Interview with Steph Stanford with Steph Stanford Speaks
On January 10th, after a busy day of being a mom and new blogger, I had a gift to end my day with Steph Stanford. She is known as The Happiness Expert and the words she shared with sure did make me HAPPY! I know you will walk away with a happy thought or two! And this blog is just in time to get to know her for her upcoming event! So read on …
What is the
name of your business?
My
business is called Steph Stanford Speaks.
And an amazing speaker
she is indeed. Quirky, funny and hits
home with her personal examples. Y’all
gotta hear her.
What
service is that your business provides to your clients?
The
service I provide is I am a professional speaker, author and coach and what I
truly do is help women learn how to live happy lives. I teach them how to have
self-confidence. How to be happier in
their relationships. And last to LISTEN
IN!
She caught my attention
with the “LISTEN IN”. Read on and you
will see what it is all about!!!
When did
your business start?
You
know what, I actually started speaking in 2008 but it’s funny. I have always been that person thought that
was the girl that everybody calls. I am
the one that your girlfriends call and say “Oh. I am going through something
and I don’t know what to do?” I sort of
always had this natural talent for that as we all have gifts and talents but I
started in 2008 with professional speaking but I really only decided to make
this a business in 2011! I wrote a book
called Happy Ain’t That Hard and after I wrote the book I said I think I
want to get the word out that people don’t have to fight to be happy and it’s
really not that difficult so speaking evolved from that and then into coaching.
Her book is an easy read,
set in a storytelling style. It helped
shift MY mindset about the chores I do at home.
And if you know me then you know … I HATE HOUSE CHORES but now I see
them as one of the many ways that I provide for my monkeys and nurture them. So if I walked away with that … what will
you?
Your
business is it home based?
It
is a home based business. Yes. I was just going to say I actually really
love that it takes a lot of the pressure out of a new business owner because
there is much less risk and there are a lot tools available and it is not as
hard as it used to be.
Love it how she uses
TOOLS to make her home based business easier.
Oh how I wish more entrepreneurs found the right systems and persons to
help them to make it easier for themselves.
Do you have
a specific territory that you serve or do you go everywhere and anywhere?
Well. Because I live in South Florida, the majority
of people that I speak to on a regular basis are down here. The speaking events that I attend have been
in the state of Florida so far but I am open.
I will go anywhere if anybody needed a great speaker to come and help
out and teach how to be happier.
She and I agree! We are willing to travel and invitations to
speak in locations such as Fiji and Hawaii will NOT be declined … any takers?
Who exactly
does your business serve?
My
business serves … truly anyone can be happy but in my heart I have a passion
and a love for women. I love all women
but the women that I find that come to hear the messages that I have to share
tend to be women who are usually between the ages of 30s to their 50s because I
think they are women that are trying to figure out what they want from their
lives. At this point, they may have
started an educational path or started a certain career or started out as being
married and usually by this age group you are going through some kind of
transition and you are trying to figure out if you made the right choice. So those ladies are the ones that are trying
to figure out usually are the one that find me.
I fall in that age
group! And we will *not* say to which
end of the age group, I fall!! All you
will get is my name and serial #!
What need
does your service provide to your customers?
Pay attention … previously
I eluded to the LISTEN IN …
Wow! Let me say this. I call myself The Happiness Expert but as I
mentioned earlier there are three primary areas in which I can help
people. There are 3 different needs when
it comes to being happy. The first is LISTENING IN. So in other words, we are so busy. We are on every type of device that we can
possibly get our hands on. We are trying
to take care of our kids. We are taking
care of our men, our jobs, our homes.
It’s just crazy. We don’t make time to just be quiet.
Even just a couple of minutes and so then one thing that I do and the
first need that is being addressed is teaching people how be quiet and still. And the reason we want to do it is because
that is where the answers really come from.
Some people are looking outside, reading every book, talking to every
expert but the best answers come from
your own soul. So I teach people how to
LISTEN IN. So that is one need. The second need, I find in relationships is
that no matter whether you are single or dating, a girlfriend, married,
whatever your status is. We also have
some questions. And I just feel like,
again, we are working way too hard when instead we need to take a step back and
remember something about ourselves. And
the thing we have to remember about ourselves is that being a woman is the most beautiful and wonderful gift that
you have been given. When you know how
to use that womanly quality in your relationship, no matter what status it is,
you can flip. You can make it good. So
that is another need that I address.
Women that in relationships that just aren’t going where they want it to
go. And last, self-confidence and I feel
personally passionate about this one the most because I was the girl that faked
it for a really long time. I pretended
to have confidence in many situations but I was really pretending. The truth is I really beat myself up and I
criticized myself all the time about the way that I looked and about the way
that I did things in many areas. So I’ve
learned how to love myself, truly love myself.
I look at myself and say “Honey!
You are sexy”. And I feel IT and I believe it. I feel
great about that. So the third need that
I address is the need for women to love themselves because we need to, we are
divas and we just need to get that!
I love it! There are bucket and buckets of ladies out
there that beat themselves up. How
awesome is to have Steph in our corner showing us how to listen IN, use our
womanly qualities and love ourselves.
Who is your
backup system?
Oooh! Great question. Who is the backup system? Wow!
OK. I am going to say #1 and then
again everyone’s answer will be different.
But this is what works in my life.
