# From Expertise to Enterprise: Sam Shah on Growth, Vision, and Entrepreneurial Success

An episode of ["Mindset2Results" with Elena Apalkova](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1739157956), 18 Sep 2026, 51 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/media.podcastai.com/episodes/egsEAzMiymT.mp3?u=1789740901

Elena Apalkova chats with Sam Shah about the mindset and strategies for success. Sam highlights the importance of willingness to succeed, learning velocity, and recognizing expertise. They debunk the myth of job security, discuss turning experience into a business, and challenge the idea of salary as safety. Sam stresses doing what you love, personal values, and reciprocity. They explore the gap between knowledge and action, key client success factors, and creating a high-frequency space. Sam shares steps to start a consulting business, overcome visibility challenges, and navigate saturated markets, ending with key takeaways and embracing failure. (0:00) Introduction, guest introduction, and Sam Shah's background (2:38) Importance of willingness to succeed (3:47) Value of learning velocity (5:24) Recognizing valuable expertise (7:26) Dispelling the myth of job security (9:37) Turning experience into a profitable business (12:14) Belief in salary as safety and lack of vision (17:02) Importance of doing what you love (19:02) Sam Shah's personal values and growth (24:03) Law of reciprocity and giving value (27:01) The gap between knowledge and action (28:01) The three key factors for client success (30:09) Creating a space of high frequency (31:36) The importance of a supportive community (34:44) Steps to start a consulting business with no audience (43:13) Overcoming noise and visibility challenges (46:51) Navigating a saturated market with a unique spin (47:52) Key takeaways for aspiring entrepreneurs (49:25) Embracing failure and making decisive actions (50:26) Closing remarks and future episodes teases

## Transcript

[0:02] Hello.
[0:03] Hello.
[0:03] Welcome to mindset two results.
[0:06] What if the experience you had and expertise you've spent ten, fifteen years, or twenty
[0:16] years building?
[0:18] And what if it could become a business that gives you more income, freedom, and control
[0:24] than your corporate career?
[0:28] Today, I'm joined by Sam Shah, founder and CEO of the Fraction, who has built consulting
[0:34] businesses reaching 700,000 in eighteen months and 70,000 a month in recurring revenue.
[0:43] Today, he's going to show us how experienced professionals can do on what they already know
[0:50] into a profitable consultant consulting business.
[0:54] Hi, Sam.
[0:56] Hi.
[0:57] Thanks so much for having me.
[0:58] I appreciate it.
[0:59] Welcome to Mindset to Results.
[1:01] I also appreciate your expertise and knowledge and your willingness to share, it with our
[1:07] audience.
[1:08] Before we start, some questions, I would like you to tell us a little bit about you.
[1:15] What makes you so passionate to be today on podcast and share with the world, from your
[1:21] expertise?
[1:23] Yeah.
[1:23] So, you know, not only myself, but anyone that is in my network that has found their success
[1:33] can admit to you that they didn't do it on their own.
[1:36] It came via others that were around them that gave them the guidance, the mentorship, or
[1:42] maybe even just a little bit of information that created a pivotal moment in their life.
[1:46] And so if I can be that resource for others, that that would be an honor for me.
[1:53] As far as my background, I I started investment banking for the first years.
[2:00] I started my first consulting company after I left Goldman Sachs.
[2:04] Got it to about $2,000,000 in ARR in twenty four months.
[2:09] Launched the other my other agency, which I still run to this day, called Modern Growth
[2:14] Labs.
[2:15] Got it from zero to about $70,000 a month on about 90%, 95% profit margin depending on the
[2:23] month within seven months.
[2:25] And today, I run the fraction, and we've helped a little over 500 people to date with a mission
[2:32] to help 10,000 people launch their own fractional or advisory businesses.
[2:38] Yeah.
[2:38] Amazing results.
[2:39] And you are just such a right person to share, your expertise on podcast because you live
[2:46] this.
[2:47] You proved this, and this is exactly what people are looking for, not just for theory,
[2:52] but really for people who can share from their real experience.
[2:58] 100%.
[2:58] That is absolutely right.
[2:59] Yep.
[3:00] So, mean, it'll really come down to a few things, which I'm sure we're gonna dig into in
[3:04] a little bit, but their experience is definitely key.
[3:08] But I would say even more important than their experience is their willingness to succeed.
[3:14] Yes.
[3:14] It is so true.
[3:15] Willingness to succeed.
[3:17] And, that's why now, companies, not looking so much to skills, but mostly for attitude.
[3:25] Yes.
[3:26] For these people qualities and willingness to learn and succeed.
[3:32] Right?
[3:33] And, because, skills can be learned, but attitude or right right, right, mindset needs
[3:42] time to develop, and the person should want to do that.
[3:47] A 100%.
[3:48] One of the core tenets that we even have internally at our company with our operations
[3:53] team, with our delivery team is, learning velocity.
[3:58] So not only the ability to learn.
[4:01] We don't harp too much on the ability to learn quickly because I myself might sometimes be a
[4:05] slow learner, but just not giving up.
[4:08] Learning as much as possible as often as possible.
[4:13] If you make that a practice, what automatically begins happening is you create internal
[4:18] structures for yourself to begin learning and absorbing what's important to you, which helps
[4:23] you essentially just learn faster as well.
[4:25] So learning fast is just not only important for the organization and for yourself, but the more
[4:32] you learn, the faster you'll learn to learn kind of meta situation.
[4:37] Yeah.
[4:37] Great.
[4:38] So today, our episode will be for people who work for corporate, right, who has experience,
[4:47] and we want you to encourage them, yes, and start thinking about the worth they really have
[4:56] because some people might only think that their worth is their salary.
[5:00] Right?
[5:00] But what is if their experience is much than what they receive every month.
[5:07] Right?
[5:08] So today, we will speak about how to turn expertise into a profitable business.
[5:14] Right?
[5:14] And in your case, how to turn expertise into profitable consulting business.
[5:20] Absolutely.
[5:21] Yep.
[5:24] Sam, millions of experienced professionals have fifteen or twenty years of valuable knowledge,
[5:33] but still believe that their salary is the safest way to monetize it.
[5:39] How can someone recognize which part of their experience people would actually pay them
[5:47] thousands of dollars for?
