Wanna know how to turn a disaster into a major success?
Well, today I’m joined by Patrice English, the owner of The Informed Consultant. And she’s going to share how she went from losing her job and doubting herself to last year making over half a million dollars at credit repair and changing thousands of lives!
Despite launching her business during a pandemic and losing her job, Patrice has grown a very successful business and a huge online presence, all because of credit repair.
She’s here today to share her secrets to building a business from scratch, mastering social media marketing, and excelling in the credit repair industry.
So, please welcome Patrice English!
Here are some of the top highlights from our conversion. Watch the full interview here.
What was your life like before credit repair?
I actually came from the hospitality industry. I worked for a lot of different IHG brands. I worked in housekeeping, I worked front desk, and I thought that I was going to spend the rest of my days in the hotel industry and retire as maybe a general manager or director of operations.
I knew I had to take the leap of faith. So, in 2018, I decided to open my own boutique. And I ended up using my personal credit to fund the entire business. That plummeted, it fell to the ground and crashed and burned.
And it led me to have to repair my own credit. Once I began to repair my own credit, I saw the need for people to really be able to grasp hold of their finances through good credit. So, that began to push me towards that ministry. And there was more of a calling through that experience.
How did you find your first client?
So, when I started the CRC training, there were some pointers that you gave us. And one of those pointers was if you don't have an audience, the easiest way to do business is to offer your services free. And so you know, everybody knows me from working in the hotel industry. Nobody knew me for credit repair or anything like that. So I said, You know what, I'm gonna just try this. I'm just going to take what Daniel said. I'm just going to throw it out there. And I'm going to see exactly how this happens.
So, I made a post on Facebook. And that post actually said, if you are interested in getting your credit repaired, I need 10 people to volunteer to get their credit repair free. Well, lo and behold, I ended up with 25 free clients instead of 10. In the post, it pretty much went crazy; people were interested all over the place. So I took those 25 clients. And the key point of us offering that service free was within those next 30 to 45 days, you're going to start to have results. And those results are going to be the lead generation that you need to start pulling other people in. So, by the time my first set and my first round of this were out and back in, the results were in, and they were phenomenal.
How are you getting your clients today?
The current clients that we have were organically generated. And it all started with just a simple gesture of coming, stepping outside of the box, and filming myself, giving great information that I had learned from the CRC system, what I had learned from the results, and what I had learned from customer experience. I was able to get the interest of hundreds of 1000s of people. There was a post that was specific inside of the CRC group. One of the members has suggested that you should record at least 100 videos a month. And I was like, I can't record myself. I'm not going to record myself. But as crazy as it was. I took the plunge, I took the leap, and I tried it.
Well, I posted some of the information on my story. And Facebook was like, Hey, would you like to turn this into a reel? And lo and behold, about two days later, I woke up with over 10,000 followers from my first post. And it has been nonstop from there. Actually, our highest video reached about 4.8 million people. So, the wheels begin to turn. And it just lets me know how much people really need what we have. Which is probably why I went through that season of pushing, why I went through that season of breaking after losing my job, and through depression. Because when you are called to a large list of necessities, when you become the solution for something, there's always going to be a trial before that. So I learned the hard way. But it all paid off in the end.
What are your secrets to building a credit repair brand from scratch?
So building a credit repair brand from scratch is totally different from building the business from scratch; building your brand, is going to require you to hone in on something, a trait that you carry, that you can stamp into people's lives, that they remember on a daily basis. Getting into the financial industry, which is what credit repair is a part of, does require a level of professionalism. However, I'm not that normal professional girl. Okay, I am from the inner city, I'm a country girl. So, finding people that I can be comfortable around allows me to express my best traits, which is why you have to focus on your target audience.
Building a brand is going to require you to know the people that you're speaking to, and build a place where you can be comfortable pushing your product in; you don't want to get in an arena that is making you uncomfortable or where you have to be somebody else. Any person that has really built a brand from scratch has been able to tap into their gifts, their great aspects, their great characteristics, and they've been able to comfortably bring that to the table, and demolish it. So that is the key to building a great brand.
What do you think is the most important thing a credit repair specialist should have to expand their business?
Automation and delegation. That was actually one of my biggest mistakes. If I can give that as a nugget or secret, one of my biggest mistakes was not delegating soon enough. And the reason why I did not delegate soon enough is that although I worked months and months on my back office, there were some times I slept that I should have been pushing, and I wasn't pushing. And when things were not aligned correctly, I had no SOPs, meaning standard operating procedures. So I couldn't bring anyone to take the load off of me. So I was wearing all the hats. I was the customer service, the marketer, the payroll, and everything. I was everything and everywhere.
So once I mastered the automation, I was able to then duplicate my processes and find people who genuinely wanted to help me.
Listen, delegate. You cannot wear all the hats, you're going to lose your passion. You're going to drain yourself out. And when you are sharing this type of vital and valuable information, people are going to be pulling on you left and right. And you don't want to lose your footing, you don't want to lose your balance. And so, in order to stay grounded, you got to make sure that you have a support system of your own.
Let's talk about some credit secrets of all the credit repair strategies that you've learned. Which one do you think was the biggest game changer?
The biggest game changer is moving from a place of validation and moving to a place of factual disputing. Don't allow people to just do anything to you. You know, sometimes my people feel for the lack of knowledge, right? You may have used those funds and you just fell in a bad place. Well, arguing back and forth, whether that's your account or not, it's not going to get you to a place where you can remove those things from your credit. But if you use the laws that support accountability, then you're able to fight fire with fire. So one of the biggest secrets is FCRA, six to three, that thing is major. And it's powerful when it comes to the continuous reporting of negative or gets to use continuous reporting of improper, inappropriate, outdated or unsure things on your credit report.
What's one piece of advice that you'd give someone who wants to start their own credit repair business?
First of all, do it. And make sure whatever you do, do it with Daniel Rosen. That's first and foremost. But if you want to start your own credit repair business, make sure it's for the right reason. This is not a skill of training and technical knowledge. This is a success that comes from compassion. And it comes from an inner desire to really see people win. So, just make sure your motives are right. That is the major key, make sure you're going into this with the understanding that you really have people's lives in their finances in your head.
Want even more of Patrice’s amazing advice? Check out the full interview on YouTube.
HERE'S MY FINAL POINT…
The battle to stay informed and on top of your credit information is constant. Knowing how to use a credit freeze to protect your credit score and when it won’t help is critical to your financial health!
I'LL END BY SAYING
If you still need a Credit Repair Cloud account, check it out. It's the software that most Credit Repair businesses in America run on. Sign up here for a Free Trial!
And if you'd like to change lives and grow your Credit Repair business, check out our Credit Hero Challenge!
It's an amazing program, and we've got another challenge starting in a few days, so grab your spot right now at CreditHeroChallenge.com!
So take care, Credit Hero!
And Keep Changing Lives!