What if you could transform a sudden job loss into an opportunity for self-discovery and entrepreneurship? That's exactly what we explore in our latest episode, as we recount our journey from the corporate world to the vibrant landscapes of Jamaica, where personal healing and a new voice acting career began to flourish. With the pandemic as a backdrop, these life transitions were marked by unexpected challenges and opportunities, including the intricacies of navigating cultural traditions and making the bold decision to relocate. This episode is a testament to resilience and aligning one's life with personal values and dreams.
Join us as Rokhaya share's insights into building a business from the ground up, including the pivotal moments that shaped the path toward podcast editing and coaching. From initially resisting the role of a virtual assistant to ultimately finding passion in helping wellness coaches thrive, we discuss the significance of self-belief and pricing oneself appropriately in business. Discover how community connections, referrals, and the shared experiences of motherhood have played an instrumental role in the professional growth. We also reflect on the powerful lessons learned from missteps and the importance of mindset shifts when balancing personal and entrepreneurial pursuits.
We're thrilled to being panelists AGAIN at the upcoming 6th Afros and Audio Festival in Baltimore, MD... an event teeming with opportunities for Black indie podcast creators. This gathering promises a weekend filled with panels, workshops, and networking events that celebrates the art of storytelling and community building. As we prepare for this vibrant festival, we extend an invitation to join us in this transformative experience, emphasizing the power of sharing empowering stories to foster genuine relationships and personal growth. Secure your tickets and engage with industry leaders at afrosandaudio.com... Use code PS24AFAU for 10% OFF.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And for me it was amazing.
I was like, wow, such anintimate place and platform to
just, you know, talk aboutyourself, and it's not like out
there where everybody can listento it, but most likely you'll
be found by people you know thatcan relate to you.
So for me, I just fell in lovewith podcasters.
So I started making sure all myfriends were podcasters and
(00:22):
when I also invested myselfagain, I took a coaching course
at the end of 2020.
So that was all.
Before I even was pregnant, Iwas now introduced to the world
of healing, which again was suchan eye opener for me because, I
have to say, relocating toJamaica for me was really, at
the end of the day, a healingjourney, because I really was
(01:14):
faced with my hey shit talkers.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Guess what?
This is another shit happensepisode with my girl, rokaya.
Rokaya and I met last year atthe fifth Afrozenalgia festival,
where we were actually in amental health panel together,
and this year for for the 6thAfros and Audios Festival, we
are in another panel together,just like Raph from the last
(01:50):
episode, voices of AfricanDiaspora, telling our stories
through podcasting.
So here's a shit-happeningepisode we did together earlier
this year, bringing it to youbecause this weekend we will be
together live on stage at thesixth afros and audios festival,
baltimore maryland.
(02:12):
Catch us live, baby.
So, uh, we are gonna have anincredible conversation right
now with an incredible beautifulone of the most soulful person
I've got to meet.
I met her last year, we were ona panel together and she's just
beautiful.
Like it's incredible.
Hey, paula.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
I heard your, I heard your, you know your, your
housekeeping about showing up.
I was there.
I was there, but the backstageof StreamYard is so awesome so I
was like checking my rap.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
you know I was listening to music getting in
the groove, but but yeah wellsince it's live, since it's live
, you know, you know, blame thebehind the scene because we're
gonna blame it as a stream andstop making your your waiting
area so cool for people to youknow, I was thinking of my title
(03:06):
for a good five minutes.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
I'm like what should I put?
What's my tomato?
Oh my god.
So it took a while, but yeah Imean that's important.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
That's important, important shit to consider,
because people are gonna watchyou and they're gonna be like,
who is this right?
So your title that you're gonnaput is very important.
So I I feel you.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
You know those are tough decisions you had to make
right, but how did I do comparedto the three guests before?
Speaker 2 (03:35):
so this is what I want to know actually, um, the
first one is just like you, butthe the second one, of course,
and he also gave me a message todeliver to you, of course, you
know he's a Nigerian, so he camein before I came in, so and
then he told me he went, andthen he was like I was waiting
for you for like 15 minutes.
(03:55):
I was like, please stop, stop,stop.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
I love you.
That can only be white label,american Shout out to you.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Yeah, and he told me to tell you that.
Remind her to reschedule.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Yes, yes, I will.
I will After the game.
I'm waiting for the game tofinish because I know he's going
to ask me some rubbishquestions, so I can't talk to
him during the game.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
And when he gave me that message I was like, oh shit
, he had also sent me hiscalendar to reschedule because
he lost our recording.
So I was writing the messageand I'm like I'll make sure to
tell her and I will also get mydone.
He was like, yeah, you need toget yours done too.
I was like I got you, I got you, I got you.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Yeah, good reminder.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Let's book it same day.
Okay, he has to deal with oneof us in the morning and the
other one in the afternoon.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
He's going to have to reschedule.
I just feel it.
He's going to have toreschedule.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Both of these two people at the same time.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Oh, no One has to be napping, so it can't happen at
the same time.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
He's lucky he doesn't do live, because I'd show up
while you're there and be on thecomments like oh yes, like
dropping some shit, I know, Iknow you already.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
I know you.
Like we first met through email, we did with meet face to face.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
They put us on an email thing for the panel and
man, you, you're the one who wasemailing the most, I think but,
but yeah, but it's funny when,as soon as I saw you, I
literally knew who you arebecause you were passing, I was
in a class and I texted you.
I was like I see you walking.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
I remember that.
I remember.
Oh, my god, it was so good tomeet you, though like I feel
I've known you forever, eventhough we just met last year.
But yeah, thank you for havingme.
It's so good to see you again.
Thank you for coming.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
So how have you been?
Where are you right now?
Speaker 1 (05:49):
I'm back in Canada.
So I'm in Vancouver just aboveWashington State, so I'm about
like two hours from Seattle orso, so back, in the cold.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
What brought you back to Canada?
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Voice acting.
So remember, the writers wereon strike for like almost the
whole Hollywood thing was goingdown.
So it's been a good slow twoyears for us voice actors,
actors in general.
So now they have reached anagreement.
I got a few gigs but shortstory is that I never made it to
(06:24):
the gig.
So I missed it because AirCanada the airline, the best and
oldest airline in Canadadecided to cancel my flight
because there was like asnowstorm at the time I was
coming.
So I'm just here doing my thingand working and, of course,
once you get in the system,there's this whole thing that
you have to be here about 183days so I can make money from
(06:47):
here, the whole, the wholeshebang.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
So I'm here, so are you there with your family or is
your family in?
Speaker 1 (06:55):
no, my son, my husband, everybody's in Jamaica,
so I decided to come by myself.
It's so much easier that way,because before that yeah, last
year was kind of hectic couldn'tfind a daycare for the boy and
I'm trying to like find this andget things done and it's hard,
like with the winter and allthat.
So this I just decided thisyear to come by myself and then
(07:18):
I'll just do back and forth halfof the year, though I'm yeah,
I'm gonna be in Jamaica becauseyou get more done, because you
don't have to worry about who'sgoing to watch over my baby,
especially when you get lastminute meetings or all that.
Yes, like this.
You know, listen at this, socalm.
I don't have to be like, yes,play with this or make those
(07:40):
movements, turn off the camera.
Turn on the camera.
Yeah, that's most of mybuilding.
You know the drill.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Of course.
So thank you for coming ontoday, and there was something
specifically I wanted to talk toyou about, because you went on
a transition in your life.
You lost your corporate job in2019 and you were in the middle
of trying to figure out pursuingyour, your passion and paying
(08:16):
bills.
And and most of us who kind ofme, you know most people don't
like to admit it, but I admit itso that people can know I'm
broke and I'm looking foropportunities so you can bring
all your money to me, becauseclosed mouths don't get fed.
You know just saying so.
When you are living like, whenyou don't have the safety net
right and you're living paycheckto paycheck, but you also hate
(08:39):
your job, you really want toquit because you have your
passion, you have the idea, butit also needs money.
The bills need to be paid right.
So what gave you that push?
Oh, how did you end up sayingyou know what?
Fuck it.
I'm gonna bet on myself andwe're gonna figure it out and
take the leap, because you tookthe leap and you decided to go
(09:00):
and pursue your passion and andfuck the corporate world.
So let's talk about thatjourney and how we can inspire
people like me to do the samewell, I think it actually really
happened.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Just like you said, I said fuck this, I'm betting on
myself.
And this is the best podcast tobe really clear and to the
point.
I think two things reallyhappened for me.
I think we're all in thisjourney where we want to take
the leap but we have all theseexcuses holding us back.
For me, god made the decisionbecause I was fired from my job.
(09:34):
So I wasn't given a choiceother than like hey, do you want
to find a job again or do youwant to bet on yourself?
So for me, I always had anentrepreneurial mind, like in
high school and university, Iwas always part of groups for
business startups, starting yourown thing.
So it was always in the back ofmy mind.
But of course, the nine to fivewas my excuse.
(09:56):
So when I lost that, it was ina time I was already in a
transition, meaning I wasintroduced to the world of voice
acting.
So my past corporate job I usedto work on the train, so I
would make announcement forpeople.
So people really enjoyed myvoice and everything.
So somebody approached me andtold me about, you know, the
world of audio books and that'show I started kind of
(10:18):
researching that.
So just before I get fired Iwas already exploring that
industry.
So when you know, when I had nolonger a job, I decided, hey,
let me just give it more time,give it more effort.
And this is how it chose me.
Now, as you said, it was notpaying the bills, it was not
keeping up with the lifestyle,because I lived in Toronto in a
(10:40):
small little apartment downtownand I was never there because my
job was always on the go.
I would be in hotels mostly.
I would just have time to goback home, do a little bit of
laundry, make some food and goback on.
So for me, in the back of mymind, I knew it made no sense.
I never saw a future there.
I never saw that I could raisea family or that I could buy
(11:01):
that condo or that house.
So really the narrative thatjust didn't match for me.
And I think the second thing wasthe pandemic, because for me
one was the most life-changingthing ever was to be asked this
question.
So I was asked one.
I don't know if it was aquestion I was asked, but one of
the question I think thepandemic really reflect is that
(11:23):
you have to realize what's thecost?
What is it costing you to gomake money?
So a lot of people who gotstuck at home and had to work
from home realize oh my God, Idon't have to pay for a bus pass
anymore, oh I don't have to putgas in my car anymore, like I'm
saving all this money by beinghome.
Like, why would I ever go back?
So for me, I remember in myentrepreneurial journey, I
(11:46):
really learned that we actually,you know, like it's costing us
so much to go to work, like ourmental health, our physical
health, like being on the train,like there's this movement on
the train where you're like Iforget what they call it, if
it's like frog leg or whateverbut you literally walk like that
even when you're off the train.
So you're like walking likethat.
So all of us, we know we'llhave hearing problems, we're
(12:10):
going to have knee problems.
So for me, yes, everything.
And for me, what really changedeverything is that when I got
injured I got injured in 2017 onthe train like somebody
reversed their wheelchair on mytibia and almost like cracked it
, and if they did, I would havehad like to put some plates like
(12:31):
on my hip for balance, butanyway, it didn't get to that.
But I was like on disability andI had never been on disability.
I never understood the wholesystem of, you know, being given
a different job than a regularjob as you recover, while
insurance and corporate is justfighting to see who's going to
pay you.
So in the meanwhile I was leftat least three or four months
(12:52):
with no pay, trying to figurethis thing out, not going to
work anymore.
I remember being in myapartment one Friday morning and
I was like why is it so noisyhere?
And then I realized that I'venever been home on a Friday,
like because I was alwaysworking all these years and I
used to work that job.
(13:12):
I stayed at that job almost sixyears.
Now you have to understand.
I started in a different city,in Winnipeg, and that was more
seasonal.
And then I moved to Toronto andkind of climb up the corporate
ladder.
But for me I realized at thattime that, wow, this job is
costing me my health, it'scosting me my mental health, and
(13:33):
when I was going through thehardest time of my life, they
didn't even care.
They were pretty much fightingif I was lying about this or not
.
