Latest / The Scene Projects / Topaz Zafrir on Women’s Leadership, Confidence, and Empowering Entrepreneurs
Transcript
- 0:23Welcome in to Real Biz.
- 0:25I am your host, Bubba Starts.
- 0:27And with me today from Topaz Coaching and Consulting, Topaz Zafreer.
- 0:32Welcome to the show, Topaz.
- 0:33Thank you.
- 0:34Glad to be here.
- 0:35I am so excited for today's conversation.
- 0:38We're gonna get into some business talk, and I I love the help and and what you're doing for
- 0:44women in the industry and in multiple industries, really.
- 0:48But, before we get into all of that, would love to just give you an opportunity here to give us
- 0:52a little bit of your backstory, and then we'll pick it up from there.
- 0:57Okay.
- 0:57So, yeah, my backstory is that I actually never planned to be self employed, never planned to
- 1:05be like a businesswoman in that regard.
- 1:08I went to school, and I have a bachelor and a master in organizational consultancy.
- 1:15And then I went to travel the world, another part I definitely love, and I fell in love with
- 1:21a Canadian guy.
- 1:23So I found myself moving across the world to find love.
- 1:30And here I am in a small town in rural Canada, and I need to build myself.
- 1:37And I started doing what I know to do.
- 1:40So I just started working with local businesses and tried to help them out.
- 1:45And then all of a sudden, I see this pattern time and time again, talented, skilled,
- 1:52educational educationed women coming to me, and they're playing small.
- 1:58They don't wanna market themselves.
- 2:00They don't wanna get out there.
- 2:02They're fearing to ask for money in many different ways and forms.
- 2:07And then I kind of understood, okay.
- 2:09There's a problem here.
- 2:11I wanna help.
- 2:12I feel determined to help women to really fulfill themself in the business world.
- 2:18And I went back to coaching, get my diploma, and now started fully help women to stop
- 2:25playing small and press that send button, ask for what they deserve, and conquer the world
- 2:31little by little.
- 2:36I love it.
- 2:36And our society is is based on and I think it's changing, but it is was not necessarily
- 2:45culturally built for women to be upfront about a lot of these things.
- 2:51And and because of people like you and a culture that is shifting around the world, but
- 2:58there's still so much coaching and coaxing, if you will, to get women to behave more outwardly
- 3:06and to really give them permission to do so where they may not get that outwardly from the
- 3:12rest of the world.
- 3:15Totally.
- 3:15Like, we get contradictive messages from society.
- 3:19Right?
- 3:20They want us to be assertive, but not too much because then you're bitchy.
- 3:23They want us to be modest, but then, like, to go for it.
- 3:27It's it's really hard to navigate expectations of society.
- 3:31And, yes, women in business is still a relatively new, new thing.
- 3:36Right?
- 3:36We are changing an era.
- 3:38But if you go even fifteen years ago, how many women in business were they?
- 3:42Like, very little relatively.
- 3:44So it is changing, and we kinda need to remember that this is a changing time and give
- 3:50yourself grace for not knowing how to navigate it exactly and also learning how to do it
- 3:55ourself because this is not something that you learn at school, sadly, but to have a business
- 4:02of your own, knowing what to do, deal wear so many hats.
- 4:06Like, you know probably, but, like, when you're in a self employed, you wear all the hats in
- 4:12your business, and we are not trained for that.
- 4:14You kinda need to learn from scratch.
- 4:16This is definitely complicated thing to do at the beginning.
- 4:20Yeah.
- 4:21I've worn five different hats today, Topaz.
- 4:23So I I feel you in that.
- 4:25And looking back, you know, at twenty, twenty five years ago, I know it's not true, but it
- 4:30felt like there was only, like, one woman that was really out there in business, and that was
- 4:35Oprah.
- 4:35Right?
- 4:36And and I feel like she you know, a one woman who has been a shining example of, you know,
- 4:42being a boss lady and taking ownership of your sales.
- 4:46Now I know she wasn't the only one at everything, but definitely the most highly
- 4:50visible one by a a long shot and now owning her own media network and everything that it's, you
- 4:59know, kinda spurned from there.
- 5:00And I think gave a lot of confidence to other women over that and is a major driving force,
- 5:06you know, behind the change in the culture over the last, you know, couple of decades.
