The First Customer - How To Become A Market Maven with Expert In You CEO Ann Carden

[00:00:27] Jay: Welcome to The First Customer podcast. My name is Jay Aigner today. I am lucky enough to be joined by Ann Carden. She is the founder and CEO of, Expert In You. It's a coaching firm, targeted very specifically, which I want to talk about. and thanks for joining me. How are you? 

[00:00:43] Ann: Thanks, Jay. I'm so happy to be here. I'm doing wonderful. 

[00:00:47] Jay: I made that note about, targeted specifically because I have a theory, around the 1 million mark, of businesses. And I feel like you must know that as well, that it's very much a, Make or break number and some people can stay there, but you know, it's, I'm not going to say it's easy to make a million dollars because it's certainly not, but it's much harder to make five or 10 than it is to make one.

So let's get into that in a little bit, but first tell me where you're from, where'd you grow up and did that have any impact on you being an entrepreneur? 

[00:01:19] Ann: Yeah, so I grew up in Missouri. my dad was an entrepreneur. So most of my life, my dad had his own businesses. And at the time I didn't really think about that.

I didn't give that any thought. But then when all of the kids at one time had their own businesses, we kind of thought we got that honestly. So, but I think even as a kid, I always found ways to make money. I always was, doing things to have a job or to work for people where I could make some money.

And so I think it has always been in my DNA, so to speak. 

[00:01:51] Jay: Do you find yourself saying or doing some of the things that your dad did, growing up as an entrepreneur yourself? 

[00:01:59] Ann: No, I think, I've learned a lot along the way because we had, as I got later, especially into my coaching business, you know, online, we got online, we had Google, we had a lot of things that we could learn faster and could speed results.

And so I think that, I learned a lot of things about business that maybe my dad didn't have access to. you know, all those years building. So 

[00:02:25] Jay: now I'm curious, what did your dad do? 

[00:02:27] Ann: He had several different things. I mean, when I was, I would say a lot of my life, he, owned a real estate company and.

This was back in the seventies. And then, you know, they had the real estate, everything busted. Right. So, then he moved into sale. He did sales of some kind. So he's always done like sales or jobs where he, I want to say jobs, but where he really was the maker of his income. And so when I think about it, Whether it was his own product or it was somebody else's product, he always was making his own income.

he figured out early on that was a lot more lucrative than a job. So, but real estate for many years that he, you know, he did, he had his own company. And then my mom and dad also had a store at one point. they had a catalog store. so that was, they did a few things. 

[00:03:20] Jay: Very cool. I hear, store owners as parents a lot.

I hear teachers as parents a lot. you know, from entrepreneurs. So it's, I always like to dig in a little bit and see what, you know, leads to some of these entrepreneurs we have today. So tell me about your 1st business. What was the 1st business you spun up and try to do? 

[00:03:37] Ann: Yeah, my, first real business, I should say, that was 30 something years ago when I left corporate and became a stay at home mom, we were struggling financially.

So I started thinking about, okay, what can I do to make money? We were in a small town. There wasn't a lot of opportunity. In fact, there was little to no opportunity. so I started a doll business. I kind of fired up a craft business at that time. Crafts was going across the country. It just, I was Very crafty and made things and very innovative like that.

And so I started making some craft projects and took them to a little store and they didn't sell. And, through my market research with her, what's selling, tell me what's selling. She said, these dolls. And I created my own line of dolls. Long story short, that ended up to be a global company that I was basically running a manufacturing company out of my home.

I had lots of employees. People were, well, they were contract workers. People, but they were working for me and, had a very successful craft doll business. So that's the country and, shipping all over the world. 

[00:04:42] Jay: I can honestly say you're the first doll maker, that we've had on the show. So that's very, I like that.

[00:04:50] Ann: Once in a while, it's kind of funny, the name of my business back then was Annie's Hutch. Now I hated the name Annie. If anybody ever called me Annie growing up and a lot of my aunts and uncles did, I would get mad at them. That's not my name. That's not my name. And then I ended up naming my doll company Annie's Hutch.

