71. $385K from a Tiny Email List with Priyanka Venugopal

Andrea Nordling 0:00
You better not be distracted for today’s episode, my friend. That’s all I’m going to say right now get yourself to a padded room with no distractions and a notebook, because this is going to be an episode that you’re going to want to listen to over and over again. It is so full of gems and nuggets that are going to help you make more money easily and more simply in your business. And no, I am not singing my own praises because those gems are not from me. They were dropped on this episode by my dear friend and fellow wellness partner Priyanka Venugopal. Just to wait until you hear what Priyanka has to tell us. On this episode, we went from transitioning to her coaching career as a weight loss coach from her full time career previous which you are not going to believe she has a great story about that. We touched on strategically overworking in the beginning of your business, which she has a great thoughts about that I know you’re going to love, especially if you are in the point right now where you feel like you have bitten off a lot more than you can chew with your business. It will not always be that way. I promise. We talk a lot about that. We talk on coaching on money objections with potential clients. And she outlined her console process for why people consistently buy very premium priced offers from her when she talks all about the progression of her offers. And she specifically outlined the how she talks about money, objections and investments to potential clients on console calls and why her conversion rate is so high. I mean, we just let the conversation go wherever it needed to. And I assure you it was in very profitable directions for you.

Andrea Nordling 1:35
Priyanka, and I know each other, which we talked a little bit about in the episode, but we met each other in a mastermind that we paid to be in together became fast friends and have been coaching each other and masterminding together ever since. So on the one hand, I want to tell you that we had so much fun doing this episode because we are you know, obviously friends in real life. And we know a lot about each other’s businesses. So we had a lot of ground to cover a lot of things we could talk about. But also because we got off and we were done. And we talked about oh my gosh, wouldn’t it be so fun to do another episode about all of our big fails, because we talked about some of them in this episode. But really, we could do an entire episode of the huge failures that we have had in our business and what we’ve learned from them and how we have adjusted since which I think will be a really fun episode. So we actually will do that we’re going to do and I have some other people that I think I’ll bring on to do that as well. keep me accountable. Remind me we are going to do an episode in the future all about our big fails, where we’re just going to take like drag all of the cringy moments out of our business classes and we’re gonna lay them on the floor. We’re gonna go through them. It’ll be so fun. Now speaking of masterminds, and the reason that I want you to know, that masterminding with your peers is so fruitful, just like Priyanka and I do is because mastermind applications are currently open if you’re listening to this episode in real time, so I run a mastermind it is a very intimate small group of very high achieving driven wellness printers. And we do it in six month chunks. So the April class, which is April to October is enrolling right now, meaning you can send in your application, it will be reviewed, and we will be sending acceptance letters next week. So if you’re listening in real time, you have until February 10 to submit your application for one of the coveted spots in the mastermind and you can do that at Build a Profitable practice.com/mastermind And if you’re listening to this episode in the future and you have missed the cutoff date for this April class, no worries, you can still go to that page which is also linked up in the show notes of this episode. And you will see the next application dates so you know what to put on your calendar. Now again, that page is build a profitable practice.com/mastermind And that is for the streamline and scale mastermind that I run um that Priyanka also debuts in from time to time and coaches as well. I’m just saying you’re going to want more Priyanka. She’s amazing as you’re soon to find out. She’s a wonderful coach and has so much to share about growing a business. So without further ado, let’s go Priyanka, hello, hello, hello. Thank you for being here. So I have already introduced you. We could just jump in do you want to introduce yourself and tell everyone just a little bit about yourself right now and then I don’t even know where this conversation is going. But it’s gonna be beautiful.

Priyanka Venugopal 4:23
It’s gonna be so good. First of all, hello, hello to all of your listeners. And hi to you. I am just thrilled to be here. Thank you for having me. This is always so much fun for me to have conversations with my friends off line that we get to kind of bring our conversation into the podcast universe so I love it. I am Dr Priyanka Venugopal. I am a board certified OBGYN turned coach for high achievers and I help high achieving working moms live lighter, feel better and lose weight at the same time living their real life. And I think that what you know I really want to share with a lot of your audience today is Having them start to shatter thoughts that maybe make their dreams feel impossible. I think that that’s what I do with a lot of my clients is, we think that feeling better leaving later losing weight is going to be too hard. Maybe it’s not possible for me, it’s possible for her, but not for me. And I think that what hopefully our conversation is going to open up today is that actually, if you want it, and you deeply desire it, and you’re willing to work for it, it is absolutely possible. I think that my story is going to, hopefully inspire somebody to know that and yeah, that’s what I’m about being

Andrea Nordling 5:32
so good. Okay, so we have so many things to talk about we, in no particular order, we need to talk about you transitioning from your very prestigious professional occupation of being an OBGYN into your weight loss coaching. I’m sure we have a lot of nuggets there, we need to talk about the progression of your offers, we need to talk about how you started as a coach, what that looked like, and how much money you’ve made, and how many people you’ve helped. There’s just so much so much to talk

Priyanka Venugopal 6:00
about. So let’s just start at the beginning. So I will say I have always been drawn to serving women, I think women’s health has always spoken to me is kind of what led me to become an OB GYN to begin with. I have said this before, so I probably should never have gone to medical school. I never had that dream vision as I think lots of people are like, when I was six years old, I knew I wanted to be a doctor. Like that was just not me. I wanted to be a teacher. And then I was like, let me be a nurse and like let me be an actress. I had all kinds of flighty thoughts. And I think that what was really programmed to me as a child was like, Listen, you have to go to professional school. It’s very simple. I think that I just didn’t really see other alternatives as like, okay, so I’m going to go to either graduate school or medical school or law school, I didn’t actually allow myself to dream at that young age. And I hate to say it, but it’s almost like I stumbled into medical school, it felt like the best fit out of those, like limited three choices. And yeah, so I went to medical school, and it was okay. I had to work really hard. I was always one of those kids that want to the a plus and the Goldstar. And I had a lot of people pleasing tendencies and perfectionist tendencies. And overworking tendencies is anybody. We’re, but this wasn’t really a lot of my story in my teenage years in my 20s. And I went through medical school. And I got very lucky because nothing spoke to me, there’s so many fields of medicine, and none of it, none of it spoke to me. Except in my final year, I did a as you’re required to do rotations in different fields. And I did a rotation in OB GYN and I just, I mean, I’m having kind of some goose bumps on my arms. It was just the best experience. And I knew that that’s what I had to do. So that’s when I pursued OB GYN residency. And again, I think that a lot of what I do as I did as a physician was kind of it was actually coaching because if you ask me, like how long have you been coaching, I would have said, I’m just been coaching for a few years. But actually I was thinking about this. I’ve been coaching since the day I became an OBGYN because I was coaching my, my, my patients. And yeah, so I loved being a physician, I love taking care of my patients, I love my practice. But in my personal life, I will say I weighed a little over 200 pounds. And while I was like you know, able to care for others and take care of my kids and be a good wife and be a good physician, I felt like somehow I was always the lowest on the totem pole. I was always at the bottom of my task list. And it showed it showed on my body and it showed in how I felt it, it kind of trickled into every area of how I was feeling. And that was when I stumbled onto a podcast, a brilliant one just like this. And I discovered coaching was a thing. I think I had no idea that coaching was a thing. I’d vaguely heard of it, like what’s coaching, I don’t even know. And that was when I went down the rabbit hole, so to speak. And I started getting coached myself, I lost over 60 pounds in the most sustainable way. And it was just a switch that turned on that I didn’t know what off to put it on. And I think that that’s where I think everything started turning around for me.

Andrea Nordling 9:10
So give us an idea what like what is the timeline here? What year would this have been happening?

Priyanka Venugopal 9:15
So I saw my daughter was born in 2018. And I was at my heaviest just over 202 pounds in 2019. So this is the spring of 2019 trying to like do the math yet spring of 2019 it was when I discovered coaching and started doing all the things

Andrea Nordling 9:37
Yeah, so you were still practicing as an OBGYN?

Priyanka Venugopal 9:40
Yeah, so in the beginning, I was practicing as a full time physician and doing my you know, and again as OB GYN, if you’re a physician, you would know like you’re taking call at the hospital doing long hours like that was still there but the coaching thing just it was something that I had to start doing. And I would say my so I prop was sort of coaching on the side as like a side business towards like a little bit at the end of 2019. And I think that that slowly started to just when I thought about like, where I was drawn the most like my side, hustle started to feel like it was taking up full time brain power, because I love it so much. And eventually, about a year and a half ago, I decided to stop practicing as a physician. And I think it’s so important to know that I didn’t have to hate it to leave it. I wasn’t one of those physicians, I know that this is super common physicians are getting burned out left and right. But that wasn’t my story, I think I had to come to terms with I’m not leaving my physician life because I hate it. And I want everyone to know you don’t have to hate your current job to leave it. I loved it. But I love this more. I love that. But this is where my heart was. And I could feel like this is where service really was going to just explode for my audience, my clients and definitely for myself, too.

