On today’s episode, I have the honor of having Kirsten Roldan on the show. Listen in as we celebrate her million-dollar year while she gives us the raw truth about what it takes to create over a million dollars with a lean team and less than 1,000 email subscribers. Kirsten also shares her entrepreneurial journey and how she manages all the things while continuing to grow her business.
Make sure to add yourself to her email list and follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kirstenroldan/
If you want to build an online community through content, get on the waitlist for Show Up Real. Show Up Real is a 12-month content marketing group program designed to help you up-level or jumpstart your content as a coach or service provider.
Transcript:
My name is Catalina Del Carmen, and I’m on a mission to put more cash in the hands of women of color. I’m a wife, mom, amiga Prima, and I happen to run a multiple six-figure coaching business. On this show, I share sales and marketing strategies that keep your business simple. Your mindset focus, your bank account big and your iImpact even bigger. So if you are on a mission to create generational change and you want to make a lot of money doing it, [00:01:00] welcome to the Latinas Booked Out podcast.
What is up y’all? Welcome back to Latinas Booked Out podcast. I hope you are doing well, y’all. I am back from my mastermind event, not my personal mastermind event, the mastermind I am a part of. I was in Nashville for an entire week. I was in two events. I was a part of two events or I attended two events for my coach and it was incredible.
I got to see her in her business, run her kind of multiple six figure mastermind and then I was a part of her million dollar mastermind, which was definitely an identity expander for me. It has been, [00:02:00] I. Pretty damn cool just to watch her in action. And also just to be in the room and to really reflect on all the growth I’ve had in my business.
I know that I. I’m in a new chapter and I can feel the energy of my first million and I’m excited. So I feel so good and I’m excited to get things moving and shaking. We are prepping for the next Show Up Real enrollment, which will open up in March. Keep listening in to get all of the details, but if you wanna be the first, first to know, go to the show notes or you can go to my Instagram, @catdelcarmen.
Get on the waitlist for Show Up Real. Show Up Real is my community-building and content program and I am just so excited to be preparing for the launch. We have some [00:03:00] really exciting things going, uh, that will be happening with the launch, including a challenge and I am really elevating the curriculum and the program itself. So y’all, I am so excited. My live event for my mastermind that I’m putting on in Vegas is happening next month, and I just cannot wait for that. I booked a very luxurious suite and we’re going to be doing a three-day training there. It’s gonna be epic with my mastermind clients.
It’s an intimate group and we’re all gonna be really focusing on. Strategizing in their business, but also really, really, really focusing on like what is the, what are the identity shifts and the growth that they all need for the next level. Yeah. And I have a nervous system expert coming. I’m just, [00:04:00] I’m so, so excited for my business right now.
I can’t wait to just serve my clients in more ways, in different ways and yeah. Okay. On that note, today, I have an incredible guest talking on the show. I am speaking with Kirsten Roldan. She is not only one of my coaches, I am in her, I’m actually in both of her programs. But she is really a serial entrepreneur who has created such a phenomenal coaching business.
And I had her on the podcast because I just love her brain. She gave, she gave me some really incredible coaching in August of 2023 when I really needed it, and it was everything I needed to continue on with this launch that I had [00:05:00] planned for Show Up Real. And it ended up being such an epic launch, and her coaching was such a big part of that.
It was just what I needed at the time, and I wanted to get her on because I just love her brain so, so much. And the best part is that. When we had already had this planned for months ahead of time and she announced that she hit over a million in her business right around the time that we recorded. So I got to catch her in this moment of her business where she hit her first million in business and I got to ask her all of the questions about that.
So this episode, we are digging into really like how to become this million dollar coach, what mindset to have the decisions you have to make, and also how to become a great marketer. She is an expert fucking marketer, y’all, [00:06:00] and we talked all about that on this episode. So. You wanna listen to this one, trust me.
But first, let me tell you a little bit about Kirsten. So Kirsten Roldan is a Puerto Rican woman who was born to a teen, single mom and Kirsten, beat the odds and scaled to a million dollar business with a small email list, a small following, and a team of contractors. Kirsten is a business coach with two signature programs, million dollar email, where she helps coaches and service providers make social media optional and million dollar CEO, which helps coaches and agencies scale to a million a year peacefully with the right team systems and mindset.
She scaled to a million dollars with a list below a thousand subscribers, y’all. So I think this episode, I know this episode is gonna be so, [00:07:00] so good. Make sure to follow her on Instagram, get on her email list, do all the things and listen up y’all. You’re gonna wanna take away a lot of notes from this episode.
Alright y’all, I’ll see you on the other side. I’m just gonna start with saying, yeah, congratulations on a million fucking dollars, I,. My legs are shaking. You can’t see it, but I’m just like, whenever people start talking about it, I start like shaking because I’m just like, it genuinely. I, I just haven’t fully processed it.
Like, it just doesn’t feel real. I imagine. Um, it doesn’t feel real. How is like. Is it, what do you feel the way you, ’cause look, I imagine right, by a million dollars you already had, you kind of are already onto yourself on like the uncomfortableness of success. Yes. So I’m curious. I always think like, oh my God, [00:08:00] when I make a million dollars, I’m just gonna be all kinds of fucking awkward because Mm-Hmm.
I have an idea, right? Like, I have an idea of what it feels like to have that much growth and for eyes kind of to be a little on you, not a little, a lot on you. Mm-Hmm. Yeah. Um, do, does it feel the way you thought it would feel? That’s a really good question. It doesn’t, it doesn’t. I knew, to your point about being onto myself, I knew that I wouldn’t like magically change into like this evolved person that now knows how to make a million dollars.
