The Key to Unlocking Career Growth and Reinvention with Bradley Rice

In this episode of Career Coaching Secrets, our guest is Bradley Rice, a leading expert in career development and transformation. Bradley shares his experience helping individuals successfully navigate career shifts, whether it's moving into a new industry, advancing within their current field, or reinventing their professional journey. Tune in for valuable insights on how to make impactful career decisions and embrace the right strategies for long-term success.

You can find him on:
https://talentstacker.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradforce/
https://www.facebook.com/bradley.m.rice/
https://www.tiktok.com/@careersforeveryone
https://www.youtube.com/c/SalesforceForEveryone

Transcript

Bradley Rice 0:00

So at the time that I started TalentStacker, I had actually held on to a couple of my own personal freelance clients just to bridge that gap. And I would say the freelance clients total were probably bringing in $60,000 to $80,000 a year. That was maybe just enough to pay my home expenses, but not much more. I wasn't saving anything for retirement at that point. However, once we got going, I remember the first member that we had landed a job in 42 days. And that became our first testimonial. It became our first uh piece of real marketing content that I was able to get out there. And the very next month, we did over $30,000 in profit.

Davis Nguyen 0:42

Welcome to Career Coaching Secrets, the podcast where we talk with successful career coaches on how they built their success and the hard lessons they learned along the way. My name is Davis Wayne, and I'm the founder of Purple Circle, where we help career coaches scale their business to $100,000 years, $100,000 months, and even $100,000 weeks. Before Purple Circle, I've grown several seven and eight figure career coaching businesses myself and have been a consultant at two career coaching businesses that are doing over $100 million each. Whether you're an established coach or building your practice for the first time, you'll discover the secrets to elevating your coaching business.

Pedro Stein 1:14

Welcome to Career Coaching Secrets Podcast. I'm Pedro, and today's guest is Bradley Rice, founder of Talent Stacker, a platform dedicated to helping aspiring freelancers and Salesforce professionals land their first client and build thriving careers. They provide practical step-by-step guidance alongside a wealth of free resources to equip individuals with the skills, strategies, and confidence needed to succeed in a competitive marketplace through their podcasts, YouTube tutorials, TikTok tips, and an active Facebook community. TalentStacker supports learners at every stage, helping them move from stuck and uncertain to capable, connected, and consistently delivering results in the world of freelance and Salesforce careers. Welcome to the show, Bradley. It is a pleasure to be here. Thank you for having me on, Pedro. Yeah, I'm excited that you're here. And before we get into what you do now, I'm always curious how this actually started. You know, so what was going on in your life when coaching became more than just an idea?

Bradley Rice 2:25

Yeah, what I'll say is that I was fortunate enough to learn about this concept of financial independence and early retirement. Uh, when I was about 23, so I started Talent Stacker about eight years later when I was 31. And again, was fortunate enough to have reached financial independence. Uh, so I had what I call optionality. So I could kind of do whatever I wanted. And this is what I wanted to do. So I actually started by just doing some free community groups and trying to get people together. And after about 60 individuals in those free community groups landed jobs, I decided, you know what? I think I can take this on as a passion project and follow the trend that is here, follow the fact that this is actually working, and we can scale this up and do it globally. So I took a shot at it, and that's really I just followed the demand. That's how I got started.

Pedro Stein 3:16

I like the fact that there's also confidence there, but there's also a piece, like the reality check. It's like I had 60 people that were I actually were I was able to help, you know. So it is a mix, right? There is a lot of mindset, like imposter syndrome. So I should I be am I able to do that? But there's also the fact that you actually landed though and helped them, you know, landing those jobs. But what I want to understand here, Bradley, is that at what point did it stop feeling like a side thing or a calling? It started feeling like an actual business you are responsible for, you know?

