Gayle Edwards on purpose, personal branding, standing up in your hallelujah and avoiding networkers neck.

Femi: What on earth has losing your car keys, got to do with your personal band. What a nerd has you given somebody 500 grand got to do with understanding your personal brand And of course, what on earth has justice got to do with personal brand in this amazing session today, I sit down with girl Edwards and it's national word speaking, and an international ward global impact personal brand strategist. As you pick apart, everything from understanding who you are from having the covet step into 

Femi: Wait for shine, to shine your light and just manifesting your true self, and guess what Getting paid for it as well. This week's episode is all about standing in your own. Hallelujah. Even the title is so curious. You want to get into it, stay tuned and listening for this amazing special podcast. Welcome to the, you are leased podcast with the podcast where we share ideas 

Femi: Yes. On how to work it in the workplace and in life. In general. A lot of times I use stories that I've learned from my own job 

Femi: Journey, from a young man to what I become today. 

Femi: Sometimes I just know, I need to bring someone who knows a lot more than I do to come into the studio and to share that great, great wisdom, because after all, you can't do it all by yourself. You know what I usually say I've become a believer that done is better than perfect. So in whatever it is you do, you just start to get on with it. And as time goes on, you get closer and closer to perfection. And it's all about the journey. Let's be honest. So with that said, this week, I've got a special guest. One of the things I've always been curious about, and I've always wanted to know is the, one of the biggest things that's held me back personally, is being confident in myself, but also embracing that uniqueness about me. Because once you are excelling in yourself, you're there. 

Femi: If you try to be anyone else, you'll always be average, but if you try to be yourself, you will shine. So it gives me great, great pleasure to bring a special guest Gayle Edwards into the studio. Now, Gayle is an international award winning global impact and personal brand strategist. She's also an author and a speaker, and she works with entrepreneurial and globe corporate disruptors to help them build our identity and authority within the marketplace. You'll admit that's a pretty good gig because she knows that she can make a difference and she can make a difference to you. But more than that, Gayle is a powerful and intuitive healer. He is a gift of recognizing stuck energy to help a client release it. So they're able to communicate with confidence, clarity, and commitment as the founder of the band. You consultancy Gayle blends the spiritual gifts with over 30 plus years in marketing, branding, communication, training, and coaching to help entrepreneurs and corporate professionals to boost their identity and create more impact. 

Femi: She's the author of the Chubb lays blazing stand up in your own hallelujah personal brand and process. It's the same innovative person that also forms the basis of the audacity to be authentic diversity and inclusion program, which Gil delivers to organizations and corporates committed to prevent progression progressional change. She's also an author of an international best seller. The law of banned attraction, which is published in May, 2020, she's delivered keynote speeches for organizations as well as national and international conferences. And she also interviews entrepreneurial disruptors from around the globe as the host of the dare to be awesome podcast show and the cohost of the entrepreneurs sushi club. I want to know about that. And I've got to ask her for sure. Gayle is also the founder of colorful connections, global as soon to be launched global network dedicated to leadership, professional goat and entrepreneurship for young women of color girl. Welcome. Welcome. Thank you so much for coming. 

Gayle: Thank you. Thank you. I want to meet that guests. That one you were just talking about. 

Femi: So Lyme is, quite an, but I love it because everything you do centers around, just, I mean, some words stood out to me, they're authentic standing up in your own hallelujah and a lot of brand attraction. So clearly for you, it's all about that sort of, for want of a better word is just owning your identity, owning yourself and being yourself, right. 

Gayle: Absolutely. Absolutely. You know, I'm so glad that you picked up on that straight away as well for me, because that's exactly what I do. You know, and even if, as part of my process, the first step that we even look back, look at before we talk about anything else is identity, because you've got to be able to not just owning yourself, but you've got to be able to accept yourself. And acceptance is a big, big thing. You know, you mentioned it in your own introduction. One of the things that you've been challenged with is just having that confidence to be you. And sometimes we have to accept that the, you, we think Korea is not, that is not the you, that we actually are. It's not the same use that people perceive. And sometimes we don't want to look at that shadow stuff. And that's where I suppose the spirituality and the healing and all the other stuff that I do in my work comes in because we have to face it. We've got to confront it so that we can genuinely stand up there in all of our glory and, you know, with a confidence and a uniqueness about us that is both compelling and magnetic because that's what we're all in business for. Let's not dress it out. We're in business to make money we're in business to create legacy. And we can't do any of that if we are not 

Femi: Wow, magnetic, I mean, I'm just having visions of now of magnetite. When I was in school, I studied science. I didn't understand much of it, but I know I liked playing with the magnets and physics. And I loved seeing all the, sort of the little shreds of, of, of metal just being attracted to the magnet. And that's a powerful word. Magnetic people are drawn to you. There is something about you that people are drawn to and are going to want us to dig into that. And as much as we can within the hour that we have to share that book, Gayle, tell me, how does, how do you become someone that today is all about this band I mean, what's your journey How did you arrive here 

Gayle: It's been a long journey. And to be honest, I sometimes forget how long it has actually been, but it has been a lifelong journey from on this for me, because I knew from a very, very young age that as much as I admired my parents, they both had very stable jobs. You know, my dad worked with them Royal mail for over 30 years. you know, he got the gold watch, the metaphorical gold portraits to sex. It was actually a canteen of silver cutlery, but he got that very long career. You know, my mom retired, she took early retirement when she was in her fifties. So wrapped properly around him. Now she took her to retirement and, you know, I grew up seeing everyone around me having these stable jobs, you know, working and doing okay. You know, I grew up with an okay lifestyle. 

Gayle: You know, I didn't want for anything as such. I was an only child, but I wasn't spoiled. I've heard, but, you know, I just knew, however, that wasn't for me, you know, I would, like I said, I was fortunate. I grew up in a family that did okay. We were able to, you know, all of our needs were met and even my extended family, everyone, we all own our own homes, but there was something that just made me realize and make me think that's not the life I want. I want more autonomy than that. I want, won't move variety than that. I wouldn't be able to go on holiday whenever I want. You know, I remember my parents and my aunts and uncles saving up literally every week going to this, the local travel agent paying down on this holiday, they were going to have a year later. 

