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The stories of how bootstrapped businesses go from $0 to $250k in annual revenue
When I tell you that I can send out
a $12,000 proposal in 8 minutes at
the end of a sales call, and then
they sign that day, I'm not spending
hours crafting custom packages.
That's reality for Allea Grummert, the
founder of Duett, an email marketing
and copywriting agency for bloggers.
Now having the ability to send a $12,000
proposal and have it signed in that amount
of time didn't just happen overnight.
It took a $5,000 incubator program,
one productized service, and an
incredible investment in people.
Here's my conversation with Allea
Grummert, the founder of Duett.
I want to get into Duettt, but I
want to get a little bit into your
background because it seemed like for
when I could tell you were like in
a lot of operations roles and then
you just kind of shifted to email.
I was like, how did that shift happen?
Like they're similar, I guess,
but like there's a jump there.
So how did you make that
jump from like operations?
And if I got that right, like the
operations to email marketing.
So close.
I weaseled my way into operations
at my first full time job.
I didn't weasel my way.
My boss was like, I think
you have a knack for this.
And he asked that like 30 minutes
a week I do something operationally
to help improve the small business.
It's like, it was a team of like five.
It was a video production company.
Uh, but I actually studied
advertising and public relations
and I have a degree in history.
That one's just for bonus.
That's just cause I like
story time, to be honest.
So yeah, I went to college for ad
PR and at the time, I'm just going
to like set the stage because I know
that I probably look like I'm 26.
Um, it's the mics.
Look at me, hold this.
Like I know that I'm not a Gen Zer.
If you only knew that I like hang out with
my cat and play Sudoku every night, that
should tell you I'm over the age of 30.
So, but in college, like
I'm in that generation.
I graduated high school in 07.
Jobs.
Like we left college with
jobs that didn't exist when we
were, when we went to college.
So it's a real weird time.
Like I remember there was a
new media class and it was
the introduction of Twitter.
And now Twitter's had a
rebrand all these years later.
So that's the kind of world I was in.
And so I actually started a
personal finance blog in addition to
having this full time job in video
production right out of college.
So I started the blog in 2016.
I just wanted to give it a go.
I had a part time job.
I was working at a coffee shop one
night a week and I was like, how
can I replace my 45 a week income?
Oh man, the dreams were,
the dreams were big.
The dreams are big.
And so what happened was is that
I had a lot of friends asking
me about personal finance.
So that's how I got into
the finance space at all.
And my first financial
conference was FinCon in 2016.
But my site was called Ask
Allea because I had a friend
stopped me in the cereal aisle.
grocery store and was like, got a
quick question for you about budgeting.
And I was like, Oh yeah, sure.
We can do that here.
Yeah, we can do it here.
So, um, that's how ask Allea started.
And I wrote about budgeting,
debt payoff, living within
your means, super sexy stuff.
I know.
Yeah.
So that's, that's how I got
into the personal finance space.
But then the email part came out of
how just learning about blogging was
like a digital playground for me.
Like remember when I was in college
and nobody talked about email
marketing, let alone like, I mean,
Instagram had just started 2012,
2011,
something like that.
Maybe a little bit earlier than
that, but Oh, those heavily
edited filtered photos was my era.
It's my era.
Of, of a coffee cup, you know.
Um, but I never went to do social
media and, but as I built out my
blog, I mean, you have to learn a lot.
Like what is a webinar?
What's the purpose of a webinar?
Uh, how do you write blog content?
What is SEO?
How do you build a website?
All of those things.
And so, but in the doing that, I realized
email marketing was something people
had issues with or had a hard time
with, and it came really easily to me.
So that.
Eventually decided to go part
time at my full time job and
pursue email marketing and ad
advertising, um, for freelance stuff.
Okay.
So someone was really having a hard
time with cereal and now it broke
their budget and then that's turned
into a blog and then email marketing.
So it feels like the snowballed.
It did.
Like, how'd I not started that blog?
I wouldn't have a six year business
in email marketing eight years later.
Are you still doing the
personal finance blog?
No, I
sunsetted it.
You know, with all like a hundred
people I had on my email list and
the goal was never to grow it big.
Oh, I did do budget coaching.
So that's like part of
what came out for 50.
Wow.
Yeah, I was really, so like that's,
what's crazy about being in the finance
space now is like literally 2016 there
were no financial coaches like the
idea that you would start a business.
Charged one 1, 500 for three months
of one on one coaching did not exist.
And so I didn't really see a future
for the blog, but it was a way for me
to get my words out and to be helpful.
And somebody had told me early on to
like, Allea, like you have a unique
point of view, just keep writing.
