Burn the Funnel: Build 7 Figures With One Offer and One Book | Christie Ruffino

Everyone told you to build the funnel. Stack the offers. Start low ticket and work your way up.

Christie Ruffino spent over 20 years on that struggle bus before she figured out it was the wrong model entirely.

Christie is a former hustle-and-grind addict turned AI-powered business strategist who now helps women coaches scale from inconsistent cash flow to predictable seven-figure growth without working more hours. She is the founder of Mastery Unleashed Coaching and Unleashed Publishing and a bestselling author of 21 books.

In this episode Christie breaks down the Anti-Ascension Framework — why starting with one high ticket offer is actually easier, faster, and more profitable than the ascension model most coaches are still teaching. We get into why your signature story is the thing that makes premium buyers throw their credit cards at you, how to package one transformational offer with a pay-as-you-grow guarantee that removes all the risk, and why a book is not a publishing achievement but a client attraction machine.

I also share my own story of being a co-author in Christie's Overcoming Mediocrity series, how it changed my business, and why it literally led to this podcast existing.

📍Grab Christie's The Ultimate Profitable Authority Book™ Blueprint -
Discover 10 proven strategies entrepreneurs use to turn their book into a client-attracting authority engine that generates conversations, partnerships, and high-paying clients.
➡️ http://profitableauthoritybook.com/blueprint

📍Learn more about Christie: https://christieruffino.com/
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Creators and Guests

Host

Ginna Tassanelli

Ginna Tassanelli and her team at HYPE Media, Inc work with high-level experts and corporate brands that are actively seeking to become irresistible and IN-DEMAND go-to solutions to premium clients online so they can build a profitable business that makes a movement and serves with impact. Implementing The In-Demand Method™, a simple holistic and scalable marketing framework, has allowed them to be a part of over $60M in client impact and still growing.

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Ginna Tassanelli [00:00:00]:
Okay. I've been looking forward to this one for a really personal reason. So my guest today is Christy Rufino, and Christy and I actually go way back. We met in person and I had the incredible honor of being a co-author in one of her Overcoming Mediocrity books alongside 17 other extraordinary women. That experience was something that I genuinely will never forget. And if you've never heard of the Overcoming Mediocrity series, I want you to go over to Amazon, look it up after this episode because it is so powerful. But today Christie is here to talk about something that I think is going to make a lot of you uncomfortable in the best possible way. Christie is the founder of Mastery Unleashed Coaching and Unleashed Publishing, a bestselling author of 21 books and growing, and someone who has spent over 20 years on what she calls the struggle bus.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:00:56]:
You guys know what I'm talking about, before she finally figured out the thing that changed everything for her. She calls it the anti-ascension strategy, and it's exactly what it sounds like. She's telling you to burn the funnel down, stop building the ladder, stop stacking offers, and instead build a 7-figure business or more with one offer and one book while becoming the undeniable thought leader and category of one in your space. So if you have a mission, a movement, and a genius that deserves to be monetized at the level it was meant for, this episode is going to be your roadmap. Okay, let's get into it. You're listening to the Secret Marketing Diary of Personal Brands, where being the face of your business gets to be powerful, profitable, and unfiltered. Okay. I am, I say this like all the time, but I think it's because I really, the people that come on here, like I just absolutely love each and every one of you, but Christy, I'm so excited for you to be here because I feel like we have so much to talk about and we could talk about for things for hours.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:02:04]:
We got, um, we had to, we had to stop talking. And plus, we did have to press record.

Christie Ruffino [00:02:09]:
We're gonna run out of time if we don't get to business.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:02:12]:
I know. And I, and right before I hit record, I was like, you know what? First of all, everything's so super organized. But I said to you, I think, and I really do think that you, your podcast is the very first podcast that I have ever been to, been on in my entire Career.

Christie Ruffino [00:02:30]:
Oh, you were a virgin back then, huh?

Ginna Tassanelli [00:02:34]:
Yeah, I know. It's so, it's so funny. Like, I've obviously, I've done lots of live videos and live video interviews. Yeah, but not a podcast until yours. And we'll get into why I was on your podcast a little bit later because that's something that definitely we have to talk about.

Christie Ruffino [00:02:49]:
Oh, nice little cliffhanger, huh? Yes, dangle that carrot. We don't want to tell you.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:02:53]:
And I have it like right next me too, so I came prepared. Um, so I wanna start with the thing that I think most people that are listening along here will immediately recognize about themselves. And you talk about the entrepreneur trap a lot, right?

