FL252 - We help Treasure create a plan to increase cashflow and grow her online college planning business

In today's episode, we help Treasure create a plan to increase cashflow and grow her online college planning business

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Jocelyn Sams: Hey y'all, on today's podcast we help Treasure take her online college planning business to the next level.

Shane Sams: Welcome to The Flipped Lifestyle Podcast where life always comes first. We're your hosts, Shane and Jocelyn Sams. We're a real family that figured out how to make our entire living online, and now we help other families do the same. Are you ready to flip your life? All right, let's get started. What's going on everybody? Welcome back to The Flipped Lifestyle Podcast. It's great to be back with you again. This week we are super excited to have another member of the Flip Your Life community on the show so we can work with them one on one and help them take their business to the next level, and this is a special show. This is the first recording that we have done after our massive live event, Flip Your Life, live in Nashville, and we are happy to say we have now met and hugged this person in real life. Our guest today is Treasure Redmond. How you doing, Treasure?

Treasure S.-R.: Hey, hey Shane and Jocelyn, how are y'all doing?

Jocelyn Sams: We are great. It is so good to have you here today. We knew when we met you that you had to be on our podcast. So thank you so much for being here today.

Shane Sams: We were preparing for Flip Your Life Live, Nashville, one of the things that we did that a lot of people don't do for live events is we had ice breaker calls where everyone could come and me and Jocelyn literally went around the room and just talked to every single person on a conference call. I'll never forget Treasure rolling up to the room because she didn't know her mic was off and everybody else was muted, we were talking to somebody, and just like we started this show, she came in, goes, "Hey, hey everybody!" And she starts screaming into the ... It was absolutely amazing and I looked-

Jocelyn Sams: We seriously cracked up.

Shane Sams: Oh, I laughed so hard. Everybody was just dying laughing, and man, you're just light in your personalty. Just, in person, online, anywhere. I'm just glad that we get to share you with the Flip Your Life audience today.

Treasure S.-R.: Well thank you, and light attracts light. So I'm so glad to be here.

Jocelyn Sams: All right, well let's dive in a little bit. Tell us a little bit about you and what you're doing online. You can share your website if you would like to.

Treasure S.-R.: Sure, my name is Treasure Shields-Redmond and I am known as the debt free degree expert. I help busy parents of college-bound teens secure top-tier education without massive debt, and I do that at gettheacceptanceletter.online.

Shane Sams: Tell us a little bit about your background too. How did you get into that? That's such a worthy mission by the way, because debt is crushing college students around the country and all of us who had debt at any given time for our college degree know how much of a weight that can be, but how did you get into that?

Treasure S.-R.: You know, I earned my credentials through a 20 year teaching career. So I went to undergraduate and you know, took out too much debt as a lot of us do, went on to teach high school English for about a decade, and then moved over into the university arena and became a college professor and was an assistant professor of English for about a decade, and I was always teaching kids who were headed to college, or who had just entered college and freshman writing classes. I started to see the same patterns that happened with me repeat themselves. You know people with a lot of ... with a wonderful resume, but didn't know how to use it to get scholarships, and who had families who had a vision for their lives but didn't have access to information. So, I started at first helping people privately for free, and it grew into the business.

Shane Sams: And this has basically grown into a consulting business that you're trying to move more like mass online so you can reach more people and do things like that, right?

Treasure S.-R.: Yes. I mean. I've opened the subscription community. I'm online.

Shane Sams: That's awesome.

Treasure S.-R.: So I've made the transition, and I follow y'all's blueprint and I have my now 15 members.

Shane Sams: All right!

Jocelyn Sams: Yeah!

Shane Sams: That's amazing. Awesome.

Treasure S.-R.: So I'm just looking to serve more college-bound families.

Shane Sams: Now I have to back the truck up a little bit here. We need to rewind because I know your story a little bit more and I just want to share this to everybody. You originally were not going into education, you were more in the music; music-type of atmosphere and career, like when you were in your younger days, so like tell us a little bit about when you used to be a rapper back in the '90s, because I think everyone needs to know this. Everyone has to hear this because it's incredible, and somehow you got involved with Amber or something? Like-

Jocelyn Sams: We need to know this story.

Shane Sams: We need to hear this, Treasure.

Treasure S.-R.: Yes, well you know being a rapper is like being a Marine. You're never not a rapper. So, I'm still a rapper.

Shane Sams: They don't let you out once you get in. Right?

Treasure S.-R.: Right, right, right. I might throw down some verses for you in a second, but long story short, I started rapping when I was in junior high school. My partner and I formed a rap group that was called The Sonic Inseams and we became like tri-state favorites. We released local records, we were on the radio, we performed at our prom. We were living the dream.

Jocelyn Sams: And this is like huge then, you know?

