High Capacity Woman: Business Building with Barbara Littles

The Power of 'Helping Others' in Business with Zipporah Shropshire

April 06, 2021 Barbara M. Littles
High Capacity Woman: Business Building with Barbara Littles
The Power of 'Helping Others' in Business with Zipporah Shropshire
Show Notes Transcript

Show Notes:

  • Without  consistency you lose momentum
  • Working hard at building someone else’s dream, you need to work twice as hard building your own dream.
  • Set a schedule and stick to it when building your business
  • Find the time and be consistent
  • Team is helping others build legacy 
  • Building a team helps with consistency and accountability
  • Personal development is key; make sure you are working hard on yourself 
  • Don’t be so focused on harvesting that you forget to sow into others
  • Don’t walk over people, destroy relationships and burn bridges as you build your business and community
  • Develop relationships as you build business and community
  • Be a mentor to others’ reach back and pull people up



Website: www.zshropshire.info
Instagram: @queen_zipp
Personal Facebook: queenzipp
Business Facebook: Zipporah Shropshire LegalShield Independent Associate
Email: zshropshire@legalshieldassociate.com
Cell: 989.992.2163

Hello ladies and welcome to the high capacity woman podcast. And boy do I have a treat for you today all the way from the hills of West Virginia. I'm going into Michigan in the flatlands, and I'm going to visit one of my friends of course, Shropshire. Now, ladies, you definitely want to get your notepad from the very beginning. Go ahead and get your coffee, your latte and your tea. And I want you to take notes because this woman is a high capacity woman. Now when you talk about entrepreneurship and business, she is a serial entrepreneur, before I knew how to turn on the iPad, yes, I said that before I knew how to set up accounts before I knew how to set up Facebook. She was there. And so you know a lot of the things that she does is behind the scenes, but boy has she built business and if anyone knows about business, it's Miss zip. And so this morning, I want you to sit back and listen. Get ready, because we're going to talk to Zipporah Shropshire.

Hi Zip, how are you? Good. How are you doing Barbara Littles?

Good. we affectionately call her Zip just for the rest of us so that you know that we know each other now.

Oh, wow, that's been a good Wow, over 10 years or so I would think a bit longer.

It's been a long it's been over 10 years. And times gone by so fast.

Exactly.

But you know, it's so funny is that because I remember when I met you, especially in the business space. I remember ladies, I didn't know how to turn on my iPad, I had just bought the iPad, didn't know how to set it up, didn't know my passwords. This is a true story. And I took a desert one night because she you know, she does media a number of other things that you're going to hear about. And I just turned the iPad over to her. She set everything up for me, I'm telling you, you have to know people in high places, you have to have friends that have skill set. Okay. So I'm, I am so excited to be talking to you to today's tip about business. Because when I first met you, I knew you in the media space. Right? Yes. Tell us what do you do in the media space in the publishing space? What do you do in that space?

In the media space, I wear a couple of different hats. I am the director of our multimedia department at my church and second, our victorious believers ministries. So I'm running sound, anything to do with screens. So anything to do with multimedia cameras, where, you know, running that and looking at that live. So those are the things I do in that area. But then also the other hat that I wear in the media realm is that I do desktop publishing, so I do graphics and designs and things of that nature. So just to wearing a facet of different hats. Absolutely.

So ladies, I want to tell you, you you have to have you know, I'm always talking about having the right circle of people, the right people around you. Um, and there are some people that I always say make your baby leap zip is one of those people for me, because she is such a business person. She She really is. She's fun. She's funny, but she is such a business person. And I'm telling you when I could barely get myself together. She was getting me together in business and from graphic standpoint, from a sound standpoint when I did my conference and everything else in between. But today, I want to talk to you use it and have you talked to the ladies about business. And let's talk about how you first of all even got started in business, the type of businesses you're doing now and how you even got started in business.

