We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Loren McDaniel. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Loren below.

Loren, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

The DYWork story begins with our founder, Loren McDaniel. There was a period where her dating/friendship life was in shambles. She lost her job and had to move out of her home; and her familial life was less than ideal. Desperate for a transformational life change, she called out to her aunt. Her aunt laughed understandingly and told her to “Do Your Work”. That phrase struck a chord with her. She immediately began organizing her self-improvement and developing strategies for becoming greater than her current version. Loren began processing old pain and tying it to specific behavioral patterns. She got clear on who she wanted to be and developed tangible action steps to improve her life areas. She got intentional about understanding her strengths/weaknesses and began growing as a person.

Along Loren’s journey, she noticed that the self-improvement industry lacked order/structure. She knew that she needed to heal but didn’t know how to do it. There we no books, resources, or programs that provided a personalized strategy for emotional healing. She knew that she needed to grow as a person; but she struggled to define her unique gifts and develop her unique weaknesses.

This is what prompted the transition of “Do Your Work” from a life motto— to a legitimate business problem that needed solving. Loren is committed to developing tools, resources and programs that organize the DYWork process. She hopes that everyone can achieve the highest life potential, with structured systems that provide personal insights and strategies for progression

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

My name is Loren McDaniel. I am a self-improvement coach that helps clients achieve their highest life potential. I got really intentional about my journey a few years ago when I lost my job and experienced a series of broken relationships. Desperate for transformational life change, I called my aunt— who told me to “Do Your Work”.

It was a spiritual experience for me and I knew exactly what I needed to do. I started by sitting in deep introspection. I began talking to God, organizing my pain, and identifying toxic behaviors rooted in unresolved emotional trauma. I defined what I wanted my life to look like and developed strategies for accomplishing my goals. I got serious about personal growth and looked for opportunities to maximize my strengths and develop my weaknesses.

Along my journey, I noticed that there weren’t many worksheets, tools, or programs that could help guide me through the self-improvement process. So I began creating my own. I made habit of doing the work and documenting the process. Slowly, “Do Your Work” transitioned from a life motto— to a legitimate business problem that I wanted to help solve.

Today, I work with clients in all areas of self-improvement: healing, life planning and execution, personal growth, and spiritual evolvement. I look to support clients through organizing the self-improvement process and providing practice tools/solutions.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

So when I launched DYWork in 2022, I only had 300 followers on Instagram. My follower count has since grown to 1200. My top priority is building a strong brand identity vs. trying to sale a product/service. I have been focused on showing my followers who I am, what my self-improvement process looks like (the good, the bad and the ugly), and creating a business case for doing the work. I actually turned my personal page into a branded autobiography and have invited my followers to truly learn about me/my life.

My biggest piece of advice is first getting clear on who you are and who your target market is. Once that’s defined, you need to develop a content strategy that effectively conveys your brand and attracts your target market. The people that are supposed to come with naturally find you. I also recommend spending a little bit of time each day networking with your target market or peers in your industry. That has been key in helping to drive traffic and engagement on my platform.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to learn the power of collaboration. I grew up in a very individualistic home— it’s like we all lived under one roof but separately owned our lives. I can sometimes bring this approach to the entrepreneurial space.

Being in the self-improvement industry has helped me shift my perspective. I’ve realized that the right community can create a ton of work/professional opportunities for me. They can plug me where I need to be plugged, share a resource that helps me expand my knowledge, provide feedback on a blind spot that I may be unaware of, advise in an area that I may be weak in, etc. In entrepreneurship, you need a team that you can trust and an open heart that puts you in a position for success.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: dyworkofficial, dywork.ship
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100078957033913
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4GbJjxc71o&t=65s

Image Credits
Whitney Jordan @wbjordanphotos