Join me as I sit down with Sonia Ovenden, a 4x International Best-Selling Author and TEDx speaker who successfully transitioned from a high-paying corporate job to a fulfilling career in coaching. Sonia shares her journey, the challenges she faced, and the strategies she used to leave her 9-5 behind and boldly create a thriving coaching business.

Whether you're thinking of leaving the corporate world or looking to find more fulfillment in your career, this episode of The Abundant Coach offers valuable insights and inspiration. Tune in!

[00:00:20] Lauren Brollier Newton: I know, many of you are thinking about going from corporate to coaching and she did that successfully. And so, we are thrilled to have her today and just squeeze every bit of knowledge we can out of her. So, warm welcome to you, Sonia Ovenden. Thank you so much for being here.

[00:00:53] Lauren Brollier Newton: Yay. Sonia, tell me this, because I think so many of our listeners are people who feel this call to help [00:01:00] people, feel a call to serve, want to make a difference, want to feel more fulfilled. And there's this, is it really okay for me to want to go from good to great? Especially, when you're a powerful woman, when you're a breadwinner woman, when you have climbed to the ladder and you're thinking to yourself, Oh, everybody should want what I have. I should be satisfied with this. So, I'd love for you to tell us in that context, a little bit about how you went from corporate to coaching?

[00:01:58] Sonia Ovenden: But what the [00:02:00] reality was that, I was burnt out. So yes, I had, we say in the Brave Thinking Institute, is there a part of you that has more money than time? And that was exactly me. I had a beautiful income but I was so burnt out, I was so exhausted, I was living in one of the most vibrant cities in the world in Dubai.

[00:02:39] Sonia Ovenden: How could I walk away from that and help in families over in Rwanda and out to Mongolia and different parts all over the world? How could I leave that, leave them? Who's going to take over for me? And now, I say that it's almost obviously, somebody would have did take over from me. But there was a part of me that felt so less than that.

[00:03:15] Sonia Ovenden: It wasn't that, I was unhappy but I knew I could be happier. I knew, I wanted the time freedom that didn't mean I was in. Because our working hours here were 8 till 6. It's a big chunk of the day but actually turned out, I was working 18 hour days because, I was supporting across numerous different time zones.

[00:03:45] Lauren Brollier Newton: Yeah, let me ask you this. So like, when you think about, because you did have a job that was helping people for sure, making good money. So, when you were thinking about leaving, was there like guilt, selfishness? I think that's what you're describing, but yeah, tell me more about that.

[00:04:34] Lauren Brollier Newton: I've been there.

[00:05:04] Sonia Ovenden: And so because, I was in that training and career coaching and that kind of industry. What I recognized was, coaching skills are coaching skills. And what I mean by that, I was always wanting to help people make a better version of themselves. And what I actually stepped into was, does it matter in which environment? And that was probably the key that turned it for me.

[00:05:53] Sonia Ovenden: That was probably the key that unlocked the door for me, recognizing that actually, I wasn't giving up my corporate [00:06:00] career. I was actually transitioning all that amazing work I've done, all those skills I've built and I was actually able to transition it to create a life that I was in love with as well. It's okay for me to love my life as well as helping others to give me that permission. Permission, I think, was the key word there.

[00:06:35] Lauren Brollier Newton: And when I decided to become a coach, I had just finished my admin credential so I could become a principal, a principal of a school. And I can't remember how much, it was like, 10 or $15,000 to get that credential. So there's a part of me like, Oh, good, flush more money down the toilet. The fear says to you like, Oh, here's what you always do.

[00:07:20] Sonia Ovenden: Do you know what Lauren, hearing you say that, it is so true. There's this certainly in my experience as well. There's a part of us that thinks, well, as long as everybody else is okay. And again i'll speak for myself but as long as everybody else was okay, then I could then be okay. And it's a little bit like the analogy on the airplane, isn't it?

[00:08:08] Sonia Ovenden: And one of which obviously is to be an amazing wife. So, I wanted to create that time and I think for me personally, the phrase walking away from was what held me back longer than it perhaps should have done.