Bradley Rice 3:51

Yeah, for sure. So at the time that I started TalentStacker, I had actually held on to a couple of my own personal freelance clients just to bridge that gap. And I would say the freelance clients total were probably bringing in $60,000 to $80,000 a year. That was maybe just enough to pay my home expenses, but not much more. I wasn't saving anything for retirement at that point. However, once we got going, I remember the first member that we had landed a job in 42 days. And that became our first testimonial. It became our first uh piece of real marketing content that I was able to get out there. And the very next month, we did over $30,000 in profit through revenue from Talent Stocker directly. So very quickly, you can see I was making $60 to $80,000 with a couple of side freelance clients. And as soon as we hit that number, I knew we had something. I was still nervous, like you said, imposter syndrome. So I waited 60 more days. I made sure that those individuals who had joined were actually landing jobs and their freelance clients. And when I noticed, okay, it's actually working. People who are taking it seriously are having success. I need to stop wasting my time with my personal freelance clients on the side. And I need to go all in with Talent Stacker. And that's when I started hiring, you know, 1099 contractors to help with the work that I was personally doing. So I could focus on growing the business and being the innovator, not the task doer. So I'd say it was right in there was when the when the revenue allowed me to say this is gonna work for me financially, and the results allowed me to say this is gonna be a long-term thing because we're actually getting the results that we promise people.

Pedro Stein 5:38

I love that. Okay. Usually at this time, I ask people like, oh, how eventually you found your tribe, how you eventually found your niche, but it it seems like you you you dialed in that pretty at the the get-go, right? So I want to ask a different question for you because you're well, talent stacker is pretty well established, and then there is that moment that you start doing it as a solo, you know, entrepreneur and you start hiring people, even as a 1099, right? So that's a big shift, right? It's when you start not impacting people just with your time and your efforts, but you start, you know, having that ripple effect with employees. So walk me through that experience when you you made that decision and you're like, you know what, I'm gonna start hiring people, I'm gonna start really getting the scaling season up ahead right now, you know. So walk me through that, how that how that felt, you know.

Bradley Rice 6:34

Yeah, so I think with most small business owners who are, you know, getting things off the ground and they're having success, you hit this wall pretty quickly where you're doing everything. Because I mean, I think a lot of good is at least in my space, a lot of good coaches do everything to get started and they they learn the ropes and they learn the gaps, and ultimately they end up doing it all. So, what I started noticing is that some of the things I was doing were very repetitive. And I really felt like I could templatize those things or create an SOP, a standard operating procedure for some of these items, and I could hand those off to someone. And the question you didn't ask about finding that tribe, because that tribe was already there. I had a lot of really passionate people around me that wanted to help. I mean, they would have been willing to volunteer and do some of the tasks that I was doing. Uh, there's that much passion behind. Just imagine the people who landed jobs in less than 60 days, and then suddenly they're turning around saying, This changed my life. How can I help? And they just want to give back. And they're more than willing to come in and do things like resume reviews, focused on, you know, we're talking about career stuff here, resume reviews, mock interviews, uh, those kind of things. They're qualified and happy to come back and do it. So I didn't just pick anyone, but I hosted those interviews and I made sure to pay people because I wanted them to be there for the long term, because I wanted my customers to feel confident when they saw the names and faces of people that they'd seen for years. If I could get that level of consistency and credibility into the program, even if they're 1099s, I would like to have people who are consistent. So that transition really happened when I noticed that repetition. There was really too much. I was having to put people on a wait list for resume reviews and mock interviews specifically. And I noticed I wasn't doing right by the customer and that I really wasn't doing right by my business or myself. And it was something I could hand off. And those transitions always take time, but I started to trust myself as I hired people and they did a great job and the customers were happy. And as I did it slowly, I noticed, okay, this is gonna work. I can take a step out and not impact my business in a negative way. And then I can do things that are more meaningful to my business. So that's really the way it went. And then I slowly found things that, you know, things I never thought I would be able to walk away from, but I found people who are really, really talented in those spaces. And to tell you the truth, most of the staff are alumni of the program. So these are individuals who know the program inside and out, and they'll vouch for you in a private conversation. If they hop on a phone call, you never you never have to worry about them saying, you know, I'm not sure this is for you because it didn't really work when I tried it. It worked for them, it changed their life. So when you have a staff that is that embedded in your service and they know it inside and out because they've been through it themselves, it made for a really good recipe for success.

Pedro Stein 9:32

So would you say a good advice for coaches out there is keep an eye on their own past clients or their current clients for a potential hire in the future? Would you say like that? Like having that community also that you mentioned, that also empowers or maybe giving you, you know, a flow, uh, a lead flow of potential hires. Would you say like that?

