037 MDB Rising: Trudi Lebrón

Listen, there’s a certain point where you have to hire to get to that next level. Once you get to six figures and you’re over that 100K mark and you’re kind of around 150K, 200K, whatever and you get real busy, you have to hire help. That is the only way to scale. And it is the main reason why only 2% of women entrepreneurs reach seven figures is because so few of us hire other people. We think we have to do it all ourselves.

So, I’m like, I just need you to open up the first door. Because when you have that first person and you see what’s possible and you see how you can bring other people’s talents in and what you guys can accomplish together, then you’re like, “Oh hell no.” Then you’re on a tear, and then you want to hire everyone

Welcome to the Hello Seven Podcast. I'm your host, Rachel Rodgers, wife, mother of four children, a lover of Beyoncé, coffee drinker, and afro-wearer, and I just happen to be the CEO of a seven-figure business. I am on a mission to help every woman I meet become a millionaire. If you want to make more money, you are in the right place. Let's get it going.

Rachel: Hello, friends. And welcome back to The Hello Seven Podcast. I’m so excited to be sitting here with one of my clients today. I am sitting here with Trudi Lebrón, welcome, Trudi, to the podcast.

Trudi: Thank you so much for having me.

Rachel: Tell everybody who you are, introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about what you do.

Trudi: I’m Trudi Lebrón and I am a coach for entrepreneurs who want to do business and really prioritize some kind of social impact mission. So, things like diversity equity and inclusion, different kinds of give-backs, like, really people who are wanting to put their values right smack in the middle of their business so they just can do things a little differently.

Rachel: Yes, I love that. Okay, so, give us an example of maybe some of the programs that you’ve helped develop or maybe some of the kinds of work that you do with your clients so people can really kind of understand the work that you do.

Trudi: Sure, my clients fall into two main buckets. One is the entrepreneur who has been in business for a while and they come out of some kind of social service kind of a background. So, therapists, clinicians, people used to work in nonprofits who are dealing with a lot of the mindset stuff around, just, what do they charge and how much things should be and value and getting out of the routine of thinking like a nonprofit person, because that’s a whole thing right there.

Rachel: Oh, hell yeah.

Trudi: Yes.

Rachel: I worked for a nonprofit too, and trust me, I know.

Trudi: And then the other bucket of people is actually working with bigger brands in the coaching and personal development industry, for example, like, Hay House Publishing, who are looking to solve problems around things like diversity equity inclusion, really wanting to bring more diversity into their practices. And not just bring diversity in, but when you are really doing that with intention, you have to make all kinds of different shifts throughout your organization. So, I guide people through those things. I used to do that in like big school districts for years and years and years, and now I concentrate my work in the coaching and personal development industry.

Rachel: Yes, I love that, so helping organizations like Hay House maybe get more diverse authors, right? They’re not only acquiring those books, but also making sure that they’re maybe providing for those authors in an equitable way. And how do you even bring equity? This is something that we are learning so much about, even in my business as well. Because I think people think, “Well, if I get a bunch of people in a room and they’re all different, that’s enough.” And it’s not enough. We also have to account for the fact that the bottom line is, it’s harder for people of color authors to write books. It’s harder for people of color entrepreneurs to build businesses. So, we can’t just make it equal. Equal is not going to do it because we’ve been so unequal in our society for so long. So, we have to now go the extra mile to make it equitable, you know.

Trudi: Yeah, there’s a lot of restoration that has to happen. And it’s not just about putting people in a room who all look different and have different backgrounds. It’s like, what about your team? And do your policies support that? And what do you do when people start pushing back? Because that happens. Like, how do you train people to do that? So there are so many different things to think about when you’re really truly looking to do this work. Yeah, and so I’m really fortunate that I get to do that for a living.

Rachel: Yeah, I think that’s beautiful. And I think we live in a time where someone who really understands diversity, inclusion, and equity, you’re basically in demand because we are so much more aware now than we were before. And so now, even entrepreneurs, regardless of the size of your business, you’ve got to be thinking about this stuff because I personally think that if you’re not making your team and your clientele, if you’re not really going after a more diverse and inclusive audience and bringing those people into your business as team, as clients, then you’re probably going to be dying soon as a business.

