Podcast S3:E9 - Exploring your Identity with Adanna Onuekwusi

You can connect with the wonderful Adanna Onuekwusi over on Instagram or on her website!

Show notes:

In this episode I talk to Adanna Onuekwusi about how exploring your identity can transform your content. We talk about writing techniques that can help you to find your voice, and learn to bring your identity to the work you do.

Adanna Onuekwusi is the founder of Invicta Writers. An educator, writer and creative mentor, she is committed to teaching women how to harness the power of writing as an essential self-care practice that supports deeper connections and more fulfilling lives. Adanna feels passionately about women supporting, empowering and celebrating one another to confidently embrace their multi-layered identities, and balance being powerful leaders and self-aware, compassionate humans. You can find out more about Adanna on her website www.invictawriters.com or follow her on Instagram @invictawriters

Or receive her Nourish Notes straight to you inbox: https://mailchi.mp/5c5317780fd6/signupfornewsletter

This podcast is presented by Ellie McBride from Calibrated Concepts. It was produced by Emily Crosby Media.

Transcript

(Please note that these are computer generated and therefore imperfect).

Ellie: [00:00:00] Welcome to the capable collective podcast. He plays for women who want to ditch the overwhelm and learn to run their business with ease. I'm your host, Ellie McBride. And I firmly believe that as women and non-binary folks, we work best as a collective. So together with my. We are sharing the tools, systems and ethos behind a simple yet thriving business.

This season, we will be talking all about making great content from your website to social media. My guests and I are here to help you create content that attracts and engages your audience episodes drop on alternate Wednesdays. So make sure to subscribe, to catch everyone ready to dive in. Adanna is a qualified coach writer and wellness advocate.

She uses coaching [00:01:00] alongside writing for wellbeing to teach how changing the stories you tell to and about yourself can transform your mindset, reignite your creativity and free you to live life on your own terms.Adanna draws on 12 years experience as a qualified English teacher and senior leader in London schools, an ma in education with a specialism.

And a commitment to sharing how to use creativity as a path to a more enriching life that enables individuals, families, and communities to thrive. So today we have data on the call with us and we are going to be talking over quite a lot of things around content creation and how to explore your identity, which is.

Specialty, super duper stoked about this says not like my expertise at all, which is why I love having these calls. So thank you for joining us.

Adanna Onuekwusi: Thank you for having me Ellie.

Ellie: So do you want to just jump right in to the rapid round? [00:02:00]

Adanna Onuekwusi: Yeah, let's go for it.

Ellie: Cool. So where are you from?

Adanna Onuekwusi: So it's always a bit of a long winded. Once I live in London, I was raised in Manchester. I was born in Nigeria and I'm half my and half Jamaica. So as a it's a mish-mash I'm from Nigeria, Jamaica, Manchester, London.

Ellie: That's pretty cool. And what are your preferred pronouns?

Adanna Onuekwusi: She and her,

Ellie: so tell us a little bit about how you started your business.

Adanna Onuekwusi: Yeah, so, um, I started Invicta writers, um, just over three years ago now. My background is in, um, teaching. So as a school teacher, um, and had various, um, middle and senior leadership roles in schools, in London schools for a 12 year period. And then it was after I had my kids that I started to yeah. Start to think differently.

I started to have kind of different ideas about what I wanted and start to reprioritize my, my values and why I wanted my life to look like. And the business was born really out of [00:03:00] a combination of practicality and passion. Um, so in terms of the practicality, the kind of the rigidness of, of teaching, of being a teacher and working in schools just didn't fit for me around having a young family.

So particularly when I'm a second, I've got two girls. Um, when I had my second, my first was about to start primary school and just really practical things. Like I couldn't drop her off or pick her up from her school because it was the same time that I needed to be at my school. And yeah. But basic things like that.

