FL271 - We help Kahkshan choose a direction for her online business

In today's episode, we help Kahkshan choose a direction for her online business.

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Jocelyn Sams: Hey y'all, on today's podcast we help Kahkshan choose a direction for her online business.

Shane Sams: Welcome to the Flipped Lifestyle podcast, where life always comes before work. We're your hosts, Shane and Jocelyn Sams. We're a real family that figured out how to make our entire living online. Now, we help other families do the same. Are you ready to flip your life? All right, let's get started.

Shane Sams: What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to the Flipped Lifestyle podcast. It is great to be back with you again, today. We are super excited to welcome another member of the Flip Your Life community on to the show, and we're talking to someone literally on the other side of the planet today. So let's welcome Kahkshan Ali from Saudi Arabia. How you doin'?

Kahkshan Ali: Fine, thanks. Great to be here. Thanks so much, Shane, Jocelyn.

Shane Sams: We worked about 30 minutes on pronouncing your name. Even though, we've talked forever. You're so good to me when we talk on coaching calls, 'cause you just let me butcher your name 'cause I'm from Kentucky and I can't speak.

Kahkshan Ali: Yeah, no, it's fine. You guys actually said it very well, so thank you, I appreciate that.

Jocelyn Sams: Okay, awesome! We love talking to people in our international community. We have people from all over the world, and we love to travel, we love other cultures. We're fascinated by them, so we just love talking to you every single time, and we can't wait to dive in here with you today.

Kahkshan Ali: Great! Me too.

Jocelyn Sams: All right, let's jump in and talk a little bit about you. Tell us about you, your background, and what you're doing so far online.

Kahkshan Ali: Okay. Well, I'm actually a dentist, and I was really interested in doing something online for a couple of reasons. I know there's a lot of information available on the internet, but I felt that trying to come up with a course for moms and parents with young kids. Having something all in one place with some fun videos and some things that are a little bit more interactive. I wanted to try and do something like that just to be able to educate and help people, because I get questions anytime I go to like a dinner party, "Oh, you're a dentist. Oh, do you mind?" So it's like, "Okay."

Kahkshan Ali: So I thought it'd be nice to maybe try and provide some valuable information online. Which, is where everyone is going nowadays.

Shane Sams: So this is basically, this is a career offshoot type path that you've started with. So there's multiple paths that people start with online business. Some people, they go really into the passion. Some people, they go really into the hobby. Some people, they go into entertainment, but a lot of people, this is how we started out, we looked at our work. 'Cause it was where we knew the most information about a topic, period, when we started. I was a football coach. Jocelyn was a librarian. It was just a natural way to say, "Hey, I know this. I'm trained in this. I can create content fast, and I can try this out."

Shane Sams: Probably in the dentist office, just like it is when we go anywhere in a business setting, when people find out what you do they think that you have all the answers. Then they always ask you the same questions. I would guess you were getting the same questions from every parent and every kid, and you're like, "Man, I could totally make a course about this, and tell everybody what to do with their kids and their dental hygiene", right?

Kahkshan Ali: Right, exactly. Yeah, the same thing. I thought to start off it would be easier and, as you said, faster. Just because this is my field of expertise. I've been a dentist for 25 years now. So I thought this would be a good place to start, and then could move on after I did this to see what else I can maybe try. 'Cause I do have other hobbies, and other passions and things. I do love dentistry, but then the future, there's so many other things that there's so many other possibilities when you're doing online digital courses and stuff.

Jocelyn Sams: Absolutely. I want to go back just a little bit further, because people who are listening to this might be thinking, "Okay, well, she doesn't sound like she lives in Asia." So you have a very American accent, so tell us a little bit about that. How did you get to where you are now? Where all have you traveled and lived in the world?

Shane Sams: How long have you been in Saudi Arabia too?

Kahkshan Ali: Well, I've actually been working here for 20 years, but my family, we've been living here for about 43 years. So we've moved here when I was in fourth grade. My dad got a job. He actually had two options. We were in the states, so that's why I have the American accent, 'cause we actually moved from America here.-

Shane Sams: Since you were four, right?

Kahkshan Ali: So we lived in the Midwest.

Shane Sams: You were in fourth grade, right? When you moved from here?

Kahkshan Ali: No, actually I was born in Pakistan, and we moved to the states when I was three and my dad was getting his training. He was an otologist, so he was doing all his residencies and stuff. So we lived in Illinois for three years, Massachusetts for a year, Buffalo, New York for a year. Then when my dad was done with his training he got a job offer in either Louisville, Kentucky, believe it or not, or Saudi Arabia. I actually wanted to move to Kentucky, because I wanted horses. My dad's like, "Well, if we move to Kentucky, you can maybe have a horse." I'm like, "Oh yeah!"

