Welcome back to the show, my fellow extraordinary Americans. For today’s guest, we have Amy Lau.

Amy is an entrepreneur and business coach. Her extraordinary journey began with the courageous move from China to Hong Kong and eventually to the United States. Driven by her family’s pursuit of a brighter future while overcoming barriers as a first-generation immigrant Amy quickly mastered English to aid her parents and even negotiated for them, a testament to her resourcefulness. Her academic endeavors at the University of Washington and Seattle University Law School laid the foundation for a successful career spanning two decades with an impressive portfolio, including collaborations with IBM, Oracle, Microsoft, Cisco, and Salesforce. Amy’s accomplishments exceed $100 million in revenues and multiple prestigious awards.

Yet Amy’s true brilliance lies in her ability to establish profound human connections and cultivate lasting client relationships. As a result, she now coaches’ business owners to achieve hypergrowth in sales, navigating a fast-paced and fiercely competitive landscape.  Condition is guided by a values-based approach, aiming to understand her client’s visions and challenges and foster endearing partnerships. 

As a result, together with her business partner and her husband, they utilize a holistic or well-rounded approach to advise their clients on sales, finance, and operational strategies, including go-to-market scaling or exit. Amy is what I call an extraordinary American, and I’m honored to have her on the Amy, are you? 

Hi, cosmos. Yes, I’m here. I’m so happy to be here with you today. 

Amy, I’m so honored that you took the time to do this podcast with us, so I know that you’re an entrepreneur. You’re a business coach, you’ve been into sales, and you’re also an immigrant. Can you tell us a little bit more about yourself, your background, and how you got started?

Yeah, absolutely. Well, when I was a child, my father and I were born in China, in Guangzhou, China. My father was a neurosurgeon, and he was the head of the Hospital, we were very lucky that he saved the Communist official’s lives in the surgery, and that we were given train tickets to leave Communist China and get to Hong Kong, eventually getting to the US, where I grew up in Seattle since I was 8 years old. The rest of my family, including a lot of my aunts and uncles, swam from China to Hong Kong to get to a place where they felt freer and were able to pursue opportunities, eventually migrating to the US. Most of my family did. so, in terms of Just getting to Seattle, I felt that all of a sudden, the air was just really clear, and upon arriving in Seattle, there were flowers and trees everywhere. 

And I had never seen that Before in Hong Kong. Because it was crowded. There were a lot of markets in Asia, which, as you know, is very different in terms of environment than the US. I went to school, and I was wearing my leather shoes, little frilly dresses… that’s how we dress. Other than a school uniform, that I was in everybody else was dressed in overalls, jeans, and tennis shoes. 

And so, I had to adjust to not only the language but also the culture. And learn to assimilate and belong. And that was the first time that I felt that. Oh, I’m different because I was raised with other children in Asia, particularly in Hong Kong, and simply felt accepted. We were all the same when I came to America, I felt a little bit different, and I had to adjust to that and overcome some of the obstacles of being different, learning English, and then adapting to the cultures that I lived in at home with my parents being Chinese. And, coming to school and not being able to really translate that culture and just trying to fit in.

Well, Amy, there’s so much to ask over here. But first I wanted to ask, how did your family get from China to Hong Kong? And second, how did you get over this language barrier, which I know is like a huge barrier for a lot of immigrants if they want to succeed over here, you know? 

Well, I was 8 years old, and for an 8-year-old, it’s easier to adapt and learn a new language than it would be for even a 12-year-old, right? I learned English very quickly out of necessity, just to be able to communicate with anybody in America. And then my parents had a much harder time because they were much older, and my father was a well-known surgeon. He, who had been very successful in his medical career in China, was now finding himself without a job, and he couldn’t find a job that fit his skill set. 

He learned English from a dictionary because, at the time, he wasn’t allowed to learn English back in China, and because he learned English from a dictionary, he was slow at it, especially when he was taking the American Medical Association. He couldn’t pass that exam, so he became a garbage man. He sold Amway. He sold jewelry. He worked at a rehab center. He was a draftsman. He tried everything.

But my mother. She came to terms with the fact that she married a doctor and was going to be a housewife raising the kids. My brother and I, my little brother and I, but she went to work as a seamstress, and then eventually she landed a job at Virginia Mason Hospital, cleaning the hospital for 20 or so odd years before she became a lab technician because people, the nurses, and doctors, really loved her, and she developed relationships with them, and they gave her an opportunity. 

