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The podcast focuses on fiercely empowering women in business, as entrepreneurs and women in male-dominated industries, featuring guests who embody strength, resilience, competence, and a touch of sass as they navigate business and life.
Looking for guests who are willing to bring a wealth of experience and knowledge but also possess the strength, resilience, and sass that align with the tone of my podcast.
I want their stories and insights to provide immense value to my audience, helping me to establish a powerful podcast as a must-listen for women looking to empower themselves in business. The goal is to build competence and discover how brave women can be in business.
Welcome to Superheroes in Heels, the podcast where powerful women rise, lead, and own the room. I'm Kimberley Borgans, your host, fellow trailblazer, and unapologetic advocate for women in the world of business. With over thirty years of experience building success in a male dominant industry, I'm here to empower you to do the same. Each week, you'll hear bold conversations with inspiring guests who embody strength, resilience, a little dash of sass, and a little bit of grace. Together, we'll challenge the status quo, break through barriers, unlock your confidence, and unleash your inner superhero.
Kimberley Borgens:You ready? Let's go.
Kimberley Borgens:Hello, and welcome to Superheroes in Heels with Kimberley Borgans, where we fiercely empower women to step into their role, encourage them to take up their space, and step into command presence like never before. I'm Kimberley Borgans, your host. I've worked in a male dominant industry for over thirty three years, building businesses, throughout those years, and I have a little bit of, you know, advice, tips, hints every now and again for further people. And so today's episode, I wanted to kinda lighten it up. I know the last two episodes have been a little more, strong, focused on being a CEO, and I wanna lighten that up a little bit today, have a little more fun, but really talk about some of the past clients that we've had, you know, that I've had the pleasure of working with, throughout the year.
Kimberley Borgens:So I wanted to tell you a couple stories today or a couple coaching clients today and talk about them. The other is I think some of the things that are happening today can relate to both of these, two stories that I'm I'm thinking about today. So the first one, let me talk to you about. So there's Linda. Linda, has a brick and mortar, glass shop.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? So her and her husband started it. They built it up. And I would see Linda at many networking events. She would be out drumming up business, trying to, you know, get people to see the value of getting new windows and doors and things in their homes, replace the glass that gets broken, so on.
Kimberley Borgens:And she would attend many of my little trainings. I had workshops that I would do. I I often do brown bag series where you bring a lunch and I'll do a quick training for businesses here locally. So Linda, she came to me one time and she said, hey, Kimberley. I could really use your support.
Kimberley Borgens:Can we talk about to see if you could help me in my business? And I said, sure. Let's talk. Let's have a conversation. So she said, look.
Kimberley Borgens:I I really wanna hire you, but I don't have a whole lot of money. And but can I tell you what's going on? Absolutely. And when somebody says I don't have a whole lot of money, but I really wanna hire you, for me, that's just a a stop and listen just to connect with them and see, you know, what I can do to support them. The bonuses is that I'm my own, you know, owner.
Kimberley Borgens:I can adjust my fees as needed if necessary. I don't do that very often, but on a, you know, on occasion now and then, I can say, what can we do here? Because my goal is really to serve the person more than it is to worry about is it the exact price I wanted? And that's the bonus that I can do as a as a business owner, in my businesses is I can I can make that shift? But she said to me, you know, I really can't afford you.
Kimberley Borgens:I know your prices, but I really would like to see if you could help me. And I'm like, okay. So let's have this conversation. So she proceeded to tell me about how, she'd gotten behind in business. You know, they had gotten behind on their financials.
Kimberley Borgens:They got behind on paying taxes. They got behind on a lot of things. And, you know, there's times when businesses get lean and or they have to get lean. You know, the economy is lean. It's hard to make extra profit, and you just kinda have to hang on, for a while, to make that shift.
Kimberley Borgens:If you can hang on and you've prepared yourself for, the economy shifts, for the medical shifts, like we had in COVID and, you know, things like that. If you can prepare yourself enough to stay in the game longer so that you can get past those lean times, you usually can get out pretty okay. Well, this particular client, she was in the lean times, and she was just getting further and further and further behind. And so I asked her, I'm like, so how come your books aren't kept up? Like, she was years behind in her books.
Kimberley Borgens:And she said, I just don't have time. There's not enough of me. And this one person quit, and I haven't been able to rehire somebody because we can't afford to rehire them. I have one person coming in who works part time for me. But when she comes in, like, there's just so much to do.
Kimberley Borgens:And I'm like, okay. And I'm like, and then your taxes? And she said, yeah. Well, if the books aren't done, I can't pay my taxes. And so I haven't paid my taxes, and now the IRS is coming after me.
