The Createur Podcast
Welcome to The Createur Podcast, an energizing Christian entrepreneurship series inspiring young professionals and college students. Hosts Spencer James and Karli Byrd explore the intersection of faith and business, drawing from the expertise of successful entrepreneurs. Our program is proudly affiliated with the McGraw School of Business at Olivet Nazarene University, renowned for its groundbreaking Entrepreneurship degree program.
This student-produced podcast is a gateway to understanding the relationship between Christian faith and the entrepreneurial journey. Experience captivating stories, valuable insights, and strategies that unveil God's design for business. "The Createur Podcast" is your guide to the intersection of innovation, growth, and personal development within the context of faith and business.
Embark on a transformative journey with us—explore the annual Createur Conference and Pitch Competition. This Free Event is happening April 15-16, 2024. Participate in a Shark Tank style pitch competition with $15K in prizes, world-class keynotes, and networking. Open to high school and college students, as well as Olivet alumni. Learn more at Createur.Olivet.edu.
The Createur Podcast
Infinite Impact: Amber Vilhauer on Resilience, Authenticity, and Teamwork in Business
Unlock the secrets to resilience and business success with Amber Billhauer, a force of nature in entrepreneurship and authorship. Discover how Amber transformed her challenging childhood experiences into powerful catalysts for her career, culminating in her Amazon number one bestseller, "Infinite Impact: Where Faith and Business Meet." Her story is a testament to the strength of self-determination and the impact of mentorship, as Amber passionately guides young minds toward their own paths of success.
Explore the profound intersection of technology and authenticity in creative industries. Amber shares her insights on maintaining personal authenticity amid the rise of AI, emphasizing the importance of preserving individual voices. Plus, learn about her "foundational four framework"—a unique method designed to help entrepreneurs and authors overcome visibility resistance and achieve alignment. The conversation sheds light on the vital role of self-expression and alignment in business triumphs.
Finally, delve into the power of teamwork in entrepreneurship. Amber discusses how building a supportive team can enhance productivity and drive growth. She shares personal stories about aligning team members with tasks that match their strengths, leading to greater impact and profitability. Get excited about Amber's vision for creating infinite impact through collaboration and personalized content, including plans for a derivative book series co-authored by certified guides.
To learn more about other entrepreneurship opportunities and the McGraw School of Business’s very own Createur Conference and Pitch Competition, go to Createur.Olivet.edu.
Hello everyone, this week, I am so excited to welcome Amber Billhauer, who will be providing us with the inside scoop on her latest Amazon number one bestseller, infinite Impact. Where faith and business meet. This is Creator. Welcome to the Creator Podcast. Join us as we dive deep into conversations with visionaries, innovators and doers. Whether you're building your brand, launching your next big project or simply seeking inspiration, this is the space where ideas come to life. I'm Spencer James and I'm Carly Bird. Where faith and business meet this is the Creator Podcast.
Speaker 1:All right. Hello everyone, I have the pleasure of being joined by an entrepreneurial inspiration and multi-bestselling author, amber Vilhauer. Amber is a books and business strategist, multi-bestselling author, speaker and founder of NGNG Enterprises no Guts, no Glory, an Inc 5000 top marketing agency. Amber has helped thousands of entrepreneurs align their business with their core talents and desires to naturally scale revenue and impact. Amber is also the author of Infinite Impact and co-author of the Long Forest Trail with her son, clay. Amber, it is such an honor to have you on the show today. I'm so excited to have you here. Thank you for joining me.
Speaker 2:This is so meaningful. I love what you are up to. I fully support and endorse it and whatever I can do to just support your community, I'm all in for it.
Speaker 1:Well, that means so much to me, as well as the rest of the creator team. This is going to be a great episode today. Of course, my listeners, I'm sure you've noticed that Spencer is not here this week, unfortunately, but we're going to keep things going and I know we're going to have a great conversation today, Amber. So, with that being said, I think it's interesting too, just for the listeners to kind of know a little bit about how we met. Even so, Amber and I actually had the pleasure of meeting through none other than Justin Donald who I have a feeling our listeners recognize that name the lifestyle investor, who happened to be one of our keynote speakers for the 2024 Creator Conference and Pitch Competition. And, with that being said, Justin had nothing but the highest praise for you, Amber, and after speaking with him, I knew I had to get you connected with me, as well as the rest of the Creator team. So this is so exciting.
