#123: Student Spotlight Series: Amanda Kalman, Business Growth Strategist at Digital Scaling Solutions
Embrace the magic- or in the case of today’s episode, Magick!
Today's guest is another Fractional Freedom student of mine, Amanda (Magick) Kalman, Business Growth Strategist at Digital Scaling Solutions.
In this episode, Magick and I dive into:
Her extensive background in business
How she has used my program to get consulting clients
What she sees for her future
Tune in to hear about why she goes by Magick!
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Learn more about Amanda here: https://magickkalman.com.
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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 00:29
Hey everybody, welcome back to the Next Level Leap Podcast. Today, I have Magick Kalman with us. She is a growth consultant. She has had an incredible experience both in operations as well as marketing. She's also one of our students in fractional freedom, as well as the abundant consultant mastermind. So welcome, Magick.
Magick 01:02
Thank you. So excited to be here.
Laura 01:04
Yeah, it was so funny, because in the beginning, we were talking about the branding of you leaning into the name magic. And so for everybody who might be listening and kind of like trying to picture it, it's M, A, G, I, C, K and we were we were talking about how it's so helpful to lean into your identity, your new identity as you evolve as a business owner. And I was like, Do you have a last name? Is it like Madonna? Are we just going as magic? We had to kind of process that for a minute. But tell me a little bit about your business background, like where did you come from, and then what made you decide to specialize in consulting?
Magick 01:41
Sure. So my business background, I came from the world of healthcare consulting, and I actually came into the world of internet marketing, because I was a hypnotherapist and mindset coach, and I knew immediately that I wanted to be all online, I didn't want to do in person I wanted to do online, I wanted to build programs, and so on. So it was nearly 10 years ago, I took all the courses, I worked with all of the business coaches, I did all of the things and I realized I had more of an affinity for the business aspect, and in particular, back end operations and like essentially being the glue that's holding the structure of the business together. And so I then moved on to become a director of operations and several six and seven figure businesses. And then I decided to recently shift my business model to go strictly into consulting. And so what I help people now is not only growth on the revenue, side and marketing, but I also will help the structure of the business I teach people how to build their team and systems and really how the business owner can also start stepping back in their role and create more time for themselves.
Laura 02:51
It's so cool, I love that. And before we were recording, you were talking about being the glue that holds things together, and you and your husband go to Burning Man and serve in that capacity. And I feel like as consultants, a lot of times our identity follows us everywhere we go, right. So you probably can't help yourself by going to an amazing event like that. But being the person that holds everything together and holds all the operations together.
Magick 03:15
It's very hard for me to just go and attend.
Laura 03:20
So interesting, you have a fascinating background and for those of you who have tuned in and listen to the different students that we've featured, I think the big theme that you hear, it's just this fascinating background and from hypnotherapy to being in the operation side of Burning Man and your husband's in the medical side of Burning Man. And, and what I love about people who are attracted to consulting is they tend to have a very broad worldview and to have a lot of different interests. So what draws you to consulting, like what interested you and being part of a consulting incubator, and now a consulting mastermind. So there's, there's a few pieces for me. So the first part in being a service provider, you're working in the business, right? So it's a lot of work, it's a lot, and especially being a director of operations and project manager, having to keep a pulse on everything. And so I found for me, in particular, and that starts to become physically exhausting, especially in launch mode, when we're launching something, right. So I desired to just be more of a strategic thought partner at you know, as you've you, you've coined it another piece is that I've been in several businesses, and then when I would come into a new business, and I see, you know, in terms of strategy or business model and giving my perspective and recommendations that the business owner, I would occasionally feel that they're not always taking me seriously because I'm coming in in this different role as a service provider instead of that thought partner. So you know, already working with several consulting clients now it's a complete shift. And I feel like more of an advisor and less of a essentially worker be in the business.
Laura 05:07
And Gosh, that's so interesting, right? Because being in backend operations is still such a respectful role. It's such an important role. And but yet, when you come in as that thought partner, you, you're wearing such a different hat. Right? And so interesting. Was it the same clients that you moved from done for you or Director of Operations services, to consulting services? Or were those new clients that you on boarded as a result of being part of fractional freedom?
Magick 05:37
They're all new clients.