Kahkshan Ali: We were just planning to move here just for two years, just to kind of try it out, and also be able to travel and see other places and stuff. My parents ended up ... We liked it, and we've been here now 43 years. So I've been going back and forth between the states for all my training and education, and stuff like that. I actually have been living and working for the last 20 years here.

Shane Sams: Wow, what an amazing life experience to be able to bounce all over the world like that. I remember when we first met you and you first joined the community, and every time you would post, or we would leave a message, or we would talk on a call, it would be like, "Where are you now?" 'Cause you were just like bouncing back and forth from the United States over to there. You were traveling so much for trainings and conferences,-

Kahkshan Ali: Oh, that's right. That's right.

Shane Sams: ... and other stuff, I never knew where you were. I just assumed we were talking in an airplane in transit somewhere, basically. Let me ask you this. We're gonna go some different directions later in the podcast. You did pick this direction, and you said something very interesting, 'cause you wanted to go in and just start doin' something, and figuring it out. So many people won't do that, because they want to pick the perfect idea, but what have you learned since you just got started?

Shane Sams: You started with the dental thing, you wanted to go, there's other things you might go into. You might push this a little more down different directions, but how has it been a benefit for you to just get started even though this wasn't your quote/unquote home run, final idea you may ever do?

Kahkshan Ali: Well, what's been so great is that you guys have so much information available on your website and everything. So that was one of the things that's really been helping, because as you said, I'm thinking to do other stuff later, and partly maybe even do some coaching. You can use all of the material and everything really for anything. Once you get all the tech stuff out of the way, and how to setup and do one course, then you can just do other courses even if they're in different subjects, or something.

Kahkshan Ali: So to me, that's what's been so beneficial, because even though I was starting off trying to figure out what I wanted to do, now I've just realized that for someone like myself, some people already know exactly what they want to do. They want to stick with it, they've got their business, but for someone like myself, who really was still trying to figure things out, this has been so helpful-

Shane Sams: Just to start and basically figure out all-

Kahkshan Ali: ... just to start, exactly. Yeah, exactly.

Shane Sams: ... the tech, and all the courses. 'Cause the building blocks are the same. It doesn't matter what you're doing online. You're gonna create a video, you're gonna create a handout that goes with the video. Once you know how to do that, it might take you a few months the first time, but then it takes you a month the second time, right?

Kahkshan Ali: Exactly, and you guys have everything. You've got how to do an ebook. How to, as you said, the funnels. How to do WordPress. Everything is here in one place. Which is amazing, because before I was trying to find things all over, and it was getting really frustrating. So when I came across Flip Your Lifestyle, I'm like, "Oh my gosh! It's all here in one spot!" It was awesome. I was like, "Yes! Finally!" It's such a timesaver.

Shane Sams: How did you come across? There's a little delay to you guys in the podcast today, 'cause we're so far apart. So we may talk over each other a little bit. We'll try edit it out, but that's okay. How did you find us? Just listen in on another interview, or in an article, or like ...?

Kahkshan Ali: It was an article I was doing on Google search. I don't even remember what words I had typed in. Something came up about 'Oh, there's these two teachers'. I think there was a couple articles in some of the news. I was reading the article, and it said, "Oh, Shane and Jocelyn. They've been doing this for ... And they were two teachers, they've quit their jobs, they're doing really well financially, and their lives have totally changed." I thought, "Oh, wow! That's really great. That's the great success story." It wasn't just one article, there was several places, 'cause you don't wanna be ...

Kahkshan Ali: Obviously there's so much out there, and you're like, "Oh, is that really true? Is it something that's gonna work for me? Is it just working for them?" And that kind of thing. There was multiple places where I was finding information about you guys, and I'm like, "Okay, so this sounds good." Then when I went to the website and I saw it, I'm like, "Ah, okay. This is the real deal."

Shane Sams: It's amazing to me that we live in a world ... I'm actually preparing a talk for something I plan on speaking at next year, and it's about rural opportunities; because in Kentucky, and in a lot of rural places around the world really, the world is changing so fast, a lot of old legacy industries like coal, and fossil fuels, even just factory based things, a lot of things are changing and leaving, and being replaced by robotics and all of this stuff. There's a really big void. People don't understand that there's, or that people don't see opportunity because all the old ways are changing, right?

Shane Sams: One of the things that we're talking about lately is, guys, we live in literally the most remote place in Kentucky. We're surrounded right now by a forest and mountain. I'm looking out my window, I don't see other buildings. We are as rural as it gets, right? We have this ability to create, right here, we're connected to the internet, and reach out and someone on the other side of the planet in Saudi Arabia, can find us, connect with us, and work with us. The same thing where you are, you are in another country, but you literally could have a thousand clients in America, and it could all be done from your living room.

