Emily Merrell  00:00

Hey, my name is Emily Merrell. I’m a taco loving people connector. And I’m obsessed with playing the name game and all things networking. I’m the founder of secondary society, a female focus networking community, as well as a business coach for female business owners passionate about bringing their business to the next level with the help of events, community and connections. I crave deep conversations, and I’m continuously curious to see what makes people tick. And I’m invested in uncovering their stories with some life lessons along the way. This podcast is aimed to inspire and educate as you tackle your busy day. So join the conversation and tune in for the second degree podcast. Welcome back to the second degree podcast. I’m your host, Emily and I am so excited to have my new friend who I so hope to meet in person one day, Holly Haines, she is a business strategist, and she is the founder of crush the rush. Holly, welcome to the show. Hello. Hi. How does it feel to be interviewed versus doing the interviewing? Because I know you have a big podcast.

 

Holly Haynes  01:12

Yeah,

 

Emily Merrell  01:13

I’m equally exciting,

 

Holly Haynes  01:15

but different. I actually really like podcasting. Like, I love it. I just feel like I like talking. So when you’re growing and scaling a business, like pick the platform that like feels good for you. So podcasting feels really good to me. Plus, like fun fact, I think I’ve been on or been interviewed on like 700 hotshot, like the show has 400. And then I went on this like mission last year and was on like, over 300 different shows. So I guess it’s just fun

 

Emily Merrell  01:47

for me. 300 different shows. Did you feel like you’ve talked about the same thing over and over again? Or was it a unique conversation each time? Oh, it

 

Holly Haynes  01:57

started out being unique. And then I actually like dialed in my strategy, which is actually something that I teach now. And it’s like, ever, everyone can podcast like, you could say, oh, I was on 100 different shows, but you should have like some intention behind it. And like how they can learn more about what you’re talking about. Because then it will, you know, actually help you grow and hopefully help them more as well. So it was a really like big experiment. That

 

Emily Merrell  02:23

is an incredible goal. Did you did you batch them? Or did you find that you were like, recording Monday through Friday? Yeah,

 

Holly Haynes  02:32

so the whole my whole, like podcasting obsession started when I started my business, which was in 2020. And we were like, thick in the pandemic. I have twins. And they were in kindergarten, which was now homeschooling. And I’m like, that’s like a phase I never want to repeat. And I was working full time. So I have been in corporate strategy for 20 plus years. So my company was like in panic mode. And so there was just like, a lot going on. And I was like, I have to figure out a way that I can build a business where it’s not taking up all my time. And so for me to answer your question in podcasting was that because my own podcast, I could do it like two in the morning. Not that I would do that. But I could match it and I could like get it out there consistently. And then for the most part, I would say interviews you can schedule, you know when it works for you. And so that’s, that’s really what I started doing. I wasn’t on 300 shows when I was working full time, that was like after I left my corporate job, but I did try to be on as many as I could, because I felt like and I think I have proof now that it works that it really like networking, as you talk about all the time is just gold. And so I was like if I could spend an hour talking on a podcast where I could get in front of 100 people like that’s way more worth my time, then posting a post that’s gonna get like, you know, five likes, and then nothing happens to it. So I kind of just went all in on it.

 

Emily Merrell  03:59

What an incredible reframe on podcasting, in that it is something that’s evergreen, it’s something that lasts for a long time. My husband is is what is he listening to something here? Something about like interviewing prisoners in saying, Oh, wow. But he started at the first season, which is 2017. So it’s not something like most podcasts aren’t really time sensitive. There’s something about going back to the beginning. And if there’s a hearing the founder story, or if there’s something like cereal, you want to go to the first. And so I love that strategy. So okay, take us to the beginning. I want to hear the whole story, Holly. So you were working corporate, you had twins, you had a pandemic and you were podcasting or what came first?

