women entrepreneurs. That was part of the whole intro thing. So messaging that connects,
compels and sells. And let's define audacious women entrepreneurs. What does that mean to
you, Joanne?
Audacious women entrepreneurs. Oh, you know, I love that combination there because I usually
say soulful women entrepreneurs who are stepping out with audacious authenticity.
That's right. I did use those words differently.
But I like how you put it with audacious women entrepreneurs. Yeah, it does, it does feel
a little different there. I'm like, Ooh, that's like a messaging piece. I, okay, so stepping
out in audacious authenticity for me, doesn't necessarily have to mean like being loud or
having to act a certain way that you think you have to act in order to be audaciously
authentic.
And this is why I decided to choose audacious authenticity because I think it's part of
my journey as well is understanding what does that mean to be authentic to myself and realizing
how, you know, I'm, I'm, I have a certain image in my head of what that should look
like, but it's not me. And so I think audacious authenticity just means that you are bringing
yourself, you're bringing your stories, you are bringing your values to the table and
being able to speak through those lenses.
I love that. I thank you for being able and willing to call out the dynamic change and
the title that we created. Right. And it shows the power of words, right. And the use of
words, I would parallel that. And this is something that I wish more business owners
would, would really try to feel through, right. A lot of times business owners are like, just
get it, just get it promoted. I don't care what you say. What? You know, like, like you
got to care tremendously about that messaging, you know, because otherwise it's not actually
coming from you. And then it's coming from a marketer who kind of represent you, but
not if they hit something that you like, but aren't identified by. And so I did that with
this title and you're helping people realize, I don't know, we're talking about soulful
women entrepreneurs that are audaciously authentic. And I can, I can now see and grasp, oh, you're
right. I kind of changed the whole meaning of everything with that. And it reminds me
of what I like to talk about the difference between force and strength and how, you know,
a chihuahua can be forceful and have zero effect, you know, as a chihuahua, cause it
has zero strength, right. But a strong, a lion can be strong and not do anything forceful
and oh, you know, it can throw down the force, right. It doesn't have to do it in our thing
because it has true strength. And so when you understand the difference in our word
choices and the intentionality of words is oftentimes a difference between connecting,
compelling and selling. And, and I get, I'm excited to dive into the vision fully on where
we're going to go with that, what you're going to contribute. Do you want to add anything
before we start talking about the three resources? Yeah, I, I just, I really love playing with
words. And so when you did do that flip, I was thinking like, Oh, huh, that has a very
different feeling to it. And so I, I mean, you understand like playing with birds. I
think it's, it's really interesting because just a flip of a word, a flip of a phrase
can make a really big difference. And so, yeah, yeah, I'm excited to have our chat today.
It's fun. It'll be fun. I'll add one more tiny thing in there, mechanism to support
why I switched it to, cause I was like, okay, part of, you mentioned audacious authenticity
and I feel like as people move into their audacious authenticity, you know, they rather
if they explore their soulful selves, that almost unlocks naturally and audacious authenticity
within them. But I do like that you also caution like, okay, you can be audacious, but not
soulful and there would be dangers and going that route too. Anyway, we're, we're, I'm
getting so excited. And I hope that those of you listening and you use this as a, as
a, as the opportunity to exercise your own messages, start massaging them and seeing
what they sound like, what they look like as you adjust the adjectives or you change
the direction of how your wording comes across. It may be a massive game changer and helping
you really connect with an influence, those that you serve. So Joanne, what are three
resources or books, movies, et cetera, that you recommend for leaders and entrepreneurs
out there? I think this lends itself very well with what we were just talking about
soulful entrepreneurs. And when you are able to look inwardly, there's just so much self
discovery and identity and all that going into there. So one of the books I was recommended
by my intuitive coach that I worked with a couple of years ago, it's called the book
of joy, lasting happiness in a changing world. Do you know that one? It's, it's with the
Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu and Douglas Abrams. Sorry, Abrams, Abrams. I'm not sure how to
say his last name. One of those. Yes, one of those. And so that had a really big impact
on me. And I've read this book now to almost two and a half years ago, I'm thinking about
it because my second son is two and a half years old. And I remember I started that book
right after he was born. And so it just talks about like the eight pillars of joy, specifically
like the four in the qualities of the mind, and then the four qualities of the heart.
And also talking about joy in the face of sorrow, adversity, loneliness, grief, all
the things that are happening in our current world and state. And so I just, I felt like
it just made a really good impact on me because I feel like at that time, I was also wrestling
with now having two children starting to get lost in motherhood. Also being an entrepreneur.
Also wanting to be ambitious with my business and grow my business so I can support my family
financially. All the things, like all the identities. Yeah, a lot of things. And so
I think the biggest thing that really came out of it is like, you know, we have choice.
