Be The Boss with Daniella Genas

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 0:09

Hey, welcome to another episode of In the Black. This is Your Boy Dex, and we are here with another amazing episode. I, I've been really trying to put together guests that can actually impress my brother, cuz my brother's a bit of my role model. So, shout out to you Ian. I feel like I've hit the pinnacle with this one. I am not going to give her introduction because there's just certain people you just cannot toast high enough. So I am just going to straight up introduce the boss herself. She's the boss of Be the Boss, international Danielle, Genas. Danielle, how are you?

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 0:51

I am good. Thank you. Thanks for having.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 0:53

Fantastic. No, thanks for being on the show. So with our normal listeners, they're used to southern accents, um, and your accent is actually originates from Nottingham, Birmingham, England.

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 1:07

Yes. Yes. I, I would say my, my accent is more Nottingham than Birmingham. If anyone's been to Birmingham, they'll know that this is not a Birmingham accent. I, I've managed to retain, retain my Nottingham accent.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 1:19

You know, to Americans, it's all metric systems, so

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 1:22

Yeah. all sounds the same. I'm sure.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 1:26

I found some amazing information on you, doing my notes and stuff like that. But I, I gotta let you tell your story and I'm gonna kind of jump in with some key aspects and stuff. So tell me about what you do

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 1:41

So many things . So I, I run business business support, company called Be the Boss International. We've recently rebranded previously called She's the Boss, but she's the boss, is now my personal brand. And Be the boss is the business brand and with Be the Boss, essentially what we do is we support small to medium size enterprises and micro-businesses and assist them with essentially. Growing and scaling profitable, sustainable systems driven businesses. And we do that through a combination of services which incorporate coaching, mentoring, training, and consultancy. So taking a multi method approach, so it's not just coaching on its own or just mentoring, it kind of combines all of the above to ensure and, and enable them to grow a business that not only makes money, but doesn't burn them out in the process. And we, we kind of specialize in working with service business owners. We do have a few product business clients, but primarily our kind of area of expertise. And where I, I suppose, get the most excitement is from supporting service business owners because typically they're the ones that spend a lot of time doing a lot of things and end up burning themselves out because they don't often have staff or teams to support them. And that's essentially what we do. I develop something called the VISSA framework. Which basically breaks down to vision, innovation, systems and processes, strategy and accountability. And I've worked with a number of clients over the last few years to take them through that process and have proven that it enables business owners to grow and to grow sustainably. And yeah, that's essentially what we do.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 3:24

that is so awesome. I, you know, you started off with everything and all I could think to myself was, where was this person in my life when I, because I failed a lot of businesses, I am terrible. at business. But I keep trying because I because

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 3:44

keep going.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 3:44

I, I, I like, I like me. I mean, you can't lose all the time is how I feel like it. So , I actually do marketing for small businesses. A lot of s e o a lot of lead generations, some social media stuff. I'm not gonna say I'm good at that yet, but I feel like I'm going that direction. I kind of wish you were like my, my, my guidance counselor back in the seventh grade, but you know, here we are now. And so I think you could actually , I think you could actually help even more people than some knucklehead seventh graders. So tell me about, you had a business before you started doing all this. According to my research. Tell me about that business.

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 4:25

So I launched the, that first business pretty much fresh out of university. So I, I went to university and studied media and communications with this big dream of becoming the UK's version of Oprah. But clearly there's only one Oprah. So I was barking up the wrong tree with that one , um, finished university and kind of jumped from job to job. Didn't like anything. In fact, hated the whole idea of working for somebody else. I, I, I consider myself now unemployable, and I always was really, um, didn't enjoy the working experience at all and kind of jumped from job to job over the period of about 12 months before finding out about a business startup program and decided to throw it all in and applied for the program. Started my first business with, a few friends from university. And quickly realized that we didn't have a clue what we were doing. Like we had no clue, we didn't have the right support, we couldn't find the right support. We, between the four of us, there was four of us at the time. We just, we just didn't know what we were doing. And what then happened is we ended up going from the four of us to, three of us to two of us, to then just me. I don't wanna say the strongest survive, but may as well the strongest survived And the, the original idea for the business actually was to be an event management company that specialized in providing training. We have training, providing events for young people. But by the time it went from the four of us to just me, I realized that wasn't really a viable business model at all. But I still wanted to have the kind of social element. So I decided to become what we call over here, community interest company. So it's kind of a, a social business that operates for more than profit. So we, we are supposed to make a profit, but that profit gets reinvested back into the business. And the activity that we do each year has to, in some way contribute to people, planet, or yeah, people are planet really. And the focus again, then, So the focus then was we were going to do corporate kind of celebration events, Christmas parties, award dinners, team building, the fun types of events, and then use the finance from the the contracts to then provide training for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. So we were running lots of projects that focused on entrepreneurship, on the creative industries, on event management, but we weren't really winning many contracts. And that was primarily because I had worked out that I was really good at bid writing and had applied for funding to run some of the projects that I wanted to run and got lots of funding. So we were delivering the projects and not necessarily spending time seeking corporate event contracts. And the business grew very quickly with that kind of model, but not in a productive way because it was all reliant on funding or primarily reliant upon funding. So I went very quickly from it being just me to then having an office, having a team of staff doing all of these projects, working with all these phenomenal young people, and we, we supported some amazing young people that were doing fantastic things, but behind the scenes, the money just wasn't being made on the commercial side to the level that it needed to be to sustain us. So I, I kind of spent a little bit of time trying to work out what to do to fix the problem, tried to reach out to different advisors and, and the problem that I kept coming across was there were people that called themselves business coaches or business advisors, but they never actually ran a business. So when I would go to them with key challenges that I was facing on a day-to-day basis, they could give me the textbook answer, but they couldn't relate because they never actually ran a business themselves. Or I would go to the business owners. and they'd be able to give me advice from their perspective, but they couldn't give me the frameworks, like, do this, then do this. It was kind of like, well, I did that. I dunno if that can work for you, but actually we're in completely different industries, so I, I don't know how to make that apply to me. So it was always one or the other. It was never both. And then the business went into decline. And this is when I really realized, okay, I've done something very wrong here. And it was really quick. So worked for this period of like really rapid growth. And, and not only was the business doing really well, I'd built up quite a, a strong personal brand within this kind of social enterprise scene. So I was doing regular speaking engagements. I started winning loads of awards, uh, people were running stories on me in local press, et cetera. And then all of a sudden we were laying off staff. The bank account was dwindling each day, which was very terrifying. And I didn't really know what to do in terms of how to fix the problem. But then I, I managed to get onto the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business program, which was fantastic, life-changing and started to understand, okay, these are the areas that I need to work on. Went down the route of seeking investment to help me fix those areas. And then the investment didn't go ahead. So the investment that was confirmed was at the very last minute postponed. And I had gone from having all of the staff that I had to, to it just be me and one person essentially. And the decision was made to close the business. Somebody flew in from who knows where, cuz to this day, I don't really understand where he came from. And he offered to buy the business and I sold it. And it was through that journey of despair and destruction and devastation, , that I then started to think about, okay, well what did I need? What would've stopped me getting to this point? Well, what I really needed was the right support, the right advice, accountability from somebody outside of the organization. And that's essentially the reason that I then started what was originally called Genas Enterprise Consultants, that then became, She's The Boss and that now is Be The Boss, International. Because I really wanted to provide for other business owners exactly what I had needed for myself. And the difference between me and I suppose the people that I was working with or or trying to get support from when I was running my first business is I have the the business credentials in terms of I've ran my own business, now I've ran a successful business, and then it's become unsuccessful. But I also have that kind of academic grounding because I have a master's, I have an mba. I also have the training because I did the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business program. So I have like a very well-rounded. Approach to business, and I can look at it from a variety of different aspects, and that was essentially why and how I ended up launching this business in a

