amy walker radio host

Want to know what almost stopped me from starting my company?

I am not a fan of the solo-preneur business model.  Gasp!!! Did I just say that?  To thousands of small business owners?  Many of whom are solo-preneurs?

Absolutely!  There is one major flaw in the solo-preneur model and it’s YOU!  Your time and availability limits your income potential.  Your knowledge and skill set limits your income potential.  Your mental and emotional capacity limits your income potential.  Your scarcity thinking limits your income potential.  YOU limit your income potential.  Not because you are a flawed human being, but because you are a human being.  You are not perfect.  You get overwhelmed. You run out of time.  And you have strengths in certain areas of your business while you are deficient in others.

I’m not being mean, I’m being honest. I know it because the same is true in my business, and in the hundreds of other business owners I coach.

To get past the solo-preneur hump, you have to hire!  Hiring scares a lot of people.  And I understand why.  It is time consuming and expensive.  No one you hire will do it just like you do it.  No one will care as much about your business as you do.  And when they mess up, it effects your business.  It can be scary.  In fact so scary, that I almost sabotaged my company before it even started.

2.5 years ago, I was an independent contractor working for an amazing training and personal development company.  I had a great job.  I had great paychecks and I loved the people I worked with.  BUT, I was getting ready to have my 5th son and I knew it was time for me to have more time freedom and to stop hiding behind someone else’s brand.  But I did not, under any circumstances want to run a team of people.  I wanted to do it all myself.  In fact, I remember consulting with a friend, who is also a genius in business, and asking, “Can I do this and really be successful if I never hire more than 3 people?”  His answer was “Sure, why not!”

He lied.  We’ve talked about it since and he lied on purpose.  Thank Heavens he did or I might never have started my company. He knew I was limiting myself and my companies potential.

I really believe that to get beyond 6 figures you have to hire help. In fact for some businesses, you will have to hire help to even get to 6 figures.

Here are some questions to ask yourself to help you see if you need help now, and where you need it!

1. Is my time maxed out? If your time is maxed out, you don’t have room to increase your income.
2. Could I handle the workload if I doubled my income this month? If the answer is no, you will not be able to hit those types of numbers. Even if you got there, you would not be able to maintain those clients.
3. What areas of my business are not getting done because I either don’t know how to do it, or don’t have time to do it? Notice I did not ask what is not getting done because you are scared of it or avoiding it.  If that is your reason, I say get over it and just do it!  But if you really don’t know how or don’t have time, you need help in those areas.
4. If you could free up 10 hours a week for more income producing activities, how much more income could you bring in? If that number is more than you would pay someone to take 10 hours off of your plate, it makes sense to hire.

I’ve definitely had challenges in working with my team.  But the challenges are small compared to the rewards.  If I was trying to do everything myself, I think I would have maxed out at $50,000-75,000 a year.  I have 5 kids.  My time is limited, and if I had stayed a solo-preneur, I guarantee my vision for the company would have remained limited.  My team is what inspired me to see my company on a bigger scale.  My team is what helped me to hit 6 figures my first year.  My team is what drove my sales to an over 400% increase our second year in business.  My team is what makes it so I never give up, even on the hard days.  And my team is who supports me and makes me feel like I am never alone in this journey. Meet Amy walker...!

Are you ready to retire the many hats you wear in business and start hiring?

amy walker consultant

Is your leadership style helping or hurting?

This is an amazing week for me!  My debut book officially launches July 1st, and I want to give you a sneak peak at one of my favorite chapters “Back to School.”  This chapter will help you identify your leadership style and learn how to become a more versatile leader.  Enjoy!

The business training program I have been participating in through Amy Walker has helped me to grow my business. The skills I have learned have enabled me to make better use of my time and reach more people. I have more than doubled the size of my classes and my closing rate has been near 100%! Even more important are the tools she has shared with me that have empowered me to feel good about myself as a woman, wife, and mother. I go to bed at night now feeling successful in all areas of my life. Thanks Amy!”

