Nicole Villani Interview Transcript
Nancy Rush:
Welcome Nicole. I am very, very excited to have you here, especially after having the conversation we just had. I think you have so much awesomeness to share with everybody. Let me introduce you by reading your bio. For nearly two decades, Nicole has helped high ticket product and service-based businesses increase their revenue by millions through sales excellence, client relations, communications, and empowered leadership. Through working for and coaching some of the most remarkable entrepreneurs, brands and leaders across the finance, tech and luxury industries, Nicole has developed a success blueprint to provide her clients with a roadmap necessary to channel creativity, facilitate growth, and ensure prosperity, no matter their current challenge. Nicole believes that true success sits at the intersection of energetically aligned business practices and empowered leadership, which she loves to teach. I think that's so great and so aligned with what I believe in too, so I love it. Let's start off the conversation by talking about success. You raised the question of how and what do we define as success? Tell me a little bit more about that.
Nicole Villani:
Thank you, Nancy, for this opportunity. I'm so excited to be here with you. Yay! I think success, we typically only look at it from a monetary perspective and focus all of our intention and attention on increasing revenue or growing our skill sets, receiving promotions, working our way up the ladder if we're in corporate, getting more clients. But I think it's much more nuanced in that, in terms of the fact that there are so many different ways that we can define success. How do you want to feel when you reach certain milestones in your career? How do you want to interact socially with your friend group, your family, your team? How do you want people to remember your interactions with them? How do you want to leave people feeling about you and how do you want to feel within those interactions as well? Where is your health too, right? Because when we have the most health, we have the most energy, we have clarity, we have space to be able to envision and implement our creative endeavors. But when we don't, there's no space for ideas to flow, for creation to come about, for you to have engaging conversations with your team or your loved ones or potential synergistic business relationships. You're just transactionally going through the motions, which can leave people feeling a little disenchanted by their interaction with you.
Nancy Rush:
I think that's extremely true. You just reminded me of a conversation I had with somebody yesterday, and they said that they focused so heavily on the business and creating the financial abundance of the business. They ended up creating this multimillion-dollar business, but at the cost of relationships, personal happiness and satisfaction. She said, “Yeah, I made all of this money, and in the end, it really wasn't worth it because I left everything else behind.” And she didn't have that. So I think that this is really great that you're talking about this idea that success is so much more than just the dollars. Yes, the dollars are important, but at the same time, I feel like life should be full of richness, not just monetary richness, you know?
Nicole Villani:
Yes, I absolutely agree with that. I think working with ultra-high net worth and high net worth individuals for so long, the most common thing I hear from them is that my success has come at the cost of what it means to be fully alive. And usually what ends up happening is certain life circumstances come about, whether that is growing older, a loss of a loved one or an internal feeling of disconnection and dissatisfaction. To have them start to think about the bigger questions. What is the meaning of life? Why does it all matter? Why did I work so hard to have all of this financial abundance if I'm not feeling fulfilled, or I'm not experiencing the richness of life like you had said.
Nancy Rush:
It's kind of like somebody else said one time, “Money doesn't actually solve the problem.” We all think money will solve the problems, right? And if we have money then we can live these wonderfully beautiful, engaged lives. And the truth is, if you're not embodying all these other aspects, money is not actually solving any problems. And sometimes it's actually creating problems, right?
Nicole Villani:
Money is the amplifier. It amplifies whatever energy you're putting into things, whatever your level of perspective is on business. So, if you are acting from a place of competition and getting to your goal by any means necessary, that money that you have is just going to amplify those types of actions and behaviors. Whereas if you are focused on your intention and attention of being inclusive, of having business relationships where everybody wins, where everybody is focused on, having positive interactions, money is going to amplify that and flow in from that.
Nancy Rush:
Plus, it just feels better, right? I would much rather create that way than the other way. Because you brought energy up. So, tell me the dynamics of how your energy does influence your success, your revenue, all of that good stuff.
