Why Your Business Isn't Working (And It's Not a Strategy Problem) [E60]

Credits: Originally aired on the Business Insider Roundtable with Andrew Jones.

👉🏽Work With Me: https://linktr.ee/iamsunitakumar

⚡️Special Offer I mentioned in this episode (for podcasters and those who podcast or speak for business/influence). This was offered originally 2/26 to the local group of folks I mentioned. If the payment link still works - then it's still available. It's a Notion page so it may load slowly at first.

In this conversation:

Sometimes the clearest version of what you do comes out when a stranger asks you to explain it from scratch.

This is that conversation. An outside interview where the real diagnostic got named plainly — the reason most established entrepreneurs stay stuck isn't tactics, isn't strategy, isn't even mindset. It's that they've been running someone else's playbook so long they've lost the thread back to their own.

• Why cookie cutter frameworks produce cookie cutter results — and what to do instead
• The difference between confidence and surety — and why one actually closes clients
• What it means to build off your own DNA versus someone else's recipe
• Why working with people in failure state is a hard no — and what that says about timing
• The one question to ask yourself if you're stuck right now

Raw, unscripted, no agenda. Just the thing said plainly.

Additional Resources

1) 👉🏽💡A great companion episode on this feed that goes well with this and aged like a fine wine. Something I said a year ago: Internet Gurus:

2) Podcaster Talk I mentioned on my YT channel.

Transcript

[00:00:00] Business Insider's Roundtable Podcast

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/business-alchemy-building-authentic-brands-with-sunita/id1862928567?i=1000751978677

Good morning, good afternoon, or goodnight whenever this podcast finds you. I'm your host, Andrew Jones, here with the Business Insider Roundtable Talk. We have a special VIP guest. She's a entrepreneur, Sunita How you doing? Doing well. Thanks for having me. So before you jumped on, you were telling me a bit about your business and what it is that you do.

You care just to let our audience know more in depth what it is that you do and who it is that you serve. , I serve established business owners, , founders, solopreneurs, consultants, people in the service based. , I work with people who are spinning their wheels, their business isn't working. I get to the root of what's not working. And we move them forward. So I call myself a business Alchemist and a Clarity Architect. It's like an alchemist, a business coach and a business strategist got a and and a blender and had a smoothie.

That's an interesting, you have a MBA, , but also focus on business alignment where, , I wanna know where [00:01:00] does traditional business theory usually fail? , You know, your modern entrepreneur. So I got my MBA 22 years ago. So there are some things about business that positioning, brand strategy, , basic sales, they haven't changed.

What has changed is this notion of resonance. So this notion of that you have a unique electromagnetic, DNA, you have a recipe inside of you that is unique to you, that nobody else can be you. Mm-hmm. , And what we've done is we've, created vanilla frameworks and content and rules and guru methodologies that have taken that out of everybody, made everybody sound the same, and, tried to convince people that there's one formula that's gonna work for them and it's not.

And so they're spinning their wheels doing the wrong things, and they're focused on the tactics instead of the root cause. So that sounds like just getting people in full alignment with who they are so that they could operate efficiently. [00:02:00] I mean, that's again like that's a surface statement though.

Full alignment. Meaning what? Values? Meaning so when I'm talking like I'm talking like your operating model, if you are I see, I see. If you guys drove a car, your car comes with a manual. Okay. Okay. Okay. Right. And I drive Honda civic, so everybody's got a Honda Civic. They probably got a similar manual, pretend nobody else had my Civic.

Right. Right. So it is dissect your manual. Your recipe. So where business has gone awry to answer your question is that we've focused on tactics that can sell in a one-to-many fashion making people think that there's some way that they can succeed and people are wasting their time and they're not succeeding because it doesn't serve them.

Okay. Okay. So what's the biggest difference between, you know, the you who started 15 years ago and the you who is sitting here today? Four different businesses in four different business models [00:03:00] and everything that comes with that. Okay. How can you even put that into words? The difference is is I'm 15 years older, way more confident in who I am and who I what.

I know. I don't actually know that much more than I did 15 years ago. I just trust it more now from a business perspective. I mean, I've been through everything because my businesses were different. One was e-commerce import export. One was I launched a product line that was in the wellness space that was a regulated product.

