46: How to make corporate training fun again with Linda Salazar

[00:00:00] Welcome. Welcome to episode 46 of the podcast. I am currently, uh, on the tail end of tonsillitis. It is horrible. I have been very silky and feeling very sorry for myself. It is the first time I've ever had tonsilitis I don't know how kids put up with this. Oh my God. Anyway. A little bit ironic because, um, the guest in today's episode, um, was also sick. Um, I wasn't at the time, because as is typical of me, there has been a huge delay in getting this one out.

[00:00:32] It was recorded, I think November or December last year. Um, But, yeah, it's, it's a good one. And I've enjoyed editing it as I've sort of been pulled up in this free camp in one Dowie in Western Australia. I've been back on the road for maybe a week now because, um, Yeah, the van was broken down and all sorts of things were going on.

[00:00:56] But anyway, here we are, enjoy episode 46. Linda is amazing and be sure to check out the description. Um, There is a discount code in there for her, you to me course that she mentions. Alright, buckle up and enjoy.

[00:01:12] Rosie: G'day, and welcome to the Pursuit of Freedom podcast. I'm your host, Rosie Burrows, and I'm on a journey to find my freedom so that I can help you do exactly the same. Join me each week as I share the stories of everyday people who've found their own path to freedom.

[00:01:29] I'm not going to focus on job titles and accolades because I don't care about that stuff. And neither should you. I want to uncover what truly makes you tick. Who are you when you step away from society's expectations and follow your heart? I still haven't figured it out yet. Have you? Either way, buckle up because it's going to be one hell of a ride.

[00:01:54] Joining me today is the wonderful Linda Salazar. She's got over 25 years experience in corporate training. And after several years of thinking about starting her own business, She made the leap when she was laid off for the fourth time and at age 51, Linda started her corporate training business, Bright Trainer LLC, with a mission to save the world from bad training one class at a time.

[00:02:22] Linda, thank you so much for being here. I know you're not feeling well, so this

[00:02:26] Linda: thank you so much for having me, Rosie. I appreciate it.

[00:02:30] Rosie: Of course, I've been looking forward to this conversation for a long time. We've had to reschedule and wait, but here we are.

[00:02:36] Linda: do this.

[00:02:38] Rosie: Something I want to start with, this might seem a bit random, but when we first met, you mentioned vision boards to me. And I feel like this is something that's timely at this time of year, right?

[00:02:51] With people making goals and maybe it's a bit later in the year, And the new year's resolution isn't going according to plan. But you said to me, vision boards should come with a warning label. Can you tell me a bit more about what on earth are you talking about?

[00:03:07] Linda: I had the brilliant idea to meet up with one of my friends and I decided, hey, we should vision board because, you know, we're, we, both of us were turning 51 or, 50, 51, that age range. And I was like,

[00:03:25] you know.

[00:03:25] Rosie: Mm hmm. Mm hmm.

[00:03:28] Linda: Want the next few years to look like? And, we went and got magazines and we bought poster board and things like that.

[00:03:38] We sat down in her house and then we remembered that both of us don't like arts and crafts very much. And we look through the magazines and we're like, we don't like any of these pictures. Oh no. We just started, we probably laughed for about 10 15 minutes about the silliness of ourselves. And then uh, she says well, I prefer to do things digitally like, you know, on Canva.

[00:04:04] And I said I prefer PowerPoint. So we got our laptops out, and we just made, a slide. And Just, we're able to find whatever pictures we wanted, because of course it's on the internet, and mostly I put words on mine, and we, we put all these things, places we wanted to go, things we wanted to do what did we want to accomplish, what did we want our daily lives to look like, and we just printed it up.

[00:04:31] Within six months both of us, our lives were unrecognizable. Both of us had done so many different things uh, travel um, both of us had career shifts. So much had happened and I'm like, Oh my gosh, those vision boards are no joke. Do not do one unless you really want to change your life. It should come with a warning label because if you're just halfway serious about it, that stuff just starts coming at you.

[00:05:02] Rosie: Look out. So what did you have on your vision board?

[00:05:06] Linda: to start my own business. I've always had the heart of an entrepreneur. But I've worked in the corporate world for over 25 years for different companies and financial, insurance industry, healthcare industry, IT industry. All the roles that are in the learning and development space.

[00:05:26] Training, doing instructional design, managing other trainers just all those things. And I love it. And I knew that I had the expertise at this time to really be able to go into any company and say, Hey, what are your pain points? What are you struggling with? And let me design. Custom instructional solutions for you.

[00:05:53] Really ways that the, get the employees skilled up to where they need to be. I can do that for you efficiently, effectively, quickly. I can get that set up for you and then the companies are off to the races.

[00:06:08] Rosie: Now, you weren't always a trainer, were you?

[00:06:11] Linda: I tripped and fell into it very early in my career. My undergraduate degrees are in sociology and political science.

