In this inspiring episode of The One Small Change Podcast, host Yvonne McCoy welcomes ChewHoong Koh for a candid conversation on overcoming feelings of "not good enough," breaking free from procrastination, and shifting out of the stuck cycle that holds so many entrepreneurs back. ChewHoong Koh shares her own personal journey of moving from self-doubt to a place of visibility and impact, especially after facing academic and cultural challenges growing up. The episode dives into the power of micro-steps, building momentum, and aligning your actions with your true purpose. Listeners gain practical strategies to avoid shiny object syndrome, streamline their focus, and tap into the energy that attracts clients without stress. If you’ve struggled with self-belief, taking action, or finding your unique genius, this conversation is full of wisdom, compassion, and actionable tips.

Guest Bio:

ChewHoong Koh is a transformation expert specializing in helping entrepreneurs, particularly those over 45, break through procrastination and perfectionism. Drawing from her own journey overcoming feelings of inadequacy—and her extensive experience working across different functions in billion-dollar companies—she is passionate about empowering business owners to leverage their unique strengths, take micro-steps, and find joy in their entrepreneurial path. She’s especially gifted at demystifying technology and marketing for those who feel left behind, making business growth feel attainable and aligned for everyone.

Chapters:

00:00 "Small Changes, Big Transformations"

05:02 "Breaking Free from Stuck Cycles"

06:47 "Embracing Your Unique Power"

11:44 "Finding Purpose in Your Work"

14:02 Entrepreneurship: Embrace Scary Choices

16:28 "Podcast Engagement and Growth Insights"

Quote from the Guest:

“One of the top regrets that people have…is that I wish I had the courage to live the life I truly am meant to live. So I want you to shine and live what it is.”

Welcome to the One Small Change. I am thrilled, as always, that

you're taking time out of your schedule to embark on this journey of

exploration, transformation with me. And I'm your host, Yvonne

McCoy, and I bring almost 30 years of entrepreneurial experience

and a passion for discovering growth through the power of seemingly small

change. And the reason we're doing this, you know, podcast is so

that you have each week somebody that you can, you know, grow

from and get information from that is going to help you build your

business. And they're going to share how a smaller, unexpected or

insignificant decision sparked remarkable transformation

and growth in their personal or professional life and why they are

so good at what they do. And today, giving her

time and her insight to us is ChewHoong . And I am

so happy that you're here. I cannot wait to hear what you

have to say, especially when you said, for people who struggle

with not good enough and procrastination.

So tell us your story. Thank you. First,

Yvonne, thank you so much for having a platform, a place for people

together, because. So one of the things I found in procrastination

is in the stuck cycle. And there could be

procrastination, overthinking, perfectionism,

you know, and also getting ready to get ready to get ready. Right.

And then. Well, and underlying that is a root

cause that caused that. And it's important to go there

because you could get a procrastination. However,

you're going to go back into procrastinating again because on a

root level, you know, there is someone tell me

yet, you know, and Frank is rotten in there. Well, I say, well, it's not

really rotten. It's just that, you know, they're covered by things that

need to be placed clean and taken care of. Right. Renourished, I

call that. So for me, I found that it was about not good

enough. And I. I'd even want to admit that because

in my culture, right, even say I have a mental emotional

challenge, it becomes a big loser. And I've

experienced that. You know, I think, as I remember is when I

was in kindergarten, 5 years old,

and I'm this, you know, I caused myself a wild child who preferred to be

outdoors climbing trees, you know, and having fun and to be in a

classro classroom. And in our culture, the classroom is like, be still, you

know, work hard, you know, don't make prop, you know,

just. Just follow the rules. And I'm like, you know, busily distracting

my fellow student, you know, friends. And I'll be

throwing, you know, writing people on piece of Paper and throwing to them, you know,

that kind of thing. So you might know that. And I will be called up

numerous time. And here I am, five foot, you know, three feet

tall, and it's like five, nine, giant, saying, okay, you know why you're

up here, right? And they say, put your hand out, right? Hand

out. Say, you know, you know, you know that you're, you're not,

you know, your grades are lousy, you know, no, pay attention. Smack.

Here comes a ruler, right? Next thing you know, your friend, your, Your car, your.

