‘My passion is helping other people become successful. It’s seeing in them what’s possible for them even when they don’t see it for themselves.’
Kelly Roach is a business growth strategist who helps entrepreneurs surpass ordinary and create a new standard in their niche. At a young age, she worked her way up the upper echelons of the corporate world while launching her own business. She’s proof that it is hard work, not age, that matters in success.
Kelly likes to work with what she calls “business athletes,” entrepreneurs who have already built a solid foundation and are ready to take their business to the next level. With a talent for creating successful business development strategies, she can help you with scaling your business, building a business empire, and becoming an unstoppable entrepreneur.
Find more about Kelly here:
The Kelly Roach Show: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-kelly-roach-show/id1052353755
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kellyroachofficial/
John: Thank you for listening to The Business Sphere don’t forget to subscribe and share this episode. Joining me today is Kelly Roach, she is a business growth strategist who helps entrepreneurs surpass ordinary and create a new standard in their niche. Thank you for being on the show today, Kelly.
Kelly: Thank you so much for having me.
John: So, I love the intro where you talking about like expertise and niche right? Where this is the rabbit hole you’ve been starting your business on so if you don’t mind sharing with the audience members your journey, what got you to start this? And you can share as far back as you know back before you started this journey like your education and as far back as you would you like.
Kelly: Absolutely! Well, you know for me I grow up in a large family, five kids one income my dad worked for a non profit so we literally grew up living just above the poverty line right? So, our everyday existence a lot of times was my parents fighting trying to figure out how are we going to pay the bills this month, how are we going to get by and you know I always say that the most often heard phrase in my house growing up was ”no” followed by “we can’t afford it” and so for me you know when I went to college I went to the school that I was going to be in the least amount of debt I had no idea what I wanted to do but I knew I didn’t want to be in a desk you know behind the spreadsheet I want to be interacting with people, I want to be out in the world, I want to be making a difference. So, I went to school for communications right? How general can you be, I was some way somehow I’m going to be talking to people right?
So, when I graduated I started in an entry- level job for fortune 500 firm and basically I chose that job because I knew that if I got in on the ground floor I worked my tail off that there was endless opportunity right? So, for basically decade I was the first person in last person out got promoted seven times in eight years became the youngest senior vice president in the company we actually wrote every record in the company’s history for profitable growth, internal expansion year-over-year profits the whole thing built a team of 100 and achieved kind of my dream which was getting in the boardroom you know on the planes and in the in the trains and you know wearing the suits and doing the whole thing and you know that was great but obviously you know as I got be you know closer to 30 years old and an began to really look at my life I was like you know do II, is this what I want for my life right? I looked at the three things that were most important to me you know freedom, fulfillment, financial abundance, the ability to put family first right? And I was like this path that I’m on is not going to make that happen right? And so, I really had to examine who am I? You know, what am I good at?
Like, What do I want to do with the rest of my life? And when I looked at them my passion is really helping other people become successful it’s seeing in them what’s possible for them even when they don’t see it for themselves right? And the reason why I was able to be so successful in corporate was you know that I have a gift for business growth strategy, I have a gift for seeing the fastest most efficient way to build a business and that’s why they kept giving me location after location until I was running 17 different location as like a 25 year old kid right? Who does that, right? And so, you know I started my company on the side of my corporate job I was still working 60 hours a week and I built my business almost be a million dollar company while working full-time as a senior vice president and then you know pivoted into my business full time quickly took it from seven to eight figures started a philanthropic foundation co-sponsored, co-created three other companies with peers and colleagues and friends of mine and you know now I have the privilege every single day of helping people transform their lives by understanding the no fluff, no bs, fastest, most efficient path to create a sustainable profitable business online and so that is what I do every single day.
John: And I love that journey that you were on. So, I’m gonna go back a little and it’s great to hear your success story but of course during those 8 years in corporate and then during those years of side hustle kinda on your side kinda gig to then where you are today there must have been challenges and must have been a lot of hardship, a lot of decisions you had to make, so
Kelly: I think there’s whole years that I’ve walked out to be honest I think there’s an entire 12-month segments of my life that I have blacked out because they were so challenging but yes, I’m happy to answer anything about that time for sure.
