Welcome to Wickedly Branded: Marketing, Magic, and The Messy Middle, the podcast where real conversations meet real strategies. I'm your host, Beverly Cornell, founder and fairy godmother of brand clarity at Wickedly Branded. With over 25 years of experience, I’ve helped hundreds of entrepreneurs awaken their brand magic, attract the right people, and build businesses that light them up.
From stepping into her father’s vision to scaling a company that’s changing senior care education, Isabelle shares how authenticity, courage, and systems create real growth. Together, they unpack the power of brand activation, overcoming imposter syndrome, and leading with both heart and strategy.
Three Key Marketing Topics Discussed:
- Authentic Leadership: How Isabelle modernized her father’s legacy and made the brand her own.
- Confidence in Visibility: What it really takes to step into the spotlight as a visionary.
- Systems for Sustainability: Why structure, clarity, and delegation are the backbone of long-term success.
Follow Isabelle:
Isabelle | LinkedIn
RAL Academy | Instagram
RAL Academy | Facebook
RAL Academy | TikTok
RAL Academy | Website
Dare to be Wickedly Branded
P.S. Take the first step (will only take you 3 minutes) to awaken your brand magic with our personalized Brand Clarity Quiz
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Beverly (00:00):
Did you know that senior housing industry is one
of the most rewarding, yetchallenging fields to break
into?
Today's guest has mastered thatchallenge and is helping others
do the exact same thing I'm yourhost Beverly Cornell, the
founder and fairy godmother ofWickedly branded.
We've helped hundreds ofoverwhelmed overachieving
consultants, creatives, andcoaches awaken their brand magic
(00:23):
and boldly bring their marketingto life so that they have more
clarity and feel more confidentto attract their absolute
favorite and most profitableclients.
Today.
Joining us is Isabelle Guarino,founder of Residential Assisted
Living Academy, RAL Academy.
Isabel has transformed thesenior housing education market
(00:43):
by providing cutting edgetraining and resources to help
real estate investors andentrepreneurs create life.
Changing opportunities in thesenior care space.
She's impacted thousands oflives and she's here to share
her journey, her challenges, andher marketing wisdom with us
today.
Welcome Isabelle.
Isabelle (01:03):
Thanks for having me.
I'm so excited to be here.
Beverly (01:06):
I'm so glad you're here.
I read on your website, I lovethis phrase that there's a
silver tsunami of seniors.
Isabelle (01:13):
Yep.
Beverly (01:13):
Out in the world is happening with the baby boomers
and eventually us Xers too.
But let's talk a little bitabout how you started,'cause you
didn't start out in this fieldand what was the spark to start
this particular business andwhat did those early days look
like for you?
Isabelle (01:26):
Yeah, so right outta college, I actually became a
flight attendant.
I really didn't know what Iwanted to do, but I knew I
wanted to travel the world andmeet people and just explore.
So I went that direction andquickly found out that I wasn't
using my brain in the way Iwanted.
I'm bored and yes, I get totravel, but I really wanna do
something that challenges me init ignites, my passions.
(01:49):
So my dad had been a real estateinvestor my whole life and I
really didn't have any interestin what he was doing.
But, I had moved back homebecause I wasn't making a ton of
money as a flight attendant.
And started quickly seeing thatwhat he was doing at the time
was very different.
my grandmother had fallen andbroken her hip and she needed
assisted living.
And so he was looking for placesfor her and stumbled into this
(02:12):
industry.
And instead of doing fix andflip and wholesale and
multifamily and all these otherthings.
He went all in on assistedliving and I started to realize
there was something here thatreally sparked in me and got me
excited because it wasn't justhouses, it wasn't just numbers
on a paper.
It was people and people's livesand serving people so I started
(02:35):
asking him if I could comearound more and help out and
really shoved myself into hisbusiness, became his first
employee.
That was, almost 11 years ago.
And it's been quite a journeysince then.
we've now built over 10companies.
We have over 50 employees.
He passed in 2021 and everythinggot passed to me and it really
(02:56):
has been just such a beautifuljourney and I've been all in on
assisted living from the momenthe let me in that door.
Beverly (03:02):
that's like extremely special.
Like it's a bond you guyscreated and then even though
he's not with you, which I'msorry he's passed.
He's still with you, which issuch a cool thing I love you
have this connection because, Ididn't have a connection to
entrepreneurship like that.
I stumbled into it on my ownbecause of a necessity to create
a job for myself.
I love that you, have thisstrong familial connection that
(03:22):
is part of your dad.
I'm sure dad did things a littledifferently than Isabel does
things, What was that like?
Like you're trying to, I don'tknow if it was update or change
or elevate the brand in thatway.
Talk about that process.
Isabelle (03:36):
Yeah.
when he was, here I was theintegrator and I really love
being in that role.
I love being number two, I lovetaking someone else's dreams and
bringing them to reality.
I don't necessarily categorizemyself as a dreamer, as a
visionary, I really like tocatch on to someone else's
excitement and bring it tofruition.
(03:57):
I felt I'm in the perfect rolefor me.
nothing could go better.
Everything is exactly as I'dwant it to be.
And that's hard because whenyou're growing up, you don't
really know what you wanna be,right?
and it's hard to say, this isthe direction I wanna go.
But what I found was it wasn'tnecessarily.
the industry or the work?
It was what I was doing everysingle day.
(04:18):
I left feeling fulfilled.
I left feeling proud of myself.
And those are the feelings youwant to feel in a job.
So when he passed, it was one ofthose situations where it was
like, can I just keep doing whatI'm doing?
Can someone else, fill in hisrole?
And we tried for a while tofind, the right visionary for
us.
And one of our business coachesreally kept pushing and
encouraging me, saying, it'syou.