But when that name pops up. periodically. it's just, it really takes me back because since then, you know, I've done so many other things, but yeah, it's a little, you know, I used to be a little bit embarrassed about it, like, Oh, you know, craft dolls. But when I really think back, I ended up on, you know, my dolls were on the cover of, an international magazine.

They were selected for a magazine shipping all over the world. We didn't have the internet. I didn't have a computer. I was doing things the old fashioned way. And So when I really look back, I'm actually really proud of what I accomplished in that business. and I created all my own designs. And so when I sold that, I actually sold all of my designs out to a pattern company.

So I was creating patterns. That was another revenue stream. so instead of all of the done, you know, the dolls done now I was designing patterns where other people could make them. And so I had that revenue stream going as well. So yeah, when I look back, I'm really proud of it. 

[00:06:04] Jay: Yeah, as you should be. It's very cool. I think, I say this on quite a few episodes, but, a lot of the business books that you read today are kind of like a retread of five years ago or 10 years ago, and then you go back another 10 years and it's a retread and it's just like this cycle, so the fact that you did that 30 years ago, I think, just means that you'd kind of start to figure out business, right?

I mean, it's a cool thing to like, figure out the bits and pieces. And I'm sure some of those things, obviously you're not making dolls today, but I'm sure some of the lessons you learned back then are still applicable to the business you run today. Just, you know, dealing with the customers and you know, all sorts of things like that.

so I think that's a very, very cool, and definitely unique starting point. Like I said, I've not heard that. So, how did you get into coaching? you know, I think a lot of people get there in a lot of different ways. How did you get there? 

[00:06:48] Ann: Yeah. Well, I built two health clubs and two weight loss centers as my next four businesses.

And so I was coaching in those businesses for years, coaching people on losing weight coast, coaching them on being healthier. And, you know, we had weight loss center. So I was a personal trainer inside my business and did a lot of things. So as I built those up, it was really, again, kind of in my DNA that this was a really natural fit for me.

Yeah. I got into coaching because in my last two businesses, I had, a high end women's training center and I had a weight loss center and they were new in a new area and I could not get those businesses above break even. And I still own my, so I owned four at one time. I still own the other two and I hired my first business coach and it was, I didn't even know what a business coach could do for me.

I had no clue. Again, this was a little bit before, you know, the internet. I don't even think I had a computer at that time still, or maybe they were just kind of getting into homes. so I hired a business coach and she was also a brilliant marketer and she was able to just turn everything around. I mean, I knew how to run a good business.

Inside, I did not know how to market very well. I was probably better than most people, but I could not figure out where's the disconnect here. And, we were getting a lot of the wrong people in the door. We were a high end club and so all these different things. So hired her, she turned me around, she showed me where my gap was.

It was so impactful and I knew I had acquired all of this experience and knowledge and skills on how to run a business, how to systematize, how to build teams, all of those things, even how to have your business run without you because I had accomplished all of those things. things that I knew it was my next thing.

So I kind of dipped my toe in the water and I was already out there networking and I knew a lot of business owners and which is going to bring you to your next question, right? How'd you get your first customer or your first client? I just reached out to people that I already knew that had businesses.

And I said, I'm really thinking about doing this, but I want to make sure I know what I'm doing and I want to make sure that I can actually help you. And I had two people say, yes, I didn't charge them very much, but I just wanted to test the waters and when I saw the results, I got them, my prices went.

Went up immediately and I said, okay, I do know some stuff, but I also with working with that coach, I also became really hungry for business and marketing and sales. And I mean, I went on a quest, my club was over an hour away from where I lived. So I lived with, CDs and books. And I mean, I just, anything and everything I can learn, I just became such a student.

business and the marketing side and the sales side as well. And that really catapulted my knowledge as well. So I had all of this experience, but then to really be able to sort of, put it into some sort of a system and, you know, figure out how to build a business around it and help other people in their business.

