𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡! - the 𝐁𝐎𝐋𝐃, 𝐁𝐢𝐠 & 𝐁𝐚𝐝 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐕𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐧

𝐁𝐎𝐋𝐃, 𝐁𝐢𝐠 & 𝐁𝐚𝐝 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐍𝐞𝐞𝐝 - getting started with media appearances, speaking engagements, publicity and PR - you FIRST need to get your mindset right! 
I'm  talking with Vaneese Johnson, The Boldness Coach™ who is an expert - and a speaker at the Break Through with Media summit, June 14-16 - and in this conversation Vaneese shares

• the role it can play in your strategy
• how she came to be a leading expert
• some examples of people using it effectively, and
• more!

We're going even deeper on this at the summit - and all the other facets of your media, speaking, PR and publicity strategy

The BREAK THROUGH WITH MEDIA Summit is a FREE, virtual event, June 14 - 16, offering live interactive sessions with experts in the fields of media like television, podcasting, radio, magazine, and news, speaking, publicity, and PR to help entrepreneurs, authors, and start-ups quickly understand how they can step their brand up to more prestigious, credible platforms, stages, and pages

We want to provide an interactive expo experience for your to get the big picture, see the opportunities for you, and meet knowledgeable experts that can make this the year you have the break through you've been dreaming of.

💥 REGISTER FREE at https://breakthroughin22.com/

You can find Vaneese at: https://www.instagram.com/theboldnesscoach/  https://www.linkedin.com/in/vaneesejohnson/
https://www.facebook.com/TheBoldnessCoach/ 

Transcript

September Smith: 0:00

Welcome to the She's All That video podcast. This season of the podcast is all about the BREAK THROUGH with MEDIA virtual summit that we're holding and all about the amazing industry experts that are speaking at the summit who will give entrepreneurs, authors and thought leaders, people just like you, a powerful alternative to the fast-deteriorating tool of social media for your marketing and visibility. The next big opportunity that you need to rapidly uplevel your positioning and your reach is media exposure, TV, podcast, radio news, speaking opportunities, publicity, PR and more. The free BREAK THROUGH with MEDIA Summit provides you with a constellation of experts information and strategy to give you the big picture of how you can get started. Our guest today is a key piece in that puzzle. And that is Vaneese Johnson, the boldness coach that is is a global leadership coach, keynote speaker, brand strategist and author. She is a powerhouse possibility, creator and transformation instigator that she teaches, empowers and challenges professionals to step into their bold, big and bad, and uplevel their career choices and successes with intention, ownership and self direction, then he's, it is so great to have you here with me today. Oh, and also to have you as a speaker in the upcoming BREAK THROUGH with MEDIA Summit provides you with a constellation of experts information and strategy to give you the big picture And how did you become the bold, big, bad mindset coach that you are?

Vaneese: 1:40

Well, it's September 1, I want to say thank you for having me as a guest on the podcast. And thank you also for having me as one of the speakers. You know, for the upcoming breakthrough Media Summit. I am like super, super excited, great lineup of speakers, lots of good information that's going to be shared. So just excited about that.

September Smith: 2:00

Oh, I am too. I'm so glad you're with us.

Vaneese: 2:03

So in terms of how I became the bonus coach, because I know that some people might hear this and say, Oh, this coach Hmm. That's audacious. That's, that's quite a ballsy of you. You know, what happened is, I'm an entrepreneur, and I have been full time for the last 26 years full time. And, you know, in that cycle of life, whether it's in business, whether it's in your personal life, we just go through different levels of journey in our lives, right. And as we go through those journeys, then there's a different level of who we need to be that's required to navigate through that journey, and to have a level of success, you know, in that journey. So I had a major life event that happened to me, I went through a divorce. And when that happened, it just really threw me for a loop. Because I had poured into that marriage, you know, probably the best of who I was in that moment. But I also didn't give the other parts of my life the best of who I was. And when I came to resolving how to move forward, you know, I wanted to really think about how do I want to show up going forward, you know, for the next level of my life, and I really want to go for the gusto. I really want to come from a place of courage, from a place of bravery, and from a place of being audacious. And then I asked myself the question September, who do I need to be to? You know, what is this experience? Number one, and who do I need to be? And so I asked myself, you know, what is the experience that I want to have, and that's it, you know, I really want to be bold, I really want to own who I am, you know, step into that, you know, own that in the world own that and how I show up in business, how I show up in my personal life, how I show up with myself. And I said, I really want to just step in, oh my goodness, you know, I really want to just really stand from a place of this is who I am in the world when I walk in the room, and not to cower down to make other people feel comfortable, you know, with my bigness, and then also, I want it to be bad, you know, not necessarily a bad ass, but really like I want it to be, you know, in the special in the business world. I wanted to be branded and distinctive. And what that means is I want my reputation to really stand for something so that when I'm not in the room, and when they think of a person to do you know something that's creative, innovative and audacious, then my reputation My name comes up. So that's how bobek bad started. And as I kind of embrace that part of becoming When I say, Well, who do I need to be? You know, like, if I'm standing out in the world, and if I needed to connect with people, and I needed people to see me, and this next level of me, who do I need to be, and the universe, I'm definitely a person who believes in spiritual guidance, you know, universal guidance. And it said, the boldness coach, and I was like, box around themselves. But boldness coach, like, that's pretty bold, and the spirit was like you do. And I said, okay, so definitely, this is, you know, something for the next level. So that type of boldness coach was born. And that's what I embrace. And I help people to move and navigate through different phases of their lives, identifying what their bold, big and bad is for the world.

