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Episode 165 - When You Prioritize Your Life, Your Business Grows Faster Xue Bravo
52 Plays13 days ago
Happy New Year, 2025!
This year is going to be incredible, and I’m starting it off strong! I had a relaxing New Year’s Eve with my family and am proud to say I woke up hangover-free and ready to crush my goals.
Over the past year, I made a major pivot in my life and business, all thanks to my amazing life and business coach, Xue Bravo. She has truly transformed the way I approach both my personal and professional life. Fun fact: I first met Xue when I photographed her for the cover of a magazine! She’s a Christian mom of four (younger than me!) and an inspiration in every way.
I’ve been diving headfirst into affiliate marketing, and the possibilities are endless. Huge shoutout to 17hats and Aftershoot for sponsoring this podcast and supporting my journey! Through affiliate digital marketing, I’ve discovered a path to passive income that has not only helped me but is also transforming the lives of wedding pros and creatives.
Want to know how I’m making $1k a day, all from my phone, working just 1–2 hours a day? Watch my 9-minute video—it’s a game-changer, and I know you can do it too! https://carissawoo.systeme.io/
Hot Topic of the Day:
“When You Prioritize Your Life, Your Business Grows Faster.”
Today, we’re unpacking this powerful concept and sharing actionable tips to help you strike the perfect balance between life and business.
Tune in now for inspiration, practical advice, and some exciting updates about what’s to come in 2025!
Connect with Xue https://www.instagram.com/lifeandbusinesswithxuebravo/
https://instagram.com/carissawoo
Recommended
Transcript
New Year's Reflections & Career Shift
00:00:00
Speaker
Happy Woo Wednesdays, but most importantly, Happy New Year's, everyone. It's 2025, so crazy, and it's going to be a good one. I had a chill NYE with my family, and I'm proud of myself for not being hungover.
00:00:18
Speaker
So this year I pivoted my whole career. Thank you to Sue Bravo, my life and business coach. I've been working with her for about six months. And yeah, I've also um throughout the year been learning about affiliate marketing.
Deep Dive into Affiliate Marketing
00:00:33
Speaker
Thank you to 17 hats and after shoot for sponsoring this podcast.
00:00:38
Speaker
And I just got the affiliate marketing bug. So I dove deeper and deeper into affiliate digital marketing. And this world is insane. I kept learning and learning and I transitioned into helping wedding pros and creatives make passive income. So watch my nine minute video on how you can make 1K a day all from your phone working one to two hours a day. It is insane.
00:01:02
Speaker
So Sue is an amazing person and has helped me transform my life. She's way younger than me but has four kids and she's a total boss lady. I met her because I photographed her for the cover of a magazine.
Prioritizing Life for Business Growth
00:01:15
Speaker
She is a Christian like me and I love her to pieces. And today's hot topic is perfect for the new year. it's If you prioritize your life first, your business grows faster.
00:01:27
Speaker
So she has a bunch of great tips for us and you are going to love this episode.
00:01:37
Speaker
Welcome to Get a Heck Yes with Carissa Wu. I'm your host, Carissa, and I've been a Los Angeles wedding photographer for over a decade. I've traveled the world, built my team, and seen it all. I now coach wedding photographers hit 10K a month and build a thriving business. In this podcast, we are going to deep dive into how top wedding creatives get that heck yes from their dream clients. We are not holding back on the struggles of the business and how to push through the noise. Some healthy hustle, mindset shifts, up-leveling your money story,
00:02:06
Speaker
time-packed because I'm a mom of two, a little bit of woo-woo, and most importantly, self-love and confidence are just a few of the many things we will talk about. I want to give you a genuine thank you for following along my journey.
Guest Introduction: Sue Bravo
00:02:18
Speaker
I hope to inspire you every Woo Wednesday so that you say heck yes to listening to this podcast. See you guys soon!
00:02:29
Speaker
Hey everyone, welcome back to Get a Heck Yes with your girl, Carissa Wu. I have my business and life coach on the podcast today. Her name is Sue Bravo, XUE, and she is a dedicated mom of four, the homeschooler, a house church leader, and inspiring life and business coach. She's the host of my favorite podcast called Life and Business with Sue, and her insights have been featured
Sue's Early Life & Resilience
00:02:53
Speaker
everywhere in Shout out LA, Voyage LA, Hei Hei, South Bay, Ruby Year, Libby Magazine,
00:02:59
Speaker
And she's taking the stage both virtual and in-person, sharing her wisdom with audiences of hundreds and thousands. Welcome, Sue. Thanks so much for having me. Yay. Oh my God. This is so exciting. I've already gained so much knowledge and you've been changing my life the past like month, but in a nutshell, tell everyone who you are.