Nicole Villani:
Energy influences everything, and I don't think people really pay attention to that as much, but the thoughts that you have cause your feelings and then cause your actions, which create your results, right? So, if you are putting negative energy into the process of whatever it is you're doing, for example, if you are dreading and resisting lead generation, because it can be daunting to do those outreaches, people are going to pick up on that, right? If you really look at it as an opportunity to get to know people and an opportunity to interact with new humans, build a relationship with them, be invested in getting to know them as people, their business goals, it feels a lot better, right? That energy of having a different perspective of lead generation or of networking, bringing new people into the fold, seeing how you can reciprocate and give as well as receive, that feels a lot better than just cold blasting, outreach. To be able to get a lead like that doesn't feel good.
Nancy Rush:
No, it doesn't and it's funny because I don't actually think of the outreach like that, for example. I don't really think of it as sales. I think of it as I'm building a connection with somebody and it's a win-win, right? Because I can receive and if they come into a program or they engage with us and knowing what I can offer them is amazing. So, I view it as this beautiful connection that gets to happen.
Nicole Villani:
For sure. I think that's where my success has always been, is the fact that building a relationship with people, trust, transparency, direct communication, that is always what everybody will get from me in the sales process. I will be very direct with you about what you can and cannot expect about whether or not something is in your best interest, even if it seems as if it's not in the company's best interest. You want loyal clients, right? And people that are energetically aligned with your ideologies and beliefs, which means not hiding who you are, what your values are, and really leading with that. If somebody has the same values as you, if they are a match, they will want to do business with you over and over again, especially when they trust you to have their best interests at heart. Then money flows in. It might not come from that interaction, it may come from a different interaction that you were not expecting, but because you were showing up in integrity with authenticity, with transparency, then you are rewarded for it because energy attracts energy and you are showing up in truth with open-mindedness with an abundance mindset as opposed to scarcity.
Nancy Rush:
I love how you say that, because I think it's so true. I always laugh because people are always reading the energy of the other people around them and their environment, whether they realize it or not. They are on some level, reading it and if the integrity isn't there, the authenticity isn't there, there will always be a disconnect. And I know, much like we were talking about earlier, sometimes somebody comes into a conversation and there's a disconnect there. So, they don't end up working with us, but in a way that's a gift, right? Because they weren't aligned and because it's never going to work, you know?
Nicole Villani:
Or it's like you don't want to waste your time on interactions that are going to drag down your company, your team, your overall goals by trying to make something fit that doesn't fit. It's like having a very good understanding of who you are, what you offer, who is your ideal client, and literally saying no to anything other than that is going to bring you more success, more revenue than you could have ever possibly imagined, because then you're also going to retain the clients that you have. Right? Less to retain clients than it does to bring new ones in.
Nancy Rush:
I have clients that have been with me for years, like years and years and years, and I love them dearly, but that's because they were, we were good matches for each other energetically that has lasted all through the years. Then I think of the early stages of when I was a solopreneur and I would take a client because I was like, oh, I need the money, right? I was coming from a scarcity mindset. I needed the money, and then 9 times out of 10, it was not good. You know, they were either challenging to work with or they didn't get as much as I had hoped for them out of the program they were in. So, I don't even remember at what point I said, I'm not doing that anymore, <laugh>. It's like money was not important enough and now I just think of it as developing these beautiful relationships with people and helping to support them to be in service. They support me by bringing wealth into the business and I think it's just awesome. I love it.
Nicole Villani:
<Laugh>. It's a symbiotic relationship.
Nancy Rush:
Exactly. I'm curious though, one of the things that I do think that it's hard, particularly as an entrepreneur, is it can be hard to stay motivated to really accomplish your goals. Particularly because sometimes in the earlier days of being an entrepreneur or even just starting a business, it can be challenging, right? You have lots of responsibilities, you have to wear a lot of different hats and I'm curious what your tips might be for people to stay motivated and focused on the vision that they want to create, rather than getting bogged down in all the logistics.