 

Holly Haynes  04:45

Yeah, so um, I’ve been in corporate for a really long time I did strategic business consulting, which I would just say means like I was just brought in when they were like really complex projects, and they just like wanted somebody to help you get something done. on. So I did that for a really long time. And I had gotten to a point like I had just had the girls. And I remember, like, having two babies at one time and being in the corporate world where it was still, like, mainly men was just like, so eye opening to me, you know, just like, I don’t know, I don’t know if this is the thing, right. And so I had gotten my MBA and sort of worked my way up the corporate ladder. And I just remember, I had finally gotten an office like with a door, I was like, oh, man, I made it like, I could shut the door at work like, this is gonna be so cool. And I just remember sitting there, like, I can’t see daylight, like, this is not what I want. And I didn’t really know like what to do about it. So it just kind of like sat there for a while. And I don’t know if you’ve read the children’s book of like, what to do with an idea. But it shows us like a boy with like this idea on his back. And I always feel like that’s like what it was like this idea. Just kept growing. And I was like, I have to do something different. I have to do something different. And so my question that I was asking myself is like, can I keep doing this for the next, like, 10 years? And the answer was, like, 1,000%. No. So I was like, You know what, I’m just gonna, like dabble in some things. And so like, going way back, like leaning had just come out. And so I like started mentoring, and like starting these, like women’s groups. And so then I like, started to feel a little bit better, because I was like, well, at least I’m helping people. And this like, feels good. And then it sort of like, grew from there. And so in January of 2020, I was like, I’m gonna start a podcast, like, you know, you just wake up one day and like, but I and I knew I wanted to start a business, I just didn’t know like, what and so I did it like very backwards. And I hired a coach. And I went to her, and I was like, I’m working full time, I have very little time, I want to start a business, I have the business background, I need you to tell me what to do. And so the good news is, she was a great coach. And she did. And so we launched a podcast in March. And the podcast is still the same name. It’s called Crush the rush. And originally, it was all about like productivity, because that’s what people are asking me. They’re like, how are you launching a podcast and building a business and you’ve got twins, and it’s a pandemic. So if you go like way back, it’ll talk about like time blocking, and like how to structure your mornings and all these things. And then it sort of like morphed into like the next thing. And that was, well, how are you actually, like scaling your business? Like, what’s the strategy. And so then once I started talking about that, it like really clicked because that’s what I had done for 22 years. And now I was taking that and applying it to my business. And it was working. And so then I just started teaching that really simple strategy is what I call it like simple strategy that you can do in a couple hours a week to grow a business that actually is going to provide the income that you want it to, but without burning out. So that’s like the five minute version.

 

Emily Merrell  07:58

That’s an incredible story. And I love the fact that you knew that you wanted to start a business, but you use the podcast, it sounds like kind of like an experimentation studio or a lab, right? Like a

 

Holly Haynes  08:10

big focus group. I was like, oh, man, this episode did really well. Let’s talk about this more, or this episode did horrible. Like this is clearly not what people are interested in. So I still do that to this day. Like, I’m always like, testing out topics of what do people want to hear? Like, what like, How can I help them?

 

Emily Merrell  08:28

And were you doing interviews at the time? Or were they all you talking to the audience?

 

Holly Haynes  08:34

At the beginning, it was just me. And then I quickly realized that it’s more fun to talk to people. But no, like, part of growing your podcast is getting into other people’s audiences, right? And so I was like, let’s strategically bring people in, they can teach my audience things that I I’m not an expert in, but also it’s going to put me in, you know, other places. So we did start doing guests, probably like our second month in. And then yeah, we’re we have our 400th Episode is in like a couple weeks. So

 

Emily Merrell  09:11

that is incredible, and so consistent. And I love that you know, that number, I have no idea how many episodes I’ve done, I think in the hundreds, but I don’t think in the four hundreds. We started in 2022. And I’m so curious, this is a squirrel but like how many people started a podcast in 2020? And how many people Yeah, still doing the podcasts. You can Google

 

