The Foureva Podcast
Welcome to The Foureva Podcast, where we break barriers and redefine success!
Join host Jamar Jones, a dynamic entrepreneur, national speaker, and author of "Change Your Circle, Change Your Life," as he takes you on an extraordinary journey of inspiration and motivation.
In each episode, we bring you an impressive lineup of star-studded guests, each with a unique voice and a wealth of insights to share. From industry leaders to renowned experts, we uncover their secrets to success in personal, business, and marketing domains. Prepare to be captivated by their stories, strategies, and experiences that will empower you to reach new heights.
Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, a marketing professional, or simply seeking fresh perspectives on life and business, The Foureva Podcast is your ultimate destination. Discover the transformative power of changing your circle and unlocking your full potential. With each episode, we delve into the minds of the most influential voices in the industry, providing you with the tools and inspiration you need to overcome obstacles and achieve greatness.
Don't miss out on this dynamic podcast that will fuel your ambition, challenge your limits, and propel you toward success. Tune in to The Foureva Podcast and join a community of driven individuals who are ready to make an impact. Get ready to be inspired, motivated, and 'foureva' transformed!
The Foureva Podcast
Nada Lena Reveals the #1 Soft Skill for Success in Business & Life
In this powerful conversation, Nada Lena, founder of Rise Up For You, shares her inspiring journey of resilience, confidence, and building a global business from just $100. From becoming an executive at 27, to overcoming personal challenges, to launching a company that now reaches over 50 countries—Nada shows us the real power of soft skills, emotional intelligence, and staying true to your values.
This episode is packed with lessons for entrepreneurs, leaders, and professionals who want to elevate their game and create lasting impact.
What you’ll learn in this episode:
✅ Why 75% of your success depends on soft skills—not technical skills
✅ How Nada built a 7-figure global business after hitting rock bottom
✅ The role of self-confidence and self-awareness in career growth
✅ How to overcome imposter syndrome and perfectionism
✅ Building non-negotiables in business to protect your values and health
✅ The journey of becoming a speaker and scaling fees the smart way
✅ Behind the scenes of writing bestselling books and launching a new one
✅ Why “content activation” is more powerful than “content consumption”
✅ How Nada is licensing her proprietary Rise Up For You method worldwide
Tune in now and discover how to rise up with confidence, clarity, and purpose.If you’re ready to level up, this episode is your playbook for growth.
The problem in today's world is most people are go go, go, go go. There's a ton of consumption coming their way, and so most individuals are A either on autopilot or they're in react. So they don't have, like, the capacity to be self-aware, like how many times have you been with a friend and they do something and they don't even remember that they did it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, all the time.
Speaker 1:Well, like, why did you say that? And they're like say what? Like say what you just said they're like I didn't say anything, like they don't even, they're not even aware, right, because they don't have the capacity, because they're just like in this reaction.
Speaker 2:What's going on everybody? Man, we got an episode for you today. This is going to be an absolute, powerful, powerful conversation. Natalina, let us know where in the world are you today?
Speaker 1:I am in one of the best cities in the world called Las Vegas.
Speaker 2:Las Vegas, let's go, let's go.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've been there and it's incredible. It's quite an experience. Are you on the strip or are you on the outside in the burbs?
Speaker 1:No, I'm in, like. I'm like, maybe 12 minutes away from the strip. Or are you on the outside in the burbs? No, I'm in, like, I'm like maybe 12 minutes away from the strip. It's probably the better place to be right Because, like you can go to the strip easy access but then when you just like want to step away from like all the craziness, you know 12 minutes away.
Speaker 2:So yeah, yeah, no, that's good. And I also heard that like the one thing that people don't understand about Las Vegas is like, once you're outside the strip, like life is kind of normal, like it's, it's a good experience. Is that true?
Speaker 1:It's amazing, it's easy. It's like very low stress from a lifestyle perspective. There's not a ton of traffic, everything is easy, it's accessible. There's like amazing restaurants off the strip too, Like there's a lot of cool stuff. There's a lot of hidden gems.
Speaker 2:Nice. Nice, Cause I know we we got the chance to interview one of the incubators that's in Las Vegas and they they work with a lot of raising capital, work with a lot of entrepreneurs, and he spoke very highly of Vegas. So that's cool. You got to double down on Vegas.
Speaker 1:I love it here.
Speaker 2:No, that's cool. So we're so excited to have you on the show. Can you just let everybody know just really quick, just to give everybody just a quick snapshot of just who you are and what you do?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I like to say that I'm a potentialist seeker, but I'm an entrepreneur. I built the business with $100, you know, just a few years ago and we have global reach all over the world and essentially what we do is we work with people and organizations, teaching them the skills that make them like the top 10% of high performing individuals and companies, and that's what we call soft skills. That's like the academic term.
Speaker 1:So, like most individuals today, whether they're an entrepreneur or professional, they tend to double down on, like the technical skills right, like getting degrees, building knowledge in certain areas. But very few individuals understand that 75% of your success is built off of your emotional and social intelligence, and so we teach those skills to leaders, entrepreneurs and organizations around the world Everything from big tech, big pharma, top Fortune 5 companies to small businesses that are growing.
