How to be 100% yourself in business (no personas!) with Shannon Villalba

If you've ever felt like the world was trying to put you in a box, Shannon Villalba is here to help you break that box wide open. She's a badass lawyer who's not afraid to bring her whole self to the table, blending her practical legal strategy with her "woo" side. If you're curious how contracts and crystals connect... you're gonna want to hear this. It'll inspire you to create something in alignment with who you truly are. 

Can't-miss moments:

• What do you do when hit with a devastating diagnosis? Shannon shares how defeating cancer (woohoo!) inspired her to combine legal with woo...
  
  
• Today's $5 word is "bifurcated" - divided into two branches. Are you operating like this without realizing it? Here's how to tell...
  
  
• Angie rant: what happened when someone edited my image to put me in a tweed jacket and tasteful necklace... 
  
  
• Shannon drops a mindset-shifting stance that will have you rethinking how you present yourself on social media... 
  
  
• I've taken clients to Disney World, to Vegas to drive bulldozers, and more... so remind me why business can't be something enjoyable and uniquely you?

Shannon's bio:

Shannon Villalba, JD LLM, is a Cincinnati, Ohio-based serial entrepreneur, attorney, and intuitive business design coach. She has been helping clients with their businesses and trademarks for thirteen years and established her own virtual law firm in 2013. Through utilizing her client’s energetic blueprint, she helps her clients change their legal and business strategy narratives. Her holistic approach guides her clients through business and law, drawing upon her personal experiences, intuition, and signature HeartSong Chakra FrameworkTM.

Before she became a lawyer, Shannon produced award-winning websites for Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, and Chippendales and worked with *NYSNC, Backstreet Boys, Mandy Moore, Taj Mahal, Duran Duran, Britney Spears, and Radiohead. She has been featured in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Authority Magazine, on Follow Your Passion and Beyond Six Seconds Podcasts and WKRC in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Shannon is a small cell cervical cancer survivor. With the help of a range of holistic therapies, she was cancer-free within five months. She utilizes these same tactics in entrepreneurship, along with her legal expertise.

Links:

• Shannon's website
• The Heartsong Chakra Framework (freebie!)
• Shannon on Insta
• Shannon on LinkedIn
• Meditation for the Fidgety Skeptic

Transcript

Angie Colee: 0:03

Welcome to Permission to Kick Ass, the show that gives you a virtual seat at the bar for the real conversations that happen between entrepreneurs. I'm interviewing all kinds of business owners, from those just a few years into freelancing to CEOs helming nine-figure companies. If you've ever worried that everyone else just seems to get it and you're missing something or messing things up, this show is for you. I'm your host, angie Coley, and let's get to it. Hey and welcome back to Permission to Kick Ass. With me today is my new friend, shannon Villalba. Say hi, hey, everyone. I'm so excited to have you on the show because you do something a little bit different from probably everybody else in your field that I have ever met, so I'm not going to spoil it. Tell us a little bit about what you do.

Shannon Villalba: 0:49

Well, I am a business and intellectual property lawyer. That's the boring part. But then I use everyone's energetic blueprint, using human design, to create a legal and business strategy so they can literally transform themselves and their business, so they can leave an impact and legacy in the world.

Angie Colee: 1:14

How did you connect those two dots? That's so interesting to me.

Shannon Villalba: 1:19

Well, I was always like here's Shannon the lawyer, here's Shannon the intellectual person. Right Then I was Shannon the artist, shannon the crystal therapist, shannon the woo person, and I kept feeling like I was kind of bifurcated, like I was two different people. And then I had cancer, and I had small cell cervical cancer and I utilize a lot of my holistic modalities to help me heal from stage four to stage zero in five months and from that I started learning more and more about crystals and energy and meditation and mindfulness. So then I started a wellness company called Heim Wellness and I was bringing together a bunch of holistic practitioners together to help people with learning about how they can integrate holistic therapies in addition to Western medicine, like I did. But from that business I met a whole bunch of people and I learned a lot and I really started getting serious about my studies. So that's when I said I was Shannon the crystal therapist, the energy worker, the woo girl, and then I was the entrepreneur. I was a business owner. I helped my parents with their business. I've been in entrepreneurship for majority of my adult life and I'd gone to law school just to help entrepreneurs and artists like me and I felt like I was just I wasn't, I wasn't being true to myself. And so then I started saying, well, if I use these things like meditation I started with that If I started using meditation to help me with my own you know, my own issues and as a as an own business owner and everything else, just as a parent too, what if I started interjecting some of that stuff into my legal consults?

