RV (00:07): Hey brand builder, Rory Vaden here. Thank you so much for taking the time to check out this interview as always, it’s our honor to provide it to you for free and wanted to let you know there’s no big sales pitch or anything coming at the end. However, if you are someone who is looking to build and monetize your personal brand, we would love to talk to you and get to know you a little bit and hear about some of your dreams and visions and share with you a little bit about what we’re up to to see if we might be a fit. So if you’re interested in a free strategy call with someone from our team, we would love to hear from you. You can do that at brand builders, group.com/pod call brand builders, group.com/pod call. We hope to talk to you soon. AJV (00:54): Hey, y’all and welcome to another episode on the influential personal brand podcast. This is AJ Vaden here I am. One of your co-hosts and I am joined today, Bobby one and the only lathe Owens, I’m gonna give her an official introduction in just a minute. But I’ve had the privilege to get to know lathe over the last, probably like almost a year. I think it’s been a year that we were introduced by a mutual friend and on our very first conversation, I was like, oh, I like this girl. These are my peoples. She’s such a joy. She just exudes joy. And if you’re not watching this, if you’re listening you’re not going to get to experience the full lathe experience because she’s just one of those people that as you watch her, she’s just got a smile on her face from ear to ear. AJV (01:43): She’s like one of those people that makes you in a better mood when you’re in her presence and so such a compliment to you, but I love her. I’m so excited that you’re on the show. So let me give everyone a quick official background on who you are. But VE Owens is a bestselling author. She’s a tech CEO and a branding expert and market domination, strategist domination like highlight that word. right. I was ranked number eight among the top 30 by global gurus. She’s also the author of the book brand influence the art and science and building an influential personal brand. What, you know, we’re all about here is building your personal brand. So this is gonna be a perfect conversation for everyone today. But she’s also the creator of your brilliance, which is a program for experts who wanna turn their course book or coaching system into a profitable certification program. So let’s build those revenue streams. Laia welcome to the show. LO (02:41): Oh, it’s my pleasure. I mean, to get an afternoon that I get to spend with you and your tribe and a a R’s tribe is just a, I mean, a big blessing. So I’m excited to be here. AJV (02:51): Oh girl, we love you. I think you’re so awesome. And you might not be as familiar to some people listening here today. So in an effort to help them get to know you a little bit, I would love for you just to like give people a little bit of your back story, just a little bit of your background and help everyone get high level perspective of how you got, where you so fill in. LO (03:17): Well, one of the things that has been really foundational for me is words that my mom whispered into my ear. When I was a little girl, she said, you were born for greater than this. And we fled in the middle of the night out of a very dark situation. And that has always stuck with me. And so I’ve used a very I’ve used grit and I’ve used tenacity and persistence to, to be successful in school and, and so forth. But where things really started for me was I was being mentored by the VP of learning and development at state farm. I I’m a techie, I’m a geek, right? I love, you know, technology. And as my mentor, she basically one day just said, Lithia, you are bigger than any opportunity state farm could ever provide. And I thought to myself, AJ, I’m like, is this how they fire people nowadays? LO (04:04): Like, am I being fired today? What’s going on? Right. But she gave me one of the biggest gifts ever. She saw something in me that I didn’t yet see in myself. And she said, you were meant to speak, to teach, to train, to write books, and you need to go out into the world and be who you are called to be. And I thought, wow, two weeks later, AJ, I incorporated my first company. And 11 months later, I quit my comfortable cushy corner off his job at state farm insurance company. And I took on a role where I am unemployed at the end of every day, until someone else sends me an email or a contract to say, we are booking you for a keynote or training or something like that. But the, the beauty of that is that I entered into the speaking world really clueless in the sense that I didn’t have an experience or knowledge about how people took information and, and took the ability to transform people through speaking and, and coaching. LO (05:05): I didn’t really understand that, but I knew in my heart that there was something more that I was born for greater than where I was at the time. And