I just, I was hungry for it. So that became my next thing. They eventually took over and then I sold those other two businesses. So. 

[00:10:04] Jay: How it's a great entry to the next question, which is, you know, I think there's this. You know, there's the burnout as a founder and there's a, you know, this, kind of picture of a ceo or founder.

That's just this like driven person that just never stops. But I mean, I can tell you as a business owner myself, there are ups, there's downs, there's, you know, high motivation periods, there's lower motivation periods. yeah. Have you found yourself in those lower motivation periods where you kind of feel stuck or you feel, you know, even after you've been successful, and what have you done to kind of get through that and back to the high motivation kind of side of the chart?

[00:10:46] Ann: Yeah, that's such a great question because yes, 100 percent my husband's heard a lot of breakdowns, a lot of crying, a lot of breakdowns. We all have them. Here's the thing though. You know, and I've worked with hundreds and hundreds of people in their businesses and entrepreneurs. and I, so it hasn't just been me that I've seen it.

I see it with people I work with too. And here's the thing I always say, when you really focus on the solution and you don't focus on the problem, you'll be able to get yourself out of things quicker and you'll be able to really move forward faster. And then it's like, if you don't know what to do, then who do you, who knows what to do?

Find the who. and so I think a lot of people, kind of stay stuck because they're, you know, for me, for a lot of years, I didn't know who to go to, to help me with those problems. So I really just had to innovate and figure it out. Not that I couldn't do that. Everyone can do that. It did, but it took me a lot longer.

If I would have known who to go to, that could have helped me. And just like that coach in 30 days, she showed me what I had been struggling with for months that I could not figure out. And so when you start thinking about there's a solution for everything, there's always a solution. What is the solution that I'm looking for?

It puts, it shifts your mindset and your brain cannot process negative and positive at the same time. It can't, it's impossible. So if you're focused on, okay, here's where I'm going, here's what I need to do. you can't stay there. It's impossible. So I've just learned that and I have taught that to people too.

Okay. Let's not get stuck there. Let's not hang out there. let's start talking about what we need to do. What do we need to do to move forward? And that's where you start also building resilience and you get yourself out of those, you know, those downturns and those pitfalls and those mistakes or valleys, whatever you want to call them.

You get out of those much faster when you start thinking that way. 

[00:12:50] Jay: I like that. and kind of a related question. you know, it's goal season, as everybody's either. Steadfastly sticking to their goals or they've already said, all right, 2025 is going to be my year. how do you first of all, set your personal goals and your business goals and how do you keep track of them to make sure you have accountability?

And is it just you keeping yourself accountable or do you have some other method of doing that? 

[00:13:17] Ann: I keep myself accountable after building a lot of businesses and, you know, helping so many other people. I'm not somebody that has to be pushed or motivated. I don't have to be held accountable by someone else.

I am, I'm my biggest competitor. I am also the person that stops myself in my tracks and I, you know, and so when you know that, my goals are always very personal challenges for me. So when I set a goal, a lot of people set a goal, this is how much money I need. This is, you know, whatever I set goals that challenge me.

I have always done that. I've always wanted to be the best. I've always wanted to be at the top of my game. I've always wanted to have the number one health club and I wanted to have the best people coming into my clubs and so that has always been something that has driven me and. I'm just naturally motivated to, you know, get wins and to reach my goals.

But I, never set goals that I think are going to be easy. I always set goals that challenge me because I don't think you're motivated by easy to me that keeps me comfortable and stuck. And a lot of times stuck. I'm the most innovative. Yeah. I'm the most innovative and creative. When I set big goals. Now I have to figure out how to make those goals happen.

[00:14:39] Jay: That's a good point. And I guess the only other question to that point is, how do you balance making them challenging, but not so challenging that You kind of realize halfway through the process that they're too big or too, you know, they're not obtainable, right? I mean, cause we've all set goals that are really lofty.

I think a lot of us, especially business owners, we'll set big lofty goals. how do you make them realistic enough that they are achievable, but still challenging? 