And that was, um, Joshua Becker
from, Oh, the minimAlleast.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
And I was like taking it to the bank and
just reAlleazing like, even though there
are lots and lots of people doing what
you're doing online, that doesn't mean
that your voice is any less valuable or
that you shouldn't Be talking about it.
So yeah, yeah.
I sunset ask alley.
com.
You can find it on the way back machine.
And my like 26 year old self,
do you own the domain?
Ask Allea.
I did for a long time.
That's pretty
sweet.
Yeah.
Um, okay.
So then how did you go
from like, what, okay.
So was it just like, Hey, I'm really
interested in email marketing.
Like, how did that shift happen
from like, Oh, I'm going to do
blogging and then to the email stuff?
Yeah, so I had a friend who was doing
advertising like freelance and she had
questions about like online marketing
type things And so I would answer them
and then eventually she started bringing
on email marketing projects because she
knew I would help her with them So it's
one of those things like when it comes
to self employment It's like what are the
things that like like crop to the top?
Oh man, I rhymed.
And so it is, it's one of those things,
like the things that come easily to
you and not other people, um, that
ends up being where the money is.
And I did have someone, what was it?
Summer of 2018, beginning of the summer.
Cause I started Duettt in August.
Um, I met a gal at a marketing conference
and we're talking like corporate
speaker, like completely not the online
business space that I'm used to being in.
And she just asked me, she's
like, which one is more fun,
the blog or helping people with.
online marketing.
And which one is gonna
make you more money?
And I was like, well, I have no intentions
of like, I don't know how long I
wanted to write about personal finance.
I didn't want to be a freelance
writer, like a finance writer.
But it was like kind of a
passion project where I got to
learn all these other things.
And then for me, email was something
like, like I joke about like, yeah, I
hang out with my cat and play Sudoku.
Like I am like an analog ish person.
I say that, but I'm on my phone
all the time like a millennial.
But like, Yeah, I'm not trying
out new trends, things like that.
And so I kind of joke that like email
is like the least sexy part, like the
least sexy form of marketing, right?
Nobody often thinks about it, but it's
also like the most stable and robust.
So what, how often are you changing
your personal email address?
Mine is still, Oh no, I was
about to say it out loud.
First name dot last name.
domain.
com.
Like I haven't changed it since
I was a freshman in college.
And so it's one of those things
like you build it and you build
relationships with people that way
and you don't lose them and you can
continue to grow things over time.
So I think the, the, the question I think
that's coming with it is like, all right,
so you have these like people are coming
to you for email and then is that, was
that just like continued snowballing?
Like how did that continue going?
So the best friend would
bring on email projects.
She and I were actually going
to run an agency together.
And then about six, five months into
that, she found out she was pregnant
with twins and I was like, you know what?
You do that.
I'm gonna go take care of my own
livelihood because she was technically
like the CEO and she's like, I got
to bring in work for both of us.
And I was like, no, no, no.
You and your family just survive.
I'm fine.
I'm like single.
I live in a bigger city.
Like the idea of doing a partnership with
a best friend also just felt, felt like
a really quick way to end a friendship.
And I'm like, yeah.
I value my friends so much.
I got bullied as a kid.
So my adult friends, I'm like, Oh,
you think I'm risking anything?
You were wrong.
Like we are now together forever.
And it was, it was awkward there for
awhile cause I really like killed the
dream of starting an agency with a friend.
And what happened because I was involved
in the personal finance space, I just
saw so many people not using email or
they had a lot of like I don't know.
I just knew what it was, what
it was capable of doing in 2017.
Like I had a very little
picture of what it was doing.
And that's actually when I asked my
bosses to go part time by summer.
Summer of 2018 my best friend was
pregnant with her twins and I was like,
okay by August 1st I started my own
company But it was because like and I I
niched down for bloggers because I was
like, here's the thing guys You have
so much valuable content that lives on
your blog You're not creating a way for
new people to get connected with it.
It was truly that simple It's like I
don't think bloggers are really optimizing
email marketing for what it can do
And then I actually that fall went to
a webinar a paid webinar was a sales
webinar For a four month incubator.
Um, on email marketing from one of the,
I think she was like employee number
six at ConvertKit and I had known
who she was because she had written
some of the earliest sales emails.
I'm like, I know your name
from getting ConvertKit emails.
And the only reason I got ConvertKit
emails is because I had a blog and
got into that whole space, right?
And so her name is Val Geisler.
And so I ended up paying
5, 000 for this incubator.
Like three months into business.
I asked her for like, can
I pay this over six months?
Like I was like, can I have an exception?
