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Reimagining Leadership: Embracing Flexibility and Authenticity in Your Style

April 14, 2025 by angishields

HVR-Chantee-Christian-Featue
High Velocity Radio
Reimagining Leadership: Embracing Flexibility and Authenticity in Your Style
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In this episode of High Velocity Radio, Stone Payton interviews Chantée Christian, a certified facilitator, bestselling author, and television producer. Chantée discusses her mission to inspire change and growth through coaching. She emphasizes a holistic approach to leadership and executive coaching, addressing how personal challenges impact professional performance. Key topics include emotional intelligence, adaptable leadership styles, and the importance of community in coaching. Chantée also shares her unique perspective on goal-setting, focusing on intentions rather than rigid goals. The conversation highlights the transformative impact of coaching on both personal and professional lives.

My-Best-Shift-logo

Chante-ChristianChantée L. Christian is a 2021 Northern Virginia 40 Under 40 honoree; a multifaceted professional with a wealth of experience and accolades.

As a TV Producer/Host and a 3x Amazon International Best-Selling Author, she brings a unique blend of creativity and strategic thinking to her endeavors.

With two decades in the field of management consulting, Chantée has specialized in Program/Project Management, Organizational Change Management, and Strategic Planning.

As a certified facilitator, Chantée has developed and delivered diverse training programs for staff at all levels. Her academic journey includes earning a Bachelor’s degree from George Mason University and a Master’s of Business Administration from Webster University.

Chantée has a plethora of professional certifications that range from her coaching certifications to being a Professional Certified Coach (PCC). Notable certifications include being an MBTI Certified Practitioner; a Strategic Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Management Executive Certificate holder from Georgetown University; and a Certified Change Management Professional (CCMP).

Chantée is the driving force behind My Best SHIFT, an innovative coaching and consulting company. Chantée is the host and moderator of the award-winning conversational series, Unspoken Truths of Being Black, addressing crucial topics like the workforce, healthcare, and education in the context of heightened awareness.

Chantée is the host and producer of an award-winning podcast, My Best SHIFT. Where she shares insights intended to shift mindsets, provide enlightening perspectives and encourage listeners to take inspired action. Her diverse background, combined with her extensive certifications and professional achievements, positions her as a dynamic leader across industries.

Connect with Chantée on LinkedIn and Instagram.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • Project Management for Entrepreneurs & Coaches: Strategies for managing multiple initiatives efficiently.
  • Leadership & Conscious Leadership: How leadership styles impact business growth and team dynamics.
  • The Power of Influence & Emotional Intelligence in Business: How these skills impact client relationships and leadership success.
  • The Shift from Goals to Strategic Intentions: How business leaders can transform how they set and achieve goals.
  • The Journey of an Author & Thought Leader: How writing books can elevate credibility and influence.

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.

Stone Payton: Welcome to the High Velocity Radio show, where we celebrate top performers producing better results in less time. Stone Payton here with you this afternoon. You guys are in for a fantastic treat. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast with My Best Shift, Chantée Christian. How are you?

Chantée Christian: Hello. I’m doing well. How are you?

Stone Payton: I am doing so well and I’ve really been looking forward to this conversation. I am so excited to share you and your work with our listeners. Uh, maybe let’s start with, uh, kind of a brief description. Mission. Purpose. What are you really out there trying to do for folks, Shante?

Chantée Christian: Oh, I love that. Uh, so I like to say that my mission and my purpose are also the same for the company, which is to be a catalyst for change and growth through inspired action. And so we say yes to a lot of things that fall in alignment with that, which, as you can imagine, is a lot.

Stone Payton: Well, I know you’re a certified facilitator, a three time international best selling author, a television producer and host, probably a ton of other things. But tell us about the the journey, if you would. How in the world did you find yourself in this line of work?

Chantée Christian: Oh, yes. So I honestly, when I started out in college, which I won’t go too far back in those days, but when I started out, I started off as a business major, and then I realized that I maybe wasn’t cut out for that in undergrad. And so I was working in a, um, an office where I was in charge of the, um, the newsletters. Letters. And I was like, oh my gosh, like, I love doing this. And it sent me into this thing of knowing, oh, I could get paid to do this. And so I started doing a lot of comms work, and I changed my major to communications. And as I progressed into my career, I realized I wasn’t really using it in the same way. And so I got to a really pivotal point in my career where I was like, oh, wait, it’s no longer them that’s getting on my nerves. It’s me. Um, and it was because I wasn’t in alignment and I wasn’t doing things that really spoke to my spirit and all of those things. And so one of the companies I worked for, they had things that they called reinvestment into the firm. And I realized that everything that I loved doing from a work perspective wasn’t the 9 to 5 stuff, it was all of the extras. And so I all the extras is literally what my company is, is the coaching. It is the multimedia side of the house and those things that really bring me joy, which stemmed all the way back to business is cool, but it’s not really the thing that I that makes my heart sing.

Stone Payton: All right, so speak a little bit to the to the coaching work, the topics and competencies that you’re working through and maybe the mechanism for the work. Uh, talk a little bit about that. About that.

Chantée Christian: Sure thing. So, um, I do a lot of leadership and executive coaching, although I like to say I coach people, and I say that from a perspective of I like to think of it from a holistic perspective, but not the woo woo holistic, although I do believe in some woo woo things, but more so from a holistic perspective of if I’m having a challenge at home and I’m coming into the office, whether virtually or in person, and I haven’t worked through that challenge that I’m having at home, like arguing with my partner or something like that, then I’m going to bring it into the office, even if I’m not trying to, I’m going to have a little bit of an attitude and be a little bit more snippy. I’m not really going to laugh at all the jokes that I thought that I used to think are funny? Because I’m still dealing with something else on my mind. And so I really like to coach from a perspective of who are you and what do you need in this moment in order to make sure that we are fulfilling your needs and getting you to where you need to be? And so I like to think of coaching as a a space where we get to help people unlock their true potential and their desires. And that’s what makes it a little bit different from therapy, because a lot of people say, well, what’s the you know, they’re the same. And I would say that the biggest difference that I can think of, and I would say most of my community would agree, is that therapy is healing you from your past, where coaching is pushing you into action, which falls in alignment with everything else that. Um, my mission and my purpose is to help people with inspired action.

Stone Payton: Now, do you find that most of your clients, or many of them, come to you and want to work on a specific thing? I’ll, uh, make an analogy to sports. Like if I came to you and wanted to really work on free throws. You know, like, did somebody want to come to you and work on something specific, or is it usually broader than that? And they just they’re not it’s not feeling right. And they just want to and you’re even helping them uncover what they should be working on.

Chantée Christian: Oh my goodness. It’s so specific. It’s usually I can’t tell you how many times people have come to me and said that they wanted to work on their communication, or that they wanted to work on their executive presence and not fully understanding what executive presence is and or communication is. And so a lot of times people will say, you know, Chanté, I really want to work on my communication. It seems like if I send an email to the team, they still don’t do what I asked them to do. And one of the first questions that I asked when someone asked me that is, where else are you having this similar communication issues in your life? Because it’s not just at work. I’m 100% sure, right? And so when they start thinking about it. They’re like, oh, well, everywhere. Exactly. So let’s talk about maybe it’s not the actual communication, right? Maybe it’s what you’re conveying, how you’re conveying it. Um, the timing, the method and those sorts of things. So we really do sift through and work through that type of stuff.

Stone Payton: So in that kind of work, I guess this could be related. Have you identified over time a handful of different I don’t know, I’ll call them leadership styles for lack of a better term. But like, yeah. Does that impact any of this work?

Chantée Christian: Oh, I love that. Yes. Um, so I have an MBA. So I know I started off saying that I hate business, but I just I couldn’t get away from it. And so I have an MBA, and I tell people all the time that there are things that they don’t teach you in your MBA program. And because they teach you the the normal top four, top five leadership, um, styles. And what happens is what I see is that people try to fit themselves into those and not realizing that you’re not linear. You are so dynamic as a human that your leadership style ought to adapt to you, and not to just a textbook theory. And so what I see a lot of is people, um, really being in a space of not knowing and just taking on what their bosses are doing or their bosses, bosses or some amazing book that they read. And so they’re like, you know, I’m an authoritative leader, or they want to go the opposite direction of that and say, I’m a collaborative leader. And research has shown us that a lot of collaborative leaders lean so heavy on collaboration that their teams are still feeling neglected from having an actual leader to provide them with direction and make a decision versus it being, well, everyone gets to decide which we know in leadership, that’s not necessarily the case.

Stone Payton: How about another topic that seems to come up quite a bit in some other interviews, as we’ve been doing this coaching series, is this idea of, uh, of what like emotional intelligence is. Is that is that you finding that in your work as well?

Chantée Christian: Oh, absolutely. Emotional intelligence is so important because a lot of times we think about how others perceive us, and we don’t realize how we are perceiving ourselves and how we’re also showing up. And so when you think about emotional intelligence, it’s also it’s not just being able to read the room, but it’s also being able to self-regulate. It’s the ability to be able to process information in real time, and to be able to make decisions based off of that, where you understand the impacts of others and yourself. Right. And so it’s one of those things that so many people, um, so many people require a deeper dive into it to understand that it applies to every aspect of leadership, to management, and to just operating as a human being and not just, um, something that’s within the leadership circle.

Stone Payton: Okay. Clearly, a theme I’m picking up in this conversation is all the work you’re doing. While the frame might be to help me lead my organization more effectively, it really is. I guess it’s the pure definition of holistic. It’s it’s impacting. It has to because it’s sourcing from but it’s also impacting my entire life with the kids, with the spouse, with friends. Right.

Chantée Christian: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, because if you think about it, right, when you think about leadership and your own leadership, what are the top like three things that pop into your head when you think about it.

Stone Payton: Are you asking me?

Chantée Christian: Yeah.

Stone Payton: Uh, I don’t when I think about leadership, it’s it’s the idea of. I guess it is that clearly communicating where we’re going and why. And what I want to come out of those conversations is someone as excited, if not more than I am, about getting it done and feeling like, okay, you know, I can check that off the list. You know, Susie’s got that. She’s going to run with it.

Chantée Christian: Yeah. Yeah. Right. And so when you think about that, right, like when you were talking about the theme that can apply to everything, it doesn’t just apply to your your business. It applies to your family. Yeah. It applies to your children. You know, it applies to literally everything that we do. And I think a lot of times when we think about leadership, we compartmentalize that. And we don’t realize that in order to fully show up and to be influential and to be impactful, and for people to want to go along with what we’re doing, we’ve got to believe it, too. And that typically means that we’re just not believing it for a 9 to 5. We’re believing it completely and fully.

Stone Payton: So typically for you, the mechanism for the work, the the way you execute, is it a lot of one on one work? Is it group work? Is it virtual asynchronous. How do you execute on this?

Chantée Christian: Oh, I like that question. So um, because of the pandemic, like the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, a lot of the work went virtual. And what that was able to do for me was able to reach people that weren’t just in my city or, you know, within a local space. So, um, a lot of the work that I do is virtual and I do both. I do one on ones and I do group work. So a lot of times with the group work, it’s around team dynamics or um, so I use, I use some assessments at times, and sometimes those assessments help teams be able to communicate better, to be able to help work through conflict. Um, and just be able to understand, like, if I understand how you operate at a general and basic level, then I can actually understand that you’re not you’re not intentionally doing something against what my default, um, desire to do the work is. It’s just we’re coming at it at different at different lenses and at different angles. And so really helping people grasp that. And so I do that virtually. I do it in person now that we’re back doing things in person. Um, and so I do a little bit of both, but I don’t do asynchronous, um, so much.

Stone Payton: Well, I can see tremendous value in the one on one work, but I’m thinking, like in the group work, I’m trying to envision, you know, like me sitting in the in the air quote room, you know, the virtual room. I could see just virtually any topic being a catalyst and then letting people even apply it there, or go and apply it at work and come back to the next session. I could see them learning from each other.

Speaker4: Yeah.

Chantée Christian: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. Because when we because that’s what happens when we bring people together. Right. They start to actually start picking up on things on their own. They’re like, hey, wait a minute. We’re not that different. One and two. I really like the way you handled that. I might tweak it a little bit. I’m going to go try it. Right. And so it’s it’s something about having the community and the people in the room that allow people to really glean from each other and be able to feed off of the energy that that they’re giving to each other. And it provides a different type of support system. Right. So I can be there to facilitate and to encourage the conversation. But when it comes to accountability and it comes to like that full cheerleader cheering them on mode, that’s where the community comes in.

Stone Payton: So when clients are first getting started, do you find that sometimes they have like some preconceived notions or maybe even in their mind, what you and I might consider myths associated with the coaching profession, that you sort of have to educate them around or through before you can really get in and do the good work.

Chantée Christian: Absolutely. Um, so often people either don’t know what it is or they’ve seen something on TV or social media and I’m like, forget all of that. Forget it all. It’s none of those things and a little bit of some. Um, I think so. I like to ask people if they won, if they’ve had experience with coaching before, because not all coaches coach the same way. You know, just like how you were talking with sports. Not every coach within a basketball or football team are going to coach each of their teams the same. Um, that doesn’t mean that they still don’t go out there and coach. Right? Um, and so we had that conversation. But I like to really ask them about the different modalities. So I like to do a word association, um, where I ask if you hear the word advisor, what comes up for you if you hear the word um, uh, mentor, what come up for you? If you hear a therapist or therapy, what come up for you. And then last but not least, when you think of coaching, what comes up for you? And I listened to what they say, and then I and then I in a debrief, I tell them, you know, well, one I tell them there is no right or wrong answer to this. It’s just what they believe and what comes up for them. But I like for them to think of it like a Venn diagram, how each of them have very similar components and concepts to them. However, they do have very distinct differences. And because of that, that’s why I want to make sure that we’re clear about what coaching is versus what it isn’t, if that makes sense.

Stone Payton: It certainly does. So at this point in your career. What are you finding the most rewarding? What’s the most fun about it these days for you?

Chantée Christian: Oh my goodness. I would say that the most rewarding is actually watching people live out the things that they said they wanted to live out. So, um, or like moving into that action. So I just had a Conscious Leadership summit, uh, last week. Well, I don’t know when this is going to air. So I just did a conscious leadership summit, and one of the things I love most about it was that as I was walking in and out of the room because I was coordinating and doing things, I could hear people literally saying, oh, I just wrote that down, and now I’m doing it. And it’s those type of moments for me that bring me the most excitement and joy, because it it’s a confirmation for me that I am walking in my purpose, and I’m creating these spaces for people to be able to, to grow and to do the things that, that that syncs to their hearts.

Stone Payton: Now I’m operating under the impression that some, if not all of these folks who come to you are, you know, they have some goals. There’s some things they want to accomplish. Uh, what has been your experience and what counsel, if any, do you have with regard to setting goals, achieving goals? What’s your slant on that?

Chantée Christian: Oh my goodness. I feel like you’re setting me up. Um, I would say the first thing is and as as someone who has spent almost 20 years doing strategic planning and project management and program management, I will say something that feels so off kilter from that, which is I really don’t like goals for person, for people. And I say it from a perspective of so often we set up, we set goals the same way that we would within an organization, and we don’t account for the work that it took to potentially get to the goal. And so when we don’t meet it, we leave ourselves feeling depleted and very defeated at times. And so I prefer to start off with intentions and then build the build out the actions and the tasks to get to those, so that even if we don’t fulfill the goal, I’m putting that in air quotes that we’re able to take note of all the work that it took to get to where we got to and then be able to assess, okay, well, what happened here? What is something that we can shift? And is this even something that we want to continue to do? Now for organizations, I don’t take that same approach.

Chantée Christian: I think I think that we have to talk about goal settings, but we have to be realistic about them, because a lot of times when we’re setting goals, they’re based off of a strategy from five years ago. And so we need to be clear about who’s in the organization, what is what the what the people are able to do and what the market will allow. And so it’s still kind of taking that same flip with my clients when they come to me saying, you know what? Um, like a common, a common one that comes up is that people want to move from, um, a certain level within the organization into the executive suite or into executive leadership. And so we have to get realistic about where are you at right now? What have your past performances looked like? What does it take from an organization perspective for you to get there? And let’s talk about where are your gaps. Right. So then it’s less of a I’m going to get you promoted in a year and more. So is your intention is to get promoted. So then we have to make sure that you’re prepared you’re ready and that you’re showing up like that already.

Stone Payton: Now now you’re a prolific writer. Apparently. You’re certainly a successful writer. Talk a little bit about the books. What compelled you to to write in the first place? And the whole experience of, I don’t know, man, committing your ideas to paper and putting it out there for the world to enjoy and or poke at.

Chantée Christian: Yeah, um, definitely scary and thrilling. So I’m a comms major and I love to write. However, I also like to keep things very private. And so with the first opportunity, I was asked to share what it looked like to lead through. Through the pandemic. And I was really apprehensive about that. So I said, oh my goodness, everyone’s going to know my business. Um, and honestly, one of the things that helped me get over that was that I knew that me sharing my story would help someone else who was either in it currently or help someone that was going through it. Right. Like someone being able to say, oh, I see me in this. I see that there’s an option. I see that there are a couple of options, and there are ways that I can continue to honor myself from an integrity perspective and still show up for my teams, the people around me. And so that one was really the biggest motivator for me. Um, the second one was around women in leadership, and I thought, how cool would it be to have an all women leadership book when the top ten leadership books right now still are all written by predominantly white men. And so I was like, how cool would that be to have a whole book of women talking about leadership? And so I said yes to that one without blinking. And then the third one is a little different because I was able to co-publish it.

Chantée Christian: And so I had this idea of being able to have people talk about what leadership looked like for them, when awareness was, when awareness was present. And so, um, they talked about pivotal moments in their lives when awareness was the was the primary shift in what they did different. And they talked about leadership in all different facets. So whether if it was professionally, mentally, um, through their families and all of them, they brought it all back to just how that shift really changed the trajectory of their lives. And so, um, that one was the easiest because I wanted to be a part of not just something that I was, um, cultivating, but I wanted to be a part of it from being able to tell my story in a way that I hadn’t told it yet. And so, um, I, too stepped out of my, my comfort zone to, to do that chapter in that book. But, um, I think that one of the biggest things for me is that you got to be the one to tell your story. And if you allow other people to tell it, they might not tell it the way you would have. And so being able to write it down and to publish it was really a way for me to make sure that my side of the stories are always told.

Stone Payton: Have you found in that work that some parts of the book come easier than others you really like? Some just really just almost writes itself and then others you struggle over for a little while.

Chantée Christian: Oh my goodness. Yes. I mean, you know, people talk about writer’s block and I don’t think that for me it is less of the writer’s block and more of the well, what do I say? Like what do I say and how do I say it in a way that doesn’t sound like I’m complaining, I’m whining, or, you know, something in a way that allows the the audience to feel connected. And so when you don’t know who your I mean, you have an idea of your audience in theory, but when you actually don’t know who’s picking up the book, you’re like, well, will they get this? Will they hear me in it? And so, um, it’s one of the most challenging things for me. I think the, the hardest part is always the intro for me, because I realized that a lot of people don’t read it. However, the few people that do it’s magic in there, and it’s an opportunity to show people exactly where my mind was when we created the project and where we want them to go in it. And so I like to say that I am an an ambassador of awareness and as your ambassador of awareness, guiding you through the book. And so I have a vision for it. But actually writing it a lot of times causes me much, much stress.

Stone Payton: Has it had an impact on your whole sales and marketing and education about like, does it help with the authority credibility thing, like so many say that it will?

Chantée Christian: Absolutely. Um, I can’t tell you how many times people say, oh my goodness, you’re an author, you’re a best selling author. How can I do it? Oh, I have a story. I’m like, I’m great. You have. I’m glad you have a story. And I hope that we can get you to it. But I think what happens is that it helps you become a thought leader, right? And so I tell people all the time, don’t write about something that you’re not willing to talk about 3 to 5 years after you’ve written it, because people are going to want to talk to you. They’re going to want you to show up at places to talk about it. They’re going to want you to remember what you wrote about it, you know, and that might not even be the you right now that it was, but you’re still going to have to talk about it. It’s almost like singers, right? They write a song and ten years later it’s a hit, and they’re still going to play that song at every concert. So it’s the same thing.

Stone Payton: So while we’re on the topic, how does the whole sales and marketing thing work for a practitioner like you? Like, do you have to get out there and shake the bushes like some of the rest of us? Or is it mostly referral based at this point or. Yeah. How do you get the new business?

Chantée Christian: Yeah. Great question. Um, I think it’s a little bit of both. So, um, there was a time in my business where I only took referrals because I wanted to be very selective about who was coming in the door. Um, and then as I started to grow the business, I realized, well, there are a lot more people out there than just, you know, within my network. And so, um, I do almost like an application process. So if someone wants to work with me because I don’t know how they found me. And so I’m always curious about that, but it’s kind of like a it’s a slight application process because in order to do coaching specifically, you have to be ready and you have to want to do it and not need to do it right. A need is going to be a therapy type of thing. A want is more of a coaching. And so, um, I really want to assess upfront what does it look like to work with them. Um, but it comes from all different types of places. So it comes from speaking engagements. People hear me speaking or they run across my podcast, or they saw a article that I wrote. Um, and they’re like, or they know somebody who knows me and so they or has worked with me and they want to they want to inquire what that looks like. And so I just I do a little bit of that to weed out the process, because I used to get on the phone or get on a zoom with everyone, and I realized my time could be better spent.

Stone Payton: Did you just say a podcast? You have your own show?

Chantée Christian: Yes, I have a award winning podcast called My Best Shift because at that time in my life, everything was called my shift. Um, but yeah, I have a podcast. We’re on season five right now. Um, and it’s all about awareness, acceptance, and authenticity. I like to call them the Triple A’s. And so I interview people and we talk about their journey in one way or another, um, around those three things.

Stone Payton: Oh, I have to believe that you learn a ton and get to build some marvelous relationships. And you’re sharing some really important information for the listening audience. I bet you love doing that.

Chantée Christian: Oh my goodness. It is one of the things of my business that I love the most. I absolutely love it because it’s the opportunity to learn about people that I may know a little bit about or nothing about, and I let the conversation roll. So I only asked two of the same questions at the very beginning and at the very end. And outside of that, they’re all unique conversations. And I just I love that. I love learning from people. And you know, what I learned I love most is when someone says, oh, I listened to this episode and I’m going to start doing XYZ or, um, I learned so much, I took notes, I’m like, you did, you did. And so it’s like, okay, it’s worth it. It’s worth it because it’s a lot of effort. But it is. It is one of my favorite parts of the business.

