The Magnet Model with Sophie (draft)
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James Marland: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the scaling therapy practice. I'm your host James Marland. This is the show where we Empower mission driven leaders to launch life changing online courses today. I have a special guest Uh sophie lechner. She's from the magnet model dot com correct. Okay, and uh, she is Her audience is mission driven entrepreneurs And I am so glad that I met her because I think we connect on the mission driven mindset.
But not only that, she has gone where I want to go, taking this ACES course. It's an entrepreneur course, and we connected in the course. And I invited her onto the show to share her story and some, you know, behind the scenes, what it's like to [00:01:00] be an entrepreneur course creator. So, uh, Sophie, welcome to the show.
Sophie Lechner: Thank you, James, for having me. I'm excited.
James Marland: So tell us just a little bit about yourself, maybe a little bit about your background, or where you're from.
Sophie Lechner: Yeah. All right. So I'm half French, half Pakistani, and I've been living in the U S for over 30 years now. Um, and I mentioned this because it has made me really passionate about connections and connecting people and, um, just to, Shortcut to the topic of courses that I, that I have done, um, this passion for connections has really led me to fall in love with LinkedIn actually as a platform to, you know, have conversations with, um, with people. And, uh, yeah, so we'll talk more, but that's, that's, uh, the topic that I became passionate
James Marland: where are you located now? What geographic [00:02:00] region?
Sophie Lechner: I'm in New Jersey. I lived in New York city for 15 years and then, uh, moved out. I was priced out of the city. So we moved here to a house in New
James Marland: Yeah, I grew up in upstate New York, so not too far away, but everybody always said when I was from New York, they're like, oh, how do you like the city? And I'm like, no, lots of cows and lakes where I lived. So, uh, so you're in New Jersey now. Um, can you see the Statue of Liberty? Like how far away are you from the Oh,
Sophie Lechner: no, I'm more
James Marland: inland.
Okay.
Sophie Lechner: I'm more
James Marland: All right. So, uh, we're, we're both on this course creation journey. Um, I'm a couple years in, um, but at the beginning of my business, uh, ACES is a business course. It's like an entrepreneur course where you get a coach and you like, you set goals and, and you get lots of networking and feedback. So I'm at the beginning of this, but Sophie and through The program.
So [00:03:00] I was just interested in hearing her journey and what were, how did she get started? Like Sophie, how did you get started even wanting to make a course?
Sophie Lechner: So actually there was a bit of an overlap between two businesses when I was in ACES. So I joined ACES to. Try to really get off the ground, a business that I had been working on, trying to, you know, make it grow and it wasn't working so well. So I got in because of that, with that objective, but 2020, I signed up
James Marland: Oh my, okay.
Sophie Lechner: so I had big plans for a European tour to talk about my company in, uh, March seemed like a good idea when I said it.
James Marland: Oh no.
Sophie Lechner: March 2020. yeah, that was, that was the plan. So to say, that went down the toilet. [00:04:00] I did some webinars, but nobody wanted to hear about what I had to talk about. So, sort of as in a parallel track, two years before I had wanted to create a course about something else, more as a hobby, I have to say, initially. Um, To get my mind off of my business that wasn't really working. Um, so I, I had been, I mentioned, I was really passionate about LinkedIn and how it can connect people. And so I said, okay, I'll do a course. It was actually broader than LinkedIn originally. It's to help people who wanted to find a job in the U S so I created the course.
I actually signed up with Meracy, the same company that does ACES. the course specific course and, um, created the course on how to find a job in the U. S. And I had two people, sign up and I'm very glad that there were only two [00:05:00] because I had packed so much stuff in there, way, way, way, way too much.
And I think that that is one of the biggest mistakes that people make when they create a course. there are so many limitations to how much a person can absorb, that we have to be really, really
James Marland: Why do you think, why do you, I've made that mistake too. So from your experience, why do you think course creators try to pack too much in to their, to their course? Like what, what is it about? Wanting to teach people stuff that you just Jim every last bit of knowledge you have about it in through a course.