so I went on to quit. My job, 11 months later started my company and was in 2009, ranked number, number eight among the top 30 brand Gus in the world. And I basically agent just served my way into building a very successful speaking coaching and digital marketing agency. So that really is kind of how I got started. And I have utilized everything that I’ve ever been taught. I’ve packaged everything about who I am, and I’ve learned to pull that together into a brand that that would allow me to influence others and to transform others and to serve others. And when I was building out my company, you know, when I first started AJ, I, I wasn’t focused on branding. I just wanna make that clear because I know some people listening are like, man, she started and she was so clear about what she wanted and where she was going. Well, when I first started, if you asked me what I spoke on AJ, I would say whatever, you’re writing a check for LO (06:15): Whatever you need. And if you have a C girl, right. And it was really interesting because two of my million dollar mentors basically said, we’re not going to take your call, take your email, don’t contact us until you figure out your lane, your needs. Like, what do you really want to contribute into who whom you want to contribute that? And that’s when I went back and did the work and realized that most of my life, I have found ways to just stand my ground, to stand out and to be more of who I really am. And that probably is my superpower, like, you know, being bold enough and brave enough to be more of who I really am. And I realized through research that most people don’t live their lives that way. And they live their lives according to what people want from them or expect from them and things of that nature. LO (07:07): So growing up and, and taking a job out of college where I was a minority, not just female, not just, you know, African American, but being a minority in the sense that I worked in a male dominated industry. So I was both black and female, and I was constantly pressured to be someone I’m not. And I said, no, I’m not going to you know, really most people want you to assimilate. And I said, no, I’m not going to assimilate because when you assimilate, you lose a part of who you are. Wow. But I said, no, instead I will integrate. I will find my fit. And then I will be great at that. And so when you look at what I did from a business perspective and a corporate perspective, I did the same thing. I showed up like a game changer, brave enough to be who I really am. And I found how out, how to integrate. So how do I integrate who I am into this corporate space and be the best at that? Or how do I in this big marketplace find my fit and integrate what I have to offer with what it is that people need. Right. So that’s pretty much kind of how I got my start and I have been loving, it’s been 17 years since I walked out of the door at state farm insurance company. And I would not trade anything for the world. AJV (08:24): Oh man. That’s so good. That’s like a tweetable moment. It’s like, don’t assimilate integrate. And so I think like there’s something really into there. I wanna talk about for just a second. And I’m just curious to get your thoughts on it. And you know, I have two young boys, right? I have a, a two and a half year old and just turned five year old. And my five year old has a lot of testosterone. right. He’s got a lot of what his teacher says leadership potential mm-hmm which other parents may say he’s a bully or whatever. And it was really interesting. And I’m really grateful for this homeschool teacher that we have. She’s a facilitator for a few families. And she, she says, AJ, God has given your child immense leadership potential, please don’t discipline it out of him. AJV (09:15): Don’t coach it out of him. Don’t train it out of him, help him channel it in the right direction. And so we’ve been trying to do that. And then he’s on this little tee-ball team right now. And at his last tee-ball game, he’s straight up body tackles another five year old, his teammate because the teammate got the ball first and he wanted it. And so I like marked up to the fence and I’m like, Jasper James faded get over here. And he goes, what? And I’m like, you have to respect your teammates. You have to respect your coach. And the coach was trying to get Jasper up and Jasper swung at his coach. And I was like, in this day, I was like, please, no one, no one arrests me. Like this is not like what we do in our house. And then the coach came up to me after the game. AJV (09:59): And I’m, I so appreciate this. And I’ll never forget this moment. And he said, listen I know you think that’s too aggressive. And he goes, let me tell you an aggressive ball player is the ball player I want in my team. He goes, Jasper is by far the best thrower and the most aggressive person I have on this team. You let me handle this. You don’t worry about it, but I don’t wanna coach that out of him. And