Nicole Villani:
Thank you for asking that. Motivation definitely wanes, right? I don't think it's something that you always have the motivation to do on a day-to-day basis, because with them, we're humans, we get sick, things happen. However, I think what has helped me to maintain consistency, so I look at my motivation as more of a consistent practice day over day, is really understanding why I'm doing something and coming back to that. So there has to be a deeper reason for our actions, to our goals to be able to fight through the resistance that comes up. No matter who you are, there's always going to be a fear that you get to look at. There's always going to be some aspect of what you do that might not be your zone of genius, if you want to call it that, right? But you have the opportunity to really come back to your why when you're hitting up against that resistance.
So that's how I stay motivated and it's also having clear goals, right? I understand chunked down from the very little details of what I need to do to be able to hit the big goal. That's helped me because I think sometimes when we have a large vision, it could be really hard to stay motivated towards reaching that goal when we don't understand the little steps that are necessary to hit that. Okay, let’s say your big vision is saving the world <laugh>, but what does that actually mean on a day-to-day basis? Having an understanding of that always helps.
Nancy Rush:
I think that's so true. I've learned this lesson over the years too, that your “why” cannot be solely monetary. The why has to be so much bigger because there are going to be road bumps because life happens and you need that bigger “why” to maintain that motivation to that desire to really create what, and to continue to create what you're putting out into the world. So, I always laugh when a client comes to me and they say, well, my reason for developing this business is I want to be independently wealthy. That's fantastic. That's a great goal and let's get to the bigger reason. You know, because that's what you really need to get you through, to sustain you through the whole process.
Nicole Villani:
I think what's always underneath the monetary aspect of things is this feeling of wanting freedom, right? So, it is the energy of freedom that we're actually looking for. When you tie it back to that, you are much more likely to be engaged with the steps that you might have resistance to. I think one of the biggest things that has happened in my life, I had a couple of really big goals that I wanted in terms of, so it’s funny! I really wanted to hike Kilimanjaro.
Nancy Rush:
Oh, cool.
Nicole Villani:
I tied those goals to that goal. That was the desire. That was the thing that was going to light me up the most and then the other kind of success, “work goals” work themselves out because I tied it to something that I had a really heart-centered desire on, was to experience travel and freedom and joy and the things that come along with the monetary success.
Nancy Rush:
I think that's awesome. Speaking about revenue though, you did bring up a really interesting question, which is the mistakes that you see people or businesses making when they're strategizing around creating more revenue, because at the end of the day, even though we talk about our bigger why and all of that, we are in the business of making money because It's a necessity to exist in this world, right? The way this world is constructed, at least right now it is, I'm curious if you can kind of talk a little bit about the mistakes that you see people making and then maybe what the solutions to those might be.
Nicole Villani:
So, a lot of times I find that especially when you have really big teams, most teams are operating in silos with their set of goals, right? And there is no correlation in terms for a bigger vision. So, all teams are not aligned in terms of what that bigger vision is, which means that every single separate team is kind of out for themselves. Without determining that, it is going to be very difficult to hit increased revenue goals because you do not have collective power toward the one goal. You have little separations to more selfish, self-serving goals of those particular teams. So, it's really important for collaboration. When everybody is focused on one goal that makes sense for all teams, then you will see revenue growth. Another thing that I see people doing is focusing on the wrong partnerships or the wrong clients.
So, focusing on the people who are making the most noise, who are not the greatest fit for your company. All of their energy is being tied up into making those clients happy when they weren't a good fit in the first place. So instead of cutting ties with those members and just walking away, as you know, friends they spend way too much time trying to turn them around, which takes the focus away from the majority of clients that are actually a good fit, where you can be of the highest service where you can keep them in your orbit and your sphere of influence for a much longer period of time.