- 5:13And now it it's really up to people like yourself to do the real hard work.
- 5:19Right?
- 5:20It's one thing to inspire individuals to want to do it, but there's so much that goes on
- 5:25inside of a small business.
- 5:27And even if you are the best accountant or, you know, operator inside of your business, to
- 5:32learn how to be a marketer and someone who is very forward and a salesperson are very
- 5:38different skill sets.
- 5:39And you often, in a small business, don't have someone else to hand those responsibilities off
- 5:45to.
- 5:46Oh, totally.
- 5:47I will touch very quickly about the part of modeling because that's what you were actually
- 5:51saying with Oprah.
- 5:52And that's actually a very important thing.
- 5:55Without knowing, we are searching models to mimic.
- 5:58Right?
- 5:59And when women in our ages and older, like, did not have that modeling, of course, they
- 6:04wouldn't even think necessarily that they could be that thing.
- 6:09So it's definitely changing, and, like, the generation today is getting better modeling
- 6:14than ever before, but this is something new.
- 6:16So thank you for bringing it up, and we just to even think about it and bring it into awareness
- 6:21already help us understand the shift that is happening.
- 6:24But definitely touching upon the marketing part, oh, boy.
- 6:29Like, I find that this is one of the toughest challenges that my clients are facing,
- 6:36especially the one that are dealing with services and not just products that they sell
- 6:42because you are the business and you are the face and your story, what matters.
- 6:47Like, you need to be out there.
- 6:49You can't just hide behind a product.
- 6:52You have to get out there and show yourself and tell your story and, you know, it's not
- 6:57something easy for a lot of people.
- 7:00It's so hard to press that scent.
- 7:02There's so many inner voices, I call it the inner critic, that comes up.
- 7:07It's not good enough.
- 7:08I'm not good enough.
- 7:10I'm not professional enough.
- 7:11I just started.
- 7:12Like, who am I to say that?
- 7:14There's millions like me.
- 7:16All of the things I said are quotes from clients I've worked with.
- 7:20Like, I I have amazing quotes that I've collected over time and with my work.
- 7:27Like, a woman that told told me that even if I get a 100 testimonials a day saying I'm
- 7:33wonderful, I know what I'm doing, I'm professional.
- 7:36I'm good.
- 7:37I wouldn't believe it.
- 7:38You know?
- 7:39And that's a deep thing.
- 7:41Like, that's a limiting belief and an inner critic voice that really shape how you're
- 7:46showing up in the world.
- 7:48It's so hard to battle against it and really show up.
- 7:52And I'm not saying that men doesn't have it because, of course, some men do have it,
- 7:57unfortunately, as well, but it's so predominant in the female side.
- 8:02We are learned that we need to know 70% of the knowledge before we call our self experts,
- 8:09while research show that, like, men only need to know 30% in order to really feel confident
- 8:15to talk about things.
- 8:17So, yeah, that's that's a real difference, and that's that's making so much more challenging
- 8:23to show up.
- 8:25Yeah.
- 8:27Being a man who knows very little about a lot of things, I can definitely speak, confidently
- 8:34about them even though I may not be as knowledgeable as, even maybe I should be.
- 8:40So, I feel I feel that in many ways.
- 8:44So much good stuff in there.
- 8:46And and you talk about the modeling, and I think young ladies are so fortunate to have
- 8:52role models like a Taylor Swift who, I happen to know her story very well from being part of
- 8:58her former manager, Rick Barker's world and knowing that, you know, she I very much, she
- 9:03was a kid.
- 9:04She was a kid with talent and a dream.
- 9:07And to look at her now of not just being a brilliant performer and songwriter, but really
- 9:13being the CEO of her life and her business.
- 9:16And what an excellent model for not just ones who have a a penchant for artistry and want to
- 9:23be rock stars, but for anyone who wants to be in business.
- 9:28And, really, that can be a role model for for a woman of any age and to see that and to feel
- 9:33more confident.
- 9:35There's there's a lot.
- 9:39There's a lot there, especially culturally, and we kinda touched on it a little bit before, but
- 9:46that especially what you said.
- 9:48I I love that you have the data to kinda back that up, but, I see it a lot with with my wife
- 9:54that she really needs to know things inside and out before she's ever going to really open her
- 9:59mouth about anything.
