Welcome to Resilient Entrepreneurs, the podcast where we share the stories and strategies of remarkable entrepreneurs from all walks of life and from all around the globe, in the hope that something you hear will make your business a little richer. We're your hosts, Vicki and Laura and today we're joined by Livia Jenvey, a California-based entrepreneur, business coach and author and we're going to be talking about how to show up at your best with the seven questions you can ask yourself to bring out your entrepreneurial superpower. Welcome Livia. It is great to have you on the show.
Thank you, Vicki and Laura, I'm really excited to be here. I really appreciate you having me on and excited to talk about this today.
Awesome. Thank you so much. And we definitely want to get into that entrepreneurial superpower, that sounds really interesting. But before we get too deep into that, tell us a little bit about your backstory. Where did you come from? Where'd you grow up? And what was that like for you?
Yeah, so I grew up in California in the San Francisco Bay Area, both my parents are immigrants. My father was from Europe, my mother was from the Caribbean, so I'm a first generation American. Entrepreneurship comes in my family, my mom's side of the family was an entrepreneur and then also my dad's side of the family, we have various folks who have also been entrepreneurs as well. So I'm very familiar with the entrepreneur mindset, the working hard, the definite, really being resilient as an entrepreneur, especially coming from an immigrant background. That's work that I've done a lot of work in, personally, in helping me as an entrepreneur be successful having that great background. So that's just a little bit about my background, and where I come from.
Nice. Were you an entrepreneurial kid?
I was definitely an entrepreneurial kid, I started off probably in, I think, maybe around the age of 10, already trying to get little side deals with friends, families, trying to make money, make my own business. By the time I was in my teens, I was already ready to start moving forward, be an entrepreneur. So it's always in me, I'm always looking at ways to be able to make opportunities for myself and really grow and that's something that I've always enjoyed and have fun with. So, being an entrepreneur is definitely in the blood and I've been doing it ever since I was young.
Yeah, so have you always been an entrepreneur? Or did you go into the corporate world for a while?
I went into corporate as well. And so it was an interesting dynamic, because as a kid, I was definitely an entrepreneur. My family sort of persuaded me to go into more of the corporate type of world and I did that for many, many years but I found that for myself, it just didn't really appeal to me because I'm an entrepreneur by heart. So for me, being an entrepreneur has always been the number one focus for me and I've been in this space now for many, many years. And I really love it and enjoy it for all of its challenges and also, its benefits at the same time too.
What do you love most, Livia, about this lifestyle of entrepreneurialism?
It's having a lot more, I want to say control in a way of what I'm focusing on what I'm doing, the type of clients that I work with, the type of products that I might be selling, these are things that I feel as if I have a lot more control than when I was in the corporate world. It was definitely, especially with a lot of the big businesses that I worked in for a lot of the years, it was a little bit harder to control the type of people that you worked with, the clients that you had, and also the rates that you were trying to apply too. So being an entrepreneur is definitely a lot more control, and then also having a more of a work life balance, as well as as an entrepreneur, which I learned to do as an entrepreneur. At first it was definitely not easy but as I've progressed in my growth as an entrepreneur, it's learning to have that in my life, which has been such a benefit day to day.
Yeah, for sure. Tell us a little bit about what you do and how you work with clients.
Sure. So my focus is a business coach and I focus working with female entrepreneurs primarily. I've also worked with men over the years, but my primary focus is female entrepreneurs and it's really helping them grow their business, they can either be looking to start a business and they are needing some guidance and support with that, or they're currently growing a business. Female entrepreneurs just helping them navigate past, the fear and self doubt that will come up for them as they're trying to grow a business. I see definitely a little bit of a difference with female entrepreneurs than with men when it comes to dealing with the areas of fear and self doubt that come up. It's a natural part of being an entrepreneur. There's a lot of unknowns, you're going after things that you've never experienced before. You're getting out of your comfort zone on a daily basis and fear and self doubt is sort of a natural process. And I've just found with working with a lot of female entrepreneurs over the years, myself included, is that it can stunt you and so I like to really help support women to help empower them, particularly with the areas of knowing your inner guide, your inner compass, and really staying connected with that to help empower you in your decisions as you are growing a company. And that's an area that I know for me, when I started off as an entrepreneur, that was my biggest struggle. I was definitely from a background and I see this with a lot of women, we're focused to, we're actually taught to be focused on others primarily, as opposed to listening to our own inner guidance or inner intuition. And that tends to, at times, hold us back. And that's where sometimes when the fear and self doubt come up, it's helping reconnect you to that inner guide to help provide you the guidance that you need to make the right decisions to move forward and what you're looking to do as a business woman.