Nancy Rush:
Those are both really excellent points. I think of it as even if you don't have a large team, let's just say you're an entrepreneur that maybe has a VA, for example, it's so essential and we talked about this earlier. I learned this lesson the hard way. It's so essential to ensure that they're energetically aligned with what it is that you're putting into the world, and that they're hoping to hold that vision. For me, working as a solopreneur for so many years, when I came into the company that we created last year, all of a sudden there was a team and it took me a little bit to realize that the team needs to be holding the same vision that I'm holding because we're a collective. So, they have influence, even if they're just…we have a college student who does research for us, and she's fantastic and I love her, but she's part-time, and she's still part of the collective. <laugh> I've completely pivoted that, and now we have team discussions, which are all about where's the company is headed, what's the vision, what it is that we're creating.
And then to your point of making sure those clients are, are energetically aligned with the company, because truly you can't serve people who aren't aligned anyway. Really, truly, you can't.
Nicole Villani:
Never going to be happy because they're not fit. Right? So I think a lot of us want people to be a “fit” especially if they're already within our sphere, an obligation to be able to deliver but actually the best decision that you can make from an integrity standpoint is to really be honest with whether or not you are best serving them and whether or not it makes sense from their standpoint. Just having that direct conversation to say, this isn't working for either of us.
Nancy Rush:
Exactly. You'll laugh at this, but I used to get really stressed out about unsubscribes. When we would send out emails and stuff, and I would actually even go so far, sometimes I would go look at the names and I'd say, oh my gosh, I can't believe they unsubscribed. It's terrible and then all of a sudden one day I said to myself, why are you getting upset about this? This is a gift that they're unsubscribing because they're not aligned with what it is that you're sharing. If we're holding our sovereignty that what we're putting into the world is of use and of value then it's a gift when someone unsubscribes, <laugh>. I have to laugh about it now because it was really a source of angst for me for a while.
Nicole Villani:
I get that. It's that mentality of wanting to be liked. Seeking approval, which I think as high achievers, which most entrepreneurs and leaders are, they have that within them. That's kind of what has caused them to gain success or go after the success, but it only gets you so far and then it's like, well, no, no, no, no. When you are completely authentic with who you are, no longer hiding facets of what makes you, then the people who are not aligned with that are going to leave. Amazing. Go, go away, <laugh>. Be on your way. <Laugh>
Nancy Rush:
I had a session once with Sonia Choquette, you probably know who she is. And I'll never forget, she told me. She goes, “Listen, you're a peach.” She said, “You're a beautiful, juicy, lovely peach and not everybody likes peaches.” And she said, “And you have to be okay with that.” I was like, oh, I love that. Of course. <laugh>
Nicole Villani:
That analogy is wonderful. Exactly right. And that is also what makes the universe abundant in terms of opportunities, clients, and revenue. There is, when we are being our unique selves, nobody can do what you do, which means, that's right. The people who can receive your guidance and advice are going to be attracted to you. Then the people who are not attracted to you are going to work with the people who they are attracted to. And that's, I think, where everybody gets to win no matter if you're doing the same things or not.
Nancy Rush:
There's a large number of people out there that are saying the same things. They're just saying it in their own way, and they have different energy that just resonates for different people. I also think that sometimes you have to watch that scarcity mindset that can kind of creep in around, what if you know somebody else? This is where you get in trouble with the comparison game, right? If somebody else is achieving some level of success, and you're thinking what if people don't like me? And at the end of the day, it's the right people. They're already your clients. They're just not in your physical reality yet. You know, so you're calling them in and by being who you are truly and authentically, then it's like you're putting the radio broadcast out there. It's like, okay, now you can come find me.
Nicole Villani:
Exactly.
Nancy Rush:
Well, cool. So, you had one more question that I really want to take the time to ask because I thought it was a really good one. And that is, what is the number one aspect of someone's business that they can increase by 5%, but really to receive a 25 to a 100% ROI, I'm so fascinated by that question.
