Episode 27: Sarah Cordiner

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Sarah’s (very brief) story!

I am a ‘rags to riches’, ‘anything is possible’ and the ‘just get off your behind and make it happen’ entrepreneur.

In 2012, I washed up on the shores of Western Australia; no money, friends, phone, laptop or bed to sleep in. Eighteen months later, I’m recognised as a leader in my industry. I have 23 people working for me and had turned down a $3 million offer for my business.

Hailing from a gypsy background where female entrepreneurship and education was frowned upon; my dreams had been crushed and ridiculed. I started an education business anyway where my competition was the Federal Government and two multi-billion dollar global enterprises.

At 19 I had zero business training, $17 in my bank, loved ones telling I was stupid. But my passion could move planets. So I did it anyway – I succeeded.

My education business has been in operation for over a decade. Teaching thousands (including prisoners, long term unemployed, schools, colleges, universities, defence forces, remote communities, governments, corporate professionals, international franchises and entrepreneurs) in 84 countries. My diary is filled with international public speaking gigs and I’ve built an asset worth millions.

I’ve gone from desperately handing out my email address on scraps of stolen paper in 2012 to having over 40,000 followers on my email database and social media combined.

Those ‘normal’ people who’ve achieved their goals through hard work and passion inspire me. Having now done the same, I want to make sure no dream goes unrealised. My goal is to show 10,000+ aspiring entrepreneurs, business owners and professionals by 2020, that no matter your circumstances, who you are or where your starting point is, you CAN make anything happen if you try hard enough and put the right strategies into play.

Professional Bio

Philanthropic educational entrepreneur, dedicated to providing equal access to quality education for all.

Sarah is an author, qualified trainer, professional speaker and respected consultant in ‘Edupreneurship’, ‘Edu-marketing’, Entrepreneurship, Workforce Development, Instructional Design, Education & Training, online learning and virtual reality education.

She is a specialist in training development and curriculum design, as well as trainer of trainers in adult learning.

“Having gone from homeless to having a 7-figure business, I strive to pass on the gift of self-efficacy as I show others that they are equipped with skills, knowledge and competencies with which they can achieve and do anything too. I am driven by an intense desire to make a difference in people’s worlds by empowering them through relevant and affordable education, resulting in efficacious existences everywhere”.

CEO of MainTraining;
Winner of the ‘Influential 100 Awards 2015’
Founder of ‘The Edupreneur Awards’
Founder of Edupreneur Magazine
Finalist of the Telstra Young Business Woman of the Year 2015
Finalist of the Telstra Start-Up Business of the Year 2015
Nominee of the 40 Under 40 Awards 2015, to name but a few…”

Sarah’s work has enabled the education of thousands of professional workers and business owners in over 84 countries towards their personal and professional goals. Her training has helped welfare dependents in remote Australian communities (and throughout the UK) progress to employment; she initiated the movement of ‘Edupreneurship’ and assisted other training providers to deliver excellent training via her train-the-trainer programs, consultancy and training design and development services.

PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION

01:11 – Meet Sarah Cordiner, Managing Director at MainTraining, winner of the Influential 100 Awards 2015, and Ambassador for ‘The Institute for Professional Speakers’. At the very start of her episode, she wants the listeners to understand that the life – and freedom – she’s enjoying now didn’t stem from nothing. Before she became a successful entrepreneur and speaker, she was stuck in the typical 9-to-5, trading time for money, effort equals productivity. The main thing she wants to get out today is that it doesn’t have to be that way.

01:47 – Learn a little more background on this Superwoman; where did she grow up, when did she start business, and what did she learn along the way? What is MainTraining? What services do they offer? When did she start this flourishing company?

02:54 – To all business owners, one of Sarah’s messages is: the new way of doing business – of sales, of marketing, of generating leads, of getting exposure for yourself, of gaining credibility and authority positioning in your industry – is to share your expertise in a way that a) you get paid for it, and b) in a way that actually leaves your audience thanking you that they paid for your services

04:08 – With all the things Sarah’s currently doing, what’s the most exciting for her? What is she currently loving? She shares that the most exciting thing in business is to know that you will never stop evolving; if you do, you will rapidly find yourself going stale. You need to always be changing and evolving and adapting. According to her, the most successful millionaires always have an average of 7 income streams. She specializes in education – education services, writing, training, etc., — and she tries to apply that to the world in many different ways

06:45 – Three years ago, Sarah was “washed up on the shores of Western Australia,” where she describes herself then as “completely broke, alone, and homeless.” She had no home, no phone, nothing to her name; she didn’t know what to do. Within eighteen months of that day, she did a complete 180 and started a new business. So one of the things she does now is teach other business owners how she did that.