[5:51] Okay.
[5:51] I want to first address the myth before we get into the how to.
[5:57] We were always told to go to a good school so we can get a good job that pays good money,
[6:05] that is secure, that we can that will allow us to put money away for our retirement.
[6:11] But it's always been a myth because I can tell you any b school that you go to, and you don't
[6:16] even have to go to a b school to learn this, but businesses exist to create profit.
[6:22] This is why AI has taken away jobs.
[6:24] It's not taking it away just because AI is available.
[6:27] It's taking it away because AI can carry out many of the functions, especially the redundant
[6:33] functions that human beings have been doing for a fraction of the price, which allows the
[6:38] business to increase their profit margins.
[6:41] Right?
[6:41] And if you look back to the pre AI days, which seems so far away these days, you were easily
[6:49] replaceable if there were another resource that could do what you did for significantly
[6:55] cheaper.
[6:56] That was always the case.
[6:58] So the idea that, you know, you go to a good to get a job and the the company is gonna keep you
[7:03] around and you have job security is has always been false.
[7:08] That's never been a real thing.
[7:10] The other thing is let's just take it back to the job and you putting money away into a four
[7:17] zero one k.
[7:18] Do you take all of the money that you put into your four zero one k and just put it into one
[7:22] stock?
[7:22] Do you put all of it into Tesla, or do you put all of it into Apple?
[7:26] Do you put all of it into Microsoft?
[7:28] No.
[7:29] You spread that money across.
[7:30] Why do you do that?
[7:32] You do that to diversify your risk.
[7:34] In case one company goes under, you still have the other stocks within your portfolio holding
[7:41] your your your savings up, your retirement account up.
[7:46] Why is it any different from the income streams that you have?
[7:51] Why put all your eggs in that one basket?
[7:56] You put all your eggs in that one basket with that one employer that you have, and that
[7:59] employer decides to bring in AI, says that your job has now become redundant, and now you have
[8:06] nothing.
[8:06] You don't do that with your four zero one k.
[8:08] Why do that with your job?
[8:10] Right?
[8:10] Especially today, 2026, with all of the resources that are available to you, all of the
[8:16] resources at your disposable disposal from coaches and mentors and courses and even AI for
[8:25] you, all the different kinds of business models that are available, it's, to me, crazy that you
[8:33] that people still don't are not as aggressive as I believe that they should be.
[8:38] Because the only thing that's certain today is the uncertainty of the future, more uncertainty
[8:44] of the future today than there ever was before because we don't know which way AI is going.
[8:49] All we know is that it's rapidly changing the world.
[8:52] And so we don't know how much time oh, there's already all this talk being thrown around about
[8:57] universal basic income.
[8:59] Why is that being floated around?
[9:01] It's being floated around because that's a real possibility.
[9:05] And if you're the type of person that's gonna be okay with that universal basic income and
[9:10] you're okay believing that the government can take care of you because they're doing such a
[9:14] great job today, then that's fine.
[9:16] But if you're one of those that doesn't believe that the government's gonna be able to take
[9:20] care of you, but you're also not taking action, there's a huge gap there.
[9:24] You have to either believe that the government will or either start taking action.
[9:28] One of the two things have have to move.
[9:30] You can't both can't be true.
[9:32] Right?
[9:33] And so I just wanna dispel that myth for just a moment.
[9:37] Now when it comes to how do you take your existing experience and turn it into a
[9:42] profitable profitable business?
[9:45] There's several ways that you can do that.
[9:47] You can take the exact kind of work that you've been doing and start offering it up from a
[9:51] consulting perspective.
[9:52] That's the very obvious way, and we can unpack that in a moment.
[9:56] But there are many other ways.
[9:58] Right?
[9:58] So if you were a program manager or project manager in your full time role, you can use
[10:04] your skills as a program manager and project manager to start a completely different kind of
[10:09] a business.
[10:10] For example, you can broker content services for a personal brand, and you can just
[10:19] arbitrage.
[10:20] You can go find content editors, for example, that are offshore to produce content for your
[10:28] client who is a personal brand, and you would just project manage it.
[10:32] That maybe you were a project manager in the investment banking space, but now this is what
[10:36] you're doing.
[10:36] You're taking that skill, and you're reapplying it into the into the modern world.
[10:41] That's another way of doing it.
[10:43] The third way, which is funny because it was something that I was just thinking about this
[10:47] morning for our own clients, is if you were in the operation space, just as an example, in
[10:57] SaaS, in your corporate career, that doesn't mean you have to go out and be a fractional COO
[11:03] for SaaS, and that's the only kind of business you can start.
[11:06] You could become what I like to call a force amplifier, so an adviser or a coach to other
[11:12] COOs that already exist in the SaaS space.
[11:16] So you can show them how to do their job a little bit better.
[11:19] Right?
[11:20] So there are many ways to actually cut it, but what's important what's important here is what
[11:26] is the result that you're driving into the market?
[11:30] Because people don't pay for a COO.
[11:33] People don't pay for a CTO.
[11:35] People don't pay for a salesperson.
[11:37] What people pay for is what that COO is going to do for their business, increase profit
[11:43] margin by 20%.
[11:45] They don't pay for a salesperson.
[11:46] They pay for what that person can do for their business, increase pipeline by four x and
[11:54] improve sales, close one deals, conversions by 40%.
[12:00] Right?
[12:00] That's what people pay for.
[12:02] So it's really important to think about the outcomes that you can deliver, not not not what
[12:08] your title is.
[12:09] Nobody buys a title.
[12:10] They buy outcomes.
[12:14] Yes.
[12:14] Yes.
[12:15] It is so true that people can bring their expertise and look what are they good at.
[12:22] Yes.
[12:22] Like, what are they good at?
[12:24] And just focus on that and believe that they can do better than just, depending on salary.
[12:31] As you said that it is never safe.
[12:34] People think that having job, and it is safety because they think that somebody has to pay
[12:39] them.
[12:40] Right?
[12:40] And this is a very like, I I think this is how we got conditioned.
[12:45] Right?
[12:45] Like, study good, become good student, then find a good job, and then just all your life
[12:51] depend on somebody to pay you.
[12:53] And this is the biggest, reason, yes, where pit people put themselves.