Holly Haynes  09:32

that statistics. And I always say if you’re going to start a podcast, the number one piece of advice I would give you is stick with it because most people won’t. Most people will do like 10 episodes and they’re like, I need a break like this is a decent amount of work, because it is but if you stick with it, like just in time you will get in like the top 10% of episodes because most people won’t about so it’s a really great growth strategy. I always say there’s like two non negotiables for me And that is I have to put out a podcast episode and I have to send one email. So for four years, that’s where every single week or every single week yeah, every single

 

Emily Merrell  10:08

week, I love that I think it’s a, that’s a really good thing to hold yourself to a standard to. Yeah. And also, you’re conditioning your audience to know that your episodes drop every Thursday or your newsletter in your inbox every Tuesday. So switching gears a little bit, I know you took what you had learned in corporate and then you started coaching. So talk, let’s talk about your coaching and what kind of coaching it is that you do?

 

Holly Haynes  10:33

Yeah, so I actually, like, for me, the word coach doesn’t really describe what I do. Like I actually did email the other day, and I was like, I don’t think I’m a coach. I’m a strategist. And the reason why is I mean, I will coach you, right? I’ll ask you questions and things like that. But my like, wheelhouse is like, tell me what you want to do. And I’ll design your product suite or help you design it. Or if you have one product, like let’s I call it income stack, like let’s income, stack it so that you have like seven different product streams. Or, hey, if you have a podcast, let’s think about how you can repurpose it like 10 different ways. So that you can reach like a much bigger audience, or, Hey, let’s come up with a content plan where you don’t have to show up on social but like you still have posts on social. So that’s like what I really love to do is like figuring out the super simple systems and strategy where you can like see the growth, but it’s not overcomplicated.

 

Emily Merrell  11:35

You’re the second strategist, not coach I’ve met today, which is really fun. Oh, that is so interesting. I, I do think there’s this evolution of of the word coach where coach feels very life coaching. And I’ve always struggled that with that SLB business coach, like, yeah, I asked you the questions, but I also am going to tell you what to do and the directions. And that’s not what I

 

Holly Haynes  11:57

mean, my style is I like and I’m an Enneagram three, I’m very like list oriented, accountability focused. And so my style is I will coach you, I will ask you questions and things like that. But I will also be like, here’s your action plan. Let’s like, put it to life, bring it to life. And then let’s see what happens.

 

Emily Merrell  12:16

It’s so smart. Well, speaking of plan, you also have a quarterly planner. So let’s talk about taking control of your schedule. And 90. What does that mean? Yeah,

 

Holly Haynes  12:27

so this is like part of the story. I have always loved planners, and highlighters and colored pens and color coding. And I just like had this idea of like, Hey, I’m gonna, I’m gonna create a planner. I had like, no plan, no, nothing. I was just like, I’m just gonna make it come to life. So the quarterly planner, though, is basically how I run my life. I don’t know if you’ve listened to the 12 week year. But it’s very similar, where instead of thinking of I’m gonna get all these things done this year. I like to say, What am I focused on for the next three months, because life changes so fast, right? Like I it’s when we’re recording this, it’s January, I still haven’t picked a word for the year. I’m like, paralyzed by it. I’m like, maybe I just need to pick a word for three months. Like that seems easier. So I just like to think of things in like three month increments. I’m also a big fan of seasons. So I don’t know if you follow Jay Shetty. But he has this. It’s an older podcast, but he talks about seasons. And he talks about how like your winter season might actually be summer where you’re like resting, and maybe you know, your kids are in lots of activities. So it’s not the time to build your business. But your summer season where you’re like feeling really excited might actually be winter because you have more time. And so it’s the whole point of the planner is like you’re very strategically thinking about what do I want to get done this season? How do I get it done, but the way I sort of flipped the script is we plan our personal goals first. So it’s really important to me to be like, okay, like my girls are an Irish dance like once March hits, it’s called Green season. And it is like insane. Like, it’s so busy. And so for me, like I have to plan my launches or work projects. I want to plan it around like their activities because I want to like be present with what they’re doing. So it walks you through like how to plan your personal goals first, and then sort of layer in those business activities on a 12 week cycle.

