294: [Ro Shah] The Million Dollar DM: Mastering Sales
In this dynamic episode of About That Wallet, host Anthony Weaver welcomes Ro Shah, a passionate advocate for women in business and expert in sales coaching. Together, they dive into the real-life challenges and victories of the Sandwich Generation—those balancing caregiving responsibilities for both children and aging parents while pursuing financial independence and business growth.
Ro shares her inspiring journey from the corporate world to entrepreneurship, offering a behind-the-scenes look at how her experiences shaped her mission to empower women—especially women of color—in the financial and business landscape. She breaks down her signature Million Dollar DM Method, revealing how authentic selling, powerful storytelling in sales, and consistent follow-up techniques can transform your networking results and client relationships.
Listeners will gain sales strategies for high-ticket sales, tips on automation tools, how to define your ideal client, and why personal branding matters more than ever. If you're looking to build confidence, master your sales mindset, or enhance your podcast guesting skills, this episode is for you.
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🔗 Connect with Ro Shah:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theroshah/
Website: theroshah.com
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=|| 📚 Chapters ||=
(00:00) Welcome and Introduction
(02:30) Ro's Journey from Corporate to Entrepreneur
(10:15) The Million Dollar DM Method Explained
(18:00) Authenticity in Sales and Networking
(25:45) Overcoming Rejection in Business
(32:30) The Importance of Storytelling
(40:00) Finding Your Ideal Client
(48:15) Tips for Women Entrepreneurs
(55:00) Closing Thoughts and Resources
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⚠️ DISCLAIMER:
This content is for educational purposes only and is not financial advice. Always do your own research and consult a licensed financial professional when needed.
#AboutThatWallet #WomenInBusiness #FinancialEmpowerment #SalesCoaching #Entrepreneurship #FinancialLiteracy
Episode 294
Transcript
>> Roma Shah: When you reach out to someone, um, and I teach this
Speaker:DM method to everyone I call my million dollar DM M
Speaker:concept is you reach out with a compliment that's
Speaker:genuine. Okay. Like you can't copy and paste the same
Speaker:compliment to the same five different
Speaker:people. So it's a genuine compliment. And then
Speaker:you ask them an open ended question that drives the
Speaker:conversation where you want it to go. So for example, if
Speaker:I wanted to be on your podcast, right, I give
Speaker:a genuine compliment like, oh my gosh, I love the episode
Speaker:about Aantia.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: Welcome back everybody to another exciting show day
Speaker:about that Wal a podcast where we help
Speaker:you build strong financial habits. We actually
Speaker:focus on the sandwich generation so that they
Speaker:can actually spend money, talk about money, and
Speaker:even enjoy their money with confidence.
Speaker:And I have the awesome opportunity to bring on
Speaker:somebody who is really helping out
Speaker:women to be the best that they can be and all
Speaker:that they can be, not in army, but in their
Speaker:business. So how are you doing today, Ro?
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: Hi. I'm great and thank you so much for having me on. I'm so
Speaker:excited for everything that we're going to talk about on the show.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: Awesome. Um, um, first of, I'm glad that you're
Speaker:excited on this Friday. I mean, you can be doing anything
Speaker:else.
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: No, yeah, I love. I mean, when I heard about
Speaker:your show and we were talking about this in the green room,
Speaker:how you have so many successes on your podcast, I was like, I want
Speaker:to give back and teach a little bit, showcase
Speaker:a little bit about what's possible for women or
Speaker:really just anyone with the business.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: Yeah. And when it comes to business,
Speaker:and because I'm focusing on the sandwich generation,
Speaker:what is it about business that
Speaker:excites you the most?
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: I think it's just like no cap, um, for your
Speaker:income or what's possible.
Speaker:So speaking of the sandwich generation,
Speaker:I mean, I don't have a family, um, like I don't have
Speaker:kids, but I have older parents. And
Speaker:what I noticed is when I was still at my 9 to 5, a lot
Speaker:of people were in the sandwich generation. They were taking care of their own
Speaker:kids, but then taking care of their parents. I'm like
Speaker:60, 80,000 sometimes it's just not going to cut it
Speaker:if you want to live a high quality lifestyle in the United
Speaker:States. And when I got rejected for my first
Speaker:promotion, I'm like, something's got to change.
Speaker:A, a man in, um, a
Speaker:conservative company is not going to give me my
Speaker:lifestyle, so I have to go fight for it myself. So when he
Speaker:said no to my promotion, I was like, screw that. I'm going to go start my own
Speaker:business. Um, so, yeah, I think a business really
Speaker:helps you get out of the squeeze that you feel in a sandwich
Speaker:generation.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: Yeah. And because you've had
Speaker:that experience, you know, from
Speaker:doing all of that and actually experiencing something like that,
Speaker:I do apologize that you had to go through that.
Speaker:But what is it beside saying, like, the
Speaker:lack of women in finance,
Speaker:um, that really kind of drives you to
Speaker:continue doing what you do?
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: Yeah, I'll give some background. So I
Speaker:started as a consultant, um, and then
Speaker:I went as a software engineer. And in both realms,
Speaker:I always thought there weren't a lot of men in either
Speaker:industry. But I think what hit home for me
Speaker:is when I would have conversations with my
Speaker:coworkers and they would always quote, like, Dave Ramsey
Speaker:or these, um, white guys in finance. And I'm like, I
Speaker:don't have anyone to quote. Uh, I think at the time,
Speaker:Budgetista was still there. Right.