Trudi: Oh, for sure. This is definitely an issue of sustainability. It’s also an issue of just what’s right, but there’s definitely financial and sustainability conversations to have around diversity equity inclusion. And they’re not theories, like what we should do and what we want to do and what we think. It’s like, how do you actually behave and what do you do in your business every single day?

Rachel: Yeah, exactly. And also, how do you respond when you do get pushback or when you do say the wrong thing or you make a mistake, how are you going to handle that? Because the bottom line is, you are going to make a mistake. You’re not going to be – even if you educate yourself a ton and read all of the books on the topic and join communities that are talking about this stuff, you’re still going to offend somebody, always. And so, just knowing how to respond to that, because I think when people respond in a really defensive way, that’s when they get dragged through the mud all over the internet and people stop messing with their businesses, you know?

Trudi: Yeah. And I have CEOs and leaders in some of these bigger companies that have me on speed dial so that when something happens and they’re just, like, not sure what to do, they’ll call me and we’ll walk through what’s really happening and separating how people feel in the moment. Because sometimes you can feel a certain way and it clouds your judgment a little bit.

Rachel: Yes, for sure. Awesome, good. Okay, I really wanted people to understand what you do and the benefits of working with you. Okay, so, take us back to before we started working together, so last year. Where were you in your business? Like, what were you looking for? What were you kind of struggling with? What were some of the challenges that you wanted to overcome?

Trudi: I remember very specifically being in a place where I had been listening to the podcast, binge-listening to the podcast and feeling really frustrated with coaching programs in general because I didn’t feel like I was getting what I needed. I didn’t feel like I was in spaces where the values that I had were being reflected back to me. Like, things like diversity, equity, you know, those kinds of things.

I had recently made an investment in another program that I wasn’t really thrilled with. There was a lot of people in it, like hundreds of people in it. it was very much choose-your-own-adventure. Everyone was nice, but I didn’t feel like anyone really knew exactly what I was doing. I was getting advice that was kind of like just laser coaching and it wasn’t within the full context because nobody really knew what I was doing. And then, I did a little bit of trying to do some adulting and I was organizing my finances and realized that, in May of 2019 right before I joined the program, I had made about $150,000.

Rachel: Awesome, and that’s just 2019 revenue.

Trudi: Yeah, 2019, from January…

Rachel: So, the first six months of 2019, you made 150K, which is awesome.

Trudi: Which was awesome, and more than I had made in 2018. And it threw me into crisis. To talk about upper-limiting, like I lost my mind really seriously.

Rachel: First of all, can we just stop? I am obsessed with this because I feel like people are always talking about how hard it is trying to make money and trying to have success. But no one really talks about once you achieve some of that success, how it can really freak you out.

Trudi: It freaked me out big time because I knew I had made that money working super, super-hard and I knew it was May and that I couldn’t sustain that level of energy and output. I was coaching. I was consulting. I was designing projects for people. In a real hands-on way, some of the consulting, I was doing a lot of on the ground work in school districts in five different cities throughout New England, like, lots of travel, but my coaching practice was picking up. And I just knew that I could not sustain that.

And, you now, $150,000, like, it’s great and there’s also a lot of expenses that go along with that and lots of responsibilities. So, I freaked out and I didn’t know what to do and I didn’t feel like the support I was getting from the other program that I was in was, like, sufficient. And I was like, “I need something else.” And then, I think the other thing that I realized is, for the last couple of years I’ve been so fixated on hitting six figures, which I had done for at least three years.

But then, in May, I had already surpassed that. So now, I’m looking at multiple six figures and I was like, “I’ve been so focused on just doing the things to get you to six figures and that’s why I feel this level of burnout.” I need something else. There’s just so many options to, like, earn six figures. And it’s just like, I can’t just keep doing that, you know what I mean?

My options at that point, I have a pretty dope community in the coaching world, and so I know lots of people who are in lots of what they call high-end masterminds. But they were something pretty formal-feeling with a bunch of white dudes, or like MDB. And I was like, “That sounds way better than some of these other places.”

Rachel: Yes, it does seem like the options are white guys or MDB.

Trudi: I mean, I was looking. I’m telling you.

Rachel: I mean, this is exactly why I created it because that’s what I was looking for also and I couldn’t find it anywhere. And I was like, why doesn’t somebody do this? And then I was like, fine I’ll just do it myself.

