Mindset, Strategy, Take Action — Interview with Henriette Danel
My guest on Episode #17 of Mental Wealth For Entrepreneurs Podcast is Henriette Danel (@henriettedanel), a strategic business coach, and speaker who works with professional female entrepreneurs to help them attract more clients by enhancing their online visibility. Like many other entrepreneurs Henriette had has had her fair share of challenges but her perseverance and commitment has given her the resilience to carry on and to develop a thriving business.
Show Notes
Katerina: Hi, Henriette
Henriette: Hello, hi.
Katerina: Hello. Great to see you and to have you on the show.
Henriette: Oh well thank you so much for having me here, I’m really excited to be here and to share some of the things that you want me to share with your audience in order to inspire them and motivate them as well on their journeys.
Katerina: Yeah, I guess the first question I want to ask is How did you become a business strategy coach?
Henriette: Oh gosh, okay so it started when I was working in corporate, I was about 11 and a half years in the interior design industry almost 15 years actually, but for one particular company I was working for them for 11 and a half years here in London in the UK. Very fortunate, worked for an amazing company… loved my job and apart from just being in the design industry I did a lot of project management, I travelled a lot, you know, I worked on some of the most luxurious yachts I’ve seen… some of the most amazing mansions, that you can ever imagine. And, and those were just kind of the things that I absolutely loved about my job. However, with that I kind of hit a ceiling where I felt that I wasn’t really going any further and I wasn’t quite developing in the way I wanted to develop on personal level as well. And since the age of 13, I knew that I wanted to be an entrepreneur, but obviously with being in corporate life got comfortable you just settle for what you have. But then when I kind of hit that ceiling I was like, oh yeah maybe I should try becoming an entrepreneur and just seeing what it’s like. So I worked on my business while working full time and I started… my skill that I had that I knew was I was very good at teaching, but also because I knew that I had a very good strength where I could take things that are complicated, dissected and put it back together in a way that is so easy to understand, but also to implement, and that’s where the strategic business coach from…
Now, it started first with, I knew I wanted to be a coach I didn’t know what kind of coach… And then it kind of led to business coaching and then with the strategies and what you can do, that’s where I just, you know, everything took flame from there and I was just so on fire and the energy was there and I knew... this is where I wanted to go. And when that kind of took shape while I was working full time I realised that this is definitely where I wanted to go. Everything in my guts told me that this is the direction. And that’s why I decided to hand in my notice and go full time into my own business, and it was so scary to do, as I’m sure for those who’ve already taken that leap as well you know.
But what I did is in order to make up my mind to make sure that I don’t go back and decide oh no no no no I’m not going to do this, I made a list of all the pros of starting my own business and I made a list of all the cons of leaving the full time job, and the pros far outweighed all the cons of leaving my full time job. And it was at that moment I was like, this is what I needed I needed this evidence in order to make that decision. And that certain three and a half years later, here I am in my full time business and I’m loving every minute of it.
Katerina: Right. Oh gosh, that’s the problem with a lot of people when they get comfortable in that corporate job. How do you make this change, how do you… I mean it’s a lot of unknown isn’t it? and uncertainty because you just think, Oh my god, what if it doesn’t work out or… What’s going through your mind at that point in time?
Henriette: Well, and one thing looking back now obviously because you know hindsight is a brilliant thing but looking back now, one thing I always say is when you sign up for entrepreneurship you actually sign up for a lot of self development. And yes, it’s great to have a business and to run a business and to make money from it. But the one thing that people don’t really emphasise is the fact that when you go into business you actually go through a lot of self development and it’s up to you to decide how much self development you want to go through. So I started with, you know, doing a strengths-finder test just kind of figuring out what other skills and strengths I have, and… then when I was into my full time business... oh my gosh, I made so many mistakes, and those mistakes because you know I always say there are no such thing as mistakes only lessons, and they work points where I just cried and I said to my husband, nothing is happening I am just not getting the clients that I want or I’m just not making the money that I need. And then I was like you know hands... My head in my hands thinking okay I’ve got to go back, I’ve got to go find another job. I wasn’t gonna plan and go back to my same job because you know that felt like a step backwards. And my husband just kept on saying no, he’s like no, you’re not going to find a job, you are going to make this work. You’re so passionate about what you’re doing and bless him he is so supportive and he kept on pushing me as well and with that, you know, went through all the hurdles and I decided one year on after I started my business I was like, never going back to find a job. I’ve put so much effort into what I’m doing. And finally, after my first year I could see the results I could see things coming back, but it has to do a lot with the personal development that I had gone through and I needed to have gone through in that first year in order to set my mind as to where I’m going, but also change so many of my beliefs, because coming from a corporate world you do have certain beliefs, and you have to change those beliefs now that you’re working for yourself. So that was a big lesson, and that is definitely something that I think anybody should learn and take on board.
