
What would it look like if it was easy?” with special guest April Wier
When April said, “What would it look like if it was easy,” I knew this episode was going to be HUGE. Listen along as I chat up April Wier on changing your mindset, how your inner circle impacts you and using life experiences to overcome obstacles.
Connect with April Wier
Website: https://sugarfivedesign.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sugarfivedesign/
Hello. Welcome to a new episode of Raney Day Talks. Today I have a special guest, my sister in the u s Ms. April. Wier, April I’m so happy to be here. Thank you for inviting me. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule and talking to me. Like, let’s talk business. So first off, tell me a little bit about April. We’re in your business sugar five design. Thank you.
April Wier: So we do web design, an SEO for growing businesses, small businesses mostly, and medical clinics. And, um, we love doing, we love doing design, but what we really love is that design coming to life and bringing in leads, which I think is really
Awesome. Awesome. So tell me, where in the world are you?
April Wier: I’m in North Metro Atlanta in a little town called Acworth. Um, but mostly when people ask, I say I’m from Atlanta
Yeah, I know when you put in sugar five design, like you pop up everywhere. So Bravo and Kudos to your SEO work cause you’re killing it. So tell me like, how did you get started with web design?
April Wier: Um, so I used to own a house painting company. And, um, so with my, with my husband, we,
April Wier: and we, we did really, really well and we needed to do, we were mostly going through this company called service magic and we were at Five-star, nationally rated company. We, um, and we worked really hard to get there. And when I said, you know, like every business, these leads are great, but what happens if they dry up? So we wanted to start generating some of our own leads. And so I decided we needed a website and we didn’t have the budget to hire an agency and really didn’t know enough to even ask the right questions for that. So I started, um, trying to figure out how to build a website, how to do that. And I ended up getting a website GoDaddy’s website tonight, which that was, and this was probably about 10 or 12 years ago. And, um, and I just, I couldn’t get it to do what I wanted it to do.
April Wier: And I said it would take me so long to figure out how to customize this. I could learn how to design websites faster than I could do this. And so I started, you know, Googling how do you design websites? I bought a what now I now know as a pirated copy of Dreamweaver off of Ebay. Um, I could never get to her, but you know, I, I mean, that was way Dreamweaver wasn’t even Adobe. It was Macromedia and, and then, you know, I’m like, okay. And then the further I just kept going down that rabbit hole until I found wordpress. And, um, and this was probably 2005 or 2006, probably early 2006 maybe. And, WordPress was a lot different than it is now. And so I started playing around with it. I found, um, an internet marketing, um, group and it was kind of like a course.
April Wier: And so I started taking that and just learning. They kind of walked you through how to build a website and um, yeah. And so I just started building websites because I thought I wanted to be a blogger. So I’ve got our website up. And then I was like, Ooh, I’ve got fit by the blogging bug. I’m going to build. I’m going to build this blog. And I would design it and make it beautiful. And then I do three blogs and I go, oh, that’s not really what I need to be blogging about. And so I would start all over again and you really need to be blogging about this over here. And then I’d go and I designed this beautiful website, get three blogs in, and I get bored and I do it over and over again. And it took me tragically long to realize that I didn’t want to be a blogger. I wanted to design websites. So,
and since then, I mean now Sugar Five Design and you, I mean, in our world, like if I’m thinking SEO and I need to bounce something off, like you’re my go-to. So tell like how did that work? How did you bridge that gap between, okay, we do web design, but how do we bring a good experience and how do we get them to rank?
April Wier: Right? So most people come into design from the art world and they’re usually coming from print if they’re my age or if they’re just coming into it, usually they’re coming in through a UX or UI path. Um, I came in through Internet marketing, so as I went through that rabbit hole of, you know, could I make money at this? And, and I was like, really? Like the make money online path, you know? So, um, I kind of learned how to build websites and market them at the same time because I was really learning about affiliate marketing and those types of things. So I actually knew how to rank a website probably before I knew how to build a website. Oh Wow. Yes. So that’s really kind of a weird way to come at content marketing was a lot of part of what I was learning. And so as I became a web designer, this really kind of just grew with me.