I kind of feel like God was just like using these other people in my life to remember that each of us are made original and unique. He made us don’t mess it up. Don’t mess it up. Don’t assimilate, figure out how to integrate these skillset. Right. Don’t assimilate, figure out how to integrate. I love that. And so for all of those people listening, right? AJV (10:44): It’s like at some point we assimilated out of our gifts. Most of us did. So how did you figure out, like how, what did you do and what would you tell to other people to figure out, like, what is that lane that you wanted to be in? And like, how did you figure out? It’s like, no, I’m not gonna speak on everything anymore. Like, this is what I speak on. This is what I speak about. I, I would just, I know, you know, we talk a lot about this at brand builders group. I’d love to hear your take on this for the audience. Like how did you do it? LO (11:15): Yeah. So it, it, that excellent question. I was very intentional, first of all, and it started with me believing that there was some, I didn’t know what it was. I, I really didn’t, but I, I just had this feeling that I was put here to make a significant and unique contribution. Mm. And so I started trying to figure out, like, what are the attributes about me that are different than other others? What, what about how I do what I do and how I show up, how I show up, that’s unique to me. And when we look at our individual attributes and, and our wiring, those are all clues to the greatness that lies within us and the game changer. Like I believe everyone is a game changer or, or can be a game changer. I’ll say it that way. And when we take a look at, at the, in inner workings of why do we think the way that we think and start asking those deep questions and really analyzing what comes forth? LO (12:15): What I realized was in answering questions that, wow, I have been a person who even a missed, like really strong pressure, have chosen to stand for what I believe mm. Have chosen to be who I feel I am. And I, through the research, realizing through, ask, answering questions and asking myself questions. It’s always the cube, BQ the question behind the question behind the question behind the question, you keep going deeper and deeper and deeper. And I began to see things I’d not seen before. And I began to see patterns about myself. And, and when you take a personal brand assessment or do work in that, in that realm, you know, the many questions you answer and the, the deeper you dig patterns start to, you know, emerge. And I started looking at the patterns and I realized that, you know, I lead through serving. So I realize I’m a servant leader. LO (13:11): I realize that I am willing to, to take risks. And I won’t let, what, I don’t know, stop me from going after what I want. So there’s this, this little, a part of my brand is a little bit naivete. Right. So I, I don’t know that I’m supposed to fail in the first seven years of being in business. Like, I, I, I, I didn’t know that. Right. and so there are a lot of things I didn’t know. and I use it to my advantage. I didn’t know that. Right. I didn’t know that you’re supposed to, you know, that you’re not supposed to grow as fast as my business grew. I, I grew so quickly as a new professional speaker that I had speakers who had been speaking for 10 years saying, wait a minute, how did you do that? Yeah. And I’m like, I didn’t know that you were supposed to not do this. LO (13:55): Right. And so that’s how I really like discovered. And this whole idea of being a game changer, Hey, Jay, I asked deep questions of myself. Like I even, for, for MI, much of my life didn’t even leverage the whole thing of being born for greater that my mother told me it was just something that was in the back of my head. But as I began to realize that that’s part of my unique thinking that I am born for greater than this, whatever. I hit a wall. It’s like, this is not, this is not my portion. This is not where I’m supposed to, to, to, to stay and realizing that there’s always something more. And then that word game changer came up in me and real. And I realized, that’s the name of my business game changers international, because my mother was the first game changer I ever met. LO (14:38): AJ. She took me out of a very abusive relationship that she had with her, her boyfriend at the time. And we fled with nothing. And my mother survived and thrived. My mother didn’t even graduate from school with a high school diploma. But yet when I became a teen mom, my mother quit her job, got a job at night as a security guard so that I could go back to school. So I traveled from Dallas to Dubai, inspiring and transforming people all over the world because they game changer named flora Lewis had enough compassion, wisdom, and courage to make a decision that would impact me positively, even though it was sacrificial to her. Right? so you don’t, it doesn’t matter what your income is and what your, your