What's going on, Pursuers? Welcome to The Pursuit
of Calling, the podcast that provides you with
the strategies and tools needed to successfully
discover and pursue your calling. Whether it's
through inspiring stories, thought -provoking
interviews, or quick, insightful episodes on
personal growth and development, we've got you
covered. I'm your host, Thomas Carney. Enjoy
the episode. All right. Hey, Yolanda, how's it
going? Hi, Thomas. Good. How are you? I'm doing
good. I'm doing good. Thank you for your yes.
Thank you for agreeing to be on the podcast.
You're so welcome. It's my honor to be here with
you. For those who don't know, I met Yolanda
at IMC. which I've brought up multiple times
and have had other guests on that I met there
as well. And Yolanda, we got to talking. The
reason I got the chance to ask her onto the show
was because it was a seemingly random conversation
where I went just to say hi to a guy that I was
at my... was at my table and she was there having
a conversation with them as well. And it ended
up being a, I don't know, hour and a half, two
hour. It was a long conversation just about,
uh, what we're going, what our goals are, why
we're doing what we're doing. Um, Yolanda is,
um, with Maxwell's going down the coat of the,
uh, speaking track. Um, and I'm, uh, like, you
know, I, I go through the coaching, you know,
I have my, um, the free coaching sessions that
you can, um, you can, uh, sign up for down in
the show notes and, uh, the, and yeah, we got
to talking and I remember thinking as Yolanda
was talking to Adam and I, um, I was like, man,
I can, it makes sense that she's a speaker. It
makes sense that that's the track that she went
down because she captivated our attention and
without even meaning to, she had almost demanded
it. So, uh, so it was, so I want you guys to
just kind of get ready for that because she has
a lot to say, but she also has, uh, but her,
a lot of good things to say. Yeah. And, but yeah,
Yolanda, for those who don't know you, cause
many people that are listening won't, um, who
is Yolanda? Well, my name is Yolanda Ayala. I
live in Los Angeles, California. I'm a nurse.
I work at UCLA and I've been at UCLA since 2003.
And that had been my childhood dream is to become
a nurse. So when I was eight years old, where
the seed was planted was when I was eight years
old, I was on vacation with my family and I was
hit by a car. And fast forward of being in the
hospital for over two months. That's where it
was ingrained in my brain of becoming a nurse
because of what happened to me. And I would see
the nurses. And I remember clearly of I was being
advocate for the other patients. I was the most
critical kid in that unit. Yet I was the outspoken
one. And there was this one nurse that. I was
just not a fond of, and I'm like, I want to make
a difference. Fast forward to becoming a nurse,
moving from a small town, all central, leaving
my family to pursue my dream and moving to Los
Angeles and becoming a nurse. And it was hard
work, but I was so determined to be the nurse
because I would always see myself. And I became
a certified nursing assistant, which is right
before becoming a nurse. But I would see myself,
Yolanda Ayala, RN. I graduated from Glendale
Community College in 2003 and pursued to go to
UCLA. And that was my childhood dream, to work
in a teaching hospital. And within the same time,
I also worked in a community hospital. So I was
doing two jobs at the same time. And in that
pursuit, after 10 years is where I saw myself.
I felt myself and asking myself, what's next?
