Honestly, I had to look in the mirror to see what how was I holding myself back? Like I'm not perfect. I know, I know like the business is in place, like we have team, we have a we had a good amount of people doing good work, we had SOBs in place, like there's just something wasn't clicking. And and I knew it was me. I had to look at them and it was me holding ourselves back. It was me and I looked at my comfort zone. Like, what am I doing that I can do differently going into the new year? And it was right around the end of 2021 that I started to lay this foundation. What can I do differently that would get a different outcome? And even if it was completely outside my comfort zone.

Welcome to the Agency Hour podcast, where we're welcoming back Jen Sikowski, founder and chief officer of Rainydaydesign.com. Jen is a former Mavericks Club member and is now a Mavericks Club coach, and we're so excited to have her join us on the podcast. In this episode, Jen shares her story of rediscovering her confidence after becoming a little too comfortable in her business, managing her mindset, and getting comfortable being uncomfortable, and why you can't put a price tag on Pete. I'm Troy Dean. Stay with us. Alright, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the agency hour, Jen Stakowski. Hey Jen, how you doing?

Hey Troy, I'm so excited to be here.

I'm so excited you're here as well. Now we need to give people a little bit of context. First of all, you are one of our new coaches at Mavericks Club, but our journey goes way back. When when did we first, apart from meeting in real life in Philadelphia, which we'll talk about in a minute, when did we when did we actually first cross paths? Was it through one of our courses that you enrolled in? How did that work?

Oh, I I was trying to trying to figure out when it was, because I was I was picking up your content over the blueprint, I feel like way probably that was 2015 in Philly. I mean at least a year or two before that, I had I had just moved to where I'm at now in Pennsylvania and starting the business. And I I just happened to, I don't really remember how I came across the blueprint, but I was like, I need this framework. Like I need, I mean I was just, you know, like anyone else, using Google and any type of resources that I could get my hands on, and came across the blueprint.

And so before you started, just let's go back and say, before you started your agency, what were you doing?

So I come from so the I'm trying to think of like where to begin. I come from a background of a non-for-profit world. It was a non-denominational ministry. That's where I I fell in love with marketing before I knew what marketing I think was. And from there, I had started this business as a side hustle. And and it grew a year later after starting the side hustle on the side, I went full-time into the business. And then I moved 355 355 miles from where I started it and then built it from there.

Wow. Where where did you move from?

Greenfield, Indiana, between a couple cornfields, if you know.

Oh wow.

Yes.

So uh and so you where so where did your first batch of clients come from when you first started the? I'm just trying to give people a little bit of context, like because one thing I've realized over the last, you know, however long we've been doing this 10 or 15 years, is that it's pretty easy to start an agency, but it's kind of difficult to get traction and get through the first two years and actually make it into something that's worthwhile investment. So how did you get your first handful of clients? And was it just through referrals or word of mouth? How did that work?

So back in Indiana, when I first started, I was talking to someone. This is actually my second startup company. I, as a non-for-profit, I was doing event planning and I loved it. So I thought, oh, like I'm gonna be an event planner. I'll just start a business and be an event planner. So I registered a name, did all the things, set up the business. But my first client was a uh bride. Wedding planning was not for me. Let's just put that on the table. I will negotiate contracts with any hotel between anywhere. I don't care. Put me in a room with that, but give me a mother, a bride, and then a bride, I'm done. So I but I had started that. I registered my business, I set up, I worked with um a branding person locally and like set that up, worked on my messaging, built my site myself, like I just did it. But once I knew that that wasn't the case for me, I would just have like handed conversation with friends. Oh man, I really want to start a business or I think I want to do this. I know what to do. Let me help you. And it started out, I thought I was going to do design because I self-taught myself enough with Adobe back when it was like CS5 and um WordPress. And so, and I was like, I know how to get my domain and um we'll upload all the things that I need to do, and like, let's write some content, and boom, we have a website, we're in business. So that's how I started out there. But once I knew I was moving to Pennsylvania, I honestly I drove out on a Monday and I had my fiance at the time, I had him give me a radius of the area around us because you know, new place, wasn't sure where I should go, what I should do. And I looked up any networking event, um, any chamber event that I could go to. I would call and sweetly harass like the um chairman of different networking groups and BIs and say, can I come and join? Or can I just meet? Is it a possibility? Or you have new members? I just went down the list and that I joined. So I do that on a Monday and I drive back on a Friday, and I did that for a month. And at from that point, I just took on any and every client. Like I just let go. I know we're supposed to charge up value, but I felt like in the beginning, I wanted to learn and I wanted to get it right. So I put the work in. I took anything and everything, started doing websites for 250. But then um, an individual had said in one of his mini videos or emails that I received, he said to increase your pricing by 35% every single time until you get pushback. And I heard you say that. I don't remember what it was on, but I did it. And I started out with, like I said, 250, 500, and I just kept adding. And even now, when I open up a new product, I'm like, well, that went really well. So that was almost too easy. Let me increase the pricing. And I just repeat that.

