→ Attract more leads, clarify your message, and commit to a growth strategy for your next 6 months. Embodied Marketing Live is coming up: https://get.embodiedmarketing.com/live

Everyone wants to scale. Almost nobody wants to earn their place first.

In this episode, I share the behind-the-scenes of launching a premium cleaning company in a brand new industry, why we’re intentionally doing free jobs first, and what building from zero has reminded me about entrepreneurship.

We also talk about earning your place in the market, building receipts, and the gap I think AI is about to create.

Key Takeaways

• Why I’m doing free jobs before taking on paying customers
• Boring, in-person businesses are about to boom
• What to do to earn your place in the market and bring in sales

   

_____________________________________

More ways Embodied Marketing can support you:

Turn your expertise into consistent revenue. Funnels, strategy, launches—everything done for YOU. Apply here: https://get.embodiedmarketing.com/app

SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW THE PODCAST!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of the Embodied Podcast! If this podcast has added value and helped you in your business journey, please head over to Apple Podcast, subscribe to the show, and leave us an honest review.

Your reviews and feedback will not only help us continue to deliver great, helpful content, but it will also help us reach even more amazing entrepreneurs just like you.

♥ LISTEN ON SPOTIFY

READ THE EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Emily Hirsh: 

There is so much in business and life that you only learn through doing and actually executing. And I see entrepreneurs so often overthink themselves and over-plan themselves and try to get something to a certain place that they don’t just do. People make it seem like it’s so easy, and you can just do this tomorrow. And it’s just not the case.

If you are going into entrepreneurship because you’re trying to do something easy or passive, you’re going to be really disappointed, and you’re going to be really frustrated. You have to earn your spot in the market.

Embodied CEOs don’t chase trends. They pave the way they lead from within. Move by purpose, unshaken by noise. When you are the source, you do not need permission.

Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the podcast. I am feeling locked in this week on content creation. There’s nothing like condensing time to make you get things done that you have to get done. I felt like this when I had kids. And the more kids I’d have with my business, it’s this is my working hours.

This is the only option I have of when I can actually work.” And then you somehow become more productive. So this week is like a condensed week of time, and it’s the only week I have over the next … i’ll be home two days and then leave again to create a bunch of content. And so I’m feeling locked in on the podcast and the social content, and it feels good.

I’m proud of myself for getting it done and prioritizing it. So today I wanted to just talk about a few thoughts, a few ideas, riff with you, share a couple things from behind the scenes in my week and in my business, and things I was thinking about. So there’s two main things that I wanna talk about.

The first is it’s interesting. So I’m building this new business, which I’m gonna be talking about on the podcast because I think there’s a lot of lessons that I can carry over to help you guys because I get to put myself in founder beginning energy again, which I haven’t been in a long time. And there’s something I notice about creating content, where I wanna speak to where my audience is and make sure I’m still understanding what you guys are going through, even if it was some- a place that I was, five, seven years ago, so that I can understand it, so that I can support you.

And so it’s pretty cool to be building this new business. Which again, if you didn’t listen to that episode, go back and listen to it, but it’s very much like I am treating this business as like a client of mine. It’s an investment because it can’t be a distraction from my main company. But it still is putting me back into beginning founding energy because we are just starting out, and we are launching a website from, for the first time.

And I am funding the build of the company, but I don’t want it to be this massive overhead. So we’re doing it, scrappy to an extent, right? Like I’m not gonna… I still value my time, and so I, I pay for the things that I don’t wanna do or I c- I shouldn’t be doing right now. But anyways, in this phase, I’m realizing like I’m coming into an industry that I’ve never been in before don’t have experience in, don’t have credibility in, don’t have the brand name, and obviously we’re gonna go up against companies that have been in the industry for 20, 30 years.

And that’s an interesting place to be because then you have to be like, “Okay, what is going to differentiate us? How are we gonna stand out, and how are we gonna make it so that people wanna choose our company?” So in this, we have to almost become somewhat humble and then also go into prove yourself mode and hustle mode.

And I was thinking about the most successful clients I have, my VIP clients, my seven, eight-figure businesses, and someone asked me, “What do all of them have in common? What do they have in common?” And I said the usual of “They have good messaging. They have a solid offer. They have good positioning around their offer.

They can position themselves well, so people understand, the benefit.” But then the other thing that they all have is the receipts, is credibility, and the recognition that their methods, that their way that they get somebody a result works. They have the testimonials. They have the case studies.