Laura 05:38
Wow. Okay. That's fascinating. Do you feel like it was important for you to get new clients versus your current clients that you would transition?
Magick 05:48
Not necessarily, I just don't, I don't feel that I was ready to make the transition with the current clients that I was at the retainer capacity for. And also, it just happened to be that I started getting referrals for consulting. So it just happened. Like, you know, I didn't, I haven't really done much marketing. And I'm working mostly on referral basis right now.
Laura 06:13
I love that. I remember that we would just started fractional freedom. And I was developing the modules that get unlocked when you get your first consulting client. And you got your first consulting client in the first week. And I was like, Oh, wow, okay. We need to get those up and unlocked. What do you think it was about getting those consulting clients right away? Like, is there anything that you can look back and you can attribute to your success? Well, that first referral did come from one of my DOO retainer clients, she does have very much respect for me and my advisory. I've been with her for almost two years, but she didn't really have any experience in the online space. And with her, we launched a podcast, we launched a group program and all sorts of other things that she didn't know about. So not only was I doing the DOO work, but I was doing complete strategy for all those pieces for her. So she and she gets she's an Instagram influencer. So she gets asked all the time for help you how do you build your business? So she just kind of then sends people my way.
Laura 07:19
That's amazing. So did you let her know that you were getting started in consulting? So by the end of fractional freedom, you had two new consulting clients, was that Right? Right.
Magick 07:26
After it ended, I signed two more, so I ended up with three.
Laura 07:29
By the end of the program, you have three consulting clients, two DOO clients, that's awesome. What is the most impactful thing that you learned are the most impactful things I want to ask you to narrow down to one in the fractional freedom consulting incubator.
Magick 07:56
You know, I wouldn't necessarily call it something that I learned but more of something that I experienced with you. leading the way was really developing my confidence as a consultant, you have a way about just the way in which you coach and your we talked a little bit about just noticing your calmness and the way you approach things and the way you share in how to develop the confidence and how much more we do know, then our potential clients. It really was. I think that was the thing too, I talk a lot about, we talked about this on our last mastermind call about energetics. I feel in just taking that in and sign up kind of its helping to open my capacity to receive to receive these clients in this new element of consulting was really one of the things that did it for me.
Laura 08:58
Yeah. So it sounds like you feel like being part of that program opened up these new possibilities energetically for you just by seeing it modeled more than learning a tactic.
Magick 09:10
Absolutely. And there's, there's another thing you do about talking about, like, you know, the amount of revenue that's, that's truly as possible and then seeing that modeled from you, and then some other people in the program as well. Super helpful.
Laura 09:23
Yeah. And that's so interesting, because I, one thing that I recommend is for somebody like you who has a really extensive background in business, which is honestly most of the people that we ended up having as part of our mastermind, is to start with revenue and let the other consulting be kind of an add on or a value add or an upgrade. Because revenue consulting is honestly it's such an easy sell, like what business owner doesn't want to increase revenue, right? That ends up being kind of the engine, right? It's, it's the oxygen for the other things we get to do in the business which is hiring or restructuring or new product development. And so was that switch from back end operations to front end revenue focus? Is that still something that comes natural to you? Are you still feeling like, that's a learning process?
Magick 10:16
I'm still in a learning process, but again, feel way more confident about it now.
Laura 10:21
That's so cool. Yeah. So in terms of your consulting, in a few years from now, where do you see your consulting career?
Magick 10:28
So my vision is, the core focus I am now is doing what I do for my clients. Money, of course, it's freeing up more of my time, is really working less and earning more period.
Laura 10:44
Yes, I really challenged you on our last mastermind call around hiring. Yeah.
Magick 10:51
The thing that I help my clients with, and of course, it can be a difficult thing for ourselves, right?
Laura 10:55
Yeah, yeah. And as you hear my dog in the background, obviously, I need to be doing more outsourcing. Like puppy management. Where are you with that? Because you have a pretty heavy client load? Are you thinking that you would want to grow a team to support you in the consulting business?
Magick 11:09
Absolutely. And that'll be one of my next steps in these next few months.
