We recently connected with Stacey Ruth and have shared our conversation below.

Stacey, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

Anyone who has ever left the relative safety of a full-time, high-profile job will understand how risky it felt to me to take the leap and start my first agency. I was a respected art director at one of the largest agencies in the world at the time, and I was only 29 years old – a pretty long time ago! I had no formal business training, and I was working in, what at the time was a male dominated field. So, although I was burned out enough where I was to take the risk, I also was terrified of failing. I know now that I had a pretty profound case of imposter syndrome (that sense that I was a fraud, and would certainly be found out).

However, my worst fears never came true. Because I maintained great integrity in my professional relationships, I launched with three substantial clients already in place, and no bridges burned. That first agency doubled in growth every year, and won me Top 50 Entrepreneurs Under 50 in Atlanta. That’s not to say I didn’t make mistakes! I made tons. Especially as I was learning how to lead, delegate, strategize, cast a vision, and empower my team to be creative and inspired. I lost some amazing people during that learning period.

Regardless, the greatest lesson I have held onto, especially as I help other leaders who are pivoting or making that big first leap, is that it won’t be perfect. In fact, it ill be messy and often challenging. But that should never be your reason not to try. Besides the mess and the obstacles, there will be real empowerment and glorious successes. Trust that inner fire. It is so worth it.

Stacey, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I have been known for my marketing and branding work for over 30 years. I built two multimillion-dollar live event marketing agencies, and we were twice named Top 100 It Agencies in the country. Still, I had a lot to learn about being a leader, and CEO of a rapidly growing company. When a travel schedule that had me on the road over 2/3 of the year wrecked my health, I took a step back – just not for long.

Many people who had known me for years began asking me if I could coach them on their new venture, or help them build a strategy for their marketing. It was a surprisingly gratifying experience to walk through this sort of transformation with these brilliant entrepreneurs, whom I could so identify with. I became a certified executive leadership coach, and integrated branding (most especially personal branding) into my new Unstoppable Leadership Program. I help growing CEOs, executives and founders to:

– Get out of overwhelm through effective time management
– Assess their personality and strengths
– Develop their Emotional Intelligence
– Master conflict
– Create their personal leadership brand
– Address performance issues
– Build innovation strategies
– Grow their own confidence
– Improv communication
– And of course, set actionable goals and strategy

Not coincidentally, these same leaders often have an overlapping set of needs in branding and marketing for their businesses. For this, I have a team that can integrate their leadership brand with their business brand. As a result we help develop:
– Ideal client profiles
– Build a clear set of values, a mission, a vision and a purpose
– Create talking points
– Research the market and the competition
– Build a SWOT analysis
– Establish a business plan and strategy
– Develop a marketing plan
– and as needed create content, designs and SEO for their website, email marketing and social media.

While this may seem like an enormous amount of work, what really lights me (and my clients up as they see it unfold) is the beautiful way all these things integrate and support their inspired growth. They can tackle some of this, or all of it. I can guide them, or we can do it for them when they are too busy to tackle it themselves. This level of co-creation is extremely fulfilling for us all.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Today there is more noise than ever about creating the right funnel, evergreen program, summit, podcast and more to “get more clients than you could even dream of fast!” Like many people, I was lured in by the idea of a “well-kept secret” than would send my burgeoning new business into the high 6 and even 7-figure growth realm. And I should know better.

I built my previous businesses into 6- and 7-figures without those “secrets” – and I found that what worked for me in the past still works for me as well or better than any sexy, high-tech funnel marketing. I get referrals. Lots and lots of referrals. Referrals close at well over 80%, and because trust is already established, I am able to spend less time building it.

The best part about referrals is that the person doing the referring does not need to be a previous client! They can be someone who heard me speak, read one of my books (Inside Out Smart or Own Your Own Shift) or has recently met me at a networking event. So, I get out there, meet lots of people, ask lots of questions, share lots of insights, and enjoy selling through not selling at all.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

When I was “growing up” in the agency business there was still a hard sell style that was used. Most sales people were men, even though it was the 90’s, and the high-dollar business was wined and dined, while proposals went to the agency that wooed the clients most effectively, not necessarily to the best qualified or certainly not the lowest price. Since that was my only exposure to selling, I felt I hated selling, because it made me feel “sleazy”. I saw it as aggressive, full of manipulation and a struggle between the salesperson and client to see who could overpower the other. I still hear clients who view sales through this lens.

Thankfully, I learned a completely different approach from my vice president of sales, who worked his network in a warm, friendly way that allowed the client to take charge of the conversation, and ask questions, then decide if it was a good fit at the right time to buy.

What a refreshing idea! It led me to embrace sales, and I actually enjoy selling today as a result.

Contact Info:

• Website: unstoppable-leader.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/staceyruth_says/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/theunstoppableleader/
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/staceyruth/
• Twitter: twitter.com/StaceyRuthSays
• Youtube: tinyurl.com/UnstoppableLeader

Image Credits
Mo Lima Photography, Kris Janovitz Photography, Angela Hopper Photography