Jessica Yarbrough – What Happened When I Met the Man with the Key (440)

Write a Podcast Review:

Podcast reviews are important to iTunes, and the more reviews we receive, the more likely we’ll be able to get this podcast and message in front of more people (something about iTunes algorithms?).  I’d be extremely grateful if you took less than 30 seconds and 5 clicks to rate the podcast and leave a quick review.  Here’s how to do it in less than 30 seconds:

Click on This Link – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/howd-it-happen-podcast/id1441722417

Click on the “Listen on Apple Podcast” Box

Click on “Open iTunes” – You will go directly to the iTunes page for the Podcast

Click on “Ratings and Reviews”

Click on the 5thStar (or whatever one makes the most sense to you 🙂

Episode transcript below:

0:00:00 – Mike Malatesta

Hi everyone, mike Malatesta here and welcome back to the How’d it Happen podcast. On this podcast, I dig in deep with every guest to explore the roots of their success, to discover not just how it happened, but why it matters. My mission is to find and share stories that inspire, activate and maximize the greatness in you. 

On today’s episode, I’m talking with a woman I just met but who impacted my confidence, my creativity and my courage like someone who’s known me forever. Her name is Jessica Yarborough and she helps people entrepreneurs, executives and other influential people create advisory programs that deliver incredible value and incredible freedom as well. We talk about the first company she managed while she was still in high school. Her adventure into the medical tourism industry, which is really interesting, and probably not many people know about that. Her four years of traveling the world in her 20s, how she met the man with the key, the difference between a coach and an advisor, and how to get someone from the valley of pain to the mountain of possibility, which reminded me of a journey I wrote about in my book Ownershift how Getting Selfish Got Me Unstuck. 

0:01:13 – Jessica Yarbrough

That’s something I think people forget. They forget that if you want to be successful and you want someone to hire you as a coach or console and you need to educate them, you need to show them why and show them that, hey, here’s a solution, and one of the best things you can do is by literally teaching a concept, and so I did a lot of that in the beginning, and I just did it, even if five people would watch it. 

You know I didn’t care. I’d get on any podcast, any opportunity for someone to put a mic in front of my face. I’d say let’s do it, because I knew that if my message reached one person they would hire me. 

0:01:45 – Mike Malatesta

This episode is brought to you by my newest adventure called the dream exit. So what is a dream exit? A dream exit is two things it is preparing your business to sell for its maximum value and, more importantly, preparing yourself as the entrepreneur or the business owner for maximum meaning and maximum purpose in your post sale life. Those two things rarely happen In less than 90 days. I help entrepreneurs create a playbook and prepare for and achieve the dream exit they deserve and earn, but that’s so few actually ever get. I’m out to change that. If you’re an entrepreneur or a business owner with annual sales between five and 100 million and you want your dream exit in the next few years or sooner, email me at the dream exit at gmailcom and now enjoy this episode with Jessica Yarbrough. Hello Jessica, Welcome to the how to happen podcast. 

0:02:50 – Jessica Yarbrough

Thanks for having me on your show. 

0:02:52 – Mike Malatesta

I’m still looking forward to this. So one of my pet peeves before I get to your bio, is entrepreneurs who are very successful end up, let’s say, selling their business for what I call a dream exit when I can get into that at some point later and then they look at the selves and they say, what am I going to do? Or they start to define themselves by like this they’ll be like all I’ve ever done is whatever that was, and they don’t think about how valuable all that they’ve done is, going forward and their ability to help people with all that they’ve done. And I know that’s at least part of what you’re all about. And so I’ve been really looking forward to this conversation and I kind of want to use it as I like pretend I’m, you know, this entrepreneur who thinks you know all I know is in the past and anyway, we’ll get into that. 

But so let me tell you a little bit more about Jessica Yarbrough. So Jessica is a business strategist and a growth expert. She has developed a reputation of being one of the best business strategists for coaches and consultants who want to sell and scale ultra high end services. Her background is in international business and she has built multiple companies and we’ll talk about those. Jessica is a genius at showing entrepreneurs how to build an expert platform, rapidly raise their value, build credibility and attract high paying clients. She loves teaching entrepreneurs how to grow their influence and make the income and impact they deserve. Jessica, I start every podcast with just a really simple question, and that is how did happen for you? 

0:04:38 – Jessica Yarbrough

Oh man, I feel like my life was this crazy journey, and I’ll give you the CliffsNotes version. You know, I started business really young. I managed my first company at 16. I went on to manage two more companies before building a startup, and then I ultimately built a startup from the ground up, like we literally had nothing, like no computers or anything when we started, which was pretty amazing. 

And then I went on a trip to Asia. I met one of my friends and I had what you could call it a spiritual awakening, where I realized, okay, this is incredible, I’ve focused so much on working and achieving at such a young age. And I saw another path open where, hey, I want to explore the world, let me see where this goes. I’m still young, I don’t have children. And I came back and I walked away from that company, gave up everything and bought a one way ticket to Southeast Asia, and I spent the next four years traveling the world, diving into spirituality. Oddly enough, I did pick up consulting again, which is funny and a proof that no matter where you live, there is opportunity if you have a skill set and realize, hey, what am I doing? I still I need to explore this other aspect of myself, dove deep into yoga, became a yoga teacher, ended up teaching yoga in the jungles of Costa Rica, backed packed all throughout Southeast Asia, central America. 

Came home, I was going to start a yoga school, figured I’d shut the door on the business world forever Much to the dismay, by the way, of my family, who thought it was completely crazy, because my mother is like you’re very good at business strategy, why would you be a yoga teacher? 

But I did have a passion for it. And then I got pregnant with my daughter and I became a single mom. And I had that come to Jesus moment where I was like, oh wow, I could do this, I could keep teaching yoga, I could build a yoga school and all of that. But what I really want to build is a legacy and I want to have sustainability. I want to have a security and I want to be able to build a business where I can choose my own hours, where I can work from anywhere in the world which I have done and give her the life that I wanted to give her. And so I rolled up my sleeves, I started doing, done for you, consulting, I built my business to the ground up and 10 years later. You know we’re a thriving seven figure business. 

0:07:07 – Mike Malatesta

So thanks for laying down a lot of stuff there. This business that you started at 16, let’s start there. What was that? 

0:07:17 – Jessica Yarbrough

So I was not starting a business at 16. 

