Welcome, I'm Angela Bryant, and you're listening to The Angel Rated Show, where we have inspiring conversations with the people behind the products and services most often used by online business owners. On the show, you'll hear how their personal beliefs and values have influenced their businesses. If you're an online entrepreneur who wants to know about the integrity and impact of the businesses you're buying from, then this is the show for you. Hello, and welcome to this episode of The Angel Rated Show. I'm Angela Bryant. And with me today, I have Tracie Schroyer from Launch Tech Made Easy. Tracie helps online entrepreneurs get past their tech blocks, and launch their online course, membership or other business project. She helps people set up their business back end, connect all the dots and make a plan for their online launch. All the while living and traveling the US in an RV. So welcome to The Angel Rated Show.

Thank you, it's so nice to be here with you.

It's so lovely to have you on and we've just been having a chat about RVs before we came on. So for anyone in the UK, we're talking a massive caravan. So this is where you are in a very plush looking caravan. So do you want to just start by, like telling us about how you ended up where you are now doing what you're doing?

So it's interesting, I had a completely different business. And actually, I really started as a virtual assistant way back before anybody knew what a virtual assistant was in, like 2009. And I, we had three kids, and we decided to raise kids that really knew a lot about money. And so we had this really unique plan around teaching kids about money, and everybody loved it. And they wanted to know more. And so we wrote a book, and we did all the things like isn't that kind of how it goes, we do all the things right. And then I went to expand it and launch it. And it was crickets, nobody was interested in it. And keep in mind, this was almost 10 years ago that I was doing this, and people did not look to the internet at that time for learning things they, you know, and that that type of thing, parents were more concerned with other issues that their kids might be having. And so in a last ditch effort to make it work, I had signed up for a pretty expensive mastermind group and online business. And I went to the first event. And as I was telling everybody what my idea was the guru of the event, the man running the event very gently said to me, You know, I've tried to launch a similar product. And that's just not where parents are at, I don't think this is going to work. And so I was sort of devastated. You know, like, for about two seconds, I thought, Oh my gosh, what am I going to do now. But then it became like this, this just cloud lifted this weight lifted off of me because I realized, I didn't really want to be doing that anymore anyways, and he was giving me permission to let it go. And that was such an amazing feeling. So I'm sitting at this table, and I'm going through all these emotions. And the people around me at this mastermind, where as he's talking, were saying things like, he keeps talking about a landing page. I don't know what a landing page is, why can't I just use my Yahoo or my Hotmail account to send emails. And without even thinking about it, as a virtual assistant, I was just answering them like, well, this is why you can't do that. And this is how you do this. And within 48 hours, I had new business cards made for this brand new business that I started all about tech. And the crazy thing was, I did not consider myself techie at all. But I knew more than the person sitting next to me, it turns out a lot more. But at the time, I didn't think it was a lot more. And it really goes back to people having that conversation in their mind of I can't possibly teach somebody how to do something I like I love to do what I'm good at. Because I'm not the expert. You don't have to be the expert, you just have to know a little bit more than the person next to you. So that's kind of how it all got started. And it kind of grew and blossomed from there. And I realized, I love tech. And so that's how we got to the point where we're at today where I help online entrepreneurs set up different pieces of tech for their business.

I think we've got a lot in common here. I always say that I'm I've always really enjoyed making all the bits of tech talk to each other. I've done some launch strategy work in the past as well. And just that thing about making everything work together and make sense to make the launch happen that Yeah, I really enjoy doing all that.

Yeah, it's like putting a puzzle together. You know it you know, people look at me and they're like Tracie, you cannot be you know, you go into like a mindset group or mastermind group and they'll say, you can't be passionate about tech. Like that's not something you can be passionate about. And I'll say I am though it's like it's like putting a puzzle together. And if it all works, I like I get so excited because it you know all the little piece and if it doesn't work, it's more of a Hmm, let's backtrack and see which link is broken.

Yeah, you just tried to solve that puzzle. And it's just magic, as you say, when it suddenly everything passes a message from one thing to the next. And it all works beautifully and automatically automagically. Yeah. So that's fantastic. So what's the Have you got a big why behind you by you, where you want to go with it and what you're doing with it.

