Jameela Adams Experience

The Jameela Adams Experience Podcast

welcome to the jam Adams Experience Podcast it's a place and a space for women over 40 to be inspired encouraged and heard your host jila Adams will talk about how life be lifing and how to find Joy when overcoming challenges you're invited to join the experience hey everyone thank you for joining this week's episode I'm so happy that you're here and this week we have Inga Fay she is is a beautiful awesome person I had the pleasure of meeting with and doing business with in the past so I want you to get to know her as well so what I'm going to do is have Ina introduce herself and let's go from there hello Ina well hey Jamia I'm so glad to be here excited to be with you yes we have been hanging out for a while now I think it's been over two years so just the fact that you have invited me to your space is just I'm just so ex tickled excited that you did that for those um that are not familiar with me my name is Ina Fay I am an authenticity strategist I work with female entrepreneurs with introverted Tendencies and really help them use their innate gifts to grow their business because as a fellow introvert I know that often times I have felt like I had to be an outgoing extrovert to be successful and there were times that I actually did that I took the time and the energy to do that but after doing it I was so drained um and that made me really want to figure out a way that I could still be me and make my business grow as well so I've come up with some unique strategies that will help people do that um one of the great ways I found is uh my perfect ice breaker that we'll probably talk about a little bit later and then of course my coaching program that just kind of helps you along the way just really use the gifts that will make you grow the way you were meant to grow to walk out your passion that's awesome I I'm so glad that you brought that up because I find myself as an introverted extrovert because after a while I've had enough ping for the day and especially when we I have to go do networking events and things of that nature and it's like I literally have to sit there and do a timer like okay five four three I'm done I'm I'm ready to go because I can only people for so long exactly and it's like I I love what I do I love meeting people but after a while it's just like okay I I need to take off the skin suit and go home you know it's just like how how do you get your clients to kind of break that down so that way you can help them to move forward with their businesses right so what I have found that introverts or people with introverted Tendencies are outgoing with people that they know they love to talk about their product or service it's just often times the cold Outreach that they struggle with similar to what you're talking about they're not a PE people are not their thing they would rather be by themselves so what I have found to be the perfect Icebreaker are surveys because surveys make help you feel real they help you feel uh genuine and they help you build authentic relationships that grow into sales so that is my means of helping my clients that want to start off with lead generation because we all know that if you're out of leads if you're out of business so I have a DIY course called the savy survey system that will help people actually be able to have a create a survey in less than an hour without the heartache and the learning curve that I went through to create it oh that's awesome and it's good that you have that survey to like you said break the ice because right you know when you have to talk to people you're you have all this builtup ideas about will they like me will they understand me will they get it and to me doing the survey will definitely kind of like you said break the ice so that way you don't have to feel that way but once you get get past that point of doing the survey what do you do next well the survey is really going to kind of uh Define what you'll do next because at that particular Point you'll know if that person that just filled it out is your person and I think that's what's really important for us to understand that we need to talk to the right people I think we get into the Habit well I've been told and I'm sure many of you have too that everybody is your customer which is so far from the truth right we really want to Niche down and decide who we want to work with and that's what the survey is for it's telling us a little bit about what they are looking for uh and then it's going to tell us if they are our person so at that point we can make a decision are we going to continue or are we GNA stop right here and say nah she's not it or he's not it and then go from there so it's basically a DEC decision tool it helps you decide what the next step will be gotta gotta because like for me what I do to I guess you can say vet clientele I have my ciq and it's just there are questions about my client's uh design style their management style or in this instance like how can we work together are they a micromanager are they a free spirit like me or or they're like well you know as long as you get it done I don't care just check in with me type of person so so in that instance I do have a questionnaire is not necessarily I guess a survey per se but it is something that will allow me to understand my client better so it's it's always great to have that because when you are trying to find that ideal client it's always good to know what to expect so that way when it comes down to you doing business together at least you have an idea okay this is this person has this personality they like doing this and this is how they see their work done and so on so I honestly believe that any type of survey or questionnaire is a valuable tool exactly it's a valuable tool to have especially doing business so so let me ask you this how long have you been doing this uh well the survey strategy came about