John: Yeah, so those eight years I know you mentioned you moved up the corporate ladder you kinda understood the gaps you understood where you wanted to be what really stood out for from what you saw in the upper echelon of those board rooms where you wanted to set yourself in? Was it the status? Was it the recognition? Was it the pay? What was it that drove that drove you to stay there for 8 years?
Kelly: Yeah! I mean number one the education that I was getting was invaluable right? So, I utilize the education that I got in that time every single day and I’m so thankful now I mean I had no idea when I started building my business I had no idea how much I was going to have to lean on that education as I got to the higher higher echelons of what I’m doing now. Like, I use my time in corporate more now running eight-figure company than I did when I was starting and running a baby company so number one I was learning so much number two, I had an incredible mentor an incredible mentor that literally changed my life I’m so thankful his name was Dave and he was the hardest boss the hardest he pushed me so hard he challenged me so much but he really help me to grow and learn everything that I knew about business that allowed me to be successful so education, mentorship, opportunity right? I was being rewarded and recognized continually I was increasing my pay, I was able to go from an entry level salary to being you know a highly compensated you know mostly multi six figure earner in my 20s you know and that was an awesome opportunity but there were you know a lot of things that were also not so great about it right?
And you know obviously being 22 years old and walking into a branch and being the person that is tasked with turning it around you know where the culture is bad no one wants to hear from this 20 year old kid, you’re starting from the ground up, it’s a complete disaster you know it’s a toxic environment you know there’s a lot comes with that and every step of the way you have people kinda throwing tomatoes and you know sabotaging and undermining and resisting and you have to prove yourself over and over again as I was taking over those 17 branches every time I was taking over a new location I was literally starting over from zero. So, yes I had the skill and knowledge and the education but you have to go re-prove yourself to new staff, in a new environment, in a new territory, in a new product line and so you know I think people always discredit the past careers that they’ve had they always discredit their backstory and I think that’s a huge mistake I think that a lot of what will make you successful today is you reflecting on the lessons that you learned from yesterday and if you don’t get those lessons from yesterday you will keep experiencing the same failures, the same setbacks over and over again because you didn’t get the learning right?
They always say it’s a whisper, then it’s a knock, then it’s a pound, and then it’s like the train hits you right? It’s like if you don’t get it the first four times you know so somehow you’re gonna get it so that just you know a little bit about that I don’t know if that answered your question.
John: And also near the end, so after the 8 years you were finally the VP and you kinda got where you wanted to be. How did the company take it when you kinda told them you wanted to venture off on your own because a lot of people probably looked at you saying wow you know you’re an inspiration to all the younger employees or people that have been that organization for many many decades let alone years.
Kelly: Yeah, no this is actually interesting and I think is a huge lesson for everyone listening. So, I was open and honest from day one I actually went to my leadership and said I’m gonna go ahead and start my own business, I said you know I’m not being compensated in alignment with my contribution because I was making the company millions and millions and millions of dollars and I was exceeding my budget I was the top performing person in every category every year and yet I was making a couple hundred thousand dollars I was like I can make more than the CEO of this company in my own business right? So, I went to them and I said listen, I said love the company, love the work that I’m doing, I’m not quitting but I am starting my own company and I said here’s why and I said I understand if you want to fire me and you can go ahead and do that today and I’m prepared for you to do that but what I can tell you is I will still be your best employee and I’m not going to you know allow this to impact my ability to deliver and you know even for almost five years while I was building my own business on the side I continued to have the top performing you know team in the company, blew our budget out of the water, developed people, and they really left me alone and the reason why they allowed me to do that even though they knew and I was public about everything I mean you see my social following right? There’s no way you could not know what I’m doing right? You know they allowed me to do that because I was delivering on my promise.
John: Yeah, I think that’s so important right? Like it’s always that 80 20 rule in not just career work and in life right? You’re gonna have the top performers in every aspect of in every single division every single task every single role in every company and if you produced 80% of the result and you were only a select number of people I mean why would they let you go right?
Kelly: Yeah, absolutely.
John: Even with you producing at 50% of your capacity you’re still producing 80% better than everyone else at 120%.
