Kevin Stafford 0:02
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the conversations with coaches podcast. I’m your host Kevin and today I have a new guest with me it’s been quite the quite the mix of old friends and new friends here on the podcast in 2023. So far. So today I have Vaughn Hyman I pronounced that right, Vaughn. Perfect. Excellent, excellent. Yvonne is the CEO and founder of ask ed.com and the leading clickup evangelist, as well as a passionate business efficiency and scalability consultant, mindset coach, NLP Master Practitioner, and speaker. Using her knowledge from over 15 years running multiple companies. She helps her clients organize, strengthen and streamline their businesses. We’ve had some fun technical difficulties both of us separately I had some earlier you had some had some just now it’s funny how we’ll never outgrow those. And I’m glad
Yvonne Heimann 0:54
it won’t be boring if we don’t have those. See, that’s
Kevin Stafford 0:57
that’s exactly the kind of outlook I love. It’s nice, like things that most coaches do, don’t they? It’s lovely to have you here. It’s lovely to meet you. I love your energy. I’ll just I’ll just tell you right off the bat. It’s like everything that I looked up about you online I was like, it’s probably going to be really fun podcast you managed to deliver in like the first 60 seconds I’ve met you. So being here. Thanks for being you.
Yvonne Heimann 1:22
Have a you can take that personality. Sometimes it’s a little bit too much for people.
Kevin Stafford 1:27
I brace myself whenever I click enter the zoom, zoom, enter zoom, I’m always just like, alright, let’s bring it on. So this is gonna be I’m gonna ask this question in a way that I love to ask it sometimes. And I think this is especially appropriate for you. What’s your superhero origin story? Like how did you get your powers as a as a coach in particular, obviously, as like a human dynamo, there’s, I’m sure there’s lots of stories, you can go that down that road. But as a coach in particular, how did you get your start? What made you decide to be a coach or start coaching or realize that coaching is something that you maybe already were doing and just didn’t have the right word for it? So how did you get your powers? How did you get your start?
Yvonne Heimann 2:05
I love how you phrased this because anybody that is listening to this podcast, my brand is built around Wonder Woman, my logo is similar and all the things so it’s like I love this whole superhero theme of actually it was kind of like following the yellow brick road, you know, I got the matching red shoes and the whole nine yards but I literally just walked the path. I started out as an as an electrician in Germany, I’ve never thought I’m going to be where I am today. And it was really just following what the clients need was and then when my husband passed away, I was looking at his company and my company and all the assets we had and I realized people were coming to me for web design and you know the technical stuff and everything and they’re left with full on business coaching. I’m like What am I doing and that’s kind of when asked me started to become what it is today there was another growth spurt in there about probably two years after switching business models are the focus of the business better said where I realized people don’t see the world like ideal. I literally walked the dog in the morning and I walked through my property here through the rental property I love ad which is fairly big. And I’m like they’re wasting resources. They’re they’re wasting money there, this could be wanting way better. I literally see systems where other people see chaos, and I’m seeing where resources are wasted where money is wasted. And it’s like it can be exhausting because my brain just doesn’t shut up. But that realization came in that people do not see the world and the systems that I see them where they are just getting overwhelmed and it’s like everything has to be custom for my clients. I’m like No What are you doing with your clients? What are you doing custom let’s find the common denominators let’s turn this into a box let’s turn this into an offer I promise you there is a system behind this and that’s really when it became business efficiency and you just you know how it is you just find the white title that twice to explain what you’re actually doing.
Kevin Stafford 4:15
Yeah, it’s the way the way you were speaking about it it just reminded me that there’s there’s this phrase I’ve always loved that that method to the madness where it’s like there might seem like chaos but there’s always a method underneath and like and I love that you the way that the way in which you identify it’s like I see these things I’m gonna see him regardless cuz this is who I am and found a way to channel that both for your own sanity and well being but also also to like serve and to help and to like figure out like let me let me help bring the method to this madness let me help you order this chaos in a way that doesn’t like undercut the power of the Chaos it actually channels it so you’re all of your best energy is going to all the right places.