Shane Sams: It's just amazing that we live in a place where you can find each other, we can connect with each other. You can research and make sure each person is legit, right?

Kahkshan Ali: I know, exactly.

Shane Sams: All that opportunity is just out there if people would just take it.

Kahkshan Ali: Well, I think that's what I also really liked was like in the beginning when you're doing the blueprint that you guys offer, what I loved was that the first thing you did was having the big goals, and dream bold dreams. You really have to have that right mindset, and start taking that action. You have to go through that step first. It's really easy to kind of poo-poo, and be like, "Oh well, you know, do I really need to do that? I'll just move on. I'm gonna just move on to the tech stuff. Let me just ..."

Kahkshan Ali: So I really like the fact that you had that as the first part of the blueprint. I thought that was so helpful to write everything down. It really gives you that clarity of what you really want to do.

Shane Sams: You can't hit what you don't aim at, right?

Kahkshan Ali: Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

Shane Sams: So you gotta aim first, basically.

Jocelyn Sams: Yup. You gotta know your destination before you can decide on the journey to get there, and I think a lot to times, like you said, people skip over that step and it's so critical. Let's talk a little bit about that. Let's dive in to what you want. What is your ultimate goal with starting this business?

Shane Sams: Because you are a dentist, you've had a great career. You're within a great career, right?

Kahkshan Ali: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Shane Sams: So by any stretch of the imagination, or anyone looking outside in, professionally you're successful. What makes you want this to be your next step, and where do you want it to go? What is your destination?

Kahkshan Ali: I'm actually planning on leaving dentistry in about a year and a half. The reason being, it's been a great career, I've really enjoyed it, but I've been working in a hospital as an employee. Which is great, but I've got an eight year old daughter, I feel like she's really missing out on mom spending more time with her. She's really saying it, and things like that. So to have that freedom, to be self-employed, to be able to spend more time, and to be able to work from anywhere in the world, that's what I was looking for. I thought, "What can I do that gives me that capability?"

Kahkshan Ali: That's the reason that I'm actually trying to get courses and other things, to try and make a passive income eventually. So that's my primary goal when I joined Flip Your Lifestyle, was to figure out how to do it, get all the steps, and then hopefully make that a success. My daughter, like your son, I think you were saying, she enjoys ... She's like, "Come on, let's do some YouTube videos, mom." So she enjoys that kind of interaction and doing that stuff with me, and I thought, "Well, that's really nice that's something we can do together also." So building on that. I thought, "Why not?"

Kahkshan Ali: So that's what I'm planning to do, right now, as I said, to do the dentistry. First of all because I do want to give something back to people, and just I know that there's a lot of sometimes misinformation, or people just don't really know where to find it. Just like that's what I liked about your website was everything's in one space. I'd like to build up, hopefully, and have everything in one place. One location for people to be able to find answers quickly, easily, and in a bright, more video format versus just reading.

Shane Sams: Sure. Jocelyn and I were talking about this. We were taking Anna Jo to her cheerleading team's practice last night, and we were talking on the way like, "What is the real appeal?" It is making money, and it is doing all those things, but the universal truth for everybody in the world is time and control of that time; and like you said, control of that location. That's really what the value is of what we do, is we get to work from anywhere. We get to work from home, and we get to control that time with our loved ones. Last week, my mom, I got a phone call, and my mom had fallen and broken her back. When we got there, me and my oldest brother got there first.

Shane Sams: We found her laying on the floor, and she was paralyzed. She was completely paralyzed. She couldn't move.

Kahkshan Ali: Oh my god.

Shane Sams: Yeah, and this was a Monday. It was crazy because for the last year Jocelyn and I have been wrestling with starting a homeschool for Isaac and Anna Jo. This was the first day of homeschool. We had just-

Jocelyn Sams: We finally pulled the trigger, and then the very first day-

Shane Sams: The very first day.

Jocelyn Sams: ... we get a call two hours later that his mom is laying on the floor.

Shane Sams: It was unbelievable.

Kahkshan Ali: Oh my gosh!

Shane Sams: We had just finished with our second lesson ever, and my mom called me on her phone and said, "I've fallen. I'm in the floor. My back's ... Something's wrong." So I throw on my sweatsuit, I race over there, find my mom. We call an ambulance, we take her to the emergency room, and they're like, "Her back is broken. We have to drive her to this other hospital. It's about an hour away. You can't go with her, we'll meet you there." I went with her, and I ... Was I there for three days, Jocelyn?

Jocelyn Sams: Yeah. I think you stayed three days.

