IAM085 – Speaker & Client Generation Expert Helps Entrepreneurs Grow Their Businesses

Mary Cravets is a Client Generation Expert and International Speaker who helps entrepreneurs significantly grow their businesses without working nights and weekends. Using her methods, the majority of her clients quickly increase their income 50-100%. Clients include the former CFO of Microsoft North America, thought-leaders in the coaching industry and rising stars in a variety of other professions, including doctors, lawyers, consultants, graphic designers, and CPA’s. Mary is also an avid roller coaster enthusiast and a kayaking volunteer for a wildlife protection program in Morro Bay.

• CEO Hack: Making sure to rely on her team and looking at what is that next level, keeping the next big goal in front of her
• CEO Nugget: You can't negotiate with time. You set yourself up for failure on a daily basis and expect to win long-term. Keep your to-do list realistic.
• CEO Defined: Freedom to not have to be the person that's always working.

Website: https://simplygetclients.com
Resources: Moreclientslessmarketing.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MaryCravets/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mary-cravets-76ab106/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/MaryCravets
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/cravets/
Instagram: http://instagram.com/marycravets

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Transcription:

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:27

Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO Podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Mary Cravets of Simply Get Clients. Mary, it is awesome to have you on the show.

Mary Cravets 0:37

Thanks for having me, Gresh.

Gresham Harkless 0:39

No problem, no problem. And what I want to do is just read a little bit more about Mary so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. And Mary Cravets is a Client Generation Expert and International Speaker who helps entrepreneurs significantly grow their businesses without working nights and weekends using her methods the majority of her clients quickly increase their income by 50 to 100%. Clients include the former CFO of Microsoft North America thought leaders in the coaching industry and rising stars in a variety of other professions, including doctors, lawyers, consultants, graphic designers, and CPAs. Mary is also an avid roller coaster enthusiast and a kayaking volunteer for a wildlife protection program in Morro Bay. Mary, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO Community?

Mary Cravets 1:24

I am so ready.

Gresham Harkless 1:25

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, the first question I had is if you can build a little bit more upon your CEO story, or in your bio, and tell us a little bit more about your CEO story. And what led you to start your business?

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Mary Cravets 1:34

Yeah, absolutely. My pleasure. Well, it was not that, you know, smooth sailing, everything was the perfect type of story. I definitely grew my CEO legs by discovering entrepreneurship than going, Oh, I don't want to do this, I want to do that. And, you know, along the way, I finally landed on what I'm doing now, it just seems that I'm my brain works this way to organize things and to understand how to speak to people to you know, draw them into becoming clients. And but it didn't start like that it started where I was just really making the mistake that a lot of people do I was CEO, and I was the dishwasher. I was like everything in my business.

And so I was running in every different direction. And I got quite sick. Actually, I was diagnosed with Adrenal Exhaustion, and it made me do something that probably a lot of people, take longer to do, which really hones in on the easiest, fastest, simplest, cheapest way to grow their business. And I did it in a crisis, I had about four hours of energy a week.

So I didn't really have a choice, I either lost my business or figured it out. And so from there, that's where I mean, from that experience from the crisis. That's where everything else grew from. This is where the Client Generation System comes from. And from the very early days in my business, through the burnout, and after the burnout, and now my model has been to hire virtual teams.

So I'm still the only employee of my company. But the way that I can stay in my brilliance, my genius and really be the CEO is I've got a virtual social media team, I've got a virtual, I've got my admin team, I've got my PR team, I've got these teams, they all work very independently. So we all maintain a high degree of independence and freedom. But we all get to work on what we're brilliant at.

Gresham Harkless 3:27

I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper and hear a little bit more about like how you help your clients. So I imagine that because you have gone through, you know that period, you probably have really good insight into what a lot of the clients that you're working with have gone through and how to help them out.

Mary Cravets 3:39

Yes, I know that when I actually have in my story, I had an advantage, which was I didn't have a choice, I had to make money. And so I had the perspective of I was crystal clear that the answer to surviving in the business was to get clients. And what I find is a lot of my clients, don't have that advantage, and so they're not as quickly able to focus on the fact that what they need to do is generate clients, it doesn't matter if you're in the phase of like, you've just opened the doors to your business, or you're looking to scale your business, the one system that absolutely has to be streamlined, and consistent and predictable is your Client Generation System.

And the problem is people tend to do it like piecemeal, like, Oh, I'm going to learn how to seek to sell. And I'm going to get an online marketing funnel. And I'm going to do a little blogging and felt like it's all messy. And the only way for a system to work is for each piece like fits into the next and they all work together.

