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Carlee
Are you in a job where you feel overworked, undervalued and underpaid? Hi, I'm Carlee Myers, your friendly stress management expert. And this month we're talking about stress and work. And I brought on one of my favorite people, Mary Cravets. And Mary Cravets is a client generation strategist 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 at 50 to 100 percent. Mary is also an avid roller coaster enthusiast and kayaking volunteer for a wildlife protection program in California. So welcome. Welcome. Welcome to the show, Mary. I'm so excited to have you on.
Mary
Thanks for having me here, Carly.
Carlee
Absolutely. So tell us, for those of us who don't already know you, how did you end up here? How did you end up in this line of work?
Mary
Well, I loved your opening question, which was all about, you know, being overworked at work. And the way I got into starting my company Simply Get Clients is that I had started a business that essentially became a job where I was an overworked employee. And from that overworked place and undervaluing my knowledge and everything I brought for the tabe- to the table, I was I reached a crisis point where I decided I just can't do that anymore. I just can't undervalue myself. I just can't undercharge for what I'm doing. And I stepped I made the too big for your britches move of opening my business that I have now. And from there, what's funny is I took some of those bad habits of overworking and undervaluing, but adding enthusiasm to the mix, because now I'm excited. You know, I started this new business where I'm contributing to the prosperity of others and it only took me. I think it's going to be less than two years to have, like, adrenal fatigue, like medically diagnosed burnout. So it was it was not a overnight success story of the story.
Carlee
To say the least Yeah,
Mary
Yeah, absolutely. And the thing that and I know that there are a lot of people who can relate to this is that you have a desire to do good, whether it's in your job or in your business and your enthusiasm on fire. And you just want to help people and so you can put yourself last. When I hit my crisis point of burnout, I, I had to figure it out because my business wasn't wildly successful, but it was paying the bills and I had to decide, do I do I give this up or do I figure it out? And I know a lot of people have reached this point. And so one of the things that occurred to me in that decision making moment was it was one question, actually. One question popped into my mind and the question was, what's working?
Carlee
This is a signature Mary question, every time I wait for it,
Mary
What's working, we scatter our efforts so greatly and all these new shiny objects and things we hope will work and maybe it'll work. And maybe I should do one more thing, one more thing, one more thing, which was kind of my anthem until I burned out. But this question, what's working is an incredible place to start moving forward to more productivity, better alignment with your values, your goals. And then the thing that happened next, because I was in business for myself as I realized the most important thing to figure out if it was working or not is how did I bring in clients like what was working because clients equals money. And it's such a simple thing. But I swear, when you get overwhelmed and you're feeling like, oh, my gosh, what do I do next? Going back to the essentials is so important. And so I thought, OK, the most important thing is I've got to figure out what's working with client generation. And so I do and I did an exercise, I just made it up on the spot and I've literally done it for thousands of people now. I brought
Carlee
Including me guys, including me.
Mary
Yeah. Audiences all over the world. And every single time I'll do the exercise. And then there's this resounding sound of like forehead smacking of the obviousness of it all. But yet it's still it's still incredibly powerful. So here's what I did. I wrote down all of the things I was thinking of doing, like all of the ways I could get get clients. I was speaking and I was networking and I was doing blogs and I was doing videos. And, you know, you... Should I be on Facebook and all the questions I had. This big, massive mess in my head sucking my energy. And then I wrote down my favorite clients, the people who who paid me well, the ones who appreciated what I did, the ones who sometimes even gave me referrals. And then I went line by line, name by name, and I thought, OK, where did this person come from? What did I do? What was the marketing activity that brought them to my door? And line by line, I found out that it boiled down to three things I had a list of like 20 lead generation strategies I thought I needed to be doing. It boiled down to three. And as I recovered, my business grew just by focusing on what was working and it became like it became almost an obsession, like how do I simplify this? How do I become more intentional to focus my efforts so that every ounce of energy I put into my business there are these exponential results. So I hope I hope if you're listening, you do that exercise. It's really amazing.
Carlee
It's incredibly powerful. And it's funny. There's two things that come to mind when I think about you. It's what's working and that exercise and simply get clients. Simply. I think so many of us and I know for for the folks that I work with. I work with female leaders, driven hustlers. Ready they are. Go, go, go. And yet we're running around like chickens with our head cut, chickens with our heads cut off. This, doing that, doing this, doing that, doing everything that we could possibly think about. But it's actually. This 10 percent, I don't even remember what that saying is, but 10 percent of the work gets 80 percent of the results or 90 percent of the results. And it's true. So for everyone who's listening and you're thinking that's too simple, like that's it is not it is not. So follow that exercise to figure out what works for you. So and also, I would say abandon what does it.
Mary
Oh yes. Absolutely. Abandon what doesn't. And that's how you reclaim a lot of your time. And if it sounds too simple, I will tell you that people who are just starting in their business and people who are incredibly accomplished with backgrounds in corporate like I shot, shocked me like two years ago, a former CFO of Microsoft hired me to help him. And I did the same exercise with him and he had the same aha moment. It's not too simple.
Carlee
Not at all. So, Mary, where can we find you if we're like we want to do this exercise, but we also know that we need some more support around here in the growth of our business and taking it to the next level.
Mary
Well, one of the big so the place you can find me is the place where you can have some fun because all of the stress and the pressure and everything I know, one of the things you have to add to your list is the little bit of fun. So if you just go to my website, if you go to simply get clients dotcom right on the home page, there's like this big arrow directing you to a button and it says, take the quiz to cut through the noise or something like that. And it's a five minute quiz and it will really help you focus in on where to put your time and energy and attention into your business. And it'll let you know which of my programs can support you with great tips really customized to the situation you're going through.
Carlee
Beautiful. And would you mind sharing your website link with us just really quickly?
Mary
Not at all. It's simply get clients dotcom,
Carlee
Beautiful, simple, easy simply get clients dotcom. So for those of you who are listening, make sure that you click that link and check it out. Take her quiz. And we also want to know, what are you settling for in your own business and where do you want to go? What's your vision for your future? Now, if you're feeling overworked and exhausted, I've got some good news for you. The Stress Less Company works with high achieving CEOs, business owners and managers, a.k.a. leaders just like you, to find that sense of peace and freedom that they desire. And really, as a result of our work together, they learn how to properly manage their time, their tasks and their energy so that they can experience more free time, efficiency and prosperity. Sounds great, right? Well, you can apply for a complimentary stress assessment today to start the conversation about working together. Visit Stressless CO dot COM slash apply for more information and of course, to apply. That concludes this episode of The Stress Less Show. And I want to give one last big shout out to our amazing guest. Mary, thank you so, so much for coming on the show and sharing your expertise.
Mary
It's my pleasure, Carlee, thanks so much for having me.
Carlee
Absolutely. So if you enjoy this week's episode, let us know by giving us a big old thumbs up and hitting that follow or subscribe button. Thanks for listening. And we'll see you next week. Bye.