The Secrets to Getting the Best Results in Business and Life with Monica Little

Christine Li  0:00  
Welcome back to the Make Time for Success podcast. This is episode number 113. 

I think in life and in business, oftentimes, it's really helpful if you can get to a place where you can see things in a straightforward way. And after interviewing my special guests today, Monica Liittle, I really appreciated how straightforward she is, she has a real knack for seeing things really clearly. And that skill has helped her in her business and her career, I think you're gonna find that the multiple lessons she shares with us inside this episode are ones that you're going to tuck away and keep because I felt that way myself. After growing her organic skincare small business to multiple six figures, and leaving her corporate full time job, Monica became committed to helping other handmade product business owners to grow and scale their businesses to. She's the host of the product biz podcast, and the creator of Etsy algorithm secrets, and the product biz Academy programs that are designed for handmade product business owners to get their products in front of more customers so that they can get more sales. She is lovely, she is smart, she is talented. Let's go listen to all she has to share with us today now.

Hi, I'm Dr. Christine Li, and I'm a psychologist and a procrastination coach. I've helped 1000s of people move past procrastination and overwhelm so they can begin working to their potential. In this podcast, you're going to learn a powerful strategies for getting your mind, body and energy to work together so that you can focus on what's really important, and accomplish the goals you want to achieve. When you start living within your full power, you're going to see how being productive can be easy, and how you can create success on demand. Welcome to the Make Time for Success podcast. 

Hello, my friends. It's Dr. Christine Li, and I am back today with a very wonderful guest. Her name is Monica Little. And she is an expert in a lot of things, including selling online, and getting out of your own way when it comes to selling. She's here to talk to us all about showing up as your best self. She's the owner of the product Biz Academy, and the developer of Etsy Algorithm Secrets and I'm gonna let her take it away. Monica, welcome to the show, please let us know about you.

Monica Little  2:44  
Oh, my goodness. Thank you so much, Christine. I am just so excited and so honored to be here. And thank you for that amazing introduction vitae. Yes, I am essentially a coach for people who have handmade product businesses. So I started my own business called plant based beauty. About four years ago, I make and sell organic skincare and realized I have a knack for the business side of things and started to help other handmade small business owners really learn how to get into more store sell online sell on different platforms. And that has evolved to the to coaching programs that you mentioned product is Academy and Etsy algorithm secrets. So a lot of what I do amongst helping people grow their product businesses comes down to mindset, getting out of your comfort zone, getting out of your own way, showing up authentically. So I am just so excited to chat with you about all those amazing topics today.

Christine Li  3:37  
Okay, great. And I'm so excited because you know, we're so connected in these issues and love for teaching about these topics. I'm going to step it back a little bit because I'm curious, what was the story? I'm sure you've been asked this a number of times, what made you decide I'm going to start my own business?

Monica Little  3:57  
Oh, that is such an awesome question. So I originally started a plant based beauty when I was still working at my corporate full time job. But why I started it was more just a passion and hobby for me. So at that point in time, I was working in a corporate job for about five or so years, I had become really conscious of my health. So going to the gym eating really healthy, especially because as I continue to get older. One thing that's been on my mind is my mom who had two types of cancer when she was in her 40s She survived both but she had two types of cancer. Both were highly genetic. So as I continue to get older, I'm like Okay, gotta start taking care of myself. Now we got to make sure that I'm being preventative right for these genetic cancer that that comes down my family's generation after generation. So with just being more conscious of health and wellness, I started to experiment with skincare because that's another huge part of being healthy the products in your home, the products you put on your face, the products you use in your dishwasher in laundry and every place in your home. And I started to just experiment and found a few formulations that I really liked, I started to share about it on social media, people started to ask me to buy it, I put it on, I'd see people started to buy it there. I did it for about six months, while I was working full time before I realized, okay, this is kind of taken off, I need a little bit more time. And Something's gotta give. So I left my full time job. It's been just about three years since I left my full time job. So it's been great since then. But yeah, how I really got started, it was just a passion. And when people started to get interested in it, I'm like, this could be a passion that really turns into a business. And I really feel like when those two forces combine, it's just explosive. And it's just your passion, isn't it, and you're ready to get in front of more people. And it's a beautiful, beautiful place to be.

