Dr. Christiana shares her journey as both a full-time professor and successful entrepreneur, revealing how small, consistent actions lead to remarkable achievements through her trademarked "petite practice" method.
• Academic background as a marketing professor who teaches innovation and entrepreneurship
• Developed the "petite practice" method using small, digestible moments of learning
• Competition's Latin origin means "thrive together" - celebrating others' success instead of viewing them as threats
• People buy stories, not products - successful brands connect through authentic storytelling
• Gratitude practice of documenting three daily wins creates over 1,000 documented achievements annually
• Discovering your superpower: skills that come easily to you but are valuable to others
• What you got in trouble for as a child might point to your natural talents and future career path
• Building connections with others creates the most meaningful life experiences
Start small with just 10-15 minutes of daily practice, share your goals with accountability partners, and don't worry if you miss a day - just pick it back up tomorrow!
Unlock the secrets to online business success with these FREE and low-cost resources from Nicole!
-Join our supportive FB Group to connect with like-minded entrepreneurs and get exclusive tips and advice: https://nicoletuxbury.com/facebook
-Get your copy of the Best of the Profit Machine Summit Book shipped to you to learn from 15+ experts on how to turn your online business into a Profit Machine for only $13! https://nicoletuxbury.com/profit-machine-summit-e-book/
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Explore these amazing resources and start your journey to success today!
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Book your call to discuss working together one-on-one with me to craft custom strategies and implement powerful systems that will help you smash your goals and unleash your business's full potential!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello and welcome back to the next episode of
Overcome Yourself, the podcast.
As you know, my name is Nicoleand I'm so excited here to be
here today with Christiane.
So welcome and please tell us alittle bit about yourself.
I'm so excited to hear aboutyour method, your book.
Like you've got so much goingon, so tell us a little bit
about yourself, thanks so muchfor having me here, nicole.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
My name is Dr Christiana and I am a business
and wellness coach, an author, apodcaster, and my main job is
actually I'm a professor.
I teach marketing, innovation,entrepreneurship and I'm really
passionate about helping peopletransform their dreams into
viable business opportunities.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
That is amazing.
And you started, if I remembercorrectly from your bio, you
started in academia and then youdecided to make the leap to
entrepreneurship and now youhave, like you said, a globally
ranked podcast.
You have a book, so can youtell us a little bit about that
journey?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Yeah, so I'm still a full-time professor, and the
amazing thing is really, as afull-time professor, you see the
students in the classroom beingsuper passionate about things
that they would love to do withtheir lives.
Right, there is just so muchtalent and potential and passion
there and, at the same time,even sometimes a little bit of
(01:24):
confusion or overwhelm, and whatI really felt was that I have
these little fires that I canreally ignite in the classroom
and really give them ideas to goafter opportunities and trends
and become the next businessthat helps to solve all these
(01:44):
issues, right To kind of changetheir little corner of the world
, so to speak.
And I felt the best way to dothat was to continue teaching in
person, but also make my voiceheard through a podcast, through
my YouTube channel, through mybooks, with others that maybe
have graduated from my academicclasses or can't take my
(02:07):
academic classes because they'reliving on the other side of the
globe, and so my podcastreaches people all over the
world.
My books have been sold in manyparts of the globe and it's
really been amazing to hear fromthese people back and hear how
their lives and their businesseshave transformed.
So it's been exceptionallyfulfilling and I'm really glad
(02:28):
to have this opportunity toreach so many different people
and to help them shape theirdreams.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Oh, that is so amazing.
That is incredible, and I lovethe example you set, you know,
because when we are building ouronline businesses, when we're
focused on the most importantactivities, on the big dominoes,
we don't have to sacrifice therest of our lives to make that
business work.
And so I think you're just suchan awesome example of that.
(02:55):
You're doing something that youlove and you're also, at the
same time, you're building yourown thing and you're building
out this legacy that you knowlike it's yours.
It's yours forever, and so Ilove that so much.
How you're mixing the two.
Um.
So tell me a little bit abouthow you overcame yourself to
(03:15):
really take on the entrepreneurside of things, um, and like,
what is it that you focus ondaily that helps you build your
business while you're stillworking as a professor?
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yeah, it's a fabulous question actually.
So in academics, after yougraduate with your PhD, you
typically get hired for what'scalled a tenure track position
and then you go through a quiterigid review of publishing
academic papers that are highlyscientific, very research
(03:49):
oriented.
You teach, you do also service,and so there is a thing that's
called tenure track to where youget evaluated by your peers, by
peers at other universities,whether you fulfill all this
criteria.
So you basically need to beexcellent in research, as a
teacher, but also with regard toyour service skills.
(04:10):
And then, after you go throughthese different ranks and you
are a full professor which I amnow you continue to publish and
at that point you have a littlebit more flexibility in terms of
maybe more reaching the globalmasses.
And I think that's really whathappened for me.
Once I reached the professorring, I thought, okay, so what's
(04:30):
next?
And I looked at my students andI realized that their learning
had really changed, that,instead of reading a textbook
and assigning 30 pages in achapter in a marketing textbook,
that they really needed muchsmaller chunks of knowledge.
And that's really how theyconsume information, because
(04:51):
when they scroll through socialmedia, it's just like fast
information that basically goesthrough their brain, and I
noticed that they are not reallyset out to read like the next
Harry Potter novel, which is,you know, 500 pages, but more
something that's like three tofive pages.
And at that point I decided thatthe way that I had been
(05:13):
teaching my classes was reallyold fashioned and that I need to
change it and really chunk itdown.
And I came up with the conceptthat is my trademarked petite
practice, to where I use small,digestible moments of learning,
one page worksheets to reallyteach a concept very hands-on,
(05:33):
very applied, and also to thefact where the students feel
they can do it, they can try itand they're okay if they don't
do it correct the first time.
