September 4, 2024 • 35 mins
In this episode of the Mom Owned and Operated podcast, Rita Suzanne and Dr. Danielle Angela discuss raising a family, running a business and remembering yourself.
Dr. Danielle Angela is a chiropractor, hypnotherapist and neurosomatic release practitioner. Danielle started her healthcare career while in high school, when she worked in a skilled nursing facility.
Today, Dr. Danielle has over 20 years of experience in the holistic health and wellness industry. After studying business administration and social work at Lindenwood University, Danielle graduated from Logan College of Chiropractic in 2008. In the initial years of practice, Dr. Danielle worked in a multidisciplinary sports medicine center on Logan University’s campus.
While a faculty member, Danielle helped graduates prepare for starting their own businesses. She also began coaching, mentoring and consulting for chiropractic practice owners at that time. After becoming a mother, Danielle left her role as Assistant Director of Sports and Rehabilitation at Logan University and ventured into private practice. Since 2015, Dr. Danielle has offered life and business coaching for female health and wellness entrepreneurs.
Danielle has helped 1000s of chiropractors prepare for entrepreneurship, as well as supported 100s of female business owners to help them achieve greater work-life balance and increased profitability in their practices. Born out of her own struggle to balance motherhood and being a practice owner, Danielle founded Aligned Women in 2017, an organization that teaches female health and wellness practitioners how to build profitable practices without sacrificing being present with their families. It quickly became the fastest-growing business coaching program for female chiropractors.
Today, Dr. Danielle co-hosts the 7th Time’s A Charm podcast and has produced over 300 podcast episodes in the last 8 years. She is a sought-after speaker and has been featured at several notable chiropractic events including The Wave (2018), the first annual Texpo Women’s Summit (2018), the Academy of Midwest Chiropractors (2021), and Mile High XI (2023).
Danielle continues to offer private coaching focused on nervous system trauma healing for entrepreneurs. You can find countless testimonial videos of the results Dr. Danielle’s clients have experienced on her website. In 2024, Danielle’s virtual practice officially crossed the multiple 7-figure mark in revenue, putting her in the top 3% of female entrepreneurs worldwide.
Danielle remains committed to her own personal growth and nervous system healing, while also raising 3 daughters as a single mother.
You can connect with Danielle on Instagram and Facebook.
Send a text message! Email, if you want a reply though. ;)
P.S. You can find more interviews at momownedandoperated.com and learn about working with Rita at ritasuzanne.com/apply/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Rita Suzanne (00:01):
Hi, this is Mom Owned and Operated.
I'm Rita, suzanne, and today Ihave my guest Danielle with me.
Danielle, I'm so excited tochat with you today.
Please tell everyone all aboutyou, your business and your
family.
Dr. Danielle Angela (00:15):
Awesome.
Well, thank you so much.
Yes, I'm officially Dr DanielleAngela.
I know my last name is kind ofunusual, but it was my middle
name at birth, which I, after mysecond divorce, transitioned to
my legal last name.
The legal process is still inprocess.
Um, I am the mom of three kids.
They are 13.
(00:35):
My middle child is just threedays away from her 10th birthday
and my youngest is six, sothey're kind of a variety of
ages.
I also have a stepdaughter frommy second marriage who's now 21
, and she lives on her own, ofcourse, and we stay in contact,
even though her dad and I arenot together anymore.
(00:55):
Yeah, so that's kind of a bitabout my family.
I have a significant other whoalso has three kids, so one day
we anticipate being married andbeing, um, you know, step, step
parents to each other's childrenofficially, which means I'll
have a total of seven childrenat that time.
Rita Suzanne (01:15):
Yeah, yeah.
Dr. Danielle Angela (01:18):
Seven.
Seven definitely feels like alot, yeah, yeah, a lot.
A little bit about myprofessional backgrounds.
I am a chiropractor by trainingand credentials.
I graduated from chiropracticschool in 2008.
And, in sort of an odd path Itook after school I applied for
(01:42):
a residency position that wasavailable at the school that I
had graduated from.
So I began working alongside mychiropractic professors a week
after I graduated.
Talk about imposter syndrome.
It was so uncomfortable, but Ireally loved my job.
I was really fortunate to beable to have the position that I
did and to even just have asteady salary at that time,
because the majority ofchiropractors leave chiropractic
(02:03):
school and they go off to starttheir own business.
To have the position that I didand to even just have a steady
salary at that time, because themajority of chiropractors leave
chiropractic school and they gooff to start their own business
, which, as you know, as most ofus know here, starting your own
business doesn't necessarilymean that you're getting paid
from your own business,especially in the beginning.
So I was very fortunate to havethat role and I did a lot of
(02:23):
things in my position at theuniversity.
One of those was helpingstudents to start to think about
their own business and whattheir branding and their
marketing would look like.
I had no branding and marketingexperience.
Really.
I just I guess I just kind ofhad like a knack for it.
I don't even know, it justhappened.
So I've advised and helpedhundreds, if not thousands, of
(02:47):
chiropractors now on startingtheir business looking at
associate contracts, leaseagreements, independent
contractorships, choosing theirlogo, their fonts, their brand
colors, naming their businessall of those things In 2015,.
It's kind of a weird.
(03:07):
It's weird to tell you like,when did I start my coaching
practice?
Because I really started tryingto get it started in 2014.
I think I made a little bit ofmoney in 2015.
And I made a little bit more in2016.
It wasn't really until 2017that I made a significant amount
of money, which was roughly$50,000.
(03:28):
So take that for what you will.
I was kind of starting abusiness in 2014, but I wasn't
making money until 2016 at all.
So, that being said, I've beencoaching in my own business now
for eight years and throughoutthe beginning few years, I
really focused specifically onfemale chiropractors and that
(03:50):
was my background.
Eventually, there became a lotof other options for female
chiropractors in regard tocoaches At the time that I
started, I was one of the very,very few, very few female
chiropractors who were coachingand as, as like, other people
(04:14):
came on the scene, I got kind ofbored.
Frankly, I was like, well, this,this was really cool Whenever.
I was like one of the very fewpeople doing this.
I had started the very firstpodcast for female chiropractors
one of the very few peopledoing this.
I had started the very firstpodcast for female chiropractors
and then, when there wereothers, I was like I just don't
feel that inspired anymore.
That was something I really hadto wrestle with, because you
know, of course, most peoplewould be like, oh, you're just
(04:37):
afraid of the competition.
It really didn't feel like thatto me.
I was just like I just don't.
I just don't feel like this isas fun and inspiring anymore as
it used to be.
So I started to kind ofdiversify my business and pivot,
if you will, although the pivothas felt like a never ending
pivot for the last essentiallyfour years.
Really, 2020 happened and allof my customers were brick and
(05:01):
mortar business owners and thatwas a very stressful year.
It was a very difficult timebecause they were used to coming
to me for support and advice onwhat to do in their business,
and I was making it up as wewere going, literally no one
knew what we were doing.
Some States the chiropractorshad to close and other States
(05:22):
chiropractors had to close.
In other states chiropractorsgot to stay open.
It was a lot.
It was a lot and I had alreadybeen feeling called to doing
other things.
So long story short.
Now, after the last four yearsof transition getting divorced,
moving to a new home, a new city, all of the things I have
(05:43):
refined my coaching practice sothat I'm helping service
providers charge their worth.
