Boost your confidence with groups and masterminds with Susan Epstein – ep 65

Mostafa Hosseini    0:01 

And we’re live welcome data conference for entrepreneurs. My name is Mostafa Hosseini  , your host for the show at dating confidence we share tips and strategies and actionable advice that you could use to boost your confidence in different areas of business such as mindset sales and marketing, finances, health and wellness. There’s so many different areas. I have an amazing guest today Susan Epstein. Welcome, Susan.

Susan Epstein  0:26 

Thanks for having me. I’m excited. Great to have

Mostafa Hosseini    0:29 

you. Just to remind your gang, please to like and subscribe to the show on whichever channel you’re on, whether in your apple podcasts or YouTube, or on Facebook in different channels if you have any questions about what we talked about, and our topic today is how to boost your confidence with groups and Masterminds, which is a very important topic.

 Pop your questions as a comment in the chat in the comment boxes. And we’ll do our best to cover your questions and answer your questions. And don’t forget again to lock like subscribe, questions tag a friend who could benefit from this conversation. And that is it. welcome Susan. How’s your day going?

Susan Epstein  1:12 

I’m having a great day. How about you?

Mostafa Hosseini    1:15 

Very good. So let me do the proper introduction, Susan. And then we’re going to, you know, get to a very interesting conversation here. So isn’t off Stein is the founder of highly profitable practice, which provides coaching and mentoring services to seasoned women professionals who want to scale their coaching business, Susan currently offers coaching programs that focus on designing, creating and filling up groups and Masterminds, including the best enrollment strategies.

Susan, notice that women in particular want to be their own boss and venture into entrepreneurship, but often don’t know how to leverage their time so that they can get out of the weeds of doing everything in their business. This mindset prevents them from becoming the CEO of their business and creating long term financial stability. Welcome again.

So Susan, what is your story behind what you’re doing these days?

Susan Epstein  2:14 

The long story, the Reader’s Digest story.

Mostafa Hosseini    2:18 

We had a good hour. So yeah, I’ll give you some details on that, please.

Susan Epstein  2:22 

So, you know, like you, when you were introducing me and talking about managing time and women and financial stuff, it was always important to me to be on top of that, um, I used to be a psychotherapist. And I realized early on that I was trading dollars for hours, you know, I wouldn’t be seeing nine people a day, and literally passing out at the end of the day.

And it was really a grind, it really, really was a grind. And I did that for a very, very long time. And I did it. So you know, I could have, you know, income that I wanted. But at the end of the day, it didn’t even provide me the income that I wanted, really, or the flexibility. So I decided to get into coaching because I thought coaching would give me you know, more of that.

And also coaching wasn’t something I had to have an office for, because I could do it from my house. And this was about 18 years ago, there was no video like today. But still, we had instant teleseminar. And we had, you know, phones, which hardly any of us use anymore. We use zoom all the time now talk to everybody in our lives. But it was it was really incredible.

I switched over and started doing parent coaching. And I realized was that a lot of women were coming to me and asking me like how do you have this really great business where you get to be with your kids, and you get to not work a lot and you get to have people help you and you seem like you guys are doing pretty good financially. And I also you know early on, recognize that if I could have more people sharing time in an hour, that meant more time for me and the other hours.

So I always have done groups that has just been like my way of being able to double triple my my revenues, but also more importantly, to have time to do other things that I enjoy, like going to the beach or gardening or making pizza or doing the things that I like to do. So that’s really, you know, so important that we don’t work all the time.

Mostafa Hosseini    4:37 

Susan, before I forget, I apologize if I butchered your last name. How do you pronounce your last name?

Susan Epstein  4:43 

Epstein Epstein. You didn’t really it wasn’t that bad, actually.

Mostafa Hosseini    4:48 

Okay. All right. So I thought I apologize if I did. Alright, love it. So working with groups and to leverage your time which is very important. I mean, A lot of business owners have this dream of starting their own business to do what they want.

And they end up working 60 to 80 hours a week. And at the end of the day, a lot of them don’t build what they want. And so I love what you’ve done there. That is amazing. And so tell us about what you do and who you serve and what you do for them.

Susan Epstein  5:20 

So I generally work with, like you said, women, we do have men that come as well. But you know, I would say, primarily women come, and the people that come are usually in three different boxes, I would say they were either therapists like myself, who don’t want to do fee for service anymore.

They might be massage therapist, you know, other type of therapy that requires that medical model of implementation and serving, or they might be have been in corporate, and they’re just done with being in a corporation, and they want to be their own boss, and they’ve had some experience training and coaching in their jobs.

And also, other people might be like, people that were teachers, or just people that feel like they want to, you know, help others. We don’t focus on how to coach, we assume that when you get to us, you’ve already got your training, we help you get into action and have clients. That’s where we shine.

And we think that the fastest way for you to make income in your business is to start with a group. Not start with trying to get 10, one on one clients.

Mostafa Hosseini    6:38 

I like that approach a lot. Huh?

Susan Epstein  6:44 

I am the opposite.

Mostafa Hosseini    6:46 

Tell us the story in the wall.

Susan Epstein  6:50 

So anybody who’s ever done it, and I’m sure that people are listening right now who are coaches, you get your first client. It’s so exciting, you know, and maybe we’re paying you $1,000 a month and you got your price and you’re just feeling really good.

And you sign them up for 12 months, and you’re feeling even better, then maybe you get another one because you’re on a roll. And maybe you get a third one, then the first one comes to you and says you know what, I, my dog got hit by a car, I’ve got to go to the vet, I can’t pay you Can we pause it or something like that.