Awesome. Love it. He was a very smart individual who said that. I remember that video. I actually remember that video that I made because it was one of the most common questions how do you increase your pricing? I'm like, well, you know, once you've done it, it's it's just a decision. It's easy to increase your pricing. You just decide that it's worth that much, and then it is worth that much. Um pricing is completely arbitrary. So uh this sounds like you were hustling in the in the beginning to get the the clients, and then we met in uh in in Philadelphia at one of our masterminds. Was that 2015, really?

I I I think it was 20.

I think it was 20 no, it was 2016. It was the end of 2016 because I remember after Philadelphia I got the train up to New York and I was in Manhattan having lunch with a bunch of customers, and my wife sent me a photo of a pregnancy test, and we were pregnant with Oscar. So that was the end of 2016.

Yeah, okay.

That's right. I remember that. Um and then so and then I remember you joined Mavericks Club for a period, and you were the business was growing. So just walk us through now, here we are in 2023. What does your business look like today?

It's surreal. So I have a full service team. Um, I recently hired in the last in September a operations business manager. So she's been getting me completely out of it. So we have um our team consists of for support, it's the operations business manager, project manager, executive admin, we have developers, SEO specialists, um, copywriters, and um I'm slow, I'm like the over the last year, I've been completely getting out of the project management, and which is awesome. My goal is to be completely a founder in my business, which I thought it was a 10-year goal. But right now, I think I'll hit it before I'm 40, to be honest with you.

Wow.

And about two years, yeah. I mean, and probably even before that, just because of the processes and the systems that we have in place. So we um I don't know, right now we have clients all over the US. We um have a pretty gr good referral network. I'm in BI and Chamber, but like locally, we could just continue to be referred out, and that's done really well for us.

That's amazing. Congratulations. Well done for for I mean, you look back on the journey now and think how many, how many times have you got to a point where it's like, I'm gonna burn it to the ground and go get a job. It's too hard.

Oh, I'll tell you exactly when it was. It was 20 um 2021. We made it through 2020, okay. But then everyone, I don't know, it was like funding started pulling out for clients, and we, I was literally praying, I need this amount of payroll, I don't know where it's gonna come from. Like I and then I I turned 10, our business turned 10 that year. And I thought, I don't want to do this anymore. And I don't know, come to Jesus talk, I knew I wasn't done yet. So in a year's time, we increased by 72% in sales. Wow, and yeah, and right now we're on to double that. So it was wild when Donnie reached out and was like, hey, like how would you feel about coming back to Mavericks? I was like, that it just seemed so timely. It was like full circle.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I set my six-figure goal in 2015, right around that time. Um, because I think you rolled out uh the North Star, and there was a lot of exercises about like what's the end game, what's the point here? And I started to like set those audacious goals then, and it was like fast forward now. I hit that goal, and now we're about to double that goal, and it's just awesome.