They have the social proof, right? And that is built over time. You cannot do that overnight. You cannot do that in a week, and it’s hard to even do that in a month. So when we’re starting out this new company that I’m building, we don’t have the receipts yet ’cause we haven’t done jobs yet because we haven’t actually established ourselves in the industry.

So the very first thing that we’re doing, the first job that we’re doing is guess what? Free at my friend’s, and we’re gonna do a few of them. Trial jobs, because this allows us to test our process. It allows us to test our team to do things that you can only learn through experience, right? When you go and actually implement something and do something, you get feedback that you can’t get by planning.

You can’t get through a list or thinking or planning. There is so much in business and life that you only learn through doing and actually executing. And I see entrepreneurs so often overthink themselves and over-plan themselves and try to get something to a certain place that they don’t just do.

And that is something that is been a huge contributor to my own success, is the moment I’m at least clear enough to go, I’m going. I’m running. We’re doing it. I want it yesterday. And so the first thing we’re doing in this new company is we’re doing free jobs. A couple, not a lot. We’re not devaluing our time, but we’re doing free jobs because we need to prove our process.

I need to prove the team. I need us to test things out and see, what we didn’t think of what supplies we didn’t think of, what checklist items we didn’t think of, and then get the social proof, get the review, get the before and after photos, get that. So I might as well tell you guys what the business is, ’cause I don’t think I’ve actually revealed that yet, and why not?

I am gonna have my new business partner on the podcast at some point, probably after we do our first 30 days. So my two goals with building this business are 30 days to profitable, and I’m gonna start that 30 days on our first job, so we haven’t hit that yet because we have hit some roadblocks in finding our people, and then seven figures in a year.

Those are my two goals that I am publicly sharing on here and also on social media as I go and do this. So we are launching a premium non-toxic cleaning company in Austin And it is called Beam. It brings in the energy, little bit of woo, embodied vision that I have, or just energy that I have into a completely different industry.

Now, fun fact that a lot of you guys may not know is when I was 15, I actually started my first like legitimate business in California, and I went to a elderly community. It was like a 55-plus community, and I basically started a cleaning business. It was cleaning, it was organizing, it was grocery shopping.

I forced my best friend to do it. I was the entrepreneur “We gotta work. I don’t wanna waste time, doing regular 15-year-old stuff.” I wanted to work. So we launched this business, and her name was Emma, and I was Emily, and so we called it M&M’s Everything. And we had like flyers, and we passed them out to every single house in that community, which was like 300.

And we couldn’t drive yet, and so our parents would drop us off either in the community or at like our first job, and then we would go to the next job on Razor scooters. So we became famous in that little community. We got featured in the newspaper. We charged so little. This was 15 years ago, so 15, 16 years ago, which is so crazy to say that.

And I think we charged $12 an hour for both of us. So we were undercharging even back then, like $12 an hour for two pe- two people, whatever. And I hustled. Like I… We made a lot of money doing that. We would get tipped and stuff by these incredibly sweet old people. not that 55 is old, but we worked for a lot of 85-year-olds.

Anyways, and so I saved that money and actually bought my first car, a Honda Civic for $5,000 with the money that I earned from that business. So it’s just like a full circle a little bit. And I have wanted to start a boring business for a long time. I’ve been thinking about this And for a little bit I was like, “Should I start a…

buy a painting company or, HVAC?” And I’m like, “I don’t know. I don’t know anything about that industry.” And I know you can still buy a company and have someone operate it, but I just was like, at least cleaning and organizing, I know how to do well. I know how to at least build a business around that and have enough knowledge So that’s when I ended up asking the person to be my partner who was cleaning the CrossFit gym that I went to.

And I saw he also built my podcast studio furniture. I paid him to do that, and I just saw the quality of work and his energy and the values he had and the hustle. Like honestly, the hustle that he had, and I was like, “That’s what I need.” Because I’ll bring the business expertise and like the offer and the marketing and the strategy and the vision.

I need someone boots on the ground who can hustle. So anyways, that’s the company. So our first jobs are going to be for my friend. We’re gonna clean her house. We can clean my house too as a trial and test everything out. And so I share this because I think it is really important for entrepreneurs to understand the importance of getting those receipts, the importance of getting experience that can only be built over time.

I’m not saying to go do a bunch of free work, but I am saying if you’re trying to go into a new industry, or let’s say you’re launching a new offer, maybe the first round is… I don’t like using beta pricing in the digital space. I know people do that. I think that devalues it, and the association is that it’s going to be a poor quality product ’cause it’s beta.

I like using founding member. But maybe there’s founding member pricing or a founding member benefit. Because the reality is when you launch something new for the first time, whether it’s a new offer in an existing business, whether it’s a new business, it’s the first time you’re doing it, you’re going to have room for improvement, right?