Speaker:Maybe five, ten years ago, but she wasn't as big as she is right
Speaker:now. And I was, I we the women of color. For
Speaker:people who look like me, the Iloone quote, I can be like, look at
Speaker:her book or look at her podcast. They didn't
Speaker:exist or they weren't as popular as some
Speaker:of these guy influencers. So I was like, okay,
Speaker:I need to use my skill set and help
Speaker:more women entrepreneurs learn about money.
Speaker:Understand, like, there are more women of color in the
Speaker:financial industry that they can talk to. So it was really just
Speaker:from anger that I focused on my niche. I
Speaker:was like, I need to make sure that all the women of
Speaker:color in the financial industry are at the top. So they
Speaker:get like, the book deals, they get the podcast episodes,
Speaker:they get the publicity money that goes to them on
Speaker:CNN versus, like, the other guys. Um, so
Speaker:that's how it all started.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: And what other observations, uh,
Speaker:that you made in your corporate that kind of led you to focus
Speaker:on sales coaching specifically?
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: Yeah, I actually would say, like, um,
Speaker:every day before I went into my nine to fiveock, I would walk down
Speaker:this long hallway. It was like a 10 minute walk from,
Speaker:like walking into the door of the building to my actual
Speaker:office. And I was just listening to podcast
Speaker:episodes, um, of different
Speaker:successful entrepreneurs. And something a through
Speaker:line that they all had was they were all focusing on sales,
Speaker:their first job was sales, or they got their
Speaker:start to real money through sales. So I was
Speaker:like, oh, I thought sales was like selling
Speaker:cars, not really something super lucrative.
Speaker:And then I learned about the world of high ticket sales.
Speaker:I actually started as selling my own lead
Speaker:generation services. I was an agency before I moved into
Speaker:PE consulting. Um, and that lead
Speaker:generation agency outperformed my 9 to
Speaker:5. We hit one 150 do in the first
Speaker:year. But I was like, oh, I'm ono something.
Speaker:Sales is the key. Uh, and then fast
Speaker:forward a couple years later. Now I teach sales to a lot of women of
Speaker:color. Yeah.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: So for somebody that's listening right now and just thinking
Speaker:about sales is something that I
Speaker:really want to get into. And I'm thinking
Speaker:about taking it outside of just selling a
Speaker:product. But you also got to sell yourself, too.
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: Yeah.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: And even though it might not be the best version of
Speaker:you, you might sell, like the
Speaker:facade so that you can actually get what you
Speaker:want.
Speaker:Um, um, can you talk about
Speaker:what is a good sales tactic
Speaker:that you found has always hit every
Speaker:time.
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: That's really funny, um, that you say that of a
Speaker:facade. Because I actually think the best
Speaker:salespeople are, um, the ones that
Speaker:are just authentically themselves. Right.
Speaker:Because you can only fake it till you make it for so long,
Speaker:until you have to morph into being that person.
Speaker:But the best sales tactic, I would say, is follow up.
Speaker:So I give this story all this time. There was this
Speaker:one person I followed up with seven times. Most people would have given
Speaker:up after they leave you unseen. Right. But I followed
Speaker:up with her seven times, and she ended up becoming a client for two
Speaker:years. So that's like $20,000 in sales.
Speaker:It was worth it to me. Did it hurt my ego a little bit that
Speaker:she kept leaving me un red? Of course. Right.
Speaker:But follow up is key
Speaker:because it's not about you. Like, they might be
Speaker:busy with their kids. They might be busy, um, with
Speaker:the school year, with their 9 to 5, um, with
Speaker:their boss. So if someone is leaving you onread, or
Speaker:if they're liking your message or, you know, not responding,
Speaker:I wouldn't take that personally. I would just keep following
Speaker:up until they either tell you to not talk to them
Speaker:or, all right, you get. You have a discussion with
Speaker:them. So I would say be relentless, be shameless.
Speaker:Um, because if you're not making the type of money you want,
Speaker:you need to start being shameless about how you follow up.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: Yeah. Because I'm thinking of how many times I've been
Speaker:rejected and even getting guests on the show. And I mean, you run a
Speaker:podcast as well and just kind of push it out. There were like,
Speaker:hey, I like your story. Would you want to come on the show? And then
Speaker:they were like, no, I'm good. And then it's
Speaker:like, yeah, do you continue on or do you
Speaker:say like, try to pitch it to them a different way? Do the green E and
Speaker:hand method.
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: Or I think I kind of equated to
Speaker:dating. Right? You don't want to choose one person and like put
Speaker:all, like wait for that one person to text you back.
Speaker:It feels like you're clingy. It's desperate.
Speaker:Reach out to as many podcasts as possible. And then if you
Speaker:come across that podcast that rejected you again, just be like,
Speaker:hey, it's been a while. Do you still not want me on your
Speaker:show? I'd love to come back into the loop.
Speaker:It helps you detach from that one
Speaker:person making a decision about you.
Speaker:Uh, I always say just like, if you
Speaker:get rejected from a job, you could apply to other
Speaker:jobs. You don't have to cling on to the one that doesn't want.
Speaker:You go after the people that celebrate you.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: Y And because you help so many people in
Speaker:different types of businesses, is there like a particular
Speaker:formula, like a flat formula besides the follow
Speaker:up side of the house? So do you say like, hey, my name is so
Speaker:and so or is it, um, hey, I see you
Speaker:doing this product. Let's do this.