And of course this is due tothe fact that some people do use
the system to their advantageand so on and so forth.
So for me, I think the pandemicwas a big epiphany, because when
I actually decided to relocateto Jamaica like from 2017 to
(13:57):
2020, I was just doing back andforth, but when I saw the whole
chaos with, like you knowbecause I remember like leaving
Jamaica one day to back toToronto and the whole airport
was like wearing masks and itseems like it was the first day
they required people to wearmasks, so you would see all the
people coming from likeCaribbean countries, like with
(14:18):
their kids not wearing no mask,and then you see all the people
coming from Asia with mask on,trying to put mask on their
children, and it was like chaos.
So I don't know if it was a signor something, but I was already
on my way to pack everything,store a few things, I was trying
to lease my place, but that gotcomplicated, so I decided to
just let it go and relocate andI relocated on March 2nd 2020.
(14:44):
So you can imagine, I think thepandemic hit like mid-March, so
literally 10 days later, it wasthe end of the world.
But I knew I made the rightdecision, because Toronto
downtown became like a ghosttown.
People were high-seated, andjust so you moved to Jamaica
(15:11):
just as the pandemic was like,literally just as it was,
because March, that's when a lotof lockdown was starting to
really be serious.
Yes, like I was already in theplans because at the time, my
parents were in Texas, sanAntonio.
So we got virtually married andI got married to my husband,
really based on, you know, perrespect to my parents, per
respect to the tradition andculture Cause, of course, as an
African girl, I wasn't leavingCanada to go live with a
(15:33):
Jamaican yeah, but my parentsnever met.
So we kind of did the wholetraditional thing and we did it
virtually.
I know I lost a lot of friends,a lot of people due to that,
because they probably thinking,oh, how did she get married?
And she never told me.
But people don't know whatyou're going through.
So November 2019 is when we gotmarried, with the plans that I
(15:53):
would come live there.
But my plan was more like,instead of doing always the two
weeks, one month, I wanted to goa good six months.
So that was just the bare plan.
So I was slowly working towardsthat from November to March.
But January is really where Igot the ding, ding, ding, like
things are going crazy here likepack your things.
(16:14):
All my friends still tell melike, wow you, you left right on
time, like, did insider info oranything.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
I was like no, you met my ex right he's in Toronto.
You remember At the party?
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Yes, I did meet him.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Boy.
He was going through it duringthe pandemic.
He had just gone, likeliterally had just moved there
in january to decide to becloser to his kids and that shit
oh, no, terrible.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
So he moved from where to where, like before
toronto.
Oh wow, oh, that must have beena shock.
That must have been a shock.
That must have been a shock.
Yeah, like I hear crazy things,because once I made that move,
I ended up staying in Jamaicafor almost three years.
It's like the plan was sixmonths and it ended up being
almost three years.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
That's a story in itself and because, also, it got
to a point where, um, literallyin canada, you couldn't travel
unless you had the vaccine, likeyou couldn't come back in or
you had to, uh, to isolateyourself at the hotel airport,
which you, you pay for ityourself for a certain amount of
(17:40):
days.
So because so he would, heliterally would sneak in and out
, he would find ways, justbecause he didn't want to get
vaccinated, and he was like I'mnot fucking staying at the hotel
and saying whatever money whenI can go isolate in my own
fucking place, like right, itwas ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
You, you should have seen it at first.
I was waiting it out.
Then I got sick, like, let'ssay, around August, and then I
ended up having to apply for aresidency in Jamaica, because,
if not, you have to like pay toextend and extend, because as a
Canadian, you can stay there 90days and then you can extend
again for another 90 days.
So for me, I got pregnant.
(18:23):
So December 2020, I discoveredI was going to become a mother.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
So that was Yo, let's do it Girl.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
I tell you, let's do it all before, let's do it now,
because I always try to preparefor a zombie apocalypse, like if
you see me at the gym.
There was one reason I went tothe gym is because I was like I
don't want to be bitten becauseI run out of breath, because I
can't run.
So I was like no, no.
So it was crazy because, as yousaid, the prime minister of
(19:10):
Canada, trudeau, was likecalling back all the Canadians
early 2021.
But I was sick.
I was sick the first five monthsof my pregnancy, so I couldn't
leave.
My doctor did not recommendthat I fly over.
So I was like, dealing with allthis thing, like, am I going to
have?
The doctor did not recommendthat I fly over.
So I was like dealing with allthis thing, like am I gonna have
the baby here or am I gonnahave the baby in Canada?
But because I had left Canadafor so long already, I was
(19:32):
calling in to see you know if Iwould still be covered.
So all this thing boiled down.
And then, yes, trudeau justclosed the borders and, it's
funny, a lot of Canadians stayedin Jamaica.
They didn't't really care.
They're like, oh awesome, I canstay here longer.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
There was some of my like because for some reason
during the pandemic I met a lotof Canadians through clubhouse
and social media, so I have abig online friends of Canada.
And there was some who werechilling in Mexico.
Everybody like all right, youcan talk about everything.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
It's like we're good Because imagine, like all the
I'm not sure about the rest ofthe Caribbean island, but in
Jamaica it was really quiet.
If you booked a hotel, theywould like upgrade you to the
nicest room because there wasliterally three guests in the
whole hotel.
The beaches- Traveling around.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
That time was the best time.
Best time you get very goodservice because there's nobody,
people are not overwhelmed,because it's not busy, it's not
hectic Like bro.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Yeah, service.
I don't know if you weregetting the best service,
because the servers were notgetting enough tips anymore.
And then there was a lot ofcurfews in Jamaica when the
whole thing was happening,because they wanted to make sure
nobody parties.
So, like sometime on Friday youhad to be home by 3 pm, so
everybody would be running togrocery stores and just pack
(20:54):
everything.
But what was nice there therewas no such thing as like, oh
you have COVID, like don'tapproach me or people.
People didn't really care.
They're like really there'sCOVID Also.
There's no COVID after curfewme or people.
People didn't really care.
They're like really there'scovid also.
There's no covid after curfew,but there's like people were
making jokes out of it.
Uh, of course, like not to makejokes, because I know a lot of
people lost family members butthat's the reality.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
People were making jokes like there were a lot of
covid jokes.
There's some people until todaymake covid jokes like that's
the reality of the world we livein and and to some extent in
the beginning it was fuckingfunny because people were
choosing how to access COVID.
Like at work, everybody wantsspace, but then at night people
(21:35):
are still crowded in one sittingbecause, oh, we want to have a
party.
So it was like, okay, y'all aremaking a mockery of this, like
how are you?
going to tell me in thesupermarket, five distance, when
yesterday I saw you turning upin a small closed space and
nobody had masks on or nothing.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Yeah, like in Canada.
I remember in January, beforeeverything they were saying oh,
flu kills more people Like youdon't have to wear a mask, and
then all of a sudden they'reforcing people to wear masks.
So it made no sense whatsoever.
And in Jamaica we till today, Idon't think we had more than
200 deaths and not more than5,000 cases, because the cases
(22:15):
started going up when peoplewould come from the US to
Jamaica for funerals, so they'rethe ones who started bringing
it.
But in Jamaica itself, there wasnot much going on and in that
sense, and then when he reopenedthe Canada, the Canadian
borders, I was like 37 weeks.
So I was like almost due.
So I was like there's no wayI'm going back to Canada and at
(22:39):
the same time, my parents weremaking a return because my dad
also loses job in Texas, so theywere making a return back to
Canada and, of course, when youmake a return, like paperwork
and all that.
So I was like I'm not going togo find a doctor now that I'm
almost due.
So this is how I ended uphaving the baby there August
2021.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
and how did that transform your entrepreneur
world?
Because at that moment, you'realso still pursuing your passion
, right.
And then you got pregnant, youhad a baby and then.
So how did that transformationcome about?
Speaker 1 (23:15):
well, the first transformation, I think, is that
when I got stuck there for awhile, I finally decided to
invest in myself because I had afriend who was already kind of
in the online world.
I call it because, unless youunderstand it, you don't really
know what people are doingonline and how they make money.
So she always told me about youknow, oh, you should be a
(23:38):
virtual assistant.
I can see you do well in thatand I would just research it in
those years and I was like, oh,I don't want to do any admin
work, I don't want to work forsomeone and like, do data entry
or anything boring like that.
But that year, after being likethe first three months I had
nothing to do.
I would be complaining to myhusband like, oh, I want to go
to yoga, I don't have anyroutine, I'm bored out of my
(23:59):
mind because I was used to thego, go, go, yeah.
So when I invested in thatcourse, I finally learned the
basic of digital marketing andhow to promote myself and how to
you know just the simple thingslike how to send an invoice and
a contract, you know how to youknow take clients and so on and
(24:21):
so forth.
So that really gave me thebasis and because it's a virtual
assistant course.
So when I did that, for me myexperience at the time I was
coming from a voiceoverbackground, because that's what
I had been doing in the yearprior.
So I decided to kind ofposition myself as a editor
(24:43):
because you know, I was familiarwith, you know, editing audio,
sending self tape, because youhave to audition a lot as a
voice actor.
So when I positioned myself asan editor, I started attracting
a lot of podcasters.
So that's how I really gotintroduced to the podcasting
world and for me it was amazing.
I was like, wow, such anintimate place and platform to
(25:06):
just, you know, talk aboutyourself and it's not like out
there where everybody can listento it, but most likely you'll
be found by people you know thatcan relate to you.
So for me I just fell in lovewith podcasters.
So I started making sure all myfriends were podcasters and
when I also invested myselfagain, I took a coaching course
(25:28):
at the end of 2020.
So that was all, before I evenwas pregnant.
I was now introduced to theworld of healing, which again
was such an eye opener for mebecause, I have to say,
relocating to Jamaica for me wasreally, at the end of the day,
a healing journey, because Ireally was faced with my own
(25:49):
self, coming from the expressionyou know, wherever you go, here
you are.
So I had to face my negativethoughts.
I had to face all these excusesthat I had made up when I was
in Canada to not pursue or tonot bet on myself.
So now I was really faced withmy own nightmares, like okay,
(26:10):
now you only have yourself.
Like what are you going to do?
So for me?
At first, of course I wanted to,like you know, invest locally,
connect with the locals, but thepandemic made that really hard
because we couldn't go anywherewith the locals.
But the pandemic made thatreally hard because we couldn't
go anywhere and my husband'sfamily was very far from where
(26:32):
we lived at the time.
So this is what pushed me tojust continue, kind of creating
a community online.
So the podcast community iswhat really started my journey.
Now being an editor is not thebest, because people are usually
looking for the cheapest editorout there, because I was
attracting mainly beginners.
So I was like journey Now beingan editor is not the best
because people are usuallylooking for the cheapest editor
out there because I wasattracting mainly beginners.
So I was like, okay, maybe I'mnot good in editing, I'm going
to move on to coaching.
(26:53):
So that's when I startedworking with wellness coaches
specifically that wanted tostart their podcast or have
started their podcast andthey're kind of trying to align
it with their business.
So it's not like two differentprojects.
So this is where I foundedRekia Flow.
And then when I became a motherI have to say pregnancy it's
(27:15):
really my few clients that keptme going, but I never really
created anything new.
I was just focused on doingclient work because I was so not
inspired.
When I was pregnant I feltreally like blah.
I think it's because I lovefood and I couldn't eat anything
.
So I wasn't myself.
But once the baby came on, Ijust had a blast of energy.
(27:38):
I started going on interviewsand this is how I started, you
know, going on conferences.
So I just built from there.
So once the baby was a bit older, I started doing on interviews
and this is how I started goingon conferences.
So I just built from there.
So once the baby was a bitolder, I started doing more
interviews like these and thenlast year like he's two.
Now I just took the leap offaith again to have some time
for myself, because sometimesyou kind of get lost in trying
(27:59):
to please everybody and beeverything for everybody.
So I had to kind of step backand say, hey, it's mommy time,
I've started a business and Ihave to keep going.
