Kristen David is a lawyer, business coach, and the Owner and Founder of Upleveling Your Business. After working 85 hours per week as a trial lawyer, she decided to build up and sell her law firm. Now, Kristen empowers other business owners to build profitable, thriving businesses and has helped over 1500 entrepreneurs better manage their companies.
Kristen took her own business from zero to $100,000 in revenue in just 12 months. She runs her company virtually and splits her time between Seattle, Washington, and Paris, France, spending her remaining time traveling. Kristen didn’t just build a profitable business—she also built her dream life.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- Business coach Kristen David talks about her passion for traveling
- How Kristen helps entrepreneurs take their businesses to the next level
- What are the four pillars of successful business management?
- The systems that Kristen has developed to operate a profitable business
- Kristen shares the mindset that is crucial for entrepreneurial growth
- What does courage mean in the context of building a business?
- Kristen’s thoughts on how to deal with criticism as a business owner
- The role that mentorship has played in Kristen’s career
- What daily rituals should entrepreneurs practice to maintain consistency and uplevel their businesses?
- Kristen’s advice to entrepreneurs who want to start a business from scratch
In this episode…
Building a business is a challenging experience, and there’s no doubt that you will experience setbacks and failures along the way. According to Kristen David, the Owner and Founder of Upleveling Your Business, overcoming obstacles actually plays a huge role in growing your business. In fact, she strongly believes that you should “fail your way to success.”
As an entrepreneur and business coach, Kristen knows that building a business doesn’t always go to plan. However, she says that if you know where you’re heading—and have the right systems to get you there—everything else will fall into place.
Tune in to this episode of The Guts and Glory Show as Luis Scott is joined by Kristen David, the Owner and Founder of Upleveling Your Business. Kristen talks about how she built a business that helped her achieve her dream life and shares her tips for how you can do the same. She also discusses the importance of defining what motivates you, the best ways to deal with criticism, and her advice for aspiring entrepreneurs. Stay tuned.
Resources Mentioned in this episode
- Upleveling Your Business
- Kristen David
- Kristen David on LinkedIn
- The Power of TED* (*The Empowerment Dynamic) by David Emerald
- 3 Vital Questions: Transforming Workplace Drama by David Emerald
- Luis Scott on LinkedIn
- 8 Figure Firm
- Bader Scott Injury Lawyers
Sponsor for this episode…
This episode is brought to you by 8 Figure Firm.
Co-founded by Luis Scott and Seth Bader of Bader Scott Injury Lawyers, 8 Figure Firm helps transform your law firm into a 7-figure or even 8-figure firm.
After their own law firm scaled from $3.5 million in revenues to $30 million per year in revenues in just two years, Luis and Seth started the 8 Figure Firm to share their strategies and help other law firms achieve exponential growth.
Visit www.8figurefirm.com to receive a consult call and start scaling your business today.
Episode Transcript
Luis Scott 0:00
I’m Luis Scott Managing Partner Bader Scott Injury Lawyers one of the fastest growing law firms in the country. And I’m also the co-founder of 8 Figure Firm Consulting. I’ve successfully built multiple companies by focusing on leadership, operations and culture. Using these principles, my companies have generated close to $100 million in revenue. But before any of this success, I started my legal career as a receptionist, and I worked my way up to becoming managing partner. And each episode of this podcast, I sit down with leaders and entrepreneurs who have had the guts to step out on their own, and the courage to face adversity. They share with us their tips for achievement, the challenges they have faced and the glory of success. I welcome you to The Guts and Glory Show.
