Breaking Generational Barriers and Building Wealth: The Mindset Behind 10x Growth

Sandra Yancey [00:00:00]:

Those of you that have ever heard of, if you invest a penny on day 1 and you double it every day for 30 days, you'll have $5.3 million.

Kym Yancey [00:00:12]:

At the end of the day, what brings you happiness? What makes you happy? What makes your heart sing?

Briana Dai [00:00:19]:

Yeah, that you had to like figure out which bill to pay, you know what I mean? You didn't talk about that stuff, but I witnessed it and I saw what you created. I'm like, well, if they can do that, then I can do that. Welcome to She Means Millions, ladies and gentlemen.

Kym Yancey [00:00:44]:

You don't want to get into that qualifying discussion.

Briana Dai [00:00:46]:

Welcome to the show. Today we want to talk about Q4 because we are officially in it. All right. And it's— this is what most entrepreneurs don't want to hear.

Kym Yancey [00:00:58]:

Okay.

Briana Dai [00:00:59]:

There are 65 working days left of the year.

Sandra Yancey [00:01:03]:

Which probably isn't even true.

Briana Dai [00:01:05]:

Yeah, because you've got the holidays.

Sandra Yancey [00:01:06]:

Yeah, you've got the holidays, the time you want to take off, you know, just all the things that happen. The quarter shrinks. And I think what happens is we often plan for a full quarter and then wonder why we feel crunched or rushed or fall short of the plans that we put in place. Yeah.

Briana Dai [00:01:23]:

So don't panic. This is not the time to panic, but this is the time to get specific.

Sandra Yancey [00:01:29]:

Yeah.

Briana Dai [00:01:30]:

So why don't you kick it off? Because we just had an amazing Momentum Masterclass within our CEO+ community. We had over 500 people on listening to your game planning for Q4.

Sandra Yancey [00:01:42]:

Yes.

Briana Dai [00:01:42]:

And you had some really phenomenal takeaways. I was looking in the Facebook group, your Facebook group, and I was blown away by all of the light bulb moments that people were commenting about how they're gonna be approaching this next 3 months differently.

Sandra Yancey [00:01:55]:

Yeah.

Briana Dai [00:01:56]:

And it was in large part because of all of your marching orders.

Sandra Yancey [00:02:00]:

Yeah, I have a very clear framework for how we plan. And to preface it a little bit is that we measure our year on a fiscal year, January to December, but our performance for the year starts in December. So that creates exponential growth. It's kind of the day zero. So those of you that have ever heard of, if you invest a penny on day 1 and you double it every day for 30 days, you'll have $5.3 million. But if you start on day zero, one day before, you end up with over $10 million. So that's what we call exponential growth. And so we've applied that in our business.

Sandra Yancey [00:02:53]:

We're certainly— I think that's helped us with kind of the traction that we've gotten with 10xing is that we've been believers of exponential growth for a long time.

Briana Dai [00:03:06]:

Which, can I interrupt you for a second? Because I just had an epiphany.

Sandra Yancey [00:03:09]:

What?

Briana Dai [00:03:10]:

This is speaking of the 10x growth. This is our very first podcast in our new studio, in our new office space, which is like the physical manifestation of this 10x journey that we've been on. What a cool monumental moment that we really need to acknowledge.

Sandra Yancey [00:03:27]:

Yeah. Because before the cameras started rolling, I think we were all sitting here in awe of just how much bigger and cooler the studio is.

Briana Dai [00:03:38]:

Yeah.

Sandra Yancey [00:03:38]:

You know, like, gosh, we've got our 3 chairs in here. We don't have to be propped up in those tall, narrow director chairs. And, you know, there's so much space between us and the tech team. And, you know, the cameras are all on Like, they look like dance poles.

Kym Yancey [00:03:56]:

Well, I think about how it inspires us. And I think about all the added activity, all the little things that we're going to be doing that really help accelerate, you know, the thinking behind your plans, the thinking behind everything you do.

Briana Dai [00:04:11]:

Yeah.

Kym Yancey [00:04:12]:

You know, it inspires me. I know myself, it just inspires me. It makes me want to do more.

Sandra Yancey [00:04:19]:

Yeah.

Kym Yancey [00:04:19]:

You know?

