Coach, podcaster, and mastermind group leader Whitney Danielle is talking to Leo about her unexpected journey into entrepreneurship. They discuss why mindset matters, and the process of discovering what brings you joy.
Receive a journaling prompt every Friday morning: leoyockey.com
Whitney: whitneydanielle.com; instagram.com/whitneydanielleco_; twitter.com/@Whitneydc_
Leo: instagram.com/leoyockey; twitter.com/leovolving; tiktok.com/@leoyockey
By: Leo Yockey
Coach, podcaster, and mastermind group leader Whitney Danielle is talking to Leo about her unexpected journey into entrepreneurship. They discuss why mindset matters, and the process of discovering what brings you joy.
Receive a journaling prompt every Friday morning: leoyockey.com
Whitney: whitneydanielle.com; instagram.com/whitneydanielleco_; twitter.com/@Whitneydc_
Leo: instagram.com/leoyockey; twitter.com/leovolving; tiktok.com/@leoyockey
By: Leo Yockey
Okay, we're here. We're rolling. We're using the right microphone. Finally, I think we're good to go. So hey, what's up? Welcome. This is the first episode ever of the Leo Yockey show. And I am your host, Leo Yockey. Thank you so much for being here, y'all. I haven't been this excited about a creative project and a long time. Actually, I don't know if I've ever been this excited about a creative project seriously, like, I'm so excited about this. And part of it is because I know, I know that these are conversations that need to be heard, they need to be had, and they need to be shared, the world is changing, and fucking no one's talking about it, and it's driving me. I can't handle it anymore. We need to talk about the way that the world is changing. So thank you to everybody. Also, who responded to my journaling prompt, it's really cool to see what everybody's getting out of it, it's really cool to learn a little bit from everybody's insights, it's honestly some people's perspectives are helping me learn a thing or two about myself too. So just keep on sending them in, I appreciate it. My thing that's been stressing me out has been social media, honestly, starting my online business, I felt like social media was going to be a pivotal part in growing it, especially because my target audience for this podcast is millennials. But I don't like social media, I really don't I've gone years long stretches without using it. And every time I come back, it's always a bit begrudgingly. So the idea of committing to a business model that required social media has been pretty stressful. Thinking about what would happen if in five years from now, no one's using Instagram, and it's like Instagram never happened. Instagram goes the way that my space did, I would be really annoyed if I spent a whole ton of time pouring myself into getting good at it. Because I don't even like it. I don't even care about it. So all that time, especially early in the business, when time is of the essence. I feel like that time is better spent just figuring out other ways to to build my online business. And so that's exactly what I'm doing. And I feel really good about that decision. Because there are other parts of my business like this podcast itself, if podcasting disappeared in five years, that'd be okay, I would still be glad that I did this, I'm still glad that I use the current medium of the time to get the message out that I want to have out. So I don't know if that difference kind of makes sense. If this doesn't make any sense to you at all, if you have no idea what I'm talking about, then you probably are not getting my journaling, prompt emails, we can fix that up really quick. So every Friday, I send out a really quick little journaling prompt that goes along with a book quote, and it's just if you're looking for ways to kind of add to your personal development, this is a really good thing to like work into your routine, you know, spend some time on the weekend, having a little bit of reflection time, do some journaling. If you don't know what you want to journal about. I'm providing some prompts. And you know, always give a little update about what I caught out of it every Tuesday every for every podcast episode. So if you want to get signed up, just head to my website. That's Leo yockey.com leyockey.com. We will get you all signed up. We'll get you on the email for this Friday and every Friday moving forward until one of us decides that we don't want to do this anymore. Either you unsubscribe or I stopped making them. We'll see what happens first. So my first guest is a friend of mine that I know through my girlfriend APA. Her name is Whitney. She's a coach. She's a podcaster she has a great podcast actually called network and spill. I really liked the guests that she gets. She is a great networker, so many Whitney meets incredible people and has them on her show all the time. Yeah, I've learned a lot of really interesting things from these business owners, so highly recommend checking that out. I do have a link in the show notes to make it easy for you. She's also a mastermind group leader and we talk about the importance of being in the right mindset when you want to change careers especially if you're starting a new business or honest If you're doing anything that just wasn't even possible for your parents and the generation before, so it's a great conversation, we're going to talk a little bit about how to even figure out what it is that you want. So if you found from that journaling prompts that maybe you don't like what you're doing currently, that's fine. We'll we'll start figuring out together what it is that you're going to do instead. In the meantime, here's Whitney. Okay. Hey, Whitney, how's it going? Not bad. How are you? I'm good. I'm good. Yes. The first inaugural episode. Getting things going on a high note, I feel. Yes. Yes. I'm so honored. I am to is really fun. It's like, it almost feels like a full circle thing. Because a lot about this podcasts are the inspiration for this podcast, kinda was born out of the pandemic. And the last overnight trip I took before the pandemic started was when we went to Palm Springs with you. Yes, yes, that was honestly one of my best birthdays. And one of the best trips I've taken in a while and I was so sad that I couldn't match that trip this year. For my birthday in January, but we'll do like a half birthday or something. Well, we're gonna do something, especially since you guys just had your birthdays. I'm excited to go back to Palm Springs. It's like my happy place. Absolutely. It's gonna be a lot of fun. You know, I've lived in Southern California my whole life and I'd never been to Palm Springs before. Yeah, there's so much stuff I've never done out here. I'm the worst Southern California never. I've never been to Vegas. Okay, well, I lived there for five years. What? Yeah, it's, it's, I mean, I came back. So