How to Turn Your Voice Into Revenue: Dr. Sonja’s Playbook | #Success - Ep. 34

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This is the Russell Brunson Show.

What's up, everybody?

Welcome back to the show.

We're here at Inner Circle.

I've been pulling in some of my favorite people for some really fun, interesting conversations.

For any of you guys who are at Funnel Hacking Live this year, we had someone who's newer to my community, my world, who came.

I had a chance to meet her how many months?

It was a couple months before FHL.

Let's see.

Two months before.

And

for the most part, Funnel Hacking Live, all the speaking slots were done.

And I heard her speak like two times.

And both times I was like, oh my gosh, I need to get her to speak at Funnel Hacking Live.

How are we going to fit?

So we had to move things around, we had to bump people around.

And we got her her to come and speak right before I did my pitch, actually, which is like one of the scariest spots to, you know.

And luckily she said yes.

And she came on stage and gave one of my favorite presentations from Funnel Hacking Live this year.

She's someone who I have so much respect for.

And it's been fun getting to know her over the last three or four months.

And excited for those of you guys who were at Funnel Hacking Live to meet her and hopefully have a chance to follow her and see all the cool stuff she's doing.

So her name is Dr.

Sonia.

Thank you so much for being here with us.

Thank you also.

for having me.

When you say a couple of months prior, I'm like, what?

It feels like it's been years already.

I know.

It's only been a few months.

Yeah.

Well, you just come to Boise Steak five times in those few months.

I did.

I did.

That wasn't by choice.

It was just like, and you need to go back.

I'm like, okay.

And I said, yes,

yeah, it's been so much fun having you.

For those who don't know you yet, I love you tell just a little bit of your history and backstory.

How, because you weren't in this industry for a long time, but in the short time you've been in it, you have done some amazing things and grown faster than probably almost anyone I've seen who's entered into it.

So I'd love to hear kind of how you got started into this.

Well, I will go backstory.

Being from a little small country town, not Boise, I don't know, but from Wilson, Arkansas.

And so I grew up having 12 siblings.

I'm the youngest of 12.

And so when I grew up, I knew I wanted to not stay at home because the only thing to do at home was work at a factory or do some other wild things, but I wanted to be legal.

So I left and I joined the United States.

I went to college first and then I joined the United States Army.

That was a thing that I knew I wanted to do.

I needed to have legal rights to fight because I felt like that all.

Firefighter.

Yeah, pretty much.

But I didn't want to fight physically.

It was just mentally going through so many things, my backstory, you know, know childhood very young age and all of that and so i joined the united states army and when i retired after 21 years three combat tours i said what do i really want to do when i grow up and i remember sitting at a round table with some senior officers and they said well stribling you're about to retire what are you going to do and i said well i want to find something where i can go to work at 12 and get off at one and they just started laughing like no there's got to be a thing i had no idea that i would ever come into this coaching world and so i've been in this space for about a decade but the last three or four years years have been amazing.

They seem like they just took off once I understood what was really happening and where I could just be authentically me.

Yeah.

It's interesting because a lot of people, I feel all the time, come to my world and they're like, so if I do this,

how quick could I make money?

And I'm always like, oh, it's the wrong question.

Like the question is like, you know, coming in and like learning it and understanding and who you want to serve and all the things that, you know, the foundation happens ahead of time.

I'm curious when you, 10 years ago, when you kind of started, like, what were the, I guess what were the things you were going through trying to figure out before it took off?

You know, like, what were the seeds you were planting back then?

So, I was still having, like most of us, that, well, I'll admit to mine, I was dealing with some emotional things.

So, you know, retiring from the army, I was dealing with some depression and all of those things because that's all I've known all my life.

And so, and then I went through a divorce.

So, I'm coming into a space wanting to coach someone else, but I was still dealing with my own issues and my own limiting beliefs and all of that.

And so, it was very challenging because just like, you know, your clients came to you and said, Hey, how fast can I make money?

I was just thinking, like, how fast can I get through this?

I didn't think I was worthy of helping anybody else.

I started out as a door, as a divorce coach.

And most people didn't know what a divorce coach was.

I started there because I'd been married 18 years and I wanted to help.

I wanted to really serve.

Like many of us come into this space.

I just want to help.

I just want to help.