So it's like 650 a month,
which is not nothing.
But I also live in Lincoln, Nebraska.
My rent was 525 at the time.
I know it feels like a completely
different world, like pre pandemic,
pre a couple of recessions, you know?
Um, but I did it and I learned
her process and whatnot.
What was interesting is, she talked
about niching down, and everybody
else in the incubator, like, there
might have been 30 of us, maybe 40.
Everyone wanted to work in SaaS and Ecom,
because that's what Val's background was.
I felt like the weird kid who was like,
I just want to work with bloggers.
Um, yeah.
The people you don't even know yet.
Yeah.
And they're like, okay, like,
is that even an industry?
Do people even make money blogging?
And I was like, pretty sure.
Like, but I was so timid about it, but
it was so fun because that summer I met
with a business coach, really honed in
on my, um, my elevator pitch or whatnot.
And then I went back to FinCon and I
had people like lining up because they
were like, Oh, you'll do it for me.
Oh, you'll do it for me.
My company is called Duettt
has a few different meanings.
Um, one is that it sounds like do it.
I realized that my strength is as an
implementer.
Yeah.
I'm like, you have great ideas.
I'll help make them happen.
And then the other part is that a
Duettt is, you know, two people coming
together to make something really great.
Um, and so I'm like, I tell my clients,
like, you are the master of your craft
and I'm really good at email together.
We can create a really great
experience for your subscribers.
That's so interesting.
Cause I know like convert kit or kit.
I don't know.
I don't know what to call it.
It's kit now.
Yeah.
But like they, it was interesting.
I've done a little bit on
like their story a little bit.
And like, they also niched down, they
were like, we're just doing newsletters.
And everyone's like,
well, what's a newsletter.
And then they went to bloggers.
So it's interesting that like
you may, you saw that too.
I'm like, all right, let's double
down on that, um, on that piece.
But okay.
So the accelerator piece, like, was
there anything like the other than
niching down, was there anything else
that like really came through that?
Yeah.
Okay.
So first of all, it's my
first massive investment.
And so.
It was like 100 percent
new knowledge to me.
You know, I had other people who'd
gone through the mastermind who, or the
incubator who had taken other courses.
So for them, they like got
a sliver here and there.
And I was like, I want the
whole Thanksgiving meal.
Like everything was important to me,
like how to interact with clients.
Um, yeah, just even using language,
like in my audit of just like, don't say
like, I think you should do this, like
do this, just like how I present myself.
Or even talking with clients about how
like we, um, Like, even though it's just
an audit, it's like, now I'm on your
team, we can accomplish this or whatnot.
Um, like you are now kind
of part of their business.
So language like that, but the biggest
thing was, um, the framework for my
services, which I still use to this
day, which is basically an audit.
I call it the email strategy playbook
because it's more than an audit.
It's also like so many ideas.
Um, and I can tell you all about that too.
So, uh, but then that's the first
phase of what I call the Duettt debut.
So people can do it individually
or they do it as part of our
bigger done for you service.
So we do an audit of everything because
I basically can't give you strategy
or insight unless I know what's
actually happening and how you're
currently using a platform or how
your audience is engaging with you.
We do audience research, which
I think is pretty unique.
Um, and, uh, we do a
strategy for 15 emails.
However, um, everything
from like, what's the topic?
What's the one big idea?
What's the call to action?
Are we tracking any clicks?
Like it's really in depth.
We write those 15 emails for the
client and put them all in whatever
evil service platform that they use.
So I also kind of had like.
A differentiating factor that I'm not
just a copywriter who just hands you
the copy and hopes for you to do it.
Cause I'm over here like, no
girl, I've got control issues.
Why don't I just do the
whole thing for you?
But honestly it's like so many
bloggers are so busy like creating
content, figuring out Google
updates, like, like they are.
Yeah.
People are like, people
make money blogging.
I was like, yes.
And also like, these women, especially
cause I work a lot with food bloggers
now, and most of them are women, but
like, they're like isolated in their
house, developing brand new recipes,
learning about food photography and SEO.
Like they're like really
Renaissance women.
And so I'm like, I just take
this part off of their plate.
And it's great because I get, especially
with the audience research, cause we
get to like comb out from their existing
audience, why they love this creator.
And I get to give that back to my clients.
This I was like, how often do
you get to hear from your people?
Why they open your emails, why they
love your recipes, why they would
totally buy a cookbook from you.
Like, and so that's like the
little sliver of the whole process.
But it's my favorite cause I'm
like, is that encouraging to you?
Because I want you to be in business for a
really long time, but I don't want you to
feel like you're living in a silo as well.
Totally.
