101: Identifying Problems and Solutions in a VIP Day

You're listening to the Time to Level Up Podcast. I'm your host, business life coach, Andrea Liebross. I help women in business commit to their own growth personally and professionally. Each week, I'll bring you strategies to help you think clearly, gain confidence, make your time productive, turn every obstacle into an opportunity, and finally overcome the overwhelm so that you can make money and manage life. Let's create a plan so you have a profitable business, successful career, and best of all, live with unapologetic ambition. Are you ready to drop the drama and figure out the how in order to reach your goals? You're in the right place. It's Time to Level Up. Let's do this.

Hello, my friends, and welcome back to the podcast. This is Episode 101. Can you believe that? I can't believe it, maybe you can but I can't. When I was doing my podcast planning for the quarter, we planned that this episode was going to be about being stuck in a loop of what the problem is, you're continuously trying to figure out what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem? That you can't even get to creating a solution.

This does happen to many of my clients. They really have trouble clearly identifying what the problem is. Now, others know what the problem is, but they can't really create the solution. We work hard on figuring out solutions or trying out solutions. Remember, failing is not such a bad thing.

What I decided to share with you in this podcast is how I walk through a VIP day with my clients which is a forum in which we often identify problems and solutions, or we work on solving challenges. I've been doing tons of VIP days and I've got some ahead on my calendar planned. I find them extremely powerful and people often neglect them as an option for coaching.

I wanted to share with you what a VIP day is about because maybe this is exactly what you need. It's fitting also that it's episode 101 because 101 is like the start of the next chapter, phase, or era. A VIP day often is the start of the next chapter, phase, or an era for my clients. I help them create what is next.

Today, I'm going to share with you what you need to show up with to a consult call for VIP day. I'm going to give you some clarity on who I work with and what we do in a VIP day. I'm going to help you decide if you're ready for a VIP day and how to know if it's right for you. We're going to talk about where you need to be in business or life if you are considering a VIP day, what might be happening in your world, or how you might be feeling, and what you might be wishing, wanting, or waiting for, then we're going to go through what the process is for setting up a VIP day or investing in a VIP day as well as what a VIP day actually looks like and what you can expect from it.

I want you to think about as you're listening to this episode, like I have done in past episodes, if there are any questions that are not being answered here today about VIP days, if I am not addressing your questions, then I want you to reach out. I want you to email me. We'll put the link to my email in the show notes or I want you to direct message me on Instagram or LinkedIn, reach out with those questions. We can chat if you are not quite sure.

If you don't have any questions and you can see yourself meeting what I describe, then you are the right person for a VIP day, go ahead and book a call and let's get you on the calendar. All right, let's jump in. I'm going to give you some examples of who I work with and who I don't work with on a VIP day.

Simply put a VIP day with Andrea is really for any woman because a VIP is you, you are a VIP, and we can tackle anything pertaining to business, career, or life. I work with women own businesses, any kind of business, brick and mortar, online, service-based, product-based, it doesn't matter. I work with women on a VIP day who are employed by a business, they're not the owner but they're employed by a business. I also work with women who have lives in VIP days. We don't talk any business, we just talk life.

That should really be just about anyone since we are all living humans. I have clients who are authors or educators, who are in construction, in real estate. I work with a counselor, I work with a coach, I work with a medical professional who owns her own business. I work with a health administrator. I work with an interior designer. I work with lawyers, accountants, financial planners, and a florist, photographer, and even a woman who owns a business that deals with fluid waste.

I work with women who are in their professional side of things, doing all sorts of jobs in all sorts of businesses, any industry, and I also work with women who are divorced or single, who are moms, daughters, or friends. Now some of these women love what they're doing now and come to a VIP day wanting to make it even better. Some don't love what they're doing now, but want to stay in it and just need to change something about it or change their perspective, and that's what we work on, and then I help some women in a VIP day who just want a fresh start. They want change altogether.

This is personally or professionally. What all of these women have in common is that they want a guide or a Sherpa to help them work through the challenge or to figure out what the real problem is to find a solution and they want to feel great doing it. They are done struggling and trying to figure it out on their own. They're done wasting time around it or they perceive that they're going to waste time around it if they don't address it now.

