Ep 198: Your Message Becomes Clear When You Build A Category Of One [Solo Consultant Summit Series]

Welcome And Summit Setup

Sara 0:00

Welcome to the Solo Consultant Summit series, where we spotlight the experts who'll be taking the stage at the summit. I'm your host, Sarah Noel Block and today I'm joined by Kendall Cherry. Kendall is a storytelling and sales writing expert who teaches consultants how to become a category of one. She's also leading a live inquiry form teardown at the summit, and in this conversation, we dig into what it really takes to stand out in a crowded market.

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Oh my gosh, what a cute little commercial. Uh, or sorry, intro, but- It's so funny having to watch it Okay, but honestly, I'm watching it and I'm like, "She looks so cool." That, um... Oh, thank you. Are you, are you the whole time, 'cause you're also having to listen to your own voice, which I know for people is, like, very ugh, so you're just like, "Cringe." No. I die, I die a little bit every time I watch it. I love it. Oh my God, I was like, "This looks so cool. I wanna, I want a sizzle reel like that." Nice. Uh, I'll have to find the company I used it for, 'cause it was awesome. They did all of my photos that I use in everything, and a bunch of B-roll at the same time while- No, yeah, yeah while we were photographing. Send- Yeah send me that. I have, I have a need- Will do for that, for sure. And they have photographers in Texas, so it'll work- Oh my God for your location too. I'm, I'm literally looking for that exact thing in November. It's awesome. So yes, send. I will. Okay. Kendall. Podcast sales coming in, uh, right from the beginning. Coming in hot. Yes. Yes. So people are getting a vibe for how we are when, like when we're not recording. It's so good to have you. So Kendall is here today to talk about how to become a category of one, but also because she is one of the speakers in the Solo Consultant Summit. So we're making sure that this goes out before the Solo Consultant Summit so you get a little vibe for it. And she's also doing the, a live, uh, inquiry form tear down during the summit, which is gonna be freaking

Inquiry Forms That Replace Sales Calls

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awesome. Before we get into the actual topic, can you explain what, what you're gonna be doing in this inquiry tear- tear down? Yeah, so I teach a storytelling and sales acceler- ac- sales writing accelerator. Whoa, that's a mouthful. A storytelling and sales- Love it writing accelerator- It's the alliteration called The Greenhouse. It's the alliteration. Um, but it's called The Greenhouse, and I basically train, uh, b- copywriters and small business owners to not only establish their sales ecosystem so they can start selling more evergreen, but I also teach you how to become a better sales writer and creative writer. So it's this really great, um, way for people to get clear on what it is that they're selling, but then also how to write the miscellaneous deliverables that come along with it. So one thing that happened during the first round this past year was kind of a little bit of magic. We were talking about sales ecosystems with my students, and all of a sudden they were like, "Wait a minute, your inquiry form can actually get you all of the information you need so you don't need to be on a sales call?" Because what I learned, and it's been a while since my, my inquiry form looked like this, a lot of people just have either the basic standard template that came, you know, with the website- where it's just like, "Contact me," with zero questions Zero insights and people don't even know what to write there, versus what I have is an inquiry form. I have to- I have been told by people it's a, it's extensive, but it gets me all the information that I need so I can understand, is, is this person even the right fit to be working with me? Are they ready? What does their budget look like? What have they tried before? What are they trying to turn, and what kind of results do they want in the next six months? So this inquiry form is kind of the secret to not just better qualifying leads, but getting you the information that you need so you can send a proposal. And what I do in my business, I really don't ever have many sales calls because I just send over the proposal of the scope of work and a video walkthrough, and then most people make a decision, I mean, sometimes within hours, but much faster than they would if you had to get on a call and the whole, you know, if it gets rescheduled, yada, yada. So in the inquiry form teardown, I'm gonna actually give you the questions to the inquiry form so you can go in and add it very quickly. Please steal my process. But then also I'm gonna actually do some live teardowns from inquiries that I've received from people that were, one, a good fit, and I'm gonna explain how the questions work, kind of the mechanics so you can scan and see how to see if a q- lead is qualified. But even more valuable is how do we see in these same questions leads that aren't qualified, and then what do we do when they're not? So basically creating... I, I picture it as like a little kind of a, like a starter pack or an extension pack we're just gonna like add into your business so that you can start having a little bit more leverage when it comes to inquiry forms and your sales process to hopefully speed up the time from inquiry to close. stuff that we're talking about. Yes, and it's gonna go so well with your training that you're having at the summit, which is about how to sell without sales calls. Yes, exactly. So like a little marriage. They're the perfect little pairing together. Exactly. Yeah, I'm super excited to talk about it because I think it's one of the things most, I mean, honestly, most business owners for sure, but service providers, anyone working with clients in, in any industry, this is one of the efficiencies that I have had in my business for a really long time. And it's not until I started talking to my students where I had someone literally within a, a week and a half after implementing the process I'm gonna teach and the tear-down, had someone go from having to accidentally be on a 30-minute sales call that ran over to an hour because they didn't have any context going in, to now having a 15-minute sales call and then being able to close immediately after 'cause they had all of the information that they needed. Yeah. So, like that- Yeah when I think about the, like, time ROI on that of, like, 45 minutes a sale, you get closed faster, you make money in your account- sooner, like, and if that happens 12 times a year at least, I don't know, the ROI there is huge. I need to do the math. But it's, it's very powerful, and it was w- it was one of the first times in the greenhouse where I was like, "Oh, this curriculum is, like, locked and loaded. Like, this has to be more of a just thing that we share widely," 'cause it's, it's so simple and it's gonna s- you're gonna s- look at it and just be like, "Really?" And then it's gonna, it's gonna be the best time-saving hack you'll probably add to your business in 2026. I'm gonna s- make a big s- big swing there, but I've seen the magic in real time. The, the time ROI was insane. No, I've... Like, ever since we had our call, like, I don't know, a month ago- Yep about the summit, I've been telling everybody about you and this- Oh, good process. I actually have a, like, second sales call, just ignore that, um, this afternoon. It's okay. We're gonna get you there, baby. We're gonna get you there. Kendall, help me. It's okay. Um- It, it happens. It happens. I- I'm just excited for you to get to start to use this process. Yeah. That's what... That get- makes me so excited But my point was I, in like the document that I created, so it's a, it's a review call after my booked out blueprint is what it actually is. Um, I recommended your stuff to her. I was like, "Actually, I don't think that I'm- Aw the right fit. I think that this would make more sense for you." Oh my gosh. Well, thank you. I appreciate the, uh, the pass along. That's, that's very cool. Well, it just so happened that she has the exact problems that

