Before We Hit Record With TaVona Denise, Business Strategist & Master Certified Life Coach

Coaches and consultants go to her when their businesses aren't moving forward like they should or it hurts and they're trying to get their business unhurt and unstuck . And she uses her background as a physical therapist turned master certified coach which , by the way , Tavana , like I , have so much respect for certified coaches .

I'll tell you why after I finish introducing you and we talk a little bit .

But she uses that expertise as a certified coach coming from the physical therapy world before she became a certified life coach and business strategist to help entrepreneurs with big hearts build businesses full of their favorite clients without burning themselves out or giving up their values in the process .

And so we're just going to get to know each other on this episode . And what you don't know about her and what you might not know about me is that we both live in Mexico , Right , and I was joking with you , Tavana , because I feel like you live in the real Mexico .

It's like equidistant from coast to coast , straight in the middle , like we're way higher than Colorado , I think we're what 3,100 meters or something like that in the air , crazy high , and there's no beach nearby to be found . It looks like Arizona , phoenix , arizona , dry cacti . And yeah that's where I live .

It was in the middle of the pandemic and it looked like we were going to just we just kept staying in the house , we just kept being in the house and I was like , well , if I'm going to be stuck in the house , I should be stuck in the house by somebody's beach .

And so how I got , and at that particular time when I made the decision , I think this was back in November 2020 . Actually , it took me a while to actually get here , but at that time , mexico was one of the few countries that was letting US citizens in because of how we were handling the pandemic , and I've always wanted to be fluent in Spanish .

So I'm like , of the countries , a few of them spoke English . I'm like , why would I go somewhere ? I already know how to speak English . So I picked Mexico . And then people ask well , why this town in particular ? Well , one , it's on the East Coast . I'm from the East Coast .

And I figured if she still doesn't know Spanish three years in and she's from Birmingham , alabama , okay , if she could make it here I could do , I could do it also . So that's , that's really how I got to mexico and playa del carmen in particular I love it , you're like .

Well , if my friend from birmingham made it here , I could get here well , yeah , because I know her right and she's not a person that's gonna be swimming like she's not gonna do it , and she still didn't know spanish after three years . So I'm like I'm .

I had taught myself how to do my job as physical therapist in Spanish , so I at least knew that , and so I figured , well , if I know that and she doesn't know really anything , then I can definitely do it . Side note once I got here , I realized that I didn't really know anything because I couldn't feed myself .

I can still make my way around the hospital or a physical therapy clinic in Spanish , but when I got here I couldn't do basic things like go to the grocery store .

But I don't actually know how to say cucumbers or anything else on this list and I wasn't sure if the internet was going to work , so it's not like you can do Google Translate , like you actually got to know the words .

Oh , before , because you were on the podcast previously when Rick was the host . It was episode 672 , how to turn your launches from stressful , unfocused chaos into fun and profitable . And I'll put that link in the description , but , like , walk me through this timeline really quick like how do you go from physical therapist to life coach and business strategist ?

yeah , and roughly years . Like how long did that take you to make that transition ?

But I had my first business before I got my license to practice and so I just always was interested in business and I tell people that I sort of had one foot out of physical therapy even before I got in , because even though I grew up wanting to be a doctor and I ended up being a physical therapist because they have more hands on experience with their

patients and they actually got to see them better instead of just here's your prescription , you know , don't call me back if it works , or actually if it doesn't work you never got to see it work . So like I don't want to practice like that . And then when I learned what physical therapy was like this is it , I want to do that .

But then somewhere between deciding in high school I wanted to do that to actually get in the license I found out I loved business and so started the business , started physical therapy because that was quote unquote easy money . I knew I'd show up , I would get the check and I kept working .

My businesses on the side had lots and lots of struggles and ups and downs and then there became a point I was a clinic director , assistant clinic director and the group director left . Assistant clinic director and the group director left . When he left , I didn't get promoted . They promoted somebody over me even though I had been running the clinic for months .

So instead I decided to give them 30 days notice of my resignation and I launched my physical therapy contracting company , which was great , because I was like wait , all I have to do is go negotiate these contracts , get paid almost double what .

I was like wait , all I have to do is go negotiate these contracts , get paid almost double what I was as an employee . Tell them when I'm coming to work and I pay my own insurance . Okay , that was freedom to me . And so I did contract work for quite a while , put some of my side businesses down because it was just , again , easy money .

I knew how to do the job . I knew how to get the contract . you don't have office politics because you don't have to go to staff meetings because you're not technically part of a staff , you're a contractor , so it was just the best of both worlds for a while . And then , but then I was starting to get burned out and I still had .

I think I'm maybe 2011 . So about 10 years in , I was getting burned out and I was looking trying to figure out what else can I do . And I started an alternative fitness event company , just helping women around Atlanta learn of new ways to move their body besides running and lifting weights , and it was .