Gayle: And I was like, well, what can we just go now You know So from, from that grew this interest in entrepreneurial entrepreneurial-ism, so to speak entrepreneurship. And from there, I was the only one in my family that was entrepreneurial the only one. And so obviously I thought there was something wrong with me because I'm the only one they thought there was something wrong with me because I was the only one. And that kind of manifested itself in a bit of shyness and not being, not being particularly confident at all because I didn't want, I didn't want to stand down. I want it to be like that. So I tried it, you know, my first few years after education, I entered the corporate world. But for the BBC, of course, my family thought, Oh, my process is amazing. We've got someone that works at the BBC and I just thought I'm going to be stuck here for life. 

Gayle: So it just goes to show how people's perceptions are very different about the same thing. And that's something that I teach as well, how we can both look at the same thing and see something completely different because I was struggling and they were literally celebrating me and I left the BBC and went and took another job, but to channel forward sky TV. So, you know, I went around the media for quite some time all the time, as soon as I got position promoted, so to speak, I moved because I didn't want that responsibility that was going to tie me in for years. And eventually what happened. there was this growing awareness that there was something more, there was something more, what is that more And I, you know, I kept asking those questions. I wasn't in the answer, but there's more, I got married at 33. And, because everybody else around me got married. Now I loved my husband to bed, but would I have got married at that time I'm not so sure now, but it was something that everybody else was doing because it didn't stand out. But there was something more. Do you understand where I'm going here for me 

Femi: Yeah. It, it starts because we're forced to conform. I called having another guest. And one of the things we spoke about is if you're not careful very quickly, you see everyone else around you doing the same thing and USU that's the way it should be done. It's that herd mentality. You see everyone doing something and you go in there, but what's happening is there is a core from deep within you dicey. I don't want this. I don't want this. And the quicker you listen to that call because it's only there for awhile. It advises, it becomes a pitch. And if you don't listen to that called up, Hey family, hell girl, there's something different here. But if you don't listen, then it goes away. It dies. And you find that you live a life on fulfilled 

Gayle: And that's, and that's exactly. And it took until so I got, I got married. we went through a bit of a sad time because I had quite a traumatic miscarriage. And that was then I found a group of people that really understood me. They were willing to listen to me and they helped me to explore what's that more. And I heard those same people. I actually ended up in the States as them a conference called African-American women on tour. And to this day, I cannot tell you what the subject matter was. All I know is that this woman came on stage and I was in the front seat and she came on, she had the mic, she was all very, very vibrant, beautiful, energetic, you know, very vibrant platform. And as you came on with Mike and she said, Oh, I'm so pleased to be here. 

Gayle: My only regret in life is that I'm going to be 50 next birthday. And I've only been living a life of purpose for 12 years. No idea what she said after that, because all I heard was that she was 38. She's been living a life of purpose for 12 years. I'm only 34 at that time. So I've got time. That's all I heard. So I came back to the UK handed in my notice at that time, I was a marketing manager for confectionary company, quite well-known confessionally company at the time handed in my notice I was on three months notice. So I had time to kind of like create my story for my husband as to why I was leaving, because I was like, don't worry, I'll be fine. I'll just get enough job. I've got three months. I knew, I knew I was never going to work for anybody else again under half this day. 

Gayle: and I didn't even know what I wanted to do. All I knew was that I had a skill and a talent for marketing and communications and the people wanted freelancers. They want to consultants. So I will do that until I figure it out. And I did. And you know, I've always been more interested in people and, you know, clearly along the way, I found my voice from being a shy young girl. And, you know, I discovered this thing called coaching and I thought, Oh my gosh, people are going to pay me for my advice. Hell yes, that's the job for me. So I started coaching as well as, you know, in terms of marketing and comms and business growth and strategy and all that kind of stuff and branding, which was, you know, my particular area of expertise was really interested in people. And as time has gone on, I mean, I've been put it this way. I've been self-employed now. I've been running my businesses as my 21st year. So it's a long time. 

Gayle: Yeah, it's my 21st year. So it's been a long journey, like I said, but over time I started to find that the more it connected and clicked in with the strategy that makes people work, the more successful, they were, their marketing campaigns, their business growth, their, you know, the, the way that they communicated with people just absolutely transformed. So that became my niche. And the, and as has that, as that has grown over the years, I've found that a lot of my clients go on to achieve literally global and international success because of the impact that they create. it is the most fulfilling part of my job for me. It's the most fun part, seeing somebody number one little, who's been able to talk about what they do. They don't know, you know, they, they, they find it embarrassing to talk about money. They find it embarrassing to blow their own trumpet. 

Gayle: And I say, all the time, this is not breaking. Sweetheart is branding. This is what personal branding is about. So it has been an interesting journey without a doubt in post thirties, but it has been the most rewarding journey ever. And I suppose that's what also one of the reasons why I'm starting comfortable connections, because I don't want people to wait until they're 34 35, you know, that happened. My daughter's 18. She already knows, but she hasn't got a choice from her mom. But, but there's so many people who don't have me as their mom. 

Femi: Yeah. I mean, that, that's, that that's, that story is so powerful because there's so many people and who have a calling to do something. Now, some of them may not be entrepreneurial. Some of them may just be in the workplace, but you founded that thing you said is, which is the strategy top people connect to who they are. And that's one thing I kind of want you to peel up, to dig deeper into. So standing in your own, hallelujah, just unpack that. What is that about 

Gayle: So for me, imagine you have here, if you ever been in a situation whereby it's really in your head and you're going round and around there, and it's really frustrating and it's like, Oh, you know, you just need an answer. And suddenly you discover the answer. In fact, it's almost like the simplify that even further, because I'm going to go really deep with this. Well, it's that you lose something, you lost something, but it's in the house frustrating. Cause you know, it's going to happen. Like my cockies. Yeah. Really frustrating. You know, weird that and you, you ask everybody, nobody seen them. No. And then you realize they're in your pocket of the trousers that you're wearing. What's that feed in life 

Femi: Like hallelujah. Hallelujah. Yeah. 

