Profitize Your Purpose: A Power Conversation with Entrepreneur Coach Christie Ruffino

Hey everyone, welcome back to kickstart the conversation. I am super excited to have my next guest with me my next Ask the Expert and that's Christie Ruffino Christie knows what it's like to feel weighed down by challenges, and, you know, challenges that seem impossible to overcome. But the good news is that she did, she overcame them. And instead of saying, Why me, she says, What, what's next? And I love this, she allows her mess to guide her into discovering her true life's purpose. She went on to make even bigger impact by sharing that journey and wisdom with others to equip them to have a profitable business, following their life purpose as well. So honestly, Christie is a genius at turning, you know, kind of like, oh my God, what do I do next is mess of, you know, whatever's going on in your head. And you're like, oh, I don't know what the next step is. Christie is one that actually helps you profit dot profit ties, your purpose. So Christy, welcome to kickstart the conversation. I'm so happy you're here.

I am so happy to be here, Catharine. And I know we're gonna have a great conversation, because we were just chatting for the last 40 minutes. And I'm just like, we need to just record this, this is so good. I, I love what you're doing. And I just I'm really happy to be able to share some of my insights and your insights with the audience today.

Perfect. Well, tell us a little bit more about yourself. And then how you how you serve. Yeah, so

you know, the journey, the entrepreneur, the typical entrepreneurial journey, it's evolved many times over the, over my, over the last 20 years, really. And it started from launching a national networking organization, to creating a publishing company to help women share their stories, and in a book, become Amazon bestselling authors and use it as a platform to attract and serve clients. And now even though I do do that, as well, I have a team of people that help women really hone in on their signature stories. But I've really found that over the years, so many women realize their math became their mission to, but they did not know how to pursue it, they did not know what steps to take, they knew they had value to share, they knew they had wisdom and skills and, and experiences that could help other people, but they didn't know anything about building a business. And so that's where my services come in, I have an amazing program that will help people through every step of the process, even if they have nothing in place. Or maybe they have some things in place, and they need to tweak it a little bit. And it's, it's kind of like, I've kind of feel like I've arrived in to my purpose, my ultimate purpose. Because it's really neat to work with a client and have them launch their first high ticket course and get a ton of money rolling in and get their clients amazing results. And it's just this really great feeling.

I love that and, and it's, I wish I'd known you back when I started because I I knew I had the expertise. And I knew that I had value, but I had no idea how to translate it into entrepreneurial speak. So I knew where I fit in the corporate landscape. I didn't want to take, I didn't want to like hang a shingle, if you will, I didn't want to become a market research consultant. And you know, now be competing with the people that I've been working with. That wasn't that wasn't my next step. But that's not what I wanted to do. But I had no idea how to take like, like I thought no one's going to hire me to to create questionnaires and assessments. And it was like, how was that? How is that going to be possible? So I started in network marketing, like, like, you say,

right, like, I've got to figure it out, like what can I do? And you Yeah, it's an evolution.

Yeah. And so how do people typically find you, Chris, you like what, what kind of lead generation do you use or magnets to we're diving

right in? Well, and it's fun to just back up a little bit. Because when you're in the corporate space, or well, basically, when you're not in the online world, all this online stuff seems it's foreign. It's like a different language. It's, it's, it seems complicated, but yeah, it's a multibillion dollar industry. And we have so many people that have such great skills to share with the world and and online is the best way to do it. Right? We can really serve anybody anywhere. And so for me, now, you know, the best way that I have been finding to not just buy leads, but to find the right leads, is by using the right kind of lead magnet, the right whatever lewer like that color and Gateway gift like a gateway drug, that first step that somebody is going to find appealing and get addicted to what more of you and that's really what it's all about is having the right thing I think you mentioned in our conversation beforehand is building that client attraction gap. So if you can have a lead magnet out there, but if it's not the right one, you're either not getting leads, or you're not converting leads. And so there's like a real science behind making sure everything's aligned.