So it really teaches thismoment of failure as a
celebration instead of somethingthat is like horrible.
So they basically do theworksheet, they even use their
(05:55):
pencils and they sometimes erasetheir answer and then they go
ahead and try again.
(06:16):
And so the petite practicethat's why the word practice is
there is really teaching youwe're taking small steps to
achieve something, teaches usthat learning happens through
the good moments and through themoments where we maybe didn't
quite take that right path.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
That is amazing.
I love that and that echoeswhat I talk about in my book.
You know, in establishing thosesmall, tiny baby steps and then
just doing a small thing everyday, right, just being 1% better
.
You just have to be a littlebit better than you were
yesterday and you make amazingprogress.
Right, like recording onepodcast episode a day.
(06:54):
If you do that 30 minutes, yourecord an episode.
At the end of the year, youhave over 300 episodes and
that's more than, like, 90% ofpeople start with a podcast.
Right, because, yeah, they'refocused on, like, growing the
audience instead of focusing onwhat you can control, which is
creating the content.
So I love that so much.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Yeah, and actually the amazing thing is that
sometimes we tend to look toomuch at what other people are
doing.
We look at others nearly ascompetition, and in my classes I
teach my students that the wordcompetition, when you look at
the Latin origin of that word,actually means thrive together.
(07:39):
Thrive together meaning that weare building ourselves as a team
and we are not pushing othersdown to make ourselves look
better.
And I think that sometimes incompetition we really need to
think about this as being morelike I celebrate your success,
and by celebrating your success,actually I thrive.
(08:01):
So there is enough for us to goaround and to share with
everybody.
But by really changing yourperspective from oh no, I need
to be better than you, you'reactually really changing the
wiring in your brain in terms oflike, if you are finding
uniquely what you do and who youare, then you're really going
(08:24):
to succeed, and it's not bymaking others look worse or
anything like that.
So I think that my studentsreally learned that in the
classroom.
I'm really pushing that conceptof unique value proposition who
are you and what do you have tooffer to the world?
It's different from everybodyelse, but we can all thrive
together, just like what theword competition is really going
(08:46):
for.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Yes, and you know what it makes you think, like,
even if you lose the WorldSeries, the World Cup, the World
Series, the Super Bowl, likeeven if you lose that big game,
you played in that game, youwere good enough to make it
there, right?
And so just the fact that you'replaying that game, whatever it
is, you know, whatever arena itis that you're in, like we got
(09:10):
to be grateful that we get toplay the game and you're playing
at such a level that sometimeswe forget, right, that that it's
like it's taken so much to gethere, and just the fact that
you're here, regardless ofwhether you win or not, you made
it here, and like there's,there's value in that, there's
credit in that, there is, thereis worth in that right, so I
(09:34):
love that so much.
That's amazing.
So I wanted to ask you, sinceyou are a professor of marketing
and this is, you know, this iswhat you teach your students a
professor of marketing and thisis, you know, this is what you
teach your students Can you giveus a tiny lesson on marketing?
Like what is it that you're,you know, like the biggest aha
that your students get in one ofyour lessons.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Oh yeah, brilliant.
Actually, we just talked aboutthat yesterday and I talked
about the fact that people buystories.
They don't buy products.
That people buy stories, theydon't buy products, right?
So the most successful brandsin marketing are the ones that
really share authentically whothey are.
So you never really look for, oh, I want to buy this particular
(10:18):
product.
It's more that you are all of asudden connecting with the
brand because of the story,because of the owner that shares
their personal background andwhy they created this brand.
And then all of a sudden,you're starting to connect to
the brand because you see alittle bit of yourself in it.
So the most successfulmarketing concept really is you
(10:42):
have to think a little bit ofpeople will come to you not
because of who you are, butbecause you make them feel that
they see themselves in you and Ithink that is the most
important piece.
Nobody cares about you, butthey really want to see that you
reflect what your problem wasand that they see oh, this is a
(11:07):
problem I'm struggling withmyself and let's see how she
solved that problem and thenyou're really going to succeed.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
That is awesome.
I was reading an article theother day.
You just reminded me ofNespresso and how their patent
they were losing the patent forthe pod system and a lot of
companies will not survivelosing, you know, like the
patent going away.
What they did is they leanedinto the story and they leaned
(11:44):
into creating a, an experiencefor their customer.
They created a club and theygot the, the spokesperson, they
got Clooney, who exudes thesophistication and all of the
elements that they wanted tobring that they wanted that
brand to emphasize.
And not only did they not gounder, they thrived, they became
, you know, a brand.
So, even though all these otherbrands were are distributing
(12:05):
knockoffs right, because now thepatent is available for
everyone it solidified them asthe go-to brand.
This is like the high-end brand,um and like, as a matter of
fact, I was reading that thatthey brought down the price on
the machine, so they were taking, they weren't making as much on
the machines, but they wereable to increase the price on
(12:25):
the pods and it was billions ofdollars in revenue that they
generated the year that theirpatent went away.
And so that's I thought.
I just thought I read thatstory the other day.
I just thought.
I read that story the other dayand that just made me think of
that, how you create that storyaround your brand and and then
you can really, you can reallythrive, right, and they became
leaders in the market.
(12:45):
So what do you think about that?
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Yeah, and I think that sometimes we kind of look
at a company as somethingespecially successful companies.
They have always been successful, but I would always encourage
you to really scroll back downin their social media feeds,
because they all started fromzero.
So it sometimes seemsespecially for my students in
(13:10):
the classroom so intimidating tothink, oh, I could be the next
thing, because it seems likeit's so far away.