So I have a couple of them. My first really big why was that I wanted to live on the road full time. And I convinced my husband that he wanted to do the same thing. And so when our last child left home, we hit the road full time. So we've been living on the road full time for four years. And that was my big why for a long time. And I had, you know, we have to come up with something after that. And right now, it's to help people, especially since the pandemic, to help more people realize their dream, it might not be living on the road full time, but there are so many people out there that have a really cool thing that makes them special a gift that they could offer. And they don't know how because in their mind, they've told themselves, they aren't techie, like I could never be on line. I'm not techie, it used to be that people would say to me, I can't do X, Y, or Z, because I could never figure out zoom. Well, clearly, like most of the world has now figured out zoom. Whether it's you know, my 70 year old parents, or it, of course, the young kids have always been fine with it. But people start to realize, okay, that's tech, like, they thought they couldn't do it. But you really can. And tech is sort of the same way. It's like learning to tie your shoes or ride a bike, they don't make any sense when you're first starting out. It's completely, like awkward and foreign. But then once you learn those steps you've got, and you're ready for the next thing. And so that's kind of how I look at Tech. So I, my goal is to help 1000 entrepreneurs launch their course or membership in the next five years, by helping them realize that they have all the tech skills that they need, they just need to unearth them and let them come to the surface.

That's a great vision for what you want to do over the next five years. Because I think the knock on impact of that, and all those extra courses out there. And each of them achieving their goals and their dreams is amazing.

Right? Right. There's so many interesting things you can learn. I was on a call the other day with someone who's a shaman. And he said, You know, people think shaman is this woowoo thing. And so his goal is to educate people about shamanism. I don't know anything about what it is. But he needs help, like doing the tech because tech gentleman like, you know, like the screen isn't even big enough to say how far apart those are. But if I can help him think of the people he will impact. You know, there's so many areas like that in the world where people you know, we don't even know what's out there. And we're just starting to get connected.

And it's those knock on effects that keep happening and keep happening. You don't know who he'll then inspire that then inspires something else? Exactly. It keeps the ripple keeps on going. So is there something you want to be known for, specifically, either in your lifetime, or just in this next phase,

I think I want to be known for and I've kind of started to be known for the idea that if I see something in my mind, I have the tenacity to make it happen, whether it's figuring out how we're going to go on the road full time when we did it four years ago, some people were doing it. Not a lot of people were doing it. But we've inspired not just me, but my husband as well have inspired a lot of people to realize, okay, this is doable. And clearly, we're not the only ones. There are 1000s of people living on the road full time in the US. I don't know about where you are, but or where everybody else is. But in the US it's becoming more and more common. So I want to be the person who people can say, you know what, if she did it, I can do it. Because I think too often we just let things Oh, it's too hard. We just I can't I can't imagine it. And so I love being able to help people break through those barriers, not so much in a coaching capacity. That's not who I am, but in more of an inspirational, not that I'm on a pedestal, but I'm just a normal person. And we figured it out.

It's just leading the way and showing what's possible and saying, you know, I've done this, you know, I've managed for me personally, you know, I've left corporate and I've built an online business and you know, I've done these things if I can do it, then. Yeah, so can everyone else? Exactly, fab. So once I get into something slightly deeper, are there particular values that your business has or aspires to or a specific impact you want to have in the world?

So one of the people that I follow pretty closely is Stu McLaren, and he has that tribe membership course. And one of the things he says and I don't know that this is exactly it, but if you make more, you can do more. Because I think a lot of entrepreneurs have this roadblock around making money they have no right to make money. He, it was kind of coincidental how this all happened. But ultimately, he has started a program where he build schools in Africa. And he and his wife have this mission together to build schools in Africa. And a lot of online entrepreneurs will raise enough money for a classroom for a school or something like that. And so for a while, it was, you know, I just, I wanted to just be able to give more money away, and maybe this month, it's building a classroom in Africa. But maybe it's next month, it's doing something else somebody comes before me, I want to have be able to give abundantly. And if somebody comes to me and says that they need help with something, I can afford to give them the money that it takes, whether it's helping homeless youth here on the streets of Minneapolis, which is where we're from, there's a amazing charity here that is called Hope for Youth, that helps homeless teenagers, basically, that have gotten kicked out of their houses or whatever. I love that, that. And so sometimes, I'll be in an event, and I'll just give generously to that. So it's not any one particular thing, it's just be able to be able to give whenever I want, and however much I want. I don't have a budget items are probably should like I'm learning all about budgeting, I know budgeting. I taught budgeting, but I mean for your own business, right? You just kind of don't do it. But I wanted to be able to beyond the budget, just say, I want to help you out. And whether it's anonymously, or whether it's part of a bigger effort, I just want to be able to help whenever I want to,

huh, is that thing about having the means to be able to do that and not seeing, making money as being a bad thing? Because, as you said, the more you have, the more good you can do in the world, and the more people you can support? And exactly, absolutely. So tell me a bit more about your sort of more personal values and how you approach life, you obviously, value travel and that sort of freedom and independence, I'm guessing but what else comes into your worldview.