We get to choose and that it's not just our external situations doing things to us, but
we get to choose. We get to choose how we respond to things externally, but also internally.
So that's one of the books that I highly recommend. I've recommended to, after I start reading
it, start recommending it to everyone. Nice. That's a good one. Okay. What's number two
and three? So the second one is how, okay. So this one might not sound like, oh, business
owners and leaders need this. It's called How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and How to
Listen So Kids Will Talk. And it's by Adele Faber and the other author, Elaine. And so
I have to say that this is a book that everyone can read, even if you don't have kids, because
it's really like the underlying focus they're talking about is communication, but also listening.
How to actively listen, which is so important to communicating. And it's just talking about
how to manage expectations, being able to see outcomes before they happen, it's through
understanding human behavior. And so I think it's a really great book if you want to learn
how to really actively listen and communicate and be able to hold space for them. The book
that I have is, I think it was published in the 80s, I want to say, maybe the 70s. The
one that I have is a little outdated. They have like little comics in there. Yeah. I
say the comics are a little outdated, but the information still holds to today. I think
they have like new versions, publications out there that they've updated the visuals
and all that. I'm going to take a look and I'm glad you mentioned it. You know, a large
part of entrepreneurship is that you, people say you can separate work and life. As an
entrepreneur, you can't really. You could, but I don't think it's effective. I don't
think it's helpful. I don't even think it's, you lose a sense of intentionality in what
you do. And I'm a big fan of, we create a full appreciation for family and personal
wellbeing in the workplace. So these types of books are perfect for, they're up our alley
at first glance, but as I'm grateful for it, I'm going to be diving into the single father
of four. Like, thank you. I need all the, all the help I can get. So that's, that's
awesome. And usually when you learn to relate and teach something with a child, the same
principles apply to the rest of the adults that you also have to deal with who are just
more difficult children. So what's the resource number three? The third one is also a book
that I had also read just a couple of years ago by Rachel Rogers. It's called, we should
all be millionaires specifically for women to earn more, build wealth and gain economic
power. And it kind of goes hand in hand with a program that I'm currently in right now.
So I'm cheating because I'm going to add like one more resource. I'm sliding into this one.
I am currently in a money program with Gina Knox called Six Figure Saver. And it has a
lot of the same themes and strands as we should all be millionaires, really empowering women
with specifically like money mindset. I have, you know, since starting my business four
years ago have learned how many beliefs I have about money that are not serving me and
that I need to let go. But also like money management, this is something like I am a
word, I'm a word person. I like playing with words, like messaging. I love digging into
that stuff. The number side to me is like, I'd like to sweep into a corner. So I have
been learning to take control of my money management for my business. What's coming
up for me in terms of my money mindset and also like, what are my energetics around making
more money?
Yeah, I love the analogy used of sweeping it into a corner. And, you know, if we were
all Jeff Bezos, you know, or Elon Musk with money, then maybe that wouldn't be so applicable.
But most of us are not. And I know a lot of people, at least you sweep it into your corner.
I know people who sweep it into the corner of the garage that is owned by their neighbor.
I mean, it's like, keep those conversations away from me.
Yeah, about like 20 feet. And so you're proactively diving into programs and the books to help
you gain solidarity around those subjects, strength, wisdom, the ability to reflect.
And that's going to open up paradigms and opportunities for you. So there's lots of
visionaries, leaders, entrepreneurs who can benefit from all four of those resources.
Thanks for giving the bonus like a great teacher would that makes sense.
Right. Extra credit bonus.
We're going to come right back. We'll be talking about vision. We'll be talking about messaging,
how to connect, compel and sell. This is going to be very helpful for soulful women entrepreneurs
out there who are audaciously diving into authenticity in a world that sometimes hides
behind masks. And that same truth, I know, is going to be just as helpful and beneficial
for those of us men out there. So stay tuned. We'll be right back.
All right. Welcome in to Vision Pros Live with Jackson Callum. I'm your show host. We'll
be doing interviews for visionary entrepreneurs and guest leaders who are building fantastic
visions out there.
Hey, what's up, everybody? Welcome into another episode of Vision Pros Live. I'm your show
host, Jackson Callum, founder and CEO of First Class Business. And I'm super excited to have
Joanne Homestead on today. When we had our first pre-show meeting, it was like meeting
a best friend. Like it was just one of those moments. It was like, wow, this is so refreshing
and fun. And I think a lot of that has to do with some of our overlapping passions. We're
going to be talking about messaging and how to use your messaging to be more effective.
