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 next sister guest. Yes. You guys know what the sisterhood means. And we’ll be talking about that at the end of our show today. So I want to introduce you to Wendy Nguyen, who is a highly effective art therapy and business coach dedicated to transforming your passion into profitable success as a certified public accountant, author, speaker, entrepreneur, investor, and coach, Wendy combines deep expertise with a heartfelt commitment to helping others unlock their full potential. She is based here in Houston, Texas, and her journey reflects resilience, purpose and a drive to inspire over a million people to get paid for doing what they love. Wendy, welcome to the show.

Wendy Nguyen: Well, thank you very much for the opportunity to be with the Houston Business Radio Show. And thank you very much for your time.

Trisha Stetzel: Thank you. I’m so excited that you’re here. So we won’t get to get into all of your businesses because you shared with me you have ten businesses, Wendy, you are such a superstar. And, uh, I know there are so many women listening today that would love to learn more about you and all of those ten businesses. But today we’re going to focus in on coaching. And I know one of the the bigger topics is around coaching versus mentoring versus sponsorship. So before we get into that topic, Wendy, I would love to know. Let’s tell the listeners a little bit more about you. And your your business structure, or at least some of your businesses. We may not be able to tackle all ten of them today, but just tell us a little bit more about you, Wendy.

Wendy Nguyen: Yes. So about me, I came to the US in 1997 as an international student. I was 17, so yes, you can know my age. That’s no problem. I have, uh, three children and my oldest one is in college, uh, right now with a fine art degree and then one in high school and one in middle school handful. But it’s a lot of fun. So, um, and for me, it’s my trade. I started out going to college, you know, like everybody else with a degree in accounting and then end up with being an auditor for many years for, you know, baby, back in the.com day in the Silicon Valley, uh, Southern California as well. And, um, That was like 2001. So with that, I get to get into the business of over 300 different companies and understand their operation and their financials. And because of that, then I have, you know, a great, great love for anything have to do with business, not for profit. I know so many different industries from healthcare, oil and gas, manufacturing, constructions, um, and um service industry as well. And, and because of that and I’m always I talk to like 3 to 5 people a week at least at the minimum.

Wendy Nguyen: Being an auditor, I always interview people. And my, my always question was some people are really, you know, happy at their job. And some people were like, wow, you know, I like to do gardening, but then I have to really do my corporate jobs or being here. So I’m always, always asking, how do we connect the dots between love what you do and get paid for it. So that’s my biggest curiosity all the time and try to find the answer for it. And because of that, then I, you know, decide to start my own business. Uh, after being an auditor for a long time and what my, my own business is still doing accounting, which is, you know, a lot of finance and numbers related while leading to that. Then I just like, well, you know what? I can do something even better. And and because I learned so much during the years with having different many people into my life and talk to many people and I’m like, who are coaches who are like mentors? What is, you know, sponsorships. And that has been a very kind of very confusing for me. And, uh, but now I think I find the formula.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that, and I want to hear all about your thoughts around what that formula looks like. And I also want to share a couple of things that you might not share about yourself. Self. Uh, to the listeners, you guys. Wendy was recognized in 2023 by Women Who Mean business in the Houston, the Houston Business Journal, and in 2024 was CPA of the year. So Wendy knows what she’s talking about. And I’m so excited to have you on today. Let’s talk then about how do we decipher between a coach and a mentor and a sponsor, and sometimes even how do we navigate using one or all of those people who might be assigned to us when we’re in the corporate space? Or we might hire one or engage with one as an entrepreneur?

Wendy Nguyen: Yes. Yeah. And, uh, so also my latest award for 2025, I’ve been recognized as the Inspirational Women Entrepreneur Women, uh, by the 14 World Leaders Forum. I will receive my award in the UK at the end of August.

Trisha Stetzel: Oh, Wendy. Congratulations. That’s beautiful. I love that. Thank you for sharing.