[00:08:24] Sonia Ovenden: And what I over time recognized and I switched the phrase to, I'm walking to something. So although I was feeling finishing ending a chapter. I'd been talking, how can I walk away from that? How can I walk away from such an amazing job? How can I walk away from the salary? How can I give up? I love my Jimmy Choo shoes and I love my nice watches. How can I give up all of this kind of stuff?

[00:09:05] Sonia Ovenden: I haven't got somebody saying, I've got to do these hours, I haven't got somebody saying. So as I started to, I think what, one of the things I remember doing, I had a blank piece of paper and I folded it in half and I opened it out and one said corporate and one said me. And it was literally corporate on, not all but corporate on one page, me on the other.

[00:09:48] Sonia Ovenden: And I think, that was again another turning point when I said, no, just pause for a moment, just breath in, just let's just really focus on what you would be able to create if you did your [00:10:00] own company? And then when I stepped into that question, what would I love to create?

[00:10:22] Sonia Ovenden: So, if any of the listeners are thinking, now, logically, I like that idea. We also want to listen to the intuition but we don't want to leave the logic behind. In my experience, that's when the paradigms got louder, when I ignored the logic. And I think, getting that logic out on paper and then seeing my business literally fill up. I was thinking, yeah, that's my intuition bringing all these ideas and thoughts that saying, what are you even thinking about here?

[00:11:17] Lauren Brollier Newton: But sometimes, in certain aspects of our life. I know for me, deadened that part of ourselves just to keep going for so long, that I could totally see back in the day. If I wrote teacher and then I wrote me, I could see a lot of the me being empty until the brilliant shift that you did was asking yourself but what would I love to create for me?

[00:11:48] Sonia Ovenden: Again, it's that almost some of that conditioning, isn't it? Growing up, be grateful for what you have. And how could you even want more than you already? I remember my mum saying to me, what are you going to do? I'm going to start my own business. Yeah, but what are you going [00:12:00] to do?

[00:12:32] Sonia Ovenden: It was literally, I got up, I went to the gym, I went to work, I'd get home, I'd carry on working, I'd go to bed. And that was, if I was in country and if I was out of country, literally it would be the same routine, just in a different office, having to travel through a different airport, in a different hotel. And I realised that, at that point in my life I was living to work, not working to live.

[00:13:07] Lauren Brollier Newton: And you're a sellout because, people are going to think you don't care about these kids anymore and blah, blah, blah. But I remember, one of the things people asked me with two things. I think you'll get a laugh out of this. One, people would always be like, what are you going to do about your benefits? What are you going to do about your health insurance? What are you going to do about this? And I'd be like, pay for it.

[00:13:48] Lauren Brollier Newton: So let me ask you this. So you're in corporate, you do have a coaching background because you're mentoring other people within the business. You're doing leadership and things like that. Before you left corporate, did you know it was life [00:14:00] coach that you wanted to be like, how did that discovery happen for you?

[00:14:15] Lauren Brollier Newton: oh yeah. Great program.

[00:14:45] Sonia Ovenden: And then, there was something off the back of that for, I think it was, DreamBuilder Virtual Live, because obviously it was okay, it was meant to be live but then the pandemic hit, that's right. So, it was DreamBuilder Virtual. Obviously, I signed up for the DreamBuilder Virtual.

[00:15:15] Sonia Ovenden: But there was a big voice saying, this is what you're doing, this is what you're meant to do, this is what you've got to do, this is what you're meant to do. I stepped into it and that was it. I signed up to become a DreamBuilder Coach, Life Mastery Consultant and I've never looked back. And it's interesting when I think back to that decision now. There's a part of me that thinks, wow, that was a very fast decision. Bearing in mind in the corporate world, you have to have a plan A, a plan B and a plan C.

[00:15:41] Sonia Ovenden: Exactly, I just really stepped into that question. What would I love? And I thought, I'd love to be stepping into, one of the things that I fell in love with, even from that very first online program I did.