Katerina: Yeah. So strategy is, is interesting that you’re focusing on strategy because a lot of business owners, they, they kind of... They start doing a lot of tactical stuff with their business they they run Facebook ads, they do these digital, they posting stuff without a real strategy behind it. What is the importance to think strategically when you run your own business?
Henriette: Yeah, and throughout the years of working as a strategic business coach and, oh my gosh, and let’s face it, the shiny object syndrome is happening everywhere. Hands up, I’ve been there, I have gone and just, you know, grabbed a strategy here, try it out, grabbed a strategy there… try it out, grab something here, try that, or somebody is saying here’s a new platform to try and try this out. At the end you’re just so overwhelmed because you’re trying so many things you’re starting something you’re dropping it and you’re starting something you’re dropping it. And that made me realise like isn’t there’s just way too many strategies and everybody’s pitching and saying their strategy is the best, so I really did some research and some homework. And after talking to my audience and so many of my clients, I came to narrow down and realise that they’re actually really just four strategies in business. And these are the four strategies that you need to make a success.
So, the first strategy is really your visibility strategy so visibility is all about how you showing up not just online physically as well. But let’s talk about online business because that’s majority of the time what a woman would do or what you know entrepreneurs would do. So showing up online. The first entity people will think, oh, Facebook, you know, Instagram, great social media is a great place to show to show up and be visible. Yes, but what about your website, what are you doing about your website to be visible. What are you doing about getting featured on other podcasts, online magazines or the shows how you showing up. Are you showing up consistently. In order for people to start taking note of you. Public speaking — that’s like the top of the pyramid when it comes to public speaking, how much public speaking, are you doing?
Now obviously when the fog is lifted you can go back to doing that, and it is not difficult it is just about the confidence. Now I always talk about the three C’s clarity, commitment and consistency. And once you have those three C’s in place your visibility strategy will work for you, but you have to see it through and you have to choose just only one area or two areas the most. We’re going to show up consistently don’t try all of them, because that’s where overwhelm comes from.
The second strategy is obviously your attraction strategy, strategy so that’s where your content comes into play. So whether you’ve got a blog or a podcast or a YouTube channel whatever you have in regards to content that you’re putting out there, in order to attract those ideal clients or customers to you. That’s what you’ve got to concentrate on, and again the three C’s come in play that clarity, commitment and consistency you have to be consistent with the content in order for people to take note and attract them to you.
The third strategy, your relationship. So this relationship is with your potential customers, clients, or even with your existing audience. And that comes down to communication, how are you communicating with those people in order to for them to really get to know who you are and to realise like hey this girl knows what she’s talking about I wonder what else she can do. And so that’s where you really start, but by having that kind of communication with people that’s where something becomes so much easier, but that leads you then to your fourth and your final strategy which is the transformation strategy. That is basically the service or the product that you’re offering your potential customer or client in order to take them from where they are to where they want to be.
And that is actually one of the most important strategies because if you can really solve somebody’s problem or really help them, they’re going to go like, oh my gosh this is amazing you’ve honestly helped me. What else do you have to offer what else can you help me with, so you get those recurring clients coming back to you. Or you’ll get them going like, you know what, Susie over there she had exact same problem as me. I’m going to tell Susie to come to you and work with you. Hey, great, you get referrals. And then on top of that you also get amazing reviews, which then goes back and enhances your visibility strategy. So if you almost look at it as a circle that kind of work hand in hand, you start with your visibility that leads on to your traction with your content leads on to the relationship you’re building with your audience that comes back to the transformation which is a product or service you’re offering, and that enhances back your visibility strategy again. So it’s kind of like a loop, almost. And I say that if you only have these four strategies available, and within one of those strategies choose one entity or two at the most not to overwhelm yourself, but then to work on that get clarity on each and every one of them, commit to them and be consistent — you will see the results and I promise you you will knock that ball out of the talent, it will be amazing if you just stick to it.
