Differently
Simple, yet powerful ideas for building a life, differently. Hosted by Carla Reeves, creator of The Differently Coaching Experience, this podcast offers thought-provoking conversations and practical insights for anyone looking to get out of survival mode and build a life that is truly your own. From the highs and lows of love and relationships, to the challenges and opportunities of work and career, Differently will challenge you to to rethink what’s possible.
Differently
From Creator to Leader with Eugenia Woo
If you struggle with content creation, Eugenia Woo, creative content director and host of the Creator to Leader podcast, is here to help. We dive deep into her unique journey, discussing content creation, leadership, and entrepreneurship.
Eugenia shares her insights on Seth Godin's liberating definition of leadership and how it transformed her mindset. Content creation is a marathon, not a sprint, and she offers strategies for avoiding burnout when you feel like you're spinning your wheels.
Highlights:
3:29 From immigrant trying to fit in to entrepreneur and podcast host
4:22 The misconception creators have about content creation and leadership and how to stop consuming content and start leading in their industry
9:29 How Seth Godin's philosophy on leadership and business has impacted Eugenia’s approach to entrepreneurship
11:36 Dealing with failure and leadership
16:25 Detaching from the outcome in content creation
19:03 Leadership as a daily practice
22:30 Seth Godin’s four leadership principles
36:29 Everyday moments as leadership opportunities
39:04 Stop seeking validation and focus on leading and serving your audience
More Eugenia Woo
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Thank you for listening!
I'm Carla Reeves, and this is Differently. Whether you feel stuck in survival, navigating a change, or seeking more for your life, may this podcast be your weekly nudge to take a risk to build a life that is uniquely bold, authentic and in alignment with your deepest values. What if you worried less about the bumps in the road and instead got equipped for the journey? Get ready to rethink what's possible. Have you ever struggled with moving from being a creator to being a leader? I think this is something that happens in layers and happens again and again, and I'm actually going through that right now. So this conversation I'm about to share with you was so relevant, and if you're feeling this way, I want you to know that you are not alone, and my guest today and I are going to address those things head on.
Speaker 1:I want to introduce you tEugenia Woo to . We met several years ago. She is a virtual friend, and I don't know about you, but I'm amazed by the number of virtual friends I have now and how meaningful those connections are. Yehenia is a creative content director. She's the host of the Creator to Leader podcast, which is a podcast that I love and definitely recommend checking out. She's been where you and I are. She shares her journey so openheartedly are she shares her journey so openheartedly. She talks about Seth Godin's definition of leadership, which was so liberating for me and I think it will be for you too. We talk about failure. We talk about content creation and approaching it like a marathon instead of a sprint. We talk about spinning your wheels on content creation and how to stop doing that, and so much more. Grab a coffee or set out on your favorite walk and get ready to be inspired. Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of Differently. Today, I have my friend Eugenia Wu here with us and I'm so excited to have you.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for inviting me.
Speaker 1:I'm so honored and I love your podcast, so this feels like it's going to be a great conversation, and I believe you also just help people show up as their best version of themselves in a way that feels authentic. And you and I worked together when we first met and then we've really built a friendship, I feel like, over time, so welcome.
Speaker 2:Thank you. And yes, I met you serendipitously and I really loved your approach on doing life differently and that's why I love I told you you, I love reading your newsletters every week, I love your podcast and I just love always thinking how can I do this differently so it works for me? So I'm excited with your community because what is it that they say? Your vibe attracts, attracts your tribe.
Speaker 1:So your community must be pretty awesome too uh, likewise, Eugenia has a podcast called Creator to Leader, which I love your podcast and I feel like there's such synergy between the work that we're doing and today we're going to talk about leadership differently, and I would love for you to start like where did you come up with your name, Creator to Leader, because I feel like there's a lot more behind that leader, because I feel like there's a lot more behind that.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, there's this misconception with entrepreneurs when it comes to creating content, where they feel like they don't want to be influencers. This is not me, this is just making me feel salesy. I don't feel comfortable. And there are.