like, it's not back. Right. But like, it was fine. It's on my list. I feel like it's one of those places where you go and it's, you know, it's it's better to go for like an event of some sort or to see like a very specific show. But I have never been for any reason. So I'm excited to go for something. Yeah, good to go for an event. Good to not stay for more than like three days because you can only you know, shop gamble and drink for so long before it gets boring even in a fun, exciting environment like that. Yeah, times. Anyway, that's not what we came here to talk about. We're also not here to talk about Star Wars. Another thing I didn't tell you, this is coming out on May the fourth. So if you care about that, I'm actually not a Star Wars fan at all. Now date is purely a coincidence. I love it, though. I do. It's not for me, but I appreciate it. It's cool. They have some cool stuff at Disneyland. I'm into Star Wars attractions, or in the movie franchise. I can dig it. I just love the the pun of it. All right, right. I just think it's clever. f&i on our way back from Palm Springs, we were we were talking a little bit about like, Whitney is a hustler. Like Whitney is ambitious. Like we were both just kind of starting out on our own little journeys of trying to like branch out on our own for the first time. I thought it was really interesting when I saw that you actually help people starting out their business, like professionally. So like, if you were meeting someone at a bar, or whatever, it's just out and about in public. And they ask what you do. How would you answer that question? I always say I do a few things. That's That's like my go to response. Like the first thing I say is, well, I do a few things. I have a podcast show, right? That's one of my favorite things that I do. And I put out episodes as often as I can call networking still. And then the other part of what I do is, is coaching and speaking. And that looks like working with typically newer entrepreneurs, solopreneurs people who are kind of starting out on their own, who are working a full time job who have a nine to five, some kind of a corporate gig, or maybe they're just doing some sort of consulting already. And they're trying to add on to that to create more freedom for themselves, whether that's financial freedom, time, freedom, travel, freedom, whatever kind of freedom and they want to show up, and they want to succeed in that. That's essentially what I tell people and I if I were to say it succinctly like I do on clubhouse it's, I'm an accountability and success mindset coach. So I focused specifically on the implementation side of the goal setting and goal planning process, where we actually hold you accountable to what it is that you say that you want to do, and both your personal life and your professional life. And we also work a lot on mindset because I struggled with both of these things in my business for years. And that's one of the main reasons why I do it as a as a kind of like a job, you know, now. That's awesome. So you said you said the word mindset a few times and my mind actually might have I just went to a tweet that I saw a friend of mine post a few days ago. And he was basically saying that all these people who post about, you know, like these coaches who change their mindset and all you need a mindset to make money, he, he basically thought they were kind of full of shit. And I don't agree with that notion, I understand the importance of being in the right mindset to be able to achieve any goal, whether it be financial or not. But since you are the coach, can you can you kind of speak to why it's why someone might find it helpful, especially if they're already ambitious. If you're an ambitious person, if you're a hard worker, why? Why would you need an accountability coach? Why is that helpful? Okay, so that was a couple questions. I'm gonna go with the first one first, because I actually really love that question. And that's like, why would someone? Why would somebody kind of find mindset as being like, bullshit? And the reason why I think this is really dope, just conceptually, because mindset has many synonyms. And I'll just say off the top of my head, one of them is probably energy, right? It's what you're focusing on. Maybe focus is another synonym. So when we talk about mindset, I'm literally talking about the stuff that you're focusing on. And to kind of tie into the other question you asked about, well, if you're already ambitious, why do you need to focus on mindset, because, you know, there's all these studies that talk about our brains and how as children, we absorb things, we see things and they become our, our, the way that we we function in the world, our belief systems, right? The way that we move through different scenarios and the things that we bring to the table. So if you're taught a certain way, if you're taught that things should be a certain way, when you get to a different point in your life, and you're like, Am I doing that maybe that's bullshit, then you have to do really deep work to oftentimes remove or override, right, those beliefs that you had before and create a new belief system. And that's essentially what I'm talking about. Because when I was growing up, being an entrepreneur wasn't really like, an actual thing in my household. My dad was military. My mom was studying being an architect, but she was told that she needed to be a secretary like her mom. And that was just what like women did, and she had originally gone into the military to, and then she found out she was pregnant with me. I was like, okay, just kidding. And that's when she went into cuz she was phenomenal at drawing ended up becoming a civil engineer doing all of these things. But entrepreneurial life wasn't something that was in my house. And so when I decided that I wanted to do that, it was met with a lot of hesitation, trepidation, commentary, etc. And I had to work really hard to shift my mind around the fact that I, Whitney could make my own money on my own terms, doing what I wanted to do. That wasn't what I was taught, it went and when I told my mom and my parents It was a What about, you know, this? And what about that? And what if it doesn't work? And what about health insurance? And what about, you know, consistent income? And what about this? And what about the economy? And there are all these what ifs, and I absorbed that even as an adult, right? Because I'm, I don't know, I don't have answers to all of that. I've never done this before. I don't necessarily know somebody who has. So I really struggle not only with that, that just like the idea of Can I do this? I know I can do a lot of things. But can I do this? I'm seeing other people doing it. But can I do it too, in my own way, because I don't want to have a business that looks like