08:24 – Sarah decides to share a little bit more with the audience – how did she turn her life around? Fortunately for her, she says, she already had prior experience of starting from nothing. At the age of 19, she had a wonderful job as an educator in the welfare to work industry. She was writing and delivering training in a whole range of professional topics for the unemployed. She loved the work, she had a passion for education, and she was very good at what she did. Most importantly, it made her feel like she was worth something. Unfortunately, she walked into work one day and learned that the government had changed – she was going to lose her job.

10:30 – For anyone out there starting with nothing, Sarah says that the most important thing is to just build a database. “You’re nobody. You are absolutely nothing. No one knows who you are – and you will remain that way unless you start getting in front of people.”

14:28 – How can you become a celebrity in your chosen field?

Go ask some of your mates; “Hey, what do I do?”
Broaden your field; start asking your network what you do
Keep expanding

Your job over the next 12 months is to try to make sure the whole world knows precisely what you do.

16:59 – For the budding entrepreneur, Sarah shares some tips and advice on how to grow your business. Her biggest takeaway is the Myth of the Epiphany – “I see so many businesses and so many dreams never happen because people think that this epiphany is going to happen to them, when in this one miraculous moment of glory … this idea is going to come to them and all of a sudden their questions will be answered. There is never, ever going to be a moment where you just suddenly know exactly what you’re supposed to do, how you’re supposed to do it, and what’s going to happen.” Epiphanies are lies. Stop waiting for that day.

18:19 – Every single thing you know how to do today, you have been in training for your entire life. You can possibly be more prepared than you are today for where you’re at today. Everything you’ve learnt formally, informally, through experience, you have been learning that your whole life – so just start using it, because every time you start doing something, you learn something else. Every door leads unto another door. Yes, you’re going to fall over. Yes, you’re going to stuff up. Yes, you’re going to have moments where you go ‘I have no idea what the hell I’m doing’. But unless you give it a go, you won’t know how to figure out the next step anyway. Thank of everything like a progressive evolution. That is how business works.

19:29 – Her biggest piece of advice: “Just go with the flow and enjoy the journey because there is no end point to being a business. There isn’t just a day when you wake up and go ‘Oh, well that’s it, I’ve made it.’

20:36 – What are some of the biggest challenges Sarah’s ever come up against in her business? What are some of the hurdles? Some of the obvious ones is cashflow – can’t do this unless I have this amount. But perhaps the hardest part for her is when people tell her it’s easy for her because she’s confident and self-assured. She wants people to understand that she’s human, she’s worked hard to be in the place she’s at today, and even now, her biggest problems are her self-belief. Whatever you’re selling, she says, whether it’s a product or service, there’s this expectation that you have to be perfect at it. That sort of self-questioning – the fear of getting it wrong, the fear of failure – is something all entrepreneurs share – even the successful ones! What’s imprortant is just to remember that that same fear can kill dreams.

23:55 – To reiterate who we’re all human and we all make mistakes, Sarah shares how earlier in this year, she made a fatal mistake that cost her dearly. The good that came out of this was sharing this disaster to other people. People realizing that she was real, she could also make mistakes and have problems and not know how to deal with them made her more relatable. More human.

27:34 – Start of QuickFire Questions

27:45 – What’s the best piece of advice for your industry you’ve ever received?

27:59 – A surprise giveaway! Sarah’s gift for all of you listening to the Total Freedom Podcast: a huge 50% discount on all of her courses. Grab them here:

50% OFF “How To Become The Go-To Authority In Your Industry”: http://bit.ly/1Z1EUzH

50% OFF: “Online Course Best-Seller: How To Maximise Your Online Course Sales”: http://bit.ly/1M8XHCu

50% OFF: “How To Create Your Own Profitable Training Courses: Passive Income, Paid Exposure, High Credibility”: http://bit.ly/1kXYzAL

50% OFF: “What Is Your Professional Purpose?”: http://bit.ly/1KsjgcQ

50% OFF: “How To Conduct Workforce Planning & Instructional Design”: http://bit.ly/1W7yqLt

28:14 – What’s one personal habit you strongly believe contributes to your success?

28:37 – What book would you recommend? Tim Ferris’s 4-Hour Workweek and Daniel Priestley’s Oversubscribed

To get more from Sarah, visit her official website http://www.sarahcordiner.com/ or her official blog http://sarahcordiner.blogspot.com/. You can also visit MainTraining’s Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/maintraining or the website http://maintraining.com.au/

To grab Sarah’s AMAZING 50% DISCOUNTED training courses, click on the links below: