No Guts, No Glory - Amber Vilhauer

I think it's just that our online world and the messages that we're all receiving, we need a massive shift in thinking because otherwise everybody will burn out. I see it happening all over the place. And it's frustrating for me because I can't seem to get this message out strong enough, loud enough, fast enough to save more people. But the people that I can share this with, it is changing everything for them.

What's up, fitness friends? Welcome back to the Future of Fitness podcast and interview series. This is your host, Eric Malzone, and this is episode number 162. I talked to Amber Bill Hauer. What a treat. Amber's great. Her energy is amazing. And she's quite a savvy business person. She started out developing websites for authors, speakers, and coaches, which she's done quite well at. And she's also developed a system, I guess service is a better way to put it, leveraged to scale.com. And when she teaches, she'll implement systems with virtual assistants that allow you to greatly like not 10x, maybe not even 20x, but maybe like 50x the potential of the content that you're already creating. How to be omnipresent across all aspects of email, social media, you know, if you do podcasts, whatever it is, it's a really cool system, a great service. And uh, you know, I vouch for Amber and the things she does. So she really brings value. But that that's one aspect. I think the reason this episode is called No Guts, No Glory is because that's the actual name of her business. She named her business No Guts No Glory. And when you hear her story, uh where she came from and her overall attitude and outlook on life, I think you'll be inspired. And uh yeah, it was awesome. I really enjoyed it. So before we get into the interview, a couple quick things. First of all, if you haven't yet, please go to iTunes, Stitcher, um, Spotify, wherever you're listening to this podcast, and leave a nice review if you like the show, of course, and I'll read it on air. Um that would be fantastic. Um we were getting a lot of them for a while, but you people died off. What's going on? I know you're listening. Take a couple minutes. We put a lot of work into this thing. It's greatly appreciated. I don't mean to yell, I'm just passionate about it. So please go wherever you can and leave it, leave a nice review. Also, this episode is brought to you by Level Five Mentors. So I'm extremely proud of what's going on, what we're doing. Um go to levelfive mentors.com. That's L-E-V-E-L, the number five mentors.com. Ken and myself, and now we're um building a team of mentors who get it, right? They actually get it that success isn't necessarily driven by a number. At times part of it is, but it's the overall aspect of your life. We get into entrepreneurship uh and leadership roles because we want to make a difference, but oftentimes we don't take care of ourselves along the way, and we lose as we lose we lose sight of what really matters and why we got into it. And you know, ultimately it comes down to freedom and feed them freedom in five different areas, and that's what we focus on. And money happens to be one of them, but not all. It's only like 20% of the equation. So go to level5mentors.com, L-E-V-E-L, the number five mentors.com, and uh book a free call. I'd be happy to chat with you or Kenwood and zero expectations. Want to hear your story, where you want to be, understand what success looks like for you, and uh, if we can help, then we will help. That's it. So now, without further ado, episode number 162, Amber Vilhauer. No guts, no glory. We're live. Amber, welcome.

Thank you, Eric. Yeah, I'm just so thrilled to connect with you. Uh, I know for those of you listening, we connected months ago, and I just thought Eric was the coolest guy, and he's so grounded, and you have so much wisdom and insight. So uh you're like my people, man. I'm happy to spend time with you again.

No, we connected right away, and um, shout out to um Dave Smith of the Online Traders Federation for connecting us. And I know you've talked to a lot of people in our circle. Uh, I think you talked to Matt Walrath, you talked to a lot of other people. So um, you know, so much, so much good information that you can provide people on how to, you know, um leverage their own work and their content creation for that's critical, um, especially for someone like me who doesn't, you know, want to work seven days a week, right? I want to get everything 30 hours and we need balance. Yeah, I want to get on the light. And um and how to use a virtual assistant as well. I mean, that's that's some of the big things I think is very confusing for a lot of people. And I know you do it all day long. And uh so all that's gonna be fantastic, but I would really like it if you just gave us your story. Talk about how you got to where you are, and um right before this, and here's why people is because right before this, before we started interviewing, the first thing I asked Amber, she's like, things are amazing. Like, I am so satisfied and happy with my life and my work and everything that's going on, but I it wasn't easy to get there. And people need to know, hey, you can get there, but this there's struggle. So let's tell them through your story.

Yeah, thank you. Yeah, I was I was telling Eric that about a week ago, um, a colleague of mine, Michael Port of Heroic Public Speaking, somebody I just really admire and respect. He came up to me and said, So, Amber, you really seem like you were the type of gal that had straight A's growing up and, you know, teacher's pet, right? Everybody liked you. And I looked at him and I just burst into laughter and I said, actually, it couldn't be further from the truth. And he was shocked because people make judgments based on how they see you today. And a lot of people see this really super bubbly, always smiling, confident Amber who can talk to anybody. She's on video all day long, but man, it was not like that in the beginning. Um, and you know, I was telling Eric that for the first about 18 years of my life, I was not well liked. And I never really knew why. That was the weird thing. That was what always plagued me. It'd be one thing if I was like a jerk to people, but I was just a loner. I mean, you know, that person in high school that was like always way out there eating lunch alone. Yeah, that was me. And um, and it was honestly, it was horrible. It was not by choice. And, you know, I think a couple of things might have contributed to it. Number one is that I always felt kind of less than anyway. My older sister cast a very big shadow. And it's nothing that she did wrong, that's who she is. But she was straight A student, teacher's pet, Miss Teen Arizona. Everybody liked her, and I just felt small in her shadow. And um, so I don't think that I put myself out there, maybe. Um, and so people just never really saw me for what was inside, right? Um, regardless, it caused a tremendous amount of pain. And I would cry myself to sleep a lot. I was failing out of different uh subjects. And my parents, I came from a really great household. I went to a top private school. My parents were always like, What is wrong? We love you. How can we help? And I would just close the door and cry or like listen to angry, you know, heavy metal music. It was very different time.

