I don't like the word NO. If somebody tells me it's something that can't be done, then I will find a way that it can be done
Today, I had an opportunity to interview Debbie Bryan. Debbie Bryan is the owner of “Debbie Bryan Coaching”.
Her business is to help coaches, consultants and service based entrepreneurs sell to high ticket clients on social media and close clients online, even with a small audience. She likes to say that “Your Goal is My Goal”.
In this interview we get to explore her business ideas, leadership styles she prefers and overall learn a lot from her story.
Debbie also shares some great advice for young entrepreneurs, as well as the 3 character traits that are most instrumental to her success.
Check out more interviews with entrepreneurs here.
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How did you come up with the idea for your company? Can you share that story with us today?
Debbie Bryan: Hi! So my story started last year. I had had a marketing business, a digital marketing business for around six years at that time, I’ve been really successful and had some great clients and then boom, along Came the lockdown. Most of my clients were in event space. So they were spa’s, hotels, financial services that needed home visits. And so very, very quickly when things looked down in the UK last year that came to a little bit of a grinding hall.
I had to find another way of marketing, my business and marketing, my clients businesses, that would be really helpful to them. So, from there, it evolved a change of tactic, from digital marketing to setting up a call center for one client within two weeks to outbound calling for another one. And then looking at different strategies over that time. Lots of people came to me and said, do I really need to get on social media? How can I get onto social media? How can it now work for my business?
So, I found out, I grew a coaching company and I now am a business coach helping companies to find out how they can get clients from social media, not in a traditional way of advertising. So my company grew from that for my passion of helping business owners, and absolute love in helping and seeing other people to succeed. And at the moment, it’s just going from strength to strength. And the marketing side of it is probably still a little bit lower because I put all my energy into coaching and helping business Agnes.
So Debbie Bryan Coaching has taken over the market inside of that, but that we still do actually have social media. If that’s something somebody want that way, I can keep up to date with all the latest techniques such as reels tick-tocks and any of the other stuff
Tell us a little bit about your current projects. What exciting milestone would you like to share with our readers? (Don’t hesitate to delve into your achievements, they will inspire the audience)
Debbie Bryan: Looking at current projects, as I’ve said in the previous answer, I have actually launched a coaching business. That is my biggest focus at the moment is actually coaching people and helping them with sales and marketing in their businesses. Over the last couple of months, I’ve started selling from webinars myself and helping people with webinars and in my first month, I think I closed 5000, 7,000 in the next month and I closed 5,000 just this month. So that’s my first month of using webinars to get clients and I actually put my prices up quite a lot because in the beginning, I wanted to help everybody and this week I’ve just launched something that’s a little bit of a challenge, even for me, and we are having a five day challenge at the end of the month. So this is where we get a Facebook group and over five days, I will be teaching people who come into the group for free, how to get high ticket clients from social media, and how to close them with ease. So that’s something that I’m really, really excited about.
I’m really passionate about it. I want to show people what’s worked for me, over the last three months, and I’m not spending lots and lots of money on advertising. So people have told me you need to spend 5K to get the webinar. I’ve managed to do it for much less and I want to share that strategy with other business owners with coaches, creators, content, writers and service-based entrepreneurs. I feel like as we come out of the pandemic, everybody needs help. So this is a fantastic opportunity for me to share what I’ve learned and what’s worked for me, and for them to take that and run with that as well. That starts on the 31st of May and it runs for days at 6 p.m. and it’s launching the Facebook group.
Can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey? Did you ever consider giving up?
Debbie Bryane: One of the reasons that I have got into coaching, is that? I myself used to be a very do-it-yourself person. I thought the best thing for me to do was to go and do all the research on the internet and find out for myself, how it works. And three years ago I came out of a business that somebody else benefited from and I hadn’t myself benefited from it. So I was left a real loss.
And I spent a long time around the internet and following this person writing the numbers in the book, doing everything that everyone said, all the webinars. And at the end of that, I literally registered as like blowing my brains because everybody was telling me to do different things.
I spoke to a coach privately, I’ve worked with a coach a year before and he was amazing and said, this is what you need to be doing. You need to go back to your social media agency. I then contacted him, I didn’t like driving at the time, so I drove three hours to go and see him. And at that time, I felt like I was a jigsaw puzzle with just not a picture on my box. I knew I had all the pieces. I didn’t understand how to put them together and so having a coach I went back and started working with a coach now two and a half years ago and he actually showed me how to put that puzzle together.
It is so important and it made such a massive difference to my life. That’s why I went into coaching because I want to do that for other people. I know there’s a lot of people out there that know they’ve got all the skills. They just don’t know how to put it all together so that it works so that it’s not overwhelming, so that it’s empowering, it’s enjoyable and so that they can live a life that they’ve dreamt of living both for them and for their families. And I think that’s really where my coaching passion comes from and that’s where it stays.
What are the most common mistakes you see entrepreneurs make and what would you suggest they do?
