EP3: A Deeper Dive into Being and Identity in Business with Guest Valerie Alawiye - Part 2

What happens when you give yourself permission to become more than the role you've held for decades?

In Part 2 of Jennifer Britton's conversation with Valerie Alawiye, the focus shifts from making the transition into solopreneurship to building a business that reflects who you truly are. Valerie shares how she rediscovered the creative side of herself after a 30-year career in federal financial management, embracing her gifts as a writer, speaker, and creative thinker while continuing to leverage the strategic strengths that served her throughout her leadership career.

Together, Jennifer and Valerie explore how systems, rhythms, and intentional practices create the foundation for sustainable growth. They also discuss how AI can become a valuable thought partner for solopreneurs... supporting brainstorming, research, and business operations while keeping your authentic voice at the center of your work.

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In This Episode

•  Why embracing both creativity and strategy leads to stronger businesses 
•  Valerie's journey of rediscovering her identity beyond a 30-year corporate career 
•  How she designed her signature coaching program from the ground up 
•  Creating sustainable business rhythms that reduce burnout 
•  Why milestones matter more than perfection 
•  The value of working with a coach during seasons of transition 

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Guest Links & Resources

Valerie Alawiye website is: https://www.coachingforchronicillness.com/ 

Valerie Alawiye newsletter is: https://coaching-for-chronic-illness.kit.com/newsletter 

As a special gift when joining Valerie's mailing list, guests will receive her free journaling companion, "Journaling Through Grief & Grace."

***Host Links & Resources***

Quick Link to Substack
FlowFlexScale Substack: https://flowflexscale.substack.com/
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Let's Connect
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Follow Jennifer Britton
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferjbritton/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coachingbizbuilder/
TikTok: https:///www.tiktok.com/@groupcoach

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:08

This is the FlowFlex Gale Podcast, your field guide to the solopreneur operating system with author and coach Jennifer Britton. Daily steps plus consistent action equals momentum. That's Jennifer's mantra, and it starts right here, right now, with you. This is the FlowFlex Gill Podcast. Let's get started. This episode picks up right where Jennifer and Valerie left off in episode two, exploring the topic of rebuilding your identity as a solopreneur. If you haven't listened to that yet, I encourage you to go back and listen to that one and then return back here. Because this time they're taking a deeper dive into the being of a solopreneur in business. There's lots of great information in this conversation. So be sure to like, subscribe, and share this episode with a friend. Okay, here we go. Let's listen in.

SPEAKER_02 1:06

I love that you've pointed us to community, team, and relationships. Being a solopreneur does not mean we are an island. You know, I've said that a lot in the days of remote work, but even more so, I think a solopreneur is need to be great, great in relationships and being able to like connect in because we can't do it all by ourselves. And you you really shared that. But I want to zoom into this last piece that you just talked about. Say a little bit more about not just relationships, but also the other part that you just mentioned. Which part was that? So you were just talking about how you're being, the being of the solopreneur. Because I think, again, our presence, embodying our presence, embodying our being. Say a little bit about what you've noticed again in your last year of journey, how your identity is maybe changing or key moments, or just any reflections on that. Because to the DNA of us, right? It's not only connecting with that, maybe even reconnecting with it, because sometimes we're in jobs which don't really honor who we are, and we've learned to be that way in a solopreneurial business. So sometimes we can really reclaim ourselves. So reflections on you, your DNA, and your being of your identity.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

I love that. So just a short conversation about my journey. So I was in the federal financial management career field for 30 years, and I was introduced to coaching around my 20th year. And up until that point, I had just felt I am, as you know, I'm a conversationalist. And I always was, people were coming to me for professional help and I was mentoring people, but I've I really didn't feel like I had the right skills to really help people move forward. And I was introduced to coaching and um as a f an internal coach and I became an internal coach and it helped me in my role as a leader, but it really helped me to have that language and the skill set to actually help people and see people move forward. And so carrying that into this part of my work um and in this part of my life, my identity for 30 years was, you know, Valerie's an analytical person and she's the technical person. And you know, she's uh, you know, great person if you need support, but she's got this analytical side, and I really didn't get to explore the creative side of myself. And so being moving into solopreneur and having to kind of go back to the beginning and it's like, who was I before I became a financial budget accounting technical person? And I was a lot of things. I was a writer, I was a dancer, I was a speaker, you know, I did, I was an instructor and I did all these things. And so kind of not skipping the 30 years, but just trying to pull out of it what I still want to continue as well as reclaim that earlier part. And so it is, it's a journey. And I thought that, oh, I was a coach, you know, what at my work I could still coach, but it's more than that. It is really, you know, reconnecting and and drawing into that strength of the creative part plus the technical part, which I need to be a business owner, but just reclaiming that that portion of myself that I have to brilliant.