economic status is or where you come from. You can be a game changer because it’s all about your mindset. LO (15:32): Game changer, obsessed with what could be. My mother looked at me and said, what could be with my daughter? They don’t focus on the past, right? People who are game Watchers, they, they, they focus on what has happened. Game changers, make things happen. They’re innovators and early adopters. And they take risks when others want to play it safe. You know, some people won’t and I heard Simon Sinek say this. He said, some people won’t get a new cell phone until they can’t get service on their old cell phone. They won’t get a smartphone until their flip phone can no longer be serviced. Right? So their early adopters and their mindset is just very different. They’re always asking and thinking about what could be in the future. And that’s really how I’m wired. So when I began to label and, and really package how I’m wired, that’s where, you know, you know, integrate don’t assimilate came from, I was able to really study how I’ve been showing up in the world, cuz it it’s worked now, what can I learn from that? And how can I use that to actually package a personal brand for me that I can use to go out and serve the world. AJV (16:39): Oh man, you said two things in there that were so good. And I love this. I wrote em down. I literally was like, strike this down. You said game changers, focus on what could be game Watchers, focus on what happened. Like what was, and you know, it’s like, that is so good. It’s like, are you gonna be a part of change in the game or just watching the game? And you know, and I think so much of that to what you said, it’s like, what could be like what could be, and you know, the second thing I love, you said, I love this so much. It’s like one of my personal mantras right now is people. It is so much more important for us to focus on who you are, not what you do. And like, to what you said, it’s like, you do not have to have a diploma, money, credentials, anything to be a game changer in someone else’s life. That’s right. You just gotta show up. You gotta just be that person, like be who God intended you to be. And like, I mean, is your mom still around? And she’s still alive. LO (17:36): She’s been deceased now for 10 years. But she lives with me every day. Cuz I name all my cars after her. So when I give him a car, I’m like, come on flow. Let’s go AJV (17:46): I love it. I mean, I was like, say, if your mom is still around, you have got to send her this episode. My mom too is deceased. She died when I was 15, but it’s like what an honoring legacy for your mother to have of like she created an environment and a mentality of teaching me that I can, I can do it. Like I can do this and focusing on what could be. And I think like the great thing that I, I heard in that it’s like just that reminder to everyone who’s listening who says to yourself, I’m not smart enough. Right? Right. I don’t know enough. I don’t have enough experience. I don’t have enough resources. I don’t have enough money. I don’t have enough time. I don’t know the right people BS that is BS. Like that is nonsense. That is fear talking. LO (18:35): Yeah. And we have to check our BS, check our belief system. Mm-Hmm because it’s what you believe about yourself and your situation that determines how you’re actually going to show up and what you’ll be able to realize and accomplish and like, right. Ah, yeah. So yeah. I heard that from coach qua. She told me that she said check your BS. And I was like, whoa. She said, yeah, your belief system, girl. AJV (19:00): I talk about this, this concept of game changers for a second. Right? Mm-hmm so like when it comes to game changers, right. Someone who’s willing to ask what could be like, I think that’s an unusual mindset. I think a lot of people look around and they see what other people are doing and that they think that’s what they should do. They assimilate. Right. But to be a game changer, you gotta think outside the box, you gotta do something different. So like in your mind, like what makes a game changer? A game changer? LO (19:28): Yeah. It kind of goes back to the, the mindset that I talked about and thinking about, and, and actually being obsessed with what could be, but game changers are the world may think they’re really self centered, but I think game changers are very other centered because what a lot of what game changers do. And at the end of one of my videos where I talk it’s called born for greater, I say that my grandchildren will benefit from the things I do today, far greater than I will. And game changers, I think have a legacy mentality. And they’re what they’re doing. They’re doing because they want the gift that they’ve been given and the impact of that gift to live long after they’ve, you know, taken their last breath. Great example, being a game changer. When I started, when I had my first grandchild, when she was probably three years old, Andre