We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Danielle Shea a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Danielle, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?

Most definitely. Our parents have such a profound impact on all of our lives and I am so grateful, that I had such a loving upbringing.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Thank you for that. I am honored to have this opportunity to speak with you and have this platform. My name is Danielle Shea, and I am a Healing Coach for Sexual Abuse Survivors. I help male and female sexual abuse survivors all around the world to reclaim their power so that they can live a joyful and fulfilled life by building their support system, creating healthy boundaries, and developing unwavering confidence.
I am trained trauma-informed Healing Coach and lived experience expert dedicated to empowering individuals who have experienced sexual trauma. With my innovative transformative approach, I walk hand in hand with my clients on their unique healing journey without intimidating or re-triggering therapy sessions.

To support my clients I have trainings/certifications in the following areas:

– Root Cause Analysis

– Dialectical Behavioral Therapy

– Meditation and Mindfulness

– Counseling for Sexual Abuse Survivors

– Trauma Informed Coaching

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I love this question. You do not need to nor should you do everything yourself.

In my very first business I tried to do everything myself. I did this for many reasons: I wasn’t fully healed from my past traumas and felt like I couldn’t trust people, I subscribed to the belief of “If you want something done right do it yourself,” and I felt like that was the price of admission for entrepreneurship.

Due to all of this, I ended up closing down my first business during 2020. I was burnout, overwhelmed, and had turned my business into a job because I was wearing every single hat. I spent so much time working in my business that I didn’t have enough time to work on my business.

This is my second business and I am applying all of the lessons learned in business #1. I have a team of four incredible women working with me and we take massive action every single week. I am lightyears ahead of where I was and its all because of my team.

I know that this advice may seem over played, but its because every successful person you have heard of has a team of people supporting them.

If this feels out of reach you can find creative ways to have people work for you. For example:

– You can hire someone per task/assignment to make getting things off your to-do list more cost effective.

– You can also offer your services in exchange for volunteer hours to get other tasks done in your business that you can easily train someone to do.

– Hiring a virtual offshore assistant who comes pre-trained in tasks you do not want to/don’t know how to do, is a cost-effective way to get started as well.

You do not and should not do everything alone. Allow yourself to lean on your support system, and ask for help before you need it. This will save you so much time, money, and heartache. Trust in yourself and your business and invest in support.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

We just talked about getting a team to support you and how that is crucial for a successful business. But how do we run that team and make sure morale stays high?

This is what I do with my team and how we operate together. Are we perfect? No way. But do we have fun, respect each other, and trust each? Oh yeah.

First, my leadership style is this: I work for my team, they do not work for me. Without my team, I am nothing and the business is going no where. I count of them to do what they are good at, and they count on me to stay out of their way.

Another part of my management style that I live by is: as long as the work gets done well and on time, I don’t care when you do it. Everyone’s hours are unique to them. We’re all adults. I don’t need to babysit their hours. They work when they need to and this often leads to more creative ideas or higher quality finished products.

My team is virtual, and since we don’t have a set daily working schedule it can feel isolating at times. We make it a point to communicate daily via our messaging software and meet when necessary. As a team we meet weekly. And then, I meet with each team member 1:1 each week to make sure they feel supported and so we can continue to grow together. I care about my team as people, not just as employees, and that makes all the difference.

Lastly, we celebrate everything. Someone learned something new that week? Celebrate it! Someone made a mistake and learned from it? Celebrate it! Big win in the company? Celebrate it!

Running a business and managing a team should be fun and enjoyable. Don’t make entrepreneurship harder than it needs to be.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://danielleshea.blog/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daniellesheablog/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/daniellesheablog/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-shea-5355b01a5/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQnmJq58_UCziZUAUHe2wMA
• Other: podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/3BrtZNpTAFEWb3zLr4eB79?si=18099aeacc0a4505

Image Credits
Images created with the support of Canva Pro