- 10:01And I'm constantly encouraging her that she probably knows more than most people in the
- 10:06room from the get go and that her life experience is so incredibly valuable.
- 10:12And I I think that that inner critic for women is especially so much louder than for men.
- 10:22Yeah.
- 10:22Like, we we as women, a lot of time need to overcome because our bar is so much higher to
- 10:28begin with.
- 10:29So in order for me to call myself a professional, I hold myself so much
- 10:34accountable, so accountable that I need to be the best before I could call myself a
- 10:40professional.
- 10:41And that's the that's the biggest flaw when you're just starting.
- 10:45Right?
- 10:46When you start a business, you are new.
- 10:48Everyone needs to start somewhere.
- 10:50But for women to start a business, that's not something to take for granted because how can
- 10:56I, like, really call myself out if, like, I'm I'm just a beginner?
- 11:01And that's, like, such a huge change.
- 11:04We need to overcome that inner critic in order for not letting it manage us.
- 11:09And let me tell you, most of my clients and most of the people out there still struggling,
- 11:14and some of them really let that manage, and it's okay.
- 11:17I just wanna say it's completely normal.
- 11:20It's something that we all face with with, like, some level or another.
- 11:24But the work I do goes deeper in order not to silence the inner critic.
- 11:29It would always be there, and it's there to protect us.
- 11:32Thank you for protecting me.
- 11:34Thank you for protecting me from failure, from rejection, you know, from anything like that.
- 11:40It makes total sense that we would have those defense mechanism, but we are working on
- 11:46lowering the volume.
- 11:47So you would hear it, but it wouldn't decide for you what you're gonna do or not.
- 11:54And I think in this day and with the way that the media landscape is with social media and
- 12:00the way that we have to market our our business and especially in the service industry, because
- 12:05it is so much about our story and that personal story, that's a vulnerable space to be in.
- 12:10And most women who have either just starting out in business or that have been and worked
- 12:16inside of male dominated industries have have kind of had to model themselves as being tough.
- 12:22And now you're being asked as as a business owner and a founder and a front of your
- 12:27business to now be vulnerable and to show those sides of yourself and to show your failures.
- 12:35And that's hard for anyone to do, much less someone that has had to kinda put this mask of
- 12:40toughness on to operate in the world for the last twenty or thirty years to now be
- 12:45introduced and to go out there and say, well, I okay.
- 12:48Now I have to be comfortable taking that mask off.
- 12:51I just got comfortable wearing it.
- 12:53Yeah.
- 12:54So there's two things I want to relate to it.
- 12:56One is that one of the biggest thing is, like, to we kind of, like, waves of feminism and
- 13:02whatever.
- 13:03Like, I need to be like a man in order to do it well.
- 13:06And then, no.
- 13:07I'm actually I'm a woman, and I do things differently than a man, and that's completely
- 13:12fine.
- 13:12And now we actually need to learn what is women in business.
- 13:16How do we show up?
- 13:18What do we do differently that it is literally different than what men would necessarily do?
- 13:24For example, we collaborate more.
- 13:26We search to actually do things together in order to to make it work.
- 13:32And that's something that a lot of men wouldn't do or even would dismiss sometimes, but it's
- 13:37such a big power.
- 13:39This is just an example for women leadership that works differently in a way that actually
- 13:44show up in business, and that's great.
- 13:47We need to embrace it and not to push it away because this is not something that is
- 13:51accustomed.
- 13:52So that's definitely one thing that we kinda learn, like, too.
- 13:55As we see more models, as you said, and as we kinda learn how to do that, we learn that we
- 14:00have a different theme, a different action plan that we could do that doesn't show up the same
- 14:07way as men necessarily build up the business.
- 14:11And the second thing is also about, like, creating the the way of the business that
- 14:19aligns with you.
- 14:20Okay?
- 14:20And this is something that it's part of the work that I love to do.
- 14:24It's really to shine through your strengths, your values, what aligns with you because, yes,
- 14:30when you need to be out there, like, it's and you need to put on not not a mask, like, really
- 14:37show yourself out there.
- 14:38This is something so tough.
- 14:40And let me tell you, this is not relatable when you're perfect.
- 14:45This is the truth.
- 14:46When you see, like, the polish, the shines, AI, we could talk a lot about that too.