Because I was very thankful Ihave to say that I had built
that before becoming a mother,so I never had to call in sick
at work, I never had to liketake a maternity leave or
(28:22):
anything like that.
I had my business.
So I was just focusing on myclients and then I'm building
from there.
So we're about what?
Three years almost four yearsin business now.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Out of curiosity, right, because I think people
always have this thing okay, I'mgoing to build, but how do I
get my first client?
Is the pricing right?
How do I negotiate?
So how did you go about thatwith your first client, like,
how did you structure that towhere yours now became
comfortable with?
I'm pretty sure right now youhave also four years.
(28:56):
You've already upped your price, because four years that's a
lot of growth by you and a lotof you know, because every year
we are growing in what we aredoing.
So of course our prices aregoing to increase because my
knowledge has gone up, baby, youknow, and the more and the more
awards you win, the moreconferences you're talking on,
that's your price going up,that's your resume being filled.
(29:18):
So that's that's credibilityover there, and with credibility
you can price it.
So how did you when you startedout, did you structure the
pricing and getting that firstclient, versus how you do it
right now?
Speaker 1 (29:36):
That's a really good question and I think it goes
back to investing in yourself,because I think we all start
with we don't really believe inourselves.
We all start with the impostersyndrome and have all these
little talks trying to, you know, sabotage our own self.
So I think the first firstthing, one minute.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
I still, I still can't believe y'all allowed me
to moderate that panel.
I, when I could even believe inmyself, I had no experience you
were the best person to do it,paula.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
Sometimes it's just your calling.
We see it in you.
You volunteered a bit reluctantbut we're like, yeah, you're
doing it.
That's why I even asked thequestion again.
I'm like so, paula, you'restill doing this because I'm
like none of us, we're not goingto do it.
We're not going to do it.
I even ask the question again.
I'm like so, paula, you'restill doing this because I'm
like none of us, you're notgoing to do it.
You're not going to do it.
It was great.
You just have a, a flair to youknow, set the tone, make
(30:33):
everybody feel comfortable.
And after that I was like yo, Ijust like put my bag on.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
I'm like talking shit .
I didn't even know I was at apanel at some point.
I thought it was my living itlucky, felt like we were back in
our zoom meetings, like justfour or five talking so but but
continue.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Sorry about that, no no, we're talking shit, so it's
all good.
But going back to the, you knowhow I tried to attract my first
client and set up myself.
As I I said, the first thing isthat if you know you don't
believe in yourself, then you'regoing to have to replace that
by investing in yourself.
And what I mean by that iseither by having a coach that's
(31:13):
going to be behind you, thatwill keep you accountable, and
who's going to give you thestructure.
Because I think that's whatstops most people, because at
first I would apply like I wouldgo research virtual assistant
and apply for it, and I wouldsee people like hire virtual
assistant, like in foreigncountries, and only pay them
like $10 an hour.
So this is where I learned thejourney, really, of pricing
(31:37):
yourself.
The journey of growing yourbusiness is understanding your
worth.
Until you understand your worth, you will never be able to
price right.
Because even if somebody didall the structure for you and
tells you, oh yeah, like Iremember my coaching program
said, charge at least $500 amonth at least, but if you don't
(31:58):
believe in yourself, if youdon't feel that you're worth
that, you won't be able to makethe ask.
So I think it's very importantto do that inventory of, like,
what are my skills, what are mystrengths.
So for me, luckily, becauseI've been in the entrepreneurial
kind of world, I know how topitch a little bit.
I know you know how to putmyself out there.
(32:21):
Some people are afraid to evenjust go in a Zoom meeting.
So if you can't even make aZoom meeting, you'll struggle,
because online there's thiswhole thing of trust,
credibility, and you can onlyset that by actually connecting
with people.
And for me, social media wasvery, very, how can I say?
I was afraid of it because Ifelt every time I went on it,
(32:42):
like I always say, some cousinfrom Africa will be calling me
for money, like man, she'sballing, like what's happening,
but I'm like, no, that's likeone day in my life and it was
just a good day.
So I posted.
But when I learned aboutdigital marketing and how you
should be only speaking to oneperson for me, my people became
podcasters.
So then I wasn't afraid to putmyself out there, I wasn't
(33:06):
afraid to do the ask because Iknew I was solving a specific
problem.
So when you grow into thejourney and you know your worth
and you know, you know you'rerelating to people, people are
relating to your story.
Then you're able to go outthere and attract the clients.
At first it's really just likedeciding hey, like for me, I
(33:29):
decided, oh, I'm going to talkto wellness coaches, and then I
was attracting somethingcompletely different.
So I had to like, rearrange,rearrange my message.
But this is what's great,though, like I find, sometimes
you put yourself out there andnow people like are attracted to
me because I live in Jamaica.
But at first that story wasn'tcomplete.
So I say, hey, I'm going tohelp you relocate, I'm going to
(33:52):
help you do that.
No, I just had relocated.
So the story makes more senseas you grow into it.
So I would really say it'sabout one invest in yourself.
If you still don't believe inyour skills, invest in your
skills so you can gain thatcredibility and that trust.
And then, lastly, know yourworth and you should triple
(34:15):
whatever you think your worth isand make sure you always do a
reassessment every year, likefor me, every three months.
I increase my price there's nosay about that because I know
I'm upgrading my skills in tisans, in ti sans words, you
stand on business, okay.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
So when you're shit out of curiosity right, because
most of us when we start shit,you know we are so we want that
we're so excited about gettingthat first client and sometimes
we end up with the wrong clientor we end up in a wrong
investment.
So how long did it take you?
Because I think we are.
We are so in a rush.
(34:58):
Instead of actually waiting forthe right client, we end up
getting into stupid shit.
So how long did it take youwhen you started your business
until you got your first client?
Speaker 1 (35:10):
I actually got my first client really quick.
I had a first discovery callthat went totally wrong.
But that's because I neverlistened to the module of how to
conduct a strategy call, so Inever went there.
So the teacher was like, so,did you listen to that module
(35:32):
before?
I was like, no, I didn't.
So so I literally went into myfirst discovery call with this
really known person on LinkedInand I just tried to go through
like a PowerPoint presentation.
So I never listened to her, Inever asked the right question.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
You didn't have a conversation versus just going
through it.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
Not at all.
I was like so stressed, I wasjust like trying to go through
everything I had to say and atthe end she was like, okay, well
, thanks, it's terrible.
But then my second client whichI think really helped was a
referral.
That's when I found the powerof referral, because during the
course I kind of reached out toa few people that had podcasts
(36:12):
and it was for a market research.
Because our teacher was like youknow, you should go ask
questions about, you know, whenpeople hire VA in that industry,
you know what they make them do, and so on.
So I had already sent a fewemails to a lot of people like,
hey, are you hiring a VA?
Or, if you do have one, what dothey do for you?
So some people never answeredmy email, which is okay.
(36:34):
But some people took the timeto tell me oh yeah, I have a VA,
she does social media for me,she does graphic, she does show
notes.
So that's how I knew toposition myself by gaining that
information.
And then one of them justreached out to me after I had
reached out to her, like, oh, Iactually have a client who wants
to do, you know, video editing.
Could you help her.
And I was like, yes, and I canhelp her, like even if I have to
(36:57):
go learn it right now, gonnahelp her.
And then she, I think, becauseI was referred, the trust is
already there.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
Oh yeah, the credibility, because somebody
already vetted you for, like,the person who referred you to
them has already vetted you forher.
So because if I come and tellyou yo go hire Paula, she's dope
as fuck Because you trust meand you believe me and you're
like, oh man, I really need togo check out Paula, you know so
(37:29):
that's exactly it.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
So somebody already done the work for you.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
You, now you can have an actual conversation during
the presentation instead ofbeing, and especially and
especially when you havesomebody in common, the
conversation also becomes easybecause you know somebody in
common.
So it's also becomes easybecause you know somebody in
common, so it's not going to beawkward conversation.
Oh my God.
So how did you know her?
Oh, I know her.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
Exactly, exactly, and that's when I understood
community was key.
And then this girl just saidyes, and I think I froze when
she said yes, like I didn't evenknow what to say next.
I'm like what?
Oh, you're gonna be a clientyou're like, this is happening.
You're my first client oh mygod, I remember opening the door
(38:14):
.
I remember opening the door andcalling my husband and he's
like what I got my first client.
Speaker 2 (38:28):
So what did you spend the money on?
Your first client?
Did you go bougie out there ordid you reinvest it?
Because sometimes we get tooexcited on that first date.
I'm taking myself to have somebigger steak and some margaritas
.
I'm taking myself to have somebigger steak and some margaritas
.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
I was lucky because at the time I was kind of living
a simple life, like going toJamaica.
I wasn't spending that muchmoney.
I think I just reinvested it inmy business.
So I was trying to like.
That's important yeah, I had alist of courses I wanted to take
, so I just kept it on the sideand it probably went somewhere
in a coaching course of somesort, or yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
And just before people come for me.
I don't mean you shouldn'tcelebrate your first client.
I'm just saying sometimes weget too excited and spend the
entire check on celebratinginstead of also reinvesting back
in the business so we can keepgetting those clients.
And that's where some peoplefail clients and that's where
some people fail and that'swhere other people continue
prospering because they takethat money and reinvest it back
(39:29):
into their business yes but andI and I'm one of those who,
whenever I get paid like I mean,we all know when payday comes
you start looking at uber eatsand she's like fuck those
noodles in the fridge.
You know, it happens, it's partof life, it happens.
We are most of us are guiltyabout that.
But I hope we change ourmindset and also, like you know,
(39:52):
yes put the rest back in themyes, I think, the.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
I think if it was not in the pandemic time, that's
what would have happened,because there's so much
distraction and so much, butbeing in jamaica and it's like
pandemic time, there was nodistraction, so yeah you
couldn't do shit, even if youwanted to.
Speaker 2 (40:13):
The least you can do is other shit from amazon, which
at that time amazon prime wasalso taking forever exactly,
exactly.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
So I reinvested, uh, in the business.
But, yeah, I definitelyrecommend not to spend it all.
Have like a certain percentage,you know, or have certain goals
and when you reach a big goalthen maybe you can spend that
paycheck.
But because it was my firstclient yeah, and I think because
(40:43):
it was my first client and it'slike deliverables I have to
give her editing video and allthat.
I only ask for half of it first, and then, once I deliver
everything, she paid the otherhalf.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
So that helps too, to kind of spread it out yeah,
because you're like okay, thisstuff came, we're gonna reinvest
this because we still have workto do, and then when the other
half comes, when I'm finished, Ican kind of buy myself a
lollipop.
Good job, that was your firstclient.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
Yeah, yes, exactly.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
I don't know if you know producer Jamie, this
incredible woman, and I've mether through Podfest.
She's amazing, I actually hadher yesterday on here and she
has started a network calledPower Moms Network and I feel
like I'm letting you knowbecause you're a mother and I
want all the mothers to takeadvantage of it.
(41:36):
It's like a supportive groupfor people with different
creative words, different parts.
Some of them have jobs, some ofthem are parts.
Some of them have jobs.
Some of them are creative, someof them are trying to figure
out what they want, because mostof them moms, are used to just
the title of mom.
They don't believe they canoffer more or something.
So it's always nice to have acommunity that is supportive, is
(41:59):
there for you, so I think thatwould be also a nice community
for you to join, you know.
Speaker 1 (42:05):
Yes, definitely, I'll reach out to you for her
contacts.
Speaker 2 (42:08):
Yeah, I'll send them to her.
Shout out to producer Jamieshe's doing incredible stuff
because she was a single mom andshe's big on podcasting.
She has been editing andbuilding a podcast network down
in Florida and everything.
So I feel I want all moms outthere because you're all badass
like mom to me, whether you area mom and a wife or just a mom,
(42:30):
but you're also still a friend,a daughter, uh, uh, you know you
have your own stuff, like ittakes a lot.
So, yes, a community that'swilling to help.
And you know I love I've seenso much comes out of communities
we belong in, especially whenyou pour into them and how much
they pour back.