Mm-hmm. One was B2B consulting for big brands like big agencies, which I still do. And what is what I do now, which is I have a brand on the web. I'm doing podcasts. I'm talking about meme. I'm the face, I'm doing substack, I'm doing social media. That's its own learning curve. YouTube. So what has changed is that, I have had to navigate every single element of entrepreneurship.

It feels like that there is and what that entails, right? I would say it's just an ability to navigate [00:04:00] chaos. Okay. Navigate chaos, we hear the word, you know, I seen the uh uh, like when I was researching you, the word alignment comes up. Yeah. A lot. How do you know if a business is actually out of alignment?

How would you see it? Okay, so what I, the reason I call myself an alchemist is, what alchemists do is they can come and they can make change immediately. Mm-hmm. It's not about a process. I'm not coaching through it. I can look at their, let's say, remember I told you the manual.

Yes, yes, yes. I, I can read the manual. Not everyone can read the manual. I can, so I look and I can see the manual. Oh, okay. And then I take the standard MBA business stuff, positioning. Who's your client? I'm combining a lot of things. I'm combining your manual. What you're saying that's not landing.

Mm-hmm. What you're doing. That I don't think, 'cause my, you know, my people may not necessarily be marketers, but that sounds like strategy, though. It is strategy. Okay. I'm a business strategist, an alchemist. An advisor, had a but before you get to strategy, you get to, I base the strategy off [00:05:00] their playbook.

I see, I see. Okay. Okay. So I'm giving a different strategy to you versus somebody else versus a different, what I've gotten from feedback from my clients, which shocked me mm-hmm. Is they're like, wow, this wasn't a formula. The other person only had one trick pony, and then when I and I, I was like, you paid that person $5,000 for that.

Right, right. And it's cookie cutter. A lot of the times I was shocked because I don't even operate in a cookie cutter model. Right, right, right. I mean, there's umbrella messages I provide to people when I speak and on my podcast, but if I'm working with somebody one-to-one, mm-hmm. It's based on their strategy, their goals, their business, their core avatar, and missing peace.

Their DNA, their DNA. Interesting. Woo. Cause without that, the tactics are useless. Interesting, interesting. Because then you, like, you are not showing up, and I guess your [00:06:00] customers could sense it to, they know that they don't feel aligned. My, my folks are 40 plus. Mm-hmm. So this isn't their first rodeo.

They're women. Women tend to be a little bit more tuned in and tapped into their intuition. Mm-hmm. Um. People find me when they're like, I know something's off. I just don't know what, and I'm not looking for conventional. I want the person who's gonna solve the problem, the deep dive. So you, you know I said recipe.

Yeah. Yeah. I'm not gonna go into my whole recipe, but one of the elements that makes me me is that I am here to solve problems. Mm-hmm. I'm the person you come to and other stuff doesn't work. Right. Okay. My pricing's gonna reflect that. My positioning is gonna reflect that. My targeting is gonna reflect that my audience is gonna reflect that.

Interesting. So you specialize in influence. What is one common mistake entrepreneurs make when trying to build authority? Trying to build it [00:07:00] off what somebody else told them they should do versus off of themselves. Interesting. Interesting. Because they're using someone else's again, cookie cutter They're using somebody else's.

They're formula. Yeah. They're using somebody else's recipe. So when you start to think about this differently mm-hmm. It's the way you sell. Selling is based on influence speaking is based on influence, successful speaking. Mm-hmm. , people gravitating towards you, what they call magnetism, charisma.

Mm-hmm. That's, that's influence. And influence is a formula. Actually not formula. Just what a, yeah, I mean you're gonna have a speaking coach give you a formula of like, of course these are the three tips that you say on stage so people feel heard. Fine, but you are a formula as a speaker because no one has your DNA, right?

Yes. Interesting, interesting. I'll, I'll give you an example. Before we turned on the mic, I was like, what is this? I was like, I've done so many podcasts and a lot of them people are like. [00:08:00] They did no research or their podcast wasn't what I thought it would be. And then I get on there and I'm like, what are we talking about?