Trudi: Some of those programs – I’m sure people get all kinds of value. And a lot of those communities feel like pay to play, like you’re investing to be in rooms with certain kinds of people. And I’m just like. I’m over that. That’s not interesting to me. And it’s just that real formal, like, do this, do the funnels, all about the money, send your work out to other countries, all this stuff that I just knew was not going to sit well with me. So yeah, I was like, alright, let me check out what Rachel’s talking about.

Rachel: Yes, awesome. And listen, I’ve been in some of those masterminds and I got amazing results in those places, but I also feel like – and I’ve talked about this on the podcast. Sometimes the community – and there are even great people in the community, but there are also people whoa re making racist comments in my presence, you know, and sexist jokes and it’s just…

Trudi: I’ve heard them, for sure.

Rachel: Yeah, so you’re dealing with a lot of bullshit along with getting your results. I did that for years and then I was just tired of it, and then I created my own thing, you know, because I was just like, this is needed in the marketplace, you know. It was definitely a gap. I know exactly what you’re talking about, that six-figure mentality of, like, “Let me just grind to six figures and then everything is going to open up and it’s just going to be wonderful and life’s going to get easier,” and then you get to six figures and you’re like, “Yay, I made six figures.” And you’re like, “I have too much work. I have no systems, I’m exhausted. I’ve got 50,000 clients, I’ve got no help,” you know.

Trudi: I’ve got all these kids and this money don’t stretch far enough.

Rachel: Exactly. It’s not enough. No one talks about that and it drives me nuts. I’m like, let me tell you something; $100,000, even $150,000, $200,000, when you’re running a business, it’s typically not enough living in America today, and also other cities around the world, you know what I mean? There are all kinds of third-party data that you can look at that show that even a family with just one child – and you and I both have way more than one child – just one child living even in small cities in Tennessee.

We’re not even talking about New York and Chicago and San Francisco, 100K really doesn’t go that far and you still find yourself feeling like you’re struggling. And that’s if that’s your salary. Not if it’s your business revenue. You’ve got to pay business expenses out of that as well. I’m like, yeah, not six figures. Seven, let’s do seven, how about that?

Trudi: And I think that was the first time, you know when I started listening to the podcast last year and I was, like, really listening to every single episode. When you, like, took a week off, I was mad. I was like, “What am I going to do with my Thursday mornings?” It was the first time that I think I had really allowed myself to be like, “Oh, that’s actually something that I can do.” I think, in a big picture world, I was like, “Yeah, I’d love to make a million dollars,” you know, in a way that’s more like lofty and dreamy. But then I was like, “Oh no, that’s an actual thing that can happen.” That’s different.

Rachel: It’s so true. It’s just like, right now, my next big milestone that I’m trying to reach is 10 million. And before, I used to think, like, “I could make $10 million.” But I was saying it, but I didn’t really believe it, you know. And then, as you keep going and you start to see, like, you create a model that is more scalable and you start to see, like, “Oh, I just have to keep doing what I’m doing and keep growing this thing that I’m already doing and I really could get to 10 million. I could even get to 100 million.” You know, these are totally possible, you know?

And I think that’s why it’s so important to be having these kinds of conversations, Trudi, because if we don’t see that and we don’t see other women doing it, we don’t see other women of color doing it, people of color doing it, then we don’t believe that it’s true for us. And that’s exactly why I created the podcast, just to be having conversations and, like, “Look at this woman of color, she’s making a million dollars. Look at this woman of color, she’s making $10 million.” I want people to see, these are just regular old people.

Trudi: Right, not famous people. That’s our model for what money looks like because, you know…

Rachel: This is not Kim Kardashian, you know. This is not a singer. They just started a business and grew it and made it happen. So, I agree, just getting in touch with that, like, “Oh, this is tangible,” right? So awesome. I love it. So, tell me, what are the three things that you have implemented that you feel like has changed things for you or that have made an impact for you in your business over the last six or so months?

Trudi: So, one was hiring like an operations assistant. That was a critical move and that was something I was so afraid of. I was like, “How can I do that?” That opened up so much of my capacity. I also have a physical space where I live, so my operations assistant is local. So, we can be in the same room together and do things and she can manage the space when I’m not around. And so that has shifted so many things. And it’s great too because she’ll manage me a little bit. She’ll send me messages and be like, “Did you get back to this person? What about this?” And it just elevates the whole experience.