00:03:22
Speaker
Yeah. So I would say the most important piece about me is that I am a mom to four. And then of course I do life and business coaching. And what I just love to do really quickly is really helping peak clients make lots of money in their business, but then also create a really amazing thriving life that they actually love and are able to actually live.
00:03:41
Speaker
Yes, that's what you're doing for me. So you already taken like a huge weight off my shoulders in my life and my business. But let's take it back to little Sue. Where are you from and what were you like growing up or as a kid? Yeah, I was actually born in a refugee camp in Thailand. And so I was born there. I was there until I think I was like two, three. And then we um were able to come here.
00:04:04
Speaker
um through the refugee camp in when i was like two or three and then we came to central california and then we ended up moving to massachusetts so that's actually where i grew up i lived there until i was about 12 um so that was super fun and amazing my family did like agriculture so we did farming farmers markets so i feel like i have always just been in the entrepreneurial world i think one of the biggest lessons actually that i learned from my dad that i didn't really learn know realized that i was learning was like one of the ladies that was helping us to build our business um she actually told my dad to like get like a big truck that has refrigeration so that he didn't have to be picking his vegetables at 5 am you could pick it the day before refrigerate it and it was our first time using it but it ended up um freezing overnight because it was our first time we didn't know how
00:04:53
Speaker
how much or how little and so when we woke up in the morning everything was frozen and you could tell everybody else was like frantic but my dad was like okay cool here's a problem we're just gonna go pick the vegetables like we normally do right now and I could just see how like how calm he was how confident he was how he was just like cool here's a problem we're gonna solve it and that's it and I realized like that's how you know I've just lived my life of like not being the problem person or focused on problem but like just being so solution focused And so I feel privileged to bring that skill into my business too, but when I was 12, my dad passed away and so we actually ended up moving to Central California. um I lived there for a few years and then I moved down to Southern California when I was in college. I was like, cool, that's a great idea to move down here with my friends. So we did that and I've been in Southern California for over a decade and it's been amazing. I met my husband here. um Now we have four kids and i've we've got two businesses. So it's been a great journey so far.
00:05:51
Speaker
That's a good recap of your life. You're good at articulating it. um let's Let's take it back to the first thing you said. um Tell me about the refugee camp in Thailand and what that was all about. Yeah.
00:06:06
Speaker
So my dad in the Vietnam War, he was actually part of what they would call the secret war. And so if people didn't know, I'm not really a history person, but I only know because my husband's really into history. So he wanted to know everything. So now I know. But the Vietnam War, the CIA actually got like the Hmong people. So I'm Hmong in our very small tribes. um Got the Hmong people to fight like the secret war against the Viet, like the Vietcong and things like that. And of course, when the U.S. lost the Vietnam the vietnam War, um they kind of just left them to be, which obviously now they became like traders in the the country Southeast Asia.
00:06:43
Speaker
And so we were living in Laos and so we had to go to Thailand where the refugees camps were for all of the among people. And so a lot of my, I want to say I have 10 siblings. Well, nine siblings. There's 10 of us. I think um eight of us were born in the refugee camp. I was the last one to be born in the refugee camp. I don't really remember too much of it, but we have lots of pictures. It kind of just looks like we're living out in the wilderness. but um So it's funny, in refugee camps, they don't really take very good records. And so it's always a joke of like, my birthday is September 1st, but I'm like, maybe that's my birthday, maybe that's not. um But that's really all I remember about refugee camp is like, my sister probably remembers so much more because she's the oldest. oldest But that yeah, that's how we were able to come to the US because my dad was like a, I don't know, like a like a general in the, you know, secret war or whatever, you know, and so he was able to just yeah bring us all with him.
00:07:37
Speaker
That's a crazy story. I love that story. I want to ask you more about that on during coffee. But let's talk about um like your dad passing. I'm so sorry that happened to you at such a young age. But um what was like the aftermath of that? And like, how does your mom like survive with all these kids by herself? And like, what was a game plan after that?