Shannon Villalba: 3:24

So I started with advising my clients with meditation. Oh, if you're stressed out about this, you know, try some of these meditations here. I can, I can. I even started leading a meditation group, for I was working for a firm and I led a meditation group. Like every week, we did a weekly meditation. So that's kind of like how I started. And then I started saying, okay, well, let's try aromatherapy. Like, okay, let's try meditation, try some essential oils to help you with this and help you with that. And they were really responsive. And, of course, I take my job as an advisor seriously and as a lawyer, like I tell people in my clients you know, if you need to vent about something that's not even a legal issue, just go ahead and vent. This is a safe space I can give you some advice from like the things that I have had happened in my life and see if we can get through things, because a lot of times I realized that what was going on in their personal life was affecting their business and the same for me too. So then I started getting a little bit more woo. I said, well, why don't you try this crystal? You know this crystal helps. And they'd be like, oh really.

Shannon Villalba: 4:36

And then one day I was on the beach and I had separated out myself from everybody else and we had gone boating and I was on like a little island and I was just looking at the waves and I was getting lulled by the waves and I said, you know, I'm really loving where this is going with my practice, but I'm feeling still like there's something missing. And I kept thinking about well, if a business is an entity, a business is an entity. Well, doesn't couldn't a business have a chakra system like a person? And then all of a sudden it just it's like I got completely downloaded everything you know, and I was like, oh well, if it was a person, then the root chakra would be contracts and your business. Your business for entity formation, your EIN number, your bank accounts that's the root of your business.

Shannon Villalba: 5:34

And then I started moving up, you know you're, and I realized, wow, like I'm onto something. So then, like when you I was telling you before, like how I started interjecting things. Well, then I started this more with my clients, like, well, hey, let's take a look at you know, if you're feeling a little bit anxious, let's start working on your root chakra, let's start looking to see what kind of contracts you need to feel more secure. And then I started seeing a complete difference in the way that I was giving advice and the way that my clients were understanding how important it is for the legal strategy to be in their lives as an entrepreneur, and then in general, because having a solid legal foundation gives you a solid business which takes the stress and low-level anxiety off of you, because you know that I have someone here who can support me if a legal issue comes here, but I also have the necessary items that I need in place to feel solid.

Shannon Villalba: 6:42

So, then I just started going from there and I fully integrated my heart song chakra framework into my legal advice that I give to people. And then, a couple of years ago, I discovered human design. And then I really started getting into human design last year and I felt like this is the missing piece, because when I can understand someone's human design, then I can strategize with them. How can I craft something using my framework that they will understand and resonate with? Because, again, I'm thinking about the energy of the person, I'm the energy of the business, and that was the missing piece. And so that's what I do now. I literally use human design, crystals, meditation and aromatherapy with my clients and we create a legal strategy for them that they not only use for that business that we're talking about. They can take that legal strategy and apply it to any business that they have moving forward.

Angie Colee: 7:48

That is so cool. I was like furiously writing notes as you were telling that whole story. And first of all, congrats on kicking cancer's ass. Yes, we love that for you. That's fantastic. The second was you used an awesome SAT word back there bifurcated. I haven't heard that one in a while, but I have felt like that and it's so funny how the timing of these things works out.

Angie Colee: 8:09

I was literally writing in my journal this morning about something that one of my friends told me a while back that kind of set me on the same path to like I'm just going to be fully myself in this business. And that was hi, jimmy Parent, by the way, if you're listening, he business. And that was um, hi, jimmy parent, by the way, if you're listening. Uh, he told me you know that there's like an email, angie, and there's a social media, angie, and those are two different people and I don't know what's going on with you. And I just had it in my head. Right, we just absorb these things as we go, as we take on different mentors and we do different classes and things like that as we grow as entrepreneurs, like there's a way that things should be done. Like that, as we grow as entrepreneurs, like there's a way that things should be done. And if you're communicating to people as their you know, their leader, their consultant, their educator, their go-to expert you have to teach them something. And I was like that's so funny that we wind up in that like putting ourselves into these boxes out of false beliefs, right, the whole reason that a lot of people were attracted to me was because I got a little tipsy at one of my first business meetings and told stories about getting into mosh pit fights, like that's not what you would typically expect from your marketing leader, but then again, neither is like purple and red hair. So you've got to, especially in this day and age, and we're talking specifically about, like small business owners, personality brands, expert brands, things like that Don't be afraid to stand out. Some people aren't going to like it. Actually, I have an interesting story related to this that I think that you might, you might vibe with. I haven't talked about this publicly very much, but last year I was invited to be on a podcast to talk about leadership and we had a fantastic conversation. The lady and I vibed super, super well. It was really awesome.

