Myeka Johnson: Entrepreneurial Lifestyle Blogger | The Business Blast Podcast #577

Welcome to the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode. ¡Hola!

¿Cómo estás?

All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Mayika with us. She is a business coach and entrepreneurial lifestyle blogger for entrepreneurs and small business owners. She is the CEO and owner of Direct Consultants LLC, a business consulting firm, and she's been making Forbes Under 30 list for the past 2 years in a row. And Maike is attending Harvard University for her MBA. And she's also a Clemson fan and I am a University of South Carolina fan. So this is going to be a heated interview. Welcome to the show. I'm pumped to have you on.

I'm happy to be here. Great introduction, especially mentioning Clemson.

Yeah, yeah, let's brawl.

No, I'm just kidding.

So we'll dive into the first one, Maike. The first one I have for you is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?

Uh, well, I know that I had questions, um, prior that I answered, but I also— and I'm not— I honestly don't remember what I put, but I do want to talk about how, um, when I started in the military, um, I was in the Marine Corps for 4 years, um, and I learned a lot of lessons when it comes to people, um, the different lifestyles of people that I was I was able to witness while I was in the military. And also just like the discipline that I had to endure in the military. And I think that's part of the reason why I'm really successful now. So I don't really have a particular story, but just that experience in general is something that really helped me go to the next level when it came to being disciplined and being able to, you know, be around different people and help different people. And it's another reason why I think I believe that my company is very successful because when you're a business consultant, a lot of people focus on a lot of different things when it comes to business, and some people only focus on particular things. But with my company, we focus on different companies, different backgrounds, different people, and I'm able to produce whatever they need in order for them to take an idea, turn it into capital, and become successful just from that.

And what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?

Well, a lot of people want to be entrepreneurs. There are a lot of people who say they want to be a CEO, be an entrepreneur, but it's hard. It's not an easy road. And everyone thinks, well, you know, if I take this idea and I pitch it to someone, I'll get an investor and bam, I'll become a millionaire or billionaire. But that's not reality. Reality is, and this is something that you learn as you get older, no matter what level you're on, if you're at a level that you're not prepared for, ready for, not saying you're going to fail, but it's going to be harder for you to adjust. But if you do fail, it will be harder for you to get back to that level. I think a lot of people have to understand it's not easy. It takes a lot of hard work. It takes a team. Even if you're able to start the company for the first 2 years, you're on your own, you're doing everything yourself, you're going to need a team eventually. But being an entrepreneur, CEO is really, really hard. You have to be a people's person. You have to get used to not sleeping a lot, working a lot. And rejection is number one. If you're not going to accept that you may be rejected every day, maybe more than once every day, then entrepreneurship is not for you. Agreed.

Rejection happens often in the entrepreneurial world.

Yes.

And it might tie in, but what's your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry-specific.

Just in general, just advice as being— you mean as a CEO or just in general?

Yeah, yeah, actually, let's go that route. So it's like, I think a lot of people want to run their own company. A lot of people want to be a CEO and owner of a company. So how did you get there? Walk us through that.

Well, I think, well, my journey began based on my environment when I was younger. I was always a smart kid, talented kid, just different. And I felt different. Everyone knew I was different, but in a good way. Unfortunately, I didn't have the resources that I needed to do anything. It was just my parents divorced when I was younger, all through high school, some of middle school, all through high school, my parents were going through a divorce. So we had, We didn't have that much money. I didn't know a lot of people that were successful around me. I didn't have a lot of educated people around me. So I wanted to start something that I knew would bring those resources, not only for me, but people in my neighborhood, people in my family. And I discovered Oprah when I was younger. And I wasn't sure that, you know, I would watch Oprah on television, but I didn't know like, oh wait, she has her own show that's named after her. And like, that's hers. I'm like, hmm, I can do that. I know I can because I'm really talented and she's part of the inspiration. But what also inspired me was that there was a lack of something and I felt like I was smart enough to create it. Now I look at it as, since I have such a big company, is there's a lack of a lot of different things when it comes to people, whether it's just resources, money, education. Some people are not even aware that they need to know something until it's brought to their attention. Like, did you know that you need to know this, be aware of this before you go to the next step? And that's what my company is all about. So my advice would be, number one, know what you want to do, have an idea, know what that is and go for it. But also, do not be afraid to do so. There are so many people that have great ideas and want to be successful. But the unfortunate side about that is a lot of people won't do it because they care about what other people think. You can't be that type of person if you want to be an entrepreneur, especially a really rich entrepreneur. You can't care about what people think because there are going to be a lot of people when it, when it comes to rejection, they're going to say no, this is stupid, this is dumb, but not to you. Especially if you have something that you know can make a difference in someone else's life or help change someone's life. I think you just, you can't care what people think. Go after your goals and your dreams and stay consistent. Entrepreneurship is one of those things where you don't know what's going to come next. You don't, you don't know who's going to walk into your life. You don't know how much money you're going to make. You don't even know if you're going to make money that day or that week or that month. But I would always say stay consistent. So that way when something, an opportunity comes or something comes your way, you're prepared for it. And that's like, I get this question all the time with a lot of people, considering also I'm young, is how do you do all of this stuff? And I tell them, I'm always doing something every day that's preparing me for the next level, whether I'm reading, I'm talking to someone that's more successful, I am going to networking events, I'm doing interviews, I'm always doing something, doing research, being a part of different programs. But I promise you, if anything were to hit me later on tonight or tomorrow, I'll be ready for it. So that's my advice to anyone that wants to be an entrepreneur.