Like, I knew that that wouldn’t happen. So, and, and it didn’t. So that feels very like on par with my estimation there. However, I didn’t anticipate how, just how confusing it would be because I’m so the same and Yes. So, you know, like, [00:09:00] you know, I was just looking at my husband yesterday and, and I was like, I think we’re gonna close out at one one, actually, like 1.1.
And he was like, when, how, who, like, like it just, he is like, you, you still sleep until 10? Like, what, what, what’s happened? Like you’re still the same person. Like you’ve been doing the same things. Yeah. And so that to me is a little bit of a moment where throughout the whole year I was like, there’s no way I’m gonna make a million because it’s all too the same.
Like, it’s all, I’m not, I don’t feel like I’m working any harder or, you know, anything like that. Mm-Hmm. Like this just everything feels like, yeah, I’m just doing the same thing. Mm-Hmm. That was confusing. That And it’s still confusing. It’s still looking back. Like I told my friend, um, who’s also a money coach, I was like, the math it, I always question the math because of how normal like everything feels.
Yeah. Like is it real? Did I, yeah. Are you, uh, check the math, check the [00:10:00] bookkeeper. But I reached out to everyone. They all said it was true. So, oh my God. Yeah. I’m so excited for you. I have, I mean, you don’t even know how I originally found you. I found you. I mean, so you had, well actually one of my first questions I have for you.
Is about your business story. Um, but why don’t we start, I would love, obviously there was an intro at the beginning of this episode, but like if you could give us just a little bit of background, like tell us a little bit about who you are and like really what brought you to building your first business.
I know you have many, um, how, tell us how you got to business and also like a business story. I know that’s a loaded question, but I Absolutely, yeah. I would love to just like lay the background. I’m like, who is this woman? And I want everyone to know. Yes, yes. So yes, my name is Kirsten. If you haven’t heard by now.
Um, I, uh, started in healthcare. So [00:11:00] that was the career that I was in before my business. And, you know, talking about your own authors, like showing up real, let’s just say I didn’t feel like I could show up real at healthcare. And it got to a point where, for me, I’ve always, uh, you know, struggled with my mental health, have lived with, uh, you know, depression, anxiety and things like that and other things.
And, uh, you know, when I started to realize that working in that environment wasn’t really conducive to, uh, my mental health, also just the life that I wanted in general, which was flexibility, being able to work from home, all those things, all of that came to a turning point for me when I had a panic attack at work and I ended up being hospitalized and I took time off and was, uh.
Let’s just say I, I, some jokes were made about the fact that I, you know, had taken time off and that I was like, you know, my, my coworkers didn’t like that. And that was a moment for me where I said, I need to do something else. [00:12:00] Uh, I actually didn’t think I would have my own business. I didn’t, I had no idea what the coaching industry was.
No idea. So I just house cleaned, uh, tried to do a housekeeping business that went really well. Yeah, a lot of people don’t know that. I had a whole housekeeping business. I had clients, I was booked and busy, like it was a whole thing. That’s crazy. Yeah, I had a whole house cleaning thing. That’s amazing. And it still was a side hustle, but I was making a good income from it, and I could have grown it.
So there was that. Um, then I was like, okay, this is hard on the body. I wanna do something creative. And I started a hair blog because I love braiding hair braiding is my thing. So I started, it’s, it was called Bad for the Braid. Was my hair blog thinking about it. I’m like, not the copy. Yeah. I love it. So braids and that actually got me a pretty solid local following that booked me some, uh, bridal gigs of brides [00:13:00] that literally just wanted braided styles, which is what I became known for.
I even had local barber shops reaching out to me, um, to see if I could braid like, like how advanced was my braiding and things like that. They wanted me to like come in tests and I was like, what is happening? So I was really excited about that. But once again, it was hard on the body and I already had healthcare injuries from healthcare from shoulder.
I had shoulder injuries and the, and back injuries. Um, and I just was like, man, what can I do? But some coaches started following me. On my hair blog and they started engaging with me. And this is why whenever people are like, of course they did, they started engaging. That’s, I have a soft spot for that.
Like I have a soft spot for like people engaging on people’s posts. ’cause I’m like, you could change someone’s life like they me. And it changed my life. And like I clicked on her page and there was this girl who was a social media manager and everything she was talking about and [00:14:00] doing, I was like, I can do that.
Like I grew my social media. I got clients from my social media, like I can totally do this. And that’s what got me into the industry. And then just to like super fast forward, I ended up becoming social media manager then an OBM. An agency owner, and now I’m where I am now, which I am a coach and an agency owner.
So I have both, uh, coaching offers and I have an agency as well. Um, but Wow, crazy. So like I Your house slur. I mean, you kind of have to be, if you’re making million dollars, like not, it doesn’t have to be like, bad overworking, hustle. I love being a hustler. Yeah, I’m a hustler too. Like, yeah. I love that. I’m just gonna, I wanna learn, I wanna paint the full, full picture.
How, where did you grow up? Where did you grow up? What was like before healthcare? Like before your career, your first career, right? I imagine it was healthcare. Um, what was your childhood like? And like, just to, [00:15:00] just to get the meat of it, Mike, my audience, we love the full story, you know, like that’s, oh, I love that.
So I would love to know a little bit more about that for you. Yeah. I grew up in New York. Born, raised in New York. Uh, I grew up outside of the city, so I was about forty-five minutes to an hour, depending on traffic north of the, of Manhattan. So grew up there, love where I grew up now. Hated it then, but love it now.
So I grew up in uh, yeah, just like a city, outside the city basically. Um, and my family is Puerto Rican. So grew up in a Hispanic household. Yeah. And that was a good time. Good time. Yeah. It’s a lot of that. Um, my mom was a teen mom, so I was raised by a teen mom. She had me at 15 years old. Wow. My parents were, yeah, my parents met in Juby.
It’s a whole story. My parents met in Ju. Oh, it’s okay. My family, [00:16:00] we listen li Yeah. Mom and dad were some bad kids. They were some bad kids. So I grew up very good girl. If you can imagine, like, I grew up very like, you know. Don’t get pregnant and don’t, you know, don’t get in trouble. And it’s so funny because I’m about to be 30 in like three weeks and my mom is like, okay, like you can have kids now.
Like you can, like if you want to, you can have kids. I’m like, no, you told me, you bill me if I ever got pregnant. She’s like, anytime. Like, you’re not 15. That’s what I grew up hearing. Yeah. Like, you’re not gonna be a teen, you’re not gonna be a teen mom anymore. I’m like, Nope, I’m going as long as I can. So that’s really funny.
But um, yeah, so I just grew up with like a super strict teen mom that like had something to prove, which I’m, I’m so grateful for. ’cause the way she raised me was very entrepreneurial, very independent, very like. Just be the best in the room always. And you know, there’s some downsides to that. Yeah. Yeah.
But that, she [00:17:00] seems like a hustler too. You kind of have to be, I imagine as a Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was raised by a single mom too, like the whole time she was a single mom. So, I mean, that’s like pure hustle, like that is making it worse. Absolutely. And like my father was nowhere in the picture. He was in and outta prison, like nowhere in the picture.
So my mom like really just like, uh, took it. And I was also, you know, my, my, her family helped raise me as well, my grandparents and my aunt. And yeah. So I grew up in a very, like, be the best in the room, be the hardest worker. Um, and just like be independent and make as much money as you can. And honestly, my mom, like her whole thing was get a job so you can start a business.
That was kind of her philosophy. So what a smart woman. Yeah. Yeah. So she actually, I was gonna ask you, sorry to interrupt you. No, please. Um, I want, I want you to continue, but yeah, I’m curious, uh, when you’re telling your story, I’m [00:18:00] curious about if you went to college and did, if, if you went, like, what was that experience like?
Um, yeah. Um, and did you, what were you told? And clearly you were like, your mom was like, yes, get a job and start a business. Which college was like, love her already. Yeah. College was not optional in my family, like at all. So yes, went to college, uh, started in Atlanta, ended up graduating at a college in Jersey.
But, uh, in terms of the experience, honestly, it was, I have a lot I could say about college actually. But overall, I went to do a medical career and that was really the recommendation. I wanted to be a hairstylist and my, my mom and my, you know, my family was like. Get it was also in the middle of a recession.
And like they were like, get a job that you can’t lose was kind of their mindset. Uh, and so I got a job in healthcare and again, going back to my mom, it’s so funny. And how I was raised, [00:19:00] she was like, you got a niche. Like niche is where it’s at. So I went into healthcare and then my mom was like, you should niche into a specific specialty.
So I ended up niching into cardiovascular pathology. Wow. Um, and it’s true, I could, I could always have a job at the drop of a hat. Like everybody needs my title where like in any place that I go. And so, um. Yeah, it’s kind of funny all the business lessons that I ended up learning. But yeah, the, the whole college experience was like, get a job that you, that can pay for your passions.
And I ended up getting paid really well for a job. Right? For a nine to five. Yeah. Uh, had a really good schedule and, you know, and that was another thing my mom had really guided me around, like, get a job that you don’t have to work twenty-hour shifts. You know, like get a job that you can work part-time so you can focus on your passions and it pays you and you can focus on your passions.
And that’s honestly what I ended up doing. So she wasn’t surprised when I started a business because [00:20:00] I was like, Nope, I got the job. I’m working. It wasn’t part-time, it was technically full-time, but it was four days a week, ten-hour shifts, four days. It pays me well, and this is gonna pay for whatever I’m doing next.
And so that’s exactly what I did. And, uh, started my business, paid off my student loans and said, I’m never going back to healthcare. Wow. I did my time. Wow. Wow. Yeah. Wow. That’s amazing. That’s such a good story. It makes so much sense like that you’re It really does. It really does. Yeah. That you’re such like, at least the version that I see, I’m like, oh yeah, that totally like those dots, they connect super strong.
Yep. Super strong. Puerto, Rican, teen mom. Yeah. Yeah. It’ll, it’ll connect. What a badass. What a badass. You It all connects. Yeah. That’s incredible. Um, okay, so let’s talk about, well, come on. I wanna go down this road versus email. We’re gonna talk about email guys. Okay. Okay. [00:21:00] We’re gonna talk about email, but I want, I wanna ask you some more questions when, okay.
So we heard your story. It’s incredible. I wanna know about what you have learned about pivoting or transitions. I mean, I just wrote down all of the businesses that you’ve had, and by the way, you had one in there that was like sneaky, that I know about the, the box, the subscription box that was, oh, I forgot about that one.
The product is like, so I’m curious. The CBO box. Yeah. Yeah. I’m curious what, like, what have you learned about transitioning and pivoting and like doing the next thing? Especially ’cause now you, you, I think, is this the first business you got to a million? I assume it is, but yes. Yes. Okay. So you’ve hit this incredible milestone, right?
What have, what, looking back now, like what did you do right in those decision? In that decision making? I. [00:22:00] That’s such a good question and I know exactly what it is. And it’s honestly finding a hole in the market and filling it creatively and like uniquely, specifically. So for example, like at the time that I was in NoBM, what was a creative and unique way to fill the hole in the market was offering, you know, uh, for me it was offering email services.
Right now, I don’t recommend that even focus on the staying in scope. Right. But at the time that worked really welcomed me and got me out of my job. Right. Um, then, you know, if, if we think about the, the product business, uh, the CEO box was a gift box service for entrepreneurs. We. Didn’t have any gift box services that A, were serving entrepreneurs specifically.
That was position for CEOs specifically, and B, that had the [00:23:00] majority of their products, BIPOC owned as well. So we were, we’re gonna have a gift box service for entrepreneurs that also, the majority of it will be BIPOC owned. And, and like, that was super unique and not, it actually, there’s still none that does it.
There’s still not No, I remember, I remember seeing it and I was like, this is genius. Like, nobody is thinking about this. Yeah. And then same thing with million dollar email, which is my email marketing program. It’s like serving, just serving these, uh, I, I jokingly call it like the unsexy needs of the market.
Like I’ve just done really well at serving the unsexy needs of the market, my million dollar CEO program team and systems and mindset. Just serving those parts of the market in a unique way and really helping people see that it’s actually just incredible and super valuable and all the things, uh, that’s honestly what’s made every pivot so successful even now.
I, [00:24:00] uh, just relaunched my agency and congratulations. Literally. Congratulations. What I, what? Thank you. But like what? It’s an email writing agency, and what I’m doing is serving a part of the market that is, you know, quote unquote unsexy in a unique way, in a way that’s really valuable for people. And so that’s why it’s succeeding as quickly as it is as well.
So I think I just have that skill. Um, and that’s what’s made every pivot really successful. Yeah. How do you decide that? Like, how do you decide what your, what deserves your energy? Like how do you decide, like, okay, strategically, I’m gonna put this aside because this is, it’s not the time for that, right now is the time for this.
What is your thought process around how you’ve, I mean, ’cause I know a little bit about your story in terms of like when you did have the, when you were OBM and then turned agency. I think I found you when you were an agency. Like, I want Yes. Mm-Hmm. I found you [00:25:00] around that time. And how did you decide to, like, I love the part of your story that is like the, the agency and I’ve, I’ve, I’ve listened to your podcast so I know that.
Oh, I don’t know the deep story, but I know that like you had the agency, it was thriving and it was profitable. What, I don’t know if it was profitable or not, but you were spending a lot and like something went wrong or whatever. Yeah. You decided to like pull back and just be like, let me learn from this la la la.
And then you went back to it years later after, I mean obviously you started coaching, you started, well thank God you started coaching because so many of us need you. Um, but, but what, like, I love that you went back to like what you really knew and I’m really curious of like, how did you unfold that journey?
Like how did you really dive into like, okay, like what is it called Funnel Your first, the first version of [00:26:00] um, oh, it was Finisher Funnel. Yeah, that’s her funnel. And like the transition from that to Million Dollar email, which is such an incredible program. I would love to hear your thought process around going back to it, like what connected the dots for you to be like, okay, I’m going all in.
Oh my goodness. So good. I love that. I can talk about this. Uh, yeah. My thought process was I thought I failed and I had to realize I did it. Honestly, honest. Whoa. So, to your point, the way I used to talk about my agency, I used to talk about it. Like I, you know, I, I had to burn it down because it wasn’t profitable and it was all these things and, uh, you know, it was stressful and I had to work 90 hours a week.
Like the way I talk about my agency was always very heavy. And that’s how I genuinely felt and thought and believed that it was, I thought it was an extremely heavy time in my life and it was, but. [00:27:00] I don’t wanna say not as heavy as my mind made it, but like looking back, it was so much more successful than I give myself credit for.
So what I mean by that is, you know, my story, just to recap for people is I had an OBM agency that was complicated, that was out of scope. You know, I was doing all these things for people that I shouldn’t have been doing. Um, it was, uh, it required a lot of team members because I didn’t know how to structure my team.
It was profitable, but could have been more, way more profitable. I mean, I was making five figures, you know, cash a month in the, in my pocket as a salary. Like that’s profitable. But like, I still was stressed. I was working a lot, all the things. And then when I decided, okay, I need to do this differently. I decided to simplify my agency into a funnels agency.
And my thought process for that was, this is actually my best skill and the easiest skill for me to [00:28:00] perform is funnels and e and emails and things like that. That’s what I was doing with the OVM clients that I wanted to do more of. So I did that, uh, simplified a ton, figured out how to get the team, uh, lean right and still deliver to a lot of clients, 10 to 12 clients at a time, figured out how to get it more profitable and figured out how to work significantly less on it every month.
But by then I was so convinced that I was a failure, that I was like, Ugh. I have to go somewhere else, I have to do something else. And that’s when I ended up really leaning into focusing on my group program, which was a funnels group program, Vanessa, Funnel, uh, hated that too. Like it was so funny. My mindset at the time was just like, I’m just a failure in everything.
And so much of my coaching, my own coaching that my coach gave me was, you have to see yourself as successful or [00:29:00] you’re gonna burn every offer you have down. Like you have to see yourself and your offers as valuable and successful. And so I stuck with Vanessa Funnel and one-on-one coaching for a year.
Even though I hated it, I didn’t like it until I saw it as something that was successful. And then I moved into Million Dollar email, which is a whole other conversation. But going back to how I ended up bringing back the agency, it took me years of looking back and realizing, wait. You had an incredible agency.
You actually did a really good job for having no knowledge, for not having you, the you that you are for other people now. Yeah. For not having you as a coach yet. You did so well and the agency was never a problem. It was never hard on you. It was never bad to you. It was, it was literally how you grew your business.
And once I started seeing that, I started to [00:30:00] realize, I was like, I need an agency again. I need to go back to my agency like Roots again. And it took me time. But once I processed all that, like, you know, failure stuff and realize that I’m not gonna scale with me thinking that I was a that, like I failed my way here.
Mm-Hmm. That’s not gonna scale. Once I realized that, I was like, oh. All of Kirsten twenty-twenty twenty-twenty one, it’s all coming back. I have to take her with me. I can’t leave her behind. Uh, so a bit of strategy, a bit of mindset there, like it was, it was bold, honestly. And that’s, that was my thought process of bringing the agency back and just also being like, you have so many more, you have so much more knowledge now.
You’ve been coaching other agency owners on all the mistakes that you made, and how to help them avoid it. I’ve seen them succeed with my frameworks and I’m like, okay, I can now too. Like I don’t have to just help other people do it. Like I could do this. I always could have, [00:31:00] I just had, you know, low self, self-esteem.
But I always could have done it. I’ve always could have done this. So long winded, but no. I think it is so, so incredibly relatable. I think that’s what stops a lot of people is like the thought of like, I’m not successful. This isn’t successful. And I think it’s important that everyone listening here that like she had a full fucking fledged successful business with managing people, managing lots of clients, doing all of the things, having a good product.
And still it’s like our mind can call that a failure. Like can I share, can I share a quick story actually, I please. You know, I was getting coached at this mastermind of bed and there was this $5 million coach that I was like, I want Furbrain my business. And I sat down in her [00:32:00] chair and it was, so, it was, I’m, I’m describing it to show you how like intimate and like.
Low-key, embarrassing. It was, it was so small, it was in the little hotel room. She was hosting this thing, the little hotel room. I was in the chair around this, you know, this people, and I said, I had an agency that that didn’t succeed. And you know, now I have a 500 k business, but because of the agency stuff, I’m scared to like keep investing.
I’m scared to grow things like that because I have a lot of trauma around the agency. And she like asked me more questions and she said, okay, wait, so you had, you did two, 300 k years with an agency and now you, you know, then you let it go and now you’re at 500 K.. She was like, I’m so confused. Where, where did it fail?
Like, did I miss something? And she was the one that made me like, oh wait. I was in a [00:33:00] room full of people that were like, you know, the questions they were asking were like, how do I sign my first client? How do I do this? How do I do that? And I was like, so I made multiple six figures twice with my agency, two year in, in a row.
But, but you know, it was a failure and da da da. And she was just like, I’m so confused. Where was the failures? The failure? And that blew my mind. That really, and that changed the trajectory, honestly, of my mindset. And then from there it was, okay, let me, like with my ongoing coach, like piece out everything I’m scared of when it comes to the failure stuff and then go for, Mm-Hmm.
But that was really the catalyst of like, wait, when did you ever, when did you fail? So like, so good when what you mean fail? When did you fail? It’s so, so good. No, I remember when I went to my, it was actually my first mastermind ever, and my coach, she asked me about my business and I just remember her telling [00:34:00] me like, oh, okay, so you know how to make money.
Like if you’ve already made six, you know, if you made six figures in six, seven months, like you understand business, here’s what we need to work on now. And like, I don’t think people understand, like when you get in a fucking room with someone who has done things that you haven’t done, like the coaching doesn’t need to be powerful.
It’s like one fucking sentence can be so life changing. And just her like, it felt like she granted me like, oh, you know about business, clearly you’re fine. And I’m like, oh, like someone, like I’m not, I’m not failing, right? Like I’m not doing this wrong. Oh, so good. Kirsten. So good. Okay. I won. I really wanna get to emails, although I have like lots of follow up questions, but I ask me all the questions.
I’m here. I know, but I, I, I really also wanna pick your brain about emails. I, um, let me just let [00:35:00] everyone know. So I am in both of your like, signature programs. Um, I’m in your mastermind and I am a part of Million Dollar email and I get so much value from your work. You’re so incredible. I love your brain.
Um, I love, so I’m a business major and I always wanted to be an entrepreneur. Like, I always, like, I used to, in high school, I used to tell people, like when we would talk about like what our life was gonna be like, and I’m like, I’m not having kids until after 30 and I’m gonna be a CEO of a company. And that’s what I would say.
I never saw it in myself as like a founder. I’m mo I thought I would like. Go up the ranks in my career and become a CEO. Um, but like it was a vision, like that was the vision since I was little. So I love talking business. Like I fucking, like, like I study stories, I’ve studied you, like I will piece together like this podcast, she said this and [00:36:00] this happened in 20 20, 20 20.
And then she started this business and I like, I study that shit. I fucking love it. I nerd out on it. And one thing. So that being said, I love your brain and I love your programs. I wanna talk about million dollar email and why people struggle writing so much. And I wanna ask you, um, some questions when it comes to that.
So here’s my first question. So the first question I wanna ask is like, what is your definition? Like how would you define marketing? I know that’s like a very. Like, I’m just curious, like how do you think of marketing? Why is it important? Really good question. I think marketing, it’s funny, I have always, I’ve always joked that like my marketing is what helps me sell.
Meaning for a long time I wasn’t really, even to this day, like I’m not [00:37:00] really good on sales calls. I’m not really good at like, you know, I, I’m just like, I don’t know how to describe it. Yeah. I’m not necessarily like a genius on the sales end, but I think because marketing is so good, it helps me sell very easily.
Yeah. Uh, so I say that to say I honestly, it’s gonna come out clunky, but the way I think about marketing is I think about marketing, answering all the questions your buyer has to easily convert. Yeah. Like, that’s how I. Yeah. And so when I, I think about marketing, I’m like, what is every question someone would have that is keeping them from converting?
Let me answer that now in the marketing. Mm-Hmm. Uh, as much as possible. And then from there it’s just, you know, a few questions here and there about No, I love that answer. ’cause it is so simple. Like, it is that simple. Like it’s really not like the most, and I think from a content point of view [00:38:00] too, like so many people overthink content and I think, you know, obviously like we all have our own geniuses and for me, I’m like, you just show up and you talk to people about, you know, for me it’s easy for you, it’s easy to write an email.
