#120: Student Spotlight Series: Ana Micka, Founder of Round Robin Marketing Collective
I’ve had all types of guests on this podcast.
Friends
Colleagues
Coaches
Clients
The list goes on.
That’s why today- I am so excited to add another category to that list.
Students!
That's right- this is the first of many student spotlight episodes where I invite my Fractional Freedom consulting students to come on the show and talk about their experience learning from me.
Today, I was joined by Ana Micka, Founder of Round Robin Marketing Collective.
We talked about:
Her work consulting health and life coaches
Why she joined my program
Where she sees herself in a couple of years
Make sure to tune in to hear Ana talk about her new wool stand!
Learn more about Ana here: https://roundrobinmarketing.com or on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ana.c.micka.
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Listen to the Show:
Laura 00:02
Welcome to Next Level Leap, a podcast where we dive into the mindset and strategies of scaling your company and creating a legacy brand. As a top growth strategist, multi passionate entrepreneur, membership site owner, trainer, speaker, author and mom to three, I love exploring the journey of how we as founders can multiply our income, impact and influence by landing on the other side of our next big leap. Let's get started.
Laura 00:44
Hey, everybody, so I want to introduce you to one of our fractional freedom students. Her name is Ana Micka. I'm so nice to have you here today.
Ana 00:52
Oh, thank you so much. I am thrilled to be here with you on your podcast. I love your podcast.
Laura 00:57
Oh, thank you so much. And I love what you've done with your business. So I'm super excited to start with that. And let's share with everyone who's listening just a little bit about your business background. Because you did both done for you services in terms of agency services, as well as consulting before coming into the consulting incubators. What was that journey like?
Ana 01:17
Yeah, so in terms of my online business, so I spent 20 years before doing an online business, you know, working in nonprofit organizational development and political campaigns and fundraisings, which are very much like online funnels, it's just kind of indirect mail, even all of those pieces. So I brought that with me to online marketing, which was fun. And I was a Facebook ads consultant. And I still do some Facebook ads for just a few long term clients. But that's really where I built my agency of since 2014, which in the Facebook ads world is a long time to be buying, like the OG. And I ended up really specializing and having a lovely group of clients who are mostly life coaches, or business coaches for life coaches. So I really got to know that audience those funnels, those types of clients, and had an interesting towards the last couple of years of my agency actually merged my agency with one of my clients. So I also have the experience of running an agency but also a two and a half million dollar in life coaching business, I merged and became her COO. So I just have an interesting mix of experience. Yeah, that from an ADS perspective, but also from an inside perspective, all the moving pieces, and also deeply understand the kind of chaos that happens when you are running all these different moving pieces. And so that's a big reason why I love this step I've taken into really focusing on consulting.
Laura 02:52
Yeah, that's so interesting. I didn't realize you had such a robust business background. But I'm not surprised because I think people who are the best consultants have a variety of different backgrounds they can tap into in order to be able to provide advice really based on experience. So that's fascinating that you were in like campaign and nonprofit, I am not shocked at all, now knowing you. And this was sophistication level of your business acumen. And so what was the moment in which you started to step into online from offline, that's an interesting transition.
Ana 03:26
You know, a lot of us I moved an hour away from downtown Minneapolis to our farm. And at the time, I had a fifth grade daughter, and I just needed to not be commuting an hour each way every day. You know, my husband did that up until two years ago. And it's hard to have your kids out an hour away from you, and be commuting that far from me. So I was really looking for something where I could apply my skills in a different way, have flexibility be there for my daughter, she was a big horse person. So that lot of time in the barn needing to be able to go to my truck and like work from my phone and get things done. So that was a big part of the reason. I also loved I decided I realized I loved Facebook ads least for a long time, because I actually did like, you know, a lot of direct mail, and a lot of telemarketing. And a lot of I started out door to door canvassing for Greenpeace when I was 16.
Ana 04:29
It was really fun and really interesting. But it's a numbers game, right? So it's like it's a it's a kind of funnel. It's a kind of you go you meet, bring people in your front door, you get to know them, you nurture them and warm them up, you invite them to take the next step. And so Facebook ads were like all of those much more direct one to one kinds of engagements on steroids. And I just loved the data and the speed at which you can see what's happening. So
Laura 04:56
That's awesome. That is such a good analogy that I think probably not a lot of people think about is the labor that goes into direct response marketing prior to Facebook ads, like the, the volume at which you needed to be physically active, right? Whether it's like direct mail, and the volume of those pieces, or the volume of interactions that can be totally replaced with digital interactions. But or it's a similar game, just a different platform.