Mm hmm. Mm hmm.
Sophie Lechner: expert's blind spot, which is the fact that we have accumulated knowledge over many, many years now it is sitting in our head and kind of forget the fact that it built very slowly over [00:06:00] many years. So we, that's one thing. And then the second component I think is our generosity, our wanting to help people.
So we're like, There's all this knowledge and you're here and I'm gonna give it to you because that's what you need, right? And the brain is like, no, I can't take all this. So then it just slides over.
James Marland: And and the danger may the danger for me was they didn't complete the whole course. I lost people along the way like it was it was great stuff, but it was just. It didn't fit their need. They couldn't get the transformation because it overwhelmed them. Um,
Sophie Lechner: Yeah.
James Marland: so,
Sophie Lechner: Yeah, it's really important. So actually I after I did that I took my course and I Shrunk the content to about half of what it
James Marland: Oh,
Sophie Lechner: I
James Marland: that was hard. I bet that was, I bet that took a lot of time and,
Sophie Lechner: Yes, I took I did that a couple of times. [00:07:00] So I shrunk it by half and then I extended the duration by, you know, like I doubled. So we had like four, you know, basically it's 25%. Absorption rate or whatever measure that, that did better, but it was still too much. That's what my, the feedback was. So then I took one module and I created my whole course about that. And the module was how to use LinkedIn. And years later that actually became my business because. aces and it and the pandemic that business didn't work.
So then I switched to, so what was my course about LinkedIn actually became my entire
James Marland: So that's fantastic. And I have a lot of, like, I have popcorns of questions. So one of them though, is you switched, you had a, you were going one way and then it wasn't working out and you switched, like, how did you know, like, tell, walk me through the process of changing [00:08:00] directions.
Sophie Lechner: Well, I make it sound like it was an overnight thing, but it took me
James Marland: Yeah. Mm
Sophie Lechner: So first of all, one mistake I made in my first business was I did not. set up a timeline by which I should accomplish XYZ milestone, or I just jumped in and kept going and going and going, going. So there was no point at which I had to check in with
James Marland: No evaluation. Point, no point to say, is this working? No point to say, I've spent this much, what, what more do I need to do? No. Like, is this action working? For example, I blog a lot, but is it really working? I'm not, I'm not a hundred percent sure because I, I've just say, you got a blog, but I have nothing attached to it, so anyways.
That is a great point. Like there was no, there was no endpoint. There was no mile marker. There was nothing that said, okay, you've [00:09:00] tried it long enough, change direction, which made you go probably a long way in a direction that wasn't paying off. Yeah. That's too long. Yep.
Sophie Lechner: I, I was so in love with what I was doing that I, I, I locked myself into a box where there was no other option this more mindset thing. Right. So I was like, this has to work. This has to work. And the more I pushed on that, you know, that more pressure grew, the harder it was for me and actually burnt myself out completely. Without knowing it at the time, I didn't know the burnout, but I was depressed, discouraged, disgusted and that's when I entered ACEs actually, so, I was like, okay, last, can't help me, then I'm not
James Marland: So you recognize some of the signs internally. Like the emotions and being [00:10:00] discouraged. I bet like sometimes when I'm discouraged, I like, don't, I know I have stuff to do, but I either put it off or find other things to do, or I wake up a little later, you know, working at home, um, or distract myself with things instead of,
Sophie Lechner: Yeah, I actually did a bit the opposite in a certain sense is that, I got myself to a point where it was like, this to work, I need to try
James Marland: Oh yeah.
Sophie Lechner: the 10 hours today. We're not enough. So tomorrow I need to work 12 hours. And I, you know, and at the end of the week, I was like, so what did I do this week? I did a few things, but it doesn't feel like it should have been six, you know?