Speaker 1:And, with that being said, I know that you have so much going on right now. I know that in your bio we kind of touched on you know that you have so much going on right now. I know that in your bio we kind of touched on you know you have no guts, no glory. You have books and business. You're doing a lot of speaking. Even there's just so much going on. So I think that our listeners, as well as myself, would just love to know a little bit about you and how you kind of got started, what a little bit of your story looks like Sure, and I'm just excited to be here and share all of this.
Speaker 2:I actually get to see Justin tomorrow. We have known each other for almost 20 years and that story goes back to when I started college at the University of Arizona. I got a part-time job selling Cutco Cutlery which is high-end kitchen knives and that is where I actually met Justin. We went on a lot of national reward trips together because we were both top in the company and then, by the time it was closer to 2020, he reached out to me because he said I wrote a book for my daughter, savannah, and I need help launching it and I had already been launching books for over 15 years at that point and it was so incredible to be able to work with my friend and launch his book Make it a Wall Street Best Journal, and we built his mastermind, the Lifestyle Investor Mastermind, and just watching him live his best life through this book and this experience has been so fulfilling and rewarding and that's really what I get to do every single day as a job Like it's. It's incredible Like I got here, but this isn't where the story began.
Speaker 2:So when I was growing up, I was actually sort of the opposite of what you would find me to be online today. I'm very energetic and smiley and happy and free and you know, making all this great impact. But when I was younger, growing up, I would say that I suffered in silence. That was my existence. I was alone way too much and I didn't have the right nurturing and support that I really needed to understand how to navigate this big world, and by the time I got into elementary school I was the weirdo on the schoolyard because I didn't know how to make friends. Nobody taught me how to do that and I was very insecure. And then, when I wasn't making friends there, it just sort of compounded. And then in middle school and high school it advanced into getting bullied and I was the girl that would eat lunch in the bathroom stall to avoid getting picked on or called really ugly things or having people throw sand at me, and it was awful. I mean, it really was awful.
Speaker 2:And so, for any of the listeners who had maybe a more difficult upbringing, I hope to be an inspiration to you that you actually can take your life. You know, you can take the driver's wheel and you can build whatever life that you want to have your upbringing, your background, any tragic thing that happened to you, a disappointment with a friend or a boyfriend or girlfriend, or whatever your circumstance was that's not. You know where your story ends up Like. You get to create the person that you want to be and have the success that you want to have and have loving, meaningful, connected relationships in your life and build whatever you want to build, and so it's just really an honor to be speaking into this audience of young minds that you know I'm hoping to be the kind of mentor that I always wished that I had growing up.
Speaker 1:Wow, Thank you so much for being so open to about your upbringing and some of those struggles that you went through. Amber, I really appreciate your transparency. And yeah, it is. You know it's quite a journey sometimes and it takes some work, but you can certainly make it when you put in that effort. So I appreciate you sharing that with our listeners. I think that's so inspirational to see where you've come and where you've gotten to. So, Amber, one of the main topics that we really wanted to highlight today on this show is your book. So Infinite Impact, of course, is where we really wanted to take things today in our discussion. So I think we should just start at the very beginning with the title. So I'm wondering if you could share just a little bit about that meaning behind the title itself and what Infinite Impact really means to you.
Speaker 2:Sure, well, I think every moment is a moment for impact and one of my life's purposes, and just my general vision, is to help the individuals in front of me to feel heard, seen and valued. It was actually in Cutco, when I was 18 years old, that I, for the first time in my life, felt true belonging, wow. And when I felt that way it was such a good, rich feeling and I just thought I want everybody to know what this feels like. So for me, the root is deep and, you know, I think each moment that I'm in front of somebody, you know I have a choice. I can be on my phone, I can be distracted, I can be sort of listening, or listening for a gap so that I can say something. I can make it about me or I can make it about the person that's in front of me, and what can I do to elevate their day? How can I, you know, shift the experience that they're having in that moment? Maybe it's by me coming in and offering a great big smile and being present and offering a genuine compliment, or asking questions and kind of digging into how was your day, and these are all moments of possible impact.
