It’s possible squad. It just, it is, it’s possible. It’s out there. I’m living proof of it. Amy’s living proof of it. A lot of the people that I interview on here are living proof of it, but Amy shows you how. To do it. And that’s what’s really cool about it. Believe it or not, I’ve not had anybody really teach the living, the laptop lifestyle that I talk about a lot in my speeches or , in blogs and [00:01:00] podcasts that I do.

So if you’re looking, if you’re a corporate person C-suite, somebody that’s really climbed that ladder a little bit and you’re kind of burnt out with it. And I think consulting might be for you ’cause , the game. And you just need to know how to build that business and Amy will get you there.

So I have pages of notes, right? And I have built my business, but I still have pages of notes to be able to pass on to people that that are in my coaching world. So without further ado, here’s my really good friend. Now, Amy Rasdal from Billable at the Beach, let’s level up.

Hey, time to Shine today. Podcast Varsity Squad. Welcome back to another powerful edition of the Time to Shine Today. Podcast with me, coach Fergie. I’m your host, Scott Ferguson. Blessed to be your gap coach, specializing in mental performance conditioning, working with professional and amateur athletes, entertainers, business leaders, C-Suite, and students to help them bridge their success.

To live a life of options and not obligations on this platform. We are stoked to bring you high performers who are not just chasing and attaining success, but redefining it through, [00:02:00] providing above and beyond service and about above and beyond service. My good friend here, Amy, who we talked about kinda living the life the laptop lifestyle, and she didn’t just leave corporate America.

She was in corporate America. She didn’t just leave it, but Amy Rasdal, blasted out of it with purpose and built a lifestyle. Most executives only dream of. Dream of and about. For over 15 years, she’s been running a multiple six figure consulting business that gives her freedom, flexibility, and full control over her time.

She’s the powerhouse founder of Billable at the Beach, which I love it, and it’s a registered trademark also. And this lady knows her stuff where she’s helped hundreds of professionals ditch the grind and launch their own thriving consulting businesses. Amy isn’t just talking the talk, she’s walking it daily, empowering high performers to cash in on their experience without burning out.

Strap in Varsity Squad. This is how you level up with the One and only, or Amy Rasdal. So Amy, thank you so much for coming on. Please introduce yourself to the time to Shine today Podcast Varsity Squad. But first, what [00:03:00] is your favorite color and why?

Amy Rasdal: My favorite color is green.

Coach Fergie: Okay.

Amy Rasdal: And originally it was blue.

First time I saw the ocean, but my mother’s favorite color was blue. Okay. And so at first I went with that, everything was blue. Gotcha. Eventually, I was so sick of blue that now everything is green. And my daughter is so sick of green that her favorite color is purple. Oh,

Coach Fergie: gotcha.

Amy Rasdal: Because everything, everything here is green in our house.

Right. She’s like, oh my gosh, that’s enough green. Now I’m gonna go purple.

Coach Fergie: I love it. And, and you live in my favorite. Place on Earth. And , people that know, that know me, they’re like, oh, Fergie’s back in San Diego. , He is going out to the left coast, , Mount Soledad or Mission Beach.

And it’s just kinda like my thing. ’cause I, I grew up there as an adult, , in the military. Right? Became an adult there. Yes. That’s a good way to put it. Right. And it, it was just, it was amazing. Now, don’t get me wrong, I probably did kid things like Tijuana, , and stuff like that back [00:04:00] in the day.

But service members, that was what kind of our thing to do. So Amy, thank you so much for coming on. Good. Thanks for

Amy Rasdal: having me. Well, you’re

Coach Fergie: very welcome. You’re very well. I thought I had lost you there for a second.

Amy Rasdal: No, no, I’m here. So,

Coach Fergie: , Talk to me a little bit about kind of billable at the beach. , You walked away from the executive grind and built a, , billable at the beach.

So take us to that moment, if you can. Right. And what triggered that leap and how did you turn freedom into profit relatively quickly.

Amy Rasdal: Well, so it’s, it’s a slightly interesting, I I’ll start back a little bit further, but I’ll make it very, very brief. Please, please. I’m a, I’m a silicon kid. So my dad was an early semiconductor guy in Silicon Valley.

When we moved there, Silicon Valley was fruit orchards. He’s a valley. So I, I watched it go from agriculture to, to silicon through my lifetime and my dad. So I grew up. Technology startups. I didn’t really know there was anything else. Mm. So my career goal was to be [00:05:00] a technology startup, CEO. I started as a software engineer.

I went to business school. I worked big corporate. I got all my cross-functional rotations. I jumped off and started doing startups, both venture funded and bootstrapped. Wow. And I had grown up like that. This was, I felt comfortable doing this. So the last corporate job that I had was a startup. We flew up high so fast and man, we crashed and burned.

Coach Fergie: Wow.

Amy Rasdal: Faster than you can possibly imagine. What year-ish

Coach Fergie: was this?

Amy Rasdal: This was early two thousands.

Coach Fergie: Okay, gotcha. So we’re

Amy Rasdal: talking quite a while ago. Some of our listeners. Yeah. Dot com boom kind of thing, right? Probably It was, it was a.com boom thing. Okay,

Coach Fergie: gotcha. Okay. So we

Amy Rasdal: flew high and fast. It was so much fun, but it crashed and burned.

Hard. Yeah. But I, I loved it. So I was looking for my next corporate job and I was far enough along in my career by then as an executive to think. I think many of us come to the place that, somewhere along the line we realize [00:06:00] that the people that we work with are possibly more important than the company or even the product.