Yeah, I never would have got that in.

And um, you know, the quote friends that I did have were not really friends. They were just people that I felt like I was good enough to be around, which were not good people. They they were not caring, they were not kind, they were making bad decisions. And while I didn't make those same bad decisions, I just was in that circle of influence. And um, you know, so those people did ugly things to one another. And uh one day they did an ugly thing to me. And um, it really culminated for me this this night when I was 16 years old. And I walked into a party. There's about 80 kids there, and um that night five girls came in and jumped me, and they beat me pretty badly, and nobody stopped them. And it then came into my awareness that this party was set up for me. And I honestly, the details of how it happened, why it happened, it was stupid teenage stuff, right? Um, it was me sharing a secret, trying to protect a friend, and somebody else didn't like that I did that, so they beat me up. I mean, it was just like the most unconscious, ridiculous thing that teenagers do. But in that night, as I was badly beaten on the outside, and I was already badly beaten on the inside, and I was just feeling as worthless as a human can feel, I was looking up at the stars, Eric, and I just had tears kind of slowly coming down my face. And it was just this moment where I kind of looked up and just said, Is this my life? Like, is this the way it's gonna be? And that feeling just choked me. I mean, it made me so horribly sad that like this was gonna be my life. And so it was really that moment that something woke up in me and decided to fight for my life. And I looked at, well, if this isn't the way I want it to be, what would I want it to be like? And I looked way ahead and I'm thinking, like, wow, imagine a husband that like took care of you and that respected you and honored you and just adored you, cherished you. Imagine you have kids that are kind and loving. You know, and I just started imagining. And then I thought, wow, that feels like the most impossible dream ever. But day by day, decision by decision, I started going into office hours to improve my grades because I knew that while I didn't want to do that, that's the kind of choice that the future Amber would have made. And so then all of a sudden I started making these better choices that were hard. It's it wasn't like, ooh, yippee, office hours after school. It was never like that. It was, it sucked, right? But over time, I ended up graduating from high school with honors. I started getting seen by other people, and they're like, wow, you're actually kind of a cool person. And I'm thinking, like, yeah, that this is this is who I've been for the past, you know, six years we've been going to school together. I went into college, and it was really then that everything changed because I got this job selling Cutco Cutlery, which is high-end kitchen knives.

Oh, yeah, I still have some.

Yes, they're amazing, but that company just woke something a giant up in me. And what happened was I went out and I did exactly what they told me to do. I followed the presentation, I sold, people bought, it worked. I went into the office the next day, and everybody was clapping and high-fiving me and recognizing me, and I felt seen for maybe the first time. And I thought, oh my gosh. So if I just do what they tell me to do, it's gonna work, and then I'll get that feeling again. So then that's where the drive in me was born. I'm now I'm like this accomplishment junkie. And now there was this moment too of wanting to give back so that nobody else had to feel that loneliness that I felt. And so now I'm on this mission, Eric, to help people feel seen and heard and loved and valued in every moment, no matter where I am, that's always my number one purpose and goal. And yes, I sell websites and do all these other things, but it's like that's really the underbelly of where I came from and now the work that I'm here to do in the world.

Wow. Well, well, thank thank you for sharing all that. That's awesome. It's it's tough. And um, you know, to to, I mean, I'm sure enough water has gone under the bridge for you that it's not as hard to talk about that those moments. But it's it's one of those things where um, you know, I tell people all the time, like if you if you don't know, if you haven't had that thing, you know, can I just call it the thing in your life that happens, you know, some kind of tremendous challenge or breaking point or something that just wakes you up. Um, it's usually through pain or diagnosis or you know, something you're like, wow, like I gotta do something differently, right? For one reason or another. Either you realize, like, I mean, I don't want to get too, you know, ethereal here, but like Confucius has one of my favorite quotes is every person has two lives, the second one begins when they realize they have one. And you know, you're like, whoa, I got out there, get the fuck on with it, right? It's kind of like that is it sounds like you had that moment earlier in your life, which could have been at the time. Yeah, it's very I just want to say it's it's it's an awesome thing that it happened early, and you you start to see that. And the other thing that's really interesting is that you, whether you knew it or not, at a young age, you actually started developing goals for your life.

I didn't know it at all. Yeah.

I'm I'm shocked. I'm shocked, and that's that's a blessing too, because I'm shocked at how many people go through life without knowing what they really want.

100%. I think facing yourself is one of the scariest things that a human can do. I mean, it's terrifying. And I've done it a few times, and and it doesn't get easier for me at least. I mean, it's it's hard every time I do it. But I think it's kind of like exercise. Maybe the more you do that, the more you can just be open, real, raw, honest with yourself, and get out of the busyness hamster wheel trap to then take a moment to get a different perspective. I think we can make faster progress overall.

Yeah, it's really easy to get and stay busy. Tell me, yeah. I'm I'm like, I'm you know, I'm the worst. Like I will get busy and I will stay busy. And then at the end of the day, I'll be like, what did I actually What am I even accomplishing? I'm the goals everywhere. Is it Friday already? How does that happen? Uh so it's really easy, but if you don't know what your goals are, and and you know, when you create a vision for yourself like that, you know, it's the bead you have, right? You be that person, you do what that person does, and then you have what that person has, right? So you have to like, yeah, it all starts with vision, and that's that's critical. And one of the things we talk about in our mentoring practice too is like it all starts with a vision. If you don't know what the vision is, then what the hell are we doing here? Right. Um Wow, that's awesome. And you know, one of the things, and we'll get into the business and what you do because that's you know obviously really important, but um you know you mentioned before our uh recording that you think we're in a connection crisis. Explain that. Let's unpack that a little bit.