Entrepreneurial Journey & Independence
00:07:57
Speaker
Um, I think her only game plan was to move across country to central California, which was where my oldest sister was living with her husband. And so I think she just felt like, Hey, we need somebody to help us with this, which was my oldest sister, my, ah my brother in law. And so we just drove across country for like three years after the school year ended when I was like 12 and a half and then um i turned 13 and i started eighth grade in central california and so we drove across the country in three days i started eighth grade when i turned 13 um and so i feel like for family-wise i feel like that was a moment where i kind of just like became super independent i was like i'm just doing everything myself now basically because
00:08:37
Speaker
My mom's also here taking care of like six, seven, eight other kids. And so I mean, I'm 13. I'm kind of like I can kind of do things myself. I shouldn't have to, but I am. And so I just remember like in high school, I basically just did everything myself. I was in many different clubs, many different sports, and basically she would just be like my chauffeur. I'd be like, cool, mom.
00:08:57
Speaker
I've got a tournament here and I've got a water polo game here and she would just like drive me around which was like so super supportive like I feel like in our culture it's just like they just want to do whatever to support us even if they don't really know what that is they're like cool I'll drive you to your games I'll take you to your clubs um and so I felt like that was a gift and a curse I guess to be so independent but when I got married I didn't know how to like depend on my husband I was like no I could do this myself you know So that was a big, yeah like changing lesson as well, like turning into a stay-at-home mom after being like super type A, go-getter, career-driven, and like now you're like just at home with like four kids. Oh, man. That's so interesting. Okay, so was your mom still doing like farmer's market stuff, like agricultural?
00:09:44
Speaker
um stuff at that time when you moved here? Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, Fresno was also like this, all of central California is very known for like agriculture anyway. So yeah, she just went like right back into it. I think she's like, I want to say she's seven. No, she's, I think she's 70 now. No, 60, 60. And she's still doing agriculture just by herself. Like just couple, couple acres. But I'm just like, I think you need to like retire now. But I mean, that's her passion. Her hobby, she loves doing it. and So yeah,
Family, Aspirations, & Coaching
00:10:11
Speaker
even when we moved here, she was still doing it.
00:10:13
Speaker
Wow. Okay. Like your life is interesting and it's all making sense. Cause you, you're so wise that, you know, four kids, but you're so you're younger than me. Um, okay. Let's talk about like when you met your husband that time in your life and then popping out all these babies yeahp and feeling kind of like, yeah, like you've been independent and you been like, um, so ambitious. And then what was it like to like take a standstill and raise these kids?
00:10:41
Speaker
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00:11:07
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:12:00
Speaker
Yeah, so I actually met my husband. Well, i was okay so I was going to college to get my business management degree because I was like, my dream is to open up a super fancy restaurant. And in order to do that, the job I need to get is ah be a restaurant manager. And so I was going to college to get that degree. But when I was 22, I had already like excelled in my career that I already got a management position. I was working at Benihana as a manager. And so I was like, cool, I already have my dream job. So I quit school to go into that full time And then about a year in, I meet my husband. We meet on like match dot.com. And we were supposed to go on a date, but I'm such a workaholic. I end up canceling our date. And then I delete my match, because I'm like, I'm fully committed to my career. I thought I was going to be like the four-year-old single aunt who's just having fun. you know um Three months later, he finds me on Facebook, and he sends me a message. I'm like, who is this guy? Oh, I was supposed to go on a date with him, and he had messaged me.
00:12:55
Speaker
I think he messaged me on like a Sunday and then we were talking on like Monday and Wednesday. We went on a date on Friday and that was it. That was it. We got married a year later. um And then yeah, it was so fast. And then I became a stay-at-home mom. And in my mind, I was like, cool, I'm going to be stay-at-home mom for like a year, maybe two years. And then I'm going to go back to work, like go do my career again. yeah And then we had another kid and then another kid, another kid. And then it really sunk in like, oh my gosh, I'm a stay-at-home mom now. Like that's my thing now.
00:13:24
Speaker
and at the beginning i was like no like i want to do other stuff that's why i started different businesses that some worked out some didn't work out but i was like i need an outlet or something and then i think and when i was pregnant with my fourth kid it was actually in 2020 so during the pandemic i had started a business in 2019 and it was like blowing up and it was like cool in 2020 i'm gonna make it official i'm gonna And then, of course, like the pandemic happened and the business I had was actually grazing tables. And so it's like, obviously, I can't cater anymore in 2020. So I think that gave me a moment to just really sit with my last pregnancy. And I was like, you know what? like In five years, this kid is going to go to school, whether that's public school or homeschooling. And I'm going to have to get a job. like I'm going to have to contribute financially because we live in Southern California, one of the most expensive places.