And some people are like, I can’t fucking write an email for nothing. You know, it’s funny because I feel like it’s three, it’s almost like three or four things. It’s like marketing is showing people the problems they have that you know, the problems they have specifically that you know how to solve ’em.
Right. And how your offer solves that. And then every question they have about your specific offer. So that’s like four components to me, is how I think of it. And I think with emails, the reason why I find it so easy with email is honestly like I could just write those four points down and then answer the questions.
And that’s an email. Mm-Hmm. So for example, like, okay, what problem, what is one problem my clients have? Answer that question. [00:39:00] Mm-Hmm. What is, uh, how do I solve that problem? Answer that question. How does my offer uniquely help them, et cetera. Like, answer that question, that’s an email. And so, honestly, like, that’s how I think of marketing.
Okay. No, this is so, so, so good. First of all, I love your answers. I wanna go back to what you just said, where people get stuck. Where I get stuck, and also when, where my clients get stuck when they’re like, create an IG caption or something like that, is. Am I talking about the right thing? Mm. Am I saying the right thing?
Like is it actually because you, one of them was like showing people their problems. Like, is this an actual problem for them? Oh, oh, yeah. And they get so wrapped up on like, am I doing it right, that they, instead it’s just like, fuck it, I’m not writing this right. This is bullshit. Like, I’m, I’m talking in circles.
That’s something I do all the time. I’m like, I’m talking in circles. I’m, and I’m, I think I’ve learned how to edit better than write, [00:40:00] um, because I’m like, okay, this is saying the same thing three times, but I’m curious for you, like, one, do you ever get in your head about writing some motherfucking emails?
And two, what do you do about it? Mm, really good question. I wanna start with just addressing the, like worrying about the right thing. I’m gonna take a strategy side and a mindset side. Beautiful. So mindset-wise, what helps me is, my favorite thought to think while I’m writing is, this isn’t gonna convert like people are.
This isn’t gonna get them, this isn’t answering their biggest burning question. And what helps me get through that is honestly the mindset shift of what, if anything I say can convert, like anything I say can convert, at least one person is eating this email up. So there’s that mindset shift.
Strategically, what I’ve learned [00:41:00] is you just need to know your, your who better than anyone, your idle client. You need to know your idle client better than anyone. And if you know your idle client. You are always gonna say the right thing. And so for me, what I’ve realized is I’m like, if I just open up my Slack channel or open up a past call and I just pull what was their problem and what was the solution?
Mm-Hmm. Right Then I’m saying the right thing because there’s another idle client that isn’t in my container yet that is thinking the same thing. So that has really helped a lot. And uh, I think when you can start there with those basics, you actually, you then you actually build on the skill and get better at it.
You get to catch the nuances better and things like that. But really it’s fundamentally goes back to do I know my idle client like the back of my hand? And do I believe that anything I say can convert? And if so, then I’m good. [00:42:00] Uh, those are two things that I, that I do to help me write emails, even when I have mindful stuff.
Honestly, I think the advice of like open up a fucking call and like look at your own coaching. Like look at what you coach something. Don’t pull emails outta thin air. Literally don’t pull it outta thin air. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And this is the work I feel like a lot of people don’t want to do. Right? Yeah.
Because they feel the shame and the coaching wasn’t good. Or like, oh, it’s cringe to like watch myself like la la la la la. But that is genius. Yeah, that is genius. I’m going to take that and do that immediately. I’m gonna spend my whole fucking holiday looking back at myself if, oh my goodness. If you were to, speaking of showing up real, like if you were to look back in my 20, 20, 20, 19, 20, 20 days.
Yeah. Hair my make, just every, I was just like, who was she? What was she doing? But I’m just like, but look at me. Just solving problems. That’s all I wanted to do. Yeah. Was just solve my client’s problems. [00:43:00] Like that’s all you need to do. Yeah. Yeah. If you solve problems, people don’t care. Yep. Okay. So I’m curious, this is, I don’t even know exactly what category this question’s in.
Do you, if you, do you ever get, and this is, I mean, it’s kind of like the first question I ask, I mean this last question, but when you do get in your head, do you think, and, and when I say, let me explain what I mean, what I mean by that I have clients who will, they’ll need to be, do the work, right? Mm-Hmm.
And I think this goes back to like your, I mean, what you’ve learned, like hitting this incredible milestone of o over a million when you have work to do. Mm-Hmm. And you are in your head about doing the work. Personally, I’ve learned, actually you gave me, let me just give you your fucking flowers. Some of the best coaching.
[00:44:00] I ever got, it’s going to, you know, go in the handful of moments that I got the best coaching, I remember coming to you, this was in your mastermind, but I remember coming to you and I had a, for me, I had a lot going on. I had a live event I had just was planning for, I think. Um, and one month after that I was launching my new offer and I came to you like very overwhelmed and I was like, I really think I should move something here.
Like, I think like, this is way too much work in one, you know, in, in just one month. They were one month apart. And your answer was, that’s not that much work.
My favorite thing to say, the quiet after, like, it was the quiet after that was the, the like digesting that shit and. You know, [00:45:00] I, I always tell my clients this, um, the best coaching, like, I think the best coaching is when you just take it and you, yeah, you just shut the fuck up and you listen to the person who knows more.
And, and sure that doesn’t happen all the time, like of course, but sometimes you just accept the hard answer. And for me, that moment was like, oh, like it’s going to take harder work. It doesn’t have to be a bad thing either. Like it doesn’t have to be, I think sometimes so many of us are so scared to do hard work because we don’t want to burn out.
And I think that moment for me was so mind blowing because. There’s levels of that. And I think I had to test a new level of burnout and trust that like, I’m not gonna burn on the other side of this. What if I just test this? Like what? And the only, and what you said after [00:46:00] that is you said something along the lines of, it’s not that much work.