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 11:16

that is so awesome. That is . If, uh, if people had never heard that before, they would've thought that was a superhero origin story. And I, you know, I can't thank. people like . I can't thank people like you enough because to be quite honest with you, that's what a lot of people need. They need, and we're going to, this word is gonna come up a lot in this interview. Accountability, be it personal accountability, outside accountability. And that's where I wanted to get into your, your Vissa, format, I guess is, is probably not the best way to put it, but tell us about that because I learned so much. I've probably watched, oh, in case the audience didn't know, she did a TED Talk and I've watched it three or four times and

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 12:06

Oh, thank you

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 12:06

I can't get enough. Like where was this information when I was younger. But please give us a little bit of a taste, of the sage advice you're about to drop on us.

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 12:17

So what I did, so obviously I've just explained what happened with the first business and I, I kind of got a bit obsessed with working out exactly. I tried to pinpoint exactly where I went wrong and actually not just where that I go wrong, where are the businesses that have managed to sustain themselves gone? Right. And not all businesses, but businesses like the type of business that I was running. So service business, kind of a, with a owner, manager, founder running it. So not the big corporations cuz they're on a different, different scale, but kind of the micro businesses, the, the SMEs. And started to really try to pinpoint what those key success factors were. So whilst doing my MBA. I, that became my research piece for my dissertation. And the visa framework was kind of born out of that because I recognized the, the kind of five key factors for those businesses that grew the quickest, first and foremost, but were able to sustain that growth. So having a clear vision was always the first thing. Businesses that were able to kind of grow at fast pace and sustain that, that fast pace, knew exactly where they were going and, and not just kind of having a, a loose idea, but very specific, this is what we are gonna do when, and this is how, and not only the vision, having it, the, the goals associated with that and the action plan, the step-by-step blueprint of how to. Businesses that were not innovative, that just continued to do the same things over and over again, were the businesses that you would see die out very quickly. Whereas the businesses that were able to, to kind of capitalize on kind of, uh, market share or those that were continuing to innovate, that were doing things differently, that were, uh, that would what I call taking a client or customer centered approach to innovation. So what do the clients or customers need? What are their problems? How can we add new things? How can we add value? How can we change how we're, what we're doing to solve their problems and, and to attract those? So innovation is the, the I, but you can have vision and your goals and your actions and you can be innovative. But actually, if there's no strategy behind all of that, then what were you really doing? So strategy then became the, the s and strategy from a finance position, strategy from a marketing perspective strategy for particularly for the, the, the founder led businesses. Personal brand strategy, those strategies have to underpin everything. What's going on in the external environment, what's going on internally, what are our core competencies? What do we do better than anyone else? And how do we capitalize on that to then reach the people that we need and want to reach. And then the two last factors, which I would probably say are the most important one, particularly from that kind of idea of sustainability. So if you've got the vision, if you are innovative and if you've got your strategy, you will, you'll start to grow if you follow those steps. But actually, if you don't have the right systems and processes internally, what then can happen? Which essentially is what happened to me when you are not able to deliver on everything. Cuz you can't because nobody's a robot. There's only so many hours in the day. There's only so many hours within those hours that you are gonna be awake, energetic, and and able to, to work and do anything. And we build businesses around ourselves. not understanding that we're not robots and we know that we are not robots, but we act as though we are. So we try to do everything. And actually it, it's ridiculous that we burn out, we get stressed, we make mistakes, things go wrong. We, we are not able to, to take advantage of opportunities that would help the business to grow or to continue to grow. And the business then goes into decline. But actually, if we build bus businesses that are not reliant on us and that are actually relying on systems and processes, repeatable systems, if we automate, if we outsource, if we document how we do things, it means that we don't have to do everything and then the business can continue to grow around us as opposed to with us at the center. But even if you get

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 16:18

So working on your

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 16:19

you then still

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 16:20

versus, uh, working in your business?

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 16:23

Yes. Yeah. So it's the difference between working it, that's part of it, but it's not even just about that. It's also about. you just not doing everything . And sometimes business owners want to do everything because I'm the only one that can do it. And if it's not me, it's not gonna get done properly. And it's a fallacy actually. If you are doing everything and if you are at the center, you are actually detrimental to your business because you are not a robot. You're going to make mistakes, you're gonna drop the ball and you're not gonna be able to do everything. And obviously in the early stages when you are starting to, to build your business, you're gonna have to do everything for up to a point, because you probably don't have the money or the resource to be able to, to do everything. But even in those early stages, there's so many things that you can automate. There's so many things that you can create that will even make you delivering things run much more efficiently and much more smoothly. So that was the, the the S. So we've done Vision V, innovation I, strategy S, systems and Processes S. And then the final piece to the puzzle is that accountability piece. Because accountability is what's going to ensure that you continue to execute on the first four areas. And for so many business owners, they keep banging their head against the same wall. Why is my business not growing? Why are we not moving forward? Why is this not happening? Without actually really acknowledging that sometimes you just need somebody to hold your accountable because there's so much going on. There's so many things that you're trying to juggle at once. It's not possible for you to stay on top of everything, but if you've got somebody externally, number one, to hold you accountable and to support you. And guide you and guide. Okay,

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 18:05

I'm, I'm sorry. Gimme one second. I gotta

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 18:07

problem. No

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 18:08

talk to my kids. I'm so sorry,

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 18:11

No, it's fine.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 18:15

boy. I can hear you. Hey, hey. Have kids, they say

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 19:04

I'm just impressed that mine hasn't comes storming in yet.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 19:08

ah, see now you're just showing off that you're a better parent.