Stone Payton: Yeah. Okay, so not long after this conversation that you and I are having right now, I am headed to Lake Allatoona. I’m going to hop on the boat. I might fish, but I’m at least going to watch the sunset this evening. That’s one of the ways that I step away and go have some fun. Hobbies, interests, pursuits. What do you what do you do for fun and relaxation when outside the scope of this work? When you’re not coaching and writing and speaking and podcasting.

Chantée Christian: With all my free time? Yeah. Um, I really do love a good spa. Um, I, I love going for walks and not like, I know it sounds, you know, not long walks by the beach. That’s not fun to me. Um, but I do like to go on, like, lowercase h, hike, type of walk. Um, and honestly, I like to just be in spaces with people where I can laugh a lot. I love to laugh. Um, and if it’s a space where it’s a little too stuffy, it’s probably not my idea of a relaxation Taxation in a good time.

Stone Payton: All right, before we wrap, I would love to leave our listeners with a little bit of overarching advice or a pro tip. Um, you know, in, you know, the tagline of the show is producing better results in less time. But within the context of these topics we’ve been talking about, uh, let’s leave them with a little something to to chew on and look, gang. The number one pro tip is, if any of this conversation is striking a chord with you, uh, reach out and have a conversation with Chantée. Start tapping into her work. Listen to the podcast, read the books. Uh, but, uh, between now and then, let’s leave them with a little something to to noodle on. Shauntay.

Chantée Christian: Oh, okay. Um, the first thing that I will say is, um, if you’re finding that you’re challenged with the work that you’re doing or the spaces that you’re in, then there may be a misalignment. And one of the things that I like to offer my clients is to do just a personal assessment of who are you? And it’s similar to essentially what we’ve been talking about, right? Where we’ve been talking about the themes on how you show up. And so one of those things is I would offer you all to just take out a piece of paper or a notebook, however you decide to take notes. And at the very top right, who am I? And then under that, I want you to write out all the things that you are not inclusive of your work title, not inclusive of your parental title, of your spousal title, but literally getting down to the nuts and bolts of who you are. So doing an exhaustive list. And when you get down to that list and you find yourself saying, oh, I’m a good friend, I want you to like, elaborate. What makes you a good friend? Right? And you’re a lot of my clients are like, But I’m a great parent. Okay, great. What makes you a great parent? And those qualities and those aspects are us getting down to who you are. And when you start looking at those, also look at, okay, well, what in my life am I feeling like I’m not actually in alignment with? And that’s where the work starts.

Stone Payton: What marvelous, pragmatic advice. I am so glad that I asked.

Speaker4: Me too. All right. So what’s the best way for our.

Stone Payton: Listeners to tap into your work, connect with you, get their hands on these books, listen to the podcast. Let’s give them some coordinates.

Chantée Christian: Absolutely. So you can find the books on Amazon if you look for my name is Chantée. C h a n t e e. And then Christian. Like the religion, you will find them. Um, if you go to my best shift.com, you can also find a link to everything that I have, um, including a, uh, clarifying session with me or discovery session. Um, the books, the podcast and any upcoming events or anything that I have going on there.

Stone Payton: What a marvelous way to invest a Thursday afternoon. I have thoroughly enjoyed this conversation. I know our listeners have as well. Thank you for investing the time and the energy to be with us, and thank you for the work you’re doing. Please keep up the good work. We’re going to continue to follow your story and we sure appreciate you.

Chantée Christian: Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate this.

Stone Payton: My pleasure. All right. Until next time. This is Stone Payton for our guest today, Chantée Christian, with my best shift and everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying we’ll see you in the fast lane.

 

Tagged With: My Best SHIFT

BRX Pro Tip: Help People Make Memories

April 14, 2025 by angishields

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BRX Pro Tip: Help People Make Memories

Stone Payton : Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor, Stone Payton here with you. Lee, the work that we do is so experiential, and a good experience is really so fundamental in so many businesses, particularly service-oriented businesses. What counsel, if any, do you have with regard to just making the experience better?

Lee Kantor: Yeah. I think a big differentiator when it comes to service-based businesses is how you can help people make memories. At Business RadioX, we have designed the way we provide our service to incorporate lots of opportunities for our guests and our clients to make positive memories. Like, we have built-in photo ops as part of our service. People can’t wait to take their picture in front of the microphone and the headphones. People are handing their phones to the other people in the room. I mean, how many times have you done a show where people are just excited about the opportunity to take pictures in front of the microphone, not about doing the actual interview?

Lee Kantor: So if you have a service out there, think about ways that you can help the people that are there make memories. And, like, even if you have a retail store, it could be as simple as just having some stand-ups and something in the room that people take pictures of. I was recently at a bakery and they had this throne because they do a lot of princessy things so they had a throne for kids to put on a tiara, and they take a picture of them holding a cupcake because a lot of times they’re having a party where they’re a princess.

Lee Kantor: So, it creates a way to lock in that business, to get some branding out there, to get some content out there, and to incorporate your brand and what you deliver with some sort of memory.

Lee Kantor: So, people are always hungry for making memories. So if you can think about ways to help the people who matter most to you create more memories using your service and sharing it on social media, you’re going to be on your way to becoming that indispensable part of their lives and your community.

Empowering Female Entrepreneurs: Navigating Challenges and Embracing Authenticity with Jennifer Dawn

April 11, 2025 by angishields

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In this episode of High Velocity Radio, Stone Payton is joined by Jennifer Dawn, a coach, consultant, speaker, and five-time international bestselling author. Jennifer discusses her mission to help individuals, especially female entrepreneurs, unlock their full potential and create soul-aligned businesses. She shares her entrepreneurial journey, the unique challenges women face in business, and her holistic coaching approach. Jennifer also talks about her upcoming book, “Dad’s Pennies from Heaven,” which chronicles her father’s experiences with dementia.

Jennifer-DawnJennifer Dawn is a five-time international best-selling author and the owner and CEO of Jennifer Dawn Ltd. She has authored one solo book, seven co-authored books, and three magazine articles.

Jennifer has been featured in Authority Magazine, spoken at BLU Talks events, and appeared on numerous podcasts worldwide. Her upcoming non-fiction book, “Dad’s Pennies from Heaven,” is set to be released by Hay House in 2025.

Jennifer specializes in transforming spiritual entrepreneurs’ confusion into clarity, aligning their message with what resonates with them and their true purpose. She excels in uncovering their unique voice and purpose, whether it’s for writing a book, speaking on stage, or defining their business offers. Jennifer helps map out their business plans in a way that feels deeply aligned and meaningful.

Her holistic approach empowers clients to overcome blocks and move forward positively, ensuring comprehensive growth and fulfillment in both personal and professional lives. As a spiritual medium and teacher, Jennifer guides individuals to develop their intuition and spiritual abilities. She helps people connect with their inner wisdom.

Jennifer not only helps people develop their intuition but also uses her own intuition to provide them with guidance through oracle readings, mediumship sessions, and even past life regressions. In her upcoming book, Dad’s Pennies from Heaven, Jennifer shares her personal journey as both the daughter and caregiver of her father, Robert, who had dementia. Jennifer-Dawn-logo

She details Robert’s experiences with dementia, including his perspective during the active dying stage, and unveils unknown truths he shared before his passing.

In his final week, Robert experienced moments of remarkable clarity, free from dementia’s grip. Jennifer audio recorded his last days, capturing his profound experiences and conversations as he transitioned to the other side.

Driven by a commitment to honour her father’s legacy, she raises awareness about dementia, providing hope and support to affected families and caregivers.

To connect with Jennifer Dawn, visit her website at: www.jenniferdawn.net or find her on various social media platforms via: https://linktr.ee/jenniferdawnmedium.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • Balancing caregiving responsibilities with running a business
  • Introduction to Jennifer’s upcoming book Dad’s Pennies from Heaven
  • Personal journey as an entrepreneur and business owner
  • Specializing in transforming spiritual entrepreneurs’ confusion into clarity and aligning entrepreneurs’ messages with their true purpose
  • Uncovering clients’ unique voice and purpose for writing, speaking, and business offers
  • Empowering clients to overcome obstacles and achieve personal and professional growth through a holistic approach

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.

Stone Payton: Welcome to the High Velocity Radio show, where we celebrate top performers producing better results in less time. This is going to be a good one. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast, coach, consultant, speaker, and five time international best selling author, Jennifer Dawn. How are you?

Jennifer Dawn: Hi, Stone. Hello everybody! I am doing great and so excited to be here today.

Stone Payton: This is going to be a fantastic conversation. I’d like to start, if we could, with mission. Purpose. What are you really out there trying to do for folks? Jennifer.

Jennifer Dawn: Thank you so much for asking me. Stone. So my mission and purpose is to help people unlock their full potential and their true authentic selves. And my purpose has actually been combined with my passion, and that is helping people have soul aligned businesses that they feel incredibly passionate about. And another purpose of mine is also spreading my dad’s message about dementia, which is the unknown truth about dementia.

Stone Payton: So how did you get into this line of work? What’s your backstory?

Jennifer Dawn: So I actually come from a very strong entrepreneurial background and family. So my dad’s dad, my grandfather, actually was a very strong, passionate and successful entrepreneur and it carried on to my dad and then it carried on to me. So I actually became a full time entrepreneur in 2018, and I have been so incredibly grateful to be on this journey.

Stone Payton: So when you first kind of got into this business, was the transition a little bit tough, like the sales and marketing of it, running the business side of it, or because of your, uh, entrepreneurial pedigree and folks to lean on. Did it go pretty easy for you?

Jennifer Dawn: Uh, that’s the interesting part is actually, it was a bumpy ride. So even though I came from a very strong entrepreneurial family, I even though I took notes and I took a lot of mental notes since I was a young girl, I personally believe every entrepreneur has their own unique journey, and I definitely experienced some hiccups and some bumps along the way. But those even those bumpy rides actually gave me a greater perspective. They also, I gained a lot of experience and insight that I otherwise would not have had. And because of those experiences, even the difficult ones, I have been able to help my coaching clients in a way that I wouldn’t have had otherwise. So, but in the last seven years, it will be seven years, actually this July that I’ve been working for myself full time. It has been an amazing journey because, as I said, even the difficult times has really helped me evolve into a stronger entrepreneur, but also an even better version of myself. And each year, my business and my myself evolve. So if we even looked at my business since 2018, the logo design, the branding, everything has reflected all the different changes that I have personally gone through over the last seven years, and the business has also gone through a lot of changes.

Stone Payton: Well, congratulations on a seven year milestone that suggests to me that you’ve, uh, you’ve about got this thing figured out. It’s probably going to work. So congratulations on that. Tell us a little bit about the the work. Are you conducting work virtually in person individuals teams or speak to the way you execute on the work? A little bit if you would.

Jennifer Dawn: Oh for sure. So I actually offer both one on one sessions virtually and also group coaching sessions as well. That actually just launched this year. So for the group coaching right now I’m focusing on female entrepreneurs. Uh, because female entrepreneurship is actually a minority. And there’s there’s not a lot of female entrepreneurs. It is growing, but there’s still definitely a lot of growth and support needed there. And the one on one coaching sessions. I. I offer to any entrepreneur that is willing to do the work not only for their business, but also on themselves.

Stone Payton: Now, are you finding that female entrepreneurs, um, face the challenges that maybe we all do, but maybe there are some challenges, some obstacles that are unique to females in the in the business world.

Jennifer Dawn: Personally, from personal experience, what I’ve already witnessed. Yes. Uh, because I have seen. Well, it’s interesting even for funding, for example. So funding has not. And I live in Canada, actually. But what I have noticed in Canada too, is there is not a lot of, uh, grant support or funding for female entrepreneurs. So that is definitely also another growth, uh, opportunity there. And also I have noticed just I can only speak with the people that I have personally connected with. And I’ve noticed that confidence is not always there. And yet I have a lot of male clientele as well, and I’ve noticed that there’s more confidence. So as an entrepreneur, confidence is definitely going to be the gas pedal for your business. So if you have if you have low confidence, your car is not going to go very far.

Stone Payton: That makes sense. So I’m operating under the impression, at least in the early stages, of considering engaging a coach, or maybe even in those first, you know, conversations, those those early sessions that maybe some people come in with some preconceived notions about what your work is, what it isn’t. Do you find that there are some some myths or some some things that you have to kind of educate through and around before you can really helped them as much as possible.

Jennifer Dawn: Yes, I totally agree. Yes, there is because I actually don’t keep it a secret. I am highly intuitive and I have actually taken my intuition, all my different abilities, as well as my 30 years of management and executive management experience, my business, education, all of it. And I have blended it together into my business. So what some people have shared with me is when they first connect with me, they honestly don’t even know what to expect because they don’t know what it is, even though they they see all the different education, the training, the experience, everything I bring to the table, they still don’t honestly know what it is to expect. And what I love is actually seeing how it all unfolds and how I’m able to bring everything to the table to help them in ways that they didn’t even realize was going to happen when they initially connected with me.

Stone Payton: Yeah, I’m thinking if like if I had an opportunity to sit down with someone with your skill set, your mindset, your tool set, and even if you just and I don’t know what your what your approach is and I’m anxious to learn more about that. But even if you just said, let me sit down and just sort of vent and talk a little while, I gotta believe I would walk out of there at least a little with a little more clarity, or at least the ability to communicate some things clearer than before, just from having the opportunity to sort of talk it out. Yeah.

Jennifer Dawn: Yes. Thank you so much for sharing that, because honestly, you just hit the word that I share with everybody. So I offer clarity for people because people that connect with me, they are usually in a state of confusion, sometimes frustration, sometimes even anger where they have been putting all their resources, including their money, into different avenues and their business is not chugging along, as I call it, the momentum trade, the way that they would like it to be. And so they are really frustrated, sometimes almost reaching the point of burnout, complete exhaustion, and they don’t know where to go. So what I bring to the table is literally taking that state of confusion and actually converting it into clarity and excitement. So where they when they work with me, not only are they excited about the business they’re creating, but other areas of their life start clicking into place. Because when people operate with a soul aligned purpose and their business is aligned with them. It literally is the magic wand. It actually creates the Midas touch, where things in their life start clicking into place, and it’s because they are operating at a higher level than they ever have before. That really personally excites me to see that when all these puzzle pieces I call them click into place and then their offers, their products, their services is authentic and aligned. So it doesn’t have that cheesy salesman feel to it. And when they have everything click into place, their purpose is crystal clear. Their business and the the plan and path is crystal clear. Their offers are crystal clear. It is really exciting and fascinating to see the switch that happens. And I call it the switch, where they actually get so excited about life in their business that often they won’t even need an alarm clock anymore because they actually wake up in the morning so excited to start their day because it is aligned with them and it doesn’t have that draining, low energy feeling to it that they might have experienced before.

Stone Payton: When I hear you describe your work, the two words that come to mind to me are at once personalized and holistic. Like you’re working with the whole human here, aren’t you?

Jennifer Dawn: Yes, yes. Thank you for sharing that. That’s. Those are perfect words to describe it.

Stone Payton: And I guess you’ve really already answered it. But I’m going to ask anyway because I know sometimes this can evolve and change, particularly as you, your own self, as you develop more services and products and projects. What’s the most fun about it these days for you? What’s the most rewarding aspect of the work that you’re that you’re finding these days?

Jennifer Dawn: Oh, that’s such a powerful question. Honestly, the most rewarding if I had to narrow it down to one thing, one aspect of a result of the work that I do, I would say the most rewarding is seeing people literally lighting up from within and excited about their life, who they are and where they’re going. And that to me, to me, has been more fulfilling than anything I’ve ever done in my life before. And I’ve lived a quite a life already, and I’ve had a lot of fulfillment. But seeing this where people truly are excited about who they are and where they’re going. That to me means everything.

Stone Payton: Wow. So in just a moment, I’d like to dive into this new book you’ve got coming out. I’ve got a ton of questions around that, but before we even go there, just the idea of being a writer and committing your ideas to paper and then putting them out there for the the world to enjoy or take some shots at. Can you speak a little bit to that whole process, what you feel like you’ve learned from that and what it what what it’s like to to be a writer. And I’m asking for myself, uh, partially, but also, I think a lot of people who tap into our work here, many of them have some designs on, on writing at least one book.

Jennifer Dawn: Yes. And I’m so glad you asked that as well, because one of the personalized coaching directions that I have with people is I have often clients come to me exactly with that reason and with that question, because they know they have a book inside of them that is begging to be written and they don’t know what is the next step or I’ve also had people come to me because they want to speak on stage, but they don’t know what their message is. They just know they want to speak on stage. I’ve had other people come to me. They want to have a podcast, but they don’t know what it is they’re going to do with their podcast. So with a book and with writing, I always knew I was going to be a writer. So my mom’s mom, my my grandmother, she was a published author and she was the only published author in the family until myself. And she told me when I was a young girl, she said, Jennifer, I know you’re going to be a writer. I know you’re going to be a writer. So fast forward. So I just recently turned 50. So for all your listeners, it doesn’t matter if you’re 15, 50 or 105, it honestly doesn’t matter how old you are. It is never too late to make your dreams a reality. Since 2020, I have actually written a lot. I have actually written four magazine articles now just as of a week ago. A week ago, eight coauthor books and one solo book. And that’s just since 2020.

Jennifer Dawn: And as we know, that’s only five years ago. So honestly, it is never too late to make your dream a reality. The first step is taking the first step. So for those that have watched Harry Potter, I call it the Dumbledore moment. And there’s a character in there. He takes a wand to his forehead and he pulls all his memories into the fountain. So this is what I recommend for new authors. It is so important to literally pull everything out of your mind onto paper or computer, whatever is more comfortable for you. It’s so important to just get the ideas out of your head, and you’re literally going to free your mind, and your concentration will improve because you have all these ideas pulled out of your head. It doesn’t matter right now where the ideas are going. It’s just so important to just get them out of your head first. That’s the first step. And I literally call it the Reese’s Pieces. Just follow the Reese’s Pieces. Q ET. Et. Phone home et. Love Reese’s pieces. One Reese’s Piece at a time. Often the anxiousness, the frustration, the anxiety will come when we’re focused on the future, and we’re worried about things that have not even happened and might not ever happen. It’s so important to be present in the present, so just take one Reese’s Piece at a time. First step is getting the ideas out on a paper or a computer, whatever you want to use. That’s the first step. And then you go to the next Reese’s Piece.

Stone Payton: Okay. Tell us about this new book you got coming out or is it already out?

Jennifer Dawn: Actually not yet. Thank you for asking. So it’s called Dad’s Pennies from Heaven. It’s my first solo book, and it’s actually going to be released at the end of 2025. It looks like being published. I’m very grateful by hay House publishing, and in this book it is actually, uh, a journey, an entire journey. I take the reader on a journey from the beginning of my dad’s life until the end and thereafter. So my dad had dementia, and in his final week of life, he had no dementia. So I audio recorded the last four days of his life, and he was able to have full conversations. He had full clarity and was able to have conversations with myself, my family and the medical staff and was able to share unbelievable messages prior to his passing, including talking about what it was like for him having dementia. And I actually have the head of the Alzheimer’s Society of B.C., who works with Canada and International Alzheimer Society, and she said in her 35 years working with them, she has never seen anything like this documented in the world. So she’s very, very excited about how this can help people worldwide that are being impacted by dementia or Alzheimer’s.

Stone Payton: Wow. Oh, you must be so excited. I’m excited for you. And what a a blessing to to be able to capture all, all of that and now share it with the world. What an exciting time for you.

Jennifer Dawn: Oh, thank you so much Stone. I am really excited and also so thankful for our medical field out here. They actually just recently gave me their blessing and shared some very powerful medical records of my dad’s that I am going to be able to include in the book and if the book is turned into film. They also gave me the blessing to include it in film as well.

Stone Payton: Wow. All right, I’m going to switch gears on you for a minute if I if I might. Um, I’m interested, and I think our listeners will be too. Hobbies, pursuits, interest, passions outside the scope of this work. Now, anything you nerd out about or or do to kind of get away and recharge.

Jennifer Dawn: Oh, yes. I love painting, so I actually paint wooden signs. I love creating home decor. I also love Marvel and DC Comics and Galaxy Quest. So my geek out moments is I love to wrap myself in movies from Marvel Comics and DC comics for sure.

Stone Payton: Oh that’s fantastic. All right, before we wrap up, I would like to leave our listeners with a little bit of advice, a pro tip, something like that. Um, and particularly, you know, maybe connect it to life in general, but also, you know, maybe there’s someone out there thinking about engaging someone like you. Maybe there’s someone out there that feels like maybe this is a career path for them. And in either of those cases, the best pro tip I can give you is reach out and have a conversation with Jennifer. But between now and then, let’s give them a little something to chew on. Jennifer.

Jennifer Dawn: Oh well, thank you so much for sharing that stone. I appreciate that. So if you’re listening right now and you have been feeling what I call the nudge, you have been feeling the nudge that there is something there’s a new path for you. Whether it’s writing a book, speaking on stage, starting your own business. Maybe you’ve been in corporate for the last 15 years of your life, and you now want to jump and into entrepreneurship. My little nugget of my tip for you is trust the nudge. Trust that nudge. You are literally being nudged. You’re being called to go on a new path, a new journey. It’s so important to trust what it is that your internal self is telling you. Really trust that feel into it and then explore it. Because honestly, if I had ignored the nudge that I received in 2018, Stone, you and I would not be having this conversation right now and I would not be connecting with your listeners right now. So I’m so thankful that I trusted the nudge.

Stone Payton: Man, I learned so much from these conversations, and I take so much away, and I apply it a great deal to pieces that I’m going to borrow. With your permission, Reese’s Pieces just, you know, that’s great. And trust the nudge that is that is marvelous advice. Thank you for that. All right. What’s the best way? Yeah. What’s the best way for our listeners to reach out and connect with you. Tap into your work, get their hands on the the books that you’ve already participated in writing and the one that’s coming out. Let’s give them some coordinates to make it easy to connect with you.