And then I was like, but I’m like scared of this and that. Like it’s, it’s just I have to do this and this and that. And you’re like, do it. You’re just not gonna do it as like nice as you thought. Like it’s not going just to be as like pretty and like organized, like whatever as you thought. And it was the perfect coaching.
And I went on to have an incredible launch for my program and such a fucking organized event. Literally I had the story that was, I’m very unorganized and I’m such a hot mess. And that event proved to me, I’m like, I am very organized. Like literally, yeah. I am so organized. This happened so nicely and I just learned so much about myself and, and, and more than anything I learned that I’m capable of doing a lot more work in a small amount of time [00:47:00] anyway, so thank you.
Thank you for that coaching. Now for you. How the fuck do you do that on repeat? I love that you said that because I’m actually one of my upcoming projects, something that I’m working on. I’m currently like doing research. I’m in the research phase is writing a book on burnout because burnout has been a consistent through line of my life.
I’ve burned out, uh, in three major, three actual times that I would actually consider a burnout, uh, three times and I. Have been coaching, especially because my, so much of my, uh, marketing my angle, my, you know, like what I bring to the industry is about peace and having a peaceful business and things like that.
I attract, you know, people like myself who have burned out and are just looking for peace. Right. And what I found is, I call them healing high performers. What I find is [00:48:00] they’re so scared and terrified to burn out and the fear of burnout is literally controlling their lives. And I was there like I was, and I still get there sometimes.
Sometimes I have to remind myself like, you’re gonna be okay. But. I was there where it’s like, you know, my coach or someone else would tell me to do something. I’d be like, I don’t wanna work all night, or I don’t wanna be, I don’t wanna be tired the next day, or I don’t wanna da, da, da. Because that’s going to equal burnout.
And all it is is lack of trust in your self. Right? And you, you brought that up beautifully. Like, I just had to trust myself again. You just lost some trust in yourself and you, and so of course you’re trying to protect your body and your mind from whatever happened before happening again. But the way I’m able to do it consistently, and this is controversial, but it’s actually believing that burnout isn’t like, [00:49:00] so based on my research, what I’m realizing is that the definition of burnout is just disengagement.
It’s just disengagement. So burnout is actually like when I, I love that simplify and neutralized burnout. Like this is where it’s controversial, where I wasn’t like when instead I was like, oh, burnout is just disengagement and the, if the worst that can happen is I disengage. I know how to reengage myself again before I get the physical burnout symptoms that I did before, right?
All I have to do is look for disengagement and I’ll be okay. That changed my life and now I’m able to because I’m not scared to work, to work. I’ve actually learned to work really hard in, like you said, in shorts amount of time. So I’m still working part-time, but I know how to work hard. I know how to get it done because I’m simply not scared to do it.
[00:50:00] Now this is like, again, controversial, but it works. It’s very simple. Anytime I’m like. I don’t wanna work all night, or I don’t wanna be tired the next day. I literally tell my brain, I’m like, no, it’s okay. If you work all night, you’re, you’ll be okay. You’ll be okay. If you have, if you’re tired tomorrow, you’ll be okay.
Just by doing that. I never end up working all night. I finish it. I clean it up within the hour, but I have to tell my brain and my body, you’re safe. You’re okay. Yes. You’re just a challenging block right now. You’re getting a little writer’s block, or you’re getting a little creative block. That’s all the time.
You’re just disengaging a little bit. Let’s reengage you. It’s not gonna take all night. You’re gonna be okay, right? Mm-hmm. Coaching myself that way helps me to do that on repeat, to work hard, in short amount of time on repeat, and I, I have never burned out since. Oh, and I, and I know, listen, I, for those listening, like when I [00:51:00] tell you I’ve like, I’ve had all the symptoms, the mental breakdown, like full blown hospitalizations.
Yeah. Physical, physical issues. Like I have been through it. So I say that with experience, it really just took simplifying burnout in my brain. No, I love this. I think I wanna say something because I know the moms are gonna listen to this. Totally. This is what moms do. Mm-Hmm. They say, but she doesn’t have kids.
Mm-Hmm. She doesn’t know what we all know. And I wanna speak to that because one thing, and this was directly after your coaching. Directly after your coaching? I made, um, this was like the rule to myself on like how I didn’t burn out during that time and I got like, really close to burnout. But it’s like burnout is very, extremely high.
Emotions, like not good, you know? And I, I think you’re so right when you said, [00:52:00] I don’t know how exactly you said it, but you’re like, when you’re about like disengaging, you’re actually disengaging because when you are working very hard, you are like very engaged. Like it is like, uh, something in you that like you can work, you can technically work 90 hours a week and be happy and peaceful.
You technically Yeah, that’s, yeah, because it’s like your thoughts if it’s commitment, right? Like if you’re doing passionate work, like technically you could walk away from 90 hour work week and love it. That’s why so much of us loved when we first started building our businesses, we were never Yes. Hired.
It didn’t feel like that. Yeah. But one thing that I learned when I was really challenging myself in this way, and I just wanna make sure that like my audience hears this, is that for me, in the beginning of my business, I had to really separate my. Family time with my business time and that was really important to me back then because I couldn’t, I think for a lot of parents [00:53:00] we’re so drained physically and like just from fucking kids that the minute we have any alone time, like using our brain again is like.
I don’t wanna fucking use my brain for nothing. I’m so, and I think what, so in the beginning of my business, I had to really differentiate family time and work time. And I needed to give myself a lot of time to just like get in the groove of work and then get work done. But when at this phase in my business, I realized that I was so stuck to that old model.