Yeah, and like an object in motion stays in motion, you know? So I think that's the hardest part for people is like, you know, they'll hit that first rejection or just like just starting in general. Like if you lay on a couch, if you lay on your couch for a week, the, you know, the 8th day, it's going to be hard to get up. But if you run for 7 days straight, the 8th day of running is actually not that difficult. It's like part of the routine. So, right. So yeah, I think just action. So if you could give your, I know you're young, but if you could give even your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?

Ooh, my number one thing would be, because when I was younger and I was, 'cause I started my company when I was 17, I was in high school when I started this, I would say like my early 20s. And FYI, I'm about to turn 30. So a lot of people would say you're young, but I mean, I'm about to turn 30. I think 30 is young. I would— I struggle with caring about what people thought only because here's one part of entrepreneurship that a lot of people, not only they discover later on, and it really sucks for them, but it's something that never changes. You have to be used to being alone. And it's not— and I'm not saying like, you're just like always alone, like you don't have friends and family. You're not going to fit in, number one, because you're taking an entrepreneurial route. Most people, they graduate high school, go to college, they get a job, bam, there's life. Okay, entrepreneurship is not like that. Your schedule's not the same every day. A lot of people don't understand. So you have to— I would tell my younger self to not care about what people thought of me at the time. And then also get used to being alone and not only just physically alone, but mentally alone. Like you have this crazy idea, you have these big goals, you don't know exactly how you're going to get there, but you know you're going to get there. And that's what got me this far because even though I felt all those feelings, I knew what I wanted. So it was easier for me to overcome those things versus someone who's like you just mentioned, stepping out there for the first time. And, you know, for 7 days you're on the couch and the 8th day they realize how hard it is, or they're stepping out and realize how much money they lose at the beginning versus how much revenue they bring in. So the advice to my younger self would be don't care about what people think, but also just be used to— get used to being alone until the right people come into your life. Because now that I'm almost 30, I've met some amazing people. I have amazing friends, great family, and huge supporters. I mean, there's a lot of people in my— within my friends who always say, hey, when you become rich, don't forget about me. Or hey, don't forget, I want to be on the yacht or the island with you. I'm like, yeah, you'll be there, okay? Don't worry, you'll definitely be there with me. And that's something that you're going to need later on, or you're going to need in general, but don't count on it. If that makes any sense.

Yeah, no, no, it does. So then I think it perfectly leads to the next one. In your opinion, what is the key to happiness?

I think the key to happiness is being yourself. I think the only way you can actually become happy and stay happy is just being who you are and then staying true to that. Because I think we've all done it at some point in our lives where we changed a little just to fit in, or just to have a certain person in our lives. But it's not healthy. I think the only way you can really be happy is being who you are and doing what you love to do. Because even though someone may say, well, oh my gosh, you want to be an entrepreneur? How do you know if you're gonna have money next year? How do you know you're ever gonna be rich? How do you know this is going to work? But some people like that think, well, you need to do this to make money. But a lot of us do this because we love what we do and wake up every morning and we're happy, we love our lives, we love our jobs, and we can go into the office and we love the people we're around. And I just feel like that's what it's about. Life is about that in general, because there's a lot of people who don't have a lot of money but they're happy, and there's tons of people with a lot of money who are unhappy. You wonder, you're like really rich, you have all this money, you can do whatever you want to do. But a lot of those people are lonely and they're unhappy. And then you have someone who don't even know what they're going to eat tomorrow, but they're still happy. It's a mindset. So I think the key to being happy is just being yourself.

And what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?

The best book I've read so far, man, I've read tons of books. I'm a huge book lover. I love to read. I would have to say I love the book called The Shack. They just came out with a movie about it maybe a year ago, I want to say. And I don't want to give too much, too many details, especially if no one's ever watched the movie or anything. But The Shack is a really good book about life and how life can suck. It can be devastating. And we're asking why, why me? Why is this happening to me? Only to discover that the reason why it happened, how it happened, it happened to you, when it happened, is because it's meant for something later on in life. And like I said, I don't want to go into details, but when you read the book and you have Mack, who is the main character in the book, is talking to God about, why did you allow this to happen to our family? And several times, God's always saying— he's not telling him why, he's showing him why. 'Cause he has all these questions like, why are you allowing this to happen to me? I don't understand. And he said, I'm such a good guy. I'm such a, you know, we have such a great family. Why ruin our lives? Prime example, what we talked about earlier, like, you know, you can be the happiest person in the world and everything's going great, but you could lose everything just like that. But it's a mindset of how you look at it. But that book really taught me a lot about, especially at the early stages of being an entrepreneur, with a lot of people not understanding, I mean, family members not understanding, why do you want to do this? Why don't you just, you know, just go and be a teacher or something. Like, don't get me wrong, I love teachers, but why don't you just be a teacher, do something like that? I'm like, no, this is what I want to do. And it was hard for me to explain that, hey, I'm doing this because of you guys. Like, I saw that we needed this stuff. We needed these resources because we're all smart and talented. However, we don't have what we need to get to the next level. It was hard in the beginning. And now that they get it, it's like, oh, OK, I get it now. But it still sucked back in the day, you know, like a long time ago. But that book really teaches you about, you know, listen, instead of asking why, just wait to see the results of the tragedy or, you know, this disappointment in life because it does pay off later on. You never know, like, whatever you're going through at the time or whatever, you know, you may think, oh, it's hard. I cannot believe this is going on with me. But you never know whose lives you're going to change later on because of your tragedy. And that's how I look at when people ask me questions, especially younger people, even people my age, like, Maika, how do you do this? And when I break down, okay, this is how I do it, but you have to understand where I came from. So this is what I used to go through and look at my growth now. But I had to make these changes and I had to allow myself to go through this without asking why, just so I can get to this point to answer your questions now.

And yes, and what is your favorite quote and why?

My favorite quote. I think one of my favorite quotes is, let's see. I don't know. I don't think I have a favorite one.

One of your favorites. And it doesn't have to be an exact quote. It could be like just like a mantra or like a saying.

Well, I just heard someone say something the other day, but I can't remember exactly what they said. Hmm. Um, let's see, since I can't remember, like, my favorite one, I was reading this article earlier today About 13, I think CNN had published this article and it was talking about 13 things you need to give up in order to be successful. And one of the things that it talked about was you need to give up not being liked. And the reason why that stood out to me is because I deal with a lot of interns and a lot of these interns are 20, 21-year-olds. And, you know, outside of working, we do talk about personal issues. You know, it's really tough nowadays for like the younger generation to fit in and, and they have questions about it. And I have a lot of people that they want to be entrepreneurs, a lot of them don't want to go to college, they want to drop out, start their own companies. And one of the things that talked about is you just have to get over not being liked. And one of the things that it quoted in there was, remember, the more haters that you have, the more things you're doing right. And that's really true because a lot of people don't understand, even some adults, there are a lot of people who don't understand, well, why is this person, why does this person like me? Or why did this person stop being my friend? Or why are people talking about me? I think that's the biggest thing now, whereas even celebrities on Instagram, like they try to clap back when it comes to people commenting underneath their photos or videos and things like that. Listen, the more you're doing, the more people are going to hate on you and they're going to be jealous. And you have some people who don't even want you to be successful. They don't want you to be better than them. But that's one thing you have to get over and just remember that it's not you, it's them. It's their own insecurity. So if you do have a lot of haters, I think you're doing everything right. If you don't have any haters, you might want to start doing something because obviously you're not making progress if you don't have any haters. If everyone likes you, that may be a problem. Oh, matter of fact, that's another quote that I read once before. If you, the more people that you have in your group or the more people that follow you, like if you're the most popular, the more people you have around you, the weaker you are. And what people don't understand, I honestly believe that. Why? Because I am an entrepreneur and a lot of people think that success is, oh, I'm popular. I have a lot of followers. I'm me, like everyone likes me. However, how would you be if you didn't have those people? Wouldn't you be the weakest person because your happiness and your mindset depends on who likes you and why they like you? And entrepreneurs, if you want to be an entrepreneur, remember, there's a reason why it's considered being an entrepreneur. It's your idea, your business. So if you really think that a lot of people are going to like you from taking an idea, turning it into something from nothing, like, you got the wrong type of lifestyle because that's just not how it's going to be.

Yes, thank you so much for coming on. The last question I have for you before we let you go is, where is the best place for people to find and connect with you online?

So we have a really great blog, and it's www.directconsultantsgroup.com, and you can also follow my personal blog at www.myekajohnson.com, and that's M-Y-E-K-A Johnson.

Perfect. Thanks again for jumping on.

All right. Thank you for having me. The podcast you just heard was published with Anchor. Got something you want to say to the creator of this show? Send them a voice message using the Anchor app, free for iOS and Android.