Allison Maslan – Building 10 Successful Companies as a Single Mom

CEO of Allison Maslan International – Allison Maslan

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Allison is a serial entrepreneur, and now helps others build amazing businesses from their passions. If you are stuck in indecision and just starting Allison lays out a plan to get you moving again!

Check out Myblastoff.com for more info!

Thanks so much for listening!

Transcript:

Welcome to Eventual Millionaire. I'm Jaime Tardy and today we have Allison Maslan on the show. She's a serial entrepreneur, has over ten companies. She now has a business mentoring company and has been named one of the top women entrepreneurs who inspire by Self Made magazine. I'm super excited to have her on the show today. Thanks so much for coming on, Allison.

ALLISON MASLAN: Hi, thanks Jaime for having me. I'm excited to be here today.

JAIME TARDY: Perfect. So why don't we get started. I love talking to serial entrepreneurs that have had multiple companies. How did you start and did you always know you'd be an entrepreneur?

ALLISON MASLAN: You know, I always say that I just about came out of the womb as an entrepreneur because I was born into a very entrepreneurial family. My grandfather started a business called Maslan's in Kansas City which was a women's clothing store. My father grew that to the largest privately owned chain of women's clothing stores in the United States in the ?60s, ?70s and early ?80s. I used to follow him from store to store and his passion for business really infused onto me and I've been an entrepreneur since I was 19 years old.

JAIME TARDY: Did they ever push that on you or did they sort of say you can do whatever you want, we just are in business?

ALLISON MASLAN: They never really pushed me one way or another. They wanted me to do something that I really loved to do. My parents always really encouraged me. My father always gave me the feeling that, if I really wanted something, I needed to go out and create it. In fact, I have a memory of being with my dad, in the car with him, I was about 12 years old and he said, "Allie, do you know how to start a business?" I'm like no dad, I'm 12. He pulls out a business card and he said, "You just print a business card."

Obviously there's a lot more to running a business than printing a business card but what he was saying to me was that, if you want something then go create it. All you have to do is make it happen. I really took that advice early on and ran with it.

JAIME TARDY: To say to a 12 year old that's amazing. I know so many people listening probably wish they had entrepreneurial parents. I didn't even find out about it until way later and it's funny too. Imagine to start at the age of 12. What did you actually start? You said you started when you were 19. What exactly did you start when you were 19?

ALLISON MASLAN: I was in college and I wanted to make some extra money, because I didn't have any. I loved poetry so I began writing poems as gifts for people for birthdays and anniversaries and I started this little business. It was called Expressions by Allie and it really took off. People loved it. I thought wow I found my calling. I was making $25 a pop. I found out early on after I graduated that I was going to need to be writing fast and furiously all day and night to be able to pay my rent so I needed to come up with something that was going to be a little bigger.

JAIME TARDY: What did you go to school for?

ALLISON MASLAN: I actually studied journalism in college. It definitely helped me in my writing and editing that I do now and I'm an author as well. I kept those yearnings, as a poet, since I was younger, but I've gone on since that early time and I run ten different companies. I'm a little schizophrenic in business I guess you could say. But I just love it. I love creating things and that's one of the main reasons that I feel fortunate to be an entrepreneur because, if I have an idea, I can actually run with it.

JAIME TARDY: So tell me about one of the first successful companies that you started and how old were you?

ALLISON MASLAN: Well, when I left college, as I said, I was writing the poems and that wasn't getting me very far. Then I was asked to create some thank you cards for MCI International. I was living in Atlanta at the time and I was 21 years old. My dad had also said to me one other great piece of advice. He said, "Allie, if someone asks you to do something and you feel like it's worthwhile, even if you don't know how to do it, say yes and then figure out how to do it." That's exactly what I did and I met this woman at a party and she said they needed these thank you cards. I'm like sure.

I got this huge order and I had no idea what to do. I went to the printer and I began early on just asking people for help. I had a lot of great mentors, from a young age. I'd hang out at the printer to learn everything I needed to know and then people would ask, you know, do you do brochures? Do you buy radio? Do you place television? I just kept saying yes and hanging out at the radio station and learning everything I needed to know and by the time I was 25, I had a full service advertising and public relations firm with many national clients like Ben and Jerry's and Supercuts and Allstate. It just completely took off. I really had no advertising background whatsoever. I just kind of hit the ground running and learned as I went.

