0 (2s):
Light that spark Fire Nation JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs On Fire brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network with great shows like the MarTech podcast. Today, we'll be chatting with the go-to matchmakers for entrepreneurs to drop these value bombs. I've brought those matchmakers, Amber Lee and Sandra Myers into EOFire studios, Amber and Sandra are the co-founders of select date society. Their expertise has some featured in Forbes, the wall street journal, the New York post and more. They are the go-to matchmakers for business owners and entrepreneurs and what we're hearing their story, how they took it to a million dollar business in their first year, how to find the right partner and so much more.

0 (46s):
When we get back from thanking our sponsors stories are what help us connect and relate, which is why hearing someone else's story to success can help us clearly map out our own. That's why I'm excited to share the female startup club podcast tune in for stories and insights from the world's most successful female founders today, listen to the female startup club, wherever you get your podcasts. Looking for a business coach who has helped thousands of entrepreneurs increase profitability by an average of 104% annually, all for less money than it would cost to hire one minimum wage employee all on a month to month basis. Schedule your free consultation today with Clay Clark, a former SBA entrepreneur of the year at ThrivetimeShow.com/fire.

0 (1m 29s):
Sandra say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with.

1 (1m 40s):
What's up Fire Nation. So excited to be here, John. So this is an interesting one. I think that most people believe that partnerships are like a downfall or a high-risk situation. And you know, for us, it's actually our ACE in the hole. So Amber and I have known each other since 2009. One of the reasons why we chose to become business partners is her skill set is phenomenal in her areas. And mine is really good in my areas. What we get to do as a partnership is really focused on the things we do well all the time, which makes for happy partners.

1 (2m 26s):
We appreciate each other. We compliment each other and you know, for us, two are always better than one, but it has to be the right match.

0 (2m 34s):
It's got to be the right match. I mean, I can tell you over the past decade, I've interviewed people who have just not been the right match and sure enough, shortly afterwards, you hear about it and Fire Nation. As I mentioned in the introduction, we're going to be talking about the go-to matchmakers for entrepreneurs, who they are, what they're doing and why they are having such success. And as I did talk about in the introduction and we have Amberley on the microphone as well, who is joining us. So I want to switch it over to Amber so she can tell us the origin story of the select date society. So Amber, hello, how are you?

0 (3m 13s):
And taken away?

2 (3m 15s):
I am so happy to be here. Select date. Society has a lot of history. As Sandra mentioned, her and I met in 2009. We've actually both been matchmakers in the industry since the late nineties. So we both have decades of experience. And we met working together at a big franchised dating service, and we always knew that we could do it better. So we always kind of played with the idea what if we did our own matchmaking confirm, what would that look like? And we were really, you know, talking about it, but it was really just this kind of dream, this kind of idea. And then in the middle of the pandemic and may of 2020, I had just turned 40.

2 (3m 57s):
I was driving with my family in the car and I suffered a sudden cardiac arrest out of nowhere. My heart just stopped beating. I had my foot on the gas, drove through four lanes of traffic into a brick home. It, I don't remember any of this, so it's not as scary for me as it sounds, but I woke up a few days later in a hospital room. And you know what I just realized in that moment, that life is short. And I think that was the biggest business lesson that we got like right out of the gate. Like an idea doesn't matter, unless you take action. And so I called Sandra and said, let's get to work. And I was recovering and she was behind the scenes talking to web developers and getting the ball rolling.

2 (4m 41s):
So that's how it all started

0 (4m 42s):
Fire Nation. I love when there's origin stories that you kind of just like, you know what? Life is short. I mean, we don't know what's happening tomorrow. What am I doing? Not pursuing my dreams, my hopes, my passions, let's start having some fun so I can look back, you know, years, decades, hopefully decades and decades and decades from now and say, you know what? That was such a great moment in time where I made the decision to follow and to do what my heart was telling me to do. And Sandra, I want to move over to you and kind of get a little bit about what your, why is like, why did you feel like select date society was a project that you actually wanted to tackle in this world?

