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Business Blasphemy
Business Blasphemy
EP80: Mastering Genuine Collaboration: How Deana Jean Builds Meaningful Community
Ever wondered how mastering genuine collaboration can skyrocket your business success? This week I sit down with Deana Jean, an award-winning master connector and business strategist, who reveals the secrets behind her effortless ability to build meaningful connections.
Deana takes us through her incredible journey from the fast-paced world of corporate sales to discovering her true calling in fostering community and collaboration, shedding light on how operating within your zone of genius leads to inevitable success. You'll hear firsthand how Deana's unique approach to creating valuable business relationships thrives on generosity and abundance.
We also explore the critical importance of value-based collaborations, and why vetting potential partners goes far beyond superficial metrics like follower count, focusing on mutual value and the principle that quality trumps quantity, especially for introverts. Hear about the emotional highs and lows of entrepreneurship and how authentic conversations and a supportive network, such as the Success Tribe Network, can be transformative for maintaining mental well-being. It's not your usual "hit it and quit it" networking community!
You'll gain actionable insights on building a thriving business through intentional collaboration and genuine connection, all while balancing the personal and professional challenges that come with the entrepreneurial journey.
Guest Bio:
Deana Jean is an award winning Master Connector and Business Strategist with over 15 years of Sales and Executive Leadership Experience, and a heart for community and collaboration.
Guided by the Goals, Gifts & Gaps® Deana and her team partner with entrepreneurs and organizations across the globe to achieve Intentional Excellence.
Connect with Deana:
- thesuccesstribe.com
- https://www.facebook.com/deana.jonesjean
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/deana-jean-3675966/
Join our next 3G Collab Session on me! Grab a one time Guest Pass here: goalsgifts.gaps.com
Connect with Sarah:
- Ready to be seen, heard and paid like the thought leader you are? Sign up for weekly insights into all things impact, influence, and income. Head to https://connect.getcorporaterehab.com/signup
- Follow Sarah on Instagram (instagram.com/corporate.rehab)
- Learn how to work with her HERE (getcorporaterehab.com/services)
The Business Blasphemy Podcast is sponsored by Corporate Rehab® Strategic Consulting.
Welcome to the Business Blasphemy Podcast, where we question the sacred truths of the online business space and the reverence with which they're held. I'm your host, sarah Khan speaker, strategic consultant and BS busting badass. Join me each week as we challenge the norms, trends and overall bullshit status quo of entrepreneurship to uncover what it really takes to build the business that you want to build in a way that honors you, your life and your vision for what's possible, and maybe piss off a few gurus along the way. So if you're ready to commit business blasphemy, let's do it. Hello, hello blasphemers, welcome back. We are here.
Speaker 1:You know what I got to tell you right now. This is like a personal coup de grace because I have here with me today the inimitable Deanna Jean. She is let me introduce her before we get into this, because you are going to love this conversation, because it is going to change everything about the way you interact with other human beings. Okay, deanna Jean is an award-winning master connector and business strategist with over 15 years of sales and executive leadership experience and a heart for community and collaboration. Guided by the goals, gifts and gaps, deanna and her team partner with entrepreneurs and organizations across the globe to achieve international excellence. Welcome, my friend.
Speaker 2:Hey, what's going on? Sarah, Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to chat today.
Speaker 1:Me too, I have. So Deanna and I were introduced and I'm going to give Bethany Hawkins a shout out. She's going to be on the show a little while, in a few weeks she's going to be on the show as well, but she introduced us because we were talking. She's like you need to meet Deanna, and I met Deanna and immediately fell in love, because the way Deanna does collaboration, connection just the ethos behind the way she does it is really unique and it's so refreshing, and so I was really excited to have her on the show today because I want to talk about this piece in earnest.
Speaker 1:There's so much about the collaboration community, how people are taught to do connection that is. It's not great, and so I really wanted to talk about the way you do it and how you you fostered this community that I am now a part of, and I got to tell you I have been in a lot of connection networking type of groups over the last five or six years, and I haven't lasted more than three months and you know I've been in for I mean it'll. It's not quite a year yet, but it's going to be soon and I love every single call. So let me start with tell me a little bit about what you do in your words, how you serve your clients. What makes you so amazing?