A VIP day, just so you know, is not the place for someone who is not wanting to create some type of change or plan something in the future in their life, in their business, or their career. It is not the place for someone who has given up all hope. Going into a VIP day, the women I work with are determined and motivated, and most of all, they are curious. They are curious about what could be different in business, in life, and they're ready to make it happen. They're ready to think about it now and make it happen when they walk out the door.

What is a VIP coaching day? Here's what it might look like. A VIP day is a virtual or an in person—lots of people do virtual so don't shy away from it—that allows me to spend the entire day dedicated to you, one client, and it allows you to spend the entire day dedicated to you or your business. I am helping you get something done in a day rather than spending weeks creating it. When my focus is only on you for the day, we really can make magic happen.

Way back in the day when I was in junior league, they had a committee that was called Do In A Day. The people on that committee went out and created, worked on projects, or went into the community to help with something for a day and they were done in a day. This is like a done-in-the-day situation.

One of the things that I love about VIP days is that we can structure your VIP day how you want. There are no limits. There are no boxes you need to fill in. You can create or we can create your VIP day with full freedom in mind and create the one that works best for you. The definition is really in the name of VIP day. Think of it as you, my clients, getting the VIP day experience and getting access to my expertise, brain, and years of wisdom in one day.

This is for women who are focused really on specific outcomes. They may walk in the door with a fuzzy picture and they walk out the door with a crystal-clear picture. Here are some examples to get you thinking of what my clients have tackled in a VIP day. If they walk through the door, and we are working on their business, I have had VIP days where we create a strategic business plan for the launch of a new business.

We create a business plan for the next calendar or fiscal year. We create the next phase or iteration of their business, the 2.0 version. We create a hiring and firing plan, we work on a handbook, we create the plan to put on an event, we create a plan for creating recurring revenue streams or passive income. We prepare for product launch, we examine cash flow and determine what to spend on the next year and how we're going to spend the money.

Really, you can walk out, and I've done this numerous times, with traction, specific goals, a vision for what you want to happen in your business. That is a very fun VIP day. For those of my clients who were in the corporate world who have come to do VIP days, here are some examples of what we've done. We've created an exit plan from a current employer and brainstormed on what is next. We have mapped out how to get a promotion, what would need to happen, and the thinking required and the actions that need to take place in order for my client to get what she wanted and deserved.

We've also crafted a new role for someone, like created the job description, what would be their ideal job and how are we going to make it happen? Those are all corporate-world examples. Then on the personal side, women have had a VIP day, hired me to help them plan out their next year personally, how to make everything they want happen in the year actually happen.

Vacation, celebrations, work trips, time with the hubby, the kids, time for herself, health and wellness goals. We have determined and strategized on how to instill new health and wellness habits or mapped out what resources and connections she might need to make it happen as well as how much time things might take. Others have hired me to help them create a weekly plan for their family, an ideal week including where people need to be and when meals, laundry, how they're going to get to where they need to go and how to put all the resources to run a household in place.

I had another client hire me to help her create a life plan, a plan for her future and examine all the aspects of her life. I had a client hire me to help her set up her Full Focus Planner in system and I had another hire me to help set up You Need A Budget so that she once and for all can stop stressing about saving and spending for now and for her future.

The VIP day really helps my clients save time, money, and brain power. Remember those are your three most valuable resources. We are using a lot of brain power during that day. But you've also got not just your own brain power, you've got my brain power. You've got double the brain power which means that we're saving double the time and creating double the money.

Because we get done in one day what might take you, or the woman doing the VIP day, it might take them a month or even a year or in reality, they may never even address the challenge that they have come to me for on the VIP day. They just haven't done it and a lot of them say, “I don't know why I haven't done it yet, but I haven't. It's time for me to get serious,” and they create the space to get it done in a VIP day. They have someone there guiding them, someone reading the label to the peanut butter jar because they're stuck in their own peanut butter jar.

What does the process look like for setting up a VIP day? Let's talk about that. You're all excited and you decide somehow sometime, it is time to reach out, and you might binge on a few podcasts, then you go to the work with me page that I send you to at least once in every episode, and you can find the link to that work with me page in the show notes. You can find it in every show notes. You can also just go right to the VIP day page. Which is in andrealiebross.com/vip.