[12:58] Like, the best years of their life, they put themselves on depending on somebody else.
[13:03] Yes.
[13:04] Like, people decide when they can have holidays, and, they have no choice whom to see
[13:11] every day in the office.
[13:13] Yes.
[13:13] Like, the same faces and the same route to the office every day.
[13:18] Just when we look at this, like, people can do that for years, like, ten years, fifty years,
[13:25] and, they don't even think that there is something else.
[13:29] Why you think people don't have that big vision about their life?
[13:35] Like, because they can do so much in their life.
[13:37] Right?
[13:37] And life, it's so short.
[13:40] It's like, how people can think that they have to work just to pay the bills and just somebody
[13:48] has to to pay them.
[13:50] And what they really love to do, they will do only when they retire.
[13:55] Yeah.
[13:56] I think it's several it's a great question.
[13:57] I think it's several things.
[13:58] Right?
[13:59] First and foremost, it's as you mentioned, we're conditioned to believe that.
[14:03] Right?
[14:03] So it's grandfathered in.
[14:05] Our mothers taught us that.
[14:06] Their mothers taught them that.
[14:08] Their mothers taught them that.
[14:10] But if you even look at schools, for example, starting from elementary school and high
[14:16] school, there are no money management classes.
[14:19] It's social studies.
[14:21] It's geometry, which is fine.
[14:23] It's great.
[14:23] Like, we should all have a bit of knowledge outside of what it is we wanna do.
[14:27] There's nothing wrong with that.
[14:29] But the core things that would truly make us self sustainable, independent, successful are
[14:38] the same things that they don't teach us.
[14:41] On the flip side, if they did teach us, there would be a huge rebellion against being an
[14:46] employer, and so I don't know what that would do for the economy.
[14:49] You can go all the way up to university.
[14:52] One of the reasons why I started the fraction was this big realization that I had after I
[14:58] finished b school.
[14:58] So I got my MBA from Boston University.
[15:02] And in my conversations with my other friends who also have MBAs, everyone agreed.
[15:08] So I have friends that have MBAs from Ivy League schools to state schools.
[15:13] It doesn't matter.
[15:14] Private schools all over the place.
[15:16] One thing was common across.
[15:18] Not one of them taught them how to be a true entrepreneur.
[15:23] Right?
[15:23] So every single school will teach you how to do the work that you could do and be look as
[15:30] attractive as possible for a company like McKinsey.
[15:33] So you can go out and become a consultant, a strategy consultant for McKinsey, right, or
[15:37] Deloitte or PwC.
[15:39] And so there's this pipeline that PwC, McKinsey, and them have to these universities.
[15:43] That's why they come out every year, and then they just recruit.
[15:46] Half of these students get their offers significantly before they even graduate.
[15:51] I mean, even in undergrad.
[15:53] Right?
[15:54] So I think I'm not saying it's a conspiracy.
[15:58] I'm not saying this is by design, but it's evolved into this system where you're led to
[16:03] believe that you you should not take the risk from family and friends, but school also does
[16:09] not support the education to be independent.
[16:12] But then universities then are then designed to train you up to put you right into the the
[16:19] working class, make you a working class person.
[16:22] Go and work for McKinsey.
[16:24] Right?
[16:24] And then you go to McKinsey, and you believe that it's the best brand on the planet.
[16:28] And so you never wanna leave, and so you spend the next thirty five, forty years of your life
[16:33] over there, right, putting money away into your four zero one k.
[16:36] And you never actually you might do well for yourself, and you might make some other
[16:40] investments along the way.
[16:41] And, you know, you'll have a family, and people will be taken care of, but you will never have
[16:46] realized your potential.
[16:47] So this this is a lot deeper than just the additional income, but it's about the potential
[16:54] that you have and the impact that you can make in the world just as the individual human being
[16:59] that you are.
[17:00] Yes.
[17:01] I liked how you said that people don't realize their potential, and it is really so.
[17:06] Like, the potential is so huge.
[17:08] Right?
[17:08] And people look at themselves just from the prism of those programs which were impressed
[17:16] into their subconscious mind when they were small.
[17:18] Right?
[17:19] Like, they see themselves, like their identity, only through the prism of what other people
[17:25] told them.
[17:25] They were infants.
[17:26] Because when they were infants, like, till, like, two, three years old, children even
[17:31] cannot, justify.
[17:35] Right?
[17:35] Like, what and they cannot question what is right, what is wrong.
[17:38] So whatever they are told about themselves, and if it is repeated as usually it is by parents.
[17:45] Right?
[17:45] So they just accept as it is true.
[17:48] And then they just grow older and become adults, and they still have that very little
[17:54] picture of themselves.
[17:55] It's because they never question all although they they already can question as they already
[18:01] adults.
[18:02] Right?
[18:03] But they just don't question because they already accepted that picture of themselves,
[18:08] And then they accepted that they can do only certain things, and they accepted also the idea
[18:14] of what is safety.
[18:16] And they never questioned this.
[18:18] Like, they have that ability, but they don't use that.
[18:20] And they don't use so many other abilities, right, about human potential and thinking,
[18:26] like, how much opportunities they have.
[18:29] Right?
[18:30] And, everything, can be turned into opportunity.
[18:35] And, let's speak a little bit about how important was for you in your life to do what
[18:42] you really love to do, not just what you think is profitable.
[18:48] But Right.
[18:49] Really what you love to do.
[18:51] And you you choose something that really will align, like your identity and your values, your
[18:58] beliefs will align with what you did.
[19:02] Yeah.
[19:03] So first and foremost, I didn't grow up with much, but there was were one or two people
[19:10] around me that found success pretty early on.
[19:14] And so the first thing that I realized was having people around you that can inspire you
[19:23] enough.
[19:23] You don't need to get advice from them or guidance from them.
[19:26] But if you can just see people, you have people in close proximity that are succeeding, it
[19:32] automatically be it's an infectious thing.
[19:34] You automatically want to succeed as well.
[19:37] But the second thing is also asking for advice.
[19:39] Right?
[19:40] So I I love asking for advice.
[19:41] I love coaching.
[19:42] I love mentorship.
[19:43] In 2024, I spent about a $103,000 on coaches and mentors alone just learning from people.
