159 Your Life as a Business: Entrepreneur Reelika Schulte on How to Leverage Your Life Experience for Online Recurring Revenue

Reelika Schulte teaches women around the world how to leverage their life experiences to launch their own thriving online and “evergreen” coaching business. CEO and founder of Design Dream Lifestyle, Reelika shares tips on automated marketing funnels, how to create “evergreen products” and ways to create passive income.

Melinda Wittstock:         Reelika, welcome to Wings.

Reelika Schulte:               Thank you for having me, so glad to be here.

Melinda Wittstock:         I’m excited to have you on too, and I want to start at the beginning with you and like the origin story, if you will. What was the spark that set you off on your entrepreneurial journey?

Reelika Schulte:               Sure, so I feel like first of all, I grew up in an entrepreneurial family, so my parents were entrepreneurs, they actually run a business together. My dad had an air conditioning business and my mom was doing accounting for the business, so I grew up with this mindset that if you are a business owner, you have a little bit more flexibility in terms of that you can choose your own hours in your work, but you also have to maybe like hustle a little more sometimes too, but it’s not just like an easy road, always.

So my issue was my parents always told me just start a business, but I never knew what to do. That was my biggest thing that I never felt like compelled to do anything in terms of a business, I never had a good idea that I would feel like yes, let’s go for it. So I went to, as a traditional road, I went to college, I got my business degree, I went to, got a good job, and so I felt that I would be set for success, and I was working in really heavy court finance field, like investment banking and audits, and I really realized that I’m working almost like ten hours a day and there is no freedom and there is really a limit as well, how much income you can make.

Now, that was more like this professional field, but on the same time, I was a single mom as well, because my background is that I was engaged but I ended up being in a very mentally abusive relationship which I ended when I was six months pregnant and that’s kind of like, I was working as a single mom, like raising my little son, my toddler, by myself and then working in this investment banking and audit and then felt like I’m stuck, like I’m in a prison, because at one point, I wanted to provide a good lifestyle to my son and to really live a good life, but on the other hand, I realized that I’m always away, I’m always working, even when I came home, I was always working, so at one day, I realized that there has to be a better way, that I have to figure out something that I can do from home so I could spend more time with my son, so I started, literally just Googling online, because as I said, I had no idea, what should I do, right?

And so I started Googling and I found blogging and I came across a blog post that talked about just building a business through blogging, and I looked into this and I got really interested in it and I started taking classes and I actually launched my personal finance and business blog, so that was my first venture online, so how everything kind of started, and what I realized is that there is completely unlimited market online that you can reach people globally, that you can really make this huge impact as well.

But one thing that I also came across with blogging was that you constantly have to come up with new content, and for me, because I wasn’t a native English speaker, so that was really hard for me to do and this was more as a side income for me, if you may, and I had to pay for an editor who was editing my blog posts and everything, so I realized that although I’m pushing out my content and although I was selling some self-study personal income courses, that I was making some money but it never was enough to cover my bills and to really quit my job and to start living the life I really wanted to live.

So one day, because I’ve always been interested in learning more, I ended up going into a conference where I learned about [inaudible 00:11:16] business and for me, that was the sparking moment. I was like, this is it, because I love to connect with people and I always love to teach, to educate, and but also to be online, to have this online presence that I can really impact people, especially women from all around the world, so that’s how I kind of like launched my business and eventually this grew to this moment that I was able to quit my job and go fully into business as well, so this is my moment when I realized that you don’t have to choose one or the other, you can work from home, you can have your own online business, if you’re just passionate about what you’re doing.

Melinda Wittstock:         That’s so true, oh my goodness. What a story. I just want to go back to what you said, though, about being in this abusive relationship and how you climbed out of that. That can take such a toll on our confidence, on so many things, and so brava to you, right? For getting yourself out of that, but it must’ve been hard.

Reelika Schulte:               It definitely was, and it was just like the moment that I can’t live like that, and sometimes it’s hard to realize, especially because the relationship that I was in was not physically abusive, because typically physically, you have some let’s say, you can see that you have some physical marks, but mentally, you’re really just always questioning yourself, like am I crazy or is the other person kind of like a little bit manipulative like that?