SPEAKER_02 4:27

Well, I think I think our listeners are really gonna enjoy that piece because I think we all um throughout our entrepreneurial journey have moments of claiming, reclaiming, shedding, you know, like that is the beauty because we keep growing as well in our business. And our business may grow in different ways that we're not even seeing from the onset as well. So thanks for sharing that. I think people will really love hearing that that whole piece around how you really are reclaiming a creativity, which interestingly enough is one of our activators in the flow flex scale, right? Like what talk a little bit about what you're noticing about creativity as an as a solopreneur. Where is that showing up in your work and your business right now?

SPEAKER_01 5:10

Oh my goodness. So, two places. So, first, that what I really dug into at first was designing my coaching for chronic illness essentials program. And there obviously is the the heavy technical piece of the coaching skills and how to coach someone that has chronic illness. But it was designing the curriculum was so much fun. Not taking something that someone else had done, you know, not leveraging something that someone else had done, but designing it from scratch. The slides, the content, the narrative, and the program itself and how to connect with others and all of those things. And I drew very heavily on a lot of things that I learned from you and the courses I've taken from you and the business side that you emphasize so much. Um, and so that was wonderful. But one of my career goals that I had early on in my 20s was to be a novelist, a fiction novelist. And so uh I had dabbled in that, but it's always been on the back burner. And so being able to add that to my repertoire and spend time and actually write and see my ideas come to fruition has been so much fun. And I we did the uh sprint, and I believe it was November of last year. In November, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:26

The what used to be the former National Novel Writing Month for sure. And you were really, you were, yeah, you were just putting numbers and words down on the page, which was exciting. You finished that book and hearing that. And love hearing that. So maybe, you know, this uh for those that know me, right, as a writer, this podcast I think spotlights the fact that we can have many identities too, as a solopreneur. And you are like me in that, uh, you know, very much the writer, but also the program designer, the coach. And so talk a little bit about what you notice about your rhythm of managing all those things because it's a lot of work to put out a book, you know, let alone having all these other things going on. So talk a little bit about the rhythm of your work.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

Oh my goodness. So rhythm is so important in life as a solopreneur, as managing your health and avoiding burnout. And I think that it goes back to um, I don't know if we've talked about systems, no, not yet. Having systems has been so important. And uh systems for and and so systems don't have to be rigid and they need to be flexible because things change. But I noticed at the beginning, I was just all over the place. I I my desk was the mess, I didn't couldn't find anything. Some days I was writing, some days I was doing the program, and I wasn't making progress on anything. And so I one of the things that I learned early on, again, from other different types of training, is that you can have five things, but if you don't have anything done, you don't have anything that you can move forward. And so I've had to um as of last year, I I had to focus in on my training program for at least three months, and I had to prioritize that because I was not going to get that done by doing everything else that I was doing. And so what I'm trying to do this year is I do want to publish a book. And so I'm building writing into my daily life, but I also have designed a framework so I have milestones. So that's I'm a project type person at heart. And so having milestones on what I want to accomplish in that space every week, every month, every quarter also keeps me on track. And then it helps that I have systems for the other things. So I have systems for like my admin, I have systems for how I track my financials, I have systems for my marketing. So I, you know, when am I going to record my videos? When do I write my scripts? I have um systems for how I do my newsletter. And so some of the basic things that you I have to do, I've developed systems for. So then I can focus on these things that are unique and have a limited scope of some sort.