00:14:13
Speaker
And I think that was a moment where I was like, I can't be doing grazing tables because that takes away my entire weekend. um So I really need to find something else. And that was such a perfect timing because I felt like God was just like bringing me a different opportunity, which was coaching.
00:14:28
Speaker
And in fact, all of mine like my mom friends, because I was on the board for a nonprofit mom organization, they all saw me on social media do my businesses. And so during the pandemic, they also didn't have anything to do. So they're like, hey, can you show me how to use social media so that I can start my own business? And so I actually got started coaching, like teaching moms how to start building, grow their own business, leveraging social media. And so it kind of progressed from there, but I just felt like You know, I feel like we have this idea of what our career in our life is going to look like and then life happens and
Redefining Success & Life Values
00:14:59
Speaker
we get married and have kids and then we just get turned around and get to go in a completely different way. um But I feel like this is so much better than anything I could have imagined.
00:15:11
Speaker
Yeah, I'm so proud of you. And like for people listening, this is how our coaching calls are like just packed with information. Every second is just like a whirlwind of wealth of knowledge. Let's talk about or I was gonna say it's it's crazy that like if your husband didn't find you, you know, on Facebook, then your whole life would have been completely different.
00:15:35
Speaker
Yeah, I think about like, how he remembered like my actual name, because I didn't remember his name. So I was like, that's interesting. I mean, maybe he still had his profile up. So maybe he could still see the messages. um So I'm like, I don't even know what happened there. Yeah, um and we got interesting. Okay, so I guess it's time to talk about like your business and where you are today. um And I guess a little bit about maybe like the struggles of starting becoming like a coach and a life and business coach and then how you like overcame it. Yeah I think the biggest struggle that I went through was like this idea of what success looks like right so when we start a business we're like we just look at everybody else and we're like oh this must mean success or this must be success whether that's a number for you or a certain amount of clients or whatever it is right and so I think for me for a long time I was like listening to
00:16:30
Speaker
all of the podcasts and all the gurus out there telling me, here's what a successful business looks like. And also here's what's required of you. And so I think for like the first two years, my business, I was really like striving for that level of success and exactly how they did it. And I'm like, that's not like sustainable for me who wants to prioritize being a mom like I feel like that is my number one thing and I want to be able to build a business that supports it and so it took me a long time to decide like what kind of life do I want to have and then what kind of business do I want to have and building the specific kind of business that was going to support that life so I think it took a lot of like failures and a lot of like burnout and overwhelm and just
00:17:12
Speaker
like every single night realizing and asking myself like, is this the business I want to have, right? Is this the way I want to do my business? Um, and then I, you know, I found a coach and I feel like she just really opened my eyes to the possibility, the possibility of like creating literally anything you want. I'm like, Oh, cool. I could do that. Like, let me just do that. And then that worked. And I was like, Oh, I could actually just do whatever I want to do in my business and feel really amazing. and it's gonna actually help me create the life that i actually really want um and so i feel like it was a lot of like overcoming beliefs that we've been told whether that's through society or ourselves or family or friends but somebody is telling you a story right now today of like here's what success looks like here's how you get it and you have to do this or you can't reach the level level of success and so i would invite anybody who is struggling to create like
00:18:02
Speaker
sustainable success in their life or their business to really just evaluate that and say is that what I actually want and if it's not Then I really invite you into just dreaming dreaming of all the possibility Possibilities of like the exact life that you want and how you can build a business that is truly going to support that I think that's what I love about you like you do give the dream and it sounds great, but you give me actionable tips to actually make it happen really fast. So I think that's kind of like your secret power that probably comes from an experience and um like seeing results in your other clients, but it's like you could say, oh yeah, you could get this, this and this and this and this and this and um tell people how to get it, but then they don't really get it or it doesn't make sense and then they don't
00:18:57
Speaker
actually get it. yeah But I feel like for you, like you see this gap in like people's minds and you're like, no, really, it is achievable. And you make it like so simple. And I'm like, wow, I never saw it like that way. So yeah, I love it. um Let's get into hot topic. You just alluded perfectly to it. But what is your hot topic today? And why is it so near and dear to your heart?
00:19:21
Speaker
Okay, so my hot topic for today is that when you are able to prioritize your life and really envision the kind of life that you want, then your business success and your business growth will be faster and it will just genuinely follow along with the kind of life that you've designed. This is a good hot topic because I think that people think of it the other way, like, I'm going to hustle and make X amount of money or book this amount of weddings, and then my life is going to be good. But you're kind of refragment to prioritize what's really important to you, which people you know obviously want peace and um happiness and family first. And then you could also make your business grow even faster. So let's get into tip number one, Sue. Tip number one is understanding your thoughts. And again, that literally the first thought is usually people are telling themselves like, let me just make my business super successful. Let me make a million dollars and then my life will be amazing.
