IAM411- Life coach, Speaker and Author Helps People Transform Their Lives

Casandra Austin-McDonald is from Springfield, IL. She is a speaker, poet, life coach and the author of Unclothed Memoir of a Naked Soul. Casandra founded the self-esteem empowerment movement, Be Pretty Inside, Inc; is the founder and CEO of the Live Greater Institute; and also the host of the Grow Thru It podcast. Casandra has a son in high school, a bonus son in junior high school, and is a wife to the love of her life. Casandra can be found on all social media platforms.

• CEO Hack: My rituals – Journaling and meditating
• CEO Nugget: Trust the process
• CEO Defined: Getting out of the rat race, creating your own lane and living life on your own terms

Website: http://www.casandraaustin.com/

Website Event: www.casandraaustin.com/events

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CasandraMAustin/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/casandra.austin/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/casandramaustin
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1540881075/ref=cm_sw_su_dp

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 0:29

Hello, hello, hello. this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I've Casandra Austin-McDonald of Live Greater Institute. Casandra, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Casandra Austin-McDonald 0:40

Thank you for having me. Glad to be here.

Gresham Harkless 0:42

No problem. Super excited to have you on and what I wanted to do was just read a little bit more about Casandra so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. Casandra is from Springfield, IL. She is a speaker, poet, life coach, and the author of Unclothed Memoir of a Naked Soul. Casandra founded the self-esteem empowerment movement, Be Pretty Inside, Inc.; is the founder and CEO of the Live Greater Institute; and also the host of the Grow Thru It podcast. Casandra has a son in high school, a bonus son in junior high school, and a wife to the love of her life. Casandra can be found on all social media platforms. Casandra, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO Community?

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Casandra Austin-McDonald 1:22

All right, sure.

Gresham Harkless 1:23

Awesome. Let's do it. So to kick everything off, I want to hear a little bit more about what got you started in your CEO story. And what led you to start your business?

Casandra Austin-McDonald 1:31

Absolutely. So I used to work in the criminal justice system. And I did crisis intervention and counseling with Juvenile and adult offenders for nearly 11 years. And while I was doing that work, I actually started my own journey of personal development. And I was combining a little bit of the theories and the tools that I was teaching to my clients. But then I was also finding other methods that worked.

And unfortunately, due to systems and policies and things like that, I was unable to use those things at work. And I wanted to help people on a greater scale. And so that's what ultimately led to me, entering the personal development industry and wanting to touch people's lives and have a greater impact on those who really wanted to do the work and change their lives.

Gresham Harkless 2:29

Nice, I definitely appreciate that. Because a lot of times people want to have a better life, and they want to do those things to put in the work to have that better life. But I think sometimes you will become a part product of your environment. And if you're not aware of the tools or the way to do that. Sometimes I guess, disempowering might be the right phrase.

Casandra Austin-McDonald 2:52

Absolutely, absolutely. And I have my moments for obviously, I was disheartened, going to work day in and day out and coming across individuals who just lacked that motivation to make better choices. And I'm like, geez, I wish I could show them. And the only thing I could think of was just to lead by example.

Gresham Harkless 3:11

Yeah, that's often the best way to do it because people get motivated by hearing your story, seeing what you do, and then reaching the goals and dreams that you have. So I appreciate you for doing that. And I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper here a little bit more about Live Greater Institute, and also about your podcast.

Casandra Austin-McDonald 3:30

Sure. So the podcast, grow through it actually started off on a whim. I wrote a blog post late last year about why wait until the new year to start working on your New Year's goals and the blog posts I wrote, I was going in and going in and on about people, always waiting until the new year to work on their goals. And I'm like, why did we do that? Why do we wait for this date for this time to say, okay, now's the time, what do I mean? At that moment, I felt convicted. And I felt I had to eat my own words.

Because I realized that I had been wanting to start this podcast, and I hadn't done it yet. So I was like, I'm just gonna do it. I'm not gonna wait and say, Oh, I'll do it when this mile mark happens. And when I achieve this goal, I'm gonna do it right now. Because I feel it in my gut to do it. And I'm just going to do it. And that's what happened. I just did it.