Cause right.
Like creators, I feel like that's the, you
don't always get good feet, like feedback.
Like a view is like, And watch time
and like, or like the page view, like
that doesn't, that's just a metric.
It's not like the real life feedback.
I think that's the hard part of like
the creator journey piece of that.
Yes.
Okay.
But then, okay.
So then a couple of things I
want to like double click on.
So it seems like from when I like someone
from this and then like me doing like a
little bit of creeping and researching
on you is, so it seems like, right.
So the FinCon seems to be or
like converses and like being
in the right communities.
and then maybe like being a guest on
other podcasts seem to be like the main
drivers for like, for what you're doing.
Is there any other, like
are those the two ones?
And like, is there any other channels?
Like I'm missing?
Are you creeping in to
the inside of my business?
How did you know that?
Yeah.
It's always been events and relationships.
But yeah, being on a podcast, I
was on a, I was on the Food Blogger
Pro podcast in fall of 2019.
Do you want to know why?
Because Val Geisler, who led my
uh, incubator, got asked to be a
guest on this food blogging podcast.
And she goes, actually, I have one student
from my incubator who's into blogging.
Why don't I just send her your way?
And it was me.
So I'm like, I niched in,
which meant I rose to the top.
And then for eight months, I got
leads in the food blogging space.
Podcasts would generate that much in
actual, um, client sales, but yeah, so
events referrals now as well, because I've
been doing this for so long and I have
such a tight process and people really
enjoy the customer service, um, as well as
the actual thing that we produce for them
and how it makes them feel in the end.
Um, I know we like kind of touched
on processes, but like because
I've been doing the same thing for
so long, it is a tight process.
So we can dive into that as
much as you want, but I want to
answer your questions in order.
Um, okay.
So then, okay.
So the other thing, right, you're
mentioning, right, is the packages.
Yes.
So I know that's a big
debate, like packages versus
like hourly rates, whatever.
Like what are your thoughts on like,
people are not still
doing hourly, are they?
I've heard a little bit.
No, I have a productized services.
When I tell you that I can send out a
$12,000 proposal in 8 minutes at the
end of a sales call, and then they
sign that day, like I'm not spending
hours crafting custom packages,
which might feel really weird.
You guys are like a copywriter.
You're like, but the scope, I'm
like, I've defined the scope.
Like I'm not writing landing pages.
I'm not creating your opt in.
I'm not creating your PDF lead magnet.
Like, but you can, you can put
a price point on those things
and you can always just, you can
know your internal hourly rate.
Like I I'm tracking.
Product like profitability
on the back end.
Don't you worry?
Um, because I'm a nerd about it, but
I, yeah, so my productized services
are just like, this is the scope of it.
And like I try and communicate as
much as I can to the client, like what
they can expect, what we don't do.
I'm really clear about like, no,
I'm actually not going to be sending
your weekly newsletter as a result
or no, you actually only get one
template email, like email template.
Beyond that, we do have an
hourly rate as an agency.
Which we haven't even hit on that.
It's not just me.
It's like a whole team.
Um, but yeah, and I would do that even
when I was totally doing it all on my own.
I had a package.
You get the audit, the research,
the strategy, the emails, the tech
setup, and that service used to
be 4, 500 and now it's 12, 000.
Um, but yeah, like it makes it
really easy to sell what people need.
Um, I also, can I give you a Give you
and your people a big piece of advice
of like when you have a direction
that you think you're going to enjoy.
One of the biggest ways to see if
it's successful is to stay going
in that direction for a long time.
Something that I see a lot with
freelancers that they like, we'll try
this, we'll try this, we'll try this.
And they're in that experimental
phase for like more than a year,
or they're just constantly like,
oh, it didn't work for 30 days.
I'm like, you got to stick
with it for like 6 months.
You got to like, and I also feel
like I hit the jackpot that, and part
of it is I didn't hit the jackpot.
I paid $5k to learn this from
Val because it worked for her.
Right.
But like I hit the jackpot and the
fact that like my services just have
always performed well and I haven't
needed to go find a different niche.
Like, yeah.
And I, and I hit on all of that
within 1 year of business, like
at the 1 year mark, basically.
I like declared email marketing
automations for bloggers.
Yeah.
I decided I'm not doing launch copy.
I'm not doing sales pages.
I'm not doing social media and I just
picked a direction and I went in it.
Um, yeah, I'm still excited about email.
So I feel like I got really lucky.
Okay.
Quick break from this
conversation with Allea.
I want to tell you about something
I've been working on that
relates to this conversation.
For the last eight months, I've
been studying founders like Allea,
people who have bootstrapped their
way from zero to $250k in revenue.
