Randi Flaherty and Joella Autorino: These Synergetic Entrepreneurs Want You To Change The Lens, Try On Different Identities, And Outline A New Game Plan

I do really believe 100% from every part of me that everyone has the capacity to be able to do the things that they want and not to be held back by the mental baggage that's in our head that we want to push through.

Welcome to the do the Thing podcast. In each episode, we get down and personal with people who go after the things they want to make all their wildest dreams come true. Join us as we unveil and dissect a formula for what it takes to do the thing. Here is your host, Stacy Lauren.

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the do the Thing podcast. This is your host, Stacy Lauren. Okay, guys, this is exciting. I love it when I get to meet people that are doing extraordinary things. And I actually recently saw my cousin, who is this amazing businesswoman, and we recently saw each other and we were talking about what she's up to now, and she, in the last few years, has joined forces with another amazing businesswoman. And I am so excited to get a chance to talk to them about how they got together and more about their story and who they're helping and everything that they're doing to do the thing and also help others do the things.

So.

Hey, guys, welcome to the show.

Thanks.

Hello, Hello. Thank you for having us.

I'm so excited to get a chance to talk to you guys because I did sort of a consulting call with you the first time. It wasn't meant to be that way, but I think we were trying to get connected. I wanted to interview you on the podcast, and then all of a sudden, I'm like, wait, that sounds really good. I think I want to talk to you more about it.

Awesome.

And so I'd love to go ahead and start and. And actually, let me introduce you properly. So I have RA and. And then also Joella here, and I'd love to have it start with you each telling us a little bit about your background and your story, and then we'll kind of dive into how you guys got together.

Cool. Randy, why don't you go first?

Okay, I'll go first. Well, I have a long history of business and different career paths, but let's just talk about what's the last decade or two. I started out in, believe it or not, doing a lot of web development for myself and my family's businesses. Started an e commerce guru thing, and I interned while I was going back to school. I also interned with Google and ended up working there. So I really learned a lot of the back end, which is really what I'd like to do. So technically, I'm a full stack developer, which means I work on what goes on at the back end and the front end and a strategist and a conversion analyst. And I started doing a lot of medical and dental. Those were the type of clients that were really attracted to me. Not so much that I was attracted to them, just a lot of people in the industry that I started helping. And I started a little bit with forensic practice management, where I'd go in and analyze their businesses and automate as much as I can and digitize as much as I can. And then, then we first went into the web and the online presence, but we had to get it right there. And I actually met Joella during that, that process with a, with a mutual client. She's just amazing. And we kept in touch and worked together on various projects before then. And then we merged and started businesses on purpose. And before that, a little bit before that, but we birthed it. And so that's where I'm at right now.

Yeah, I love how it's. All of this experience you've had has led you to this moment of you guys being able to join forces and then you each doing what you love and then that complements each other. So then you're basically like this power horse, this like powerhouse of, of implementation for people.

You know, Joelle and I both strive for work, life balance and whatever that means to a person. For me, it's doing the work, but also living and not killing myself over it and not trying not to be around toxic situations. So we really are like minded when it comes to that. So it's just a natural, A natural partnership.

Yeah. So perfect timing. So Joella, tell us about your story.

Yes, thank you. Well, first I want to say Randy is so modest. She is a serial entrepreneur that she left out. She's ran and owned medical practices in the city. So, you know, as much as she has been very selective with who she works with, she is at the core just an amazing entrepreneur. So I, when I first met her, we, it was a funny meeting because we were both working on this client and she was there long term working with him. And I was just introduced to the picture and at the time I didn't realize that we were going to become like lifelong friends and business partners. So it was really, really interesting to like go back to that point. But just a little bit about me. So I look back in my history and I realized that I've had this entrepreneurial spirit in my blood from a very young age. My mom and dad were both Entrepreneurs in their own right and they also worked full time jobs as well. But I saw a lot of side gigs and, and things like that. So my very first real business was with my mother. I was actually six years old and we had a calzone making business and our neighborhood loved it so much we ended up having to stop after a while because it was not ideal work life balance. But that propelled just an amazing desire to want to be enterprising. And so that led me to many other businesses, one of them being a babysitting club. I lived in a condominium complex and everyone had kids and I had a big group of friends. So I just basically systematized babysitting and made some bank for that. So throughout my life I've basically just looked at problems and considered, oh, can I actually help and make it better in this way. I wasn't really focused on money per se, I was just, I just really wanted to help. So that's been basically the backbone of my entrepreneurial journey. And of course there's many other businesses like owning a restaurant in time near Wall street. At one point after 9 11, I wanted to be a part of the recovery in that area. And it just, it was a very tough time to be down there. But I was determined to make an impact in this way. And of course it was a very costly mistake. But hey, that's what being an entrepreneur is all about. Doing that thing, you do a lot of trial and error to figure out how to really be, to find your path. And so I started doing business consulting after working in advertising for over 12, 15 years actually. And I was working for a small boutique agency where we were launching these small businesses and it was so much fun. I really enjoyed the branding and the business planning aspect. And so that is really the foundation to what propelled me in business consulting. I really wanted to help people outline game plans so that they had a path to follow where compared to me in my earlier times of entrepreneur, of being an entrepreneur, I didn't really do business planning. So I could see now and hindsight how that was such a costly mistake. And it really just, I don't know, I guess it resulted in a lot of bad decisions and haphazard reactions and stuff like that. So that's really where businesses on purpose had come to be. Randy and I, when we started working together several years back doing consulting, our very first thing, usually with clients was to do this deep dive discovery to understand what was going on and then to map out a plan. And what we realized in that process was oh My God, we were so good at their business, so good at uncovering the challenges that they were going through. But that research and that discovery put us more in a power position. And we saw our business founders, who are our clients, they really didn't know the inner workings of their business. So Businesses on Purpose really came to be a place where we help business founders really step into what it means to own and operate their business. Not like every business, but their business. And really there's something very magical about business planning. It's like a crash course into your own business. And what we've seen in this work is that the business founder really takes on a whole new identity in this process and they become such a powerhouse within themselves. So I'm so excited to share just this whole trajectory which has brought us to this place. And. And now this is my ninth business, the coaching business Businesses on Purpose. Randy and I still do consulting to help our clients in that way as well. So it's been a lot of fun. And I just really enjoy working with Randy in this way.

I enjoy working with you too. It's like I said, it's a perfect merger.

Yes. Well, yeah.

And you can really see the synergy you guys and what you bring, which I think is really co. You get to see that as an outsider just visually being able to. To look at it. And I know personally how important this is because with my business, the one I exited last year, and I think this happens for a lot of people. It was. I almost grew up in that business where it was. It grew so fast that I had to constantly catch up to it to keep up with the growth. And then things happen, recession and Covid and different things that sort of cause you to have to then go into this major revenue surge to just even keep your employees going to keep them working, that you never really get that time to really go back and either learn the skills that you don't have or hire someone in. And I remember hiring. I hired a lot of coaches and different people along the way, but it was more on what are your revenue goals and how can you get there. And it ended up being a lot more revenue generation. And I'm not. It was all amazing and useful and what I needed at the time. But I definitely think being able to work with. With someone like you guys would have been really helpful because you like almost grew up in that business. And people don't realize that you're not educated with an mba. Right. It's all hard knocks that you have to, like you said, trial by error. And I think that idea of just having, like, a really clear system from an outside perspective is such a good. It's such a good way to be able to scale.

And one of the beautiful things about at least our intention and. And the way we do things is, is we prepare for scale. And the business founder gets to actually have some aha moments because we're not doing it for them, we're doing it with them. So they really. There's opportunities there that they may have not seen before or they're. I said an aha moment. Well, maybe what they're doing is not really working for them as well as they thought they were. So it's really quite amazing to see the progression of the client and their aha moments.

Yeah. And, you know, Stacy, you mentioned something that we see as probably the biggest problem with our clients is that they step. They step into their business, they go through the school of hard knocks, so to speak, and they become a slave to their business because they never established processes or a foundation that will support the growth which Randy was suggesting with the scale. And so we're in a completely different business world today where it's, yes, you can start and kind of experiment and see, hey, do I like this? Can I serve a client this way? Can I render my product in this way? But there must be a time where you take a step back and you take a thoughtful process to plan your operation. And the biggest key here is planning your business based on the life that you want to live, not on the money you want to make.

Yeah, that's so great. And I don't even know if you know this, I probably not, because we just recently got connected. But that is one of the biggest concepts of this podcast, because when I first started it, it was really focused on doing the thing. But then as I started to go through the interviews, I realized I don't want to just talk about doing the thing. I want to make sure people are doing the thing out of alignment for themselves so that it's not coming from this, like, numbing place of having to be a high achiever.

Right.

It's coming from what is that thing that you really want to do and then be able to do it out of your own alignment. And I love the way that you were able to verbalize that by being able to live the life you want. It's not just, we're not helping you create the business you want, we're helping you live the life you want. And the business is almost the vehicle that's helping you do that.

Exactly, Exactly. And this new world that we're living in, post Covid, I think a lot of people now realize that. That they have a little more control around how they could live and work and just show up in the world. And this is really key for how to operate in your business. This awareness that, oh, I am in control. I do not need to be a slave to this circumstance that I've created. At any moment in time, no matter how many years you've been in business, you can take the step of. Let me just press pause. Okay. Revenue generation will continue on a smaller scale, perhaps, but the whole focus is, let me establish new systems. And with this new normal that we're in, we have to be better stewards to our client, our customers, because they have been bombarded with messaging and information. I mean, we're drowning in information and we're lacking wisdom. There's no wisdom out there. We have to really seek and pursue that. So it's really important to follow that intuition and first of all, recognize that you have it within you. You know what you want, and you don't need to follow this example of, like, a Jeff Bezos or Mark Zuckerberg. I mean, those guys had different visions. Really. The question is, what is the vision for you? Your family and your life.

Yeah. So I'm wondering when you guys are meeting someone for the first time. And I'm thinking about everyone that listens to this podcast, because there's some people that are just kind of sitting on the fence. They're still in their job. Or again, you guys, I don't want you to think this whole podcast is about business. It's about everything. It's about doing the things, travel, it's business. It's a new relationship. It's whatever that thing is to you. But in this context, we're talking business. But the people that are just sitting on the fence and they're, like, still at their jobs and they're unhappy with them. Right. If you like your job, stay at your job. Do not leave to start a business. But if. If you really have been yearning for something new and you. You have that drive to try something new, those are so. Those are some people that are listening to this. Then I have other people that are in their business. They're in the weeds. They're going at it. They've got the fire hat on, constantly putting out fires. And then there's the other people that are more seasoned, where they've already probably sold a business, and they're more that serial entrepreneur. So I kind of wanted to start just talking about the. The one that's just starting out a business, because I think the problem with something like this. I don't know if problem's the right word, but the thing that I see is, how do you not then get caught up in that analysis paralysis if you're doing that.

Yeah, I mean, that's a really. That's so funny that you should say that, because I always talk about analysis paralysis, and we do get caught in that constantly. And I just find it funny that you use that. That quote that. Exactly. Because I do talk about that a lot and. And even try to get out of that as intuitives, you want to make sure you're making the right decision. You always have to start with something, is what I say, and then through whatever discovery it is. And just in general, is this going. Is this outcome or is this passion going to, number one, make you happy and is it sustainable? So, you know, you just gotta do it.

I mean, but.

But there is a process. So, I mean, I just. You get in the mindset that you're gonna do it, and then you investigate how to do it the right way so you get the outcome that you want. And Joelle can go a little bit more about that, because we get a lot of people who have an idea or kind of like started something, and they're. It's almost like a hobby. I don't want to insult people, but like a hobby slash business, that kind of thing, and we take them down the rabbit hole into some really cool things. So Joel can talk a little more about that, because she has a way of really pulling that out of people.

Yeah. So first of all, I think having a career is a really great thing to have, whether you're working for someone or in a business. At the end of the day, you are this human being. So how do you want to show up in life? And being an entrepreneur is not for everyone. And so I. It's funny because when I talk with prospective clients, I always ask, why did you get in business? And the two top reasons I hear is because, oh, well, I want to be in control of my time, and I want to have financial freedom. That sounds great and amazing, but you guys know the entrepreneurial journey does not allow for that in the very beginning especially. So although those are ideals to have, you can have that in your career as well, working for an ideal company. But I think it starts with really first honoring what is it that you want. And a lot of people don't take time to Ponder what life should what they want in their life, what do they want in their family life? How much time do they want to be with their spouse or with their children? How often do they want to travel? What does the perfect day look like for them?

Right.

How many activities are they doing? Are they working out every morning? Like, it's really important to come to a perfect day schedule first in order to uncover how you might structure your financial resource, meaning your career or your business, whatever is generating that cash flow for you. Because, Stacy, you nailed it when you said your business propels your life. But the problem is many people don't clarify the life that they want. So they actually are in this rat race. And this is for both working for someone in career or being a career entrepreneur. You get stuck in this rat race no matter what, because there's no clarity or a path forward. And so I always come back to this clarity exercise. We always start people with, well, what is your ideal day like? You know, how often do you want to be traveling and how much money do you really need to be making? So that's really the first place I would start.

Yeah, I really, I really like that because you're, again, you're getting them into what do they want and not just following the path that, oh, everyone's saying, open a business, I'm going to open a business. You're getting them to actually decide, why am I wanting to do this? Because in the toughest days, that's going to be something that you're going to need to pull from to be able to get through that obstacle or whatever is getting in your way.

Yes, exactly.

And then, Brandi, I really liked what you said. This is actually synchronicity coming up for me constantly. Is this starting with something? Because again, I think I'm going back to analysis paralysis, because that's such a common thing for a lot of people and having to, like, figure out every scenario before they move forward. Whereas if you just start with one thing, you don't even have predicted where it would end up. And this podcast is actually a great example. Wasn't starting out to do a podcast. I wanted to write a book. And then I pub. My strategy, my book strategist is like, well, get 10 interviews because we need to flesh out some of these concepts of the formula more. And then I was like, well, if I'm going to do the interviews, I want to have them recorded just in case I want to use them for something later on. And then lo and behold, here's the podcast. But if you told me a year ago I was going to be doing this podcast. I would have said you were nuts.

How you fall into it. Right. How it just happened.

Right.

Yeah.

And it's starting that. With that one thing. Starting with something. Actually. I really like how you start with something as small as it could be.

Yeah. I mean it's as easy as that. It really is.

Yeah.

Let's talk about too. So we talked about the people kind of just starting out a business now. Let's talk about the people that are pro. I'm assuming the people in your sweet spot are the ones that are running a business currently and they're. What is that? I don't even have a good saying for that. But it's just they're running so fast that they can't even catch up to themselves. And those are the people that I'm thinking are where. Where you're able to be the most beneficial.

Yeah. And it's the most work that really needs to be. It's. Sometimes it's like self realization. Know they need the help but they don't have time to stop to. To smell the roses. We kind of bring them back to basics and. Which is really nice. And figuring out the plan as Joella said, and. And then automating tasks based on that. Based on that plan and scaling.

I mean it's.

It's a really cool formula that we describe as the four pillars of business. And Jo is really eloquent at describing that, so I'll have her go for there.

Yeah. I want to actually use a metaphor here because we all have our phone. When was the last time you updated your iOS? Probably like the last two months ago. Maybe it was recent. The whole point here is you're things are constantly updating. When was the last time you looked at your business to update it? And what I. The bottom line here is, you know, we have to. The maturation of a business is actually based on how automated and systematized the internal workings are. So a lot of these entrepreneurs we work with doctors and other consultants and therapy folks and things like that. And they're so good at delivering their service, but they're not really trained in building a business. So in the past it was fine to just jump in and do things. And I do encourage that. If you're starting a business, just jump in and see like, do I like this? How can I be better? And do your own personal evolution and then get into planning. Because there's got to be a little test and try. But if you're in business, and you've been doing it for 2, 5, 10, 20 years. Consider the last time you did an upgrade within your internal workings, because there's an old operating system and there's a new operating system. And the new operating system, the one that we're talking about, is that you need to take thoughtful action to map out simple processes and then consider how to automate as much as possible because the technology exists. And why wouldn't you do that right now? There's. So it's a service to your client, it's a service to your customer. This is what I was talking about. When you are being a steward to your customer, you want to make it as simple as possible for them to engage with you. You want to make it as simple as possible to render your service or product. You want to make it as simple as possible for them to actually review you and share the amazing experience that they had with you. So these are the upgrades to your system or your business that the seasoned business owner should really be considering at this moment in time. Yeah.

And Joelle, it's really interesting and I think it's fair for us to talk about just on a little bit. Not all systems and not all automations and not all CRMs are equal. A lot of them are antiquated. And most people don't even know how to maybe are using 10% of what they're capable of doing and just don't know the next process. So it's not just a matter of, okay, I have a CRM and I have, I'm contacting my clients through automated whatever. I mean, so how are you measuring it? You know, how do you know that you're efficient, efficient in it. And I tend to call us efficiency architects because we look at the bigger picture of what, what a business is using existing. Because we're talking about existing businesses and sometimes they're thinking they're safe because they are doing automated things, but yet there's no audit of that automation or the, or the actual processes that are designed within whatever system they're using. Out of the box.

Yeah. And I think that by you guys getting someone to do this to their business, that is doing the thing because you're getting them to overcome. It's that thing where I want this. Right. But it doesn't mean if I want to lose 30 pounds, it doesn't mean I'm going to automatically lose 30 pounds.

So how do you hold people accountable? Yeah, that's really a good word. We really hold them accountable.

And okay, I'm glad that you brought that up because now this will help us get into the formula a little bit too because you're like, they have a goal of what they want, but do they really want to get there? You know, it's hard when you're constantly. Then if you have a fire, you have to deal with like business day to day stuff. So how do you get them to the point where they're able to actually do this with you, keep them going.

It's funny that you should say that because before we, we developed business on purpose and really focused on on that in our consulting days is we're like, why do we care more about the businesses than our our own founders or entrepreneurs? I mean, we know more about their business than they know. So it's really interesting that you bring that up because with the way we work now and the way we help either business founders or aspiring entrepreneurs or aspiring business owners is quite different than the way we work as when we were just straight consulting and helping.

So we actually use the steps of business planning. And I'm not talking about like an SBA template where you're just filling in the blanks. There are specific critical thought steps that you take when you are going through a business planning process. And this includes really looking at the size of the market, the size of the industry, where do you want to compete in? Who are your competitors? What are they doing? What are they doing different than you? How can you adopt some of the great things that they're doing? What can you learn from them? Then there's also how do you articulate about your product or service? And many other things that we actually guide these founders through exercises to help them come to their own conclusions. And that's what really helps empower them as the CEO of their business, because they are personally taking the steps through our structured program to come to these realizations. And then we meet up once to twice a week where we support these founders with the group. First of all, the group dynamic is very, very powerful because you're in a space with other entrepreneurs and realize, wow, I'm not alone in this. I'm actually experiencing this same issue that this person is describing. In the world of being an entrepreneur, there are very similar problems that we all overcome, even though our product or service might be different. So we also support our founders through an implementation. And this is what Randy was saying with the accountability, which is huge because it's very easy to just give up when you're starting. And if the desire is to truly build a business that's going to propel this dream life, it's not always going to be easy. So it's really key to have mentorship and accountability, people that are there that are going to hold you to the fire so that you actually accomplish the dream and objective that you set out to do.

I love that. Yeah, that was really good. So what do you think is the hardest thing for people when it comes to doing the thing?

Oh, I'd love to jump in on this one. We are our own worst enemy.

No, I'm agreeing with you.

It's so easy to be critical of ourself and unfortunately, our society has set us up where we really undermine our potential. You know, we're constantly seeing what is wrong or what other people are doing and what you should be doing. But the reality is you are here to do something very specific. And it takes soul searching and owning your power to come to that place. So believe it or not, 80% of the entrepreneurial game, I mean, the game of life, honestly, is a mindset. Game is a game where you're combating that internal. I call it the itty bitty shitty committee.

Yeah, you know, we've all been a part of it. I'm sure.

Those voices in our head that tell us, I can't do it, you can't do it, what are you doing? I saw a study that by the age of 18, if you lived a normal life where you had two parents and blah blah, blah, that you heard the words, no, you can't do it more than 150,000 times and it ended up coming down. I did an average, I think, with 25 no's per day. So that's deep conditioning, guys. That's like deeply ingrained in our subconscious that we're not even aware of. Not to mention like the visual impact that we see on the Internet, on our news, in our community, potentially, these are things that tell us that we're not good enough, potentially, if you allow that. So the game here is to really switch that many people, including myself, had to overcome. And we continually fight this demon of you're not worthy and you're not going to make it, only because our history might have proven so. And that's not the case. We are in a time where becoming a multimillionaire, it's actually way easier to do that now than ever before. So the power is really within you and you have to manage this itty bitty shitty committee frequently. And then after a while, believe it or not, they do shut up. But it does take work going on.

Contributing to Your point is, and I say this quite often to a few people, we get a lot of people that are either defeated or they're in a negative situation. And it's really empowering to rewrite your narrative. I say this a lot and it's almost becoming cliche. But rewriting your narrative, looking at things at a different way, having the outcome you want, not allowing certain things, obstacles stand in your way and just really embracing that and choosing the path you want to go on. And it's refreshing to see the change in people like very quickly. It's really exciting.

Yeah, that's so cool. So I was also curious, with all the people that you've worked with, you are getting to see people, people that are doing the thing. Like, even though maybe when they come to you, the thing might be a little messy, but have you noticed any common characteristics with, with the, with your clients that, that you, that you've been able to see as far as patterns go?

Well, let's talk about consulting and actually doing and fixing. There was a pattern of tangible and non tangible things. We had some issues with that, as anybody would say, not appreciate seeing all the work. We were doing the work for them. So therefore they did not see those, the progress that we felt we were making right away until we implemented. So those intangible things are, I would say, a commonality between the past going forward. Oh my gosh. Joella, go, go hit this one because we have some amazing people we work with now.

I think the biggest commonality that I see in the business founders that, that do the thing and they do the thing well, is that they are focused on one thing first and they pursue it tirelessly until it is successful. So one offer or one product and then one campaign and one funnel, for example, like all the focus is on that until it's working and then you can expand. So that's one really key thing. And I've studied billionaire mentality and these very successful CEOs. This is a common theme across those success stories. And then the other thing that I see is the people that are amazing and continue to do their thing is that the challenges are inevitable. They're going to show up. And it's how you handle those challenges that determines your trajectory to success, whether it be fast or slow. So back in the day, I used to look at a challenge as, oh, this must be a sign that I'm doing the wrong thing. Now, with focused and conscious intention, I realize that my challenges are there to make me better. In fact, when I get to a challenge I welcome the challenge. And I'm like, oh, my God, yes, this is here. What am I not seeing? What am I supposed to learn from this today? Because I'm looking at it from a completely different lens today compared to last week or last month or last year. So the success comes from accepting the challenge, seeing that these are opportunities to excel and propel and to actually fine tune yourself and then go down that path of refinement. Because that is what we're here to do, to refine and to personally master self and to, to live the life. This is. We're here to live.

Right.

It's about living.

Totally. I love that you were able to also kind of dive in more into what Randy said with rewriting the narrative. Right. And looking at things a different way. Because that's exactly how you can do it, is by framing those challenges as opportunities.

Exactly.

Yeah. And getting back to your original question, one thing that they all have in common is, is that they're doing it. They're doing the thing, they're being held accountable, and sometimes not so much after a while working with us, they're almost looking forward to going to the next phase. So it's really exciting to see people change from having low self confidence per se, or unsure of what path they want to take, to really being super hyper focused on where they want to go and being successful at it.

Totally. It's funny, I also, I interviewed someone earlier today and we were talking about he's like an active surfer and he goes, he also does kite surfing. And I was asking him, I was asking him how he like gets out of that fear of just like looking dumb. Because I think that's the reason why a lot of people do something, you know, is they don't want to look like they're new at it. And he had said, wow, what a boring way to go through life. I feel like you guys must, like, compounded on that idea. It's like, don't we want to live and like the life that we can look back on and enjoy as we're going through it, or do we want to just live in this, like, mundane, prescribed path?

Exactly, Exactly.

So I wanted to give you guys a chance. Is there anything that I haven't asked you that you wanted to share?

I know I can talk forever.

Just kidding.

Well, is there anything that you think is important that maybe. Because I know, like, I give people no prep for these interviews because I get to, to get the real stuff that way, it sometimes it turns in a way that they wouldn't have expected beforehand. And so just if there's anything that you had in your mind that you're like, oh, I'd love to talk about this. I wanted to. To give a space for that.

Just because you're good at something doesn't mean that that has to become your business. And just because you're good at something doesn't mean that's what you really want to be doing. So on that note, I'd like to, like, all of us, talk about that a little bit, if that's okay. I think that's a. People get trained. They. They go do their thing, they're stuck in it. They don't want to keep on just because they're good at it. They. They're not happy. So I think that's an important thing.

To talk about at the end of the day. So there was a point in. In our consulting right after Covid had hit, and I was at this place where I'm not working with any client unless they make me happy. And that was actually the sort of the. The gut check that I ran each prospective client. Like, if I work with this person, will we be happy? Will it be fun? Will it be joyful? And if I got the gut check of, hell, no. I did listen to my gut. And so I. I say this because you have to listen to your intuition.

Right.

And what Randy was saying about just because you're good at something, yes, that could be a business potentially, but it doesn't have to be. Or perhaps you've had a lifelong career in a specific industry. That does not need to be your future either. All of those skills apply to the life that we're living today. In this technological world, everything is so digital, and there's so much opportunity. And one thing that I want people to really hear is one thing that I've noticed in our history as humans is that more millionaires are born in a time of depression, recession, or turmoil than at any period in our society. So if you look at some of the biggest innovations and some of the biggest companies, they were actually birthed at a time where there was severe depression and recession because they followed their heart. They were determined to shift that situation into something better. And so I use that example to, first of all, give you hope, because this is a weird time that we're in right now, and there's tons of opportunity. But first of all, you need to follow your heart, because that's really what's going to. That's going to prevail.

Absolutely.

Yeah. And I'm wondering so how do you break apart the intuition from fear? Or because sometimes your intuition, sometimes something can hold you back. That's like fear related, right? So you're like, I don't want to do that. But it's not really coming from your heart. It's coming from the fear or the risk. Do you have any thoughts on that?

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

Fear is this amazing energy that shows up. Harness the fear. When you're on this edge, you have to make a decision and you realize this. And fear is actually present because we don't know what's going to happen next. So it's actually a really great energy where it's like, oh, my God, pay attention to this. I'm afraid here. Why am I afraid? It's telling you something. And usually the fear is because you do not know what's on the other side. So if we look at fear from a very different perspective now, okay, I'm afraid right now. And we ask the question, why am I afraid right now? What is making me afraid of this moment? You will get this intuitive hit of, oh, I'm actually not afraid of this situation. I'm actually afraid of what might happen. Maybe I'll be successful. You know, there is that thing, the fear of being successful. That is a thing. So fear is almost like this barometer, if you will, of are you ready to confront the unknown? Because it's begging you to go through the veil now.

Yeah. And keeping up with this theme, I always say. Angela's heard me say this before, many times. It's the people who actually do something. Are you going to be any better off if you don't do it? If you try it? Meaning that if you don't try it, you'll be in the same position you are now. Right. No difference. Right. But if you try it, or you. You get over that fear of doing whatever it may be. It may be the thing, it may be the path and being successful in whatever you were trying to do. But if you just sit there and you're afraid or have the excuses, then you'll. You'll be. The worst that can happen is you'll be exactly where you are right now.

Oh, man, that is so good. You guys are good together. So. Okay, the time is here. We are ready for your one piece of advice. Advice for people on doing the thing. Joella, you go first.

I want to say that my one piece of advice would be to. When you have an idea or there is something within you that you feel you're supposed to be doing, it's okay. To experiment first to see if it really feels good to you. First of all, because whether it's a new job or a different career or starting a business, we take steps into these new unknowns because there's something there and we want to. It's important to give it a test ride is what I want to say. And not judge yourself, just to try it on first and see how it feels. Because you could always go back to baseline and it's really important to take those risks so that you can find that path of brilliance for yourself. Risk taking, I think is probably the. The common theme in my story, and that is I think I'm landing on the one thing of advice right now is take the risk. There's nothing to lose. Okay, so you lose a few hundred thousand dollars. I've done that. But guess what? It comes back. There's something about that. You try these things and they always come back. It comes back to you. So don't be afraid to take risks and try on these different identities that might suit you until you find your home and your purpose and your path to excellence in this life.

And if I may say now to the answer to your question is find what you love to do. Do it on purpose and with good intention and really do it well.

Yeah, I really like that. I think you guys did a really good job being able to talk about how you're not only you're doing the thing, but also how you're helping others do the thing. And then the thing that we haven't talked about, but I'll just at least mention it. That's so cool. It's like by you helping these businesses do the thing, it's rippling beyond what you could even imagine. Because if you think about all the people that they're serving, servicing or even employing.

Yeah.

And just that vision that they're having for their company and even that work life balance, I'm sure that's rippling on to everyone else. And so you're touching like so many people through this process of you guys just deciding to get together and do this together and balance out your strengths. It's just, it's so cool just to think about how many people that is actually touching.

I mean, and that's one thing is I'm always heart forward and I really want to help people that help others, whether it be employment, whether it be helping their career paths are helping others, etc. Etc. But that's a big focus of mine.

Well, it was wonderful having you on. Please share where people can learn more about you.

Yeah. So you could go to businessesonpurpose.com and that is our site. And we're also on LinkedIn, Joella Orderino, and Randy Flaherty. And we're on Facebook, too. So you'll, you could, you won't miss us.

We're all over the place.

So cool. Thank you so much for coming on, you guys.

Thank you, Stacy, for having us.

Really, thank you.

Thanks for listening to the do the Thing podcast. We hope you enjoyed the show. But even more, we hope you'll be inspired to do the thing. Do you have a burning question on Doing the Thing that you'd like answered? How about an inspiring do the Thing story of your own that you'd like to share? We'd love to hear all about it. Just leave us a voice message at do the Thing callcast Co, or email us@helloothethingpodcast.com.