They’re over here, then you’re here. And you’re management, you’re trying to manage these two, and you ran out of people to talk to because you’ve been going through everybody that you know, and then you’re trying to find the next person. So you’re always in enrollment, and you’re always playing Whack a Mole.

It’s just, it’s Chucky Cheese, you know that game, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, you get to one goes down, you get three one goes down. It is very, very difficult to sustain 10 high paying clients at once, unless you are a superhero. You know, unless you’re speaking to large crowds, unless you’re doing live events. But if you’re just, you know, a solo entrepreneur, maybe with a VA, that is going to be a long, hard road.

On the flip side, if I said do you think you could find 10 people to give you $200? You’d say yeah, nicely. If they could commit to a year with you for the $200 a month to have an amazing experience inside that with your where they’re sharing. They’re sharing you with each other. You have just made what $24,000? Yeah, yes.

Mostafa Hosseini    8:44 

So a lot easier. Right?

Susan Epstein  8:46 

Um, and so my model is start a group. And only do that. And here’s the magic. You want me to tell you the magic.

Mostafa Hosseini    8:59 

Please do.

Susan Epstein  9:00 

So you’re you get your fourth person into your group. And it’s going really well because you’re so excited. And it’s a pilot and you’re telling them all about it. And then you go and you make the offer to the next person and they’re like, I don’t like groups. Mustapha.

Can I just work with you one on one? Magic boom, now you’ve got your person. They’re warmed up. They love you. They they have asked to be your client. You haven’t chased them, you haven’t had to enroll them. You only ask them to give you $200 And now they want to give you $10,000.

Mostafa Hosseini    9:32 

So do you say yes or no?

Susan Epstein  9:33 

Of course you say yes. Okay, right. Because I’m not telling you not to get one on one clients. You should have some of those. But you should have them by you’re not chasing them. You should have them by default.

They should come to you and say I want you or okay three months into your group. This happened to me all the time. Susan, Susan, can I talk to you after sure what’s up? Can I buy an hour Have your time alone? Don’t do that. Do you want to talk about doing one on one coaching and you can keep the group to? Yes, boom, add on.

Mostafa Hosseini    10:11 

Nice,

Susan Epstein  10:12 

over and over and over and over again. So now you’ve got your 24,000. If you just even kept it to 10 people, you’ve got people upselling themselves into programs because they are enamored with you. And they that you’re really helping them move and they want to go faster.

And at the end of that year, you were very capable of hitting six figures, hitting six figures the other way. Very, very hard. So, yes, the math in the mindset, that’s

Mostafa Hosseini    10:43 

what Absolutely. And it’s, and I love that it’s leveraged. And it’s in a coaching world, it’s easier to have less work to do. And people all support each other. And we’re going to dig more into it. So why is it that you think that masterminds and group coaching and all that helps you increase your confidence?

Susan Epstein  11:06 

A lot of people, sometimes when I teach them about this method, they’re like, I never let a group, I’m nervous to talk in front of people. So you practice it a few times, you learn how to facilitate, it just builds that muscle. And it prepares you to even go out and do webinars later, or to do speaking in person when you can.

And it just gives you that authority, because you’re leading the group, and people are looking up to you, and it just builds your leadership. Yeah, really safe way to to build that experience, because it’s contained in a Zoom Room with not that many people, right, versus standing on a stage in front of 100. Got it? Yeah.

Mostafa Hosseini    11:50 

Hmm. Yeah. And I like the fact that when people work in a group environment, there is a group wisdom and the collective wisdom. Yeah. And, and as the leader, you don’t have to figure everything out on your own.

No, right. It’s like, what do you guys think? And obviously, people think, and they have opinions, and they have experiences, and that’s really good and powerful. Hmm. How is your experience with groups and masterminds? Let what how was your experience? How did it change? And why did you come up with this whole? What was your personal experience?

Susan Epstein  12:28 

So I, I, I’m a, I’m a connector, you know, I love to be around people. And I love to be in groups. And I, even when I had my first child, I was living in California, in San Francisco, and I didn’t want to do it alone. And my parents were on the East Coast. And I looked for a community with other mothers with babies. And I joined this thing called Birth ways.

And every week, we went and we laid our babies on the floor. And we, the eight of us talked together, and then we formed a babysitting Co Op. And I just felt like that support was just so essential. When I was doing something new in my life, that I needed guidance, and I didn’t have my family, you know, so there was for me, that was early on that I that I liked that kind of support.

Um, later, when I, I’ve been in book clubs, you know, many, many people have done that kind of thing. And it’s just such a no, there’s something about being or volunteering for in a nonprofit and being with a team. You know, if you’ve been in a corporation, and you’ve been on a team, and you get the project done, there’s it’s very rewarding, doing something together. And using everyone’s minds in the brainstorming, it’s just incredibly powerful.

Yeah, for personal transformation, or for work or whatever you’re doing it for. So for me, when I was getting coaching for my self, I joined a mastermind, I joined a very big mastermind. And I was, you know, I was financed up the wazoo for the mastermind, it was day one. And I went out to San Diego, like every single month to participate live in the mastermind, and I met some amazing people.

And we partnered and we did a lot of things, and it was huge growth. And I will tell you that the people in that mastermind, there are probably six, they were probably 20. And at the time, they’re six that I have become so incredibly close to that they are my friends for life. So it has given me that kind of not just when I’m in it, but long lasting friendships, like the kinds that you make when you’re a child or the kind that you make when you go to college.

It’s It’s that when you really are being vulnerable with people, you you connect with them on such a deep level that you just care about each other. Yeah, you want to stay in contact and I do a lot of buddy coaching with those people that I was connected to 10 years ago. I’m still talking to them.