I had worked so hard from eight years old all
the way into 10 years of my nursing career. And
this is, you know, like in 2015, 2016, that I
kept on asking myself, what's next? And I felt
like a little hamster just going 100 miles an
hour, not going anywhere is where I saw myself
at the time. And seeing myself of this is all
I wanted to do in life, like what happened to
me. What happened? The guilt kick in. Am I being
selfish? What else do I want? And it's of living
my childhood dream and finding myself becoming
unfulfilled and asking myself those questions
of what is next is where those emotions kind
of kicked in. of not being enough feeling lost
unfulfilled so after 10 years going into 13 years
of being a nurse I saw myself I don't know what
else to do and it was up until in 2018 I went
to my first skincare conference and that was
my first that was the door of And at the time,
even though it didn't make sense, because I've
been a nurse my whole life, yet in 2018 of walking
into this conference where I saw Mel Robbins,
who is a personal growth coach, motivational
speaker, and everything she said just made me
feel alive. And I asked myself, how did I go
from reaching the highest mountain of my childhood
dream to become a nurse and falling into depression,
to want to commit suicide and not wanting to
live, to suddenly I felt alive. And what is business
and nursing? They have nothing to do with each
other within the time. And it's within that journey
that more doors started to open onto, you know,
becoming a business person. So that's pretty
much where my journey started from being a nurse
onto business. Wow. And just so people know,
like, how's that pursuit going right now with
business? So in 2018, where that first door opened
of, is this what I want to do? And at the time,
my only skills at the time was being a mom, a
nurse, a wife, and that's it. So to do business,
I had none of those skills, like none whatsoever.
But I was determined. I was determined exactly
the same concept of wanting to be a nurse. My
grit, determination, where do I see myself? I
don't have the skills, but how can I become?
And it's within that time, 2018, it was like
two years right before the pandemic hit. So pandemic
happened and I was still kind of like just going.
In that spiral of like, what else do I want to
do? In the back of my mind, starting that idea
of my first business. And my friend asked me,
when we were on lockdown through the most difficult
time, she's like, Yolanda, who are you? I didn't
know how to answer. And I'm like, what do you
mean? Yeah, who are you? I'm like, is this a
truth or dare question? Like, I had no idea how
to answer. And it's through personal growth that
I have learned what she was asking me, what was
my identity? And I didn't know how to answer.
And seeing myself of who am I and who do I want
to become? So I continue pursuing skincare business,
even though I didn't have any experience at all.
And I continue just learning. And growing and
just looking back to how I felt the first time
I walked into that conference. And I pursued,
you know, reading books, watching YouTube videos,
podcasts, audio books, and just learning. And
in 2018 was when I was introduced also to John
C. Maxwell and also everything that he said.
I just enjoyed and I saw myself and my spirit
just grow. And that's one thing that I kept on
asking myself, who do I want to become? And it's
through that difficult times of 2020 during the
pandemic that I was driving to the desert Palm
Springs area in California and seeing myself
like, what else do I want to do? What else do
I want to see in life? And I kept on asking myself,
what is my identity? Who am I and who do I want
to become? And that's where the second business
came in mind or the ideas of, oh, I can be a
private nurse and travel. So that was business
number two. So now it's like five years pursuing
that. And within that time. that time frame of
traveling, I was like, well, can I buy an Airbnb?
Can I buy a home instead of spending so much
time or so much money at hotels? And that's where
the third business idea came in of becoming an
Airbnb owner. And that happened. So that was
business number three. And throughout my years
of seeing My growth, more ideas kept on popping
up. And going back to like, what is my identity
and who do I want to become? And how do I feel?
So, sorry if you said it already, but whenever
you say, what is your identity? What would you
say it is now? Now I would say. The best version
of myself is what I ask myself because I go back
to what I'm doing right now. Skincare, online,
private duty, nurse, Airbnb, and now in the pursuit
to become a public speaker and everything else
that falls under a public speaker, which is so
many different things, as you know, and coaching
is one of them. And I ask myself, what do I enjoy
doing? And what is my pursuit? How do I want
to feel? And where do I see myself in a year
from now? And that's the question is that I keep
asking myself, how am I feeling now day to day
on what is it that I'm doing? And everything
that I'm doing, I feel like I'm that eight -year
-old girl or that little five -year -old girl.
living her dream because of how I feel. Like
with nursing, what I noticed the last year when
I became a nurse is I'm so proud. I am so proud
to say Yolanda Ayala RN. But in the pursuit of
building three businesses, And going on to public
speaking, when I think about or I'm in a situation
like I was at the IMC on stage for the first
time, that difference is completely different
than as a nurse when I go to work. Being proud
to knowing my calling of standing there and seeing
myself and how I feel. I feel so alive from the
inside. is what I've noticed the difference of
the pursuit of the eight year old girl that was
in a car accident, the seed planted to become
a nurse and proud versus now be a public speaker.
