Did you know that 46% of Google searches have local intent? So are you being found or are you the best-kept secret in town? As a Brick and Mortar service-based business owner, I want you to be found, liked and trusted, faster! So go grab my free Google Workshop. The link is in the show notes or you can go to 'msmelissarose.com/googleworkshop'. And now let's get real.

If you're running a brick and mortar business, raising some kiddos and juggling all of life's offerings, let's be real and call you what you are. You my friend are a rebel woman, you've put your blood sweat and tears in creating a storefront that lights you up, serves your clients well and contributes significantly to the community you love. You are my hero. And I'm pretty sure we could sit down and talk shop for hours cause I get it! I have a brick and mortar business myself for over 12 years, a handful of kids and a few passion projects that I love like this one. Hey there everybody. My name is Melissa Rose and I am your visibility coach for brick and mortar businesses who want more clients coming in their doors. I have a passion for helping and serving those who are also living life on the edge going for their dreams and creating a legacy through their kick-ass business. In this podcast, we're going to share the nitty-gritty of running a successful brick and mortar business. We're going to share stories we're going to talk strategy, and we're gonna learn practical tips that leave you inspired, empowered and equipped to create the life of your dreams. Are you ready? Let's get real.

Hi there, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of Brick and Mortar Visibility. Super excited to talk to you today because we have a jammed packed program or show or whatever you want to call this, or a podcast. I am wanting to talk to you about what do you do when life happens? Because life is going to happen. And you know what I'm talking about? The call from a parent or a call from your kid or your partner. Something happens that makes you stop in your tracks and have to deal with it. And it could be short term like it could be a day thing or it could be long term. And I want you to be set up for this because what are we working for Y'all? What are you working for in your business? We all started our business out of passion, desire, education, purpose, all those things. And we love our work. But our work is not us and our work is not our baby. Our work is an asset and I want it to treat us like an asset. I want it to provide for us financially and for time so that you can enjoy and live your epic life every single day. So the reason for this episode is because life has happened again to Ms Melissa Rose. And I am continually reminded of what am I working for? What is the point of all of this? So for those of you that don't know my story, I own a Brick and Mortar Dance Studio as well as an online dance studio called 'Dance On Demand'. My Brick and Mortar is the dancing house. And I started my business without really starting a business. Right. We all started it kind of out of passion, fun, freedom, purpose. Those were my things. And I started it out of my basement, in my 800 sq ft. basement. And I started it with three kiddos under five. So seriously, it was 'purpose'. I needed some purpose out of being a Mama. And I had a great thing going. I grew this thing and it was very profitable. Right. And then life happened. And my husband of 15 years walks in the door and asked for a divorce. At that time, we had five kids, eleven down to two. And I was teaching dance as a side hustle and realised I needed to figure this out because I was not going to get a real job. I just knew that. I just knew that that was not my thing. Keep in mind, I have been teaching dance since I was 16. So this is what I do, right? So I went in and drove into all things learning and I read. My car became my University. I always tell new business owners, make your vehicle your University, and just keep learning and reading and listening and doing all, like, absorbing. Okay. Because there's just so much to take in. But if I had to narrow it down to my five go-to books, I'm going to share them with you today. These are it! Okay. These are books that I tell my clients they have to read because these books are going to change your business. And I want your business to not ever feel resentful. And you all know what I'm talking about. When you're working those really long weeks or those really long days and you're going gosh, it'd be really nice just to clock in, clock out, not have to take it home, not have to worry about payroll, not have to worry about the next six months of content and what we're going to do and how we're going to market it. Right? Do you hear me? I know. But you go back to what you're doing and you know that you love it and you know that it can be better. So I want your future self to be so thankful to you for setting yourself upright. So that happened in 2015. And I read these books. I continue to read them, as I say because life continues to happen. Right? It's not just one event. There are other things. In the fall of 2019, I received a phone call at 10:00 at night. And for those of you that know me really well, you know, that is way past my bedtime. But I jumped to answer it. I saw that it was my sister, and that's never good. And I picked up the phone, I said, what's wrong? And she said, did you get Papa's email? So we call my dad Papa. And I was like, no, I didn't. I go, Is Mom okay? And she goes, no, it's actually Papa, my dad. And he was sharing that he had lung cancer. Cancer runs in the family. And I hope to have him on the podcast to share him with you all because he's salt of the Earth and he's a business owner. And I learned so much from him. But he's always said it's not a matter of 'if', it's 'when'. With cancer running in his family, he kind of figured this might be his lot in life. And he has lung cancer. And that was in 2019. And it just reignited the fire under me. What am I working for? You can work for the accolades, you can work for the recognition, you can work for the ratings. But what are you really looking for? All right. And for me, I'm working so that I can be present and be able to be present on a moment's notice for those people I love. So with that, I want to dive in right away to the five books that I highly recommend. Highly. Like, please pick them up, grab the hard copy or grab the Audible book so that you can relisten because these are so pivotal in your business.