0:07:19 – Mike Malatesta

I was managing a business. 

0:07:21 – Jessica Yarbrough

I managed something, a company called Charlotte City Ballet. There was a woman I’m still friends with her. Her name is Claudia Foltz Hawkins and she actually is the founder of Tutucom. She’s a master seamstress for ballet companies all over the world. She used to sit in the corner of the office with needles in her mouth and like sewing furiously and she’s like you remind me a lot of myself. 

It was part time, I was still in school and she was like I want to take a chance on you. And she hired me and I went in there and did some amazing things and then, when I moved to California, I actually walked into a store and I said, wow, I used to in the still same in the arts industry, I used to manage a store like this and they like ran up to me so we’re looking for a new manager. And I said, whoa, I just moved to California, I need to settle in. And I went back three months later and she hired me. So everything is. I definitely am at a place in my life where I have learned many years ago that I believe that there is a plan and, no matter what your spirituality is, I do believe in the divine unfolding of my life and I believe that people come along with opportunities. But you have to be open and you have to be persistent and I’ve seen that time and time again. 

The startup company that I built in San Diego I actually I had seated that opportunity for years. I studied international business at an university and I had all of like teachers. I had gone to one of my teachers and said you know, I love, you know marketing my background. I ended up going into healthcare with a third company that I managed and how can I blend these together? And I remember my marketing professor was saying you know, you should really look at medical tourism. This is a, you know, burgeoning industry and of course, this is college. This is a long time ago for me and then I ended up kind of doing more research about it. I was encouraged by my professors, also in Spain where I studied, to go into this. So I wrote a business plan for a medical tourism company, and a medical tourism is outsourcing patients abroad for low cost, more affordable medical procedures. And, if you don’t know, medical tourism is huge and there’s literally Johns Hopkins and Harvard Medical outside the US. 

0:09:35 – Mike Malatesta

I’m like Singapore Singapore is a great example. 

0:09:39 – Jessica Yarbrough

Ok, bangkok, thailand. You know where the number one heart hospital is in the world? I do, not India. So you would think, yeah, because they measure, and we’re going to nerd out a bit here. They measure the quality of a hospital. It’s very easy to measure heart success, because when you have a cardiac procedure, you either live or die. Right, they do more in India. Apollo do more heart cardiac procedures than any other hospital in the world. So they’ve they’ve perfected it. There’s a reason why we import doctors. 

0:10:10 – Mike Malatesta

They’re insane. 

0:10:11 – Jessica Yarbrough

Yeah. So I ended up writing a, writing a plan, but of course, I didn’t have the funding and I somehow was missing the key for it to operate in the US insurance market. Well, I graduated and about six months later I met the man with the key, with the same vision, who happened to be in San Diego, and we built this company together. That’s why I’m saying I truly believe and and that you’re guided, and that you have to follow your intuition, and that you have to take the road less taken and less traveled if you will, and trust that. 

You know it may not, it might not make sense to anyone around you, it truly may not, but if you have this, this gut feeling like I’m supposed to do this, that is something guiding you. It can be your higher self, it can be God, like I said, whatever it is your intuition, but you need to trust that because a lot of times entrepreneurs, it is an isolating experience. They may feel like those around them don’t understand them or their choices, and I think a lot of people go to grow to an old age or even to their grave with a lot of woulda, shoulda, wish I could have you know right taken a chance on myself. And so, again, it’s that, it’s that trust, it’s that willing to to do something that might seem odd or crazy to others and to take a chance, even if it doesn’t make sense to anyone but you. 

0:11:34 – Mike Malatesta

And when it comes to intuition. So I can’t remember the guy’s name, but I had another guy on my podcast who talked about intuition as being the number one thing, and whenever I hear that, I agree with it, because I feel like I rely on my intuition a lot. But I also think, man, some people it’s sort of like passion or a great idea. A lot of people think that they have a passion for something or they think they have great idea, neither of which have been proven or explored, and it turns out that maybe it’s not as great as they thought. So how are you and I think about that with intuition sometimes? 

too, I mean, I think some people are born with or cultivate good intuition, and some people maybe not so much. But I’m wondering how you think about intuition. 

0:12:22 – Jessica Yarbrough

Yeah, I mean, I agree to some sense that you might have a passion and it may not be what you’re going to make money at, and I think that’s the big difference right, ok, ok. You might want to be a singer, but you’re just not the best singer in the world, and that’s OK. 

0:12:38 – Mike Malatesta

But you can still love singing. 

0:12:39 – Jessica Yarbrough

You can love singing, you can be passionate about it. But you know, even if you’re passionate about something like I love teaching yoga and I don’t do that anymore it doesn’t make sense for me to do it anymore. But for a lifestyle and you know, when it was just me and I’m traveling and I’m in my 20s, who cares? But for a financial you know career, it doesn’t make sense. So, just because you’re passionate about something, you can explore it for a bit when you don’t have any responsibilities. But does it mean it’s what you’re going to do forever? And I think that so many people get stuck into. This is the choice that I made and I have to stick with this forever. And you don’t. 

And you also need to be aware of what your choices were Like. If you made a decision, let’s say, to become a doctor or whatever it may be, because there was this societal pressure or familial pressure, you need to make a decision like is that really what you want 20 years from now? And if it’s not, get out, go consult. Lots of companies will hire doctors to consult on technology. Go work for a startup. Go do something different if it’s not your thing. 

0:13:44 – Mike Malatesta

Speaking of intuition, this you said you you met the man with the key. Yes, how did you know that the man you met had the key that you needed? 

0:13:54 – Jessica Yarbrough

Oddly, I saw a job of posting. You know, I just think, out of all the how many billions of people in the world, that this person happened to be in San Diego and literally had the same vision as me. I mean, that’s why I truly believe in those, those moments, and I truly believe that the people that come into your life do come into your life for a reason or a season or whatever it may be, and and you have to trust that and you have to go with that. There’s lessons, like there’s many lessons to be learned in this life, but there’s definitely opportunity, and I’ve learned that from recreating myself over and over again. 

0:14:34 – Mike Malatesta

I you said a reason or a season. I like that. That’s really good. That is really good because it could be a time or a purpose. 

0:14:43 – Jessica Yarbrough

Yes. 

0:14:44 – Mike Malatesta

Or maybe a lot of other things. So when you went to Southeast Asia, was it initially I said you said you went with a friend, but was it related at all to what you were doing with the medical tourism? 