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: I'll give you my favorite two step strategy. Two
Speaker:step? Yeah, when, when you reach out
Speaker:to someone, um, and I teach this DM method to
Speaker:everyone I call my million dollar DM concept is
Speaker:you reach out with a compliment that's genuine. Okay.
Speaker:You can't copy and paste the same compliment to
Speaker:the five different people,
Speaker:so it's a genuine compliment. And then you ask them
Speaker:an open ended question that drives the conversation
Speaker:where you want it to go. So for example, if I wanted
Speaker:to be on your podcast, right, I'd give a genuine
Speaker:compliment like, oh my gosh, I love the episode about
Speaker:Aquania. It was really great about xyz.
Speaker:And then I'd ask, are you taking any guess right now?
Speaker:And it drives, uh, the psychology
Speaker:is it drives the human need of like giving a compliment.
Speaker:The other person wants to be complimeended but it also
Speaker:drives what I want to do, which is get on someone's podcast
Speaker:or make a sale. So two steps,
Speaker:compliment, ask an open ended question.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: Short and sweet. Because I do get a lot of those emails like, hey, I'JUST
Speaker:listening to so and so episode. And now like did you really
Speaker:listen to it? Um, yeah, because it's like, what did you
Speaker:pull out of it? And they don't say what they pulled out of it. They
Speaker:didn't.
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: Not gen. Genine.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: Yeah. And it's like, okay, great.
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: It's not a genuine compliment, I always say.
Speaker:Um, it's like when you pass someone
Speaker:walking on the street and you compliment them on their shoes or their hair.
Speaker:It's not strategic. You didn't formulate the
Speaker:compliment when you saw them from super far
Speaker:away. It's just natural. You were like, oh, I really
Speaker:like this about your podcast. Or, oh, I really like this about,
Speaker:um, your outfit. It's
Speaker:genuine. It doesn't feel very strategic. That
Speaker:makes sense.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: It does. It perfectly does. Uh, because I was just giving
Speaker:a lady a compliment on her glasses when she was just
Speaker:coming out of the car. It was an older lady. Like, she had the cane and
Speaker:everything. Um, and she had, like
Speaker:these thick, java colored,
Speaker:um, glasses. And I was like, oh, there's some really
Speaker:unique glasses. It's really nice. And she was like, oh, thank
Speaker:you. Like, with a British accent and everything. I was like, this is
Speaker:great.
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: Uh, but it's a great opener to start the
Speaker:conversation. I'm sure you could have asked her about her accent and then had a whole
Speaker:conversation with her.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: Yeah, I had that kind of time.
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: Yeah. But that's just a simple way to make.
Speaker:Start making sales or start a sales conversation
Speaker:with your ideal clients. Yeah.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: Okay, so now we know how to sell on
Speaker:a digital front. How do we sell out
Speaker:person in face to face.
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: Yeah. I'll be honest with you. I actually thought
Speaker:in person selling was so, um,
Speaker:so not me. Because the whole point I started my business is
Speaker:I never wanted to be in an office again. I never wanted to have a
Speaker:commute. I never wanted to be on the highway in my car
Speaker:going from place A to B. So when I thought of
Speaker:selling in person, I had the immediate ic.
Speaker:Um, but what I've learned is,
Speaker:uh, recently, in October of Last
Speaker:year, in 2024, I got invited to an event. And
Speaker:I'm like, I have not gone to a business
Speaker:event in a long time. Pretty much since the pandemic
Speaker:happened. So I was like, okay, let me start. And I actually became
Speaker:a speaker for that event. So instead of trying to network, which
Speaker:is you're trying to meet a million people, it's easier for
Speaker:you to be on stage talking. So people
Speaker:naturally come to you to ask questions about your talk.
Speaker:I would say if you're one of those people that are just going to a million
Speaker:conferences and not getting, um,
Speaker:any sales because you're one in a
Speaker:million fish that are in that conference center,
Speaker:See if you can get on stage because it elevates you, it makes you
Speaker:stand out from the crowd and it puts you in a position of
Speaker:being credible. And the way you could do that, it's
Speaker:just the two step method. Compliment whoever is
Speaker:running the event and then ask them a
Speaker:question to get to where you want to be. If you could, um,
Speaker:speak on stage.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: And my next thing is, what is the follow
Speaker:up then? Because you get them
Speaker:started and then, okay, they started
Speaker:talking. Be like, crap, what are I supposed to talk about now?
Speaker:Or just kind of just go with the flow.
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: Yeah. So I say going with the
Speaker:flow in a sales conversation leads to no
Speaker:sales. So usually you start with a
Speaker:compliment, ask a question, and then you start learning.
Speaker:Depending on what service you're selling, you
Speaker:ask about their goals and challenges. And once you know that
Speaker:information, you take it from the DMs to
Speaker:Zoom be like, oh, we'd love to talk to you. Do you want to get
Speaker:on a zoom call? Let's talk about your challenges and how I can help
Speaker:you. Here you go. And that you can usually do that
Speaker:in one day.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: Nice.
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: You don't know emails. You don't need ads. You don't need all this
Speaker:fancy stuff. You could just go straight to the source.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: Well, you mentioned ads. What do you
Speaker:dislike about ads?
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: I would say ads are fine, but you need to know what
Speaker:you're doing with them. Um, I think a
Speaker:lot of entrepreneurs that are less than $50,000 in
Speaker:revenue, they spend a lot of money on ads before
Speaker:they mastered the basics of sales.