[00:06:20] And I My last semester of college, I was doing a political internship with the city of Alamo Heights. And so I was answering phones and doing, that kind of job. And one day a phone call came in, and it was New Horizons Computer Learning Center. And they were a new learning center in town. This is 1996, so quite some time ago.

[00:06:44] And I had been doing that intern role, so I did that my last semester of college, and then I continued it after I graduated college. They turned it into a full time job for me, so I was there, did the job. After about a year, I was like, okay, I've learned all I can learn, and there really wasn't anywhere for me to move up to.

[00:07:04] I was looking for other jobs, and I was looking at the time in the Sunday paper, the newspaper, picking it up. 1996 style. That's how you did it. When the phone call came in, Hey, this is New Horizons. It was a sales call. They're like, Hey, do you want a free class? We're trying to drum up some business here.

[00:07:23] Hopefully you'll like our class and you'll buy some more. And I was like, Oh, I've heard of you guys. I saw y'all in the paper, you were advertising, you were hiring instructors and stuff. And the sales guy goes, Yes. We're desperate for instructors. Hold on. I'm going to transfer you. I'm like okay. So this guy comes on the line, Howard, and he goes, Hey, I heard you want to be an instructor.

[00:07:47] Come on down five o'clock. You're in your resume. See you then. And he just hangs up on me. I'm like okay. I'm 22 years old. I'm like, yes, sir. So I go. And I remember thinking this makes no sense. I don't have a computer science degree and I've never trained anybody to do anything.

[00:08:06] Let me just go and explain to them, I can't do this job. So I took my resume down to the office and I asked for the training manager, Howard. He comes over and I was like, hi, sir. So here's my resume, but I, and he just grabs my resume out of my hand. He's okay, here's your test packet.

[00:08:23] We'll see you Friday at five o'clock. And he just walks away. I'm like, yes, sir. I'm there with my little training packet. I'm like, okay. So I took it home, went through it. It was just a test each of 10 minutes of Microsoft Word, how to make a paragraph or whatever. So I go back Friday, all ready to stand in front of the classroom.

[00:08:46] All the other instructors and employees of the company were there. And I did a pretend class for about five minutes. And then a storm starts outside. And lightning hits right next to the building, shakes the building, knocks the power out, and the room goes dark.

[00:09:07] Rosie: wow.

[00:09:08] Linda: In the middle of my ten minute test teach. And I said, Houston, we have a problem. Then the lights come up and everybody ran away because they had to go to the other computer rooms to see if the computers were fried. And there was one. Secretary just sitting there and I was like, I guess my test teach is over. She's I think so, honey I was like, okay, so I take my stuff and I'd leave.

[00:09:33] I was like that's the end of that and Monday I got the call Howard. He called everybody honey chow He's old southern gentleman, and he goes honey chow. You want to work for me? I was like, okay. Yes, sir and I So that, that's how I started my job. I had no idea what I was doing. No idea how much I was going to get paid.

[00:09:58] I just knew that, computers were important and this was an opportunity to learn something new. And I was like I'll go explain to them that I can't do this job and maybe they'll take the job back or something. And, no, I got there and that's I was trying to convince Howard.

[00:10:16] I was like, I can't do this job. i'm very young. I don't know about this and he's like honey child I could teach a monkey to use a computer But I can't teach is what you've got. You've got charisma. You've got personality People will watch you and I was like, okay. Yes, sir so he spent a week doing a train the trainer with me and You showing me classroom management techniques and things like that.

[00:10:43] And at the end of the week, I got my first class, set out the books, held my class, made all the mistakes, learned from them. And uh, there was a 90 day like trial period where you had to teach all the classes within the 90 days. So I worked so hard. I got up at five in the morning. Got everything ready, went to my classroom, made sure everything was set up, practiced a little bit, taught class from 8 to 5, got my books for the next day, cleaned the classroom, set it up, went home, studied till about 1 in the morning, slept for 4 hours, got up at 5, and just kept going.

[00:11:25] Now, in your early 20s, you can do that. At the end of the 90 days, I sit down with Howard and I'm like, Howard, how did you know? I love this. I never want to do anything else. How did you know that I was right for this job? And he's like, oh honey child, I didn't.

[00:11:45] I just hoped you'd work out. He's actually, the general manager saw you, he thought you were cute, he wanted you to be like a receptionist up at the front. He goes, but I need a trainer so bad, I fought for you, so my neck was really stuck out for you to get in there and do a good job. He goes, I used to stand and watch you and, just with my fingers crossed that it would work out. And I felt so, just like Deceived, you know, I was like Dumbo with the feather. It's oh, you convinced me I could fly if I held on to this feather, and he's oh, no, you're fine, Okay so anyway, September 1996 and I've done all sorts of training roles since then

[00:12:32] Rosie: Do you think you would have put so much effort in and felt as confident that it could work out if you didn't have the illusion, I suppose, that your manager believed you could do it?

[00:12:49] Linda: I'm not sure. I'm a little overachiever, so is just how I am. I think I would have tried my best, but it definitely made it so much easier. He just gave me the confidence that I could do it. And that's what I use in my program as well. Because I help out people who have been, I call it, voluntold that they have to train other employees and they don't want to.

