Today’s episode of the podcast is an interview with Shayla Boyd-Gill who is a family, freedom and affluence mentor and creator of Luxe Your Business. She shows women entrepreneurs how to have it all whilst doing what they love. We talk about how you can sell without feeling horrible, your money mindset and how she juggles home-schooling her 6 children whilst running a successful business.
KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST
- Show up with confidence and as a business from the start.
- Your business needs to work for you – giving you the freedom to not have to sacrifice your time with your family.
- Give people the skills so they are not reliant on you – otherwise they will always have to come back.
- When you sell a high ticket item, you need to bring value to your customer and deliver what you’re promising.
- You have enough experience to sell your high ticket item.
- People will pay for what they want.
- If you don’t have an abundant mindset, you will prevent yourself from asking for what you truly want.
- What money stories are you carrying? What are your beliefs? Did something happen around money in your life that has changed your money mindset?
- Higher ticket clients save you time.
- When your clients have invested more money – they will do the work.
- You can’t sell when you’re desperate – people will feel that energy.
THE ONE THING YOU NEED TO REMEMBER ABOVE ALL ELSE…
Until you stop treating yourself as if you are a liability, you will always struggle to charge your worth – remember, you are an asset!
HIGHLIGHTS YOU SIMPLY CAN’T MISS
- An introduction to Shayla 05:36
- Showing up with confidence 11:29
- Juggling being a mum and a business owner 18:55
- Creating the schedule you desire 26:05
- Selling higher ticket items 30:40
- Money mindset 33:20
- Working with high ticket clients 38:44
CHECK SHAYLA OUT:
RESOURCES MENTIONED
Transcript Below
Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the podcast. How are things? So this week I've got a great interview for you, but before we jump into that, I just want to remind you again, that I'm going to be doing a live email list-building masterclass. It's going to be about an hour long. There on the 29th of June. And if you head over to teresaheathwareing.com/emailmasterclass, then you can find all the details. But basically we're going to look at how to get your first 100 subscribers and the do's and don'ts of building a list.
Some of the pitfalls you should avoid, and some of the ways to help accelerate building your list. So, if you want to join me for that, then please do come along. I would love to see you and you get to pick my brain, ask me questions, which you know is always nice. Okay. This week we got an amazing episode because I interviewed the very lovely Shayla and I'll do her proper intro in a sec.
But basically we talked about money and charging and selling. Things that I think most of you listening are probably like, “Ooh, not so much thanks.” And I think I know lots of you are female. And I think for women, sometimes that is a very difficult thing to do, to have faith in what you charge. To feel strong about what you charge and to go out there and ask for it.
And we often, I see this a lot with my members. They undercharge, they, they think I'm not worth that money or they think I can't possibly charge up money or someone's not going to be, think I'm worth it. And I would say, I think that's more of a feminine thing that we think like that. So this episode is a really good one because not only does she talk about How to sell a high ticket item without being sleazy and horrible. And if you don't have a high ticket item, don't panic because we talk so much more around this. But how you can sell without feeling horrible. She also talks about mindset around pricing and money and getting comfortable with us going out there and saying, “This is what I charge.”
And then the other thing she talks about, which literally blows my mind is the fact that she's a mum of six. Six children like wow. And she homeschools them. Wow. Running a very successful business. Now, do you know what I've just recorded the episode I did last week. Cause I'm batching. So I record all at the same time.
And in that episode, I talk about the fact, if you didn't listen, I want, uh, I want a home manager. I want someone to help me with the house and the food and the everything else, because it's so much work could have just got a daughter who is only here half the time, because she lives between me and her dad.
I've got a step son who's 18. So it doesn't really take a whole lot of looking after and two dogs and me and my husband. Like I maybe should that have a word of myself? Do you know what I mean? Like if I can't manage, but yeah, like six children. So, let me find her official bio to review. Okay. So Shayla Boyd-Gill juggles being an entrepreneur with being a wife of 24 years and a mum of six homeschool children still can't get over that.
She went from bankruptcy to multiple six figure business and now Shayla is a family freedom and affluence. Gosh, I can't speak. How many times I told you, I hate reading Affluence Mentor and creator of Luxe Your Business, Sales System and a sales strategist who shows women entrepreneurs how to have it all – family, freedom, and affluence – while doing what they love.
She teaches her clients service-based businesses to restructure their businesses and live by boosting their higher ticket sales so they can make more money in less time without a heavy client load. So she really is an expert at this. And like I said, she was, so we had such fun. I love it when that happens. Sometimes when I'll have people on the podcast I've never actually spoken to them before the time I interviewed them, but it was just so nice to chat to her. She really is lovely. I'm always going to link up to everything in the show notes, but I hope you enjoy today's episode.
I am really excited today to welcome to the podcast Shayla Boyd-Gill. Shayla, how are you doing?
Shayla: Doing great Teresa. So glad to be here.
Teresa: Great stuff. Great stuff. We were just chatting about COVID before we got on and about how we can't wait for the world to open up and fly somewhere amazing again, because you live in a lovely part of the states and, and a part I've not been to. So yeah, I can't wait.
It's either that we, like, I chat by all the weather when someone's not from the UK. It's like, So what's the weather like that now. It's a very British thing we like to ask about weather mainly because it appears that lots of other countries have better weather than we do. So think that's why we ask all the time.
Anyway, we didn't bring you on to talk about that. So. Well, you always start off the same way with you telling my audience how you got to do what you're doing now and your story is pretty cool. So I will just let you get on and say that to us.