So pretty much, my mother carried us and made sure that we had food on the table and a house to live in. But as a kid, translating for my parents became a normal thing.

So, I grew up very quickly and learned English so that I could translate for my parents and take them to the doctor’s office or the dentist. Translate for them. Help them to negotiate for a car and also negotiate it to buy our first house. It was all driven by necessity. I’m very grateful for the sacrifices that my parents made so that we could have opportunities. My brother and I want to live in freedom, to live the American dream, and to bring that about. But you know, along the way there were, you know, a few glitches. Where we had to come through for our parents. 

For instance. I didn’t know how. To do homework. You know, some math problems, some history, or anything. My parents were not in a position to help me with that, so I would sit in my room and just figure it out. And with no help. Because my parents were not in a position to help me. With that, I learned to be resourceful and resilient. And I learned to be their support. It was almost like the roles were switched, and now I was responsible for them at a very young age. 

Wow, Amy, I’m like this. It’s tremendous. Like how you managed to go through all these barriers and then you eventually became very successful, I know that you’re very successful at whatever you do. You’re driven. You’re motivated. You’re entrepreneurial. Can you tell the audience a little bit more about how you evolved from that to make you get to the point where you made about $100 million in sales overall over some time, I think a lot like there are a lot of nuggets over here that the Audience can glean from, you know. 

Thank you, Cosmos, for that question. I was a very shy kid. I was not shy before, and I was always the storyteller. Back in Hong Kong, my father would tell me these stories about the monkey king, or Some are, you know, fairy tales in the night. Then I would go to bed, and the next day I would go to school, and we had something called chapel in school. Before school started, everybody had to listen to a sermon. But instead of listening to the sermon, they would listen to me tell them what? My father told the stories that he told me to recount to them instead of the sermon that we were hearing at the chapel. 

So, I always knew that I was a storyteller and able to connect and communicate with people, but I forgot all of that when I came to the US. Because I had to learn English, I wasn’t accepted. People thought I was weird and that I bought clothes from the thrift store. Or something because we couldn’t afford much, and we didn’t know. We were growing up poor, and as a result of all of that, I learned how to, you know, build something for myself. But I was introverted because I was very shy about communicating. I didn’t feel like I belonged. 

And so, most of my communication came in the form of writing. I love to read and write, and I love to critique and write essays. I could write anything and be eloquent on paper until I finished college. And somebody told me I had to find a job after college, and somebody gave me a sales job, of all things. And I thought to myself, how am I going to do a sales job? I don’t know how to talk to people or sell anything. And so, I was back in the day. You know, we were not given any scripts that I was selling for non-carbon-required NCR paper. I didn’t have anything. I had a phone book. They didn’t have any lists available for us to go by.

And so, it was like, OK, the other reps, the other sales reps in the department had gotten their accounts, and they said don’t touch these, so I did. Allowed to touch. Other accounts that nobody claimed, so it is probably the bottom of the barrel. And so, I went to my uncle, and I needed to build my confidence, so I went. To my uncle and him. He bought a box of paper receipts from me, and he was my very first customer. So, he gave me the confidence, and I figured it out. OK, if he trusts me, maybe I can sell some other things.

And so, I went and just knocked on doors. And I just asked people, and low and behold, that side of me developed, and to this day, I feel that sales skills are the most important life skill that you can have. And I’m very grateful that my boss, Sam, allowed me to do a Sales job come out of my shell, and emerge as the person that I am today. And I won some sales awards, to my surprise, and I learned that I could build trust and lasting relationships. relationships and I was pretty good at negotiations because I negotiated the house for myself. parents, and so forth. 

Oh, Amy. So, here’s the thing: Right, Lacey, sales are the lifeblood of any business, right? You have to do sales, but you see a lot of people who are afraid of doing sales. Even though they understand that you have to get the incoming money, if they were starting a business, they would do anything else except do sales. So, what would you tell somebody regarding how to overcome their fear of selling something to someone?