0:14:58 – Jessica Yarbrough

No, no, no, I did end up connecting with some of our hospital partners. I have a friend, judy, who’s the head of marketing, went one of Bangkok’s hospitals, so I did, you know, meet up with her and that was cool to meet in person. No, my best friend joined me for a month. She ultimately had to come back into reality, but I was literally traveling and exploring. I had already traveled a bit, you know, in my life. I’ve gone to Costa Rica, I’ve gone to Mexico, I had learned, lived in Spain and went to university for a year there and traveled around Europe. So I had already had the travel bug and I just felt like there was more to explore. 

I think what’s unique is I was so focused on career, even at a young age like even when I was younger, I wanted to be a doctor, which I learned I didn’t want to be a doctor by volunteering in a hospital at the ages of 13 and 14 in the summers. 

Like that’s how I spent my summer Not a usual thing, I think, for someone that age to do and I ended up working at all different departments of the hospital, like long term care, pre-op not fun patient room, waiting room really not fun and so I got to explore all these different aspects and really get into what is it like to be in a hospital and what do people go through on a daily basis the staff and I just learned over those two years that I didn’t want to be a doctor. So it was a really empowering experience. But my point was, even at such a young age, I was like hungry to dive into what my career path was right and working, and even working through college, working at a really young age. And so I feel, like that moment that I made that decision, that I needed to go, be free and explore and almost reclaim some of that time that I had spent very focused and driven, you know, and that’s what I did, and I don’t have any regrets about it. 

I feel like I always will have amazing stories to tell my grandchildren one day, and I’ve seen and experienced things that most people won’t, and I’m so glad that I did that before having a child, because it would have just been impossible to travel that way with a backpack. Now we travel very differently, and I think I just needed that time to discover more of myself, and that’s, that was what that purpose was. 

0:17:17 – Mike Malatesta

And if you don’t mind me asking, what did you discover about yourself? 

0:17:21 – Jessica Yarbrough

It’s cheesy as it sounds. I learned more about self love and about self care. You know even like what kind of foods to put in my body, how to take care of myself, a lot of meditation skills, things like that. It really was about self love and self care and making conscious choices about like the kind of people I wanted to surround myself with, and I think that has a direct reflection on the types of clients I even work with now in terms of shared values. So I it’s nothing wrong with my past journey. I just feel like I had to go and there was something I had to learn and forgive and let go and all the things that that a human needs to do. I mean, most humans are walking around with massive amounts of stuff on their back, Like we’re carrying stuff If you’re not actively like your past like stuff. 

0:18:18 – Mike Malatesta

You don’t want to talk about stuff, you don’t want to remember stuff, you don’t want it Exactly Out of stuff. You’re yeah, ok, all right. 

0:18:24 – Jessica Yarbrough

So it’s like a weight on your shoulder and if you’re not actively working with someone I mean, I’ve had a healer, life coach, someone in my life for over 20 years and and so I’ve always been on this journey for a very, a very long time of how can I release, let go, forgive, heal, whatever it may be, and some people are into that, some people aren’t, but most people need someone to talk to. Most people need to work through their stuff because that stuff impacts. It’s the lens, the filter through which you see the world and it influences the decisions you make and the relationships that you have and, ultimately, your path and success in life. 

0:19:04 – Mike Malatesta

And were there a man, a woman or multiple that you met along the way while you were doing this exploration, who also had some sort of key for you, like the man that you met in San Diego? 

0:19:18 – Jessica Yarbrough

I feel like there was many people along the way. You know there was, like I said, certain healers. Sometimes you would just meet someone, even for a day, yeah, and your exchange would be so profound. You know that. That’s again that’s why I realized everything does happen for a reason, Like this person came into your life to give you this experience. So there were many ahas moments along the way. 

0:19:41 – Mike Malatesta

And Mexico, Costa Rica, various countries throughout Southeast Asia. Do you have a dumb question? I don’t a favorite is all I can think of, but I don’t mean that I’m. What I mean is like which? Is there one where you were like, if I was to do it all over again, I would have to do this, and this is the reason why I’d have to do this place, and this is the reason why. 

0:20:03 – Jessica Yarbrough

Well, I would say Thailand was that place where things shifted and I made that decision to walk away from my company. So I would say that I haven’t really been back since. I’m right down the street from Mexico, being in San Diego. So I go there a lot and I absolutely love Mexico Like it is. I love the people, I love the culture, I love the food, I love the music. It’s a really beautiful country. So different things, different reasons for enjoying those two places. And where in Mexico do you like to? 

0:20:34 – Mike Malatesta

1.  

0:20:35 – Jessica Yarbrough

You know we usually pop down to Porta Vallarta or Cabo. It’s an hour and a half two hour flight from San Diego, so it’s really easy to do that. 

0:20:44 – Mike Malatesta

Got it Okay. So when you walked away from your company, you mentioned that, you know, was there any fallout from that? Was there any like I don’t know? You know, sort of like hey, jessica’s doing a great job here and she went to Southeast Asia and definitely there was she’s gone. 

0:21:05 – Jessica Yarbrough

Yeah, I mean I will say my decision was not. First of all, it was not supported by my family, and they’re fine now. You know, I love my parents, love me and all of that. But I’m so glad to anyone listening and thinking about making a crazy decision really be mindful of who you discuss it with, because most likely they will talk you out of it. And so everybody thought I was crazy, like what are you doing? Why would you give this up, you know, why would you walk away, etc. But I just had to do it. 

So I actually came home making the decision and then I told them and I realized that if I hadn’t been firm in my decision, they would have taught me back into staying, including the company, you know. And so, yeah, it was pretty shocking, but again, it’s what I had to do and I knew that in my soul. My soul said you have to do this and I knew that I was going to be okay. That’s the thing, no matter all the twists and terms. Because when I built my company and I had my daughter, I was like had no money. You know, I had walked away from the business world. I’ve been, you know, traveling for four years teaching yoga. It’s not like I was that. 

Stockpiles of money, you know, it was fine for me, I was living or whatever, but you know, and I knew I was going to be okay and there was that trust in my abilities and knowing that there’s a plan and that if I just stuck with the entrepreneur ship game for the long run, that it would pay more than a job would ever pay. And I also had to look at, you know, what I wanted and what, and I knew I could have gone and got a marketing job. You know, even though I’d been out for four years, I’m sure I could have picked up a marketing job really easily which, by the way, my parents encouraged me to do and I was like no way. 