That's one of the gifts she's going to give us. She talks about her vision. She also has
a background as a school teacher of small children. And if you're not familiar with
the power and value of having people who've done that before within your business and
whether you're in executive teams, think of it this way. Imagine you have to have a team
of people who are insubordinate in nature. They don't want to be there. They don't want
to listen to you. They might say they hate you. You can't fire them. You just have to
find a way to find harmony amongst those individuals. And they might not like each other. There's
so many challenges that go with that, that oftentimes teachers and mothers often make
the best managers and the best executives because they know how to work with a tough
hand that's dealt to them. So definitely be open-minded to the type of wisdom we're going
to gain today. There's a lot of ways this can help you. Now, before we bring Joanne
on, I'm going to provide a couple other resources of our own in the form of our sponsorship
opportunities and of course, and giving back. So first is Melissa Gray with the Lawspot.
Legal does not have to be complicated. Most of the time we just ignore it and that keeps
it from being complicated until like my brand at Restaurant Connect where we got hit with
a lawsuit for our trademark, for our own brand name. We ended up spending $20,000 in that
lawsuit. We won. We saved our name. But as a startup, like which startup out there in
the world has the ability to lose $20,000? We didn't. And Apple patented our software
at the same time. That was also difficult and scary. It would have been prudent of us
to do our research upfront and find a legal entity that we trusted, that we aligned with,
that actually listened to us and wanted to work with us. I've found a lot of attorneys
since then and I've never found anybody who cares about the clients the way that Melissa
does and the way she set up her systems, her team all supports that. So if you don't have
legal counsel, definitely give Melissa a call or go check out our episode and at least get
a feel for her in advance. But I highly recommend being a wise steward and making sure that
you're building out the departments you need in order to be successful. And that includes
the legal department. Then there's Recovery Unplugged with Andrew Sosin. By the way, I
don't want to forget to mention this. Melissa is a client of ours and a strategic partner.
So we do also have a bias for having her on there, but that's how much we believe in her.
Then there's the Recovery Unplugged with Andrew Sosin. With Recovery Unplugged, I was really
impressed with Andrew as a leader. That's also why I do these interviews is I want to
get to know the leaders, not the entities. If I can get to know the leaders, I can understand
the direction the entities going in. And as Andrew and I got to talk and I got to see
that, okay, this guy's got 400 plus team members who he cares about tremendously. He does help
people with addiction recovery. And one of the things I love most about Recovery Unplugged
is they also have in their executive leadership team, people who've actually graduated through
their program, people who, if you were to look at and assess their lives, they might
be the types of people that most of society would write off and say, this person, no way.
Now their executives with established families and they've completely overhauled their lives.
You may know people who are going through addictions and you don't know how deep or
scary that can be. Well, they have a hotline. If you worry about a family member, a friend,
a child that you have that might be struggling, call the hotline yourself, get some help,
find out what you might be able to do to inspire the individual. I love that for them, music
is their medicine of choice. It's a big part of my life and it's helped me in many different
ways. And the fact that they incorporate it scientifically, psychologically into what
they're up to is awesome. And last but not least, if you're a fan of Tony Robbins, I
think you'll be a huge fan of this program. Andrew has been 22 years in a row to the Tony
Robbins program. That's where he pulls a whole lot of his information from as they continue
to build out the resource. It's all online. I love the program. I hope this helps at least
one person listening in. I'll be a happy man if that's the case.
Then there's the water project. The water project is something that I choose to talk
about honestly, because I have no relation to it. I've never been without water. I'm
a little bit thirsty right now. I can go downstairs and get water within 10 seconds, probably
20 seconds max. And there's at the same time, there's millions of people who don't have
that luxury. They have to walk three to five miles in order to just find a source. Their
kids have to leave school. The parents may have to leave work just to get the basic necessity
for survival. I can tell you that water they're getting. Oftentimes, it's not even safe drinking
water. And again, I don't have to deal with that. So I refuse to allow my mind to forget
that there are people in this world who have needs far greater than my own. And when I
see this picture coming up, if you're watching in, these kids are celebrating water like
my kids celebrate Christmas day. And it tells me we have priorities to focus on as a world.
What's really cool about the water project is if you choose a location that you want
to support and you donate $5 to it, they're going to give you an update of what happens
with that community. As the community gets the funding they need to move forward, you
actually get to see your contribution in action. You're going to see it come to fruition and
the generational impact that we can have by helping people build a sand dam, as they call
it, or a borehole well, depending on the local resources around them. It's one of those gifts
of giving worth meditating on and thinking what might've been the impact of what I just
gave. Now, if you're not in a position to give financially, if COVID economics has really
hurt you, then make sure that we take the time to share this. Because if we have the
opportunity to listen to a podcast, then we probably have a little bit of an upper hand
on those out there who don't even have access to water. And this is about giving a hand
up, not a hand out. Please join me in that there's 8 billion people in this world to
help. So if you know of another cause you'd rather see a support, it's not a competition,
just drop it in the comments. Let us know what that is so we can also look at giving
back to that. Maybe I'll even bring it here on the show and talk about it for a little
bit. So thanks for joining me on doing good visionaries. Without further ado, I'm going
to bring Joanne on stage. Joanne, thank you so much for joining me on Vision Pros Live
today.
