How Authentic Relationships Fuel Business Growth with Brenda Johnston

In this episode of Success Leaves Clues Podcast, our guest is Brenda Johnston, entrepreneur, business strategist, networking expert, speaker, and relationship-building advocate who helps professionals and business owners create meaningful opportunities through authentic connections and strategic collaboration. Drawing on her extensive experience in business development, leadership, and professional networking, Brenda shares valuable insights on building trust, cultivating long-term relationships, creating referral-based growth, and leveraging the power of genuine human connection in business. We explore the importance of personal branding, communication, influence, and community, along with practical strategies for expanding your network, strengthening professional relationships, and creating sustainable success in today's increasingly connected world. Whether you're an entrepreneur, executive, coach, consultant, or professional looking to grow your business and influence, this conversation offers actionable lessons on turning relationships into one of your greatest competitive advantages.

You can find her on:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/brenda-johnston/
https://www.brenda-johnston.com/
https://www.instagram.com/_brendajohnston
Podcast:
https://open.spotify.com/show/2H3tTECDVeJTHkEeW9WcZr
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-limitless-life-podcast/id1450184427

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

There's nothing like it right now that exists. It's subconscious work, energetic work. It's I'm pulling in human design, but with normal people language, so that everybody who comes in, it's custom to them. And I'm also keeping it small, which some people have been trying to talk me out of. The cohort is gonna be like 10 to 15 women max. I do not want to build a membership with 200 people. My work, the way I like to do it, my capacity is smaller but deeper.

Davis Nguyen 0:36

Welcome to Success Leaves Clues, the podcast where we interview business owners on how they built their businesses and the hard lessons they learned along the way. My name is David Swin, and I'm a business coach and the founder of Purple Circle, where we help business owners achieve their first six-figure, seven-figure, and eight-figure year, all without sacrificing their quality of life. Before becoming a business coach and before founding Purple Circle, I started and scaled several seven and eight-figure coaching businesses and have been a consultant at several businesses doing over $100 million each, including some that are publicly listed and doing over a billion dollars each. In every episode of the podcast, you're gonna learn lessons that took RS years to learn, and you'll be able to learn that in minutes. No matter if you're a new business owner or an established business owner, every episode is gonna give you the clues in order to elevate your business.

Pedro Stein 1:21

Welcome to Success Leaves Clues Podcast. I'm Pedro, and today I'm joined by Brenda Johnston, who works with high capacity women who are either exhausted from forcing success or standing at a crossroads because the strategies, roles, and ways of working that once made them successful no longer fit who they've become. Brenda has identified a moment that most high achievers misdiagnose as burnout or lack of clarity, when in reality it's a signal that they've simply outgrown their old operating system. Her work focuses on correcting the mismatch between how her clients are working and how they actually operate, creating a foundation where success becomes sustainable rather than something that has to be constantly forced. Brenda's approach proves that this pivotal moment isn't about reinvention or chasing the next milestone, but about realigning with who you are. So direction and results start flowing with far less friction. Welcome to the show, Brenda.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

Thank you for having me. I'm excited about this conversation.

Pedro Stein 2:37

I am excited as well from the moment we met, okay? And Brenda, you know, I'd love to go back to the origin story, rewind a bit, because you could be doing so many things with your life, right? Could be a plumber, you could be a chef, but here you are coaching. And I want to understand how that started and why coaching in the first place.

