Stop Playing Small: How to Charge What You’re Worth and Grow Bigger

Sandra Yancey [00:00:00]:

The more you learn, the more you earn. So if you're open to just learning to evolve and grow and that kind of thing so that you can scale bigger, you will have, without a shadow of a doubt, the best ability to have not just financial freedom, but time freedom.

Kym Yancey [00:00:14]:

You know, there's a lot of subcontracting going on, too, so it's a different market. However, you still want the same clarity. Even if it's a contractor versus an employee, you still want the same clarity behind what you need them to do.

Briana Dai [00:00:27]:

And I was playing small, and it to me, that first time that I actually looked at, okay, this is the cost. So this is what we need to charge over the cost to make it worthwhile so that we can also pay ourselves. And I kind of. Welcome to. She means millions. We are going to talk today a little bit about the cost of staying small, because some of y' all be playing small and costing yourselves a lot.

Sandra Yancey [00:01:04]:

Yeah, it does cost.

Kym Yancey [00:01:05]:

Maybe they want to be small. I mean, maybe, you know, it's.

Sandra Yancey [00:01:09]:

It's whether they're staying small for the right reasons or not. I think that the issue that I. I know that even I had was that I thought when I was smaller, I had more control. And the truth of the matter is, the smaller you are, the least amount of control you have, because, true, you're doing everything, and you have no. I mean, part of the reason why I started my business, I don't know about the listeners or the two of you, but it was, you know, for a certain amount of freedom, right? And when you are chief cook and bottle washer, you don't have a lot of freedom because you're doing everything all day long, all weekend long. And I think it's a misnomer. I think it's a myth. People think that if you go big, you lose control.

Sandra Yancey [00:01:49]:

And actually, that's when you gain the most control, is when you go big. Because, number one, if you're going big, that tells me you're making more revenue. And if you're making more revenue, you don't have money. Momentum. You have momentum. Money. You have money that you can invest in creating momentum and hiring people to do the things that A, you have no business doing, or B, you're just really not good at. And when you say small, you're often doing all the things.

Sandra Yancey [00:02:16]:

So going big lets you really develop a team. Then you have to learn how to manage yourself so that you can lead others. Since you don't have anybody managing you and you're the CEO, you don't have a manager. So you have to now take on the role of managing yourself so that you can lead others. And that's a different set of skills that you have to acquire. But, you know, the more you, the more you learn, the more you earn. So if you're open to just learning to evolve and grow and that kind of thing so that you can scale bigger, you will have, without a shadow of the doubt, the best ability to have not just financial freedom, but time freedom, you know, self freedom, impact freedom, just all the things that. I think freedom means different things to different people.

Sandra Yancey [00:03:01]:

But whatever that freedom means for you when you go big, I know that you will have time for it. Because what often is the biggest issue is you just don't have time when you stay small to do a lot of the things you wish you could do.

Kym Yancey [00:03:14]:

Yeah, I think it is. Absolutely. I agree with what you, everything you said there. But I think it's also imperative that, as you always say, do the things only you can do. I remember when I hired my first employee. Do you remember this? Anne was her name.

Sandra Yancey [00:03:30]:

That's right.

Kym Yancey [00:03:30]:

And I told her, so you had the ad agency, I had the advertising agency and we had, we had had a recording studio and, and I needed a, a full time assistant. I couldn't get out. It was that Constant, that catch 22 where you're always running to get the new business. You know, you're trying to find a network and all that stuff and then go back and do the business. So I went and caught it. Now I've got to do it. And that cycle will wear you out, you know. And I remember when I brought on Ann and I gave her enough money, I think, you know, it was $10 an hour, something like that.

Kym Yancey [00:04:08]:

And I said, I want you for 20 hours a week, Ann. She goes, okay, you know, that was

Sandra Yancey [00:04:15]:

for the first week.

Kym Yancey [00:04:15]:

And I need, yeah, that lasted one week. She saved me so much time, I was able to jettison the work that I did not need to do. Yeah, I mean, you know, and so you do have to be willing to say, listen, I might have to take a pay cut here, I might have to cut back or something. Maybe I don't get paid, you know,

Briana Dai [00:04:34]:

Step back to take a leap forward.

Kym Yancey [00:04:36]:

It was a step back to take a leap forward at some, you know, but just, just the fear.

Sandra Yancey [00:04:39]:

It's what we call the pinch. Right. Sometimes you have to feel the pinch before you can feel the benefits of the full release of it, you know.