That's great. Um, well done, congratulations. What what what what do you think? What what is the a lot of people get to that point where they're they're feel like they're done. I've been there several times myself. Uh, you there is a moment where you have to have a conversation with yourself, you have to kind of take yourself aside and go, listen, man, like what are your options here? You know, your options are if you fold this thing up, like, what does that look like? And what about your team and and how are you going to serve these clients? And uh, you know, how does that, you know, and then you kind of play it out and you're like, well, I don't want to do that. And you have to kind of reset and refresh your energy. What's your and a lot of people walk at that point. A lot of people are just done, they just they they throw the towel in because it's too hard and they're burnt out. What was your process? How did you get yourself back in the right headspace? And what changed do you think that allowed you to then increase by 72% in the in the following 12 months?

Um, okay, so faith plays a big part of this uh in my world. And so like that was probably the biggest like just coming to terms with do I have peace on moving forward because I knew it was gonna take work and I had to get out of my own way, or am I do I have peace if I just walked away? Like if I just handed it off. I already had someone in mind that I could call up that I knew would take care of my clients and my people. But that that was like the first point. So I had to find out because I was told that you can't put a price tag on peace, and I did not feel peace on having someone else step in at the hard work that I had drugged 10 years across this line. I didn't feel like I was done. So then part two of that. I honestly I had to look in the mirror and to see what how was I holding myself back? Like I'm not perfect. I know, I know like the business is in place, like we have a team, we have a we had a good amount of people doing good work, we had SOBs in place, like there's just something wasn't clicking. And and I knew it was me. I had to look at them and it was me holding ourselves back. It was me, and I looked at my comfort zone. Like, what am I doing that I can do differently going into the new year? And it was right around the end of 2021 that I started to lay this foundation. What can I do differently that would get a different outcome? And even if it was completely outside my comfort zone. And I had the and what I was, it was back networking. Like I would talk to people, we had a podcast, like I would be on the videos and no problem. But for whatever reason, like getting back out in that networking game, I lost a little of my mojo when I first moved in, you know, and hustling and knocking on those doors. So that was the first thing. So I found a networking group that would work with my schedule and my kids, and I just did send. Like before even thinking about it, I just like put my money in. I was like, I don't like here's my application, I don't need to see anybody, just I'm here, I'm ready. And that's what I started doing. And I feel like that mindset of just identifying what was what I could do to get a different outcome that I knew that would yield results, that was what kind of opened up the floodgates. Because that alone opened, yeah.

Do you do you think it was post-COVID that would that that was that was the reason that you were like hesitant to get back out networking? Or were you like out of practice because you'd been through lockdown? No, do you think it was you you just got comfortable in the business getting the referrals and you felt like you didn't need to hustle? Like why why had that activity slowed down that you identified, okay, is it was it the kids, was it being a mom? What was it you think that slowed down the networking activities? And then you said, okay, this is the thing that needs to change.

Um the first thing that came to mind is yes, I think I was comfortable. And I found we know the growth comes from outside of our comfort zone. And I was I was comfortable in this like little bubble, and we were doing okay, but I was in this bubble. And then two, honestly, I let a client, a big client, who left it was 2020 or early 2021, that that we parted ways, and I did not I don't know how else to say this, but I didn't speak up or speak my truth. I didn't force to say that we just come off 2020 where everything changed and we can't expect the same outcome doing the same things, and so there was I there was just some friction there that I felt like I I kind of took like a hit. My ego took a hit of that because I didn't stand up and I didn't speak up, and I think that yeah, that just like stuck with me. So then I I kind of kind of pulled back a little bit because I was starting to second guess like, do I really know what I'm talking about?

Like, yeah.

So I I think those two things was played a massive role in why that what held me back.