SPEAKER_02 9:09

Yeah. Well, thank you for like drawing back the curtain on that because systems are so critical, right? As I wrote, I think it was Coaching Business Builder, I went into the five systems every business owner needs. And that shows up in FlowFlex Scale as well. What I also want to spotlight for listeners is it is the systems that give us the time back to focus on these really important projects that take deep focus, you know, what Cal Newport would say, you know, the deep work. Because we can just have a business that continues flatlining. But if we really want to have incremental growth, we've got to find time and energy, more importantly, for the strategic fun projects that we know are the ones that are going to move the business forward. Because uh I really hear for you get a lot of passion and excitement out of your writing, but also out of the program creation. And they're different skill sets, definitely different skill sets, different energies, then also running it. And so, really kudos to you. I also hear how quickly you've been able to probably take your years and years of experience in running teams, running programming to really now make it your own in a very unified way. And uh wondering if you have any tips, because I think people get lost in the having multiple projects on the go. It's inevitable as a solopreneur. We are sometimes uh, my father would say, what, cook and bottle washer at the same time? So any tips or suggestions on like you talked a little bit about your scheduling, but any other tips on how to keep multiple things on the go?

SPEAKER_01 10:49

Uh so one of the things I I don't want to miss in when you were talking, it reminded me was I had a coach for a short period of time as I was retiring specifically to help me make that transition. And so one of the things that she helped me think through, because I I just wanted to say everything that I done for 30 years and just move on to the new stuff. And she reminded me that you develop so many skills, um, even if it's something you didn't enjoy doing or didn't want to do, you develop so many skills that you can leverage and that can carry you through. So I did a few um two or three sessions with her. Um, and she we just kind of laid things out so that I could see it objectively and see what I wanted to, and I got to pick what do you want to continue doing and what do you want to let go of? And so I I don't want to miss that part because we are coaches and um having coaching at key points in your uh life is really important. And so that really helped. I also think uh you led us through SWOT analysis, and again, I'd done SWOT analyses before, but not for myself, and really sitting down and thinking over quickly, but then over a period of time, what are my strengths and challenges? And what are my business threats and opportunities that are you know external to me? And how can I leverage my strengths and so that I can take advantage of these opportunities and where can I get support for some of my weaknesses? And you know, how do I kind of mitigate the threats? And so I go back, I went back to that earlier this week. I went back and bugged through my notebook to look at my SWOT analysis because I wanted to look at those opportunity areas, and so that that's another very practical, helpful tool, I think, uh, for solopreneurs. Love it.

SPEAKER_02 12:36

And thank you. You're reminding me, right? We're getting towards the end of Q2 2026. It is time to pick up the SWOT and take a look at it. I also was really hearing, and maybe because it's our focus here is the 90-day window, right? You were talking about the weekly, the monthly, the quarterly. And in today's business world, you know, beyond that, how much can we really focus other than maybe our once-a-year planning? So let's jump gears a little bit. I'm curious. You're such a creative, you're a solopreneur. One of the biggest issues on the table in 2026 is how much AI are you using in your business? I'd love, and I'm sure listeners are intrigued to hear, you know, I think it's very common. Solopreneurism is actually the fastest growing entrepreneurial sector right now, in part because a lot of businesses are setting up as solopreneurial AI first. So, you know, really doubling down, tripling down, making the agents, an agenc team the team. I'm hearing for like me, you know, very much it's a human team, but AI enabled. Talk a little bit about how you're using AI in your business to really help you. I don't know, to help you. I'll leave it at that. Dot, dot. Over to you.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

Sure. So AI has it's very interesting. I don't think I used AI hardly at all before I became a solopreneur at all. Like I was just not aware of what was out there. Um and as I became a solopreneur, I started looking into it because I'm doing everything by myself. I'm literally doing, you know, everything, beginning to end, and everything in between, business creation by myself. And I looked into AI as a tool. Um, and I know that it can be concerning. And I am, as a writer, for example, I am very much about the human writing. You know, I write my own work, I design my own training programs, but does I use it as a tool to help me brainstorm? I use it as a tool, you know, just like I would go and do a search online and ask questions. Um, I use it as a tool to help me with free search. I use it as a tool to make sure that I have the right framework for my terms and conditions and my privacy policy. Like I use it in that standpoint as well. But uh one of the tools that I use is in designing presentations because graphics, as we know, can be a to get graphics that are what you want is always challenging. Designing graphics myself is a non-starter. And to me, AI has just taken such leaps and bounds on helping us design the graphics that actually communicate what we want to communicate about our business in a great way. And so I really see it as a very important tool to send, like I mentioned as a solopreneur with marketing and things like that. You know, I write my own newsletters, but it helps me put it in a way that connects with people and those types of things. And so I do use it as a very important tool for my business as a solopreneur for sure.