So for me, I just made a decision to be true to myself and to really, I didn’t want to put my son into this position, that I made a decision that I’d rather be a single mom and really just raising my son by myself, and I was really committed to that, and I feel like when you make this decision, you have to stick to your decision, as well. If you can’t, just let’s say, go back, because if it didn’t work then, it won’t work in the future. That’s my personal experience, so yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:         Well, what is wonderful about what you did was that you trusted yourself and you took that leap, not necessarily knowing. A lot of people are afraid of change, even though when, even when they’re in a bad situation.

Reelika Schulte:               Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:         Right? It’s sometimes difficult to leap into the unknown, and the fact that you did that is so important, I mean, I think for anybody listening to this, if you’re in a situation like that, you’re really not happy, there’s an interesting thing that happens when you do get into alignment with your own truth and you take that leap. Events have a way of conspiring in your favor when you’re true to yourself. Did you find that, that the minute you make that decision, you know, I’m going to be in alignment, I’m going to be true to myself and what I want and you take this leap into the unknown, that things sort of, the pieces fall in the right place.

Reelika Schulte:               Absolutely. They really do and although it may sound, let’s say, like a horrid, but it’s not like an easy thing to always do, but I would say when you make this decision, you make this for a reason and being in alignment really just having this peace of mind every single day that you don’t have to excuse yourself, because one thing that I also realized that, if I have to explain myself, I’m not being myself, so that anything that you do and so you really have to see that if you have this peace of mind and what I realized and you actually said a very good thing, that things really go into your places and things really happen for a reason, so for me, I made a decision that I’d rather raise my son by myself than be in a place where I have to protect him every single day.

I would say when my son was about two years old, because I started really raising him, since he was six, I left my abusive relationship when I was six months pregnant, so when my son was two years old, I actually met my current husband, and we had, I was living back in Europe and he was living in the United States, so we met online, but we started having a relationship and we flew back and forth, I came to the United States and so he came back to Europe as well, so we had this long-distance relationship two years, and when my son was four and I came to visit my boyfriend again with my son, then he proposed and we stayed, so now we have been married almost three years already, so just recently, like three years since I came here to the United States, and I would say my husband has been the most wonderful dad to my son that I could ever expect, and I see that really things fall into places and I hadn’t left the situation back then, who knows where I would be nowadays and how my son would be.

So everything happens for a reason, and really, the pieces fall into place on their own once you make the decision to be in alignment.

Melinda Wittstock:         Well, that’s wonderful, and I can imagine that it’s a real asset, actually, having gone through that experience in your coaching business, when you’re helping other women who may be in that situation or similar situations or at least be struggling with confidence, because confidence is something that a lot of women lack, we question ourselves so much and that’s often how we end up in these relationships and why we have a hard time getting out of them and not just romantically, but even work relationships.

How does that show up in, and we’re going to get into the work that you do for your clients in just a minute, but how does that show up in how you help them on an ongoing basis with their businesses?

Reelika Schulte:               Sure, and I would say that really the women, many women have resonated with my story as well, so the same way that they are either moms that they have maybe like gone through something or they are single moms sometimes, or we have women who have had experience when it comes to abuse as well, in the past, so really, just let’s say, you start attracting those people who have had similar experience and they see the strength in you, and they kind of take it on themselves as well, that they see that it is possible to take it on themselves as well, that they see that it is possible to be confident, to trust yourself and to really, you know, make impossible possible pretty much, so yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:         I’m very interested in your concept of an evergreen business and how through your coaching you help predominately women figure out this business model. First of all, talk to me about an evergreen business model is and then you help women get there.

Reelika Schulte:               Absolutely. So typically, this evergreen business model means that it’s ongoing, such as, let’s say, you can have maybe a lead magnet that is webinar, which is automated, which is prerecorded, and if you set this up like running, that gives a lot of great value about the work you do to your prospects, to your leads, and then at the end of this webinar, you can ask those people to book a call with you, because that’s how we coaches really draw people into our programs, and if you run, let’s say, Facebook ads to your webinar, that keeps running 24/7, and ask them to book a call with you at the end of this webinar, then you can really start booking those discovery calls kind of like on autopilot, if you may, and the difference between this is, let’s say, a lot of times, people do launches online, which means that at some point, they maybe launched this program like once or twice a year, and they have doors open and doors close.