Gayle: It's Oh, and where was it It was in your pocket. And this is exactly the same. What started turning up in your only hat in your own home and do you, is it biases I call it my disruptive personal branding process because you don't have to go out there and look for it. This is not, you just got to put your hand in your pocket. Right. Cause it's there and that, and that's where we live. We live within ourselves. People think we live outside and that we need to have the latest thing. That's going to make us who we are. We don't, we just need to know where to look. You know, one of the things someone said to me the other day, and I don't mind sharing this with your listeners. Someone said to me, they were listening, another podcast I was on and they contacted me really kind of got quite gingerly. Oh, hi. I heard you talk. I thought, gosh, even if, even if they don't need me, I'm going to have to help them because I know just from the way they were speaking to me, there's a lot of hero worship going on. And I just thought, no, we don't, we don't do that. So, you know, and he said to me, I really liked what he had to say, but you just sound so expensive. 

Gayle: Oh, okay. So I said expensive compared to what, what are you comparing me to And he said, Oh, well, you know, I've worked with other coaches or whatever fine. Great. What exactly is it that you're looking for where you've been working with other coaching Well, you know, I run this business where I do a few things and blah, blah, blah. Basically what, what the crops was was that he runs a portfolio business. He's got more than one business. And when he's talking to people, they ask him what he does. He's not quite sure what to answer. He's not sure how to bring it all together. Which business talk about first. And you know, so my, my, my, answer to him was when we speak to people, I said, it's a bit different now because we were all on zoom. But when you speak to people, do you find that they have networkers neck 

Gayle: So he said to me, well, there's network. Cause like I said, it's when they do that thing, when they, because your head is looking for someone else to talk to their neck is moving. So he loved it. When that does happen. I said, well, then that is what you're paying for. You're paying for people not to have networkers neck. When you spend, they speak to you, your pain for the, for their attention that they were so enthralled by what you're saying, that they don't want anyone else to come along. In fact, if anyone else comes to join your conversation, they will quickly, you know, try and remove them because they want you one-on-one 100%. I said, how much is that worth to you in your business And he went, wow. I said, exactly. And look quite so expensive environment. 

Femi: And that's amazing because what you're saying is really starting up you're in your own holiday of is finding that thing we need within you. So that when you introduce yourself to people, when you speak to people, when growing cage with the people, they don't want to talk to anyone else. But you, that unique, amazing thing about you that each and every one of us has in the workplace in business. When you just communicate with people, that thing is just fluid out of you. And people just want to bask in it. They want to stand around and they want to listen to you. 

Gayle: Absolutely. And that's what it, and it's a blessing and a burden because there are some times when you go out, you don't want anyone to bother. You just get through the evening. You know, it's about the blessing, but when you learn how to do it really well, you can turn it on and off at will for your own benefit. But the beauty of this though, for me, and this is one of the things that makes it such a wonderful process to go through is that it doesn't just benefit your business. You know, I say to men, you know, when they're saying, you know, my wife left me, blah, blah, blah. Imagine being able to make women magnetic, you know, to magnetize women towards you. It's the same thing. It's the same skill standing up in your own. Hallelujah. Doesn't just end. When you, once you finish your business meeting, when you finished delivering your speech, you finished working with the client, it carries on it's an inbuilt magnetism. 

Femi: Well, I think we found a new market. So husbands, husbands who wants, who wants to be magnetic to their wives. And, but the point is I get it is it's not about work. It's about your life. It's about standing up in your own hallelujah in your life, which brings me to a good question, which is what is the biggest reason why a lot of us unconsciously or consciously are unable to step up into our own. Hallelujah are able to embrace ourselves and just be what's stopping most of us. 

Gayle: That is what I'm so glad you asked me that question because it gives me the opportunity to quote one of my favorite poems. And I think if ever there were some words that I wish I had written myself, it was these by Marianne Williamson, where she says, she wrote this poem called our deepest fear. And she says, it is our light, not our darkness that frightens us most. And that's exactly it. Most people are scared of their own light, their own power, their own influence, because they don't know how to harness that. They don't know what to do with it. You know some people, a lot of people have some limiting beliefs, you know, there's things that we just believe. We don't even know where they came from. We just believe, you know, things like if you ever hear yourself saying something like money is the root of all evil, you have to work really hard to be successful. 

Gayle: Their limiting beliefs, their beliefs that we've taken on. And we believe them to be true. And when you have those kind of beliefs running in the background, they're like, they're like the program that's powering your own engine. And when you have those beliefs running in the background, it's really hard to then believe that you can really be successful just by being you just by doing nothing. You know And that's why we run around looking for the kids because we don't believe for one moment, they can be as simple as just putting our hand in the pocket and being there. So they must be somewhere else. They can't be on me. They gotta some air apples. 

Femi: Yes. And the other thing is because you see a lot of other people doing what they're doing to become successful. We think the thing that's in us is too unique. What we're embracing ourselves, can't work. I know what Joe blogs is doing work. So I'll copy him instead of embracing ourselves. 

Gayle: Well, that's a very old paradigm as well. for me, you know, there's so many, so many things, I wish we had two hours, but there are, there are so many things because number one, a lot of us of a certain generation have come up running our own businesses and particularly, or those of us that are in the corporate world, I've been mentored as well. We've been told to model, that's one of the one, that's one of the strategies that we've been told. You've got to model success. You want to be successful. Then you follow the people who are successful and there's nothing wrong with that wrong. I still believe in that as a strategy, but we're moving more into what I call the human to human economy. Okay. The heart to heart economy, where it's really important to connect, not just with others, but also with yourself. 

Gayle: And, and, and the, the, this economy is really where the more you can connect with yourself, the more you can connect with others, the more you connect with others, the more you commit to yourself and you see it. It's an ecosystem that provides solutions. And it's a different way of thinking. It's a different way of working, but really, and truly, we've got to accept that the light within us is also the light within someone else. The light we see in someone else is also the light we see within us. If we are more, we are more the same than we are actually different. Our old economies, our old ways of working, our old ways of even mentoring, leading and teaching were based on our differences. I'm better than you. That's why I can mentor you. I'm better. Less. Why I'm your leader That paradigm is being destructed is being disrupted daily minute by minute. You know, you see this whole new generation of entrepreneurs that are coming up and leaders. That's not their thinking, 

Femi: No, it it's more. And if I get this right, it's, I'm being vulnerable and share myself with you. And I'm sharing, you're sharing it with me. And I'm able to bring out through a spirit of collaboration. I'm able to bring out the best in all of us so we can create something new and different. And I'm reading this book. I'm the world's greatest salesman right now. and I I'm one of the things he says about experiences, experiences like fashion things, things that worked yesterday may not work tomorrow. What's more important is to principles. If you have the good principles of success, you're more likely to achieve rather than relying on what someone else has done 20, 30 years ago. And so, but to go onto your poem, I love that poem. It is that my own villas in our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. 