Yeah, thanks.
Yeah, absolutely. Desk Plant Creatives, I got to ask, how'd you come up with the name
for your brand?
Oh, that's a good question. You know, I've wondered that myself. I'm like, where did
this come from? I can't actually remember. But I do remember when I had just when I was
coming up with the name. And this plant came to me, I don't know how, just a moment of
divine intervention, I don't know. But I remember feeling like, yes, this is this is the name
that I want. Because I feel like when you have your desk plants in your home office,
on your desk, it's providing air for you. It's providing fresh new life for you to breathe
in. It also provides the greenery, the color, the vibrancy, it just feels like it's bringing
life into your office and creativity. And so that that's when I when I came up with
it. And I can't remember how that is. What it brought to mind, I was like, oh, this is
this is it here. So I'm actually also not a green thumb. People ask me like, oh, you
must have a lot of plants. Like, we have a lot of succulents in our house, because you
can ignore them. And they thrive. If we start paying attention to our plants, they they
tend to wither and die. I haven't figured that part out yet.
That's awesome. And that tells me a lot about the depth of your gratitude. Right. And the
fact that that you allow that I need to go to IKEA now and get my next. That's that's
on the to do list. Thank you for that. I highly recommend what is what's your vision for these
entrepreneurs and in general, the people that you serve?
I've been reflecting on this in the past week or two, I feel like I reflect on this every
every month or two. So I was thinking about, you know, my my vision. And then I was and
because I love storytelling so much, I've been trying to find a story that really just
kind of embodies this vision or like where this came from. And then it just hit me yesterday.
I had taken OK, I have a little story to tell. Is that OK?
Storytime, storytime. So I took this memoir class in graduate school. I was going to graduate
school to get my master's degree as a reading specialist, like a K-12 reading specialist.
I had already been a teacher for a few years at that time. Few years. Wow. And and so I
wasn't meaning to take this memoir class. I was going to take something a little more
practical in my mind towards my degree. But my friends who were in my cohort with me,
they said they saw this memoir class and thought, let's let's take this class together. I'm
I'm into like, I love relationships and connecting people. And my friends are like, let's do
this. I'm like, OK, let's let's do it. So I took the class and I was just I was just
blown away by the whole course. And something really surprising came out of it for me that
I didn't know would come out of it. And there were there were no prompts. They didn't say,
like, write about a time and you know, it was just totally free form, free whatever.
Just write about any experiences that you've had in your life and write it in like a memoir
form. And the first story that came out of me, the first memory that came out of me was
a time when I went to visit my grandparents in Taiwan when I was eight years old. And
then when I had visited them again, when I had graduated college, so as a young adult
and going back and visiting them again, those were the and I had only visited those three
times within 20, 25 years. And the story came out. And it and then we shared it with with
the class and we had to read it out loud. And I don't know what it was, but something
happened in that in that story. And it was something that I it's not something that I
think about on any kind of daily basis at all. And I had just this emotional connection to
the story that didn't hit me until I had read it out loud. And then this feeling of like
this nostalgia and like a deepness with like identity and going back and looking from the
eyes of a child when I was eight years old, visiting my grandparents and like lineage.
It was like, it just went really deep. And I felt like from that story, I don't know,
something unlocked in me. And I feel like I could just move forward with my life with
with more purpose. I felt like that story just revealed things in me that I hadn't even
thought about, but was in there. And so I felt like this is this is what I want for
other women entrepreneurs is to be able to dig into their stories and use it to reveal
things even about themselves that they may have not even noticed before, but also use
it to teach to use stories to connect to use stories to resonate. That is something that
I am very passionate about. And I think that that has been a passion since, you know, being
a teacher for 15 years. That is what I was passionate about as a teacher as well. And
seeing like seeing what resonates, being able to see your audience and seeing, oh, what
are they engaged in? What is what is compelling to them? What makes them go like, oh, huh?
Like, oh, yes, they get excited about something. Or they kind of kind of lean back like, no,
I don't know about that. Just like that. Being able to and that's what messaging I feel like
is about for me is being able to interact with with your audience in the way that is
authentic to you, but also like understanding your audience, your community.