April Wier: I looked ranked from my own site and then I started through content because I actually used to be a full time content writer. Wow. When I first started, that’s how I went full time as I used to work for a company that did content for Cox Media and so I didn’t work for Cox media, but that’s where my content ended up and so it was really, it was, it’s really a great introduction to how you use content to rank your websites, how you use content to convert leads and those kinds of things. And so actually backed into web design. I already knew how to build websites, but really I was making money at content before I ever started making money designing websites. So nominal. So then you fell into the wordpress community because for our listeners, like you are a sought out speaker in the wordpress community, you have been literally all over and speaking at word camps.
April Wier: Yes. How did that come about? I mean like I know you fell into wordpress, but did you just love it and jump into their community or like how would it happened? I didn’t even know there was a wordpress community. I’ll be honest with you. I had been doing it for a really long time before I found the community. So I moved here probably in 2012 I was living in upstate New York and I had been going to a web developers meetup and which was really interesting. And now I look back on it, it was completely different than the wordpress community. I’m very competitive, very, um, I know more than you over complicating everything. Like somebody came in and talked to us about how to install wordpress and instead of like showing us the easy way of like, most hosts have some, you know, one click and all that.
April Wier: He went through the whole five famous five minute install, which never ever takes five minutes and is very complicated and scared everybody away from work for us. Oh No. And uh, was so that was really funny. And so I moved down here probably 2012 and I didn’t know anybody. And, um, so I started, cause I had just started going to that Web Dev meetup. I not, I’m going to go see what I can find. And it just amazed me. There were like two really, really big wordpress meetups here and there was a bunch of other small ones. And so I started going and these became my people. They were just open, are not competitive in the least super generous, only wanted to see me succeed and they just opened their arms and I just fell in love with the community and I would absolutely not have the business I have right now if it was not for the wordpress community.
April Wier: Oh Wow. Wow. I didn’t know that. I didn’t know that. So let’s talk, because one of the things I like to bring up, even before we get into like what I really want to talk about is as a boss and a successful boss, you set yourself up for success. How do you do that daily? How do you set your attentions or what? What do you do? Well, I wish it was, I wish I could say it’s a little bit more structured, but over the years I’ve gotten much better, better at knowing what I need to accomplish throughout the week. Right. And kind of backing into my daily routine from that. I’m actually, there’s a mentor I have right now and he encouraged me to print out my daily tasks from my project management and just say the night before, these are the tasks that I need to do the next day and have it already printed out at my desk waiting for me.
April Wier: Oh Wow. And it sounds Hokey, but it really does work. And so that’s kind of what I’m doing now and I’ve kind of a time block a little bit. So that helps too. So you are like laser focused, right? When you step in? You know, I have to be, I have to be. I do a lot. And um, so one of the things I’m known for in my circle is all it is. I do a lot and, but it’s really funny because I only do easy things. I just do a lot of easy things. Okay. So you have to give an example. So, uh, so I run four meetups a month for meetup meetings. So I have, um, the Woodstock wordpress meetup and we meet twice a month. And then I have, um, uh, a community outreach program called local service academy where we teach local small businesses, lead generation through content marketing, digital marketing, those kinds of things.
April Wier: And we meet twice a month. So we have one is for coed and one’s a women’s only meeting and people think that like, that’s just so much, but I batch all my time and I plan it out almost a year in advance. And um, and then I just show up. Right. So it’s really, it looks like it’s a lot. Right. And, and also because I’ve promoted all of this, it looks like I’m everywhere and honestly I’m just showing up to these places once or twice a week, that pre planned out for the year on top of being a mama. Like let’s throw that in the mix too, cause that adds a whole other level. Yep. So I have a nine year old that are homeschool and, um, and he is the love of my life and a joy to be around most of the time. And, and uh, yeah, so what I do, it has to be easy.
April Wier: We have an online curriculum, um, and it’s, it’s just, it really flows. We go year round. So, um, one of our coaches, Simon Kelly, he always asks a question, he says, a, what would it look like if it were easy? And I asked myself that all the time, what would this look like? What’s the easiest possible way we can do that? And so I, uh, if you go in Georgia, you only have to get so many hours of year of instruction. And so what I did was we just go year-round, seven days a week. And so we only have to do two and a half hours of school a day. And that can be broken up through the day. So sometimes it’s 30 minutes in the morning, 30 minutes after lunch, hour after dinner. And it really just because that’s what’s easiest and not, and it’s also really works for my son. And so cause he can’t sit still very long. So like looking at everything that I do, what’s the easiest possible version of that?
