IAM166- Yoga Teacher and Health Coach Inspires and Encourages People to Live Their Best Lives

Adell is the sole employee of her international business comprised of yoga, health, and travel. She herself has been travelling all over the world for the last two years to teach yoga and along the way has learned many lessons both in her personal life and for her business. Her mission is to inspire and encourage people to live their best lives by understanding what their own unique individual path is, and she does that through her Instagram, blogs, yoga teaching, and with her health coaching. She's an accidental CEO, who has created her business based solely on doing what she's passionate about.

• CEO Hack: 5-minute journal app to focus on things I'm grateful for
• CEO Nugget: Stop caring so much about what other people think
• CEO Defined: (1) Freedom to be your own boss (2) Stepping into a leadership role

Website: https://adellbridgesyoga.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adellbridges/
Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/adellbridgesyoga?_rdc=1&_rdr

Full Interview:

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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 Adell Bridges of Adell Bridges Yoga. Adell, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Adell Bridges 0:36

Thank you. It's a pleasure to be on your show.

Gresham Harkless 0:39

Yes, it's a pleasure to have you, and what I wanted to do, is read a little bit more about Adell, so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. And Adell is the sole employee of her international business comprised of yoga, health, and travel. She herself has been traveling all over the world for the last two years to teach yoga and along the way has learned many lessons both in her personal life and for her business.

Her mission is to inspire and encourage people to live their best lives by understanding what their own unique individual path is and she does that through her Instagram, blogs, yoga teaching, and with her health coaching. She's an accidental CEO who has created her business based solely on doing what she's passionate about. Adell, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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Adell Bridges 1:22

I am

Gresham Harkless 1:22

Awesome, awesome, awesome. So the first question I had was to hear a little bit more about your CEO story. What led you to start your business?

Adell Bridges 1:29

Well, I'm not sure if I ever considered myself a CEO, except for this podcast. I guess technically, I'm a CEO. As I said, I kind of like, I consider myself like an accidental CEO, because I never really set out to be like a business or anything like that. I really just started teaching yoga and sharing what I love. And I think it doesn't matter what your business is, in, if you're really just doing it like sheerly for the passion and the love of it, then it's like kind of blossom from there. You know, maybe it doesn't skyrocket always, but blossoms, I think is a good word.

Gresham Harkless 2:16

I like that word as well. And it's a kind of a good reminder that sometimes it might not skyrocket in one way, but it kind of skyrockets in your world, if you're doing what you're passionate about. I always say if you can spend your time your energy doing that, then that's a win in my world.

Adell Bridges 2:29

Yeah, that's, I mean, that's what I consider to be well, you know, like, I think that anybody who is able to wake up in the morning and be excited about what they're going to do that day and go to sleep, that night crowd of whatever it is that they've spent their day doing, then that person is far wealthier than somebody else who maybe has a lot more money in the bank, but isn't happy and isn't enjoying their the way that they're creating their financial wealth.

Gresham Harkless 2:59

Yeah, and I would definitely agree with that. Because I think a lot of times, we can sometimes get lost in living what we think is the ideal path, but I think that's always true for each individual person. And it's important to kind of have that bar and understand what that is for yourself, and then try to fulfill that as much as possible. So it's awesome to hear that you've been able to kind of do that. And I wanted to hear a little bit more about how you are helping to serve the clients that you work with. So can you tell us a little bit more about what you're doing?

Adell Bridges 3:26

Well, I teach yoga, and I teach private yoga as well like just to individuals, and also privately just as a one-on-one thing, I'm a health coach. And with all of that, my overarching goal is always for people to really get to know themselves because I really strongly believe that we are all a little bit different.

And so whether it's the techniques that are going to work for you to learn how to do a handstand, or what diet is best for you, or what kind of sleeping habits you have like every single person is a little bit different with what's going to be best for them. And the only way that we can figure that out is to really start to pay attention to ourselves and then become an expert on ourselves as individuals.

And so that's really what drives me is for every single person to acquire really the skills that you need to become an expert on yourself. Because it's never like you don't just figure it out one day and then for the rest of your life you're smooth sailing. It's about constantly every single day really trying to figure out like okay, what's gonna work best for me as an individual today?