Andrea Nordling 10:55
Yeah, well, you were building your coaching business. While you were still working full time, you want to talk a little bit about that. I think a lot of people listening to this podcast can relate to that to having their health and wellness business be a side gig, that they’re trying to get off the ground and feeling really pinched for time. And bandwidth, especially with a family at home and all that. So I know you’ve masterfully done it. What does that look like? Yeah,

Priyanka Venugopal 11:17
yeah, I would say you know, so let me just say that masterfully is messy. And it’s not a problem is it’s just like, let it be messy. I say this again, as kind of like a recovering perfectionist I love like the beautiful clean calendars and the color coded spreadsheets. And if you’ve seen my planners, they have all the highlighters. And I love staples. So let’s just like you know, OfficeMax, I love all of the stores, because I love beautiful plans. But to do what I did, it had to be messy. And I had to get over that. So let’s say in the beginning, I had very specific and set hours for when I was in practice, like it was very decided to schedule my office hours, my call schedule was set. So that wasn’t changing. I had certain constants, like my office job and my hospital shifts. And I knew that I had help at home, I had a nanny, and her hours ended at a certain time. So that was also set. And then I had to decide how many hours do they want to spend building my business, given that it was the start. And this was it was helpful, because I had to have a conversation with my husband about it. Like, listen, I’m going to be working on some evenings, because I love this so much. And I’m willing to take time out of our Netflix, like our Netflix binges that we usually do at night, I’m like willing to not do that for a little while. And I wanted not I needed his approval, but I wanted to share with him this is deeply important to me, like you do your Netflix while I’m gonna be on my laptop and like working. And I think that it was really helpful to have that support. Because I think that sometimes we think like, oh, I’m taking away from my relationship, like I had to like Netflix is not our relationship, like we have a relationship that’s more sustainable than that. And it’s okay for me to spend time on my business in the evening. So I did do that, like the kids would go to sleep. And that was when I would be tinkering with my sales page. And that’s when I would tinker with some coffee and things like that. So the very beginning, I started with one on one, just private coaching, about weight loss coaching or life coaching at this point, it’s always been weight loss and life is like both, I think that they are just intricately, like they’re the same thing effectively. But what I have found, especially for me and my clients is that weight loss is a gateway. It’s a gateway to feeling better and living later. It’s like not on its own. As you know, we’ve kind of talked about this, but it was always weight loss from the beginning. I was very clear. This is one thing and I’m curious about how your audience feels about this. I was always very clear about my niche. I did not spend a minute of time wondering, like, should I coach? You know, you all the humans should I coach men should I coach women should a coach working women, not moms, like I didn’t spend any time there. I think I like took an hour it was like Who do I want to serve and who am I best, best like experienced to serve. And I knew that working moms was not only my personal story, but I really think of working moms as like a unique flavor of just a unicorn human and that I wanted to serve. And it led me up to you know, and so like, even every time I talk about working moms, I feel this like if you can see me on camera, which you can’t see on a podcast, but like I feel this like gust of energy because I’m like, I know that they need help and I want to be the one that helps them. Totally, I think anytime after that I made that decision and I have never ever, ever ever questioned it.

Andrea Nordling 14:25
Okay, I love that you say that. Let’s just pause for a second. I love that you say that. That is what I recommend but it if ever with you know whoever’s listening to this episode may not have listened to everything I’ve ever said. So I mean, could that even

Priyanka Venugopal 14:39
listen to all of her podcasts episodes right now.

Andrea Nordling 14:42
So if you haven’t listened to every word I’ve ever spoken, let me just say that I fully agree with everything Priyanka just said if you don’t have a niche that you feel really compelled and excited about. Then you just decide you don’t need an H for now and you move forward. You do not spend in the indecision of should it be this shouldn’t be that let’s try let’s test that is just going to slow you down. It’s going to confuse you. It’s going to confuse people you’re talking to, and it’s just totally unnecessary. So you get in, you make a decision. Do I Do I have something I’m passionate about? Yes. There we go. No, okay. We’re not gonna even worry about that. For now. We’re just going to help people help people decision. Yes. And, and I think that like, and

Priyanka Venugopal 15:20
I wonder, because I know that I’ve had indecision in other areas of my business, which, you know, we’ll talk about, but I have discovered that anytime that I’m in the action of indecision, or like spinning it, should I do this? Or should I do that? It’s because it’s coming from a thought or belief that there is a right decision that’s going to get me success, that there’s a right decision so that I can circumvent and avoid failure and disappointment and defeat and discouragement. And I’m sorry, my friends, there is not. No, I promise you there is not there’s just the decision that you feel the most compelled and like, who are you? Like experience to serve? Who do you want to be serving? And like why you? Right, I think that that that speaks to that.

Andrea Nordling 15:58
So good. Yeah, the cornerstone of what I teach is, make decisions, take imperfect action and evaluate. That’s all you got to do. And there’s no right decision. Yeah, there is no right decision. They’re all gonna suck in different ways. It doesn’t matter. You just make the decision, you move forward. And it’s gonna be it’s gonna be a ride either way. So there is no right niche. There is no right price. There’s no right. Any of that. What’s your that we’ll talk about? No. Okay, so you were working with one on ones still, in practice? As a physician working with one on ones? What were you charging? What do you remember about those days? Tell us a little bit about that.

Priyanka Venugopal 16:30
Yeah. So I was charging 6700 for one on one, six months. And the container was effectively 45 minute calls with me every week. And I had Slack. So I had like a written coaching channel where we could have written coaching in between our live sessions. Okay, so

Andrea Nordling 16:48
slack is the app that you use for them to contact you instead of email. Okay, got it. That’s right.

Priyanka Venugopal 16:51
So I didn’t do email, I kind of wanted all of my life like my work life to be very specific and separate from just like my general email. So yeah, I kept it separate. And I had a pretty small like, kind of video toolkit where I broke down some of my process, I kind of recorded some quick videos, and put that together for my clients. So anytime anybody would come in, they would learn my process pretty quickly. But I don’t think that that’s necessary. I kind of actually that was one of my mistakes, to be honest. All right. Yeah, I feel like I felt this need to create content. Before I ever started coaching. I thought like, I have to have it look a certain way. It has to be perfect. I have to have my quote unquote, like my brilliant process, on like video, and it has to look beautiful, and a website and all the all the things. But I had not had the experience of actually coaching like clients in a coaching capacity. I knew how I coach as a physician, but not as an entrepreneur. Right. So what ended up happening and I’m calling this a mistake, only in retrospect was I did all this, I made all these videos, I spent so many hours, my weekends, my nights doing this, only to like six months later, after I had really coached the real humans and kind of solidified my process more. I went back and I re recorded everything. Yeah. So you know, it’s just, I had to learn that and it’s a mistake I’ve made multiple times, like I make the same mistake again and again and again. But I’m like, oh, okay, life has just given me the same mistake, because clearly I did not learn them. Like I didn’t learn the first time. So I do this again and again. But you know, I’m around for it. It’s cool.