Wendy Nguyen: Yeah, because I’m not only doing business here in the US or Houston, Texas, I’m also expanding and exploring many opportunities in Southeast Asia and UK and Australia as well. So. Um, yeah, it has been a very, uh, like an epiphany moment for me to, uh, one of the things that people know about me is would be like, I like to take something very, very complicated and make it very simple. Um, so I, you know, because I like math, I like numbers, but at the same time, I have this kind of like creativity side on the art side. And sometimes it’s very chaotic when it comes to art. So how do I, you know, connect the art side with the math side. And because of that, then I come up with what I call a three step process to a fulfilling life. And the three step process, I’m like, well, you know, first you need to remove your limiting belief. Second is setting goals. And the third is learning how to achieve goals. Okay. So looking back I’m like, oh you know what. Children as children and growing up we go to school. Most of the time the school is teaching us how to achieve the goals. It’s not so much about setting the goals.

Wendy Nguyen: Our goal is maybe more like handle to like given to us by our parents or our teachers. So really, the people, the first people in our life that are the sponsor, the coach and the mentors are our parents. And now, you know, if parents are being smart about this, then they can say, you know what? Because I’m already kind of a one that’s doing many things for you. Too many roles. But why don’t I’m going to go ahead and stay in the sponsorship space. You know that. I’m going to show you the way how to achieve the goals. So as you know, as you know, when you go to a corporation to work or just over the time people are like, oh, you know what, you should get this person mentoring you. You should get the other person mentoring you. Uh, in a corporate setting, a lot of times when you talk about mentoring, is maybe you coming in as a staff and being mentored by a manager, right. Or by a senior. And so which means mentorship to me is that oh, you know what? Because this is my career path. And five years from now I want to be manager. So now that manager can be the mentors. So that can help me setting the goals and the bus kind of stuff there because I’m like, I’m projecting that into that person in my career path.

Wendy Nguyen: But now if I say going into, um, you know, having a, uh, sometime also that maybe you you more you want your life to be more than that, you know, more than just being an, like a manager in your company. Then what else can you do? And now, just like, wait, wait, you know, I probably need, you know, for me, like, ten years, 15 years into my corporate career, then I’ve been sent to get executive coaching. And so as part of the coaching process, what I learned is that the coach is actually the one that help you to remove the limiting belief that you have help you to pointing out your superpower. And and at the same time, though, it’s like it’s depending on the coach, right? Because you may have like an executive coach. But then what if you want to have a um, a better in communications and then you may need to have a relationship coach. So it’s just like, you know, if you want to be really, really good at basketball, you’re not going to go and get a football coach.

Trisha Stetzel: Right?

Wendy Nguyen: And at the same time, those, you know, your coach doesn’t have to be the best in whatever that that the field that they are doing, you know, like that you don’t need the, the the football coach to be like a number one football player because then it’s more of the coach is actually somebody that intimately and kind of know you and hold you accountable. And that’s the same with the Olympian, right? The coach doesn’t necessarily mean that they want a lot of like gold medals. So more of the people who want the gold medals more be be more like a mentor to you instead of being like a coach to you. So and one of the failures in the past that I have is I usually when you build relationships with people and then suddenly you’re going to put the person into carrying on three rows for you without knowing it. So I have a really, really good. Um, two companies that I work for a long time. Like, well, for me, I try changing jobs pretty often so I can learn. And what I found is whenever I find a manager or a partner that I not only supporting them, help them to finish the project, then I ultimately put them into a position of being my coach, being my mentor, and being my sponsors. And that’s really limiting the growth. So, you know, looking back, I would say, you know, that manager who’s going to be sitting at the table to help me with the promotion or helping me with getting the salary, then that person is more like a sponsor, okay, because they don’t want to show me how to, um, you know, supporting me, right? I talked about me to get to the goals that I want to get to.

Wendy Nguyen: So I should have just positioned that person as a sponsors. And then I should go and looking for a different mentor who, you know, that I can be in that organization or another organization, but it’s like a really good like audit partner and say, can you mentor me how to become a partner? Right. And and then again, it’s like another mistake is like when I decide to start my own CPA practice, I talked to audit partners and, um, other CPA firm. But then what I didn’t know is that wait a minute, they are really good at auditing, but they may not be good at business. So I should have been asked and looking for a business coach. So so you know, I make so many like, little, um, setbacks, but it’s like, you know, expectations. I think it’s more like expectation that you’re looking for from the person. And, and I think that now looking back, I say, you know what? A person like, even if you when you have a young kid, you should already using this model to really have your kids to build a network because people always say that you know, the leveraging relationship. If you don’t have money but you have, it’s not about what you know but who you know, then you can also ask a lot of questions because knowledge is also currency.