Speaker 2:Now, I'm sure you have had people in your life that have had a great impact on you.
Speaker 2:So when you really start thinking about the people that make the biggest impact on you, you start to lead with that essence in you and you might share with your friends.
Speaker 2:Well, hey, my mom always said this, or my dad said that, or a mentor said this, and you share that wisdom because it impacted you and you're so grateful for it. And then, all of a sudden, the moment that impacted you now has an opportunity to make an impact through you to somebody else and it ripples out infinitely. And that is the choice that we all have every single day, and I have dedicated my life to making each moment matter. I have decided to dedicate my life in service to the people in front of me and I would say there is also this ability to receive that same goodness and the feelings of fulfillment and richness and love on the other side of watching somebody light up like a little Christmas tree because they get, they feel seen and they feel valued in the world. And again, we all deserve to feel that. So infinite impact to me is a good reminder that my actions matter. This moment matters and I can have a tremendous impact by just bringing awareness into this moment.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Yeah, I think that's really powerful. I kind of want to go back. I think that was a really noteworthy moment there. You said being seen, valued and heard. Is that correct? Wow, yeah, that is certainly powerful and I see it in you, amber, just from the conversations that we've had and you're certainly living that out. And, yeah, I highly recommend listeners. Please take that into consideration. That is incredible wisdom. So, also speaking to my creator listeners out there, so for those of you who haven't seen the cover of what the Infinite Impact book looks like, of course, I think that this is something that I'm assuming comes up for you quite often, amber, but my co-host and I, spencer, we were taking a look at the cover of your book and we saw that there's a little tag at the top there that says human made. So I think this is such a unique touch and I'm I have not seen this yet on a book, so I'm very curious. Could you please enlighten me on what this means? I'm so curious. Yeah, I actually hope it goes viral.
Speaker 2:I mean, it's really the rise of AI that that brought this about right, because in December I was on Instagram and I saw an ad, for it was this guy in a big red puffy coat and you can tell he really liked himself a lot, and in this ad it was a video where he was bragging about how, you know, he used AI to write a 260 page book in 15 minutes and then published it on Amazon and made it a number one bestseller 30 minutes later and as I was watching him brag about this and then ask for people's money to teach them how to do the same thing.
Speaker 2:It was like my brain broke in that moment and I wanted to cry and I was very angry at the world in that moment, because this is an industry that I've helped shape. I mean, books are one of the cornerstones of humanity. It's like this is a big deal and you know, at that time, you know there was so much fake news going around and deep fakes and you know disillusionment and misinformation, and it just made me so sad for humanity that people could use a tool that could bring so much power to humanity and then use it in ways that I feel were irresponsible. We're irresponsible and ultimately, what I don't want to do is be, you know, misunderstood.
Speaker 2:I actually use AI every single day. I love AI. I think it's a great tool. It saves me a lot of time, it helps me think, but what I'm doing here is taking a stand that AI will never replace my voice. You are uniquely built and so much of my life I tried to fit in or be like other people or model what I thought would be. You know, get me into the right rooms or what have you, and now I think what life has taught me is that the way that I uniquely am is the best gift that I can give to the world, and I need to honor that and I need to protect that and not hide my voice and the way that I say things and who I am. If anything, I need to grab a microphone and express myself even louder, because that's where the opportunity for deep, lasting impact happens. So I wanted to make it abundantly clear that every single word of this book was painstakingly chosen to create the best connection and impact for readers.
Speaker 1:Wow, that is so powerful. I appreciate you explaining that and that clears that up for me. That was itching my brain, you know, but absolutely I appreciate that you mentioned. It's not about, you know, not using AI at all or ignoring this tool that we have. It's about using it the right way, the right way and, of course, as you mentioned, you know, we can't replace that unique quality that each one of us has.