 

Emily Merrell  14:33

So that’s brilliant, and I love that you’re taking into consideration your kids passions and goals and Irish dancing is so incredible. You listeners haven’t seen it. Do yourself a favor and Google it’s how did they get into Irish dancing?

 

Holly Haynes  14:48

Um, they had a friend that did it at school and we went to like a free class and now like because they’re twins, they’re partners, which is like really like that’s like a whole topic. It’s really cool to watch Um, so yeah, now they’re in it. We got the costumes, the wigs, we have all the things.

 

Emily Merrell  15:04

I, this is another scroll. But I just started watching the show last night on Netflix about what is it called? Basically, it’s like these twins that they’re doing studies on. Oh, I

 

Holly Haynes  15:14

just watched that because I’m curious about your heart. You are what you eat again, experiment.

 

Emily Merrell  15:20

I’m only in the second episode. But it’s such an interesting idea if like one person is vegan, and one person is omnivore? And, you know, like, are they going to gain muscle differently? Is it a good result at the end?

 

Holly Haynes  15:34

Yeah, you’ll have to tell me what you think of the end. I feel like it like freaked me out about eating in general in all categories. But it did. I feel like it didn’t give me like a, like, I want the plan. Like, okay, this is a problem, like, what can I do to fix it? I don’t feel like it gave a plan. But it was very interesting.

 

Emily Merrell  15:52

Yeah, you want a solution? Especially as you’re talking about like deli meat basically being like Jesus Christ. I’m never ever saying yes to the deli meat ever. Again. Okay, but going back to the plan, so you have the personal life layered in first and then all of your launches. So when you think about a launch? How, how do you think about it? Do you think about it in terms of like how many emails you’re sending out? Do you think about it in terms of how many podcasts you’re going to be on? Break down your, your system? Yeah, so

 

Holly Haynes  16:26

I actually came up with this method called simple scalable launching. And that is because at the beginning of business launching, like really stressed me out, and I was like, I don’t want to run a business where every other month, I have to go through this 25 step process where I’m like, praying for the like the cart to deaIing. Or whatever happens when you make a sale. I’m like, this is not this is not like the business life I want to live. So we kind of work backwards, the first thing we do is like, what do we have going on as a family? And then we say like, okay, when would it make sense to launch, let’s just say one of the programs we have is called antisocial school, typically launch it once a quarter. So it’s like, when would this makes sense? Like right now, I know that we’re launching it in March, but we’re launching it before spring break, then we’re taking a vacation, and then I will like actually teach the program when we get back. So I don’t go into it of like, I need to do all these things. I go into it of like, what’s the season, where it makes makes the most sense. And then I go into all the things. And when I say all the things, our launch phase is usually about, yeah, four to six weeks, depending on the program. And that is because I’m like just a huge believer, and when I call pre launch strategy, and that is like priming your audience and getting them ready. So that’s when that, hey, I’m gonna talk on these podcasts or we’re going to change our content to like, talk about the things that we’re doing. That’s really where all of that comes in. But I like to think of it in like blocks of time. Like, okay, if we’re gonna launch this in March, let’s work backwards, we’re gonna start talking about it. And, you know, mid February, and then I can come up with a plan from there. So

 

Emily Merrell  18:13

smart, I feel like I’m gonna go look at my calendar and do that right after this, this podcast. So yeah, that’s brilliant in terms of just energy and not stressing yourself out and not being on vacation going, Oh, my God, I have to post every day because I just held this. Yeah. Yeah. So fun when we all learned the hard way. So you okay, you mentioned the antisocial school. I’m very curious what that means. And then also, I know you have a club or a membership. Can you talk us through like, what, what are the differences between the two? Yeah,

 