And sometimes you go therethinking what's this shit gonna
(42:53):
do for me?
Like I'm just joining becausePaula told me to come join, so
I'm just gonna join so that shestops bugging me.
But you'll be surprised thathow much comes out of it, to the
extent you're like, damn, whydidn't I join sooner?
So don't sleep on communitiesy'all.
Yes.
Speaker 1 (43:08):
Communities, everything, everything,
everything.
I commend that, I commend thismessage.
Speaker 2 (43:16):
Speaking of motherhood and wife and all that
.
How do you, as an entrepreneur,a business owner, how do you
balance?
Speaker 1 (43:26):
oh man, I think it's more I juggle.
I don't think there's anybalance.
Try to juggle it, you know, andthen one drops, because I'm not
a good juggler, and then themore things drops, you're just
like man, whatever.
Speaker 2 (43:46):
Fuck this shit whatever, fuck this shit, I
still got, I still gotta go tothe other one.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
it's charming.
As long you're still holdingyourself, you're good.
But but, but that's a reallygood question.
I think I almost want tocompare motherhood to the
entrepreneurial journey.
I think at first you have noidea what you're doing and then
you realize that nobody elseknows what they're doing.
So then you feel a little bitbetter about yourself and in
(44:17):
that journey, as you meet otherpeople, as you say, as you build
a community and you don't feelso lonely, then you're able
through other people's stories.
So I think for me, what reallysaved me is hearing other
people's story that were goingthrough the same thing as me.
One of the first podcasts thatreally changed everything for me
shout out to Kristen Flourishand Foreign.
(44:41):
She people pretty much you knowstarted their business abroad.
She's located in Spain.
So when I listened to thatpodcast I was like, oh my God,
so there is other woman doingwhat I'm doing.
Cause for me.
As I said, it was never a choice.
I never like had a budget andbe like, oh, I'm going to go
relocate here.
No, it just happened to me.
(45:02):
And then the rest of thejourney.
As I explained to youmotherhood, I never planned to
be a mother abroad.
So the balance is really, at theend, finding out that you have
to take time for yourself, youhave to be the priority, because
at some point in motherhood youkind of lose sight of that.
You think that the baby may bethe priority or the husband may
(45:24):
be the priority because therelationship is changing.
But for me, I had to step backof all that in 2021, especially
2022.
I had to realize that if Iwanted my business to thrive and
not be just a side hustlebecause that's what usually
happens when you don't give itthe importance or the space it
(45:45):
needs I had to.
Or the discipline yes, I wouldsay that I'm still not really
disciplined, but it's more.
It's really like to commit tosomething small.
Um, I remember Danielle, whowas founder of a woman of color
(46:06):
podcasters.
Uh, really helped me see that,because for me I just oh, my God
, that's with Podfest.
Yes, I saw the picture.
Guess what?
I met her and I never took apicture.
So I need to go to.
We talk so much.
We were talking and talking.
Speaker 2 (46:24):
But it happens.
It happens sometimes.
Even us, coming back fromPodfest, we're like, oh my God,
we hanged out so much togetherand we didn't even have one
picture.
But when you're with somebodyso much compared to when you
just have a few minutes withsomebody and you got to go you
remember a picture.
But when you know like, oh, I'mgoing to find her in the room,
oh, we are having lunch together, it just slips away.
Speaker 1 (46:50):
And then next thing you know, oh, she's gone.
It's gone, so it's on my bucketlist.
Now I have to take a picturewith Danielle, like I have to.
So for her, she really nailedit down to committing to one
activity.
So in 2022, it really light upfor me that the only thing I had
to focus on was to connect,like with people like you, like
tell my story, so I would findmy people.
So I just started focusing onthat, telling my story about
(47:13):
Jamaica and everything, andpeople just started coming to me
and those connection aregenuine.
It's not like I had to create apost to get followers, like my
numbers are just going upbecause I really met the person,
or we really connected on thisplatform or we met in this
community.
So when you discover that, youreally discover that the best
(47:33):
balance is to be balanced withyour own self and making sure to
check in with yourself.
Like, what did I do for myselftoday?
You know what did I do?
Not even necessarily yourbusiness, because your business
is not going to grow until youare growing yourself.
Yeah, so when I understood that,that's when I really made the
step of like going toconferences.
(47:53):
So I didn't feel bad anymore.
I was almost like okay, daddy,it's daddy time.
I remember my first conferencewas podcast movement and I left
on my husband's birthday and Icame the day after my son's
birthday.
So that was really clear.
Like it's my time, I'm notcelebrating one of your
birthdays, I'm celebrating me.
Speaker 2 (48:17):
I married you and I gave birth to you, so I deserve
to celebrate me for doing theone on your birthday.
But I love that and somethingyou said right, oh my God,
literally I just had it.
But there was also anotherthing.
Maybe that one will come backto me.
When you say that being a motheris like an entrepreneurial
(48:39):
journey, it's funny becauseJamie yesterday also said that
as long as you're a mother, youalready are a business owner,
because all the qualities ofbeing a mother is as a business,
you have to negotiate with yourkid, you learn to negotiate,
you learn how to prioritize, youlearn how to budget, you learn.
So those are the same qualitiesthat you put on your business.
But so it's just um, and thisis why I I love talking about
(49:03):
mindset, switch and mindset likeyou just gotta switch that
mindset of yours and look at itin the other side and you'll be
like, oh wow, I am actually, Ihave the, the qualities to
fucking run a business, to ownsomething, because I'm, I'm
running this kid right nowdefinitely definitely like even
(49:25):
the mindset of like I wasn'tworried anymore after the baby
to get clients.
Speaker 1 (49:29):
I was like that's not even my priority.
And now I'm lending all thesepodcasts, appearance and
everything and I'm like Ihaven't even done no work.
It's just a connection leads,another connection and leads,
you know, and that makes it fun.
It's no longer like I have togo sit in front of my computers
and try to find a guest or, like, try to appear somewhere.
So when it becomes natural,you'll see the growth is just
(49:52):
amazing and I think that's whereyour kids are going to look up
to.
They can say, oh, my mom, youknow, pursued her dreams.
She pursued her goal because,looking at my own parents and
our, you know, just ourancestors in general, they
sacrificed so much of themselvesand thank you.
I always say I think I saw itin a t-shirt we are our ancestor
(50:16):
wildest dreams because theywanted to be us and we get to be
their dream.
So, hey, who am I to notcontinue that?
Who am I to not tell mychildren, hey, be yourself,
become yourself.
I think if I just stay home, Ibecome just very resentful
because I'm like I'm doing allthis and these people are not
(50:37):
seeing my worth, so it always goback again.
Don't lose sight of your worth.
If you don't lose sight of yourworth, you know that you're
worth more than just being amother or just a wife or just a
daughter.
We are so many different thingsand I love how she put it
together.
It's very much likeentrepreneurial journey, because
it's all about growth.
Speaker 2 (50:59):
Yeah, she created this, this community, so that
the mothers, those who arefeeling like I'm just a mom no,
you're more than just a mom toto get inspired, to get
motivated to, to motivated tofigure some shit out.
But I remembered what I wasalso going to say.
It was when you say your storybrings your community.
I always tell people that's whyI say podcasting served my
(51:21):
mental health, because I startedsharing my story and it started
giving me the communities thatI needed, the support that I
needed, and also I keep ontelling people your story
matters, like your story.
It does matter because somebodyout there is waiting to hear,
so they can connect with you andthose connections become so
genuine, more than theconnections that you've actually
(51:43):
had in your life for thelongest time.
It's amazing how the podcastingworld, the friendships I've
created that have gone from justbeing podcasting to personal,
to deeper, and these are peoplewho I just met in the last four
years.
They are bringing so much moreto me than actually the people
who have known all my life.
(52:04):
But it's also one thing peoplesay oh, how come I don't see
that in my community?
So just because you're in acommunity doesn't mean you just
have to be in a community, youhave to show up.
Show up in every of those shit,even support those shit.
Don't ask to be to, to, to belike I.
I don't want to come and belike yo.
(52:25):
Can you support me?
No see, I'm doing my shit, justsupport and and it gets seen
because I do all this shit and Ididn't know that people were
watching or people were seeing.
I went to PortFest, I gotawarded Community Hero Award and
I'm like, and I didn't, Iwasn't even doing it for the
award, I was just giving back toa community that's giving me so
much.
But people see you, people seeyour growth.
(52:47):
This podcast was so emotionalbut my head got so big because
of how many people were comingup to me after my presentation,
after my MC, after my work, justto remind me, to give me the
assurance that we don't get,because when we do this job
trust me, people are so sucky atgiving reviews or feedback we
really need to pull them out ofit giving reviews or feedback,
(53:11):
like we really need to pull themout of you.
So when we hear that we getthat assurance, it, it fuels us
to continue moving and doingwhat we love doing so, shout out
, to shout out to everybody outthere who, especially when you
refer somebody, I like somebodywho comes to me and be like, oh
um, paula, told me to come, tocome meet with you because you
are this and this.
Refine people to people.
It's such a beautiful thing.
(53:32):
It's another way of supporting.
If I know I can't afford yourservices, that's fine.
What I can do is I can sharethem, I can tell people about
them, I can send people to you.
That's other forms of support.
People assume that supportalways has to be.
I have to, your course, I haveto come to your event.
No, we're not financial, we arenot, you know, not everybody is
(53:55):
there.
But there's more to supportthan financial support yes, I'm
so proud of you.
Speaker 1 (54:01):
By the way, congratulations again.
I'm so sad I missed podfest.
I was busy like trying to comeback here but next year don't
miss it.
Speaker 2 (54:09):
Next year don't miss it next year.
Speaker 1 (54:12):
I'd love that.
Speaker 2 (54:12):
I'd love that definitely now we are coming to
the end of this.
Uh, before we go, please letthe people know um, leave, leave
them with wise words or adviceon betting on themselves and
just going after their passion,and then also let the people
know where they can find you.
You can say right now is aplace for you to sell yourself
(54:36):
and sell your business, what youdo, how they can find you.
Speaker 1 (54:41):
Yes, definitely.
Well, word of wisdom I wouldsay to end this is that whatever
plan you have, god have abetter plan for you.
So the leap of faith is reallyhaving that faith in yourself
that you already have all theskills and I'm sure you hear
that a lot, but it's true in thesense that they might not be
(55:03):
matured skills or, you know,developed skills, but they're
there, like your mission hasbeen already put in you.
Now you have to do the work toput it out there, Because even
just in this, mentioning thestory, as you said, it's because
I shared my story with AfrinAudio that we were put in the
same panel and that we were ableto meet today.
(55:26):
If I had never shared that story, I don't think we've had ever
meet, or at least there wouldhave been a big delay.
So I really understand now thatwe used to say I think I saw a
nice post about that we used tosay, hey, share your story in
the safe platform.
But I think it's really aboutfinding a sacred platform, cause
I tried to tell my story in thetime I was the most hurt and I
(55:50):
realized that the audience Ishared it with was not my
community.
As you said, you really have tofind that sacred place and
that's how we founded Rekia Flow, where we help really people
align their narrative with theirbusiness and their podcast so
(56:11):
they can gain visibility andreally create that raving fan
community.
So you can find me on Instagram, any platform, twitter,
linkedin and TikTok underRekhayaflow and it was a
pleasure, as usual, to meet you,paula, and I hope to see you
because I'm not going to missAfro in audio.
Speaker 2 (56:31):
Me neither.
That's already a new tradition,so I'm looking forward to that.
Speaker 3 (56:42):
This October 18th to the 20th.
Don't miss the go-to eventexperience for aspiring new and
seasoned black indie podcastcreators and audio professionals
.
Now, spanning threeaction-packed days, the sixth
annual Afros and Audio PodcastFestival in Baltimore, maryland,
will be a weekend of panels,workshops and networking
designed to elevate yourpodcasting game.
Join us at the Reginald F LewisMuseum and book your discounted
(57:04):
room at True by HiltonBaltimore Harbor East.