Sandra Yancey [00:04:20]:

Yeah. I will say I am— I am a little surprised at my own feelings around how much moving and taking on so much and buying everything new and all the things that go with that has really been a little bit of a reward for just how hard we've been working over these last 10 months. I mean, it's been so different. My role, I feel, and I know you all feel the same way, but I can certainly speak for me. It's been a monumental year of shift and changes for me, and it's continuing.

Briana Dai [00:05:11]:

Can we talk about the mindset for a second? We're going completely off script here, but I feel like I'm feeling called to go here for a second because You had a moment in this office before we were moving in that reminded me of the story of when you and Dad bought the Beacon or the house that you're in now.

Kym Yancey [00:05:33]:

Yeah.

Briana Dai [00:05:34]:

And I almost said the street name. I realized it's probably a security— security.

Kym Yancey [00:05:40]:

I'll give you my last 4 digits. Yeah.

Briana Dai [00:05:43]:

Yeah. Might as well. No. Lance would be like, no, no, no. Our pinnacle member who's in security. But I remember a moment when you two bought that house and you told me this story of standing in that house and just being like, do we deserve this?

Sandra Yancey [00:06:06]:

Exactly. I think it was more like, we don't deserve this.

Briana Dai [00:06:10]:

Yes.

Sandra Yancey [00:06:11]:

And I'll—

Kym Yancey [00:06:11]:

oh, for me, it was more like, I've got to call my therapist. I need help.

Sandra Yancey [00:06:16]:

I need help.

Kym Yancey [00:06:17]:

Help.

Sandra Yancey [00:06:18]:

I'll never forget, we'd closed on the house. We hadn't moved in because we were doing a tremendous amount of remodeling. And I was at home with you kids. And we were sitting on the couch, we were watching, you know, some movie or something. Kim came, you came in the room, you, you said to the kids, I need a moment with mom. And the two of you left and went upstairs. And you sat down on the chair and you said, I'm gonna have to go into therapy for this. You literally said that to me.

Sandra Yancey [00:06:49]:

And I said, well, let's just put the house up for sale. I mean, we don't even have to move in, which ironic, we have done. Yeah, it's a whole other story of buying a house and never moving in.

Briana Dai [00:07:02]:

Yeah.

Kym Yancey [00:07:03]:

But, um, you know, but we've walked down this path before. I mean, honestly, when we were getting, uh, out of our first apartment into another apartment that was more upscale, um, yeah, it wasn't that much more upscale, but I think We—

Sandra Yancey [00:07:16]:

it had a fireplace. Yeah. And so for us, that was, you know, really living.

Kym Yancey [00:07:21]:

Stones around it. It was really great. But I remember, I remember saying to you on the second floor, because it was a, you know, it had 2 levels, right? And I remember looking out the window with you and I said, Sandra, I said, we don't deserve this.

Sandra Yancey [00:07:34]:

I know.

Kym Yancey [00:07:35]:

And I mean, you talk about— yeah, you talk about stinking thinking. I mean, you know, but we're saying it.

Sandra Yancey [00:07:40]:

We— This becomes a pattern. I mean, we're talking that happened in Over 30 years ago, 35 years ago.

Kym Yancey [00:07:47]:

Keep in mind, I said it and you agreed.

Sandra Yancey [00:07:50]:

I did. And you're right. You're right. And, and we— and that's the power of groupthink, too. I mean, you got to really, you know, pay attention to what you're listening to. We actually drove to the leasing office to get out of the lease.

Kym Yancey [00:08:05]:

And they were out for lunch.

Sandra Yancey [00:08:06]:

Yeah, it was closed. Closed for lunch. They had a sign. And that caused us to go— and what we used to drive around whenever we were facing big decisions, we would just drive and talk. And we just said, let's do it.

Kym Yancey [00:08:20]:

You know what this is bringing up for me? No, honestly, honestly.

Sandra Yancey [00:08:23]:

And it's just realizing how many times we've done this.

Kym Yancey [00:08:26]:

No, but this is a real, real lesson. When we went to buy furniture for our first apartment, and yeah, we went to this kind of swanky store and got a couch. And it was a sectional.

Sandra Yancey [00:08:37]:

Yeah.

Kym Yancey [00:08:38]:

And we put in the couch. And we called the guy back and say, listen, we didn't measure right. We, you know, but this couch is taking over the entire space. There's no place to walk around.