Gresham Harkless 4:48

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And I love the fact that you know, you talked about that last point, especially because I think people sometimes forget that we as individuals, just like the world and everything around us changes, and sometimes things that are not of interest to us one day might be of interest to us, you know, a year down the line two years down the line.

And it's important to kind of I love the fact that you talk about being an expert of yourself, because kind of that self-discovery, self-evaluation, understanding yourself is of to me, I believe one of the most important things to know because then you can start to direct yourself towards where you want to go.

Adell Bridges 5:19

Yeah, exactly.

Gresham Harkless 5:20

Awesome, awesome, awesome. And now I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. And this could be for you or your organization, but what do you feel kind of sets you apart distinguishes you, or makes you unique?

Adell Bridges 5:30

I'm still working on that one. I mean, I guess this is like, kind of very generic. But it's just that we are all a little bit different. And so what makes me unique is that I'm sharing my point of view, everything that I talk about, and everything that I work with, you know, the tips and techniques and tricks that I give my clients or that I talk about, like in my blogs, they're all things that I've really learned from other people, but I'm just putting my own interpretation on it. So yeah, it's just me.

Gresham Harkless 6:07

I mean, I absolutely love that. I love the fact that, um, you know, I think that there's been an awesome time now where we all have the power within us to kind of create our own mediums, whether that be on like you've done on Instagram and on different platforms, where you've been able to show like, exactly what has worked for you, and then you've been able to attract people as a result of that. So I think that that's an awesome kind of secret sauce because it sounds like you've been who you are, you've been authentic to yourself. And then by doing that, it seems like you've attracted people. Would that be correct?

Adell Bridges 6:37

Yeah, I guess so. I suppose what I know is that we're all kind of more obsessed with ourselves than anybody else. Other people, yeah, they don't really care about what I'm doing. They want to know how what I'm doing relates to them. So I always try and make sure that I whatever I am talking about, even if it is talking about, my own personal journey, I'm kind of giving other people something that they can maybe bring into their life a little bit.

Gresham Harkless 7:10

Yeah, kind of like you're providing value for their life, even though you're talking about it through what has brought value to your life.

Adell Bridges 7:16

Yeah, exactly.

Gresham Harkless 7:17

Awesome, awesome. No, I like that. And I like that perspective, and kind of a reminder for all of us kind of keep in mind. And now I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an app or book or habit that you have might even be yoga, but it's something that you feel makes you more effective and efficient as an entrepreneur and business owner.

Adell Bridges 7:35

Well, I really feel like one thing that I do every morning without fail is I have a little gratitude journal I use, I use an app for it, but I'm not very good about like motivating myself to do things. And I know that about myself. So I rely on an app. It's a 5-minute journal app, and it gives me a little notification every morning. And that is really helpful to me, because I focus on the elements in my life that I'm really grateful for, and then kind of just spend that little bit of time looking ahead at my day.

And what I'm going to do to make the most of the day, reminds me that what I'm doing as my business is not about me, it's not about how much money I can earn, or how many more followers I can gain. It's about those people that I'm serving, it's about all of the people who I'm going to reach that day, and what I can give them what value I can give to them. And that's what I think really kind of keeps me going is just remembering that because what I provide as a service, it's not about me. And so it's not about trying to fit into some box or meet some expectation that I've got in my mind is just about sharing what I think is valuable for other people.

Gresham Harkless 9:00

Yeah, and I love that, I love that. Actually taking that time out on a regular everyday basis to really get that perspective. Because I think often and I find this myself is that when you really look at all the awesome things there are in this world, sometimes you and sometimes some of the things you might be going through, it becomes so much smaller to the overall grand scheme of the universe and everything that's going on as a whole. So it's great to kind of always have that reminder on every everyday basis.

Adell Bridges 9:25

Yeah.

Gresham Harkless 9:26

And now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or piece of advice or if you can happen to be a time machine what would you tell your younger business?