Speaker 2:When I started analyzing it, there's the basic level of you are just a consumer of social media right, you are not doing anything. Then you turn into a creator, but you were socialized to act and behave as a consumer. So you are still looking at what other people are doing, trying to figure out what is Sally trying to sell me, and you get involved as a consumer of your industry Then. So you start thinking that everyone knows that what you're trying to talk about, that the market is saturated because you are creating and you're consuming. So then there's this third level, that is, being a leader.
Speaker 2:A leader creates his and her own category because you are not consuming content, you are not letting other people guide you with your agenda in your area. Of course, if you are in marketing, like my case, I can have a leader in health, but in my area I lead. I show people what's possible, I show a different path. And when you start to see yourself as a leader, regardless of your following size, regardless of your personality. You don't have to be Tony Robbins or Oprah when you start thinking I am a leader, even if I have 10 followers, I am leading those people.
Speaker 2:How many people are speaking and no one's listening to them? Sometimes we compare and we're like oh, I only got five likes. How many people in your daily life listen to you speak? So when you change your relationship with social media and with your content, with your podcast, with your newsletter, with everything you do, and you start saying I am a leader, how am I showing up as a leader? Then your mindset changes and your relationship with social media and with content changes. And that is my mission to start empowering entrepreneurs to see themselves as leaders even before they have a huge title or the huge team or X amount of zeros in their bank accounts the huge team or X amount of zeros in their bank accounts.
Speaker 1:I'm so curious about your journey with that, would you be willing to share? And two, I felt like you're talking to me and I'm curious about the timeline of that journey for you too. Like, when did you start to recognize yourself as a leader? Because I think that's a big deal, yourself as a leader because I think that's a big deal.
Speaker 2:It is, and I would love to tell you I always think when I give my masterclass I'm going to tell the story of how I had a vision. I did it and I was soaring. But it's not like that, god. I'm an immigrant first and like I try to be just the perfect person to integrate myself into this culture. So I was quiet, hidden, doing the thing, doing my MBA. I was not expressing my creative side. I had a background in acting, so that was me quiet for years. And then I felt like God told me that I had to use my voice in English. So I launched a podcast in English. I quit my job during COVID. I launched my podcast fairly bold. I was so passionate and I really felt God's hand all over it. I just had confirmation after confirmation. So I quit my job and I said, look, I'm going to do this in faith and I'm like this is going to be my testimony. I'm going to tell people, look at what I did in faith and look at my results, fast forward.
Speaker 2:No one was listening to the podcast. It was so hard for me because I was not as fluid. My thoughts were taking a little bit to process. I was sounding very robotic. Every episode took me like six or seven hours to produce. I was all over the place with my message. I was not growing, I had to. I had my business, so I started doing virtual assisting and then all these different types of online businesses. For a little while I went back to corporate and I felt like a failure. I said, look, I'm not meant to be in front of the camera, I'm just meant to support other people. Because I had my side hustle at the time. I would consider it a side hustle as a podcast manager and my clients, their podcasts, were growing and I was like great, I am not maybe the main face of a brand, but I'm great at helping others. And I was fine with it. And then God put in my heart this idea of leadership, this idea of leadership, and I started reading about it.
Speaker 2:And then I came across this book by Seth Godin, and I love that. He is a business person, but he thinks about business differently. He challenges conceptions. He doesn't apologize, he doesn't over explain, he just says this is how I see the world. And he actually says that. He says look, what I'm saying, it's not. It's not preaching, I'm not telling you to think like me. These are ideas that I'm exploring that I think are very good, and you are free to take them or leave them. And he says that at the heart of business is art, it is being an artist, because an artist sees a vision for what's possible, a vision for a future that doesn't exist, and brings it to the world via painting, writing, and that's what a business owner does. So businesses really are highly creative people. So I always say creative entrepreneurs, but there's a ha ha hack at the bottom of it, which is, if you are in business, you are creative because you are creating a vision that's in your mind and bringing it to the world.
