IAM034 – Coach Helps Professionals & Entrepreneurs Redefine Abundance

Rebecca Brown is a Certified Money Coach (CMC)®, Certified Professional Coach (CTACC) and Laughter Yoga Teacher based in Reno, NV serving clients globally. She is on a mission to help professionals and entrepreneurs redefine abundance by bridging the worlds of play, purpose and prosperity.

• CEO Hack: Chunking Time, highlight them and time-blocking & creating a joy list
• CEO Nugget: What if you gave yourself permission to be playful with this? You are always at choice!
• CEO Defined: Having the freedom and ability to choose and create the business that is in alignment with my purpose and what I hope to share with the world.

Website: https://www.rebeccabrowncoaching.com/
Other Website: http://www.laughter-life.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebsblack/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RebeccaBrownCoaching/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thelaughterlife/

---

Check out one of our favorite CEO Hack’s Audible. Get your free audiobook and check out more of our favorite CEO Hacks HERE.

Transcription:

The full transcription is only available to CBNation Library Members. Sign up today!

Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview?

If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of.

This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:27

Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast, and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Rebecca Brown of Rebecca Brown Coaching.

Rebecca, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Rebecca Brown 0:37

So excited to be here, Gresh.

Gresham Harkless 0:38

Well, what I wanted to do was just read a little bit more about Rebecca so you can learn a little bit more about all the awesome things that she's doing.

Rebecca Brown is a certified money coach, a certified professional coach, and a laughter yoga teacher based in Reno, Nevada, serving clients globally. She is on a mission to help professionals and entrepreneurs redefine abundance by bridging the worlds of play, purpose, and prosperity.

Rebecca, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

Rebecca Brown 1:05

I am excited.

Gresham Harkless 1:07

Now the first question I have is just kind of like to build a little bit more upon your bio that I read and if you could tell us a little bit more about your CEO story and what led you to start your business?

[restrict paid=”true”]

Rebecca Brown 1:14

Absolutely, I have always lived my life outside of the proverbial box, so to speak and freedom has been kind of my guiding principle. So I've said don't box me in, like I don't want to be in the nine-to-five box. So for many years, I was the round peg who refused to fit in the square hole so I created my major in college. I taught environmental education and directed summer camps and was really living a life that was on purpose and was fulfilling for where I was and what I was doing.

But I found that brand of freedom came at a cost, you know, in not allowing myself to look in the traditional box and maybe some practical matters, I was really creating my own box. So what I found as I moved on from Camp directing, and environmental education was I found myself consulting and working in the book marketing field. It still allowed me freedom, it allowed me to market books at 10 pm if I wanted to, and go up and paddle on Lake Tahoe during the day, it allowed me that really good flexibility. But it wasn't tapping into my purpose.

So I was feeling super unfulfilled as a consultant in my business. So a few years ago, I found myself really staring into the face of a new decade and feeling like life was pretty tepid. I wasn't feeling like I was having an impact. And so I was putting on a good face because I felt like you know, the glass is always half full in my mind. But you know, I felt like I was kind of trapped by these golden handcuffs as I started to call them up consulting work. So I started to explore the world of coaching because friends who have been in the coaching world for several years had recommended that field.

I got trained as a personal and professional development coach and opened my coaching practice and found that clients were coming in with a lot of money issues, and money sort of ties into all aspects of our lives. So I wanted an extra tool in my toolkit and so then got my money coaching certification. What I've really found is that coaching has really been a way for me to tap back into my own purpose and to feel fulfilled and to read this. So my clients are those that are waking up that are feeling like okay, you know, I've been in a career and I've kind of sold my life to my career, but I really want to create a family or I've given my life to my family now who am I anymore?

Really, it's those folks who are waking up and tapping back into their big why and in terms of how I say I'm on a mission to redefine abundance, it's because for me that taps into this idea of joy and playfulness and wonder and brings that into the conversation beyond just the practical prosperity that we think of when we think of abundance, but it's an abundant life beyond that. So that's really what my coaching practice is about, is helping folks tap into that whether it's through money coaching or through personal professional development coaching or through laughter yoga because that's my thing.

I love to help people laugh and smile and yeah, I am now the CEO of Rebecca Brown coaching and the laughter life because I found that is a much better fit for me than the world of consulting. It really is much more fulfilling and allows me to serve my higher power.