Yeah, 100%. Uh uh confidence is such a big part of being a business owner because you are constantly putting yourself out there, you do second guess yourself, and it takes one bit of feedback that uh you know, if you start questioning yourself, that's a very slippery slope. And uh self-talk is so important and just having those conversations with yourself to kind of be your biggest fan, if you like, to kind of continue to encourage yourself is really important. I've heard this before. A lot of mentors of mine have said to me that every problem in a small business is usually a manifestation of something going on between the owner's ears, right? And I know this to be true. Like whenever things have been rocky in my business, I need to take myself off for a walk and listen to some podcasts and listen to some positive affirmations and get my head back in the game because And I can attribute it to something going on in my life or in my head where I've dropped the ball or I'm not, you know, I'm not being the leader that I should be, or we're just not taking enough action in a particular direction. And that has caused these problems in the business. And then, of course, when there are problems in the business, that feeds your anxiety as the business owner, which then that anxiety remanifests in the business, and it's a kind of a virtuous cycle. The other thing that I wanted to mention here is though that I think what's really important in this lesson is that you took one very simple action, which was applying to this new networking group, paying your membership, putting it in, going, here I'm done, I don't even need to talk to anyone, I'm not thinking about it. You took one step in the right direction, and that opened up a pathway for new growth. Um and I think the the analogy that I've my wife and I always say is, you know, if if if you if you put your runners on and you put your running clothes on, your brain goes, Oh, we're going for a run, are we? And before you know it, you're out the door and you're going for a run. Whereas you can walk around the house for three months talking about going for a run. If you don't put your running clothes on, your brain doesn't engage in the activity, right? So just taking one small action, sending one email, picking up the phone, putting your running shoes on, one small action in that direction, and all of a sudden your subconscious takes over and the the universe conspires behind you and says, All right, here we go. This is what we're doing right now, yeah?

Yeah, 100%. And it's it's amazing too of just like getting comfortable being uncomfortable. Like, how many times can you put yourself in an uncomfortable situation but knowing that it's gonna be okay? Like, and that's something else too that I constantly go back and like I am safe. Like, this is not that flight or flight, you know, like thing that comes in. It's like I I I'm I'm I'm not nothing crazy is gonna happen. Like, this is good, this is okay. And like taking those few moments to just be nervous, but then do it anyway. Talk like has helped me.

Yeah, because because your your mind is um my wife's a psychologist, right? So I'm kind of privy, I guess, and and privileged to have access to a lot of the frameworks that she uses with her clients and the stuff that she's learnt. We're very clear that she's not my therapist. Uh, but I do learn a lot from just talking with her. And I've had a lot of therapy over the years and I've kind of studied a lot of this stuff. And one of the things we know is that the mind will try and protect you whenever it thinks you're in danger. And so, you know, you're right, sitting in front of a computer, right, pushing some buttons, no one's about to die, no one's bleeding, there are no fires, right? Like you're safe and the brain is just trying to protect you from being embarrassed or looking stupid or whatever. And uh it's it's really it's a good thing that the brain is doing that, that the mind is doing that because it's part of your survival. But just checking in, going, thank you, I understand what you're doing, but I'm safe, there's no danger here, and doing it anyway is such an important life skill, I think, not just a business skill. But stuff especially when you talk about parenting, which I'm not going to talk about parenting because if I do I'm gonna do it in a tears. Um that is like the freaking hardest thing in the world, parenting, right? Running a business is a piece of cake compared to parenting.

Right.

And even as a parent, you you you have that anxiety about, well, you know, is this safe? Who is safe? Are we safe? And you're constantly just like keeping the mind at bay so that you don't become a helicopter parent and your anxiety doesn't feed into your kids. And it's a whole it's a whole uh uh rabbit hole there. Um what what what is apart from your faith and apart from the self-talk, what else do you do to look after yourself as a as a individual and as a human so that you can bring your best game to the business?

