Victoria Lynne Hannu With Heart and Soul CEO

Intro: [00:00:02] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, it’s time for Coach the Coach Radio brought to you by the Business RadioX ambassador program, the no cost business development strategy for coaches who want to spend more time serving local business clients and less time selling them. Go to brxambassador.com To learn more. Now here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:33] Lee Kantor here, another episode of Coach the Coach Radio, and this is going to be a good one. Today we have with us Victoria Lynne Hannu, new with Heart and Soul CEO. Welcome, Victoria.

Victoria Lynne Hannu: [00:00:45] Hi Lee. Thanks for having me. I’m excited to be here.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:48] Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us a little bit about Heart and Soul CEO. How are you serving folks?

Victoria Lynne Hannu: [00:00:54] Well, Heart and Soul CEO is about helping entrepreneurs, CEOs and founders really make an impact in the world by bringing purpose into business, by bringing values into the core of the business.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:10] So what’s your back story? How’d you get into this line of work? Have you always been a coach?

Victoria Lynne Hannu: [00:01:15] Well, technically, yes. But I started out in corporate and I found coaching as I was getting ready to leave and wanted to figure out what the heck I wanted to do, what was my next step. And I got a coach and it was like, oh, this is what I want to do. And then shortly thereafter, I launched my business. And as I was looking at my business plan, I was looking at it and I’m going, OK, I’m supposed to do a business plan because I have a background. I’m a business analyst and that’s my background before I became a coach. And looking at all of this, I’m going, how do you incorporate values into the business plan? How does that business plan actually authentically reflect who you are, what you’re here to do and where you want to go? And there was no answer. It was just kind of dry looking at it. And so I was on a journey to figure that out and help other entrepreneurs to do that as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:29] So now you said your background was as an analyst. Analysts tend to like numbers and spreadsheets and things are very black and white. When you’re dealing with kind of values and mission, it’s hard to put that on the spreadsheet. How do you help your folks do that?

Victoria Lynne Hannu: [00:02:47] Well, as a as a business analyst and one of the gifts that I have is that I can see the stories in the numbers because we have a tendency as an analyst, you can look at things, the numbers are numbers, math, map, spreadsheets or spreadsheets. Yeah, that’s great. But what do they mean? Right. It’s really. What do they mean.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:11] So then how do you help your clients kind of get a better understanding of maybe the numbers that matter rather than just numbers, because some business people are just kind of collecting numbers and they kind of lose track of what are the metrics that matter?

Victoria Lynne Hannu: [00:03:29] Right. Well, the thing is, is you are absolutely correct, there are so many people out there that look at the numbers, OK, now it’s time to take actions to if you want to increase your revenue numbers based on the market, based on what your past is, you have to take these actions and nine times out of ten those actions. Won’t necessarily get you your next numbers, that your goal, because they’re one, they’re not looking at the outcomes that you want. And number two, they’re not looking at what gets in the way. And there’s a there’s a little Diddy joke story I’d like to ask you, why is six afraid of seven?

Lee Kantor: [00:04:21] Because seven, eight, nine.

Victoria Lynne Hannu: [00:04:23] That’s right. That’s the story. Gets seven. Really? Eight, nine.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:27] Probably not. I don’t think so.

Victoria Lynne Hannu: [00:04:30] No, but just the fact that you can give that just that little one shows that there’s meetings inside of numbers because everybody when they look at numbers, you can look at your PNL and you so just say your revenues. You had a top revenue line of two million dollars, right? And somebody could look at that and say, wow, that’s awesome. Somebody else would look at it and go, that’s not enough, that’s. The number is the number one million.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:08] But the number is also a story, and it’s the story you tell yourself or the story they see in the numbers, and I think that a lot of folks have a hard time discerning what are really the numbers that matter most to them. And it might matter most to your banker, might matter most to your accountant. It might matter most to your neighbor. But what is the number that matters to you in your mission and what you’re trying to kind of achieve?