An introduction to Shayla
Shayla: It's a pretty wild story, you know? Um, again, thank you for letting me be here.
So my journey definitely started from a world of birthing. I was a doula, a childbirth educator, and lactation consultant. So all about babies. And from there I understood in that field, there was an issue with abundance. That's a giving community. It's, we're giving of our energy, we're bringing in new life, but there was a lot of issues around charging for services.
Teresa: Right.
Shayla: I understood the value of the services that I provided. And so I was okay with charging for them. And I actually started teaching other birth workers to do the same. During that time, I worked so hard that I burned out pretty quickly because I was gung ho. So I knew I could teach women how to sell, but I didn't have to stay in that industry.
I decided I'm not going to continue to do the birth work after over 300 births. I needed to figure out how I could spend time with my kids. I have six by the way, and preserve my energy. So I said, let me take this skill. And the skill I understood it. I understood how to build a business. I understood how to sell.
I understood how to transform lives. And so from there, I went into the coaching business and it was a gradual thing for us. I coach birth workers. Then I brought on other women that were just starting their businesses. And I've been able to grow that rapidly over the years and sustain the business through everything that we've been through.
It's been a journey and it was definitely, it was up and down and touch and go at points. But I was able to figure out how to make it work.
Teresa: Okay. So there's like, I just pulled across my notebook and quietly tried to pick up my pencil to jot a few things down. So I didn't forget them. Cause you just like really casually said a whole load of things there. First off, like I've got to ask about the job as a doula because that is now we, we do have doulas in the UK, but they're not very well known.
I think it's definitely more well known in the states.
Shayla: Yeah.
Teresa: But like, what was, how did you get into doing that? Cause it's not a midwife is it?
Shayla: No, it's not a midwife. Your midwife certify can catch and deliver a baby. I always say the doula is the person that's with you from the beginning of the pregnancy until you've had the birth and a little beyond. We spend more time with you than any provider that you'll ever pay to be with you. Because we are the mindset coach. We are the physical coach, the trainer to get you prepared for it, with all of the knowledge you gain from their professionals, we're there to advocate on your behalf.
And so I started because I had three really amazing birthing experiences. And what I noticed was the community that I came from, women were having awful stories. Like when you talk to people and you say, “Hey, you know, how was the, how was the birth?” They're like, “Oh, it was horrible. It was the worst thing ever. Or this thing happened. Or my doctor did this and I had surgery.” And we know surgery is necessary sometimes. But what we saw there were women who felt like they weren't being heard. No one was advocating for them. They were being told, this is what you're going to do, but no one ever asks them, what do you want?
And I said, if my experience was so great, there's a gap here. Something's missing. Maybe it's an education gap. Maybe it's just not having access or knowing that these services exist. And so my job was really to share with my community and beyond opportunities that are out there with your birth experience and how could I help you to stand up for yourself in your family?
And it just took off. I was like, first let's teach you, let me become a childbirth educator. Then my students would ask, “Could you come to the birth with me?” I'm like, “Oh, really? You want me in your birth? I thought that was weird.” But I'm like, “Oh, that's a thing you really want me.” And it just, it was a natural next step for me.
And I just, I knew I had a mission to advocate for women and make sure they had better birthing experiences, especially here where I live.
Teresa: That's amazing. And like, I can, as you're talking, I can totally hear why there's an abundance problem and why there's a being charged for what you do. Because you do something where now I'm going to surmise a lot.
And if I'm wrong, by all means, please call me out on this. Right. You can do something that is probably quite difficult to get down on paper, like same with some coaches. Okay. So when people are like, what do you actually do? No, but how do you actually help? Sometimes I got a team member in my team who her job is almost like an exec kind of right-hand woman thing. And if someone said to me, what does she actually do for you? I'd like…
Shayla: It's hard to say.
Teresa: I don't know how to explain it. But I know that when I get on a call with her and I talked things, things through through, and she talks back to me and helps me get them straight in my head, but it's like, yeah, you're worth every single penny I pay. Try and then justify it.
It's really hard. And not only. Have you got that difficulty, which I can see lots of coaches having and lots of people in a more supporting role, but also your doing something that, one, there are people there to do it. Now, obviously in the states, it's very different here we have the NHS, so there's a, it's entirely free. Two, it's a very natural thing.
And again, when I think about coaches, you know, well, you should just be able to be happy or you should just be able to cope or, you know. So I can, I can understand the issues around the abundance. How did you tackle that and how did you, what were your skills for kind of going, this is what you paid for it?
Showing up with confidence
Shayla: Yeah. So I, I understood number one, just showing up. I looked at what was already existing and I looked at how the women in my industry in the birth industry were showing up. So we had this running joke, you know, we're in Birkenstocks. Yeah. So we were the sandals, I don't know if you all are familiar with the match. We're hippie.
Teresa: Yeah.
Shayla: But I wasn't hippie. You know, and I'm like, “Huh, okay. Do I fit into this community?” So I walked in, I knew, I know something that you don't know. And I know something that you need to know and I would sit people to invite me into their homes. I would have a conversation and I will let them know. I want to be able to guide you.
I don't want to replace your husband or your partner. I don't want to tell you what to do. I want to guide you to get what you say you want. And I always promise there's nothing guaranteed.
Teresa: Yeah.
Shayla: I can not guarantee the outcome, but I can guarantee that you'll have an experience that you will feel proud of no matter how it is.