Andrea Nordling 18:27
Guess who else has made that same mistake so many times? And I will, yes, I go every single thing you say. And we can get really caught up in trying to automate things too early. And really, it would be much more it would be in service to our time management for sure to just let some of that go until later. But you know, some of us have assembled over and over again, never watched a

Priyanka Venugopal 18:49
single you because you can tell the portal I can see like if people have watched videos, some of them had never watched a single video, but they were getting results. And I think back on that time, and I wonder if I had just focused on selling the fact that I can get your results. My offer I can get your results. If you come and work with me results are just done if I had actually just focused on that. I really wonder, like, what would have been different in my initial entrepreneurial days, but no, I was focusing on you know, the videos and

Andrea Nordling 19:18
the pretty videos and the portals

Priyanka Venugopal 19:20
of course, yes. color themes and the palettes and all of that

Andrea Nordling 19:24
hex codes. Of course, I have. Okay, so you’re taking clients you have I mean, I can’t even imagine this, but I have to, I have to dig in a little bit. So you’re taking clients in your super busy, limited schedule where you’re also on call. And I don’t know if people know this that are listening to this episode. But when people have babies, they don’t know when that’s going to happen. So that could be at any time. You could get called into work. How do you schedule a one on one clients when you have an erratic schedule? People ask me this all the time. So I bet you have some tips and some Yeah, strategy

Priyanka Venugopal 20:00
This is I mean, that’s such a good question. So the days that I was on call, I did not have patients scheduled. So if I was a solo practitioner, this would have been difficult because that’s like, maybe you’re on 24/7. And that that may not have worked. I knew like the set day of the week that I was the one on call. So if I got a call at five in the evening or two in the morning, I would never have scheduled clients on that day. So I knew the days that I had, did not have Office did not have the hospital. And I had a limit on how many one on ones I would take based on that. So I remember the very beginning 10 was my limit. And I had 10 clients 10, one on one clients at it at the very start of my business. And I had like two hour, it’s like, every day I was coaching for two to three hours in that afternoon or evening time. Okay. And that’s that’s kind of how I started, like I made sure it wasn’t during the day that I was on call.

Andrea Nordling 20:52
So did you have it? Was it the same day of the week that you always had off? Or were you just kind of flexible with your clients? Who told them like this is our schedule for this month? That might change next month? What did that look? Yeah,

Priyanka Venugopal 21:01
I don’t do well, with that I don’t do well with like, you know, it might be one day this week. And one day, that week is just like too much chatter for my brain. And so I knew my schedule, I Oh, would always know my schedule, like multiple months in advance. And I generally was on call the same day every week. And I was generally off the same day, every week. It changed every now and then. And but that was again in the calendar. And so I just wanted one less variable for me to be thinking about on a week to week basis. So

Andrea Nordling 21:29
yeah, I think that’s really helpful if possible. Totally. Okay, so where did those 10 first clients come from? Because we should talk about growing your audience not growing your audience, this might be a good time to talk about this, because you are an influencer. And you have a massive audience do.

Priyanka Venugopal 21:48
We went, Oh, my friends, oh, my friends. So these initial clients actually came, I was interviewed on a podcast. And I shared a lot of my personal story and my journey, and really the impact of what coaching had created in my life. And I think many people were listening to that podcast, and they reached out to me, and that was kind of like the very start. And I remember at the very beginning, I think maybe even when you and I first met, I used to think like, oh, it was a fluke, it’s because I was on the podcast, that you know, like my business started out so successfully. And it took me a whole year to realize it wasn’t me being on the podcast, it was me showing up as the human that I am, like my own unique signature, which is different from everybody else in this world that drew people in. And I think that that is what it was. I put my story out there. The podcast was one avenue, I think there’s so many other ways of doing it. But I put my story out there why coaching changed my life and how I think that it is possible for other people to

Andrea Nordling 22:49
Yeah, so I’m curious, when you did that podcast, were you thinking that clients were going to come from that? Or did you think that you were just going on to tell your story?

Priyanka Venugopal 22:57
I was just going on to tell my story. And I think that I’m trying to think back to the like, the thoughts that I was having during that episode. First of all, like, it was mostly just me gushing about my coaching experience, to be honest. And then at the end, you know, I was asked like, so like, How could people work with you? It was one of those, like, how can people work with you? I was like, Oh, this could that could be fun. Like, it was? Like, not not like I had not thought about it. But it wasn’t at the forefront of my mind. I think it was more like, oh, that that’d be awesome. Like kind of a hopeful. That’s nice type of thing. I thought

Andrea Nordling 23:35
you might say that. And I that’s why I wanted to ask the question, because I feel like going into an opportunity like that, or just like any conversation where you can add value and just help people without the expectation of making sales is going to make the sales more inevitable, in my opinion. So

Priyanka Venugopal 23:52
yeah, it’s like an agenda. Right? Like you come in with a I think that’s probably what it is. If you come into a conversation with an agenda, it it changes just the energy of the conversation. It doesn’t feel real, right? If it’s like I have an agenda that I want your audience like on that comp conversation to buy for me, it’s it just feels icky, I think. But I know that it’s common. I think that I am not I think that it happens a lot. Yeah.

Andrea Nordling 24:19
Yeah. I imagine people listen to this podcast and thinking, Oh, my gosh, so I should be getting on podcast. That would be great. And then their next thought would be, that’s going to be so awkward. How am I going to sell on someone else’s podcast and it gets all pressure and weird. That’s what I would be thinking. So yeah, I just wanted to kind of highlight that, like, maybe you just get on podcasts or anywhere. It doesn’t have to be podcasts. But that’s a great medium, of course, especially if you’re a podcast listener, which is how you would be listening to this podcast, which means you like podcasts, which mean your people like podcasts. So it is kind of a logical progression. But if you were to be interviewed on podcasts, singular, multiple doesn’t matter. And you just went into it thinking I’m just going to tell my story and it’s probably going to help someone. You may be very be surprised if I know that clients would come from that without you having to have the agenda of getting the client so,

Priyanka Venugopal 25:05
and like, let me also add, like, you know, if you have the ability to make an offer, or like a call to action, you should, like, Don’t shy away. It’s it’s like, I like to think we kind of go, it’s a very all or nothing like, oh, I cannot make an offer, or I cannot share about my business at all, because that would be IQ, or like, I’m going in with this total agenda. And I’m going to be weird. Like, there’s so much, right? Like, what if we just deleted the IQ, and we just talked us to humans, and by the way, I can help these people if they happen to be listening, like, amazing, by the way, I can help you too. Right? It’s like, kinda like that. I think it’s totally, I feel so different for me.

Andrea Nordling 25:41
1,000%. Okay, so you have one on one clients, 60 710 clients is full time for you. You’re killing it. You’re refining your processes, you’re figuring out how to coach your people even better, it’s messy. You’re wallowing in the messiness in it’s okay. Because you’re making my I really

Priyanka Venugopal 25:57
making money, and I was like, these women are getting such good results. And that I think was fueling me, I will be honest, I felt like okay, I know, I’m overworking. And I know, this is like I’m doing a lot right now. And I think that just seeing the impact it was having, having and like letting my brain steepen that like, Okay, this really mattered. And I’m not planning on doing this forever, I’m not going to be like living this like, this life this way forever. I didn’t know how I was going to solve that. I didn’t know. Like, I didn’t end goal, like, you know, I think you and I have talked about like, how do you know what the end is going to be? I didn’t know. I just knew that. Okay, this is for now let’s we’re gonna figure this out. And I think probably at the six month mark, I upped my rates to 8000. And a lot of those clients renewed, so they paid me 6700. And I told them, I’m upping my price. If you want to keep working with me, this is the new rate. And a lot of them who had lost like a quite quite a bit of weight, but they wanted to keep doing the work we were doing renewed of me. And so I have a pretty high renewal rate. I think that that’s also kind of just speaks to what we do is like when you know that it’s working, people want to keep working with you. Right? Yeah, it’s not surprising. So I’ve renewed at a higher rate, I did that for quite a while. And then I got to the point last year at the end of last year, where I felt like I couldn’t, I didn’t want to coach more clients. I wanted to create a container that I could serve more people, but also with the added benefit of helping women validate each other’s experiences. I think what I’ve seen, especially for women is we kind of feel like we are this like lone unicorn with this unique defect that like, we can’t follow our eating plans, or we’re going to snack and munch on the pantry cookies are like I said, with my plate of nachos and the third glass of wine, like we think we’re unique, and everybody else has it figured out. And what I used to do with my one on ones is I used to have storytime calls, they’d all come together and they loved those calls. And that was when the little seed was planted. I was like, you know, like, I wonder what it would be like if I created an intimate, small group. That’s when I did that. So that was in December of last year that I had that nugget. And then I just went all in on it. Yep, and created my intimate small group in 2022.

Andrea Nordling 28:16
So were you still taking one on ones while creating the group or you did the clean, clean break?

Priyanka Venugopal 28:22
I did the clean break and I went off the cliff and it felt like I was going off a cliff, I’m going to be totally honest, I can’t say that I recommend it or don’t recommend it. But I got my brain to the point where I really believe that the intimate small group was better than one on one. And so I can’t offer one on one. Because if the engineer small group is better, I’m like, I can’t offer you the one on one. Right. So I was like, I got my brain to that point, I think and that was important for me to do. Because I needed to put all of my attention and love and care to understanding how I was going to sell this new offer. It was brand it felt like a brand new business effectively. But yeah, so I did not take any more one on ones. I told my one on ones if they want to keep working with me. Welcome to the small intimate group. And it’s still 8k, by the way. And like, let’s go, it’s going to be even better.