There are many different leadership styles. I’ve been blessed to work with and learn from some phenomenal leaders in several different industries.  One thing they all had in common is that they were focused more on their service than on their glory and fame. Before you jump into a leadership position, it is important to ask yourself the question, “Why am I here?”  Chasing opportunities for the money does not work long term. Because of my experience, I have the ability to jump into a business or team, and create results quickly. That does not mean that I should. If I am only there for me and my gain, I lose interest as soon as it gets hard. And when it comes to working with people, I can guarantee it will get hard. Having a greater purpose will pull you through the challenging times. Are you passionate and committed to developing people?  Are you passionate and committed to a cause?  Are you passionate and committed to creating change in the world?  If you are coming from a place of service and passion you will be easier to follow. We like to follow thought leaders. We like to follow people who make a difference. We like to follow people who know where they are going. Have you taken the time to get really clear about your cause?  I’ve been privileged to work with some high-level network marketers as clients. The ones who are 100% product focused struggle to get and keep their team motivated. They are always trying to figure out some new promotion or contest that will excite people into working. The ones who are mission focused and have a cause bigger than their product rally people together. Their team feels like they have something to fight for and that they are making a difference in the world. I have had the misfortune of meeting a few high-level network marketers who seem to care more about their paycheck and prizes than they care about their teams. As a result, they do not reap the benefit of loyalty and support from their downline. Scripture teaches, “the last will be first, and the first will be last.”  See more....!

amy walker

As our society grows ever more individualistic and entitled, great leaders are harder to come by. Corporations, small businesses, entrepreneurs and network marketers need strong leaders to thrive.  At the core of leading people is understanding them.  Walk Your Talk: Take Ownership and Lead Like You Mean It will teach any aspiring leader these 4 crucial skills:

1. What it takes to be a great leader. A great leader is not just a great technician.  They are not just a great manager or trainer.  A great leader has strong people skills, strong emotional intelligence, strong integrity, and the ability to lead in a way that others want to follow.  Walk Your Talk will teach you how to break those traits down into a learnable model.  Great leadership skills are developed with time and practice.
2. Ownership: You are the commonality in all of your leadership challenges. You must understand yourself, your needs, and tendencies in order to effectively interact with others.  Walk Your Talk encourages leaders at any level to take ownership of the results they have created in the past in order to create a better dynamic for the future.
3. How to break down the behavior of your team members. People are the most challenging part of leadership.  They are unpredictable.  No two people are exactly the same. This is not another personality quadrant model that attempts to put people into one of 4 types.  People are more complex than that.  This book will teach you how to analyze and break down behavior, how to identify basic needs and core characteristics, and what your team members need from you as their leader.
4. How to have the tough talks. Even the best leader and the best systems can be challenged during hard conversations.  Walk Your Talk includes templates and scripts for how to have the challenging conversations. Using these scripts will take the heated emotion out of your challenging conversations to create simple and clear resolutions.

Leadership is a learn-able skill.  Increasing personal leadership skills will enable readers to increase job satisfaction, earning potential and opportunities for growth. See more....!

amy walker corporate sales trainer

The business training program I have been participating in through Amy Walker has helped me to grow my business. The skills I have learned have enabled me to make better use of my time and reach more people. I have more than doubled the size of my classes and my closing rate has been near 100%! Even more important are the tools she has shared with me that have empowered me to feel good about myself as a woman, wife, and mother. I go to bed at night now feeling successful in all areas of my life.

I absolutely loved working with Amy Walker and her Business Mastery Program. I am a leader in doTERRA, and the organization, structure and business focus that we covered was perfect for my business. I received all the building blocks I need to be successful as a professional. One of the true gems of her program is that we also spent time focusing on home and family as well. I now know that focusing on both components simultaneously is key, and Amy taught me how. Thank you for the insight and tools for growth!

Amy Walker is smart, fun, and innovative. She brings a unique blend of training and entertainment to her events. I’ve hired her as a keynote for several events and, every time without fail, I leave with knowledge that helps my relationships become stronger and my career become more successful. I am in Week 7 of The Business Mastery Program. We decided to invest into this training because I knew deep down there was a hole in my system and no matter how hard I analyzed it, I couldn’t figure it out.  As a result of mentoring with Amy Walker for the past year, my monthly income has doubled, my high end rate has now become my low end rate and I had the courage and confidence to move into my very own professional office after 7 years of private practice in someone else’s space. Are you looking for something better? I cannot even begin to tell you what an amazing motivational speaker Amy Walker is. If you will do the things that she suggests, you can improve your life big time. If you are ever lucky enough to get to listen to her, it is well worth your time. Thank you Amy! You are beautiful inside and out.  

The business training program I have been participating in through Amy Walker has helped me to grow my business. The skills I have learned have enabled me to make better use of my time and reach more people. I have more than doubled the size of my classes and my closing rate has been near 100%! Even more important are the tools she has shared with me that have empowered me to feel good about myself as a woman, wife, and mother. I have learned so much from Amy! I have participated in several of her webinars, heard her speak live at some conferences and also participated in her 5 month long mentoring group. By using and applying the tools that Amy teaches to my life I have been propelled to a whole new level of living! In just 5 short months I have stretched and grown far beyond what I thought was possible.  See more....!