Yeah, absolutely. I have to ask when that experience hit you and you felt all that emotion,
was it something that drove you to cry? Yeah, I kind of caught it, but I wasn't sure everybody
processes emotion differently. So I was like you. It puts you in a very kind of vulnerable
state, but powerfully like, whoa, deep state. And I didn't I don't want to miss the opportunity
to capture the magic of the story. So yeah, definitely. I get a little emotional.
That's that's that's fair. You're yours to bring out or put away. Let's talk about your
vision. So what's your vision for you? What do you see for yourself?
So the vision I have for myself is really being able to, as you said, the work life
integration. I don't call it work life talents anymore. It is full integration. And so that
is something that I have for myself and my family is being able to do what I love doing
in my work, but also bringing bringing my family into it because I am working from my
home. We are all together. And so navigating like how to how to integrate them, how to
be able to again, kind of like what I'm saying, like do what I love doing with my work. But
also I love I love spending time with my kids. When I first started this business, my son,
my first son had just turned two at the time. And it was that was a that was a big moment
for me to realize like I want to be able to have lunch with him. You know, I want to be
able to spend more than 15 minutes in the morning with him before I have to leave for
work. You know, school starts really early in the morning. If you have any elementary
age children, I mean, I was sometimes leaving before the sun would rise and I would see
the sunrise at school. And I just said, this is just wrong for me. I want to you know,
I want to I want to be at home. And so now now we have two kids. Yeah. So so just being
able to have have lunch with my kids has been both amazing and challenging at the same time.
I can't say it's like all rainbows all the time. But I I just thank you for that. Yeah,
yeah, it's it's not all rainbows and unicorns. I have to say, OK, this is the most authentic
conversation on on parenting and entrepreneurship and being that stay at home parent entrepreneur
that is not talked about on stages. I love this. I've been a stay at home parent since
2010. Right. I was way, way ahead of the curve in terms of home and having access. And there
are pros and cons to me, the pros heavily outweigh the cons. Nonetheless, there are
still challenges with the process. But you've I think if everybody listening in could internalize,
man, I want to be able to have lunch with my kids and be able to choose to do that.
I think more people would gravitate towards realizing, wow, maybe you can make that happen
in your life. I mean, if Joanne did it and Jackson was able to do that, maybe I can too.
And even if we got one parent, you know, to on that track, because that's what they really
wanted inside like this podcast is worth its weight in gold. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah,
I really value that time. I value the laughter and the crying. I do, you know, and I'll
share from my side on that, too. So my little girl, right, she's she's born and I was stay
at home, dad, and and we're working night and day in the office, you know, working a
lot in our home. But I knew what all the googles and gaga's meant when she was three months,
four months, five, six months. You know, I knew what she was communicating. Had I been
in an office all day and had I been separated from that home environment, I would not have
understood. You know, what do you do? You have a nanny or you have a daycare. And and
then so the child comes back, but you miss the entire day of what they're trying to say.
So you don't know what their their desire for water is. You don't know when they're
tired. You don't know. That would be such a really difficult scenario that I never had
to go through. And in addition to that, the hey, honey, she's rolling over for the first
time. You know, I'm like, oh, sweet. You know, I can get up from my desk and go and watch,
you know, what's happening to interact. All of there's there are so many there's almost
infinite amounts of memories that I've had access to by being able to be an at home entrepreneur
that the world doesn't even know exists. I think a lot of the world is just oblivious
to the reality of what that empowers in terms of relationship with your kids. So feel free
to dive in further on that, because I think this is how we inspire people to understand
the value that may be right in front of them. Yeah, I appreciate you sharing that story
and kudos and credit to you because yes, it is it it is the most rewarding, but it can
also be quite challenging in terms of integrating the work and the kids. But yeah, I wouldn't
trade it for anything. Because I think coming from that experience with my older son and
knowing at school that, like, what is he doing? What like what's going on with him? Like missing
those kind of milestone moments. And I was I was so grateful to have my husband who is
the caretaker for our kids to be able to be at home with him or else. Or else I think
I probably would have just broke down and cried every day. Because then I at least I
knew I was like, oh, my, you know, my husband is there. He is, you know, being able to provide
that the relationship, you know, the relationship building at home that some people don't, don't
have. And so going through that, and then starting my business and then having my second
son, I just have such a I have such an appreciation for those moments, even those challenging
moments to be like, I get to be here, I get to be here. Through the good and the bad,
I get to be here for for for the joys and the sorrows and the I want to pull my hair
out. And I need to go and take a breath somewhere else. I cannot deal with this right now.
Right. I get to be there. I get to be there for them.