Well, the type of business I'm doing at the moment, as you mentioned, weren't couple of different hats but my concentration as well as on business call legal shill. I am an independent associate legal shield. And I've been with them since 2004. And the funniest thing how I got started with that is from my former pastor, the late Bishop Marvin c prior, introduced it to myself and several other in our congregation at my church and at the time I was actually looking for something. I was laid off from my full time job. I had a son that was in high school getting ready to head to college, and I say hey, I need something to Create some extra income. And so when I saw the information, we drove down from Saginaw, to the charter download bus. And I said, Man, that membership just makes sense, if something that I know that I need it, but then a business opportunity, I say, Lord, this is an asset to prayer, that this is something that I feel that I can actually get off into, and do well with. So I actually borrowed the money from my landlord without him knowing, because I actually took my rent money and got started, you know, that night with the business opportunity. So, and it was, you know, we took off running from there, you know, had little dips and dives there. But you know, we took off running from there and haven't looked back sets.

And here you are in 2021. And you are still building your Legal Shield business?

Yes, absolutely.

And, you know, ladies, I can tell you that as an attorney, of course, that I know the expense of legal services. I know the expensive legal services. And I also know that they're legal services and things that people don't think about it until they need them. Okay. And that's even in your business. And so I know that the legal shield plan that covers, you know, your personal, you know, personal protects you. But the other thing is, you have also a plan that covers business, is that right? Zip.

Yes. And that's one of the areas that I specialize in. Because we do have different divisions within legal shield that, you know, we've covered truck drivers, you know, we cover gun owners, as you already mentioned, individuals, but I do specialize in that small bid, small business and employee benefit division of our company that we do help protect small businesses.

So ladies, I want you to really take the information down today, we're going to give you information, as you know, at the end of the podcast, but I want you to get in touch with her because what I'm finding a lot zipping small businesses is that people have products, you know, whatever they're doing, whether they're baking, whether they're making things, they have products, but they have not taken time to put the business structure around it. And they have not taken time to consider the legal issues. They're contracting, even issues in terms of what if something happens to me? What happens to my my business? And so a lot of people business owners don't even have wills? Yes. And I know, that's something that is covered by Legal Shield.

Correct? So go ahead. No, no, I'll just say that's one of the things I always tell individuals, you know, when I'm talking with them, that you know, even in your personal life, all it takes is one financial situation, one financial catastrophe that devastates everything, you know, your business, you know, your personal things of that nature. So you need to have those things in place. I definitely agree with you 100% on that.

And so, you know, of course, my you know, my passion for any business owners is to properly structure their business. That's my passion, you know, I work with people strategically in their business, but the first thing I start out with is the legal context of what they are doing in their business. And when I, you know, go that people will actually amazed at the things that they actually need, that they didn't know they needed. Mm hmm. Okay, so as we talk about this business, today, I want you all to make sure that I'm just gonna give you some more information on it, but I want to make sure that you all know that it doesn't cost you, you know, $5,000, if you go out to the attorney, and you try to get your structuring done, or look at contracts, or even and God forbid, if you have them to draft a contract, you know, it's gonna cost you several $1,000. And take it from me, I know, I charged people 7000, several $1,000. So you know, I know. So I know a great opportunity when I see one. And the other reason why I want to talk to them about this today is because there are some of you that are listening, your high capacity, one women, and you are looking for an opportunity. So at the end of this call, I'm going to have her you know, to share her information, so that you might look at this as a legal opportunity, opportunity for you to actually do business. A lot of people start this business right on the side. And they actually do it as a full time business.

Correct? Yep, make it a career. And that's what I've chosen to do. Making it a career as well. One of the things that I have solid minded about you over the years as I watched you in business, is your consistency. I want you to talk to the ladies today about the importance of consistency in their business.

I think consistency is just very important, something you need, whether it's a startup business, whether it's a home based business, whether it's traditional business, consistency is just something that we need because without consistency, you kind of lose your momentum. And that's kind of what happened with me when I first got started. And the ahbs excited when I first got started, about, I took about six months, that I didn't do anything, or just Dibble and dabble in it. And then I said, I can't build anything, then not not having that consistency with it. And as you're working hard, or building someone else's drinks, I think I went to a train and things of that nature. And I heard you working hard or building someone else's dream. And so why you doing that you need to be working twice as hard building your own dream. So knowing that I wanted to, you know, leave a legacy for my family, I want to have something that I can call my own, I say, Hey, I got to be consistent with this. Because once you lose that, once you get that momentum, and you lose it, it's hard to get it back. So within that, if you stay consistency, and do it, if it's no more than I'm going to build my business, when I get off from six to seven, then be consistent with that six to seven, if it's one day a week, if it's two times a week, whatever it is, whatever you set together with your schedule, you just need to be consistent with that. So you have that momentum going. And then you have something that you can say, Hey, I can look at my calendar. And I know, hey, from six to seven on Mondays, this is what I'm doing, I'm building my business, so don't bother me, don't disturb me, you know, you get the buy in, of course, those in your household, if you have a spouse or partner, things of that nature, you know, your children, you know, you get that buy in, but then they know, hey, you can't buy the mall right now she's building her business. So consistency is important. That was something I had to learn. And I learned that the hard way,