Gresham Harkless 4:51

Awesome. Yeah, I love your story, obviously, and getting the opportunity to tap into your purpose so that you can help people tap into their purpose and experience abundance in entirely really different ways that sometimes we kind of define it or give it credit for. So I think that's awesome what you're doing.

I wanted to drill a little bit deeper to hear a little bit more about exactly like, how do you help out? What are the products and services that you help out your clients with?

Rebecca Brown 5:11

Sure, I help my clients really gain clarity on where they want to go and what their values are because like I said, my clients are those who are waking up, so to speak. So it's gaining clarity, and it's developing confidence to say I can go after that, and then acting with courage because as we start to launch into our big, bold, beautiful dreams, oftentimes fears come up or old beliefs or challenges, roadblocks, and so really helping them to have the courage to really act with competence and overcome those things.

So it starts with really helping my clients define their box, define what it is that's keeping them safe. And, you know, oftentimes our box keeps us cozy, it's comfy in there, right? So we've created this comfy little world. In staying in that box, we aren't really tapping into our true potential and all that's possible. So really, it's about unpacking that box and looking into the stories that my clients have woven all around it, and the beliefs that are there so that they can gain clarity on where they want to go. Really redefine freedom and abundance on their terms and start to show up in a bigger, bolder way, and share their gifts with the world.

So oftentimes, in coaching, a big part of it is holding up the new year and helping clients to realize like, wow, this is really the way that I'm presenting myself to the world. But I want to be presented in this way and what needs to shift and what can I do? In terms of the money coaching piece, it's adding in the human element of the money conversation. Oftentimes, when we talk about money, if we talk about money, it's the practical side, the debts, the assets, and that side of money, and it's missing the human element, which you know, is that emotional, behavioral kind of belief system tie into money.

So it's diving into that aspect and looking at the beliefs and the behaviors and the challenging patterns from their past sourcing, where those are coming from, and really working to transform that relationship with money on a behavioral level versus just looking at depth assets. So that's a kind of bigger picture of what I provide with my coaching practice.

Gresham Harkless 7:28

I wanted to ask you a little bit more about your organization, your company, like what do you feel makes you unique? Or what's your kind of quote and quote, secret sauce?

Rebecca Brown 7:36

I would say that my secret sauce is really focusing on joy. That comes from my laughter yoga, side of things, and my mission to really help one person smile every day. So I have found for me that adding this element of laughter and joy has really opened doors for me both and for my clients. But for myself, it has opened doors in terms of leading workshops for professional organizations, nonprofits, and government organizations, and having those speaking engagements to get in there and really help folks add levity to the workplace and to their company.

Then I have found with clients, it's really that once they start tapping into laughter, and start tapping into joy, it really helps tap into your creativity and your emotional resilience and the challenges that come up, right? If you approach it from this place of laughter and levity, it helps you to really shift your perspective on what is coming up.

For the money coaching, really, that secret sauce is adding the human element to money.

Gresham Harkless 8:46

Makes perfect sense. A lot of people, as you said, don't really have that association with it. It's something that's not human at all. So it's great that you've been able to do that.

I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this might be a book and might be an app, or it might just be a habit that you have leaned on a regular everyday basis that makes you more effective and efficient as a business owner.

Rebecca Brown 9:07

Yeah, I would say for myself, that my hack, is that I'm still a paper calendar now. So I write out my week, I chunk out my time, I find that chunking time into, say, a two-hour time block to work on social media posts or chunk of time for client calls and a chunk of time for new connections and costly connections virtually or in person. Then I find that highlighting those in the colors and in their categories really helps me to look back on that paper calendar and say, well, okay, I spent most of my time on admin this week, or wow, the majority of my time was spent with clients, or I spent a lot of time on social media this week.

It really puts a perspective in terms of wow, this is where my time is going, and let's redirect that time so that, you know, the majority of the time is spent on income production, right? The next one down is marketing. So probably like 60% on income-producing 20%, on marketing 10% on new connections in that. I have found that the paper calendar is huge. The other half for me has really been creating a joy list and that's really one thing that is not one thing, but a list of things that bring me joy.

So having that list that I can tap into a new one of them a day. So if I only have 15 minutes, maybe it's like, Okay, I'm gonna read a chapter of a book, if I have an hour, it's okay, I'm gonna go take a walk and spend some time in the forest. If I have five minutes, maybe it's I'm going to do five minutes of laughter, but really tapping into one thing and being really consciously committing to tapping into one thing that brings me joy has allowed me to stay in that positive mindset as a CEO as well.