Sandra Yancey [00:08:49]:

We've been living in that apartment with no furniture for a year. Okay, but crates, orange crates with, dare I say, stolen Holiday Inn towels draped over the crates with your stereo, and we had pillows on the floor.

Kym Yancey [00:09:04]:

I may or may not have been with you at that point. No, but listen, though, but metaphorically speaking, it's the whole notion that you move into anything and you know, and it feels, you know, out of balance, or it feels like this is too much, or I'm going— I'm reaching too high, you know, metaphorically, because we were just like overwhelmed with it, right?

Sandra Yancey [00:09:24]:

What did the guy say to you?

Kym Yancey [00:09:26]:

And he said, listen, just give it a weekend. He says, just stay with it for a couple days. And if you still feel that way, we'll come and get the couch. Well, we grew into it those couple— you know, you— it's interesting how you grow into things.

Sandra Yancey [00:09:40]:

You have to nudge yourself. If you wait until you're ready, you've probably waited too long, I think, has been a pattern. for us. We usually leap before we're, we're ready. And we do have knees knocking and teeth chattering and the mind talk, you know, that my mother used to say. And I believe it's based on a fable. But there's 2 wolves always, all of us living in our heads.

Kym Yancey [00:10:07]:

Yeah.

Sandra Yancey [00:10:07]:

And they are in constant conflict. They are constantly barking at each other. And one's— one of the wolves' name is Hope and Light. And the other wolf's name is Darkness and Despair. And my mom used to always say to me when she found me struggling with something, so which wolf is going to win? And she trained me to say, the one you feed.

Kym Yancey [00:10:34]:

Mm-hmm.

Sandra Yancey [00:10:35]:

And so, what I've learned is that, you know, Darkness and Despair never goes away. It's always there. But you have to be conscious about the one you decide to feed.

Briana Dai [00:10:47]:

You had your own version of that same conversation, though, where you had to feed the good wolf, not the bad wolf.

Kym Yancey [00:10:54]:

Yes.

Briana Dai [00:10:55]:

But even moving into this office.

Sandra Yancey [00:10:56]:

Yes.

Briana Dai [00:10:57]:

And this time it was a little different for you. I don't think it was so much around not deserving it, but it was kind of— was it— I would— do I dare say ageism? Your own little sense of like, what am I doing at this age to make this investment?

Kym Yancey [00:11:12]:

And do we need it? Do we need to do this. Like, you know, we can make the space that we're in, which was nice.

Briana Dai [00:11:18]:

Yeah. Work.

Sandra Yancey [00:11:20]:

And we did have like, why are we even thinking about moving? We can remodel where we're at with minimal disruption and just, you know, yeah, keep where we're at. And this was such a huge—

Briana Dai [00:11:33]:

Well, I mean, just the lobby alone. Like before we kind of had like a waiting room.

Sandra Yancey [00:11:38]:

Yeah.

Briana Dai [00:11:38]:

Not even.

Sandra Yancey [00:11:39]:

Yeah.

Briana Dai [00:11:39]:

And now we have a, like a lobby.

Sandra Yancey [00:11:42]:

With a barista.

Briana Dai [00:11:43]:

It's a lobby lounge. You know, you want to hang out there a little bit. You know, it's like a— like you walk in and it's just like a smack in the face of like, wow, this company just—

Sandra Yancey [00:11:53]:

Chandeliers. Even the guys that did— we're in a building and they do remodeling all over. And the guy said, I've, I've never put 4 chandeliers in one floor.

Briana Dai [00:12:05]:

Yeah.

Sandra Yancey [00:12:05]:

I mean, you guys have gone all out on this.

Kym Yancey [00:12:08]:

Yeah.

Sandra Yancey [00:12:08]:

And that even scared me for a minute.

Briana Dai [00:12:10]:

And it's, you know, it's— but can I tell you something that's really cool though? Because I think that the mind trash of the deservingness conversation is a reflection of the generational curses that you had to work through, that you had to break, because you both have done really well, you know, breaking out of how you were raised.

Sandra Yancey [00:12:31]:

Yeah. And so, has it been different for you? It has. It has.

Briana Dai [00:12:34]:

And it's fascinating for me— Oh, right.

Sandra Yancey [00:12:35]:

We haven't talked about this.