Shane Sams: Yeah, I was there for three straight days. On the way there I shot a message to our assistant, said, "Cancel all of our calls, we've got an emergency." Then it hit me as I was driving back on the fourth day here. Where I kind of made the tag, and I traded out with another one of my brothers so that I could come home and whatever. Then when I got there, as soon as I got there, I went and got a hotel room. Didn't even think twice about it. That was like the home base for everybody to take a shower and go back and forth. I stayed with mom one night, and I realized driving home, online businesses and self-employment gave me the freedom to stop and take care of that, right?

Shane Sams: It could've been a disaster. It could have been scheduling work. It could have been not having enough money for the hotel room. It could have been all of these things, but all of the stuff that we did five years ago, where you are now, figuring this out. What direction are we gonna take? Led to that moment, where not only did we have so much control of life that we could homeschool our kids, and work from our living room, but when someone needed us, we could be there. That was our big goal, and our bold dream when we started. Was to be able to be there when someone needed us, right?

Shane Sams: It's just an amazing thing to see. We always hear that over and over again. It doesn't matter how much money people want to make, or what their goals are, it always comes down to that. My eight year old daughter needs me. I wish I could be there more for my mom and dad. If there's not a motivation to make online business work, that's it. That's what you gotta move onto to make it happen.

Kahkshan Ali: Exactly, yeah. When you're being asked of your why's, I think that's what really it is for most people, is having that freedom of time and being able to, as you said, to be there for your loved ones when you need to be.

Jocelyn Sams: Absolutely. Well the cool thing is, that you know where you're going as far as you have a goal, you have a destination in mind. So let's talk about actually getting there. I know that you've been doing a lot of training, and that you're just preparing and trying to figure out what you wanna do. Let's talk a little bit about what's holding you back right now. What kind of fear, or mindset struggle, or obstacle is holding you back and making you kind of paralyzed from moving forward?

Kahkshan Ali: Originally it was that whole perfectionism, it's just so hard to get rid of. Kind of like, "Oh, well, it's gotta be perfect, and I've got to do everything perfectly. If it's not perfect I can't move forward, and I'm just gonna stay paralyzed, basically, unless I figure it out." So that's what was originally was holding me back, just trying to do everything just the right way. Instead of just saying, "Okay, you know what? I can take some action, even if it's imperfect action, but that's what I need to do to keep moving forward."

Jocelyn Sams: I think that that's really interesting, because I feel the same way, and I think that this is partly due to ... I don't know if I want to say our upbringing and our education, but in the education system that I grew up in, and I assume you probably did too, it's like everything is graded. So you know how close you are to perfection. Does that make sense?

Kahkshan Ali: Yeah, exactly.

Jocelyn Sams: Yeah. So I was just thinking about this. As you grow up, and you're in school, you make an A, and I don't know if you're anything like me, I assume that you probably were, you want to get all A's. You want to make sure that you're checking all the boxes, and you're doing everything correctly, right?

Kahkshan Ali: Exactly.

Jocelyn Sams: Then when you get into entrepreneurship, or starting to build a business, there is no checklist. You can find a checklist, but it's not necessarily right. You get into a situation where there are a lot right answers instead of one right answer like you've grown up to know your entire life. I think that's hard for some people. That's hard for me, because I like to know the expectation, and work towards the expectation in the structure that has been set out for me. When you get into this stuff, there is no structure set out for you. So you sort of have to pave your own way. That's hard for a lot of people. It's hard for me.

Shane Sams: It's also like, look at your background. You're a dentist. You kind of need some perfectionism there.

Kahkshan Ali: Yeah, exactly!

Shane Sams: "You know, I got like four of your teeth straight, but this one's a little crooked, but you know, it ain't gonna matter.

Kahkshan Ali: Right. Oh my god, I know!

Shane Sams: "It's just gotta be done."-

Jocelyn Sams: And there's probably-

Shane Sams: That doesn't work there!

Jocelyn Sams: ... there's probably some ambiguity in dentistry, just like there is in everything else, but for the most part there's probably a set set of procedures that you follow for the most part, right?

Kahkshan Ali: Exactly, and I love doing cosmetic dentistry. That's my favorite. It's just so gratifying to have people who hated their smiles, weren't smiling, and it's just tremendous. I'm so picky about when I'm doing that kind of work. So then to come to this, and be like, "Okay, now what do I do?"

Shane Sams: There's a fundamental thing there you said about that word ... I've never thought about this, but this is fascinating what Jocelyn just said, 'cause I never thought about that either. We always have this perfection that we're trying to push up to in society, and then when you're an entrepreneur, that goes away, and you get to define it, right? But that word cosmetic, cosmetic, you do have to go into that perfectionism. You gotta get it as close to perfect as possible to make it look good for the person.

Kahkshan Ali: Right.