SPEAKER_01 3:03

You know, it's an interesting story. I think on some level, it was probably always a calling. I just couldn't see it. Um, I have to take you way back, okay? So I was the kid growing up that watched commercials, not the television shows. I was genuinely fascinated by how you could move people and shift their perceptions and create feelings in like 30 seconds. I was weird. So I went into corporate advertising and marketing, and I thought, this is it, this is my thing. Like I loved it. I was in that for like over 20 years, and I was really good at it. And somewhere along the way, my company started sending me to leadership trainings and coaching courses and development programs because as I went up the corporate ladder, I had people I had to lead, blah, blah, blah. And so they were sending me these things. And I noticed something. I loved these courses more than my actual job. I came alive in those rooms. I was more engaged in facilitating conversations about somebody's growth than I was in any creative meeting near the end of that career. Um, the challenge was I didn't act on that feeling for a long time. So I stayed in advertising, yada yada. And eventually I hit what I call a crisis of purpose. I felt really empty. I felt very uninspired. I wanted to be making a difference in people's lives, but I didn't know how that could look because back then coaching wasn't really a thing. And so I did the work. I did therapy, I did personal development, I did all these things you're supposed to do, and none of it was getting to the root of why I felt the way I did. And then I stumbled onto something completely different, which was the subconscious modalities, the hypnosis, the whole brain integration, and eventually the human design. And I was skeptical because I had already tried so many things. But what I found was it shifted things in a way that nothing else had touched because it wasn't surface level, it was deeper. And I became obsessed with understanding why. Why did this work when nothing else had? Why was this doing to me what it was doing? And as I learned and learned and learned, because that's what I do, and I was using these techniques with people on my team and people in the company, I realized this was how it was meant to help people on a bigger scale.

Pedro Stein 6:03

Okay, first of all, the calling bit, I really like it. Second, the co-workers and the team as lab rats. I'll put it simple like that. That's a joke. Okay, take it easy. I'm just joking. But I love that.

SPEAKER_01 6:16

I did. I did use them as I used to say I used I can't, I don't think I can swear, but I used to say I used to like You can, you're fine. I used to say I would go to work and have fun mindfucking people so I could.

Pedro Stein 6:31

That's hilarious. Okay, okay. So I have a question for you because it's almost like an identity shift, right? You're like used to corporate and you're in a birthday party, and Rebecca, Becky or Brittany asks you, hey Brenda, how do you what do you do for a living? And you're used to give the same answer for 20 years, right? And eventually you're like, oh, you caught yourself saying it or feeling like weird inside, like I'm a coach, you know, because eventually you you run your own business, you started your own business like nine years ago as we were talking, right? So can you walk me through um when that shift happens for you from I'm helping people, this is a calling, to you know what, I'm building a real business around coaching.

SPEAKER_01 7:24

Honestly, when you're so funny. Um, so one of the first modalities I was really using with people was hypnosis, like I'm certified to use that. And I didn't tell people what I was doing because I had this fear that they were gonna be like, what do you mean you're doing hypnosis? Is that like mind control? And what happened was some of the executives at the company I was working with, because I was always surrounding myself with all sorts of people, some of the executives started coming to me or people who were looking for promotions and being like, Do you think you could uh help me get a promotion or work on my confidence? I was like, Yeah, sure. And so I had this side hustle for like 10 years, so I've kind of been doing this for 19 years. And then once I started, what happened was I actually doubled my salary, and so that was my sign that it was time to go on my own, which we can get into after. But I didn't, it took a few years, if I'm being completely honest, to actually feel like I was creating a business versus like, oh, this is my little this is my little side hustle. Like it was it was a weird transition.

Pedro Stein 8:53

Right. Okay. So let's talk about the leap of faith, right? Um, we established what 19 years into coaching, 10 round 10 of them were like a side hustle, right? And you're kind of I wouldn't say embarrassed, but you were not putting out there. It was like something you were doing, but not a hundred percent you're feeling weird inside. Is this a real thing? But eventually we got to the leap of faith, which happened what nine years ago. So walk me through that decision because that's a big one. And there are a lot of coaches out there listening that they're part-timers, right? So, how did that went for you? And what what actually made you you kind of browse through it already by doubling the income, but what made you decide, okay, this is this is it, you know?

