Transcript: Thanks, Allan. This is David Brower with Your 20 Minute Podcast. Our special guest today is Amber Hurdle. She understands what it takes to accelerate success. She’s a former teen mom who evolved into a powerhouse business woman. Amber has worked with international celebrities, Fortune 500 companies, women in business worldwide, and whether she is empowering female entrepreneurs, teaching them out-of-the-box business strategies, or energizing and educating leadership to next level, their employment engagement. I’m excited to talk to you, Amber. Thanks a lot for taking the time today. I know you’re going 100 miles an hour, I’m sure.
Amber Hurdle: Well, that is the life of a bombshell. I have to say, David, I am very jealous of your radio voice. I wish I had that for my podcast.
David Brower: Oh, you’re very kind. You’re very kind. My real life job, I’m a voice actor. I do the podcast thing for fun, and education, and information, and pay it forward kinds of stuff, so you’re very kind. Thank you.
David Brower: So Bombshell Business Woman. How long has your book been out?
Amber Hurdle: Well, since October 1st, so not too long, but it seems like long enough that I sure have talked about it a lot and have gotten a tremendous response from my readers, and everything from emails to social media messages, and I’ve even gotten letters in the mail of what women are doing with the content and how they’re applying to their businesses and life. I’ll tell you, it’s made the entire very stressful process of writing, producing, and publishing a book worth every piece of energy I contributed to it.
David Brower: Good for you. Good. Did you self-publish?
Amber Hurdle: No. There’s three different ways that you can publish. There’s your self-publishing, and you’re responsible for everything. Then there’s traditional publishing where, basically, somebody else finances the whole thing, and then they make all the final decisions.
David Brower: Gotcha.
Amber Hurdle: Me being a brand expert, I was very interested in this being branded like everything in my business, and my Bombshell Business Bootcamp, and my podcast, The Bombshell Business Woman, so I went with a hybrid, which means I financed the book. However, a publisher published it.
David Brower: Nice.
Amber Hurdle: That gave me a bigger split of the money which, by the way, if anybody thinks they’re going to get rich off of a book, you’re sorely mistaken. It gave me the power to use it for what I wanted to use it for, that’s convey my distinct message and my story in a way that was authentic and true to me and that was targeted specifically to the audience that I know very well by this point. It’s not necessarily about book sales for me. It’s about this book being a tool to further the mission that I’m on with The Bombshell Business Woman movement.
David Brower: Absolutely right. When you’re focused like that, and you’re consistent with your brand, which everybody has to be, even though a lot of us don’t know that … You have to be consistent with your brand from day one to day never, and to be able to have that control in the publishing process to stay true to your brand and be authentic with your project, that’s powerful, and that’s what helps you reach these people the way your intentions were, right?
Amber Hurdle: Yeah, absolutely. Any time you’re doing something like this, granted there is always the business aspect because I could be laying by the pool and just hanging out as opposed to putting this energy into it, but there is a bigger aspect, and there’s a bigger picture at play here for me, and that is I sell branding advice. What I give is confidence.
David Brower: Oh, wow.
Amber Hurdle: That’s really, at the end of the day, what I’m selling because if you understand who you are and the impact that you have either in your business or in the world, then you can go out and confidently pursue that. For me to have the opportunity to be able to empower and embolden women to go share their gifts with the world, whether it’s through their business, which is a very nice way of doing it because you actually get compensated for it, or through their families or their volunteer effort, community, whatever, I can’t even think of something that I would love more to do with my waking hours than that.
David Brower: What a gift. I mean that’s like the ultimate pay it forward. I mean that’s the way it feels to me is you’re on a quest to help women worldwide in any way possible be it business, be it philanthropy, be it volunteer work, or any other facet. There’s something in your DNA that says, “I’m going to do everything I can to pay it forward and help these women grow and survive.”
Amber Hurdle: Yeah. When you start out as a teen mom, and you’ve got to figure out real quickly how you are going to not get your car repossessed … and so you have to figure out, “What are my gifts, and how do I sell these gifts so that I can provide for another mouth?” while you are still carrying a backpack around every day. That’s a pretty intense situation. What I’ve seen is that I was forced, and chose, but life handed me an opportunity to figure some of this stuff out quickly.
Fortunately, I was surrounded by people who wanted to help me get there because they saw that I had the desire. Not everybody has that type of environment in their life. Not everybody has the opportunity to quickly find mentors, or they might not have the personality type. I’m a total extrovert relationship-builder type person. They might not have that personality, so what can I do with the gifts that got me to where I am because of the people who supported me, and helped me, and championed me? What can I do to help those women? Well, if you have $14.99 in your pocket or in your bank account, you can get this book, and we can get started on it.
David Brower: Nice. There’s no coincidence to you being surrounded by those people all of a sudden. Life just doesn’t work that way, you know?
Amber Hurdle: No. There are no coincidences in life.
David Brower: Exactly right. Exactly right. How old’s your daughter now?
Amber Hurdle: She is 21 and approaching 22 in July, so she is-
David Brower: July what?
Amber Hurdle: July 24th.
David Brower: All right. I had to ask because I’m the 14th, and my son’s the 21st, so she’s in good company.
Amber Hurdle: Yeah, it’s a great month.
David Brower: It is a great month.
Amber Hurdle: I probably know a lot about your personality.
David Brower: Yes, you do. Absolutely.
Amber Hurdle: She’s created her own way, and she is a licensed real estate agent. She is graduating from college in just a few short weeks and helps a local brick and mortar business as the manager. In fact, she’s at market right now, so she’s kind of like her mom, and she’s got a lot of irons in the fire, and grass never grows underneath her feet either, but she did that on her own. There might be influence from her parents, but she found her own wherewithal to figure out what she wanted at this point in her life and where she wants to go and then-
David Brower: What a gift.
Amber Hurdle: I’m very proud of that. Yeah.
David Brower: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. What’s the old saying, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree?
Amber Hurdle: Yeah.
David Brower: That’s very exciting for both of you, as I’m sure … I know you’re very, very proud of her, and I’m sure she’s very, very proud of you.
David Brower: People can, of course, get the book at all the usual places, I assume. Is that right?
Amber Hurdle: Yes. Always, the easiest is Amazon, but you could also get it at Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Target. There are more bookstores out there than I even knew still existed, and it’s in a lot of those places too.
David Brower: Isn’t that crazy?
Amber Hurdle: Yeah. It’s awesome. What a learning experience.
David Brower: You have such an engaging personality and voice and all the kind of … and you were very generous to compliment me on mine. I’m wondering if you haven’t done an audio book yet.
Amber Hurdle: We have. I say we because, of course, I can barely get my podcast out every week, so talk about a passion project. I’m not a pro like you. I’m a branding person who podcasts. Yeah, we have it recorded and, honestly, it just needs to be reviewed, and then we’re done.
David Brower: Good, good.
Amber Hurdle: Thank goodness that the economy is great, and business is growing, and a lot of people need me right now.
David Brower: Absolutely right.
Amber Hurdle: My attention has totally been on my clients, and I really would love to get that book out. It is at the top of the operational priorities.
David Brower: Good for you. Good for you. There’s a woman out there. She’s starting a new business. She’s struggling. She doesn’t know what she doesn’t know. She can spell branding, but she’s not sure what it means. How can you help a novice like that?
Amber Hurdle: Well, I would definitely recommend, and I’m going to say this repeatedly, but buy the book, but more importantly than buy the book, download the free resources because I give a workbook and all kinds of additional resources for that person that needs a little extra help. The key to branding, number one, is who do you help? What problem do you solve? And then how do you solve that uniquely? When you identify who it is that you’re really wanting to be as … could be a customer, now you can get into their head and what’s their motivator? What’s in it for them to do business with you? If you’re a hair salon, are you … I mean I just took my son to Sports Clips yesterday. Genius brand, genius model.
David Brower: Isn’t it? Oh, my God, absolutely.
Amber Hurdle: Why didn’t somebody think of that beforehand? It’s a male-focused, sports-oriented, everything … There’s lockers in there instead of cabinetry. There’s always ESPN on the TV. It’s a no-fluff experience unless you want to pay a little extra to get a scalp massage. You’re in, and you’re out in a very male environment, so you would know I am appealing to sports-loving men. Okay, well, now how do we solve their problem? They need a quick haircut, so you put your processes together to appeal to that customer, and then how do you do it differently?
Well, this guy doesn’t have to go into a froufrou salon that’s got a bunch of gold, and pink, and all kinds of stuff in it and have to listen to the salon gossip. He also doesn’t have to go into a vanilla Great Clips or something else that doesn’t really … it’s not male or female, and there might be a little girl sitting next to you. I mean this is very specific, and they solve it uniquely, and so they have a strong brand and a healthy business. That’s what any woman needs to figure out for her own brand.
David Brower: You help them do that.
Amber Hurdle: Yes. Oh, yes. I love it. I geek out on this.
David Brower: That’s what you sink your teeth into is helping somebody develop their brand, identifying with it, accepting it, having the confidence to engage with it, and then go take on the world, right?
Amber Hurdle: Absolutely. I really don’t launch a lot of brands. A lot of times, I got into an established business and talk to them because they started a business and, somehow, they created a brand along the way because people are going to have an opinion about you whether or not you tell them what it should be. I come in to help them clarify, “Okay, given the data that we have, given that … here’s where you’re really making your money. This is what people respond to when you’ve marketed before. Who are you? What is your brand story? What is your brand promise? What should customers expect from an experience with you?” Then we start going down the path of that brand clarity. I do that for one person businesses, and I do that for international brands from the inside out, going in and saying, “Okay. Here’s your brand, but for some reason the customer experience isn’t working or your employees aren’t really happy about what’s going on in the brand, so we still need that clarity. What is it that you do? How do you do it uniquely?”
David Brower: Yeah, and the employees have to identify, embrace, understand, and be loyal to that brand.
Amber Hurdle: Yeah. They have to help you live the brand. If they can’t live out your brand experience, your customers are not going to receive a consistent brand experience, and now your brand is going down the toilet.
David Brower: That’s part one of our interview with Amber Hurdle.
Allan: Your 20 Minute Podcast with David Brower has been brought to you by Audible. You can listen to any of David’s podcasts anywhere podcasts can be found, including iHeartRadio, the Spotify mobile app, and at davidbrowervo.com/your20minutepodcast. Until next time, thanks for listening.