Christie Ruffino [00:03:13]:
Mm-hmm.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:03:14]:
And it's like this cycle of attending events and downloading PDFs and spending hours now on ChatGPT and Claude and all the perfect prompts and pouring your heart into posts, and still they feel like They are like literally 3 feet from gold and it's this constant like rat race, right? So why do you, why do you think that so many established experts with real missions that are here to make, you know, real movements and they're super genius at what they do are still stuck in the cycle?

Christie Ruffino [00:03:45]:
It's a really good question. And honestly, I think the majority of the opportunities are out, that are out there, Are, you know, sign up for this, pay for this little tripwire, you know, do a challenge. And when we get started on this journey of getting our mission out there in the world, right? Uh, taking our mess and turning it into our mission and building a business around it and being passionate about it. We're, we're just massive consumers.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:04:16]:
Yeah.

Christie Ruffino [00:04:16]:
And so we're trying all these things, we're learning all these things, and we start thinking, hey, I can do that. And so we learn this ascension model, the ascension model, lead magnet, tripwire, get 'em on a course, low course, and then offer 'em the next thing and then offer 'em the next thing. And so we learn it and we think that's the way to do it. But when you look at the experts out there, I think Amy Porterfield is the only one out there that started with that model and was successful.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:04:45]:
Yeah.

Christie Ruffino [00:04:45]:
The rest of 'em, I mean, I don't have statistics, But the rest of them that I know, they have high-ticket programs and their high-ticket program is the core thing that they have out there in the world. But for a new entrepreneur, that's a scary thing to say, I'm going to have a $10,000 program and just only do that until I get it so good. And then I'll start thinking about the little things. And so we're, they're always trying to look for that next shiny solution, always feeling like they're 3 feet from gold. But never actually achieving it. And it's very frustrating.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:05:18]:
It is. And I was, and now actually I was talking to a few of my clients about this today on our call. Um, because, you know, we were talking about low ticket offers and I was like, listen, if you want this thing to actually make money, you need to be investing thousands, in paid traffic because you need volume to actually make that a business. But instead, let's reframe this and let's think about it. If this is really what you want to do, let's think about this as a way to start bringing people in so they start to trust you, like building that trust. But again, it's time-consuming to build that. And for me, I think like time is money, right? So I, I completely agree.

Christie Ruffino [00:06:04]:
Um, so— I mean, let me just add one more thing because when you think about it, it takes the same amount of time.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:06:10]:
Yes.

Christie Ruffino [00:06:10]:
To build the mechanisms to convert a low-ticket client as a high-ticket client. Actually, it takes less time for a high-ticket client.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:06:19]:
I was just gonna say that.

Christie Ruffino [00:06:21]:
Yeah.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:06:22]:
Yeah.

Christie Ruffino [00:06:23]:
And you don't have money to invest in your client if they're only paying you $97, right? Or if they pay you $10,000, you can give them an amazing experience, right?

Ginna Tassanelli [00:06:32]:
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I completely agree. Um, and you know, also, I can totally relate to this because I've been selling high-ticket services most of my career. It wasn't until, honestly, it wasn't until I moved into doing more of like the group consulting and mentorship that then I started with these lower-ticket offers.

Christie Ruffino [00:06:59]:
Mm-hmm.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:06:59]:
And as much as I love to do them, because I did start, you know, with high-ticket and I still continue to do that, um, I say this all the time too, that it's harder to sell low ticket.

Christie Ruffino [00:07:12]:
It is.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:07:13]:
At least for me. I don't know if it's, but sometimes I think it's because I started with high ticket. Do you think that has anything to do with it?

Christie Ruffino [00:07:18]:
Or is it just— Yeah, because you, your mindset is embracing that already.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:07:22]:
Yeah.

Christie Ruffino [00:07:22]:
Right. Where if somebody new somehow could step in the shoes of being, I'm, I've got a high ticket program and I'm a high ticket client, or I'm a high ticket coach. And if they could believe that, then it would be easy. But that's a huge jump, right? That's a huge mindset shift to have.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:07:39]:
Yeah. Um, and that takes me into the next thing that I want to talk about is like connecting this to identity, right? Because I think that's really where it lives. Um, there's a version, a version of every single person I think that's listening who is playing a much smaller game than what they can actually play. So how do they make that shift so that their mission is something that's meant to be a movement and it's actually empowering them and it's not making them feel so small and like it's just never going to happen for them?