So I value fun and adventure and not taking myself too seriously. I think that all kind of goes along with the idea of travel, right? But also really important to me our integrity, honesty, a spirituality, spirituality, and it doesn't, you know, it's different things for different people. But just belief that I'm not the most important thing, there is something more important than me. And I use the integrity and honesty I take that very seriously in online business. Because I think we went through a period where online business kind of had a negative connotation to it. People didn't really trust me, my parents, I think, for a long time, they thought that I was running some kind of scam, like how could I possibly be making money on my computer, right? So I went above and beyond to make sure that I was always like, if I'm in business, and I'm working on a client's account. And I'm supposed to do X, Y, and Z, I also do A, B and C like I take it to the next level. Because I never want anybody to feel like I'm less than giving less than my very best or more than my very best. And I think I felt that way originally, because of some of the people I had come in contact with where I pay them a lot of money for something, and they get done. And I'm like, Well, wait a minute. But even though you technically did what I wanted you to do, what I really, really wanted was not what you did, I wanted something else, I just didn't know what I was asking for. And so I always try to get to the real crux of when I start working with somebody, not what do you think you want, but what is your end goal, because they're different. Most of the time that people I work with will say that they want one thing, but what they really want is something completely different. They just don't know how to get there. They don't know what it's called. And so that's where that integrity and honesty comes in is not just dotting the i's and crossing the T's, but taking up the level further to get to the bottom of the transformation that they want to achieve.

They are Yeah, integrity and authenticity and honesty, all those things. Yeah, madly important to me. And I completely get that idea that people people don't actually always know what they want. But they know they have a good idea of what the outcome is they're trying to get to, but they might be describing it wrongly. And actually, you need somebody who's going to be able to vision that with you and give you the steps and the tools to actually make it happen. So what, tell me what makes you angry or what keeps you awake at night.

So I guess it's the opposite of the things that are important to me is people who are dishonest or who are not living in integrity, that makes me really crazy. But then the other thing that that makes me crazy is people who are so in their own little box that they aren't interested in other points of view, or other ways of doing things. And I've come up against that a lot in my business with the idea that you could never you can never like you know, I think entrepreneurs hear that a lot especially I online entrepreneurs, you you can't make money on the computer, you I or when they say I can't like my goal is to teach people that yes, you can. And so that kind of stuff. It keeps me awake at night making me think, how can I get through to people that yes, they can over overcome this or they can achieve something? How can I get myself to that point? Like that's a constant push, like, when I'm coming up against a barrier? Is it my barrier? Or is it an actual barrier? And what can I do to get through it, and then it really helps me to think of what the people I work with are going through as well. And so I think that those are things that keep me up at night. And then of course, I don't like to call it unfairness because I don't believe in fair being like being fair or unfair. But I think things like kids on the street, kids who don't have a place to live, or I have a real heart for children, and I like dogs, too. But I really like children. And I take it you know, wanting to try it. Because I have kids that had a good life. And we have great relationships with our kids. And it breaks my heart that there are other kids out there who didn't have that life. And so that breaks my heart, too. And so that's another area that I feel really, really passionate about, and particularly about kids in the United States in our own because I think it's really popular sometimes to think we have to go outside our borders to help somebody. But I think there's also a lot of people right close to us who can use our help. And so I always try to be looking for those situations to

it's very easy to sort of assume that all the problems are elsewhere. And actually in our own backyards, there is so much going on that we all need to be fixed while doing what we can to help and support. But I completely understand what you're saying that idea that there's I think there's been a lot of gurus, wrong word. But people in the online business industry who have said, there's only one way of doing things, and it's my way, and that's the only way of doing it. And they've been around for a long time. And there's people coming along now or going, there are different ways of doing it, you know, many different ways that we can go about this. And there's not just one, you know, my way or the highway. So yeah, I completely get that. That's really a frustrating thing, because it just ripples out. And you start to believe that that's the only thing that's possible. And it's