JAIME TARDY: That's amazing. So you just kept seeing these needs that were out there and they'd ask and you'd say yes so you knew you could make money off of it. I know a lot of people have opportunities come in and it's more of a distraction to their business than it is an opportunity. How did you know or did you know, at the time, what was going to work and what wasn't going to work?

ALLISON MASLAN: Well, at that age, I didn't have much business experience so I really didn't know. I would take opportunities that were in that industry obviously, advertising, and I learned public relations as well and that was part of the vision of the company that we had was to offer these full services to our clients. It wasn't like I was taking things that were a completely different industry. I think that's really how I made money. I made a lot of money at a young age. I didn't have any financial support. I didn't have any financing from anyone and people say well how do you make money? You go get clients. That's what you do. You actually get business, if you have them hire you and pay you.

I didn't have a plan early on and that was part of the struggle that I had because outwardly I was doing great and making a lot of money and living this very nice life, but inside I was pretty miserable actually because I had no life. My business was running me and I was more of an opportunity seeker kind of bouncing from client to client instead of really having a full strategic plan and working day and night. My daughter was very young, at the time. I was exhausted, completely exhausted and rundown. One particular day I ended up having a terrible car accident from just the stress of life.

It was a huge wakeup call for me. I just decided, at that moment, that I needed to make a big change in my life, even though I had been extremely successful, by most people's standard, I really wasn't happy. Since that time, I built nine more companies that I absolutely loved, that I have been completely aligned with that is my passion, that has a deeper meaning to me and that's more fulfilling. I still make good money, but it's much more fulfilling than having the money be the only prize.

JAIME TARDY: What changed from that car accident? What actually changed? What did you implement or change in your life to make that work for you?

ALLISON MASLAN: I walked away from the business just kind of like that. I shocked a lot of people because they were like how could you walk away from something that's so successful. You know, I think people struggle with that all the time, even in a job, even though they are not happy, there's something like 85 percent of people unhappy in their careers, but they stay because of the paycheck or the so-called security, but it really holds them back from creating joy in their life. I really believe we all have that possibility to create an unlimited reality really.

I walked away from that business. I also walked away from a difficult marriage. I set out into the world as a single mom, no money, no idea what I was going to do at all and I took a little bit of time to figure that out and, at the time, I was learning about homeopathy which is a natural system of medicine and it was kind of helping me go through that difficult time and I was so fascinated by it that I decided that that's what I wanted to do. At that point, in my life, and I've actually been a homeopathic physician now for 17 years so that was a big turning point for me. I had built that practice but been in many other industries.

I've had a scuba diving certification program, beauty salon, software company; I built the largest homeopathic college in the country. I love, as I said, I love that creativity and being an entrepreneur gives me the space for that. But the prerequisite is that I have to really believe in it and be passionate about it so that I can give it 100 percent in the highs and the lows. That's what keeps me going and that's what keeps me there for my clients and my customers as well.

JAIME TARDY: You've done a ton, which I know you actually teach people how to do this so I want to sort of dive into that because you've created so many companies, I'm pretty sure you're darn good at starting them. Can you tell me a little bit about what you would do, if someone even didn't have an idea yet, where they would go to try and maybe find that idea and walk me through that path that you would take someone through for finding a business.

ALLISON MASLAN: Absolutely and I help people do that all of the time. I actually really love that. One of my gifts is brainstorming and we all have these amazing ideas inside of us but how many times have you had an idea come to you and you're like oh this is such a great idea and then you talk yourself out of it and you say that will never work, I don't know how to do it, who is going to come to me, who am I to do something like that. These are the kind of negative thoughts that hold us back and then you're out at Costco or you're talking to someone or you see on TV your idea, like a year later, and you say shoot why didn't I do that.

Really the difference between people that make millions with their ideas and others that don't is just taking action, right? Because the answers are always out there; if you ask, people will help support you. But one of the programs I have is called The Blast Off Business Blueprint and it is actually a program to help people figure out what business they should start and I have a lot of creative exercises that I take people through and one of them is to really get in touch with what you loved doing as a child. What were your passions, what excited you, who did you like to hang out, what were you drawn to mostly, at that time?