Christie Ruffino [00:08:21]:
Yeah. Now, I am not— this is not my area of expertise. I'll just say that. Yeah. Because in my, my thought process is, do you want to do something? Just do it. Right. Um, but then we know there are things that are going to stop us. And so my suggestion or what I would say is find somebody that's already done what you want to do and get them to tell you what to do every step of the way.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:08:45]:
Yeah.

Christie Ruffino [00:08:45]:
Because as long as you're being coachable and you follow a proven process, That gets you confidence. So lean on the confidence that they can provide you. So that's, that's kind of what I did when I did my first high ticket. I mean, I've tried a couple of high ticket programs before I started doing what I'm doing now. And I would sell a couple and then, then I couldn't sell anymore. Then I would just give up. Right. But when I had somebody that I was following a process that worked, that would help me navigate those bumps in the road, then that was the best way to get on the other side of it.

Christie Ruffino [00:09:20]:
for me to believe. Like here, I have a really great, 2013, I went to my very first event in this world, Lisa Sasevich. I have the folder.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:09:32]:
Oh yes, I remember.

Christie Ruffino [00:09:33]:
Right? So she sold this program. I didn't know what was going on. I had never been there. A friend invited me. I'm like, yeah, I'll go. That'll be fun. I mean, I was already an entrepreneur, but in a different space. And when she made her offer, I was honestly embarrassed for her.

Christie Ruffino [00:09:48]:
because she made an offer for $100,000 and I'm like, nobody's going to pay that. Gina, people were running to the back of the room with their credit card in hand. I was shocked, right? I was blown away. But I still at that time never thought I could have a $100,000 program. I've got a folder later on. I'm like, I'm going to get this. I want to see, is there gold in there? What are these people buying? But it took years for me to get to the point where I could have a $100,000 offer. I wish I would've got the mentoring back then to do it.

Christie Ruffino [00:10:24]:
I would've saved a decade, right?

Ginna Tassanelli [00:10:26]:
I know.

Christie Ruffino [00:10:27]:
Of doing it, finally getting there. But we can't do it on our own. We can't try harder. We can't push more to make it happen. We need to have a proven process that works and then the right support.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:10:40]:
Right. Yeah, I totally agree. Um, all right, so there's the whole ascension, you know, traditional framework. Tell me about this anti-ascension framework, which I was like, when I was reading over all your stuff, I'm like, oh my gosh, this is like so brilliant and it's so true. So walk, walk us through that. And, and I know it starts with your signature story, which this is something that I talk to my clients about all the time. And they're like, well, why would ever anyone even care about my story? Or I don't even have a story. These are thought leaders.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:11:13]:
Yes, you do. So walk me through that.

Christie Ruffino [00:11:16]:
Yeah. Well, I kind of exactly said the same thing. So 2013, around the same, or 2012, a year before I met Lisa Sasevich, somebody asked me to share my story and it was, how did I get over divorce and near bankruptcy to create this thriving multi-state national women's networking organization? And I'm like, oh, Nobody wants to hear my story. Why, why would I do that? And she just said to me, Christy, if you can help one person, why would you say no? I'm like, well, okay, fine. So I said, yes, I'm an introvert. That was a really scary thing for me to do. Um, but it did—

Ginna Tassanelli [00:11:50]:
Wait, you're an introvert? You're an introvert?

Christie Ruffino [00:11:52]:
Oh gosh.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:11:53]:
Yeah. What?

Christie Ruffino [00:11:56]:
I am so much an introvert. So much. Yeah. I don't like big crowds. I'm not a big talker. Yeah. I mean, in my business, I have to be out there.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:12:05]:
Yeah.

Christie Ruffino [00:12:06]:
But I, yeah, I'm an introvert. But anyways, um, story. And so that's when I learned the value of story and I learned how it helped me and my business. It helped my brand. It helped my, my members, my clients get to know me personally. And so there's a whole layer of having your story in your business brand. So people now connect with you as a person, not necessarily the company or the face or the name, right? They want you, They, they need to know your story so that connection happens and loyalty's built and, you know, all of those things.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:12:38]:
Yeah.

Christie Ruffino [00:12:38]:
Um, and so in addition to your story being the connection, it needs to be, do more than that. Your right fit client needs to see their success through your journey, right? If they can see what you've done and, and the right story that you're sharing positions you as the best person to help them. That's your differentiator. That's the thing that sets you apart from everybody else that does what you do. It's your particular story that's going to resonate with your right fit clients. And that is what allows you to then get those high ticket clients, which is the descension model, right? You start with your high ticket program, your core signature program, the one that's going to make the biggest impact, not with everybody, but with the select few that want fast results and a white glove experience. Then after you get that going, um, again, you know, all you need with a high ticket program is 5 good clients to really make a huge dent in your income, right?

