Actionable Steps Toward Sustainable Entrepreneurial Growth with Nikki Green

Hello, everybody, and, welcome back to the show. Chuck Anderson here. This is the

creative collaboration show, and, this is a show for business

owners and experts and, entrepreneurs who are

on a journey, usually through business

growth and all the ups and downs that can come along with that. And we

we have our big goals that we're reaching for. Some of us

seem to hit them with ease, and others of us, seem

to have an interesting journey. We'll we'll

put it that way. And, there are times in the entrepreneurship

journey that will test your patience, test your confidence,

test your resiliency, and you'll wonder, why am I even

doing this, and should I even keep doing this? And that's what the

theme of our episode here is today. I'm

so, privileged to have, Nikki Green here with me

today. Nikki is a life and business resiliency

expert, who has been in the international

business industry for over 20 years, avid

traveler, also marathon. We'll have to unpack that

too. Completing 7 marathons, dozen of

triathlons across 3 continents. Well, it definitely takes,

resiliency to do that, Nikki. So first of all,

welcome to the show. Glad to have you. Thanks. Good to see you again,

Chuck. Yeah. We're gonna have some fun today. We always do

when we get together. And, you know, I

probably butchered that introduction a little bit. You know, that's that's always how it

goes, you know, with with the bios. Let's

start with, you know, you telling everybody, a little bit more

about you and, what you do and what kinda go from there.

Yeah. One of the things I love is, no matter how many times people meet

me, sometimes they have no idea where I'm from or what I do, and they're

just like, I just wanna be around you. I just wanna hang out. Like, you

just seem fun, and that's fine

too. But hi, everyone. Yeah. My name is Nikki Green. I am a life and

business rezonecy expert. So I help people tackle big challenges,

both in their business and in their life. I spent the last 20 years working

in Silicon Valley, so I have an incredible amount of business experience. I also have

been on the board of many nonprofits, so I've kinda seen everything big, small, and

everything in between. And I take on big

challenges myself. So I also am a former certified USA

Triathlon coach, and so I, used to coach endurance athletes as

well as I used to play and coach volleyball. So a little bit of an

eclectic history. I'm a chameleon. I kinda blend in, and there's

lots to unpack here and lots of ways I can support and help your

audience. Yeah. And, you know, I think most of us are,

chameleons or, at least have that multifaceted,

you know, bit of experience that then comes together in a in a new way.

It's kinda like, you know, when Reese's put chocolate and peanut butter together for

the first time, it's like, oh, amazing. And we all have our own combination.

Right? And and so I I love that. How what's what's

the origin of the work that you're doing? What what got you

into the work that you're doing? And, was there a

turning point? Or, you know, what what what was the journey?

Yeah. Like a lot of people during the pandemic, it just felt really disillusioned

with my corporate career, and there's a lot going on, obviously,

globally, but just in the company, and and it just really wasn't

resonating anymore with the the culture and some of the decisions that were being made.

And I just said, you know what? It's time to go. It's time to take

a break. It's time to do some personal development and build more of my own

legacy. And one thing that I've always done is do a lot of give

back. It's been really important that because of my eclectic upbringing,

there were always people in my life that reached out and helped me when they

didn't have to. You know, they went above and beyond to make sure that I

was taken care of so that I was able to have all the success I

had. And so for me, the first start was being on a couple of boards

of nonprofits, and that gave me an ability to really just recharge and know

that there is good in the world. And I wanted to keep that going as

I started to build my business, and really starting to help those that

were doing the same thing, leaving their career many, many

years and reinventing themselves in this new paradigm that we

have. So I really love it. It gives me energy every day to be

doing this and to see all the exciting cool businesses that people are

dreaming up and try to make those a reality with them.

You know, there's something interesting about spending time

in with nonprofits and around people

who are in, the activity of giving

a lot. Whereas in corporate, it can feel it's not

always true, but, you know, it it can feel like taking it's

a lot of, you know, meeting performance measures and numbers and,

let's make a gazillion dollars and and and all of that. And I

know my short time in corporate was certainly like

that. Hit your numbers or else. And,

and it is so much different when you surround yourself with people who

are, who help other people, who heal

other people, who want to see others succeed and

not just for their own personal gain. And and so I love

that. I I spent some time there recharging as well,

when when when I left the corporate world. So, we certainly have that in

common. What were some of the big takeaways that you you

got from from that time that you use with the

people that you work with now? Yeah.