So team was really important. I wanted to make sure I found a right fit, so I was looking for that consulting project fell into my lap 20 hours a week for three months. I thought, great. It covers the bills while I’m being really careful about my next position. Scott, I got four or five weeks into that and I said, cancel the job search.

This is the life

Coach Fergie: dude. Right? And I, I’ve

Amy Rasdal: never looked back.

Coach Fergie: Mm.

Amy Rasdal: But Scott, I made every mistake that you can make along the way. Good

Coach Fergie: for you. That’s what I asked.

Amy Rasdal: Right. But so as I figured that out, so as, as I moved along through that consulting and as a consultant, really I was doing the same type of work.

That I had been doing all those years. Sure. I have several college degrees. I went to a fancy business school. I worked big corporate, I did startups. I was doing [00:07:00] very similar type of work, but on a consulting basis. Gotcha. So the way I define consulting, I hear a lot about fractional.

Coach Fergie: Oh, just dude, you know what?

I just wrote down fractional right here. And was gonna ask you about that. ’cause that’s, that’s new to me.

Amy Rasdal: It’s, it is not for me.

Coach Fergie: Okay, good. Okay. I

Amy Rasdal: want you to be a superhero with a superpower making super pay. Fractional. I’m sorry. It’s a part-time job, right? Yeah. I don’t want a part-time job. Right.

Superhero superpower. Super pay.

Coach Fergie: Love it. Love it. Go

Amy Rasdal: in, be an expert. Make a big impact. Get paid for your impact. I don’t wanna get paid paid unless I’m making a significant contribution. Yeah. But I go in, I do what I’m really good at. I get in, I do it. I get out now, get in, get out. That might be three months.

It might be. Three years. It depends what it is,

Coach Fergie: right.

Amy Rasdal: But superhero superpower super [00:08:00] pay is the way that I define consulting.

Coach Fergie: That’s, that’s beautiful. So when you’re, the people. How do they find you? Kind of basically, I know you do your marketing and podcasts and stuff like that, but , you’re kinda like sought after ’cause you give them the the right guidance.

Like how, how do people kind of find you in? I have some really, to me they’re awesome questions to follow up with that.

Amy Rasdal: So I think fundamentally business is about relationships.

Coach Fergie: Sure.

Amy Rasdal: So it’s about building the, taking advantages taking advantage of the relationships that you already have. Sure. And then building on those and growing.

Thank you. And growing. And growing. Yes. Kind of like this star system of Right. Satellites. Every relationship give you five or 10 more. You build those, they give you, they give you, , so you hit. I hate to use the word networking, but , no, a huge amount of it is networking and, and turning those into solid relationships.

So the way that I tell PE help people get started [00:09:00] is to really work in mine, the existing relationships that they have that they may not even be aware that they are right

Coach Fergie: in their sphere. What do they call that? Sphere of influence and stuff like that. They’re, they’re existing relationships. And I love that you brought up networking, even though it’s kind of people.

And I’m not saying I’m this and that, but like. The I network a lot differently than other people do. , Especially being in the coaching business, I’m not a consultant. , I’m, I’m a coach. I believe everyone knows what they like, they want, but they just don’t know how to talk themselves into it.

Right. And, and so, , when I network, I’ll go and I’ll, if I saw you and I kind of overhear you say something, I’ll kind of muck up and introduce myself and, and I use the Ford Technique FORD, right? Family Occupational Recreation Dreams. I’m, I’m gonna keep the whole conversation going. About you. My biggest compliment, Amy, at a networking event is for me to walk away and them go, what the hell does that guy do?

Right. That, that’s mine because I, there’s a method to my [00:10:00] madness where I go to my car. I have these things called thank you notes. Right. And I write I’d be, Amy. So great to meet you. , And you know, I’m gonna, obviously, hopefully the business card that you give me, of course that it’s, the address is right.

, I’m gonna mail it to you and I’m gonna ask for a one-to-one coffee. Right. Or something like that. That’s how I do. I slow play, I believe inch by inch. Inch a inch while the yard, it’s hard. Everyone goes out there for the kill. But I, this, I love how you didn’t, you didn’t stumble, but you paused when you said networking, right?

You’re like, eh, because it’s kind of like a dirty word to a lot of people with that, but. There, there’s mindset shifts in my end of the playing field that you have that, that people need to make when going, , from paycheck security, and I say that in quotes, right? To building a six figure consulting business.

Right. What’s the biggest lie that you feel that you see corporate pros believing about that jump?

Amy Rasdal: That they. That they can’t make as much or more money that they have to sacrifice [00:11:00] compensation, not just compensation, but also impact. Because a lot of us, we wanna make our money, but it’s not just the money.

We also want to make an impact on whoever we’re working

Coach Fergie: with. Right.

Amy Rasdal: Those two things.

Coach Fergie: Right. And because, , people are, . People are actually more important than the product. I believe you said that a couple minutes ago. Right? That’s impact. It’s the people, what you can make on them. So you’ve helped hundreds of people go, , from burned out to billable, right?

So yes. You tell me about one transformation that still gives you chills. Like, , who were they before and what do you see about them now?

Amy Rasdal: Yeah, so the first one that comes to mind is I was working with, a young woman when I very first, so just, just very briefly at this point, I’ve spent all these years being a consultant.

And what happened over time was people kept asking me, , wow, you really love what you’re doing? Can we talk about it? And I, I’m a [00:12:00] very diligent, kind of process oriented person and I would think. Well, what do I wanna tell them? What do I love? What do I hate? What do I wish I would’ve known? Right?