1 (5m 25s):
Well, for me, I think I was always being excited about the industry I was in, but never genuinely feeling comfortable that I was doing everything to the extent that I would like to have done it for clients. There was that push pedal. Like I love the industry, but I feel like things could be done better. So that was the why for me, because genuinely, I think Amber and I both had an aha moment of, we want to be the Ritz Carlton of, we want clients to have that experience, that when they call who it, regardless of who picks up the phone, everybody knows who they are.

1 (6m 7s):
They know where they're at in their membership. They know exactly why they're calling. They feel like family. And just to bring matchmaking to a level to where it's exciting and it's fun. And people actually look forward to their dating experience. Again,

0 (6m 25s):
I love that. Why, and I really feel like that's one thing a lot of people are missing in their business is their why and Fire Nation, as you're listening, as you're driving in your car right now, or as you're walking your dog or listening to this podcast while you're folding laundry, doing dishes, whatever it is that you might be doing right now, it's actually yourself. The tough question, like is what I'm doing day to day. My why? Like do I have a meaningful why behind what I get up and do every single day in this one single life that we have. And frankly, Amber getting to seven figures is tough. I mean, I was actually just at an event, fantastic funnel hacking live, Tony Robbins spoke there and he went through the numbers of what it actually takes to get to seven figures as a business.

0 (7m 15s):
And it is a percent of a percent, the businesses that launch that actually make it to those numbers. And we're just talking gross. So we're not even talking nets, we're talking gross revenue. So there's just so few companies that are able to manage that. But you two did this in your first year, break it down for us.

2 (7m 36s):
Yes. So I think that we have an incredible advantage in the sense that Sandra and I combined have half a century of experience. And in this business reputation and connections are everything. And so, you know, we have the advantage of having so many people coming to us from direct referral. They know someone who's worked with us in the past. We have an incredible network of matchmakers nationwide and actually worldwide who refer business to us all the time. I think in the very beginning, we just created this mantra that if we take care of the clients, the clients will take care of us. And we've already, you know, we've always operated from that place of abundance.

2 (8m 17s):
We've never had a scarcity mindset. Even in the very beginning, I think we started our business account. We each put $1,500 in, and that was like a big risk at the time for us. And we thought like, okay, what are we doing here? And, but we, we never felt like it wasn't enough. We always came from this place of abundance. And I think that your mindset is everything. If you want to hit seven figures that all starts with your mindset.

0 (8m 43s):
Again, it wasn't like her trick Fire Nation of like, oh, well we started out with $999,000. And yeah, we got to a million dollars. No it's they had 1500 bucks each. They put it in and boom, that was a big expanse as it is for most people period. End of story. And they went to work and we have a lot that we're even talking about after the break on this topic specifically, because I'm really passionate about it. Soon as we get back from thanking our sponsors, looking for a business coach who has helped thousands of entrepreneurs increase profitability by an average of 104% annually, all for less money than would cost a hire one minimum wage employee all on a month to month basis, Fire Nation meet Clay Clark. Clay has been coaching businesses since 2006.

0 (9m 29s):
Yep. Even through the great recession and he does it for less money than it would cost to hire a minimum wage employee Inc. Magazine reports that by default 96% of businesses will fail within 10 years. Yeah. Clay's clients grow by an average of 104% annually. How's the team of possible Clay only takes on 160 clients. So he personally designed your business plan. Plus Clay's team helps you execute that plan with access to graphic designers, Google certified search engine, optimizers, web developers, ad managers, videographers workflow, mappers and accounting coaches visit thrive time show.com/fire to watch thousands of testimonials from real entrepreneurs who Clay's helped over the years. Do your research. If you thousands of documented success stories from real people, like you ThrivetimeShow.com/fire, then schedule your free consultation with Clay himself to see how he can help you with proven business coaching on a month to month commitment basis, ThrivetimeShow.com/fire.

0 (10m 23s):
It's hard to believe we're approaching the end of another year and now more than ever. It's so important that we as business owners are connecting with our customers. It's a busy buying time and the more touch points you can create the better. So how do you create these touch points with a HubSpot CRM platform, a platform ready to help you connect the dots with your business and your customers, whether you're just getting your business up and running or scaling to what's next, a couple of ways a HubSpot CRM platform can help you connect. The dots is with brand new custom behavioral events in their operations hub enterprise. With custom behavioral events, you can get into the details of what makes your customers tick track site behavior and understand customer habits.