0:22:49 – Mike Malatesta

Yeah. 

0:22:49 – Jessica Yarbrough

And so the harder path is what I chose. It was much harder. It would have been easy to get a marketing job, you know. It would have been easy in terms of instant financial security. It wouldn’t have been easy because I had experienced this massive freedom, right Like I had experienced that ability to travel and you know kids get sick a lot. Kids need you, you know. Having two weeks of vacation, having you know to drop my kid off at daycare when they’re sick or anything. I didn’t want to experience that, and so I chose, maybe what? It would be the harder path in some regards, but easier in terms of my values. And I rolled up my sleeves and I did the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life, which was to build a company while raising a child on my own. 

0:23:34 – Mike Malatesta

And, if I’m connecting this correctly, you had your, you, you had your child. Yes, and you and you. You know that was sort of a defining moment, not just in your life but in your like what am I going to now? 

0:23:48 – Jessica Yarbrough

watch. 

0:23:48 – Mike Malatesta

But I want to, should I do? And you use the word legacy. You were thinking about legacy and that’s a that’s an interesting word to be using at that time in your life much younger time than I typically hear people starting to use that word legacy. So I’m curious, what got you thinking about legacy at a time when you were just reinventing I don’t know if reinventing yourself is the right phrase or not, but Coming back to myself, maybe in some ways? Yeah, coming back. It was like 180. 

0:24:23 – Jessica Yarbrough

Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, yeah. I just feel like I’m an old soul. I feel like I lived. I did crazy things and I lived a lot, you know, before the age of 30 something. I just had a lot of experience and so I wanted to create something where I didn’t have to worry about money. I wanted to show my daughter what was possible and be that role model for her. I wanted to have something I could even pass to her, you know, if she wanted to come into the business. And this is, and we’ll see, she’s right. She’s nine now. 

0:24:57 – Mike Malatesta

Nice, we’ll see. You have a little bit of time to figure this out. 

0:25:00 – Jessica Yarbrough

Yeah, exactly. And so my priorities shifted immediately. There was no wavering. It was like boom, this is what I’ve got to do. And I remember people. I was like, how did you do it? I remember I was scrolling through Facebook and someone was like, hey, I could use some marketing help that I was connected to. I don’t even know how I got connected to this person at the time and somehow we were connected and I responded and I picked up marketing work from her. She referred me to a fairly large size company that hired me. That marketing person that hired me left and did a startup company and hired me. So it just like spiraled into. You know from one Facebook post that I saw into a lot of opportunity until I finally made the decision to say, okay, I’m done being behind the scenes pressing buttons and I want to kind of marry that role of teacher with marketing strategy and ultimately do more of the coaching or be a strategic advisor versus building campaigns for people behind the scenes. 

0:26:02 – Mike Malatesta

So you use the word. The word coach was in your bio. 

0:26:06 – Jessica Yarbrough

Yes. 

0:26:06 – Mike Malatesta

Coach and consultant, or working with coaches and consultants, and then you just use the word coach and then you said advisor and I’m curious when do you see yourself? Because I, because I think that’s, I feel like that’s important. Where do you see yourself? 

0:26:21 – Jessica Yarbrough

Yeah, so that’s what I tell my clients is this I’m a strategist at heart and I’m definitely more consultative in nature. Meaning my clients don’t come to me and I’m going to do a process of inquiry for an hour trying to pull the answer out of them. I actually, if you look at pure coaching, you know in its essence I do very little coaching, maybe 10% coaching, especially if there’s resistance to something I’m presenting, then I’ll coach around why and and or if we’re unlocking some of their genius and in the beginning that we’re going to build their, their business around. But in general people come to me and they say, jessica, just tell me what to do and I lay out a plan, and so in that way I’m very much like do this, do this, do this, do this, and that’s that strategic advisor or consultative role, with some coaching. If there comes a block or resistance that comes up. Some people don’t do that. They just go through a process of inquiry and that’s not what my clients hire me to do. 

0:27:19 – Mike Malatesta

Okay, we talked about it in again in the bio, is that? Well, you help entrepreneurs basically create new value. Will you use the word coming back? Help them come back? So how did you? Well, I guess I’m just going to ask how did you have the courage to make that choice? Not, you know. I know you had the stuff you’re going on, but then you sort of separated yourself for so long and I feel like when you do something like that and you try to come back, you’re kind of like, like you said, I could get a marketing job right. How did you have the courage to come back and do this with confidence? 

0:27:57 – Jessica Yarbrough

Well, I mean definitely. When I came back from four years it was pretty overwhelming because, so much had changed. 

I mean you can imagine, like the emergence of more social media. I mean when I was traveling in Asia we didn’t have smartphones right. Everything had changed, funnels, like everything had changed. So I had a pretty hefty learning curve that I had to do a lot of studying and catch up. And then when I was doing behind the scenes consulting, what gave me the courage was actually kind of getting frustrated looking around seeing my peers that had half of the experience of me. They were absolutely crushing it with coaching and consulting, simply because they had the courage to put themselves out there. 

0:28:36 – Mike Malatesta

I got you. 

0:28:37 – Jessica Yarbrough

And I was like, man, if I want this, and this is what I tell you know, clients, I don’t really work with newbies anymore, I work with established ones at this point, but you know, your first couple years you’ve got to be loud. This is who I am, this is who I serve, this is how I can help you. And you have to do it over and over and over again. And so it was that willingness to put myself out there. 

It was that willingness to make terrible videos. I mean, they were terrible at first my background, my lighting, what you know I fumbled, I didn’t care, I just got really visible and I started teaching and I did a lot of going live stream and just sharing value, right, just teaching, and people are blown away. Because that’s something I think people forget. They forget that if you want to be successful and you want someone to hire you as a coach or console and you need to educate them, you need to show them why and show them that, hey, here’s a solution, and one of the best things you can do is by literally teaching a concept. And so I did a lot of that in the beginning and I just did it, even if five people would watch it. 

You know I didn’t care. I’d get on any podcast, any opportunity for someone to put a mic in front of my face. I’d say, let’s do it, because I knew that if my message reached one person they would hire me. And I remember being on a podcast one time and I think I was the first one on her show. She only did 12. And I think I got like a $30,000 client from that podcast that ran for 12 episodes. You know, it’s just-. 