The other students are working hard, you're distracting them. That's. They're not fair to them,

right? And I say, and then, you know, after a

few more times of that, it's like. And my grades show that I wasn't

very good. Even my parents, parents. I have a sibling. I'm. I have a

household of nine of us. And some of them are very smart. And my parents

say, why can't you be like that, study like that, you know, blah, blah, blah.

And to the point, even high school, I, I failed and I couldn't

go to college. And so my parents were,

you know, I had to thank them. They put me in a special school, paid

for the extra tuition. However, I had the. I had to wear the uniform at

that school. And every time I go out and, and people ask me where

I am, I mention name at school. And it's almost like I could feel like

they want to take a backstage step back from me because oops, don't want to

hang out with the loser. The ones that's not smart. And that sort of

carried through and to the point where, where I would

be in, I worked in, in billion dollar companies and

I would solve problems of people who have a lot of alphabets of the name.

However, do I get knowledge? No. I'm among what I call the unsung

heroes, right? Who take care of people's problems. Not in

ladders. Other people shine. And, and that was like

so big. And then here I am being an entrepreneur. And what is the first

thing you got to do? Entrepreneur? You gotta put a spotlight on you. I'm like,

oh, I don't think so. And, and that put me

further in procrastination and in decades. So when I think of.

If you're in business, I want you to pay attention to this. How much do

you charge per hour? If you haven't figured that, you gotta put a

dollar. So for me, you know, at that time, if I say $200.

So every few minutes I procrastinate.

What does it translate to? Kaching. Kaching off the table. And I

say, I jokingly say, but it's a sadness, a regret, deep regrets that, you know,

I could be a millionaire 10 times over, making more impact,

you know, have an indulgent lifestyle because, hey, you know,

I have good taste. Yeah. And also making the

legacy you want to leave. So this is where I know I

invite you to that if you're trying to do your own when you're stuck

cycle. And you pattern of it, you can't do yourself

because you have your brilliant mind, this part of you

that's very protective. And one of his prime directives,

to make sure you survive, you stay safe,

and doesn't necessarily mean to keep you safe in a healthy way.

And for me, I built a habit, right? Invisible, you

know, solve all of the people's problem, you

know, have many reasons to be stuck. I can't do this, I can't do that,

whatever, right? And so. So

the way for you to survive the brilliant, blind, protective mind was keep

all your insecurities in a box. And it could be a Pandora box, and

if you open it, wow, what will come out, right? And that's

why you got to have someone to support you, to help you sort of

in a loving, safe environment. And, you know, Yvonne is

here to help you. I am here and many wonderful people.

And so I. I just, I'm listening to what you're saying

and. And inside I'm going, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. And it's

part of. It's kind of part of what I talk about too. And one of

my favorite saying is from Buckminster Fuller, who

says we are all born geniuses. And then it's educated out of us,

right? And, and so many of us have had that experience where

we've been told to sit still and be quiet to. To not do

the thing that, that we're really good at, you know, if you aren't, you

know, if you're not following in footstep with everybody else,

there's something wrong with you, you know, and typically it's

just the opposite. I mean, I tell people when

they're looking at their unique power, it's the thing that your family

has always gotten on you about they didn't like

because you weren't like them, you know, and my thing was

that I always, you know, could fix things really fast, come up with

solutions really fast. And it sounds like you could do that too,

you know, and so, you know, people did not.

People don't support you in being Different. And

that's where, where I think people like you and I are so

important because we value that. And your clients, the

right clients for you value it too, because they

felt like an outsider their entire life about something

that, you know, is a positive thing for them

that'll make them stand out and be found. And so, you know, it's

like, you know, I, I jokingly say it's kind of like,

you know, when you tell a story about your family and you have a

friend, everybody, you tell the story and everybody in the family

laughs. You go, Remember Uncle Joe's 50th birthday party? And everybody

laughs, right? And your friend has no idea what you're talking about. Well,

when you're talking to the client and you relate that story,

that is common, right? They get it. It's

like, oh, my God, I get this. Right? So,

you know, I find it interesting that, that you're talking about, you

know, attracting clients with zero stress. So tell, tell

me what are like, some of the things that you

find that people struggle with that you can help them with.

