How to Build a Strong Business Foundation with Angela Lewis

Adam O'Leary (00:01.214) If you're a business owner struggling to build a strong foundation for your business to avoid costly mistakes, our guest Angela Lewis is about to give you a simple win you can implement today. Angela, so excited to have you here. Thank you for coming on out. Angela Lewis (00:15.864) Thank you, thank you for having me. I'm very excited to be here. Adam O'Leary (00:20.198) Absolutely and Angela, so I've heard you discuss that many business owners face overwhelming sensations. It's usually because they don't have a solid foundation. Why is establishing a strong business foundation so critical for avoiding pitfalls and ensuring long-term success? Angela Lewis (00:41.23) lessons that I learned because I'm a creative first. So a lot of us creatives, well, me technically, I have a logical mind and a creative mind, but one of the things is when you put the product, service, or craft in front of the business, that's where the problems come in. You need to have systems. You need to write down your process. Now, if you are creative and you don't want to write those things down, please use a recorder to verbalize what you're doing because you need to figure out what works and what doesn't work. That way you'll know, OK, if I make 10 phone calls and one person says yes, now you know that your ROI or even your conversion rate will be at least, I need to make 10 calls a day to get one person to say yes. OK, and then out of those, if you do 100 calls a day, 10 of those people have said yes, but one of those persons said, yes, I'll buy your product or service. So then you'll know your numbers. So having a system in place and writing it down so if ever you're ready to scale, you can teach someone else. And then, again, you can know your progress and know your numbers, because your numbers will help you with your business and it also help you with projections. Adam O'Leary (02:00.891) love that and one thing that I know that you are very very good at is building a network of mentors advisors and community in general. What is your type of process I guess for acquiring that network and starting to build it up? Angela Lewis (02:17.55) I would have to say my upbringing. So I moved a lot. So for me, there's no such thing as a stranger. You know, I tell you, don't talk to strangers. Don't talk to strangers. Well, you can't make money that way. Just be personable. Be yourself. Be your best self. Always be authentic. Your story does not change. You know, facts are facts. So when you were talking about a network, You want other people to speak on your behalf. You want your reputation to precede you. So sometimes you don't even have to be in the room. It's just you have to be very cognizant of how you present yourself because you are your brand. So networking, figuring out how to solve problems for people that they don't know that they have, that's a great way to connect with people. Always be selling. You know, got that from one of my mentors. always be selling because you don't know who needs your product and it might not be that person, it could be the next person and if you represent yourself well and they feel comfortable and they know they start to know you like you and trust you they'll become your ambassador. So networking is huge, it's huge. Adam O'Leary (03:36.988) Help me understand this because to me, I love the fact that I think to you, or from what I've seen from you is that your network is really your biggest foundation, I think that you have. And so I'm really excited to, I kind of want to walk through this process just for the listeners. So let's say if that me and you just met, okay? So one of the things that matters is a little elevator pitch, right? Cause everybody says, what do you do? What do you do? So if I were, trying to figure out how to make my little elevator pitch, what would you say would be kind of the process for somebody to go ahead and make sure that their brand starts off strong for the person that they're speaking with? Angela Lewis (04:19.478) One of them is the don'ts. Like don't say, hi, I'm an accountant. No one cares. It's 150,000 accountants. They want to know what you can do for them. So you can say, I have a method where it goes how you help, who you help, why you help, so that end result or problem solved. So for me, and if. We didn't have this little situation going on in the background. would have saw. Join my free class on Mondays. Angela Lewis (04:54.702) Elephant Solutions and it has a free class. So my Pink Elephant Solutions are for my elites, executives, Fortune 500, celebrities, etc. But that has a free class for people who want to get there and position themselves. So one of the things I teach them is, oh I'm sorry, let me tell you, go back to the elevator pitch for that. So Pink Elephant Solutions. helps small businesses who cannot afford the services so that they can ask me anything about business. So it's basically a place where if you have questions but you don't want to pay for a consultation and you can't pay for a consultation, here's a chance to ask. It's kind of like a pro bono situation. So how, I'm sorry, who I help, no, who