And that's all they wanted. It's all they wanted. And so I would show up in the first thing people started saying this “You're so professional.” I'm like, “Well, how are people showing up here? I'm confused.” Because we were showing up as our, our hippy holistic self, which is fine. But I had order, I had content and I didn't know what content was at that time, but I came, I would have information packets for them.
I had branded folders. And my husband's like, why are you buying these laminated branded folder? I didn't know why, but I'm like, I want my business to feel and look like a business. Birthing schools train you to do the work of a doula or a childbirth educator, but they don't train you to own a business.
And so I said, I want it to feel like a business. So I'm spending money on this training. It needs to feel like a business. I had branded shirts. So I walked in as a business owner that happened to be someone that was able to guide and support them through a holistic experience. The holistic, the holistic experience didn't look and feel like a holistic business that was not cared for. They understood, this is going to, this person's going to take care of me. This is a real business. I trust giving my money to this company, even though it was just me, they trusted the brand.
Teresa: Yeah.
Shayla: That's what it was.
Teresa: And I think you've hit on it in perfectly. You, you showed up as a business and therefore it made perfect sense that someone was going to pay you for your service because you are a business. And therefore, no matter what it was that you were selling. No matter the skills involved, no matter. You know, because I can only imagine some mothers of the moms would be like, “Oh, what do you need them for? You've got me.” Or… I bet you hear that a lot. You know, because they, they didn't see. But when you turn up and go “No, this is how serious I am about it.” And how amazing for you in terms of how we built for you must have been because this is the other really interesting thing that I find as a small business owner, but also as someone who teaches small business owners, is that we come into the business world because we're really good at the thing we do. Okay. So you were an amazing doula. I'm great at marketing. Someone else's great coaching, someone else's great at I've got somebody makes wedding cakes and all various different businesses. But the thing that none of us had is how to run a business.
Shayla: That's it.
Teresa: And, and that is like, that is, so I had such a wake up call when I started my business. Because I thought marketing as part business, I've worked with businesses, I'm in a business. Like how hard could this be? This is like, no, it's so different. And that point you said exactly about feeling that you can actually charge when it's up here or when it's experience, when it's not a physical product that I can hand over to you and go, “There you go. It costs me X amount and to make an estimate on there's my price.” So, so that is that for me is amazing that you did that at that point, almost like showing your route that the route was the business route.
The doula thing was the thing, you loved it. But so can I just ask, like, what is it like seeing over 300 births? That is just crazy.
Shayla: It's amazing that. When I go back and I look at the numbers and I'm like, really, I still have files. And I, I asked myself, did you really do this? And how did you do this? But I also tell myself, this is exactly why you burned out so rapidly because there was a high demand.
The part of the business, I didn't know was how to bring on a team.
Teresa: Yeah.
Shayla: So had I brought on his team, it had other doulas that worked with me. I was a little afraid of having the responsibility of having to have a team and making sure there was enough demand for the service for the expanse with team. And so I kind of limited it, but I was like, “Yes, I'll help you. Yes. I'll help you.” And people would say.
Teresa: Because you are good.
Shayla: Right. And people will say, “Well this person said that they wanted that I should talk to you. And you're the only one.” And I'm like, how did I put myself in this box that I'm the only one now. And when I would try to bring on other people, there was this, uh, “Nope, we want…” I'm like, “What did I do wrong? I got it. Okay.” So I built the brand, but I built a brand around me being the brand. So I'm the brand was called Birth Diva and they were like, “We want Birth Diva. If Birth Diva is not coming, we don't want the birth packages with your company.”
Teresa: Again even that brand does not say doula. Like, that's not hippie woo-hoo, you know, it's I love it.
And that's why you stood out, because you weren't necessarily follow them old. And I bet like, If you'd come to someone in the early days ago. Right. So I can either be, you know, some really kind of dealery sounding name or birthday that they'd be like, don't have that one because it's just so funny.
But actually that was probably your strongest thing. Wasn't it?
Shayla: It was, it was the strongest thing and I understood that I didn't know business, but my prior to birth my career, my graduates degree or not graduates, but when I graduated with was a degree in construction engineering technology.
Teresa: And birthing is so similar.
Shayla: So similar. But I was a project manager.
Okay. So I understood processes. I understood how to put things together, how to build the best team when it came. So you can get a midwife or a doctor or an OB GYN and the doula you might need this person. I understood steps.
Teresa: Yeah.
Shayla: So as long as I understood steps, I understood that I could build something.
So instead of building buildings, I'm building a business. I always tell people now I, you know, I work in birthing babies, helping my clients to birth their babies. Now I help people to birth their businesses. But then now like with the scale, and I'm helping you to grow up your business, but it all is related. Every skill that you take from whatever you do.
You transfer over, you're bringing a little piece of whatever your background was. So everything that you touch, you just look at it and say, how can I enhance what I'm doing now, based on what I did then.
Teresa: I love it. So I want to ask you about obviously how your business looked when you're a doula time how business look stay, which is entirely different.
But before I do, I've got to ask about your six children. How old are your children?
Shayla: They're ranging from seven to 24. Yeah, it's a whole situation.
Juggling being a mum and a business owner
Teresa: Honestly, I have one daughter and one step son that lives here. And my daughter, I now have half the time because she's just with me and her dad. I just, I don't know how anybody could do that.
I just, like running a business and having all of that, like that just blows my mind.
Shayla: Their business too. Okay. So running them is like running a business, running the household is a whole separate business. Um, so. It's a journey, right? I left construction and I told you I had three children by the time I started the birthing business.