Oh my gosh, that just like totally, I just wrote that down. Like what does easy look like? Because as a business owner you are judged juggling a lot of balls. So, and I know I ended up getting in the thick of it. Like right now we’re moving everything on our project management and I’m like in it and just to have that moment to step back.
April Wier: Whoa, whoa. Yeah. Yeah. And we’re actually, I was talking to one of my strategic partners last week and we were talking about targeting a certain vertical and there were a lot of complications and things like that. And I was like, let’s ask the [inaudible] question. What would this look like if it were easy? And we’d bet the greed, well it wouldn’t be this vertical. Okay, well, why don’t we start with the easy vertical and then work out all the Keats and then try to go complicated. And we totally shifted our focus for this project because we asked them questions.
Hmm. That I’m telling you, like for my own business, you just helped me. So whoever’s listening, I hope you really think about that because how, I mean we get so involved and we just think that, well it’s, this is how it is. We’re, we just keep it on. No, you have the capability to change it. What are these you look like?
April Wier: What does easy look like? What would it look like if this was easy? And so I recently just totally changed my business model based on this question. Um, I was doing full cycle marketing and doing everything from social media to email marketing and content marketing, everything. And um, I had a health crisis earlier this year, ended up having an emergency surgery and my business kind of like, you know, it got really difficult. And I said, okay, well I’ll eventually that’ll happen again. You know, we all have those things that might not be, he might be somebody else in my family, but I need to streamline and what would my business look like if it were easy. And so, um, I realize I kind of just charted out everything that we do and I ranked it by how much profits I received and how much effort it took.
April Wier: And so I realized that there was a l an emotional energy because sometimes something is easy, but it takes a lot of emotional energy. And so I realized I am very low on emotional energy that I can give to my business. What are the things that are high emotional energy? And I made a list of those and I said, okay, versus profit, which one of these can I get rid of? And so I realized that we are great and I’m getting better at web development. We are great and getting better at SEO, but we’re good at marketing. But the emotional energy it takes is just not a good return on my effort. And so we have handed all of that off to one of our strategic partners. And so now we can go really deep on web Dev and SEO and really make sure that what we’re doing is profitable and is healthy for us and easy and can we can sustain emotionally with our energy and also is, is much easier.
Yeah. That’s phenomenal. Like just being focused because as a business owner you’re pulled in how many different directions. Yeah. Right. Absolutely. And like where are you putting your most energy in? Yeah. That’s phenomenal. So, okay. And then going a step further, we talk about like what’s our sweet spot and how we find that, what public speaking is big, like you do a lot of speaking. So where does that weigh in and how did you get started with that? And I didn’t even go for the, like how does that affect your business?
April Wier: Um, I uh, I love speaking and I didn’t think, I always knew I was supposed to be speaking even when before I was doing this, when I was waiting tables I, and maybe it’s just dilutions, look, ranger. I always knew I was supposed to be on a stage and I thought I was probably going to be a motivational speaker. And at some point that may be where I end up. But, um, I found in my business that I have a gift for taking complex ideas and breaking them down into easy to understand tidbits. And um, originally I found that there’s a big gap in sales, uh, knowledge in our industry that we all are selling. But there’s so much fear and trepidation and all of those kinds of things involved that so many people, um, do not experience prosperity when they actually, when they easily could because they’re so self sabotaging.
April Wier: And so I kinda got on a high horse about this because I have a sales background and sales actually comes really easy to me because I understand the mindset and I’ve already gone through that whole process of reconciling, you know, selling myself or selling my product and all of that. And so a couple of years ago I got, like I said, I got on my high horse and I put together a tall and gave it at a WordCamp. One was about referring building referral network. Um, and then one was about overcoming your fear of sales and they were so wildly, uh, well received. I was like, oh, okay. I thought as a, I had really kind of, um, delayed in starting speaking cause I thought, okay, well this is what I, these are the things I need before I can get started speaking, I need to lose weight because nobody’s gonna listen to a fat lady onstage.