Shane Sams: That's big time!

Treasure S.-R.: Yes.

Jocelyn Sams: This I like the early '90s, right?

Treasure S.-R.: Yep. Definitely. Early '90s.

Jocelyn Sams: I mean, rap was huge. Rap is still big-

Shane Sams: Hip hop's taking off, rap's taking off-

Jocelyn Sams: ... like, it's huge.

Shane Sams: ... like it's just taking over pop culture basically.

Treasure S.-R.: Oh most definitely, and we got an opportunity to audition for MC Hammer, who signed us on the spot. And the way it dovetails to college is I had already been accepted to my undergraduate institution, to Jackson State University. I went for a semester and then left, because of course, I was going to be on MTV Cribs.

Shane Sams: Right. You got signed-

Treasure S.-R.: Priorities here. See you later, losers! It didn't work out like that. Spoiler alert; I'm not a famous rapper. But, you know what? I learned a lot and it really was my first insight into the power of marketing because MC Hammer was a master brand strategist and marketer at the time.

Shane Sams: Awesome.

Treasure S.-R.: So, I was able to recover and return to college as a quote, unquote "Older student." I was five years older than most of my freshman class and you know, it resulted in a really targeted, mature, freshman who had a great undergraduate experience, albeit late, but a great one.

Shane Sams: That's amazing, and I love how you circled that story back to where you are today because Jocelyn and I talk about this with each other a lot. Like, sometimes you look up and you're like, "Well how did I end up here at this stage in my life?" But everything we do now we can trace back to things we were doing in our early 20s, in our 30s, and it all does lead you to a point where you're capable to do what you want to do. Like, when we first started our online business I did all of the editing. All of the video and audio and stuff like that, but I learned that in my 20s as an assistant football coach at a high school. Right? And even marketing and being able to present yourself publicly, when I was a high school football coach I had to talk to the newspaper, and I had to kind of craft the brand image for our football team and what we were doing and things like that.

Shane Sams: You know, it's just everybody gets kind of upset sometimes when they look back at their failures, or even their successes. They're like, "Man I just wish I had done this different or that different," but no. That is such an important part of everyone's story, and without those building blocks you can't really take the next step.

Jocelyn Sams: And I think there's really another lesson in here too. It's like you took the chance. You could have stayed in college and played the safe route, but you took the chance. You did something that most people didn't have the opportunity to do. Did it turn out the way that you thought it was going to turn out? Maybe not, but you learned things along the way and it made you a better person in the long run, right?

Shane Sams: Yeah. And like could you imagine sitting here now and looking back and saying that you got signed but didn't go? I mean, can you imagine not have done in that? Like imagine how different your life would have been. The person you became would've been ... like who's to say you wouldn't have went to college and you weren't mature enough and you would have failed out of school or done something else and it just would've totally changed everything, but you did it anyway. Right?

Treasure S.-R.: Mm-hmm. So true. You know what, if people want to look up that old group, it was called One Cause, One Effect.

Shane Sams: Oh listen, we're going to have this video embedded in your show. So you just go on over to flippedlifestyle.com. We'll have all the video ... we'll do the work for you because I've seen the video and it is absolutely great. Right? So, let's come back to today and leave the '90s in all of their glory behind for a few minutes.

Jocelyn Sams: The '90s were awesome.

Shane Sams: Why did you come to the Flip Your Life community? Why did you pick our program? Maybe you got this membership launched now, we've been working with you in the community, you came to Flip Your Life Live, like what drew you to our community and to me and Jocelyn?

Treasure S.-R.: Mm-hmm. You know, like I said earlier, I had transitioned to a one on one consulting business, so I thought that I was just going to ride off into the sunset with high ticket one on one consulting services, working closely with families and then I quickly discovered that I would have to work 24 hours a day in order to meet the goals that I had. You know, and someone that is parenting alone that just was not viable for my life. So I was on the lookout for another model, another way and some competent guides that could show me that other way. That's when I heard you guys on the [Pat Flynn Podcast]. I could tell from you being southerners, from you being former teachers, and from your own description of your journey, that our journeys were just similar enough that you could help me.

Shane Sams: That's awesome.

Jocelyn Sams: Yeah, that is super cool.

Shane Sams: Well I'm so glad that you found us. Not only just because you're in our community, but just like the friendship that we have and just meeting you and it's just ... All the people that we meet in the Flip Your Life community it just blows our mind how awesome people are. We're just really glad that you're here. Tell us a little bit about ... How old are your children?

Treasure S.-R.: I have a ... Well, I was about to say 17. He just turned 18 and he's a freshman in college.

Shane Sams: All right.

Treasure S.-R.: He's one of my-

Shane Sams: He's going to be debt free too, right?