Angie Colee: 9:56

And then I saw the show come out and I was tagged in it on LinkedIn and the graphic featured me wearing a tweed jacket and a necklace. And I was like, I don't know, tweed, where did this come from? And so I very politely reached out and was like hey, so there's a, there's a jacket on me. Like was the photo that I submitted, not, I mean, I had like a tank top on and some of my tattoos were visible, but it was still like my hair was covering everything. It wasn't unprofessional, it just wasn't your typical button down leader. Look. And I was like I have other pictures you could have. Just could have just asked like, if you didn't like that picture, if it didn't fit, I would have been happy to submit another.

Angie Colee: 10:34

But I've done a whole lot of work to be 100% myself wherever I show up, because I know that that authenticity is what my people need, whether other people like it or not. So I'm not very comfortable with my edited image being attached to this podcast. Can we please change this? And I basically got a whole lot of excuses. I'm not going to like go down that conversation word for word because, boy, it was annoying. But long story short, they decided to do the nuclear route and be like all right. Well, if this is going to be a big problem, we'll just kill the episode. And I was like fucking, finally, because I don't particularly want to be associated with a show that doesn't understand why. I think this is not cool, that I can't be myself on your show because it doesn't look right to you. Then just don't fucking have me on your show. Sorry, there we go. There's my unexpected rant for the day.

Shannon Villalba: 11:30

That's. I mean that good for you for standing up for yourself Seriously, like we always talk about building our brand and things like that, but part of building our brand is authenticity and taking a stand for ourselves. They basically wanted to mute what makes you unique.

Angie Colee: 11:54

And the funniest part is when they sent out the email and posted on social media, that was not LinkedIn, the photo was not edited. So I was like I'm having trouble understanding the logic. Here and other places that you've promoted it, you used the picture that I shared with you. So why a tweed jacket? And of all jacket, you should have put me in black. I would have resisted less A tweed jacket with this hair. Come on, friends, like get with it.

Angie Colee: 12:19

So I mean I think it ties into everything that we're saying like understanding yourself, being true to yourself and how you work. I I mean I think it ties into everything that we're saying like understanding yourself, being true to yourself and how you work. I know I used to be very anti-woo, like very, very neuroscience, very straightforward, very practical. But I've taken human design assessment and I've taken Enneagram and to me, all of these things are just tools to help me understand myself and how I work a little bit better. Right, this mysterious meat computer up here doing all kinds of chaos that we don't understand. Every little tool that helps me operate this skeleton suit meat computer a little bit better I'm here for, even if it doesn't entirely make sense to me at the beginning. Let me try Tell me things, yes.

Shannon Villalba: 13:04

Right, and here I'll interject something here, go for it, because I am the logical side. I'm like, well, when you think about like crystals right, crystals powered are iphones powers, lasers I mean, the different types of crystals have a different genetic makeup. For you know, all intents intents and purposes, I don't know how to use the. You know scientific stuff because I'm not a scientist Well, anyway, they all have a different genetic makeup, right of how they are, and so they're going to have a different frequency. So when you're using different crystals, they're going to change the frequency of the energy and, like we all are energetic beings, I'm like, even if you think of, like when the matrix, you know, they took a person and they turned them into a battery, right, because we've got a lot of energy inside of us. So you know, and like there's so many ways that you can get into energy.

Shannon Villalba: 14:03

But to go back to what we were talking about, interjecting woo into my legal stuff, I mean it was a huge deal for me and I remember when I had nailed down every single level of the heart, chakras, chakra framework, the name of it, everything else and I posted it on LinkedIn and I was like, I was so scared because I'm like, I am taking a stand and being me and being strong and putting myself out there, that I am not like all the other boring lawyers that are out there. I am going to talk to you about legal stuff because I want to empower you. That is my mission in life is to actually change the vibration of the world, one person at a time. And how can I do that? By empowering entrepreneurs, because entrepreneurs are the backbone of our society. Yes, amen.