By the time I had three, I decided to pull them out of school because I wanted to run a business and I was going to be home. So I decided to homeschool them while running these businesses.
It was a journey. Silly, silly me. I said, I'm going to homeschool my kids and I'm going to make some money on a side. Even the business blew up, but I decided it wasn't fair for me to just throw them back into school. So I had to figure out how to navigate homeschooling with running a business. And I was able to do it. There still four left that are homeschooled. The other two they're older, we got college, one's graduating from college. One's graduating from high school this year. It's a lot, but we make it work in my household. My household functions, my husband and I, we function. We get what needs to get done. And I have flexibility because I own my business.
Teresa: That is like we ask parents who have had to, had to homeschool our children during lockdown, have alll insight, to what it's like to homeschool. That was more than enough for me to go I'll never do that again, ever in a million years.
Shayla: That wasn't, that wasn't and I sympathize with each and every one of you that were kind of pushed into homeschooling because that's, I tell people I'm not traditional, nor am I conventional in my homeschooling.
I did not choose to homeschool my children so they can sit on a computer from nine until three or for a whole day and have class. That's not absolutely. That's like, you can send your kids to school if that's the case. And I don't have time to do that. But we, we school in chunks of time, we do theme based sometimes, sometimes everyone's learning the same thing, sometimes they're not. We have a correspondence school for the older kids. They send their work somewhere else. I'm like, listen, just do the work, make sure it's done. Let me see it. Oh, you did it. Okay. Great. We do. Um, one of my daughters, she does high school plus she's doing college at the same time, so she's able to start getting her credits.
So it doesn't feel the way that it was feeling for many people over the past year. That has to be exhausting. You're used to working a job. And then all of a sudden you're a teacher. And you're sitting at the computer, especially with the younger kids and trying to manage their homework and their schoolwork, lunch and everything else.
That's a lot, I feel for them.
Teresa: You know, that's really kind of you to say, because obviously, you know, having the children that you've got, the business that you've got, the doing the work, but being so honest in the fact of homeschooling isn't what we were all trying to do. We were trying to replicate school.
We couldn't because all, and the problem is there were so many mums and, and I'm going to say predominantly moms, there was, I'm sure there was some dads, but the people I had for the moms that just felt like they were failing at everything. Like. Felt like they were the worst at everything. And if I'm so honest, which I am, so the first lockdown where my daughter got homeschooled, she's, she's very lucky.
She goes to a very nice school and, uh, because it's the school I paid for. I think they were very conscious of the fact of, they wanted to still provide a level of service because I paid for it in that so. So they did homeschool her on computer, on screen, like between nine and four or something every day. But she'd go off and have to have like PE or whatever.
It'd be like, just see the game for that time. But when I was getting really involved the first time and I was watching what she was doing. And then I was like, “You're not paying attention. You're not doing.” And you know I'd hear what they said. “You know, you should have written a whole thing.” And I was, we were arguing all the time and then lockdown two happened and she got homeschooled again.
And I literally sat on a call one day with my members is as lots of the mums in there were like, “I can't do this again. What am I going to do?” And I went, “I don't care.” As in, I don't care how much she does. And then it looked to me and I said, I know I sound awful, but I can't. This is a situation that is so unlike any other situation, I am not trying to be a homeschooler.
I am not trying, if it did, I'd have to work out a way to make it work, but I wasn't. And right at that point she was getting some education. It was up to her teachers to make sure she was doing what she does. And it actually wasn't then on their behalf that had been the same as my daughter. I said to her, you were 11 now and you know what you gotta do.
And I don't want to sit here and fight with you every day that you're here because you're not doing what you want to do, or you should be doing. So. And I can't, cause I haven't got the energy all the time. So.
Shayla: Yeah. Well it reminds us, it reminds us as a business owner. You just jumped into your business without any kind of system you would feel awful.
You would probably fail at it, or you would just be struggling for no reason. So the, the concept of everyone take on the responsibility of schooling your children, and that's not a system that you already have in place. It's going to feel overwhelming. It took us years to figure out a system. I had to try so many different types of homeschooling systems to figure out the best one for my household.
You were giving no advance notice. It's just, “Here's the system, here's the broken system or the partial system. We're going to give you a piece of the puzzle. You have to figure out the rest. Good luck.”
Teresa: And what, and by the way, could you still continue doing all the things you're doing. And have online businesses, nothing changed.
Like now, I'm grateful to say that my business maintained and grew during that period. But it just made the whole, like, you know, when people are, none of my members are like this there's some of my friends were like, “Oh, I think fairly load.” And I'd like, whoa, I'd really like to be fair that I love six months.
That would be amazing. But yeah, it was so hard. Anyway. Anyway, I could. Talk about this forever. So let's talk about where you are now. So like I said, your day is as a doula and I can see and only imagine how you've burned out cause that must be intense. Your hours, you're doing, the times you're working, the availability.
Shayla: Yeah.
Creating the schedule you desire
Teresa: What does your business look like now? Like, how is everybody… If you have some sound effect.
Shayla: In a true sound effect. Okay. So I'll tell you this. There, it was probably four or five years ago. I did a Facebook live and in the Facebook live, I had my phone. And I said this right here I never have to worry about it again, because I used to sleep with my phone in my bed or by my pillow.
And I said, I never have to sleep with my phone anymore. We broken up. Because I was so connected to that device. That device was my business. Had I missed a phone call. That means I was going to miss some birth. Babies don't have schedules.