I have a really unique vantage point in the world because the people that I work with are authors, speakers, and coaches, right? So they're the people that are always out in the world experiencing, talking, communicating, et cetera. And I have my work with them through the online world, which is kind of the center of our universe right now. Um, and so I'm seeing a lot of what's happening in this online world and how it's affecting people in the offline world. And these authors and speakers are coming to me, sharing with me different insights of how hard it is to connect with audiences, or, you know, um not getting results with my website. Can you help me? Or I'm not selling copies of my books, or you know, I'm putting social media out there, nobody cares. What is what's going on? Then I have this other side where I am very well connected in the online world with like a lot of the gurus and influencers and experts that are teaching, you know, everybody else how to do all the other stuff. And I'm hearing from them their experience. And so, all of that to say, there's a lot of feedback that I get in different ways. And I'm also seeing that like we know that the internet in general was something tremendous because it allowed us to connect with people that we would never be able to connect with otherwise around the world, right? We're supposed to be connected more than ever before. Yet all of this feedback that I'm getting says there's disconnect happening everywhere. And I also know from these conversations that our very influencers and the speakers and authors out in the world, they are feeling alone. They are feeling disconnected. And so I'm seeing this on every level, all over the place. People are overwhelmed, they're distracted, they can't even focus on information anymore. We are so bombarded with ads and content and offers, offers, offers, emails, text notifications that we're literally shutting down to it and we're numbing out, right? So we addiction is kind of pop bubbling up a little bit more than I'm seeing, whether it's an addiction to Netflix binging or alcohol to numb out, like it is the ripple effect of this is massive, right? And I think part of what's propelling this is there is this message in the entrepreneurial community of market to the masses and get your list as big as possible. And then you need to automate. But the problem with automation is that it's designed to remove that human element, right? So that it can automate. But what's happening is it's just making everything worse. People are feeling more disconnected now. And so I'm just I'm watching all of this, Eric, and I'm thinking like, okay, marketing the masses is killing your business, and it is not fulfilling you, that's for sure. So my message is it's not about the size of your list, it's about the quality of that list. It's about it's having a smaller community of qualified people that you actually want to spend time with, that you can serve at a high level, create transformation, the money will be there. I guarantee it. If you can transform somebody's life, you will be paid very well. So I think it's just that our online world and the messages that we're all receiving, we need a massive shift in thinking because otherwise everybody will burn out. I see it happening all over the place. And it's frustrating for me because I can't seem to get this message out strong enough, loud enough, fast enough to save more people. But the people that I can share this with, it is changing everything for them. And they're they're coming back down, they're getting grounded, they're getting more focused and disciplined, they're making a bigger impact, and they are way more fulfilled. So thank you for letting me talk about it to another audience. And hopefully you guys can pass that forward as well and help me get that message out.

Yeah, it's critical. It's critical. I think um, you know, you see funny memes about you know, someone who's getting into the online space and they're like, Well, I have my funnel, I have my ebooks, um, you know, I have my webinars, but my bank account's empty.

Yeah, yeah, it happens to me.

And you're like, Well, who did you help? You know, just I had a first call with a mentoring client today, and one of the things she's like, Well, yeah, I just and she's like, Well, I I I know I just have all these things I want to get done. I know I need my website and I know I need my Facebook community. I'm like, oh no. I'm like, just well, the first thing you're gonna do is go out and help somebody. Is there anyone you know right now who you can go help? It's like, yeah. Like, we'll call them today and say, Hey, I want to help you. See what happens. Amazing. I guarantee if that happens, that person, she helps that person, that's gonna turn into one, two, three people because everyone's doing the opposite. So it's we're in a weird world where going out and actually have a connection with someone and helping them without looking for anything in return, right?

Yes, yes.

Is now the way to go because everybody is going left and that's considered going right.

I agree. I I tell people the same thing, and it's funny, they don't expect it because I'm the one that builds the websites and I can help you with your online marketing, and I'll I'll help you launch your book and sell more copies. There is an order to things though, and there are so many influencers out there that have done very well teaching people a certain system and an order to how you're supposed to start your online business. And those things aren't wrong. So I can't knock the influencers, but a lot of too many people are doing those things first when really you should be having the belly-to-belly conversations, testing your messaging, trying things out, monetizing a little bit because it's that experience piece that has to come before the funnel piece. And then even when you get to the funnel piece, I'm I'm a big advocate of ad of automation, sure thing. So I'm not against automation, but what I am saying is that the way automation is being taught is putting people to disadvantage. If you can find ways to develop personal connection with the individuals in that funnel, that's the challenge that most people aren't thinking about. And you can do that largely with video. Um, I've proven that time and time and time again. There are ways to do it so that you can have it all. But the funnel piece is going to happen once you're ready to start scaling that message a little bit more and you've already had that proving ground start.

Would you say, I mean, I I look at automation, this is just one man's view, but I look at it as a way to get rid of the repetitive tasks that remove me from doing more of the quality work. Right. Like there's a lot of things, you know, my podcast, for example, is I think you and I have talked about in the past. All I do now is I hit record, right? And then I put it when I'm done, I put it in Dropbox. Everything else happens. You know, I have a team of people who, you know, they're not, it's not automation because there's people behind it. That's all I do, and that allows me to have more quality. Conversations, right? It allows me to put out more power, allows me to learn more, allows me to build more relationships through the show. I mean, that's the way I see it. I mean, I don't know. I've never been the guy at selling online products. It's just not, I don't know. Just not.