Christine Li  5:57  
Wonderful. I'm so glad that all clicked for you. I'm so glad you're taking care of your health and your wellness, and that you're promoting that message as well. And also that this has been so aligned for you. It sounds like from the beginning, which is great. May I ask what kind of roadblocks did you have, within your own self within your own process of developing your business? And taking that journey of bringing a product to the world even?

Monica Little  6:27  
Absolutely. That is such a great question. I think some of the roadblocks, and so many people experienced this. And looking back when I was experiencing it, I thought it was just myself, right. But first roadblock is actually showing up as yourself and saying, Hey, I have a business, hey, I'm selling this, Hey, I'm here. That was one of the biggest roadblocks. I remember actually promoting it on social media, and just showing up in any way on social media. Because the first thoughts that come to mind is, oh, my God, what are my family members going to think? What are my friends going to think that follow me on social media? What are other people going to think? And that was something that I definitely struggled with. But I know this is something that you talk about, too. At that point in time, I was just like, if this is going to amount to anything, if this is going to grow bigger, if I have this dream and this vision that it's taking off, and it can continue to grow. I need to step out of this fear of being judged and just show up authentically as myself and remind myself that, hey, when I'm talking about my products, they're helpful, right? Like they help people I'm actually serving by talking about my products and getting people to understand why it's important and why they should take care of themselves. So for me, that was one of the biggest roadblocks. But when I realized it was just something that I was telling myself this fear this, this big, scary potential of Judgment, when I realized, no one's really judging, right? We think people are, but no one actually is watching that intently that it was just a small hurdle that I had to overcome to really show up authentically as myself.

Christine Li  8:11  
I'm really glad you made that journey and succeeded. You made me think, what is your theory or sense of why selling is such a potentially shame inducing thing to get involved in because so many of us do have to sell for our businesses or need to sell or promote something, if it's not an actual product that we're trying to convince someone of something? Why do you think there's so much shame potentially attached to that activity?

Monica Little  8:46  
Such a good question. It's so interesting, because I know we're talking about quote, unquote, selling right, obviously, there's very straight selling off, I have a product, I have a service, I would like for someone to purchase this right. But I do think selling is truly something that we all do. On a daily basis. It's how you show up. If you are in a corporate job, you're pretty much selling yourself, if you want to promotion, if you're working harder, if you want that next level. Everything that you do has to come down to you showing up authentically as yourself with your goals and dreams in mind. So although there's quote unquote, selling, there's also just showing up being yourself, which is a way to continue to sell who you are and where you want to go. Why I think it's a little taboo or why people kind of struggle with selling. There's a couple of things. I think there is obviously a bad rap for the sleazy car salesman, the person who's selling something that actually is not as good as it sounds, the people who are deceiving others, and unfortunately that does happen right? But I think sometimes people focus on that. They know that there are bad Sales people out there who are trying to deceive people, that when they show up to sell, they're like, oh my gosh, I hope people don't think that about me, I hope people don't look at me as being sleazy or slimy, or that I'm pushing too hard or that I'm making them do something. And there's this fear of just, I don't want to look like that I don't want to look bad, I don't want to be judged, I don't want people to laugh at me, I don't want to fail, I don't want to show up and then have it not work. So it's a snowball effect that really happens. But truly, when I think in any point of selling, or putting yourself out there, or doing something outside of your comfort zone, if you have that end goal, if you know, you're deeply rooted as to why, like, I know, with my products, I'm helping people. I know, with my coaching, I'm helping people I know, I'm literally changing people's lives, have it be their health consciousness, have it be one of my coaching programs. So I know the transformation that it leads to. So I'm going to be relentless about that. Right. And if someone wants to say you sell too much, you're sleazy or slimy? I know that I'm not. And I know it's from a place of service. So it's really understanding, why are you selling right? What's the reason? What's your purpose, and when you know, your purpose and your passion, it's going to make it so much easier, because you're just rooted in what you do and how you show up that nothing. Anyone says I can really rattle that in any way.