Katerina: Yeah. So, every week, how do you work with your clients every week, you give them some set of tasks and then you check whether they’ve achieved something or not?
Henriette: Oh, I love to challenge my clients.
Katerina: Yeah because you have three parts in your programme — it’s strategy, mindset strategy and action right?
Henriette: Yeah, absolutely. I call those the three elements of success so basically if you think about it. Think about this big door, you’ve got this big door in front of you and the other side of that door is all your dreams, your goals your biggest desires that dream business you want all the kinds, anything you want is behind that door, and you just need the three things — you need a key, you need to open up the lock, and you need to open up the door.
Now the key really represents the mindset and this is where people go like okay so where do I find my mindset, how do I change my mindset, how do I do this. Well, basically, you don’t need to search for that key you can create that key from scratch and that’s why I say that first year of going through that self development really has helped me. And I thoroughly believe that it’s not the end, everybody still is on a journey where they develop their mindset on a continuous basis and you have to allow yourself to still you know create that key and finesse that key. The second… the second element is obviously the strategies. Now, if you look at a lock inside a door, a locking mechanism is coming little pence inside what’s the key lines up with those little pence and turns, all the keys line up, and the lock is open. So, every one of those pens really represent the four strategies that I’ve just spoken about. And then once that lock is open you can open up the door and you can walk through it, and that’s where that’s where the action comes in. But this is where I see people sometimes standing front door and they are so scared because what if everything happens at once. What if you know everything just goes and everything is happening in my business is going too quickly. You know, I might not be able to cope with it.
This is where the fear of success comes in, or even the opposite of that could be true where people go “Well, what if I open up that door there’s nothing, these dreams and all these things I thought about... it’s not really there”. That’s where disappointment and fear of failure comes in. But I always say you know what, if you don’t take that first step through that door, you’re never gonna find out. So you just have to go for it and I always refer to action as seeing it as you’re getting a reward. So for every small step you’re taking you know whether it’s a smaller step… let’s face it, let’s say you’ve been holding off sending an email to a potential client because you’re so scared what if they reject your offer or what if they never reply to you, you’re going to be so disappointed. Even if you just take that small step and send that email to that potential client with your offer… you know, you’re gonna feel great about it, or let’s take another example. Let’s say you have been putting off doing a Facebook Live for so long, and you finally decide right, I’m going to do this I’m going to show up and do a Facebook Live. After you’ve done that life you got so bad you know. Nothing has caved in, lightning hasn’t struck, I’m still alive and actually I feel pretty damn good about doing this, and that’s called confidence so the rewards that you get for every small step that you’re taking forward is confidence. So I always talk to my clients and think about the confidence, think about the reward that you’re going to get for every actionable step.
And then I challenged my clients. And I always say I give you a nice kick up the butt. Because people say yes I’ll do it and they get so excited when you talk to them. And then as soon as that call is finished, they go like, oh, okay, I’m a little bit scared, and that’s where all the excuses start coming back. So I challenged them in order to make sure they commit to it, I say right... when are you going to do this what is your deadline, when do you want to commit yourself to finish this and a half completed. And then they go like really, you’re sure I was like yeah, look at your diary, put it in your diary right now. And then I put it in my diary as well and they’re like, “You do that?”, so I guess so. Next week Friday if you want to have that Facebook life done. I’m going to put it in my diary and I’m going to check up with you next week Friday to make sure you’ve done it. And that kind of gives them that sense like hey I’m not just being accountable to myself to see it through I’m not accountable to somebody else as well because I promise I’m going to do it. It’s so much more to be so much better to be accountable to what somebody else than just to be accountable to yourself because it’s so easy to break a promise to yourself right. That’s where the action really comes into play.
Katerina: That’s true. That’s me doing Facebook Lives. I’ve started a couple of weeks ago but I was like, I’ve got to do this, I’ve got to do that and there is always something else to do and I’m like, “Oh, I’ve got to do it, I’ve got to do it”…
Henriette: Oh, I’ve got some great tips on Facebook Live, trust me.