Number one, Profit First by Mike Michalowicz. I genuinely re-read this book every January. It gets me on fire. The gist of the book is the envelope system for business. Okay? So if you're a Dave Ramsey fan, you know what I'm talking about. Even if you're not a Dave Ramsey fan, you may know what I'm talking about. But basically, we tend to put our money in our business and then we say we have to have a certain amount we take out. And he is big on percentages. So the gist of it is we have our income buckets, and then we have to have a profit. We have to have a tax account, we have to have an operating expense, and then we have to have our savings or owner's draw. So you get paid yourself, and then you have your profit account, then you have your tax account, and then you have your operating expenses. But he goes through the book. And what I love about this book y'all is that it's front-loaded. And if you can get the Audible, he's hysterical. He's just the best. And he just really packs it in the front half. So if you get bored and you're not good with you're like, okay, got it. It's one of those books. Okay? this is game-changing because I want and he does too, he wants you to be profitable from day one. Okay. And so many businesses are not profitable. All right? So when we do not have a profitable business you all, we have a hobby and we are not setting our future self off for success. So Profit First. Huge. Please read it. All of these. You need to just get them. Okay?

The second book that was very life-changing for me was E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber. Okay? So in this book, he creates a fictional plot of a Baker. And you don't just bake the cakes, you need to do all the things. And he was so great in this book about teaching systems. And a quote from this book is, if your business depends on you, you don't own your business, you have a job, and it is the worst job in the world. I giggle because sometimes it feels like that, right? When you're working those really long days, weeks, and then it gets longer into months, and you're going, why am I doing this? And maybe your partners are questioning you, why are you doing this? You don't see your kids and you're wondering, what am I working my tail off for? So E-Myth Revisited was so eye-opening for me and really made system sexy because that's what this book is all about, is really dialling in and creating systems so that your business can run without you. Okay? So E-Myth Revisited.

The next book I want to talk about piggybacks off of E-Myth Revisited, and that is Built to Sell by John Warrillow. This book was so awesome in the fact that I never even thought to sell my business. But my business coach at the time, Natalie Eckdahl from Bizchix. She requires this book for reading, and she prefaced it. You may not want to sell your business, and that's okay. However, when you create a business that is sellable, it's so good for you. All right. It's going to be profitable. You're going to have your ducks in a row. It's going to be easier to run. It's going to be fun. It's going to provide for you. So there are three pillars that he teaches in this, first of all, to have, he as well as Michael Gerber create fictional plots. And now in Built to Sell, Alex is his name, and he has an ad agency. And what was interesting to me is that the ad agency was a service-based business. Right. So you're providing a service for people. But in Built to Sell, he really talks about your service as a product. And getting that product to be teachable. So focusing on one product that you offer and making it so teachable and duplicatable. All right? And that was for me as a dance studio owner, I was like, well, I don't have products. But yes, my service is a product. My hip-hop class is a product, or my two-year-old class is a product. And making it duplicatable for people to do. Then we have, being valuable. So that's the other pillar, being valuable. And I talked about that last week about being super niched and specialized so that you are the expert. So creating values that way there are no price wars. You are worth it because you are so good at it. And then repeatable, so having a retainer type model so that you can keep revenue steady and predictable. So it was just such a great book because I'm like, now that I genuinely I'm like yes, that's the goal now is to sell the business. And five years ago, I don't even think I would fathom that. I just thought, well, maybe I'll grow this business, but then it will die off when I close the doors. But to have that in the back of my mind now, knowing that's where the goal is to eventually sell it, just makes me want to get these systems and things in place.