Holly Haynes  18:48

so one of the things that I teach is called income stacking. And it’s like this philosophy of you’re an expert in a certain area, right. And so your product suite is basically helping people at different levels in the area that you’re an expert in. So I would say I’m an expert in helping you scale your business with simple strategy. If you’re a beginner in business, then I would recommend you to our crush the rush club, because it’s a little bit of community, it’s a little bit of strategy, it’s really going to help you like build your base. It’s not like super high ticket. So if you’re following along, the beginner piece is usually like low to mid ticket. It’s like getting a foot in the door, right? Then the second step in income stacking is hey, I want a little bit more, right. So that’s where our antisocial school comes in. This is like our mid tier, so middle level, which is a little bit more of an investment. I’m still teaching what I love to teach, but now we’re going like a little bit deeper. So I’m teaching you specifically how to scale without being dependent on social media. So it’s a seven week program. Oh, antisocial. I get it. Yeah, so You are social, we do use social media. But a lot of it is like getting your messaging down learning to repurpose. Like, I think I just had a post post, like while I was talking because we’ve got it like all scheduled out how to utilize podcasting. Like there’s all kinds of SEO like there’s so much you can do. So it’s, it’s a stepping stone, right, so we’ve got beginner intermediate. And then the last phase is advanced. And it’s our mastermind, we launched it a couple times a year. And that’s like, you’re in it to win it, you want all the things, you get way more access to me. And so the whole goal of this like income stacking is you’re you’re increasing the amount of time you get with me, you’re increasing the amount of strategy that we’re laying in. But there’s also like, different paths that you can choose based on if you’re a beginner, intermediate or advanced.

 

Emily Merrell  20:52

Phenomenal. And okay, so this is mind boggling, y’all. This is 2024. We’re talking, she started this in 2020 with the idea of a podcast. So I want us to be in the beginner’s mindset. Again, if you were to talk to someone who is feeling wildly overwhelmed with all the things that they could be doing, where do you recommend people start?

 

Holly Haynes  21:17

Yeah. So the first thing that I always say is you have to be able to articulate what you do. So one of my like, favorite exercises that we actually teach in antisocial school is like, if you could explain to your neighbor what your business is, can you do it? So I help female entrepreneurs build a full time business on a part time schedule? Like you have to be able to say it in like a sentence. We’re not using like, I hate when people use Well, I help busy moms eat better. Well, like, everyone’s busy, like who are you like, I help period, many perimenopause, moms in their 40s have more energy, like that’s way more specific. So that’s like a really good exercise to just like, I don’t know, I asked myself that question every quarter like, what what am i How am I introducing myself? Like, what’s my thing? And will people understand it? And then the thing that helps me the most is, do you have a signature method? Like, what do you want to be known for? So our method is the crush the rush method, there’s like four steps there in all of our programs. But what that allowed me to do was talk about it. So with the like, beginning, when I was on podcast, I’m like, I’m Holly, I created the crush the Russia method, like you can hear it. And then I would talk through the steps in it, like, it’s super simple strategy. It’s following through it’s planning. It’s like the things that we’re talking about. And it gives you this, like, little bit of credibility, like off the bat, because most people won’t take the time to actually create the steps that they teach. So those of you that first, like two things that I would do, I think it’s just going to help you become really clear on who you wants to help. And I think so often, people jump right into, I’m going to create this 17 Whatever course or I’m gonna write 100 podcast episodes, and it’s like, but like, what do you want to be known for? If you could answer that first, then all the other stuff becomes much easier.