[00:15:09] Ann: Yeah, it really is about reverse engineering. So it's about not just setting a pipe dream or pie in the sky goal. You've got to know how you're going to get there.

And so when I set a goal, I realistically sit down and map out the game plan. I'm going to do this and I'm going to do this and I map out the strategy that can help me get there. And then if I look at that strategy and go, yeah, that's probably a little bit more time than I want to You know, and then I'll, then I can either change the goal to make it something that is also going to fit my lifestyle because for me and my age, that's really important as well.

I know the kind of freedom I want and I know how much I want to work and all of those things. And so. I think most people, they're not realistic about their goals because they don't put a game plan behind them. They're just, I see this all the time. I, you know, I'm always doing live streams and on social media.

And I, you know, people are always saying, I want to hit seven figures. I want to hit seven figures. And I'm like, okay, tell me how you're going to do that. Like, what is your game plan to do that? They never know. Well, then it's a pipe dream. It's just a pie in the sky number that you're throwing out there.

The other thing is people don't really know, and I'm not. I'm not a fluffy kind of person like, Oh, you should know your why Simon Sinek, right? You should know your why, but you do need a why attached to it. Because if you don't, how motivated are you going to be to hit that? So I know why I want to hit the goals that I have.

One is I love the personal challenge. I know that it's going to keep me on my toes. I know it's going to keep me fired up and excited. I have my game plan and so it's a personal challenge to me. But then there are other reasons why I want that too. And I think if people put together the goal with why that goal is important and they stretch themselves versus this is what I need, nobody's motivated by just like skimping by or scraping by that doesn't motivate anyone.

so I think if you set that and then you set the game plan, You've got a winning formula there and then you just have to take action on the plan to execute. 

[00:17:15] Jay: Makes a lot of sense. Yeah. And I mean, so just for the personal side of things, because as you know, being an entrepreneur is not just, especially when you're By the way, the phrase work life balance is one of my least favorite phrases, but, I think it's not a real thing.

what are some of your, what are some of your, you know, and I don't really love the why thing either, but I mean, I get the point of it and I understand like what it's for. What are some of your drivers and your motivators to hit those goals by, you know, at the end of the year or, you know, in five years or whatever it is, like, what are some of your personal things that are really driving you?

Like, what is your passion and what is it that you're kind of driving towards as a human being and as a business owner? 

[00:17:55] Ann: Well, as a human being, so I have a lot of missions and things that I love to give to. And, I have this vision to write a million dollar check for kids to help kids. So that's one driver.

That is one thing that I really am wanting to do. I do like to give a lot. So that is a really important thing for me as well. And if I'm not making money, I can't do that. Right. So that's a big thing, but we also love to travel and we have retirement, we have investments, we have all of those things.

But we also love to travel and do whatever we want. If I want to be able to do whatever I want. I want to be able to buy what I want. And so from a personal side, that's important to me. when I first started that first business, I mean, I know what it is like to eat popcorn for meals. And I know what it is like to not know where you like to start.

Try to squeeze another dime out of my husband's paycheck. And I've been there and I've lived that. And even when I was in corporate, you know, I had to have a second job, even though I was in a management position, I still had to have a second job to make ends meet. So I know what it's like to be in that other place and I don't like it and I don't.

I said, I never wanted to go back there again. And so it's also a personal driver for me too, because I know what it's like to be financially set. And I know what it's like to not have money to do things. And I would much rather all day long be in the position that I'm in now. So I want to keep that lifestyle up, but I'm also getting older, Jay.

I don't know how many more years. I don't know that I'll ever like retire. But I definitely am doing less hours now than I've done in the past. And, so I feel like I'm, I kind of have a short runway, like, okay, here's what I want to accomplish before I, if I decide to retire, here are the things I still want to accomplish.

And that's a short amount of time. So I have to get on it. 

[00:19:54] Jay: I like that. And I have five kids and one on the way. So I feel like I've already written a million dollar check a couple of times. thank you. So I feel like I'm always writing million dollar checks to, children. but no, I do think, you know, all of those things make a lot of sense.