When you're younger you're drawn to things naturally. You don't have the responsibility on your shoulders. You don't have the feelings like I need to do this to make money and support myself or my family. You do it because you love it and when we're younger we're told follow your dreams. But then, when you get a little older and you enter the "real world" it's like what do you mean follow your dreams? You got to go out and do something to make money, right? All of those ideas are squashed.

If you go back to those earlier times, a lot of times the ideas come from that and I combine what your passions were as a child, what your talents are now and it could be anything from not just I'm a classical pianist but I am a good listener. I am very organized. I'm good at inspiring people. I'm good at pulling people together, all of these are very innate talents that we all have. You combine those passions with your talents and then also one more thing I call your bucket list, what have you always wanted to do but have never done before? What are you attracted to or what have you seen somebody else do that you thought wow that's really cool?

You put all of those things together kind of in a little soup and you find what are the common threads? What do you see? What are some themes that you see? For instance, one of the clients that I had was interested in history; everything to do with history. She loved to go to museums, she loved documentaries, she was a history teacher; that was her life. I helped her start a company called My Visual Story and she creates these documentaries documenting working with elderly people and documenting their lives in these beautiful vignettes and pictures and so forth to really cherish their life that people can hold onto as gifts. That's an idea of taking something that is your passion and turning it into a relative business that will work in today's economy.

JAIME TARDY: I love how you said that ? that will work in today's economy ? because that's sort of the thing too. A lot of people will go well I'm great at baseball. I'm going to teach people how to play baseball and then they get in there and they're like oh there's not really a market for this or whatever it is. People aren't willing to pay for this advice. How do we determine that stuff based on our passions?

ALLISON MASLAN: I mean you would be surprised. There's a market for more things, I mean you see the things out there and you're like are people really buying this? If you're excited and passionate about it, people will be drawn to it. A lot of times your branding and your marketing and how you position things, but of course it's always important to do some market research and you can do some beta testing and see how people respond to it and so forth. Even if somebody else has already done something, a lot of times people feel like wow it has already been done, that means I can't do it.

It doesn't have to be just one of everything. I mean that's not really possible so you can still do your idea, if it's out there, you just are going to have to tweak it and change it a little bit just so it's your own voice. My book Blast Off is a motivational self help business book but there are many books like that out there. There are millions. If I would have said wow there have already been books written then I wouldn't have done it. But it is always going to be different because it's your own voice and your own style and your own way of positioning it.

It is crucial that your business makes money. I have this conversation with people too that they want to give, they want to help people, they want to share their passion but if you're not receiving that same energy back in currency, then your business cannot run, you cannot pay people, you cannot continue to exist. So it needs to be highly profitable as well.

JAIME TARDY: Take me through once they have this idea, so they know that there is something that they are interested in and maybe they've started to beta test it, what do they do from there?

ALLISON MASLAN: Then it's time to actually start putting the structure of the business together. I mean it really depends on what it is. If it's a consulting business there is not a lot of startup costs. You can pretty much put a website up and print a business card and get on the phone and start connecting with people and start networking and you could build your business that way because it's a service business. You're selling your time, right? Same thing with advertising and public relations. Honestly there was not a lot of startup because it was selling our expertise and our creativity and our time. But if you have a brick and mortar store and it's a retail store, you obviously got to find a location, you got to get merchandise and you may need to get financing, if you don't have family that can support you there. It really depends on what industry it is.

But at that point, once you got your strategic plan together and you know what you want to do and you've done some testing and you feel that it's very viable in the market, it's time to just get it out there. So many people think about it and mull it over and try to get it all organized to the point where it's not really real, it's all fantasy as it's in your head. It's real once you start putting it into action. It doesn't have to be perfect because you will mold it and change it along the way as you see how customers or clients respond, how your sales go, are you reaching the right target audience? You will see along the way if you need to tweak that. You might be surprised. You might feel that you're targeting women in their 50's and you find that men in their 20's are interested in your product. Funny things happen like that and so you'll change things along the way, as you go, but you just need to get started.