No, that's absolutely a form of automation. Automation is just if you find something repetitive, document it. You can then either have somebody else do it or you can just save time in doing that task, get more efficient at it, right? So I sort of look at automation in two different camps. I've got the piece in my business operations where I'm documenting the step by step by step of how I want things done. And then my team can take over that task and get it done just as well as I could have. So they're like mini amber, sort of. Um, and then that way I have consistency. If I have a team member that decides to, you know, change careers, I'm not screwed at the end of the day because I just plug somebody in into that system and they pick up right where the last person left off. I have had major key players in my organization decide to do a career move and give me no notice, and I was fine within six hours. Like that is remarkable. Most businesses would implode, but I've learned a lot about systems and documenting how I want things done so I can delegate them out. And that is how I appear to do so, so much. It appears like I'm working 140 hours a week when really I'm working about 40, right? And that's the power of that side of automation. Then there's this automation in marketing and sales, where um quick quick example. Um, when I started my business, I used to do these hour-long sales calls. People would come to the website, learn that I sell websites, schedule a call, I'd sit there for an hour, I'd tell them the same process for development. Here are my rates. And at the end of it, maybe they'd buy most times they wouldn't because it was a mix of qualified and unqualified people, and it was clunky, right? And it was such a time sock, really. And I was just constantly repeating myself. It was draining and exhausting. So then I thought, what if I were to create a video that would explain the step-by-step by step process to build your website and then give them a pricing menu with my rates and payment plan options in advance so that nobody could have a call with me unless they saw that video and checked out our rates. Then I could save about a half an hour. So now people are scheduling 30-minute calls with me. Now, the beautiful thing is because it was in a video, I was creating that human connection even though I wasn't really there. So now people are trusting me more so because I'm transparent and upfront with the information and building up that likability because there's Amber smiling and transferring her energy to you. Even in a video, it can happen. And so people come, the right people come to the call, and they always say, gosh, Amber, it feels like I already know you have been watching your videos and da-da-da-da-da. And that's how I want people to feel, right? Total consistency. But really, what happens is now I'm selling more and less time, people are happier, the customer experience is better, but really all of that is automated, right? So these videos allow that automation to occur, and then it saves me time. I'm not having to repeat myself as much. So I guess the bottom line for anybody listening is what am I doing a lot in my business? Sales calls. What can I do to remove a chunk of that and do give my people something in advance? Like an onboarding call, same thing. If when you start your coaching calls and you always share this is how the process for coaching is gonna go, and then what we're gonna talk about first, have them watch a 10-minute video. Now you never have to say that again, right? So that's how we can automate in that sense, like on the on the customer experience side of things.

Yeah. And you also pre-qualified people, you know. Hey, here's my pricing. You know, if you want to get on call still, that's great. I mean, that saves a lot of time. Brief qualification is crazy. And you know, I think um, you know, a a big mind shift that um we help people get through, and and it was big for me was going into more of a buyer mindset. Like, you're not you're not trying to sell someone on working with you, you're qualifying them to be a client of yours. And that's a big difference. Like, well, do I want to take this person's money and work with them? You know, is this someone who I want? And you're actually when you turn that, like, if I'm if you came to me and you wanted, you know, whatever service I'm offering, and I'm qualifying you by asking questions, but like, well, are you willing to work hard? You'd be like, You're automatically psychologically, you're like, Well, I'm well, is he qualifying me to work with him? Do I have to prove myself right now? And you do it, you'll do it, right? Very few people are gonna be like, Screw you, man, I'm out of here. I don't care. Yeah, if you're so busy. But the psychology of having people, and then you get these devoted clients, and then the world's a better place, and that's you know, part of it too is qualifying people properly up front um saves so much time, and it took me so long to learn.

Well, it's so scary in the beginning because it's like, man, I'll work with anybody. I just need money, right? But what happens is like you'll work with just anyone, and then you'll be miserable, or the project will go sideways, and this person now needs a refund and you didn't even do anything wrong, and so now you're out money, or it takes your the go over the scope. It's always like stuff like that happens when you're working with the wrong people, right? And you don't have to be a fit for all things small people, right? So if you can just force yourself to commit to who do I want to work with pre-qualifying, you'll sell more to the right people and have a better experience. You will save years trying to do it the wrong way, like I did it when I first started. Trust me.

Yeah, yeah, trust me too. Um, that's why people come to me, not because of any any uh success I've seen, it's because of all the failures along the way. And there's so many. There's a lot. I could write probably write a book on it. Um so let's talk about, yeah, right. I wonder who can help me with that. Uh let's talk about your story, how you went from what you do with websites into what leverage to scale is.

Yeah. Cool. So I started my company in 2007. Um, it's NGNG Enterprises, which stands for No Guts, No Glory. And I say that because people love it. Yes.

I love it.