James Marland: then, so you recognize something needed to change and you joined ACES. What, um, what about the, so there's a lot of programs out there and this isn't a selling, this is, we're not trying to sell ACES here, but what about ACES made you [00:11:00] want to, to join?
Sophie Lechner: Well, I think, um, it just felt like it was this composite of the different pieces that I needed. And so the support, I had been very alone in my journey. Um, and the coaching, I was like, all right, people who help others to build businesses should be able to help me because I obviously, I mean, it had worked, but just not, know, the vision that I had.
So, I thought if some professionals can help me, then yeah, let's do this.
James Marland: And then go, going way back, not way, way back. One of the other questions I wanted to ask before you, we started on like, how did you make that change? Was the people like your, your, your, Your course, your purpose is to help people. Why is that important to you and how does that help you, uh, [00:12:00] continue on?
Sophie Lechner: Oh, generally speaking, like helping, as a coach, as a, as a teacher. Um, I don't know, I guess it's an intrinsic in my personality. Um, my mom was a teacher and it's interesting because it wasn't until. that I started like actually teaching or, you know, uh, training. Um, but looking back at what I call the golden thread, looking back through, you know, early, early on in school, helping my friends and then college, whatever.
And professionally, um, I noticed there was all these points at which I was actually always creating Processes and, and, and documentation of processes to help the person after me not have to go through the pain that are being thrown in that I had had, you know, so along the way, I noticed this pattern.
There was always [00:13:00] something about wanting. others to have an easier time than I did, you know?
James Marland: Yeah. So where, uh, what, um, what am I trying to ask here? I'm trying to, uh, catch us up today. So what. You, you've been through ACEs. Uh, what did you do? Uh, what were, what did you do in the last couple years? I think you were in the program for a year or two. Is that right? So what did you do in the last two years?
And what were some of the bottlenecks that you overcame to get to where you are now?
Sophie Lechner: yeah. So the big, big difference. So what happened was I need to give you a tiny
James Marland: Oh yeah,
Sophie Lechner: during the pandemic. Um, my business and many other people's businesses just sort of came to a, you know, a halt. Where we, uh, had no income coming in and a lot of time on our hands and a lot of people around me, the ACEs entrepreneurs and others were saying, well, I can't go to [00:14:00] networking events.
What am I going to do? And I kept telling them, well, you know, you can still use LinkedIn networking. So that's fine. But a lot of people looking at me, like I have three heads and like, what do you mean? What is that? You know, that's, I'm not looking for a job. And so I realized there were a lot of misconceptions about LinkedIn. And I offered to help whoever could, I mean, this was a period where we were all feeling very, um, stressed and sort
James Marland: and isolated and alone. Yeah, I remember.
Sophie Lechner: Yeah. And so a lot of us were brainstorming, like, what can we do to get ourselves from being depressed? And one of the key things, was to give, you know, to help others. And so that was a big, um, a big, um, that a lot of, uh, my friends and I took. So we exchanged a lot of knowledge anyway. So I coached about 50 or 60, um, sessions, entrepreneurs. [00:15:00] During, during that year of 2020, and that helped me to discover all the myths, all the misconceptions, all the lack of understanding of LinkedIn.
I have done it for 20 years. So it was just like second nature to me. So I started doing that and and that's when I realized, well, there seems to be a market for this and I was resisting because I was still hung up on my
James Marland: So
Sophie Lechner: around me was telling me, Listen, this is great. I want more sessions.
I'd like to pay you. so the big difference here was that I was doing something that people were asking me to do. Which is a great way to start a business as opposed to something I had conceived in my previous business that I thought was what people needed. You know, there's always this, like, what do they want versus what do they need? I had not quite understood that difference before. So what I was trying to, um, uh, get people to [00:16:00] see they needed was not actually what they wanted. So anyway,
James Marland: trying to, how did you get, how did you get to the place where people knew you were the person that could help them with LinkedIn? Do you know, was it something you, you did? I know you gave, but what, what, what were some of those actual things? Because connecting with an audience is a big deal.