Yeah, now, Livia, you've written a book that was only released this month, your second book on the subject. Was there a time in your life that you really experienced a period where you needed this advice? And can you share a bit about that with us?
There's a couple of times, I’m being honest. I would say that, in my first early days as a female entrepreneur, this was the advice I wish I had gotten. Because I was definitely guided to make decisions based on what other people had thought would be the best for me. And unfortunately, I took their guidance because I thought that they knew more than me and they were more experienced than me and they maybe had better interest in mind than I actually considered. However, I had my own focus of what I wanted to do as an entrepreneur, but I wasn't really feeling confident in that and so I needed that guidance at that time to help me move forward because I made some decisions that were just really negative for myself. And certain decisions as well, coming from an immigrant background where working really, really hard, I worked myself to the bone to the point, and I talk about this a little bit my book, where I actually put myself in the hospital because I overworked myself to the point where I was collapsing. And this was the advice I wish I had known before that. So I wouldn't work myself to the bone, I wouldn't put myself into a position that was not good for my mental, my physical and my emotional health. And I think that's something that is very imperative as entrepreneurs, to really stay connected to that inner guide to help keep us in check to ensure that we're making the right decisions, we're not overworking ourselves to the point where we're exhausted and we are going to collapse, being able to have that right support and knowing that right support that I needed. These are things that I think, as an entrepreneur, we tend to not focus on sometimes, especially as a woman, as I notice, because we tend to be focused on taking care of everyone else, we forget about ourselves. And so this is advice that I wish I had known pretty early on, because it would have helped prevent me from having some negative experiences early on.
Yeah. And was it mostly in that scenario about the hours you were putting in and working around the clock or was there some other needs that you weren't meeting for yourself?
It was definitely a lot across the board, it was, working too much was definitely a big one, taking on the wrong type of clients that I shouldn't should not have been taking on, charging the wrong type of pricing that I shouldn't have been charging as an entrepreneur, making certain strategic business decisions that actually weren't the right one to help scale my business, it was a lot of these things to really help you grow and scale because as an entrepreneur, you are the leader of your company and having a clear head, sometimes it can be a little bit hard because you can get a little bit emotional about your decisions. Your business in a certain degree is kind of your baby, right? You came up with this idea, it was something that you decided to birth into the world and you're very emotionally tied to that. But sometimes that emotion can get in the way and also some thoughts can get in the way as well, negative thoughts that can really hold you back. And it's about knowing and staying connected to that inner guide, that could be that comfort for you, that could be that grounding space to help support you in those times where fear might come up, self doubt might come up, but you're able to make the right decision that's going to be positive for you, as opposed to something that's going to cause some negative stuff in your life.
Yeah, how do we find that guide and how do we learn to trust it?
Yes, great question. So the interesting part is ‘that’ guide was what actually got you to be an entrepreneur in the first place. This is the most interesting bit about being an entrepreneur, you already have that guide inside of you, it was what drove you to decide, ‘You know what, I am going to be an entrepreneur, I see this need in the world and I am taking up that call to help solve that need and provide either whatever product and service it is’ in your life. So you already are connected to that, it's just that sometimes we forget that we have that guide. And it can be certain things like our thoughts can get in the way. We have so many thoughts that come into our heads, sometimes we have these thoughts that are actually stopping us from being connected to that inner guide. It could be influences from the environment around us, for example, you may have someone who's very negative in your world who's influencing you and that can detract you from staying connected to that guide. So it's being able to put things into your life to provide you that ability to continually stay connected to your guide. It could be simply as staying in check with the thoughts that you have in your head, very simply just taking about 5 to 10 minutes a day, to pause everything and just write down what the thoughts are coming in your head, it allows you to just be mindful of them to check on them. And maybe once you've gotten really comfortable with it, then you can change those thoughts to be something that's a little bit more positive for you. It's also being aware of what's around you and setting up some clear boundaries that are actually going to support you and be positive for you.
Fascinating Livia. So this must take us into that next question about sharing some of the questions we can ask ourselves to tap into that inner entrepreneur.
