April 9, 2020
Today’s guest is the incredible Kristen Boss. Kristen is a mindset and business coach who specializes in helping women build their influence and grow successful businesses that deeply align with their purpose.
With nearly 15 years experience working in service and marketing, she’s pivoted from celebrity hair stylist, to boutique owner, to business coach. With her experience of creating businesses from scratch, she is now helping other women tap into their highest self and true potential.
When she’s not coaching, you can find Kristen wrangling her kids with her husband in Colorado.
On today’s show, Kristen talks about the topic on the forefront of EVERYONE’S minds: COVID-19. And more specifically, how to not only survive but THRIVE as a business owner through a global pandemic and resulting economic crisis. Kristen is an expert on navigating your business through a recession. She navigated her own business SUCCESSFULLY through the 2008 recession, coming out far stronger at the other end.
Today she walks you through HOW to do that, giving step by step takeaways for how to continue to serve, sell, and show up for your customers. If this pandemic has you feeling overwhelmed as a business owner, you’re struggling with what to say, how to say it, how to stay afloat and alive, what first steps to take to pivot your business through this, and how to stay sane and in business… you need this episode.
Kristen is originally from California and is now living in Colorado Springs with her husband, two kids, and two dogs. Kristen has been an entrepreneur for the better part of 15 years. She started out as a hair stylist in Santa Monica. The 2008 recession was one of her first challenges as an entrepreneur. Over the past 15 years she has also opened clothing boutiques, a mobile hair styling business, and a network marketing business. People, marketing, and conversation have always been Kristen’s passions. She made her ultimate career pivot into coaching for online business owners. It is an amazing combination of all the things she loved. When she was a hairstylist, she was constantly talking to women. She jokes that she has been a coach for 15 years, but now she is not highlighting hair while she is doing it.
Kristen took the communication and the coaching from behind the chair and brought it to online business owners. As we are all turning to the online space, her business has been exploding!
In 2008, Kristen had a nice apartment in Santa Monica overlooking the ocean and a great rental space in Venice beach. Overnight half of her income disappeared and people were freaked out.
Kristen decided to get really creative and ask a lot of questions. She wanted to create a win-win scenario for both herself and her paying clients. That is when she looked at her expenses and business model. Her clients still wanted to get their hair done, they were looking to save some money, and Kristen was looking to cut her overhead. She decided to meet them in the middle and go to their homes to do their hair. She could bring down her pricing and they would feel like they were having a VIP experience. People loved it! It actually became a business for 3-4 years past the recession.
Kristen was able to fully thrive. From there, she partnered with a makeup artist and decided to do the same things for weddings. They created a concierge service, which at the time was not common. This was also when VRBO and Uber kicked off! Everyone was trying to cut their overhead and still meet a need. This is when creativity really kicks in. You have to think how you can create a win for the consumer and a win for yourself.
Kristen emailed all of her clients, checked when their next services were due, and found out how she could add value. She remembers offering conditioning treatments if they pre pre-booked. She had to think how she could give more to them in exchange for their faith in her.
She called and interviewed her clients. She asked them what was important to them and what would be ideal for them. She took her curiosity straight to the client and asked what they wanted and how she could provide it. Funnily enough, she is doing that again right now.
Think outside of the box. Think creatively and figure out how you can meet a need for both you and your clients. Look at your numbers. Knowing your numbers will help you make educated decisions on how to pivot. Talk to your customers and come from a service mindset.
Crisis is a breeding ground for creativity and obstacles are just an opportunity in disguise.
It is 100% possible. It is all a matter of perspective and how you choose to show up. You can be one of two types of business owners right now. You can be the person that projects their own fears to their audience. You can focus on the idea that no one is buying anything and the economy is tanking. What we think about we bring about. If you are putting this content out there, you are probably only speaking to the people who aren’t purchasing or buying. Or, there is the other business owner who believes that people still have problems. Entrepreneurs are problem solvers and we sell solutions to problems. People’s problems didn’t go away, they got magnified. The problem that was there pre Covid-19 is worse. There is a more keen awareness of a need right now with your audience. There is the business owner that thinks there is still a need and asks how they can meet that need, give as much value as possible, meet them where they are at with sensitivity, and understands that people still need to be served. You can choose to see either scenario. There are business owners that say it’s hopeless or those that see opportunity. People still need help and they still need solutions.
It’s going to be different. We will be slowly crawling out of this but there will be different and new opportunities after this if you choose to keep your eyes open. It might be more challenging and we may need to be more creative than we have been before.
This is a time where you have the government choosing what is essential and what is non essential. You need to ask yourself how you can make yourself essential right now. Figure out what the most valuable thing is that you give to your customers. Get really clear on that. Trim all the fat away from your business and boil it down to what the most vital, valuable, and life changing thing is that you offer. From there, figure out how you can make that better, bring more value, and how you can make people see how essential it is. Your consumer decides if your business is essential.
First, watch your mind drama. What are you constantly thinking about? What are you projecting? Are you taking in your own fears and projecting them onto your audience?
There are people out there saving money. They no longer are eating out, spending $100 at Target, or paying for gym memberships. Focus on the fact that there are people out there looking to stimulate the economy and support small businesses. You get to choose what you want to focus on right now.
Make yourself extremely valuable to people. While they may not be ready to buy from you now, they are going to remember how you showed up in a crisis. When they feel ready to spend, it will be with you because they will remember how you served. Are you going to be a fair weather business owner and only come out when the sun is shining? Or, are you going to come out right now and make yourself needed and serve people in a creative way?
If you are afraid to show up, it’s because you are making it about yourself. You’ve forgotten that it is about showing up for other people. Get out of your head and ask how you can serve and show up for people. Selling can build trust with your audience right now. If you were to disappear during this time and then show up when everything starts looking good, that breaks far more trust than the business owner that is choosing to show up during this time. Selling is still serving because it is offering a solution to people’s problems.
You may need to get creative with your pricing for the time being. Offer a discount or a new package to make it appealing!
The most expensive client to acquire is a new one. The best one is an existing customer. Ask yourself how you can make their existing experience even more valuable. A referral is always going to be better than a cold lead. If you are nurturing your existing audience and clients really well, uplevel it even more without asking for more money.
Take care of the people who have already invested with you. Radically bless them with more. Generosity brings abundance every single time.
Use fear as your compass. The very thing you are most afraid of doing is likely the very thing you are meant to be doing. Lean in and do it. Understand there is no such thing as ready or the right timing. Lean in to fear and it will serve you well.
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If you want to connect with us and other listeners in the Heart and Hustle community join our Facebook group here.
The 5 Essentials to Growing Your Business Organically: www.kristenboss.com/purposefulplatformfreebie
Kristen’s Facebook Group: Becoming Boss Community
Online course PRE-SALE: https://www.kristenboss.com/purposeful-platform-sales
Coaching with Kristen: https://www.kristenboss.com/coaching
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Podcast inquiries: podcast@theheartuniversity.com
WASSUP FRIENDS. We’re Evie + Lindsey, co-founders of this wild partayyy called The Heart University. Our goal is to empower entrepreneurs to kick freaking BUTT in their businesses, dive down into the heart of their why and how, and serve you with all possible tools you’ll need to up-level your business game and CRUSH those goals of yours.
Whether you’re coming to an in-person workshop, joining our online course, or soaking up all the strategies via this blog or our podcast, we’re STOKED you’re here + can’t wait to see you out there kicking butt.
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