408 Stacey Brown Randall: Leveraging Failure

Women Innovating Networking Growing Scaling – that’s WINGS … I’m Melinda Wittstock, my mission is to help women take flight to soar to the success of our dreams in business and in life– and create and grow businesses in alignment with our passion and purpose.

On this special Mentoring Minisode of Wings of Inspired Business … we talk about the value of masterminding with other women entrepreneurs … why we all need the support of our “business family” – that is, likeminded women who “get us”, can give us love, acceptance and accountability. We also talk about our biggest challenge – and why it is always ourselves – when we self-sabotage or procrastinate – and how to get out of our own way.

Here with us today to provide her insights and inspiration is …

Stacey Brown Randall.

Stacey is a three-time entrepreneur, award-winning author of Generating Business Referrals Without Asking, host of the Roadmap to Grow Your Business podcast and a national speaker.

Stacey will be here with her advice in just a moment on our Mentoring Minisode and first …

We’re almost sold out for November so hurry. And if you’re on the fence, listen to the testimonials we had from September. This from entrepreneur Isabelle Tierney: Quote: “It has been one of the most amazing, life-changing experiences of my life. Little did I know that it would actually change the way I think about myself, community, business, what’s possible for me, the impact you have in the world… I am just blown away.” And this from Jules Schroeder, founder of Unconventional Life, ranked one of the best retreats for entrepreneurs in the world: “The Wings retreat definitely exceeded my expectations …. I’ll be back in November and if you’re looking for community and women to really inspire you, “LiftAsWeClimb” as the hashtag says…. I highly recommend that you join us.”

So join us if you wish to manifest abundance in all areas of their businesses and lives and forge life changing connections with other women entrepreneurs. wingsexperiences.com/apply

And now to the inspiring Stacey Brown Randall.

Stacey says she’s a bona fide member of the business failure club,

A three-time entrepreneur, award-winning author of Generating Business Referrals Without Asking, host of the Roadmap to Grow Your Business podcast and national speaker, Stacey says she’s learned more from failure than success.

Stacey has taught her “no asking” referral generation strategy to hundreds of clients and audiences.  Her clients include well-known corporations and franchises such as Bank of America, Mass Mutual, and Re/Max as well as startups and small businesses.

Stacey has been featured in national publications like Entrepreneur magazine, Investor Business Daily, CEO World, and more.

Stacey Brown Randall

Stacey Brown Randall, a three-time entrepreneur, shares candidly why entrepreneurs are often their own worst enemies and how to overcome fear and failure. The award-winning author of Generating Business Referrals Without Asking, Stacey shares why women in business must find their “business families” with mentors and masterminds in order to succeed. Stacey is also host of the Roadmap to Grow Your Business podcast and creator of the Growth By Referrals program.

Melinda Wittstock:         Stacey, welcome to Wings.

Stacey Brown Randall:   Thank you so much for having me.

Melinda Wittstock:         I’m excited to talk to you too. Anybody who can get referrals into their business without asking is a hero, or should I say a superhero, in my books. So I want to start by asking you: What’s inspiring you right now?

Stacey Brown Randall:   It’s interesting. I have gone through a lot of shifts and pivots in my business over the last couple of years, and some pretty significant ones. And that can be a little Debbie Downer sometimes when you’re going through that, and things don’t necessarily go according to plan, or as fast as you want them to go. So the best inspiration for me right now is really, it’s just a tribe of other women business owners that are in a mastermind with me. And we get together, and I can have one off conversations with them. And they are the swift kick in the hiney that I need a lot. And they’re my cheerleaders, of course, which is great. But that’s not really what I need them for, and they know that. They know sometimes I need them to be like, “What are you doing? And why are you taking so long? Get moving.”

Stacey Brown Randall:   And so I think having them is truly inspiring. And I do see a ton of potential. I see a lot of potential in my business, and I see a ton more potential in my business. And just knowing that there’s more that I can do, and more people I can help, that keeps me going from an inspiration perspective as well.