What are my strength and encourage people that
life, you know, we can. built ourselves to that
life that we truly want i like that you like
building the lot building the life that we truly
want and so you went you went along the path
of well figuring out your identity figuring out
what you really wanted to be doing in your life
and doing what you needed to do to pursue that
So, I have some questions written down, but I
think we're kind of off of those by this point.
But the question that I'm kind of thinking of
right now, like, whenever you were going through
and discovering that these were the things that
you wanted to do, what kind of obstacles did
you hit? along the way? Through, I would say
since I was eight years old of becoming a nurse,
that obstacle was just huge because going to
nursing school was something that I never thought
it was possible because of my parents. My parents
didn't really, more my mom didn't really believe
in going to school. She didn't really believe
in At the time, she's like, Yolanda, you need
to get married. You know, very tradition. And
I had to battle with, but this is what I want.
So I had to move out from the small town to Los
Angeles to pursue. And during the process of
becoming a nurse, I struggled with myself. Like,
is this really what I want to do? Even though
internally I knew what I wanted to do, but school
was not my strength. And there was no other way
out. So studying was very hard for me. Staying
focused was very hard for me. I did have my belief
that I knew I can accomplish it. But just going
to school was hard. And at the time, my son was
only four months old. So I had to go to school
full time. I still had to work. And my son was
only four months old. But what I end up doing
is I was so laser focused and I was determined.
And I would always put my son first, nursing
school. And I just focused on that. And it didn't
give me any room for those obstacles. I pretty
much just kind of like was laser focused and
I just ran through them no matter what. I didn't
give myself that chance to spiral down to. Is
this really for me? This is hard. I can't do
it. I never told myself I couldn't do it. I was
so focused on this is what I'm going to do. And
my big why was my son. My huge why was my son.
And also that vision that I would see myself
as a nurse. So even though I had many obstacles
along the way. I never saw it as an obstacle.
It was more like I was determined when I became
a nurse. Business is completely the opposite.
In business, what I was chasing was I wanted
to feel alive. With the skincare online network
marketing, I joined, which is a network marketing.
So I pretty much just joined online and it was
fun and it was exciting. But it's through the
personal growth that I learned, oh, there's a
lot more out there for me to do. And that was
pretty much obstacle after obstacle of not having
the skills, not knowing like the end. part of
it it wasn't structured like nursing school nursing
school was very structured and this is what you
did and you just did it network marketing completely
different pursuit to um being a private duty
nurse completely different so there were many
obstacles meaning with myself am i capable yeah
to do this I don't have the skills. And I kept
on telling myself, I can't do this. I don't have
the skills. Who do I think I am? To switching
my mindset of what do you want? What do you want
to do? What life do you want? Where do you see
yourself? And what skills do you have? Because
yes, from being a mom, a nurse, that was my only
identity. You want to build businesses. You want
to build that life. And how do you want to feel
in the pursuit of that? How do you want to feel?
And that's where I went back to unpacking myself
and learning about trauma, learning about my
emotions, learning about myself. Learning about
myself, my true gift. my true potentials, my
strength. And I've learned to pretty much work
on that versus my weakness is what I noticed.
Because when I was spending too much time on
things that I wasn't good at, I wasn't moving
forward. Versus, oh, I'm very positive. I have,
That desire to want to do this. I want to feel
alive. So those emotions came internally. How
do I want to feel? And that is what's been helping
me to overcome all the obstacles. Like John C.
Maxwell says, when you put a bucket of crabs
and you don't have to put a lid over it. One
crab will be pulling the other one. And that's
how I feel in business. In business is you will
get pulled down. You will be dealing with self
-doubt. And it's through building yourself, building
that knowledge that you know better and then
you do better. is what i noticed now with so
many obstacles that i see you start building
yourself to where do you want to go yeah i think
there's the one thing that you said i liked a
lot you said like you were working on your strengths
versus working on your weaknesses because we
are you worked on your weaknesses you didn't
get it you didn't really move forward at all
and in my mind the reason that is whenever we
focus on our weaknesses versus our strengths
is because if we're not working on our strengths,
our strengths start to weaken. But even if our
weaknesses are getting better, our strengths
are weakening, and they might end up in the same
spot, depending on how long you're on that route.