(04:40):
You have to start believing inyourself and unlock this new
version of you because you dohave these skills, even though
you're afraid to go see what itlooks like and feels like on
that side of it.
And finally, I, just said,what's the worst that happens?
I fall on my face, I faileveryone, and I, can't feed our
50 employees, including myfamily.
(05:00):
the pressure was immense.
So I decided to go all in andreally take over the one piece
of the business that I hadn'ttouched before.
I'd reserved solely for him.
No one had touched.
And upon doing that, I reallydiscovered a whole new side of
me.
five years ago, I would'veabsolutely hated being in the
public face and having to do allof this.
And it really just unlockedsomething new in me.
(05:21):
And I've fallen in love withbeing on this side of the role
as well.
And so I am so grateful that Ihad that inspiration from him.
But yeah, I do thingsdifferently.
I'm a younger female and that'swhat I sometimes attract also,
he attracted a lot of olderpeople, and so it's just
different age, race, ethnicity.
(05:42):
There's such a different energythat's coming from the two
different crowds that we'veattracted.
And I think that in a sense,people have shared with me over
time, although he was soauthentic and genuine, that
they've really appreciated, myenergy and how I come at, the
same industry.
It's just more palatable and.
Easier to understand maybe.
it's been a lot of fun, but Idefinitely had to put my own
(06:04):
twist on it.
And I think for a long time Iwas in denial.
And now I feel like I'm fullystanding in my power in this
role that I never knew that Ihad
Beverly (06:15):
Bravo.
so many of our clients strugglewith this stepping in front of
their brand.
This idea of being thevisionary, this idea of fully
living in your power.
for some reason for women, wecarry this should suitcase,
right?
Like you should do it this way,you should do it that way.
I always say the hustle cultureis not always built for women.
Like we have more of a heartculture.
(06:36):
there's just a little differenceof things.
And to fully step into yourpower and to fully step into
that vision.
I hear, EOS language.
Coming from You integrator,visionary.
And for those of my listenerswho don't know what EOS is or
don't know, some of thatlanguage, EOS is an
entrepreneurial operation systemessentially it's just a system
for you to have organization sothat you can scale your
(06:57):
business.
it's very organized.
and there are specific seats onthe bus called Visionary
Integrator, and they're verydifferent roles and a lot of
times solopreneurs carry both ofthose.
Understand your Role in yourbusiness is critical.
And one of the most importantroles you can have is the
visionary.
cause you don't know whereyou're going.
that it's gonna be chaos.
bravo to you to get to thatpoint and bravo to you to get a
(07:19):
coach that's gonna help you getthere.
And To push you outside yourcomfort zone.
We are always pushing ourclients outside their comfort
zone because we see in them butthey don't see it in themselves.
we have mindset issues, all thethings.
And so to get them to seethemselves the way that we see
them is crazy good.
that's where the good stuff is.
Isabel.
so bravo to you.
Isabelle (07:40):
this brings something up in my mind because I know you
have a lot of female listeners.
And I think that in hiring overthe years, I always find it
fascinating that if a man goesto apply for it and he ticks
three outta 10 boxes He's here,look, I'm qualified.
I can do it.
and sells you on himself.
If a woman ticks nine outta 10boxes, she'll tell me, I don't
(08:01):
know if I'm ready yet.
I find that fascinating thatwomen so much, degrade who they
are and what they bring to thetable.
And instead men are hyping up,not always, sometimes not even
being qualified.
And I always find it soshocking, but I think it just
goes with what we said of, hey,if that is you and you're
listening and you're saying, Idon't know if I should go for
this.
I don't know if I'm capable ofdoing this.
(08:22):
You probably are way morecapable than half of the men out
there trying to do the exactsame thing.
Beverly (08:27):
The statistics show that women run businesses are
far more profitable, far moresustainable.
the statistics show that womenrun businesses are pretty much
badass.
So I don't understand leadingwith like this, false bravado of
I can take care of it.
and I do think that impostersyndrome and perfectionism
exists in men as well.
and for those of our listenerswho are men, I have a client
who's a man who's like, why doyou always talk about females?
(08:48):
All the stuff you talk about, itrelates to me too.
But we have this perfectionism,I call them the flying monkeys
of fear, doubt, perfectionism,imposter syndrome, that always
get in our way of us fullyliving in our purpose and the
gifts that we've been given, ourzone of genius.
it is a real struggle for womenspecifically, but men carry this
stuff too.
(09:09):
we're not a only club ofimposter syndrome.
like 70% of CEOs have impostersyndrome and I know there's been
moments where I'm like, do Ireally belong at this table?
there's been moments, but then Ihave to tell myself, you know
what?
If I don't, I will figure itout.
I'll figure out how I can belongand how I can contribute.
I'm not always perfectly ready,but I get myself ready, seniors
is like a huge market, but Ifeel like it's still underserved
(09:32):
market.
So talk about this particularniche and why it's so important
to you.
Isabelle (09:36):
it really started with that personal touch from my
grandmother needing care.
And when we went to go look fora suitable place for her, every
single facility smelled worsethan the next.
The food was bad, the care wasbad.
They were expensive.
They had waiting lists, and itwas like, this is not okay.
Why are more people not upsetabout this?
Why aren't there otheralternatives out there?
(09:56):
And so as we started looking forthis, we realized we're not the
only ones in the world who aregonna be experiencing this.
There's 76 million baby boomerswho in the next five years are
just starting to hit that 85.
The eldest of the baby boomers.
That's when you start to needassisted living.
And so we've got a 20 year runthat starts in the next five
years where we are almostdoubling the amount of seniors
(10:19):
who need care and assistance.
And yet, currently today we are1.3 million bed short.
So this is a national andactually worldwide epidemic in
crisis where we don't haveenough room in the end.
There is not enough beds forthese seniors, let alone quality
care.