Luis Scott here host of the guts and glory show, I feature top leaders who share the obstacles and challenges of leadership, the guts it takes to succeed and the glory of success. Today, you will hear another inspiring interview from lawyer and entrepreneur Kristen David, who has built a seven figure business in only one year. And she’s helping other people do the same thing. But before I introduce my guest, I want to have a message from our sponsor 8 Figure Firm Consulting at 8 Figure Firm, we help law firms take their business from seven to 8 figures by keeping lawyers from from doing the things they hate and letting them focus on the impacts they love. And Kristen, you can attest to this as a lawyer, it absolutely is a drag at the beginning when you’re starting your law firm. And it can be even more of a drag if you’ve done it for 10 years and haven’t been able to systematize which I’m so excited to talk to you about those systems here soon. And an 8 Figure Firm we can help you develop a business that works for you instead of you for it. So if you have more, one, have more questions and need more information about turning your law firm into a law business go to 8figurefirms.com now, I have the pleasure of introducing today’s guest, Kristen David. She’s a former trial lawyer who went from working 85 hours a week, I can attest to that, taking home way too little in her law firm, but then built it up and sold her law firm, which is an amazing phenomenon, because that’s even hard to do in today’s environment, which tells you how great her business actually was. And now she’s helping other people do the same thing in their business, helping them and pop be empowered as business owners and build profitable businesses that are self managed. Now she’s a no nonsense person, she has a no nonsense approach, I can tell you that as I was a client of hers that resulted it has a result oriented methodology. She’s helped listen to this guy’s 1500 business owners better manage their businesses. And she also walks the walk and talks to talk she practice practices what she preaches, she took her business, listen up from zero to $100,000 in revenue in 12 months while building an incredible team, she runs her business, virtually one third in Seattle, one third of the time in Seattle, Washington, one third of time in Paris can’t wait to go. And another third, traveling Kristen. Welcome to The Guts and Glory Show.
Kristen David 2:48
Thank you for having me excited to be here.
Luis Scott 2:50
Absolutely. I’m really excited to have you on the show. Because I have been a client of yours. And so I know your approach. And to be honest with you, part of the reason that I’m going to consultant has to do with you, you don’t even know this, it has to do with you. Because you were the very first business coach I’ve ever actually professionally hired. I had never hired a professional coach before. And I remember the first time that I met you, I was like, Whoa, the intensity, the fire the personality, you know, the commitment, the drive, it’s really contagious. And I love being around people who, who really stretch you to be more than what you even think is possible. And you did that for me in the early years of building my law firm. So I instantaneously knew I needed to work with you. And we did work together. And so I appreciate that early on mentorship, and I’ve never had an opportunity to tell you this. So I’m glad I can share this with you now on this recording. So thank you so much for that help. But here’s the thing, you have a softer side to that intensity and you love to travel. And you’re an avid traveler. You travel a lot. I actually don’t know anybody who travels as much as you do. And we’re gonna get into how you do this by the business that you’ve created. But tell us a little bit about your last travel story. Where were you? Oh, well
Kristen David 4:02
we have an apartment in Paris. So we’re there a lot but we also pop up to London. I’m part of a wine club up there. So we I love getting up to London and great people great vibe. We get over to Switzerland a lot. Switzerland’s just absolutely magical and beautiful. We are over there in January and didn’t get a chance to do some skiing, but was up in the skiing areas. Just magical and beautiful. And then down by the lake. And yes, Switzerland is definitely one of those go to areas that are friendly, super friendly, and just super beautiful. So that was I was one of the last ones we did
Luis Scott 4:46
talk about having a little bit of envy, travel envy. I’ve actually never been to Europe, and my wife is telling me I need to go to we need to go to Italy and I said we’re absolutely going to go sometime soon. So I love to do that. That’s amazing that you’re able to do that and Because the business that you’ve built, you know, it’s interesting because you are living the life that a lot of social media people try to portray, you actually have a business that allows you to do what you want to do with your, with your life and with yourself. And you get to take advantage of really the the luxuries of life. And it’s because you’ve put in the systems to make that happen. How exciting is it to be where you are today, because because we’re going to talk about the tough part of building a business. But you’re on the other side of that, How exciting is that?
Kristen David 5:32
It’s awesome. It’s awesome. I love the fact that I can, when I’m in the Pacific Northwest, I get up early work with clients or work with my team, I have different days for different things. And then I have the afternoon off, I have the time to go and enjoy. And when I’m in Paris or in Europe, I it’s the opposite. Like I get up in the morning and I go for a run along the same I might pop over and watch a show or concert at noon. And there’s always pop up free concerts in the churches and the courtyards and, and then you know, about three, four o’clock in the afternoon, I’ll pop on some calls, and go till about 830 at night and which is perfect, because the Europeans they don’t they don’t eat dinner until nine o’clock at night. So you know, it’s like the perfect lifestyle to be able to be in the Pacific Northwest where it’s beautiful, or be on the East Coast visiting friends or wherever and still work from anywhere. So yes, I’m definitely have built built the lifestyle that I wanted to live.