Kym Yancey [00:04:48]:

But I think, you know, especially when you Especially people who are hiring for the first time, you know, trying to decide on that. And in today's climate, you know, there's a lot of subcontracting going on too. So it's a different market. However, you still want the same clarity. Even if it's a contractor versus an employee, you still want the same clarity behind what you need them to do that you're able to measure them on. And more than anything, it's to free you up. You know, I say around here, you know, one of the things that I use Michael Jackson, but it can be Taylor Swift. But I'll say, you know, Sandra's our Taylor Swift.

Kym Yancey [00:05:25]:

In other words, only she can do what she does. And everything else needs to evolve around and focus on how do we support you so you can be your absolute best because you're our Taylor Swift, you know? But staying small, you know, it is amazing when I think about the people who, you know, just paralyze themselves staying in this. In this space. And part of it, I do believe, is they're not getting out and they're not, you know, putting themselves in expansive, expansive rooms. But I really mean expansive thinking.

Briana Dai [00:06:01]:

Well, I think, yeah, when you're around other people who do charge with their worth, but I do believe that some of it might even be subconscious and. Or maybe it's just like that whole ignorance is bliss, you know, I mean, I will never forget being in Soar when I had my first brand makeup artists Unleashed, and we were doing workshops and going all over, and we were, you know, flying to cities, renting cars, driving to cosmetology schools to sell workshops, where then we had makeup kits and guest speakers and hotel costs and lunch costs and all of these costs. And I had never learned the process of job costing. And so for me, it wasn't just a matter of executing the workshop, but all of the things that went into marketing the workshop. And I realized that we were way undercharging. And so for me, stopping playing small was saying, no, we are actually worth way more. Not just from a. This is what I believe we're worth, but this is actually what it's costing us to grow and to be able to deliver and continue to sustain and build a business that we can ultimately pay ourselves, pay our team, all of the things.

Briana Dai [00:07:09]:

And I think that, you know, unless you've had somebody as an entrepreneur, if you don't have a reference point or a coach or somebody that's really breaking down for you, the process, I didn't. I had never heard of job costume before, you know, I was in my 20s, and. And maybe that's common sense to people, but to me it wasn't. And I was playing small. And to me, that first time that I actually looked at, okay, this is the cost. So this is what we need to charge over the cost to make it worthwhile so that we can also pay ourselves. And I kind of wanted to, like, throw up a little bit the first time I pitched it at that new price.

Sandra Yancey [00:07:45]:

It was scary knowing what it cost you to run an event. Every single penny. Capturing every single penny. So, you know, and then you have to factor in your time. What is your time worth? So that needs to go into it as well. Then you've got your total. Your total cost. And then you want to ask yourself, so what do we want our profit to be? Is it 50% on top of that divided by the number of people that you're going to have in the room? And that's going you a figure.

Sandra Yancey [00:08:12]:

And now you have to ask yourself, will people pay that? And if not, what do I have to do to make it more valuable to them? And so what is the implications of that? And just really making sure that you're running your business profitably, not just by hard expenses, but all of the cost of your time and your energy and eventually the opportunity cost of what's not getting done because you're running the event. Right. So what I found was once I

Briana Dai [00:08:37]:

actually knew the number and I knew the cost of things and knew, you know, what we wanted to profit afterwards, I was actually able to sell it really easily because I had so much more conviction.

Sandra Yancey [00:08:48]:

Yeah.

Briana Dai [00:08:49]:

So much more conviction. And this is so valuable, what you're going to get.

Sandra Yancey [00:08:53]:

Yeah.

Briana Dai [00:08:53]:

And. And I was able to really grow into that. But I played small for a long time just because I didn't know what I didn't know. And it wasn't until I invested in Coach to help me recognize, oh, no, you're playing way too small.

Sandra Yancey [00:09:08]:

Yeah, yeah.

Briana Dai [00:09:09]:

And really challenged me to grow. And I think a lot of women find themselves maybe in that situation where. Where they're not really factoring in that maybe they're looking at their hard costs, but we're not valuing our time.

Kym Yancey [00:09:23]:

Well, also, you know, there's the old thing of I don't want to work that hard. You know, the people who, you know, that are willing to put in the time to do what they have to do.

Sandra Yancey [00:09:34]:

That's what Cuban said. Right. When we interviewed him, I asked him, I don't know. I think this wasn't when the camera was on, but we were sitting. He was in my office, sitting on my couch. And at the time, and I asked him, why do you think most small businesses don't make it? And I just was so struck by how clearly he responded. Without hesitation, he said, most people just don't want to work that hard. I do believe that a lot of people want what they perceive that you have, but when they know how hard you've had to work to get it, a lot of times that becomes when people throw in the towel, but you know, you have to do something you know you've never done, perhaps work the hardest you've ever had in order to really get access to things that you would never have otherwise and then learn the lessons from that.