And if you work on your strengths, and this is
why people have teams. because people will work
on teams in order to... People work on teams
because not everybody has the same strengths.
So you need to make sure there's a person that
can fill in the gap for you if you need that
gap to be filled. For me, I will eventually be
looking for somebody to help me with my social
media because I'm not great at it. That's not
a strength of mine. And that's something that
I've been wanting to do to grow my business.
That's something from a more practical mindset.
And something from during our pre -interview,
you mentioned and you've touched on a little
bit. You said you were getting energy from the
inside out when speaking and doing things like
IMC. Can you speak a little bit to that? Yes.
So that moment being at IMC, along my journey
from nurse feeling so depressed and so sad and
want to commit suicide to feeling alive and doing
business. Since 2018 up until now, what I've
noticed is when I do more of becoming a public
speaker, when I put myself in an environment
of personal growth conferences, I just feel this.
energy like my first time going to imc i was
going down the escalator and for me at that time
i had already gone to two other conferences previously
so i was thinking like oh it's just going to
be another personal growth conference yet i didn't
know the feeling of going down the escalator
and feeling that wolf of energy and i was like
what is that and it went back to That moment
of being in that empty room and the blue lights
and that little good feeling inside of me like,
what is this? And I just felt so alive. And being
at the IMC, going down the escalator and from
the inside of, this is so peaceful. This is where
I belong. Even though I didn't know what it was.
And fast forward to the following year, which,
you know, I met you in March and being on stage.
I had just talked to Mark and I just shared a
glimpse of my story of from nurse feeling sad,
depressed to finding hope. And what I have learned
with hope is like you have hope for that light
in the darkness. However, you need to take actions.
And that's what I did in the dark moment of not
knowing what was next. In that moment of, but
I have everything. Why do I feel so empty? In
that moment of, there is hope. But what did I
have to do? There was a glimpse of light. And
even though that dark moment is super dark. But
just holding on to that little glimpse of light
of hope and taking actions. So sharing my story
with Mark of this is what's happening. This is
what happened to me. This is where I'm at and
this is where I'm going. And for him to take
my story and to share it in the. audience and
me walking on stage that was my first time this
was just in March a few months ago that was my
first time being on stage and that feeling on
stage of you belong here and from the inside
that little gut feeling my spirit my heart my
higher Divine for me is God of you are on your
path. And being so in tune on how I was feeling
is the key. When you know you're in the pursuit
of your calling and in the pursuit of what you
want to do for the rest of your life. Because
your spirit is internally. And what I have noticed
is those moments when I'm there. And it gets
hard on growing to become a public speaker. I
think of that moment. I think of that moment.
And those little moments that we put ourselves,
we start taking action. You start building yourself.
That when you have those obstacles of you can't
do this, who do you think you are? You push through.
Because when it's internal. It's in your heart.
Nobody can take that away. It's inside of you.
And you have that little gut feeling of this
is right for me. No matter what other people
say. Because your dream is your dream. No matter
of other people. tell you like who do you think
you are you're crazy like for me you're crazy
you already make a lot of money why would you
want to do something that you've never done you
don't even have the skills but then those moments
I go back to how do I feel inside it makes me
very happy yeah like a true true happiness and
I get like this natural energy like I can be
working 12 hours and somebody can tell me like
hey Yolanda What does it mean to be brave? I
just sit up and I come to life and I feel it.