I am, sorry, who I am. Who I am, is Pink Elephant Solutions. Who I help is small businesses. Why do I help them? Because I can't afford my services, right? And so that's why. do the thing and the result is so they can ask some questions about business. So for you, who do you help or how do you help? It's either who or how. Totally up to you. Why do you help so that what's the result? Adam O'Leary (06:09.255) That's awesome. Adam O'Leary (06:24.509) That's awesome. And one of the things that I know happens is that you make that initial elevator pitch and who knows, especially if you're at like a networking event, like I just went to a conference yesterday, which was a surprise. I didn't even expect to be there. But when you're there, you're talking with people. What happens next? Right? So you have that first interaction with somebody and obviously the goal is to get their contact information and those types of things. But I guess how do you go about turning that first interaction into a network? Like what is the next steps that you would take? Angela Lewis (06:59.918) So I'm constantly building an archive of how to solve a problem. So if I'm speaking to you and I know that you're looking for a specific type of guest, or I know that you need to position yourself, or I know that you want to start getting into magazines or something like that, I'm listening to your conversation and asking you about your needs. I'm asking you about... Not necessarily your pain points, because that's sometimes tricky in the conversation. But I'm asking you things. So I am going into my mental Rolodex and going, OK, you know what? I have someone that can help you. I can point you to this person. I can connect you with this person. So what it does, helps you to, when you are building your network and your connections, it's helping you to bring value. So it helps with the know, like, and trust part of who you are. Because if you're bringing something instead of taking something, people appreciate that way much more. Adam O'Leary (08:08.868) Absolutely. No, I couldn't agree with that anymore It's also the concept too that you're talking about is that the more value that you can give right or I guess that you could the easier way to say this is that when you make an ask or you make a pitch for a sale or something like this what you do is you take your brand equity and basically start from zero right it's the this right Angela Lewis (08:29.774) You don't want to sell people, right? People already have issues. They're going to, it's going to come out, especially if they're stressed out. That's going to be the first thing they're going to tell you, right? So you want to, you want to take away that salesy part of it and find solutions for them. So that way they're begging you for you to give them the thing that they want versus you selling them something they don't need. Adam O'Leary (08:59.036) How do you do that then? So how do you go ahead and make somebody beg for your services? What does that look like? Angela Lewis (09:06.454) So if you are looking to, people find out, I can get them into rooms with celebrities. And they are looking to position themselves as a luxury brand in these luxury rooms that I go in. I sell it in that way. So if you are wanting to have evergreen services, I'm sorry, if you want to have an evergreen product that's going to be in press releases, that are going to be on radio stations and magazines and et cetera, which is going to go on for the entirety of your brand, and you want to have a celebrity pitch your brand, try your product, and give you a recommendation, this is the room for you. It will be a way for you to have a pop-up shop, for you to... showcase your brand for you to practice your pitching and then get your nerves away from celebrities because this is the room you belong in. And people are like, how much does that cost? You know, how do I get in a room with 150 celebrities and how much does that cost? You know, what does that look like? And so that's one of the ways that I can do it. Or, you know, I can get you if you if you are ready to expand your brand. to the UK. have some friends that have podcasts. You guys can meet that way. Now you're on her platform, she's on your platform, and now you can serve each other's audiences. how can I learn more? children's book. fantastic I know a person who does podcasts for that and she's always looking for guests and she allows you to post your book and and a link for you to sell it so that's a free platform for you to sell your book and you'll also have the podcast you know to to be on and explain your book. So those are a couple of things and I'm not selling it I'm just telling you what I know about it. Adam O'Leary (11:17.756) That's amazing. That's a really, really cool thing. So you're using the connections almost as that free piece of value, right? So you're going ahead and let me actually ask about that. So I wanna be in a room, I'm just joking. No, I don't wanna be in room of 150 celebrities. But yeah, but let's say, okay, somebody comes ahead and they say, I do wanna be in this room or I would love to be on this podcast. For you, how are you going about Angela Lewis (11:32.17) That's