‘Cause there’s always room for improvement. But when you launch that thing for the first time, it, there’s gonna be that opportunity for improvement, and you’ve gotta prove it. And the more receipts you get and the more that you are able to build those receipts and that social proof and also bulletproof your process and your systems, then you get to charge more, then you get to get your foot in the door for the industry and pick up from there.

And I feel that people don’t talk enough about this in business. I think especially in the online space, people make it seem like it’s so easy, and you can just do this tomorrow. Put up a funnel, put up a course, and make money passively. And it’s just not the case. I don’t think it’s actually ever been the case.

Even 10 years ago, you had to… It would be a house of cards to launch an offer that didn’t have depth, that didn’t actually get results, that was not solid on the back end. And unfortunately, the online space has created this image, because there is no barrier to entry, that you can just come in and create a course, and who really cares?

Make it with AI, whatever, and launch a funnel and launch ads, and you’ll be successful. And then there’s a lot of people who go in with that expectation and leave disappointed. And the point that I’m trying to make in all of this is that your goal should not be that. Your goal in building a business should not be that it’s easy and doesn’t take effort Because if you, I swear to you, if you are going into entrepreneurship because you’re trying to do something easy or passive, you’re going to be really disappointed, and you’re going to be really frustrated.

I think the only form of passive income is investment, right? You can invest in something that makes you money, sure, but an actual business is not passive. You can make things simple and easy and yes, there are people who have, 6-figure businesses without a team, and they work 15 hours a week.

And I’m not saying those things are not possible, but that’s even still not passive. So this idea that you can create something and launch it and it just runs is not reality. That’s not a business. Sure, you can have investments, but that is not a business. And again, unfortunately, because there is no barrier to entry, it’s like anyone can be a coach, anyone can make a course, anyone can make claims, the online space of coaches and programs and whatnot has been really diminished because of all the poor quality experiences, that it does impact the actual good experiences.

And so now what is required to be successful is you’ve gotta have the receipts because people don’t trust as much as they used to. And I think it’s important to go into entrepreneurship with this energy but also maintain it, which this is the energy of, “I will do whatever it takes. I will earn my brand recognition.

I will prove to the market how good I can service them.” And another thing that I’ve been thinking about, and I said this on my webinar this last week, was You know, the bottom line, like if we simplify business, why do businesses exist? They exist to serve people. They exist to solve a problem, to make somebody’s life better, to make somebody’s life easier, to solve a problem, to get them something they want, to take them on a journey, to change their life, to make their life easier, whatever.

And it’s really easy to get lost in the processes, in the strategy, in the funnels, in the numbers, in the day-to-day, to forget that is at the end of the day why we are in business. And I really believe that any time you’re struggling or something isn’t working, if you just come back to that why and you just remember you are here to serve other humans, your ideal customer, and so what would that look like, a lot of your quote problems would be solved.

You would be able to know what to change in your funnel, in your marketing or your offer or whatnot. I have people ask me “Should I add this offer as an upsell,” or, “Should I do this or should I do that to my offer or, my webinar?” And I always come back to what is the person, that person at that point in your customer journey, what do they need and want?

You have to service that. You have to understand that and service that, and then that usually answers your question. So the… with this new business that we’re creating, I’ve really sat and thought about what does somebody want with a premium cleaning company? What do they want? Like, how do they want the experience to be all the way from the start, the website, booking?

It’s easy. It doesn’t require you to call me and, or call us and have this conversation and then go out and get a quote. I’ve changed the process from the standard way that a company would operate because I’m putting myself in the shoes of the ideal customer and making it as easy as possible.

And then we are investing, right? I am paying somebody and expenses to do free work, so it’s costing me money, to get our foot in the door, to prove ourselves, to then go and build the business, and that is what it literally takes to grow a successful business. Now, most of you guys listening probably have a business, and so you don’t have to go do free work, but I want you to think about, are you creating in your marketing consistent reference back to the receipts, to the results?

I am noticing, especially in content and marketing today with our clients and my own marketing, people don’t wanna see broad statements. For example,

A broad statement that I might have is, “We’ve made $145 million for clients.” That’s amazing, like incredible metric, and I do sometimes use it. But actually a better thing to reference is a specific client result that we’ve recently got in the last week, and a story behind that. And that creates the credibility.

So for you, it is are you creating enough opportunity for you to actually implement that and take those and bring them into your marketing, and earn your right in the industry? That’s kinda what I’m saying, is the brands that are the most successful in most industries have been around for a while The ones that enter an industry and grow really fast typically have a really great product that gets results, and they share those results, and they earn their right in that industry to have the credibility and have the trust.