And I quickly realized what is the very thing that I went through that I could help someone else go.

And even my worst enemy, I did not want him or her to suffer the way I did because it was tragic for me.

And so I came into this space coaching with divorce and I would be in court with the attorney, with the judges and folks like, what are you?

I said, I think I'm on to something.

And people began to invest in themselves, invest their money with me.

And I was like, you know what?

Let me just get better.

I just don't want to be doing this and be a Toyota in the industry.

I wanted to become a Rolls-Royce.

I wanted to be the elite of the elite.

That's the competition side of me, the competitive side of me anyway.

So you decided you wanted to do that.

Again, I love that because so many people,

I'm sure you get this people, like, how did you grow so fast?

And then they missed that step in the middle where you're like, I don't want to just be good.

I want to become the best.

Like, I remember me specifically thinking through that.

I was like, I don't want to be someone who's just doing this.

I want to be the best that's ever done it.

And it changed your mindset and changed it.

But I'm curious when you made that decision, like, yeah, I want to be the best.

Like, what does the path look like that takes you down there?

Because a lot of times you think, like, I want to become best, but what do I do first?

What's step number one?

Honestly, getting in the rooms with people who are competitive as well.

I don't, you know, it just hit me when you said that.

It's like, I click with you right away.

It's like he understands.

Cause sometimes being an overachiever is folks are like, okay, let me stay away from them.

You're like, no, let's go.

And I was like, I need that.

But when I started, it was just, I had to understand what does the best look like, right?

Did I have a representation in front of me?

And that I honestly didn't see.

I didn't see anyone who represented me.

I didn't see anyone with a military background.

And again, I was still dealing with my life and being way the military trained me and taught me.

I just thought differently.

And I just felt like this unicorn out out there just operating by myself.

And I needed to get around people who were okay being themselves and just being just very transparent and very vulnerable.

And I didn't see that a lot in the industry.

So the first step was getting into the rooms.

The second thing was really understanding, well, how long, not how long is this going to take?

How fast can I learn one thing and keep growing up on that?

Yeah.

Interesting.

What were some of the like the transition from divorce courts to what you're doing now?

Like when, you know, because first I'm assuming you're trying to get better at coaching in that process, but then somewhere along the line, because you're maybe you're still doing it on site.

I don't know.

No, no, no, absolutely not.

No, no, no.

I began when I was doing the divorce coaching, people would see me online, Periscope and all those places.

And I even got a television show on Bravo because I was doing speaking.

I was going live and someone calls like, hey, we're looking for our next Oprah Winfrey.

I'm like, I don't want to be the next Oprah Winfrey.

I want to be the first Dr.

Sonia.

And that set the course of I wanted to be the first in everything, not second, I wanted to be first.

And so when I went on this journey to do that, Russell, I would be speaking on stages.

And I remember one particular event.

It was like a thousand women in the room.

I finished speaking.

We were talking about relationships and I saw the course.

I've always been selling from the stage.

That's what I just, not intentionally.

It was just like, hey, come to back table.

But you would see a mad rush of people.

The first time I saw it, I'm like, what just happened?

Why are they responding?

that way.

And this young lady walks up to me and she said, hey, Dr.

Sonia, I've been following you on Periscope.

And I want you to coach me.

I I want you to teach me to do what you do.

I'm like, what am I doing?

I'm like just helping.

She said, no, no, no.

I said, well, go to the back table and sign up, you know, for the coaching program for, you know, the life after divorce.

She said, no, my husband and I are fine.

Like, what is going on?

That was the first sign.

And that was the first time someone asked me to coach them in a different area.

And she said, well, I mean,

how much does it cost?

I can pay right now.

She said, you take American Express?

Absolutely, we do.

Yes, it's always yes.

Yes.

I put the order form all over on the side, wrote in the name of the program that I hadn't even created yet.

It was $10,000.

She paid right then and there.

Next level business.

I know it was build your business empire.

That's all I did.

Just like that.

I wrote it on there.

She signed it.

And then we got our official contract after that.

I was like, oh man, I got to go build this.

And so I've taken that model, anything that I launch, I just need the outline and I need a name and I'll go build it afterward.

And it forced me to get into this space.

I just start showing her to do what I do.

So now my whole thought process, Russell, is, let me just teach other people how to do what they already do and teach other people how to do that.