so and so I want to have my own. So if I'm creating something from scratch, how can I guarantee that this is going to be successful? And when people plant seeds in your brain? Or when you and other people plant seeds in your brain? You have to do that digging to get that shit out when you realize that it is bs or that it's not the story that you want. So yeah, I struggled for a long time. Now, why people think it's Bs, just the whole mindset thing. mindset has just become this like coined term. And to be honest, so is everything else. Coaching has become a weird term in the industry. Sales, and there's so many words that are like trigger words for so many people, and mindsets. Just one of them. So people are going to get irritated with that term, or with that word, because they've seen it used by people who are irritating, or who are using it in ways that are kind of like, make you make you want to roll your eyes. Right. And that's where you have to kind of separate Okay, yeah, just because this person is saying X, Y and Z doesn't necessarily mean that this word is trash, or it's not possible or it's not a real thing, because it is it has been for me, and it was one of the biggest hurdles that I had to overcome in my business. Yeah, definitely. I think I think for me, you know, like, something that helps me out a lot was like, when I was 14, I was exposed to the law of attraction. And I think that that has helped me tremendously. Because like, what you're talking about that feeling, I think is something that even if people haven't actually taken the steps to pursue their own business, it's something that it's almost like we're so accustomed into that negative feedback, like you're talking about your family had all these questions of like, What even is an entrepreneur? What are you talking about? Go to college or whatever the case you probably did. But you know, like, anytime that I wanted to, even if I want to do something small that I've never done before, like, if I want to try a different sense of fashion, if I if I want to try an outfit that's very unlike anything I've worn before, in the back of my mind, I'm thinking about like, oh, man, so and so's gonna say this, this person is gonna say that you're walking through that. At what point did you start to get support from other people who did understand? Well, I had support kind of all throughout, because once I got into it, so I got into coaching, right, completely by accident, it was not intentional for me to get into coaching, I have been in it, you know, similar to yourself. I did go to school, I got my degree. And I started working in it. And I've been doing that for a while. And my mom got sick. And I wanted to learn more about health and nutrition because she started juicing and she changed like her rheumatoid arthritis results. And like her doctor was all like, Whoa, I can't believe you did that by changing it. Like it was really interesting. And so I started juicing and noticing a change in my body too. And I wasn't even sick. So I was like, this is really interesting. I want to learn more. However, I don't want to go back to school and pay an arm and a leg again, for more education. So I decided to do a health coaching certification program, which was about a year. And as I'm in this program, I get towards the like middle where they bring in all these other coaches. And you see how these coaches, these women, mostly women are running their businesses. And I'm like, hold on a second. So this lady, right, she's a stay at home mom from like Illinois, like somewhere incredibly random. And she's making how much money talking about like green smoothies on the internet to strangers. Like it blew my mind how much these women were making. And it wasn't just one, right, it was so many. And there were some guys in there too, who maybe were doing similar things to these ladies, or they were doing like other niche things in the health industry, right fitness, coaching, whatever, doesn't matter. They were killing it online. And I was like, Yeah, I can do this. So I finished the program. And I was like, Well, I don't want to do like green smoothies. Like I don't want to do health coaching, I don't want to be a health coach. But I want to do something. So it became my mission to find what that was. And so as I put myself in situations, and you know, you go on Facebook, and you start joining groups, and next thing you know, I'm in Atlanta at some conferences, and I meet some really dope women, particularly black women who are entrepreneurs. And I started following them and becoming friends with them and join some communities. And then I hired my first coach. And I was in this one year long mastermind group. And so I did a lot in the beginning to kind of get myself surrounded by people and you know, all the other things that you typically do joining meetups and, you know, scouring the web and following people on the ground. And, and this isn't this. So that's kind of how, you know, I started to get support, but the support was, you know, the support was always there. There were always people kind of in my corner or around me who were doing pretty dope things. Okay, that's awesome. When you when you started, when you decided you want to be an entrepreneur, and then you started taking the health certification class, how much time lapse there, how much time between, I want to be an entrepreneur until you you get that exposure to the these entrepreneurs at the health coaching certification. Well, when I did the health coaching cert, remember I did it just to learn about nutrition. So I did not go in with the intention of becoming an entrepreneur, I literally was just trying to learn, oh, this is my pre entrepreneur. Yeah, this was like 2015 or something. This was a while ago. And so I take this course this program, and it was a year and you know, sprinkled throughout we had these like, one on ones or these presentations or whatever with these specific people who would either graduated from this program or who were just killing it in their industry. And they were featured a special special guests. And that's when I started seeing these people killing it in their businesses. And I was like, Okay, this is interesting, and it really hit me because and I mean no shade when I say this, like there's no shade here, but like a lot of these people were like, mad basic, like they didn't have they didn't have anything that I didn't have, right they didn't have anything like extraordinarily special or just just there wasn't they were just regular normal people and of course they're they have special attributes and like things about them, but they weren't. You know, they didn't glow in the dark. These people were not like above and beyond like human form. Right. And so for me, I was I see them. And I'm like, Yeah, no, I 