Briana Dai [00:12:36]:

It's fascinating for me how you both, on separate occasions, have talked to me about like, are we crazy for doing this right now? And I'm in my mind like, No, this is like, we deserve this. We've worked our asses off for this. This is like, this makes sense. This is where we're going. Like, I'm envisioning in another 10 years, our name is outside the building. We own the whole thing. You know what I mean? Like, for me, I'm like—

Sandra Yancey [00:12:59]:

Right now we're just on the marquee with others.

Briana Dai [00:13:01]:

You know, like a little bit. But it's interesting how not only did you break the generational curse for yourselves, but for my generation. Because for me, I'm like, oh, like, look at what they did. Like, the sky is the limit. You know what I mean? Like, when I move into my multi-multi-million dollar home one day, when, not if, but when, like, I'm already thinking that way. It's gonna be like, it's about damn time. You know? There's not like a moment of like, I'm gonna need therapy. My husband, on the other hand, might.

Briana Dai [00:13:32]:

But like, for me, I'm like, this is, I hope this doesn't sound conceited, but I do believe that this was maybe your goal in how you raised us was like, I'm deserving of this. Like, it's my birthright to continue to grow and to continue to expand, and not just for myself, but in the service of others.

Sandra Yancey [00:13:54]:

Yes.

Briana Dai [00:13:54]:

You know? And I really hope this isn't taken out of context because it's not like I—

Sandra Yancey [00:14:00]:

No, I think what you're— this is a very important point that you're making. What I'm receiving from you is that you were raised with a whole different context about what life can be.

Briana Dai [00:14:15]:

Yes.

Sandra Yancey [00:14:16]:

And your ability to work hard and go after it and achieve it.

Briana Dai [00:14:23]:

Yeah.

Sandra Yancey [00:14:24]:

And your dad and I weren't raised that way.

Briana Dai [00:14:28]:

Yeah.

Sandra Yancey [00:14:28]:

We were raised on, uh, lack. We were raised on, um, this isn't for us. We were raised on an overwhelming amount of caution, security, you know, all the things.

Briana Dai [00:14:51]:

Bacon rations.

Kym Yancey [00:14:53]:

Bacon rations. That's exactly right. Yeah.

Sandra Yancey [00:14:56]:

And half glasses of orange juice. Yeah.

Kym Yancey [00:14:58]:

Yeah. My dad, my dad would— everybody got a strip and a half of bacon. Strip and a half. That's it. That's all you get. And a little small juice glass. And what I did, what probably what most people do, I'm gonna assume other people do the same thing. I get my first apartment, first thing I do is I fry up a whole thing of bacon, man.

Sandra Yancey [00:15:16]:

I would've—

Kym Yancey [00:15:17]:

a whole thing of bacon. And I got a whole, like, half gallon of orange juice and set it down on the table and said, Dad, I'm having bacon and orange juice.

Briana Dai [00:15:25]:

Yeah.

Kym Yancey [00:15:26]:

You know?

Briana Dai [00:15:26]:

Yeah.

Kym Yancey [00:15:27]:

I mean, I didn't resent it. It was just—

Briana Dai [00:15:30]:

It was a fuel. It was a driver for you.

Kym Yancey [00:15:32]:

It's just— oh yeah, because my dad was phenomenal. But it was just—

Sandra Yancey [00:15:35]:

yeah, it was a driver because But it's interesting because we both have siblings and, and that kind of thing, fundamentally raised in the same house, you know, and there's something about maybe the combustion of the two of us together. I'm not sure exactly what that was.

Kym Yancey [00:15:55]:

Yeah.

Briana Dai [00:15:55]:

You guys pulled the best out of each other.

Sandra Yancey [00:15:57]:

Yeah. You know, do you feel like you're drowning in your business? Like you're doing everything and something has to give? But you're afraid it might be you. What if I told you there's a network of over 500,000 women entrepreneurs all dedicated to supporting each other? A network of women helping women. I'm Sandra Yancy, founder of eWomen Network, and I'm inviting you to join us and become a member. ewomennetwork.com. We can't wait to meet you.

Briana Dai [00:16:29]:

I think that's really powerful too. When you find your person, your person doesn't hold you back. Your person dreams big with you because it would have been really easy for you to find somebody who was raised the same way, who was like, yeah, this is, this is, this is how our life is. This is what— this is, this is our birth line. Like, this is where we go. But something about the two of you finding each other was like, no.