Luis Scott 6:35
Yeah, I mean, that’s that’s absolutely goals. I actually had a friend who was from Spain invited us to eat, we show up around seven or 8 o’clock, they had not even started cooking. I was like what is going on here?
Like, this is the most insane thing. Yeah,
Kristen David 6:48
and 8:30 pm.
Luis Scott 6:51
That’s incredible. Now you have a business that’s called uplevel your business, and it helps entrepreneurs, literally uplevel their business. And a lot of people that are listening and watching right now to the show. They’re entrepreneurs, they’re aspiring entrepreneurs. First of all, tell us what your business does. And then I want to know, what does up leveling actually mean to you?
Kristen David 7:13
Well, let’s start with the up leveling. Um, part of our mission is to help business owners learn how to juggle all these things they need to do. And we do it using a framework of the four pillars of successful business management. We keep it simple. I work with a lot of dentists and chiropractors, and doctors and Med Spa owners, all kinds of professionals. And we help them understand like, you got to do the planning, and that’s pillar one, like, planning goes a long ways. Then your you’ve got your marketing and sales pillar. Think of them like buckets, right? And then the third one is management. Yeah, that’s all the day to day operations, getting the work done, and the policies and procedures. And then the fourth is the financial controls. And because as you know, when you grow, you know, it’s easy to manage 20 30,000 a month, it’s a lot harder when it’s 200,000 a month, right? Yeah. So it’s definitely an area where you’ve got to be just having a framework goes a long ways to really building that. But once a business owner is able to uplevel their business and create less chaos and be able to get more done. They do better, like they go home, they thrive, their kids, their families do better. And so we say uplevel your business up level your life. But up leveling also includes you’re able to hire more people and you’re able to empower your team to thrive and they then get to benefit their families and, and their friends. And so it’s it’s like the gift that keeps on giving. Every time you help one business owner, you’re really helping dozens and dozens of people. So we love it, we the whole team is on board with our mission. And with the fact that it’s it’s just such an amplification when you’re able to help even just a single business owner, really build a strong, profitable business.
Luis Scott 9:10
You know, it’s interesting, because you talked about the planning part as being one of the pillars. And so many times entrepreneurs get into it for the profit, not the plan, right? And they want to just make money. And it’s enticing because you want to be able to live that social media lifestyle, you want to be able to travel by private jet and you want to travel and and have the nice bags, you know, we all want to have that. But it really does start with the planning and you have become a master of developing systems that allow you to run an operate a profitable business without having to be hands on. Now, how do you actually do this for your clients and for yourself in your business?
Kristen David 9:50
So we practice what we preach. And in fact, as we build things, we offer them to our clients because we know these are the steps they’re going to be Going through as well. So in year one, you know, I started a yo just over a year ago, zero dollars, my goal was to make $10,000. In month one goal was to make 20,000 in month two, and we just kept building. And so we started with a business plan. We started with building the marketing and sales, I mean, hustle and sell. And then we started building out, I started hiring other coaches. So part of it is have a plan. And that’s what we do with our clients is we very first call we build a visual business plan, quarter by quarter, how are you going to grow? What sales? Will you need to hit those numbers? What marketing do you need to do to give you confidence that you’ll hit those numbers? And then what team and systems do you need to build? Because as you grow, and you start saying, Wow, I can’t serve as 60 clients, okay, we need more technical people to help you. As you start cranking the marketing, you need a marketing assistant to be able to execute on all the great ideas you have. So right as we went. So we do a couple different parts of the business. We have some fun with some international workshops as people really grow. But in the beginning, they can either do the one on one coaching with our coaching team, or they can do by standalone products. And so one of product first products we put out was how to hire onboard and work with a marketing Assistant, do just under three hours of videos, bite sized nuggets, comes with the whole Policies and Procedures Manual has like how to hire the interview questions that job description, the scorecards, the KPIs, like everything you need to do to keep this person accountable. Because guess what, as I started my business, I needed to have a marketing assistant, I needed to hold the person accountable. One of the as you grow further, you need those financial controls. So we put out the financial systems manual. So you’ve got 30 page done for you, all you got to do is go in and tweak the policies and procedures of then we hired a client happiness coordinator, who was only 10 hours a week. But she’s amazing. And she she’s able to get testimonials, check in with everyone send client gifts, handle any complaints, like such a powerful, powerful position. Because as an owner, you think you’re gonna have time to go check in with all your clients. And you lose that ability, you don’t have the time. And so you need to be able to delegate that that will be one of the most profitable marketing systems you put in place is just to have someone for 10 hours a week doing that job, right. So every time we build, we package it up and sell it as a systems package. The client how to hire onboard and work with a client happiness coordinator comes with a 50 Plus page Policies and Procedures Manual. Because again, we know that business owners need to have that infrastructure, they need the systems. And when that person is clear on what they have to do, you don’t have to manage them as much they self manage. So this is what we’ve been building. And in July month, 12 was $100,000 month of collected money. And so now, you know, I make no bones about the fact I’m building a multi million dollar business as quickly as possible. The plan was to have collected 1 million by month 12 obviously COVID hit that changed a few things. But we’re on target by month 17 will have collected a million It’s awesome. And we should be at about 250,000 a month by next June. So we are growing fast and having a blast as we do it.