Teresa: No. Annoying.
Shayla: There's there's no block time. Like even say there's a nest, an estimated due date. But they show up at the most inopportune times, usually.
So now, as, um, as a coach in the coaching industry, I have the ability to really create the schedule ideas. So I understand when I choose, and this is the key word is choose. So when I choose to coach my clients, when I choose to be available, when I choose to shut my business down and go to sleep at whatever time I desire. When I choose to go on a vacation.
And not have to worry that I'm going to get that call on vacation and have to find a backup because surprise a little one decided to come early. So I have so much more flexibility in my business now. And one of the things that I used to talk about with my, with my business, I call myself the family freedom and affluenced mentor.
And I say freedom is absolutely important to me. And most of us started a business because we wanted freedom. Maybe you worked nine to five or work for a corporation. And you said, I'm going to leave my business so I can have more freedom to do what I want to do. And you ended up probably working more hours.
Teresa: Always.
Shayla: So most of us didn't create freedom initially. So when I started the second business, I said, I need to do this the right way. I need to make this the business I truly desire. It needs to be able to bring me the financial stability that I need. It needs to give me the freedom to be with my family and not sacrifice the time with them, for the sake of making money.
And it needs to make me feel happy. I want to wake up and feel joyful. I want to talk to my clients and know that they're thriving, but they're not dependent on me. I created a dependency in the birthing business, which was expected kind of, but I didn't want that anymore. I have kids. I don't want anyone dependent on me.
Teresa: But you've got nothing but depending on you. You know you do.
Shayla: So I wanted to transform lives, but I want to also teach women through that transformation that you are empowered.
You can do this work. You can grow. You can thrive. We can be together. We can have a community, but I'm not your only source.
Teresa: Yeah.
Shayla: So many of us that are available to you. And when I want to step away, because I'm slightly introverted. When I want to step away, I want to step away. And that's what I have now, the freedom to do those things.
Teresa: See. I love that you just talked about all that because often in the online space and you will see this, I'm sure. The talk of a dream business or a, a business that is, you know, your perfect business always talks about money. And actually for me, the fact that I get to, you know, yesterday it's Tuesday says, yeah, yesterday was Monday.
Didn't get out of bed. So about half as nine and meditated quite slowly, I then did some stuff. Then I got myself some brunch. Then I did something else. Then I did some work. And the fact that I get to choose that and I get to decide who goes in my diary, when they go in my diary, what that looks like and the activities that I do, don't get me wrong.
The money is really important and everyone, well, not everyone, lots of people want a good income and nice things. But the fact that everything you just said, the fact that you can take the time. No one has control of you. No one is dependent on you. And I love the fact, cause I think there are lots of people out there who are in roles like yours that wants people to depend on them because then in their heads, they'll stick around forever and they'll pay them forever.
But you and I are exactly the same thing. I want people, I want people to stay with me because they like right and my energy. However, my aim is always to give them skills that they don't need me, because what is the point in that, in putting time and effort and stuff where they always have to come back. So I love that.
That's how. That's where your coaching from. That's where you've come from. So one of the things you coach on is about higher ticket items.
Shayla: Correct.
Teresa: So what I want to do is just ask and just talk about. Cause we chatted before we got on about all the various types of people that are listening to the podcast.
And there's probably a whole chunk of you that are listening, that don't have a higher ticket item. Just want to kind of address the, the point of why should we, and how might that look in our business?
Selling higher ticket items
Shayla: Yeah. And this is a good question because there are people that say, you know, who, why would I do high ticket?
And there's seven myths. I want to help first list debunk a few myths when it comes to high ticket. Because the one thing people may think is I'm not qualified to charge high ticket.
Teresa: Yeah.
Shayla: That's a big one. The people will come and say, “That's cool. You can do that because you've been in this industry X amount of time, but I don't qualify.”
There's no organization that certifying you to do high ticket. There's no person that's telling you that you qualify. It's all internal. You have to know. So it's just like me in the birthing business. I had a high ticket birthing business. Everyone else was doing what they did, but I understood the value.
So number one myth is you're not qualified. You are qualified. You just need to say yes to that qualification for yourself. And if you're going to say yes to it, you do have to bring true value to the table. You do have to deliver what you're promising. You can't just throw a zero behind a few numbers and say, “Now I'm high ticket yeeey.”
That's not how they're doing it. Okay. But. You do have to, you do have to do what you say you can do, but you qualify yourself. Number two. The myth, no one will pay me that one, that much. No one will ever pay me that much. Because maybe you are having a low ticket business and you're thinking there's no way possible I can transition, shift or add this piece to my business because they only know me for this.
That's not true. Again, you're providing value. You're providing stellar services. People will pay what they they'll pay for what they want. Simple as that. But a way that I really teach my clients to do that is through what I call their seven lucks touch points. And when you add these elements to whatever product or service you are creating, it's going to instantly elevate and amplify that service.
Money mindset
So you will be able to charge, and it's not a fraudulent number. It's not just like, “Oh, you know, this is worth $50,000.” No, it's true value that you're bringing in. And the other thing is just overall the lack of abundance. You know, if, if you don't have an abundant mindset, sometimes you will prevent yourself from asking for what you really want.
So you may truly want a higher ticket service. But if your mindset's telling you, “I'm not worthy, I'm not capable. It's greedy. People can't afford this.” Then you will never step into that place. And it's not a bad thing. It's a choice. It's a choice. But if it's just the mindset that's keeping you from making that shift, you need to ask yourself where that's coming from.