The downside of this model is that if something goes wrong, you actually can, you don’t have time to fix that. Now with this evergreen model, let’s say that if you have a really good lead magnet, such as a webinar that gives a high value content, and people really learn from that and people really feel like they’re connected to your story, then at the end of that, they can book this call with you, but if something is not working in this model, you have time to fix that, because this is ongoing and you can kind of control as well, let’s say with the Facebook ads as well, how much is your budget and if you want to increase your budget at some point, to start enrolling those people into your program.

And as far as the program as well, so my program for example and all my clients at the programs they create, is also evergreen, which means that this program is always open, that it’s never closing down, that it maybe has a membership site, a private Facebook group, but you’re enrolling clients into this program year-round so there is no specific time when they open the doors and when they close the doors. What’s really nice about this is it allows you to kind of balance this out with your own personal time and with your own budget as well, because quite often, women start off with organic marketing, too, getting maybe a couple clients in, and then really just growing from there.

But this really allows you to control the client flow and the income level that you have and just balance out your personal life too.

Melinda Wittstock:         That’s wonderful, yes, it’s the best way, because you start getting passive income that way, which to me is the holy grail of entrepreneurship, which is just income that’s coming in without you having to work for it, so your money is working for you rather than you working for your money, so how did you figure this out? What was the moment in your journey you were describing, you know, your kind of entrepreneurial journey at the beginning, what was the light bulb that said, oh right, evergreen model, that makes sense.

Reelika Schulte:               Yeah, so it’s funny because when I did blogging, then I really started generating passive income as well, because I had, I created some courses online and I built my audience and I was just selling those courses, but so I saw that it works, some people really want to purchase something and it’s not just giving them a course or something, but it’s actually really giving them good value, and really just maybe like upgrading those students too to the next level program.

But I would feel like, I’m always being, like my background and everything has always been, I say business or finance, which I’m always ready and analytical, and like really about the strategy, so in the way that everything kind of comes together is when you take it into the basis and to see that is my landing page converting, for example. If it’s not converting enough, so what should I do to fix that? Is my [inaudible 00:23:53] not converting enough, like if that’s not converting, if people are dropping off, how can I fix that? Or ways just that, if people are watching your rating but they’re not booking a call video, so you got to fix this stuff, or maybe they’re booking tons of calls with you, but nobody ends up, like you’re actually signing up to your program, so if you analyze a business that okay, where are those gaps and how everything kind of comes together, then you can really build a really strong business model.

And for me, this was always a light bulb moment, because I never liked those launches, because it was so exhausting. It was just so exhausting to do this maybe like six, fifteen hours in a row and the list building and everything.

Melinda Wittstock:         Oh my goodness, yeah, and it’s not accruing revenue either. Like why do something that’s not accruing revenue, because you just have to pick it up and do it all over again, and you have to do all the testing all over again, and oh my goodness, and yet so many people do it that way.

Reelika Schulte:               Yes, absolutely. I do feel like it’s the easier way and it’s like everything that you can automate nowadays is the easy way to go, because why wouldn’t you do that? So if you can set those up and if they start working for a business, so why not, it’s like, that’s like nowadays, right, and that’s how it’s supposed to be, because all this technology that they have is, the technology really is our best friend. If you can use that to benefit your business, to help your clients who actually searching you already today, then why not use this. Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:         So when you’re going through and say, testing even your own funnel or helping your clients with that, what are some of the biggest mistakes, because there are so many mistakes that you can make right from the start to the end of the funnel as you took us through just a moment ago, right? So first of all, you may be aiming at the wrong customers, you may have the wrong copy, maybe your design is kind of off or it’s not resonating, you know, maybe the webinar’s not working, maybe you’re called to action, I mean, there’s so many different places and so start at the beginning. What are some of the mistakes that people commonly make through that process from start to finish with the funnel from like, you know, the initial kind of connection through the content through the cultivation through the conversion?

Reelika Schulte:               Oh my gosh, yes, so I would say really the biggest, biggest mistake that I see and let’s say when, and that comes from my own personal experience too, is when it comes to this lead magnet, and let’s say lead magnet in terms of the 3D, maybe not that you give away, for example, and the problem with this is, a lot of times, people just think that I’m just going to throw something together and let’s see if it sticks, but if it’s not connected to your actual offer, that you actually ended up selling to your customers, then it’s not going to convert, so the best way to fix that, really, is take a look at your program, the main service that you offer, whether this is your crew program or whether this is your one on one coaching program, and really just see, what are the main keys that you can already give a taste in a webinar, because people are not, you know, you can give this information to people in a webinar, but it doesn’t mean that they know how to implement this right away, but if this is literally like they’re connected to your offer, they want to know more, and it’s like a natural way to kind of go and sign up to your program as well, and I always like to kind of give an example of, let’s say, let’s say a Costco for example, or any food store you go, right?