But in reality, everybodystarted with zero followers,
everybody started with acampaign that had zero dollar
funding and that's just themomentum, the petite practice
(13:30):
that you have to keep going stepby step and really share your
story authentically and theneventually people will start
connecting with you and becausethey trust you, it's this know
and trust factor that theyreally built and overall the
recognition like, oh yeah, she'ssomebody that I would really
love to do business with, and Ithink at that point, really,
(13:52):
that breakout happens.
So it's not really like youcome up with this amazing thing.
Everybody wants to buy it.
This is really not how it worksanymore, especially not
nowadays where, I say, theattention is so short.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
We really need to think a little bit of what sets
us apart, and that's reallysharing who uniquely, who we are
yes, um, okay, I just thoughtof another story, of course, but
the Stanley Cup craze that weexperienced just a few years ago
, that started a company thathad been around for hundreds of
(14:25):
years I think Stanley's beenaround for a really long time
and their ideal market beforewas rugged men.
There were workers, they were,you know, the out of the line
men that were out, they were outin the mines because they
needed a strong cup.
And then a girl's car caught onfire and when she went, she was
(14:47):
, you know, when she was able togo back inside, she was like,
oh my God, you guys, my Stanleycup was in my car that was on
fire and it was OK and there'sstill ice in here.
And that's what started theentire everybody's like oh my
god, I gotta go get a stanley.
And that company went fromhaving, like, like you know,
this amount, 10 times therevenue in a year.
That completely changed theirideal market and they had a huge
(15:10):
boom and they've been aroundfor hundreds of years, you know.
And so, yes, like a story cancome out like this and it can
change everything for yourcompany and they did a good job
of leaning into that momentumright and using those
opportunities, like if someoneyou know mentions your product
and they're like it's amazing.
I'm sure they sent her cups andthey sent her all kinds of
(15:31):
stuff.
I think they bought her a newcar and everything Like a
company bought her a car forsharing that story.
And so you know, you never knowwhat could come up from a good
story, right?
That is amazing.
I love it.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Yeah, and I think that's really a good marketer,
is really a good storyteller tokind of like think a little bit
about, you know, connecting thebrand with something that also
creates emotion, especiallynowadays when we use so much AI
(16:07):
that people underestimate thatwe can frequently pick up.
Is this written by AI or isthis written by a human?
Because the AI is not able toimmediately put the emotion into
it.
So I would always encourage usto use AI and automate things,
and I heavily teach it in theclassroom.
But really taking a look andthinking, is that really the
voice I would use?
(16:27):
Is this really creating someemotion, to where I'm feeling
I'm starting to connect withthis product or with this
service?
When I read this, or does itsound like it's written by a
machine?
And I think that's really wherethe flip really happens, right?
So when you're feeling, you'rereading something and it's
creating that emotion and it'screating that connection, that's
(16:48):
really when you are gettingsomething much bigger, something
that where your unique voicesounds through, maybe words that
you use maybe um littleidiosyncrasies, right, like, for
instance, I use a lot ofeuropean things because I'm born
in europe.
So I always say I have thiseuropean flair and I think that
(17:10):
my students are expecting thisnow, or like little words that I
use, and that's something.
As soon as you start sharingthis and building your brand,
that's really when the magichappens.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
I love that.
I love that so much.
Now in my book we've alreadytalked a little bit about habits
, but one of the foundations ofmy book is gratitude and
practicing gratitude.
So, in your professional wisdom, can you talk to us a little
bit about what part gratitudeplays in this journey of the
(17:43):
tiny practices?
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Yeah, so I have actually three different books
that I wrote.
I have a petite practiceplanner which is really heavily
leaning on using every day as acelebration and for me,
gratitude really happens at theend of the day.
You can use your petitepractice planner and write down
(18:07):
three wins that happened on thatday.
Practice planner and write downthree wins that happened on
that day and there's sciencethat really shows, by kind of
reflecting on this gratitude atthe end of the day, writing down
those three wins, it willactually subconsciously help you
when you wake up on the nextmorning and picking up those
thoughts and continuing it,because your mind is celebrating
(18:28):
this moment as you go to sleep,as you end your day on this
positive note, as, like, theseare three wins that I really
accomplished today.
When you wake up in the morning,I would love for you to look
back at these three wins thathappened on the previous day and
then kind of think about thisman that was an amazing day
(18:48):
yesterday.
How can I continue on this pathof celebration?
So that's how I celebrategratitude I always think of,
like the day, as, like you know,the book ends.
You start your day, you look atyour three wins.
You look at three things youwant to get done on that day.
At the end of the day youcelebrate the three wins that
(19:10):
happened and you write thosedown.
Because if you think about thisat the end of a year right in
my planner it's an annualplanner you have essentially a
whole year times three wins.
So that's an enormous amount ofwins that you can celebrate on
that basis.
And they're all small thingsbut at the same time it's really
(19:30):
a moment to celebrate.
There's over 1000 wins.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
I know that's a lot of wins.
I love that so, so much.
That is amazing, um, so talk tous that I want to mention the
last part of my book is seeingthe superpower in what you
thought was your weakness.
So, um, have you ever found inyou know, like in, in, in what
(19:57):
you're teaching and things, um,that what someone considers
their weakness might actually betheir superpower?
What do you think about that?
Speaker 2 (20:04):
This is immense how much we have in common, because
one of my books is calleddiscover your superpower.
I love it, I know yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
So one of my books is called discover your superpower
I didn't know that like I readthrough your stuff, but I just
want to mention for everyonelistening that was a coincidence
, I wasn't aware, so I love thatit's really nice, because this
is the beauty of podcasting.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Yes, um, when I initially asked my students in
the classroom what is yoursuperpower, I have to say the
very first thing that they saidwas like oh, maybe I wish I
could fly or do, make myselfinvisible.