You'll make more money teaching other people how to do what you do than you will doing it is my, my thought.

Yeah.

Have you noticed, like, a lot of times the problem people have is they're really good at the thing.

And so because of that, they don't value it because they're like, oh, well, this is easy.

And then other people look at externally, like the woman there, right?

She sees you like, that's a superpower.

Whenever you're on stage, like that, you know, and almost for you you're like i didn't do anything special i just did my thing you know i think that's what holds a lot of people back is is understanding that like your superpower is usually something that seems very common to you know it is it is and we we begin to make it uh we don't think it's valuable so we think that there's more value in giving it away for free honestly i call it the free 99.

everybody i have a free 99 and they just think and you're trying to figure out well it's free why don't more people get it because people are starting to look at not we don't just you're free there's some people who want more from you.

They want your best, the best version of you.

And so the best version of me, there's, you have to have skin in the game.

And so I believe that people out here now have great ideas, have content that they can share, but because they don't understand who they are and their value, they just decide, I'm just going to give it away.

And they get burnt out because after a while, when you give a lot of stuff away, you're going to get tired.

Yeah, for sure.

You got to make it worth it.

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so okay so the transition how many years ago was that when you sold the very first aha decade yeah it's been a decade a decade when the when the business coach that's eight years that's eight years okay eight years first business coach okay and then tell me about that journey then so then now now you've got an outline you got a name and ten $10,000.

Most people freak out at that point like, oh, no, I'm not.

I was like, how many more of them can I find?

How many more?

And I just start looking at things differently.

I didn't stop at that immediate point of the divorce side.

I decided to have an event.

I've been in

this space.

I didn't know everything, but I am definitely a risk taker.

Calculated risks are better, but I'm a risk taker.

And I'm like, what's the worst thing that could happen?

Nobody shows up for an event.

That's, you know, that whole thing.

But people showed up.

I had less than 100 people.

After that, I was like, wait, let me see how many more of her can I get into a room?

And I just had a small event.

I invited people in.

We were talking about life and relationships.

And I made an offer, the business side.

60% of the people wanted the business side.

And that was just a whole awakening of, wow, I'm onto something.

But who would have thought?

PhD or not, that didn't matter.

I still had, you know, the self-doubt like many people have.

I just had the self-doubt.

Well, can I really do this?

That's when it began to kick in when people, more people started to pay me.

Wait, I'm an imposter.

I shouldn't be doing this all of my past.

So I had to deal with that internal beast that wants to show up when you're doing some amazing things.

And I started to realize, Russell, he's, she, or he is always going to show up for every level they show up just to test you.

How do you shut that down then?

Because a lot of people struggle.

They, they never get past that, right?

I'm smiling because I don't want to yell too loud in the mic.

It's like the voice that speaks the loudest wins.

Yeah.

That voice that speaks the loudest, and I'm very cognizant of what that voice sounds like.

That voice will say, you can't do this.

Russell's going to have you on his podcast.

Are you sure you're ready for that?

Like

that voice wants to speak loudly.

I'm like, what?

What are you talking about?

Just sit down somewhere.

I'm worthy of this, right?

And so just really listening to the voice and which one is speaking the loudest.

I am not saying I have mastered that, but I've become very good at recognizing that the truth, your brain cannot tell the difference between the truth and a lie.

So I want to feed myself the truth at all times but i want it to be positive regardless if i think it's not going to work but i can't imagine something not working it's going to work i'm going to learn something from it and so that's how i see everything now so cool that when you said that remind me um annie grace is writing another book right now and i had a chance to read one of her chapters and she said something that was so fascinating she said that um

she was talking about thoughts and but she said first off she's like you know our heart beats all the time right and our lungs breathe and this stuff's happening subconsciously every single day and she's like, just the same way that your heart beats and your lungs breathe, your brain has thoughts.

It's the same thing, and they just show up and they show up and they show up.

And a lot of times we think that those thoughts are, you know, it's like it's something, but it's not.

It's just an impulse.

It's just like breathing, you know?

And so with default, the default thought for most people, even if you're successful, is the negative thought that keeps coming in, right?

And like...

What you just said about like the loudest voice wins is fascinating because the cool thing about thoughts is we can choose our thoughts.

Like we can say, I want to think this instead.