Kimberley Borgens:You know? And I was like, woah. There's a lot happening here. So I said, well, look. Here's what I can do is here's where I can advise you.
Kimberley Borgens:So when instead of taking her on as a normal weekly one to one client, what I did is I became more of a an adviser to her. And we we created a an income for her so that I could advise her on a weekly basis on what she and her part time person could do to get the books caught up. So every week, you know, I go, okay. How much did you get done? You know?
Kimberley Borgens:And then, you know, pretty soon we had one year done. Right? So they I'm like, look. You just got to put your head down, Only log this. Only log this and stay completely focused on this.
Kimberley Borgens:I need you to talk to that employee and say, they willing to help you do that? Are they willing to put in a couple extra hours here and there, right, to get these things done? So they got plugging away. They got the first year done. They got the second year done.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? And by the third year, they were really almost caught up with that. And I said, okay. So we got we did the things. We got them into action.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? So I worked with her. We talked about numbers, where to put things in with their business, you know, how she can do that. She didn't have a CPA anymore. And I was like, you gotta get yourself as a CPA so they can go over the books to make sure all that.
Kimberley Borgens:Even if it's only temporary, I gave her a referral for a CPA. She was able to utilize them. Then I gave her a referral for somebody else. And the referral for somebody else was that person who does the does the fighting with the IRS. Offer and compromise, you know, person, somebody who, you know, who we have been able to utilize with other clients.
Kimberley Borgens:But when you're in an offer and compromise with the IRS, they want all your money. Okay? But you have somebody who can fight for you and say, look. I get it. I got behind and, you know, I don't know how to get out of it because we're just swimming around in all the problems.
Kimberley Borgens:And it and we feel that sometimes, you know, especially women, we feel that guilt. Like, I thought I could do it all by myself or the shame of I can't even catch up. I don't even know how to do this anymore. Right? Like, because you just get so overwhelmed with all of the pieces that you just kinda, like, freeze.
Kimberley Borgens:And that was the case with Linda. She just got into the freeze mode. I just don't even know where to start because it all just feels completely overwhelming. So I was able to just stop and go, okay. Let's just do this one thing.
Kimberley Borgens:Can you do this one thing? Can you get this month caught up? Okay. How about this month? Right?
Kimberley Borgens:So, again, we went back for, like, three years. She was able to work with the offer and compromise, attorney who, worked with the IRS and, you know, the whole thing concluded where she got all her books caught up. She got the offer in compromise and set a an amount to pay the IRS back what was owed. Luckily, most of it was not payroll taxes because the IRS is really strong on those. Right?
Kimberley Borgens:So, you know, it was just the business taxes and, you know, paying the sales tax for the items and products that she's selling in their in their business. But she was able to get caught up. And then, they sold their business and were able to relax in their in the home. They ended up moving to another little city. And then, her husband, who was her business partner, passed away.
Kimberley Borgens:And she, you know, luckily at the right time, reached out for help. And what I mean by that is sometimes the right time is almost too late. Luckily for her, it wasn't too late. She didn't get her business shut down. She didn't get so far in debt with the IRS that she had to sell everything, all her assets to pay them back.
Kimberley Borgens:She reached out to help even though it was past the time, but she reached out in the right time to be able to make that happen. And then she was able to sell her business. Look. If you are behind on things, if you are, you know, so frustrated and overwhelmed, and it doesn't have to be your finances, it doesn't have to be your books, you wanna ask for help. We strong women just seem to think that we don't need anybody's help for anything.
Kimberley Borgens:But I'm telling you today, we need help. We men have no problem asking for help. Quite often, they just delegate it out or they just dump it on somebody else. But we women, we gotta keep it in. We gotta hold it like it's this big secret because we have shame and guilt around the fact that we don't know everything.
Kimberley Borgens:And I'm telling you ladies, we are not designed to know everything. I do not know everything. I don't. I don't expect to know everything. I'm gonna keep learning so that I know more and more.
Kimberley Borgens:But guess what? The world keeps evolving. Right? And that more and more keeps changing. So I'm just putting out a plea to you as as women in business is don't wait till it's so overwhelming that you freeze.
Kimberley Borgens:Don't wait till it's so overwhelming that you almost have to shut down your business. Seek advice. If you're having problems with employees, get somebody who can help you. If you're having problems with vendors look. I I have worked with clients so many times around vendors that aren't producing what they say they're gonna do, that they had a death in the family, and they're not getting caught up, and it's been more than a year, and they're still using you know, I'm you know, I I'm still grieving, and therefore, I can't do the work, but I'm gonna hold on to your money.