Melinda Wittstock:         Oh, my goodness. What you say about having other women around for support and accountability is so vital. I mean, that’s what changed the game for me in my business, all my businesses, because it’s number five now. But also, it inspired me to have a retreat and host a mastermind for top women entrepreneurs, because we all need each other so much. Right? It just makes such a difference.

Stacey Brown Randall:   We do. And I think we need each other, though, in a different way than most of the time we look at it. I think a lot of people are like, “Yeah. I’ve got people in my network. And I go to networking events, and I keep up with them. Or they’re in this group with me.” A mastermind is an entirely different experience.

Melinda Wittstock:         Yes.

Stacey Brown Randall:   So it’s paying attention to what types of relationships you need and what type of experiences will deliver those relationships to you.

Melinda Wittstock:         Gosh. It’s so true. I think it’s really very helpful when we are able to have the courage and the strength to just let our masks down a little bit and be vulnerable with each other. And it’s tricky because I think women have been trained to be in scarcity mode for so long. We’re sort of competing with each other, or at least that’s how we were acculturated. I think that’s changing now. We’re stepping more into a sense of abundance with each other. Do you agree with that?

Stacey Brown Randall:   I do. I think that we go through seasons, though. Just as individuals, we go through seasons. And so we have all those things in us, like the mindset of abundance, and the mindset of scarcity. And it’s kind of like: What season are we in? And what are we pulling out? But I do think that we do hear messages that kind of push one or the other, and we always have to remind ourselves when we’re in that mindset of scarcity that it doesn’t have to be like this, and I can choose to have a mindset of abundance. And I can choose to look at my business differently. It’s constantly reminding ourselves that we do have choices.

Melinda Wittstock:         Oh, so true. I like to de stigmatize failure and challenge in entrepreneurship because it just comes with the territory. To me, it’s learning. It’s like feedback. It’s wonderful, actually. But most people aren’t in that mindset all the time. So what are some of your challenges? Because we all have them.

Stacey Brown Randall:   You know what’s interesting, I think people just naturally ask business owners, sometimes when they’re not business owners, they’ll ask, “What do you struggle with? What’s your challenge? What frustrates you?” And my answer is typically me. I am my biggest challenge and my biggest frustration because I am my biggest stumbling block sometimes. And yes, there is knowledge I don’t always have, that I have to go seek out and find. And that can take time. And if it involves technology, it’s just going to frustrate me. And so there’s definitely some things that I can struggle with. But I think of all the things I’ve learned to do as I’ve shifted and changed my business over the years. And my husband’s like, “You built an entire online program. You built it. What do you mean, technology gives you problems?”

Stacey Brown Randall:   And so for me, it’s usually there are things that will cause stumbling blocks. There are things that will be like, “Oh, gosh. That’s going to be hard, and I don’t want to.” But typically, it always comes down to me either getting in my own way, or self sabotaging because something makes me scared. Or I’m actually scared of the success. And I think that is a constant thing I have to work on. And the people around me, like my husband and the people that I trust, and some of the women in my mastermind, they know that about me because I’m not afraid to talk openly about it. I know this is what I do. I think I even talk about it on my own podcast from time to time. And so it’s a matter of the more you put it out there, the more you’re going to be held accountable to not doing that.

Stacey Brown Randall:   But I am truly my biggest stumbling block. I will self sabotage. I will procrastinate, and it is a constant work on myself to keep myself moving forward and to doing the things. And every time I start something that I think is going to be hard, it is never as hard as I thought it would be. And it never takes as long as I thought it would be. Or if I can’t figure it out, there’s always a resource, typically have to pay, but there’s always a resource out there to help me as well. So typically, I know that if I’m not where I need to be, or where I want to be, there is no one to blame by myself.

Melinda Wittstock:         God, beautifully said. So what would be your top three go to pieces of advice for women in business and entrepreneurs? Stacey, having three businesses of your own, what would be the top three that you’ve learned along the way?

