start bringing on team members and you build up this agency, what happens next?

Tasha Booth: So I think I got to about eight, eight to 10 people when I was like, okay, you know, it was going well for a while after I figured out what I was doing hiring wise. And then I realized that I had so many team members that I was becoming a bottleneck for like little things, like, you know, getting people into their, getting the passwords that they need for clients and stuff like that. And so I, my next hire was, um, basically she was my integrator. She's now full time. And in my business, she was my first full time employee. Um, and she is the director of operations, but that helped pull somebody else in between me and the rest of the team for them to have a resource to go to and get their questions answered in real time. Instead of them always having to wait on me to get back to them. So that was a huge pivotal moment because, uh, Jay Luray, that's her name, my director of operations, her being there and her being the team lead allowed me to have the space and capacity and time to then put my attention towards creating courses, creating my coaching programs and everything, creating another whole stream of revenue for my business. Right.

Shannon Mattern: Uh, so, so you're in the role of, you know, CEO, visionary of this agency and you have the integrator, and I imagine you probably also spend a lot of your time marketing the business, bringing on new clients, you know, all of that. So, you know, and then on top of that, yeah, I can totally, I was, I was absolutely the bottleneck in my business feel like when you're describing that, I'm like, Oh yeah, that was me. That was me. That was me. And my decision was, um, you know, I sometimes I think, and I, you, this decision is never finite, right? Someday I could always, um, build that side back out and build a team. But, you know, I, I just, I made all those mistakes that you just, that you said, it's like, Oh my, my, I did not give my hires the time that they needed to be successful because I had all of these other things going on and yeah.

Shannon Mattern: And all of that stuff. And so, um, but so I, like I said, I I'm full time courses and coaching and mentoring, but what I want to know for me, it was like, what compelled you then to go in that direction and add that whole other side to your business?

Tasha Booth: I think that there's always been a side of me that just really enjoys teaching people and teaching my zones of genius. Um, my mom was a teacher for 41 years. So I think it just comes naturally, you know, and people kept asking me like, how did you do this? Like, how did you build everything that you're building, which is the reason why my podcast is called how she did that. And so it was just kind of a natural progression in terms of things. I felt like I had, um, some expertise in what I had grown and how I had grown it. And I wanted to provide that because people were asking for that. So once again, it was just like looking for the opportunity or opportunity and then providing the service that supported those people. Yeah. I think when, when we figure out how to do something and it really starts to work for us, it's like the natural next step to be like, I need to tell everybody how awesome

Shannon Mattern: And that's it, it's about how, like, you don't have to work at that day job and you really can have your own business and you really can work from home. And especially virtual assistants, online business managers, I think like right now we're talking like at the end of June, you know, this will come out in the fall. And I don't imagine things will be much different than there are a lot of people that like, don't want to go back to business as usual. So can you share like what you're hearing from, from your audience?

Tasha Booth: Yeah, actually, it's so funny that you say that because, um, I was in a conversation earlier today about it and somebody was like, basically I started my business because of COVID and you know, and I'm loving it and I don't want to go back to work. Like, how do I make this work?

Tasha Booth: And I think number one, we need to open our minds to what's possible. I know, especially in the virtual support space, virtual assistants and OBMs have a tendency to be like, okay, well, I know that like my cap is going to be 5,000 a month. And I'm like, well, why, you know, like why, why are we stopping ourselves? They're like, why can't we dream bigger? And so dreaming bigger than creating goals towards that dream, then action steps towards that dream. It, it opens everything up and makes it possible for, for you. So I definitely think that there is, um, there's a bunch of moms in my group right now who are just like, I actually enjoy homeschooling. Not all of them.

Shannon Mattern: Yes.

Tasha Booth: A good chunk of them are like, I'm really enjoying this. And I'm getting to spend more time with my kids. How do I make this work in the longterm? And I'm like, okay, let's start creating

Tasha Booth: A plan. And then let's work your plan little by little day after day. So what's a tip

Shannon Mattern: Fickle, um, plan that you would help someone create as they are, as they're really starting to navigate this whole new world of like, okay, now I have to go get clients and I have to figure this out. Like what's a general walkthrough of how, how you help

Shannon Mattern: People do that.