April Wier: I need to like make sure my teeth are whiting, blaming, I need to, you know, fix my hair. I need to have this kind of dress and these credentials. I need to go back to college. And honestly, all of that was just garbage in my own head. And one day I just kinda like, we just sitting around and I was listening to, you know, who it was now that I think it was Margaret Cho. I was watching one of her comedy specials and she was, I think it was her, and she was saying, what would happen if I just accepted my body, like, and moved on? What would, what would my life look like? And so after that I was like, well, what would my life look like if I just did it anyway? But if I just got up and started speaking anyway, and what if I don’t have the credentials that I think I need to have or I don’t look like I think I need to?
April Wier: And honestly, I’ve been speaking now for about two and a half years and I can honestly say that through my videos and in person, I have probably helped thousands of people overcome their fear of sales, be more prosperous for their families, um, take more control in their own businesses and feel empowered. And I, I kinda think about that and I’m like, what if I had not? What if I had done that sooner? What if I had led all the, all that head garbage? But you know, it happens when it happens, but I hope that through my story, other people might feel empowered to just, just go, just to start. Right. Cause that stuff. And so through my speak, you for my own this and not, and I really don’t speak to get a return on investment. You know, I really kind of feel like this is my service work.
April Wier: But, um, but it has improved my business. I’ve been approached to be, I was approached in last year to become a wordpress community ambassador pre-site ground, which has elevated my presence dramatically in my authority, in the community. Dramatically. Um, you know, people, I mean, if a client asks me a question about, you know, who am I to help them? I said, just Google my name and wordpress and see, see what you hunkered. Right. So it has been, it has been really helpful to me, but you know, it’s, it’s also me stepping into my power is more, it’s more, it’s, it’s helping my internal life, if that makes sense. Yeah. And the first thing that I heard was it had to be a mindset shift. Correct. You had to get, get over that fear of well who am I or I need to have all of these things in order.
April Wier: You just, you just did it. Yeah. Started right. And also go back and going back to what would it look like if it were easy? What’s the one thing that I had to share that the community was lacking was talking about sales. That’s not by design and it’s not, you know, SEO but it’s something that I had to say and so you know, if it’s easy and you have to say it and you, you know, you can take that another step forward. I think that’s kind of about kind of like the message, right? What, you know, taking the next step forward into your area of giftedness and your sweet spot. You know, it can be scary, but if we just take one step at a time, it’s, it’s actually not that hard. Yeah. And let’s be honest, like the first time around it’s not going to be the prettiest like, right.
April Wier: Like quick. Tell me about that. Obviously, have you grown since then was the first time what it is now? Like let’s, let’s be honest. So, um, my first time I spoke at a meetup, uh, that’s really funny cause I’m not shy at all. And my butt in the meetups, I was always, I felt so intimidated by everyone else’s knowledge because what we’re all self taught basically in, in most of these areas. And I’m like, who am I, you know, to have a voice here. And, um, I went to a conference and one of my mentors and he was like, I know you’re never going to ask, so I’m telling you you’re going to speak next month. And I was like, okay, that I was incredibly intimidated and very scared. Um, but I got up there and all I did at one time and I was like, oh, okay, well that’s not that bad.
April Wier: I, um, actually the first time I spoke at work camp, it was on building your referral network. And it was, it went really, really well. And I was, I said, oh, maybe, maybe I am supposed to be doing this. And I know a lot of people, it does not come easy to them, but I just, I’ve been natural storyteller and so I just structure my calls into a story. And so I just add my sludge, just prompt me on the plot points of the story. And then I just entertain. And honestly if you, if you ever go back and watch that video, I felt like I’ve been awake truss. And at that time I had stopped being a waitress, but I was a waitress for 15 years and I was not shy going up to tables and you know, tell them what the specials were.