Shane Sams: But what we do online, and what we do to help people solve problems is not always cosmetic. Sometimes it's really fundamental. Some people it's cosmetic, "I've got to do this", but for my mom last week, it was like, "Oh my god, let's not end up in a wheelchair." That's mission one. Well, mission one is don't die. Mission two is don't end up in a wheelchair. Mission three is, can she get up and walk around her house by herself? When we're solving big problems, sometimes that's where the perfectionism doesn't have to be there, it's just, "What's the next step? What's the next improvement? How can we get a little better each day, and then how can we help someone else get a little better each day?"

Shane Sams: We do this all the time because we're talking to you today about we're getting ready to fork that road in the direction, right? We got a message last night from a member of the Flip Your Life community who just went over a million dollars. They crossed over the dollar amount and said, "I just made my first million dollars online-

Jocelyn Sams: Which is amazing.

Shane Sams: ... through the Flip Your Life community." So their next step is something totally different than your next step.-

Kahkshan Ali: Exactly.

Shane Sams: The cosmetic person is totally different than the fundamental person who just needs a change, right? Our job as leaders, and your job when you start leading people is just to say, "Hey, what do they need from me? What's the next step for them? That's what I got to give them. I don't need to give them my version of perfect, or the world's A+, 100, or anything else, it's just the next step. If you can do that, you can make an income for yourself, you can spend more time with your daughter, and you can help a ton of people.

Jocelyn Sams: Okay, so we're definitely going to work on overcoming that, and knowing that perfectionism is one of those things that really, most of the time, is just an excuse for people not to move forward. So knowing that, what else can we help you with to help you move this thing forward?

Kahkshan Ali: For me, honestly, at this point I probably need a little bit more help with tech stuff, but that's why I've got that coaching I'm getting from you. It's just fabulous, I can just pick up the Voxer, and call like, "Help me. I can't figure this out."

Shane Sams: It's awesome that you're in the all-access program too, 'cause we talk over an app called Voxer, which is Asynchronous communication back and forth. When you're dozens of timezones away, that's really beneficial.

Kahkshan Ali: Although I'm not sure if Shane appreciates it, I think it was Thanksgiving, I'm like, "Shane, I hope you're not at dinner yet, but ..." He's like carving the turkey.

Shane Sams: I love it. I love it 'cause I was bored waiting on dinner. So I had something to do.

Jocelyn Sams: We work all the time, because we love what we do. So it doesn't really feel like work. Sometimes you hear from us on holidays ...

Shane Sams: I rode to practice last night, and I was looking at my schedule all day with homeschool and everything else, and I looked at my schedule, and I said, "When am I gonna talk to all the Voxer people?" And Jocelyn goes, "While driving to practice." I'm like, "Oh, yeah." So I just penciled it in, in the car.

Kahkshan Ali: I think, for me, now would be like the course is almost finished, and then just to learn, because even now when I'm reading stuff on the website, and looking at all the different information you have I'm just trying to actually how to get the sales funnel, how to get people to it. For me, that's like the next area that I'm not really too sure. How do you get that membership list? I understand that you want to try and get people's emails and stuff, and get a list so you can send them more information. I think that's, if I've got it in my mind, if that's the correct steps.

Kahkshan Ali: I think for me that's, right now I just want to learn all the ... as we were talking before, just learn all the steps. Just 'cause it's totally new to me, this area, just be able to on that once first short, whatever course, just get it out there and start just finding out. In terms of, I'm not so worried about whether it's working or not working, but just to know that there's actually people out there who I'm reaching. Even if it's a small number to start off with.

Shane Sams: I love the way you asked that question, because, and this is true for everybody, it sounds like you're really confused about what even to ask for help next, right?

Kahkshan Ali: Yeah, kinda.

Shane Sams: And that's okay. So many people think they got to figure it out, but they can't even figure out what they're supposed to ask to do next. It's kind of like when you go, you probably see this in your dentist, you go to the dentist, and you're like, "My tooth hurts, I think. Something's hurtin' in my mouth. I don't know what's goin' on." And they don't even know what to ask you, like, "Hey, do you think it's a cavity, or could it be my jaw muscles are tight and causing tooth pain?" They don't know what to even ask, and then that's why you have us!

Kahkshan Ali: Yeah, exactly!

Shane Sams: 'Cause what you're saying, you got to the point where you're like, "I kind of want to know people are looking for this, or whatever." But what I really heard, 'cause I've heard a thousand people ask me that same question in that same way, is, "I've got to figure out how to go find people for my product, because eventually I'm probably not gonna sell this dentist product, but if I have the skill of creating traffic and driving it into a sales funnel, I know that I can sell that other thing too." That's really where you're at right now.

Kahkshan Ali: Yes, yeah.