[19:53] But it was two things.
[19:54] It was learning from people, but I also started putting myself sort of in the right circles.
[19:59] Right?
[19:59] So learning is very, very important to me.
[20:02] You heard me talk about learning velocity.
[20:04] So it's like a core value of mine.
[20:07] Number two, delivering for our clients is extremely, extremely important to me.
[20:13] That comes from this, I guess, innate thing that I have where I love to give gifts to
[20:19] people because I love to see them receive it.
[20:22] I love to see the smile on their face as they're opening the wrapper, trying to wonder
[20:25] what's in it and then opening it up and being just extremely happy.
[20:31] Is my favorite time of year because of the family time and because of all of the gifts
[20:36] that I can give to people.
[20:38] I get very awkward when I receive gifts.
[20:40] Very awkward.
[20:41] I don't like receiving them.
[20:42] But I love giving gifts.
[20:44] And so I think that's translated into client delivery as well.
[20:47] I always go above and beyond.
[20:50] And I'm not just saying that.
[20:52] We truly, in our company, myself, my general manager, my head of client success, we always
[20:57] go above and beyond for each one of our clients.
[20:59] We sign up ourselves to do things with for our clients that are not even in the contract
[21:04] because we want to see them succeed so much.
[21:08] And, also, just just giving to the world in general.
[21:11] Right?
[21:11] We try to learn as much as we can.
[21:14] We try to share the information that we've learned.
[21:17] We step in, and we execute beyond our contractual obligations.
[21:23] We just wanna see people succeed because there were a few people in my life that helped me
[21:28] succeed, and I know how it changed my life for me and how it changed the lives of the people
[21:35] around me.
[21:36] And so when you help someone become successful or find that next level of success, you're not
[21:43] just helping them.
[21:44] You're helping probably their spouse.
[21:45] You're probably helping their children.
[21:47] You're probably also helping the other relatives and friends that are around them, and
[21:52] then that will then infect the others in their circle.
[21:55] And then you there's almost this multiplier effect that tends to happen.
[21:59] And so we're infinitely small in this universe, but I wanna make as much of a dent in the
[22:09] universe as possible, positive dent as possible.
[22:11] And so I think this is one of the ways of doing that.
[22:14] Yeah.
[22:15] Great.
[22:15] You had such a great, yes, amazing mentors.
[22:19] Yes.
[22:19] Because you just shared so, like, important universal principles, yes, of constant growth,
[22:27] as you said, proximity, is because nothing stays the same.
[22:31] We all grow or we disintegrate.
[22:33] Right?
[22:33] Nothing stays the same.
[22:35] So putting ourselves in the bigger room, this is where it gives us space to grow.
[22:41] Right?
[22:41] And growth always is, uncomfortable.
[22:45] So that is why it is very difficult to grow yourself because first, you don't understand
[22:49] even what you want to do.
[22:51] Right?
[22:52] Because you have to be in the different atmosphere, different environment, different
[22:56] frequency, which will stretch you.
[22:59] Yes.
[22:59] And this is why proximity is very important.
[23:02] And, also, another thing, which is also another golden nugget which you shared is to give.
[23:09] Right?
[23:09] Because so many people focus now on getting.
[23:12] Like Mhmm.
[23:13] Making money, getting the clients, like, getting sales.
[23:16] Like, mostly people want to to take, right, like, to take, and they miss this knowledge
[23:26] about the law, yes, law of compensation that you have to create the space.
[23:31] You have to empty space, like, to give and create it like vacuum, and then universe will
[23:38] will give you.
[23:39] And and it doesn't be necessary to be from the same people to whom you give.
[23:44] But I really like your attitude that you created space.
[23:48] Doesn't matter with whom, but you enjoy creating this happiness with people.
[23:54] Right?
[23:54] And this is how you create that space.
[23:57] And whatever energy you send, this is exact energy which come back to you.
[24:03] 100100%.
[24:04] I mean, there's actually I just wanna quickly quote Robert Robert Cialdini in influence wrote
[24:10] about the the power of perf in the power of persuasion.
[24:14] He wrote about the law of reciprocity too, and the example that he gave was were these
[24:18] Buddhist monks that would hand everyone a flower.
[24:22] And they wouldn't really ask for anything in return, but I I think he wrote in the book that
[24:26] he would also give them a card, and it the card had just, like, a prayer or something on it,
[24:30] and it would say, you know, donate a dollar or whatever you can.
[24:33] And when he and when people would say they didn't have any money and they would try to
[24:37] give that and the flower back, the monk would say, no.
[24:40] No.
[24:41] I don't want the flower back.
[24:42] That's for you.
[24:43] And so people would feel compelled to say, oh my god.
[24:45] Fine.
[24:46] Here.
[24:46] Take the dollar.
[24:47] Right here, take the $5.
[24:48] And people would just throw the flower in the garbage up up up wherever they were walking,
[24:53] and the monks would go back and take the flowers back out of the garbage and give it to
[24:57] the next person.
[24:58] The law of reciprocity, it just works.
[25:00] Right?
[25:01] Even Alex constantly talks about giveaway value, giveaway value, giveaway value, then
[25:08] sell the execution.
[25:09] But there's this misconception in the market that if I give away value, that's my secret.
[25:14] Someone's gonna go and execute.
[25:16] No.
[25:16] The problem's never been ideas.
[25:18] We have there's 6,000,000,000 ideas that run through our heads every single day as
[25:22] individuals.
[25:23] But we why are we still in all the position that we're in?
[25:26] Because the the problem's always been the execution.
[25:29] The problem's always been a lack of confirmation bias for some people.
[25:32] Right?
[25:33] And so don't worry about giving away the ideas.
[25:35] Just give them away.
[25:36] Give them away.
[25:36] You'll see more and more business will come your way that way.
[25:39] Exactly.
[25:40] Exactly.
[25:41] Give your best.
[25:41] Right?
[25:42] Give your best because it is not about knowledge.
[25:45] Knowledge is everywhere.
[25:46] Yes.
[25:46] But Yes.
[25:47] Like, success is not just one thing.
[25:51] Success is like a recipe.
[25:53] There are so many details, like, so many components that you you have to know in which,
[26:00] like, which order to put, what is quantity of each recipe.