Luis Scott 13:59
You know, I wonder because some people will say this, they’ll say okay, it worked for you worked for that type of business, but will it work for my type of business? And what what I’ve what I’ve tried to tell people is that business is business you have to figure out just how to run a business. Most people just don’t want to do the work to running a business so so what would you tell that person who’s saying no, this is not going to work for me it’s not going to work for my you know influencer page, it’s not going to work for my you know, gym business that I want to have or whatever product business, my boutique, what would you tell that person?
Kristen David 14:35
It will work for anybody. You know, running a business is just across the board. It’s the same basic principles and as long as you get that infrastructure in place, this is why as you know, I worked with just attorneys for seven years. And I had so many of the I used to as a as a lawyer be a malpractice attorney and I worked with dentists and doctors and chiropractors and they’ve been begging me like when you get To come help us grow our businesses. And so that’s part of why we branched in and helping so many business owners. And I’ve helped Med Spa owners and coaches and audio, video, video visual companies and all kinds of people. And it’s just as long as you when we build the plan, and you have faith in that it’s going to work. It’s easy, then it’s just execution. So, quick story, we had a firm that joined us. she emailed me in in July. And to let me know that, Kristen, if the email was something like Kristen, in January, we did 74,000 in the month, I started working with you on February 1, June, we just finished at over 150,000. Woman in July, she had a $200,000 month and she’s on target for two she did like 230 in Sept in August, and she’s on track for 250 in September. So anybody that says it can’t be done. I mean, I’ve gotten dozens and dozens of clients like this where they’ve doubled and tripled. But the most important part is we use a what we call a benchmarking budget. So quarter by quarter we manage, we project the budget so that we bring the spend into alignment. So it’s profitable, so that the owner is getting some profit out of this. They’re not just working endless hours, and not seeing a return. And honestly, that’s been some of the funnest part is it’s the family members, the husbands, the kids, I’ve had husbands say it’s not just the new boat, my wife bought me, it’s the fact that I actually get to spend time with her now on the boat. I’ve had kids email me and say, Thank you for everything you’ve done. I feel like I have my mother back. I feel like I have my father back. And so those are the highlight moments for me, I share those with our team all the time, like every week, there’s another email coming in. And that’s what making a difference is all all about is helping them.
Luis Scott 17:04
Yeah, I’m sure that boat did not hurt either. But yeah, the extra time I’m sure was a big a big part of it. Now, here’s the thing. I’m telling you because I listen to these podcasts. And I talked to people in the community and they’ll say, but how do you do this? How do you get to 100,000 a month, like a year from now there’s someone listening to this right now a year from now, they could hire you. And they could be at $100,000 a month. But there’s one ingredient outside of the work, right? And that’s mindset, what is that mindset that a person has to have, in order to do this.