Yeah, and I don't know if you find this or not. But it's interesting to me that the amount of time that people spend on lead magnets, because it doesn't seem to be a massive amount of time. And yet, it is the gateway. It's the first introduction, it's your first date with like your client. And if you're not speaking the same language, I call I call it my three, the 3am question. If you're not helping them with their you know, what's waking them up at night, then then you, like you're missing the boat. So if you don't take this time, to really kind of, you know, get into that. So I find it fascinating that people are like, Oh, the next checklist, or I'll try a blueprint, or all do like a bunch of, you know, a mini course. So like a you know, like, three, two minute videos, all of which can absolutely work. If there's strategy behind them. I don't know, if you find that sometimes people are just a little pop corny, like they just kind of popcorn from one thing to another.

Well, so that I think the hardest part is for us as an entrepreneur to get out of our own way and see it from the outside in. Because as a as a business professional in our mind, we have so much wisdom and knowledge and all these great things we want to share. However, all we have to do is find our ideal client, which of course, that's the the first obstacle, right? honing in on your niche client, but you have to get them. Connect with them during their 3am session where they're up all night, frantic, not knowing what to do. And then give them something that's going to take give them that first baby step. That's it, you don't want to give them step five, you want to give them step one. And it's hard, I think, for us to figure that out on our own. And that's where you need somebody to help you with that strategy. Because seeing things from the outside in is hard. I even with story like I've been helping women with story for over 10 years, I can talk to somebody and in a matter of 30 minutes, I can like lay out there best, most powerful story, but I can't do my own. Oh, so. So I think that's like that with the right lead magnet is you need somebody to help you with that strategy.

Yeah. And that's funny that you say that because 100% It's so much easier to help somebody else. And then when you get sit down and try to do the exact same thing for yourself. It's like pulling teeth. And I don't know, if you think you have to be a perfectionist on it, because you teach it or you do you just get in your own way. So that's, that's, yeah, yeah, I've been dealing with that. So I think we all do. So Christie, you tell us what kind of you know, you called it, I think you called it a gateway gift. And so you, you imply as part of your program, you actually take people through teaching them how to create a gift, is that correct?

Um, so that's part of the process. So, you know, what I do is I help my clients map out the step by step journey from, you know, 3am to Bliss, right, like every step that you're going to take them on, and figuring out what that first step is, is part of the process, right. But what I do is I help women create their high ticket group coaching program. And as they're launching, I honestly, I help people launch organically, I don't want to have a lot of this complicated process in there. And there's a way to launch more organically. But once they get that beta going, and they get those case studies, I help them build their prospect conversion machine, prospect conversion machine, so they can get their visitors on a more an automated way, right? Like they can attract these leads and convert them in a way that is very efficient and very productive and high conversions. So that gateway gift is really important. I actually, I haven't build a gateway gift on the website and then exclusive gift that you can't get anywhere else. Unless you see that person talk or you hear that person like now on an interview. Like when I do a podcast I have a gift that I give out that you can't get anywhere else. So I have them do like two little funnels, but it is still you know, it really depends on the business of what that right first step is.

100% Yeah, and yeah, and as as you know, we we talked about and I talked about this all the time with even with the marketing that you do and like whether it's Facebook or LinkedIn or you know, networking or speak to sell, like like fine what lights you up so find the lead magnet that like you, you get to like when you are are giving it away you get giddy, right? Like you're like so like, oh my god, I cannot wait for you guys to like, read this is so much fun. Because that's what that's the energy that you want to be putting out. Right?

Totally, totally. And and you have to keep in mind too, that your audience, they're all learning and consuming in different ways, you know, based on their, you know, their makeup, some people like to read some people like to do interaction, some people like visuals. And so you're I don't think you're ever going to have the exact perfect gift. Because, right, but so that's where I started creating bundles. And in my bundles, I have a little bit of everything. And that way, there's going to hopefully be something in there that's going to be appealing to to the right person. I also have my attempted quiz as well on my podcast site. Yeah. So that was talking about? Yeah, and I want to do one that is more in alignment with my, you know, my coaching business as well. So we'll be we'll be chatting about that.