And I was like no, you alreadyhave superpowers.
I'm not talking like superherothings.
(20:50):
I'm talking about things thatyou do that are easy to you, but
work for somebody else.
And they're like oh, and thenthey would have to think and I
said this is a hard question.
And I said, well, good, I wouldlike that you actually reflect
on that, because the more youbring up that particular skill,
(21:11):
the more you tap into something.
As I say, that's easy for you,but work for others that you're
passionate about and you canshare that with the world.
Because if you don't make thatsuperpower stand out, you really
, in a certain way, you're kindof like this diamond in the
rough that never really gets toits full potential, and that's
(21:33):
really how I teach it.
So in my classroom I always tellmy students when you introduce
yourself, you say your name, butI would really love that you
start thinking a little bitabout like nearly like a mini
elevator pitch.
When you introduce yourself,you don't just say I am xyz and
(21:53):
I'm a student, because guesswhat we are, they're all
students, right?
I would like, if you say yourname and you maybe add a unique
skill, that could be yoursuperpower afterwards, because
immediately people will be like,oh, what did she just say?
Did she just say she's likethis and that?
And it will spark aconversation with somebody and
(22:15):
that person, who knows what,might be hiring you, might be
connecting, you might justbecome your next best friend
because you shared thatsuperpower and, of course, by
saying it out loud, it also alsomakes it more you know
conscious for you.
I love that.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
And I ask sometimes, when we're talking about this,
when I'm talking with my clients, I ask them what did you used
to get in trouble for when youwere a kid?
Because that's something thatcomes very naturally to you that
maybe you know.
Our parents were, like you knowfor me, for example, like to
make it make sense.
I got I used to get in troublefor talking in school, right,
like I was too talkative, likeyou're talking, you're talking,
(22:55):
you're getting in trouble,you're not listening.
Um, and now I get paid to talk.
Now I have my podcast and I doall these things and I get paid
to talk, and so I turned thatsuperpower, I learned to use it
for good.
That's another thing I talkabout in my book is, if we just
let our superpowers run rampant.
I have the gift of gab, but Iwatch a lot of reality TV and
(23:16):
I'm gossiping about people andI'm just talking about the wrong
things.
I'm using my superpower not forgood, but because I spend a lot
of time reading, I hang outwith awesome people like you,
I'm on my podcast, I'm blogging,I'm doing all my things.
The things that I talk aboutare I'm using them for good,
hopefully right, and I talkabout gratitude and I talk about
(23:37):
events and I talk about what'scoming next.
What are the goals, what arethe intentions, what is you know
?
What am I grateful for?
What you know, what is the goodand you know?
And using those superpowers forgood.
So I love that.
I loved how aligned we are, andI'm definitely gonna have to
check out your books, of course.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
This is awesome yeah, this is again like to me, it
might be nearly like asuperpower in itself that we
kind of aligned this way, and Ithink you know like sometimes
when you connect with people,not even knowing where you are
in the world, but justdiscovering things through
(24:15):
collaborating, throughcommunicating, you're building
that connection really.
And, of course, this issomething that is another
superpower that I neverdisregard the power of
connecting with people andbuilding that network.
The power of connecting withpeople and building that network
, because in reality, really,when you look back at you know
people at the end of their life,the main regret that they have
(24:41):
is maybe that they didn't buildenough connections with friends,
with neighbors, with family,with acquaintances.
They would never say, oh, Iwish I would have worked more.
They will always say, oh, Iwish I wouldn't have, I wish I
would have connected more.
So, to all of you that arelistening to this right now, how
amazing it was when weconnected through the books.
But I would also encourage you,of course, to go out and
(25:03):
connect with some others andshare your superpower with them.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Yeah, and you know what that's beautiful Like the
fact that you have your bookwith them, yeah, and you know
what that's beautiful, like thefact that you have your book,
you have your website, you haveyour podcast, like those are all
different ways of connecting.
You know, I know that a lot ofmy mentors, a lot of coaches and
things that I couldn't justjump into their programs, but I
was able to hang out with themin their books, I was able to
listen to their podcasts, I wasable to learn from them and
(25:26):
spend time with them, and youknow that's what we do when
we're creating content like this.
So that's amazing.
All right, now I do know thatyou had mentioned a gift for the
audience, so can you tell us alittle bit about that?
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Yeah, so I'm going to share with you a little gift,
and it's actually just a littleteaser, so to speak, of my
petite practice plan that I'mgoing to share with you so you
can start planning a little bit,you can start jotting some of
those ideas down that maybe wesparked during the podcast
episode, and I would love foryou to try this out and then, if
(26:02):
you become curious from thelittle appetizer teaser, you can
get my whole petite practiceplanner or look into my other
books.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
I would, of course, love to answer any questions you
might have awesome and thatlink will be available down in
the com, in the show notes, inthe comments, depending on where
you're watching this, and then,before we sign off, um final
tip like what's your one finaltip for the audience after
today's episode?
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Yeah, start small and share that with everybody.
Make them your accountabilitybuddies.
Just say you know what, fromtoday on, I'm just going to go
10 minutes for a walk.
From today on, I'm going toread 10 minutes in a book.
From today on, I'm going tomaybe spend 10 minutes
(26:48):
stretching Anything that youwant to do 10, 15 minutes.
Don't say I'm going to do everyday an hour because that's a
long time.
Just start small, petitepractice and just keep building.
And if one day you don't do it,that's okay, Pick it up on the
next day, right?
We are human, we are notmachines.
And the amazing thing is thatif you share that with somebody
(27:10):
else, you might actually createa little bit of momentum there.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Love that.
That is amazing.
Thank you so much.