Sandra Yancey [00:10:25]:

And if you stay a learner, if you're a lifelong learner and you're constantly doing what we call plan, do, review, we plan everything that we do, then we're in execute mode. Let's nail it. And then we stop and we review it. You know, where did we shine? You know, where did we create chaos behind the scenes that created a lot of churn and unnecessary work and overtime and people were tired and not their best selves. Where. What opportunities did we leave out on the table? Not just opportunities to make money, but maybe opportunities to blow your customers away, to really wow them, right? And then, you know, what were the, the threats, the things, the mistakes that you made that the customer actually saw. Not the ones behind the scenes, but the ones that the customers actually saw. And that's part of your review on your plan to review.

Sandra Yancey [00:11:16]:

And I think that once you do that and you're committed to that and you get better and better and better. I'm just looking at what we just did. What was it yesterday? We had a two hour ICON meeting for our conference coming up in August and the entire team is on Zoom. We have everything on an Excel spreadsheet. I think, I think there are roughly close to 600 line items to execute the conference. But look at what happened yesterday. It was the ultimate, like, remember all the things we said we wanted to do differently, you know, because we did the review meeting. So it was so easy for me in my mind to say, not only do we have it documented, but it was very easy to say, oh, we want to do this differently, we want to do this differently and we need to have this done, you know, in April.

Sandra Yancey [00:11:54]:

And certainly we don't have to wait till July for that. Why don't we have it by the end of May? And starting to shift so that as we get closer and closer and closer, it's not quite so burdensome.

Briana Dai [00:12:04]:

Heavy.

Sandra Yancey [00:12:04]:

Yeah. It's a really heavy lift to get off the ground. Right.

Kym Yancey [00:12:09]:

So what is, what does playing small look like in your mind? You know, because I think about it. I'll just give you a reference point from here. So I think about some things we did as we were growing the conference, growing the brand, growing the image. And you know, we, we were careful not to outrun our supply line. Do you know what I mean when I say that? The supply of cash.

Briana Dai [00:12:32]:

Yeah.

Kym Yancey [00:12:33]:

You know what I mean? So you don't want to outrun your supply line. But also we knew that we wanted to project a bigger image. You know, I can honestly say the one thing that EBM Network has definitely done is it's projected especially early on, a bigger image than it actually was. The footprint that we created in our marketing and branding and positioning of who we were to step into that, you know.

Briana Dai [00:12:59]:

Yeah, yeah. I think playing small, there's, I think a few ways will they play small. The first one that I think is the biggest one is this whole undercharging and then over delivering and they almost do that. I feel like women do that almost intentionally. Like maybe because they're afraid to ask for what they're worth or because they want to over impress people. But to me, this whole disconnect, you're almost setting your own bar too low. When you undercharge and over deliver, you're undercharging and you're basically saying, this is what I'm going to do. This is, this is what I have to do, but I'm going to deliver up here.

Briana Dai [00:13:33]:

Why don't you just do what you say you're going to do and charge what you're worth?

Kym Yancey [00:13:37]:

Right.

Briana Dai [00:13:37]:

You know what I mean? I think women oftentimes are maybe afraid that they're going to lose the sale altogether by just putting their stake in the ground and saying, this is what I'm worth and this is what I can do for you.

Sandra Yancey [00:13:51]:

Yeah.

Briana Dai [00:13:51]:

You know, and I think that that's a huge way that women play small. And I also think that women on the other side of that, it kind of dovetails to charging what you're worth is they shrink themselves in rooms. It's almost like an insecurity type of a thing. I don't know if it goes back to just programming and how women were raised to be, but I mean, I do. I feel like I'm seeing more and more women start to Be more unapologetic and taking up space. But there certainly are a lot of women who I witness, even with contractor relationships and talking to women that way, undercharge. And it's like, well, I'm not going to tell you to charge me more, but you should really consider raising your prices. You know what I mean?

Sandra Yancey [00:14:34]:

Yeah. It's like.

Briana Dai [00:14:36]:

It's crazy.

Sandra Yancey [00:14:36]:

Yeah. I mean, a real simple way to understand if you're playing small is just take whatever your revenue is for 2025 and, you know, divide that by your, you know, client price or your hourly however you measure. And because some people measure by the hour and some people measure by the day, and some people measure by the program. But whatever that is, look at the number of people that you've served. And if you're thinking that that number is way too low, then you're playing too small. It's really that simple. For me, it's about impact. Measuring impact.