Ana 05:26
It's a similar game, a different platform. And whenever I get frustrated, or my clients get frustrated with Facebook, or Instagram, like, you know what, this leveled the playing field, and allowed you to have this kind of business because I ran direct mail for a lot of clients and to run direct mail, you're looking at 100k investment before you've made one penny back before you even know it's going to work. Because you've printed everything, and rented lists and paid for
postage and paid for stuffing envelopes. I mean, so Facebook, at least yeah, I mean, every platform has some challenges. But it really did allow a lot of people like all these life coaches I worked for, and I've helped build their business, actually have a way to reach people in a one to many kinds of way.
Laura 06:15
That's so cool. I want to dig into your consulting. But before we do that, what is it that you love about working with life coaches?
Ana 06:22
Well, I've always said, there's no one better to go through a pandemic with and a life coach, whenever any of us have, you know, over the cliff kinds of thoughts, we can be like, well, that's a thought we can examine that thoughts. Right. So I just love that there are people who are exploring, they're very much into their own personal development, they're optimistic and hopeful about human nature, and where we can go as people. And they're very focused on relationships. And that to me, relationships are, it's funny that I'm an online marketer, but relationships are really central to me, and how, how things get done and how things happen.
Laura 07:01
Yeah, I think we share that we share that value, we have that in common, where even though we love digital marketing, it always comes back to the human interaction that takes place behind each click, and the integrity and the honoring of the other person and helping them feel seen and heard and valued.
Ana 07:20
Yeah, that's always been a huge thing is that like, these are not even I'll talk about the funnel and that kind of terminology. Each person is not just a number, you know, I don't just care about the 1% who do something that I want, I really care about the whole 100% and what their experience is.
Laura 07:38
Yeah, you have such the exact type of personality and background of people who are really successful with consulting, because it is that combination of a really nice intuitive soul led, like worldview, combined with the intellectual aspect and the business acumen that I think comes together and makes a really good adviser to business owners. And I didn't really know that until I started hanging out with other consultants.
Ana 08:08
Yeah, I think that's a really interesting point. And I do think that that is something that definitely learned working in politics and campaigns because I worked all my clients were women, there
are women running for federal office back. I'm dating myself back right now. But like in the 1990s, before I was pregnant, and that was a tough time for women. And so a lot of the a lot of my work as their primary staff, I was the finance director and fundraiser, I was the first person on last personnel of any campaign and the closest to the candidate. But it's tough, like, talk about this is before, you could do online fundraising for campaigns, we dialed for dollars, and so literally just six hours a day of calling cold calls. So a lot of it was like numbers, like oh, if you just make 10 more calls, you're going to make you know, another $1,000. But there's a lot of mindset and a lot of coaching, a lot of nurturing and a lot of helping people kind of take the next step and see that, how it all adds up. So I do think I learned, it's like, not just here's your numbers, if you've make the numbers work, everything is good. It's like it's the numbers. It's the analytics, but it's really the human side of how they what those numbers mean, in terms of impact in terms of how they help you take it to the next step, the next level.
Laura 09:27
Yeah, I completely agree. And I think about it the same way. And I think that's such a refreshing and helpful perspective for us to bring our clients. So when you started to lean into consulting more, what are some of those steps that you've made? And then we'll, we'll talk a little bit more about what it was like when you joined the program?
Ana 09:47
Yeah, so I really started consulting more, I would say, a year and a half ago with a couple of clients who are ads clients, and that's always been something that when you're an ad agency, you're expected to get rid results, right? People expect ads to be like an ATM and you put money in and get money out somehow magically. And we all know that, especially now, I mean, that actually was a bit more the case in 2015/2016. But now it's like what happens every single step along the way, once someone becomes a lead, is actually where you get your return on ad spend is in the follow up is in that nurturing is in your messaging is in how thoughtful, you are about optimizing that experience. And so I just needed to be more and more connected and signed people's business to help them get the results on the ad side. Yeah, so I started kind of expanding my scope, which is I don't recommend. So I learned to be a bit cleaner about like, this is the ad side. But this is the strategy side, if you want this, I have consulting, and can really help you look at this holistically with traffic as a component, but not the only thing that you need to think about in your business.
