Being a ‘Queen’: An Unconventional Approach to Business

[00:00:00.000] – Gabrielle

Hey, you all. I am back. Let’s talk about the Sovereignty series. We’re here today with Joya Dax, and I want to have her introduce herself in just a second because she’s such a powerful person. But I really want to just share that this is a series that I’m doing. I’m not just going to be doing it with guests on here. I’m also going to be teaching on some of other videos that will be coming up, if I can talk, in this series. And so if you are enjoying this, please let me know in the comments section below. Also, if you have any questions around sovereignty, what it is, what it entails, all those things, all the questions you have, feel free to leave it down below. I’m Gabrielle Leonard, and I help my clients to create six figure months by owning their sovereignty and closing high end clientele. That is what I do. Recently, I’ve had Joya join my program, the Sovere Renty program. Actually, this is Joya’s second round in Sovere Renty and I want to have her introduce herself right now and tell you who she is and what she does. Go ahead, Joya.

[00:01:07.600] – Joya

Well, Gabriele, for 20 years, my avatar, my identity here in New York City is that I’ve been a news anchor. I’ve covered the financial markets from the floor of the stock exchange for 20 years. And at the ten year mark of my career, I founded a women’s leadership platform. And this business was truly born out of a personal pain point. I was born to Indian immigrant parents. They had very prescriptive scripts on what a girl’s trajectory was supposed to look like. I didn’t want to toe that line. So I left home at 18 and I paid for College and I paid for grad school and I paid for every move around the country to come to New York City and live out my dream of being a of becoming a news anchor. But all of a sudden I was injected into this very high profile world and I didn’t necessarily know how to show up in those spaces. So I created this leadership platform because I want to be able to provide agency, tools, resources for other women to be able to show up for that next level, that next chapter of their lives. I’m really proud to say that my business is now 10 years old.

[00:02:09.360] – Gabrielle

Yes. Congratulations on your 10 year old business. That is such an amazing treat to accomplish. I feel like a lot of us get into business and so many people don’t make it to the 10 year mark. That in and of itself is such an amazing feat. Congratulations on that. Let’s talk about your sovereignty journey. We are going to get into your sovereignty journey and what that has been like for you. But before I begin, I want to say this, you guys, if you’re watching this, whether you’re watching this live or you’re watching this on the replay, I want to invite you to sign up for the sovereignty, the own your sovereignty training. If you’re watching this and you’re like, Wow, I’ve seen this is the third video in this series now where people are talking about this sovereignty journey. I want to know more about what it is and I want to learn how to show up in this way as well. There is a free training available for you for you, go ahead and comment #Sovereignty down below and we’ll go ahead and reach out to you and give you access to that free training.

[00:03:07.860] – Gabrielle

Go ahead and share your sovereignty journey. You decided to join the sovereignty program. Why? Why did you decide to join?

[00:03:16.480] – Joya

Gabriele, I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that you set the wheels in motion. I hosted a Mastermind dinner in Boston, and you and your colleague and friend, your writer, Die B. C. Got on a plane and flew to Boston for one night for my Mastermind dinner. Now, I find myself to be an outlier in most situations in being that person that would do something like that. It’s rare that I meet other women that have baller energy like that. And the fact that you showed up and you showed up on time, that’s another big thing for me. All of a sudden I was like, what is going on here? And I want to know more. And so when you welcomed me and opened the doormat, essentially for me to be a part of your program, I wanted to be a part of it. I didn’t even know what I was signing up for, but I knew I wanted to be a part of it. Now that I’m on the other side of it, two cycles in, what has my sovereignty journey been? I grew up in a home of domestic violence. So my first ideas and messages about being a woman were that we were second class citizens and that there are repercussions for having a voice.

[00:04:21.740] – Joya

The irony is that I grew up to use my voice to make a living. But I think that really shaped a lot of my self worth. And so I would say that the second seminal moment for me when my self worth changed is when I took a women’s empowerment class in 2010. And without getting into the entire curriculum, the one thing I remember that woman talking about is how you have to always fill up your own cup. You have to fill up your own cup before you fill up your anybody else’s because you serve all these other roles and you’re doing yourself a disservice by not filling up your own cup before you walk into those other roles that you play. And so I would say then the next seminal moment was being with you and learning that it’s more than just how you show up. Actually, it’s everything about the way you show up. I’m wearing the shirt right now because of what I learned in the program. I learned my colors. I learned what it means to show up like a queen. I learned what it means to have my kingdom. What are the politics in my kingdom?