Speaker 2:And then I turned back and I saw my clients were not thinking about themselves that way. They were feeling like an imposter Big clients, seven-figure clients, high six-figure clients, clients that were just starting out all these levels of revenue. They were having the same problem. So I had all of these ideas. I didn't know how I was going to name my podcast. I thought grow your pod, you know, like a very direct name. And then my husband one day said, hey, what about creator to leader? And I hadn't, like, said anything about leadership, nothing about it. So when he said that, I was like, ok, this is from God, a hundred percent, this is from God. So I decided on that name. I said I'm going to have fun. I know the strategy and I'm going to have fun. I'm going to do something adapted to myself. I'm going to treat this launch like a production, because my background in acting, I enjoy making it a stage. So everything had a lot of meaning the color, the font, the video that I did Me and my husband, we did it ourselves, and I did my launch the way I had been helping clients do their launches, and with a very small audience, I landed in the top 37 of Apple Podcasts within three days of launching, reached 30 countries.
Speaker 2:In three months I was top 3% of all podcasts Wow. And that was the moment where God said look, the past three years now make sense. But I needed you to spend those three years hidden, doubting yourself, because now you're not coming from your high horse telling people what they should do. Now you're like I get it, I was there, and if you're not ready, that's fine. And if you're not ready, that's fine. Listen to my podcast until you are, because I have so much empathy now, because that was me for a very long time, with what I felt was failure after failure and trying to figure out my business.
Speaker 1:Oh, I can relate to that so much. I think what you said is so important that there's so many rules or ideas or ways it has to be like. When we think of leader, right, we package it with all these rules and ideas of what that is and we often don't connect ourselves to being that. And what I love about what you do is I feel like you do break the rules of what that maybe traditionally means and you come back to. You know, I think we're going to go into Seth Godin's principles, but you come back to these things of like you are a creative and you are creating and you are sharing this vision point that you have of the world around you and a destination maybe that you see and want to share with the world.
Speaker 1:And to me as a leader, because I was like you, like I played small, I shrunk, I didn't want my voice out there, I didn't want to be visible. Doing this podcast was a huge step in that for me too. And um, and that's just, it's a journey. It's not like a, it's not something that we just start in or there I don't. I mean, maybe some people do, but I most people that I talk to I'm curious what you see with people. What do you see people bumping up against when it comes to this?
Speaker 2:I think number one for sure is understanding that they're not consumers anymore because we learn to use social as consumers. So getting into the shift is very, very hard. I they, maybe they understand the concept, but then they go to social media and then they have clients that send me the video of. I have this specific client that sent me a video of a person that does something similar to her, but her business is in video marketing. So her video was amazing and she's like why can I make something like this? So I was like you are comparing yourself to someone whose job is to teach people to make videos. You, this is not apples to apples. This is not the same person. Or you are comparing yourself to someone who has a team of five people. So it's, I had to. Really, you are not a consumer anymore, you are leading. Because when you start consuming also, you start seeing the trends and you want to jump on all the trends and you start saying I feel so silly dancing. You block yourself even before exploring. When you're a leader, the leader goes in the market and they say, okay, these people are dancing and freaking out, how can I use it to my advantage, instead of saying, oh, I'm not a good dancer, wait. Because you're trying to insert yourself in the trend and be part of the consumer Instead of saying, oh, what about this? How is this working? Oh, because people are liking fast paced videos. Ok, maybe I'm not going to dance, but I'm going to talk and chop my videos, and this is more common knowledge. But maybe a year or two ago that was very uncomfortable for people just not wanting to dance or do crazy things, and they didn't need to. And also understanding that, well, that's a that's all the consumer, um, and also understanding that, well, that's a that's whole consumer. That's one point, and another one is giving social media and content more meaning that it has because we put a lot of effort and we feel like we are creating this content with so much dedication, it is so good and we really feel like this could change someone's life. And then maybe that piece of content didn't hit the way we were expecting and we make it mean something more than it does. There are so many variables why it happened, from it wasn't the right topic, it wasn't the right time, maybe it wasn't the right title.