SPEAKER_01 9:41

When I was getting ready to leave corporate, like for 10 years, every day I was like, I'm leaving corporate. And I had a friend, a good friend, who was like, Brenda, you need to like shitter get off the pot. He's like, You've been saying this for 10 years. And I got really irritated by that. But he was right. He was right. So what had happened was when I was getting ready to leave corporate, I had like made the decision. Like I was done. There was a lot of politics happening. It was like the universe God, whoever, was putting things in my way to say, listen, you need to get out of here and go do what you're meant to do. And so I spent a year coming up with a plan. So when I was leaving corporate, I had never been around entrepreneurs, I didn't know anybody who worked for themselves. So the first thing I did while I was still working full-time, I invested in a business coach and I invested in a business mastermind just to be around people who thought like this. And so my business coach helped me build the foundation to actually leave my job. And when I left my job, then I kept investing in mentors and coaches because for me, one, I think it's super important to be doing that. But like I had these weird beliefs because I'd been so like programmed by corporate, I had beliefs that I had to basically recreate my corporate job. So what happened was I create this awesome business, I was making six figures, and I was working 12 to 14 hours a day. I'd basically created my corporate job again, and it was not fun. And so I over the years kept investing in these coaches and mentors, and I'm gonna be perfectly honest here. I had some not great experiences, and those were some of the things that have helped me really grow this business. There were coaches who told me things had to be done their way because they were more successful than me, and I believed them, even when my body and my soul and my energy was telling me it was the wrong direction, I was giving my power away to other people. But there was this like deeper issue that some of those people were just in it for the money. And yes, money matters. I'm not naive about that, but I truly believe that if the impact on the person in front of you isn't the primary thing driving you, people feel that energy speaks before your mouth even opens. And I felt it, but I did not trust myself enough to act on it back then. And I feel like that was kind of a tangent, but it's all very important because it's been a piece of this, hasn't this has not been a linear journey. Like even the past couple of years, I'm rebuilding what the business looks like, how I'm doing things, how I want to feel. Like it's it's a continual evolution. And I also working with people who weren't the greatest people taught me some of my most valuable lessons, which was how I never want to be. I have a great mentor now, and I believe we as coaches or mentors should always have somebody ahead of us that we trust. And right now, like I have that person in my life, multiple people, but I don't know. I feel like did I answer your question? I kind of went on a rant there.

Pedro Stein 13:32

Well, yeah, you did. Um, too long didn't read, right? The TL DR. Um, all we have to do to take the leap of faith, in case you're a coach and you're listening, you have to find a friend, a co-worker for 10 years. He bullies you bullies you, yeah. He tells you, are are you going to do the thing or not? No, I'm just kidding.

SPEAKER_01 13:55

But yeah, it's true. You need somebody to reflect that back to you because it is true. Yeah, stuck in our stories. And I just I was so fed up with the politics. And I was like, okay, either I'm gonna do this now, or 10 years from now, I'm gonna be sitting here having the same freaking conversation, and I don't want to be that person.

Pedro Stein 14:16

Right. Okay. Now, let me ask you this, and you kind of mention it already. You know, coaches in the early days, they try to help everyone, right? You you mentioned uh promotion, sometimes it's some advice giving, it gets weird, right? We just want to make the the business uh work, but eventually we kind of get a niche or we kind of realize okay, these are the people I can help best, you know. So my uh question to you is did you eventually got to that point? And who do you serve now?

SPEAKER_01 14:51

Yeah, in the beginning, I I wanted to help everybody. I thought I had to help everybody. And over the years, as what I did evolved, I realized I freaking love working with high functioning women and some men, don't get me wrong, I didn't work with men. I love the founders, the executives, the leaders, the ones who they've they're experiencing some level of success already. Like they're not new to this, but they've hit a ceiling and they can't bust through it, and they're willing to look at things in a different way and look at new possibilities. I love those people. Like they come in with a story about what they perceive has been stopping them, and usually the story is not wrong, but it's not the whole picture, and then what we find underneath is this outdated belief that's wrapped around an emotion that maybe never got processed and now it's stored in their body, and like when they start to realize what's going on, my favorite thing that happens is like these people start to truly understand themselves at a level that they never have before, and there's this sense of relief, like oh I understand what's been going on now, I understand why I can break through that. I'm not crazy, I it's not that I don't have willpower, and that that moment when they have that relief, I love that so much because I've experienced it, I understand it.