And you're like, oh, I have a, i, I don't like to script. I just go with the flow. Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I said, oh, I'm really great at that. So I am designed to basically feed off the person in front of me. I see, I see. I unique, the people who are designed that way are about 25% of the population. That sounds like a water sign type of, like, he doesn't go, not, it's not as cookie cutter .

It's, it's my, that's the way where I'm designed. It's like, , my playbook. And so everyone can say that. They can say, oh, I can go up the flow and that's great. That's not what I mean. It means that I can get on stage and I can change whatever I'm gonna say based on who's in the audience. I see. I see. It's a skill I have.

And if a coach tried to. Script that out of me by giving you their cookie cutter framework, I would look successful on paper. You're like, wow, that's a really nice [00:09:00] presentation. She did really great. Guess what? I haven't magnetized the people to me, and nobody walked away being like, holy, whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Who is that? I get that. You get it. I get that. Okay. That makes total sense. So after 15 years in the game, how do you market a business without burnout? This, business is different. So let's say three years. Mm-hmm. So the only thing I've gained from being an entrepreneur for 15 years is knowing that nobody has the playbook and I don't trust people who claim they have a playbook.

You get that? Yeah. Yeah. So burnout, I would say find the vehicles that feel natural to you and focus on those. And don't focus on what people tell you is gonna work. Because if you don't enjoy doing it, you're not gonna stick to it. Your people are gonna know that you don't enjoy it. So for me, I enjoy podcasting.

Mm-hmm. And I'm successful with podcasting on the right podcasts, but mm-hmm. That's trial and error a little bit too. Okay. Okay. So if a business is, is like failing, do you [00:10:00] typically find a problem, uh, is in the strategy or the owner's mindset? I don't work with people who are failing. That's a good answer.

I like that. I like that. Yeah. Okay. That's a person who didn't listen to signs and is looking for a savior, and that's a, that's a fail state. I don't do that. That's a person who's unwilling to make course corrections when they needed to make course corrections. That's as a person who lacks judgment. Well, I would argue and, and, uh, and say, I mean everything, trial and error.

Right. It doesn't mean that if you're failing now, you're gonna fail. Tomorrow. Right. But there were signs before you got to failure state. It depends, I guess, how you define failure. That's true. That is true. Um, yeah. I mean, because it could be you are completely out of alignment or you're in the wrong business because you're not infusing your DNA into your business.

Right. Or your messaging. Right. So people work [00:11:00] with me when something's off. They're not coming to me when like, and then I give clients advice. If they don't listen, they didn't pay me just to pay me. I mean, they listen, but like when you say fail, I like, I don't like that word because a lot of entrepreneurship is trial and error, you know?

Mm-hmm. Like all of my businesses were six figures, but I didn't stay in all of them. Is that a failure? I see, I see. Like, I just was like, I don't wanna do this. I don't do this. Like I, I have the design of someone who's gonna learn through trial and error. Mm-hmm. What I don't wanna do. But I think that a successful person, business owner or not recognizes when things are not going right and seeks guidance.

If a person needs to get to total failure state before they're seeking outside counsel, I think they either are ego-based. Yeah, I was gonna ask that. Like, is ego the issue? And I don't generally work with male clients, so that doesn't tend to be the problem. Mm-hmm. And the second thing is that, they don't have good judgment, like they're trying to figure it out themselves [00:12:00] until, and then if they get to a fail state and they're like, well, someone else can solve it.

That's a, you're, you're setting yourself up for failure by working with that person. My opinion, the vibe I get from you is as surety and. I would even say confidence is just as surety like, you know, like, you know, like, you know, so I don't care if you get it, if you get it, it's just as shorty that, that, that Trumps con, that trumps confidence.

So I wanna hear more of that. Tell me about your podcast. Podcast is called Clear Signal. It's unfiltered business Clarity for Entrepreneurs Done with the Noise and what do you focus on? And so it's evolved. like business at Evolve. So I started talking a lot about Human Design, which is one of the pillars I use in my business.

Half of your audience knows what that is, or maybe 1% knows the rest of you guys are like, huh? But it is one of those things like Pilates, either know about it or you don't. Mm-hmm. And if you do, you do. It's a whole ecosystem. , That is [00:13:00] fundamental because Human Design has a lot to do with like your electromagnetic signature, which we've talked about, which has tactical, real business implications.