Jennifer Dawn: Well, thank you so much, Stone. So yes, you can definitely connect with me. I am on the land of social media in so many different platforms. So to make it easier, you can find me on my website at. Or you can email me at info Jennifer Dawn. And also, to make it so much easier, I found this amazing app called Linktree and it literally has all the different links, even some of my magazine articles, and also even has my booking calendar. And you can find it at Linktree. And my name is Jennifer Dawn. Medium like small, medium, large, medium. So Jennifer Dawn medium. And that’s how you’ll find me on Linktree.

Stone Payton: What an absolute delight it has been having you on the broadcast today. You are. You are such a warm, giving, thoughtful, knowledgeable person. You are obviously doing tremendous work. Please keep up the good work and know that we sure appreciate you. Jennifer.

Jennifer Dawn: Thank you so much Stone. You are a beautiful soul and a beautiful interviewer. Thank you so much for having me on your show. It means a lot to me.

Stone Payton: My pleasure. All right, until next time. This is Stone Payton for our guest today, Jennifer Dorn and everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying we’ll see you in the fast lane.

 

Empowering Women: The Key to Breaking Free from Entrepreneurial Isolation

April 11, 2025 by angishields

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In this episode of High Velocity Radio, host Stone Payton talks with Evgenia Baikova, a coach and consultant dedicated to empowering female entrepreneurs. Evgenia shares her journey from a 20-year career in human resources to entrepreneurship, driven by her passion for people development. She discusses the common challenges women face in business, such as overthinking and loneliness, and emphasizes the importance of mentorship and community. Evgenia offers practical advice for overcoming professional hurdles and highlights her commitment to providing accessible resources and coaching to help women thrive in their entrepreneurial endeavors.

Fulfillment-Coaching-and-Consulting-logo

Evgenia-BaikovaEvgenia Baikova is a certified coach, speaker, and mindset strategist who helps female professionals transition from corporate to entrepreneurship with confidence and clarity.

She specializes in developing a growth mindset, empowering women to overcome self-doubt, stop overthinking, and trust their decisions—so they can build a business that truly aligns with who they are.

With 20+ years in HR leadership, a Master’s in Management, and certifications as a Co-Active Coach (CPCC, ACC) and Gallup CliftonStrengths Coach, Evgenia blends mindset transformation with strengths-based strategy. Her coaching helps women break through limiting beliefs, step into leadership, and create success on their own terms.

She also works with women business owners with teams, using CliftonStrengths to improve communication, collaboration, and team ownership—so they can lead with ease instead of micromanaging.

Her mission? To help ex-corporate women shift their mindset, trust their strengths, and build a business that feels fulfilling and sustainable—without burnout or self-doubt.

Connect with Evgenia on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • The biggest mindset shifts female entrepreneurs transitioning from corporate need to make to succeed in business
  • The biggest mindset traps that hold new entrepreneurs back, and how they can overcome them
  • How new coaches or service-based entrepreneurs can build a sustainable business
  • The role strengths-based coaching plays in helping new entrepreneurs break through fear, self-doubt, and business plateaus
  • Practical ways new entrepreneurs can stop overthinking every decision and start leading with confidence

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.

Stone Payton: Welcome to the High Velocity Radio show, where we celebrate top performers producing better results in less time. Stone Payton here with you this afternoon. You guys are in for a real treat. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast with Fulfillment Coaching and Consulting, Evgenia Baikova. How are you?

Evgenia Baikova: I am doing great. You know it is cold outside, but sun is shining. That means everything is fine.

Stone Payton: What a delight to have you on the broadcast. I’ve really been looking forward to this conversation. I think maybe let’s start with if we could, for the benefit of me and our listeners. Mission. Purpose? What? Are you really out there trying to do for folks?

Evgenia Baikova: Oh, and that’s the nice beginning. So my mission and the purpose that’s that’s the interesting thing because, well, when we were talking, uh, previously, I shared with you that my background is purely human resources. But one day I decided that, well, I have something to do in this world. And now I’m on the mission to bring resources for female entrepreneurs to help them grow and to help them stop overthinking and feel in control of their businesses. And by resources, I mean the tools that are, um, um, available for those who are working for fortune 500 organizations. But now I’m bringing that resources to small organizations, for solopreneurs, for entrepreneurs making that accessible.

Stone Payton: So what compelled the decision to focus primarily on on female Entrepreneurs.

Evgenia Baikova: Um, well, I used to work, uh, well, my, uh, initial packages, my initial services was about leadership, because that was kind of a natural thing for me to continue what I was doing in corporate. But then I realized that female entrepreneurs, um, fellow coaches, for example, they don’t have that support because entrepreneurship is lonely and you’re just by yourself doing all the things, and there is no help that you can rely on. So and I when I quit my corporate, um, job that 9 to 5, my network has expanded significantly and I felt that loneliness in the community. That’s why I decided to switch.

Stone Payton: So you mentioned the corporate 9 to 5. Uh, tell us a little bit more about your journey to get here. What’s the backstory? I bet it wasn’t a direct path.

Evgenia Baikova: Well, uh, I was always passionate about people’s development, and I help them to grow. And, you know, so many people describing me as gifted person who see the little talent and know that I can, you know, help you to discover the talent, to discover your strengths and help you nurture and maintain that. So it’s a kind of a gift that I had through all my life. And that’s, um, why I made a decision to join, to get actually a degree in human resources. And then I was working in human resources function for different organizations. And, well, 20 plus years, this is my career, and I build my way up, um, to director, HR, director position. And I led teams, I coach teams and leaders and in place. So it was everything about helping them to be better at what they do. And to me, coaching and establishing my coaching practice was kind of a natural path to continue. But I also feel that in my organization being just, you know, um, the owner and the CEO who, who is making decisions, who is deciding what’s mission, a vision and strategy, that’s, um, something which is bigger than I was before. And I also used to work with coach, who many, many times told me, well, Evgenia, you are bigger than just a coach. Uh, because you are also a supporter. You are a connector. You are a great networker too.

Stone Payton: So I want to hear a little bit more about the work itself. Are you working largely one on one? Are you working with groups or a little bit of both? What what does it look like when you actually begin in engaging with someone to help them?

Evgenia Baikova: And that’s a great question because just, uh, in the morning before our call, I had another call and we were talking about workshop and that actually, that workshop can lead to group coaching. I like working with groups, too. And this is, um, an opportunity to work with me because, you know that before I used to work with teams. Right? And it’s all about team dynamics. And I like that. It’s a kind of a I don’t know, you are bringing magic to people. And when they when you see how they are working together, that one person ask one question. And that that started like, um, the chain reaction in the group of people. And before that, I was primarily focusing on one on one coaching because I really like to be, um, in close connection with whom I work, to learn about the person, to know the person, to feel and sense what’s going on there. But also, you know, working with teams, it’s a bit different, but it’s also it’s also can bring that deep connections and deep relationships. So yes, I do both. I work one on one and I also do a team coaching a group coaching.

Stone Payton: So I as I’m hearing you talk, I’m trying to envision that environment. I suspect there’s a great deal of, um, what would you call it, peer to peer learning. I bet they learn a lot from each other as well.

Evgenia Baikova: Yes yes yes yes yes. And, you know, that’s why I think that. Well I’m not I didn’t invent something new, but what I do with my group coaching or team coaching, I provide them with bits and pieces of information, a kind of a theory or sharing something with them, teaching them. And then I do a kind of a guided learning so that they are paired or they are working in small groups because, you know, that lecture is not the format when you learn, right? You can understand what person is talking about, but there is no learning there, right? That’s why I make my, um, sessions very interactive where they can practice. So I give them something, then they practice and they reflect on what just happened to them, and they report this is the best format that. Well, and this is my opinion, I like this format a lot.

Stone Payton: So at this point in your career, what do you what are you enjoying the most? What’s the what’s the most fun about it these days for you?

Evgenia Baikova: Well, I, uh, as I mentioned before, I like one on one because this is about deep connections. I like group sessions because it’s fun. And I also like to be on the stage because, you know, I also think that this is a part of my mission to share what I learn. And I have, uh, my experience, I have my background in education, too, so I really do. I really have something to share, especially that. You know, I believe that this is a kind of a magical combination of my experience and my education. And you know that while I have a couple of certifications and one of them is Co-active coaching, which is actually considered to be the most transformational coaching on the market, and Gallup Strengthsfinder that allows me to bring to my clients strengths based coaching. And my experience allows me to wear an additional hat being a mentor, right? So I was in corporate now when I am entrepreneur. So that’s the shift, right? I’ve been an employee and then I become a director. That’s another shift. So I know all the things I know ins and outs, and I can help my clients to navigate if they are experiencing something similar or they are preparing themselves for the next chapter, for the next step.

Stone Payton: So are you finding yourself working with a lot of females or a critical mass of females who are transitioning, much like you did at one time, from a more traditional environment to now an entrepreneurial environment. And if so, are you seeing some patterns, some common challenges that you just about always know you’re going to try to help them work through?

Evgenia Baikova: Yeah. Well thank you, stone, this is an interesting question because, you know, when I was in my certification program, so many instructors told us, okay, guys, you will definitely attract clients as you are with the same experience, with the same beliefs. And yes, this is working. This is true. So I do attract female, um, uh, clients who are transitioning or who are thinking about this transition. And yes, they all have something in common. And this is, you know, um, how to name it, like, not the obstacle. But this is a challenge and I help them to learn how to trust themselves. Because you know that the biggest shift from being in corporate environment or being in a 9 to 5, and then when you are transitioning in entrepreneurship, it’s about trusting yourself because you are alone, right? You are the person who is making decisions. You are the person who are defining success for yourself. Because in corporate world, how you define your success, who define that for you, your promotions, right? Your performance reviews are, I don’t know, feedback from your leader, feedback from your colleagues. But now you’re alone, so you just need to make yourself comfortable making decisions without constant, um, um, constant reassurance. And this is the biggest shift, right? Because we are waiting. Because in corporate, when you were in, uh, 9 to 5 environment. Everything was already decided, right? Everything was validated. Okay, now you’re good to go. Well, yes, you are on the right track. But what to do now? You just. You. Right. So many questions. That’s why we experiencing overthinking. That’s why we are waiting for perfect moments. Right?

Stone Payton: Right. So for you personally, when you made the transition, I’m sure you’re well beyond this. Now if it was a challenge, but did you have any any trouble with just the business side of things like, like getting the new business and running? Yeah, speak to that. Of course.

Evgenia Baikova: Yes. And, um, this is a great, you know, moment to share this. Of course I was there too, right? Because, well, I, uh, I knew how to be a leader, right? I knew how to be a good employee. I knew that I am a good coach because I was trained, I was certified, I pass numbers of exams, right? But being a coach is the skill and being the business owner is another one. And to be successful, you need both. And that’s the thing that what I’m observing, especially um, within coaching community, those who are new to coaching, those who are just graduating their school just got their certifications, they think, and I was the same. Well, I’m a great coach. I will attract so many clients and actually it’s not working like that, right? It is not. So that was a huge learning curve for me.

Stone Payton: So when, uh, when people are at least considering engaging you or just thinking about maybe engaging a coach or early in the process if they’ve pulled the trigger and decided to do that, do you find that sometimes they have some preconceived notions or maybe even myths about what coaching is and what it isn’t. And is that a challenge at all from time to time?

Evgenia Baikova: It is. And you know, this is our job. I mean, this is coach’s job to explain what coaching is and what it is not. Right. And I like this analogy like I’m the if you are trying to learn how to ride the bike, you need to maintain balance. And to maintain balance, you need a person who will hold the bike for you. So the coach’s job is to hold the bike for you while you are learning to maintain the balance. And when you are in the balance, you can write on your own.

Stone Payton: So did I know the answer to this is yes, but I’m going to ask anyway so that maybe you can expand on it. But my question is, did you have the benefit of one or more mentors along the way as you were navigating that new terrain? Or maybe you’re even to this day tapping into, uh, mentors or maybe even serving as a mentor yourself. But talk about that a little bit. This idea of mentoring.

Evgenia Baikova: Of course, I was an I am big fan of mentoring and I was a part of mentoring, um, initiative when when I was working in corporate and after that I decided, okay, so I have a coach who helped me with my mindset, but I need someone who, um, who can teach me how to do business or at least be my sounding board, or at least to be a person who can connect me with other people. And the biggest learning for me was that it’s okay to have more than one mentor. And now I have two. Well, uh, they are from absolutely different industries. Nothing to do with coaching, but I enjoy having them both as my sounding board. And yes, I am also a mentor for, uh, for those who are new to coaching. And for example, I’m also serving at one nonprofit organization where we provide free coaching for women in need. And we have volunteers who are coaching people. So we teach the basics how to coach, what to do, what’s not allowed, and I help them to be better at what they do because they have that calling. So yes, I can consider myself being a mentor too.

Stone Payton: So I’m going to switch gears on you for a moment, if I may. I am genuinely interested to know what you might find yourself doing if you’re not coaching. Speaking. Mentoring. Writing. Hobbies. Interests. Pursuits outside the the scope of the work?

Evgenia Baikova: Mm, I don’t know. I don’t know, that’s, um. It seems like I cannot survive without coaching or helping people. You know, I’m a big helper. So if coaching is not the thing, probably I will find myself helping in other, different ways. Um, Mean? Well, I used to serve as a board member of one nonprofit. Well, definitely will do that more. I will definitely volunteer. And of course, travel. I like traveling a lot. And for example, last week that was an interesting experience for me. Um, that was a kind of workation. So I just joined my husband, who was, um, on the trip, and he was working. I was working, but also we, um, carved some time for us to explore the area, and we went to Arizona, and that was the first time for us.

Stone Payton: Oh, neat. Well, I wonder if you have this experience. My listeners know that I like to hunt, fish and travel, and I like to be on the water or in the in the woods, but I genuinely believe with all my heart, Evgenia, that when I take time to do that and invest in myself a little bit, I really feel like I come back that much better equipped to to serve and maybe that much better a practitioner. Has that been your experience?

Evgenia Baikova: I would agree, and I also will add that being outside, uh, and it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to go somewhere far. Just being outside of your house some time can bring you new perspectives. Like you can, um, be thinking about something, but just getting outside of your office, you see it, uh, in a new light in. But when you travel with all the experiences of being on a plane, being in a taxi, or living in a hotel, it also brings you ideas and perspectives and sometimes even change your mind. And especially if you have an opportunity to meet people while you are traveling. And I did it. I met a friend of mine. Um, actually, that was the first time we were meeting in person because, well, our friendship starts. That’s just started online. And that was an interesting conversation, you know, and that’s absolutely a different flavor of being, um, just close to each other in half similar conversations that we used to have online. But yeah, it’s changed some. It’s not changed, but it brought me some ideas and even I, um, created some posts for my social media after that journey.

Stone Payton: I am so glad I asked. I think that’s that’s marvelous. Hey, listen, before we wrap, I would love to leave our listeners with a couple of ideas. Pieces of advice, maybe, uh, pro tips. Sometimes I call them, uh, any, anywhere from, you know, if someone’s feeling stuck, they’ve hit a plateau. Uh, they’re they’re really wrestling with this, uh, genuine role shift from, you know, high performing contributor in an organizational environment. Now they’re out there trying to do their their own thing. And look, guys, the number one pro tip for you, if any of this is striking a chord with you, reach out and have a conversation with Evgenia. But, uh, between now and then, let’s leave them with a little something to chew on, something to, to think about.

Evgenia Baikova: Um, and that’s a wonderful question. And it’s so aligned with what I am, uh, preparing for these days. On Monday, I will be leading an, uh, an interesting workshop being and doing because I so, um, I believe that we are missing that being part. We are doing right. We are high achievers, we are doing things, and sometimes we are doing that on autopilot. And that being peace. It’s like one of my, our instructors, when I was in certification program, told us, well, we are human beings. We are not human doings. That makes sense, right? So just, you know, be present in the moment. And this is not just words, right? When you are in the middle of something and you feel that, well, something is missed, just try to be present and try to feel feel yourself. Okay. I’m sitting in this chair. Is it comfortable? What’s about my back? What’s about my legs? Um, what about the temperature in the room? What I’m drinking. Is it tea or coffee? Because sometimes we’re drinking something just on autopilot. Right. Again. And another thing is that when you try to do something which is challenging, usually we think, okay, am I ready? Is it the perfect moment? Well, do the thing before you’re ready because you will never be right. And, um, because clarity and confidence, they are coming from action. And this is another workshop that actually I do uh, confidence is, uh, forged in fire or confidence is embodied in action. Right. So act do little steps every day. Right. And you will see that you are progressing faster than when you are thinking about, I don’t know, making a giant leap.

Stone Payton: What marvelous advice. Thank you for that. All right. What’s the best way for our listeners to connect with you? Have a conversation with you about any of these topics. Start to tap into your work. Let’s give them some coordinates. A good way to to connect.

Evgenia Baikova: Well, I have a an interesting, very, um, creative email address. And it’s fda@fcc.com. But coach and also uh, this is the same address for my website, FCC code. You can find me there. Uh, let’s connect let’s chat. I have different resources, and you can, um, Um, think about what’s what fits you, right? So we can just chat. We can be part of my program. You can join my workshop. Some of them are free. So, yeah, a lot of tools.

Stone Payton: Evgenia, this has been a fantastic conversation. Thank you for your insight, your perspective. You’re clearly doing incredibly important work for so many and we sure appreciate you.

Evgenia Baikova: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Stone Payton: My pleasure. All right. Until next time. This is Stone Payton for our guest today. Evgenia Baykova and everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying we’ll see you in the fast lane.

 

Angela Kim with Missing Pieces Support Group

April 11, 2025 by angishields

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Houston Business Radio
Angela Kim with Missing Pieces Support Group
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Angela-KimAngela Kim is the founder of Illumines Core, a healing-centered space dedicated to mental, emotional, and self-development.

Her personal journey—from childhood trauma to overcoming suicidal ideation, abusive relationships, and the loss of a pregnancy—fueled her passion to help others heal. Through her studies in psychology and mental health at Walden University, Angela now empowers children, veterans, spouses, athletes, and professionals to move through trauma and into transformation.

In her conversation with Trisha Stetzel, Angela opened up about the emotional toll of miscarriage and the importance of processing grief and trauma. She emphasized the power of community, connection, and shared experiences in healing.

Angela also discussed the Missing Pieces Support Group, which provides trauma-informed resources and support—now including virtual panels that have expanded their impact nationwide, particularly reaching and supporting men in their healing journeys.

Connect with Angela on LinkedIn.

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Houston, Texas. It’s time for Houston Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Trisha Stetzel: Hello, Houston. Trisha Stetzel here bringing you another episode of Houston Business Radio. Serving the community. Series I have with me today. Someone that you might recognize Angela Kim. Only today she’s going to be representing Missing Pieces Support. She is a brand ambassador and a content creator for that organization. Angela, welcome back to the show.

Angela Kim: Thank you. Trisha.

Trisha Stetzel: I’m so. Yeah, I’m so excited to have you back now. Uh, some people may have missed the show that you and I had together. So I would love for you to tell us who Angela is. You’re going to have to give us a little bit of your story, and then we’ll take a deeper dive.

Angela Kim: Who Angela is. Oh my goodness, I. I guess we’ll just start with, um, we’ll start with the story of why and who and all that. So, um, my recent story would be more of, um, I went through a miscarriage before, um, the pandemic, a few days before the pandemic, and I was very confused. You know, it’s just didn’t really have any resources after the fact because we were on shutdown, like, everybody was closed. And so I just dealt with it myself, thinking that, okay, maybe it’s like another period. And I’m going into detail. So this may be triggering for some people. Um, and it was just the most intense, traumatic experience for me physically. You know, just seeing the amount of and I’m going to be gross is the amount of blood that came out. I was like, how is this? This doesn’t this isn’t right. There’s there’s something wrong. And I don’t think my body is is recovering. Right. Because afterwards I was just I was not myself. It took me a lot longer to complete simple tasks and I realized that I wasn’t able to work. I literally said, I, I’m having to look up things for work. It took me ten times longer. I was like, this is not right. Um, there’s something really off with me. And because we were going through the pandemic at the same time, for some people it was the worst experience for me, it was kind of a really bad experience because I was going through, you know, physical trauma. Um, yet at the same time, I was grateful because I didn’t have to work.

Angela Kim: Um, I wasn’t able to, um, and later on, come to find out, is it created or it opened up complex PTSD for me. So complex PTSD was something that it was coming to terms with. Dealing with PTSD in the first place was like, oh my gosh, there’s no way. You know, I thought I had a normal life. And I think that’s the story for most people is that they think they have a normal life, not realizing some of the things that we experience losses, um, you know, even physical trauma, even though we think that it’s a small thing, our body does not react, react or respond that way. It requires full processing for the emotions, for that trauma to process out of the body. Yeah. And that is I would say that’s like the the core of my story on understanding even more and being more compassionate when it comes to coaching individuals and recognizing the nuances. Okay. Is this somebody bullshitting me or are they really going through, you know, are they triggered because you can see a difference? There’s that nuance that it’s okay, it’s very fine line. Yet there’s when you’ve been through it, you kind of have more compassion for and grace for the the struggles that someone goes through, especially when they’re recovering from PTSD and complexes. Even more, it’s it’s going back to and it’s opening up all the traumas that you experienced from childhood until that time until that moment. And so it just it, I guess in a way, it confirmed and validated the work and the study that I had with mental health and just seeing how everything is connected, you know, how the body affects the mind, how the mind affects the body, vice versa, like how you’re feeding yourself and everything.

Angela Kim: And so, um, I started getting a little bit better, a little bit better. And I was, um, subbing at BNI, and I was introduced to BNI, and I just kept going here and there, and I that’s how I met Jamilah with Missing Pieces, the founder of Missing Pieces support Group. And she at first I was like, no, there’s no way I’m not going to talk to this lady. I don’t I’m I’m not ready. There’s this isn’t real because I didn’t really have the full term of anything. It was the appointment was for the heartbeat, and that was after that. That was when I had the miscarriage. So it everyone’s experience is very different. And actually talking to Jamilah and talking to women that I’ve connected with through Missing Pieces support group has allowed me to see that wow trauma at different stages in different parts of how the body responds to to things, memories, expectations. It’s all very different. And yet at the same time, there’s a there’s a same process of how the body is needing to process emotions like this. Um, and so that’s what I found out honestly. And through Missing Pieces support group, it’s just being able to share my experience and actually be heard by another woman who experienced a similar loss in the. The words were unnecessary. You know, when I, when I was sharing my story, um, I just needed someone to validate me.