Rita Suzanne (05:49):
And which is such a, I think, a struggle, having
started as a primarily a serviceprovider myself.
Yes, I, I remember when Istarted.
I started in 2014.
And I knew because when Istarted, before I started, I was
driving to work every singleday with my corporate job and I
(06:13):
was listening to podcasts andreading blogs and, just based on
doing so much research andhaving my notebook and like
doing all of the things andseeing a couple of clients while
I was still working incorporate as a web designer, I
knew when I finally took theleap that I was not going to
(06:34):
start, I was not going to startout under charging Right.
So I came in probably chargingway, probably middle tier for
someone who was brand new Likeeven in today's market, I
probably was charging way more.
So I was charging $2,000 tostart at a brand new for a
(06:57):
website and back then we'retalking 10 years ago back then
everybody else was probablystarting at around 800,
especially if you're new theywere starting at six to 800.
And I was just like, well, it'syou know.
In my mind I said this is justI can't.
I can't do it because it's sotime and labor intensive, so I
(07:20):
couldn't do it.
So I get that and I wish morewomen were, were like, would
start there.
But why do you feel that theystart themselves at a, I guess
at such a low price initially,like right out of the gate?
Dr. Danielle Angela (07:40):
Well, that's an interesting question.
There's a few things that cometo my mind.
One is that in the health andwellness industry there's this
kind of expectation that youpractice the modality, that you
practice because you want tohelp people and that it's not
about the money.
And people hear that fromclients often and then let that
(08:05):
mean that they shouldn't maketheir business about the money.
Yet you run a business with theintention of making money.
So it sets us up for this likeswirly mix of emotions and
(08:26):
energetic funk really aroundtrying to run a profitable
business without appearing to beabout money.
The notion again you know, thathealth and wellness
practitioners should just likedo what they do out of the
kindness of their heart is not asustainable business model.
Yet in professions likechiropractic and acupuncture and
this applies to many others,but I can speak to those two
from firsthand experience theprimary, or like loudest model
(08:50):
of success is a high volumemodel.
So what that means for us isthat we see a lot of patients
really like as many as possible,but that we're cheap and
affordable and that's a reallyfast path to burning out In fact
the burnout rate for femalechiropractors is really high.
(09:10):
There was apparently it's kindof been buried.
There was apparently one studythat was conducted from one
chiropractic school inparticular this was 2017 or 18,
that indicated 80% of theirfemale graduates were no longer
practicing five years aftergraduation and that's not good,
(09:32):
because chiropractors take on alot of student loan debt to
finance their education andwe're talking like $250,000 and
you don't have that paid off.
In fact, you've probably.
Your balance has only increasedin those first five years of
practice because you're notmaking enough money to be paying
your $2,000, $3,000 studentloan payment each month.
(09:55):
So the balance is increasingwith your loans and then you
leave the profession Again, notsomething that really motivates
people to go to chiropracticschool, right, so nobody wants
to talk about that, but that'sjust within the chiropractic
profession.
That is something that we seealso in education Lots and lots
(10:15):
of burnout in education, right,because being a service provider
is hard.
Rita Suzanne (10:20):
Yeah Well, even like our online entrepreneurs
entrepreneurs like they're likethat any I I find a lot of women
entrepreneurs in general willunder charge and then because
they don't really uh, I don'treally know like how to word it
(10:43):
exactly but they don't want toovercharge because of the fear
that they're not really worththat amount, right, especially
when they're comparingthemselves to other people who
maybe seem like they're doingbetter.
Dr. Danielle Angela (11:01):
But that's just like a facade of social
media doing better, but that'sjust like a facade of social
media.
Totally yes.
So that's one of the otherfactors, right, in regard to
setting our fees maybe at whereother people in our industry are
at, or even below where theyare at, so that it's an easy yes
.
When you tell your fees to apotential new client, they're
like oh, you're cheaper than theother person.
(11:22):
Oh, okay, but that doesn'tnecessarily set someone up for
success as a client or a patientor customer.
We hope that it does, but itdoesn't necessarily create an
environment where they'reinvested in what they're
receiving from you and the workthat they're doing with you.
And it's cheap.
So hey, if it doesn't work, nota big deal.
Rita Suzanne (11:45):
Yeah, Often I find I have found that the clients
who haven't really paid as muchare the hardest clients to work
with, so, um, and they want themost, and they burn you out the
fastest.
Um and so, and so I think thatit's.
It would be better if serviceproviders knew how to charge
(12:10):
their worth.
So what do you?
Do you have any recommendationson how someone would be able to
like figure out their valueversus just making a list and
comparing themselves to everyoneelse in their market?
Dr. Danielle Angela (12:24):
Yeah, yes, well, I mean, let's start with
what not to do, right, don'tcompare your fees.
You might look at what otherpeople are charging in your
market or in your industry, sure, as sort of a baseline, but I
don't recommend using that as alike a metric to really decide
what your fees are, because youmight have children and they
don't.
(12:44):
They might have all day to workor love working all day.
They might have a constitutionthat just allows them to have a
really long work day and workfive or six or seven days a week
.
Well, yours may not be likethat.
There's a lot of variables,right For me, every time I had
another child, I was like myfees have to increase.
(13:05):
Now my time has become so muchmore valuable because I now have
another child I need to give mytime and energy and attention
to.
So that means I need to seefewer clients and be more
available for my kids.
But in order to make the incomethat I want to make, I need to
increase my fees.
So I just did that every timethat I had um, every time I had
(13:27):
another baby, and I've done itseveral times since, you know
cause?
My youngest is six years old Um, so we don't want to compare
and set our fees based upon whatother people are doing.
You don't know if they'reprofitable, that's true.
Rita Suzanne (13:43):
And really like what they're offering in that
service, right, like whatthey're actually delivering
could not even be comparable towhat you're offering.
Really keep your eyes on yourown paper, like I always do this
(14:07):
, and and I say yes, do a littlebit of competitor, like market
research.
But once you do that, reallydon't don't indulge in it,
because what I find happens isthe they're over there like, oh,
this person has this new offer,now I have to create a new
offer.
This person has this new shinything, now I have to do this
thing offer.
This person has this new shinything, now I have to do this
thing.
And then they're constantlytrying to keep pace with
(14:27):
everyone else instead offocusing on what they're best at
, and then they're not able toreally shine and then they
become burnt out a lot faster,right, because they're again
trying to keep pace witheverybody else.
Dr. Danielle Angela (14:40):
Yeah, yeah.
Or increase their income bysqueezing more clients into
their schedule, which is, again,it's just exhausting.
So what do we want to doinstead?
We want to start with what isthe income that you would
actually want to be earning?
What does it cost to cover yourexpenses, both personally and
in your business?
If you're a solo practitioner,it's generally pretty easy to
(15:00):
figure out From there.
How much time do you actuallyhave available to be in direct
service to your customers?
But I want you to also accountfor the things that you need and
want to be doing for yourself,to replenish yourself, so that
you don't find yourself in thatplace of feeling like, well, I
took on all these clients andnow I have no time to do what I
(15:24):
need to be doing, to rechargemyself, to be available to all
these clients.
It's a slippery slope.
So really make sure that you'veaccounted for how much time you
want to spend with your family.