no problem, let me know when. Adam O'Leary (11:47.003) Maintaining that business relationship, right? Obviously you got to do you right? You got to you got to go ahead and make money While also kind of not putting everything behind a gate, right? So how are you going about in turning that into true value for somebody? Angela Lewis (12:03.694) So for me, consultation comes with the things that I do for people. So we have ideation, creation, execution, and delegation in that process. So with the retainer clients that want to be positioned, we figure out what looks best for their brand. Do we need to clean up the brand? Because I make all brands that I'm working with a legacy brand. So they're commercial, they're global, and... Because I'm also a designer, I make sure that their brand looks really good on a itty bitty logo on the chest or a billboard. So I'm designing their brand from beginning to end. So that's one of the things that helps me build relationships with my clients long term. websites, do auditing, so it's almost a one-stop shop when it comes to marketing and that helps in the relationship because now they don't have to go everywhere because if I don't know how to do it they know that I know someone who can. And I've vetted all of my people. So that also builds the relationship and the trust because they know I don't do foolishness. And I'm going to give you the top of the line. And I'm going to give you the decision makers. I'm not going to give you the gatekeepers. So that's a way that you can open that gateway for other people. Because sometimes, even now for myself, I have some clients that want to get into universities. Adam O'Leary (13:13.145) Absolutely. Angela Lewis (13:39.983) And if you do not know someone that works at that university that can open that door for you, it's a no-go. It's just not going to happen. So when you have relationships with people, you can use them to both of your advantages. I don't just do win-win. It has to be a win-win-win-win for me. It's not just me. It's not just you. It's your community and whoever's connected to you. So those are the ways that I expand, you know, how I work with people. Adam O'Leary (14:07.844) Absolutely. No, this isn't Yeah. Super cool. And so one thing, I mean, you're talking about branding here. And I think branding is quite literally the most overlooked thing in any business. It's like almost everybody will go straight into marketing and they almost do like a direct response offer, or they just go about trying to sell everybody. How do you go ahead and I guess, how would I position this? would say, how would you kind of let somebody know if they actually truly do have a branding issue, right? So like how would a listener know if they truly have a branding issue and that's what's affecting their marketing and sales? Angela Lewis (14:57.76) One of the things is it could be you didn't know. Because I was about to say you didn't. You're talking to the wrong audience. So if you're not getting the results that you're looking for, check back with your brand and check back with the way your content is displayed. Or it could be a font. It could be a color. So when you have that issue, you need to do beta tests. Some platforms aren't for everyone. Just because Instagram might work for you, it might not work for the next one. Just because LinkedIn works for you, it might not work for the next one. And or you're not paying attention to your numbers. Always pay attention to your numbers. It'll tell you who your audience is, where they are, how often you should post, how often you should use keywords. When you are branding, you want to make sure that your colors are industry specific. You don't want to have a alter, you don't want to have a dry cleaners brand or name with a pawn shop logo. Doesn't work, right? You need to make sure that it is industry specific. That's with your colors, that's with your branding, even with your typography. It doesn't have to fit in the mold, but it needs to be in the mold somewhere on the same piece of paper so people can recognize it. So they buy the brand that they see and they can relate to. So beta tests are huge when it comes to that. And having someone audit your brand is also pretty good. And not your friends, because they're buyers. But make sure you have a professional audit your brand to make sure you're going to get in front of the right people. Adam O'Leary (17:01.06) I love this and because to me branding guys is so critical. It is so important, right? If you don't have a brand you really don't have anything. So I guess question for you Angela is what sort of results have you typically seen your clients receive and where should they go to learn more about you? Angela Lewis (17:07.073) It is. Angela Lewis (17:17.752) So before I answer that, I want people to realize that you are your brand. In this journey of business, all you're going to do is find out you don't know what you don't know until you find out you don't know it. And in this process, this refining process, you're going to get yourself back to you. So whatever you were supposed to do in the beginning, you're going to learn your way back to you. There's no such thing as impulsive