I want to speak to go to her first school play. And that was going to be as a teacher is really difficult to get time off during the school day. Um, because you have to, you have to be there for your lessons. And if it, you know, there's something like. An A-level class at that time. No, one's going to give you permission to go to your kids, play and pay for a supply teacher to commence.

So you can go see your kids play and miss teaching an A-level class. So just [00:04:00] starting to think about that kind of thing. Um, I'm wanting to work in a way that was more flexible and, and meant that I could be there for my family in a way that, that wasn't really important for me. And then the passion element.

So I've got degree in English literature, as I said, um, I was teaching for, for about 12 years. So I've always really loved words. So literature and reading and writing, um, and just really been connected to the power of words and then the, the teaching element as well, that, that kind of connecting with other people and helping them to bring out the best in themselves, understand what they're capable, offs learn more capable of learning more about themselves.

So, yeah, just combining those things with a new. Understanding of how important holistic wellbeing is. I think being a mom really opened my eyes into how important it is to look after myself in order to show up or not just in order to show up as an important element of showing up through the people properties.

Actually, [00:05:00] you really have to look after yourself. So those threads, I guess my, my, my love language and literature, and then the teaching experience and then the wellness. Um, and then the core elements of bringing in Vitra rises together.

Ellie: That's amazing. I love, I love how all of your experiences have brought you to this point of being able to create this amazing business and support people through self exploration and journaling and wellness and finding themselves in some really beautiful ways.

Thank you.

So tell me a little bit about what you love about your business.

Adanna Onuekwusi: So I really, as I said, it's kind of a, you know, this, this combination of the things that I love and the things that work for me. So I've, I've designed it to really be a natural extension of who I am, um, of what I love of my values and my skills.

Of my personality, even. So things like, I mean, I'm kind of a textbook introvert for anyone who's who does the kind of Myers-Briggs [00:06:00] stuff. I'm an inf J, which is the rarest personality type. Um, and it means that I'm kind of intuitive and creative, also methodical and rational. And that's quite a, I think an unusual combination.

This type of work, really like it feeds that for me. So I've got, I do my own writing and I support people with their own creative expression, but the business element also requires me to be organized and have had to have lots of structure. And, um, so that's great. The identity element you mentioned at the beginning as well is really, really powerful and really kind of, um, a strong kind of pillar of the work that I do.

And that's come out of my. Interest and exploration in my own identity and the kind of the intersections of being black and a woman and a mother and a teacher and all kind of these labels, I guess. Um, and these ways in which we identifying the ways in which certain times they can seemingly contradict each other or the kind of the stories they inherited stories and narratives that we can have around them [00:07:00] and just realize, and as I explore that for myself, that everybody carries those things in their own way and how.

Powerful it is to become aware of it. Um, and to be aware of how those stories shape us, limiters energizes, and then tap into all of that. So that it's, it allows us to live our life in a way that feels aligned as kind of forward-looking rather than feeling stuck.

Ellie: I think I probably need some of that right now.

So I'm very, very looking forward to more of this conversation around this kind of exploring your identity and how that can support you. But before

we get more into

that, I would love to hear a couple of questions I ask everybody is what help and support do you have in your business? And I ask this because.

Horrible sort of myth that goes around solopreneur business, that like we do it all on our own. And whether that's supports at home or supports like a VA or [00:08:00] supports like cleaner therapist or a coach or whatever, I like to hear about it because solo partnership can feel really lonely. And I think it can feel way lonelier if yeah.

People see on Instagram and think that it's all happening.

Adanna Onuekwusi: Yeah, definitely. And I think that was my perception of it for a long time. And definitely for a long time, I did, um, pretty much everything in terms of the business by myself, which is really hard, especially when you're, you know, it's a new career.

Um, the kind of the creative element, it was fine for me in the, of. You know, the coaching element of the teaching element, but the business element and setting up systems and being online was also new. So there's a massive learning curve for me. And yeah, I had to learn very slowly the importance of playing to my strengths of asking for help and getting that support.