How much time do you want tospend, whether it's going to the
gym or going for walks orcooking healthy food at home.
We forget that we get to dothese things as business owners.
(15:45):
One of the main reasons wechose to be a business owner is
for the freedom that can comealong with it the time freedom
right.
So account for all those thingsbefore you decide.
How much time do you reallyhave available to be in direct
service to your clients?
And also remember that you'vegot to do the other things to
grow the business and buildawareness, brand awareness and
(16:06):
marketing and all the thingsRight.
Plus, not to mention,completing your tax return and
staying on top of your monthlybookkeeping All of it needs to
be trained for.
Yeah, Suddenly you find that youhave a lot less time than what
you think that you do to beworking in your business.
So we can just kind of take themath and reverse engineer it
(16:28):
right Start with what you reallytruly want to be earning and
how much time do you haveavailable to earn that amount of
money.
And I have a worksheet thathelps people go through this.
It's really like when you seeit.
If you're a visual person, likeI am, it's really quick and
easy to do and it's a big eyeopening, especially for service
providers who have been doingwhat we've just said not to do.
(16:49):
They've been basing their feeson like what's usual in their
industry or what are theircompetitors charging.
They start to realize reallyquickly why they feel so
overwhelmed.
Rita Suzanne (17:00):
Right, and and that I think that's the biggest
cause.
I think that you know, burnoutis just so serious especially
for moms, right, because you youknow like your health is just
so important and we just willsacrifice everything sometimes
and it's just not worth it.
(17:21):
And so, like really figuringout, charging your worth is like
something that people say allthe time, but I don't think that
it's something that peopleactually implement and do.
And especially when you're inthose periods of downtime, they
get really scared right, themoney mindset starts to kick in
and they just really don't knowwhat to do.
(17:42):
So I think using a worksheetlike yours can help them to see
in a more like logical way ofwhere you know what actual time
that they have available.
And I've fallen into like thisin the past, not necessarily
with services, but withscheduling, my podcast, right.
(18:02):
So I've done where I've saidyou know like I'm, I'm back with
my podcast and then I'll likeschedule, schedule, schedule,
schedule, and then I will do thecalls.
But I would get so overwhelmedthat I wasn't posting all of
them or, you know, I would getso much and I was just like I
just can't do this because Iwould burn myself out from all
(18:26):
of the time that I was spendingon all of the calls, and so I
learned my lesson.
I was like I can't do this.
I have to actually likeinterview and then share,
interview and share, interviewand share, and so you know, to
make it actually worth it,versus, you know, trying to, I
(18:47):
guess, like bundle it up or likehold on to them in some way.
So I feel like you, you kind offigure it out and you know find
what works best for you, but alot of times, like only after
you've burnt out.
Dr. Danielle Angela (19:02):
Right, like only after we have hit some
kind of rock bottom in a sense,do we then know, okay, what
actually, what is it that Iactually do want and what's not
working?
What do I want instead?
I was just talking with someoneelse about that this morning.
You know from like thechiropractic lens of you know,
(19:23):
treating patients that come withchronic back pain or migraines,
whatever it might be.
They generally don't show upuntil they're hurting, and
they've been hurting in somecases for a long time.
In the ideal scenario, they'dbe coming to us before they're
in a situation where they'vebeen having migraines every day
for three months or three yearsor 30 years sometimes.
(19:44):
But that's not like whatmotivates us.
We're not motivated byprevention, we're motivated by
resolving a pain or a problem,right, so yeah, if you, if, if
someone that's listening findsthemselves, you know,
identifying with, like feelingburned out, feeling constantly
(20:05):
overwhelmed, just know that it'sokay.
It doesn't mean that you'reyou're broken or you're doing
something wrong.
It's just kind of a processthat we all go through and even
you know, in the past and I'veconsidered myself an expert in
quotes of like productivity andtime management there have been
multiple phases of my life whereI've felt like I'm out of
(20:27):
balance or I need to make thechanges I teach other people how
to make so that I'm able tocontinue to do what I'm doing
for the long term.
And you know that, rita,because I just shared with you
last week like I'm in this wholenew phase of trying to figure
out how to balance my time withmy children, when they're only
(20:48):
with me 50% of the time with mychildren when they're only with
me 50% of the time.
Rita Suzanne (20:55):
Yeah, it's really tough.
I had an interview withsomebody earlier and I shared
this analogy, and I'm going toshare it again because I think
that it actually fits here aswell, and I think that it's an
important one.
And so have you heard theanalogy of the cow and the lion?
I don't think so.
So it goes into a lot of thehustle culture that a lot of
(21:20):
women, entrepreneurs especially,feed into, and so the analogy
is similar to like the way thatthe cows seek after their food
is they're constantly grazingRight, and that's the, if you
will, the hustle mentality.
You're constantly graze, graze,graze, graze, graze, and so the
(21:42):
objective is actually to bemore like the lion, right To
where you actually are resting.
That's what the lion does.
Like the lion right To whereyou actually are resting.
That's what the lion does.
The lion is not constantlywalking around looking for prey,
looking to see what they'regoing to do.
They're resting, they're inwaiting, right, they're lying in
(22:03):
wait, and then when they seetheir prey, that's when they
expend the energy and they goafter their prey, and so I feel
like that's what more women needto actually do is to actually
be the lion instead of the cow,right, because then you get the
break.
You're lying in wait, you'reresting, your brain is going to
(22:25):
be time to to recoup, your bodyhas time to recoup and now you
can be ready when it's time togo.
You're ready, versus the cowwho's constantly just expending
that energy.
Just you know so.
Dr. Danielle Angela (22:41):
There's a great book on this subject
called why Zebras Don't GetUlcers.
The title might seem a littlebit off topic, but it's really
about the same kind of principlethat we need a lot more rest in
what we think that we do anddon't we have, especially in
today's society.
Now more than ever, we havethings that are constantly in
(23:03):
front of us, like we always havea stressor in front of us if we
allow that to happen.
If we allow that to happen,we're not designed or we haven't
evolved to catch up to thatlifestyle yet, and it affects
our nervous system, ourendocrine system, and eventually
causes chronic health issues ofall kinds.
And we wonder why we're so sickas a society but we're not
(23:24):
addressing the root cause, thatwe're not truly giving ourselves
enough rest.
We can do all of the otherthings, but rest is such a huge
part of the equation and it'sprobably the hardest thing for
us to allow ourselves to do so.
Anyways, why zebras don't getulcers is a really, really good
book for anyone that needs moreof like the the technical
(23:48):
aspects of why you need morerest than you think that you do.
Rita Suzanne (23:53):
Which I think is important because, like we've
been as especially as moms, likewe're trained to just be on the
go right, like we're on the gofor our kids, for our partner,
for our business, you know,especially as business owners,
and then finally hopefully alittle bit for ourselves,
especially as business owners,and then finally hopefully a
little bit for ourselves, andit's like go, go, go, go, go, go
(24:14):
go, and we don't have the timeto rest and recoup and that's
what results in the burnout.
Dr. Danielle Angela (24:23):
Yeah totally.
Rita Suzanne (24:24):
In addition to working extra hard and getting
underpaid.
Yes, yeah.