and I decided that we would start a company that would become a company that each of our grandchildren would become a part owner with us in. LO (20:32): So that when they say grandma, I wanna go to this spring camp, there is money that they, you know, have access to, to be able to, to do. When they say, grandma, I wanna go to this college. If they don’t buy some chance, get a full ride scholarship. We have a company that can fund their education when they graduate and say, grandma, I wanna be a doctor and I gotta buy my first office. Hey, you are now part owner in an organization that you can take your distribution and do what with it, whatever you would. So if you wanna be a doctor, you now have an, an income that’s coming from a business that was created so that you would have options when you get older that’s game changing, thinking like game changer thinks, you know, game changer thinking that’s how game changers do things differently. LO (21:19): Like they don’t just say, Hey, I’m gonna start a business for me, which I did. My speaking business is for me, but our digital marketing agency, that money is being saved and put aside for our grandchildren. And it doesn’t really even take like game changers. Don’t have to be brilliant or smart people. They are compassionate people who love serving others and who wanna leave and, and they wanna influence and leave an impact. So when you, who are you leaving an impact for? It’s not for yourself because when you die, you can’t take it all with you and put it in a coffin. So it’s usually because you’re thinking about lasting impact and lasting legacy. So that’s what I want people to know about being a game changer. It’s hard for people, I think to be game changers when they’re very self centered and self focused and it’s all about them. LO (22:07): And we have had some people who are narcissist and egotistical, you know, become very successful in life. And while they may be successful and rich and wealthy, I would question sometimes if they’re really truly game changers. Yeah. So those are some things that I think really help us to identify and to see game changers. And I love celebrating people who are game changers. And I remember telling you that I have watched you and Rory for a while and I wanted to be a part of the work that you’re doing because of who you were. I didn’t even know what, what were, what, what, what, what, what is it that I’m actually, you know, I didn’t know what I was exactly getting. I knew you were a game changer that I wanted to connect with. And when you see a game changer, I think we benefit when we make decisions that put us in the space with them, because game changer me game changer. Like that’s when, when the two collide that is a formative for, you know, just amazing things to happen. So I’m just excited that, you know, we’re a year into our journey together, but I know it’s gonna be something fabulous. AJV (23:11): You know what, there’s so many things that I love what you’re saying. We’re so like minded in this, you know, element of like building a personal brand. And you know, somebody asked me the other day I was on this a little local TV interview and she said, well, what would you tell people who think that’s building a personal brand is very self-centered and ego focused. And I remember her asking this question, I kind of like glazed over. And I was like, I would say, they’re completely wrong. I like this. Isn’t about being self focused. This is about being others focused. I said the only thing that is self focused is think, thinking that your personal brand is about you. Like, that’s the thing that is self focused and yes, that you’ve really built a business around serving right. About being this other focused mentality. AJV (23:58): And you know, it’s a funny thing to kind, kind of say, it’s like, my business is serving and I’m gonna make money by serving, but it’s like, what better business to be in than being in the business of serving like, right. Like what, so I’m curious to just like, hear that philosophy around like this creating legacy through serving and building a business through serving, like, how do you do it? Like, how do you create that mindset? What would you tell anyone listening who’s like struggling to put themselves out there because they don’t wanna be seen as self-centered or self-focused or too self promotional? Like what would you say to all those things? LO (24:39): Well, I would just say that and be very transparent and say that I’ve lived on both sides of the coin. So growing up so poor that we couldn’t even afford to pay attention. I have always wanted more than just enough and for a, a period in my life and in my business, the goal was to make money because when I went to the grocery store, AJ, if they said five for a dollar, I had to get five. My husband could see five for a dollar and get one. I couldn’t do that because I never wanted to be hungry again. I wanted to make sure we always had more