Andrea Nordling 29:13
So good. Okay, there’s a lot to say here. So I feel like you and I have talked about this before that you at the time where you were thinking about starting this group, you were either going to raise the prices on your one on ones or do the group. Do you want to talk a little bit about what that decision was like for you and how you made that decision?

Priyanka Venugopal 29:31
Yeah, so in December of last year, because again, like people were reaching out and I had a limited number of spots, I did raise my rates. Thank you for remembering that I because I forgot that I raised my rates to 10k for one on one. And I sold five clients at that rate. And that was the point that I still had a few more people that were booking consults and I was like, You know what, like, I don’t want to keep doing that. And that was when I decided I’m going to do the small intimate group. and I decided to do it at the 8k rate. I could have done it at 10k. That would have also been completely reasonable I think for what I offer, but I chose a K.

Andrea Nordling 30:08
Yeah. Okay. And you got those clients like you felt that your client load because you are a YouTube sensation and you are a major Instagram influencer. Audience, and you run lots of ads and you spend $10,000 a month on ads. And, and that is why people find you, right?

Priyanka Venugopal 30:29
Oh, I mean, the sarcasm, the dripping, dripping sarcasm. There’s so much sarcasm because it’s all untrue. My friends, no, so my email list, let’s talk about my audience size. Yes, let’s do that. My email. Yeah, go ahead. Well, we’re gonna you’re gonna ask something? Well, I was

Andrea Nordling 30:43
gonna say what, like, How much money have you made? In your business? Do you have a total of how much money you’ve made in your coaching business since 2019?

Priyanka Venugopal 30:50
Yeah, I’ve made 385,000.

Andrea Nordling 30:53
American dollars. That’s amazing, which is American dollars. 285,000.

Priyanka Venugopal 30:57
Since I started my business, and in 2022, I hit the 200k mark in a 12 month period. That was a big a big goal for me hitting 200k in 12 months, so that happened last year. But yeah, total in my business. 385,000

Andrea Nordling 31:14
Oh my gosh, it’s so good. Okay, now tell us about your, your email list. And like, where those people come from, and all that. Yeah, so

Priyanka Venugopal 31:22
my email list started with, like, 12 people, like, three of them are my like cousins and mom and dad, like, you know, my family was half my email list. And then slowly, it very slowly started to grow. And it has me I’m gonna just tell you very honestly, it’s been very slow. My email list is less than 300. People I think, like, and again, with unsubscribes, I think maybe 280 people receive my emails on a weekly basis on a weekly or like, however often I sent emails, I send a lot of emails nowadays, but 280 people are receiving my emails. And my Instagram is probably the other social media place that I have any presence. And up until 20, beginning of 2022, I had maybe like 500 or 600 followers. And then I think in 2022, it it probably doubled, doubled or tripled. I had one little real talking about lollipops, I don’t even understand. And people I guess like that real. It wasn’t one real I don’t even understand it. But yeah, that’s where the Instagram grew.

Andrea Nordling 32:26
It grew and it doubled. So you have like, 1000 Instagram followers.

Priyanka Venugopal 32:29
Yeah, I have like 1000, or maybe 14 1400 Instagram followers, and then I don’t have a YouTube channel. But that’s simply that my podcast, which might my podcast is new as well, my podcast auto publishes to YouTube, where I have three subscribers, then maybe like, I don’t know, I think maybe my mom is one of them. And my dad’s the other. And I don’t know, my husband might be the third, I don’t even know who the third subscriber is. So I don’t have much of a YouTube presence. But yeah, like, so I have a very small audience.

Andrea Nordling 33:00
So Oh, my gosh,

Priyanka Venugopal 33:02
I just, I love it your soul and mighty, mighty, they are small and mighty.

Andrea Nordling 33:07
And we talk a lot about like, where these clients come from, and the clients just drop in, and they just cut, they’re just schedule a consult, they’re ready to come into your group. Or maybe they’re not, they’re ready to talk about their options, whatever that looks like, but they come from the most unexpected places. And I love it so much, because I want to and we talked about this before we started recording of just this episode being just kind of an example of what’s possible just to give people an idea of what is possible. And I think you’re such a good example of I don’t know where they’re coming from, but they’re coming and I just keep showing up, and they just keep coming. And you don’t need that many people paying attention when you have a good offer that delivers really good results, because people who talk about it, and they refer people back to you, and the people just keep coming from the most unexpected ways.

Priyanka Venugopal 33:56
Yeah, and I think, you know, I just want to speak on that because I have felt many moments of impossible. Like if you have felt like your business feels impossible, or that result like if you want to make 100k this year or 200k or 500k and it feels impossible, I want you to know that it’s normal. If you start there, your brain just reflexively is like I don’t think it’s possible because I’ve never done it. Like we are just so steeped in thinking about the past evidence and the past results to inform our future so if you start there well you know it’s normal. Because I start I’m I go there all the time. But it’s equally important to catch it when you’re in when you’re there you have to catch it this is me just thinking about impossibility. Catch it and give equal airtime to remembering and put maybe it’s possible like what if it was like just let your brain play because that’s where you take the best like lit up action and people can sense it when you’re taking action from that like I don’t know if it’s gonna work and it’s impossible and I haven’t done it before. It comes across as needy grasping in IK and like you can Have you cannot get around that it’s gonna come come across as like raspy as opposed to like, Wait, yes, it’s totally possible because they have something amazing for people they have to know about it. It’s so good. It’s totally possible for me. And Andrew, I think you’ve been a really good example to me for that. I have to say that Andrea has been honestly like a friend, but also someone I really look up to, to help me see that helped me see the possibility and surrounding yourself with people like that, that help you like, remember what’s possible, you start taking action in a different way.

Andrea Nordling 35:33
I totally believe and thank you for that. By the way, I received that. And that feeling is very, very mutual, as you know. So I think that that is a really good jumping off point for another part of this conversation, which is that and I think I probably have said this in the introduction. By the time I’ve recorded the introduction, Priyanka, and I know each other because we met in a mastermind together. So we paid a lot of money to put ourselves in a room with other entrepreneurs that were doing what we were doing so we could learn from them. So we could mastermind together so we could share resources so that we could normalize these really big goals that we have, and strategize together. And that doesn’t just happen in your regular life, unless you’re like, have an amazing sphere of influence. And I don’t know who you are, if you do have people in your life that just truly do and tell you that it’s possible for you when you have these outlandish ly big goals, that don’t seem to make any sense to the rest of the people around you. Maybe you do I mean, and like kudos, if you do, most of us don’t. I would say most people listening to this episode probably aren’t surrounded by people that just tell them yes, get it, get it girl, you know exactly what you’re doing, you’re gonna make hundreds of 1000s of dollars, it’s totally possible, you can help all of the people, you don’t need to be on social media, you can do it like, oh, you know, all of these things that feel so unattainable. There’s something to be said, for putting yourself in a room with other people that believe the same thing and can show you that evidence that you don’t have for yourself yet. So I mean, just a little plug, if you are not already surrounding yourself with a community of people that are on the same trajectory you are, you should be because your journey will be so much faster. And I know that you and I have both found that in spending a lot of money to be in a mastermind and to surround yourself with people that can help us on that journey is priceless. Absolutely.

Priyanka Venugopal 37:19
And, you know, I just want to speak to that for one second. Because I think like when you think about spending a lot of money, it’s a very subjective term, right? A lot of money could be $1,000, it could be $10,000, it could be $100,000. It’s very unique to you. But I think about it as investing seriously, when you invest seriously, in your dreams and your goals, you start taking yourself seriously, you start taking more serious action, you start taking your results seriously, right. So I really think about investing seriously trickles into taking your desire seriously. And I will say that there’s a difference between, you know, your sphere of influence, which is kind of what you were just talking about, like my husband is a great example. He, he believes in me, sometimes more than I will believe in myself, which is I feel so fortunate to have a partner like that. And yet, I could not have created some of my results with his support. Like he loves me, and he can support me, but he cannot coach me on my most subconscious thoughts and brains and areas of disbelief that the way that a coach or my peer, who, who I’ve invested in Can I mean, it’s just such a difference.