It was fun , but I never figured out how to monetize that well enough to live off of like . So that's that's part of this story . And then in 2014 excuse me , in 2012 I got a certification as a wellness coach . We have to take continuing education courses as physical therapists , as health care providers . Keep your education up .

And at the end of one of those they gave gave me that certification and I was like , wait a minute , maybe I can do this , because I forgot to tell you . Part of the story is in 2007 , after I came from Costa Rica I know it's a whole thing , right , I read the four hour work week Hold on , hold on , hold and hold on .

Okay , let me pause , go ahead hold on .

The people that do say that in the language they don't just up and in the middle of their career take immersion school abroad . So that's really cool . I love that you did that . How did you decide to go to that ?

The challenge was and I only went for a month but I had to save up enough money to not work , because if you don't work you don't eat and pay for the school , pay my bills back in the US , that kind of thing . So I was fortunate enough to have the autonomy of my schedule and the ability to earn and save to be able to go and do that .

But obviously I couldn't do that book for so long . So that's how I did that . And when I got back , tim Ferriss had written the Four-Hour Workweek and my friend he was like you got to read this book .

So I just , you know , just started looking for ways that I could live this lifestyle that he was talking about , where I didn't just want to sell products , I still wanted to help people about , where I didn't just want to sell products , I still wanted to help people .

I'm a helper at heart and so I just kept looking and kept myself open to what options and possibilities there would be and , like I said , I ended up with the alternative fitness event company and then , because I was still practicing physical therapy , I got that coach certification and I went online to see , well , I know how to start the other businesses , how do

you start this coaching business thing ?

And the lady said you only had a weekend of training , you need more training as a coach . And she recommended her friend . And then that's how I got certified as a life coach . Because she said you need more training and because I had already had businesses before , I was able to get mine up and running faster than everybody else else .

And then they started coming to me saying , how did you do that ? And I was like , well , it's easy , you just had to la la la . And so that's how we kind of slid over into the , the business strategy lane wow , so it sounds like we graduated high school around the same time .

I find it interesting that you basically were like , if we're inside all day , let's at least like change where we're inside and then like we can go out to the beach . But so many people I knew and know they also say that they want to move somewhere and they're like oh , quajo , it's cool that you live in mexico .

And then the next thing you hear probably you heard from your friends too oh , but we could never do that , you know , because the kids in school or because the house here and because all the ties that normally happen when you plant down so like you want to , I'm curious we got forced out of china .

I don't know if you know that story no , I don't oh well , then here's a short version . Okay , three years of tears , what was that ? My wife and I got married in 2009 . She had not been to China before .

I had already been to China for two years , studied abroad at university , right and so she was in Mexico working at a church and setting up like an intern program at a church down here in Mexico , like a Christian church , because you know , if you want to be an engineer , you could intern at Microsoft , and if you think that maybe you want to do something like

involved in the ministry , you could like intern at a church . And so it was like she was setting up an intern program in Spanish in Mexico , and so she didn't have like anything in the States except for me . And so at that point I was like , hey , let's go to china . And she was like , okay , cool .

So we went to china in 2009 and we stayed there for 12 years and we never planned on leaving .

But then we had our kids and because she still , chinese is hard , mandarin chinese is super hard and even after staying in china for a decade and change , she still spoke better Spanish than she did Mandarin Chinese , so she could speak some good Chinese , and so I wanted to like we had this experiment going on .

I don't know , we're just weird , but so like I spoke to my kids , our kids , in Mandarin Chinese , and she would speak to them in Spanish for most of the time , right .

Not , though , after well , I'm getting ahead of myself Anyway .

So I wanted to learn Spanish and so , like , I guess , like you , you did immersion , and so I was going to do I did do an immersion program in 2019 , kind of piggyback off of vacation to the States that we had , and then we were going to do I did do an immersion program in 2019 , kind of piggyback off of vacation to the States that we had , and then we

were going to do another immersion program for me in Mexico , and we did start out doing that , and that was June or January 13th , 2020 . And so we are there at the school and news is doing its thing , you know , and people are like hey , wait , you guys know what's going on .

And like we're like , yeah , we're hearing about this like weird China pandemic thing too . And they're like didn't you guys say that you were from China , people like starting to look at us sideways , right , and think about not having us go to school , we're like .

But we've been out longer than two weeks and so , lo and behold , we quarantined in Mexico , because Mexico you know lots of tacos and guac .

We were happy and we had this quaint little like Airbnb in like a courtyard of I don't know 14 residences big courtyard and we kind of negotiated with them to do long term like more local rent instead of like the higher Airbnb rent . And then China shut down their borders and we thought we would wait it out in Mexico .

But we couldn't ever go back , like they didn't open up until 2023 . And so like from April of 2020 is when they shut down , I think . So we had to like sell everything . Sell everything like via FaceTime on our phones .