So eventually I started to accumulate a body of material and founded what you mentioned, which is Son. She was working corporate, so she had taken her maternity leave, gone back, and just had that realization that some people have who go back after maternity leave thinking, okay. , This isn’t gonna work, right? And whether it’s because you had a baby or you wanna do triathlons, or you have aging parents, or you wanna work from a sailboat or a mountaintop, whatever that might be, that drives you.

Mm. So within six months of working with me now. I don’t wanna make a false promise that this happens for everybody. She was very motivated, right. She had a little baby at home. Right. She as a consultant within six months, was making twice as much as a consultant than she had been. As a [00:13:00] corporate employee.

A

Coach Fergie: corporate employee, okay.

Amy Rasdal: Not working more hours.

Coach Fergie: Wow. That’s beautiful. That that’s

Amy Rasdal: so, it was dramatic. Right. We’re still in touch and now she’s involved. Into doing all other things. And it’s interesting to see people when they go out, she now has, has founded like a group that helps specifically new mothers find their own businesses and business paths.

Nice. Not necessarily corporate consulting, which is really what I’m focused on. Right, right. She got very interested in heart-centered businesses, so it’s a different kind of thing, but to watch her transformation in six months. She was making twice as much as she had made as a corporate employee.

Coach Fergie: That’s beautiful.

Amy Rasdal: And it’s not a one-off story,

Coach Fergie: right? No, I, I love that. ’cause you do have them by the hundreds and, but the one thing squad that she did mention is that the her client, she came in. Ready to take action. , The, she was ready to go. , [00:14:00] The teacher will appear when you’re ready.

She was ready. She wasn’t on the fence and stuff about that. So, Amy, with you say that consulting is the fastest and least risky path to six figures, right? So break that down for me a little bit. What makes it less risky than a kind of a traditional business startup?

Amy Rasdal: Well, there’s really no startup cost, right?

Right. There’s no investment required. You don’t need a physical location, and I really like to talk about how easy it is to get started and what you need. You need four things. You need brain power, business experience, a computer and a phone. I think every single person that’s here with us today, right at this moment, has those four things, right?

The brain power. There are moments when we’re all a little bit like, well, I don’t know. Can you talk to me later today? Sure. But all of us have those things, right? You don’t need a website. You don’t [00:15:00] need fancy photos, you don’t need a logo, you don’t need a name. Do you need those things at some point?

Absolutely sure. Do you need them to land a project and put a check in the bank? No

Coach Fergie: negative. Right? So let me say if, if you said consulting, the business experience and because my superpower is curiosity, I can coach from professional athletes Super Bowl winners, right to house husbands. Okay? Just because I am.

, Just super curious. With consulting, I don’t consult because a lot of times my clients have forgot more about their business than I’ll ever know. Right. So if you have someone that comes out, you say business experience, but how can they be comfortable consulting, , be intentional about consulting in maybe a business that wasn’t their business?

Or do you maybe urge them to kind of consult in the business that they’re familiar with them?

Amy Rasdal: Yes. So I believe that, I like to say that now is not the time to do [00:16:00] something completely different. Okay? The, the control that you have, how much money you make, who you work with, some of those things will be a lot more flexible.

People hire me because I’m an expert, because I’ve been doing what I do for many years. They’re gonna hire you for the same reason. Sure. So I used to cos speak a lot with someone who was a franchise consultant. Right, okay. Who sold franchises. So I would often tell people, I always spoke first and I would say, if you wanna do something completely different.

You should listen to the next session with Roxanne. This coming in as a consultant, superhero superpower Super pay. It’s doing what you’ve been doing for many years. So honestly, consulting is not something that you do when you first graduate from co. I love to speak at colleges and we have tons of them here in San Diego.

Got, oh, I

Coach Fergie: got follow up on those. Yeah, I get you. Yeah. I

Amy Rasdal: mean, that’s great, but, but consulting is not now going to work for Booz, Eleanor, McKinsey. Yes. Absolutely. Yeah. But [00:17:00] independent consulting is not something that you do when you’re a new grad. Right? That’s something that you do 5, 10, 15 or more years down the road.

It’s, you go in, you hit the ground running, you make a contribution immediately. Right? So it is not the time to do something completely different, but it will feel completely different in a good way. Right. And I do, Scott for sure, get people who say, well, I’ve never done consulting before. It’s what you’ve been doing forever.

And I get people who say, well, , should I do the first few projects for free? No. No. Man Free is a Yeah. We don’t talk about free in my world. Sure. Why would you work for free? Right. If you have time that you wanna give, that’s for a nonprofit organization. Sure. Not a for for profit corporation.

Right. So you’ve been doing it. I’m sort of a fake it till you make it. Girl. I’ve always done a lot of performing arts, so perhaps that comes naturally to me to fake it, [00:18:00] but what you’re doing and it’s a little scary still for me when I work with a new client. But once I get in there, I go, oh yeah, this is what I’ve been doing forever.

Coach Fergie: Right?

Amy Rasdal: It’s not a problem.

Coach Fergie: It, it lines up with your four things too. Right. , You have the brain power business experience computer and a phone like you’re, to be able to be a consultant, you need that experience, like you said, 10, 15 years. Because I have a lot of people in my world because the entry to becoming a coach is nothing.

, There’s no certifications needed, there’s no experience needed. Yes. But yet everybody’s like, so, I’m gonna be a coach, me a coach. And are they really taken seriously? , From a coaching standpoint, right? I mean, there was years and years I was a real estate broker, a pretty good one, right?