- 14:52Like, free 10.
- 14:52Everything is, like, no typo.
- 14:55No.
- 14:55Everything is looking perfect.
- 14:57Like, with the perfect picture, the perfect post.
- 15:00I'm just succeeding.
- 15:01I I gained this much money.
- 15:03I have lots of clients.
- 15:04This is unrelatable to some extent.
- 15:06It's good, but it doesn't show who you are.
- 15:10It doesn't show your story.
- 15:11It doesn't show behind the scenes.
- 15:14And everyone have bad days.
- 15:16Everyone has, like, some sales that don't go.
- 15:20Everyone has that client that said no.
- 15:23You know?
- 15:23It's important to show up and show that part of the story as well.
- 15:29Do you feel like your clients, that that you're able to build their confidence?
- 15:36Confidence because what you've done in your life, you know, moving halfway around the world
- 15:40for a a man that you love and uprooting your entire life and and coming to a new country and
- 15:49all of those, do you feel like that helps kind of inspire and and build confidence inside of
- 15:55your clients as well?
- 15:56Because I find it to be incredibly inspiring.
- 16:00It's actually it's nice that you say that.
- 16:03I I haven't really looked at it as inspiring in that regard.
- 16:07People call me brave when I made that choice.
- 16:11I didn't see it as brave because I followed my heart, and I I felt like I'm doing what I wanna
- 16:18do.
- 16:19What can be more brave than that, Topaz?
- 16:21I guess that brave is just depends of what what's your comfort zone.
- 16:28And I actually call it, like, widen your comfort zone and not step outside of it.
- 16:34So I was traveling a lot to the world before.
- 16:37So for me, having an adventure abroad was something that I felt comfortable with
- 16:43relatively.
- 16:44Obviously, I did a lot of new things, a lot of stretching my comfort zone over there, but it
- 16:49wasn't, like, completely unraveling.
- 16:52To open a business, though, whoo, that I was I did not know what to do.
- 16:57There's so many hats as we spoke about.
- 16:59So, yeah, the building confidence is important.
- 17:03But first of all, I wanna say that a lot of people are like, one of the the thing with the
- 17:08inner critic that it would make you sound as if, like, this is the professional voice, what
- 17:14you actually need to do, and this is the responsible thing.
- 17:18I need to wait.
- 17:19I'm not professional enough.
- 17:20I'll wait with that.
- 17:21I'll do another diploma.
- 17:22I'll go back to the sketching board.
- 17:24You know?
- 17:24So many things that keep you staying the vicious cycle of not taking action.
- 17:30And it seems like, oh, the perfectionist voice would be like, I'm just not ready enough.
- 17:35And in reality, there's like, this is a decision thing.
- 17:39You can't really be ready forever because you haven't done it yet.
- 17:44This is the reality.
- 17:45You have to jump into the water and just start to do things because that's the experience you
- 17:51really need.
- 17:52So I feel like a lot of people are waiting for this confidence level to start building up.
- 17:59And in reality, like, what I'm working with my clients is small steps that are doable, that
- 18:06you feel that are stretching maybe your comfort zone, not outside of it.
- 18:10And, like, you start to gain the confidence little by little.
- 18:14Like, people are waiting for this confidence to be, like, at 90% before they do it.
- 18:19You're never gonna reach that.
- 18:20It's it's really it's unrealistic.
- 18:23And not only that, but it's also when you are focusing on working from your strengths and
- 18:30your values and what you do and what you show to the world really aligns with who you are,
- 18:36you're already in a position where you're more confident in what you're doing.
- 18:40And this is exactly what I hope my clients do.
- 18:44Yeah.
- 18:44Two years ago, I had never even been a guest on a podcast, and now I'm over a thousand episodes
- 18:52in, and and there was a ton of fear into and I had been having conversations my entire life.
- 18:58Right?
- 18:58But I had never had the record button running on that.
- 19:02And you're talking about someone who had performed hundreds of shows and performed live
- 19:07in front of thousands and thousands of people before that.
- 19:10So I was very comfortable delivering a performance, but it was still different, and it
- 19:15was still scary.
- 19:17And and it in many ways, it still is scary, But it's it's the fact that I've stretched that
- 19:22comfort zone so far, you know, over the course of my career and especially these last two
- 19:29years that I don't feel uncomfortable really in any specific situation.