Speaker:Conversations, closing calls. I think
Speaker:I've heard this story so many times where people will spend
Speaker:maybe 100ars to $1,000 in ads to not get
Speaker:anything. Um, and it's just because you're
Speaker:trying to skip steps. You're trying to skip steps to
Speaker:learn how to have sales conversations, learn how to close the
Speaker:deal with ads. And
Speaker:it's kind of like trying to cheat on a test that you
Speaker:didn't prepare for. Yeah.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: So how do we not cheat? What are the steps?
Speaker:Walk us through.
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: Yeah, I would say one master. If
Speaker:you have never made a sale, start with
Speaker:making a sale on your own before you buy into
Speaker:ads. Um, you will hear success stories where
Speaker:someone just created a product yesterday and
Speaker:they spent $100 on ads and they made a million dollars.
Speaker:Those are exceptions to the rule. And you could
Speaker:totally be that exception, but you could make a
Speaker:sale for free with the DM method I just taught you. Or
Speaker:spendt$100 and make no sales. It's up to you
Speaker:how risky you want to be and what's worth your time and
Speaker:energy. Uh, but in terms of
Speaker:going to ads, learn how to do sales
Speaker:conversations, close a couple sales of
Speaker:your own product or service and then start
Speaker:experimenting with ads.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: All right. And then is there like a
Speaker:closing method as well? Far as like, all
Speaker:right, cool. We see what you like. Try it
Speaker:out or do you want to buy?
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: Yeah. So actually if you go to, um,
Speaker:my website, the
Speaker:roshaw.comemail series,
Speaker:you're going to get a five step method that we teach.
Speaker:So we set the intention. On the call, you ask about the
Speaker:goals, the challenges, then you give them a plan and then you
Speaker:pitch them. And it's very simple. It doesn't require
Speaker:script, anything like that. It's just a framework
Speaker:that makes sure you check all the boxes. Did I ask about
Speaker:their goals? Did I ask about their challenges? Did I pitch them
Speaker:yet? Um, but yeah, we have that whole checklist on
Speaker:our website. But it's very simple. Like it doesn't need to
Speaker:be this high pressure situation like you see on
Speaker:the car a lots.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: Yeah. And it gets me to think of almost how I run
Speaker:in the podcast show'kind of being more
Speaker:interested instead of interesting to kind of
Speaker:help the person open up a little bit more
Speaker:to. Because it's about the guess, it's
Speaker:about the person you really want to know. And how are you'going to get to know them if you're
Speaker:constantly talking?
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: I think that's a great point. Um, and
Speaker:I also run my own podcast and I always tell my clients, if
Speaker:you're talking the majority of the time on a sales call, you're
Speaker:losing the sale. It's not about you. Stop talking
Speaker:and let them talk. Because if you
Speaker:notice now with AI, you could tell. But if
Speaker:you notice you're talking the majority of the time on a sales
Speaker:call, you're probably not going to make the sale because it's not about you,
Speaker:it's about them. And you don't know anything about them. If you've been yapping
Speaker:for like 50 out of the 60 minutes that you
Speaker:have.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: Yeah, I was playing around. Somebody, um,
Speaker:did not believe me when I said the best sales book is green
Speaker:eg and ha. And they was like, what do you mean by Green Eggs
Speaker:and Ham'a SAE book. I'm like, the dud been sitting there
Speaker:trying to sell him on green eggs and ham the whole
Speaker:time, trying out these different things instead of just asking him
Speaker:a basic question. Hey, you want to try
Speaker:something more exclusive? Something that's new on the
Speaker:market. Are you in the market
Speaker:for trying out something new? Um,
Speaker:how about you just try this for size or.
Speaker:So many people have tried this already and they seem to
Speaker:love it. Would you try it, like
Speaker:so many different ways. He could have closed to, say, a lot faster. That's my
Speaker:thought on it.
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: Yeah. I haven't read that book in a while. But it's
Speaker:like just talking to your people, right?
Speaker:Instead of, uh. I think a
Speaker:little bit of it is about ego. Just because you have a
Speaker:product that you love doesn't mean everyone's going to love it. So
Speaker:you need to talk to people about it.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: That's true. Because not everybody'to customer. Right?
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: Not everyone's your customer. And I learned it.
Speaker:I feel like I've always been in sales. Even when I was working
Speaker:in. I, um, was working in luxury
Speaker:web design. I worked at Sacks Fifth Avenue.
Speaker:And we got to go to these sample sales.
Speaker:I saw Chanel on the racks, all of that. And I
Speaker:saw them selling it for $1,150. When malls, it was like
Speaker:$1,000. And I realized the
Speaker:value of things is different where you place them.
Speaker:So even though you might also be in the
Speaker:wrong spot, if you're trying to sell your service
Speaker:on Facebook in front of a bunch of nine to fiver that have never
Speaker:bought anything for $5,000 versus you go to
Speaker:an Instagram community that understands the value of
Speaker:$5,000 service, you're going to have a different
Speaker:experience too.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: Okay, so are you really
Speaker:selling an experience at this point or the
Speaker:product?
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: Are you talking about in my own business? Yeah.
Speaker:I would say right now we sell mostly the service. Right.
Speaker:So we consult a lot of businesses on how they
Speaker:can increase their sales. And a lot of times it is
Speaker:not mind blowing. It's probably something that was staring you in the
Speaker:face the whole time. And then in 60 minutes, I'm like, this
Speaker:is the one thing you need to do. I'll give you an example. We had this
Speaker:one client that's, uh, a bakery in Chicago already doing like a million
Speaker:dollars a year.