The festival jumps off with alive show and kickoff party on
Friday, followed by a weekend ofnetworking, learning and
celebration.
You'll get to engage withindustry leaders through
educational tracks and awardsevening and close out with
pivotal discussions on Sunday.
Afros and Audio is where theBlack podcast community unites
to forge stronger connectionsand gain valuable insights.
(57:26):
We'll see you in October.
Secure your spot for anunforgettable experience.
Visit afrosandaudiocom tosecure your ticket today.
Speaker 2 (57:38):
So go support, go, show up, go show up, go get
involved in your communities,and if you don't have a
community in your city, startone.
You need to start.
So thank you all for hangingout with us.
That shit happens where shitalways happens Shit, shit, shit,
(58:02):
shit happens, shit happens,shit happens, shit happens, shit
(58:30):
happens, it happens.
And for me it was amazing.
I was like, wow, such anintimate place and platform to
just, you know, talk aboutyourself, and it's not like out
there where everybody can listento it, but most likely you'll
be found by people you know thatcan relate to you.
So for me, I just fell in lovewith podcasters.
So I started making sure all myfriends were podcasters and
(00:22):
when I also invested myselfagain, I took a coaching course
at the end of 2020.
So that was all.
Before I even was pregnant, Iwas now introduced to the world
of healing, which again was suchan eye opener for me because, I
have to say, relocating toJamaica for me was really, at
the end of the day, a healingjourney, because I really was
(01:14):
faced with my hey shit talkers.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Guess what?
This is another shit happensepisode with my girl, rokaya.
Rokaya and I met last year atthe fifth Afrozenalgia festival,
where we were actually in amental health panel together,
and this year for for the 6thAfros and Audios Festival, we
are in another panel together,just like Raph from the last
(01:50):
episode, voices of AfricanDiaspora, telling our stories
through podcasting.
So here's a shit-happeningepisode we did together earlier
this year, bringing it to youbecause this weekend we will be
together live on stage at thesixth afros and audios festival,
baltimore maryland.
(02:12):
Catch us live, baby.
So, uh, we are gonna have anincredible conversation right
now with an incredible beautifulone of the most soulful person
I've got to meet.
I met her last year, we were ona panel together and she's just
beautiful.
Like it's incredible.
Hey, paula.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
I heard your, I heard your, you know your, your
housekeeping about showing up.
I was there.
I was there, but the backstageof StreamYard is so awesome so I
was like checking my rap.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
you know I was listening to music getting in
the groove, but but yeah wellsince it's live, since it's live
, you know, you know, blame thebehind the scene because we're
gonna blame it as a stream andstop making your your waiting
area so cool for people to youknow, I was thinking of my title
(03:06):
for a good five minutes.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
I'm like what should I put?
What's my tomato?
Oh my god.
So it took a while, but yeah Imean that's important.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
That's important, important shit to consider,
because people are gonna watchyou and they're gonna be like,
who is this right?
So your title that you're gonnaput is very important.
So I I feel you.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
You know those are tough decisions you had to make
right, but how did I do comparedto the three guests before?
Speaker 2 (03:35):
so this is what I want to know actually, um, the
first one is just like you, butthe the second one, of course,
and he also gave me a message todeliver to you, of course, you
know he's a Nigerian, so he camein before I came in, so and
then he told me he went, andthen he was like I was waiting
for you for like 15 minutes.
(03:55):
I was like, please stop, stop,stop.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
I love you.
That can only be white label,american Shout out to you.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Yeah, and he told me to tell you that.
Remind her to reschedule.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Yes, yes, I will.
I will After the game.
I'm waiting for the game tofinish because I know he's going
to ask me some rubbishquestions, so I can't talk to
him during the game.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
And when he gave me that message I was like, oh shit
, he had also sent me hiscalendar to reschedule because
he lost our recording.
So I was writing the messageand I'm like I'll make sure to
tell her and I will also get mydone.
He was like, yeah, you need toget yours done too.
I was like I got you, I got you, I got you.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Yeah, good reminder.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Let's book it same day.
Okay, he has to deal with oneof us in the morning and the
other one in the afternoon.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
He's going to have to reschedule.
I just feel it.
He's going to have toreschedule.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Both of these two people at the same time.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Oh, no One has to be napping, so it can't happen at
the same time.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
He's lucky he doesn't do live, because I'd show up
while you're there and be on thecomments like oh yes, like
dropping some shit, I know, Iknow you already.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
I know you.
Like we first met through email, we did with meet face to face.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
They put us on an email thing for the panel and
man, you, you're the one who wasemailing the most, I think but,
but yeah, but it's funny when,as soon as I saw you, I
literally knew who you arebecause you were passing, I was
in a class and I texted you.
I was like I see you walking.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
I remember that.
I remember.
Oh, my god, it was so good tomeet you, though like I feel
I've known you forever, eventhough we just met last year.
But yeah, thank you for havingme.
It's so good to see you again.
Thank you for coming.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
So how have you been?
Where are you right now?
Speaker 1 (05:49):
I'm back in Canada.
So I'm in Vancouver just aboveWashington State, so I'm about
like two hours from Seattle orso, so back, in the cold.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
What brought you back to Canada?
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Voice acting.
So remember, the writers wereon strike for like almost the
whole Hollywood thing was goingdown.
So it's been a good slow twoyears for us voice actors,
actors in general.
So now they have reached anagreement.
I got a few gigs but shortstory is that I never made it to
(06:24):
the gig.
So I missed it because AirCanada the airline, the best and
oldest airline in Canadadecided to cancel my flight
because there was like asnowstorm at the time I was
coming.
So I'm just here doing my thingand working and, of course,
once you get in the system,there's this whole thing that
you have to be here about 183days so I can make money from
(06:47):
here, the whole, the wholeshebang.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
So I'm here, so are you there with your family or is
your family in?
Speaker 1 (06:55):
no, my son, my husband, everybody's in Jamaica,
so I decided to come by myself.
It's so much easier that way,because before that yeah, last
year was kind of hectic couldn'tfind a daycare for the boy and
I'm trying to like find this andget things done and it's hard,
like with the winter and allthat.
So this I just decided thisyear to come by myself and then
(07:18):
I'll just do back and forth halfof the year, though I'm yeah,
I'm gonna be in Jamaica becauseyou get more done, because you
don't have to worry about who'sgoing to watch over my baby,
especially when you get lastminute meetings or all that.
Yes, like this.
You know, listen at this, socalm.
I don't have to be like, yes,play with this or make those
(07:40):
movements, turn off the camera.
Turn on the camera.
Yeah, that's most of mybuilding.
You know the drill.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Of course.
So thank you for coming ontoday, and there was something
specifically I wanted to talk toyou about, because you went on
a transition in your life.
You lost your corporate job in2019 and you were in the middle
of trying to figure out pursuingyour, your passion and paying
(08:16):
bills.
And and most of us who kind ofme, you know most people don't
like to admit it, but I admit itso that people can know I'm
broke and I'm looking foropportunities so you can bring
all your money to me, becauseclosed mouths don't get fed.
You know just saying so.
When you are living like, whenyou don't have the safety net
right and you're living paycheckto paycheck, but you also hate
(08:39):
your job, you really want toquit because you have your
passion, you have the idea, butit also needs money.
The bills need to be paid right.
So what gave you that push?
Oh, how did you end up sayingyou know what?
Fuck it.
I'm gonna bet on myself andwe're gonna figure it out and
take the leap, because you tookthe leap and you decided to go
(09:00):
and pursue your passion and andfuck the corporate world.
So let's talk about thatjourney and how we can inspire
people like me to do the samewell, I think it actually really
happened.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Just like you said, I said fuck this, I'm betting on
myself.
And this is the best podcast tobe really clear and to the
point.
I think two things reallyhappened for me.
I think we're all in thisjourney where we want to take
the leap but we have all theseexcuses holding us back.
For me, god made the decisionbecause I was fired from my job.
(09:34):
So I wasn't given a choiceother than like hey, do you want
to find a job again or do youwant to bet on yourself?
So for me, I always had anentrepreneurial mind, like in
high school and university, Iwas always part of groups for
business startups, starting yourown thing.
So it was always in the back ofmy mind.
But of course, the nine to fivewas my excuse.
(09:56):
So when I lost that, it was ina time I was already in a
transition, meaning I wasintroduced to the world of voice
acting.
So my past corporate job I usedto work on the train, so I
would make announcement forpeople.
So people really enjoyed myvoice and everything.
So somebody approached me andtold me about, you know, the
world of audio books and that'show I started kind of
(10:18):
researching that.
So just before I get fired Iwas already exploring that
industry.
So when you know, when I had nolonger a job, I decided, hey,
let me just give it more time,give it more effort.
And this is how it chose me.
Now, as you said, it was notpaying the bills, it was not
keeping up with the lifestyle,because I lived in Toronto in a
(10:40):
small little apartment downtownand I was never there because my
job was always on the go.
I would be in hotels mostly.
I would just have time to goback home, do a little bit of
laundry, make some food and goback on.
So for me, in the back of mymind, I knew it made no sense.
I never saw a future there.
I never saw that I could raisea family or that I could buy
(11:01):
that condo or that house.
So really the narrative thatjust didn't match for me.
And I think the second thing wasthe pandemic, because for me
one was the most life-changingthing ever was to be asked this
question.
So I was asked one.
I don't know if it was aquestion I was asked, but one of
the question I think thepandemic really reflect is that
(11:23):
you have to realize what's thecost?
What is it costing you to gomake money?
So a lot of people who gotstuck at home and had to work
from home realize oh my God, Idon't have to pay for a bus pass
anymore, oh I don't have to putgas in my car anymore, like I'm
saving all this money by beinghome.
Like, why would I ever go back?
So for me, I remember in myentrepreneurial journey, I
(11:46):
really learned that we actually,you know, like it's costing us
so much to go to work, like ourmental health, our physical
health, like being on the train,like there's this movement on
the train where you're like Iforget what they call it, if
it's like frog leg or whateverbut you literally walk like that
even when you're off the train.
So you're like walking likethat.
So all of us, we know we'llhave hearing problems, we're
(12:10):
going to have knee problems.
So for me, yes, everything.
And for me, what really changedeverything is that when I got
injured I got injured in 2017 onthe train like somebody
reversed their wheelchair on mytibia and almost like cracked it
, and if they did, I would havehad like to put some plates like
(12:31):
on my hip for balance, butanyway, it didn't get to that.
But I was like on disability andI had never been on disability.
I never understood the wholesystem of, you know, being given
a different job than a regularjob as you recover, while
insurance and corporate is justfighting to see who's going to
pay you.
So in the meanwhile I was leftat least three or four months
(12:52):
with no pay, trying to figurethis thing out, not going to
work anymore.
I remember being in myapartment one Friday morning and
I was like why is it so noisyhere?
And then I realized that I'venever been home on a Friday,
like because I was alwaysworking all these years and I
used to work that job.
(13:12):
I stayed at that job almost sixyears.
Now you have to understand.
I started in a different city,in Winnipeg, and that was more
seasonal.
And then I moved to Toronto andkind of climb up the corporate
ladder.
But for me I realized at thattime that, wow, this job is
costing me my health, it'scosting me my mental health, and
(13:33):
when I was going through thehardest time of my life, they
didn't even care.
They were pretty much fightingif I was lying about this or not
.
And of course this is due tothe fact that some people do use
the system to their advantageand so on and so forth.
So for me, I think the pandemicwas a big epiphany, because when
I actually decided to relocateto Jamaica like from 2017 to
(13:57):
2020, I was just doing back andforth, but when I saw the whole
chaos with, like you knowbecause I remember like leaving
Jamaica one day to back toToronto and the whole airport
was like wearing masks and itseems like it was the first day
they required people to wearmasks, so you would see all the
people coming from likeCaribbean countries, like with
(14:18):
their kids not wearing no mask,and then you see all the people
coming from Asia with mask on,trying to put mask on their
children, and it was like chaos.
So I don't know if it was a signor something, but I was already
on my way to pack everything,store a few things, I was trying
to lease my place, but that gotcomplicated, so I decided to
just let it go and relocate andI relocated on March 2nd 2020.