Pedro Stein 16:40

Okay, I love it. Okay, now let's pretend I have a long-distant cousin in Brazil, right? That's that's Pedra, she's your ideal client profile, in a way, kinda, right? She's a high achiever woman, and she's kind of stuck, right? Now, first of all, how would Pedra find you? Like marketing-wise.

SPEAKER_01 17:12

Well, I mean, people find me all sorts of ways. Most people tend to find me on other people's podcasts because I'm a guest on many podcasts. Lots of people get referred to me, lots of people find me on my own podcast. I like to be completely honest, my business has been built probably 80% on referrals. So she probably finds me because somebody has seen something I've done or somebody has worked with me, and then they're like, Oh, you gotta check this girl out. That's usually how it works. Like, I'm everything I do is organic, basically.

Pedro Stein 17:51

Okay, so here's the thing, right? Pedra was listening to our podcast, or she was referred to you. Someone told her, You gotta met Brenda, she's awesome, right? Or even she was listening to your podcast, okay? But let's say she resonated with what you put out there uh as content, and she's like, I gotta, I gotta meet her, right? We she eventually reaches out to you. You guys go through the sales process, which I understand has to be alignment, okay, on both ways. I just want to speed up a little bit on the sales part because I want to understand what it looks like for Pedra, my long-distant cousin, to work with you and what are the potential outcomes she can expect.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

Um, so typically what happens is either they apply to do one-on-one work with me, or I do offer a limited number of like free 30-minute sessions with me just to kind of see what's going on with people. And then we can assess like, okay, are we a good match for each other? Is this gonna work for us? Um it's interesting because the women who do find me, they tend to know exactly what I do before they reach out. So it makes those conversations much easier. And then once I have a conversation with people, nothing I do is cookie cutter, is what I'm trying to get at here. So once we have a conversation, we kind of figure out where she wants to go and what's happening. And then I create a program based on what she needs. I do have a 12-month program, like a group thing that's starting. But if you're working with me one-on-one, it's based on exactly what you need. So if we're talking, I'm like, oh, you've just got some fear themes running, let's do a three-week intensive. Or, oh, you want to dive into what your full life purpose is? Cool, that's gonna take a little bit longer. Let's meet for eight months. You see me twice a month. Like everything is custom. And then the goal underneath that is just to help her find the financial freedom she's looking for, or create the relationship she wants to create, have the life she wants to have, have her clear the shit underneath so she's making decisions easier, she's making the money she wants to make easier. It's interesting. Now that I'm saying that, I'm like, wow, it's really about making people's lives easier.

Pedro Stein 20:25

Well, I'm happy for Pedra. You know, she made it, she worked with you, she's super happy. Now, I unfortunately I'm not uh such a nice guy. I have a curveball for you here. Small one, promise you. Okay. Uh, you mentioned a couple of things that caught my curiosity. First one, very customized approach, right? Second thing, back to the origin story. You told me you replicated your corporate job, and that didn't really work out. So, how do you think about capacity so you don't stretch yourself too thin? You know, because there are a lot of coaches out there, Brenda, that they advocate advocate against burnout and they're burning out themselves.