They have those samples out there typically, right, like here’s a sample of let’s say a peanut butter cookie, right? You try this peanut butter cookie, okay, this is great, and now if you love it, you would like to purchase that, but now if they give you maybe a chocolate chip cookie, it’s not the same, and you’re going to try this, so it’s the same thing with your webinar and with your offer. If those two things are not matching up enough, then you end up really struggling getting in those clients. You may get those leads, but you end up not getting the customers on there.

So if you match those two things, that you can see that the webinar is like a little sample of your work, then you will end up having so much success in your business, because people really see that, I love what you do, and give me more, I’m ready for more.

Melinda Wittstock:         So a question for you. Do webinars still work? It seems like there are so many people doing so many webinars, is there a webinar fatigue?

Reelika Schulte:               I feel like it’s not, because definitely, there are a lot of webinars, but I would say there are not many good ones, so if you can stand out with a really good webinar and let’s say really having, giving people those a-ha moments, then your webinar will work. If your webinar is very superficial like that, then it won’t work, but I feel like nowadays, people want a good content, they really want in-depth content, but this content that you give them has to be high value, so you can definitely, let’s say do challenges, video series or something like that, but really the webinars still work, and I see that because you give out your story, you give out tons of value, and if it’s really targeted to those right people, they will sign up for that. They will stick around and they want to know more as well.

Melinda Wittstock:         That’s wonderful. So one of the things I want to ask you is, you get to the end of the webinar and you’re asking for people to call you, right? As a coach, how do you do that effectively?

Reelika Schulte:               Yeah, so at the end of this webinar, we do offer them, for those people who are ready to take those next steps, that if you want to implement everything we just covered and even more, then we do offer that click here to sign up for our free call, and this is a breakthrough call that either myself or someone from my team is taking and we just walk them through where they’re at right now in their business, maybe they’re just getting started as well, from the scratch as well, or maybe they’re ready to quit their 9 to 5 to transition into business, and where they actually want to go with the business too, and if we see that we can help them, then we can offer them to join our program too. If we don’t see that we can help them, then obviously, we don’t even offer them anything, but that’s how it works, but the nice thing is if this model works, because it really brings you those discovery calls on autopilot, but you can wake up in the morning and you have those discovery calls in your calendar ready for the next few days.

Melinda Wittstock:         Yeah, that’s wonderful. So what kind of conversion rates are you looking for these sorts of things? What’s good? What’s your goal from cold or warm traffic to be able to get your call schedule filled up?

Reelika Schulte:               Yes, absolutely, so we tweak everything on our way, and we want to set out definitely with the landing page conversion rate. I would say the average industry standard is anywhere between twenty to thirty percent, but I would say my webinars, I mean my landing pages are converting over seventy-five percent.

Melinda Wittstock:         That’s amazing! Oh my goodness, and these are opt-in pages to your webinar?

Reelika Schulte:               Yes.

Melinda Wittstock:         That’s awesome, Reelika. Congratulations on that. How long, just out of curiosity, how long did it take you to get it to that conversion rate? How much testing, how many months?

Reelika Schulte:               Honestly, that went pretty fast, because I have always like, when I dive into the strategy, I really see, like okay, I pull those numbers, I have my spreadsheets and everything, so I do the math, and it’s relatively about a couple months like that to get into this point.

Melinda Wittstock:         That’s awesome: I’m going to go have to go watch your webinar. That sounds amazing, really. Find Reelika’s webinar and see how she does it. That’s so cool. Okay. What about at the point where getting people to opt in to have the call?

Reelika Schulte:               So let’s say that once they opt in, we don’t lose the people on this landing page, that’s the first step, and I can say that my clients’ webinars that at least fifty percent, we always want to shave the landing page conversion rate, and from there, we always see the content has to be great, so if the content is great, that means that people are sticking around and right now, I see anywhere between seventy-five to eighty-five percent of people stick around to watch this webinar. Not everyone stays still and it’s not necessary that the content is that, but it’s sometimes that maybe you’re watching this on your phone, maybe you are busy or something happened, but then you can also catch the replay on the next day too, but I would say that typically people who watch this webinar, who see this call to action, about fifty percent of them actually end up taking action right away and booking this call as well.