Mostafa Hosseini    14:56 

Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, people get to know each other and they get it attached to each other. Yes. Same experience with me. Like, as social animals that we are. It’s very hard to operate alone. Yeah. And this whole entrepreneurial world is so lonely. And so difficult to so many things and so many hats to wear to doing it alone. It’s

Susan Epstein  15:21 

just, I know.

Mostafa Hosseini    15:24 

The rate for mental issues. If entrepreneurs is about 70%, average people, it’s like 20% of an entrepreneur is 70%.

Susan Epstein  15:37 

Right now, I know. It’s crazy. Well, it’s a roller coaster. It is hard, because you’re going to have a great day. And then you’re going to have a not so great day, huh? Talk in your head. And you need to talk to somebody to get the talk out of your head.

Mostafa Hosseini    15:54 

So Oh, my God. Yes. Yeah, we’ve experienced a lot different different emotions, like within a 12 hour span or in 24 hours. I’m good. I’m not good. I’m good or not good. Oh, it’s not good. Oh, I feel amazing. I mean, you showed up and you were glowing.

And it could be that I get an email or you get an email right after this. You open it up, you’re like, Oh, my God. Yeah, it’s crazy.

Susan Epstein  16:22 

It’s a total. I mean, I think the roller coaster metaphor is probably perfect for it.

Mostafa Hosseini    16:28 

Although I like roller coasters, it’s like, Alright, let me ask you a question. Yeah. How do you get to like this roller coaster? Right? What is your tip?

Susan Epstein  16:40 

I have this practice that I do. When I sit down in the morning. And it’s nothing like formal or anything, but it’s, I just say to myself, I am unattached, I am calm. I am here to serve people, I am going to have a great day. And I am I can’t control it all.

I can only do my best. And my best is not over talking people not interrupting them letting people be heard, listening. And then if there’s a fit, then making that bridge and offering that. Or if I’m coaching a client really getting asking a lot more questions so that I’m not giving them an answer to something that they didn’t ask. And that landing, so to speak.

So always being I think, staying present. And I’m doing this because for me, this is what I do. I help people helping people my whole life. And yes, I would probably do it for free. I’m not going to anymore, because you know, I’m just not there. But it’s what, it’s who I am. And it’s what I do. So love it. That’s I guess I don’t know if I explained it.

Mostafa Hosseini    18:08 

Yeah, I like how you described it. You see, they’re like I’m on attached to what happens. I can’t control everything. Right? Yeah, I’ve had similar experience where I’m like, I gave up trying to control everything. Because I simply can’t I mean, we try. Yeah. And then it drives us crazy with that whole mental side of things, right? And then we wear ourselves out.

And I think those people that are smart like you, they’re like, alright, I better give up sooner than later because I really can’t control everything. So what are some myths around masterminds and coaching?

Susan Epstein  18:49 

Oh, I love this one. People think that they have to teach curriculum in a mastermind or coaching group. You don’t have to do anything. You can just be in the Gestalt like, be there. Process. Who needs help today? Where are you stuck?

What what what are you going through? What have you accomplished in the past week? Where do you want to go next week? What can we what can we support you with to have any courses dripping through it? I think a lot of people come to me and they’re like, but I could never do that.

Because I don’t have material or content. And I’m like, Why do you even want that? That’s a lot of work. So, people when you ask people at the end of a mastermind, if you’re doing content and q&a, what they liked the best and you say what was the most valuable and they’re like, the part where she said that because I was having the same problem.

And now I know I’m not alone. That is those are the the empowering moments, right? Not when I was teaching Someone had to use Pay Pal. I mean, yeah, that was helpful. But you can watch a YouTube on that. Yeah, it’s the, it’s the the transforming of moments, the shifts, those are what’s important.

So if you don’t do that with people, then they’re going to be multitasking during your group. So don’t bore them with training, if you want to do a training, do 10 minutes in the beginning and use it as a theme to talk about stuff during the group. But don’t drip your content through it. And, and people also think this is another one.

They think that they can’t add people to a group that already exists, because they think they have to do content. And because they don’t know how to catch people up on the content they’ve already delivered. How do you deal with that? You don’t teach content. Alright, so you give them you could give them your course. Do it on your own, come to the group, ask questions.

But that each group is not dependent on the last week. You know, the group that we’re in together, we just come in every it’s like a new experience each time. It’s like that, rather than I’m here to learn how to do something, go it create a course, if you want to teach people a problem. But if you want to do a mastermind, that’s about our brains, like you want to do group coaching, it’s about a way to offer one on one coaching to a lot of people at the same time, so they can afford it.

 And so you can have more time to do the things you love. group coaching, is one on one coaching times 10 in the room?

Mostafa Hosseini    21:51 

Mm hmm.

Susan Epstein  21:52 

That’s my model.

Mostafa Hosseini    21:53 

Yeah, I love it. So what do you what is that? What is it that we we promised to people? And so what I’m hearing is Dawn, Dawn, Dawn promise a curriculum, do we then promise support? Is that what it is,

Susan Epstein  22:07 

we teach you how to design and create an invite, and fill and how to retain people so they don’t leave, and how to continue to add people and add value and keep it fresh. My group, I have two groups right now.

The first one has been running since January 12 2016. Never stopped. We we have a 50 current members right now, in that group 50. That’s one group. My goal this year is to get it to 100. That’s my new goal. Because I really want to help a lot more people. The other group that I have I started a year later, it’s a high end group. And I purposely keep that one a bit smaller. But I do add a couple of people, maybe five or six new people in here.