So instead of, throwing yourloved one into a large big box
community, we opted to find anddiscover and really hone in on
(10:44):
residential assisted living,which is a single family home
being used to house six to 16seniors.
And as a real estate investor,it's a beautiful opportunity
'cause you get to own the realestate, the appreciating asset
hire, the people who are gonnarun the day-to-day in the
business.
So you get to do good and dowell cash flow and have a place
for your community or your ownloved ones when they need that
(11:07):
care and assistance.
So we really went all in becausewe knew that this was actually
the care that the seniors wantand deserved.
We saw the numbers and thesilver tsunami of seniors
coming, the massive influx ofpeople who need this and the
opportunity.
There's not enough of these bedsand people aren't getting into
this industry fast enough.
So this is really a goldenticket for the next 25 years.
Beverly (11:28):
tell me about a favorite situation of somebody
who's decided to make this leap.
You've done the bootcamp oryou've done the thing with them
and they've fully embraced itand what their story looks like
now.
what was life like before andwhat's life like now for that
particular person that you'vehelped?
Isabelle (11:43):
when you ask that, who comes to mind is one of our
younger students, he was 27years old when he came to the
training, originally from theDominican Republic, but was
living in, New York at the time.
And he shared with me a storythat, he came from a family of
broken dreams and every time hetried to do something, play
baseball, not enough money forlessons, do salsa dancing.
(12:03):
Oh, mom couldn't drive him tothings'cause she had to go to
work.
it was just every single thinghe wanted to do.
it was a no and it was all moneythat was really ruining
everything that he wanted to do.
And he looked around and hesaid, everyone in my community
is also struggling with thissame thing.
So he vowed to be the one tochange his family and he worked
really hard, got into school,became the first graduate, and
(12:23):
became a nurse.
And as he was travel nursing, heheard me on a podcast, just like
this.
And I was sharing about how youcan make$10,000 a month on one
single family home.
And he said, what?
This is crazy.
This is exactly what I wanna do.
So we came to our training, satin the front row and really just
soaked it all up.
When he left our training inJanuary of 2023, by September of
(12:46):
2023, he opened his first carehome.
That was cash flowing him$19,000a month.
he's able to now provide for hismother and the rest of his
family members.
Absolutely changed his own life.
The next September he openedanother home, cash flowing him
$21,000 a month.
So now he's under 30, bringingin 40 KA month on two doors.
(13:07):
He decided to move from wherethose homes were.
They're in Wisconsin, he moved.
and now he's, living lifesomewhere else.
'cause you can do this remotely.
you don't have to live or workin the home.
That's what we teach you how todo.
This has completely changed hislife.
And to me, when I think of,someone I'm just so proud of and
so impressed by it is this younggentleman, because he just
(13:28):
decided to hear something likethis, take action and then go
out and do it.
And now he gets to serve seniorsand really change not only their
lives, but change his entirefamily's life and change his own
life.
And to me, that's what it's allabout.
Beverly (13:41):
Oh my gosh.
That is all it's about like whenwe help our clients, it's about
how we help them, their teams,their community, and this ripple
effect that happens when you canfully live in your purpose and
make those impacts and you havethe kind of profit And
generating ability to be able toeven contribute to your
community in ways you neverthought possible.
(14:01):
I love this so much because Ifeel like, I saw that you did
some missionary work and I am aStevens minister and so my faith
is really important to me andhow I give back and with the
gifts I've been given and how touse them and all the things are
driving factors for me.
And this idea of how they canshow up differently for
themselves, for their family,for their communities, it's
impactful, it's powerful, butit's also an incredible legacy
(14:25):
that you're leaving, whileyou're, while you're here.
Like it's exactly what I thinkwe were supposed to do with the
time we have on this world.
And I do think that when you canhelp.
The least of these, which a lotof, elderly are in that space.
They're widows, they're peoplewho are often, don't have a lot
of family or they don't have alot of support when you can help
them live in more of aresidential, like familial type
(14:48):
experience.
It still feels like a home,which is so powerful.
I love that concept soincredibly much.
My in-laws are in their lateeighties and are in a facility.
It's rather small, but it'sstill a facility.
but they say the thing that theymiss is like a home, like having
their apartment is nice, butthey miss idea.
to have somebody there just incase and all the things, but not
(15:08):
necessarily, Be like a facilityin some way, although the
facility is pretty darn nice.
I feel like They're living theirbest life right now.
this season's, whole focus is onthe idea of activation, brand
activation.
This activation idea is oftenthe hardest part of branding for
people.
It's the biggest challenge thatthey face is now they have this
(15:29):
message, now they have thisvision now, but like, how do I
bring it all to life?
How do I make it happen?
you stopped forcing money andstarted embodying wealth.
What belief or pattern do youthink did you release in order
to step into that?
to really activating your brandin a different way?
Isabelle (15:45):
that is a good one.
I think that there is a lot ofthings that you could do to
really start activating,yourself and your brand and
becoming that.
And I think one of the thingsis, not mentally separating
yourself from this, you now needto become this as much as people
listening are in thatsolopreneur world, it's not
(16:07):
going to work if you treat itother than I think that there is
a part of entrepreneurship whereyou have to commit and go all
in, and it needs to be thenumber one priority.
Work-life balance is a lie.
I don't think that there's muchbalance in life, especially for
entrepreneurs, and that's one ofthe sacrifices that you make, is
that there's gonna be seasons ofyour life where work is number
(16:27):
one.
And that might be hard forpeople to hear that hey, work
might come before your familyfor a certain season, but if you
don't give it your all, you willnever see how far it can express
itself and how far it can grow.
And so I do think you have tolive in it and really become it
and give it your 110%.
It's shocking how manyentrepreneurs want to see
(16:48):
success and want to grow andwant to do all this things, but
They never actually give it theeffort and energy that it
deserves.