You know, I love that. And one of the things that is so critical, I think about and that I wanted to do with this podcast, is to really give women the real deal on business, that you you do have those places where you have dips, and you do have those places where you learn lessons, and I want you ladies to be able to learn some of the lessons that you know, some of us may have learned the hard way that you don't necessarily have learned the hard way, you know, if you here and we tell you, okay, don't go down that path. So this consistency is really important. You have been so consistent over the years, your business. The other thing that I love, though, that you're saying is, it's not an issue of you having 100 hours a week, you work your business in whatever time you got to do it just be consistent about it.

Just get started.

Yes. What did you think was some of the hardest struggles that you've had when you first started your business?

Finding that balance, you know, finding a balance between being a single mom, you know, working in ministry, you know, trying to build a business, you know, going to school, things of that nature. So just finding that balance of being able to, you know, we've that time and, and so I can be consistent with it?

What did you learn in that process?

That I had to set a schedule and stick to that schedule that I actually had to sit down, look at my schedule and figure out car about time to build that business. Like I say, if it's making phone calls while I'm driving, if it's on lunch on my lunch break, you know, making a few phone calls, I'm talking to someone, I just had to find that time and be consistent with it and stick to it.

I love that. Because you really taught me about looking at the time that you do have because we all have, we all have 24 hours in a day, 168 hours in a week, ladies, it's about what you decide to do what your 168 hours in a week. And yeah, and we get to decide that we get decided, what is the thing that you enjoy the most about business?

I think What I enjoy most is being able to help others, you know, and what we do is that we're helping so many others with the services that we cover, what legal show rather, is individuals, you know, rather it's businesses but then able to help someone going to bed at night knowing that I have helped cover a family I help covered a business and that just gives me joy knowing that I have helped someone throughout my day that I can you know, feel better as I always say, you know, helping someone as I'm making a making a difference as I'm making a living

Making a difference as I'm making a living. Oh, I love that. That is absolutely phenomenal. Because really zip as we look at business, it really is about solving a problem and helping other people. You know, what problem are you solving and who are you helping? Yes. And and so that is absolutely critical. Do you have any things that come to mind or any particular people stories that come to mind when you think about how this business that you have how it's impacted other people's lives.

Man, I mean, I have stories that the stories that we can share, but I mean, it's just been a blessing to know that we've helped people with identity theft issues, people that have, you know, realized that got homes and their names cars in their names critic in their names, and being able to give them a service that has been able to help them get those situations, you know, taking care of, you know, and even as I think about, as I mentioned, my son earlier, when he was away, you know, in school, got into a rich racial situation, and there he was, you know, facing a felony, and just knowing that legal shield helped him, you know, be able to get that situation cleared out without having a felony, you know, on his record, which is, you know, hard for a young black male growing up and having a felony on his record. So knowing that he knows, you know, wasn't, you know, was able to get out of that situation without having a felony, you know, on his on his record, but there's just so many sores, but I always tell people legal show, it's not always for bad things. This happened in your life, I served as a life events plan. So good things that happened in your life, you know, if you're getting ready to purchase a home, you know, as you advance in life, you know, if you get it ready to purchase a new vehicle, you know, so as we were adding more things to our life, and as we do more things, you want to have the vise of attorney, because those contracts and documents that we're signing, is written for the interests of that creditor or that person that you're doing this as well. So I wanted to make sure that someone has my best interests at heart before I sign on the dotted line. So just being able to know that our services is covering so many things. And not only that, just having a will in place, having that medical directive in place. I mean, 2020 has really dealt us so many blows, I mean, so many people that have lost their lives and things of that nature. So you know, having that will in place, Sam, what do you want to have done? You know, when, when you're taking your last breath, I mean, we know that, you know, everyone is gonna leave this earth on one day. So we want to make sure that our wishes are carried out with the having it written down what we're gonna do. And as I mentioned it, it brings to mind another story that I thought about where a young lady lost her life in a car accident, her mom was raising her the data wasn't in her life at all as she was growing up. And because it was a wrongful death suit, she ended up getting millions in that lawsuit. And so of course, once the dad heard about that, he was able to come and say, hey, I want half of that. And because he was the father, he was able to get half of that estate never been in the girl's life, but because she didn't have a wheel. And I always tell people, a lot of people think, Well, hey, my child, you know, on 18, they don't need a wheel when they're 18. They're an adult. So they need a wheel. So because there was no wheel in place, because she was a young adult, I think she was in her early 20s, he won half of that state in airtime. I think that that story really bring tears to my eyes knowing that that single mothers struggle, and then to just have that lose millions of dollars to someone that was never in the child's life, I just felt was wrong. And we all say, hey, the laws legal, not logical at time.