Victoria Lynne Hannu: [00:05:36] Absolutely. And and it could be any of those numbers, right? It could be your bank account balance. It could be your income numbers. It could be the number of people that you help. And it could be the number of sales that you make which are in line with the number of people that you help. There’s also the green numbers. You know, we have companies looking at reducing carbon footprint, those numbers, but they’re all tied up in the stories. You tell yourself about what those numbers mean. And it’s that meaning that can get in your way.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:18] Right. And that’s in the end, if you get that number wrong, that could mean that you’re spending a lot of sleepless nights worrying about things that really aren’t your true north. And it could get you off track and it creates stress and you can create disharmony within your family and your own personal life, your health. How do you help your clients kind of get aligned with their numbers as well as what they’re really trying to accomplish?

Victoria Lynne Hannu: [00:06:45] Well, one of the things we do is the first thing I do with my clients is sit down with them and really help them to identify the stories that are in their numbers. Right. And sometimes the story isn’t with the owner of the company. Right. Sometimes the story is with their staff. I had one client where his accounting systems were one way, but there was it seemed like he was losing money, right. There was not a lot of money left over for bonuses and those kind of things. Well, it turns out that he had staff members, a team. This was a concierge company and they were on site and they weren’t charging people for small things of doing things for clients because they felt it was wrong to charge for something so small. So they had stories about what it meant to serve a customer and it actually was hurting them and the company.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:54] So now walk me through what an engagement with your firm looks like. What is the pain that this client is having and how do you help them kind of get their numbers and their mission aligned?

Victoria Lynne Hannu: [00:08:07] All right. So they’re stuck, right? My clients are typically stuck there in overwhelm their burned out. The camps, you mentioned it earlier, they can’t sleep at night because they’ve got things they think they’re missing something they’ve got things going on in their brain. And so what I do is I work with them to identify the signs that this is the stories in there. No, of course, which overwhelmed burnout being stuck are some of some of the signs. And it’s like, OK, let’s take a look at your numbers. And I also have a quantitative assessment that turns the subjective into the qualitative so that we can really look at that. And then we identify those stories. And I help them to understand what story do they have going on that is keeping them stuck. Sometimes it’s three stories, sometimes it’s five stories, sometimes it’s just one, but they can’t see it. And then we look at that story and see, is there parts of it to keep it there, parts of it to let go. So we let go of the old stories that are keeping them stuck and then we can write a new story that helps them to achieve the outcomes that they want versus going after numbers, which is typically goals and objectives are often numbers driven. What is the outcome? And then we can back off that to find the numbers that match the outcome and we lay out the path to get from where they are to where they want to go.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:50] Now, the way you do this, I believe, is through your first step rise method, can you talk a little bit about that?

Victoria Lynne Hannu: [00:09:58] Yes. So the rice method is the path that we follow and arise. We start with the R, which is to recalibrate your mind set. And you can’t go to where you want to go from where you are without creating the mindset of where you’re going. And then the I in rice is in leadership. Who are you innately as the leader? Because to lead your company where you want to go, you really need to be authentic to who you are innately as a leader. And that doesn’t mean authentic to who you think you are. It’s who you really are. And then the answer is to put the structures in place. It’s a structure. Let’s structure your business. Let’s make sure that your vision is in real alignment and that the purpose of your business is the purpose of your business for real, rather than something that somebody put out there or you put out there in order to have other people think that’s what it is. But it’s not really what it is. It’s kind of a convoluted place, but it’s really having that clarity that you’re really on track and you’re doing what you want to do. And then the E in the rice method is to execute. You can plan, you can lay things out, you can talk things out until you’re blue in the face. But until you actually have the rubber meets the road, nothing is happening. So it’s really about executing and bringing everything to life, to showing up in your business, to leading your team, being the leader in the world that you’re here to be. And then the key is also to evolve and elevate because it’s a constant process.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:50] Now, do you find that the folks that are drawn to your message and to your solutions are kind of these purpose driven companies, the ones that are trying to do well and to do good at the same time? But they’re just maybe operationally challenged that their dream kind of gets cluttered by the reality of some of the operations and that your team is able to help them from an operational standpoint to get back on track.