SPEAKER_01 21:12

Yeah, that was a big lesson I had to learn, to be honest, and I'm glad that I went through it. My belief, I had messed up money beliefs in the beginning still. So my belief was I had to keep bringing in clients. I was seeing like eight to twelve clients a day. That's too much. And I I truly did have to experience that. I see two clients a day at the most now. I've also recognized I can't keep only doing one on one stuff. There has to be another vehicle to deliver the transformation. My challenge has been because my work is so precise and so nuanced, I didn't like I struggled. To go, okay, how am I gonna create a group where they're gonna get the same level of transformation? And I had to realize it's it's different. They're still getting the transformation, it's just different. The one-on-one becomes the next level from that. So I'm literally just in the middle right now of launching the Limitless Life Collective, which is my 12-month experience. There's nothing like it right now that exists. It's subconscious work, energetic work. It's I'm pulling in human design, but with normal people language, so that everybody who comes in, it's custom to them. And I'm also keeping it small, which some people have been trying to talk me out of. The cohort is gonna be like 10 to 15 women max. I do not want to build a membership with 200 people. My work, the way I like to do it, my capacity is smaller but deeper. So it is really important to recognize you have to have different ways of working with people. You can't just keep trading your time for the money. That's what burnt me out in the beginning. And it was horrible. And I hated, I didn't hate the business, but I resented it. I was bitter.

Pedro Stein 23:30

Interesting, especially the uh in the one of many section you mentioned. I see it like a little bit like at the end when you mention they're different, right? Apples to bananas. Like uh I had like talking with coaches and being part of masterminds and all that. I realized, like, for example, from the point of view of a I was a high-ticket sales closer for a landscape business coach for almost three years, and uh they had like a very strong group setting, but the one-on-ones are kind of not really there. And I noticed that they visited each other. It was like, you know, the clients, the members, it was a very different dynamic. So whenever I talk to coaches and they're trying to compare things, I tend to say, hold on a minute, they're just different, you know. Um, you're gonna have a different outcome because those are different dynamics, but it sounds like you already got to that spot, right? Now, I'm curious about one thing, it makes complete sense to go to the one of many in a way to impact more people. It's not just about the the dollar figures and all that, but what I'm curious and I want to know is the feeling you you you had when you were launching it. Um, like I see a lot of coaches that they are scared about doing the thing, right? Uh uh, did anyone will show interest in this? Did you build a wait list? Was it scary to put it out there? You know, can you walk me through that?

SPEAKER_01 25:00

Dude, I'm in the middle of it right now. It's scary as hell. Here's the thing I've run group programs before, but I've never created anything like this. This has been 12 years in the making for me, essentially. And so I did like a 90-minute masterclass, had 150 people show up. There, I think there was like 60 people in live with me the whole time. Like I gave them an experience of what it is like to know me, to work with me, the depth of where I go. And now I'm in that weird space of like still promoting the program and getting ready for it to launch in July and getting ready for it to start. And some people are asking questions, but like it's this weird, it's this weird space of like, is anybody gonna buy like is anybody gonna come into this? Do people understand how cool this is? Like, this is life-changing, and so I've had many conversations with myself about do I need to change the sales pages, is the email structure right? Am I talking about this in the right way? Like, it's horrifying. I'm not gonna blow smoke up your bum. This is like give me one-on-one people all day long. I can talk to them. This is different. I it's also scary for me because I it is a smaller group, and I want to make sure it attracts the right people into it. So the energy that I'm putting out, I have to be very intentional about that to make sure that the energy that comes back in is the people that I want to have in there. So, yeah, it's scary. I'm not gonna lie.

Pedro Stein 26:48

Yeah, but I think you have the right intention, right? All it takes is one bad apple. And so you're you're very cautious about that, right? So kudos to you.

SPEAKER_01 26:59

Um I'm also doing it in a way like it's designed deliberately as a perpetual cycle. So it's not like if you're not in by July, you don't get in. I'm that that urgency, I don't like that. So it's a perpetual cycle. You can come in, commit to the whole year, get the whole four-phase journey, or if you want to just come in to phase one, for example, and test it out and see what's going on, cool. Just come in for 90 days. And if you're like, man, this is crazy, I will literally take your investment from the 90 days and apply it to the full year's journey. So I want people to have options because that model matters to me. This is built for depth, not just volume. Like I really care about what I do, and I care about the people who come into my world because the people who come into my world tend to stay in my world, and it's not because they have to, it's because as I continue to grow, they continue to grow.