Absolutely. There's a there's a whole we I would love to spend some time with you creating
a LinkedIn event of some type where we spend the time talking about those essence because
there's a lot of opportunity there. And it's not covered in the books. Right. But you documenting
those realities, they're so deep, they're so profound. They they they drive the essence
of life. Right. Again, people mean go anybody can go through my Facebook photos and look
and see my relationship with my kiddos. I mean, on what that looks like. And there's
obviously the the bads and the uglies aren't awfully often found on there, even though
I document them in in word format. But the depths of the good are a tremendous reflection
of like what's been afforded by being able to have that. And it's as far as I can tell,
that's what every parent wants. Once their kids are gone. Yeah. And I think something
that I guess yes, let's let's do the LinkedIn thing. But also something that really helped
me was understanding how to be present in the moment. That was a big piece of work life
integration. If it wasn't for that, I feel like I would be I would be pulled one way
and the other. When I'm with my family. I'm just thinking about work. When I'm working,
I'm just thinking about my family. And having been able to work with, you know, coaches
and hypnotherapist, a few different resources to then realize that, okay, I have this I
have created this life that I want. And yet I'm not I'm not feeling satisfied because
I'm being pulled. I'm being right in one place. I'm thinking of the other and the other place
I'm thinking I'll give you an example on that to back you up on it, because it was a big
one for me. So here comes my six months old baby right crawling now. All right, I'm working
I'm in the zone trying to get the work done. And I hear at the door, you know, a raspy
and like a like a puppy, you know, on the door. But then I hear my daughter saying,
Daddy, Daddy, you know, Daddy, and then like, I'm trying to work call and like mute myself
so they can't hear in the background. And, and then, you know, I can hear getting frustrated
and I can hear my wife going to get her and then I can hear my daughter crying. And I'm
like, I'm like panicking, you know, my desk going like, What the heck, man, like, like,
she doesn't get it, you know, that I have to work to provide, but she doesn't get it.
She thinks I'm ignoring her. She knows I'm in that other room, she can hear me talking.
And my daughter is going to think that I don't want her and I don't love her. This isn't
fair. All the work dads like the moms that leave, and they're not present with the child
knows they're not there. But me, on the other hand, like she knows I'm here. So what do
I do? Right? And so I had to, I had to add the opportunity to make adjustments and to
say, you know what, okay, maybe I can, I can take different style of breaks. And so you're
right, there's new challenges, there's new problems that can arise, there's new emotions
that can go on. But there's also new opportunities to find the solutions for those new realities.
And if we're attentive to those, then you end up being able to find a new balance and
appreciation for the good while accounting for the responsibilities that are also part
of that process. Some took me years longer to realize, you know, six years later, I'm
looking at my leaving my office and I'm leaving as an executive, coming home as an executive,
running my home like an executive, but realizing, whoa, wait a second, this is not how home
life goes. And I started to do a car drive home, right? I would turn on ESPN and put
some headphones in, listen to some music, get myself centered. Then I learned later
about tokens, right? Changing your clothes, like changing your clothes to something less
formal or things like that, that allow you to break free from, have a transition from
one to the other. So those, those are little elements that I found along the way to help
me integrate work and kids and family life better. What have you found? If you're going
to give some, I know we're like, we're going to run out of time today, but what is the
quickest?
I have to say that's brilliant because I have actually been thinking about how I used to
have a commute home from work. And that was my, that was my time. That was my time for
the transition. I was able to like, as every mile went on, I was able to kind of like,
okay, leave that behind at work. As I got closer to home, I'm thinking more about like,
Ooh, okay. What's happening at home? What's what's what's rhythms are we having there?
And I'm able to switch my brain, but now my commute is now zero, more like negative, negative
10 seconds. What it feels like. And not having that transition. And I just love that idea
that you have, because I feel like that's kind of what I have been. That's, I've been
struggling with that piece of not having that transition time and going from boom. I am
working on my business. I am now, I am now mom and I'm watching the kids. I want to give
my husband a break. He's been watching them all day. So I love that idea.
Five minutes changes it. It's so important. My kids and now I'm divorced. So I don't see
my kids as often. That makes it hard too. But they, so I made sure the door is unlocked
on Friday. Right. And cause I know I got to finish your work meeting. So it's five o'clock.
My kids, I hear them come in the door and they come upstairs and I'm on a zoom call.
Right. But my kids are showing up after two weeks and not seeing them. Right. So I'm like,
Hey, my kids are here. I'm going to take a little break, but we need to wrap this up.
And they're like, Oh my gosh, let me get it. Nope. Like it's, there's a balance here. There's,
I'm going to introduce you. Right. And so I bring them in, you know, I give them their
hugs. We have our little two minute process with the individual, but they know I've got
to finish work. And so I let them know like, okay, great guys, I'll be out in just a minute.