[00:16:13] Sonia Ovenden: And that's not the reality, we in fact, as humans, as we know, we're not meant to do it alone. But because you've, again, I think because of the programming of the corporate world, I was in the corporate world where everything was there stepping into my own world and then I'm like, okay, it's just me, myself and I felt a little bit like,

[00:16:30] Sonia Ovenden: It's like, All by Myself. I'm not going to sing for the listeners, but it really was that moment where, when I think back now, I'm so truly grateful. That I stepped into that because, going back to what you said about people asking, what are you going to do about your benefits? And it used to, I remember, unbeknownst to me, 18 years ago, I applied DreamBuilding technology without actually knowing that I was doing that. And it was the day I left the UK again, I had a very [00:17:00] successful career in the UK. I was at the airport and my logic was saying, what are you doing? You've got a great career, you've got a man stood here that loves you, that you're saying goodbye to. You've got an amazing family.

[00:17:27] Sonia Ovenden: Yet, everybody else again was saying, what are you going to do if you don't like your job? What are you going to do if you don't make friends? What are you going to do if it's too hot? What are you going to do if you don't like it?

[00:17:35] Sonia Ovenden: Think about all of that. Exactly, because ultimately there was a part of it. But if I didn't like the job, I'd get another job, if I didn't like where I was going to live, I'd find another apartment. It's almost like, we're brought up to have a plan B. But in my personal opinion, having a plan B is what stops us truly realizing our dreams. Because it means, we're dividing the energy between a plan A and a plan B. So for me, it's plan A all the time, even if I'm [00:18:00] not sure what plan A is. That's where my energy is going.

[00:18:21] Lauren Brollier Newton: And I said, very similar to what you just said, I say, I burn all the ships. All the ships behind me are burnt and the only path is this way. Because if your foot is on a different shore, another idea, you're not even all in, you're just planning to fail, planning for it not to work.

[00:18:52] Sonia Ovenden: Absolutely. And even when you say that quote, I remember the first time I came across it and I thought, how many people actually live their life as a [00:19:00] tree? Almost, Oh, I can't move in my personal opinion and even in the professional world, we all have choices. The question is, when we're going to find the courage to make a decision and a choice. Because choices are all around us.

[00:19:47] Lauren Brollier Newton: We don't really know what that means.

[00:20:01] Sonia Ovenden: And the fears were, this is really stupid, Sonia, you shouldn't be doing this. And I'm like, yeah, but I want to do this, I'd love to do this. And when I stepped into that again, what would you love? The five questions that we know to run our visions through, they are always close to hand for me, because if the first is that question, does it make me come alive?

[00:20:44] Sonia Ovenden: And then, when I was able to get support to navigate that. And what I've actually done now is that, my husband and I have booked into a hotel for a couple of nights. We've let people know we're going to be there, we're going to have a few drinks, we're going to have a meal, if people want to join us, they can, if they can't, that's also okay.[00:21:00]

[00:21:22] Sonia Ovenden: Because, need just lowers my energy. Need just takes us from a lack of almost. So to me, it's really about, what would I love? What would I love to do? So, we're doing Wimbledon and we're going Gorilla Trekking. And so, these are the things that I would love to do because, we've created those dreams this year.

[00:21:55] Lauren Brollier Newton: And sometimes, it'll be different and sometimes it won't but getting used to. And I think, because, [00:22:00] Sonia, you've talked a couple times today about being so connected to your intuition. Knew it was right to leave the UK, doesn't mean it wasn't scary. You knew it was right to leave corporate, doesn't mean it wasn't scary. You knew it was right to get certified with coach certification at Brave Thinking Institute, doesn't mean it wasn't scary. But I think, there's a lot of people out there that are like, not able to trust themselves that fully. And I think, asking what would I love in smaller situations like Starbucks, can actually help you learn what it feels like for something to be feel right. I don't know if you have any other tips. How do you develop that?

[00:22:52] Sonia Ovenden: Something that has no impact on anything else, really, apart from yourself. So, I love that idea to test it out on smaller, what [00:23:00] I would call insignificant things. When it comes to the, I'm going to use the word bigger for a moment. But when it comes to the bigger things, one of the tips I would say is, drop the word bigger because, this is one of those times where size really doesn't matter, it's a decision. Whether it feels a huge one or it's a teeny tiny one, size is irrelevant. Let's not give it the power of making it bigger than me. Because if we think about it, we've got a decision to make from our here and we want to do it from the heart. We want to take the logic with us.

[00:24:02] Sonia Ovenden: Whereas, actually I've got a choice to make, makes it feel I'm choosing what I'd love to do, it feels more expansive to me. And don't get me wrong, I do make decisions all the time. But I choose what I would love in that moment, which is still a decision. So, for me personally, I love the word choose and choice, just 'cause it feels a more expansive word. And then, the other part with intuition that I would say and it was probably a bit of a gold nugget for me or certainly something, a mic drop moment for me is that.

[00:24:50] Sonia Ovenden: Which would have made my journey, 2 hours. I'm like, why would I do that? That means I'm going to be late to the office. And so, I ignored my intuition and I turned right to go onto the main [00:25:00] highway, as you call it, motorway, we call it in the UK. And literally, within 5 minutes of getting on the motorway, that everything was at a standstill, going 26 mile tailback because there'd been a massive accident.

[00:25:34] Sonia Ovenden: We have to lean in or we can choose to lean in. And trust it because, in my experience, our intuition will never do us wrong. It really is about our willingness and again, I'd recommend exactly what you said, Lauren. And yeah, one of the things I would recommend is to try it with the smaller things first, get that muscle work and thinking, Oh, that's okay, actually, I quite like that mochaccino or whatever we're having. And try those [00:26:00] smaller insignificant things. So you get familiar with how your intuition shows up for you.

[00:26:19] Lauren Brollier Newton: You decide to get started at the highest levels of coaching certification, really trusting your instinct and your gut in the way that you opened up when you went to that event. So, you mentioned it was during COVID that you went to this event. So it was during 2020. Cause that was one that we first had virtual events.

[00:26:52] Sonia Ovenden: I'm turning over from a turnover point of view, I'm turning over 6 figures every year so far, and in terms of [00:27:00] clients, I've served in terms of pure programs, I've served over 100 people in the pure Brave Thinking programs, which was one of the things that attracted me to this. That somebody else has done all the work and I just get to facilitate these phenomenal programs.

[00:28:02] Sonia Ovenden: One of which was a yoga studio owner, who'd had to give up teaching. She's now back teaching her yoga classes and she's been invited to speak at women's conferences. And she's created her own health and wellness retreat center. She's worn government contracts. She's winning government grants. She's in the process of getting a grant to help the vets. Which obviously, is something that's very dear to many of us. So when I look at what I've done, yes, the revenues great. Yes, having the lifestyle that I love, I work probably, 5 to 6 hours a day. Sometimes, it's a little bit more but generally, it's about 5 to 6 hours a day just for 4 days a week. I never work a Thursday. That's when I get my pedicure, manicure, which I can also put through as a business expense, which the girls come to me. I don't even go to the salon.

[00:28:50] Sonia Ovenden: But I think as well that, the one thing that's been very important for me, Lauren, that I wanted to ensure and was a thing of my past. I wanted to help others [00:29:00] create their dreams whilst also creating mine. When I was in the corporate world, I gave and I gave and I gave. And it wasn't my detriment, I did end up having a quite of major health scare and I didn't want to get to that point again. Since for example, during COVID, so we did have.a two holiday homes over in Thailand, which we love very much. And during COVID, we decided we were going to sell one of them just to have our own home that we didn't have to go and sort another one out when we were there. And in true DreamBuilder style, obviously post COVID, nobody was looking for a holiday home.

[00:30:08] Sonia Ovenden: We're going Gorilla Trekking in September, which has been a dream of mine for a number of years now. If anybody's ever seen me on DreamBuilder Virtual Lives and everything, that's always been part of my vision. Obviously, as well as my TEDx, that was part of my vision.

