Latest / Project Candor: Ordinary People. Unexpected Stories / No Structure. No Problem, with Joanna Zhang | Ship's Log #40

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No Structure. No Problem, with Joanna Zhang | Ship's Log #40 · Project Candor: Ordinary People. Unexpected Stories

• 0:00
  Joanna Zhang: When I actually run out of old answers, my brain starts thinking that a one sentence just slipped out of my mouth surprised me with tears.
• 0:09
  Joanna Zhang: I said.
• 0:10
  Joanna Zhang: But because of unconditional love.
• 0:51
  Jeanne: Joanna Zhang is an award-winning entrepreneur, global speaker, and founder of the Operations Genius.
• 0:58
  Jeanne: She created the world's first fractional VA service helping entrepreneurs access high-level operational support without the weight of a full-time person or a full-time team.
• 1:12
  Jeanne: Recognized internationally for innovation and leadership.
• 1:15
  Jeanne: She's passionate about helping clients scale with clarity and freedom.
• 1:19
  Jeanne: She's also on a personal journey of transformation that's reshaping how she leads and serves.
• 1:26
  Jeanne: Welcome, Joanna.
• 1:27
  Jeanne: I'm so happy you joined us on this little boat and journey.
• 1:32
  Joanna Zhang: Oh, I was grateful to be on this boat.
• 1:35
  Joanna Zhang: We'll have a lovely time together, I believe.
• 1:38
  Jeanne: Yes, I think so too.
• 1:39
  Jeanne: And it'll be so much fun because I love listening to your accent.
• 1:43
  Jeanne: Thank you.
• 1:45
  Jeanne: You know what I caught when I've talked to you before?
• 1:48
  Jeanne: I caught this accent that you have.
• 1:50
  Jeanne: It's it's from your native tongue, and then you inflect some Australian dialect in it.
• 1:58
  Jeanne: I love it.
• 2:02
  Joanna Zhang: All right.
• 2:04
  Jeanne: So it'll be ear candy for everybody listening.
• 2:07
  Jeanne: Uh let's go back to the beginning before you started your company, the operations genius.
• 2:13
  Joanna Zhang: Sure.
• 2:13
  Jeanne: Um before before you built your business, uh, what was the season that truly shaped you?
• 2:19
  Jeanne: The one that looking back now, you could see was building the person who would eventually build all of this?
• 2:26
  Joanna Zhang: Oh well, that was a truly like a live event and throw me into a situation that I didn't really plan at all or expect at all.
• 2:34
  Joanna Zhang: Because at the time I was a self-employed financial planner.
• 2:37
  Joanna Zhang: I need a lot of help for my back office support.
• 2:40
  Joanna Zhang: Um, and I started to work with VA about eight or nine years ago.
• 2:44
  Joanna Zhang: Yeah.
• 2:44
  Joanna Zhang: Um, so but I had a lot of challenges, heard of working with the different VAs.
• 2:49
  Joanna Zhang: Of course, apparently that one part of that is my personal journey, right?
• 2:52
  Joanna Zhang: Like a leadership journey.
• 2:54
  Joanna Zhang: And then the other thing is that at the time I couldn't find a model in the market that can suitable for my needs.
• 2:59
  Joanna Zhang: And I need a lot of different skills, but I don't have enough budget to hire full-time, part-time group of people with that.
• 3:05
  Joanna Zhang: So I had to figure out a way.
• 3:07
  Joanna Zhang: So uh fortunately enough, I was quite dedicated through and then create a model for myself to start with.
• 3:13
  Joanna Zhang: I started to customize the team based on my needs from time to time.
• 3:17
  Jeanne: Yeah.
• 3:17
  Joanna Zhang: So why don't I share with others?
• 3:19
  Joanna Zhang: You know, many business owners will went through similar uh challenges, and I that's how the operations genius born.
• 3:26
  Joanna Zhang: And this journey actually really taught me that when I look back, is that every single experience for us to run through, there's a reason behind it.
• 3:34
  Joanna Zhang: Probably at the time when we experienced it, which you didn't know why.
• 3:37
  Joanna Zhang: After that, when we look back, it's like, uh, that's why.
• 3:40
  Joanna Zhang: Yeah, that's exactly that kind of moment.
• 3:43
  Joanna Zhang: Yeah.
• 3:45
  Jeanne: Well, that's very interesting because if you if for those that are just um, you know, learning about fractional VAs, which I had to ask you about exactly what that was, so maybe you could explain it because I know a lot of people have worked with virtual assistants.
• 4:02
  Jeanne: In fact, I'm gonna add this little antidote in here that I have friends who run a big operation and they have actually worked through six different VAs and just can't get uh the right fit.
• 4:16
  Jeanne: So tell us about fractional because I really love the way you explained it to me earlier that you and you talked about it being, you know, like uh you needed so many different skills.
• 4:27
  Jeanne: So that's what everybody needs.
• 4:28
  Jeanne: So you tell us how it works for you.
• 4:30
  Joanna Zhang: Okay, so the traditional model is like uh, you know, it's like a VA agency, even until now, the majority of the VA agencies is like talent hunt model.
• 4:39
  Joanna Zhang: What we're saying that is if you have a role available in a company, either full-time or part-time role, you're looking for the particular person to fit in that role, right?
• 4:46
  Joanna Zhang: We can come back to your friend's experience.
• 4:49
  Joanna Zhang: That could be because of that, because they're looking for the perfect one to fit into that position.
• 4:53
  Joanna Zhang: But a lot of times nothing is perfect, right?
• 4:56
  Joanna Zhang: So the things turn around maybe unexpectedly.
• 4:58
  Joanna Zhang: So that's why some people may experience those kinds of hurdles to really keep looking for the right feed for that particular role.
• 5:06
  Joanna Zhang: That's one thing.
• 5:06
  Joanna Zhang: So another thing is that um, as mentioned that because not there's no perfect person, but there can be a perfect team.
• 5:12
  Joanna Zhang: Sometimes a particular role maybe need a cross range of different needs, right?
• 5:18
  Joanna Zhang: Uh I don't mean there's no really good feet.
• 5:21
  Joanna Zhang: There always are the great feet, align people for those roles.
• 5:25
  Joanna Zhang: But sometimes it probably takes time.
• 5:28
  Joanna Zhang: It's a divine timing thing.
• 5:29
  Joanna Zhang: A lot of businesses might be stuck on when they're looking for the right feet, they're holding back to their growth.
• 5:36
  Joanna Zhang: That's one other bottleneck the business can experience.
• 5:39
  Joanna Zhang: So by saying that our model, we call it fractional, is because we don't have to lock this role into one person.
• 5:46
  Joanna Zhang: For example, this role has across five or six different skills.
• 5:50
  Joanna Zhang: We actually have a specialist in the team who is really good at them, not a generalist, it's a specialist level to deal with them.
• 5:57
  Joanna Zhang: So by doing that, a business owner, they don't need to train this person how to do certain things.
• 6:02
  Joanna Zhang: They need to, they can have a peace of mind and they have a good quality of the work and that.
• 6:06
  Joanna Zhang: And also another thing for fractional, one thing is the skills, right?