And now it's all in a report that
shows the actual strategies that these
founders used to grow their businesses.
You can read all about it in the
bootstrapped report in the description
of this episode, back to the conversation
with Allea and how she went from
zero to over $250k in annual revenue.
Okay.
So that kind of matches the
timeline I've seen from others too.
So from what I've seen, so I've
only done, you'll be like 13 or
14 of deep dive, these deep dives.
And it seems like the number of time, the
time it takes to go from zero to two 50
K in annual revenue is like two years.
Jeez Louise.
It's almost like almost automatic.
Okay.
It took me six.
Okay.
That's great.
Cause like, I think the, like
the, which is like, I feel like
everyone's I've talked to has been,
it's been like zero, zero, like
maybe
I'm wrong about that.
But then the, so that's been
really interesting data point,
but it seems like also right.
Like niching down has been like the
thing you gotta do because if people
don't know what you do, Like right if
you were just like I do newsletters.
Well, like what does that actually mean?
Yeah,
So let's say you're interested
in a lot of different things Like
how would you advise like others
to like think through that maybe?
Uh, it's way more fun to be running a
business when you're making money And i'm
not like a money motivated person And so
find the thing that will actually make you
money because once you are then you can
go and do a lot more of the fun stuff Like
So much of it is focus because There's a
reason I didn't have a website my whole
first year business Like I need to figure
out how to make a sustainable living
Then I can focus on building a website
then I can focus on writing blog content
and sending out a weekly email it's like
Yeah, so I spent that whole first year
just learning and doing and like doing
the scrappy sales Like, who do you know?
Um, do you want to hop on a sales call?
Like, and you just, you're
refining a bunch that way.
I think part of the reason maybe why it's
taken me a lot longer than some folks
is like, I don't do any social media.
Like, I don't know if social
media would have, I don't know.
That's a whole other place, I
guess, to like go get clients.
Like I've just always done a
lot more of a slow business.
I would rather have a really
solid customer, like experience
and product and like.
We have it so tight.
Like my Asana templates per project,
but also like the questions we ask
at different phases of the project.
Like we've got it like locked down.
Like that's the place that I was spending
my time and energy or bringing on a
team member and making sure that they
had everything that they need and our
internal communication worked and things,
balls didn't get dropped for clients.
Like I've just focused so much on
quAlleaty of that, that I worried
less about showing up on social media.
Pinterest or things like that.
So yeah, going to conferences a few
times a year and just being really good
at follow up and then podcasting, you
know, providing, you know, making sure
that I went and shared the podcast, like
podcast host love me cause I'm like, she
does the things that we want her to do.
And I'm like, great.
You know?
And so it's like my focus on like, these
are my few marketing channels, but like
one of your best marketing channels is
how your clients feel when they work with
you and what they tell to other people.
One of the things that's interesting about
your story is like you're like an operator
through and through it seems like.
And I think that there's been like,
from what I, my perspective is like
being an operator has led a lot
of people to be like, Oh, I'm a
joiner to startups or these ventures
rather than like founding stuff.
And like, from my standpoint,
it seems like there's a gender,
like, Gap with that too.
Okay.
Tell me why.
So I'm curious, like from your
experience, like being the operator Yeah.
And then switch like turning to
founder, like the founder hat.
Yeah.
Like did, do you see
like all that experience?
Because I feel like people are
like, oh, you have to be so
salesy and like so markety to be a
founder or like very product led.
Like there's the two dynamics.
Interesting.
Versus operator.
So like how have you seen like
the operator side, like come
out in like the founder side?
Yeah.
I mean, if we're being honest, I
mean, I worked for a small business
for five years and I learned, I
learned QuickBooks in college when
I worked for a small ad agency.
I went to school for
branding and advertising.
I know what a creative brief is.
Like they like, so part of it
is like, it is, it's cumulative
knowledge in skill set in place.
I kid you not when the first, the first
10 days of running a business, I don't
think I slept the first two years were
really, really anxious, but I had to
tell myself, I'm like, Allea, Allea.
You have more skills than the
average person to run a business.
And so like, I'm, I'm not
saying that to be cocky.
I'm saying that, that I was self
aware of the fact that like a lot of
people start stuff with a lot more
gumption and a lot fewer skills.
And so, but part of it is almost like
you could almost get crippled by it.
I'm like, girl, why are you
creating these Asana templates when
you could be doing social media?
I mean, part of it was like, If
I'm, because there's operator
and there's, there's an idea.
Have you ever heard of four eyes?
Is that what it's called?
Foresight.