But the other side of Human Design that's not as business oriented is, , this notion of influence. Where are you, what do you take an influence from others that is not productive? What do you mean by that? Like conditioning, like this person knows better. I should do this because this person's doing this.

Or I see, I see. I should make this decision now, which is what a lot of sales is based off of. Get someone off the phone. Now with the decision, it's based on basically influencing people when they shouldn't be influenced to make a decision fast. All of the rules we've been taught basically. Wrong. Yeah, wrong.

Right, right, right. So what, so, so, so, so that podcast talks about influence. Influence, okay. External influence, internal influence. If you think about Signal is, , signal is the signal you send out to others. Signal is the signal that takes in signal, could be marketing signal, could be neuroscience.

That's kind of like the podcast. [00:14:00] What business owners, what makes you, what makes you buy? Uh, I, I, I get the feeling you're also super analytical and intentional. Mathematical engineer. Yes. Right. What makes you buy, what are things that you look for if, oh, so I have a gift for talent, right? So I can sense if someone's good at what they do.

I don't need , anything else. That's a gift. Okay. So that is not a great answer. 'cause not everyone's gonna have that. But, um, I don't, I don't care. I don't, well, it's part of my signature. Right, right, right. I have great intuition too, but it's like I, my, one of my hired my personal trainer a couple years ago, literally, he just graduated from college.

He had no track record. I'm like, you're great. Perfect. I found my graphic designer for my product line in the line at Whole Foods. Right. He, he was not, he was in line too. He, he, I just was like, he had a lot of tattoos. This was back when tattoos weren't really as popular. Yeah, yeah. Um, looked like a graphic designer.

I think I saw him asking. [00:15:00] If there was any positions or something to do, art in the store. So I was like, he's a creative, boom. Done. He was my graphic designer for six years. Mm-hmm. So, okay, so that's a unique case. Who do I, I can feel if people are authentic. Mm-hmm. Are you authentic? Do I trust you?

And do you know what you're doing? And your first intuition or, um, what does that book blink, uh, call it Like that first inclination you have towards something or someone you go with that? Yeah, I can tell if someone knows what they're doing and I can tell if they are going to be in alignment with me. , Absolutely.

I don't care about social proof. I don't care about their website. I don't care about branding. I don't care about any of that. I think that's all window dressing, that's irrelevant to me. Window. I'm gonna use that term. I will give you credit, but Okay. Go for it. I mean, it's, it's, you know, it's not, it's a saying, but some people are swayed by that.

I'm not, I don't care. Yeah. Your linktree [00:16:00] mentions music and Spotify. How does creativity or music play a role, , in your personal life? I don't have music in my bio at all. You don't have music there whatsoever? Not as a bio, no. But I'm happy to answer that question. No, I'm not a musician in any way, shape, or form.

Oh, okay. I mean, how does music, shape your, uh, oh, music can get me in a great state. , Music can change your state. You can change your mental state. You can be down and listen to a song and be up, or you can be up and then listen to a song about your past and you can go down. So I guess that's a off the cuff answer.

No, I was looking at at your link tree, uh, here and at the bottom. . I think there was some like, like there was something there that was related. You talking about the podcasting thing maybe? Yeah, that's, I just spoke at a podcasting group and I gave 'em a little, I, I, I created a little special offer for them, and that's what that is.

It's helping people who podcast find their electromagnetic signature. I just gave a talk to local [00:17:00] podcasters at New England Podcasters Group. About how your podcast doesn't feel like you, because you've you know, you're basically listening to everybody else and you've lost your magic.

Okay. Okay. Yeah. 'cause when you see that, you think of, uh, uh, music. Yeah. So I'm not a podcast strategist. I just did it for a local group for as a, as a thank you and a offering. So how long have you been doing, um, the podcast? For two years, but I did it in beta for about two years. Here's a great example.

That sounds crazy to most people. That was, and let me tell you why I did that, if you're interested. Okay. Yeah. Because I wanted to attract the right bees. If you know how bees are attracted to flowers, it's resonant frequency. Mm-hmm. Color smell, things that humans don't have. We don't have the eyesight or the scent, we don't know.