Bradley Rice 9:53

I would definitely say that. I would say, especially for things like customer support, keep in mind that these are the people who needed support when they were a lead. They needed support when they were a customer. And now, because they've gone through your service or offering, they understand it inside and out. So they can give that support and they can give that nuanced perspective that maybe a typical I, you know, hiring some support rep who's been successful at some other company, they've got perspective that that person will never have. So to me, it makes a better support rep, it makes a more empathetic support rep. The same goes for sales. If you have somebody come through your program and then they go, you know, maybe they used to be in sales and now they're transitioning into something else that you're offering, but they still have that experience and they still know how to sell. Now suddenly, again, they know your product inside and out and they can sell it and they can sell it with their story behind it. So I would 100% say that look out for opportunities to give work to your alumni, is what I call them, or your past clients, whatever you want to refer to them as. And if you have those superstars that maybe have a background in something that's useful to you, then keep your eye open for that. And you got to ask that question what did you do before you came to me? Right. And if you can figure that out, you'll have a short list of people who want to work with you. And they honestly feel a little bit of, I don't want to say obligation, but they they put you on a pedestal potentially. They really look up to you. You're a leader to them, and they want to do a good job by you and by your company and by your customers. Uh, so it creates a really nice effect for you and your business.

Pedro Stein 11:31

Wow, I love that idea. You know, I never saw it that way. Now, I want to understand one thing because that, you know, like for example, I am a potential client, right, for your business. So I want to talk about marketing. So if someone ends up working with you today, how do they usually find their way to you in the first place? Imagine I'm the guy that's trying to, you know, find talent stacker.

Bradley Rice 11:53

Yeah, for us, it's typically organic social media. So we don't do a lot of paid ads. Honestly, we haven't had a ton of success with that kind of thing. We focus mainly on meeting our potential customers where they are. And historically, we've used social media to do that. So we've had a lot of success on platforms like Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, uh, podcasts. That's been really good for us. And it allows us to showcase our value, our credibility, our knowledge, our expertise in a way that that consumer is already adopting. So if they're listening to podcasts, what better way to get someone to understand you and your vibe and your energy and what you offer than listening to you for an hour on their way to work, right? They get to know you as a person. That way, when they hit a landing page, they're not just going like, okay, this guy wants to sell me something. They hear your voice and they know your expertise. And now they're looking at your landing page. The same goes for YouTube tutorials or, you know, quick tips on TikTok, those kind of things. They see five or 10 of those videos and suddenly they feel like they know you, they trust you, or maybe they don't and they've decided not to subscribe or not to check out your landing page. And that's okay too, because you want to get rid of those tire kickers anyway, who are going to waste your time with, you know, emails and sales phone calls and they weren't going to buy in the first place. So, what better way for them to bet you before they try to get you on the phone to buy your product? So uh that is how most people get to know us. And then I will say, second to that is word of mouth. When we do good work and we do good work for thousands of people, they are willing to come share that with people at church, their local communities, with coworkers uh from their past jobs before they transition. And when you have that degree of, I'll say confidence and credibility where they they hear you on a podcast, but then they hear about you from a friend. Now, those two degrees of trust are pretty well going to get you a conversion if that person is even halfway interested.

Pedro Stein 13:57

Okay, now let's talk about the mechanics behind the scenes for a moment. Okay. So picture this. I, you know, looked at your TikTok, your YouTube, heard you on a podcast, visited your website, even if it's a referral, word of mouth. So imagine I'm in the onboarding process, right? So what does that actually look like from my perspective? If I'm a client that is just being onboarded on Talent Stacker, Talent Stacker, how the structure works, you know?