Sandra Yancey [00:15:12]:

And measuring impact, to me is equated to the number of customers that we take on. When I look at the number of CEO plus members that, you know, Brianna, you and I get to coach every single Monday, every Monday, like clockwork, for 30 minutes. Because how you start your week defines your week. And it's just as fulfilling for me as it is for the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds, the people that are, you know, on the calls. But the point of the matter is, you know, I just. I want people to understand that, you know, you started your business to make an impact, and you should have a goal of the number of people that you want to impact. And if you could, take whatever it is that you are making and divide that by your daily rate, your hourly rate, or whatever it is, and equate that to the number of customers that you've served. And you're saying, I should have a bigger impact in the world.

Sandra Yancey [00:16:05]:

I should be helping more people, or there are a lot more people that would benefit from the products or services that I offer, then you're playing too small. You're playing too small. And I think it could be fear. And I think fear's a legitimate thing. My mom used to say, when I was growing up, my mother used to say, when I would be afraid of something or really nervous about something, my mother and I think it's based on a fable. She didn't know the fable, but I'm sure it is something she used to say. There are two wolves that live in your mind, and they're. They're barking.

Sandra Yancey [00:16:34]:

They're both barking as loud as they Can. And one of them is hope and faith and the other one is darkness and despair. And she said which, which Wolf Sandra is going to win? And which always made me answer, which she taught me was the answer the one you feed, Right. And so faith and fear. And the interesting thing is is it took me a long time to realize they're both things you can't see. You can't see faith, you can't see fear. You fundamentally have to believe in one of them or the other. And the one that wins is the one you feed.

Sandra Yancey [00:17:10]:

And I often say if you think, if you think it's too expensive to go big, look at what it's costing you to stay small. 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 Yancey, founder of eWomenNetwork and I'm inviting you to join us and become a member. ewomennetwork.com we can't wait to meet you.

Kym Yancey [00:17:49]:

So powerful when you confront bigness, when you confront head on what's in front of you to go to, to go to go to those places that again that whether you dream about them or you hope for. You know I don't like to use the word level so I always have to insert a different word because I don't like saying next level. I've heard that so much. You know that's my thing. Don't.

Sandra Yancey [00:18:16]:

Anti word.

Kym Yancey [00:18:17]:

Yes, my anti word. Next level. But you know I, as you're talking it makes me think about scary moments of our own. You know, I. Is there a scary moment that in your 26 year women?

Sandra Yancey [00:18:33]:

Oh, I hear many, many scary.

Kym Yancey [00:18:35]:

It stands out many, many, many, many.

Sandra Yancey [00:18:36]:

The first time we ever did an event at a hotel and I had to sign the contract and I had to guarantee the rooms and I had to guarantee the food and beverage, you know and you know I had a ballroom and I had to get a production company and all these bills started coming in and it scared the Bajeevs out of me. But I think the big one was the hotel. And you know I Remember at like 4:30 in the afternoon and leaving the office early and heading to have me at Tangertini, I was like this is felt like such a huge risk for something a year in advance. Just a true commitment. Now I needed to Figure out what was I going to do to inspire people to want to come to the conference and buy a ticket and all the things. I mean, that scared me, that when we first moved into this building, which is interesting because we're 26 years old, and I think we were quite, not quite two years into ewoman network when we realized we had little kids at home. And for us, for me, and I know for other people, it's just the opposite, but for me, I lost boundaries at home. I lost the boundary between home and work.

Sandra Yancey [00:19:44]:

When I was working from my home, I would be like, you're at school, I'm working. Let me do a little laundry distraction. Run down, put the laundry, sort it out, put it in. Going back up. Oh, it's done. Let me turn it. Let me go down. And oh, some things have to be hung.

Sandra Yancey [00:19:56]:

Some things have to be, you know, put in the dryer. And some things have to be dry lightly. And then I went hang them up, you know, so they don't get over dry and they don't shrink. And. And so I'm thinking about all that while I'm now running back up into my office, doing things. So much context switching, so much like multitasking, so many things. And, oh, okay, so you're coming home from school in the next half an hour. Let me get this stuff out to thaw for dinner, and then let me start putting dinner together.

Sandra Yancey [00:20:19]:

And let me.

Briana Dai [00:20:19]:

And just.

Sandra Yancey [00:20:20]:

It was madness. Before I knew it, I would take things from my office, and they'd be on the. On the countertops, and they'd be on, you know, the. The dining table, and they'd be. And all my stuff was everywhere. And I started to go mad when I just lost my sense of boundaries. And that's when we moved here to this building. And we rented, we subleased.

Sandra Yancey [00:20:37]:

We were too afraid to sign on the dotted line with a lease in our name. So we sublet from mutual of Omaha.