Speaker 1:Of course, there's certain times and places for AI to enhance different items or, you know, work tasks that we may be doing, but when it comes to that authorship and authenticity that you're providing in your book, I really appreciate how much quality time you spent in that to make sure that that is your authentic self shown so very powerful. And as we dig a little bit deeper into the root of your book, I think one portion that I really feel is very powerful and would be very useful for our listeners to gain an understanding of is your foundational four framework, where you cover several key pillars really to business. But your unique approach to this breakdown is it's very distinctive and I'd love it if you could just break down maybe a little bit of what that looks like and provide our audience with that brief overview of how the framework is actually structured and what sets it apart as well.
Speaker 2:Sure Well. So I've been launching books and building businesses online for 20 years and I thought the book that I would write would be how to Launch your Book and Build your Brand Online. It just makes sense. I was going to profile Justin and my other clients. I thought I had it all figured out and then divine intervention occurred and what happened with the book I thought I was going to write is very different than the book that wanted to emerge.
Speaker 2:And I asked myself at my computer one day what is the thing that all of my clients have in common of the thousands of people I've even spoken to on stages and otherwise the last 20 years? What are they all in? The answer was they're all out of alignment. And I thought well, that's interesting. Like I don't even know if I've said that out loud before. I wonder what that means to get into alignment. And I started doing the research.
Speaker 2:It's so funny how we take ourselves for granted. We just think it's so natural and like doesn't everybody know this stuff? But when I really started looking back at the work that I did with clients, yes, I helped them launch a book and yes, I helped them with their marketing and monetization model and all of that. But the thing is is that when you take an author and they need to get their voice out into the world, they have real resistance around that. It's the resistance to visibility, because a lot of entrepreneurs are having that mindset for entrepreneurship, because there's some outdated belief inside of them that they're not good enough and they love the challenge of proving to the world that they can do the thing right. And I've noticed that a lot of entrepreneurs also have an outdated belief that when they are seen and heard, bad things happen. Oh, I tried to ask this girl out, so I used my voice and she publicly humiliated me and said no, so when I use my voice, a bad thing happens. So I'm just not going to ask anybody else out because I'm afraid and this is human nature, man, like we all have it. So I'm trying to normalize it but to shine a light that it is outdated.
Speaker 2:And anyway, in my work what I noticed is that it was very difficult to get my clients over that resistance into believing in themselves, opening up instead of hiding, and actually self-expressing, so using their voice in the world. And if I could get them to do that well, then we could have the best-selling book launch and the business success. But if they resisted and they couldn't do that, they closed back up, they self-sabotaged and it was very painful for me. So when I reflected back I recognized that, wow, so much of my unspoken word work was getting people into alignment. Well, how did I do that? And I started deconstructing it and I came up with these four pillars to the work and that became the foundational four framework and, like you said, they're based on very commonly well-known business pillars. It's your avatar, which most commonly is come up with your audience that you want to serve. And I thought audience I mean marketing to a 35-year-old stay-at-home mom is very different than marketing to a 65-year-old man who's on the verge of retirement and facing his golden years. But that could fit within the demographic and it's like really difficult to resonate with your audience when you're trying to speak to so many different people. I propose in the framework that we focus on one individual in our imagination that is the representative of that demographic and if I can build a very specific, intimate, deep relationship with that one person, I will attract so many people that share the same beliefs and values and secret thoughts and emotions as that avatar. This is how my avatar is a woman named Heather and yet more than 70% of my clients have been men High net worth men versus Heather's a stay-at-home mom. Like how does that add up? Because I'm very specific in my marketing and people come to me all the time, carly, and they say how did you know what was in my head? I swear you wrote that book just for me and it's because of that connection.
Speaker 2:The second pillar is around vision and we're taught I want to serve 10 million entrepreneurs in my life and it's like well, why? What's your why behind it? Because I want to help people, right, and I propose that the vision is like I don't want to get to the end of my life to see if I've hit my vision and maybe I didn't, I don't know. People just pick up a number out of the sky 10 billion people. I want to know that I achieved my vision. Every single day I want to feel the joy and the reward of that. So I propose a very specific micro vision such as mine is to help the individual in front of me feel heard, seen and valued. I achieve that on every single Zoom, meeting all day long, all of my stages, with my son, with my family, with my friends, so I get to experience the reward of my vision every day and my why.