So a great way to really connect with that inner entrepreneur I found and especially with that inner guide to keep us connected is honestly to start to prioritise yourself in the day to day, I think one of the biggest things I see a lot with entrepreneurs is that we prioritise everything else, as opposed to prioritising ourselves. And it's simply as the first thing in the morning when you get up just taking a moment to connect to yourself and also connecting on what do you want to accomplish for the day. And it could be as simple and I like to always do things very simplistic and very short little steps to take, so simply as starting your day and asking yourself, ‘What is the one thing I would like to achieve today?’. And it could be both in business or it could be personal. And it could be even simply as being able to just get out of bed this morning and being okay with that. It can just be simple, but it's just little things like this will really help support you as an entrepreneur, because a lot of it is a mindset and a lot of it is the type of mindset that you have, the type of thoughts, your beliefs, your values, these are things that you want to look at and address and really program and control them. Because as an entrepreneur, you can't control what happens in the world. You can't control your competitors, you can't control the market, you can't control the economy, but you can control yourself. And so it's prioritizing yourself and giving yourself time before you even start everything to just give yourself “what do you want to focus on today”? And that makes a really big difference for you as an entrepreneur.
Do you recommend any mindful practices for entrepreneurs that might really help them to connect and to get into that space?
I have a very long laundry list of them that I recommend. I know meditation is a big one but not everyone likes meditation. I think one of the biggest things for entrepreneurs is that they are constantly in motion and so one of the things that I think is a great thing for an entrepreneur to do is.. to do something utilising that motion in your life. And it could be simply as scheduling in your calendar, and I like to talk a lot about scheduling little moments in your calendar for yourself. And one simple thing is that maybe during your lunchtime, scheduling ‘five minutes of bliss’, I call it, which is basically you taking out a journal and it can be a physical journal that you write in or it could be an electronic one that you have on your computer or on your phone and just write down the things that make you the happiest. And these are little things that will really influence your day more than you realise but it's just something that you can be active in doing and really help empower you as an entrepreneur.
What does your morning routine look like Livia?
So my morning routine, I'm definitely a morning person so I wake up pretty early. Some mornings I get up around about 4:30 - 5 roughly, I like to have my morning as about an hour to an hour and a half for myself. So it's usually starting off with my morning meditation. I also do a journal practice, which is journaling gratitude. So I usually write down three things I'm grateful for and then I just journal. So whatever thoughts pop into my head, I just write them down, no judgement at all and some of these thoughts are just me venting, me trying to think of ideas, other ones are just inspiration that come up and I find that just having that morning for that. And then I also like to do physical movement for my body. So yoga is a big one for me, I've been doing yoga for years and some mornings, it's just five minutes of yoga and some mornings it's a little bit longer. But I would say that these are the things that I like to do and then once I have my coffee, tea, I usually start to work and then I work for a couple hours and then after that, I like to take a break. And that break is usually half an hour of walking. For me, I find it's really powerful after I've worked for a few hours, to go outside, move my body, stretch, get some fresh air, it really helps my head, reduce any type of stuff that's going on, especially if a lot of thoughts are in my head from early mornings. And those are really my morning routine that I like to follow every single day.
That's a great routine. I like that. I really, I still don't know how people get up at 4:30 in the morning, honestly I give it to you, I can't do it. But I've actually, we we're just talking about this before the podcasts, like figuring out that maybe my routine is just a little bit different and that what actually works for me might be waiting until my house is quiet, which is after my kids go to school, and then I'm back home at my desk, then I can have quiet time to journal, to meditate, to do some of those more mindful things. It's just a little hard when the house is loud and chaotic in the morning.
I totally get it. For me the morning is before everyone gets up so that's my quiet time. But I work with clients who are more of midday folks or evening folks, and I personally think that, it's the time that is most important for you that you can get your quiet time. And it doesn't need to be morning time. Honestly, if you're not someone who's a morning person, it is actually a disservice for you to do a morning routine. Because you want to be at your best and everyone is unique and different and this is what I think is a little bit different with me as a coach working with some clients, I'm not very hardcore of, ‘You need to do early morning routine’, I'm helping you figure out what your ‘inner guide’ is telling you is best for you, because your inner guide knows. If it's going to be a late night, then that's the right time for you because your routine really comes down to the time that's going to recharge you. It's your recharge time and I think that's something that we need to change the verbiage about your routines, I think it really needs to come down to, ‘what's that recharge time?’ And also another thing is I talk about having that time to help you start a day but your time to also close the day. And sometimes closing the days are more important for you than starting a day. Because maybe you've got the kids going on, you've got different projects, you've got work, you've got all this type of stuff that you're doing, sometimes having that moment to just close it all down is actually the best recharge time for you.