Yeah, yeah. I especially have a US

want to support people in the, you know, 45 plus and over

because here they are. Want to start business, right?

And, but however, if you transition, especially corporate into

a business, there's so many hats you wear, right? You know,

not, you know, the cfo, the cmo, the c.

Marketing, sales and all that. And hopefully your skills and talents

support, but many of us don't. I'm very fortunate that, you know,

my, I, my, my, my skills and

talent cross all over that in all the work I do and I didn't

appreciate until became an entrepreneur, said, oh my gosh, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm okay

marketing, I'm good at sales. I can do customer service and all this stuff. And

even for me, it was a lot of, A lot of stressfulness because

first thing you know, you got to get in front of people. You got to

find your ideal clients, right? You got to figure out what offers and all

that and, and, and so many things. And that already put

me in stress. And now I have to go talk to people. And then I'm

watching my bank account, right? Reality hits. Oh, my God, I'm spending

thousands and thousand dollars on business practice and all that. And the return is

tiny, tiny, tiny. And that's when I realized that, you know,

and one of my big core genius is my brilliance is taking

big chunks of information and really chunk them down little pieces.

And especially whether you're newbie, whether you're, you're five figure

or six figure, the different things you want to pay attention to.

And I'm telling my clients love it because I keep them from what you call

the sos the shiny object syndrome. Right.

There's so many tactics now. AIs come to be, oh my God, use

this AI tool, use that one. My mind is like my, my head

is hurting. And then what I'm able to say, okay, when you're starting, pay

attention to this AI tools. When you've learned it, okay, add this piece

is on when you're scaling, have more money. Okay, we do that. All right, so

that's what my, my brilliance is, is you're helping people 45

plus, you know, especially not good in techy world, all this stuff, how to

handle that. Right? There's a tech technology element beside, beside

talking to people and all that. So that's where my genius is, how to sort

of, you know, small chunks, right? You talk of what are small

things to do to help along. And, and all for me, the small

piece is even about. All right, what's the, what do you call the, the,

the most. What do you call the micro step? 1, 1 micro step

to do. And if you do that, then we go on and build and build

on this and then you want to celebrate ahead of your victories, meaning victories.

So you have, so you have said a couple of things that I just want

to make sure that people are understanding.

So I'm going to, I guess work backwards and hope I remember the first thing.

So one of the things you're talking about, the micro steps, and I talk about

that in terms of inertia, you know, it

takes, it may seem like it takes a big effort to get the first couple

of things done because you have to overcome inertia. But once you're

going, you know, it, it will continue. It will build.

The momentum will continue to go. And so you don't want to stop

what's working to look at something shiny over here if what you're

doing is working. And I think the other thing that you said that's

so important is, you know, because this is what I do with people

too, is, is help them to streamline. They've got lots of stuff,

you know, and for me, when I lost my business, I said instead of having

a business, I had a junk draw of all the courses and downloads and,

you know, and it was kind of like, what is in this draw that

is actually going to help me build a business that's going to be profitable that

I Like doing consistently. Right. And I

think one of the best questions that, to kind of keep

that, you know, SOS out of things is what is

the purpose of what I'm doing? So you talk about

taking little pieces and taking steps. There's a process. I think

what you're saying and, and what I call this is the five R's. You're doing

the right thing for the right reason at the right time, the right way,

and it's right for you. And so the, the question is, what

is the purpose of what I'm doing? Is the purpose that I

want to be more visible? You know, is that so that, you know, if

I'm going to be more visible, I want to be more visible to the right

people. Right. And the idea is, the purpose

is always in a business is to help me to attract clients,

make sales, and be able to help more people. I think.

Yeah, I love what you. Five hours, you're right on about that. And you

know, for me, when you do that, you then be in alignment. Right.

Not your alignment. That feels so good to a soul level. And

I, you know, I speak of this. Yeah. There's a business and practice and all

that. However, you know, you got to take each of them and feel,

okay, what feels right, what feels so aligned and uncomfortable doing.