Kimberley Borgens:Like, no. That's not how business works. Right? Have an advocate on your side. That's what a great coach or great mentor can be as an advocate for you.
Kimberley Borgens:Like, I have had clients fire their vendors. I kid you not. Not because they weren't good vendors, good people, but because they weren't producing the work that you hired them to do. And, yeah, it's hard, and sometimes it's family members. I know working with family is tough, but sometimes you have to go, you know, I'm taking that back.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? Do you want that to work for you? Great. Put them in another position. Do something different.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? In this case, lucky for Linda, she was able to reach out in time to be able to save her business, enough to be able to sell her business so that she and her husband can retire and have the last year together before he passed away. So I did wanna tell you about that. What I wanted to share with you, one more client, today. And this particular client, you know, this was years ago, but it still applies to a lot of what is happening today with women today.
Kimberley Borgens:This particular client, was married. She had her own entrepreneurial business, and he had his own entrepreneurial business. The problem was is his he was racking up so much credit card debt that it was affecting the family life. Right? It was affecting too much credit card debt that never seemed like it was gonna get paid off.
Kimberley Borgens:So she reached out to me. Amanda reached out to me, and she said, you know, I really need some help. And she was part of a program with a a small group and, you know, the whole they set big goals. Alright. Big goals.
Kimberley Borgens:And there's huge accountability around this this group program. And so I got to be their coach and this for this group, and it was just so much fun. But at the same time, she came with an audacious goal. Pay off $60,000 of debt in ten weeks. That was the audacious goal.
Kimberley Borgens:Now you're thinking, oh my gosh. That's not possible. But let me tell you. When you're committed to something, you're gonna get it done. Right?
Kimberley Borgens:So we had calls every week. Sometimes we had two in a week. She would call me up and say, look. I you know, this the so she was a photographer at the time and doing a lot of photography. She also had a network marketing business.
Kimberley Borgens:And, you know, she was doing everything she could to try to make sure that her family was taken care of. She was a mom. She had young kids at home. Right? And her husband was just racking up credit card debt in his business and not getting the clients that he needed, and getting that payment.
Kimberley Borgens:And so the financial responsibility kinda fell on her shoulders. Anybody else out there feeling that every now and again? I'm not saying it stays that way, but sometimes that's what happens. And so she said, okay. I gotta get this paid off.
Kimberley Borgens:So we went through all the stuff. What are some of the things that she could sell around her house? She did. Okay. So what can you how can you get more clients in your network marketing business so that you get bigger checks?
Kimberley Borgens:So she did some of that. Okay. Photography. And she's like, I'm really not trying to do the photography. Photography.
Kimberley Borgens:I'm trying to get out of doing most of that. But I'm like, yeah, but you said ten weeks. Sometimes you have to do the things that you don't want to do in order to get to the goal that you said that you really wanted. So think about the things that I'm not talking about doing something illegal or immoral. No way.
Kimberley Borgens:But I'm talking about there's things that you can do that you just don't wanna do. Right? There's things that I do that I don't want to do, but I do it. Right? I have to tell my employees no sometimes.
Kimberley Borgens:I have to tell my business partner, no. You can't spend that money right now. Right? I don't care if you're a multimillion dollar business. You still have budgets that you have to maintain.
Kimberley Borgens:You still have to pay off the debt. Right? You can't run your business on a debt slow. Right? Think about that.
Kimberley Borgens:You have to be able to run your business, you know, with some profit. Right? Even if you have some loss, you can't be so far in debt. I'm not a big proponent of credit card debt. Do I use credit cards?
Kimberley Borgens:Absolutely. But credit card debt is not I don't like it. I don't want it. So sometimes I'll tell my team, nope. If we don't have the cash to do it, we wait.
Kimberley Borgens:So I'm telling you. You wanna be successful in business? You might wanna start listening to what we're saying here as the CEOs. It's like, stop making it. Now I know there's a lot of big companies, and what they do is they they make money off of other people's money.
Kimberley Borgens:Okay. That's great. Well, if I had huge assets to be able to do that, maybe I would look into doing that, but I don't. I'm a small business. Right?
Kimberley Borgens:I'm running based on the cash flow. I am not running on some hope we should want of somebody else investors money. I think investor money is right for the right people at the right time. I just don't use it at this point. So sometimes I tell them no.
Kimberley Borgens:So think about for you is can you say what are the things that you're saying no to that you should be saying yes to to get yourself caught up. Not long term, not forever, but for right now. And so she was telling me, yeah. I got this, call from the YMCA, and they want me to come and do pictures. I don't really wanna do it.