[00:13:21] They're not corporate trainers. But their boss tells them, Hey, you have to train the employees on this new skill, this new software, whatever. They come to me sometimes absolutely terrified. And a lot of what I do is just reinforce. Hey, you got voluntold for a reason. It's because you have some skill in this area.

[00:13:43] You have some knowledge. Let me just give you some technique and stuff to really transfer that knowledge and you're gonna be good to go.

[00:13:51] Rosie: I know from my experience, it makes such a difference having that encouragement, whether or not it's genuine. If I believe it, it's such a difference. Just gives me that little boost in confidence and the belief that, Hey, actually I might be able to do this. So tell me about your program. Is there more than one or what's the work that you

[00:14:12] Linda: Okay, great question. So last year, As you said, starting my business at 51, I did not have time to mess around and find out. Okay. I had to figure out how to run a business on my own. Um, I had had like little side hustle things, but never a full, this is my full time income business. So I joined a six month cohort with 50 other entrepreneurial women.

[00:14:40] Well, 49 other, I was the 50th. Entrepreneurial women, which was amazing. And the, the leader, she made us niche down. She's like, okay, Linda, you could do corporate training. Great. You have to sell one thing though. You're one person. You can't sell everything. I was like, okay. I was like well, I'll focus on manager training.

[00:15:05] She's like, good niche down. I'm like I'll focus on, coming in managers. She's great, niche down, keep going. What problem while you're driving, trying to solve? What have you done? Come on, Linda. And I'm like okay, okay, lady. I was so mad at with her, but I was like, okay, niche down, niche down.

[00:15:24] And then I remembered that years ago I had created a Udemy course for people who are not trainers. who have been volun told to train people and I created that because it had happened over and over at multiple companies where there just weren't enough training resources and employees would come to me Linda, Linda, they're making me train and they would be very upset and worried and scared and nervous about it.

[00:15:55] And I would say, Oh, it's okay. I'm going to help you. Okay. This is my area of expertise. I got you. And I worked with them one on one. So I finally was like here, let me just create a online recorded course that I can point people to if I don't have time to work with them one on one. So I happened to go back to Udemy and I was like, I put that course out and just about forgot about it.

[00:16:21] I went and looked and that course had been downloaded over 1800 times in 85 different countries. I was like, I think I found my niche. I think I have figured out the problem that I uniquely can solve. Because I'm solving it. And by the way, I just checked the stats. I hit 2, 000 and I'm now in 96 different countries.

[00:16:48] Rosie: Oh, wow.

[00:16:49] Linda: I'm super excited about that. That's the focus of my business, is really deputizing your managers, your subject matter experts, your human resource people often get tasked with the employee training. And, it's come with me. It's a group core, so kind of a hybrid between the Recorded course and the me working with you one on one is the group courses.

[00:17:17] So it's a group course you come with the pro with the Whatever topic it is that you need to do employee training on and then I just show you my system It's okay. Here's how you figure out what goes in the course. What doesn't here's how to categorize it Here's how to work with it. And then here's some technique and You're off to the races at the end of the course, you know how to swiftly build a course that is effective, that employees, that their employees aren't going to be bored or mad at you, that they're actually going to enjoy it and they're going to learn and it's going to accomplish what it's supposed to accomplish.

[00:17:57] Rosie: Sounds amazing. This is slightly different, but I come from a teaching background and I'm just thinking back to my degree in Australia. It's a four year degree. They don't teach you how to teach, even though it's a teaching degree. And most of the lecturers aren't teachers. So they're babbling off theory. And, you know, yes, that's useful. But then you get in the classroom for your placement. You're just thrown in the deep end. And some of us manage to, really flourish. Others, it's hard. And, you know, there's a lot of people who drop out. And I imagine in the workplace, it's even worse. Many people aren't in, in a job where they're expecting to teach or train, yet they're voluntold to do this training. It, is this the reason why training's so bad, What do you

[00:18:50] Linda: because, oh, and this breaks my heart at parties. When I tell people what I do, they're like training.

[00:18:58] Rosie: Oh.

[00:18:59] Linda: little trainer heart. It really does. Because training should be this exciting time where you get to learn something new. And you also get to step back from the day to day, of the emails and the meetings and the, the grind.

[00:19:15] And remember, why are you doing what you're doing? supposed to be this, nice transformational moment. And what a lot of companies get wrong is, they call up Susie from accounting, Hey, next week, on top of your full time job, you need to create a class about this new software that we're using and you need to train all these employees. And it's not fair to Susie. Susie has a full time job. She does not have time to figure out how to be a trainer. So she does the best she can. Throws all her knowledge onto a bunch of PowerPoint slides. She doesn't have time to practice. She doesn't have anybody showing her how to do this. She does her best and throws stuff on some PowerPoint slides, puts them up and people come in the classroom and she just talks through it.

[00:20:09] And in the end, she's not satisfied or confident with it. The, and the employees are, you know, death by PowerPoint, you know. oh.