And what I wasn’t allowing myself to do was just to like hop into work and play and work. And when I say play family time, so what I did at that time after your coaching to, to be able to do the things I wanna do with my family and like spend my Saturday with like my family and not feel like I have to rush to my kids right after work.
Like during the week, what I did is I was like, ‘Ok, your [00:54:00] schedule’s free game Cat. Literally, you get to just fucking be productive when you want’. So what it looked like, what it turned into for that phase of my business when I produced a lot was I was jumping from, um, having an hour and a half in my garage, in my laptop, creating curriculum, getting out of there, playing with my kids, fully undressed, like not undressed, but fully like, not showered, like in pajamas still at four P.M. on a Saturday. Enjoying that part of my life. Going back to like, you know, telling my husband like, okay, I’m gonna go back in there for a little bit, working a little bit more. And that’s how I got everything done. And it didn’t, and, and it was so fucking joyful for me. And it didn’t make sense.
Like in my brain, I was like, this is so weird. Why am I so productive? Like, this is so odd. And what it allowed me to do is also loosen up my nine-to-five schedule. And I was like, maybe I’ll just take a fucking nap in the middle of the day. And like, if, if I’m really in my head [00:55:00] in the middle of the day, I’ll just take a nap and I’ll work late instead of trying to force myself to like work during these certain times, which I feel like parents feel that way because it’s like, ah, once my, once I’m back to my life, it’s like all about the fucking kids. And I just wanna call that out. That like, it does it. You’re gonna break your own rules as you learn to work hard without burnout. Yeah. Like you might take the rules and there, there’s a few things here.
Like, yeah, I can’t, I don’t have kids, but I can’t work all day and night. I have a husband that needs me. I have family members that need me. Like I can’t, like if I’m working all day and night, like I have people to answer to still. So that doesn’t. It’s one of those things, like you said, it’s like you can still balance whatever responsibilities you have, you just have to do it in your own way and you have to figure out your schedule for it.
But also, uh, and I’m, I wanna be very clear, I’m not saying it’s the same. However, I found that the principles that I apply to my [00:56:00] mental health help my parent, uh, clients a lot, my clients who are parents a lot. And really the principle is my 10% is everybody else is a hundred. My 10% is everybody else’s a hundred.
And like you said, like sometimes you show up and you’re not fully dressed and like, this is what the kids are gonna get today or whatever It is really seeing that your 10% is everybody else is a hundred, especially as a woman of color, like yeah. There’s no way, like you’re an A plus student when you think you’re an app.
Like that’s just the reality. A hundred percent. And that helps tremendously too. ’cause there are days where I am so debilitated from my depression that I’m just like, if I could barely type sometimes, but I have to bring myself to, oh, like my 10%, even my 2% is someone else’s 40, 50, 60%, a hundred percent.
That helps tremendously as well. And it really goes back to showing up real, right? Like [00:57:00] just showing up as you are and being like the what you get is gonna be enough. Just doing that rather than stopping or not doing it will get you further than doing it like perfectly. Yeah. And you gave me so much of that permission, you were just like, it’s just not gonna be done the exact way that you want it to be done.
Yeah. But you could let that be okay. Like, and I remember telling you, I remember saying like, it’s okay to be messy. Yeah. Like it’s messy in this situation. Yeah. Yeah. And that was such permission I needed, I think, yeah. I just needed someone who knows more than me to give me permission of like, it’s okay for this to be messy again.
I think there’s so many, you know, this like, there’s so many like phases of like, there’s time to line up the quality and then there’s time to like just go hard and let it be messy. Right. Totally. Like there, it’s, it’s such a mix when you’re scaling that you Yeah. You have to learn. It’s like you said, it’s another level of trust in yourself.
Yeah. Kirsten, thank you [00:58:00] so fucking much for being here. What an honor to have you on the show. What a honor. Thank you for having me. It’s an honor to be on the show. Of course. I don’t have many guests anymore, although I am starting a lot of my guests are my clients. But, you are one of my coaches and I adore you, and I’m so grateful for your coaching.
Uh, I, congratulations. Like I, I wish I could show you all of the, the impact you are making. It is so much bigger than you fucking know. And. Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate you being here. Okay. Where, where can everyone find you? Where do they need to, you need to get on our email list right now. Yes, kirstenroldan.com.
You can join my email list. Uh, that’s where I mostly say you’re welcome to also follow me on Instagram at the same name, @KirstenRoldan and yeah. And we’ll be able to connect and see what I’m up to. Yeah. And I always forget, I have a [00:59:00] podcast million-dollar piece. Yes. The Million Dollar Piece podcast. I always forget to say.
Yes. Listen to her podcast. It is so, so, so good. Oh, thank you. Um, what, what else was I gonna say? Oh, I was gonna say, once you guys sign up for her email list, read the emails. Mm mm-Hmm. You will see quickly what we’re talking about. Like, we were talking about how amazing she is of, um, an email writer. A writer in general.
And you’ll see it from the first fucking email you get. Like, sometimes I just read, I don’t actually read a lot of emails. Totally. Um, but when I do, I’m like, damn, that’s, that’s a goodie the other day. Okay. I will, this is the last thing and then we’ll add the other day I did this fun exercise and everyone should do this too.
I read some, actually a couple. You and Stacey Boehman. I was reading your guys’s emails. [01:00:00] And I was asking my, like, I was just like, this is so fucking good. And I then I kind of transitioned to, I wonder what they have to believe, like what do they believe to be writing this? These beliefs are very clear to me.
Like if I was writing these emails. What are the top beliefs I have and it was so good. What I can Your mindset. Yeah. I say that all the time and you can see your mindset in your copy for sure. You can see your mindset in your copy. It’s so true. A hundred percent. Thank you so, so much. Go get on her email list right now.
Also, check out her website. It’s so, so, so good. See you next time.
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