Treasure S.-R.: Of course!

Shane Sams: Yeah, he's going to be-

Treasure S.-R.: Of course he's debt free, and I have ... So, he's away at school and I have an 11-year-old daughter who's in 6th grade.

Shane Sams: Awesome. So you've got your hands full. So we got to free up some more time for you to help that college kid and that 11-year-old.

Treasure S.-R.: Yes.

Shane Sams: So you're making some money and you're not overwhelmed with your time, okay?

Jocelyn Sams: Okay, so before we dive into your questions about your business today. Let's talk a little bit about things that might be holding you back right now. All of us have either mindset struggles, some type of fear, or some type of obstacle that holds us back. What is going on with you today that we can maybe help you with?

Treasure S.-R.: You know when you guys asked us to fill out the questionnaire in order to prepare to be on your podcast and you asked me to write out my story. I realized that I had been holding back on some of that story, and you know I consider myself very open and gregarious, you know an extrovert, but that was really the first time I had written down that I was raised in the projects, that my mother had struggled with mental illness, that the execution hadn't been in my primary home for college access, and that it was the village, you know it takes a village to raise a child, that kind of came in and supported me toward college entry and it really made me ask myself, "Have I been putting on some kind of persona in some way online? And if that was blocking some of my sales?"

Shane Sams: So basically like you're presenting yourself as this professional expert person. You've got this wall built of "Oh everything's ... My college career was perfect, and everything was perfect and that's how I ended up here so I can help you too," instead of saying, No, this is my real origin story. This is who I really am, and this is why I can help you." So you're saying maybe that persona is the disconnect between you and maybe some of your target audience?

Treasure S.-R.: Yeah, I really think so. I think that I've been really worried about a slick looking website and a slick sounding story, and things being really beautiful, even though that website isn't that beautiful, but ...

Shane Sams: Design doesn't matter as much as you think it does. You know what I mean? That's what I always say to Jocelyn. Don't worry about that.

Treasure S.-R.: Yeah, and I noticed that after I wrote my story to you guys, I came on my live channels on Facebook and Youtube and I told the story and it's been one of the higher engaging videos that I have had.

Jocelyn Sams: Absolutely. Yes, I love that. You know I think that sometimes we think as people who are trying to put our life out on the internet, "Oh, well I need to make sure that I look this certain way, or that I sound a certain way," or whatever, and I think that what really draws people to us is when we are our authentic selves. It's a little bit scary because sometimes that's going to push people away, but more often than not it's going to bring the right type of people to you. Are you going to have haters because of it? Probably. But you're going to have haters anyway.

Shane Sams: Yeah.

Jocelyn Sams: And we are too, you know? That's the thing, it's like you just have to be okay with it and it takes a while. It takes practice, It takes putting yourself out there again and again and again and that's kind of scary.

Shane Sams: It's how we react to imposter syndrome. Like imposter syndrome is that doubt we get, like where we say ... You know we talk about this a lot. "Am I good enough to do this? Who would listen to me?" Right? And there's kind of a fork in the road when you're dealing with imposter syndrome. You're either going to become an imposter and make this shiny, fake, sterilized, branded version of yourself, or you're going to go the other way and you're going to be your authentic, true self who goes out to help those people who really need to hear your story. Because that's the only way anyone connects with you is they connect with your story. Like you just said why you came to us. Like, "Man, you were southerners and your story was just close enough to mine where you could understand where I was going." It's not even like helping you or doing the next level or whatever it is. It's like "No, they get me." Right? And that's what people have to hear from your story is like they have to know you get them or they're never going to get your product.

Jocelyn Sams: And you will do your best work if you are your authentic self. If you're always trying to like put on an appearance for people then you're not going to do your best work. This reminds me of when we were at our event last week, or a couple weeks ago. People kept asking me, "Were you nervous to talk in front of all those people?" Because I'm not a person who loves to get up in front of people, but honestly I was not nervous and I said, "I think the reason why is because these people know us. They already know my faults. So I'm not nervous about trying to put on some type of show."

Shane Sams: Cover it up, yeah. Yeah. We actually ... Jocelyn and I were just talking about this yesterday. We had church yesterday and I was reading my Bible yesterday and I hit this Bible verse that literally said, "Don't try to impress anybody." Right? You will impress people with your story. Like if you tell your story and it's authentic, and it's you and you're telling the truth and you're speaking truth into their lives so they'll go to the next level, they're going to be impressed enough to take action, but it's when we try to impress someone with the slickness ... I love that word that you used. You know like the slick website, this slick persona, and we hide those bad things, that's where we've got a problem and it's cool that you discovered that filling out that form.