Differentiation That Makes Referrals Easy

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you solve, so it made sense. Love. Isn't it nice when we all have very clear category of one, um, ways of describing what it is that we do so it makes referrals- easy to pass to- Yeah even people that aren't qualified. That's the other thing is like I just believe there's a world where when people are more differentiated, w- they stand out as category of one, which we're gonna talk about. It makes it easier also for you to say, "Yeah, you're not the right fit for me, but I can I know exactly who to send you to and vice versa." So there's no more of this like, "Well, I kinda do this, but like I'm gonna take the client 'cause I need the money." It's way more abundant to be like, "I'm gonna pass this to someone," and it's their actual zone of genius, and it frees you up to get paid and compensated for your zone of genius. Yeah. Like inevitably, inevitably, like someone else is gonna come that's a better fit for you, and then that's not gonna secretly drain you, which has real... I think as service providers, we forget that that- Energy drain does have real monetary implications. If you don't stay committed and devoted to what it is that you're supposed to be doing and what feels the most aligned, eventually it will cost you either in how many clients you can take on, 'cause it's taking you so much longer, or what happens to me, I'm just drained, where I'm like- Mm-hmm oh my God, like, oh my God, I need, like, two days to recover from this project that was supposed to be so easy. Yeah. And that ends up costing me, like, you know, my writing capacity or my, like, ability to socialize or do more, like, LinkedIn engaging or whatever else. Like, and that has, you know, three months, six months down the line, that does have real revenue implications. So- That's such a good point, that when you force yourself to do something that's not really in alignment with who you are as a person, it is an energy drain. Mm-hmm. Like, I'm definitely an omnivert, and if I extrovert for too long, it takes me days of introverting to- Girl get back to, like, my place. I think, I think people underestimate, 'cause I am a little... I'm a yapper. So, but I think people underestimate how much of an introvert I am. Like, I need, I'm not kidding, if I'm doing a lot of podcasts or calls, and let's say those two days a week maybe, maybe I'm in three hours of calls total, I need Friday to Sunday, no phone- Yeah reading an entire book that weekend. Like, I am a vault, and I will not leave. We were talking about this before