Angie Colee: 15:08

Up on the soapbox. I love it. So tell me, like I've had that experience too with posting something on LinkedIn that feels a little bit personal, a little bit like oh, I don't know how people are going to react, what kept you brave enough to post it despite that, and what was the reaction when you put that out there?

Shannon Villalba: 15:25

I was like, well, hell, I survived cancer. Yeah, Posting on LinkedIn, that's no big deal, and so that's what I use that as. What is more scary than looking death in the face and saying I am not dying, you are not taking away from my son Nothing. To me there's nothing. And so when I do get that, and I get that little like oh, I'm afraid to like reach out to people sometimes and afraid to do this, and I'm like, girl, you know what? You've been conditioned for so long to not to, to keep your, your voice silent, and now I am, you know, saying this is who I am and I'm taking that that stand like. You know I am different and this is what makes me unique and this is what makes me beautiful. And if you don't resonate with it, then I'm not for you. Go find somebody else, Because I'm attracting people who are like me, who want to come into my world, who then I can work together with to build a better world.

Angie Colee: 16:40

Yes, oh my gosh, you were saying that and this um, there's a lady that I've followed on TikTok that she makes um parodies of popular songs, and she did too. I will always love you. If I'm too much, then go find less. I loved that. I'm not going to bust into song right here, but maybe one day I'll have enough beers in me to just bust out that. That's fantastic. So tell me a little bit about what was the reaction? Were people instantly on board with it? How did it land?

Shannon Villalba: 17:09

Yeah, actually people responded well to it. I posted on my Facebook page too and I had lots of friends who were like, oh my God, this is so great, I love this. And the funny thing is is that I had already had clients who I thought were like a certain way. They were just kind of like more quiet, more conservative, and then I started interjecting all these things and they're like oh, I like this now. So I actually helped open their minds a little bit, which makes me feel happy that you know they're getting to experience life in a different way.

Angie Colee: 17:44

Yeah, I think the moment that you stop growing, the moment that you decide you know everything, is the moment that you truly begin to die Like as a person. Spiritually, physically, we are always growing, learning. There's always an opportunity to do something different, as long as you've got a breath in your body. That is what I'm convinced of, and I just remember this, being a skeptic about so many of these things. Before you know, I read a book called Meditation for the Fidgety Skeptic and that was what. Oh, it's fantastic. It's by a man named Dan Harris and he is, I believe he was an NBC anchor who literally had like a meltdown live on air and had to come back from that and recover from that. And then he went on this meditation journey and I loved the title so much because, come on, meditation for the fidgety skeptic, yes, I'm going to read this. I'm a skeptic. Tell me more. Definitely nailed the target market.

Angie Colee: 18:37

Then, as I'm reading through this, I go oh wait, that's meditation, that's that's something I do. Oh wait, that's met it, that's something that I do. Oh, I've had this like weird dividing line because apparently my brain likes to think everything is binary, even though it's not that like meditation is over there in the corner with all of the woo things that nobody understands, that we all like to make fun of. Right, this is, this is the before, andy, right, um, and the stuff that I'm over here doing is neuroscience and this is, oh, these things are connected.

Angie Colee: 19:09

It's not either. Or you can be spiritual, energetic and be training your brain to do things, and I love that you talked about like crystals, have an energetic makeup bodies. We're literally running on electricity. There's a reason I call it a meat computer. We've got electrical impulses going through our bodies that allow me to weave at the camera like this, like it's fantastic. So if there's all kinds of things that are happening at any given moment to allow us to move, to fluff my hair, to smile at at each other on the camera like this, who's to say that we can't figure out what's going on with, like, our root chakra that is impacting our business? For the negative, like open your minds yeah, so, so that.

Shannon Villalba: 19:47

So you're going to be working on yourself as a person, with your system and your energetic body, and then you're going to be working on the chakra system of your business. So then, when you have the, and then with your human design, you're like oh, okay, I'm this type of person, these are the centers that are open. So say, for example, like I'm a manifesting generator, so I got a lot of energy and a lot of big visions, right, but I have a sacral authority. And so what and I tell this to my clients who have a sacral authority it's either a hell yes or it's a no. No can be not right now, maybe later, or no, not ever, and it can change A lot of times.