(14:44):
So you can imagine, I think thepandemic hit like mid-March, so
literally 10 days later, it wasthe end of the world.
But I knew I made the rightdecision, because Toronto
downtown became like a ghosttown.
People were high-seated, andjust so you moved to Jamaica
(15:11):
just as the pandemic was like,literally just as it was,
because March, that's when a lotof lockdown was starting to
really be serious.
Yes, like I was already in theplans because at the time, my
parents were in Texas, sanAntonio.
So we got virtually married andI got married to my husband,
really based on, you know, perrespect to my parents, per
respect to the tradition andculture Cause, of course, as an
African girl, I wasn't leavingCanada to go live with a
(15:33):
Jamaican yeah, but my parentsnever met.
So we kind of did the wholetraditional thing and we did it
virtually.
I know I lost a lot of friends,a lot of people due to that,
because they probably thinking,oh, how did she get married?
And she never told me.
But people don't know whatyou're going through.
So November 2019 is when we gotmarried, with the plans that I
(15:53):
would come live there.
But my plan was more like,instead of doing always the two
weeks, one month, I wanted to goa good six months.
So that was just the bare plan.
So I was slowly working towardsthat from November to March.
But January is really where Igot the ding, ding, ding, like
things are going crazy here likepack your things.
(16:14):
All my friends still tell melike, wow you, you left right on
time, like, did insider info oranything.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
I was like no, you met my ex right he's in Toronto.
You remember At the party?
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Yes, I did meet him.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Boy.
He was going through it duringthe pandemic.
He had just gone, likeliterally had just moved there
in january to decide to becloser to his kids and that shit
oh, no, terrible.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
So he moved from where to where, like before
toronto.
Oh wow, oh, that must have beena shock.
That must have been a shock.
That must have been a shock.
Yeah, like I hear crazy things,because once I made that move,
I ended up staying in Jamaicafor almost three years.
It's like the plan was sixmonths and it ended up being
almost three years.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
That's a story in itself and because, also, it got
to a point where, um, literallyin canada, you couldn't travel
unless you had the vaccine, likeyou couldn't come back in or
you had to, uh, to isolateyourself at the hotel airport,
which you, you pay for ityourself for a certain amount of
(17:40):
days.
So because so he would, heliterally would sneak in and out
, he would find ways, justbecause he didn't want to get
vaccinated, and he was like I'mnot fucking staying at the hotel
and saying whatever money whenI can go isolate in my own
fucking place, like right, itwas ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
You, you should have seen it at first.
I was waiting it out.
Then I got sick, like, let'ssay, around August, and then I
ended up having to apply for aresidency in Jamaica, because,
if not, you have to like pay toextend and extend, because as a
Canadian, you can stay there 90days and then you can extend
again for another 90 days.
So for me, I got pregnant.
(18:23):
So December 2020, I discoveredI was going to become a mother.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
So that was Yo, let's do it Girl.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
I tell you, let's do it all before, let's do it now,
because I always try to preparefor a zombie apocalypse, like if
you see me at the gym.
There was one reason I went tothe gym is because I was like I
don't want to be bitten becauseI run out of breath, because I
can't run.
So I was like no, no.
So it was crazy because, as yousaid, the prime minister of
(19:10):
Canada, trudeau, was likecalling back all the Canadians
early 2021.
But I was sick.
I was sick the first five monthsof my pregnancy, so I couldn't
leave.
My doctor did not recommendthat I fly over.
So I was like, dealing with allthis thing, like, am I going to
have?
The doctor did not recommendthat I fly over.
So I was like dealing with allthis thing, like am I gonna have
the baby here or am I gonnahave the baby in Canada?
But because I had left Canadafor so long already, I was
(19:32):
calling in to see you know if Iwould still be covered.
So all this thing boiled down.
And then, yes, trudeau justclosed the borders and, it's
funny, a lot of Canadians stayedin Jamaica.
They didn't't really care.
They're like, oh awesome, I canstay here longer.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
There was some of my like because for some reason
during the pandemic I met a lotof Canadians through clubhouse
and social media, so I have abig online friends of Canada.
And there was some who werechilling in Mexico.
Everybody like all right, youcan talk about everything.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
It's like we're good Because imagine, like all the
I'm not sure about the rest ofthe Caribbean island, but in
Jamaica it was really quiet.
If you booked a hotel, theywould like upgrade you to the
nicest room because there wasliterally three guests in the
whole hotel.
The beaches- Traveling around.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
That time was the best time.
Best time you get very goodservice because there's nobody,
people are not overwhelmed,because it's not busy, it's not
hectic Like bro.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Yeah, service.
I don't know if you weregetting the best service,
because the servers were notgetting enough tips anymore.
And then there was a lot ofcurfews in Jamaica when the
whole thing was happening,because they wanted to make sure
nobody parties.
So, like sometime on Friday youhad to be home by 3 pm, so
everybody would be running togrocery stores and just pack
(20:54):
everything.
But what was nice there therewas no such thing as like, oh
you have COVID, like don'tapproach me or people.
People didn't really care.
They're like really there'sCOVID Also.
There's no COVID after curfewme or people.
People didn't really care.
They're like really there'scovid also.
There's no covid after curfew,but there's like people were
making jokes out of it.
Uh, of course, like not to makejokes, because I know a lot of
people lost family members butthat's the reality.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
People were making jokes like there were a lot of
covid jokes.
There's some people until todaymake covid jokes like that's
the reality of the world we livein and and to some extent in
the beginning it was fuckingfunny because people were
choosing how to access COVID.
Like at work, everybody wantsspace, but then at night people
(21:35):
are still crowded in one sittingbecause, oh, we want to have a
party.
So it was like, okay, y'all aremaking a mockery of this, like
how are you?
going to tell me in thesupermarket, five distance, when
yesterday I saw you turning upin a small closed space and
nobody had masks on or nothing.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Yeah, like in Canada.
I remember in January, beforeeverything they were saying oh,
flu kills more people Like youdon't have to wear a mask, and
then all of a sudden they'reforcing people to wear masks.
So it made no sense whatsoever.
And in Jamaica we till today, Idon't think we had more than
200 deaths and not more than5,000 cases, because the cases
(22:15):
started going up when peoplewould come from the US to
Jamaica for funerals, so they'rethe ones who started bringing
it.
But in Jamaica itself, there wasnot much going on and in that
sense, and then when he reopenedthe Canada, the Canadian
borders, I was like 37 weeks.
So I was like almost due.
So I was like there's no wayI'm going back to Canada and at
(22:39):
the same time, my parents weremaking a return because my dad
also loses job in Texas, so theywere making a return back to
Canada and, of course, when youmake a return, like paperwork
and all that.
So I was like I'm not going togo find a doctor now that I'm
almost due.
So this is how I ended uphaving the baby there August
2021.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
and how did that transform your entrepreneur
world?
Because at that moment, you'realso still pursuing your passion
, right.
And then you got pregnant, youhad a baby and then.
So how did that transformationcome about?
Speaker 1 (23:15):
well, the first transformation, I think, is that
when I got stuck there for awhile, I finally decided to
invest in myself because I had afriend who was already kind of
in the online world.
I call it because, unless youunderstand it, you don't really
know what people are doingonline and how they make money.
So she always told me about youknow, oh, you should be a
(23:38):
virtual assistant.
I can see you do well in thatand I would just research it in
those years and I was like, oh,I don't want to do any admin
work, I don't want to work forsomeone and like, do data entry
or anything boring like that.
But that year, after being likethe first three months I had
nothing to do.
I would be complaining to myhusband like, oh, I want to go
to yoga, I don't have anyroutine, I'm bored out of my
(23:59):
mind because I was used to thego, go, go, yeah.
So when I invested in thatcourse, I finally learned the
basic of digital marketing andhow to promote myself and how to
you know just the simple thingslike how to send an invoice and
a contract, you know how to youknow take clients and so on and
(24:21):
so forth.
So that really gave me thebasis and because it's a virtual
assistant course.
So when I did that, for me myexperience at the time I was
coming from a voiceoverbackground, because that's what
I had been doing in the yearprior.
So I decided to kind ofposition myself as a editor
(24:43):
because you know, I was familiarwith, you know, editing audio,
sending self tape, because youhave to audition a lot as a
voice actor.
So when I positioned myself asan editor, I started attracting
a lot of podcasters.
So that's how I really gotintroduced to the podcasting
world and for me it was amazing.
I was like, wow, such anintimate place and platform to
(25:06):
just, you know, talk aboutyourself and it's not like out
there where everybody can listento it, but most likely you'll
be found by people you know thatcan relate to you.
So for me I just fell in lovewith podcasters.
So I started making sure all myfriends were podcasters and
when I also invested myselfagain, I took a coaching course
(25:28):
at the end of 2020.
So that was all, before I evenwas pregnant.
I was now introduced to theworld of healing, which again
was such an eye opener for mebecause, I have to say,
relocating to Jamaica for me wasreally, at the end of the day,
a healing journey, because Ireally was faced with my own
(25:49):
self, coming from the expressionyou know, wherever you go, here
you are.
So I had to face my negativethoughts.
I had to face all these excusesthat I had made up when I was
in Canada to not pursue or tonot bet on myself.
So now I was really faced withmy own nightmares, like okay,
(26:10):
now you only have yourself.
Like what are you going to do?
So for me?
At first, of course I wanted to,like you know, invest locally,
connect with the locals, but thepandemic made that really hard
because we couldn't go anywherewith the locals.
But the pandemic made thatreally hard because we couldn't
go anywhere and my husband'sfamily was very far from where
(26:32):
we lived at the time.
So this is what pushed me tojust continue, kind of creating
a community online.
So the podcast community iswhat really started my journey.
Now being an editor is not thebest, because people are usually
looking for the cheapest editorout there, because I was
attracting mainly beginners.
So I was like journey Now beingan editor is not the best
because people are usuallylooking for the cheapest editor
out there because I wasattracting mainly beginners.
So I was like, okay, maybe I'mnot good in editing, I'm going
to move on to coaching.
(26:53):
So that's when I startedworking with wellness coaches
specifically that wanted tostart their podcast or have
started their podcast andthey're kind of trying to align
it with their business.
So it's not like two differentprojects.
So this is where I foundedRekia Flow.
And then when I became a motherI have to say pregnancy it's
(27:15):
really my few clients that keptme going, but I never really
created anything new.
I was just focused on doingclient work because I was so not
inspired.
When I was pregnant I feltreally like blah.
I think it's because I lovefood and I couldn't eat anything
.
So I wasn't myself.
But once the baby came on, Ijust had a blast of energy.
(27:38):
I started going on interviewsand this is how I started, you
know, going on conferences.
So I just built from there.
So once the baby was a bit older, I started doing on interviews
and this is how I started goingon conferences.
So I just built from there.
So once the baby was a bitolder, I started doing more
interviews like these and thenlast year like he's two.
Now I just took the leap offaith again to have some time
for myself, because sometimesyou kind of get lost in trying
(27:59):
to please everybody and beeverything for everybody.
So I had to kind of step backand say, hey, it's mommy time,
I've started a business and Ihave to keep going.
Because I was very thankful Ihave to say that I had built
that before becoming a mother,so I never had to call in sick
at work, I never had to liketake a maternity leave or
(28:22):
anything like that.
I had my business.
So I was just focusing on myclients and then I'm building
from there.
So we're about what?
Three years almost four yearsin business now.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Out of curiosity, right, because I think people
always have this thing okay, I'mgoing to build, but how do I
get my first client?
Is the pricing right?
How do I negotiate?
So how did you go about thatwith your first client, like,
how did you structure that towhere yours now became
comfortable with?
I'm pretty sure right now youhave also four years.
(28:56):
You've already upped your price, because four years that's a
lot of growth by you and a lotof you know, because every year
we are growing in what we aredoing.
So of course our prices aregoing to increase because my
knowledge has gone up, baby, youknow, and the more and the more
awards you win, the moreconferences you're talking on,
that's your price going up,that's your resume being filled.