00:20:20
Speaker
But you hear time and time again where people are like, I'm on this mountain top of my business, but my life completely sucks. My marriage sucks. I'm about to get a divorce. My kids don't even know me. And so it's like, what if we just flip that around? Right. Because but that's where my podcast is called life and business, because it's literally your life and business intertwined. And if you try to separate those two, they they just don't. Right. Most people, that's why they fail. um Like in general in life is because they're like trying to separate those two. Let me create success here. and think that I will be able to create success somewhere else. But if it's like, if you feel amazing in your life, how will you show up for your clients, right? If you feel amazing in your life, how will you show up in your marketing? But vice versa, if it's like, if your marriage sucks and you're always fighting with your partner, how are you gonna show up in your marketing? Probably not so happy and probably not so confident.
Mindset & Business Actions
00:21:10
Speaker
And so that's one of when I say like, when you,
00:21:13
Speaker
want to be creating a really profitable and successful business it has to start with your everyday life and that might not be your marriage or your kids that might just be your soul like are you taking care of your soul are you taking care of yourself ah what is your mindset and that's why it comes with the thoughts like tip number one is understanding and being aware of your thoughts I think that this is the number one skill that I teach all of my clients and they don't even realize that I'm teaching them this skill but we're practicing it every single session and it's just thought management understanding your thoughts and knowing that like even though I'm having a really bad day I'm gonna still show up for my business because I have this thought that is so focused on impact in mission and vision that I might feel not so great today, but I'm still going to take action in my business. And so just being aware of like the thoughts, really another simple way to explain thoughts is like, what are the sentences that you're telling yourself in your brain, right? About yourself, about your business, about your offer. Um, just being aware of what you're telling yourself in your mind. Yeah. I mean, what our last call was yesterday, two days ago. Um, and,
00:22:20
Speaker
you felt like my offer was a little bit like I wasn't so pumped up about it. And then you asked me the question, like, what would be like the greatest offer that you would just like jump for joy and like want to shout to the world and, you know, can't wait to get out of bed to talk about and teach. And I'm like, it's just, it's sales. Like I want to teach wedding professionals how to have a sales call and like break down walls and, you know, how to close on the,
00:22:49
Speaker
close on the the sales call and have like both your couples be in tears and you're in tears. And by the end of it, you're besties and you're connected. um And it was just like this big like weight off my shoulders to know it was so simple and that's what I love and my passion. And it all goes back to like what I first started on. um But yeah, so that was very powerful. And then you're like, how does it feel? And I was like, it feels very, very light. I love it.
00:23:18
Speaker
I think that that's such um an amazing feeling to have in your business when you get to go back to like having fun and feeling excited about your business again, because that's going to help you serve your clients even better. Right. And that's really what it's about. Like our business is not never about like us and us making money. It's like if our clients win, we win. I love that. Okay. Take us away with tip number two. You have three tips and these are so meaty.
00:23:43
Speaker
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00:24:07
Speaker
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00:24:53
Speaker
Yeah, so tip number two is understanding your feelings because I think that oftentimes people think that in order to create a specific result, a specific goal, it's all about the actions that you're taking. But I like to teach something from the life coaching school and it's called the the model. And what it teaches you is that your thoughts and your feelings then drive your actions.
00:25:19
Speaker
to create the result that you want. And so understanding your feelings about certain things, even what you just said right now, if you're like, you probably didn't even realize the thoughts that you're telling yourself, but you knew what you felt, right? Sometimes it's hard to recognize the thoughts, but it's easy to recognize our feelings. So we're like, this offer right now actually feels icky or this offer feels not really aligned with my business. And so you can begin to evaluate the feelings first.
