The power of proximity with Sonya McIntyre-Reid

* Transcript created by AI – may contain errors or omissions from original podcast audio

You’ve probably heard the saying, you are the average of the five people you spend most time with, and in business, this couldn’t be more true. When you surround yourself with ambitious, high performing entrepreneurs, something magical happens, your belief expands, your goals stretch, and suddenly the impossible starts feeling normal. In today’s episode, I’m chatting with one of my Profit Collective members, Sonya, about what it’s really like to be surrounded by other successful business owners, the type who inspire and challenge you. We’ll be talking about connection, collaboration, and how community can completely change your business trajectory. Let’s dive on in.
Hello and welcome to the podcast. Sonya. Would you like to tell us a little bit about your agency and how you help people?
Oh, hello Clare. Thank you so much for having me on. I’ve got a marketing agency called Linchpin Digital. We’ve done a million pivots over the years, but our focus sort of the last two years, I’d say, has been very much on professional services, B2B, organizations. We do a lot of work in a lot of different engineering spaces. I’ve learned a lot about many, many niche types of engineering in recent years, and we help people essentially. We come in, we have a look at businesses as a whole. All of their touch points, their messaging and work out what they need and how we can help them scale. So that could be anything from starting and looking at their website. And where there’s opportunity to capitalize on different search volume, whether that be organically or through ads. We look at I guess the trust factors that are on there as well, their messaging clear. And then we develop marketing plans from there and roll them out. So we support people [00:02:00] with social media management digital advertising campaigns, and then also traditional too. So making sure that all of the channels are tying in together and they’re hitting their KPIs and generating those leads.
Oh, I love that, isn’t it? Marketing is just such an interesting tapestry, isn’t it? Because you can’t, and I’m sure you’ve learned this on your journey you know, you can’t be just looking at ads in isolation. And I know a few clients of mine have got frustrated over the years ’cause they’re like, they said, I need a new website. And I’m like, well, there’s no point running ads if.
Oh my goodness, a hundred percent. Did you do what as a baby marketer? I thought, oh, it’s fine. I’ll just run your social media or your ads for you and it would be okay for sort of three months or so, and then that initial interest and things kind of die down.
And that’s when you’ve really gotta take a step back and have a look at the whole thing now. I’m very firm when someone comes to me and I, I just say, look. Here’s what I’m seeing that’s missing. Here’s what we [00:03:00] need to produce and set up those foundations before we can then get into those lead generation stages for them.
So I’m doing a lot of work in that space at the moment, particularly as there has been the rollout with like the new changes with Google AI. And I’m loving it because it means that I get to kind of deep dive into our clients and also their audiences. To set up those foundations and then when we turn on those lead generation campaigns, they just fly.
So it’s fantastic. We had a client recently, he’s been with us for a while. I love him. He, he’ll call me every week with a new business idea and I kind of have to rein him back in. Classic business owners, right? Yeah. But he started a new business and I was like, okay, this one actually has legs.
Let’s, let’s go for it. So we did all the groundwork developing new website messaging and everything. And he called me in the lead up to this and he is like, I’m really panicking. I’ve got all these guys in my books and like, we’ve only got a week’s worth of work. And I was like, calm down, I promise you, in a week it’s gonna be a very different [00:04:00] scenario.
Anyway, he called us a couple of weeks ago and he goes, okay, we need to ease up now ’cause we are booked out until Feb next year. Wow. And so it’s just, for me it was like. It makes me so happy when I back myself with that and I go, no, no, here’s what we need. And then it really does pay off.
Oh, I love that.
Yeah. And you’ve got an amazing team as well, so I think that having, you know, a team of experts who can help support them.
My goodness. Absolutely. And look, that’s been something over the years where I haven’t had the right team members, or I was trying to get people to be generalists. Now we’ve got specialists and.
I freaking love my team. I really do.
I love that because that is one of the hardest, hardest pieces of the puzzle to nail, and it sounds like you’ve got a really beautiful culture there as well, which is a testament to you. Thank you. So the reason I wanted to chat to you today was to talk all about the power [00:05:00] of proximity.
The power of who you surround yourself with and specifically, you know, to also chat a little bit because obviously you are in the Profit Collective to talk about in the business context as well. So I think a great starting point would be, you know, I’m really curious to know like what has been your.
Experience or observation of being around successful business owners?