Bradley Rice 14:27

Yeah. So I would say the the flow of that is gonna be maybe you typically what's gonna happen is you're gonna get a free resource from us. So we have uh for entry-level careers, we have a five-day challenge that you can check out. Um, for our freelancers, we have a walkthrough guide where they can go through the steps of like, how do I market? How do I sell? How do I uh support my clients? And so you're probably gonna come in through a free resource because most people like to why not try something for free before I buy the whole program. Once you get in there, I'm gonna email you, of course. I'm gonna ask for your email address to get that lead magnet and I'm gonna send you some emails. And at first, they're just gonna be to support you and they're just gonna say, Hey, I hope you're getting value out of the free thing. And I am pushing that free thing. I want you to move through it. I want you to have success with it. I want you to feel the value because if you value the free thing, you'll value the paid thing. And once I kind of ease you with that for the first couple of weeks, then I'm gonna say, Hey, if you're enjoying that, you're getting value from that, check out what we've got over here. Uh, so that's probably going to be your first real push that you're gonna get from us, is gonna be two weeks after downloading a lead magnet, where you're gonna go, okay, they're kind of pushing me towards a paid offering. And there's a few different ways that we do that, and we can get into it. But ultimately, in that email somewhere, you're gonna say, Okay, you know what, let me check this out. I'm gonna click this enrollment link. Then you're gonna hit this landing page with just testimonials and all the value and all the pricing and the pricing options that cater to you and your needs and your life and all those kind of things. And then you're gonna click on the one you want, you're gonna purchase, and immediately you're going to be per part of our purchase process is of course, you put in your credit card information or payment info, and you put in your name and you go ahead and choose a password for our portal. And as soon as you make a purchase, you are dropped into the portal. We'll send you an email with your username and password and how to log in in the future, plus some quick tips for success. And now you're in our portal. And what that means is you're gonna get access to our all of the events calendars for live events that are coming up. You're gonna have archives of past events, you're gonna have access to whichever uh courses or programs that you purchased, and you're gonna get an intro video that just says, like, hey, welcome to the platform. Here's how to use it, here's how to navigate, here's how to have success. And if you need help at any moment, email us right here and we're happy to help. Or hop into the community group and get support from not only our staff, but over a thousand alumni who have already walked this path before you. So we just, I would say overwhelm them quickly, less than five minutes, with how to navigate the platform, where to get help if you need help, and make sure that they feel comfortable so that we don't get an email that says, I got in there, I don't know what to do, I want to refund. Right.

Pedro Stein 17:21

Right. Yes. Okay. Now I feel like I I have to ask you something that it's like it sounds like at the start when we were talking about the origin story, right? You were like, Oh, I had this passion project, and you just mentioned you have several free resources, right? So it sounds like to me that you really want to help these people, right? You want to impact those people that are in this in this industry. And what I need to ask, I feel like I need to ask is how do you find the balance between free resources? I want to help them, and setting up a price, you know, having that mentality of are we charging too much, but at the same time, are we, you know, delivering value? Are am I not trying to skip people that maybe could use our help? You know, how do you find that balance? And and you know, there were there any lessons that shaped where we landed where we are right now.