Um yeah, see. And um, yeah, back then we were selling websites. And I taught myself code. I set up my own website, and I thought, yeah, I could do this for other people. So it's very raw and organic. I didn't have a business plan. I had no vision or goals. I was just sort of doing it to do it, and I enjoyed the challenge of it. And then people would come to me and say, Um, could you help me with this opt-in box? Sure. Could you help me set up a funnel? Heck yeah, could you help me with blogging? Sure. I love learning how to do things and then testing and proving them. So I only did things that I confidently knew I could do for people, but that also put me in a position to learn everything about everything when it comes to online marketing. Fast forward about nine years, we are at the peak. We're profitable, everybody wants to work with us, our referral rate is huge, I'm speaking, like couldn't be better. And yet I was burning out. And it hit me that I had created the wrong model, and my and my self was infused too deeply into all of our offerings, and I was being all things to all people. Huge mistake. So I took a step back and I thought, well, what do I really enjoy doing the most of all these 50 things that I'm doing? And I realized that I really just enjoyed building that front-facing website for author, speakers, and coaches. And I am great at the strategy, I can make it look good, like I really enjoy that. So cut all the fat, raised our prices a bit, and now the website services are really dialed in. We're doing great work, and it's just it's beautiful, beautiful process process. But in this process of burning out, I faced myself again. So I I circle back to that. And in that moment, I just thought, like, what the hell am I doing? Like, why did I feel compelled to be all things to all people? And I'm so busy I'm burning myself out. Just because I can do so many things doesn't mean I should be doing all of those things. So, here again, what do I really want to do? And what are my gifts for crying out loud? I actually hadn't even really considered that, as silly as that might sound. So I sat down with pen and paper and I thought, what do I enjoy doing? What are my gifts? And I realized that I am a systems junkie. I love systems and procedures and documenting and making things as efficient as possible without sacrificing quality. And then it reminded me of this marketing process that I had been doing in my own business for years and never thought to like tell other people about it. And yet it was working so well for me that, and honestly, it took so little time that it was an afterthought, but then it kind of came to the surface that this is actually something that our industry desperately needs, and it's a total game changer. So, all of that to say that's really when leverage to scale was born. What it is is basically I sat down one day, and instead of doing an hour or two blog posts and then coming over here and getting distracted with my email newsletter, and then, oh yeah, I've got to do this social media thing, just felt like I was all over the place and getting nowhere fast. So I figured out like I knew content marketing was a must because content is the backbone of the internet. So if you were publishing videos and blogging, then search engines will give you more exposure. You will be seen as a more credible expert in your industry, and it's great bait to get people back to your website where they can learn about your other offerings, like websites, right? And so if I knew I had to do video, blogging, SEO, social media, email marketing, how could I put that into a process that's as fast as possible, but then have somebody else do it for me so I didn't have to do it? Because I don't want to do that stuff. I've got to do client work and be on calls and other things. So I sat down one day, and this I want you to pay attention because this is something that I'm giving to you as a gift, so you can just do this on your own now if you want. But I sat down one day and I created a batch of these short little tip videos, like three minutes on how to have better website security, you know, myths about how to get website conversion, anything website related, right? And I got so fast at these because it was like a game. I was like, how many can I do in three hours? Because I'm a geek like that. And I ended up doing like 20 of these tip videos inside of three hours. Documented how I wanted my team to upload and optimize those to YouTube, wanted them to watch the video and make my blog post for me, write it out and tell people to watch this video. Take that blog post and send that out as an email to my email list so I don't have to do those newsletters anymore. Then I want you to do all of my social media three times a day across all the channels, and here's how I want that to happen. That piece was a little bit more complicated, but I got it into a system, took the batch of videos, took out this document of how I wanted it done, I sent it to my team, and I didn't have to think about any of it for the next 20 weeks until I ran out of videos and then sat down and did another batch of then 30 videos, gave it to them, didn't have to think about it for the rest of the year. So imagine inside of two weekends, two half days, you're recording a couple of videos, and then you have a virtual assistant that is now trained because of the document, the system that you created for them of how to do it, they just do it all for you and they do it well, right? And so that was that's what I've been doing for years. It worked really well. And in this moment of burnout, I thought, wow, what if I put this into a membership site where VAs, a virtual assistant, could go and learn how to do it and then do this for the Eric's of the world so that Eric doesn't have to do it and he can be freed up knowing it's done, and he's not paying some agency 3,500 bucks a month to do it. He and it's it's just easy and he has control again and it's cheaper. You know, so that's really where leverage to scale came from. We teach your assistant how to do it all for you.

Yeah, so valuable. I mean, it's uh the content game is so convoluted now. There's so many different ways of content, you know. Just talking to somebody the other day, I'm like, well, what's gonna be your content? You know, what's gonna be your core source? You know, for me it's a podcast, obviously. I love this. I could just sit and talk, right? And just ask people questions. It's just easy for me. I could do it all day. But then how do I take that and leverage that to the to the utmost is where most people get lost because most people like me will probably just be like, okay, well, I'll just do 600 podcasts, right? And then then what? I don't know, I just like doing them. Well, are you taking advantage of them? Now, these are obviously conversations that happen in my own head, and uh it's it's crazy. Let's talk about okay, virtual assistance. I get questions about this all the time. I have a great working relationship with mine. Um, it took a while, took some SOPs, but now everything's kind of automated. What do you look for in virtual assistance? I mean, how do you how do you even start the process? Because there's a lot of people out there are gonna be like, I know I need one, right? I have no idea what the first step is. How do you interview? How do you find one? Well, how much should I pay? Right? All these questions I'm sure you get asked. How do how do people get started with that?

