July 18, 2025 • 24 mins
This week's BA Q&A, Mandi is joined by friend of the show Naseema McElroy of Financially Intentional to answer a question from Serena, a 28-year-old multi-passionate entrepreneur torn between beauty and holistic health.
Naseema drops gems on the power of niching down, embracing your unique story, and positioning yourself as a Key Person of Influence. If you’re feeling stuck between passions and need clarity on how to turn your ideas into a purposeful business, this episode is for you.
🔑 Highlights:
-
Why failing fast is essential to the entrepreneurial journey
-
How to build your business by owning your story and defining your niche
-
📚 Book rec: Key Person of Influence by Daniel Priestley (as recommended by Naseema)
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I would love to walk away from the nine to
five life for good. But how do I start over
the right way and pursue my dream career path?
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Focus on being the authority in that space. So if
it's like a beauty, if you want to do beauty,
it has to be like beauty for vegans, like specialized,
Like down to that level and own that space so
that you are the person that people come to. So
when you're starting in that area, it's not like you're
starting from zero.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Hey, hey, va fam, what's up? It's Mandy Money and
welcome to the BAQA. This is our special Friday show
where every Friday we take questions from you from our
ba community and answer them on the show.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Now.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
To get your question answered, all you got to do
is go to Brand Ambition Podcast on Instagram and send
me a DM or you can email me Brand Ambition
Podcast at gmail dot com. I'm really grateful because my
Brown Table co host for this week, Nasima McElroy aka
at Financially Intentional on Instagram. Nasima has stuck around and
(01:09):
she's gonna help me answer this week's question. So let's
get on into it all, right, ba Fam. I am
joined again by Nasima McElroy. We're gonna take a listener
question because when I got this question, I was like, Oh,
how many times can I star this? This is such
a good, juicy one, and I feel like Nasima is
going to be a great person to answer this with.
This comes from listener Serena, who sends an email. By
(01:30):
the way, if you want to have your question answered
on the BAQA, you can go to Brandambisson Podcast at
gmail dot com or email me at Brandabisionpodcast at gmail
dot com, or you can slide into our DMS. We're
at Brandambission Podcast on IG. Serena's question is, Hey Mandy Money.
I'm twenty eight years old and I'm currently living in Texas.
(01:51):
I moved back here last June from Louisiana, and I
feel like everything has gone downhill poorly. I'm completely starting
over from needing a new car, place and building up
my savings. I have a registered business, but sometimes I
feel like I don't know what to do with it
and can't pick a path. As a multi passionate entrepreneur,
I have a love for beauty and holistic health, but
(02:12):
I hate to have to choose one. I would love
to walk away from the nine to five life for good.
But how do I start over the right way and
pursue my dream career path?
Speaker 2 (02:25):
From Serena Serena, I love this question. Actually it's something
that I've been studying recently because you know, I'm definitely
like a traditional work girly that like fakes, like I'm
an entrepreneur, so I really have to get my mind right.
So it's this book that I would highly recommend you read,
(02:48):
and it's called Key Person of Influence. And the thing
is is, like, I'm sure you've heard the term the
riches are in the niches are in the niches niches.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
I thought you said witches. I'm like, the witches are
were right.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
You know, I'm still getting made fun of for the
way that I said kindergarten on here. So however you
say niche niche, you have to mispronounce it for to
work nitches, I got you, yes exactly. So anyway, you
just you have to become the authoritative person in one
(03:26):
particular space. So I know you don't want to narrow
down on one thing, but in order for you to
be successful, you really have to hone in on that.
And the thing is is that there's so many voices
out there that like you're like, oh that sounds good,
that looks good, Like really be and focus on being
the authority in that space. So if it's like a beauty,
(03:50):
if you want to do beauty, it has to be
like beauty for vegans, like specialized, like down to that
level and own that space so that you are the
person that people come to and the way that you'll
figure out what space you need to be in. It's
like what stories in your life can you talk to
that you know that you own that space, like you
(04:12):
have lived that life. So when you're starting in that area,
it's not like you're starting from zero because you're like,
oh that looks good. I saw that on Instagram and
this person is making big and brownie, so I'm gonna
start doing that. That's not your thing. But your thing
is this particular thing. You have stories around it, you
can speak to it, you have lived this life, like
(04:33):
really lean in on that. And I feel like, you
know you can't. You're at a point where you can
only succeed. You can only go up. It's only up
from here. But yeah, I think that you post it
like there's an issue the key person of influence KPI
(04:54):
key person of influence. Okay, I got who the author is.
I'm so bad at names.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
That's okay, we'll find it and put it in the
show notes.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Yeah, I think that, like it's it's it. I read
it in a day, and but I'm a fast reader,
so but yeah, it's it's really really good because it's
directing to the point and it tells you like to
really like lean in on like what is your pitch?
Like what do you do? How do you help serve people?
(05:22):
And once you can get that down, you can start
doing all of the other things and creating your authority
and getting out there and getting published and being known
for those things, even to the point where writing a
book like Mandy is doing so you know, but like
really like leaning in on this pitch and practicing and
it's almost like manifesting, like this is who I am.
I am that grilly that you want to come to
(05:45):
that talks about being beauty.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
You know, like, so, yeah, that's my advice. You were
gonna say something before I interrupted, Sorry about that. You
you started saying that. She posed it almost as if
it was a problem.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, she yeah. She posted it as
if it was a problem. But I really feel like
this is like exactly where you need to be because
it's like you're at the ground level and so you
don't have to tear something down to build it back up.