And now we're on to book number four, which piggybacks off all of these. Okay? So first of all, Profit First, I want you to be super profitable. Then we have E-Myth Revisited, creating the systems. Then we have Built to Sell, which is just more systems, but making really focused, intentional decisions on what products you're offering so that you can be referable and create a retainer business that's profitable so you can sell it. And then we have Essentialism. Because after reading E-myth and Built to Sell, you're going to be overwhelmed. And you are going to be like, I don't know what to focus on. And Essentialism by Greg McKeown. So, so good, so good. It basically is what you say 'yes' to, you are saying 'no' to other things. And he really just dives deep into that and talks about what are you saying yes to? And looking at that picture of what are you working for? Where are you going? And does this 'yes' take you there? And it was so good. Making my world feel lighter. Even though I knew I had to do all these things and create these systems and create this product and sell this product really well, Essentialism gave me the breath to be like, okay, we can do this.

This brings me to my very last book. And this is my absolute favourite book. And that is You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero. I almost get teary-eyed talking about it because this book was pivotal and life-changing for me. I read this book, my sister referred it to me and I listened to it, I think the summer of my divorce. Back then, you guys, I had five kids, just a stay at home mom, I taught dance out of my house and my world was rocked. I checked email and Facebook on my computer, y'all. I had no idea how to do graphic design or a website or anything. My business was word of mouth and I did it on Facebook. So then to have the rug pulled out from under me when life happens and realize I got to figure this out. That book, Jen Sincero, You are a Badass saved me. I listened to it on repeat that summer. And just the mindset of 'you got this', 'you can do this one day at a time'. It was life-changing. Plus, she is hysterical. Hysterical. You have to listen to the Audible. Okay? And that is another book that I lean into every once in a while now, not as much as I did five, six years ago, but that is always my go-to for somebody who wants to start leaning into some business books or mindset books, get that book and get it on Audible. Okay?

So these are my five favourite books. I can't believe it! My 'four' is totally coming out right here on the Enneagram. These books are so pivotal in my journey. They have helped me. They have guided me. They have challenged me and just really hone into me, as far as what am I working for? All right, what are you working for, you guys? You are working, my Rebel Women, you are working so hard. I know you are. I hear you. I see you. But what are you working for? And let's get you there so that you can enjoy it. And let's get you there sooner. Taking baby steps every day, knowing that this step today is helping my future self because I want you to live your epic life every single day, not ten years from now, not 15 years from now, today. And we start by taking baby steps every day. All right? So that every week that gets further along, you have a bit more time or a bit more financial capacity so that you can truly enjoy and love your business. All right, everybody, that is a wrap on this episode. This one was really fun to put together because sifting through my list of books, was easy yet hard because the limit to five was a little bit of a challenge. So I would love to hear from you. Please hit me up on Instagram, Brick and Mortar Visibility, DM me. Let me know of your favourite book or grab my list of books. The link is in the bio, or you can go to www.msmelissarose.com/mymustreads and grab my list there. All right, rebel Women, go have a great day. We'll see you here, same time, same place next week. Peace. Bye-bye.

Oh, my gosh, you're still here. You are such a rebel woman. I have to meet you. Come on over to the Rebel Women Tribe on Facebook created for Brick and Mortar business owners just like you. In this group, we empower, encourage, and support each other. And every week I come in and share with you a tip, tool or strategy that I'm learning in my brick and mortar business to help you and yours. And you guys, this is the real stuff, the nitty-gritty in real-time of what's going on. So come on over to the rebel women tribe on Facebook. I can't wait to meet you.