April Wier: And in that talk, that’s what I did. I came out and I was like, hi, I’m April, I’m going to be your host for this talk. And it was, you know, it worked. It did. It did. And the fact is that you had, didn’t do the thing to really see the benefit that it would have on not only your business but on your life. Right. Absolutely. And also I think another lesson is that all those years that I was waiting tables and trying to find my footing after we closed down the painting business, there was just this, this decade of I didn’t know what I was doing with my life and I was really searching and um, and I waited tables and, and that’s what I did. And during that time, I just, I just tried to be the best I could be at the little thing I was, that, you know, God had given me.
April Wier: And, and it has been a huge benefit to me as a speaker and as a coach because now I can, I can talk to anybody because I talked to probably 10,000 people, you know, when I worked at a steak house over a decade. Um, and all of that really, it’s, it’s all those skills. We’re just sitting there building up and no, I draw from that all the time. So, even if you’re not where you think you want to be in your life, whatever you’re doing right now, there’s some skill you could be building that’s going to enhance your real career when you get it. Um, and I, I, you know, I’d just like to encourage people to like, don’t feel like there’s nothing you can move forward on right now if things aren’t the way you want them to be.
Hmm. Yeah. And that’s something that I’m always in all of you. So I having the opportunity to mastermind with you and like be in these groups with you. You are always [inaudible] to me. You always seem so self-aware and like, just very mindful of cause like we talk about the head, like what we’re saying in our head and all. How did you come to that? Like how do you, how did you, or were you always just self-aware or is this something that you’ve learned to identify those triggers and how to break through those fears?
April Wier: Um, our friend, our mutual friend, Troy Dean tells me I’m the most self-aware person he’s ever met. And that’s got to be exhausting. That’s when he, uh, uh, and it is sometimes, but I, in January I’ll be celebrating, um, 10 years of sobriety. Oh, congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. I had a very severe drug problem when I was in my twenties, and I was a raging alcoholic until actually I got pregnant with my son when I was 37. So a really long time of an unraveling my life. Um, and, uh, and it’s taken me a long time to stitch it back together. Um, but in that time I’ve learned a lot about myself and, um, in the recovery community, we really look at most of us who have any time look at our previous addiction as a gift. Because, you know, going through recovery gives you such insight about yourself, about how you relate to other people that we would have never had.
April Wier: Of course we, you know, don’t appreciate the damage we did to other people into ourselves. But there’s, there’s a tremendous gift on the other side of recovery that, uh, just gives you this power to understand who you are and where you are in the world and, you know, looking at your own motivations and agendas. And even like this past year I had this really big project that went sideways and we had, I mean, it ended up being okay, but I suffered quite a bit through it. And on the other side of that, I was like, why did not ask for help during that? Where, where, what was my part in that? And even seeing even 10 years into sobriety that I still have the tools to look at my life and put it in perspective. And, and then I’m not helpless in the things in my business.
April Wier: It helps me so much in my business to say, oh, this is the pattern that I’m doing and this let’s, let’s roll that back and look at why am I doing? And, um, and, and I’ve actually found collected a, a nice, um, group of sober friends. And it’s really funny when we get together, like there’s no Chitchat. We’re just like going into the deep water, like, like, okay, what heavy stuff are we gonna talk about today? Yeah, it’s pretty funny. But yeah, it’s at my recovery. That has been a great tool in my business toolbox. That’s okay. So I have to say this like how awesome are you? Like you took something that’s so awesome that I have a serious though. Like, look when you’ve overcome and look how you’ve implied it. Like I was already in awe of you and so excited to have you on here.
April Wier: But now to like further hear your story, like, um, I don’t know if so how so as you’re out and you’re constantly giving, cause that’s something that I’m really working on my clients. I truly believe the more you give, the more you receive. And sometimes we kind of want to hold on because we’re afraid that, you know, maybe the competitor down the street might get on that bandwagon. You know, like we start wanting to hold in instead of just giving it and allowing, I dunno to us to be able to use the talents and the gifts that we have to help other people. So as you’re out giving, how are you pouring back into yourself, especially as a business owner, a mom, like you’ve got a team, what do you, what do you do? So I think it’s really important to surround yourself with people you love.