Speaker 2:Well, first of all, I mean, I can't even get. I'm gushing from the introduction, so thank you so much for that. So y'all, as Sarah said, I'm Deanna Jean, they call me your collab queen, and all that means is that I truly believe that co-creation and collaboration are much stronger, much better and, honestly, much more fun than competition. So I try to do my part to make sure that dope people, amazing people, know each other, and that's really my life's work helping people to get connected to each other, helping people who are already connected to each other, helping people who are already connected to each other better collaborate. And I love doing the work because I get to engage with and meet amazing people like you and Bethany and ensure that other people know who they are and come together to be able to make magic happen.
Speaker 1:And I've noticed that, like I've you know, you see people tagging other people in groups and in conversations and things like that, but you are really generous with how you do it. I've noticed that, like you are constantly tagging people, recommending people, connecting people together, it's almost like a natural reflex for you. You make it seem so effortless.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, thank you for that, and for me, it is part of my DNA, it's part of my makeup, it's part of who I've always been, and what I get excited about is that I now have figured out how to create a business around it entrepreneurs a lot of times, we start with the thing that might be our zone of excellence right.
Speaker 2:Something that other people tell us that we should do because we're good at it, maybe because it's a learned skill, maybe because it's something that we went to school for and typically we do it better than other people. But what I really endeavor to do, and to encourage other people to do through collaboration, is to operate in your zone of genius, the thing that you don't just do well but you love to do, and that's effortless to you, because that's when you could be really generous with that gift and operating in abundance. And when you do that, success is imminent. I mean, it's impossible not to be successful in that.
Speaker 1:Before we get into like the meat of stuff, like how did you discover that this was your zone of genius? Like what brought you to? Because people start businesses and they do tangible service-based things and whatnot coaching, that kind of thing, how connection, collaborate, like how, how did you come to this? How did you realize like I'm really good at this.
Speaker 2:Like how, how did you come to this? How did you realize, like I'm really good at this? Yeah, so when I started my business, it was in my zone of excellence. It was I pivoted from what I had been doing as a corporate sales strategist, consultant and coach. I pivoted from doing that for a company basically to doing that, you know, as a consultant. So I went from a company that employed me to that company being my client and then, because I had so many years built in that industry, very naturally other companies were calling on me to do that thing Sales, consulting, sales advisory to the C-suite, things like that.
Speaker 2:And then what ended up happening was that, as that was going on simultaneously, I was getting people that were calling me and saying hey, deanna, even the clients that I worked with on these contracts, do you know someone who can? Hey, I'm looking for this. And I kept getting these calls over and over again. And then after a while I said to people why are you calling me about these things? And consistently I got people saying no one connects people the way that you do.
Speaker 2:I know that if you make a recommendation to me, first of all, I know that if I need something, that even if you don't have it, you know somebody who does. And I was like, huh, I guess I do. And then they said and I can trust that when you introduce me to someone, that that person has been vetted, that you've taken the time and care, because of the way that you connected to make sure that, all things considered right, all things equal, that it could be a pretty good match, valuable skill, and what I know about economics right is that when there is a huge demand and not a big supply, that there should be a premium. But I wasn't looking for it, it was zero, it was negative premium, and I started to do it a little bit more and I was like, well, what would you pay for something like that? And the numbers that I was getting from people. I was like whoa, whoa, whoa.
Speaker 2:You got to figure this out and I found that when I started to really focus on the connection piece, that that felt even more organic to me, that that allowed me to create a business model that felt even more free and honestly allowed me to leverage the skills that I already had, the things that I do naturally in a business that I love.
