From Young Franchisee to Business Mentor: Lessons in Grit, Growth, and Freedom

Sha: So now very smart, but not so worldly maybe. And, and I have a child of support. So you go and get a job.

Sha: And the long story is my mother said that Fred Astaires was hiring dance instructors at $7 an hour. We’ll just say it was in the 80s, Meg. Okay. $7 is a lot of money. And I had never taken a dance lesson in my life.

Meg: Yeah.

Sha: We were kind of paycheck to paycheck, family. So not money for paying for dance lessons. You know, my dad would say, turn the radio on, dance around in the driveway. Right. You can figure it out.

Sha: So I got one of my mom’s dresses on and went into the Fred Aster Dance Studio. And they were doing additions, so people were dancing around. And so I sat in the very last chair so I could watch everybody and figure out what they were doing. Very smart, Very, very cool, right. I was determined to get the $7 an hour job because I could still go to college in the morning.

Sha: And it worked from 1 to 10, so just very savvy. So long story short, I did and I got hired. And of course I thought I nailed that interview. Like I was so good. I mean I was with ballerinas and jazz dancers and I thought, you know, my mom’s big dress, you know, good stuff.

Sha: So then I started this career in selling and dancing, right. And just kind of would practice at home and learn how to do it. But they were charging $58 an hour. You can do the math real fast on that, right. And so it didn’t take me long.

Sha: I went into my boss’s office and I said, where does the other money go? He said, to the house. I said, the house. Okay, who’s. And so quickly I started catching on.

Sha: There was opportunity there and how to move up. And so I went back in and said, okay, what do I need to do to own one of these? And Meg, if, if Tom Corporation this, he probably tell a story better than me because he, he would have bet money that this little right, 19 year old kid would not go hit these numbers and they’d have to offer me a franchise.

Sha: So really it was, it was about seeing the opportunity and wanting not to have the limits. Right. And had the motivation of being a young mother and wanting to succeed and not be the cliche. Meg, let’s just be honest, right? No one wants to be that cliche.

Sha: So that was the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey. Was I scared to death? Pretty much. I was like the dog who caught the car.

Meg: Yeah, yeah.

Sha: Because when they said, okay, you can have a franchise, guess what? The next thing they told me I needed. Money. Money. I, I was like, well, everybody wants to give a very young 19, 20 year old money for a franchise.

Sha: You know how, right?

Meg: Oh yeah.

Sha: They line up, start writing check, just shelling it out. It was all good stuff, but you know, but it was like one obstacle to another. But it made me so determined.

Sha: So I overcame that one and I actually picked up, me and my son went out there, we opened a French to dance studio and had never even been there.

Meg: Where did you move to?

Sha: It was Las Vegas, Nevada.

Meg: Oh my gosh.

Sha: Yeah. And the studio’s still out there. Actually there’s Two of me too. But it’s even funnier because my parents were like, we thought she was smart. She’s getting stupider every year. We sent her to college.

Sha: It’s not working.

Sha: So, long story short, it was about seeing the opportunity, be able to control it. And you learn from good and bad mentors. Right. I. I saw things like, I can do this better. I can make this experience better.

Sha: I can build a better culture and. And support the. The teachers. Just all the things you go. So the people that show up work and go, I can do that better.

Meg: They probably can.

Sha: Yeah. It’s all mindset. It’s not all mindset. It’s mindset plus effort.

Sha: It’s not always intelligence and education. It’s that grit and determination to say, I’m gonna. I’m going to will this into existence.

Meg: Oh, absolutely.

Sha: Just determination because I messed up so many things.

People to take me seriously. You know, I did. I. I lied about my age because I was, you know, and I was scared to death half the time. And there were so many things that. That beginning taught me in so many other businesses that you just can’t.

And. And one of the things was I did fail a lot on different things, like film my face, how to apologize, heard about things, messed up stuff, you know, name it. But then once you realize it’s kind of like the monsters in the closet. They didn’t eat you, you lived. You know, you kind of go, oh, okay.

