In this BS free episode, Pia Silva, Owner of No BS Agency Mastery, shares how she went from struggling as an entrepreneur to making $40k+ per month, by doing less things for fewer people. If you are looking to boost your profits as an Entrepreneur (in stage 2) without giving up your time, you won’t want to miss this episode.
You will discover:
– The most important word in business
– How do overcome the fear of niching down
– The one thing that separates the most successful stage 2 entrepreneurs from those that barely scrape by
Episode Transcript
Scott Ritzheimer
Hello, hello and welcome. Welcome once again to the secrets of the high demand coach podcast. And here with us today is yet another high demand coach and leader in the one and only, Pia Silva, who is an entrepreneur, speaker and author and a small branding agency, coach, a partner and a brand strategist. At worst of all, design, we’re gonna have to unpack that where they build badass brands without the BS. In 2021 she founded no BS agency mastery, a training program where she teaches one and two person branding agencies how to create 30 to $50,000 in revenue a month while reducing their workload by up to 80% and doing all of it without employees. She is also the author of the best selling book badass, your brand, the impatient entrepreneurs guide to turning expertise into profit, and has delivered a popular TED talk on cultivating True Confidence. She’s here with us today. Pia, welcome to the show. So excited to have you here. One thing that jumped out as we were going through your bio again, and I’ve read it so many times that, but it’s the first time it jumped out is a lot of folks feel like to scale. They have to add Right? Like it has to be more they have to be more employees. There has to be more stuff. There have to be more services. And very much a big part of your message is that’s not true. To do 30 and $50,000 a month, you don’t need to have employees. Why is it so important to recognize that before going out and trying to build, you know, the next version of your company?
Pia Silva
I mean, listen, when you’re a small business, Simplicity is key. I think if entrepreneurs listening out there when, when you’re an entrepreneur, there are just endless things to do. I think we all feel a little frenetic, especially because there’s so much information online, it’s like there’s too many things to do. And simplification is how we focus, not only our time and our energy, so that the things that we actually do, do, you know, get the attention that they deserve and the care that they deserve, which levels up the value of what you’re putting out. But it also means that your audience is going to really understand who you work with, how you work with them. It makes you more referable. It makes you more memorable. I mean, you know, I think the idea of we need to add product lines or have more offers work with more people, that’s something you do when you’re, I don’t even know, 10 to 50, $100 million company. We’re small businesses. There are plenty of clients to go around when you go super niche in your market and your offer, and it’s gonna make your life a lot easier, and it’s gonna make your offers a lot more profitable, which is what I’m all about.
Scott Ritzheimer
Yeah, I love that. You have a problem if you have more product lines than people, right? That’s just, that’s usually, that’s usually problematic. And here’s what I love about what you do. There’s so many people who are in that I call it the startup entrepreneur stage, and it’s them, and they look down on themselves because it’s just them. And so they go out and they kind of build their company in a way that requires them to get more employees, and then they wake up and they’re like, what’s wrong with these people? I don’t want to manage all of these folks and what you offer, particularly in the agency world, but there’s something for everyone to learn here, is that you don’t have to add people to add profit to add and you don’t have to trade hours for dollars. There is another way. In other words, you can optimize for that stage. You don’t have to leave it behind and graduate to the next. It’s really, really cool. So one of the things that jumped out for me as I was going through your work, and this is something I’m constantly working with, our coaches, on our scale architects, is this idea of niching down right? And everyone’s heard that. Everyone you know kind of knows that, but so few of us do it, particularly in this stage. And so the big question that I have for you is, first off, just from your experience, why is it so important we want to make sure we cover that? And then two, there’s this inevitable fear that comes with it, right? And how do we manage that feeling of saying no or scarcity that tends to come along, especially in the early days of trimming down our market?