Speaker:Um, I think they're called Brown Sugar Bakery. Worked with them
Speaker:a couple years ago. They're a bakery, right.
Speaker:But they did not have the basics of email set
Speaker:up. Um, they had hundreds of.
Speaker:I don't know if it's hundreds of thousands, but they had hundreds of customers. And
Speaker:I'm like, where are all their email addresses? So you can send them
Speaker:coupons, send them Valentine's Day promotions.
Speaker:They didn't have it. They were just
Speaker:Collecting all this information and not using it. So most of the time, if
Speaker:you want to make more sales, the data is right in front of
Speaker:you.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: Yeah, so we understand
Speaker:that. We. Because sometimes some of the steps that we miss
Speaker:when we just excited about, you know, hey, we started
Speaker:something, we just want people to come in and buy stuff at the end of
Speaker:the day. And you're talking about the follow up,
Speaker:you're talking about the follow through. Now with the,
Speaker:um, email capture and
Speaker:bringing on, I guess you could say almost a new
Speaker:clientele because now you'getting discounts to kind of
Speaker:lock in that user.
Speaker:So I think one step that I want to
Speaker:capture is how do we find our ideal client?
Speaker:Or how can women really identify the ideal client?
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: I would say the easiest one is your ideal client is usually you. It's
Speaker:some past version of you or
Speaker:future version of you. So I remember when I first
Speaker:started, my mentor made me write out a whole
Speaker:sheet of, like, who I was looking for, who I wanted to
Speaker:be, blah, blah, blah. Uh, when I was looking at the sheet, I'm like, oh, this is my best
Speaker:friend. I knew her like the back of my hand. And when
Speaker:I wrote out all her details, even down to her
Speaker:hair and eye color, it was a very specific type of
Speaker:ideal client worksheet. I was like, oh, I talk to this girl
Speaker:every day. I know her like the back of my hand. So let
Speaker:me sell to her because I know her really well, sell
Speaker:to people that are like her. And that's how my
Speaker:business kind of blew up, because I knew my ideal client because
Speaker:that ideal client was me or my best friend.
Speaker:I think a lot of times if you try to sell to
Speaker:an ideal client that you don't have any interaction with, you
Speaker:look phony. I'll give you an example. A lot of times
Speaker:I see entrepreneurs trying to sell to doctors. They have
Speaker:no experience with a doctor. They don't have
Speaker:anyone in their family that's gone
Speaker:through, um, medical school and medical
Speaker:training. So when a doctor sees you and they see that your targeting
Speaker:doctors just because they make a lot of money, they know that
Speaker:it feels fake from a mile away versus one
Speaker:of my mentors. She's always
Speaker:had like, um, I think when she was very young, she
Speaker:had heart surgery as a baby, and then she's had plastic
Speaker:surgery to cover up the scars. Then she created a
Speaker:practice around helping surgeons. But she had a really
Speaker:authentic story. She's been in a surgeon's office since she was like
Speaker:2 years old. So she could connect with them
Speaker:versus someone off the street. That's like, I'm going to target surgeons because they make
Speaker:millions of dollars. The story isn't there, so it's harder to connect
Speaker:with that audience.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: I like that.
Speaker:So you bring out the concept of story and I m like, how
Speaker:we pieceing this all together is that, um,
Speaker:when you have your story, I think that's one of the
Speaker:things I've always been told is your story
Speaker:sells the product more so than the products selling
Speaker:itself. Um, so like this
Speaker:microphone that I'm using and a lot of people ask
Speaker:like, man, your audio sounds really good. And I was like, yeah, because I've been
Speaker:through a lot of crappy mics before. As I was
Speaker:evolving, I finally landed at this one. But now
Speaker:that I've gotten here, I'm like, okay.
Speaker:My story behind it is that I really wanted to
Speaker:provide a better audio experience.
Speaker:And one of the things is like, I kind of wish
Speaker:I've known before is that there is another
Speaker:mic that is a step down from this
Speaker:that has both USB and
Speaker:xlr and that could have saved me a lot
Speaker:of money instead of buying a wholeher $500,
Speaker:um, mixer just to kind of
Speaker:use this microphone. And
Speaker:it's just one of those things as a thing to help. I know it's a bad
Speaker:analogy, but it's just kind of like, what is
Speaker:your story behind your product? So
Speaker:if we can dive into your story behind your
Speaker:product, how did you get started?
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: Yeah, I think it's like I mentioned it
Speaker:before, but, you know, it's like not seeing enough women
Speaker:in the financial industry, seeing
Speaker:like having conversations with my coworkers and not being able to
Speaker:point to a famous woman of color in finance that be like,
Speaker:I learned investing from her. Um, and I think what
Speaker:you pointed out is so important. Storytelling is more important than
Speaker:credentials sometimes. Unfortunately, right
Speaker:now, like, you see the US election and someone with the
Speaker:most credentials, who has the
Speaker:education, who has been in government for years,
Speaker:she didn't win. And it's just because the
Speaker:person with the best story tellling skills won. And that's
Speaker:just really unfortunate. But it's just human
Speaker:nature. People will buy the story more than the
Speaker:credentials. Uh, and I think even the best
Speaker:business owners, they have a really good story, but they might not have
Speaker:the Harvard degree. Right? And the person with the Harvard
Speaker:degree might make a couple might make good money, but it
Speaker:won't be as good as an entrepreneur with a really,
Speaker:really good story.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: I totally love it because I mean, if you think about it, they
Speaker:say at least when I was going through college,
Speaker:they were saying that all the C students, C and B students
Speaker:will be your entrepreneurs and actually running
Speaker:the businesses, whereas your A students will be the
Speaker:workers. And it took me until
Speaker:I became an adult to start to see that. Um,
Speaker:because like you said, as people of color, we
Speaker:always do an extra mile, like getting the certifications, getting a
Speaker:degreegree. And it's like you
Speaker:look at the person that's your supervisor and be like,
Speaker:you don't have a degree. You might get a.