I think the first thing is not to be surrounded by business owners that are all in the same niche or industry as you. So something fantastic about the Profit Collective is that there is a whole variety of businesses and they all have very different business models.
I think sometimes you can join groups and sort of get stuck in that bubble and. I don’t know. In my experience, it feels like it takes me away and I think, oh, well I need to be offering that and I need to be doing that. So that’s probably the first thing. I think. When you’ve got a really supportive [00:06:00] group of business owners around you, they hold you accountable, but they also support you when you are going through those harder times. And I think female business owners in particular can be really, really hard on themselves and go, oh, I should have done this, and why hasn’t this happened? And like, just be so hard on ourselves and think of we’re not operating at a hundred percent in all areas of our lives, then we’re failing And. I mean, I think probably part of it is that pressure that we put in ourselves means that we have been successful, but it also means that we’re not very good at being objective and going, okay, you need to relax and calm down, and all of that. So I think it’s fantastic for holding you accountable, inspiring you calling you out on your bullshit as well. And, but also on, on the flip side, helping you be, I guess, kinder to yourself.
Yeah. I love that. That’s a really good angle and perspective. And it’s so true because, you know, I spend a lot of my [00:07:00] time with high achievers and something I’ve observed is that we are the harshest on ourselves.
Yep, absolutely. Absolutely. It’s, it’s funny, I was reading a blog the other day and I was talking about how if you look at kind of like self-help books and things like that, for women, it’s very much like how you can be better, how you can do this or fix this about yourself. For men, it’s like we don’t need that part. We’re just gonna go straight to. We’re gonna get this done. It’s, I just find it very interesting. I think their books are more called like that professional development. Yeah. Whereas women’s are self-help.
Yes. Yeah. And the, the irony is, is that a lot of times it’s the inner work that they, they need.
I just realized it’s a podcast too. You can’t see me. I was literally flipping my hands around saying it needs to be. The other way.
And so, [00:08:00] you know, being in circles with powerful, amazing, successful, what’s something that’s really like opened your eyes and thought, wow, I didn’t know that that was possible, or that’s really made me get excited about, you know, it might be anything like, oh gosh, I’d never thought that I could do that. What’s something that your eyes have been opened to by the people you’re surrounded by?
Oh goodness. So many, so many things come to mind. I think there have been so many business owners that I’ve come across, whether it be in the Profit Collective or just at events or even online friends, and I just go, oh my God, I didn’t even know that was a job or something that companies paid for or you charge, how much for that? Oh my God. I think for me it’s been, I. How do I phrase this? I think often if you were just on social media, looking at other people and the services that they’re selling and they’ve got their price lists and things, [00:09:00] it’s very easy to get stuck into the idea of thinking that you’re selling like to other very small businesses. A lot of the time when you are building networks and having conversations with these business owners, you realize that there are larger clients out there, higher paying clients services that you didn’t even think someone. Would pay for. And I think that’s really opened up my eyes. I don’t think I’ve articulated that very well, but I think kind of expanding your mind and realizing the opportunity that’s out there, the money that’s out there the fact that you don’t necessarily have to do things in the traditional standard way as well. Probably having my eyes opened up to the fact that I can make my own rules, run my business in my own way. And again, that probably comes back to internal pressure, right? I think we’re kind of conditioned that this is how it has to be and if I’m not doing it this way, that I’m doing it wrong. No, it’s not the case. So I would say kind of [00:10:00] just expanding horizons. ’cause I think if you are not, if you don’t know that something’s possible ’cause you haven’t seen it, then you are not even going to know that that’s an option. I would say that’s the biggest thing. And I think I hear kind of two conversations around this where the same thing kind of applies. And that’s one where kids are trying to work out what they wanna do with their careers. You don’t know what you don’t know. And then the other side of things is when people are talking about manifesting, until you kind of realize that that’s a possibility and see it elsewhere, then you can’t make that happen for yourself. So it’s a very long-winded answer, but I hope that kind of weaved its way and it made sense. Yeah, no,
Absolutely. It’s so true, isn’t it? Like I know that a lot of things that I’ve ended up desiring, I’d never even, you know, I grew up in a family that had no money and it wouldn’t have even occurred to me to, like, for example, to wanna buy a house by the beach. I mean, it just seems so foreign or [00:11:00] outside. You know, the, the circles that we were mixing in that it just wouldn’t have even crossed my mind. Mm. And similarly in other ways, you know, I you know, even with like parenting for example, I just thought that, you know. There, there was gonna be times where you’re yelling at your kids and then, you know, I see on social media and I’m like, oh, people have these beautiful, calm houses. And you start to go, oh, I would love to create that in our house. Like just seeing evidence of it starts to expand your mindset and think, wow, that’s possible for me.