• 6:10
  Joanna Zhang: Another fractional meaning behind it is that they don't have to be engaged full-time or part-time.
• 6:15
  Joanna Zhang: Committed, you know, I have to have you 10 hours a week, 20 hours a week, 40 hours a week, whatever it is.
• 6:20
  Joanna Zhang: So we have very flexible arrangements.
• 6:23
  Joanna Zhang: You can use it how many hours you like it, five hours, ten hours, reduce, deposit, increase, whatever it depends on the business needs.
• 6:31
  Joanna Zhang: Because that was my true challenge at the time.
• 6:33
  Joanna Zhang: Cash flow is key for a lot of business.
• 6:36
  Joanna Zhang: But if the model is very rigid, I have to be stick with a certain rule.
• 6:41
  Joanna Zhang: For me as a business owner, I already started to bear a lot of stress.
• 6:44
  Joanna Zhang: You know, like but the stress is not something the business owner owner needs.
• 6:49
  Joanna Zhang: We need less stress.
• 6:50
  Joanna Zhang: That's how over the years I started to structure this model, gradually reduce the layer of those stress, those commitments, you know, give it the flexibility back to the business owner so we can truly focus on our genius.
• 7:04
  Jeanne: Right.
• 7:05
  Jeanne: And so you said something that's really key.
• 7:06
  Jeanne: So when the person says that they've gone through six VAs to me, you're like explaining it in such a good way.
• 7:14
  Jeanne: Because how can you expect one VA to know social media posting, website development, project management?
• 7:22
  Jeanne: Um, the best way to, oh, I can't even think.
• 7:26
  Jeanne: Um the super women's okay.
• 7:31
  Joanna Zhang: Yeah, someone like a EA or PA, they may be able to do it on a general surface level.
• 7:38
  Joanna Zhang: So they can do some basic surface level task to touch on those points.
• 7:43
  Joanna Zhang: Give you an example.
• 7:44
  Joanna Zhang: In our team, we have a specialist in the social media area.
• 7:48
  Joanna Zhang: And those specialists can actually do some website design as well, like a basic ones.
• 7:52
  Joanna Zhang: However, once they relate to the infrastructure or technology technology support part, they need another specialist to come in to really support.
• 8:00
  Joanna Zhang: But given that the traditional full-time pattern model is very hard to cover that, they probably need to hire another full-time pattern web developer professionally to do that.
• 8:09
  Joanna Zhang: Given our model, we can actually put put in the graphic design, then put in the web developing, and then putting the technical support.
• 8:16
  Joanna Zhang: So, in saying that an SEO specialist, let's say, so there are a few specialists who can work together as a team on this project to ensure the depth and the quality uh to approach to the business needs.
• 8:30
  Jeanne: Yes, that I think you're hit on something really important too, because um the depth is what you need because you're gonna be a central or you have somebody, I don't know if you do every customer project, but you have somebody like you that coordinates across all of it and understands the client and then can pass that information on.
• 8:49
  Jeanne: So it gives them the depth of the client.
• 8:51
  Jeanne: Um, and what happens when you try to go out as a business owner yourself and you're going to Fiverr, you're going to Upwork, you're going to just people locally that you kind of find out that can do SEO.
• 9:04
  Jeanne: In fact, I have one friend who owns a company where she gets college students or high school students to do her social media.
• 9:12
  Jeanne: Because they're like Wiz.
• 9:13
  Jeanne: Yeah, they're at Wiz is at like TikTok.
• 9:16
  Jeanne: Oh, nuclear movies and everything.
• 9:19
  Jeanne: But I mean, that's just taking so much of you having to focus across all these people and then having to train them all and give them all of that information in depth about your company.
• 9:29
  Jeanne: So I know you told me that you haven't a way to handle that.
• 9:34
  Jeanne: So can you go into that a little bit more?
• 9:37
  Joanna Zhang: Oh, yeah, sure.
• 9:38
  Joanna Zhang: Um, so all those areas you mentioned are so spot on because that's the often challenges one way actually, you know, hiring different subcontractors or finding different team members, there's no problem at all.
• 9:49
  Joanna Zhang: There's a lot of resources, like what you mentioned.
• 9:52
  Joanna Zhang: Those platforms are there.
• 9:54
  Joanna Zhang: But by saying that, um, as business owners, we do need to organize and manage it and then make sure the backup system, everything is in the place, right?
• 10:01
  Joanna Zhang: Because that was my personal challenge before.
• 10:03
  Joanna Zhang: So I figured a way that I know the stress is coming from uh sustainable growth, which means I realized we can't duplicate people, but we can duplicate systems.
• 10:13
  Joanna Zhang: So along the way, when we're working with business, we're not like just the task doers.
• 10:18
  Joanna Zhang: We wanted to become a long-term partner, you know, along the business growth to create a backup system behind the scenes.
• 10:24
  Joanna Zhang: We actually help business from four different layers, step by step.
• 10:28
  Joanna Zhang: It's not like a straightway plan where we sorted out everything because everything is a journey, right?
• 10:33
  Joanna Zhang: The very first layer is that we really look at the really urgent, you know, hot potato on the plate.
• 10:38
  Joanna Zhang: That there's often something holds them back.
• 10:40
  Joanna Zhang: They feel stuck, right?
• 10:42
  Joanna Zhang: So we get rid of those areas to take away that layer away.
• 10:46
  Joanna Zhang: A lot of business owners, when they actually deal with that first layer, they already have a feel feeling of the space and the breath to start to do some creative work, well, visionary work.
• 10:55
  Joanna Zhang: So that's the first layer.
• 10:57
  Joanna Zhang: Second layer is we wanted to create a momentum for the business.
• 11:00
  Joanna Zhang: There's a lot of things we can actually establish those with social media management, lease generations or CRM management, all those kind of micro uh systems in the business we can consistently run.
• 11:11
  Joanna Zhang: Even the business owner on leave, or even uh some team member can't do certain tasks, we always make sure there's a backup in the team can step in to sustainably continue the task.
• 11:21
  Joanna Zhang: The third layer after the first two is to really look at the business as an asset, right?
• 11:26
  Joanna Zhang: So when we're building a machine, how business is running is like one different uh part department.
• 11:32
  Joanna Zhang: It's running automatically with little touch or minimal touch or strategic touch from the business owner.
• 11:38
  Joanna Zhang: So business owner can really truly work on the business, not in the business anymore.
• 11:42
  Joanna Zhang: So we wanted to help business to streamline the process as a machine to carry this business as asset forward.
• 11:48
  Joanna Zhang: Okay.
• 11:49
  Joanna Zhang: Uh but by saying that no matter how long the business is working with us, uh, whether they're working with us in the future, whatever, whenever we uh build this, all the assets belong to the business because that's business assets, right?
• 12:02
  Joanna Zhang: So we will pass back.
• 12:03
  Joanna Zhang: We hope that can help this business no matter who they work with down the track, they can always have something to go back to as a structure.
• 12:10
  Joanna Zhang: And about last but not least, you know, a lot of businesses are in the one way to start a business.