[26:04] Right?
[26:04] If, for example, you want to make a cake, as you cannot just put all together and do the
[26:10] same cake.
[26:10] You you should know exactly.
[26:12] And this is how you can never replace knowledge.
[26:17] Right?
[26:18] Like, you can never replace a good mentor with just knowledge.
[26:21] Because knowledge, you can go YouTube and find everything, but in order and all these sizes of
[26:28] each component.
[26:29] This is what makes Mentor unreplaceable.
[26:32] Right?
[26:32] And when you know your value, when you know that you have felt that knowledge and
[26:38] experience and you already, got those results in your life, you shouldn't be afraid to give
[26:46] knowledge.
[26:46] Right?
[26:47] Because if you're confident, you will attract right people.
[26:51] Yes.
[26:51] And more value you give, more people will value you, and they will, contact you to help them
[26:58] because they cannot do that this themselves.
[27:01] Because we are not doing what we know.
[27:03] There is such a big gap between what we know and what we do.
[27:07] Right?
[27:07] And if people could do everything what they already know by today, they would be so much
[27:14] ahead from where they are now.
[27:16] But because of this big gap that we know so much and in our like, when we, like, we grow
[27:22] older we grow older and this gap becomes even bigger because we know more, but we do less.
[27:29] And this is why many people get so frustrated, and they want to close this gap.
[27:34] And when you come and show up with the best and they see your confidence and they see the
[27:39] value, you don't need to worry about money anymore.
[27:43] Right?
[27:43] Because you just provide the value.
[27:45] And according to the law of compensation, you will be compensated for everything good what
[27:51] you do.
[27:52] I love that.
[27:53] Yeah.
[27:54] You're a 100% right.
[27:55] At the end of the day, it's not so I I'll piggyback.
[27:59] I'll, like, just kind of extend that for a moment.
[28:01] Well and I'll give you an example from within the program.
[28:04] We literally just recently ran the data across all of our successful clients and the ones that
[28:08] have had a hard time getting over certain hurdles, and we found that there were really
[28:13] three things that existed.
[28:15] Number one was self determination.
[28:17] Right?
[28:17] This one belief that no matter what happens, I'm going to succeed.
[28:21] I don't care.
[28:22] I'm gonna figure it out.
[28:23] I'm gonna get out there.
[28:23] I'm gonna get mud on my face.
[28:25] I'm gonna fall flat on my face, but I'm gonna figure it out for myself.
[28:28] That's the first kind of thing.
[28:31] The second thing was accountability.
[28:34] Right?
[28:34] And so constantly being not only self accountable, but allowing us to hold you
[28:41] accountable as well.
[28:43] So it almost becomes you not going into the market on your own, but we're we're going into
[28:49] the market with you.
[28:50] Not only is it the knowledge, it's just as you mentioned.
[28:52] You can go to YouTube and find all of that information, a lot of that information.
[28:57] But not only do we have that knowledge, but we're also holding you accountable.
[29:02] And so that goes a long way.
[29:03] And the third thing is we talked about proximity.
[29:06] Right?
[29:06] So it's not only the proximity to myself and my general manager and the head of CS client
[29:11] success, but it's also the network that we have as well.
[29:16] We've seen that infectious sort of thing taking over within our network where as soon as in
[29:22] each cohort, as soon as the first person lands a build retainer, all of a sudden, everyone
[29:27] else was starting to feel down.
[29:29] You you start to see build retainers popping up with the rest of them as well.
[29:32] Oh, if she can do it, I can do it.
[29:34] Oh, if they can do it, I can do it.
[29:36] And then what ends up happening is they begin sharing leads with each other as well.
[29:40] What I'm actively seeing in the program are these folks building a partnership and a
[29:46] friendship on their own outside of me, right, which is which is great.
[29:50] So having the support is number one.
[29:54] And then second thing is believing in yourself enough that you want to be successful.
[30:00] That's really and then you just give away the value as we were talking about.
[30:03] Yes.
[30:03] Exactly.
[30:04] Because you create a space.
[30:05] Right?
[30:05] The space which is certain frequency.
[30:09] Right?
[30:09] Because our brain is like receiving and sending signal station.
[30:15] And based where we operate at which frequency, this is what we start receiving.
[30:21] And people who come at your container, they get to that frequency, right, because they are not
[30:26] alone anymore.
[30:27] They already resonate with other people, and this is how everyone start, getting new ideas
[30:32] and believes in themselves, and new ideas bring new actions, and action reaction create
[30:39] results.
[30:41] I love that.
[30:42] Yeah.
[30:42] No.
[30:42] You're it's it's infectious.
[30:44] It's a chain reaction, staying near people who are successful successful to learn from their
[30:49] mistakes, to see what's working for for them.
[30:52] You can always go out and do it on your own.
[30:54] There is enough information.
[30:56] But what you will gain in not making an investment to be around the right people is
[31:04] what you're gonna lose in speed.
[31:06] So, yeah, you can figure it out.
[31:08] But the amount of mistakes you'll make and the trial and error that you'll go through will
[31:12] take you twelve, eighteen, twenty four months before you truly find success.
[31:17] So you just have to see what's important for you.
[31:19] If you can wait that long, sure.
[31:20] Go down that road.
[31:21] But I still think even in that scenario, you're going to be reaching out to a few people to ask
[31:26] for advice and get coaching and mentorship, And you run the risk of asking someone that really
[31:31] doesn't know what they're talking about.
[31:33] Right?
[31:33] So just putting that out there.
[31:36] Yes.
[31:36] Yes.
[31:37] Because there is some people that believe that they can grow.
[31:41] But if you ask people randomly, like, how how much you can grow, like, what is normal for
[31:50] people to say just 10%, 20%?
[31:53] Right?
[31:53] Because this is in their mind.
[31:54] It is normal, and it it is okay for them.
[31:57] But when we speak about quantum leaps, like, right, like, when you grow, like, x, right,
[32:02] like, five x, 10 x, 20 x, right, you cannot grow, gradually and make quantum leap.
[32:09] Right?
[32:10] Quantum leaps happen as a quantum leap.
[32:12] Like, you just grow much bigger and and higher.
[32:16] So you can never replace this.