If you go to the work with me page, you're going to find all of my services on there. That VIP day is in the middle. If you click on that link, you're going to find everything we're talking about today written out. You will find some testimonials or stories of women I have done VIP days with in the past, you're going to find out details. You won't find out the investment for a VIP day right on that page because that investment varies.

But let's just say the investment, you should expect it to be around $2,900 as of this recording. Now, most importantly, you're going to see several big buttons that will tell you to book a consult call, and you're going to hit the button and you're going to find a time on your calendar to schedule a call. You're going to answer two super basic questions that will take you one minute or less to answer about why you're reaching out. There also is a spot for you to put in any questions that you might want me to answer when we're on the call so I can be prepared.

But if you've done your homework, you've read the webpage, and listened to this particular podcast, then you're probably and hopefully have most questions answered. But if not, tell me I want to make this easy. You fill out that question, you schedule a call, you hit submit, and once that happens, you're going to get a confirmation email with my Zoom link for the call and you will get a few reminder emails leading up to our call.

We have a 45-minute call on the calendar. Sometimes it will only take us 20 or 30 minutes to get through your questions in mind, but I think you should reserve 45 minutes just in case. Speaking of the call, here's what you can expect on that call. Number one, I want you to ask me anything you want to ask me. Number two, I'm going to ask you a few questions to get to know you more, if I already know you, to dig deep into what you are challenged with currently, what your business looks like, what your career looks like, what your life looks like, and what you want to look at in terms of what needs to change.

I also want to know how it all feels. I might ask you about what systems you have in place or you wish you had in place, who your clients and customers are, and at home, we're talking home, your kids and your partner can be your customers and clients so I really get an idea of who you really are and what matters to you. Then I'm going to share info on the VIP day, although you probably already will know it if you listen to this, and we're going to determine if the VIP day is a great fit or if you're a better fit for one of my other programs.

Now, most of the time when people show up for a call, they've already listened to a few podcasts, hopefully this one, and they have read the webpage and they have a few client-success stories under their belt. But this is when we make sure that our expectations are aligned. What you are looking for is what I'm going to give you and we determine if in fact this VIP day is best or if something else is best.

Now VIP days really attract clients who like a structured agenda. They like one-on-one attention, then they like getting things done. Clients who don't have time for shorter regular sessions like weekly calls or who prefer to collaborate in real time are often the best people for VIP days. People who are not great for VIP days are those who need lots and lots and lots and lots of time on their end to make decisions and who don't want things to happen quickly, or who prefer to work independently and don't want to be collaborative, not a good person for a VIP day.

But by the end of our call, we're going to know if a VIP day is a good fit and if I'm a good fit for you. Part of what I really do when I coach, no matter how I coach, is to help people make decisions. This is the first opportunity to do that. We will decide this on our initial call. If it's a go, I'm going to send you a proposal or an agreement, everybody gets the same proposal or an agreement, and in that proposal, it will lay out what's included in everything I said, then you will find the proposal, and you'll get a copy of it.

Once you sign it, it will take you to a link where you enter your credit card info. I only take credit cards and you will make a one-time payment. Now the agreement is only valid and live for 24 hours because I have lots of people trying to get places on my calendar. Let me tell you, anyone who has taken the time to book a call, read the webpage, listened to a few podcasts, had a Zoom call with me, you should know if we're a go within 24 hours.

Any more time than that, it's usually a no. Your brain is coming up with lots of reasons why not to do it. After 24 hours, if you're not a yes, then your brain is in full on no mode. That's okay. I will still love you. But with my coaching experience, I've found that my best clients, the ones that get the best results are the ones who have done their homework and can make decisions rather quickly.

Also there are a number of spots each month for VIP days. Because think about it, it's a day. I want to serve you and for you to get what you need out of it so I reserve time for you and I don't have lots and lots of huge blocks of time. Once that proposal is signed and your payment info goes through, you will get a series of onboarding emails sent from my online business manager Lynda. FYI, Lynda, as always, is your go-to for anything technical, logistical, payment problems, she's your girl for all of that.

One of the first emails you'll receive from me after scheduling a VIP day or investing in a VIP day are links to two different PDFs with questions. One PDF is more personal-based questions or life-focused, and one is more business-focused. The purpose of these two PDFs is to help get you thinking about exactly what we might want to focus on if we haven't decided already during our VIP day.