1,000% can have my own business. Are you kidding? Yeah, I don't think I want to do this but I want to do something and You know, one of the things they tell you when you first start out and you don't know what the heck you want to do is like, Where is your level of expertise? Like, what is your area of like, this is what I love to do that you can do naturally. And this is in this. And I was like, I thought about it, I was like, Well, I do a lot of travel, I do a lot of networking, like I need strangers, and like, I'm really good at meeting people and just going places and, and creating a life for myself over and over and over as a military kid. That's exactly what I had to do. And I did that in my adulthood too. So it became like this, this mission for me to figure out what can I offer the world? What's something that I can provide a value that people are struggling with, that I do kind of naturally or with with ease that maybe some other people struggle with? And that's kind of how I, I became an entrepreneurial obsessed person. That is, okay. So listeners, I hope you're staying with me because I'm getting to a point here with all these questions, because I feel like what I'm starting to hear some some actionable steps that can that can kind of be taken from your story. But before so so before, so you were not on an entrepreneurial path, you take the sort of the health coach certification, it starts to its plans to seed for entrepreneurship. From there, you kind of start to figure things out. So what exactly was your true career trajectory before the health coach certification course? It was it so I have been in IT support, I have done it project management. I was a consultant with Deloitte for many years. A government contractor, I mean, I have done everything it, you know, in my career, that's kind of, I started off doing that kind of by accident to working for Audi and Volkswagen of America, they kind of moved to Virginia and set up a headquarters here. And I wanted to be in the automotive industry. And so I applied and of course, I graduate college, as soon as the entire automotive industry is tanking so hard, and everything's closing, everything's falling apart. And I'm like, I just want to be in the car industry. industries like this is a really shitty time Whitney. And sometimes she said, Nah. But strangely enough, right? This German automaker is actually doing fine. And they are doing well enough to put up another shop in Virginia, and right down the street from where I lived. And so I somehow got a job working there, and I was doing somewhat of an IT role. And that's how I spiraled and kind of got into tech. And that's kind of where my career went. But I mean, I've been traveling with my job, I've been in it I've enjoyed, right, that's something else, too. One of the skills that I I've gotten in my career is being able to speak to people being able to help people, you know, with tech issues, problem solving remotely, getting people to do things that are maybe challenging or that they don't necessarily want to do. I've had some very challenging roles. And typically, they were with people who weren't tech savvy. So it was a lot of educating, a lot of educating, and a lot of patience, problem solving, troubleshooting. And just really being conversational and personable, you know, walking somebody through something that was difficult. I spent every day doing that, especially when I was in tech support type roles, right, where I'm talking to people who I don't know, over the phone, and trying to coerce them into doing things so that we can both get off the phone and they can go about their day, and I can go about my day. You guys know how tech support is. So yeah, that's, you know, all those skills also helped to build my expertise to Yeah, before becoming a software engineer, I did it technical support to at a casino in Vegas. And it was it was rough. And not not just because of boomers. Everyone was like, Oh, you have to deal with boomers that don't know how to use computers. And like, honestly, at least they know, they don't know how to use them. Like some of these millennials think they know how to use computers. And they not and they were the most frustrating people to work with. I'm throwing my own generation under the bus. I don't give a fuck. They were annoying. That's true. It's true. And I had to deal with cops too, because I was working for the DEA. So I was dealing with special agents who, like were just pissed, right? They I could hear the dispatch lady in the car, and I could hear them. And I had many people threatened to shoot their computers and throw them out the window. And, you know, it's just an interesting group of folks. On top of the boomers just mix all of that together. And that's what I had to deal with all the time. Yeah, I did. I did cause security at that same casino before switching it with a bunch of former cops and they were they're an interesting, they're interesting group, especially the ones that were former because they were fired. There you go. There you go. Yeah. And then you've got the the German folks that I worked with and Audi of America, right. These are retirees. So these are beyond boomers, and they're German, so dealing, you know, accent over the phone and talking to folks who again don't know what internet browser means. And, and it's, you know, you learn a lot in those types of roles. And that's something that I'll always be, you know, grateful for is that even though they were crazy at times, and difficult that time and made me want to shoot my computer and throw it out the window, it really did build my, my knowledge base and these skills that you kind of gather end up helping you in the long run. And it really is kind of cool. Yeah, definitely. And I think you might have just answered my question already, by implication, because my next question was going to be kind of like, why? If you realize in it, that she likes coaching, why not just stay coaching in like the tech realm, but maybe that's why because as much as you learned, it was also kind of frustrating. And we're looking for joy in this life this year. Yeah, we're definitely looking for joy. Well, I mean, it isn't my passion, right? I got into it kind of by accident. My passion was automotive. So I'm a car girl. That's why I got into the industry. That's what went what I wanted to be doing. It didn't work out that way worked out well, right, because I'm in it, which is for black women a phenomenal field to be in. I mean, you can make quite a bit of money. And that's what I was passionate about in the IT space. I mean, of course, I love technology, right? I love technology, just like the next millennial type person or the next. Just the next it whiz, right? I love it. I love new cell phones, new laptops, new apps, new this new that. And