IAM150- 2x Best-selling Author, Health and Brand Coach Helps Brands Improve Their Social Media

She has been featured in Cosmopolitan, Shape, Elle, Men's Health, and Women’s Health and is constantly interviewed for shows like Extra TV, Access Hollywood, Good Day LA, and Fox News Health.

Nikki is followed by over 350,000 followers on Instagram and has helped countless companies improve their own social channels to see the results they want.

• CEO Hack: (1) Not checking my phone for the first 30 minutes when I wake up. (2) Setting timers to do certain activities
• CEO Nugget: (1) Research and do due diligence with people you want to work with. (2) No matter what happens, it will be okay (3) Pay attention to what you're trying to start for a business
• CEO Defined: Someone who owns whatever they do in that position

Website: http://www.nikkisharp.com/

Instagram @nikkisharp

Full Interview on CBNation TV

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Transcription

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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 0:26

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 Nikki Sharp at nikkisharp.com. Nikki, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Nikki Sharp 0:36

Thank you. I'm super excited.

Gresham Harkless 0:38

I'm super excited to have you on and what I want to do is just read a little bit more about Nikki so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. Nikki is a two-time best-selling author, creator of a number one app, worldwide known health coach, and branding extraordinaire. She has been featured in Cosmopolitan, Shape, and Women’s Health and is constantly interviewed for shows like Extra TV, Access Hollywood, Good Day LA, and Fox News Health. Nikki is followed by over 350,000 followers on Instagram and has helped countless companies improve their own social channels to see the results they want. Nikki, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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Nikki Sharp 1:13

I am super ready. What an intro! Thank you.

Gresham Harkless 1:16

Yeah, I know you're doing some awesome things and you deserve that intro so what I want to do is drill a little bit deeper here about your CEO story and what led you to start your business.

Nikki Sharp 1:24

So I was a model for many years. And in that, you don't necessarily have anyone telling you how to run a business. But you do learn that you have to manage money, you have to learn what jobs you do and don't want to take. You show up to countries randomly with no cell phone and there are all the things that go wrong with it.

So I learned quite quickly how to, let's say deal with being an entrepreneur without ever meaning to, and then from there, I was actually trying to overcome two eating disorders that I went through and I started a health blog called Stay Sharp, Be Strong. And it was just a way for me to share the meals that I was cooking and then I wrote an e-book and I sold it on Instagram, I was one of the first people to do that. And it blew up it sold 100,000 copies, just you know posting before and after photos.

And from there that turned into a two-book deal, a number one app, and obviously, from creating my own brand and having the success that I have personally had, I realized that I want to help other people get the success that they want. It just seemed like a really natural fit to go from building my own brand to then serving and giving back and helping others get their own personal brands up and running.

Gresham Harkless 1:31

Yeah, it makes perfect sense. And it seems like this is the golden era, I guess you can call it a personal brand and being able to tell your story and have people flock to you and connect with you just because you're being authentic and you know, talking about everything that you may be going through or trying to try for whatever is going on, be able to have the tools at your disposal to be able to do that is powerful in this day and age.

Nikki Sharp 3:04

Yeah, it absolutely is. And equally, everyone is trying to share who they are they're trying to share their story. And what I find is that a lot of people mix trying to just share who they are in their story with, oh, I have a great idea I can become a brand and there's they don't always translate one to the other. But we all want to be heard and seen and Instagram and social media are creating our own brands that have allowed people to really feel heard and to get validation.

And so it's a double-edged sword and not in that way because we get validation from a like or a comment. And at the same time, it's given us an opportunity to become entrepreneurs and does things outside of the box and not be the sheep of like nine to five jobs where you hate your life and you're depressed. So for those people that love the nine-to-five jobs and switching off at five o'clock, I'm all for that I many times wish that I could turn off at five o'clock on a Friday.

But you know, every job every brand every company has its pros and cons and so I guess I'm just really blessed to be able to help people really understand what their passion is and whether it's a viable thing as just a side job side passion side hustle or if they really have something that they can take full force and you know this oftentimes your biggest passions, and when you start making it your work ended up not becoming your passion anymore because you realize how much work actually goes into it. 

Gresham Harkless 4:37

Yeah, it's funny how that works out where you know, you find that you'd love to do something. And then when you start doing it 24/7, so to speak, it starts not to become as much of a passion and you have to find other things. So it's important to kind of, I guess, understand what you're doing it for if you're doing it just as an outlet, then maybe you don't necessarily want to create it as a brand. So it's always important to kind of balance that so I know you touched on it a little bit.

So could you tell us I guess a little bit more about, how you're helping to serve the clients and things that you're doing to help support them?

Nikki Sharp 5:04

Yeah, absolutely, the way in which I work is actually quite different than most people. And this is because I, I read energy very well. And I, you, and I can be on the phone and you can say here what my goals are. And I can sense the confusion, or the passion, or whatever it is that is coming out, we don't even need to be on a video call. It's just I can understand the tone of your voice and, and the way in which you say things, and also from where you currently are to where you want to go.

So I work backward with people. And I say, alright, here's your plan. It doesn't even need to be a 10-year plan, for example, but you need to have an idea of where you want to go, we all have that we know okay, I want to buy a house. Well, if you want to buy a house the same as if you want to start a brand or you want to get followers on Instagram, I then start to work backward and say, Is this about launching a product? Is this about building a community? Or do you just need to get more followers quickly? Because each thing has a different way to get there. You can't say I want all of them and expect them all to happen.

It all revolves around what are you trying to do. What are the short-term and long-term goals? Just because I know so many different fields of publishing, from self-publishing to app launch to ebook creation, to all the social media channels, it becomes this really beautiful journey that I get to take with people.

Gresham Harkless 6:26

And now I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. And this is what you feel kind of distinguishes you or sets you apart. So do you have a secret sauce for yourself or even the brand that you're building?

Nikki Sharp 6:35

I would say that my secret sauce for me is to show up with trust in myself in the universe, and in God in everything that happens because each moment is a learning experience. And if something terrible happens, and we've all had it both in, our personal life and our professional life, it's a learning experience that we get to grow from and not make the same mistakes.

So that for me is the secret sauce to which I live my day to day even I don't know if you can see but trust in my finger. Because it's that the other part is to do all things with love. And I have a little heart there. Because it's you have to trust the process. Trust yourself, trust others, and you have to show up with love for everyone around you.

So that's for me and when it comes to other people the secret sauce is or when I work with them is really I guess diving into what that trust is and knowing that whatever is meant to come through me and channel through me to that client will and I've never had a blank moment. I've never been like, Oh no, I don't know what to do. I think it's also the amount of experience I've had in so many different fields parallel with the fact that I get such joy helping other people, it just naturally becomes the secret sauce of I look forward very much like you look forward to these interviews.

I look forward to working with people and extracting that deepest desire and how we get there. It's a beautiful journey. And I am so blessed every time I get to take it with people.

Gresham Harkless 8:08

And now I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a co-hack. And this might be an app or book or habit that you have or even one of the things that you created. But it's something that you feel kind of makes you more effective and efficient as a business owner.

Nikki Sharp 8:21

Oh, okay, this is a good one in the morning. And I'd like to say that I do it every day. But I don't the days that I do it. I'm more effective though. I actually don't check my phone for the first 30 minutes when I wake up that time I realized is very sacred to me. And I'm far more effective in my day, if I do 30 minutes of whatever it is I need to do.

So maybe that's a meditation, maybe that's just writing a list of everything I want to achieve that day or goals, intentions, taking a shower, or making coffee. But in that 30 minutes, you're not putting yourself into fight or flight mode.

And one of the biggest things that people don't realize is the moment you check social media and you start to get notifications, it alarms things in your brain and triggers certain responses and your body does go into fight or flight mode. That's why a lot of people don't sleep very well at night. So by doing this, you actually set yourself up for a better day.

The other thing that I love to do is set timers for certain activities. So I'll set a timer if I need to go in and do all my social media posting or respond to comments, or sort of 30-minute timer. And when that's done, it's done or I decide okay, actually, I need 30 more minutes. And you realize that you actually get things done a lot quicker and more efficiently. Instead of it becoming this overwhelming I have to do all of this today.

You go through the checklist and another great example is if you're trying to work out a business plan or deal with finances or whatever it might be, if you set 30 minutes every single day to do it, you're far more likely to commit to it and see results than if you try to attack it saying, Okay, today I need to write a business plan. That's a little terrifying. So those two are my personal hacks that I do and I see huge results from them.

Gresham Harkless 10:17

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. Now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget and this might be a word of wisdom or piece of advice, or if you can happen to a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self? 

Nikki Sharp 10:29

Sadly, not trust people so quickly do like more so do my research before, and I'm a very trusting person. And I've been burned a lot of times now. And I've lost a lot of money because of it. So I would say it's maybe not about trust, but I don't think I necessarily trusted myself either. And that, but you really need to research and do your due diligence with people that you're going to work with because they have the opportunity to make or break your trust your confidence, they can take things from you and equally, they can build you up more than you ever thought.

So I would definitely tell myself that. And I would also tell myself that no matter what happens, it will all be okay. Because we often go through things that like shit hits the fan, you lose money, you're sued, what and like I've had all of these, I've been sued so many times now it's crazy from kind of crazy people and they're just money hungry. They see you as a vulnerable person, you know, you think it's the end of the world, while you're going through it.

You always come out on top, you really do, you just have to believe in yourself in that. I would also say to myself, or to anyone else listening really, really try to pay attention and look at what you're trying to do for business. Because if you're starting off with a side hustle that you're passionate about, and you're like, I'm passionate, I want to bake cookies and make a million dollars a year, oftentimes, we don't realize all the overhead costs or the time we're gonna have to put in or that you really do lose the passion when it becomes the full-time work.

And so I've had that where for about two years, I lost passion for writing, for blogging for everything, and I'm like, Okay, what's going on, and in that, I had to just allow myself to, to feel it and go through and move through it.

That's when I really started up the consulting side of things because I realized that doing things only for myself was no longer fulfilling me. But when I get to give what I have in my talents to other people, it worked out perfectly. So in that, I needed to take a break from my own personal brand. And that's part of the journey of you may be feeling like a failure for switching courses. But now I'm so grateful that I get to do that.

Gresham Harkless 12:41

Yeah, and that's, that's very powerful. I think that it also kind of speaks to the fact that we as people sometimes change as well, too. So we evolve and sometimes our interests change, or our goals change. But I imagine that you know, being able to build your brand is definitely phenomenal. But I imagine having a client that you're able to say, hey, they did X, Y, and Z by working with them, and I'm able to help them do that. It's probably even more phenomenal.

Nikki Sharp 13:01

Yeah, absolutely. And it's all the experiences that you and I and everyone else go through we can take those experiences and help other people to become their best selves. And that's what the Law of Attraction is. When you do that you get more rewarded and anyone that doesn't believe in the Law of Attraction should because it's been proven by scientists that it works. It's all a state of mind and being and so work itself shouldn't be you shouldn't hate it, and you should not ever hate going to work. If you're doing that, then you're skipping out on the best days of your life, which is right now.

Gresham Harkless 13:36

Absolutely. Absolutely. It makes perfect sense. And now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on the show. But I wanted to ask you Nikki, what does being a CEO means to you?

Nikki Sharp 13:48

The definition of a CEO is someone who owns whatever it is that they do in that position, you don't need to be a manager of 500 people, you can be the janitor, and you can be your own CEO and own that and make it yours. There's nothing worse than seeing people who despise their jobs because you can make that job work for you and go in with gratitude and appreciation every single day and start to get to where you want to go by doing that. So pure and simple a CEO yeah is someone who owns what they do with integrity, love, and with passion, even if you're not passionate about it at that day or moment.

Gresham Harkless 14:29

Yeah, absolutely. It makes perfect sense and I love that definition. Because you know, a lot of it is in the foundation of being able to be in control of like what you want to do whether or not you have a certain CEO position or your manager like you said, custodian, whatever it is, you have ownership of your day and of your time and of your reaction to things. So I think that's a phenomenal definition and a great reminder. So I appreciate you for sharing that with us.

Nikki Sharp 14:51

Yeah.

Gresham Harkless 14:52

Nikki, I truly appreciate you for taking some time out of your schedule. What I wanted to do was pass you the mic so to speak, just to see if there was anything additional you want to let our readers and our listeners know, and also how best they can get a hold of you.

Nikki Sharp 15:03

Well, I would say it's really about finding a mentor, someone that can guide you, whether it's a coach, a consultant, or a mentor because we can't do it alone as much as we think we can. Also really knowing that you are on a path that's so unique and special to you and when we sit there and compare ourselves to other people on Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn, it takes away from that beauty of what you have to offer.

So the comparison is the thief of joy and we want to live a joyous fulfilled life every day. So those would be my two kinds of parting comments, and anyone that wants to work with me and help get your brands up and running or get a little more clarity on where you're going in life. You can find me at nikkisharp.com, or @nikksharp on Instagram or Facebook and as I said, I love working with people. I love motivating people.

I am very blessed and honored to get to share things that I've learned and experienced and pass that on to other people. So that would be my final parting words of wisdom.

Gresham Harkless 16:09

There you go. Case close, though. I appreciate you, Nikki, for taking some time out and you're doing some awesome and phenomenal work, obviously. So I appreciate you for doing and showing up in the world and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Nikki Sharp 16:20

Thank you so much.

Outro 16:22

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.

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