Terry Hawkins - Why Wait to be Great? (L2417)

This podcast is sponsored by TalkSpace. May is Mental Health Awareness Month. In TalkSpace, the leading virtual therapy provider is telling everyone, let's face it, in therapy, by talking or texting with a supportive licensed therapist at TalkSpace, you can face whatever is holding you back, whether it's mental health symptoms, relationship drama, past trauma, bad habits, or another challenge that you need support to work through. It's easy to sign up. Just go to Talkspace.com and you'll be paired with a provider typically within 48 hours. And because you'll meet your Therapist online, you don't have to take time off work or arrange childcare. You'll meet on your schedule. Plus, TalkSpace is in-network with most major insurers, and most insured members have a $0 co-pay. Make your mental health a priority and start today. If you're not covered by insurance, get $80 off your first month with TalkSpace when you go to Talkspace.com and enter promo code S 80. That's SPA CE 80. To match with a licensed therapist today, go to Talkspace.com and enter promo code S80. Welcome to the Exit Coach Radio show, the show for baby boomer business owners who are looking for cutting edge information as they plan their 3 to 10 year business succession and exit. Every week we interview top professional advisors for. Their best tips, strategies, and precautions so you can be well planned. And don't miss our one minute exit coach tip of the day on exitcoachradio.com. And now here's your host, the exit coach, Bill Black. Welcome and thanks for listening today. I'm very excited about my next guest. She is Terry Hawkins from People in Progress Global, and she is the founder and CEO of that organization. They're out of Hermosa Beach, California, and Terry, as the CEO of the International business skills training company People in Progress Global, is in the business of developing people till they're. Potential. She has a book out. Her latest book is Why Wait to Be Great. It's either now or too late, and it really personifies her philosophy on life. Having been listed as one of the top 60 motivational speakers in the world, and top 10 women, she certainly knows how to shake people up and get them going. Terry, welcome to the show. Thanks so much for joining us today, Bill, it's an absolute pleasure to be with you. Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to have you on, Terry. Tell us about Uh, you and your background and people in progress. You've done so much. I can't wait to hear about it. Yeah, well, I'm actually originally from Australia. That's where the accent is from. And I spent, um, I've had my training organization for 25 years. And uh we actually go into organizations and so I have a team of trainers and we go into companies and really just help them set up a really strong culture around the customer experience. And of course, whether that's directly or indirectly. And um help everybody in the organization become aligned through sales training like um um management training, leadership, helping set up values and so forth. And, um, and then from that, I actually got onto the speaking circuit and then in Australia was the most booked female speaker for many, many years. And then took a really brave plunge at, I think I was 49 at the time. So I'm sure some of the baby boomers will relate to this and uh moved to America. Actually it would have been 47, I suppose, uh, anyway, I moved to America 4.5 years ago and uh it nearly destroyed me, so. You know it nearly destroy you. I get, I think when you've been in the business for so long and I've been doing, um, well, the company like I said, it's 25 years this year, um, and I wanted to change and I wanted to expand and um Australia only has 23 million people, so America has 330 million. And it's very difficult to even comprehend the size of it. So when you're expanding into another country, I think sometimes we think because we look the same, talk the same, act the same, it's gonna be the same. And, um, apart from the fact that I got quite ill with a, an illness, uh, an autoimmune disorder, I just found that when I got here, that Americans are, the American culture is very much um celebratory, which I just love, but they wait for you to be successful because there's so much choice. And so the risk factor is not one that's high on their agenda. Um, and because there are so many great people in the same space as you, basically in every area of business, I found it really hard for people to actually give me a, um, a start. And so, thank goodness of my Australian business because, and then I, of course, I left that, so I realized how much my personality really drove the business. Even though I had a team of trainers, um, people expected me to be there. And so I had to really make, so over the last 4 years, I suppose, I have really made sure that my personality and the personalities within the business don't run the business, that the business is run on process. And that I heard someone say the other day that, you know, processes should be put on pedestals, not people. And, um, and that's what we now. And I think that's a really powerful phrase. And so I set about doing that and, um, you