And then you can drown out these other ones.

But by default, if you just sit there, all sorts of weird stuff, negative stuff flies in instantly, right?

Every single time.

It's like learning how to control those.

Because I can't control my, you can control your breathing, I guess, your heartbeat.

You can't control.

But the thoughts, when you learn how to master that and control that.

And then it shifts things, which is such a cool.

Anyway, I love geeking out that kind of stuff because it's so interesting.

It is fascinating.

Just think about it.

Why are there some of the top one percenters?

If you really sit down and talk to them or you and you sit down and have a conversation, the conversations are different.

The thoughts are different.

You know, you can tell where someone is in their life based on what they they say.

Because when they say something, I'm thinking about what they said and what they didn't even say.

And I'm thinking, oh yeah, they're just getting started.

Let's say business owners.

They're just getting started in business.

They're coming out of corporate America.

Or wait, he's experienced.

He's been doing this.

And I can tell if they've been working on their inner thoughts, they've been working on their self-being and self-mastery is the word I'm looking for.

So self-mastery is real.

And many people won't tap into that.

They want more skill.

Russell, tell me how to do this.

And Russell's like, wait, work on this part.

No, no, no.

I need to make money right now.

But they're missing the most important part of the journey.

We got to trick them and sell them what they want, but then get what they need.

Yes, absolutely.

Absolutely.

Because it's funny because half the time in our programs, right?

I know it's like they come in and it's like, okay, they want to learn Blah.

So we teach them Blah.

But then actually, it was...

Frank Kern told me this.

It was really fascinating.

He had a, it was a $400 a month membership site.

And the churn is really high.

People kept canceling.

So he was trying like a million different things to keep people to stick.

And he's like, of all the things I tested, the one that worked the best is I made module number one, a mindset module.

And then people like, then they actually implement it and they had success.

And, but nobody, he's like, when I sold it as a benefit, no one wanted to go through the mindset.

I don't need mindset.

I'm good.

You know, like, I'm going to skip it.

I'm going to get to the good stuff.

And we forced them to go through that.

Then they stuck longer.

They did better.

Like, it's just, it's.

It's fascinating.

That's how I start out with my programs.

We go through some IEP initiative, the effort, and the performance.

We go through that and we share with them the percentage.

This is, if you're operating at this level, it is a whole mastery.

And they're like, oh, my gosh, that's why I can't get this done.

But it really helps set the next steps when they understand.

And you don't really say, oh, you need mindset.

Who's going to say, yeah, I need some mindset?

Give me some mindset.

No, I don't need that.

I was like, hey, if you want to get to X amount of income level, let's look at step one.

What is the number one thing that most high achievers are doing?

And you're thinking it's another skill.

It's another strategy.

No, they have really worked on themselves and there's self-mastery that's included in that.

Yeah.

For sure.

Yes.

Oh, yes.

Okay.

So now I want to talk about

as you start transitioning, right?

Divorce coach, business coach, but there was something or somewhere, I don't know what happened, but I think you told me or

FHL, some the last two and a half, three years.

Are you glad to say the number?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

$28 million.

In how many years?

Three years.

Okay, so what,

there's a pivot point there.

Three years ago.

Yes.

What was like, what's the difference?

Like what?

So

right before the pandemic, I started getting on stages.

And I was traveling, speaking, but it wasn't a thing.

It was just part of the journey.

People hear me speak like, hey, can you come speak on my stage and whatever.

But then I started to make it a business.

what is this line of business and i realized and i did some studies speaking is the number one career in the world it really is professional speaking people you know they're they're nervous about it they want to be a professional speaker but i get nervous in front of people hello so do i for three seconds until i get a mic that's why you hear me say i've never met a mic i did not like

for three seconds because i had a message and so those three years i went all in and I was sharing earlier this framework that I use, I call it my $28 million runway of the five things, the platforms that I find myself.

It's just levels, the coaching, the speaking, and events.

But what's happening with the essence of all of that?

This is not what I do.

This is who I am.

I can't imagine, Russell.

It's like being in the Army.

I stayed 21 years because I couldn't imagine getting out and retiring.

But at some point, I was like, you know what?

I want to do something else.

I've been called to do something else.

And so that pivot began to happen with all of the chaos happening in the world, all those things taking place.