Speaker 2:I remember one of my past clients when I was a podcast manager. She was so frustrated with her podcast not performing, but all her titles were not optimized. Her titles were very one word majestic and they were not telling you what it was about. So I said you can keep your titles the way they are, it's fine. Don't make it mean that your podcast isn't good, it is fine. Don't make it mean that your podcast isn't good, it is fine. And even with my own podcast, I know that my title creator to leader might not be the best title for SEO. Will the podcast be bigger if it was called content marketing made easy or made simple or content marketing for entrepreneurs? It would be better. I understand that and I choose the other name because I don't want to name it In the nose. But I understand that it's okay the rate that it has in growth. And then I say what else can I do to compensate for it?
Speaker 2:So don't give so much meaning to every piece of content and see yourself as a performer. When a performer is on stage, that performance is over. The moment you step on the stage and you open your mouth, that moment is over, in a way, like the play already started. Whatever happened, it already happened. What's next is the next moment. Imagine if a performer you know. We went to see Romeo and Juliet and Juliet were like oh no, wait, no, no, let's do that scene again. No, whatever happened happened. You have tomorrow, you have another audition, you'll do something else. Or you can be and go to be on selling sunset and become a netflix star realtor. If you don't like acting, there are so many options. But don't make every piece of content mean that much, because it gets painful when no one comments and you're spent an hour with this perfect cta comment below blah, blah, blah, pouring your heart and you got a heart. Or someone saying you look so pretty or what hair color are you like. It is frustrating because you're giving too much meaning to individual pieces of content.
Speaker 1:So it's more like it's a marathon, not a sprint, like we should have a broader perspective. You know, in the work that I do with people, it's the same thing perspective. You know, in the work that I do with people, it's the same thing. Like you go have one really amazing conversation in a relationship and you hope that that's going to like change everything, but it might take 10 or 20 intentional conversations before you really see some shifts. And I think it's the same thing here.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and it's. It might happen sooner than later, but it's not putting all the weight in one single episode. That is the same. When I was single and I was dating, I would put so much weight in one single date, Like this is the date where I'm going to meet my husband and from here we're going to decide our wedding colors and how many kids we're going to Like.
Speaker 2:There was so much heaviness in every date and then I forgot about it, and every date was about me saying okay, I want to have a good time today. Or let me see if I like this person, Because before I was so focused on trying to make them like me that I never wondered wait, do I like them? Do I like them? Yeah, so what do I like to learn about this person today? So it is the same as dating of content, Like, yes, every piece of content is important and it says something, but it is not the end of the world. Just like if you have a bad date, you can still have another date. If the person likes you and you say something dumb on a date, they're gonna go out with you again.
Speaker 1:Well, and I think what you said is so consistent with what you're talking about as far as a leader, because if you're being a leader, if we're being a creator, we're going to get trapped inside of, like every piece of content and making it mean so much, but if we're being a leader, we have that bigger. You know, what would a leader do? Here is such a good question in relationship to everything that we're talking about, because it does give you a different place to stand and it's a practice, because you're not always used to operating that way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and working with amazing leaders in content marketing, with amazing personal brands. I've also seen the way that they create a strategy. They plan for content, then the content gets recorded. When they're recording the content, they're not thinking oh my gosh, is this good? How do I feel about this? Do I feel like recording? No, no, no, those decisions were made. This day is about executing whatever was made and for the brands that have the opportunity of having teams being the ones editing and pushing, they don't even think about that content again because once they record, it's over, it's up to, it's on to the next one. They have another podcast to write. Then they cannot be worrying about. Oh, what did I say? How did I say it's over? You already already did it. So, seeing the way they are dedicated to the big vision but they are detached from the little, little little things, Gosh, I feel like that's so timely.