 

Emily Merrell  23:15

So true, and it’s, it’s so hard to and I think a lot of people are pivoting have pivoted in their business, I’ll, I’ll share a personal experience. Like when I started my business, I didn’t mean to be a coach, I accidentally back flipped into it. So yes, resonating so much to me in terms of like the signature method. And I feel like, it’s so much easier to help other people come up with their signature methods than holding the mirror to yourself and coming up with something. So how do you, you know, as the selfish question right now, like when you when someone comes back to you and says like, well, I don’t have a signature method? Or how do I create a signature method? How do you push back on that? Like

 

Holly Haynes  24:00

that they need to create one or they are in business. And they don’t have one, though, that

 

Emily Merrell  24:06

they need to create one and like, what are the things and characteristics they can look for within their own coaching to create? Yeah, so

 

Holly Haynes  24:12

the great thing about a signature method is you’re probably doing it, you just aren’t calling it a method. And that is, I always say like, if you could picture I call them unicorn clients, and they’re like, just unicorns that like fly into your inbox. And they’re, like, amazing, and they do what you say, and they get awesome results. Like if a unicorn flew into your inbox, like what would be the steps that you would take them through to get results? Like I said, you probably already or know the things most people do just like off the cuff. So it’s just like writing down those steps and then saying, like, are there specific categories right, that you could take them through? So mine’s like, you know, mindset. Do you know why you’re here and why you’re doing it? Like really simple strategy, layering on the systems and then accountability. Like I’m a big fan of accountability and like what Look at the data. So every single program we do follows that. At the beginning, I didn’t know that that was my method. Right? It’s just the steps that I would take to help somebody get results.

 

Emily Merrell  25:10

Yeah, I think that’s wonderful, and a really clear explanation of it. Holly, you are also in business with your husband. Yeah, he

 

Holly Haynes  25:20

works for me.

 

Emily Merrell  25:22

Holy smokes, help. Let’s switch gears and talk about that. Because I’m always blown away with partners working for one another, or working with one another. So how did that come to be? Yeah,

 

Holly Haynes  25:33

I think it was by like, happy accident at first. And that was like, we scaled pretty quickly. And I just needed help. And we weren’t like making the kind of money where I could just go, like, hire somebody. So I was like, Hey, do you want to learn like ConvertKit and Kajabi, this would be really helpful for me. So that was like kind of the beginning. But then it sort of as we did grow, like, he’s really good with numbers and accounting and taxes. And so he ended up like stepping into that role and sort of managing all that for us. And then with our membership, there’s like, you know, like password resets and all the things that like you don’t think about when you start to build a membership. And he’s really great at just like talking to people in a very, like, friendly way. And what I found is, if I’m not the one having the conversations, it actually goes better, like if somebody like misses a payment, or if somebody needs to change their membership, like he’s like a third party, that can like have those conversations. So we just like kept adding on and keep adding on to his role. Like we have a retreat coming up in Texas in a couple of weeks. And like, he’ll fly down and helps like, behind the scenes, and I like take him with me, too, are like photoshoots, and he knows what the role is, like, does the video for me, so we just, we keep adding on to the role? Was

 

Emily Merrell  26:56

it weird for you to be in this position with him where you’re being so vulnerable in your business and like bringing you have such a personal robust personal life with your partner? Now you have this part of you, you know, you weren’t mentioned at the corporate world, you could go into your office and close the door. Yeah, your office doors open?

 

Holly Haynes  27:16

Yeah, I mean, we definitely had some like ups and downs where I’m like, we need to set some boundaries, because I can’t like I have to turn business off at a certain time. And I think he’s just he’s different. Like he’s in and out all the time. So it’s like, Hey, we’re, we’re, it’s like, not talking about business time right now. Or like, we actually have meetings on the calendar where like, every Monday, we’ll sit down and have like an actual meeting and go through things. Or like, once a month, we have like a, like financial overview. I’m like, I want you to come to me, like you are my CFO. And I want you to like, tell me the things that you would you would tell somebody. So it took us a minute to figure that out. And I think we’re we’re still figuring it out. But the whole reason for me of leaving my corporate job was like, I wanted more time with family, like I wanted to, like, you know, spend time with my girls and spend time with my husband, like, I spent so long in corporate where I was just gone all the time. So it was it’s going pretty well. So far, I think. I mean, we’re a couple years in so

 

Emily Merrell  28:20

that’s phenomenal. And also so inspirational, just to see that you were able to take this dream and this vision for you and your family and bring it to life.