Kristen David 17:40
There has to be something that’s driving them to get them that they want, there’s got to be a want out there. It might be they want their freedom back there. I mean, that’s part of our ideal Kleiner professionals who have been doing this for years. And they feel like they’re on that hamster wheel and can’t get off. And they’re tired of it. We’ve helped four or five businesses now sell their businesses. And sometimes they come to us and they say, you know, I need out. And so we say Great, let’s build the systems, let’s find a buyer and let’s get you out. Or they say I just don’t want to be working so hard. And so that’s like the biggest drive. Sometimes it’s about revenue, sometimes it’s the need to cash flow, but it’s more about freedom, it’s more about getting them back to that happy place where they love their business again, and they’re not just like, sucked in and dragged all around by their business. And unfortunately, that’s what happens all too often. And listen, I I still work too many hours, sometimes I just I wake up on a Sunday morning and I love it. And I just want to like open my laptop and work on a new project or a new package. Right? Um, but we want people to work on the business because you love it not because you have to,
Luis Scott 18:55
you have to have that passion, you can’t abandon if the passion is no longer there, it’s gonna feel like a drain it no matter how much money you’re making, and so you have to have that passion. Now, the the year probably hasn’t been just all great, right? I mean, there’s been something that’s gone on I can, you know, I own a business. So I know how it is. And people need to hear that they need to hear that there is trials through the process. And it’s not like I snap my fingers and I make this happen. What’s the hardest thing you’ve had to overcome this year, or maybe a backstory of a previous business that you’ve had? And what did you learn from that trial?
Kristen David 19:31
Well, so I think it does go back to the original law firm. I went from I wrote my first business plan and went from 350,000 in my law firm business to 700,000 in nine months. Now I don’t necessarily advocate everyone grow and double in nine months. It’s a it’s a lot. you’re hiring a lot of people firing hiring, but I learned a lot of lessons and then I reworked my business plan and doubled again to 1.4 million in the next nine months. Again, I don’t advocate that for everybody. But it is possible. And it just depends on how bad you want it. But I built the systems as I went. And so this year has definitely been a little easier. Once you build a million dollar business in the past, it’s easy to build another one. But there’s definitely been, you know, times you had to get gritty, you had to revise, you have to pivot. There are times it will be the 20th of the month, and I am getting on the phone and I am calling everyone that has shown interest in my business in the last six months. And next thing you know, I’ll sell $40,000 worth of business. Hmm. And but in the beginning, I mean, last year when I started, I was at zero, it was pick up the phone, it was email, it was hustle. And I had started this big membership site with the thought the business plan said it was going to have 100 members by Yoast 60 days in. I had like five. Right? rework the business plan, rework the financial projections, right? Where else can I sell? What else can I do? Right? There’s been, I’ve probably changed my business plan a dozen times in the last 14 months. And that’s part of being a business owner is you make a plan, you listen, you’re gonna make thousands of decisions every week, and half of them are going to be wrong. And that’s okay. It just tells you, you’re one step closer to success. Every time you hit a wrong turn. And you constantly pivot, you constantly improvise, you constantly maneuver you get feedback from others who have been there done that you talk to other coaches have, I still work with a ton of coaches, I know, a speaking coach, planning coach, like, school is never out, you know, you’re always learning.
Luis Scott 22:00
Absolutely. If you want to grow, you have to always be in that growth mode yourself. That’s the only way you can actually really pour into other people. And that’s something that I’ve learned organically. I wish somebody would have told me that when I was a younger person, you know, instead of having to go through those, those trials. But I think that what what you’re saying about being able to pivot, and being able to, to be more flexible with yourself is so important, because people are scared to fail. And they don’t realize that failure is really part of the journey. Have you ever met a business that hasn’t gone through some failure?
Kristen David 22:35
Absolutely not? Absolutely not. I say fail your way to success all the time.
Luis Scott 22:41
Yeah, I mean, it’s just, it’s just so part of it. You know, and there’s a word that I keep hearing in the interviews that I do, and I’ve done some other shows, and it’s the word courage, you know, encouraged as needed in business. And many people, they think they know what that means. But they don’t really know what that means, like, what in your experience and working with thousands of business owners, what is courage actually mean in the context of building a business,
Kristen David 23:05
I think the word that I, that comes to mind that I use a lot is resilient. Resilience is is kind of ties in with that courage, it’s knowing where you’re going. And being clear, you’re going to get there one way or another. And that same courage to get there, it might not go the way on the path that you planned. But you just keep going at it for different angles, you know, you jog to the left, you jog to the right, and you just stay focused on the end goal. And don’t it’s kind of like, I know you know this from a lot of mindset coaches and trainings and such, but it’s you make the decision, and the How will always come together, you decide on that end item that you want, whether it’s a you know, a thing or a state of mind or whatever it is, you make the decision to how will always come together?