I love this question because I feel like I've worked really hard to lay out my non-negotiables that I need to do every day. So I because a part of that work during that time, I also looked at like how can I be better than what I was yesterday? How can I be a better parent, a wife, a mother, a leader? Like, I started to do all of that that work on paper and just taking time to think through it. Um, and for me, and I did the exercise, I keep coming back to that North Star exercise and having to go through like where do you want to be and who do you want to show up as, and like writing that out, and then writing it out who I applying that as if I am that person now. Um I identified that one, I have got to get up and move my body. I am a night owl by nature, but for me to be able to set myself up for success every single day, I need to be up before my kids come downstairs. I need to have myself together. I need to do certain things of a night before to prepare for morning gin. So that way morning gin is successful. So it's like I have a pretty um solid workout routine. I like to feel physically strong, I like to feel active, and and I like to set that example for my kids. And so um I try to hit the gym three times a week boxing. I train with a trainer on Thursdays, and then we have stuff at home. So like that's a non-negoti, non-negotiable. Obviously, if the child's up in the middle of the night, like I'm not gonna be at the gym at 5 a.m. But that's the goal. And then um, Time with Jesus, when I have my coffee before they come down, I try to read a nonfiction book every single day, whether it's like self-development, leadership. I'm reading the coaching habit right now just to get better essays. Mr. Simon Kelly, shout out to him for him sending that to me. Yep, and um, so I'm studying through that, and so I do that, and then I look at my schedule and I set my intentions for the day, and usually by that time, kids are running down the steps. So, like that and just being mindful for like sleep, and I've been really trying to set boundaries with my schedule because I have a kindergartner at home, and pretty soon, like I have a week in about a week left of school, and then I'm gonna have them home for the summer, and then she's full time into school in the fall with my son. So I've been trying to be very mindful of pulling back and saying. No to meetings or just being present because I I'm just been very aware this year about being present with the kids and in my family because I don't want to give them crumbles. And I'm like, I have a business that should support this. My business should not lead me. And I'm very ambitious and driven, and I've let that get out of scale, you know, with that balance. So right now, like that's been my focus is just I want to make sure that I'm filled up before my day begins.

I love it. I love this so much. I love this so much. I'm totally going to share this episode with my wife because um I have been uh because she's very organic and and kind of like the whole like setting your routine for the day just does not vibe with her at all, right? And it does with me, but it's I find it really hard. I've just kind of fallen into our kind of family routine, which is you know, we like the kids come in for cuddles every morning in bed, and we kind of rise, you know, we sort of up about seven o'clock, and you know, my wife and I just not exercising at the moment at all. We've just moved house, it's been very disruptive. Anyway, you know, first world problems tonight on the boring show. Troy's gonna tell you why he's not exercising. Um, and you know, I said the other day to my wife, if it's like we've we've been saying this for years, if it's not in the calendar, it's not gonna get done. Like it would be we have an exercise bike out the back uh in the in the back living space. It would be so easy to get up at six o'clock and just go for a 45-minute ride before the kids wake up. But it it is it is it's if it's not in the calendar, if you don't make that commitment to yourself, it doesn't happen, right? And I I've learned a lot from Michael Hyatt over the years about uh living intentionally and having so he has like Saturday afternoons, he has uh he has spontaneous time in his calendar. He and his wife have like four hours on a Saturday afternoon where they have like, hey, we can do whatever we want because we we've scheduled spontaneity. So they don't have any scheduled activity, they have scheduled free time. And they're like, Do you want to go to the movies? Yeah, do you want to go to the museum? Awesome. Because we don't have any family commitments, we don't have any work commitments, we have just got these satellite four hours every Saturday afternoon where we hang out as a couple and we can be spontaneous, right? And my wife is like, Well, that's not spontaneous, that's scheduled, that's like too many schedules, and I just want to be more organic and see where things go. And I'm like, I know I get it, but then things get sacrificed, like exercise or like you know, whatever it is, because it's not scheduled and it's not in the calendar. So I'm totally on board with what you're doing. I have full focus planners and best self planners all over the place, and I've tried to use them for years, and I get three weeks into them, and then I drop the ball again. So I'm admiring your discipline around this. Um, and I love the fact that you said you planned the night before so that morning Jen just gets up and does whatever last night Jen has planned, right? I love that mentality. You got two kids who are like, you know, eight and six, similar age to mine, a little bit older. How the hell have you managed to say stay so disciplined around this stuff with two young people in the house?

Well, another one-liner comes to mind of just do your dishes. I think there was might have been an explicit word in there, but like do your dishes.

Yeah.