Gives you a little grit to move on to the next challenge. Right. You know, it’s just having a little bit of faith and it cocky enough. I’ll put this out there, that sometimes, you know, who would you rather bet on? Someone else or yourself?

Meg: Absolutely.

Sha: Yeah. I got a few people I bet on. You might be one of them. But, you know, at the end of the day, you hear about people getting laid off and not getting promoted and all the things.

Meg: Yeah.

Sha: So, I mean, that was the beginning of it. I’ve bobbed and we’ve been different things, but, you know, so we can either blame my mother.

Meg: But, you know, don’t we all?

Sha: She sent me out there. She’s proud of that. But, you know, it was such a great adventure, and I got to do something that I still have to this day. Yeah. I can.

I can still dance.

Meg: Yeah. Oh, well, there’s that. There’s all the experience that you picked up being. Being a single young mother in a city that you didn’t know and all the responsibility.

I. I was a single mother once for. For quite a long time. But My son was 7 and I was in a city that I, I knew people well. That’s when I had my businesses, my great clubs. Already that for you, that’s quite a stretch.

Sha: And, and this crazy thing, either I like kids or I like wine. Fill out for debate because I have five kids.

Meg: Oh, look at you.

Sha: Yeah. And people always say, are they yours?

I’m like, it would have been so much easier, Meg, to get someone else’s. I’m just saying on the body, everything just wow.

But yeah, and so that was another big motivation was to be able to make the income I wanted, especially being a female. I could say that out loud. Having, having bob and weave in different companies, you know, especially in the financial industry, which is my background.

Meg: Yeah.

Sha: You know, it’s not. You kind of want to be able to write your own check.

Sha: Those are some of the mentors I’ve had. Not always show up the way you think. Didn’t have an ongoing relationship. I didn’t get the deal right. I did follow up with him several times and thank him, and we had a friendship. So, you know, they always don’t show up the way you think.

Meg: That is a really good one, Sha. That takes me. It gives me chills because it took me back to a time when I was a sales leader as a young woman, kind of like you crushing it and confident. And I went into a meeting with a company and brought one of my vendors with me, and I ended up talking about some numbers and margins, and he grabbed me. He didn’t grab me, but did the same thing that your gentleman did with you. And he took me into his office, closed the door. Don’t you ever do that again. That’s totally inappropriate. And if I could go back and do it again, I should have terminated the meeting on the spot.

Wow. Holy crap. You think that one stuck with me?

Sha: Yeah. Thank you, sir. But it changes. But the best coaching hits you hard because it resonates with you.

Meg: That’s a really good one. And you hear it, and so do I. When doing a podcast and having more than 200 interviews under my belt, I’m very cognizant of the words that process through my brain and come out of my mouth to make sure that there are certain trip-up points just like that. Do you know what I mean? And I hear it, I hear that in some of my executives with whom I am working, as well as the…

Sha: Well, yeah, that kind of thing you can do. Yeah. And we, in so many ways we communicate, you know, visually first and foremost, you know, but words do matter. Your body language, how you show up, posture, all the things that I probably being raised from a wonderful family, you know, just didn’t really have those things on their radar. And people would say, you know, walk in confident, do that. Do all these little things add up. And so take the feedback, good or bad, and don’t believe everything everyone says, but let it sit for a moment and go, wow, is there something to that? Because it does make people look less than they are. Doesn’t mean they’re not great. It just makes them not show up their best.

Meg: Yeah, yeah. Such an important lesson. I do want you to talk about the lessons, the work that you’re doing right now, the leadership training. How did you evolve into that? And for the listener who might be interested after you tell your story, how they can, how can they learn more about what you have to offer. Going back to numbers, going back to intelligence. This is going to be so good. I love all my love languages.

Sha: Absolutely. And every business owner, their business is their baby, right? I mean you think about it, you also like this. But this is such a passion and a labor of love. It is all it is is a platform, easy access for entrepreneurs and franchisees to plug and play and get things they need instantly. Tax write-offs, right. How to QuickBooks, when to hire, how to use AI in their business. What can they do?