Rachel: And to have a team member too, right, like somebody who you’re not in this by yourself. You’ve got somebody else who’s also down for the cause, it’s me and you together the hard way, and let’s make it happen.

Trudi: For sure, and I’ve gotten lucky that I made that hire, and then I was like, “Oh, I can do this.” And I used to manage teams. Like, when I was working in nonprofits, not only did I manage people, but I managed million-dollar budgets, like federal grants. So these are things that I know how to do and it was just a matter of being like, “Okay, you can do this here too.”

Rachel: Yes, it’s getting over our imposter syndrome. I see this all the time. Women who have decades of incredible experience, and then suddenly, they’re running their own business and they’re like, “I know nothing.” I’m like, that’s a lie. Or when clients of mine will get on office hours and be like, “I don’t know what I’m doing.” And I’m like, “That is not true actually. I’m going to challenge you on that thought that you don’t know what you’re doing,” you know?

Trudi: For sure. So, we went from that one hire. And I started her off with just one project because I was doing this research project for a university. So, I hired her for that, 10 hours a month. And now she’s working like 20 hours a week and we’re looking at how she moves to fulltime in the next couple of months. And then I went, like, a little – I got really excited about it and I was like, “I can hire everybody now…”

Rachel: This is exactly – I mean, I’m obsessed with, and I holler about this all the time in the mastermind to all of our clients, like listen, there’s a certain point where you have to hire to get to that next level. Once you get to six figures and you’re over that 100K mark and you’re around 150, 200, whatever and you’re real busy, you have to hire help. That is the only way to scale.

And it’s the main reason why only 2% of women entrepreneurs reach seven figures, because so few of us hire other people. We think we have to do it all ourselves. So, I’m like, I just need you to open up the first door. Because when you have that first person and you see what’s possible and you see how you can bring other people’s talents in and what you guys can accomplish together, then you’re like, “Oh hell no.” Then you’re on a tear and you want to hire everyone.

Trudi: And it’s amazing, like, what you learn when you’re transparent about what it is you’re trying to build and what you’re trying to do, it’s amazing the people who just come out of the woodwork and support you. So, we were able to hire an enrollment coach who is going to do – because just scale, I can’t be on the phones all day talking to people about potentially which program is the right program for them. So, I found someone who was willing to work on commission, and not only work on commission, but help us to develop the standard operating procedures for how that’s done. And as we grow, we’ll shift how that person is paid.

But they were so into what we were doing that they were just like, “I just want to help. I’m happy to do it this way and be a part of it.” And she’s going to do, like, a sales clinic for my clients like once a month, just because she wants to. And then I just hired a program director part time for our local program, because I’m traveling a lot and I need somebody to be here that people can interact with.

And even now, that program, it’s just one program. It meets once a month, so it doesn’t need to be a lot of hours. But, as history has shown me, you start working with someone for a couple of hours a month and you just find all kinds of opportunities for growth and it increases your capacity. And so, I’m hoping to be able to hire that person fulltime at some point later in the year.

Rachel: I’m just so proud. It makes me so happy, seriously, because I think building a team is one of the scariest things. People are terrified of, like, payroll. They’re terrified, like, “I’ve got to pay this person every week or every month,” however often you do it, you’re like, “Am I going to have enough to pay them and pay myself and take care of these kids?” and all the things. So, I love that you’re just full steam ahead because this is the only way. It really is, at a certain point.

Trudi: It really is. I was looking at my travel schedule just over the next couple of months, from now through June. I’m gone probably twice a month for even more than a week in some cases. And sometimes in time zones that don’t match up with US time zones. I need people here to be able to get on the phone with people support people. So I wouldn’t be able to do the traveling that I’m doing and meeting the people and taking the speaking opportunities and going to the retreats that I’m going on and still have the business running like the way that it is. Because now, we have many clients.

And so, that’s the second thing in terms of different things that we’ve implemented, is we’ve figured out how to have a flagship program that can take people at multiple points during the year, which is a huge thing, I was a little skeptical about it at first because I was like, no, I don’t know how that’s going to work. But even at the beginning, I really loved the concept because it takes the pressure off of that launch. So many people are out here trying to launch a program, like once a year, a big program. And if you don’t hit your enrollment or you just underestimated something, you don’t have a lot of wiggle room. It impacts your revenue for the entire year. And then we have people launching all kinds of things, like multiple times a year.