One of my specialties throughout my career has been pricing. And so

I've done pricing for all sorts of different products and services. I've, you know,

been consulting on other companies to help them better understand their pricing.

And one of the things when you think about a nonprofit versus a corporate structure

is, you know, a a corporation we think of a product, and then we price

it, and then we go try to just sell as much as we can to

as many people will buy it. And you hope you find a market for what

you're doing, which is also what many of us are doing here. In a

nonprofit, you have a very reverse scenario where you have more

people that need your service then usually you can help. You

you usually are struggling in the reverse because you need to make money in other

ways. You need to fundraise. You need to get donations. You need to do these

things to then be able to go serve. And so I think

about that a lot as I work with so many heart centered entrepreneurs who

are trying to give, give, give, and not always sure that there's

a market for what they need. And so it's kind of this sweet spot between

that old school kinda corporate environment and the nonprofit world

to see where we can find a way to make sure that we have this

exchange of energy, which is what money is, for the goodness

that we're putting back out into the world. So it's it's been an interesting

pivot and a real revelation the more I spent, you know, with some of these

nonprofits to see that come true and how it continues to transform what I do

today. Yeah. Well, speaking of what you do today,

who who do you find yourself working with? Who's coming into your world saying,

Nikki, I really need your help? Yeah.

I love working with aspiring entrepreneurs, and sometimes they've been in

business for a few years. They're usually super creative souls. They

have these incredible amount of talents. They probably have had a long

career in something else, and they're really pivoting into something new.

And most of them stay really focused on this creative genius that they have.

But what they lack usually are business fundamentals. They don't have a ton

of of business experience. They haven't built other businesses. This is kinda their first

foray into it. And so what I really do is help them create those

business foundations, is how do we, in that way that allows you to stay in

that creative genius, still take care of that day to day foundation that

must get done every day, every week to keep that a sustainable

business and not just a hobby. Mhmm. And what are some of the

things you're hearing from them in terms of their struggles or their

worries, their concerns, their fears, or maybe even the things of, like, should

I even do this? Right? And I because I know you work with people on

that as well. What what are you hearing from them?

Yeah. And it was really difficult last year when I was traveling

with my my latest book, and I was talking to

people more 1 on 1, which was great. You know? Let's get off Zoom. Let's

really make connections and have a longer time to chat. And just

so many people that I met had been somewhat taken

advantage of by these kind of Internet gurus or, you

know, specialists who are charging these exorbitant fees

to implement things that they're simply not ready for, that most of these

folks really needed to get back to some of these business foundations, and they

needed to learn how to do them themselves. A lot of them were looking for

this magic bull bullet, magic pill, whatever you might wanna say, and the things

would get done for them because they were paying so much money to these experts.

And the exact opposite was happening. It was like, I'm gonna coach you, but I'm

coaching you at, like, a graduate PhD level when you're kind of

still in high school learning the basics. And so I that really

helped me focus for this year to make sure that I'm helping people put that

in place at a reasonable cost that is meeting them where

they're at, and then we can grow into bigger and better things. But without

that, you know, it's pretty tough for us to get started. And I just heard

too many stories of credit card debt and loans on houses and just

things that were way above their means and wasn't really getting them the business that

they needed. Yeah. I think one one thing that I

notice about people early in their journey, and, once upon

a time, I was one of those people too. And and and you think,

well, if I just buy this one more program or if

I, or if I just go and buy this thing or do this thing and

put it all on the credit card, I know I'm gonna be successful this

time. And, but but like you were

saying earlier, but without the the business fundamentals, you

know, it it doesn't really work. And so, you

know, ultimately, go out and sell the thing that you sell,

whether it be a service or a product, and can you sell it? That's when

you have a business. Yeah. So what are some of

the things that, you find yourself you know, what in terms

of, the journey, that you have with them, what

are some of the things that you find yourself repeatedly working with

them on, that help them to get off the path

they're on now, which is probably gonna end in disaster

to where now they're on a much better path.