Tasha Booth: Yeah. So the first thing that I have them do is actually a meditation, which is so funny because I am not well at all. We have a bunch of very Wu clients on the agency side and I'm like, I'm the like, least

Shannon Mattern: Yeah, well either, but I like believe in the power of visualization and like mindset first. Yeah.

Tasha Booth: And that's exactly what it is. It's focusing on. What is their why? And what does that ideal day look like? Right. So when we figure out what our ideal day looks like, what we're doing, what we're not doing, who we're with, who we're not with, right. All of those pieces then would be, we're able to make decisions in terms of how we want to get to that. Why. And also it's a place to come back to when we sometimes get off of our path and start saying yes to things that are not pointing towards that, why, or that are out of alignment with that. So really have them focus on there and then take an inventory in terms of like, what are your skillsets? What are your passions? What do you enjoy doing? Like I asked VA's all the time who are coming out of corporate.

Tasha Booth: And they're like, I don't know that I have any skills that I can transfer it to the online space. And I'm like, first of all, that's a lie. But then second, what is that thing that like, your family is like, Oh my gosh, can you do XYZ? Because you're so good at this. And you do such a great job, right? Like there, there's always something, even if it's not something that you were doing in your, in your corporate job, there's always something that we can point back to and be like, were you the party planner? Were you the person that, you know, they asked to organize the seating chart because you were always so on top of it, like, what were you being asked of that can then be, be used in your new career online basically. So that's kind of how we start the thing. And then of course there's like the nitty gritty of making sure that you have solid systems and, and all of those pieces, but it really starts with having a real big great understanding of your why. And then leading from that with intention,

Shannon Mattern: I could not agree more. And I think back to when I was first starting my business, doing freelance web design, and then I pivoted to teaching people how to DIY their websites. But my why was a very, not positive. Why my, why was I hate this job? It is like energy draining and soul sucking, and I just want to escape it. And, um, it was coming from a very negative place and that, that negativity Did really drive me to change. However,

Shannon Mattern: What I discovered was that like that's not sustainable energy. Yeah. And that's like fast track to burnout. So thankfully I had a mentor that helped me understand that, like the energy that I was like growing this business with was going to follow me all the way through. And what I had started to do was recreate those same scenarios where I was beholden to my clients just the same way I was beholden to my day job. And so not having done that work of why I'm coming from like a very like aspirational, positive, like future focused place. Um, took me to a point where I was like, this isn't worth it. I'm just going to go back to my job. You know, I'm just going to quit this whole side hustle thing. And because this is, this doesn't feel like the freedom that I, that I thought it would. Right. And it was all my mindset was all backwards about, no,

Tasha Booth: I think that's one of the other reasons why I started the agency when I went the agency route, because one of my big why's is being able to say yes to things. And for me that means being able to say yes, to traveling with my husband, deciding we're going to fly to San Diego for the weekend or something like that. Being able to go on a long lunch with him or something. And when I was only a solo preneur, that was hard, you know, because I had clients that were like, but I need you to check my inbox, but I need you to send this email out, that sort of thing. So that opened up when I was thinking about, okay, like, I don't want to be at my desk all the time of the Beck and call of clients. How can I make this work in a way that is intentional for me that really opened it up in terms of building an agency as well.

Shannon Mattern: Yeah. It's like, it's a win, win. It's a win it's for you, for your clients, for the people in your agency. It's like, it's not just on one person's shoulders too, to carry everything. So I just, I, I love that. And after, after I realized what I was doing to myself, you know, forming that really strong, why, which is very similar to yours, which is why it was just like, I resonate so much with, with what you're, what you're saying is just like, that's, you know, if we're going to be in business for ourselves, like why not create something where we can live a full and rich life, you know, and define it the way that we want to, um, rather than like, like I said, just kind of recreating a day job for ourselves. Exactly. Yeah. So, so good. So what are some of the challenges that you see, um, with, you know, people that you're coaching and mentoring? Like, what are some of the common, I think we touched on a couple of them, but some of the common roadblocks that you see to them really, really getting started. Yeah. So

