IAM854- Coach Helps Create New Possibilities

Intro
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. Question mark his 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 Greg from the I am CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today at Kenan nuwell of wealth over now. kena It's awesome to have you on the show.

Keina Newell 0:38
Hi, thank you for having me.

Gresham Harkless 0:40
No problem. Super excited to have you on. And before we jumped in, I want to read a little bit more about kena. So you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. And kina works with professional women and solopreneurs to create new possibilities with their money so they can save more pay off debt and stress less about money. She's passionate about her work and finds no greater satisfaction than helping her clients start approaching the way they manage their money with joy, because they've learned to feel possibility where they once felt shame, guilt, overwhelm or anxiety, which is not coaching kena is spending quality time with family and friends friendly family and friends, encouraging herself to go work out to learn more about kina. Head over to wealth over now and explore her tips to manage your money. Well Ken, are you ready to speak to the imcl? community?

Keina Newell 1:22
I am

Gresham Harkless 1:24
Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, to kind of get everything started, I want to I want to rewind the clock a little bit here a little bit more on how you got started. Could you take us through your SEO story? Where did you get started with?

Keina Newell 1:32
Of course. Um, so I feel like the origination of it comes from graduating college and having a mountain of student loan debt. And I was making 70, or I was making $30,000 a year but I had like $75,000 worth of student loan debt. And anybody who's listening, you can do math, that sounds really overwhelming. And so I started having money dates with myself. Because I'm, you know, being 2122 graduating from college or thinking about, well, I want to own a home people tell me I'm supposed to save. But I don't know how I'm supposed to do all of this, because I'm not making a lot of money. So I had to get serious with my finances. I talked about money with all of my friends as well. And two years ago, I came to a point where I was asking myself, like if I could do anything that I wanted to do, what would I want to do, and I love talking about money, I enjoy helping people budget, I've helped my friends get their finances in order. And so I became a financial coach. And it also aligned with before I started my business, I was an educator. And so the thing that I loved within education was coaching, I was a vice principal, also a math teacher. And so being able to see like transformation with adults whenever I was coaching them, as a classroom teacher, or even just like basically coaching students as well in the classroom to like, see something within themselves that they couldn't see was something that I enjoyed. And so now I feel like I get to do that every day, but in a different capacity. And that's working with a number of different professional women and solopreneurs to help them see like, how can you actually get unstuck and change your relationship with money?

Gresham Harkless 3:06
Nice. I absolutely love that. So you definitely could have got my square root of pot question, then I was gonna ask and throw in there as a math teacher sounds like to me that just joking. But I think it's so phenomenal. Because I think in definitely correct me if I'm wrong, I'm sure you know better than anyone that, especially around money, sometimes there's no conversation at all around it. And sometimes people just, you know, put it on the back burner don't actually, you know, look at you know what the number is that they have to pay off its debt, or whatever that might be. And I think being able to, for one, look at it and figure out exactly how to plan around it. But it sounds like there's so many other things that are involved with it, that people sometimes don't deal with as well.

Keina Newell 3:47
Well, I think it's just I think the thing that we have to deal with first is normalizing the money conversation. And I think you can deal with that on a personal level first, because there is just so much shame and guilt. And I tell clients all the time, like it's okay, you're starting now. And I feel like money is one of those things that we're not really taught about, you just kind of learned through osmosis. And even if you had parents that talked about money in your home doesn't mean you're going to be great at managing finances. And on the flip side of that, if you don't have parents that don't talk about money at home, that doesn't mean you're going to be great or bad with finances. It's just like we're it's it's something that we're supposed to be good at, but no one's talking about.

Gresham Harkless 4:28
Yeah, absolutely. That's why I love you know, the work that you do, because you're bringing that conversation light and the tools to kind of help people as well, too. So I know I touched on it a little bit when i when i read your bio, can you take us through a little bit more on how you work with your clients and what exactly that process looks like?

Keina Newell 4:42
Yeah, so all of my clients, I have a one month intensive, whether it's a solopreneur or someone who wants to work on their personal finances. But I like to start and I tell people all the time that like your personal finance journey should be personal and I think there's a lot of information out there by financial gurus, if you will, where it's like just, you know, you can't, you need to save $1,000. And then you need to throw all of your money towards debt. And a lot of people feel very deprived in that way of thinking. And so with my clients, I always start with a values and goals based approach. And so we dive into what their financial values are, what are your financial goals, and I know that financial goals piece sounds scary to a lot of people because I encounter people that tell me, I don't know, if I, you know, have goals. And I don't think we have to make goals complicated. And so we try to simplify that. And then after we identify whatever your goals are, and your values are, then we actually align that with how you want to spend your money. So I walk clients through creating a spending plan, which also we could call a budget, but I use the term spending plan, because I think it creates a space for clients to be curious on like, how do I actually plan to spend my money and then from there, I'm teaching my clients in that one month intensive, how to use their spending plan as a tool. And so that means that like, we are in conversation with with your bank account and your money from week to week. And it's not just the thing where like, I've made a pretty spreadsheet somewhere and you put it, you know, on a Google Drive folder, or an Excel sheet or on a piece of paper, and you never look at it again, or moving clients away from what I call bank account budgeting where you look at your bank account, and then you go and spend because you see money in your bank account, and you've paid all your bills. So you've given yourself permission to do those things. But you haven't actually thought about the things that you could be preparing for that are coming in the next month, or in this next six months to a year.