Ginna Tassanelli [00:13:43]:
Yeah.

Christie Ruffino [00:13:43]:
Once you have that, then build the lower offers underneath that. So that way, if you have a conversation with somebody and they're like, all right, I'm not ready to invest $10,000 or $25,000. Then you'll be like, okay, well, I've got this. This could be a good next step for you, right? And so then you have the downsell things that it's a much easier yes than taking somebody from a lead magnet and get them to push up your ascension model and say yes and keep investing more. So.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:14:14]:
Yeah. So what about, um, because when I talk about signature story with clients, um, and honestly, A lot of this I learned from my own experience with you.

Christie Ruffino [00:14:27]:
Yes.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:14:27]:
But what about those that say, well, I don't know that I even have a story. Like, I haven't been through anything traumatic. I haven't had— because there are people out there— I haven't had anything bad happen to me. What would make a story? Like, why would someone be interested in kind of— to them it feels like there's nothing.

Christie Ruffino [00:14:48]:
Right. Well, because we hear people talking about their stories as if there needs to be something dramatic. Um, you know, the, the, the car crash story or the near life death situation, right?

Ginna Tassanelli [00:15:03]:
Yeah.

Christie Ruffino [00:15:03]:
But that's not the story that we want to share to connect with our right fit client. Like I said earlier, we want to have the story that I did that, I done that experience. So your right fit client says, oh, She's on the other side of what I'm going through. And so they see you as the guide so they can have their better story, right? So it's about creating the story that's the right story to not only attract your right fit client, but get them to say yes, throw their credit cards at you like Molly says, right?

Ginna Tassanelli [00:15:37]:
Yes, exactly. Okay. So let's say, right, so kind of going through this, um, anti-ascension framework, there's engaging with your story and now we're at like, we need to package this. So how does this work in your world when you are, you have this one high ticket offer and now we're ready to package it because I'm ready to sell it and get credit cards thrown at me. Right. Um, because we want to stop creating, we want to get off of this hamster wheel of creating and stop stacking the offers and have this one transformational high-ticket offer. So why, how do we go about this? I mean, I know, but how in your world, how would you go about this and simplifying that so that it's actually profitable and it's more impactful than just having this suite of offers?

Christie Ruffino [00:16:36]:
Yeah. So we kind of do something with the 7 Figure Book Launch Program that is Still fairly unique in the industry. There's more people doing it now, but what we do is we create a risk reverse guarantee. And so bottom line is you create the best offer you can that creates the best outcome for your clients, keeping in mind that people don't want to pay for a process. They want to pay for the results, right?

Ginna Tassanelli [00:17:02]:
Mm-hmm.

Christie Ruffino [00:17:02]:
So whatever the result they want, we need to really get clear on their journey. Not all the steps. that they need to take on that journey, but what is the journey that they're gonna take to get to different milestones to get closer and closer and closer to the end goal? And so once you kind of map that out, get the framework of what that's gonna look like, and you price it with our risk reverse pricing guarantee, depending on what the price of the program is, typically they pay 25% just to get started.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:17:34]:
Mm-hmm.

Christie Ruffino [00:17:34]:
And then another 25% when they reach a certain revenue goal. Now, if you have an outcome that is, we call soft outcome, which is better life, better relationships, just soft, you know, soft results, um, you can't charge as much because unfortunately people won't pay as much. They should. People should pay more for those types of things, but we want to pay for things that we get a tangible outcome. And so if you do have a soft outcome, you can now serve entrepreneurs. And if you help them achieve that result and it's gonna help their business grow, then you can kind of equate it with that revenue result and, and, and be able to track it in a way that they can clearly see the milestones are being achieved.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:18:22]:
Yeah.

Christie Ruffino [00:18:23]:
And so it's just designing the framework, not your methodology. That's, you know, your proprietary process.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:18:30]:
Right.

Christie Ruffino [00:18:30]:
But the packaging of your program has to resonate with your clients so they can see themselves in the journey and see, hey, I'm going to actually make progress with this. And I know the final outcome and I don't pay the whole thing until I actually achieve the outcome. And people love that. People love the fact that we're partners with our clients. And so they are more prone to say yes, because I know about, I don't know about you, but I've spent so much money with client, with coaches that didn't get me the result. And so it's just a fresh perspective out there to have this type of a, we call it a pay as you, uh, pay as you grow or pay as you—

Ginna Tassanelli [00:19:10]:
I love that.