For me # 1 is God. Everyday there
are things that I face that are a challenge because I am in a business and it
can be scary having a business.
Especially when you are putting your money out there and you are trying
new things so for me personally, I go to God with my very real questions and I
get quiet to get answers so that is my # 1 advisor. First God is my backup.
#2
though … I have an awesome posse of girlfriends. But we all have a lot of friends and you can
hang with them. You know it can be very
light. But I have a few girls that I
call my cheerleaders. Shout out to
Vanessa & Jessica.
Lastly,
I am married and my husband is like a quiet supporter. He doesn’t get involved, he doesn’t say much
but the way that he supports me and my business is that he allows me to do what
I need to do. I know he is there for
me. So that is my TEAM!
I truly related with
Steph and who is in her backup system. I
am also happy to hear that she recognizes even her silent supporter, her
hubby. We can never forget who supports
us. They all do it in their own special
way, with their own special gifts.
What was
the entrepreneurial bug that bit you?
So
it started actually with not liking where I was. It started with discomfort. It started with unhappiness. I had moved to South Florida and went back to
school to get a second college degree because I wanted to pursue a different
type of career. I wanted to be in
business. So I got that degree. I got kind of my dream job. I worked at Burger King Corporation in
marketing and I got to do a lot of really fun things and I had a great
budget. I had a lot of freedom to create
this marketing ideas that I always wanted to implement. It look like on paper
exactly that it would be perfect but when I got there it wasn’t. It wasn’t that anyone else had done anything
wrong to me. It’s just that I realized
that this wasn’t where I wanted to be in my life. So for 1 year, I sat out to figure that out. I
took time to say “what do I love doing?” and “who do I love helping?” To tell you the truth, I actually started to
figure out what I want to do by asking myself this question: “If I were to die
tomorrow what is the legacy that I want to leave today? Who do I want to help and what do I want to
give them?” I ask myself all the time
because as entrepreneurs, we have frustrating days, right? We do!
We love what we do but we have days that things are not going your
way. Days when you know that you are
burnt, just tired. But I ask myself
every day, “If today were my last day what would I want to do to help
somebody?” When I ask that I get
re-motivated. I really do!
So
my entrepreneurial journey spirit began by not liking the job I was in and
taking the time to ask myself questions.
Wow! I am honored to have Steph share with me such
great insight. And YES!! We should ask ourselves “If I were to die
tomorrow what is the legacy that I want to leave today?” It could shift how we ALL live our lives!
Up to now,
what has been your biggest success?
(Deep
exhale) Overcoming fear! Yes.
Overcoming fear has been my biggest success. What I am saying is this … whenever I get a
new idea, I am always so excited about it when I am laying there in my bed or
writing in my journal or at the beach. I
am on fire. I have a new project. There is a new group of people that I want to
talk to. I have a new message. I am excited.
But then when it is time to do something with it; if it’s something new
that I have never done before or if it’s going to involve me putting some money
up to make something happen, it gets scary for me. My greatest success is been learning when you
feel scared you don’t have to stop.
Yes! You are scared. Entrepreneurs feel scared and go anyway. That is my absolute, greatest success because
I face it all the time and I am getting stronger and better and it is getting
easier. So that is HUGE for me.
These words will hit home
with so many entrepreneurs reading this.
It is comforting to know that even coaches like Steph herself have fears
but what makes her great is that her fear does not stop her! She works through them.
Other than
overcoming your fears, what has been your biggest challenge?
One
has been working with new technology.
Some women just have that gift but it is not natural for all of us. And when I have to try something new it can
be incredibly frustrating. And I will be
honest, I can make a lot of mistakes. But
the greatest thing that I am learning is that we all make mistakes so KEEP IT
MOVING! Fix it, get it out there, and
keep going. Go!
I am sure lots of you can
relate with Steph and not having high techie, techie natural flair but I love
how she said “KEEP IT MOVING!” Because keep
it moving is my motto as well! I love
how I connected with Steph. There are
just some souls out there that are kindred.
She is kindred to mine!
Now I do have more of
this interview that I can share … BUT … I believe that Lady Steph has shared
soooooooooo much amazing insight that I want to stop here and give you time to
breath in what you have just read.
Lady Steph was a much
needed light in my life. I now drive to
work with the radio off and I give myself the opportunity be quiet and still so
that I may listen inwardly for answers.
Stephanie
has a special offer for those in MY TRIBE! She is hosting an event to help women answer
“those” #sideeyes questions they have about … MEN. And you can join her for $37. WooT WooT!
#Get Your
Relationship Right
Saturday, January 31st, 12-5
Davie, FL
Tickets normally
$47. Only $37 to folks reading this blog & they will get a FREE 20 min
consult with Steph Stanford.
Use COUPON CODE: CALLSPECIAL
Steph Stanford’s Bio
Steph Stanford is an award winning speaker, author, coach
and a true HAPPINESS EXPERT! She spent years pretending to have it all
together, but secretly beating herself up and not loving herself. It impacted
her relationships, her health and every area of her life. But after beating cancer, unemployment, a failed
business and being truly broke, she learned how to be happy…even when life was
a hot mess!
She wrote the book, Happy Aint That Hard, to share those
lessons. Her greatest desire is that
women would live happier lives by loving themselves, having healthy
relationships and learning to listen IN, where all the best messages are found.
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