And what you focus on grows.
What you focus on, reallybecomes what you need and want
it to be.
Focus, intentionality, andreally becoming who you need to
be and who your brand and yourbusiness needs you to be is of
(17:09):
the utmost importance whenyou're first starting or when
you're making that leap from,Hey, this is my side business,
this is my little thing I havegoing on.
Even speaking about it that way,your words are so powerful.
Like you can't use words likethat.
This is your brand, this is yourbusiness.
This is who and what you standfor.
It's not some little, some side,some fun project.
(17:31):
no.
Delete those words from yourmind, right?
You've gotta go all in if youreally wanna see it.
Get to that next level.
Beverly (17:38):
There's so much of what you said is so powerful there.
I do believe you can find somebalance, but that's because
you're intentional and focusedabout it, not because you let
your business take you whereveryou decide.
The more intentional you'reabout your time and where you
put your energy.
All those things can drive itfor you.
but if you don't have theclarity, you don't have the
focus, you don't have all that,your business will drive you and
(18:00):
then you will be, completely outof balance.
that intentionality, all ofthose things, that's what makes
it more balanceable in thisworld.
So I agree with you.
You have to have clarity in allthat.
You have to know how you'regonna show up.
those guardrails help you havethe balance when you are growing
your business.
I was at a season in my life for10 years where I was not in
(18:22):
balance and I was completelyburnt out and I was completely
dissatisfied.
Although I loved marketing.
I was doing all the things foreveryone, but I wasn't doing the
things for myself.
have that clarity and thatintentionality to take back, to
take control of your businessand the destination you want to
arrive to, how has your brandevolved as you've gotten clearer
(18:44):
and more focused and moreintentional?
Isabelle (18:46):
Yeah.
our brand, from a marketingperspective has evolved a lot.
So we started with lightercolors, I'm gonna say more aged
or more mature looking.
And now it's a lot younger,fresher, a lot brighter.
We even have some neon green, onour website and things like
that.
Our voice and our presence wentfrom extremely.
professional and cookie cutterto being a lot more authentic
(19:10):
and real, for years they weretelling me, don't do TikTok.
Wrong audience don't do TikTok.
And I'm like, I really do thinkour people are there.
I grew that from zero to 60,000followers in literally less than
four months because I knew ouraudience was there, and when I
could speak to them in the waythat they wanted to be spoken
to, it worked.
(19:31):
It clicked, and that's what theyactually wanted to hear.
They didn't want this cookiecutter professional message.
that works better in certainplaces when you're in a live
presentation.
you can show that professionalside, As you get to TikTok, it
needs to be even more fun andsilly and just like connecting
with the human aspect of it.
I think colors have evolved overtime.
(19:51):
I think the voice has evolvedover time, the messaging in
general.
the more real you are in yourbranding, the easier it is for
you to maintain a brand overtime.
And the more that you can reallybe authentically you, the longer
you can last.
Beverly (20:08):
This idea of authenticity, it's like a word
that's really overused, I feellike, be authentic.
Be authentic.
like a flashing neon sign.
being real and truthful to you.
The thing that I found, in myjourney to authenticity, the end
result it was almost like Ididn't know who I was.
I had to figure out who I was.
I call that process even alittle bit therapeutic because I
(20:30):
just wanted to do the work, andit's cha for itself.
I didn't wanna have to name it,say it, show up as it all the
things.
And so for me, I had to takesome time to develop that out.
I was so stuck in the weeds thatI couldn't see the forest for
the trees.
I had to step away to get someclarity in that and then start
showing up and just saying, youknow what?
If they don't like it, it'sokay.
(20:51):
If I'm too much, it's okay.
Those aren't my people anyway.
Those are self differentiatorsand they're self selecting
themselves away from my aura ormy sphere of influence, when you
have some of those things thatyou have to get through those
first few steps can be reallyhard to activating and bringing
the brand to life in a way thatdoes feel real and true and has
(21:11):
that sustainability that you'retalking about, 11 years of
sustainability.
it can be a little bittherapeutic and cathartic and
all the things at the same timebecause it is really about
living in your purpose.
And it is such an exercise injust being true to you.
I used to wake up at 3:00 AM andbe completely stressed out.
Now I wake up at 3:00 AM and I'mawful of ideas and cannot wait
(21:32):
to do the things that I wannado.
And that living in your purposedoes that to you?
It brings you more joy, morecontentment, more calm, all
those things.
Finding that it's the elusivething, but it is the thing
that's going to change yourbusiness forever.
And you, because I agree withyou that There's gonna be all
part of, you's gonna be part ofyour business.
(21:52):
I'm actually, so I'm scalingright now, Isabel, you're a
little bit younger than I am, Ibelieve.
And I'm scaling my business, butI'm at a point now what does my
life look at without mybusiness?
who am I without my business?
if I sell this business, whatdoes that look like?
What do I, what will I do withmyself because I'm so entrenched
in my passion and my purpose.
it's my baby.
there comes another part,another evolution, Isabel, of
(22:14):
who am I without this?
And what does my life look likeand what parts of it am I gonna
take with me?
And what parts am I gonna let goof entirely?
So it's interesting as abusiness owner when you have
these different, where you likestart the business, then you
fully integrate with thebusiness and find yourself
genius and all the things, andthen you have to separate from
your business at some point.
That's an insane thing.
Yes.
It's so good though.
(22:35):
There's so much in it.
It's so good.
Okay.
So if you're listening to thischat today and you're finding
some things like about I need toget clear, I need to get more
intentional, or, someone whoneeds to get clear and more
intentional about theirbusiness, the focus that
activating their brand needs tohappen.
They live more authentically,and in their purpose, then
please share this episode orleave us a comment and review.