Pia Silva
Yes, well, I’ve been there too with the fear that if I narrow my niche, then I’m gonna leave money on the table because, oh, there’s all these people around that would hire me if only I was working with them. But what happens is, when you are working with everybody, you are not memorable to anyone. So it makes it very hard to remember who you work with. Remember what you do. In the early days of my agency, we did any kind of design work, branding, design, logos, banners, whatever it was for any kind of small business or large e commerce service businesses. So why would anyone remember me, unless it was just we need some sort of design work, and they really liked me, and frankly, I made it work for a few years on the fume. Of people liking me and being around a lot, but it wasn’t the same kind of pull that I experienced once I got really specific. I work with one to three person service businesses. I built badass brands in one to three day intensives. These are the packages. These are the prices. All of a sudden, everyone that I spoke to, they remembered who I worked with. I had a very specific personality, so that helped right our company is worst of all design badass brands that is not for everyone. So there’s kind of an intersection of these different things happening. And it meant that when people that knew me interacted with someone who was clearly a fit, I would come to mind immediately. It was an easy intro. So why do we niche? Because we want to empower the people around us and our audience to remember us and know exactly who to introduce us to. And we want that intro to feel organic and powerful. It’s a really good intro when you introduce to people where it’s like, Hey, this is exactly who you work with. Hey, they are specialists in your kind of business. That’s an exciting intro to get. Hey, they do design for everyone. You said you need a designer. That’s a weak intro, and you’re gonna be at a race to the bottom when it comes to pricing, if that’s how you position yourself.
Scott Ritzheimer
It’s so true. I heard it said, and it was said in a very different context, but it’s amazing how frequently it applies some of the most important decisions in your life, many of them are made when you’re not in the room, right? And referrals is such a big one, right? And if we’re not clear on who we are and what we do, I spent a lot of time in the church world, and there’s this saying that if it’s missed in the pulp at the pulpit, it’s, I’m sorry if it’s foggy in the pulpit. It’s mist in the pews. And there’s this idea that if we’re not clear, then it’s even less clear for anyone around us. And you mentioned a word in there that a lot of folks don’t really associate with marketing or think or understand its power, and that was pool, right? This idea there was pool there, but you ask any entrepreneur, and they’re desperately looking for momentum, and those two go hand in hand. So what do you mean by pool, and what does that look like when you start to get this niching down, right?
Pia Silva
Well, you know, I say we build badass brands for our service clients, and a badass brand I define as having two critical characteristics. And the first one is it repels as much as it attracts. So that’s that pull branding. I am repelling people who are not a good fit, which is, by the way, the fear that people have when they niche. They’re scared they’re going to scare people away. I want to scare people away, right? I want lots of people to say that’s not a good fit for me, because only if a group of people can say that’s not me, can another group of people be magnetically attracted to me and say that’s exactly who I need to hire. So pull branding is ultimately what we should all aspire to, and one of those pieces is having a really clear niche.
Scott Ritzheimer
Yeah, you’ve got a really clever question for getting to the bottom of that, and that is asking yourself, as an entrepreneur, when you’re trying to figure this out, what do I not stand for but stand against? How’d you come up with that question, and what are some really interesting responses that you’ve heard from clients?
Pia Silva
Yeah, I love this question, because when it comes to branding businesses, most branding agencies ask, What do you stand for, right? And the the answer is, usually, you know, I stand for honesty. I stand for integrity, you know, high value. And these are just such boring, trite answers. If everybody builds their brand on those answers, all the brands are going to look the same. But when you ask yourself, what do I stand against? It forces you to figure out what you really care about, because when you ask people what they don’t like, they get a lot more heated. They get there’s a little more fire in their belly, and it’s a great way to find some opportunities for distinction. So for example, why did we stand against all the BS and waste that I was experiencing doing these traditional branding clients that would take months and months and months, and I was chasing clients and scope creep, and it was a headache, and ultimately, I didn’t feel like the client got the best result. So badass brands without the Bs is really founded on the idea that I stand against the way that all of these agencies are delivering, including how my agency was delivering, and that allowed me to go, wow. Well, then the opposite of that is like, no BS, and our entire brand needs to embody that, from the way that we talk to the process that we take our clients through.
Scott Ritzheimer
Yeah, I love that because, you know, even for something as simple as like research, for this show, we look at coach websites all the time. Look at client websites, and they’re so. Boring. It’s like, there’s so little that I can tell, like some of our best guests, I’ve been worried about the interview, because it’s like, it’s so boring. And then we get them online, and you get their real personality, and you get their like, their real story and their passion, and it’s just It’s remarkable. And why do you think it’s so common for us to bury that like, you get it in person, and then as soon as it goes to written form or any other format, it’s like, it’s all the same. Why do we do that?