Andrea Nordling 38:33
Such a huge difference and having the strategy piece because I like I love you talking about your husband, I know he is super supportive to you, he just like he doesn’t have an online coaching business. So as supportive as he is, he doesn’t know how to help you strategize, a webinar that isn’t converting or something like that. There’s just, you gotta go find people that he can support you and then B actually can help you troubleshoot when you’re in a situation that you’ve you’re treading in unfamiliar waters, you know,

Priyanka Venugopal 39:00
and like, I think, being in a coaching container, where you have similar goals, you find that there’s like a support, and a camaraderie and a sense of community that really helps you start to see again, what’s possible. So when you’re in a group, and you see somebody else making a lot of money, or you see somebody else losing a lot of weight, you’re like, oh, wait a second, if she can do it, that means I could probably do it too. It just starts to shift your energy when you’re surrounding yourself with people that have similar goals to you and they care about the same things. It’s different than your friends circle, right? Like your friends might love you but like, they’re like, you know, like cheering you on. It’s different than having invested in the same dreams and goals. It just is a totally different vibe.

Andrea Nordling 39:45
Yeah, I love that you bring that back to a weight loss example I hadn’t really thought of that but that is so true that in like with a health and wellness goal as well, it’s the same thing as making money. I don’t know why this surprised me but this just like feels like kind of an aha moment to me but it is the same Seeing other people, it’s attain that goal no matter what the goal is, makes it more possible more real. Yeah,

Priyanka Venugopal 40:06
yeah. And there’s two things that I have found that will hold somebody back from investing in a container like that. One is, they worry, again, they’re going to be the unique unicorn that can’t do it. So everybody else is making money, or everybody else can lose weight, but I can’t, right. So that will hold you back from investing. If you don’t believe in yourself. Right. So now we’re in the land of impossibilities. If you remember, if you’re in your impossible thoughts, you’re not going to take action, you’re going to stay exactly where you are, just know that it’s just good to know. The second reason that I have found that people will either stagnate results or not invest in coaching is if they’re jealous. So they see somebody else making a lot of money, or they see somebody else losing a lot of weight, and they make it mean something about them, they feel jealous, rather than inspired. Is another time that I have seen people stall their own results. And I see this lady with the most love, but like instead of they’re minding their own business, right, and they’re minding the business of the other person’s results. That’s what jealousy is. It’s just like, it’s one of those things where you want something so bad for you. But rather than being inspired, and you creating it, you make it mean something kind of deep and dark. And that will sell results, too. I think it’s true for making money. It’s absolute true for weight loss. But I’d love to coach on it. Because it’s the best stuff. The best stuff to go, John, it’s so good.

Andrea Nordling 41:22
I was just going to say like the way that you’re talking about this, I could tell that this is something that you coach on for sure. I’m wondering, specifically, let’s go back to what you said about investing when people You said something that was like such a mind explosion gem about making an investment in yourself is like making an investment in your desire or something or trickles into your does, I don’t know, it was something amazing, I’m gonna have to go back and pull that book. But I had the thought when you said it like, Oh, I bet that on consults. She coaches people on this objection when they have an objection to making a big investment in their goal in coaching. So I’m wondering, do you have any insights and gems on coaching someone on a an investment, objection that they have, if they really want it, like if they will be your best client that is perfect for you, and you know it, but you can tell that they’re really struggling to invest in themselves? How do you coach on that? Audit console?

Priyanka Venugopal 42:15
You know, I think I think the very first thing that I do, because again, I think that consults are meant to be human to human conversations, I have spent a lot of the console before we ever get to the money before we get to them actually making a decision to invest. I’ve spent a lot of the console really listening to them. I’ve been really paying attention to the words that they’re using for themselves, what their struggle has been, and why it has been such a struggle and the impact of them not solving the problem. And I think that when we get to the money, I know them so well. And I understand their problems so well that the investment piece of it just feels like oh, they just have like a belief that’s blocking them from investing. That’s all this is. It’s just a belief like, oh, maybe I won’t figure this out. Like, I have asked every single time if you saw if you knew you were gonna solve this problem. What’s it worth to you? Like, if you for me, it’s weight loss, right? If you knew you could reach your ideal weight? What would that be worth to you? Every single time every single time it’s been the word has been priceless, every single time. Yet, when we get to the money, they’re like, oh, I don’t know. 1000? And I’m like, oh, yeah, it’s a serious investment. Well, you just said that the result will be priceless. So that what that shows me is oh, they’re not believing that they might be able to get the result. Let’s coach on that. So it’s like, it’s never really about the money. It’s like, oh, they have a thought about them not be able to create this result. Because if they did, they just said what the price is like a minute ago, I get to start coaching on the real objection. It’s never the money. It’s Oh, like I love they literally have said like, oh, I have no money in the bank. And I’m in the red. Like that might be a natural thing. But I have found usually when clients come to a consulate, they know, they know my price my investments on my, on my site, like I don’t hide from it. It’s it’s on there. They know. They just want help to overcome their belief in them hitting this goal. And then I can help them do it. Right. Yeah, it’s always that

Andrea Nordling 44:09
it is always that it is always that it’s not the money. It’s the underlying belief. It’s not going to work for me, I can’t count on myself. I’ve quit on myself before so many times. It’s that it’s it’s always but it’s not your work. For me.

Priyanka Venugopal 44:23
That’s one of the things that I like I’m like very blunt about it. I’m like, of course you could before because you didn’t have this process, my friend. Like of course you quit you were eating like in a way you didn’t love you’re counting points in calories. Like of course the moment that like, you know, shit hits the fan or you have a stressful day you’re in the bag of chips because you didn’t have the skills and tools I’m about to teach you. Like you if you hated the way you were eating this is this is my favorite thing if you hated the way you were eating. Doesn’t it make so much sense you abandon it the minute that your life feels hard? I mean, yes. And so it makes sense. And I spend a lot of my time and you and I’ve talked about this in my coaching and in my call volt. And in my coffee and in my marketing all over the place, I really want to validate the lived experience of the human that’s in front of me. So even on a console window, cool. I don’t know, I’ve never spent $1,000 on myself, that’s a common one. I’ve never invested in myself like this. This is a lot of money. And I’m like, I know, it is. You feel nervous? That makes so much sense. Here’s why it makes more sense. I don’t want to talk them out of their nervousness. Not right, I don’t want to convince them out of being nervous. I want to validate that they feel nervous, it’s normal that they do, how brilliant is their brain for being nervous is because they care. They care about this result so much. And like I’ve got that. That’s it.

Andrea Nordling 45:39
Yeah. So I, you guys come on so much confidence in the process. And in delivering the result, not because you actually know for sure that this person is going to do the things not because of any of that just because you are holding the space for them that you’re not going to quit on them, you are going to give them the container for the transformation that they want. And I think you haven’t said this, but I, I believe I could be projecting that that happens. I believe that part of holding positions for mention is giving them this big investment to make and of course, the biggest objective but giving us a substantial investment opportunity for them. And knowing Yeah, you’re gonna step up because you just made a significant investment. And that’s what that’s there for

Priyanka Venugopal 46:23
100%. And can I just have to just speak into this. I just had a consult with somebody. And she asked this question. She’s like, well, what if I don’t do it? Okay. And let me tell you, this can trigger some fear in the coach, if you don’t feel confident, feel like oh, my gosh, this client, I might appeal to get her results. And she’s already waffling. We’re like, not even started yet. And she’s like, she’s sharing like, what if I don’t do it? Here’s what I told her. And I want to share this with your audience. If it’s helpful. I was like you might not and like, okay, that’s your choice. I’m not I don’t want to ever be the coach that ever puts out into the universe that my clients need handholding. My clients are resilient ninjas, okay, you’re like, if you’re a human on this planet, you’re resilient. Unless I treat you like you’re fragile, you’re not fragile. And we have to go into our consoles like that. And I think that her hearing that for me is like, I’m not going to hold your hand, I’m going to show you exactly what to do. Every single step of the way. I’m gonna be coaching you hard. If you don’t show up, I’m gonna coach you on it. But I’m not gonna like grab your hand and pull you along the finish line. That’s not my job. That’s your job. And if you’re not doing it, I’m gonna coach you on it. I’m gonna coach you hard, to be honest. Yeah. I think that her hearing that gave her such a breadth of like the leaf. She’s like, Oh, okay. It’s almost like she thought she needed handholding. She thought she needed accountability. What she really needed was a coach that believes in her inherent skill and capacity, she needs a coach to be like you’re not a wallflower. You are a resilient, resilient human, who’s completely capable of this. And I’m gonna be reminding you that on a every single every single time you coach, she needed to hear that it’s like it almost gave her my confidence in her and gave her confidence in her

Andrea Nordling 48:04
1,000%. I love what you said, she’s not fragile, unless I treat her like she’s fragile, or in some way that you said it’s so true. It’s so true.