You're right at the point where you can just take off.
And so I think this is a perfect opportunity and
you should look at it like that. And I think
(06:19):
that reframing of mindset is going to help you excel.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Can you imagine your daughter, some or one of them
someday like being in a similar situation. And it's almost
like when people ask questions, now, I try to picture
my own kid in their shoes, and I can I
almost feel a little bit excited for I mean, I
don't have a daughter, but Rio, I feel almost excited
for him to have these kind of like existential crossroads
(06:44):
moments in his life.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Yes, it's not.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Just so like no matter what generation you're part of,
like everyone has this moment.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
So she's moved from Tech, she's moved back to Texas
from Louisiana, so very Beyonce of you, and and she's
saying it's gone downhill poorly, And there's something that happens
in transitions and I want to it doesn't. And there's
(07:13):
something that I think that happens too with like our
vision of how a transition will go, Like if I
just moved here, or if I just start this new job,
then on the other side of that it will be
like change will be, change will happen, and things will
start going my way, and like I just need to
take the steps and make the move. And that is
very much true, but the you have to sometimes journey
(07:35):
through some muck once you make that transition. And I
actually I was having a conversation with y'all know why
I joined the iHeart Network back in March, and it's
been four months now, and I've been really like trying
to be patient with like some of the changes and
everything is fine, and I love working with them on
the whole, but I myself have had to like have
(08:00):
the same conversation with you make a big change, you
and you do it for the right reasons, but there's
still a growth, Like there's still an uphill journey after
you make such a big change to get to know
a new environment, get to know new people, get to
know the new workings of things, and just to have
some patience with that I think we're a little impatient.
(08:23):
I mean that goes without saying we're all so impatient,
but give yourself a little bit of patience. I feel
like to go through this yucky phase, this awkward transition phase.
You know, it's like you go natural and then for
the next what how long does an awkward transition phase go? Three?
Four years?
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Yeah, but it feels like it feels like taking steps backwards.
And sometimes it's okay to take step backwards.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
To go forward.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
You know a lot, but a lot of people just
aren't comfortable in that space. And the more you're able
to lean into that and understand that that's part of
the journey, the easier is for you.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
When she says, I'd love to walk away from the
nine to five life for good, wouldn't we all?
Speaker 3 (09:05):
But also you twenty eight and if you don't have a.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Trust fund, and if you don't have you know, a
bunch of money in the bank already, it takes time
to earn and to build, and especially if you're trying
to do that as an entrepreneur. And I think the
problem is I almost I don't even without saying it,
I feel like you're on social media too much. Because
if you just get off social media and you just
go to work, earn your coins and you focus on
building your business, it will take probably five to ten years.
(09:31):
But like you can build something, you can walk away
from the nine to five life. But I think being
on social you'll see other people doing it or looking
like they're doing it, having a bunch of followers talking
about beauty or being a holistic health influencer, and you're
comparing yourself to them. But that's just not realistic and
it's not the journey that you know. Maybe is like
the journey that you're on, and you need time to
(09:53):
build that and to be able to break from the
nine to five grind. And I can absolutely see myself
telling Rio someday like, boy, you can't whatever if it'll
be like a hologram by then or whatever kind of
like AI bought, he'll be comparing himself too.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Oh, but yeah, you have to just take your I
take your eye off everyone else and what and even
your even the vision of yourself that you were comparing
yourself to right and make peace with like where you're
at right now.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
And I think.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
I think things will start to work out. But it
just will be slow, slow, small little things working out. First,
if you get the nice apartment, but you still hate
the job.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
But the apartment's nice, and then you get.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
A little bit of coins in your account.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Hey, ba fam, we gotta take a quick break, pay
some bills, and we'll be right back. All right, ba fam,
We're back. Has he meant anything else? Do you want
to add?
Speaker 2 (10:53):
No? I just think don't like, don't sleep on the
nine to five and where I can get you because
it just brings the the boat a little bit closer
to the dock and then you can jump.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
So oh I like that analogy.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Yeah, brings a boat a little bit closer to the
dock and then you can jump.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
So you say that you have a registered business, but
you don't feel like you know what to do with
it and you can't pick a path. The fact that
you've registered yourself as a business, and hopefully you registered
it in the state where you're operating as a business.
I know you said you move from Louisiana back to Texas,
but either way, it's not that hard. The fact that
you've registered is great. I mean, you've done You've taken
(11:32):
a step, and for me, that is. Sometimes it's funny.