I have encountered a lot of that resistance to sales in both business owners that I’ve coached as well as friends and family and people that don’t understand how sales work. And so, I would say to them: Be overwhelmed by the sales. Is not me providing you with or selling you something that you don’t want or need. That’s the old school, like that idea that used car salesmen have that you walk off the lot and that deal is no longer available. Or let me talk to my manager. 

Sales are education and you, as a salesperson, have information about a product that you need to find the market if somebody absolutely needs that and you’re giving them the information they wouldn’t have otherwise received if they didn’t encounter you, and so is it your obligation as a teacher too, you know, if you have something that is life-changing… And it’s going to benefit others, and there’s value in it. It is You have the responsibility to go and tell people about it, and if they don’t like that or this is not for them, then you also need to do that as a salesperson if you’re, building a business. You need to find that number and get there very quickly so that you don’t waste time talking to people. They are not interested in your product. 

And so, it saves both people time to do a discovery call or discovery process quickly and then find out whether there is an interest. There’s time, but we have something called band in sales, which is … you’re looking at is there an opportunity? 

There are three questions that you have to answer before you approach it as a company in terms of technology sales that I’ve been used to, which is why buy anything? And then the second question is, Why buy it now and then the third question is: Why buy from you, if you answer that question in the positive for all three, then you want to approach the company.

So, you do some research and understand what the fit is. If you can provide somebody with a return on their investment, then it is a good decision for them to buy from you. But I’m only talking about the logical aspects of sales. Sales is really about somebody deciding to buy from you only when they trust you, so it’s an emotional decision. 

So, when a manager or a decision maker is looking for a product, they have to see the value that it is going to add to them. Lives to their company to help them get promoted or, you know, choose. I used to sell for IBM. And one of the models was that nobody ever got fired when they bought IBM. 

So that’s a safe decision to make, but I think at the end of the day, what you’re asking hospitals is, why would you know? Why would you be scared of selling something that people need that’s your responsibility to bring that about so that people can look at the product, maybe in a different light, and understand the value that it can add to their lives. 

And if they don’t see that value, that is OK. We can walk away. It’s no harm, no foul. Or if you don’t need it right now, maybe we want to talk to you a few months down the road, When you’re more conducive like you are, you’re open to that opportunity. But it’s just an exploration, and there are no obligations for either side. And I think that it’s important to note that a sale doesn’t happen when I force somebody to buy something, and they don’t want it. 

And that is a win-lose relationship, for a good salesperson is looking at a win-win relationship every single time. So, for me, if something doesn’t have a win-win component on both sides, it doesn’t work. It is not worth the sale.

Amy, I agree with you, and what you’re saying is practical and logical. But when I asked, people randomly liked the thoughts about sales, like I normally get these two extremes. 

One is, of course, the snake oil salesman or the used car salesman image is right, and the other one is like the Wolf of Wall Street image. Like where? Like the Highflyer? They’re selling them these things that are like junk bonds or whatever, and then you’re raking in all this cash. But then it’s not real. 

So, I think I feel like in the public perception there’s something. Like inauthentic about sales or like salespeople, I suppose, but it’s obviously like a kind of misconception. If you think about it, you’re just basically trying to give them the value that they require. But I think that’s kind of like a subconscious fear a lot of people have when they think about sales, but I don’t know what your opinion is on that.

Well, I look at it from a business owner standpoint: if you have a product, service, or solution, that is what made you build that company in the first place, right? What made you decide that this is the product, service, or solution that people need? If you don’t have passion, if you just think this is going to be something that people buy, then I would advise, don’t do that business, because I feel that that emotional component that you have is going to help, make a difference in somebody’s lives. 

I really, truly believe this product is going to be a paradigm shift for people. It’s going to bring value and benefit; if you don’t have that, then don’t, create the company. But if you have that and you have that passion behind your product, you know how to bring it about. If you understand why, you created this product—to put it out in the marketplace—then you want to, create the good systems and processes in place to support that product going to market correctly. 

And also, in terms of building a business, not just sales, you’ve got to start with the end in mind, like, what do you want to do with this business ultimately? Do you want to pass it on to your successors? Do you think that you can sell this business to another company? Do you have an acquisition? What is your exit strategy? And then you can build your business from there. 