what really evolved in my direct sales business I've been in my I've had a direct sales business for over almost 20 years now so and and when I was in that business and which I still am I was using surveys but the surveys that I were was using really was kind of centered around the products that I sold it really wasn't a generic survey and that became very apparent to me when I was starting to use them again so what I wanted to do is I wanted people to really feel the freedom to be able to truly tell me what was on their mind and not let the product that I was promoting to hinder them from telling me that because I've had people say well I don't use XYZ product well the survey was really not because you used XY proud I really just wanted to know what you were thinking I mean truly and TR so I had to kind of take that away and and not branded as this is a soand so survey so when I did that it was really like the sky was the limit because I was really able to get in people's head because they were really able to tell me exactly what they were feeling and then for example I just had a conversation with one of the ladies that uh filled out my survey and she just educated me so much she has rosacea MH and she was telling me about all this research and the things that she had found out about the products that she can actually use on her skin and was just such an educational type of interaction for me that I probably would have never been able to get if I was just product focus on I'm trying to sell my product more so than I'm trying to SP expand my my knowledge and that's what it was all about and I was just so grateful for her that she just shared so much wisdom I mean she dropped so many golden nuggets on me to today that I would not have been able to do otherwise so that if if anyone listening to this has a business and have used surveys are are currently using surveys are thinking about surveys just one recommendation I would recommend that you do is take your take your business out of it so you can truly get people's inside scoop about what they're truly thinking because if they find out that you're doing a certain product or service then they're not going to be as open upfront and honest with you because of that and you won't get the the genuine answers that you really want to have for you to expand and grow your business that makes so much sense and thank you for sharing that because when as a business owner we tend to put our not necessarily put ourselves in our client space I think what it's reversed we put our clients into our space that makes sense instead of you know answering what they need to be done well case important for me on my business I have what I call the problem and solution series it's a Blog that I talk about things that my clients had issues with and the solutions we came up to solve their problem so when you're in business especially as an entrepreneur you have a solution to whomever you're trying to work with problem right but the thing is you have to listen to them first you have to actively listen to what they what they're trying to tell you what their problem is don't come in with your bag of tricks and you know but you haven't answered their question and I think that is one of the key one of the key focuses as a business owner that we should do is listen listen then get to the the heart of the matter as to why this person is coming to you have you have you been caught up in that in some instances but oh yeah I have I mean yeah I know when I was first starting out I wouldn't bit more think about what people were saying I was just trying to say right and I just recently took this course where they were T that was the first recommendation that was given to us is to stop selling stop selling yeah because when you're selling you're not listening and it's so important to make sure that you listen because as entrepreneurs we are basically a Fool in Love with our product or our service we think it's the best thing since sliced bread because we're the one that created it but at the end of the day if the marketplace doesn't think it's it's uh the best thing since sliced bread we will make no money right so so it's so very important um that we understand that and and I have been in that place I when I first started out I had created this um mindset course and I was I was just loving it and it was called the prosperity sculpt and it was you Scope your mind like you Scope your body because I'm a workout uh person so and I love working out is me I mean if you think of my husband when we were dating he used to say yeah that's Ina's hanging out with her boyfriend today and everybody would look at him her boyfriend yeah Jim G ym that's where she is that's where she's at so with all that said that's I mean I was I was just so in love with this name but my people W getting it it was just like what in the world are you talking about and right right later I mean it finally hit me that I needed to Rebrand but it was because I was in love with my product right because I created it yeah and just the mere fact of me going back and and and doing getting some coaching and it re-evaluating and tweaking and doing all that to make it right I figured out this is not it so yeah we definitely have to do that we want to have we want to help we don't want to sell that's what we're in that's what we want to do as entrepreneurs is help so how can we help we ask questions we're a doctor trying to find those paying points to see how we can help when you know when you go in the doctor's office they don't just give you medicine they ask you 50 billion questions and as entrepreneurs we need to have on that same doctor hat and be asking those questions as well so we can find out if we can help them because it's not what we have right is what do they need exactly and sometimes you can't help them I mean exactly and I'm okay with that it took me a long time to get to that point I can't help