Yeah. I mean, money mindset always comes first and foremost. 1,

because of my background in finance. I'm been comfortable with money for

a very long time handling mostly other people's money, but also taking care of

myself and my family. And so I think a lot of people were

taught, well, we don't talk about money or it's kind of shameful or,

you know, I should just do this out of the goodness of my heart. So

we've gotta tackle some of that first, and we tackle that in alignment

with what are you selling in your business. A lot of times I get the

question is like, well, how do I know if it's the right price? There is

no such thing, to be real honest. Price is a value

proposition. And so you have to really think through that of, like, at the end

of the day, you just need to start selling something, anything.

Figure it out. $5, $500, and

get them past that initial hump where, you know, a lot of

people are telling them, we'll go immediately sell $15,000 programs when they

haven't even figured out how to do this, again, really basic piece. So

let's break the barrier and stigma of talking about money. We don't

have to be pushy salespeople, and we just need to share our talent in a

way that exchanges that energy, which is money. Mhmm. Well

and I think a good question for the person who wants to go from

0 to a $15,000 program is, how did

you feel the last time you bought a $15,000 program?

And if the answer is, I've never bought one before, what are you

doing? Right? Like, what are you doing? How are you gonna sell something you've never

bought? Exactly. It's such a huge investment. You know?

And and what is the goal of your business? The goal of your business

is to get not just one customer, lots of customers, and repeat

customers. Because getting new customers takes a lot of energy. And

if you can really build a long term relationship with people where you start with

a low end product and then you gradually work through with doing more and more

stuff as you become more comfortable, as you become more experienced. It's a

more natural progression for most folks that are starting out.

I get it. We've got tons of experience out there, and most of us are

undervaluing, but you gotta take that first step before you can go

leap off the cliff. Oh, absolutely. I think

everybody needs to have that low cost customer

acquisition product. You know? And then

then you can offer them you can go from a $500

product or a $1,000 product to a $15,000 product. No problem. But to

go from 0 to 15, unless you've unless you've done it yourself,

probably not. But but even still and that's and I think that's one

of the things that our industry, Nikki, kinda does

people a disservice because they're like, oh, high ticket. And they'll say

things like, well, would you rather have, 50

people at $1,000, or would you

have would you rather have, 3 or 5

people at 10,000 dollars? And, of course, your,

your logical brain goes, oh, yeah. Of course. Only 5 at 10,000.

Yes. Okay. But how are you gonna get them?

Right? How are you gonna get them? And, you know, I have a $10,000 program.

Where do mine come from? The

$1,000 program. Right? Mhmm. And, it's

even interesting. I was on a event not that long ago

with, Tony Robbins and Dean Graziosi. And I'm thinking,

okay. Here we go. Because I do a lot of 3 day events. I support

a lot of events where it's like, you know the offer is coming. Like, you

know that at some point around lunchtime of day

2, there's gonna be an offer, and it's gonna be, like, a 10,

15, maybe $20,000 offer. And I was waiting for

it and waiting for it and waiting for it. And you know what? It didn't

come. They had a $1,000 offer,

and, if you didn't wanna do a $1,000, it was $97 a

month. I'm like, okay. So here's guys, 2 veterans of

the seminar industry. We know the model. We've been I worked with

Harv Eker. This was the model, like, that we was drilled into our

brains, and I'm like, they didn't do it. And and it was

very clear to me why they did it afterwards. And it was like this

that journey, that relationship starts somewhere. Right? And so

mhmm. Exactly. And and I talk to my clients a lot about access

to cash. The the more you're paying, there is an

expectation of access to you. And in

the beginning, when you are trying to scale, you're gonna

try to get a lot of people in these lower end programs, but they're just

not gonna get as much access to you. It'll be a book, a course, or,

you know, something like a group program. But once you start getting to those

higher ticket levels, they are going to want access. And I think that's been another

disservice that I've seen in a lot of programs at this high ticket offers

is you're not getting actual access to these people. You're getting somebody

beneath them within the team, and then, again, you're getting an online course.

And so, you know, granted, I get it. Hey. Tons of experience. I love this

stuff. But for us just starting out, let's build that

community. Let's connect with those that resonate with us. Those are can

also be our referral partners. Those can bring us more customers. Those are our

free marketing. There are so many opportunities that come from that that

you don't need to be, like, over exhausting yourselves and, you know, giving

everything in 1 or 2 clients to, you know, these high ticket offers.