Rachel: Exactly right, that’s what happens. If you launch something and it doesn’t turn out the way that you want to for whatever reason – and often, let’s be honest, the first time you launch something, you might have a lot of success because it’s brand-new. And then the second time, you’re going to see enrollment drop down a little bit and you’re going to have to figure out, what are those things that we need to do? Where are we finding new people? How are we getting fresh blood in this community all the time?

So, there are some problems to solve. And it gets better and better and better over time. But if you are putting all your eggs in that one basket and then you don’t reach your goal, then you’re like, “Okay, now it’s April and I haven’t made enough money, I don’t have enough money to pay my team for the summer, so now let me launch something else. And now, it’s august and now I’ve got to launch something else.” And it’s just like glut. You have too many programs to offer, too busy, and still not making enough money, you know.

Trudi: For my clients, that’s a very nonprofit kind of thing to do because you’re taught all of these messages around you’re not in it for the money, it’s not about the money, you’re here to serve, all these things. And so, for my clients, they’re really used to coming from a place where they’re overworking and underpaid and they just kind of feel like they’ve signed up for that. It took me a long time to kind of shed that layer. I call it the nonprofit mindset. There’s a couple of things going on with that. But it just took me a while to kind of shed that.

So, figuring out how to do it for this program in particular and just getting the support to, like, really figure it out so that clients can come in and feel supported and not feel like they’re behind and they’re still a community because that’s important to us. It’s not a choose-your-own-adventure experience. It’s a very tight container.

So, yeah, so that changed a lot for us because it allows me to have a little less anxiety around enrollment at the beginning. And also be able to serve people, like when they call in the middle of the year and they need that program, it’s like, “Okay, we have a start date coming up. You can join then.” It’s great.

Rachel: Exactly, to me, I’m like, if you’ve got an amazing offer, why are we only offering it once a year? Why not offer it when people need it? Why not sell it every single day?

Trudi: I think one of the advantages that I had in really taking that on is that I had, because of my background, I had a lot of experience designing curriculum and, like, programing. And that’s what I did as a consultant, creating learning journeys for people and creating opportunities. I’m really a stickler for having clear objectives and having the tactics that you use in your program match up. I’m an academic, so I used to teach research methods and things like that. So it was just really important that that was embedded into the program.

So, once I figured out – I knew that once I could crack the code on, like, how do we build the community aspect of it, that the content was going to be good, it was just really a matter of, like, okay how do we do this in a way that people feel like they haven’t missed out?

But coming into MDB, I was like, “I don’t feel behind.” There was a structure in place where I felt very supported and that I felt like people knew what they were doing. So, I was like, okay, that makes a difference.

Rachel: Yeah, for sure I agree. I mean, I think that is huge, getting out of that launch model. And I think there’s nothing wrong with launching. Like, if you still want to launch, you can, but it takes the pressure off that I don’t have to have all the money for the year in this one launch because I know early days, when I used to live by that model, I would launch something or have a launch, and if it didn’t go exactly the way that I wanted, I’d take to my bed for a week because I’d be devastated because I’d worked on this launch for, like, three months. All of my time and energy was all kind of banking on this. You’re investing money in that launch. And also, can we talk about how it’s exhausting? Doing a massive launch is like – oh god, it is miserable. No one enjoys that.

Trudi: It is. It is. And you hear it. I’ve been in the industry long enough to – and I know you do too. You have friends who do things that way, and it is, the whole team is burnt out. It’s wild.

Rachel: Yes. Exactly. And I’m like, I’m not feeling that.

Trudi: But some people, they like that method, and for them, that’s how they teach. So I get it, but I think that there’s probably a lot of people who can move to something a little more flexible who are just like, nervous about it. I get it.

Rachel: Exactly. And to me, recurring revenue is really important and I think that’s also a piece to this that’s really valuable. And so I’m not anti-launching, but I am sort of like, hey, there’s another way if you want it, you know? So I think it’s important for people to know about that. Okay, so you built a team, you created a flagship and went to cohort based, allowing people to come in all year long. Tell me, what was the third thing that you did?