[00:05:23.160] – Joya

What are my standards in that kingdom? I think that you come at business when people ask me about the Masterminds I’m in, I say I’m in one that’s very head centered, I’m in one that’s very heart centered, and then I’m in one that focuses on sales. And I would never go and try and build a business again without having these spaces to show up in so that I can bring any of the issues that I have. And for me, clearly one isn’t enough. I’m in three. And I think your heart centered approach to business is really novel to me. Really being that person that walks into a room dressed to magnetize, in our essence, ready to magnetize opportunities to me is very different than the hustler that I’ve been since I was a very young girl. I’ve had to hustle to get to this point in my life. And for you to flip that paradigm and say, no, we’re going to invest so much in this, in this, that you are going to just stand in a room and magnetize people to you. And I’ll tell you that I walked into a networking event about a month ago now.

[00:06:31.860] – Joya

And I didn’t know anybody. The person who invited me was a panelist, so she couldn’t sit there and talk to me. She had to get ready for her panel. And I showed up in fusha tones as the colors we talked about in the first round. And I was like, I don’t know anybody here, but I’m just going to stand here. I’m just going to stand here and see who comes my way. And I locked eyes with the woman across the way. I walked over to her because she was wearing this beautiful Egyptian shal. We got to talking and I closed her eyes and I sure that night. And so I think that there’s so much purchase, for lack of a better word, in learning about how you show up and magnetize things to you as opposed to always grasping, grasping, grasping from the outside to create opportunities. I’m reading Phil Jackson’s book. Phil Jackson, of course, is one of the best NBA coaches of all time. And he talks about building winning teams. He coached the Chicago Bulls and the LA Lakers. And he talked about how Michael Jordan was a player who let the game come to him.

[00:07:36.160] – Joya

Whereas Kobe Bryant was someone who would force the action. He’d force the plays. And how could he get these two big personalities to work together? So the hustler in me is not gone, but how do I work with this other thing that you’ve introduced to me so that I can let the game come to me?

[00:07:55.670] – Gabrielle

Yeah, it really allows you to be balanced because that’s actually where I was. I was very heavily in the hustle culture until I made a conscious decision a few years ago that I’m no longer going to be centering my business around the hustle culture. But you still have to have a balance. You still have to have a go getter mentality when it comes to business. You still have to be a closer, which requires you to be assertive and it requires you to be proactive, which people, I think, mistake for hustle. But at the same time, you can also at the same time, be in alignment and you can be certain and you can be magnetic and magnetize opportunities and clientele and money to you. So it really allows you to when you… Sovereignty allows you to be more balanced because most of us already are in the hustle culture. It is what society teaches us to do. And so this piece, like you like you said, allows you to have both and allows you to know how to balance and be in both without one outweigh the other. Because if you’re too much in your feminine, it’s a problem.

[00:09:12.040] – Gabrielle

We talked about that in sovereignty as well. A lot of us are too much in our feminine and we’re too much in the in the way and see, and we’re not able to close clientel either. So it’s really a good balance. So let’s talk about… I remember in the in the tent of sovereignty, you were like, I want to be one of those people who have 50K a month too. I want to do that as well. Talk about you going from saying that in the inside of sovereignty to now having your first 100K revenue month. Let’s talk about that.

[00:09:44.160] – Joya

I talk about coming out of a home, not really understanding my value at all. I had a vision, I had hustle, and those are the two things that got me out of that home and got me to 40 years old, 45 years old. But then I think I had a ways to go in terms of really valuing meat in a big way. And so when I think about everything that I’ve learned from you, it’s really about just holding yourself in that queen place that I don’t think I’ve ever thought about myself in that way. And again, for you to say, being.

[00:10:33.580] – Gabrielle

Magnetic.

[00:10:34.720] – Joya

I’ve started to walk into rooms and just I’ve done all the inner work. I’ve done the outer work, showing up in the right colors and in the right sensuality that I want to be in. And then I’m just letting the room come to me. And that is truly how I think that I was able to create my first $100,000 month. I’d be remiss if I didn’t tell you that I also have sales coach training. So it’s asking questions, coming from a place of service, really remembering my why, which is that I want to have as much impact as I can on as many women to have agency over that next chapter in the way that I’m always seeking to have agency over every chapter. So everything dovetailed into each other. But I think you’ve been really instrumental in me just owning being a queen. And I sometimes will say this to certain people if I know they’re going to be receptive to it, because not everybody understands it. But I say, what are the politics in my kingdom and what do I think about myself as a queen? And it’s down to even just nitty gritty things.

[00:11:46.110] – Joya

It’s not only just the lingerie that I’m wearing underneath this today, it’s the liner that sits in the drawer that holds my lingerie that’s fragrant when I open that drawer. It’s rearranging my closet to only have jewel toned clothing. It’s packing for Cicely in January, only bringing jewel toned clothing, really thinking and being intentional about all the ways that I show up in all the spaces and then let the room come to me. I can’t say that enough.

[00:12:15.860] – Gabrielle

It’s interesting. A lot of people I know have been in sales training. We’ve all had some level of sales training here and there. I found a lot of people have been doing sales training and figuring out how to do sales and doing webinars and trainings and coaching them on sales, but then struggle to close clients, or they struggle to close high end clients because they can close some sales here and there, but they can’t close 20K plus clients out because there’s some ceiling that happens that if you don’t do the inner work, that sales training doesn’t work.

[00:12:53.380] – Gabrielle

Yes. I’ve seen that time and time and time again because that’s what I was doing. I was a sales coach, and I’m still a sales coach. I help people close high end sales. I’m known as the closer. We learn the skill of closing high end clothes. That’s what I do. But I realized that a lot of people will come to me and I would give them the training, the strategy, the strategy, the strategy, and there would be a block. Then we would do this work and then all of a sudden that block is removed. The ceiling is shattered and all of a sudden they’re easily closing 20K plus clients. Not only that, it’s now become normalized. It happens really fast. The normalization happens really quickly and all of a sudden it’s like, Oh, another one, another one. Like DJ Khalid, another one, another one, another one. That’s what happens. Happens. There’s a lot of people who come to me who have sales training, and then they’re like, Something isn’t working. It’s not that the sales training isn’t working. It’s that you haven’t unlocked the part of you that allows the sales training to work.

[00:14:00.400] – Joya

I had to really get an alignment with asking for $21,000. When you align with that, what is that really saying that my self worth is also caught up to, I command this in the marketplace because I’m doing the work, I really pour myself into all the folks that come through my program. That pouring into somebody else, it’s called the Pygmalion effect, where you believe in someone more than they even believe in themselves. That in and of itself is worth $21,000. That’s probably actually worth $50,000. Who do you know in your world believes in you more than you believe in yourself? Okay, your parents, but you’re not paying them and they’re not paying you. So when you’re paying someone to have that level of investment in you. What is that really worth? I’ve had a woman who came in wanting a promotion by July. She got a promotion by July. I have a woman who wanted to create a fund. She’s created that inside of nine months and is entertaining nine or 10 deals. So I have proof that my work and my investment in people is also bearing fruit. I’m not speaking from a place of not having results.

[00:15:09.520] – Joya

So I had to really take stock and inventory of all of that.

[00:15:14.510] – Gabrielle

Yeah, a lot of people… That’s the thing is there’s a lot of experts, powerhouses that we know, and I’m not charging what they should be charging because they haven’t come to that realization. And what I love about sovereignty is that there is no way you can be in that of sovereignty and not come to that realization. You come to the realization really quickly because when you start building out your kingdom and you start creating a politics in your kingdom, you’re like, Well, I’m a high end queen. My kingdom is a wealthy kingdom. We make lots of money here. We connect with other power houses as well here. Then you start to realize and you start to show up in that when you start to do the inner work, you start to ask yourself questions, Well, why am I not charging this? Why am I so afraid to ask for this? You start digging deeper and deeper and deeper, and then you realize there’s no reason why I should it, so let’s just go ahead and do it. And it becomes such a powerful moment. So you close, I think you said it was what, 5.21,000 plus?