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 19:12

I've already got one, so it's easier than three. There's no one to fight with.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 19:16

yeah, you're running like a man to man defense versus a zone. And sometimes you gotta kind of run a zone. So,

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 19:23

Mm-hmm.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 19:25

that's neither here nor there. Uh, so yes, I apologize for that. Um, um, getting back to the interview, um, you talked about having to sell, your business, and that's gotta be an emotional experience. Tell me about that emotional experience.

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 19:47

It was painful. It was really painful. I, I likened it to the death of someone because I really felt like I was going through a grief and going through a grieving process in the, the months and even the years after it. And to be honest, it's only really been in the last, I'd probably say 12 months. That I feel like I've really put it down and put it to bed. But it was painful and, and particularly because I, it wasn't just the process of selling the business at that time. I was going through a lot of other things. So I was pregnant at the point where I decided to, to sell the business. And I sold the business when my daughter was a month old. So in addition to me dealing with this kind of, this idea of having to let go of the business, I was also dealing with being a new mom and the hormones and everything that goes with that, and also the, the loss of identity. I'd always heard people say, oh, when you have a baby, you just become mom and your identity is lost. And I used to always say, that's ridiculous. Like, when I have a baby, I'm still gonna be who I am and I dunno what these people are talking about. And actually, I think had I, , had I kept the business, I think that probably would've happened. But because now I didn't have a business anymore, literally what was I, I was a mom and I was a student because I'd started my MBA shortly after. I'm, I'm just a, a student and a mom. That's not, this wasn't part of the plan. This isn't the name. This isn't my title. And I'd been entrepreneur, Daniella Moti, award-winning entrepreneur for such a long time. But there's no business. So how can you be an entrepreneur if there's no business? It's redundant. The whole thing is redundant, and I really struggled with that. It was really hard. And also whilst I, I mentioned when I was explaining viso, the idea of having this vision, I did have a vision. It just didn't have the clarity or the steps that I needed to take to actualize it. I didn't know how I was gonna bring it to reality, and I didn't get, have the clarity, but I knew on a big picture level where I was trying to take the business, and because I was so clear on that, when there was no business anymore, it was, I was lost because actually what, what is the purpose of life now? Because the purpose up to that point had been, I'm growing this business. I'm gonna have an office in Jamaica. I'm gonna have an office in Nigeria. I'm gonna have regional offices across the uk. I'm gonna be doing international speaking engagements, running these international projects, and it's gonna be amazing. And if anyone asked, I would always say the same thing because I was so clear on, on that's what I wanted to, to create. So, without it, without that to look forward to, it was kind of like, well, what is the point of anything? Like what, I dunno what I'm doing. But that's also why I then got really stuck into the MBA and, and, and launching a new business because I had to for my own sanity because I, there was, I could feel that I was losing myself in the process of mothering and, and being a student. Like there's, there's no, I just felt like there was no point to anything. And I think, I think for some people who go through the, the process of having a business, losing a business, getting a job, et cetera, I think it's easier if. , potentially they thought that it might not work or potentially they've had several jobs before. But as I said, I pretty much started the business out of uni and I didn't, I'd never really had a job for more than three months. There wasn't anything I'd ever taken seriously, and I'd always been of the mind from the point of me starting the business that this was gonna be it for the rest of my life. I'm gonna, my kids are gonna take over this business and that's just what's gonna happen. Uh, there's no business left. Who are you now? Like, what are you doing? What is the legacy that you're gonna leave? So it was painful. I cried like real, there was a lot of tears, there was a lot of anger, there was a lot of resentment. There was a lot of just general unpleasant feeling for a, a significant portion of time. But then when this business really started to fly and take off, and more importantly when people started telling me that, , the reason they had come to me was because they know that I'd run another business and they know they've heard some of the lessons that I've shared and the experiences that I had in the business. That's why they came to me. Then I started to realize what happened with that business is probably the best thing that ever happened to me. So now my whole mindset around it has completely changed. Whereas before, it was like the worst thing that ever happened. Now it's the best thing that ever happened because had it not happened, I wouldn't be able to, to be a living example for the clients that I work with, and not even just the clients for, for people. So there's women that come to me that are not ev even necessarily in business, that say the fact that you went through, that you started again, you had a new baby, and you, you kind of flipped the whole switch and said, well, I've, I've done this, this has happened, but I'm gonna keep pushing. That makes me feel like I can do X, Y, and Z. And so for that, I'm very grateful. That it went the way that it did at the time, absolutely not. Like it was very stressful. But now, retrospectively, I recognize I needed to go through that to enable me to do what I'm doing now and to be able to relate, because there's not really a problem that a business owner comes to me with. I haven't experienced, I've been sued, I've fired people. I've hired people. I've, I've done so many different things. I've done sales and not been great at sales. I've done sales. I've been fantastic at it, at it. I've done sponsorship, I've done marketing, I've done funding. So there's so many different kind of areas that that business enabled me to explore, which means now I'm able to, to really be able to provide some really solid support to the clients that I work with.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 25:29

That's so awesome. You had actually answered my follow-up question and it was, and if you wanted to answer more to it. No, no, you're great. You're great. Um, if you wanted to add more to it, my follow-up question was how did you take that emotion and that trauma and use it to propel you to what you do?

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 25:48

I, well, I do wanna answer it. . I think what's been really exciting now is I'm in a, there's nothing to lose type of mindset, because actually if I lost it all again, I know that I could just start another business and bounce right back, because I've done it now. Like, what's the worst that can happen? What's really the worst that can happen? So it was really, it's really now understanding that there's nothing really that can happen to me that would stop me on this trajectory of being an entrepreneur, because I know how to do it. I know the steps, and I know that the, I know the worst things that can happen. I've been there, done. That didn't kill me. So I can continue. I, I think that's really the first thing, but also the, the grief that I experienced going through. in terms of selling the business really gave me the motivation and the passion to ensure that I took a completely different approach with this business, because I don't, even though I know that I could kind of bounce back and I could rebuild if I did lose everything, I don't want to , I don't want to experience that again. Like I do not, and therefore it's the reminder of that that really propels me and pushes me forward and motivates me to keep on going because yeah, we don't, that wasn't fun. I don't wanna do that again. So that's, that's kind of what I did with that. I took it and said, right, we need to run with this till the wheels fall off and we can't make those same mistakes. We know what we did wrong there. We cannot do that this time. And actually it's worked because where I said previously I didn't, in the first business, one of the things that really had an impact was I didn't like selling, I didn't like doing the sales process. We didn't have a sales strategy. I, I didn't have any accountability. I didn't have any personal accountability cuz I spoke up about accountability externally before, but it's also about personal accountability. If you say that you're gonna do something, you need to actually do it. And with this business, I've taken that approach and I actually really enjoy the sales process. And I've managed, within the first year of the, the business, I made more revenue or I had more revenue coming to business through sales specifically than in probably the whole of the eight years that I was running the other business because whilst the other business had more money in the bank, that money was funded or sponsored. The money in their account for this business is people paying for my services. And from year one to year two, the, the sales have tripled and I expect that it's gonna do the same in the next year. So, Yeah, I've used it and I've used all of the, that trauma, all of the negativity, all of the stress and the trials and the tribulations to ensure that I do things properly this time.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 28:30

wow. I don't know you, I've just researched you. I'm just meeting you now, but I can, I can very much tell, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, that you're a relationship person when it comes to.