Speaker 1:That's amazing and, like I think, the level of self-awareness, too, required to to say, like you know, I'm actually good enough at something that I can make it a business, that's. That's not as common as we like to think, because a lot of times people will default to whatever box people put them in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right, and to be super transparent like mine came out of like necessity because I had all this corporate stuff going on, but I also started my business at the end of 2019. Yeah, so three, four months into these contracts, people were getting a little, you know, because at the beginning no one knew what was going to happen.
Speaker 1:The interesting part is that.
Speaker 2:I actually was serving an industry that did better than literally every industry in the world. I always focused on technology. I was a technology salesperson and specifically educational technology.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Literally that was like the Super Bowl of the education industry during COVID, but when it first happened no one really knew what was going to happen. They were pausing things, and so when the money started to dry up from these contracts that I had, I had to figure out what kind of gifts I had that I could attach value to and get paid for. So that was when I started to do more and more of that connecting and specifically finding the need and the desire to make those connections between women who are owning businesses and, even more specifically, women of color.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's. I think that's one of the things that really drew me to.
Speaker 1:You know, your collaboration network, right, because and I don't want to give away too much because you really do have to experience it in person, but there's a structure to how you set it up that allows people to make those connections, even like in a short amount of time, like we're in those breakout rooms for 15 minutes and there's multiple people and but the the, the framework that you use is very intentional in getting people to self reflect and also it kind of does them the service of helping them draw out. You know their zone of genius, their needs and how they can serve the people in the spaces they're in. It's not like a lot of typical networking groups where it's a hit it and quit it Right.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 1:Yeah, which is fantastic.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I talk to people all the time when they're like hey, like how do I know if the network is good for me, Like how many clients will I get from it? So on and so forth. I'm like if that's your first question, then it's not a good fit. I will waste your time. There are other. There are other networking spaces that are great for that. Hours you will get clients right, Like it's going to happen Better put the work in. Our focus, though, is on helping you to understand how to create connections that lead to collaboration, that create lifetime value.
Speaker 2:It's just saying, hey, do you know this one client? We work on building relationships so that you have a space where you have a tribe of people that know your business so intimately that you naturally come up in conversations that they have you naturally come up and not just as, hey, sarah's a person who could maybe do operations for you. It's like no, sarah lives here. This is what Sarah is focused on. This maybe do operations for you. It's like no, sarah lives here. This is what Sarah is focused on. This is what her passions are right Like. These are the types of people that work best with her and like you will really like Sarah, right? So take that in like that next layer.
Speaker 2:And what we see as a result is that people are building really strong relationships and connections that organically lead to really powerful collaborative opportunities.
Speaker 1:Yeah, going on from that, where do you like? Where do people struggle the most, do you think, when it comes to collaboration or creating that strong connection, like, what is the online business space getting wrong that nobody's really talking about?
Speaker 2:So much.
Speaker 1:How much time you got yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. If I had to narrow it down, I would say creating authentic connections in a virtual space, connections in a virtual space, finding ways to make authentic connections that help people to go beyond the vanity metrics of social media, taking it one layer deeper in connection to truly understand not just what that person can do for you, but actually building a connection that helps you focus on how you can lead with a give. I think that's something that's missing, and I get why because it's very difficult online to assess what's real and what's not. Yeah, yeah, and people have been burned by disingenuous online personalities that don't always provide results at the end. But if you focus on in connection, the things that you're looking for, so not just, hey, I want to connect with this person, but what questions do you need to have answered through these connections that let you know that this is a strong collaborator for you, right? So I think that we're telling people to connect, but we're not telling them how to, how to qualify those.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I know we had a conversation quite some time ago now too, just around that right Like the idea of when you're in a conversation with somebody, how do you connect with that person in a way that they're. When you're in a conversation with somebody, how do you connect with that person in a way that they're going to like, because a lot of connection calls coffee, chats, whatever you want to call them. They spit out their elevator pitch, their I help statement, and then the other person does the same and now you're supposed to fit. Well, just remember, you know, if anyone's looking for operations.