00:25:45
Speaker
and then go into, okay, what am I telling myself to cause this feeling? And I think it's so powerful, like understanding your thoughts and your feelings together, because that's how you create any result you want by changing your thoughts and changing your feelings. For example, I would say like, if I gave somebody a thousand dollars right now,
00:26:06
Speaker
$1,000 is not good, it's not bad, it's not a lot, it's not a little. It only changes, right? The money, the $1,000 is neutral and it only changes based off of somebody's thoughts. So for example, if I gave a millionaire $1,000, they're probably like, all right, cool. like I have plenty of that. I don't need any more, you know, they might be super neutral about it. If I give somebody who is like homeless a thousand dollars, they might feel super grateful. They might be like, oh my gosh, this is life changing for me. and But also I could give a thousand dollars to a homeless person and that person could be like, oh my gosh, I need like $10,000. Like this is nothing, right? And so it all comes down to
00:26:47
Speaker
what are the thoughts that you're thinking and what is that causing you to feel because once you can have control of your thoughts and you can manage your thoughts you can change how you feel and then it changes the way you feel it changes your actions and that's going to be so important for creating literally any result that you want in your life is being able to be in charge of the thoughts that you're thinking and the way that you feel.
00:27:13
Speaker
wow I'm just like scratching my head but <unk>m I'm trying to just um absorb that as much as possible and reiterate it to the audience but say wedding professionals um they're feeling maybe a little anxious that um they're not booking or engagement season is coming up and they don't know if people are going to reach out to them so they don't know when they're next paycheck is coming. um So how do you turn that anxiousness into the feeling of being light and peaceful and happiness and eagerness and excitement? I would say it all begins with your beliefs, which again goes back to your thoughts, the things that you're telling yourself. So if you are telling yourself right,
00:28:03
Speaker
It's gonna be a slow season. I'm gonna have no clients. I have to wait until June to get clients. If you're telling yourself all those thoughts, you're probably gonna feel not motivated at all. And if you're not feeling motivated, what kind of actions are you taking?
00:28:16
Speaker
probably no actions, right? And if you're not taking any actions, what kind of clients are you gonna get? Probably no clients. And so the circle just like, it's a self-fulfilling circle. And then we tell ourselves, see, I was right. But what if you had total belief that clients just come out of nowhere? Like literally clients come out of where anywhere. I could meet them at a grocery store, they could turn into a client. I think about you, right? i'm I'm getting featured in a local magazine and like, you're the photographer and we got connected and then you became a client and I'm like,
00:28:46
Speaker
Oh, clients literally just come out of nowhere. They just come from everywhere. They can come from my audience and or from anywhere. And so I would say that if you're struggling to actually like sign clients, believe clients, there's a strategy side and then there's a mindset side. And I could tell you all the strategies in the world.
00:29:03
Speaker
Literally, there's only three things you ever need to do to get a client, ever. That's one, getting visible. People actually need to know that you have a business. Two, value, helping people understand why they want the specific thing that you have to offer. And then three, making an offer, which is really just inviting them in to work with you. That is literally the strategy. If you can do those three things every single day, I guarantee you, you're going to sign clients. Get visible, provide the value, make an offer for them to work with you.
00:29:30
Speaker
So I'm going to tell people, everybody listening, you could take that and go do it and get clients. But most of you are probably not going to take actions because of your mindset, because of your
The Belief Triad & Client Acquisition
00:29:41
Speaker
thoughts, right? Because your brain is going to say, well, how do I get visible? Where do I get visible? I don't want to show up because I sound bad or I don't look this way or whatever. So our brain stops us from one, even showing up and getting visible. And then two, our brain also stops us from providing value of like, well, I don't know, maybe I'm too expensive. Maybe I'm too cheap. Do people actually want this? Like can people afford it? Here's the economy, here's the inflation. So our brain starts telling us all these things about the value piece and then even making offers. Am I being salesy? Am I making too many offers? Am I making not enough offers? And so that's why it's like sometimes it's the mindset first. sometimes it's a strategy sometimes people are just missing that strategy but now you all have the strategy now it's just working on what I was telling you earlier about the thought management piece managing your mind every single day to be so focused on the impact you're making that's what you want to focus on you're not focused on I didn't make X amount of money and I need to sign this many clients it's like where are those couples who are waiting for their favorite photographer the one photographer that they're gonna have not just for their wedding but for life for their kids for
00:30:48
Speaker
Family portraits right and you have to be so focused on that that one person that is waiting for you to show up right now Because if you can focus on that one person then you can be willing to show up for that person Versus trying to show up for your sales and for your revenue and for your growth only I love that. I think just you telling me that I have no problem showing up. So for you to give me that framework, it was a lot easier because it's like that feeling of, oh, am I making too many rules? Am I like doing enough? But literally all you have to do is get visible.