Christine Li  11:34  
I love your straightforward enthusiasm, and commitment to the work that you're doing, including the selling, how has your attitude influenced your sales? That's a weird question for me to ask, because I haven't talked much about selling on this show. But I think it must have had a very positive influence on your customers.

Monica Little  11:59  
Yeah, absolutely. And I think the attitude of just believing in yourself and believing in your product. So I want to go back to the example of if you are in a corporate job, I was in a corporate office for about eight years, I don't know 567, who knows how long. But when you think about the attitude that you have to have to sell yourself, if you are in a job and you want to get a promotion, or if you just want to be a great employee, if you want to keep progressing, if you want to help people, no matter what your job is, I think the attitude that you have to have is, hey, what I'm doing matters, right? Because I can think back to previous corporate jobs that I had ones that weren't maybe the most fulfilling. And I thought to myself, well, this doesn't matter what am I what I'm doing doesn't matter. You know, I'm just pulling up some data for other people on the team. But when you take a step back and really realize in the totality of things, what you're doing and how it impacts others, if it's your own business, if it's your company that you work for, no matter where you are in life, I am such a big believer of do your best no matter what it is, no matter where you are. And when you believe in yourself, when your attitude is I'm going to do the best in every single day, then that translates to how you show up. And then how you show up translates to the results that you get. So it's this huge domino effect. And it really can go in so many different areas, but truly believing in yourself, showing up in a way that you're working towards your goals, you're being the best that you can be every single day. It's a fun attitude to have, and it just opens up so many possibilities for you across every single direction you go.

Christine Li  13:51  
That is beautiful. How did you become a coach? I'm imagining that people started wanting to know how you became so successful with your sales. That's what I've heard from other people. Is that the same story for you?

Monica Little  14:07  
Yeah, it's very, very similar. So when I started plant based beauty, it grew pretty fast. And I think the reason it grew pretty fast is because I actually love the business side of things like I went to school for business, my corporate roles. I love the business side of things and I know a lot of handmade small business owners that I personally work with who make jewelry or ceramics or skincare or all these beautiful creations a lot of people love the creating side, but the business side can be kind of hard for them. And for me I love both I love the creative side but I honestly love the business side even more like I love problem solving. Give me something that's hard to figure out I love puzzles like I love that part of running a business. So when I actually a fun other side tangent had co owned three retails Doors in Chicago with a business partner. And we sold items from over 100 small businesses in the Chicago area in our physical retail store. During that time, I got to know a lot about what the small business owners were struggling with, where they were really getting stuck, what fears were coming up, what stories they were telling themselves, what mindset they had. And a lot of it was a business side too, that they struggled with. So when I realized all this feedback from people on, they're trying to grow their business, they're really doing what they know to do, but they're not reaching the results that they want. I was like, Oh, well, growing a business for me felt pretty easy. This is something that I can share. This is how I can serve. This is how I can help people to grow their business, which in turn changes their lives. So I saw a little bit of a gap. And it was something that I have been passionate about. And I was like, Okay, this is my sign, this is my turn to kind of switch things a little bit and see how it goes from a coach point of view. And I really do think that this is what I meant to do. But I also really do think similar to what we were talking about earlier that every single thing happens for a reason. And seeing the domino effect, I can look back to my very, very, very first job when I was 15. Working at Subway, how I literally use skills from that job. And from that point on since then, what seven to 1617 years since then, every single domino effect, every single job, I had every single interaction with a person every single happened, chance that happened, totally happens for a reason. And that's why I say no matter what you're doing, giving her all because you may be in a job that you hate. But man, if you give it your all, you're going to learn skills that will help you later on, you're going to meet people that will help you, you're going to grow as an individual. So for me, when I look back on plant based beauty to the coaching side, with the retail store in between with everything that happened, it's just giving your best and seeing what opportunities come up when you show up in that manner.