I have a client who, like, I say, you know, we figure out the everything,

the business stuff. You know, I even say, okay, this is how you go and,

and talk to people, lead generation and all that. And I said, one of the

things that you got to go meet people. And I say, go

online, virtual events, lots of them. I could basically say,

shudder. I say, what's the matter? And say, I hate going virtual. Okay, what

do you enjoy doing in state? And for her it's about, I prefer to get

in my car, go to talk to people, live events, you know, whatever. I

say, okay, great, do that then. And it's almost. I have to give her permission.

And she, like, lightens up, you know, and, and then she

goes, do it. And before long, people get to know her because, you know, it's

about klt, right? No, like. And trust. I'm going to say

no love and trust, because it's all about relationship. Right?

Yeah. So. So the thing, I think that, that entrepreneurs

don't. When people become entrepreneurs, the thing that they don't

realize is that they get to make the choices.

And that's scary because most of our life, somebody else has made the

choices for us. You know, whether it's, you know, they actually go,

you can't do this or, or whether it's like, well, girls don't do this,

or, you know, married women don't do this, or whatever the case may

be. As an entrepreneur, you get to make the choices, which

can be scary. But if you know what the purpose is and you hold

onto your vision, it doesn't matter if you

make a mistake, you know, if you learn from it. Right.

Because it'll just make you better at what you do. And I think the

thing that I see is people who really love what they

do, they're so excited about it all the time,

even when it's not going well, you know, and that is an

amazing gift. That is an amazing gift. Okay,

so we're going to run out of time. We're having a good time. We're going

to run out of time. So you have a gift for us, right?

Yes, I do. And, you know, we didn't touch on this, but some of the

key things, you know, being an entrepreneur, it's about. We always

say, I don't have time. I need time, and say, okay, I need to get

money. Because money is simple. The third thing I want to invite people to look

into is about the energy part. You know, what is the energy when you're going

to do something? We talk about this. If you're, when you're happy, when, when you're

excited, when your purpose lights you up. Right? The energetic piece.

So I have a gift, and this is about that. When

you go into any conversations with people, you

want to shine from inside out. So this gift is to help you

to get into that space of like, being shiny before you go an

event. And so I call it that. It's called the, the high vibration

audio. It's only like two, three minutes. And you listen to it. And

before every event you go to, if you do this little

piece, you. You shine from inside out. And you know your

goal, if it's a big goal and where your reality is, if there's a big

gap, you know, there's a lot of activities you want to do. Now if you

put this two minutes audio that you do before

you go any. Every activity, you will collapse. That time

you become more comfortable for you to be able to, to be able

to, to shine and be the, I call them

really, truly the client magnet. I can't, I cannot wait to hear

this. So I'm gonna have you put that in the chat, if you will. I'm

gonna do the commercial and make sure that we, we. We get out of here

on time. So the first thing is I hope you will

subscribe, share and engage on social media about the podcast.

And the idea behind this is that, you know, I want to expose you to

as many different kinds of people as I can and their insights and

ideas to grow your business. And so I hope you'll continue to join

me on the one small change and tell your friends, listen to the

first episode to see what made me, you know, why I decided to start it,

or listen to one of the quarterly clarity calls that I do

at the beginning of each quarter. So let me ask you one more

thing before we go. And if you were to leave people with some

words of wisdom, what would it be? You know, your last words.

Yeah. As Yvonne mentioned, what's your purpose in doing a business? What's your

big why? Okay. And, you know, if it's, I

hope it's about impact and legacy. And so I

say, you know, if not now, when, if you're stuck,

get support. Because, you know, one of the,

I want to, you know, one of the top regrets that people

have, what, before they pass on is that I wish I had the

courage to live the life I truly am meant to live.

So I want you to shine and live what it is and Yvonne and many

of us to support you. So live with bold audaciousness.

Yeah, I absolutely agree. So again, I'm going to ask

you to put the link in the chat because I don't think I, I have

it in your notes. But the, the thing that I want to say to everybody

is, remember, the change is simple, but it's not always easy.

And it requires courage, resilience, and a willingness to step

out of your comfort zone. And if you are feeling comfortable,

then you're not growing. And if you're not growing, you're stagnated.

So I hope you will continue to join me on the one small change. And

until the next time, please stay very curious.

Thank you so much for giving of your time, your gift and

your effort. Bye.

Bye, bye. Thank you.