Note: This transcript was auto generated. As our team is small, we have done our best to correct any errors. If you spot any issues, we’d sure appreciate it if you let us know and we can resolve! Thank you for being a part of the community.
Verbatim text
Lee:
Before we start today’s show, let me share with you something super exciting that we are launching. That’s an event here in the UK all around helping you transform your agency. So if you look back over the last year, maybe two years, and feel frustrated that maybe you’ve not moved forward, then this is the event for you. Check it out over on agencytransformation.live. That’s agencytransformation.live. We have got speakers from all around the world here to help you plan your next 90 days, your next three months, your next year, whatever that needs to be to help you get the level of transformation that you need in your business. That’s agencytransformation.live. We’ll see you there. Welcome to the Agency Trailblazer podcast. This is your host, Lee. On today’s show, we are talking with Kelly Baader. She is sharing her journey where she overcame insurmountable odds from her childhood to achieve the success that she has today. This is an inspiring episode. So folks, sit back, take notes, and be inspired.
Lee:
Welcome to a conversation with me, Mr. Lee Jackson. And today we have on the show a great friend of mine. It’s Kelly Baader. How are you today?
Kelly:
Wonderful, Lee. Thank you for having me.
Lee:
You are always chipping. I wish I had your energy. I watched your video the other day of you jogging around and sharing your story, and instantly I felt unfit and lacking in energy. So I grabbed a coffee before this podcast.
Kelly:
Oh, come on, Lee.
Lee:
You can hold me accountable next week for running. All right. Especially after Christmas, because I know what’s coming.
Kelly:
Okay.
Lee:
So folks, if you don’t know who Kelly is, she’s a great friend of mine. We first met over a year ago at the very first Youpreneur Summit. She’s the host and the founder of the Christian CEO podcast and university. She also spoke this year at the Youpreneur Summit on the Power of One, which was a massively moving talk. I’m pretty sure you got a standing ovation, which was a wonderful time. So Kelly, do you mind just sharing a little bit about you, where you’re from, maybe something that people wouldn’t know about you, and then we’ll deep dive into your story.
Kelly:
Wow, people don’t know about me. Let’s start from a one fun thing first. My daughter and I, my daughter now is nearly 20 years old, and when we go clothing shopping, we still sneak into the H&M, the children’s section, and try to find the cute T-shirt because they just much cuter than in the adult section. So how about that?
Lee:
That’s pretty good. I wouldn’t do that. I’m pretty sure I’d get arrested.
Kelly:
And I’m originally from Taiwan, and my husband is from Switzerland. In last nearly 20 years of our marriage, we have been relocating over three continents, three states in USA plus Jamaica. And we just relocated back to Switzerland about three, four years.
Lee:
That’s right. And you’ve also spent quite a lot of time in the UK because we’ve been meeting up, haven’t we, for the Chris Ducker Roundtable as well. So you do an awful lot of travelling. How do you keep up the energy for it?
Kelly:
Well, you just have to eat right, sleep right, and rest right.
Lee:
Are you going to unlock those secrets for us? Because I don’t know how to do it.
Kelly:
Okay, this is totally off the grid of what- Absolutely. Originally what you asked. So you guys probably can tell how much fun we can have every time we got together. That’s a circle back about a little bit about my story. Let’s do that. Yeah, let’s do that. Otherwise, your listener will just leave this episode ready. Well, it’s just like iPhone, released once a year. So what you’re listening to, it’s very pity it’s not a video format here. What you’re listening to is a woman at her 51.0 version. Okay? So if I don’t sound young and nice to you, you have to bear with me. Okay? I’m just going to put out there first. And obviously, according to Lee, I’m still much fitter than him.
Lee:
Yes, she is and also looks younger.