Meg: Mark?

Sha: Just anything instantly that you need because it collapses the curve of learning. We even have consultants in there. We have just things. We call it the toolkit. And it is not just me because as entertaining as I can be, Meg, you probably get a little tired of me. We bring in the right resources, the right people. We have Tony Robinson results coaching in there. I mean just things that people were wanting. And this came from working with business owners for decades and hearing their struggles. There was a lot of consistency in it and I’m sure you’ve heard the same thing.

So it’s like if I can just get you access to have this stuff on demand. And it goes both ways. If I want to implement something, you watch no more than a 20-minute video on something and it says and you get it done. Here’s the form to implement it.

If you want to do the Augusta rule and take the tax write-off, here’s the form, here’s the steps. You’ll put your kids on paper. Here’s all the things you need to do it. Oh, you don’t want to do it because you’re busy? Right. Time management. Click here. And it takes you to a business BPA. And there’s a difference. And we even tell business owners, I know your cousin’s brother was great and we love him too, but this is just a different level when you have someone that knows business strategies and taxes. Right. Ask better questions that get better results.

So iqforprofit. Right Dot com. You kind of get the pun there. And it’s just all about giving. You don’t have to be an expert on things, but it’s giving resources to do better. Because the things that they don’t know, the entrepreneurs, the people out there working or living the dream, does hurt them. It costs them time and money, mistakes. And I just, I don’t like seeing it. I was like, let’s put it together. And this is for the can-do kids.

Meg: Right. This is. You and I both know a lot of people have a lot of great ideas, but they have to actually do it.

Sha: Yeah. And we work with a lot of brands. We do a lot of their support, training and mobile brands, helping them write off things. So we support the entrepreneurs in making that.

Meg: Right. Free agent, that leap. A better, a better landing spot from lily pad to lily pad. Let’s stick the landing. I like it.

Sha: Yeah.

Meg: It’s really powerful to have something like that. Just a strong visual that people can easily relate to. IQ for Profit. Is IQ the number four profit dot com?

Sha: You got it.

Meg: Okay. Please check it out, people. If you’re listening, you, those of you who are my regular followers. You know how much I emphasize the financial piece of this. Why go into business if you’re not going to make money? You can get a job, run your business for a profit. And what you’re talking about, Sha. So many of my people coming into business ownership, maybe they’ve worked for a corporation, they’ve been in the C-suite, but they haven’t had the kind of responsibility to look deep into the numbers. Most people don’t come into business ownership realizing the difference between a W2 and tax benefits for the owner.

Like, whoa, that’s legitimate. I didn’t know I could write that off. Get with a good business CPA. Take Sha’s training because you’re leaving money on the table if you don’t.

Sha: Absolutely. And we removed all barriers. You can write off the training as a business expense. I like them apples.

Meg: And also today I was going to share a discount code.

Sha: Yes, please. For your listeners, if you don’t mind. Free agent, like that. Free agent. And you put that in there. You will get $10 off a month. It is $59.95 regularly. It’s $49.95. So think about that. That is not very affordable. And that’s the whole reason. There’s no excuse.

The tax strategies alone in one or one of them would more than pay for the course. Like I said, business write-off. And it’s something that you can keep with you once you know no one’s going to take it from you.

Meg: Brilliant. Well, you’ve had a magnificent career and I could go on with you forever, but my producer would get mad at me if I do that. Thank you so much for joining me today. The, you say so much that I think my people who I work with think that I’m their mother.

Sha: Like, I don’t want to hear that. It’s like talking to my mother.

Meg: Listen to what Sha says. This is all just coming from a person who has lived, who’s walked your walk. You have walked the walk and now you can speak intelligently to you. You’re talking the talk, but you walked it already. And that’s what makes you such a great resource worth following.

Sha: Meg, I’ve enjoyed it. You’re lovely host, great conversations and, you know, just encouraging people. Take the leap.

Meg: Take the leap. Thank you so much, Sha. Appreciate you.

Sha: Appreciate you.