Priyanka Venugopal 48:13
It’s so true. And we do that too. We I think that as coaches like, we do that too often, I think there’s a difference between validating somebody’s nervousness and their fear and like coming into a coaching experience with a lot of love and compassion, which is kind of my coaching style, versus like treating them like they’re fragile, and they’re going to break and like, oh, no, like we need to coach her why you’re not getting results. Let’s get serious, and I love you. Both are true at the same time.

Andrea Nordling 48:40
So good. I wonder, I honestly don’t know what you’ll say that this I’m curious, did you always have that innate ability to be like, kind of hard in that way and not treat them fragile? Or is that something you’ve learned that the more clients you’ve worked with?

Priyanka Venugopal 48:56
That’s something I’ve learned. And I think that it’s probably a lot of my physician like influencing, because as a physician, I would really be talking with patients when they were in a physically fragile state, right. So they might have like a physical ailment that truly is debilitating for them. And I think that a lot of my lens, and my brain and a lot of my practice was like treating them with delicacy, almost. And helping them kind of get through those moments. And I think that that did inform my coaching at the start. And it took me a while and I think my own coaching and I think even in my own like certifications, I think it’s something that I started to see like, oh, this that’s not actually serving my people at all. So it’s something that’s been a kind of a slow evolution for me, but it it’s just true. It’s just true. And I see that just me knowing that and believing that like my clients get to know and believe that and then there I can see the change in their results. Since it’s such a difference.

Andrea Nordling 49:56
So good. There’s just so much coming from this that is I take You know, it’s you can probably see, obviously everyone else can’t. But I’m over here like taking notes going, oh my gosh, we need to circle back to this, we need to talk about it. Okay, so this has been incredibly helpful you have more than replaced your OBGYN salary that you kind of didn’t, like I have a lifelong goal to have anyway, I didn’t know that part of the story. So that was really interesting to hear.

Priyanka Venugopal 50:25
Ya know, I didn’t like actually plan on leaving. It’s like, I didn’t plan on leaving my OBGYN practices. Like, I think I had no plan I had I loved my job. But I also love the side hustle. And I was like, Maybe I’m not gonna do this forever? I don’t think so. But I’d never had thought about leaving until I had thought about leaving. If that makes sense. This other thing is just to be better.

Andrea Nordling 50:47
It’s way better, what part of it is way better for you? Can you articulate that?

Priyanka Venugopal 50:50
Yeah, I think for me, I still wanted to serve women. And I think what I was noticing is that while me being, you know, in front of them, like a physical, the physical help that I was giving them was impactful. helping them change their brains was trickling into every facet of their life. And to me, that was just deeply impactful. Like it just the ripple effect of that I know, because I experienced it myself, right. So like, I physically lost the weight. But the way that my brain changed, changed me as a mom, and that, to me is like, I feel like I’m healing generational trauma, just in how I showed up with my kid, right and changing my son’s life because of that. And I think that that’s kind of what started compelling me. But then more practically, also, I felt like I got to do things on my terms, which I didn’t get to do. In my physician practice, I got to control exactly the way I wanted to work, the hours that I wanted to work. And I think that as an entrepreneur, I got a lot more agency than I had when I was a physician. Yeah, acting as a physician.

Andrea Nordling 51:56
That’s what I love to I mean, I echo every single thing you say, I love working with clients, I love seeing their results and knowing that I’m a small part of their journey in any way that just fuels me. And then having the freedom to live my actual life and not only live my business and not not be at someone else’s mercy at the time and punching the clock. That’s just, it’s so incredible.

Priyanka Venugopal 52:17
And like we can’t even know the results sometimes, like sometimes he’s excited sometimes sometimes he’s excited results are just like, they just happen on their own. Like, I’ll have clients tell me that how their marriages have changed. We’re coaching on weight loss. I mean, that’s like the the thread that they come in with, but then they’re changing their relationship with their spouses and their children. I mean, to me, that’s just like, you can’t put that I mean, you could put it somehow on on a marketing page or sales page. I have not done I don’t know how to do that yet. Maybe you can tell me, but like, it’s the side trickle effect to me that I just I love about coaching so much.

Andrea Nordling 52:50
Yeah, you were gonna say something? Go ahead. Well, what I was gonna say, I mean, I love that that’s so true. And especially like for for my audience is going to be listening to that. It’s those those added bonuses of people increasing their own health and changing their own health, even though people will say, and we know this with our clients, ever, anyone listening to this will know that people say like, Well, my family, I’ll never eat like this, like, I’ll do this, but my family will never do it. And then the funniest thing happens, they do. They do change. And there’s a ripple effect to be had when someone takes care of themselves and up levels, their health there, there is a very, very tangible dispersion of that type of energy. And the results from that in very unexpected ways. People make more money in their jobs, people get promotions that they weren’t looking for, they’re sleeping better, they have more energy, they have all sorts of different results that come in their life that they maybe aren’t expecting. So yeah, it’s a big deal.

Priyanka Venugopal 53:38
So I think that one thing about that is, again, very all or nothing that I think has people even thinking like that, right? Like, you know, if I eat this way, then my and my whole family wants to eat this way. And then it’s like, boom, we have an immediate block, rather than always flipping that around to like, how do you want to solve this? Do you want to in a different way? Don’t in a different way, right? Like, what how do we want to solve the problem? And I think of that I think about it as like we want to be living in the problem? Or do we want to be marinating in the solution? That’s always the question, I think, for business for weight loss to make more money to change your relationship? Do you want to be living in the problem? Or do you want to be creating the solution? I think that those are just two different places that we can ever be spending our time in. And what I did not know I was doing before coaching is I was living in the problem. I was living in the problem I was living in the possibility of rather than, Oh, I could be just creating solutions. And I think that that’s kind of what what we do.

Andrea Nordling 54:32
Yeah. Oh, it’s so good. I just got goosebumps. So, so good. I was gonna circle back to what you said before about how you didn’t plan to leave your job like you didn’t have the thought to to leave your practice until you had the thought to leave your practice. And I just wanted to just like really put a bow on that and highlight the fact that you don’t have to have a life plan figured out to make the first step you could just make the first step you can just take the clients, you can just not know how you’re going to fit it in your schedule. not know how it’s going to work six months from now. And you could just start and trust yourself to figure it out. And maybe the solution is going to look way different than you think it’s going to initially. And that’s okay too. I think a lot of people get really hung up on, on trying to figure out way too far in advance what the plan is going to be. And so then they get stuck. And in reality, you can just adjust and there will be opportunities that will come up that you don’t even realize until they come up.

Priyanka Venugopal 55:25
Absolutely. And I think it speaks to what you were saying at the very start, which is, you think that by having the life plan and the whole entire story figured out that you’re going to avoid some disappointment or discouragement or discomfort, and it won’t, because it like that’s not where your feelings are coming from. Right. And that’s different than setting goals. I think like having the lifelong plan is one thing, and then just setting a tangible, measurable goal for the year for the month for the quarter. I think that’s like just a different thing. But we can’t avoid the discomfort of of growth. I mean, it’s just not possible. If it was I would do it.

Andrea Nordling 55:58
mean to I would that would be fun. It’s not possible, though. So we just get to, we get to have camaraderie in the fact that we have the discomfort and that’s again, surrounding yourself with other people that are feeling equally uncomfortable in their business life. That’s it’s helpful, it is really helpful to normalize that and to know Oh, even when we’re winning, we’re still uncomfortable, that’s feelings never gonna go away. Because we’re growing. And we chose it on purpose, we wanted this decision.

Priyanka Venugopal 56:26
Or that Goldstar, like, you know, and I’m just speaking from my experience, tell me whether this has felt true for you. But it’s like, you know, you get those clients, like, let’s say, somebody signs with you, or you get like that, that a plus or the gold star, whatever you were hoping to get that like joy that you get that you like, hit the goal, it lasts for like, I mean, a very short period of time. And then your brain very naturally looks at the next thing, like the next goal. So you will like never, you’re like in this constant Chase, rather than being like, what if I got to just steep in just calm confidence and pride along the way? Like, what would that be like? And it’s like, these goals are along, you know, we get to have fun with them. But like, that’s not where my sense of sense, like my sense of worth is coming from the south where my pride is coming from, because it’s short lived. But constantly on the chase, then.