Sandra Yancey [00:16:50]:

We've had this interesting little dance, haven't we? I think all these years where kind of when I'm not ready for something, he's super ready. So he, he kind of like takes me by the hand and off we go. And then when I'm really ready for something, he isn't. We're a little bit of a counterbalance for that. Because you will say, and you have said to me, you really drove this move.

Kym Yancey [00:17:19]:

Yeah, there's no doubt about it. As a couple, learning to move in business and in life, And yeah, she'll have an idea. And, and you've had several things that I wasn't thrilled about initially. Okay. Didn't say it, just—

Briana Dai [00:17:38]:

Yeah.

Kym Yancey [00:17:39]:

It was my own insecurity. I think I really do. As I reflect on, I think this is my own insecurity. It's my own fear around, you know, the work it's gonna take. Are you— you've gotta think through the work and owning an advertising agency and doing plans for businesses, you know, you did all kind of long-range goal setting. And, you know, now at this stage of my life, I really do think through things. You know, I really always go to the end and then re-engineer. And when I say the end is what brings you happiness, at the end of the day, what brings you happiness? What makes you happy? What makes your heart sing?

Briana Dai [00:18:16]:

Yeah.

Kym Yancey [00:18:16]:

You know, we all have our businesses and we do the things you can do. But listen, I'm, you know, I remember after 15 years of running an advertising agency, being in a car, leaving a meeting at the state of Ohio on tourism. 'Cause that was one of my accounts. And I remember driving back to Dayton and the music was off in my car and I listen to music all the time, but something didn't resonate with my soul. I mean, it's like my soul getting in alignment with what really mattered to me and the work I was doing. They were not connected, you know, because you wanna care about what you're doing. And I remember saying to myself in the car, man, I hate my blankety-blank job. I'm in the car by myself.

Kym Yancey [00:18:52]:

I'm saying that.

Sandra Yancey [00:18:53]:

I hate my blankety-blank—

Briana Dai [00:18:53]:

And it's your business.

Kym Yancey [00:18:54]:

And I own the business.

Briana Dai [00:18:55]:

Yeah.

Kym Yancey [00:18:56]:

Oh, that was the other part of the sentence. Yeah. of the sentence was, and you own the company, you fool. Yeah. You know, I mean, you can make, make change. It really speaks to this whole, you know, fourth quarter thing too.

Sandra Yancey [00:19:10]:

It goes back to mindset. Actually, this is a very important conversation that does link directly to what we were intending to talk about.

Briana Dai [00:19:17]:

Okay. I'm glad that you found that link because I lost it completely.

Sandra Yancey [00:19:21]:

Yeah, no, because when you get ready to set your goals for the next year, you can choose what's comfortable for you. Or you can choose, you know, what, what your real potential is. The truth of the matter is, forget 10x-ing your business. It's really adopting a 10x thinking. You can't, you can't think 2x and think that you're going to accomplish something beyond that. You, uh, what you accomplish is directly aligned to what you think about. You know, what you think about is what you bring about.

Kym Yancey [00:19:57]:

Mm-hmm.

Sandra Yancey [00:19:57]:

And I have to tell you, Brianna, this is very interesting. You and I are going to have a drink over this. I am just sitting here realizing that you really have had a different experience in all of this, I think, than I have, or perhaps even we have.

Kym Yancey [00:20:21]:

Mm-hmm.

Sandra Yancey [00:20:23]:

This is worth a much longer conversation.

Briana Dai [00:20:26]:

But I think also part of, I think part of my confidence, it's not cockiness, but it is absolutely self-awareness of why I know this company is going to 10x and then 10x again, even past your involvement in it.

Sandra Yancey [00:20:47]:

Mm-hmm.

Briana Dai [00:20:48]:

Is because, not because it's my birthright, but because It was how I was raised.

Sandra Yancey [00:20:54]:

Yeah.

Briana Dai [00:20:55]:

Because I do remember the early days. I do remember going without. I do remember you burning the, not even midnight, like the 4:00 AM oil to—

Sandra Yancey [00:21:09]:

Right.