Like, where are those people and how do you find them? But what it, it, it didn't sound like you were necessarily selling or set, you know, of a giant funnel or Facebook ads or anything. So what, what were you doing that these people said, Hey, give me more coaching. Here's some money.
Sophie Lechner: Actually, so ACES was quite instrumental at that time because, um, first of all, there was the whole ACES community. So that's a couple hundred entrepreneurs and I was offering this. And so there was a lot of word of mouth inside the community. And [00:17:00] so people were saying, Oh, LinkedIn, you should learn. You should learn from Sophie.
And so. You know, I initially I just sent an email to my friends and then the word spread, um, they also at the time interviewed people, not interviewed, but had people come in and speak to whatever, um, on whatever topic could be helpful to the ACEs community. So I actually did four of those. presentations and they are recorded.
They were in the archives so anybody can, uh, you know, can reach them, can access them. And, um, so that contributed to the word, um, spreading as well. And then of course I used LinkedIn then I
James Marland: So
Sophie Lechner: You know, sharing on LinkedIn that, you know, here's some tips and here's some things. And so we gradually grew like that. That's how it happened.
James Marland: what were some of the growth challenges before we get to where you are now? What? What were some of the growth challenges that you overcame, um, to get to where you [00:18:00] are?
Sophie Lechner: Well, one of them was my, um, time and energy management. When I first started selling this program, my program. So I was a coaching program for three months, one session a week. So 12 12 sessions. And I created, so this time I was determined I was not going to make the same mistake. So I created financial projections, like if I don't make so much by this amount, okay. so I had thought, well, 12 clients sounds like a good, um, you know, quantity of income and, and, and, and work that I can do. And so I did all my projections on that. And so I started collecting clients, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. And then I was like, wait a minute, I'm, uh, I'm going crazy. I can't handle this. You know, it's not just the hours, it's the preparation, keeping the stuff in your head, sending the emails, the summary, the recording, this and that. [00:19:00] So I said, wait a minute, I feel like, and I also didn't want to burn out. So this time I was centering my business around. my life, what I enjoy, what I like, what I want to be doing. So I realized, okay, well, it's not going to be 12. It's actually going to be six. I want to have no more than six clients at any given time. So that presented the challenge when it comes to the financial projections, they kind of sort of split in half from 12 to six. So then I had to think of other ways. to make more income, and that's when I started gradually to bring in group, uh, stuff and, and a course because, you know, I had done a course way back, then now I was doing coaching, and so this was time to bring back actual group program with an actual course.
It's all about [00:20:00] LinkedIn and so that's, that's what I did. It took me a little bit of time, but I did live group sessions uh, I recorded everything and that I created a course on a, on a platform and, um, I've never gone to the point of selling the course alone. I don't believe in that. I don't believe in the evergreen model. so, but what I have done is I have, um, increased the reliance on the course and reduced the amount of coaching. So there's been group coaching, a little bit of one on one coaching. And then, you know, from one pilot to the next, to the next, I would vary those things, right? How much course, how much coaching how much one on one coaching and and I'm still still playing around with those parameters I think it's a a pilot's [00:21:00] Dashboard, right?
So
James Marland: Yeah,
Sophie Lechner: and you
James Marland: the course. And yeah, that's great. Uh, so I heard you, you gave yourself a deadline and set a goal and said, I'm going to do this until this point and reevaluate. And then you realized. You needed systems to do some of the things that you wanted to do, but you also had a lot of values. Like, I want my business to serve me.
I don't want to be serving my business. I think that's a big strength. Um, then you adapted, like, I love, I love your story of adaption and like everything's a pilot. You know, this is my, this is my 10th pilot course because I'm still learning how to, how to
Sophie Lechner: oh,
James Marland: tweak things.