You don’t actually need this quantity that much, but you really need this quality, and the way that [inaudible 00:33:37] looking at that is that those people who come from this business model to book a call with us are really pre-qualified leads of people, for example, they decide to click on the Facebook ads, they decide to go to the landing page, and not only go to this landing page, but they make a decision that yes, I need to sign up for this. Now, once they sign up, they actually make a decision as well, to stick around and to watch this webinar as well, and it’s really hard to get somebody’s attention for one hour, so if you really get this attention for one hour, they are really into your content, your story and they want to know more.

Now finally, they make a decision to actually take action and book a call as well, and last thing, they actually end up taking up, once we call them, picking up the phone as well, so if you kind of looking all the steps that those people are taking before they come talk to you, they are so pre-qualified already, that they are just ready to start their own business, start their own coaching business, and take it to the next level.

Melinda Wittstock:         Okay, so in the funnel, so the final step of course, and the step to the money, when you’re on those calls, you get them on the phone, is closing the deal, and so this gets into really classic salesmanship, or saleswomanship, or whatever, right?

Reelika Schulte:               Yes.

Melinda Wittstock:         So what are the common mistakes that people make in that case? I’ve seen so many entrepreneurs just be afraid of even asking for the sale.

Reelika Schulte:               Yes.

Melinda Wittstock:         They’re so afraid to ask, so let’s talk through that process, because I think it’s something that women really struggle with.

Reelika Schulte:               Correct. I feel like it starts with naming this call. So when I say naming this call, then if you are [inaudible 00:35:35] for example or let’s say the service provider, don’t call this as a coaching call, because it’s not a coaching call. And people get confused and they think they will just come and get some sort of free coaching. Calling the breakthrough call, I call it the discovery call, then people kind of know that yes, this is something that they will make me an offer as well. They’re not confusing people, and I would say that on this call as well, the most important thing is to really be present with this person. So don’t be someone who will do just like an interview them and just not really listening what’s going on. And as I said before to that it’s necessary getting every single person who comes on this call into your program, but it’s actually really having the right mindset. That let me come in, kind of like a doctor, but let me evaluate this person right now, like what is really going on with this person, like why you so struggling with this thing, and where do you really want to do and if your program and if you as the expert feel like you can help this person to go from this pain point to heaven, then be confident and show them like how you can do that.

If you see that you can’t make this, like you can’t help them, whatever reason, maybe their goal is a different or something is different, then be honest as well, say that I don’t think that my expertise here can help you. So if you come from this kind of place, with this mindset, everything kind of shifts. You’re not coming from the place of lack or need, but you’re really coming from the place of like the service and really helping someone, and really showing the way that, okay, here you are right now, and here you want to go, but here’s how I can help you. That my program is like a [inaudible 00:37:21] that will take you from the pain point to the heaven. And just really showing the outcomes as well.

Melinda Wittstock:         Right, so a lot of mistakes that women make, and this comes up over and over and over again on this podcast, is we often under price our services or our products, and then we over deliver, and then there’s a whole bunch of knock-on effects, it means that we can’t serve our clients as well because we get spread too thin, we get burnt out, we get discouraged, a whole bunch of different things. So let’s start at the beginning of that, why are we underpricing, and how do you find the right price?

Reelika Schulte:               Oh my goodness, this is such a good point, because I feel like lot of times, and let’s say especially when you’re new, that’s when you don’t really have a clue like how much should I really charge right? And you’re kind of looking around like what else is out there, like what are others doing, right? What it really should be, the price should come from the outcome. Like what is this outcome of your program really worth for this client? So for example, like maybe if you are, let’s say a relationship coach for example, right? So, if you’re helping someone to find the love of their life, so what is this worth for this person? It’s actually pretty much priceless, and so there is no price tag for that, and so you also want to find the people who would be committed, because if your price is too low, people are like, well are you really an expert if he’s really charging like not at all, right? Like pretty much for free.

So you have to find the balance between like the outcome and also like that everything that you kind of like do to serve them and that’s how you price the product, but I would say that if you’re doing, I see like new coaches in my program, their price points start anywhere from $1,500 to $6,000. So it comes down to, let’s say, specifically like whether this is a weight loss program, mindset program, whether this is one-on-one, or a group program, so like all different aspects, but you can start out, let’s say if you’re new, you can start out, let’s say, something a little bit like a lower, like anything over $1,000 I would say. Maybe do like one-on-one work, but you just kind of grow from there.