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 28:42

Yes, very much so. Sometimes to my detriment.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 28:46

you,

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 28:46

I get very attached

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 28:48

You seem affable. You seem like everybody likes you like that type of person,

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 28:53

Oh, I dunno. I, no, I don't think, I wouldn't go that far. I would say the, those that like me, love me, those that don't, don't, one of the challenges that I have is, is, um, I, I don't have a very good poker face. and actually I have, my resting face isn't the smiliest. I'm smiling now cuz I'm smiley. But if you just see me on the road, I don't have a very smiley face, which sometimes is a bit intimidating to people.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 29:20

well, it's all killer. No filler

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 29:23

I like that. I've never heard that one before,

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 29:25

Yeah. Write that down. Write that down.

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 29:27

I like it. But yeah, once you get through the steely exterior, then yeah. Um, I like, I like people. I like who I like and if I like you then I really like you. If I don't, then I usually you'll see on my face fairly quickly,

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 29:43

My wife's the same way.

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 29:46

it's something I've been working on, but I think it's too late now. I just, I think that's who I am.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 29:50

nah. It's my favorite part about you, . It's one of my favorite things. Well, that, um, that kind of gets me to my next question. I'm gonna kind of skip ahead a little bit. Um, I'm referring to my notes, um, relationships and business. You've helped a lot of different businesses. Which one do you have you gotten the closest with? Have you taken to heart the most that you felt closest with?

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 30:19

I, so, yeah, I, I was thinking about this question a lot because I, I feel like I can't say that there's one

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 30:27

I, I knew you were gonna say

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 30:28

a few. No. Cause there's a few, and for different reasons. So the, and I, I, I know before I say this, if anyone's listening that knows the business that I work with, they're probably gonna roll their eyes and say, here she goes again. Because there's two that I usually lead with. One of them is called Link three recruitment.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 30:46

I knew you were gonna say that.

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 30:48

See? Yeah, I know. But the thing is, with link three recruitment, One of, there's three co-founders and one of them is my brother. And, and therefore seeing the, the rise and rise and rise of their company. When we first started working together, they were doing six figures. I can't remember which six figures. I need to actually check that. But now they're doing, so it's, this was 2019 when we started working together and they've done 4 million or something this year.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 31:14

oh.

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 31:14

I take that to heart because one of them is my brother, like the other two guys great. I love them, but my brother obviously is my brother. I love him. And seeing the progression of that is just beautiful to me. And then the other is Neo Enterprise, who have recently rebranded, rebranded, also called Neo Group. I started working with Oyen from Neo, same time as Link Three actually in 2019. And she came to me and very much reminded me of me, when I had started my first business. So she had this real strong social purpose and wanted to make a difference. And essentially I told her everything that I wish somebody had told me. And at the time, it was a social enterprise. They were doing like 15,000 turnover. And I've worked with Link three. We worked for a period, and then they've kind of just gone off and, and continued. But with Oyen, we've worked consistently since 2019 until now, and their business has scaled. They did one point something million this year and she is just blazing a trail in the tech space. It's amazing to, to watch The growth of Oyen is one of the most beautiful things, and I feel so honored and privileged that she's allowed me to journey with her for such an extended period of time because I think she is probably one of the clients that I've worked with the longest. So I take that to heart because it's, you work with people, you make a difference, and then they move on. But then there's other people that want you to come with them. , and I love and appreciate the fact that she's allowed me to do that with her. So I'd say they're probably the two. There's so many others. There's so many others. And, and I actually, and I said before, I, sometimes it's to my detriment because I get very emotionally involved in bus, in the businesses that I work with, and I get really upset when we finish. Like, I'm like, I've not finished yet. Let's con continue. But actually part of what I do also is when they get to a point where they feel that they can kind of fly, I have to let them fly. But I, I often don't want to because I, I, I, I like to, to stay with them. And I think also there's been quite a few business owners that I've worked with and, and maybe their business hasn't necessarily grown at the pace of some of the. But they personally have, and that for me is a beautiful thing to witness as well. So where I've had clients that are scared of selling, but then now they can sell and they do their sales calls confidently. That is a beautiful thing for me. One of my other clients, Dean, so he runs two companies. One's called Media Beast and the other is called Blocker. And he actually, we've got a, a really great story because when we first started working together, he was the designer for my first business. So he designed my logo. So this was in like 2006 years and years and years ago. And I then became his business advisor, uh, business coach in 2019 also, we worked together for a period and then I've recently started working with him again, as a consultant for his two of his businesses. So we're working together at the moment. And he was terrified of public speaking, absolutely terrified. If you mentioned the phrase public speaking, he would visibly recoil. And we did a lot of work around that. and really getting him comfortable and he's not suddenly gonna be out here doing TEDx talks. That's not his thing. However, I remember very specifically, and I did really take this to heart, after we'd had one of the sessions and I kind of coached him through how to do like confident, confident talks. And he was like, look, I'm never gonna need this, but thanks. And he went to a, a meeting in London probably, I think it was a week after, within, within a period of two weeks. It wasn't past two weeks. And he was supposed to be presenting, some branding that he'd done for a client. He thought he was presenting purely to the founder, and he got there and they took him into an auditorium and the whole business was there. , the whole entire workforce,

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 35:01

Oh wow.