Let me wrap this up. And by the way, go ahead and get dressed for the pool. Right. Whatever
seed planted, whatever's thought of in advance, like you, you can prepare these things. And
now they go out and make sure you get all your stuff put away in your rooms. Right.
They still have 15 minutes of activities and you do to reintegrate the home. It's not like
I have to be there for that moment that they get there, but that, that just comes through
intentionality of that, that integration process. Then I wrap up work. I spent a little bit
of time on what I need to do to get my mind free. And then I come out ready. All right.
We're all ready to go. And those, yeah, there's so many, there's so many victories and being
able to be there with your family. And when I, when we were in the pre show and I could
hear kids in the background, I was like, yes, yes. I was like a real mom, like there with
their, their life and on my podcast. They are, they are on the floor with their eyeball,
like peeking through the door crack. And I know, I know the end of the day is getting
closer and closer because I can hear the breathing of the children getting closer and closer
to the door. And so they're just like right on the crack. You just hear them breathing
there. Like, I think it's time. We got to get her wrap up here. Love that. Yes. So,
so true. So we're going to, we're going to have to derail a little bit today. We're not
going to get to everything, which is unusual, but to me, so worth it. I hope that parents
out there like comment and share this and help us realize how valuable this is for them.
We'll find out how many parents we have listening or not to do this process, but let's, let's
try to, let's see here. So we can go into worst leadership or best leadership experience,
or we can skip to the most powerful lesson knowing we got like five minutes. So which
of those three you want to get today? And then I'm going to bring you back, Joanne, if
you're okay with it, I'd love to have you back. Yeah, I'd love to. I have to apologize.
It's me. This is like my storytelling. I loved it. It's weird, right where we want to be.
First test or powerful lesson, which one? Okay. I have to, okay. I have to say one more
thing on the thought you just said, I know we're moving forward, but I love it. You're
saying like, bring your children in your hat. You're on a zoom meeting and you bring your
children in. I, and that's what I really appreciate about the clients that I've worked with is
they're in wellness and wellbeing. And so I see they really practice what they, what
they preach. And they, you know, they ask things like, how are you like, really? How
are you like, are you taking care of yourself? Like, are you really taking care of yourself?
Do you need a moment to go like to go and breastfeed your baby? You know, because that
that's something I need to do sometimes. I really appreciate that to have that, that
thoughtfulness, you know, as business owners, we've got to say, I know you have family and
it is okay if you need to go and like take care of them. Of course. Unapologetically.
That is, that is what I mean. And I don't see it a lot in the main workforce. That's
why we believe in full appreciation for the family and personal wellbeing within the workplace,
not outside of not, you know, as a justification or an extra, no, no, no, within the workplace,
very intentional with the words. It's, it's critical. All right. So we're going to skip
all three of those. We're going to bring you back. We're going to dive into our, our
promise topic of the day. We'll use your time on this. So when it comes to messaging and
you know, I love that you, your order connect, compel and sell. And I was putting these arrows
like one comes before the other, the greater sign to also alludes to something awesome
there that if you want to be effective and selling services, like a service that helps
people, it's really beneficial to connect and compel people first. So let's talk about
these essence and what do we, what do we need to be doing? What are we doing wrong? Or where
do you want to take this in terms of messaging that connects compels itself?
Yeah. So I specifically do messaging and copywriting through the fantastic world of emails through
email marketing and email sequences. So I'm going to talk through that lens because that's
my happy place. And so when you're thinking about bringing someone into your world, not
talking about marketing, I'm just talking about like you've, you've just met someone
for the first time. Like, what are you, what are you going to, what are you going to say
to them? Are you going to immediately jump into like, Hey, you want to go on like a four
week Amazon rainforest adventure with me? No, no, that's gonna be too much. I don't
want to do that. So it's the, it's the same thing with what we're doing here with the
connect, compel, SLS. One is connect. Like, what do you say to someone when you've just
met someone for the first time? What's, what's the feeling you get? And I like to compare
it to, you know, you have a new friend and you invite them over to your house for a dinner
party. So just imagine, okay, they're at the door, they ring the bell, you open the door
or what do you say to them? What's what, what is your body doing? But also what is the atmosphere
you've created for this dinner party? This is exactly what I feel like it's like when
someone joins your email list. Yes, it's the same thing. They're opening the door and you're
welcoming them in. How do you want to welcome them in? What is the tone you want to take?
What is the atmosphere you've created? And you can create atmosphere through writing
and through emails to create that feeling you want them to feel to say like, oh, I am
in the right place. Like, oh, yes, I do want to step into your house because it's inviting.