And then, before we sign off,of course, let us know how can
we stay in touch with you.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Check out my website, hellohappynestcom.
I would love for you to tuneinto my podcast that's called
Happy, healthy Hustle and, ofcourse, check out my books on
Amazon.
They are available there myMaster your Goals book, my
Petite Practice Planner and theDiscover your Superpower book,
(27:45):
and I'm actually going to do abig launch at the end of March.
323 marks the two-yearanniversary of my Top 1% podcast
and I'm going to have a lot ofbig specials coming up during
that time with my books, and Ican't wait to celebrate that
two-year anniversary with you.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
It sounds amazing.
Yay, thank you so much.
This has been incredible andthank you, guys for joining us.
We will see you next time onthe next episode of Overcoming
Yourself, the podcast.
Bye.
Hello and welcome back to the next episode of
Overcome Yourself, the podcast.
As you know, my name is Nicoleand I'm so excited here to be
here today with Christiane.
So welcome and please tell us alittle bit about yourself.
I'm so excited to hear aboutyour method, your book.
Like you've got so much goingon, so tell us a little bit
about yourself, thanks so muchfor having me here, nicole.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
My name is Dr Christiana and I am a business
and wellness coach, an author, apodcaster, and my main job is
actually I'm a professor.
I teach marketing, innovation,entrepreneurship and I'm really
passionate about helping peopletransform their dreams into
viable business opportunities.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
That is amazing.
And you started, if I remembercorrectly from your bio, you
started in academia and then youdecided to make the leap to
entrepreneurship and now youhave, like you said, a globally
ranked podcast.
You have a book, so can youtell us a little bit about that
journey?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Yeah, so I'm still a full-time professor, and the
amazing thing is really, as afull-time professor, you see the
students in the classroom beingsuper passionate about things
that they would love to do withtheir lives.
Right, there is just so muchtalent and potential and passion
there and, at the same time,even sometimes a little bit of
(01:24):
confusion or overwhelm, and whatI really felt was that I have
these little fires that I canreally ignite in the classroom
and really give them ideas to goafter opportunities and trends
and become the next businessthat helps to solve all these
(01:44):
issues, right To kind of changetheir little corner of the world
, so to speak.
And I felt the best way to dothat was to continue teaching in
person, but also make my voiceheard through a podcast, through
my YouTube channel, through mybooks, with others that maybe
have graduated from my academicclasses or can't take my
(02:07):
academic classes because they'reliving on the other side of the
globe, and so my podcastreaches people all over the
world.
My books have been sold in manyparts of the globe and it's
really been amazing to hear fromthese people back and hear how
their lives and their businesseshave transformed.
So it's been exceptionallyfulfilling and I'm really glad
(02:28):
to have this opportunity toreach so many different people
and to help them shape theirdreams.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Oh, that is so amazing.
That is incredible, and I lovethe example you set, you know,
because when we are building ouronline businesses, when we're
focused on the most importantactivities, on the big dominoes,
we don't have to sacrifice therest of our lives to make that
business work.
And so I think you're just suchan awesome example of that.
(02:55):
You're doing something that youlove and you're also, at the
same time, you're building yourown thing and you're building
out this legacy that you knowlike it's yours.
It's yours forever, and so Ilove that so much.
How you're mixing the two.
Um.
So tell me a little bit abouthow you overcame yourself to
(03:15):
really take on the entrepreneurside of things, um, and like,
what is it that you focus ondaily that helps you build your
business while you're stillworking as a professor?
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yeah, it's a fabulous question actually.
So in academics, after yougraduate with your PhD, you
typically get hired for what'scalled a tenure track position
and then you go through a quiterigid review of publishing
academic papers that are highlyscientific, very research
(03:49):
oriented.
You teach, you do also service,and so there is a thing that's
called tenure track to where youget evaluated by your peers, by
peers at other universities,whether you fulfill all this
criteria.
So you basically need to beexcellent in research, as a
teacher, but also with regard toyour service skills.
(04:10):
And then, after you go throughthese different ranks and you
are a full professor which I amnow you continue to publish and
at that point you have a littlebit more flexibility in terms of
maybe more reaching the globalmasses.
And I think that's really whathappened for me.
Once I reached the professorring, I thought, okay, so what's
(04:30):
next?
And I looked at my students andI realized that their learning
had really changed, that,instead of reading a textbook
and assigning 30 pages in achapter in a marketing textbook,
that they really needed muchsmaller chunks of knowledge.
And that's really how theyconsume information, because
(04:51):
when they scroll through socialmedia, it's just like fast
information that basically goesthrough their brain, and I
noticed that they are not reallyset out to read like the next
Harry Potter novel, which is,you know, 500 pages, but more
something that's like three tofive pages.
And at that point I decided thatthe way that I had been
(05:13):
teaching my classes was reallyold fashioned and that I need to
change it and really chunk itdown.
And I came up with the conceptthat is my trademarked petite
practice, to where I use small,digestible moments of learning,
one page worksheets to reallyteach a concept very hands-on,
(05:33):
very applied, and also to thefact where the students feel
they can do it, they can try itand they're okay if they don't
do it correct the first time.
So it really teaches thismoment of failure as a
celebration instead of somethingthat is like horrible.
So they basically do theworksheet, they even use their
(05:55):
pencils and they sometimes erasetheir answer and then they go
ahead and try again.
(06:16):
And so the petite practicethat's why the word practice is
there is really teaching youwe're taking small steps to
achieve something, teaches usthat learning happens through
the good moments and through themoments where we maybe didn't
quite take that right path.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
That is amazing.
I love that and that echoeswhat I talk about in my book.
You know, in establishing thosesmall, tiny baby steps and then
just doing a small thing everyday, right, just being 1% better
.