Kelly:
I wasn’t born with a golden or silver or whatever browns spoon. I actually quite opposite. I was born in the time and the place when baby girls were not value much, especially come to education. We’re just seeing as a future baby production machines. I was just a daughter of a mistress. Unfortunately, I have I went through about over nearly two decades of family violence and sexual abuse. That time, when I got myself to university, got a 2BA degree, climbed the corporate ladder and got through very interesting different scenario of male-dominated situation, such as there was no bathroom in the executive board meeting. I was the only woman, that thing. Because I love for the people. Then later on, I turned to as an entrepreneur, I got myself certified with ICF and also the leadership group, the John C. Maxwell team. I was his first bachelor of the coach. And here we are now, basically just helping entrepreneurs, especially Christian entrepreneurs, to help them to build up their ecosystem and make money and create impact.
Lee:
So when you did get into corporate after university, what was the job roles that you were going after initially?
Kelly:
My very first job is in a five-star hotel, the Green High at Taipei. I was just a telephone operator. And from there, I became a Sales Manager. And afterwards, went to other companies, but also still in the hospital industry, become a Director of Sales Marketing.
Lee:
So You’ve explained the abuse that you were under for 20 years, which is awful. How did you bring yourself from that and get into university and find the courage to get those jobs and to work your way up, especially in that male-dominated environment?
Kelly:
Well, the situation was my mum was a single mum. And so I would say that she probably just did what she knew, right? She did not know enough. And while she was addicted to the alcohol and gambling and among different boyfriends, and she probably wasn’t also totally aware what happened to me through her boyfriends. I often lay on the floor. I mean, there was nearly 10 years I actually did not even have a mattress to sleep on. I lay on the floor and I often look at a window and saw other neighbours’ kids And I thought, Oh, why other people, they seem to have a different life? It seems that there’s a totally different world out there. So either I can go the other way around, say, I just going to give up, right? Or I say, That’s a figure out a way that I can have that life as well. And I would say, I’m a person of faith, but my faith journey is very different than a lot of people in the Western world, I would say. I did not know what church was. I truly did not know what is Bible and that thing.
Kelly:
But my neighbour, when I was in primary school, our neighbour downstairs, a couple, obviously, they were Christians, I think. I mean, they are Christians. They just reach out to me. They brought cookies to me and my younger brother. And just It’s just simple, the egg of care and love and got me curious about the God they believe. Yeah.
Lee:
I love that. It’s those acts of kindness, isn’t it? They can build relationships and help people discover new things, which is really, really cool. Well, thanks for that because that is very inspiring. You’ve always inspired me. You also have your book. If people are interested, it’s called A Little Girl, called Grace, which unpacks your journey in a lot more detail. So folks, we’ll make sure we pop a link to that book as well in the show notes so you can go ahead and check that one out. Now, after your career, you decided that you wanted to go into business. I think whenever you start a business, you need to understand your identity. I’m interested, how did you discover your own identity over maybe the course of your career to the point where you knew you needed to leave to start your own business?
Kelly:
I would love to tell you and your audience And say, just from today to tomorrow, and I just wake up, I have a ha moment, and I just know.
Lee:
I think we’d all wish that.
Kelly:
Right. Okay, so when the career was, that was a very painful My husband will kill me. But hey, that was a very painful decision because after we got married, and we figured that we did not want nannies or daycare to take care of our kids, right? So we said, Okay, then we need to have one parent at home. And we both were executives. So we decided, Okay, I stay at home. But then I will be bored to death if I don’t do anything. So I utilise my sales and marketing skills and learn a lot and make a lot of mistakes, fail many, many times. And learning from those legendary, the teachers from John, John Mayswell, Les Brown, and Evan Pagan, Franca, and all those people in person when we live in USA, and transit that to the online marketing. Yeah, so that is The career-wise is really because of family. And we decided to say, Okay, then I stay at home.
Lee:
So you’re teaching yourself at home. What were your first forays into running a business? Was it coaching straight away or were you trying other things? Because right now you’re doing a lot of coaching. You mentioned online marketing. That’s quite a broad topic. What were your first activities or your first business activities? And maybe even share a failure and something you learned from that.
