Elizabeth Calzadilla is the owner of Business 411, a Miami-based company that’s developed an app specifically for roofers.

Before Calzadilla started her own business, she spent four years at iRoofing as a communications manager.

Becoming an entrepreneur is something Calzadilla has always craved. Her business acumen meshes will with the resiliency she exemplifies when pursuing sales.

Dmitry Lipinskiy and Roofing Insights recently paid a visit to Calzadilla’s home to talk with her about her past, present, and how she can help your business optimize its productivity.

While watching the video above, you’ll notice that Calzadilla has no trouble embracing the South Beach attitude. For the interview, she’s wearing pajamas, a decision she attributes to achieving a work/life balance.Calzadilla certainly deserves to kick back and relax a little bit. Business 411 is growing at a rapid rate. Her company is frequently adding new staff and constantly moving into more spacious office buildings.

As a relatively new owner, this quick growth has made Calzadilla think more about the future of her company.

"As a business owner, I would be lying if I said my overhead isn’t something I’m conscious of or that concerns me,"

she says, revealing that while her company is grossing seven-figures, she’s also racking up $25,000 per month in expenses.

According to Calzadilla, that amount of overhead is necessary if she wants to continue to scale and grow. So too are the constant upgrades in office space, something Lipinskiy and Roofing Insights have talked about a lot.

As a new business owner, it is imperative that you find an office space as quickly as possible. It adds a professional dimension to your business that cannot be found working from home. Having an office also allows you to hire more employees.

As mentioned, Calzadilla has hired more staff, but every day she’s learning more about how difficult it is to run a business. Fortunately for her, her education started before she registered for an LLC.

"I didn’t want to have employees before learning how to become a leader. One thing I’ve always done in my life is try to learn from successful coaches who talk about leadership,"

Calzadilla mentions, even though she jokingly admits that despite her fondness for coaches, she could not be less enthusiastic about sports in general.

One challenge Calzadilla has faced at this point in her career is motivating employees. She explains that each day she holds a company meeting at 9 A.M.

The problem?

She can never get her entire staff to arrive on time, and this bugs her.

"Even if you’re on time, you’re late,"

she says.

Know a way to motivate your employees to show up on time?

Leave a comment below!

The lack of punctuality has caused stress for Calzadilla because her ambitions reach far beyond the soft sand and golden horizons of Miami-Dade County. To get there, she needs people to buy into her vision for the future.

"I’ve had a lot of success with that [getting people to buy in],"

she admits, even though there have been moments that have left her questioning the dedication of some employees.

Later in the conversation, Lipinskiy asks Calzadilla what has been the hardest part of branching out on her own.

"I think for everyone it’s what you’re leaving behind,"

she mentions, reverting back to her time at iRoofing.

Calzadilla says she enjoyed her time with the company, but ultimately felt stifled because she wasn’t satisfying her desire for more.

"I started to grow resentful of my environment because I knew it wasn’t where I was supposed to be,"

she says in explaining how despite meeting all her sales quotas and bringing in tons of business for iRoofing, at the end of the day, she was still making someone else’s dreams come true.

"You can’t hate other people for not giving you what you want. You have to have the motivation to go get it for yourself,"

she adds, and that’s exactly what she did by founding Business 411.

Both Lipinskiy and Calzadilla recognize that it’s not easy to break past one’s own self-imposed barriers. It takes guts, determination, and a vision beyond the present reality.

A lot of people in sales face this reality every day.

To overcome this inhibitor, Calzadilla recommends you get comfortable with handling rejection.

"Someone can tell me I’m doing a horrible job. Someone can tell me my product sucks, and I’m just like `okay, well how are you doing today?’"

she says.

Calzadilla also adds that

"my product’s not going to be the right fit for everyone and everyone’s not the right fit for me."

She learned this early on from many successful businessmen, most notably Tony Robbins, a New York Times best-selling author who has amassed over 5 million followers on Instagram.

Now, Calzadilla is trying to empower others. Growing up, she didn’t have someone who believed in her, making her path to success all the more difficult.

This can be especially true for women working in male-dominated industries such as roofing.

Her advice for those women?

"Don’t get focused on the fact that you’re a woman. Focus on your skills as a person and focus on your value."

Following this response, Lipinskiy asks Calzadilla if sex sells.

Calzadilla nods and admits that it does, but she says what’s more important than beauty is charisma. She believes that people are much more likely to buy from someone if the salesman/woman brings a likeable personality and infectious energy to the table.

This is part of Calzadilla’s own sales psychology. She tries to not only be upbeat, but also relatable. She does this by quickly determining the motivations of a potential client. If she can understand that person’s vision for the future, she’s very likely to make that sale.

"Anything that I sell, I’m very vision oriented. If someone has a vision, I can sell to them,"

she says.

Do you like what Elizabeth Calzadilla has to say? Do you think she can help your company boost its sales?

Then leave a comment below or on the YouTube video up above.

Calzadilla will choose her favorite comment and personally fly to the lucky winner’s company. There she will go over all your automation processes and see where she can help optimize your business!

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