Femi: Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. This is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous, actually, who are you not to be You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking to the other. People won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same as we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. I saw, people can't see, but I can see your lips because we're looking, we're speaking. I can see every single word of that. It's quite powerful. For instance, a lot of us just, 

Gayle: Yeah. 

Femi: And I, and I get it because it's that be yourself and be your best self and just release yourself. A lot of us are living our lives with a handbag or not. We 

Gayle: Absolutely, we really are. And it's that fear what will happen when I release the handbrake, is someone going to judge me because I released it too soon or that I had my hand on it too long. You know, it's that judgment. We, no one is going to judge us first. And we're going to judge ourselves that much on that. Nobody. So what we get our own judgment. We release ourselves to go forward. 

Femi: No, that's your test. This lovely example I like to use. And it was, I've lost my job. A couple of times, most people have been to losing their job once or twice. And I remember once when I lost my job, it was because there was something I was ma I could have done. And I, in my heart, my Instagram saying, do this, do this, do this. And I didn't do it. And I ended up doing what someone else told me to do. And because of that, it didn't go well, I lost my job and above everything. What I was most upset about was that I did not follow my instinct because I said, I would wish I had failed on my own terms done on someone else's terms. That is the worst thing that can happen to you. You fail when you, when you didn't listen to yourself. 

Gayle: Yep. Absolutely fail on your own terms rather than someone else's, you know, I talk about failing forward a lot with my clients because you just have to, how we learn. That's how we grow. It's a growing phase. And also in some, some of my, this call them VIP cards, my one-to-one clients, you know, we actually have failure strategies. You know, we, we actually have strategies for failure, right So this is the strategy we're going to use to fail because what do you think we uncover when you're looking at failure strategies What do you think you uncover your greatest, greatest assets you uncover the two of you also uncover the shadows. You bring them out into the law. It's amazing. It's one of another, one of my favorite exercises actually, when we look at that failing strategies. 

Femi: Oh yeah. I know 

Gayle: For me, you mentioned before, you know, about, about the changes that everyone has been under, you know, you've lost your job a couple of times and you're right. We can all identify with that, but also we've all gotta be prepared to ride with those changes. I mean, this year better than any other year 2020 has taught us that if nothing else, today is what, whatever data is in December, December, not 2019, if you weren't doing the same thing today that you were doing in December, 2019, you are not going to have a great 20, 21. If you're doing the same things in your business today that you were doing in December, 2019, you're, you're literally going to have a really hard time. Times have changed. People have changed the way, the way we connect, the way we communicate, the way we do business has changed. If once they know what we've gone, digital, it's more than that. It's even more than that. So I would say during this time, if anyone has any downtime, use it, use it to evaluate without a doubt, you know, to reconnect with the soul of who you are, the soul of your business. Because when you get to the soul of who you are, like we were just talking about with standing up in your own head, it changes your business. Your business has no choice, but to change, it has to because you've changed. 

Femi: Yeah, no amazing surrogate. We spoken about the fear. It's that fear. That's the biggest thing that holds us back. So what do we do So I know I'm not standing up my own hallelujah. And I know fear is holding me back. We can't tell everyone everything in 30 minutes, but what people, what, what, what are the general things you could do to almost at least give an idea of what, of, of becoming of stand you're in highly of how do people get out of that fear 

Gayle: Yeah. The first thing they need to do is to touch base. They got to touch base with themselves. They got to ask themselves and it takes some quiet time and people do it in many different ways. Some people journal, some people meditate, some people go for a walk, you know, it doesn't matter how you do that at this stage. It doesn't matter how you do it because it's that it's that this is the stage where, you know, there's something not quite right. You don't know what the answer is yet, but you just know something's not right. And at that stage, you got to stand up and take a little bit of stock touch base and say, what is this really about What is it I really, really want And when you think about it from that perspective, not what I don't want. So most people say, Oh gosh, I just don't. 

Gayle: I just don't want to do this nine to five anymore. That's what you don't want. What do you want And this is, this is actually quite a difficult process for people to do, because we're so focused on what we don't want. What's going wrong. Who's upset us that when we have to take home our minds to that space of expansion, because that's what it is. We're starting to expand. Yeah. Different. That's a different process. So what do I want, you know, if you asked people, if you had loads of money, what kind of car would you buy They can answer it like that. If you had your ideal life, what would you spend your day doing Once they get over the fluff They struggle. Okay. 

Femi: Because a lot of us don't really know the answer to that question. I've been through that a few times when I'm starting to provide my vision or my goals, once I get through DOPs or I'd like to be, I'd like to be in financial independence. I like to be X. Y said, I go, what do I really want 

Gayle: Right. And this is where we now start to create legacy. And that's, if you want to have a global impact and a really strong personal brand, this is where you got to start. This is where you got to go, but you can't go there straight away. You've got to think about it in terms of what is it I really want, what am I doing You know, what is the point of this It doesn't matter what you're doing. What is the point of this And when you go, so when you go to that, that, place first and then come back from there. Okay. So if I, if I, if I really want that in my life, and I really want to be able to do that and leave that as a legacy, then what do I need to do today What do I need to do today to make that happen today, to make that happen 

Femi: I love that because what you're getting now is, is w we're almost talking about how can you be of service to the world How can you with your gifts and your talents and that thing you enjoy doing, how can you leave legacy How can you make an impact Because when you decided to make an impact, then you go, okay, what do I need to do to make an impact If I'm like girl and most, you know, what you need to do to make an impact that gives you an idea of what you need to be doing 

Gayle: Absolutely, absolutely. And you know, I, I talk a lot about the humans, human economy. You know, I talk about that a lot because it is, it is an ecosystem that me and my company brand do consultancy are real trailblazers for, you know, it's the ecosystem that allows each of us to really have an impact on societal experience and social change. And it's a huge legacy piece. You know, even my business is a business for good, you know, someone even follows me on social media, then the ripple effect, the impact of that is that somebody gets to an education that they may or may not necessarily have access to. Someone gets water. They may not necessarily have access to someone, gets to go to college or university that they may not necessarily have access to. Literally I haven't finished the process to be fair, but I'm in the process that every single interaction someone has with me or my business has an effect somewhere else on someone else. And when, and that's, that's about creating real legacy, real global impact. And when you come from that space, like you say, as being the service, when we set ourselves up to be or service, the rest of it is automatic. You're almost on automatic pilot. 