(22:57):
Let us know that this is likehitting home for you, that
you've needed to hear this rightnow.
we'd love that if you did that,you'd tell us your biggest
takeaway.
because other people to discovermore of this kind of magic so
that more women can find theirpower, sit in their power, and
do that thing.
such great insights.
Isabel.
Hey there, you've just finishedpart one of the episode.
How are you feeling?
(23:17):
Excited, inspired, but we'rejust getting started.
Next Thursday we're droppingpart two, and you won't wanna
miss it.
Be sure to subscribe to ournewsletter, so you'll be the
first to know when it goes live.
Until then, take a breather, letthose ideas simmer, and we'll
see you next week.
Did you know that senior housing industry is one
of the most rewarding, yetchallenging fields to break
into?
Today's guest has mastered thatchallenge and is helping others
do the exact same thing I'm yourhost Beverly Cornell, the
founder and fairy godmother ofWickedly branded.
We've helped hundreds ofoverwhelmed overachieving
consultants, creatives, andcoaches awaken their brand magic
(00:23):
and boldly bring their marketingto life so that they have more
clarity and feel more confidentto attract their absolute
favorite and most profitableclients.
Today.
Joining us is Isabelle Guarino,founder of Residential Assisted
Living Academy, RAL Academy.
Isabel has transformed thesenior housing education market
(00:43):
by providing cutting edgetraining and resources to help
real estate investors andentrepreneurs create life.
Changing opportunities in thesenior care space.
She's impacted thousands oflives and she's here to share
her journey, her challenges, andher marketing wisdom with us
today.
Welcome Isabelle.
Isabelle (01:03):
Thanks for having me.
I'm so excited to be here.
Beverly (01:06):
I'm so glad you're here.
I read on your website, I lovethis phrase that there's a
silver tsunami of seniors.
Isabelle (01:13):
Yep.
Beverly (01:13):
Out in the world is happening with the baby boomers
and eventually us Xers too.
But let's talk a little bitabout how you started,'cause you
didn't start out in this fieldand what was the spark to start
this particular business andwhat did those early days look
like for you?
Isabelle (01:26):
Yeah, so right outta college, I actually became a
flight attendant.
I really didn't know what Iwanted to do, but I knew I
wanted to travel the world andmeet people and just explore.
So I went that direction andquickly found out that I wasn't
using my brain in the way Iwanted.
I'm bored and yes, I get totravel, but I really wanna do
something that challenges me init ignites, my passions.
(01:49):
So my dad had been a real estateinvestor my whole life and I
really didn't have any interestin what he was doing.
But, I had moved back homebecause I wasn't making a ton of
money as a flight attendant.
And started quickly seeing thatwhat he was doing at the time
was very different.
my grandmother had fallen andbroken her hip and she needed
assisted living.
And so he was looking for placesfor her and stumbled into this
(02:12):
industry.
And instead of doing fix andflip and wholesale and
multifamily and all these otherthings.
He went all in on assistedliving and I started to realize
there was something here thatreally sparked in me and got me
excited because it wasn't justhouses, it wasn't just numbers
on a paper.
It was people and people's livesand serving people so I started
(02:35):
asking him if I could comearound more and help out and
really shoved myself into hisbusiness, became his first
employee.
That was, almost 11 years ago.
And it's been quite a journeysince then.
we've now built over 10companies.
We have over 50 employees.
He passed in 2021 and everythinggot passed to me and it really
(02:56):
has been just such a beautifuljourney and I've been all in on
assisted living from the momenthe let me in that door.
Beverly (03:02):
that's like extremely special.
Like it's a bond you guyscreated and then even though
he's not with you, which I'msorry he's passed.
He's still with you, which issuch a cool thing I love you
have this connection because, Ididn't have a connection to
entrepreneurship like that.
I stumbled into it on my ownbecause of a necessity to create
a job for myself.
I love that you, have thisstrong familial connection that
(03:22):
is part of your dad.
I'm sure dad did things a littledifferently than Isabel does
things, What was that like?
Like you're trying to, I don'tknow if it was update or change
or elevate the brand in thatway.
Talk about that process.
Isabelle (03:36):
Yeah.
when he was, here I was theintegrator and I really love
being in that role.
I love being number two, I lovetaking someone else's dreams and
bringing them to reality.
I don't necessarily categorizemyself as a dreamer, as a
visionary, I really like tocatch on to someone else's
excitement and bring it tofruition.
(03:57):
I felt I'm in the perfect rolefor me.
nothing could go better.
Everything is exactly as I'dwant it to be.
And that's hard because whenyou're growing up, you don't
really know what you wanna be,right?
and it's hard to say, this isthe direction I wanna go.
But what I found was it wasn'tnecessarily.
the industry or the work?
It was what I was doing everysingle day.
(04:18):
I left feeling fulfilled.
I left feeling proud of myself.
And those are the feelings youwant to feel in a job.
So when he passed, it was one ofthose situations where it was
like, can I just keep doing whatI'm doing?
Can someone else, fill in hisrole?
And we tried for a while tofind, the right visionary for
us.
And one of our business coachesreally kept pushing and
encouraging me, saying, it'syou.
(04:40):
You have to start believing inyourself and unlock this new
version of you because you dohave these skills, even though
you're afraid to go see what itlooks like and feels like on
that side of it.
And finally, I, just said,what's the worst that happens?
I fall on my face, I faileveryone, and I, can't feed our
50 employees, including myfamily.
(05:00):
the pressure was immense.
So I decided to go all in andreally take over the one piece
of the business that I hadn'ttouched before.
I'd reserved solely for him.
No one had touched.
And upon doing that, I reallydiscovered a whole new side of
me.
five years ago, I would'veabsolutely hated being in the
public face and having to do allof this.
And it really just unlockedsomething new in me.