Sophie Lechner: yeah,
James Marland: And you made, made adjustments that, uh, It sounds like help you but also serve your students too like if you have this recorded and this available But you're also offering the support.
Do you have [00:22:00] any community element of your group? Like are they Talking to each other. Do they help each other? What do you do for that?
Sophie Lechner: yeah, I have been struggling with that from, from the beginning and I have not quite, what's the word,
James Marland: Yeah
Sophie Lechner: that nut. um, I have tried different things. I've tried Facebook group, I've tried a LinkedIn group. Um, I don't currently have a platform other than Slack. Well, actually I have a platform in Slack. Um, there's limitations to it, but it has worked better than the others that I tried before. Um, the community element for me has been mostly through, um, uh, two things. One is. calls, so simply being together. And I, I, okay, I'll tell you after, but, um, so the group calls are the, the biggest part of the community aspect. [00:23:00] And then, uh, I also have separately from the course, uh, some, could call them communities within LinkedIn. So just three where people can come in and just support each other's posts and things like that.
James Marland: Okay, um, and so So where are you now? And what is your next challenge
Sophie Lechner: So all this work on LinkedIn, I to the realization that I was a lot more than just helping to figure out how to use LinkedIn. So I was seeing that my clients were having successes that were going beyond what LinkedIn was doing for them as a platform, right? And they were telling me this and I was, it took me a while, but I finally took all of this studied what I had been doing all these years, [00:24:00] even before that on LinkedIn. And I figured out a framework, a model, and that's where the name of my company comes from. So now I have
James Marland: magnet?
Sophie Lechner: this, this model, the magnet model. magnet because my whole philosophy is, you know, you want to attract your clients. You don't want to be pushing and selling all this stuff. So you want to attract. And, uh, right now I'm writing a book on this whole model and, um, you know, where it came from, how to use it, how to implement it. I'm in the finishing stages of the manuscript and it's going to come out in March, 2025.
James Marland: we'll have to have you uh Give us some resources when you launch it so we can let our audience know because that sounds really good and I love I love imagery and magnet is a great image of like you're you're attracting people. You're not like, you're not like a fish hook you know you're not fishing for people you're trying to find the [00:25:00] people who would react to what you're doing, and I bet.
Also a magnet repels the people who don't fit. You know, the, the, uh, the polar opposite, they, they run away from you. But, but that's also the, the heart of the entrepreneur. You want to attract the people that you can help the best. And, um, it, it, it's, it's kind and nice to do that. And, um, you know, the sooner people realize it, the better.
So, so you have a book coming out. You also, let's, uh, let's get to where, um, what do you offer now? And where can people do.
Sophie Lechner: Yeah. So you can find me on LinkedIn at Sophie Lechner. where I'm the most responsive, or you can email me at sophieatthemagnetmodel. com. uh, what was the other? Yes. So what do I offer? So I offer a couple of things. Uh, what I have also come to realize is that I really enjoy working with people in a very [00:26:00] short burst of very intense time. And that seems to work really well. So I've created a new, um, program I was in January. So not so new, but it's called the VIP, uh, profile in a day. So I always say it's not really in a day. It's because that sounds sexy. So I use that, but it's actually more in a week. Um, but it's, it's very important to have a, a good solid LinkedIn profile that really captures who you are, your mission, et cetera. Um, and so we do this. And also it's important to know that if, even if you don't use LinkedIn, when people Google you, Your profile is the first thing that comes up. So if it's, you know, tumbleweeds in the desert, it's, it's not going to look good for you. So one of the things that I do is really do a solid profile.
And then I have programs about content and just my general, um, uh, program, which I call [00:27:00] the, uh, client magnet lab. Uh, where we, I have my course and, um, you know, group sessions and individual sessions. And I walk you through the whole thing, the profile, the content, how to make it work, how to build relationships, which is really the heart of all of it.