Yeah. Exactly. And, you know, I think there's there's certainly a balance between

giving too much and certainly not giving enough.

And and and and so look. If

I offered twice as much access to my group coaching

program participants as I do now, they'd gladly take it.

Right? They're not gonna argue with that. And then, you know, with the high

ticket ones, if I tried to offer them less, they'd be like, woah. Wait a

minute. Right? And so it's I I think, you know,

putting it into, balance and look. You know, with my group coaching

program, they get enough access where they feel like they have

But it's not enough access if you really have a big goal, and, of

course, it's and that frustration is kinda make what makes them

want the bigger program. They want the more access to

you. You know, of course, you want more, but you're in a program where you

only get the once a week. You want, you know, you want the private coaching.

No problem. Here it is. And so it's about positioning. And, you know, when it

when it comes to how do you get people to want

to buy your high ticket program? Once once you have

that relationship with them, then they're much more likely to want it.

So Exactly. And and that's it. It's it's really

hard when we're first building our business to have that audience Where

we start with your friends and family, and gradually you can build out. But we

don't start with these ready made audiences. And so you really have to

focus on that first in a way that's as low cost as you can

until that revenue starts coming in. And so just keeping an eye on that,

I think, is so important for folks is just keep selling, just

keep nurturing, just keep building. And it's gets a little bit

exhausting, and that's really what we work on is how do we keep that resilient

mindset in place to just keep going after that because it does get

a bit, you know, difficult at times when you're putting so much of yourself into

your work. But finding a way that we can do that sustainably is what's

important. You know, one of the things that I think contributes to

that is working alone. And I think something

a a term that really does people in in this stage of business a

disservice is the term solopreneur, because it seems

to indicate that you can do this by yourself.

And I think once upon a time, I probably believed that

as well. And but, looking back, there's nothing that I've

done of any significance that I did by myself. What's your what's your

take on, solo versus

collaborating and all of that? Like, what, you know, when you hear

that solopreneur, what do you what do you hear, and what's your

reaction to it? Yeah. Yeah. It's really a tough

one. And especially at the timing when a lot of people were starting their

businesses during the pandemic when we were so isolated.

It's kind of kept them isolated, and there's still a lot of anxiety and fear

that we haven't worked through. And I really say that it is not

possible. We cannot be experts in everything. We're not expected

to. But as an entrepreneur, you have to know a little bit about a lot

of stuff. Mhmm. Man, you can't just learn all that stuff all the time.

Yeah. YouTube's great, and you can take it in more courses. But like you said,

it is so much faster if you have a community of mentors that you can

quickly go ask and trust that they're gonna give you good advice.

And it's helped my business exponentially to have a

good group of entrepreneurs who were a bit ahead of

me in where my business was so that I could constantly, every week

when we mastermind, bring my stuff to the table. And without

fear, without judgment to say, hey. This isn't working. What

am I doing that's not right? And get that immediate

feedback. It's so much more valuable than trying to just constantly stumble it over

yourself. So, guys, don't be solopreneurs. Like, yes, you

can sit in your office all by yourself and pet your cat or dog or

whatever is going on there. But it's so much better to be connected

to people, and not just your clients, but to make sure that you're continuously

serving and you can help others with your expertise too. It's not just a

one-sided conversation. Mhmm. So for our audience

members who are listening in right now, we wanna kinda help them to

avoid some of the mistakes that many make, and we wanna kinda get them

onto that path of resiliency and, you

know, being successful in their business. You know, what

what advice do you have in terms of, like, where they may be today in

terms of where they wanna get to? You know, what what what steps should

they take? What should they be looking for? What

what is your ultimate advice for for them? Yeah. For me,

even with all my experience, I definitely I I trusted too quickly,

and I spent too quickly. I I think like a lot of us, you really

wanted to believe that people had that answer for you. And at the end of

the day, the answer is in you. It's your business. You have to build it,

and you have to learn some of these hard lessons and go through it. But

you don't have to do it alone. So put yourself into a community that can

support you and collaborate with you over that

time. I I think it's it's

a lot to learn, so take it step by step. I also use

my marathon training as kind of an example of how best to

go about pretty much any goal is you don't go out and run 26

miles the very first time you set that goal. Every

week, you run one more mile and one more mile after

that. And then at the end of the 1st month, you actually take it to

take a break, and you run less mileage. And so thinking

through that as we build our businesses, I'm going to push, push,

push, take a break. Push, push, push, take a break.