A hundred percent. And I think I’ve in the last 12 months, I moved from Wodonga to Brisbane. And I thought I was only going to be back in alrea. Grew up there for however long the pandemic lasted anyway, four years later. And. Being in Brisbane, there is so much happening at the moment. We’re coming up to like the Olympics in 2032. I think we had something [00:12:00] like 30,000 Victorians per week moving to Queensland after the borders opened up. There’s just so much life and energy and people doing exciting things that’s happening. And I head back home and I’m like, oh, it, I feel kind of. Constricted again. Mm. And I noticed earlier this year, my fiance and I, we went to Dubai and there was so much happening there as well. And even just being there for two weeks, I was like, oh my God. The people I met, some of the exciting things they’re doing, the way technology is moving their, how fast paced everything is. I don’t think I could live there, but I think changing up that environment is so, so important. Even I think it was Wednesday afternoon, I went and worked. From a bar after it hit five o’clock, I was like, I need to go and get these proposals done. I’ve been putting it off for so long. I sat there and I had a lemon line bitters, and in an hour I just felt so creative, smashed out this work. Even that changed in environment and people kind of [00:13:00] hustling and heading home from work for the day and a bit of people watching it can make such a big difference. 
Yeah, because what you, you become what you are around. Right. Yeah. I love that. I was just thinking then, what’s something that is really normal and easy for you now as a business owner that once felt like it was impossible?
Oh goodness. Several things. I think a lot of them come to like around money. 
Mm-hmm.
And also people management. So I would say the first one was taking ownership of the agency’s finances and my finances. I actually managed majored in finance and economics at uni. But finances and the accounting side of things when you’re running a small business is very different. Very, very different.
And I kind of put my head in the sand for a long time about it. So for me. Sitting down doing my weekly cashflow forecasting. [00:14:00] Thanks Clare for giving me kick up the bum with that one. I’m being completely across my profit and loss. I’ve actually gone on in the last couple of years to even create my own kind of custom reporting and Google sheets where I’m looking at our team’s workload, their profitability. And at the moment I’m doing a bit more work with my accountant around what the profit per team member is after all of the other indirect costs as well. So just getting so clear on my numbers and getting more and more granular with it and making sure that I’m actually looking at it and jumping into their bank accounts every single day. ’cause I think sometimes it’s very easy. To just think, oh, I’ll take on more clients. Mm-hmm. And I’ve been down that road before and I burnt everything to the ground and started again. ’cause it wasn’t working, I wasn’t charging enough, didn’t have the right team around me, was not clear sort of on who we were serving, where we could add the most value. And that probably then took away from the confidence of [00:15:00] charging those higher amounts too. Whereas now, I can sit down I’ll scope out every job that comes to us. We’ve got retainer packages, but if it’s a project, scope out every job that comes to us and I can confidently look at that and take all emotion out of it and go, well, actually. This is gonna take minimum this amount of time. And I never like to quote based on hours. It’s more based on the deliverables. But now I’ve got all this data that I’ve been tracking for years. I know how long it’s gonna take and I can go, well, I need to be charging this much to even break even on it. So then when I’m putting a proposal forward, it’s not an emotional situation. If the client doesn’t take it, it’s out of their budget. That’s not me. Then second guessing as to whether I’ve charged too much. So I would say that is a huge, huge shift. And then the third thing would be to make the call that if a team member’s not working out then they’re not the right [00:16:00] fit. So. I have spent a lot of time over the last eight years building systems, processes. I’m so big on our project management tool. Everything is so dialed in. We have a lot of training, a lot of SOPs. Sometimes people just are not going to follow the SOPs or use that project management tool or our communication guidelines or documentation that’s needed. There’s a reason everything that we’ve created is in place. And so. I’ve had situations where I thought, well, I just need to do more training. I need to change these systems. I need to do this, I need to do that. And the reality was they just weren’t the right fit.
Mm-hmm.