We don't fully understand how animals work. So I just got in a mic and started talking. I had no plan. Mm-hmm. No marketing. I didn't do SEO, I didn't care. I had no offer. I had no what? And people started like texting me through the Buzz Sprout feature. [00:18:00] Okay. Being like, how do I work with you? So my goal was to keep it small so that I could see who are the people who are coming to me and what were their characteristics.

I see what do they need? And so I wanted to keep it small because I didn't want 15 people coming at me. They were all different. There's no data there. Interesting. So, but I mean, but so now it's a solo podcast. It's mostly been solo. Okay. Okay. So what do you do with that data?

I built offers off of that. They wanna work with me, I work with them. Mm-hmm. And I started working with them. The offers were built off of who are the people who were just attracted to me. Ah, I see. Sure. They knew my Sure like you. They felt my. Authority. Mm-hmm. That I know what I'm doing, but So do a lot of other people have a background.

Mm-hmm. They were like, you, you are different. I want you and how do you work with people? And I was like, uh, made up something on the fly. Figured it out as I went. Right, right. Charged them money. And if [00:19:00] you know anything about market research and marketing, , positioning is based off of looking at what is , the connective thread of your client. Right? Right, right. Or people should be doing that. They're not. Then that's a problem. People don't do that enough either. That's a whole different story. So lastly, for the entrepreneur who feels stuck right now, maybe they're at a they're a plateau.

Not so much failing, but they're just stuck. What's the very first step to getting back into flow? I mean, that's a very broad at question. It depends on your stage of business. It depends on what you've tried. Mm-hmm. It depends on how willing you are to look at yourself, but I would stop and say, what are you doing?

Mm-hmm. That you don't enjoy doing, that you're doing because somebody else told you you have to do it. I see.

Tell me a bit more about like, about that. That sounds like a riddle. How an entrepreneur that I don't know, their stage of business, their level of sophistication, what business they're in, and they're stuck. What [00:20:00] would you tell them? I would tell them, be honest with yourself.

Right? Because this is gonna work for whether or not you're a, you have a team, whether or not you're selling to one to many, one-to-one, you're online, you're offline. Right? Right. Be honest with yourself. Okay? What is one thing you're doing right now that you can't stand doing? Mm-hmm. That you're doing because somebody else told you you're supposed to do it in your business.

That's a nice place to start. I see, I see. Because I like, I assume there's so many voices in pe, like in people's heads. 'cause we're oversaturated with gurus and people are buying all these courses and programs and seminars and it's like, who are you in all that noise? Who are you and what are you doing that you don't even wanna do?

Someone said you needed to be on TikTok, so you're on TikTok. Like, I hate TikTok. Well then don't do TikTok. I mean, like, that's a start again, not knowing who I'm talking to. It's a really difficult question. Yeah, yeah. Um, you know, or you know what, I have a huge team and I just, [00:21:00] I don't wanna team, I just wanna use a solopreneur.

I don't wanna scale, I just wanna sit around my pajamas and, and have freedom. I don't actually care about growing an empire. So then. Yeah, that's, see, that's, I mean, that's wisdom. But that's difficult when I, I guess you have to silence the noise, you know? 'cause every time you, you have to silence the noise because every time you go on somewhere like TikTok, it's like you're not scaling what's wrong with you.

You're a like, so you kind of get persuaded towards this hustle culture. Right. Right. And it is, it, it may not be you, but it's, it's, it's, it's sales pressure, it's peer pressure, whatever the case is. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, but you have to ask yourself, unless you guys, like your audience grew up in entrepreneurship and it's a family business.

Mm-hmm. You went in here to be your own boss. Mm-hmm. So now you're giving all your power away to random strangers who aren't even paying you. Yeah. And they, these random strangers are getting their information [00:22:00] also from random Yeah. It's telephone tag based on nothing. Mm-hmm. You said surety. Okay. So I'm 48 and a half years old.

I've been in business for 22 years. I have an MBA from Michigan. I work with the biggest brands on the world. I've worked in the biggest agencies. I've had two, six figure businesses. And let me tell you, no one knows what the frig they're doing. I think that's the good place to start to answer that to, to is, is to recognize that no one really knows what they're doing.