Angela Kim: Hear me? Um, and and really know that I’m not crazy, right? Because it’s sometimes we get in our heads so much thinking. Okay, maybe we’re I’m making this up, or maybe. Maybe I’m crazy, or maybe I’m just being overly dramatic. And it’s not. It’s just the body’s reaction and response. And that’s why they call it muscle memory and the muscle. The memory just doesn’t go away until we allow and we acknowledge it. So it’s it’s really cool to be able to have an amazing nonprofit to share and provide this kind of support, because we provide support groups for women. And now opening it up to men, providing support groups for men, and then providing support for individuals who are pregnant again, you know, after going through pregnancy loss or infancy loss. So it’s it’s just we’re covering the basis of throughout any stage of your loss because there’s no time frame. Um, and it’s it’s heartwarming to see that some of the individuals, some of the women who have gone through this experience knowing that there’s no time, um, for this, because you’re your body as a woman changes, you know, your your DNA starts changing. And that’s why that connection and that bond with the child is so different and unique for each individual child that you have. And so when my body changed already, I already had that connection with this child, with this, you know, there’s already something there because my body changed. And so to say that that didn’t exist, that really hurts.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah.

Angela Kim: And so that’s really my story about I went all the way around to.

Trisha Stetzel: Oh that’s wonderful. I appreciate your vulnerability and coming back on the show and telling that part of your story. And for those of you who, um, heard Jamila’s name. You may have recognized it because Jamila Robinson had been on the show, uh, late last year. I think we had her on. And she’s the founder of Missing Pieces support Group, and it’s so interesting, Angela, how everything comes full circle. And I continue to meet amazing women like you who know other amazing women that I’ve had conversations with. So, um, coming back on to tell your story, I really, really appreciate that. And telling us more about your experience and what you’ve been able to do and even get from and give back to, uh, Missing Pieces support group. Can we talk a little bit about just women’s health? Uh, I know there’s a specific, um, story around your health and where you came from. You do a lot of, uh, counseling and mental health, um, have mental health conversations with people around PTSD for lots of reasons. But I know this is one of those things that is near and dear to your heart, which is women’s health. Can you just give me your take on how good women are taking care of themselves, and how we find ourselves in these places where, um, we don’t feel good and we’re not sure why or what happened.

Speaker4: Yeah.

Angela Kim: For for women’s health and I, I, I’m speaking in particularly the population or individuals who have gone through a lot of various traumas in their life and they don’t recognize it as trauma, so they never really processed it. So it’s just there, right in the closet or this mountain that’s been created and it’s just there, just hovering, and they’re pulling it along wherever they’re going. Um, that whole concept is when we carry that trauma in our body for so long and we are in fight or flight. Um, our the way that we breathe is different. So if you talk to individuals who are, you know, they’ve been especially like, um, I would say refugees or people who have immigrated during during war and, you know, a lot of a lot of strife in the world or in their, their area, it becomes, um, you know, it’s the trauma, just in a sense, it’s it gets buried underneath all of the day to day. Let me survive. Let me move on. Let me keep going. So they become very great at getting things done because it’s next, next next next next next next. And then it doesn’t really show up for women’s health until emptiness. You know, they don’t have the kids anymore. They are now finally able to just relax and guess what? Their nervous system and their mind has a difficult time relaxing. So now it’s creating, you know, they’re not able to sleep. They’re not able to eat properly because the, you know, your body’s not recovering. You’re not you’re if you’re in fight or flight a lot, guess where most of the blood flows to your head, to your exterior extremities so that you can run or fight. So most of the blood is not here.

Angela Kim: So it’s it’s not allowing you to really digest nutrients and stuff. And so in realizing and seeing, based on my personal blood work and seeing other people go through this, even my aunt, my family, some people understand what I’m explaining. Some people are like, you’re crazy. You don’t know what you’re talking about. Emotions. What? What is emotions? I’m like, wow. So it’s it’s helping, you know, some of the emotions that most of us say, oh, yeah, we I’m never angry or. Yeah, they always get angry or there are certain things that we label ourselves as just being, and that’s where it becomes that manifestation of. If you say that you are those things and you get stuck in that. Um, and so that stuckness essentially gets stuck here. Either you’re saying those things or you’re pushing aside and telling your subconscious, hey, hold on to this information because I’m pushing it aside consciously. I want to be free. Um, and so most of the time, we have no idea what’s going on with our bodies because we’ve numbed out, right? The numbing out of what’s really going on or what has gone on in, in life and acknowledging that these are traumas that we’ve experiencing coming to terms with it is processing it. Tears is processing and allowing those toxins to get released from out of your body. And so it’s really helping women and men also to process emotions effectively and recognize and understand that emotions are just signals to tell us, hey, that’s danger, or that’s something that we’re used to and we’re addicted to. And what we’re used to and addicted to may be harmful for where we’re at now.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, it’s interesting that we’re having this conversation today because earlier I was having a conversation with another, um, amazing woman that and we were talking about how women tend to push themselves to the side so that they can take care of everyone else. Right? We’re amazing caregivers, and we’re not taking care of ourselves because we’re so worried about taking care of everyone else. So how do we get out of our own way when it comes to those things? And even in particular those women who may be listening today who, uh, may have lost a pregnancy or have gone through something as traumatic as you’ve been through. How do we get out of our own way and actually create space for having conversations, or reaching out to an organization like Missing Pieces support group?

Speaker4: Um.

Angela Kim: The easy way to say, um, to explain or to advise how to get out of your own way is to really be stepping out of, you know, your situation and kind of be if you can. It takes practice and it takes a lot of effort, however, is to look at yourself like as if you were visualizing yourself and seeing yourself from an observer standpoint and just, you know, be a kind person to you in that moment. Because if you’re cowering over and you’re crying and you feel lonely, guess what? If you step out of that and, you know, feel the feelings. However, if you can observe you and just comfort yourself in that way and it’s okay, and be patient with your body is just in shock. And the longer you push the feelings and the emotions and and that it’s not allowed and it shouldn’t be this way the longer you prolong it. So the more and faster you accept that this is what’s going on. That’s the way of really allowing yourself to overcome it, because you’re going to be in your own way.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. We all think we’re superwomen and we can do everything for everyone, right? But we forget ourselves along the way.

Angela Kim: Yes. And when you actually have time to retire and not do things and have your hobbies, you’re too busy stuck in your head because you’re so used to worrying about everyone else.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. You talked a little bit about a lot, actually, about mind and body, bond and body and mind and how they’re really interconnected. And, um, they can either care for each other or even harm each other. Uh, can you talk more about that and the work that you do, um, in getting people to understand that they really are connected to each other?

Angela Kim: Yes. Um, well, it takes some practice because the concept and how I explain it, it’s so easy. That’s why people are like, yeah, I can do this on my own. I can practice to breathe on my own. Yet when push comes to shove and things are triggering you, it’s automatic. Your muscle memory is in there. It’s taking action. It’s locking down, it’s taking care of you. So it’s actively remembering these basic things and practicing it with with a coach, um, or an individual, you know, or a therapist who can guide you on. Okay. Let’s slowly let’s, let’s practice this situation and let’s, let’s slowly learn how to, um, come back and feel, because women have an amazing ability to process things. We’ve already processed it 5 million times over. However, we’re not allowing ourselves to feel that and allowing our body to just, you know, relax and allow it to work through your body because it requires you to move. It requires you to work out. It requires you to dance like a silly person and look weird. And who cares because it’s stuck in our body. And children actually are the best teachers of this because when they have stuck stuff, guess what? They’re hitting stuff. Or they’re banging on stuff, or they’re kicking and they’re moving it out of their body, and guess what adults tell them to do? Sit still.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. Yeah.

Angela Kim: I used to do that to my child, and now I’m like, oh my gosh. I just told my child to trap his trauma in his body.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. So yeah, I love that. And, uh, you know, since we’re talking about support, uh, missing, um, missing piece of support group, can you talk about the difference that having a good support system in your life makes when you have gone through trauma, or when you do need someone to help you get out of your own way?

Angela Kim: Oh, wow. I, I I’ll share based on my experience of just. That’s why I became an ambassador, being able to meet these amazing women working on community, you know, projects or like content creation, talking to other women, um, hearing their story is that’s that’s something that it’s it helps me get out of my head and still reach out and say, hey, I’m having a hard time. However, just letting you know, can we still get stuff done? I may be off my game a little bit yet. Can we still do this? And they give me space. They provide that and they’re like, you know, if you ever need to talk. And sometimes I’m like, I don’t want to talk. And then there’s a part of me that’s like, yes, you do. That’s why you that’s why you, uh, you reached out and you said, hey, let’s talk. And then they felt something and they asked, and it’s just leaning into the, the support. Um, and that’s one of the hardest things to do, especially when it’s new and you’re still it’s still fresh because it’s it feels very isolating and you are still so unfamiliar with the feelings that you’re going through. It’s a lot of feelings and a lot of thoughts flooding all at once. So it’s overwhelming. So it’s being patient.

Trisha Stetzel: And surrounding yourself with good people, right. And people who can share their stories and make you feel like you’re not alone. Right.

Angela Kim: Yes. That’s why we volunteer. Yeah. Because it’s. You’re not alone. You don’t have to be if you. Unless you want to be.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. Well, I know you’re doing such an amazing job as a brand ambassador and even helping with the content creation for Missing Pieces support group. Can you talk a little bit more about the services that they’re providing and how people can connect with them if they’re looking for that support?

Angela Kim: Yes. The services provided are the support groups. Um they are. There’s two for right now. There’s going to be more. Jameela will be the perfect person to give you more details. However, all of this should be on the website. It’s missing pieces support group org and it’s it just has all of the the resources we have the resources on which um, what is it like doctors, therapists, coaches, um, holistic practitioners? We have all of that there. And we also have grief sensitive books and stuff to provide for children who’ve lost their, you know, sibling, um, or parent or, you know, grieving. Um, and so it’s just we have all those resources and we, we do one that’s virtual for right now, the earlier part of the year when the virtual is in April, and I don’t remember the exact date right now. And then the other one is, uh, in September. And so it’s going to end right around the time that our marathon. Uh, yeah. Our five-k occurs. Um, it’s going to be an annual one. And so we do A5K, and it’s just bringing awareness to the community and just having the community come out and support and share because we’ve branched out to Dallas. And so that’s just all the different things that we’re doing. Um, and uh, also creating support groups for, for men, and it’s the support groups and, and the resources that we provide are very much more holistic based. Um, and even the, um, I believe the what is it called? I lost it right now. Oh, it’s called pals. It’s pregnancy after loss. Um, that one is also very holistic based. So everything that we do, the connections that we have through missing pieces is a lot of holistic practitioners. Um, myself is on there because my coaching is more holistic. And I look at you as a whole, not just your mind or your mental health, because everything is connected, Right. You’re what you eat. What you do, what you don’t do. And your little micro habits add up to the bigger picture.

Trisha Stetzel: Absolutely. I know Jameela has done a lot of work in collecting all of these resources and connecting with amazing people like you, who can be a great resource for anyone who may be going through trauma and wants to use the support from Missing Pieces Support group. Is there any piece of I’d like to circle back? As we kind of come to the end of our conversation today to Women’s Health, is there anything, um, maybe a tip or just a piece of advice that you would give to women today who are listening?

Angela Kim: Um, the tip, the advice I would say is, um, I mean, it’s for for men and women, right? Um, however, specifically for women is learning your biology. Learn about your biology. Learn about the cycle of how your body changes as you age. Um, as your body ages and matures, right? And what does your body need? Nutrients. You know, nutrition wise and just really looking and being a scientist to your health if you can um, is to to do that. Because sometimes when we’re first going through loss, it’s more challenging to do this. That’s why it’s the coaching guide you into this more holistic part. Or we get you to be more, you know, increase your self-care essentially. And if the self-care isn’t really good, then everything’s just going to go downhill. So recognizing what is it that we’re eating? How are we advocating for ourselves? Is the doctor making sense to what we’re saying? Um, are they are they hearing the symptoms and the issues that you’re having, because most of the time, um, men and women both, I would say even women have a difficult time advocating for themselves, especially when it comes to their health.

Angela Kim: Um, the doctors just say, oh, I hear that symptom. That must be it. Let me give you the prescription for that. Um, if something is providing or giving you internal bleeding or, you know, is why would you give your patient an ointment? Does that mean that the doctor’s right? Were they listening to you? So that’s the biggest advice I would say is learn how to explain your symptoms. Have those explanations ready because those doctors are vicious. They want to see us for five seconds so you can get out next. So it’s have it ready so you can fire away at them. You bombard them with all this stuff so they have to stop and think, um, about you, because most of the times the doctor’s doctor is just going to say, okay, this is what you’re going through. Here’s the medication. You try it out for you’re the test dummy. You get to be the you know, you learn how to test things on yourself in a healthier way because the doctor doesn’t. They’re not experiencing your experiences. You’re the one that is feeling all these things. Learn how to explain it.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. And if you don’t know how and you don’t, and you’re not comfortable advocating for yourself, then reach out to resources like Angela. And Angela can help you find the resources that you’re looking for, whether it’s with her or some other resource. Um, because I know you’re very embedded in that space. Angela, thank you so much for coming on with me today. Missing pieces support group is such an amazing, uh, organization. And when you told me that you were a part of it, I knew that I had to have you back on the show, so we just did it.

Angela Kim: Thank you so much.

Trisha Stetzel: You bet. I appreciate it so much. So, is there, um, one last story that you would like to share with us as we close today?

Angela Kim: Um hmm. I would say maybe it’s going to be about missing Pieces support group, and it’s going to be the good news. I would say that, um, that and I forgot to touch base on that too. It’s the, the content creation. We’ve shifted our panels to be more of, you know, this virtual platform to where we can actually have people from, you know, our other ambassador who’s in Maryland, and we can actually have conversations and they don’t have to fly all the way to the location. So we switch from in-person to virtual. And so now it’s opening it more nationwide. And so our next destination is Dallas. We’re opening Dallas next. And yet, you know, wherever we have ambassadors, it’s pretty much opening there because, hey, that’s the that’s the story I have regarding missing Pieces support group.

Trisha Stetzel: That’s amazing. So if you guys are interested either in being a part of Missing Pieces support or, um, giving back, I know that, um, the organization is always looking for monetary donations so that they can support all of the resources that are given back to these women and men who need the service. If you need the service, any of those things, you can visit the website at Missing Pieces Support group.org. I’ll put that in the show notes as well so you guys can just point and click. Angela, thank you so much for being on with me today.

Angela Kim: Thank you Trisha.

Trisha Stetzel: That’s all the time we have for today’s show. Join us next time for another exciting episode of Houston Business Radio. Until then, stay tuned, stay inspired, and keep thriving in the Houston business community.

 

Tagged With: Missing Pieces Support Group

Rhonda Parmer with The Leadership Executive Group

April 11, 2025 by angishields

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Rhonda Parmer with The Leadership Executive Group
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Dr. Rhonda Parmer is an executive coach and founder of The Leadership Executive Group, dedicated to helping high-potential leaders gain confidence, avoid burnout, and build high-performing teams.

After 31 successful years in public education—finishing as an associate superintendent—Rhonda now guides leaders across industries using her proven E.A.S.E. Framework. She’s a certified John Maxwell Coach, DiSC Consultant, Nationally Distinguished Principal, and author, known for turning stress into success in under 90 days.

In her conversation with Trisha Stetzel, Rhonda shared her journey from education to executive coaching, emphasizing the importance of balance, confidence, and setting healthy boundaries. She discussed how self-care, mindset shifts, and delegation are key to sustaining leadership success. LEG-Logo

Rhonda also offered personal insights, including her love of open-road auto racing and daily chats with her mom, as ways she maintains her own balance while helping others thrive.

Connect with Rhonda on LinkedIn.

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Houston, Texas. It’s time for Houston Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Trisha Stetzel: Hello, Houston. Trisha Stetzel here bringing you another episode of Houston Business Radio. It is my pleasure to introduce you to my Texas friend. We were having so much fun before the show. Uh, Rhonda Parmer, The Leadership Executive Group CEO. Rhonda, I’m so excited to have you on the show today.

Rhonda Parmer: Thank you Trisha. I am very excited to be here and it’s such a pleasure meeting you.

Trisha Stetzel: Such a pleasure meeting you as well. So first we need to know who Ronda is. So tell us a little bit about you.

Rhonda Parmer: Okay, well, I am Houston native. I’ve been here my whole life and born and raised, of course, and started out as a teacher substitute teacher, worked my way up all the way through to associate superintendent. Had 31 years in public education. I’m so proud of that career. And the last 12 years we’re working with, um, underperforming schools. And what we found is there was a confidence issue, a confidence issue with the teachers and with the students. So we figured, hey, let’s change this mindset. Students are not limited by their zip code or their parents income, you know, let’s believe in them. Just say you believe in them. Just say it out loud. Change your mindset. These students can learn. Every student can learn. He can learn. She can learn. This is a future CEO. This is a future doctor. This is a future lawyer. And let’s change our mindset and just see if it works. And it did. And so after years of seeing schools rated as F, go to B’s and A’s and teachers who were burned out feeling rejuvenated and students feeling proud about themselves and parents unbelieving. What was going on? I said, hey, what if we apply that same system to nonprofits or small business or big organizations, corporations? And so I started a consulting firm after I retired, and that’s what we’re doing.

Trisha Stetzel: Love that. So that is how the Leadership Executive Group was born. Tell us more about the work that you’re doing in that space, Rhonda. Now.

Rhonda Parmer: Hey so what we have eight amazing coaches who thank God they believe in me and I totally believe in them. But they are amazing. And we work one on one with clients. Or we also provide training to groups, teams and our main focus what we found. We work mostly with women, but we have a few guys too. But we’re looking at people who are ready to just take that next step. Perhaps something is holding them back. As I mentioned in the schools, you know, that could be a mindset. And so it’s not about never feeling fear or never having self-doubt. We all face that. And that’s a beast that all of us, even even your most successful athletes and successful CEOs, everybody has to, um, address that. But it’s about identifying it, knowing when it’s coming up and then backing up just a tiny bit from it. Okay. What is that? What is that belief or thought that’s making me hesitate? Pause. And so we work and coach directly with one on one, um, clients to help them break through to the next level. Uh, is it a promotion? Is it leading a brand new team? Is it mentoring one person who will come after them to be the next leader? All kinds of, um, you know, positions for one on one coaching. And then we also provide group coaching. And I found this is what we’re finding is we’re getting into a niche of working with pastors. And so pastors are in a unique position. They either have a very, very small staff or they’re working with volunteers. And so how can they get the confidence in themselves and the confidence in their team to help move and strategize to meet goals? And that’s us. That’s what we do. But we work with people in all sectors. And, um, what I’ve been doing is meeting people through speaking engagements one on one, I mean through workshops. And I’ll we’ll promote that later on in the show. But that’s that’s how we roll.

Trisha Stetzel: That’s amazing. I love that. And as you were, as you were talking through the work that you’re doing and even talking about, most of them are women. Uh, which is another connection that you and I have. We talked about that, uh, before the show. I have a lot of conversations around balance, and I think that you do as well as well. Um, so when you’re. I know that you work with high achieving leaders and many of them struggle to find balance. So what’s your advice to them when they start to feel that guilt? Or they haven’t taken a vacation or they’re afraid to take their PTO? What do you tell them?

Rhonda Parmer: Oh, that is so hard. And that’s that limiting belief too. So that’s a little bit of confidence. So it all boils back down to confidence. It’s confidence. Do you have the confidence to say I need a break. Do you have the confidence to say it’s time for me to take a quick vacation, a long weekend or even a full week, God forbid. Right. So I, I tell them, look, you we the world needs more leaders, whether that’s in organizations, communities or families. We have got to have leaders. And if you burn yourself out, we all miss out on your medicine. You have what we need. And if you burn out, we all lose out. So if you want to serve and fulfill your calling, you have to take care of yourself. And so I one of the things I do, Trisha, um, I have I’m a I’m a nerd, I love reading. I read everything if it’s a if it’s a book, a magazine, a blog, a something on Facebook that links to a, a research article. And what I’ve done is taken all those research gurus for leadership and put turned those into actionable steps. So I, I have not finished this book yet, but I’ll be back when I actually get it published. Yes, please. I’m writing a book. It’s a field guide for leaders, new and aspiring leaders, and it’s called ease into leadership. And ease is an acronym that basically everything that we have to do in leadership boils down.

Rhonda Parmer: You can boil it down to four steps and that is evaluate your priorities, have some accountability set. And for example, in this particular case with boundaries. I mean, with ballots set boundaries. And so we we have these tools. There are rubrics basically implementation rubrics. And they’re not designed as worksheets or homework or something to be filled out for compliance. They’re simply conversation starters. And so I ask the leaders to work with you know, work with me. Let’s look at set boundaries. What does this look like for you? Easily one of the best things I’ve seen people model. This was in a school district and they did it district wide in Pasadena. It was a, you know, 50,000 student and 68 campuses. What they did is before every break, they sent an email saying, during this break you will receive no emails. If you set if you send emails, please set. You set the system that it won’t even send it. It’ll be a delayed send until the day we get back. And that really created a true vacation, a true break for people. Because in this, in our world of just hurry, hurry, hurry, do it, do it, do it. Answer. I need an answer. Even when you’re on break or the weekend you think, oh, I got to answer those emails. But the first time we did that in Pasadena, it was just like, oh, I finally, truly, really have a break.

Rhonda Parmer: So modeling your expectations for boundaries of no email during this break? Um, another one is have an accountability partner at work. So your secretary, your partner, your assistant, somebody to say, hey, it’s five, it’s 530 or whatever your ending time is. Let’s go. This stuff will be here tomorrow. So just two easy ways to set boundaries. And then finally, what I do ask people, um, one of the very first things I ask people in our coaching session is, what is your nighttime routine? You would be shocked how many people don’t even know what I’m talking about. Like, what is your nighttime routine? You know, do you eat at home? Do you come home from dinner? Do you wash your face? You know, do you read a little bit? Do you watch TV? What is your routine? And so many people. We’ve just gotten to where we’re so reactive, and that’s what burns people out. They. Even though a lot my husband’s the worst, he’s like, no, no, no, nobody wants a routine. Nobody wants a schedule. But even he does want a schedule. And he is one of the most free thinking free, you know, no time schedule. But we like routine and we like predictability, and we like and our bodies like that, where you get into this rhythm of being able to do things and you feel better about yourself because you can predict what’s coming next. So those are the things I ask people to do.