Debbie Bryan: The most common mistake that I see most entrepreneurs make and over the last couple years, I’ve worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs, both helping them with their social media and training and sales and I think the most common thing that the best entrepreneurs do is not to actually ask for a sale. So they spend a lot of time telling people what they do, they don’t like to ask for the actual sale of the business. So they’ll spend ages, you know, chattering their way about what they do, assuming that the person knows more about it than they do. They don’t really sell the benefits. They don’t sell what their product maximizes, and they don’t sell what their product minimizes. What pain point, it actually solves for that person.
We always teach people to tell them the how and the, why. Why they need that and what they need it for, but not to tell him how to actually do it because that’s what you want to do for the project.
I also feel that most entrepreneurs are very, very slow to actually ask for the sale. Conversely, the bad mistake that entrepreneurs usually make is that they do ask for the sale but they ask for the sale in a very grabby way because they’ve got a fear of asking for the sale and fear of value. There’s a strategy, you know, you have to go through four steps of the funnel to warm clients up, so that they are, they know you, they’re aware of you, they love you, they like you, they like your product and they want to buy from you. Otherwise it’s just like that guy that grabs you from outside the shop in the market stall and drags you in, you’re never going to do business with those people. So there’s a million things they do but not actually asking somebody to buy from you in a timely manner that is trustworthy. That’s the, that’s the biggest thing that I see. That makes a difference.
Has the pandemic and transitioning into mostly online shopping affected your company positively or negatively?
Debbie Bryan: The pandemic has been very very tough for lots of businesses. For me, it’s actually been a bonus, so I’ve managed to turn it into a silver lining. Had we not had the pandemic but I’ve come out of digital marketing into the coaching, quite so successfully. I don’t think I probably would have done it, but so many people wanted to turn how they do their marketing into part of their business.
There’s a saying that says you buy a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day. You teach the man to fish and he’ll eat for the rest of their life. And that’s the same thing with sales and marketing. If I can show somebody how to passionately and very clearly market their business and close clients and get the high ticket clients will get more followers, more engagement, I can show people how to do that. Then obviously, that’s going to be more beneficial to them than me saying. Okay, I’m going to charge you x amount for junior social media. And they never learn how to do that for themselves or nobody in their team learns how to do it. So the reality of the pandemic for me is that it’s produced a coaching business that I absolutely love and enjoy and work with some absolutely fantastic people and have been able to do most of it through zoom.
So it’s also freed me up geographically. I have clients in Southern Ireland, clients in Canada, clients in Europe, I don’t just have clients in my hometown. Which prior to this would have been the normal way for businesses to run is to go and meet somebody and sit with them and I think that’s been a real benefit. I love meeting people in real time and I love to get in a room with my peers and get some training but the reality from a business point of view is that being able to be online and communicate with people and teach and educate people over Zoom has been fantastic for me.
When you think of your company, 5 years from now, what do you see?
Debbie Bryan: I’m massively excited thinking about where my business will be five years from now. Just this month, we’re going into group coaching. So one of the things with coaching that has been difficult is doing one-to-one coaching, is that, I’m just one person. And so I was passionate about helping as many business owners as I can to get this right and to be able to develop their businesses and have a life so that they want, but if your one-to-one coaching and sometimes you’re limited to how much time you can actually give two to one person. There’s not enough of you to go around.
So this month is the launch of a group coaching program where we can cover lots of different subjects. So I could be teaching people how to do LinkedIn, how to get a LinkedIn strategy, or how to do a webinar. And fill that webinar with a hundred customers who are interested in what you can sell. I can teach people how to run their social media either organically, so not paid for, or I can teach them how to do their Facebook ads, or their Instagram, how to incorporate reels and Tick-Tock and some of the latest technology into their businesses. And I just think that technology and social media is here to stay and that’s something that we as we grow with it. If I can help more and more people in five years then I think I’m going to get some fantastic results for people and build a company that I absolutely love and very passionate about
You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success?
Debbie Bryan: The three character traits that I think of instruments to my success would be:
I don’t like the word NO. So if somebody tells me it’s something that can’t be done, then I will find a way that it can be done if it’s something that needs to be done in the business and it’s something that’s going to benefit the business, then I don’t ever take no for an answer even if I don’t know what it is, I will find out how to do it. So I very much say the fact that I am able to move forward, even and find new innovations and new things, helps me massively.
The other characteristic that’s that helps me, is that I am an action taker. I’m not somebody who thinks and thinks and thinks and then doesn’t take action. If something needs to be done, then we’re doing it. We find a strategy. We find a plan, we put the implementation in place and we get it. Whether it’s, we need to recruit somebody or need to train somebody, etc.
I guess the third characteristic of myself is that I’m very positive. I’m a very optimistic person. So I always see opportunities and I see lots of opportunities for other people. I’m really happy to share opportunities. If I see opportunities that I think are going to benefit one of my clients, then I will pick up the phone and tell them. So you know, I love to work in a team and if anybody wants to work in a team with me, then I absolutely love working in a team. But I also have the ability to say if you don’t want to come with me, I’m doing this anyway. So if it’s a fantastic idea, I’m like guys come and do this. This is a fantastic idea. I’m doing it. I want you to do this with me, but anybody who isn’t going to jump on board and take action and move forward, then they’re going to get left behind and it’s a little bit brutal, but it just means that we’re all together if we’re moving forward.