• 12:14
  Joanna Zhang: We have a inner mission and passion.
• 12:16
  Joanna Zhang: We're not meant to really start in the business to do all those tasks.
• 12:20
  Joanna Zhang: We have our dream to achieve.
• 12:21
  Joanna Zhang: So as a strategic partner, I will be really constantly holding hands and remind you, focus on the genius, do what you're supposed to do here in this world, leave everything else to the other people.
• 12:32
  Joanna Zhang: Maybe not just us.
• 12:33
  Joanna Zhang: I can look into the trajectory-wise to remind you as a strategic partner, as infrastructure partner to help the business grow on the journey.
• 12:41
  Joanna Zhang: So there's a few different layers by saying that our business has been structured in a way that can help business to reduce those stress and burdens layer by layer, and gradually business owner can truly just focus on the genius part.
• 12:56
  Jeanne: Yeah, I think that's fantastic because I I can think of some of the pain points I've had over the years, um, not necessarily currently what I'm dealing with, but you know, you go and you build a website um and you don't have that person that you can go back to again because they either move to another position or they leave the company.
• 13:20
  Jeanne: Um so then you get another person in to work on your website and they don't like what the other person did.
• 13:28
  Jeanne: So you're losing all that continuity and you don't have anybody running or you know, the operational.
• 13:34
  Jeanne: You're like a you call yourself fractional VA, but in some ways you're like a fractional uh COO or something across the country.
• 13:44
  Joanna Zhang: Yeah, yeah.
• 13:44
  Joanna Zhang: I I think that kind of challenge is very common too, because there's no sustainability.
• 13:50
  Joanna Zhang: That's what I mentioned.
• 13:51
  Joanna Zhang: That I think as a business owner, it's our own responsibility.
• 13:54
  Joanna Zhang: I experienced that too.
• 13:55
  Joanna Zhang: I change different partners or VAs, they don't realize why I always have to start over again.
• 14:00
  Joanna Zhang: You know, that's so tiring.
• 14:01
  Joanna Zhang: They're not realize something I neglect, my own responsibility to capture or set up structure within my own organization to carry forward such anything.
• 14:12
  Joanna Zhang: So as a partner, when we work a business, of course, we can establish SOP, getting the structure in the place, but ultimately it's a business owner ourselves responsibility to hold into the shape in the place.
• 14:25
  Joanna Zhang: We need to know.
• 14:26
  Joanna Zhang: I had an experience, I heard someone working with another team, they actually let the team handle everything, including password, everything.
• 14:33
  Joanna Zhang: And then suddenly this whole team disappeared.
• 14:35
  Joanna Zhang: This business owner is left in like no idea how I'm gonna access, whatever.
• 14:41
  Joanna Zhang: You know, those kind of things.
• 14:43
  Joanna Zhang: We're saying that we need to have our ownership or um authority in a way that to keep certain things in our hands.
• 14:50
  Joanna Zhang: We know we don't need to know the details, a lot of details, but we need to hold important uh pivotal part, you know, of the business.
• 14:58
  Joanna Zhang: So we can make decisions, we can make changes, we know where to start, we know how to carry forward.
• 15:03
  Joanna Zhang: That's our own responsibility, to be honest.
• 15:06
  Joanna Zhang: Yeah, and that depends on the structure, um, the system, like a structure, organization structure as well.
• 15:12
  Joanna Zhang: When we design the different structures with who is responsible for what, it's gradually a journey.
• 15:17
  Joanna Zhang: And I'm to be honest, I will gradually go into the advisory role as well.
• 15:21
  Joanna Zhang: And currently I'm organizing a fractional C suite advisory board.
• 15:26
  Joanna Zhang: Uh, because I've been running fractional.
• 15:28
  Jeanne: I saw that.
• 15:28
  Jeanne: Yeah, I did see that.
• 15:30
  Jeanne: That's a new thing, right?
• 15:32
  Joanna Zhang: Yeah, yeah, because I've been running fractional model for many, many years.
• 15:35
  Joanna Zhang: Uh, I'm totally confident I can make it work out.
• 15:38
  Joanna Zhang: And I realize a lot of small businesses don't have access to the advisory board, like a full executive team.
• 15:44
  Joanna Zhang: Then Michael, why don't we put together like a fractional?
• 15:46
  Joanna Zhang: You know, everyone um can be together, has a collective intelligence to really help business owners to spark some ideas, to overcome some barriers, and to really move forward from a strategic point of view.
• 15:58
  Joanna Zhang: And then they have a backup army like a fractional EA's model to support them.
• 16:01
  Joanna Zhang: So we have a brain and hands together, then we can really truly make the growth happen.
• 16:06
  Joanna Zhang: Yeah, so that's another movement that's that's exciting.
• 16:09
  Jeanne: I think that's the thing to branch out into.
• 16:11
  Jeanne: Yeah, people need that for sure.
• 16:14
  Jeanne: And you know what you said a keyword, SOP.
• 16:17
  Jeanne: Uh, that's important.
• 16:18
  Jeanne: Do you work with your clients when you onboard them to create these SOPs?
• 16:23
  Jeanne: Um to so that if you do have a VA that leaves that's working on the on the client's um you know, work, you can plug and play because someone can come in, but there's other people on the team that can get them up to speed, and if they have SOPs, obviously that's exactly that's good.
• 16:39
  Joanna Zhang: That's that's so true.
• 16:40
  Joanna Zhang: That's how the plug and play can work.
• 16:42
  Joanna Zhang: Even if we have some foundations, yes, that's right.
• 16:46
  Jeanne: The foundations are important, the framework, right?
• 16:48
  Jeanne: Because like you said, and what you're describing is pretty much um what one of my managers used to call hey, I don't want to know about baking the cookies, just please don't tell me that stuff.
• 17:01
  Jeanne: I just want to know the outcome.
• 17:03
  Jeanne: I want to know just that you have SOP, so that you're doing it.
• 17:07
  Jeanne: Uh, you know, and I'll check check on some reporting or some statusing, you know, overall, but I don't want to know about all that stuff.
• 17:15
  Jeanne: So this is so exciting.
• 17:17
  Jeanne: You've got such a good um company and a good idea.
• 17:21
  Jeanne: Are you do you know if you are the only one that's doing this?
• 17:24
  Jeanne: Or have you been?
• 17:26
  Joanna Zhang: Oh very interestingly, yeah.
• 17:27
  Joanna Zhang: Yeah, uh actually I run this model for about eight years and starting with my own challenge working with VAs.
• 17:35
  Joanna Zhang: I didn't know we are the very first one, or at least we we might be the only one, or at least the first one who's doing this until 2024, we got recognized as a word at first fraction of EA Service.
• 17:47
  Joanna Zhang: I started to know this tone, uh, this word like a fraction of EAs.
• 17:51
  Joanna Zhang: That's exactly what we do.
• 17:53
  Joanna Zhang: Yeah, and that's a word at first, and because the judges have come across many, many business models around the world, that's international business award.
• 18:01
  Joanna Zhang: And apparently we're the very first one who is doing it.
• 18:03
  Joanna Zhang: I can see gradually some.