Writer Cave Energy And Deadlines

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the call. I'm working on editing my book right now, and I literally, I go, like, down to the depths of my writer cave, and I do not emerge for anything. Like, I will come up, I will do what's necessary, and then I just disappear. Yeah. Well, and you're in the phase right now- The thick that I'm very familiar with, yeah. That last, like, six weeks before pub day is- Yep so much work. You're like, there's a, there's a typo that managed to get through my millions of revision rounds? Come on. Mm-hmm. There's no way this- That's, that's where we are Yeah, that's, that's where we are. Luckily, I have a really great team around me who is helping me edit and proofread, which is good. A lot of it for me, I mean, I'm, I'm basically editing the final bits of the book and sending it waterfall style to my team. And so a lot of it has just been like, oh my God, we have a hard deadline of July 15th. And I'm like- Yeah I, but it's, so this project in particular is, you know, I have to finish, but then I have to give the copy editor and the proofreader enough time to finish. So I'm like, ah, we're waiting- Yeah we're two weeks behind. Like, there's, there, it's, it's not, and I'm an agile, scrappy girl. Like, I will roll my sleeves up and just, like, get into it. But it's so much harder having... or I'll say more challenging having a a team, and it's great, but it does create all this dependency where I'm like, "Okay, this, this is not work like a Kendall Cherry, you know- Yeah agile cat- catwoman, like, let's just, like, get through what we, you know, whatever we need to do." Like, it- it's a, it's a different way of working that I'm not used to. I actually prefer it, but yeah, I'm still learning the rhythms of- Yeah the process. I'm super familiar with that. You're like, you have to take into a c- there are a lot of different pieces when it comes to writing and publishing a book- Mm-hmm and a lot of different players that are involved in it, and they each have their own turnaround times, and amount of time they need to be able to have access to it. Yep. And you just kind of have to reverse engineer that timeline to figure out your pub day. Totally. Yeah, that's- that's what we ended up doing. I did s- I did say, 'cause this, this is my first book, it's certainly the most hands-on. It's more of a textbook and a field guide versus just, like, a, what I would call a d- a typical business book, which tends to be a collection of stories, or it looks more just, like, you know, maybe there's some chapter elements and that's it. This has... I mean, it's pretty much was originally developed from curriculum. So there are frameworks in here that are, like, hand illustrated. There's a lot more just, like, depth of thought, I think, as far as the, the teaching elements of it, where it really will feel not like a sh- like a boring textbook. But it's, it's really, like, developing a textbook, essentially. And so this is luckily probably the most hands-on I'll ever have a book be. Granted, that's a huge, huge thing to do for the first book, and we're self-publishing. You did go a- I, I mean, I- as complex as humanly possible with your book. I know. I really- And beautiful, too. I really did. I really did. But it's, I, I just knew the content needed to come out now, and so it's really... The good thing is I'm, I'm kind of learning all of the different paths of what it could look like. But yeah, moving forward, I've already decided how I'll structure the next project, which I, of course, already have the concept in my brain, and it'll be a novel. But, um, yeah, we're getting a project manager. We're getting, you know... I'm not development- developmentally editing it. I'll hire someone to do that. So yeah, it's just been a process. But, you know, I, I learn best- It- I learn best, uh, on the fly, which is sometimes not the most fun. But, you know. I mean, I did the same thing- Do what we can with my first book. It, it's complex, and I think that most people learn best by doings. You just gotta do the thing or it's- Yeah never gonna happen. It's gonna sit in your brain as an idea for eternity if you don't just- Yeah bite the bullet. Yeah. I agree. I agree. So that's, that's been the process, but it's been very Very rewarding and very, like, we just got the book, like probably 25% of the book typeset last week when we were recording this, and seeing it, it's crazy, like what... 'Cause you send them a manuscript and it's like Times New Roman, which- Yeah you know, it, it literally feels like I'm writing a paper

Designing A Book People Play With

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in elementary school. Like- that's what I feel like I'm doing. But it is- Yeah, even the formatting for manuscripts- Yeah is very elementary school formatting- It's- and not business formatting. Yeah, it's so, it's so weird, and you're just like, "I'm trusting that what I've written is good. It feels good. My copy editor tells me it's good." She'll, she's told me multiple times, she's like, "Kendall, people are gonna have their highlighters out for the entire book. Like, you have so many one-liners that are just bold." I will not touch a highlighter to that book. It's too pretty. Oh, well, we ha- we do have academic margins if you are somebody... I've actually had, 'cause there, again, there's hand illustrations in here. I've actually had people tell me, 'cause we've got a couple of scenes that we've created, so the goal is to make it feel kind of like an old school Main Street, you know, downtown of a little, a little, you know, 500 person little town. So we've created a couple of shops or like storefronts for- That's such a great idea for you. It's, they're incredible. And so they go along with the themes of the book. So we have part one is Myths From Hell, and it's a business that's actually gone out of business. Um, it's called Lady Byron's Paper Pantry. So we have, you know, it looks like an out of business paper pantry. The second one is for Stories That Sell, and we have a, a storefront that's called Feeds and Seeds, so like news feeds, you know, and seeds. So Feeds and Seeds, it's a seed store. And then, um, the third one, part, part three is called Grow and Tell. So we actually ended up creating a little radio station. We call it KSOL Radio, and it's, it looks like a vinyl record, like you would go in there and be like, you know, you'd go on a radio tour or something. But it looks like an old AM/FM s- like storefront. But the thing that's so crazy is so people have been seeing all of the illustrations that we have in it, and they're like, "Oh my God. I can't wait to take my colored pencils out." This is an adult coloring page. I'm like, "Yes, it is. Thank you very much." I know. That is some, that is some category of one. Yes, it is. But it's, it's so interesting, like, hearing and so much part of the process, and I think this'll really connect into with category of one. A lot of times I've found, whether it's in this book or with client services or, like, the evolution of a business or whatever, I find that the things that establish you as a category of one are typically things that are already naturally happening, and then you just kind of see it and turn the volume up. Like, that's been so much my, my story throughout a- any business venture. It very much just becomes, um... Yeah, it's like the things that your clients, your students, your customers, that they n- they recognize and see in you and reflect back, and then that's, that kind of shows you, like, "Oh, this is what makes me special or unique," or, like, what I h- really have to offer that is different than any experience they've had anywhere else. Let's make it abundantly clear. When you say category of one- Mm-hmm what do you mean by that?