Dr. Danielle Angela (24:30):
So really it brings the conversation full
circle because when you'recharging more than maybe what
you think that you should beinitially, at least it allows
you to have a lighter clientschedule or client load, which
also then again creates moretime, allows more time for you
to be able to rest or just likego at a slower pace.
(24:50):
And it's kind of countercultureto approach business that way,
because also culture is like asmany people as possible, right.
But this is a differentapproach.
It's like actually I'll takefewer people but earn more per
(25:10):
client or customer or patient,and let that be okay yeah, I
think that if we did that, thenit would be easier.
Rita Suzanne (25:20):
and and just realize that maybe your pricing
isn't the the right price foreveryone, but there are clients
that are willing to pay them andyou just have to connect with
them and and once you do, thenyou know you'll.
You'll have clients, you justgot to find them.
Dr. Danielle Angela (25:38):
Exactly, yeah, when I started coaching in
my own business back in 2017was really when I was like
offering coaching packages.
Um, I think I was charging like$3,000 for six months and that
was like 12 sessions in sixmonths of time.
Now I charge five times thatmuch.
(26:00):
I charge $15,000 for six monthsof working with me one-to-one.
I would have never thought thatI could do that.
I would have never thought backin 2017 that I could have a
conversation with a potentialnew client and tell them my fees
were $15,000 to work with mefor six months.
But I just kept incrementallyincreasing my fees as I
(26:20):
developed more confidence in myskillset and also saw the
results that my clients weregetting.
And what's also happened isthat in 2017, 18, 19, even as
recently as 2022, I had like 24clients that I was working with
at a time, and that's a lot.
But my brain was so conditionedto see it as like just normal
(26:44):
to fill my schedule with peoplethat I just kept pushing myself
to do it.
That I just kept pushing myselfto do it.
And it was over the last coupleof years that I was like this
is not how I want to do thisanymore.
I didn't even feel like I wasoffering the best service to my
clients when I was like movingfrom one session to the next
session, to the next session, tothe next session, to the next
(27:07):
session.
Rita Suzanne (27:09):
You know, six straight hours to the next
session.
You know six straight hoursRight, your brain is just like
tired.
Dr. Danielle Angela (27:13):
Yes, yeah.
So I just share that as anexample.
You know that, like what you,where you think you are right
now and what you think might bepossible for you are two
different things.
I didn't think that I wouldever be able to charge the fees
that I charge now.
I just thought that that wascrazy.
Rita Suzanne (27:30):
Right, be able to charge the fees that I charge.
Now, I just thought that thatwas crazy, right, and I think
that, yeah, I think it'simportant to realize that you
can charge whatever you want,right, it's your business.
You have the freedom to make ithowever you want.
You just have to position it ina way that works for you.
Yes, yeah, that's exactly it.
You, yes.
Dr. Danielle Angela (27:49):
Yeah, that's exactly it.
Rita Suzanne (27:51):
Yeah, so let's move on and let's talk about so.
Something I've recently beenadding on and kind of talking
more about is what tools.
It could be app, it could besoftware, it could be something,
anything that you're using inyour business that is kind of
helping you streamline, optimize, function better, like what can
(28:12):
you recommend to the audiencethat you're loving right now?
Dr. Danielle Angela (28:16):
I really love Stripe and it's to me it's
more than just a paymentprocessor.
I've been using Stripe since2016.
And, frankly, there was a timeperiod in 2021, where, at the
advice of my bookkeeper at thattime, I moved to a different
payment processor platform andit was a disaster.
It was, yes, potentially goingto save us some money in credit
(28:37):
card processing fees, but itcost me an arm and a leg and a
team member, right, because Iwas having my assistant at that
time like work through all theseissues that were coming up with
this new payment processor that, frankly, just wasn't equipped
to handle business the way thatwe did it.
I had a membership program thathad lots of payments coming in
(28:58):
every month as well, as I had alaunch of a course and we
collected.
I think it was around $83,000one month and they were like is
this legit?
Like last month, you collected,I think it was like 20, 25,000.
I'm like, yeah, we just had acourse launch.
This is just like the normalcourse of business for us, but
(29:19):
they withheld funds for threeweeks because they wanted to
verify it.
We weren't going to have likechargebacks or there wasn't some
kind of some kind of fraud thathad happened from our business.
That did not feel good and Ihad never't some kind of fraud
that had happened from ourbusiness.
That did not feel good and Ihad never had any kind of issue
like that happen with Stripe.
But one of the reasons that Istill really like Stripe now is,
(29:41):
even as a solo entrepreneurright now, for the last year
I've not had any team members.
I find it really easy to justbe able to like have a
conversation with someone andcreate a custom package for them
and then go to Stripe, create alink and then just send that
link to the new client and theycan.
(30:01):
It's like so easy.
Rita Suzanne (30:04):
Yeah, I use Stripe too and I've been using it for,
like, custom payment things,like really simple payments.
But it's also connected to myQuickBooks for, like, my regular
invoicing and all of that stuff.
So I use it and then I useZapier to automate like any
(30:25):
transactions that I get insideof Stripe.
They automatically go intoQuickBooks for me so that I
don't have to manually do them.
So that's a little likeautomation bonus for you.
Yes, okay, so let's also talkabout we.
You already gave us the zebrabook, but let's talk about what
(30:45):
are you reading or listening to?
Now that and it doesn't have tobe a business thing, but what
are you listening to or reading?
Dr. Danielle Angela (30:52):
now.
I'm currently just starting abook called Creating a Life that
Matters, and I'm so early intoit that I'm not quite sure yet
if I love it or not.
Over the last several months,though, I've been, I've been
learning a lot aboutrelationships and attachment
(31:13):
styles from a few differentpodcasts and YouTube channels,
and I think this is a topic thateveryone should know about, and
I'm really shocked at how I gotto, like 43 years old, two
marriages and also a degree insocial work.
My bachelor's degree is insocial work, and I didn't know
about attachment styles.
It has made a huge differencefor me in understanding how I
(31:37):
relate to not only mysignificant other, but also my
children too.
Rita Suzanne (31:42):
Yeah, it's very interesting some stuff on it,
but not enough to really speakabout it, but it is very
interesting to see the ways.
And then you're like oh, I knowsomebody, just like that, you
know, or that's me, yeah.
(32:04):
So the last thing is always, Iwant to always, always, always
know about self-care because, asyou know and everybody knows, I
started this podcast because Iwasn't doing a good job at
taking care of me.
So I love to know how you aretaking care of you, what are you
doing just for you, danielle?
Dr. Danielle Angela (32:26):
Well, I have things that I do on a
consistent basis that are justfor me, but they also benefit
everyone else around me becauseI'm better when I do them.
I lift weights four times aweek.
I get a massage at least once amonth, ideally twice.
That feels like reallyindulgent when I do it twice,
but I notice a difference when Igo down to one time a month.
(32:48):
I read I take walks.
I.
I read I take walks.
Um, I have certain supplementsI take.
I see a nutrition responsepractitioner who has me, like um
, change my supplement protocolbased upon my body's needs at
the time.
But the thing that is really themost important for me is
spending time by myself.
That's where I like reallyemotionally recharged and,
(33:13):
honestly, also over the lastyear to two years since my
second divorce and havingchildren in that divorce was a
whole different experience in myfirst, where we didn't have
children, spending time alone isalso like where I really work
through the stuff that I need toheal is also like where I
really work through the stuffthat I need to heal.