Shane Sams: The basic flow of everything that goes find a problem you can solve, create the solution, or at least outline the solution that you know you can create, right? That's the faster way to it, but whatever. Then create the product, and then you go find existing traffic who is looking for your product. Then you create something that you can throw in front of them to make them stop, right? Imagine there's a road going by, and you're like, "Man, everybody in the car driving on this road is exactly my perfect customer, but the problem is they're all going 80 miles an hour past me and they don't even see me."

Shane Sams: So we have to figure out a way to insert a red light, or insert a stop sign, or least put a yield up to slow em' down enough to take a glance in our direction. That's where you're at now is that, "How do I get in front of existing traffic? How do I go out and say, 'Where are my people already hanging out? Where are my people already searching for information, and how can I do something to stop them?'" If the same reason there's big trade shows, and ten thousand people will show for a ... I don't know. Jocelyn used to go to trade shows for commercial dishwashers.

Jocelyn Sams: It was super exciting.

Shane Sams: It was exciting.

Jocelyn Sams: Actually they were food shows and they were kind of exciting.

Shane Sams: Yeah, it was.

Jocelyn Sams: 'Cause there was food everywhere.

Kahkshan Ali: Yeah, food shows I can ... Yeah, I'd like some food shows. We just had a chocolate ... I couldn't go to it, and I was so bummed, but they were having this big huge chocolate expo here in Riyadh.

Shane Sams: You can just eat all day, you know what I mean?

Kahkshan Ali: Yeah.

Shane Sams: Then over in the corner of the chocolate expo was Jocelyn's commercial dishwasher example.

Jocelyn Sams: Which, was clearly the coolest space.

Shane Sams: Clearly the coolest space. Basically she knew that there were people there that owned restaurants that needed that dishwasher, and she was the marketing coordinator. So that's where the traffic was, and now she's gotta figure out a way to make some of that traffic stop. Well the first thing she's got to do is be in the arena. So she goes and buys a booth. She puts her dishwasher in, then she's gotta figure out a way to stop them. How do you get the people that are literally walking by to stop and look at your thing?

Shane Sams: That's your next step is find where those people are looking for this stuff, right? It might be YouTube, it might be Google, it could be podcasts, it could be a thousand different places online, right? Then you have to figure out how to make them stop and look at you. That's where promotion, ads, and things like that come in. Anytime you get your product then the next step is find your people. I love that this time of year ... Football coaches are a weird creature. They're so busy from August to November, they're like, "Nothing matters but the football season."

Shane Sams: Well last week a hundred people joined one of my football groups on Facebook. You know why? They all got beat, and they're playbooks didn't work. So guess what they're doin' right now? They're looking for Facebook groups about new playbooks. I know where they are, I just have to get them to stop, and that's kind of where you are right now. So that's what we gotta do next for this particular business, is figure out where people are looking for this information, and how can we get in front of them?

Kahkshan Ali: Well, that sounds ... Yeah, as you said-

Shane Sams: How does that sound, honestly?

Kahkshan Ali: That sounds awesome, because as you said, even just the terminology for me, when I hear you talking about, "Okay, well we've got get traffic into the sales funnel", I'm just like, "Okay, all of that stuff ..." I'm getting a little bit used to hearing a little bit more, but when I first had joined I'm like, "Sales funnel?" I'm going, "Funnel?" All I could think, honestly, it just sounds so ... It's kind of embarrassing to say this, 'cause I feel like I'm an educated person, but I thought of, I'm just like, "The only funnel I know are funnel cakes at a carnival."

Shane Sams: They're delicious, by the way.

Kahkshan Ali: I'm like, "Funnels?" Or like, "Tornado funnels? I don't know. What is a funnel?"

Shane Sams: We put the fun in funnel. That's what me and Jocelyn do, right? It is confusing, all those terms. That's why we use analogies so much, because it is really hard to wrap your brain around what ... I didn't know any of that either when we started. What was it, six years ago now? We didn't know what sales funnel was. We didn't know what email marketing was. We use all these terms, and throw them around like they're easy now, but nobody's really ... you're clueless on it. Even from that trade show example, most people have not been to a trade show, but everyone's been to a local carnival, or an amusement park.

Shane Sams: There's people there wanting to spend money to have fun. So what is the guy at the dart booth with balloons do? "Hey come over here! You wanna have fun! Five dollars, you can throw five darts at the balloons!" Or the guy you by, it's like, "Five bucks, two shots, hit a three pointer. If you hit one you win a basketball." That's what you're doing is you're going where people are already ready to do what you want them to do, and then you just say, "Hey! Look over here." That's all marketing is. It's getting people's attention, but you want to get the right people's attention.

Shane Sams: If Jocelyn took her commercial dish washing booth to a football coach's clinic, she set up over in the corner, and she was like, "Hey, head coaches, come over here and look over at my booth!" She would never sell a commercial dishwasher at a football clinic, right? So you just gotta pick the right place you're trying to get traffic, or you don't listen to everybody and say, "Facebook's the greatest thing ever." Well, maybe not for your audience. Google's the greatest thing ever. Maybe not for your audience. So we got to pick the right place, and find out where your people actually are, and then we create the quote/unquote sales funnel that funnels them down to your product.