Well, let's, let's, um, let's let's kind of play with that a little bit. Yeah. Let's let's do this live. Okay, well, tell me tell me a little bit more about the three for the coaching that you just said for the coaching business, to create the quiz for that. So let's, let's get into a little bit about your ideal target. Client. So who's your, your ideal person?

Yeah, so I mean, my ideal client is somebody kinda, you know, I've got different avatars, one of them are coaches that are really, they're done working one on one, and they want to pivot to the one to many. Another one is women in the wellness industry that have been working one on one with clients. So basically, anybody that's doing a one on one business and wants to convert to a one on many, and I work with women, I have worked with men, but my ideal client is a woman. But that doesn't mean I won't work with men. But I just find that when the more narrow the niche you get, the better you're able to cater to your your audience.

Yeah, the riches are in the niches. So the key want or desire, or the 3am? Question is, how do I move from one to one to one to many? Because I would bet that there are a few concerns around that. Things? Like, I don't know, if they're gonna get the same value from a one to one to one to many? Or how do I set up the cadence of these groups? And how do we keep them interested in between? Is that

Is that Yeah, and how do I fill it? How do I have everybody going on the same journey together, because everybody's different places. And we think that they have to be going at the same time, they don't to be able to serve. I mean, there's just a lot of different challenges that hold people back from pivoting. But when they do, I mean, it's a little work, but when they do, it allows them to free up so much of their life, and most importantly, serve more people.

Perfect. So. So just from what you were just saying what I kind of am seeing is a 3am question something around the, you know, it's probably, how do I get more free time? Is that is it? How do we get more free time and make more money? Yeah. Okay. So, so it's about time and money.

Yeah, and, yeah, another piece is to is, you know, they don't want to get out network, and they don't want to get out and speak because they're already so full, they're already serving. So more, so much, so many clients, and they can't help any more people. So the only way they can help more people is by working more. And so there's this like, challenge of like, how do I make this transition? In a way that's not gonna, you know, fail? They're not going to fail at it?

Right. So the running into the the classic, you know, the like, there's only 24 hours in the day. Yes. Right. So, so how do I get over the 24 hours a day conundrum? How do I make sure that the experience is the same? Or the experience is, you know, like, you're giving the experience that you want to the one to many? How do you make sure that people are, are how do you manage the group so that yeah, or, you know, maybe not on the same journey? Exactly. But how do you facilitate that?

Right, and how do you teach because sometimes with one on one coaching, yeah, we don't have the direct route. We just meet them where they're at and help them based from that perspective, right. Where with a group program, you have to kind of have your methodology in place, right.

So so when somebody's coming to you I'm thinking, okay, you know what, like, I'm kind of coming up against this, right? I'm coming up, I've got like, I'm full, like my, my one one business is doing really well. But now I'm exhausted. Now I've got no time to take on anyone else. Now I'm stressed it can't scale.

I cannot go on vacations I don't want to take, there's just a ton of different challenges that, you know, they feel alright, I've arrived, I've got a full client load, I'm making decent money. But I'm not able to, like up level to that next place. Because I just I don't have any more hours in the day, I'm a slave to my business. And then it's not fun anymore.

Right. So what you basically done is you created a job, as opposed to this job. Yeah.

So so the, what questions do you typically ask people, when they come to you then like, Well, how do you start the conversation? What's the coffee chat that you have with somebody as they say, okay, you know, what, Christy, I'm in this spot, and I want to go to one too many, but like, you know, I'm just, I'm nervous about it. I'm not sure if it's for me, I don't know what to do. Like, what what, what are some of the things that you need from them first, to really be able to say, this is the part of the process that you need to, like, prioritize and get over first and like, kind of work on first?

Well, so I mean, obviously, one of the biggest challenges is getting them to niche down. Okay? That's, sometimes they're not really open to that they want to help everybody with everything, right? They want to be a jack of all trades and help, you know, mile wide and an inch deep instead of, you know, inch wide and a mile, right?