know, eventually got some runs on the board here. As well as started to redesign how I did business in Australia because of my American experience, because I think in America, Americans, there's an abundance mentality here and unless you step up into that abundance, I think it suffocates you. So, the reason I ask is that a lot of people, a lot of our listeners, age 50 plus business owners are in that same situation where they're saying it's time for a change, but I fear change. I know what I've got. I'm Afraid to move to something else, but I really want to do something else with my life. And you have the added perspective of changing, changing geographical cultures. I mean, coming into something else. So you can teach us a lot about, um, what you found as a result of that. I think it's, it's incredibly interesting, um, your experience. And so, uh, now, it's 4 years later, uh, since you moved, uh, and, and, and how are things are going well, right? Well, now my business is, well, I actually lost everything. So I went from the peak of my career in Australia where I was earning, you know, great money and had a, just a great life and moved over here with my two teenage sons. And within 18 months, had basically lost my finances, so I lost my, I always say I lost my wealth, my health, and almost my spirit. And what we don't realize, I think we're so, as we get older, I think age puts fear in us and we become very scared of, and then we try to hang on. And we hold on so tightly to the way that we think that it should look. And I couldn't expand without that experience happening. And I know when you're in it, it is, it's terrifying. There were nights I would go to bed and I felt the anxiety was gonna crack my chest open. And now that I've come through it, I remember one day I, it came out of my mouth and I just went, life is perfect. And even if you don't realize it in that moment, it's actually preparing you. And I'm talking about a multi-million dollar business here. I'm not talking about a little, you know, job that brings me in a couple of $100,000 a year. Um, I'm, and I'm talking about influencing, you know, me personally, I've probably presented to over 500,000 people. And we have trainers out there doing my programs all the time. So I think that the best, someone said to me, what's the best and worst part about you moving to America and starting again, cause basically I started a company from the ground up 4 years ago. And I said my memory. So my memory was I knew how to um begin a company and build it, but also I had a memory of how tough it was. So when you're younger, you've got all the energy and, you know, you can work, you know, 1820 hours a day. But as you get older, you go, really, do I want to do that? So I had to come back to my core of why was I doing all of this? Why do I get out of bed in the morning? You know, what is the buzz for me at least I'm 53 now. And it really was about making an impact on people's lives. And, and one of the women that actually trained with us 10 years ago who did a training course with me personally actually. Um, one of About 3 day sales training programs that we do for retailers, she called my PA in Australia and said, if it wasn't for Pitman and Slipman, which are two characters that I created out of a sales training program, she said if it wasn't for Pitman and flipman, I would have killed myself last year. And that's when it just shook my core and went, you know what, girl, this is what you're here for. And that's one of the things that we preach, you know, is that as a business owner, you've got to give people a bigger reason for getting out of bed than selling your product. Achieving the purpose for which you were designed and it's perfectly suited to you. So what would be some of the keys to your success? I mean, you, for 25 years, you've been a successful businesswoman, speaker, and author. What are some of the keys to your success? I would say I actually compound my knowledge. And so one of the things that I do, I think a lot of people will have one, and there's the old line, you know, I met a man with 1 year's experience 30 times, and then I met a man with 30 years experience. And I think we need to keep adding to what we know, so I'm constantly looking at ways to polish and improve. I am, uh, whenever there is a screw up in the business or there's something that goes wrong, or with our clients, I always go, it's a system. And if you've got the system in place, then you haven't communicated the system properly. So I think you have to have really, really powerful systems. And also one of the keys to my success is that I have separated myself from the business. It's very easy, especially in speaking and training and with or entertainment or if you're in a business where your personality. is a key part of the marketing is that you can start to believe that you are it. And I've always considered that the programs that we deliver are the king of the business and so I made sure that those programs and everything that we did was duplicable and that if I stopped, then the business could keep going and that's where we are right now. So I think just looking at your business less from a personality viewpoint and more from where is it