September Smith: 5:52

So much in there, do I need to be who do I need to be, but there's also the situation where a lot of people in the situation you were in are in any kind of transitional time of their life where it doesn't occur to them that they can be anything other than kind of the default them that they think they are that. I mean, they even thought I want to be bold, I want to be big I want to be bad, is, in some ways, it just beyond the imagination of our people.

Vaneese: 6:25

Right? It's counter intuitive to the culture, you know, meaning that even though we're in a culture where people are kind of, especially when Instagram, you know, tick tock where people are kind of showy, showy, I think the bigger question to ask is, when people show us these things, is this authentically who they are, you know, when they're not on the camera? Is this how is this the authenticity that they bring when they show up in their engagement, you know, with themselves, you know, with family members and friends. And you're so right about this when I started, initially, when I started, and this was before the Instagram, you know, days Instagram craze is that I worked with a lot of professionals, high performing professionals, and career transition. And you know, the company had a business model change, which means that it affected a lot of people they got laid off, you know, where their position got terminated. And a lot of people were like, I'd been at this company for 25 years, like, what do I do? Who am I?

September Smith: 7:24

Where am I?

Vaneese: 7:24

Who am I, you know, outside of the role, the title, you know, in I've worked with clients where they are now empty nesters. And so they're like, I've been a mom, you know, doing mom activities and living the life of mothering. Who am I now that my children are no longer here, they're gone off to the next level of their lives. Now, what do I do with myself? How do I define that? I've also, I also worked with women that are in a midlife reinvention. You know, I've been working this career, I've been taking care of my family this way. And I'm not happy and satisfied the work that I do, I'm doing it, I get a paycheck. I feel like a zombie. I'm just showing up. But I know, you know, within my heart of hearts, I want more out of my life. How do I tap into the more like, Who do I need to be to get to that level of who I truly am?

September Smith: 8:22

Now, that brings a question to my mind. Because there's two things at play there. There's like, tapping into the boldness that it's going to take to make that leap. But also, a lot of people end up being kind of paralyzed in that whole question of like, well, what is next? Who do I want to be? What What can I be? Can I be anything other than this? Yeah. So do you take people through both steps?

Vaneese: 8:50

Yes, yeah. So initially, when a person comes to work with me, the first order of business is really understanding, hearing from you, you know, what's what's, what's the pain that's happening in your life right now? You know, I think sometimes when people go to coaches, and they look at coaches, and especially life coaches, I'm a professional development coach, and they're aspects of life coaching within, you know, the context, you know, of how I deliver what I deliver it and they're looking externally for an answer. So if you come to me, and you're looking for me to give you an answer, I'm not that coach for you. But if you come to me and you say, Let's collaborate, you know, I need some assistance, some support, some guidance than I am, that type of coach. So we sit down and I really listened to you. And what I'm listening for, is what's not being said.

September Smith: 9:41

Oh, oh, how does one hear what's not being said?

Vaneese: 9:45

Yeah, you know, you hear through, it's a heart connection. It's a spirit connection. When you can really hear because we're auditory right? You know, we can talk we can, we can tell good stories. Some of us are great story tellers, you know? No. And even when someone's telling the story, and we do this all the time, when we're looking at a movie, when we're reading books, we are reading between the lines about what's really what am I really hearing? And know what you're saying. But what am I really hearing, or we say what I hear being said is, in I'm reading these words, but what I'm actually reading, so it's really interpreting, you know, what's not being said. And then what I do is I take that, and I say to the client, so this is what I actually heard you say, Am I on your page? And a lot of clients are very surprised, and they're like, how did you get that? How did you know that? And I think we don't really people don't intentionally say what they really mean and feel for fear of rejection, for fear of being judged, you know, for the actual truth of what they're thinking and feeling. And so they tell a story, you know, to really see is this person going to give me space, to be truthful, be vulnerable, be open, and when they tell the story, and the reaction they get, really facilitates the next level of what that interaction is going to be. So when you come to me, and you tell me the story, and I tell you, let me tell you what I hear say, I hear you saying, and I asked for agreement, is this, what really you're saying that you didn't say? And when that person says, You got it? And I'm like, okay, then that's an invitation for us to say, let's really talk about the truth.