Laura 11:07
Yeah. And it's funny when we, when I teach consulting, actually say that's the last thing, right. So look at that last, because you certainly don't want to solve a traffic issue prior to solving follow up issues or sales issues or messaging issues, because the traffic issue will just end up feeling like a waste of money. And this is where people get frustrated with traffic, investing in traffic when it's a great investment. But when you have the right foundation, right? So when
you join fractional freedom last spring, what were some of the reasons why you decided to commit to that program?
Ana 11:42
So as I mentioned before, when I was like, you know, watching people's businesses, and also running a multimillion coaching, business dollar coaching business, like the amount of advice that is coming your way, there's the coming away, these owners, the these business owners is really quite head spinning and overwhelming. And so the approach and fractional freedom where it's, let's focus on a few things and do them well, less is more calm, like very thoughtful, like really helping these business owners take a deep breath, know that there's a path through to the other side, and doesn't mean that they have to spend money on this thing, or on that thing, or redo a whole new funnel, or redo their business or add new team or whatever, there's just a simpler way to look at what's working and do more of what's working well inside their business. So I just really liked that focus and know from my existing clients and the work I've done that that is what they need. It's a breath of fresh air for them. So that's a huge piece of it. And just it was a smart approach and having the community having, because you can look at someone's business. And I do have a lot of experience. But it also helps to have a brain trust other people, your experience and the other folks in the community, like Oh, have you thought about this, or I would recommend you think about this. And so I really love having the resources, the tools, the community to help hone in on what the next best step is for that client.
Laura 13:17
Yeah, that's awesome. What are some of the things you've experienced in the program? Like, what are some of the big wins that you've had in your business?
Ana 13:25
So in terms of the big wins, I, you know, I've already been, I think, within like the first month or five weeks, I had converted an ads client to completely I stopped doing her ads and actually moved her just to consulting. And for more money that was charging for ads. So like that was a huge win. And I was just on a phone call with her. One of our tasks with her is to get her a salesperson is to get her out of doing sales calls. Because it's so hard for business owners to do that many calls and everything else. And so I lined her up with a great sales consultant. And I just it's so fun to you know, hear clients talk about you on the phone to someone else. And she was like, I just do what Ana says. So that was so fun. It was like Okay, good. This is working, you know, and I've you know, I signed up to more clients, folks that I've known in the past, who are not currently doing and be who are just brand new clients into my space to really kind of help really helping one of them she's growing interesting business model, but helping her really line up for some really big, get everything in place. So she's got some big opportunities coming up first of the year. And so looking forward, so that she's got a foundation. I you know, I weigh more than paid for the program within like the first month. And I
also just love doing the work so much with these kinds of clients like It's very freeing to not just be in reporting and ads management in the numbers but actually be in the bigger picture, helping craft that path.
Laura 14:58
Yeah, it's very rewarding. work, I think you're seeing it too. And I've always seen this, that being able to come in at that clients thought partner, is a very unique role. And it's a very rewarding role, especially when you're working with people, like the people you're working with, who are changing the lives of others. And the more that you can help them, the more that they can help more people get out of pain, which is in particularly, you know, what, one of the big ways in which life coaches tend to help people.
Ana 15:30
Yeah, definitely, I love being a thought partner. And I really appreciate that you help me be okay with like, I can let go of the done for you service and still offer this consulting service. And I'm enjoying that a lot. Because you're just, it's a different conversation when you're not also and here's your ad report. By the way, you know, when you're trying to combine both of those scopes, it's kind of muddy. So I really am taking your advice and liking your advice of shift, find them a new ads person and shift to really being there consulting, if they are a current client and find new clients, which was fun.
Laura 16:06
Yes, which I know you will, I can see it, I can see that transition happening for you. And it's so exciting to watch. Is there anything if somebody was thinking about joining fractional freedom had a business background variety of different ways in which they've worked on strategy, both done for you some consulting some advisory? What were what would you say to them? If they're thinking about joining the program?