Femi: It just, it just falls into place because when you're being of service in your gifts and your talent, it's just so easy because you finished the day and you're not tired. You may be physically tired, but mentally you're not tired because you're just doing what you love doing. But the one thing I wanted to say was, so there might be some people who are not entrepreneurs who love the corporate life. How, how about them How easy is it for them as well to go to live this life of legacy when they're working for a big company I mean, how does it translate for them 

Gayle: It's the same. It's exactly the same. You know, we are who we are, you know, just whether we go through the blue door or the red door, we're still the same person. Okay. And, and it's, and it's that, that makes the difference. Some people think that because they've chosen to go through, I call it the Navy blue door, but when it comes to Cobra, but because they've chosen to go through the Navy, the Navy blue door, that they have to be somebody else, they wear that mask. I used to have a speech a few years ago called wherever your most to work, because which is quite funny. Now, when you consider what's going on. 

Gayle: But the thing is, even if you look at it with, in conjunction with what's going on today, what most of our faces are hidden. The moment we leave our front door, the most of our faces are hidden. Now, the only way we can connect with people is through our eyes, through our words. And it's exactly the same when you're in a corporate, you know, whether you're wearing your muscle or not, you can still connect with people, your heart doesn't change and about leaving legacy. You know, corporate sites are changing, but even if you are in a position where you cannot affect change within your corporate, you can affect change within yourself. And when you affect change within yourself, people around you have no choice, but to think, well, what's, what's happening. What you doing, you're different, you know And that it was conversation. Whether they liked the different solo, it evokes conversation. That's what you want. You want to, you want to get people talking 

Femi: No, you're right. And one of the things I was wondering a coaching session a few days ago, one of the things I taught people was what you need to do is when you're leaving your job, you want to make sure there is a big gap when you're leaving, you're leaving and people go, Oh, this amazing person did the job before she was friendly. They were loving. They were so kind, they, you were in your element and then your work itself was about excellence. Your work was excellent. You yourself were excellent. So that when you leave your last day is not, it's almost like they're celebrating you, but they're sad. You're leaving because they know that light you had within you. You're taking it with you. And if you approach your work like that, it will make all the difference. You've got to bloom where you're planted. 

Gayle: Absolutely. You know, personal branding is about people speaking about you behind your back. Okay Now people are always going to speak about you behind your back, but do you like your own personal branding Great. Personal branding, disruptive personal branding is about controlling the narrative. Okay. It's about you controlling that conversation about what they said, you know, so if they're going to say, wow, that Gayle, I do it, she's a bit of a soul then really that's down to me to that. That is actually my responsibility too. I may not want them to say that. I might want them to say, geez, NAS. She was a powerful guest. Yeah, I am. 

Femi: I thought about that. I've never thought about that girl. So your personal brand is also responsibility. You've got to own and be responsible and the same way Apple have metrics to measure their brand, to make sure they're doing the right things for your own personal brand as well. You have to have, I don't know what those metrics are, but you've got to have a way of measuring to make sure your brand is effective. And your brand equity is high. 

Gayle: Right I'm so glad you mentioned brand equity. Absolutely. We are in this age and I know I keep saying, but we got to, I've got to keep saying it until people really get it in their muscle. They just do it automatically. We are in this age where commit connection. Communication are so important. This is what's happening. People are putting their programs out there. They're applying for jobs. Even, you know, they're doing the, all the communication piece, they're broadcasting or social media. They're doing that communication piece beautifully, absolutely beautifully. And then the, what they're expecting from that communications pieces that they want to have more followers. They want to have more clients. They want to get the ideal job that they want. They want to get the partner that they want, but there's something missing. And it's that bit that's missing in the middle is that bit that's missing in the middle. 

Gayle: That is preventing them. And that bit is the connection piece. And that bit is where you build your brand equity. That's where you have your social capital. So nowadays it's so easy, you know, as business owners or entrepreneurs, it's really easy. If we want to know about someone, we go into LinkedIn, check out what they're doing. You know, what, what is it they say they do And the one thing, not a lot of people do that they should be doing more of is looking at the recommendations. How many recommendations is this person got that tell you about how they work, who they are, that social capital people get testimonials. And they don't want to put, that's why I love LinkedIn because LinkedIn forces you to put it on your, actually on your profile. It's not dependent on you seeing it in your inbox and thinking, I can't tell a new article or, Oh God, I don't want people to think that I'm show off or that I'm an Erica. 

Gayle: No, LinkedIn, you said the moment someone sends you a recommendation, you just press, yes. Is on the profile, done none of this. I mean an RN, you know, business, and, and this is exactly what we all need to be doing. If someone says something nice about your fairy or something complimentary about you, or you've done something, you know, in may, I was asked to collaborate on this book, the law of brand attraction. I said yes, without even, because this is also part of the standing up in your own house, process, you're able to make decisions very quickly and recognize opportunities very easily as well. So I said, yes, didn't even know what was involved. Then I was told, right So we're going to, we're going to be published in 10 days. Pardon Gayle, we're writing this book and it's going to be published in 10 days. 