Like some friends got into our place in China and like four bedrooms of stuff we whittled down to like six luggages , which we saw a year and a half later and Mexico became home , and that is how I ended up here . So there's the story .

I had a business online before teaching chinese to express in china , and then , with that business , like I had been a paid member of his accelerator back in 2019 and then so saw lots more business growth from there until , like the pandemic decimated the business because people weren't learning in my style of teaching , which was highly interactive , that people were

being quarantined , and so that couldn't pivot . And then I started coaching inside .

Like , literally , I'm like Rick , I need a job , and he's like , all right , you can be a coach , since you have run ads and know a lot about online business , and so he taught me all the extra stuff that I know and I was coaching with him in the accelerator for several years and then you know , running ads part-time , and another like facebook ads agency , and

that's how I transitioned into this world .

So I was asking you though , because , because you decided , you made a conscious decision to kind of uproot and , I guess , break the ties that you kind of had to , like your local community , local neighborhood , and relocate which is not easy , like , how did that go , and what was some of the conversations that happened between you , and you said you're married ,

right .

And I just kept trying to tell her mom , if you , she's like , but I can't drive and see you , and I was like , well , technically , if you were really ambitious , you could drive to see me . It's probably better to fly , but you technically could drive to

see me . So those were some of the conversations that I had with her and just talking to some of my other friends who had lived as expats and lived abroad , just really asking what is something that you wish you had brought with you that you didn't , or like what are some of the things that you miss from the US , that you don't have access to ?

I think that was really the main thing . And then I just decided to put to sell or give away most of my stuff and put some things that couldn't easily be replaced in storage and I came down with like two suitcases , wow Bag Wow .

So all of my clients were on Wednesday , thursday and I made sure that I was here and in place and in time to be set up to start coaching them again . But I think they were inspired by it and they were excited to see and we really didn't miss a beat because of how I scheduled myself .

Now I have to say that was the first week I stayed in Cancun and it was just totally like vacation , with the exception of the one call that I had . Next week I transitioned over here and the day not the next day , but the day I arrived in Playa del Carmen , I was greeted with a hurricane and the power went out and everything .

And I'm freaking out like , oh my gosh , it was . It was the middle of the week , because it was a week . I was in Cancun and I was trying to figure out what would I do . I still got calls and thankfully that same friend from Birmingham said oh , don't worry about it . I got a generator come over here and work with me , so we had a coworking day .

I was able to do my calls , we had natural light , so they didn't know I didn't have power .

There were a lot of friends here from all over the world on vacation , because this part of mexico , a party town just like Atlanta it was like Atlanta shut down for a little bit and then it was mostly back open . Mexico was mostly back open after they shut down for a little bit .

So everybody kind of went back home and I was left to be here with real life , trying to figure out the grocery store . That's why I talk about that , because it's real when you get somewhere and you realize you don't know words to be able to feed yourself , which is such a basic and fundamental thing that we take for granted sometimes .

And then trying to learn enough language so you can , like , hold somewhat of a social conversation , like in spanish yeah , and you don't have to deal with this , but I'm dating in spanish , which ?

A person that does not speak your same language , like my . Spanish jumped up significantly when I started the dating process .

He doesn't speak English , though , but if he kept his mouth closed you would be like , oh , he could be a brother , kind of thing . So I think there's a little bit of similarity when you're dealing with somebody that's also part of the African diaspora , even though they speak a different language .

There are those commonalities that I didn't see with Mexican Latinos .

So I guess what I mean is like when I go outside , it's clear that I am not from here . I actually have yet to be , have yet to travel to someplace like Colombia or Venezuela where there are other black people .

You know , I did work in Paris and it felt , I would say , so much better because once I jumped the like the French language and like that language hurdle , then people saw me as being from there , because there's tons of like what would you , I guess ?

Black Parisians , but then also like Africans , as in like people who are first gen , not even first gen , what do you call first gens ? Like I'm first gen African-American because my dad is from Ghana . But what are you ? If you're , I guess you're just an immigrant . Like I'm an immigrant . We're immigrants to Mexico , right Residence cards .

Yeah , there's tons of people who live in Paris who are either from Ghana or their parents came from Ghana , and you know Togo and Benin and actual French speaking African countries , and so yeah what I was saying is I could totally get how it's . Have you been to South America yet ?

And so I got I started thinking about how can I still make the money that I want to make and still have the ability to travel and have fun without disrupting the money , because when you're so used to , if you don't and this is the trap of time for money- if you don't work , you don't get paid money . If you don't work , you don't get paid .

And so how do you still have a life and experience things and travel when you need the money to do those things ? And so , yeah , that was very intentional when , when I set up my business well , this business .