April Wier: And one of the things that I stumbled into was, you know, being in recovery as you really careful about who I associate with and I need people who are going to be positive and only want the best for me because there’s a lot of people who don’t. And the wordpress community in itself is really generous in like that, you know, there are still, you know, you still have to be mindful. Um, and so I’ve just been really intentional about who I want to associate with and I have, so, uh, we went to, um, an event you and I did last year around this time in San Diego. I mean, yes, San Diego. And it was really a watershed moment for me to see how wonderful it could be to have business friends who understood you and her good and kind and had your best interest at heart. And I’ve experienced that here in my local community, but it was such an intense focused experience that I decided when I came home I was really going to identify those people in my life who gave me those.
April Wier: So those same feelings and I felt, you know, that we’re still high quality and pull that close to me. So that’s what I did. And so now I’ve got the most amazing, uh, friend group here in Atlanta who, and really all over the world, honestly. Um, but especially here locally that I see on a regular basis. And you know, as a mom who runs a business and does all this volunteer work, I don’t have a lot of social time. Honestly. My friend, my business friends are my social network. And so we go to conferences together we go. So I’m marrying the nurturing and the love I need from my friends with my business. And so I don’t keep pulling up closer and closer and closer to me so that now my everyday business life is so in meshed with this incredible amount of love and generosity and this just encouraging spirit that I really, it’s really hard to explain to someone who’s never experienced that, that this is the reward that we can have as business owners, is that we can craft this life and surround ourselves with these incredible people that, I mean, I couldn’t imagine having to go back to work nine to five and be stuck, forced to work with people all day that I, that I didn’t pick to put in my life.
April Wier: So honestly, my business nurtures me and I say that a lot is that my business, I’m not so much building my business as my business is building me. That’s phenomenal. That’s phenomenal. And like you said it, you said it, you built here life and your business to add to, it’s not taking away, it’s renting. And I’ve never, I haven’t heard that recently about someone who’s taken work and allowed it to infuse. Usually we talk about like how do we separate how we put the boundaries in, how do we, like, I love the fact that you have identified that and then pulled that closer because I know like when I get high out of talking with you and talking with several of our other colleagues of what that does for me and almost like puts
me back into okay, like it’s not just me. Like it’s okay because somebody else is going through this or you know, you, you’re able to like get out of your head.
April Wier: I don’t feel now, sometimes when I talk to some of my clients, you know, we’re not, we’re, we’re talking about their problems and we’re not emotionally engaging and that can be draining. I’m an introvert and that can be very draining for me. However, like our conversations and the conversations with my strategic partners that I have and my, my friends that I’ve pulled plus, to me that’s, that’s re energizing to me. And it feels amazing. And especially when you can pour into one of your friends and you can see. So I have one of my friends whose, who’s needed to get into speaking a little bit more and I’ve been encouraging him and to see him flourish in that area. You know, I feel like we share in that I share in his victory because I’ve walked that road with him and he shares in my victories of the roads that I’ve walked together and we all rise together and it’s really, I know it sounds kind of woo woo, but
it’s all right. It’s together. I love it. I love it. Oh my goodness. I, I don’t know, I’m just, thank you so much because I’m just floored about, cause I always see you as like someone who’s very self aware and that, you know, even though like I’ve kind of walked some things that you’ve worked through and like the changes in your business, but it’s like you always just kind of dig in and I see you as someone who’s like, even when it gets like crazy in business, you just dig in and headed off.
April Wier: Well, I love my business and I really, really enjoy what I do. And I think surrounding myself with people like you and other people at our, you know, that we’re mutually friends with. There’s something about having really amazing people around you that makes you want to sit up a little bit straighter, be something or someone that your friends can be proud of me. A little teary, you know, that. And it’s not that I feel like I have to earn my friendship with people, but I feel like that’s what really good, high quality friends and business, you know, friendships can do for you is just make you want to be that much better. So, because, you know, we’re all in this together, the better I get, the better you get. And, and it’s just really inspiring to me. Um, and I get really fired up and I’m really bad about working at nights and on the weekends because I will get on something and I’ll just keep, because I’m, cause I’m having fun and it’s interesting and I’m solving problems and I know for me I need good problems to solve. And so it’s just pulling it all together and, and saying, I’m going to work this out and if I don’t make this, it’s not for a lack of trying and it’s okay if I fail. Not Okay if I don’t try [inaudible] right. And so as long as I’m trying and that, that’s also recovery too. Knowing that to learn to enjoy the journey and to do work hard on the journey and not say not get burned out because I’m not where I need to be, but just enjoy it and enjoy the work now.