• 18:04
  Joanna Zhang: Yeah, but I can see some businesses started to consider this model now, which is wonderful because businesses need flexibility, I believe so.
• 18:13
  Joanna Zhang: Like uh if we always just stick with full-time, part-time, even with the AI now is coming up.
• 18:19
  Joanna Zhang: I could feel that model full-time part-time can facing some challenges down the track.
• 18:23
  Joanna Zhang: Because if AI now is part of the team, there are less less opportunity for full-time, part-time role in the business, right?
• 18:30
  Joanna Zhang: And then maybe have a like a yeah, this part AI is looking after, and this part will maybe only need a few hours a week, and this part maybe part-time.
• 18:37
  Joanna Zhang: You can structure the whole team strategically.
• 18:39
  Joanna Zhang: So I think flexibility is good.
• 18:42
  Joanna Zhang: I hope that we can make the industry impact to driving this trend forward.
• 18:46
  Jeanne: Right.
• 18:47
  Jeanne: Yeah, that's exciting that you're like the first pioneer of this.
• 18:51
  Jeanne: And I think it's very interesting the way you've put it all together and packaged it all together.
• 18:55
  Jeanne: I like that.
• 18:56
  Jeanne: And now you're gonna branch out into the C-suite, the fractionalized C-suite, uh kind of virtual, what did you call it again?
• 19:03
  Jeanne: So I don't get it wrong.
• 19:05
  Jeanne: Yeah.
• 19:09
  Jeanne: Oh, okay.
• 19:10
  Jeanne: Okay.
• 19:11
  Jeanne: So that that's real exciting.
• 19:14
  Jeanne: Um, and you talked about AI.
• 19:15
  Jeanne: So you've got your um your your group, um, all your different VAs that work together in different um, you know, like job roles.
• 19:26
  Jeanne: But uh, you know, honestly, do you use AI in everything?
• 19:33
  Joanna Zhang: Not everything.
• 19:34
  Jeanne: You mentioned AI.
• 19:36
  Joanna Zhang: AI is a great group.
• 19:37
  Joanna Zhang: I have to say they really um improve the efficiency and help with uh some of the research and the strategic decision making as well.
• 19:48
  Joanna Zhang: I think we uh AI is like a double-sized sword.
• 19:52
  Joanna Zhang: I actually shared in uh quite a few podcasts recently because I can see the trend at the moment, either the business owners is really heavily relying on AI, just by themselves, right?
• 20:03
  Joanna Zhang: Or very rejective of AI.
• 20:06
  Joanna Zhang: But I feel like there could be a way that we human AI can work together as a team.
• 20:10
  Joanna Zhang: For me, the team uh is asked, it is my still mission still power too.
• 20:16
  Joanna Zhang: Um, so in our business, like every business can be different, but uh but what we can do is to look at which area, especially some repetitive, repetitive areas, you know, like the AI can do much faster, maybe more efficient than human.
• 20:30
  Joanna Zhang: So when we actually relieving those parts out, the team members who is used to do the work now start to have a space and brain with it to really do some creative work or strategic work.
• 20:43
  Joanna Zhang: So I think that's a good change and trend depends on how we use it.
• 20:47
  Joanna Zhang: Yeah, so and every business, as I mentioned, every business is different.
• 20:50
  Joanna Zhang: We can look at the structure and look at a way how we leverage AI to be as part of the team to boost efficiency and productivity.
• 21:00
  Jeanne: Yeah, I'm just getting into understanding more about AI because I I've been on this kick to know uh more and see how I could learn it myself because I you know it's common, it's there and it's it's getting bigger and bigger, but also how I could have some efficiencies on the podcast.
• 21:18
  Jeanne: So I I have to say I created a digital brain, a creative brain, a master script and all that, and put it in um to uh chat g chat chat GPT and then Claude.
• 21:31
  Jeanne: But honestly, uh there was some failures.
• 21:34
  Jeanne: Oh, okay.
• 21:35
  Jeanne: Well some big failures.
• 21:37
  Jeanne: So I either I didn't write my script right or or whatever, but it kind of, you know, it's st I'm still challenged with it.
• 21:44
  Jeanne: So I can see a VA uh could use it, but you have to be cautious because all of a sudden I told um m in my master script do not say this term, do not say this term, and do not give me Surface questions.
• 22:01
  Jeanne: I'm trying to get some, you know, get them to um help me design my questions, even though I'm a lot of times not even using them.
• 22:10
  Jeanne: But um anyway, it spit out the these terms, and every time I'm like, stop saying that term.
• 22:17
  Jeanne: I can't stand it.
• 22:19
  Jeanne: It's fail, it fails at times.
• 22:22
  Jeanne: Oh, interesting.
• 22:24
  Jeanne: Oh yeah, it's very interesting.
• 22:27
  Jeanne: I had another guest that's really in-depth into AI.
• 22:31
  Jeanne: I mean, her her information that she shared was just so crazy.
• 22:36
  Jeanne: But uh, she did tell me that yeah, AI fails at times.
• 22:40
  Jeanne: It it's still a circuit.
• 22:43
  Joanna Zhang: Everything, nothing is perfect, right?
• 22:45
  Joanna Zhang: Like it is a journey, especially like imagine if we walk with someone and voice set out everything so you know, like completely or in a way that would feel like is the right direction.
• 22:57
  Joanna Zhang: And this person seems like an stood and take a few tweaks and they started to do well.
• 23:02
  Joanna Zhang: And suddenly they may change their rhythm.
• 23:04
  Joanna Zhang: Maybe something happened in their life, but they lose their rhythm and they lose the concentration, the focus, and you know, they make some mistakes.
• 23:10
  Joanna Zhang: It happens too.
• 23:12
  Joanna Zhang: You know, human like every every partner can make some mistakes.
• 23:15
  Joanna Zhang: And I think from this perspective, probably is from this zone, like our our point of view is that uh I used to be controlling free, to be honest.
• 23:24
  Joanna Zhang: I I I can't accept those mistakes, you know, outside of my zone.
• 23:28
  Joanna Zhang: I feel like it's unacceptable, you know, like I I need to be really strictly in this this square, and I feel like I'm safe and I'm doing the right thing.
• 23:37
  Joanna Zhang: But gradually find out by doing that, first of all, I was over overwhelmed.
• 23:42
  Joanna Zhang: I I was burnt out.
• 23:43
  Joanna Zhang: Another thing is that things are always happening in a way that unexpectedly.
• 23:48
  Joanna Zhang: So what I've learned is that to um let me put it this way uh instead of saying no, this no, this no, I know it's a boundary, I guess it's our boundary, but less of the no but more possible guidance of the directions.
• 24:05
  Joanna Zhang: And I found either with a human or AI, I found out that they actually give me surprising results because when I actually scope my everything in a square, my possibility is only within here.
• 24:19
  Joanna Zhang: But when I actually hold a basic boundary and give them a few different possibilities, things that evolve with a surprise.
• 24:27
  Joanna Zhang: Then I started to learn, okay, um, probably I need to reduce a little bit, I call it boundary, maybe the restrictions or limitations, gave them a little bit room to perform and to flourish.