So, in terms of sales, it is a service, and it is the lifeblood of a company. If a company does not have sales, and one of the concepts I have is that all of the different departments, whether you’re product development or operations, finance, and so forth, engineering anything, marketing all the ores need to be rowing in the same direction, which is supporting and being part of the team to support the sales function because if salespeople aren’t able to succeed, they aren’t able to sell product you don’t have. So that is how important it is to be aligned with that.

So, if you’re an engineer and you’re shy, if you’re an accountant, and so forth, that’s OK. But think about how you can individually support the sales process within the company so that those sales can happen. That will keep, that this job secure for you. 

So that is awesome Amy. And like there’s a continuation of this thing, right? I wanted to ask you a question about resourcefulness. So, you know, in the beginning, when a lot of people are starting a company, or they’re starting. A business they barely have. Any money to begin? Right. They have to be very frugal with their funds and they need to make sure that it is. Applied and put into the right places.

So, what would be your advice to somebody who wants to start a business but wants to know how to be resourceful if they’re starting from scratch or if they’re just starting with, maybe $10,000 or $20,000 as an investment kind of thing? 

I think that is a very good question, and there are so many different approaches to building an important company. Most importantly, there are some things that you can do with no money, right? You can get on the internet and do that. You can do your market research I would consider the product that you are thinking of doing a SWAT analysis on and doing a market analysis, in general, to assess if there is a demand for these products, so you can do a lot of it on your own without spending any money in terms of budget, and then you can start thinking about, you know when you have the exit strategy as I mentioned, you can start thinking about what components you can add. If you’re a solo entrepreneur, what are some components that you can add tools that can help you, so start researching. 

Right now, AI is a big component for people doing research. They can do their social media and have an assistant who is like the smartest person you have ever met on your team, and it’s a minimal fee of maybe 20 bucks a month for you to be able to get started. 

So really, the barriers to entry are different today when starting a business. You can start on a shoestring budget, or you can bootstrap the whole thing yourself. And then beyond that as your product grows, it’s important to sequence things correctly, so the initial assessment; You can build a business plan, and then you can have a marketing plan. 

Those two are very different plans that are looked at by different people, different departments, and if you’re Both. You’ve got to start thinking about You know how you can start delegating those responsibilities as you grow, so you can start with 10 or $20,000 and utilize the systems. But take the time to learn that from A-Z on your own, even if you’re going to delegate that later on. For others, you need to understand how the data flows, how the processes flow, and how it can be successful. 

So, then you can allocate the correct resources within your company, to address them and then have the tools flow like if you hired a salesperson back, to the sales. And before everything is ready, there’s no pricing structure or you haven’t thought about anything. I’ve had somebody come to me without any structure at all—no marketing. 

And I think they mistakenly thought that marketing, sales, and pricing were the same thing. Now there’s an opportunity for a salesperson to come in and say, okay, this is where I can do all the research and that I can provide to you. This is how much you need to be paying me versus this much because I have done all the research and done the jobs of three different people in marketing/sales as well as pricing and maybe even some engineering behind it, right? 

So, the sequence is don’t hire someone for whom you’re not ready to hire yet. Build the tools. And the support so that when you hire, for instance, your salesperson, you’re ready to go. You have the tools to make them feel good, motivate them, and be successful. From a sales perspective, another thing I see entrepreneurs doing is that they want to save, and they want to be on a budget. Well, you can clip coupons all day long and be able to live pretty well utilizing the coupons, but is that the best use of your time? 

So, I understand that saving and budgeting are great, but when you have sales going gangbusters and there’s selling things left and right, it is great to have a compensation program that rewards these salespeople so that everyone is learning and earning what they’re able to continue building your business and have that revenue stream come back to you to support your business at the beginning. So, it goes through a full cycle.

Thank you so much for those nuggets. It’s very interesting. You’re thinking in a very process-oriented way, and that’s definitely what you need to succeed in business. 

But also, another thing that I realized during my time interviewing a lot of entrepreneurs and also in my own life is motivation, right? We can have all of the techniques in the know-how, but ultimately, if we’re not motivated, we’re never going to get things done. But somehow, one thing I’ve noticed about immigrants is that they seem to be very driven and motivated to make it succeed. Whenever they go to the country just want to ask you, like, what was the driving motivating factor that made you push through all the barriers that you have to face? What can somebody do to be motivated in their own life to succeed in whatever they do? 