But I have people in my group that have stayed for two or three years. And that group has about 20 people in it. It’s for people who aren’t, you know, over six figures and beyond. It’s it’s a bit of a different experience than the other one. But these groups, I never have to create another group, I just have to enroll and pop them into whichever one is the right one for them. All right, so

Mostafa Hosseini    23:27 

what’s your take on a number of people in the group? How many people should be in a group should be should we have a cap? And how do we deal with people that say, Oh, I’m a member, but I didn’t get enough time or I didn’t get to share or whatnot?

Susan Epstein  23:42 

So I I love that question. Because that should be your best problem.

Mostafa Hosseini    23:50 

Okay, good. Well, I guess,

Susan Epstein  23:53 

oh, my God, they’re all gonna come and line up and be in my group. But it’s you got to work it like it’s not like, yes, it’s magical. But you still have to make offers enroll people and put them in the group. And you have to do all that work as as the the leader. So it, maybe if you were doing your group for three or four years, you you might be where I am.

 And I’m still not at a place in that group where we don’t have time to help everybody who wants to be helped. We have a system where we have people rate, how much time how much how urgent their question is. So we have them do that in the beginning of the call, then we organize the call and then oftentimes when you get to the person, that’s a two, they’re like, Oh, she answered my question. I don’t need help anymore. So it kind of does that.

And then people sometimes people say, Well, I’m just listening today because I want to absorb it. Or, you know, my kids are acting out something I’m not having my camera on.

And you know, the more people who have it’s, you know, people, not everybody who’s a member comes every time either.

So on the flip side, you do not want to launch a group until you have at least least eight members, at least, at least, because your next after one or two weeks, you’re going to have six, and then somebody is going to get sick and somebody is going to drop out and you’re going to have five, and then six months down the road, if you don’t add anybody else in there, you’re going to be looking at one person at the end of this thing and nine months, you’re going to be looking at yourself in the camera.

So you don’t want that you want to really overshoot. So I tell my clients to try to get at least 10 to 12 people for that initial one. So it’s a group. So worst case scenario, and a couple of months, if you didn’t have anybody, you’d still have eight people on the call if four people didn’t come, you still have a group?

Mostafa Hosseini    25:44 

You got it. Right. So question, how do you go between filling the gap between when you first sign up the first person until you get to the eighth person that might take some time?

Susan Epstein  25:58 

No, no, it’s a sprint. So um, we do it, we teach you in our program, how to do it in under three weeks. You design, you design and then you invite, there’s no sales pitch. There’s no funnels, there’s none of that stuff. It’s it’s, it’s it’s organic, it’s pilot, it’s want to come to my potluck. So we teach you how to mine through your contacts, look at the people that you want to invite. Tell everybody in, I kind of say like, if you were going to open up a dog grooming shop downtown and where you live? What would you do to get clients?

Mostafa Hosseini    26:43 

A dog grooming shop downtown?

Susan Epstein  26:45 

What would you do? The first thing that you’re you, right? Would you call everybody that you knew in your life that had a dog and said, bring your dog? And I’ll give them a free clip? Probably right. So why do we think we have to go through sales pages and funnels and all kinds of stuff? If we’re having a pilot? Why don’t we just go to our low hanging fruit?

People who told us know when we offered them $1,000 program, people that we know that we’ve met through other groups that we’ve participated in, that might be a fit for our our program, friends that we can say, I will give you a free pass. If you if you swear up and down that you will come and you will not bail on me because I need another body. So there’s you it’s not about the money for the first eight to 10 it’s about the bodies and the commitment. So that you can you stay up till midnight until you fill it. It’s it’s a decision. Yeah.

Mostafa Hosseini    27:44 

Hmm. I think those eight people then it builds your momentum to attract more people. Yeah, I have a group of eight. Do you want to join us? Right? We’ll be left out. Right. Okay. Okay.

Susan Epstein  28:00 

You know, the other thing, the other thing people do, too, that’s a mistake is that they start enrolling too far out. And people won’t give you money. If it’s too far out, they won’t commit. So if I said to you, now I have a group and it’s starting after Labor Day, you say, Well, you know, let me know, at the end of the summer. But if I said I have a group, and it’s starting on August 17, do you want in? You’re gonna say, Well, tell me more about that. Right.

So and can I get your, your payment right now? Because you’re in your, you know, the last person I’m admitting so we do a two and a half to three week invite. And then of course after, but just to get that the momentum? The people coming in? Yeah. Got it.

Mostafa Hosseini    28:45 

Um, who is who is mastermind groups and group coaching programs, not for

Susan Epstein  28:56 

it’s not for people who don’t want to work with groups. Okay? I mean, if you are uncomfortable with groups, or you just really like the one on one thing, or you’re not a people person, you know, there’s a lot of people in our space that are digital marketers, and they just like to create courses and that kind of stuff, it probably wouldn’t be for you.

Say, you know, you probably want to be a coach. You could be a teacher. I mean, teachers often like to lead, you know, groups and I do have a lot of teachers that come in. It’s great for healers, because they can give people an experience like, you know, Reiki or, or tapping or something like that. They can do it in a group. It’s very effective.

So, I think it really, if it makes you queasy, and you don’t want to do it then and you’re not sure then join one first and see if you like being in a group and watch the facilitator and learn from them. And then You know, when we bring people on into our programs, and we say, you know, you’re going to do a group. And I said, and guess what you get to be in school at the same time, because you’re going to watch how we do our groups.