Shane Sams: That form is not just for us. It's for you. We have a mastermind that we do and everyone has to fill out a super detailed version of that form, and it's amazing how many people come back and are like, "Wow. Forcing me to wrestle with all of those questions may have just changed the direction of my life," because we don't want to deal with it sometimes. So imposter syndrome, being authentic, those are things that we all wrestle with and I think you're doing a great job being yourself and moving forward. Now what was the other problem that was holding you back?

Treasure S.-R.: Well the other problem is that I'm really cash poor at the moment, and unable to spend money on Facebook ads and Google ads right now. I'm worried that the minimal momentum that I have that I'm going to lose because I just don't know ... I just don't know how to market effectively. I do pieces that are like spot fires. They flare up with good results, and then I don't know how to replicate it. I need a system of marketing.

Shane Sams: Right. So this is more towards your business question not just the fear and the obstacle. It's like, "Look, I've got to market this business with a very small budget."

Treasure S.-R.: Yes.

Shane Sams: "I've got to fan the flames but I can't find any firewood laying around." Right?

Jocelyn Sams: I just want to say too that we have been here before. Like we used to be teachers. Teachers don't make a lot of money, as you know. So we had to find very creative ways to get things done. So I think sometimes people want to think, "Oh, well you guys had it all together from the very beginning." No. We have been here before too, so I totally understand what you're saying.

Shane Sams: Yeah, we were cash poor when we first started our online business too. I always tell people we live paycheck to paycheck, but we got paid on Friday and usually the paycheck ran out on Wednesday.

Treasure S.-R.: Yes.

Shane Sams: You know, so it's kind of like you're kind of just spinning your wheels and what we learned through the process of doing this was there's only two ways to make a living online, or to make money online. You roll up your sleeves or you open your wallet. Well if you open your wallet and it's empty then you got to go back to rolling up your sleeves. So what we kind of do is create creative ways that you can invest time, instead of money, prolifically ... That was a key word that we used at our live event ... prolifically, to get in front of more people with your message. Because it's not enough to just say, "Well, I'm going to buy attention." Sometimes you got to go out and get it, and that may mean doing something radical; doing something crazy. It may mean I'm going to do a Youtube video every day, period, on my Youtube channel. I'm going to create so much content that people absolutely have to listen to me. Someone's going to find it, right?

Shane Sams: It may mean doing like what I did, to grow my football coaching brand. I wasn't an elite football coach. I wasn't a Super Bowl winner. I didn't have an audience or a following, so I had to go and literally almost virtually knock on doors to find football coaches. We would lay down in bed at night and I would look at my phone. Jocelyn would go to sleep, the kids were asleep and from like 9:00 PM until like 2:00 AM I would type in "football coach" into Twitter. Then I would sit and look through people's pictures looking for anyone that was actually standing on a football field, a football player, or whatever, and I would friend them and send them a message. I did this and grew my Twitter following into the thousands, hour after hour of grinding and knocking on doors, and it was like cold calling, but it was cold Twittering is what I call it. Right? That's the kind of things we're going to have to figure out is what kind of content do you like to create? How can you do it prolifically? And then the system is consistency. It's not necessarily that you're doing the magic thing, the system that makes it work, it's that you're doing the one or two things that can move the needle for you but you're going to do them twice a day, every day, moving forward.

Shane Sams: It's like maybe you only get one view today. Maybe you get two tomorrow. Maybe you get 10, but that's your option because the other option, the cash option isn't available right now.

Jocelyn Sams: Maybe you look for podcasts to be on. You know, podcasts about debt, podcasts about college, things that your avatar would listen to. Maybe try to find podcasts to go on.

Shane Sams: And that gets you in front of audiences, but that requires, "Oh, I've got to email a hundred podcasts to get on five of them." Right? You see what I'm saying? These are the things that you're going to have to figure out, is how can I use my time to go get more people? Maybe it's "I'll look at my email list. I've got 200 people. Maybe I'll do a video for all 200 of them to try to squeeze 10 more members out," which might make a little money for more advertising.

Jocelyn Sams: Maybe it's hosting in-person workshops in your community to get people more aware of your brand and what you do.

Shane Sams: That's something that sometimes when people are transitioning from offline to on they really want to abandon their offline practice, but a lot of times you've got to double down on what's working offline in the short term, to get the long term goal of giving yourself the resources to push. You don't want to just say, "I'm online," or "Offline." We're like, "We're just like every line. It doesn't matter." Give me any line, give me any money, and I'll want to go out and try and do that because if we abandon one we might be leaving a revenue source that creates ads for the other one.

Jocelyn Sams: I also want to throw in there let's think outside the box a little bit too. That's one thing that Shane and I did at the beginning that most people probably wouldn't be willing to do. We sold our house. Like, we said, "Okay. We're not just going to stop going through the drive-through and save a hundred dollars a month. We're going to really cut expenses and we're going to sell this house."