Bradley Rice 18:19

Yes, the the there definitely are. I would say there have been moments where I think we gave away too much because it just made for such a great LinkedIn post, and then people would rally around it and they were so excited to have it, and that felt good, right? Like getting that that feedback. But then also you've got to balance it between making sure you don't give away the whole pie, right? And that there's something to pay for by the time they're done using your free resources. Um, so I'll say the balance that we've struck, and I think this could carry across a lot of different offerings and industries, is that you want to use those lead magnets in a way that impact them, but that it doesn't do it for them. So in my case, the five-day challenge is great. So it's gonna walk them through how to get free training online to get certifications, how to use platforms like LinkedIn to get in front of hiring teams and apply for jobs, uh, and also how to get hands-on experience by volunteering or doing practice projects. Those are three major keys to landing a job in the tech space specifically. And so you get a little hands-on experience, you get comfortable with LinkedIn, and maybe you're well on your way to getting a certification. Now, that's nice to be pointed in the right direction. And I think that's a huge value. Think about for free, point your customers in the right direction. And even better if you're pointing them in the right direction and that follows your talk track that you're using on social media or wherever they find you, right? So once they trust, okay, it really is a certification and LinkedIn and my resume and getting some hands-on experience. Well, they're gonna hit some roadblocks on the DIY process to doing that. They're gonna struggle with some of the certification concepts. Boy, I wish I had a trainer, right? Okay, well, guess what? We have we've got a trainer. They're going to get on LinkedIn and they're gonna go, uh, I don't know what to post about. This is awkward. What if my employer sees? What if my coworkers see what I'm saying and they think I'm up to something? Like, what if all these things happen? And then they go, shoot, I wish I had somebody to go directly to to ask these questions to get feedback from people who have experienced before. Well, what do you know? We offer that. They might get in that place where they're applying for jobs and they're getting no interviews, no responses, and they're going, I believe this is how it works. Of course, I have to apply for jobs, but I must be missing something. I wish I could get some extra help. Now, some people are gonna use your free resources and they're gonna hit very few of those blockers, or they're gonna be really driven and focused, and they're gonna get past them and they're gonna land a job without ever paying you. And you could say, Well, shoot, I missed a customer. Or you could say, Let me interview that person, let me get a video from that person, let me get a testimonial from that person, just spotlighting my free resource and how valuable it is, and use that as a way to get even more leads into that free resource, right? So the worst case scenario is not accidentally giving people too much success through your lead magnet. You can use it as a value, as a marketing proposition, as content, collateral. However, most of the time, they're gonna hit a roadblock and they're gonna say, Hey, this is too hard. I don't want to do this. I've decided I'm not gonna do this anyway. And so they end up walking away from whatever, even the entire space. I don't want a tech job. I'm just gonna walk away. I don't want to do freelancing. I learned a little bit about it through your free stuff. I don't think it's for me. However, you're gonna have your customers and they're gonna be your client base and they're gonna be your success stories, those people who go, I get it, and I also get the value in paying someone to help me with this because, and what I would always pitch is if you land a job just two weeks sooner by going through our program that first two week paycheck is going to pay for our entire program anyway so why even toy around with trying to DIY this when if you land a job two weeks sooner through our program and you will then it's going to pay for itself anyway. So fast track this thing get in here get off to your new job and let's get going with your future instead of you sitting over here trying to do everything yourself. So there's absolutely a balance but I would say there's really no issue with accidentally giving too much away for free.

Pedro Stein 22:36

And then you can pull it back if you need to but start by giving too much value get too many leads and then you can roll it back if you need to if you feel like you're giving away the the whole farm as they say I love that you know especially how you're asking for testimonials from people that are not actually even paying clients and I've seen coaches out there struggling with that right they're like second guessing themselves even with a paid client. So I think that's very powerful that's a very powerful reminder.

Bradley Rice 23:08

I'll say one thing if you don't mind I'll just interject the one thing for testimonials that I found really useful number one, don't overdo it. Don't try to make a a performance out of it. Just have a conversation and edit it down. I don't I try not to even prep them with questions because I want them to come natural because people want to watch someone natural the other thing I'll say is don't be shy about asking for testimonials. And the one thing you can say that tends to set the you know kind of set the tone is hey if your story can help one other person change their life the same way that you did, isn't that worth sitting down and sharing your story? And so instead of making it about marketing your company, make it about helping other people and how their voice can help other people in the future. And that is true and it's also going to help your company. So both can be true at the same time. So that can be a great way to communicate with your customers about sharing their story. And put it that way you're sharing your story. You're not hyping my company we're talking about what you did and you just so happened to have used my program. Let's talk about it. And that can ease them into it.

Pedro Stein 24:13

I love the the framing right it's like it's it's like when we're talking about sales and and a lot of coaches out there they struggle with sales because they have this misconception of what selling is like the it's because they had you know the worst salesperson in their way and uh some some people that are just trying to push you know trying to the ABC the always be closing style instead of serving. So I love the framing of the the testimonials it's not not trying to play an act and getting the answers it's like if he got if we had good answers based on this conversation great. If not it is what it is because if if that was not meant to be it's not going to be natural and it's going to sound fake and I love that you know I I love that that frame you you just introduced us to. Now looking forward a bit Bradley I mean what's the direction you're aiming this business towards are you thinking more about growth even more leverage building a team or refining what already works you know what feels most exciting right now?

