Lisa L. Moland

My success is twofold. First and foremost, I give honor to God for creating me in this being that I am. I've evolved over time, but yet my evolved being has come through my experiences. So first to Him for just giving me the ability to have gone through my training, through my work, family, friends, all that goes into it. And then the second fold to my success is my family. They are 100% supportive of me. I have 5 adult children and 7 grandchildren - 6 grand boys and one grand girl. My family is a part of my journey. As I was getting my degrees to become a teacher and as a principal, they would be coming to my office, helping me decorate, things like that. Well, now they're building my website and taking my professional pictures for me. They are supportive in every aspect, and then I get to see them succeed as well. So that's what contributes to my success. I don't have to have pretense about speaking to a client who's suffering. If things happen, which I will share, I have to put myself in the client's seat. And I say, Lisa, what would you tell your client? I speak to myself, I speak truth.

The best career advice I've ever received is knowing the why. Why do you do what you do? When I can answer the why, then I don't get off track. If I find myself wondering, like, oh my goodness, is this really for me? I go back to the why. And I've written it down, you know, people have those vision boards. So I know my why. My why is the endpoint of what I want my clients to walk away with. And I can get to that why with them. I'm confident of that. The best advice someone told me was to understand the why for which you do what you do.

I believe our story is something that should never be lost. Because when we tell our story, it resonates with people. It's what motivated me to get into this business. Everyone has a story. So first, don't forget your story. But secondly, authentically listen to the other person's story. There's clients that, you know, they're not my best fit, I'm not their best fit. And that's okay. We can realize that. And that's what we do. We can shop around. But while you're determining that, you must listen authentically. And if we listen and are making decisions during that time, we're really not listening. The other piece is, to your own self be true. Do not bite off too much. You want to be able to give your best self and not the leftovers. Why would one client just get, you know, your high energy, you had a good night's sleep, you're rested, but then you're trucking over to the next client, and you're really tired, you should just go home and do it another day. Make sure that you are giving your 100%. And it's okay to say, let's reschedule. How do you feel about that? And the last, I would say, is you don't always share your total personal business because it's really not about you. Your story gets the hook, right? What brought you into the being, but sharing too much of yourself, then it's a client, a professional client relationship. You do need to keep that. That's very important.

One of the biggest challenges, I would call it a hurdle, is folks making a decision to take the steps that it takes to grow, to get through something hard. To get through that fear of, what if I walk away from my job? What's next? Let's work together. I can share with you what is next. I mean, there's all kinds of possibilities. So it's getting over that hurdle, and that's a challenge that's hard for some people. I don't think that my fee, because there is a fee, is much of a hurdle, because when someone figures out yes, I want to do something, they invest. I invested in myself. And so I encourage people to look at it as an investment and what's the end goal. Because sustainability, that's what I want. When I talked about the why and understanding, that's where I want to take someone. Like, goodbye, Lisa, I never need you again. That's fine. And share what I taught you! Share what we did. I'm good with that. Because now, they're self-sustaining and they can help somebody else. I'm not opposed to that. That's the goal. So that's a hurdle. People getting over that fear. They may be online talking with me, and then, you know, well, okay, I'll see. Or they're just not ready. But man, when the folks are ready, that phone is ringing, that text message is blowing up. And they're like, when can we start? I get emotional about that, because they have their realizing it could happen. It's about to happen. And it's just a few, literally, sometimes it's just a few steps forward or cutting that negative string that's just holding you. It's literally like a dental floss. It's so thin.

Well, they do cross-sector. So one of the biggest values for me is authenticity. I have to be true to what I know, who I am, and I can't pretend. You know, some people say fake it till you make it, you know. No, because you know what? Everything is going to come to the light. Now, if I'm authentic and I am my true self, I'm going to be honest. If I'm not feeling well, then I can say I'm not feeling 100%, but I'm here. And at any time, I don't think I can continue, I'll let you know. Is that fair? I'm honest. And another value is, I'm not going to do anything that would shine a negativity on my character, and my character is to reflect God. Now, in my business, when I talk to clients, I never put God on the sidelines, because He's all about in me and in my business, but that's not - you won't see that on my website, you won't see it on my handout. I have to fill out my client first. But I don't want anything to bring a negative connotation to the character that I'm showing, which is the character of God. So those are characteristics and values that I hold true in my business and as a person.