September Smith: 11:39

Mm hmm. That's amazing. So when you're talking about, like, going through that with somebody, and I guess what comes to mind is people who may be warm, or they know, they, they know they need to be more particularly business people. When it comes to visibility. A lot of people would maybe I mean, who most people would probably want to just hide behind their work, hide behind their computer, do their thing. But you really need to push yourself get out from behind there. And in some people say, Oh, I'm introverted. Can Can somebody who's who's really got a hesitancy and or identifies themselves as an introvert? Can they even aspire to a bold, big bed mindset, let alone achieve it?

Vaneese: 12:25

Absolutely, you can. So here's one of the things I want to make sure that I don't lead people down a rabbit hole of misconception about being bold, being bold, really is becoming out loud daily, that has to do with you becoming and stepping and evolving into your authentic self. Meaning, this is how you show up in the world every day, in every way. And find your level of bold. So my level of bold is bright, it's loud, it's out there, it's high energy. It's high engaging, it's truth telling. So that is my level of bold, for a person who is more introverted, their level of bold may be expressed in writing, maybe they are really great with words, you know, their expression may be in designing, you know, content, you know, that they put out in the world, maybe their level of expression also could be in using animation, you know, as a way of self expression, you know, for their energy. So I think it's important to find your level of bow. And, you know, just kind of test it out to see what resonates and feels good with your soul.

September Smith: 13:43

Can you then build on that? So if I like this year, I find this level of bolt, and I get comfortable with that, then maybe next year, I can go a little further and further and further.

Vaneese: 13:53

Yes, absolutely. We see that happen all the time, especially when we listen to certain level of famous people, you know, they talk about, oh, I was an introvert. I never wanted to be, you know, in front of the camera. And some people say we've heard Beyonce, for example, to say this, Beyonce said she has this alter ego, Sasha Fierce, you know, and she says, Okay, before I go on stage, you know, I turn into Sasha Fierce, because I go out, I do what needs to get done. And then when I come offstage, I come back into who I am. So, you find your level of bold as you gain more deeper confidence. And as your courage deepens as your bravery solidifies, then you find different ways to have outlets, you know of expression, you choose different outlets, of expression, you know, for who you are truly in the world. And here's the reality September, the nagging doesn't go away inside of us.

September Smith: 14:53

So important. Thank you for saying that. It doesn't

Vaneese: 14:56

go away. So if we if we have to The energy where we feel like and who we really are, is to be bigger and brighter to really impact and influence the world in a positive way, the universe is going to keep pulling at us, you know, to find bigger stages, to find bigger platforms, to find bigger ways to express the authenticity of who we are in the world, in a way to service and help others to rise to the occasion. So if a person is an introvert, and you may start off by doing a podcast, that is not video, that's strictly audio, I mean, clubhouse, I think is a fantastic way, you know, for people to step into a media space, you know, where they get to be behind the scenes, but yet still impact, you know, their listeners. And then your listeners might say to you, we want more we want we want to conference, or we want to we want to master class, then they're inviting you to the next level of visibility and the next level of exposure. And as you find your way, you might say, I want to invite other speakers, and that'd be the focal point. So now you are having a massive class with other speakers that they are the focal point, but you are the producer. So there are different levels that you can evolve into, to get yourself, you know, in a media space that you really feel like this makes my heart say,

September Smith: 16:27

Huh, yeah, have you strategy, find your way in doesn't all have to be in one leap?

Vaneese: 16:34

It doesn't have to be like everybody else. Yes.

September Smith: 16:37

Well, he does say find that authentic, who it is that you really want to be in our

Vaneese: 16:43

Yeah, and I would say that the probably the most toughest way to get there is to stop looking at other people. That looking at other people, and using that as your measuring stick of success, and how you are going to impact through media, you may not be the person for the TV camera, that may not be you. So don't torture yourself. And don't shroud your boldness, because you feel like that's what I have to do it that way.