Kelly:
Oh, yeah. Love to. I remember we came When it came online, I think the very first time probably is 1999. I’m not so sure if there’s Google.
Lee:
Google was out ’99, yeah.
Kelly:
Okay. Or early stage, right?
Lee:
Yeah, very early stages.
Kelly:
And I remember I had to build a front page. And it’s terrible. I know that your audience will understand because you guys are all geek. But to the regular people out there, they wouldn’t know what I’m talking about. And something I’m in a storefront, and somebody came to Florida. We lived there that moment, and they sold this $3,000 package, and they will teach you how to set up those things. Then And I was like, oh, wow, this look like it’s a great opportunity. And I bought into it and just try to even just try to set up for the affiliate products. Go to ClickBank, try to find the affiliate product, and I set up the page and try to get it, and I totally failed.
Lee:
All right. I mean, this is in the ’90s, though, as well. Yeah, this is in the ’90s. So it’s a lot harder to do than it is nowadays.
Kelly:
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And then I wasn’t the only one to sell the same product, right? I mean, there are so many people trying to do the same. And also, personally, I did not resonate with it. Basically, you can hide behind the screen. That’s a literally hide behind the screen. People don’t need to know who you are, and you just try to get that transaction.
Lee:
Well, that’s interesting because that’s helping you, isn’t it? Unpacking your identity, understanding that You need to be true to yourself. And if yourself isn’t somebody that hides behind a screen, but somebody who’s more social like you are, you are one of the community leads, aren’t you? As well of the entrepreneur group as well, you are a very social person. So I could just imagine you feeling rather frustrated with that whole scenario, not being able to communicate and connect with people.
Kelly:
Yeah. Well, talk about social. Actually, I’m an introvert.
Lee:
Well, so am I.
Kelly:
Yeah. But when you are serving out there, people wouldn’t know. People will feel like, well, you are very outgoing, you are very socialised, and stuff like that. But every time after the event, I need to have a long time. But I think when go to the coaching, it’s when we still live in Vegas. And I figured that I got asked a lot about the marketing things, about how to build a business. And I experienced some in-person situation, like people that aha moment. And I thought, okay, this really can help people and create people, help them to create impact as well. So I really enjoy that ripple effects. And therefore, I thought, okay, then I’m going to go all in. So that’s where I got 400 hours in just for ICA first round. And then later on with John for the coaching and consulting business.
Lee:
So basically you were listening to the needs of the people around you, what people are asking you, and then thought, no, I’m going to go for this and committed to a lot of hours of training. I can’t even comprehend trying to do that many hours of courses, etc. Because I have attention deficit disorder, so I’d be looking out the window for most of it. But you went for it and then launched. So what did you feel was your why? What was driving your desire to want to start to coach people and help them with their I think mainly it’s because of where I came from.
Kelly:
I first-hand experience when people were not valued, whether men or women. In a lot of cases, it’s a woman. What damage that can cause not only for that person, but also for their family, their loved ones, and ultimately, the society, right? But on the flip side, also true. When you can spark and activate somebody’s potential potential and that greatness inside of them. And that’s where that you can create an ultimate ripple effect and ultimate the influence to that person, to that person’s immediate circle influence and then the society as well.
Lee:
That’s brilliant. And you can also hear the excitement in your voice as you were saying that the ripple effect and being able to help people impact that. Now, a lot What are people do come from that? Even if it’s inside them, they feel they maybe have the imposter syndrome, maybe they don’t value themselves. I know you probably can’t answer this in a one-liner that’s going to dramatically change people’s lives and minds in a heartbeat, but what advice would you give to agency owners or people who are looking to build up their agency but feel somehow internally disqualified from doing it? What would you say to encourage them to start to explore their potential like you have from your background? What encouragement might you be able to give?