F O U R S I G H T. I used to do this.
thing with my old company.
Um, and I realized I'm
a heavy implementer.
So I worked with a lot of creatives.
So you can have ideas, but if you
don't put them through development and
implementation, they just fall short.
And so I'm like, well, I'm just going
to pick the few ideas that actually
make the most sense long term.
And that's where I'm going
to put my time and energy.
Right.
So if I do have a team member,
I'm investing in the right person.
Um, and if I'm, even if we're going to
run this ship by myself, I'm going to
make a system so that it's, Smoother
for me, so I have more capacity to do
creative things like write blog posts.
Um, so I guess that's probably where
the operational side came from.
It was like, it takes a
long time to do things well.
Yep.
And so I'm just gonna pick the
few things that I'm actually going
to focus on and let that be Okay.
I had to shut out a lot of what the
online business space says to focus on.
Okay.
Fair.
That's true.
I'd be curious like
how you see that piece.
Like what are they always saying?
And what's the path that you took
that's very different from that?
Yeah.
So I always tell new entrepreneurs to
limit the amount of people you listen
to like maximum five because there
are lots of different ways to grow
businesses and they're not all wrong.
They're not all like trying to, you
know, pull the wool over your eyes like
they're legitimate businesses, but they
do end up contradicting one another.
And then you end up either not
taking action or feeling really,
what's the opposite of confident,
not confident in the actions you are
taking because you feel like, oh, it's
falling short, it's falling short.
It's like, pick the few people
that you actually want to learn
and listen to and just like let
those be your guiding voices.
Don't get overwhelmed with all the
different things that are possible.
I also always tell people, don't buy
anything for the first six months.
Because like, here I was
buying a Pinterest course.
I'm like, girl, you don't even
know how to write a blog post.
How are you gonna Pinterest
anybody to what blog?
Like, you know, and so it's like
it's gonna save you a lot of money.
The other thing that I, having a
business coach, like Honestly, because
I'm such a external processor and
like, so I had a, my first, you know,
I finished the incubator and the next
thing I really had to figure out was
my own branding, my own like, how am I
going to present myself at conferences?
How do I tell people what I'm up
to and how they can work with me?
And there was a 1, 000 eight
week course or there was a 1, 500
two hour intensive with a coach.
And I knew in my own self that
like, I can go through that eight
week course and I can go through
all and do all the exercises.
Like I'm really good at homework.
Um, and at the end of it still not be
100 percent sure if it's correct for me.
It's like I needed some
sort of validation.
And so I was like, I would rather
pay 500 more, do it in two hours
and have someone say, yes, Allea,
there's your elevator pitch.
Yes.
There's your marketing strategy.
Yes.
This is how you should
go into FinCon this fall.
And like, This is how you get clients.
This is how many clients is
how much you should charge.
Like we covered so much in two hours.
I'm like, I just knew I needed a little
bit of that external vAlleadation for
someone to say, okay, now go now run.
Like, otherwise I think I would
have just been spinning my
wheels for a really long time.
That's really fair.
Okay.
So then.
Took six years to get to 250k.
Which is awesome.
Um,
was growth, like, kind of
just up and to the right?
Or like, how did that
growth curve look, I guess?
Yeah, it's been up and
to the right for years.
And then this time last year, like
12 months ago, I look back at last
FinCon, I was like, was I depressed?
I might have been depressed because
my profit margins were so low
and I couldn't figure out why.
Um, because my team is so, I have a lot
of team members, but like we operate very
lean, like we know how long different
things take and that's how many hours
they get to work on it, but, I was like,
I can't trim back my team expenses.
What is going on?
And a sweet friend of mine who works
as like a CFO, a fractional CFO, sat
down with me at FinCon last year.
We were roommates.
We pulled up our laptops, we ordered pizza
from room service and we just sat there.
This was like Sunday night
before we're flying home.
Like we'd spent all day in New
Orleans and then we're like, okay,
remember we're going to look at all
these numbers before we go home.
And we sat there and then we realized
it actually takes me more cost to
acquire a client than to serve them.
So that's where my profit margin was low.
Like why there wasn't actually more
money in the bank because going to
conferences is expensive, right?
It's not, I mean, you could also
spend just as much money hiring a
social media manager or whatever.
Like, uh, but I'd gone to a couple
of conferences that just reduced,
like produced no new leads.
Like it was a little bit
more of like a social thing.
And it's like, okay, at some
point we need these to pay off.
So, um, but yeah, Yeah.
So that, that was a
real good wake up call.
And what's funny is that the year before
that she told me to double my rates.
And I was like, no, no one will pay that.