 

Holly Haynes  28:30

Which Yeah, I mean, but it did start because it was free labor. Yeah.

 

Emily Merrell  28:33

Well, now you pay him a very small internship. Yes. Salary. For those that are thinking of starting a business and potentially going into business with their partner. Do you have any advice on insurance or like health care?

 

Holly Haynes  28:48

Oh, geez, that’s a whole podcast. I mean, we use marketplace right now. It’s it sucks. It’s expensive. I don’t feel like the United States has a great option for entrepreneurs. Because if both of you are in business, it’s our biggest expense as a family. It’s huge pain, but probably more than your mortgage. It is it actually is. And it’s not even a great plan. Yeah, it’s crazy. And we talk about it all the time because I’m like, like, is this real like this? It’s just crazy. But yeah, it’s a it’s a whole thing. There are no other options like truly unless you know there’s I think there’s like some different like I don’t know what they’re called like cohorts where if you want like different types of insurance where you can like band together, but I mean, we have

 

Emily Merrell  29:46

so broken the system. It’s funny how many entrepreneurs I’ve interviewed from Canada, and like the freedom they have so much more freedom it feels like to start a business because they don’t. That’s not something that’s hanging over their head. This You’re like, getting hit by a bus and not being able to afford the medical bills. Yeah,

 

Holly Haynes  30:04

yeah. I mean, it’s a whole thing. I will say we do follow the Profit First methodology of having like different bank accounts for different things. And while at the beginning that made my head spin, I was like, This is insane. It does help now, because we have, like a structure in place where like when income comes in, we automatically split it out into these different buckets. So that when it does come time to pay taxes and insurance and things like that, it’s there. I wish I would have done that like way earlier. So you just get into the routine of doing it. Yeah, insurance is awful. It’s horrible.

 

Emily Merrell  30:45

Awful. That’s honestly, I feel like my biggest fear of hit my husband leaving corporate. I’m like, Oh, our insurance. It’s nice to have one insurance plan. But yeah, it’s it’s crazy. It’s crazy how awful it is. Okay, Holly, I loved everything that you shared with us. And I feel like I want to dive into your membership. I want to dive into social school. I want to see you speak on stages. All of the things. I’m gonna listen to the 400 podcasts about you. Yeah, maybe that would be a really good tasks actually. Also, there’s so many podcasts I didn’t even know existed. Right? I

 

Holly Haynes  31:25

know, I know that there’s so many I want to listen to I had to, like, set some boundaries.

 

Emily Merrell  31:29

Just yeah. So many trican. Like, it’s so impressive how many people have built podcasts, but I want to hear what is the best way for people to connect further with you?

 

Holly Haynes  31:39

Yeah, so you can just go to Holly Marie haynes.com. And you can learn all about us. One resource that I think would help everyone like no matter what phase of business you’re in, is I have this free challenge called SEO week. And going back to like how I was talking about the 12 week year, it actually helps you. It really helps you figure out like, when do you actually do the things that you want to do? So I walk you through, like, for a whole week, like what to do, how to do it, and then how to fit in like the business activities. So it’s just Holly Marie haynes.com, forward slash SEO week.

 

Emily Merrell  32:19

Me there. Okay, amazing. I will hopefully try to include that in the show show notes. If I remember. I think that’s wonderful. Well, Holly, before we end, I love asking my listeners six fast questions about themselves. Okay, so not scripted. Here we go. Tell us an unknown fun fact about Holly.