I'll talk to women who have done everything but register
themselves as a business. So they're not able to take
care of take like they're not able to get a
business account, any business bank accounts, big business credit. They're
not able to like apply for grants or even properly
invoice people, you know, as a as a business. And
(11:55):
but they'll have the business, they'll have clients, they'll have
like a website and you know, a business card, all
that kind of stuff. And then I have entrepreneurs like
you who have done that that administrative step of starting
a business, but actually haven't created like any business revenue
yet or a business plan or you know, put together
(12:15):
an idea of what you're going to actually produce and
put out there in the world. And neither of those
paths is incorrect. But we need to find we need
to we need to merge them. You've done the paperwork
side of things. Now as far as picking a path
in your business and actually knowing what to do with it,
just pick something.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Pick a thing. You say you love beauty, you love
holistic health.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
I love what Nasima said about, you know, really focusing
in on one POV one niche or a niche for
you to be known for. Just pick one and stop
telling yourself that you only have to pick one for
the rest of your life. You're twenty eight years old,
You're so young, and you have so much time. You
can pick holistic health and put your all into that
(13:03):
for the next year, two, three, four, five years and
build up your audience, build up your reputation, build up
your authority in the space, build your client base. If
you're going to be selling something, I don't know, but
you can be doing that in holistic health. You can
still have a love for beauty, right You can still
post a little bit on the side about beauty if
you want to, or explore it, or educate yourself more
(13:25):
on the beauty space. Nothing has to stop that from happening.
And then if you decide I've done everything I can
do with holistic health, I want to switch it up
and talk about beauty or focus my business more on
the beauty space.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
That may be.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Easier to do than what you're thinking. It may feel
like a huge leap and a huge jump. Well, how
can I do beauty if I go all in on
holistic health? I could think of a thousand ways right now,
just sitting here, how those two things are intertwined. So
I'm not totally worried about you creating authority and expertise
in the holistic health space and potentially sacrificing that by
(14:02):
then pivoting into the beauty space later on down the road.
Oh absolutely not. I mean I'm thinking about Tabitha Brown
for example. First of all, that girl like tab that girl,
that woman that everything, that queen. You know, she goes viral.
I'm talking about a vegan sandwich and the Whole Foods
parking lot while working while doing Uber right. Then she
starts with where does Tabitha Brown start with?
Speaker 2 (14:22):
God?
Speaker 1 (14:23):
She starts with cooking content. I believe she's cooking. She's
going all in as a vegan cook and she does
vegan recipes, She writes a memoir, she gets her book
or sorry, she gets the deal with Target where she
starts creating vegan vegan foods and a line of vegan
you know, food and cookware at Target. And then she
(14:46):
comes out with Donna's recipe, her haircurr line. Then she
goes and creates her kid series tab Time, you know,
with YouTube. She has all these different businesses, lines of
business that are thriving, but she starting with one. She
is tabitha Brown Vegan. I mean, it's hard to just
call her a vegan food influencer because she's also Tabatha
(15:07):
the Brown. She's also just like a spiritual influencer. And
I don't know, human soothing machine for the world, but
she started out in that way and then she continued
branching out. And I just want you to feel less.
You're putting too much pressure on yourself to in the
sense of like I got to pick one and be
done in forever, and this is the one I've picked.
This is the only kind of business I can ever have.
(15:28):
Try something, try it and either fly or fail quickly,
and try something different. Gotta stop being so afraid to
try something new because you're afraid that it means you
may fail at it. Yeah, you might fail at it,
but you're never gonna know until you try. And the biggest,
the best piece of advice I can give any entrepreneur
or just anyone in life in general, is fail fast
(15:52):
and move on.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Embrace the fail don't even like you have to stop.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
We have to stop thinking about failure as if it's
something to avoid. Part of the journey. It's something to embrace.
Like I came home from a week away in Georgia,
and I came home and I saw what my vegetables
have been doing. Have I what's been thriving? What's been
taken over by cabbage worms? God damn it, I hate
those things. What has been you know, which squash is
(16:17):
doing well? So the squash got too much, so that
squash was being overcrowded by the tomatoes. Like I am
learning every day how to fail in my space, you know,
trying to grow my own food. And I think our
careers are very similar, Like let's just get through the
failures quickly. I've been doing Mandy Money. I started out
with Mandy Money in twenty twenty one when I you know,
(16:37):
I was always doing the podcast, but when I wanted
to branch out with my own business. Because remember, at
the time Brown Ambition was my I was co running
that with my former co host Tiffany, and so Tiffany
and I were fifty to fifty business partners, so it
never really felt like Brown Ambition was entirely mine. So
when I started my own business in twenty twenty one,
I left nine to five. I said I want to
(16:58):
do something on my own, and I chose negotiation slash
career coaching.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
So for me, that was about and I can do
a bunch of things.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
But I really loved and enjoyed talking about negotiation and
job seeking advice. And also I listened to what my
audience was telling me that they wanted. And I was
getting a lot of questions about negotiating and looking for
a new job and you know, networking and leveraging relationships
into career opportunities. And I was like, bet, I want
(17:28):
to focus on that. And I did that, and I
did it really hard, and for a time that was amazing.
And then the economy shifted. Things start changing. Now the
job market is a lot tighter. Everyone's not getting opportunities
to negotiate. They certainly are not getting as many opportunities
to negotiate as they were back in the summers of
twenty twenty one, twenty twenty two, and even into twenty
(17:49):
twenty three, and things got tighter, and all of a sudden,
I was feeling as if I was failing in a
way because I'm like, oh, opportunities for me are not
you know, they're not as lucrative. You know, I'm selling
the same things that we're doing really well back in
twenty twenty one, twenty twenty two, they're not selling as
great anymore. I need to be trying something different, and
(18:10):
I'm not going to lie and say that it didn't
get to me. And I didn't have those moments where
I was feeling really down on myself and kind of
feeling like, oh am, I just screwing this all up,
like do I really have what it takes? But I
got over it and I kept moving and I had to.