There is also another link there on the welcome email to set up a 15-minute call with me which will happen prior to your VIP day. There's also another link to actually set up the VIP day. You can set that all up immediately after you click go.

What does a VIP day actually look like? Well, we determine what the outcome you want is prior to the day. By knowing this ahead of time, we can do two things. We can set expectations so that you get the result you want and we can create a day that delivers on my promise that I will guide you to the results. We set up this outcome or what are probable results we're looking for, we figure this all out in our pre-VIP day quick 15-minute call, where we actually toss out ideas and we put them through a little funnel and sifter and come out with what we're wanting to create that day.

Now remember when you invest in that VIP day, when you click “Yes, I want to do this,” you don't have to know exactly what you want then, you're going to get some guidance from me on narrowing the scope and you're going to get guidance in the form of those two PDFs, one life-focused and one business-focused, and in our 15-minute quick pre-VIP day call which usually happens two weeks ahead of time.

All you really need to know when you invest in the VIP day is that you want something more, you want something less, or you want something to change. The pre-call allows us to set that specific agenda so that then I can create an outline for your unique VIP day. Every minute of our time together is planned out from when and where we'll meet, what we'll be having for lunch, what our start and end times are.

We don't leave much for chance and really if you think about it, this one-on-one format allows me to deliver a very high-level extremely personalized service to just one client at a time with no distractions. I want to highlight that, no distractions. It's just you and me, my friends, no distractions. We can do these VIP days, like I said, online or in person. If we do it in person, typically my clients travel to me in Carmel, Indiana and we are in a beautiful conference room with a big whiteboard, lots of markers, and a TV to project our computer on, or we can meet via Zoom.

Hey, if you want me to come to you wherever you live, we can negotiate that as well. I'm always up for traveling. But this room that we're in, if we're in person, is big and bright. If we're online, I make it big and bright too because we need energy. There is no reason why we can't do it online. Sometimes I think it's actually even better because we're both in the zone, in a typical work zone. There's something about being zoned in without distractions one-on-one.

Now I typically start my VIP days between 9:00 AM and 10:00 AM. We have a working lunch and we end the day about four hours after the start time. I have found, trust me and you can do some Googling on this, I have found that it is really hard to stay focused for more than four hours. Because even after those four hours, your brain is going to still be thinking. These days are quite intense, and sometimes, I've even ended earlier or stayed a little longer depending on what the client's focus is. My promise to you is that you will get everything you need out of this VIP day.

As I'm creating the outline for the day, I am determining what I need to share with you for the day. I break the day into three sections. I want to be prepared with questions I need to ask you with any resources that I need to share with you or to get you going. We have section one. Maybe we discuss where you currently are. Section two, we create the plan, and section three, we figure out how we're going to make it happen. That's just an example.

Why I want to share this at this point, why do people love VIP days? When I spend a day with one client, we can go really deep and do some amazing work. With coaching calls that are usually about 50 minutes to 60 minutes, we can only cover so much. With an uninterrupted day together, we are able to get so much further. This means that my clients can start applying everything I teach them after just one day, rather than uncovering details bit by bit over several months. It's like a fast track. That means faster results and a more complete solution for you, not bit by bit, and clients love quick results.

Now you might be wondering why would someone pay for a VIP day? I want you to think about this. We pay for expediency and results all the time. We love saving time and getting results faster. Clients get to move on a quicker pace from point A to point B and many women are so willing to pay for whatever it takes to get results faster. Think about it. Here are some real life examples where people spend money for better and faster results. They spend more money than they normally would for better and faster results.

Here are some examples. People pay more for the fast pass at Disney World so they don't have to waste time standing in endless lines. Travelers gladly pay for TSA Pre or Global Entry programs to avoid the long security lines at the airport, and immigration when they're returning from other countries. Brides pay for wedding planners and day of coordinators because they want the best results for their big day with no stress.

Maybe even closer to home on a daily basis, do you use a food or grocery delivery service, a house-cleaning service, a dog-walking service to save you time, money, and energy and allow you to do other things? Sure, you could probably do all of these things yourself. But by paying someone else to do it or to help you do it, you're free to do other things for your business, your family, and you and enjoy more me time. Don't sell yourself short on the value you can gain from spending time with a coach for a VIP day.