That doesn't happen well whenmy children are around, and so
(33:37):
really prioritizing time thatI'm by myself, not time that I'm
home alone because I'm workinghere at home, but, like truly,
just doing nothing is yeah, soyou can reflect and, like,
really just work through some ofthe issues, because I get that.
Rita Suzanne (33:55):
You know I was, I've been divorced twice and it
is, um, it's a lot, it's a, it'sa big process.
So, um, where can everyone findyou, where are you at online
and where can they grab this umworksheet that you have?
Dr. Danielle Angela (34:12):
Yeah, the best places to connect with me
are on Instagram and Facebook.
I'm Dr Danielle Angela in bothof those places and then my
website is alsodrdanielleangelacom.
If you go todrdanielleangelacom forward
slash formula, you'll get theworksheet that I mentioned, and
it's a really quick process tojust work you through.
You might not feel ready tomake changes in your fees right
(34:34):
away, but that's okay.
It at least helps you seewhat's possible for you and then
you can start working for thosechanges in the future.
Rita Suzanne (34:42):
Yeah, I agree.
Thank you so much for being aguest.
It's been a pleasure.
Dr. Danielle Angela (34:46):
Yeah, thank you for having me, it's been
fun.
Hi, this is Mom Owned and Operated.
I'm Rita, suzanne, and today Ihave my guest Danielle with me.
Danielle, I'm so excited tochat with you today.
Please tell everyone all aboutyou, your business and your
family.
Dr. Danielle Angela (00:15):
Awesome.
Well, thank you so much.
Yes, I'm officially Dr DanielleAngela.
I know my last name is kind ofunusual, but it was my middle
name at birth, which I, after mysecond divorce, transitioned to
my legal last name.
The legal process is still inprocess.
Um, I am the mom of three kids.
They are 13.
(00:35):
My middle child is just threedays away from her 10th birthday
and my youngest is six, sothey're kind of a variety of
ages.
I also have a stepdaughter frommy second marriage who's now 21
, and she lives on her own, ofcourse, and we stay in contact,
even though her dad and I arenot together anymore.
(00:55):
Yeah, so that's kind of a bitabout my family.
I have a significant other whoalso has three kids, so one day
we anticipate being married andbeing, um, you know, step, step
parents to each other's childrenofficially, which means I'll
have a total of seven childrenat that time.
Rita Suzanne (01:15):
Yeah, yeah.
Dr. Danielle Angela (01:18):
Seven.
Seven definitely feels like alot, yeah, yeah, a lot.
A little bit about myprofessional backgrounds.
I am a chiropractor by trainingand credentials.
I graduated from chiropracticschool in 2008.
And, in sort of an odd path Itook after school I applied for
(01:42):
a residency position that wasavailable at the school that I
had graduated from.
So I began working alongside mychiropractic professors a week
after I graduated.
Talk about imposter syndrome.
It was so uncomfortable, but Ireally loved my job.
I was really fortunate to beable to have the position that I
did and to even just have asteady salary at that time,
because the majority ofchiropractors leave chiropractic
(02:03):
school and they go off to starttheir own business.
To have the position that I didand to even just have a steady
salary at that time, because themajority of chiropractors leave
chiropractic school and they gooff to start their own business
, which, as you know, as most ofus know here, starting your own
business doesn't necessarilymean that you're getting paid
from your own business,especially in the beginning.
So I was very fortunate to havethat role and I did a lot of
(02:23):
things in my position at theuniversity.
One of those was helpingstudents to start to think about
their own business and whattheir branding and their
marketing would look like.
I had no branding and marketingexperience.
Really.
I just I guess I just kind ofhad like a knack for it.
I don't even know, it justhappened.
So I've advised and helpedhundreds, if not thousands, of
(02:47):
chiropractors now on startingtheir business looking at
associate contracts, leaseagreements, independent
contractorships, choosing theirlogo, their fonts, their brand
colors, naming their businessall of those things In 2015,.
It's kind of a weird.
(03:07):
It's weird to tell you like,when did I start my coaching
practice?
Because I really started tryingto get it started in 2014.
I think I made a little bit ofmoney in 2015.
And I made a little bit more in2016.
It wasn't really until 2017that I made a significant amount
of money, which was roughly$50,000.
(03:28):
So take that for what you will.
I was kind of starting abusiness in 2014, but I wasn't
making money until 2016 at all.
So, that being said, I've beencoaching in my own business now
for eight years and throughoutthe beginning few years, I
really focused specifically onfemale chiropractors and that
(03:50):
was my background.
Eventually, there became a lotof other options for female
chiropractors in regard tocoaches At the time that I
started, I was one of the very,very few, very few female
chiropractors who were coachingand as, as like, other people
(04:14):
came on the scene, I got kind ofbored.
Frankly, I was like, well, this,this was really cool Whenever.
I was like one of the very fewpeople doing this.
I had started the very firstpodcast for female chiropractors
one of the very few peopledoing this.
I had started the very firstpodcast for female chiropractors
and then, when there wereothers, I was like I just don't
feel that inspired anymore.
That was something I really hadto wrestle with, because you
know, of course, most peoplewould be like, oh, you're just
(04:37):
afraid of the competition.
It really didn't feel like thatto me.
I was just like I just don't.
I just don't feel like this isas fun and inspiring anymore as
it used to be.
So I started to kind ofdiversify my business and pivot,
if you will, although the pivothas felt like a never ending
pivot for the last essentiallyfour years.
Really, 2020 happened and allof my customers were brick and
(05:01):
mortar business owners and thatwas a very stressful year.
It was a very difficult timebecause they were used to coming
to me for support and advice onwhat to do in their business,
and I was making it up as wewere going, literally no one
knew what we were doing.
Some States the chiropractorshad to close and other States
(05:22):
chiropractors had to close.
In other states chiropractorsgot to stay open.
It was a lot.
It was a lot and I had alreadybeen feeling called to doing
other things.
So long story short.
Now, after the last four yearsof transition getting divorced,
moving to a new home, a new city, all of the things I have
(05:43):
refined my coaching practice sothat I'm helping service
providers charge their worth.
Rita Suzanne (05:49):
And which is such a, I think, a struggle, having
started as a primarily a serviceprovider myself.
Yes, I, I remember when Istarted.
I started in 2014.
And I knew because when Istarted, before I started, I was
driving to work every singleday with my corporate job and I
(06:13):
was listening to podcasts andreading blogs and, just based on
doing so much research andhaving my notebook and like
doing all of the things andseeing a couple of clients while
I was still working incorporate as a web designer, I
knew when I finally took theleap that I was not going to
(06:34):
start, I was not going to startout under charging Right.
So I came in probably chargingway, probably middle tier for
someone who was brand new Likeeven in today's market, I
probably was charging way more.
So I was charging $2,000 tostart at a brand new for a
(06:57):
website and back then we'retalking 10 years ago back then
everybody else was probablystarting at around 800,
especially if you're new theywere starting at six to 800.
And I was just like, well, it'syou know.
In my mind I said this is justI can't.
I can't do it because it's sotime and labor intensive, so I
(07:20):
couldn't do it.
So I get that and I wish morewomen were, were like, would
start there.
But why do you feel that theystart themselves at a, I guess
at such a low price initially,like right out of the gate?