[00:30:50] Lauren Brollier Newton: I love that. Hearing you talk about all the different clients that you've had and the results that they've created, just a handful that you shared with us. It's interesting, because [00:31:00] I was thinking back to your corporate life. And it's one of those things where at that level, yes, you can make an impact and all of those things but it's gonna, I'm going to work work, it's going to go here.

[00:31:31] Lauren Brollier Newton: But when you actually look at every single life you touch, having this great ripple effect. And never even being able to measure how many people read that book? How many people go to that studio? How many people saw that TEDx talk? Like, it really can be exponential. So that's amazing but also as Mary Morrissey would say, putting yourself in the circle of good is actually, people will see what you're doing and they'll have permission to go do something like that too. They'll have the permission to say, I [00:32:00] want that.

[00:32:21] Sonia Ovenden: And she just said, I had to drop you this message. She said, I've just watched your live and I've just shown it to my daughter, who has just come back from her first year in UNI. She's had to come back early because she's struggling at the level of fat. She's just been diagnosed with ADHD. We're getting the meds sorted, she said. But there is something in your video that has touched us both so much. Don't stop what you're doing. I am so grateful that I happened to jump onto Facebook at the time you were live. You have touched us beyond anybody, her therapist and all of this.

[00:33:11] Sonia Ovenden: To me, I'm here to serve people that I'm meant to serve. But then, that other piece that you said, somebody else reached out to me very recently and they just said, thanks. And I'm like, can I ask what for? Thanks for giving me permission that it's okay. It's okay for me to say, I want more. It's okay for me to say, I actually want to live somewhere different.

[00:34:10] Sonia Ovenden: Here on the Beachfront Villa, we don't have building work noise. So it really is coming back to, if I just ignite one person today and then one person in a couple of days, how many people are they then going to talk to and tell about? And right now, I'm literally just launching my YouTube. I've just literally filmed my first YouTube chat and video yesterday, so I've got to obviously choosing to press the publish button in the few days. And who knows how many people that's going to touch? Obviously, my TEDx talk, how many people has that touched? It's not just about the people that we get to interact with through our programs.

[00:35:09] Lauren Brollier Newton: That is interesting. Oh my gosh. Okay, you got to tell me what it is after you look at it. But here's the thing that I really want to speak to that you're said, I'm endeavoring to go live more, got to push the publish button on my YouTube channel. And so, I just want all of our listeners to notice like that, Sonia, me too, still stretching ourselves.

[00:36:06] Lauren Brollier Newton: And that's what I love about you continuing to stretch yourself as like, you're getting out of your own way in service of these people that you're going to serve and help and people that you will never expect. Like this person you knew 30 years ago.

[00:36:28] Lauren Brollier Newton: Yeah.

[00:37:06] Sonia Ovenden: I want all of my DreamBuilder clients and Life Mastery clients to literally all their successes and stories to flash before my eyes. I want my life to be worth watching again. I don't want to sit there and say, was that it? I really do want to make sure it's worth watching the fun, the laughter, the joy, the successes for me and others.

[00:37:51] Sonia Ovenden: It's almost that hook that we can just turn back to and think, okay, that's why I'm doing this. So for example, with YouTube, it's like, okay, [00:38:00] I'm not doing it because I need to look a certain way or be a certain way. I'm doing it to get the message out there. It's a little bit like when I did my TEDx talk, because obviously it was during COVID that I did my TEDx talk.

[00:38:29] Sonia Ovenden: So, when we're clear of that why in any of our wobbly moments, in any of our human wobble moments, it just gives us an anchor to almost, okay, that's why we breathe into and remind ourselves of why we're doing it?

[00:39:01] Lauren Brollier Newton: What do you want people saying about you and the impact that you've made? And so, I like to call it going macro, like in the moment, a lot of us don't feel like, recording the YouTube video, pressing the publish button, doing whatever it is we want to do. And yet, if you can connect it to the macro in that moment, this is about that eulogy or that movie I'm going to watch. Then I'll do it all day long but if it's not connected to the macro or the why it does seem like, why do I want to do this? Or I'm going to, like you said, I'm just going to turn around and walk back out. Go how to connect it to that macro.