JAIME TARDY: How do we know? I know it's difficult and we pivot and we turn and we change when we're already in it. We can sort of see ways to go, but I found that it's really hard and this is what I hear from people a lot is to know what is the right direction to go. They know they are going to do this, but they don't know if 20 men bought my product but this many women did, do I know which way to go? The indecision can stop a lot of people. So when you're getting feedback like that, what do you use or how do you tell people to get through that to find out what the best decision to take is?

ALLISON MASLAN: First of all, I would say for anyone in business, you should have a mentor. No question. I've had mentors from a very young age and working with people that have already done it before you don't have to recreate the wheel, even if it's a different business. I work with entrepreneurs whether it's manufacturing retail, service, wholesale, business is business. I know how to get out there and make it happen. It's going to really give you the speed and direction that you need to have someone guide you along the way. That helps with that indecision where you're waking up going I have no idea what steps to take. Really benefit from the wisdom of somebody that has done it before you. That's the first thing.

The second thing is, as far as figuring out a market, one thing is who do you enjoy working with? If you are going to be working with these clients and customers, who do you resonate with the most? What are you drawn to? Often times our market, if it's something we're passionate about, our market is going to be similar to who we are. It's going to be a market that you really understand and you get. It's not always the case that way but a lot of times it is. If you're a mom and you're really into doing yoga, maybe you're going to do some sort of yoga studio where it's moms and kids. That's going to be a market that you really understand. You're not going to be advertising to necessarily a single market or single men to your yoga and mom studio. A lot of times it's just pretty obvious.

JAIME TARDY: It's funny; I met a woman who is doing a fitness program and she's not a mom but she really wants to target moms. Do you think she'll have a hard time to try and get into that market when it's not really who she is, like will her market trust her?

ALLISON MASLAN: I think it's a little bit more complicated but she's obviously not going to be the only one there so if she has some staff there that are moms and are kind of speaking their language, because I'm a mom as well and moms like to talk about their kids and what's going on and having activities of the kids. No it's not like you have to be a mom to understand what children are like. We've all had brothers and sisters and so forth in our family. It does help when your customers, your clients do resonate with you.

I have clients that come to me that are moms and they like the fact, I mean I was a single mom for quite awhile and I was out there making it happen even though I didn't have the support around me and that's inspiring for people to see that in any circumstance that they can make it. I think your earlier question too that I didn't really address was people getting stuck in that indecision. That's about getting caught up in the thinking in your mind and that's that analysis paralysis that holds people back.

The way to break through that is really just begin taking the steps. The scariest part is just the beginning of change. Once you take the steps and make the change, the doors start opening. The people that you need will start appearing. The money appears. But you have to put yourself out there or else it's not going to happen. If you're hiding away, nobody is going to know about you or your dream.

JAIME TARDY: Tell me, you work with a ton of entrepreneurs. Do you know the best, and plus you were in advertising and PR, give me some marketing tips that are working right now because we love hearing stuff that's going well for your clients now.

ALLISON MASLAN: It's interesting because people feel that marketing has changed so much because of the internet and social media but marketing is the same as it was when I had my advertising agency years ago, even before the internet. It's all about bringing your wares to market. That's what marketing is. It's letting people know about what you do and there are so many ways to do that. I think you have to find what you're aligned with and where is your target market hanging out. Once you determine that, then you find where they are and you go there. You go reach them. Instead of waiting for them to come to you, you need to go to them.

One of my favorite ways of marketing is doing speaking engagements. I love that because I like to be in front of a room full of decision makers. Right then they get to know me, they get to hear my story, they get to hear how I work with people and they get to learn some things, some great content right then that they can take and go home with and I have an opportunity to meet them and find out about their dreams and desires and their challenges and so forth. I think that public speaking is a great way to build your business and a lot of people are afraid of that and I used to be really afraid of public speaking but the more I did it, the more confident I became.

Obviously the internet, social media is huge. You cannot run a business without social media these days. It's not a question of should I or shouldn't I. It's really how much and you need to be visible because people will look and see oh I'm looking to do business with XYZ, I want to know what people think of this business on Facebook or on Twitter or on LinkedIn. But I think that you don't want to get, so many people hide behind their computers. They want to run their business behind their computers and first of all that becomes kind of lonely. After awhile it gets old. Get out there, build relationships, meet face to face.