Just get confident because if you are not confident on a call, nobody ever is going to sign up with you, but if you are confident that you can help this person. Then, just say the number. Just say the price as it is, like $10, or like $2,000, it’s just as it is like in any number, and just be confident.

Melinda Wittstock:         One of my mentors gave me some great advice some years back, which was on those sales calls, literally to go for a no, because if it’s okay to get a no, and actually you try to accumulate no’s, here’s what it means, it means that you’re asking.

Reelika Schulte:               Yeah, yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:         And you get over your fear of the no, but the really important point, just it bears repeating again, is that you, through this funnel process, have already prequalified your customers. By the time they’re on the phone, they actually really want your service.

Reelika Schulte:               Yes.

Melinda Wittstock:         And you can use that time with them to really understand how to be of most value to them and essentially give them what they want, as long as that’s in alignment with what you’re offering and what your true skills are.

Reelika Schulte:               Correct, and actually it really is like, coaching is really like a two way street, that like, let’s say both the client and the coach have to met like a halfway. So this discovery call or this breakthrough call is really just discovering if you and I are good fit, like both ways. So even if the client says that I so want this thing, but if you as a coach feel like no, I can’t help this person. All right, just don’t feel like that this person is serious or is a good fit to this program, you can say no and it’s totally fine to say no, as you said, and but on the other hand, let’s say when it comes to this no, you need to understand if the client says, like if the prospect or if the client says no, you have to understand what is this no about. Is this no to your program, that yes this program sounds great, but I don’t think that this is a right fit for me, or is the program yes, but just the financial piece is a no at this moment. So there is a difference of that.

So that you just have to like figure this out, and you can ask directly, right? So like you can talk about the program first and just really get clear about and asking them do you see that this can actually help you get to where you want to go? And then this financial piece can be figured out as well.

Melinda Wittstock:         Yeah, that’s a great question, because as soon as they say yes, then, right? Like to get them to say yes, at that point is important. I think the other question that is very important is can you see any reason why you would not do this?

Reelika Schulte:               Like to enroll a client?

Melinda Wittstock:         Yeah, because you want to unearth what the objection may be and so that you can deal with it, right?

Reelika Schulte:               Yes, yes, because sometimes, and I haven’t had like a lot of those experiences, but sometimes people have very unrealistic expectations as well. So like I give you like example, which is let’s say I’m not even like offering them anything, I’m not like just completely saying no as well if somebody’s coming and is completely struggling and have never done a business before and expects to get into, let’s say like a $50,000 a month in three months or like that. So this sounds completely unrealistic to me, but I’m not even sure how this person can set those goals if they have never done business before. They have nothing in place, so like that. So I definitely want to make sure that everyone in my program is like a serious entrepreneur and is just like you know, has realistic goals as well, and has realistic like expectations that can be achieved as well. Because it’s kind of like, especially in my program too, we have a private Facebook community for example too, so you don’t want to have any bad apples [inaudible 00:43:39], you want to make sure that every single person who comes in, is someone who’s an action taker, who’s high vibe, who’s motivated, who wants to make an impact with the services whether this is mindset, or leadership, or wellness, or anything like this. But you don’t want anything that would like a bad influence to those people. So yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:         [crosstalk 00:44:02]. Yeah, well be picky too because there’s nothing more soul destroying I think when any kind of coaching I know that I’ve ever done is to work with someone who really doesn’t want to learn.

Reelika Schulte:               Oh my goodness, yes.

Melinda Wittstock:         Or is not prepared to do the work, because then you just really can’t offer value, and then it’s just sort of disheartening for you. So it’s wonderful to have great clients, but sometimes, and I want to ask you about this, sometimes it’s really good to say no to a client.

Reelika Schulte:               It is.

Melinda Wittstock:         Just not, you know, if there’s any lack of alignment, yeah, better to let go of that revenue to bring in better revenue. I guess.