And we're, what 17 episodes in now. I've been sharing my own personal stories and the stories of others who have grown through all sorts of life obstacles and challenges and made it out to the other side. So I created that as a way to show people the possibilities that exist for them, while also highlighting people who I like to call the lights at the end of the tunnel to show people that you can make it through those dark periods and get to the other side.

Gresham Harkless 5:00

Yeah, absolutely. And I think there's so much power in that because I touched on before, I think that there's a perception that there's an overnight success or you get over something overnight. But I think actually hearing people that are going through the process of growing through it as you in your podcast talks to touch on, I think provides awareness of sometimes people might be in a difficult decision, difficult position, or a dark place. And they don't think that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, but to be able to work through that and grow through that speaks to that.

Casandra Austin-McDonald 5:36

Absolutely, absolutely. And that's the goal is to just help people to see that there's essentially no such thing as stuck, and you can always get past it and move forward. And hopefully, it encourages people to continue to take action in their life. Actually, that's what led to the Live Greater Institute, it's a personal and professional development business where I wanted to be able to provide tools and resources and the coaching and the content and workshops and retreats and all these things to help people along those journeys.

Gresham Harkless 6:11

Yeah, that makes sense. Once you have that spark, you actually have an opportunity to put that to work through all the products that you guys have.

Casandra Austin-McDonald 6:21

Absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 6:22

Nice and I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce, and it can be for you or your organization's but what do you feel sets you apart and makes you unique?

Casandra Austin-McDonald 6:33

I have transformed literally every area of my life I have experienced I feel like I've experienced a bit of everything when it comes to mental breakdowns, pulling myself out of a massive amount of debt, and having a terrible credit score too. Broken relationships, broken friendships, terrible self-esteem. I mean, you name the category, enough properties, periods to have figured out a way to dig myself out of that.

And I think because of those unique experiences, it gives me this multi-level perspective when I'm working with people. And I'm able to see things from more than one view and more than one lens. And I really think that sets me apart being able to see things differently. Because ultimately, I think that what creates change in people's lives is showing them that there's more than one way to get to the thing.

Gresham Harkless 7:28

Yeah, absolutely. I used to say there's more than one way to skin a cat. And there's a lot of ways to reach whatever that goal is, do you find that with people you work with, and you talk with that? Sometimes when you're in those dark places you do feel alone, and sometimes when you do hear somebody that has gone through something gone through the same thing, or something similar, that you feel one connection with them, and then you hear that they're able to overcome that it kind of gives you a little bit more power as well.

Casandra Austin-McDonald 7:56

Absolutely, absolutely. I think the common thread with the testimonials I've received, whether it was through coaching, speaking, or one of the retreats I've done is that people feel heard, and they feel understood, and they feel seen. And studies show that people struggle with depression and suicide because they feel lonely. And people feel lonely because they don't feel seen and heard. And so I feel like just that alone could give someone a massive breakthrough and help them change their lives in an incredible way.

Gresham Harkless 8:34

Yeah, absolutely. Because especially in this day and age, we have so many ways to feel connected, sometimes we feel lonelier than we ever have felt because I guess just for whatever reason, when you feel alone, sometimes it's hard to get out of that hole, so to speak. So I appreciate you for not only sharing your story but also helping out so many others, as far as filling that so that they can overcome anything.

Casandra Austin-McDonald 9:00

Absolutely, absolutely. Thank you.

Gresham Harkless 9:01

No problem. And I wanted to switch gears a little bit. And I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. This might be an app or a book or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Casandra Austin-McDonald 9:13

Oh, I have to say it's my ritual. I have things I do on a daily basis. Like, I don't care if I'm traveling, I don't care where I'm at, I'm doing those things. And it's a morning and evening ritual that I have where in the morning time I have the sacred space that I call it and I go there and Tony Robbins calls it priming your mind for the day. And I go there and I prime my mind for the day when I'm meditating. And I'm journaling. And when I'm journaling in the morning, it's not a journal as in what has happened. It's what I envisioned to happen.

And so I'm setting intentions. I'm envisioning my future. I'm meditating on that I'm praying, I'm connecting with God and I'm really trying to get clear and focused for the day. And then in the evening, I like to actually do the journaling, where I'm writing out what happened because I don't want to take that to bed with me, I don't want to take that with me into the next day.