Kym Yancey [00:20:43]:

Mutual of Omaha.

Sandra Yancey [00:20:44]:

And they actually had four offices. They were downsizing, and they were like, you have four offices and they have desks in them. We'll take it. And then we eventually grew and grew and grew and grew and grew. And here we are. We've, you know, the longest in this building. Now we're taking over a floor.

Kym Yancey [00:20:59]:

Yeah. I'll tell you what stands out for me, stands out to me. And, you know, you may be facing the same situation in your life, you know, where you've got to make some decisions about, you know, how you want to be perceived. But getting Getting out of small thinking. All right, was that first hotel. I mean, we booked the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas, which was a five star, six years ago. Five star hotel, luxury hotel. Now, here was the point.

Kym Yancey [00:21:28]:

The point was one. We wanted to be able to say, this is where our event's going to be, make a statement. Could we afford it? No, I mean, you know. You know, I was. I swear to you, I was like the. The wizard of Oz. You were the corner in the little corner with a little sound system, you know, working the sound system and all that. And, you know, you were introducing people

Sandra Yancey [00:21:50]:

because you weren't speaking. Not only that, but I was driving a Volvo, and I found out that Tom Thumbs, which is our version of like a. There's a. It's a grocery store chain here. I found out that they would donate flowers.

Briana Dai [00:22:02]:

Yeah. Once a month. You guys had so much audacity. Like, when I hear this story, I just think, man, they had the nerve to really go there and bet on themselves. And I'm just so curious, you know, like, is that something? It's almost like you just had to believe in yourself and what you could do so much to have the audacity to make such a huge. I mean, the Adolphus 26, that was a new hotel, a hot new hotel. And then to just pull it off. I'm just curious.

Briana Dai [00:22:31]:

Do you feel like that is a skill that you're just born with?

Kym Yancey [00:22:36]:

No.

Sandra Yancey [00:22:36]:

You know what I've learned? I don't think you're born with it. I don't know. What I. What it taught me was that I have never died from what I've tried.

Briana Dai [00:22:43]:

Yeah. Yeah. I have,

Sandra Yancey [00:22:48]:

actually.

Kym Yancey [00:22:51]:

My God, for 45 minutes, right.

Sandra Yancey [00:22:55]:

I've died for what I've tried before, so. Goodness. All right, then. I can never say that again. Oh, I just got hot. I was freezing in here. That just brought on the heat.

Kym Yancey [00:23:08]:

No, but, you know, to the recover.

Sandra Yancey [00:23:13]:

Give me a minute.

Kym Yancey [00:23:14]:

We'll give you a minute.

Sandra Yancey [00:23:14]:

Okay.

Kym Yancey [00:23:16]:

No, it's the whole notion of playing big and not being. Playing small. I mean, you. That is a great analogy. Analogy with the wolves. Like, which one you feed? Like, which do you. Do you feed? The smallness. You know what I mean? You know, at what point? I mean, honestly, my whole thing is there's a couple of records that, for whatever reason, it's the one.

Kym Yancey [00:23:40]:

Bet Midler sings it, too. If that's all there is that's all there is if that's all there is, my friend Then let's keep dancing Bring out the blues and let's have a ball, you know what I mean? In other words, as you look at it, you look at the landscape and say, listen, you're not, you're not gonna be able to go around twice. Okay? You get one shot at going around. Right. And it's what you decide. Yeah. She got two shots, didn't she?

Sandra Yancey [00:24:04]:

Exactly.

Kym Yancey [00:24:05]:

And it'll never be the same.

Sandra Yancey [00:24:06]:

The 1% are up. Yeah. Most of us, the 99% of the rest of us.

Kym Yancey [00:24:09]:

But you know, it's the decisions you make about your life because it is, you know, you do reach. All of us are going to come to terms with the moment of saying, you know, I've rung it out, you know, and did I give it my best shot? You know what I mean? Like, I mean, right now, I mean, start that whole notion of starting new every day, you know, like every day is day one, you know, I mean, that's really how I feel about it. The fact that we've been in business for 26 years doesn't give us the right to do anything but saying we got 26 years of surviving, you know what I mean? Of working our way through things, of wanting a better situation, not only for ourselves, but for, for our members for it, you know, the people that we touch, you know.

Briana Dai [00:24:52]:

Yeah.

Sandra Yancey [00:24:53]:

Which.