it's always intriguing to me. And I love it too, because it's constantly changing, which, as a military kid is something that I had to deal with a lot right change all the time. But for me, I just felt like, it was something that gave me It gave me opportunity, it gave me a lot of opportunity. And I was able to make a lot of money. And that's when you're in your 20s. And when you're in your 20s when you're in your 30s that's what the hell is important funding? How can I pay all these stupid student loans back? How can I make sure I have enough money to travel and do the things that I want to do? How can I do X, Y, and Z pay for all the weddings I have to go to now and and all the things that I want to do with the concerts and festivals and like everything right? You have to fund your life. And so it was it was a way for me to do that really well, however, definitely wasn't my passion. I don't it's just it just wasn't, it just wasn't. And that's where it was like coaching gives me the ability to work with people who look like me, who are doing something similar to me who are interesting and fun. And we have stuff in common. And we speak the same language. And we like a lot of the same things. And we want to go to a lot of the same places like we're very, very similar. I mean, it's like, it's like teaching something to your friendship circle or teaching something to like, your mailman uncle's next door neighbor's boyfriend's social circle who's like 20 years your senior like, it's just a completely different ballgame. So yeah, definitely different groups. I get that for sure. And I think sometimes that kind of goes back to again, though the world is changing the things that we do for a living and the ways that we figure out what we want to do for a living is all changing. And I think that, for me, at least, you know, I'm so used to being the outsider, anywhere that I go, I realize, you know, he's an Edward again, mindset. I had this like loner mindset that was like completely arbitrary. in adulthood, because I'm not stuck in my little hometown anymore, that super homogenous. I can, you know, go out into the world and find my people. And I have, for the most part, but in the professional realm, especially, it's like, I've found it like almost surprisingly hard to get out of that I'm an outsider mindset. So I'm so accustomed to being the outsider that I'm not even thinking about looking for, like, do I even like working with these people? Do I enjoy providing services to these people? Because we're just so used to like, Work is work. And if you're not miserable, then you're not doing it, right. Like all that stuff that the boomers taught us. And like, none of it is true anymore. And so I think that's really cool that you were able to recognize that. Yeah, I mean, didn't you see people right? I was going to those conferences. And I'm seeing these women get up on stage and they're just commanding the room and, and they're talking about really dope things. And the women in the audience were just so cool. And I just I when I saw that, I was like, yeah, of course this is this is where I need to be like being in a skiff and talking to angry Caucasian men. I that's not my calling, right. That's not what I want to be doing. And yeah, it's inspiring. I think it's inspiring. That's why we have to I mean, having the the loner mindset is great, especially when it comes to keeping the naysayers at bay, right, when we're trying to separate ourselves from folks who don't believe in us or who don't believe in what we're doing or who Don't blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's great for that, right? If you can sit and use the blinders, and you've got your blinders on. And you're tracking forward, you're good, right? You don't have to worry about the other bullshit. But when you when you're in a situation where you need that support, you need that inspiration, it makes a difference. It makes a difference to surround yourself by with people who are inspiring and who are doing dope things that you've maybe never even considered right again, I never would have considered the coaching that unless I saw these ladies coming up and talking about their businesses and talking about how much they were making and honestly, it wasn't even like this program was trying to get you to do the coaching and make x y&z it really wasn't they honestly were just telling you about their their stories, they were telling about their stories, there was nothing about what they were doing that was really aggressive or trying to push you into this, like no one cared, you had already paid for the program, right? They had already sold you on the program, there's nothing, there's no incentivization for you to do really much more than that anything after you've graduated, like they don't even care, it doesn't matter not to say that these people don't care. But, you know, my point is these women, these people that were showing up to tell you about their journey, we're doing it as a way to just show you what options existed for you. And that's where it again, plants, the seeds of what's capable, what am I capable of what's possible for me. And even though I don't want to take the same path, I could, I couldn't write I'm not a stay at home mom in Illinois, and like some potato farm, right? That's not my life. But I can take and pull inspiration from their story and use that to propel me in whatever direction I choose. And I was able to do that, because I had chosen to take this route and you follow the yellow brick road, right? You fall however it lands, just like in it right with that first job, I had to work at Audi like I told them, I was like, Look, I have experience in the automotive industry, like I love, you need to hire me. And somehow I got that job. And that job led to the next and that job led to the next and it was just like I kept building. And when you follow the yellow brick road, and you stay motivated, you've got so many, so many so many options for success. Absolutely. And you touched a lot on the importance of a support group. I want to circle back to that in a second. But, but before we get there, I just want to loop the listeners in on the notes that I have so far. And to just to make sure that they're getting all the stuff that I'm getting out of this. So you you went to college got a good, quote unquote safe job, will school call it and it and I'm gonna assume I didn't ask I'm gonna assume that when you started the coaching the health coach certification program, you were already thinking it is not my forever home. Is that correct? It's possible. Yeah. Okay, that's actually even more interesting that you're not sure. Okay, so. So you're you're you're living your life, you're doing your thing. You're pursuing joy. And you're, you're interested in this health