And I think that's not a cadence that most of us have. We're trying to,

like, overreach, overreach, overreach, burnout. That's what

most of us did in most of our previous jobs. So the more we can

find that balance and how to grow sustainably, it'll be much better for

us physically, mentally, and also just get better results in our business

overall. I think when we're when we're managing our business

by the size of our to do list, and at

the end of the day, instead of looking at, oh, look at all these things

I got done, we'll I we look at, oh, look at

all these things that are not done yet, and, oh my god, I gotta get

up early tomorrow because, you know, I I gotta get more of these things done.

But what you said is, like, push, push, push, but then

take a break and recharge. It's something Dan

Sullivan really, you know, really stood out to me when he was

with some of his coaching is you gotta have free days. You gotta

gotta have some time off to recharge. Right?

Especially in a creative space like most of us are in is we're building we're

making things that have not existed before, maybe in certain pieces and

elements. But in order to be creative, you do need that downtime.

There's no magic formula. There's no map. And so if you don't give

yourself that break, you're not gonna be able to objectively look back and go, oh,

couple things were really awesome. Let's do that again. Instead of focusing

so much always too on the I didn't get enough done, which is is tough

to do. Yeah. So so, Nikki, I know

you have a lot of different ways that you can help, you know,

entrepreneurs and especially ones that really resonate with what we're

saying here today. You have retreats and books and

programs. Where is the best place to start their

journey with you? Where where is the best place for them to, reach

out and maybe get some info or connect with you or whatever?

And and we'll make sure we'll put the links to it, in the show

notes here. Absolutely. Well, you guys can catch me on

my personal website, the nikkigreen360.com. I host

business foundation master classes every single month. There are periodic, different

times, dates, just to be flexible for different time zones. Absolutely free.

And you can bring live questions. It's workshop style. So although we're

coaching and teaching, you are welcome to bring an actual question, and we

will talk through it live. And these are always kind of dynamic, fun

events, and it brings you into the community. So you can start to see other

cool entrepreneurs and what they're up to. So, I would love to have people join

for Masta bus. Absolutely. Well, to help everyone out, we've put the

links to that just beneath this video if you're watching it on video. Or if

you're listening to this on podcast, just go into that player on Spotify or Apple

or whatever you're on, and the links to Nikki's website and

to that monthly workshop are all there as well. And,

look, it's it's free. Right? So just go and, check it

out. And as you can see, time with

Nikki is is fun, and she's got a great energy as well. So

it'll be, time well spent, as well.

Nikki, before we kinda wrap things up here, this has been

incredible. I I I just love hearing other

people's perspectives, and and and you and I are aligned on

so many of, like, the way we approach it. We don't do the same

thing, but our approach and our philosophy to business and

collaboration, is is very similar.

I wanna talk a little bit about, you know, sort of the the the

self growth part of the journey, and so much such a big

part of my journey has been what I've learned in books. I

wasn't terribly good at when reading a physical book and

finishing it all the way to the end. I'm really good with audiobooks now, so

I've been able to consume. But still, there's so and a lot of the books

that I bought that I never finished, I went back and I listened to an

audiobook. And and so I'm like, you know, there was some really good stuff in

there. I really should have read that 20 years ago.

So so books are a big part of, I think, everybody's

journey. So I know you have several. And

so here's my question. What maybe talk about a little bit about your

your most recent or most notable book that you have, and we'll we can list

all the ones beneath the video as well. So what of

your books do you recommend? And then, a book from someone else maybe that

has had an impact on your journey that you would recommend

others as well. Yeah. Of my books, I

write both fiction and nonfiction, so a little bit for everyone there.