Laura 11:14
Very cool. I'm excited for you. I know that I shared with you, which I'll share with everybody who's listening to the podcast, that, for me, personally, my income doubled the minute I hired my first hire. In my consulting business, I honestly think it was just a matter of creating that space in my brain where I knew I wasn't going to get overwhelmed by taking on more clients, because I now had the help. And I think for so many of us, it's like, being at that moment, but I mean, for you to be here, making those decisions three months after joining the consulting program. That's pretty exciting. Yeah, yeah, for sure. It's what we call good problems. I like good problems. I like too much business versus not enough business. Right? Right. All those good problems. If somebody was thinking about joining, they had a background like yours. Like, it's just a really interesting variety of business experiences, from, you know, mindset to psychology to operations, and they were thinking about joining fractional freedom, what are some of the things you might say to them?
Magick 12:20
You know, I would let them know that That creation of a firm decision in what you want to do in terms of moving forward as a consultant and shifting your business model is the thing that's going to set you forward on your path. And then making the decision to join the program With confidence is all you really need. And then it's just following the steps that you teach in the program. And it's really, like we talked at the beginning of the conversation about my the identity shift is really like knowing and understanding that you're moving into a completely different role and the value of just working on shifting your identity and the way that you're working with people.
Laura 13:05
It's so, so fascinating. I love that you have been focused on your identity, right? Because the thoughts that we believe about what is possible that makes things possible. It's not starting with the result, right. And then backing into the belief system. It starts with the belief system. And it sounds like magic for you is that identity of being that thought partner right of being that high level strategist, right?
Magick 13:30
Yeah. Can I share a quick story I would love to Yeah, so I've, the identity piece is huge. For me. It's the it's another reason why I had become a hypnotherapist several years ago. So I have struggled with chronic migraines for 30 years of my life. They started when I was five years old, I was told there's no cure anything. And I cured them myself with meditation and visualization. And it's why I became a Hypnotherapist. But it's because I developed the belief that I could be healed to meet like there were other pieces to it. But I think that that was the foundation for me in shifting from going to call myself a person who struggles with chronic pain to being completely free of pain. It's that was the biggest identity shift in my life. But it's certain that learning the process has served me in so many areas and now especially in business, yes.
Laura 14:24
Isn't it interesting, all of those intersects that come together. So what is magick? What is that identity for you? What is that new identity for your business?
Magick 14:34
So, magick to me is the it's the alchemical form of magic, the choosing of something that you desire and then creating it, you know, so people would call it a form of manifestation or creation, but you know, a reason why I'm taking this on now is because they're still, you know, even though I'm more confident what I'm doing there are still fears. There are still fears there in the background for my business. You know, I'm recently married from having become a wife, like all these places in my life and in, in embodying the name, it reminds me of who I am and how powerful I am.
Laura 15:16
I love that how powerful you are and how powerful the possibilities are, when we open up what our identity is more than just one role, right? And that's what I love about strategy, like strategy can be anything, right? Growth Strategy starts with growing a business. But you what you'll probably find, if you haven't found already is that you end up also really just helping in other ways that you weren't even expecting.
Magick 15:44
Lately, and one of those ways is with identity shifts, because usually come people come to me to hire me now. Because they're either there, they're taking their business from brick and mortar to come online and create courses, or they've just, you know, made another 400k in revenue. And all of a sudden, they're they've hired a team that might not be working, or they need to hire a team. So these entrepreneurs are also needing to make a significant identity shift. So there's very much a being able to relate in that space.
Laura 16:16
Yeah, I love that. And I talk a lot about that with next level lead, because anytime we even increase revenue in the business, right, we become a different person. And I think the degree to which we can help with all of that, like help with the revenue, but then also say like, yes, of course, you're uncomfortable, like, you've never done this before. You've never hired a team before, or you've never fired somebody because the company has outgrown that person, like, these are all things that we get to do as the business grows and challenges us to new ways of thinking. So I appreciate you being here so much. If people are either going to Burning Man and want to connect with you, they're listening, and they're like, oh, I really want to meet Magick, she sounds awesome. Or they just want to get to know you better. They heard what you had to say and want to connect with you what's the best way for them to get in touch?
Magick 17:11
The best way would be my website, magickkalman.com.
Laura 17:21
Thank you so much for being here. It's great to see you. I'm looking forward to seeing you next time in our Mastermind and I will talk to you soon.
Magick 17:30
Thanks so much, Laura.
Laura 17:32
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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.