I had to shift my mindset to accept the fact
that failure is almost a guaranteed aspect of being a
(18:31):
business owner. Failure is almost guaranteed failure in some regards.
It's up to us to decide if it's going to
be a failure period or a failure dot dot dot
or a failure comma or whatever grammatical punctuation makes sense
for this really weird metaphor that I just came up with.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
But what's that.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Story going to be like for you, Serena. I think
you deserve to have an opportunity to try something, and
I think you deserve to have an opportunit unity to
take your business and see what you can make of it.
You may start your business in holistic health then decide
that you really don't like it anyway. Maybe you like
to read about it and watch other influencers and you know,
(19:11):
or what, I don't know exactly what kind of work
you want to do in holistic health, but maybe you
just really enjoy it. But then when you start doing that,
you realize, oh, I don't want to do this all day. Hey, bafam,
we got to take a quick break, pay some bills
and we'll be right back. All right, bafam, we're back.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
And I will say.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
The thing about leaving nine to five people need to
know more about is when you leave a nine to
five and you start your own business, you have another
nine to five like in fact, it's even worse than
a nine to five in some ways, because yes, you're
your own boss, you have freedom all of that, but
you also have bills, you have taxes. You have and
can I say taxes again for the girls in back.
(19:51):
You have to find your own clients. You have to
be your social media, you got to be your marketing,
You got to be your business analyst, you got to
be your own accountant. You know, you have to build
those things up and that is very all consuming, time
consuming work. Now you're twenty eight years old, you have energy,
you have time on your side. I'm like, this is
the best time to try it out. If you were
going to try it and keep your nine to five,
(20:13):
you know, for the insurance, for the quote unquote stability
that having that additional income can can offer you, and
just get out there and try something new. And like
I said, you can always change your mind down the line.
And I'll wrap it up by just reiterating that I
want you to give yourself grace. You just got back
home to Texas from leaving Louisiana, and I know it's
(20:35):
been a year, and we tend to do that to ourselves.
We'll look at the calendar and say, oh, it's been
a year. I should have been here by now. I
wish I would have done this by now. I can't
believe I haven't done this by now. Stop it. I'm
gonna tell you what I told my two year old
this morning when he was trying to cry about going
to daycare. Is zipit zipit? Nope, nop, nope, We're not
doing that. It's only been a year.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
It takes time to transition. You are acclimate yourself to
a new environment. It sounds like you've had struggle, you know,
needing a new car, getting a place, building up your savings.
Give yourself grace, give yourself time to acclimate, and just
try to appreciate where you are exactly when you are
in that space right now. I'm really proud of you
(21:19):
for uprooting yourself and moving to a whole different state.
I mean, that takes guts, and it takes some bravery,
and if it was easy, everybody and their mama will
be out here doing it. Okay, So you took a risk.
I want you to give yourself grace, and I really
am grateful for you for giving me a chance to
pour into you a little bit and sending your question
(21:39):
in Serena and I hope be a fam If you're
listening to this, you'll send your questions into Brandnambission Podcast
at gmail dot com.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
So we can pour into y'all.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Because I know some of the questions are not all
cut and dry. It's not oh, I have this much
dead and this much savings. Honestly, those questions are a
little bit more boring. These questions, like what you're going
through Serena. They really remind me of how important it
is to say what's on our spirits out loud and
really share the struggles that we're having, the existential struggles
that we're having, because when you share them, you realize
(22:10):
how not how common, but how many other people are
going through something similar, who have come out on the
other side of something similar, and can really help you
feel seen and just validate exactly what you're feeling, which
is what I'm trying to do with you right now.
And ba fam, if you're someone who understands what Serena
is going through, or if you have been through a
similar situation, will you email me Brand Ambition Podcasts at
(22:34):
gmail dot com or dm me at Brand Ambition podcast
on ig so that I can share those messages with Serena,
because I think our girl, Serena needs to know that
she's not alone and that there is a community of
incredible people out there, incredible women who are sharing in
that experience and want to send some support and some
live just like I do. All Right, I'm wishing you
(22:57):
all the best. Thank you so much again for sending
your question in Serena. If I can think of anything else,
I'll hit you up in your email, because yes, I
do read every single email that y'all send me, and
I respond to them a little.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
I have no chill.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Sometimes I'll respond almost immediately and I know it's weird,
but I don't care. Why should I be cool and
pretend like I'm not on my email all the time?
Speaker 3 (23:17):
Because I am. I really am. I love y'all so much.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Ba Fam. Be sure to tune in to BAQA every Friday.
If you want to submit your question to the show.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
You know what to do.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Brownambition Podcast at gmail dot com or hit me up
at Brand Ambition Podcast on Instagram. And until next time,
tune into Brown Ambition on Sunday for our in depth
interview series Washday Wousaw. Come back on Wednesdays for our
fun Brown Table where we cover news highlights, personal finance tips,
We get check in with some of our some of
(23:48):
my phase, my financial faves, and then, of course Fridays
for our baqa's Riva Fam Next time. Okay Va Fam.
Thank you so much for listening listening to this week's show.
I want to shout out to our production team, Courtney,
our editor Carla, our fearless leader for idea to launch Productions.
(24:09):
I want to shout out my assistant Lauda Escalante and
Cameron McNair for helping me put the show together. It
is not a one person project, as much as I
have tried to make it so these past ten years.