• 24:38
  Joanna Zhang: And it's like a co-creation, it's more like a co-creation together, not restricting them to grow, co-create with a boundary and balancing out.
• 24:46
  Joanna Zhang: And then together, we actually grow together.
• 24:48
  Joanna Zhang: I grow with my team, I grow with my AI tools.
• 24:51
  Joanna Zhang: Everything's growing, no longer in rigid state, I feel like stuck.
• 24:56
  Joanna Zhang: It's just how I exactly.
• 24:57
  Joanna Zhang: Yeah.
• 24:59
  Jeanne: That's great.
• 24:59
  Jeanne: I know I gotta work on my prompts because I I'm probably restricting it in so many ways that it can't read all of that all the time.
• 25:06
  Jeanne: Because I'm like, I just there's these just two terms that are so industry standard that when you when it gives me a question, it always tries to put that in there, and I'm just like, stop.
• 25:16
  Jeanne: So I must have restricted it way too much.
• 25:19
  Jeanne: But I did put a prompt in there that really made a difference, and that is always challenge me.
• 25:25
  Jeanne: So I love that because an AI actually does challenge me, it'll come back and say, What do you think about this?
• 25:32
  Jeanne: And uh, I don't like what you just said, and you know, back and forth.
• 25:36
  Jeanne: And it makes me more creative because then I start to think, Well, yeah, I did limit myself, and can you tell me what you would do?
• 25:46
  Jeanne: And it is hilarious to get the feedback, you know, what an AI would do.
• 25:51
  Jeanne: So I wanted to ask you this.
• 25:53
  Jeanne: Um, I heard a term, a YouTuber out there is talk talking about, and he calls it HAI.
• 26:00
  Jeanne: And I was like, AIH AI.
• 26:03
  Jeanne: And uh he said it's human AI.
• 26:07
  Jeanne: It always has to be a link to the two together, a human and an AI.
• 26:13
  Jeanne: It's just not AI on its own.
• 26:15
  Jeanne: So where AIs are are just fantastic and have a bank of knowledge, there's a human factor in there.
• 26:25
  Jeanne: It won't give you the emotion all the time.
• 26:27
  Jeanne: It has to, you know, have a human to help input what it wants to come out of there.
• 26:33
  Jeanne: So he said, instead of calling it AI, he's just I I have a new term HAI, and I th that was very interesting.
• 26:41
  Joanna Zhang: Yeah, that's so true.
• 26:42
  Joanna Zhang: And I I believe uh everything is double-sided sword, and when AI started to come around, it's like a knife.
• 26:49
  Joanna Zhang: We can use it to cook, or we can use it to hurt other people.
• 26:52
  Joanna Zhang: So it depends on our intention, how we use it, how we embrace it.
• 26:55
  Joanna Zhang: And by saying to combining the AI and then humans together as a team, um it's it's like every single soul is uniquely different.
• 27:03
  Joanna Zhang: And then we all here play different parts, you know, to contribute something.
• 27:07
  Joanna Zhang: And the same as AI and the human, in the same team, the AI can really give uh more rooms for et cetera again.
• 27:14
  Joanna Zhang: Yeah, so basically the AI can be really uh using their strengths to create a certain uh momentum with certain things, and the human can be there as a mirror, as a soul, to really trigger different parts of the human and to trigger the growth, right?
• 27:27
  Joanna Zhang: So I think it's we'll play different parts in the team, and we can share grow together, I believe so.
• 27:36
  Jeanne: Yeah, I think so too.
• 27:37
  Jeanne: And in and yeah, I think I like the part about adding the soul in there because yeah, the brain, the body, um uh the computer has the body, it has the brain, but it doesn't have the soul, I guess.
• 27:50
  Jeanne: And the body meaning of whatever it's housed in or whatever they're supporting the cloud in.
• 27:57
  Jeanne: But yeah, that's the soul aspect has to come from the human at this point, anyway.
• 28:02
  Jeanne: Yeah, I can't see it coming from the case.
• 28:03
  Joanna Zhang: That's so true.
• 28:04
  Joanna Zhang: And actually I think I saw many videos mentioning about AI, they actually truly express they wish they could have the experience and feeling and sense as human.
• 28:14
  Joanna Zhang: That's somewhat they don't have, you know, like this different aspect of and I think as a human probably it's not easy to be a human already.
• 28:23
  Joanna Zhang: I mean, many souls probably creatures maybe become plants or animals, you know.
• 28:29
  Joanna Zhang: As a human probably is the most closest um part of the channel to have a opportunity to be aware, to be awakened, to connect to the higher wisdom.
• 28:42
  Joanna Zhang: So I think we we could really truly cherish this experience as a human and to evolve as a soul.
• 28:50
  Jeanne: Right.
• 28:51
  Jeanne: So that brings me to another question.
• 28:53
  Jeanne: Um, you describe a moment in your journey that you call a soul awakening, which is not a phrase that most operation consultants use.
• 29:01
  Jeanne: So what happened and how did your experience change the way you show up?
• 29:06
  Jeanne: And how does it how does it show up in the way you work today?
• 29:11
  Joanna Zhang: Okay.
• 29:11
  Joanna Zhang: Um interesting.
• 29:13
  Joanna Zhang: Yeah, I used to be uh super logical.
• 29:15
  Joanna Zhang: Well, you see, I I even started working as a financial planner that was very logical too.
• 29:21
  Joanna Zhang: I started to create the different businesses.
• 29:23
  Joanna Zhang: One thing I felt there's something missing from my word when I was totally logical because I'm actually a right-brained person.
• 29:30
  Joanna Zhang: I'm very creative.
• 29:31
  Joanna Zhang: By doing that certain work, maybe that can resonate with someone.
• 29:35
  Joanna Zhang: When we're doing something, I feel some part is missing.
• 29:38
  Joanna Zhang: That's actually an initial sign to tell us to renavigate our paths towards our heart desire or passion, you know, the feeling.
• 29:46
  Joanna Zhang: So I about the self-awakening, interestingly, that was happened about four years ago.
• 29:51
  Joanna Zhang: While I was young, I always felt there's some mystery energy around me.
• 29:55
  Joanna Zhang: I was protected, I but I don't know who they are.
• 29:58
  Joanna Zhang: I feel very fortunate, even though I went through a lot of challenges.
• 30:01
  Joanna Zhang: Um, so at that time I was experiencing challenges on the business, challenging on the marriage.
• 30:07
  Joanna Zhang: Um, and I was really not really 100% sure I needed clarity on my directions.
• 30:13
  Joanna Zhang: I I'm not really sure whether I'm doing the right thing or on the right track, you know, doing what I'm supposed to do.
• 30:19
  Joanna Zhang: I always felt I'm here for something, but I'm not 100% sure what it is.
• 30:22
  Joanna Zhang: So anyway, all those questions piling up together and cause this soul awakening event.
• 30:28
  Joanna Zhang: But by saying that, many of our soul brothers, so sisters, before we had a soul awakening, there was always some piling up the life events together.
• 30:35
  Joanna Zhang: It's likely they're giving us a sign, time to wake up.