Stacey Brown Randall:   So the first one is I think it’s important to find a tribe. I think it is important to find a tribe of business owners. And for me, it doesn’t matter if they’re male or female, but to find that tribe of business owners, a small tribe. I know you have a big tribe, and that’s awesome. But I’m talking about a small tribe, where when you sit down to have a conversation with them, or you get on the phone, I’m not catching you up on what’s happened over the last six months, and that’s the content of our conversation. We’re diving into right where you know I’m struggling because we’re talking and communicating, not daily, and maybe not weekly, but on a regular enough basis. When you talk about somebody on your team, I know the players. I don’t need you to rehash that for me. I think that’s valuable.

Stacey Brown Randall:   I think having a tribe that you know you can go to, that you can, as you said, take your mask off and just be yourself, and talk numbers. And talk, things aren’t going well, or they are going well. Or how do I handle this? That’s one. The second one is, for me, I always find it’s important to set goals, to have something that I’m working towards. Now I’m a firm believer in that I set plans, and then God laughs. When I set goals, sometimes he’s like, “I don’t really know why you want that.” Or he’s like, “We’re not going to do that. Or we’re going to go bigger than that.” And so I know that it’s not like I’m setting goals because I have control of the outcomes of everything that’s going to happen to me. That’s somebody else’s job. That’s the big man upstairs. That’s not my responsibility.

Stacey Brown Randall:   But it is my responsibility to use the gifts that he’s given me, and to move forward. And moving forward in lots of different ways is my ability to be able to set goals and move forward towards them, and making sure that they are the things that I’m supposed to be focused on and working on. And I’m not getting distracted. So setting goals, I think, is another big one for me.

Stacey Brown Randall:   And then the other one is don’t give up. Unless you truly need to give up, don’t give up. One of my businesses in my background … Well, I guess I should say the other ones were really kind of business failure. One wasn’t. One was just a mistake. The other one was a true business failure. And I learned so much. And I’m where I am now because of that, so I don’t regret giving up. And I don’t regret that failure at all. It doesn’t define me as a human, but it is definitely something that I always look back to and say, “Don’t want to go back there.” But now I notice there’ve been so many times I could’ve given up in this business, but because of my business failure, I’ve structured this business different, I do things different. I have so many more lessons that I’ve learned that I apply. But there are hard times, I could give up. And because I’ve had a failure, I can see the difference. I know when, okay, this is not working, versus, we just need to pivot.

Stacey Brown Randall:   And so in that regard, it’s right now all about just don’t give up when you have to pivot. And a lot of the pivots, I bring on myself because I want them. I want my business to be shaped different and to look different and to afford me different things. But those things are still hard every time you pivot, so it’s the idea of not giving up unless you know it’s truly time. And then don’t think that you’re done because when my business failed, I wasn’t done. I had to go back to corporate America and get a job, but I still wasn’t done, and I knew that. And I knew I just had to figure out the next thing I was going to do, and then I’d have better ways of making it successful. So find a tribe. Set your goals. And don’t give up.

Melinda Wittstock:         Stacey, beautifully said. I look back on my entrepreneurial career, so this is business number five for me. And business number five has learning from one, two, three, and four. Some of them really succeeded, some of them didn’t so much. Right? But I am a better person for actually the challenge, the failure. I learned more in those moments than any success. And I love how you said it. And I want to make sure that people can find you and work with you and take advantage of all the magic you do with allowing people to get their customers without having to be in the chase.

Stacey Brown Randall:   So the best place to find me is my home base. It’s my website staceybrownrandall.com. I have a book out, Generating Business Referrals Without Asking. That is always a great place to start, or my podcast, Road Map to Grow Your Business, depending if you like to read or listen. But the home base is a great place to start. There’s lots of things on there, articles. There’s a free quiz you can take about your ability to generate referrals. There’s just lots of stuff you can check out, a seven day challenge. So I would tell folks just go to the home base and start looking around if you want to generate referrals without asking. Staceybrownrandall.com, and Stacey has and E, is the best place to start.

Melinda Wittstock:         Fantastic. Thank you so much for putting on your wings and flying with us.

Stacey Brown Randall:   Thank you for having me.