Pedro Stein 28:12

Funny, like you remind me of a story of a coach who was like, um, last day of launch, like this is going to happen either way or not. Nobody bought it, and then the last day, eight people bought seats.

SPEAKER_01 28:28

But that's usually what happens.

Pedro Stein 28:29

This is that's a roller coaster of emotions, man. Can you imagine that?

SPEAKER_01 28:34

But that is what normally happens, it's a slow burn. I'm in the weird phase of like people are like, oh, I don't know. And then like a few days or the day, people will come. That is always what happens. And if you do not have the stomach for that, this maybe is not the career for you.

Pedro Stein 28:55

Okay. Now I am curious about uh another thing in the coaching space, and it's kind of a hot topic, okay, which is pricing. Okay, but not about hard numbers, more about the mindset behind it, you know, because it's a very self-worth path for the coach. It's like um, sometimes we feel like we undervalue ourselves, sometimes we feel like we're placing ourselves out of the market. So, how do you think it about it today? You know, and what are any lessons along the way that shaped how you landed where you are right now with the the pricing topic?

SPEAKER_01 29:31

Oh, yes, let me tell you. I'm hitting a nerve. So I my pricing is at a level that feels great to me now. When I first started out, I was underpricing and overgiving because I had come from marketing. So I felt like I had to prove things to people. Then I start working with one of the coaches who maybe I didn't have a great experience with. She's like, you know, you are like top level, you're like Chanel. You need to be priced up here. So she has me change my pricing to an astronomically high number that never felt good to me. And so what happened was I stopped putting myself out there and I stopped selling my services because I did not feel good about that price. So I had to get very honest with myself about that. And when I left her world, I this is when I started to rebuild things, and I was like, I'm not I'm not charging that. Like, I still want to be accessible to people, but also you have to understand you're not just paying for the hours that you work with me, I'm doing a lot of work behind the scenes. I'm supporting you in between sessions, like you're paying for the outcome and the experience, and I'm really good at what I do, and I can get outcomes really fast that last. So where I'm priced now feels good to me. So, what I would say to people is if you are trying to price yourself because somebody's like, it has to be high ticket, and every time you go to talk about it, you get that icky feeling in you. That is your energy speaking. You need to listen to that. I just said a few minutes ago, energy speaks before your mouth even opens. If you do not believe in what you're charging, nobody else is gonna believe in what you're charging, and nobody's gonna invest in you because they can feel the ick that you have. That's what I have to say about that. Interesting.

Pedro Stein 31:45

Well, we do have a say you know, a say in sales, right? As well. I understand where you're coming from, the confidence part, but also I have to add a note, which is can't sell with your wallet either, right? And sometimes, uh, like if I'm selling for, I don't know, luxury luxury items and all that. So you I tend to distance myself from the pricing because I'm not the one buying the transformation, so it's not about me, it's about the offer, right? And I'm a coach too, so there's that. Um, but I understand where you're coming from. If it feels weird, you should listen to that. And sometimes you have to dig a little bit deeper to understand why you're feeling weird about it, right?

SPEAKER_01 32:27

Yeah, and that's what I would say. There's an underlying thing, there's the inner work that you need to look at because there is money issues, self-worth issues, that those are real things. Now it's also funny though, because like I'm also introducing a VIP day because people have been asking for it, and that is a very high-ticket offer. I have no problem with that price. Because it's different, right?

Pedro Stein 32:55

Different tier, different engagement, makes sense. Okay, now I'm curious about why you're taking all this, you know, Brenda. We're talking about future now, shifting gears for a second. What's exciting? I know you're launching your group setting, but whenever we're talking about scaling, what are you trying to, you know, accomplish here?