[00:20:19] Rosie: Mm hmm.

[00:20:20] Linda: And that's why people moan and groan when it's like, Oh, I have to go to training. It's because that's usually the level of training. Now, when you bring in a professional trainer, I come in with my games and my ideas and my, ways to, to turn, even mundane training can be exciting and interesting.

[00:20:42] One company I was at, and I wish I had thought of this I have stolen this technique, I didn't think of it every year we had to go to sexual harassment training, right? Every year it was boring, sometimes it's just PowerPoint slides you just click through or whatever, and they tell us the same, what is to most of us, obvious stuff, right?

[00:21:06] One year, we had to go to sexual harassment training, and we're just like,

[00:21:12] So we go, we walk into the classroom, no tables, no chairs. On one wall is a big sign that says yes. On the other wall, the big sign that says no. And then there's a line drawn down the middle of the classroom. And the instructor says, Okay, everybody stand on the line in the middle of the room. We're like, okay. And then she proceeds to read a scenario.

[00:21:45] And she says, okay, now, Is this sexual harassment or is it not? I'm going to read it to you, and I'm going to read it to you, and I'm going to read it That's some effective training. That was training from

[00:22:24] The year 2000 and I still remember it.

[00:22:27] Rosie: And it sticks with you, doesn't it? When you have effective training, you remember that. Whereas when someone's up there, more didactic style, it's just PowerPoints and there's literally paragraphs on there and they're reading off it. I'll sit there and go, I could just do this by myself. I can read that myself.

[00:22:46] What are you offering me that makes it worth me showing

[00:22:49] Linda: That is a difference between having a professional trainer and just checking the box to get the training done.

[00:22:58] Rosie: And that's something I want to talk to you about, this checking the box thing. I could be wrong, so I want your thoughts, but I feel like a lot of leaders, a lot of managers, there's pressure put on them to tick a lot of boxes. There's mandatory training. So let's just get it done. And I feel like training's undervalued.

[00:23:20] Linda: You are preaching to the choir, my friend. Let me tell you I have been laid off four times. You know why? Because when money gets tight, training's the first group that's cut. And that really speaks to a couple of things, just that training is so undervalued, but also some of it is our fault that we don't value ourselves enough.

[00:23:44] And I've actually done a talk on that as well. What I'm doing is actually more needed now than ever because as you know, you know, in the last few years, big companies have laid off swaths of people and I guarantee you trainers were in that group, but the training still needs to happen.

[00:24:08] They're still hiring new people. The people left behind are now putting on two or three more hats. Two or three more roles that they have to do. And how are they gonna learn how to do it? They need the training.

[00:24:23] Rosie: And the workplace is, is changing constantly, right?

[00:24:27] Linda: Yeah, always.

[00:24:28] Rosie: And, And we need to be up-skilling and re-skilling and universities or colleges, formal courses. Um, well, this Is my opinion. It could be a bit controversial, but I feel like those, the formal education in universities and colleges aren't quite as relevant.

[00:24:50] They have a place, but this workplace learning I feel is crucial.

[00:24:56] Linda: I think colleges and universities, their place is more foundational. From 18 to 22, I went to college, I learned. I went deeper into the, core subjects, English and math and science and all of that. And then I took all my courses in my degrees. So I went deep into sociology and political science and learned theory and, studied tons of stuff.

[00:25:23] And then the plan was that I would go into working in social programs. So that was, what I was focusing and what I was planning to do. So having that college where I learned how to run statistics and things like that, that was great for foundational knowledge. But then once you get out from that, you always need to be upskilling.

[00:25:47] You always need to be learning exactly what you were saying, Rosie. So that's where corporate training comes in and we can take your workforce to that next level. Okay. We can help them learn from each other. Facilitate conflict resolution. You've got two teams that aren't working well. A lot of times we can jump in and say, Okay, here, let's let's work this out.

[00:26:12] Rosie: So if I was a leader who says we don't have it in our budget, we don't have the money, training's going, training's useless. What would you say to me, the skeptic? What would you say? Why is it worth my time to invest in training for

[00:26:28] Linda: probably I would tell them the story.

[00:26:30] So one company that I was um, I was called in to do Payroll. The pay, the VP of payroll called me and said, Hey Linda, we need you to come in. We have a lot of mistakes in our payroll. So they paid payroll every Friday and they had a lot of part-time employees. Now this is a national company, and they punched in and punched out.

[00:26:58] So their paycheck was different every week, depending on how long it took them to do their work. So I go in and I'm like, okay what's going on? And she's we have a lot of new payroll people and it's a lot of mistakes and employees are unhappy. The payroll has high, you know, payroll reps.

[00:27:17] It's high turnover because they're getting yelled at every Monday. Hey, my paycheck is wrong and they're overwhelmed. And I'm like, okay let me jump in and help. So I asked to sit with one of the leads, Maria. I told Maria, all right, can you show me what training materials you have? And she said, we don't have any.