Kelly: A 100% and I think it’s such a lesson for people today because you know I think there’s like this entitlement in our society today where like people expect things to be handed to them or they expect to raise because they’ve been with the company a certain amount of time or they expect all I’ve been you know working in my own business I’m working so hard, I should be making so much money and it’s like no. Like no none of us are entitled to anything, we’re not entitled to anything, we don’t deserve anything, it’s what we create right? You are compensated in direct correlation with the impact that you make on other people and the value that you bring to the market and we have to get away from this entitlement thinking and they have to you know remember that anything is possible but you have to be willing to earn it, right?
John: So, I love what you’ve said what were some of the key I would say still sets that your mentor you know mention David, he’s the guy that kinda pushed you along and were there certain things that really help you become who you are today? Because you mention 5 years of doing that on the side allow you to be confident enough to step away and still earn a really good living.
Kelly: Yeah, there’s a lot I mean there’s so much that I carry with me that he taught me but one of the conversation that I’ll never forget for the rest of my life so I was you know I was a sales rep and I was very young I was like 21, 22 and I was killing it, I was making great money, I was having a lot of success, and the company came to me and they were like, hey we want you to go you know be a branch manager and I was like I don’t necessarily want to be a branch manager I’m like I am happy, I am successful, I am winning, why do I want to go do this right? And he said to me, Kelly he said you could be the best sales person in the world but what you can do alone versus what you can do when you learn the skill of generating results through others is exponential it’s immeasurable you can’t even compare that and I’ve carried that with me you know for the rest of my life I wrote a book about building a dream team it’s a huge part of what I think about and what I do and the way that I teach and how I built my own companies and you know I think that’s really important to remember because I think when you get out in the entrepreneurial market you know and you start building a team you go through challenges and a lot of people are like I don’t want to do this anymore, I don’t I don’t want to do this anymore it’s too hard, it’s too overwhelming, it’s too expensive, it’s to this and It’s like you are resigning yourself so the fact that you’re gonna play small forever if you’re not willing to learn how to get result for other people so that was one of the big lessons for me that I really carried with me every single day.
John: That’s amazing and I love hearing that because one person can’t do what a team of 10,20,100 people can do even on a small micro level right? So, if you can harvest these traits that you’ve learned skill sets and make them much more productive add more value build you know some sales acumen or whatever it may be then you have this multiplying effect and that’s the whole point of scaling once you learn that. So, let’s go back to starting this business so when you started back I would say probably a decade ago for you what triggered you to start and what did it pivot like did you pivot the avatar persona the type of clients you were targeting like your business in general? And what does it look like today compared to when it first started?
Kelly: Yeah and it’s such a good question because I think you always, you always where you start is never where you end there’s a natural evolution and zig and a zag and a pivot that is part of building any brand in any business you know for me when I first got to school first of all I’ll answer your first question why did I you know get started and what was I looking to achieve. More than anything I wanted to do fulfilling work that I felt made a difference I was making one corporation millions and millions of dollars and it just wasn’t fulfilling I didn’t feel like I was making a difference, I didn’t feel like I was you know really utilizing my talent in the way that I was destined to and I couldn’t, I couldn’t take it anymore I felt like I had to I had to do something.
So that’s number one, to answer your other question you know so it was about doing something fulfilling when I first got started I thought I was going to be a speaker and my focus was to become a speaker and I was like I am gonna be you know on these stages, i’m gonna travel, I’m gonna teach about business bla bla bla. Well, then when I started building the business and I actually got into it I realized, oh my gosh there’s this thing called the internet and I actually don’t need to leave my house and I can work on my lunch break and I can work in the pockets of my spare time and I can do videos and content, and newsletters, and podcasts, and you know all of these things that I can coach clients and get paid thousands and thousands of dollars from the comfort of my own home and I was like, okay you know that’s a much more efficient business model.