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 35:03

he said he thought to himself, Daniella is a witch. Because I had said to him, you don't know when you, you think that you don't need to know how to do public speaking, but you don't know the situation that you may be presented with, that you didn't expect where you're gonna have to do it. So he said he left to himself, thought that composed himself, followed what I had told him to do, and he did it. And, and actually a really proud moment for me was we have something, uh, with be the boss called the Founders Network. So it's an online community for my clients. So if you work with me in any guys, you get free access to this community. And we do events and we have guest experts and different things. And earlier this year, in the summer, he came and delivered a guest expert session for us. And that was just a beautiful, proud moment because I'm like, I remember when you couldn't, he said the word public speaking and you don't like you were gonna faint. So the idea that he delivered that, , and I don't, I can't remember how this is maybe like 12 people, but, but it was such a, a huge thing because it was something that he hated so much. So, and I've got loads of those stories. I've picked those three, but there's so many more.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 36:09

That's so awesome, . That is, that is truly something special. I, I'm listening to, your story and the word serendipitous keeps coming up in my head. Motherly keeps coming up in my head. And follow me on this, and correct me if I'm wrong, you start your first business, you, you raise it to fruition, and then it ha you, it has to be a chapter in your book. Then you actually become a mother. You're raising your child, and then you're going to school and you're raising yourself. Now you're looking back and you're, you're, you're, is it your baby brother? Younger brother? Yeah. That's, and so now you're helping him raise his company, and then you're letting them go off in, you know, into the world after you've taken all these little pretty birds under their wing, would you call it serendipitous that you lost your, I shouldn't say lost your business, but you ended things with your business and grew into a better mother

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 37:06

Hmm. No, for sure. It's so funny you, it's, I don't know how, maybe you've, this is researched. Have you researched this? Is this why you're not? Because I used to always say , that the first business, I used to call it my baby. . Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: Yeah. Oh. I say I, I, I birthed that company and then at some point I had to let the, the, the baby fly the nest and go, because it's still in operation, somebody's still running it. I still have to drive past it actually every day because my daughter's school is on, is on route. So I have to drive past it on a regular basis. But yes, I used to say it was my baby. So when I had an actual baby, it was like, okay, my first baby's gone. Now I have a new baby. And with my bus, with all of the clients that I work with and their businesses, it's that kind of, oh, my babies, they're growing up and, and they're going and doing amazing things. So yeah, don't you spot on. Definitely spot on with that. And in relation to things being serendipitous, there's two things that have been really impactful along this, this part of the journey. One is the Vision 20 process that I do. And with Vision 20, I work with clients to really get that razor sharp clarity on their visions. And I started it by doing it for myself. and sitting down and saying, where do I want to be in this timeframe? And what does that look like? What does that feel like? And really breaking that down into minute detail and created what now has become something that I call the Vision 20 Process, which I do with all my clients, and I did it and started to see the things that I had written happening

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 38:39

Wow.

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 38:40

weird and wonderful ways. So the TEDx Talk, for example, is a fantastic example of that on my Vision 20 Board. So I don't do vision boards, it's a Vision 20 board. It's very different to a vision board. But I had TEDx as one of the things that I wanted to achieve within the next three years. I didn't apply to do the TEDx talk. They were looking for an extra speaker because I don't even know what the reason was. But they needed an extra speaker. Very last minute. Somebody in the room, which nobody can tell me who it was, mentioned my name. They sent me a link, uh, LinkedIn message and said, do you wanna do a TEDx talk ? I will sat on my desk with the vision poster above my desk that said TEDx Talk. I then did my TEDx talk. All of the other speakers had three months notice to prepare. I had two weeks,

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 39:25

Wow.

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 39:27

this is Vision 20. I've done Vision 20. So another client of mine who, again, we've got a really interesting story. When I started my first business, he was running a very successful business. He was, I somebody I would consider like a role model, and I would kind of looking what he was doing, saying, I wanna be like that, his business. Then he lost his business. He, the business went bankrupt and then he came and started working for me at the point where my business was doing really, really, And then obviously I sold the business and then we, we regrouped and I became his coach and started supporting him with his business and his charity. The business has now grown substantially. The charity also has grown. I'm now a trustee for that charity. I went into the offices of that charity in the summer, and we had designed and mapped out what that was going to look like in a vision 20 session several years prior. The same thing with Neo Neo's offices that they're in. We plan those out in a Vision 20 session. So I don't necessarily believe in luck. I believe in the idea if you write the vision and make it plain and you take action towards it, you create your future. So there's a phrase that there's a, a Peter Drucker, uh, quote that I've been sharing a lot the last week. Um, I can't remember exactly how it goes, but it's something along the lines of, if you, we can't see into the fu or the best way to see into the future is to create it or to write it. And I strongly believe in that. But I also, so I said there's two things. The second thing is I believe in God and not everybody does. And that's fine. You can believe in the universe, you can believe in nothing. I personally, I believe in God, and I believe that when I write down my intentions and I say what I want to achieve and I work towards them and I have the accountability both for myself and I have a lot of external accountability, God will open those doors for me and he has continually. So the TEDx was a, a fantastic, uh, I think fantastic example. Another even better example, or equally as good one my, on my vision, uh, poster. It also said that there's three places that I want to go within the next three years and do speaking or be or do business Nigeria, Jamaica, and Kenya. I did that in January, 2021.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 41:45

Uh,

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 41:46

By May, 2021, somebody had asked me to go on an all expenses paid trip to Nigeria as a V I P guest on a trade mission in October, 2021. I flew out to Nigeria. I don't believe in coincidences. I believe that I set my intentions and God said, watch what I'm gonna do, and he did it. And that's how I live. And that's what I believe.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 42:12

That's so awesome. That is something else. So were you in like Nairobi

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 42:17

No, no. I didn't go. No, no, I didn't go Kenya, Nigeria. I was in

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 42:20

Nigeria. You were in Lagos? Okay,

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 42:21

Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. . And which was a wonderful experience.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 42:25

I hear it's huge.

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 42:26

Yeah, it's uh, it's huge. It's crazy. It's crazy. I remember being on a bus, on a main road, driving backwards on a bus, on a main road, like a highway as you would call it, highway driving backwards. And that's just, what they were doing. It was, yeah, it was, there was a lot of amazing, once in a lifetime experiences that happened in Lagos.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 42:51

if, if that's how you get there, that's how you get there. There's really nothing else you can really do about that. One of the questions, uh, that I had that I didn't send you, but it was concerning Brexit, because that's, it's affecting, basically the British Empire altogether, not just in England, but how did that affect your business and some of the businesses that you help?