0 (11m 4s):
So, you know, what type of messaging to use and when and their operations hub enterprise will give your operation leads. The ability to curate data sets for faster and more consistent reporting, keeping everyone on the same page at all times, learn more about how we HubSpot CRM platform can help connect your business at hubspot.com. So Sandra, as we were kind of talking about before the break, this is actually one area that I'm very passionate about, which is becoming the number one solution to a real problem in this world. And when I say number one solution, I mean it, because people will beat a path to the doorstep of the number one solution in this world for their problem.

0 (11m 45s):
Like when you have a problem, like you have a brain aneurysm, like let's just throw something out there. You are going to beat a path to find the best number one brain surgeon in the world. And guess what? Number two to infinity, they get ignored. And this is across all businesses across all solutions because people want the number one solution to their real problem. Why would you want the second basket or the 10th? Best of the 74th best. So how did you two become the go-to matchmakers for entrepreneurs?

1 (12m 19s):
It gets being entrepreneurs. You know, we kind of get it and entrepreneurs know entrepreneurs. So we're very familiar with the pain of the dating arena. So usually it's because they don't have a lot of time. Entrepreneurs typically are really passionate. It's why they started their business. So to think that they're going to say, you know, I'm going to spend three hours a night dedicated to finding a date for myself. It's not realistic. So we want to take the, the ache of dating out of the picture so that we go out on your first dates. We take care of all the arduous task of dating.

1 (13m 0s):
So you can actually get in front of like-minded singles that you're excited about. So if the chemistry hits you're off to the races, we're speed. We just expedite the process and put our clients in the position to win. I think we're the go-to matchmakers now because they truly understand. And we've gotten referrals off of people. We've turned down, John, where I've said to them, what you're asking me for and what I genuinely feel would work for you is not in alignment. So until you can trust us and allow us to do our job, probably we're not a good fit for you. So we actually turned down potential clients all the time.

1 (13m 43s):
And the only reason we will move forward with somebody is if we genuinely see it happening, I don't know many other firms will do that because I don't even know that the, the business owners are actually involved in the business. And Amber and I were the ones who are the gatekeepers for the company. So it definitely being directly involved with the company absolutely has an effect on how the rest of the dating community sees us.

0 (14m 9s):
So I think this is a really important thing to understand Fire Nation is that you need to have exactly a understanding and a great grasp about what is it you do best as an entrepreneur. What is it that you do best? Who do you best serve? And then as the example that Sandra just gave, when somebody comes to you, that is not your ideal client, that you cannot serve at the best possible way. You send them on their way. You're nice to them, but you're like, I'm sorry. Like I can't solve your problem for you at this moment in time. And that just makes you stand out even more because you actually know and understand who it is you're supposed to serve and the problem you're supposed to be solving.

0 (14m 51s):
So Amber talk about how having the right partner is a key to success. I mean, we've talked about how you and Sandra found each other and how that's worked out so well over time, but how was it really the key to success?

2 (15m 6s):
Yeah, I think in business partnership, obviously it's so important, but even beyond that, your life partner is really the key to your success. I think in all relationships, you're either just surviving or you're thriving and you know, when you're single and you've always just kind of survived and relationships, it's hard to know what you're even aiming for. So with our clients, Sandra, and I know exactly what we're aiming for, because we're both in thriving relationships. We both been with our husbands for over a decade. Each we have our own incredible love stories. And I think that's what makes us so good at what we do. We're not some, you know, single matchmaker, you know, thinking that we're going to tell people what to do and how to do it when we haven't even gotten it right ourselves.

2 (15m 53s):
And I know John, you probably don't remember this back a few years ago, my husband and I were in Puerto Rico thinking about making the move there. And we went on a hike. You were so gracious. You and Kate took a small group on a hike. And as soon as I saw you and Kate together, I just was like, yeah, this is why John and Kate are so successful. They've found the right partnership, both in business and in life. And I really think that makes all the difference and getting back to your last question. Once Andrew talked about us being the go-to matchmakers for entrepreneurs, I think most entrepreneurs, if they're single, they realize they've gotten it right in business. And now they're ready to get it right with their life partner as well.