So if you work in one area, all the other ones are benefiting so it's like you're getting compounding results. And the good news is that it's not like a size fits. I don't like to say oh you have to do speaking or you have to do referrals or you have to do anything. It's really providing the structure to bring your brilliance to your understanding of your ideal client, how you like to work your strengths, and creating a system that is unique to you, and still consistent.

So it's not about cookie cutter, you just have the people who drive you crazy, or the online marketers are like, everybody's doing this. And this works for everybody. I know it doesn't, you're literally lying. Simplifying it, giving people a simple structure, instead of driving people in 20 different directions, simplifying it down to the essential what I think of as the six essential elements of Client Generation, and then bringing your brilliance, applying it to the system, and then implementing,

Gresham Harkless 5:37

Okay, perfect, perfect, I've been listening very well. So I truly appreciate that. And, now I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. And this is something that you feel kind of distinguishes you. Some people even call it their superpower. But it's something that you feel about yourself or your business that makes you unique and kind of set you apart from them.

Mary Cravets 5:54

I think I've already kind of alluded to it. And that is that there's not a cookie cutter system, really being able to support people to find their way. I actually had a client hired recently, she heard me speak a couple of years ago for a group and the thing that stayed with her for those two years while she was getting positioned to be ready to hire me. And guess what she said, You gave me permission to not do things that felt wrong, I didn't feel like I like all these experts and gurus out there.

So you've got to do this, and you've got to do this. And very, you allowed me to trust my gut and still have to apply a system. But bring forward the things that I am most I have the most talent in, I have the most interest in the things I frankly enjoy doing. And I don't hear a lot of that. But that's really if you want to look at what successful people do, that's what it is they play to their strengths, they focus on the areas of least resistance and most opportunity.

So there are two pieces. One is that, you know, it's not a cookie cutter and gives a structure but not a tactical system that you'd have to plug in and try to fit into a square peg into a round hole, maybe. But the other piece is like when I work with my clients, and they're throwing 17 different things at me, I can very clearly say, see the three things that are gonna move you forward the fastest and say, Okay, let's take away those other 14, we're going to put them on a shelf, they're lovely, and I'm sure they're precious, but they're not gonna get done, and nothing's gonna get done.

And I can see the top three things that are going to get them to their role fastest. And when I see a lot of coaches, and I'm not technically a coach, but what I see a lot of coaches do is they teach people how to move forward from the inside out, like you do all this personal work, you dig into your childhood relationship with money, and then you start to see different results. Well, I have an outside-in approach. And that is we take your top most effective, exciting, fun ways of growing your business. And then we break it down into the actions that are so simple, so suited to who you are.

So accurately speaking, to drawing into your ideal client, they're so simple and clear that you can't help but move forward. And then you'll start to see outward results that are different. And then you start inwardly to believe them because you see your outside world changing.

Gresham Harkless 8:14

Exactly, exactly. And now I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an app or a book or a habit that you have, or maybe something already alluded to, but something that makes you more effective and efficient as a business owner.

Mary Cravets 8:27

Well, the first thing, of course, is my team, just make sure to rely on my team. For me, the thing is always looking at what's that next level, no one else is going to do that. So this isn't so much of a hack, but it's more of like the mindset, what is the thing that to move forward, I always have to be the person seeing the bigger vision. Okay, so this is a little thing. But I keep my goal in front of me all the time. It's right. I'm like looking at it literally right now. But it's not this year's goal. It's like the next big goal.

So nothing else, the increments don't really exist. For me, I know what they are, I know what my income increments are. But only have that number in mind, because I read all kinds of personal development books. And one of the things that say that you can't focus a lot on the how and this was something I was very resistant to, by the way, because I'm very like, here are the steps you have to know. But the thing is to get to things you haven't done before you have to do things you don't even know to do yet.

So by putting the goal I honestly have no idea how I'm gonna get there. I know how to get to the next increment. But to get to the big goal, I don't know how and I have to be focusing on the goal that I don't know how to get to yet so that my brain is working for me to pull me into those solutions that I don't know yet. Otherwise, I will never find them.

Gresham Harkless 9:46

I love the CEO hack. And it's something that you kind of forget that when you have these really high goals and you're trying to figure out like how the heck am I going to make that happen, but in reality, you start to become the person that you need to be and start To take the actions that you need to take in order to be that, so it may not be top of mind of exactly how you can do it. But once you start to be and set it out and put in, you're in alignment with it, then you start to manifest and become that person that you need to be to do that. So I love

Mary Cravets 10:13

And I will tell you, and you probably know that it's not a linear process. I mean, I had a spectacular fail. Well, you just it was like, being $10,000 and getting nothing to fail. But I don't have any doubt that it was exactly what I needed, I needed to know that that was the wrong path. And I kept thinking it was the right path for five years, I thought it was the right path. And finally, I was able to invest in it. And it was the wrong path. But I would not have believed it would not have taken my energy fully back from it, I would not have like sought out what's the better path had I not had that universal to buy or that $10,000 to buy for across the back of the head to get me back on track.