[00:39:57] Sonia Ovenden: It is that macro one. It's almost like, [00:40:00] I'm lying there about to take my last breath. I want to make sure it's worth watching. And like you say, that the obituary, that part of it, it's almost for me, especially when we're taking a trap, making that life transition, if you like. We do focus on the how and that's a human nature. That's what would be conditioned to do. A little bit like, when you left the teaching world and I left the corporate world. Well, how are you going to do that? How are you going to pay your bills? And how are you going to get money? And how are you going to get your benefits? And it's all how. Let me just step into the vision for a moment.

[00:40:49] Sonia Ovenden: And it was really funny. I'm in something that's helping me to learn about creating videos and reels and all that kind of thing. And he's really good. And he said something to me the other day and I said, actually, if you [00:41:00] just go onto your zoom now and you do this and you do that and you do the other, it'll take away some noise going past his house. And he said, I thought you weren't technically very good and it was a beautiful reminder. I'm very good at what I know how to do. I'm not good at what I don't know how to do. And then it dawned on me, why am I beating myself up on something I've got no idea how to do right now?

[00:41:22] Sonia Ovenden: That to me has probably been one of the things in this journey. Why did I expect to know how to do everything from day one? It's a little bit like, when we learn to walk. We don't do it from day one, I'm a walker. We do it, we fall down, we do it but we have to practice. And that's the same with the business part.

[00:41:58] Sonia Ovenden: Not only are we choosing growth [00:42:00] but we're actually choosing knowledge and support. And because it's all there in that beautiful container, as well as having the business in a box. So I didn't have to write any programs yet and all the rest of it. And that's the other point. So, obviously here I am today, just over 400,000 in just under 3 years. And I'm very happy with that. And so, here I am at that number and I haven't had to create any courses yet.

[00:42:41] Lauren Brollier Newton: And really what that comes from is the hard work paradigm that many of us have, either from childhood or corporate or whatever. This has to be hard or else, I don't deserve the good that comes. But you did a brilliant thing and you just said, okay, Brave Thinking literally gives me everything.

[00:43:18] Sonia Ovenden: It comes back one of the concepts, Lauren, that I know you will love as well. How willing are we to receive? Because that really was one of my biggest learnings throughout all of my journey with Brave Thinking Institute is, why would I need to sit here and spend hour upon hour? Creating something that's my own to then be able to teach out there when this has been proven, reliable, repeatable system over 4 decades.

[00:44:11] Sonia Ovenden: They may talk about them differently but there's this part of us and certainly my dad, God rest his soul and I am still his little girl. But one of the things he taught me was, be the first in the office and last to leave. And that stuck with me throughout my whole career. And I'm known to be a hard worker. My mother in law even now says, ain't you not working too hard? I'm not working as hard as I was. Let me be fair, I'm working very differently to how I worked in the corporate world. And she said, I'm really pleased because all the family talk about how hard you work. So, I'd have my Blackberry when I was on holiday, I was literally wherever I was still working.

[00:45:08] Sonia Ovenden: And here I am just under 3 years, I still have not created a separate program, a different program. I have earned that revenue from the DreamBuilder, Life Mastery, Into Your Genius and working with the law. And more importantly than that, I love them and I live by them, which is what makes it a joy to teach. It's not just why I teach a program, it's how I live my life. So I just get to talk about how everything works.

[00:46:09] Lauren Brollier Newton: It's like, if you want to be a successful coach. It's about living what you teach. Cause Sonia is a model of the work that she does. She's using the principles that she's teaching her clients. And therefore, she's never going to run out of content to talk about on YouTube, on Facebook, in her coaching sessions, because she's living it. And then when your clients see you living it, you're the best advertisement you have for your business is look at how my life has changed. Look how happy I am. It's so simple actually.