stuff. So you basically say, fuck it, let's just take this class and learn more, why not. And that gives you the exposure that you need to be introduced to people who kind of show you this other way of making money. And from there, now that you know that it's a thing that exists, you're going out onto the internet, and you're finding other groups, and ultimately, that culminates into in person meetups that have kind of built the network that you have for your business now. So if that can kind of be extracted into reproducible steps, it's literally just go out and do the things that you enjoy or you think you might enjoy that are, you know, fulfilling in some way. Pay attention and listen for the things that might be interesting. Like you said, You weren't even there to learn how to, you know, to learn how to be a coach of any kind, necessarily, like you just want to learn more about this health stuff. But because you were there, because you're paying attention, you noticed this thing the seed was planted. And instead of just going because I think this is the other part too, that I think a lot of people do, instead of just saying, Oh, well, that would be cool to do it to do back to my life, like you follow it up with it. And you looked into and said, okay, you asked how question, how do I actually do this? How do I get into this and that, you know, and so you're in these networking groups. And then the final step is that you are making real connections, you're forming real relationships with people that can help you and I think that no matter what it is that we want to do, you know, I think that that general blueprint tends to be the same whether we want to, you know, become a professional athlete, or a scientist or an entrepreneur, or a stay at home mom, even you know, it's like all these different things. It's like you you've, you know, start to pursue that, you know, explore the things that you like, a seed gets planted, and once it gets planted, just ask how how how How, how until you get to where you need to go. Yeah. And then you also you know, you have to follow the the bliss to write what's what's what's making you feel the warm and fuzzies? What lights something up in you, because it's not always just, you know, is this something that I can make money on? Because that's essentially what I was doing in my career. And now just to go back to what you just said a little bit ago, the reason why I didn't know is because I was new in my career. I think a lot of us are new in our careers, I had only been working for four years. So no, I didn't know if I was going to stay or not. I had had like, one real my first job right at the Audi company, that was a contract role, then I got a government contract role a little while, like a little while later, after I had gone through the security clearance process, which took like months. So for me, it was like this, this whole, I hadn't done much this whole process, it just kind of begun for me, I hadn't gotten that far my career to know if I didn't like it or whatever. You know, it's all new. So for me, yeah, I wasn't sure. And I think for most of us, we're exploring, this whole thing is about exploring, and sometimes we'll see people who are born. And they know that they want to be a doctor, they know that they're really good at tennis. And they have that and they already know what their quote unquote, Dharma is, they know what their purpose is, their path, what their what their gift is, they know it and a lot of us don't. And so it's, we're out, you're just trying to find it. And a lot of times, we feel like we're in the dark. And most of the time we are, but every so often, you will get that glimmer, you will get that little ray of light, you'll get something that flickers, and you're going, Oh, what's that, and you walk over and you know, but sometimes, like you said, we'll ignore that. And we'll keep sitting. But you have to want to, or you just you have to be curious, you have to even want something more, you have to be curious. Or you have to just try stuff. And when you realize you're good at it, keep trying it because I'm looking at the sticker on my laptop. It's like this lady, and she's watering her plants. And as you can tell, I've got many a plant. And this is just a lot of plants. Yeah, I've got like 40 they made me count the other day, like, like 14 other room. Not the point, right? The point is, I realized I really liked plants. I was like, Damn, this is kind of fun. And then like, I kept going with it. And I was like, Well, let me try this one. And let me learn. And then I started learning more and learning more, what tends to happen to some people is they'll learn and learn and learn and realize, well, I can make money doing this, I can start making my own plants and selling them and create clippings and propagate and do all these things. And it's really, really interesting, right? Because that person followed their bliss. And they are on the yellow brick road to whatever light destination, you know, they they wanted, or they were looking for whatever that was looking for them. Who knows. But that's essentially, you know, the part of the process too is you have to find something that brings you joy, because that'll help you stay on that path when it gets weird and Rocky and frustrating and annoying. And when you want to give up and throw your computer out the laptop or out the window, put your laptop in the dishwasher. Like I always, I always refer to those two things, because we have those days. But if we're doing something that really lights us up and keeps us going to a degree it makes it a little bit easier to stay on that yellow brick road. Yeah, definitely. You talk a lot about so one of the things that I copied right off your website says one of the biggest things that kept me back in my business was thinking there was some sort of prize for persevering and doing it all by myself. But there's no prize, there's no trophy. There's no accolade or bonus you get for struggling on this journey alone. Now that sounds like the words of someone who had to learn that the hard way. So do you ever have times with your with your clients, where you're kind of watching them? It's almost like a it's like you're watching it in slow motion because you're what you're watching them make the same mistakes that you made. And they're being really hesitant to either listen or take the advice or like there's just something really holding them back. Is there like a particular issue that comes up more frequently than others? In that case? Yeah, I think most people are afraid to delegate because if they delegate their main say that they have to release a little bit of control. And essentially they to have to teach this person how to do it like they would do it. But it is 1,000% doable. And there are many tasks