That's because for me it was a dream to be able to travel and though I had done business before moving to China , like first I just had to move to China and make life , work over there and then , as I you know , after being there for a while and then after getting like more stable , ended up , I mean it's like a 10 year journey , right .

But nine years but ended up starting a business hoping to travel , and then I got to travel with my business just not how I thought .

Let me introduce you and that's happened a couple of times where they are my community here .

I've had people actually from the email like I just try to be real and transparent in my emails that I send on sundays and I said the same thing , like I love it here , it's beautiful and I'm struggling , and one person said I live up the street from you , actually in another town .

I'll come down and let's go to brunch and that's how I started building my own ex-vac community , not necessarily the the ones in the whatsapp groups or the facebook groups or whatever . I have people that I've been connected to in very oh , that's so cool .

You can go past that if you want , but start with the dictionary definition of how you define an expat .

be American . There are certain things that I crave when I'm here . I'm like , oh , sabritas , is Lay's potato chips here ? I want that brand . I don't want the other brand , you know . And so I think there's that . But I think it's funny that you're like yeah , we're technically immigrants .

And I giggled because I saw some kind of reel the other day where someone was like oh , y'all Americans , y'all just made up a term expat , but you're really immigrants . I'm like , oh touche .

That's the slight difference .

When you say expatriate , it's like am I no longer patriotic because I choose to live in a country that's not like where I was born ? You know , like my in-laws think so , they don't listen . It's better now that we're in Mexico , which is a little more acceptable than living in communist China .

Well , they had to endure , you know , from their perspective . But I had to endure many a interesting Skype conversation Cause I think like , yeah , we were there before , before iPhones were really really a thing , so we didn't have FaceTime , we had Skype .

So I think it worked . If I were to go now , I don't think it would be quite the same , and I think it's taken me longer to learn Spanish and be as fluent as I want to be , because I still work in English . Then at night , when I'm tired , I don't feel like speaking Spanish . So we have that going on .

I got to ask you to do one thing because I'm so into languages , as you can tell , but I don't speak all the languages , so can you just tell me and everybody to listen , let's see what can we ask . I lived in China , for you said 10 years .

I have to tell people here in Mexico all the time that for some reason , my brain just blanked out because you , tavana , put me on the spot . That's okay .

I remember when I was single and was coming back from , I studied abroad in China in uni for two years and actually I've been in China for two pandemics I don't know if you remember SARS way back in like 2003 . So it was another COVID virus . Actually there's many types of COVID SARS is in the COVID family and there was an outbreak in China back in 2003 .

And that ended the first year of my study abroad in China and so I found myself back in the States not knowing if I could do my planned or previously planned second year study abroad in China quite sudden . And so I did what single people do , and you go out and meet folks , and I remember I was at this bar . I think it was a bar .

It must have been a bar , or it was a bar . It must have been a bar or it was a party , either way and this one girl was like oh yeah , that's so cool that you're back from like china , speak chinese to me .

And so I spoke chinese and she started laughing and then she didn't talk to me anymore and I realized , yeah , chinese is just not like french it's not .

That was my major out of college and it was completely a choice because I wanted to just study abroad and they let you study abroad a lot Two years out of four years you can spend abroad and , had I been more intelligent , I probably would have picked like an international relations degree , but I didn't want to do economics because I chose the easy thing , and

so I got lots of random language stuff like stored in my brain from the linguistics degree that I probably will not ever use .

But yeah , so I think we're going to stop here for this episode , because for us it's going to take like a moment to jump out and jump back into the studio to talk about minimalist marketing , how playing like the social media game is keeping online experts from getting clients , why the Oprah effect is your and I want you to break that down for me is your

go-to strategy for attracting clients as a business strategist , and maybe some more stuff . So , listener , I'm talking to you right now .

If you're listening to this episode or watching it , head down to the show notes below and you will be able to click onto the next episode where Tavana is talking about those things and if you are still curious , like Quajo , it's been nice seeing you and listening to you . However , where did Rick go ?

Well , rick is no longer the host . I am the host . Even though it's been four months now , people still ask me that you can head down to the show notes below too , or the descriptions , if you're watching on YouTube , and see two episodes .

One was where Rick talks about his new AI adventure , and two would be where Rick interviewed me and you can hear a little more detail about all the crazy China-ness and how I ended up in Mexico and coaching with him and managing Facebook ads .

And three , three they say you don't give a lot of call to actions but three would be episode 672 , where Rick was interviewing Tavana on how to turn your launches from stressful and unfocused chaos into fun and profitable , because she was a previous guest and I had the honor of listening to that episode and the honor of getting to know you here in this episode ,

tavana , and I can't wait to interview you in the next episode . So thanks for doing this behind the scenes before we hit record segment with me next episode , so thanks for doing this behind the scenes before we hit record segment with me so fun . Thank you for having me , for sure , and I'll see you in the next episode .