I need help, y'all, and thank goodness I've been able
to put this team around me to support me on
this journey and to y'all bea fam I love you
(24:31):
so so so so much. Please rate, review, subscribe, make
sure you sign up to the newsletter to get all
the latest updates on upcoming episodes, our ten year anniversary
celebrations to come, and until next time, talk to you
soon via Buy
I would love to walk away from the nine to
five life for good. But how do I start over
the right way and pursue my dream career path?
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Focus on being the authority in that space. So if
it's like a beauty, if you want to do beauty,
it has to be like beauty for vegans, like specialized,
Like down to that level and own that space so
that you are the person that people come to. So
when you're starting in that area, it's not like you're
starting from zero.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Hey, hey, va fam, what's up? It's Mandy Money and
welcome to the BAQA. This is our special Friday show
where every Friday we take questions from you from our
ba community and answer them on the show.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Now.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
To get your question answered, all you got to do
is go to Brand Ambition Podcast on Instagram and send
me a DM or you can email me Brand Ambition
Podcast at gmail dot com. I'm really grateful because my
Brown Table co host for this week, Nasima McElroy aka
at Financially Intentional on Instagram. Nasima has stuck around and
(01:09):
she's gonna help me answer this week's question. So let's
get on into it all, right, ba Fam. I am
joined again by Nasima McElroy. We're gonna take a listener
question because when I got this question, I was like, Oh,
how many times can I star this? This is such
a good, juicy one, and I feel like Nasima is
going to be a great person to answer this with.
This comes from listener Serena, who sends an email. By
(01:30):
the way, if you want to have your question answered
on the BAQA, you can go to Brandambisson Podcast at
gmail dot com or email me at Brandabisionpodcast at gmail
dot com, or you can slide into our DMS. We're
at Brandambission Podcast on IG. Serena's question is, Hey Mandy Money.
I'm twenty eight years old and I'm currently living in Texas.
(01:51):
I moved back here last June from Louisiana, and I
feel like everything has gone downhill poorly. I'm completely starting
over from needing a new car, place and building up
my savings. I have a registered business, but sometimes I
feel like I don't know what to do with it
and can't pick a path. As a multi passionate entrepreneur,
I have a love for beauty and holistic health, but
(02:12):
I hate to have to choose one. I would love
to walk away from the nine to five life for good.
But how do I start over the right way and
pursue my dream career path?
Speaker 2 (02:25):
From Serena Serena, I love this question. Actually it's something
that I've been studying recently because you know, I'm definitely
like a traditional work girly that like fakes, like I'm
an entrepreneur, so I really have to get my mind right.
So it's this book that I would highly recommend you read,
(02:48):
and it's called Key Person of Influence. And the thing
is is, like, I'm sure you've heard the term the
riches are in the niches are in the niches niches.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
I thought you said witches. I'm like, the witches are
were right.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
You know, I'm still getting made fun of for the
way that I said kindergarten on here. So however you
say niche niche, you have to mispronounce it for to
work nitches, I got you, yes exactly. So anyway, you
just you have to become the authoritative person in one
(03:26):
particular space. So I know you don't want to narrow
down on one thing, but in order for you to
be successful, you really have to hone in on that.
And the thing is is that there's so many voices
out there that like you're like, oh that sounds good,
that looks good, Like really be and focus on being
the authority in that space. So if it's like a beauty,
(03:50):
if you want to do beauty, it has to be
like beauty for vegans, like specialized, like down to that
level and own that space so that you are the
person that people come to and the way that you'll
figure out what space you need to be in. It's
like what stories in your life can you talk to
that you know that you own that space, like you
(04:12):
have lived that life. So when you're starting in that area,
it's not like you're starting from zero because you're like,
oh that looks good. I saw that on Instagram and
this person is making big and brownie, so I'm gonna
start doing that. That's not your thing. But your thing
is this particular thing. You have stories around it, you
can speak to it, you have lived this life, like
(04:33):
really lean in on that. And I feel like, you
know you can't. You're at a point where you can
only succeed. You can only go up. It's only up
from here. But yeah, I think that you post it
like there's an issue the key person of influence KPI
(04:54):
key person of influence. Okay, I got who the author is.
I'm so bad at names.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
That's okay, we'll find it and put it in the
show notes.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Yeah, I think that, like it's it's it. I read
it in a day, and but I'm a fast reader,
so but yeah, it's it's really really good because it's
directing to the point and it tells you like to
really like lean in on like what is your pitch?
Like what do you do? How do you help serve people?
(05:22):
And once you can get that down, you can start
doing all of the other things and creating your authority
and getting out there and getting published and being known
for those things, even to the point where writing a
book like Mandy is doing so you know, but like
really like leaning in on this pitch and practicing and
it's almost like manifesting, like this is who I am.
I am that grilly that you want to come to
(05:45):
that talks about being beauty.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
You know, like, so, yeah, that's my advice. You were
gonna say something before I interrupted, Sorry about that. You
you started saying that. She posed it almost as if
it was a problem.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, she yeah. She posted it as
if it was a problem. But I really feel like
this is like exactly where you need to be because
it's like you're at the ground level and so you
don't have to tear something down to build it back up.
You're right at the point where you can just take off.