Bradley Rice 25:16

Yeah I think the most exciting part to me is following my personal passions honestly like this year I've been talking to a lot of our customers about early retirement and financial independence because that had a big impact on my life I'm not necessarily and and some of the listeners may kind of go like what um I'm not necessarily revenue focused and I wouldn't even say that we're revenue first. I think revenue comes when you serve people. And of course you got to be serious about your business and you got to charge the right prices and you got to actually provide value. But when you focus first on providing value, even if it's given away too much for free, I think you end up with a ton of success. So I tend to just follow the things that have really impacted me. And so again I've been focused a lot on talking to people about hey you landed that entry level Salesforce job. Now let's talk about how you could potentially be retiring in the next 15 years. Or hey did you know if you added one freelance client, you could trim your retirement date down by 10 years just with one hour of work a day. And those are mind-blowing numbers and once again what do you do? You get to introduce people to a concept they've never heard of and when you tailor these ideas to what you've already introduced them to it just makes what you're selling that much more compelling. It's like wow I had no clue that now that I can become a tech worker, I have this option to freelance on the side and now that I can freelance on the side I can hit even more of my lifestyle goals. So I would focus I would say for me what's next is going to be continuing to lean in and helping people especially if you think about tech right now and the disruption that AI has caused across the board there's there's a lot of credibility that we have to be able to come with. So I've really got a major focus right now in just helping people feel like we can be that life raft and we can be that thing that they're confident in in a changing economy in a changing market. And those are always those things are always going to be happening. It doesn't matter if it's AI, it'll be the next thing so I think being that life raft for them being that thing that they can go, okay, even when the going gets tough, these are the people I can lean on um that's what I'm more interested in is just structuring ourselves, putting content out that's actually meaningful and making sure that we're serving our audience. And like I said, we've had success with that over the last six to seven years. And I don't doubt that if we continue to serve our customers and even the people who don't make a purchase, if we can serve them too, then we're going to get those word of mouth sales, we're going to have trust and credibility and we're never going to have to justify what we're doing or what we're selling because we know we went about it the right way.

Pedro Stein 27:54

And again just coming back to if I do all those things right, then I know the revenue is going to pile up I love that I love the fact that that's if you think through it it like a little bit that saves you time. If you're having a free resource that is part of an awakening process you don't have to do that on a sales call. It's like they already get it right it's like this is what's possible you know this is the the carrot let's call it like that you know that tease and they're like oh so that's actually possible that's actually doable and they're like start to start you know developing that that mentality and start to you know envision themselves doing that and they're looking at testimonials and they haven't been a client yet. So when they get to a sales call I think that's a shortcut you know I think that's very very interesting if you if you use the free so resource as a piece of of an awakening process. Did that make sense?

Bradley Rice 28:47

And we layer those testimonials in there too and what I what I wanted to say about that is we actually we call it avatars basically these different angles of the testimonials. So if I'm getting a lot of questions on sales calls or support emails and it's getting repetitive I want to try to work that into a testimonial not just an FAQ section but into a testimonial that might be perfect for them. So for instance we've had like a lot of school teachers transition into tech well you better believe I got five testimonials from school teachers to talk about specifically I was a teacher and now I'm in tech. Same thing for I was a doctor I was a nurse now I'm in tech. I was uh a truck driver a blue collar worker now I'm in tech. I was a stay-at-home parent and it so we find these avatars that we're constantly seeing people want to transition from and it makes people so much more comfortable to know you know they tell themselves those stories when they're alone at home and they say well yeah I'm a I I work construction I could never be a tech worker I'm just not smart enough. I don't have a college degree whatever it is they tell themselves all these stories. So if you can tell them the other side of that story and you can show them people just like them who they can send an email to I'll say to those testimonials please use the person's name like just use their name like get permission to use their name because you want your customers to be able to message that person on LinkedIn find them online and say hey I saw this story. Is this real? Like you really did this and they'll say yeah 100% I really did this and and you can really really do it too and people want to help each other. So they'll they'll even hop on a phone call with these people sometimes and do your selling for you. So by the time you talk to them they're like hey I talked to Tyler over here and man he all all good things to say and I just had a couple of questions about what time the live events are and will it work around my schedule and I'm ready to get going. And you can be that close when you're converting your sales instead of having to be on two or three different phone calls and converting people for months like let your marketing and not really even your marketing just your stories and your success and the content you create around those stories and success let them do the selling for you.

Pedro Stein 30:58

Yes that's cool. Now you know Bradley even when things are going well there's always something under construction right so what's the main thing you're actively working on or trying to improve in the business right now.