And I'm gonna say this to my folks, again, if you sell if you sell it, if you serve everyone, you actually solve for no one. Yeah, it's so

it's the hardest thing for people to transition. And so many of my clients have done it, just begrudgingly. But then when they realize that it's working, they're like, oh, my gosh, why didn't I do this a long time ago. And so that and then I also want to really hone in on the results, like, can we quantify the results? Can we can we connect the results to the fact that this is going to help that person make more money, maybe you're not a coach that helps people build a business, maybe you're a wellness coach, if you're able to help that person in a way that they're going to have a financial gain? I don't know, whatever that looks like. That's how I mean, to have a high ticket program, we've got to be able to connect the result to some sort of a financial gain for that for that client. And not everybody is the right fit to have a high ticket program. However, with a few adjustments, it can it can happen.

Okay, so you could take them from the 3am question of, like, how do I, you know, or perhaps what they need to learn is their biggest hurdle? What's the biggest hurdle from going from one to one to one to one to many? So what's my biggest hurdle in creating a high ticket group program? Or what's what's stopping me? What's my number one barrier? was my number one, but like, what's your number one barrier to creating a high ticket coaching program? Group Program, right? And then you could ask them things like, Okay, well, well, okay, so, we've got this question. That's cool. How long have you been in business? Right? What industry? Are you in? You might want to know, wellness versus, you know, business for like, I'm not sure. But like, let's say that you want to know industry so that you can, you know, tailor your conversation around because those are slightly nuanced. Do you currently have a high ticket offer? Is it one to one is it one to many? Do you have a done do it yourself? So maybe you ask a question around, you know, check all that apply that you have, you know, have the following offers. I have a you know, one to one, VIP, I have a one to one group program, high ticket, I have a one to one or sorry, one to many, you know, low ticket, maybe it's a membership or something like that. And I have a do it yourself course. And they don't check all them. They check just the one they have. And then you can and then you can say, you know, you know what's the when you think about going to one too many? What's the one thing that freaks you out the most?

Well, so yeah, so all of the questions you've asked so far logistical? Yeah, and that's good data for me. However, a lot of it I can find by just checking their website. So the key questions are, what is their biggest fear? What is their biggest frustration? And what is their biggest challenge? Because each one of those questions will give you different answers that will help me know what's weather getting stuck.

Right? And those are the questions that you can ask in your quiz then in order to put them into an outcome and maybe and I'm making this up right now, but maybe there are four outcomes. This one is you're running into time for money. So you're you're maxed out, you need to figure out how to duplicate yourself. Yeah, right. So that's the first thing we need to work on is your mindset around how to how to switch from 111. Many. Maybe for them, it's, you know, like, I don't know how to do like you need the experience, or you need some help to really craft what that group program is going to look like what that high ticket offer is going to look like. So one is about mindset of going to the one one to many. One is about the, the actual logistics. One is about facilitation. How do I manage this? Like, like, Is there something I need to know that people are different journeys? That kind of thing? And then, like, how do I create? Maybe it's the content? How do I?

How do I keep it fall? How do I get people in my pocket? Right? How do I fill it? Yep. Yeah, and have it

fill it in a way that lights me up, not in a way that drives

me an easy way to fill it and chasing people down.