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 43:18

I think it, there wasn't a direct impact on my business personally. However, there's been an indirect impact. So there's clients that I've worked with that they, the, the fees that they have to pay, particularly some of the product businesses that I've worked with. So I remember there's one in particular, the lady she runs, she runs a business that creates kind of these really cool clogs, these shoes, wooden shoes with adjustable straps. But she got a lot of her, she got her products made in China, I believe it was, and then gets them shipped over. and Brexit added like a huge, huge, huge amount to the import fees that she had to pay. And for a period she was trying to absorb that cost, but she had to put her prices up, which then obviously has a knock on effect, which impacts the business. There's been so many people that I know, not just people that I work with, but people that I just know that were impacted quite significantly because of that, because of kind of the additional fees that weren't, weren't a problem or an issue. And then there's also the, the kind of just general cost of living going up, which they say is because of the, the war in Ukraine. But I believe that Brexit has, it's a, it's a coverup for for the impact of Brexit. Um, but yeah, the getting workers from within the EU, there's obviously been a knock on impact and, and that's not as easy as it was previously. And a lot of, a lot of businesses relied quite heavily on some of those European workers. So there's lots, there've been lots of kind of negative impacts. I didn't vote for Brexit. I voted for us to stay within the EU because I could see, yeah, I could see what some of the, the detrimental things would be because of that. But also from a another perspective, I do a lot of work with universities and also I work with businesses that do work with universities and the uni. I think what a lot of the general public didn't understand was how much money the EU puts into. Uh, universities and also into, funding for, for businesses. So there's lots of European spec, European specific funding that the universities were able to access, which then the businesses were able to access via the universities or via the funding bodies themselves to e enable their businesses, to launch new products, to get consultancy, et cetera. That it just doesn't exist anymore. And the, the impact of that is we are probably going to continue to see for a number of years, but the general public, if you're not in the kind of business space, I suppose it, it didn't impact them and they didn't get take back control. I don't know what control it is that they want to take back. I don't think many people knew what the control was that they were trying to take back either. Yeah, it's nonsense to be honest.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 46:03

Yeah. I know this isn't like, uh, a political podcast or anything, but I felt it. A lot of it was nationalist nonsense, a lot of nationalist rhetoric, and I think a lot of people don't, they look at things on a, on, on a micro scale where on a macro scale, they just couldn't see the forrest through all the trees.

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 46:21

but what made it ridiculous is, I agree with you. I think a lot of people and, and people say, no, it wasn't that. It was they, the idea of not having people from the EU coming into the country was, I think one of the main reasons that people voted. But then the most ridiculous thing is then what happened then. places like the NHS that were relying on, people coming from the eu, they're now looking further afield. So you're still bringing immigrants in anyway. And actually now you're just bringing immigrants in that are coming from further away. So you didn't actually , like it didn't solve the problem. But then also what happened particularly, um, with kind of the farmers, so they had a lot of people that came from the EU that would pick all of the veg and stuff. And then the veg, the vegetables were going bad because the British people didn't wanna go and pick, they didn't want to pick the, the vegetables and the, and the fruits. So yeah, it just, it's mayhem. It was definitely a mayhem.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 47:14

a similar thing actually happened in, uh, I live in Georgia and, uh, I don't know if you know, uh, that much about the states, but uh, next door to us is Alabama, and this is before I moved to Georgia, but they did this huge push on immigration and getting the immigrants out and all this. Well, the problem is, is uh, even the farmers that had voted for that or had pushed for that, well all of their workers were immigrants, so then they would literally just have warehouses full of, rotting tomatoes, rotting vegetables, and because they couldn't get any, you know, local Americans who, one, they don't have the experience in doing it. Two, the travel and the cost versus how much they're gonna pay them. It just didn't make sense. So, you know, they ended up having to. It reneg on their, on their, on their ideas of, of what they wanted. So,

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 48:04

Mm-hmm.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 48:05

you know, it's amazing how people shoot themselves in the foot. So

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 48:08

and also it's just very nearsighted, like look at the big picture. I think people, a lot of the time think of either one, their personal interest or just their personal views without looking at the wider picture. Because actually your personal interests may not be for the interest of the greater good and your personal views are actually irrelevant. Like it's really not that relevant.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 48:27

The thing about these things is people forget that people are made of persons and persons are complicated, we're nuanced. It's never binary thinking or black and white. It's never bumper sticker answers. Bumper sticker answers the bumper sticker questions is what we end up getting. And so, you know, and when it comes to the business leaders in the business field, I, I saw a lot of what was going on with what, what was gonna end up happening with Brexit. And it's funny because the two people that were pushing so hard for it skipped outta the country right after,

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 49:03

Mm-hmm.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 49:05

but again, this isn't , this isn't a political podcast. I, I don't, I dunno why I had that on my mind, but I, it's just something I, I wanted to get your thoughts on it cuz I was thinking maybe you would provide solutions for people that have had to navigate that space.

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 49:21

I don't have the answers. Sway

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 49:23

Uh, yeah,

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 49:24

I think it's such, it's so big and it's so, there's so many different levels to it that, that I, I, I don't know what the answer is to be honest. I know for me, one of the key things that I've started to do particularly is understanding, recognize that small businesses are struggling a lot more than they, they previously were. Obviously, we also had covid, et cetera. So rather than me even just focusing on small businesses, paying me to deliver, I'm starting to look at, okay, what if I can get the university to pay me and then I can deliver to. the businesses that they work with, but it's the university pay me because they can afford it. Or what if I go to the banks or to the, the local enterprise partnerships and get them to pay me so that I can then provide a free service to the business owners who need it, but potentially can't afford it. So it's really about, again, it's about thinking outside the box. It's not always, um, it's it's not about continuing to do what you're doing and hoping that it's not gonna affect your impact, your, it is impacting you and I dunno what to do because this is the only way I can do it. It's actually about, again, thinking about how can you change the business model? How can you innovate, how can you get the same outcome or a similar outcome by taking a different route? And that's really the, the approach that I would encourage. But, but I don't have the actual answer. For me, the actual answer is, can we just rewind and start again and just let me be in charge I'll fix it all up.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 50:53

I say go for that, to be quite honest with you. So one of, uh, one of the questions I was asked on this podcast, and, it's the question that I got from my uncle because he was one of my role models and he, he always wanted me to ask, you know, for a lot of business owners, and I'll put it this way, children of doctors become doctors, children of business people become business people. Who was your role model in getting your business going? Oprah,

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 51:28

I, it's interesting. Yeah. I love Oprah. I didn't have any, there was no business owners in my family.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 51:35