And that may be that you need a little, you maybe need to do a little excavation process of what money stories are you carrying? What were your beliefs around money? What happened? Like I know one of my stories around money was bankruptcy. So we filed for bankruptcy and I just felt like the most awful woman ever.
How could you generate this kind of money and have to file for bankruptcy? This was 2010. And then from there I'm like, how am I going to go back and start asking for money again? No, one's going to trust me with their money because I had to file for bankruptcy. So you have to look what's the source. What what's that reason I had to heal and forgive myself from that piece to be able to elevate again. You have to find your story so that you can give yourself permission.
And I'm going to tell you one tip when it comes to that elevation of the mindset. One of the best things a coach of mine told me was you keep treating yourself as if you are a liability. The actual, the actual truth is you're an asset. But until you stop viewing yourself as a liability, you will always struggle.
And when she said that, I was like, I had no idea I was carrying that weight on my shoulder. No idea that I was sitting in that place of lack, doubt, non worthiness. It was ridiculous. As soon as I got that for myself, I was able to really heal, forgive and ask for what I wanted without feeling sleazy about it.
I think that's another thing. People feel like, Ooh. People to charge that much charge to those people, I'm like, well, who are those people?
Teresa: And you know what, it's so funny you say that like, so I have the 90 day program that I do, which is one-to-one. Now, I tried to get the cost slightly lower and have it as a group program, didn't work. Like. Now the people that did the group program, I'm sure if I asked them, they wouldn't say it didn't work, it didn't work for me. I, I wanted that completely devoted time to them and their business, but getting busier and busier and busier, I had to up the price because I can't, you know, I couldn't manage all the people that were coming through.
So one of the ways in which I could filter down that, that those people coming through is to put the price up. And, and I think there is an element of, you know, it feels. This is really like putting it out there. And it was so funny because I, I not long made this change and the, the 90 day program used to open and close and open and close because the fact it was group. And I've recently just updated the page, the 90 day program open all the time.
And there's a button that says Apply Now. Because this is a item, therefore the chances someone going to that page, reading a sales page to go, “Oh yeah. Great. Here's my credit card. Thanks so much Teresa.” And I don't want them to, because I've got to work with them for 90 days, the one-to-one level. I need to know that I'm going to be a good fit to them and them to me.
So I had a friend, that say to me, “This part in business, this better to me.” Um, uh, I've just been looking at someone's site and they've got Apply Now. Booh! Isn't it horrible. You didn't do that. Do you?
Shayla: By the way, I did. Thank you.
Teresa: That was a thing. So I went back to them and I was like, “Yeah.” It was horrible. We have every discussion, they were like voice notes, sort of saying, you know, why they thought it was. And they said that the person they'd seen do it, they suspect that they weren't as busy as they were making now. They were just doing it to fake it till you make it and all this sorts of.
Shayla: Yeah.
Teresa: And then I explained why I have an applied process.
I said, because it's a lot of money. No, one's just going to buy and I need to make sure that their expectations measure up to what I can deliver. And I am confident I can deliver for them. And it's a conversation before we get started and they get a phone call or zoom call with me. And then at the end of that zoom call, there's no hard seeling.
There's, you've seen the price cause it's been on there from the minute you applied. Do you want to do it? Yes or no? If it's no, not problem, if it's yes. Cool. Let's go. So. It was just really, it just really made me laugh that he was like, you've done enough, applied idea. And I was like, yeah, I do.
Shayla: And people will project their, their thoughts, their opinions on you.
And the person could have actually said that to you. And you could have. Gone ups to direction and say, oh, I do have them. Let me take that off. But it's really cool that you stood in it because you knew and understood what was important to your business and the type of client that you wanted to attract to that program.
So this makes, this speaks to another thing with high ticket programming, especially you want to filter. You want to filter out who you're going to be willing to spend your time with.
Teresa: Yeah.
Shayla: And a belief is when you're charging high ticket, you have to give more, it's going to take more of your time. I find it to be the complete opposite.
Working with high ticket clients
Funny enough. The type of clients that will invest high ticket with me are typically pretty busy. They want an exclusive experience and therefore they're willing to invest at a higher level and they're fairly committed to doing what they say they're going to do. And our calls are really concise. I don't rush them. But they know what they want. They're not looking to have me sit with them every day, all day. They don't call me that we have really good boundaries, but it's a trusting relationship. And those clients I find are the ones that actually renew over and over. Because sometimes once we've gotten to level one, they're wanting the next level or they want the accountability to go along with it.
They don't want a lot. They're not asking for a lot. So higher ticket clients actually save you time.
Teresa: Yeah. And you're right. So bearing in mind, I've got an Academy that's $59 a month.
Shayla: Yes.
Teresa: And the high ticket item is just under the $5,000 mark for the 90 days. And the 90 day students have access to me between their calls via email.
So they can email me at any point. Now they know I'm not going to jump on it that same second. It might take time to get back to them. But they can email me at any point. Another reason why I don't want too many people doing this.
Shayla: Right.
Teresa: And I'll respond to them. And I probably get more DMs from my Academy members.
So my dear people. You know, don't get me wrong. That's up to me to manage the Academy and the, and inevitably I'll normally go back to them and go, do you know what, this is a great question. And it would, I really need that in the group because I want everybody else to see that question and see the answer and that sort of thing.
Shayla: Yes.