A chance to have my eyes, my experience, my wisdom, and me all to you for a set time to work on one of your goals is something many, many women love paying for and will continue to pay dearly for because I have people do multiple VIP days. Let's just talk a little bit about what really happens with any coaching I do. My goal is to help you create a business and a life you love, not another to-do list, and that aligns with who you want to be in life and what you want your business to do for you and for others.

I want you to have a business and a life that feels great moving forward and it feels freeing, exciting, and energizing and it doesn't feel dreadful, heavy, burdensome, stressful, or pulling you down. VIP days could mean going after audacious goals, growing your worth, taking your visibility to the next level, experiencing more joy, adventure, or delight, or something else that you deeply, deeply crave. It could mean you getting a grip on what you want your business to look like next year.

This is a perfect time, my friends, when you're listening to this episode, to schedule your VIP days, this is the best time. This is a great time to figure out what you want to focus on in the future, who you want in your future, how you want it to run, and what goals you want to go after today or maybe next year, and how to organize it all so that nothing falls through the cracks including you. I will work with you one-on-one, guiding you, cheering you, challenging you, asking you the right questions, pushing you, helping you dream bigger, and to set a plan for your time, energy, space, and money.

What might be some specific issues that you might be having that would help you know if you are ready for a VIP day? You are done being fuzzy about what's happening in your business, you want clarity. You want confidence to run your business in a way that aligns with who you are and who you serve. You want to be able to manage your mind so you can manage your time better and find freedom to do what you want to do.

That means you need to have a better plan and you want to eliminate roadblocks. You want to turn obstacles into opportunities and you want to find the opportunities that you might be missing. You really want to love life and business. One of the most, best uses of a VIP day is to do that future planning. I know so, so many of you really don't have a business plan or a life plan. You don't have a plan for your future you and then at the end of the year, you're disappointed that you didn't accomplish what you wanted to accomplish.

Now is the time, my friends, this is it to plan the VIP day. When we work together, you relieve your pain points, and you take you, your business, and your career further than you could have imagined and definitely further than you could have done it on your own. You are unleashed. I can't wait to really do that with you.

Now what happens when the VIP day comes to a close? Well, at the end of our day together, we determine how and if we should continue working together. Some clients are one and done and some are not. It just depends. We talk about what's best for you, remember, this is about you. Options would include becoming part of my Committed to Growth Life Coaching Program or Runway to Freedom Business Mastermind, maybe adding some one-on-one on to that.

They also include us doing quarterly VIP days, which I love doing. I have a client that's what we do all the time, two clients. That really, really helps these women create traction because they've got that 90-Day check in. But regardless of what we decide, we always have a VIP day follow up call about two weeks later, after you've had time to debrief, sift through, and think about what we've done together. I can help you on that debrief call, tweak anything that needs tweaking.

I'm going to be honest, many of my clients have been with me for many years and I just did a VIP day with a client who I have been working with since day one. She has evolved from being a mom of one to being a mom of three and she has evolved from being a corporate employee to owning her own business. It is my pleasure to continue to keep working with her. I love it.

You may be a lifer, just so you know. But if you know that this VIP day is an experience that you want for you, this is you giving yourself the support you need, this is you pouring into you, this is not a luxury, my friends, this can be a necessity to get you going. This isn't a luxury, this can be a necessity, you get to decide. Now you know what the process is like and you know what to expect. If you know that this is for you, you want to be the CEO of work and home, you want to get to that next level of growth, then I would love to do the VIP day. Let's do it.

Let's face it, if you've made it to the end of this podcast, it's probably time to talk because you're ready for a VIP day. Go to andrealiebross.com/vip and let's really get started. Now if this sounds incredible, but it's not the time, then make sure that you figure out what it is the time for. What is it the time for? And let's make it happen. See you soon.

Thanks for listening to the Time to Level Up Podcast with me, your host, Andrea Liebross. If you know someone who could benefit from listening to this episode, I encourage you to take a screenshot and share it with them. Okay. Now, what about you? You've listened to the podcast, and if you now know that you're ready to upgrade your life, upgrade your business, upgrade you, then stop being only a listener and start being a liver living that upgraded life. Head over to my website and schedule a call. Right there on that call, we'll start changing the way you think and act so that you can have the freedom to achieve the impossible in life and business, and have the resources to do it. You deserve an upgrade. Let's do it.