Yeah, I think that's where, especially with tech people get the idea. I'm not techie, because, you know, maybe they can't set up their phone, or maybe they can't connect their computer, and little behind the scenes here. But when we are in a town with one of our kids, I will often hand them my phone and say it keeps doing this, will you fix it? Now, that doesn't mean I'm not techie that I can't you know, I can do API integrations left, right and center, there are different areas where people Excel. And I think that idea of there's one way to do things, and you have to be all in or all out or that, you know, I think during the pandemic, it kind of like exposed all of that, in the end, I see people pivoting all over the place and thinking, you know, there are other ways to do it. We used to do things this way. But when we couldn't do it that way anymore, because we couldn't be in person, then we had to come up with another way. And look at that, that way works too. And so, you know, their pandemic was a horrible thing. But I think it challenged our way of thinking. And it is has permanently changed our culture and and the way that we approach business and the way we approach life.

Couldn't agree more. So tell me how you keep learning in your business?

Well, I'm a course junkie. So I sometimes I have to put myself on a course like free is because I constantly want to be learning something. But then I'm always talking to the people that I work with to see how they want to do things. So I really do I work with a lot of people on their launches. And there's a lot of different ways to launch. There's, you know, multiple video series launches, there's challenge launches, there's webinar launches. And so I always like to have a kind of a curiosity behind the clients I work with because I want I never want someone to come with me, to me with an idea. And have me say, that is not going to work. And so by keeping my mind open to what other people have tried, what they've heard about the groups that they're in, or the courses that they've taken, I kind of can learn a lot of different things just by listening and making myself open to other people's ideas. And so, you know, that's kind of the professional side. But then there's the other side of me too, that with learning, you know, when we're traveling, we make it a huge priority to learn about the area that we're in. And it's interesting to how often so when, okay, one example is there's a place in it's sort of Tennessee, it covers a couple states, but it's called Rock City and in in Americana, you see all these red barns with black roofs and it says see Rock City that lets it's been around since the 50s. And so we went there once and I it what it is, is it's it. It was literally built in the 50s I think and it's, it was the series of rock formations and like little gardens that this rich woman had and she put in. But the really cool thing about it is, you can only go on one path. I mean, you can turn around and can't come the way that you came. But it is it goes through acres of gardens, but you have to stay in this very narrow path. It's like single file, most of the way you kind of wander around. But you might be on top of a bridge, and you can see down you think, I can't wait to get down there, that's really cool. Or you might be down and you can say, oh, we're gonna be up there. And so when we're out exploring, I like to look at the things that we do like that and, and relate it to business. And so I think about I wrote a blog post about the fact that Isn't that how we are in business that will be we'll be like, perfectly in a great spot. And we'll think, who wouldn't want to be up there. And then when we get up there, we see something else. We're like, now I want to be there. Sometimes we forget to think, let Oh, a few minutes ago, this is where I want to be. Let me stop for a second, take a look around, appreciate where I am, before I move on to the next thing. And so when we're out exploring, I love to take those everyday type of situations or those those sort of touristy throw away events and think about how does this relate to business? How can I use this to kind of illustrate a point. And so I think we do a lot of learning that way as well.

And so tell me a bit more about how you make it work working in an RV and traveling and running your business at the same time, how does that all come together?

So practically, the internet situation is probably our biggest obstacle to overcome. And it was I'd say it's one of our bigger expenses. And so we we have, we actually my husband just wrote an article about this, because we get asked about it. So often, it has nothing to do with either one of our businesses. But we have three internet hotspots for all of the major one, all the major carriers in the US. And then we have an international hotspot too. So if we are traveling in Canada, which we haven't done in a while, we have a hotspot for Canada. So that's the practical nature on the RV that we have is big enough that my husband has his own office with a door that closes. So because he's on a call a lot. He's not in online business, he's a consultant. And so it was interesting when the pandemic happened, everybody in his industry was scrambling to figure out how they could go online. And so he became kind of like the expert of this is how you do it. So those are some of the practical things. And then we travel specifically, we'll think about where we want to go. And then the first thing Brett does my husband, the first thing he'll do is check the internet in the Wi Fi situation to see if we're going to have conductivity in that area. If we're not, that becomes a weekend trip or a trip that we have to take time off for. And then we both drive. We we took professional or driving lessons from a professional so we because we are we're 60 feet long when we're driving and 26,000 pounds. And so we take turns driving and while one is driving, the other one can be on calls. And we so we usually stay on our interstates where there's internet. So if we do have to move during the week, that's how we manage that or we'll block off time where we don't have calls that type of thing. So those are kind of some of the practical things that that we came up with to make it work. But otherwise, we tend to travel on the weekends so that we aren't it isn't interfering with our work. And then we don't if we're traveling on the weekends, we're not doing our sightseeing on the weekends, which is when everybody else is doing it will schedule time off during the week or will go early in the morning or late in the day or you know something to that effect.