than enough. And so I really out of grit in hustle and grinding, started building my business the first few years. And then a beautiful thing happened when one of my mentors sat me down and said, you are more than enough. LO (25:39): So I don’t have to strive. I don’t have to hustle. I don’t have to grind. I realized then that all I had to do was find my superpower, find my fit, the people I’m called to serve and then do that exceptionally well every day. Right? And so this whole idea of serving my way to the top and I, I often say I served my way into a better business because I stopped seeking profit. And this is gonna sound weird to a lot of people. I stopped seeking profit and I started seeking, how can I fulfill purpose? See prop profit follows, purpose, purpose. Doesn’t always follow profit, if that makes sense. So I realized that if I under, if I, if I can get clear about what I was born to do and the gifts that I have to contribute to the world, and I get really, really good at serving in that way, money would follow me all day long, all day long. LO (26:34): There’s even a scripture where God says everywhere you look, there would be blessings, blessings, blessings chasing you down. And I realized that, wow, I don’t have to seek money or wealth or fame. And actually the, actually the more successful I became, the less fame I wanted now I’m like, I don’t even want people to see my face. Can we do this zoom without showing my face? Right? Like I don’t care that they know my face as much as they experience the transformation that I can provide. If that makes sense. Yeah. I love that. So that’s really what it, what it’s about for me and this whole idea of, you know, serving, I, I just wanna share that sometimes you have to allow other people to serve you as well. I would not be where I am today. If my mother hadn’t served me. If, if people haven’t other people hadn’t served me and helped me along the way. So service is really a, a two-way a two-way street, but the idea that we get to not have to, but we get to serve the people that we touch every day. And it is an honor and a privilege because not everyone understands their gift and their purpose. AJV (27:46): Oh yeah. And I think you said something that just hit me cuz he’s like, I love sub serving others and sometimes I have a really hard time receiving. And I think what I just heard that just hit me for the first time that hit me this way ever in my whole life is that by me, denying someone else to serve me, I’m denying them their own uniqueness and their own purpose. LO (28:08): Yes, absolutely. You got it. You AJV (28:11): Got it. I say, I think, you know, it’s like you get into this mode of like, it’s my job to serve and you forget, well, it’s also other people’s job to serve and it’s like, you can be the giver and the recipient at the same time. Absolutely. And it’s, I’ve never heard it click that way before. It’s like the moment that I deny someone else serving me, it’s like, I’m denying them. They’re God-given purpose and they’re calling in their life. LO (28:33): Yeah. And you’re robbing them of the opportunity to go through the same beautiful experience that you go through when you serve. Right. And you mentioned something, AJ, you said, you know, what about the people who are listening? Who, you know, don’t know if, if they’re good enough or they don’t know if, if they can really, you know, do this right. And it’s important for them to understand that they have the ability to do everything they’re called to do already within them. It may take some refining of a gift in talent. It may take exploration of a gift in talent. It may be even that they PR if they just need practice with that, you know, exercising that gift and talent, but we all have a unique gift and something that we can bring to the table, game changers are duplicators. Mm God created us after himself and his own image. LO (29:29): He created, he was the master creator. Therefore we were created to create and to duplicate wealth, duplicate love, duplicate success, duplicate things. Right. Right. So when we talk about legacy and when we talk about impact and influence with other individuals, it really is about duplicating more good. Yeah. In this world, it’s almost like a, a brand I help the client build called intentional serendipity and, and serendipity is good fortune. And what we did through the work together and the research that, that I did to, to bring to her is I realized that you could intentionally create more good fortune. Yeah. Based on how you live and the brand you choose to BR to build. AJV (30:10): Mm there’s so much truth in that, like one of my favorite Bible verses is that of Genesis that says it’s real simple, be fruitful and multiply right. Be fruitful and multiply. Right. Yeah. LO (30:23): Anything that’s not growing is either dead or dying. Yeah. So when we are growing and being fruitful and when we’re duplicating, that means we are the zest of life that we are