I found there's about 10% of people who aren't ready for a VA because they're just just starting and they don't really know how to delegate, they have no structure. So about 10% of people just aren't ready yet. There's about 60% of people who really need a VA, they're ready for it, but they just have no clue how to start. And then the other people usually already have a VA or have some experience with it. Um, so what I do is when I'm working with somebody who needs a virtual assistant, I'll say, what are all of the things that you could delegate? Right. And this is you pen and paper time, man. Like there's no way around it. You just gotta sit down and think about it. And it's hard because we're so used to doing everything ourselves. And then there's also this weird mindset thing of like feeling guilty somehow for not being able to do it all, and like I have to ask for help, and maybe I just need to suck it up, you know, like human, the human experience is really nuts. But anyway, so we gotta think about like if I could just document exactly how I want it done, okay, maybe I could let go of inputting these numbers into a spreadsheet every day because I hate it anyway, and it's really something a monkey could do if I could just spend two seconds, you know, mapping out how I want it done, right? So basically, you're you're gonna come up with like a bunch of different tasks. They're all gonna be random at first. And just don't judge it, just write down what you think somebody else could do with proper training. Then you'll start to group things together, like, okay, I need some social media help, I need a little bit of website help, I need a little bit of just random admin help or research from time to time. Cool. And another tip is like if you really are stuck on this, just Google like you know, common VA tasks and you'll see lists of them and you can think, oh yeah, I do need help with booking my travel. Or no, I would never want somebody to book my travel. You know, so just get some thought jogging. But anyway, once you have a sense of what this role could shape out to be, you'll also get a sense of how many hours it might take somebody to get it done. So if you think there's probably, you know, five to ten hours worth of work every week that I could really use some help with, that's good to know too. And I would just type it up in a little document of like, I'm looking for somebody to help with these tasks. I'm guessing it would take five to ten hours a week, but you can tell me. And in general, if I were really going wild here with my wish list, I would love to work with somebody who, fill in the blank, is really reliable. I don't have to hunt them down. I don't have to worry about things slipping through the cracks. I don't have to follow up with you, I don't have to babysit you, I don't have to micromanage you, but I just get to really nurture you and give you praise and recognition. I'm gonna make this a great place to work because we're here to inspire people. I might talk about my message for a little bit and talk about how I really need help getting to the next level. I'm looking for somebody who has eyes and ears and can see the whole operation and tell me what they think I'm doing wrong or might be missing, even if they don't feel qualified to tell me, I'd still like to know. Um, somebody who's really meticulous at detail, like if they notice that I forgot to make this uh capital letter at the beginning of the sentence, they correct it, right? They don't wait to be told what to do. Like, whatever, just go nuts with it, man. Like, have some fun here. Dream big. Like, who would this person be? And then I I share that with like in my job ad. So the next step is I personally go to a website called Upwork. It's a popular crowdsourcing website. There's a lot of different places, but basically you can go to a place like this, and in the search filter, I need a virtual assistant. This pay rate, this level of experience, these keywords, the profiles will pop up of people who are available and send them the document I just told you to create and see what happens. Um, you I usually say that a virtual assistant is between 10 and 30 bucks an hour. They can be 80 bucks an hour. Um, it's just that you're paying for more experience, a deeper skill set. If you're just starting out, I would say 10, 20 bucks an hour is plenty. I personally try to source them in the US because I get help with copywriting, and that's a safer, better bet for me. Um, but other than that, I just hop on a Zoom call with the people who seem like they're interested in my ad. And I'll just get to know them and ask them about their level of experience and what do they like in working with a client. Like, hey, I've never done this before. Tell me what I need to know about like being a boss. They'll tell you. But I will give you this last tip that VAs need structure. They need to be told what to do and how you want it done and when you want it done by. Because if you are a scattered mess and you just say, Oh no, no, I just need it done, that's not gonna work for you, and it's not gonna work for them. And then you're gonna blame them for not having their stuff together when it was really you. So giving them some sort of a framework is going to make your life and theirs much better, and it's gonna be a more successful relationship. So I know I keep giving these really long answers. I'm sorry about that, but there's good detail.

So I I think you gave a really good step by step. And you know, one of the tactics, um, who was that? I think it was Doug Hole. Because if you do something like at work and you post for a virtual assistant and you're willing to offer, you know, anything over 15 bucks an hour, you're gonna get a lot of replies. You know, uh one of the things he puts in the job description, Doug does Doug Hole, he says, Um, you know, somewhere in the middle, he says, Um, you know, we're applying to this, put the capital of Zim, I don't know, you know, um, Louisiana in the subject line. So that way it's like, oh wow, they actually read through, right? Because a lot of people just reply to as many as possible, and then you end up working through um a lot of people who don't really understand the job requirements. Yeah, it's it's it's an interesting time that we live in that we can have virtual assistants, and uh it's it's it's very powerful and a lot of people aren't ready for it. A lot of people are. But I have five of them. You have five?

Yeah, I do. They all do different things because they as well have a different range of skills. I have one that's like really strong in communication and writing, and then I have another one who's really strong in like admin work and a different one that's strong in like outreach to publicity and media and also research. So, and you know, maybe you're paying them for five hours a week, you know, and some I'm paying 30 hours a week. It just it just depends. So you go based on what you need first.

Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. That is awesome. How long, how long have you been in business? When did you start uh No Guts No Gloy?

It's almost my 12-year anniversary and like two weeks. Yeah.

Awesome. What um how long did it take to get to a point where you felt like, okay, I'm gonna be successful in this? I don't know. Not belief, but like an honest, like, okay, I'm starting to see signs of life in my business that gives me indicators that this is gonna be honestly really early on, but I will say I didn't take it super seriously until I was about five years in.

I don't know what my problem was, but when I started this business, I think because of the way I started it, like, oh, I taught myself code. I guess I could do this for other people. Sure, I'll do that. You know, I I I I sort of felt like this was a good stepping stone in my career.

Like I never thought, this is the thing I'm gonna do.