that you can delegate and give to someone else to do on your behalf. Also people struggling financially because you have to pay for almost everything right? You have to pay for someone to design your graphics, you have to pay for someone to do your social media. You have to pay for someone to do your website, you have to pay for someone to do your email marketing. You have to pay for someone to do your ads like you have to pay for every single bit of every single thing that you essentially do in your business. None of this stuff is Free. I mean, it's difficult to say, Okay, well, I'm going to pay for this or am I going to have the money for that, or I don't have four grand for my website or whatever it is and having to prioritize. It can be very tricky. Prioritizing what people are going to allocate, you know, financially, because most people are coming out of pocket is tricky. It's tricky to do. And then also, hiring assistants is also difficult, because then you have to delegate and relinquish, and sometimes that's easy, because you're like, I hate doing x y&z thing, right. It could be anything, I hate reading my emails, or I hate writing copy, or I hate engaging on Facebook, or whatever it is, and you're more than happy to pay someone else to do that shit for you. But then there are some things you're like, I don't know, if I can let this person do this. Is this my baby, I have to give them you know what I mean? And it's difficult. So everyone kind of has their own soft spots. But it's, you know, depends on your goals. But a lot of times we can work through that and make sure that we're balancing that time, effectively, the time and the money. So you said depends on your goals. And I think that's a big thing that I hear a lot from people, you know, where, where and how you allocate funds, when you're starting a business depends a lot on your goals. So what are what are kind of some of the goals that you go over with people when you're kind of considering, you know, whether they should be you like, where if they have a set budget, like where that should go? Yeah, it definitely depends on the type of business. I mean, I typically work with service providers moreso, than people who have like brick and mortars or product based businesses. So it's a little different for a lot different for those folks. But I also work with, you know, people who are working full time jobs, in any kind of industry and are trying to get their business moving forward, regardless of what it is. And so I think, you know, I'm a big on lists and writing stuff out and prioritizing what you know, and prioritizing based on your your goal due by dates, and you know, your goals just in general, like if I want to hit this mark, what do I need to working backwards, we do a lot of working backwards. And I do a lot of like, quarterly analysis stuff, too, right? We're in q2 right now preparing for q3 really being ahead of the curve is important. So yeah, you've got to put it and then to a lot of people will tell you, you know, you need to focus your on your business with generating that revenue versus making everything look pretty. You don't always need the prettiest website, you don't always need the prettiest Instagram, you don't always need the prettiest business cards. And that's essentially where so many people spend a lot of their money in the beginning of starting their business, and it's just not necessary. I've had so many coaches who have hired who did not have nice, beautifully created Instagrams, who had shitty websites if they had a website at all, who didn't have business cards that were glamorous with, like, you know, super biodegradable, cardstock and whatever the hell like you don't need a lot of that crap to begin with. You don't need a virtual assistant in the very beginning, all the ways to do all of the tasks like you can, you can prioritize your time and make it work for you. So there's there's a lot, there's a lot It depends on the person though. Yeah, that makes sense. And and I think you touched on something that really speaks to how a coach could be really helpful for people when they're starting out. Because you mentioned you know, you're the listen to due date, the to do to do lists, with due dates that you set up for your clients. And I think for me was one of the things that's, that's hard for me. And I think a lot of people running their own business or starting to run their own business, is that we're so again, mindset, we're so used to that employee mindset, because I mean, the reality is that we're conditioned from kindergarten onward to be employees, not bosses. And so we're so accustomed to only doing what we're told to do, that I think a lot of people have a hard time of like, I really have this thing that I want to do, but like, if I'm doing my job, I can work my ass off. But if I'm doing my thing, like I won't prioritize it. And I feel like, correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like having a coach like you can kind of almost be like a stopgap like you can kind of bridge that gap between having a boss and working for yourself, because you're someone that's coming in and saying, like, you know, I might not, you know, set up that email campaign if it's just me by myself. But if I know when he's gonna yell at me on Wednesday, if I don't, I might do it. I might feel more inclined. And it's like one of those ways where it's like, almost almost like tricking yourself into making this transition is like tricking your mind to be trained to do something else. I actually love that. I love the way that you put that. And does that whole transition of there. Yeah, because you're 1,000% right. And I always when I talk about it, I always talk about it from the perspective of like when we were kids, our parents would make sure we brushed our teeth and wash your face and made sure we you know, did all the things and you can't do this until you do that right. You can't go outside until your homework is done. You Can't have dessert until you finish your vegetables. We are given all these negotiations and ultimatums and rules, and they help structure our daily lives. And without them, we would have been even more of a hot mess that we probably were when we were growing up. And then we get into college and it's like, you know, screw, everything's great. I can do what I want, and then just gets worse, right? It gets worse. And as entrepreneurs, we can get very, very extra with the way in which we behave when it comes to work life balance, right? I've met so many entrepreneurs, even in San Diego when I lived there, because that's kind of where this blossomed for me. It was I was having an SD. And so many people were like, Oh, I mean, I just, I haven't showered in like a while and like, I don't always eat and, you know, I don't go out. I don't