Trisha Stetzel: Mhm. Mhm. Oh my gosh. I love where you’re going with this. So can we dig around a little bit at the limiting beliefs. Because I know that’s something a space that you work uh in with your clients. So how do we how do we get there. I know some of us know that there’s something in our way. We might see that critical constraint that we’ve got this roadblock that’s in the way, and we got to get around it. But oftentimes, we don’t know. We have to dig a little bit deeper to figure out why that constraint is anchored in front of us. So what kind of work do you do with your clients in that limiting belief space?

Wendy Nguyen: Yeah. So, uh, with the space of limiting Belief is, um, one of the sessions that I do a lot with my customers is that I help them to build a personal vision board. And instead of just jump right in and say, you know, dream about what is your dream life look like? I was a lot of times I would say, you know, write out things that you need to forgive and forget, okay. And, and I have four areas of our life that we need to forgive and forget for ourselves is first is all about our health. And it’s mental health, physical health, you know, our relationships, um, our wisdom and then our success. So, you know, something that you need to forgive and forget is sometimes we have this self-doubt and talk to ourselves that, you know what? I’m not looking good enough. I’m not tall enough. I’m not, you know, skinny enough. I’m not pretty enough. Um. You know, my hair is this color. My eyes. Is this. So, um, that’s just more of the, you know, on the physical side, right? So then first you need to forgive and forget yourself. And. And what is that you feel like you regret, and you’ve been kind of like, just hammering on it or like, on a mindset side, like on a on a mental wellness side. Say, you know what? I don’t think I ever learned meditation.

Wendy Nguyen: I would never get to there. Um, or, you know, I’m not I’m not tough enough. I, I’m not that strong. I’m not that resilient. So those are the things that you talk to yourself on a daily basis, not unconsciously, not knowing that. Um, and a lot of times people will say I’m not good enough. And what they forgot to think, what is good enough? Right. Or all the success side people cannot say, well, you know what I’ve been wanting to have, you know, debt free or. I always want to own a house like five years after college. And so that’s something that on the success side, we feel like we’re not getting there. And also like we self-talk that as well. Then we need to write it down. You know, to say that we first we need to forgive and forget. So just like you want to have a really nice home, what do you do? The first thing you need to decluttering okay. Yeah. And so when when my client, they would sit down, they would share with me that in each of the areas that they have this kind of things that they need to let go, forgive and forget, then that’s when I know that that’s where their limiting beliefs are coming from.

Trisha Stetzel: Hmm. I think this rolls right into your this area of how to get paid doing what you love. So how do you how do you take someone from they love gardening, but there in this other space working, they have a job, W2 job, or maybe even a different business. How do you get them from being over there to actually getting paid to do what they love? And I know it’s probably a very long journey, but where do you begin with that?

Wendy Nguyen: Yeah. So I love to talk about this because with this one I come up with the £0.03 formula. So everything with me is sitting at number three. So make it simple right. So it’s A3P formula. It’s called passion profit and purpose. So I would really sit down and dissecting the passion side. Somebody say you know what I really love gardening. Then on the passion side I would have you know there’s three things that I would break it down for people on the Passion. When you say that you’re passionate about something, which means are you already the best in whatever you do cycle is the core competencies. Okay. And then the second thing is I have is the core values. And you know somebody who loves gardening, which means that they love to, um, get out there and be in with the nature. And that is they can be to me that can be a very honest person. Right. So that’s going to be the core values that they are into it, because they want to be part of the nature, they want surrounding with the green. And they have the love for nature. And so, um, you know, knowing your core value. And then, um, the third thing is your visions, right? You know, like I said, yeah, I love gardening, but what is the vision that you want in that gardening? Like, do you sit down and say, you know what I want to every single house that look like a, you know, a beautiful garden and like, one house at a time, then this is the vision because that’s your passion and you want to go to people home and have their front yard look gorgeous.