Jocelyn Sams: Okay, once we get that research, and you figure out where you're gonna go as far as finding people, what is your next step after that?

Kahkshan Ali: I feel that this is really gonna help, because I'm planning on getting certified in high-performance coaching through the Brendon Burchard group. I'd actually like to then use all the stuff that I'm learning to probably set up some courses for my clients, because other than just the actually one-on-one coaching calls that I would be doing with them, I'd like to have an area for them to go and ... Oh my god, I'm just coming up with this idea right now, actually. I'm having a sort of A-ha moment, which is great talking to you guys.

Shane Sams: That's awesome.

Kahkshan Ali: Yeah. I'm just like, "Oh my god, I'm getting like ... Oh this is awesome!", because I've been going through the coaching, I've been getting a lot of training done and everything. You don't even have to take notes, but I find that little missing piece for me, I'm also a visual person, and I really enjoy looking at YouTube's, tutorials, and videos. I've got lots of things, I've signed up at Udemy. So for me, if I was a client, I think I would really like to have a place where modules are set up with some of the information that I'm getting from my coach, I can review it and see stuff visually, and really be able to master that material even better.

Shane Sams: Yeah, and who do want to coach in your coaching practice? In High-performance ... What is it called, High-performance ...?

Kahkshan Ali: High-performance Coaching, yeah.

Shane Sams: High-performance Coaching is from a guy named Brendon Burchard, who's a really great speaker, and he trains people with really evidence-based, scientific-based processes for coaching people in any field. Whether it's business, or whatever. Who are you wanting to coach when you set this up?

Kahkshan Ali: I want to coach people who either want to change careers, or they're at a point in their lives where they want some change. 'Cause for me personally, that's what happened, and also some of the other people that I met who've gone through the coaching program, things just weren't feeling right. There's another lady that I know that's done the coaching also. She was a successful musician. She works in an orchestra in one of the cities, so all that was well and good. Just like myself. Professionally I'm happy, but as I've said, I want to move on now to something else. So to have coaching available for people who really just need some clarity as to what they want to do with the rest of their lives.

Kahkshan Ali: I also don't really feel that it's ... For me personally, it can happen, 'cause I'm talking to a lot of younger people also. I don't think it necessarily is people who are older, who are mid-career, or end of their careers. I think even for younger people nowadays, there's so much opportunity out there. It's kind of like the shiny ball syndrome. It's like, "Oh, I could do this. I could do this." Even just to help the younger age group.

Shane Sams: So basically take a younger person ... Basically you've done this for 20 years, and you're like, "Man, I want to do something different, but what if I could catch somebody before they were doing something different, and they could make a different choice, or whatever." You want to have a 30 year old person make that decision instead of a 50 year old person make that decision.

Kahkshan Ali: Yes, and really be able to help them make sure ... There's so much pressure that comes sometimes from parents, or family, or society, just whatever, things we've built up in our minds. I just want to really make sure that people, when they're choosing what they want to do, that they really, truly are happy and passionate about it. It can really help them be able to choose everything. It's not just looking at, let's say, a good income. You can make some great incomes, but then you might still be a nine to five employee. Is that what you want?

Kahkshan Ali: Everyone's different. Everyone's comfort levels are different with different things; or do you want a lifestyle like the one that we're pursuing with doing digital. Just to be able to give them the choices and help them to get that clarity, and pick what they really want to do.

Jocelyn Sams: Okay. I guess the question that I would have is, where does this fit in? Is this something that you plan to do soon, or are you going to try to finish your other project first?

Kahkshan Ali: I'm actually gonna try to finish the other project first, because my training is not gonna be happening till April.

Shane Sams: And we're talking right now in December of 2018.

Kahkshan Ali: So in April of 2019 I'm gonna be getting certified. I'm not gonna be able to do any coaching until the certification process is over.

Shane Sams: But you really want to be prepared out of the gate 'cause you're working on this stuff right now. This has been about a six month process. You're learning all the tech. You wanna finish learning everything, and then get onto the point, right?

Kahkshan Ali: Right, and just like you said, if I learn how to do sales funnels, and marketing, all that stuff how to get traffic so that when I do set up the next course, all that stuff I'll be able to do that much faster.

Shane Sams: Okay. This is a good example then of putting the thing you want later until you're ready to actually go get it, and doing what you do now. I would set a goal at least eight weeks out from when you know you're gonna get certified and be confident. This is more, I wouldn't call what you're wanting to do Coaching as much as Mentorship. There's a difference. Mentorship, Coaching, and Consulting are three totally different things. This is more of a mentorship thing, it's letting someone be able to get that 20 year head start based on your wisdom, right?