Tasha Booth: I think one of the other things, most of it in terms of getting started definitely comes down to mindset. Right. But it manifests itself in a lot of different ways. So one of those ways is, um, basically low-balling their offers, you know, and their pricing and their packages and everything. And I tell this story all the time, even though it's super embarrassing, but when I first, first started, I, my, my initial like offer was fi no, it was 10 hours worth of work for $50. So $5 an hour, I did that for two months and it was awful. Like I want it to burn down my business. Right. But what came out of that was an understanding of, I want quality clients who are going to treat me well, who are going to value, um, you know, my services and everything. And I, that means that I start with valuing myself and valuing myself and what I can bring to the table for them.

Tasha Booth: Um, so getting over that mindset, hump of nobody's going to pay this. And so a lot of times what I have them do is make a list of the people that they know who are charging more than they're charging. Because if we just make that list, then it's not impossible. There's other people doing it. Right. So then it's a matter of, well, it's not impossible for them. So it's definitely not impossible for you. So how do we actually get you to take those first few steps in term in terms of making what you want to make in getting what you should be making in your business?

Shannon Mattern: I did the same thing. Only different. It was, I charged my $25 an hour or whatever it was back then, but I didn't bill for all the time that I worked. Cause I'm like, Oh, well I said it was going to take four hours, but it took eight hours. I don't feel like I can charge for the other four hours. I'm just going to bill for this. And then like, when I would add it all up, it's like, Oh, I'm making less than I made scooping ice cream. There's old. Like, how is this gonna work? How am I ever going to quit my day job for this? So I don't know if it's like, I hope that that's just not a Rite of passage for every entrepreneur. I think if you're, if you're trying to go it alone, it probably is. But if you get help from people who have really here, like you who are really here to just guide you through the whole process so that you don't have to have those experiences that kind of like take your energy away.

Tasha Booth: Yeah, I totally, yeah. I totally advocate for, you know, a course or coaching or something like that, even when you're first starting, because I'm just like, to me, I liken it to walking through the woods in the dark with either a guide who has been on that same path, you know, a million times verse you who's doing it the first time alone. Right. They can tell you like, Oh, hop over this rock. Don't, you know, don't cross over here, like watch out for this puddle. And so having that person,

Tasha Booth: Whether it be in a group program or one on one coaching is just so helpful to be able to get over those stumbling blocks a lot faster.

Shannon Mattern: Yeah. So I want to switch gears and ask you about your podcast. Why did you decide to start the house? She did that podcast. Yes.

Tasha Booth: So I started my podcast because I was tired of blogging. I did want to do it right.

Tasha Booth: And I was not consistent with it. Yeah. And it was, you know, to be totally honest, it really was for marketing purposes. Like it was intentional around marketing. I knew that I needed some kind of a long form content. And I knew that I wasn't like, even though I put it on my calendar and said I was going to do it and everything, I was not going to blog. And so, yeah, it just, um, I really love talking to people clearly, we're having a great conversation, you know? And, and so it made sense to me to start the podcast.

Shannon Mattern: I think one of the things for me starting this podcast was very similar to, it's like, Oh, I know I should be blogging. I need to write some WordPress tutorials. I don't want to know. But then I had this, um, I had this experience of, of quitting my day job, starting the business.