Teresa: You're right. They, they don't take up the time. It's very succinct. It's very direct. It's they have access to the Academy while they're in 90 day student. They very rarely used it, because,
Shayla: Exactly.
Teresa: Because they know when they get on a call with me, we go, so what did you do there? This, this, this. Right. Do this thing, do this thing.
And they're driven and they take action. And that is a lovely thing for someone who's a new experience. So when you are coaching people, when you're working with people. That's what we want. We want that.
Shayla: That's what we want. I always, and I jokingly tell people when I have sales calls or discovery calls with them and like, I'm a mom of six.
My job is not to be your mom. I don't want to parent you. So I need someone that is highly coachable. And if you know, that's not your way we're probably not going to be a good fit. I'm very transparent with people. And they understand I'm not going to do that. I'm not the one for it. Now there's some people you can pay to do that, but I'm looking for a specific type of client. And I help people to count themselves out.
So yes, they will come to my apply page. And if it's not a fit, I'm not getting on the phone. Based on the application, if it's really not a fit, based on the answers to the questions. So that means my rate of sells. The closures that I have on a phone is fairly high because I've hyper filtered everything.
And as you said, by the time we get on the phone, you know, the price. So it's, you're only getting on the phone with me. Number one, if, and sometimes I'll do this in a video. So it's a video that says, Hey, this is the program. This is what we're going to do. This is what I'm requiring of you. And this is going to be an amazing fit for you if number one, you're committed, this is the outcome you're looking for. Also at this price point is a great fit for you. Here's your next step. Schedule a call with me, but only schedule if you're prepared to make a deposit or payment. During this call, we'll determine if we're a good fit. And if we are there's an expectation that we're going to take the next step. If it's not, if you know, you're not prepared to make the payment, if it's a good fit, you don't have the money available, which is fine. Let's not schedule a call. Let's not waste time unless we're making the next move. And I keep it simple as that.
Teresa: And I think that's really important. Because I've got people who bless them. Amazing, lovely, wonderful people that are desperate to do the 90 day program with me. And even have conversations where they're like, you know, I could, I could possibly get a credit card. I'm like, do you know what I don't want that. I do not want, I am all the pushing yourself.
And I, in the past, I've done exactly the same. I've paid money for big programs.
Shayla: We all have.
Teresa: Me feel very uncomfortable.
Shayla: Yes.
Teresa: But I have the money to pay it. I did put myself into a position where I could get myself into real trouble. Don't get me wrong. I was out of my comfort zone and I was a bit like, well, I'm going to have to work at the ear. But you know, it, it wasn't like I'm going to put it all on a credit card and if it doesn't work, I'm bankrupt. You know, it was you've got it.
This is it. I don't mind it pushing out your comfort zone by having to go to pay that money, but because that'll make you do the work. And that is a key thing. If it is a big thing, they want to do it, would they?
Shayla: Right, correct. Correct.
Teresa: So, you know, they've got to, they've got to feel a little bit like “ohhh” that's, you know, that's a lot of money, but then they'll do the work.
Whereas I really don't want anybody at that point where they're like, I'm just going to pull together every penny I've got on every credit card. No, cause then. You're coming from a wrong mind mindset as well. Aren't you?
Shayla: You can't sell when you're desperate. This is one thing I've learned. And I know for sure, if you are broke, you're desperate.
People will feel that energy. They're going to absolutely feel the energy. So I've had people to say, “Oh, if you let me work with you, I'm going to make this money up. And I'm like, I need you to be able to feed your kids, keep a roof over your head. And I need that to have that liability on my hands.” I can't guarantee what you're going to do.
I can guarantee what I'm going to teach you what I will guide you to do. But what I can't promise is your outcome, because I don't know how you perform. But if you're already showing up telling me I'm going to do something sketchy to get some money and like, You sure you want to do that? But let's go through these books and these free resources instead. You build up a little bit of something. You know, let's not exhaust because you can't come and live with me. I can't take care of you. I don't want to be a part of it. So I totally agree. You know, I, I want people who. It can be, uh, it can be a push of a stretch, like, woo. That was a not, but I am capable of handling that responsible.
Teresa: Yeah. And you're right about even when flip it the other way around, when we're in desperate measures. And I think with, with high ticket items, we absolutely can't be of all of our products. Sometimes when I sell the academy, I actually find it quite tricky to sell because it's it's so, cause I don't niche.
So if I said it's specifically for this type of business, then I think it's easier to sell. So sometimes when I sell the Academy like I joke, you know I say to my husband, I'm just going to go on and “What is wrong with you people? This has amazing results. You should join me.” Like I say that jokingly, but you know we sell like that. Whereas at the 90 day program, I never worry about it.
I never really advertise it. I never really. Other than us chatting about it. I don't talk about it from a structured view. Because the whole point of it is that it's high ticket and if someone's ready at that point, they'll come along and they'll fill in the application form. I'm not desperate for those people to come in and do it.
I'm not, that's not where I'm getting all my income from. So actually, when we talked about why they should have one, that's a really it's. If you don't have one, that's probably a really nice place to, to just slot one in, at the top with the kind of idea of, if someone plays it, they buy it. If they don't, they don't.
Shayla: Yeah.
And again, if, if you're, if your people are being attracted to it, you can create consistent monthly revenue with it. You can create higher monthly revenue with it and you can do it with fewer people. So I love to tell people that, I like making more money with fewer clients. And that's a joy for me.