Christine Li  17:18  
This is so beautiful and such great advice across the board. I am noting a strong streak of positivity from you. I wondering Has that always been there? Did you learn it? Is it just in the water you drink? Where's where does that come from?

Monica Little  17:35  
Yes, I've got this special water. No, I'm just kidding. So it's super interesting, because I would say I haven't always been in this positive mindset. I would probably say since I left my corporate full time job three years ago, it has been something that I've worked towards. Because I'm a huge believer, I know you and I have talked about this, that running your own business is the world's best personal development course. You learn so much about yourself. You learn about your weaknesses, you learn where you need to show up, you learn so many things about yourself. And when I look back to when I was working in my previous jobs, I actually was someone who kind of had a little bit of that victim mentality of you know, why is this happening to me? Why do all these bad things happen to me? You know, why can I catch a break? And it wasn't until I started to work for myself that the funny thing is, when you leave your full time job, a lot of people think like, Oh, don't be so happy when I leave my job. And the first couple of weeks. Yeah, it's great. But then it's funny because you realize nothing's really changed, you're still the same person. And you really need to focus on your happiness, and focus on your positivity. Because we always say, I'll be happy when I'm married, I'll be happy when I have kids, I'll be happy when I leave my full time job. I'll be happy when I'm making x amount of dollars. But I realized firsthand, I told myself I'd be happy when I leave my full time job. And then after I did first couple of weeks were like super exciting, but then it was me in the same mindset. And I realized wow, like that didn't make me happy. And I realize happiness comes from within and you have to wake up every day and say, Okay, today I'm going to have a great day. If there are some hurdles I'm learning if there are some struggles is just an obstacle to help me to grow. But we have to have that mentality. Especially, I mean, really anyone else can say especially as business owners, but that's something that every single person waking up and saying, I'm going to do the best that I can. I'm going to have a great day. Obviously things come up in emotions and some situations do honestly suck but it's it's processing those emotions right and then realizing I'm going to continue on and and grow from whatever is happening around me.

Christine Li  20:03  
I love the journey, I'm kind of glad you weren't born 100% positive, because they just said makes it better story I have to tell you, and that you're making me think that as entrepreneurs, we're really holding up the boat that we created. And it's largely us holding the boat up, right. And the all the more reason that we need to learn how to fully support ourselves, that there are no excuses, that we should be tolerating, because that just makes us vulnerable to the boat falling on top of us to us feeling burden to us feeling like we can't make it through. When really like I've shared with you before, Monica, there is nothing blocking any of us when it comes to entrepreneurship, that's the definition of entrepreneurship, that you've created something and you're putting it out into the world just because you can like Monica has shown us with the skincare line. And then with the other business of coaching, that really there is a passion for you, there is room for you. There is a way for you to feel great about the work that you do and the world. And that you should definitely not let your mindset interfere with any of that. Your mindset needs to be the driving force of that whole system. And when you have that in place, you're going to see sales, you're going to see impact, you're going to see influence, you're going to see what you want for your life, which is a beautiful thing. And I think Monica is just representing all of that for me today. And I hope for you to listeners, I'm sure it's the same for you listening. Monica, what pieces of advice would you have, for our listeners who may or may not be entrepreneurs, but who are currently feeling like they're ready for a shift, but also just feeling still fearful of things like judgment, and what other people are saying the risks out there the risk of changing the work that's required of changing yourself, what would you say to that that person?