Adell Bridges 9:35

So let's see. Well if I could go back and tell my younger self anything, I think it would just be to stop, stop bloody caring so much about what other people think. It just says it's really nonsensical, because like I said before, what I finally realized is nobody cares about anybody else as much as they care about themselves. I mean, not in a completely self-absorbed way, but it's just how we human beings are, we're always thinking about, like, our own image and our own actions and everything more than anybody else.

And so we're always picking apart ourselves and go, Oh my gosh, what is she going to think about what I said, or like, all this kind of stuff, when actually everybody else is just as obsessed with their own thoughts and actions and words and everything, and it doesn't really happen, nobody else has, like, the mental capacity to care that much about what you're doing. And if they do, then that, you know, they've got their own, like a real with somebody that's really hating on you. So really, like, just, yeah, not caring what other people think. And, and it just, it's never, it never really completely goes away.

And I think that caring, like it's like anything you need to balance, like knowing that other people are going to look at what you're doing and maybe pass some judgment on it, it can be a little bit of motivation to do your very best, of course, but not letting it go so far so that it stops you from just getting it done. And I'd say that that's the thing now is that I constantly remind myself and that I wish I could go back like 10 years, 15 years and just like shake my younger self and say, stop caring about other people. I mean, their opinions, of course.

Gresham Harkless 11:31

Yeah, yeah, I would ask you, if you can go back 10-15 years and also go back and check myself as well, too, because I think we all kind of go through where we're always listening to others sometimes. And like you said, like when you really drill down. A lot of times, if people do sometimes care about what it is that you're doing, sometimes it's just because it's down to how it makes them feel.

So it's sometimes wrapped up in themselves to some degree and always usually comes back to themselves just because we as humans kind of have that self-preservation, I guess you can call it, where we're always kind of looking out to make sure we're in a comfortable situation, and were able to kind of reach and get our needs, so to speak. So I really love that perspective. I love that reminder because I think that sometimes we can block ourselves from being as awesome as we could be. If we can just shake ourselves and say, Hey, stop caring about what others think.

Adell Bridges 12:19

Yeah. 100%. Yeah, absolutely agree with you.

Gresham Harkless 12:23

And now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And I know you said you're accidental CEO. So we're hoping to have different, quote-unquote, CEOs on this show. So I want to ask you Adell, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Adell Bridges 12:36

To me, I think it's just this, this freedom to be my own boss and create what I think is worthwhile. And I'd kind of step into a leadership role, really, especially having come to this way of making a living after years and years and years of just being an employee and answering to managers and bosses and bosses, bosses, bosses. It's very freeing too, yeah, liberating to be in charge of what happens and not in a like, oh, no, I don't have to take orders from anybody else kind of like egotistical way, because, of course, I'm still always open to feedback and suggestions from other people. But it's more that I'm able to put 100% of my energy into what I think is going to be most beneficial and valuable for the people that are reaching.

Gresham Harkless 13:39

Yeah, and that's an incredible perspective, even from what you talked about paying your gratitude every day is understanding how that aligns with what it is that you're doing what you're put here to do. And as a leader you definitely, you've been able to do that. So I appreciate you for shining your light as much as you have and being authentic and true to yourself. And I truly appreciate you for taking some time out of your schedule, what I wanted to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, to see if there's anything additional, you want to let our readers and our listeners know, and then also how best we can get a hold of you.

Adell Bridges 14:06

Sure, I suppose if I haven't made the point already. My whole business is around helping people figure out like themselves. Even whenever I teach, like my private clients, I tell them upfront, like my goal is to get you to the point that you don't need me anymore, where you're able to just do your own yoga practice, and that kind of thing. So that's just totally what I'm all about. My website is just my name, adellbridges.com. And I send some bullets to my Instagram handle as well. And those two places are probably the best two places to start if you want to look me up a little bit more.

Gresham Harkless 14:50

All right, awesome. And we'll make sure to have those links in the show notes. But Adell, I truly appreciate you for taking some time out obviously, and for helping to empower people to understand who they are and what their calling is, so to speak, and then all the awesome things that you're doing and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Adell Bridges 15:06

Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure being here. So I'm absolutely grateful to you as well. Thank you.

Outro 15:14

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

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