That's exactly right. And but it reminds us of how much power we have, not only in our businesses, but over our lives. Yes, if we take the time to really, really think about that. And so, you know, I tell people every day as you're, as you're building business, to think about what is the problem I solve? Who do I solve the problem for? You know, where is that gap? And, you know, truly in 2020, there was a huge gap because there were so many things happening so quickly in terms of us losing people in terms of legalities, they were places where things closed down because I got a lot of those calls in 2020. And so it's like, you know, things that we don't want to think about sometimes. But then like you said, there are things that that are exciting to us like we're getting married and and you know, we're buying our child home or we're buying somebody else's home or or things that happen that are really good in our life that we need to make sure that we read the the details because the devil is always in the details. Okay. So you need somebody else to read that. Now I know that one of the things that is really critical to a building of a business this type of business you have zip is the ability to build team And I think team and community is important in any kind of business, no matter what kind of business you have, can you speak to the importance of team and the importance of community and building a business because entrepreneurship can be very lonely?

Right, right. I think, you know, building a team and, and with Legal Shield, you have the option to do either or you can work legal show without building a team, or you can work Legal Shield with building a team and I choose to build a team. Because again, I like helping others, there's so many other people that are needed extra income, so many people that are that we need to reach to get to the get this services to, but I think our team is just so important. And the main thing is back, cause I'm helping so many others, to also build something that they can call their own to also be able to leave a legacy, you know, for a family to be able to, you know, pay off some bills, instead of paying on some bills, you know, you so many people have, you know, these big ideas where, you know, I don't need hundreds of 1000s of dollars, you know, I don't need that much extra, but with some people $500 extra month, saves them from being put out, saves them from their home, going into bankruptcy, save them from their car being repossessed. So being able to have that extra income coming in, I would say add it on top of what you're doing, you don't have to give up what you're doing, but added on to what you're doing. makes a big difference. But I think you know, having that team and been able to help someone else that you're helping and running wealth and building wealth. And and having some workout partners as you as you build an A team, I think just makes a big difference in and and what you do, because it helps not only with your consistency, but it also helps you to be someone that you can be accountable to because as being a leader, you want to make sure that you're being accountable and doing the things that you're asking your team to do. So then it also keeps you doing the things that you need to do as well.

Wow. And you mentioned that word accountability, which I think is absolutely critical in life, but it certainly in any type of business, you know, to be accountable, not to not only to yourself, but to be accountable to your team. Can you talk about the even in the process of building business, how your community of people has grown over the years in terms of even relationships and friendships,

You become like a family, you know, you start out as you know, as friends or acquaintance, but you you quickly become family. And well before COVID we used to say if you don't know the color of your team members copy, then you're not doing something right. But you know, you, you, you you strongly, you know, you become this family, you become this community. And so like we have our conventions and conferences and meaning that's like a big family reunion, because you'll be so glad to genuinely see everyone, you know, not only that you have other people in different areas that you can reach out to for help, you know, that you can reach out to for, you know, training you can reach out to for vetting, but you just become this, this community is all about becoming a family. And once you have that family, you know, it makes it hard to leave someone because as we were talking about consistency earlier, you know, and I'm not saying that, you know, no one ever drops out or no one ever gives up. But it makes it harder to do that. Because you don't want to let the next person down. So once you have that family type of atmosphere, if you're building it correctly, that's what you build into you build into a family, then you have someone that again, that you know that you you don't want to let that person down. So you're not only building towards your dreams and goals, but you're, you know, have someone that hold you accountable to that.