I went through some difficulties as an immigrant, but I would recommend a short immigrant diet. For people. You make something out of nothing sometimes because you’ve come to this country as I mentioned, my father was well-known in his profession, and people looked up to him. We came to this country, and we had to start from scratch and nothing.

Sometimes when you’re pushed against the wall, you create things and realize there are possibilities that you didn’t realize you had inside of you, and that just brings out your potential. It’s like make it or break it, and it is kind of sink or swim. 

So, we were lucky because my uncle was already here. We were sponsored by his wife’s family. They’re Japanese Americans. An American family sponsored us to come to the US, and my uncle set us up with at least an apartment. When we got here, everybody was in the same room at this apartment, but it was just building a base, and as an immigrant, I believe that you appreciate all of the things. Perhaps, being American, you just take it for granted because you have lived with it all your life and have had this abundance and this wealth all your life. But as immigrants, we started with nothing.

And so, everything that we get is like a milestone, and we think, wow, we made it, we got it, and we were able to buy a house? We got a Car. We made it. You don’t have to live in an apartment. I was very fortunate to have a philosophy that was instilled in me by my parents to study a lot, to learn, and to educate myself. 

And so, I was able to receive a full-ride scholarship through college that paid for my tuition, books, and some living expenses so that I could concentrate on school. But I still worked part-time at Nordstrom during the summer so that I could buy clothes at a discount. I still worked at the bank. You know, during the summers and other, you know, hours I worked at my friend’s parents’ gas station when I was 15 years old so that I could earn extra money because I felt that I needed to be independent. I needed to have money. I wasn’t sure if living in my household, we were going to be homeless from day to day sometimes. And if there’s going to be food on the table, I wanted to make sure for myself that that was going to be there, and I was there to also support my parents and alleviate their burden a little bit because they had such a hard time assimilating, you know, being in this country. 

One of the stories is that my parents were very educated, and they came from a particular class that wasn’t looked at particularly favorably in our country. And that’s driven, and what drove us to immigrate to America. There, this is the land of opportunities and people, except you. Even though we felt like we were different people see that and they have curiosity, and they want to learn from you. 

So aside from some of the negative stories out there of, you know, persecution, I also experienced some positive feedback. A lot of people who are willing. To help and to bring you up and to help you, you know, find a job, locate some things for you. I was, you know, given the tremendous opportunity through a scholarship that took me through entire years of college that my parents couldn’t have been. Able to afford. Because of that, I feel that I can now contribute because I have the resources to help me. Now I can be there and pay this forward by contributing in my way. 

No, Amy what you’re saying is true. Like I’ve I experienced it myself as an immigrant because I realized that the people here are tolerant and accepting, and then they became friends with you and everything. And there are just more opportunities over here as immigrants, we tend to appreciate what we have because, in my case, I originally came from India. Until 1991, it was more of it. It had the philosophy of socialism, right? 

And I know China, even though right now it’s going to be capitalist and it’s going to be capitalistic trends, it was communist for the most part, but like most people living in America, they don’t realize what the situation was in the eastern part of this planet. And like they say, the entrepreneurial spirit and capitalism and the entrepreneurial opportunities that are provided here are just so different, like the vibe and the way that anything is possible. If you work hard and if you work smart, and since we have appreciation and gratitude and are education-oriented, we managed to take advantage of that. So that’s something that I realized during my time here. OK. 

Yeah, absolutely. I am so grateful for the people who have lifted me and helped me along the way. And I feel that as immigrants, we appreciate being here and being able to take advantage of these opportunities because back in China, sometimes we don’t feel safe talking about anything, and that includes you. But you know, somebody can spy on you, and it would be misconstrued, and then you would get into trouble from a political standpoint. 

So, there is freedom of speech here. So not only is this the land of opportunity, but you’re also free to learn whatever it is that you want to learn. The world is your oyster here, you can be anything that you want, and you can change professions. I’ve done that several times, and you can, you know, follow it and pursue your dreams, and you’re free to do that in America. 

1. I’m not saying you can’t change professions and so forth in the East, but the idea is that it’s just a different way, and conformity is a little bit more prevalent there. Here, we celebrate the differences, and we celebrate independence. We are saying that, hey, you know what? You can forge your path, and anything is possible. So, I believe in that. 

No, I mean, it’s pretty true, and I believe that too. 