Speaker:I know not to competitorgrees, but
Speaker:they go through.
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: I think it's so important because I think honestly, you need both.
Speaker:Not only do you need the degree, but you need. Because I think the
Speaker:myth is like, you don't need a college degree, um, to be
Speaker:successful. And I think, as personally, in my own
Speaker:experience, I don't think I would have gotten a job without a college degree. I could have
Speaker:a good story, but I need both. I need a great degree,
Speaker:I need to have great credentials, and I need to be
Speaker:really good at storytelling. So it's like
Speaker:unfortunately or fortunately, however you want to put it,
Speaker:you almost need both. But don't rely on your
Speaker:credentials only. You need to get really good at telling your
Speaker:story. And I think a lot of times we don't have the opportunity
Speaker:to brag about ourselves enough so we don't build up
Speaker:that skill.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: How do you formulate a good story?
Speaker:Do you, uh, go over storytelling in your process?
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: I do. And I'll be honest, for a long time,
Speaker:I didn't think storytelling was important at all. Like,
Speaker:uh, until I started going to these in person events and people
Speaker:wanted to know my story, I was like, oh my God, I got toa start talking
Speaker:about it. Um, uh, but storytelling
Speaker:really just, it has to feel true. Right? It's
Speaker:even if you don't know what your story is just right. If you
Speaker:look at every year of your life, you can start piecing
Speaker:it together. Fifth grade, I did this. In seventh grade, I did
Speaker:this. In college, I did this. And then the story is just going to
Speaker:come out. If you'not. If you don't feel very creative about your
Speaker:storytelling, stick with the facts and the facts will tell
Speaker:you your story.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: M yeah, I like that. I like that.
Speaker:So, um, you know, you talked
Speaker:about your parents a little bit. What is it
Speaker:about them that kind of driven you to
Speaker:continue doing what you're doing?
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: Yeah, that's a good question. So in 2008,
Speaker:when the recession happened, I think I was,
Speaker:was. I was in middle school or elementary school. I Can't
Speaker:remember. But, um, they were
Speaker:stressed out, and I had no clue why. I remember
Speaker:my earliest memory of that time was, like, they couldn't buy
Speaker:the school photos, um, that they come out with every
Speaker:year. And I thought it was weird because they loved those photos. And
Speaker:then a decade later, I found out
Speaker:that they lost all their money in the 2008
Speaker:recession. And it was very scary to find
Speaker:out because they were immigrants. They came
Speaker:here, they worked very hard. They worked, like, two, three jobs
Speaker:at the same time. And to learn that they lost all their money in the
Speaker:stock market in 2008 suck because we did not
Speaker:have the financial literacy or the education.
Speaker:And it's all, um, It's a snowball
Speaker:effect. I told you the story about my 9 to 5 and my coworkers,
Speaker:but really understanding
Speaker:that entrepreneurship is going to give you no cap on your
Speaker:income. And me being an entrepreneur, I can help my
Speaker:parents, um, in a way that I could never do with
Speaker:my 9 to 5. I recently took them on vacation with
Speaker:my sister to Portugal. I would never have been able to do
Speaker:that with my 9 to 5. Not
Speaker:even just taking off the PTO, but being able to make
Speaker:the type of money. I want to kind of
Speaker:help them and give back to them and also just spoil them. I want to treat
Speaker:them pretty really well. You
Speaker:can't always do that with a nine to five.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: Yeah. And that's good that you continue. Want to give back
Speaker:and continue on to thrive for the family
Speaker:unit. And that's really beautiful that you're taking
Speaker:out time to do that.
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: Yeah. And I would say if you're listening to this
Speaker:and be like, oh, that's so easy for Roma. No, it took,
Speaker:like, years. And if you want to do that for yourself and
Speaker:your family, start small. Just start
Speaker:thinking about your ideal client. We went through the wholes sales
Speaker:process during your podcast, but just follow the
Speaker:steps and see where you can go. Um,
Speaker:to achieve your dreams, it's all possible. You
Speaker:just have to stay committed to the vision.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: What is it in the financial bucket that
Speaker:actually helps you save up to actually take that
Speaker:trip for your family?
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: I'm going to sound crazy, um, because I don't hear a lot
Speaker:of people talking about it. #us they want to make other people feel good
Speaker:about where they're at. But I
Speaker:live, like, really like a college student. The
Speaker:first two, three years out of college, I
Speaker:bought. I lived in the cheapest housing I could
Speaker:find. Um, I lived alone.
Speaker:My rent was about, like, 1250. I know that's
Speaker:very Hard right now if you try to find an apartment in New
Speaker:Jersey, New York at that price. But I was willing
Speaker:to keep my costs low so I could contribute, like 70% of
Speaker:my paycheck to my. To my investments. And that
Speaker:meant, like, if I. Let's say I made
Speaker:$5,000 that month, I would try to contribute
Speaker:4,000 or, like, whatever was my rent
Speaker:payment, and then the rest of it would go straight
Speaker:into my brokerage accounts, um, into my index funds,
Speaker:into maxing out my 401k. It was not fun.