And then last fall it was literally
like, if you don't raise your rates,
you're not going to have a business.
Like you're going to shut down the
agency side and just do coaching.
And I was like, no, I've worked so hard
to create these systems and I know they
work and they get results for my clients.
And so yeah, over this past 12 months
I raised my rates and now my offer
this time last year was maybe 7850
is now 12, 000 I offer one on one
coaching and this time last year.
I just started it and now it's like
Like 8, 500 for six months like now I'm
like in a better profit margin type area
Yeah, which just feels a lot better.
I mean, it allowed me to move to
Nashville from Lincoln, Nebraska.
My rent is no longer 525.
Um, in the year of our Lord 2024
and the fastest growing midtown
midsize city in the States.
Um, so yeah, it's been upwards and
to the right, but yeah, it definitely
hit like a bit of a plateau and I had
heard, these are the things like the
little gems that I've heard from people.
One thing I always heard was like,
your team is your most important asset
and I've believed that and I've put
resources like my time and energy.
Behind that.
The other one that I heard was, um,
if you're having a hard time breaking
past two 50, it's all mindset.
It's not because you
don't have the ability.
And I'm always like, so the last
year I was like, I hired this,
this, this new business coach.
And I was like, work on my mindset.
I don't want to plateau.
So yeah.
So in the last year, I mean, my revenue
was up almost 50 percent because I raised
my rate on those, that signature offer,
I created a smaller done for you offer.
Um, and I have this one on one coaching
and now I just feel like I'm actually
in a place to thrive and breathe
and now also live in a new city.
That's really exciting.
That's awesome.
It seems like everything's like coming
together and they're really nice.
It
feels a lot better.
Yeah.
It's funny.
Cause I don't think I would have said
I was depressed last year, but I'm like
looking back, boy, you were sad, you know?
And it was, it was frustrating and
confusing because like, there is a
lot of fear about raising your rates.
And you know, and I had a client this
week, uh, before coming to FinCon had
a sales call on Monday and Full, like
paid in full invoice the very next day.
I had never met her before.
She was a referral.
And that's at the 12, 000 price point.
And you're just like, okay.
Yeah.
So, so much of it is kind of in our heads.
So would you say that working on
your business today is easier or
harder than when you first started
working on the business?
Yeah.
That's a great question.
No, but it is more complicated because
you just have a lot more avenues.
I have a lot more people to manage.
Um, I will say though, as part
of managing people, I don't
know how I did it, but I have.
Contractors who love my business as much
as I do and love my clients as much as I
do, which is always people's like hangups.
I'm like, you gotta
hire them as employees.
So they care.
And I was like, do I?
And I somewhat joke that on my
tombstone, tombstone, it'll say,
did you update the SOP for that?
Like, so in a way, like I've had to
instill that in my team members and
give them buy in for why that matters,
not just for their role, but I'm like,
would you like to go on vacation and not.
You know, stress everybody
else out on the team.
Somebody else can take that role.
You just got to write it down
and make sure it's up to date.
And so it's like, yeah, or if they
want to move into doing different
things in the business, I'm like,
great, write that down and I'll hire
someone else to do that piece of it.
Yep.
And so there's a lot
of, um, internal buy in.
So as far as working in the business,
it's mostly about team members
and it's mostly about me now.
So I hired this business coach
last summer and I adore her.
I brought her on to help me
develop this coaching program.
And within a month, I was
like, well, I didn't know we
would be, make me a better CEO.
I didn't know that was
on your agenda, Anna.
And it did like, because I was stressing
my team out and I Like from the
outside, you're like, like communication
wise, like everything was in Slack.
I was giving like, excuse my
language, like half ass tasks with
no deadlines, not enough information.
Kid you not.
Here we go.
This is, this has been so much for
my internal growth as a, as a CEO.
And it kind of hits you upside the head.
You have like these one on ones
with my, like my team members.
I do it maybe once or twice a
year because I run a tight ship.
Everybody knows what they're
supposed to doing and unless
there's a problem, you know, and
we fix it when the problems arise.
But I was doing one on ones
just to check in and see like,
how are you doing in the role?
Uh, what else do you want to be doing?
And is there anything I
can do to make it easier?
Four out of five, four of
that kindly said, it's you.
You're the problem.
And I was like, me?
I'm the problem?
But like, first of all, I
want to consider that a win.
That people feel, like, open
enough to be able to tell me that.
Um, but then I cried for two weeks.
Cause I was like, it's me?
And they're like, yeah, the way that
things are getting lost in Slack,
or you're giving us half assed
tasks, or there's not a deadline.
They're rushing to get things
done because I'm the boss.
