ABOUT TODAY’S GUEST | AMBER VILHAUER
Amber Vilhauer is an online digital marketing expert who supports business owners to establish a powerful, integrated online presence that gets results and empowers them to make a difference in their industry. After working in Cutco/Vector Marketing for several years, she started her own company called NGNG Enterprises (standing for No Guts No Glory) in 2007. Over the past 12 years, Amber has supported more than one thousand entrepreneurs on six continents to get results. She is the launch manager behind several #1 best-selling books including those for Mark Victor Hansen, Brendon Burchard, Lisa Nichols, Bill Walsh, and Les Brown.
Q&A WITH AMBER VILHAUER
Q: Let’s hear a little about your story and how you got started with Cutco/ Vector.
- I was a student in Tucson when I started with Vector.
- Before working in Vector, I was not very skilled or confident.
Q: What were some of the more transformational experiences you had in your time with Vector/ Cutco?
- I had them every single day through creating impact as a manager.
Q: How did you end up transitioning from Arizona to Colorado?
- I had been working in the Tucson office for 3 years and through our management training I connected with the manager of the Denver office and I took a leap of faith and left school to help run the Denver Pilot office and I never looked back!
Q: What prompted you to start your own company in 2007?
- I had been thinking about starting something on my own for a while, and finally decided it was time.
- I helped host a convention of online marketers and learned a lot that I could teach to others.
Q: What have been some of the main challenges so far that you’ve overcome?
- Developing systems and procedures.
- At first I knew I needed to learn how to do everything so that I could eventually delegate things to others and since I had learned how to do it, documenting what and why I’m doing, and clearly communicated to people I hired to help, I knew things were getting done the same way I would do it.
- I’ve always been focused on the idea of strategic partnerships so I’ve never needed to worry about clients.
Q: Let’s talk about how someone begins their online presence. What advice would you have for a young entrepreneur who wants to start doing that?
- For me, I started a blog and I just started to write about things that were of interest to me. Eventually I started to get one or two comments so I decided to put a form on the side of the blog so people could subscribe to a newsletter.
- So then I would survey those people and ask them what they wanted me to write about so I would write more on those topics and eventually you can do all sorts of things to serve that audience.
- In short, just start sharing and an audience will grow out of that.
Q: Can you speak to how you interact with people on a day-to-day basis in ways that build greater relationships?
- One key is just being open with people and trusting people.
- Another key is being fully present when I’m with people.
- Look for opportunities to build relationships and you never know where those relationships can go.
Q: As you look ahead 5-10 years down the road, what are you most excited about?
- I’m excited to see where this journey is going to take me. Also, I’m in the process of writing another book.
FINAL THOUGHTS
- The idea of building our online presence is a very important tool in the future.
- The idea of just starting. Start by writing and putting some thoughts on paper or make short, authentic videos.
- Building relationships. Be open and present. Give without any expectation of value.
- Evolve your skills. Especially in communication and relationships.
- “I constantly face my fears so I have less fear.” Amber Vilhauer.
- NGNG- No Guts, No Glory.
SHOW RESOURCES
- ambervilhauer.com
CUTCO/VECTOR TERMS
- Pilot Office- The office run by the Division Manager.
- AMs- Assistant Manager
- District Manager- a Cutco/ Vector office/ manager that runs a year-round office full time.
- Division Manager- a Cutco/ Vector manager who runs a team of District and Branch Managers as well as their own “Pilot Office.”
Show Notes provided by Carlo Cipollina
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