Um that someone had told me, I heard him say in a MavCon years ago, that also like kind of plays into that is I know if I just get it done the night before, set out my work clothes, yeah, I don't know, whatever. Just do it the night before, it helps. Um, with the kids, I like honestly, I try to make them a part of it. So like I we go in and like let's set out your clothes the night before, and like let's pack your lunch the night, and that, but I also know that the best well, I don't I mean, I believe this, I don't know, I believe this to be true. I'm not an expert, but I know I can lead them by example, and that drives me because I don't know, like in that the whole point, right? Like, yeah, 100%. And so I I just know that that that look fuels me. And plus, like I get a high off that progress that I'm making. Like I see be able to check things off and being able to see that growth or see our bank accounts growth, or we just hired another SEO specialist. Um and even like with that mindset, like I set 10 years from now when I was gonna be a founder in my business, I wanted to coach. And like, and then Johnny reached out. So I don't know, I just believe that when you set that attention and then just kind of let things work it out, it's amazing.

I agree 1000%. Like you if whatever you tell yourself, and I this is why I'm a big fan of speaking out loud to myself in the third person in the present tense. So I will say, not I won't I'll say things like I won't say like uh Troy is growing a you know eight-figure a year company. I'll say Troy owns Troy owns an eight-figure a year company. Even if that's not true right now, the only difference between right now and it being true is time and the and the actions that we take in between now and then. So if I say Troy owns an eight-figure a year company, my subconscious goes, oh really? Oh shit, well then we better do this and we better do that and we better do this because that's what owners of eight-figure a year companies do, right? And if I say, like, so the one example is with your, you know, weight loss is a great example, right? If you're trying to lose a little bit of weight and you focus on the weight that you're trying to lose, you'll never lose the weight because you're focused on the outcome. You're not focused on the process and the actions you need to take. If you say, I'm a healthy fit dad in great shape, and then I go to the shops to buy some food, I make a healthier choice because my subconscious says, hang on a second, you just told me you're a healthy fit dad in great shape. Well, healthy fit dads don't eat hot chips for lunch three times a week, right? Get the salad instead. And they don't drink beer every night, just drink it on the weekends. So you make healthy choices because you're telling your subconscious healthy messages about who you are right now, not who you want to be in the future. And so I I fully believe that if you if you set your intentions and tell yourself what those intentions are, that you kind of your subconscious or whatever it is just goes into overdrive to work towards making those things true because it's very difficult. And what you said before about peace, it's very difficult to live out of peace with yourself. Right? Very difficult to live inconsistently with your beliefs. And so if you tell yourself what you believe, and by the way, isn't it a great thing that we get to choose whatever we want to believe? I can believe whatever I want. And if I tell myself what my beliefs are, my subconscious doesn't doubt it. It says, Okay, well that's what we believe, let's get on with it. Let's do the things to make that true because we believe it, so it must be true.

Right?

So it's a bit of a hack that I think you know, and and I think it's really um you do have to be intentional about yourself talk and what you tell yourself, because if you don't, you leave yourself open to the rest of the world putting their stuff in there, and their stuff is not designed to help you, right? Their stuff is designed to help them, right?

Right, right. And like time. I always come back to like the little things. My husband tells me this all the time. Um, is the little things equal add up to the big things. So if I can do the little things, then those will roll into the big things. Yes, and then time, because like I I try to cram as much as possible, basically, in like two days a week. I have um I have a great family support here, so like someone's helping with my my uh in-laws are taking over the kids, and so I'm able to have two days dedicated time a week, and then whenever they're in school, but it's like I have this amount of time to work this amount of schedule into that workload, and it's like reprogramming myself. I always try to catch it, and I don't know where I heard this from, but when I say like I don't have time for that, it's that's not a priority right now, and that kind of like tricks me into reprioritizing what matters, and and that's like a constant, like I've not mastered that because that's constantly with my lists and what I need to get done. But that seems to help with the being intentional is when I truly look at what my priorities are and allow my to-do list drive that.