Kym Yancey [00:24:54]:

That's a whole nother subject around, you know, the, the giving aspects of what your business can do for you, you know what I mean? As you, as you said, as you become more and more successful, the things that you can do to help the charities and things that you care about,

Briana Dai [00:25:08]:

salaries like, like our team has homes and car payments, you know, and it's because of this office, it's because of what we do here, you know, I

Sandra Yancey [00:25:18]:

quietly think about that a lot. Yeah. It's amazing how much of my time, sometimes I'm. When I'm here alone and, and I, and I leave and I'm walking by everybody's office and I'm thinking, I pay their, I pay their rent, I pay their electric bill, I pay their water bill, I pay their, their dog food, I pay, I mean, the groceries.

Briana Dai [00:25:41]:

Like if we didn't pay them, they'd

Sandra Yancey [00:25:43]:

be working somewhere else, of course, you know what I mean? But it, I do think sometimes, and sometimes it feels heavy and, but more times than not, it, I feel a lot of pride around it and I don't need anybody to acknowledge it. It's just a self awareness thing. Like, okay, I'm doing this and I count the tiles and I count the tiles everywhere. I Go. Don't you go into an office? Do you go to the office and look at the tiles? No, I can't.

Kym Yancey [00:26:12]:

No, not particularly, no, I do when

Sandra Yancey [00:26:15]:

I'm in an office, you know, I'm in my dentist's office. I just went to the dentist yesterday. I literally looking at the ceiling and counting the tiles and imagining, okay, so this building probably, probably commands this amount per square foot. And so here's the square footage here in this lobby, somebody is working. So we put a, their signature on a line to pay for what is probably a fifteen hundred dollar lobby.

Briana Dai [00:26:35]:

Oh, that's next level thinking. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Sandra Yancey [00:26:38]:

You just took it to another level

Briana Dai [00:26:40]:

and then start looking at tiles, how many tiles?

Sandra Yancey [00:26:42]:

And then you haven't, you haven't done that downstairs. We're doing a massive remodel of the fourth floor in our building. We're moving in.

Briana Dai [00:26:48]:

I just know what they're charging per square foot and I know what they're charging us, but I haven't, I haven't counted.

Sandra Yancey [00:26:53]:

But I just walk in and I can't help but look up realize and our, our, our studio is going to be close to twice. Is it roughly, yeah, the size and, and I, I think about the square footage of, of every, I mean I just, I can't help everywhere I go but notice that because I've had to pay per square foot. And these are, you know, 24 inches. So there's 2ft per, that's this much, that's that much. And 1, 2, 3, 4 times. Okay. And I, and then I go this way and sometimes I get out my calculator and I've like, wow, somebody put it on the line, man.

Briana Dai [00:27:24]:

Yeah.

Sandra Yancey [00:27:25]:

I never not think about, somebody had to sign and guarantee personally because in the very beginning they made us guarantee personal. Now we guarantee as a company. Of course, we've been here for 24 years too, but I mean it's part of the price you pay. Right. I've had to go out and get a line of credit before, guarantee it personally. You know, nobody knows that. I don't walk around and go into every office, hey, you know, we're getting all this equipment because I got a loan and I paid for it, I've signed for it personally. I don't walk into people's office and tell them that, but I know it, I feel it in my heart.

Sandra Yancey [00:28:02]:

You know what I mean? Yeah. I never, I never not think about the fact when I see all these Amazon boxes come in. I know people order what they need, but I also always Know, I'm paying for that.

Briana Dai [00:28:16]:

Yeah.

Sandra Yancey [00:28:16]:

You know, I'm generating the sale that pay for that. I never not think about it. I never look at the paperclips. You know, me, we're cleaning out, we're purging. You know, I. I take things out and I go, oh, my gosh, there's a lot of paperclips here. I can't help myself but flip through those paper clips and throw them on the. The desk and get.

Sandra Yancey [00:28:34]:

And other people like this paperclip, Sandra, just throw it all away. Well, when you've come from robbing Peter to mug Paul, when you've come from other. Paying other people's salary and your own water bill gets canceled, you can't give your kids a bath, you know, when you come. But you don't. You don't tell your team that in the very beginning because you don't want them to be so panicked that then they leave because they think, and you're not taking a salary, you're getting a check, but you put your check in the drawer because, you know, you really can't afford to cash it, even though they cut it, the checking. You know what I mean? And you see everybody saying, hey, we're going out for lunch. Sam, you want to join us? And, you know, you can't go. But you provided them the paycheck for them to go.

Sandra Yancey [00:29:20]:

I mean, those are humbling experiences, and I've never forgotten them. It's always a little part of me inside.

Kym Yancey [00:29:28]:

I hate that. I hate that. Those. Those times we don't. Haven't had this happen in a long time. But you pick up the phone, we're sorry, this number has been deactivated.