And so I think this is a perfect opportunity and
you should look at it like that. And I think
(06:19):
that reframing of mindset is going to help you excel.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Can you imagine your daughter, some or one of them
someday like being in a similar situation. And it's almost
like when people ask questions, now, I try to picture
my own kid in their shoes, and I can I
almost feel a little bit excited for I mean, I
don't have a daughter, but Rio, I feel almost excited
for him to have these kind of like existential crossroads
(06:44):
moments in his life.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Yes, it's not.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Just so like no matter what generation you're part of,
like everyone has this moment.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
So she's moved from Tech, she's moved back to Texas
from Louisiana, so very Beyonce of you, and and she's
saying it's gone downhill poorly, And there's something that happens
in transitions and I want to it doesn't. And there's
(07:13):
something that I think that happens too with like our
vision of how a transition will go, Like if I
just moved here, or if I just start this new job,
then on the other side of that it will be
like change will be, change will happen, and things will
start going my way, and like I just need to
take the steps and make the move. And that is
very much true, but the you have to sometimes journey
(07:35):
through some muck once you make that transition. And I
actually I was having a conversation with y'all know why
I joined the iHeart Network back in March, and it's
been four months now, and I've been really like trying
to be patient with like some of the changes and
everything is fine, and I love working with them on
the whole, but I myself have had to like have
(08:00):
the same conversation with you make a big change, you
and you do it for the right reasons, but there's
still a growth, Like there's still an uphill journey after
you make such a big change to get to know
a new environment, get to know new people, get to
know the new workings of things, and just to have
some patience with that I think we're a little impatient.
(08:23):
I mean that goes without saying we're all so impatient,
but give yourself a little bit of patience. I feel
like to go through this yucky phase, this awkward transition phase.
You know, it's like you go natural and then for
the next what how long does an awkward transition phase go? Three?
Four years?
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Yeah, but it feels like it feels like taking steps backwards.
And sometimes it's okay to take step backwards.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
To go forward.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
You know a lot, but a lot of people just
aren't comfortable in that space. And the more you're able
to lean into that and understand that that's part of
the journey, the easier is for you.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
When she says, I'd love to walk away from the
nine to five life for good, wouldn't we all?
Speaker 3 (09:05):
But also you twenty eight and if you don't have a.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Trust fund, and if you don't have you know, a
bunch of money in the bank already, it takes time
to earn and to build, and especially if you're trying
to do that as an entrepreneur. And I think the
problem is I almost I don't even without saying it,
I feel like you're on social media too much. Because
if you just get off social media and you just
go to work, earn your coins and you focus on
building your business, it will take probably five to ten years.
(09:31):
But like you can build something, you can walk away
from the nine to five life. But I think being
on social you'll see other people doing it or looking
like they're doing it, having a bunch of followers talking
about beauty or being a holistic health influencer, and you're
comparing yourself to them. But that's just not realistic and
it's not the journey that you know. Maybe is like
the journey that you're on, and you need time to
(09:53):
build that and to be able to break from the
nine to five grind. And I can absolutely see myself
telling Rio someday like, boy, you can't whatever if it'll
be like a hologram by then or whatever kind of
like AI bought, he'll be comparing himself too.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Oh, but yeah, you have to just take your I
take your eye off everyone else and what and even
your even the vision of yourself that you were comparing
yourself to right and make peace with like where you're
at right now.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
And I think.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
I think things will start to work out. But it
just will be slow, slow, small little things working out. First,
if you get the nice apartment, but you still hate
the job.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
But the apartment's nice, and then you get.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
A little bit of coins in your account.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Hey, ba fam, we gotta take a quick break, pay
some bills, and we'll be right back. All right, ba fam,
We're back. Has he meant anything else? Do you want
to add?
Speaker 2 (10:53):
No? I just think don't like, don't sleep on the
nine to five and where I can get you because
it just brings the the boat a little bit closer
to the dock and then you can jump.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
So oh I like that analogy.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Yeah, brings a boat a little bit closer to the
dock and then you can jump.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
So you say that you have a registered business, but
you don't feel like you know what to do with
it and you can't pick a path. The fact that
you've registered yourself as a business, and hopefully you registered
it in the state where you're operating as a business.
I know you said you move from Louisiana back to Texas,
but either way, it's not that hard. The fact that
you've registered is great. I mean, you've done You've taken
(11:32):
a step, and for me, that is. Sometimes it's funny.
I'll talk to women who have done everything but register
themselves as a business. So they're not able to take
care of take like they're not able to get a
business account, any business bank accounts, big business credit. They're
not able to like apply for grants or even properly
invoice people, you know, as a as a business. And
(11:55):
but they'll have the business, they'll have clients, they'll have
like a website and you know, a business card, all
that kind of stuff. And then I have entrepreneurs like
you who have done that that administrative step of starting
a business, but actually haven't created like any business revenue
yet or a business plan or you know, put together
(12:15):
an idea of what you're going to actually produce and
put out there in the world. And neither of those
paths is incorrect. But we need to find we need
to we need to merge them. You've done the paperwork
side of things. Now as far as picking a path
in your business and actually knowing what to do with it,
just pick something.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Pick a thing. You say you love beauty, you love
holistic health.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
I love what Nasima said about, you know, really focusing
in on one POV one niche or a niche for
you to be known for. Just pick one and stop
telling yourself that you only have to pick one for
the rest of your life. You're twenty eight years old,
You're so young, and you have so much time. You
can pick holistic health and put your all into that
(13:03):
for the next year, two, three, four, five years and
build up your audience, build up your reputation, build up
your authority in the space, build your client base. If
you're going to be selling something, I don't know, but
you can be doing that in holistic health. You can
still have a love for beauty, right You can still
post a little bit on the side about beauty if
you want to, or explore it, or educate yourself more
(13:25):
on the beauty space. Nothing has to stop that from happening.