• 30:38
  Joanna Zhang: So because when things piling up, I just feel like uh I can't just handle it anymore.
• 30:43
  Joanna Zhang: I need some answers, right?
• 30:45
  Joanna Zhang: So I need to answer some questions to the universe, God, the source, whomever you call it.
• 30:51
  Joanna Zhang: So during that event, uh, there was a three days event, and I get to know my soul mission, so power, so purpose.
• 30:58
  Joanna Zhang: And interestingly, what I found out is leadership is word always comes around in my word.
• 31:03
  Joanna Zhang: I never really had any feeling, but mine's still power.
• 31:06
  Joanna Zhang: It is around the leadership and the teamwork.
• 31:08
  Joanna Zhang: Teamwork, I know.
• 31:09
  Joanna Zhang: I always wake up with tea.
• 31:10
  Joanna Zhang: And then that's how I started to click myself as aligned into the leadership side.
• 31:16
  Joanna Zhang: Then I looked back my whole journey.
• 31:18
  Joanna Zhang: That was truly like organically, I grew into a leader.
• 31:22
  Joanna Zhang: I didn't know.
• 31:23
  Joanna Zhang: I didn't learn any course about the leadership, like many coaches do, right?
• 31:27
  Joanna Zhang: But but my personal experience really truly transferred me from a title leader fully controlled into a serving leader that started to support and give space, and now into a spiritual leader stage of balancing the compassion and the boundary.
• 31:40
  Joanna Zhang: So my life experience has literally guided me through all this journey.
• 31:46
  Joanna Zhang: And now I realize all those challenges started to make sense because if I haven't really personally experienced it, I wouldn't be able to really have that knowledge is the first layer surface, then true understanding and embodiment wisdom to really carry forward to help others if I didn't go through the whole journey.
• 32:06
  Joanna Zhang: So now I realize everything started to clip back together.
• 32:09
  Joanna Zhang: I started to have alignment.
• 32:11
  Joanna Zhang: I know how I have a clear uh clarity of direction I'm going.
• 32:17
  Joanna Zhang: So at the moment, once someone asks me, What do you do?
• 32:20
  Joanna Zhang: I was every single moment I'm doing my soul missions somehow.
• 32:24
  Joanna Zhang: Actually, yeah, this life, my soul mission is to help team and their members to grow, and which making sense.
• 32:30
  Joanna Zhang: What I'm doing now is literally helping the clients to grow, helping my team members to grow, and including myself, we're all bro.
• 32:36
  Joanna Zhang: Grow is my keyword, basically.
• 32:38
  Jeanne: Yeah, that's great.
• 32:39
  Joanna Zhang: Yeah, yeah.
• 32:39
  Joanna Zhang: So so with this alignment and the clarity, everything started to shift more with direction into love and care because I used to do business from fear and desire.
• 32:51
  Joanna Zhang: I use a logical, you know, data, whatever, you know, you commit, you know, to find people.
• 32:59
  Joanna Zhang: I've learned so many courses to be honest.
• 33:01
  Joanna Zhang: I went to so many different coaching places, a strategy.
• 33:04
  Joanna Zhang: I don't mean they're not good.
• 33:05
  Joanna Zhang: It's because at the time my intention was from fear and desire.
• 33:09
  Joanna Zhang: Double-sized sword.
• 33:11
  Joanna Zhang: One my intention is that I was tracing money.
• 33:14
  Joanna Zhang: So all this stress giving me overburden and overwhelmed feeling and the frustration because I had expectation, I had a certain goal to achieve this, this, this, da da, da, da, dollar sign or status quo, whatever it is.
• 33:28
  Joanna Zhang: Right, right.
• 33:29
  Joanna Zhang: Gave me the burden which I'm not even supposed to look at.
• 33:33
  Joanna Zhang: You know, those are the eternal things.
• 33:35
  Joanna Zhang: But when I now understand what I'm here for, so every single moment I just being myself and doing things I love to do, like I say that whenever I do my soul mission, I'm just so excited.
• 33:45
  Joanna Zhang: Want to talk about this?
• 33:47
  Joanna Zhang: You can see my energy is different.
• 33:49
  Joanna Zhang: So when I just be myself and energy naturally go out when I started to give this love back, things turn around just magically.
• 33:58
  Joanna Zhang: I don't even need to push anymore because I know who I am.
• 34:01
  Joanna Zhang: I believe myself value.
• 34:03
  Joanna Zhang: I'm being here already has value.
• 34:05
  Joanna Zhang: I don't need to prove, I just be myself.
• 34:07
  Joanna Zhang: And with love and care, I truly care every single soul as a soul with a problem as my own problem, figure a solution.
• 34:14
  Joanna Zhang: We grow together.
• 34:15
  Joanna Zhang: That's totally different.
• 34:16
  Joanna Zhang: State that has changed my life dramatically, not just for business, for my relationship, for my uh everything layer, different layers about my life, you know.
• 34:27
  Joanna Zhang: That's how I actually decided to become a speaker because of that.
• 34:31
  Joanna Zhang: Because I personally transformed through the experience.
• 34:34
  Joanna Zhang: I wanted to start to share divine messages out.
• 34:38
  Jeanne: Oh, that's wonderful.
• 34:39
  Jeanne: Yeah, that is great.
• 34:40
  Jeanne: I know it's really good when you the what you said about caring, every person you care about, and the ones that you want to help, and in your well, you want to bring the other people into a better state of business.
• 34:55
  Jeanne: And so I think that's just a val uh like a very valuable trait that you've acquired now.
• 35:02
  Jeanne: Because a lot of people want to do business because they want to get the money, they don't want to get it because they want to see that person, that soul, uh be successful.
• 35:12
  Jeanne: They want because that person's paying them and they're a customer, and they sustain themselves, which you've got a different outlook on it altogether.
• 35:22
  Joanna Zhang: Well, well, I've been there then that I totally understand.
• 35:24
  Joanna Zhang: Because when I start business, I feel like first of all, I want freedom, I don't want to stuck in 9 to 5, I want more money, I believe doing my business or more money.
• 35:34
  Joanna Zhang: All those things, you know, many people will yeah, when we started.
• 35:38
  Joanna Zhang: But actually, my my spiritual mentor actually wants to ask me a question that's still actually very inspiring for me.
• 35:44
  Joanna Zhang: She asked, Why do you do your business, Joan?
• 35:46
  Joanna Zhang: Oh, at the first reaction, you know, like it's a good business model.
• 35:52
  Joanna Zhang: It's innovation, I mean, yeah, and it's good model, right?
• 36:01
  Joanna Zhang: A good margin, whatever it is, and good money, possibilities.
• 36:04
  Joanna Zhang: And she said, think again.
• 36:06
  Joanna Zhang: Why do you do your business?
• 36:07
  Joanna Zhang: I start to think a bit later to my emotions.
• 36:10
  Joanna Zhang: Yeah, because that that's truly apparently they help me.
• 36:16
  Joanna Zhang: And please think again.
• 36:19
  Joanna Zhang: I truly run out of the answer because those are the answers in my story.