But in the case of nonfiction and working on your business, Chameleon mindset is,

you know, definitely not only a bestseller, but it's fun. There's fun

stories. There's activities in there. There's activities you can do with your partner, your

family, your kids. It's not limited to just your business. It's about fixing

your mindset and getting you on the right path. So, if you're up for a

fun adventure and a couple of laps, chameleon mindset is

definitely there. I've been an avid reader my whole life. I

am really into sci fi, fantasy, fiction, and all these, like, multiple books.

Dune, far above, like, all the rest. If you want more, I

can give you a whole podcast on that one. But I'll

tell you the the funniest story of nonfiction book is,

the Christmas of 2019. So right before the chaos and quitting my job

and all the things, For Christmas, my brother gave me the book of the

subtle art of not giving a and we won't say the last one. I've read

that one yet. That's cool. It's a quick one. It's a short one.

It's kind of called the self help book for people who don't like self help,

but he gave it to me at such a pivotal point in my life where

I really did need to stop listening to all the I

shoulds, and just listen to my heart and say, this job

isn't working, and I need to do something new. And so for

me, that was a transformative book. It was a quick read. It was easy. It

was fun, and definitely a an appropriate gift from my

brother. Aren't family members

great, you know, for doing the right thing at the right time?

And, you know, with a title like that too, there's a little bit of

a check this out, but, you know, it

it it's a great example of how to get a really, how to

grab people's attention. Right? And and and so, so

I haven't read that one yet. So would you recommend you know, well, obviously,

this was your recommendation, so I'll add that to my list.

I will put a link to it beneath this video for anyone who else wants

to check it out, and I'll go get the audiobook because, that's how I

consume books nowadays. Like, you know, with, my attention span

is about this long when it comes to reading off

of paper. But put on the headphones, I can I can

listen all day long? And so so there we go. That's gonna be one of

the next ones. Thank you, Nikki. Awesome. So this is, you

know, this has been this has been great. And, of course, if we

really went deeper into any one of these subjects, you and I

could easily be here all day. We could probably do a whole workshop on this

thing, which you do do a monthly workshop, so we do highly recommend that

people go check that out. Click the link beneath this video or in the podcast

show notes, and go and, go and attend, Nikki's workshop. And then

come back and, you know, let let us know what you learned from it and

your takeaways. And, we'd be very interested in that feedback.

So, Nikki, before we kinda, like, wrap things up here and,

bring this episode in for a a landing here,

any final words of wisdom or bits of advice that you would

give our listeners as they're on their entrepreneurial journey?

Yeah. I I think it's just ask. If we don't

start asking for what we need and where we need help

and stop hiding in fear and letting all of that

anxiety set in, we're never going to get anywhere. We're not

expected to know it all. And the more we can have that vulnerable

moment, ask whoever you can. It's the worst thing they can

say. No or not respond? Like, I think you'll be fine. And it's helped me

so much throughout my career, throughout my business, is having those

people where I just took that brave step to just ask for what

I needed. So don't hesitate to reach out if there's anything I can help you

with. You know, someone told me once you don't get what you don't ask

for. Right? And so so what you just said is the

flip side of that. Ask and you shall receive.

Right? As they say. So there we go. Nikki, thank you so much.

This has been amazing. I look forward to all of the other things that we

can, we can do and, together and,

letting you know, getting the word out about you and what you're doing and your

books and, your workshop and your retreats, all

of that is there, right right beneath these videos. Go check Nikki

out. We highly recommend that you do. It's gonna be time well spent.

So to our audience, thank you, and I would like this

time that you spent here with us today to mean something

and to propel your journey forward. Take something

that you heard either one of us say and take

action towards it. Take one step towards where you wanna

be. And maybe it's a goal you've been been been putting off for a while.

Maybe it's a phone call that you haven't made. Maybe it's something that you need

to ask for, as Nikki said, ask,

or maybe it's just to go and register for Nikki's workshop, and the

link is right below, and you can do that as well. It's a nice easy

step to take, and it's going to help to propel you forward.

So, thank you so much for being our, our audience

here today. Nikki, thanks for being our guest. This has been the creative

collaboration show. And before I sign off, I'm just gonna say keep

moving forward. The only fail is to way to fail is to quit. So

keep putting 1 foot in front of the other and never ever give

up on your big dream. This is the Creative Collaboration Show. I'm Chuck Anderson. We'll

see you on the next one. Thank you.