Andrea Nordling 57:13
Yeah, I am so guilty of that I and I can see it, that is totally my pattern, I think it’s a human pattern. And then I think that is also something that we can coach ourselves on. And that we can learn different strategies for which I am really hoping to do very consciously this year to, like you always say to steep in it to like steep in the accomplishment instead of looking forward towards the next thing. And I think, especially as entrepreneurs, there’s something in us that and I don’t think that everyone has this I’m maybe I’m this is an unpopular opinion, but I don’t think that everyone has the desire for more the desire for bouquet. If this was possible, then hold on a second, what else could I do? I think that that is as entrepreneurs something that we have, we just do and I look around at the general population of the university don’t think everyone has that. And I think that’s okay, but know thyself. And I know for myself, when I accomplish the goal, I immediately I’m like, holy cow. Okay, so what else could I do? And I love that about myself. But it does lead to the very, very short lived satisfaction of achieving the goal. And I want to be more yes about that this year, for sure.

Priyanka Venugopal 58:22
And that’s actually programmed into us because of our educational system. So it’s not just you, it’s actually like, the way that children are brought up is like the test and like get the end the test. So like you can you get to feel really proud about yourself for having learned something. And then it’s like when that test is over, like let’s like the next test, graduate high school like Okay, now let’s look graduate college after college is like, let’s get to grad school, right? There’s always a mile marker. And it’s it’s been programmed into us because of the way our educational system is designed. So it’s not surprising that we bring it into our adult businesses, until we unlearn it, which is kind of what I’m talking about. It’s like so good to catch. It’s normal that you have it. And also we need to unlearn it, if we really want to stop living in the chase and the hustle. It’s exhausting to do that. And I think that what you’re talking about, it didn’t feel very natural to me, because I always told myself, Oh, I’m not a business. I’m not an entrepreneur. I’m a physician, like, who am I just started this, like, Am I like, I didn’t even call it a business for I don’t know how long. I’m like, I’m doing this thing on this coaching thing. You know, I’m a physician, I that was my identity. I was I really like, my physician life was so so such a big part of my identity that it took me a long time to kind of lean into what you’re talking about, like, well, what’s possible, what’s possible for me, maybe something else is possible. I felt really afraid to be honest, because it wasn’t a natural pattern for me the way I think it was for you. But it’s it’s that’s been the discomfort of my growth. Oh, okay. I can I can like shed like I’m always gonna have a physician’s heart because that’s been such a part of like, be part of my training. And also the I can that’s just like one layer of me like it just and define me and also like, and also, what else am I gonna go do also like I can, I can have more, I don’t have to be satisfied with just enough, which is so good. Which you

Andrea Nordling 1:00:09
also said before when you said we could just have that thought like, and it could be possible that so that like really kind of ties back around to that same thought, like I’ve never, I’ve never thought this big before but and it could be possible that I do now.

Priyanka Venugopal 1:00:26
Yeah. And I have to say I’ve just say like, honestly, your friendship has helped me with that. Because I used to be very, I think a bit like I’m being practical. I’m like, this is just me being practical. Like I’m, you know, I listen, if you’re listening to this, I’m sure a lot of you’ve done this, where you think by setting small goals or like talking in a certain way that I was like, maybe I’ll hit this goal, like, we’ll try and do it. It’s like, I think I’m being practical. And it’s not being practical. It’s actually being kind of mean to yourself and your desire to hit real goal seriously. And I think you said something to me about that. And just that one thought, has helped me see that, oh, that’s not being practical. That’s just me steeping in disbelief. Like, let’s just stop. I think of myself as a tea bag. You know, I’m like, What am I steeping myself in today? It’s been a couple of disbelief. And we’re like, I’m doing that. Right. So that’s just Yeah, me and my analogies.

Andrea Nordling 1:01:21
I love this duping I love it. I think this is so interesting. Because for me, and Priyanka and I talked about this a lot. So we maybe should talk about that she’s she commonly will give me the feedback. She’s like, you’re so solid about your goals, and you’re just you just like deliver it as if it’s the news, and you just are so solid about your goals. And so that’s what we’re talking about when she was talking about her goals in. Okay, so I’m gonna say what I’m gonna say. And then I’m curious about what you think about that. So we could embellish on like, what those conversations sound like. Yeah, but then, like, from a weight loss perspective, I will tell you, I will see like quit saying the word try. Don’t say you’re trying to make 320 next year or this year, whatever the don’t. Yeah, don’t say you’re trying to do it, just say you’re doing that. But as I have 10 to 15 pounds that I would like to use, lose and would like to have lost in the last five years, this has been a thing, I would be the first to be like, I’m trying to lose 10 pounds, but I can see it in you business wise. And you can you would totally call me on that shit in my, like, health wise. It’s so interesting. I just realized that.

Priyanka Venugopal 1:02:24
Yeah, and you know what, there’s one thing that I think is so interesting, because I mean, when you say it’s a weight loss from a weight loss perspective, I’m like, Oh, my gosh, yes. I think that what is interesting, though, is it’s not just about what you had told me was Priyanka, like stop saying that we’re trying, and that I was like, oh, boom, done. But I can feel the shift just in that. But I want to say, if you reflect back on results, if you look back at the back here at this past year, or the past five years, like what you’re talking about, and you’re like, Okay, I’ve been trying to lose the five, the 10 to 15 pounds. And I haven’t, that’s why it’s trying, right, I haven’t done it yet. What has to change, like something then does have to change. Like, let’s not, this is me thinking about like, we can’t just go to the land of like unicorns, and rainbows and daisies, and like, I can’t just delete one word out of my head. And think that that’s, that’s the end of it, I have to also make specific changes in the process that I’m using, and the way that I’m showing up to the school, in how I’m going to engage with myself and this work to have different different results. Otherwise, it’s going to be creating the same. So I’m curious, you think about that, with what you just said, with the 10 to 15 pounds?

Andrea Nordling 1:03:33
Yeah, I need to be I need to be okay, with feeling bored. I need to feel I need to stop eating chips, because I’m bored. For sure. Because I’ve consciously trying to be bored more, and then fixing it with chips. It’s like, depending on the day. And I’m pretty aware of the patterns.

Priyanka Venugopal 1:03:53
This is one piece of it, right? Because I think for my business, I would think it’s like one thing like you’re talking about boredom, but it’s like what else could it be? Like? Yeah, if I if I because that becomes such a, like a very narrow problem and solution that you’re trying to solve. But even from like business when you’re telling me like, delete the word try, and I was like, Okay, once the door try, I’m gonna go do it. All of a sudden, I’m like, Okay, this was, this is this is an obstacle that I have to come up with multiple obstacles. So I can have multiple solutions. And then multiple, like, trials of things. I can’t just narrow it down to one thing I feel like that just limits our capacity and our ability to actually go create the goal. Like I want to try all the things

Andrea Nordling 1:04:34
Yeah, so I think was you’re saying that like my version of eliminate the word try in this scenario, like everyone just is along for the ride here as we coach each other. It’s so fun. Oh, yeah. That’s why you have to put yourself in a room with other people that get what you’re doing. So you have people that you can just Marco Polo and be like I’m in the shed right now. Help me. Okay, so I think that my version like my weight loss version Have the try is like saying I’m trying. But it’s also saying like, I’m not good at feeling boredom yet. It’s like not just owning the fact that I can feel bored and like, I am feeling bored now. And it’s happening right now. It’s telling myself that I’m still learning how to do that. That’s what it is.

Priyanka Venugopal 1:05:15
Why do you think you’re learning how to be bored? I’d have to learn that.

Andrea Nordling 1:05:19
Oh, that’s so good. Why do I have to learn that? Yeah, cuz that’s just like my identity. That’s my physician identity is like, I can’t be bored. I’m hyper. I’m a hyper producer, and I can’t be bored. And that feels very dangerous to be someone that can be bored. Or, like can just be bored. That feels like borderline, then having the identity of someone that’s lazy. And that feels very dangerous territory.

Priyanka Venugopal 1:05:43
I just am curious. Like, what if you didn’t have to learn how to be bored?

Andrea Nordling 1:05:46
Yeah, then way I’d have to find out. Why aren’t it? I don’t know. Yeah, I have to do I not have to? Yes, I

Priyanka Venugopal 1:05:53
did. See, that’s the thing, right? So we can spend a lot of time kind of solving the wrong problem. You think you have to learn how to be bored? Okay, this is I really think about I talk a lot about like diagnosing and solving the right problem. So you think that you have to learn how to be bored? Maybe there’s a piece of that, but like you think you have to learn how to be bored? What if that’s not the actual problem? So you’re spending a lot of time and maybe energy solving that, like you’re putting yourself in board scenarios on purpose to force yourself to learn how to be bored. I didn’t like, that sounds like you’re sure, my friend, why are you doing that?