that you can step away and people can. Running what you're doing. So the business is a system of processes. We've all heard that before, but I like what you said earlier, which is put the processes on the pedestal because people run the processes and if you, if you have your processes designed properly, just about anybody could come in and eventually learn how to run the process. It should be that that simple, right? Well, and that's what happens with our business. So we have trainers, my trainers go in there and train the programs that I've developed. And we get the same responses from people going through the program. And I go, and that's why now we're able to license the program, because now I have proof that it's not about the personality. And yes, Terry Hawkins is a big personality and she's got lots of energy and so forth. But if you hire, and this is what I say to business people as well. You don't want anyone holding a gun to your head because they're your star salesperson. You want people addicted to your company and the experience of your company, and regardless of who they get, they get that same feeling at a cellular level, not touchy-feely, but they get the same feeling of experience. And that's what you're pitching for. So, um, that's what I love is that yes, our, our programs and, and systems and, and processes, as long as you hire the right person that can then deliver those processes. Yeah, it's not that hard. Well, there's even a process for hiring people, of course. Oh, let me tell you, if you're desperate, it's amazing you'll hire someone with two heads. Somebody came, somebody actually showed up. I can't believe it. Hi. Um, hey, Terry, tell us about what do you think is the biggest obstacle to people achieving their goals? Well, I think it's actually being really clear about what your goal is. I mean, if you ask people what do you want to achieve, it's quite general, or they'll go, they'll tell you what they don't want to achieve. And of course, I started to study the neurosciences and the patterning of people's behaviors and why they got the results that they got. And you'll quite often find That people focus on what they don't want. And of course, when you do that, that's what you draw more to you. So, um, I really believe that it's actually being really clear about what you want. Then doing whatever it takes. And I did some research years ago about what stops people from moving into mastery. So whether it's sales, management, leadership, parenting, sports, it doesn't matter what it is. How do people go from that honeymoon phase, and that's the first phase of where we get a buzz, where we're feeling really, you know, uplifted, and it's just like a relationship. You know, it's all fun and bells and whistles and woohoo, you know, everyone's having fun. And then, of course, you move into the next phase, which is routine. And people succumb to the boredom of routine. They buy into that. And instead of reframing it and seeing it as the more routine I, if I get it, the more the patterning in the brain grabs it and the more it's a proficient I will come, they want to jump back to uh to honeymoon. And so they don't go deeper. And if you stay in the routine for long enough, you'll eventually move into mastery. And I would suggest that people actually show their people how to get addicted to the routine part. And how do you do that? Well you get them to fall in love with the process of what they're doing, not the result. And I think we, in business today, we have people who are metric mad. Companies are metric mad. They're addicted to measuring everything. And as a result, we have an exhausted workforce who, you know, strive for every effort, every bit of energy in achieving that target, whether it's daily, weekly, monthly or yearly. They achieve it, we celebrate for 5 seconds and then we start again, and they're at the bottom of the mountain again. And then, you know, we wonder why. And then we, then we throw another 15% on and go, come on, you know, we can do it. And I go, wow, you know, you are turning your workforce. Against you. Whereas if you got people addicted to why they get out of the bed in the morning, every single one of us, regardless of what we do, just like you, Bill, we get the chance to actually reach in and massage the heart. You don't know that there are, I mean, I'm sure you do, but I'm sure there are people listening right now who are going, oh my gosh, my business is struggling. I'm not making money. What do I do? And then I hear something from one of these radio interviews, and it massages their heart and inspires them enough to go, I'm gonna take a different step today. I'm gonna do something differently. And if we only could see the ripple effect of what we do on a daily basis, then you would have people jumping out of bed, wanting to go and, you know, give a 150%. Not to increase shareholder value or make target, you know. I used to hate when a sales manager would set my goals for me and it was, it was really their goals, not my goals, and they didn't get me involved in the process. It's critically important, wouldn't you say, to get people involved in setting their goals and learning about the whys of their goals and then it's their