I as many people know I my husband and I've done two lots of six months traveling and both both times trying to sort of take our laptops with us so more sort of backpacking type traveling but taking our laptops with us and then doing tourist stuff during the day and then having a dedicated time early evening, you know laptops out to get some stuff done before we went out for dinner? And I yeah, it's really interesting how you manage those practicalities and juggle all the different things that you want to get fit into a day and yeah, enjoy life at the same time, because that's what it's all about. Yeah. So if you weren't doing what you're doing now, what what would you be doing? What would your career be if you've got something else that you would have pursued that you would love to have done?

That's an interesting question. Um, I don't know, I kind of think I would do maybe something around travel, although it makes me a little nervous, too. You know, people say follow your passion, follow your passion. Sometimes I think it's great to have a passion that isn't associated with your job. Right. And so I might do something around traveling full time living in an RV full time some of the things we were just talking about, but I don't know exactly what I really love what I'm doing. Actually, you know what I would do, I would go back to work for the Disney Company, I used to work for Disney. And they were in Florida, and my entire family and my husband were in Minnesota. And so I did work for them in Minnesota to as a manager for Disney stores. But I would probably go back to work for them not as an hourly employee, although that was fun, too, but maybe work myself up through their, their system if if I was going to have somebody else pay me and I wasn't going to have my own business. That's probably what I would do.

Hmm, good choice. So before we wrap up, do you want to Is there anything else you want to share about your business tell listeners where they can find you and your what your you know something about your more about your products and services?

Sure. So my website is launch tech made easy dot com, and I have resources on there everything from you know, how do you set up and what's involved with your first funnel to collect email addresses? I have launched checklists, there's resources, a blog. And that's all great. And you can reach me at Tracie, t r a c i e at launch tech made easy dot com. So you know that I'd love to, you know, chat with people that they can book a call with me. But what I really want people to know is that if you have something you're good at, and you do, everybody does. And it could be something that you know what everybody asked for a one time for me it was everybody was asking us like, what are you doing to teach your kids about money, like your kids really understand what money is all about? What are you doing so that was my thing for a while, or maybe you're the trip planner in your friend group. Or maybe you always bring the perfect bottle of wine, whatever it happens to be, do not let something like the tech hold you back. Because there are plenty of people like me, there are people who you know will help you with your website, there are people who will help you with your graphic design, there are people you can find people to help you with any of the parts that aren't your specialty. So as long as you can focus on being you and being what's awesome about you, you can get support and help for all of the other pieces. I mean, well, you're a classic example like your perfect people can come on to Angel Rated. It is Angel Rated. I was thinking that was just the podcast, okay, people can come on to Angel Rated and they can find all kinds of people to help them with their business. And so you just have to focus on what it is that you like to do what you're good at, and go from there.

Don't get stuck,

don't get stuck, move forwards and stay out of your own way. Because honestly, that's the biggest part of it. Right? It's we get in our own way by the noise in our head telling us what we can and can't do.

Absolutely. And we Yeah, we double guests ourselves all the time and think of a million reasons why we can't do something and not all the good reasons why we can do it. Yep. It's been so fab of having you on here. Tracie, I've been really interested to learn more about your lifestyle and about your business. Any last thoughts, any social media handles anything else you'd like to share?

If you go to my website, check my website, you'll find links to all this stuff. So that's all good. I should be more present on social media than I am. So you can find me using the launch tech made easy handle, you'll find me but I just loved chatting about launches and chatting through helping people break through those barriers, especially with their tech. Like I said, I'm not a coach, I'm sort of a just do it kind of person. Like just get it done. Like it's time. So I don't do any coaching. But if you have like a tech problem, or you need to talk through something, you can book a call on my website, and I'm happy to chat.

Fantastic. Thank you ever so much. So to read the show notes from this episode, you can go to Angel rated.com forward slash podcast and if you enjoyed this episode, I'd love you to subscribe to the show. And leave a review on your favorite podcast platform. And don't forget to share this episode with your friends. The Angel Rated Show is brought to you by Angel Rated the independent directory and review site for all the products courses and services used by online business owners. It's the best place to find the perfect product for the next stage of your business or personal growth. Learn more and list your business free of charge at Angel rated.com