Trudi: I think the third major difference, we’ve done some things like create better systems and make sure that we have routines and stuff like that, but honestly, the most important thing I think that has shifted is the community. Having the opportunity to be in a program with other women, especially many women of color who are earning at that level and who have real dreams around oh no, we’re trying to hit seven figures this year, and it’s not like, this lofty goal. It’s not like, there’s a strategy that I’m implementing, this is going to happen.

It’s life-changing, and I grew up broke. You know, both of my parents worked. My father is a veteran and my mom worked in non-profits, but we were working class people. I was a teen mom when I was 18 years old. I was on food stamps and welfare and section eight and all the things. So there were times in my house when I didn’t have lights. That stuff is very real. So…

Rachel: And you know I know about it. I know all about it.

Trudi: I’ve said this to you like, that’s one of the reasons why oh no, I can do this program. Because I feel like when I say to Rachel, this is different because of this or this is a circumstance because of – you get it in a way that not everybody’s going to understand. So yeah, to be in a room full of people where people have come from these various backgrounds, recently at the retreat I was sharing that.

Probably 11 of us went out to dinner. We’re ordering – probably ordered a dozen pizzas and all these appetizers and like, nobody ever asked like, for a different check. Nobody’s checking their bank. The check came and it was like, here, just split it however many ways. Nobody’s like, I didn’t eat any of this.

And that’s very much the environment that I came from. And that’s real because people need to be like that in the environment – I mean, I say I came from, but I still live here. I still live – I live one town over from where I grew up. And so I’m very much still connected to that community. So it is different to be in a place, especially when you have been led to believe that that’s not possible for you and that is not possible for people who look like you and look like the people who you are closest with.

When you have been told both directly and indirectly that that’s not possible, it is absolutely life-changing to be sitting in a space where you’re just like, oh, that was a lie. That was a big lie and I’m not here for it anymore. It is. And I come home and I’m trying to tell other people like, no, this is real, and they’re looking at me like I’m crazy. But like, it is.

Rachel: Yes. It’s so funny. I think mindset coaching is very important and we do that in the mastermind, but I think part of the mindset coaching really people where one of the members just shared a week or so ago that she just hit her first $25,000 month. Somebody else is sharing like, oh my god, I made $400,000 last year. Somebody else was like, I’ve hired all these people and now I don’t even know what to do with my time because they’re all doing all the things.

Trudi: That is a great problem to have.

Rachel: Exactly, right? Just seeing all of that stuff and seeing like, oh, these people are getting results, they’re implementing, and that is very motivational. It prevents you from kind of sitting back and coasting. And it’s showing you what’s possible. I love that you talked about ordering the pizza and no one’s worried about the bill. We always are talking about like, you’re traveling to Bali soon, right?

Trudi: Yeah, absolutely.

Rachel: We’re doing all these big fancy things, but then it’s like, when it really hits you is when you’re like, oh crap, I remember when I couldn’t go out to dinner without stressing about the bill. You know what I mean? And when it hits you like that, you almost could cry just thinking about like, oh my god, my life is different now, you know?

Trudi: Yeah. And I was able to be there with a team member, which made it like, extra special because I was like, now able to bring someone who is a little younger, you know what I mean? This is all new for her, to be like, look at this. And it was transformational for her as well. So yeah, it comes down to those real regular kind of moments where you’re like, oh, this is cool.

Rachel: Yeah, all the time. I wake up in my house and I’m like, look at this view. This is my house. I live here. Still. I still be like, what? How do I live here? Or when I’m sitting in my office at my desk and my kids, in the springtime they’re riding their bikes up and down the driveway and I’m like, what? I’ve provided this for them. It’s all those little moments that you’re like, wow, this is really happening, this is really my life. It means so much. It really does.

Trudi: And that’s what really is driving me. We have – so between me and my fiancé, we have six kids. And some of them are adult children. The kids that I had when I was a teenager are now in their early 20s. And we have an 11-year-old who we homeschool. And the fact that we’re able to just homeschool is amazing. It’s amazing.

This goal of having this house with all of our kids and soon grandchildren can be and we can send our son out because we still don’t live in a community where I would feel comfortable just sending my son out to ride down the street. It’s safe but the cars and stuff, we’re very close to the street and all of that kind of stuff. So yeah, I would love to be able to just send him out in the backyard with the dog and they can run around. So I’m like, focused on what’s next? I can’t wait.