00:31:26
Speaker
add value and make an offer. And so that's what always goes in my mind like every day on social and it's actually extremely easy because um I just talk about anything I know. And that's where people like, I feel like now since chat chat GBT, like has everything on it, like people are just going to connect with your personality, your personal stories, who yours a person, you can get any answer on chat GBT or Google, YouTube, whatever. But they want you, they want to connect with you as a person. So it's even like more of a time now to get visible on social. So that's like my little spiel. Yeah.
00:32:06
Speaker
You have one last tip and it's a good one. Yeah. So it's being a product of your product. I think that oftentimes we're basically selling what we go through. And I think a lot of the wedding professionals are probably offering something that they're like, Oh, I wish I had this person or this offer or this specific thing. And so I think it's always important to just be like, showing up selling the thing that you actually really love, right? And I think that this can be for, maybe people see me as like a life and business coach and like, oh, it's easy to be a product cause you're just coaching yourself, but you can also be a product of photography, of being a DJ. Like if you don't actually love being a DJ, how are you going to sell DJing services, right? If you're like, I hate music and I'm just doing this for the money, people are gonna be like, well, do you even know what songs are like trendy or do you even know what songs are like for this mood, right? And so whatever,
00:32:57
Speaker
like industry you're in, whatever niche you're in, whatever service you're selling, you really have to love your offer. And this is like a concept that I teach my clients too is like the belief triad. And it's believing in three things. The first thing is believing in yourself that you actually have value to offer. So again, whether you are a DJ, a photographer, a coordinator, like actually believing that you have value to offer, you have a skill,
00:33:22
Speaker
and experience and expertise because if you don't believe that then it's gonna be really hard to do number two believe in your actual offer the thing that you're selling and what you really want to believe is in yourself and then actually believing in the thing you're selling I always think of of like the example like if I ask my friend hey what's your favorite Mexican restaurant or which Mexican restaurant do you actually hate going to it's gonna be really hard for them to sell me on a restaurant that they hate but it's gonna be really easy for them to sell me and on a restaurant that they love. And so the same thing with your offer, like you have to love what you do and you have to love what you're selling to other people. Or the second somebody says that's too expensive, your identity is just going to crumble. You can be like, I guess it's too expensive and I'm going to get no clients, right? And then the third thing is really believing.
00:34:09
Speaker
that there are actually clients out there waiting for you right now. Like literally right now in the world. I think about eight billion people in the world. There is somebody out there waiting for you to show up right now and make an offer for your product, your service, so they can just say yes. There are people waiting for you right now. I love it. I love it, love it, love it, love it, love it, love it. So good. Speak to wedding pros out there.
00:34:36
Speaker
um that, you know, want to have a good mindset, maybe they got stuck as Negative Nancy. um What would you tell them today to um get out the funk and just make ish happen? Warning pros, I have a new and exciting opportunity for you to make passive income with digital products and courses and affiliate marketing.
00:35:00
Speaker
The space is booming right now and you have to take a look. Sky is truly the limit in the digital space and you can just stop trading your time for money and scale your business. And life just got a lot easier. Get your weekends back and come at me at Carissa Woo, the word info, and I'll send you a free sneak peek guide on how to make passive income. And if you're ready to start making money from home while being there for the moments that matter, I can't wait to connect.
00:35:33
Speaker
Yeah, I would say it all comes down to one thing, making a decision. So you you I just want you to decide right now. Evaluate and see how you're feeling, okay? So like you said, if you're in a funk, if you feel stuck, if you feel like you're in action, I just want you to ask yourself, is that helping you get more clients? Is that helping you book more weddings? Is that helping you reach your life and or business goals?
00:35:56
Speaker
And the answer is probably not, right? Probably not. And so this is where the decision comes in. You get to decide. Do you want to keep staying in this? Because remember how earlier we were talking about your thoughts and your feelings. You have full control over that. You can choose to decide to feel motivated, inspired, impactful. You can choose your thoughts and your feelings. So this is a moment where you get to decide, do I want to keep sulking and having my pity party?
00:36:20
Speaker
or do i want to decide to focus on the clients and the couples who are waiting for me right now that's a super simple decision but it's a really hard decision and sometimes when i tell people that i teach simple strategies they think it's going to be easy but i'm like it's it doesn't mean it's going to be easy but it does mean it's going to be so simple that you can follow the steps and right now you get to make one simple decision, which is to decide, do I want to stay where I am and create the results I don't want? Or do I want to decide to take action because I want to help these clients? And then you start taking action, you start building momentum and you actually start
Sales Techniques & Social Media Strategies
00:36:56
Speaker
signing clients. So you just get to decide right now which road you want to take. Wow, I love that.