So I like to leave that on the pages, find three things that I'm grateful for, read and hone my skills with my knowledge and all that, and meditate again before going to bed. And so those are nonnegotiables. For me, I have to do those things on a daily basis. So I would say that's what contributes to my CEO hat as you call it.

Gresham Harkless 10:35

I appreciate those so much. And I love the point that you made as well about journaling at the end. Because I think a lot of times when you have a stressful day, or you have a day where nothing seems to go right, which definitely happens, you want to make sure that stays in that day. So you have to have a way to release that. So I appreciate you for mentioning that. Because I think a lot of times we will just go to sleep. And next thing you know, the next day you still harboring some of those things.

Casandra Austin-McDonald 11:02

Absolutely. And I think people don't realize the mental stress and anguish that it can cause to you and your well-being when you hold that stuff inside. And because our thoughts are invisible, we can't see them, right? We just feel what's happening within us. Or we start to see the manifestation of those things in our external world. And so because I'm cognizant of that, I really try to be conscientious about dumping, as I call it, and getting that out. It also helps you to put things into perspective where you may feel like you came across this problem during the day, but as you write it out, you'll find your solution in there as well.

Gresham Harkless 11:42

Yeah, and sometimes you can even find maybe it wasn't as big as we thought it was at that time. And I remember the quote, and I'm gonna butcher it, but it's like, your thoughts become your actions, your actions become your words or words become your thoughts, and so on, and so forth. So it's great to stop that when you get a chance to do that.

Casandra Austin-McDonald 11:58

Absolutely, absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 12:00

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

Casandra Austin-McDonald 12:12

Trust the process. I'm laughing, because I know that's like whatever you would say right now, but it is so true. Yeah. When I started this journey, I thought that everything was like most entrepreneurs, I thought, I was supposed to hit it big right now because I just took that leap of faith. And I put my book out there, and I'm speaking and sharing my story. And that is not how it works. So really just trust in the process, and just trying to absorb as much valuable knowledge and lessons and content as I can and just release the rest.

Gresham Harkless 12:49

Yeah, that makes so much sense. I used to talk about the idea of overnight success, and I think I read a quote that the secret to overnight success is that it takes 10 years. And a lot of times when you look at I think there's a book by Malcolm Gladwell called Outliers, he talks about how a lot of people don't realize the number of hours that 10,000 hours that you put into to be a master to be an expert to reach success, whatever that may be, that there's a lot of work behind the scenes that we sometimes don't realize. So absolutely. We have to remember that.

Casandra Austin-McDonald 13:26

Yeah, I think I realized that on this journey. And it's actually put things into perspective for me, where I'm actually grateful, I'm not where I thought I wanted it to be because I don't know if I was quite ready for that level. And I realized that you have to grow and allow yourself grace to expand and grow into those new levels so that you can handle it.

Gresham Harkless 13:48

Exactly, exactly. And definitely, even appreciate the level that you're at, because of the time that it took, it took to get there. It's something that have to respect as well, too. So I appreciate that perspective. And that reminder. 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 this show. So what does being a CEO mean to you?

Casandra Austin-McDonald 14:14

I believe it's getting out of the rat race and creating your own lane and living life on your own terms. That's just as simple as that.

Gresham Harkless 14:24

Well, that's a great reminder, because a lot of times we know we have the tools and the ability to be able to do that to get out of that rat race. And we just have to take that action as you even talk about your podcasts and you have to take that action in order to do that. So I appreciate it. And that definition.

Casandra Austin-McDonald 14:40

Absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 14:41

Nice. Well, Casandra, I truly appreciate your time and all the awesome work that you're doing. I wanted to pass you the mic so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know and then of course how best they can get a hold of you.

Casandra Austin-McDonald 14:53

Sure, absolutely. I am actually having a breakthrough retreat. And they can find details of that on my website, www.casandraaustin.com. It's Cassandra spelled with one s. And I'm on all social media platforms. They can also sign up to my email listing to get updates on when a digital course will be released. And to just be kept abreast of what's going on with us and what's coming in the future.

Gresham Harkless 15:35

Nice. Well, thank you so much again, Casandra. We'll have those links in the show notes as well too, so that everybody can follow up with you. But Casandra, thank you so much again, and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Casandra Austin-McDonald 15:47

No problem, you too. Thanks again for having me.

Outro 15:50

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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