Love it. Um I just want to segue a little bit back towards kind of the agency space. I mean, everything we're talking about here is relevant to anyone listening, but particularly as a business owner, like just everything we've spoken about here is I think is super helpful. It's even helpful for me just to remind myself of this stuff that that that I know. I'm really enjoying this conversation. Um you so you Johnny reaches out to you. Johnny Flash is one of our coaches. Uh, he he you and he know each other really well. What happens? He reaches out, I because I had no idea this was happening, right? Like full transparency. I'm I'm so far out of the kind of day-to-day in this business now, which is great, that I just get told, oh, by the way, uh, we're talking to a potential new coach in the States. I'm like, oh great. Who is it? And someone says Jen Sikowski. And I'm like, no way, get out of here. That's awesome. Um how did that conversation happen when Johnny reached out to you? And and what made you decide to say yes?

Remember that comfort zone that I just told you. But well, so I I meet with, I've kept in touch with several of the, we call them the OGs from the Mavericks.

Uh-huh.

And and him, like I adore him and his wife. Um, their style and business and and all is very similar, it resonates with my own. And I don't know, we've kept in touch. We we've meet regularly, um, and like a little a little inner circle type deal. And so we have via Slack, you know, keeping in touch. And um he just messaged and said, Hey, like, I think you would be good for this. Like, you know, this is a great opportunity. We're looking for coaches. What do you think? I think my first, I don't know for sure, but I'm pretty sure I just asked, Are you sure? Like, are you sure? Because like, I'm I'm not leading a multimillion dollar business. I like, are you sure? And he was like, Oh, I think it's great. And and he's seen the growth too. And I mean, I had been on those calls where I'm like, I'm about ready to sell. Like, I'm I don't know what to do, and I'm like, and so you've seen those roller coasters. So I think that kind of played into it. Um, but then the reason why I did it, I mean, obviously, I was like, I need to think about it, say a little prayer about it, talk to my family, because I knew it would add a little bit more to my schedule and um to meet those time zones. But it really came down to like this is a great opportunity, and I love to love on other people. So I instantly wanted to say, well, okay, like let's do this. I was like, hold on, like I have to make sure like it's gonna be aligned with everything on the home front. But it as uncomfortable as it is, and I I do, I feel like a little bit of an adequate adequacy of since I'm new to the coaching game, but I also know that I mean we coach clients all the time on making decisions for their marketing and their businesses. Um and and I started coaching other clients that are like, oh, like I'm really struggling with our culture, I'm really struggling with operations, and I'm like, oh, like I have processes for this. And so that has happened organically on the side. So it was the same time that I'd opened up that arm of my business, is when Johnny reached out. So it just seemed right timing.

Yeah, awesome. Well, I'm super glad you're here. Um, if you had a superpower, if you had to say, This is my superpower, what do you think is your your sweet spot or the thing that you do that you're really proud of or that you've really nailed in the business?

I'm really proud of our team culture. I have team members all over the US, in the Philippines, and in Canada. And they have drank the Rainy Day Design Cool Kool-Aid. I mean, we are overshares in Slack, like they lean on one another, our culture values, they talk about, like they work without me. I think like that is what I'm so proud of is that I get to lead that kind of a team.

The work without you and having them kind of connect as a family and have that shared vision and shared values is so important because that's the only way that you can get them to make decisions without having to check everything with you, right?

Right. 100%.

What what are some of the things that you've done to foster that culture and get them kind of all moving in the right direction? Like how how have that, what what are some of the things you've done to get them to drink the rainy day Kool-Aid? Right. So Rainy Day Design is the name of your business, just for everyone listening. What have you done to get them to drink the rainy day Kool-Aid?