0:30:04 – Mike Malatesta

You never know. 

0:30:06 – Jessica Yarbrough

You never know. And it was that willingness, though, again to show up, even if it wasn’t, you know, perfect, even if I fumbled, even if I look back at those videos and cringed. You know, I saw someone liking a video for mine I don’t know how they found it from like six years ago and I oh how do they find it? They like like three of my old videos. How did they find this awful thing? But they’re still liking it. 

0:30:31 – Mike Malatesta

That’s a legacy. 

0:30:32 – Jessica Yarbrough

Yeah, there’s your legacy, and so I think most people are it’s that the hardest part to entrepreneurship is just showing up. It’s just like anything in life. The hardest part is not the workout, it’s driving yourself to the gym or rolling out your mat. You know it’s just getting started and I think that’s where some people struggle. They fear what people will think, they fear getting rejected. News slash you’re going to get rejected a lot, right, you know, and sometimes people are just plain rude and you’re like that’s okay. You know you cannot take it personally. You’ve got to show up because there is somebody out there who has a problem that you can solve and it’s a disservice to them to not let them know that, hey, you can help them. 

0:31:16 – Mike Malatesta

Right. So let’s dig into this a little bit the problems that you do solve, the opportunities that you help people create. Well, I’ll just let you start and then I’ll take it from there. 

0:31:28 – Jessica Yarbrough

Yeah, so most of my clients are established coaches and consultants, typically with a revenue between 200,000 to 700,000. And the reason why is my program is expert accelerator and if you don’t already have credibility like demonstrated excellence in your field, it’s hard for me to make you an expert. I can’t take a Starbucks barista and turn you into a six figure B2B consultant Right Quickly, and so we really look at established entrepreneurs. Most of them are former corporate execs, senior level, whether it’s, you know, director, vp I worked with a lot of people from the C-suite or they’re entrepreneurs that have had successful something businesses, real estate, construction and now they want to do coaching or consulting, whatever it may be, and occasionally I will take someone that is newer on their journey, but I’ve got to really see that it factor. You know those qualities that I know that they’re going to pursue. Because it is much harder. 

Your first three years of business, like to me, the first 200,000, is much harder than double or triple that because, you’re trying to get people to just pay attention to you and know your name and the bottom line is you probably don’t have any results yet. It’s kind of hard to sell if you don’t have results. And so we take those people many of them have been stuck for, you know, three, two, three, all the way to 10 years and we two X to four X their revenue and typically in a one year period. And we do that with a number of ways. But I work in a fairly niche market. I work in the ultra high ticket space. So you hear this word high ticket thrown around a lot, and high ticket, you know, really it’s any time that you need to get on a phone to sell something. So it could be 3,000, it could be 5,000, it could be 10,000. 

People hire me when they want to sell ultra high end. So you know, on the low end, my clients are charging 25,000, but most of my clients are selling six figure packages. They’re they sell the corporations, small business all the way to large, across industries, tech, construction, manufacturing, healthcare, saas, you know, fintech, whatever it may be and they go in there and they solve big problems. It could be strategic problems, people problems, whether it’s change management, leadership development and we’re able to really package their solution and again it’s a big problem they’re going to go in there and solve and then I help them successfully charge accordingly and if you do the math, it doesn’t take that many six figure clients to seriously impact your bottom line Right. 

0:33:59 – Mike Malatesta

So is there like a common thread amongst these people who have had these experiences, whether in the corporate world or entrepreneurial world, and have started on this journey and had some traction before they came to you? Is there some sort of common thread amongst these people that people listening, and even me, can relate to? 

0:34:23 – Jessica Yarbrough

I mean I would say there’s two things. Well, three things. One, they have demonstrated excellence, like they’ve gotten their clients results. Two, they undervalue their services, and that’s for a couple of reasons. There’s a lack of awareness of what the market is willing to pay, so they’re severely undercharging. They don’t know what they don’t know. Two, some measure of imposter syndrome, like I don’t know enough, I couldn’t possibly charge this. And then three, a little bit of fear I might lose my client base if I charge more. So that would be another one. And then the third trait that they share is they’re not marketers, right, and none of my clients are market. It’s very rare. 

I have maybe one or two clients a year that have some strong marketing background, and those are usually the business coaches. I don’t work with that many business coaches right now, and so it’s those three things and it keeps them stuck. And so I do a lot of education, like even on my YouTube channel, like five signs it’s time to raise your prices. You know, starting to resent your clients, it’s time to raise your prices. You had that gut feeling you need to raise it. It’s time to raise it. I mean, most of us take, we know something and it takes a long time, to take years, for you to pull the trigger on making a change, because we’re creatures of habit, we don’t like change, we’d rather stay in this zone of you can call it comfort, but it’s really zone of familiarity, because it’s not comfortable to undercharge Right, it’s the zone of not enough pain. 

Yeah, it’s not enough pain, so I’m just going to stay in here until I break free and I do something that you know scares me a little bit and I make more. And I’ll give you a great example. I had a client, maureen, who came to me and she was already charging high ticket right, she was stuck in the low six figures for a decade leadership development, change management coach. And she, you know she had been charging 90,000 for a particular service. And I, you know, looked at the outcomes and what she was doing and how she was over delivering and I was like, you know, you could charge 200,000 for this. This was into a few weeks working together, but she didn’t have the confidence to do it. So, you know, I helped her structure the package, create the plan, get confidence. 

In her sales conversation she didn’t pitch it at 200. She pitched it at 180 because that was her comfort zone. I said fine, it doesn’t matter to me, I just want you to significantly, you know, raise your prices and try it. And I said, when she came back to me and told me she closed it, I said what’d you close up for? She said 180,000. I said what did they say? She said they didn’t even blink an eye. And now I know I could have charged 200,000. I said, yeah, I know, I told you that. And she said, well, next time I will. 

And she said the same thing that every coach or consultant who’s ever hired me that has seriously raised their prices because on average, we 2X to 10X pricing. It depends on their starting point. Obviously we a little more than 2X. Hers is where I wanted, based at 90,000. They all say the same thing. I wish I would have done this sooner. 