[32:19] Right?
[32:19] As you said that people can go themselves, and they it will take them twenty years to go,
[32:24] like, 20% or 10%.
[32:26] But in that twenty years, they already will get old.
[32:29] So how how much they will have really to enjoy life, and nothing will change much.
[32:35] But if you really believe in yourself and you know that this life is for you and you have so
[32:41] huge potential and you have all ability to create the best life ever.
[32:47] And what only you need is to change your programs because we all operate on paradigms,
[32:54] like mental programs, which tell us what we can do, what we cannot do.
[32:58] It is all based on our identity and our beliefs.
[33:02] Because there is not big difference between person who makes, let's say, 100 can a year a
[33:07] year and 10,000,000 a year.
[33:10] It is not that that person who makes 10,000,000 on 100,000,000 is genius or he is, like,
[33:15] better.
[33:16] No.
[33:16] Because he's just have different identity.
[33:19] He operates on different programs, and he believes that it is natural.
[33:23] And we all attract what is natural.
[33:25] So when you stop accepting what is natural for you and start seeing yourself as those big 10 x
[33:32] is natural for you, this is how your results will start change.
[33:35] And you cannot do it alone.
[33:37] You need to be in the right room, in the bigger room, having right mentor, having right
[33:42] structure processes, and implement this.
[33:46] Because, again, it is not just knowledge.
[33:48] It is implementation, and it is, like, building, growing, and it is not comfortable.
[33:53] That's why, again, you need community who will support you, who will encourage you, inspire
[33:58] you, and who will believe in you that you can do that.
[34:02] Right?
[34:02] Because you you might not have believe in yourself.
[34:05] Like, if you used to do certain results, you just see yourself there.
[34:10] Right?
[34:10] You need to borrow someone else believe who see you, like, 10 k 10 x more than you are, 20 x.
[34:17] And then you start thinking about yourself from his or her, place.
[34:23] Right?
[34:23] And that person should be be, like, ahead of you.
[34:26] Right?
[34:26] That person should be there.
[34:28] And that is why when they are there, like, frequency is higher.
[34:31] That is why they see bigger picture than you can see.
[34:36] I mean, you nailed it.
[34:37] I there's nothing I can even add there.
[34:38] That's it.
[34:39] That was exactly it.
[34:40] 100% right.
[34:42] Yes.
[34:44] So, Sam, let's imagine someone listening to us now, and he wants to start a consulting
[34:50] business but has no audience, no personal brand, and no idea where their first client
[34:56] will come from.
[34:58] If they had to get their first high paying client in the next thirty days, what would you
[35:04] tell them to do?
[35:07] First and foremost, we have to define your offer.
[35:11] Everything comes down to your offer.
[35:13] So the formula we like to use is you help who achieve what outcome one, what outcome two, in
[35:23] what time frame, using what system without what headache.
[35:26] So I'll give you an example.
[35:27] We're we're a good I'll use the fractions.
[35:30] I help corporate professionals with ten plus years of experience achieve transition into
[35:36] fractional consulting business, earning 30 to $50,000 a month in revenue within ninety days
[35:42] using the fractional one of one model without spending a penny on advertising.
[35:46] Right?
[35:47] Now you don't have to always say the entire sentence over and over again, but that is my
[35:51] offer.
[35:51] That is ex you you see what my promise is there.
[35:55] Right?
[35:55] You you understand that if you're a corporate professional and you do want to become a
[36:01] fractional or independent consultant, then I'm talking to you.
[36:04] Now you're paying attention a little bit more.
[36:06] Oh, 30 to $50,000 a month.
[36:08] Interesting.
[36:09] I, right now, make 15 to $25,000 a month.
[36:12] This is exactly where I'd like to be.
[36:15] Within ninety days.
[36:16] Exactly.
[36:17] This this is great.
[36:18] This is what I wanna do.
[36:19] Oh, fractional one of one model?
[36:21] Oh, sounds like you have a system that I can follow without spending a penny on advertising.
[36:26] Okay.
[36:27] So you're telling me I can get to this place that I wanna get to without spending or or
[36:32] without doing any kind of complicated advertising.
[36:34] Amazing.
[36:35] This sounds like a promise I would like to learn a little bit more about.
[36:38] Let's chat.
[36:40] Now when you get 10 people who self qualify based on that particular offer in front of me,
[36:46] I know I can get at least four to six of them to join my program.
[36:50] Right?
[36:51] You have to do the same kind of thing.
[36:53] You need to understand who it is you're helping, what you're helping them achieve, in
[36:57] what time frame without what headache.
[36:59] And then as a fractional, if you're a fractional or if you're an independent
[37:03] executive in the consulting space, there's a 95, 97% chance that your buyer lives on
[37:09] LinkedIn.
[37:10] So what I'm doing is I'm starting to build out an ecosystem.
[37:13] The very first thing I'll do is identify exactly what the pain points are that my buyer
[37:20] has.
[37:20] Okay?
[37:21] And I'm creating content based on those pain points.
[37:24] So for us, for example, someone might say, I don't know how to get started.
[37:30] Just like the question that you ask, this could be one whole piece of content.
[37:33] I can just develop my system, put it on paper, put a camera on it, and just discuss that
[37:39] discuss the system itself.
[37:41] Another question might be, oh, it's gonna cost me too much to do this, where I can create a
[37:45] whole piece of content around how you can do this without doing any kind of advertising,
[37:51] doing it very ineffective cost effectively, I should say, using LinkedIn, reaching out to
[37:57] people on LinkedIn.
[38:00] So I'm creating this kind of content.
[38:02] I'm leading people also to longer form content.
[38:04] So maybe I'll create one long form piece of content on YouTube where I go from a to z on
[38:11] the entire system.
[38:13] We talked a little bit about just giving away the value.
[38:16] This is what I'm doing here on this long form video.
[38:19] I'm giving you exactly what the system is so you can go out and carry this out on your own
[38:24] if you really wanted to.
[38:25] That's how that's how deep I'm gonna get into it.
[38:28] What that does is that's going to demonstrate expertise.
[38:33] If someone consumed your short form content and then they go and feel compelled enough to
[38:40] consume your long form content, we already know they're the right buyer for you.
[38:44] But what you're now doing is getting them warmed up.