So yeah, I’d say those three things. The being so across your numbers and making sure you’re running reports and building things out that work for your brain and also makes sense for your business and your business model. The taking the emotion out of quoting and then the team member side of things. Sometimes they’re just not the [00:17:00] right fit.
Yeah, that’s so good. And isn’t it crazy how like something that’s just normal and common for you now to be in the detail of your numbers that once felt completely impossible or like such a massive stretch for you and it’s just now? Your normal day to day. It’s really, really cool.
Oh, it’s one of the most important things I can do. And I mean, I’ve got a friend of mine, he runs a big agency and he’s got, you know, someone internally that looks after that side of things, but I know he’s not fully across them. They’re not time tracking. They’re not kind of looking at each retainer each month to see profitability and not, I think on the other hand though, he was always charging far, far higher prices than me, so he didn’t have to worry so much around that ’cause there was enough fat in that margin to cover it. So, that was a very interesting observation with the two of us and how we’re approaching pricing and things like that. I think he was [00:18:00] already taking the emotion out of it, whereas me, I need those numbers there so I can just logically go, no, this is how long it takes and this is what it’s gonna cost.
Yeah, I love that love. And something you said before, you said people calling you on your bs. What do, what do you mean by that and how do you think? Because I feel like as female business owners that we are able to do that in a more perhaps, compassionate way than, perhaps the male to male dynamic might work, but I’m curious to hear your thoughts on that and how you think as a group we are able to keep each other accountable, call the bs, but do it in a loving way.
Yeah, I think there’s a couple of examples. One that first springs to mind is my accountability buddy Gemma, love her. Very excited to meet her in person soon. But, I would say even six weeks ago, I was just looking [00:19:00] at my calendar towards the end of the year and everything was falling in November.Everything like my hens party, my having to travel up to the Sunshine Coast to get my dress altered a holiday. I’ve already moved twice that the company said you were not moving this again. I’m off to a health retreat. I’ve got team member away that’s having surgery, another one’s having annual leave, and then the Profit Collective retreat that we’re doing in Melbourne. And I just went, oh my God, this is just, I can’t, this is too much. Anyway Gemma kind of just called me out because I was like, I don’t think I’m gonna be able to make it down to Melbourne for the retreat. And she’s like, Sonya, you work from home all the time. This has been such a big thing that’s really helped your business. You need to stop making excuses and make time for it and see what else you can shift. And she, she wasn’t that blunt. That’s me. That’s your interpretation. That’s, that’s my interpretation. She was beautiful and [00:20:00] gentle, but she also did it in a way where she was talking about how excited she was mm-hmm. For it and that kind of, or she was, and look, she probably didn’t even intentionally try and call me out. She was so excited about it and asking me questions and sort of being like, how can you make this work? Then I went, you know what, no, I actually, I do need to make this work. I need to kind of work out, compartmentalize, whatever it might be. Anyway, I’ve made it work. It’s happening, and I’m so excited. So rather than it going from a spot of, I feel really stressed. I’ve got so much jammed into this month now. I’m like, well, this month, I am just so excited about all the things that are coming up, so kind of shifting and realizing that any other big projects and things I have to say no to, or I’m actually in a spot now where the team can handle a lot of that as well. So, yeah, I think as well.
Well, I’m so glad that you’re coming.
I’m so excited to make it work.
It’s, it’s gonna be great. It’s gonna [00:21:00] be great. I think I fly back into Brisbane on the Friday night and I ended up extending my trip up to the Sunshine Coast by another night. So we’ll get up really early Sunday drive up, we’re gonna miss traffic, so it’s probably gonna work out better.
I love that. I love it. But yeah, it’s, it’s just having that external party, you know, people often talk to me about coaching and why coaching is so powerful and the reason why I, myself, like I intellectually understand it all. I’ve been a coach for 10 years. Before that I was a commercial manager and companies basically doing the same kind of thing and we can’t see our own shit. Like that’s the truth. That’s why I need a coach who’s like, why the hell did you do that? You know, to help you create change. Otherwise, what we do by default is we just keep doing the same thing over and over again. Yeah. And I, I also love, you know, having a group as well, [00:22:00] because. When it’s just me as a coach saying, you know, you need to do this, you need to do this. But I remember in our last call there was something that I’ve said a few times, which is to someone I said, you need to get rid of that person in your team. And I’d said it a few times in a few different ways and it wasn’t being received. And then I went to the group and said, who thinks that this person, oh my God. And do you remember? Every single hand went up?