The pandemic was taking place.

I'm like, like everyone else, what am I going to do?

I i was like just do what you're already doing but take it online we had thousands show up and that's when i realized that zoom can only get a thousand people on there they can't get in what happened

yeah we broke zoom but i i began to do that and i just went all in and it wasn't just business i wanted to teach business from the inside out and i began to attract some of the most amazing people and they gave me this title the general to giants they played on the military as a general and they are the giants and then i just walked that out until the wheels fall off and we are still going through that same process.

I haven't changed.

I just went deeper into what I wanted to do in the business industry.

And it's just been a blessing.

It really has.

Now, are you speaking mostly on your own stages, other people's?

Is it a blend?

Like, what's it?

It's a blend.

So I prefer my own because I can do it from the comforts of my home.

I will go out and speak on other people's stages.

I love that.

And then I tapped into this thing that I can speak on other people's stages and sell their offer.

So the very first time I did it, it was a Spanish-speaking community.

And I was nervous about going to speak there.

I'm like, oh my gosh, are we going to have translators?

And there's a house, well, how many people are going to be in?

It's a small group.

I'm good.

It's like, oh, it's 1,500.

I'm like, what?

And you want me to speak all three days?

And they're like, yeah.

And I was like, okay.

I don't believe I cannot do anything.

I am definitely the CEO, the owner, and tell my team, okay, I'm jumping off this building.

Just throw me the parachute in midstream.

Okay, as long as I don't hit the, right before I hit the ground, I'm good.

So that's what I did.

And I got on this stage and it felt so comfortable.

All stages feel comfortable to me.

Even I had to slow down a little bit and not speak so fast so the translator could keep up.

But when I tell you, energy rocks any stage, it does not have any barrier, doesn't have a language barrier, didn't have a money barrier, didn't have anything.

And they made their very first $2.1 million in one hour.

$1 million, $2.1 million.

And I said, well, how much do you want to make?

It's all about $100,000.

Dude, no, like, you need to get somebody else to do that.

Let's see what you want to do.

And so we did that.

And that began the journey of, I love, it's the art of sales.

And I call it an opportunity because I believe when you're on a stage, Russell, and you know this, I see you on the stage when you're talking.

I'm just in amazement.

It's just a natural thing for you.

For some people, it's not.

But for those of us who understand the art of speaking and sharing your thoughts and all of that, we're selling, it just became a piece of cake.

So now it's this whole thing of, I don't want to sell for everyone, but I want to sell for those who want to help their community, who want to help the people that they serve.

Yeah.

And standardize that that's what you're doing a lot of selling other people's stuff.

And that was so ironic that you put me in a slot right.

I wasn't good.

I was just, yeah, we're in the future.

And that's, I asked your team, I said, hey, can I step on one of these speakers?

And he thought I was joking.

He said, you're serious.

I was like, yeah, can I step on a speaker?

I'm only wearing a buckle, buck 25.

He's like, let me go ask.

I said, well, they say it's not.

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Of course, we both know Myra and I went through a lot of his training.

But, you know, Myra will tell you, I was in this space and place when I met him.

And so what I realized, how God has taken me on this journey, the more I want to become the person who could do a thing, the more he puts me in spaces and rooms with people like you all.

Yeah.

So cool.

Yes.

The students ready, the teacher's all right, right?

That's how I always feel.

Every time I'm like stuck at a level, and then all of a sudden like someone appears, I'm like, like, how have I not been aware of this person for so long?

Like, you know what I mean?

It always fascinates me when that happens.

And it's exciting.

That's how I got it in a circle.

I was like, where is the next person?

I want to understand automation.

I said, there's something going on.

And And I went to Mario and I said, hey, what's going on in the circle?

I didn't even know it existed.

I told you the story of how...

You were a clickbait like a decade before.

No, he was, but he, but I just didn't know.

You know, I wasn't, I guess I wasn't ready or something was taking place.

I was doing some other things.

And I just went, I said, hey, what's going on in inner circle?

I want to learn more about it.

He said, yeah, absolutely.

I went, I talked to Steve.

inner circle and then I said hey what's the highest one he's like yeah normally we kind of wait I said dude are you telling me I can do what are you talking about do you know who I am

came out.

And he's like, yeah, you keep there.

And so here, here I am.