September Smith: 17:18

Actually, the advice? Yeah, just work with somebody who can help you find your way.

Vaneese: 17:25

Yeah, yeah. And help you to be okay with who you really are, and who you're becoming?

September Smith: 17:31

Well, yeah, as Oscar Wilde said, you have to be yourself because everyone else is taken. So yeah, get comfortable with it. So could you give us an example? Are there any case studies or examples from people that you've worked with, that the transformation that you've seen with people, once they fully understand this bold, big, bad mindset process?

Vaneese: 17:53

You know, one of the one of the examples that comes to mind is, I have a client that I worked with, and she has a PhD. She's, you know, brilliant, and she has a PhD, and she's an English teacher. And she literature, she loves English, she loves teaching literature. She's a college professor. And she came from a very small town in the south and Arkansas, I think is the, the state she came from, I forget the specific time. And she was the first person in her family to achieve the PhD achieve, you know, have that higher level of education. So as you can imagine, every time she came home, to visit with her family, from California to Arkansas, everybody had put these labels on her, this is Dr. So and So and, you know, meet the doctor in our family, she's really smart. And, you know, people were looking at her, like, tell us something smart and intriguing, like, do a trick. Let's see how smart you really are. And when that person when she started talking about and having feelings of, you know, something else in life she wanted, and she started sharing it with family members. You know, the blowback was, how could you want to leave that great paying job that you have, you know, how could you want to, you know, have a career that doesn't require the level of education and prestige, you know, that the title of a doctor gives you like, what is wrong with you? I just think that, you know, you're not grateful. And so what happened was, she ended up, you know, just really going inward around her talent, her skills, you know, her level of courage had just diminished. You know, her bigness and how she wanted to impact the world was put into a box of only being, you know, a teacher with a PhD with the handle of a doctor in front of my name. Her reputation was only existing around those titles. In an essence, she just felt like it was a ball and chain on her ankle. And so, and I can understand that feel her weight because she was unhappy in every area of her life. And she was afraid of letting other people down.

September Smith: 20:11

Oh, wow, trapped in a life that you don't even want to be in. Because that means expectations. Well, I guess that happens.

Vaneese: 20:18

That happens consistently it happens, right? So as we started working together, and you know, I started, you know, she was telling me this story, I asked her, but tell me what you really want to do? Like, let's just blue sky it. If you had your way, you know, what would what would your life look like, you know? And she said, I would I would be an author, you know? And I said, Great, what type of books would you write? Then she talked about the kinds of books would you write? Who would you write them for? And how would it impact their lives? And as you impact their lives, how has that impacted your life? So we went through a series of questions, you know, to help her to start seeing, wow, this is still it's important, and it's inside of me. And then I said, you know, so what would it look like to give yourself permission, and to hold space for yourself? that others didn't get to enter in family members, friends, naysayers? What would that look like, if you also connected with community of other like minded individuals who were in a journey of self expression, and maybe even in this specific outlet area, you know, of writing. And so as we went through a different series of exercises, the most important thing that opened the gateway for us to have deeper work together, was the consent of giving herself permission, wow, to step into, to the possibility of what life could be like, it was also to give herself permission to own her boldness to become the next level of who she really is designed to be in the world, to give herself permission to expand her bigness, beyond just, you know, a title an academic, you know, certification, you know, or accomplishment, and the badness, to really be able to be authentic, and create a space for others, that she could help them and they could see her, you know, as an invitation, you know, because of the reputation of being who she really is. So that helped her and I'll tell you, at the end of this story, I'll tell you where we are, I'm not going to say the end, because the adventure continues to date, what she started doing was online meditation classes, you know, she started doing online writing classes, you know, and writing circles is what she started doing with others, writing circles, she has recently produced her first book of poetry. Oh, wow. She's also been doing ancestral webinars, you know, and using ancestral life of the African American community, infused into, you know, the evolution, you know, of our sense of the society, you know, of African American people. And she kept that with, you know, within herself as she was milk, this, she was driving through it. And then she found other like minded other Bo big and bad women in my community. And she now has that space of people that champion her. So she can go back home and still be in their eyes, as the doctor, you know, and how they see her. And she understands that this is what they need to see from me in order for them to feel connected, you know, and excited in the world. But the truth of who I am has a space that it flourishes and grows,

September Smith: 23:51

that that is so important to understand that this trying to be something else trying to expand into that next bigger thing that you want to be does not mean, you're setting aside your previous life choices or identities. I mean, it can augment. I mean, in some cases, maybe you do want to swap out the choices you made. But it's it's not giving up. It's just becoming more.