So I have been like. Anxious about this because straight outta my, I took myself off mute and I was like, I told you that six months ago. And I was like, and I was like, shit, Sonya, keep your thoughts to yourself. Yeah, but everyone, everyone in the group, that was gonna be my second example actually. Everyone in the group went, yep, you need to get rid of this person. Me and my big mouth. I was like, I told you that months ago.
And I do think, you know, a lot of times people do need to come to the conclusion themself. I’m sure you’ve had a [00:23:00] friend, and you’re like, oh, for God’s sakes, break up with that partner. And and then they finally do. But like, you know, sometimes it’s, it’s the, the big, you know, the, a bit of a bitch slap and sometimes it’s the gentle nudges and then one day it kind of all clicks and you go, oh my gosh. I need to get rid of that person in my team because they’re a massive journey.
Mine was definitely the added bitch slap. I think everyone else was gentle. No, I think, I think that was, but it was in a very loving way. Oh, absolutely. And I think it’s so great in the group that we have structured kind of learnings and discussions and then it’s kind of opened up and there’s these conversations. So you do have the opportunity to be like, blah and give energy to something that you’re like, I’m just sitting on this and just. It’s not feeling right and ugh, and sort of get it all out. And it’s not a situation either where you ever feel forced to do something. I think that’s really, really important. It is. And you and I in, in our calls a lot of the time for me with my [00:24:00] shiny object syndrome and biting off way more than I can chew, and I think I sit and self-analyze so much that sometimes I actually can’t see that what I need is rest and to take a step back. And I think you have been that sort of added like stop gap there to be like, okay, we’re going into this territory again. ’cause I will have periods of time where. I’m like, go, go, go, go. And then crash and burn. And then you’ll go, oh, how you going? And I’m like, oh, well it was crap on Monday, but it’s Wednesday now. I’m fantastic. So let’s get back into it. And you’re like, whoa, hold up. It’s been, it’s been one day of feeling good. So I think that’s a really good reminder too.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s, I think that when we are energizer bunnies, we have this tendency to just go, go, go. And sometimes the exact thing you need to be doing is to, is to slow down. Yeah. Something I think as well, that just came to me when you were talking [00:25:00] there, something that I know that. I set the scene right at the start of the collective, and I feel that it’s been held really well in the space as well, is that no one’s better than anyone in the group. And you know there’s gonna be some people who are earning more money. There’s gonna be people who are going through great times in their business and challenging times, and that the point of the collective isn’t a hierarchical space. It’s a space where it’s like, Hey, we all rise together. And everyone’s got amazing insights, experience. You know, we’ve got Maz who’s an absolute systems guru who’s taught even me so much that I was like, oh my gosh, I didn’t know that. And I think that that’s what. Is is, you know, really beautiful when women can all support each other and and rise together.
Oh, absolutely. I mean, there have been some people that are like, oh, I need to just start posting on my socials and the collective notices. Mm. And we get on a call and there’s a lot of [00:26:00] cheering around it. Yeah. Yeah. I, I love it. I think it’s so fantastic.
Yeah. Oh, well I’m really grateful to have you in the community.
I was wondering if there’s been any specific wins that have come from specifically the connections, not just the coaching, not just the the com, but anything about like you go, oh my gosh, I got introduced to that person. Or any specific wins that have come off the back of that?
Not so much in terms of like introductions per se, but I think for me, the group has just really assisted with the ups and downs. And seeing everyone going and making sure they’re doing their cashflow forecasting and talking about their numbers and their money and their profit for the month has. [00:27:00] It kind of makes you realize, ’cause I, we all work from home, right? Our agency, we’re all remote and often I will not leave the house for days at a time unless I’m going to the coffee shop or the gym. I think it just kind of reminds you that there are others out there as well that are sort of chipping away doing the things. And it, I, I dunno, it feels like you kind of got your own little community that’s happening. Yeah. Yeah. So I would say that’s been a really big impact for me ’cause I am an introvert. I am so happy in my own company. And it makes me feel like I’ve still got that community without having to give all my introvert energy to social interactions though.