And then if you decide I've done everything I can
do with holistic health, I want to switch it up
and talk about beauty or focus my business more on
the beauty space.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
That may be.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Easier to do than what you're thinking. It may feel
like a huge leap and a huge jump. Well, how
can I do beauty if I go all in on
holistic health? I could think of a thousand ways right now,
just sitting here, how those two things are intertwined. So
I'm not totally worried about you creating authority and expertise
in the holistic health space and potentially sacrificing that by
(14:02):
then pivoting into the beauty space later on down the road.
Oh absolutely not. I mean I'm thinking about Tabitha Brown
for example. First of all, that girl like tab that girl,
that woman that everything, that queen. You know, she goes viral.
I'm talking about a vegan sandwich and the Whole Foods
parking lot while working while doing Uber right. Then she
starts with where does Tabitha Brown start with?
Speaker 2 (14:22):
God?
Speaker 1 (14:23):
She starts with cooking content. I believe she's cooking. She's
going all in as a vegan cook and she does
vegan recipes, She writes a memoir, she gets her book
or sorry, she gets the deal with Target where she
starts creating vegan vegan foods and a line of vegan
you know, food and cookware at Target. And then she
(14:46):
comes out with Donna's recipe, her haircurr line. Then she
goes and creates her kid series tab Time, you know,
with YouTube. She has all these different businesses, lines of
business that are thriving, but she starting with one. She
is tabitha Brown Vegan. I mean, it's hard to just
call her a vegan food influencer because she's also Tabatha
(15:07):
the Brown. She's also just like a spiritual influencer. And
I don't know, human soothing machine for the world, but
she started out in that way and then she continued
branching out. And I just want you to feel less.
You're putting too much pressure on yourself to in the
sense of like I got to pick one and be
done in forever, and this is the one I've picked.
This is the only kind of business I can ever have.
(15:28):
Try something, try it and either fly or fail quickly,
and try something different. Gotta stop being so afraid to
try something new because you're afraid that it means you
may fail at it. Yeah, you might fail at it,
but you're never gonna know until you try. And the biggest,
the best piece of advice I can give any entrepreneur
or just anyone in life in general, is fail fast
(15:52):
and move on.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Embrace the fail don't even like you have to stop.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
We have to stop thinking about failure as if it's
something to avoid. Part of the journey. It's something to embrace.
Like I came home from a week away in Georgia,
and I came home and I saw what my vegetables
have been doing. Have I what's been thriving? What's been
taken over by cabbage worms? God damn it, I hate
those things. What has been you know, which squash is
(16:17):
doing well? So the squash got too much, so that
squash was being overcrowded by the tomatoes. Like I am
learning every day how to fail in my space, you know,
trying to grow my own food. And I think our
careers are very similar, Like let's just get through the
failures quickly. I've been doing Mandy Money. I started out
with Mandy Money in twenty twenty one when I you know,
(16:37):
I was always doing the podcast, but when I wanted
to branch out with my own business. Because remember, at
the time Brown Ambition was my I was co running
that with my former co host Tiffany, and so Tiffany
and I were fifty to fifty business partners, so it
never really felt like Brown Ambition was entirely mine. So
when I started my own business in twenty twenty one,
I left nine to five. I said I want to
(16:58):
do something on my own, and I chose negotiation slash
career coaching.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
So for me, that was about and I can do
a bunch of things.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
But I really loved and enjoyed talking about negotiation and
job seeking advice. And also I listened to what my
audience was telling me that they wanted. And I was
getting a lot of questions about negotiating and looking for
a new job and you know, networking and leveraging relationships
into career opportunities. And I was like, bet, I want
(17:28):
to focus on that. And I did that, and I
did it really hard, and for a time that was amazing.
And then the economy shifted. Things start changing. Now the
job market is a lot tighter. Everyone's not getting opportunities
to negotiate. They certainly are not getting as many opportunities
to negotiate as they were back in the summers of
twenty twenty one, twenty twenty two, and even into twenty
(17:49):
twenty three, and things got tighter, and all of a sudden,
I was feeling as if I was failing in a
way because I'm like, oh, opportunities for me are not
you know, they're not as lucrative. You know, I'm selling
the same things that we're doing really well back in
twenty twenty one, twenty twenty two, they're not selling as
great anymore. I need to be trying something different, and
(18:10):
I'm not going to lie and say that it didn't
get to me. And I didn't have those moments where
I was feeling really down on myself and kind of
feeling like, oh am, I just screwing this all up,
like do I really have what it takes? But I
got over it and I kept moving and I had to.
I had to shift my mindset to accept the fact
that failure is almost a guaranteed aspect of being a
(18:31):
business owner. Failure is almost guaranteed failure in some regards.
It's up to us to decide if it's going to
be a failure period or a failure dot dot dot
or a failure comma or whatever grammatical punctuation makes sense
for this really weird metaphor that I just came up with.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
But what's that.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Story going to be like for you, Serena. I think
you deserve to have an opportunity to try something, and
I think you deserve to have an opportunit unity to
take your business and see what you can make of it.