What Category Of One Means

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Yeah. So a category of one, typically when it comes to business, you'll typically sell... And it's for anything, products, services, offers, whatever. You're typically sorted, not that this is, like, formally done, but in general, like, you'll be placed in a category. So for example, when I was doing copywriting, I would've been considered in the, like, marketing services category, or even a step down further, copywriting services. You could even be a step down further, I only do email marketing services. So think of it like you've got a bucket of all these different, different types of categories, and if we were gonna sit on LinkedIn and start sorting people into their specific bucket, that's a category. The problem is that when you then... I'll use, I'll use marketing consultants for us, like sales and marketing consultants, you... I'll use you and I as the example. Okay. We would probably get sorted into the same bucket, the same category. We're doing some different nuanced stuff, but, like, I hate to break it to you, like, consulting is consulting, coaching is coaching. I, as much as I would like to believe that the way that you do graphic design or web design is, like, completely innovative and different than everyone else, the end product is still you designed a website. Mm-hmm. So we're really, we're not really getting any kind of, like, unique anything happening. Yeah. Cat- So that initial category is, like, top of funnel. This is the most plain version of the category you're in. Exactly. And so then once you get into this bucket, what tends to happen is people start... And I've s- I see this all the time. Any industry. Each bucket almost has like its own lingo or jargon that you're supposed to use, quote-unquote. And so what tends to happen is people look at, you know, competitors or what they think is normal for how to describe the services in that category or in that bucket, and so things start looking and sounding really similar. This is why when you... I'll use an example. Coaching, especially like women's ambitious, entrepreneurial, like flavor of coaching. I cannot tell you the number of times I've heard coaches say, "I help women over 40 with, uh..." What do they say? It's, "I help women in transition over 40 figure out what they want for their lives." Like- Yeah. I You and, you and, you and everybody else, baby girl. You and everybody else. That's a lot. So- Yeah. That's a lot of women too. That's a lot of women. It's a lot of women, and I, I have a podcast on my show, The Writer's Round, and I, I don't remember the episode number. But I have written for like over 50 life coaches with that same You know, they're all doing the same thing Same category Same category, basically, where I'm just like, "Another one, another one." But how do we make them sound unique? And so category one is really taking, you know, you're in this bucket, right? And now there's not a lot you can do to... Like, again, coaching is coaching, consulting is consulting. Like, that is not gonna change. But how do we take the way that you describe how you approach your process, how you approach your clients, what specific transformations do you create, what makes you different from everyone else in your category, so that even if you're doing the same stuff as everyone else in your bucket, how do we talk about it in a way where it's feels so unique that there really isn't anyone else that does it like you? And that's what I would consider a category of one. Okay. So it is essentially, like, you have this big... You have this overarching category. Now- Mm-hmm what makes you different? What makes you- Mm-hmm more interesting? Yeah. Can you give me an example of, like, one of your transition clients over 40, one of those. Like how did they- Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm trying to think of a really good one that I had. Um, let's see. I would say I'm gonna use my client Meg. So she does this exact thing. Interesting things about Meg that I found after looking at her messaging, she actually has a PhD in psychology, which she wasn't talking about. But the specific flavor of it was like... And it, and this is the thing, we all do this, where it's like, "Oh, I went to... Like, I have a master's in public relations. Do I talk about it that much? No." But there's, like, so much fodder there, and also it's in executive communications, AKA- What you do what I, what I do. Literally what I do. But I, for the longest time, didn't talk about it. But so Meg had this background in psychology. She was still teaching and coaching women on change, and I think she even... I think her specialty was, like, in, it's not change management, but it's, like, something along those lines in the psychology space. But so she wanted to be coaching people, but specifically on change, which is transition, but what we ended up doing is developing her own flavor of how she describes change. How does someone know when change is happening? For her specifically, because she- Can, she can like dip into the, like, science of it, like the neuropsychology of it a little bit. Mm-hmm. We incorporated a little bit more of that so it doesn't just feel like, "Make a mind map and like write, create a vision board." Like, we got a little more scientific with it, and created this way for her to talk about her services that maps and mirrors her own story and her background, but also allows people to see, "Oh, this is how Meg would solve this specific problem." So it's really about taking... A lot of times what I notice in my clients is it's stuff that you can't see your, for yourself, and you almost need someone to tell you or explain it to you as what it is, and then that becomes how we create the messaging for your category of one, essentially. So, and, and that specific instance, we got way more scientific with it. We created language around her process that was different than, like most pe- most coaches like have a process that, hot take, they probably threw into ChatGPT, and that's their framework. This was actually not to get snarky, but- this is, this is, in her case, like she was already doing something that we developed language for that helped her describe what she was doing and get on the phone with more people that were aligned with what she was looking for. Yeah. That makes... That just reminded me of something. So I was on the phone with Liz, what is her last name? Yesterday, um, from