Shannon Mattern: And like all of the lessons learned from just like growing the business that I like wasn't teaching. Like I was teaching DIY web design. So that's a totally different topic, but I'm like, I need an outlet to tell this story of this transition from side hustle, to self employed and all the crazy stuff that went on in my head and how I worked through all the mindset stuff. And that's really where this podcast started. But then when I started bringing on guests, I was like, okay, I could do this all day is, is like one of the, one of the, my greatest joys or things I enjoy most about my business is just getting to hear the stories of other people who have gone through that journey themselves. And just the relationships that you build from having a podcast that you have guests on rather than just kind of sitting in your office, just like writing blog posts, very solo and, and isolating really, you know, it can be kind of, well, you have a team of 22, me and my dog. She doesn't really talk to me that much kind of lonely doing this. I just, I, I think it's for, for people listening that are like, I just don't want to blog. Like if you like having conversations with people about things in your industry, you know, doing a podcast, it's not that technical, right. Yeah,

Tasha Booth: Exactly. Yeah. I totally agree. And when I first started, I was like, Oh,

Tasha Booth: I'll have guest episodes every like three or four weeks. And now I think I've done like one solo episode my entire season, because I just, I get so many amazing guests who have so many amazing stories. And my

Tasha Booth: Episodes are really, really short they're between like 12 and 20 minutes long. Um, so, you know, they're, and they're very action packed. And so we don't have a ton of time to like talk about things usually, but at the same time, it's like just enough that like, everybody's like, no, now I want to go and listen to more of their stuff or whatever, you know? It's yeah. The conversations are so cool.

Shannon Mattern: So what are some of the, like your favorite stories from your podcast? Oh, so one is, um, I, and I'm going to get her name wrong, but I think it's, um, Shannon, I forget her last name, but she and her husband started belay, which is a virtual support agency in a different way from mine, but I had her on and just their story of how they started their business, not even 10 years ago. And now their business has a hundred million dollar valuation.

Shannon Mattern: Yeah. Hundred million dollar. You guys can

Tasha Booth: That they just got really bad out and just the intentionality around not just building their business, but how they kept their family to the center of it. Like she just tells all of her stories. So, so well, in terms of, you know, like Lee, her, her leaving corporate America as well. Um, so yeah, she's probably one of my favorite guests. I think all of them just have so many interesting pieces like of what they do and also how they teach their brilliance. Um, because a lot of our episodes are around like a certain tech tool or a certain, you know, business tip. So how they teach that and I'm like, wow, I never thought of it that way, but that's brilliant. And now I'm going to use that in the future. I love that you just brought up tech tools because I think that's, well, that's obviously like what I do is teach people to DIY because one of the things that I, um, I am very passionate about is just like making sure people are empowered in their business and that no Tech's ever going to hold them back.

Tasha Booth: But there is a point at which you need to, if you really want to scale, you really want to grow. You have to let that go. So tell me like what, in your opinion is like the perfect time for someone to come like start bringing in help in their business? Well, I feel like it's the tipping point at which they're like almost not able to grow any more because they're spending so much time on the admin pieces or the backends of things or updating things or creating landing pages. All of those things that are important in our business, but are probably not the reason why they started their business to begin with. And second of all, it's not really their zone of genius, right? Sometimes it's not even their zone of competence and somebody else could do that wall. They're creating an additional revenue stream or ROI or taking on another coaching client or whatever it is that they love. And they do really well. Um, we, and normally our clients, especially our coaching come to us

Tasha Booth: When they're already over a hundred thousand dollars. So they're making significant money in their business. But when we look at the backend of their business, they've piecemealed everything together, you know, and it's a mess back there. And, and so, you know, once we clean up everything for them, they're able to just streamline the whole process. So a lot of the times, like I think people are worried that they're going to have this huge expense in terms of having to hire somebody for 10 or 20 hours a week. If you have really great systems and some automation in your business, it can be somebody for five hours a week that can do wonders for opening up that space and time for you to be able to do what you love.

Shannon Mattern: I love how you just said that because when you do, when you have things like band dated together with rubber bands and staples, and it takes you five times longer to get anything done, because I have so many different things going on, if you have some really streamlined backend systems, and then you have, like you said, standard operating procedures for all of the things that you do, then you can just really like hand it off.

Shannon Mattern: It's like, here's the part that only I could do, which is record the podcast to like, right, take this to, to finish it. And like voila magically gets published on this state and I didn't even have to do anything. It's the best. It's the best feeling. So in your agency, you guys, you guys are online business managers as well as virtual assistant support, is that correct?