Rachel: And I think it’s like, one thing to say I want to make a million dollars but I always ask why. Because for me, what was driving me for a very long time was getting into a real nice home and a home that we could raise our kids long-term. We don’t have to move a lot because we moved a lot when they were younger.

That was my big thing. And then once I accomplished that, I had a road runner moment like okay, what’s next? And then once I figured out that next dream, then I was like, okay. And that’s the stuff that motivates you on a daily basis. I think it’s important that women are altruistic, but I also think that it’s important that we are comfortable building wealth. We are comfortable getting paid for our labor, you know what I mean? That is so radical for so many people. That I deserve to be paid and paid well.

Trudi: It is radical because again, we have been taught indirectly and directly that you’re lucky for every little thing that you get. I remember, I never forget being assistant professor, I was 31 years old, and my closest colleague was in her 60s. And she would always be talking about how lucky I was and how the students liked me because I was so cool and young. And I was like, no.

First of all, I wasn’t lucky. I’ve worked extremely hard to be here. And everyone will try to fool you. The world will try to fool you at every opportunity to try to trick you into thinking that you’re lucky for what you have, that it can be gone at any moment, and not to ruffle too many feathers along the way or else everything will be gone. That is so real.

So many women, especially women of color, are walking around with that anxiety in them and it’s a very physical thing. You can feel it in your body when you’re in some of these workplaces that are trying to play you, you know what I mean? And then when you switch over to entrepreneurship, there’s a lot of work that has to be done to undo those things.

Rachel: 100%, because none of that serves you. None of that is going to help you build a business. You actually have to unlearn all of that in order to build your business.

Trudi: Yeah, it’s so true. At this point, I’m just convinced that it’s not more secure than working for anybody because you could be let go. The grant could dry up and you could be – you know what I mean? You won’t have a job in a couple months or someone can be – in the case of the school that I was working with, I remember I used to cry in the car because I didn’t want to go inside because that’s how toxic it was.

I loved the students. I used to cry in the car and I was like, praying like, please, this business has to grow because I was working full-time and doing the business full-time too and everything. Either this needs to be sustainable or I have to give it up and I have to just work for people for the rest of my life.

And I got fired because I wasn’t a good fit. Because I was ruffling feathers and I was like, no, you can’t speak that way to students, you can’t do that. But because it wasn’t any misconduct, it was really truly like, I wasn’t a good fit. They paid me out like, my entire teaching contract. So it was like a dream come true. They were like, here, take this money, just – we don’t want you.

Rachel: We’ll pay you to go away and you’re like, thank you.

Trudi: It was so great. It was so – the HR woman was like, you seem really calm. And I was like, I’m thrilled.

Rachel: Trudi, that is so funny.

Trudi: Yeah, and that was the little bit of space that I needed to really create a little bit of – this was years ago. But yeah, it was just like, probably $20,000 that I took the summer off, I spent the time with the kids, I got a website. I made some investments that really grew into this thing I have.

Rachel: I love it. I love it. That’s awesome. I think your story is so inspiring. Okay, so tell us a little bit about where you’re at now. The work that you’ve been doing, hiring people, building your flagship, the community that you now have, this entrepreneurial community that you're a part of, what has that done for you? How has that impacted you personally and business-wise?

Trudi: I mean, it has really, really changed my life. So we ended up closing out the year just over $300,000, which was insane, and I didn’t burn myself all the way out in the process, which I was really, really afraid of.

Rachel: That’s huge. I think we all have had that experience of like, oh, I just had a killer month and I worked like a dog and I can’t do it again. And then the next month is like, nothing because you just cannot sustain it. So I think that’s huge making that amount of money and not having to hustle so hard to do it

Trudi: And that was like, $300,000 cash in the door, not sales. I was telling my fiancé, I was like, man, if I had sold nothing else this year, in 2020, we still have contracted over six-figures in revenue. That’s insane to me. That was like, what? How is that even possible?

Rachel: That’s amazing, Trudi. I love that. You’re like, the work that we did last year is setting us up for this year.