Uh,

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 51:35

I didn't grow up seeing people in business really. My dad, however, always told me that I should be in business. and he, he never, he didn't actually really ever properly kind of start his business, but he always drilled into my brain, don't work for the man, as he called it. You need to work for yourself and, and you need to be in charge of what you're doing. So he was probably the first person that made me start to think about, uh, I suppose being a business owner specifically. But in terms of actually doing it, yeah, I didn't really have any business specific role models at all. It was more around just taking those lessons from my dad and, and, and those teachings from my dad and. Looking at Oprah saying, right, Oprah is a mogul. She's not just a TV presenter. She, she's gone and she's created this production company and she's got the, the magazine and, and all of this stuff. So actually that's, that was, it sounds so cliche cuz I know as a, a black woman, I suppose most black women say Oprah is very cliche, but the facts are the facts. And she's, she's done phenomenal and amazing things in the very early, in the very early days. The early days of business, there were people that I met that I said, you look like you're doing really good things. I really wanna be kind of like you. But that was when I was already in it. And I think for me, that's also why I like to do things like this. Why I'll go to schools and I'll speak at schools and at colleges, et cetera, because there's so many. young people that don't have access to even understand that it's possible for them to start a business coming from where it is that they come from. I come, I, I, I make no bones about it. I don't come from a well-to-do background. I didn't grow up in privilege at all, which is probably why I can't think of anyone, uh, when I was growing up that ran a business at all because I didn't grow up in that kind of environment. And therefore, for me, it feels like it's a responsibility and a duty for me to go into the communities that are similar to the ones that I I was raised in and show them this is a, this is a, a way that you can go. This is something that you can do. I spoke at a school last week, actually. It was a girl's school, and it was very much, it was very heavy. In terms of the, the eth ethnic makeup, black, Asian, which I think you guys call Southeast Asian. So like Indian, um, in terms of the, yeah. Yeah. in terms of the, the population. And yeah, when I went in and, and told them my story, told them my journey told them what I, I did, you could see the, the light behind some of their eyes. Like, wow, I didn't know that that was something that somebody like us could do or could be. And particularly when I shared some of the experiences that I've had and, and some of the questions were in line with like, what, how, how did you do that? How could I do that? And I think it's, it's interesting. I, as I said before, I believe every, oh, I dunno if I did say it, but I'll say it now. I believe everything in my life has happened in the way that it was supposed to happen. But it's a big bot. I do often think if I had had more of a present business role model in my life at a younger age, I wonder how much further ahead I could have. I could have been. Everything happens for a reason though, so we don't live with the regrets. But because we can't do that, we can't go back and I can't plant somebody in my life. What I can do is I can plant myself into the lives of people like me so that they don't have to grow up and think the same thing.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 55:18

Okay. Somebody in the back of the class wasn't listening, so I need you to say that again. need you to, I need you to drop me that awesome quote again. Representation,

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 55:31

how I said it.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 55:32

man, it was from the heart, so you can start there.

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 55:36

Yeah. No, I think I, I cannot go back in time and change my circumstance and change my situation. I can't put somebody in my life that I feel now as an adult needed to be there. Maybe they didn't, maybe they didn't need to be there so that I could go through this journey so that I could be there for my equivalent. So the young girls that are from my community now that are looking around and, and don't know what they can become, I can be for them. What I wanted. and, and needed when I was their age and in their circumstances, I think that was similar.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 56:08

Representation, man. I'm, I'm just gonna call it now. Um, Oprah can retire. We got a new, uh, black media leader. Um, so go ahead and, you know, out with the old and with the new

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 56:26

No, we can't dethrown Oprah. Oprah is one in a million

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 56:29

you can't, but you can always build another kingdom. So,

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 56:33

Mm-hmm. . That's what I'm trying to do.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 56:36

well, what's next for you? What, um, What's, what's on the vision board that needs to get crossed off?

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 56:43

Do you, did you ever watch that show? Pinky In the Brain.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 56:46

Oh, I, I feel like that was my biopic. I, I

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 56:50

Oh, okay.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 56:51

obviously. So

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 56:54

Anytime anyone says what's the next step? Well, today Pinky. I'm trying to take take today. I'm trying to take over the world, so

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 57:00

same thing we do always Pinky.

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 57:03

Trying to take over the world. That's it. So we've, as I said previously, we've recently rebranded to Be the Boss, and there there's a strategy behind that. I, I do everything with a reason. In the new year, we're gonna be launching the e-learning platform. So business owners can go through that VISSA framework, but without me having to deliver on a one-to-one, I, we're pre-recording a lot of the content. There's gonna be all of the workbooks, the resources, the quizzes, the all of the information that they need so they can take themself through it. So that's gonna be launching in January, 2023. So it, maybe this has already happened by the time this has gone out, but yeah, January, 2023, we'll be launching that. Then in, by the third quarter of 2023, the idea is to launch a train the trainer. So I'm gonna be working with other business advisors, mentors, coaches, consultants, and taking them through how to deliver the VISSA framework so that they can start to deliver on my behalf. And then in, ideally, by Q1 2024, we're gonna be launching the software that is going to, to kind of sit under all of the things that we do. Cuz I want to be a tech entrepreneur of, of, I feel like I've done this bit. Now it's time to move into the tech space. So that's what's on the agenda. Plus obviously the, the other stuff I want to be doing more podcasts, international speaking engagements. I wanna get flown out to a variety of places in Africa, the Caribbean, north America. Probably also some of the Arab states to speak to, deliver workshops. So there's a lot on my agenda.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 58:39

well, if you're ever in Atlanta, like by all means, let's get a cup and definitely like hook it up. I, um, are, are, you know, you mentioned podcasts. Are there any business podcasts that you listen?

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 58:50

Yes, there's a few. So at the moment, I'm listening to the Entrepreneurs on Fire Podcast, which I am loving. I, I feel like I listened to that pretty much every other day because it's, I love the host, I love the guests, I love all of it.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 59:05

w which bi, which podcast do you think is the best and why? Is it mine?

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 59:18

I love what you did.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 59:19

Yeah. I, yeah, that was on purpose. That was on my action board, and I just gotta cross that one off. So

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 59:28

I love it. Well, actually, my, my favorite podcast is my own podcast, which we'll also be launching in January, 2023.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 59:37

Oh.

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 59:38

yeah, we're still toying with the name. So I had a YouTube series for a few years where I interviewed women in business, and I really enjoyed that. And I personally think I'm pretty good at hosting and interviewing, but now I want to, because I've moved away. When I initially started the business, the focus was going to be on female entrepreneurs, but I've moved away from that now. So I want to relaunch a podcast where I'm interviewing both men and women, but particularly what, I'm not go, I'm not gonna be interviewing just business owners. I'm gonna be interviewing those who are having challenges. So, so it's gonna be around the challenges that they're facing. What, what happened? Are you doing the same thing?

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 1:00:14

yes. You could tell by that look on my face,

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 1:00:17

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 1:00:18

So I, I purposely don't go for like, uh, or try and reach out to like millionaires and billionaires or anybody like that. I, not that you're not that, but you're

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 1:00:29

Uh, I'm not, I promise you I'm not. I wish I was

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 1:00:31

you're still, you're probably the most accomplished person. Well, you're up there with the most accomplished person I've interviewed so far. You're definitely like my top favorite.

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 1:00:41

Oh, thank you.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 1:00:42

know, no, no. Thank you. again. Oprah, move over. Especially since he won't return my calls. I don't ca you know, I don't, I don't care what your lawyers say that, that that restraining order means nothing to me. It's just a piece of paper. No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding that I don't wanna get sued for that one. It's just a joke, y'all. It's just a joke. You have so many amazing things on the horizon. If you need help with the podcast, by all means. Uh, if you need an amazing guest that's really funny, that can try and keep his kids quiet. I, I, I might know somebody for you. I might, you know, if I could refer any people to you, that's what I got for you. That's what I bring to the table. Um, but I, um, I, I gotta say, um, key words here. Action, serendipity, motherly. Clarity, accountability. You've given, you've given so many people, so many things, and I need you to give them one more thing. How did they get ahold of you?