Speaker 1:Right, just let me let me know, and you know some, some people go the extra step of having a Google doc somewhere where they got a bunch of people who do websites and a bunch of people who do this. What, what can you tell us about when connection collaboration is is like most effective? What has to be in place or where does a business or a business owner have to be in order for that next step to make sense?
Speaker 2:Yeah, great question. I think that people jump on calls too fast. Oh yeah, I think it happens too quickly. I think that people jump on calls without first assessing who the person is that they're jumping on a call with. So collaboration for me is very aligned to sales right, which is ironic because I coach and train and led sales teams for many, many, many years. And if you know anything about sales.
Speaker 2:You know that people that you set appointments with the best salespeople are people who, when they get on an appointment, when they are face-to-face with someone, they already have a clear idea that this person is an ideal client of theirs. They already have a clear idea of what that person's challenge is or what they're looking to accomplish, and they already have a pretty clear idea that they have a solution that can complement what that person needs. We don't do that always in collaboration. You see somebody and you say, all right, this person has 100,000 followers and they have 2 million likes and they're getting all these brand deals. If I could just get on the phone with this person, I can assess what they have and be able to plug into what they have without doing the work to figure out who is this person's ideal client.
Speaker 2:What goal is this person trying to achieve? What is this person's true gift Like? What do they actually do really well versus what they want you to believe that they do really well? And what's the person's gap? What do they need? What are they missing? What are they missing out on? There are ways to assess that before you even get on a phone call with someone, so my best advice would be before you allow somebody time on your calendar, before you get on somebody's calendar to have a collaboration conversation, first of all have a solution or an idea in mind of what it is that you want to do or what you want to pitch to them as far as a collaboration idea, and vet that idea ahead of time by digging in, auditing their social media, seeing how they engage online and then offering them the opportunity to have a conversation.
Speaker 1:I love that there is so much intention behind that, versus the way a lot of people do connection these days, which is, like you said, a the vanity metrics and B it's almost like people collect friends and connections versus actually intentionally curating them and understanding how. Because I think and tell me if I'm wrong but I think part of what you're saying is it's not what that person can do for you, it's you coming to that partnership very much leading with how I can support them.
Speaker 2:Right, how I can support them and, honestly, even if you could take it a step further and say how we can support each other. Yeah, so collaborations when they go really well, they go really well because there's mutual value. Notice that I did not say that it's the value is identical, right, like it's like $5 for $5. Yeah, but there's mutual value. You have something valuable to me, I have something valuable to you, and we exchange those things.
Speaker 2:Sometimes, if you're my client, the value exchange is that I am exchanging. We are exchanging my expertise, my framework, my solution for your revenue dollars, right, monetary compensation. But sometimes it may be through a different type of collaboration. You have an audience that's valuable to me and I have a skill that's valuable to you and your audience. So that's mutual value. But if I am looking online and all I can see is what I can get from you, but I can't identify for myself the value that I can impart for you, that's a mismatch. I can only think of ways that I can add value to you, but I don't see any way that you can create value for me. That's also a mismatch. And 80% of the people right now that you are surrounded by on social media and that you're engaging with are going to be a mismatch. You have to have a process for understanding how to take people from certain parts of your funnel right, your engagement piece to understanding who's going to go a little bit step further with you.
Speaker 1:That's a lot, but that's so important and I and I'm, I'm, I'm it's going around in my head and that is a hundred percent something that most people don't consider. They don't consider the exchange and what that looks like, because for a lot of people it's that surface level, money to money. You know that very first stage, interactive piece, right, and then once that transaction is, it's very transactional. I think is what I'm trying to say.
Speaker 2:Very transactional. And again, there are spaces where that works, and I'm not saying like there are spaces where that works and I'm not saying like there are people who do very, very, very well with transactional sales. It doesn't work for me for a couple of reasons. So the first is that I am an introvert. So for me I have to build a lifestyle where my energy is being protected and that looks like quality over quantity for me. So I spend more time vetting, researching, auditing than I do actually engaging. But when I engage I know that there's going to be a return because I've done that top level, top of funnel work. And those are the types of people that we attract within our network. And those are the types of people that we attract within our network is people who focus on the quality over the quantity, who are still doing very well in business.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like we got some heavy hitters in our network, oh yeah, and folks who are past the point of trading time for dollars and who are really focused on lifestyle businesses that create lifetime value and large opportunities over a span of time.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, first of all I'm going to say I'm glad I made the cut, cause if you're, if you're doing that level of like digging then and I've made the cut then I'm very grateful for that they're like oh, Deanna, just left anybody in.