Trudi: Right. So it takes a little bit of that pressure off right at the beginning, but we have big seven-figure dreams. So this year, I’m doing a lot of traveling. Part of it has opened up just being more visible, doing a better job at being connected to the community that I have gained, not just through MDB but just through all of the work that I’ve done. Being a little more intentional about who are those relationships, how do I ask for things, how do I get help. And so I have a bunch of speaking events, I was just offered a TEDx talk, which is wild.

Rachel: That’s amazing. Congratulations. I love it.

Trudi: Thank you. It’s so great. We have the flagship program which everyone is in love with. The clients are just in love with because it really allows them to just, again, put their values right in their business. So everybody feels really good. We’re able to offer those clients also a sales clinic and we have a mindset coach who’s going to be doing mindset clinics once a month for now.

So we’re just looking at ways to enhance that client experience. I’m doing intensives with people because I love them and I just love the kind of laser problem-solving. It satisfies the nerd in me. The problem-solving nerd in me. And I’m just in a place where all of the things that when I was a kid that I used to dream about, I just realized how much closer I am to them and it’s incredible. It’s really incredible.

Rachel: I love it. Oh my god, you’re making me so happy. I’m trying not to cry this whole episode. I love it. Okay, so one last question. Who would you recommend MDB to? Who do you want to mastermind with? What kind of person do you want to have at the retreats or that you’re hanging out with going to get pizza?

Trudi: I think folks who have that real ambitious spirit about them who are ready to use their businesses to create good in the world. People who are ready to just level up. I think what I have seen this year that I have heard before but I’m really seeing it, not just in myself but in others is that making that jump or being on that path to seven figures is not just about strategy, but it’s about who you are. About your mindset, about who you’re showing up as. And so being ready to do that work on yourself and in your business at the same time, I want to be hanging out with people who are ready to take that on.

Rachel: Yes, I love that. I love that so much. Awesome. Okay lastly, tell everybody where they can find you, where they can connect with you if they want to work with you. Tell them all the good things.

Trudi: Yeah. So people can find me on Facebook, Trudi Lebrón, like Lebrón James. Everyone always says that. It’s the easiest way for people to remember. Or on Instagram, just Trudi Lebrón on Instagram. Connect with me, send me a message. I love just meeting people. You can hang out in our Facebook group.

Rachel: Tell them the name of the Facebook group if they want to find it.

Trudi: So the Facebook group is called Activate with Trudi Lebrón.

Rachel: Awesome. Alright, well thank you so much for being here and for sharing your amazing stories and all this hard work that you’ve done and the results that you’ve gotten.

Trudi: You are so welcome. Thank you for inviting me. It’s like a dream come true. It’s like full circle. I found you on a podcast and here we are together.

Rachel: Here we are. Yes exactly, I love it. I love it so much.

Million Dollar Badass is our advanced business mastermind for six-figure women entrepreneurs. We focus on creating lasting scalable businesses while also addressing the very real issues that are specific to the experience of those who are not men.

MDB is not for all women, or all entrepreneurs. And it is not simply a coaching program. MDB is a system for six-figure earners to scale strategically. I want every woman to know what it feels like to wield economic power. This is my mission.

In order to go from 100K to a million, your business needs an identity that your clients connect with on a deep level and that inspires them to specific action. It also needs intellectual property that can be leveraged to the nth degree to scale your business and generate revenue even when you aren’t working. It also needs an implementation strategy that doesn’t require your constant time and attention.

All of our coaching, materials, and training are designed around these three elements to take you from 100K to a million. If you’re ready to do the work and also crave a community that will support you in your growth, apply right now for the Million Dollar Badass Mastermind by visiting helloseven.co/apply.

Don’t wait too long because our next group of members will begin on March 10^th. You’ll have the opportunity to join us in France for our Million Dollar Made Retreat, May 17^th through the 23^rd, and for a special slay-cation, a Build Your Brand Retreat in Taos, New Mexico, July 19^th through the 25^th.

If you’re currently running a business that generates six figures or more per year, this is your invitation to learn more and join Million Dollar Badass. Go to helloseven.co/apply and you’ll fill out a short application and select a time for your interview with our enrollment specialist.

And if you’re not at that point in your business yet, let this inspire you and help us spread the word. If there are a few women in your life who are at this level, it’s likely they are looking for something like this too. I guarantee it.

I hope to meet a select few of you in March. Submit your application and secure your interview at helloseven.co/apply.