(29:18):
So that's that's credibilityover there, and with credibility
you can price it.
So how did you when you startedout, did you structure the
pricing and getting that firstclient, versus how you do it
right now?
Speaker 1 (29:36):
That's a really good question and I think it goes
back to investing in yourself,because I think we all start
with we don't really believe inourselves.
We all start with the impostersyndrome and have all these
little talks trying to, you know, sabotage our own self.
So I think the first firstthing, one minute.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
I still, I still can't believe y'all allowed me
to moderate that panel.
I, when I could even believe inmyself, I had no experience you
were the best person to do it,paula.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
Sometimes it's just your calling.
We see it in you.
You volunteered a bit reluctantbut we're like, yeah, you're
doing it.
That's why I even asked thequestion again.
I'm like so, paula, you'restill doing this because I'm
like none of us, we're not goingto do it.
We're not going to do it.
I even ask the question again.
I'm like so, paula, you'restill doing this because I'm
like none of us, you're notgoing to do it.
You're not going to do it.
It was great.
You just have a, a flair to youknow, set the tone, make
(30:33):
everybody feel comfortable.
And after that I was like yo, Ijust like put my bag on.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
I'm like talking shit .
I didn't even know I was at apanel at some point.
I thought it was my living itlucky, felt like we were back in
our zoom meetings, like justfour or five talking so but but
continue.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Sorry about that, no no, we're talking shit, so it's
all good.
But going back to the, you knowhow I tried to attract my first
client and set up myself.
As I I said, the first thing isthat if you know you don't
believe in yourself, then you'regoing to have to replace that
by investing in yourself.
And what I mean by that iseither by having a coach that's
(31:13):
going to be behind you, thatwill keep you accountable, and
who's going to give you thestructure.
Because I think that's whatstops most people, because at
first I would apply like I wouldgo research virtual assistant
and apply for it, and I wouldsee people like hire virtual
assistant, like in foreigncountries, and only pay them
like $10 an hour.
So this is where I learned thejourney, really, of pricing
(31:37):
yourself.
The journey of growing yourbusiness is understanding your
worth.
Until you understand your worth, you will never be able to
price right.
Because even if somebody didall the structure for you and
tells you, oh yeah, like Iremember my coaching program
said, charge at least $500 amonth at least, but if you don't
(31:58):
believe in yourself, if youdon't feel that you're worth
that, you won't be able to makethe ask.
So I think it's very importantto do that inventory of, like,
what are my skills, what are mystrengths.
So for me, luckily, becauseI've been in the entrepreneurial
kind of world, I know how topitch a little bit.
I know you know how to putmyself out there.
(32:21):
Some people are afraid to evenjust go in a Zoom meeting.
So if you can't even make aZoom meeting, you'll struggle,
because online there's thiswhole thing of trust,
credibility, and you can onlyset that by actually connecting
with people.
And for me, social media wasvery, very, how can I say?
I was afraid of it because Ifelt every time I went on it,
(32:42):
like I always say, some cousinfrom Africa will be calling me
for money, like man, she'sballing, like what's happening,
but I'm like, no, that's likeone day in my life and it was
just a good day.
So I posted.
But when I learned aboutdigital marketing and how you
should be only speaking to oneperson for me, my people became
podcasters.
So then I wasn't afraid to putmyself out there, I wasn't
(33:06):
afraid to do the ask because Iknew I was solving a specific
problem.
So when you grow into thejourney and you know your worth
and you know, you know you'rerelating to people, people are
relating to your story.
Then you're able to go outthere and attract the clients.
At first it's really just likedeciding hey, like for me, I
(33:29):
decided, oh, I'm going to talkto wellness coaches, and then I
was attracting somethingcompletely different.
So I had to like, rearrange,rearrange my message.
But this is what's great,though, like I find, sometimes
you put yourself out there andnow people like are attracted to
me because I live in Jamaica.
But at first that story wasn'tcomplete.
So I say, hey, I'm going tohelp you relocate, I'm going to
(33:52):
help you do that.
No, I just had relocated.
So the story makes more senseas you grow into it.
So I would really say it'sabout one invest in yourself.
If you still don't believe inyour skills, invest in your
skills so you can gain thatcredibility and that trust.
And then, lastly, know yourworth and you should triple
(34:15):
whatever you think your worth isand make sure you always do a
reassessment every year, likefor me, every three months.
I increase my price there's nosay about that because I know
I'm upgrading my skills in tisans, in ti sans words, you
stand on business, okay.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
So when you're shit out of curiosity right, because
most of us when we start shit,you know we are so we want that
we're so excited about gettingthat first client and sometimes
we end up with the wrong clientor we end up in a wrong
investment.
So how long did it take you?
Because I think we are.
We are so in a rush.
(34:58):
Instead of actually waiting forthe right client, we end up
getting into stupid shit.
So how long did it take youwhen you started your business
until you got your first client?
Speaker 1 (35:10):
I actually got my first client really quick.
I had a first discovery callthat went totally wrong.
But that's because I neverlistened to the module of how to
conduct a strategy call, so Inever went there.
So the teacher was like, so,did you listen to that module
(35:32):
before?
I was like, no, I didn't.
So so I literally went into myfirst discovery call with this
really known person on LinkedInand I just tried to go through
like a PowerPoint presentation.
So I never listened to her, Inever asked the right question.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
You didn't have a conversation versus just going
through it.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
Not at all.
I was like so stressed, I wasjust like trying to go through
everything I had to say and atthe end she was like, okay, well
, thanks, it's terrible.
But then my second client whichI think really helped was a
referral.
That's when I found the powerof referral, because during the
course I kind of reached out toa few people that had podcasts
(36:12):
and it was for a market research.
Because our teacher was like youknow, you should go ask
questions about, you know, whenpeople hire VA in that industry,
you know what they make them do, and so on.
So I had already sent a fewemails to a lot of people like,
hey, are you hiring a VA?
Or, if you do have one, what dothey do for you?
So some people never answeredmy email, which is okay.
(36:34):
But some people took the timeto tell me oh yeah, I have a VA,
she does social media for me,she does graphic, she does show
notes.
So that's how I knew toposition myself by gaining that
information.
And then one of them justreached out to me after I had
reached out to her, like, oh, Iactually have a client who wants
to do, you know, video editing.
Could you help her.
And I was like, yes, and I canhelp her, like even if I have to
(36:57):
go learn it right now, gonnahelp her.
And then she, I think, becauseI was referred, the trust is
already there.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
Oh yeah, the credibility, because somebody
already vetted you for, like,the person who referred you to
them has already vetted you forher.
So because if I come and tellyou yo go hire Paula, she's dope
as fuck Because you trust meand you believe me and you're
like, oh man, I really need togo check out Paula, you know so
(37:29):
that's exactly it.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
So somebody already done the work for you.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
You, now you can have an actual conversation during
the presentation instead ofbeing, and especially and
especially when you havesomebody in common, the
conversation also becomes easybecause you know somebody in
common.
So it's also becomes easybecause you know somebody in
common, so it's not going to beawkward conversation.
Oh my God.
So how did you know her?
Oh, I know her.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
Exactly, exactly, and that's when I understood
community was key.
And then this girl just saidyes, and I think I froze when
she said yes, like I didn't evenknow what to say next.
I'm like what?
Oh, you're gonna be a clientyou're like, this is happening.
You're my first client oh mygod, I remember opening the door
(38:14):
.
I remember opening the door andcalling my husband and he's
like what I got my first client.
Speaker 2 (38:28):
So what did you spend the money on?
Your first client?
Did you go bougie out there ordid you reinvest it?
Because sometimes we get tooexcited on that first date.
I'm taking myself to have somebigger steak and some margaritas
.
I'm taking myself to have somebigger steak and some margaritas
.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
I was lucky because at the time I was kind of living
a simple life, like going toJamaica.
I wasn't spending that muchmoney.
I think I just reinvested it inmy business.
So I was trying to like.
That's important yeah, I had alist of courses I wanted to take
, so I just kept it on the sideand it probably went somewhere
in a coaching course of somesort, or yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
And just before people come for me.
I don't mean you shouldn'tcelebrate your first client.
I'm just saying sometimes weget too excited and spend the
entire check on celebratinginstead of also reinvesting back
in the business so we can keepgetting those clients.
And that's where some peoplefail clients and that's where
some people fail and that'swhere other people continue
prospering because they takethat money and reinvest it back
(39:29):
into their business yes but andI and I'm one of those who,
whenever I get paid like I mean,we all know when payday comes
you start looking at uber eatsand she's like fuck those
noodles in the fridge.
You know, it happens, it's partof life, it happens.
We are most of us are guiltyabout that.
But I hope we change ourmindset and also, like you know,
(39:52):
yes put the rest back in themyes, I think, the.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
I think if it was not in the pandemic time, that's
what would have happened,because there's so much
distraction and so much, butbeing in jamaica and it's like
pandemic time, there was nodistraction, so yeah you
couldn't do shit, even if youwanted to.
Speaker 2 (40:13):
The least you can do is other shit from amazon, which
at that time amazon prime wasalso taking forever exactly,
exactly.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
So I reinvested, uh, in the business.
But, yeah, I definitelyrecommend not to spend it all.
Have like a certain percentage,you know, or have certain goals
and when you reach a big goalthen maybe you can spend that
paycheck.
But because it was my firstclient yeah, and I think because
(40:43):
it was my first client and it'slike deliverables I have to
give her editing video and allthat.
I only ask for half of it first, and then, once I deliver
everything, she paid the otherhalf.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
So that helps too, to kind of spread it out yeah,
because you're like okay, thisstuff came, we're gonna reinvest
this because we still have workto do, and then when the other
half comes, when I'm finished, Ican kind of buy myself a
lollipop.
Good job, that was your firstclient.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
Yeah, yes, exactly.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
I don't know if you know producer Jamie, this
incredible woman, and I've mether through Podfest.
She's amazing, I actually hadher yesterday on here and she
has started a network calledPower Moms Network and I feel
like I'm letting you knowbecause you're a mother and I
want all the mothers to takeadvantage of it.
(41:36):
It's like a supportive groupfor people with different
creative words, different parts.
Some of them have jobs, some ofthem are parts.
Some of them have jobs.
Some of them are creative, someof them are trying to figure
out what they want, because mostof them moms, are used to just
the title of mom.
They don't believe they canoffer more or something.
So it's always nice to have acommunity that is supportive, is
(41:59):
there for you, so I think thatwould be also a nice community
for you to join, you know.
Speaker 1 (42:05):
Yes, definitely, I'll reach out to you for her
contacts.
Speaker 2 (42:08):
Yeah, I'll send them to her.
Shout out to producer Jamieshe's doing incredible stuff
because she was a single mom andshe's big on podcasting.
She has been editing andbuilding a podcast network down
in Florida and everything.
So I feel I want all moms outthere because you're all badass
like mom to me, whether you area mom and a wife or just a mom,
(42:30):
but you're also still a friend,a daughter, uh, uh, you know you
have your own stuff, like ittakes a lot.
So, yes, a community that'swilling to help.
And you know I love I've seenso much comes out of communities
we belong in, especially whenyou pour into them and how much
they pour back.
And sometimes you go therethinking what's this shit gonna
(42:53):
do for me?
Like I'm just joining becausePaula told me to come join, so
I'm just gonna join so that shestops bugging me.
But you'll be surprised thathow much comes out of it, to the
extent you're like, damn, whydidn't I join sooner?
So don't sleep on communitiesy'all.
Yes.
Speaker 1 (43:08):
Communities, everything, everything,
everything.
I commend that, I commend thismessage.
Speaker 2 (43:16):
Speaking of motherhood and wife and all that
.
How do you, as an entrepreneur,a business owner, how do you
balance?
Speaker 1 (43:26):
oh man, I think it's more I juggle.
I don't think there's anybalance.
Try to juggle it, you know, andthen one drops, because I'm not
a good juggler, and then themore things drops, you're just
like man, whatever.