Yvonne Heimann 4:54
You this there’s always a method and not even just in your business even in us. You know when We sometimes are like, Why did I make this decision? Why did I react like this? Why am I doing this? Believe me, there is a method behind your own personal madness to that’s that’s where I love bringing my NLP in where it’s like, Okay, what’s the underlying reasoning here? What What triggered you what’s the value that’s speaking to you in that situation? So I’m having a lot of fun making sense of, of things.
Kevin Stafford 5:24
And that’s really, it’s not just like one of the hearts of coaching. It’s just like asking those questions. And just like just and then asking the next question, and then asking the next question until finally you get down to the bottom of it. And you’re basically discovering the answers at the same time with someone where it’s just like that, you know, that was there the whole time, right? I mean, granted, I brought my shovel, and I brought my backhoe. And we did some excavation here. But all I did was ask you the right questions and just make you keep seeking those answers. And let’s, let’s, let’s dig a little bit deeper. And it’s like you can get so far that way.
Yvonne Heimann 5:55
And I think that’s actually the blessing and the curse. Because I don’t only just see systems, I also see the future, my brain functions so fast, I can look one month, two months, three months down the road, I know exactly what’s gonna happen. But I can tell my clients this, it’s gonna happen and smack them over the head, they need to go through their own learning process. And I think that’s one of my biggest struggles with this, where it’s like, I’m seeing it, I’m seeing it happening. I don’t see it for myself. Let’s be honest here. It’s like, I’m way too close to my own BS. See that? Right? But it’s like, I see it with everybody else, where I’m like, I know what’s happening. I know it and I can’t do anything, I can just be there, try to ask the right questions, and try to guide them through that learning process of seeing what I’m seeing. And unlike Yeah,
Kevin Stafford 6:49
he’s one of the you want, you want him to get there so bad. It’s so so much of coaching. I mean, that’s, that’s so so much of just like relationships. I mean, I think about the parental relationships like that, to where it’s like, you have to stop and ask yourself, Okay, what’s the most valuable thing I can offer here? The question or the answer? And I want one of the answer. But it’s almost never the answer. It’s, it’s almost never the answer. It’s almost always the question. And then you just have to sit there with it with them. You don’t have to. But that’s like what we want to do. That’s what we love. It’s why we want to it’s how we want to help. And so you sit there and you wait, and you watch and you’re like I know the answer, and I’m gonna, I’m gonna, I’m gonna stay here with you, and we’re gonna go find them for you together. And that’s a blessing and a curse is a good way to put that.
Yvonne Heimann 7:31
And I think I think why we struggled so much with that is actually our own self trust. Because in that situation of not giving the answer, but actually guiding, we need to trust that we gave them the tools to figure it out to make the right decision in the sense of kids, right? It’s like, I’m not a parent myself, but I can imagine that struggle of I waste, you know, for this many years. You can do this, I have my best and it’s more of that self trust. Have we given them the tools they need to figure this out?
Kevin Stafford 8:14
Absolutely. That’s a blessing and a curse. It’s, it’s both exciting and terrifying at the same time. Okay, let’s let’s bring things into well, things are already in the present. Let’s move let’s move some of our conversation up into the present. And I kind of like to ask this question as sort of a two parter almost like an interrogation, where it’s like, what did you know? And when did you know it or something like that? I like to talk to coaches in particular about who they coach, who they coach and how they coach them who being like, Are there any like sometimes a coach will specialize in an industry, a particular industry, like, you know, engineering or whatever. Sometimes a coach will specialize in a certain level of development, like C suite executives, or, you know, middle management, career development, or leadership transition, stuff like that, or they’ll just focus on particular particular people like some a number of coaches I’ve gotten to talk to are very women focused and focus on helping to move women say up into the C suite and kind of fix a major imbalances in that regard. Things like that. So who do you coach and then the how being basically all the different houses that coaches have at their disposal, the one on one coaching, this sort of small group mastermind style coaching, where you get everybody kind of coaching themselves, the sort of keynote speech kind of coaching, where you’re going like one to many out into an audience where it’s like, you know, out to 100 out to 1000. Do you have a book? Do you have any courses, all that kind of all that all those different kinds of things? So who do you coach these days? And how do you coach them?