Speaker:I felt crazy, but I was like,
Speaker:I really wanted to hit the first 100k as fast as
Speaker:possible. And that meant I had to contribute as much
Speaker:of my paycheck as I could. And then when I
Speaker:realized that wasn't enough, that's when I started my business too. I'm like, the
Speaker:paycheck is not going to cut it for me to hit a million dollars,
Speaker:um, before the age of 30.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: Yeah. Why 100k?
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: I think I was jealous. Um, I saw other people.
Speaker:Like, a lot of it is just, I'm being super honest. Like, I would
Speaker:see online that this girl hit
Speaker:100k20 by 25, and I'm like, I'm
Speaker:22. How is that going to happen for me? I need to hustle.
Speaker:I need to do these things. And it was just,
Speaker:um, it was just truly just like a
Speaker:little bit of jealousy. I was like, why can these people do it, not
Speaker:me? Uh, and that's
Speaker:what kind of forced me, motivated me. I always
Speaker:knew that I wanted to be successful and extremely
Speaker:wealthy. And I was like, if someone can
Speaker:do it, why can't I? Now that did
Speaker:caus a lot of stress and pressure on myself,
Speaker:but I have no regrets. I did what I needed to do to get to that
Speaker:amount, and I did it. Yeah. Awesome.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: Um, m. And, um, it just shows that
Speaker:competition can either break you or make you. And
Speaker:it seemed like it really pushed you.
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: I would say, uh, and I'm being super honest.
Speaker:Like, a lot of time I don't get super. I
Speaker:don't like negative feelings like jealousy or
Speaker:anger. I think they get a bad rap. But I actually think it's a
Speaker:good indicator for what you want in life. If you're jealous of someone
Speaker:or something, you probably want it. So you need to
Speaker:work towards it. If you're angry about
Speaker:something, you need to change your situation. So work
Speaker:towards it. Instead of using those emotions and saying that
Speaker:you're a bad person, just lean into them and do what you
Speaker:need to do to get out of that.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: Love that love that.
Speaker:Uh, because this brings up, I'm going
Speaker:to focus on, uh, going on to the third segment here, which is the
Speaker:features mostly because as you bring up the
Speaker:anger and the passion, I will say it's
Speaker:more passion. Give me more passion.
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: Sure, sure. Whatever you want to call it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: Uh, like what areas do you want to focus
Speaker:on improving in your life or even your career?
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: Yeah. So I have a couple of things in the
Speaker:pipeline. Um, but speaking was one of them.
Speaker:Right. Like I, uh, know we mentioned in the green room
Speaker:that I'm speaking in front of 200 people in D.C. in
Speaker:April of this year. And that's really exciting.
Speaker:And that's, that's something that I, a
Speaker:skill set that I was kind of hiding from for a long time. I started
Speaker:my business during my 9 to 5, so that meant I was
Speaker:hiding from a lot of people so I wouldn't get fired
Speaker:or, you know, I wouldn't risk a promotion.
Speaker:But now as a full time entrepreneur, I can really be seen in
Speaker:ways, um, that if someone sees me that used
Speaker:to work at my company, I don't care. It's not going to hurt my
Speaker:reputation. So I'm just working on playing
Speaker:bigger. I don't need to hide my social media or my face
Speaker:or my name. Like I'm just working on the
Speaker:publicity side of things because there's nothing at
Speaker:stake as much when I was at my nine to five.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: That makes sense.
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: Yeah.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: Do you have any like habits that you feel are
Speaker:essential for all the entrepreneurs that are out
Speaker:there that are listening?
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: That's a good question. I don't. I know
Speaker:there's, it's like so popular to say like you wake up at exit,
Speaker:um, day or do this every day. Um,
Speaker:I would just say
Speaker:don't feel bad for who you are. Like if you need to watch
Speaker:5 hours of Netflix to then to work 12 hours on your business, that's
Speaker:okay. If you like waking up at 10am instead of
Speaker:5am, that's okay. Like lean into who
Speaker:you naturally are instead of feeling bad that you can't
Speaker:do the same thing as the next person. Um,
Speaker:and I say that from my own example. I'm not a morning person
Speaker:and I do need a lot of downtime before I work on my
Speaker:business. And I stopped beeding myself up about it. I just
Speaker:accepted it. I'm like, how can I just work this into my schedule so
Speaker:that I can make the type of money I want to? So
Speaker:stop making yourself wrong for things that you do. A lot of the
Speaker:time that might be your secret weapon.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: Yeah. And also you run in the podcast and I know how it
Speaker:is to run one. Um, and to do the
Speaker:speaking and to do deal with the clients.
Speaker:It's a lot. Um, do you have any, like, AI
Speaker:systems are going to help out with that process?
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: Yeah. I'm glad you asked. So I actually one of the
Speaker:biggest things that helped me grow so fast was hiring, but now
Speaker:with the world changing so much, um, I mean, I hired a lot
Speaker:in 2021, but actually in
Speaker:the past year I've let go of the majority of my team
Speaker:because they've been able to be replaced with a lot of tools and
Speaker:automations that I've put in place. If you go to
Speaker:my Instagram, the Rosha T H E R
Speaker:O S H A H Right when you go to our Linkn
Speaker:bio, there's like an automation checklist of all the free
Speaker:AI tools that we use. Between
Speaker:video editing, repurposing,
Speaker:um, follow up. Right. Automating, follow up.