Christie Ruffino [00:19:11]:
Yeah.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:19:13]:
I love that. Um, I'm trying to think if I've, you know, I don't know that I've heard honestly of anyone except for you that does that. And so it does, it gives a whole new perspective to getting that support and accountability. Um, so I want to connect this to like the movement piece, right? Because as entrepreneurs, um, I know for most of us, there's something in us that we're passionate about that is the reason why we do what it is that we do.

Christie Ruffino [00:19:45]:
Yep.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:19:46]:
And a lot of times Um, and I'm sure that you've come across clients like this too. They are, you know, it's like they're, it's, they're playing kind of like a tug of war because they want to create this movement and they want to make a huge impact. But at the same time, and they have this genius, but at the same time, they feel bad asking for what that is worth, like the value in that.

Christie Ruffino [00:20:13]:
Yeah.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:20:14]:
And so Um, how do you, how do you, like, how does somebody get past that? Because, you know, there's this thing about becoming a category of one in your space.

Christie Ruffino [00:20:24]:
Yep.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:20:25]:
Right. And I 100% agree that you should get compensated for the work and the transformations that you're creating in other people. But there's so many people out there, and especially if they're like brand, brand new to business and haven't been like in a business organization before that don't understand that there still is going to be a transaction of some sort. And if not, it's a hobby. It's not actually a business.

Christie Ruffino [00:20:52]:
Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Well, so the, the curse and the blessing of the entrepreneur is that if we don't know how to do something, we'll figure it out, right?

Ginna Tassanelli [00:21:04]:
Yeah.

Christie Ruffino [00:21:05]:
Yeah. Which is great, but that kind of sets us up to be this jack of all trades. Like we can do a lot of things and we want to help everybody. But then we're constantly out there screaming, buy my stuff, right? As opposed to being elevated as the expert, the kind of like the brain surgeon in the medical field where people actually come to you when they need something. And that's the category of one. And you have to kind of get out of this thought process that you have to help everybody because When you stay doing that, you're not helping. You're not helping, really helping, right?

Ginna Tassanelli [00:21:46]:
Yeah. No.

Christie Ruffino [00:21:46]:
Yeah. You're maybe having a lot of people buy your course, or even if you have a book, you may have a lot of people buy your book, but are they actually having the transformation, the life-changing transformation that you want them to have?

Ginna Tassanelli [00:21:59]:
Right.

Christie Ruffino [00:21:59]:
Right. And the best way for you to actually make that happen is by working with them and pouring into them and giving them your very best. But you can't do that if they're not, if you're not charging enough. And so the whole, you know, stuckness about charging enough and, and all of that is you have to get out of your own way because they're not paying for you. They're paying for themselves, the result they want. And if it doesn't go to you, they'll find somebody else that's going to give them what they want.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:22:31]:
Oh, you know, and I'm sorry. And I was going to say, and they'll figure out how to get the money.

Christie Ruffino [00:22:36]:
Yeah, they will get the money if they, if, if, yeah, if they want it bad enough and you can provide it, don't let somebody else take care of them because they may not give them the, you know, the same amazing experience that you can. And so you just have to keep that in mind and realize that they're not paying for you. They're paying, they're investing in themselves and they're worth it. Yeah. And by the, by you not giving it to them, you're not appreciating The value that they have, right? You're getting in your— in their way.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:23:09]:
Yeah, I agree. And I think too, um, I, to me it's like you're also doing them a disservice 100%.

Christie Ruffino [00:23:19]:
Totally.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:23:20]:
Totally. And, and who are you to assume if they can find the money or not? Like, yeah, that's not really your problem or you can't be attached to that.

Christie Ruffino [00:23:30]:
Yeah.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:23:31]:
Right. Right. Um, okay. So the third part of this framework is my favorite part. Um, it's the leverage, right? And so in your world, tell us what that looks like. This is like the exciting part.

Christie Ruffino [00:23:49]:
The book, the book, the leverage. Well, so, you know, we work together, uh, focusing on the story and getting your book because your book is going to elevate you. It's going to be the thing that helps you be recognized as that category of one, that the specialist in your field. And so we help our clients in 2 ways by helping them get their story out there, being a bestselling author, have that book, and then have their own signature book. And so the framework, the methodology that is your signature program should be the same methodology that's in your signature book. Your Your modules that you're teaching should be a mirror image of the chapters of your book. It doesn't need to be any harder than that.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:24:33]:
Yeah.