Ana 16:30
You know, I've actually talked to a few folks about joining the program, because I really am an advocate for it. And I think for the right person, it's a great program. And so one of the women I've talked to, she keeps saying, Well, I'm not running. I'm not myself a million dollar business yet, how could I consult with clients who are million dollar businesses, and I keep saying to her, like, you know, you're getting results, you're getting your business coaching is getting folks from zero to 100k. If you can do that, you that's the heavy lift a lot of it right there like you, you don't have to be running your own multimillion dollar business to help seven figure owners make their business more successful.
Ana 17:09
So I think that's a thing that it's a little mental hurdle to kind of overcome in one's one on in your own confidence level that you can do that. So that's the thing I say that folks is you can do this from where you are, if your business coaching, you can definitely do this, especially with the support that you offer, and the community and team and templates and tools. So I think that's a key thing. Other thing is it's like it's a fairly easy, what's the word? How to say? Like, it's not hard to market, right? It's a typically done for you services are easier to market than consulting, because it's such a concrete thing. But I think the way that you talk about and teach how to become a consultant how to pitch your consulting, is very tangible, because it is looking at how can we get them a return? That is more than what they're investing in us very clearly, in a defined way that is focused on their biggest goal takes away all of the noise and distraction and gets them to that next step, which is usually them making quite a bit more than what they're paying you. So that's an easy, it's an easy pitch. It's an easy yes. For someone you're talking to.
Laura 18:19
Yeah, I love that you brought that up, because I think that's probably two common objections of people getting into consulting. The first is your friends, which is, it's great that she brought that up because it means she cares, and she means that she doesn't want to oversell herself, or provide a promise that she can't deliver on which I think is very admirable. And don't we all wish there was more of that in the online space. Right? And so that's, that's awesome. And what you know, my answer is it you know, I'm a big tennis player, as many of you who are listening probably know, and does, you know, Rafa Nadal is his coach better than him now. Nobody's better. But it's easy to better coach than Rafa. Yes, you know, and we don't need to be the star influencer, we don't need to be the star player, what we need to be able to do is bring a perspective on a particular area of expertise, not the whole business, you know, we're not consulting on HR, we're not consulting, you know, what they should do with their retirement plan. We're consulting on one particular area of the business, which is growth, and with an expertise and a specialty that gives them that outside perspective, and I think that's really it's common and understandable and actually really cool. You know, if people have a concern around that, because I think it's, it shows a high level of integrity. So I'm glad that you mentioned that in a couple of years. Where do you see your business? Where do you see yourself from now?
Ana 19:49
You know, I really, really love this. This offer I really see it growing, and I like this offer because it takes away my own. So I've never, ever really wanted to be my own seven figure running Empire kind of person, I really love the idea that I could have a business consulting, maybe a group program on top of that have a super comfortable living. And you know, I run a farm, I have sheep, I'm opening a little sheep store in my little town to sell wool. And, you know, so I really want to have like, be very active in my community and have another life besides working
all of the time. And I've done 10 years of working all the time. So I love that this offer, that this consulting approach also is letting me have, you know, a bit more, bit more of my other life back again.
Laura 20:39
I love that. Well, when you've got your sheep will funnel together, let me know and I'll get into it. So it's super fun, see what I can get from my home. And if somebody wants to get in touch with you, if their life coach and they're like, wow, you know, honest, seems like it would be a great fit to have her look at my business. So they just have general questions, what's the best place for them to get in touch with you?
Ana 21:02
Yeah, so I have an agency that's really focused on consulting now. And it's called round robin marketing collective. So just go to Roundrobinmarketing.com. And that's my website, and you can find me there. And there's a quick place to get in touch and just submit a quick form and I'll be in touch and we can, you know, I offer some, you know, free consultation on the phone, if you want to talk through learn more, but this is like, share what your big goal goals for your business are. And then we can go from there.
Laura 21:28
That's fantastic. And we have a philosophy and our whole collective that we only will pitch to somebody that we know we can help. So if you're not sure, you can just get in touch, and she'll let you know whether or not she can help you. So thank you so much, Ana for being here is such a pleasure. And I look forward to seeing you soon.
Ana 21:48
Thank you so much.
Laura 21:50
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The Scale with Joy podcast dives into the mindset and strategies of scaling your company to the million dollar mark and beyond. Each week, we follow the journeys of innovators, disruptors, experts and leaders - sharing behind the scenes stories of their most challenging moments and greatest lessons learned-all while building their multi-million dollar empires.