So in 10 minutes, folks, we've got Christie's our outline, we've got her 3am question around for, for women that are in wellness, that are struggling, not struggling, they have maxed out their one to one capabilities. And they are looking to do a one to many group, high ticket offer. The 3am question is how do I, you know, how do I go one to many without losing a whole bunch of the experience? So what what is the, you know, what is your number one one area? Yeah, so I think I think a challenge is probably like a, you know, what's your number one barrier? Because what you can do in the in the results is is for each of these barriers that we just talked about? You can answer that one barrier. That's your one thing. You're taking them off one, one, you know, step one, right. So you got your 3am question of how what's what's your number one barrier. And we can wordsmith this obviously, what's your number one barrier to, you know, creating a high ticket group offer? And then we ask them things around, you got to have a warm up question. So maybe, you know, how long have you been in business? You know, what's your number one? Success? Right? Start with success. So, number one success, you know, it's and you can give them a list of check all that apply. Right? It's, you know, my own time. It's my own schedule. It's, you know, this net. Okay, great. What's your number one? Frustration right now? Well, it's my time it's it's, you know, not being able to take vacation. It's, I've created my own golden handcuffs. Oh, the handcuffs? Yep, absolutely. Okay, so what's your number one challenge right now? And it could be I don't, I'm not sure. Or what's your number one challenge to actually, you know, going to a group program, and this is where that one question can actually direct people to the right outcome so that you can say, okay, it's, it's, I just don't know if I can do it. So that's mindset, or I need help with crafting the offer. Okay, that's experience or I need to figure out how to manage the group with they're in different areas, or like, you know, it's just kind of facilitation. Okay, that's, that's a third challenge. And then how do I fill the group over and over again, so that I'm not going bonkers with marketing? That's the fourth.

So there'd be four outcomes based are all are all

check, check only one of the one challenge question in your quiz. Yeah. Right. So all of the questions you still gather data on and we talked about this a little bit beforehand. That's all still brilliant data for you to have in the background and use as you go forward to for your business. But that challenge question, then you can ask, okay, you know, what? Ideally, if you had a high performing high ticket offer in a group format, in next year, and it was full, and it was all going well, like what what differences in your life without me? Yeah, you

got to get them to paint the picture in their mind of how that life would be different. And

exactly, because now what they've done is what you've done is take them on a little bit of a journey of where they are, you know, what they're doing well in, what they're still frustrated with, with their biggest challenges in moving to the next level of getting this high taught high ticket group offer, what it would mean to them now they have actually identified self identified a gap. They know that they have a gap between what's going on now and what they'd really like to have in the future. What you can then do is say, great, you know what, Sam, here's the deal. The number one barrier or the number one thing that's holding you back from a high ticket offer. In a group setting is your mindset. Like you just you got to believe in based do a based on their answers based on, based on that one question, Sam

will have that result. And then Karen will have a different result on their answers. And that way, they're getting customer support, right?

They're getting customer support, and they get the one solution that matters most to them. Yeah. And this broader question of how do I create a high ticket offer, right? Like, because you got to kind of bite sized pieces, right? Like you said, step one, well, step one for Sam might be Well, let's talk about how it can work for you and how we can transition your one on one to one to many. And then Karen gets, okay, like, let's talk about your high ticket offer, like what can we tweak with what you're currently doing? Or what can we create? And the thing is that then Christie, what you do is you say, You know what, Sam, you want to learn more about this, because there's other things that are going on, too, that you need to be aware of there's there's going to be like, you know, making your hygiene, you know, crafting your high ticket offer, there's going to be managing the group, and there's going to be filling it up. So let's get on a call. Yeah, and talk about this. Perfect, you've invited them to the next step.

Yeah. And they already trust you, because you've already helped them a little bit, you've created that lightbulb moment in their mind about the gap. And you've painted a picture of how things could be and so now they're ready to or they're closer to taking now,

if they do get on a call with you, they know what to expect. They know what you're offering. It's not a creepy sales, call that as out of the blue, because you had this whole conversation with them now, but you've had it in five questions. Yeah. Right. And then and then you, you know, you get to invite them to the next step. And so once they get on that call, or that, you know, whatever that next step is for you, the masterclass the, the whatever it is, they're, they're already trusting you, they're already know exactly what they like, I'm here to learn more about how to shift my mindset into one to many, great, perfect, let's talk about that. And here's some other things that you need to do. So let's get started. Right. And it's and it actually shortens your, your sales cycle, your timeline, because now you're not relying on your email nurture sequence of, you know, eight months or six months, or whatever it is. You do the job in 60 seconds. Yeah. I love that, though. So Christie, there's your quiz. There we go. Love it. And that's what you can use on all your podcasts. Right? On your summits, you know, you can have everyone go through your quiz, because then you have that segmentation, you know exactly what, you know, what challenges each person is having. And, and they they all get kind of through the same customer experience, they all get that journey from the problem to your solution, in a way that is a self discovery journey, which is a lot more fun for them.