Christie Ruffino [00:24:34]:
But your book can help so many people and it's your thing in the world that can be, you know, out there connecting with the people that have what you want. And so it's, it's just really, I feel the book is really one of the best things that you can have as an asset to grow your business and have that high, those high ticket prices and actually have people say, yeah, hey, she's got a book. She knows her thing. She's got, you know, she's got it all figured out and I want that. Yeah.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:25:05]:
And, um, okay, so I'm gonna pull it out now. And actually, you know what, this is, this is not, this is not the one that's for sale cuz it's got the whole thing around it. Where am I? I just, I'm renovating this space. There it is.

Christie Ruffino [00:25:18]:
Oh, there it is. I have it right back there.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:25:23]:
This is so much fun to do. Oh my gosh.

Christie Ruffino [00:25:28]:
I know.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:25:28]:
And I know that this has come a long way, so— Oh gosh.

Christie Ruffino [00:25:32]:
You were the first. I think this was the first one we did like this.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:25:35]:
This was a test.

Christie Ruffino [00:25:36]:
Yeah, this was a test.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:25:37]:
And so I was on— I was the first one to have my own cover like this. And I will say, and I even have told this to my husband, when I was writing my story for the book, it was like one of the most nerve-wracking experiences for me. But at the same time, it was one of the most, still till today, the most exciting parts of my journey as an entrepreneur. And, um, and it opened up so many doors.

Christie Ruffino [00:26:08]:
Well, really.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:26:08]:
And people, you know, I've talked to other people and they're like, oh, well, I, I have a book, but I don't sell it. And I'm like, Don't use it to— I mean, I didn't do this to sell it.

Christie Ruffino [00:26:19]:
No.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:26:20]:
Um, even though it did become an Amazon bestseller and, you know, that's really cool to have that, but it's not necessarily to sell it. It's— and I will say that my story in here, I teach what's in my story, which is my story is all about, you know, hiding and then, and then evolving into a person that's not hiding anymore and that's showing up and showing up in a really powerful way. So Because of you, I actually am a co-author and an American bestselling author. And I started the podcast, honestly. Like, Chrissy, I think after I went on your podcast, I was like, oh my gosh, this was so much fun.

Christie Ruffino [00:27:00]:
I want to launch a podcast. Like, if she can do it, I can do it, right?

Ginna Tassanelli [00:27:03]:
Yeah. But, you know, it took me another, like, what, 4 years or something to get it launched finally. But so it's come in full circle, which is beautiful. Yeah. So, yay. Yes. Oh my gosh. And thank you so much for that opportunity.

Christie Ruffino [00:27:19]:
Um, yeah. Yeah. We do things so different now because back then, you know, our clients would spend months trying to write their story. Now we have a 1-hour interview, which usually takes about 30 to 40 minutes. And then I created an agent that takes the transcript and writes the story using my 7-stage framework, right? So they don't have to use it. But I like to give them that to start with. And people like, I, people will break down in tears when they're reading it. It's just super cool.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:27:46]:
Yeah.

Christie Ruffino [00:27:47]:
Yeah.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:27:47]:
I mean, I did, I did too, just from, you know, my 4-page or whatever it was, 8 pages or something.

Christie Ruffino [00:27:54]:
Yeah. Yeah. It's very, it's very therapeutic to get your story, to go through your story and then get it out there in a way that people are going to read it. So it's, yeah, it's, it's really neat.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:28:03]:
I love it. So great experience. Um, and of course we're going to share all of your info so people can get in touch with you to To learn more about that. So, um, now this book, Overcoming Mediocrity, right? The series that like is a movement. And this is really what you've been talking about is creating a movement.

Christie Ruffino [00:28:23]:
Yeah.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:28:24]:
Um, so tell me, I know you said a little bit like it's evolved now, but if someone were to reach out to you and, and you said get on a call for like an hour or whatever, what would be like the steps, kind of walk us through what that whole process is like, even like the length of time and all of the amazing stuff that you guys do to help them and support them.

Christie Ruffino [00:28:47]:
Perfect. Yeah. So we did 12 of the Overcoming Mediocrity books. We did one every year. Now we are in a new series. They're under the series Stories Unleashed brand. And so we did Mastery Unleashed, Genius Unleashed. The next one's going to be Brilliance Unleashed because we have men that want to play with us.

Christie Ruffino [00:29:09]:
So overcoming mediocrity, I think you were strong women. I don't know which one you were. Those are all women.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:29:15]:
Yeah.