Speaker 1:I newly have a small team and I am learning that, like the value of that, like creating something, and they've helped me go over all the material and then, when it's time to deliver it, like I feel myself wanting to slip back into those old ways of like is this right? Is it good enough, all of that, but we've already, like they've put their heart and effort into it and now it's just my job to deliver it and create it and not second guess it, and I think that that's that's been really powerful for me having people around me so that I don't spend so much time spinning in. Is this right?
Speaker 2:And that's one thing that I love about corporate culture. I guess that you have someone whose job is to give you feedback, so that is very powerful. That's why I love having a coach. So powerful.
Speaker 2:That is very powerful. That's why I love having a coach. I really believe in coaching, because imagine if you had a regular job and then you had to do the job but then also tell yourself you're not doing your job correctly and you got there and you have to be like, hey, don't be late again and you have to give yourself a performance. Like it is hard. It is easier when you have someone else holding you accountable or someone else helping you see the blind spots. So obviously, when we are entrepreneurs, we are doing the thing, but we're also giving ourselves feedback and of course we get in our head because we are kind of like giving ourselves feedback every step of the way.
Speaker 2:But even if you had a job, your boss I mean, there are toxic places, but normally your boss would not be giving you a performance review every week. Your boss would wait. Okay, let's do three months and let's look at our results, but they would not be on you every single day. Oh, this comma was not good. You are not a good writer. Get out of. Like that would not happen Again. Normal, really normal place of work so true.
Speaker 1:So let's. I want to kind of pivot to you sharing on your I think it's your first episode of your podcast. You talk about these principles that Seth Godin talks about what defines a leader, and just for listeners, it's her Creator to Leader podcast. It's episode one and it's called From Frustrated Online Creator to Impactful Industry Leader and it's a great, great episode. But I'd love to have you share those principles.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much. Of course, as I said, seth is my mentor. He doesn't know it, but he is, and there are four very important characteristics or unique traits of leadership. Number one is that a leader is anyone who's creating and innovating. And because a leader doesn't mean that there's always underneath you all the time or you are managing a team. It's different to being a manager and being a leader. Managers are essential, they're around, but managers are really distributing resources. Leading is voluntary, so leading is a decision if you're willing to create and innovate. Second, as a leader, you describe the future based on who you are and what you know.
Speaker 2:A lot of people get stuck in saying I'm not a leader because I'm not sure. I'm not sure how this is going to turn out. A leader is not a medium. A leader uses the information they have right now to paint a picture for the future, but a leader is not guaranteeing or giving 100% confidence that something is going to happen a certain way. So you are willing to take the risks, then, because you are confident in your vision, but you know that there's a risk. That's why a lot of entrepreneurs they feel so afraid of giving promises with their programs and coaches and with their offers. And it's because they're not, they're trying to be a medium, they're not leading.
Speaker 2:Number three is my favorite is if you are a leader, you are an artist, because art painting and being pretty and decoration that's a way of art. But art is when a human does something original that might not work. That is art. Art involves risk. Entrepreneurs, leaders, we are risk takers, we understand, and that's because we don't have again, we're not mediums, we don't know what's going to happen. So we are artists because we understand that it might not happen. But if it does happen, gosh, it's going to be freaking amazing the possibility of it happening. That contracts every single fear of what if I fail. And number four is that leaders are imposters.
Speaker 2:I'm not against imposter syndrome. I guess maybe a little bit in the way that it makes us doubt ourselves. But in reality, feeling like an imposter as a leader is actually a good thing, because that means that you are onto something, because you are creating something and providing a value that it's not out there yet. So something in you is saying, okay, this is not real. Yes, it is not real yet.
Speaker 2:Yes, you are building something new. So in a way, you are building Right now there's nothing in the world that you can go and do your vision and something that my I had a boss when I behind a nonprofit, especially celebrities and artists. They would be so much better partnering with a nonprofit and putting their efforts into that nonprofit that already has the muscle and is willing to work hard. And I feel like that happens with entrepreneurs as well, where if you have a vision and you are willing to make it a reality, you are an imposter for a little bit of time and then you create it and you want to create something new and you're back to being an imposter. So this imposter syndrome is keeping you in check, in a way.
Speaker 1:I love that. I once heard a mentor of mine say like if you don't have imposter, syndrome is when I'm worried, you know, because it does mean that you're out there doing things, you're taking risks, you're putting your ideas out there and it feels scary. I feel it all the time. It hasn't gone away in all of these years as an entrepreneur. So I love that and these. When I listened to your podcast that day, I remember exactly where I was walking and I needed that message on that particular day because I was stepping out as a leader in ways that felt uncomfortable and this was so liberating to me that it didn't have to be all those old stuffy ways I've thought of like leadership or and like it just felt so natural and normal that, yes, I do those things, I do all those things. I could check all the boxes and I'm like it was just so affirming and freeing.
Speaker 2:So I'm so happy to hear that. And the thing is that you are so close to yourself that you don't think that it's nothing special until someone else tells you I would never. I would never do what you're doing. I don't know how you do it. When you meet that person, you're like, oh, this is normal to me, what do you mean? So you probably, in your day-to-day, you don't think yourself as a leader. I think that's something that a leader from church told me is that if you are offered a position of leadership at church and your first reaction is to say yes, I'm ready, I've been waiting, maybe this is not the right role for you, because a position of leadership at church is a big responsibility and a great leader understands the weight and at least says let me pray about it, let me think about it. Because when you see the responsibility of the role, you get a little scared. That's normal.
Speaker 2:But your way of doing things that's not normal for everyone. Your resilience that's not normal for everyone. Your tolerance for risk that's not normal. Your creativity that is not normal. The way of connecting the dots especially you that you have of connecting you know different triggers and situations and making them make sense that's the way you see the world, but not everyone does so. You're so used to yourself Again. That's why I love coaching so much, because a coach brings that perspective and I promise I'm not, I'm not. Everything goes back to the right to having that additional perspective if you need it, if you're having a hard time understanding those things about yourself. Maybe an outside perspective, not from anyone, but from a trusted source. It's so helpful.
Speaker 1:So helpful. So I want to switch gears a little bit to you were talking about a calling in the beginning, and I have felt a calling on my heart for gosh since, like 2002. Um, and I felt God call me to do something back then around journaling and writing and all of that, and I've been following that call for all of these years. I'm curious one, like has it always been a calling for you, the line of work that you're in? And two just would love to hear your perspective.
Speaker 1:I think for me, I do what I do and I step out as a leader and I step out and do courageous things because of this calling. It's literally what allows me to get out of the way, because there's so many things that I don't feel like doing, I don't want to do, I don't feel equipped to do, but I do it because God's called me and had this call in my heart for so long. It's the same, the same core thing. It's evolved and changed shape a little bit, but it's the same core thing. And so I'm curious for you, like how did that all start for you?
Speaker 2:Oh, that's a good question that I'm gonna get get a little gothic here. But I've always liked being creative and performing. I did choir when I was little theater. I've always loved the performing arts, creative person and. But she loved her job, like she's a creative as a doctor. So first that allowed me to see that you can be creative anywhere and she loved her job. She loved her patients, she went above and beyond all the time for things she didn't have to do and that just gave me an appreciation for what's possible to do through your job.
Speaker 2:And it took me a lot of therapy to understand not every job has to be meaningful. In the grand scheme of things. There are people that they have the job so they can provide for their families and do meaningful things with the resources they get from their job and that's fine. But that's not me, because that's not the way I grew up. I've seen my mom always using her profession to change lives. She is an OBGYN. She would bring babies to the world and then 10 years later she would see those babies as kids. So that just gave me so much perspective and I remember at 12, I understood that we were going to die and I got like a little child depression for two weeks because it just hit me, and for years I don't. It evolved from saying if we're here for like we don't know how long, first, and really, in the grand scheme of things, is really short time.