You know, it was always like, I wonder what else is gonna happen after this NGNG thing. So it took five years before I thought, oh my gosh, this is like a thriving business. Look at what I've just built. I mean, it's silly, but true. But I would Say actually, it happened really early on that I had success. And the reason for that is because I knew that content marketing would take time. But I also knew it was an absolute must, right? Because my future self would be so grateful I started back at the beginning and didn't delay. So what I ended up doing is in that period of time where I was waiting for my platform to be built and the qualified people to come in, I thought if I want to work with authors and speakers and coaches, where do those people already exist? And I ended up creating a strategic partnership with a publishing company in California. And they started sending their authors to me for websites and I just give them a little commission. So now I have this pipeline of this regular flow of clients. And I thought, well, gosh, that was so easy. Why don't I just do this again? So I did it again and again, and I still do it today. I have zero pressure to market or sell. So now it just becomes more fun. So I think if you can think about where are my people in bulk and who's at the top of that influencing that community, they're the ones working their asses off to build that community. And I'll just strike up a relationship with that one person. And now the key with strategic partnerships, though, you have to be excellent because you are an extension of their reputation. Now, so I do all things at my absolute best all the time. So that was never a concern for me. And the minute they sent me that first client, the client raved and raved and raved, and that solidified the partnership, and then they opened up floodgates. And so it's a win-win at that point.

Yeah. Yeah, that's that's great. That's awesome. And I think it the power of strategic partnerships and collaborations is like people, you don't have to do it alone. You know, what you have to do is create value that you offer first, right? That's the biggest thing is you can't just go to a strategic partnership and say, Hey, uh, I want access to your clients.

No, you can't.

You have to you have to lead with value. You have to have something of value to be like, hey, let me help you first and show you the value that I can bring to your organization and then go from there. Did you do that along the way?

Some partnerships took me months and months to secure of maybe dozens of little strategic moves and efforts and surprises and fill in the blanks. Every single strategic partner has a very different story of how we landed that organization. Um, but yeah, it's it is a lot of effort. It's based on relationships. And you can even look at this podcast as a collaboration. Eric and I find value in one another. We like each other, so we thought we could help each other out. Eric is now exposing my message to his community, and I am exposing Eric's message to my community. We're doing, you know, this shared experience together. And now we both win. It's a win-win relationship. And um, so if you're thinking on that level, it starts with relationships and building that personal connection, like we spoke about, then if you can think in terms of win-wins, I'm not here to take advantage of Eric and make it all about me. Um, if you have that belief, which your community wouldn't, but if you do, you're not gonna go anywhere and you're certainly not gonna be happy doing it. So instead, if I think, how can I give more value to Eric in this experience? Then he's gonna feel like, gosh, Amber's awesome. How do I give more value to her? And I'm thinking, oh, how do I give more value to him? You know, and it just keeps growing into something really, really amazing.

Yeah, it's a law of reciprocation. People, um, whether they know it consciously or not, if you do someone a favor, you provide value to them, they're gonna want to return that, right? And I'm not saying that as as if it's taking advantage of people and some kind of nature we have. I told my wife this rule once, she's like, if you use that shit on me, I was like, I won't. I just did. Um, but it's it's something innately human, right? That, and that's why I have a podcast. You know, I've never concerned myself with monetization, I've never done anything like that. I knew if I built an audience and an audience that I actually hear from and is engaged, that I have value to bring someone else, I can now bring Amber onto my show and be like, hey, I know I'm gonna give you value by being on my show. And it's it's a great conversation starter. And when when people are doing that, like, think about that. Like, how what do you what can you be creating now, right? Whether it be some sort of audience or even a community or something that you can offer to people initially to start the conversation and show them that you mean business, start doing it now because it's gonna take a while. It's been two years of my podcasting between the two of them, 600 plus interviews. Like that doesn't happen overnight, right? But it took time. And I'm asking, I'm like, well, I'm only two fifths of the way there because this was a five-year project, right? This podcast is a five-year project. And one of the reasons I asked you the question about, you know, how soon did you realize you wanted to be, you were gonna be successful in what you do is because I think a lot of people think success comes a lot faster than it does.

No kidding.

You know, and if if you plan it out, like here we're talking 12 years down the line for you, you're so happy and ecstatic about the way you're you're doing business. If you had told yourself, you know, 12 years ago, hey, you will be successful, Amber, but it's gonna take a decade. Right? However you would have reacted at the time, you would have been realistic, you would have been like, okay, I can get to work, but I gotta do these things every day because in the end, it's gonna it's gonna be worth it. That's a hard thing for people, especially in today's age, you know, hey, you're only one funnel away from a million dollars. No, no. I mean, if you've done the work prior and people know who you are and you've tested products and services in ways that you know will be valuable to them, no kidding.

Right, man, there is so much trial and error. I'm still in the thick of trial and error because it doesn't get easier when you grow your business. You have new challenges all the time. And so, yes, there are things that feel really easy to me now because I learned them a decade ago, but starting out, man, that was painful to learn that thing, you know, whatever it was. I've learned so much about leadership, even just in the past two years. And I look back and think, I can't even imagine why people stayed with me back then because I was a terrible leader back then. I mean, it's probably because I'm kind, right? That's why they stayed working with me because I'm kind. But I was not developing, like there was a lot I had to learn. So, you know, I think if you settle into it, and it really is like that quote it's not about the destination, it's about the journey. Yeah. And that is why if you can choose something that you feel fulfilled in, even though like my industry is extremely challenging, online marketing, it changes daily, right? I always have to be on top of the next trend and the next thing and the next software. And it's it's exhausting. So, where I find my fulfillment is personally in these connections, these relationships, and the possibility of what could unfold as a result of knowing you, right? And that feeling is enough to overcome the bad stuff, the bad feelings that crop up a million times throughout the day. And so it's also where you put your intention and what success means to you. Because success to one person might be a $30 million company, success to another person might be a $500,000 company that's small and intimate, but they're just full of joy and they have time with their kids, right? So you get to decide those things. Just like when we talked about earlier, you got to decide your schedule. You know, we really do have that freedom, and that's that's a gift.

Yeah, and for some, success is just living a life that doesn't necessitate vacation.