Luis Scott 23:59
Absolutely. I remember hearing somebody say, make a decision and then make it right. So like, you know, whatever you whatever you choose, you got to make that right. You know, there’s another subset of people who they’re scared to fail but then the critics right I wonder Did you have any critics in this process? Who discouraged you who were negative who were like how is she qualified to do this? I’ve had that in my life and there’s somebody listening right now that wants to hear that you can get over the the criticism and the negativity and still make it What would you tell them to get over that hump to like, get up out of bed and and not worry about the negativity that they’re going to receive when they when they pursue their dreams and passions?
Kristen David 24:40
Oh, there’ll be plenty of haters, whether it’s on social media or whether it’s a snarly email you get back, right? You just got it like water off of a duck’s back, right. You just got it, like let it let it go. It’s just not they’re not your tribe. They’re not part of your people. And that’s okay. I’ve I’ve had, you know, friends of friends who were like, you’re going to start a business and you think you’re going to get to a million dollars in a year. I mean, they were so like, vocally against what I was doing. And I was like, yeah, watch me, this will be fun. You know, like,
Luis Scott 25:17
it’s so crazy that people are like, they’re like that, like, Why don’t they just mind their own business? You know, it’s the most amazing thing that people have the audacity to say stuff like that. Now.
Kristen David 25:29
Yeah, I was just gonna say, and that’s part of surround yourself with great people. I mean, you want to surround yourself with like, a great CPA, my CPA, grew a multi million dollar business himself and sold it he sold when they were at like 42 million or something. He just works with fast growing companies. So when I sat down and said, Hey, I want to open these entities. And here’s what I’m going to do. And I want to use good, appropriate tax avoidance, not tax evasion bad right here. We didn’t good. And here’s what I want to do. And here’s what I’m going to hit any kind of raised one eyebrow and he said, he goes, You haven’t even made dollar one. And I was like, right. That doesn’t stop me from planning it and, and he has gone back through and he never had to eat his words. But I think he he didn’t know me it was a new CPAs started working with and he was like, okay, lady, let’s see it. And now he’s like, wow. And he actually we use profit first model. About month 11 or so. He we’re doing a zoom call, and he kind of on the zoom, I can see him put his head down. And he’s kind of rubbing his forehead. And I was like, what, what did I do wrong? Like I started freaking out. And he goes, I just Kristin. It’s not many startups that I see that have $168,000 of extra money sitting in their accounts for taxes and cash capital expenditures. And he goes, this is just amazing what you’ve built in less than a year. And, you know, that made me feel good, especially when I thought back to my first meeting with him when he was a little if I was for real, but listen, I knew he had the qualifications. I knew he was an A plus team member to have on my team. Same with my bookkeeper. Same with my lawyer like you gather the right team around you. Forget the naysayers, they don’t they don’t matter. Only surround yourself with great people.
Luis Scott 27:30
And you know, you talk about surrounding yourself with people who have been there before and he had built a business and he had grown it to a big level. I’m curious, you know about mentors? What is mentorship? Play? In? What role does it play in your business in your life? Like, what what advice Did you receive from a mentor that really helped you develop that that high? You know, sense of self worth, where you actually believed in yourself? Because belief is a huge part of this, this experience?
Kristen David 27:59
Absolutely. And I’ve had an amazing, successful business. What I’ve found is the more successful people are, the more willing they are to share and to take time. Yes, good. successful business owners will take the time, the ones that are struggling too hard. That’s maybe not who you want to go talk. Right? I am. So one of our courses in our membership program is a build your culture masterclass. And there’s a whole section about the difference between training your team mentoring and coaching. And there’s, you know, distinctions there and empowering your team to mentor even outside the business. It helps them up level, it helps them really feel more confident about what they do know, and what they are capable of. And, and I’m constantly mentoring other individuals, I’m always looking and on the lookout for other people who I think would be great mentors to me. Sometimes it happens from a dinner party, and you meet somebody, and you reach out and say, Hey, I would love to, like, follow up with you and and pick your brain on some ideas. And they’re like, absolutely, yes. And I’ve had amazing successful mentors that have shown me the inside of their membership sites and their your, like the back areas so that they so I could see like, what it’s supposed to look like or what some options are. And that has been invaluable. I mean, that just that that quick picture, just so helped me understand, like what I needed to build. So yes, mentors are great. You get to give and you get.