Yeah. Aw, I love that. Yeah, and I think that there is a real sense, you know, both in the, the Facebook group where, you know, people can pop in and say, Hey, am I paying too much for my, my bookkeeper? Or has anyone got a connection in this space? And people can jump in and, you know, it’s not just me, it’s. [00:28:00] The collective who are jumping into support to celebrate, to give advice.
Oh 100% and I mean, like, I’ve changed accountants. I knew my accountant was problematic. I knew I needed to change. I’ve changed accountants. I, I know personally I’ve supported Gem with a few things where she was having questions around what she was paying for her website maintenance, and turns out she was getting the absolute deal of a century.
Oh yeah. And, even just, I think, again, thinking about Gemma, she’s been talking about doing her sequences and her freebie set up for such a long time and. It’s got to the point where we’re like, we’ll just, we’re just gonna sort it for you. We’re just gonna get it done. Mm-hmm. So I think there’s that real sense as well. I think particularly when it comes to the online space or finding service providers, having that group to talk to when they’re all in different industries, they’re all in different locations. So you can kind of just cross check like quotes or deliverables or [00:29:00] what should I be doing with this? Or is this even necessary? Because if you are not the expert in that space, you just don’t know. So I think it kind of gives you that reassurance and it’s, a group that has the experience of run on on the board. You are not just going out to your friends and family and being like, oh, should my bookkeeper doing this or this? It’s you getting actual good data and feedback and insights before making decisions, which is great. And look, sometimes you won’t need that, but if you are uming and ing and you feel something’s a bit off, you’ve got that sounding board there of multiple business owners.
Yeah, I love that. And I wanna talk too about, you know, a bit of the elephant in the room about paying for it because you know, we had a conversation, our last collective call because I’ve recently joined a book club and I was saying that. You know, I, I pay to be in the book club, and I remember that someone in the collective made a comment and said, why would you pay to be in a book club? And I’ve actually had the experience where people have said to me, you don’t need to pay a coach or being in a mastermind, just like find some, you [00:30:00] know, local friend, like biz friends to hang out with. In your opinion, as someone who is invested in a mastermind, what do you think the distinction is about paying to be in a space? Versus not paying, like joining some.
I wouldn’t show up if I wasn’t paying for it. Literally, I just wouldn’t. Sorry. It’d be one of those things where it’s like, I’ve got a million other things on my plate and I think about all of the courses that I’ve purchased. Have I consumed them? No, I think as well I. I think I’ve probably missed two of our group Profit Collective calls. And for me, I even if I know like I’m under the pump with a deadline or something, I’ll pop it on and I’ll still be there listening while we’re doing it because I know that I’m not gonna go back and watch the recording. I just, I’m not the options there if you want to. But I think for me, paying for it means that I actually show up and the fact that they’re live calls, it’s in my calendar and yeah. I’m gonna be there.
There’s just [00:31:00] such a different energy about it. I have joined some peer masterminds where we were all at similar, like, successful levels of business, but because there wasn’t that transactional component we constantly flagged on each other,
oh, of course, it’s a priority.
It fell apart. And also there ends up being like, not an external, but a little bit of a, resentment’s the right word. But you know, like for example, you know, someone’s like, well, why, you know, why do I have to be listening to them talk about all their stuff if I’m giving up my, my ti? When you’re paying for the space, you are all respecting the space. You’re respecting other people’s time, the, the collective energy of the group. So, yeah.
And look, I think even I’m a big believer in. It’s, it’s a business arrangement, right? It wouldn’t be a business arrangement if it wasn’t paid for. I think the same applies if you’re trying to do like [00:32:00] contra deals with people, I am completely against that. I think you invoice me for whatever you charge with that, and I invoice you for whatever I charge because it’s never going to be equal. And there’s always going to be resentment that happens, in my opinion. And I think it’s kind of the same, like if people are giving up their time when you’re paying for it, there’s more structure to it. And everyone else is engaged as well. I love the fact that it’s not a huge group. Mm-hmm. So you’re not going and popping like your questions or if you need support on something or your wins into a group of strangers.
Mm-hmm.
A small group, you’re all talking to each other online, video calls once a fortnight. So there’s that trust that’s built too. Which I think means there’s better conversations that happen. Better advice that’s given, better ideas, feedback if it wasn’t paid. I just don’t think it would be the same situation. A hundred [00:33:00] percent.
