Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to TaVona Denise. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

TaVona, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

Coaching changed my life. Period. Maybe it saved my life as well. I say that because I was depressed, working as a physical therapist in a hospital where you weren’t allowed to say you were depressed because it would go on your permanent record, but I could say that I was stressed. That allowed me to receive counseling. It sort of helped. After more than 10 years in the industry, I felt bored, burned out and stuck in the career I once thought I wanted to do forever.

Incidentally, I received a health coaching certification during a continuing education course to maintain my PT license, which led me to seek support in how to start the coaching business because I had a physical therapy contracting company, but did not know how to start a company related to coaching. The woman asked me about my credentials, decided I didn’t have enough and recommended I go to The Life Coach School, to get additional training, so I did. It was the best decision EVER.

During that time, I learned that I had more control over how I felt and the results that I created in my life. Does it mean that I am happy all of the time, heck no, but I feel more in control overall. I used that certification and became a life coach, then eventually started mentoring others on the business of coaching and getting clients as that is a HUGE barrier to others who want to work in the field of coaching.

Because I know what coaching has done for me and countless others, I have made it my mission over the next 20 years to bring coaching to ⅛ of the world’s population with the One Billion Served Movement. We have no shortage of coach training certifications. I want to help more of my colleagues not only make money as a coach, but help more people and thrive in the process.

TaVona, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’ve seen it all in the past 7 years as a business coach and the past 12 years in online marketing specifically. And what I typically see is, business owners from $0 to multiple 7-figures come to me with one issue, but real the problem they are experiencing is stemming from something else. So I’ve made it my mission to teach others how to redesign their business, so they can help more of the people they love working with, make more money and have the lifestyle they want.

I use my background as a physical therapist, 20+ years as an entrepreneur and master certified life & business coach to find what exactly is not working well in someone’s business and fix it.

Whether we are talking about their messaging, and marketing strategies, to creating offers that are aligned and sell with ease, to creating launches that actually work and move a potential client to a paying client, I have found that there are 3 key pillars that every business needs in order to be able to custom tailor a marketing system as a PART of an overall business structure that works for them.

I created the SOS Method to help heart-centered entrepreneurs build a business that allows them to serve more clients without burning out or compromising their values in the process.

Part of why I am so passionate about the balance between building a business that is successful, but also sustainable is my own burnout story, but also because I read the Four Hour Work Week, by Tim Ferris in 2007. That book sparked a desire in me to be able to live anywhere and I am happy to say that I have created a life and business where I get to live near the beach in Mexico part time.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

I had been working on taking my coaching business full-time for YEARS. I wanted to transition out of physical therapy and patient care and do coaching full-time, because I could do it from anywhere and in 2015, I had a severe back injury that made patient care IMPOSSIBLE for 6 months. That really scared me because the job of physical therapy, especially in a hospital setting, is very demanding physically and at the time I was not even 40 years old.

I remember saying to myself, I am not going to be able to make it 25 more years. Even once I was cleared to return to work, I never quite felt the same, so I took some more time off. When I returned, some of my FAVORITE doctors and nurses looked worn down, like the hospital had sucked the life out of them.

At the time, burnout was just beginning to be recognized widely as a problem. Some of them knew of my background as a life coach and started coming to me for support. Over the next year, I created a burnout resilience program for the hospital and decided that by the end of the following year, I would take my business full-time.

Over the next year, I really started gaining traction as a burnout specialist and started focusing my efforts with others in healthcare who wanted to leverage their degree to do something other than patient care. I remember feeling good about where things were headed. I had “only” made about $40,000 the previous year, but I was hopeful that I’d be able to double that so I could leave my work at the hospital.

Then the Pandemic hit.

It was mid-March and they called all of the contractors out of the hospital.

I had about $5,000 in my savings account, but I was scheduled to speak at 2 major in-person events, both of which were able to transition to online events

The next month I made $13,000. I took the momentum and what I knew about putting on events from the alternative fitness event company I had and created an online event for women in healthcare who were trying to figure out what to do in the midst of a pandemic that was causing people to lose jobs and their lives.

I lost one of my colleagues to COVID early on and it really shook me. It shook all of us.

That year, I made $200K in my business. It was the most money I had ever seen in my life and I am so incredibly proud of how I showed up and served during that time. At least 4 of the original clients I worked with that year have crossed the 6-figure mark and I think I was more excited for them than I was for myself when I hit 6 figures.

Some of the things I learned during that time was to decide. Don’t wish or hope or try. Decide. If I had not decided that I was going to make this my full-time in late 2018, early 2019, I don’t think I would have been in a position to take off when the Pandemic came and the hospital told us not to come in.

Be willing to experiment and do multiple things until you find your lane. I have done a LOT of things in my entrepreneurial career, but I always test by selling the thing first, then evaluate.

Finally, don’t wait to hit the goal to feel proud or happy or successful. I had a 6-figure launch that year and was utterly depressed because having that much money didn’t make me feel any more secure or successful. That might sound strange, but it’s true. So one of the things I work on with my clients is understanding exactly why they want what they want and figuring out in what ways we already have it or how we can access a piece of it so we can not rush and put so much pressure on our business to make us feel better. Because at the end of the day, humans with a lot of money are still humans.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Networking, mostly within Facebook groups. I know a lot of people talk about networking, whether that’s on or offline, but I think a lot of people fail to understand the nuances of it.

Most of the time, when people hear that you should go to networking events or groups, they think you should do that because you are supposed to get clients from the group. This is where you see people just walking around passing out cards or in the online space, people just saying “buy my stuff.”

What they fail to realize is that when a person says, your net worth is in your network, you have to actually create a RELATIONSHIP with the people in your network and foster that relationship. When you have a relationship with people, they know who you are, they like and trust you. They know you want to add value, not just take from others.

I have been on over 50 podcasts without pitching because of my network. I get to stay with and dine with people all over the world, because of my network. Many of the people are in my cell phone or if I DM them, they will respond. Why? Because they know I am not just there to take and if I do have an ask, I have given plenty before doing so.
So, when I teach networking, I want people to understand that it is a long game. When we enter a networking opportunity, there are the cheerleader, the connector, the competitor and then the client.

Each type of person has a different function in our lives and if we enter the space with curiosity and fascination around the others in the room, you will easily see who is in front of you and how they might be able to help you as well as who you are to them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tavonadenise.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tavonadenise/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tavonadenise
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tavonadenise
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/tavonadenise
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd_tBZ7DkCGd93e6SZwzoBw/

Image Credits
Katya Vilchyk – main photo only