I really love it because it fits my lifestyle. But you can add it in. If you're doing low ticket, you can add it as a boost. It just gives your income a boost. So that you have that, that extra piece there, that cushion, while you're trying to fill your lower ticket groups, you have something to offer beyond that.
Teresa: And I do. It's a really nice bonus. I have to say, like, you know, it's nice when someone new comes along that, oh, that's cool. You know, a big chunk of money's coming in. Whereas obviously with the smaller ticket items, you have to work quite hard for those. And you have to put a lot of effort into. Into doing that.
So how many clients would you say. Like. Is there a figure that people should aim for? Or is there a, I mean, this is like the widest hardest question ever, but like, when you talk about like, you know, number of clients. So how many clients do you like to have? Because it takes work because it's one-to-one.
Shayla: It does take work.
So I would be really mindful. So my high ticket to be my inner circle. My inner circle just has 12 participants per year. So that's like, waitlists. If you're on it, you're in it. People would say I want to be in the inner circle because no one knows what the inner circle is. So that's really exclusive. And they're like, “What do they do? I just noticed she was a part of it. How can I be a part of it?” And then we'd also have quarterly groups. Those quarterly groups we can do, we can max at 12 per quarter. And individuals, I can take up to six private clients per year. So most of my time is actually spent with my groups. The quarterly group or the inner circle.
Those are meeting twice and twice a month. And my individual clients, they will meet one to two times per month. That's it. That's not a lot.
Teresa: So I've got another question I'm conscious of your time. So we'll, um, I don't wanna, I wanna don't wanna keep you too much longer. But another question is one of the things that stopped me off doing the group program, the higher ticket group program, and then I did it and then I decided to actually I liked the one-to-one stuff.
Was that what if you didn't fill the group?
Shayla: So you have a minimum for me. You want to have a minimum for that group. So as I said, it can go up to 12. On average, we have about eight people that will be a part of the group. I like to have more than two people, because if one person doesn't show up, you don't have a group.
You want that dynamic and the energy of it, but you want the right people in the group. So for me, I'm looking for a particular type of person to be a part of the group. Everyone's pretty much in the same space so we can grow together pretty rapidly.
Teresa: Yes.
Shayla: It has to be filtered that's application also.
And outcome, you do have to work a little differently with a group versus one to one. And so what I will use the do is start them off with a, what I call a mini intensive individually, a private mini intensive. So I can get really clear on what the focus should be for that person in the group. And then after they do their private, it's a three hour mini intensive, then we go one to group calls.
So it keeps them on track better.
Teresa: Yeah.
Shayla: They can manage their energy better in that group. Because there is the concern of will I get more access to you? But when it's a small group, you have all the access that you need. I don't do large groups because I don't want that much energy around me. I cannot manage the energy.
It just does not work for me well at all.
Teresa: Yeah. And I like the fact of the results. So I was part of a bigger group. High ticket item. It didn't.
I hesitate to say it didn't work for me because it's not that it didn't work for me. It just didn't fit me.
Shayla: It didn't fit my personality.
Teresa: I like to be. I, weirdly I am an extrovert, but when I'm over in the States, it's almost like I turn into an introvert because naturally I think people in the UK are probably a little bit more introverted and I got lost, which people knowing me would not believe for a second, but I did.
I'd go into that group and I couldn't get with nudge ways. I did. I didn't get anything answered. You know, I learned lots of things from just hearing other conversations, but I never had an opportunity to stand out and that bothered me. And that's, you know, that's something that I really look at with my stuff is that I want to make sure that if they want to be heard, they're heard.
Oh, they have an opportunity to be heard.
Shayla: That's a good, that's a good segue though, because a lot of the clients that will come to me, they come for that reason specifically. They've been a part of groups. They've tried to do it one way or they came after they built something low ticket. And now they're saying, I don't want thousands of clients.
Teresa: Yes.
Shayla: We'll keep this digital program. But now I want to have a more transformational program where I get to interact and know the clients.
Teresa: Yeah.
Shayla: Or they've been in a group in years. And they said the same thing. I don't feel like I was known. I didn't have a space to fit in. And so they liked being a part of my inner circle, for example, because they know that they're seeing, they're heard.
They, you know, we make sure that we're marketing on, on our things. I'm sharing my clients with everyone. And so they're like, “Oh my gosh, finally, someone sees me.” So I totally get it. I think you have to experience several things to figure out what you like best for your personality. And you won't know until you're invest in a few things and then you're like, “Okay this is not a fit.”
They're beautiful expensive lessons.
Teresa: Yeah.
Shayla: That's what we have.
Teresa: They are indeed. Shayla thank you so much. This has been so, so useful. It's been wonderful to talk to you. I am in awe of how you manage what you manage and those amazing children of yours. Because honestly, give me sitting at my desk any day compared to being a parent.
I, this is so much easier than trying to be a mom and a stepmom. So thank you so much for your time. Now, obviously I will link up to everything in the show notes. But if we want to come and find you where's the best place?
Shayla: So they can easily come and find me on Facebook at Shayla Boyd-Gill. Um, also you can go to the website, shaylaboydgill.com
Teresa: Perfect. Thank you so much Shayla it's been a pleasure to have you on.
Shayla: Thank you.
Teresa: There we go. That was the lovely Shayla. I hope you enjoyed that episode. Like I said, do go and check out her links and my show notes, and also go and sign up for that email masterclass. It's going to be really good fun, and I can't wait to see you there.
All right. Have a great week and I will see you next week.
