Danna Olivo with MarketAtomy LLC

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 for another episode of Houston Business Radio. It is my pleasure today to introduce you to my new friend Danna Olivo with Market Academy. She is the CEO of this business. Danna, I’m so excited to have you on the show today.

Danna Olivo : Oh, Trisha, I appreciate it. I’m really excited. Excited to be here, to be talking about what we’re going to be talking about.

Trisha Stetzel: So yes, absolutely. We’re going to tackle some really good stuff today. A little bit of mindset and a little bit of like deconstruction of this particular space that some people are a little afraid to work in. Right. So it’s going to be fun. So Danna, tell us a little bit more about you as we get started.

Danna Olivo : Well, you know, myself personally, I am a business strategist. I work with small and medium businesses. I my background is in marketing, business development and strategic planning. Um, for more than 35 years, I’ve worked within the architectural, engineering, construction and technology markets. Um, I have worked both locally and internationally down in Brazil. So it kind of gives you a little bit of, uh, background as far as where my experience comes from. And as we get farther into our show, you’ll understand why. Um, you know, I have gone in the direction that I have. So.

Trisha Stetzel: Absolutely. So another interesting thing I’d like to talk about is the name of your business. So Market Academy and its Market Academy. By the way, for those of you who want to go check it out. Danna, tell me a little bit more about this name of your business.

Danna Olivo : Well, you know, it started back in 2012. I was down in Brazil working as a strategist for the World Cup games and the Summer Olympic Games. Um, matching companies here from the United States to companies in Brazil. This was during the recession. Okay. So, um, and when, uh, and I had a major accident down in Brazil that laid me up for a little while. And when I came back to the United States, I had several of my colleagues and everything that had to start their own businesses because they lost work. And they would come to me and they said, Danna, I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong. I’m bleeding money, you know? I need to make some some changes with my business. Well, in the process of talking to them and understand I’m in recuperation, I’m going through surgeries, but they’re coming to me, you know. And so in the process of talking to them, it became really obvious that these were good business people in the sense which they they had good products and services, but didn’t know how to build a business around those products or services. And in an effort to explain to them in a language that they understood, I developed what’s called the Market Academy concept marketing anatomy or the anatomy of marketing. Mhm. And it’s built around the human body. And what the purpose was, was to identify and show them where the heart of the body is your soul.

Danna Olivo : It’s it’s your your passion. It’s your love. It’s, you know, it’s why and who you are. Well, in business, the heart of your business is your passion. It’s why you do what you do. You know where where that passion comes from. Also in the body. The brain has everything that’s needed to keep the heart going, right? Well, in the business, in the brain of the business is the playbook. It’s your systems. It’s your processes. It’s everything that you need to help that business grow around your product or service offering. So in the human body, can the heart operate without the brain? No. So this is where I explain to them, you need everything in place, the brain and the heart of your business working cohesively to push your message, your clear message through the channels. Marketing channels which are the veins of the body to the body, which is your target market. But keep in mind, the soul of the business is you. And so by explaining to them and then breaking that down into different areas that they needed to focus on to build those processes and systems, they finally realized, oh, yeah, I hadn’t thought about that, you know. So that’s where Market Atomy came about. Okay.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that. It makes it so simple. The way you break it down, you need all of these things to be functioning together.

Danna Olivo : Right?

Trisha Stetzel: To make it whole.

Danna Olivo : Right, right, right. And as a strategist, you know, when I’m working with small and medium businesses, that is so critical is to put it in terms that they understand because a lot of them did not go to school for business or marketing like I did, or what you might have gone to school for. A lot of them just started their business, or they are tradesmen or something like that. So you have to be able to explain this to them in a language they understand that is not talking down to them. And that’s that’s where I pride, um, what we do at Market Academy is the fact that we come in where I’ve been there, I’ve done that. I know exactly what you’re going through, and I can help you.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, I love that. Without judgment.

Danna Olivo : Without judgment? Yes. No, definitely.

Trisha Stetzel: Because I’ve been there before. Absolutely. So, Danna, you’ve given some a little, you know, kind of peek into you had a life altering event which really set this new business into motion because people needed something, and that’s usually how things work. But there’s some other things that come into play here. I think as business owners, I talked to so many small and medium business owners that have some of these self-sabotaging beliefs around their businesses. So can you talk a little more around how those things that we tell ourselves, or that we’re thinking can keep us from receiving what we deserve?

Danna Olivo : Right. Well, you know, and and this was a critical turning point for me. And unfortunately, it did not happen until after I was 50 years old, you know. Um, but for years, you know, I had hit bottom and had to rebuild, you know, to the point where I have a tattoo on my back of a phoenix to remind myself, okay, I’m always going to rise up out of the ashes because I’ve always believed I could do whatever I put my mind to. And this is the same thing with what had happened down in Brazil. Okay. We were doing very well. And then all of a sudden, this accident happens. That lays me up for over a year. Um. And, um. And then what happened was working with my psychiatrist, my counselors and stuff like that. I came to realize it. They pointed out the fact that the reason I kept failing was because of the fact that even though I believed I could do anything I wanted, where I was fighting was right before I crossed over and had to deliver. All right, I would believe, and I’d be promoting and saying, I can do this, I can do this, I can do this. And then I get to a point where I have to cross over and deliver, and then something would happen. And usually it was something that I had done, or it was something that, you know, I don’t know what it was, But what we figured out was the fact that I was self-sabotaging myself because I didn’t. I felt like I was going to be found out to be a, um, you know, false or, you know, just, you know, just not not true to what I was teaching. Yeah. Which wasn’t the case. But in my mind, I was thinking, okay, I’m not good enough for this. So when it comes to delivering, I didn’t want them to find out that I was a fraud or something. Does that make sense?

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. It does. I think a lot of us struggle with that. Right? The identification of are we in the right place, doing the right things? Are we capable? Are we good enough? And I think we oftentimes we ask those questions of ourselves. So what’s the rest of the story, Danna, how you were able to overcome Calm this space, right? This barrier between believing and actually receiving what you desired.

Danna Olivo : Well, while I was going through this and it took less than two weeks for me to do this, I wrote my fifth book. Okay. And it’s still in the editing. I’m still kind of flushing it out in my mind, but it’s written. It’s been edited by, you know, the professionals and everything. But I want to make sure. But basically it talks about the fact that my entire life this has been going on, you know, I’ve had a very strong belief system, but somehow I was always self-sabotaging. So what I did was, um, I’ve got a sign right in front of me that says believe and receive. Okay. And by doing that, I keep reminding myself that I can do it. I’m not fake. And I’ve had people come up to me and tell me, you know, I’ll tell you a story. I had a gentleman who was also a strategist. Um, but he was one of the higher end. I don’t want to say he was a higher end. He was your traditional strategist, which went to college, you know, for business strategy and everything. And, um, we were on a panel together. And after the panel got done, um, he looked at me and he says, Dan, we need to go. We need to go have some lunch. And I’m thinking to myself again, this self-sabotaging behavior. I’m thinking, oh, what the hell did I say wrong this time? You know that type? You know, when I had my accident in Brazil, in the ambulance, when it finally dawned on me, the first thing I said to myself is, Danna, what did you do this time?

Speaker4: Oh, goodness.

Danna Olivo : So these are things that, you know. But anyway, Harry, when he you know, when he told me, he says we need to go have lunch. I said, okay. You know, we go and we sit down. He looks at me and says, you know your poop. And I said, he’s a good old Oklahoma boy, okay. And I said, huh? And he looked at me and says, you know what you’re talking about. And I looked at him and I said, Harry, I said, you know, that means a lot to me coming from you. You know, because I had a lot of respect for him. He says, no. He says, you know as much, if not more, than any of us on that panel. The difference is in the way that you deliver it. And that was a turning point for me in a lot of things. You know, his understanding. Yes. I’m not going to I’m not going to compare myself to other strategists out there. I can’t compare myself to other marketers or anything like that. You know, when you’re in business, that credibility and that vulnerability speaks louder than any marketing you can do.

Speaker4: Yeah.

Trisha Stetzel: Absolutely. So thank you for, uh, for sharing that story. And, you know, I think so many of us coming back to so many of us do struggle with that, right? We’re we’re telling ourselves one thing, but do we actually believe it? And I love the idea of being vulnerable and building credibility and just being you and not trying to be someone else, or compare yourself to others who are out there. All right. So we’re about halfway through, and I want to give folks an opportunity to connect with you. If they’re already interested, they maybe they want to learn more about Brazil, or maybe they want to learn more about these self-sabotaging beliefs or ways that they can overcome them. What is the best way to connect with you, Danna?

Danna Olivo : They can connect with me, um, through, um, market Academy.com they can email me at Danna a Olivo at market Academy.com. Or they can go to my calendar link, which you’re going to put into the show notes, and you can actually set up an appointment to talk with me and that’s free of charge. So by clicking on that 1 to 1 meeting for my calendar, you actually will get 60 minutes of my time.

Speaker4: Wow. That’s fantastic.

Trisha Stetzel: Thank you Danna. That’s amazing. Yeah. You guys, it’s in the show notes. So if you’re sitting at your computer listening or watching right now, just point and click. It’s really easy to set up a 60 minute conversation with Danna to find out more about her and about Market Academy, uh, and the type of work that she’s doing. So, Danna, I’d like to leave the mindset conversation just a little bit and move towards government contracting. I know some of you out there listening are like, oh, that’s such a hard space to play in. And I think many of us have that, um, that idea in our head, like, I want to go pursue government contracting, but it sounds so hard and there’s so much red tape. So can we talk about all of that stuff? Like, what do you think is keeping our business owners from pursuing government contracting?

Speaker4: Fear. Fear. Yeah. Okay.

Danna Olivo : Okay. Um, you know, uh, I’ve been doing government contracting for over 35 years. Coming from the architectural engineering construction market, um, mostly on the commercial side. And whenever you go after these government contracts, um, what we call request for proposals, you know, things like that. Whenever you’re going after government contracting, there’s a lot of red tape, a lot of regulations and things like that. And what you have to keep in mind is the fact that they are dealing with our taxpayer dollars. So a lot of these regulations and everything are designed so that they can respond Spond to where our tax dollars are going. So with that being said. Going after government contracting is no different than going after private business. If you’re a small or medium business owner, you know that you have to create relationships with with the people that you want to do business with and ultimately build that relationship so that you can actually work with them. It’s the same thing with government. The difference between working on the private sector and the government sector is finding those people who are the decision makers within government contracting. And one thing to keep in mind, the government does not produce or do anything.

Speaker4: Okay.

Danna Olivo : They work with what’s called prime contractors. They’ll hire your large firms or your medium firms, or even your small firms to produce or to, you know, provide the products or services that they need. And so understanding the process that’s, that’s needed in order to go after these, these programs is critical. You know, I have um, several webinar, uh, educational webinars or informational webinars that I do. And one of them is called Breaking Barriers into Government Contracting. And if you want to find out when my next presentation will be on that, simply schedule a time on my calendar or reach out to me, and I’ll be glad to let you know the next time I’m going to be presenting that. But what breaking barriers into government contracting does is I actually explain what the process is that the government goes through in order to find the people to fulfill their needs, you know, the procurement Process. But we also talk about the money flow from federal on down to municipal. You know, and and, you know, by the time federal disperses its money down to. The state and then the state disperses down to county and then to municipal. You know, it’s it’s like working with your 401 K or or unemployment. Let’s look at your unemployment check. It only covers a small portion. Right. So therefore at the county side and the municipal side, that’s why the, the the city and municipal, you know, governments go out and they have they get their tax dollars, they get all of these fees, which helps pay for what needs to be done. So understanding this process helps to understand when you’re going after these projects where that money’s coming from.

Speaker4: Okay.

Danna Olivo : Okay.

Speaker4: Yeah.

Trisha Stetzel: So it sounds so complicated.

Speaker4: It is. It it sounds.

Danna Olivo : Complicated. And it’s a lot to take in. It’s like drinking through a fire hose. When you sit down. And as a strategist, what I do is I work with these companies to coach and mentor them through the entire process.

Speaker4: Wow.

Danna Olivo : What I do, I help them get their certifications. I help them get, you know, um, registered as vendors. You know, there’s a lot of things that have to be done. But having somebody who understands the process is critical.

Speaker4: Absolutely.

Trisha Stetzel: We all need a Danna in our corner so that we can get through the red tape. Right. And I know I have I think I told you this before, uh, when we had our discovery conversation. I have a lot of veterans who are business owners that listen to this show. So any particular piece of advice for those veteran business owners out there?

Danna Olivo : Well, definitely, when it comes to being a veteran, disabled or not disabled or whatever, having that veteran status puts you into a prime position for getting some of these contracts as long as you have are showing up properly. Okay. What that means is you are registered, you know, and everything else. Now the minority status is a veteran or a disabled veteran. You know, um, in a small business that always puts you in a prime position. Um, the other thing to keep in mind, and I wanted to touch on this, everything that’s going on right now with the federal government. Okay. What, you know, Doge and what, you know, the tariffs and everything else. Everybody is up in arms about what’s happening on the federal side. And I’m currently putting a presentation together, an informational session together, talking about what we could expect. But when you look at the 4 or 5 areas that that President Trump and is is concentrating on the tariffs, Doge, everything else. The reasoning behind it makes solid business sense. Makes solid business sense with what they’re doing. How they’re doing it is another story. All right. And I’m not going to speak to whether I agree or disagree or anything like that. But to keep in mind, we’ve needed this reasoning behind doing these for a long time. And what’s going to happen now is on the small medium business side, when we’re going after contracts, the tariffs are going to force things back to the United States.

Speaker4: Okay.

Danna Olivo : So therefore small businesses won’t have to compete with the lower rates. They’re going to be able to compete on a more level field.

Speaker4: Mhm.

Danna Olivo : And then the other thing to keep in mind. Is with Doge. Ultimately, once this all Ferris you know, gets taken care of or whatever, we’re going to be dealing with a smaller government entity. And in order for them to be able to handle everything, they’re going to have to introduce some kind of streamlined processes, leadership processes, you know, all of this to make it so that they can still fulfill what needs to be done for us as citizens at a government level. What’s that going to do? It’s going to open up more leadership, more agile, you know, systems, processes and things like that to do training. So it’s going to open up more stuff, you know. So there’s there’s some positives that come out of what’s happening federally. But there’s also some negatives. It’s not going to be ironed out. We’re not going to really start seeing any um. Responses or actions or positive responses, probably for another, you know, 10 to 12 months, it’s going to take that long for it to really start coming out, I think.

Trisha Stetzel: So what I’m hearing, Danna, is that there are still opportunities out there to do business with the with the government. There are and it there may be more down the road and an easier way to get there. In the meantime, those of us who don’t know what in the world we’re doing when it comes to government contracting, we have to get in touch with Danna. So one more time, Danna, tell people where to go to to find your contact information or how to connect with you.

Danna Olivo : You can connect with me through my email, which is Danna, at academy.com or schedule a time on my calendar, uh, through the link that’s going to be in the session notes. Um, I don’t give out my phone number, primarily because I get so much spam call that I have it. If your phone number is not programed in my phone, it goes straight to voicemail. If you want to leave a voicemail for me to call you back, I’ll call you back.

Speaker4: But to do that.

Trisha Stetzel: Well, the easiest way is just to connect with you either through your website, email, or just go directly to your calendly link. It is there and they can just book some time with you. So as we finish up today, thank you, by the way, for such a great conversation around two things that I think are really hitting home with people right now. But I’d love to hear a success story either your own or someone that you’ve worked with.

Speaker4: Oh goodness.

Danna Olivo : Well my own. Um, I would say the the biggest success I have is just what I’ve, you know, realized about myself as far as the self-sabotaging behaviors and being able to get through with that. Um, so but as far as business is concerned, because I am concentrating a great deal more on the government side rather than the private side. Doesn’t mean I’m not doing the private, but the focus right now is on government. I’ve been able to get one of my customers into Nassau here in Florida. Okay. At the Space Coast. And then also, I am currently working since I’ve been putting out my, um, um, breaking Barriers presentation. My my Breaking Barriers speak speech. I am closing, on average, 60% more than what I was when, you know, because it comes back to that vulnerability and credibility by doing my speeches first. They see and hear, okay, I know what I’m talking about.

Speaker4: Yeah.

Danna Olivo : And then I leave it up to them to reach out to me in order. And, and I do a great deal through my calendar because I love talking to people, and I love just handing out information that will help them make decisions. And getting into government contracting is not hard. It is not hard. It the federal side does have a long lead time. The local side is a shorter lead time. But you know the the bottom line is you have to develop relationships.

Speaker4: And.

Trisha Stetzel: And have Danna in your corner. I’m just.

Speaker4: Saying. Thank you. Trisha.

Trisha Stetzel: Oh, you’re very welcome. Thank you so much for being with me today. Fantastic conversation for our listeners. Everything that you need in order to connect with Danna is in the show notes. You can just point and click, or if you happen to be in your car, you may have to come back and grab the recordings so that you can connect with her on her calendly link and book some time with her. Thank you so much for offering an hour to anyone who’s listening. That is very special. We appreciate that so much and appreciate you being on.

Speaker4: Yes.

Danna Olivo : And also anybody who books on my calendar, I have a special gift for them.

Trisha Stetzel: Oh, a special gift. We love.

Speaker4: Special gifts. So Deanna, thank you so much.

Trisha Stetzel: Deanna Olivo with Market Academy LLC. I appreciate your time today, and maybe we’ll have to have you back on to tell more of your story.

Speaker4: Yes. No, definitely, definitely.

Danna Olivo : Thank you.

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