0 (16m 34s):
Well, I guess the only real question is Amber, when are we going to be able to convince Sandra to move down to paradise?

2 (16m 40s):
I know I'm working on working

0 (16m 42s):
Really hard. Listen to Sandra, do not do not move to Puerto Rico until you're ready to keep the money you make. When you're ready to keep the money you make, you can move to Puerto Rico and you should see that to your clients. Listen, when you're ready to find the person that you want to be, spend the rest of your life with that you want to fall in love with hire us. But until you're ready for that, don't hire us. I say the same thing about Puerto Rico. Don't move here until you're ready to keep the money you make, because there's just no reason.

2 (17m 10s):
John. You make perfect sense. I'm going to play this for my husband, as soon as it airs.

0 (17m 17s):
Oh, well, Sandra, you work so hard. And I just love when people like yourself have the success that you've had. And I love when Amber is able to keep all that money and do amazing things. And I want the same for you. And I also want you to wrap this up, give us the biggest takeaway that you really want to make sure our listeners get from this entire conversation we've had here today. I know you have a very special call to action and opportunity for Fire Nation. So share that. And then we'll say goodbye.

1 (17m 48s):
I think first and foremost, you know, we love Fire Nation and we love the entrepreneurial spirit. So, you know, we're happy to extend to all of your listeners today. If you go on select dates, society.com, when you dropped down to how you were referred, when you pick this podcast, normally you would just go into our database, but we're actually going to move you forward as a listener of Fire Nation into a matchmaking interview. So it's free. It's at no charge. You can get interviewed with one of our top matchmakers. So you're on their radar.

1 (18m 29s):
So when we're matching our clients, you will have a great opportunity to be chosen. If you choose to be a client and we accept you and take you on, and we're confident in your success, then I personally will do a first date masterclass with you. It's valued at $1,500. You will meet with me for an hour. And, you know, entrepreneurs like to walk into a boardroom and feel confident and that they've got it before it's even happening. Once they do the masterclass with me, they will feel like that for every first date they go on. So they can either go on the website or they can call us directly at (877) 344-9544.

1 (19m 9s):
So either way just mentioned Fire Nation and either a candidate or as a client, you will get that

0 (19m 16s):
Wow, Fire Nation. This is some serious opportunities. This is some serious time with some really impressive individuals. And you know, that time is valuable. You know, that you're the average of the five people that you spend the most time with. And you've been hanging out with AAL and SM and JLD today. So keep up the heat, head over to select date, society.com. Do that drop down, make sure you select entrepreneurs on fire and you will get everything that you need going forward and head over to EOFire.com and type in either Amber or Sandra into the search bar, because the show notes page will pop up. As soon as you do that, with all the links and all the calls action there as well.

0 (19m 57s):
So Amber, Sandra, thank you so much for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation today, for that we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Thanks John. Hey, Fire Nation today's value bomb content was brought to you by Amber and Sandra and Fire Nation. What can 3000 of the world's most successful entrepreneurs teach you? How about how to achieve financial freedom and fulfillment? My first traditionally published book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success is a 17 step revolutionary roadmap that will lead you to the lifestyle that you've been dreaming about. This book took me 10 years of accumulating the genius of the world's top entrepreneurs. And you can get it all in one place. When you visit UncommonSuccessBook.com, I'll catch you there, or I'll catch you on the flip side.

0 (20m 42s):
Stories are what help us connect and relate, which is why hearing someone else's story to success can help us clearly map out our own. That's why I'm excited to share the female startup club podcast tune in for stories and insights from the world's most successful female founders today, listen to the female startup club, wherever you get your podcasts. Looking for a business coach who has helped thousands of entrepreneurs increase profitability by an average of 104% annually, all for less money than what it cost to hire one minimum wage employee all on a month to month basis. Schedule your free consultation today with Clay Clark, a former SBA entrepreneur of the year at ThrivetimeShow.com/fire.