I feel that desire inside of me. Wow. I think
applying that to the listeners right now, thinking
about the things that they find, let me just
speak to the listener. listeners for a second
like the things that she was just talking about
guys she was just talking about like a moment
in her life where she felt that when she felt
that calling she felt that like this was this
was right this is what it was this is this is
this is what i'm meant to be doing or this is
the um path i'm supposed to take I'm curious,
and you can put it in the comments, you can message
me, or you can write it down yourself. And just
write down, what was the moment in your life
where it just felt right? It just felt like it's
something that you either felt like God has been
calling you towards, maybe it's something that
you just feel is... You don't really know how
to explain it. It's just like whenever I was
talking with this friend, whenever I was able
to serve in this particular way, or maybe it's
whenever you are at your job, maybe that feels
right every day. It'd be curious for you to take
the time. And think about those moments in your
life that garnered excitement inside of you.
And then thinking about how you can get that
excitement and garner that as frequently as possible.
Just like she was saying. She was going through
any obstacle. Now, it's easier said than done.
But any obstacle, you can get through it. Any
obstacle that you've had in your past is now
in your past, and you've gone through those.
So thinking about all those times when you were
excited, all those times when you felt like,
I feel like this is what I'm meant to be doing,
it would be awesome if you wrote that down. Write
that down and then write down what you can do
this next week in order to pursue your calling
well. Yolanda, I don't have much more questions
to ask. Go ahead. Telling your listeners, write
it down. For example, with me at UCLA, when I
go to work, I enjoy it. I still enjoy that. However,
when I'm on stage, Like right now, doing a podcast
is completely different. I get excited about
going to work and I enjoy it and I don't hate
it. I still love it. It's a passion. But my calling,
I just feel like I come to life. When we start
talking about personal growth, personal development,
because I truly believe that's key. If you start
building yourself, meaning... Peeling those layers,
removing all those labels, growing up that people
put those labels on you. That's really not who
you are. Only keep the labels that you know in
your heart, that's who you are. And what I'm
noticing right now with myself is that I believe
that it is my calling. Because the more I learn,
the more I grow, the more... I see myself going
forward no matter how hard it is. And it is going
to get hard. And John C. Maxwell says, you know,
a leader never has two good days. Right. So when
you start learning and you start applying it,
that's where you keep just growing so much. And
in life, I truly believe we have to grow. And
I believe what happened to me where. I went from
pursuing my dream, but not my calling. What happened
in the gap was I stopped growing. Becoming a
nurse, a mom, to my true potential, I had climbed
that mountain, but I plateaued. But what is my
calling? It's something way bigger, way bigger
than we can imagine. Because I had no idea. However,
I think I share with you that your success leaves
clues along your timeline. Right. So when I was
a little girl, I would see myself on stage. I
would see myself talking and I would do this
as a little girl and I would just like pretend
and I'd be like, oh, my house. And this is what
I do. And I travel. But then working as a nurse,
I'm like. That's not what I did when I was a
little girl. And now what I'm doing, like on
stage, on a podcast, being in an environment
of personal growth, it goes back to that little
girl. Feeling so alive. And even though we don't
have the answers and you don't know, it doesn't
matter. It's how you feel inside when you are
doing certain things. And you start reaching
that high potential. And no matter how hard it
gets and those fears, but once you start learning,
you start developing yourself. You start removing
those labels that your environment put on you
when you were young or a teenager or in high
school. I was never a good student. Never. I
never really cared for school at all. And those
were all the labels that every single person
around me put on me. Until I realized I need
to remove them. They don't serve me anymore.
Even my own mom putting those labels because
they raise you or they help you with what they
know. But it's our responsibility. To really
look at ourselves and ask ourselves, am I happy
with what I'm doing right now? Yeah. Immediately.
You have two seconds. Yes or no. And then start
looking at what is it that you're doing? And
where do you see yourself in a year from now?
Are the questions I keep asking myself, where
do I see myself in a year from now? And along
the way, too, is. What are the things that I'm
doing that no longer serve me? They no longer
serve me. Like putting myself down or doubting
myself. Does that serve me? No, it doesn't. What
is my full potential? Where do I see myself?
And I want to share with you the books that I
find very powerful is that I started with was
Leadership with John C. Maxwell. Also, another
book that I just love so much is the 5 a .m.