Andrea Nordling 1:06:32
Because I feel like I can be bored on purpose. Right? Yeah.

Priyanka Venugopal 1:06:36
I mean, you could also like, I want you to think about what if that’s not the actual reason. And I like spending, I think about the way that I think about this is like, you know, you’re trying to solve your menstrual cramps with antifungal foot cream. The, the antifungal foot cream is never going to solve the menstrual cramps, it’s never going to work, you will rub your skin raw, you will get deeply frustrated trying to solve a problem when you don’t have the right solution. Right. So the antifungal cream is amazing. It might be the Cadillac version of antifungal cream, but it’s never going to sell the menstrual cramps, right. So I think that like even, you know, we’re talking about weight loss. But this is true of I think business of making money of having an offer that sells it’s true of everything, we have to always be on the lookout, which is why investing in a coaching container is so valuable. What is the actual problem? What is the real problem, you diagnose the real problem? And you have the actual solution? Can you imagine like you have the real solution to your menstrual cramps, like if they’re gone in 24 hours, it’s gone in a day gone an hour. You don’t have to buy antifungal cream anymore.

Andrea Nordling 1:07:42
You’d have to say you’re trying, you just be doing. Yeah, that’s so good. It’s so good. I think it’s just fascinating how easy it is for me to see that in a business example. And then in my own, I mean, it’s just a testament to how like we just, we can’t see our own our own patterns the way we can so easily see someone else’s. And that’s why coaching is so

Priyanka Venugopal 1:08:02
valid, you can see that we’re about business, right? Like, I don’t see that in my own business, I will come to you and I’m like, Oh my gosh, I have menstrual cramps. And you’re like, did you know you’re rubbing antifungal foot cream on your menstrual cramps? And I’m like, What are you talking about? No, I’m not. I don’t see it. Clearly, I don’t see it clearly until you kind of coach me on it until you give me feedback. Or you ask me, you’ll ask me one question. And I’m like, Oh, shoot. I haven’t rubbing antifungal footprint models, menstrual cramps, so good to know. And so I’ll make a change. Maybe I’ll like you know, go out and get some Motrin or Tylenol or something, add or get a heat a heat pack. And then I might do it again. I’ll go get the antifungal cream again, and you’re Priyanka, you’re doing that thing again. It’s just so good to know, right? We all have our areas of expertise. And I think that this is why investing in coaching in what you specifically want to solve is so important because I’m not going to see the problem. Like if I did, I would have solved it by now. If I knew that I was doing this, I would have solved it by now. Right? Same with you. If you knew the actual you would have smelled it. Brilliant. We are really humans, we would have solved it. We don’t know. Yeah. Oh, yeah,

Andrea Nordling 1:09:14
totally. And I think that a big problem that a lot of my audience why? Probably just business in general. But I know for sure with my audience, a lot of the hesitation people have with selling their offer is thinking but people can get this information for free somewhere else. Like why would they hire me? They could go watch YouTube videos on this or they could go get a book or they like this information isn’t my information that they can go get it somewhere else. And I think everything that we’re talking about right now is the exact reason why they will hire you because you can see well how how they’re approaching the problem with antifungal foot cream in the wrong place that they can’t see otherwise they the book that they already read would have worked and it hasn’t and that’s why they want to pay you so let them pay you. But you

Priyanka Venugopal 1:09:56
have to believe that you have to believe that right? So I think That’s the biggest gap is like if you believe that, oh, somebody can go like download this PDF off the internet or they can download a YouTube video. It’s true they can and yes, they will get results. Well, why is working with you better than that? I like if you don’t get yourself on board, there’s no way no way that a client should be paying you money. If you don’t believe it yourself, right? To me, that is like, like, we want to step into authenticity of what we’re offering. I think that that is what sells like authenticity and like, truly, genuinely believing. And this is where like, I think the thought work and the coaching is so valuable. You have to prove to yourself, take your brain there do like, right, this is such a good exercise like right down for five minutes. You could a client can come and download something off the internet and totally get results. Why is working with me going to be better for them? Not for you? Why is working with me going to be better for them? Right, like set a timer and write out the answer and stretch your brain to keep writing and what else? And what else? And what else? It’s gonna feel uncomfortable if you’ve not done this before, but that’s how you prove it to your brain. That’s just true.

Andrea Nordling 1:11:03
Yeah, and not just the immediate results, not just why this month or this year, it’s gonna be good for them. But how about for the rest of their life? Why is that going to be such a great investment for them to work with you now? Yeah,

Priyanka Venugopal 1:11:15
yeah, they’re gonna be grateful that they paid you money. Can you imagine that? Like, they’re like, I am so thankful to be able to pay you money to help me solve this. It’s, it’s the best if you because you know, when we come into like coaching containers or investments in that way, it’s like, I cannot wait to invest in this because like, Thank you, you’re I’m solving a problem right now. Yes, yeah, this isn’t a charity. You’re not taking their money. You’re not like grasping it out of their hands. They want to pay you because they want you to help them solve a problem that they had cannot solve on their own. That’s why they’re here.

Andrea Nordling 1:11:51
So Truer words have never been spoken. I love. I just love everything about having you on here. Can you come on, like all the time? Can we do jam on these Samar? It’s so good.

Priyanka Venugopal 1:12:01
Let’s do it. I mean, honestly, I think about these as like these pods, conversations where an audience can get to listen to how you and I would probably just talk. Yeah, like, this is how you and I would actually talk, like, maybe wouldn’t ask each other questions in this way. But like, I think this is like a sneak peek into a real conversation that two friends deeply care about some of the same things have and we get to like, bring people along for the ride, which is just so fun. It is

Andrea Nordling 1:12:27
so fun. It is so fun. Okay, kind of a good segue. I do have the applications will be open for the streamline and scale mastermind February 6 to the 10th. So if you’re listening to this, and you are at the point where you are ready to pour gasoline on the fire of your wellness business and scale to six or multiple, six figures in the next 12 months, you can apply for the mastermind. And so I did want to give a little shout out to that since we have talked about putting yourself in a room of high achievers with big goals that can help you get to yours faster and become your your great friends and give you really good coaching when you need it. So we did a mastermind. So build a profitable practice.com/mastermind is where you can go to get on the waitlist and get all of the information about the upcoming applications for the mastermind, which will be starting in April. So April to October is when we are going to be enrolling for Okay, so that’s my little plug for my mastermind. But now can you tell us where does everyone go to find you talk about your podcast, tell people where they can find you? Where can they send people because my people understand the value of a personal referral deeply. So they will be wanting to send working moms your way. Where do they send you? All of their people are? Where do they come and find you.

Priyanka Venugopal 1:13:38
So you can find me at the unstoppable Mom Brain basically everywhere. That’s my podcast. It’s what I am on Instagram. It’s my website. And yeah, I think you know what we get to do and I think what we’re doing even here, it’s like you can find people in all the ways the podcast is one which I love because I think you get a flavor right? Like even with your podcasts you get a flavor for the kind of coach you are and the kind of work that you do. You can get an immediate hit on like, this is the person that I want to work with. And yeah, that’s where you can find me the unstoppable membrane podcast or find ministry.

Andrea Nordling 1:14:11
Perfect Okay, so both of those will be linked up below with your website in the show notes of this episode. So if you didn’t have a chance to write that down, you will find it in the show notes. Go follow Priyanka and all the places subscribe to her podcast. It’s incredible. I obviously listen to it. And yeah, refer all of the working moms her way because as you can now you are an hour and 14 minutes into this conversation. You know that she’s amazing. And has the best process for helping working moms lose weight for sure. I can say that without a doubt. Oh god,

Priyanka Venugopal 1:14:45
I love it. Oh my gosh, this is and can I just say like I really appreciate what you’re doing. For anybody that’s listening that has not like personally worked with Andrea, you have to just you have to do it. I think it is it has been kind of an honor for me to have you as a friend because I kind of feel like I have gotten to learn from your journey because I think that you I almost think of you as like in our business like a big sister to me, you know when it comes to business and I just love that I was able to come on here and share my story and what I have to offer but like really, what you’re doing is so important and I love it and I hope more people just keep coming into your universe.

Andrea Nordling 1:15:24
Thank you so much. I appreciate you so much, my friend. Thank you for coming today. This is amazing and will be repeated in the future for sure.