Shane Sams: Like for example, of course this is ... we've got to talk about schedules and what you have time to do, but let me ask you this: you were a teacher in college and high school, right?

Treasure S.-R.: Yes.

Shane Sams: Could you go sub one day a week? That'll pay you 80 to 100 bucks and now you've got Facebook ad money to drive traffic for your online business. Like just a random 100 bucks, like can you make it? I had a buddy, he's created a million dollar business, it's an amazing thing, but what people don't realize is he was working like two full-time jobs and delivering pizzas, and the pizza money paid for his first advertising and creating his first website, right? He just did whatever it takes to make it happen. Like, can we come up with something creative and throw it in there and say, "Well now we do have ad money. There we go"? We can get attention and get some stuff like that.

Jocelyn Sams: You know I would even say too, like look around your house. I mean if I look around my bedroom here I can probably find two or three things I could sell on Facebook, you know?

Shane Sams: I could find seven or eight things to sell on Facebook that we've ordered in the last month.

Jocelyn Sams: Yeah, just be creative. I think sometimes people are like, "Okay, if I don't find this magic button, this specific Facebook ad strategy that's going to work for me, and I don't spend exactly this much money per day on ads then this is never going to work." No. You have to find a way to make it work. If it's not working the way everyone else says to do it, then you have to find what works for you.

Shane Sams: So let me ask you this, like let's take ... We just threw a lot at you, but now evaluate. Just kind of think back about your schedule, your life, can you be more prolific in any certain area? Or, is there actually a way to go make that extra ... I mean you only need like 10 bucks a day.

Treasure S.-R.: Mm-hmm.

Shane Sams: Is there a way to do that, do you think, in your schedule or your life?

Treasure S.-R.: Oh most definitely. I mean, a lot of the things you mentioned I've done, but not consistently. And you know what? I've been invited to give in-person workshops and both of them resulted in a sale.

Shane Sams: There you go.

Treasure S.-R.: I did run a sale here recently that I sent to my list and I got three more sales. So, I just ... I need to-

Shane Sams: Zero in.

Treasure S.-R.: Yeah, zero in, write it down, do ... and also, I have a podcast. It's called Get the Acceptance Letter.

Jocelyn Sams: That's awesome.

Shane Sams: Is that coming out every week? Is that coming out every week?

Treasure S.-R.: Yes, every week.

Shane Sams: And are you selling every episode? Because I promise you I'm going to pitch the free trial of our membership on this one. Right?

Jocelyn Sams: Flippedlifestyle.com/free.

Shane Sams: Flippedlifestyle.com/free. Go sign up.

Treasure S.-R.: Right, right.

Shane Sams: Are you doing that every week?

Treasure S.-R.: And actually I'm going to answer you by saying this: I'm not sure if I'm selling every episode, and here's why I'm not sure. You guys have taught us about cold traffic, warm and hot. Right?

Shane Sams: Right.

Treasure S.-R.: So, oftentimes when I create some content. Whether it's the video or the podcast, I'm not sure if I should ... Should I just be going for the jugular right now and be like, "Y'all sign up-

Jocelyn Sams: Yes ma'am.

Shane Sams: Okay, this is why-

Treasure S.-R.: Or, is this cold traffic and I should just say, "Check out my website where I have this free thing"?

Shane Sams: Yes, okay.

Jocelyn Sams: You should do both.

Treasure S.-R.: I don't know ...

Shane Sams: Okay, here's what you do. Okay? When in doubt, get the lead. When in doubt, get the lead. The most important thing-

Jocelyn Sams: If it doesn't feel good to you to push it hard-

Shane Sams: Yeah, email, free trial.

Jocelyn Sams: ... selling, try to get their email.

Shane Sams: Yeah. See what we do is ... and this is how our strategy is evolved over the years, not perfect for everybody but it works for us, the reason we do a free trial is because it becomes an opt-in. I know that any podcast interview we do, if we get an article written about us in a magazine, if we get on our show, whatever I do as long as I just say, "Hey, go do the free trial," I'm still ... I'm selling the lead. It's no risk, free trial, why would you not do it? And that gives us the email, that gives us the contact information. So in effect when I do a Youtube video, I did one yesterday, I'm doing one every day for the rest of this year as a challenge that me and buddy were like, "Okay, we're throwing down. Every day we're going to do a Youtube video for our Youtube channel." And at the end of every one of them I was going to pitch the free trial.

Shane Sams: Some people are warm, some people are going to be cold, they're going to find it in search, but I know that I'm going to get an opt-in and now I have an opportunity to sell staying in the membership to that person for 30 days. So, when in doubt get the lead, get the email, and then let your marketing kind of take over like [inaudible 00:27:30].