Another thing that I noticed, like, I know you talked about status, so you know, like, how in there’s like nations in the eastern part, like, at least in India, there’s still these vestiges of like the caste system or what’s your status, and this and that. 

But like when I came to America, that was not much of a case. Like I never You could talk with anybody of, at least in my experience, different races, and colors. It was just like any other day. It was just like Extraordinary to me.

when I came to UT Austin, the University of Texas at Austin. Like there’s black and white. There was an Asian. Anything like that, I never really had an issue with, oh, this person is black. But this person’s brown; is this person white? No. We talk to everybody freely, whether somebody’s a millionaire or somebody’s like Or, like I talked to people there whose fathers are really rich, and then I talk to people that are working two to three jobs because their parents are not paying for their university tuition, and then we just start, if there was a complete dissolution of all. These artificial barriers that they had, like all these other countries, are what made me love this nation so much. 

Yeah, absolutely. And I think that it is a freedom that is worth preserving, for sure, because there’s freedom of speech. Of course, there are, you know, systemic problems that people are mentioning as we grow and expand as a nation. But if you look at If you look through history and see what the developments are, we have a democratic system. We have freedom of speech, we have opportunities, and we have a supportive government that is here to help us continue to thrive, so don’t discount that. I’ve been, you know, traveling a lot. I’ve been to 38 countries, and I’ve learned a lot. And every time I go to a different country, I come back and appreciate being and living here in the US. A lot more because there’s also that convenience factor, right? Some things are convenient here in China. For instance, in China, you have to go into one line for something and then go into another line for something else. I mean, it just doesn’t have that congruence. 

I just feel that it is so much more relaxed, We also have a very hard-working culture, and we believe that each of us can be lucky in the next phase, it seems like it doesn’t matter where we are today. Tomorrow, things could change, and it could be a bright future if you’re willing to put in the work. And also, not just working hard at a job, but working on yourself and your mindset and being I’m not saying that we’re all happy all the time. None of us are. Everybody has problems. But when you come in with yourself and dial into yourself and know that you can, you know, turn anything into an opportunity, which is what I believe in, then everything becomes an opportunity. Because that’s the world that you see through the lens of opportunity. 

And the last thing you said to me was so true, like If you can, think about turning anything into a positive or an opportunity. These are some of the common things that seem to immigrant entrepreneurs who come to America and become successful: they take anything and turn it into an opportunity. They’re very education-oriented, and they’re very resourceful. With this combination of these traits, they’re very appreciative. They’re very grateful, they’re resourceful, they’re education-oriented, and they just turn everything into an opportunity, and everything can be an opportunity. And those are the entrepreneurial minds. That’s the entrepreneurial mindset it takes nothing to be successful in business other than being highly motivated, which I notice you’re very driven and motivated by whatever. You do; you seem to succeed, you know.

Thank you. Thank you. Oh, you know, I’ve failed plenty of times, and I believe in failure. I have to say it because failure defines success. I can’t tell you how many times I fall flat on my face. I’ve tried to start businesses that didn’t go anywhere, and I had to learn from that. 

You know, back to the sales thing: creating the right avatar of people, like, who is your ideal customer profile? What do they do? What do they eat in the morning? How do they run their lives? Are they going jogging? You know what kind of person they are. How are they? How do they feel throughout the day, you know? What are their challenges, what are the pains, and can you address those? 

And so, if you look at failure, I am very grateful for the times that I fell flat on my face. You know, maybe I got fired from a job or I got laid off because the company, you know, ran out of resources or funding, and so forth. You need to look at those and say, OK, how am I going to do better next time? And when I’m going to watch out for it, I’m going to enter a company that is very well funded. Look at their product lines and offerings. Is it something that I could like, you know, really believe in, and that I can see a future with? Is there financial security, you know, are they financially secure? 

And so, every failure that you encounter, is an opportunity. It doesn’t feel like it at the time, and you just want to die sometimes. But I think that Those are the times when you need to dial into yourself and say let’s do a reset, and you can rise from the ashes. I believe that everyone is here for something; each one of us is here for a purpose, and I am always amazed at what people can accomplish when they focus on their purpose. 