Yeah, it's more fun. And it also gives me warmer leads, as opposed to somebody just opting into, you know, a PDF, right? And you don't know necessarily, you're not going to follow up with everybody that's, you know, downloaded your PDF, but gone through this quiz that answer these questions. Now you've got data, you got the insight to know if you can help them or not, and it gives you a better chance of being able to serve them.

And the people that realize that, like, you're talking about going to one too many, and they don't want to do that they're going to drop off. They're not going to take and that's brilliant. Yes, that's absolutely why because you don't want to talk to them. Like, I mean, nothing, you don't want to talk to them, but you like they're not your people, like they're not, they're not for your program, they're for somebody else's program. And that's fine. Like, let's like, you know, attract the best and release the rest off the go. So that's, that, there you go. That's, there's your quiz. And you can be using that, as I said, on networking calls on on anything the other. The other thing I love about quizzes, and I've said this before, is that not only do they get the report, necessarily you create a PDF report with their mindset or their experience or their like how to fill your program, whatever outcome they get. They also get best in class services, actually, they also get a web like video script. So two or three minute video script of the report, if they never read the report, they have the video that they can watch right away so that you can, you know, you can get your information across to them. That solves for the fact that 80% of PDFs that are downloaded right now or never opened or never opened.

I know. Right? So I like having I like that I like having a little video. I mean, you could do a talking head video of ourselves talking about it, but you could also have some really cool little animated video made for each of the different outcomes.

You can't you get your creativity here like this is where your personality can shine. You can you can do like whatever you know whatever is going to make them feel comfortable. and get in. Again, it's a way to get to know them a little better, or for them to get to know you a little better. And then you also have the whole email sequence follow up, right? Like, hey, here's your report, did you get the report, let's talk about the report, let's talk about the three things that you can do about mindset. Let's like you know, and keep inviting them to the, to the call, or to the webinar, or whatever it is. So it's just like a triple reinforcement, instead of just one download.

It's brilliant. I'm gonna get to work on this.

Well, I'm Christie, how do people get in touch with you to take this amazing quiz that you're going to be developing? But

I gotta get it done quick. All right. But how do people in is done, it will be either on my crystal rufino.com website or my mastery unleashed coaching.com website?

Can you repeat those again, please?

Christie ruffino.com or mastery unleashed coaching.com.

So if you want to know more about Christie and her programs, I encourage you to go to those either of those sites to get in and connect with Christie. Because if you are in that, that situation of that high ticket offer, and I'm telling you like it's so much it is easier to sell a higher ticket offer it is than it is to sell a low ticket offer like it just one and you

have clients that are committed to getting the results are more committed, I should say, Yeah, and it makes your job easier. And it makes their life better.

Well, and it makes your revenue more consistent. And you don't have to do the whole roller coaster ride. Because that's not fun. And, and yeah, so I strongly support and encourage you to, to connect with Christie, if that's the position that you're in that you're looking for that high ticket offer because it is the way to go. People are busy. And they are even more discerning now of who they're working with. But they're also willing to pay for what they need. And they want their they want their person. Right, you know, right. So if you think

there's a lot of noise out there, and you know, the tire kickers gonna always be tire kickers. Yeah, but the people that really want results, they want to invest in their success, right? They want to invest in buying their dreams. And so for me to understand why, like, I don't want to spend $500 To get an outcome when I know I can spend more and actually get the outcome. Yeah, as opposed to just you know, playing around and not getting the results I want. Yeah, my time. Everybody's time is so valuable. Like let's get the best results in the most efficient way possible.

Exactly. And if you're doing one to one and you're looking for one too many, the way to do that is to connect with Christie. So, um, thank you so much. Bye.

Take my coming soon to be produce quiz.

We'll have you back. We'll have you back for the big

There we go. There we go. All right,

Christie, thanks so much for joining us and to everyone listening. Thank you so much for kick starting the conversation again this week with us and I look forward to speaking with you next week. Bye bye.