Wendy Nguyen: Then now you have a vision, then you can get into the business. But if you just like, you know, I love gardening, but you know, as long as I can grow some plants and vegetables and flowers in the back of my garden and I’m happy about it, then. And if you don’t have the desire to do something for somebody else, then how are you going to get paid for what you love to do? I love that. So just have to be the desire. So I really dig into their passions because sometimes it’s just more like, it’s like this is a hobby and this is not something that is they felt like compelling. So to solve a problem that is in the world or, you know, in people’s daily life.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. I, I love the, the way you make things so simple. When do you take the very complex and break it down? And in a lot of cases, just three parts. Right. For each of these areas and I love that. Thank you for sharing so much. Great information. Uh, if people are already, um, excited about connecting with Wendy, I’d like to send you to her website, which is Wendy Nguyen coaching.com w e d y n g u I e coaching c o a com. So Wendy Nguyen coaching and you can find all of the information that you need in order to get in touch with Wendy on her website. So, Wendy, um, why do you believe everyone needs a mentor and a coach?

Wendy Nguyen: Yes. So I because the the coach will help you to see your strengths and your weakness and hold you accountable for the goals that you want to set right. And so it’s and then in our lives we always have uh the blind spot. Mhm. And you know like I say it’s maybe something you never think about of like just by every day telling yourself you’re not good enough then actually hindering everything that you want to achieve in your life because you speak it to become the reality. So, um, that’s why it’s it’s the coach. It’s important. And because when you also when you grow up in a family, right, your parents are your first coach and, you know, some family, they can, you know, you can hear about they broken out of poverty or that the first one go to college or some family that, you know, the kids are very successful. That’s because, you know, the parents are already successful in the society so they can give their advice. So we can only go as high as our parents if we only we’re not seeking for more. Right.

Wendy Nguyen: And so the coach is also going to help you to seek for more. And one thing those, you know, selecting a coach is also very important because if let’s say, you know, going back like if a for a business, if I say I want to grow my business international, then I do want to have a coach who some way somehow know about the global perspective. Um, and uh, versus, you know, having a more, um, I’m more comfortable with working within my community then. Yeah. You know, you’re finding a coach that working within your community. Uh, so I and it’s to me, it’s really because in order for you to set any goals You really have to get out of your limiting belief. And you know, I’m sure this is something that also a very good that you will talk about gardening, somebody love gardening. And um, when I asked my mentee this question, she thought that I was tricked. I tricked her because she loved gardening. And I said, so when you love gardening, will you, uh, pulling out the weed first or you watering the seed first?

Trisha Stetzel: Hmm hmm. Okay. Very good question. Yeah, it is a very good question. That’s why she thought you were trying to trick her.

Wendy Nguyen: Yeah. So the answer is that you would want to pulling out the weed first. Because the weed. What? Representing the weed for me are the limiting belief, the self doubt.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay.

Wendy Nguyen: Then you would do the watering and then you would do the fertilizers, because what you mentioned is that, you know, we have kind of like planted a seed and then start putting fertilizers and putting the water. And now the weed is also there. So the weeds also grow together. Very true. The goal is to have and also as big as your self-doubt that you may have every day.

Trisha Stetzel: Wow. What a great question. And again, bringing it down to something so simple that’s easy to understand. Right on why you would want to pull the weeds out first, which is a limiting belief. Thank you for sharing that. That’s wonderful. Okay. Would it be all right as we get to the back end of our conversation here today to celebrate this thing we call six figure chicks, I’m really excited to be collaborating on this book with you, Wendy. I can’t wait to read your story. So it’s six figure chicks. The the first Houston edition. The book will be available on June 16th on Amazon. And each of us there are 17 of us authors have told our story in this book. So I hope all of you will go out and get your preordered copy of the book. Of course, it’s available after the 14th. That’s just our launch day. So, Wendy, why did you want to be a part of the collaboration for six Figure Chicks?