One of my favorite social media tools is called the telephone. Pick it up, talk to people. I like to hear their voice. Just make yourself and your business as visible as possible. Brand yourself as the expert in your arena and your business will start to grow.

JAIME TARDY: You are right about social media being huge and that's what everybody hears is that it's really, really big, you should totally do it. Do you have any examples of people that are using it to success? A lot of people will go out and just sort of put things out there and go I don't really see anything coming back. Do you have any specific examples of what maybe people did that did work for them?

ALLISON MASLAN: I think it's not going to happen overnight. It's kind of like when you put up a website people are like why aren't people coming to my website. Well a website is a store front. Think of it as a store front and pretend that you just opened a store in the Mojave desert and nobody knows where your store is. They cannot find it. That's the same thing with your website. You put it up and there's no ranking whatsoever because you haven't had enough traffic to your site to build it up. The same thing with social media. It takes time. It really is you're planting the seeds and it builds and builds and builds.

Once you have a good number of followers, then you put your message out, more people are going to start hearing about it and talking about it. For me, a good example is actually myself. I get a lot of clients from Facebook. I love that arena because I can share my messages, I can give some inspiring messages, I can give some inspiring messages, I can give tips. People get to know me and they reach out to me to do business and so I have a very large following on Facebook. I see often times a return of investment right away.

I'm using myself as an example but many of my clients I show them how to do webinars and do product launches online with their business. That is very successful. My book Kit Number One on Amazon because of the big launch that I did, I got 25 joint venture partners together that were all online promoting my book. It doesn't have to be, building relationships is another great way to market yourself in your business. You don't have to do it alone. There are people out there that will support you and you can do the same for them.

JAIME TARDY: That is a really good point that in Facebook or Twitter or wherever, we're talking social media, it's just relationships. It's just meeting people. It's just a different way of actually doing that, putting the same spin on it. Someone that comes to meet you, meeting face to face would be easier, but meeting on Facebook they still might want to just work with you the same way. You're right, it's just about relationships. It really makes a big difference.

ALLISON MASLAN: Yes, relationships is one of my favorite things in business. I have clients that have been with me for 20 years. That's what makes business fun. It's all about the relationships. It's not about the quick sale. It's also about, like you and I talking, here we are in different locations, we get to know each other, you make friends that way. I have made incredible friends on Twitter. I had a gentleman come work for me all the way from Connecticut to San Diego that I met on Twitter. It's an amazing opportunity to connect and meet with people around the world and make friendships that you would never have. It's really mind boggling when you think about it.

JAIME TARDY: We're very lucky. Tell me about the book and the reason why I am interested is because I am writing a book too. I want to know what you did to really do that. Did you already have those 25 JV partners, were they already friends of yours and all you had to do is ask? How did you plan that launch?

ALLISON MASLAN: It was funny, I had written a book. It was time to market it and I had a publishing company but most publishing companies really don't promote your book anymore. The industry has changed dramatically so I knew it was really up to me to make it happen. I was on Twitter one day and I saw this woman talking about her number one bestselling book and her book was actually a self-published book and I thought wow, if she could get her self-published book to number one, I want to learn how she did it. I contacted her and she was in England. I asked her how she did it and if she would coach me to do it.

Again, I am all about asking for support, getting mentors and she said well I've never done that before but I'd be happy to do that. I hired her, we worked together for six months. She had so many connections that she had built and she got these people together. She was a social media whiz. The funny thing is, it was so successful, my book went to number one in three categories in the United States and in Canada; it hit the bestseller list in the UK and I'm very proud of the book. I definitely put my heart and soul into it. That inspired her so much that she went on to build a company around helping authors launch their books. That's a perfect example of Twitter, the power of Twitter changed my life and her life as well.

JAIME TARDY: Changed hers too. That's amazing. Thank you so much. You're actually starting a jewelry company too. I wanted to just touch base on that. How new is that and what are you doing with that?

ALLISON MASLAN: I've always loved fashion, growing up in that business with my father and I also loved to travel. This business is called AllielorCollections.com and my partner and I, we love to travel and we thought we could travel and shop not too shabby. We buy these beautiful one of a kind pieces from around the world that you will never see anywhere else and that is Allielor Collections are these beautiful pieces from our journeys of life and then we also have our briefcases.