And, but I was working with people’s biggest. Investment to that point in their life. , Selling them a house generally is, yeah. So, and there’s a lot of emotion that went with that. Like, you’re a marriage counselor, you’re a babysitter, you’re like all these different things while you’re representing these people.

That my coach is like, are you ready to coach? After I had about 16 years in. [00:19:00] Right. And I was like, what? What are you talking about? She’s like, Scott, you’re dealing with their biggest investment. You’re doing all these other hats. So it was like, , she, and you’re, one thing I see about you is you’re curious, you wanna know everything.

And and I was like, oh, so that’s, , it’s 15, 16 years ago. It’s like, it’s really kind of taken off for me with that and being able to, , help people bridge that gap, , where they wanna be, where they are, and help ’em bridge that with that. So, back to you though. So. You, you built a brand, a business, and a lifestyle for yourself.

Which one is the hardest to get right? , Meaning which one and, and which one kinda gave you the biggest payoff? So like the business, the brand or the lifestyle? Like which one do you feel is the hardest to get?

Amy Rasdal: I think probably the lifestyle for people.

Coach Fergie: Okay.

Amy Rasdal: I’m trying to think for sure. The lifestyle is the one that gives me the most because it’s my life, the, the business. [00:20:00] And so, , at this point I, I have this program that helps people start their own consulting business and in my program. It’s funny ’cause I don’t consider myself a mindset coach or a life coach.

Sure. But I do talk a lot about figuring out what your life and lifestyle goals are, the ways that you wanna work, what’s important to you, and then making those a client benefit.

Coach Fergie: Right? Yeah.

Amy Rasdal: And how to do that. How to set your boundaries, how to make sure that you’re really always. Protecting those reasons and being very, very clear and mindful about what your priorities are and what’s important to you when you decide what, what projects to take, what work to take what value you bring.

So I think being very, very clear about that life, part of it really informs your business. But I don’t [00:21:00] like considering. When people say, oh, you have a lifestyle business to somebody, right. It’s usually kind of meant as an insult, right? Like, you’re not, you’re not actually making money or serious about the business.

Right? So I feel a, a little protective about how I describe that. Mm-hmm. Because I want everyone to know. You can go into your consulting business. You don’t sacrifice career trajectory or pay. Right. It’s not a cop out, it’s, oh, I got laid off. Oh, I couldn’t make it. Oh, I couldn’t get the C-suite spot. That is not the choice that we’re making here.

Coach Fergie: Right, right. And, and I’m a relationship creator. Like, that’s how a lot of people like, Hey, Fergi will know somebody for you. And that’s, that’s the thing. It’s like I can see us doing. Business because there’s so many people that come to me looking to. Like, I, I don’t know it at the time, but they’re looking to make a change, right?

And they’re like, oh, you’ve been this, it’s an easy referral to you. Right? With that, with, [00:22:00] which is a beautiful thing. And I’ve seen this, and I was telling squad, I was telling Amy off, Mike, that, , she’s the first, , laptop lifestyle person that I’ve like ever interviewed on here, and I’ve been having requests for about people, Hey, who, who do that can make money from anywhere and, and stuff.

So here you go, squad with that, ? And, and, and also I’m hearing kind of. , a good friend of mine, fellow coach, lives over there by you, Steve Harbor, right? And he, he says that, do what you love in the service of people that love what you do, right? So you do what you love. I love coaching.

I, I love, I love, I love real estate still, but I love, love coaching and people see, I love coaching and so they really buy into my curiosity to help draw, , their, their solutions out of them. I can see that with you as well. I can see you do what you absolutely love. Right?

Amy Rasdal: You already have what it takes right now and all of you can take that leap. Yes. And the leap is not as big as you think. And I get a lot of people who [00:23:00] say, oh, well you alluded to this early in our conversation about. The quote, unquote, security of a corporate paycheck,

Coach Fergie: right?

Amy Rasdal: We all know that we can walk in any day and our corporate jobs.

So before, before COVID, the first Monday of every month for 12 years, I spoke on how to start a successful consulting business for Lee Hack Harrison. It’s an outplacement services firm. If everybody anybody knows, well that is right a lot of times. If you get laid off from your corporate job, you get outplacement services.

Sure. So I had a room full of 30 to 60 people who had been laid off. Right. No, it’s very rare that anybody expects to be laid off. But a lot of us, we, whether it’s been us or we know people, it happens to everybody. So the, this fantasy of the security of a corporate paycheck, I just don’t think that’s a thing anymore.

No, it’s, yeah. If you’re a consultant, you know what’s in your pipeline, right? It’s up to you. What’s coming down, right? You can [00:24:00] generate it if your pipeline’s empty. You better get to work. Yeah. You better build some relationships. You better do some networking. You better call your friends. Right, right.

That you sold real estate. You Oh yeah. You did all those things, right? Sure.

Coach Fergie: I mean, everybody was like, I’m gonna get into real estate because realtors, , and I, I was blessed. But I, I was hungry than others. Like I took action. Right. Yeah. But , they don’t realize the hunt that has to happen.

Like you’ve gotta be consistently prospecting and everybody ways of prospecting or handing their cards out to everybody, which, okay, it can work. But me, I, I really built the relationships with people, ? Totally. That I really resonated with a lot of veterans, , a lot of auto workers.

’cause I was in Detroit, my dad worked for the big three. So it was, it was like that for me. I found a familiar area. That I could really, , work from. But so how about pricing? Like, let, let’s talk a little bit about pricing. So like so many, consultants, maybe you disagree, but I, I feel that so many consultants, undercharged, we talked a little bit about this [00:25:00] before, right?