And you can copy it all down and, and just see how we structure it and how we remind people and how we keep it fresh. And you’re going to get like, like, you’re not just you’re not taking a course on how to do groups, you’re going to be in an experiential thing, where you’re learning and being and experiencing. And then you can take those things and put it into the group that you create.

Mostafa Hosseini    30:30 

Very nice. Very nice. Now, what is something that no one really knows about? Offering group masterminds like some of the things that people don’t know about.

Susan Epstein  30:50 

They don’t know that it doesn’t matter when you have it. What do you mean, what time of day? People sometimes turn themselves inside out, trying to pick the perfect time for the client.

Mostafa Hosseini    31:08 

Okay, so tell me more what you mean. So let’s say. So let’s say I’m really worried if 10 o’clock is going to work for them or not,

Susan Epstein  31:15 

right? Because you live in California, and then it’s a different time on the East Coast. And doesn’t matter. Because it’s not about money. We know, it’s not about money. It’s not about time, it’s about do I want this. And I learned this a long time ago as a therapist, like I used to, you know, have evenings, and then I didn’t anymore.

And guess what they found, they figured out how to get an hour off from work and come and see me anyway. So if people want that relationship, they want to do it, they’ll, they’ll make an arrangement so that they can be there. So I say do it when you are at your best. If you’re a morning person, do your mastermind in the morning.

If you are an evening person, then do it at night. It doesn’t matter. It’s about you because you’re the one who has to lead the group. Absolutely. Yes,

Mostafa Hosseini    32:07 

absolutely. Okay. And the day doesn’t Don’t Don’t sweat it too much.

Mostafa Hosseini    32:12 

No, do it when you. Yeah, if they want a Friday, just

Mostafa Hosseini    32:19 

don’t do it on a Monday or Friday. Now,

Susan Epstein  32:21 

there’s two Mondays, there’s too many holidays, and you’ll have to keep canceling. And people get mixed up and there’ll be really upset. Friday’s nobody works. So keep it in the three days. And you’re good anytime you want. Great.

Mostafa Hosseini    32:36 

Oh, yeah. Well, you can leave, you know, sharing a lot of good, good. actionable advice here today. Now, Susan, please tell us about your gift and what you’re sharing here with us.

Susan Epstein  32:48 

Yeah, so I’m doing a training actually about what we’re talking about today. It’s called create and design your group coaching program. And we have a link where you can register, it’s for free. It’s a masterclass. And I’ll be teaching it next week. So just click the link. And you can opt in and make sure that you do the double opt in things.

So you get the reminder emails and you’re all set up and you’ll get the date and time and in your own time zone. And you can add it to your calendar and all that. And we even I think, have a thing where you can ask for text reminders if you need to be reminded. So make sure that when you register yourself,

Mostafa Hosseini    33:27 

yeah, yeah, I always sign up for the text reminder. Cuz Yeah, I always forget, it’s really good to add and last second, I forgot and I need a ton of reminders about thanks again, if you want to learn more details about how to run your own group coaching program, I mean, she just shared a brilliant, brilliant coaching model, where you don’t get hung up on signing up at one on one client. It’s more leveraged and easier to do and attract people into a group coaching program.

Join Susan’s how to design and create your own group coaching program masterclass, it is happening next week, the link is in the comments below and it is in the descriptions of the show. So go ahead and sign up. She is brilliant. And she obviously knows what she’s talking about. If you just joined us recently go in the beginning of the show or the audio part and then listen from the beginning and you’ll see a lot of you know brilliant tidbits and what you could do basically today. Actually, she you just answered a lot of my questions, which was brilliant. So, um, the link is in there and let’s move forward. Now. Let me ask you some personal questions. Is that okay? Yeah. So what’s something new that you have tried recently?

Susan Epstein  34:54 

I actually I was talking to you about this when we when we were preparing for the call. I ordered This only pizza oven. I’m very telling you about that. But maybe, yeah, it’s they make them in England or in Wales or something.

Oh, no. And it finally it came in. It’s this big pizza oven. And I watched like 20 videos on YouTube on how to do it and they make it look so easy. So I made the work. Well I sent away to Amazon and I got Italian 00 Flower because you have to use a certain flower. I didn’t know that for high heat, like 900 degrees. That’s, that can take high heat. It’s very thin flower. So I got the flower I got the yeast I made the dough. It was beautiful, though it was gorgeous.

So then we set the oven up, my husband hooked it up to the, you know, the gas tank. And because the gas gas thing outside on the deck maker, we put our first pizza. It’s called launching just like just like programs that we do you launch your pizza.

So it was my pizza. And it was like it ended up looking like a tail zone. It completely like messed up. So we pulled it out and was like half burned and half disgusting. And but we ate it anyway, because it was the first one, then we did another one. And that one came out okay, in a hole. But he still wasn’t good at the getting the PLN and turning it and getting the PLM and turning it. So then we put the third one in, and Michael did it and he put a hole in the middle of pizza.

So that was our. So we’re gonna do it again, next week. And this time, I’m not gonna make my dough as it’s the same with business, it’s, I’m not going to make my service then, because it tour. I’m going to turn the heat down. So it doesn’t cook as fast when I originally put it in. And I know I’m going to have really good pizza next week. And that’s the same way I approach my business. I try it better done than perfect. Then I do it again.

And I tweak it and then I do it again. And I tweak it and it’s making pizza is the perfect metaphor for launching master classes. I’ll tell you that. Yeah.