Speaker 2:Especially as I was studying history, I was like I'm not'm not going to be for long here and I don't really know the name of a lot of people in history. If that's the case, then what's the best way of finding or leaving a legacy? And I was obsessed with it. I thought that I had to be through fame. So for a few years I always strive to be the best and have my name out there, be number one, and and then with acting like, how can I be more famous? Yes, and known by people. And then I moved to this country and I was humbled real fast because I met people that were working behind the scenes, people that were very prepared professionally and they were cleaning, they were doing other jobs that back in my country were considered less than, and these people were having incredible impact in my life. So that changed and it just showed me that you have impact not by the fame or how many people know you, but how many people's lives you change and how hard it is to change someone's life and how life changing is when someone touches yours.
Speaker 2:And I was living with someone and I once I was crying. I missed my mom. I was 22 but I missed my mom and I went to the housekeeper's room and I was crying and she said come here, come to bed with me, and she held me and she started stroking my hair and saying everything's gonna be fine. And that woman helped me and had an impact. I'm gonna remember her forever. I talk about her with my friends.
Speaker 2:She is not famous, she might not have the fanciest job, but she was above and beyond in service. So everything together combined, I said, yes, I love performing, that's why I love social media and content creation, but I also love the people we become when everyone starts approaching their job with the same mentality of I'm a leader, I'm going to serve, I'm going to change someone's life. When you wake up and you think that about yourself, man, like amazing things happen, because amazing like people did that to me and I'm here where I'm at. Through like 10 years I've been in this country and the first five or seven years were so hard and I'm the person I am because of leaders that pour into me from all the different roles and statuses and anywhere that they were, and they shifted and really created my perspective of leadership.
Speaker 1:I love what you said so much. Thank you so much for sharing all of that. I think that what I hear, the message I'm taking away, is that it's so much less important, like what we're doing, and it's so important who we're being and the opportunities that we have to impact or serve don't necessarily live in the places that we think they live, but in the tiny little pockets of our life. Like that lady pausing to hold you. Like how many moments do we have in our everyday? Like sometimes I wake up and I just pray, like God just open my eyes and wake me up today to every interaction, like every little thing, so that I'm not in autopilot and I can actually recognize those moments, because that's what it's all about. That's perfect.
Speaker 2:That's perfect. That's perfect. It is true. Wake me up. I think that's. Actually I've never put it that way, but I think that's a great first step. To be a leader is waking up and noticing things around you in every interaction, instead of trying to feel what's the next thing, what's the next achievement, being very proud with every opportunity that God's putting in your life and every interaction that you're having. And every interaction is also practice for the next big one. Every the way. You start when you learn treating people like. I worked at cleaning toilets for a year and I worked, you know, for so many people and now I just have a very good understanding of customer service today. Very good understanding because I work cleaning toilets for a bakery, so I was serving my customers from a little place and then I started getting bigger and bigger customers. But I'm saying we'll go to the bathroom.
Speaker 2:So we all have needs, we all have you know like having good customer service is important, so don't neglect the little things that God's doing to prepare you.
Speaker 1:Well, and you can make a difference and make an impact, no matter where you are or what you're doing. It's so true. My dad was always an entrepreneur. He had a restaurant business or a restaurant that he ran for many, many years and I always just respected him so much because he still cleaned the toilets. There was no job beneath him. He always did all the jobs and I love that so much about him. Okay, one last thing you had mentioned I know that your faith plays a huge part in your life and like it does mine, and you mentioned a conference that you learned some, I think, three leadership principles or something. I'd love for you to share those, and then we can kind of bring us to a wrap here.
Speaker 2:Sure, and I think these principles wrap up our conversation nicely. So I think it's a great way to end, because how to start developing the mindset of a leader, just taking pieces from what we've said today? Number one don't wait for perfect, because that's never going to exist, because perfect is meeting the standard. When you're a leader, you're creating something new. Therefore, there's no standard. So if you wait yes, if you wait to be perfect, you're never going to get there because there's no standard. So you just need to move forward. Eventually, you're going to be the standard for other people. So that's exciting.