So what’s your take on confidently commanding top dollar without selling your soul?

Amy Rasdal: It is probably the number one mistake is not charging enough.

Coach Fergie: Thank you. Yep.

Amy Rasdal: So that, that’s, that goes all across, and again, I’m not a mindset coach, but I’ve determined what it is. What causes people not to charge enough is fear.

You deserve it. You earned it. And a lot of people are out there thinking. Well, how in the heck do I figure out where to start? So, you know what? I’m gonna give you a number, right? If you have No, I idea where to start. Now, I, I described a little bit, I’m kind of talking about corporate ish type folks. 5, 10, 15 years of experience.

Almost everybody should be at $150 an hour or more

Coach Fergie: minimum. Yeah.

Amy Rasdal: Now. You can talk about that hourly, daily by the project. You can position that however it is, a lot of consultants don’t wanna talk about. Hourly rates, [00:26:00] like Right. That’s very McDonald’s. Right. We’re professionals. We don’t charge out hourly.

The reality is you’re selling your time. Sure, yeah. Whether you sell it by the day or the week or the retainer or the month. Right. You need to really, because you’re, you’re selling your time. I am a strong believer that you need to understand what you’re making each hour, even if you don’t ever share that on the outside.

Coach Fergie: Thank you.

Amy Rasdal: So if you’re out there and you’re thinking, I wanna try this, if you have like, where do I start? $150 an hour is a great place.

Coach Fergie: Yeah, I love that. I, I love it. It’s fair. The people that wanna make the jump or like really level up their part in their business , the, the people that they’re consulting for, they’ll pay it.

I mean, a hundred percent yes. I found that ’cause I used to. , I, I’m blessed to speak in a lot of stages, thousands of people, and , I would be like, what the hell? Why am I here? Like, I had the worst imposter syndrome. , A really good friend of mine is an excellent speaker that really helped me through a [00:27:00] lot of stuff when I was starting my speaking.

He goes, Fergie, you’re attaching your confidence to your abilities. He goes, why are you here? And I’m like, what do you mean? He is like, why are you here? You’ve told me a bunch of times why you’re here and before. And I’m like, ’cause I want one person. I wanna make a difference in one person’s life out there, ?

And my energy. I understand I’m infectious and I can get more people, but I want one person, ? He goes, that’s your intention. You, you attach your confidence to your intentions and the imposter syndrome doesn’t happen anymore. I was having imposter syndrome ’cause I was attaching it to my abilities, like who the hell am I to speak at a millionaire’s convention?

, That’s literally called that, ? Yeah. In Harston. So, , was. , It was like that. That’s what really, I think that a lot of people, even in your world, if they start attaching their intentions to their confidence, instead of going into it thinking, my Billy, I don’t know man. I only have 10 years in the business and here’s a guy that has 35 years in and what the hell am I gonna teach him?

Right. ? So have those attentions. What do you think about that? [00:28:00]

Amy Rasdal: I think that’s a really interesting point. I, I may be somewhat of an outlier. Mm-hmm. I’ve always done so much. Performing mm-hmm. That I’ve, I never struggle with imposter syndrome. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I’m probably a person that has more confidence than I deserve.

Right, right. I mean, it sounds funny and especially I think imposter syndrome is, is affects even more women than men. Mm-hmm. So I’m kind of an oddball. I think that, I don’t struggle with that a hundred percent.

Coach Fergie: It does. Yeah.

Amy Rasdal: So I, I, I, that’s a really interesting way to think about it. I haven’t, yeah.

What I tell people, I, I tell people more kind of the, the fake it till you make it Sure. Or pretend like it’s a role. Right. , I, I tell people whenever they’re going into a meeting that we are talking about how much you charge. I tell people to always role play mm-hmm. Their conversations before they go into them.

Sure. So they practice and between where we’re sitting right now [00:29:00] and putting a check in the bank is gonna be a discussion about how much it costs

Coach Fergie: all day. Yeah.

Amy Rasdal: Right. Yeah. And that’s always it. I don’t does it ever comfortable completely.

Coach Fergie: Never. I don’t never, no. I’m never comfortable. I, and I like it like that though.

I say I’m always. Pushing. , I’m 53 years old and I still compete in submission, grappling, , juujitsu, like, I’m always pushing my envelope, right? So it’s like I it never gets comfortable. I love the butterflies when I’m like, , I’m 10,000 a month, , and is knowing it, right? So

Amy Rasdal: we, we need to learn.

Not everyone is comfortable with the butterflies, right? But we need to embrace that. Have to, we need to accept and embrace, right? That it’s never gonna be really comfortable to talk about rate, right? So. Practice it ahead of time. Yes. And I tell people thank you. Practice it with a friend. Sure. You’re your spouse.

Role play is huge. Spouse, the dog, if nothing else. Look, if you’re now, a lot of things are remote, but like look in the rear view mirror of your car before you go [00:30:00] in. And practice it. Yes. You have to say it out loud.

Coach Fergie: Loud, yes. A hundred percent. Right, right. Yeah. Before,

Amy Rasdal: look in the mirror, whatever. I know a lot of people who speak online, put a mirror in front of them so they can, , I know people who do phone calls.

Coach Fergie: Mm-hmm.

Amy Rasdal: Purposely standing up in front of a mirror. Yeah. So they have different energy.