Tasha Booth: Yes. So our agency has, and I'm going to forget somebody, but we have copywriters. We have Facebook ad strategists. We have graphic designers. We have podcasts, editors, podcast managers, virtual assistants, project managers, I think that's everyone.

Shannon Mattern: So if I'm an online business owner and I'm just like, I want to launch a course and I have this idea to launch a course, like, is it that they come to your agency and you sit down with them and you help them figure out that whole plan from beginning to end or do they figure out the whole plan and then bring it to you.

Tasha Booth: So it's kind of in between that. So usually when they come to us, they already know their course idea. They have their course laid out. They're at the point where they're recording their course. And now it's time to think about launching their course. So we help them with a strategy piece, the project management piece, and then all of the implementation, you know, the sales pages. Thank you, pages all the tech behind that and stuff as well in getting their course launched and out into the world, which,

Shannon Mattern: because you would be shocked to know how many different pieces there, but there's so many, like I have spreadsheets of like, here's all the pages related to just like all of the things like there's so many moving pieces and parts. And if you, if tech is not your first love or language, it can be, ah, it can, it can feel like it's not worth it sometimes.

Shannon Mattern: Or that you're, that it's kind of like how you're just, you're just constantly draining your energy and your business when, when you really love to do this thing over here, but you're stuck doing all of this stuff that you're just like, can't we just get to the part where I'm working with the clients.

Tasha Booth: Right. Exactly. And the other thing that we see so often is that people will have amazing course ideas that they haven't acted on for like a year or more. And when I ask them, why not? They're like, well, you know, I recorded everything. And then I went to put the tech together and I froze and I had no idea what I was doing. So I just stopped doing all of it. And I'm like, no, don't do that. You know, like we could have done it. We literally have one of our packages is that we set up your entire course tech in a day, in one day.

Tasha Booth: So I'm like, we could have helped you, you know, so stopping, like stopping yourself from helping others because you've hit kind of a roadblock in what you feel competent in and what you feel good in doing. There are people out there who can definitely help you, including Nate. I am going to link this course, set up a tech in a day package in the show notes, because this is where I see, you know, we're having these conversations in one of my courses right now. It's like, you know, I teach people how to DIY their website. I teach them how to build relationships, market themselves, build their email list, all of this stuff. And then they're getting to the point where it's like, okay, now I'm ready to make the software, make this course. And they are, there are so many options out there and more and more are coming in online every day.

Shannon Mattern: It's like, I used to be like, yep. I know all the, all the platforms I know which ones I think are, you know, scalable. I know the ones that I think I wouldn't mess with now. There's just so many that I'm like, I don't even know anymore. So if I don't know, I can see why you're overwhelmed and they, they really just need that person to just take them by the hand and do it for you. And even, even, even an online course to teach you how to build your online course can be a little bit overwhelming. Right? There's so many nuances to, to what is the right thing for this person based on what their courses, how they're delivering it, all of that stuff. So it really, I really think that it makes sense too, if you're not techie, if that's not your thing to get some help for that, because you know this, because you do this on the one side of your business, and I know this like online courses are one of the most amazing, awesome things you can do in your business.

Tasha Booth: They really, really are. They're there. They can be so amazing. And yet, you know, I still remember

Tasha Booth: My first few sales that came in, you know, and the fact that like, I could be getting my nails done or sleeping, you know, and making money. Like, that's pretty incredible.

Shannon Mattern: I want to talk a little bit more about that because I don't know about you, but I had some mindset issues with that. I'm still continuing to work through these, but recently I had the revelation, especially starting off kind of as a service provider and then moving, you know, moving to more courses and training this. And just even just like the employee mindset that was baked into me, um, a long time ago that like, if I'm not like I don't deserve this money because I haven't been working.

Tasha Booth: Mm yeah. Yeah.

Shannon Mattern: So what I came to realize is like, Oh no, it's okay to make money off of my intellectual property, regardless of where I'm sitting right now, getting my nails done or whatever.