[00:27:39] I was like, okay can you show me your standard operating procedure manual? She said we don't have one. I was like, do you have the book that came with the payroll software? She's like, uh, I was like how are you training the new payroll reps? She goes they sit with me and I teach them the first part, then they sit with the other lead and she teaches them the second part, and then they sit with the other lead and she teaches them the third part, and then they take their handwritten notes and run payroll.

[00:28:12] I was like I, I think I know why so many mistakes are being made. I think I've got the answer here. So, I put my technical writing hat on. And I meticulously went through and documented the process, created a beautiful training manual that they, new reps would get that has the steps of exactly what to do.

[00:28:38] Now, during that process I'm watching Maria slowing her down in her work because I'm like, then what button are you pushing? And she said I click this button. Why do you put, you know, and we're doing that. And she gets to a certain point midway in the payroll and she says well, right here, if you balance you, you should stop and balance.

[00:28:58] She's like, a lot of people don't, but you should. And I said, okay why should you balance? And she goes if you balance here and you balance at the end, then the payroll is correct. I was like, okay. And I had to have clarified this with her about three times. I was like, so you're saying.

[00:29:17] Rosie: Huh.

[00:29:18] Linda: You balance here and you balance at the end.

[00:29:20] She goes, yeah, there would be no mistakes. I was like, okay we're going to put that into the training, aren't we? No, added the two balancing steps in there. So I finished the training manual and I was like, okay, this is perfect for the new people. But we also have people who've been here for a little bit.

[00:29:40] They're not going to use the training manual because they already know what to do. Yeah. I had just read a book called The Checklist Manifesto, and it talked about how checklists are so handy. I just created a checklist of are you doing these main steps? I added in a step where they had to balance, they had to write in the balance number, and their lead had to initial it. Then at the end, I added a step, you have to balance, and your lead has to initial it. So I took it to the VP of payroll. I explained what I had done and I told her, Okay, they're not going to listen to me, but they have to listen to you because you're the boss. So you have to tell them that they have to use this checklist.

[00:30:24] And she says, Okay, let's give it a try. So they did. They implemented the checklist for everybody and they handed out the training manual to anybody who needed it. And um, then I kind of went away. So I come back a few weeks later and I was like, there's a lot of people out today.

[00:30:48] And they told me, no, we got rid of three people. I was like, wait, what? They're like, Linda, there's no more mistakes. And they explained what was happening was they would run payroll Friday, get screamed at on Monday, all the mistakes. They would spend all day Monday, all day Tuesday, sometimes into Wednesday, correcting the mistakes, getting new paychecks out.

[00:31:14] And then Wednesday, they had to hurry up and try to get everything done as fast as they could because they had to run the checks on Friday. Okay. So now with no mistakes, they ran the payroll Friday. Monday, they were able to download the numbers and get payroll ready. By Wednesday, payroll was ready. They were ready to run it. They were sitting there twiddling their thumbs, and so they actually were able to eliminate three positions and just farm out that work to the rest of the employees. Now I felt a little bit bad that people lost their jobs, but when people say training's not worth it, we'll calculate three salaries, three, three full time employees for a year.

[00:32:04] Okay. That's what easily 150, 000, 200, 000, right? When you throw in benefits, okay. Add in all the recruiting to Because there was high turnover and whenever you turn over a position, it's about one and a half to two times that person's salary to put out the advertisement, to do all the interviews, to hire somebody, get them processed, get them up to snuff, then, how many employees did they lose? Because, you that were out in the field because their paychecks kept coming wrong. How long would you stay at a job where your paycheck was wrong? And you had to call every Monday to get your money. Not long. I wouldn't stay long. Yeah. I could conservatively say that I saved that company over 200, 000 just the first year.

[00:33:00] Yeah.

[00:33:04] Rosie: So if you're talking to a leader, who's, all they see is the bottom line and dollars that, that says volumes, that's a huge saving. Makes sense to me. I don't need convincing, but I know a lot of people out there do. It's just the state of training is quite abysmal and I'm sure it's similar over there.

[00:33:23] We need people like

[00:33:24] Linda: Oh, well I have passport will travel, Rosie. Y'all just give me a call. I'll zip on down. It's not far from Texas, right? To Australia, that's quick.

[00:33:35] Rosie: it's just around the corner.

[00:33:36] Linda: Hop, skip and a jump.

[00:33:38] Rosie: You mentioned earlier that you've given a talk about helping people see the value in themselves. I think this is something a lot of us struggle with. What? I don't even know where you would start, but what can you share with us about that? Because some of us just, our belief in ourselves is so little.

[00:34:01] Linda: This is something I am very passionate about talking about. Because I was doing it wrong. For many years. Okay, so as I said when I started at the beginning of the year the, did that six month cohort, one of the things that they taught me was you have to quantify your value to a company.

