Episode 354

Cracking the Collaboration Code: The Smart Way to Scale Your Business with Virginia Muzquiz | DFS 354

Get all the inside secrets and tools you need to help you develop your intuitive and leadership skills so you are on the path to the highest level of success with ease.  Virginia has learned the key to collaboration and shares her secrets here!

In this episode you will learn:

  • Connection and collaboration begin with giving
  • Dive deep into clarity on 6 levels
  • We all have a drawer of shame, use it to your advantage



Connect with Viginia Muzquiz:


Virginia Muzquiz, known as The Referral Diva®, is the founder of Master Connectors and a globally recognized expert in business networking and referral-based marketing. With over two decades of experience helping coaches, consultants, and sales professionals scale their businesses, Virginia has mastered the art and science of building profitable networks. Through her proprietary Referrals on Demand® system, she empowers heart-centered entrepreneurs to create consistent six-figure revenue streams—without relying on complicated tech or paid traffic.


 https://www.linkedin.com/in/virginiamuzquiz/




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Are you ready to tiptoe into your intuition and tap into your soul’s message? Let’s talk 


Listen in as Jennifer Takagi, founder of Takagi Consulting, 5X time Amazon.Com Best Selling-Author, Certified Soul Care Coach, Certified Jack Canfield Success Principle Trainer, Certified Professional Behavioral Analyst and Facilitator of the DISC Behavioral Profiles, Certified Change Style Indicator Facilitator, Law of Attraction Practitioner, and Certified Coaching Specialist - leadership entrepreneur, speaker and trainer, shares the lessons she’s learned along the way.  Each episode is designed to give you the tools, ideas, and inspiration to lead with integrity. Humor is a big part of Jennifer’s life, so expect a few puns and possibly some sarcasm.  Tune in for a motivational guest, a story or tips to take you even closer to that success you’ve been coveting.  Please share the episodes that inspired you the most and be sure to leave a comment.  


Official Website: http://www.takagiconsulting.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jennifertakagi/

Facebook: facebook.com/takagiconsulting


Wishing you the best,


Jennifer Takagi

Speaker, Trainer, Author, Catalyst for Healing


PS: We would love to hear from you! For questions, coaching, or to book interviews, please email my team at Jennifer@takagiconsulting.com

Transcript
Jennifer Takagi:

Jennifer, welcome to Destin for success.

Jennifer Takagi:

I'm your host, Jennifer Takagi and I have a super fun,

Jennifer Takagi:

informative guest today, and I can't wait today we have

Jennifer Takagi:

Virginia muskies, and we're going to talk about

Jennifer Takagi:

collaboration, and building your business on collaboration.

Jennifer Takagi:

Virginia is a sought after speaker, podcast host and mentor

Jennifer Takagi:

who believes in the transformative power of

Jennifer Takagi:

authentic human connection. Her work has helped 1000s of

Jennifer Takagi:

professionals overcome networking frustrations. Haven't

Jennifer Takagi:

we had those build high quality partnerships and achieve their

Jennifer Takagi:

business goals with joy and purpose when she's not helping

Jennifer Takagi:

others create meaningful connections? You can find

Jennifer Takagi:

Virginia inspiring audiences on her business by referral podcast

Jennifer Takagi:

or leading impactful networking events. Virginia, thanks for

Jennifer Takagi:

being here. We know each other from multiple like

Virginia Muzquiz:

circles. Oh, we've definitely crossed paths,

Virginia Muzquiz:

but never had a chance to actually sit down and have a

Virginia Muzquiz:

conversation. So this is really awesome. Thanks, Jennifer. I

Jennifer Takagi:

know it's fun. We met on the marketers cruise

Jennifer Takagi:

last year, and then again this year, and and then we work with

Jennifer Takagi:

Angel tussy and her, you know, have been in her stuff too. So

Jennifer Takagi:

super fun to have all the all the different connections. I

Jennifer Takagi:

just want to jump right in on it. Like, I think referrals and

Jennifer Takagi:

collaborations are amazing. I don't really do it as well as I

Jennifer Takagi:

should, slash could. So how did you get into this? Like, what

Jennifer Takagi:

led you to it? And what do we need to know?

Virginia Muzquiz:

You know, I I got my start. Every time

Virginia Muzquiz:

somebody asked me that question, I want to break into song and

Virginia Muzquiz:

sing when I was a young warthog, anyway, but when I was a kid, my

Virginia Muzquiz:

dad was an entrepreneur, and everybody knew John, so we would

Virginia Muzquiz:

go downtown to the Union Hotel. We'd walk in, and the whole bar

Virginia Muzquiz:

would be like John. It was like an episode from cheers. So like

Virginia Muzquiz:

I learned connecting with people authentically in business from

Virginia Muzquiz:

my dad, who was an entrepreneur, and I actually went into

Virginia Muzquiz:

education. So my, like, all of my college degrees and

Virginia Muzquiz:

everything are in education. And when I moved to St Louis to do

Virginia Muzquiz:

my PhD work, I ended up having a family and deciding that I was

Virginia Muzquiz:

going to stay but I didn't want to stay in education because I

Virginia Muzquiz:

was overqualified for any sort of, like, high school positions,

Virginia Muzquiz:

which is where I started. But if I wanted to go the doctoral

Virginia Muzquiz:

route, then that was going to mean that I was going to not get

Virginia Muzquiz:

tenure in St Louis. So I was either going to have to just be

Virginia Muzquiz:

an adjunct making no money at the local community college, or

Virginia Muzquiz:

I was going to have to follow the tenure process, which is

Virginia Muzquiz:

like every seven years, you get booted out and you have to go

Virginia Muzquiz:

somewhere else and beg for tenure. And I thought, like, I

Virginia Muzquiz:

don't want to move my kids at 12, you know, like, the more and

Virginia Muzquiz:

my husband. How am I supposed to ask my husband to, like, move

Virginia Muzquiz:

with me seven times for a career I'm not even thrilled with,

Virginia Muzquiz:

like, my job. My job was to psychoanalyze fictional

Virginia Muzquiz:

characters and report my findings for discussion. And

Virginia Muzquiz:

that sounds like a lot. The more I talk, you know, the more we

Virginia Muzquiz:

were talking about whether or not Jane Eyre, you know, had

Virginia Muzquiz:

gender identity issues, the more I realized that these people

Virginia Muzquiz:

were crazy because there were real world problems happening,

Virginia Muzquiz:

and I wanted to do something different. So I decided to stay

Virginia Muzquiz:

at home with my kids, and that got old really fast. So one day,

Virginia Muzquiz:

Linda came over. This is the perfect referral story. Linda

Virginia Muzquiz:

came over and said, Hey, if you sign up and I sign up, Julie

Virginia Muzquiz:

will get her car. And I was like, well, Far be it for me to

Virginia Muzquiz:

force Julie to ride on a skateboard to work every day. So

Virginia Muzquiz:

sure. Awesome lipstick. Why not? So never had any intention of

Virginia Muzquiz:

selling it, never had any intention of doing anything with

Virginia Muzquiz:

it. Just didn't want to be, you know, the one who kept Julie

Virginia Muzquiz:

from winning her car and went to the first Monday night success

Virginia Muzquiz:

meeting, and Terry the director, was going around the room, like,

Virginia Muzquiz:

Jennifer, what are you going to do this week? And Jennifer would

Virginia Muzquiz:

be like, I'm going to sell 10 lipsticks. And she'd be like, I

Virginia Muzquiz:

believe in you. That's Oh my god. So she goes around the

Virginia Muzquiz:

circle, and I'm like, I thought I was coming for coffee and

Virginia Muzquiz:

crumpets. I'm not selling this crap to anybody. And she goes,

Virginia Muzquiz:

she goes, I believe in you, and goes to the next person. And it

Virginia Muzquiz:

made me so mad that I went out and sold stuff, and I was the

Virginia Muzquiz:

number one Mary Kay sales representative in the St Louis

Virginia Muzquiz:

market for like years after that, winning diamond rings and

Virginia Muzquiz:

whatever. So that was like my first sort of collaboration,

Virginia Muzquiz:

because you learn to collaborate with your hostesses. So you find

Virginia Muzquiz:

a hostess, you turn that hostess into a referral source, and then

Virginia Muzquiz:

you know, you then use the referral chain process and

Virginia Muzquiz:

network marketing to make that happen. Join BNI business

Virginia Muzquiz:

network international as a Mary Kay lady, and that was great,

Virginia Muzquiz:

until it wasn't and I closed. Was my Mary Kay business, and

Virginia Muzquiz:

started working for a guy who owned Sylvan Learning Center

Virginia Muzquiz:

franchises. And the first year that I worked for him, joined

Virginia Muzquiz:

BNI because I was in an area where I didn't know a lot of

Virginia Muzquiz:

people, so I needed to borrow other people's influence in

Virginia Muzquiz:

order to get my bearings. And after the first year, there just

Virginia Muzquiz:

the phone wasn't ringing, and there just wasn't enough money

Virginia Muzquiz:

in it for me to keep doing it. And so we started looking at the

Virginia Muzquiz:

No Child Left Behind Act in the process of that. So here again,

Virginia Muzquiz:

I'm like, Oh, great. Okay, I don't know how to do that, so I

Virginia Muzquiz:

call up my mentor. Name is Teresa Simon. She's a owner of

Virginia Muzquiz:

the BNI franchises. And I'm like, I don't know how to do

Virginia Muzquiz:

this. And she's like, sure, you do. You just need to build a

Virginia Muzquiz:

Power team. And I was like, Oh, yes, I do know that, because B

Virginia Muzquiz:

and I taught me how to do that. So I went out into a into school

Virginia Muzquiz:

districts, and I just started creating power teams. So I

Virginia Muzquiz:

started finding all different people that were serving the

Virginia Muzquiz:

same kids in ways that I didn't, who could then recommend me to

Virginia Muzquiz:

the families, and in return, I found out what they needed and

Virginia Muzquiz:

provided reciprocity. I understood that they couldn't

Virginia Muzquiz:

give me all the referrals because there were other people

Virginia Muzquiz:

who had skin in that game as well. So I just asked for third

Virginia Muzquiz:

graders, because you know why in the world of education, you can

Virginia Muzquiz:

have the most success, and they attend all the sessions, which

Virginia Muzquiz:

means they're the most profitable. So lesson number one

Virginia Muzquiz:

in building a great network is find a bunch of partners who

Virginia Muzquiz:

know, who have in their network your most lucrative, most likely

Virginia Muzquiz:

to be successful client and create reciprocal relationships

Virginia Muzquiz:

with them. So I did that the first year we did about $186,000

Virginia Muzquiz:

in revenue, which was better than zero. But by the fifth year

Virginia Muzquiz:

of doing it, I had taught nine other people how to do that

Virginia Muzquiz:

process in different school districts and areas in the

Virginia Muzquiz:

territory. And the last day that I worked there, I turned in $2.5

Virginia Muzquiz:

million in revenue by building a team of people who could build

Virginia Muzquiz:

quarter million dollar business units. And then Theresa came

Virginia Muzquiz:

back to me and said, Can you teach the members how to do

Virginia Muzquiz:

that. And we bought a friend. We bought an educational franchise

Virginia Muzquiz:

called the referral Institute. I did that for five years that

Virginia Muzquiz:

that doesn't exist anymore. So I opened my own master connectors

Virginia Muzquiz:

business in 2017 and I've been helping entrepreneurs build a

Virginia Muzquiz:

quarter million dollar revenue stream by referral without any

Virginia Muzquiz:

paid traffic or complicated technology for the last eight

Virginia Muzquiz:

years.

Jennifer Takagi:

Wow, I am so impressive because it, it is all

Jennifer Takagi:

about the connections and who you know, and like bringing

Jennifer Takagi:

those people in. Oh my gosh. So I'm an entrepreneur, and I know

Jennifer Takagi:

a few people, but I don't, I don't like ask for the thing.

Jennifer Takagi:

Maybe I don't know what to ask for. So is there like a clarity

Jennifer Takagi:

piece that comes in when you, like, start seeking out who

Jennifer Takagi:

would be a good partner?

Virginia Muzquiz:

Yeah, there is. So the first there's a

Virginia Muzquiz:

clarity piece that you need. And then there's also what I call a

Virginia Muzquiz:

curation piece that you need. So the clarity piece, there are six

Virginia Muzquiz:

basic things that you need to have clarity on. And you need

Virginia Muzquiz:

these. You know, an entrepreneur Jennifer needs these, whether

Virginia Muzquiz:

they're selling on their own, like they're direct prospecting

Virginia Muzquiz:

and pitching themselves, or if they're asking a partner to

Virginia Muzquiz:

pitch for them, because it should be the same pitch. If I

Virginia Muzquiz:

pitch for me and you pitch for me, it should be the same pitch,

Virginia Muzquiz:

right? It should be the same but it should be more effective when

Virginia Muzquiz:

you do it, because it's a third party endorsement. It's not me

Virginia Muzquiz:

going I'm so great, because what am I going to say about myself?

Virginia Muzquiz:

Hi, Jennifer, I suck. Business with me. Like, even the people

Virginia Muzquiz:

who suck say they're great, right? Like, because what do

Virginia Muzquiz:

they say? They say 90% of drivers claim they're beyond

Virginia Muzquiz:

they're above average. You know, like, we all, none of us think

Virginia Muzquiz:

we stink at it so, and if we did, we wouldn't tell anybody,

Virginia Muzquiz:

right? So the third party endorsement makes the clarity

Virginia Muzquiz:

more leverage. It's a way to leverage that clarity. But

Virginia Muzquiz:

here's what you need to have clarity around. One are the

Virginia Muzquiz:

people that you want to serve. And there are two levels of

Virginia Muzquiz:

that. The first one is your audience, which is, you know,

Virginia Muzquiz:

the people that are maybe like, they're interested in your

Virginia Muzquiz:

topic. And maybe they're sort of problem aware. They're like, I

Virginia Muzquiz:

kind of struggle with that topic. It might not be their top

Virginia Muzquiz:

of mind problem, their number one problem, their biggest, you

Virginia Muzquiz:

know, challenge, but they're kind of interested in the topic.

Virginia Muzquiz:

That's your audience. Now, inside your audience is your

Virginia Muzquiz:

avatar, and those are the people who have recognized that I have

Virginia Muzquiz:

a network that does not work for me. I go out there, I network. I

Virginia Muzquiz:

collect business cards, like, do you have one of these? How many

Virginia Muzquiz:

of these do you have? How many stacks of these do you have with

Virginia Muzquiz:

rubber bands around them that you dump into a drawer and then

Virginia Muzquiz:

you build another pile, and you dump it into the drawer, and you

Virginia Muzquiz:

never want to open the drawer, because it's the drawer of

Virginia Muzquiz:

shame, like when you open the drawer, you're like, I suck

Virginia Muzquiz:

every time you open the drawer, because you didn't do anything

Virginia Muzquiz:

with this, right? So, yeah, no. I mean, we all do it. We all do

Virginia Muzquiz:

it, right? So the first thing really is to get clear on the

Virginia Muzquiz:

audience, but then it's also to get clear on the avatar. So just

Virginia Muzquiz:

like not all daisies are all daisies are flowers, but not all

Virginia Muzquiz:

flowers are daisies, you need to decide, are you marketing to

Virginia Muzquiz:

daisies? Are you marketing to peonies? Are you marketing to

Virginia Muzquiz:

yellow roses? What are you marketing to? So that they are

Virginia Muzquiz:

problem aware, they know they have the problem, their solution

Virginia Muzquiz:

seeking. So inside your audience, there are these

Virginia Muzquiz:

avatars that are problem aware, they are solution seeking, and

Virginia Muzquiz:

they may even be solution aware. They might be like, I need a

Virginia Muzquiz:

coach, and then they're going to go out and figure out who do

Virginia Muzquiz:

they want to work with and be most aware. And that's when they

Virginia Muzquiz:

become aware of you. So you need to be really clear on all of

Virginia Muzquiz:

that. The second thing you want to be very clear about is, what

Virginia Muzquiz:

is their pain point? Not what I think the pain point is, what

Virginia Muzquiz:

they think the pain point is. So a great example is a

Virginia Muzquiz:

chiropractor knows that the cause of all of your ailments

Virginia Muzquiz:

are slight misalignments in your spine called subluxations. But

Virginia Muzquiz:

if I go to somebody and say, like, I would like to fix your

Virginia Muzquiz:

subluxations, I'd be like, whatever. Like, I did not wake

Virginia Muzquiz:

up this morning thinking, Oh, these subluxations have to go,

Virginia Muzquiz:

No, I think, Wow, I can't move my neck. Or, Wow, my back hurts.

Virginia Muzquiz:

Or, Wow, I have a migraine all the time, something, right? So

Virginia Muzquiz:

we need to call the problem what the audience and what the avatar

Virginia Muzquiz:

call the problem, not what we call the problem. Um, so that's,

Virginia Muzquiz:

that's number two. The third thing is, you gotta have clarity

Virginia Muzquiz:

about your promise. Again. When I say my promise, right, my

Virginia Muzquiz:

promise is, is, is multi layered. I'm going to help a

Virginia Muzquiz:

solo entrepreneur so you know exactly who you are. It's you,

Virginia Muzquiz:

you do all the things, you wear, all the hats, and I'm going to

Virginia Muzquiz:

help you make a solid six figure revenue stream. Why? Because

Virginia Muzquiz:

that's what most solo entrepreneurs long for dream of

Virginia Muzquiz:

if they could just get to six figures. Right? So I'm going to

Virginia Muzquiz:

do that, and I'm going to do it, no paid traffic, no crazy tech.

Virginia Muzquiz:

Because what are the two things? I don't have any money to pay

Virginia Muzquiz:

for. I don't have any money to do paid traffic, and I need

Virginia Muzquiz:

simple tech. A tech, like most solo entrepreneurs, are not

Virginia Muzquiz:

techie. They speak and they talk to people and they heal and they

Virginia Muzquiz:

but they're not techy. They're not building funnels. And so I

Virginia Muzquiz:

have a I use, I use Google workspace. So I teach people how

Virginia Muzquiz:

to build, like, a quarter million dollar business on

Virginia Muzquiz:

Google workspace for $14 a month. Like, it's not that hard.

Virginia Muzquiz:

You don't need a whole lot of schmoozy stuff to do it. So once

Virginia Muzquiz:

you're clear on your person, once you're clear on the

Virginia Muzquiz:

problem, that the pain, the way they describe it, and the

Virginia Muzquiz:

promise that they want from you, then you want to get into what I

Virginia Muzquiz:

call the I lost my I just lost my train of thought, the

Virginia Muzquiz:

process. So you want to have a simple and easy to follow

Virginia Muzquiz:

process. My friend Johnny Byrne, he's like, he's got this process

Virginia Muzquiz:

that teaches you how to do great presentations online. You design

Virginia Muzquiz:

it. You design, you develop, you deliver. Three steps. You know,

Virginia Muzquiz:

when you start designing, when you stop designing, when you

Virginia Muzquiz:

stop designing, you start developing, when you start when

Virginia Muzquiz:

you finish developing, you deliver. And then you're done.

Virginia Muzquiz:

You have the milestones in place. So what is that process

Virginia Muzquiz:

that you're going to use. The The fifth thing is your

Virginia Muzquiz:

packaging or your pathway. What is the client going to do and

Virginia Muzquiz:

how are you going to deliver it? Is it going to be coaching? Is

Virginia Muzquiz:

it going to be laser coaching? Are there videos? Are there

Virginia Muzquiz:

meetings? Is there one on one? Mentorship? Is it a mastermind?

Virginia Muzquiz:

What is the, what is the method that you're going to use in

Virginia Muzquiz:

terms of delivery? And the last thing is your pricing, and most

Virginia Muzquiz:

people are priced all wonky and wrong, so y'all are pricing

Virginia Muzquiz:

yourself way too low, and you bet you're just getting lost in

Virginia Muzquiz:

a sea of yuck because you just don't stand out. No, you can

Virginia Muzquiz:

always say it's $100,000 but for you, I'll give you 90% off in

Virginia Muzquiz:

exchange for a testimonial. You'll get some attention. I

Virginia Muzquiz:

mean, you gotta, you gotta be priced properly against your

Virginia Muzquiz:

competition, so that the clarity around that right, the clarity

Virginia Muzquiz:

around that is, is really key. And then the next part is when

Virginia Muzquiz:

you look at your network so you open up your drawer of shame.