[38:46] They're getting more familiar with you, your face, your voice, your speaking style, your
[38:51] philosophies, and so they become now more compelled to want to have a conversation with
[38:57] you.
[38:57] Now they get on a call with you, and they're gonna be warmed up.
[39:00] They're gonna know exactly who it is you help, how you help them.
[39:04] They may have one or two maybe very small questions.
[39:06] And at that point, it's a pretty easy decision on if they want to work with you moving forward
[39:11] or not.
[39:12] You just take that system, and you just repeat it over and over again.
[39:17] Now you let volume play the game.
[39:19] I know a lot of the big names will tell you that if you're not getting to your goal fast
[39:24] enough, you just do more of it, and I do tend to agree with that.
[39:28] Volume is the answer.
[39:31] It's like the brute force answer to to all things sales and marketing.
[39:34] Right?
[39:35] Just do more of that thing.
[39:36] Just make sure you're getting a positive response.
[39:38] And and if you do more of that thing, you'll get more positive responses, and more of those
[39:43] positive responses will eventually turn into a deal.
[39:46] That's the sort of brute force way of doing it.
[39:48] Obviously, there are more sophisticated ways of going about it, but this is not enough time
[39:54] here.
[39:55] But, for example, looking at each one of your conversion rates, maybe your short form content
[40:01] is converting, but by the time someone goes to your long form content, they're dropping off in
[40:05] the first two minutes of your thirty minute video.
[40:07] Well, there's something that's happening there.
[40:09] Let's fix that.
[40:10] Right?
[40:11] Maybe you're getting everyone to jump on a call with you, but you're not making any sales,
[40:16] which means you're getting all the right people to listen to you, and they're getting all the
[40:19] way out to the call with you.
[40:21] But there's something you're saying on the call or there's something you're not communicating
[40:24] on the call that's causing people to lose belief.
[40:27] Right?
[40:28] So let's fix that.
[40:29] Right?
[40:30] So the those are, like, the more nuanced ways of doing this.
[40:32] But if you really were really unclear, I you would just do more of whatever it is you're
[40:37] doing, and, eventually, someone will turn into a client.
[40:39] It's just a numbers game.
[40:44] So just to kinda recap, it would really come down to your offer.
[40:47] So what is your promise?
[40:49] Like, what is it that you're going to achieve?
[40:51] I always like to use this example.
[40:53] A lot of people will come and say, I have an another agency called Modern Growth Labs where
[40:56] I work as a chief revenue officer fractional chief revenue officer.
[41:00] A lot of people will often say to me, Sam, I wanna hire you because I want you to add a
[41:04] million dollars to top line revenue.
[41:06] Now do you think they care if I said to them, I'm gonna come in and do all the marketing and
[41:11] sales for you?
[41:12] Or if I said, I have an AI I'm gonna install in your company, and it's gonna add a million
[41:16] dollars to your top line revenue in twelve months?
[41:18] Or even if I said to them, I'm gonna hire I'm gonna bring my monkey.
[41:22] His name is Bubbles, and he has a typewriter, and he's gonna sit on your dining table every
[41:26] single day for twelve hours, and you'll get your million dollars in the next twelve months.
[41:30] You think they would care?
[41:31] No.
[41:32] Because what they care about is the million dollars in top line revenue.
[41:35] That's my promise.
[41:36] I'm gonna help you generate a million in top line revenue in twelve months.
[41:40] So you have to figure out what your promise is going to be and then what your risk reversal
[41:47] is.
[41:47] So what happens?
[41:49] You you made a grand claim.
[41:51] That's wonderful.
[41:52] But what happens if that doesn't happen, if that doesn't come true, if I don't make the
[41:56] million in twelve months?
[41:57] Well, I can give you a portion of your fees back.
[42:00] I can give you all of your money back, or I can stay on with you, and you don't have to pay me
[42:05] anything additional for until I do achieve that goal for you.
[42:09] That could be another sort of risk reversal.
[42:11] That helps put people at ease, right, to want to work with you.
[42:15] Those risk reversals are you and by the way, should mention, maybe you just have no no
[42:19] guarantee.
[42:20] You have no risk reversal.
[42:21] That's fine too.
[42:22] But if you're trying to accelerate and trying to land a deal as fast as possible, you should
[42:26] have one.
[42:27] And then finally, you wanna create some scarcity and urgency and things like that.
[42:31] Right?
[42:31] Like, I can only take on five clients.
[42:33] I already have four.
[42:36] So if this is something of interest to you, we should talk about next steps as soon as
[42:40] possible.
[42:40] Right?
[42:41] Things like that.
[42:42] Those are the sort of elements that you need, and then the system is just content to
[42:47] conversation, conversation to contract.
[42:51] Right?
[42:51] Content to conversation, conversation to contract.
[42:56] Yeah.
[42:56] Yeah.
[42:57] Thank you, Sam, for sharing.
[42:58] It is really valuable information.
[43:01] And some people might ask, like, you you said that there is no ads, like, no budget for ads
[43:09] which you help people to get their first clients.
[43:13] And they might ask, like, how is it?
[43:15] Because now there is so much noise and so much different videos and AI, and social media even
[43:22] don't show episodes to everyone who even subscribed.
[43:26] Maybe just show 3%.
[43:28] So how to get through this noise and become visible and start attracting right people?
[43:35] Yeah.
[43:35] So, you know, it's very different from I mean, I guess coaching can fall into it as well.
[43:40] But for corporate consultants or fractional consultants, the the best approach, in my
[43:46] opinion, is to build these micronetworks.
[43:48] Right?
[43:49] You pull people into a micronetwork, and then you nurture them in that network, and then you
[43:54] turn them into contracts.
[43:55] So a good way of kind of thinking about it is that micronetwork, think of it as, like, a
[44:00] field on a farm.
[44:01] Okay?
[44:02] And the people that you're bringing in are the crops or the seeds that you're planting, And
[44:07] the nurturing is the watering, the rain that falls on on that on that field, on that crop.
[44:13] And what ends up happening over a month, over a few weeks, over a month, over a few months is
[44:19] the crops begin to grow.
[44:21] And then as they grow, you cut cut it down and you sell it.
[44:25] Right?