Vaneese: 24:13

Yeah, it's just, it's, it's accepting, it's accepting the depth of who you are. Because we all have a deeper level, you know, none of us I mean, if you the things you did in your 20s what you did in your 30s what you did in your 40s and so on and so forth. You evolve over time. Yeah, over time and the end the goal of that in my eyes and and, and my experience is to be bolder every time to really tap into who you are, who you are, at that level that you are becoming

September Smith: 24:45

oh absolutely becoming because we let's face it, that PhD or whatever degree it is, you got that was a choice, probably made by an 18 year old mind. Yes. Are you let that identify you for the rest of your life

Vaneese: 24:58

in May by other people Yeah, they had aspirations for that. And perhaps they didn't have the support. They needed to aspire to that. So they, they're experiencing it through you. And now it's weighing you down. Yeah. Yeah, yeah,

September Smith: 25:14

yeah, growth does not stop at 23, 24, 25. When you get that degree, you keep growing through life. Otherwise, that's death, right?

Vaneese: 25:23

Yes, yes. Yeah, you start with this is it this is, and that's, I think that's what happens, you know, with a lot of my clients that come through the door is, they're, they're having a death experience, you know, of the form of them. And, and the, the push and pull of this is, that's what I that's what I'm familiar with. It's what I know, you know, so I mean, I'm afraid subconscious, your subconscious is like, stay here, it's safe. We know what works over here. And you know, so we don't have to worry about what's possible over there. Because possible means that you may have to learn something new, let go old belief systems, let go of old mindsets. So you might have to let that go. And we don't know how that's gonna work out for you. So let's just stay here. Yeah. No, don't do that.

September Smith: 26:13

moving, keep growing. Oh, yeah. growing. Vaneese, I could continue talking to you about this, because this is just fascinating to me. And I think it's so so important to the, I mean, to me to life in general, but particular about this topic that I am currently so focused on, which is the breaking through with media to do that, you do need that bold mindset. And that's what you and I are going to be covering when you are a speaker at the breakthrough with Media Summit. You are on Wednesday, June the 15th. All in the skill set, you are kicking off the day, because that's that's what kicks it all off is the bowl mindset. We're going to be talking more about how bold mindset is key to your media campaign, we're going to get into what exactly is involved even more, and what people need to know to do this effectively, tips, strategies and action steps to make this the bold, big bed mindset, a powerful part of how you are going to break through with media this year. So then is where can people find you.

Vaneese: 27:16

So people can find me, here's the thing, I'm the boldness coach, I'm all over. That's the beauty of being the boldness coaches, I really in my boldness all over so people can find me on my website, the boldness coach.com People can find me on Instagram at the boldness coach system, people can find me on LinkedIn under Vaneese Johnson. And if you say, I know she said I could find her somewhere, you can always just Google my name is coach. And I'm gonna, I'm gonna come up on the first page of the search results under the bonus codes, and you can find me there. And I will say also, I'm on Facebook under the bonus coach. And I do have a Facebook Facebook group called Bo Big Bad sisterhood. So this is a this is a women's only group. So you're welcome to join me in the bull big bed sisterhood. You just got to answer a few questions. And I will invite you in to the sisterhood. And then that way you can really get continual morsels, you know, to help you to shift your mindset and belief system,

September Smith: 28:31

we are going to do our best to get all of those links down below in the show notes. And seriously, if you want to learn more about this, and how this mindset is so important, as a skill set to get in. If you're going into speaking engagements, media exposure, PR publicity, it's important to everything you do. Make sure you register for the free three day breakthrough with Media Summit, June 14 to 16th to come and be with Benny's and me and a truly incredible array of other industry experts to help you learn how you and your business can really have that big breakthrough that you need. The link to register for this summit is down below in the show notes as well. You will not want to miss this. And he's thanks so much for being part of this with me today. And also for being part of the breakthrough with Media Summit.

Vaneese: 29:20

I am so excited. Thank you for having me as a guest. And I look forward to just really learning from your listeners when they register for the summit. And they say Hey, I heard the podcast and I'm here to get it. So looking forward to receiving their energy to awesome,

September Smith: 29:37

see you there. And that was just one of the amazing guests that we have at the BREAK THROUGH with MEDIA Summit, a three day live virtual event happening June 14 to the 16th to give entrepreneurs authors and thought leaders a panoramic overview of the opportunities, the skills required and the services and tools that you can be using media exposure, speaking opportunities, PR publicity and more to have the major breakthrough that you are looking for 20 industry experts three days all available right from wherever you are and it's free. Register at the link below in the show notes. You will not want to miss this!