syndrome because there's only one you. and all of us wear different hats. And we are our brand. So if we like 10 different things, that's OK, because that's us. And the people that we're going to talk to are going to like the same things. So when you are doing your brand, think about what you would want, but just in a broader spectrum. You don't want to just talk to guys. You don't want to just talk to girls. But you want to talk to people who think like you, right? Will go the places that you will go. the things that you would buy. Okay? So that's one way you can kind of tweak your brand. The other thing, like a simple win, just using your podcast title, is make sure you have clarity. Right? Take the complexity out of your message because I would love for you to be in a room and speak to a group of people in a way that when they leave that room, they can tell someone what you do. And they're excited about that. So just take the complexity out of it. I worked with a gentleman in rotary, and he said his message so many times and so clear that when I left the room, I said, my god, it sounds just like him. But it was so clear. And I was able to tell them the exact program, when they do it, how they do it, et cetera, because I heard it so much and because it was clear. So please, whenever you are doing, make sure that your product is aligned with your message, number one. And it's very simple and clear for someone else to explain what you do. Because it can solve a problem for others. And that's the point, right? We're providing the service. Angela Lewis (19:39.383) Now how you can find me, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, and I think Facebook is all the real Angela Lewis. You can find me at thepinkelefantsolutions.com or at sabbydesigns.com. I'm sorry, info, savvydesigns.info. That's S as in Sam, A as in Apple, V as in Victor, V as in Victor, Y, designs with an S, dot info. I have two of them because savvydesigns are for the smaller businesses that are looking for branding and design development, brand development. The pink elephants are looking for ideation, creation, execution, and delegation, and they're more on the Fortune 500. Adam O'Leary (20:29.219) This is awesome. And I just I just wanted to kind of wrap it up and tie it all together here. So it was funny, I was listening to another another podcast today, and it was from Alex Hermosy. I don't know if you know who he is. So his wife Angela Lewis (20:41.132) Yes, I do. We start at the same time and click funnels. Adam O'Leary (20:44.507) Ah, super cool. So his wife, he, she went ahead, Layla and paid basically to have, um, for Alex's birthday, paid Grant Cardone to basically jump on a few calls with Alex. Um, and I heard him talking about the one biggest takeaway that he got from that hundred, I think it was 125,000 or 150,000 for three calls with Grant. And, uh, the one biggest takeaway that he had was that your, um, your brand should align with one or two words maximum. So when people go ahead and they think Alex Hermosy, Angela Lewis, Adam O'Leary, what is the one word that people will associate with that person? So for example, Grant, he wants to be the real estate guy, right? So when people say his name, He wants everybody to think he's the real estate guy. And before it was, want everybody to think I'm the sales guy. And that's it. It's coming up with one word that you can connect your entire thing back to. And there's $150,000 advice. Angela Lewis (21:51.599) I'll tell you this. Actually, I'll tell you two things. One, if you go into Cardone Capital and you look under Grant Cardone's desk, there's a rug that I designed for him sitting under his desk. And two, it was one time we were on a mentor call and he called me up and I was like, my God, what did I do? What's in my background? And he said, Angela Lewis, I want to let you know that things are going to change for you. People are going to try to figure out what you're doing and why you're doing it. It's because you're investing in yourself. And then after that, everything shut off. I have no idea what he said. Everyone said it was wonderful. And of course, that's the one recording I do not have. Angela Lewis (22:46.274) propagate that night and so it took like three days and then I totally forgot and yeah but anyway he said some beautiful wonderful things about me if anybody out there has that video please give it to me. Adam O'Leary (22:59.003) That's amazing. Listeners, help Angela out. Get her that video. Well, that's awesome. Angela Lewis (23:05.742) Yes, he basically prophesied over me and my business and the trajectory that I was going to go and grow in. just to let you know, Grant, you were absolutely right. And I thank you for that. Thank you for believing in me. Adam O'Leary (23:17.807) That's amazing. That's amazing. Well, Angela, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you so much for jumping on with me today. This was such a wonderful conversation. Angela Lewis (23:25.536) Yes, this was absolutely fun. Adam O'Leary (23:27.95) Absolutely well guys everybody. Thank you so much for joining us today, and I will see you on the next episode of simple wins Angela Lewis (23:34.947) Thank you.