To Be Magnetic And DIY EMDR

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Well Hosted. She's also one of the speakers for the Solo Consultant Summit. Nice. And hold on. I'm looking up her last name. Batch, Well Hosted. Hmm. Liz Batch. Nice. And she and I li- happen to listen to the same podcast. She just brought it up out of nowhere. Nice. And, um, it's On the surface level it's about manifestation, is what the podcast- Love is about. It's, um, called To Be- I, I subscribe. Yeah, subscribe. To Be Magnetic is the name of it. Oh my God, I... Stop, stop, stop. I have done To Be Magnetic for six years. Shut up. She just conv- 'cause I have had this, this email- Nah, girl to join. Everybody need, everybody on this podcast, you need to be doing To Be Magnetic. No, I'm literally doing- Oh my God this seven challenge right now I'm reading. That's what I was- No just gonna talk about. No, I've done... I've been doing it for six years. If you want the tea, I got the tea. It's- I do it is, it is the secret to how I've manifested literally everything. Not even kidding. Look, you sound- I do, I do the DIs every single day. I- Not kidding. Every single day for six years. I feel like the universe is just battering me over the head, 'cause I've been sitting on it for, like, six weeks. Like, I wanna join- No but should I? No, absolutely. Absolutely. I'm so sorry. Everyone listening, yeah, no, you must, you must do it. You must do it. It is incredible. Okay. I lost the thread on what I was even gonna talk about. Oh, what I was gonna say is- You were talking about the podcast that, like, on the surface category it would be about manifestation, but underneath it they are really deep into psychology. Mm-hmm. And it's more about, like, shadow work. Totally. And, like, going through- What, what I'll tell Yeah, what I'll tell you is, so on the surface it probably looks like manifestation, um, woo woo spiritual, which it definitely has that flavor to it. If you peel back what they're actually doing in the meditations, and this is why I know that it works, I did EMDR for the first time this year earl- like, probably in the spring, and I was like, oh, I've been doing E- EMDR at home for six years, because the, the... They're called DI, Deep Imaginings. They're basically self-hypnosis tracks. Mm-hmm. They, they change the audio, so they, the audio when you're listening literally moves from the right ear to the left, which, which is exactly- Oh, that's interesting it's exactly what happens in EMDR. They go through the exact same process. They have you go to a safe space first. It is EMDR, but it's not, but it is, basically, for- Hmm I'm sure they have to say that. But the thing that's interesting is in, once you get a little more into the programs, they'll, when it's time to start rewiring beliefs, they will actually have you tap on the right and left side of your body, which is exactly what you do in EMDR. You either tap your legs, or they'll hand you these little, like, they're like little buzzy electrodes, but they don't hurt or anything. But it'll, it'll buzz from your right hand to the, your left. And so when you're doing that, you're opening neural pathways in your brain. So if tr- like, think of it as like a almost like a super speed highway. And when you experience trauma or fear or whatever else, the, the tracks in your brain, basically, if we're gonna think of it as a train, it can get stopped. Like there's, they're stuck at a railroad crossing. And so then it, it loops or it creates all these different ways that we respond to anxiety or trauma or whatever else triggers. And when we do EMDR work, this would be if you're in a therapist practice, or if you're doing these deep imaginings, it basically opens up your brain to reprocess whatever is causing that train to get stuck. So what you reprocess, you'll do inner child, you'll do, you know, shadow work, you'll interact with your highest self, and that actually allows you to reprogram any of those places where you're getting stuck and actually create a new track, basically- Mm um, for that. It's, it's incredible. I've done, I've done all of the DIs at this point multiple times, but they're actually doing a challenge right now, which you'll have access to after this comes out as well. It's called the Be Seen Challenge or something. Yeah. Um- That email is what prompted me- That- to be like, "Maybe I'll try it now." No, I'm not kidding. Like, I- and I've done all their stuff for years. This one, I'm getting downloads every, like, 12 hours as my business is transitioning and, like, oh my God, like we were talking before this about my book, where I'm talking about, you know, certain sections of the book, and like, oh my God, I wrote that a year and a half ago, and like, now it's actually this big part of the next evolution- Yeah of the business. Those are happening because I'm doing these DIs, and my brain is, like, processing a lot of trauma, and I'm spending a lot of time around my horse right now, and horses are also known to access the same kind of thing that's going on- Hmm in To Be Magnetic. And so I'm literally processing all of this stuff and making these connections that, again, I've, I mean, I've been working on this stuff for like, I mean, really R&D on it for like two or even three years. And like, n- it's all c- like within the last, not even joking, probably 10 days, it's just like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Liz said the same thing. Lord, Lord, help my ghostwriter and my design team who is helping me with my website- where I'm like, "Just kidding. The thing I wrote is wrong. This is what it is." I've done a- I have a new download almost every day. Yeah, a new download every day. That should be the To, To Be Magnetic slogan. That excites me- Highly so much that you're in it. Like, okay. Oh, I've been, I've been in it for years. Years and years and years, and it is, I am a big mindset person, and that is- Besides EFT tapping, which I also do every day, that is the thing. I, it has grounded me in any level of chaos. It's helped me get a really clear vision of what I'm building and, you know, all of the different pieces. Like Yeah. That's, you need- e- everybody listening to this needs to be there. Yeah. Th- well, okay. I'm excited. I'm gonna do it. So- Not to sell them, but, you know. Yeah, no. That was so random that I had... Like, I've been thinking about it for a long time. I love how like- Actually- it's called To Be Magnetic. I'm like, "Shut the front door." You're like, "I'm in." Oh my gosh. I'm... Like, it takes me forever to make a financial decision, even though it's, like, incredibly affordable. I need to r- really sell myself for a long time before I make that, and then it's, like, when I'm getting hit over the head with signs that I finally say yes. I'm like, "Of course I should do this." Yep. But s- kind of related to what you were saying, so I found that podcast a few months ago and I sent it to my therapist, who does a lot of, like, somatic hypnosis- Yep type of therapy with me. Yep. I was like, "This shit sounds like what you do." "I think you'd really like this podcast." Yep. It's- it's super similar, and I find... I will say, like, don't do To Be Magnetic and be like, "Heh, cool, I don't have to pay $150 for therapy." Like, no. You need to be doing both. Still, still do the work. Still, still do the work, but it's, it's a different way of seeing things, and what I've found, especially if you're a creative type, like I'm, I'm curious, um, with your writing practice if it will shift at all. A lot of times, I don't know that we've talked about this, but, like, I basically black out when I'm writing, and I'm extremely intuitive, and so everything I write is like- That's exactly how I write. Yeah. Every- It's like download. Everything is, everything is super, super nuanced and layered, and what it actually helped me do is understand energetics a little bit more, and like, oh, this situation f- with this person, it... Like, I don't know why, but it kind of feels like this, and it's, like, weirdly specific, almost, like, metaphorical. Mm-hmm. But what it's helped me do as a writer is actually tap into that same... 'Cause that's kinda what you're processing when you're meditating is, is you're being asked to, like, communicate with your highest self, and you get this, your... It's almost like the signal gets clearer. So then when I'm writing, now I'm not just like, "Oh yeah, this person, like, had this thing happen." I'm like, "What's the thing? What's the subtext I'm trying to say?" Yeah. And it gets so much stronger and so much clearer, and that, I mean, even that alone has, like, helped my writing process over the years. But- Mm. Yeah I'm excited. It's incredible. You're gonna, you are going to love it. Yeah. And hate it. There, shadow work is a, is a doozy, but it- I did hear that, like, tears will happen. Oh my g- girl, I cry probably every day when I do it, or maybe every other day, 'cause it's just stuff that, like- It's, it's more about remembering. It's not really about anything new. So it's almost this, like, coming back home feeling and, like, allowing yourself to feel or remember what you enjoyed as a kid and come back in more to that. So the reprocessing that happened is, is a really beautiful process. But, um, yeah, it, it's profound and I think everyone would benefit from being in it. Even if you're not as, like, spiritual woo-woo, it's still scientifically, like, very- Yeah very dense and proven. That's one of the things that really appealed to me about it is, like, it's really rooted in psychology. It's everything I've been working on with Lisa, who's been on my podcast before. Nice. Um, it's really rooted in everything that she has taught me. And speaking of writing, like, I've