Executive Business Coach

Why I said goodbye to BALANCE

Human moment: I haven’t felt consistent balance for weeks, and that isn’t going to change for at least a month.  (Could be two.)  Does that make me a hypocrite?  Does that make me a bad mom?  Does that make me a bad wife? Does that mean I am off track in life?  The negative voices in my head are telling me every one of those things.  And guess what I say back to them?  SHUT UP!

I am in a season of massive growth.  I am hustling to launch a new book, 2 new programs, a new website, and a new division of my company.  All of this has taken place between January and September of this year, with the majority of it happening right now!  At this point balance is an unrealistic expectation that will just make me feel like I am failing. So I’ve said goodbye to balance.  For now…

Would I work my business this way all the time?  Heck NO!  But I am doing it now and I would like to share with you WHY I made this decision, HOW I am managing, WHEN you might want to consider this as an option, and WHAT you need to do to make it successful.

WHY?

I realized towards the end of 2014, that my company had grown to it’s max capacity as we were currently structured.  We were doing as much as we could do.  I was working a little harder than I wanted to work.  At that point, I had a choice.  I could either shrink the company so that it would be comfortable for me, or I could restructure and move up to our next level.  I chose growth.  I also chose to do a lot in a short period of time.  Massive growth is actually easier to do in a short period of time than it is over a long period of time.  That is because of the nature of atrophy.  Not everything you work to create will stick.  There will always be clients or team members leaving your business.  There will always be an idea, program or product that is no longer relevant and is on it’s way out.  If you want growth, you have to generate more into the business than is going out of the business.  If you want rapid growth, you need to generate a lot more into the business than is going out.  I opted for rapid growth.

HOW?

How am I managing this?  I have days where I great, and days where I feel like I am hanging on by my fingernails!  Just to be even more real and raw, today is a fingernails kind of a day!  And that is okay.  The bottom line is I am being very patient with myself and very forgiving of the imperfect nature of my execution.  I am however holding myself and my team to being highly committed to our daily activities.  We are working with focus. I am working when I don’t feel like it.  I am working when I do feel like it.  I’m working with discipline.

On the personal front, I am taking 20-60 minutes depending on the day, to get myself spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically grounded each morning.  I am creating quality time with my children and husband each day.  This morning we spent an hour outside before I started working.  I was fully present in the moment.  We weeded our garden, picked some berries, and I caught a frog for the boys.  (Side note, never catch a frog for my boys unless you are prepared for it to end up on your back when you aren’t looking.)  The biggest danger to my family right now is not how busy I am in reality, it’s how busy my mind can get if I am not careful.  Make sure you unplug from work to fully plug into family.

WHEN?

I would not suggest that I or you should work our businesses this way all the time.  Before you consider saying goodbye to balance for a season of massive growth, make sure you enroll your family.  Get your team on board.  Make sure that you have the income producing activities lined up and the people in place so that you are not just spinning your wheels.  Make sure it is really a short term commitment.  Make sure that the benefit outweighs the cost.  And make sure that your emotional and mental bank account are full enough that you can pay the price right now.

What?

If you feel you are ready for massive growth and that the time is right to say goodbye to balance, the first thing to ask yourself is, “What do I need to learn?”  The growth and education will go hand in hand.  Remember that education is an investment that pays you for the rest of your life.  Be a good student and be thorough in learning any new skills required for your next level.  Do not fight to do things the way you have always done them.  This is a time to innovate.  Innovation requires a willingness to change.

Then get ready to run!  Have fun!  Don’t expect to love every minute, but don’t allow yourself to hate every minute either.  Celebrate the little wins and enjoy the journey! << See More >>

Amy Walker Coaching

Say Goodbye to Crappy Clients

We’ve all had them.  That client that is 10 times more work than everyone else.  They are demanding and needy.  They make you feel slightly sick when you see their email come through.  You find yourself always assuming they are reaching out because they have a problem.  And you are right most of the time!  They pay late.  They have excuses for why they cannot complete their assignments and they blame you when it doesn’t work out.  Are you picturing their face as I describe them?

The truth is, they are so much work, they are often times costing you money instead of making you money!  Think about the time, energy and worry that is going into this client.  Now I want you to assign a dollar amount on how much you are giving out.  It’s probably a large number.  Now think about how much they are actually paying in.  Relationships like this rarely balance out.  You are almost always left in an energetic deficit and sometimes in an actual financial deficit.

Here are 5 tips to say goodbye to these clients once and for all!