[00:47:02] Sonia Ovenden: If I find a tool that I've that I'm endeavoring to apply and I'm thinking, hang on, why is this not working? Often it's because, there's a paradigm coming up trying to dissuade me, distract me, delay me. I've learned about me that if ever I think about laundry, it's one of my paradigms trying to keep me exactly where I am.

[00:47:41] Lauren Brollier Newton: That's enjoyable, that you love to do and the people that you've helped and served. And so I love, Sonia,, that you've used this word multiple times today, this idea of endeavoring. We're not perfect as coaches, it's far from it. And if you're endeavoring to use the tools that you teach, use the principles, be [00:48:00] willing to share when it works, when it doesn't work and what you've learned and all of this stuff.

[00:48:20] Lauren Brollier Newton: It's like, one of the things I've always admired about Mary Morrissey and our co founder, Matt Boggs is that, they're exactly the same off the stage as they are on the stage. If I'm going to have a dinner with Matt Boggs, he's exactly the same as he is in a meeting, as he is on the stage. Because this is just how they live their life.

[00:48:57] Sonia Ovenden: And that it's that realism, it's that [00:49:00] authenticity and integrity. Because, one of the things that I've learned in my journey that, when I share a story, so for example, forgiveness for me is something that I endeavor. I ask every day, what is there for me to forgive? And I step into it. And sometimes in my human self, it can feel, really? Especially, if a particular name comes up quite often, which it can do from time to time. But when I share those stories with my clients, it's almost like, Oh, Sonia's not perfect at it yet then. To me, the only thing that I will ever say that I'm perfect at, is that I choose growth every day.

[00:49:53] Sonia Ovenden: And it's just really ignited something or if it's learning how to do a reel or if it's learning how to set up YouTube and all the rest of it. [00:50:00] I choose growth every day. And that's the only thing I will ever say that I'm perfect at. Is making that conscious choice every day.

[00:50:24] Lauren Brollier Newton: And I asked every single guest on the podcast, this particular question. I don't know if you've ever seen the show, Undercover Billionaire? But these billionaires, like literal billionaires, go on this TV show undercover and they're given a hundred dollars and they can't use any of their contacts, they can't use their cell phone, they can't use anything from their real life. And they have to try to build a million dollars in, I think it's 30 days starting with a hundred dollars. So it's like they're asked, it's basically if you lost it all and you didn't have the contacts and you didn't have all that, could you build it all again?

[00:51:14] Sonia Ovenden: The first thing I would do starting a coaching business on from scratch, I would choose to run my business virtual again because of geography. I would get online a lot quicker, a lot more often and I would just be there and I know people often say yeah. But hang on, what about your website? What about this? What about that? No, I would get me out there a lot quicker.

[00:51:37] Sonia Ovenden: Yeah, it's took me a long time to learn.

[00:51:48] Sonia Ovenden: Because, whether that be on Facebook lives, whether it be on Insta lives, whether it be on reels, whether it be on YouTube, whatever it is. Because the way you said, you alluded to it earlier, there are a number of organizations out there [00:52:00] that do very similar things. And it's not actually, well, it is the product, but they need to be able to build that known likeability and trust with us. And if we aren't visible for people to see us, it makes it a slow, not an impossible journey at all but it does make it a slower journey. So, if I had to start over again, I would put all of my, oh my god, what are people going to think?

[00:52:33] Lauren Brollier Newton: I love that, so good. Cause how can people know you if they don't know you're there? Love that, Sonia, all right. So tell us, if the audience wants to find you, how do they get in touch with you? How do they find you?

[00:53:04] Sonia Ovenden: So they can find me there. My emails are on there but the quickest way, you want to send me a message or anything like that is on Facebook through Messenger. That's where you'll find me hanging out quite a lot and obviously, going forward, YouTube as well.

[00:53:31] Sonia Ovenden: Oh, thank you so much. It has been my pleasure and my honor. And good luck to everybody listening, whatever their journey is, just choose, make the decision and take the action.

[00:53:43] Sonia Ovenden: Thank you.