everybody because I'm not for everybody that's right and sometimes you know I think honestly I kind of revert back to being a kid it's like I always want everybody to be my friend not everybody's gonna be a friend be a friend that's right that's right not everybody's gonna like you and that's okay and it took it took developing thick skin to get to that point and I just I finally just said okay I'm gonna be good at what I do I'm gonna stay in my lane and not worry about anybody else and what anybody else is doing however if someone comes to me and I can't answer their questions I'll try to get to them as best as I can but but if I still can't give them the service that they need or deserve I will be so glad to have them contact someone else and I think honestly when you do that you're not only blessing the person that you letting go but you're blessing yourself because you can't be everything for everybody and I think that is a hard thing to deal with but it's the it's a reality I mean you just have to let go of your ego when it comes to that so right and that's why so that's why it's so important to have to have collaboration type of ation so you'll have somebody in the back pocket that you can say okay well I know I can't help you but suq over here I think she has what you need based on what you've told me so I'm G to recommend that you talk to Suzie Q and then you go give Suzie Q that referral and then she can do the same thing for you so it's not just you know your P you're you're looking out for all everybody involved because I'm a firm believer that entrepreneurship is a team sport so with that said it's very important that you don't do this entrepreneur Thing by yourself because the more you do it with people the the better it's going to get yeah exactly and see when I started my business I really wanted to help that was obviously how I you know put it put it out there it's like I want to be a service to others and I had to realize there's certain things I just can't do and that's okay and it's always good to find someone else who has a little bit more expertise than you or you know they have this special criteria that you haven't even touched on like for me there's certain things I can't do and I'm not going to sit here and beat myself up because I can't do it the best thing I can do is say hey I know somebody can help you with your problem let me introduce you to them and vice versa I think as you said it is a team sport and networking is such a beautiful thing to have and it's always good to have your tribe to have your people and not necessarily you guys are on the same wavelength as far as bring because everybody thinks differently and which is a good thing because you do need somebody with a different idea or a different you know point of view of perspective to point you say hey maybe if you did this you will see the results while doing such and such you know and it's always good to have that accountability as well I'm sure you you know that as well yes yes yes yes totally agree accountability is so powerful especially when the people are on the same I won't say they're they're they're work I won't say they're working for the same goal but they have the same ambition that's that's what I'll say that way because you have people in different stages of their business and I I just went through this as well where I was with an accountability partner who told me that she was really working to make six figures but when she was sharing information with me on what she was doing I'm thinking what you're telling me you're doing ain't going to get you the six figures so I don't know where the disconnect is but yeah it's it's not working this is not working and you know you I I know personally for me I want somebody to challenge me I mean that's to me that's the whole point of having accountability partner I can do bad by myself you know that part that part I I can literally do bad by myself I don't need somebody to ride with me too I know I don't need anybody to ride with me yeah I want somebody to say well you told me you want this but based on what you said what you told me and what you're doing is not matching up so the math ain't mathing yeah the math ain't maing I like that yeah so and I think you know speaking of accountability Partners you also have to hold yourself accountable I mean for me I I know when I mess up and I hate it but you know what I will be the first to say hey you know what you can always do better the next time time around um it's one of those things I had to learn though not to beat myself up you know and that the stress of failure is hard enough without you beating yourself up at the proc in the process so have you had that challenge as well have you like did something you're like oh my God how did I do that yeah but I what I've I guess what I've learned about failures I've I've taken a def a different Viewpoint of failure I'm looking at it in a different way now growing up failure was very bad for me because I was the oldest of three I was the only girl and I felt like if I didn't you know tow the line like I was supposed to I was setting a bad example for my younger brothers right but over the years especially in this entrepreneur J Journey I'm really I understand that failure is feedback you don't you don't really you don't learn anything when you are successful right success is just for the ego that's all that it is for right for all the stuff that you did before you became successful it makes it look like okay I enjoyed the journey we are finally here it is so it was so worth it now what is the next task that I'm going to try to figure out and have to fail through to get there to to my promised land so now I I want to I want to fail as fast as I can because the faster I fail the quicker the success will come so it's a total different perspective than what I had before now than I mean now than I had before because I didn't see it that way it