Yvonne Heimann 9:39
I love your timing on this because this is literally switching as we speak. target markets totally clear not a problem whatsoever. I am one of those crazy people that coaches coaches. No Actually it is coaches consultants as well as content creators because interestingly enough, most coaches and consultants are actually content creators, even if you don’t think you Are we use content to market ourselves those systems they are in my blood, I’m doing it myself, I’ve been optimizing those systems like no other. Where I fall into that target market specifically is that 100 to 300k range. That is usually, to put a number to it, what they’ve usually means as they have already spent their first year or two in business, they flushed all that out, they went through the BS of figuring out what do you want to do? What do you want to be when you grow up, if we ever actually figure that one out. But the initial growing pains are gone, you know, what you love doing? We might need to polish this up a little bit, but that initial is cleaned up. And usually what the trigger is of, Oh, my God, I have so many clients, I don’t know how to handle it. That moment of overwhelm is usually when I get the call, I wish people would call me about three to six months earlier, so that we can prep for this. But yeah, that scaling phase is when I come in, they took care of all of the cleanup, the initial stuff that just happens when you start a business. You’re ready to scale, you’re at the point where you feel the pain and you don’t know what to do where you’re struggling with outsourcing with all the systems. That’s what allows us to scale where you’re trying to figure out what offer are you doing. And that’s exactly what’s happening behind the scenes and my business right now, too. I am maxed out at one on one I did one on one for quite a few years. Specifically starting out with clicker that was kind of like that got me into this whole productivity and business efficiency thing had grown from done for you realizing this desk doesn’t work into done with you and an ad my Mac. So I’ve been working behind the scenes with my one on one clients, I will find that framework that I’ve been doing with my clients again, guys days systems behind your madness. So I did the same thing that I teach my clients, it’s like, okay, what are the common denominators? What what are those data points that that I see in clients that have great success, I have built my framework around this and now taking this framework into a group coaching setup, where rather than me repeating myself over and over and over again, with the same answers, we are doing that in a group container, which is launching in q3, I do have digital products. So in that on a on a side, it’s not my main focus. But with all of this, we’ve been building templates and SOPs and all the things. So I do have right now the clickup Digital templates that I’m selling, which are getting overhauled to as well as building a library and unlimited membership type library, which is kind of like sounds bad, but it’s the fall off of everything I’m doing. It’s the I’m already creating this, why not make it as accessible for the people that are not yet at the level of being a good fit for the group coaching program, help them get there. So that is where we are all of this is happening right now, in combination with a speaker. So there is sometimes main trainings where I do do speaking engagements, which is more of this keynote, one to many education piece.
Kevin Stafford 13:37
And so on sounds like you, I mean, you’re doing pretty much everything. And that’s like you’re you’re really you’re it seems like a lot, but you’re really navigating it well. And I like how you’re, you’re the something you said there kind of as you were describing, you’re really using everything you’re already generating to help meet people more where they’re at. Because like you said, like, and this is huge. Not everybody’s a good fit for the one to one coaching, and then not everybody’s a good fit for the group coaching and that commitment to finding the right fit, you still want to get as many people as possible and help as many people as possible, give them as many avenues to come in. And maybe you even want to help them get to that point three to six months earlier than they would have. So they call so they like maybe they see some of your materials or like you know, I really should be getting on this. And they reach out to you with more intention before all the blank hits the fan, so to speak, and they’re coming to you with all their chaos spilling everywhere.
Yvonne Heimann 14:26
And I do have to say because again, we use content to market ourself I do the same thing. I am not focusing on marketing or marketing all of these. So this is not a approach where I’m building all of these different avenue avenues of revenue. I am focusing on that group coaching program that is my one single thing I’m focusing on that as the one single thing you’re gonna see me market and educate people about it. Everything else is really just using the resources that I have and making them available. So While I do not want to diversify my attention, my attention is the group coaching program I just happen to have. So, meaning if I go through an application call for my group coaching program and they are not ready, I’m like, here are some assets we have available to you to get yourself ready. So, guys listening, again, I still am focusing on one single offer publicly, I’m just making use of everything I built around that offering. And interestingly, with all of this, there’s even a book coming out of this. So there is a Getting Started click up book mastering the basics of click up, that is supposed to be launching June 6. Now it’s really closely connected to clickup version 3.0 release and the developers and all the coding that’s happening behind the scenes. Though crossing fingers, we can get this all done by six, six. But again, it’s it’s another quote repurposing of all the things that I’m already doing.