Sandra Yancey [00:29:42]:

Like what Kim and I used to have a funny thing. In the very beginning, we'd call. They'd call for. To collect, or, you know, the minimum we. What's the minimum we have to pay to keep the lights on kind of thing. And, And Kim, your whole thing was you didn't fall out of the hat. Do you remember this? We had this joke about, we take all our bills, we put them on a little piece of paper, we throw them in a hat. We'd shake the hat.

Sandra Yancey [00:30:04]:

Whatever fell out of the hat, we'd pay that bill that month.

Briana Dai [00:30:06]:

Oh, my God.

Sandra Yancey [00:30:08]:

And our joke was, didn't fall out of the hat this month.

Briana Dai [00:30:13]:

Wow.

Sandra Yancey [00:30:13]:

But, you know, I look back on that, and that's.

Kym Yancey [00:30:15]:

That's.

Sandra Yancey [00:30:16]:

Those are good memories to have, because not only is it a measure about how far we come, but it's also A measure of what we put on the line. And we did it while we had little kids, which felt even riskier.

Briana Dai [00:30:24]:

Yeah.

Sandra Yancey [00:30:24]:

You know, and. But we went for it. And it. I think it's important it does. What it does for me is I know the feeling when I meet people and they're saying, you know, basically, I can't pay my bills. I can't pay all my bills. I'm really struggling right now. And I know that feeling, and I know that sense of desperation, and it makes me want to help those people that much more.

Briana Dai [00:30:48]:

Yeah, man.

Kym Yancey [00:30:49]:

This episode here is going to have me, like, saying, well, you know, I've been playing too small. I got it. I. I remember. I remember when we did the. The Globe project. The Globe movie.

Sandra Yancey [00:30:59]:

Oh, yeah.

Kym Yancey [00:31:00]:

You know, if. If you don't know what the GLOW project is, you can go to YouTube and put in Glow Project. G L O W. Glow. And it's a movie. And. And it's. It's a movie, a documentary movie.

Kym Yancey [00:31:13]:

And I remember when one of the ladies watched it because it was being played all over the country. This is right after the Secret came out. You know, shortly there we debuted in

Sandra Yancey [00:31:22]:

New York, and we'd rang the NASDAQ bell. I mean, it was a really big deal.

Kym Yancey [00:31:25]:

It was a really, really big deal. But I remember people telling me they'd watch the movie and they would feel like, man, I've got to do more. Like, I am not doing enough. You know what I mean? And that really wasn't the intention of the movie, but it inspired people in this conversation. Just having this. It's bringing up freshness to me around, you know, listen, did you notice at the platinum event we had this year, I couldn't believe everybody did this, but I said to the audience before, as I was getting started, I said, if not now, and then the entire room said, when? When? Yeah, And I mean, I was, like, taken off guard, man. Like, I wasn't expecting the entire room to scream out, if not now.

Sandra Yancey [00:32:06]:

Yeah, but that's when, you know, you found your tribe. The ones that get it. But, yeah, they get it.

Kym Yancey [00:32:13]:

Getting it.

Sandra Yancey [00:32:14]:

They got it. Most people. It's why, you know, when I was being interviewed to be the transformation expert on the syndicated television show the Doctors, I remember being on the Paramount Studios with my agent and being interviewed by two people and one of the. One of the executive producers. At the very end, the interview had gone longer than what it was scheduled for, so I knew I felt like I was doing pretty good. And. But I'll never Forget the executive producer leaning into me and saying at the very end, so, Sandra, so why you? Why should we pick you? What is it about you that makes you so special? To help people with their dreams? And I remember looking over at Susan Haber, my agent, and looking back at him, and I said, I'm so glad you're. You're giving me the chance to clarify.

Sandra Yancey [00:33:08]:

I feel like I've miscommunicated. What I can tell you is that I don't help people with their dreams because people give up on their dreams all the time. Probably the most valuable real estate in the world are cemeteries. All these dreams that people die with. I said, what I help them with, Joe, is callings. Like, what is your calling? The people I'm most attracted to are the people that get really clear as to why they're on the planet, and they're risking it all to do that. And it's a big risk to do that. And.

Sandra Yancey [00:33:47]:

But you. You can't not do it. You can't give up on a calling because it won't give up on you. You can try and distract yourself from it, but there's all. It's always like this low burning fever, like something's just not. Not right because, you know, you're not doing what you're supposed to do. And the people that get in touch with that and say, I'm gonna go all in, man. I have a soft spot in my heart for those people because I'm one of them.