Gayle: So you've got 10 days to basically submit your chapter. Now, obviously one of my skills is copywriting is communications and copywriting. So I ended up not only having to write my own, but also having to edit a number of other people's work as well, all within 10 days. Wow. Literally 12 days later. So literally we did, we did publish on Kindle 10, 11 days later, 12 days later, that book became an international best seller in six countries, six countries. That is the power of knowing your personal brand of being able to accept opportunities quickly, make decisions quickly, but also knowing that that's going to give her how that's going to affect your brand equity in your social capital. So can you imagine how that has been, how I've been able to say that literally within 12 days of accepting an opportunity, I became an international best selling author, but not only did I become an intern, you know, as part of a collaboration. 

Gayle: So all of us there, but I also appeared on a podcast in the States as a result of that book that led my podcast to be labeled podcasts of the year. that is impact. And that's kind of that we need to talk about. We need to let people know because that's not, Oh my God, someone's got a huge budget. And I was able to, no, that's just this woman that lives in West London, you know, in my little spot in West London, from my office, my little box room office in my house that was able to do that. And anybody can do it. 

Femi: Yeah, no, I, one of the things I tell people, as well as you may, not, people may not put a reference for you on social media and the internet. But one of the things you can always do is when you work with people is say, how do you feel about the work I've done for you Is there anything I could do better Because even in having that discussion, you're building an imprint in their mind that they were happy with what you've done. And then they will via word of mouth as well, recommend you as well. But a lot of us still want to offer us conversations because we don't want to face up. And I struggle too. So after that conversation to say, are you happy with my work Because we don't want to hear the answer sometimes. 

Gayle: Okay. So I'm going to challenge you now for me. Why would you ask a question that opens you up in that way Okay. So the reason why I also, because that's a yes or no question, are you happy Well, not much late yet. I right. However, go to say, if you want great answers, you've got to ask quick question. Great. Great question. So how about you all So for me, I've really enjoyed my time this morning, you know, on our podcast. Have you enjoyed it Yes, I have. Fantastic. I'm glad you have. So what are you going to tell your friends about me 

Femi: Or I had this amazing time with Gayle and she such a vivacious, energetic woman who is taking these steps into an hallelujah. She's put herself out of her, whatever career she had the media and she's built up a business, helping people fulfill their talents and shining Devon lights. 

Gayle: Oh, I love that for me. I hope you don't mind, but I'm actually going to use those words. Is that okay Yeah. Great. That's the testimonial and that, so that way when you do so, what are you going to tell your friends about me And because people will say, you can just say, Oh gosh, I'm going to tell you no, I'm going to tell them, I'm going to tell them that I had this chat and this woman just spoke so much, but I couldn't even get a word in. And do you know what I would say Great. Can I use those words for me Because it's all about positioning. Okay. If you want to hear someone who some full of information that sometimes she's overflowing, you need to listen to gathered words. That's cause that's what you said. She talks too much 

Femi: Exception. Isn't it It's positioning and perception. 

Gayle: It's all about positioning. And sometimes we're scared of the positioning because we think, Oh, but that's a lie. It's not a lie. It's only a lie. If it's a lie, 

Femi: It's just a different, it's just a different angle, a different side of the same coin. 

Gayle: It's different sides of the same coin, you know So it's about having that confidence again. And it all comes back down to that same thing. One of the things that, you know, I really embed literally at the deepest level, it's almost like roots of a tree right down in those roots of confidence. There's congruence, you know, there's commitment. These are the things that are right down in the roots before we even start looking at you as a person and what you can do. And you know, cause there's a home there, there are five, five levels within the standing up in your home. And having 

Femi: Talk to me about that because I know we haven't got you for time, but I know I wanted to talk about, 

Gayle: See, as I said, right at the beginning is, is, is level number one. So most people come to me to be fair because either they haven't got enough clients, they're not earning enough money or they don't know how to speak by themselves. They're the two main properties. There are others, but they're the two main ones. Okay. And they always say, whenever we're talking, the first thing they say, I've got a great business logo. My website is all done. You know, it's brilliant. Yeah. But you're not making any money. So it just goes to having a great logo website. That's not right. That's not part of branding in a way. 

Femi: It's your, it's your energy or 

Gayle: They all step five. So between identity, step one and image, which is step five. We look at the whole thing. We look at your impact. You look at influence and we also look at your income, but there's a reason why income is step number three and not step number one. Remember they're showing up because they're not making money, but it's step number three because there's all the foundational roots of you gotta be prepared. You know, when people say to me, you know, when I said, well, what, what would your ideal income, monthly income I want to add a minimum 20 K a month, but is your business ready for 20 K So we need to get you and your business ready for 20 K is your business ready for 50 K months We need to get you ready yet. You want to, you want to have a year that gives you half a million. 

Gayle: Great, because do that. But your business needs to be, you need to be ready. So this is where we do some of the spiritual work as well, because you need to be ready. You've got to heal that scuffle, the old money stories, those beliefs that we spoke about, all that stuff needs to come out. It's like clearing out the sludge, clean drains or pipe or anything, or the kitchen sink. You know, there's a bit of sludge that comes out when you're clearing the drain, the sludge. So the water can flow nicely. We've cleared the blockage. Now the water's flowing nicely. And you know, this is why I absolutely love, love, love, deeply what I'm doing because people think this is hard work. It is not hard. You just have to know what to do. You just have to do. 

Femi: And that's, that's something I know I've spoken about. One of my previous podcasts and a lot of us are carrying around a lot of baggage, mental, spiritual, physical scars from people being taught, telling us we're not good enough when we're not articulates enough. We're not tall enough shots enough, short enough, tall enough. Light-skinned enough. All sorts of things that I've just built up. I've just built up these mental baggage. So what are some practical steps people can do Because when we come to the end, I'll talk about you a bit and how people can reach out if they want to. But what are some practical steps people couldn't do So you know what your, what your legacy is, or you have an idea of what your legacy is. You know, you accept that, is that fair. That's holding you back. Are there some things, some of us can do a nine to five or an entrepreneur What are some things that we can do to give us an energy boost before we talk to people like you for the sustainable change 

Gayle: Yeah. Set your boundaries. First thing you got to set your boundaries. We have too much toxicity within our lives. Okay. Know who you are and know what you stand for and live by that. Find out if you're not quite sure, then find out, ask yourself the questions, you know, see where the rub is. You know, some people will say, I say this on every podcast. I can't go ahead. And I'll say, I absolutely love and support the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Harry and Megan. I absolutely. And the reason why is because I'm really hate injustice. I don't like anybody being bullied, victimized, marginalized. I just can't. I just, to me, it doesn't, it should not exist in the world. I do not like hateful, vitriol in any shape or form. So for me, because I know that about myself and I've always known that about myself. I endorse a lot of things that promote equality, fairness, justice, because I'm that person that's me at my very cool. So find you some, so some people, if the police don't ever follow me on Twitter, on my breakthrough D for account, because you'll just get upset because I just support Harry and Meghan on that use consultants. But you know, but 

Femi: That's a topic for another day because I know if I get 10 people in a room you have 10 different, or it would go right down the middle. Some people will say this, 

Gayle: I've heard them all. You know, I actually, co-host the podcast that talks about, the talks about Harry and Meghan, a lot called Duchess lockers. But anyhow, that's a whole other game, but the point is know who you are, what you stand for and be consistent in that, across the board, across the board, you know, and that's about setting your boundaries because you're going to come across people who are going to try and lead your Australia. Even they're going to attempt to put it that way. It's a nice way of saying that. But when you know who you are, it just doesn't happen. Big, become known for your values and your conviction. As much as you are known for your work. People know I'm all about justice. They tell them about fairness. And that is the same, whether I'm working with you one-to-one or whether I'm writing an article or whether I'm on the podcast hosting or guesting. Yeah. It's the same. And you know, it's the other thing about knowing your boundaries is I don't do anything that doesn't feel fun. I just done. That's why we co-host entrepreneur sushi club. We did that because we love sushi. You know, 

Femi: What is that about I was going to ask, sushi club. What is that You guys eat sushi and just host a podcast or 

Gayle: Well, no, we don't eat sushi on the podcast. It's basically myself and who's based in the Netherlands and wound tan is based here in the UK as well. we just found that as entrepreneurs, we had one thing that we in common was that we loved sushi. We liked business, but we love sushi. So we thought, well, surely we can't be the only three. So let's see. So we just started interviewing people who we put out a call for people who were entrepreneurs and business owners that love sushi. And let's see what happens. And we found ourselves interviewing some amazing, honestly, we had interviewed some amazing people. We interviewed Bob Doyle from the law firm, the law of attraction, law of attraction, the secret he was in that we've interviewed him. We've interviewed Keith Leon. Who's a huge bestselling author pool done massive, massive massively successful businessmen over in Singapore, all because of our, 

Femi: I love that. I love that. And that's, that's in a way, speaks to who you are, which is you love sushi. You love podcasting. You found someone who ha who had similar magnetism or similar attraction you got together, you did something and you just found out where it took you and it took you some places. Amazing. 

Gayle: Absolutely. You know, I remember when looking at first mentioned it to me, that it was because it was actually lifted as idea. We were in the Netherlands to give up. and I was visiting her. We were doing some work over there together and she said, Oh, well, do you fancy eat And I said, I'm not sure you tell me, this is your area. And she said, Oh, well, to be honest, leave it to me. I'll have sushi. And I was just like, Oh, how was it And she said, I love sushi. Do you know I have this vision of entrepreneurs coming together around sushi. I said, right, let's do it set up the group now. And she was like, what Yeah, come on. Let's do it now. And that was it. I was over a year ago. We've now we've put out a weekly podcast every single week for the whole year. Wow. 

Femi: That's my round of applause for the better cause I can, I can relate to it all podcasts. I, I thought, I, I love talking. I love talking to people. I've wanted to do a podcast. And I, one day I just got my phone, got into a cupboard for some quality and I started and I am a year later. So sometimes you've just got to start and get there. So I love that. So know your boundaries. I'm coming to the end soon. Any other big ones people can do to just, yeah. 

Gayle: Yes. So set, set your boundaries versus read. That is a really big one because this is all part of starting to really explore who you are. Yeah. So once, you know, once you, once you know your boundaries be brave, you've got to be brave with this. Don't be afraid to fail, move, but remove the toxicity, remove it, you know, because it's not helping you. It's not, it's not moving you forward. Surround yourself with people who are like you, people who aren't going to be embarrassed when you talk about your legacy and what you want to build and how you want to build it, surround yourself with people who are better than you are further forward. The new people who, who can, you know, help you to leverage an upscale or level up as the young people could. You know, that's not been, you know, in all day, people will call that, you know, social climbing. 

Gayle: It's not social climbing. The toll is about being strategic about your life. Okay. Be intentional with your life. Don't just let it happen to you. Yeah. One of the other things I would say is there are people that you admire right now, people that whether they're close to you or a little bit further away, they may be celebrities. It doesn't matter. We are in a technological age where everyone is accessible to us, reach out to them, reach out. You never know. You never know whether that going to come back and you know, they may respond and you may end up having a really great connection that serves both of you. And the final final piece I'll say is never, ever, ever be prepared to take something that you're not prepared to give. 

Femi: Wow. I need to purchase that. Never, ever, ever take something that you're not prepared to give 

Gayle: I'm that you're not prepared to give 

Femi: I'm processing that. Cause that's deep. I'll get that after you're gone. Won't I 

Gayle: Yeah. I'll get a phone call saying I got it. 

Femi: Okay. And that's really that boils down to do unto others as you'd have done to you. And it's really in another way, it's really, if you know, you can't accept something. If, if you know, you're not going to accept them from anyone else, that's, physical gifts, a spiritual gift. If there's anything, you know, you cannot tolerate, you can't accept it for you. It's injustice. You hate injustice. So you know that by definition you will never be on just to anyone else. You hate gossiping. So don't ever gossip about anyone you won't. you hate being on the charge. There'll be in low boat when you're selling your product. So don't try to do the same thing to anyone, et cetera, et cetera. I just about got it. Or you left weld on me, 

Gayle: The upper level of that. Remember what I said do not, do not be pets. Accept what you're not prepared to give. So some people will come to you. Big Berry, nice big shiny guess. And you might think, Oh, that's nice. That's just what I need. But if you were in that position, would you also give that to somebody Would you also be as generous Would you be as humanitarian 

Femi: I know what's deep about that because if we follow it in the, in the, in the, in the law of seed and harvest, because by doing that, you are taking responsibility for doing the same to someone. And if you know you haven't got the capacity or you haven't got it in you to kind of see it as well, don't take it on yet because you're not ready. 