Dr. Danielle Angela (07:40):
Well, that's an interesting question.
There's a few things that cometo my mind.
One is that in the health andwellness industry there's this
kind of expectation that youpractice the modality, that you
practice because you want tohelp people and that it's not
about the money.
And people hear that fromclients often and then let that
(08:05):
mean that they shouldn't maketheir business about the money.
Yet you run a business with theintention of making money.
So it sets us up for this likeswirly mix of emotions and
(08:26):
energetic funk really aroundtrying to run a profitable
business without appearing to beabout money.
The notion again you know, thathealth and wellness
practitioners should just likedo what they do out of the
kindness of their heart is not asustainable business model.
Yet in professions likechiropractic and acupuncture and
this applies to many others,but I can speak to those two
from firsthand experience theprimary, or like loudest model
(08:50):
of success is a high volumemodel.
So what that means for us isthat we see a lot of patients
really like as many as possible,but that we're cheap and
affordable and that's a reallyfast path to burning out In fact
the burnout rate for femalechiropractors is really high.
(09:10):
There was apparently it's kindof been buried.
There was apparently one studythat was conducted from one
chiropractic school inparticular this was 2017 or 18,
that indicated 80% of theirfemale graduates were no longer
practicing five years aftergraduation and that's not good,
(09:32):
because chiropractors take on alot of student loan debt to
finance their education andwe're talking like $250,000 and
you don't have that paid off.
In fact, you've probably.
Your balance has only increasedin those first five years of
practice because you're notmaking enough money to be paying
your $2,000, $3,000 studentloan payment each month.
(09:55):
So the balance is increasingwith your loans and then you
leave the profession Again, notsomething that really motivates
people to go to chiropracticschool, right, so nobody wants
to talk about that, but that'sjust within the chiropractic
profession.
That is something that we seealso in education Lots and lots
(10:15):
of burnout in education, right,because being a service provider
is hard.
Rita Suzanne (10:20):
Yeah Well, even like our online entrepreneurs
entrepreneurs like they're likethat any I I find a lot of women
entrepreneurs in general willunder charge and then because
they don't really uh, I don'treally know like how to word it
(10:43):
exactly but they don't want toovercharge because of the fear
that they're not really worththat amount, right, especially
when they're comparingthemselves to other people who
maybe seem like they're doingbetter.
Dr. Danielle Angela (11:01):
But that's just like a facade of social
media doing better, but that'sjust like a facade of social
media.
Totally yes.
So that's one of the otherfactors, right, in regard to
setting our fees maybe at whereother people in our industry are
at, or even below where theyare at, so that it's an easy yes
.
When you tell your fees to apotential new client, they're
like oh, you're cheaper than theother person.
(11:22):
Oh, okay, but that doesn'tnecessarily set someone up for
success as a client or a patientor customer.
We hope that it does, but itdoesn't necessarily create an
environment where they'reinvested in what they're
receiving from you and the workthat they're doing with you.
And it's cheap.
So hey, if it doesn't work, nota big deal.
Rita Suzanne (11:45):
Yeah, Often I find I have found that the clients
who haven't really paid as muchare the hardest clients to work
with, so, um, and they want themost, and they burn you out the
fastest.
Um and so, and so I think thatit's.
It would be better if serviceproviders knew how to charge
(12:10):
their worth.
So what do you?
Do you have any recommendationson how someone would be able to
like figure out their valueversus just making a list and
comparing themselves to everyoneelse in their market?
Dr. Danielle Angela (12:24):
Yeah, yes, well, I mean, let's start with
what not to do, right, don'tcompare your fees.
You might look at what otherpeople are charging in your
market or in your industry, sure, as sort of a baseline, but I
don't recommend using that as alike a metric to really decide
what your fees are, because youmight have children and they
don't.
(12:44):
They might have all day to workor love working all day.
They might have a constitutionthat just allows them to have a
really long work day and workfive or six or seven days a week
.
Well, yours may not be likethat.
There's a lot of variables,right For me, every time I had
another child, I was like myfees have to increase.
(13:05):
Now my time has become so muchmore valuable because I now have
another child I need to give mytime and energy and attention
to.
So that means I need to seefewer clients and be more
available for my kids.
But in order to make the incomethat I want to make, I need to
increase my fees.
So I just did that every timethat I had um, every time I had
(13:27):
another baby, and I've done itseveral times since, you know
cause?
My youngest is six years old Um, so we don't want to compare
and set our fees based upon whatother people are doing.
You don't know if they'reprofitable, that's true.
Rita Suzanne (13:43):
And really like what they're offering in that
service, right, like whatthey're actually delivering
could not even be comparable towhat you're offering.
Really keep your eyes on yourown paper, like I always do this
(14:07):
, and and I say yes, do a littlebit of competitor, like market
research.
But once you do that, reallydon't don't indulge in it,
because what I find happens isthe they're over there like, oh,
this person has this new offer,now I have to create a new
offer.
This person has this new shinything, now I have to do this
thing offer.
This person has this new shinything, now I have to do this
thing.
And then they're constantlytrying to keep pace with
(14:27):
everyone else instead offocusing on what they're best at
, and then they're not able toreally shine and then they
become burnt out a lot faster,right, because they're again
trying to keep pace witheverybody else.
Dr. Danielle Angela (14:40):
Yeah, yeah.
Or increase their income bysqueezing more clients into
their schedule, which is, again,it's just exhausting.
So what do we want to doinstead?
We want to start with what isthe income that you would
actually want to be earning?
What does it cost to cover yourexpenses, both personally and
in your business?
If you're a solo practitioner,it's generally pretty easy to
(15:00):
figure out From there.
How much time do you actuallyhave available to be in direct
service to your customers?
But I want you to also accountfor the things that you need and
want to be doing for yourself,to replenish yourself, so that
you don't find yourself in thatplace of feeling like, well, I
took on all these clients andnow I have no time to do what I
(15:24):
need to be doing, to rechargemyself, to be available to all
these clients.
It's a slippery slope.
So really make sure that you'veaccounted for how much time you
want to spend with your family.
How much time do you want tospend, whether it's going to the
gym or going for walks orcooking healthy food at home.
We forget that we get to dothese things as business owners.
(15:45):
One of the main reasons wechose to be a business owner is
for the freedom that can comealong with it the time freedom
right.
So account for all those thingsbefore you decide.
How much time do you reallyhave available to be in direct
service to your clients?
And also remember that you'vegot to do the other things to
grow the business and buildawareness, brand awareness and
(16:06):
marketing and all the thingsRight.
Plus, not to mention,completing your tax return and
staying on top of your monthlybookkeeping All of it needs to
be trained for.
Yeah, Suddenly you find that youhave a lot less time than what
you think that you do to beworking in your business.
So we can just kind of take themath and reverse engineer it
(16:28):
right Start with what you reallytruly want to be earning and
how much time do you haveavailable to earn that amount of
money.
And I have a worksheet thathelps people go through this.
It's really like when you seeit.
If you're a visual person, likeI am, it's really quick and
easy to do and it's a big eyeopening, especially for service
providers who have been doingwhat we've just said not to do.
(16:49):
They've been basing their feeson like what's usual in their
industry or what are theircompetitors charging.
They start to realize reallyquickly why they feel so
overwhelmed.