Kelly:
Well, it’s just like what I just shared recently at the EUPRONOE summit, right? So I was rejected, I don’t know how many times, Only because of I… Obviously, you guys can hear me. I am not English. I’m not British. I’m not American. And pretty much mess up all the essence amount German, Japanese, Mandarin. I mean, whatever you can count. The language, I could speak a little bit here and there. So you are listening to a woman who are using her third language and create an impact for business and literally, more importantly, impact my clients over four continents. So really, if I can do it, you don’t have much excuse about that. Okay, that is the bug kicker coach.
Lee:
You are right, though. Because with the accent, you’ve got the accent, you’ve got the background, et cetera, you could quite easily have given in a long time ago because we can all speak… We’re all natural English speakers. Most of the guests on here are natural English speakers, and that in its own right could have put you off. And yet you have continued to show up. You are friends now with people like Chris Ducker, huge influences from around the world. You’ve been on stage sharing your story and also sharing this encouragement as well. So even though in theory, you could have given up before you’d even started, you’ve shown up and you’ve continued to go for it, even though you’ve got your third language, even though you’re a woman, you’ve been in these situations where you’re not as valued because of your sex, et cetera, you still continued. And I hope people take massive inspiration from that journey.
Kelly:
I hope so, too. And I think the excellent thing is one thing, but I think a lot of us is not only this thing. Probably it’s what happened to us in the past, right? Put us down, say, who am I that I can do this? From the beginning, I say, I was just a daughter of mistries. I was in the lowest of in the social status if you want. As a woman in those time, there’s not a seat at the ballroom. There’s no ladies’ room on the floor, although I was the executive. To say this, on the flip side, guys, actually, you can say it’s also easier for you to stand out nowadays. You know why? While the world, especially online world, is very noisy, right? But if you are willing to take one or two steps further to serve your ideal client just a little bit better than others, because nowadays, the service standard is so low. So if you just do a little bit more, and people just were super appreciative. And then the modern way of the word of mouth actually will work well for you.
Lee:
Absolutely.
Kelly:
And in the end of the day, I’m sure you guys have heard that phrase say, 1,000 fans, right? I know among the social media marketing world, people are like, Okay, we need to have like 100,000 of following, those vanity numbers. In the reality, we don’t need a whole lot big number in order to have a profitable business.
Lee:
No.
Kelly:
So especially when you come to agency, right? And do your number and then ask yourself, say, how many clients exactly I need, the good ones, that That will be able to not only sustain your growth, but actually become very profitable. So kick out the formal situation here. That’s the sometimes we fall into the game.
Lee:
How did you as well… Because you’ve highlighted something there that’s really important, I think, as well, is you don’t need the big numbers. We don’t need to be the John Lee Dumas, the Chris Duckers with hundreds of thousands of followers and downloads, et cetera. What we do need to do is serve a specific group of people better than others. And like you said, word of mouth will do wonders for you. That’s how we grow a lot through our businesses because of recommendation, et cetera. You’ve chosen your audience. You recognise your identity. You worked out and you have your why. How did you pick those people to serve? How did you find your small group of people that you wanted to serve to create your profitable business from?
Kelly:
That’s a great question, and it’s a big one because I would love to say that just like a lot of noise or the lies that appear online, say, Oh, just fill a piece of paper of avatar, then you are good to go. And that’s such a lie. And as a business coach, I can tell you this because the reason why is your audience actually will be growing with you, will be evolved with you. So you You just have to find, when we talk about the power of one framework, you just have to find what is your number one solution for your number one client, served by your number one offer by the current best version of you. And the last phrase is a key, the current best version of you. Because among all the agencies, I don’t care your sizes, right? If you are agency owner, that if you It happen to at home, you have young kids, you are a young parent, the way you run your agency business is quite different than somebody they might already in the empty nester age, right? Yeah. So then you try to compete that or try to compete the resources with what others have, then you always will have four more situation.
Kelly:
And then what happen is then you will fall into another deadly entrepreneurial disease called comparison.
Lee:
That’s killer.
Kelly:
When you start to compare, you feel like, Oh, maybe I don’t have A or B or C. You start to go to buy, purchase, It’s more A or B or C, externally. Then you get to burn out stage because now you have a lot of things you feel you need to do, and you stretch yourself too thin, and therefore, you end up, you don’t get the result. Can you tell now you are in the wrong cycle, right?