[00:16:13.160] – Joya

Eight. Eight of eight.

[00:16:15.240] – Gabrielle

And the numbers are rising.

[00:16:17.040] – Gabrielle

Congratulations. Six more. But here’s the other thing I’ll say to you, and this goes back to what I was intrigued by when I first met you getting on a plane and flying to Boston overnight. You really normalized the idea of charging high end for high end. I don’t know that a lot of us are necessarily in circles that spout that self self investment dogma all day long. But you do and you’ve normalized it. And now it’s like, well, what about 50,000? What about 100,000? We’re having those conversations. And there are many circles that would not understand why someone would charge that money. How dare you? How dare you be that much of a businesswoman with that much conviction about your pricing? Yeah.

[00:17:14.620] – Joya

And it’s the thing, we have the audacity. That’s the whole point. I have the audacity to do that. One of the books that we read in the program is called The Audacity to Be Clean. The Audacity to Be Clean. And that’s literally what it is. It is the audacity to show up, to chart out our work, to understand our value, to walk in our power, to walk in our femininity unapologetically, to show up. What are.

[00:17:42.010] – Gabrielle

We really talking about here? You’re also putting yourself then in front of a higher value, higher quality of purpose. Absolutely. I mean, how many times have we worked with people where we charge very little and their biggest pain in the ass? I love that I am working with really bright, deep thinking, thoughtful women. This is what I would want my kingdom to be made of is women that I can have these deep conversations with, and I’m having those. But again, I had to really make that paradigm shift to think about, maybe not so much about the money. Of course, the money is piece of it. But why am I doing this? Yeah.

[00:18:28.970] – Joya

You know what I will say? I think you are one of my favorite students inside of sovereignty to watch because you take every single assignment so seriously. Not that no one else does. Other people who are inside of sovereignty to do that. But even if you miss, you’re not there, I know I’m going to see your assignment inside the group. You’re in there, you ask questions, you apply yourself to the work and you see the work happening. So what I want to know from you is what has been your favorite thing to experience inside of sovereignty? What’s your favorite, maybe your favorite session, your favorite thing to experience inside of sovereignty so far?

[00:19:14.960] – Gabrielle

I like the colors. I realized once I did that that I was buying a lot of clothing that was good for blondes, and I am not alone.

[00:19:22.660] -Joya

So.

[00:19:23.380] – Gabrielle

I will never buy baby blue or baby pink ever again. I really shouldn’t be showing up always in a turtle neck. I don’t know when I decided to be a frump. I realized that I have a beautiful neckline and I should really be more conscious about showing up with that. Because if I was Queen, what would I be wearing? I would be doing this. I think that was my favorite part because now that feeds into every purchasing decision I ever make. And Sundays are my days when I sit down and I strategize about my week. But what you’ve added onto that Sunday strategizing is that I also think about all the spaces I’m going to show up this week and what am I going to wear in each of those spaces and be very intentional even about that. Because I know that those remaining six people are already in my experience. They’re already in my experience, and I just need to show up dressed to be approachable and dressed to magnetize them to me. So I think that that’s been the most powerful one. That’s not to say that some of the other things about really dipping into your sensuality and tapping into that because we as women are so powerful.

[00:20:35.890] – Gabrielle

And somewhere along the way, we forgot that. I certainly didn’t learn that in my household growing up. And so being reminded that we are the seat, we are capable of producing life. That’s exactly how powerful we are. I think that was a tremendous reminder. And it probably because I also skew very masculine in a lot of what I do. Look, I’ve been on my own for so so long, I had to really force a lot of things. And so I had to be masculine. I had to be a survivor. And I think that you gave me a huge reminder to dip back into the feminine. I don’t know that I am in a lot of spaces that remind me to do that.