Briana Dai [00:21:09]:

You know, over those nights in the spare bedroom above the garage. I do remember the 5th floor when you first came and it was just a few offices and then it grew and then it grew again and then it got leaner 'cause technology required less headcounts. And I do, I remember all of those stages. I remember volunteering and helping you and working over the summer. Like the second that Tatiana is able to, I want her in here. I want her learning how to work and to see the growth because she's not gonna have any concept of how to, the responsibility of what it really takes to run something like this.

Kym Yancey [00:21:45]:

Mm-hmm.

Briana Dai [00:21:45]:

I think that's part of why I am programmed the way that I'm programmed. And even before coming into the company, I left, when I graduated high school, you weren't in that beautiful multimillion-dollar home. It would be really easy for me to have this air of entitlement, like, well, I don't live in the slums.

Kym Yancey [00:22:03]:

Right.

Briana Dai [00:22:04]:

You know what I mean? But I think because I remember the early stages, I was like, no, I watched my parents build. I can build too. You know what I mean? I can make a name for myself the same way my parents did. So I didn't want the handout. I remember the first apartment that I had when I moved back to Dallas was like $540 a month.

Sandra Yancey [00:22:23]:

Yeah.

Briana Dai [00:22:23]:

Which is crazy. And it was not— I mean, like, not, not, not very nice. I mean, $540 a month is nothing. Even back then, it was not very nice. And I remember Ryland coming over and then talking to him too, because at this point he was 18 and he hadn't left the nest yet. I'm like, you should move out. Like, my place is only $540 a month. He's like, yeah, sis, I wouldn't live somewhere like that.

Briana Dai [00:22:45]:

Like, but that's the difference that 5 years makes.

Sandra Yancey [00:22:49]:

Oh, there's no question the two of you have a completely different orientation. True. of expectation. 2 kids, maybe. And maybe that goes back to you can be raised in the same house, but being so far apart, have completely different experiences.

Briana Dai [00:23:06]:

Yes. And, and, and to his fairness, too, it's not that he's not willing to work hard to get nice things.

Sandra Yancey [00:23:10]:

Right.

Briana Dai [00:23:11]:

But he doesn't accept too low either.

Sandra Yancey [00:23:13]:

Yeah, right.

Briana Dai [00:23:14]:

Like he wasn't willing to start from ground zero. Like, he's like, no, I'm going to start here and then I'll build from there. Yeah. You know what I mean? And there's nothing—

Sandra Yancey [00:23:20]:

I'm going to at least have granite countertops. Yes. I remember him saying, I'm like, well, look at you, boo. You know?

Kym Yancey [00:23:28]:

I know.

Briana Dai [00:23:28]:

My first house had like the— I don't even know what those countertops were called. Like laminate something, not even a stone finish, you know? But it was what it was. And I— but I loved that grind cuz I loved feeling like I'm building my life for myself, just like I watched my parents. Cuz you didn't shield anything from us. You didn't hide anything from us. You might have not talked about finance struggles or times that you had to like, like figure out which bill to pay, you know what I mean? You didn't talk about that stuff, but I, but I witnessed it and I saw what you created. I'm like, well, if they can do that, then I can do that, and I want to do that.

Kym Yancey [00:24:03]:

Well, you know, one thing that I don't think is talked about enough is the whole notion that Sandra had her own career. She on her own can be extremely successful on her own. Yeah, not doing anything with the Women Network, just, just her consulting in education and what she does to help companies. All right, I, on this, on the other side, same thing when it came to marketing and promotion and all of that kind of stuff, um, you know, with the advertising agency. But here's the big thing, especially for those that are starting business or maybe going into business with their spouse or whatever they might be doing, but you gotta get off the fence. I mean, we were— there was a period of time, Sandra, and you know this, where in the very beginning with the Human Network If you can picture a scene out in the country and there's a fence, a wood fence, we're both sitting on the fence. One leg is on one side of the fence, the other leg is stretched over to the other side of the fence. At some point, you've got to let go of other ideas and say, look, we're going to be all in on eWomen Network.

Sandra Yancey [00:25:06]:

Yeah.

Kym Yancey [00:25:07]:

That's the only way it's going to survive. We're going to be all in. And I think what happens is people diffuse so many things. They got multiple things, multiple hustles going on. on, you know, and trying to figure it out. The power is in the focus and the attention, you know, just— I mean, literally like a magnifying glass where you put that thing up to the sun and it burns a hole in the paper because it's, it, it's so concentrated.