[00:34:24] So that's part of selling what you do. And I was like, Oh

[00:34:30] how do I do that? Because I had always worked within a company. So I had my job and they told me we need this training that training and I created it and delivered the training and did The follow up and I did all the things

[00:34:42] So it was I Never had to convince anybody to come to my classes. Most of the classes were either required Classes or it was nice to have if they showed up great if they didn't it was fine. I got paid the same amount of money, so I never had to worry about it.

[00:35:00] Rosie: Yeah.

[00:35:01] Linda: Anyways so I was taught how to quantify the value of what I bring to an organization so that I could set my pricing and everything.

[00:35:10] And as I learned this concept, I was like huh, and I put two and two together. I'm like, I wonder why, I wonder if this is why trainers get laid off so often is because we don't provide those numbers. Like when I first got into training in the 90s, the only numbers my boss asked me for were how many classes did I do, how many people came to the classes, and then what was my average of the feedback sheets, the smile sheets at the end of the day of how they enjoyed the course and all that.

[00:35:47] So those were the only numbers that I ever gave my boss. And then fast forward into the later nineties and two thousands, there was a lot of emphasis on return on investment. So they were asking us, okay, quantify when they came to your class, where was their skill level? And then afterwards, where was his skill level?

[00:36:07] So I was providing those numbers. Um, So on a scale of one to 10, they were only so comfortable with this skill at the end of the class. Same scale. Okay. See, it moved up two points. Okay. That was because of my class. So those were the numbers I was giving my boss. That's what I was asked to give.

[00:36:27] It never occurred to me to stop and say what if we didn't do the training? How much would that cost the company?

[00:36:34] Rosie: Ooh. Yeah.

[00:36:36] Linda: And so even when I was asked that, even when I was asked for numbers like Linda, how much is the training costing? I would say let's see I'm bought and paid for, cause I'm on salary at this company. So I would put Linda zero, and then I'm going to design everything myself. So Linda designs the training zero cost.

[00:36:58] And then printing, here's the cost for printing. And then we need, some markers and flip chart. Okay. There's a little cost for that. , so I would put value on everything else, but I was saying, Linda, zero, Linda, zero. So guess how they valued me, Linda, zero. They're using the value I gave myself.

[00:37:19] So now of course I go the opposite direction and I'm like, okay, let's see, let's bake in my time and how much is that? And so I work it backwards where it's okay, if you didn't do this training. What would that cost you? So going back to the payroll. Okay. 200, 000. Oh, okay. And that would be the first year alone.

[00:37:44] So you usually do it over three years. So if we did nothing, that could have cost the company about 600, 000 over the three years. Okay. For one 10th of that price. So for 60, 000 I will solve that problem for you. You're getting a nine times return on your investment.

[00:38:06] Rosie: good deal. Yeah.

[00:38:08] Linda: Are you going to hire me?

[00:38:09] Is training too expensive now? No, of course. Now it makes sense. But I never knew how to use those terms. I never was asked for those numbers. I never knew. So now I know. And I always say there will never be a zero next to my name again. Um, I now know my value. And I know how to calculate all that and that's what I do now.

[00:38:34] Rosie: What about people who don't have a business? How would this apply to them?

[00:38:40] Linda: It absolutely would have probably kept my head off the chopping block had I done that. And these numbers are readily available. I could have gone to HR and said how, what exactly is the turnover rate in the payroll department? HR knows. Okay. I don't know why well, how many employees in the payroll department quit.

[00:39:02] Over the last year and how many cited this reason because of all the mistakes I HR has that number, right? They could have told me. Okay. It was we lost six payroll employees. Okay, total up their salaries for me. Boom. I would have had a number a hard number that I could have shown how many employees have left the company and cited because their paycheck was wrong all the time as a reason.

[00:39:29] They were leaving. Okay, total that up for me. I would have had hard numbers to work with. And then, solving the problem, I could have turned those numbers in to my bosses saying, Okay, after my class, the payroll rep turnover stopped. We didn't lose any more employees because there were no mistakes on the payroll checks.

[00:39:53] This is the value I brought to this company. I saved the company 200, 000 this month. Let me show you what I do the other 11 months of the year. And I, you know, I would advise absolutely anybody go and ask. Someone knows these numbers. Okay. What is the problem that is, that the company's trying to solve?

[00:40:17] What problems are you solving? And then work backwards. Okay, what was the cost of the problem? And then how much did it cost for me to fix the problem? And present those numbers. Show your value.

[00:40:31] Rosie: not only is it showing them your value, I think it helps you realize your own value too. That's not something I often think about.

[00:40:43] Linda: I never did. No, I was doing this for years and years. I never did. I never thought of it that way.

[00:40:50] Rosie: Right. And this is a leading question. You'll recognize it as such. But how has it changed your life now that you are more aware of your value and better at communicating

[00:41:04] Linda: It has given me a lot of confidence and now, I'm running around the converted Telling people no go get these numbers. Make sure you're telling your boss these numbers because layoffs come and If the other employees aren't doing this, but you're showing hard numbers Every quarter every year.

[00:41:24] This is what I solved for the company and this is how much money I saved the company You're less likely to be on the chopping block. And these are numbers that your boss does want to hear. And the CFO does want to hear. And the CEO does want to hear.