Christie Ruffino [00:29:16]:
And so we're doing the Unleashed brand, which is a little different. Here's our last one, Genius Unleashed. So completely different look and feel, same kind of a concept, but we also have with the stories, a lead magnet with each chapter. I don't know if we did that when you did yours.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:29:33]:
I did. Yes.

Christie Ruffino [00:29:34]:
Okay. So we kind of started that maybe book number 5 or 6. And so we do that and our clients can write their own stories if they want, but I feel the best way is for me to interview them. And I ask very specific questions. So there is a dramatic opening and then a backstory and getting to their brilliance and a few little teaching lessons in there that will lead to the right lead magnet. And then that lead magnet will open the gates to your core offer. So it's all meant to be a very specific journey, prospect-to-client journey. And so we still do only one a year, 2,000 to 3,000 words per chapter.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:30:16]:
Yeah.

Christie Ruffino [00:30:16]:
It can be done like most of our clients when they start, unfortunately, because we only do one a year. We had one client that did the whole process in March and she's like, when is it going to happen? I'm like, probably not till November. So she's got to wait months, but it's super fun. And then they become bestselling authors and we do this huge launch. All the authors do a lot of collaborations together, a lot of high energy, and it's just very exciting to go through the process. And what you had was kind of a special edition book where we took the same insides, and then we did a very custom cover with just the author. Um, and then that author, that book becomes yours.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:30:59]:
Right.

Christie Ruffino [00:31:00]:
So now you have the ISBN for your book. It's on your Amazon account. If anybody buys it on Amazon, you get the royalties, which is different than a collaborative book. Um, but what we've done is we've structured it in a way that it becomes a win-win for everybody because now when you're selling your book, all of the other authors are still getting Recognized. So it's just a way to extend the reach and get more people to share, uh, to read the stories of all the incredible people.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:31:27]:
Love it. Love it. And it's, it's, it was, I mean, I still am connected with a lot of the authors too. So, and obviously you and I, um, what if somebody wants to write like their own book?

Christie Ruffino [00:31:40]:
Their own book?

Ginna Tassanelli [00:31:41]:
Without co-authors, just them?

Christie Ruffino [00:31:42]:
Yep. So we, that's kind of one of the things we do with our 7 Figure Book Launch program or you know, à la carte services, but yeah, you take your methodology, like this is my methodology. My program is the same, uh, name of my book and my, my, what we do with our clients is in the book. And so we would help you as a, you know, somebody that wants to have their own book, really put that together in a way that they have a book that they're amazingly proud of.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:32:09]:
Mm-hmm.

Christie Ruffino [00:32:10]:
And that has the calls to action strategically in the book. That will again create that prospect to client journey in a way that this book is meant to get them high ticket clients. You may sell a couple and you may get, you know, my world, I've got 22 books on Amazon. Like unless I'm going through a specific launch that month, my royalty payments are like $12 and maybe $30, sometimes $3. You don't make much money from a book sale.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:32:38]:
No, not unless like you're doing like a full, like there's a whole strategy.

Christie Ruffino [00:32:43]:
To do that.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:32:43]:
But that's if you're looking to make revenue off the book, obviously.

Christie Ruffino [00:32:47]:
Yeah.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:32:48]:
Yeah.

Christie Ruffino [00:32:48]:
And then you can also then take this, your own book, and then hire Gina to do ads and do a free book plus shipping kind of thing where you've got all these tripwires and all these things. So there's a lot that can happen in that. But, um, as soon as you get your core methodology in a signature book out there, like your business is going to completely change.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:33:11]:
It does. It does. Um, so, okay. So kind of like to put or pull all this together, right? Um, so we have the anti-ascension framework. It's engage, package, leverage. If they could only do one thing first, what would that be and why?

Christie Ruffino [00:33:33]:
I mean, when we start working with our clients, we say, don't do anything else.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:33:37]:
Mm-hmm.

Christie Ruffino [00:33:38]:
Let's get your high-ticket program out. Even if it's in a beta version, even if you need to do these amazing deals to get your first 3 to 5 clients in there, right? Get your founder circle filled. Do it and just stay focused and then put the blinders on so you don't get distracted because it's not gonna happen overnight. But think about how many weeks and months and possibly years you're spending Chasing all these little shiny objects and you're no farther now than you were this time last year.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:34:10]:
Yeah.

