Angela Henderson: 0:24
Hello, my friend, always excited to be around you and your presence and your awesomeness. So, yes, thrilled to be here today.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 0:30
Thank you. So I’m going to share a little bit of background about Angela. I think you all this is an episode where you’re in for some amazing business coaching advice from Angela. She is an international award-winning business consultant, coach, speaker and podcaster who helps women around the world make more money by creating personalized business strategy and mastering their mindset so they can create a business and life they love and want to show up for every single day. I love the way your bio was written when it came across to me and the fact that it’s not just about how someone wants to grow their business from a mechanical standpoint, but how you’re looking at it from a mindset standpoint. What gave you that thought? Was it anything personal that led you down the path to consulting from that point of view?

Angela Henderson: 1:21
Well, yes, so I’m an Ex-Mental Health clinician, so I’ve got an undergrad in Psych and Sociology. I’ve got a master’s of social work, though I live in Australia now. I actually did my undergrad in Elver Creek, New Mexico. Master’s in Australian clinical crack over in North Carolina. And so what I guess stems from my consulting framework is the notion of when I used to diagnose people with schizophrenia, bipolar, autism, anxiety, et cetera is you don’t just have anxiety at home only, and if you do well, then it’s typically an environmental thing, not necessarily a full-blown mental health diagnosis. You don’t just have autism at school, it impacts all areas of life. So when I first started looking at my business model, my business framework, to ensure that people were getting the most success, I look at four key components, and that key component is yes, you need strategy, but two, we need to look at your health, which includes your spiritual health, your mental health and your physical health. Three, we look at relationships relationships to self, relationships to community and relationships to family. And the fourth component I look at is wealth: generational wealth, business wealth, financial wealth. And so because you can’t do business in isolation, and so if things are really rocky at home and you’re working with a consultant who’s only focusing on the strategy element side of things, you’re going to have a deficit somewhere, and so for me, it’s been really important to make sure that, again, we’re not just looking at mindset, but we’re looking at everything collectively in order to position people in the best position for growth.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 2:45
Wow, I mean that’s so deep and I love that you have those four key areas to focus in on. Most business consultants don’t approach things that way, and you said something really profound, which is you can’t do business in isolation, which is really huge and great advice for people who not only are starting a business, but those who have been in business for a while. You’re working, you said, with a lot of women. What are these women? Yeah, when they come to you, like, where are they in their business? Have they hit a point where they’re trying to figure things out, like, what does that look like for you typically?

Angela Henderson: 3:20
Well, I work with women across three kind of main components Startup stage those women who are on their way to 10K months but haven’t quite gotten there yet. I work with women in growth stage, so 10K to about 50K months. And then I work with women from 50K plus per month. And so the strategy for every one of those components is slightly different, but also people’s mindset typically is very different in each of those elements. And so but again, I can’t say that I do it just one way, because when women come into my ecosystem, we’ll have an onboarding call with me, not with my team, but with me so that I understand their business inside and out. When I’m on a hot seat call, when I’m on a coaching call with them, I’m giving them tailored advice for their business, based on where they’re at, what they need, but also going back to that framework, do they need strategy? Do they need me to address health? Do they need me to address relationships, or do we need to address wealth? And so sometimes women will come to me and they’ll think that they need to speak to me about something. So it could be creating a strategy, but when we start looking at it, the strategy that they actually need is to be working with the hypnotherapist or a mindset coach, so there’s no particular like one shoe fits all and it’s not cookie cutter when you work with me. So, though, I can give you a broad overview of startup growth and scale, each person’s it’s individual care, tailored to their business and their needs, got you?

Sonja Crystal Williams: 4:39
Let me ask you, Angela, how long have you had your coaching program in place for women to take advantage of?

Angela Henderson: 4:45
Yeah, so I’ve been working now with women. So I’ve been in business collectively since 2010, when I started my first E-com business and we started with zero product and then we ended up with over 1400 different products. But through that business, we created a second revenue stream, which was around how do I say this? Influencer marketing. So I was signed with Netflix, I was signed with Hilton’s, I was signed with Club Mets, and so that first business started and then, through that business, the consulting business started back in 2017. So I’m now consulting for roughly about six years.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 5:18
So you were doing influencer marketing. Before it was a thing 100% before it was a thing.