So, I love to speak and of course I do speaking engagements a couple times a year but that’s not that’s not at all where my income comes from I do high-level consulting for entrepreneurs that want to learn how to scale their businesses online so we teach systems infrastructure and people for sales marketing celebrity you know pr you know finance you know all of those things the core systems within a company and so, when I started I really started in the sales realm because I recognize that most people in the business space just have a horrible sales system and do not have a handle on their strategy as far as you know acquiring leads nurturing them effectively and closing them and I started with small and midsize businesses and, and then again what I learned very quickly is that in entrepreneurial space this was education that business owners where so hungry for and they don’t like the word sales they like the word marketing, right? And so, I learned quickly, my first product was a sales product and that was a flop and then I changed my language to match the operating reality of the the people I was selling to and all of the sudden they were understanding uh you know what I was there to help them with and so, started of one on one consulting you know teaching entrepreneurs how to grow their business online, how to gain more clients and grow more quickly, and then that evolved into group programs, and then masterminds, and then you know higher levels ascension programs, and you know speaking engagements and writing books and you know everything from there.
John: That’s amazing to hear because it sounds like you found something that you actually truly enjoy and is there a specific niche that you kinda target? Like, who is your ideal dream type of client? Because as a SMB or small medium-sized business owner that encompasses every single niche industry and marketplace. So, and that’s 95% of every single business out there right? So, is there a specific avatar or persona that you kinda want to target?
Kelly: Yeah, for us we’re really focused on businesses that are in the low six figures that want to go from 6 to 7 to 8 in a service based business meaning they create a transformation of some kinda, it could be wealth, it could be health, it could be business, it could be you know any number of fields we work with everything from accountants and you know people that run agencies to speakers coaches consultants and everything in between for us it’s very much a psychographic. So, the people that I work with I call them business athletes so I specifically target business athletes. People that want no fluff, no bs, really high concept strategic advisory to help them scale so there’s a million and one coaches out there for example that help you find your life purpose that help you mission your big idea that help you get your first “10 clients” that is not, that is not who we are specifically for people that have a baseline foundation and are ready to go the distance and are looking for someone to come in and give that strategic competitive advantage in the way that they differentiate themselves in the market and the way that they strategically align their systems for scalable growth.
John: I see and do you focus on online exposure only? Or is there a mixture of say bricks and mortar versus online digital transformation and obviously you in this digital space you’re fully aware of amplification digitally?
Kelly: Yes.
John: So, utilizing all the tools and tactics and marketing funnels I would say I’m sure you have a team behind you to create these systems as well.
Kelly: Yes, I have almost a team of 50 full time employees and our primary focus right now is the online space just because it’s faster more efficient easier to target easier to target easier cost more cost effective to acquire clients, we are launching a corporate division this year but you know that’s a whole other beast right it’s slower moving everything about is slower moving and it’s fun to work in that space but it’s less efficient right? It’s higher ticket but certainly less efficient and I like the pace of the online world.
John: Oh, that’s good and you have actually enjoy it right? And this is the thing people who are afraid to take that step right? But you understand how to amplify this new digital age take advantage of technology take advantage of all the software and tool set and speed that things are evolving so quickly , is there a baseline of starting you know intro versus package versus like your custom kind of package with clients because I’m sure you have low entry points and high entry points as well?
Kelly: Well, yeah. So, in our consulting arm of the company our entry level product is a 30,000 dollar investment and then we go upwards of 100,000 we of course have other products that are literally like we have our marketing club which is like you know a thousand bucks for the year right? So, we have other products and services outside of the consulting arm of the company for people that just want like a taste right they just want to like kind of like they want to get our world they want to be a part of what we’re doing you know they want to hang out with the team I’m not really the primary focal point of that but I have an incredible world class marketing team that does a lot of online education in the market as well so know we have separate products and programs for that type of audience but yeah, so our products in the consulting arm are basically 30,000 you know 60,000, you know 85,000, and then on upwards from there.
John: That’s amazing and that’s where you get to the business owners right? It’s much more intimate and you get private coaching you get a lot of your expertise and knowledge where then it becomes strategy where you’re actually having fun planning out like
Kelly: Exactly!
John: implementation process and kinda you know over a roadmap right? That in a framework so I love that. So, where are you today and where do you look and see yourself in the next 5, 10, 20 years?
Kelly: Yeah, absolutely. So, you know today I see us a the leaders from the standpoint of the online business coaching space in North America you know we’re really one of the fastest growing and one of the only eight figure coaching and consulting companies in our space. There’s only a handful of select others and I think we’re pretty well outpacing them our vision and our goal over the next 5 years is to become the number one business education and leadership development company in the world and so you know our focus is over delivering for our customers really helping them to gain a strategic advantage in the marketplace and then building brand advocacy that allows us to elevate the brand to becoming a household name because of the lives that we change the people that we impact and the results that they get.