Speaker 2:And how has soft skills gotten you to where you're at today?
Speaker 1:And how has soft skills gotten you to where you're at today? Gosh, let me put that in, I guess. A short answer Every job I've ever had, I've always gotten a promotion or climbed the career ladder in like less than a year. Not because of my resume, because of my soft skills. So when I was 27, I became an executive for an education corporation. There are about 200 team members under me, but I didn't walk in as an executive. I walked in as like just a normal team member. I actually only worked there part-time, two days a week and, because of my ability to build relationships, influence the CEO, three months later they called me into the office. I thought I was going to get fired. When they asked me to be the executive director, which was number three in command for the whole organization, there were a lot of pissed off people because there are people there that have been working there for like eight years, 10 years, and here I am just coming in and taking this position.
Speaker 1:At the time I only had a bachelor's degree. My bachelor's degree was in stage performance, like vocal performance. Because I was a performer, I used to do like musical.
Speaker 1:And everybody else had like PhDs and masters and like education and all of this stuff, and at that time I did it. I do now, but at the time I didn't. So that's a prime example of how soft skills can really help elevate your game and your performance. Another quick example is being an entrepreneur. I run a seven-figure business. Today we're in over 50 countries with our programming and I don't have a degree in business. My ability to tap into my confidence to influence, to be influential in my communication, has helped me grow the business faster than somebody else that's like getting in their own way that feels stuck, that struggles with imposter syndrome, that doesn't know how to influence, build relationships all the human skills that are really needed for your success.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think in your story I think we actually have a lot of parallels to that, because I worked eight years in IT and I had no degree and I just worked my way up to an IT manager. I'm working with all the executives, I'm doing pitches, I'm writing and everybody else got master degrees around me. And it really was. It was my ability to not only just I become a bookworm in anything that I do. So I like I just like I'm upset. It's either a zero or a hundred with me, so it's like there's no other way. But then it's also the soft skills. It was like just building the relationships, understanding, like how to diffuse situations. I mean there's just so many different things where my boss was like he just kept leveling me up every single time.
Speaker 2:And it's funny that you have the performance degree, because I was a hip hop artist for 11 years of my life. So we have a lot of different parallels in our story and our journey. So where did you learn these soft skills from? So, if soft skills is the key, where did you learn that that was so important and did you have some like crazy moment that happened to you where you're like, oh my God, soft skills is like, is it? And where did you get that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think I had like there's a couple of epiphanies. I mean, I think everybody has a different background and experience. I can say that the foundation of my soft skills came from my childhood Because, for example, self-confidence is one of the most critical soft skills. It's a major soft skill. My parents taught my brothers and I to be self-confident. They taught us to love ourselves, to always take action, to not be afraid to fail, to just keep trying, so like that in itself was a major contributor to our success. But our parents were also very big on us developing, like just the day to day, skills that had nothing to do with, like, going to school or degree.
Speaker 1:So like my dad for example, would make my wake, my brothers and myself up every single day, like at 5am, like he always said. Like this is not a hotel. If the sun is up, you are up, and then he would make up chores for us to do, like he would be. Like this is not a hotel. If the sun is up, you are up, and then he would make up chores for us to do Like he would be like go outside and rake the leaves.
Speaker 1:It's like well, we live in California, there's not a ton of leaves on the floor, like the weather's not crazy, you know what I mean. So they always like did these things that made us disciplined and motivated and like, right, so that was like the beginning of the foundation.
Speaker 1:But then honestly, being a performer really elevated my soft skills and my emotional and social intelligence, because the majority of my performing days were international. They weren't in America, so I was performing in Japan. I was performing in Gibraltar, in Germany, in Poland, in Russia, morocco, spain, you name it. I was on stage performing and in many situations, individuals didn't speak English, like the audience didn't speak English. So, as a performer, there was a multitude of things that I had to understand.
Speaker 1:Number one I'm on a tour bus with 40 other performers for months, so it's like understanding how to deal with these people, day in and day out, getting on a bus right, dealing with people's drama, but then it's also as a performer. I'm walking on stage and I have thousands of people that are watching the show and understanding how to read the room and play to the room so that they get the best show and the best performance, and especially when they don't speak English. So I'm performing in front of a thousand, a couple thousand people that only speak Japanese. I have to tap into that human side of me to say like, okay, how am I going to connect with them, how am I going to build a relationship, even though they don't really know what's coming out of my mouth?
Speaker 1:So, there's a lot of things in regards to performing that helped develop my soft skill. The biggest thing I will say, though, is and any entrepreneur or professional that's listening to this right now, I really want you to hear this when I walked into a room as a performer, you got to understand there's hundreds of performers, sometimes thousands, so why am I going to be the chosen one? When you go on tour, they only pick 40 people. Sometimes they only pick 25. So now I'm in this room full of amazing performers, everybody knows how to sing, everybody knows how to dance, and only 25 are going to be chosen. So what's the thing that's going to choose me? It's the soft skills. Our director always said I look for people that I want to go camping with, that I trust that I can can build relationships with, because, at the end of the day, everybody sounded the same, everybody danced Right.
Speaker 1:So, it's the same as an entrepreneur, it's the same as a professional, like, at the end of the day, there's a million businesses and entrepreneurs that do what you do. At the end of the day, there's a million professionals that have a similar resume to you, but why are they going to choose you and why are you going to build and grow your success? It's because of your ability to communicate, to have emotional awareness, to have self-confidence, to be able to influence. And that's when I really realized that, like, okay, this is more about just how I sing and dance. When I walk on that stage, I have to be different and I have to be unique, and it's not about my technical skill have to be unique, and it's not about my technical skill.
Speaker 2:That's deep, because, uh, so um, I think, another word that I use for what you call soft skills is self-awareness.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:It's like a part of it and, um yeah, it's like so neat. Now it's really hard for people to I call unlocking their self-awareness or unlocking these soft skills right. What do you feel like is the number one thing that people have to overcome to be able to unlock this?
Speaker 1:That's a big question. There's a lot of things Off the top of my head. I would say two things right off the bat ahead. I would say two things right off the bat. The first thing is the ability to be self-aware. Right, because the problem in today's world is most people are go go, go, go go. There's a ton of consumption coming their way and so most individuals are A either on autopilot or they're in reactive mode, so they don't have, like, the capacity to be self-aware. Like, how many times have you been with a friend and they do something and they don't even remember that they did it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, all the time.
Speaker 1:Why did you say that they're like say what, Say what you just said, they're like I didn't say anything.
Speaker 1:They're not even aware because they don't have the capacity, because they're just in this reaction mode, because they don't have the capacity, because they're just like in this reaction mode. So the first thing is people need to slow down and they have to be intentional about becoming self-aware. Like self-aware is an intentional practice. You don't just wake up and all of a sudden you know you're very aware, like you have to make space for yourself, you have to sit with yourself, you have to coach yourself, you have to ask yourself questions. The second thing that I would say that is the biggest challenge we see is self-confidence. Every single year, my team and I and just for perspective, for the audience, I have a team throughout North America, so I have team members all over Canada and the US, and then our clients are all over the world. Every year, we ask thousands, not hundreds thousands, of entrepreneurs and professionals what their number one challenge is. 83% say self-confidence 83%.
Speaker 1:Think about that. That's their number one challenge is like feeling confident in who they are, like feeling enough, getting rid of imposter syndrome, breaking the perfectionist mindset, creating healthy boundaries so that they can take positive action. All of these things are huge challenges for the day-to-day person and I'm not just talking about entry level. Check this out Out of all of those statistics, 57% of the individuals were executives that took that assessment. We're not talking entry level. We're talking people that are out there running companies.
Speaker 2:Right, I mean it's I. I think the, the self-confidence is also because of social media too, just because there's just like perfection almost everywhere that you turn. I just did a post today. I was like social media. I just bluntly said that social media is fake because it's just a bunch of people's highlight reels like all day and it's in your face and over time, especially for entrepreneurs and also, I would say, for executives too.
Speaker 2:I think that they would also have this, that imposter syndrome that you talked about, the I'm not enough. Everybody else is killing it, except for me. You know, I'm actually having some, some challenges that I have to go through, and that's that affects somebody's confidence a lot, because they're like why is there? Why is everything working for everybody else but me, and that's that's really tough to get through. So with your, with your confidence, can you talk, to talk to us a little bit about a time when you know you had to go through a challenge in your business or even in your personal life? How did you overcome it? And then what did that do for your confidence?
Speaker 1:Okay, that's a great question, so I'll share a story with you and I'll tell you that what saved me was self confidence. Okay. So, when I was an executive. I loved my job Okay, I loved being an executive. I loved, I loved doing what I did, and I moved out of the country, resigned from my position for an opportunity called love Okay.
Speaker 2:The best opportunity.
Speaker 1:After four weeks of being married, my ex-husband said that he wanted a divorce and I lost everything in four weeks. So I went from a six figure executive to a hundred dollars. That was it, and I was like completely shocked. I thought it was a joke Like have you ever seen that movie with Freddie Prince Jr about like they play a joke on someone to like take them out on a date? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:That's what I thought I was like. Did I just get pranked? So, anyway, I come back to California because I moved out of the country. I'm crying, I'm bawling on the airplane, I'm completely devastated. I don't know what happened. I don't have any money, I don't have a job because I replaced myself, I hired a new executive, and I just remember like completely feeling devastated on the airplane, and I got back to California and I had like a strong conversation with myself.
Speaker 1:My dad came to me in my dream. My dad passed away when I was 27 and he said, netta, everything you need is already inside of you. You just have to rise up for you. Okay, now, if you look at this, my kid it says rise up for you. My bestselling book is called rise up for you. The company that I built is called rise up for you. And the reason why I tell this story is because, when I came back, I had to have a conversation with myself and remind myself that everything I need, I have within me Everything that I just lost. The heartbreak, the heart loss, being so confused. I can overcome it because it doesn't define me, it's not my identity. And so, because I had an internal self-confidence, I doubled down on myself, even though I had nothing, and I said, okay, you know what? I'm going to build a freaking business.
Speaker 2:And I didn't know anything about business. Never been an entrepreneur.
Speaker 1:I just was understanding what a podcast was. I didn't know who Tony Robbins was like. All these people, tai Lopez, all this stuff that you hear about today I'm like, well, I thought they were crazy. I'm like these guys are nuts. They're charging thousands of dollars. I didn't come from that world so I was like this is crazy. But I doubled down on myself. I started learning how to build a business. I opened up my website.
Speaker 1:Three months later, my second parent, my mother, 63 years old, was diagnosed with stage four cancer. Out of nowhere, I was building my company out of a hospital. I took showers at the 24 Hour Fitness across the street. I would go back to the hospital, open up my laptop. How do you build a business? What do people need in the world? What's a podcast? And I just started building. And all of that was built from self-confidence. I mean, when you think about it going through a divorce, totally heartbroken, lost all my money, both of my parents just died. I was only 31 years old, had no job, had no, nothing. I was at the bottom. When you're at the bottom, you better have self-confidence, because that's the only thing that's going to pick you back up.
Speaker 2:And that's what took me to it. I'm going to ask you a personal question, just for myself.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Because I feel like I have the opposite of what everybody else has. What if you're scared about your confidence? What if you feel like your confidence has gotten you into trouble?
Speaker 1:Yeah, Okay, that's a really good question, so sometimes. So I don't believe in being overconfident, okay.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:I believe is an overcompensation, because true self confidence is aware, it's self aware and it's humble and it has wisdom behind it. And so if you're confident but there's other like behaviors that are happening that might sabotage you, then it's not, then there's a missing link in your confidence, right? So there's actually a lack of confidence and we just need to identify. You know what it is right yeah typically people over compensate and that's usually how I know if somebody's confident or not. It's not because they're like loud and they take action yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And see like OK, there's some behaviors there that tell me that they're seeking something else and the way that they behave is different. Right, say, somebody struggles with self-confidence and they're more passive. So confidence can look a lot of different ways, but true self-confidence typically looks the same on people. There's a kindness, there's a humility, there's I'm not afraid to fail, but there's a wisdom around like how am I going to show up in this situation?
Speaker 2:No, that's good, that's good. Overcompensation, I mean no, that's good, that's good Overcompensation.
Speaker 1:I mean, yeah, I'm going to reflect on that Overcompensation for a lack of something that you might be feeling, but I never say that someone's overconfident, because true self-confidence is beautiful, you can never have enough of it, but again true self-confidence is kind, it's humble, it's self-aware, it's wise, it's not afraid to fail.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's, I guess, in the way how I'm painting. I guess what I'm saying with the confidence question is sometimes I feel like so I don't know if you're a comic book reference Superman, you know Superman, right.
Speaker 1:All the ones that are like on movies okay, cool, so let's, let's go.
Speaker 2:Cool, so let's movie.
Speaker 2:I know what it is so superman sometimes has to watch his own strength because he's scared of the damage it's gonna do. So he's very confident, like he could probably take out anything in anybody. He's just kind of scared to throw the punch because he doesn't know what the ripple effect will be. That's kind of where I've learned, I guess. With myself and my confidence I think I can really achieve anything I can set my mind to and I can go all in for it. I just don't know what that ripple effect is going to be once it happens. That's kind of the yeah.
Speaker 1:If the ripple effect is harming others or yourself, then it's not confidence. If the ripple effect is making the world and you better, that's confidence. I don't know, where the behaviors are going. I would have to coach you privately.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the ripple effect to your point the behaviors is yeah, that's where it can be different.
Speaker 1:Like if you're oh, let's do this now if you want. Like, if you're confident and you're going all in, what is the impact that you're afraid of?
Speaker 2:Losing myself.
Speaker 1:In what way?
Speaker 2:Like I said, I'm an all or nothing guy, so like if I go all in on something sometime I'll lose something else, you know like. So let's say, you know I'm all in on a business idea, I achieved the business goal and the idea and the world's a better place for it, but I kind of lose maybe sight of my own personal life or you know other other things that I could have maybe been like tending to.
Speaker 1:That's why I wanted to coach you, because that's not a confidence issue, that's a values issue.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Okay so cause.
Speaker 1:I understand exactly what you're saying. So having the confidence is great. What you need to determine is what are your values, that you're not willing to compromise in the process? So, for example, when I first started Rise Up For you and I first started my business, I was where you were. I was like, ok, this is going to be a lot of work. It's like every ounce of me and knowing myself, I won't ever stop.
Speaker 1:You know like I'm just going to keep grinding away so the things that are really important to me that I will not compromise right from the business. Okay, and there was three things that I just that. I decided that I was like these three things are more important to me than the business and the money and the impact and they, they, they're non-negotiables. Number one was God right, and my faith. And I'm like, if anything in the business messes with my integrity or my faith or me being a good human being and getting close to God, non-negotiable, not coming in. Number two was my health. If I am running and building this business and I stop working out and I stop being conscious about my health and my body starts to go to hell, right, like non-negotiable. And number three was family right. If I'm running this business and I stopped seeing my friends and my brothers and I stopped making time to like build a family, non-negotiable.
Speaker 1:And ever since I built the business, I have stayed true to those values. So I work really hard, but every single morning I wake up, I have time for myself, I pray, I go to the gym, I work out. Uh, I'm getting married again, yay, and so, like, that's the, that's the. The thing that you got to ask yourself is like, okay, I have confidence, it's great, I'm gonna go all in. But in the process of me going all in, what are my guidelines for myself?
Speaker 1:like what are the non-negotiables that I have to just be conscious of yeah, no, that's good, that's good.
Speaker 2:I often like to, in these podcast interviews, try to use some like examples, even with myself, because what what happens is like a lot of people can grab a lot of takeaways from it, because it's like a real world example, you know and and I think people can grab. I think there's probably a lot of people that feel the same way, you know, when they're going in on something and then something, especially for entrepreneurs, business owners in particular, because we can definitely go tunnel vision and like and it's our baby, we're trying to make it happen and you know we're losing sight of maybe other things. I'm gonna.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna share a secret with you though. Well, it's not really a secret, but I want you and everybody listening to know that's not an entrepreneur thing, that's a high-performing thing. Because, even executives that we work with in corporations. They have the same problem.
Speaker 1:Oh for sure, they're just executives. They run companies. At the end of the day, when they leave an organization or when they leave a company like, they're not worried about necessarily how to make payroll right, because there's a larger infrastructure for entrepreneurs, we do, we worry, like how we make payroll, like how we're going to scale all these things. But it's more of a high performing challenge that anybody that's high performing like. They just want to keep going, they want to make an impact, and so that's why it's important, as somebody that's on that level whether you're a high performing entrepreneur or a high performing executive that you do create some of these non-negotiables for yourself so that out there, you're crushing it, you're making an impact, and these three things will never be compromised or often compromised.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I like the, like the. Not often, but it's good that you know. The important thing is just writing those down and trying to stick to those things. Yeah, 100%.
Speaker 2:And that's what you're saying. So well, that's really good, that's really good. I want to ask you about your speaking, about your speaking, so how? So a lot of our audience wants they're either inspiring speakers or they're they're climbing the ranks, or they're very well-known speakers. Um, how do you, how did you get into the speaking game? Um, how are you able to get speaking gigs? And um, I think you already kind of touched on the last question I was going to ask you is how do you, how do you stand apart from all the other amazing, amazing women speakers that are out there?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I'm going to. I'm going to take you all the way back to the beginning of the journey of speaking, because I think a lot of times, just like you said, we see these amazing speakers on social media and we're like, dang, I want to be up in front of these five, 10,000 people, but nobody ever really talks about the journey of being a speaker. I first started speaking. I doubled. The reason why I started speaking is because I doubled down on what I was good at when I started my business, because I came from a performance background. I knew that I would be good on stage, because I'm not afraid of the audience, I'm not afraid of the microphone, and I was also in education and I was a professor at a college.
Speaker 1:So, like I know how to speak and give content, so I really started speaking because I was like I know I'm going to be good at it, like I know that this will be a segue for me to build the business, because I know how to get on stage, captivate an audience, and I know how to put content in a relevant fashion where people can digest it and learn from it.
Speaker 1:Okay, so that's that's why I got into it yeah her started speaking, I didn't have a name, just like some people that are listening right now, and so I couldn't be that speaker. That was like fifteen thousand dollars for thirty minutes or a hundred thousand dollars for an hour, because I didn't have any proof to back it up.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:First thing I did is I built my own stages.
Speaker 2:I love it.
Speaker 1:I started doing small workshops locally under Rise Up For you, where I would invite various people and I would do free events. And then, like I was the speaker, I was the headliner. And then I did a conference where I invited 150 people. I brought other keynote speakers that had a name to like elevate it, but then I was also a speaker and then I collected footage, I got videos, I got photos and then from there, after about a year and a half but two years of doing that, then I built my little speaker deck Right.
Speaker 1:And I had being on stage with podcast this, and then, from there, I started charging very minimal with podcast this, and then, from there, I started charging very minimal. I feel okay, 500 bucks for 30 minutes right, right, can't pay you 500 bucks because we're small, nonprofit. I'm like, hey, no, no problem at all, but I do need some kind of honorarium. Can you pay for my gas to get there? So you see like.
Speaker 1:I yeah mindset then eventually was a thousand, it was two thousand, it was three thousand, it was ten thousand, was fifteen thousand, it was a thousand, it was 2000. It was 3000. It was 10,000. It was 15,000. It was 20,000. So now I make five figures to speak, but it was a process that I built over time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that is so good, and I'm and I'm glad too that you were honest with your journey too. A lot of times people come to us and they're like, hey, I want to grow my speaking and they're like immediately trying to charge 10 K like out the jump, and they don't have like like no foundation of like what to work with, you know. And then they're like, oh, but I've spoken all over the place. Do you have any footage? Do you have any testimonials? Do you have any photos? Like do you have like what? Do you have to say that you're a $10,000 speaker, and that's oftentimes and so you kind of paid your dues, for what I heard was like a year and a half of pretty much charging next to nothing, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and listen. There are some people that can go straight from like a job to making five figures and speaking. But typically those people have like a high profile, background or name behind them. Like, for example, if I'm the CEO of Google, like I don't need to be out there speaking for free, like they're just going to pay me six figures because I'm the CEO of Google. You know what I mean. If I'm an NFL player, for example, and you know I'm hanging up the athletic shoes and I want to go speak, chances are like I could probably make money right out the gate because I was a former NFL player. So there are certain situations where that is possible. But I would say for the majority that are just trying to get into speaking and they really don't have much clout behind them, like you got to start small and there's nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's nothing wrong with it. I encourage people to kind of take those stepping stones and I relate it a lot of times back to music. A lot of times, if you want to go on the bigger stages or open up for artists or eventually headline your own show, you got to work your way up and you're going to have to do some free shows. You're going to have to get that content. It's the same game. It's the exact same thing. It's just in the speaking world. It's just a little bit more professional than hip hop.
Speaker 1:Here's what I would say, though Like if you're going to get out there and you're going to speak for free which I believe everybody should do don't waste the opportunity. This is content, friends Like. This is opportunity. This is content, friends. Like your opportunities.
Speaker 1:Blow up pictures, get video footage, put it online, put it on social media, because the more you post on social media and the more you put online that you're in action, the more speaking opportunities will come to you. So that's the one thing that I do do. Well is like every time I did a workshop, even if I only had five people right or 10 people, I took photos with us. I took I had people take photos of me when I was up in front and I just posted. I kept posting and kept posting online because people want to see that you actually do what you do. If you go to my LinkedIn or if you go to my Instagram probably more LinkedIn, because that's like my platform pictures of me training, speaking, coaching like you will see me on stage with 1000s of people, and I do that strategically so that I could get more speaking, because they see like okay, they're actually doing it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, 100%. Oh, you got to share the journey. You got to share the journey of you actually doing what you want and wherever you're trying to or you're aspiring to go to, like post pictures of you getting there. Um, because people will, they will see that and they're going to then say, oh, okay, then that means they could do this, or maybe they could do this, and then so I think the hardest part is just the charging part. So how did you know how to go from like 500 to 1000 to 2000, 3000? And now over $20,000 to speed?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I just did it in increments, so like I was self aware around the fact well, I did research, okay.
Speaker 1:so I was like, okay, like how much do you charge, kind of thing. But I would do it in increments. So I went from 500 and then the next one. I said, okay, 1500. And then you kind of you read the response, like we're like, oh my gosh, we can't do that. Or like, yeah, not a problem. And you're like, okay, that was an easy sale. 1500 was like super easy, right. So then, and it's also being wise around the event so if you're going to potentially speak at an event where they're having hundreds of people and they're charging tickets, then you can assume that they're going to make some kind of money, right, versus a nonprofit that might only have 50 people.
Speaker 2:Yeah it's a fundraiser.
Speaker 1:So you have to have some wisdom around that. So I remember the first event I made where I made big money right Was when I it was $3,000. At the time I was like I'm getting $3,000 to speak, right. And it was about 500 people, it was a human resources conference. They were paying like five, 600 bucks for the ticket. So I was like, okay, I charge $3,000 to speak. And they were like, okay, that's in the budget, we can make it work. I was like okay.
Speaker 1:So then now the next time, you know I might take it up. Okay, it was $5,000. And then it was $6,000. And you just slowly, you know, you climb and you know again. Now today I'm at five figures and sometimes you get it and sometimes you don't. So you have to be wise around that too. No-transcript, we don't have any budget. So then my next question is okay, listen, I charge to speak, but I have a couple questions for you. You don't have a speaker budget. How many people are in the audience? We have 1,000. Okay, who are these people that are in the audience? This is the make and demographic of the audience. Okay, do you have a swag budget? Yes, we do Great. I have a best-selling book. Are have a swag budget? Yes, we do Great.
Speaker 1:I have a bestselling book, are you willing to buy a thousand of my books? I'm willing to buy a thousand of my books that I will sign and I'll give it to you at like a discounted price to put on every single table, instead of, you know, having to try to find that speaker fee. And they're like absolutely, we have a budget for swag, perfect. So now I might not get that five figures to speak, but they're buying a thousand. I'm still going to make profit off the books, right, some profit off the books. But now there's a thousand people that have the rise up for you brand and my book at home on their coffee table. You know what I'm saying, and so those are the kinds of questions that you have to ask yourself Sometimes. I'm like absolutely, because it makes sense. There's a thousand people. They're the people I want to get in front of. They're going to buy my books.
Speaker 1:And other times I say like unfortunately it's not a good fit, but I'll pass you over to one of our team members. That's maybe like more entry level. Yeah, for the event.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's smart. I mean you can just tell that you're like super seasoned with this stuff. Because that's, I mean, that's the same advice that we give, like for the books. When did you come out with your book again?
Speaker 1:So my book? I wrote a bestselling book in 2020. It's called Rising For you and I. Actually, this is really timely. I have another book coming out in two weeks and it's all about yep, it's all about emotional and social intelligence for entrepreneurs and professionals so that you can go out there, you can build fulfillment, you can build influence and you can build greater success. That book is going to be amazing because I'm all about strategies and practicality. The emotional intelligence book is 300 pages. Only 15 of it is read. The other 85 is like get your pen and pencil, like let's work through.
Speaker 2:Oh, this is like a workbook almost yeah that's dope action, all about action. That is sweet these skills.
Speaker 1:like you know, I love personal professional development, but at the end of the day, I don't want you to be a content consumer. I want you to be a content activator. There's a difference. You consume content all day. You can read a ton of books, you can go to a thousand conferences, but if you're not actually activating the content and like putting pen to paper and reflecting and having conversations with yourself, you're not going to move the needle.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a hundred percent. And you said, in two weeks this book comes out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm so excited.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, it's going to be on Amazon.
Speaker 1:It'll be on Amazon. Yeah, we'll have the Kindle, the paperback and the hardback.
Speaker 2:Nice, nice, everybody, go grab this. Um, this episode will probably be out, um, when this book is out. So definitely, definitely, go and grab it. That is absolutely incredible. I know a lot of our audience, either, aspires to write a book too, and and and. So you came out with that in 2020, you're about to drop another book. What do you feel like, from from your business standpoint, for Rise Up For you? What's next for you in business? Um, are you trying to scale it even further? Are you trying to then go back and maybe work on the operations, the sops, to make sure that you're ready for the scale where because usually, like right at that like above seven figure mark, that's where you're kind of running into some of those challenges um reining exactly.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so all of the above. So yeah, right now we have a lot of systems and operations in place, but we're trying to optimize them.
Speaker 1:We have some broken and I'm not afraid to say that because, as any business owner that's like truly running a business is going to say, like you know, when it comes to marketing, when it comes to sales process, when it comes to people, when it comes to finances, there's things that are broken, that are not talking to each other across department and we need to optimize them.
Speaker 1:We need to optimize the operations so that we can scale without falling apart and breaking. So that's a big thing right now for 2025. For us, obviously, revenue and growth is a big thing, but a big goal for us is we want to be the Google of personal professional development. So, when it comes to soft skills, so when somebody wakes up or when a company says, hey, like we need some coaching, or when a company says we need team development around emotional intelligence, they think of rise up for you. Now, the thing that's really exciting me right now is that we are one of the only companies in the world and I can say this because we have doubled down on research that has a soft skills certification for coaching and training. We have a proprietary trademark blueprint called the Rise Power Up Method. So we've accumulated the top four soft skills that are the most important for any individual or company's success, and we've built an entire certification and blueprint process from it and that is being launched where people were licensing it, basically so if you're a coach for example, and you want to go out there and make an impact and you want to coach clients, but you feel crippled by, like, building your own content and PowerPoints and coaching curriculum, because you do have to do that Like you
Speaker 1:got to have something to, like you know, give people. You now can license our rise up for you method and you get access to all the books, all the PowerPoints, all the content. You get access to that whole infrastructure. Now you just have to show up and coach, but now you have the curriculum that's already been proved and tried with some of the largest companies in the world and you can do it. So that's what I'm excited for that's happening this year.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what was that decision-making? I'm just really fascinated by that with going the licensing route versus getting your like more coaches under your belt, more you know, like just expanding out that way versus, hey, let's license out our proprietary product and our method and let's have these other coaches go ahead and use that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a great question. So anytime I build something, it's because there's a problem, right? So the reason why I went that route is one of two things. First, we started having companies ask us hey, can we have all your content?
Speaker 2:And I'm like no, yeah, here we go.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean. So then I was like, okay, well, what would it look like if we had a license for corporations? Right, that was not cheap, but if they're paying for this annual license, then it would unlock the ability for them to use this content to grow their team, right? But honestly, the bigger reason is because we were scaling and we're so scaling and we needed coaches and trainers, right, but the content and the curriculum is so robust. Like when I tell you we have a thousand slides and we have. I mean, the emotional intelligence book alone is so robust. Like when I tell you we have a thousand slides and we have. I mean the emotional intelligence book alone is 300 pages and that's only one pillar out of four. Right, the four pillars are self-confidence, emotional intelligence, transformative leadership and influential communication and speaking, so the content that's been built is so robust, so the content that's been built is so robust.
Speaker 1:It was taking me half a year to train a coach, so we would have to train a coach right, but I can't put them out to start coaching and training unless they really know our content.
Speaker 1:It was taking me so much time to onboard them to make sure that if they got up in front of our clients they knew how to speak Rise Up For you language. So then I said you know what We've got to solve this problem? Anybody that wants to coach for rise up for you or be a trainer, they need to invest in themselves, they need to invest in a certification. Okay, but then there's no guarantee that they're going to work for us. Like, I'm not going to say that if you get the certification, we're going to hire you. What can we do to make it beneficial for them? Well, if they go through the certification, they have the option to apply to work for us as a coach and a trainer, but they also can use this license to go get their own clients and we don't take any money.