Virginia Muzquiz:

And you get all those business cards out, need to look at a

Virginia Muzquiz:

business card and be like, Okay, this guy is he a referral

Virginia Muzquiz:

partner? He's a he is with celerity Media Group, so he

Virginia Muzquiz:

clearly is doing some sort of digital marketing, something or

Virginia Muzquiz:

other. So could he be a client? Yep, could he for me? Could he

Virginia Muzquiz:

be client? Yep, could he be a referral partner? Yep, he goes

Virginia Muzquiz:

in the both bucket. So if I look at this financial advisor, I go,

Virginia Muzquiz:

Oh, that could be a client, because they're probably not

Virginia Muzquiz:

going to refer me. So I put that in the client pile. This guy is

Virginia Muzquiz:

a department manager of due diligence. I have no idea what

Virginia Muzquiz:

that is. He can go in the neither pile, right? Like so you

Virginia Muzquiz:

gotta sort them. Just sort them. So you know what it is. Could

Virginia Muzquiz:

they be a partner, right? So, could they be a client? Might

Virginia Muzquiz:

they would? Are they an audience member? Are they a potential

Virginia Muzquiz:

referral source, or are they both, or are they neither? And

Virginia Muzquiz:

you can just throw those away. Why have them sitting there? If

Virginia Muzquiz:

you don't need them personally, I don't actually throw them

Virginia Muzquiz:

away. I do like an auction. Like, hey guys, I have cards

Virginia Muzquiz:

from all these people. You know, we, a bunch of us, get together,

Virginia Muzquiz:

and we're like, here's all the cards I don't want. Does anybody

Virginia Muzquiz:

want to look through these? And they're like, oh, man, this

Virginia Muzquiz:

one's hot. And I'm like, okay, great. I got your card from

Virginia Muzquiz:

Virginia. Musk, super easy entry, right? So we have these

Virginia Muzquiz:

card swaps, um, so that's just, you know, you just have to have

Virginia Muzquiz:

clarity around around those two things, and then you need a

Virginia Muzquiz:

strategy for each of the like, how do you going to reach out to

Virginia Muzquiz:

somebody who could be a potential client? How are you

Virginia Muzquiz:

going to reach out to someone who could be a potential source,

Virginia Muzquiz:

and if they could be both, how are you going to do that? So you

Virginia Muzquiz:

just need those three approaches. So most people

Virginia Muzquiz:

aren't following it because they don't know what to do because

Virginia Muzquiz:

they don't have organization and strategy around that.

Jennifer Takagi:

Gosh, I love that. And I kind of glanced over

Jennifer Takagi:

on my desk, and I don't know how many years this has been sitting

Jennifer Takagi:

there, I'd have to pick it up to look and so that means it just

Jennifer Takagi:

needs to go in the trash can, right? No, I ordered new

Jennifer Takagi:

business

Virginia Muzquiz:

cards. Are they your business cards or are

Virginia Muzquiz:

they other people's business cards. Yeah, they're mine. Oh,

Virginia Muzquiz:

those came, yeah,

Jennifer Takagi:

they're, they're, they came in which the

Jennifer Takagi:

company I use. They're usually perfect, but they, they're not

Jennifer Takagi:

quite right. And I don't know why I kept them, like, I

Jennifer Takagi:

wouldn't give it to you, because you'd look at it and go, that

Jennifer Takagi:

there's something not quite

Virginia Muzquiz:

here. Okay? I don't know how, I don't know

Virginia Muzquiz:

how, how PG Your show is, but I, I got a business card sent back

Virginia Muzquiz:

to me, and my name was spelled V, I G, I n, a, Oh, okay. And I

Virginia Muzquiz:

handed the card to Michael Mayer, the author of seven

Virginia Muzquiz:

levels of communication, and he's like, did your parents

Virginia Muzquiz:

really name you after the lady parts? I had just gotten a box,

Virginia Muzquiz:

and I was in such a hurry I grabbed the box, I'd even look

Virginia Muzquiz:

at the cards and literally, like, like, one of the top

Virginia Muzquiz:

influencers in the referral space goes, Did your parents

Virginia Muzquiz:

really name you after lady

Jennifer Takagi:

bits? Not really what that was meant to

Jennifer Takagi:

meant to be. Yeah, it's very interesting, because usually I

Jennifer Takagi:

can lay out things and I'm like, Oh, that's not quite right, and

Jennifer Takagi:

I can fix it, but somehow, either I didn't fix it, or they

Jennifer Takagi:

didn't fix it. And so I'm like, and I just looked over there. I

Jennifer Takagi:

was like, why is that still safe?

Virginia Muzquiz:

Fire starter. But you know, if now to the

Virginia Muzquiz:

point I thought You thought, I thought you were saying you had

Virginia Muzquiz:

a big stack of cards that were like a year old, like, Oh, I do.