Angela Henderson: 5:24
So yes, and being I was one of only nine people signed with Netflix here in Australia and it was a privilege to work with Netflix. They obviously wanted my audience. We had an email list of 50,000 plus. We had a social media presence of just under 100,000. So I would watch content from Netflix and then I would write about it either with my mental health background or with my business hat, and it was phenomenal. And that first business was called after my, named after my son, Finley, whereas we created educational products that focused on fine motor skill, gross motor skill, imagination, and it was called Finley and me creating childhood memories through play, love and travel. So that was the first business. But then it stemmed into consulting, and consulting was never on the cards. I just remember after 14 coffee dates where people wanted to pick my brain I don’t even drink coffee I had the aha moment where I was like, oh, if I were to charge those people for that hour and a half to our coffee date, I could make additional money with my expertise, and so it would. Just throughout there I was available to do this. Then we built a website, Then we got into niching and all of that, but everything just flowed the way that it was necessary. But sometimes our most creative ways of doing things aren’t ever. Do you know what I mean? Linear one way. It just was presented to me and I rolled with it.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 6:37
Okay, back to that 50K email list, because for so many business owners, growing a list like that is like a dream come true. Were you able to take that list with you, or did you find yourself as you transitioned into the coaching business the coaching and consulting needing to start from scratch on building up that email list?

Angela Henderson: 6:55
Yeah. So we started from scratch because obviously Ecom and selling baby products wasn’t gonna be relevant to the business owners, and so a lot of people also think that a business coach just coaches other business coaches. That’s not what I do at all Because of my framework. I work with doctors, lawyers, dentists, social media content creators. I do work with some coaches, but coaches are actually the minority of who I work with. So when we created this particular business, we started from scratch with our email. Now we’ve got over 10,000 people on our email list and we clean that every three months. So our open rate sits at about 35, 36%, with our click through rate, et cetera. So for us having an email list is imperative in order to be able to get in front of people. Also owning your own real estate. So many people are building on other people’s land Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, et cetera and I’m very big about focusing on building my own assets. So if I were to lose everything on social media, I still would get probably hit a little bit financially, but my business isn’t going to crumble.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 7:54
Yeah, I’m gonna insert a little story because I do a lot of social media trainings and whatnot with clients and that’s one of the biggest things I always tell them you need to own your own data and as long as you’re growing these audiences on Facebook and Instagram and all those places which is awesome, like you still need to get those people out of those social media networks and truly into your hands, where you’ve really got their name, email and other things about them, to truly build community. So I’m a big believer in that, and the quick little story I’m going to insert is that over this weekend, we discovered that my husband’s Facebook account his personal account had been hacked and through that hacking which we we had to watch a lot of videos on YouTube to figure out how to get it back, because dealing with Facebook and trying to get your account back is very difficult and they took over his business manager page. They attempted to run ads and it was a whole thing. We’re about 75% through the process now, but it goes back to what you just said. So many of us, as business owners, put so much value in building up. I need to have 100,000 followers on Instagram, I need this and that on Facebook, but you’ve come up with some ways to not rely on that right. So you’ve got the email list, but I know from some conversations you and I have had, you’ve kind of come up with like a almost like a trifecta of how you’ve been able to grow your community and move away from dependency on those networks. What are some ways that you’re kind of getting past that Facebook, instagram dependency?

Angela Henderson: 9:31
Yeah, I guess first I’ll go back is that there’s only three ways to grow to be visible organic, partnership and paid. Okay, and so for me is I look at organic marketing, so that could be posting on social media, that is growing your email list, that is creating my own podcast, the Angela Henderson Online Business Show. The second thing is is partnerships. Partnerships could be just swaps with people, so email swap to email swap, podcast swap to podcast swap but partnerships could also be legal, binding contracts where you’re signing the contract and they’re signing contract. It could be affiliates, for example. There’s so many ways to do partnerships. And then, obviously, your last one is paid, which is pretty self-explanatory paid ads, paid magazine you know if that’s even a thing now, whatever, right, right. So for me, the biggest thing, though, is is not doing Everything. So I’m not on every platform, I’m not doing every partnership, I’m not doing every paid thing. I look at our data and I ask myself is what we’re currently doing 10xing my business or 2xing my business? It’s not 10xing my business. We get rid of it, and in order to 10x, you pretty much have to get rid of 80% of your community, 80% of your Team and 80% of what you currently know and so it’s not easy, but what we have found is by double downing on our podcast, so we produce two episodes a week. Double day on our email, so that’s our organic side. Then we’ve doubled down this year. By the end of 2023 we will have entered into 120 plus partnerships and collaborations. And then paid. We run some Facebook ads and I also pay for some paid sponsorship. Okay, so for me it’s like it’s just really two little kind of bits on each of those and optimizing each of those for growth.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 11:13
Okay, I want to hone in on the partnership piece for a second, because for most people paid ads and there’s a whole thing behind running those properly. You know, I could probably go on about, but it’s accessible to people. Collaborations doesn’t always come across as feeling accessible to the average business owner. So what are some thoughts or advice you would give around people that want to go down that path but don’t know where to begin?