You just have to be a littlebit better than you were
yesterday and you make amazingprogress.
Right, like recording onepodcast episode a day.
(06:54):
If you do that 30 minutes, yourecord an episode.
At the end of the year, youhave over 300 episodes and
that's more than, like, 90% ofpeople start with a podcast.
Right, because, yeah, they'refocused on, like, growing the
audience instead of focusing onwhat you can control, which is
creating the content.
So I love that so much.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Yeah, and actually the amazing thing is that
sometimes we tend to look toomuch at what other people are
doing.
We look at others nearly ascompetition, and in my classes I
teach my students that the wordcompetition, when you look at
the Latin origin of that word,actually means thrive together.
(07:39):
Thrive together meaning that weare building ourselves as a team
and we are not pushing othersdown to make ourselves look
better.
And I think that sometimes incompetition we really need to
think about this as being morelike I celebrate your success,
and by celebrating your success,actually I thrive.
(08:01):
So there is enough for us to goaround and to share with
everybody.
But by really changing yourperspective from oh no, I need
to be better than you, you'reactually really changing the
wiring in your brain in terms oflike, if you are finding
uniquely what you do and who youare, then you're really going
(08:24):
to succeed, and it's not bymaking others look worse or
anything like that.
So I think that my studentsreally learned that in the
classroom.
I'm really pushing that conceptof unique value proposition who
are you and what do you have tooffer to the world?
It's different from everybodyelse, but we can all thrive
together, just like what theword competition is really going
(08:46):
for.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Yes, and you know what it makes you think, like,
even if you lose the WorldSeries, the World Cup, the World
Series, the Super Bowl, likeeven if you lose that big game,
you played in that game, youwere good enough to make it
there, right?
And so just the fact that you'replaying that game, whatever it
is, you know, whatever arena itis that you're in, like we got
(09:10):
to be grateful that we get toplay the game and you're playing
at such a level that sometimeswe forget, right, that that it's
like it's taken so much to gethere, and just the fact that
you're here, regardless ofwhether you win or not, you made
it here, and like there's,there's value in that, there's
credit in that, there is, thereis worth in that right, so I
(09:34):
love that so much.
That's amazing.
So I wanted to ask you, sinceyou are a professor of marketing
and this is, you know, this iswhat you teach your students a
professor of marketing and thisis, you know, this is what you
teach your students Can you giveus a tiny lesson on marketing?
Like what is it that you're,you know, like the biggest aha
that your students get in one ofyour lessons.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Oh yeah, brilliant.
Actually, we just talked aboutthat yesterday and I talked
about the fact that people buystories.
They don't buy products.
That people buy stories, theydon't buy products, right?
So the most successful brandsin marketing are the ones that
really share authentically whothey are.
So you never really look for, oh, I want to buy this particular
(10:18):
product.
It's more that you are all of asudden connecting with the
brand because of the story,because of the owner that shares
their personal background andwhy they created this brand.
And then all of a sudden,you're starting to connect to
the brand because you see alittle bit of yourself in it.
So the most successfulmarketing concept really is you
(10:42):
have to think a little bit ofpeople will come to you not
because of who you are, butbecause you make them feel that
they see themselves in you and Ithink that is the most
important piece.
Nobody cares about you, butthey really want to see that you
reflect what your problem wasand that they see oh, this is a
(11:07):
problem I'm struggling withmyself and let's see how she
solved that problem and thenyou're really going to succeed.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
That is awesome.
I was reading an article theother day.
You just reminded me ofNespresso and how their patent
they were losing the patent forthe pod system and a lot of
companies will not survivelosing, you know, like the
patent going away.
What they did is they leanedinto the story and they leaned
(11:44):
into creating a, an experiencefor their customer.
They created a club and theygot the, the spokesperson, they
got Clooney, who exudes thesophistication and all of the
elements that they wanted tobring that they wanted that
brand to emphasize.
And not only did they not gounder, they thrived, they became
, you know, a brand.
So, even though all these otherbrands were are distributing
(12:05):
knockoffs right, because now thepatent is available for
everyone it solidified them asthe go-to brand.
This is like the high-end brand,um and like, as a matter of
fact, I was reading that thatthey brought down the price on
the machine, so they were taking, they weren't making as much on
the machines, but they wereable to increase the price on
(12:25):
the pods and it was billions ofdollars in revenue that they
generated the year that theirpatent went away.
And so that's I thought.
I just thought I read thatstory the other day.
I just thought.
I read that story the other dayand that just made me think of
that, how you create that storyaround your brand and and then
you can really, you can reallythrive, right, and they became
leaders in the market.
(12:45):
So what do you think about that?
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Yeah, and I think that sometimes we kind of look
at a company as somethingespecially successful companies.
They have always been successful, but I would always encourage
you to really scroll back downin their social media feeds,
because they all started fromzero.
So it sometimes seemsespecially for my students in
(13:10):
the classroom so intimidating tothink, oh, I could be the next
thing, because it seems likeit's so far away.
But in reality, everybodystarted with zero followers,
everybody started with acampaign that had zero dollar
funding and that's just themomentum, the petite practice
(13:30):
that you have to keep going stepby step and really share your
story authentically and theneventually people will start
connecting with you and becausethey trust you, it's this know
and trust factor that theyreally built and overall the
recognition like, oh yeah, she'ssomebody that I would really
love to do business with, and Ithink at that point, really,
(13:52):
that breakout happens.
So it's not really like youcome up with this amazing thing.
Everybody wants to buy it.
This is really not how it worksanymore, especially not
nowadays where, I say, theattention is so short.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
We really need to think a little bit of what sets
us apart, and that's reallysharing who uniquely, who we are
yes, um, okay, I just thoughtof another story, of course, but
the Stanley Cup craze that weexperienced just a few years ago
, that started a company thathad been around for hundreds of
(14:25):
years I think Stanley's beenaround for a really long time
and their ideal market beforewas rugged men.