- 19:34Is there always a slight bit of anxiety?
- 19:37Sure.
- 19:37But that's always going to be there.
- 19:39And I think that's where you put it so eloquently that we're not turning off the inner
- 19:44critic, but we're turning it down to nearly inaudible and overcoming every single day.
- 19:50And I love that part of your, you know, your teaching and coaching that you do is to take
- 19:56baby steps.
- 19:57You don't have to can it all into this pool.
- 19:59It's okay to dip a toe in first and to make sure that you're going to be comfortable.
- 20:04And I think especially for women who are just naturally ingrained to be a little bit, you
- 20:10know, trepidatious and a little bit more cautious about the way that they move, that
- 20:15it's okay.
- 20:16But building that confidence and building that trust in themselves that they are capable of
- 20:22doing it is so key.
- 20:24And that's why I think the work that you're doing is so incredibly valuable and and also
- 20:30incredibly inspiring for, I hope, other women to take on this same role that you have for
- 20:36other women that when you get there, there's, you know, there's 8,000,000,000 people on the
- 20:40planet.
- 20:41Topaz can't help all 4,000,000,000 women that are out there and, you know, several million
- 20:46that are probably considering starting their own business.
- 20:49And you mentioned AI a little bit ago.
- 20:52Because of AI, more and more people are going to be going out and trying their own business
- 20:56either because their jobs at at their employers are going to go away.
- 21:01They're going to have some newness in that.
- 21:03And even if you are not a, entrepreneur and taking on your own, you may be trying on a new
- 21:10role, whether that's in the professional business world or it's in your, family life and
- 21:15that as well.
- 21:16And I think the skills and the confidence that you are helping these women build is going to
- 21:22serve them in their whole lives and not just in their businesses.
- 21:27For sure.
- 21:27And I actually want to relate to one one of the things you said because, when you just starting
- 21:35and you have all the energy and the enthusiasm to kinda start and you're like, yes.
- 21:40I'll do this and I'll do that, and I'll add, you know, kind of the New Year's resolution.
- 21:44Yes.
- 21:44I'm gonna do everything in in and now I'm gonna start working out, and I'm gonna start the
- 21:49diet.
- 21:50I'm gonna take everything at once.
- 21:53Not only that it's, like, really heavy load over time, but it would actually make you fail
- 22:00or lead to burnout.
- 22:02Okay?
- 22:02So, like, part of the idea of small steps, small doable, reachable steps is to show you
- 22:09that you could actually reach that.
- 22:11It's almost like competing between two forces of, like, slow and steady win the course.
- 22:16Right?
- 22:17Because you could start in a sprint, but how long can you write a sprint?
- 22:21Like like, run-in a sprint.
- 22:22Like, we are in a marathon here, and this is what I wanna say.
- 22:26Like, enthusiasm there's a sentence, like, that I like.
- 22:29Like, enthusiasm is very common.
- 22:32Consistency is rare.
- 22:34You know?
- 22:34And that's what you need in order to build a business.
- 22:36You're not getting known in one day.
- 22:39You're not getting known even mostly in a year or two.
- 22:42Like, you you kinda need to build it up.
- 22:44Like, that's exactly what you were describing in your career too.
- 22:48Right?
- 22:49There's a lot of shifts, a lot of changes here.
- 22:52And, like, I wanna ask you a bit about your level of confidence when you just started
- 22:56because that's I don't know.
- 22:58Maybe it would relate to that and show us kinda how you dealt with it.
- 23:03Yeah.
- 23:03Well and it's so funny.
- 23:05Like I said, I had spent a lot of time in front of a microphone.
- 23:08I had I had been on stage in front of very, you know, very many people around the street
- 23:13performing and and doing what I was very comfortable doing at home, you know, playing my
- 23:19guitar and singing.
- 23:20But I had never just been in conversations.
- 23:24And I realized now that I kind of had in that way, but I was never someone who liked to do a
- 23:29lot of talking from the stage.
- 23:31I was there to play music and and and would say a few words, but it was never just delivering
- 23:37in that and having conversations with people on tape.
- 23:41The first 100 episodes I did were on audio only, so I didn't have the camera in front of
- 23:45me.
- 23:46And it was you know, turning the camera on in late twenty twenty four, early twenty twenty
- 23:51five was a huge step for me.