passion. They get it as opposed to here's management coming along with another goal that I have to meet. I totally agree, and I think I think. And go deeper too if you look, yes, get, get how that conversation started. I've gone to companies and seen their amazing statements about their salespeople and nowhere in there have I mentioned the customer. And so I look at salespeople and go, OK, a sales goal is a sales goal, but there is someone actually needs to be affected, affected by your interaction to actually make that happen. And it's the customer. So I see businesses spend crazy amounts of money on marketing. They spend crazy amounts of money on products and product training and so forth, and yet they forget to actually engage the salesperson. Now, look, of course we need to have targets. I'm not saying you don't have a target. I have a target. Of course you do. You have to have a goalpost. But I think what happens is all we focus on is the target instead of the bigger why, you know, everyone's on this thing about why at the moment. I go, you cannot not do it without the Y. I mean, the why's been around forever. The people who make the most money are the ones who deeply have a connection with their client. And are there for much bigger reasons than just making a sale. They're there to make a difference. I, I always say to business owners, go back to why you started your business. Why did you actually start it? What was the buzz that you wanted to, what was the difference you wanted to make? And then have everyone buy into this. story. And then they'll make more money. A $5 million business can end up being a $10 million dollar business. You just have to put the glass ceiling on it because you need that to make your quota. Mhm. That's great stuff, Terry. Tell me a little bit about your book. Why wait to be great? It's either now or too late. Well, that was really just, uh, I used all of the personal development areas that I had learned through all this business training over the years and, and created two characters that actually help people to stop the programming that gets them the negative results and to rewire for what they want to achieve. And it it's a very simple read, it's not, it's not light, it's very heavy, but it's very simple, and, um, it gives people some strategies of, of stop waiting because I think we wait until we're ready. We're waiting until we're comfortable and. Sometimes if you just jump in and realize that the only moment you've got is now, then, you know, we can start creating the life that we want. It sounds terrific. So it's called Why Wait To Be Great. It's either now or too late. It's available on Amazon and Terry Hawkins, how do people get in touch with you best? Well, my email is just Terry, T E R R Y. At Terry Hawkins.com. So it's H A W K I N S. And my website is just Terry Hawkins.com. Very simple. Thank you very much for joining us today. I hope that we can get together again because I think we just scratched the surface on this topic, and I'd love to get deeper into it with you in another interview at some other time. That would be wonderful, Bill. Thank you so much and thank you for everything that you're doing for business owners as well. Uh, thank you so much, uh, Terry Hawkins. We're gonna be right back after this message, so please stay tuned. Just thinking about what will happen to your business if you're gone keep you awake at night, will you get the price you need from your business to carry you through retirement? The BEI Network of Exit Planning Professions is the world's leading advisor network with the power to help business owners transition out of business on their own timeline and terms. Ask your most trusted advisor to create a BEI plan for you, or visit us at exitlannning.com. That's exitlannning.com. You're listening to Exit Coachradio.com, the information station for age 50 plus business owners, where we're interviewing top advisors for their best tips, ideas, and precautions so you can be well planned. We upload new one minute tips every day. Exitcoachradio.com. Come listen for a minute. Thank you for listening to Exit Coach Radio. This podcast is sponsored by TalkSpace. May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and TalkSpace, the leading virtual therapy provider is telling everyone, let's face it, in therapy, by talking or texting with a supportive licensed therapist at TalkSpace, you can face whatever is holding you back, whether it's mental health symptoms, relationship drama, past trauma, bad habits, or another challenge that you need support to work through. It's easy to sign up. Just go to Talkspace.com and you'll be paired with a provider typically within 48 hours. And because you'll meet. Your therapist online, you don't have to take time off work or arrange childcare. You'll meet on your schedule. Plus, TalkSpace is in-network with most major insurers, and most insured members have a $0 co-pay. Make your mental health a priority and start today. If you're not covered by insurance, get $80 off your first month with TalkSpace when you go to Talkspace.com and enter promo code S space 80. That's SPA CE 80. To match with a licensed therapist today, go to Talkspace.com and enter promo code S80.