John: That’s amazing and it sound like you’re you know these lofty goals of yours it seems like you’ve been delivering all your life right? So, obviously you have a framework and plan and strategy in place to make it happen and I love your energy, I love the way that you present yourself and it sound like you’re enjoying every step of the way that’s more important.
Kelly: It’s so important, it’s so important and that’s why I always say you know when you’re going down a path in business like you have to do the thing that fulfills you, you have to do the thing that lights you up, you have to do the thing that you can commit to doing for the rest of your life because when you do something because of the surface level transactional outcome or you’re chasing just the money or whatever the case you’re never going to stick with it it’s too hard to be perfectly honest people think it gets easier as you grow no it doesn’t get easier you get stronger and your team gets better that’s what happens you get stronger and your team gets better but it does not get easier you have new new level new double right? So, you have to be doing something that absolutely is your heartbeat. It has to be the centerpiece of what you believe that you’re called to do and what you believe that you were put here to happen.
John: And I feel like a lot of business owner who are in the 6, 7 or I would say 8 figure realm they have clarity they know exactly
Kelly: Yes.
John: what everyday looks like and how to achieve it for the next month they have this instinct in them on who they should spend time with, how to, what’s important to their lives because they have complete control and that’s what
Kelly: You can see around making
John: Exactly.
Kelly: decisions and about choosing definite direction absolutely, yeah.
John: Yeah, and then enjoy every moment of it right? Enjoy that process because life is short there’s only so much time right? And you might as well surround yourself with people that resonate with your values and that’s why if you’re a business owner you get to select your team and that’s so critical and have you had challenges over the years I’m sure with 50 employees?
Kelly: I’m like, I had challenges
John: Like hiring all of that
Kelly: I don’t think we have the time to cover all of that. Yeah, I’ve had the best most fulfilling experience could ever imagine and I’ve had the worst most terrifying heartbreaking situation you could ever imagine and if you are going to build a team you will have both those things absolutely and I can tell you it’s you can’t predict it you can’t avoid it you have to be prepared for it when you dealing with people that’s par for the course.
John: And totally and now that you have a family I mean that’s probably one of the most important times that you wanna be present with your family right? So, that’s the first thing I schedule every single day every single week right? Like that I always put family relationships first in my calendar everything works around it.
Kelly: That’s it, that’s it.
John: I love that. So, if you don’t mind mentioning or sharing with the audience members how they can reach you, check you out, I know you have a lot of different places that you’re active on social and a lot of books and a lot of podcasts and stuff you don’t mind mentioning the best way to reach out to you, Kelly
Kelly: Absolutely! So, the podcast is the number one place like that is my legacy work that’s where I you know three times a week releasing shows it’s called The Kelly Road Show so it’s pretty easy to find but they’re 20 minute or less episodes power pack strategy to just explode your business and you will get the mindset the strategy the insight that you can’t get anywhere else so definitely subscribe The Kelly Road Show and if you just wanna you know come over and say hi, pop into Instagram drop me a message in the inbox Kelly Roach Official, I’d love to hear from you guys.
John: Amazing, well thanks a lot. I’m going to have all this contact information on the show notes it’s been my pleasure mean it was short but sweet and it gets right to the point and I love your story, Kelly, I love your energy and I look forward to seeing you dominate this global space that you’re looking to dominate in the next couple years.
Kelly: Thank you so much, it was my honor to be here and I really enjoyed our time together and you have the best bookshelf I’ve ever seen I was getting distracted looking at all the amazing books behind you because you have like the best of all time all around you that’s a great place to be doing your work everyday.
John: Well, I love ingesting good content right? And that’s what I mean if you can spend time with either people in person or absorbing it from experts that have spent their life putting this you know 40 year compression into a book and absorb content that resonate with you.
Kelly: It’s everything, love it, all right, awesome. Well, thank you so much for having me.
John: Thanks a lot, Kelly. I’ll talk to you later, bye.