- 23:54It it was to be in that.
- 23:55I wasn't necessarily someone, you know, I turned 40 yesterday, Topaz.
- 23:59I didn't grow up with one of these in my hand and staring at it and staring into a camera and
- 24:04talking that way.
- 24:05It just wasn't part of who I was.
- 24:07So it took a lot of getting comfortable doing that and to really you know, for me, I I
- 24:13started with just doing, like, two to five minute live streams on my Facebook page.
- 24:18Right?
- 24:18And just going live, talking to the camera, getting comfortable with that, getting
- 24:22comfortable with nobody on the other side of that conversation.
- 24:26And and then I was able to do more.
- 24:28I I didn't know how to even talk to a camera.
- 24:31My first if you go back and watch some of the first 40 episodes of 2025, you'll see that I'm
- 24:37kinda looking up at the screen.
- 24:39And it took someone, another coach, and and I had had on the show that was like, what are you
- 24:46looking at?
- 24:46And I was like, well, what do you mean?
- 24:48She's like, well, you're always looking up.
- 24:50And I was like, oh, yeah.
- 24:52Like, you can't see me when I'm looking up there.
- 24:55You can't see me through the camera.
- 24:57This is such an awkward way to communicate with each other, and it was hard.
- 25:02But until she had said something, I had no idea that I was even doing it.
- 25:07Right?
- 25:07Because I'm so trained as a fellow human, right, that we're trying to look in each
- 25:13other's eyes and understanding that now your eyes are on the other side of this lens.
- 25:19But I didn't have that until someone had told me.
- 25:22And then it took even, you know, another 20 episodes to get used to actually doing it and
- 25:28doing it right.
- 25:29I can say the same thing about editing the video.
- 25:32Like, I did not come from a broadcasting or video background.
- 25:37It just that was not me.
- 25:39I was a live performer, singer songwriter, and my career path when I was, you know, just
- 25:46starting my podcasting journey was as a welder.
- 25:49So I don't I didn't have any of the skills really that I do now besides being able to, you
- 25:55know, speak effectively.
- 25:57And now I I kinda look back and I probably should watch some of those early episodes to
- 26:03see just how far we've come.
- 26:06But what what I brought to the table was the emotional intelligence of that life that I had
- 26:13lived previously and bringing that to the table.
- 26:16And I think it's really in accentuating the things that you already do well and and
- 26:23figuring out how to do those and stretching that comfort zone by bringing the things that
- 26:29you do well to the table.
- 26:31You don't just have to go out there and be awful.
- 26:33Like, you're going to be awful at things that are new to you regardless.
- 26:37Right?
- 26:37But how do you bring that wealth of experience that you do have to make you feel a little bit
- 26:43more confident in being awful for a little while?
- 26:46Because it's it's inevitable.
- 26:48You cannot get around it.
- 26:50If you're just starting out in something, you're you're not going to be perfect at it.
- 26:54And and I would argue that nobody really even wants to see perfect at this point.
- 27:00Totally agree then.
- 27:01Like, I just wanna take your story and, like, say that this is exactly a great example for
- 27:07this case scenario.
- 27:09Like, if we're taking your you like, you started saying by repetition, I started doing
- 27:14it for, like, I don't know how many episode, but without a camera, and I got comfortable in
- 27:19it.
- 27:19So repetition.
- 27:20And then you started with exposure, small step, not not with a lot of people, whoever, even
- 27:26maybe to a blank audience.
- 27:28Who knows?
- 27:28Like, you started to expose yourself and try and, like, dip your toes into the water.
- 27:36Right?
- 27:36And then you got external help.
- 27:39You got you got a guide or you got a supporter, like, in in the in the realm of working with
- 27:44the video, but it doesn't matter.
- 27:46Each each person with their own field, but, like, you got this help.
- 27:50And the two things that were important in the the end of what you're saying.
- 27:55First of all, you agreed to be not perfect.
- 27:59You agreed to be a beginner.
- 28:01This is something that some people find so hard.
- 28:04Like, they you need to have a margin of error.
- 28:08You have to, as you were saying.
- 28:09This is something that is just impossible to be perfect, especially when you start.
- 28:14But I would I would definitely say that anytime, like, we are human beings.