Coach Fergie: Right,

Amy Rasdal: right. It’s, I don’t choose that, but it’s interesting. I coach

Coach Fergie: standing up, , the, my desk rises, so Yeah. I coach standing up. Just ’cause I, ’cause it’s different, I feel better for myself. Right, right. Yeah. And it, because my whole intention is to pour into Amy today, like this whole podcast is to pour into you.

That’s the intention. ’cause I, , in, in fear and faith, they both start with a letter f. Right, but they’re also both beliefs then something that hasn’t happened yet. So which one are you gonna back the fear or the faith? Like back the faith If you did the work, it, right? So what is your definition of success then?

’cause you’re a successful person, what is your definition of success?

Amy Rasdal: [00:31:00] I think everyone defines it differently. Sure. But for me, it’s, it’s achieving the business and life goals that I wanna be able to do. Right. I still want to for me it’s really important to have control over my own life. Yes. So I get to define.

What I wanna do. Love it. So if I don’t wanna work on Friday, because I wanna go on a field trip with the kids, if my mom suddenly has a fall and fractures her spine and ends up in the hospital and then needs to to be moved into assisted living, I wanna be able to, to do that with her, right? I want to be able to, to do all of those kinds of things to fully participate. I also have always done performing arts. Mm-hmm. So I still do a lot of dance. Hmm. And I live close to Mission Bay, which is great water skiing. Oh, bets. Yeah. I wanna still be able to water ski. Dance classes happen. Dancers work at night. Mm-hmm.

Professional level dance classes happen at 10 o’clock [00:32:00] in the morning. Mm-hmm. So it doesn’t fit very well with a nine to five corporate schedule. Right. So I work half my workday during the day and the rest of it at night because I spend a lot of days either starting in Mission Bay or in a dance class.

Love that. So all of those different pieces of my life, I get to control. But I still live in coastal California, which is expensive. Sure. With a family. I have a son who’s dyslexic, so he goes to a special school. Mm-hmm. For dyslexic kids, that that is expensive. And by the way. It’s people move here from all over the world.

Mm-hmm. But for me, it means I’m driving two hours a day to get into a special school. Right. And I need to make enough money to still pay the bills and the college tuition and all this stuff. So I wanna be able to do, I wanna be able to do it all. Sure. And that’s, but. Balance is not a thing.

Coach Fergie: Yeah. Balance is junk.

[00:33:00] Like, to me, success is easily defined as living a life of options and not obligations. You said so many options right there. Getting up, perfect. Doing what you want, go and do what you want. You understand you’re gonna have to pay, your bills. Yes. That’s it’s life, dude. That’s not an obligation.

Obligation to be like, I gotta be to work at nine. Right? An obligation would would be, I don’t have time to take my son two hours away. ? Yeah. Like you have the options to do that. And it’s just something that my, something my mentor told me years ago, he is like, dude, you wanna be successful. You gotta live a life of options and not obligations.

So that’s my tagline. Look at my LinkedIn, look at anything. It’s like helping you live a life of options and not obligations. And that’s where, , that’s that. Believe that’s fully what success is. So, lemme ask you this then. Have you seen the movie Back to the Future?

Amy Rasdal: Yes.

Coach Fergie: Okay. Let’s get in that DeLorean with Marty McFly.

Let’s go back to the double deuce, the 22-year-old Amy. Okay. What knowledge nuggets might you drop on her, not to change your, your trajectory or anything, but maybe shorten a learning curve or feed her a little bit of wisdom, , at at [00:34:00] 22,

Amy Rasdal: I, I don’t know, Scott. I, I started out pretty darn fearless. Okay. Not afraid to do what I wanted to do. Sure. If, if I had to pick the one thing that I would’ve done differently here. Okay. So here it is. Sorry. It took, I, I’ve actually, you’re, you’re fine. Take your time. Love. I’ve heard you ask that question before, so sorry.

Should have known it was coming, but the thing that comes to me is that. I would, there were, there were a few times that I know, I know that I knew that a situation wasn’t serving me and I was afraid to get out of it. Mm. I was afraid to, to answer it. So it’s interesting, Scott, because. My dad, who was a Silicon Valley guy, was, he’s no longer with us, but he was my best business mentor.

Mm-hmm. Besides being my dad, it was Sure. Awesome. That’s, and I miss him so much because I lost my dad and my best friend mentor for [00:35:00] business and life. Gotcha. And I asked him this question, I, I had the wisdom somehow. He had a good long life to ask him. And I said, if you had one business thing to do differently, what would you do?

And he said, I would’ve fired people sooner. Hmm. I wouldn’t have let it go. So for me, it’s not as much about firing people and his was, it would’ve given them an opportunity to go somewhere else and be more successful. It wouldn’t have drug down the team, it wouldn’t have all the kind of collateral damage that happens.

So for me, there were some situations that I knew, mm-hmm. Weren’t serving me, but I felt like I had to spend at least a year. At least three years. I think that our, our jobs in those days were a little bit different. You felt like you, if you weren’t spending at least a year and more like three to five in each job, right?

Then you were like a job hopper and you were gonna be untouchable, right? So follow your instincts. And I know that I [00:36:00] tell my, my nieces and nephews, my young family members, when you have a really strong instinct or intuition. It’s almost always right. Almost. Absolutely. So

Coach Fergie: yeah.

Amy Rasdal: Yeah. If, if I had it to do over, there’s only a few of them.

I would have really had the confidence in those instincts and intuitions, and I would’ve played them out. I would’ve listened to them more, love it, and, and dug in and followed them sooner. Love it. It would’ve saved me. Some, some pain. I

Coach Fergie: love it. And yeah. Yeah, like I would’ve. Probably got my As in gear, more like I would’ve asked more instead of thinking that I know everything.