Kevin Stafford 16:05
I feel like this is such a such a powerful point for coaches, and really anybody who has their own business, that you have that singular focus, it’s like everything, there’s going to be plenty of other stuff going on. But everything is in service of this core offering is one thing I’m focusing on. And I feel like so many business owners and entrepreneurs and coaches will get lost trying to spread themselves to as many areas as possible and to end to be as many places as they can be. And I feel like it sounds like you definitely like I like that you you pointed out how you really kind of hit your ceiling with the one to one coaching. Because there’s I mean, there’s just a hard limit to how many hours you have in a day, let alone how much energy and thought and feeling you have to give to people on that regular basis. And there’s, it’s a natural, totally natural and highly acceptable ceiling that you hit. It’s like it’s important to realize when it’s time to shift your focus, and to stay focused. And I just, that’s a that’s a message that’s near and dear to my heart. And it’s one that I know like a lot of coaches, some some of them learned the hard way. Some of them listen to people like you and learn it a little bit easier than they might have if they just gone all the way the hard way. And, you know, it takes all kinds, doesn’t it?
Yvonne Heimann 17:16
Oh, it does. And it’s like it took me me personally on my business that I saw that easily. But I’ve had the same struggle on my social media. Because we have a lot of content, we have a lot of repurposing and we’re gonna need to be everywhere. In the end right now nowadays with social media, I do believe you have to be everywhere. However, my social media is funneling into one location meaning I am not focusing quote on tick tock, I love my reels I love my repurposing is going there. But the goal is to get it out there and funnel it back to the YouTube channel. So again, yes, nowadays on social media, I believe we have to be everywhere. We need to be seen just focusing on one platform and only showing up on one platform I don’t think works anymore. Because we are so oversaturated with content. However, however, focusing on funneling them into one.
Kevin Stafford 18:18
That’s the way to do it. And if you say that you say it like that, at first, maybe at first blush to some It sounds counterintuitive, like what do you mean? What do you mean be everywhere, but also be one place like, no, no, in the way you described, it was perfect, in my opinion. Because it is really you go ahead and you repurpose you go ahead and you you broadcast everywhere with the intention of bringing all of that attention into focus on one platform where you can put your best self forward and do your best work. And that’s, that’s awesome. And I’m looking up at the clock and I’m completely surprised I’m surprised you’re very very easy to talk to about very, very interesting and exciting things before I let you go where obviously the YouTube channel which the link will be in the show notes, where should any listeners of this podcast direct their attention if they want to learn more about you and what you do? And if like they want to connect with you start a conversation, maybe start a relationship what should they do next?
Yvonne Heimann 19:11
As you just heard, I’m pretty much anywhere and it’s always asked EBA SK yvi.com is the website however my main platform is short form content get behind the scenes is Instagram that is where I engage with you on my everyday life. The educational piece and the long form content is happening on YouTube
Kevin Stafford 19:32
excellent I will make sure to find those links and put them in the show notes but like you said, easy to find everywhere asked me asking
Yvonne Heimann 19:39
why vi done making I was lucky enough to get the username everywhere.
Kevin Stafford 19:45
These days that’s a blessing. Well, Yvonne this has been it’s been fantastic quite frankly I feel like like I’m ever I’m already two cups of coffee deep into my into my late morning here where I’m at in the Pacific Northwest. I feel like you were another cup of coffee but without the jitters, I feel like it feel narrow. I feel focused. I feel like you’ve definitely definitely channeled your energy to me in my direction. Well, I’m pretty, pretty dang grateful for it. It’s been a delight to talk with you. And yeah, um, I think I’m gonna have to have you back on. Maybe I’ll have you back on. After six, six fingers crossed fingers and toes crossed with everything launches. Maybe sometime in July, we can talk about how that’s going. I would love to have you back on this has been great.
Yvonne Heimann 20:25
I would love to be back on this one. I love these quick fast podcasts. Let’s do it. So the most fun
Kevin Stafford 20:33
get in get out, provide value and then on to the next so thank you once again, thank you to the audience for listening. I hope you I hope you got as much a much of a jolt as I did from this conversation. You know what to do next? Find out more all the links in the show notes. Ask Evie everywhere you might think to ask Evie, that’s where she’s at. And we will get to talk to you here again very soon. Bye, everybody.