Virginia Muzquiz:

I do. Those are not. Those are not. Those are not fire starter,

Virginia Muzquiz:

okay, what you do? No, what you do. You grab those cards. I'm

Virginia Muzquiz:

not kidding you. You grab those cards, and you divide them into

Virginia Muzquiz:

the piles that I told you. And you go to LinkedIn, and you say,

Virginia Muzquiz:

Hey, we met a while back. Thought I'd connect here. That's

Virginia Muzquiz:

it. You may not remember we met a while back. Thought we thought

Virginia Muzquiz:

I'd connect here. Okay, some people are going to be like, Oh,

Virginia Muzquiz:

hey, thanks for reaching out. I don't remember meeting you.

Virginia Muzquiz:

You're like, great, that's okay. Let's meet now.

Jennifer Takagi:

Okay, during I'm a note taker. I wrote that

Jennifer Takagi:

down

Virginia Muzquiz:

during COVID, when the world, like, first shut

Virginia Muzquiz:

down. And I'm like, Okay, I just moved 58 BNI chapters online. I

Virginia Muzquiz:

have no idea what I'm doing. I need to, like, pivot. I'm

Virginia Muzquiz:

watching Jay facet pivot. I'm watching him on a guy. They were

Virginia Muzquiz:

my mentors. And I'm like, Oh, my God, how do I pivot? And then

Virginia Muzquiz:

there were days when I was just super depressed, and I was like,

Virginia Muzquiz:

Oh, I'm so depressed. And I thought, wow, if I'm depressed,

Virginia Muzquiz:

I wonder who else is depressed. And so I found this big box of,

Virginia Muzquiz:

like, other people's business cards, and I just started

Virginia Muzquiz:

calling people out of the blue, like, Jennifer, hi. My name is

Virginia Muzquiz:

Virginia muskies, and your business card is in a box, in a

Virginia Muzquiz:

shoe box on my desk. So I'm just calling because COVID, this

Virginia Muzquiz:

thing sucks. Are you okay? Like I'm lone. Are you lonely? I'm

Virginia Muzquiz:

lonely. Are you lonely? And we, I did hundreds of 1000s of

Virginia Muzquiz:

dollars of businesses and referrals in COVID from that

Virginia Muzquiz:

shoe box full of business cards I made. I I made. Connections. I

Virginia Muzquiz:

took notes. I was like, Who are you looking to me? Like, who

Virginia Muzquiz:

would be helpful for you to meet? Since we can't network,

Virginia Muzquiz:

I'm just going to figure out who I know that you might not know.

Virginia Muzquiz:

Maybe you would do the same thing. Couple people got their

Virginia Muzquiz:

shoe boxes out, started doing the same thing, and that's where

Virginia Muzquiz:

the the shoe box exchange thing happened. But there were, you

Virginia Muzquiz:

know, we just, we just sucked it up, and we were like, well, you

Virginia Muzquiz:

handed me your business card a long time ago, so I wonder if

Virginia Muzquiz:

you're still in business. I wonder if you're still meeting

Virginia Muzquiz:

people. I wonder I suck. I didn't follow up, but neither

Virginia Muzquiz:

did you.

Jennifer Takagi:

It's so true. I've heard this story several

Jennifer Takagi:

times from somebody who I'm gonna say they spoke on a

Jennifer Takagi:

summit, and they collected all these emails, and a number of

Jennifer Takagi:

months later they were going to speak on another summit. So they

Jennifer Takagi:

emailed all those people who had registered for the first one,

Jennifer Takagi:

and she got like, 70% unsubscribe and the other person

Jennifer Takagi:

said, Well, how did it go with inviting people? She goes,

Jennifer Takagi:

everybody unsubscribed, and she goes, Well, when was the last

Jennifer Takagi:

time you emailed him? And she was like, Well, I never did. It

Jennifer Takagi:

was like, Oh, so you collected their email and then you waited

Jennifer Takagi:

till you needed something and emailed him again. Like, yeah,

Jennifer Takagi:

that doesn't, that doesn't, right. That's that whole thing

Jennifer Takagi:

of, will you marry me on the first date? Kind of,

Virginia Muzquiz:

yeah. And, you know, there are, there are

Virginia Muzquiz:

formulas for writing great welcome series. And my good

Virginia Muzquiz:

friend Rob Goyette has 52 weeks every Monday, for your first

Virginia Muzquiz:

year, you're going to get, you know, a personal like an A

Virginia Muzquiz:

nurture email from Rob with a little, you know, like a little

Virginia Muzquiz:

story and a tip or whatever. And you know, those are really

Virginia Muzquiz:

valuable to build so that people are consistently hearing from

Virginia Muzquiz:

you, you know, once a month, once a month, once a month, or

Virginia Muzquiz:

once a week or whatever, with some level of consistency. But

Virginia Muzquiz:

you know, you're not perfect. Nobody's perfect. We don't all

Virginia Muzquiz:

follow up the way we're supposed to follow up. And sometimes you

Virginia Muzquiz:

just have to say, oh man, so sorry. You know, so sorry I have

Virginia Muzquiz:

and I don't know how kosher this is. I mean, I have reached out

Virginia Muzquiz:

to people from my Gmail and said, Hey, Jennifer, I noticed

Virginia Muzquiz:

you unsubscribed from my email list. What did I do wrong? And

Virginia Muzquiz:

and I said, I won't email you again after this. Like I'm

Virginia Muzquiz:

emailing you from my personal account asking, What did I do

Virginia Muzquiz:

wrong? And some people are like, leave me alone. And I'm like,

Virginia Muzquiz:

Okay, I'm done. Like, I won't, I won't. I said it at the very

Virginia Muzquiz:

beginning. If you don't answer, I will not communicate with you

Virginia Muzquiz:

again. I swear. I just want to know. And usually it's because

Virginia Muzquiz:

they join, like, because I promoted somebody, or I made an

Virginia Muzquiz:

ask, and i i They somehow got on the email master too soon,

Virginia Muzquiz:

because I'm they're supposed to the way my automations are set

Virginia Muzquiz:

up. They're supposed to be in the welcome series, and about

Virginia Muzquiz:

halfway through, then they get the email master tag, and then

Virginia Muzquiz:

they should be getting emails. And I was like, Oh, crap, you

Virginia Muzquiz:

know? Like, I screwed up my automation, so I apologize for

Virginia Muzquiz:

that. And then they're like, Yeah, I get it, you know? I'm

Virginia Muzquiz:

like, it click here if you want to resubscribe. And some do and

Virginia Muzquiz:

some don't, right? So that's just a tip for everybody before,

Virginia Muzquiz:

like, put people in your nurture sequence, in your welcome

Virginia Muzquiz:

sequence, and that should end with an invitation to a

Virginia Muzquiz:

conversation or to something like or somewhere in there you

Virginia Muzquiz:

want to invite them to have a personal interaction with you.

Virginia Muzquiz:

That's not a sales call. And right around that, right after

Virginia Muzquiz:

that email, that's when I subscribed them to the email

Virginia Muzquiz:

list. So I make put them on the general email list.

Jennifer Takagi:

Well, I recently did that because some

Jennifer Takagi:

people had actually completed some forms, and then I did not

Jennifer Takagi:

follow up. And so I did. I sent him an email from my Gmail

Jennifer Takagi:

account, and I was like, Hey, you completed this form. This

Jennifer Takagi:

was what you said. I didn't follow up, but I want to follow

Jennifer Takagi:

up now and and, you know, offer a call about this and so, but

Jennifer Takagi:

yeah, it was like, I don't really want it to go through my

Jennifer Takagi:

main CRM, because this is, I want them to see that this is

Jennifer Takagi:

like, actually, from me, from me.

Virginia Muzquiz:

And another thing you can do, and you, you

Virginia Muzquiz:

know, you are great on video, right? So you can use loom and

Virginia Muzquiz:

actually create personal videos that are like, hey, you know

Virginia Muzquiz:

what? I'm just dropping into your inbox to say, you know,

Virginia Muzquiz:

thanks for filling out XYZ form. I, you know, lost track of time,

Virginia Muzquiz:

didn't get back with you, but you you do matter to me. So I

Virginia Muzquiz:

just wanted to say, hey, and would love to chat with you. If

Virginia Muzquiz:

you'd like to connect. Just click on this button here, and

Virginia Muzquiz:

let's get on for 15 minutes so you can tell me about you. And

Virginia Muzquiz:

when I get on those 15 minute calls, I don't make it about me

Virginia Muzquiz:

at all. I just like sit and listen to people what they have

Virginia Muzquiz:

to say, and see if I can connect them to somebody or be helpful

Virginia Muzquiz:

in some way. And so those calls are really valuable as well.

Jennifer Takagi:

I love that. It's such a great idea. You've

Jennifer Takagi:

given us so many good ideas on things to do to get started. So

Jennifer Takagi:

I know in the show notes we'll have your LinkedIn. I also know

Jennifer Takagi:

you've. Got a super simple and awesome opt in. Tell us what

Jennifer Takagi:

your OPT in gift is, your CCTC or CTC

Virginia Muzquiz:

report? Yeah, so it is a free report that I

Virginia Muzquiz:

did called how to crack the collaboration code so you can

Virginia Muzquiz:

find, cultivate and monetize strategic partnerships that will

Virginia Muzquiz:

grow and scale your business. So it's all of it's all the tips

Virginia Muzquiz:

and secrets I reveal a lot of the myths and the things that

Virginia Muzquiz:

maybe you are watching other people doing and thinking, well,

Virginia Muzquiz:

if they're doing it, I should doing it. I should be doing it,

Virginia Muzquiz:

and you shouldn't. And and so, you know, there's a whole lot of

Virginia Muzquiz:

like, just stop doing this and instead do that, right? So it's

Virginia Muzquiz:

a, it's a nice, it's a nice segue into, into really, really

Virginia Muzquiz:

understanding why your network is working or isn't working and

Virginia Muzquiz:

what you can do about it.

Jennifer Takagi:

Well, I love that you said what you know you

Jennifer Takagi:

shouldn't necessarily be doing that I had a little period of my

Jennifer Takagi:

entrepreneurial journey where the word just would trigger me

Jennifer Takagi:

into like self doubt and frustration, and probably in the

Jennifer Takagi:

end, a lot of anger and and it was because I worked with

Jennifer Takagi:

coaches that said, just do this, then that will happen. And and

Jennifer Takagi:

the just do this ended up being extremely complicated. Required

Jennifer Takagi:

a lot of tech hiring a lot of people to help with the tech,

Jennifer Takagi:

and then the that never came to fruition. And so, like, I love

Jennifer Takagi:

that you're like, there are some things we just don't need to be

Jennifer Takagi:

doing as entrepreneurs, and we need to focus on the things that

Jennifer Takagi:

we're good at, and do that, and do more of that, and connect

Jennifer Takagi:

with the right people.