Bradley Rice 31:10

Yeah I would say actively working on is awareness trying to create just more there's you know there's billions of people in the world there's I I would say there are millions of ideal clients for us. Yet we're still sitting here with you know thousands of customers and not millions of customers right and so I think awareness is a huge one for us just getting the word out doing more lives on uh you know guesting on things writing guest blog articles um those kind of things so those are really just creating that awareness trying to get into pools of people that haven't heard about us before is a big part of what we're doing. And then the other thing is always trying to balance I would say brand confusion where you can see like I don't know if if the audience will see this live but you know I'm wearing a hat that says Trailblazer Mentorship right now. But my company name is Talent Stacker and Trailblazer Mentorship is is a free thing we do for the community and it's related but it's not tied to the company. But I want people to be aware of both things right and so it's finding this balance of like how do I have multiple brands and multiple offerings and multiple things while also not confusing customers that would have made a purchase if I hadn't confused them with all these things. So I would say that's probably the biggest struggle we're having right now and something I'm gonna be working on this year too is trying to figure out how do I how do I not confuse my my my customers while I try to do the right thing for the people I serve.

Pedro Stein 32:39

I'm right there with you now before we close this out if someone resonated with what you shared and wants to follow your work where should they go Bradley?

Bradley Rice 32:49

Yeah so you can always find us at talentstacker.com we've got a lot going on over there there is a contact form that if you fill it out I will personally see it uh so I will hear from you also I am always on LinkedIn uh so you can find me at Bradley Rice and I've got one of those real like coachy kind of profile pictures with like the bright orange background so it won't be hard to find me but you can find me on LinkedIn but also uh Facebook Bradley Rice uh TikTok it's uh careers for everyone and then the podcast is Salesforce for everyone so yeah just come come find me uh if you DM me on TikTok LinkedIn Facebook uh or hit the contact us form on the website I will personally see all of that and I promise I'll get back to you.

Pedro Stein 33:34

You know I feel like I need to highlight some part of this chat today. Like I would say the passion project it feels like it's it really is a passion project not just you saying out there but the entire journey you know and I love the fact that something that kept you moving forward was that reality check-ins you know I helped six 60 people so the first member 42 days he landed the job so all of those milestones were right there it's not just about the mindset which obviously is important we talked about imposter syndrome but sometimes it's just taking a look at what actually you're you're you're serving your clients right it's like it's not something that came out of nowhere you you have some reality checks there. I think that's important for every coach sometimes to backtrack and check their data you know keep keep keep the the the data you know updated remind yourself what you already accomplished because that will kill the imposter syndrome or maybe that will show you're not really a great coach depends really right so also I love the power of the community you you told me you know the alumni the the you're hiring uh past let's call it past clients or alumni however you want to call them and they they came from raving fans to still being raving fans but under payroll so I think that's such an important reminder and planting that seed have that mentality when you're thinking about scaling I mean they already get it you know they already know the culture they know how it works they're also a testimonial imagine sitting in a sales call with someone like that that's a big difference I mean and uh last but not least you know um give them uh a piece of a pie you know like you mentioned and worst case scenario you're taking a testimonial from a free resource I think just having the courage to do that I see a lot of people like coaches out there they're they have a lot of work great work out there but they they sometimes they feel icky or they like second guessing themselves about asking for a testimonial so you gotta ask for stuff because people are not gonna you know just come and and give it to you sometimes they will but most of them are like hey yeah I would love to do that they may be thinking you're too busy or whatever they want to bother you so this is my long way of saying Bradley that I really appreciated taking the time and being open with this you know it was great having you on.

Bradley Rice 36:05

Yeah it was an absolute pleasure to be on you are a fantastic host I appreciate these questions and and and how you carried it along and yeah it's been a fun ride for me to sort of rehash it and think through some of this stuff. So uh I appreciate you and I I wish you guys all the best on the show. And if you're doing doing episodes like this, then I have no doubt you guys are going to have a ton of success.

Davis Nguyen 36:24

That's it for this episode of Career Coaching Secrets. If you enjoyed this conversation you can subscribe to YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening to this episode to catch future episodes. This conversation was brought to you by Purple Circle where we help career coaches scale their business to seven and eight figures without burning out. To learn more about Purple Circle, our community and how we can help you grow your business visit join purplecircle.com