actually fulfilling, you know, our purpose. Oh, I could talk to you all day long. AJV (30:40): Oh, say we’re long sermon here in a second, but love it. I love these conversations. And you know, it’s like, I know not, maybe not all of our listeners share the same faith and that’s okay. But to be able to share, you know, business with people that man, they just, they, they feel called to their faith, whatever that faith is. It’s like, yeah, I’m a believer in Jesus Christ. And like he’s my Lord in savior. And to get to, you know, spread that and not be ashamed about it. Man, I just beautiful. I love it. I love that. You speak it. I love that. You know, it, I love that. It’s a part of who you are. You’ve got this service mentality and, and I think for everyone too, it’s like a huge takeaway in all of this is, and I love what you said. It’s like, like serve your way to the top. Right. That’s right. Serve your way to the top. Where is there any harm in that? There’s like, that is there , it’s like the more you serve, the more good is gonna come your way. Right. Right. I just, I so believe in that, LO (31:40): One of my biggest breaks in business has come from serving my way to the top. And here is another thing about game changers. They see what others don’t see. Mm they’re. Willing to go where others won’t go. So I remember being a very new speaker and I was at the national speakers association conference and they announced that the international Federation of professional speakers summit was gonna be in Dubai. And so I’m standing with all of these colleagues and I’m like, I’m going. And they’re like, yeah, we’re going. So a year later, when it’s time to register, I’m like, are you going no, I’ll see what happened was, are you going no, da da. So I ended up having no one who said they were going actually be in a position to go, but game changers can see what other people can’t see and will do what others won’t do. LO (32:26): So I remember my husband who was my business partner, he said, but honey we’re still trying to figure this whole thing out. Like we don’t have enough revenue for you to go all the way, halfway around the world to Dubai. And I looked at him and I said, without even thinking, I said, the gifts God has given me and the path he has put us on must be sufficient to provide for us. It just must be. And that’s that naivety that I talk about sometimes it’s like, I mean, like, it just has to work out, right. It just has to work out. And I remember being in Dubai, hanging out with the president of the national speakers association, everyone who was there, their, their, their speaking fee was like 20,000 plus. And I was like $3,500. so I’m like still at the bottom of the bottom of the bottle. And I was there on points. I was there on miles and I had Ram noodle in my suitcase, but AJ, I was there. AJV (33:16): That’s right. LO (33:17): And when I gave my presentation and, and not only that, I actually applied to be a speaker at the conference and was selected. So here I am presenting at this conference and someone sitting in the front row that had been someone I admired for years, who was a huge successful speaker sitting on the front row. And another woman sitting on the front row became a client. She booked, I mean, she, before I left Dubai, we had an engagement, a contract written, but the person on the front row said to me, Janice Stanfield said, where have you been all my life that I didn’t know about you? And then that led to an invitation to speak at the national speakers association with led, which led to other opportunities. And now every year I go to Dubai and do a seven day game changers mastermind retreat. So my whole business started to have these little spokes that came off of me seeing what other people couldn’t see and being willing to do what other people wouldn’t do. AJV (34:18): That’s truth all day long every day. If you don’t ask the answer is always no, LO (34:25): Absolutely. AJV (34:26): Don’t ask. It’s always no. Oh my goodness. I could talk to you all day long. I love this. And I’m gonna have I’m, I’m trying to be cognizant of the time sometimes I forget. But before we all go I asked you a question before I hit record, because like one of the big things that I’m focused on right now in my personal life is making sure that people get to know who you are as much as what you do. And so I asked you before we hit records, you know, I said, I wanna know one thing that’s not on your bio that you think people should know. And what is it? And you said I wish people knew that I was a builder. Like you love to build things, right? Like all kinds of things like actual building things like nails and hammers and tools. Like you love them build things. So I wanna know a little bit about that. Like, what do you like to build? Why do you like to do this? Where did this come from? LO (35:15): if it includes a compound Mir, so nails a drill hammer. Like I am on it. I have laid my own hardwood floors, ceramic