Nicole Villani:
I love it. Everybody loves a 25 to a 100% ROI, just based on a 5% movement of a metric, right? <Laugh>
Nancy Rush:
We wouldn't love that <laugh>.
Nicole Villani:
I mean, that seems really like a good idea to invest your energy in something of that nature. I think what that has to do with is client retention. And it's something that I have hit upon a couple of times throughout this conversation. Most people focus on lead generation and acquiring new clients. That’s where they invest most of their money. However, that is the most costly aspect of your business. When you increase retention by 5%, you're going to see a 25% to 100% increase in revenue because they're going to continue to be with you over and over and over again. So, you get to build and stack on top of each other, the lead generation as well as the retainment of client.
Nancy Rush:
Back in the days when I was in marketing, that was the rule, which is we always focused on client retention because bringing new engagements in was much more costly in terms of time and money and energy and all that. But I'm curious in terms of what would you say are like maybe the top three things’ people could do to really continue to nurture their existing clients and really kind of help support that that focus to, you know, keep them happy essentially?
Nicole Villani:
Sure. So, I think regularly engaging with them is really important. Checking in, seeing how you can support them. Also actively asking them for feedback about what is working really well, what might be some of the pain points where there might be having some resistance to processes or not understanding regular check-ins are so important, especially in service-based businesses, because everybody has different learning levels. Everybody has different engagement levels and just ensuring that you're really there and they know that you're there to support them is super important. I also think another really big one is ease of use. So, 70% of clients agree that when something is easy to use, they will stay with you.
That's a big number, right?
Nancy Rush:
That is.
Nicole Villani:
So that starts with the onboarding process from the sales call to signing the contract, to taking money, to understanding, understanding next steps, ensuring that is like outlined for them that your customer journey is set up for success. So, depending on how long they're with you, if it's a three-month period of time, a six-month period of time, a12-month period of time, what is the roadmap for success? People love blueprints and roadmaps so that they can continue to focus. You're chunking down their goals for them which I find a lot of people have trouble doing on their own. So, if you create the roadmap for them, especially if your services are very, very broad and there are so many different avenues that people could go, and we're all individuals, right? So sometimes people really need to work on their mindset, work on their energy, work on their health. Sometimes they need to work on quick wins, lead generation, what serves them. And really ensuring that whatever service you're giving them is bespoke to what they need in that season of their life.
Nancy Rush:
I think that it's a really good point. Because I think of in the early days when I would bring somebody into a program, they would have a million questions. And over time I figured it out. I figured out that they needed the roadmap of here's the process, here's what it looks like. Because it gave them a sense of comfort and stability that they knew what was coming, they knew what to expect.
And then the other part of that was recognizing that sometimes people get a little siloed in, they're thinking about I have these different things. For those of us especially that have studied many modalities, we think that we have to like pick one and stick with it. And so, my approach, at least I imagine yours the same way, is that I've evolved over the years to where I look at them as individuals and I have a container that I can bring them into. But then depending on their needs, I'm going to bring these different modalities. It’s a lot more fun to work that way because I get to use everything instead of just using one. It makes it so much of a richer experience for them because they, I really genuinely believe that they can always tell if you're being genuine in terms of what it is that you're offering and who doesn't love a customized plan just for them?
Nicole Villani:
Sure. That’s the difference between just doing an online course that is for everybody and you learn a certain set of tools to having a service-based business where you get to tailor the approach to the individual, their fears, their certain set of beliefs, their, you know, where they want to go, what they see for their future. It's a lot of different experience than just a course. Courses are great.
Nancy Rush:
They are. And they serve their purpose.
Nicole Villani:
They serve their purpose. I think there is a place for all of that. And some people want more support. And that's where people like you and I come in.
Nancy Rush:
Exactly. Well, this has been awesome. I love this conversation. I know that our viewers are going to love it too. I'd like to just take a minute and let you talk about your free gift. I'm actually quite curious to know what it's about.