Wendy Nguyen: Yeah, that’s a great question. So I as you mentioned at the beginning, I’m already an author and also one of my book, actually a well-known, um, I was co so the first two books that I published was in 2023 and um, uh, the first was How to Get Paid Doing What You love, uh, book. And there’s also a series. So I interviewed, you know, multiple people about their, their journey. And then immediately, uh, right after that at the same time, February. March of 2023 I coauthored with my very famous global author, Marie Diamond. And so the books have been it’s called Global Conscious Entrepreneurs. And as has been publicized, you know, over like translate into 16 different languages. And, um, and because I always want to continue to have the second book from the, um, first book get paid for your passions book, uh, I want to continue to have that book and interview more people. The first one, I interviewed nine different entrepreneurs. And so beginning of this year, 2025, I’m like, you know what? I’m going to go on to my second book sequel. And I’m already start talking to different authors about it. Um, then all of a sudden, you know, mail cards, she is the one that’s helping us publishing the book, right? She started talking about six figure check book. And of course, the ambition, like I did. Like, why not seven figure? Salary, $5 million. You know, businesses. And I’m like, why not seven figures. And. And she was like, well, you know as we talk about is the six figure is by the end of the day wherever we take home. Right. And how how much money actually you need to have a comfortable life. So six figure should be enough, right. So I say yeah, that’s very interesting.

Wendy Nguyen: And so I, I was very excited to coauthoring the books with um and Mel want to, you know, collaborate with multiple women. And then in this case um, like as earlier Trisha said that I have many businesses and the only reason that I can have so many businesses is because every single business, I have business partners and I’m a big believer into collaborations. And so, you know, with this book and I get to meet many more amazing women than that is like in alignment with my kind of business core value, actually, because I don’t do business alone. Right. So if you’re kind of like a self-employed, you know, one person shop, to me that’s not a business. Yeah. A business have to be a collective of a group of people. And so like this book, collaboration with many other women and listen to their story. I’m very excited. You know, the chapter that I actually share and talk about, uh, which the other books I don’t talk about much is actually how to, um, find a business partners, you know, how to collaborate. And, and I will say I’m almost a really good person to write this book because, I mean, my chapter because I fail so many times in business partnership. At the same time, I also have a lot of wins. So I can take, you know, take the setback. And what do I learn from the setback? And I can, you know, pick out the the point right away. Then you know what can be a success. Because one thing that I find is women who are so versatile, we are so multitasker, right? If you can be a mother and take care and raise a human being, then you can totally, you know, starting and raising a business, right?

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah.

Wendy Nguyen: You can manage because you have to manage, you know, the little one who have no skill or don’t know how to write, don’t know how to read. Yes, exactly. Yeah. So I, I so because of a long time, you know, a lot of time women is because we’re so multitasker that we become loner. We don’t know how to collaborate. And I want to for this one, I want to give people the courage to collaborate. Because as much as I failed and I lost a lot of money, you know, through business partnership. I still encourage it’s worth it. Tried it. Because the only way that you can grow so big and make a bigger impact is about collaborations.

Trisha Stetzel: That’s beautiful. Wendy, thank you so much for being with me today. I suspect you’re going to have to come back on the show because we have so much more to talk about.

Wendy Nguyen: Yeah, because. Because everything we touch on.

Trisha Stetzel: Yes, exactly. Okay, if you guys are ready to connect with Wendy, then you can find all of the information that you need either in the show notes, or you can go directly to her website at Wendy w e d n g u y e a c h I n g. Wendy Nguyen coaching Wendy, it’s been such a pleasure to have you on today. Uh, looking forward to our next conversation.

Wendy Nguyen: Well, thank you very much, Tricia. And, uh, thank you for a lot of great questions. And now, because not only business coaching, but I incorporate art into business. So that’s going to remove more limiting beliefs.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah I love that. And that’s what we need to talk about the next time you come back. Because I’m very curious about how you’re implementing this art piece into this holistic approach that you take. Thank you again, Wendy.

Wendy Nguyen: Bye bye. Tricia.

Trisha Stetzel: That’s all the time we have for today. If you found value in this conversation, please share it with a fellow entrepreneur or veteran or Houston leader ready to grow. Be sure to follow, rate and review this show. It helps us reach more bold business minds just like yours and your business. Your leadership and your legacy are built one intentional step at a time. So stay tuned, stay inspired, stay focused, and keep building the business and the life you deserve.