Gresham Harkless 6:34
Nice. I absolutely love that antenna sounds like you're putting you're helping people to put a lot more strategy around what they're doing. And as you said, if sometimes you just look into your bank account, you see that you have this, you know this number, you forget about those goals and those aspirations and things you want to have, you know, 510 years or whatever, you know, down the line. And it allows you to be I don't know if I want to say more discipline, or if you would say that, but just kind of understanding how you're getting to where you're going and where you are along that process. Because I think so many times we're just not sometimes sometimes we're just not aware of exactly where we are and what we need to do to get there.

Keina Newell 7:06
Yeah, and I think we make it I think people make it a lot more complicated, because even you're talking about goals and five to 10 years. And I'm like how about we just talked about this year, right? And something that I know catches people off guard, whether it may be my Costco membership, oh, yeah, or my Amazon Prime membership, or, like your auto registration. Like those aren't unexpected expenses. They may be irregular, or an annual expense. But we can actually plan to prepare for those. And I like running thing that I talk to people all the time, I'm like Christmas is not an emergency expense. Guys, it comes on the same day, every single year. And you can create a plan for how you want to prepare for that. Like, I felt like from November to December, like it's just the holiday season. And people spend a lot of money. And I encourage all of my clients, we think about how much money do you actually want to spend? And how do we prepare for that. So if you want to spend, you know, 20 $400 during the holidays, well, let's set aside $200 every single month. And so now when you get to November, you're not looking at like your paycheck and like, dang, I don't have any money until my next paycheck, because I have to pay for all these things, or you're not paying for like your holiday season in January or February of the next year. So it's all about I try to steer away from this word discipline, because I also think that sounds really restrictive. And I'm like, it's not about having more discipline. It's just the fact you need a plan. Right?

Gresham Harkless 8:28
Yeah. And I always felt like, you know, kind of what you spoke to were just kind of habits and different things that we do. And sometimes we're not even aware of the habits that we have. But kind of that awareness allows us to be able to kind of, I guess, take the show where we want it to be. Mm hmm.

Keina Newell 8:42
Yeah, awareness, I think it's the number one shift that my clients get first from working with me. And when you have once you have the awareness now we can shift to actually help you reach whatever that financial goal is, whether it's, you know, solopreneurs, it's like I want to be able to pay myself. I want to have like, a carefree tax season. And so when you have this awareness now we can start to align your money in that way so that that way you can get those things that you desire. And I would say on the on the flip side, it's the same thing for personal finances. You realize, oh, wow, I didn't realize I was spending two $300 a week on you know, Uber Eats. And that's crazy to me, like I actually don't want to be putting my money in that out in that way. And so now you can shift and actually adjust those habits and be more intentional about where you desire your money to go.

Gresham Harkless 9:35
Nice. And so I guess your ability to be able to kind of obviously see that and communicate that and help people to not you know, feel those that shame, guilt and overwhelm and anxiety. Do you feel that that is what I would call your secret sauce, that thing you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique? Um,

Keina Newell 9:50
I would definitely say say that because I think people can just like I've had clients reflect back to me that our first session kind of felt like financial therapy. And so being able to hold a space for a client to talk about something that they're like, I don't even talk about this with my therapist, I'm in therapy, therapy, keynote, you know, or, or like, this is something that I've battled with for years. And even in a matter of, you know, our first call, I just feel like, I'm going to actually be able to sleep better. Tonight, you know, and it's not even about needing to be like one of the people you may see on social media, where they're holding up a letter board, that's like, I paid off $200,000 worth of debt. And that's, I always want my clients to know that it's those results you can definitely achieve, but you don't have to compare yourself to others, because you can have your own journey. Awesome, awesome, awesome. So

Gresham Harkless 10:43
I wanted to switch gears a little bit. And I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app or book or habit that you have. But what's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Keina Newell 10:54
I would say hiring a business coach has been the thing that actually makes me more effective. And I think that's because I've been able to have someone hold the space for me to develop in in the way that I desire to serve my clients, but then also in the way that I desire to show up for my business. And I think it's it just felt like personal development, which in our lives, at least for myself, after college, and a few years out of college, I felt like you don't necessarily you don't work on yourself in the same way. Like I felt like in college, I was still a little kid that was like going to be a fighter fighter or a ballerina and a doctor all at the same time. And so having that business coach is just like, allowed me to be very reflective on what I want to be true. It's allowed me to work on like, my mindset. So all of those things that I think helped me show up better for my business, but also for my clients.