Um originally is it was in 2018 that I went through a rebranding process and I leaned on the team that I had then of hey, like we need to update our our not only our branding, but also our messaging and our um, and at that time our culture. So I looked at our values and I went through and I I started the conversation, but I left it very open-ended, and we had this big online meeting to where I was just like, what do you guys think of this? Let's talk through that. And we had a big brainstorming meeting around that, but everybody got to contribute. And I think like that, allowing a space to where I always tell them, like, I don't have all the answers. I look to you to tell me no or to get out of the way, or like let me know your opinion. And um, that kind of laid that foundation. And then from there, we also like came up with our own team guardrails of like, well, when we're handling situations, here's the line that we want to stay in. So, like, almost like the that thou shall not, or like this is how we handle, we always are positive, even when the client is clearly having a bad day, like those type of things. They came up with that, so it almost like gave them permission that they could they make decisions on their own. And then from there, it was just reinforcing um open lines of communication with feedback. I'm constantly trying to ask, like, how did that go? And now we have retro meetings and all after projects, but even when I do my meetings with the cli with my team members, is there anything like how am I doing as your the boss or leading in here? And I try to truly listen and then apply what they say. I don't know. I could I could go, I love this kind of cop topic, like everything from just I allowing them to lead, but I provided the SOPs and the direction. And then given where we're trying to go and who we want to contact and who we are targeting, I put all that found work that foundation in place, but then I kind of let it go, right? Like has done his best, even if it's not my way or how I would do it, and the fact that they took over and then they're working with one another with and finding out the solutions without having to find me, like that's golden to me. So I just try to like continue to encourage that.

Absolutely, and just getting out of the way and letting them do their thing, and you realize that you're not as important. Yeah, it is, because also you're you're so confronted with the fact that you're actually just not as important as you'd like to think you are, because they can kind of do it without you, and then you kind of have to go, well, what's my role? What am I supposed to do here? Um, so which is a very confronting thing, but ultimately when things if things go, you know, sideways with family, or you need to step out of the business and do something else for a minute, and and the team are capable, or you just want to take a vacation and the team are capable of running the business and delivering value and running it profitably without you, that's the goal, that's the dream outcome, right? So uh putting those structures in place is super important. I think we should get you back on the agency hour at some point, or a live stream in the Facebook group, we'll have this conversation. And we do like a deep dive on those, like if you're onboarding team members, what do you do from day one to get them to drink the Kool-Aid and make them feel relevant and make them feel like they're making a really important contribution to build that team that can actually run the business without you? I know Johnny Flash has done a great job of this as well, so maybe even you and Johnny jump on and do a session about this. I think that would be super valuable for our audience if you're open to it.

Oh, definitely. John, I contribute a lot of where I started with hiring from Johnny.

Because he's good at it. He's very good.

Yeah, and that's the that's what's so great about the Mavericks community is that when you find something that's good and you share it with someone else, that you're able to season it for your own business and learn from one another. And Johnny has been so open to like, here, this is how we've done it, take it. And that's what we build off of. So shout out to Johnny.

Awesome. Hey, are you coming to MavCon in October in Virginia?

I'm planning on it. I am planning on it. I have a backup for the kids if my husband has to travel. So I'm unofficially, officially saying yes.

Awesome, love it. Well, I seriously hope you can make it. I can't wait to come out and hang out again and see you in real life. It's been too long. Uh, I'm so pumped that you're back here as a coach. It's just I feel like, you know, I feel like it's we've come full circle and it just makes perfect sense. So thank you for contributing some of your time, energy, and expertise to the Mavericks Club community. And uh yeah, look forward to hanging out again in real life soon. And thank you for coming on the Agency Hour Podcast.

Troy, thank you so much. It's I mean, it's been truly an honour to come back and be back in the Mavericks family.

Awesome. Thanks, Jen. Bye for now.

Thank you.

Thanks for listening to the Agency Hour Podcast and a massive thanks to Jen Sikowski. I can just chat with you for hours. Jen, it's so great to have you back in the Mavericks family, and we can't wait to see what an impact you're gonna have as a coach. Okay, folks, don't forget to subscribe and please share this with anyone who you think may need to hear it. Now, are you getting paid to close clients? Unlikely. So, right now, we're guaranteeing you can get paid to close eight new clients in the next 30 days. That's right, you heard that right. Eight new clients in the next 30 days, and you can get paid to close them. If you'd like to chat with our team about how this works and how you can get paid to close new clients, click the link beneath this episode. Let's get to work.