Jocelyn Sams: But I like to do sort of a hybrid, you know? Like sometimes sell something.

Shane Sams: Yeah.

Jocelyn Sams: Sometimes try to get people on your list. Like there is no wrong answer, just do something. Doing something's better than doing nothing.

Shane Sams: When we launched Flip Your Life Live we said, "Okay, we're going to stop pitching the membership and the free trial," or the dollar trial or whatever we're doing at the time because we only like to sell one thing at a time. When we say "Sell something," we don't mean like actually a monetary thing. It's like you're pitching something. It may be an opt-in you're pitching.

Jocelyn Sams: It may be a free video.

Shane Sams: It may be a paid prize.

Jocelyn Sams: It may be a webinar.

Shane Sams: Yep. It's just their next step. You see what I'm saying?

Treasure S.-R.: Yes.

Shane Sams: So yeah, I would ... Whatever your best free thing is for people that would probably be a great thing to pitch on your podcast.

Jocelyn Sams: Especially as you're growing. Like as you're growing I really like the idea of pitching free things. So free training, free webinar, free video, free checklists. Whatever it is, I really like the idea of doing that.

Shane Sams: And what's the next step for your customer? If they're listening to your podcast, the next step is probably get on your email list. So like if they're on your email list the next logical thing is to buy something. So, you're always thinking ahead of what you can pitch. Does that make sense?

Treasure S.-R.: Mm-hmm, yes.

Shane Sams: So here's what I want to do. Jocelyn and I, we want action. We want to make it happen. We want to plan. So what we're going to do is we're going to figure out what you need to do more prolifically for sure, and what you can do more consistently to get those numbers. so let's try to make a checklist here. So number one, we know when you record that podcast you're pitching an opt-in every time. Let's just say it's an opt-in for now. No confusion, you're just going to pitch that opt-in from now on.

Treasure S.-R.: Okay.

Shane Sams: Okay? How many times are you emailing your list a week?

Treasure S.-R.: Once.

Shane Sams: You're going to do it Monday, Wednesday, Friday from now on.

Treasure S.-R.: Okay.

Shane Sams: And every single Monday, Wednesday, Friday you're going to mention your membership to your email list, okay?

Jocelyn Sams: So you're going to give them some value, which means you're going to point them to a podcast, you're going to point them to a piece of content, you're going to say, "Hey, check out this free thing I've created for you. Oh, by the way, did you know that I have a membership community?"

Shane Sams: So basically, here's what your three emails look like ... What day does your podcast come out?

Treasure S.-R.: Usually on Thursdays.

Shane Sams: Okay. So Friday's email is basically announcing there's a podcast because you just had one come out the day before. Hey guys, here's my podcast, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. P.S. don't forget about my awesome membership so I can help your kid get into college and you won't have to pay for it; neither will they." They'll be debt free, or whatever. All right, so there it is. Now, Monday. Okay, how many podcasts have you released?

Treasure S.-R.: 44.

Shane Sams: Okay, so for the next 44 weeks on Monday you're going to refer back to one of your old podcasts. You're going to write a little description and say, "Hey, did you miss this episode of the debt-free college podcast?" Whatever, like, "Go back and listen to it."

Treasure S.-R.: Okay.

Shane Sams: Okay?

Treasure S.-R.: Mm-hmm.

Shane Sams: Now, on Tuesday because you've got to become more prolific, right? You need to be jumping on Youtube and you need to be doing some research and you need to be doing a Youtube video, and then on Wednesday you can promote that Youtube video, okay?

Treasure S.-R.: Okay.

Shane Sams: So now we've created a prolific content strategy.

Jocelyn Sams: That's not too hard.

Shane Sams: That's not too hard.

Jocelyn Sams: You've already got a lot of the work already done.

Shane Sams: Yep. Yep, and you're just going to sit down and make that happen now. Okay?

Treasure S.-R.: Okay.

Shane Sams: Now, I want to address the money problem because you've got to solve the money problem, okay? So I wanted to ... let's circle back for two things. One, can you do more in the offline consulting part of your business to make a little bit more money? And not as much, "I'm online all the time"? Is there a way you can get more clients? Can you do more of these workshops? Can you get those consistently to make a little bit more cash?

Treasure S.-R.: Probably. You talked about substituting. I have put those ... I've applied for substitute teaching. I turned on the Lyft app.

Shane Sams: Nice. Like Uber, right? Like Uber-

Jocelyn Sams: Yes.

Treasure S.-R.: Right. We're both-

Jocelyn Sams: Absolutely.

Treasure S.-R.: We're all southerners here. We come from working class stock, so I'm not afraid to work.

Shane Sams: I'll drive anybody around they give me some money. I promise. I'll do it right now.