Rita Suzanne (17:00):
Right, and and that I think that's the biggest
cause.
I think that you know, burnoutis just so serious especially
for moms, right, because you youknow like your health is just
so important and we just willsacrifice everything sometimes
and it's just not worth it.
(17:21):
And so, like really figuringout, charging your worth is like
something that people say allthe time, but I don't think that
it's something that peopleactually implement and do.
And especially when you're inthose periods of downtime, they
get really scared right, themoney mindset starts to kick in
and they just really don't knowwhat to do.
(17:42):
So I think using a worksheetlike yours can help them to see
in a more like logical way ofwhere you know what actual time
that they have available.
And I've fallen into like thisin the past, not necessarily
with services, but withscheduling, my podcast, right.
(18:02):
So I've done where I've saidyou know like I'm, I'm back with
my podcast and then I'll likeschedule, schedule, schedule,
schedule, and then I will do thecalls.
But I would get so overwhelmedthat I wasn't posting all of
them or, you know, I would getso much and I was just like I
just can't do this because Iwould burn myself out from all
(18:26):
of the time that I was spendingon all of the calls, and so I
learned my lesson.
I was like I can't do this.
I have to actually likeinterview and then share,
interview and share, interviewand share, and so you know, to
make it actually worth it,versus, you know, trying to, I
(18:47):
guess, like bundle it up or likehold on to them in some way.
So I feel like you, you kind offigure it out and you know find
what works best for you, but alot of times, like only after
you've burnt out.
Dr. Danielle Angela (19:02):
Right, like only after we have hit some
kind of rock bottom in a sense,do we then know, okay, what
actually, what is it that Iactually do want and what's not
working?
What do I want instead?
I was just talking with someoneelse about that this morning.
You know from like thechiropractic lens of you know,
(19:23):
treating patients that come withchronic back pain or migraines,
whatever it might be.
They generally don't show upuntil they're hurting, and
they've been hurting in somecases for a long time.
In the ideal scenario, they'dbe coming to us before they're
in a situation where they'vebeen having migraines every day
for three months or three yearsor 30 years sometimes.
(19:44):
But that's not like whatmotivates us.
We're not motivated byprevention, we're motivated by
resolving a pain or a problem,right, so yeah, if you, if, if
someone that's listening findsthemselves, you know,
identifying with, like feelingburned out, feeling constantly
(20:05):
overwhelmed, just know that it'sokay.
It doesn't mean that you'reyou're broken or you're doing
something wrong.
It's just kind of a processthat we all go through and even
you know, in the past and I'veconsidered myself an expert in
quotes of like productivity andtime management there have been
multiple phases of my life whereI've felt like I'm out of
(20:27):
balance or I need to make thechanges I teach other people how
to make so that I'm able tocontinue to do what I'm doing
for the long term.
And you know that, rita,because I just shared with you
last week like I'm in this wholenew phase of trying to figure
out how to balance my time withmy children, when they're only
(20:48):
with me 50% of the time with mychildren when they're only with
me 50% of the time.
Rita Suzanne (20:55):
Yeah, it's really tough.
I had an interview withsomebody earlier and I shared
this analogy, and I'm going toshare it again because I think
that it actually fits here aswell, and I think that it's an
important one.
And so have you heard theanalogy of the cow and the lion?
I don't think so.
So it goes into a lot of thehustle culture that a lot of
(21:20):
women, entrepreneurs especially,feed into, and so the analogy
is similar to like the way thatthe cows seek after their food
is they're constantly grazingRight, and that's the, if you
will, the hustle mentality.
You're constantly graze, graze,graze, graze, graze, and so the
(21:42):
objective is actually to bemore like the lion, right To
where you actually are resting.
That's what the lion does.
Like the lion right To whereyou actually are resting.
That's what the lion does.
The lion is not constantlywalking around looking for prey,
looking to see what they'regoing to do.
They're resting, they're inwaiting, right, they're lying in
(22:03):
wait, and then when they seetheir prey, that's when they
expend the energy and they goafter their prey, and so I feel
like that's what more women needto actually do is to actually
be the lion instead of the cow,right, because then you get the
break.
You're lying in wait, you'reresting, your brain is going to
(22:25):
be time to to recoup, your bodyhas time to recoup and now you
can be ready when it's time togo.
You're ready, versus the cowwho's constantly just expending
that energy.
Just you know so.
Dr. Danielle Angela (22:41):
There's a great book on this subject
called why Zebras Don't GetUlcers.
The title might seem a littlebit off topic, but it's really
about the same kind of principlethat we need a lot more rest in
what we think that we do anddon't we have, especially in
today's society.
Now more than ever, we havethings that are constantly in
(23:03):
front of us, like we always havea stressor in front of us if we
allow that to happen.
If we allow that to happen,we're not designed or we haven't
evolved to catch up to thatlifestyle yet, and it affects
our nervous system, ourendocrine system, and eventually
causes chronic health issues ofall kinds.
And we wonder why we're so sickas a society but we're not
(23:24):
addressing the root cause, thatwe're not truly giving ourselves
enough rest.
We can do all of the otherthings, but rest is such a huge
part of the equation and it'sprobably the hardest thing for
us to allow ourselves to do so.
Anyways, why zebras don't getulcers is a really, really good
book for anyone that needs moreof like the the technical
(23:48):
aspects of why you need morerest than you think that you do.
Rita Suzanne (23:53):
Which I think is important because, like we've
been as especially as moms, likewe're trained to just be on the
go right, like we're on the gofor our kids, for our partner,
for our business, you know,especially as business owners,
and then finally hopefully alittle bit for ourselves,
especially as business owners,and then finally hopefully a
little bit for ourselves, andit's like go, go, go, go, go, go
(24:14):
go, and we don't have the timeto rest and recoup and that's
what results in the burnout.
Dr. Danielle Angela (24:23):
Yeah totally.
Rita Suzanne (24:24):
In addition to working extra hard and getting
underpaid.
Yes, yeah.
Dr. Danielle Angela (24:30):
So really it brings the conversation full
circle because when you'recharging more than maybe what
you think that you should beinitially, at least it allows
you to have a lighter clientschedule or client load, which
also then again creates moretime, allows more time for you
to be able to rest or just likego at a slower pace.
(24:50):
And it's kind of countercultureto approach business that way,
because also culture is like asmany people as possible, right.
But this is a differentapproach.
It's like actually I'll takefewer people but earn more per
(25:10):
client or customer or patient,and let that be okay yeah, I
think that if we did that, thenit would be easier.
Rita Suzanne (25:20):
and and just realize that maybe your pricing
isn't the the right price foreveryone, but there are clients
that are willing to pay them andyou just have to connect with
them and and once you do, thenyou know you'll.
You'll have clients, you justgot to find them.
Dr. Danielle Angela (25:38):
Exactly, yeah, when I started coaching in
my own business back in 2017was really when I was like
offering coaching packages.
Um, I think I was charging like$3,000 for six months and that
was like 12 sessions in sixmonths of time.
Now I charge five times thatmuch.
(26:00):
I charge $15,000 for six monthsof working with me one-to-one.
I would have never thought thatI could do that.
I would have never thought backin 2017 that I could have a
conversation with a potentialnew client and tell them my fees
were $15,000 to work with mefor six months.