And you know, I think that is so important because there are a lot of people who a lot of times we talk about what we don't have and what we didn't have. And so some people didn't have a lot of opportunity. And so, you know, we're going to talk you know, as in the end, as she tells you how you can get in touch with her about the fact that for business to do small business for some businesses, there's a huge amount of capital involved a huge lot of startup capital. There's not a huge lot. There's not a large capital investment in this particular business. But if you work the business, and you do well in the business, you can make good money in the business like you said, for some people just may be traveling. Yes, no, I want to be exposed to to some other things. So ladies, I want you to you know as we're thinking about this, I want to open Your idea and your mind different types of businesses that we could be doing. Network Marketing is a very popular business, I can say this, that I know for the net, the the marketing plan of legalshield, that it is a great marketing plan in terms of you being able to get compensated for the work that the team and the and the business that you're building, but I want you to get to refresh your coffee latte and your tea, because when we come back, we are going to take notes from zipporah Shropshire on being a high capacity businesswoman.

So tell us, what if you were to if we have callers or people on the line who are listening in and whether they're seasoned business owners, or whether they are newly starting out? What would you tell them about business? What would you want them to know about business?

Things I want them to know is, first of all have those essential things in place, as we've mentioned, you know, having a lawyer in place, have a finance person and place, having a business mentor in place, you know, um, you know, treat it like a job, you know, until it starts to pay you like a business. Hmm. You know, and that's one thing I think is key, because when we look at our jobs, you know, we give off of nine to five of what those hours are eight to 10 hours a day. And as I mentioned earlier, you know, you're building someone else's dream, so give that same energy to building your business. You know, another thing I think is key is to, you can't share your vision with everyone, you know, so you have to be careful with those that you share your your vision with those that you want to know what your goals are your dreams were because there are some dream stealers out there. You know, those dream killers, they want to say, Well, what are you doing that for, you know, you think you really can do that. Those are the people that you have to shut out, you know, you have to, you know, get rid of those people that's pecking away, you know, and I think it was one of one of my mentors, you saw, we say, it's only a couple of crazy people in the world. And they just follow you wherever you go when you're succeeding. Because they're always, you know, Chapter bits in your ear telling you what you can't do, or I don't think you can do that. So you got to shut those people out. You know, sometime as you as you're starting business, you got to give the gift goodbye to people you not say that all the time, you have to give that gift for goodbye. A lot of times, it may be friends, it may be family, and not saying that, hey, you're that you're better than them or that you can never talk to now. But you just may have to limit the time that you're spending with them. Because they're not helping you build your dream or helping deposit positive things into your giving you constructive criticism, then you don't have time for that. So as you build your business, just make sure you have those key things in place. I think it says essential. And one thing that I'm big on is personal development, working harder on yourself, you know, so you can become a better leader so you can become a better business owner, you know that you're working harder on building that business. I think personal development is just such a key part with anyone in business. Anyone is in network marketing. So that's one of the biggest things is is making sure that you're working hard on yourself as well.

Wow, those are some golden nuggets. Ladies, I'm gonna tell you working hard on yourself. Because sometimes we work hard on the business. And really, if you want to grow your business, you have to grow yourself, your business is not going to grow unless you grow yourself. And I love that that because I think that I mean, you gave some really good key points, a couple of things that we hadn't touched on. But I think people are absolutely essential surrounding yourself with like minded people. Yes. Yeah. Because if you get people who, you know, they haven't experienced what you're trying to do. And sometimes they're not always saying it maliciously, right? They just don't know any better because they've never done it.