Victoria Lynne Hannu: [00:12:23] Absolutely. Absolutely. And one of the things is a purpose driven business leader. It’s very personal as well. So. They have a tendency to sometimes be too soft and they don’t think about the operational aspects of it, and my company is here to have people, processes, systems all working together synchronously so that my clients can organically grow and have a sustainable business that doesn’t kill them in the process.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:04] Now, can you share a story about maybe one of your clients don’t name their name, but maybe explain the back story, what they were struggling with and how you were able you and your team were able to come in and interject yourself in your services to help them reach new levels?

Victoria Lynne Hannu: [00:13:20] Absolutely. Well, I’ll I’ll take the simplest story. I have lots of stories. One of my clients was making low five figures. Right. And she was looking at her numbers based on what she thought she should be doing. And she wanted to make a huge impact in the world and she was in marketing. And marketing is one of the best ways to really get out there and help your clients get out there. And she loves working with visionaries. Well, when we first worked with her, she was here in Denver and there’s Colorado Springs, the Denver Tech Center, all the way to Boulder. So she thought she had to her story was that for her to increase her income the way she wanted to, she had to do social media and that she had to be the social media expert for her companies. And she was working in the financial industry at that time, which was kind of out of alignment for where she really wanted to go and the impact she wanted to make. So she’s going up and down, driving hundreds of miles, sometimes in one day, thinking that that’s what she had to do. Well, in the process of looking at our numbers, looking at the stories, looking at what was going on, she had thought because the market was asking for social media. People, that’s what she had to do, regardless of what she was here to do, was to be a leader of leaders. And so we got that turned around and she’s making multiple six figures today and she takes pride in.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:12] So it is it’s not a it’s a dream that can come true if you can get your operations right and get everything in alignment.

Victoria Lynne Hannu: [00:15:20] It absolutely is. You know, your mind who you are is the leader. What you’re here to do, get yourself set up in your structures, in your operations, put in place to support you, not here to do everything by yourself.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:36] So now you mentioned that she started out as a five figure business. Do you have a sweet spot in the size of the firms that you work with? Are they the five, six figure businesses or do you work with enterprise level brands? What is the sweet spot for your clients?

Victoria Lynne Hannu: [00:15:50] The sweet spot for my clients is six and seven figure businesses is sometimes multiple, seven figure businesses. I really like working with companies that are teams that can be zero to twenty five. That’s the. Sweet spot. And although some are a little larger, one company, which actually was an organization, a nonprofit, I turned them around, got them all on the same page, and they had. 30 employees.

Lee Kantor: [00:16:26] So you can really make a big impact, no matter really what size the firm is.

Victoria Lynne Hannu: [00:16:33] Exactly, exactly, I have this real sweet spot or this place in my heart for the smaller entrepreneurs, and so I have some things that I do with them. They do more of the work themselves versus me and my team. But when you’re at the low five figures and you’re purpose driven, just know that you can move past that. It doesn’t take a whole lot other than really shifting more into who you innately are as a leader.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:06] Well, congratulations on all the success. Victoria, if somebody wants to learn more about you, your team and your firm, is there a website?

Victoria Lynne Hannu: [00:17:16] Yes, that’s Heart and Soul CEO dot com. And they can connect with me on LinkedIn as well. And I’m also on Facebook.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:28] Well, thank you again for sharing your story, you’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Victoria Lynne Hannu: [00:17:32] You’re welcome. Well, thank you, Lee, for giving me the opportunity and inviting me to be on your show.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:38] All right. This is Lee Kantor Rules. How next time on Coach the Coach Radio.