Shannon Villalba: 20:36

It's just like just take a breath, get emotionally neutral and make a decision. And and I'm like don't buy into this. Oh, you know you got to buy now because you know there's things are going fast. I'm like no, no, no, no, no. Do not respond to that, because if you respond to that quickly, just like me, it's never a good idea, it's always I need time to decide, yeah, and and so just that little bit, just learning about that. When you apply it to business. It's literally a game changer, because you have any oh, I'm presented with this business opportunity.

Shannon Villalba: 21:16

I'm like, okay, well, what do we need here to feel secure? We need to bring here's the relationship in the heart and we want to bring clarity through communication in the throat, through a contract in the root. That's exactly what what I teach you know. So you, okay, here's this business opportunity, this is how we can align it. But then I tell the person check in with your authority and see if this is something that you actually want to do or it's a hell yes. If it's a hell yes, then let's bring clarity to that relationship and let's create a contract. I love that.

Angie Colee: 22:00

How much like suffering and mental anguish could we prevent if we just gave ourselves permission to. You know, think about something. Resist the pressure, resist the influence of should, oh God, should is the bane of my existence. Here's what you should be doing. Here's what a smart person would do. Things like that. I just I have to trust my instincts, for better or for worse, and that is just how my personality works. And it doesn't always make sense, as I have learned the hard way. To the mentors that I have had who, god love them, have probably been sitting there in the background going what is she doing? Oh my God, she's not doing anything that makes any kind of business sense. I know, because the way business currently runs doesn't always make sense to me, even though I can understand individual strategies and how they all fit together. But, like the way that I want to do business versus the way other people want to do business, it's just different, and that's fine, because there's 8 billion people on this planet and so there's theoretically 8 billion different ways to do business.

Shannon Villalba: 23:02

Yeah, I mean, and a one size fits all strategy is not. It's not going to work. And I've tried to follow other people's strategies, like to the T. I'm like this just does not work for me, like I can't do it. I can do parts, but you know, I have to do it the way that feels genuine to me. And that's why I love what I'm doing now with my career, because I can take my own framework and apply it to myself. I can take my own framework and apply it to myself, like, oh, okay, let me, and it's so easy, it literally is so easy to follow, when you know, okay, I'm doing this in my way, according to my design, according to how I like to perceive things, how I like to do things, and then I also.

Shannon Villalba: 24:04

The thing is I have I have a disadvantage and an advantage, because I'm going to have a disadvantage because I I'm so logical and then I like to go into if, then statements, if then, and that's that's part of my legal training. But I have the advantage of all the woo training that I've had, like I've taken shamanic, you know courses, so I learned about the souls of, of, of even companies. You know what's the soul of the company, what's the soul of a group? And then I can be like, oh, then I feel the energy here, okay. So you know, you know I can tune in. And it's interesting, like, remember, I told you about that time I was talking about I was coming up with the heart song, chakra, framework, right, and then I started going, you know, really deep into that. And so I literally sat down with the soul of my law firm and I was like we're going to have, we're going to have this conversation, soul of my law firm, and I'm like, I'm, I'm feeling like you're energetically, you're just kind of like. You know, she was a, she was a, I guess, a baby again, because a newborn again, because I had to start over after the cancer, and I was like, okay, well, now you're starting to grow a little bit more. And she was like I want a sibling. I was like, oh, okay. So then I started another company, which is my business coaching company, and I call it intuitive business design strategy. Yeah, that's a fancy way, because that's actually what I do, but it was interesting because since I I checked in with the soul of my company and I created this new company, they seamlessly flow together and I'm like wow, like I would have never thought when I went to law school that I would be doing something like this right now, but it feels so beautiful and so unique.

Shannon Villalba: 26:01

And to go back to our, our conversation about being unique and accepting and embracing our uniqueness, like there's a reason why you've got certain different friends and people admire you and everything because they love who you are as a person, admire you and everything because they love who you are as a person. So why in business do we have to put on a second, different type of personality? Like right, like to go back to your email, you know like and so, like social media, like at this point I don't care. Like I put out everything. I got pictures of me with crystals. I got pictures of me with my dog.