So currently for me, in terms of the business, I've just started with a VA this year, which just last month actually, which is [00:09:00] already making my life so much easier. Um, and it's just great to be able to have those conversations and not just have everything going on in my own head. We bounce ideas off other people.

Um, and have somebody take on some of the things that I find really time-consuming and not my favorite element of running the business. And it frees my time up to, um, work with clients and to do content creation and things that I really love and the things that I really want to sink my teeth into. I have also worked with a few coaches and working with a brilliant coach at the moment.

We have a monthly check-in. Um, and that really helps to focus me and to, um, help me with thinking about strategy and to work through any of my blocks that are coming up. And that prevented me from moving forward. So all of that has been really instrumental, I think, in helping to increase the rate at which I can grow, um, or my business.

Um, you mentioned how a home as well, and I think. So, but my, my [00:10:00] youngest has just started school and I think that that's made a big difference as well, because as I said, I set this up because I wanted to be very intentional about being around for them a lot more. So she wasn't nursery. Not kind of the full five days a week before, but, um, yeah, just been able to have, have some sort of childcare support in place.

Um, you know, really, really helps as well. So definitely that kind of the myth of doing everything by yourself is, is, is just a mess. And I think it really harmful one. I think it's something that women and being really kind of stereotypical here and kind of gendered, but from my experience and what I see.

It's something that a lot of women feel a responsibility to kind of step into that this idea of we have to do it all ourselves. We can't ask for help. It must be perfect. Um, and be more so than kind of encroaching on other people's lives. And it's exhausting and it's kind of, you know, a faster to burn.

Um, so yeah. Ask for help. Ask [00:11:00] for help. Yeah. Yeah.

Ellie: It's a conversation that I've had quite a few times and, um, that Mel Wiggins has all the time when she was one of my business coach, but it was just conversation around like the greatest thing a woman can be a selfless we give and we give them, we give of ourselves.

There's also quite, I think a culture everywhere, but especially, it seems to be here in Northern Ireland, around the mom handling like everything, everything and families are really close here. My family is not nearly as close as families are here. Like, I know people who are like 20 in their mid twenties or later who still have like an office.

I know stereotypical, but it's men that have their moms still doing their laundry. Right. And it's these, these things. And again, all for support all around and people helping take care of each other. But it is an interesting thing to think about. Oh, right. So the next question we have is what simple systems are you using to do [00:12:00] business with these?

So I know that we talk about support as far as, you know, people and VAs and coaches and other things like that. But also I want to talk about systems. So I love hearing about maybe the tools or processes or software that make your business a little bit easier.

Adanna Onuekwusi: So I think that's something that I'm just stepping into now.

And as I said, I've just started work with a VA. So she has been amazing. And, um, introducing me to ways in which I can simplify my, um, my work life, um, and just help things work much more smoothly. So for example, at the moment I'm migrating from one, um, email marketing system to another one wouldn't even have occurred to me without.

Because I want to build, um, a lead magnet in a particular way. And, you know, one, one system was better than, than the other and just things like making and the onboarding process a lot more streamlined. So I'm trying to think of any particular software. Um, but it, I think it's, [00:13:00] it's quite basic stuff. I mean, I've got set up oncology.

Um, just recently for the first time. So it's it's for me, I think it's the basic sexy judges actually that are going to just help things to start running more smoothly. My head space as well, and my space for my creativity so I can serve my clients better.

Ellie: Yeah. Like my number one tip for anybody. Cause I was a tech VA doing a lot of this stuff for a really long time.

My number one tip for P overworked service providers is always get a booking software. It's something you can see. And an hour and it will save you so much time. So things like Calendly and acuity are like, I preach them constantly, cause it can, it can make a huge difference and that whole back and forth admini.

That you do so much. Like, I even have links for like, if somebody from like the business community wants to have like a coffee chat with me, they have to book it through Calendly. Like I don't just like go through my calendar, be like, can you do this time? Can you do this time? No, that's a waste [00:14:00] of everybody's time.