 

Holly Haynes  32:42

No unknown fun fact. I don’t know if it’s unknown, because I do talk about a lot. But I’m obsessed with Real Housewives. Like it’s on Wednesday nights. I’m watching it tonight. It’s like my go to I have to watch it every week. Is

 

Emily Merrell  32:57

it a particular city or all of them? Beverly

 

Holly Haynes  33:00

Hills was my favorite. But I really liked them all. I don’t. It’s just like, for me, I’ve just

 

Emily Merrell  33:09

it’s so funny. I feel like the Real Housewives always look at their friendships. And I think I’ve watched like a few episodes here and there. And I’m always just like, how are these friends treating each other? Like I know, right? If you imagine if you and your girlfriends were like flipping tables at each other, yeah. Me trashing each other behind your backs, like the real not friends of whatever the city is. Okay, that’s a good fun fact. Who would be a dream person to be connected with? I know you’ve been connected with Jenna Kutcher and Amy Porterfield. So now who would you want to be connected with?

 

Holly Haynes  33:44

So I was actually digging into the podcast armchair experts with Dax Shepard and Michelle Obama. I just watched the Michelle Obama Oprah special and I was like, I just want to like sit on the couch with them. Like ask them questions.

 

Emily Merrell  34:01

First story Michelle Obama’s book becoming and I was like, Oh, can we can we vote you in for President please? Yeah,

 

Holly Haynes  34:08

exactly.

 

Emily Merrell  34:10

You seem so wonderful. What show besides the Real Housewives are you currently watching?

 

Holly Haynes  34:18

I’m so we actually are big Outlander fans. I’ve watched it a couple times we actually took my one of our family goals is to travel once a quarter. So last year, we took the girls to Scotland and we took them to Isle of Skye, which is where like the theme song took place of so we play that song all the time, like in the background

 

Emily Merrell  34:37

of our house. That’s amazing. I have to get into it. I’ve heard such great things. Which brings me to what book are you reading? Or do you recommend people read?

 

Holly Haynes  34:48

So the books that I recommend people read that most people haven’t heard of is there’s no plan B for your A game. And it’s basically saying like you’re not going get to where you want to go if you have. And I read that like, right when I had started my sort of journey to start my business, and I feel like it was like a really good kick in the pants, and I just feel to have a backup plan, you’re never gonna go, like all in. And so sometimes you just have to like, kind of let go that I don’t know what the plan B is you can totally pivot, right? It’s not saying you can’t change. It’s just saying the plan is the plan. There’s not a backup plan. And we’re just gonna keep going.

 

Emily Merrell  35:35

Amen. Oh, I’m going to add that to the reading list. I love that

 

Holly Haynes  35:39

it’s a good one.

 

Emily Merrell  35:39

That’s a really and that’s such a great way to think about it too. Because if you couldn’t go back to carpet or fall back or, or whatnot, then you’ll never put your full intentionality within the thing that you’re building. So yeah, true. Okay, this is a really hard question. But what is your favorite emoji?

 

Holly Haynes  35:57

Oh, I usually share the one where like, it’s like one eye closed and like the tongue is out where it’s like, This is crazy. Like, that’s the one that I share all the

 

Emily Merrell  36:05

time. That’s a great one. And then my final question for you today is What permission Do you want to give our listeners today?

 

Holly Haynes  36:17

I think it would go back to that book. And that would be like, I always say this to my clients. And it’s like, we’ll just Just try it. Like you just never know, you never know what’s gonna happen until you put it out there. Like, is the first episode of our podcast, the best episode ever? No. Would I do it 1,000% differently now? Yes. But like, if I hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have gotten to where I am now. So it’s like I always say just like, put it out there. It doesn’t have to be perfect. People actually like things that aren’t perfect. It’s more real life. It’s more relatable. And then you can just pivot once it’s once it’s out in the world.

 

Emily Merrell  36:53

I appreciate that. That lesson, and I had that permission. So listeners go check out Holly Haynes and everything that she is building. Holly, thank you so much for being on today’s show. Yeah,

 

Holly Haynes  37:06

thank you so much for having me. And if

 

Emily Merrell  37:09

you liked today’s episode, give us five stars on whatever platform you’re listening to. And we’ll see you the next time on the secondary society with Emily Merrell. Have a wonderful day everyone.