SPEAKER_01 33:16

Oh my Lanta, I'm so excited about so many things. Okay, where do I want to start? Obviously, the 12-month piece is big for me. Like, I'm really excited about that becoming a new kind of vehicle for transformation for people. I really am excited because my mentor has me thinking bigger about things. There's going to be some products being launched. I don't want to talk too much about them yet, but they're going to be very curated, related to what I do, small volume, very, it's like an experience. That's super exciting to me. Alongside of all of that, so this really makes me excited. So, part of my podcast is every month there is an affirmation program that I put out for people, and they're designed not to create subconscious conflicts. They're some of my most downloaded episodes. Music has always been a really big part of my life. So, alongside of all this stuff, I'm also building out what I'm calling sonic activations. So they are frequency-based audio tools that use specific healing frequencies and bilateral stimulation techniques to create transformation. And it kind of started as an experiment, like I was just having fun, and then they became something very powerful as a standalone offering. So that's going to be something that's coming out as like its own thing outside of the mentorship work that I do. And it obviously also will tie into the really cool physical product line that I'm going to develop. Honestly, the goal underneath all of this stuff for me is like a business model that doesn't just require me to trade all of my time for money, but also I want to create things that help people, but that bring me joy, that are fun, that I actually love. I spent way too many freaking years building things in ways that people told me I had to build them or that I should build. I'm not interested in doing that anymore. Like, I want what I've built to feel as good as it looks. And I feel like I'm closer to that than I've ever been in my whole life. So that's what I'm excited about.

Pedro Stein 35:50

Okay, I'm excited too, just by listening to you. Okay. Now, whenever we're aiming towards something new, right? Always something we're refining in the present. So, what are you currently trying to improve or tighten up in your business right now?

SPEAKER_01 36:07

It's very interesting because, like I said, people who are in my world tend to be in my world for a while. But obviously, I also want to get in front of new people because I want to make as big of a ripple effect in the world as I can. So the challenge that I'm working on solving right now is getting in front of the right new people consistently. Um, one of my challenges is because the work I do is very precise, it doesn't just compress into a nice 30-second hook line. My ideal client does not impulse by. She researches, she listens, she watches, and then she moves. So any content that I'm putting out there really does have to be built for that journey. And it has to build enough trust and certainty that when she's ready, she knows exactly why she's choosing me. So that's been one of my challenges is figuring out how do I create and deliver that type of stuff and how do I get in front of the right new people and keep nurturing my existing people.

Pedro Stein 37:28

Classic one, right? I believe you got the those messages from the same guys I get, which is like, hey, I can get you leads, right? Well, leads are easy, right? The problem is the right leads, and you don't even know about my business. How can you tell them you're gonna get my leads, right?

SPEAKER_01 37:44

I guess many of those emails address me bonkers. Yeah, yeah.

Pedro Stein 37:48

I'm right there with you. Now, I want to do a quick exercise with you, a little bit different from the usual. I uh usually how I do it, okay, because I wanna let's pretend we have a time machine in front of us, okay? And you can go to first 19 years ago when you start coaching, but not your business, okay? And you can give that person yourself one piece of business advice, and also maybe that will have uh something to do with it. You can also go when you started your own business, so nine years ago, okay. I'm not sure if the first time travel is gonna affect the second, right? But let's hear from you. What would you say to yourself when you were starting your coaching business? And what would you say to yourself when you actually launched it that you wish you knew?

SPEAKER_01 38:39

Going back 19 years, like when I was still this is such a great question. So, going back 19 years when I was still having my side hustle, what I would say to that version of myself is stop being such a chicken shit. Just like have some faith in yourself, like have some faith and belief that what you feel inside of you, what you want to do, is going to work. Like take the risk. And also don't marry him. That is also what I would say to that version of me.