Speaker 2:If your vision is how you're in service to humanity and here's where I differ I propose that the why is how that is in service to you as the entrepreneur, so that there is a relationship of giving and receiving. And I don't see this taught anywhere the receiving part, and so I actually drop people into an exercise to help you identify what is your unmet need. And this is deep work but I've made it not complicated. You could do this on your own inside of the book quite easily. And if the avatar vision and why pillars are what get you in alignment, then the fourth pillar of core values is what helps you stay in alignment.
Speaker 2:Once you see your alignment, you can unsee it Now. You know exactly how to market, you know exactly what to say, you have the confidence to self-express, you're receiving fulfillment, you are in joy, you are aligned. But the business world is very confusing. It's full of smoke and mirrors. So how do I know what to do, what decisions to make, and if I'm on the right course. Your core values are what's going to help you anchor into better decision making to keep in alignment, and when you do that, you have a whole business that's operating in congruence, and you would not believe the magic. On the other side of that, I've never had to wonder where my next client is coming from. I am a female agency owner for 20 years, winning female entrepreneur of the year awards. I had no formal business training like you all do. None, I taught myself entrepreneurship. So this is all possible, all of that success and the wealth and the impact, because I'm aligned and that's what's here for you in Infinite M.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much, amber. Just so well said, and I think that that description right there in that breakdown is really going to come in handy for a lot of our listeners. We have a lot of young, aspiring entrepreneurs out there that are looking for that type of advice right there and that wisdom to help them get started. I'd love to go back really quick too. There's so many, so many great moments that you touched on in there. I wish we could dig deep into every single one of them, but I do want to go back to the concept of your avatar, of course, heather, and I think it would be great.
Speaker 1:This is something that I feel is quite new for a lot of our listeners. I know this was a new concept for me, something fun to explore and experiment with. Do you think you could just tell the audience a little bit more about Heather and why they might want to start thinking about creating their own avatar, as many of them are just getting started with their very own businesses for the first time, maybe how that could help them as they're getting started?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So there are a couple of resources for you. One is, if you go to getinalignmentcom, you can download the book for free. It's yours, the full-color PDF, no opt-in wall. Just grab it and it's yours, and then you can go through all of the exercises. There's writing prompts and troubleshooting. So I'm with you every step of the way and I fully outline all of my answers, which was a very vulnerable share. But then this way you feel like you have a friend in it, because you do have a friend in me. And then there's also an opportunity to do a group alignment session that I lead. I do in a month. I'll do one pillar each week for 90 minutes in a group setting. It is insanely powerful work. Then there's also an opportunity to work with a guide, a certified guide, who can drop you into a 90-minute one-on-one alignment session. So there's a lot of different ways that you can experience this work either by yourself, for free, or you can hire somebody, or join a group or whatever.
Speaker 2:It is Like. This is a whole movement happening that you can be a part of. But either way, please do the work Now. The fastest, easiest way is to get guided through the work and what we do is drop into a visualization where we literally close our eyes, because it is the fastest way to access your personal truth. So it's not some woo thing. It's more about just being grounded and centered in a space to get out of your head and out of the noise of the world and just look at what's trying to emerge for you. And I go through the same writing prompts that's even in the book. So that's why you can also just do it yourself and write it out. It's just that sometimes that takes a little bit longer because your head gets in the way, and we don't want that to happen.
Speaker 2:This is not an exercise for your brain. It's really an exercise for your intuition, and your intuition or your gut instinct, or that voice of God, whatever you want to identify it with it's that same voice that, when you're driving down the road and you take a left turn, something in you says I think I was supposed to take a right back there Now. Your logical brain has no evidence to support that turn. Something in you says I think I was supposed to take a right back there Now. Your logical brain has no evidence to support that. That's your deeper instinct saying something isn't right here, and that's the voice we want to listen to, because otherwise your brain will get you all messed up in this exercise. Anyway, when I did this, heather emerged. Now I'm a 27 year old punk. Back then when I first came up with this exercise, maybe I was even younger and I knew nothing about motherhood no clue.