Katerina: Yeah, cuz I’ve started my group, kind of from zero… I mean it’s just a small group but it’s yeah, I’m getting more and more requests to join. How do you start if you have like zero audience? I mean that’s a question right… for people who start from from scratch. How do you make yourself feel comfortable talking to… I’m coming from the academic background and I used to talk in front of 300 people… big audience, I feel really comfortable… talking to this, you know, having an eye contact and stuff like. I know how to establish rapport. But how do you do this if you maybe no one is watching? That’s a question right?
Henriette: Okay, so when you do Facebook Lives obviously there’s two things to consider. The first thing is how consistent, are you going to show up. Now I’m going to show you a silly example here but and... Okay, let me just grab this here is just a basic calendar that I’ve printed up with all my Facebook Lives on it. So, all I do is I just decide that on Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays, those are the days that I show up on my Facebook page or my groups, etc. and I literally go and I plan weeks in advance, I’ve got about five six weeks of content that where I show up every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 11.30 UK time, that’s when I show up on my Facebook, and I put it on a scheduled advance so people can see it with a scheduling that you do obviously on your Facebook page or group. And then people can see Oh shoot, so, you know, today is Thursday so on Friday, she’s going to come up and she’s going to talk about this. Oh great, so 11.30 she’s going to be there. So people start seeing that you have scheduled and these are the times you’re going to show up. Now here’s the other thing it comes back to commitment and accountability because now that you’ve scheduled it. Now you have to show up, because it’s already it’s in the candidates and Facebook and it’s showing everybody in the group, or people on your page that this is when you’re going to show up. And then you’ve already got your topic so I’ve already got five six weeks topics planned out for every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. And I’m committed to it because it’s in my calendar 15 minutes before 11.30 I’ve got my reminder coming up and say you’ve got a Facebook live in 15 minutes I’m gonna go quickly put on the makeup you know make sure everything already and then we go and record it and we get it set.
And it’s all about scheduling being prepared in advance because then you don’t have to think 15 minutes before you go live what topic do I have to talk about what am I gonna say what do people want to hear, you’re so confident showing up because everything is already backed up you’ve got everything planned out for you. So it comes to commitment now here’s the thing if you’ve got a small group — that’s okay. Nobody’s going to start checking you know we’re not going to have any live show ups, but the replays are there. Okay, people don’t have to see your Facebook Lives, just to have that engagement, they can see that the replays afterwards. The idea is to be consistent to keep on showing up. And that’s where people are going to go like, Oh, that’s her again. Oh, she’s there again. Oh, she’s there again. I wonder what she is about to go and check out this go. That’s where the engagement starts coming in, and that’s where people are going to start realising that this person is going to value to offer, then after a while, the algorithm would start picking up and say Okay you’re consistent you showing up on it on a regular basis. And now what they’re going to do is they’re going to start showing your Facebook Live to more people. And Facebook also has a great thing where if somebody goes live and you’re following that person. It gives you a little notification saying hey, you know, Katerina just went and did a live, you should go and check it out. Here’s the link. So what are people going to do they’re going to go oh let me go and see what she’s talking about I saw her a couple of times. Then we get to see what she’s talking about now. Yeah, and that’s how you build that engagement, and it will take time. It is not going to happen immediately but it’s up to you to be consistent in order to make sure that it will happen.
Katerina: Yeah, I mean I had this... Just like you described, I had… I did a Facebook Live last week I thought, or the week before and it was about self acceptance and it was kind of almost well, it was a bit emotional because I talked about several things… maybe referring to what was happening in my childhood and stuff like that and one girl, she checked it out like a week later, and she said “Oh my god, the book, you were talking about it it just was like amazing”… like two weeks later. So yeah, I think it’s a great advice from you to be consistent and not be afraid of… and I guess just show up. I mean, I’m not that consistent to show up three times a week, once a week is a start for me.
Henriette: Well, the good thing about showing up is also you can download the videos as well and you and I spoke about repurposing earlier on, so that video you can start with purposes, you can put it on a blog you know get it transcribed, put it on a blog put it on Medium those kind of things. So, it is not just about doing a video, it’s about thinking of it further and what you can do with that video after you’ve downloaded it because it’s valuable content that you’re sharing. So, apart from just using it on Facebook, there’s so many other ways you can repurpose it again.
Katerina: Yeah, so you sound like a very confident person. Are you afraid of anything?
Henriette: Oh yes, oh yeah, I am scared of so many things… I am one of the things… um we’re all human beings, I’m not perfect, in any way, I’m scared of failure. And I will say it hand on heart… I’m scared of failure I’m scared that one day my business will not be the business that I imagined it to be. And, but then as soon as I have that kind of fear inside of me I got like no no no no no… why do I have to steal why why do I feel like everything is tightening up inside myself. #
And then I go back to my of affirmations, I meditate every morning, I have my mindfulness moments where I just be calm. And then I started meditating I go back to that moment where I’m just calm and I look at all the stuff. And I even have a vision video that I made myself where I put a bunch of images together, and I have my affirmations and I’ve got an awesome song that goes with it…. just get you energised so every morning I would watch that video.
And it’s to do with your mindset. So what I’m doing is I am ingraining new passageways in my mind as to where it is that I’m heading. So if I have these moments of fear, I know now going through a lot of self development that those are just things of my ego trying to prevent me to be successful. And as soon as I diminished that ego and say hey, you’re not the boss of me — my dreams and where I’m heading that’s where my focus should be, then that fear just immediately dissipates. And it’s not just a fear of failure I’ve got so many other fears. I even had at one point… oh Okay… I’m going to be very honest… I had at one point where every time I pitched… I hated pitching my service to a client. And, and I never got, I never got that client to sign up with me, and I was like what am I doing wrong… what am I doing wrong.
And then one day I heard a podcast with somebody saying you’re using the law of attraction against you. And I said, What do you mean what am I doing using the law of attraction against me. And it came to the fact that because I was so eager and I needed that money because let’s face it, you know, I’ve left my full time job I don’t have that salary. All I could use was the money that I’m making and it was coming through in dribs and drabs. And I was so eager to make that money that my energy was showing that because it was so eager... my, my potential clients could feel that without them really knowing it without me knowing it. And that’s what pushed people away.
So instead of using the law of attraction to attract my client to sell authentically — I was using it against me and I was pushing them away. And so what I always tell people is the lesson that I learned there is, instead of going in and sell it… go there to have a conversation. Be authentic and say to people from the beginning listener, with your permission, can I offer you a package in order to sell my service to you. And if they say yes, then say, Great, okay I’ll send the details over to you if they say no, then that’s fine, which leads you to being tied to the outcome. If people buy from you, or if people want to buy from you — great. People don’t want to buy from you — great. It’s up to you as to how you see that and since I’ve had that kind of notion where that scared feeling what if people don’t buy since I’ve had gone through that kind of emotion and realise what I was doing wrong… everything dissipated and now I’m so relaxed where honestly it is the easiest thing for me to do now is to get a sale because I’m having a conversation, and to sell on webinars to sell on workshops, because I’m not tied to the outcome. And that’s where I learned really what the law of attraction was and how not to use it.
Katerina: Yeah, I’ve recently watched some webinar with some girl who was teaching coaches how to bring high ticket clients, and she even shared this sales letter. And so I started reading and I thought to myself, that’s not very ethical because in the sales letter was kind of… how to dissipate objections or something like that. It was just a hard sell is like almost oh you don’t have money, where can you borrow? Can you put it on your credit card, and it was so hard sell, and she claims to be a lot of money and millions and she even showed her screenshot of her Barclays Bank, you know, bringing like half a million but I’m thinking, that’s not very ethical right if you just kind of go after people and almost like “put yourself into so much debt but give me the money”.
Henriette: I guess a lot of it has to do with your authenticity and with what you are aligned with. Now I didn’t push people to make a sale, I will talk about the objections that they have but I always feel that people need to make a decision on their own. And, and, most nine times out of 10, people will make a decision and say yeah okay that’s great. I want to work with you because not only is it the fact that I’m doing a cold sale, because I hardly do cold sales, I mean if I do get a client who signs up from us the first time they hear from me and they buy from me — that is great, that is a bonus. But the majority of the times I’ve already gone through those stages of building a relationship with my audience. So people really get to know me. They can either connect with me, or they don’t. And that’s Okay.