Christie Ruffino [00:34:12]:
So put all that away. Like, you know, the ascension model seems to work, but the experts know it doesn't.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:34:21]:
Yeah.

Christie Ruffino [00:34:21]:
And they're spending thousands and thousands of dollars on ad traffic to get people in a free challenge or whatever that may be, knowing that they've got the high ticket offer on the other end, but they didn't start with this. Right.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:34:40]:
Right.

Christie Ruffino [00:34:40]:
They have money to spend to make that work. So put that aside.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:34:46]:
Yeah.

Christie Ruffino [00:34:47]:
Focus on one, one high ticket offer.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:34:49]:
Yep. And, um, just to add to that is that people need to realize is that There's more to the story when you see all of these, you know, trendy things happening. There's so much more to the story, but it's like people tend to forget everything from there's investors. They started with high ticket. They're just not selling it.

Christie Ruffino [00:35:12]:
Most of them have.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:35:13]:
Yeah. That's what I'm saying. Most of them.

Christie Ruffino [00:35:14]:
Absolutely. Amy Porterfield's the only one I know that didn't. Yeah. She started low ticket and like worked her way up, but it took her years. She was just starting when I started back in 2013. 2012, right?

Ginna Tassanelli [00:35:29]:
Yep. I remember. Yeah. Okay. So last question. This is my— the question that I ask everybody that comes onto the show. If there was one secret about building a personal brand that most experts, coaches, gurus are, are not talking about publicly, what would yours be?

Christie Ruffino [00:35:48]:
Ooh, a secret that they're not talking about. I mean, the essential model is a big one. Um, I think, I mean, I still go back to, I feel, I feel that at some point this industry is going to be regulated because there's so many coaches out there that are charging an arm and a leg and not providing results. And I just think that's terrible. Yeah. And so, um, just ask for case studies. Uh, do your research, make sure that that person, um, has a track record, but more importantly, get specifics on what their promise is. I think so many people get out there and they're like, ooh, I want that.

Christie Ruffino [00:36:36]:
You see what that person is doing and you're like, oh, I want that. Yeah. And you buy their result and never really get clear on the result you're paying for. And so, I, I don't know if that's a secret, but a lot of these coaches know out there that people are just investing in themselves and they just keep doing it. And these coaches, some of them don't really care. Right.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:36:58]:
No, I, I agree that that is very good insight. Um, and there's way too much of it as well. Um, so yeah, all the things that Chrissy just said, make sure that you're doing your homework and also make sure the other part to that, I will say though too, is do the work too.

Christie Ruffino [00:37:19]:
Like, totally.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:37:20]:
There's also the thought, oh, I'm, I'm going into this coaching group and she's going to change my entire life. Or she—

Christie Ruffino [00:37:25]:
no, you have to take action.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:37:26]:
You have to actually take ownership too and do the things. So, um, all right. So where is like the best place where people can reach out to you? But I'll have all the links in our show notes as well. Let us know. Yeah.

Christie Ruffino [00:37:38]:
I mean, my, uh, main website, christyraffino.com, pretty much has a way to find everything that we're doing. So, uh, that's really pretty much the best place.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:37:48]:
Okay. So in addition to reaching out to you, I'm sure that people would love to have some sort of amazing resource from you because you are just like this genius with everything that you just shared with us. So share, what is it that you want to gift them? I know it's going to be amazing.

Christie Ruffino [00:38:06]:
Yeah, I would love to be able to do that. So I have this amazing resource. It's the Profitable Authority Book. Blueprint, and it shares 10 strategies how you can get paying clients from your book. So I'll be, I'd love to be able to put that together, uh, make sure that your, your people have their own, a custom link so they can get access to that.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:38:27]:
Absolutely. Okay. Thank you. Okay. So everyone make sure, click on the link wherever you're watching this or listening to this, find the link and definitely get in there.

Christie Ruffino [00:38:38]:
All right. Awesome.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:38:40]:
Okay. Amazing. Thank you so much, Gina.

Christie Ruffino [00:38:43]:
This was so much fun.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:38:44]:
I loved having you on. This was such a great conversation.

Christie Ruffino [00:38:46]:
Same here. Hopefully we'll see you in 2 months.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:38:49]:
Yes. Yes.

Christie Ruffino [00:38:50]:
That would be super fun to be able to hang out.

Ginna Tassanelli [00:38:53]:
Absolutely. All right, everyone. Thank you so much. We will see you on the next one. Bye. You're listening to the Secret Marketing Diary of Personal Brands, where being the face of your business gets to be powerful, profitable, and unfiltered.