Creativity Returns Through Inner Work

36:37

been a writer my entire life. I've written books since I was a little, little kid, and I stopped- being creative when I was, like, in college, and I was like, "I have to focus on business and, like, building my career." Yep. And it wasn't really until I went back to therapy and I did the work that I opened up enough to be able to bring back that thing that I loved so much in childhood, and now I'm like five novels in with a- Yeah, cranking out a, yeah, crank- Yeah. cranking out a novel every, like, five seconds. Yeah. La, la, la, la. Yeah. That's, that's what I find... As, and I'll... This really relates to category of one as well, because what's interesting is I think that a lot of people think, you know, "I always wanted to be a writer because I'm a strong writer." What's interesting, and this has been a huge part of my evolution this summer, 'cause I always thought, you know, previously I was more of a copywriter. I was doing done-for-you writing services for people. And so I think a lot of people always thought, myself included, that I always wanted to be a writer, but I never actually really had that dream. I did wanna be a songwriter, but I find the reason and the root behind everything that I'm roo- doing, and to be magnetic will actually have you imagine yourself as a child, like, enjoying what you were doing. The memory that always pops up for me is being in my garage, my little one, very tiny, like, our starter home with my little brother. Mm-hmm. I think they'd just figured out chalkboard paint, so my parents painted a wall. And my mom talked to the principal at our elementary school and, like, bought two of the desks that we had in school, and, like, forcing my little brother to be my student, and I'm teaching him. And, like, I'm getting extra worksheets from school, and, like, planning out my lesson plans, and, like- Oh, that's so cute setting up my stuffed animals as a, as those, like, if you remember in elementary school you've got the, like, class photos where you're on risers. Yeah. Like, I would do that with my stuffed animals. To where for me, ca- And this is so interesting because earlier- Yeah this year I was like, "Oh, I need to be a consultant." Went down that path thinking it would be right, and the flavor of it was just slightly off. But then when I started allowing myself to go back and do a lot of the reflection of like, well, actually if I think back to what I was doing as a kid, I was just teaching. Mm-hmm. And so for me, everything that I create, I mean, Here to Sell is, like, quite literally basically a textbook, but I'm, you know, I'm teaching now. And even in my novels that I wanna write, I'm trying to teach and, like, help people remember things about what they're doing. And it's, it's the slightest, I'm talk- I'm telling you, probably a 2% change, but it's created so much more clarity and alignment for me. And so I find it so fascinating- This is why it's so important, important with category of one work is you could have... Again, you and I would probably be in the same bucket, but, and we're both self-publishing our own books. But your version of what that looks like and your process and what you want it to feel like, what it is you're producing, wildly different than what I'm producing. Yeah. And, and it's o- and that's okay. I think people get really afraid of like, "There's not enough work for everyone," and I'm like, we're having a digital labor migration right now. The work is moving into independent contractors because companies don't want to- Yeah have it, you know? So it's actually the best time to be establishing yourself as a category of one and getting clear on what that is because the, the actual work is getting redistributed out of corporate and into indie people. Yeah. I completely agree with you. And I have found with my own business when I was marketing myself as a marketing consultant, it was a little bit harder to get work. I had to, had to scrape a little. I had to be scrappy. But when I got narrower about, like, what I actually do- Mm-hmm and the transformation I can provide and who I'm doing it with- Mm-hmm it became so much easier. Like you were saying before- Yeah my referrals were coming in easier because people could picture exactly the, the right scenario in which I'd be the person. Yeah. And so like- And like, and- it raised my hand easier. Yeah. One thing I will say, this is a hot, hot, hot take. Oh. A lot of people a lot of people