pile. The thing that I’ve probably enjoyed the most outside of building the faux fireplace in my bedroom is I actually built out all of the cabinets and the whole beautiful woodwork that was in my previous office. I built that’s amazing over the course of maybe three or four weeks, but anything that has to do with getting my hands dirty or using my hands is what I love. And, and, and what I love about that too, is I can see the similarity and my love for building up people. Mm. You know, so even with people I’m not using necessarily my hands, but being a builder, I’m a builder of people and I’m a builder of things. So anytime there’s that process of being able to take something in this raws form and use, you know, my brilliance to transform it into something even greater, I’m all for it. AJV (36:16): Oh, there’s some good metaphors and analogies in that lathes the builder. And I know that I could continue talking to you for the rest of the day, if we had time that we did. I just so honored to have you on the show. And you’ve actually you’ve got a really cool thing coming up. Right. So in coordination with the release of this podcast, you also have a certify your brilliance that is launching. Right. So tell us a little bit about what that is. And we’re gonna put a really awesome link in the show notes to check this out, but tell us about certify your brilliance. LO (36:52): Absolutely. Well, what I’ve come to realize is that people who have books, people who have coaching programs and people who have even created amazing presentations and speeches, they are often thinking about what’s next for me? How can I generate an additional stream of revenue and, and what I’ve decided to do, because I’ve done it and beat my head against the wall, trying to figure it out. You’ve done it. And lots of other people have done it, but there’s no real resource anywhere that you can go pull a book off of the shelf or take a course to learn how to turn your expertise, whether it’s your book, your coaching program, or your speech into a certification program so that you can exponentially increase your revenue. And so I decided that I would talk to the most brilliant people in the world. People like you and interview them to find out, yeah, how did you do it? LO (37:42): And what I’m excited about is I’ve been interviewing people. I am getting like the nitty nitty gritty gritty inside the Diddy Diddy information. And they have been, I mean, people have just been so transparent and so giving to share, this is how I did it because it is not easy. And if you don’t have a roadmap or blueprint this is a place to come to really just learn how to take, you know, what you’re dreaming of and actually package it in a way and protect it so that you can actually reach more people than you ever could. If you only tried to, you know, do it and work through the process by yourself. So you’ll be able to reach potentially hundreds of thousands of people more because you have ambassadors. Yeah. Who all over the world are sharing your message and transforming lives. So I just, because it’s also a part of just being, it’s a game changing move to create a certification program. I’m just so excited to share that with the world. And I’m excited that you’re actually sharing the link and the information of how to actually access this free summit and this information with your tribe. Thank you so much for AJV (38:50): Doing that. Oh my gosh. Well I know just firsthand and it’s like, we’ll put the link in the show notes. It’s gonna be available to you, but I was fortunate enough to be a guest in all of this. And I know firsthand from the questions you’re asking, like this is pulling back the curtain, right? It’s like, like we’re, we’re not holding back. It’s like, these are the mistakes. This is what you should not do. This is what we did. This is what worked. This is what did it, this is how we charged for it. This is what’s included. It’s like, it’s literally pulling back the curtain of how do you like to what you said? And I love that. It’s like, how do you turn your expertise into a certification program? And that’s what it is. And so be sure to head over to the show notes, grab that link, check it out. You’re gonna get to learn all about all the things that you have to offer, including how to certify your brilliance. So, but on social, what’s the best platform to do that, LO (39:49): Or it LinkedIn or Facebook and my handle everywhere. Whether you have another platform you’d like to, to communicate on is at Lithia Owens. AJV (39:57): All right. So you heard it here. I’m so excited to introduce you to our community and our audience. I love your spirits. I love, I just love everything that you have to say is just it’s. I don’t know. There’s just something about your essence that I just, I just adore. So thank you so much for coming onto the show. Everyone stick around for the recap episode and we’ll catch you next time on the influential personal brand.