[00:41:41] Rosie: absolutely. And they wouldn't have time. They wouldn't have time to calculate these numbers for every employee. They've got other things going on. So if you can just hand it to them

[00:41:52] Linda: Yeah, even as a um, because I've done tons of leadership training, management training, it never occurred to me to tell managers Do these calculations for your employees. I never thought of that. I never would have told them that's a good way to show how your department as a whole has safe company

[00:42:12] Rosie: Right.

[00:42:14] That's really clever. I mean, It's so it's simple really, but I don't think it's something that a lot of us would have thought about. Let's jump to talking about being an entrepreneur, because a lot of my listeners. are curious about this side of things, but perhaps haven't taken that leap. Can you share some of your wisdom?

[00:42:37] Rosie: You know, You started your, your business, correct me if I'm wrong, early last year. I'm guessing it hasn't all been rainbows and butterflies. Can you talk us through a little bit of the journey, the ups and the downs?

[00:42:51] Linda: I guess a kind of a perfect example is in December of 2022, I attended a business conference here, a local one, and I was still deciding if I was going to try to find another job or start my business. And so I went to this business conference and I was talking and introducing myself. Hi, I'm Linda Salazar.

[00:43:23] I'm thinking about maybe having a corporate training business. And, I've trained at these other companies. Maybe let me know if you need some help or whatever. Anyways, just fast forward a year later, December, 2023, I went to the same conference and this time looked everybody in the eye.

[00:43:45] Hi, I'm Linda Salazar, founder and master trainer at Bright Trainer, LLC. Here's what I do. How can I help you? And it was just night and day. I took this, this first year to really niche down, figure out what I, what problem can I solve as a solopreneur, as one person? What can I solve? And in December, I actually decided to write a book.

[00:44:19] So I'm in that process now. And the book will be specifically about helping the And um, so, so that's from starting of just, I'm going to do some training to a year later just knowing the problem I'm solving and being confident in saying it and just I'm always so proud to say it.

[00:44:42] And that part's a lot of fun. Let's see, the struggles are definitely financial. How are you going to pay yourself? How are you going to pay your bills? That sort of thing. Have that worked out. And

[00:44:54] um,

[00:44:55] Rosie: Mm hmm.

[00:44:57] Linda: Financing, look into all of that. Uh, I had a time um, in the United States, we have Chase Bank um, that they are big supporters of small businesses.

[00:45:09] But, there's lots of others. They just go to a lot of the events. I saw them over and over, and I was like okay, let me bank with them. look into programs, look into, what money is out there that you can use to start your own business.

[00:45:22] Linda: That sort of thing.

[00:45:23] Rosie: Let's talk about sales. Sales. This is something I'm very uncomfortable with, and there's so many people that they're a bit slimy in how they try to sell you things. It just doesn't feel good. How have you found the process of becoming comfortable with sales and the the approach that works for

[00:45:45] Linda: Okay. So funny story during COVID I got laid off. So that was fun right at the beginning of COVID. So I think it was may 2020 and uh, you know, I, I lived my best pandemic. I spent the summer hanging, at my house with my kids. And then one day I get a call from a friend of mine. And she said, Hey, Linda we have an opening at the company where I work at.

[00:46:13] It's a hybrid role of training and sales. Would you be interested now? I'd always had, like I said, I always had this little entrepreneur dream in my heart. And I, you know, at this point was already a seasoned corporate trainer. So I know that I know my stuff when it comes to that. But this was an opportunity to learn about sales.

[00:46:39] So I did. I took that job. And that's how I started learning about sales and learning that it's a full process. And doing that really helped me to, understand that it is about relationships and really it's about helping people. And that's the approach that works for me. Different people have different approaches that work for them.

[00:47:03] And you kind of have to find what works for you. But yeah, for me um, because, you know, from the training background, I'm very comfortable talking to people, obviously um, and very comfortable saying, okay what problem are you trying to solve? And then, okay, I have something that can help.

[00:47:25] And then just going from that perspective. And it just being a conversation of here's how I can help you.

[00:47:34] The way I got started with sales was just activating my network. Cough. So reaching out to my fellow trainers in the area, letting them know what I was doing, and I had lunch with somebody who I knew through a training organization, well through ATD, our local San Antonio chapter.

[00:47:57] He and I had lunch and I told him what I was doing, and he's like, yeah, we don't need that. What else you got?

[00:48:05] Rosie: Mmm.

[00:48:09] Linda: I was like, well, you know, I,

[00:48:11] I also do, leadership training. I also do Microsoft office training. He goes, Oh, ho ho Microsoft office training. We need that. Can you do that? I was like, okay.

[00:48:20] So next thing I knew I had a contract and came in and, and, once a month I would go and hold a Microsoft office class and it was helpful to them. And it was, my first sale of my business under my name. So, uh, Definitely, you know, kind of that relationship selling. And one of the keys is to surrender.