You may start your business in holistic health then decide
that you really don't like it anyway. Maybe you like
to read about it and watch other influencers and you know,
(19:11):
or what, I don't know exactly what kind of work
you want to do in holistic health, but maybe you
just really enjoy it. But then when you start doing that,
you realize, oh, I don't want to do this all day. Hey, bafam,
we got to take a quick break, pay some bills
and we'll be right back. All right, bafam, we're back.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
And I will say.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
The thing about leaving nine to five people need to
know more about is when you leave a nine to
five and you start your own business, you have another
nine to five like in fact, it's even worse than
a nine to five in some ways, because yes, you're
your own boss, you have freedom all of that, but
you also have bills, you have taxes. You have and
can I say taxes again for the girls in back.
(19:51):
You have to find your own clients. You have to
be your social media, you got to be your marketing,
You got to be your business analyst, you got to
be your own accountant. You know, you have to build
those things up and that is very all consuming, time
consuming work. Now you're twenty eight years old, you have energy,
you have time on your side. I'm like, this is
the best time to try it out. If you were
going to try it and keep your nine to five,
(20:13):
you know, for the insurance, for the quote unquote stability
that having that additional income can can offer you, and
just get out there and try something new. And like
I said, you can always change your mind down the line.
And I'll wrap it up by just reiterating that I
want you to give yourself grace. You just got back
home to Texas from leaving Louisiana, and I know it's
(20:35):
been a year, and we tend to do that to ourselves.
We'll look at the calendar and say, oh, it's been
a year. I should have been here by now. I
wish I would have done this by now. I can't
believe I haven't done this by now. Stop it. I'm
gonna tell you what I told my two year old
this morning when he was trying to cry about going
to daycare. Is zipit zipit? Nope, nop, nope, We're not
doing that. It's only been a year.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
It takes time to transition. You are acclimate yourself to
a new environment. It sounds like you've had struggle, you know,
needing a new car, getting a place, building up your savings.
Give yourself grace, give yourself time to acclimate, and just
try to appreciate where you are exactly when you are
in that space right now. I'm really proud of you
(21:19):
for uprooting yourself and moving to a whole different state.
I mean, that takes guts, and it takes some bravery,
and if it was easy, everybody and their mama will
be out here doing it. Okay, So you took a risk.
I want you to give yourself grace, and I really
am grateful for you for giving me a chance to
pour into you a little bit and sending your question
(21:39):
in Serena and I hope be a fam If you're
listening to this, you'll send your questions into Brandnambission Podcast
at gmail dot com.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
So we can pour into y'all.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Because I know some of the questions are not all
cut and dry. It's not oh, I have this much
dead and this much savings. Honestly, those questions are a
little bit more boring. These questions, like what you're going
through Serena. They really remind me of how important it
is to say what's on our spirits out loud and
really share the struggles that we're having, the existential struggles
that we're having, because when you share them, you realize
(22:10):
how not how common, but how many other people are
going through something similar, who have come out on the
other side of something similar, and can really help you
feel seen and just validate exactly what you're feeling, which
is what I'm trying to do with you right now.
And ba fam, if you're someone who understands what Serena
is going through, or if you have been through a
similar situation, will you email me Brand Ambition Podcasts at
(22:34):
gmail dot com or dm me at Brand Ambition podcast
on ig so that I can share those messages with Serena,
because I think our girl, Serena needs to know that
she's not alone and that there is a community of
incredible people out there, incredible women who are sharing in
that experience and want to send some support and some
live just like I do. All Right, I'm wishing you
(22:57):
all the best. Thank you so much again for sending
your question in Serena. If I can think of anything else,
I'll hit you up in your email, because yes, I
do read every single email that y'all send me, and
I respond to them a little.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
I have no chill.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Sometimes I'll respond almost immediately and I know it's weird,
but I don't care. Why should I be cool and
pretend like I'm not on my email all the time?
Speaker 3 (23:17):
Because I am. I really am. I love y'all so much.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Ba Fam. Be sure to tune in to BAQA every Friday.
If you want to submit your question to the show.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
You know what to do.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Brownambition Podcast at gmail dot com or hit me up
at Brand Ambition Podcast on Instagram. And until next time,
tune into Brown Ambition on Sunday for our in depth
interview series Washday Wousaw. Come back on Wednesdays for our
fun Brown Table where we cover news highlights, personal finance tips,
We get check in with some of our some of
(23:48):
my phase, my financial faves, and then, of course Fridays
for our baqa's Riva Fam Next time. Okay Va Fam.
Thank you so much for listening listening to this week's show.
I want to shout out to our production team, Courtney,
our editor Carla, our fearless leader for idea to launch Productions.
(24:09):
I want to shout out my assistant Lauda Escalante and
Cameron McNair for helping me put the show together. It
is not a one person project, as much as I
have tried to make it so these past ten years.
I need help, y'all, and thank goodness I've been able
to put this team around me to support me on
this journey and to y'all bea fam I love you
(24:31):
so so so so much. Please rate, review, subscribe, make
sure you sign up to the newsletter to get all
the latest updates on upcoming episodes, our ten year anniversary
celebrations to come, and until next time, talk to you
soon via Buy
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