And then once they're in there, then you're starting, you know, set up expectations like,
hey, you know, we're going to have dinner at 6pm. We're going to have some, got some
appetizers. You can grab a beverage over here. Same thing through like a welcome nurture email
sequence. You set up those expectations. What can they expect being on your email list?
What are you going to provide? What can they go get those, you know, sparkly beverages
if they'd like? And then really helping them to then connect with you in terms of like
swapping stories. Like this is we're humans. This is how this is how we connect with each
other. This is how we get to know each other. This is how we build the trust. This is how
we really be able to say like, oh, yeah, I do want I do want to come back or, you know,
I do want to come back to your to your party. I do want to build more of a relationship
with you. I would like to go and grab coffee, you know, things like that. Yeah. And then
at the end of the dinner party is that's where you say, okay, I feel like we've got we've
got a good vibe. We feel like we've got things in common. Okay, now you can ask like, hey,
you know, I'd love to continue this relationship, you know, let's go and let's go like I'm here
in Boulder Color House. It's usually something like you want to go for a hike. Right. Want
to go out for a bike ride, you know, all outdoor kind of thing or some random Texan talking
about the rap song about Boulder, Colorado. I told my husband about that. I played the
song for him and he's like, Oh, they do mention Boulder in the way. Never get older. That's
right. I'm not singing it today though. I already did it once. I'm going to give you
a moment to think about that. So yeah, so then so there's a journey. Yeah, there's the
journey. And then once you've built the relationship where you're now, now you can say to a point,
hey, would you like to go on a five week trek in the Amazon rainforest? And you've built
that trusty relationship and they can say, Oh yeah, that would be awesome. Or like, no
thanks. Too many mosquitoes. Yeah, absolutely. So that's, that makes a lot of sense and it
makes so much sense, Joanne. I hope that, I hope that you take that analogy and continue
to double down on the reality of that story you just shared because it is one of the most
overlooked realities of business ownership. And there's, it's just, it's natural instinct
to survive. It's natural instinct to want to win and want to gain. And we ended up doing
that prematurely as business owners and pushing people away. And your talk that you just gave,
I can see you on Ted talk with the visual supporting images of helping people realize
the drastic difference between walking up to somebody on day one and saying that no
matter what the offer is versus, hi, how are you? You know, it's great to meet you. You
know, what's your name? It's great to meet you. You're going in the right order of events.
And it's not scripted. It might be a framework, but it becomes easier to help people understand
the value of what you do at a higher level when you see them as a human being and you
dive deeper into the meaningful nature of the relationship beyond the cell. You can't
do that without, without connecting with people and learning how to connect to people and
doing that through copy is different than doing that in person. I don't know how many
English majors are entrepreneurs, but I do know there are not very many people who are
are English majors who are excited to write their next essay. You know, this is a few
and far between people. And now as an entrepreneur, you're trying to do that with copy and you
don't have a teacher there to grade you and give feedback. Oftentimes you're just trying
to do on your own. You're like, Oh, well, chat GPT will save me. No, not in terms of
us. We have so much to learn and we have so much to figure out in that process. So it's
very important to connect with leaders like yourself who are dedicating your business
to that one area of business ownership, strategic growth, development of marketing, you know,
how we interact with our employees, how we interact with investors. There's, there's
so much depth to this, this segment of relationships that is often just overlooked and unaccounted
for. So thank you for being here and for sharing this with us. Yeah, sure. Yeah. Thanks for
listening and for the conversation. I'm excited to bring it back. So you have the link for
that. Just go book another time with us. Mayor, you're like the second person I've invited
back by the way, out of 220. Oh my God. So thank you. I'm honored. Absolutely. I went
way over my time, but in a good way. You went over your time in ways that are super valuable
to myself and I can't speak for the audience, but I have a feeling there's a lot of people
out there who would benefit tremendously as we continue to distribute the message. So
thank you for that. And those of you who are listening in, if you want to take early action
with Joanne, we'll still have on the landing page, the action steps that you can take to
get involved with her on her brand, what she's up to, where to follow her on social media
as well. And then of course, if you are a visionary and you're out there helping people
with growth, then I'd invite you to click on the button in the top. This is be our guest.
Apply to be on our show. Come and talk to us about what you're up to, how you're helping
the world. And we appreciate you guys for sticking with us, even though I carried us
over a little bit today and I look forward to seeing you all on the next episode. Everybody
have a fantastic rest of your week and we'll see you soon. Bye.
Thank you for being here today. I'm really happy that you tuned into Vision Pros Live.
I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes continue to move forward.
This is going to get more and more fun. We'll have more and more engagement as well. We'll
invite people to participate in the show and thank you for giving us your time and attention.
Have an excellent time building.