What have you learned about personal branding that you wish you had known earlier in your career?
Debbie Bryan: I wish that I had known earlier in my career that branding isn’t about logos and signage and pretty brochures that branding is more about your business, your ethos, your culture within your business and getting that message across to your clients.
In the past I’ve had hair salons and beauty salons and photography studios and you know everyone’s tried to push you to get all the pretty glossy stuff and the reality is that actually doesn’t really matter. What does matter is how you treat people, how you look after people, what service that you can give to people. I guess if I’d known much clearer much earlier that was the branding that needed to be focused on. We focus on that now, telling people, I have coaches courses, create service-based entrepreneurs to get more leads and more clients in their business.
I’m very clear on my brand and very clear about who I help now. And previously I wasn’t. I try to help everybody. And, you know, that way you’re talking to nobody really in pain. None in the world can possibly help everybody. So now I brand myself and my company about how we can help you and who you are and you know who are good for and who are not good for. So that would have been a bit easier a little bit earlier.
What’s your favorite leadership style and why?
Debbie Bryan: My favorite leadership style is to lead as a team. I’m very much a team player. As I said, in one of the questions earlier on, I’m very strong as a team player but I’m very strong as a leader.
So my style of leadership is that you know we all get together and work as a team but anybody who doesn’t really want to be on the team, then we don’t stop for those people. If we’re going forward we’re going forward. If we’re taking action, we’re taking action.
I want to be arms out and bring everybody with me. It’s the heart in me that wants to gather everyone up and make it amazing for everybody else. But at the same time, I can be quite tough in that I’m very results driven and at the end of the day the results are exactly what matter both to me and to my client and to the objective of what we’re trying to achieve.
So that everybody is working towards the results and everybody is going forward. Then that’s fantastic. We will do that in a nice group. If people are not working towards results and they’ve got your own agenda, then unfortunately we have a different tactic to how that goes. I’ve just come across really really brutal and I don’t mean that to be brutal at all but it’s very much you know does it make the boat go faster? You know if you add all the fluff is it actually going to make a difference to do the project. So my leadership is very results driven. That’s probably a better way to put it.
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What advice would you give to our younger readers that want to become entrepreneurs?
Debbie Bryan: If I was asked for advice for younger people who want to become entrepreneurs, I would say, first of all, go and find somebody who’s doing some things that you’re doing. So for you to admire and follow them. There’s people out there that have done it already the hard way so you can follow them and do the easy way.
Get a coach. Somebody who’s actually interested in what you’re doing is going to help and advise you. My business exploded once I had a coach that I could go in and talk my things through and he could advise me on. And I’ve had several coaches, sometimes have more than one but having somebody that’s there for you, that’s done that journey. That is where you want to be is absolutely crucial to make your journey so much quicker. There’s lots and lots of different people and go find the person that suits you and have a serious conversation.
Nothing happens overnight and believe the stories online where it works out overnight and it just looks like magically it happened. It never happens, magically overnight. There were a lot of hours, a lot of hard work, a lot of great, a lot of determination to get the results that you’re seeing. You just make it look easy. Once you know how to do it you make it look easy and that encourages other people to do it. And the other advice I would give is if you get some help from somebody then give back and share your help, so you’re also helping somebody else. It is always good to kind of give back.
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What’s your favorite “business” quote and how has it affected your business decisions?
Debbie Bryan: One of my favorite business quotes and I don’t really know who it came from. Although I read it in a book from an American TV person and the quote “if not now then when?” and that really resonates with me in that it is very easy to procrastinate and to put things off to go, this is not perfect. The circumstances are not perfect. They’ll never be perfect.
There’ll never be any perfect circumstances. This interview I did in one take because I could do it in 10 takes, and I mess something up along the way. So there’s never perfect and if not now then when? When would be a better time than now for you to do it? If there’s something that needs to be done, if it was going to make you 5,000 or 10,000, or hundred pound, if you were guaranteed, would you want to wait a month or year 5 years? 10 years? So for me, that’s kind of something that when I first read it, it resonated saying, you know, don’t put things off for tomorrow, when you can do them today. Because tomorrow’s message is something different, and who knows what opportunity will come from your actions.
I’ve done lots of things and it’s opened so many doors and opens, and opportunities for me, that if I had waited, it would have changed. It would’ve just passed me by. This time last year, I went from not being able to speak in front of anybody to standing up and speaking in front of 400 people, the front of a room in Leeds last year and had I said no or I’m not ready, or I don’t want to do it. Then that opportunity would have gone. It would’ve literally been gone and it would never come back again. Because we went into a lockdown after that. So I said yes to the 400 and I said yes to the 360 people, the next day and 250 people the next day after that.
Larry Yatch, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Debbie for taking the time to do this interview and share her knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Debbie or her company, you can do it through her – Instagram, Facebook
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