(05:21):
And I've fallen in love withbeing on this side of the role
as well.
And so I am so grateful that Ihad that inspiration from him.
But yeah, I do thingsdifferently.
I'm a younger female and that'swhat I sometimes attract also,
he attracted a lot of olderpeople, and so it's just
different age, race, ethnicity.
(05:42):
There's such a different energythat's coming from the two
different crowds that we'veattracted.
And I think that in a sense,people have shared with me over
time, although he was soauthentic and genuine, that
they've really appreciated, myenergy and how I come at, the
same industry.
It's just more palatable and.
Easier to understand maybe.
it's been a lot of fun, but Idefinitely had to put my own
(06:04):
twist on it.
And I think for a long time Iwas in denial.
And now I feel like I'm fullystanding in my power in this
role that I never knew that Ihad
Beverly (06:15):
Bravo.
so many of our clients strugglewith this stepping in front of
their brand.
This idea of being thevisionary, this idea of fully
living in your power.
for some reason for women, wecarry this should suitcase,
right?
Like you should do it this way,you should do it that way.
I always say the hustle cultureis not always built for women.
Like we have more of a heartculture.
(06:36):
there's just a little differenceof things.
And to fully step into yourpower and to fully step into
that vision.
I hear, EOS language.
Coming from You integrator,visionary.
And for those of my listenerswho don't know what EOS is or
don't know, some of thatlanguage, EOS is an
entrepreneurial operation systemessentially it's just a system
for you to have organization sothat you can scale your
(06:57):
business.
it's very organized.
and there are specific seats onthe bus called Visionary
Integrator, and they're verydifferent roles and a lot of
times solopreneurs carry both ofthose.
Understand your Role in yourbusiness is critical.
And one of the most importantroles you can have is the
visionary.
cause you don't know whereyou're going.
that it's gonna be chaos.
bravo to you to get to thatpoint and bravo to you to get a
(07:19):
coach that's gonna help you getthere.
And To push you outside yourcomfort zone.
We are always pushing ourclients outside their comfort
zone because we see in them butthey don't see it in themselves.
we have mindset issues, all thethings.
And so to get them to seethemselves the way that we see
them is crazy good.
that's where the good stuff is.
Isabel.
so bravo to you.
Isabelle (07:40):
this brings something up in my mind because I know you
have a lot of female listeners.
And I think that in hiring overthe years, I always find it
fascinating that if a man goesto apply for it and he ticks
three outta 10 boxes He's here,look, I'm qualified.
I can do it.
and sells you on himself.
If a woman ticks nine outta 10boxes, she'll tell me, I don't
(08:01):
know if I'm ready yet.
I find that fascinating thatwomen so much, degrade who they
are and what they bring to thetable.
And instead men are hyping up,not always, sometimes not even
being qualified.
And I always find it soshocking, but I think it just
goes with what we said of, hey,if that is you and you're
listening and you're saying, Idon't know if I should go for
this.
I don't know if I'm capable ofdoing this.
(08:22):
You probably are way morecapable than half of the men out
there trying to do the exactsame thing.
Beverly (08:27):
The statistics show that women run businesses are
far more profitable, far moresustainable.
the statistics show that womenrun businesses are pretty much
badass.
So I don't understand leadingwith like this, false bravado of
I can take care of it.
and I do think that impostersyndrome and perfectionism
exists in men as well.
and for those of our listenerswho are men, I have a client
who's a man who's like, why doyou always talk about females?
(08:48):
All the stuff you talk about, itrelates to me too.
But we have this perfectionism,I call them the flying monkeys
of fear, doubt, perfectionism,imposter syndrome, that always
get in our way of us fullyliving in our purpose and the
gifts that we've been given, ourzone of genius.
it is a real struggle for womenspecifically, but men carry this
stuff too.
(09:09):
we're not a only club ofimposter syndrome.
like 70% of CEOs have impostersyndrome and I know there's been
moments where I'm like, do Ireally belong at this table?
there's been moments, but then Ihave to tell myself, you know
what?
If I don't, I will figure itout.
I'll figure out how I can belongand how I can contribute.
I'm not always perfectly ready,but I get myself ready, seniors
is like a huge market, but Ifeel like it's still underserved
(09:32):
market.
So talk about this particularniche and why it's so important
to you.
Isabelle (09:36):
it really started with that personal touch from my
grandmother needing care.
And when we went to go look fora suitable place for her, every
single facility smelled worsethan the next.
The food was bad, the care wasbad.
They were expensive.
They had waiting lists, and itwas like, this is not okay.
Why are more people not upsetabout this?
Why aren't there otheralternatives out there?
(09:56):
And so as we started looking forthis, we realized we're not the
only ones in the world who aregonna be experiencing this.
There's 76 million baby boomerswho in the next five years are
just starting to hit that 85.
The eldest of the baby boomers.
That's when you start to needassisted living.
And so we've got a 20 year runthat starts in the next five
years where we are almostdoubling the amount of seniors
(10:19):
who need care and assistance.
And yet, currently today we are1.3 million bed short.
So this is a national andactually worldwide epidemic in
crisis where we don't haveenough room in the end.
There is not enough beds forthese seniors, let alone quality
care.
So instead of, throwing yourloved one into a large big box
community, we opted to find anddiscover and really hone in on
(10:44):
residential assisted living,which is a single family home
being used to house six to 16seniors.
And as a real estate investor,it's a beautiful opportunity
'cause you get to own the realestate, the appreciating asset
hire, the people who are gonnarun the day-to-day in the
business.
So you get to do good and dowell cash flow and have a place
for your community or your ownloved ones when they need that
(11:07):
care and assistance.
So we really went all in becausewe knew that this was actually
the care that the seniors wantand deserved.
We saw the numbers and thesilver tsunami of seniors
coming, the massive influx ofpeople who need this and the
opportunity.