[44:25] The same thing with your network.
[44:26] You bring people into your network.
[44:28] You nurture them.
[44:29] And nurturing essentially means you're constantly talking about your the particular
[44:34] promise that that you can fulfill on.
[44:37] You know?
[44:37] What are some of the mistakes people tend to make?
[44:40] You know?
[44:41] What are they missing about creating these kinds of outcomes for themselves?
[44:45] Why you're the best person to create this outcome?
[44:48] Who are some of the other clients or previous jobs you've held where you've created that
[44:52] outcome.
[44:53] What you're doing is you're building familiarity.
[44:55] That's the rain that falls on the on the crops.
[44:59] And at eventually, what's gonna happen is you're gonna have full bloom, and they're gonna
[45:03] be people that are ready to to work with you.
[45:07] You can you I mean, even with ads, you can still use ads.
[45:11] Yes.
[45:11] There's gonna be competition, but I'm very, very big on you know, you've you've you've
[45:16] heard of the Blue Ocean strategy, and then there's the Red Ocean.
[45:19] If I had the option between Blue Ocean and Red Ocean, I'm always swimming towards the Red
[45:24] Ocean, always, because I know that tells me that there's fish there.
[45:26] That's why there it's red.
[45:28] It's blue.
[45:29] Very unlikely that it's blue because it's just a market that nobody's discovered, and you're
[45:36] the first one the first explorer that's discovered it.
[45:39] Very unlikely.
[45:40] What's likely is a bunch of people have come there, and they saw that it was barren and
[45:44] abandoned because there's nothing there.
[45:47] And so if you really wanna move fast, just go into the saturated market headfirst.
[45:53] Give your worldview.
[45:55] Put your specific spin on it.
[45:57] So for example, with us, we don't just teach, you know, regular people how to become
[46:02] fractional consultants.
[46:04] My spin on it is I am at the intersection of entrepreneurship, which is my passion,
[46:10] philosophy, which is my passion, and behavioral science.
[46:14] Nobody else does that.
[46:16] Only I do that.
[46:17] I know out of my entire market, I'm not gonna resonate with everybody, but there's gonna be a
[46:22] slice of people that I that will that it will resonate with.
[46:26] And so you just need to figure out what your personality is, what interests you have, what
[46:31] kind of analogies you draw, and that's how you want to build your brand around it, and you
[46:36] will find your slice.
[46:37] You will find people that want to work with you because of the way you're presenting your
[46:41] information.
[46:42] So don't be afraid of the saturated market.
[46:44] Run headfirst into it.
[46:45] But run headfirst into it with your own spin on your brand and your messaging.
[46:51] Yes.
[46:52] A great great great golden nuggets today.
[46:54] Thank you, Sam.
[46:56] And
[46:56] Sure.
[46:57] I think we already spoke a lot, and it is time for us to wrap up this episode.
[47:03] And we will record another one because this conversation is so valuable, and we have to
[47:10] continue and share more
[47:12] No problem.
[47:12] With people from your expertise and all what you already learned from your life and
[47:19] knowledge, everything.
[47:21] So let's wrap this episode now.
[47:24] And I before that, I would like to ask you one question.
[47:28] Whatever we discussed today for people who still incorporate or maybe left recently, and
[47:35] they still think, like, have they start their own business or look for another company, what
[47:40] you would be share like, what you would like to take away?
[47:44] Like, what we be one takeaway for them from our conversation that you would like them to
[47:49] remember?
[47:52] I mean, I could say a whole bunch of marketing stuff, but I'll be very honest.
[47:56] If it just takes self determination.
[48:01] If you can make a commitment to yourself that you're ready to get punched in the face a few
[48:07] times, you will be far ahead of 99% of the people in this world.
[48:13] If you can be ready to get punched in the face just a few times, not forever, just a little
[48:17] bit, and find someone who's already walked that path, those are the two things that you need to
[48:25] get whatever it is you want in your life.
[48:27] Just have delusional self belief, be willing to get punched in the face, and just work with
[48:33] with a guide.
[48:34] That's
[48:34] it.
[48:35] Yes.
[48:36] Great.
[48:36] Yes.
[48:37] So don't be afraid of failure because failure doesn't exist in that in that meaning which
[48:42] we've learned.
[48:43] Right?
[48:44] When in school, they put red like, some small one mistake, and they put red and show them
[48:50] this is mistake.
[48:51] Right?
[48:52] And this is how they made us to be afraid to mistake.
[48:55] But if we look at success, success never can happen without mistakes because when we make
[49:02] mistake, this is how we learn.
[49:04] We know what doesn't work.
[49:06] So next time, we do better.
[49:07] Yeah.
[49:08] So our attitude to failure shouldn't be, that we afraid.
[49:13] We have to really embrace.
[49:15] We have to embrace challenges.
[49:17] We have to embrace failure because you will never fail if you don't quit.
[49:22] Right?
[49:23] Winners never quit.
[49:24] Quitters never win.
[49:25] So this is your decision, and you are just one decision away.
[49:29] And all this come from thinking about your life.
[49:32] Look at your self now.
[49:34] Are you 30, 40, or 50?
[49:36] And you just think, like, how how life is.
[49:39] Right?
[49:39] Like, how many years we still have.
[49:42] Isn't it better to give a try, like, give a chance?
[49:46] Not even try.
[49:47] It's just to to go full in and decide that you can, that you deserve the best life, and you
[49:53] can do that.
[49:54] And all you need, just believe in yourself and look for mentor.
[49:58] Follow Sam, and, we will give all information how to contact Sam and his social media.
[50:06] Contact him and, ask for help.
[50:08] And, of course, share this episode with other people who you think might benefit from it, and
[50:14] we're always happy to hear your questions or your feedback, and we will continue another
[50:20] episodes with Sam so you can learn more from our amazing guest.
[50:26] Thank you so much for having me.
[50:27] Yes.
[50:28] Thank you, Sam.
[50:29] It was amazing.
[50:30] Really so valuable conversation with you.
[50:33] I enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to see you again in our future episodes.
[50:38] No.
[50:38] No.
[50:38] No.
[50:38] I was just saying thank I I was just saying thank you.
[50:42] Thank you.
[50:44] Okay.
[50:44] Great.

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