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Turning Dreams into Dollars: Your Roadmap to Full-Time Freedom

If you dream of taking your online store from side hustle to full-time gig, this episode is for you.

When I heard that one of our Inner Circle members, Lindzee Barrera had reached the point where she could leave her full time job and turn her full attention to her business Birdie Girl Golf, I knew I had to ask her to share her story with you.

Lindzee caught my attention when she joined us about a year ago. Even though she had a busy job and a young family, I could see she had an organized, systematic approach to turning her side hustle into a Business that pays her well.

I sat down with Lindzee just as she was about to walk away form her corporate job for full time entrepreneurship, and I know that her story will inspire you. 

From Burnout to Birdie Girl Golf

Lindzee was a full-time digital marketer when she founded Birdie Girl in 2022. She had been feeling burned out, but wasn’t interested in moving to another corporate job (or the stress and ladder-climbing that come with it). Feeling stuck and seeking more, Lindzee resolved to channel her creative energy into building a future for her family rather than giving her all to her 9-to-5.

A lifelong golfer herself, she was well aware that golf’s popularity had surged among women during the pandemic. But golf products marketed specifically to women were few and far between. And so Birdie Girl Golf was launched with a single product: a ball marker necklace.

Lindzee quickly realized the market potential for plain ball markers—easy-to-produce items with high margins—and the business grew from there into a full line of women’s golf accessories.

While the marketing side of entrepreneurship came more naturally to Lindzee due to her background, transitioning from B2B digital marketing to B2C consumer ecommerce was new for her. She found that there weren’t many resources available that provided a clear framework for marketing directly to consumers.

When Lindzee joined the Inner Circle a little more than a year ago, her business was making about $10,000 to $15,000 a month in sales. She was thrilled by the positive response to her products, with daily sales and heartwarming stories from women gifting her products to friends and family. But she struggled to figure out what marketing strategies truly worked and where to focus her efforts. She had started running some ads and knew the importance of building an email list from day one, but she wasn’t consistent with her emails and was really just dabbling.

Mom, Marketer, Mogul: How Lindzee Got To $15K Months

Lindzee has two small kids and a husband who supports her goals, but she had to be laser-focused on time management to get it all done. She would wake up every morning at 5 a.m. and spend about an hour and a half on her priorities. Email was a non-negotiable task because it generated significant revenue and kept her connected with her audience. She also aimed to post on social media daily, doing the bare minimum due to time constraints.

In the first year, Lindzee packed orders herself. Once orders reached about 20 per day, she transitioned to a 3PL, following advice from a podcast to get her books in order and prepare for scaling. Customer service was also a top priority; she was committed to  addressing customer issues promptly, and to making things right.

But what got Lindzee to $15k in monthly sales was her focus on marketing activities right from the start. She prioritized tasks that brought the most impact – consistent email, and daily social media posting. Any extra time she had, she dedicated to Inner Circle trainings, learning and improving her business.

Lindzee was off to a strong start, but joined the Inner Circle because she needed to know what to do next to scale her business. With so many resources available in the classroom, and given her limited time, she had to decide what to focus on during the hours she could steal from her vacation for training.

Unlike other marketing courses she had taken, the Inner Circle “Big Picture” training simplified the sales funnel, so she could see clearly where to focus her time just by looking at her numbers. She took advantage of 1:1 calls with the Inner Circle coaches and experts to direct her energy towards only what would move the needle: scaling her ads, improving her email strategy, and improving customer retention. 

“What I really like [about working with Inner Circle coaches] is when people are honest with me. Because I feel like you’re just being nice about what I’m doing, but they’re like, you know what, you could be doing this better. And I really appreciate that.”

The Big Leap: Quitting the Corporate Job

Lindzee’s next (and biggest) move was to quit her corporate job. We’re talking about years of security, a reliable paycheck, vacation pay, and probably some health insurance. How did she know she was ready to make that leap?

Despite admittedly not giving her corporate job her all, Lindzee was promoted to a more demanding position. Around the same time, she attended a PGA show in Orlando, got accepted as an inventor, and her sales skyrocketed from wholesale. February was a record month, followed by even better sales in March and April. 

Lindzee had already started taking a paycheck from her business in February, which helped her focus on her business’s profitability. (This financial preparation ensured that her business could support her paycheck, even in the slow season.) And although she had been in her corporate role for 15 years, and they took good care of her,  she realized she was burnt out and ready for a change.

She says one practice that mentally prepared her for the leap was scheduling “white space” into her week. This is time and space without distractions—no kids asking for dinner, no business tasks—just existing and thinking. Taking a step back helps you see things more clearly and determine what’s truly important.

With the space to think deeply about what she could and could not let go of, Lindzee quickly saw that she was ready to spread her wings.

She also advises ensuring financial security first. If you’re financially stable, have steady growth rates, and your books are in order, you’re in a good position to consider leaving your job.

Knowing your numbers is crucial. Lindzee admits that understanding financials wasn’t second nature to her. She didn’t have her books in order before joining the Inner Circle. Listening to podcasts and following Ciara Stockeland helped her learn about paying herself and managing inventory, which gave her the confidence she needed to strike out on her own.

Building Bigger: Lindsay’s Future Plans

While Lindzee has been working hard to get her net profitability to a staggering 35% (and that’s after she pays herself!!!) her next goal is to improve that even more. She also aims to establish better processes to make things easier, especially for email and social media. Collaborations have been successful, so she wants to do more of those. Her focus is on refining what’s working and eliminating what’s not. Getting her house in order is her primary objective, along with completing her Reliable Revenue training, where she’ll implement an automated email marketing system that will generate sales in the background with very little effort on her part.

Lindsay’s Playbook for Success

Lindzee’s advice to others is to keep it simple. Follow the funnel, know your numbers, and things will start to come together. Identify your gaps and outsource when necessary. For example, although she handled Google ads at her corporate job, she hired coach Leona to run her Google ads for her business. Outsourcing high-touch, repetitive tasks frees up time for her to manage the business.

She also emphasizes that learning how things work initially is essential. Having a grasp of the various aspects of the business helps in managing it effectively. However, doing everything yourself can hinder your vision for the business because you’d be too busy with tasks.

The Inner Circle’s approach of teaching members to fish, rather than doing everything for them, is invaluable. It equips entrepreneurs with the knowledge to run their businesses successfully. Working with ad agencies and consultancy firms is more effective when you can question their methods and understand the processes involved. 

To learn more about Lindzee and her inspiring journey, visit Birdie Girl Golf’s website at birdiegirlgolf.com. Or connect with Lindzee on Instagram at @birdiegirlgolf, where she regularly posts updates and engages with her community.

RELATED LINKS:

Birdie Girl Golf’s website: birdiegirlgolf.com
How To Create Profit Goals: https://thesocialsalesgirls.com/how-to-create-profit-goals-episode-209/
We’re Getting Consistent Revenue Now: https://thesocialsalesgirls.com/were-getting-consistent-revenue-now-episode-202/
ToyCycle’s Sales Have Doubled Due To This One Monthly Marketing Task: https://thesocialsalesgirls.com/toycycles-sales-have-blossomed-from-1-monthly-marketing-task-episode-211/
How To Grow To Multi Six Figures When You’re Strapped For Time: https://thesocialsalesgirls.com/how-to-grow-to-multi-6-figures-when-youre-strapped-for-time-episode-45/

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