Shannon Villalba: 26:36

I got the advice, shannon, you have to separate your personal life from your business life on Instagram. I'm like I just started using Instagram a few years ago. I don't have that many followers and everybody who follows me is mostly a friend or a colleague, so I'm not going to be talking about business all the time. That's boring. I don't even tell my clients that I'm like we get we talk about legal, maybe for like 20 minutes, and then I'm like, oh, so what's going on in your life? How can I help you? You know, like what kind of crystals can I add, you know?

Angie Colee: 27:07

Yeah, okay, spoiler alert for everybody out there, being like you have to separate your business from your life. First of all, in the States, corporations are people, so like I call bullshit on your rationale here just from the very beginning. Right, I don't necessarily agree with that ruling, but apparently legally, companies are people, so there, take that. Second of all, I don't know about you, but I actually like working with people. Like I don't care how efficient they've made AI and all of the fucking robots. If you give me through a help menu and this thing can't answer my question within like three menu choices, I'm like get me a person. I want to talk to people because this machine is not understanding me. So there's a level of connection and understanding that happens between two people that are doing business together, and that's why the relationship is so important. Oh, my gosh, heaven forbid. We like the people that we do business with. What is wrong with that? And I have definitely I told this story on LinkedIn yesterday.

Angie Colee: 28:07

I recently started working with somebody who has taken four weeks to respond to a single email about hey, why did I get this extra charge that I wasn't expecting? Can you clear this up for me? So guess who is in the process of being fired, because I like to talk to people, I like to be able to trust that they are taking care of things. And if you like to work with people that take a while to respond, that's totally cool. That is not my style. I don't get along with that. So, see ya, you gotta go.

Angie Colee: 28:42

It's insurance, so you know totally different. But I like I like working with insurance guys that I can talk to as well. Like I like to tell people that everybody that I hang out with in business is somebody that I could hang out with at the bar and just have fun. Like we could play games, we could tell stories, we could compare battle scars, like we could go to Disney World together. I have literally taken business clients to Disney World and driving bulldozers and things like that. So why would I want to create this like serious stick up the butt suit wearing person to be the front of my business when that's not at all who I am? Apologies to everybody with a stick up their ass because I bet that hurts.

Shannon Villalba: 29:24

They're probably not listening to your podcast.

Angie Colee: 29:26

See, folks, I'm just as surprised by everything that comes out of my mouth as you guys probably are. I didn't expect to say that today, but here we are. I have a podcast. There you go.

Angie Colee: 29:34

I wanted to circle back to something else that you said that I thought was really cool about. Like this idea of making things harder. Right, it ties into that concept of should that we brought up earlier, but we're always convinced that, because something is easy to us, that it's not valuable to other people, or maybe we believe that everybody has this skill. It's nothing special. What I do and the thing that you do, plus your unique personality and experience, is that magic, secret sauce that other people need, like I've. I've told people before you don't have to come up with something a hundred percent unique that nobody has ever heard of in their life. You just have to put your own spin on it, and that's what you could have said the same thing that somebody else said a hundred times, but the way that you said it is the one that finally made it make sense to the person that you're talking to, and I think that is so, so, so important. I mean, I have a feeling that you agree with that, but what's your take?

Shannon Villalba: 30:34

Oh yeah, absolutely, and and. And I like you you were saying about mentors before like I've, there's only, there's so many things that I've heard it over and over. But then you're right that one person resonates oh yeah, and that's what I love about what I do, because I'm also noticing how people have what I call a legal mindset. Legal is hard, legal is scary, legal is complicated. I don't want to deal with it. I know I got to deal with it. I guess I got to deal with it right.

Shannon Villalba: 31:10

And then you've got the lawyers who, oh well, I'm a lawyer, I got a JD, I'm smarter than you and I'm going to create a contract that you can't write. You can't understand, you know, you, it's all Lili's and you know. So I'm coming, I'm cutting through all of that saying hey y'all, I'm a lawyer, I'm also a crystal therapist, I teach meditation, I love to go boating, I love pink. I am going to show you that Legal is not as scary as you think it is, and understanding that legal can help you be more confident. Here's how. Here's an easy way to do it.