Speaker 1:All they need to pay the licensing fee. So if they want to go and get their own clients but use our certification and our licensing, they can't. They just have to pay that renewal fee.
Speaker 2:Gotcha Super smart. Yeah, because I've heard we've had somebody else on this podcast that runs a very successful coaching business multiple seven figures but she has a breadth of coaches under her belt I think it's like 55 or something like that coaches and she's just like doubling down on it versus your model which is the license. That's why that's why I asked, and also our, our audience, they they do a lot of consulting, coaching, speaking, you know that type of stuff, even the executives and the and the entrepreneurs. So that's why I think that this is an interesting conversation to get kind of a look behind the curtain of like how you're doing it and what the mindset was.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and, and we, we have our coaches and trainers that are like our core team. Those are the ones that, like we're grandfathered in Like those are the ones that I onboarded for like six months. It's not sustainable because, as you continue to grow which we are then I need more coaches and I need more trainers, but I can't wait six months to coach and train people.
Speaker 2:Yeah that's a lot Right.
Speaker 1:So now we have and I will tell you that we're one of the few companies that actually has like a robust blueprint and content and curriculum quality assurance that every single coach and trainer is doing the same thing right and that's why, like some of our competitors, their clients are coming to us, because what happens is traditionally in some of the like larger companies that do coaching and training, they just hire a bunch of coaches that walk in with their own expertise yeah which is great, until you have coaches that are training a hundred team members, and now this team member is speaking this language, this team member is another coach and they have a different concept.
Speaker 1:And so now, like the leadership team is disjointed because their coaches are all different.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Coaches all speak the same language, they have the same content, they have the same blueprint and we have the same curriculum.
Speaker 2:That's amazing. That is absolutely amazing. Well, I know a lot of our audience is probably going to. First of all, you got to get the book. You got to get the two books, the two books that are out, the two books. You got to get both of those books. You definitely got to see her speak, when you can uh grab a seat and be able to uh be immersed, and not just a speaker but a performer, which is which is awesome. Do you do any?
Speaker 1:like performing on stage at all. Sometimes I do. It depends on the audience.
Speaker 2:Okay, cool, cool. Yeah, I was. I always love when people still molded in um my last keynote, I sang on stage.
Speaker 1:Oh nice.
Speaker 2:It's awesome. Yeah, I, um, I, if, if the, if the gig is right and the equipment's right, I'll, uh, I'll actually do um, uh, a couple songs like to open up the keynote, and I literally swapped from like a performance into the keynote and people are like what the heck is going on? I will come out rapping and people are like what in the world is happening? But then they get into it, they're on their feet, they get, you know, they're hype about it and they're like this is totally different. So that's so cool, that's so cool.
Speaker 2:So where can people find you? How can they get connected? Obviously, we'll have a bunch of links and all the things on all the socials once this is out. But how can they get connected? Because I always tell people, anybody I have on the podcast is reachable. Yeah, you just have to like, you have to try like. A lot of people listen to this and it's probably going to be like 15 that will actually reach out to you, just because you know, like you said, you want content activators and so and I love that term because people will listen to this, they'll grab a ton of knowledge, a ton of good takeaways. But what are you doing with it guys. What are you, what are you doing with it? She's right here, she's reachable. You can see, I've talked with her a real person she's a real person.
Speaker 2:She may busy, but she's reachable. So how can people get connected to you?
Speaker 1:Yeah, thank you for asking me. So first thing I would say is go to riseupforyoucom. That's the company. Okay, every social media platform is at Rise Up For you, super simple. So if you go to riseupforyoucom and you click the free resources button, we have a free confidence masterclass. It's totally free five videos on how to build self-confidence as an entrepreneur, and then we also have an emotional and social intelligence course completely free. So I definitely jump into those, opt into those, because that'll help you, like, right off the gate. And then, for me personally, you can check me out. Instagram and LinkedIn is where, for the most part, I live. I run my own LinkedIn and Instagram. My social media team does the company rise up for you. So if you want to like reach me specifically, just my name, natalina Nasserdine. I know you put it in the show notes because it's Middle Eastern, so it's a little hard to remember Natalina Nasserdine on Instagram, on LinkedIn, if you send me a message, I will respond. It'll be me.
Speaker 2:Super dope. Thank you so much just for your time, your energy, your presence here on the show. Hopefully I asked a lot of great questions.
Speaker 1:I loved it. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this has been really cool. Everybody like, comment, subscribe, please, please, share this with somebody that needs to hear it. And don't forget, guys, if you can change your circle, you can change your life. So, thank you so much, netta, for being on here, and until the next time, everybody, we're out, peace. Don't forget to like, comment and subscribe, and don't forget to hit that notification bell for more amazing content that we're going to be putting out. And don't forget you can change your circle to change your life. You.