Stop Niching Down Find A Market

41:11

hear what you just said, and if you're listening, um, they'll hear what you just described and they'll be like, "Oh, okay, so I need to niche down." No. Yeah. You don't need to niche down because, and I will tell you why. When people think they need to niche down, I'm gonna use an example of a, um, graphic designer. When graphic designers are told to niche down, they think, "Okay, I'm only gonna work with wedding clients." Mm-hmm. Or, "I'm only gonna create a... Like, my signature is a simple minimalistic aesthetic." So everything they're producing looks pretty much exactly the same. So you end up getting the same kind of work, your portfolio doesn't develop, and your skills and revenue don't grow because you're kinda just staying at this plateau. So what you don't actually need is a niche, you need a market. You need to be able, and this is more where category of one comes in, you need to be able to use your, your skills and find the right market. That's people that need what you do, have a problem that needs solved, and are willing to pay for it, and the industry is kind of agnostic. Because- Yeah especially if you're doing any kind of like, I'll say creative work, which I'll label coaching is a creative process, consulting is also a pr- creative process. You're going to get bored. You're going to get bored by doing the same exact thing for every single person. Yeah. Especially if you're creative, multi-hyphenate, whatever, right? You're gonna get bored. If you have ADHD and you're a founder, like myself, that's also gonna happen. So instead of having a niche where your s- your real skills are getting covered up by basically just running the same project 50 times, having a market and establishing yourself as a category of one is what creates career longevity, and it's what creates, uh... It's more fun, there's more nuance, there's more opportunities of just, like, different experiences, and that is what allows you to create pathways that you can explore to see more of like, "Oh, I actually wanna do this flavor or that flavor." Most of us don't get a taste of the new thing that we want until we experience it. Mm-hmm. So if you, if you close yourself off, you're only gonna get the same thing. And it's a trial and error process, but that's been so much a part of me is like, oh, well I know that I really don't wanna work with like SaaS companies. I've done it, don't love it. And where you kinda find your you're kind of people who are doing different things, but are It's interesting enough so the work still feels fresh. Yeah. That, we don't have a ton of time left, but that made me- just think about what we were talking about at the top of the hour. Yeah. About, like, you and your example. Like, you found your category of one, and now you're able to go in a lot of different directions with that category. Can you- Mm-hmm walk us through the, like, what you'd consider your category, and how you were able to branch off that way? Yeah. So what's interesting is I was trying to put myself earlier this year in the c- consulting but- bucket, because I

Consulting Through An Education Lens

44:20

wanted to do what my clients were naturally inviting me into, which was strategy work. Mm-hmm. And s- sales strategy, what stories am I telling, all of these things, and then they're also asking me, like, higher level business advisory questions. So my brain goes, "Oh, obviously, you're a consultant." And also, you know, I'm working on a book, so I need to be a personal brand, not thinking that underneath the layer, there's the education piece of what's going on, and allowing that to kind of take the lead. So I basically, I didn't change buckets. Like, I would still consider myself a consultant, but for me, the flavor is so much more about education. And so for I think it took seeing the book in its, like, textbooky form, and really thinking back, and I'm really grateful for my Greenhouse students, 'cause they're the ones that have helped me. I mean, I'm obviously naturally teaching them, but the number of times they've said like, like, "How did you come up with this? I've literally never thought of it this way. This just saved me years of trial and error for a process that I've lived." And I created a framework about that's not just, like, shitty things from ChatGPT, you know, the four whatever it's gonna come up with. Like- Yeah tried, tested fra- frameworks, and in doing that and kind of getting in front of a different type of audience, but having them reflect back what they were seeing really helped me discern that- The flavor that feels more natural for me is the education piece, and if I really think back to what clients in those strategy sessions that were kind of just, they were coming to me with those questions. When I really think back to what was going on, it was a little bit of like guiding, education, and kind of teaching what needs to be there, and then also the strategic arm as well. So that, that process really helped me figure out for my, my style of consulting, which I'm gonna still own being in that bucket, I'm always gonna take an educat- educational lens to it. I'm always the person that's like, I'm not just gonna recommend a strategy and be like, "Bye, enjoy." Like I, I really focus on teaching people how to fish and changing the way that they think about whatever the problem is in their business. So whether that's your sales ecosystem or maybe your sales process and you need inquiry forms, how you think about testimonials or the stories that you're telling, changing fundamentally the way that you see it and think about it, and then helping create a s- just a sustainable strategy so that you can actually keep doing it. My, my worst fear is having someone work with me and then be like, "That was great, but like now I have no idea how to execute it." Yeah. I want it to be so, so clear to where I teach you the gaps. 'Cause most of the time what I find, it's not like I'm teaching something brand new. A lot of my students have told me this. I'm basically deconstructing what they thought about the thing. So I'm like deconstructing how you thought about sales and teaching you a new way, deconstructing you on the way like you thought an inquiry form needed to work, or deconstructing, you know, how you think your stories and your social media content, like what those look like. And that process is really what helps the people that I work with get clear, not just on like, "Okay, I need to solve this problem in my business like right now," and that's what I do in my office hours sessions with people, or Not just getting clear on that, but like what does that look like in the long term? So how is this sustainable? How is this repeatable? How does this fit into the bigger picture? Mm-hmm. Yeah. It kind of makes me think like you're rewiring their brain a little bit. Like this is how, this is how it can work. I mean, look, I'm not gonna say that that's... If I were gonna say there's some subtext, that's kind of my goal. I wanna, I wanna help people see the- their business differently, see their services differently, change the way that they're actually approaching selling those with the ultimate goal of, this can be a viable career path for you. This isn't just like, "Well, I got laid off and I need to, you know, figure something out," or like, "I guess I'll like bop around and freelance for a while until I get a full-time job." Like, if you want a long, viable career path that's sustainable and a really great way to make good money that, you know, pays out for however long you decide you want it to, that's really what I help my clients and my students do, is build really sustainable businesses that make great money, but also it's doing work that you actually wanna be doing and that you actually enjoy. Yeah. I love that. Yeah. So right here on this QR code I'm pointing at, um, that's where you can buy Kendall's book. So you can pre-order