Monica Little  22:07  
So there's this saying that I mentioned on on my very first episode on my podcast, I noticed this trend where people get inspired, there is some sort of inspiration, they want to do something, they want to try something they want to change something. But then they experience self doubt. So I have this equation of inspiration plus self doubt equals go all in. So if you notice that, if you're conscious to it of Wow, I'm so inspired to do this one thing to make this one change. But it's a little scary, or but it's going to cost me money or but am I really ready for it. Whatever that bud is, if you notice that pattern, inspiration plus self doubt, it's just stopping it right there and saying, Okay, that's my sign and go all in, no matter what it is. If it's business, if it's something else, if it's a hobby, if it's a big life change, no matter what's going on, it's it's noticing those cues in yourself of when you're super inspired, but then your body and your brain tries to keep you back in the comfort zone to stay where you are now, and just going against the grain. And that's probably why I've been able to shift my mindset and change my own trajectory, to where I am now is just, no one's gonna do it for me. Like I have to do this for myself. It's for me, it's for my family. It's for my legacy. It's for my future potential kids, whatever those come later down the line, but knowing that it's bigger than this moment right now and having that belief in the future and what you want to see, I think another thing to mention, I know you asked if I've always been like super positive, and I mentioned some of the struggles I had, but I actually grew up not in the most well off family. My parents are immigrants from Poland, my mom cleaned houses growing up, my dad worked the night shift at a car manufacturing facility outside of Detroit. So I learned from a young age number one, that hard work, you know, can set you apart and can set you up to whatever you want to do. But also number two, if you want something, you got to go get it yourself. You know, I wasn't someone to be able to rely on my parents because they were doing their best. So I knew if I want to move somewhere, if I want to start a business, if I want to feel good about myself, it's truly in my hands and no one else's hands. And once you realize that you have that own personal power that you can do anything, it's up to you. It's not up to your circumstances or your spouse or anything. It's it's truly truly up to you. It's just having that intention and actually making it happen one scary little step at a time but it's so much fun. Enjoy the journey, no matter what changes are happening are where you want to go. embracing it and being grateful and giving your best in every single day.

Christine Li  24:55  
If I had a mic, I would drop it because of mana is delivering the gold today. Monica, thank you for sharing all of this great wisdom that you have amassed over your years in business and in life. And I think your formula of inspiration plus self doubt equals go all in is just about the most genius I've heard in a long time. So thank you for sharing that. With me. I'm gonna write it down and stick it on my wall. Could you tell our listeners how they can work with you? Because I've been feeling a lot of our listeners are thinking that they want to be your coaching students. So please inform us.

Monica Little  25:37  
Yes, absolutely. So I am mostly on Instagram. You can find me on Instagram at Monica Little Coaching. I am on there every single day love to chat. So send me a DM. Let me know what what is going on and just say hello, and that you heard of me from Christine's amazing podcast. But yeah, that's normally where I am. You can learn more about my programs on the product business side at MonicaLittleCoaching.com. But I am mostly on Instagram. So that is where I hope to see you and get to know you more.

Christine Li  26:08  
That's wonderful. Do you want to give a shout out to your podcast as well?

Unknown Speaker  26:12  
Why, of course. Thank you so much. I also have a podcast. It's called The Product Biz podcast. So I do talk about tips specifically for selling products. But I also talk a lot about mindset. So there's, you know, mindset and everything that we do. And usually we are the ones getting in the way of ourselves. So I love to dive deep into that. And there is an amazing episode with Christine on the product, this podcast if you want to hear us continue to chat as well. But that is where you can find me at The Product Biz podcast.

Christine Li  26:45  
All right, Monica, you have definitely completed your job here today. Thank you so much. Again, you're a wonderful guest a wonderful inspiration to me and to everyone who's listening. Thank you for being here.

Monica Little  26:59  
Thank you. Thank you so much, Christine. I appreciate it.

Christine Li  27:02  
All right, everyone, give a follow give some comments and love to Monica on her Instagram, Monica Little Coaching. And I will see you right back here in a week on Thursday when the next episode drops. Thank you so much for being here. 

Thank you for listening to this episode of the Make Time for Success podcast. If you enjoyed what you've heard, you can subscribe to make sure you get notified of upcoming episodes. You can also visit our website maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com for past episodes, show notes and all the resources we mentioned on the show. Feel free to connect with me over on Instagram too. You can find me there under the name procrastination coach. Send me a DM and let me know what your thoughts are about the episodes you've been listening to. And let me know any topics that you might like me to talk about on the show. I'd love to hear all about how you're making time for success. We'll talk to you soon!

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