Angela Henderson: 11:39
Well, again, I think there’s always a place to begin. It’s who do you know is the first and primary place. What groups are you associated with? What people do you know? Who do they know? And you’re gonna have to kind of go back and and Pull on those relationships. Now, what I say is you don’t ask for sex on the first date. So if you’ve got partnerships, are you gonna reach out to someone and they don’t know you? That’s a whole different strategy I talk about when you look at partnerships. Look at who you already have a relationship with and who you’ve kind of Built a deposit up with per se, like you’ve helped them, you’ve responded to questions, you’ve got it them, you’ve connected them and then you can be like, hey, I’m looking for da-da-da. This is exactly how you and I met. I wouldn’t be on your podcast. We wouldn’t be doing email swaps if we wouldn’t. We found each other in a group. I believe it was I have to go back and double check the spreadsheet but it was inside of a group that we were in. Yeah, so it was a little bit different because we were in the group, that we already knew that we were collaborating together. But I then reach out to you. I then said hey, what are your goals for 2023 around partnerships? You came back to me. We shared each other’s assets, so I said what I was bringing to the table. You said what you were bringing to the table and then, from there, we worked out a thing that was, you know, leading with love and value for both parties, right and so and so that was like that’s an example of how you and I would never have met if we wouldn’t have been in that group. But you don’t have to be in a group. Like I said, if you sat down and spent 15 to 20 minutes, I guarantee you could probably have 50 people that you probably don’t even think about. That would be on that list, that you’re like shit, I could actually email 50 people. You’re probably gonna get a few no’s, but you’re gonna get a hell lot of yeses and from that yes, they’ll connect you to someone else, and that’s how this ripple effect has happened in the last six months of getting into this funnel Didn’t mean stint with partnerships right and I think the reality is too.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 13:30
Once you get into those collaborations and partnerships, then that gives you the opportunity if it’s a win-win and, like you said, creating value that you get the opportunity to get to introduce to who they know and find out who they’re collaborating with and find opportunities to really expand your network in really unconventional ways that people don’t always think about.

Angela Henderson: 13:50
So I think that’s and you use the word expand your network. There’s a saying, and it’s not my quote, but your network equals your net worth. Yeah, I am where I am. So I’ve spent $750,000 plus dollars over the last 10 years in professional development master in minds, coaches, do you mean? Conferences, et cetera and I can tell you that that money I have spent has significantly allowed me to be in the room with other people I never would have been able to. And so when you pay, you pay attention. But when you pay, the person you’re paying money to also pays attention for you. They’re looking for opportunities and gaps and things like that in order to be able to connect people. So you know again, where are you paying to play? Do you know what I mean? It could be a $10 conference. It doesn’t have to be expensive. I started off at free things, but then like attracts, like I was going to events where people didn’t. They wanted everything for free. Then I paid $10, then I paid $100 to go to a vet, then I paid like 13K to go to a mastermind. Then I paid $45,000 to work with a coach for six months. Like I didn’t start with zero and go to 45K. It was years before I did that. But every time you invest, I believe that the transformation occurs when the transaction takes place. You either feel more confident, you break down some of the self-stopping touching barriers, et cetera. So that’s just kind of a little side tip.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 15:13
I love it. I love it. Wow, you dropped so many pearls and just so many great words of wisdom. I’m going to shift us into our lightning round, where I want to ask you a few other questions, and I’m going to start with what you just brought up, just that investment in yourself. Nearly a million dollars you’ve invested in yourself over the course of time, in your own personal growth and development. I know that it sounds like you’ve been to a lot of different events, conferences, masterminds, and so on. What stands out to you, though? If it were one or two, you could think in it, and obviously they probably all impacted you in different ways, but one or two that you feel like maybe added the most value to maybe some of your personal relationships in life.