SPEAKER_02 15:38

Love hearing it. And I was just sort of sharing with Valerie. So before people come and join us here, I send out a field note guide. And really, it is something I've learned as a podcaster. Some of you may have heard me years ago at the Remote Pathways podcast. More recently, we've had the Coaching Many podcast. But for this one, I wanted to send a one-pager and it could have been like very tense text, but of course, I went to my chat that knows my preferences, that has been really aware of the FlowFlex scale. And you're going to see when the cover comes out and the book comes out, a good alignment with what we're evolving very quickly as a brand. I think about how fast in the last year, because FlowFlex scale has grown out of years and years and years of coaching, programming, but from a branding standpoint, the brand has really come together so fast in the last six months, AI enabled as well. And so it's interesting how application can really be different, even as a high creative, like you are, you know, yeah. How do we amp up things to an even higher level? So we'd be interested in hearing uh from our listeners, what are you doing as a solopreneur? How are you leveraging it? And is this like a new part of the journey? So I'm gonna go to my question list to see what else, because we're coming into our last sort of five minutes. What do you think is creating momentum for you right now?

SPEAKER_01 17:00

I thought about that question as well. I think momentum for me is is being created with clarity. And the more that I keep circling around, you know, who is my ideal client? Who am I trying to reach? Who am I? What are my strengths? Like just being clear about all of those things. And the other thing is consistency. And um, there's a lady that I follow and I read a lot of her work, and she talked about people see these big breakthrough moments. And they see you publish the book or they see your training program and they're just like, wow, you know, how did you do that? What they don't see is just the every single day showing up, doing the work, prioritizing, doing your schedule, setting the goals, meeting with people. And then you the end result is the result of a lot of work. And so I would say momentum for me is just consistency, is doing the small things every day. And then all of a sudden it looks like you have this big thing that happens, um, but it's the result of all the small things that people don't see.

SPEAKER_02 18:05

It's the daily steps and consistent action that create the momentum. I love hearing you say that in a in a very different way. And so for you, Valerie, I appreciate all the time that you've taken with us today. We've covered everything from AI to being. I really want to spotlight that to you know some of the key points on this last year of your journey. Any other tips or suggestions you want to leave our listeners with before we wrap up today?

SPEAKER_01 18:31

One thing I would say is that there is this pull for everybody to kind of do the same thing. There's every season there's something new. And it can be enticing because the landscape is changing so fast. And I would just encourage people to just really make sure and stay grounded in alignment with their values and their strengths and what they want and what they believe, because that's what people, the people that are going to really connect with you and carry your work forward, that's what they're looking for, is us, is the human connection and the authenticity. And so I just encourage folks to, you know, don't feel like stretch yourself, but don't feel like you have to do all of the things. Just really stay grounded and stay focused and it will work out.

SPEAKER_02 19:22

Yeah. And you've really illustrated that and shared that message with us today in terms of the different stages, the different things you've done throughout your journey over this maybe last year and a half, having a coach that could help you really discern what you are good at, you know, what do you want to carry forward into this new chapter? You talked a lot about conversation. We didn't get into that whole theme, which is one of the nine catalysts. But, you know, I imagine all the time you're talking to people, your people, right? Like listening for what they need. And we can never go wrong if we're listening in response to what people need now. So thank you so much, Valley. I've really enjoyed our conversation. Where can people find you?

SPEAKER_01 20:02

So you can find me at uh my website at coachingforchronic illness.com. Uh that has links to my work, my training program, my videos. Um, so that's probably the best way for folks to reach me. Um, I also do have on there a link to my newsletter. So if you see a pop-up, please sign up and then you can stay in the loop on all new things that are coming out. And there's a lot new coming out. Very exciting.

SPEAKER_02 20:30

So I hope you'll check out Valerie again, coaching for chronic illness.com. I got that right. Yes, we are. Excellent. Excellent. Until next time, everyone, we'd love to hear from you. What did you enjoy out of today's episode? What can you put into practice? And we'll see you again soon at FlowFlex Skill, the field guide. Thanks again, Valerie. Thank you. Take care, everyone.