We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Deborah Hurwitz a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Deborah, appreciate you joining us today. The first dollar your business earns is always special and we’d love to hear how your brand made its first dollar of revenue.
After burning out on an otherwise successful 30-year career in show business, I was looking for something, ANYTHING, that would give me a different way to make serious money and the chance to feel alive again. For several years I slogged through a dark night of the soul, seeking answers, going down rabbit holes of internet research – and honestly, doing a LOT of doom scrolling that left me feeling more afraid and isolated than ever.
I took a risk on a program and a business coach that taught a very specific process: how to build an online summit around a topic of my choice, generate an audience for that summit, and then sell to that audience. It was a lot of moving parts, but compared to music directing a Broadway show? Cake!
The thing was, I had no idea what I was going to sell, what I could DO, how I was going to make any money…it was the most unformed plan I’d ever set in motion! But I was willing to work, willing to learn, and most importantly, willing to set aside “looking good” or “getting it right” in order to take imperfect action.
I named that first event Productivity for Perfectionists: How to Stop Procrastinating, Quiet Your Inner Critic, and Get It Done in 20 Minutes a Day. I saw the struggles that both artists and entrepreneurs suffered, the problems I myself needed to solve, and I was intently focused on solving those problems WITH the people showing up for help.
Having gained credibility through 21 interviews with experts I’d engaged, I kept following the steps in the program, connecting with my newly minted audience, and ultimately offering “strategy sessions” (ie sales calls) through emails and live webinars. I had NO IDEA what I was doing, but I was falling in love with this new way of working and I finally felt like my soul was AWAKE.
Then I got on my very first sales call (an actual phone call, not even a Zoom!), nervous as hell and completely freaking out inside. This random stranger had come out of nowhere and was asking ME for support. When I got on the call, I had NO offer – no program, no company, no clue. I just asked questions, listened, and focused on how I could help. I made up a 6-month, $10,000 “Private Mentorship” on the spot, invited him to enroll, and in that very first call, he said YES.
I took a $2500 payment to the Stripe account I’d set up two days earlier, and as I walked out of my office, my legs were jelly. All I could think was, “OH MY GOD, IT WORKED!!” I made another sale the following week, and over the next two months I contracted over $65,000 in revenue on a platform that six months earlier did not even exist.
Deborah, 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’m Deborah Hurwitz, an English-born bicoastal New Yorker: child prodigy, concert pianist, bestselling author, award-winning speaker and Broadway music director.
While I got a LOT done in my 30-year career – I toured with Cyndi Lauper and Cher, composed music for hundreds of TV & film projects, and performed with the original Broadway companies, of Miss Saigon, Mamma Mia! and and Jersey Boys – I also understand the pain of checking off box after box without ever feeling like it’s enough. I was a full-fledged workaholic and perfectionist by age 9 and I spent years jockeying for position with a relentless inner critic, burning myself out on other people’s visions while my own dreams withered on the vine.
When I finally realized that I needed a better way, I decided to flip the whole model on its head. I had to stop worrying about what I was “supposed” to do or how I could cobble together a living. I had to loosen my desperate grip on control and break the vicious cycle of fear, contraction, and scarcity that had held me hostage for so long.
Piece by piece, I took apart the structures that had defined my “glamorous” career and my hollowed-out self-worth. I built new frameworks of inspiration and support, and started to pay attention to what actually ENLIVENED me. I finally learned how to TRUST myself, and how to generate the self-confidence, productivity AND peace of mind I always wanted.
Productivity for Perfectionists™ was born in April 2017 and outpaced my wildest expectations, yielding the business of my dreams in a matter of months. Today, I’m proud to call myself the Founder and CEO of COBALT Coaching. I own my work, my time and my success, and I teach others to own THEIRS.
COBALT Coaching helps perfectionists of all stripes get unstuck and into action. We offer a safe haven for you to uncover what really matters to you and to bring your best work into the world.
Through a comprehensive suite of programs, courses and private mentorships, we get underneath the perfectionism and the procrastination, take on the inner critic, and replace self-doubt with confidence and clarity.
WE GET THINGS DONE.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
Put simply, I deliver on my promises.
I am laser-focused on effective coaching that generates meaningful results. People make PROGRESS in my programs.
I genuinely value and respect my clients – as human beings, not just numbers or success stories.
It’s incredibly important to me to walk my talk and keep my word. Integrity is a core value of my company, my own self-expression, and every relationship I have, whether that’s with a client, a team member or a trusted friend.
That’s a powerful context for problem-solving, innovation, creativity and connection. When we bring a high-level skill set together with actually CARING about people, we become unstoppable – and irresistible. People come to me for a zero-judgment, zero-bullsh*t space where they know they will be seen, welcomed, and fully equipped to reach their most ambitious goals.
Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?
Whew, building a strong and supportive team can be THE biggest challenge for a solopreneur who wants to grow! The best piece of advice I have is this: Leave more time, detail and patience on the table than you think “should” be needed. Remember that NO ONE has the contents of your brain lined up the way you do. Think of this as an opportunity for communication, organization and collaboration, NOT a hurdle or a problem.
There’s a great exercise I did at an entrepreneur conference that I’ll share here, which taught me an important lesson about training others to do the tasks you want off your plate:
Write down the instructions to make a peanut butter & jelly sandwich. That’s it. Just list the steps. You know, get out two slices of bread, spread some peanut butter on one of them…like that.
Now imagine that the person following your instructions has never made a peanut butter & jelly sandwich, they’ve never been in your kitchen, and they don’t know what you actually want it to look like. They’re going to have questions like, “Where do you keep your knives?” or “Do you toast the bread?” And if you have more than one kind of bread/nut butter/jelly? Look out!
Do you see how quickly a “simple” task like fixing a PB&J can turn into a gauntlet of dicey decisions and potential mistakes? That’s how it often is for entrepreneurs — we THINK we’re imagining a simple task or process, but for someone who’s not inside our brains with us, it’s a minefield.
When you give people the support they need to assist you, they thrive. People WANT to help. They want to create and contribute. Give them a way through, and they will have your back with a smile.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.cobaltcoaching.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cobalt.coaching
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cobaltcoachingco
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborahhurwitz/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaestraHurwitz
Image Credits
Wendy Yalom Jonathan Asculai