And this is where I know I belong.

And I should have been here a long time ago, but time is perfect for now.

Yeah, definitely.

Okay.

So someone who's listening who's right now, they're starting their coaching career, they're starting to go through here.

You talked about, I think you say your five-step framework.

Do you want to kind of go through that?

Just like,

we have probably 10, 15 minutes to go through, but just so some actionable things that people are like, hey, what should I be doing?

Because I want, maybe they're at the spot where they've been doing this for a year or two, not growing, and they want to have a big pivot point like you were able to have.

Perfect.

I was just sharing this with someone yesterday.

And matter of fact, today, that framework in itself, even if you're just getting started, you spoke even earlier about a brand.

A brand is who we are.

You are the brand, honestly.

And if you want to look at just when you first get started, people are looking at a particular area and they think, oh, but my industry is different.

You don't understand, Russell.

You don't understand, Dr.

Sonny.

And I'm like, dude, there's hundreds of thousands of you that I've taught and trained, and it's the same.

However, you may be different with different hair, different eye color, but it's still the same issues that you have.

And so if you're just getting started, really consider where is your voice and where should it be more profound?

What platform should it be?

You know, we talk about social media.

It's the number one free platform where you can just go viral and you can look up and hundreds of thousands of people are seeing and hearing you.

Can you imagine, especially for those that are listening right now that truly believe, which camera should I look at?

Because I need them to see my face.

This one right here.

If you're really in this space right now and you really want to help and serve people that are out there, really consider what your brand looks like.

And the brand is not just them building a business.

You're beyond the business.

It's what is that brand?

It's going to last much longer than your business ever could.

And so it is thinking about what does that coaching look like?

What coaching program do you have that you can take people on a journey?

And it's no longer even called coaching anymore.

You're taking us on a journey.

Where is the destination for that?

And what are the steps we need to take?

Right.

And then we start thinking about speaking.

I always hear people, but I don't want to speak.

I'm so nervous.

I could talk one-to-one.

And you give them a mic, they won't shut up, right?

And so it's just really, what's that message?

What's that one message that you could take to multiple platforms to get in front of millions of people to make millions of dollars?

If you can understand and

apply that framework, this is a game changer.

So you're coaching, you're speaking, you're writing a book.

Always, see, can I tell you something that I talk about with you all the time?

I said, if we sit down and look at what Russell is doing, he is doing these five, this framework is the same thing.

I didn't even know who you were, right?

When this was developed, but it was Russell's coaching, yes, that's a yes.

Russell's writing books, yes.

Russell's speaking, whether he's having his own events or speaking on his own platform or speaking on somebody else's stage, Russell's having events all the time.

And Russell also has coaching programs that are out there.

That if we can really tap with that one brand and put it on all these platforms, God forbid if ads go down or you get shut out or the ad cost goes.

Oh, yeah, we're not not even going to talk about that.

What else can you do?

Right?

You can be on a platform.

You can write your book, a book that makes you millions of dollars, not just millions of sales for books, but millions of dollars because of the content and the, I would say, follow-up that happens in a book.

That's really the framework that anyone that's just getting started, if they really learn to tap into that framework, it's game changer and it's game over.

And you can pull up beside someone at a stoplight and you just pulled up and they're like, where'd you come from?

And you're the new kid on the block.

That's how I always feel.

But I showed up in the fastest, not the fastest car, but the car that has the fastest engine.

And I believe that framework has the fastest engine and that's speaking for sure.

Yeah, for sure.

Yeah, I think it's, it's.

The thing I see when people struggle is they come into this and they're trying to figure out, they use like a finish line, like, how do I make the money, how to do the thing?

Versus like, all right, this is a career.

This is, I'm going into it, right?

If this is a career, you look at it differently.

I'm going to be writing books.

I'm speaking.

I'm selling.

I'm creating, you know, and it's like, it becomes that.

And I think if people look at it more like that,

it shifts in their head you know I mean like for me like I remember writing my first book was really hard took me a decade to get the first one done I was like I'll never write a book again and then two years later I did the second one and then I remember I had this really I was hanging out with Brendan Brouchard me and him had a weird relationship we didn't like each other for like a decade

and then we like remet and turned out we loved each other and so we hung out for like a whole day I was like I'm so sorry I was a jerk for a decade he's like me too anyway but it was really cool we reconnected and I remember he he was finishing he was about to submit a manuscript manuscript.