Thank you for saying that. Thank you. Honestly you're the first person I've heard say it like that and really, I can't tell you how much I appreciate hearing that because it’s true. I think I am more of a night time person and that is definitely more my recharge time. Oh, thank you.
You're welcome. And I also say it's also your seasons too because when I was younger my recharge time was evening, I was a total late night owl. I would never get up early in the morning. It was the late nights that I actually got my most inspiration, the most recharge, so it really comes down to just trusting your inner guide and what your inner guide is telling you. Maybe this is the season for you to do it late at night. Maybe there's another season to do at midday or also, but just staying consistent and having a habit of doing it on a consistent basis is really important, but choosing what's right for you and what your inner guide’s guiding you to do.
That's great advice Livia and whilst we're talking about our inner guide, do you have any thoughts or words around those patterns that we have in our day where the inspiration floods in? I'll give you an example. If Laura is going on a drive, 20 minutes or more, maybe 15 minutes or more, I usually get a voice note on the other side of the planet in the middle of the night, about some fantastic thought she's had that we usually act on and will take our business to the next level. Laura often gets similar messages for me after I've had a shower. So any thoughts around tapping into where our inspiration is coming from?
So that inspiration is you being connected to your inner guide and it's allowing your mind to get out of the space and you just being 100% connected to your inner guide. And that's why, for example, you taking a shower allows your mind to probably.. this is what I see very often and you can tell me, Vicki, if it's different and you as well, Laura. But if you're doing something that's very repetitive that doesn't need your mind to be very focused on things, what tends to happen is your mind might have some sort of commentary and then after that's done, your mind is quiet and allows your inner guide to speak. Our inner guide is always with us, the unfortunate problem is that it's very quiet. It's that quiet, shy person in the room, that when they speak, it's very profound. But our mind is that very chatty Cathy, who's just constantly talking all the time, that extrovert who wants all that attention, it's just having those moments where you can allow your mind to just let itself just quiet itself is when your inner guide starts to speak and that's when all that inspiration comes in. So it's always figuring out what are routines that you can do. So driving is a great one, because it's repetitive, you don't have to think a lot, it allows the mind to not really focus, it allows you to really stay connected to the inner guide and allow your inner guide to speak and tell you all this great stuff. Because our inner guides are connected, from my perspective, are connected to your soul, and your soul is connected to everything and your soul will just come up with all these inspirational ideas that, who knows where they come from, but this is where you always want to stay connected with. And at the same time, you also want to know that your mind is there to help protect you and help you know how to move forward with some of the stuff that you want to do for your inner guide. But at the end of the day, it's your inner guide, who knows the right thing for you and it's your mind to help implement that in a way that's going to help you move forward.
And we tend to do the opposite, that's the challenge. We tend to have our mind be the one who give us all the stuff but in reality, our mind is there to help protect us. And I like to use an analogy and I use a lot of analogies and I talk about that in my book about how this male-female perspective, and if we think about our minds and our inner guides and hearts, it's sort of that, our inner guide is more that female perspective that wants like nice things, has the desire to have a good life, wants to experience good things and our mind is more that masculine going out there to protect type of thing. And so it's starting to reconnect with and reprioritise our inner guide so that as they say, a happy wife is a happy life as the saying goes. That's where I think, we as entrepreneurs maybe want to reconsider how we are focused, maybe it's an inner guide, keeping that the top of the mind and using the mind to come up with is going to be risky. Is there strategies behind this? Those are the things second, as opposed to what we do a lot now, which is, we come up with the ideas from our mind, we jot them all down, but then we don't listen to their inner guide.
Yeah, well, our brain is there to protect us, right? That's his primary focus is to keep us safe. So it always finds ways to keep us safe and if this is risky, we don't want to do that. But like you're saying that inner voice is saying ‘It's risky, but you can do it’, or there's this idea, there's this thing that's been sitting and brewing in you which I think is such an entrepreneurial feeling, there's just something there. It's that hole you see in the world that you have the need and you can fill and you see it and you know that it will have impact and there's just this drive that you can't not do this thing, right. That's real entrepreneurship. But what I see the big problem is that our life is so busy and louder and full of social media and distractions and Netflix and life, it's so hard to make space to just hear that voice and Vicki definitely called me out on the driving thing because for me, I'll sometimes drive with no music on, I'll turn the music off to listen to go out my driveway because I’ve got quite a blind driveway so I have to really listen, and sometimes I just forget to turn it on, and I’ll just drive. And it'll be just me on my way to pick up the kids, so I'm just me in the car, it's just that space, that quiet space, and the downloads come, my inner guide, and I'm thinking I gotta tell you right now because as soon as I pick up the kids, and then they're gonna start with their day and all the distractions are gonna come and it's gonna be gone again. So you have to get the middle of the day voicenote, it's the middle of the night for Vicki when she receives it, but that's the only way we communicate. And it's funny because we always laugh about it but it really is effective. Yeah, so it's making that space and it's hard to make that space in this crazy, busy, overly connected loud world.