Gresham Harkless 11:05

I love both of those. Obviously, I swear by my calendar. But definitely, the joy of this is amazing. Because especially with the roller coaster ride, sometimes I'm running a business, you need to be able to leave and have that list that you can kind of go to to get yourself at a higher vibration, so to speak. So I love those.

I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. This might just be like a word of wisdom or piece of advice you might have for entrepreneurs and business owners.

Rebecca Brown 11:25

Sure my golden nugget to share would be my favorite coaching question to ask. So when a client comes and they are facing a challenge, typically I will say what if you gave yourself permission to be playful with this? And the thing that I love about that question is when we give ourselves permission, I call it the art of allowing, right? So when we give ourselves permission, we open the doorway to possibility thinking, because when we allow ourselves to be playful, it takes off the pressure of Oh my gosh, I have to do this right the first time, or is this the best decision or okay? It's not perfect. I can't do it yet, right?

But if we say once we give ourselves permission to be playful, then it really opens that doorway to what the potential could be. So typically, when I've asked that, folks are like, Oh, my gosh, I could do this, I wouldn't do this or that. So I would say that my nugget is when you find yourself with a challenge, really ask yourself what if I gave myself permission to be playful with this? What will change?

Gresham Harkless 12:32

I love it. What if I gave myself permission to be playful? I love that just because it gets you again, in a mindset. Sometimes we're so frustrated about all the things going wrong. But what if you took a step back and asked that question? It can definitely, you know, open up some unseen potential in our businesses. So I love that.

Now, one of my favorite questions, of course, is to kind of get a definition of what exactly a CEO means to you. I will have different CEOs on the podcast, but I wanted to ask you specifically what being a CEO means to you.

Rebecca Brown 13:01

So for me, this is interesting. This is an interesting question to consider because I sometimes think, well, I'm an entrepreneur, I'm not really a CEO. But for me, being a CEO really means having the freedom and the ability to choose and create a business that really is in alignment with who I am with my purpose, and what I have to share with the world. So being a CEO, to me, feels like a gift, right? Because it's allowing that freedom of choice, it's allowing me to tap into that because we all have that power of choice. It's allowing me to be a creator and create what I want.

It's also allowing me to have an impact and really support my clients in having an impact. I also feel like being a CEO brings its own sense of responsibility and leadership as we lead our clients or if it's a bigger company, employees, but for me personally, it has that sense of responsibility and leadership and it means being supportive.

Also asking for support when needed, means growth, the ability to pivot, like I pivoted from consulting to coaching, so, really having that flexibility, but I mean, it really boils down to this idea of the freedom to choose and create a business that is fully in alignment with who I am, my values and the message I have for the world.

Gresham Harkless 14:26

Rebecca, I appreciate you so much for taking some time out of your schedule to kind of speak with us. I wanted to pass you the mic so to speak one more time to see if there was anything additional you want to let our readers and our listeners know and also how people can best get a hold of you.

Rebecca Brown 14:37

Sure, I would just say the only thing additional because I just touched on it and it's something that I truly believe is that we all do have this hidden superpower as I call it of choice. So just never forget that you are always at choice. You know just as a child can choose what to do with a cardboard box since we were talking about boxes, you know, we can choose to create what we want with our businesses and transform our world and our box and choose how we act and react and all of that.

But just really remember that you are always at choice in terms of how you're showing up even in the conversations you're having with prospective clients, employees' interactions, and with what you're creating. In terms of where I can be found online, my website is www.rebeccabrowncoaching.com.

I can also be found in my new Facebook group, it's the abundance playground. That's really where we are bridging these worlds of play, purpose, and prosperity, and having fun really exploring and redefining what abundance is beyond the paycheck. So feel free to reach out and join the abundance playground on Facebook, or you can find me at rebeccabrowncoaching.com

Gresham Harkless15:49

Awesome. Well, Rebecca, thank you so much again, and we'll have all those links in the show notes so anybody can follow up with you and join the Facebook group. But I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day and I truly appreciate you for giving us so many words of wisdom.

Gresham Harkless 16:02

You too, Gresh, and thanks for having me on the show.

Outro 16:05

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co. I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community.

Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless.

Thank you for listening

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

[/restrict]