Gresham Harkless 10:53

Yeah, it's unfortunate, sometimes how life goes where you have to, you have to get the lesson first. And when you pick up the lesson that you get, you have to experience the feeling first, then you get the lesson. So sometimes you have to have that it's like you have to understand, in order to understand good, you have to experience bad. So you have to go through those difficult times in order to know exactly where you want to go. So I think that's a great CEO hack. And I appreciate you for sharing that with us.

And now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this might be something that you've already mentioned, or that you tell the clients that you work with, but it's something that might be a word of wisdom or piece of advice you might have for entrepreneurs and business owners.

Mary Cravets 11:29

This might sound very counterintuitive, but you can't negotiate with time, you just can't negotiate with time, the biggest mistake I see business owners make is they think that someday they will have a superpower to transcend time. And so their to-do lists are overloaded. For most of my clients, my higher level clients who I work one on one with, the first thing I do is well I do an evaluation and assessment, of course, by looking at what they have on their plate and what they want to do. And the majority of the time I say the first thing we do is we have to reduce your workload because it's not possible, you can't set yourself up for failure on a daily basis and expect to win long term it doesn't, it just doesn't work that way.

So whether it's better planning, whether it's more delegation, whether it's overwhelming becomes a habit. And if you are constantly overwhelmed, if you get out of it, you will snap back to it, I watch it over and over and over again. So keeping your I mean, it's such a simple thing. Keep your to-do lists realistic.

Gresham Harkless 12:35

That's huge. And I think, especially for most entrepreneurs and business owners, definitely high achieving people that want to conquer the world and take over the world. And sometimes those to-do lists do get rather lengthy. So making sure that you make sure it's manageable. So again, as we talked about before you have those wins, you can continue to build that moment

Mary Cravets 12:53

You've got to feel a sense of accomplishment. You can't carry over the list day after day after day after day and feel like you're moving forward. Because you get those feelings. I mean, you have to align with the feeling of success. And by the way, I'm reminding myself of all of these things as I'm sitting here. So what if you were people who could take their eye off the ball and everything is a constant reset, it's a constant coming back to it and coming back to it and coming back to it.

Gresham Harkless 13:17

Yeah, just like any muscle or any exercise, you have to keep doing it and doing it and then it starts to become a habit. So definitely, I love that. So Mary, I truly appreciate your time. And now I want to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different, quote-unquote, CEOs on this podcast. And I know you have a team that you're managing as well. So I wanted to ask you what does being a CEO means to you.

Mary Cravets 13:40

Being CEO means that I'm going to take October 24 off to go ride roller coasters. It means that freedom to not have to be the person that's always working like the wheels don't fall off, because I don't show up for freedom.

Gresham Harkless 13:56

I love it. And you kind of lose perspective of that when you start to build the business and you start to work in the business that you're doing so much that you can't get away, but you need to make sure that your cup is filled. So we all have our thing, whatever we need to do to fill up our cup so that we can be even more present so that we can look for the visual look and see how we want the business to go. Well, I truly appreciate your time again. And what I wanted to do was pass you the mic so to speak to see if there's anything additional you want to let our readers and our listeners know and how best people can get a hold of you.

Mary Cravets 14:22

Yeah, absolutely. I have two resources for you that are really fantastic. One is my website I have so it needs a little facelift. But there are a ton of resources there. There's my blog, there's a free and almost free page, and it got a lot of other things. It's got tools, curated tools, so you can go there if you want to. If you'd like to dig if you'd like kind of the straight shot little education on how to simplify your client generation best place to go is Moreclientslessmarketing.com which has a short video or kind of introduce what you're gonna get.

See, if you want it, you just scoot over to the other page and there's a webinar about how to simplify systemize, your systematize your fight generation, just making it really simple, some education, a lot of value. It's not just fluffy. It's not theory, this stuff works for my clients and for me so you can get a good knowledge of what it is that we do. So More Clients Less Marketing, that's the real streamlined approach go to simplygetclients.com If you want to look at the expanded view of what we do.

Gresham Harkless 14:43

Awesome, awesome, awesome. And we'll make sure to have those links in the show notes. But Mary, I truly appreciate everything that you're doing. This was an awesome chat that we had and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Mary Cravets 15:31

Thanks, Gresh. I appreciate it. You too.

Outro 15:33

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co

I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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