Now, Amy, the part of what you’re saying about failure is so true. Like I always say, failure is a steppingstone to success, to succeed, you need to have what is called data collection, and you’re not going to get data collection unless you fall. You fall at least 5 or 6 times, you know. And then you. Start gathering, or, well, what are you doing wrong? How am I going to improve next time? That’s what leads to success, but a lot of people fall flat on their faces once, and they’re like, oh, I don’t want to do this again. And then you see that this is the mindset that it takes to succeed in business or, like, in entrepreneurship. Is that how you do you handle the concept of failure? 

If you look at it from a personal standpoint, there were times I was divorced, and I’m remarried now, but I dated for many years, and I had to kiss a lot of frogs if you will. You know to understand and appreciate. My husband today and all of the things that he does to support us in our relationship, So I feel that with everything that you encounter, it doesn’t feel good at the time, or you feel like you just want to like it. You know, check out for a bit, but don’t I mean, yes, go and process your emotions, grieve. Forgive yourself, and then learn to rise again, because it’s worth it. That’s life.  

So, Amy, I wanted to ask you that. I know you. Do a lot of coaching for people in business. Right. Can you tell the audience a little bit more about that, like what that entails and all of it?

Yeah, absolutely. I have about 25 plus years of sales background in technology companies’ sales leadership as well as working in digital transformation. And I worked in consulting, and I took that experience and harnessed it and put it together so that I could. Help business owners. Because I feel that business is business. This business, whether it’s big business or small business, can benefit from the systems, tools, and proven methodologies that worked in a bigger business and how they were able to scale and grow. How did they do it from the beginning?

So that’s what it starts with. You always have to start somewhere, and small businesses can learn to grow. I work with companies that are in business. This, and they’ve been successful, and maybe they want to continue to grow and scale. We do an assessment both from a financial operations and sales perspective and understand what their market looks like, where they are currently, and where they want to be. We helped to take them there, and I think that it’s really important to kind of begin with the end in mind and have an exit strategy again of where you want to go with this company and how to achieve that in the end by understanding what the end looks like. So that you can go back to the beginning and reverse engineer that.

So, I help companies with that. I also coach CEOs and C-level executives on their mindset, which is very important when things go wrong because things are inevitably going to go wrong at some point. To have a healthy mindset, you must understand how to process that information and process it in a way that is going to turn it around and positively serve you. 

So, I always stay in relationships. Everything is about relationships, and I love to bring out people’s stories and help them harness them in a way that can help them grow their businesses. And that’s part of sales. And I believe that people have so many capabilities. Among us, and I want to. You know, foster the creative power within everybody and empower that so that we can all collaborate. We’re not in a competitive culture because we understand that competition is healthy and competition is good, but ultimately, I believe that our world works when we can collaborate, partner strategically with the right people, and bring something about that stronger than us doing it, you know, by ourselves. 

That’s awesome, Amy. So, Amy is there, like, any project that you know is upcoming right now or any project that you’re doing that you want the audience to get a glimpse into? 

I’m going to be speaking at the Gain Growth Accelerator Network event on November 3rd in Ontario, CA, and I’m going to be talking about scaling and growing your business. There is going to be an amazing lineup. So, I’m excited. They’re going to talk about sales, spirituality, marketing, and all of the other things that you need to grow your business and scale it. So, I’m excited, and I will be passing out some more information on our website. As well. 

Speaking of which, how can our audience connect with you and get to know more about you, what you’re doing, and your website as well?

Yeah, absolutely. The website is being refreshed, but it is waufactorusa.com, wow is spelled WAU. The funny story is that is a blend of my last name and my middle initial. 

And how can the audience connect with you, like on LinkedIn or social media? 

Yeah, I’m definitely on LinkedIn. I am also on social media, connect with me. Set up a discovery call with me. My website is waufactorusa.com and you can include that later on for people to connect with me. 

That’s awesome, baby. Amy, I want to let you know that it’s really, truly an honor to have you on the show and to see your ability to, like, overcome a lot of barriers and succeed. And life is, like, truly inspirational. I want to have you back at the show at a later time. 

Oh, I would. I love that universe. Thank you. I would be honored. 

I’m thanking you so much for taking the time to do this, and I want to conclude this podcast by letting my fellow extraordinary Americans know that look, there is something extraordinary within every one of us. And we must awaken it and unleash it until next time. Bye for now.