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 1:01:52

Oh, that's easy. way too much time on Instagram, so I'm on Instagram at be the boss i n t. There's also the website, which is currently, shesthebossintl.com but we are gonna be changing. So there's gonna be two websites. bethebossintl.com and shesthebossintl.com. You can catch me over on LinkedIn, which is Daniela, Daniela, Genas, and that is G E N a s. I have a TikTok, which I'm trying to get into very, very slowly. Very slowly cuz it's just another extra thing. But that's at Be The Boss I ntl also. And you can also get me on email. Just daniella@shesthebossintl.com

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 1:02:36

All that information's gonna be in the show notes. I, I, I gotta be honest, I I, I thought I was the last person on TikTok. I'm, I still haven't picked it up. I've seen it. My mom has sent me a bunch of 'em, but

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 1:02:50

your mom. Go mom.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 1:02:51

yeah, I know. I don't think my dad is on it or anything like that, but my mom, she's just, every like 20 minutes, it's something, it's like a dancing cat or something, or you know, something on fire, whatever, you know what I mean? So, um, it's, uh, it's, yeah, it's a lot. One question I didn't get a chance to ask you earlier that I'm gonna end up editing in later on is when dealing with a lot of your new clients, um, what's the percentage of them that have business plans versus don't have business plans?

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 1:03:26

I'd say about 98% don't, and maybe 2% do . Most of the businesses that I work with don't have business plans, and I don't have a problem with that because I don't necessarily a hundred percent believe in business plans. I think that business plans slow people down because they spend lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of time trying to do this perfect 15, 20, 35 page business plan that they put in the drawer and they never look at it ever. So you wasted time. You really wasted time. So I don't actually advocate for business plans and I don't create business plans with my CL clients. We do the Vision 20 session, which gives you a kind of a three year plan and maps out exactly what you need to do. But it's, you can pretty much capture it in the vision poster that they get, which is a, a one page, A three, and you put that on the wall and I'm, I'm looking, keep looking to the side cuz mine's on the wall. Um, but rather than you then having this huge cumbersome document that you don't really use, you have the key high level points, is there, you can see it, you can work towards it. What I then do is with, if we have a strategy session, then we create the strategies from that, which essentially are the pieces of the business plan. But again, we condense that. A whole lot less pages. And I make it very kind of pictorial cuz it's easier to look at pictures than it is to look at words. And, and that's what my clients work with. Because actually, and, and we only do a business plan if you are going for investment, because then they need it. If it's not for that, you don't really, what else do you need a business plan for? If you've got direction, if you've got your goals, if you know who you're targeting, if you know what the marketing strategy is, that is essentially a business plan. But it doesn't have to be one huge document that you're not gonna, nobody looks at them. So what's the point of it? I, I really like, the lean, the lean approach.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 1:05:20

Oh yeah.

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 1:05:22

yeah, I really lean in. Sounds a bit cliche, but yeah, I lean into that because actually we waste so much time doing all of these big things that seem to be the correct way of doing business because that's what all these big companies do. But you know, the funny thing is behind the scenes, a lot of those big companies don't have a clue.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 1:05:41

Yeah.

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 1:05:41

people that work for a variety of international corporations and the basic stuff that I'm doing with my micro businesses that are two, two people, the, the international corporations are paying people thousands of thousands of pounds to tell them the same simplistic things.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 1:05:59

Yeah.

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 1:06:00

They don't know what they're doing either. So they may have these big business plans or whatever it may be, but actually execution is more important than the, the, the time is wasted. Creating these resources that you're not going to use, how do you execute? That's what's gonna move you and your business forward, not necessarily spending hours and hours. And I was planning, and, and a lot of, particularly with from the small business perspective and like from an entrepreneurial background, a lot of founders, entrepreneurs, small business owners, use things like business plans as excuses for not taking action. In fact, I spoke to somebody today this very morning who said she can't do something specific within her business. She wasn't a client. I met her at an event. She's saying she can't do this specific thing because before she can do that thing, she's got to sit and do this, this big plan, and she has to go and do this research and she has to get this experience. And I said, have you sold this service to one of these types of business before? Yes. So then why can't you set it to 10 at once? And she said, oh, I didn't really think about that. Why do you need to do all of this planning and all of, if you've done it, you've got the experience of doing it once. Why can you not just replicate that times 10? And she admitted and she said, to be honest, I suppose I've been using that as an excuse because whilst I'm spending the time doing that, it means I don't actually have to go out and try and do it. And I'm scared that if I try and do it, they're gonna tell me no. But it's better that they tell you no now. So you can go and work out how to get them to say yes as opposed to. Faffing about and procrastinating. Cause that's what it is. Procrastinating saying, well, I need to get this bit of research and I need to get this bit of, and don't get me wrong, research is important, but you can do research in an hour and move on. You don't need to spend weeks and weeks and months and months and, and lots of time and resource doing research.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 1:07:59

Wow. Well, I, I, you know, I don't know who that lady is, but I'm gonna applaud her for her honesty

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 1:08:04

Yeah, she was honest. I

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 1:08:05

Yeah, yeah. The self-reflection enough to be like, yeah, I've been used this as an excuse. Like, how many of us have been doing that versus, I mean, yeah. So, well, with that said you get to cross being on the, in the Black Business Podcast with Dex Off your list. Congratulations,

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 1:08:28

Thank you.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 1:08:31

so, uh, a.

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 1:08:32

best.

Dex Duff_2022-12-06_19;15;30: 1:08:33

I know it was, it was, it's a lot, uh, harder than doing a TED Talk, you know, I apologize for that. You know, we, you gotta set standards, so, but, I'm gonna link your, all your information, this show notes. I'm gonna link the TED Talk because it's a must see for everyone out there. Um, again, for my amazing guest, Danielle, Genas, I cannot thank you, the sage advice, the sharing your trauma of, of, you know, ending that chapter of your life and giving us all this amazing information. For anybody that needs to reach out to her, I say reach out to her because she is, she's the absolute best. Thank you again, and, I am your boy Dex. Follow us on all, uh, on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen. And, um, yeah, this is, uh, Dex within the black. And, uh, the best way to support the show is to share it. So for, uh, again, for my amazing guests. Thank you. And you guys have a great day.

Daniella_2022-12-06_19;06;19: 1:09:36

Thanks. Thank you for having me.