[00:48:46] And this is something I learned in the class. When, When you meet with a client, really listen and surrender. Don't go in there with, I have the answer, but go in there with both ears open. What problem are they really trying to solve? Really listen. Take notes. If it's a zoom call, record it.

[00:49:11] So you can go back and listen again. Because they're going to tell you how to sell to them. Just like that guy told me, yeah, we don't need that. What else do you got? You know? Uh, I was like, okay. Um, So just listen to the person, listen to what problem they're trying to solve. And. If you can, take some time and say, You know what? You've given me a lot. Is it okay if I think about this and talk to you tomorrow? Or talk to you in a couple days? And then you come back when you've had time to really absorb it. Really hear it. You use their own words. So if they say something like, Oh this part is tricky.

[00:49:57] So you'll say, Oh, okay, I can help you with this part. That's tricky. You use their own words. And you craft the solution. And then at the end you just say, okay, here's the investment. Here's what I'm going to save you. Like the payroll thing. I'm going to save you 600, 000 with this.

[00:50:16] And I'm asking. 60, 000 to do it. That's a huge return on investment. Or, depending on how big or small the solution is. Maybe I'm going to sell it for 300, 000 because it's going to be super involved. They're still coming out doubling their money.

[00:50:34] Rosie: Yeah. I love how you framed that. They will tell you how Oh, yeah. Most people will.

[00:50:42] I don't think I've ever heard it explained like that. But it's so true. And if you use their language, don't use jargon that doesn't speak to them. Could mean the same thing, but use their words, use their hmm.

[00:50:57] There's podcast. I like to finish with the same question for every guest. So Linda, can you tell me, what does freedom mean to you?

[00:51:08] Linda: Freedom means control over my own life. For example I'm getting over the flu right now, and

[00:51:17] Normally I would be calling my boss, I would be apologizing to everybody, I would be asking for time off. I would be seeing if I could. I would have been taking extreme measures. I would have been forcing myself out of bed. I would have, worked through it. And I didn't. I got the flu.

[00:51:43] Both my kids have it as well. And normally I would just feel so bad. I would. take the kids to the doctor, stick them back in bed, and just hit them with some medicine to knock them out and then I would get back on my laptop and just work. But I didn't do that this time. What I did was I closed the laptop and I laid on the couch with all three of us coughing and blowing our noses and watching silly things on tv.

[00:52:16] And I made them soup, and I drank tea, and we slept off and on. And that's freedom.

[00:52:27] Just control Over my time.

[00:52:28] Rosie: yeah. That's such a tangible example too. And it sounds like, you know, You moving from an employee to starting your own business is a huge part of how you're shifting towards having that having more control and freedom in your life. Linda, thank you so much.

[00:52:50] I have learnt a lot in this conversation and I feel like I'm going to forget a lot when I try to summarize this right now, but I will do my best. And when I go back and edit this, I will pick up so much more. First of all, I learned a new word, voluntold. I love that I'm adding it to my list. And I think everybody will hear that and go, Oh, I know exactly what that is.

[00:53:15] And I loved our conversation about quantifying your value. It's the way you frame it is so important. Like you used to list the cost of them using you as zero. Actually, there is a cost because you're worth it. And you show them also the cost of if they don't do whatever solution you're offering. And in your case, it's training with a, like solving a specific problem. You also mentioned the usefulness of a checklist. I have to agree. I love a good list. I think for some people it doesn't work so well, but I love them. So I'm going to add that book to the list. What was it called? I've

[00:53:58] already forgotten.

[00:53:58] Linda: Checklist Manifesto.

[00:54:00] Rosie: The Checklist Manifesto. Adding it to the list. And I'll put it in the description too. And the final thing that really stood out to me, it blew my mind a bit, was when you were talking about sales and that your potential client will tell you how to sell to them. I think that's a great way of looking at it. So wise. And I think it will be so helpful for many business owners, those that are beginning on their journey and also more seasoned ones as well, because sales is typically something that is so hard to do. I think. You are doing fantastic work. Training is typically so boring and not very useful, but you are changing it one class at a time, right? Let's save the world. Oh my goodness. I love what you're doing. So thank you so much for joining us. I know you're recovering from the flu. You're logged on at four 30 in the morning.

[00:54:56] You are dedicated. You are amazing. So thank you so much, Linda.

[00:55:02] Linda: Thank you so

[00:55:03] much for having me. I sure do appreciate

[00:55:05] it.

[00:55:05] Rosie: Yeah, thank you.

[00:55:06] If this episode resonated with you at all, could I please ask that you share it with a friend who you think could get value from it?

[00:55:13] And whilst you're doing that, make sure you follow and subscribe to the podcast so that you never miss another episode. And whilst you're following or subscribing, please leave us a rating. Preferably five stars and also a written review doing each of these things is going to help this podcast, reach more people and impact more lives, which is at the end of the day is what we're here to do.

[00:55:39] Thank you so much. I appreciate you. Remember you matter. You're worth it. And you are so, so capable. Take care of yourself and I'll see you next week.