Gayle: You're not ready. Now, if you know that, well, yes, actually, if I was in that position, I would do it. Then that's fine. You may not be in that position now, but you know that your heart is generous. Your heart is open then fine. But you know, it, it's just a really good thing for keeping the positive, the positive flow within the, the economy, within the human team, in the company. 

Femi: Well, I could challenge you on that. Cause I know some people that would say you shouldn't, if you don't let someone give, you're not alarming them. They're not allowing them to give, to sow a seed as well and pass it on. You're blocking it. You're becoming a blocker. 

Gayle: Now, you know, this is what I said. You got to really think about what I said, do not take what you are not prepared to give. So this is about your heart. This is about your responsibility. If I gave you a million pounds, if I said, right, do you know what for me is coming to the end of the tax here, I've got half a bill that I need to lose. I'm prepared to give it to you to invest in your business. You could say, Oh my gosh, thank you, Gayle. I've been waiting for this and you could take it. But if you were in the position where you had half a mill or whatever amount to give some, would you give it And that's where the real question is because some people take, but they don't give. Yeah. That's why I had to take what you're not prepared to give it. Yeah. 

Femi: I mean, I liked that as well. Cause if, if you're, if you could be mature enough, you could take that as a challenge to say, are you ready to step up and grow and take your own life to the next level And that's even a deeper question. And if you say no, then maybe you need to step into your hallelujah because you need to go see Gayle. I mean, this is amazing. Thank you so much. I've got to get you back here, Gayle. And maybe I need to stretch. I like sushi, but I like warm sushi, but so we're in Atlanta and I tried warm sushi. I don't know if there's such a thing and I liked it. So, 

Gayle: Did she say she, 

Femi: If you want to have, people, maybe you could give me a shout. but thank you so much, girl, for comment. this is amazing. It's been enlightened. I, I would love to have you on at some point to talk as well about just the, the, the other one, which is the one about con woman of color. And, I'd love to get you to comment, talk as well about how as minorities as well, there's a different layer you see for minorities as well. If you're black and you're working in an all white workplace. Now, Dave is your normal package. You carry around with you, but then devastate author on which means you can't, you can't express yourself for wanting to be seen as fitting into the stereotype of being a aggressive or, or, you know, the angry black man, younger black woman, and all of that can come into it. And there's a lot of, and for a lot of white people there, it's subconscious, but that's the way they will see you. And that's a different thing. I know that at some point I've got to get you in to come and unpack because a lot of us struggle to express ourselves. We live, we cower, we don't live as ourselves. And it's only because we don't want to fit a stereotype. And we, we, we want to fit into the mold and we're doing ourselves a disservice really 

Gayle: Absolutely. I'd love to come back and have a chat with that with you about that because, yeah, that, that's a big topic, big, big topic, a lot of work in that area. So. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. 

Femi: We'll get you on and out. Thank you. So where can people find out by I bet there's some people that are saying, you know, they've heard my farewell already, when you asked me, what do you think about me They're thinking, Oh, I want to get an even I'm thinking I need some of this sauce. So what we need to do steps they're highly, or how can they, video tweets or whatever 

Gayle: The best place at the moment. We, funny enough, I literally just took them our website this morning. So I'm going to be doing some work over Christmas on it, but I have got a master class coming up, on the 29th of December. And the best way to find out more about that masterclass is to either find me on social media. I'm not hard to find them on Instagram, Gayle. That was dot brand do I'm on LinkedIn as Gale Edwards, but also literally Gayle at brand-new consultancy.com is my email address. So I'm, as you can tell, I'm all about the connection and communication. Yeah. So please just reach out to me, like I said, not on breakthrough differentiator, but I at consultancy underscore you and on Twitter, that's the best one. It's my professional one. Okay. but definitely, like I said, I'm not hard to find, but that master class I'm doing a special, because I realized I had quite a few clients said to me, that this was not the year that they thought it was going to be. 

Gayle: And I thought, well, hold on, you still got time. So I've decided to run this really special master class for them. and for anybody else. So I would say that's probably the best. And the most valuable, let's say most of the costs you'll probably see from me because it is, I am doing it as a special for some of my clients. so it's going to be a good price. I'm not going to say what it is now, but definitely contact me. It's going to be on Tuesday, 29th of December, between 10 and three, because let's be honest. We're not doing anything else. We're all at home. We don't do anything else. and it, and it will set you up as being, not an expert, but the expert that people go to for 2021. So you start the year already as the expert, rather than an expert. 

Femi: Fabulous. I'm not sure where this podcast is coming up, but what I would tell everyone is make sure you bombard Gayle on social media. So she knows she has to run even more because I know if there's more of, if there's more of an interest, this is going to do it, but that's fabulous. The 29th of December. 

Gayle: Yeah. And also remember every time I get a new photo on social media, someone else around the world receives the impact of that. They receive a monetary gift. Oh, fabulous. 

Femi: That's an amazing, inspiring one. Thank you so much for Gayle for coming. I've learned a lot. It's been transformational and it's been such a gift. Thank you for coming and sharing your wisdom with us. So everyone, you heard it stand up in your own. Hallelujah. I often say this all the time that Don is better than perfect, but to be, to, to, to start on that journey, you really need to know who you are. You really need to know what your boundaries are, what your passion is, what your legacy is. And when you find those things out, it's stepping out in courage. It's really not receiving anything. You're not accepting anything you're not willing to give out. It's really just having a clear sense of self. I love this saying no day self to die self be true. And that's one of the things that, the biggest thing at core of this. 

Femi: So my message to you today is step out into your own. Hallelujah. It's like looking for your keys. That girl said, it's really within you, that thing that's going to spark you and take it to the next level is within you. So this day, take stock of yourself. Take inventory. Find that your strength, your weakness, your passion, your legacy, and start that journey one day at a time. And you would to be unleashed a step into your hallelujah, get unleashed.