Jocelyn Sams: No, I love that, and you know we had somebody on a couple weeks ago who was doing Uber and Lyft. I love that.

Shane Sams: Yeah.

Jocelyn Sams: I think it's awesome. Like what an opportunity we have now. An opportunity that we have never had in years past. You know there's so many different things that you can do, and I think sometimes people who listen to this podcast or other podcasts, they think, "Oh, well you know if I don't find this perfect online product that's totally passive I've failed. If I don't find this perfect membership site I've failed." No. The whole purpose of what we do is so that we don't have to work for somebody else. It doesn't matter what that looks like. Maybe it looks different for other people. Maybe it's a means to an end like what you're trying to do. I love it. I think it's great.

Shane Sams: My job, like I go back to coaching, and my first job was an unpaid internship at a high school. My next job was a pretty ... I got like 200 bucks a month to be a graduate assistant in college, right? I was working from 7:00 AM to 11:00 PM seven days a week for like three years of my life. But that led to me being a head football coach. That led to me being a defensive coordinator, which led to me having a sales page that could show my expertise and sell a playbook that made a lot of money online. So like that's where you're at right now, is yeah if Monday, Wednesday ... Imagine this: imagine this is your online business right now. Okay, are you ready? Let's say that Monday, Wednesday, Friday you get up, and you write your emails because that's what you're supposed to do, right? Maybe Monday you go ahead and record your podcast. Maybe after you do your podcast you go ahead and you knock out the Youtube video and you've got it. Okay? So now, all you have to do the rest of the week is Wednesday send an email about the Youtube video, and Friday send an email about the podcast.

Shane Sams: Then take like Saturday, Sunday to, you know, serve your members in your community, right? Tuesday/Thursday sounds like a good day to drive for Lyft and go to substitute teach.

Treasure S.-R.: Right.

Shane Sams: Right? And you immediately inject more cash, you're immediately ... you're still growing your business. Maybe you find 10 more members quick, and now we're like, "Okay. We're going to solve the problem. We're not going to talk about the problem." Right?

Treasure S.-R.: Mm-hmm.

Shane Sams: And if you do that consistently, and ... Let's just imagine if you did that from now until next year. Let's just imagine that was your life in the next year. Is your business going to grow? Is your online business going to happen? Are you going to find more ... If you create 50 videos and 50 podcasts and write 150 emails over the next 52 weeks, everything's going to move forward. It's just a matter of doing it. Right? And not getting lost in all the shiny objects and things like that. So you're going to have more cash. One day for subbing is for you and your family. The other day for subbing and Lyft driving is for ads for your business to make it grow, right? Cash comes up, content comes out, consistency. You're being prolific, and if you just do what it takes for a year from now it's like eating good and working out, you're going to look better. Right? Your business will look better if you do that too. So ...

Treasure S.-R.: True, true, and it's ... What you're saying is really resonating with me because it's almost like I have this incredible present that I want to give to people, but I can't get in their houses to give it to them because when I got that zero balance sheet from my son's school, it was like a hallelujah, you know time of rejoicing.

Shane Sams: His acceptance letter? Is that what you mean? His acceptance letter?

Treasure S.-R.: Not just the acceptance letter. The fact that he would not have to pay anything, Shane.

Shane Sams: Yes.

Treasure S.-R.: I built a system that guess what it's called? The Get Debt Free Blueprint, wonder where I got that from?

Shane Sams: Rob us blind baby, rob us blind. It don't even matter.

Treasure S.-R.: It's designed to help you get your kid into college and do it debt free. I am fanatical about getting it into the hands of parents. So, if riving for Lyft and substitute teaching is going to give me a way to get in the door and serve people then that's just what it's going to have to be.

Shane Sams: Yeah. I read a ... There's an amazing book ... Aw gosh, it's like ... Aw I can't remember this. It's like the Greatest Salesman and it's about this boy who's the apprentice for a merchant back in like biblical times. Right? So one of the things this merchant sells is this expensive like silk robe, right? Great book. It's only like a hundred pages. Ogden is I think his name or something. But it's called The Greatest Salesman. But anyway, you can download it for free if you're listening to this too. Just type in The Greatest Salesman. So he gets this robe and he's like, "Okay, you're going to go sell this and if you want to be my apprentice you have to prove that you can sell this coat." So he's about to go out into the big city and he wants to go to all these rich neighborhoods and the guy kind of grabs him by the shoulder and turns him and goes, "No, no, no. You're going over there to that city." And he's like, "That's the poorest, dirt-poorest city. Everyone in that entire community couldn't possibly pool their money and buy this coat." And he goes, "They won't even listen to me."