Book, Greenhouse, And Summit Next Steps

49:17

it now. Woo-hoo. It is- Yes beautiful. I have seen the behind-the-scenes of it. And honestly, like on our last conversation and before we hit record on this, she was walking through some of those pieces in there, I'm like, "I cannot wait to get my hands on this book." Yes. Because like just the education that I'm going to get from it is... I'm so excited for it. Yeah. It will be, it will be out on October 20th is the, the day, which is exciting. And it's been so fun- I think for me, the collaborative, the number of times I'll talk to someone, and this g- even happened in our conversation where I'm like, "That's in the book, that's in the book, that's in the book-" Yeah. that's in the book." Like, it's, the market research is tight, people. Like, it is the book you have been waiting for, um, when it comes to business and sales and how to do it authentically. And so I'm, I'm really excited for it to come out. And yeah, I created it, I think, for people more like you and I, and what selling could feel like for us, not the traditional, I'll say, like, sales bro-y way of doing it. How do we, how do we sell in 2026 and beyond in a way that feels good, it doesn't, you know, push pain points in a weird way- Mm-hmm and that actually helps redistribute wealth to, you know, this creator economy essentially that we're, we're living in. Yeah. It's funny that you said that. I know we're wrapping up, but- It's killing me I told Lisa, my therapist, that my major goal of, like, my business, Booked Out in Six, is to redistribute wealth so that more independent people have money, which means more power, and can, you know, rise up a little bit more. I mean, put us together, baby girl, and that's, that, I feel like I wrote the playbook of how to, how to sell it, and you're out here figuring out the, the sales system for people to actually make it happen. It's, it's an exciting time. I know it's been, like, a really strange, you know, last couple of years with the world. Um, but it's, I think, a really exciting time as we're seeing things shift back towards the individual and this paradigm shift we're kind of going through, and I'm just so excited to see what, what happens when people emerge and kind of... I picture it as, like, sloughing off the, like- You know, you've got like clay on you that's hardened. Yeah. Like, I'm excited to see what's underneath, um- Yeah some of the ways, things we've been covering up for a long time. That's funny. The visual I got was like fog and like doing, like wiping it away. Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's very, it's very much a, um, RuPaul Santoing the entire world this year. Yes. Is pretty much the, the vibe over here. Yeah, agreed. Thank you so much for joining me today. This was fun as always. Yes. And you mentioned the Greenhouse a couple times, so I bet- Yeah people are going to be interested in how they can- Yes join. Yeah. So the Greenhouse, again, that's a six-month sales writing and storytelling accelerator. Um, we'll be releasing the curriculum a little later this year, but you can sign up. We'll have a, a website for you to go check out, and you can actually sign up for our program guide, which will include the curriculum, what the sessions are gonna look like, pricing, all the things in one place. You can grab that over at findthegreenhouse.com. Awesome. Thank you. Yeah. Of course. Yeah, I'm super excited. Um, like I said, it's just an ex- it's an exciting time. It's a- It is it's a lot of work, but I'm, I'm like, "Okay, this is... We're locking in. We're locking in." Yeah. There's an evolution happening, and it's exciting to see. I, I get to, I get to watch from the sidelines of it happening, and it's fun. Yes. You're c- you, you recorded this at the perfect time, honestly, 'cause I feel like we're archiving this moment, and then it's gonna like emerge after, but I'm like really grateful- Yeah we, we got to like- We have a capture of it. A time... We've got a time capsule. Yes. Yep. Then we get to look back. Exactly.

Sara 53:32

That's a wrap on this episode of the Solo Consultant Summit series. If you loved this conversation with Kendall Cherry, you won't want to miss her live inquiry form teardown at the summit. Kendall's book, Here to Sell, drops October 20th, and you can learn more about her Greenhouse accelerator at findthegreenhouse.com. See you at the summit!