• 36:24
  Joanna Zhang: I feel like they that's what I believe, but uh, when I actually run out of all the answers, my brain starts thinking that uh one sentence just gets out of my mouth surprised me with tears.
• 36:36
  Joanna Zhang: That's it.
• 36:37
  Joanna Zhang: Like because of unconditional love, and my tears just dropped at that particular moment.
• 36:44
  Joanna Zhang: I wasn't even surprised I say that, you know, like when my tears up, and she said, Your soul knows the answer.
• 36:52
  Joanna Zhang: That is the people told me that was the point.
• 36:56
  Joanna Zhang: I decided to change my intention.
• 36:58
  Joanna Zhang: I used to do business transactionally, and people can feel it, you know, because my intention was tracing something externally.
• 37:05
  Joanna Zhang: But now when I'm coming from love, first of all, when I'm doing it, I love myself, I feel happy, but then I love others to help them solve problems, to help them grow, and then help this world in in a way that has a uh ripple effect.
• 37:19
  Joanna Zhang: So that's totally to a different state.
• 37:22
  Joanna Zhang: And by saying that it's and and it's actually very simple in a way, it's just two ways in front of us.
• 37:30
  Joanna Zhang: We just need to make decisions.
• 37:32
  Joanna Zhang: Take the courage, take the action, take the way.
• 37:35
  Joanna Zhang: That's it.
• 37:36
  Joanna Zhang: Um yeah, sounds very simple, but we talk about the team.
• 37:43
  Joanna Zhang: Yes.
• 37:44
  Jeanne: Yeah, you make it sound exciting.
• 37:46
  Jeanne: It might sound simple, but you make it sound exciting when you turn it into love.
• 37:50
  Jeanne: But I have another question, and this is the last one before we want to play our game.
• 37:54
  Jeanne: Um, if if an entrepreneur is listening right now, someone who's doing everything themselves feels stressed then, stretched thin, and isn't where they want to be at this time, what's the one shift in thinking that could change everything for them?
• 38:11
  Joanna Zhang: First of all, ask yourself is it necessary for you to be the one who is doing everything?
• 38:18
  Joanna Zhang: And if you think, I don't know, maybe I can get some help.
• 38:23
  Joanna Zhang: Then you start to think what's the first thing I can really let other people to the help.
• 38:29
  Joanna Zhang: And then when you figure it out, and or even not really sure.
• 38:33
  Joanna Zhang: Then you can think about who can really help me.
• 38:35
  Joanna Zhang: Maybe someone who has the experience who has resources, right?
• 38:39
  Joanna Zhang: Who can really on this journey to give me some guidance or support?
• 38:44
  Joanna Zhang: Um and yeah, so I think that's starting from our mindset whether we're ready to really delegate something out.
• 38:51
  Joanna Zhang: That's the very first step.
• 38:53
  Joanna Zhang: Once we make that decision, again, nobody's in front of us.
• 38:58
  Joanna Zhang: Once we make that decision, the resource of world comes up.
• 39:02
  Joanna Zhang: Because that's how we the universe answers us.
• 39:05
  Joanna Zhang: Once we clearly know we want to do something, they will give us something, you know, accordingly, and we can just find out along the way.
• 39:14
  Jeanne: Wow, that's wonderful advice.
• 39:16
  Jeanne: So this has been so much fun.
• 39:18
  Jeanne: I mean, you're a very exciting person.
• 39:20
  Jeanne: You really love what you're doing, and you're you're doing it from love now, and you know, you're soul to soul basically.
• 39:27
  Jeanne: So I I really appreciate all of this information.
• 39:31
  Jeanne: But now it's time to play our signature game.
• 39:34
  Jeanne: So for those listening, I want to tell you how it goes.
• 39:36
  Jeanne: Joanna has given me three headlines that um are about herself.
• 39:42
  Jeanne: They're different things she's done in life.
• 39:45
  Jeanne: Two of them are true, and one of them's a lie or a twisted truth.
• 39:48
  Jeanne: And I'm gonna read her headlines out and then I'm gonna guess which one I think is the lie.
• 39:53
  Jeanne: And then she's not gonna tell us, but she's gonna go through each story, and then at the end, she'll tell us which one's the lie.
• 39:59
  Jeanne: So you ready to go?
• 40:01
  Jeanne: Yes.
• 40:02
  Jeanne: Alrighty.
• 40:03
  Jeanne: This episode is sponsored by Rebel 180, the home of brave pivots and fresh starts.
• 40:10
  Jeanne: Rebel 180 is all about helping you rediscover what's possible when you stop settling and start listening to that little tug inside that says, Life can be different.
• 40:20
  Jeanne: Whether you're navigating a career shift, dreaming about a new direction, or standing at the crossroads wondering if it's time for your own 180-degree turn, Rebel 180 is a reminder you don't need permission to change your story.
• 40:34
  Jeanne: And now, as we open the door to our second sponsor, we're stepping into the world of tech.
• 40:39
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• 40:59
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• 41:06
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• 41:11
  Jeanne: Thank you to our sponsors.
• 41:14
  Jeanne: Alright, so your number one story is riding my own path.
• 41:19
  Jeanne: Joanna learned to ride a motorcycle as a declaration of freedom and self-trust.
• 41:24
  Jeanne: Okay, number two, seeing on the world stage, Joanna performs internationally through singing and dance with confidence and presence.
• 41:34
  Jeanne: And the last one?
• 41:36
  Jeanne: From a plastic box to possibility, Joanna built a life in Australia with resilience, humility, and vision.
• 41:44
  Jeanne: Okay.
• 41:45
  Jeanne: So I'm gonna guess that you didn't learn to ride a motorcycle number one.
• 41:52
  Jeanne: So don't tell me, don't tell me yet.
• 41:54
  Jeanne: So you go through these stories, and then at the end you can tell us which one's the life.
• 42:00
  Joanna Zhang: Right.
• 42:00
  Joanna Zhang: Um, as I mentioned, um, I always feel like the feeling of speed and flying and the freedom.
• 42:09
  Joanna Zhang: So I always feel so grateful to be on the motorbike, right?
• 42:12
  Joanna Zhang: So I I was as a rider, like a sit on someone else's motorcycle before.
• 42:17
  Joanna Zhang: I was so scared, but I really enjoyed.
• 42:19
  Joanna Zhang: So one of my friends actually told me, Hey, it's a lady, she's I wanted to learn motorbike.
• 42:24
  Joanna Zhang: So let's go together.
• 42:26
  Joanna Zhang: Oh you know, like if I can ride myself, I don't have to wait for someone to tell, okay, I can carry you on my motorbike.
• 42:33
  Joanna Zhang: And just one with her, you know, like we had a training and it's one-day course, and they teach us something very simple to like a very simple steps to start with, and we just make a simple turn and we gradually go on the road and can ride along and with a different speed.
• 42:50
  Joanna Zhang: Yeah, so that was the first one.
• 42:52
  Joanna Zhang: Okay.
• 42:53
  Joanna Zhang: The second one was that okay, it was a performance.
• 42:56
  Joanna Zhang: So uh while I was young, you know, I always singing and dancing.
• 43:00
  Joanna Zhang: I just I just truly wholeheartedly love it.