Speaker 2:But Heather is who emerged and she's a state of a mom and as I looked at who she is, I could see that she was married. She loved her husband. But, man, they're a little off right now. They're not on the same page and she wishes that her best friend were there and that the guy that she's like head over heels in love with could be there. But I think they're just both stressed and so there's like some distance. They're a little disconnected. I know that.
Speaker 2:You know she loves this little tiny pocket of space that she has in the morning to sit down with her coffee and write a blog post Like it's her favorite time. It's like totally Heather time and she pours herself into this writing for 45 minutes. But she gets so stuck in the technology. She doesn't understand WordPress, she doesn't know what metadata is and she just gets frustrated and starts shaming herself and she never ends up actually posting the blog post. I know that when she's in the checkout line at the grocery store she's flipping through looking at everybody in the celebrities and she's kind of getting lost in what they're wearing and her judgments of it all. I know that when she's folding laundry by the dryer, listening to her daughter play on the floor and talk to her yep, yep, yep and Heather's all in her head so frustrated, feeling like there's not enough time in the day and she just needs a break and she feels so alone and she's got to hurry up and do dinner and yet she's so tired and I know that in the middle of the night she wakes up and her mind starts wandering again and she looks over at her husband and she wonders how much longer he's going to support this hobby of hers which is her online business. She's trying to start and it's like I know everything about her and I completely imagined her.
Speaker 2:And yet, for over 15 years now, any time I record a video on Instagram, any time I send an email to my email list, anytime I'm in a sales call, when I'm speaking on stage like in July, I walked out on stage in front of 2000 franchise owners and the only person I thought of the whole time was Heather. Even though 90% of the room were men only thought of Heather. And when I'm running programs, when I'm making business decisions, it's all for Heather. I have people again that come into a sales meeting and they say oh my gosh, I feel like you were speaking to me. I watched all of your videos. You totally get me. I'm your Heather. Now I want to hire you for book launch. I want to do all of these things together and I'm like hi, it's nice to meet you. I'm Amber.
Speaker 2:You know, and this is the value of really getting clear on the representative knowing who they are on such an intimate level, you know their secret thoughts and feelings. And when you speak into that openly on your marketing, so many people can identify with that feeling of I'm distracted, trying to pay attention, attention to my kid, but I'm all up in my head about how much I'm failing on the day. So many people can identify with that feeling of loving the quiet moments of writing but getting so frustrated by technology. So many people can identify with that disconnection in a spouse relationship. You know, it's like that's the specificity that converts online. It's the game's the specificity that converts online.
Speaker 1:It's the game changer. Wow, yeah, that really is incredible. Just being able to connect with your customer on such a deep emotional level like that. I think that that's so powerful. It is very fun. I'm excited. I'm excited for our listeners, too, and hearing this conversation for the first time and hearing this concept for the first time and where that can lead them as well. I'm excited for our listeners, too, and hearing this conversation for the first time and hearing this concept for the first time, and where that can lead them as well, I'm excited. I can't wait to play around with this concept so exciting. You know, another concept that you kept bringing up as well a couple of times here is the different assessments that are in the book, the book. I think that that is something that, again, you know. Some people may not realize how involved you can get yourself in your book and what it's like to do those assessments yourself. How did you come up with some of those pieces as you were writing the book?
Speaker 2:I have to say I was divinely led on this. I I just listen to my instincts and into my intuition. I'm old enough now, wise enough to know that you go all in on that and just trust and release attachment to outcome. I don't feel like I have to be the smartest person in the room, I don't have to be perfect, I just need to listen and respond. And I feel like it just kept dropping divinely to me. It's like people are out of alignment. How do I get people in alignment? Oh, yeah, here's this part of it, but I don't know this part of it. And then I would just keep doing the work and asking the question. The next piece would drop in. And then I remember asking myself well, how are people going to know if they're out of alignment so that they know when they are in alignment and what's that distinction?