Right. You know, some some people just don't want that some people are content with where they are and that's fine. You know, you can be content but if I see that I want to do better. Who are you to say well, no, you need to stay here with me. And no, I want to do better. That way I can reach back and help those and pull them along that want to do better as well. So you know, everyone is not going to strive to reach the top You know, there's gonna be some people that just want to be mediocre, and that's fine, I'm okay with that. But don't kill my dream, if I desire that want to be more, you know, I was listening to TD Jakes this morning, and he was speaking about your better. He was talking about, you know, describing your better, you know, what is your better, and that you must sow into your better. And without SORNA to your better, if you're not sowing into your better, then there's no harvest. Wow. So when the rain comes, because you don't have enough seeds in the ground, you're not going to yield the harvest. So yeah, to make sure that you know, you're away from the distractions, that you know that you're making sure that you are doing the things that you need to do that you're staying consistent, you know, that you're standing on top of the things that you need to do, that you've making sure you got, you know, that you're being persistent and not giving up. And then one other things that he talked about, don't be so focused on harvesting, that you forget the soul, you know, sometime we get to a place in our business where we may, you know, become stagnant, or we may feel, hey, I've reached the top, any little thing, one little issue can have that kingdom come tumbling down. So don't get so busy with reaping that harvest that should not continue and so on. And with that I took it as you know, not only sign it to my business, but sorne it to others, helping others being a mentor to others reaching back to others, helping them grow, I know I can speak to how you have been a blessing to me in my life has been that mentor and being that coach, you know, when I needed to then or when I need to run some ideas by you, you got to have someone in place that you're able to do that with. So as you're you're growing and reaching the top, you got to be able to reach back to others because he was speaking about how many how how it takes muscles to, you know, reach to the top as we're striving to the top, it takes a lot of muscle, it takes a lot of strength takes a lot of effort. But as you come down, it takes no effort, all you have to do is let God wherever you at all you have to do is let go, and you there at the bottom and you're gonna see some of those same people. And that's one one thing too that I think is key as you're building and as you're developing your business. And as you're growing your business, don't walk over people or destroy relationships and burn bridges, because you don't know when you want to see those people. Because if you eventually let go, you're gonna bypass those people again, you know, so you want to make sure that as you build in a community, as you build in your circle, that you want to make sure you develop relationships. I'm not saying that all your relationships are going to flourish into something beer where we buddy, buddy, we talk every day, but just making sure that you keep it cordial that if I need to come to you and ask you for help, or if I need to come to you say, Hey, you know, do you mind if I shadow with you that I will have that relationship that door opportunity is there.

That is absolutely key that is so good that because relationships are absolutely key if we talk about sales, and all the things, other things, that things the common denominator is coming up our relationships. So she has given us some goal here today. Ladies, I want you to take this podcast and I want you to go back. And I want you really to listen again and again. And again. The transcript again is available on the page where the podcast is in the show notes, we will have how you can get in touch with zip, she's going to tell us now how you can do that. But it also will be recorded in the show notes. And I want to make sure that as you start your business out and as you structure that you get your personal affairs in order not only your personal affairs, but your business affairs as you start a business. You know I tell people you can have a hustle you can have a business and we're telling you today how to have a business then I want to thank you for being with us so much. Tell the ladies how they can get in touch with you or how they can get information if they decided that they want to build a business in Legal Shield or if they want to get Legal Shield services.

Yes absolutely. First

Of all, let me say thank you for having me on. It was such a privilege and honor to be here with you on today. But you can find me on all social media platforms as Queen zip qu E and z IP that's on Instagram that's on Facebook. Also on Facebook my business pages support swap shy your independent associate at legal she'll and that z as in zebra i p p as in Paul r h and last name is sh r o p is in pa s h i r e and my website is Z is in zebra swap Shire sh r o p s h i r e dot info i n f Oh. And also I can be reached directly at 989-992-2163 again as 989992 to 163.

Wow there thank you so much. We will have all of that information if you didn't get it we will have it all in the show notes. So you can just go into the show notes, get her information. And ladies, please please please do not allow these resources to come to you. And you not take advantage of the resources. One of the things that we do not want to do as high capacity women is have regrets. So zip I want to thank you again for being with us. I want to thank you for building and growing as a high capacity woman and coming to talk to our ladies and our audience today.

Thank you. Thank you for having me. Thank you so much man, such a great mentor and coach and my life. I truly appreciate you and love you.

Thank you so much.

She leaves. She's terrified. She's strong, unforgettable. She knows what she's about and she's building from the inside out. She's a high capacity woman.