Yeah. Yeah. And I think in having the closed set of people of realizing, cause I know I go there, I go to the point to where it’s like I don’t want to burden anybody with my little, like I think that I’m so insignificant, significant, you know what I want to bring to the table. But it’s in those times that you ask for help or that you share or even overshare. That’s when it’s like the community jumps in and it’s like, even if you feel like you’re failing, when you have those close to people to pull on, it’s not only you’re helping yourself, but you’re also helping them because they’re helping you. Does that make sense?
April Wier: Absolutely. And I have found that my friends, even this summer, um, well even in the last really couple of weeks, some of my friends are teaching me how to be vulnerable. And I think I’m both, I think, I know like I think I’m self aware and I think I know how to be vulnerable. And you know, I had a business partnership where, you know, I felt really insignificant and sharing some of that and the response that I’ve got and how I was lifted up was just so amazing to see my friends be compassionate towards me and to make it safe for me to be vulnerable because I know a lot of us, especially coming out of the corporate world or other worlds where it’s very competitive and kind of cut throat, that you don’t feel safe around the people that you work with. And, um, and I don’t know that I even really knew how to feel safe that way.
April Wier: And so surrounding yourself with really high quality people can allow you to like start dropping some of those walls and stepping into some areas that maybe you haven’t even felt safe to explore about your own business or yourself. And even like, like when we went to San Diego, everybody, when we came back, I felt when I got in that room that I was the smallest person in that room. And every single person that came back when we were talking afterwards, every single person said the same thing. I felt like I was the smallest person in the room. So either all of us are, you know, have a warped perspective on who we are and our place in the world. Right? Or this is just something that everybody feels, I think everybody feels like they’re lacking in some way. But you know, I think that’s just one of the things we have to work through with good quality people around us because you can’t work through those things with just anybody. So I would encourage people listening, find the people who lift you up and intentionally spend more time with them. And that may be, hey, you know, before we leave hanging out too late today, let’s get the next thing on the calendar III. A little nerdy about it right now and just make sure that you’re staying in touch.
Right, right. That that’s huge because as a business over, sometimes we get in our own island, like I know I do, like we get our head down, we’re doing the work, we’re doing the thing, we’re taking care of the family, and then we start like drifting. And I know it’s those times, it’s when that’s the time that I need most to have other people we speak in life into me or just sharing. Just sharing, just connecting. Yeah. So how would you advise somebody to look for those people? Let’s say that I don’t have those people in my life. I don’t have those business owners because let’s face it, like you really do need to have some other business owners as friends and colleagues that you could live with. So how do you find those people? So where, where are they hanging out?
April Wier: You know, are they, um, are they at the chamber or are they at, um, a mompreneur meetup? I was just like, where, where can you find more people like you and then just start doing one on ones with people. I mean, it really is that Hokey to just say, um, I’d like to take you to lunch or let’s meet for coffee and just really like start, start dating your business community, you know, and it’s, and there you’re gonna find some duds and you’re gonna find some winters and then you just kind of just filter through. Are they talking smack about everybody and tearing other people down? Okay, well maybe that’d be fun for Margarita, but maybe that’s not the person you want to build your business life with. Right. So then you just kinda kind of do it that way. And I, what I did very intentionally when I first painted at this community is every time I’d get a big check, I would take somebody that I thought might be a good referral partner for me and I take them to lunch.
April Wier: And so this might be something you could marry together with building your referral network is I would just say, hey, you know, can I take, can I buy you watch on Thursday? And so I would go take this personal lunch, find out how I could encourage them without trying to get anything from them and see if I wanted to, you know, be friends with them. And really that’s kind of how I have built my referral network. Almost 85% of my business comes by referral and it’s all from people that I really enjoy and we are just trying to find ways to spend time with each other actually. Cause we like each other’s company. And so just as you’re just be really weird and intentional about it and to be like, Hey, I liked her energy, let’s go have coffee and just be a total nerd. And it actually does work.
Yeah. Cause in the long run it’s just going to help you and you’re going to help others.