How are you, marketing and selling towards your customer today? And who is your customer? Who is your customer today? 

[00:20:15] Ann: Yeah, so I'm actually kind of making a little bit of a shift this year. so it's been primarily coaches and consultants a lot in the B2B space in the last several in the last few years.

And this year I really have,A desire to get back to working with like businesses. So I worked with small businesses for years and entrepreneurs for years. And now I really have a desire to get back to working with entrepreneurs who really want to grow their business to millions and help them.

I still want to work with professional entrepreneurs. So service based, that is my sweet spot. But people that are also, if they want to add consulting to their business, those are good people for me. So people that are really wanting to move into the professional consulting space, or they are in maybe consulting, trying to go to CEO and really scale their business.

So yeah, my demographic has changed just a little bit this year.

[00:21:10] Jay: all right. Well, I actually stopped asking this question a while ago, but I feel like it's very. relevant for you. give me three healthy habits that you are trying to work on yourself this year. 

[00:21:22] Ann: Yeah. So, I feel like the last few years because I was in fitness for, you know, many years, the last few years, my weight was not where I wanted to be, but I will say this. I didn't set a resolution. I already started losing what I wanted last year. I was determined that by the end of last year, I was going to be at my goal. So, You know, I don't believe in new year's resolutions because I think most people just never keep them. So I'm like, you don't make a resolution, you set the goal and then you go after it and you can do that every day.

So, but healthy habits, definitely getting my weight to exactly where I want it to be. And not just that, but also being healthier, taking better, you know, taking care of myself, not letting my work kind of, take away from that. I mean, that's really, you know, the same old thing. I don't know, same old thing I've been trying to, that I've kind of lived for years, just getting back to where I know I feel really good and, feeling, you know, when you don't feel as good, you don't have the energy, the same energy.

And so all of those things, I know those are all a driver to my goal. The other thing is for me, because I lived in fitness for so many years and you know, I had to inspire other people and do all of that. I didn't feel good when I had gained those extra pounds and didn't feel that good about myself. And I noticed that from a confidence level, not from my self esteem, skill set, but like wanting to get on stages and speak and all those things.

I really held myself back because I didn't feel as good. So I don't, if something like that is holding you back, don't let it like you need to get on it and fix it. So that's what I'm doing. 

[00:23:00] Jay: I love that. That makes a lot of sense. all right. So last question, non business related, if you could do anything in the world. and you knew you couldn't fail. What would it be

[00:23:11] Ann: if I could do anything in the world? Oh, gosh, this is going to really sound probably kind of silly, but something I always wished I would have done that. I did not ever do that. I didn't do and mainly because it wasn't real conducive for where we lived. But, my son's big into triathlons and that is something that I Always wished I would have done would have been triathlons.

And I know I'm not too old, but to do it, but I probably won't. So, but I know that sounds crazy, but you know, I've skydived. I zip lining's a big thing for me. I've done a lot of fun things that were kind of on my bucket list. I mean, other than maybe traveling to some different places. I don't know. I feel like I'm just living a great life.

So, 

[00:23:55] Jay: well, good. I like those are my favorite responses. all right. Well, if you want to find you and if they want to find more about,your program and then maybe work with you, how did they do that? 

[00:24:05] Ann: Yeah, you can go to my website at Ann L Carden dot com and you can book a call, but there's also a lot of free resources on there as well that you can grab.

And my books, you can get access to any of my books on there as well. It will take you to Amazon, you know, with the links. So you can find out a lot about what I do on my website. 

[00:24:25] Jay: Beautiful. All right. Well, thank you for being on. Enjoy the rest of your week. hope for some warmer weather, you know, coming up soon in the spring so we can get back outside and, other than that, enjoy the rest of the week and thanks for being on. Okay. 

[00:24:37] Ann: Thank you, Jay. I appreciate it. It's been fun. 

[00:24:39] Jay: Thanks. 

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