Speaker 2:And you know, I started looking back on all of the clients that I've worked with and the way that they would describe you know their situation. And so what I would say to you is, if you feel ever like you have a blind spot, right, it's like why am I not getting better test results? Like it feels like I'm putting in the work and something just feels off but I don't know what it is Right. Or if you feel like there's this little whisper or a nudge inside that's trying to get your attention, you kind of like shoot away because you don't really know what it is and it's uncomfortable and you know it's like that is different. Whatever that whispering is telling you to do something, it's different than what you thought your career path should be, and so it's like you're at odds with yourself. Or you know there's tons of different examples. If you have resistance to being seen and heard right, like you don't like public speaking or you don't want to advocate for other people, these are all signs that you're out of alignment and it's not your fault Nobody's done this stuff before and so now you can get into alignment and really, really meet all sides of yourself.
Speaker 2:And when you really get to meet and know and value all the sides of you, even the messy ones, and you just accept and appreciate who you are and you are fully that in the world, all of that other stuff goes away. It's like all of that conflict and the tension and the frustration and the tears and the agony and the anger, all of it just disappears when you are right on the inside, when things are in order in there. On the outside, it's like living in freaking candy land. It's like you can't believe how good and rich and connected and amazing life can be.
Speaker 2:But if your life is not that and you think instead it's filled with conflict and disappointment and frustration and loneliness, that's an indicator that you are out of alignment and it's time to turn inward and correct that so that you can experience life in a very different way. The assessment on the inside of the book is a measure of that which is really good for entrepreneurs. So you can see like, oh, I'm only 60% in congruence, but now I have some points to look at so that I can get more targeted in what I can fix. But then the alignment piece again once you've seen it, you can't unsee it. It's just following that, moving forward, and it's a very freeing experience.
Speaker 1:Definitely. I highly encourage it for all of our listeners out there. You know another piece I really wanted to touch on this as well In the book you actually talk about this concept of solopreneurs and you know you mentioned that you can't just be a solopreneur without having a team behind you, and I think this is so important. So many of us get in that mindset of thinking that we have to do it all by ourselves and that we have to know the answers. Entrepreneurship is a lonely path that you have to take alone and by yourself. Do you think you could just delve into this a little bit about what that means to have that team behind you?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, it's important for a lot of reasons. I mean one is accountability. If you are alone trying to get something done, you might not get it done. You might experience enough resistance and hesitation that you kind of talk yourself out of doing things and then you stay trapped in this sort of miserable existence of not living your potential, and I see it all the time. So for those individuals that procrastinate or can't get it out of their own way or they're just like the ideas person, it would really benefit you to find a way to get a team member, and it can be somebody who's $15 an hour, that's working 10 hours a week with you on the business, and you can figure it out together.
Speaker 2:You don't have to know all of the answers. You can literally hire somebody and say listen, I don't know how to hire somebody, I've never done it before. I don't know how to communicate with you. I don't know how to manage you. I don't even know how to onboard you. Can you tell me what to do? And, assuming that they've had a job before, they'll tell you yeah, I've got to fill out this form. I need an agreement. You should probably pay me every two weeks. Here's how you're going to pay me here's. We should have a meeting every week and they will guide you, or you can hire a mentor that's going to give you a framework for it. But you'll find that when there's a living, breathing human being that you're responsible for every week, all of a sudden you're going to push through that resistance and get the blog post published like you're going to go out and market yourself and you're going to have sales calls and you're going to convert because you need to pay for this person and you feel a sense of responsibility for this person now, and that is oftentimes enough to push you through your otherwise like. You would sabotage yourself and beat yourself up all day long, but maybe you wouldn't do that with somebody else, so that can even be an unsaid benefit.
Speaker 2:A lot of times, when we're making that first hire, it's very scary because this is like the first test of can I really pull this off? And what if I can't pull it off? I mean, there's all sorts of things in my past that I didn't pull off or that you know I did poorly. And what if I can't pull it off? I mean, there's all sorts of things in my past that I didn't pull off or that you know I did poorly. And what if this is another one? And I don't know that? You know it's like the mind can start to take over, but you know the way to overcome that is really looking at the cost of your time.
Speaker 2:What is the value of your time?
Speaker 2:You know, back when I was making my first tire, when I looked at how much revenue I was bringing in by myself and I calculated the amount of hours that I was working against that revenue.