Trisha Stetzel: Wow. Okay. So I stop work at 5:00 every day so I can go in and cook dinner with my husband. Does that count?

Rhonda Parmer: Yes, ma’am. Two stars for you? Yes. Awesome.

Trisha Stetzel: All right. I can’t tell you the rest of my routine, but that’s. That’s the beginning, right? We’re getting there. We’re getting there. Um, so there are some people listening right now, Rhonda, that are thinking. And. And you and I probably have had these same thoughts that if I’m not on all the time, people are going to see me as a slacker. So how do we shift that mindset?

Rhonda Parmer: Okay, this is going to sound almost ridiculous, but it literally comes to it comes down to identifying that thought. So first people need to identify that that’s what they’re thinking, because sometimes they don’t even realize that’s what they’re thinking. They’re just acting because they know that’s true in their head. So they have to slow down to realize, oh, I’m doing these things because I think people will think I’m a slacker. So it’s so it’s it sounds so easy and simple, but it’s. It’s not. You you have to realize that’s what’s driving you. And then once you realize that this is this is a physiological, neurological truth, putting your hand on your head and saying the opposite. So I am not a slacker. And it’s even better if you don’t use the word not. So phrase it in a positive way. If you think about when you you know, we used to when we’re, we’re when we’re teaching children don’t run instead of saying don’t run because all they hear is run, you say walk. Thank you for walking. So in your head I am productive, I am balanced, I work to get things done and I rest for myself so I can continue to get things done. And it’s literally putting that thing, putting your hand on your head.

Rhonda Parmer: I worked with a client one day and this wasn’t too long ago. She was so ridden with anxiety about needing to get something done that she could not. I mean, she could not even put her hand on her head and say, I am safe. And I was thinking, bless you. No, come on. This is just take a take it, take a deep breath. Let’s count to five. When someone is in anxiety like that. And we do this because we have these mindsets and so many, so many of these mindsets. Let me tell you about three ways that our our our our behavior is shaped. A third of it is pure genetics. We can’t do anything about it. It’s there. It’s in us. Okay. Another third of it. We can’t do anything about it because it’s already happened. It was from the time we were born, till the time we were about 12 years old. Things that were modeled, things we heard, things that were said to us. That’s that’s there. We can’t really do anything about it, but we can choose to overcome it. Let’s say, um, let’s say someone said, um, all you do is eat. Okay, well, I know everybody told me all I did was eat, but I choose to say I eat when I’m hungry, I eat for nourishment, and I don’t eat because I’m bored.

Rhonda Parmer: I don’t eat for entertainment. I don’t eat because I’m scared. And you, you have to. You can overcome some of those things, but they’re pretty much they’re to you. But that’s part of what we call childhood trauma. No matter what your childhood is that that is there. And then the other third is from like that same age, like age ten, 11 or so till now, all your experiences. So those things shape our behavior. So we’re still experiencing things that help us shape behaviors. And if you go back to your original question of how do you help a person who thinks I’m going to be a slacker, we first have to help them realize, okay, you’re acting because of an erroneous thought that’s in your head. Now let’s reverse that thought I am productive, I am balanced. I and it sounds again, it sounds almost ridiculous, but what happens is your thoughts turn into words. Your words turn into actions and your actions lead to results. It’s not that your words turn into results immediately. There has to be action in between, but you can’t start with that action until you start with the correct words in your head. Yeah.

Trisha Stetzel: A woman after my own heart. I love this law of self control that you were just talking about, right? Because the language, the words, the things that we’re telling ourselves become our beliefs and our feelings to our actions and our results. Okay. People are already interested in reaching out to you. I know this, Rhonda, so how can they best connect with you?

Rhonda Parmer: My my website is Rhonda Palmer. Com and remember Palmer rhymes with farmer, but it starts with a P. So I’m not Palmer. I’m Palmer. Rhonda Palmer, dot com. And you can check me out on LinkedIn, too. Rhonda Freeman Palmer.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that, and it’s Rhonda. If you’re looking for her. Uh, amazing. I, I know that people are going to want to connect with you and have a bigger conversation around the things that we’ve been talking about. So here’s what I would like to know next. This is a hard one, Rhonda. How do you create balance in your own life?

Rhonda Parmer: Oh, okay. So I will tell you quick backstory. Reader’s Digest version. Back in the 70s, you know, this wasn’t diagnosed as much, especially if you had some coping skills and you weren’t failing. But I we figured out I had dyslexia. Okay. And we didn’t call it that. We just said I wasn’t paying attention. Okay. So, so so I had to pay attention. So I forced myself to pay attention and do different things to to make sure I got things right, and it slowed me down, but it made it. It unintentionally turned me into a perfectionist. And then that turned into workaholic ism and and that lasted into my adulthood. Um, so I worked on my master. I got my my bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and doctorate doctorate degree. But the wake up call happened in my 30s when I was diagnosed with a double cancer. Um, I had double cancer diagnosis and breast cancer and thyroid cancer. And this just happened to be my first year as principal. And I don’t know if many listeners understand, but I’ll just go ahead and say it because I was one of them. A lot of principals are very, um, well, I’ll just say I was very egotistical and like, oh, I am the principal now we’re going to do this and we’re going to do this, and it’s going to be this, and we’re going to be number one in the nation, and we’re going to do this, this, this, this.

Rhonda Parmer: And everyone was telling me, um, when I was assigned this job. Slow down, slow your roll. Get to know people. Watch out, learn, watch and learn. Don’t do anything. Don’t change anything at this school for at least a year. I’m looking at him like, hey, man, these kids don’t have a year to waste. You know, but God told different. So I did slow down because I had to take medicine and do treatments and have surgeries. But what I found was, um, the ability to ask for help. And that was something I was very, very uncomfortable doing. So I, I, my husband helped me practice. We modeled at home asking for help, and I got help. And that helped me maintain the balance of taking my medicine and doing some work. I didn’t miss very much work. He took me a cot up to my office, so if I needed to, I could just lie down for a little bit. But anyway, um, that was a wake up call And it was like, hey, you know, you can do all this stuff and burn yourself out and be gone and not do anything for the world.

Rhonda Parmer: Or you can slow your roll and take this in doses and give this to people in the amounts that they can consume. Yeah. And that really helped change the way I lead and the way I coach others. And, um, what I do now. I first, this is what happened. I realized. This is so sad to admit, but a year had gone by since I talked to my dad. Like I talked to him on his birthday and Christmas. He didn’t live in the state. And I’m like, wait a minute. This is my dad. And then maybe a year had gone by since I saw my mom. She lives in the same town. I’d talked to her very frequently, but maybe I hadn’t seen her in a year. Like, really? I’m only spending time on Mother’s Day and Christmas with my mom. I’m fortunate enough to still have my mom here, and I’m not taking advantage of this. So now what I do? I talk to my mom every single day, and I. I travel with my husband. My husband has a trucking company. So I said, hey, I’m going to go with you at least once a week. Let’s go out in the town. He has a heavy equipment trucking company, so any big yellow things y’all see? Watch out for those truckers.

Rhonda Parmer: It’s so heavy they can’t shut down. If you cut them off, it’s hard to slow down 80,000 pounds. And then another thing I do, I think I mentioned this right before we started on air, I race cars. So as I mentioned, I did have that double cancer diagnosis. I was in my 30s. I didn’t have a lot of good insurance. I had the bare minimum plan. So my debt stacked up, and I looked at that one day over $100,000 of debt, and I said, man, if I’m going to be in debt because I’ve never been in debt up until that point, even through college, I worked my way through college. But I said, if I’m going to be in debt, I’m at least going to have something I like. So we went out and bought a vet and now I race it in the Big Bend Open road race. I’m one of the navigation trainers and one of the rookie qualifiers, and that is how I find balance. Totally get away from everything and do a whole different world. And as my husband says, we go out there for the week. We have a big family reunion and then there’s a race at the end of the week.

Trisha Stetzel: Oh my gosh, that’s so much fun. So you have to you. We did talk about this before we started recording. You have to describe the race like how does the race go down?

Rhonda Parmer: Oh girl it is amazing. So this is highway 225. It’s from Fort Stockton all the way down to Sanderson, Texas. So it’s just the west side of Big Bend National Park. They shut the highway down. So the State Patrol are out there. They have helicopters and airplanes sending little signals to make the animals all go away. They chain off all the ranchers gates so nobody can pull out on the road. And they announce it way in advance, and everybody supports it, because to this little town, it’s almost like the Super Bowl coming to town. You know, it brings in a lot of economic value. But basically the cars line up, you sign up for which class you would like to be in, which means what average speed you want to you want to maintain. And they let you go one at a time every minute. So ideally you should not pass or be passed. And I’ll tell you, Trisha, there is nothing better than coming up on a 55 mile an hour curve at 120 miles an hour. You got the whole road to yourself. So last year, my husband and I averaged 145 miles an hour. And we can go up to 168 to be able to do that.

Trisha Stetzel: Wow.

Rhonda Parmer: 59 turn. No, it’s 59 miles. One way you go down, everybody goes down, and then you restock and come back. But 59 miles, 59 turns and 59 elevation changes.

Trisha Stetzel: Oh my goodness, that sounds like so much fun. I so I love this whole idea of balance. And we’re getting to the back end of our conversation. But I have one more thing that I want to tackle because you talked about asking for help. This actually just came up for me with somebody that I was having a conversation with just earlier today. And I think oftentimes as strong women, we don’t like to ask for help. You mentioned that you went into this practice mode with your husband and getting help at home. How do you continue to use that mindset that you had there that it’s okay to ask for help? Listen, I’m a veteran. And those of us who are in the military don’t ask for help when we get out, right? Because we know we’re just going to go get stuff done. And so we do. And it’s really, really hard to ask for help. So how do we get past that? Rhonda.

Rhonda Parmer: First of all, thank you so much for your service. And I can only imagine, I, I know in high school I thought, oh, I want to join the Air Force. I’m going to do that. And then I chickened out. You know. No. Never mind. I’ll be a teacher. You know, I like teaching. My grandmother was a teacher. But anyway. No, um, I gotta tell you. I mean, that is. It’s one of those swallow your pride, you know, swallow your pride. And and I saw this graph one time that said, you know, it had these two little lines, and it was just like, this is what happens if I don’t ask for help. Here’s my outcome, and I can get to here and here’s my outcome. If I do ask for help, I can exceed that outcome. Because there is there’s a there’s a even if you feel so alone, there are people who want to help you. Um, this is a lesson from Simon Sinek. He says learn to ask for help because people are there reaching their hand for you. Most of the time you just have to see their hand. You don’t even have to ask for help. Their hand is already there. You just take their hand. So receive the help when they offer it. And then if you don’t think they’re offering it, ask for it. And I promise you, this is something that I continually do. I have a workshop next Thursday and I practice the intro and outro with my husband last night. I mean, this is it’s just it’s, it’s if we want to be the best versions of ourselves, that’s what we do, you know? And and people want to help us.

Rhonda Parmer: This is what I tell leaders. There’s some leaders who they have this thought that, hey, I’m the leader. I’m getting paid the most. I have to do the most. I have to do it all. And that’s not true. It’s simply not true. You have an assistant. Sometimes you have a secretary. Sometimes you have other people on your team. And we’re robbing them of their purpose. If we try to do everything. I’ll give this example. Um, let’s just say I’m working with this lady from a museum who works in a museum, and she’s the she’s newly appointed. And she does have that. It’s an accidental mindset of, well, I’m in charge. I have to do everything. But no, we have someone and we have someone in charge of marketing. And she used to be in charge of marketing. So if someone in charge of marketing, someone in charge of fundraising, someone in charge of ticket sales, someone in charge of summer programs, let them do their jobs because otherwise you’re robbing them. And we’re paying you to do what only you can do to make those tough decisions and build that vision and build cohesion and collaboration the way only you can do. The leader is the one who needs to notice. Recognize what’s happening with all the other staff members and team members so they fulfill their purpose and they one day are ready to step into the next CEO role.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that, so we have to allow them to fulfill their purpose by allowing them to do the work that we’ve hired them for, right, or that we’ve brought them on board for. I love that, okay. So, Rhonda, you’re going to have to come back because I see this whole idea of delegation coming to fruition here, and we’re going to have to have a whole nother conversation about delegation. Thank you so much for coming on today. Thank you for your service as a teacher, as a principal, as an administrator, such a hard job sitting on the outside looking in, having our son is much older now, but we had one, you know, come through school. So I get it. And thank you so much for your service to our community.

Rhonda Parmer: You, Trisha, it’s been an honor. I love meeting you and I would love to see you again.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay, fantastic. I will be in touch for sure. All right. Rhonda Farmer, thank you so much for being on with me. And that’s all the time we have for today’s show. Join us next time for another exciting episode of Houston Business Radio. Until then, stay tuned, stay inspired, and keep thriving in the Houston business community.

 

Tagged With: The Leadership Executive Group

BRX Pro Tip: Stoicism in Business

April 11, 2025 by angishields

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BRX Pro Tip: Stoicism in Business

Stone Payton: And we are back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, I know that you are a student of stoicism. When, where and how does it apply in the business world, man?

Lee Kantor: Yeah, I found stoicism a while ago, I guess through Ryan Holiday’s book, The Obstacle is the Way. That really opened my eyes to what stoicism is and some of the basic tenets of it in living a life where you believe and the things that we believe about personal accountability and controlling what you can control and things like that. But I see it really carry over into the business world as well. And I think that some of the key tenets that carry over from your personal life to your business life are, number one, focus on what you can control. And remember, you can only control your actions, you can’t control external outcomes. So, if you can focus on what you can control, you’re going to be better off in terms of mentally better off, and less frustrated, and less stressed.

Lee Kantor: Number two is master emotional resilience. Negative emotions come from our interpretation of events, not the events themselves. So, a lot of times when you’re angry or, frustrated, it’s just how you’re reacting to the situation. It isn’t the situation because, really, the situation doesn’t care about how you’re feeling. Anything you put on it is your own kind of neurosis.

Lee Kantor: Number three is it’s important to anticipate challenges. By preparing for obstacles ahead of time, you minimize surprises and you stay adaptable. So, that’s important as well.

Lee Kantor: Number four is to serve others, not your ego. Prioritize long-term trust over quick sales. That’s an important lesson for everybody in business that your trust and your reputation, you shouldn’t be sacrificing for a quick win. You shouldn’t do whatever it takes to get a sale. You should do whatever is right.

Lee Kantor: Number five, do more, think less. Overthinking leads to inaction. Clarity comes from movement. Something we say all the time is take action, you want to get real data, and you want to kind of weave that into what you’re thinking, so that you can get the outcome you desire. And I found that by incorporating some of these principles, you can build more resilient and more impactful and a more sustainable business.

Mastering the Balance: Time, Money, and Impact in Entrepreneurship

April 10, 2025 by angishields

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Brought to you by Diesel David and Main Street Warriors

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In this episode of Cherokee Business Radio, host Joshua Kornitsky facilitates a dynamic discussion with guests Colin Devaney, Matt Koop, and Gretchen Kornutik. The conversation highlights the significance of mentorship, effective processes, and making a positive impact, offering valuable insights for aspiring and current entrepreneurs.

Colin-DevaneyColin Devaney started It’ll Buff Detailing out of a ford transit van when he graduated high school.

For the past 4 years It’ll Buff Detailing has serviced Woodstock, GA with high quality detailing packages, paint correction, and ceramic coatings.

Whether you are looking to restore your cars finish, or protect it for the long haul, experience the difference at It’ll Buff Detailing!

Connect with Colin on Instagram.

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Matt-Koop-bwMatt Koop is from the Home Service Field Trades to Business Development and Pricing Specialist, and an original founder of The New Flat Rate and Freedom Builders University.

The past 25 years has been a whirlwind of growth to say the least. Today Matt works hand in hand to help business owners understand the “Buying Psychology” of their customers, in order to help them close more deals, increase customer satisfaction and grow by as much as 400%.

Connect with Matt on LinkedIn.

Gretchen-Kornutik-AirBnb-logo

Gretchen-Kornutik-bwOriginally from New England, Gretchen Kornutik began her academic journey at Quinnipiac College and the University of Massachusetts, Boston. She then relocated to Atlanta, where she worked with Ted Turner’s Family and Foundation.

It was during this time that she and her husband, Mark, discovered their shared passion for investment properties—a spark that would ignite a remarkable career. She lived the corporate life, building a scaling real estate asset management while growing a loyal team that has been with her for the long haul.

Her path has had multiple crash and burn learning experiences that carried her into Jacksonville Florida, and back to Woodstock GA. By 2018, Gretchen began shaping the concepts that would evolve into Salt Air Stays Consulting and All Things Short Term Rentals, officially launched in 2022.

Today, as the CEO and President of ALL Things Short Term Rentals she mentors and teaches investors, property owners, and agents about ethical and effective short-term rental management. Through Stephen Toni Rentals, her boutique full-service property management company, Gretchen continues to close the gap between traditional real estate and hospitality, setting a new standard for the short-term rental industry.

Beyond that her non negotiable is taking care of her team and people. This includes Owners, Guests and Employees. Outside of her professional endeavors, Gretchen is a mom of 21 year old twins, a self-proclaimed beach enthusiast, an adventurous traveler, a passionate foodie, and someone who treasures her time with her beloved “Girl Tribe.”

Connect with Gretchen on LinkedIn and Facebook.

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Woodstock, Georgia. It’s time for Cherokee Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Joshua Kornitsky: Good morning. Welcome to another exciting episode of Cherokee Business Radio. I’m your host, professional EOS implementer Joshua Kornitsky. And the guests I have with me in the studio today are really interesting. I’ve got Colin Devaney, Matt Koop, and Gretchen Kornutik that’ll be here, uh, to go through and share with us some interesting and exciting things about their business. So good morning, everybody. Colin, let’s start with you. So Colin Devaney, owner of It’ll Buff Detailing. Tell me, Colin, what do you do?

Colin Devaney: Hey, Josh, uh, my name is Colin. I own It’ll Buff Detailing here in Woodstock, Georgia. So we have a shop here. We do detailing full in and out detailing. We do paint correction, we do ceramic coating, we do a lot of restoration work and we offer detailing products and stuff for sale.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay. So how did you get into this? Because obviously anybody can just wash a car, right. What makes it different when you’re touching it?

Colin Devaney: Absolutely. So I’ve always had a passion for cars and keeping them looking their best. So I started out in high school. I just really enjoyed, you know, washing cars, keeping them clean and everything like that. Um, so I started, you know, taking care of my neighbor’s cars, taking care of my friends cars. I started getting equipment and products so I could do a better job for them. And then when I graduated high school, it’s just what I really wanted to do. And I started pursuing it. So I got a van and went out and started doing it mobile. And it’s just kind of grown from there.

Joshua Kornitsky: So it’ll buff is a mobile service?

Colin Devaney: Uh, so when I started out, I had started with a van and I was going out to people’s driveways with a water tank and generator and things like that. But no, now we have a shop here in Woodstock. Um, but would eventually like to bring back the mobile maintenance cleanings and things like that as well, because.

Joshua Kornitsky: And where’s the shop located?

Colin Devaney: Right behind the Stars and Stripes bowling alley on highway 92.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay. So fantastic. So let’s talk a little bit about what you do. So you, you and you had shared with me, and I think it’s important to note for everybody, the reason Colin mentioned, uh, when he was in high school is, is he’s a very young entrepreneur, but he’s already been at this for four years. And, uh, that’s something that I want to share because it’s important you guys understand that before you call somebody, you want to make sure they know what they’re doing. And in Colin’s case, he’s he’s a bit of an expert at this point because of what he’s been doing about it. So we were talking earlier about paint correction and about ceramic coating. Let’s let’s take each one of those. Can you tell me what is paint correction.

Colin Devaney: Absolutely. So paint correction would be taking your old ugly faded swirled scratched whatever’s wrong with your paint. Uh, we can buff, polish and restore that paint to, you know, looking like, brand new for you. And then we offer ceramic coatings, paint protection, films, things like that, which will help protect your finishes on your vehicle and keep them looking new for a long time so you don’t have to go through with these restoration services.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay, so what is ceramic coating?

Colin Devaney: So ceramic coating is going to be a more durable. Yep. So we offer. Exactly. So it actually did come from appliances uh aircrafts things like that. But ceramic coating is going to be a more durable. Think of it like a sealant or a wax that’s going to really protect your paint. Like on steroids. Uh, so the coatings we offer lasts 5 to 7 years. They offer very minimal maintenance and things like that. So it’ll provide your car with a very high shine. Ease of cleaning. A lot of protection from the elements. You know, UV rays, things of that nature, uh, while just keeping it very simple and easy.

Joshua Kornitsky: All right, so let me ask you a question. If I’ve got a newer car, let’s say sake argument, let’s say I just went and bought my new car. Yes, sir. Do I wait till the paint looks old and crappy before I bring it to you? So what’s the best time to to show up?

Colin Devaney: So the best time to do it is when it’s brand new. Um, of course, that’s going to be easiest for, you know, doing the work. So it’ll save you money when it’s brand new to get it done then. Um, but it’s not that we can’t restore an older vehicle as well and then still protect that. Also, if you have one that needs a little bit more love.

Joshua Kornitsky: So you can work the magic both old and new, but is it easier if we bring it to you sooner?

Colin Devaney: It’s much easier and it saves you some money as well.

Joshua Kornitsky: All right.

Joshua Kornitsky: Good to know. Good to know. And you said that new vehicles or an older vehicle. So now let’s talk a little bit about your business itself. Every entrepreneurial journey is different right. So tell me what are some of the challenges you’re having growing your business.

Colin Devaney: So I guess right now, uh, I was just talking to Matt here about, um, it’s just hard, you know, growing from a small business to trying to start to move towards a bigger operation and bring on employees and offering more services and things like that can be hard when you’re doing it all yourself. So right now, that’s the journey I’m making is trying to expand, uh, having, you know, my part time guys become more full time guys and then expanding from there. I’ve just moved into product sales, so we’ll be offering detailing products and supplies up in the front of the shop. So trying to get a person in there to take care of that and marketing and everything like that is definitely hard when it’s all on your shoulders.

Joshua Kornitsky: But it’s all about having the people that that share your core values and understand what matters to you matters to them.

Colin Devaney: So growing a good team has definitely been one of the biggest struggles so far that I’ve had.

Joshua Kornitsky: So as it happens, you’re in the room with a bunch of folks that can help. One thing you might want to look for, if you have not already, is, is seek out either a mentor or a coach that can work with you, but we’ll talk more about that later. That’s just a suggestion for you, because they’re the good news is, is most of the challenges that you’re encountering others have encountered before. Um, but let’s go back to talking about it’ll buff. So one of the questions that occurs to me, and I had mentioned to you earlier that I sort of grew up in, in the automotive business is, is as you’re trying to grow, where do you really want to take the company? What do you think? As, as as you begin to find the right people and you’ve got the right products, what’s next?

Colin Devaney: So I guess the whole goal for my company is to make it very easy for my customers to take care of their vehicle and love their vehicles. So my idea is to provide my customers with, you know, the base point. We provide them a beautiful vehicle. It’s very easy for them to maintain and then provide the education and the products for them to keep their vehicle looking their best. And, you know, keep loving it for years to come.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, so let’s talk about that. The importance of proper vehicle care. So let’s say I came to you and you performed detailing service at whatever level I was prepared to engage you at. Sure. What do I do after that? Just drop it by once a week and throw you the keys? Or are there things I can do.

Colin Devaney: So we can do that? We can, of course. Take care of your vehicle for you too. If you don’t have the time to do that yourself. Um, or if you don’t want to take care of it yourself. Of course we can do it too. Um, but it’s also, you know, we can set you up so that it’s very easy for you with, you know, minimal products to take care of your vehicle and keep it looking its best. Um, really, the biggest thing is just maintenance. Uh, you know, you wouldn’t think it’s too much, but just keeping your vehicle clean, you know, regularly keeping up with protecting things in your vehicle, like your plastic trims and things like that.

Joshua Kornitsky: I mean, are we talking about three hours a week? Are you talking about ten minutes?

Colin Devaney: If you do it every week, it’s super easy. It could be an hour, uh, to take care of your vehicle if you want to do it every six months or so, it might turn into a whole day. Two day job.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, I mean, if I guess I made the investment in a new car, it does seem sort of silly to ignore it. Although, in your experience, how often does that happen?

Colin Devaney: Most of the time. Unfortunately. You’d be very surprised. Yeah. Um, we try to get people to do their very best with taking care of their cars, and a lot of people do, especially once they get it protected and looking its best. Um, but then a lot of people neglect their cars and they want the best out of it, but they don’t take care of it enough. Um, so then you got to bring it to somebody like us, and we got to do a little bit more intensive service.

Joshua Kornitsky: That just seems counterintuitive. Absolutely.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay, well, so what are you doing with regards to it above detailing? How are you promoting your business? How are you letting people know you’re you’re existing and that you’re there?

Colin Devaney: Yeah. So I do a lot of, um, social media marketing, Instagram and Facebook is huge for me. That’s where we do a lot of content and reels and educational content and things like that. Um, we’re on Google. We do Google advertising as well. Um, as well as just trying to get out, get in the car shows things like that, meet with the community.

Joshua Kornitsky: So are you just posting pictures of people’s pretty cars?

Colin Devaney: Oh, so we do a lot of reels with, you know, the process. We do education on coatings and you know how these products can help protect your vehicle and things like that. Uh, before and after is, of course, things like that.

Joshua Kornitsky: Sure. People must love that.

Colin Devaney: Absolutely. Yeah. Those are always one of the most popular.

Joshua Kornitsky: As I mentioned, I sort of grew up in the car business, and one of the things that always stuck out to me is the the worst thing you can do is hand somebody a power buffer that doesn’t know how to use a power buffer. So do you train your folks on on the on the appropriate ways to use things, because you can take paint right off a brand new car. I’m sorry to say I’ve seen it.

Colin Devaney: Oh, and I’ve seen a lot of it. And I’ve fixed a lot of it. Um, yeah. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you got to be careful. Um, but we definitely try to take the time and slowly educate the guys that are doing work for me. I’m always there watching over them. That’s one of the hard parts about growing that I was touching on earlier was just kind of taking my hands off and letting somebody else do the things that I love to do can be very difficult. Um, but.

Joshua Kornitsky: I’ve heard that can be a challenge. It’s it’s having to be everywhere all at once. And that’s, uh, that’s always interesting and exciting to keep you from being bored. So how, uh, what are your hours of operation? If somebody wants to come by the location.

Colin Devaney: Generally, they’re Tuesday to Saturday, so we keep that weekend day open for people, which helps out a lot with people scheduling. Uh, and generally their 9 to 5 on Tuesday through Saturday. Um, but like I said, we’re a small business and we’ll always be there if you need us.

Joshua Kornitsky: Sure. Do you accept bookings, reservations, or is it just first come, first served.

Colin Devaney: So we are appointment only. If you go over to the website you can find all of our contact information there as well as we have an online portal where you can go through, you know, our services, our packages, our pricing, everything like that. And you can also schedule an appointment yourself from the website.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay. So that’s great. And we will put up on the Cherokee Business Radio website, all of your your socials and your website. But what is the best way for people to get in touch with you?

Colin Devaney: Uh, best is to contact me, uh, all of our phone numbers, emails, everything right there is right on the website. So we can really talk to you and find out what’s best for you and your vehicle and go from there.

Joshua Kornitsky: And what is your website?

Colin Devaney: It’ll buff detailing. Com.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay, so one of the things that I like to always ask is a little bit of a thinking question as we start to wrap things up. And my question to you is whether it’s in the detailing side of things or in the business side of things, what’s what’s a mistake that you’ve made that you learned from?

Colin Devaney: Ooh, made a lot of mistakes.

Joshua Kornitsky: That’s the only way we learned. So that’s a good thing.

Colin Devaney: Um, I guess, yeah, I guess I’ve made a lot of mistakes. Um, I’ve had mistakes on the detailing side of things. I mean, we’ve, we’ve I’ve messed up vehicles before. Of course. I think everybody has when they’ve worked on cars. Um, but, you know, going back and making that right with the customer and making sure you take care of your customer. 100%. I think that speaks volume. Um, and then, you know, just problems with employees, like I said, you know, um, just making sure employees do their job properly and staying on top of that and just making sure you provide the best service you can for your customers. Um, I always think, you know, we’ll never be perfect, but as close as you can get to that, you’re doing pretty good.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, and and as long as you’re taking care of the, the customer, and if the customer is identifying an issue and you’re making sure that that they’re satisfied before they roll out, I guess that’s for sure.

Colin Devaney: Everybody makes mistakes, but it’s just how you take care of those mistakes and move forward with them. I’ve earned lifelong customers by fixing things and making them right for the customer.

Joshua Kornitsky: Uh, as as my dad used to say, there, there. There’s no right. There’s no wrong time to do the right thing. No, sir. So that’s good to know. Well thank you. Colin Devaney of It’ll Buff Detailing. We appreciate you sharing your story with us, and I hope you’ll be able to hang out, because I think there’s some real interesting, uh, things that we can all learn from the folks we’ll be talking with. So please stay with me. Thank you very much.

Colin Devaney: Yes, sir.

Joshua Kornitsky: Thank you.

Matt Koop: Well, can I ask him a question?

Joshua Kornitsky: By all means. Matt.

Matt Koop: So, hey, this is Matt. Uh, Colin. So just a question. You know, I bought, uh, my my daughter a new car last year, and she was pulling into the garage because, you know, she’s the lady, and I let her use the garage, keep her safe, and my son can control the garage door from his cell phone. So he decided to start closing the garage door at the same time he was pulling in, and it just scratched the shit out of the top of her car. And, um, so I’m just wondering, would that ceramic coating you’re talking about have protected that?

Colin Devaney: So ceramic coating wouldn’t have helped you there? Um, unfortunately. Probably not. Closing the garage door on the car would have helped. Um, no. So it wouldn’t have helped you there. Uh, we do offer paint protection film, which is a film that would protect from scratches and rock chips of that nature. Uh, but, you know, within reason, if you hit a wall or something like that, it really just depends on how bad the damage is, I guess.

Matt Koop: So I might just have to bring it to you to see if you can.

Colin Devaney: You might need to bring it to me or send me some pictures, and I could give you a little better answer there.

Joshua Kornitsky: But the good news is, Matt, we’ve got a guy here that can fix the ceramic coating.

Colin Devaney: Might not have protected it, but we might be able to fix it for you.

Matt Koop: We’ll have to talk later.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, that’s a good question. Thank you for asking. All right, well, our next guest is, uh, Gretchen Kornutik, CEO and founder of All Things Short Term Rental. Welcome to Cherokee Business Radio, Gretchen.

Gretchen Kornutik: Thanks. How are you?

Joshua Kornitsky: Doing very well. Thank you so much for being here with us today. So I know, uh, all things short term rentals sounds pretty self-explanatory, but I know that that doesn’t really even begin to cover it. So tell us a little bit about what you do and how you help the folks that you help.

Gretchen Kornutik: Yeah, of course I am a serial entrepreneur. Um, I’ve had multiple businesses and continue to. I’ve got my my hand in, in many buckets. But my passion, uh, about the time that Airbnb started to become a company, they weren’t a company at the time. Uh, I got into short term rentals, and it was the wild, wild West, and, uh, and I built that property management company. Uh, it’s it’s now located in five states. Um, I’m here based in Woodstock. Okay. Um, and I’ve, I’ve grown it into multiple different platforms, but consequently finding the ideal client through all things short term rentals, uh, led me to just a passion project of teaching young entrepreneurs the right way to scale, grow, and then exit a business successfully. Um, and setting those steps up. So that’s that’s kind of the the 50,000 foot view of of my world.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay. Well, let’s let’s drill down into that just a little bit if we may. So I know so Gretchen and I had chatted a little bit beforehand and, and one thing she hadn’t said, which is just a wonderful piece of information, is that in 2024, she was the Jacksonville, excuse me, Jacksonville Small Business Leader of the year. And that’s really quite an accomplishment. And you had said that you’re now in Woodstock. Were you previously located in Florida?

Gretchen Kornutik: I was yeah. So, uh, so, uh, the, the much larger company that I was a part of that I built, scaled and exited, uh, in 2021, um, the home office was in Jacksonville, and actually my, my current main office, if you will. The people who are working boots on the ground is based out of Jacksonville, Florida, even though I’m in Woodstock. Okay. Um, yeah. I do not need to be where it is because I’ve set up systems and processes that work.

Joshua Kornitsky: So you’ve got your feet in multiple states.

Joshua Kornitsky: As you do, and just you’re on the state line. Well, so let’s talk a little bit about the the coaching. It’s not really like traditional coaching though is it. The what you what you offer to the folks that you try to help.

Gretchen Kornutik: It’s not, you know, listen. So, uh, when I got into business right over, over 25 years ago. So, uh, I when.

Joshua Kornitsky: You were four.

Gretchen Kornutik: Years old. When I was four. That’s awesome. Lemonade stand. Um, yeah. I’m much older than you think I am. And, um, anyway, I, you know, I always looked for a mentor. You always have a mentor, and you always are a mentor. That is the most successful way to go through this. You should always be changing. You should always be growing. You should always be pivoting. And, um. And so I did that without somebody telling me right at that point there weren’t really coaches. And, um, and I have done a ton of networking in 30 years. And one of the things that I’ve noticed recently is that business coaches are everywhere, right? There’s business coaches and networking, etc. all different strategies. But most of them, I say that loosely, right? These are broad strokes statements. Most of them have not actually built, scaled and exited an $85 million company. Um, they haven’t lived through those actual steps. Uh, and so they’re going off maybe a booklet that tells them what they might could do or, or a checklist rather than, hey guys, there’s some KPI strategies here that you should be aware of. Um, and so that’s what happens with, um, with, uh, with actual experience. And so it happened kind of by accident. I, my ideal client has has been realtors and brokers. And so I became certified through the states. Uh, I’m the only short term rental certified expert in the state of Georgia.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, and didn’t you tell me you also helped teach and certify?

Gretchen Kornutik: Yes, 100%. Um, and so because of that. Right, that was my ticket to my referral source, and I fell in love with it. It was a passion project of sitting down and saying, hey, guys, listen, you are looking at this completely wrong. Um, and and just giving them the knowledge, uh, and the vision. If if you are a business owner successfully, you understand that the vision is based on that business owner, not your vision as the coach. And so, um, it was just something that I, I fell in love with doing. And so it kind of happened by accident.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, it seems like, uh, I’ve shared this before. My favorite quote is, I may not have gotten where I was going, but I ended up where I needed to be from the great Douglas Adams. So what are the ways that you work with some of the folks that you coach that that help them understand the that it’s not just a by the book follow, you know, follow the the dots to get to the end prize.

Gretchen Kornutik: Yeah. It’s it’s dialing in on their specific thing. Right. The most affordable way to do it is through my mastermind group. So I have an online mastermind group.

Joshua Kornitsky: Oh, really?

Gretchen Kornutik: Okay. And I also have a, uh, an in-person mastermind group that both both of which meet twice a month. Um. And we dial in they they are private, uh, closed groups where people can come in and it is it is honest. I’ve had people crying on my couch before. Um, because you’re not going to get to the crux of the matter if you can’t get transparent and honest and real. Um, and so those those are two of the ways. And then just 1 to 1 consulting, mentoring, uh, working with people online classes.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, so for the, for the mastermind is, is that a you had said that it’s both one on one but also a group environment is.

Gretchen Kornutik: It’s two different options. Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah, there’s two different options.

Joshua Kornitsky: So there’s a peer aspect or, or 1 to 1 where you’re offering direct coaching 100%.

Gretchen Kornutik: The person who’s wearing that hat and thinks that they have to wear all the hats, or thinks that they have to do all the things right. That’s what a that’s what an introductory entrepreneur does. But for them to be successful, they move from that to the island of Misfit Toys, and then they move from the island.

Joshua Kornitsky: So hang on, let me stop you. Explain what I know what you mean by the Island of Misfit Toys. Yeah. And I recently had a young entrepreneur on who said he’s trying to do everything in every chair. So maybe we can we can accomplish two things. When you say moving to the island of Misfit Toys.

Gretchen Kornutik: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, so so they think that they have to marry, you know, get in bed and marry their cousin. Who who is the the social media marketer? Or they have to use this person because it’s, uh, it’s cheap. Advertisement. Or I’m going to use this salesperson because I only have to pay them a little bit or a commission, and I don’t have to pay them. I don’t have to get into payroll. Right. You start to build this island of misfit toys, of people who may specialize or may not specialize because you think they’re helping you.

Joshua Kornitsky: Are you saying that the path of least resistance is often not the right path?

Gretchen Kornutik: That is 100% true. Uh.

Joshua Kornitsky: So the easiest solution may not be the right one.

Gretchen Kornutik: 100%. Woo! That is a hard lesson.

Joshua Kornitsky: Um, and typically an expensive one.

Gretchen Kornutik: Yeah, very expensive one. And a more expensive one is the entrepreneur who literally thinks that what they do can’t be replaced without them. Um, if you are a true business owner, then you should not be working in your business. You should be directing and putting those people in place so that you can scale and then have passive income in multiple other areas. And uh, and that is a misstep from people who go from that single entrepreneur, uh, to the island of Misfit Toys. And then the big wall right in the glass ceiling of moving into professional kind of standing, having an actual air, having actual CEO, CFO, things of that nature. Um, and having an exit plan. Right. So people don’t go into business with an exit plan? Sure. It’s one of the worst things you could do.

Joshua Kornitsky: So it sounds to me like, based on your own experience, these are sort of steps you’ve already experienced, in many cases, more than once.

Gretchen Kornutik: Correct? Yes, that is correct.

Joshua Kornitsky: So as as you share their journey with them, they’re they’re able to seek the guidance from you in, in, uh, I guess we’d say proven strategies.

Gretchen Kornutik: Yes. 100%. Right. And they’re not mine. We we don’t need to reinvent the wheel. We need to have somebody who handholds us through the steps in the correct order. And, uh, and recognize the pivoting steps and markers as to when you should shift and change.

Joshua Kornitsky: And, and is that the same for everybody?

Gretchen Kornutik: You know what? Listen, it it is okay. Um. It is, but the timing isn’t the same. What that looks like isn’t the same, but the steps are the same. Yeah.

Joshua Kornitsky: So, okay, so what you’re saying is, is, is that if you follow sort of a proven process when it’s appropriate for you, you, you can still reach the right destination.

Gretchen Kornutik: Yeah. Those are broad strokes, right? Is that when people have these businesses and they grow from one step to the next, um, there are certain vital missing pieces that are are just not there. And it’s not. Hey, do I, uh, do I do my accounting practices this way or do I handle my CFO this way? Um, do I have X amount of employees? It’s not that. It’s. How am I tracking it? What are my what are my attainable goals on my numbers? And am I reaching those goals? Are things happening in the successful line? And why aren’t they right? There are steps that entrepreneurs just simply aren’t doing. They’re kind of throwing everything they can at a wall and hoping it’ll stick. And not understanding what did stick and why.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay, so so if I understand sort of the organic growth path of the average entrepreneur may have some blind spots in it, and that’s where you’re shining the light.

Gretchen Kornutik: Yes, 100%. Yeah. For their vision.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, and that I think leads to the the logical question is if somebody is considering a coach or a mentor, how do they go about finding the right person.

Gretchen Kornutik: Yeah. I mean, that’s that’s a pivotal thing. I think you sit down and talk to somebody. If you look at the most successful people in the world, you look at the Jeff Bezos and the, you know, high functioning people. Um, they don’t sit down with one person and hire them. That never happens. Uh, people who are developing software technologies sit down and talk to technology experts at a number of 120 to 200 people and ask each of those people who their best person is to get to that answer. We are lazy as entrepreneurs to not get to the right seat. And um, and and Josh because of what you do. Right. Ios which I’ve, which I’ve implemented in my previous company and was forever grateful um, is is understanding putting those the correct people in the correct seat and in the correct location. And um, and we don’t want to go through that because we’re afraid we’ll upset the apple cart or ego gets in the way, or we’re just lazy and, we don’t realize if we make those steps and we do it correctly and efficiently, that we are opening ourselves up to unlimited possibilities.

Joshua Kornitsky: Sure. And one of the things that I often encounter, and I know you’ve shared this with, uh, with me as well, is that that that quest to be the perfect solution gets in the way of any solution, right? Progress is is impeded by the quest for perfection.

Gretchen Kornutik: Yeah. I mean, not every coach is the right person for everybody. Not every realtor is the right realtor for everyone. Um, not every car person is going to be the right car person. I mean, we have got to get out of the thought process of just working with a friend and figuring out what we actually need and finding that person, uh, within our circuits. And as soon as we do that, then we’re in alignment. And, yeah, it’s amazing.

Joshua Kornitsky: Kind of a game changer.

Gretchen Kornutik: It is a game changer.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, so as I had asked Colin, I’ll ask you. There’s I always like to ask at least one question that makes you think a little bit. So in, in the case here first, uh, before I close, I’ll make sure that we know how to get in touch with you and anyone that’s interested in exploring either the mastermind or the short term rental advice. Uh, and management knows which is which and how to engage you. Right. But if you were going to offer a piece of advice to an entrepreneur, not necessarily a young entrepreneur, because you can be 60 years old and be a brand new entrepreneur, or you can be 21 years old and added for five years, right? So if you were to speak to someone who was a newer entrepreneur, regardless of of their age, more in their experience side, what’s a what’s a solid piece of advice you could offer them that would make a difference for them as they begin to grow? Because obviously not everybody can, can afford or understand the need for a coach or mentor right out of the gate.

Gretchen Kornutik: 100%. Yeah. I mean, I think they need to have conversations with people who are smarter than them. Um, uh, I did that. Um, it doesn’t cost you money to sit down and have one to ones with people who are in different areas of industry and ask them questions, but have a plan. Write it down. It doesn’t need to be a full business plan. People get so nervous, oh, I don’t know how to write a business plan. I don’t know how to have the financials or I don’t math well. Well, great. Thank you for letting us know what you’re not great at. Um, by the way, not everybody is great at everything, and they’re not supposed to be. So, um, so recognize what your passion is as an entrepreneur. Recognize what you’re good at, and then talk to people who are smarter than you.

Joshua Kornitsky: That’s fantastic. When I was a young entrepreneur, there was no one smarter than me.

Gretchen Kornutik: I bet that’s.

Joshua Kornitsky: True. As I got older, I realized there were almost all of them. Everyone but that. That’s the curve, right? That, as they say. Well, thank you, Gretchen. So let me ask the the differentiation. It’s it’s the salt air kisses consulting is is am I getting that correct?

Gretchen Kornutik: So yeah. Right. There’s multiple companies that are under me. I touch a lot of things. Okay. I have, uh, I have a couple of, of real estate brokerages as well as the short term rental property management. Um, not to be confused with long term property management. I have some great referrals for that, but that’s not what I do. Okay. Um, I also on the side have a distributor for tiny homes that are modular and a window company and a flooring company, etc..

Joshua Kornitsky: So it sounds like you know who you’re the right person to call to find out whatever we need to find.

Gretchen Kornutik: Yeah, but but I mean, right, I don’t I don’t touch those things because it’s set up correctly. Um, but to find me and to get to the crux of all of it is just all things short term rentals. Com, perfect. Um, there’s a contact card there. There’s a scheduler, there’s a list of classes. There’s things that I attend, events, conferences that I’m at, things of that nature. So that’s just a great central location. And it feeds to my other sources.

Joshua Kornitsky: So it’s a single point.

Gretchen Kornutik: It is a single point.

Joshua Kornitsky: I’m sorry I was.

Gretchen Kornutik: In short term rentals.com.

Joshua Kornitsky: All things short term rentals.com. And obviously as as I mentioned to Colin earlier, we’ll have that on our website so that people can find you through Cherokee Business Radio. Um, amazing. I can’t thank you enough for sharing your your wisdom and your experience with us. Uh, do you have any events or anything coming up in the immediate future that you want to share?

Gretchen Kornutik: Uh, yeah. I mean, so I’m doing my my, uh, Georgia Real Estate C class this Friday online. And, um, on May 1st, we’re going to launch a new group, uh, cohort. Mastermind group.

Joshua Kornitsky: Oh, great.

Gretchen Kornutik: Um, yeah. So, so that’ll be on the website for, uh, for logging in to. And, you know, I’m I’m available. I’m transparent. Uh, people can call me and ask me questions. I’m not that untouchable or such.

Joshua Kornitsky: You don’t have seven layers of blockers.

Gretchen Kornutik: I really just don’t. Uh, if I am available, I answer the phone.

Joshua Kornitsky: That’s fantastic. Yeah, well, thank you again, Gretchen. Critic of all things short term rental. And if you’d be kind enough to hang out, we’re going to talk next with Matt Koop. So Matt, thank you so much for making the drive down here because Matt came from Matt wins the award for the for the furthest trip. But we sure appreciate it. Matt is the vice president and founder of both the new Flat Rate and Freedom Builders University. Um, you know, Matt, uh, you and I have known each other for a little while, but let me ask you, what is the new flat rate?

Matt Koop: Well, I can tell you, Josh. And first of all, thanks for having me. And I’m happy to make the drive. Um, the new flat rate, uh, just to to be transparent there. We specialize in home service, help with, uh, contracting companies, but really small businesses in general. We’re a process development company. But outside of that, it’s really more about what what our mission and focus is. Because the new flat rate, uh, we keep families together.

Joshua Kornitsky: That’s a pretty bold statement. What do you mean by that?

Matt Koop: Well, you see, when it comes to spousal and partner arguments. Uh, you know, Josh, what do you think the number one thing is that starts most arguments?

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, let’s see, I’ve been married almost 23 years.

Matt Koop: Other than that.

Joshua Kornitsky: No, it’s money.

Matt Koop: It is money, isn’t it? You know, it’s it’s pretty much always money. And so, uh, we do that by helping businesses become more profitable. Uh, and our specific niche is, uh, increasing revenue and profits in the contracting space. So, like heating and air conditioning, electric and plumbing companies.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Matt Koop: Uh, and we do that through process development to help them, uh, kind of automate their communication and discussions between their office and the consumer at the end, as well as, uh, their service technicians and the customers and even the management team to the staff that works with them, because that’s not always flow in the way that it should.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay. So you’re you’re making it easier for the company to deal with the customer or the the front line individual to deal with the customer, or both.

Matt Koop: Ultimately both. Really?

Joshua Kornitsky: How do you do that?

Matt Koop: Well, that’s a good question. So first of all, um, we have an automated system in our app. So we developed an app that kind of bridges the communication gaps for the sales process. Uh, because ultimately I think anybody that’s ever had a plumber or an HVAC tech or anything in, uh, anybody that’s had a plumber or an HVAC technician in their home, uh, generally they would agree that they’re not always the best communicators. And so it’s like, hey, what’s wrong with my system? And then they’ll give you this roundabout, uh, message. And so what our app does is it allows the technician just to tell the app what they found, and then the app automatically kind of transcribes everything into consumer language and gives the customers their options and says, hey, here’s all your options for your sink sync, and it automatically brings in the things that most of the service technicians would have missed as well. Uh, because in the home service trades, we’ve kind of been trained that things are either broke or they’re good.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay. And there’s like it’s binary. Either it works or it doesn’t work. And there there’s no half working faucet.

Matt Koop: Right. But but if you really think about it in the world of mechanics, that’s not true. Uh, if I have one part that failed in one spot and everything in that area is the same age, it’s pretty common to know that the part right next to it is probably on the way out the door, too.

Joshua Kornitsky: So the sink on the left dies. The sink on the right is probably not far behind it in in a plumbing.

Matt Koop: And the thing is, is we we, uh, are in all 50 states all across Canada and Australia now, too. Oh, wow. And so our systems used over 30,000 times a week. And so the data that we receive. Um, just proves that, like, I had somebody that says, well, Matt, you don’t know, you know, when that other thing’s going to fail. I’m like, that’s true, but I do know how long it’s been there and the condition of it. Sure. And so what our app does is it automatically tells the homeowner, hey, here’s what’s going on. But by the way, with all these other options, if you want us to while we’re here, we can just rebuild this whole area. And the cool thing is, is when customers take the top option, um, it triples the amount of time between breakdowns for the end customer.

Joshua Kornitsky: So that’s interesting. You’re also keeping the families of your customers together by not getting angry about the fact that something that just got fixed didn’t break, or the one next to it didn’t break.

Matt Koop: That’s exactly right.

Joshua Kornitsky: That’s a that’s an interesting perspective.

Matt Koop: So it saves the end customer money. Ultimately the average customer saves, uh, you know, usually over $500 worth of repairs in one area when they take a better option. Right. Which is really cool because we can do the work for less because we’re already there, but yet it increases the profitability for the home service company by over 300%.

Joshua Kornitsky: So, I mean, it sounds like a lot of thoughts gone into this. Are you a software developer from long back? How did you how did you come up with the the concept here that you put in place?

Matt Koop: It’s funny. You know, I like to I like to go out, you know, and uh, have fun sometimes on the weekends or whatever, like anybody and anytime I’m, I’m out with friends, somebody is inevitably Josh having a problem with the phone or something. And they’re all like, hey, give it to Matt. He’s this software guy. And, uh, just for the record, I really don’t know shit about, uh, fixing, uh, I mean, about about programing or any of that. I build the process and this is what I want it to do. And then we have lots of programmers that make that dream come to life.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay, so. So how did you learn about the different trades then?

Matt Koop: A great question. So the reason why we kind of fell into all of this goes back in about 2001, 2001. My father came to me and and was talking about some issues he was having in his home contracting business. It was heating, air, electric and plumbing company.

Joshua Kornitsky: Oh, so it’s a it was part of your family already? It is. I see.

Matt Koop: We’re from the trades and and, um, he was talking to me and I said, well, if you can tell me what you’re trying to do, I maybe can help. And he was telling me. And so ultimately he asked me to go to trade school. And so I actually started as a home repair service technician, uh, back in 2001.

Joshua Kornitsky: Gotcha.

Matt Koop: And, um, learned very quickly that there was some major problems in the space. Uh, started having customers get upset when I did things the way the industry taught me to do them. And so I just developed a curiosity to ask the question. And the question, Josh, was Why, uh.

Joshua Kornitsky: How dare you? How dare you, sir?

Matt Koop: I pissed off a lot of people with that, too. But, uh. Why does the industries that we serve do things the way that they do?

Joshua Kornitsky: Did you get an answer?

Matt Koop: Uh, you know, the funny thing is, is I’m also a a, uh, a follower of self-made billionaires. Okay. You know, Gretchen, you were talking about, uh, how everybody has a mentor and is a mentor. And so when I look at at these self-made billionaires, most of them will agree that the leading cause of that kind of the number one business killer is that line. That’s the way we’ve always done it. Mhm.

Gretchen Kornutik: Such a true statement.

Matt Koop: And that’s what I kept hearing.

Joshua Kornitsky: Hey the way we’ve always done it isn’t good enough.

Matt Koop: Well I mean grandpa and I love grandpa but you know grandpa that started the company or Great Grandpa back in 1928. Uh, I’m not saying that he was doing anything wrong. But what we learned is that most business processes were actually supposed to be one offs, like a customer was upset about something and somebody called the boss and said, oh my gosh, we have a problem. You know, Josh, how do we fix it? And you said, oh, just do this. Just make them happy this one time. But that one thing out of your mouth as the business owner just became God in your company.

Joshua Kornitsky: And that’s it. From that day forward, it’s the marching orders.

Matt Koop: From that day forward.

Joshua Kornitsky: You had shared with me previously a story about the twice a year visits to people’s homes.

Matt Koop: Oh my goodness.

Joshua Kornitsky: Yes. And so that’s a great example to sort of, if you don’t mind sharing to illuminate. Why do why does my HVAC guy want to come twice a year?

Matt Koop: You know, it’s so funny that you say that and you’re gonna I hope people don’t hang up because of this, especially those HVAC guys. But, um, so the home service space, they always talk about annual maintenance and getting your heating and cooling system inspected twice a year. But the funny thing is, is that methodology actually came from the 60s and 70s. How so? Because back then furnaces had what’s called a standing pilot. They had a fire that had to burn all the time. And but it cost you about 12, 11 to $12 a month worth of gas to burn it. And so what you would do is you would blow it out in the summertime, so you didn’t have to pay that money when you didn’t need your heat. Sure. But then the air conditioning units outside it was customary back then also to cover those up in the wintertime. And so what was happening is these home service contractors, come summertime, they were getting hundreds and hundreds of phone calls every day from all these customers that heating and cooling systems didn’t work or the cooling systems didn’t work. And they would go out there, and it was because there was a darn tarp over.

Joshua Kornitsky: It.

Matt Koop: You know. And so it couldn’t breathe. It couldn’t run. And so it was keeping them from being able to, uh, actually, you know, get to customers that really needed them because they were going out and just uncovering units all the time. And so what they ended up doing is, is a gentleman named Ron Smith developed a process of a maintenance agreement where they would he would tell the customers, hey, sign up for this program. Let us come out when it’s convenient for us in the spring. In the fall, we’ll uncover your air conditioner to get it ready for summer. We’ll blow out your pilot to save you money in the. In the fall, we’ll do the same. We’ll cover your air conditioner. We’ll light your pilot. And that allowed them to get to the other customers in the summer. But over the years, that methodology was lost. Uh, because today they don’t make furnaces that have standing pilots anymore. And with powder coating technology and things, you don’t have to cover your air conditioners.

Joshua Kornitsky: But that’s the way we’ve always done it.

Matt Koop: But it’s just how we’ve always done it.

Joshua Kornitsky: So that’s a perfect segue and a great story. Thank you for sharing. So. So is is it that type of insight that led to Freedom Builders University?

Matt Koop: You know, it actually is. I like how you tie that together. Thank you for that. So, uh, in 2018, uh, we had a whole bunch of, uh, of our members, uh, that were using the new flat rate that started coming to me, and they were saying, Matt, we love how you solved this problem for our profitability with the options and everything that you guys do with the new flat rate. What about these other areas of business? And so they said they just wanted our thoughts on it. And so we founded a program called Freedom Builders University for small business entrepreneurs to help tie these other sides of the business together and bring some some better ideas and some good resources and kind of a let’s just call it a central point of truth. Uh, you know, I find truth all over the place. But, sure, a lot of these guys, you know, Gretchen like what you were talking about. They just, um. They just don’t know.

Gretchen Kornutik: They’re missing a step.

Matt Koop: Oh, a lot of steps. But, you know, it really comes down to the fact that they’re usually just good at fixing things. And so they started a business, but they don’t know about payroll. They don’t know about taxes. They don’t know about, uh, about any of this stuff. So we founded Freedom Builders University, uh, with the premise of helping them get their life together and experience the freedom that they wanted from business in the first place. And really, it comes down to Josh that, um, there’s this thing that as business owners, many of us fall into, uh, which is called the, um, what is it, the the life, uh, it’s the work life exchange. It’s like work life balance. Kind of. We exchange our, you know, we go to work hoping for a, you know, it’s like an exchange of life for work. But at the end of the day, Freedom Builders is about helping them experience the life worth living exchange.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Matt Koop: Um, in other words, I want them to go to work and when they leave to actually feel good. Uh, not stressed because, you know, Gretchen, with everybody you’re talking about, I know you run into it. They go home at night and they can’t turn off their brain.

Gretchen Kornutik: Well, not only that, they just, um, they’ve given themselves a job rather than a business.

Matt Koop: Well, and some of them, I think. And I was going to ask you about that. I think some of them, they wanted a job, right. You know, because that’s what they’re good at.

Gretchen Kornutik: That’s their vision. Yeah. So you have to tie into that. I love I love what you’re doing.

Joshua Kornitsky: So. So how do you help them?

Matt Koop: So we focus. We were looking at the world of freedom. And we said, well, what does it mean to feel successful, to feel free with your business. And we were looking for kind of a formula and it was difficult to find. And so we built one. And so the formula that we follow is money plus time plus impact equals freedom. And so money is the fact that as a business entrepreneur and a business owner, if you don’t have profitability and cash flow, you’re making decisions from a position of desperation. And most of those decisions will be wrong because they’re just like, just hire that person because they’re breathing. They can wipe down cars for us.

Joshua Kornitsky: Oh, wait, we talked about the path of least resistance.

Matt Koop: It is. But so so we help them get profitable. And so right away we help them get profitable. And on that note, our average Freedom builder member today is running over 17% in net profit. Wow. Which is in our in the spaces that we serve is triple the average.

Joshua Kornitsky: And and in that regard, does that impact customer satisfaction?

Matt Koop: Ironically, you know, people think like well Matt, how can you charge so much money? We find that the more money that we are able to acquire from the end user. Even though this sounds weird. The happier they are because we’re able to do more for them.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, sure, because they feel like they’re getting value for the. The exchange. Right. Right. That that if I. Most people don’t complain if the service that they’ve engaged. Works the way that they expected it to work and that the. That the individuals performing the work have done so in, in an effective and efficient manner without walking in flipping a switch, saying that’s $1,000 and walking out the door.

Matt Koop: Well, exactly. And for all the business owners, especially that are listening, if you go and you look at your reviews and your complaints, your any any of your lower star reviews on Google or any of your complaints you’ve had over the years, uh, you can tie usually well over 90% of them to the people that paid the least.

Joshua Kornitsky: Uh, really.

Matt Koop: Just it’s just always, gosh.

Gretchen Kornutik: That’s that’s uniform for all business. Yeah.

Matt Koop: 100%.

Gretchen Kornutik: Yeah. Let’s. Yeah, that’s that’s where tracking methods I love this. I mean, you and I could probably have hours conversation on this. Well, we need to. Yeah.

Joshua Kornitsky: My dad, who’s the original source of wisdom for me, always said that if you make one customer happy, they might tell another. If you make one customer unhappy, they’re going to tell everybody.

Gretchen Kornutik: Yes. True statement.

Matt Koop: Yeah, absolutely. So that’s the first thing we do is we help them become more profitable, get their pricing in line in our space. We’re kind of considered the pricing experts, which is one of our core values as as a company as well. So we we help them do that. And side note, even away from me, I like to give plugs with great products and books. If you like reading a book, there’s a great book out there by a lady called Casey Brown, which is Fearless Pricing. And I love that book because in it she talks about how to be more profitable. And she says that if you’re already a 10% profit company, if you raise your prices only 1%, 1%, that is a 10% increase in profitability. Wow.

Joshua Kornitsky: Simple but really effective.

Matt Koop: Simple. And then also, you know, people might charge $100 for something, but they’re like, well, change it to $99. Well, that $1 drop was a 10% decrease in profitability. Sure. And so it would be better to go to 100 and $100.99 than it would be to drop back to $99.

Joshua Kornitsky: Do you find that even with the clients you’re working with, that are established businesses that they’re challenged to ask for money?

Matt Koop: Oh my goodness. You know, I don’t know what all I should say on the radio. Uh.

Joshua Kornitsky: Yes. Yes you do.

Matt Koop: I heard I heard somebody say something though. It’s it’s terrible, but it’s it’s down south. And it was talking about. Hey, he said down south here. Josh. Um, there’s two things that we don’t talk about from the time we’re really, really young. It’s sex and money.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Matt Koop: And he’s like, we have a lot of all of it. We just don’t talk about it. It was funny. But when you think about it.

Gretchen Kornutik: It’s a great statement.

Matt Koop: Oh, it’s so important, though, because we were ingrained by the time we were little kids to not talk about money. We would be like, oh my gosh, look at that car, mom, how much does that person make? And she would be like, shh, that’s rude. Don’t talk about that. And so we were brought up with this fear of asking for money because it was wrong. And but I have a different belief that I’ve, I’ve learned and cultivated, which we teach our members in freedom builders and the new flat rate, which is, um, we believe that 100% of our customers called us with the intention to buy. And once you understand that, that they wouldn’t have taken time out of their day, Colin, to bring you their car if they didn’t want it to be awesome. And so if you knew that somebody booked an appointment with you and that they 100% were going to buy from you and pay you money, would it take the pressure off of asking for the money?

Colin Devaney: Absolutely, I think so.

Matt Koop: Yeah. It would, wouldn’t it for sure. So just believe it because that’s true. Yeah. Because they didn’t take time out of their work schedule. Get a ride to your place to drop off their car if they wanted to say no. Right. And so we’ve just kind of paired that into other things that we, we, we train on that says just take the yes before you even get there and go in and show them the options and they’ll and they’ll buy and they always do well.

Gretchen Kornutik: And it sounds like you’ve also mastered the, the other piece of the equation, which is time. Right. If somebody can afford what it is they’re shopping for, um, and, and they are your client, uh, time will matter. Uh, somebody who has the money in their pocket. Um, they don’t care if it’s $300 or $100. If it’s going to save them time. They don’t have to think about it. They can check the box and they know it’s going to be done, right. I mean, I just I love that, um, you, you you go after the ideal client and, uh, and not everybody is that that check box? Yeah.

Matt Koop: We don’t always think we do, Gretchen, but we we all believe. We believe what you just said to an extent that it understands. Um. I can’t make more time. Right? You know, we have 86,400 seconds a day. Nobody has any more than that. And. But I can make more money. So, you know, I only have so many seconds in my in my life. So if I can trade a little bit of the money, which I can’t take with me to get more seconds with my children, with my family, with other things that are important to me. The answer is always yes if I can make the connections work 100%. And so I like that other statement. There’s no such thing as a lack of resources. Just resourcefulness.

Joshua Kornitsky: I like that.

Matt Koop: And it goes a long ways. So to kind of wrap that up, Josh, I know you’re you’re probably saying, hey man, this guy talks a lot. No, no.

Joshua Kornitsky: It’s all good information. So money plus time plus impact equals freedom.

Matt Koop: So the time part of it in Freedom Builders is the starts with the work life balance is we have to help them. If they’re going to experience freedom we have to help them develop a work life balance. Now sometimes according to what piece of their entrepreneurial journey journey they’re on, they might have to work more today to save time in the future. Sure. So eventually you got to get shit done whether you’re busy or not. Right. And so, um, when it comes to the work life balance, we help them do that through scalable processes. And so the big issue here is, is most of the companies we work with their owner operators. And so the owners are still working daily in the company. And they don’t know they’re always looking for that unicorn employee being like, hey, I just gotta have somebody that can do everything that I can do. Sure. And I’m like, oh, there’s lots of those. They just own their own company already, you know? And so, uh, stop looking for the unicorn and instead appreciate the people you have and build a unicorn out of multiple people. And so you do that with processes that say, hey, here’s this one thing that consumes a certain piece of my time. Just one thing like payroll we were talking about, you know. And so let’s train and write a simple process. One page. Here’s ten steps how we do payroll here in our company so that you can slide it over to somebody. And we teach how to make it so incredibly simple that it would save you time to do it, and you wouldn’t even mind keeping it, but at that point, give it away.

Joshua Kornitsky: That makes perfect sense. Delegate and elevate.

Matt Koop: That’s it. And so we get their work life balance going. Help them, uh, start setting alarms to just leave work. Because there comes a point when your productivity just absolutely goes to zero. And then we focus on impact. And impact is their legacy in life. It’s not always global. Sometimes it has to do with just their people that are in their life and their business, the other employees. I’ve got a one owner I work with who is just an incredible person. He doesn’t have he doesn’t have anything to leave his legacy to anyone. And so and he’s built not I don’t think 85 million but he he exited some 50 plus million dollar companies. And so he’s currently building this plumbing company out in California with the entire intention of just turning it over to the employees. That’s awesome. He says he’s like, I don’t want anything. I says, I just these are my people. I just want to help all of them. He says. I don’t have anybody else. And so he’s building this, this big company and his mission is just incredible. But that’s an impact. But what we have to understand about impact is impact is always something that will cost you time and or money. And so if you’re struggling financially, really hard to donate to that charity you like, if you’re struggling, if you’re struggling with not being able to leave the office, it’s really hard to go, you know, volunteer somewhere. And so at Freedom Builders, we just we just help them get their life together.

Joshua Kornitsky: That sounds like a noble cause, and one that really does help keep the families together. Well, so so let me ask you this as as sort of a closing question on that front. Right. What’s a piece of advice that you would give to someone regardless of business? Kind of like something that they should remember. I think that that the impact costs you either money or time is a great point. But what’s one single piece we could leave people with that, that that you think will be universally valuable?

Matt Koop: Can I give to you?

Joshua Kornitsky: Of course.

Matt Koop: Uh, so the first one, uh, goes with, uh, what Gretchen was talking about. Uh, step out and join some masterminds. Uh, we put on a big retreat style mastermind once a year. Uh, you’re welcome to come to that. Uh, but then all we also do a different version. We call them quarterly workshops, where we go and visit, uh, our other member locations, and we bring contractors with us, and so find a way to do that. So if you’re in our space and you want to join with one of us, then, then come on. Uh, but find a way to go visit other contractors, other other business owners in your, in your arena because you can learn so much from just seeing how they do things. And I always tell people some of the best things I’ve learned from doing that, Josh, is the things that I feel like they’re doing wrong is, is when I go and look at it and I’m like, yeah, I don’t want to do that. But that saves me millions of dollars by not making that mistake. And so you can get good ideas and things that you don’t want from from visiting those. And then the second thing that I would always say is, is really probably the most important in any business is when you’re going to deliver or ask the customer to buy your products and services.

Matt Koop: Always start with your best first. And so think about forget about even what they quote unquote need and think of, hey, what is the absolute best that I could do for this, for this situation, this job, this customer, what they have. And I always I train it this way. I say if you were going to work on something, an air conditioner or a plumbing thing, an electrical, a car, a house, and you were going to do a certain amount of work on it, but you I told you. Okay, so here’s the thing, Colin. I want you to go ahead and do a great work on this, but I’m going to mount a plaque on it when you’re done. And it’s going to say, Colin, did this work, right? All right. But now, not only that, then I’m going to take everybody else in your industry and workspace. And when you’re done, I’m going to march them past it in single file with a clipboard and let them pick what you did apart. If you knew that was going to happen, what would you what what level of work would you want to do?

Colin Devaney: Well, you’d want to sell them your absolute best.

Matt Koop: You would want to be your best.

Joshua Kornitsky: Do your.

Matt Koop: Best, and you would want everybody that looked at it to say, that is the best work I’ve ever seen. It looks incredible. And so then think about how much you would have to charge to deliver that level of service. And, uh, my dad always says and then add $800.

Gretchen Kornutik: So at least 20%.

Matt Koop: At least 20%, you can add more. And the thing is, is because this is my best. And I learned over the years that my best kept costing more and more money because I didn’t want to have to watch the clock. I learned to.

Joshua Kornitsky: Do it the right way.

Matt Koop: That was one of the worst things is if I felt like I was in a hurry and trying to do my best at the same time. And so I ended up getting to the point as a trade technician to where my best was, my day. And so I’ll just sell my whole day. And so hey, my my best option. Boom, you get me for the day. I’m your tech for the day. So that’s what I would say. Because if you offer them your best first, they can always take less. And the less will always give them a financial relief if they need it.

Joshua Kornitsky: Sure. That’s great advice, Matt. Thank you for sharing, uh, all of that with us. I think that’s universally useful. Um, do you have any events coming up, anything people should know about?

Matt Koop: Man, I have so many events. Um, first of all, we always do different things in Freedom Builders. We have a twice a month, uh, group coaching call. It’s a zoom call you can jump on. It’s the second and fourth Tuesday of the month. Uh, no. Thursday. Sorry. Second and fourth Thursday of the month. Uh, where you can just kind of interact with other other contractors and business owners and get a lot of good ideas. Plus we have different topics and stuff we go through. Okay, so that’s a great group going on, but some big events which you’re actually going to be at one Josh I’m excited about is at the end of April, it’s April 28th through May 2nd, uh, and it’s our annual retreat mastermind this year located in Nashville, Tennessee. And, uh, the cool thing about that mastermind event is it gets you away from everything. It gets you away from your business, uh, in with other entrepreneurial peers. And we’re doing something really cool. It sounds weird as a business people, but we are going to a archery range where we are going to shoot each other.

Joshua Kornitsky: Wow.

Matt Koop: Yeah. Sounds fun.

Joshua Kornitsky: I’m going to be sick that night.

Matt Koop: Yeah, I thought you would. Uh, no, we actually are. So they actually have special darts that aren’t going to hurt you. Oh, okay. But we’re going to play archery tag with all of the owners that come and all the managers that come. And the reason we do that is to let everybody’s guards down so that everybody realizes that we’re all real people. And so that they stop putting on their suits and ties and pretending that they’re successful. Sure. Because even though they have successes in their life, they wouldn’t be there if they didn’t have.

Joshua Kornitsky: And who doesn’t want to shoot? Their favorite customer.

Matt Koop: Doesn’t want to shoot them. So we’re going to go shoot each other, and then we’re going to mastermind and work with our leaders like yourself. We’ve got life coaches, business coaches, financial consultants and mentors and trainers that will be there to work with them one on one and in group settings to really help them get to that next level. And so that’s coming up. Uh, and.

Joshua Kornitsky: And so how will people if they want to learn more about that, where would they go? And yes, we’ll have all of this on the website, but I want to give you the chance to.

Matt Koop: Everything I do with both these companies is all tied under the umbrella company, which is the new flat rate. So if you just go to the new flat rate comm, you can see more information about that. But if you click on resources there you’ll see a tab that says attend to Mastermind. And so you can click on that. And whether you want to attend the mastermind or even some of the group calls. Just fill out that information and we’ll reach out and we’ll get you in whatever you want.

Joshua Kornitsky: Awesome. Well, I can’t thank you enough for sharing. And again, this is, uh, Cherokee Business Radio. I want to thank my guests, uh, Colin Devaney of It’ll buff detailing. Gretchen Korneitsik, CEO and founder of all Things Short term Rental, and Matt Coupe, vice president and founder of the new Flat Rate and Freedom Builders University.

Matt Koop: It’s cope.

Joshua Kornitsky: Josh cope.

Matt Koop: Cope.

Joshua Kornitsky: Cope. That’s embarrassing. Matt Cope. This is Joshua Konicki, professional US implementer and slightly embarrassed guy saying thank you. And please join us again next week. We’ll see you then.

 

Tagged With: All Things Short Term Rentals, It’ll Buff Detailing, The New Flat Rate

Women in Health: A CEO’s Path to Mental Health Advocacy

April 10, 2025 by angishields

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Women in Motion
Women in Health: A CEO's Path to Mental Health Advocacy
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In this episode of Women in Motion, Lee Kantor talks with Brittany Cavicchioni, CEO of Bella Vida TMS, about her transition from a legal career to mental health advocacy. Brittany shares her personal battle with depression and how discovering Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) transformed her life. She emphasizes the importance of non-invasive treatments for mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, and PTSD. The discussion also addresses barriers to mental health care, such as education, accessibility, and affordability, and highlights the need for community support and open conversations about mental health. Brittany encourages listeners to explore available resources and seek help.

Brittany-Cavicchioni-A.C.PBrittany Cavicchioni is the founder and CEO of Bella Vida TMS, a leading mental health clinic dedicated to transforming lives through Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS).

After experiencing firsthand the challenges of traditional mental health treatments, Brittany discovered TMS—a non-invasive, FDA-approved therapy with life-changing potential. Inspired by her own journey of overcoming depression and the profound impact of TMS, she shifted her career from law to mental health, making it her mission to expand access to innovative treatments and break down the stigma surrounding mental health care.

With an entrepreneurial spirit and a deep commitment to patient care, Brittany has spearheaded Bella Vida TMS’s expansion, ensuring that those struggling with depression, PTSD, anxiety, and other mental health conditions receive effective, compassionate treatment.

Beyond depression treatment, Brittany is a strong advocate for the lesser-known benefits of TMS, including its applications for autism, sleep regulation, memory enhancement, and more. She is on a mission to educate the public about this underutilized technology, which has been around since the 1980’s yet remains widely misunderstood. Bella-Vida-logo

Bella Vida TMS has become a hub for cutting-edge mental health solutions, ensuring that patients have access to safe, effective, and insurance-covered treatments. Brittany’s work is driven by a passion for helping others reclaim their lives, a commitment to expanding access to care, and an unwavering belief that mental health care should be innovative, effective, and stigma-free.

In addition to running Bella Vida TMS, Brittany is a social media advocate, speaker, and business strategist, always looking for new ways to empower individuals and transform mental health treatment.

Follow Bella Vida TMS on LinkedIn and Facebook.

Brittany-Cavicchioni

Music Provided by M PATH MUSIC

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios, it’s time for Women In Notion. Brought to you by WBEC-West. Join forces. Succeed together. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of Women In Motion and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, WBEC-West. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. And this month, we’re highlighting women in health, and so excited to be talking to my next guest, Brittany Cavicchioni. She is the CEO with Bella Vida TMS. Welcome.

Brittany Cavicchioni: Hi, Lee. Thank you so much for having me.

Lee Kantor: Well, I am excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about Bella Vida TMS. How are you serving folks?

Brittany Cavicchioni: Of course. So, at Bella Vida TMS, we specialize in non-invasive, non-medication approaches to the treatment of various mental health ailments, like depression, anxiety, PTSD, and things like that. One of our main treatments is TMS, also known as Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. It’s been around since the 1980s. FDA approved since 2008. Health insurance has been paying for it since 2012. And it has about an 80 percent efficacy rate, which means it’s successful at treating the condition of depression about 80 percent of the time. But still, people don’t know about it. So, that’s what we do and that’s what we’re here for.

Lee Kantor: Can you share a little bit about your journey? How did you get involved in this line of work?

Brittany Cavicchioni: Yes, of course. So, before I got into mental health, I actually worked in the legal field for about a decade, actually changed some laws in Arizona so that non-attorneys can own law firms. A lot of fun stuff. So, my passion really always was helping people, but more so on the legal side of things.

Brittany Cavicchioni: In about around 2021, I was going through a divorce and several other major life experiences, and I found myself battling some pretty severe depression for the first time in my life. It was about as serious as a heart attack, Lee. Like when it happened to me, I wasn’t able to get out of bed in the morning sometimes or get my daughter to school. And for over a year, I was working with a team of therapists and psychiatrists to do some medication management and your typical approaches to mental health, like going to therapy, and nothing was really working.

Brittany Cavicchioni: After a year, a friend of mine actually told me about TMS and it changed my life. Within ten sessions, I was able to start, you know, getting back to work, coming off of the antidepressant medications. And after that experience, one of the things that really puzzled me was, one, why didn’t my writer team tell me about this? It’s been around since the ’80s and my health insurance covered it. And the other thing is, why don’t more people know about it? And I think it simply boils down to there’s a lot more money into big pharma. And so, I switched gears from trying to open a law firm to helping others in the mental health space.

Lee Kantor: Now, for folks who maybe are going through a tough time right now, can you just give us some basic education? Like how do you know when I’m just having a bad day or a bad week or I really might have depression? Are there some symptoms or some things that are happening that is like, okay, if you’re on one side of the ledger, this just means you’re just kind of going through the blues. But if you’re on the other side of the ledger, then you might need some help here.

Brittany Cavicchioni: Right. So, we’re talking about the difference between, you know, situational depression or chronic depression or major depressive disorder that’s treatment resistant. So, a lot of health insurances, they’ll describe depression as sadness. I’ve actually seen it in some of their documents, they say we see that you’ve been diagnosed with depression, also known as sadness.” And I guess that’s a simplified way of explaining it.

Brittany Cavicchioni: The thing is, just like the weather, you know, you have days where it’s sunshiny outside and days where it’s rainy. Your mood can change the same way, right? You can have good days, you can have bad days. But if you’re in that constant state of sadness and it starts affecting your day-to-day activities and your ability to think about other things other than, I guess, that sadness or that depression, that’s when it’s advised for you to seek appropriate medical care and look for other avenues in order to come out of that. If you stay in that state for extended periods of time, that’s whenever you end up with major depressive disorder and it escalates from moderate to severe, and so on and so forth.

Lee Kantor: So, it’s one of those things that if you don’t proactively treat it, it tends to not get better on its own. It’s going to kind of spiral.

Brittany Cavicchioni: Correct. Your brain, just like any other part of your body, if you neglect it long enough, there will be signs and you will be forced to pay attention to it at some point.

Lee Kantor: And then, a typical person going through this, I would imagine, do they have the kind of self-awareness to say, “Oh, I need help” or is this something where their support system, their family or friends says, “Hey, you might need to get help here.”

Brittany Cavicchioni: We actually find it to be a little bit of a combination of both. So, we have quite a few people who contact our offices to reach out for resources for themselves and quite a few reach out for resources for their son or their daughter or an aunt or uncle. So, it’s a little bit of a combination. Sometimes we don’t realize how badly we need help until until it’s there for you.

Lee Kantor: And for folks, I would guess the majority of people go through some sort of a medical path first, is that their inclination is, “Okay. I’m going to go and I’ll ask or I’ll get a psychiatrist or get somebody with medical background.” Is that usually the first move? Or do they kind of maybe go online and try to solve it, you know, by googling it? Like what’s the typical path?

Brittany Cavicchioni: Are you referring to depression or referring to TMS?

Lee Kantor: I’m just trying to give a person who’s listening, like if they’re struggling, how do they try to solve this. And it sounds like you said some people are proactive on their own, some people have help from family members, support system. I’m just trying to understand the path that they’re going and I want to be able to differentiate the path that you’re offering.

Brittany Cavicchioni: Absolutely. So, one of the reasons I started this company was because I felt like the mental health space is just not created for real people with real problems. And so, we do a lot of community resources and community outreach kind of provide that guideline for people. Some people don’t realize that what they’re dealing with every single day is chronic depression.

Brittany Cavicchioni: And so, things that we like to do is, I guess, explain to people or help people make it through, one, identifying, hey, I have a problem. And so, there are things, easy surveys and things like that, that we have on our website, that are generally used in the mental health space to help determine whether or not somebody has depression.

Brittany Cavicchioni: One of the really popular ones is called a PHQ-9 survey. This is used in almost every mental health facility to help support the diagnosis of depression and the degree of depression that someone will have. So, that’s one of the resources that we provide to patients and simply people who question whether or not this is true depression or just, you know, kind of a bad day type situation. So, there are those types of questionnaires.

Brittany Cavicchioni: The other resource that we provide for real people with real problems in mental health is guidance for how to apply for FMLA, and our office will assist with that and things of that nature, because, you know, sometimes it’s hard to make time to go to therapy appointments or time to go to TMS appointments. And so, we help guide people through that process as well.

Lee Kantor: What is FMLA?

Brittany Cavicchioni: FMLA is the Family Medical — or federal? I think, it’s Family Medical Leave Act. Where a lot of people know about it whenever someone gets pregnant and they go out for 12 weeks after they have their baby. You can use FMLA, which protects your job if you have to take any extended period of time off work. So, essentially, we help people a lot of times either take full FMLA where they’re taking that full 12 week leave if they need to in order to care for their mental health.

Brittany Cavicchioni: Or there’s also this thing called intermittent FMLA. So, sometimes it’s not as serious as needing to take off full 12 weeks of work. You just may need to do half days at work or ask for accommodations so that you can work remote. That also can fall under that FMLA approval and paperwork.

Brittany Cavicchioni: So, it’s just another thing that, again, real people who have real jobs, and one of the biggest, you know, issues or barriers to care is that time piece. A lot of people don’t have time. And so, we help them create that time, but also help them keep their jobs. You shouldn’t have to lose your job in order to seek out mental health resources.

Lee Kantor: Now, when they’re working with you and your team, you’re going a non-medical route. Is that your methodology?

Brittany Cavicchioni: Non-medication.

Lee Kantor: Non-medication.

Brittany Cavicchioni: Yeah. It is still very much medical. We have psychiatrists and psychiatric nurse practitioners and therapists on staff. But it’s non-medication. It’s more of a holistic approach to the treatment of depression. We do have some medication options. We provide medication management for people who need it, and that’s kind of their preferred course of treatment. It’s just we want to make sure people are making informed decisions, know all of their options, both on the medication side of things, which is really the traditional mental health treatment route, but also on the non-medication side for things like TMS, and also advanced forms of therapy like EMDR, which I could talk all day about.

Lee Kantor: But I’d like to just understand, so you mentioned kind of big pharma early on, and so it sounded like to me that traditionally the move to make is, okay, I’m going to medicate you in some form or fashion with some antidepressant based on how I see you behaving. And then, I guess we tweak your medication until we hit a point where you feel you’re functional. Is that the normal playbook in traditional treatments?

Brittany Cavicchioni: That’s correct. So me, personally, whenever I was going through my own journey during that year time frame, I had actually trialed four different antidepressant medications. So, yes, that is the typical treatment course to take in a lot of times in the mental health space.

Brittany Cavicchioni: But what I can tell you is that there are studies out there that are, you know, independent studies that you can find online. One specifically that comes to mind is called the STAR*D trials. And what they found out in the STAR*D trials is that, on your first trial of antidepressant medication, you have about, I think, it’s like a 50 percent chance or 40 percent chance that it’s going to be effective. It’s going to work out for you.

Brittany Cavicchioni: If it doesn’t work out and you go on your second trial, that rate of success goes down to, like, 36 percent. And then, on your third trial, if that second one doesn’t work, your rate of success goes down to about 18 percent. And then, on the fourth one, it goes down to less than 10 percent.

Brittany Cavicchioni: So, my question whenever my providers kept trialing me on these different antidepressants, which have very wicked side effects, my question was, you know, why do we keep doing something that’s not going to increase in efficacy or effectiveness, instead of trying something a little bit different, like TMS or Spravato or some other form of treatment.

Lee Kantor: There’s a lot of people, they say the words big pharma and they make it seem like there’s some financial incentive for the provider to be offering these drugs rather than other kinds of treatment. Can you connect the dots for me? Like what’s in it for the provider? Like, are they getting paid somehow by these big pharma? Is that how they make money is by getting a percentage of whatever that pharma bill is?

Lee Kantor: Because I don’t understand how the money goes to the provider rather than the pharmaceutical company. Like, I understand that makes sense to me that they would encourage you to do it, but I don’t understand what the provider gets by encouraging it rather than some other type of treatment.

Brittany Cavicchioni: Absolutely. So, it’s a lot less expensive for the providers to offer something like medication management, because then they’re meeting with the patient for about, you know, 15 to 30 minutes every couple of weeks. They write a prescription and then they move on to the next patient. And they bill that patient, you know, another $100 or so to do the same exact thing over and over again. So, your overhead is a lot lower and your revenue is a lot higher. You don’t really have a whole lot of equipment or anything that you need for those types of treatments.

Brittany Cavicchioni: With TMS, you have clinical staff that you have to pay to render the services. The treatment takes about 30 minutes to 45 minutes, depending on the protocol that you’re using. And then, the machine, the TMS machine itself is typically over six figures just for your initial upfront costs.

Brittany Cavicchioni: So, the pharmaceuticals are a lot more well-known. You have pharmaceutical reps. Even myself, we have pharmaceutical reps that come in every single week trying to push whatever prescription drug that they are representing, versus with TMS, you’re really looking at, I feel like a lot of times, what’s a little bit better for the patient even if it’s not what’s easier.

Lee Kantor: Okay. So, I understand clearer. So, now the pharmaceutical option is just easier on the provider because they’re just handing them a prescription and it gets filled. We see how you’re doing. I ask you a couple questions. That’s easier to manage than having a big piece of equipment in my office that I got to maintain, and I got to train people on, and then I got to hook people up to in order to do the actual treatment, so that creates more overhead for people who are going down that route, even though it might be more beneficial to their patients.

Brittany Cavicchioni: Correct.

Lee Kantor: And so, for you, once you saw the benefits of TMS for yourself, how did you kind of make that leap to, okay, I’m going to build a practice around this. You know, that step is a pretty big step. I mean, it’s one thing to feel good about yourself, like, “Wow, this made me feel better. Hey, why don’t I get one and help other people?” How did you kind of make that leap, because that seems like a pretty big change what you were previously doing and kind of the expertise needed to execute something like that?

Brittany Cavicchioni: Absolutely. So, I appreciate the question. So, prior to this, like I said, I was in the process of attempting to open a law firm. Now, that was always my passion, was opening my own law firm, doing things away. So, as far as the capital that was there, we were good to go there.

Brittany Cavicchioni: One of the main motivations I had for, okay, maybe I don’t need to be another billboard on the I-10 in Phoenix. Maybe I could move forward in some way to help others in a different way. The big motivator for that was my daughter, Bella. She’s now six years old. And when I was going through my battle with depression, like I said, I’m a real person. I don’t have this huge medical background or anything like that. I was reaching out for resources, reaching out for help, and it didn’t seem like that help was readily available to me. I couldn’t make informed decisions because my care team wasn’t telling me about all the treatments available to me.

Brittany Cavicchioni: And so, I wanted to really change the way that we approach mental health. I want to have more conversations like this so that, you know, we can talk about what those treatment options are, but also how to get there through things like FMLA or other things like that.

Brittany Cavicchioni: So, when I was looking at why didn’t I know about this sooner, I found that there were three main issues. So, one, there’s the education piece. So, I knew that we were going to have to need to do more things, like this podcast, or a lot of marketing and things of that nature. We needed to be in places where people wouldn’t necessarily expect mental health providers to be. So, we go to things like home and garden shows and stuff like that for the education piece, to educate the community about this service.

Brittany Cavicchioni: The second piece was accessibility. There weren’t very many providers offering it, and so I wanted to change that. We’re actively working towards getting to ten locations in Arizona. Right now I have two, and we just started last year. So, I want to make it more accessible. We stay as close as we can to the freeways. And we’re in all these large major cities here in Arizona. So, that’s the accessibility piece.

Brittany Cavicchioni: And then, the third issue is affordability. A lot of people struggle to find ways to afford the treatment. And whenever I was seeking out the services in 2022, the places here in Arizona, either they didn’t take health insurance, so people were paying cash pay for this service. And in terms of the cash side of it, if you were to go that route, you’re looking at spending about $20,000 for a full course of treatment.

Brittany Cavicchioni: The places that did take health insurance, they were booked out for three months. And so, I wanted to make sure that we were a provider that not only took health insurance, but took health insurances for all patient populations, so that helps fix the affordability piece.

Brittany Cavicchioni: So, at our clinics, we accept not only, you know, your typical commercial plans like Blue Cross Blue Shield, United Healthcare, things of that nature, but we also accept Medicare and State Medicaid and TRICARE. So, that’s that part as well. So, once I figured out that those were the three main barriers whenever it came to TMS and why more people don’t do it or don’t know about it, everything else, it was pretty easy from there to build that business plan.

Lee Kantor: Now, why was it important for you to get certified and become part of the WBEC-West community? What was the thinking there?

Brittany Cavicchioni: So, I go back to my daughter again. So, I want to show her that women can lead in today’s society, and that we do support each other, and that we can exist in a lot of male dominated fields. So, that was kind of my main motivation to join WBEC.

Brittany Cavicchioni: But then, as I have continued my membership through the services, I find that it’s benefits have exponentially grown. For example, right now I’m on this podcast. I also am looking forward to a few workshops that are coming up where I can connect with other women business owners and learn from them about how they are scaling and improving operational efficiency, and things of that nature.

Lee Kantor: So, what do you need more of? How can we help you?

Brittany Cavicchioni: So, I believe Ella at at your office actually has already helped me a ton in terms of making sure that I got connected to the right people to join those workshops. And then, also, she told me where to go to set up our business, I think, portal or page. So, so far you guys have been absolutely phenomenal. Thank you so much for your support.

Lee Kantor: Now, what do you need from a business standpoint? Do you need more patients? Do you need more kind of the people that do the treatment? Do you need more funding? Is there anything in our network that might benefit you?

Brittany Cavicchioni: We just need more exposure and we need to tell more people about these services, and that there are ways to help real people with real problems get the care that they need without having to sacrifice time with their families or their jobs in order to do it.

Lee Kantor: And then, if anybody has any type of question about TMS, if they’re unfamiliar and would just like to learn more, is there a website or is there a place they can go for more information from you and your team?

Brittany Cavicchioni: Yes, of course. So, our website is bellavidatms.com. That’s B-E-L-L-A-V as in Victor-I-D as in David-A-T as in Tom-M as in Mary-S as in Sam.com. We also post on social media, so we have a TikTok account, Instagram, and Facebook, so whatever way works best for them. They can also reach out to us by phone or text message at 602-610-1191.

Lee Kantor: Well, Brittany, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Brittany Cavicchioni: Thank you so much, Lee. I appreciate you guys having me here.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor, we’ll see you all next time on Women In Motion.

 

Tagged With: Bella Vida TMS

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