James Marland: That sounds, yeah, that sounds wonderful and really needed. Um, I'm gonna, I'm gonna ask you for free advice. Like what is the, what is the big mistake you see people, like if you were going to correct one thing on somebody's LinkedIn profile and somebody was going to spend 15, 20, whatever, you know, a 30 minute block of time to fix it, what would you recommend they do?
Sophie Lechner: it's important to have a banner that's inviting, profile picture that is, you know, and fills the whole circle. Um, a headline where the first 40 characters really create, uh, clarity on what you do combined with, um, [00:28:00] intrigue. It should be, you know, enough to make people want to click on your profile, right? Um, and then you want to have a feature, you want to have a good about section that really captures you serve, how, but also your mission, your story, and a short testimonial. I'm, I'm really, I'm, I'm fire
James Marland: are giving me a lot, but it's that, uh, that, that sounds like if I was going to work on. Let's just, like, that's a list of things I could work on, and if I had 20 minutes, I could do a better picture and find a good banner. And then I'm sure your class, uh, and your tips would, um, would help with the other, like, what is, you opened up like, well, what is a good about page?
Like, and how do you create intrigue? And some of those, some of those other things, um, that are probably, you know, spelled out, well, they're spelled out much better in your course. So that is great.[00:29:00]
Sophie Lechner: And I also created a smaller courses, you know, so there I have a little course about just how to do your about section, which is actually free in the
James Marland: Okay. So we'll link to that, how to do, what was it? How did you? The about section, how to do the about section. Awesome. It's free on,
Sophie Lechner: And
James Marland: is it the, the magnet, is it the magnet model or just magnet model, the magnet model. com and get that free resource. That is wonderful.
Sophie Lechner: small,
James Marland: One of, one of my objectives, my coach said was update your LinkedIn, update your LinkedIn profile.
So they know it's important, important.
Sophie Lechner: well. Yep,
James Marland: Well, I'm going to, all
Sophie Lechner: audit.
James Marland: right. All right. That's uncomfortable, but I want, yes, I would love to do it, but that feels uncomfortable, but, uh, we'll do it. So, um, so Sophie, thanks so much for joining us on the show. [00:30:00] Uh, this has been a blast. I love hearing your. Your story and your heart and like some of the some of the hills you climbed to get to where you are,
Sophie Lechner: Goodbye.
James Marland: but um Uh any any last thing you want to say to our audience before we sign out?
Sophie Lechner: Well, um, I want to tell you about the real quick, the three key drivers that I have in my
James Marland: Okay
Sophie Lechner: which are mission message and movement. And the idea behind the model is really to bring the joy of your client work over into your marketing. The problem is a lot of people. don't enjoy their marketing and they end up burning themselves out. if you, um, really center your entire marketing around your mission, that is completely going to change how you present yourself and how you come to the table. Message is really about understanding your clients [00:31:00] deeply, really understanding their beliefs and being able to, Change the beliefs that are getting in the way of them, even looking for a solution for their problem.
A lot of people don't even know they have a problem, right? So, um, that's really that deep understanding and then switching from selling to giving and coaching and educating. then movement is about you as an entrepreneur, focusing on your mission putting that out in the world and putting this. Energy of really putting the spotlight on the mission and not on yourself, which is something a lot of entrepreneurs aren't comfortable with. So once you are able to do that, like you're starting a movement and whether you start a movement, you know, actually or not having that energy behind it changes your marketing entirety.
So those are the key ideas. And then there's nine strategies [00:32:00] to make it all
James Marland: Wow, that that was great. I love that a high level view, but it's also very like Intriguing like it's very i'm very curious about that. So, uh, if you're interested in improving your um Your way to attract people, not by selling, but by serving, um, check out the magnet, the magnet model, uh, with Sophie Lechner.
Hey, thanks so much for being on the show.
Sophie Lechner: for having me, James.
James Marland: This is James Marland, uh, for the scaling therapy practice, go put your mission in motion