1. Never haggle over your prices. Your prices are set based on your value.  When someone is haggling over prices, they are pulling your value down from the very beginning of the relationship.  I’m not saying that I never lower my prices.  But when I do, it is because I feel it would be a service to the other person, not because they beat me up until I caved to their demands.
2. Don’t compete for the least expensive spot in your industry. When you are trying to be the least expensive, you attract in all of the people who value a low price beyond anything else.  They have a tendency to want the world, but only be willing to pay for a fraction of it.  Let the Walmart’s of the world take care of this group.  Instead focus on finding clients who share your values, determination, and desires.  You will work much better together!  It will actually be an enjoyable process working together.
3. Set healthy boundaries. Set the expectations for boundaries in the beginning of the relationship and do not bend on them.  If you tell your clients they can only reach you during business hours, and then you respond to their emails on weekends and evenings, you are teaching them to disrespect your boundaries.  You are showing that you don’t honor your boundaries enough to follow them.
4. Be willing to let clients go. Think of it like fishing.  Everyone wants to catch something.  But sometimes you come across fish that are so small, they wouldn’t even be worth cooking.  The effort doesn’t warrant the reward.  The same is true with your business.  Not everyone is going to be a good fit for you.  When they are not, just let them go.  Hopefully they find what they are looking for. At the very least, they know that you are not what they want and both of you can move forward. It feels amazing when you say no to a potential client!
5. Don’t be desperate for clients! When you are desperate you put out a vibe and pain in the butt people are drawn to it like flies on stink! If you are feeling desperate, it’s because you are not converting sales.  You are probably not converting sales because you either don’t have enough leads to work with, or you just struggle with converting.  Wouldn’t you rather use that energy to learn to do those two things better than work with these challenging clients?

If you need help in any these areas, to schedule a free business assessment with one of my coaches.  We will help get you back on track!

Your time is VALUABLE as a business owner!  Stop spending it in unproductive areas and with unproductive people! << For More>> 

Executive Business Coach

Yesterday was Mother’s Day and had me feeling grateful and reflective.  In between church and being spoiled by my boys, I was laying on my bed, looking out of my window and thinking about life.  It was surreal because EVERYTHING in my life today started out as a dream years ago.  I wanted 5 acres and 5 boys.  I have 10 acres and 5 boys.  I wanted to work with my husband and be able to be home every day when the kids got home from school.  I have that.  I wanted to inspire and empower entrepreneurs.  I do that every day.  I wanted to be able to live a life with time freedom and where I could serve in my church and community.  I’m a Cub Scout leader and teach 8-10 year old girls in Sunday school.  It’s honestly an amazing life.  As I was taking time to be grateful yesterday, I thought to myself, “How did I get so lucky?”  And my brain answered me, “My Reality is greater than most people’s dream’s because my dreams are ALWAYS greater than my reality.”

Wait a minute, did you really catch that?  That is a powerful phrase and is a big part of why I have such a wonderful life.  I also believe I have been very blessed.  I know I have worked hard.  And I know that the strength of my dreams has been the bridge between my faith and my efforts.

Want to make your dreams stronger?  Here’s five steps you MUST take!

1. Make decisions based on where you want to go. So many people have a destination in mind, a dream or a goal, but they constantly direct their time, money and talents towards a life they do not love.  If you are not living the life of your dreams, STOP investing in it!
2. LIVE your dream every day. For YEARS before getting out of bed I have taken a few minutes to visualize my day.  Not as it actually will be, but living a day in my dream life.  I pictured walking through my dream home.  I pictured standing on large stages in front of huge groups and speaking to excited and engaged audiences.  I visualized the challenges I would face, the successes I would celebrate.  I even visualized little things like walking into my husband’s office to chat during the middle of the day.
3. Be grateful for where you are. The danger of dreaming is that you become frustrated with your reality.  Instead, just try gratitude.  Be grateful for everything you have and you attract more good into your life.  Express gratitude to yourself, to others and to The Divine.
4. Be patient with your progress. I didn’t wake up to my dream life overnight.  I focused for years while seeing very little progress.  I made many mistakes.  But when I was patient, I was happy.  When I was impatient, it created room for doubt to creep in.
5. Allow yourself to BE successful even before you are. I used to spend all of my thoughts and efforts on “becoming” better.  As a result I spent a lot of energy trying to change my weaknesses instead of developing my strengths.  If you want to be a million dollar business owner, tell yourself every morning, “I am a Million Dollar Business owner and I know exactly what to do.  Today I will …” Then chose activities that will help you reach your goal!

We all have the ability for our dreams to become our reality.  Sadly, few people really get to experience that.  They allow their reality to be so strong, that they lose sight of any other possible outcome.  If you want your reality to be AMAZING, then start making that dream even stronger than the current << See  More>>reality.http://amywalkerconsulting.com/