Shannon Villalba: 32:05

A lot of my clients are familiar with the chakra system, and it's funny because I'm like if you don't know what the chakra system is and you're not woo, you're not part of my world, and I've been very particular of who I work with, because I I have, we're in this vibration and it needs to be the same with all of my clients. So they're already familiar with the chakra system and I start talking about the chakra system that puts them at ease automatically, and then I talk about you know different things. You know just like trademarks, copyrights, contracts, and they start getting the deer in headlights. But if I say, hey, you know your trademarks are within your solar plexus and you know how people always say strengthen your core, strengthen your core work. We're going to strengthen your brand and how we're going to do that is through trademarks. Yes, oh, really.

Angie Colee: 33:04

I like that reframe Right, I really like that reframe. Like that takes that from something that immediately feels and you know I'm very familiar with intellectual property law Well, not not nearly as familiar with you as you are with this. I took some several classes in this while I was getting my master's degree a corporate copywriting marketing environment where had many very awesome campaigns killed by the legal department who were unwilling to take the risk, and also like created names and got familiar with the test database and all of that stuff. But like it's overwhelming to think about all that compliance checks against the database to see if somebody else is using it. Then we got to figure out like oh well, somebody is using something similar but they're in a different. Like it just. But then you say we're strengthening our brand and I go, fuck yeah, we are, hell yeah, we are. I will fight you. You can't come for permission to kick ass. You can't have it. No, you can't. I like that Totally different energy See energy can't have it.

Shannon Villalba: 34:14

No, you can't. I like that totally different energy, see, energy. Yeah, so that's what I was saying how, like I, you literally can understand legal in a different way and create a strategy for you that you can implement in any business that you have, because you'll get a general understanding of the things that you need to do, but why they are important. And so how I tell my clients, I'm like when we first meet, I'm like, hey, listen, you got a whole bunch of stuff that kind of went off into the sea there. You know your chair, your float, your cooler. Why don't you get on my boat and let's go collect them and bring them back? And then we start going through the chakra system, the chakra framework, and I also talk to them about their limiting beliefs, like remember how to go back to legal mindset? Some people have that block with legal and my goal is to change that narrative. Like, no, we're changing your legal mindset, we're taking out these limiting beliefs of legal is complicated, legal is scary, legal is hard. I don't understand it, because there are a lot of things that are encompassing legal, but I focus on the intellectual property and the business stuff. But I also like to integrate. You know what are your long-term visions and goals, what are your dreams? How can we craft your business around the life you want to have?

Shannon Villalba: 35:58

Most lawyers don't do that. They're like oh yeah, I need a contract, okay, let me draft it and we're done. Yeah, that doesn't serve anybody. I mean it does. I mean, yeah, you have a great contract, or it's. Oh, here's a whole bunch of DIY templates. Oh, I'm going to teach you some stuff, but I'm not going to get to know you. And plus, after you get a template, yeah, you got to fill it out, but you still have to have an attorney review it. So that's where I saw that there's a huge chunk missing. And bringing in the other things the human design, the mindfulness, the meditation all of that makes for a more well-rounded experience when you come and see me as a lawyer, versus going over there and saying, oh, you know, I'm scared to go over here.

Angie Colee: 36:53

Oh man. Well, this has been fantastic. So much fun. Tell us a little bit more where we can learn about you and get in touch with you.

Shannon Villalba: 37:01

Okay, so you can reach out to me on Instagram at heartsonglawyershannon. You can visit my law firm if you're interested in any of my services at vialbalawfirmcom. And I have a really cool thing for you guys. I'm going to share my HeartSong Chakra framework with you, as well as some audio files regarding using the chakra system, and you can find those on heartsongentrepreneurcom.

Angie Colee: 37:29

Fantastic. I'm going to make sure that there are clickable links in the show notes. Thank you so much for coming on, for shining a light, for showing us how we can just be ourselves and still help people and make a difference in the world. I really appreciate you.

Shannon Villalba: 37:43

Well, thank you. I appreciate you too, and thank you so much for having me on here. I really enjoyed our conversation today.

Angie Colee: 37:53

That's all for now. If you want to keep that kick-ass energy high, please take a minute to share this episode with someone that might need a high-octane dose of you can do it. Don't forget to rate, review and subscribe to the Permission to Kick-Ass podcast on Apple Podcasts, spotify and wherever you stream your podcasts. I'm your host, angie Coley, and I'm here rooting for you. Thanks for listening and let's go kick some ass.