Yeah.

Right. And that's me. Yeah. That's my success. And uh, you know, I know how much is enough, and I know what my critical point is for financial freedom, and I'm working towards it, and that's all you need to know. And but you gotta know, and that's the thing, is you gotta know. And those points of that takes time to reflect and and really sit down on a rock um and and figure it out, you know. But once you have it, that clarity is extremely powerful, but it's never, you know, it still takes the work to get there.

Um get a coach, that's all I was gonna say. Get a coach, get a coach, yeah. You gotta have a one, but you need a coach.

Yeah, I've had mentors, I've had mentors for a very long time, and I don't know where I would be without them. Um what's what's the future look like for Amber and and all of your business and your life? What does that look like? Give us like a two-year projection. What do you think you're gonna be doing?

Well, I'm working on a book, and I've had lots of ideas for books over the years, um, but this is the one that I guess I was waiting for. So it is based on the connection crisis. It is deeply rooted in developing personal connection to scale your influence. Um and it was it was tricky because, you know, I thought people are gonna read this book and they're gonna, it's gonna make sense to them, right? Logically, we need to build personal connection. But how to do that is the trick. And so I've been for months deconstructing how I because I can build deep personal connections very, very quickly. I build that trust factor really quickly. And the average person can't do that. That's hard for them, especially people are like really closed because they're they've been burned and so they they protect themselves, right? You can't do that if you want to go hard and fast with people. You've got to just be raw and open, and that's scary to a lot of people. So, anyway, I've been challenged, like wrestling with like, how am I gonna get the average person on board with this? And it really comes down to the way that I started was just through elevating every experience. In this moment, if my only goal is to elevate the experience, and that's how I lead, the rest will just naturally come, right? So elevating the experience means I'm fully present in this moment. And I'm I'm in delight, I'm I'm curious, right? And I'm open and I'm getting to know you, but I'm not, oh my God, I've got so many freaking emails to do. My phone is blowing up right now. Guys, this is taking forever. I've got so much shit I've got to do today. And oh yeah, you know, like when you can just really be in this moment and let the rest go and see like there's a human sitting in front of me that has fears and pain and fun and excitement and all the stuff that I feel too. What if I could just delight in that and see if there's something that I can learn? How can I make Eric's day better right now? How can I do because maybe I'll smile more, or maybe I will ask him things and see what he lights up talking about, right? And make it about you. When that happens, people just open up because nobody's doing that, right? Nobody takes that time and that care. And so all of a sudden, people feel seen, heard, loved, and valued. And it just started with me elevating the experience. So that's the working title Elevate Every Experience. And I'm working on the book right now. And out of that will be, you know, more speaking and workshops, which will flow into more websites and more leverage to scale members and more bestseller book launches with clients. So not too much is changing, except me just doing more of what I'm already doing.

Yeah, I love it. And amplifying it, right? It reminds me of uh my partner at Certified Course Creation is Kate Haramillo. I don't know if you've ever talked to her, but her goal in every conversation. I love how she puts it, she's like, I want to have a bestie moment with everybody in like whenever I have a conversation. That's her goal. Perfect. That's perfect. She's not trying to sell anyone. She's like, I just want to get to that raw moment where we became besties for a few seconds.

Yeah.

Minimum. That's wow. What a way to go through life. Awesome. Takes a lot of wisdom to get there and some pain, usually, right?

Tons of pain. But if you can lean into the pain, the more you just allow yourself to feel that emotion, the faster you'll go through it. But we try to mask it and stuff it and hide it and deny it. And that's when it just gets trapped. The only way through it is through it, people. We're all gonna feel pain. So you just gotta face it and get through it, feel it until it's you're done feeling it. Move on.

Yeah. Awesome. Where do people find you, Amber?

Everywhere. Yeah, I was gonna say literally everywhere. Um, you can go to ambervilhour.com. Kind of a strange last name, V-I-L-H-A-U-E-R.

Okay.

And that's the easiest hub, but literally Google me. I have so many free videos on YouTube that they're not fluffy. They go straight into tactics and content that's gonna help you. Um, I'm all over social media. I'm so easy to talk to you. Just send me a message, we'll chat, we'll have a call, like just connect.

Yeah, awesome. Well, Amber, thank you so much. This has been an absolute pleasure. Um you made my day better for sure. So good job. Yeah, well done. Well done. I think uh the people listen, I think you'll you'll improve their day as well. So appreciate your time. I love what you're doing. Thank you for sharing all those stories. Um, I know it's not always easy, although it seems like it's getting easier for you to share things. And uh yeah, ladies and gentlemen, Amber Willhauer. Thank you, Eric. Hey fitness fans, don't leave yet. It's your host, Eric Malzone, and I have a quick favor to ask. Actually, three favors. So, number one, if you're a fan of our show, I asked you to do something that takes under three minutes. Go to iTunes, please, and subscribe to our show. Please, please, please. It means so much to us, it's so important. And then give us a favorable review. We would really, really appreciate it. And uh, I can't tell you how much it means and helps us out. So I know it takes two minutes of your day, and uh it means a lot to us. So please do that. Number two, go to our YouTube channel, our fitness marketing alliance, and uh please subscribe to our YouTube channel there. Number three, if you like this episode or any of the episodes that we've released, share it on social. That's huge, that's a big deal for us, and we're we put a lot of work into these episodes, uh, trying to give you great actionable content uh for the fitness industry. So that would mean a lot. And that's it. So we have some big plans coming up for this show. I'll be talking about that in the next couple episodes. But thank you so much for listening. It means so much. And uh if you have any questions, please reach out to me. I'd love to hear from everybody. Eric, E R I C at Fitness MarketingAliance.com