There's not enough of these bedsand people aren't getting into
this industry fast enough.
So this is really a goldenticket for the next 25 years.
Beverly (11:28):
tell me about a favorite situation of somebody
who's decided to make this leap.
You've done the bootcamp oryou've done the thing with them
and they've fully embraced itand what their story looks like
now.
what was life like before andwhat's life like now for that
particular person that you'vehelped?
Isabelle (11:43):
when you ask that, who comes to mind is one of our
younger students, he was 27years old when he came to the
training, originally from theDominican Republic, but was
living in, New York at the time.
And he shared with me a storythat, he came from a family of
broken dreams and every time hetried to do something, play
baseball, not enough money forlessons, do salsa dancing.
(12:03):
Oh, mom couldn't drive him tothings'cause she had to go to
work.
it was just every single thinghe wanted to do.
it was a no and it was all moneythat was really ruining
everything that he wanted to do.
And he looked around and hesaid, everyone in my community
is also struggling with thissame thing.
So he vowed to be the one tochange his family and he worked
really hard, got into school,became the first graduate, and
(12:23):
became a nurse.
And as he was travel nursing, heheard me on a podcast, just like
this.
And I was sharing about how youcan make$10,000 a month on one
single family home.
And he said, what?
This is crazy.
This is exactly what I wanna do.
So we came to our training, satin the front row and really just
soaked it all up.
When he left our training inJanuary of 2023, by September of
(12:46):
2023, he opened his first carehome.
That was cash flowing him$19,000a month.
he's able to now provide for hismother and the rest of his
family members.
Absolutely changed his own life.
The next September he openedanother home, cash flowing him
$21,000 a month.
So now he's under 30, bringingin 40 KA month on two doors.
(13:07):
He decided to move from wherethose homes were.
They're in Wisconsin, he moved.
and now he's, living lifesomewhere else.
'cause you can do this remotely.
you don't have to live or workin the home.
That's what we teach you how todo.
This has completely changed hislife.
And to me, when I think of,someone I'm just so proud of and
so impressed by it is this younggentleman, because he just
(13:28):
decided to hear something likethis, take action and then go
out and do it.
And now he gets to serve seniorsand really change not only their
lives, but change his entirefamily's life and change his own
life.
And to me, that's what it's allabout.
Beverly (13:41):
Oh my gosh.
That is all it's about like whenwe help our clients, it's about
how we help them, their teams,their community, and this ripple
effect that happens when you canfully live in your purpose and
make those impacts and you havethe kind of profit And
generating ability to be able toeven contribute to your
community in ways you neverthought possible.
(14:01):
I love this so much because Ifeel like, I saw that you did
some missionary work and I am aStevens minister and so my faith
is really important to me andhow I give back and with the
gifts I've been given and how touse them and all the things are
driving factors for me.
And this idea of how they canshow up differently for
themselves, for their family,for their communities, it's
impactful, it's powerful, butit's also an incredible legacy
(14:25):
that you're leaving, whileyou're, while you're here.
Like it's exactly what I thinkwe were supposed to do with the
time we have on this world.
And I do think that when you canhelp.
The least of these, which a lotof, elderly are in that space.
They're widows, they're peoplewho are often, don't have a lot
of family or they don't have alot of support when you can help
them live in more of aresidential, like familial type
(14:48):
experience.
It still feels like a home,which is so powerful.
I love that concept soincredibly much.
My in-laws are in their lateeighties and are in a facility.
It's rather small, but it'sstill a facility.
but they say the thing that theymiss is like a home, like having
their apartment is nice, butthey miss idea.
to have somebody there just incase and all the things, but not
(15:08):
necessarily, Be like a facilityin some way, although the
facility is pretty darn nice.
I feel like They're living theirbest life right now.
this season's, whole focus is onthe idea of activation, brand
activation.
This activation idea is oftenthe hardest part of branding for
people.
It's the biggest challenge thatthey face is now they have this
(15:29):
message, now they have thisvision now, but like, how do I
bring it all to life?
How do I make it happen?
you stopped forcing money andstarted embodying wealth.
What belief or pattern do youthink did you release in order
to step into that?
to really activating your brandin a different way?
Isabelle (15:45):
that is a good one.
I think that there is a lot ofthings that you could do to
really start activating,yourself and your brand and
becoming that.
And I think one of the thingsis, not mentally separating
yourself from this, you now needto become this as much as people
listening are in thatsolopreneur world, it's not
(16:07):
going to work if you treat itother than I think that there is
a part of entrepreneurship whereyou have to commit and go all
in, and it needs to be thenumber one priority.
Work-life balance is a lie.
I don't think that there's muchbalance in life, especially for
entrepreneurs, and that's one ofthe sacrifices that you make, is
that there's gonna be seasons ofyour life where work is number
(16:27):
one.
And that might be hard forpeople to hear that hey, work
might come before your familyfor a certain season, but if you
don't give it your all, you willnever see how far it can express
itself and how far it can grow.
And so I do think you have tolive in it and really become it
and give it your 110%.
It's shocking how manyentrepreneurs want to see
(16:48):
success and want to grow andwant to do all this things, but
They never actually give it theeffort and energy that it
deserves.
And what you focus on grows.
What you focus on, reallybecomes what you need and want
it to be.
Focus, intentionality, andreally becoming who you need to
be and who your brand and yourbusiness needs you to be is of
(17:09):
the utmost importance whenyou're first starting or when
you're making that leap from,Hey, this is my side business,
this is my little thing I havegoing on.
Even speaking about it that way,your words are so powerful.
Like you can't use words likethat.
This is your brand, this is yourbusiness.
This is who and what you standfor.
It's not some little, some side,some fun project.
(17:31):
no.
Delete those words from yourmind, right?