Mostafa Hosseini    37:02 

Making pizza is the perfect metaphor for launching master classes. Look, and as usually it takes a few times to Yeah, learn it. Yes. All right. I mean, yeah, so we didn’t work on charcoal or propane,

Susan Epstein  37:18 

propane. You can buy them with both, or you can buy them just with charcoal, charcoal or wood. But I didn’t want to mess with that. So I’m just doing that. You got to get one. We’ll make videos together. We were joking after that. We should have done the unboxing. Yeah, you shut up.

We should. And then all the mistakes we made. So it’d been like a Saturday Night Live thing about you know, yeah, like, right, my pizza really looks like this guy. And you know, Ireland’s pizza, like my pizza.

Mostafa Hosseini    37:48 

I bet if you make a YouTube video, how to not use an only pizza, here’s mistakes that we made and how to avoid them that would get a ton of views and clicks and

Susan Epstein  37:58 

I’m going to do it. That’s a good lifestyle thing for this is what Susan does when she’s not coaching. Right?

Mostafa Hosseini    38:06 

Exactly, yeah. All right. So our next question, what are your top two or three favorite books that have made a massive difference in your life or business?

Susan Epstein  38:14 

Oh my gosh. So number one is drive by Daniel Pink. Pink, pink, oh my gosh, he is brilliant. And I’ve read every single book he’s written he’s written to sell as human. He’s wrote a book called win. And then he wrote that book that I just said, the name of which thrive, drive, not thrive. Drive. Drive is about motivation.

When is about why people do things when they do them. Talks about like, he’s kind of like this sort of like, like thinking, amazing person who pulls together research and then makes it consumable and readable so that you really get an understand things. So like one of the things I remember from the book when was people often make huge changes in their life.

Do you know when they do that? Tell me, they do it at their decade birthday, or before. So right before they’re 30 they do something right before they’re 60 right before they’re 40 they do something like I have to do this and I’m just thinking back and I remember that. Before I was 50 I said I want to run a half marathon before I’m 50 and I had all these friends that were being 50 and they were like, I’m gonna run a half marathon when I’m 50 I’m like, No, I’m doing it.

Why would I wait? How do I know if I can do it when I’m 50 I’m gonna do it when I’m 48 so, but it was because of the decade coming that I made that change or I’m gonna be 30 So I need to have a Baby, or I’m going to be it’s, I need to buy a house. You know, people may. So it was just really fascinating why people went, Yeah,

Mostafa Hosseini    40:10 

but people say I want to retire by the time I’m 40. Right?

Susan Epstein  40:14 

Huh? Yeah. So he’s amazing. I read, he comes out with a new book. And I love him too, because in the book when I think it was like three quarters of the way through it, he has, like, if you’ve read this far, send me an email, and I’ll send you a book plate was so cute. I just thought that was like, if he signed his name on a sticker.

And you put it in the front of the book, you know, so it came in an envelope from him. And then he wrote me a personal email was so amazing. That is brilliant. I know. So he’s my enemy has a thing called the pink cast, which he does a once a month or once a week, video blog that you can get in your inbox. And it’s a minute and 30 seconds long, where he interviews somebody about something, some advice that they can give within a minute.

And he’s hysterically funny too. So I’m very into him. So that’s, that’s a books that have I would say, have really influenced me.

Mostafa Hosseini    41:19 

I think I’m into it now too.

Susan Epstein  41:21 

You will love him. You will love him. And I think of other book. Oh, my gosh, I love poetry. So this isn’t about business. But I grew up reading poetry and my father reading poetry to me. And it has made me I think more creative, more sensitive, more thoughtful. And I go to it when I need to relax. And so Emily Dickinson Yeah.

And you know why? I don’t know if you know her, but she, her, her poems are short, and simple and succinct. And she delivers. In very few words. And you know what, she, she was a woman when she wrote in, I don’t know 1600s. And she wasn’t ever published because she was a woman. So it was all published after she died.

Mostafa Hosseini    42:21 

And during 1600s

Susan Epstein  42:24 

along, I think so a 16 or 1800 I can’t remember exactly which which century but she, she maybe it was 18th century or 19th century, but she was not recognized as a poet until because she was a woman. That’s right. And she was from Northwestern Massachusetts. And so there’s you could go to her house. If you live in, you know, near near me. You can visit her gravestone and see her. Oh, my God. Amazing poet. I, I use a lot.

Sometimes I include her poetry in my emails to my clients. I grab lines from it. Because it’s, they’re just so amazing.

Mostafa Hosseini    43:08 

Do you ever study Romi?

Susan Epstein  43:11 

I have. Yeah. Okay.

Mostafa Hosseini    43:13 

Do you like her? Yes. All right. Yes. Interesting. I don’t read a lot of poetry.

Susan Epstein  43:20 

Maybe I should read it to your children.

Mostafa Hosseini    43:24 

Very interesting. Oh, I will. I mean, ready to go read poetry.

Susan Epstein  43:31 

If you read poetry to your children, you create such a bond.

Mostafa Hosseini    43:38 

You know what I do to create a bond with my kid? I wrestle with him.

Susan Epstein  43:42 

There’s that too. He loves it. And the mom is saying enough. Boy.

Mostafa Hosseini    43:51 

No, she actually likes it because I take them away from I have two boys. Yes, I take them away from her so and they kind of like empty their energy and frustrations on me. So it’s very bonding experience. So next question.

If you had a Facebook ad, or Google ad, or an ad that everyone on the web could could see, what would your message for the people of the world be?

Susan Epstein  44:29 

You are enough.

Mostafa Hosseini    44:33 

I mean, what you mean by that place?

Susan Epstein  44:35 

People spend a lot of time trying to fix themselves. See that kind of in our industry? I just need one more certification. I need to know more. And they’ll come to me like sometimes with three PhDs. And I’m like what you did for your PhDs is so much harder than having a coaching business.