Speaker:All those things can kind of be done for free nowadays, so you
Speaker:don't really need an admin or a VA to do it for you. So you could
Speaker:definitely check out the whole list, the whole checklist for free on
Speaker:there.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: Awesome. I'll definitely. We will be checking that
Speaker:out because I use the very few when it comes to
Speaker:interacting with people. Uh, but I do use
Speaker:it from editing the show and
Speaker:putting things out there and all that fun stuff. So.
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: Yeah, we could talk about it too. Like what,
Speaker:what automations you can use to definitely.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: Uh, so is there anything you have before we dive into the final four
Speaker:questions?
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: No, I'm good. Yeah.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: All rightty
Speaker:number rul one. What does wealth mean
Speaker:to you?
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: It m means not asking for permission
Speaker:from anyone or anything. So when you have true
Speaker:wealth, you don't need to ask someone if you can go on vacation
Speaker:or you don't need to worry
Speaker:about if this flight is the cheapest on this day because you
Speaker:could just buy it. It's really just getting a lot of your time
Speaker:back. Yeah.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: Okay. Number two, what
Speaker:was your worst money mistake?
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: Oh, that's good. Car lease.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: What? A car lease.
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: I thought, um, I'm really big on values and
Speaker:I'm a huge environmentalist, so when EV cars
Speaker:came out, I got really excited about them and I got a Nissan
Speaker:Leaf. They don't have charging stations
Speaker:in, uh, around my
Speaker:state and it's very hard to charge your car. So that kind
Speaker:of put me in a bind of like, where to charge the car. Um,
Speaker:but It's a very cheap lease. It's just, it's.
Speaker:You're only limited to a 200 mile range. Yeah.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: Awesome. Number three,
Speaker:what book that inspireds your journey
Speaker:or change your perspective?
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: You know, I'll say this. I. If you go. I went to Barnes
Speaker:and Nobles yesterday and I was looking at the business section. I pretty much read every
Speaker:single book in the business section. And I wish
Speaker:I say this on every podcast. I wish someone would just put
Speaker:a, uh, banner over the business section
Speaker:for inspiring entrepreneurs and be like, hire someone. Because
Speaker:I read every book and it took me like five
Speaker:years before I started a real business that made real
Speaker:money. Real money is in over 100k.
Speaker:But I need to tire someone. I need to put my money where my mouth is.
Speaker:So I would say stop reading the books and just hire someone
Speaker:to help you do the things, because reading
Speaker:only gets you so far. Yeah.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: Okay, well, maybe you might start the first book
Speaker:that says hire someone.
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: Like, that is the one page. Just one page.
Speaker:One page. Just hire someone. Here's the list of who I've hired in
Speaker:the past.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: And then the back of the extra pages says, lessons learned,
Speaker:Lessons learned.
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: Did you hire someone yet? Yeah.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: Love it. I'll buy it.
Speaker:Um, number
Speaker:four, what is your favorite dish to
Speaker:make?
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: This is so funny. Um, because I just asked my
Speaker:sister to like, put together a Valentine's Day
Speaker:dinner for me and my friends and she's like, all you
Speaker:need is like rice, protein, and
Speaker:a vegetables. Um,
Speaker:but that'my favorite daily dish to make.
Speaker:It just checks off all the boxes and then I can go
Speaker:back to work. Um, but my favorite dish
Speaker:to really humorous side. My
Speaker:favorite dish to probably make is
Speaker:a, uh, dosa. It's like an Indian dish. It's like an Indian
Speaker:crepe. And it's delicious. I love it.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: Awesome, awesome, awesome.
Speaker:All right, so, you know, we went through all the fun things,
Speaker:learned all the things about you, and congratulations
Speaker:on your upcoming speech. Uh, u in
Speaker:front of 200 women. That's a lot. Um,
Speaker:um, and is there
Speaker:any place that people say, like, hey, I love what you
Speaker:have to offer. I've, uh, went through. Love
Speaker:the episode. I want to work with you or even just
Speaker:kind of get to know you and reach out to say, like, hey, awesome interview.
Speaker:What. Where can they find out more about you?
Speaker:>> Roma Shah: They can definitely go to any
Speaker:platform if you like YouTube, TikTok,
Speaker:Instagram. I'm on Instagram the most. But you could definitely
Speaker:send me a dm. Um, at ah, the roa T
Speaker:h e r O S H A H and
Speaker:just shoot me a message and I'll send you whatever you need. So if you like the
Speaker:automation stuff we talked about, I'll send you my automation checklist.
Speaker:You like the sales call stuff we talked about, I'll send you the free
Speaker:sales call checklist. Just grab the resources you need,
Speaker:but let me know what you want. Yeah.
Speaker:>> Anthony Weaver: Awesome. Well, thank you so much for your time,
Speaker:Row. This has been amazing. I've learned a lot
Speaker:and this is something that I do plan on to
Speaker:lean more into. Uh, because I do have
Speaker:some services that I need to get off the the
Speaker:ground and. Or just really just let people know about it.
Speaker:Because a lot of people just think I'm a podcaster. So,
Speaker:yeah, I do a lot more. So let's go on and make
Speaker:this happen. Uh, so thank you so much for coming
Speaker:through and for you who listened all the way
Speaker:this far, you know what you got to do.
Speaker:And if sales isn't your thing, go ahead on and share it with somebody
Speaker:who is into sales or into business and just
Speaker:really want to take themselves to the next level.
Speaker:Remember, you have what it takes to take yourself to the next
Speaker:level. You just have to do the work. All right,
Speaker:everybody, I wish you the best. Y'all be safe out
Speaker:Peace.