Reelika Schulte:               Absolutely, because one thing is also that coaching is very personal. So if you’re selling, let’s say, it’s just some sort of like a course online that you don’t have to deal with that person, yes anybody can purchase that, but if you’re doing coaching, and if you do really like a deep work, and let’s say, that one-on-one piece and the group piece is involved, then you don’t want to be sitting with someone who’s very negative or not high vibe, like let’s say three months or six months in a row. So because that will bring you down as well, and if this person is not already committed and motivated on a discovery call, then imagine that they will never be motivated in the program because entrepreneurial journey is wonderful, but there are also some setbacks and you just have to push through those things, and you have to be, let’s say, give yourself maybe two hours to feel sorry about yourself, but then just move forward because otherwise you cannot have the success.

Melinda Wittstock:         This is so, so true. And so, what are, you know, we talked a lot about how you coach people to be successful in this, but we haven’t talked about your coaching, and what you teach. So tell me a little bit about your program and how you help women specifically.

Reelika Schulte:               Sure. So we have typically two types of women who comes to us. Let’s say the one type of women who come to us are still in a corporate field that they’re either lot of teachers I would say, we have many elementary teachers as well, or we have human resources people and CPAs anyone who has been maybe like working in a corporate field and feels like burned out, and wants to become their own boss, but really doesn’t know how to maybe like create the coaching program, how to market themselves, and how to actually start the business online. And the other type of people who come to us are coaches who have been doing some sort of coaching already right now, but maybe just charging like hourly basis. Maybe like $40 an hour and they don’t have packages yet, and they haven’t really been able to generate like a good income for themselves.

So what we do is we first of all really put the systems in place and are clear about how they can stand out online in terms of like who are their ideal clients, what’s your story, how can we add some specific spin on your story and your specific nature as well, and already on week three, we create the coaching package, which is premium coaching program, which is anywhere between, let’s say like $1,500 to $6,000 and this is either like the one-on-one program or a group program, which can be the Evergreen model based too.

And once they have their program done at the end of the first month, then we focus on the strategy, the marketing, and the sales piece as well. So we really just showing them the organic marketing, but how can you like get the clients to their Facebook lives, Facebook posting, Facebook groups, but also how do you take it to the next level through them, webinars and the funnels, and also really implementing this Evergreen business model too. So that they really will be doing the webinars as well, mastering the sales, and pretty much building up this entire business online that they can do from an idea to fully launched online business. With those who are coaching programs and passive income from products too.

Melinda Wittstock:         So Reelika, what’s next for you? What’s your big why and mission and where do you see you taking your business over the next 5/10 years? What’s the big moon shot?

Reelika Schulte:               Yeah, I feel like this current year has been all about traveling. So that now I have been really trying to scale up more, and when I say scaling up more is including people into my team, so that I can really take off the pressure from my shoulder that one thing that I always want to do, I want to go to my own clients, but I don’t necessarily have to do the design work or do those breakthrough calls, and things like that, but other than that, really just, let’s say, finding those quality people in my program that I can do deeper work with them, but also reaching bigger audience, such as through the networking.

So this current year is all about like the traveling for me. Just spending time more like with family, but also going to different live events, but I love live events and to actually network with people in person too. So I’m going to different places, different states in United States, but also to Europe to meet people, and next year I would say and the following years, it had been my dream as well to come up with a book. So I don’t have the idea yet specifically what this will be, but I feel like that would be kind of like the next step, and definitely starting doing some sort of like a retreats or live events as well myself, but these are like bigger plans for the next few years.

Melinda Wittstock:         Oh my goodness, how wonderful. And so, how can people find you, and work with you? Tell us where we can find your webinar to go watch, and also just if people want to go straight ahead and book a call with you, how can they do that?

Reelika Schulte:               Sure, absolutely. So you can go to my website, designdreamlifestyle.com, and there you will find this webinar as well, which is Four Keys, How to Build a Winning Coaching Business with Premium Programs and Positive Income, and if you want to, and on my website too, you can see that there is [inaudible 00:50:33] too that you can just directly book the call with me too. I do recommend that maybe you can take a look at the webinar first to see that if there is anything that resonates with you that is maybe part of your goals, and then we can talk about like how we can help you implement those pieces.

And you can also find me in social media, Reelika Schulte, and/or going to my Facebook business page, facebook.com/designdreamlifestyle.

Melinda Wittstock:         Wonderful. Well, Reelika, thank you so much for putting on your wings, sharing so much practical advice, and your inspiring story, and flying with us today.

Reelika Schulte:               Thank you so much for having me, it was such a fun, so fun to share everything.