Shane Sams: He basically says, "They won't even let me in their house," and the mentor basically looks at him and says, "You don't know that. Go knock on every door and see." That's what you've got to do right now is you've got to go knock on every single door until they let you in and you can give them that present, and you've got to go ... Sometimes you've got to beat the doors down to make your online business ... It ain't Field Of Dreams. It ain't "I'm going to build it and they're all going to come." No. Everybody's over there, you've got to go to them just like I did on Twitter, just like that shepherd guy did in The Greatest Salesman, and just like-

Treasure S.-R.: Right.

Shane Sams: Hey listen, every time somebody gets ... if you do Lyft, every single time somebody gets in your Lyft car look back at them and go, "So, you have kids going to college?" You know what I'm saying? Be like, "Let me show you how to do it debt free."

Jocelyn Sams: Or, do what Shane does and every time someone gets in your car make it your goal in life to get your podcast on their phone.

Shane Sams: Every time I get in an Uber, Lyft car my number one ... I always sit in the front. Jocelyn kills me. I'll leave her in the back. I get in the front with them and my goal before I get out of that car is to hit play on the Flipped Lifestyle Podcast. I'm like, "You're an entrepreneur, you like driving around, what if you could do an online business?" And I'm 100% in Lyft and Uber vehicles getting my podcast. I leave and the first thing you hear is, "Hey y'all ..." and we get out the door. Oh my god.

Jocelyn Sams: This really does happen.

Shane Sams: Hey man, ABCs.

Jocelyn Sams: If you're an Uber or Lyft driver that we have been in their vehicle, and this happened, then-

Shane Sams: Shoot us an email.

Jocelyn Sams: ... sorry, not sorry.

Shane Sams: Yeah you're listening to this right now. Okay, so let's go back. Okay. Now, overwhelming, but a plan, but the most important thing is always what you do next. So what's something you're going to take action on in the next 24 hours to make this a reality? To make this plan happen?

Treasure S.-R.: In the next 24 hours I'm going to record my podcast, but I'm going to make it be a special podcast where I tell my story. Then I'm going to email my list about the podcast.

Shane Sams: Nice. That's awesome.

Jocelyn Sams: Love it. I think that is a great plan.

Shane Sams: All right guys. Treasure, that was a great conversation with you today. I know you've got an amazing action plan and also ll the things that you talked about and shared, I'm sure there's a lot of people out there that are listening to this podcast. They're going to get a lot of value out of this show today, but before we leave we always like to close our show with a Bible verse. Jocelyn and I get a lot of our inspiration from the Bible and the teaching and God's word, but we are super excited today because Treasure has an amazing Bible verse that she wanted to share, so we're going to turn the floor over to her to do that.

Treasure S.-R.: Yes. You know, there are no coincidences, and this Bible verse was given to me through something I was listening to this morning. It's Proverbs 31:16 through 18 and it's about a wonderful woman and what she does, and it reads: "She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard. She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks. She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night."

Shane Sams: God knew we were going to have a plan today about getting in Lyft cars and subbing and making things happen!

Treasure S.-R.: Yes! (singing) Come on.

Shane Sams: He knew we were going to tell you that.

Jocelyn Sams: Having church in here!

Shane Sams: He knew we were going to say that and he put that verse in front of you this morning to prepare you for this podcast. I know he did.

Jocelyn Sams: I love it.

Shane Sams: I know he did. That's amazing. Well listen, Treasure, we are super proud of you for what you've already accomplished. It is no small feat to get 15 members in a membership site and we always say, "If you can find one, you can find 101, 1001," so we just got to go find 1500 of those people. So not only you can make a living and you can do it, but you can help them and give their kids a future too. Awesome stuff. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast today and sharing with everyone.

Treasure S.-R.: Thank you guys.

Shane Sams: All right guys, that wraps up another episode of The Flipped Lifestyle Podcast. What an awesome, awesome story of perseverance and an awesome plan of action that Treasure's going to be on, and we know that she's going to be super successful. We know that you can be successful too in your online business and we want to help you change your family's future. All you have to do is go to flippedlifestyle.com/free. That's flippedlifestyle.com/ F-R-E-E and you can start a one month free trial in our Flip Your Life community. We have all the trainings that you need to start build and grow your own online business just like we did, just like Treasure is doing and we will be in the forums on the podcast and on the member calls to help answer your calls, help you figure out what to do next. That's flippedlifestyle.com/free to start your one month free trial today. You can cancel anytime. There's absolutely no risk. No reason for you not to get started on this amazing journey. We will be there to help you take action.

Jocelyn Sams: Bye.

Jocelyn Sams:  Are you okay with us mentioning your former rap career?

Treasure S.-R.: Oh, of course.

Jocelyn Sams: Okay.

Treasure S.-R.:  Shout out to the '90s, they shaped us all. Right?

Jocelyn Sams: That's right.