If they connect with me and they feel that this is somebody that I can really trust this is somebody who’s got the same values as me. That’s where the conversation is really… selling conversation, so to speak, and it is not so much where you’re pitching because let’s face it, the word pitching and the word sale does have a negative connotation. So I refer to conversations having that conversation and selling through that. And then if people say yep great, where do I sign up I’m like — awesome, if they say, I don’t think I’m ready, I’m going — awesome. You know, either way because they might not be ready now but they could be ready later on. And so there’s there’s a difference when it comes to hard selling as to what is aligned with you, who you are. Now I’ve I’ve even had people who wanted to sign up with me who said “Listen, I can’t afford you, I honestly don’t have the money”… I’m like, that’s okay, maybe you can go and think of ways you can get that money I’m not going to tell you “Listen, do you have a credit card who make a loan”. That is not my decision. It’s not my place to say because that’s who I am, but I will say “Hey, that’s fine if you need some time to think about it.” I’ll give you that time and I’m sure a lot of people would hear this and go like nope I wouldn’t do that. But this is who I am okay so I’m talking from my personal experience.
And then, I don’t say listen, go and think of ways you could possibly get the money in order to sign up with me because the benefits of you signing up with me is obviously outweigh the financial aspect, and I prove it to them and I show it to them, and then it’s absolutely still up to them to make that decision. So I don’t force it. I give them that option. And then it’s up to them as to what they want to do.
Katerina: Yeah, or the opportunity cost of not doing it.
Henriette: Exactly or the opposite of that.
Katerina: Yeah, so if you break down these three area of your business philosophy — mindset, action and strategy, which of these three are the most important to focus first-hand? Or are these three are all equally important and you should focus on all three aspects? Strategy comes first, or the mindset comes first?
Henriette: I think, you know, start off with the mindset, but then strategy and action should follow hand in hand, immediately there afterwards. And if you think about a see-saw going up and down. If you think about that mindset and strategy is on one side and action is on the other side. I’ve seen so many people just sitting on mindset and strategy and planning and planning and planning and not taking an action, and that means you just understand one side, and then I’ve also seen the opposite way so many people don’t go through mindset, don’t go through changing and self development, and don’t even worry about strategy, they just go all in action. So you tipping completely the opposite, they don’t even know what they’re doing, but they taking the action and they’ll just say “Come with me. I’ll handle it.” And that’s also not right because obviously at that point you’re also just tapping to one side. You need to find a balance, and you need to balance that seesaw constantly between taking the action but also making sure that mindset and strategy is working hand in hand. So, if you’re just starting out in business — think about your mindset, you know get somebody who would help you. But here’s the other thing… if you just do my strategy and then, as you then as you take the action what you have learnt and then as you learn, as you take the action then everything else will fall in place. Strategies will change… they will get better they will become more consistent and your mindset will develop at the same time. And the more that happens, the more action you’re going to take so it’s always constantly working and building up one after the other. And so, equally I would like to say that all three of them have to walk hand in hand.
Katerina: Yeah, because sometimes you just think oh it’s impossible and then you think, okay, I’ll give it a try. And then you do something like, Oh, I can do this. So you your mindset and you know your attitudes start changing at the same time. I did that with some cold calling from my… when I did my PhD… I had to call and ask for interviews and stuff like that. It was terrifying at first because you know how do you pick up a phone and just start calling people up. But you know once you’ve done a couple of times you kind of start getting confident.
Henriette: Yes.
Katerina: I guess action is also a big part of it.
Henriette: Absolutely. And that’s why I said that the reward that you’re going to get with every small step you take is that confidence, like you said, you know, the first couple of course was so scary but then after a while you go, I was fine you know just another call I’ve got to do… just another call I’ve got to do. But if you look back at that, how many doors hasn’t opened up for you then afterwards…
Originally published at Katerina.Thomas.com
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
About the Author:
I help entrepreneurs to build their emotional and business resilience. My mission is to teach business owners the critical action steps for building entrepreneurial resilience, surviving business challenges, and using powerful strategies to review, reinvent and relaunch their business.