Pia Silva
Yeah, I mean, that’s really the crux of what I’ve always done, branding businesses, because we work with one to three person service businesses. They’re experts, they’re they are the core reason that people hire them. So I also have seen that all the time in person, this person is dynamic. They’re exciting, they’re interesting online. Well, this is why I think it happens people are scared. They’re scared to say anything that’s going to turn people off, not understanding that the reason that people hire them in person is the reason that they’re going to hire them online. So it’s a opportunity missed, but also, usually people’s brands are going to be informed by them and what they think it should look like. And a lot of people will build a brand and a website or write their own copy based on what they think writing should sound like, because they’re not copywriters, and you know, part of my job is to pull out from people, no, this is what’s interesting and special about you, and give them some branding mess, some brand messaging that they probably feel a little uncomfortable about, but that is exactly them, and then encourage and coach them into really embracing that. I’ve definitely pushed clients into saying stuff that, they go, Oh, I don’t know if I can say that. And they say, that’s exactly why you need to say it, because that’s what’s gonna get people’s attention. And it’s authentic. I don’t want you to say it just because it’s gonna get attention, but it’s authentic to you and it will get attention. And that’s, you know, well, that’s the chef’s kiss.
Scott Ritzheimer
I love that. So you started off the show with this, this idea that Simplicity is key, and we’ve talked a lot about why it’s it’s so helpful in the sales process, right? Making you more memorable, making it easier to recommend you. Make it easier to sell what you do, what I found. One of the things that was really interesting is I was interviewing different coaches early in my coaching career, I started to notice there was this really, really big gap between what I would call, like a high demand coach, folks that were doing really, really well, completely booked, you know, 500,000 plus an hour, and the average coach in the US is like $68,000 something like that. It’s just two tremendously different groups of people, and it wasn’t because of how smart they were. It wasn’t because of their background or their experience. The one thing that was almost universally present in high demand coaches and universally absent in low demand coaches was a structured process for delivering what they did. Just you could slice it right down the middle, and, and you talk a lot about this, and have a very interesting way of doing this for yourself. From a branding perspective, what have you found is so important about this idea of structuring what you do and, and how’s that showed up and helped your clients?
Pia Silva
Yeah, well, in the creative services world, people are not buying they can’t see the product that they’re buying, right? We’re actually buying a promise that you’re going to create something amazing for us. We can look at your past work and say, we like it. We don’t know what you’re going to make for us. It’s the same in coaching, I’m buying the promise that this person is going to help me get the outcome. I’m looking for it. Get the transformation I’m looking for. So how are we going to feel secure and safe that we’re going to get that outcome because we can’t see it. It’s not like walking into a store trying a pair of pants. These are the pants I’m buying. Well, a process and a structured a structured process, something you’ve done over and over again gives the client that trust. It tells them I have done this before, the same way to get these results. So you can trust me and the process. Now, what we do inside that process for us, every brand is custom. It’s specific to the client, but the process is the same, so we know we’ll get the outcome. And that’s what those coaches are selling to they’re saying, I have a process I’m going to take you to through to get you that result. And since you want that result, how are you going to believe I’m going to get you there? Process does a lot of the heavy lifting.
Scott Ritzheimer
Yeah, it’s so true. It’s so true. So pulling this together, we’re niching down that allows us to simplify what we offer and simplifying what we offer, we can create a consistent process. All of that builds competence and confidence for us, builds trust with clients, delivers awesome results. But the one thing that I want to add to that, that I picked up from your book is what I think at some point in time you. Called the most important word in business. I may have got that wrong, but I think that I remember that and and it was yes, no. I’m kidding. It was no. And so we’ve kind of alluded to how this happens. But why is no so important? And what are we saying no to in this stage?