There were workers, they were,you know, the out of the line
men that were out, they were outin the mines because they
needed a strong cup.
And then a girl's car caught onfire and when she went, she was
(14:47):
, you know, when she was able togo back inside, she was like,
oh my God, you guys, my Stanleycup was in my car that was on
fire and it was OK and there'sstill ice in here.
And that's what started theentire everybody's like oh my
god, I gotta go get a stanley.
And that company went fromhaving, like, like you know,
this amount, 10 times therevenue in a year.
That completely changed theirideal market and they had a huge
(15:10):
boom and they've been aroundfor hundreds of years, you know.
And so, yes, like a story cancome out like this and it can
change everything for yourcompany and they did a good job
of leaning into that momentumright and using those
opportunities, like if someoneyou know mentions your product
and they're like it's amazing.
I'm sure they sent her cups andthey sent her all kinds of
(15:31):
stuff.
I think they bought her a newcar and everything Like a
company bought her a car forsharing that story.
And so you know, you never knowwhat could come up from a good
story, right?
That is amazing.
I love it.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Yeah, and I think that's really a good marketer,
is really a good storyteller tokind of like think a little bit
about, you know, connecting thebrand with something that also
creates emotion, especiallynowadays when we use so much AI
(16:07):
that people underestimate thatwe can frequently pick up.
Is this written by AI or isthis written by a human?
Because the AI is not able toimmediately put the emotion into
it.
So I would always encourage usto use AI and automate things,
and I heavily teach it in theclassroom.
But really taking a look andthinking, is that really the
voice I would use?
(16:27):
Is this really creating someemotion, to where I'm feeling
I'm starting to connect withthis product or with this
service?
When I read this, or does itsound like it's written by a
machine?
And I think that's really wherethe flip really happens, right?
So when you're feeling, you'rereading something and it's
creating that emotion and it'screating that connection, that's
(16:48):
really when you are gettingsomething much bigger, something
that where your unique voicesounds through, maybe words that
you use maybe um littleidiosyncrasies, right, like, for
instance, I use a lot ofeuropean things because I'm born
in europe.
So I always say I have thiseuropean flair and I think that
(17:10):
my students are expecting thisnow, or like little words that I
use, and that's something.
As soon as you start sharingthis and building your brand,
that's really when the magichappens.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
I love that.
I love that so much.
Now in my book we've alreadytalked a little bit about habits
, but one of the foundations ofmy book is gratitude and
practicing gratitude.
So, in your professional wisdom, can you talk to us a little
bit about what part gratitudeplays in this journey of the
(17:43):
tiny practices?
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Yeah, so I have actually three different books
that I wrote.
I have a petite practiceplanner which is really heavily
leaning on using every day as acelebration and for me,
gratitude really happens at theend of the day.
You can use your petitepractice planner and write down
(18:07):
three wins that happened on thatday.
Practice planner and write downthree wins that happened on
that day and there's sciencethat really shows, by kind of
reflecting on this gratitude atthe end of the day, writing down
those three wins, it willactually subconsciously help you
when you wake up on the nextmorning and picking up those
thoughts and continuing it,because your mind is celebrating
(18:28):
this moment as you go to sleep,as you end your day on this
positive note, as, like, theseare three wins that I really
accomplished today.
When you wake up in the morning,I would love for you to look
back at these three wins thathappened on the previous day and
then kind of think about thisman that was an amazing day
(18:48):
yesterday.
How can I continue on this pathof celebration?
So that's how I celebrategratitude I always think of,
like the day, as, like you know,the book ends.
You start your day, you look atyour three wins.
You look at three things youwant to get done on that day.
At the end of the day youcelebrate the three wins that
(19:10):
happened and you write thosedown.
Because if you think about thisat the end of a year right in
my planner it's an annualplanner you have essentially a
whole year times three wins.
So that's an enormous amount ofwins that you can celebrate on
that basis.
And they're all small thingsbut at the same time it's really
(19:30):
a moment to celebrate.
There's over 1000 wins.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
I know that's a lot of wins.
I love that so, so much.
That is amazing, um, so talk tous that I want to mention the
last part of my book is seeingthe superpower in what you
thought was your weakness.
So, um, have you ever found inyou know, like in, in, in what
(19:57):
you're teaching and things, um,that what someone considers
their weakness might actually betheir superpower?
What do you think about that?
Speaker 2 (20:04):
This is immense how much we have in common, because
one of my books is calleddiscover your superpower.
I love it, I know yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
So one of my books is called discover your superpower
I didn't know that like I readthrough your stuff, but I just
want to mention for everyonelistening that was a coincidence
, I wasn't aware, so I love thatit's really nice, because this
is the beauty of podcasting.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Yes, um, when I initially asked my students in
the classroom what is yoursuperpower, I have to say the
very first thing that they saidwas like oh, maybe I wish I
could fly or do, make myselfinvisible.
And I was like no, you alreadyhave superpowers.
I'm not talking like superherothings.
(20:50):
I'm talking about things thatyou do that are easy to you, but
work for somebody else.
And they're like oh, and thenthey would have to think and I
said this is a hard question.
And I said, well, good, I wouldlike that you actually reflect
on that, because the more youbring up that particular skill,
(21:11):
the more you tap into something.
As I say, that's easy for you,but work for others that you're
passionate about and you canshare that with the world.
Because if you don't make thatsuperpower stand out, you really
, in a certain way, you're kindof like this diamond in the
rough that never really gets toits full potential, and that's
(21:33):
really how I teach it.