Luis Scott 29:40
Absolutely and I mean, I’ve been I’ve been the product of a lot of great mentors in my life. You know, like I said, organically, you were the very first person I professionally hired to coach. But But before that, I did have some mentors and they, they play a role that you can’t even really quantify they become those people that really get you to the next level. As a person, and I think it’s super, super critical that you have both things, you know, people that you pay for coaching and people that you have in your life that mentor you that can be more of that friend and tell you when things are not right in your life and so forth. Now, one of the things that I have seen, especially with high, you know, octane entrepreneurs is that they tend to have daily rituals. And I want someone to really be inspired to take the leap, hopefully to call you and say I want help starting my business and really taking it to the next level. But what are some daily rituals that that you believe in, that you think could help a person who’s an entrepreneur really maintain consistency, because this is a, this is a long road, this is not a sprint, this is a long road to, you know, to high achievement. So what is a ritual that they that you believe is super critical for high producer.
Kristen David 30:49
So there’s two parts to that one, I would say is getting on the phone on a zoom call with my executive assistant every morning, and delegating my goals to delegate five things every morning. And then I feel good coming off that call. Because it’s like, wow, I got five things off my plate that were in my brain, maybe I thought of them last night, and boom, they’re already off and running and being handled. So that’s a great way to start your day. And to just kind of set and she helps manage me, she helps remind me of things of so it’s not that everything comes off my plate. But that’s a great morning kind of cadence that starts me off, right. The second part, I would say, is actually the US I’m a big fan of blocked calendars. And so Wednesdays are my client days where I’m doing, you know, working with regular clients of Tuesdays and Fridays are either VIP strategy sessions with clients or filming days. So literally two days a week is nothing but like being creative and helping build business plans, visual business plans, and things like that. And then Mondays and Thursdays are admin days. And that’s where I’m on the phone twice a week with my kind of administrative tech team, I’m on the phone with my marketing team, I’m on the phone with, you know, my, if I need to be doing videos, my videographer. So that, and then my coaches, so we actually have a sales coach that just works with a business owner for and will help train up their salesperson for two to three months, we have a marketing coach who will come in and do a whole, like SEO audit on your website teach you what to look for, teach you about the analytics, they’ll help she’ll help build out like a 10,000 5000 foot marketing plan. Yeah, do the tactical strategy, the messaging. So I have a variety of other coaches on my team, I’m hiring three more this quarter alone, a culture coach, a management coach, a financial controls coach, I mean, the business is growing so much. And I gotta tell you, I mean, it’s back to those systems, I set up a VIP referral program, that’s all automated. So every time somebody refers me a client, they get a bunch of goodies. And I have people that have now sent me six or seven clients, and they can earn like a free hour laser coaching session with me, and they get all this great stuff. And so I’ve got four clients a week coming in from the VIP referral program, that wheel is just cranking along. Um, that’s part of what we sell, I mean, in the client happiness coordinator package is the whole how to do the VIP referral program. Because I want other people to automate and to build the systems. Because that’s what you know, low cost marketing is amazing. So yes, I mean, I do need to work with clients, some, but I also have to spend the time on the marketing and admin. And so Mondays and Thursdays are my my team days. So anyways, I would encourage people to really start with picking a half a day, once every two weeks to work on the business. And don’t get stuck every single day in the trenches.
Luis Scott 34:14
Yeah, you know, the thing that you’re really talking about when you talk about the block calendar, I smiled because it remember, it reminded me of when I would see these huge block calendars. And I’m like, I felt so overwhelming. But what you’re really talking about is setting boundaries. And I think that that too many entrepreneurs fail to set proper boundaries, in their business in their life. And then they become overwhelmed because they don’t know how to delegate how to move things and move the needle on different aspects of their life. So I think that that’s, that’s super important. Now, I’m hoping that somebody who’s been listening to this show is like really excited now about getting started in their business. What would you tell a person who wants to start a business from scratch? They’ve been wanting to do it. They didn’t find the motivation, but they heard You and they said they can do it. What would you tell them to do to get success? And to get the level of success that you have? What do they need to do today? Um,
Kristen David 35:10
the first thing is build a business plan. I mean, I did it last year for National Business Plan Awareness Month, a free webinar, it’s it’s evergreen, so anybody can jump on, get the business plan templates, and be able to build the business plan and even send it to me, and I’ll review it and get on a 30 minute call and help you start in the right direction. Awesome. That’s first and foremost is get organized with how is this business going to make you some money? How is it going to work? Then it’s you start executing and so people can go to uplevel, your business up leveling,
up leveling your business calm. And on, there are a bunch of resources you can you know, there’s information about that webinar for the business plan for the systems packages that we offer for our book that I published a book earlier this year. I actually, it’s coming out next Tuesday in Spanish and French translation.