I got tired, as a woman, trying to find a briefcase that was attractive that didn't look like a man's so we invented, they're called the Allielor Unbriefcase which is a briefcase that looks like a purse but also holds your laptop and your iPad and things like that. It's really pretty. It's an online store but we also do parties and events and things like that. That's a new company that has been in development for about a year but it is really taking off. Fun, I love it.

JAIME TARDY: How are you marketing that online? I know you had a lot of experience of online. What are some of the things that you are doing now to market that?

ALLISON MASLAN: We're doing a lot of social media. We're doing public relations. I'm a big believer in public relations. As I said, I used to have that in my own company. Getting media, getting celebrities, people that are out in the public to wear your merchandise, because that helps to build your brand, but also doing, you can't just count online so we do a lot of events too. People when they can touch and feel the merchandise, there's nothing better than that and then you get people to go back to the website. You can promote offline to get people online.

JAIME TARDY: I really like that. How do you get celebrities to wear your stuff though?

ALLISON MASLAN: I wouldn't say it's always so easy but people that are very connected in public relations can help with that. Sometimes it's just the person that knows the person that knows the person that knows the person; don't be afraid to ask.

JAIME TARDY: How does someone get started in public relations? Instead of just hiring someone which is probably a good idea, but if they don't have the money to hire someone for public relations, what's the best ways that's sort of like a 101. What should they be doing?

ALLISON MASLAN: There's a lot of PR that you can do yourself. You can learn online how to write a press release. You can find out pretty much anything online. Write a press release. It has to be newsworthy though. You can't just say grand opening of this. It needs to be something that is going to be interesting that's going to stand out. Learn to write a really eye-catching headline that's going to grab their attention. Wherever it is that you're trying to target, find out who the producers are or who the editors are and if you have video as well that you can send, that's always very powerful these days.

Just send it off to them and then pick up the phone and follow up and say did you receive my release? Is it something you're interested in? They will let you know. You'd be surprised how approachable some of the editors and producers are. You don't necessarily, there's no certification to do PR. It's all about creating relationships with people in the public. That's what public relations is.

JAIME TARDY: Do you think it's like a numbers game where you are just trying to get as many as you can out there so that way you do get a couple yeses, so it's more about the numbers or is there specific tricks or people that make it easier?

ALLISON MASLAN: I mean it always is about the numbers. The more people that you're targeting, the more opportunities you're going to have. It's the same thing in sales. The more people you talk to the higher your conversion rate is going to be. Again, you want it to be in your target market. If you're in a beauty business, you don't want to be in a magazine for motorcycles, right? It has got to be in your target arena. Sometimes it's not super easy to get into the bigger national media but, you know, you just work with them, build a relationship with the editors. Ask them what they are looking for, what's hot right now and see if you can give them some information that's going to tie in with some publications that they have forthcoming or some news ideas that they are going to be talking about. See if you can create a story that ties in with what you do that also fits with their edge.

JAIME TARDY: Nice. Thank you very much. I know we have to start wrapping up but I always ask what's one action that listeners can take this week to help move them forward towards their goal of a million?

ALLISON MASLAN: I would say get clear on what your big picture vision is. What it is that you really would like to create and just start walking towards it. Walk towards it every single day and don't let anyone tell you that it can't be done.

JAIME TARDY: Thank you so much, Allison. Where can we find you online or which one of your ten companies do you want to tell us about?

ALLISON MASLAN: Probably just go to my website which is myblastoff.com and you can find most everything that you need to know about me there and the different businesses and the mentoring services that I offer.

JAIME TARDY: Perfect. I'll link that up and also try and find you on Facebook and Twitter so everybody can link up to you there too. Thank you so much for coming on today, Allison. I really appreciate it.

ALLISON MASLAN: Thanks, Jaime. Have a great day.

JAIME TARDY: You too.

Thanks for listening. You can find out more great information like this on EventualMillionaire.com.

Tags: Allison Maslan, business ideas, business startup, Decision Making, Idea Validation, millionaire interview, single mom, Startup

Categories: All, Business, Business Model, Entrepreneurship, Millionaire Interviews, Visioning

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