00:37:02
Speaker
One more question. I could have left about that. But I do. I am curious about this question. But can you give um the wedding pros listening today like a heck yes, sales technique. um You got me on your sales cost. Yeah. I don't know. It's a little bit different because life coach, business coach and wedding professional. But is there any sales technique that like the cool question or any, anything that you could, I think that, I think there's two really important ones. The one, the first one is for you. Okay. Like as the the professional is to not be attached to the sale, which means you can't go into the call thinking, I need this client. I need this money. I have to sign them because what that does is it changes the debt dynamic and the way you ask questions and the way you engage in the conversation.
00:37:52
Speaker
So I would really practice not being attached to that. And that really comes into the belief of knowing and believing that there are other clients everywhere waiting for you right now. And this is not the one make or break it client. okay And then the second sales tactic would be for you know for the customer, for the clients that you're talking to. I think that really focusing on what they actually want.
00:38:14
Speaker
Because as photographers, DJs, bartenders, coordinators, we can come in as the expert and think that we know exactly what they want. But even though I am, let's say, a DJ, not every single client is going to want the same exact DJ experience, right? So being able to practice listening and really understanding exactly what they want.
00:38:37
Speaker
Because a part of your sales process at towards the end, before you even share the price and the packaging, you really want to ground them in what they want, not what you have to offer. Because again, so it's so easy to be like, here's my package, here's my offers, here's how much it costs, and here's what's included. And maybe everything you're including is nothing that they want, right? And so being able to listen carefully and focus on the couple and see what do they want. And then when you do share your package and you do share your offer, you are really only highlighting everything that they have clearly communicated to you on the call that is actually what they want.
00:39:12
Speaker
no That's so good. I'm glad I asked that question. Okay, rapid-fire questions. Momma 4, what is your best mom, time, efficiency hack, anything you want to share?
00:39:25
Speaker
I would say number one thing is scheduling as in like actually putting into your planner because we have so like a long to do list in our mind and then it gets really overwhelming. So the number one thing is actually put it in your calendar. If it's not in your calendar, it's probably not going to happen.
00:39:42
Speaker
Wow. What is the best business advice that you ever gotten from a business coach or a friend or a mentor?
00:39:51
Speaker
I feel like it's just a possibility idea, just understanding that you can literally create any kind of life, any kind of business that you can dream up. Interesting. And then what is your favorite podcast or book or mentor, someone you follow on YouTube that kind of gives you just good motivational nuggets for the day? Yeah.
00:40:18
Speaker
Um, I really liked Tony, Tony Robbins is great. I also like the life coaching school podcast. And then my coaches podcast, which is, um, make money as a life coach podcast. So her niche is helping life coaches make money. So I would say those are of like my top three. So very like coach focused. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Cool, cool, cool. And then last one, um, maybe a social media Instagram hack that helped you because you're,
00:40:46
Speaker
You you've helped teach me a lot on my Instagram or I have to implement, but you gave me so many tidbits on WhatsApp chat yesterday. So like, oh shoot, like that's amazing. Yes. I would say keep it two things, simple and clear. I think that you have to really, really make sure that the messaging that you're putting out is clear. Clearly communicating what it is that you do and not just what you do But like why people actually need it because there are thousands and thousands of photographers DJ's bartenders out there And so you really have to help people understand. Why do they want your specific offer? um But keeping your strategy really simple which is goes back to like you just get this well You provide value you make offers keep it super simple
00:41:26
Speaker
post once a day or whatever it is. You don't need a crazy strategy that's like three wheels a day and then like a hundred stories and then re-sharing. You don't need all that. Keep it as simple as possible so that you can clearly and consistently be showing up on your social medias.
Episode Wrap-Up & Contact Info
00:41:42
Speaker
I love it. And where can everyone find you? I love this conversation.
00:41:46
Speaker
I would say the best place is going to be Facebook or Instagram. You can search both of them. It's going to be Sue Bravo. And Sue is actually going to be X as an X-ray, so X-U-E Bravo. And on Instagram, it's going to be Sue Bravo underscore.
00:42:02
Speaker
Yay. And thank you so much for this conversation. It's one of my favorites. Oh, thank you so much for having me.
00:42:12
Speaker
Thanks for joining me this week on Get a Heck Yes with Carissa Wu. Make sure to follow, subscribe, leave a review, or tell a friend about the show. Take a screenshot and post to IG. Tag me. Also, don't forget to download my free guide on how to become a lead generating machine. See you next time, wedding pros.