Right, because your clients aren’t going to volunteer to pay you more money and most of the time, like I’ve done this process with so many clients, they’ll say you know what, john, we know you’ve been giving us a deal for the last three years and, yeah, we know we should be paying you more. Like they’ll say that to my clients. They’re aware, they’re aware that they’re getting you for a deal, but they’re not going to say, hey, you know what, even though you’ve impacted our bottom line by millions of dollars, we’re going to give you an extra 100,000. No one’s going to volunteer to do that. You teach people your value. What you ask for is what you’re going to get. You know, if you say I’m only worth this amount, even if their ROI is tremendous. They’re not going to volunteer to pay you more money. They’re not. So you have to stand in your power and own your value and deliver the value. I don’t mean jacking up your prices, you know, without delivering value. I’m talking about real results, with an outcome that is tangible, charged accordingly. 

0:38:14 – Mike Malatesta

So that feels like a whole nother issue to me, Like how do you know that you’re delivering the value? Because there’s some subjectivity to sure a lot of this. So I feel like that’s a stumbling block to you know pricing and positioning and just the way you conduct yourself is how do I? How do I actually know? I think I’m going to do is great and people seem to like it, but how do I actually know you? 

0:38:44 – Jessica Yarbrough

measure it. Ok, measurable results. I can’t tell you how many clients have been in, have been in business for 10 years and I say where’s your, where’s your social proof for your client results? Oh, I don’t have any testimonials. Why? Well, I’ve never collected the data? Why, survey? Get the data right from the beginning. Understand the measurable data points going in and then survey partway through. 

Survey in the beginning, survey whatever it is and I, you know, help my clients formulate these measurements, because some are like for business is very tangible. It’s like profit, revenue, you know. But we can also look at, you know, retention levels, productivity levels. We can look at satisfaction and there’s so many ways to measure. There’s whole companies that are built around measuring. You know apps that are built around measuring. So start to get the data so you can say the ROI of working with me is this You’re going to invest this and if we keep one of your best people, that’s going to save you from hiring that person, not to mention the loss of talent and all of the innovation and all the other things I mean. You can start to measure by doing some research and collecting data. 

0:39:54 – Mike Malatesta

You can measure anything. Do people ever come to you, jessica, who have gotten started and they’re in this? You know they’re making, they’re generating a couple hundred thousand a year in revenue. And you and they present to you what they’re doing and you’re you help them. You have to help them change it somehow, do something with it so that it can yes, you know step up to this next price range or whatever. 

0:40:23 – Jessica Yarbrough

Okay so. 

0:40:24 – Mike Malatesta

Well, there’s, there’s, there’s a couple of things. 

0:40:27 – Jessica Yarbrough

So one, it’s well. I say three are you marketing to the right people? Sometimes people generally come to me and they’re not right. They’re marketing with people who value money more than time Money more than time and we have to shift that. People that value money more than time Don’t have a lot of money but have a lot of time on their hands. Those are going to be more for your lower ticket products, lower type price packages, diy courses right, they’re looking to save, but I can spend time figuring it out on my own. You want to market to people who value time more than money, people that buy a time, where the money have very little time. Those are your decision makers. Those are your busy business owners. Those are your high net worth. You know professionals who are working 60, 80 hour weeks, but they have a lot of money to throw at solving their problems. So they have urgency, they have cash flow and they have a time issue. Those are your perfect people. So, are you marketing to the right people? That’s the first thing, and if we’re, if not, we’re going to shift you to marketing to the people that can afford your services. 

Two, what is your solution? People come to me either without a clear cut solution. Maybe they’re just kind of figuring it out, having conversations, but there’s no clear pathway. Or some people come to me with a pathway and we need to upgrade it, we need to change the way we message and position it. So they’re, essentially, when we create this next level methodology and when I think about a pathway, I’m talking about a step by step system that takes someone from the valley of pain to that mountain of possibility, right, and then your pathway becomes the bridge, the map, and you become the Sherpa. You’re going to guide them up the mountain right so that they can avoid all those dips in the valleys and pains of frustration and years and money loss and whatever it may be, it’s that shortcut, it’s that bridge up the mountain. And so if you don’t have a pathway, we have to create it. 

If you have a pathway that is has weak positioning or irrelevant messaging, we have to change that. And maybe you’re still doing the same thing, but we reorder it or we change the names or we create impactful messaging so that person that you’re you’re trying to sell to, that’s in that valley of pain, clearly sees oh, my gosh, you are speaking my language. You understand and arc and articulate clearly and concisely. That’s a big problem. It’s communication with coaches and consultants clearly and concisely, not a meandering river, but straight to the point. What I’m struggling with and you have a path out. Third thing how you package that value Right. I’m I understand you, I can understand where you’re at and where you want to go. I have a plan and then here’s what it’s going to look like, here’s our job, here’s what it’s going to look like, here’s our delivery. And the value has to be intrinsic. It has to be built in there, the perceived value of, of what you’re offering. 

0:43:11 – Mike Malatesta

If you’re going to charge six figures Absolutely, and that packaging needs to be visual. 

0:43:18 – Jessica Yarbrough

I mean written down. 

0:43:19 – Mike Malatesta

Yes, you would provide. 

0:43:21 – Jessica Yarbrough

Oh, the pathway. 

0:43:22 – Mike Malatesta

I do recommend it Visual yeah. 

0:43:25 – Jessica Yarbrough

I like to have a visual model for your pathway Visual in general, but it can be simple. It’s. You don’t have to. I know I’m sharing all this. You don’t have to have everything built beautifully to sell. I sold my first 30,000 and $50,000 packages off an ugly order form. I didn’t have a visual, but I like to have a visual and I think it’s helpful to have it. 

I also think you know the thing about the pathway is not only is it giving confidence and certainty to your buyer, which is what they’re buying, they’re buying certainty. Can you, can you solve my problem? Do I trust that you? You have the plan. It’s also going to give you that GPS to follow, as the coach or consultant to say. I know if the outcome is, we want these three metrics right Now. I’ve got the areas that are going to drive that. We’ve got milestones. We’re clear that when they, when we’ve, they’ve learned these things. We’ve done coaching around these things, we’ve done training, we’ve done accountability, they’ve achieved these micro steps, they’re going to make that next leap and so it’s going to give you that guide as the business owner. So I do. Client pathway package. 