But I just kept incrementallyincreasing my fees as I
(26:20):
developed more confidence in myskillset and also saw the
results that my clients weregetting.
And what's also happened isthat in 2017, 18, 19, even as
recently as 2022, I had like 24clients that I was working with
at a time, and that's a lot.
But my brain was so conditionedto see it as like just normal
(26:44):
to fill my schedule with peoplethat I just kept pushing myself
to do it.
That I just kept pushing myselfto do it.
And it was over the last coupleof years that I was like this
is not how I want to do thisanymore.
I didn't even feel like I wasoffering the best service to my
clients when I was like movingfrom one session to the next
session, to the next session, tothe next session, to the next
(27:07):
session.
Rita Suzanne (27:09):
You know, six straight hours to the next
session.
You know six straight hoursRight, your brain is just like
tired.
Dr. Danielle Angela (27:13):
Yes, yeah.
So I just share that as anexample.
You know that, like what you,where you think you are right
now and what you think might bepossible for you are two
different things.
I didn't think that I wouldever be able to charge the fees
that I charge now.
I just thought that that wascrazy.
Rita Suzanne (27:30):
Right, be able to charge the fees that I charge.
Now, I just thought that thatwas crazy, right, and I think
that, yeah, I think it'simportant to realize that you
can charge whatever you want,right, it's your business.
You have the freedom to make ithowever you want.
You just have to position it ina way that works for you.
Yes, yeah, that's exactly it.
You, yes.
Dr. Danielle Angela (27:49):
Yeah, that's exactly it.
Rita Suzanne (27:51):
Yeah, so let's move on and let's talk about so.
Something I've recently beenadding on and kind of talking
more about is what tools.
It could be app, it could besoftware, it could be something,
anything that you're using inyour business that is kind of
helping you streamline, optimize, function better, like what can
(28:12):
you recommend to the audiencethat you're loving right now?
Dr. Danielle Angela (28:16):
I really love Stripe and it's to me it's
more than just a paymentprocessor.
I've been using Stripe since2016.
And, frankly, there was a timeperiod in 2021, where, at the
advice of my bookkeeper at thattime, I moved to a different
payment processor platform andit was a disaster.
It was, yes, potentially goingto save us some money in credit
(28:37):
card processing fees, but itcost me an arm and a leg and a
team member, right, because Iwas having my assistant at that
time like work through all theseissues that were coming up with
this new payment processor that, frankly, just wasn't equipped
to handle business the way thatwe did it.
I had a membership program thathad lots of payments coming in
(28:58):
every month as well, as I had alaunch of a course and we
collected.
I think it was around $83,000one month and they were like is
this legit?
Like last month, you collected,I think it was like 20, 25,000.
I'm like, yeah, we just had acourse launch.
This is just like the normalcourse of business for us, but
(29:19):
they withheld funds for threeweeks because they wanted to
verify it.
We weren't going to have likechargebacks or there wasn't some
kind of some kind of fraud thathad happened from our business.
That did not feel good and Ihad never't some kind of fraud
that had happened from ourbusiness.
That did not feel good and Ihad never had any kind of issue
like that happen with Stripe.
But one of the reasons that Istill really like Stripe now is,
(29:41):
even as a solo entrepreneurright now, for the last year
I've not had any team members.
I find it really easy to justbe able to like have a
conversation with someone andcreate a custom package for them
and then go to Stripe, create alink and then just send that
link to the new client and theycan.
(30:01):
It's like so easy.
Rita Suzanne (30:04):
Yeah, I use Stripe too and I've been using it for,
like, custom payment things,like really simple payments.
But it's also connected to myQuickBooks for, like, my regular
invoicing and all of that stuff.
So I use it and then I useZapier to automate like any
(30:25):
transactions that I get insideof Stripe.
They automatically go intoQuickBooks for me so that I
don't have to manually do them.
So that's a little likeautomation bonus for you.
Yes, okay, so let's also talkabout we.
You already gave us the zebrabook, but let's talk about what
(30:45):
are you reading or listening to?
Now that and it doesn't have tobe a business thing, but what
are you listening to or reading?
Dr. Danielle Angela (30:52):
now.
I'm currently just starting abook called Creating a Life that
Matters, and I'm so early intoit that I'm not quite sure yet
if I love it or not.
Over the last several months,though, I've been, I've been
learning a lot aboutrelationships and attachment
(31:13):
styles from a few differentpodcasts and YouTube channels,
and I think this is a topic thateveryone should know about, and
I'm really shocked at how I gotto, like 43 years old, two
marriages and also a degree insocial work.
My bachelor's degree is insocial work, and I didn't know
about attachment styles.
It has made a huge differencefor me in understanding how I
(31:37):
relate to not only mysignificant other, but also my
children too.
Rita Suzanne (31:42):
Yeah, it's very interesting some stuff on it,
but not enough to really speakabout it, but it is very
interesting to see the ways.
And then you're like oh, I knowsomebody, just like that, you
know, or that's me, yeah.
(32:04):
So the last thing is always, Iwant to always, always, always
know about self-care because, asyou know and everybody knows, I
started this podcast because Iwasn't doing a good job at
taking care of me.
So I love to know how you aretaking care of you, what are you
doing just for you, danielle?
Dr. Danielle Angela (32:26):
Well, I have things that I do on a
consistent basis that are justfor me, but they also benefit
everyone else around me becauseI'm better when I do them.
I lift weights four times aweek.
I get a massage at least once amonth, ideally twice.
That feels like reallyindulgent when I do it twice,
but I notice a difference when Igo down to one time a month.
(32:48):
I read I take walks.
I.
I read I take walks.
Um, I have certain supplementsI take.
I see a nutrition responsepractitioner who has me, like um
, change my supplement protocolbased upon my body's needs at
the time.
But the thing that is really themost important for me is
spending time by myself.
That's where I like reallyemotionally recharged and,
(33:13):
honestly, also over the lastyear to two years since my
second divorce and havingchildren in that divorce was a
whole different experience in myfirst, where we didn't have
children, spending time alone isalso like where I really work
through the stuff that I need toheal is also like where I
really work through the stuffthat I need to heal.
That doesn't happen well whenmy children are around, and so
(33:37):
really prioritizing time thatI'm by myself, not time that I'm
home alone because I'm workinghere at home, but, like truly,
just doing nothing is yeah, soyou can reflect and, like,
really just work through some ofthe issues, because I get that.
Rita Suzanne (33:55):
You know I was, I've been divorced twice and it
is, um, it's a lot, it's a, it'sa big process.
So, um, where can everyone findyou, where are you at online
and where can they grab this umworksheet that you have?
Dr. Danielle Angela (34:12):
Yeah, the best places to connect with me
are on Instagram and Facebook.
I'm Dr Danielle Angela in bothof those places and then my
website is alsodrdanielleangelacom.
If you go todrdanielleangelacom forward
slash formula, you'll get theworksheet that I mentioned, and
it's a really quick process tojust work you through.
You might not feel ready tomake changes in your fees right
(34:34):
away, but that's okay.
It at least helps you seewhat's possible for you and then
you can start working for thosechanges in the future.
Rita Suzanne (34:42):
Yeah, I agree.
Thank you so much for being aguest.
It's been a pleasure.
Dr. Danielle Angela (34:46):
Yeah, thank you for having me, it's been
fun.
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