Tasha Booth: Right. Well, have you seen that meme? That goes something like, you know, you're not paying me for the 10 hours. It takes to do XYZ. You're paying me for the 10 years. It took me to learn how to do XYZ. And I think that that's so true. And we forget that, that it goes back to the, what is easy for us is not easy for everybody else and to be compensated for that is totally fine. We don't, you know, like we don't think about that in terms of plumbers or any other profession. We're like, Oh, I'm not a plumber. I don't know how to fix this. Let me pay somebody else. It's the same thing just on the, in the online space.

Shannon Mattern: Yeah. And then you're, and then you're kind of like going above and beyond to like package this up for them and make it available to them on demand at their convenience, whenever it works for them. So that it's like, Oh, they don't have to wait on you. They don't have to get on your schedule. They don't, you know, it's not, it's not. So that's like even more valuable sometimes to them. Then, you know, the one on one time that they have to wait four weeks to get on your list or whatever it is to like at the time with you. So I've been really having a, a, I spent a lot of time, intentional time just like working on my, like, what do I really think about this? Why do I feel bad when I have a good month? Because I didn't work hard and that's just messed up and I'm five years into this and I need to get over that part.

Tasha Booth: It's totally like every, you know, I know so many people who have the same mindset thing, so it totally makes sense.

Shannon Mattern: Uh, I love talking about the mindset stuff, sort of what are some, this is a question that I ask everybody that comes on the show and that's like, what belief about yourself? Did you have to change to get where you are today?

Tasha Booth: Oh, I think I had to change a belief that there's only like there is a limit to what is possible. Like there is a limit to the possibility in me and I, you know, I know that we mentioned it before, but I think that that is a widely held belief in the virtual assistant community and it was like, once I started getting to a certain level of income, there were fewer people who were doing it. So it was like, Oh, well this is the highest out, you know, I'll go. And then I'd go a little higher and I'd be like, this is definitely the highest, you know? And then now it's like, well, why can't I be like that hundred million dollar company that I, you know, that I interviewed the CEO of like, why isn't that possible for me? And the answer is, it's not, you know, it's not impossible for me. Um, but yeah, definitely my, my own upper limits and, and decisions about what I, and I think it is a, what I was worthy of thing, you know? Um, and then because of that, what was possible?

Shannon Mattern: So that's so good. Cause like the, you know, just even thinking like, Oh, I could create a hundred million dollar business just like, that does not compute right now, you know? Yeah. But people have done it. So that means it's possible to know. So how do you, how do you get from where your brain is expanded to now to, you know, get it getting there. And it's, it's hearing the stories of people who have done it, you know, learning from the people who have done.

Tasha Booth: Yeah. Making sure that you surround yourself with people who have done it. I know that any of the mastermind groups I've been in, like I've always liked being the smaller fish in the larger pond because I don't like being a small fish. Right. So it's challenging me to grow. It's taking that little bit of competitiveness in me and saying, I'm going to use this positively to work on myself and work on my business to get to the place where all of these other fish are.

Shannon Mattern: Oh yeah. It's a it's. And it's all just like managing your mind, mind too. Well, for me, it's managing my mind because I recently joined a mastermind that had has entrepreneurs in it where I'm like, I've been wanting to get to that level for so many years. And then I go in and I see, I see what they're doing, the numbers, how they're doing all of the things. But the biggest thing for me is like how they think, how they operate, how they talk, what they consider a risk versus what I consider a risk and how that's like a night and day. And it's just fascinating to me too. Um, I think, I think it can really easily if you, if you weren't paying attention to your mindset to be like comparing and how like I'll never get there or that type of thing, which I think the five years ago, Shannon was definitely like, you know, not mentally tough in that way.

Shannon Mattern: And now coming up on like, okay, if they can do it, I can do it. I need to pay attention as the right questions, be open to criticism or hard questions and all of those things. And that can't happen if you're just by yourself in your office, not, not opening yourself up to any of those experiences. Yeah. I agree. Definitely. Oh my gosh. So, um, couple more questions for you. Um, what advice would you give someone who is just getting started in their business and who is struggling to get traction with getting clients?