Kimberley Borgens:And I'm like, okay. So when are you calling him back? She's like, well, like I said, I don't really wanna do it. I'm like, yeah. But you committed to $60,000 in ten weeks.
Kimberley Borgens:And she's like, yeah. You're right. Okay. So she called him back. She did the gig.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? She did the gig, and she got paid. And she put that payment towards the credit card debt. Right? Then she, you know, she's like, yeah.
Kimberley Borgens:You know, I don't really wanna do these pictures. You know, people are calling me about this. I'm like, great. You better, you know, put it out on social media. You can do this.
Kimberley Borgens:You can do this. And let people call you. And whether you want to do it or not is irrelevant. Are you willing to get the goal? Are you willing to get the goal?
Kimberley Borgens:Think about it. Right? If you set a big goal and you wanna be so audacious as to say $60,000 of debt in ten weeks, for some people, like, it they just can't even imagine that as a possibility. She at least imagined it as a possibility and was willing to move forward with that. But I had to get her out of her comfort zone for her to do the things that were necessary so that she could achieve that goal.
Kimberley Borgens:And guess what? In nine and a half weeks, she had reached that goal. At the end of the ten weeks, she could come together with a group and say, I did it. End of story. Right?
Kimberley Borgens:No. She called me up about six months later, and she said, I have to tell you something, Kimberley. I said, what's that? She said, he's racked up another $25,000 of debt. I'm like, wow.
Kimberley Borgens:I'm sorry to hear that. And she said, yeah. And then he decided that, we need to get divorced. He didn't wanna be in the relationship anymore because, you know, here she is, like, I've worked my butt off to pay your debt, and you're just adding more debt. It just created such a a strife within their marriage.
Kimberley Borgens:And she said, and I can't keep doing this same thing over and over again. And so they did. She said, but I have to tell you the bigger lesson that I learned when I was working with you. Like, okay. Tell me.
Kimberley Borgens:And she said, what I discovered about myself is I have two sons, and I now know that I could take care of them without him. I didn't know that before. I was always worried and concerned that I wouldn't be able to make it if he were to leave. And he's left, and I'm okay. Because when I was working with you, you taught me how to be strong.
Kimberley Borgens:You taught me how to take care of myself. You taught me to do the things that I didn't want to do, but I needed to do to do you know, take care of my family. Sometimes you have to pay attention to the the things that you don't realize when you're working with clients. She was prepared, and she's been a phenomenal single mom taking care of her sons who have graduated from high school. And she just I just have such love and respect for this woman because she was willing to take on the things she didn't wanna do.
Kimberley Borgens:She was willing to be held accountable. She was willing to get pushed, and she ended up learning much greater things than, you know, than I even thought that I was working with her for. But she took it on, and she took on her life in a big way. And I can only have love and respect for that. So think about you.
Kimberley Borgens:Are there things that you're holding on to? Do you need somebody to to step in and and support you and hold you accountable for the things that you don't wanna do? You're always welcome to reach out to me. We probably know somebody who can help you, but I'd love to support you if that's the case for you. All you have to do is go to bealegacy.com or come over to the hive hangout.
Kimberley Borgens:You know, you can click it from bealegacy.com. That's bealegacy.com. Bealegacy.com. And then get a coaching session with me. You know, have a have a strategy session and see if we're a good fit for each other.
Kimberley Borgens:And if not, I'll refer you to somebody else. But I really did wanna take the time to share with you about a couple of the clients that I've been able to coach and the the, you know, the many things that get learned in the process of fixing the problem that end up fixing way more in your life. So if that's something that you're interested in, leave a comment, subscribe to my podcast here. Come over, you know, find me on social. I'm there.
Kimberley Borgens:But most importantly, over to the Hive Hangout. Get in there, join me, and let's see what we can do to help grow you in your business. Thanks so much for joining me today. I hope it was helpful to hear about some of the past clients that I've worked with. Have a blessed day.
Outro:Thanks for tuning in to Superheroes in Heels with Kimberley Borgans. If you're walking away feeling a little braver, a little bolder, and a whole lot more powerful, mission accomplished. Be sure to subscribe to the show and leave a review. It helps us to reach more women who are ready to unleash their power and lead with confidence. And if you do leave a review, you might just hear your name in an upcoming episode.
Outro:If today's conversation lit a fire in you, share it with your network and join us inside the hive society at Kimberleyborgans.com, where powerful women gather to break barriers and rise together. Until next time, keep showing up, standing strong, and heels or not, keep embracing your inner superhero.