Luis Scott 36:09
Oh, awesome.
Kristen David 36:10
I did about that. But uh, yeah, I mean, I’m big on, there’s a lot of resources people can use. I’m all about helping business owners, get those bite sized nuggets of information, and then just start executing. So up leveling your business calm, definitely check it out. There’s also you know, if you really want just the systems packages, up level, your business systems calm. You know, we’re all about systems we’re all about. As soon as possible, write the policies and procedures, have the checklists have the templates. That’s what allows you to as quickly as possible, delegate those things off your plate, so that as an owner, you can do the tasks that most appropriately need the owner to do them. So that’s the first step.
Luis Scott 36:58
Now, we will put the links at the bottom of the at the bottom of the video and at the on the podcast. So they’ll be able to access that with no problem. What What is a book that you would recommend a person read for mindset for business that you think has really helped you develop kind of the business that you have right now.
Kristen David 37:17
A key one is David Emerald, that the empowerment dynamic Ted, it really talks about how you can fall into the dreaded triangle of being a victim, or, you know, trying to save people or being a you know, who’s the persecutor. And instead, get into that mindset of how you become a creator, how you can coach other people. And as you grow a business, it’s easy to succumb to that dreaded triangle, and feel like, Oh, this isn’t working, oh, this thing is holding me back. And instead get into that mindset of really getting to that that next level. David Emerald actually did another one that’s similar. It’s called the three vital questions. It’s more for the business owners. Hmm. But I think that the first one is just total mindset that helps in every aspect of your life. But I think that in those days, when you start to succumb into the negatives, you’ve got to have that quick transition to put yourself back into the position of being a creator back into seeing the positive side seeing the silver lining of what needs to happen. And that’s the quickest way to get yourself back on track to success.
Luis Scott 38:34
I agree with that. I mean, a lot of times we feel, I guess disempowered through the journey. And we need to make sure that we keep our minds fresh, and our everything fresh, because that’s I mean, you need it for this journey. Now looking back through all that you’ve gone through, you know, would you still say it’s all been worth it?
Kristen David 38:51
Absolutely. Yes, absolutely. Listen, guys, this is a lot of hard work, and it takes some guts, but it is so worth it. When you build the life you want to live. And I’m not done. I mean, we’ve got three weeks Greek islands workshops to do in fact, you’re gonna have to go on that one for days working on your business three days off, and then move to the next sounds amazing.
So you know, it sounds like the Paris experience workshop next year is going to be incredible. I mean, travel but work on your business, right, like enjoy the best of both worlds as an entrepreneur.
Luis Scott 39:26
Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, Kristen, thank you so much for being on the show today. It’s been a real treat having you. We’ve been talking to Kristen David, lawyer and entrepreneur, Kristen, where can people find you to access all of your coaching programs and all of this free material that you’re just ready to give to people so that they can start managing their own businesses and live the lifestyle they want?
Kristen David 39:47
www.up leveling your business.com that will get you there.
Luis Scott 39:52
And you can also find her at the Kristen David.com, the Kristen David.com, we’ll put all the links below. So there you have it, guys from nothing to seven figures in 12 months Kristen did it. You can do it to guts, courage and hard work is what it takes. And remember, if you love this episode, be sure to subscribe so you never miss a show. And you have been listening to the guts and glory show.
Outro 40:16 You’ve been listening to the Guts and Glory Show with Luis Scott. If you enjoyed the show, be sure to share. For more information on this episode, please see the show notes at www.GutsandGloryshow.com and join us next time as we talked to another leader in business that had the guts to overcome all odds for the glory of success.