And I was like, absolutely not.
Whatever Laura, my project manager tells
you to do, she really runs the ship.
Okay.
Um, I tell people all the time, I'm
like, she is the feather in my cap.
Like, I'm so proud that she was on my
team and just like, she manages like
seven people, six people, she has seven.
Yeah.
Um, and so it's, it's different work
when you're at this point, because
the other thing too, it's like, I
can't, what did someone say today?
As you grow, the hustler has to die.
You can't be the person who's whipping
out like a newsletter content the
day before it needs to go out.
Not when you have a team.
Because the last thing I want
to do is cause them more stress.
So I, even before I tell a team member
that I'm working on this new idea, like
I'm launching a podcast soon, I'm like,
you need to think through some stuff.
Like you need to figure out what the
podcast is, what the timeline ish is.
How much you're gonna hire out, whatever.
Like, I need to get some answers
organized before I just throw them
on my sweet executive assistant and
expect her to just know what to do.
So it's different work.
Totally fair.
So what was the biggest hurdle from going
to zero to two 50K in annual revenue?
And then how did you overcome it?
Ooh.
Okay.
So, cause I haven't
told you this story yet.
So at craft and commerce 2023
kind of, I had a big come to Jesus
with, with making money and and
whatnot and my worth around that.
It was so interesting because I,
I ended up teaching the mastermind
prior to the actual event starting,
which this mastermind is made up
of six, seven figure businesses.
Some of them are multi
seven figure businesses.
And I'm just rolling in there
with like my, I made my break
200, 000 this year, you know?
And I, I taught a session and
everyone was like, No one was, it
felt like no one was paying attention.
Come to find out my friend, who
also is an email marketer in the
room, messaged me on Slack right
after he goes, you did so great.
Everyone was taking notes and I
was like, Oh my God, that's why
they weren't like looking at me.
I was like, hello, anyone here?
Um, but what it did is it really
affirmed a couple of things.
Like I've been having my head
down doing my work for so long.
That I finally looked up and realized
that the work I was doing was
actually more valuable to more people.
And maybe I was playing it small.
Uh, it was kind of my first permission
to like, what does it mean to like
expand this and have a greater impact?
Um, I, yeah, I felt like I was like,
how do you go lamp under a bushel?
That's biblical, right?
It's like, and it's like, what if,
yeah, like you've been working so hard.
It's also okay now to go and tell people,
you know, to, Yeah, because I was just
kind of working in my own little incubator
and doing a really good job and I look up
and everyone's like, Wow, you're smart.
Wow, you know stuff.
And I'm like, I do know stuff.
Like, what do you know?
And so one of my friends has since told
me, he was one of them at that event.
He goes, Allea, your biggest
issue is your obscurity.
And so it's been a really good challenge.
Not like, as you can tell, I'm
not a person who's like, I want to
show up on Instagram and TikTok.
And like, I'm like, I don't
even know how to hold this mic.
I'm like, What are the Gen Zers doing?
So, yeah, so it's not, it's not
out of fame or anything like that.
It's really just a matter
of, like, growing my impact.
And that's actually where my
coaching program came out of that.
I was like, actually, there are ways that
I can help more people, um, and show up
in a little bit bigger, expanded way.
So, that was, um, yeah.
And part of it was doing the
work of, like, believing that
I already have what it takes.
To go and take up a little
bit more space online.
Um, and you know, and hiring a
business coach is no cheap fee either.
So like, I keep saying I have these
coaches, but like, I mean, if you're
asking for me, if I'm asking people
to invest 12, 000 with me, I can
invest 10, 000 in a business coach
for six months, and believe on the
other end of it, I'm going to become a
better boss, a better business owner.
I'm going to enjoy my personal life more.
My clients are going to
get a better experience.
Going to be more profitable.
When you hire the right coach, I
can't say that for all coaches,
but yeah, so I was willing to take
that risk, um, and do that work.
That's awesome.
So where can people learn more about
you and the work that you're doing?
You can learn more about me at Duettt.
co, D U E T T with two T's, uh, dot
C O. That's the best place to learn
more about me on my resources page.
There's all sorts of free ways to get.
A resource to join my email list.
That's honestly the best way
to stay connected with me.
You can reply back at any email
and it's gonna land in my inbox.
And then I'm launching a podcast
called Happy Subscribers.
Sweet.
Yeah, that's awesome.
That's all I got.
Yes.
Cheers.
Cheers.
That's my conversation with Allea
Grummert, the founder of Duett.
If you found it helpful, I would love
it if you can give it a like, and if
you're looking for more content like
this, check out the bootstrapped report
in the description of this video.