 I can’t believe like I know I didn’t get a PhD. Like I’m not Got to go do a thesis and defend my arguments in front of people like this is not that you are enough, you know enough.

Mostafa Hosseini    45:09 

You’re good enough, good enough.

Susan Epstein  45:10 

It’s really there’s nothing else you need to know. In order to help people, you know, and I think for all of us, we we have the negative self talk like I I’m not good enough, I’m an imposter. Nobody was, nobody will like me, nobody will be my friend, nobody will hire me.

Mostafa Hosseini    45:32 

Nobody will pay me nobody will pay me as much. But they

Susan Epstein  45:36 

will it but if you walk around with that face on, and that talk in your head, of course they want it’s repelling. You have to you have to know that you that, you know your value without being a jerk about it. I guess. I mean, there’s a

Mostafa Hosseini    45:57 

Absolutely. Do you have any tips on how to overcome or how to change that? That inner talk that when they say, I’m not enough, nobody will pay? You know? Did you go through a phase in job? Do you have a process on how to deal with us?

Susan Epstein  46:11 

Yeah, I mean, I got a coach. I mean, I mean, I, I was not gonna DIY that myself. Like, that is what you want. That’s why you get a coach. My coach said to me, when I first started, you know, what are you charging for this client? And I said, 500 a month. And he said, why? And I said, because when I was a psychotherapist, or still am at the time, my charge was 125 an hour.

So I was thinking, you know, at, okay, four times a month, that’s $500. And he said, Well, what would happen if you asked for six? And I’m like, No, I would just choke on it. And he said, I just challenge you to do it. And I’m like, okay, like, maybe, you know, and then I did it, and the person still signed up. And then the next week, I did 700, then I did 800, then I did 900, then I did 1000.

And I got to $1,200 for parent coaching, by just spitting it out. But I wouldn’t have had the support, I wouldn’t have thought to do that myself, I would have still been charging 500 a month. And working twice as hard as I was, if I hadn’t had somebody telling me it was okay. And that I just needed to you know, try it and that we can talk about it after and see what happens.

So, I think that support is so so important. And really asking yourself, well, what’s the worst thing that could happen? They could say, well, no, I can’t afford that. And you could say, well, what can you afford? And if they can say 500? And you can say okay, we’re not going to die.

Mostafa Hosseini    47:41 

Right? So stop in the world?

Susan Epstein  47:44 

No, you’re when you when you peel back the questions and you say, well, what’s the worst thing would happen? They would say no. And if they said no, I would get on the phone with the next client, right? I mean, it’s, but it feels like there’s this like we put ourselves in this life or death.

Hmm. Because we’re so attached. And the only way that I know how to get better out of that is to get help.

Mostafa Hosseini    48:09 

Absolutely. How do you deal with you brought up a really good point when someone says no, Ryan, my price is 1000. Yeah. And they say no. And then I know from my own experience, a lot of people that I work with, that affects them, and affects us as our confidence. How do you get past that?

Susan Epstein  48:29 

If they tell me now? Well, I don’t I don’t take no for an answer. But that’s me.

Mostafa Hosseini    48:35 

Tell me more. So let’s say that you just decided to raise your price from two from 500 to 1000. And they’re like, No, I can’t do 1000. And, and here’s the immediate reaction. I’m gonna go back to 500. That’s gonna work better.

Susan Epstein  48:49 

So I would say that I would say something like, Well, there’s two ways to pay, you can full pay at 9997 for the year. And then I stopped talking. And just let that stop this because it’s

Mostafa Hosseini    49:16 

a political fight button.

Susan Epstein  49:18 

I know, but it’s a it’s a ring through. I have it. I hung up on him. There we go. Last through because of parents, you know, pass through through on the phone. So um, anyway, so and then I would just be quiet and wait to see what they would say.

And they might say, Oh, wow, I don’t have access to $10,000. And so I might say, Well, I have a payment plan. Would you like to hear about that? What does that look like? Okay, well, it’s 12 payments of 997. Which is a better fit for you

Mostafa Hosseini    50:01 

One time or,

Susan Epstein  50:03 

or once, and then they, mom, so I would save $2,000 I don’t do the math for them. I would save $2,000 I let them out loud talk. If I paid in full. I don’t know where I would get the money. I really want this. Would you like my help? And trying to figure that out?

Mostafa Hosseini    50:27 

Yes.

Susan Epstein  50:28 

Okay. All right, go get your credit card, and we’ll start canceling stuff. People have so much stuff that they don’t even know they’re paying for. I save people. I mean, incredible. I do this with all my clients. I’m like, let’s do this first, because there’s stuff that you’re paying for that you do not need. You do not need three platforms.

You do not need, you know, 17 merchant accounts, you do not you do not need to pay for the ultra Ultra Pro webinars zoom package if you never do webinars, you know, I mean, there’s a million things that yeah, people that really that aren’t seasoned. Don’t think that they need you don’t need a website. PS, you can do everything you need on LinkedIn and do that later when you have my Yeah. So yeah, so I help them.

 And then there’s the question of like, what’s the cost to you? If you don’t do this?

Susan Epstein  51:32 

What’s the cost to you if you don’t do this? You know, like, what’s gonna if you don’t take action now? Because I’ve already, you know, created the pain and the call, then what’s your business gonna look like? You know, when I was being offered my first coach, he told me how much it was. And I almost like had a heart attack.