0:44:34 – Mike Malatesta

All right, and when you were talking about pathways, you said value of pain to mountain of. And I last the last possibility, possibility. Well, I love that. That’s. That’s as good as that earlier one that you said a reason or a season, yeah, yes, um, so if you I, would you mind taking me back to this first sort of 30 or $50,000 sale that you made, you personally made and sort of just walk me through what it was, how you were feeling, how you? I just want to give people a sense of the possibility of of what you know, what’s what’s possible with all that they’ve learned and all that they’ve done, what’s possible for them going forward if they choose to you know, or if they sell their business, or if they right you know, whatever, I just want to know. 

I want you to be, I want them to be in your shoes here. 

0:45:30 – Jessica Yarbrough

Well, first let me say that I know I’m speaking from a place of high confidence right now but, that wasn’t always the case. 

0:45:37 – Mike Malatesta

Okay. 

0:45:37 – Jessica Yarbrough

You know, I had to go on my own personal journey and I’ll share a story real quick if we have time about that. So remember, I found that marketing job on Facebook or it wasn’t a marketing job’s contract work, right and I remember the person at the time kind of gave me a sob story, like we’re a startup company, we don’t have a lot of funds, and I was like yeah, yeah, no problem. You know, I just accepted that and I was working for them for nothing, practically nothing. And I remember they hired an outside consultant to come in and they paid them a lump sum of a lot of money to solve an issue and I was furious. I was furious but it was the greatest gift this client ever gave me because I realized if I don’t see and own my value, no one else will Right All I had to do at that time was push back and say this is what it is, this is what we’re going to help you solve, lay out the plan. 

But I didn’t, and so that was my first aha moment. And then I had lots of breakthroughs at 5,000, 10,000, building up to these higher end packages, and you know so by the time I got to that, that 30,000, you know, 30,000 wasn’t a big deal. I think 50,000 was a big deal. I was pretty nervous about it because I had never pitched at that level and it almost like I don’t even know. I was just so nervous because I didn’t know if they were going to say yes. But I also trusted at that point and they did, they saw yes, and that was definitely a pivotal moment in my life. I say more than the $30,000. I don’t know what it was about that number, but the $30,000 clients actually came from teaching. They came from teaching live streaming Again, when I would get a whiteboard and I would just riff and teach a concept, and that is what ultimately got clients and I had a conversation and I could clearly again articulate their pains and where they wanted to go and I had developed a solution that could take them there. 

I didn’t have that. By the way, when I was selling a $5,000 package, I was kind of just going through the motions I’m going to get this there. I didn’t have this level of clarity. In order to sell at this level, you have to have clarity and a really well-developed strategy to present to the client. When I sold my first $50,000 client I believe that was a referral she was a referral from two clients actually in $2,000, $30,000 clients. I had just raised my prices at that point when we had that conversation. But again, I was able to articulate the strategy and the pathway and really demonstrate my authority and by this point, guys, I did have social proof. As I’m saying, it’s very different when you’re selling at a higher level and you’ve got traction. It’s much easier. And yeah, actually that client went on and I think she sold her first $75,000 package in six weeks of joining. So it was a good experience for her right from the beginning. 

0:48:42 – Mike Malatesta

And on your website you have a 20-page white paper case study. Is it Maureen, the one that you were talking about, or is it Michelle? 

0:48:54 – Jessica Yarbrough

Yeah, so there’s two different things. One I have a case study which is a seven-figure case study. It’s my client, no, maureen, I actually haven’t written her case study on it’s on my to-do list. 

That’s the consultant that we took to seven figures in a year. Michelle was a business coach for the interior design industry. She was stuck at $300,000, $250,000 to $300,000 for three years and we took her to a million during the pandemic, which was pretty amazing. So there’s a 20-page case study that is in depth around that, but I do also have a white paper at jesskyarbercom slash influence, and that is a 33-page guide on a concept I have coined as the ladder of influence, and what that is is there are four levels of influence that you need to reach in order to scale your authority. The bottom is the trap of the generalist Jack or Jill of all trades, master of none. Second level is stagnant specialization, and then they’re scaling at expert authority and so on. And so I go through the challenges of each stage and what you need to do to successfully move forward through each of those growth points as a business owner. 

0:50:00 – Mike Malatesta

And I did not read the 20-page yet, but I signed up for it today because I was so interested in reading that case study. Because I think you said you don’t have testimonials, you don’t have proof, you don’t have people who know you know what you can do, but people who don’t know you, don’t know anything about you, and so you have to give them something that they can latch on to so that they can convince themselves that you’re the person for them. 

0:50:31 – Jessica Yarbrough

And you have to educate. 

So if there’s another takeaway your audience can get right now is that the higher the price point, the more education that needs to happen. If you are clicking on an ad for a $7 ebook or a $97 challenge or something, I don’t do any of those, but if you were to click on those kinds of ads, you don’t need a lot of information to make that purchase. Pretty low end, good sales page you’re like sure, seven bucks, I pay that for a coffee, whatever, or whatever it may be. But when we’re talking about investing multiple five or even multiple six figures, there’s a lot of education needs to happen. And you have to look the part, and I don’t mean like beauty or youth or something like that. I mean you have to show up in your materials and your branding, in your messaging and be positioned as a higher end coach, you know. I mean you can’t have photos from the 80s or, you know, dated or a dated look or feel or anything, because they’re not going to have trust in you if you have that image. 

0:51:33 – Mike Malatesta

And you mentioned these sort of lower dollar offers and I always wonder about these. You know there are a lot of people who sort of work on a different kind of ladder, it’s a ladder of. I’m going to start you here and then I’m going to offer you this, and I’m going to offer you this and I keep walking up the price. It doesn’t sound like that’s what you do with. No, I work with. 

0:51:53 – Jessica Yarbrough

Yeah, that’s. There’s a that’s called the ascension model and I’ve done some videos and certainly some videos on YouTube and some articles on LinkedIn around this. You know, I kind of break this myth of the ascension model that’s taught by a large portion of the coaching and consulting world, where it’s this hey, I’m, you’re going to get a minute, a $7 price point, upselling them to a course and eventually get them to my $25,000 mastermind. That’s a lot of work. You got to market. At each stage and each level that goes up, you have drop off. So like 10% is going to make it to your highest offer and most people just don’t have the audience size or the ad spend to monetize that. 

