Apr 20, 2021
Welcome back to She Sells Radio with your host, Elyse Archer. This week, Elyse is sitting down with Lisa Woodruff, productivity specialist, home organization expert, and founder and CEO of
Organize 365®. Lisa provides physical and motivational resources teaching busy women to take
back control of their lives with functional systems that work. Today, Lisa is sharing with us how she built a million-dollar business in a way that felt right to her, and how we can apply that mindset to our work.
At the end of 2011, Lisa quit her job and decided it was time for her to land in her ‘forever career’ as an entrepreneur. She’s a 4th generation female college graduate and 4th generation female business owner, so it’s in her blood. She knew she had be hiding behind ‘traditional’ positions, and even though she was going in not knowing what she would sell, she knew she would scale online. However, she noticed that people in her space were making money from ads, which she couldn’t as she didn’t have the traffic to her blog. From there, she started her podcast, which now has hit over 10 million downloads. She realized over the course of this time that she is a teacher at heart. She runs everything like she is an educator, and in order to provide transformation, she had to impart actionable knowledge--which manifested, in this case, as a partnership with an online community, course, and physical product. That way, her pricing is up to her and she can quantify the value she is bringing on her own scale.
Lisa understands that she could take all the good things she’s learned and knows the impact her course, community, and product can bring. Because of that, she can cater the value she brings to women, as she understands that more often than not, women have a unique goal in their heart that they either can’t find the time to pursue or are made to feel bad when they do take action. Lisa is there to solve that. With her organization process, she can facilitate that growth.
Lisa’s business revolves around an organizational $97 “Sunday Basket.” There are 3 things you need to organize your home. The first is to eliminate your to-do list and kitchen counter paper pile. You can get 5 extra hours of your day by doing just that. Once you realize your brain is not a to-do list maker, and you can delay your decision-making to one day a week (Sunday) you find free time throughout your day. Then, throughout the 100-day course, Lisa offers, you go through your house and get it organized. For most people, it takes 3 rounds or 1 calendar year. If you remember that 5 hours you got back, that is now transformed into 12 hours a week that you didn’t use to have.
Lisa’s journey to success in sales is full of key decisions. The first thing she learned is that she didn’t want to do is set up a recurring payment model. Lisa found that the women she’s working with already have a lot on their plate that they’re trying to organize--adding a monthly payment to that only adds to the stress. A flat rate is simple, one time, and out of mind. Her pricing is high enough to deter non-interested buyers but low enough to be doable if you’re invested for life.
Number two: the value she is bringing is probably worth more than what Lisa is charging, but she avoids the “and you get THIS added on!” marketing tactic. When she started her business, she decided the price and charged it, even though she knows the true value. In not giving a discount, she solidifies her model without question. By doing this, she never needs to run sales nor teach her potential clients that you never charge full price. It’s worth having folks put off a purchase if they come when they’re 100% ready to invest in the growth they’re getting. Lisa doesn’t pressure people into buying! It’s so effective, Lisa’s only had 2 refunds--ever.
Lisa’s background in direct sales has provided her with a lot of perspective and insight into running her business now. She learned 4 things every business does:
Pink--leads & marketing
Purple--the product & VIP customers
Blue--team & personal development
Green--P&L & admin tasks
She figured out that many people are REALLY good at one of these aspects, but because you may not have time to improve the other sections, your business doesn’t grow. This is a holistic approach, you need all parts of the puzzle. These are completely different skillsets, so it’s important to allocate time and energy to each color.
For Lisa and many other women, the guilt of the to-do list comes with being a woman either in a household or not. It’s not wife & mother to carve out a day to impart a system to a business. There is a mental block for some generations of women that disallow for that to happen. Once you realize you’re not a professional duster, the mental shifts towards passions. What business owner is going to listen to your podcast and worry about you cleaning baby bottles? It’s about the impact you can have on society without detriment to other aspects of your life.
Breaking through that six-figure mark for Lisa was all about those pink and purple parts of your business’s foundation. Find your weakness and reframe your perspective. Focus on sales & marketing and the leads will take care of themselves. Share and share authentically on a platform that you’re comfortable on and where your audience is.
In addition, sell your physical time. It’s that simple. From there, sell your team’s time, your business’s time, whatever. Have that space.
LINKS
https://www.instagram.com/organize365/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisawoodruff/
https://organize365.com/podcast/