- 28:19We make mistakes, and we need to have grace for ourself.
- 28:24So this is something that is definitely important.
- 28:26And the last part I wanna say is that you said something also that was important.
- 28:31Celebrate the wins.
- 28:33See how far I've came.
- 28:35Like, here I am, and I'm showing up, and I'm so much better.
- 28:39And I actually acknowledge that.
- 28:41A lot of people, like, their inner critic are, like, really focusing on the negative.
- 28:47They're focusing on what I haven't learned yet, what I need to do, where I'm not professional
- 28:52enough, where I need to improve or whatnot.
- 28:55Okay?
- 28:55And this is obviously okay and obviously good.
- 28:59We need to keep improving.
- 29:00We need to keep on working, but we have to celebrate our wins.
- 29:05We have to see the progress because, otherwise, this is a defeating feeling of I'm just keep on
- 29:11working and promoting and and doing the hard work and nothing change.
- 29:16This would lead to burnout.
- 29:17This would lead to hard feelings of I don't wanna wake up in morning and to, you know,
- 29:22fulfill my dream and and push on my business because I don't see any positive.
- 29:28So I'm really working on that too.
- 29:30Like, sit down and see the change.
- 29:33See how far you've come already.
- 29:37I was laughing because I literally have a little note that says I give myself grace, and
- 29:43you might not be able to see it with my, with my lighting and everything, but it is tacked
- 29:49right below my camera, right here.
- 29:52So I I'm looking at it as you're saying it, and and it's so important.
- 29:56And I read it every day.
- 29:58I don't always take it to heart, but it's there when I need it.
- 30:01Right?
- 30:02To to say that, you know, it's okay it's okay to suck.
- 30:07Right?
- 30:07And especially when you're just starting out in anything.
- 30:11And even when you make mistakes, even if you are very good at your job, it's okay to make
- 30:16mistakes.
- 30:16It is not the end of the world, and and you will be able to overcome that.
- 30:22And if it was, you know, a a slight to someone, you can always apologize.
- 30:27And if it was, you know, something that can be rectified, well, then you should.
- 30:31But it doesn't mean that it's the end of the world at any point.
- 30:36So I I really appreciate everything that you've shared with us here.
- 30:40I appreciate the work that you're doing for all of these women entrepreneurs that are out there
- 30:45operating in the business world as I well know myself.
- 30:49It's not easy, it's even harder for women to do that.
- 30:53So for all of you ladies that are listening to this episode, we are both so proud of you for
- 30:59taking that.
- 30:59If you need help and you need some coaching and mentorship, Topaz is available.
- 31:05You can go to topazcoachingandconsulting.com.
- 31:09If you're watching the video version, you can see it scrolling across the bottom there.
- 31:12Topaz, anywhere else that you wanna plug before I let you go?
- 31:16So I'm in most of the platforms.
- 31:19If you wanna find me, I'm also on Facebook and Instagram and LinkedIn, anywhere that you kinda
- 31:26want to connect through.
- 31:28And I think that the main message that I want people to come out with that, first of all,
- 31:34that this is a normal thing.
- 31:36Like, to hear this hardship on yourself and to kinda deal with it whether you're a man or a
- 31:42woman, It's perfectly normal, especially if you're a beginner.
- 31:45But I want them to take from this conversation, hopefully, that this is not the bottom line.
- 31:51You could change that, and this shouldn't manage you.
- 31:56If you find yourself that your fears and your inner dialogue stops you from actually, like,
- 32:02reaching your dreams, know that this is not the deadline.
- 32:07Okay?
- 32:07Like, you could change that and you could actually work with it and not against it.
- 32:13Okay?
- 32:13So this is, like, the main thing I want you to know.
- 32:16And even regardless if you're coming to me or not, this is something that you could change in
- 32:21your life because the end result is that we want to empower people.
- 32:25Right?
- 32:26We want to help them shine, and this is what I'm so grateful to do in my life, really help
- 32:32empowering people and get their best.
- 32:36Fantastic.
- 32:37Well, thank you so much for giving me some of your time.
- 32:40Know that you're probably still unpacking boxes from your move, so I appreciate you sitting
- 32:45down with me for a little while today.
- 32:47Thank you for everything that you're doing, and and thank you for being part of the scene.
- 32:52Thank you so much.