Sandra Yancey [00:25:32]:

I had big clients paying me a lot of money, Coca-Cola and Levi Strauss and John Deere and AT&T. I had big clients with my own consulting practice, and I was afraid to let it go because a Women Network hadn't really crystallized its own monetization model yet.

Kym Yancey [00:25:50]:

That's right.

Sandra Yancey [00:25:51]:

And so I was trying to keep that going and then do eWomen Network too. And I— there is something to be said that you can't steal second base and keep your foot on first. I mean, at some point, we just had to decide to go all in or not. And we did decide to go all in. And it was a very humbling, scary time.

Kym Yancey [00:26:16]:

Yeah. Should, should I reveal an unbelievably crazy stupid moment for us?

Sandra Yancey [00:26:23]:

Yeah, we've got many of them. Which one are you talking about? No, no, no.

Kym Yancey [00:26:28]:

As you're talking, as I'm realizing this, do you know that, um, when I left the band and Sandra and I— and Sandra was working at the bank and we were both talking about if only we could we could make a few thousand dollars more, we could go into a bigger apartment and that kind of thing. And we decided, Sandra— it was a beautiful Sunday afternoon— we decided to go for a drive. And what we did— this is so stupid— is that we, we went to all the new— just noticed all the new buildings that were going up. And, look at that building, Sandra. That'd be a good place to work, because the building represented success. Oh, that's true. The building represented success. We were, we were driving around looking for Sandra's next career move by looking at—

Sandra Yancey [00:27:18]:

We were just going to buildings and there was a building that didn't have a name on it.

Kym Yancey [00:27:20]:

Yeah.

Sandra Yancey [00:27:21]:

Yeah. And I said, just pull up, I'll go in. I'll find out what the name is when I walk in and see if they're hiring. I got my resume.

Kym Yancey [00:27:30]:

I mean, think about that.

Briana Dai [00:27:31]:

Wow.

Kym Yancey [00:27:32]:

You're driving around looking at a building that looks like a cool place to work.

Briana Dai [00:27:35]:

Yeah.

Kym Yancey [00:27:37]:

Don't know, don't know what they do. Don't know what they offer. But we'll figure it out. Back then, like, how else would you have done it?

Briana Dai [00:27:41]:

it because there wasn't like Google. You couldn't be like—

Sandra Yancey [00:27:43]:

Yeah, most buildings had names on them. This one was a nameless building, but it was a beautiful building.

Briana Dai [00:27:49]:

Yeah.

Sandra Yancey [00:27:50]:

You know, and I think it was actually a government building. Yeah. As I look back on it. And of course, you know, they weren't hiring and they didn't take my resume or whatever, but we were kind of ballsy in ways. And when I look back, we just really kind of That looks cool. Let's go do that.

Briana Dai [00:28:09]:

Yeah.

Kym Yancey [00:28:10]:

What's the business lesson?

Sandra Yancey [00:28:11]:

It's kind of like when we decided to scale down. We were like, we were thinking about scaling down or were we going to remodel the house? And we had some friends that were husband and wife realtors and they called us on a Saturday and they were like, hey, if you're going to remodel, why don't we pick you up? We got— let's just spend the day and go look at some of these brand new areas that are opening up in Dallas. There's a lot of, you know, model homes. You might get some ideas.

Kym Yancey [00:28:34]:

Yeah.

Briana Dai [00:28:35]:

This one looks nice. We'll take it. Yeah.

Sandra Yancey [00:28:38]:

So we walked in and Kim and I were like, this is— I mean, everything about it was the model home. Remember, you were on the first floor. I was up on the second floor.

Kym Yancey [00:28:48]:

We—

Sandra Yancey [00:28:48]:

our eyes met. I'm like, this is it. This is it. We could build this because they had lots. It was the model home. And I was like, I don't want to wait, you know, 6, 7 months to build a house. So the garage was the sales office. So I walked in and I just said, you know, are you the sales manager? sure? Or, you know? And he said, yeah.

Sandra Yancey [00:29:07]:

And I, I said, so I'm just curious to know, if I, if I wrote you a check today for this house, would you sell it to me? Like everything in it? It's furnished, everything. Just, I'm just gonna write you a check. And he goes, sure.

Kym Yancey [00:29:23]:

Yeah.

Sandra Yancey [00:29:24]:

And I said, it was a ballsy move, wasn't it?