I've, I've, I've yet to, like, I've, I've met Tony Robbins and I've met those and. No, I don't think anyone really know. We're all human. We're all on this rock figuring it out. Right, right, right. I mean, some of us know more than others. I don't wanna make put us all in the same, of course. But, um, you know, Tony Robbins is a brand, he's not a person.

Mm-hmm. And these people are brands. They're not people. Right, right, right, right. It's not to say they're not ethical. I don't know if he's ethical or not. I've seen him. Right, right, right. It's fine. Whatever. Um, but yeah, I [00:23:00] mean, like, that's a really broad question, but like, I can't. And why are you giving your power away to other people?

That's something you gotta ask yourself. Yeah, most definitely. That's a much more philosophical question beyond like tactical, but people don't wanna go there. But that's the real question. I see, I see. Okay. Well this portion of the We talk shop for a bit. Kind of wanna switch gears. Okay. This portion I call the Lightning Run.

I every time my guests beforehand because I wanna get the real you. So I'm gonna hit you with some fire rapid questions and you'll see how you do. You ready? Okay. Yep. Coffee or tea? Chai. Uh, cats or dogs? Cats? Uh, no. Sorry. Both. Both? Both. Both. Honestly, I love both different reasons. Cats are easier. Cats? Yes.

They're very independent. Um, uh, uh, favorite quote or phrase you think about opt-in? Um, the favorite quote I would say, um, I'm not gonna be able to do it off the top of my head. But it's the one from Steve Jobs. You [00:24:00] connect, can't connect the dots looking backwards. Mm, yes, yes, yes. That'll probably be a, a big 'cause that's been my life.

Yeah. Your favorite book. I know that's a broad, like that's a hard book. Probably. I mean, I'll pick one that sounds kind of trite. The Alchemist. I was gonna mention that. Like, I like Yes. So I've heard, so I read that like in high school and I've heard if you read, if you read that 20 years plus later, it's a different book.

It's a different book. And I have a real story for that. So a b ex-boyfriend of mine in graduate school, I, that was 2003, he gave me the book. Mm-hmm. And I was like, what is this? I was like, in my twenties. I'm like, okay, whatever. , Then I don't know how I found the book in some closet, I don't know, a couple years ago.

Mm-hmm. My first podcast, now, I changed the name so many times. The first name of the podcast was The Aligned Alchemist. Ah. And that was the first name of my brand . Are you seeing the connection between the book? I see, I see that.

Right, right, right. Yeah. There you go. Interesting. Yeah, that book keeps pop, keeps like popping up. [00:25:00] I need to reread that 'cause I hear it's a whole diff, like a whole different uh, story. I want you to read that after listening to this podcast. Like, after listening to this, I was, I was walking down the street and I seen this family was like throwing out books and The Alchemist was one of it.

I was like, what are you doing? I took that, oh, I'm gonna have a bookmark. So that, so most definitely, that's my confirmation. What's your favorite movie or streaming series? Too old for streaming. Not a techie. Don't get it. , Movie. I'm gonna say the Goonies, this is okay. Your dating. And that's only because I mentioned the Goonies on a podcast a couple of days ago, so it's in my head, but that's a good movie.

Okay. Okay. That's a good movie. The Goonies. Yes. That's a classic that, that's most definitely a classic name, a Bookless item that you would like to accomplish. I would like to go to the Galapagos and spend time with the giant tortoises. Oh, the gala Island. Oh my gosh. Those are, they live, I here for like a hundred plus years, like 150 plus.[00:26:00] 

I love animals. I've had the fortune of gone all over the world. , But that, that area is like unique Galapagos. The, the animals there, they, it doesn't exist anywhere else. It's like what I heard being like on a different planet and, um, it has to be the environment there.

Yeah, it's isolated. Right. Interesting. Yeah. Listen, I, how can people find you on the web? My link TL give to you. You can put it in the show notes.

Yes. And my podcast is clear signal. Okay on the players and every show note has all the information. Awesome. Awesome. Listen, I learned a lot. Our guests have definitely learned a lot. It was a pleasure. More than a pleasure. I definitely learned a lot.

Thank you for being here. Thank you for having me. Appreciate it.