Speaker 2:Oh, all you gotta do is and I'm like you, don't even like you. People don't even understand, because when we get to the point where we're having a conversation, that means that I've gone through this whole process with you.
Speaker 2:What you don't know is that there are hundreds of people that never get to that point. There are hundreds of people that never get the calendly link or the connection call. But if you are in my circle, that's the whole thing about us introverts. We make people feel like, wow, she treats everyone this way Because if we are putting the time and the effort into the relationship with you, we already community that you have curated.
Speaker 1:it is such a different vibe because everybody, I think, who has been invited into this space understands that principle and understands that this is not a hit it or quit it. This is not. You know, we're not just coming in for that transactional and every conversation you have feels like I have never left a 3G meeting and felt depleted. Does that I mean? I'm sure you understand what I mean.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, it's light, it's abundance, right, yeah. And again I want to be very, very clear you know people make money in this, in this, you know, in this community, and I know that you know that. But I think that a lot of times people, folks can't get past. What can I get over a week, two weeks, dollar for dollar, if I put in $750, when do I get my $750 back? Where can I track that right? Where can I track that Right, not realizing that a lot of times you're stepping over 10K, 20k over the course of six months to get to that two to three day five hundred dollar turnaround.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right, even when you look at social media and you look at posts, because there's a strategy behind all of it my experience has been that the people who invest at the highest level with me so the people who are coming to our international collab experiences in the Caribbean, the people who are hiring me to actually be their one-on-one collaboration concierge, those are people who have never liked or commented on any of my posts, but they've seen them all. They are using the data to inform their decisions. Those are the people who literally will DM me and say Deanna, I've been watching you for the last six months and I am ready to work with you one-on-one in your 25K program.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:What does it take for us to work together?
Speaker 1:And I think that's something that a lot, a lot of people do not understand. My last two one-on-one clients same thing. They had never commented on anything. You know, never saw them post like like commenting on my posts or interacting with anything. But they both signed up. I didn't even have to quote, unquote, sell them into it.
Speaker 2:They contacted me, I'm ready.
Speaker 1:They made their decision and paid the invoice and boom, they were done. And you know they are also fabulous clients because they know what they've invested in.
Speaker 1:I'm not having a chase I'm not having like they're. They're doing the work, right, and they they understand the value of it as well. There's so much in the space that is so, like you said, like what's my immediate return? How can? How much money can I make? How much is that person worth? Right, it's a very sort of looking at your, your leads, versus your potential collection connections. Yeah, and my experience has been. It's because people understand that connection is a long game. Yeah, but not enough people are willing to put the time into that long game. Right, it's quick return, quick turnaround.
Speaker 2:I agree Not enough people are willing to put the time in. I also agree that not enough people have a framework or a process to understand how to make connections, evaluate connections and grow connections. Everything comes down to a framework, information that you have understanding how to replicate a process. How many times have you done something? Or you attract a client and you're like this is my dream client. And then you go back and you say, if I could replicate what did I do to attract this way? If I could replicate that for an hour? Do this every single time.
Speaker 2:We all have it in us to do it, but we don't always attach it to a process so that we can replicate success. So that's what we endeavor to teach in the Success Tribe Network, but also what we really model in the way we connect and we collaborate. So that means that we're going to have virtual sessions where you get to talk about and practice your elevator pitch or the things that you've learned with coaches, right Consultants, but then you're also going to be able to have a space where you can join us for an international retreat. You're also going to be able to have a space where maybe you decide that you want to brush up on your sales chops. So you work with one of our partner, collab partners, to be able to increase your confidence in sales to a sales academy or maybe a messaging like really giving you the opportunity to evaluate what needs to happen for you to build the types of connections that create lifetime value that hopefully you take for you know, for the lifetime of your business and not just.
Speaker 2:You know, client for client.
Speaker 1:And I like that. There's a before and after, too right. A lot of the really like what's really rich about the way you do collaboration and connection is exactly that. It's not just a one for one. It's like we actually have a robust community of people that you know can connect and collaborate with you at different points on your own journey as a business owner, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no.
Speaker 1:And and, and. That's's what's really wonderful. So it's not just a really sort of it's not flat flat. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. That's why we have the levels. Right, we have three different levels based on what it is that you're looking for. Are you looking to explore what collaboration looks like? Right, that's our explorer level. Are you an expert already in what you do, and maybe you're even an expert in collaboration, and you just want to get the best transformation? You want to be in the room with the people who are always choosing the best, whatever of those you choose, you choose your own adventure, you create your path and then there is no obligation to go up or down. You hang out where you are right, where you can add something on. So I'm really, really proud of what we have built within the community and excited to be able to bring in more folks like you to continue to enhance our impact in this industry and in this space.
Speaker 1:Amazing. All right, I got a question that's a little bit off topic. Let's do it. How has entrepreneurship changed your life? What's it done for you?
Speaker 2:So for me, entrepreneurship has really and truly helped me to realize how badass I really am. Yeah, I think that for so long, especially when you're in corporate right as amazing as you are, I made multiple six figures in corporate as far as like salary and all that stuff in corporate. Even when you rise to certain levels within organizations, there's a part of you that also feels like you have to attribute some of that to the organization, not just about me and my genius. It's because I'm attached to this company that allows me to do these things.
Speaker 2:And when I transitioned into entrepreneurship and I had a moment during the pandemic because we grossed six figures in our first year in business, which was the year of the pandemic, and I had a moment where I was doing a group coaching course and the group coaching course was I'll never forget it was 997. And I came up with the number of 997 because it scared shit out of me and I'm gonna tell you why. When I left college and I started my first job, I made I took home in my check every two weeks $997. And when I had to come up with a price for this course, I was like this is a number that scares me because this was 80 hours of work in corporate when I first started, right, and I was doing pretty good, I was 21.
Speaker 2:You know like, yeah, obligations, and I remember filling that group coaching course up and having 15 people that paid me that $9.97 and thinking to myself one person, one person was paying me what I used to be paid for two weeks of work in my corporate career and it made me realize what my genius zone like the true value of it. So that part has also helped me to uncover some of the you know the insecurities that I have about myself and about my gift. Entrepreneurship has stretched me. I don't think I've ever been on such an emotional roller coaster as the one you go through when you're an entrepreneur. Yeah, but entrepreneurship has also really and truly taught me the true value of community and collaboration. So I'm super grateful for it and I would not ever trade any of it for anything.
Speaker 1:I love that. That is, man. I was getting a little emotional there because it's you speak with like such knowing, you know, and I think that those of us who've been on this journey, there are a lot of spaces and places that we're like yeah, I remember how that feels.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a huge part of the reason I'll tell you, sarah, why I even created the Success Tribe Network was because I noticed during COVID that I would have really really tough emotional weeks and I would have really good emotional weeks.
Speaker 2:And the difference between the tough weeks and the good weeks for me was how often I got the opportunity to engage with other people.
Speaker 2:If I went two, three days where I didn't have a client call or where I didn't have the opportunity to connect with somebody on Zoom, I literally felt like my business was imploding. I could have made $60,000 the week before, but if I went two, three days without getting a strike ding, having a client call, and it was messing with me mentally and I was like I got to put myself in a position where I am able to be surrounded by people, where I can get to know them, be on these calls, get the energy, positive energy, abundant energy from other people. And that's how the network started and it still serves that purpose for me being able to do things like this, being able to jump on collab calls, being able to jump into our VIP boxer chat for the folks who are at the elite level and higher within our group and like talk about the things that maybe we don't talk to everyone about. That, for me, has been the gift of entrepreneurship.
Speaker 1:People who haven't been on the journey. It's really hard for them to understand the ups and downs and the ups and downs, and I can a hundred percent relate to, you know, the the emotional rollercoaster not just of entrepreneurship but of COVID itself, like, oh my gosh, what a lonely, freaking time that was like just to to not have the ability to just hop outside for a cup of coffee with someone. Or you're stuck at home all day with the kids and the. You know all the things, things, hoping you don't commit a felony form.
Speaker 2:Yeah, perfect all the things.
Speaker 2:I have three kids I think I'm at some point, um, during covid they were, you know, ranging in age, but anywhere from like I had a three-year-old. I'm the mom of a special needs son, so my oldest son is on the autism spectrum and that created challenges with, you know, hybrid learning models, managing everyone's emotions and my own and my husband, who, at the time, was still a still active duty military. He wasn't even living in the state that we lived in and he couldn't come home. Yeah, oh God. So I was grateful for the community that I was able to build online, but I was also grateful to have a mom who moved in with us during quarantine and was so incredibly helpful.
Speaker 2:I was really really grateful for apps like Clubhouse that introduced me to people who, honestly, are still critical parts of my life and my business and will always be in my life, like always, always, and I was grateful during that time for my faith, the ability to to see past what I couldn't see. That makes sense. Yeah, no, I totally understand. So, yeah, it was. It was not easy that makes sense.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I totally understand. So, yeah, it was. It was not easy, no, right, yeah, but we made it through and we continue to thrive. Right, and as you were talking, it reminded me, there's a couple of, you know, articles and research studies that I've read around just the the the impact on health and longevity of a strong community, particularly for women.
Speaker 1:There was, there was I can't remember where I was watching it probably TikTok, because, you know, nowadays TikTok is the new, you know that's where we all go for TikTok, but there was a woman and she was talking about research that had been done, like in blue zones and things like that around the world, where when they look at why women live longer than men, for example, it's just one sort of data point. It's because when things happen, they reach out to community.
Speaker 2:So we're recording this at a time when a lot of people are talking about mental health, yeah, and over the last few weeks, I've been having a lot of conversations about the importance of mental health preservation as a woman entrepreneur, specifically as a woman of color, and creating and having safe spaces that allow us to say that we're not okay, yeah, and that support us in our journey toward positive mental health. So community is so incredibly important at times when you have to balance between loss and growth. So, yeah, that's why, for me, it's always been community. It's always been community and communities that fill you up.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, curating that community is so important. Yes, yeah, curating that community is so important. Yeah, all right. One, one last question and I think this is this is the one that most people listen out for, but I asked this of everyone what is one like? What is the smallest or most impactful thing someone can do right now to implement everything we've talked about or to get started on the road to more authentic connections with other people?
Speaker 2:Have more conversations.
Speaker 1:I didn't say have more sales calls.
Speaker 2:I didn't say pitch more. I didn't say have more connection calls, have more conversations. There's so much power in connection, authentic connection. It can bridge gaps, it can create understanding where it didn't exist before. When we have conversations my experience has been more conversations that we find that there are so many things about us that are the same. So I say have more conversations, be curious, be genuinely curious.
Speaker 1:And, honestly, when I think back on all of the amazing tips and tricks and, you know, things that we've been that have been shared on the show, this one's probably the simplest one, but I have a very strong suspicion is probably one of the more impactful ones. Right Having those conversations.
Speaker 2:Have a differing viewpoint from someone else? Have a conversation about it. You don't understand something? Have a conversation. You want to better understand or gain or glean information from someone?
Speaker 1:have a conversation or glean information from someone. Have a conversation. How many problems could be solved today if people had more conversations?
Speaker 2:Because, remember, conversations are two ways.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Right, it's not one-sided. Have a conversation and I'm going to tell you where I learned that lesson best, where that lesson shows up for me and had to smack me in the face as a parent oh damn, now you're just calling me out.