Tasha Booth: So I think the biggest thing that was a game changer for me was getting out there and introducing myself to people. I spent all of 2018 doing 52 coffee chats in 52 weeks. And that to this day, I have people who were for me from those coffee chats, like to this day, you know, who have become lifelong friends and, um, lifelong referral partners and that sort of thing.

Tasha Booth: And I think that we need to like forget about, or we, we often forget about the fact that, you know, we're talking, we feel like we're talking about our business all the time, but most people aren't hearing about our business all the time. So it's our responsibility to step up and be talking about our business to different people all the time. And just not just like, not in a salesy way, but just in a show up and let people know what you do. There's still so many times like I'll post on my personal Facebook page about something in my business. And one of my Facebook friends is like, Oh, I didn't know you did that. And I'm like, how does no? Like how is there anyone left in my, in my sphere that doesn't know what I do, but that just goes to show, like, even if you think you're talking about your business until you're blue in the face, you can probably do it a little bit more.

Shannon Mattern: Uh, I love that. And I think, you know, in the online marketing space, especially, it's very, um, it's very impersonal the marketing that we do, you know, that we're taught to do. It's like, Oh, blog, Facebook ads, SEO built an Instagram following. And, and it's, um, very impersonal, right? It's like, Oh, we're being, we're being ourselves and putting ourselves out there, but we're not actually like really engaging with people on a deeper level. And I love, um, I love that. You're like, I talked to one person a week here, one actual person with a real conversation. I built that relationship and I'm sure it learned what they do. You shared what you did, you figured out, like, how can we support each other? How can we support each other, all of that stuff? And I just there's, there's no substitute for like relationship building when it comes to marketing.

Shannon Mattern: I think that, that's the one thing that transcends the technology, the algorithms, the, you know, all of that can change. But if you know how to like, actually have like reach out to someone and introduce yourself, make a connection at value, um, that can happen, you know, regardless of what platform you use to reach out. Yeah, exactly. Oh, I that's such good advice. And I think that, um, I think that, you know, we overcomplicate it sometimes, you know?

: Totally do. Yeah. Sorry. No, I was going to say in the bottom line is that people like to work with people that they enjoy, you know, that they like as people. So when you can make those connections to real people on a real human to human connection, like they will remember you. Oh my gosh. Yes. So for those listeners who are thinking that they want to hire someone to help them finally start accomplishing all these things that they have been putting off, because it just seems overwhelming and daunting to build the systems, um, you know, or they just want more time to like, enjoy life.

Shannon Mattern: Like where can they go to learn more about the agency side of your business? Yeah. So they can head on over to the launch, gil.com, that's our website. And that's the easiest place to connect with me. And all my social links are there and everything as well. And then for those listeners that are like, I do not want to go back to that office. I want to figure out how to get clients, make like real money and have that freedom and flexibility and financial independence, but they don't want to like be a life coach or, you know, all of that. They just want to provide a service. Where can they go to learn more about how to get started doing that? Yeah. So they can go to Tasha booth.com for that. And then I hang out on Instagram a lot under my, uh, Tasha booth account, which is the Tasha booth I'm on Instagram.

Shannon Mattern: So that is definitely a fun place to hang out with me. That's awesome. And you also have a freebie for us that I will link up in the show notes. Can you tell us about that?

Tasha Booth: Yes. So one of the things I'm on the coaching or the course side, specifically that I hear all the time is like, I don't even know where I would start with the project plan. And so that a lot of overwhelm comes when they're creating a course. And then they realize like, Oh, I have to do all these other things. So we created a freebie that is an SOP template specifically that helps people lay out, like what sections of the project plan should they really be focused on and gives them kind of some tips and tricks that we use in order to build out our project plans for our clients. So, yeah, that's, that's what it is.

Shannon Mattern: Oh, that's awesome. I'll link all of this up in the show notes. Um, I thank you so much for being here. This is an awesome conversation. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. So I'll link everything up. Go check out, Tasha, follow her on Instagram, whichever side of the coin. You fall on four for the services that she offers. Go check them out. And I just really appreciate it. Thank you.