Speaker 2 (43:46):
Fuck this shit whatever, fuck this shit, I
still got, I still gotta go tothe other one.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
it's charming.
As long you're still holdingyourself, you're good.
But but, but that's a reallygood question.
I think I almost want tocompare motherhood to the
entrepreneurial journey.
I think at first you have noidea what you're doing and then
you realize that nobody elseknows what they're doing.
So then you feel a little bitbetter about yourself and in
(44:17):
that journey, as you meet otherpeople, as you say, as you build
a community and you don't feelso lonely, then you're able
through other people's stories.
So I think for me, what reallysaved me is hearing other
people's story that were goingthrough the same thing as me.
One of the first podcasts thatreally changed everything for me
shout out to Kristen Flourishand Foreign.
(44:41):
She people pretty much you knowstarted their business abroad.
She's located in Spain.
So when I listened to thatpodcast I was like, oh my God,
so there is other woman doingwhat I'm doing.
Cause for me.
As I said, it was never a choice.
I never like had a budget andbe like, oh, I'm going to go
relocate here.
No, it just happened to me.
(45:02):
And then the rest of thejourney.
As I explained to youmotherhood, I never planned to
be a mother abroad.
So the balance is really, at theend, finding out that you have
to take time for yourself, youhave to be the priority, because
at some point in motherhood youkind of lose sight of that.
You think that the baby may bethe priority or the husband may
(45:24):
be the priority because therelationship is changing.
But for me, I had to step backof all that in 2021, especially
2022.
I had to realize that if Iwanted my business to thrive and
not be just a side hustlebecause that's what usually
happens when you don't give itthe importance or the space it
(45:45):
needs I had to.
Or the discipline yes, I wouldsay that I'm still not really
disciplined, but it's more.
It's really like to commit tosomething small.
Um, I remember Danielle, whowas founder of a woman of color
(46:06):
podcasters.
Uh, really helped me see that,because for me I just oh, my God
, that's with Podfest.
Yes, I saw the picture.
Guess what?
I met her and I never took apicture.
So I need to go to.
We talk so much.
We were talking and talking.
Speaker 2 (46:24):
But it happens.
It happens sometimes.
Even us, coming back fromPodfest, we're like, oh my God,
we hanged out so much togetherand we didn't even have one
picture.
But when you're with somebodyso much compared to when you
just have a few minutes withsomebody and you got to go you
remember a picture.
But when you know like, oh, I'mgoing to find her in the room,
oh, we are having lunch together, it just slips away.
Speaker 1 (46:50):
And then next thing you know, oh, she's gone.
It's gone, so it's on my bucketlist.
Now I have to take a picturewith Danielle, like I have to.
So for her, she really nailedit down to committing to one
activity.
So in 2022, it really light upfor me that the only thing I had
to focus on was to connect,like with people like you, like
tell my story, so I would findmy people.
So I just started focusing onthat, telling my story about
(47:13):
Jamaica and everything, andpeople just started coming to me
and those connection aregenuine.
It's not like I had to create apost to get followers, like my
numbers are just going upbecause I really met the person,
or we really connected on thisplatform or we met in this
community.
So when you discover that, youreally discover that the best
(47:33):
balance is to be balanced withyour own self and making sure to
check in with yourself.
Like, what did I do for myselftoday?
You know what did I do?
Not even necessarily yourbusiness, because your business
is not going to grow until youare growing yourself.
Yeah, so when I understood that,that's when I really made the
step of like going toconferences.
(47:53):
So I didn't feel bad anymore.
I was almost like okay, daddy,it's daddy time.
I remember my first conferencewas podcast movement and I left
on my husband's birthday and Icame the day after my son's
birthday.
So that was really clear.
Like it's my time, I'm notcelebrating one of your
birthdays, I'm celebrating me.
Speaker 2 (48:17):
I married you and I gave birth to you, so I deserve
to celebrate me for doing theone on your birthday.
But I love that and somethingyou said right, oh my God,
literally I just had it.
But there was also anotherthing.
Maybe that one will come backto me.
When you say that being a motheris like an entrepreneurial
(48:39):
journey, it's funny becauseJamie yesterday also said that
as long as you're a mother, youalready are a business owner,
because all the qualities ofbeing a mother is as a business,
you have to negotiate with yourkid, you learn to negotiate,
you learn how to prioritize, youlearn how to budget, you learn.
So those are the same qualitiesthat you put on your business.
But so it's just um, and thisis why I I love talking about
(49:03):
mindset, switch and mindset likeyou just gotta switch that
mindset of yours and look at itin the other side and you'll be
like, oh wow, I am actually, Ihave the, the qualities to
fucking run a business, to ownsomething, because I'm, I'm
running this kid right nowdefinitely definitely like even
(49:25):
the mindset of like I wasn'tworried anymore after the baby
to get clients.
Speaker 1 (49:29):
I was like that's not even my priority.
And now I'm lending all thesepodcasts, appearance and
everything and I'm like Ihaven't even done no work.
It's just a connection leads,another connection and leads,
you know, and that makes it fun.
It's no longer like I have togo sit in front of my computers
and try to find a guest or, like, try to appear somewhere.
So when it becomes natural,you'll see the growth is just
(49:52):
amazing and I think that's whereyour kids are going to look up
to.
They can say, oh, my mom, youknow, pursued her dreams.
She pursued her goal because,looking at my own parents and
our, you know, just ourancestors in general, they
sacrificed so much of themselvesand thank you.
I always say I think I saw itin a t-shirt we are our ancestor
(50:16):
wildest dreams because theywanted to be us and we get to be
their dream.
So, hey, who am I to notcontinue that?
Who am I to not tell mychildren, hey, be yourself,
become yourself.
I think if I just stay home, Ibecome just very resentful
because I'm like I'm doing allthis and these people are not
(50:37):
seeing my worth, so it always goback again.
Don't lose sight of your worth.
If you don't lose sight of yourworth, you know that you're
worth more than just being amother or just a wife or just a
daughter.
We are so many different thingsand I love how she put it
together.
It's very much likeentrepreneurial journey, because
it's all about growth.
Speaker 2 (50:59):
Yeah, she created this, this community, so that
the mothers, those who arefeeling like I'm just a mom no,
you're more than just a mom toto get inspired, to get
motivated to, to motivated tofigure some shit out.
But I remembered what I wasalso going to say.
It was when you say your storybrings your community.
I always tell people that's whyI say podcasting served my
(51:21):
mental health, because I startedsharing my story and it started
giving me the communities thatI needed, the support that I
needed, and also I keep ontelling people your story
matters, like your story.
It does matter because somebodyout there is waiting to hear,
so they can connect with you andthose connections become so
genuine, more than theconnections that you've actually
(51:43):
had in your life for thelongest time.
It's amazing how the podcastingworld, the friendships I've
created that have gone from justbeing podcasting to personal,
to deeper, and these are peoplewho I just met in the last four
years.
They are bringing so much moreto me than actually the people
who have known all my life.
(52:04):
But it's also one thing peoplesay oh, how come I don't see
that in my community?
So just because you're in acommunity doesn't mean you just
have to be in a community, youhave to show up.
Show up in every of those shit,even support those shit.
Don't ask to be to, to, to belike I.
I don't want to come and belike yo.
(52:25):
Can you support me?
No see, I'm doing my shit, justsupport and and it gets seen
because I do all this shit and Ididn't know that people were
watching or people were seeing.
I went to PortFest, I gotawarded Community Hero Award and
I'm like, and I didn't, Iwasn't even doing it for the
award, I was just giving back toa community that's giving me so
much.
But people see you, people seeyour growth.
(52:47):
This podcast was so emotionalbut my head got so big because
of how many people were comingup to me after my presentation,
after my MC, after my work, justto remind me, to give me the
assurance that we don't get,because when we do this job
trust me, people are so sucky atgiving reviews or feedback we
really need to pull them out ofit giving reviews or feedback,
(53:11):
like we really need to pull themout of you.
So when we hear that we getthat assurance, it, it fuels us
to continue moving and doingwhat we love doing so, shout out
, to shout out to everybody outthere who, especially when you
refer somebody, I like somebodywho comes to me and be like, oh
um, paula, told me to come, tocome meet with you because you
are this and this.
Refine people to people.
It's such a beautiful thing.
(53:32):
It's another way of supporting.
If I know I can't afford yourservices, that's fine.
What I can do is I can sharethem, I can tell people about
them, I can send people to you.
That's other forms of support.
People assume that supportalways has to be.
I have to, your course, I haveto come to your event.
No, we're not financial, we arenot, you know, not everybody is
(53:55):
there.
But there's more to supportthan financial support yes, I'm
so proud of you.
Speaker 1 (54:01):
By the way, congratulations again.
I'm so sad I missed podfest.
I was busy like trying to comeback here but next year don't
miss it.
Speaker 2 (54:09):
Next year don't miss it next year.
Speaker 1 (54:12):
I'd love that.
Speaker 2 (54:12):
I'd love that definitely now we are coming to
the end of this.
Uh, before we go, please letthe people know um, leave, leave
them with wise words or adviceon betting on themselves and
just going after their passion,and then also let the people
know where they can find you.
You can say right now is aplace for you to sell yourself
(54:36):
and sell your business, what youdo, how they can find you.
Speaker 1 (54:41):
Yes, definitely.
Well, word of wisdom I wouldsay to end this is that whatever
plan you have, god have abetter plan for you.
So the leap of faith is reallyhaving that faith in yourself
that you already have all theskills and I'm sure you hear
that a lot, but it's true in thesense that they might not be
(55:03):
matured skills or, you know,developed skills, but they're
there, like your mission hasbeen already put in you.
Now you have to do the work toput it out there, Because even
just in this, mentioning thestory, as you said, it's because
I shared my story with AfrinAudio that we were put in the
same panel and that we were ableto meet today.
(55:26):
If I had never shared that story, I don't think we've had ever
meet, or at least there wouldhave been a big delay.
So I really understand now thatwe used to say I think I saw a
nice post about that we used tosay, hey, share your story in
the safe platform.
But I think it's really aboutfinding a sacred platform, cause
I tried to tell my story in thetime I was the most hurt and I
(55:50):
realized that the audience Ishared it with was not my
community.
As you said, you really have tofind that sacred place and
that's how we founded Rekia Flow, where we help really people
align their narrative with theirbusiness and their podcast so
(56:11):
they can gain visibility andreally create that raving fan
community.
So you can find me on Instagram, any platform, twitter,
linkedin and TikTok underRekhayaflow and it was a
pleasure, as usual, to meet you,paula, and I hope to see you
because I'm not going to missAfro in audio.
Speaker 2 (56:31):
Me neither.
That's already a new tradition,so I'm looking forward to that.
Speaker 3 (56:42):
This October 18th to the 20th.
Don't miss the go-to eventexperience for aspiring new and
seasoned black indie podcastcreators and audio professionals
.
Now, spanning threeaction-packed days, the sixth
annual Afros and Audio PodcastFestival in Baltimore, maryland,
will be a weekend of panels,workshops and networking
designed to elevate yourpodcasting game.
Join us at the Reginald F LewisMuseum and book your discounted
(57:04):
room at True by HiltonBaltimore Harbor East.
The festival jumps off with alive show and kickoff party on
Friday, followed by a weekend ofnetworking, learning and
celebration.
You'll get to engage withindustry leaders through
educational tracks and awardsevening and close out with
pivotal discussions on Sunday.
Afros and Audio is where theBlack podcast community unites
to forge stronger connectionsand gain valuable insights.
(57:26):
We'll see you in October.
Secure your spot for anunforgettable experience.
Visit afrosandaudiocom tosecure your ticket today.
Speaker 2 (57:38):
So go support, go, show up, go show up, go get
involved in your communities,and if you don't have a
community in your city, startone.
You need to start.
So thank you all for hangingout with us.
That shit happens where shitalways happens Shit, shit, shit,
(58:02):
shit happens, shit happens,shit happens, shit happens, shit
(58:30):
happens, it happens.
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