You know what I’m saying? At w Oh yeah. At 20 years, 22 years old, you f kind of feel, ’cause , you’re, you’re taught and some people go through school, , I went to war, and, and, and whatnot. So it’s like I would look back and be like, dude, I could have learned so much a lot quicker, right?

So, Amy, how do you want [00:37:00] your dash remembered? Then that little line in between your incarnation date and your expiration date, your life date, and your death date. Hopefully it’s way down the line, but how do you want your dash remembered?

Amy Rasdal: That, that I lived a full life. Yeah.

Coach Fergie: Alright. Very cool. Love

Amy Rasdal: it. That, that I, that I did.

I’m, I’m actually not a bucket list believer. Me

Coach Fergie: neither. Thank you. Yeah,

Amy Rasdal: I, I, one of kind of my sayings that I like is to work and play every day I breathe. So don’t save up for your bucket, really. This is your life. Don’t, don’t wait. Don’t let it pass you by. Sure. , The days are, the days are long, but the years are short.

So that I, that I really lived my whole life, my career. It’s so true what you just said, my family. Yeah. My art, my sports. Right. That I did all of those things, not climbing Mount Everest. Sure. But that I lived a full day. Almost every day. Yeah. I don’t, I don’t, I don’t achieve [00:38:00] every day. Almost every day.

Yeah. You, you,

Coach Fergie: you’re, you’re looking to, but if you don’t Yes. It’s still okay. , That’s what a lot of people are like. Oh, it, it’s the end.

Hey squad, welcome back and thank you to Sleep Number Beds, Jocko Willink performance the rest of the supplement companies that, , are helping me out here and keeping the lights on and squad be awesome. Discounts in the show notes below. And Amy like. Let’s get that acting chops back on that little quick witted improv.

Okay, I’m a dancer.

Amy Rasdal: Can I move love?

Coach Fergie: You can do you jazz hands and everything. So you got each one of these questions, you got five seconds with no explanations, and they can all be answered that way. You ready to level up?

Amy Rasdal: Yes.

Coach Fergie: Here we go. Amy, what is the best love, lean up advice you’ve ever received?

Amy Rasdal: Never compromise your ethics at integrity or the quality of your work.

Coach Fergie: That’s beautiful. She what? Of your personal habits that contributes to your success?

Amy Rasdal: Fundamental is focus on health.

Coach Fergie: Beautiful. And [00:39:00] keeping my

Amy Rasdal: body moving.

Coach Fergie: Absolutely. Moving is everything. So you see me, I might be walking down the street or in the event and like Fergi just looks like he’s in his D gyms a little bit.

What’s one book that you read that really kinda shifted your mind? Then you might end on

Amy Rasdal: Wings of Eagles by Ken Follette. Love it. It’s about the Ross Perot’s rescue of his hostages in Iran.

Coach Fergie: Beautiful. Your most commonly used emoji when you text

Amy Rasdal: the laughing crying emoji emoji

Coach Fergie: it sideways or straight up.

Amy Rasdal: Tilted.

Coach Fergie: Tilted. Gotcha, gotcha. Nicknames growing up

Amy Rasdal: cow.

Coach Fergie: Okay. Love it. I, I don’t even wanna go there. It’s fine. So do you have any hidden talent and or superpowers that nobody knows about until now?

Amy Rasdal: Hmm. I, I am fearless, but I think people don’t recognize it in me. Gotcha. Because I’m calm.

Coach Fergie: Gotcha. Chest checkers or monopoly?

Amy Rasdal: Monopoly.

Coach Fergie: Okay. [00:40:00] Headline for your life.

Amy Rasdal: Ah. She did it all.

Coach Fergie: She did buy into any superstitions at all. Ooh.

Amy Rasdal: Yeah. I kind of like superstitions.

Coach Fergie: Me too. Actually. What’s one that stands out?

Amy Rasdal: I. I can’t think of when

Coach Fergie: all of us, like when I get into bed, my right foot’s gotta be the last thing that touches the floor. I’m weird like that, but like I get into bed, I right foot touches the floor and I swing it up. So it’s the right foot that touches my bed first. I’m weird, but it’s a superstition of mine.

Go-to ice cream flavor.

Amy Rasdal: Oh, vanilla.

Coach Fergie: Okay. There’s a sandwich called the the cow raselle. I always take the, take the, , the, the nickname, but build that sandwich for me. Love. What are we eating? Okay,

Amy Rasdal: here’s what’s funny is that I’m a vegetarian.

Coach Fergie: Okay?

Amy Rasdal: So the cow RAs de we’re, we’re saving the cow with that.

Coach Fergie: Okay. Alright. It would

Amy Rasdal: be toasted multi-grain bread. Okay. With every vegetable you can imagine. Love it. And [00:41:00] provolone and provolone cheese.

Coach Fergie: Ah, me some provolone. Beautiful. Favorite charity and organization you’d like to give your time and or money to?

Amy Rasdal: Literacy.

Coach Fergie: Okay.

Amy Rasdal: Anything that supports literacy. I, I believe that literacy is.

The lack of literacy is the biggest social injustice of our

Coach Fergie: time. A hundred percent agree. Love it. Last question, you can elaborate on this one a little bit, but what’s the best decade of music? 60 seventies, eighties, or nineties?

Amy Rasdal: None of the above.

Coach Fergie: Okay. What is it?

Amy Rasdal: I’m a classical girl. Okay. So I have, I have a collection of college degrees.