was just like okay I'm the oldest everybody's looking at me everybody's going to be following me so if I don't do this right I'm messing it up for them right right so yeah it's it's totally different I think if we had more people to view it that way I think people more people would kind of step out on faith and and do different things things I think that's why so many people are in jobs that they hate because they're scared of the unknown and am I going to be able to survive am I going to be able to create value that's going to generate the income for the lifestyle that I become accustomed to living so yeah it's a it's a big deal it's definitely a leap of faith but we got to walk it out because I know that was one of the reasons why I stepped out on fate from my corporate job that I have been doing over 20 years was because I was just I don't want to do this anymore and if I don't do it if I don't stop and try this now I don't want to be on my deathbed saying I should have could have would have done this I want to be if it doesn't work out and and I used to say this and I'm gonna say this and not say it again just in reference of way I used to think I was thinking well if it doesn't work out I could always go back to work but I realized that I had to stop saying that too because it didn't allow me to really go all in because I still had that plan B I had to literally go all in to really truly make this work so just for those that are listening if that if that resonates with you in any way I'm just telling you just do it you you won't be you won't be mad that you did if you just walk it out yeah because my whole goal with the podcast is to give a voice for women of a certain age over 40 to be able to say hey I can do this I want to do it because I want women out there to say you know what I'm not going to be stuck in this job forever because I want to live and if that means starting my own business so be it I'm GNA have pit balls just like everything else but at least I can say I did it and that's the whole goal that I want to portray here is that we all need a community we need somebody to say I believe in you to do it I know you can do it because you've got the smarts the talents and the will and the drive to do it you just need the confidence and I believe that's why you know I I'm so blessed and fortunate to have you come on because I know you're really busy but I feel like you have that voice and that excitement to get people out there to do what they want to do and I I'm so thankful that that to have you as a guest so thank you thank you so much thank you thank you you're welcome because I mean we just we need a community we need to just have people especially women to know that you can do it it's not going to be easy but if you have the right people behind you it can be done and that's for sure that's what I want to portray here so that being said how can we reach you yes so you guys can uh reach me by going to my website which is Ina that.com which I'm sure will be in the show notes uh Ina is spelled i n GA effis andfrank a y.com uh you will have access to my freebies uh you'll see my coaching information um you'll see stuff about the survey that I was telling you about as well as all of my social media handles so that way you can connect with me I just recently started a new Facebook group called women entrepreneur collaboration and it's really just kind of centered around what we were just talking about Jam about you know women having a a space to really connect and support one another in their journey of Entrepreneurship and being able to share key learnings and help people through challenges and just really support it's not a place for you to come and promote all of your stuff I want to just put that out there right um we that does not mean we won't have opportunities for you to do that but if you're coming just to spam it is not the place for you right right right this is all about collaboration and supporting our fellow female entrepreneurs so um I'll make sure that that information is in the show notes actually you know what if you go to my website and you click on on Facebook it'll go directly to the group so you won't have to worry about because it's kind of complicated me writing all that stuff down just click the link and I'll go no worri make it easy for you so in closing what inspires you and what encourages you the most what inspires me and encourages me the most I guess when I think about what inspires me I think what inspires me is really to be better today than I was yesterday that's the constant and continuous Improvement that I'm working towards I I thrive on that um I want to say that typically people say that practice makes perfect but I know one of my great mentors um Edwin Deber always tells us that practice makes Improvement so I want to make sure that I am constantly improving I want to be better and better every day and every way um and then the second part of it is you said what inspires me and then what did you say what motivates me or what what encourages you what encourages me okay so what encourages me is um the little small wins that I have each day I make it a point to kind of journal what happened of the day I think we can get so caught up in reaching some goal that we're uh striving for and we lose sight of the little things that get us to that big goal so just being grateful for the little wins that I have each day um that keeps me encouraged and keeps the Big Mo going for me to jump up another day and try again good good awesome that is great stuff so I'm like I said so blessed and honored to have you here and I just want to say thank you for being a guest on the show and I definitely will put in the show notes where we can find you and also how they can be a part of the Facebook group so with that being said Thank You Ina for being on the program and thank you everyone for listening and I will chat with you next week take care bye