April Wier: Yeah. You got have lunch with somebody and spend an hour and that is our reward for being business owners is being able and that is work. So you may do this and while you’re doing it feel like there’s something else I should be doing right now. This is taking away from my business. This is your business. In fact, this is probably the most important thing you can do for your business is to be intentionally making connections with high quality people because when you slip they will catch you.
Yup. Yup. And connections. Connections is everything. Like you never know who that you’re going to connect with and how that might lead to open doors as well. Absolutely. Ways. Yeah. That’s phenomenal. Well, okay, so I feel like we did so much. We covered so much ground. So like from from just being the mindset about your business and walking in what you feel like you’re called to do and doing it. I feel like unapologetically, like you just like you said, like you had to work through those fears of like, it’s not going to be perfect. I’m, I think I have to be this way, but you just started, so whatever it is that you think that you should be doing, you probably should and you need to just start it. It may not be pretty or it may, in April’s case, it was awesome. You got great feedback and you knew like that’s, that’s, that’s what I’ve been missing up until now
April Wier: and it hasn’t always be been pretty since then. I’ve had some pretty public duds, but um, you know, just had to make, make peace with the worst case scenario and you will always be okay. I have made peace that I’m going to make publicly Michael and myself at some point. And so if that happens, I play on dawn it right on the stick. It was a part of the plan.
Right, right. It just worked out. It worked out for your good and then pulling off experiences, whatever they may be. If you think that you don’t have any, you really do, you really have some skillsets at whatever job, but whatever it’s led you to now you had to learn that got you to here. So that’s what you can pull upon is your experiences.
April Wier: Absolutely. And there’s a great book by John, a cup called quitter and he talks about how before you take those next steps to, you know, get into the job of your dreams or, or start this next thing. Like how can you make what you’re doing now prepare you for that next step. Because some of us, when we’re in that state, in that place where we’re not ready to take the next step, we feel like we’re wasting our time. But how do we mind our current experience for Paris for that next step, which is really, really key.
.: Yeah. And then there’s something that, like I personally have taken away from this episode is what does it look like if it was easy and then making that happen. Like doing the thing that makes it easy.
April Wier: Yes. And not overcome. I’m an over-complicate. So I
have to, and I’m seriously down the road of over-complicating something before I’m like, oh, whoa, whoa, Whoa, what would this look like if it were easy? So asking it a little early on is something I’m learning too that that’s huge. Like right already I’ve been thinking like, oh my gosh, like there’s so many things right now that I just needed, like make it simple, just make it simple. Um, and then lastly about mindset and getting and helping your mindset. How you pour back in is the people who you hang out with and how you can marry that to your business. I think that’s huge. And that’s a huge example of how that works. It doesn’t have to be business and home life. It, it can be one in the same. Yeah. And, and we go on, um, me and my friends, we, we look for sayings to make sure we have something here locally to make sure we have something on the calendar that we’re going to go do together.
Do we have a conference on the calendar? If not, what’s coming up? What can we go do? That’s great. And just like, oh, it’s like having business friend dates and that’s really important to have shared experiences and it’s just, you know, it’s also fun. Yeah. Yeah. Because let’s face it, like we built this life and so how, how can we make it enjoyable? It doesn’t have to be that hard. That’s right. Ah, April, thank you so much for taking time out of your day and to spend with me and thank you so much for just sharing your story. Oh, thank you so much for having me. It’s been really fun. Thank you. Alright, well if you’ve found this helpful, I want you to check out april@sugarfivedesign.com I’ll be linking her up in the show notes as well as if you find it helpful. If you’re like, yes, I need to look, and how do I make this easy? Please take a screenshot, hashtag Randy design or rainy day talks and let us know what you’re going to do with that information. Thank you so much and hope you’ll have a great day. Thank you.
Thank you to our Sponsor
A huge thank you to Mark Levander of Mark Levander Productions for sponsoring season one of Raney Day Talks. It truly is because of Mark that we’re able to put these podcasts in our YouTube channel and a lot of our videos and load the animations together. So, if you’re interested in launching your own podcast or need work with photography or videography, please contact Mark through MarkLavanderProductions.com.