celebrate anything with anybody anymore. Because I'm just so busy. Right? Well, they think it's something and I'm like, look here like I am, I'm all for hitting my goals. I'm all about being an X y&z millionaire, whatever the heck, but like, when I tell you, I'm going to go out with my friends. And then I believe that life is short, and then I will be enjoying the fruits of my labor, I 1,000% mean that. So you guys can sit home and not shower and not be social and not eat and not like get fresh air even though you live in one of like, the most beautiful places on the planet, right. But that's not going to be my story. But you have to you have to have accountability, if you do not have accountability, it sucks. And that's why, you know, I was always telling people, people who have spouses or partners or people who live with them, it helps a lot. Because you're at some point you're your spouse is going to be like your partner is gonna be like, honey, you need to take a shower. Have you eaten anything like they're going to they're going to enquire and that alone is enough, right? Me having my dog has helped me with getting up in the morning, structuring my day, I have to get outside. When I go outside, I meet people, I'm getting fresh air, it helps me structure my day, you have to have some thing that you're dedicating outside of your job. And so or outside of your work, the work that you're doing, even if it's the most passionate passion project you've ever done in your whole entire life. And it's so important to hit this deadline and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And so many people are waiting for you to release this book, and everything is waiting on this one thing and it, I get it, but you have to have structure, you have to have accountability, and you have to have support. These are very, very, very crucial to being successful, I think in the long term as well as the short term. That totally makes sense. I mean, that I can't imagine a perfect more perfect backdrop to end this on. And we're like, right about time. So I think that that's, that's perfect. If anybody feels like they need more accountability, and they want to start a business person who who particularly do you help? Because I know like you said, you know your most most people have like a niche. But who are the people you help in particular? Yeah, well, I mean, if you don't, yeah, you can always hit me up if you need recommendations, because I know a number of different types of coaches who specialize in so many different things. But the women and men that I primarily work with are people who are working that nine to five, they have something that they're focused on during the day, and they need that accountability for their actual side hustle or business or entrepreneurial journey. And they need work life balance, they need accountability, they need a support system, because their friends are doing way different things than them. And they're trying to build something that they believe will last or that they're wanting to last, I do a lot of goal setting work. I do a lot of intensive like journaling and planning and implementation not just sitting with our vision boards, looking at the pretty pictures, we're actually doing things to move the needle. So yeah, I'm definitely about implementation strategy, as well as the mindset piece to help you get over whatever it is that's kind of keeping you from believing that you can get whatever it is that you're looking to get. And it's really deep work. But it's also really fun. It's interesting, and it's very much a personal journey. I think entrepreneurship is very much a personal journey as much as it is anything else. And I'm all about the personal development. So yeah, definitely hit me up. And depending on where you're at in your business, right, I mean, accountability is always necessary. That's one thing I love about it. And your mindset typically has lots of places where you can improve. So yeah, let me know. I was great. Well, I'll put pretty much whatever you want in the show notes. But for people who can't wait to look the show notes, and they're already on Instagram or whatever, where can they find you hit that search button? Yes, my ID page is Whitney Danielle Ko, underscore, and you'll see all my info there. And Whitney DC underscore I think on Twitter, I keep changing my my Twitter, one, but I think it'll be in the show notes for sure. But I'm definitely on Twitter. I'm on clubhouse. I'm on Instagram. I float around Facebook sometimes. Yeah, I don't even think we're following each other on Twitter now that I think about because I just purged my account of some of the tech accounts that are no longer going to be relevant to my life. I don't remember seeing you there. Yeah, we'll have to add each other. I like Twitter. It's honestly, I was not a big fan of Twitter when it first came out. But luckily, I have a sister who is 12 years younger than me. And she keeps me very hip and trendy. And she has me obsessed with Twitter. And I've been obsessed now for, I don't know, maybe three years. So definitely, let's add each other on Twitter, for sure. All right, I won't make the listeners listen to us talk about following each other on social media anymore. So I will leave it there. Whitney, thank you so much for being here on our inaugural episode. And, man, I cannot wait to see you in person again. Hey, I know Me too. Me too. Thank you so much. Alright, see you later. See ya. All right, once again, that was Whitney Danielle. Isn't she great? Whitney, thank you again for being the inaugural guest on the Leo Yockey show. And hey, listener, thank you for listening this far. And I'm glad to see that you enjoyed the show. I could use a huge favor from you though. If you liked it. You can just leave me a five star rating on whatever app you're listening to. That would be so helpful. If you're feeling a little bit chatty. Leave me a review. That would be even better. And hey, I know I just said at the beginning that I'm not into social media. But if you really enjoyed the show, take a screenshot and throw it on your Instagram story. It's a great low pressure way to let your friends know what you're into without being pushy, and it really helps me out a lot. Like I said, I am on Instagram at Leo evolving. LEOVOL v i n g that's my username on Twitter and tik tok as well. Except on tik tok. It's a Leo evolving one. And yeah, I will see y'all next week. I got my good friend Diego Gutierrez there. We're, it's gonna be a good time. And oh, if you want to sign up for my journaling prompts and book quote, be sure to sign up this Friday. I'm going to have Jonathan Van Ness as my book quote. And I love jvn. So, you know, Dream podcast guests just throwing it out into the universe. And yeah, I will see y'all next week. Stay evolving.