Club. I learned to master that book because I'm
like, I want to be the 5 a .m. Club because I
started doing, I started waking up early. I started
doing routines, journaling. I started reading.
And that kind of went back to what is my identity
and who do I want to be? I want to be someone
that sees the sunrise because it makes me feel
alive. I want to be a better writer because I
want to be able to write all my thoughts. I want
to be able to read a book without feeling tired.
Because I remember when I first moved to Los
Angeles back in 1997, I had piles of books I
never read. But I had that desire that I wanted
to read them. But at the time, I was so busy
on to the pursuit to become a nurse. And another
time, I remember working as a private nurse.
And it was in the middle of the night. And at
the time I had decided I was no longer going
to pursue nursing to become a nurse practitioner.
To sitting there, I was watching on YouTube.
And I was watching John C. Maxwell in a podcast.
And I remember the little glimpse of an idea.
Can I get paid to learn? It was just a glimpse
of an idea. That bag gets filed in your subconscious.
And if it's something very important to you,
it doesn't go away. It doesn't go away. And that
goes back to internal, inside of you. It does
not go away because it stays in your subconscious.
And we have to learn to, oh, yeah, I forgot about
that. To now, I mean, I have tons of books that
I'm always reading. Tons of books. And what I've
learned is the different books that I read is
am I building myself? Yeah. So the 5 a .m. Club
is one book that I mastered. The Mount by Robin
Sharma. The Mountain is You by Brianna West was
huge because at the time when I started reading
that book, I felt I was at the highest mountain.
And I didn't know where else to go. I had no
idea. So learning about the mountains is what
kind of helped me develop myself a little bit
more to who I am, to who I really am. Wow. Well,
thank you for sharing those. And you already,
since you already, you went through my ending
questions, at least one of them, but the, which
is good. Cause I, I was going to ask you about
resources. I always ask guests what resources
you recommend to others, which you already did,
which is awesome. And then the last, I want to
wrap it up by asking a, just one final question
that now that you've been on the Proceed of Calling
podcast, who would you recommend as a guest?
Oh, that's a good one. I would recommend as a
guest would be I think we talked about Adam.
Yeah. I would want to see Adam as a guest in
your podcast because to see his transformation
and to see as a man of his story, his journey,
and to see him where he is and what he's battling.
What he's battling. Yet I truly believe. He is
on his way. To what is his calling. What is the
pursuit of calling. And. I think he would be
like a great guest. And I would always keep in
mind. Of who else. Who else. Is going through
the struggles. And who else. Is going towards.
their true potential and their true calling.
And going back to the references, and I know
like myself, I never really, even though I had
that desire of reading books, I just couldn't.
I could not sit down and just read a book, even
though I had that desire. So what I ended up
doing at first was YouTube videos. That's where
I started. So YouTube videos, you can put personal
growth, personal development. And just pick that
one person. Just pick that one person. Then from
the YouTube videos, I went on to podcasts. Listening
to podcasts. And people that you listen to will
give you clues on what else to listen to. And
from there, I went to audiobooks. And I discovered
that I'm an audio learner. So what I end up doing
is the audio book. And then I had the physical
book and I started doing both things at the same
time, listening to the book, reading the book
and taking notes and mastering the huge key that
I have learned is pick when you're, when you're
reading through books and you're on this journal
of learning and growing, because that's key to
grow. That's our key in life is master. Pick
a few books and master those books to become
the best version of you and to start diving more
into what is your true calling. And listen to
those moments that you feel alive from the inside.
and pursue that. And even though experts tell
you not to, you continue on that path and that
journey. And I truly believe we were all born
for greatness. We just have to dive into what
we really want. Yeah, that's great. I love it.
Well, Yolanda. Thank you for being on this episode
of the Pursuit of Calling podcast. And thank
you all for listening to this episode. If you
liked it, you can share it, give it a five -star
review. And yeah, guys, keep pursuing your calling
well. See you next time.