[00:21:16.960] – Joya

I love that you share that. I’m always curious to see which session is someone’s favorite in type of cyber team. Everyone has a different answer, but it’s so powerful because you would think that, okay, we’re talking about your color. Okay, what does that got to do with showing up powerfully and magnetizing yourself and tripping high end clientele? We talked about what does your kingdom look like? Or whatever we do, shadow or journaling, whatever it is, it all connects. It all works together and it all is there for a purpose. So if there’s someone on here watching that is maybe curious about this or thinking about it, they’re like, I really want to start closing high end clientele. I want to start attracting powerful people to myself. I want to start showing up in my style. What would you say to them?

[00:22:09.040] – Gabrielle

In addition to the assigned reading that we had, which was P usse the Reclamation, I also read a book by John Randolph Price called The Abundance Book. And in that book, it talks a lot about heart and mind, this being the source of your abundance. But I know that you’ve grown up and you had a very religious upbringing, but it really embodies that God is in us as us. And so when we talk about the universe, we talk about a higher power, we talk about a higher self, we’re really talking to ourselves. And so all of the abundance that you need is already here. We just have to get in the alignment with that. I think that’s another piece of the sovereignty. I think that is another piece of why I’ve had $100,000 a month, that I’ve been able to really collapse time in the last three months and get an alignment with that. I think my challenge is just maintaining that because there’s always going to be something that’s going to knock you down. I’ll be vulnerable enough to say that sometimes day to day, hour by hour, minute by minute, sustaining that is a challenge.

[00:23:11.920] – Gabrielle

But I know that I have to really keep cultivating that. So that’s reading books, that’s coming to sessions like yours, that’s doing the exercises, that’s doing the affirmations, that’s doing the shadow work. I’ve had some amazing breakthroughs in doing the topically typical questions and really connecting the dots on key things that I didn’t even realize about myself. And so I think it’s daily work. It’s like going to the gym. You can’t go once and expect to be healed. It has to be daily work. And sometimes it’s hourly work. Yeah.

[00:23:43.710] – Joya

So I really am so thankful that you came on here and you shared. It’s been such a pleasure watching you in the center of sovereignty and seeing you just show up and just seeing you just bloom, like blossom into. I feel like we met, I they knew you as one thing and then getting to know you on a deeper level. That’s really been a beautiful experience for me to see you go through the sovereignty program. I really want to just encourage if you’re watching this and you’re like, Wow, I resonate with what Joy is saying. I resonate with the upbringing. I resonate with being super masculine, the hustle culture. I really want to start attracting more people, more quality leads to me. All these things, if it’s resonating with you, I highly recommend that you do one of two things. One, you comment #Soverenity down below to get access to the free, all your sovereignty training. And two, if you’re interested in being a part of the sovereignty program for the next cycle, cycle 4, next year, message me, #SoverenityProgram. And I’ll go ahead and hop on a call with you. What it’s going to look like is I’m going to get on a call.

[00:24:51.170] – Joya

We’re going to see if this is the right fit for you. Because for me, yes, I want people to be a part of it, but I also want someone who’s going to be ready and committed to do the work because there’s work in there. We got work to do. And if you’re not committed to the work, then it’s not for you because then it’s not going to work. And so we’ll have a conversation and if it’s aligned with you, then we’ll go ahead and get you inside of Sovere. I really am so excited for you. There’s so much more in store for you. There’s so much more to come. And I can’t wait to see you explore and blossom into consistent six figure months in your business. Maintain that and make it your new normal, and then get into the millions. Is there anything else you want to share before we go ahead and hop out of this live?

[00:25:40.140] – Gabrielle

Yeah. Listen, I have my own mastermind too, so I see the difference between those do the work and implement and those who do not. There is so much magic on the other side of doing the work, which is why I do it. I’m eager for that magic. I’m hungry for it. I know that you got to show up. And so I think it’s a heavy lift when someone comes up and they just want to heave all the responsibility on you and then blame you when things don’t work. I’ll use the gym analogy again, which is that you join a really expensive gym, but you never show up. And then you’re like, well, that gym sucks. I still look the same as I did when I first signed up. Well, you got to show up and you got to do the work. And I really think that your program can be really magical for anyone who does the work.

[00:26:26.380] – Gabrielle

Thank you so much for sharing that. Well, thank you all for watching. I’ll see you guys in the next episode of the Sovereignty series in the next video. Bye, you all.