Sandra Yancey [00:34:15]:

And I know that there were. There was so many other paths, easier paths that I could have taken than, you know, what I chose to do and eWomenNetwork and glad I stayed with it. I'm glad I didn't know everything I was going to encounter because I would have definitely passed. There's something to be said about ignorance is bliss would have definitely passed. And so there's something to be said about just going for it and trusting that, honestly, if you surround yourself with great people. And I'm so thankful that I have the two of you, like, you know.

Kym Yancey [00:34:53]:

But like you said, Sandra, choose your heart. Choose your. All of it is hard. Choose your heart.

Briana Dai [00:35:00]:

Yes.

Kym Yancey [00:35:01]:

And I'm telling. I'm telling you right now, this company is phenomenal. And it feels really good to be a part of creating it and working it and doing it for the years we've done it, to be able to say that and to feel good about it. When I think about who we touch and how who we touch touch others and the ripple effect, the ripple. The lifting up that we do. I mean, this is a great place to be.

Sandra Yancey [00:35:30]:

No, Brianna, because you've gone on tour with me and you've done your own tour dates too. So, you know, particular this year, the tour has been a bit of a beat down. We had the tsa, you know, not getting paid and, you know, all of that, the strike and, and so the whole airport experience has been particularly challenging. For sure. It's so non glamorous. Right. We're often airport bathrooms, changing our clothes and trying to make sure we don't put our feet on the floor in the airport bathroom. We're getting out of our heels and getting into our tennis shoes and changing and.

Sandra Yancey [00:36:04]:

But isn't it amazing when you walk into the room and you see all these amazing entrepreneurs and I say to myself, you know, this is so worth it. They are so worth it. They so fill my heart with just desire to help them. Just. It's, it's, it's why I love the staff being at the conference because they get to see just the impact that, that we have and that we make on other people's lives.

Kym Yancey [00:36:38]:

Once every day.

Sandra Yancey [00:36:39]:

Yeah, every every day.

Kym Yancey [00:36:41]:

Every single day. Because you know what, Sandra? One of the things that fills me up the most is the jordy. Overwhelmingly, I, I would characterize it as 95% at least would not have ever known each other for what for you network.

Sandra Yancey [00:36:55]:

It's amazing.

Kym Yancey [00:36:55]:

And they're doing business together.

Sandra Yancey [00:36:57]:

I mean, you know, they're doing life together.

Briana Dai [00:36:59]:

They're friends.

Sandra Yancey [00:36:59]:

Yeah.

Briana Dai [00:37:00]:

You know what I mean?

Sandra Yancey [00:37:00]:

Vacationing, like to Italy and doing things or. When Trisha Terpenoff passed away, I was just thinking about that incredible members out of Colorado Spring, you know, her memorial service was right before Christmas, a couple days before Christmas, the week before Christmas, something like that. And we had company coming in. I wasn't sure if I could make it. I was really worried about it. I certainly didn't want to commit to it. And then at the last minute, I just said, I'm going to buy a ticket in and out the same day within a matter of like four or five hours apart, you know. And I walked into that memorial session, it had started by the time my plane landed and I got a car to get me over there, it had started.

Sandra Yancey [00:37:39]:

And I tried to sneak in through the back very discreetly and quietly, but I looked around and I saw all the people that were speaking and giving these amazing tributes to this most remarkable woman and all the people that were around and how many people saw me and said hello and who I knew and who knew me. We recognized each other. And it wasn't until it was all over, I kind of held it together. It was all over. I got in the car and I called you and you said, how did it go? And I burst into tears. And I said to Kim at that particular time, I can still feel it right now. I said, we have created a community that extends way beyond eweman network. All the people that were there in many instances, not in every, but in many instances and met each other through eWomenNetwork had grown to know her and love her and develop great relationships.

Sandra Yancey [00:38:33]:

And I thought to myself, I mean, if I die on the way home, this was a life well lived. To know that we've impacted people, you know, at this level. It was very powerful for me to be there to honor Trisha and to see, you know, the relationships that she had as a result of so many that she met through you and the network. As you said, it wouldn't have happened.

Kym Yancey [00:38:58]:

It wouldn't happen.

Sandra Yancey [00:38:59]:

Yeah.

Briana Dai [00:39:01]:

And it wouldn't have. You played small.

Sandra Yancey [00:39:03]:

Amen.

Kym Yancey [00:39:05]:

If not now, when?

Sandra Yancey [00:39:09]:

And there we go. So it's not just really about meaning business. You know, we really are looking for those women where. Women where she knows that she means

Kym Yancey [00:39:20]:

millions need to learn a little harmony there at the end. Millions. A little harmony on that million.

Sandra Yancey [00:39:28]:

Millions. Right.