Pia Silva
Oh my gosh, we’re saying to we’re saying no to everything except the things that you need to do to move your business forward. We’re saying no to the wrong clients. We’re saying no to activities that aren’t directly supporting the building of our value, our skills, our marketing, our sales. It is so hard for people to say no in the beginning a lot. I think, because there’s a lot of people pleasers out there, there’s a feeling. I have students of mine who say, you know, this person isn’t a good fit. Is there a nice way to tell them that I’m like, it’s nice to say, you’re not a good fit. You don’t you don’t have to help everybody it. In fact, it’s more helpful to say, you know, maybe I could help you, but I’m not the best person to help you. You don’t have to be mean saying no, but you gotta say no, because there’s an opportunity cost every time you take a client or a project that isn’t within your niche. What is with that doesn’t work within your existing process? It creates a lot of waste. It creates a lot of extra time and getting in the habit of saying no to things so you can put your limited hours in a day, there’s only 24 hours in a day. Put that time and energy towards the things that are really gonna matter. That’s how you’re gonna move your business forward.
Scott Ritzheimer
Yeah, I couldn’t agree more. I love that. It’s so powerful. It’s so hard to do sometimes, especially when you already have the client and there’s relationship and there’s all that. It’s, it can be a bit to untangle, but it’s worth it?
Pia Silva
But it’s addictive. I will say, do it the easiest.
Scott Ritzheimer
Yes, yes, yes. That’s, it’s, it’s, yeah, it’s, it’s a virtuous cycle, right? The closer we get, the more likely they are to refer, the more likely they are to refer, and the more likely they are to refer. The right people, the more of the right people we get. And it just it cycles. And cycles can feel intimidating to get that cycle going, but it’s powerful once you do. So Pia, there’s a question that I ask all my guests, and I’m very, very intrigued to see what you have to say about it. So the question’s this, what would you say is the biggest secret that you wish wasn’t a secret at all? What’s that one thing you wish everybody watching or listening today knew?
Pia Silva
I wish they knew that. Well, I kind of shared it, but it’s the most important one that repelling people is one of your biggest opportunities and strengths. I think everybody should embrace that and lean into it. And I know that if you’re, especially if you’re in a business where you’re struggling, that’s the thing you’re trying to do the least, and I want you to lean into it.
Scott Ritzheimer
Yeah, it’s so good, so good, so counterintuitive at first, but it just starts to make so much sense so quickly. Pia, fantastic, fantastic advice for folks, not just for the branding world, not just for the coaching world, but entrepreneurs across the board, so much that they can get out of this. For particularly those in the branding world who want to know more about the work that you do, where can they find more and connect with you?
Pia Silva
Yeah, well, I actually brought your listeners a little gift. You mentioned my book, and thank you so much for reading it and mentioning it. It’s called badass, your brand, and I actually recently put it on a private audio feed. If you’re interested in learning more about how we basically built a half a million dollar business just two people working less than 50% of our time. You can go to noBSagencies.com/secrets, and you can grab a free copy of the audio. You can, of course, go buy it on Amazon or grab the audible, but I thought I would give that to your listeners.
Scott Ritzheimer
That’s amazing. As someone who read it and doesn’t lead a one or two person agency. There was a ton that I got out of it personally. So don’t let that intimidate you. And if you are in branding or anywhere close to it, it’s a must read. I really do believe that. Pia, thanks for being on the show. Really appreciate that and the offer that you made here for everyone. Head over to noBSagencies.com/secrets. We’ll put that in the show notes for you. Get a copy of her book. Get it on Amazon. You won’t regret it. But Pia, again, thank you for being on the show really an honor and privilege for anyone, everyone who’s listening today. You know your time and attention mean the world to us. I hope you got as much out of this conversation as I know I did, and I cannot wait to see you next time. Take Care.
Pia Silva
Thank you so much, Scott.
Contact Pia Silva
Entrepreneur, speaker, and author Pia Silva is a small branding agency coach, a partner, and a brand strategist at Worstofall Design. She helps small branding agencies go from drained & stretched thin to in-demand specialists with total control over their process. In 2021, she founded No BS Agency Mastery, a training program where she teaches 1-2-person branding agencies how to scale to $30-50k months while reducing their workload by up to 80% without employees. Pia has delivered a popular TED Talk on cultivating true confidence.
Want to learn more about Pia Silva’s work at No BS Agency Mastery? Check out her website at https://www.nobsagencies.com/. You can get a audio version of her book “Badass Your Brand: The Impatient Entrepreneur’s Guide to Turning Expertise into Profit” for free at https://www.nobsagencies.com/secrets or buy a copy on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3Fb4cKE
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