Kahkshan Ali: Yeah.

Shane Sams: Before you do that. So you should probably set a goal about eight weeks out. Which would be what, February-ish? Of, "I need to transition, not away from this thing, but this thing needs to be on its own and done so that I can start building everything up." 'Cause you don't want to wait until you're ready to something to do something, you want to have the foundation built. It's like you don't show up for the first game and just go out and try to play, you practice it before the first game, right?

Kahkshan Ali: Right.

Shane Sams: So you're ready for the first game. Maybe that would be a good goal to set here towards the end of this podcast, is look, let's finish learning all the things you need to learn. Let's create an eight week plan from now that says, "Okay, I'm gonna learn these remaining skills that I want to learn. I'm gonna spend X time on each one of them, and then at this point this thing is gonna go into more of an automation, not back burner, but side burner kind of thing. I now have learned everything that I need to know. I go finish my certification and then I launch the next day." It's not like, "I wait till June."

Shane Sams: It's like, "I got it in April. My website's set up. My thing's set up. My payment's set up. I've started already writing blog posts and building traffic for it, and I am now ready to take my first customer immediately." Right?

Kahkshan Ali: Yeah.

Shane Sams: If you plan for that then out of the gate you can go get those first four or five clients, you're ready to rock, and you can start promoting it from there.

Kahkshan Ali: That's great, thank you, because I would have been like, "Oh, okay, well ..." Then that's that perfectionism part coming back in, like you gotta just do it in a certain way, and, "Well, I can't do anything until I finish my certification." Kind of thing.

Shane Sams: That's like saying a lawyer doesn't get know what law firm they're gonna work at until after graduation. They all know! They've already been hired! 'Cause they just tell them, "I'm graduating whenever." So same thing here. What's the saying? You gotta prepare for rain. You got to plant the seeds now so when it rains the seeds will grow, and it's gonna rain sometime in April.

Jocelyn Sams: All right. We've had a very interesting conversation today, and I can't wait to see what you do next. With that in mind, let us know what is the one thing that you plan to do within the next 24 hours or so based on what we talked about here today?

Kahkshan Ali: I think for me, the next step really would be to go back to the Flip Your Lifestyle blueprint, and I just want to review some of the stuff regarding sales funnels and the marketing aspect. Also, how to find where my people are.

Shane Sams: There is a training in there on traffic.

Kahkshan Ali: Yes, exactly.

Shane Sams: There's another one about researching first. There's a key word research video, and then the traffic video. So you can go through it in that order.

Kahkshan Ali: Yeah, and then there's that sales funnel master class you guys have too. I want to do that in the next 24 hours, review all that information, and then to Voxer you, and be like, "Okay, now what?"

Shane Sams: That's what it's there for! Awesome. Well, listen, this has been an amazing conversation. One thing we love about you is you are an action taker, and you are patiently unstoppable force moving forward. You're a patient unstoppable force moving forward towards your goal, and that's really what it takes to succeed. It's gonna be one of those situations where you're eventually gonna get to a tipping point, and people are gonna look up and go, "Wow! An overnight success!" They're not gonna realize, "No, it took a long time to be an overnight success!"

Shane Sams: So thank you so much for coming on the podcast, just being so open and transparent, and just sharing your journey with everybody else 'cause I know this podcast is gonna help somebody out there that's listening.

Kahkshan Ali: Well, thanks so much for having me, and yeah, I hope that someone who's just starting out like myself will be able to realize that this is a great community, a great place to get all that help. So thank you so much.

Shane Sams: All right, guys, that wraps up another episode of the Flipped Lifestyle Podcast. Thank you so much for listening. Hey look, maybe you're like Kahkshan, and you don't know exactly what to do next. Maybe you can't even figure out the questions that you need to ask to take your online dreams to the next level. Well, we can help you inside of the Flip Your Life community. Not only do we have amazing courses covering almost any topic in online business, but we also have a super active community forum. Jocelyn and I do two live member calls every single month, and you can come in and get the help you need.

Shane Sams: You can ask the questions that you need to ask, or maybe even get the help coming up with the questions you need to ask so that you can do what's best for your family. All you have to do to start a 30 day free trial right now is go to FlippedLifestyle.com/free. That's F-L-I-P-P-E-D Lifestyle.com/free, and you can start your free membership today and get the help you need to take your dreams to the next level.

Shane Sams: All right, guys, that is all the time we have for now. So until next time, do whatever it takes to flip your life.

Jocelyn Sams: Bye!

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• Flip Your Life LIVE 2019 Tickets & Registration Information
• Flip Your Life community 30-day trial

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