Lee:
That cycle feeds itself as well, doesn’t it? It becomes an ongoing issue where you’re constantly going in those circles thinking you need more of something else and throwing more into the pot.
Kelly:
And then you end up, you feel depressed because you say, You work so hard, long hours. Why? I don’t get the result. Therefore, you have to stop to look at left and right. You have to look what is under your nose. But on the flip side, I always say one of the most important skills for entrepreneur is you’re able to zoom in and zoom out constantly. You’re able to zoom in to see the tree, what is the key thing you need to bog down or double down to do it. You also need to be able to zoom out to see, Okay, what is that tree fit into this forest situation?
Lee:
Yeah.
Kelly:
But everything is under your forest, not other people’s forest.
Lee:
Yes, absolutely. Comparison is killer. I love what you said as well about whatever it is being the best version of you as well. So not trying to do what other people are doing, but doing what you do best, doing your strength for those people that you want to serve, which is so, so important.
Kelly:
Sometimes we are so easy to compare our backstage with people’s front stage or our starting with somebody’s middle. When you go on a special social media, you go on the Instagram, right? And then you suddenly feel, Oh, that look good. I’m so way behind. But you don’t know that person probably already 5, 10 years ahead the journey.
Lee:
And you’re then tempted to do all of the extra work, aren’t you? To try and look as good as they look and start to work long hours. I think as well, I’d love to just pick up again on what you said with regards to if you are a parent a young family, you’re going to want to finish at five or four and spend the afternoon or the evening with your children. That’s the way we run our agency. We’ve chosen to finish at four every day. Yet there are people who are older than me that maybe their kids have left home, etc. They can put longer hours in. They have maybe got more team as well. So one of the things we have to do as an agency is not compare our agency to theirs, but to build the agency that works for us, that works for our family, etc. So me getting that every single evening during the week and weekends off is absolutely the agency that I want to build rather than the agency that someone else is wanting to build. And I do think that’s a really, really valid message. And I love how you compared that because everybody is in different situations.
Kelly:
Yeah, exactly.
Lee:
Now then, we are coming in to land at the end of our episode. You’ve been phenomenally inspiring. There are actually, as you already know, quite a lot more questions that I wanted to ask you. So I will probably be inviting you back very soon. The great news is that you’ll be coming over as well to Agency Transformation Live. So folks, if you don’t know what that is, that’s our event next year, which you can find out on agencytransformation.live. So go ahead and check that out. But how can people connect with you? And I also understand you’re giving away an online free gift. So could you just share with us the best ways that people can connect with you and the download gift as well?
Kelly:
Everywhere in the social media, It just goes Kelly Baader, and the last name is a German last name, so it’s spelled B and AA, D-E-R. And if you want some gifts, I constantly put new ones on my website. It’s called kellybaader.com/learn. So it’s easy enough.
Lee:
So that’s Kelly Baader. That’s B-A-A-D-E-R. Com/learn. We will make sure we put that in the show notes along with links to the book as well as your podcast episodes as well of your own podcast. If anyone listening would like to go and check out the CEO podcast as well. Kelly, thank you so much for your time. You are wonderful and I really, really appreciate it. Have a great day.
Kelly:
Thank you so much, Lee.
Lee:
Cheerio.
Lee:
And that wraps up today’s show, a truly inspiring story. And I hope that encourages you to go after your dream. All right, folks, if you are not aware, we are launching a live event. This is going to be happening in April of 2019, and Kelly Baader is going to be there to speak and to share her journey and to share some amazing lessons. So if you want to hang out with us, check out agencytransformation. Live. That’s agencytransformation. Live, and we will see you at the event. Don’t forget, we have our Facebook group. Check that out over at agencytrailblazer.com/group.
Lee:
If we don’t see you at the event, nor in the group, we’ll at least see you in the next episode.