Nicole Villani:
So, my free gift is a hypnosis session with me. It is live. I really thought this over in my head. I could have given a lead magnet, a listicle of the things that you need to do in order to hit your goals. And I was like, that's boring <laugh>. Everybody does that. So, what I wanted to be able to give to you is a hypnosis session with me to be able to go over the, the fears or the resistance that you might be hitting up against to hit that next million that you were looking for. Because really subconscious reprogramming is the difference between hitting your goals and not hitting them. So, my process is based on quantum hypnosis technique. And I bring you into a very relaxed bodily state. And then we work through the fears that you have in that moment. Bring them to mind. Let them go so that you come out of that hypnosis as a different person without so much energetic charge around those things, which will allow you to take action from a place of empowerment, from a place of less resistance and less fear.
Nancy Rush:
That sounds really amazing. And what a generous gift, really, truly. I mean, spending an hour with you, I've already spent an hour plus with you, and I'm like, that's great. And I think too, the, the hypnosis angle I think is really interesting because if I understand it correctly, I think it gives you the ability to help people go deeper, to really discover, like they might have an idea of what they think is the limitation, and it might be something even deeper that's really the problem. Is that true?
Nicole Villani:
Yes, absolutely. And it's a safe space for your subconscious to reveal to you what that is, to untangle that charge. Because I find that most successful entrepreneurs, people who have gone into business, we are really in our analytical mind, so hypnosis, it doesn't mean that you're going to be completely unconscious. You're conscious, you're awake, but your analytical mind is completely open. So, you're no longer trying to solve the problem from the same level of consciousness. You're no longer trying to solve the problem from the thinking mind. You are…that analytical mind has come off so that we have access to deeper rooted things. And by changing those stories, those patterns, those fears, you become a new person. I'll just give a little bit of an instance where this occurred with a client that I've worked with. She was continuously having the same recurring nightmares over and over again that played into all aspects of her life, work, business, relationships, everything for her entire life. After one hypnosis session we went in, we created a new story for her subconscious to react, to take on as truth. Because what happens in the subconscious, it doesn't know whether it's true, whether it's false, whatever you feed to it, it becomes truth. And then your actions go from there. We were able to go in and reprogram that story. She never had that reoccurring nightmare again.
Nancy Rush:
Wow.
Nicole Villani:
Imagine like never acting from that place, that story that you've continuously told yourself, whether you know someone was mean to you, or whether you are not good enough to be able to succeed your goals. And you get to create a new story that's more empowering for you, how that can affect your business, your revenue, your relationships.
Nancy Rush:
That sounds totally amazing. I probably will sign up for that <laugh>.
Well, the free gift I'm offering is I'm going to be teaching a three-day masterclass on the ancient art of the 9-Star Ki. I don't know if you've ever heard of it, but it's an incredibly powerful yet very simple system to discover your inner blueprint. And when I say inner blueprint, I'm talking about how you're wired, what your strengths are, what your weaknesses are, certain patterns and themes that would be present in your life. It gives us a beautiful understanding of the people in our life, who they are, how they're wired. And, and it improves communication so significantly because you can have an understanding in a more powerful way of who they actually are so that you can come into coherence with each other essentially. So, I'm going to be teaching that for three days. It'll be an introduction to it, and everybody gets to walk away with some really great information. And then, because it's me, we're going to be doing some coaching throughout and some intuitive stuff as well throughout. And so, I think it's going to be super fun.
Nicole Villani:
That sounds amazing. Sign me up for that too. <Laugh>.
Nancy Rush:
Love to have you. Well, thank you so much. This has been so great. I appreciate you so much and I'm sure our viewers are going to totally love this interview.
Nicole Villani:
Thank you, Nancy, for the opportunity. It's been so wonderful speaking with you, and I am so excited for this to be brought to your viewership.