And so we were in Vegas together and he was showing it to me.

And, and I was like, you write another book?

Like, aren't you tired of writing books?

And he's like, what do you mean?

He's like, this is my career.

This is what I do.

He's like, I write a book every two years for the rest of my life.

And at first, like, for me, it was like this resistance, like, I don't want to do that.

And then it was like, okay, if I'm like, if I really want, if I really believe in this, I really want to do this.

I'm really trying to change people's lives.

Like, that's the pattern, right?

I got to write, I got to write books.

I got to make it part of it.

Like, every, every, for me, every two years, well, this last books take me longer, but in theory, every two years, like, like, a new book needs to be coming, right?

So then it becomes part of who you are and it's different, right?

And then like, I speak, I gotta find speaking engagement.

I need to be figuring things out.

Like, and it's, you know, I'm very introverted.

I still get scared every time before I speak.

But then, like you said, as soon as the mic starts, it's just like a wrestling match.

You get so scared and then you shake the person's hand and then all the nerves go away.

And it's like getting past that.

But it's, it's like, you got to be actively looking for those things, right?

Like, you don't get on 100 stages unless you're.

Like, people are waiting.

No one's ever asked me to be on the stage.

Like, what are you waiting for?

Yeah.

Don't wait on them to invite you to the table.

Create your own table.

100%.

Yes.

You were a wrestler.

I played basketball and I even played some IPro basketball.

And I can remember playing in Europe.

And that whole, there's a movie that was out.

And the coach was speaking, but he was speaking in a different language.

He was American.

I think he was German.

And I went through that same scenario.

And I would ask my teammate, like, what did Coach say?

He said, Make sure Sonia gives you the ball or put Sonia.

I was a point guard.

So make sure you do everything she says.

That's what she was translating to me.

And that's really what I've done in this industry.

I became a point guard, passing the ball over to my my two, or my three, or my four, or my person down low, so they can do whatever they need to do right under the goal.

So, this is really what we do.

It's a sport.

This is really a sport.

And I love sports.

This is a game.

It's a game of business.

Yes.

I joke with my kids because they're all video game, you know, and I'm like, I'm a business like a video game, but at the end, you get to keep the money from making people.

Yeah, exactly.

You're playing these games, you're winning money, but you don't get to be like, we got to spend it afterwards.

It's so cool.

And you actually help people, and it's tangible, and it's, it's the best game ever created.

It is.

It's amazing.

But Russell, thank you for creating this community.

I just got to say,

I believe one, it's not just for me to be here.

I really want to open doors for more people that look like me, more women, more women of color, because I can't believe, and I hope this is okay on camera.

I really want us to understand because there's some things that are sharing in these rooms that we're not learning anywhere else.

I don't know anyone.

I've been in a lot of masterminds, including Brandon's, and I needed to find someone who is, maybe it's just me, that's competitive, but not against other people, but for themselves and they just keep going and I said I always wanted to be my coach's number one student it's not being a teacher's pet they may not know it but I always want to you put something out there yep I know dr.

Sonia's gonna do it did you do it yep I did it matter of fact I did it five times it works this way but it is just I thank you for creating environments like this because I've never seen anything like this in my life even the military can take something from this from the training that we do with our soldiers from every branch of service so that's gonna be my business how fast can I get back to them to show them this is how it should be done?

The training, at least.

Oh, thank you.

That means the world to me.

I appreciate it.

All right, to end out with, for people who heard your story and they want to plug in and learn more about you, and so like, where's the best place for them to go and to be able to plug into you and your entire business and your world and see you speak and everything?

Well, you know, I would say, unless you, if you want to just be a Toyota, don't come over here.

I would say that.

But if you really want to level up to the place where they want to be, they can find me on social media at Iam Dr.

Sonia.

For those that really want to become speakers, it says women speak and grow rich because that's where my heart is.

But I do coach some smart men

along the way.

So they can find me on social media and they can go to drsoniabrands.com.

Awesome.

Well, thanks for being here and hanging out.

And it's always fun having you in Poisey.

And

thanks for being on a part of the podcast.

I appreciate it.

Thank you.

I appreciate the invite for sure.

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