Virginia Muzquiz:

So yeah, and you don't need a lot. Here's a

Virginia Muzquiz:

really interesting thing, and I'll just leave you with this

Virginia Muzquiz:

thought. A lot of solo entrepreneurs come into the

Virginia Muzquiz:

space, coaches, consultants, you know, experts. They come into

Virginia Muzquiz:

the space and the first thing they think they need is, like, a

Virginia Muzquiz:

whole bunch of tech, and they need a CRM, and they need a

Virginia Muzquiz:

website, and they needed this, and I needed that, and I'm like,

Virginia Muzquiz:

you know, you're going to spend 14 months spending money before

Virginia Muzquiz:

you ever make a dime, so and wait for it, and then you're

Virginia Muzquiz:

going to spend all that money, and you're going to make it all

Virginia Muzquiz:

happen, and it's going to be non converting, because you've

Virginia Muzquiz:

actually set yourself up for failure by creating a website

Virginia Muzquiz:

that you like, but you don't know if you're if the person

Virginia Muzquiz:

looking at it is going to care. So it's really important that

Virginia Muzquiz:

you build out something work your business manually. There's

Virginia Muzquiz:

a way to do some minor automations using Google

Virginia Muzquiz:

workspace and save yourself the hassle and the distraction of

Virginia Muzquiz:

complex, complicated tech, until you've got something that's

Virginia Muzquiz:

converting and you actually you're like, yeah, like $1,500 a

Virginia Muzquiz:

month for go high level makes a lot of sense, and I already have

Virginia Muzquiz:

funnels that work, so now all I have to do is translate them

Virginia Muzquiz:

into go high level, rather than building everything in go high

Virginia Muzquiz:

level, only to find that it's a waste of time. And I can only

Virginia Muzquiz:

say that because I have wasted 10s of 1000s of dollars on crap

Virginia Muzquiz:

that doesn't convert because I listen to everybody else. And

Virginia Muzquiz:

got Infusionsoft with Twilio with plus this with every

Virginia Muzquiz:

integration known to man, I mean, and then paid traffic to

Virginia Muzquiz:

stuff that doesn't convert, like it was a complete and utter

Virginia Muzquiz:

money pit. And I'm on a crusade, don't do it yet. I'm not saying

Virginia Muzquiz:

don't do it at all. I'm saying, if you're a solopreneur and you

Virginia Muzquiz:

have not cracked a quarter million dollars, don't do it

Virginia Muzquiz:

yet. Where

Jennifer Takagi:

have you been the last eight years of my life?

Jennifer Takagi:

Like, I mean, here I am. Here you are. Thank God you finally

Jennifer Takagi:

showed up at the right time, apparently, um, but I did, like

Jennifer Takagi:

I did all the things everybody said, you know, just do this

Jennifer Takagi:

that will happen. Like, who finds my website? Like, nobody

Jennifer Takagi:

finds my website unless I give them the link, because I met

Jennifer Takagi:

them and they need to go to my website to book a call, right?

Jennifer Takagi:

Like, that's how that happens. But I did have a conversation

Jennifer Takagi:

with somebody recently, and she was like, it was going to be

Jennifer Takagi:

$10,000 to set up my Kajabi website. And I was like, Wait,

Jennifer Takagi:

stop, hold the phone. Like, what do you really need? And you

Jennifer Takagi:

know, now that I've lived it, i i can tell people you don't need

Jennifer Takagi:

all that. So I love that you've simplified it in so many ways

Jennifer Takagi:

for so many people, and made it where it's like, actually

Jennifer Takagi:

doable. Virginia, this has been a lovely conversation for me.

Virginia Muzquiz:

Thank you so much. I really, really

Virginia Muzquiz:

appreciate getting to come on the show and share. You're a lot

Virginia Muzquiz:

of fun. You're such a ball of energy. I love it. Love it so

Virginia Muzquiz:

much.

Jennifer Takagi:

Well, let's wrap it up with one last thing.

Jennifer Takagi:

What's your final thought when someone says success? What is

Jennifer Takagi:

your definition or idea of success? Or a takeaway for our

Jennifer Takagi:

listeners,

Virginia Muzquiz:

my definition of success is to experience

Virginia Muzquiz:

what. Want to experience in your life, to learn and grow in ways

Virginia Muzquiz:

that fill your soul and to contribute massively to what is

Virginia Muzquiz:

most important to you in the world.

Jennifer Takagi:

You heard it first here people. I'm Jennifer

Jennifer Takagi:

Takagi with destin for success, and I look forward to connecting

Jennifer Takagi:

with you soon. You.

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About the Podcast

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Destined For Success
Destined For Success With Jennifer Takagi

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About your host

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Jennifer Takagi


I am Jennifer Takagi, an Executive Leadership + Communication Coach who teaches leaders how to play well at work so they can drive better performance from people they lead, increase profitability and create a purposeful workplace where people want to come and play—productively.