Which is why we, as entrepreneurs, we have to prioritise ourselves first. When they tell you when you board a plane, make sure your oxygen mask is on you first before you put it on someone else. We as entrepreneurs, we need to start to live that way. We need to set time in our day to really connect with ourselves. And if you cannot, the ideal time would be three times a day. The ancients who talked about meditation always talked about meditating three times a day and that really, is connecting to your inner guide. In our busy world, it's difficult to do that but if you can somewhat try to connect for even five minutes or 15 minutes, it makes a huge difference. And as entrepreneurs, it's something that we have to start to create some boundaries and guidelines for ourselves to make sure we prioritise it because to be successful as entrepreneur, it really is having that time because that's going to give you the ideas, it's going to give you what you need to scale your business, to grow it to get to where you desire to take that business, it's number one as an entrepreneur is you have to have that time to be able to grow the business you want to grow.
So if we're serious about building a business that has sustainability, legacy, and impact, you’re saying we have to find time for ourselves first. And that's the key to success, in your view, is it?
Is it because you know, your business is your baby, right? And you want to take care of your kids. So in order for you to take care of your kids, you got to be taken care of as well. And that's the same, it's the same from.. furry kids, to human kids to your business kid. I think we've had this culture for so long about the hustle, the hustle, the hustle, the hustle and I think that has done a disservice for us as entrepreneurs. I think we need to start to look at it as, we need time for us and then we also need to have that other time to hustle, there needs to be a balance and making sure that we come first. Because if you don't, you're going to do things that are going to be really negatively impacting for your business, you're going to hate your business, you're not gonna be excited about what you want to do. And you may want to close your business down and stop being an entrepreneur. But that's a disservice because you as entrepreneur, if you are driven to be that person, that means that you've got something that's meant to change the world in a positive way. Right? It's you have been given that gift to do that with whatever product or service you're putting out there. So it's ensuring that you are taken care of, so you can make sure that gift goes out to the world to really help people in a positive way.
I love that, exactly right. It's so true. And a lot of being an entrepreneur revolves around resilience, which is why we call this podcast, Resilient Entrepreneurs podcast. And of course, we have to ask because we ask all of our guests, what's your definition of resilience? What does it mean to you?
My definition of resilience is keeping going even though you are scared and frightened to move forward. It is being able to handle the setbacks, handle the challenges, handle those moments where you feel completely alone, but still stay connected with that inner guide that keeps telling you, ‘you got this, you got this, you keep going’. For me it’s what resilience is. It is trusting your inner guide because it knows that you can get through it. You can get past that roadblock. You can get past that challenge. You can climb to that height you desire to climb. That is resilience. It's believing in your ability to achieve your dreams as an entrepreneur.
Yeah, that's it. We've got to believe in ourselves first and foremost, it's so beautiful. I love everything the way you've phrased it today, just in such a kind and gentle way that we all need to be kinder and gentler to ourselves and to each other of course, but to ourselves as entrepreneurs because it is a tough road, the tough journey. It's full of roadblocks and road bumps and all of it, it's a roller coaster, but tapping into that inner guide certainly will help us get there and get there faster. And I just love everything you said, I thank you so much. Honestly, this was such a great conversation. I really appreciate the way you've worded things and I hope other people will take it and listen to this. This is one of those ones that you need to listen to a couple of times I think and I certainly will. So thank you so very much I really appreciate your time today Livia.
Thank you Laura, Vicki. This was definitely a pleasure. I really appreciate you guys having me on and I thank you so much. What you guys do is amazing and I'm so happy to support that. So thank you again.
Thanks Livia. It's so good chatting and highly recommending your book. I'm sure it's full of this gold and more. So I hope that our listeners will look that up and get themselves a copy.