Gresham Harkless 11:52
Yeah, absolutely. And I always, you know, kind of reference the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. And one of those is sharpening the saw. And it's so important, as you said, to have that space in order to do that, to have that opportunity. And as you said, You know, sometimes after school, we often, you know, aren't really kind of sharpening the saw as much as we could be. So it's great to be able to have that person, or those people or that community, I guess even to kind of turn to to be able to make that happen. Mm hmm.

Keina Newell 12:16
Definitely.

Gresham Harkless 12:18
Awesome! So, I want to ask you now for what I call a SEO nugget. So this could be like a word of wisdom or piece of advice, it might be something you would tell a client or if you have to do a time machine, you might tell your younger business self,

Keina Newell 12:28
I think something that I would tell a client, it's about progress and not perfection, which I think I can tell myself as well. Me too. And just realizing, right, like every day that you show up, you get to make a choice. And I would tell myself that like there, I mean, you know this and entrepreneurship, there's so many different ebbs and flows. There's no like, linear way to get from point A to point B. And so there's a rollercoaster of emotions there. So I have to like remind myself that, like, this is a journey. But then also, I remind my clients that all the time, whether it be oh my goodness, like I just went on a shopping spree because I was doing like emotional spending, like came in and just like got me in this moment. And so being able to tell them like, Okay, well, what tools do you have that maybe you didn't have a week ago or a month ago? What progress Have you made? And how do we move? How do we learn from this moment, instead of like, letting it be something that defines us in a negative way?

Gresham Harkless 13:25
Yeah, that's, that's absolutely powerful. And it's so funny, I have like a theme every year. But I feel like with everything that happened, I often say you know, kind of giving yourself grace, because often we can beat ourselves up more than you know anybody else. And as you said, like understanding that, whether it's finances or entrepreneurship, or any aspect, sometimes it can be like a roller coaster ride. So we often won't look at the things in the progress that we've had in progress that we made, we'll just look at where we want to be, or we'll be busy looking at somebody else's, you know, race and what they're doing. And we forget about, you know, being kind and being, you know, appreciative of ourselves and what we've done. Definitely. Awesome. So 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. So kena, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Keina Newell 14:11
For me, I think it's like owning, it's owning this new space in the world that I have, and not shying away from the things that seem hard, because like this is I am building something that is bigger than myself. And I want to fully embrace that and acknowledge that, like, this thing has not happened because of happenstance. But my business is here because I'm, you know, feeding it.

Gresham Harkless 14:37
I love that perspective. I love that definition.

Keina Newell 14:39
Thank you.

Gresham Harkless 14:40
Very, very welcome. And what I wanted to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional, you can let our readers and listeners know and of course how best they can get ahold of you and find out about all the awesome things that you're working on.

Keina Newell 14:51
Yeah, I would say if there's any listeners that I'm sure there's plenty of you that you're looking to like change your relationship with money. One of the things I love is To encourage people to have money conversations, and I recently started interviewing my own clients to have candid money conversations with them. So I started a series called wealth over now money file. So wherever you listen to podcasts that you can listen to me, talking to my clients about the successes that they've had, in working with me and my one month intensive, some of them have worked with me for over a year. But I created that series because I wanted other people to be able to hear like I'm not alone, especially because a lot of the people that I work with are very type eight individuals. But finances are like the one thing that they're like, I don't know why I can't figure this out, because I have multiple degrees. And this just shouldn't be happening to me. So that's available to you. And then if you are looking to connect with me learn more about my services, you can go over to my website at wealth Brunel, calm.

Gresham Harkless 15:50
Awesome, awesome, awesome. Akina, we will definitely have the links and information in the show notes just so that everybody can follow up with you. But I appreciate you. We'll also have a link to the podcast and so that everybody can listen because just as you said, I think so many times, when you're going through any frustration difficulty, you often feel like you're by yourself. So I appreciate you, obviously for the work you do, the podcasts that you put out and all the information because it helps not only people feel and know that they're not alone, but also be armed with the tools to be able to be successful and get to their goals and aspirations that they have. So truly appreciate you for your time. truly appreciate you for the work that you do and I hope you have a great rest of the day.

Outro 16:22
Thank you for listening to the IMC o podcast powered by Blue 16 Media Tune in next time and visit us at our MC o CEO. 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 dot sceeto gear dot CEO this has been the mF CEO podcast with Gretchen parklets. Thank you for listening