The people that are really successful at it are the eight figure entrepreneurs that are spending six figures a month on ad spend and have complex systems and robust teams that are going to get in there and upsell. So we take a top down approach. You start with your with your highest offer and cascade down to a one to many and if you eventually want to get to something lower ticket, you can, but most of my clients don’t. And keep in mind that if you’re selling to organizations you don’t need all that you know they’re there. The CEO is not going to sit through your three day challenge. They’re not right. We’re time over money. Cut to the chase. I got 20 people in my inbox trying to sell me the latest software and HR recruiting thing. Whatever. Can you solve my problem? Do I trust you? Can you say it succinctly? Do you have proof? Yes, let’s have a conversation. 

Yeah that’s how CEOs make a decision. 

0:53:21 – Mike Malatesta

And I’ve heard people say that CEOs don’t swim into funnels or whatever. They’re not going to like start at 97 or work their way. 

0:53:28 – Jessica Yarbrough

No they’re not. No, they’re not. And, and you know, I’ve literally had people who never log on to LinkedIn happen to. You know, see something of mine and don’t have a social media following, don’t really engage, don’t have funnels or anything. I even had a client who pushed back you know, it was like an outreach in LinkedIn and he said I don’t think you can help me Because he, I already have a six, I already have a high six figure business and he was doing 700,000 a year. I’m already selling $100,000 packages. 

And I think a lot of people would have shied away and been like, okay, you know. And I was like, well, how about this? And I went through all the problems that I’ve seen people have in the high six figures and he was like, wow, we need to have a conversation. That client became $150,000 client and ultimately went to seven figures. So, but again, because I understood the problems that that you know highest level client had and you know, not all of my clients pay that much or make that much but I could speak directly to it and where someone had come in and been like you can’t help me, I changed that and converted it into a client like that. And so again, can you cut through the cut through the noise, can you cut to the chase, and and that’s how deals happen- and it’s almost like the fact that the person said you can’t help me was almost a signal that they were wanted you. 

0:54:55 – Mike Malatesta

They wanted some proof that you was like. You can’t help me, I’m sort of daring you to help me. 

0:55:03 – Jessica Yarbrough

Exactly and I have found, especially with Kiskeva, mine, a lot of my clients I told you, or former C-suite, right, and those people are going to push back. So if you, and it’s not all the time. 

I had certainly like like my client, maureen, was wonderful. I reached out to her. She was like we need to have a conversation. You know, it was very simple, right, like she didn’t. But this other client, yeah, had that little bit of ego, was like you know, show me what you got Like, because some of these people have very strong personalities and so you have to be able to push back. Most people are just run shy away from it. No, push back, challenge them. They love it, they love to be challenged, they want to challenge. I’ve had clients who are like making 700,000 a year it’s a good amount of money, and they literally hire me because they’re like well, I know I could do more, why wouldn’t I want you to challenge me, to do more? Show me it. Not from a need. You know we’re talking about former C-suite of major companies that have, you know, plenty of money and. But they just thought, hey, why not? 

0:56:06 – Mike Malatesta

Why not show me? That’s how I feel, that’s how I feel about me. Why not? Why not yeah? 

0:56:10 – Jessica Yarbrough

If I’m already doing it, why don’t I do it to its maximum potential? Or? You know if you can show me a better way, if you can show me how to maintain this high six figure, because some of them it’s not always about more money, but cut my hours in half, I’m open to that. That’s what we did with that client. He was working insane hours. We cut his hours in half and then scaled him, and that’s that was more impactful to him than the money, because he got his freedom back. 

0:56:34 – Mike Malatesta

Yeah, which is priceless. Yes, so two, two, two final questions. One do you believe in or how, if you? And if you do, how important do you think joint ventures are in this type of work? 

0:56:49 – Jessica Yarbrough

I personally did not have a good experience with a joint venture that I did, so I steer away from them. I know people that do a lot of those things, yeah, and so I’m sure it works for some people. But I just say, use caution with partnering with anybody on anything, because you don’t know their background and their reputation and that can cast a lens on who you are, and so I personally wouldn’t would not do them. I know lots of people do. But I built my business, I built my own source of referrals and influence, and that’s the way that I’ve grown my company. 

0:57:28 – Mike Malatesta

Got it Okay, fair enough. And finally, is there anything that I should have asked you, that you wanted me to ask you, or that you want to talk about or leave with us before we go? 

0:57:38 – Jessica Yarbrough

Yeah, I feel like we had such an in-depth conversation that we covered a lot. But if anybody wants more information, I would say you definitely download my guides and follow me on LinkedIn, hit me up and let me know you heard me on the show, because I always like to know that, and follow my YouTube channel. I drop videos there several times a month. 

0:57:57 – Mike Malatesta

Yeah, and last name is Yarbro Y-A-R-B-R-O-U-G-H, and you can find her everywhere using her name. 

0:58:07 – Jessica Yarbrough

That’s right, that’s right Okay. 

0:58:10 – Mike Malatesta

Well, jessica, thank you so much for making time for us today and for sharing your wonderful story and your excellent advice and program for helping people, I guess, grow into who they can become. That’s right. That’s what you’re helping people do grow into what they can become and I’ve gotten a lot of confidence out of listening to you, so I hope everyone who’s listening has as well. So again, thank you so much for being here and for everyone listening. Please, today, maximize the greatness that’s inside of you. You all have it. Let’s focus on it, let’s maximize it and let’s make the future your future, your property, something that you own and are very proud to own. Until next time. Thanks, hey everybody. Thanks for listening to this show and before you go, I just have three requests for you. One if you like what I’m doing, please consider subscribing or following the podcast on whatever podcast platform you prefer. If you’re really into it, leave me a review, write something nice about me, give me five stars or whatever you feel is most appropriate. 

Number two I’ve got a book. It’s called Owner Shift how Getting Selfish Got Me Unstuck. It’s an Amazon bestseller and I’d love for you to read it or listen to it on Audible or wherever else Barnes, noble, amazon you can get it everywhere. If you’re looking for inspiration that will help you unlock your greatness and potential, order or download it today so that you can have your very own copy and if you get it, please let me know what you think. Number three my newsletter. I do a newsletter every Thursday and I talk about things that are interesting to me and or I give more information about the podcast and the podcast guests that I’ve had and the experiences that I’ve had with them. 

You can sign up for the podcast today at my website, which is my name MikeMalatesta.com. You do that right now. Put in your email address and you’ll get the very next issue. The newsletter is short, thoughtful and designed to inspire, activate and maximize the greatness in you.