Angela Henderson: 15:57
Oh, definitely say. The first event that I ever paid significant money to was Chris Duckers event. He no longer runs them, but he was running them in the Philippines, where he would bring over 50 entrepreneurs and there would be nine top speakers from around the world that were flowing in and the speakers would eat breakfast, lunch, dinner. Some of the best ideas we had was kicking this beach ball around like passing it in the swimming pools. We drank mojitos right, but it was the most laid back because the speakers just were in boardies and flip flops. We were in do you mean flip flops or bathing suits, whatever, and it was just the most chilled but most profound experience. And it was because of Chris’s event that I now run about 10 events in Australia, everywhere, and I also run something very similar in ballroom and business every year. And it’s because it’s not just about learning more and doing more. It was that Chris gave us an opportunity to sit, and when you have an opportunity to sit and rest, you get creative and you learn things and see things from a different lens, and from that I will always say that you know I run my events the way I do, obviously with my own twist, but it was through seeing how Chris ran them and leading with love and value. But yeah, entrepreneurs often are just go, go go. Chris gave us space to connect in ways with yourself and people that you could never have even imagined.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 17:12
Yeah, like a timeout, but yet it wasn’t a timeout, because it gave you that opportunity to explore your creativity, which I think is so huge when you run any kind of business. You need that.

Angela Henderson: 17:23
Well, you think about in the shower. Some of our best ideas are when we’re in the shower. Yeah, some of our best ideas are when we’re in the car. Maybe there’s light music on, we’re not listening to a podcast, we’re not on the phone speaking to our parents or our partners, we’re just driving and the ideas just drop. Or if you’re in the spiritual world, they’ll say the downloads come whenever it is right. But it’s not coincidence that when you’re sitting by the pool and just relaxing in the sunshine that things start to flow. So I do encourage you know what I mean business owners to think about where are you incorporating rest into your world? Because rest is optimization. It helps you to ten X your business and from that everything else will also ten X. It’s significantly a flow and effect.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 18:04
Love it. What’s your guilty pleasure? My guilty pleasure would be travel.

Angela Henderson: 18:10
Ah, Always, there’s always a travel thing on my diary somewhere somehow. Yeah, I love it. Travel and lightens, and yes, it’s my guilty pleasure I’m like yeah.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 18:21
So one follow up question to that and I’m gonna end there. When you travel, what do you love to do the most?

Angela Henderson: 18:29
What I love to do the most is it depends on where I was in life. Obviously, when I was younger I loved to party and drink and dance, you know. But now that I’m older, you know, we were just in Bali. My boyfriend and I run in the retreat, and before we got to the retreat we did some sound healing. We met with the local shaman, for example, right Like, and we, just like, went and explored the culture. So for me, that’s yeah, for where I was and where I am, it’s very different. But yeah, that’s what I like to do now.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 18:55
Yeah, you know, I found I was just sharing this with a friend. My one thing I love to do in other countries is go to their markets, their grocery markets.

Angela Henderson: 19:03
Yes, so fun. I like some of the sex, some of my favorite things yes it’s so colorful, yes, I totally, so relatable.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 19:10
Yeah Well, I want to thank you, Angela, so much for taking time out of your day to join us. Also, I want to kind of just kind of make sure people know where they can find you, get more information, maybe even get a consultation to learn more about your services. What are some of the best ways and places people can keep in touch?

Angela Henderson: 19:28
Yeah, I always said the best ways to head straight to my website, which is angelahenderson. com. au, and from there you can pick and choose what you need, kind of like an all-you-can-eat buffet. You can either listen to my podcast, you can read my blogs, but we also have this really new tool that we this great tool that we’ve just released, called Discover Your Business Score, and what we do is we’re looking at four major components of your business and we’re looking at where those gaps are by looking, by having you answer 24 simple questions about your business, and the information and feedback that we’ve been getting back from people who have done this is saying this is a game changer, because so often we’re always looking for the next steps but we don’t know the next steps because we don’t know where the gaps are within our business. So, again over at my website, angelahenderson. com. au, I’d also encourage you to check out understanding your business scorecard.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 20:15
Okay, and I’ll be sure everyone to drop a link so you know where to go take that scorecard, answer those questions, get a quick assessment on your business and find out where those gaps are. Thanks again. So much, Angela, for everyone listening. Until next time.