Kym Yancey [00:29:27]:

Yeah.

Sandra Yancey [00:29:27]:

I said, okay. I said, I didn't bring my checkbook, but I'll meet you here tomorrow. We'll come here tomorrow at 10 o'clock. I'll give you Buy the house. I think he was as shocked as we were.

Kym Yancey [00:29:38]:

Yeah.

Sandra Yancey [00:29:39]:

So we, we go and buy the house and then we called you.

Briana Dai [00:29:43]:

Yeah. Yeah. And then Ryland and I came and we're like, what? Walk me through.

Sandra Yancey [00:29:50]:

Like, you called a family meeting.

Kym Yancey [00:29:52]:

We did.

Briana Dai [00:29:53]:

We were so confused because the house that you're in is like, it's hard to be I know, but we were kind of like, we need to redo it.

Sandra Yancey [00:30:02]:

We don't need all this space. And this is perfect. And—

Kym Yancey [00:30:05]:

It was the fact that it was all done.

Briana Dai [00:30:08]:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You guys were just still tripping hard.

Sandra Yancey [00:30:13]:

You two came and said, what are you doing?

Briana Dai [00:30:17]:

Yeah. I mean, it was a beautiful house, but like, what? Like, no.

Sandra Yancey [00:30:21]:

Yeah, absolutely not.

Briana Dai [00:30:22]:

And Ryland especially, more than anything. I think I could have understood it a little bit more, but Ryland was like, The childhood, like our memories are here. How could you?

Sandra Yancey [00:30:31]:

He was really— I think it's because it was so sudden. It was like we didn't even know we were going to do it. And so what did we end up doing? We ended up putting that house up for sale. We never moved in.

Briana Dai [00:30:42]:

Yeah.

Kym Yancey [00:30:43]:

Never spent a night in there.

Sandra Yancey [00:30:44]:

Never spent one night in there.

Briana Dai [00:30:45]:

Which, that's also crazy. You guys should have at least had a sleepover.

Kym Yancey [00:30:48]:

Barbecue or something.

Briana Dai [00:30:49]:

Yeah. Wild.

Sandra Yancey [00:30:51]:

I think we did a couple of photo shoots for our celebrity stylist client. It was perfect.

Briana Dai [00:30:57]:

It's a model home.

Sandra Yancey [00:30:58]:

It was styled perfectly. Oh, it was, I mean, just perfection in every way.

Briana Dai [00:31:03]:

Yeah. I think you kept like a chandelier.

Sandra Yancey [00:31:06]:

I did. I took a chandelier out of that.

Briana Dai [00:31:09]:

You and chandeliers. It's a thing. It's a thing. So let's tie a beautiful bow on this and bring it back to Q4. Is that even possible? Maybe we'll do a part 2.

Sandra Yancey [00:31:20]:

We do have to do a part 2. But the truth of the matter is you can't set your goals. I mean, Q4 is all for setting your goals.

Kym Yancey [00:31:26]:

Yeah.

Sandra Yancey [00:31:28]:

And it starts in October, no doubt about it. It's particularly for us because we kind of get all of our thoughts out, get them down on paper, and then we identify the real top 5. We find a way to come to consensus on the top 5, and then we spend November really kind of now doing all the budgeting and the planning. What are the resources? What are the people? What are the— what's the technology? What are the associated expenses so that we've got that in play? And then we launch. I mean, we're— we start 2027 December 1st, right? And you can't create the goals you're capable of if you've got 2x thinking.

Kym Yancey [00:32:09]:

Mm-hmm.

Sandra Yancey [00:32:10]:

You know, and at some level, what I've learned is that you're never gonna feel confident when you make quantum leaps. It's gonna be knees knocking, teeth chattering. But you have to take courageous action. And confidence is a consequence of courage.

Briana Dai [00:32:28]:

Mm-hmm.

Sandra Yancey [00:32:29]:

It will never show up. Confidence will never show up until you make the decision. And then once you make the decision, you jump, you're all in, and you go for it. And it is amazing how the universe and the people and the opportunities emerge and appear in a way to bring it to fruition. So it starts with your mindset.

Briana Dai [00:32:56]:

Amen. Because you know what? She doesn't just mean business.

Sandra Yancey [00:33:01]:

She means millions.

Kym Yancey [00:33:03]:

Millions and millions.