Speaker 2:Number two embrace that you are a leader. Now. You're not a consumer of social media anymore. If you make a choice and you really want to make a change, if you really want to have an impact, it's going to be to the mercy of the messages that everyone else is pushing, because there are amazing leaders leading for good, leading for evil, out there pushing their messages. So if you're not focused on what you are trying to build, sure, you can get someone else's message if they're a partner, if they are building, if they're in the same journey as you, but if not, you don't need to waste your time there because you're not a consumer, you're a leader.
Speaker 2:And number three, which is very important, about seeing your social media as your stage. When you take the stage as a performer, your audience is not there to validate you. So no more going to social media because I'm having a bad day, so I'm going to put up a post and I'm going to get likes. I'm going to remember that my purpose is positive. Or I'm going to talk about this hard thing I'm facing and I'm going to wait for someone to say oh no, keep going. You're amazing. If you go to Broadway the actor on stage they don't get mad if you don't give them a standing ovation. That's because you are the one paying to have them entertain you. Their role on Broadway is to have the performer give you. You're there just sitting, so you have an audience. Remember you are also the audience for someone else in another area. You have an audience there for you.
Speaker 2:So what is your relationship with your audience? Your relationship is listening, having conversations to understand what they're thinking, what they like, what they don't. If you go and receive a compliment, you also understand that it's about they are giving you a compliment from where they see themselves. So probably they had an amazing day and they're feeling so good about themselves and they felt extra generous and they left you a five star review because they had the best day. But maybe they had a service provider who scammed them and they're thinking that every online entrepreneur is a scam and they left a very rude comment Nothing, the comments of your audience are not about you, and that changes because you're a performer now. So then, where is your validation coming from? I think every entrepreneur, when they decide to work on their personal brand, on their content, with their podcast, social media, wherever they do need to do a heavy identity work, because if you don't know where your identity comes from, you're going to start looking for validation from the applause and the applause is not related to validation.
Speaker 1:Wow, bam, and that's that. That is so powerful. That is so powerful. I think that's a great, great spot to end, I know, like just knowing you're, you know, coming back to your vision over and over again. Knowing who you are and what you're up to is a requirement for me as an entrepreneur, and not relying on the outside or what's sprouting at the moment or you know, because a lot of times when we're an entrepreneur, there's seasons of drought and nothing's happening and we don't want to quit, we don't want to stop doing this thing that we're here to do, but we've got to be clear about where we're getting that validation. I think that's so, so important. So, yehenia, tell everybody where they can find you and follow what you're doing and all of those good things.
Speaker 2:Of course, the best way to find me is on my podcast Creator to Leader. You have all the links there on how to reach out to me. And if you like this conversation, I'm actually bringing Carla because I want her to be our resident expert on all things mindset. So I'm excited for that our resident expert on all things mindset. So I'm excited for that. And if you go to eugeniawoocom that's E-U-G-E-N-I-A-W-O-Ocom forward slash stage you are going to get a free audio experience. It's a three-episode mini course on your audio so you can listen to it whenever you want on how to have your audience engage with you by clarifying exactly what's the journey you're inviting them on. Everything I'm doing is storytelling. I love storytelling, I love being creative, so I want you to also get creative and not stay with the whole prompts and templates that are not resonating with us as visionaries.
Speaker 1:I treasure every conversation with you. Thank you so much for sharing your heart and wisdom with us today, and I can't wait to have you back, too Excited about this collaboration.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you for tuning in to this episode of Differently. It's been an honor to share this conversation with you. You know, one of the keys to living fully is to take action when you're inspired to do so. I hope you found that spark of inspiration today and would you help us spread the word. Did someone you know come to mind while you were listening? If this episode could impact someone you know, please share it and pass it along. New episodes drop weekly, so tap that subscribe button and join us next time as we continue to challenge the status quo and get equipped to live life differently.