One of them is clarinet performance. Okay. So I like the romantic period, which is right between classical and impressionistic.

Coach Fergie: Okay. So calendar year, what would that be? The 17, 18 hundreds or like? Yes. Okay. Gotcha.

Amy Rasdal: Early 18 hundreds.

Coach Fergie: Very cool. So there you go. 18. But I love me

Amy Rasdal: some Ozzy. I love me some Ozzy.

And how can we not mention That’s, that’s a bummer. Ozzy, he passed,

Coach Fergie: huh? Yeah. And then Hulk Ho, Ozzy and

Amy Rasdal: Hulk.

Coach Fergie: [00:42:00] Yeah. He just died. That’s crazy. I like, listen. What’s the, we lose

Amy Rasdal: Ozzy and Hulk in the same few days.

Coach Fergie: Yes. That, that’s, that’s just very sad. That’s sad. Amy, how can we find you love?

Amy Rasdal: You can find me billable at the beach, so if you Google it, you’ll find my website.

Coach Fergie: Mm-hmm.

Amy Rasdal: My main social media is LinkedIn. Okay, so Amy Rasdal or billable at the beach, and you’ll find me all over the place,

Coach Fergie: billable at the beach. And she also has an awesome, like if you go here to the right squad, if you’re watching Vimeo or YouTube she has a free course, three action steps to generate revenue now.

And that’s, that would be a fantastic place for you to go. And also tell us a little bit about building your six figure consulting business, like your course. And what is this? What does it include, Amy? Yeah. So it’s to take you from where you are right now to being a successful consultant. It’s everything from A to ZI.

Amy Rasdal: My approach is very practical. Okay. What I want, I assume that you’re starting a business to make money. Right. [00:43:00] I want you to land a project, get a check in the bank, so that will be our first focus, okay? Always in the program, land a project, get a check in the bank. Then once you have revenue coming in, which can start very quickly, right?

Then we start going through and building all of the other pieces of the business. Your website and everything else that you didn’t need from jump, right? Website. Thank you. Your pictures, your logo, all of that infrastructure. But the first thing, I don’t want you thinking about anything else, right? Except generating revenue.

Love it. Land a project, get a check in the bank and we do all the other stuff. Love it. But people have questions, people don’t always believe. So I put a little stuff around that to help people feel comfortable that that’s really what their focus should be. Gotcha. I love that you, you kind of metaphorically hold their hand and show ’em the way.

Coach Fergie: And how about your book Landy, a consulting project Now, , build a life of freedom, flexibility, and inspiring work, running your own [00:44:00] six figure business. Tell us a little bit about the passion behind that. It looks like it dropped in about three years.

Amy Rasdal: Yes. I can’t believe it’s been three years.

They go fast, but, right. That focus also is land a project, getting a check in the bank. I’m a very practical person. Exactly what you need to do. So the book really gives you that same A to Z view. Mm-hmm. I, it’s very easy to read. I also have an audio book if a lot of you are. Some of you are listening to us today.

Sure. I have a audio version that’s in my voice. It’s quick, it’s full of stories. It’s easy to understand, and the goal of it is to make you coming away feeling empowered and inspired to do it with exactly the implementation steps of how, so a lot of people start with the book and then they think, okay, well.

I wanna do it. Let’s, let’s get a little bit more, and then they jump into my program. Love it. But all of it’s right there in the book. That gets you started. Love it Quick. Love, easy, good stories. [00:45:00] Little bit of humor, entertaining. Not long.

Coach Fergie: Gotcha. You know what Scott? I’m gonna do a two book every way for the first two people that put, I don’t care if it’s Pinterest, Instagram, or text it to 5 6 1 4 4 0 3 8 3 0.

Again, it’s 5 6 1 4 4 0 3 8, 3 0. The four things that my friend Amy said, that we will need to begin consulting. I’m gonna, I’m gonna spoil it for you right now. If you wait about 10 seconds, I’m gonna tell you, so the first two people that. , Text it or email it or drop it. Any of the socials, I’m gonna send you the book out and then I don’t care if it’s 10 people, I’ll buy you guys all a book.

I don’t care about that. I want the people that are serious about living a life of options and not obligations to align with Amy and get it done. And Amy kind of, , silicone kid, , she reminds us that people are actually more important than the product. , A superhero superpower, super pay.

I love those three S’s. That’s amazing. That’s a, that’s a life well lived right there. , She loves it to hear that you made an [00:46:00] impact and get paid for your contribution. But the big thing about there’s that I word that impact, you have to make the impact. And now write this down squad. The four things needed to begin your consulting business, brain power, business experience, a computer and a phone.

And if you’re listening to this, like my good friend Amy said. You probably have those and then you get there, you get that check in the bank and then Amy will still help you with her consulting to be able to get you going, to be able to get the business cards in all the glamor shots and all that stuff that you don’t need.

And coaches out there. Same thing guys. You know me. I started by just with my curiosity and, and doing hour of power with people. And , I did get paid for those, but I didn’t have a website. My website is still junk. I get knocked about it every day, so, which is totally fine. I doesn’t care because I love the interaction with the people.

And so, Amy, it was such a pleasure having on, thank you so much for opening up your book, opening your life, even if you were [00:47:00] faking it today. Having a good time. I’m kidding. No, seriously, love you’re, you’re absolutely stunning. You level up your health. You level up your wealth. You’ve earned a Varsity Squad letter here.

Time to Shine today. Thank you so much for coming on.

Amy Rasdal: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.Coach Fergie: You bet. Chat soon.