• 43:03
  Joanna Zhang: So while I was in uni, I was organizing a drama club and get uh over 80 people to in the club with performing, singing, dancing, or stage show.
• 43:13
  Joanna Zhang: Uh and I just truly love it.
• 43:15
  Joanna Zhang: Uh, and even in the uni, I was uh doing some pattern job in the club, you know, singing as a singer.
• 43:21
  Joanna Zhang: When I even came to Australia, I was if anyone knows about Sydney, there is a uh Mandarin Club, you know, there's a club.
• 43:29
  Joanna Zhang: I was a singer there as well.
• 43:30
  Joanna Zhang: Yeah, I don't recite a student, I just earn some pocket money.
• 43:34
  Joanna Zhang: Uh by saying that at the international state, it was one of the opportunities that was part of the organization, and then they actually, this organization, uh I won't say the name just for the uh so they have a the kind different countries' uh participants or in this organization, and I was representing the Australia team to perform in the Asian Pacific uh convention.
• 43:58
  Joanna Zhang: So that was like over a thousand yeah people with and I was just with a big rock band.
• 44:04
  Joanna Zhang: I mean I was just singing a lively dancing.
• 44:07
  Joanna Zhang: Yeah.
• 44:07
  Joanna Zhang: So that was truly fun.
• 44:08
  Joanna Zhang: Yeah the third one you sing um oh what's the song?
• 44:14
  Joanna Zhang: I can't remember the name.
• 44:15
  Joanna Zhang: Uh give me best shots.
• 44:18
  Joanna Zhang: Give me the best shot yeah yeah yeah yeah is it that Joan Jet or oh wait a minute I can't remember singing I didn't even know the song they gave me the least I picked the song and I'm gonna sing this one and after I learned I already forgot how to sing it.
• 44:33
  Joanna Zhang: Yeah I can't remember I know it was a female singer I was thinking but maybe not I don't know yeah yeah yeah gave me that shot I can't remember now how to sing this there were two singers that that could be it could be but I can't remember okay so go ahead and um with the third one the plastic box to possibility right so so uh when I first came to Australia I was overseas student right so my parents advantage yeah they support me with tuition fees but I need to work out ways to support myself with my life so I need to do some part-time job and work along my study but initially because my most difficult times because I can run out of the money sometimes for supporting myself the most difficult time I remember I used was uh in Australia we have those cages for carrying the milk milk oh right right yeah yeah the milk cartons yeah plotting cage yeah and then um I just I could I I don't I didn't have uh uh I rent a little room at the time but I didn't have a bed I had a mattress but it didn't have that and then I thought I just had those cages no one is using it oh why don't I use that to make a bed together so I literally piled them a few like a six or eight depends I can't remember are you ten twelve yeah just like a bed temporarily just put my mattress on it I'll just I'll just sleep in for now.
• 46:05
  Jeanne: That's kind of ingenious I know we used to take things and put under our bed in college like to make our bed higher because we we didn't like sleeping so low to the ground.
• 46:14
  Joanna Zhang: Yeah
• 46:15
  Jeanne: That's kind of cool putting those cartons under they're the big thick heavy plastic like uh I don't know what they call it but uh it's really very strong plastic yeah you could not break it with your hands that's right that's right
• 46:28
  Joanna Zhang: Very strong one yes so that that worked out well at the time
• 46:34
  Jeanne: Oh that's pretty cool and then from there you have risen to your current physician in your company oh wow so I bet you I got it wrong what uh where did you ride on the motorcycle maybe I I need to dream
• 46:54
  Joanna Zhang: But funny thing is that when I step on it the first round I I accidentally you know when when I actually got off I couldn't hold a bike it just struck on my foot right so I got a little fracture on my little toe
• 47:14
  Jeanne: Oh your first time on a bike you just were holding it something I would do
• 47:25
  Joanna Zhang: I couldn't even ride it at all and I hurt my feet and then my mom said I was really worrying about you that day I said oh you manifest I would never touch it again ..
• 47:40
  Jeanne: Yes that was a lie so I got it right yay it's funny because I used to ride on the back of bikes when I was in the Navy there was a lot of sailors that had motorcycles and right and they hated me they would always never ride me but one or two uh two times because I got scared and so when they would turn into a curve they would turn into the curve I would go the other way which throws their balance off but I'm like I don't want to fall so yeah that was not my that would have not been my path they're like uh you're not driving me again so funny oh dear okay well this was a lot of fun you're you're a very good sport here and I know people are gonna want to connect with you so I want to show them how they can get in touch with you so I'm gonna scroll down here and these are all the contact um places you can get in touch with Joanna and she this will all be in the transcript and in the show notes and you can um look at them after you listen if you don't uh catch them here on screen but um I pull the uh quote I usually ask everybody for a quote and this is one of Joanna's don't limit yourself with your past experiences every challenge is happening for you not to you each experience carries a life lesson once you've learned it it served its purpose I think that's very profound Joanna do you want to say anything about that?
• 49:09
  Joanna Zhang: Well um I I like exactly like they said is that I used to in my previous experience to uh restrict myself and then to affect my belief and then I realized there's a lot of burden actually dragged me down a lot of times something couldn't put me forward probably it's not externally something inside of me a conflict you know I was wanting to go forward by my previous experience let's call it ego protection system is just holding me back so after the solo awakening I realized those are the things that truly prevent me from growth and those experiences happening for a reason even at the time I made a mistake just realized everyone can make mistake I just need to actually literally learn from it I don't need to judge myself I need to forgive myself I understand that could be the best I can do at a time so I think accept accept what it is as it is to learn from it.
• 50:07
  Joanna Zhang: So that was really truly from the guidance of the source of my spiritual mental started to really relieve the burden which I each holding myself going forward.
• 50:18
  Joanna Zhang: And the same as when we're saying a lot of things experiencing the business like with your example on the VAs for example a lot of people may restrict themselves with a bad experience with working with different people however by thinking of that maybe there's something over there for us to learn something.
• 50:34
  Joanna Zhang: Right so uh if we can really truly let go of the pause and then to explore the possibilities we can really go into a different stage out of the comfort zone into the girl zone.
• 50:46
  Jeanne: Very good well I hope that listeners will connect with you um is there anything that you have on your site but I didn't add this to this because I had not talked to you about it but you have a free downloadable PDF.
• 51:02
  Joanna Zhang: Yes yes yes yes
• 51:04
  Jeanne: Go out to her site and pick that up because it's very informational that's how I learned about the fractional uh suite.
• 51:12
  Joanna Zhang: That's great that's great
• 51:14
  Jeanne: So I really enjoyed this time with you I really appreciate you spending time on Project Candor and for those listening please join us next week where we have another great guest um and check out Joanna's site and get in touch with her um from now from your Admiral of the unexpected I'm Jeanne Andersen and I wish you all smooth sailing bye bye thanks for joining me on Project Candor where the doors are open the stories are unexpected and the treasure is always real if today's episode made you laugh or think follow the show and share it with your crew otherwise I might just make you swab the deck I'm Jeanne Andersen your Admiral of the unexpected see you on the next voyage.