I couldn’t believe how much money it was to get coach business coaching. At the time, it was 15 years ago. And so I said, No way, I can’t do that. I can’t afford it. When the kitchen and I said to my husband, this crazy guy wants me to pay $1,300 a month for coaching. You know, that point is that that’s our mortgage, like, how do I and my husband looked at me.

He was the wisest man in the world. And he said, What are you going to do if you don’t hire him? So now I ask people that what are you going to do if we don’t work together? What’s your plan?

Mostafa Hosseini    52:26 

Great question.

Susan Epstein  52:27 

What’s it gonna look like six months from now? If you don’t take action on this? I’ll probably have to go get a job. I want to have the business that I’m on. You know what? You’re right. Let’s do this. Susan.

Mostafa Hosseini    52:39 

I’m gonna put down gang if you’re if you’re listening or watching, that’s something that definitely needs to be on your sales. Yeah. Conversation. What are you gonna do? If you don’t do this? Yeah. What’s your plan?

Mostafa Hosseini    52:59 

What’s your plan? I’m literally writing it down. Oh, it’s great. What’s an advice that made it big change for you?

Susan Epstein  53:13 

Yeah, my first coach told me that, to always ask myself, and I do this every single day, multiple times a day. Is this the best use of my time? My talent and my abilities?

Mostafa Hosseini    53:27 

time, talent and abilities?

Susan Epstein  53:32 

Yeah. So I’m looking at, I’m looking at Facebook, and I’m going okay, enough. Is this the best use of my time telling those? Well, if I’m looking to connect with a client, yes, but if I’m just reading about people’s cats and dogs, maybe not. Right?

Mostafa Hosseini    53:46 

If you’re trying to convince yourself that that’s a good way to find clients, right? Probably not.

Susan Epstein  53:51 

Probably not, right. If I’m building a website, I asked my clients all the time, is this the best use of E? If you’re doing building the website yourself? And you’re not a tech person? Is this the best use of your time, your talent, your abilities? And they’re like, No. Should I clean my own house? Absolutely not. My time is worth more than someone I can pay to clean my house. It’s not the best use of my time, my talent, or my abilities.

I’m a very good cleaner, but it’s not the best use of my time. On a Saturday, know. If I did six intro sessions, on a Saturday, I could make a lot of money. A million more monies than I pay the person who cleans for me, right? So Oh, Justin, that question has prevented me from doing things and getting the shiny objects and the squirrel syndrome and all that stuff.

Because I just stay with the simplest version of everything that I have, and stay focused and move forward on it. And I don’t complicate it. Yeah. Yeah.

Mostafa Hosseini    54:56 

Love it. What advice would you give your 20 year old self

Susan Epstein  55:01 

Oh my god, go to college for advertising.

Mostafa Hosseini    55:09 

What’s the story behind that?

Susan Epstein  55:11 

I just, I love writing copy, I love making things up. I love creating content. And I didn’t know it was a job. And it is psychological. It is in. In my, in an offering like in high school, it wasn’t something that anyone ever talked about, like people can say, well, I’m going to college to become an admin on, you know, in Manhattan, like people didn’t talk about it.

It was you were going to be, you know, a social worker, a nurse, a doctor, a lawyer, maybe a CPA, I don’t even know if I knew what that was at the time, or a teacher, you know, and of course, I’m dating myself, but that nowadays, you know, kids have such a wide range of things that they can choose from that are really creative jobs.

I don’t regret doing what I did, because it definitely set me up for what I’m doing now. But I think it would have been a really, really enjoyed being in a creative space 100% of the time. Yeah,

Mostafa Hosseini    56:14 

I love it. Yeah. Susan, this has been an absolutely amazing conversation, a ton of value, a lot of actionable, advice, strategy, and things that people could use gang, if you are watching or listening, if you want to learn more about this. And don’t fall into the trap of with these five advices. You could figure this out. Go attend Susan’s masterclass, watch her perform and deliver her thing. And, you know, make it easy for yourself. The link is in the in the comments below. And it’s in his descriptions of the show. And it’s happening next week, and if they can’t catch up, catch that next week version.

When is the next time you’re going to do it.

Susan Epstein  57:05 

If they register for it, and they can’t make it, they will get the replay. But they have to register to get the replay. And they need to register to get on our distribution list so that we can send them the information for the next one.

Mostafa Hosseini    57:18 

Okay. So if you’re watching this after listening to this, right, if they watching this after next week, then as long as they opt in, they will hear from you. Yes. Next time you’re doing

Susan Epstein  57:28 

absolutely, yeah, we invite everybody to it. Yeah,

Mostafa Hosseini    57:31 

beauty. Susan, is there anything that you’d like to add? That you feel like we can talk about? Yeah,

Susan Epstein  57:37 

I just think that this has been really fun. I’ve really enjoyed being on your podcast, and being in your space and having the freedom to just have a lot of fun and explore. And I just want to thank you so much for taking the time and making this really good experience for me.

Mostafa Hosseini    57:57 

Likewise, great to have you this was a really amazing conversation. And thank you for sharing your knowledge and wisdom and you did not hold back. I appreciate that. Gank thank you for joining us as usual.

We specialize in one page marketing plans for our coaches and consultants that we work with. If you want it to just get a hold of us just go on Google and search for simple marketing formula. The first result is usually us take a look. And check the dates for the next upcoming workshop and we will be there. And as usual, make sure to like and subscribe to the channel that you’re watching through.

 Share this video on this training with someone that could use it, ask a question tag a friend and just do what you can. Right. And I look forward to seeing you in our next episode. My name is Mostafa Hosseini   you’re watching or listening to daily confidence for entrepreneurs. And I look forward to seeing you on our next episode. Bye now