And I know for me, I’ve told you guys this in one of our calls. I said, I’m obsessed with you. And I think that, you know, for someone facilitating a mastermind. I, my role is to make sure, like how can I give more value? What is the group needing? How can I surprise and delight? What are ways that, you know, I can make this space incredible? If I was giving up my spare time, I actually used to have a volunteer role. I ran an organization as a volunteer, and my mindset around it was, I give what I can give. This comes from my overflow and I not, I do the bare minimum, but I’m like, I don’t have the capacity to give more. I would love to, but at the end of the day, like, I’m not being paid for this.
But also, Clare, why would we respect your advice and what you’re saying in your coaching? When we’re trying to make more money, and it’s all about profit. If you are not getting paid for what you are doing, would you ever tell us to go and do [00:34:00] all this work for free?
That’s a very, very valid point.
No.
That’s a very valid point. But I know that there is a, a resistance. You know, people look at a lot of my biz friends you know, I’m, I’m in a lot of really high level groups and people are like, how are you friends with Denise Duffield-Thomas and Leonie Dawson, and all these people? I’m like. ’cause I pay you. To be around them. I paid five figures to go to a retreat with Denise back years and years ago. I have invested in her program, I’ve joined masterminds with these people and now when, you know, I’m calling in favors and people, like when I did my book launch, people are like, how the hell have you got all these people sharing it? And I’m like, ’cause I have paid for proximity. And that’s the beautiful, and, and it doesn’t mean that just because you, you pay that someone then owes you indefinitely. Of course not. But you know, when you are, do get in someone’s circle and you do click and you do, I end up becoming really good friends with a lot of my clients long after we work together. Because if [00:35:00] you do have that clique, you’re like, oh, how cool. Like our circles probably wouldn’t have crossed. Our paths might not have crossed, but here we are. So yeah, there’s a lot of power in, in pain for proximity as well. Oh, a hundred percent agree. Yep. Curious to know, to, to wrap up, is there any last things that you want to add any advice that you might wanna say to someone who’s like, sitting on the sidelines or who’s scared to invest in, you know, proximity?
I think you need to go and do your research, work out where you are at and what you need. For me, I really shied away from engaging with any form of coach for a long time. So I’ve had a few over the years and in the early days of my business, it was very much around setting up the agency and mentors in that space. Whereas now I knew my thing was I needed to get across my numbers and focus on money and the profit and. [00:36:00] I think for me, your qualifications your experience working with other agencies. The no bullshit, no fluff kind of approach. Very much my personality. Like I just kind of, after sort of coming across your content went to your, I think I actually first. I came across you years ago, but when I first moved to Brisbane the Golden Key or Golden Success Conference or something, I think you were selling books or something there.
I spoke there actually.
You spoke there. There you go.
And then I also had a stand selling books as well, so Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think, I think if you’re on the sidelines and you are wanting to make more money and you are wanting a small group. Fantastic investment. It really is, really is. So yeah, I would say come join us. Yeah, we’re a great group.
Join us. It’s a beautiful, a beautiful community and I’m, I’m [00:37:00] very, very proud of, of the community that’s, that’s being built there. And I, it’s such an honor to have you part of it, Sonya. And look, if people are listening to this and they are like, far out, man, I need to get my marketing ducks in a row. What is the best way that people can get in touch with a linchpin?
Yeah, so look, I would say go check us out on Instagram, see if you like our vibe and look at our portfolio, the work that we’re doing. So our handle there is @linchpin.digital, or you can go check me out. I have got a very long name, SONY, @sonyamcintyrereid on Instagram. So yeah.
I’ll put the links for that in the show notes.
I think it’s probably a good idea. Yeah. It’s a long one.
Yeah. Fabulous. Well, thanks so much for joining me today and I hope you have a fabulous rest of you day.
Thanks for having me.
Wow, wasn’t that such an inspiring conversation? I love hearing about how much your life can change [00:38:00] when you get in the right room with the right people, and that’s exactly what the Profit Collective is all about. It’s a high level mastermind for six and multi six figure female entrepreneurs who want to scale with more profit and more support. Inside the collective, you’ll have me as your coach, and we also have twice a year day retreats yet matched with a cool accountability buddy. And most importantly, you’ve got a beautiful circle of incredible women to push you and inspire you to your next level. If you’ve been craving that level of energy and support, doors to the Profit Collective are open right now. You can click on the link in the show notes for today’s episode and come join our beautiful community.

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