So in my classroom I always tellmy students when you introduce
yourself, you say your name, butI would really love that you
start thinking a little bitabout like nearly like a mini
elevator pitch.
When you introduce yourself,you don't just say I am xyz and
(21:53):
I'm a student, because guesswhat we are, they're all
students, right?
I would like, if you say yourname and you maybe add a unique
skill, that could be yoursuperpower afterwards, because
immediately people will be like,oh, what did she just say?
Did she just say she's likethis and that?
And it will spark aconversation with somebody and
(22:15):
that person, who knows what,might be hiring you, might be
connecting, you might justbecome your next best friend
because you shared thatsuperpower and, of course, by
saying it out loud, it also alsomakes it more you know
conscious for you.
I love that.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
And I ask sometimes, when we're talking about this,
when I'm talking with my clients, I ask them what did you used
to get in trouble for when youwere a kid?
Because that's something thatcomes very naturally to you that
maybe you know.
Our parents were, like you knowfor me, for example, like to
make it make sense.
I got I used to get in troublefor talking in school, right,
like I was too talkative, likeyou're talking, you're talking,
(22:55):
you're getting in trouble,you're not listening.
Um, and now I get paid to talk.
Now I have my podcast and I doall these things and I get paid
to talk, and so I turned thatsuperpower, I learned to use it
for good.
That's another thing I talkabout in my book is, if we just
let our superpowers run rampant.
I have the gift of gab, but Iwatch a lot of reality TV and
(23:16):
I'm gossiping about people andI'm just talking about the wrong
things.
I'm using my superpower not forgood, but because I spend a lot
of time reading, I hang outwith awesome people like you,
I'm on my podcast, I'm blogging,I'm doing all my things.
The things that I talk aboutare I'm using them for good,
hopefully right, and I talkabout gratitude and I talk about
(23:37):
events and I talk about what'scoming next.
What are the goals, what arethe intentions, what is you know
?
What am I grateful for?
What you know, what is the goodand you know?
And using those superpowers forgood.
So I love that.
I loved how aligned we are, andI'm definitely gonna have to
check out your books, of course.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
This is awesome yeah, this is again like to me, it
might be nearly like asuperpower in itself that we
kind of aligned this way, and Ithink you know like sometimes
when you connect with people,not even knowing where you are
in the world, but justdiscovering things through
(24:15):
collaborating, throughcommunicating, you're building
that connection really.
And, of course, this issomething that is another
superpower that I neverdisregard the power of
connecting with people andbuilding that network.
The power of connecting withpeople and building that network
, because in reality, really,when you look back at you know
people at the end of their life,the main regret that they have
(24:41):
is maybe that they didn't buildenough connections with friends,
with neighbors, with family,with acquaintances.
They would never say, oh, Iwish I would have worked more.
They will always say, oh, Iwish I wouldn't have, I wish I
would have connected more.
So, to all of you that arelistening to this right now, how
amazing it was when weconnected through the books.
But I would also encourage you,of course, to go out and
(25:03):
connect with some others andshare your superpower with them.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Yeah, and you know what that's beautiful Like the
fact that you have your bookwith them, yeah, and you know
what that's beautiful, like thefact that you have your book,
you have your website, you haveyour podcast, like those are all
different ways of connecting.
You know, I know that a lot ofmy mentors, a lot of coaches and
things that I couldn't justjump into their programs, but I
was able to hang out with themin their books, I was able to
listen to their podcasts, I wasable to learn from them and
(25:26):
spend time with them, and youknow that's what we do when
we're creating content like this.
So that's amazing.
All right, now I do know thatyou had mentioned a gift for the
audience, so can you tell us alittle bit about that?
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Yeah, so I'm going to share with you a little gift,
and it's actually just a littleteaser, so to speak, of my
petite practice plan that I'mgoing to share with you so you
can start planning a little bit,you can start jotting some of
those ideas down that maybe wesparked during the podcast
episode, and I would love foryou to try this out and then, if
(26:02):
you become curious from thelittle appetizer teaser, you can
get my whole petite practiceplanner or look into my other
books.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
I would, of course, love to answer any questions you
might have awesome and thatlink will be available down in
the com, in the show notes, inthe comments, depending on where
you're watching this, and then,before we sign off, um final
tip like what's your one finaltip for the audience after
today's episode?
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Yeah, start small and share that with everybody.
Make them your accountabilitybuddies.
Just say you know what, fromtoday on, I'm just going to go
10 minutes for a walk.
From today on, I'm going toread 10 minutes in a book.
From today on, I'm going tomaybe spend 10 minutes
(26:48):
stretching Anything that youwant to do 10, 15 minutes.
Don't say I'm going to do everyday an hour because that's a
long time.
Just start small, petitepractice and just keep building.
And if one day you don't do it,that's okay, Pick it up on the
next day, right?
We are human, we are notmachines.
And the amazing thing is thatif you share that with somebody
(27:10):
else, you might actually createa little bit of momentum there.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Love that.
That is amazing.
Thank you so much.
And then, before we sign off,of course, let us know how can
we stay in touch with you.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Check out my website, hellohappynestcom.
I would love for you to tuneinto my podcast that's called
Happy, healthy Hustle and, ofcourse, check out my books on
Amazon.
They are available there myMaster your Goals book, my
Petite Practice Planner and theDiscover your Superpower book,
(27:45):
and I'm actually going to do abig launch at the end of March.
323 marks the two-yearanniversary of my Top 1% podcast
and I'm going to have a lot ofbig specials coming up during
that time with my books, and Ican't wait to celebrate that
two-year anniversary with you.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
It sounds amazing.
Yay, thank you so much.
This has been incredible andthank you, guys for joining us.
We will see you next time onthe next episode of Overcoming
Yourself, the podcast.
Bye.
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