Speaker 1:That's just rude.
Speaker 2:Yeah, as a parent, I'm talking to me.
Speaker 1:That's where it showed up for me most that's one thing that I'm very proud of, that I've always told, like my two kids are very the age gap is big between the two of my kids. I should say that, um, but with the older one, like I've always said, know, as long as you talk to me, I promise I will not get mad, and I have. I've held to that right. Like I'm not saying I'm not going to be disappointed, I'm not saying I'm not going to need five minutes to go and collect myself, but you're not going to get in trouble. So yeah, I won't say I won't get mad, but I do say you're not.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I tell my kids all the time we are so much better off by having a conversation and you communicating to us versus other scenarios. So that's where it smacked me right up in my face um, why was I have more conversations, deanna?
Speaker 1:I love that there. Then there are two things generally, I think this is a universal rule that will utterly destroy you and also lift you back up in ways you could never imagine and the first is parenthood and the second is entrepreneurship Like a hundred percent, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, Because you birth a business you do Like it's it's. It's a very akin relationship and, yes, both can gut you.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And make you feel like there's no, like you're on top of the world.
Speaker 1:It's invincible you got you.
Speaker 2:There's no like you're on top of the world, there's no invincible. You got your invincible and the pride, the pride that they bring. So, yeah, that will be my advice have more conversations.
Speaker 1:That's fantastic. Well, I want to respect your time, otherwise we can just sit here and talk all afternoon.
Speaker 2:This has been so great. Thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Thank you for taking the time. I know you've been super busy, so thank you.
Speaker 2:You, thank you. Thank you for taking the time.
Speaker 1:I know you've been super busy, so thank you.
Speaker 2:You know what I make time for the things that are important and for conversations that are important and again, it's one of those things where I get to choose, I get to choose. Everything is intentional and this was a priority, so this is why I said yes and thank you for your persistence and for also keeping me accountable for what I said I was going to do. So I appreciate that very, very much. I really do. Thank you. It's my pleasure that we did it.
Speaker 1:I am too. This is this is going to be a great conversation. I cannot wait to get this out to the people. Tell us where we can find you, where we can connect with you and how we can take advantage of your phenomenal community.
Speaker 2:Thank you. So you can find me on LinkedIn and Facebook at Deanna Jean, so it's spelled there D-E-A-N-A. I can't spell my name J-E-A-N, like blue jean, but without the S. And then you can find me on Instagram at your Collab Queen, that's where I am on Instagram.
Speaker 2:And I would love to meet you and host you as a guest in our success tribe network. If you've heard something today and you're like, wow, that sounds really interesting, I want to come hang out with Deanna and Sarah. Then you can. We'll have it in the show notes and all that. I'm going to gift everyone here with a complimentary guest pass to a goals, gifts and gaps, which are 3g collaboration sessions. Come and hang out with us. You'll know pretty easily whether we are are you people, and then we can take it from you.
Speaker 1:That's amazing. Thank you very much. And you know what? Seriously take advantage of the, the guest pass. That's how I kind of came in and I haven't looked back and trust me when I say that you will have the opportunity to meet some incredible humans who are doing incredible things and who share the values that Deanna shared today. And y'all know that you're listening to this. You are probably not new. If you've gotten this far, you know that the people who come on this podcast are people that I could personally get behind and whose values I share. So I'm not saying it lightly when I say come, hang out. It's going to be a great time.
Speaker 1:As always, my friends, you can have success without all the BS. You just got to be intentional about it and listen to people like us, because you know I'll talk to you next week. That's it for this week. Thanks for listening to the Business Blasphemy Podcast. We'll be back next week with a new episode, but in the meantime, help us this route by subscribing and, if you're feeling extra sassy, rating this podcast, and don't forget to share the podcast with others. Head over to businessblasphemypodcastcom to connect with us and learn more. Thanks for listening to connect with us and learn more. Thanks for listening and remember you can have success without the BS.