So how are you bringing that into your marketing and how are you looking at that? Nobody owes you anything. Nobody owes your business money or owes your business sales. You have to earn your spot in the market. And I do think in the last few years this has gotten more challenging. You have to work harder.

It is still possible. You have to work harder. You have to be more laser-focused in your messaging. You have to be more clear on your process and what makes you different and your proprietary method and j- really communicate that. And then you have to get results. You have to show and prove that you are a trustworthy, valuable company.

So being back in that energy has shown me that. And then the other thing I wanted to just mention on this podcast is I can’t wait to see the next few years unfold. I really can’t. I saw Gary Vee put a … I never go on Facebook, but I’ve been on it the last few days because we are looking at hiring cleaners.

And so I made a job post on Marketplace, and so it’s put me on Facebook, and I’m laughing because hiring cleaners has been quite the experience. I knew that the hiring of the team would be the hardest part of this business. I knew from day one. I’m like, “This isn’t even a business of marketing.

And yeah getting clients is important, but I don’t think it’s gonna be hard. I think it’s gonna be finding good cleaners.” And anyways, it’s proving to be a little more challenging, taking longer than I wanted it to, so we’ve been hustling. My partner’s been hustling more than me, boots on the ground literally going to Goodwill and H-E-B to recruit people.

Anyways, so I was on Facebook, and I saw Gary Vee did this post that said, “Do you know what industry is about to boom? Analog,” and physical, in person. And I’m not saying go start an in-person business. You don’t have to do that. That, this is just something I wanted to do. But I am saying I think that’s gonna become such a gap.

I think that- People are going to crave authenticity and actually be turned off by a lot of AI. And I’m gonna do some tests soon of exact, like ad copy, for example, one written by AI, one written 0% by AI, and prove which one works better. And like good AI copy, not like obvious, “If it’s not this, it’s this,” but like actually good AI copy compared to human.

I think that we’re gonna see in-person businesses, experiences, and even, in a digital business, retreats, events, ways to connect in person, boom, in the next few years. I really do because I think it’s– AI’s gonna create that gap. So that is one of the reasons I wanted to go in- basically invest in an in-person service business because to me, AI’s not really gonna touch it.

Is there one day gonna be robots who can clean? Maybe. But then we’ll just be the company that has those if that’s the direction we go, and it’s gonna be a long time until I think people want that in their house. And so I am looking at where are the gaps that AI is gonna create, and how can I diversify myself?

Not at all, like truly, because I don’t think my company will remain successful. I just want to diversify my investment to lessen the unknown of AI having a risk on me. And it’s fun. I’m having so much fun, and there’s a lot of crossover because I can create a lot of content in building this new business and publicly building it and building it with a decade of experience which is creating a lot of learning and content that I can bring here.

So that’s what I wanted to bring to the podcast today to get you guys thinking about that and really are you earning your credibility and your place in the market right now, and how do you become that category king? And part of becoming that unrecognizable, unignorable category king in your industry is earning your place in that your process, your methods, your products, what you teach, everything that you create has that quality and is helpful because right at the end of the day, why do we have our business?

To serve people. And that has to be at the forefront And you have to be willing to do the work. And depending on where you are in your business, it’s more work, right? Me having my company for 10 years, there’s less credibility in proving that I have to do. But if I stopped talking about our client results, I stopped getting our client results, I stopped showing how great our offers are, I could be lost to somebody else who comes in and shows that, right?

So that has to be at the forefront, and it has to be something that you are willing to put that energy into and not that energy of “People owe me,” or, “It’s just gonna be easy and I don’t have to work.” A business is not passive income. I’m sorry. It’s not. You can create maybe some passive income streams in a business, but even then I argue you’re still doing the marketing, you’re still doing the offer positioning, you still gotta drive traffic.

Passive income can be investments. This is my opinion. You can disagree with me. But I just haven’t seen it. I have yet to see an actual business where someone’s “Yeah, I don’t work. It just makes me money.” They’re still creating content and they’re doing something to create the traffic, even the most passive products there are.

All right, everybody. Thanks so much for tuning in, and keep an eye on my Instagram for updates on the company. Embody Marketing Live is very soon. I’m gonna be doing lots of work on content, stand out, how you can stand out in your messaging, brainstorming your offer, your business model when it comes to AI. So if you haven’t gotten your ticket yet, embodiedmarketing.com/live. I would love to see you in person, and I will talk to you next time.