Pedro Stein 39:18

You're almost leaving, and you're and don't marry him, and boom, okay.

SPEAKER_01 39:22

So don't go there. Um and I I think that actually it's funny because I'm answering this question. I'm sitting here going, yeah, but I had to learn all of those lessons. I wouldn't have been the person I am now, or the coach I am now, or the mentor I am now if I didn't go through all of that stuff. But yeah, the main advice would be don't be so chicken, just do it, don't be afraid. And then the version of me who was leaving and going into like building my own businesses, I would tell her, she doesn't need two physical offices. First of all, that's a lot of rent. And second of all, same thing. Like, do this because you love doing what you do. Don't let the money be the main driver. You don't have to chase the money. The more, the bigger the impact that I've made in people's lives, the more the money comes. The money is a side effect of all that. So again, have trust and faith that if you're doing what you love to do in a way that you love to do it, the money is a side effect. It comes.

Pedro Stein 40:36

Okay. Love that. Okay. Now, if someone listening, Brenda, wants to connect with your follow your work, and we're gonna have all the links in the description, okay? But what's the best way for people to find you?

SPEAKER_01 40:49

Honestly, on Instagram, and if you DM me at any time, it's always me messaging you back. I don't have somebody else in there doing that. And obviously, go listen to the Limitless Life podcast, which is my podcast. I drop new episodes every week. It's a great place to like learn about my world. I have great interviews with people who are doing amazing things in the world and in business and all the things. Instagram and the Limitless Life podcast, those are the two places I would come and hang out with me.

Pedro Stein 41:20

Okay. You know, Brenda, a few moments from this chat that I I actually feel the urge to highlight, put it like that. Like, for example, when Origin Story, right? You were telling me that you were kind of a weird kid, right? Watching commercials and all of that. And eventually you got exposed to coaching, and you wouldn't understand what drives people, what moves people. That if you take a look, proper look, you can tell they're connected, right? Because it's just on a deeper level. And then when you found coaching, you found yourself and uh your drive, right? So there's that. That's interesting. Also, when you mentioned you had bad experiences with coaches in the past, and you you felt off, felt that gut feeling, something was not right, but at the same time, you invested again and you you found yourself a coach that actually helped you. So, lesson learned. Don't let a bad decision burn you twice, right? Don't don't let that bad decision of that person saying to say something like, hey, I I'm not looking for coaches out there because this doesn't work. So uh I love how you kept yourself on track for the journey, always learning, never judging. Oh, more like, okay, this is the process of learning. I just need to find someone that actually is good at what they're saying, they're saying, you know, and actually can help me and moving forward, you know.

SPEAKER_01 42:50

I think there's a big piece too with that, is I had to change my level of discernment. So it's not that I wasn't cautious moving forward, getting mentors. It was I was spending more time in their worlds, getting to know them, getting like to see how they work in their energy and having conversations with people who've worked with them. Do not be afraid to have conversations with people who have worked with the person you're considering working with.

Pedro Stein 43:20

Yeah, and and just own the mistakes, right? They're they made who you are today. Like when you were mentioning about the time travel stuff, and you're like, stop being such a chicken shit. Um, in a way, you know what that tells tells me is that you kind of serve past Brenda, your clients, right, to overcome the obstacles. So and and you know, uh really not taking anything for granted, always putting more, wanting more, being ambitious, trying to to actually get the thing you you really want, you know. So this is just my long-winded way of saying that. I appreciate what you do. Okay, I appreciate you being here and sharing so openly today. It was great having you on, Brenda.

SPEAKER_01 44:06

I loved this conversation. Thank you for having me.

Davis Nguyen 44:09

That's it for this episode. This episode, as well as this podcast, was brought to you by Purple Circle, where we help business owners elevate their business through six, seven, and eight figure years all without burning out. If you're looking to grow your business as well as get the time freedom that you are looking for, visit us at join purplecircle.com and see what we can do to help you and your business.