You've gotta go all in if youreally wanna see it.
Get to that next level.
Beverly (17:38):
There's so much of what you said is so powerful there.
I do believe you can find somebalance, but that's because
you're intentional and focusedabout it, not because you let
your business take you whereveryou decide.
The more intentional you'reabout your time and where you
put your energy.
All those things can drive itfor you.
but if you don't have theclarity, you don't have the
focus, you don't have all that,your business will drive you and
(18:00):
then you will be, completely outof balance.
that intentionality, all ofthose things, that's what makes
it more balanceable in thisworld.
So I agree with you.
You have to have clarity in allthat.
You have to know how you'regonna show up.
those guardrails help you havethe balance when you are growing
your business.
I was at a season in my life for10 years where I was not in
(18:22):
balance and I was completelyburnt out and I was completely
dissatisfied.
Although I loved marketing.
I was doing all the things foreveryone, but I wasn't doing the
things for myself.
have that clarity and thatintentionality to take back, to
take control of your businessand the destination you want to
arrive to, how has your brandevolved as you've gotten clearer
(18:44):
and more focused and moreintentional?
Isabelle (18:46):
Yeah.
our brand, from a marketingperspective has evolved a lot.
So we started with lightercolors, I'm gonna say more aged
or more mature looking.
And now it's a lot younger,fresher, a lot brighter.
We even have some neon green, onour website and things like
that.
Our voice and our presence wentfrom extremely.
professional and cookie cutterto being a lot more authentic
(19:10):
and real, for years they weretelling me, don't do TikTok.
Wrong audience don't do TikTok.
And I'm like, I really do thinkour people are there.
I grew that from zero to 60,000followers in literally less than
four months because I knew ouraudience was there, and when I
could speak to them in the waythat they wanted to be spoken
to, it worked.
(19:31):
It clicked, and that's what theyactually wanted to hear.
They didn't want this cookiecutter professional message.
that works better in certainplaces when you're in a live
presentation.
you can show that professionalside, As you get to TikTok, it
needs to be even more fun andsilly and just like connecting
with the human aspect of it.
I think colors have evolved overtime.
(19:51):
I think the voice has evolvedover time, the messaging in
general.
the more real you are in yourbranding, the easier it is for
you to maintain a brand overtime.
And the more that you can reallybe authentically you, the longer
you can last.
Beverly (20:08):
This idea of authenticity, it's like a word
that's really overused, I feellike, be authentic.
Be authentic.
like a flashing neon sign.
being real and truthful to you.
The thing that I found, in myjourney to authenticity, the end
result it was almost like Ididn't know who I was.
I had to figure out who I was.
I call that process even alittle bit therapeutic because I
(20:30):
just wanted to do the work, andit's cha for itself.
I didn't wanna have to name it,say it, show up as it all the
things.
And so for me, I had to takesome time to develop that out.
I was so stuck in the weeds thatI couldn't see the forest for
the trees.
I had to step away to get someclarity in that and then start
showing up and just saying, youknow what?
If they don't like it, it'sokay.
(20:51):
If I'm too much, it's okay.
Those aren't my people anyway.
Those are self differentiatorsand they're self selecting
themselves away from my aura ormy sphere of influence, when you
have some of those things thatyou have to get through those
first few steps can be reallyhard to activating and bringing
the brand to life in a way thatdoes feel real and true and has
(21:11):
that sustainability that you'retalking about, 11 years of
sustainability.
it can be a little bittherapeutic and cathartic and
all the things at the same timebecause it is really about
living in your purpose.
And it is such an exercise injust being true to you.
I used to wake up at 3:00 AM andbe completely stressed out.
Now I wake up at 3:00 AM and I'mawful of ideas and cannot wait
(21:32):
to do the things that I wannado.
And that living in your purposedoes that to you?
It brings you more joy, morecontentment, more calm, all
those things.
Finding that it's the elusivething, but it is the thing
that's going to change yourbusiness forever.
And you, because I agree withyou that There's gonna be all
part of, you's gonna be part ofyour business.
(21:52):
I'm actually, so I'm scalingright now, Isabel, you're a
little bit younger than I am, Ibelieve.
And I'm scaling my business, butI'm at a point now what does my
life look at without mybusiness?
who am I without my business?
if I sell this business, whatdoes that look like?
What do I, what will I do withmyself because I'm so entrenched
in my passion and my purpose.
it's my baby.
there comes another part,another evolution, Isabel, of
(22:14):
who am I without this?
And what does my life look likeand what parts of it am I gonna
take with me?
And what parts am I gonna let goof entirely?
So it's interesting as abusiness owner when you have
these different, where you likestart the business, then you
fully integrate with thebusiness and find yourself
genius and all the things, andthen you have to separate from
your business at some point.
That's an insane thing.
Yes.
It's so good though.
(22:35):
There's so much in it.
It's so good.
Okay.
So if you're listening to thischat today and you're finding
some things like about I need toget clear, I need to get more
intentional, or, someone whoneeds to get clear and more
intentional about theirbusiness, the focus that
activating their brand needs tohappen.
They live more authentically,and in their purpose, then
please share this episode orleave us a comment and review.
(22:57):
Let us know that this is likehitting home for you, that
you've needed to hear this rightnow.
we'd love that if you did that,you'd tell us your biggest
takeaway.
because other people to discovermore of this kind of magic so
that more women can find theirpower, sit in their power, and
do that thing.
such great insights.
Isabel.
Hey there, you've just finishedpart one of the episode.
How are you feeling?
(23:17):
Excited, inspired, but we'rejust getting started.
Next Thursday we're droppingpart two, and you won't wanna
miss it.
Be sure to subscribe to ournewsletter, so you'll be the
first to know when it goes live.
Until then, take a breather, letthose ideas simmer, and we'll
see you next week.
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