Speaker 2:You can calculate a price tag for your time per hour, and let's say that mine was $50 an hour back then. Well, what that meant is if I could hire somebody and pay them $15 to do an hour's worth of work for me, and I could use that hour to go out and make $50, all of a sudden, if you do the math, you are making more money by hiring this person. So you have plenty of money to pay the person to do the things that you don't even like doing anyway, that are a terrible use of your time because you are not very good at it or you are not very qualified for it. And now you can go out and use your gifts with the world to attract in clients or customers or what have you, and sell to them to make the money to pay for the person. So now you're out of the work you don't want to be doing and you're profiting more money and you're servicing more people and creating more impact. That's the value of hiring a team.
Speaker 1:I love that. Yeah, I've been going through that myself. My creator team knows that. You know we've quickly picked up on our strong suits and you know the items that go to certain people. Everyone knows I am not the marketing person, I'm not exactly the, you know, the artistic one in the group. I don't think I can draw a stick figure. So I have some incredible interns though that together, oh my goodness, yeah, it's amazing the power of aligning everyone with the right tasks that fit their needs and their talents and desires. I certainly enjoy more of these moments, the communicative experiences, and more the leadership side of things. But together that's what makes a team.
Speaker 1:So you know, amber, thank you again so much for just taking the time to be here with me today and share some of yes, sharing some of your amazing entrepreneurial insights. It's been such a blast and you know I don't know if you know this, but here at Creator we do like to end with what we call the quirky question of the week on our show. So are you ready for your quirky question? I am All right, let's see what we got. All right, amber, if you could write this is this might be a challenging one If you could write a sequel to Infinite Impact with any person or character as your co-author. Who would it be and why? Wow, I know kind of out there right.
Speaker 2:Um, well, there's a part of me that comes in and says I want to have my son be my co-author and we could create his next children's book. So actually it would be a sequel for both of us. So last May of 2023, my then 60-year-old son comes into the kitchen and says Mom, I want to write a book. And I'm like, okay, I didn't know anything about this, but over the summer we worked up the Long Forest Trail and in November of last year we launched it. We now have 7,000 copies in circulation through largely a fundraising and donation to children's hospitals and Boys and Girls Club nonprofits really special. And he's been coming up to me Mom, I want to write another children's book. And I'm like, oh my gosh, there's so much going on and you know, a lot of people are asking what's the next book? And I'm thinking I literally just launched this one. This is all like.
Speaker 2:This is all of me is in this book and so maybe it would be that maybe we would do infinite impact.
Speaker 2:Children's book I love that otherwise I would think these, these I'll give you two answers. The other answer that popped in was I now have certified guides, as I mentioned, that are trained to go out and do this work for other entrepreneurs and to get more people into alignment, and I have it on my heart that next year I'll open up a derivative book series as an option, so that the guides could have infinite impact for therapists, infinite impact for overachievers, infinite impact for authors, and they could create their own spin to it and get their own version of the book out into the world. So perhaps they would be my co-authors.
Speaker 1:That would be amazing. Wow, oh my goodness. I'm excited now for what the future holds too.
Speaker 2:That was a really fun quirky question.
Speaker 1:I love your answer. Oh, my goodness, you know Amber. Once again, thank you so much for being here today and providing just an inside look into infinite impact as well. Um, you know this has been an inspiring conversation and listeners. If you want to connect and learn a little bit more about Amber, um, she has a few websites that we're going to link down in this description. Uh, you can go to ngngenterprisescom. There's booksandbusinesscom as well as ambervillhauercom, so please check out those website links. I'm also gonna post the link to Infinite Impact, so get your copy today. Hopefully this motivates you and inspires you to dig a little bit deeper into your entrepreneurial path. So make sure to get that book today. And to learn more, of course, about Olivet's entrepreneurship program, you can visit Olivetedu slash entrepreneurship and, of course, to learn more about the Creator Conference and Pitch Competition, you can email me, Carly Bird, at kabird at Olivetedu, or visit our website, creatorolivetedu. Where faith and business meet. This is the Creator Podcast.