Adanna Onuekwusi: Yeah. I've wasted a lot of time, I think over the past couple of years doing that. And you, cause it can take weeks finding like that, waiting for somebody to reply to an email and then you've got to get back to them. And then the original date doesn't work. And then yeah. So live in Calendly. Yes.

Ellie: Yes. I like some company, like, like my, uh, when I worked for a law firm, they still did the whole back and forth and back and forth.

I never did convince them. Right. Well, Thank you so much for sharing all those bits of your business. I'd love to kind of pivot a little bit and talk about your expertise. And today we're going to be talking more about exploring your identity and relation to content creation. This whole season of the podcast is about how to make content creation, which is this big piece of business.

Easier feel less overwhelming, more natural, and feel less like. Uh, chore. [00:15:00] So, um, I would love to hear a little bit about this piece of exploring your identity, that, um, is really in your wheelhouse.

Adanna Onuekwusi: Yeah. So as I say, it's the core, the core aspect, identity, and voices of the, kind of the core aspects of what it is that I help clients explore.

Often, I think people think about this in a work context tax. They think about it in relation to perhaps that their work identity or business identity, or is the voice that they want to have, or the story that they want to have in that business. But I think to be clear on that, used to be clear on how that says on a personal level, because that's the, you know, who you are as an individual, as the, kind of the common denominator in every aspect of your life.

So writing is the kind of the key tool that I use to support people and exploring their identity and their, I mean, there's so many different ways in which that can be done. And then once you start to kind of get to grips. How you perceive yourself or what you see as the, kind of the key elements of [00:16:00] your identity, then you can start thinking about how that links to your values and how that's going to come across in your business and what your priorities are going to be.

So I can suggest a few kind of, um, exercises if that helps.

Ellie: Yeah. We'd love to, I always love asking for tools to help people get started with these processes and these ideas.

Adanna Onuekwusi: So one, my often use, um, was kind of the first thing I do with one-to-one clients is, um, I get them to write a list of 50 things that like.

Um, of people usually freak out, I say 50. Um, but once you get into it, it's surprisingly easy. And the brilliant thing about that is it just forces you to really focus on not just what you like, but things actually, I think that phrase lights you up besides, um, Marie Kondo, I guess. But, um, it makes people, I think it, it lands differently for people and really forces and it kind of internal process internal reflection or.

Um, the things that make you tick [00:17:00] and when you've got the list, you can then go back and see, um, if you can group them into any particular categories. And that starts to give you an idea of what it is that. Yeah. What, what, what you enjoy, what you need from your life. And that can start to feed into help me to understand, again, your values, your priorities.

Um, sometimes it can be quite surprising. Um, sometimes it's kind of a, firm's what you know about yourself, but that's a really simple. An enjoyable, um, way to kind of start that

Ellie: I'm definitely going to probably be doing that this weekend sounds like a really fun.

Adanna Onuekwusi: It is a it's really fun. And then, you know, it's really great.

It's going to do one of the awesome of them as well. Particularly these things that you haven't done for a long time. That's always really great. Um, another thing that I use quite often is called free writing, or some people call it a stream of consciousness. Um, and that's literally, you just sit down and you just write freely for a set amount of time.

See, it can be five minutes, for example, or you can say I'm just going to do three pages and stop. [00:18:00] And with three writing, there are no rules. So you don't need to worry about spelling, penetration of grammar, or even if it makes sense. And it's just a way for you to, um, have an outlet for whatever is going on internally.

So that can be a really brilliant insight as well into some of the things that are running around in the back of your mind. Um, again, can you be to be feeling in terms of yeah. Your priorities and your values and the things that are bothering you? The things that are, um, you know, that you're happy about the things that are sitting well, and then if you like something a little bit more visual, um, an exercise that I like doing is to getting people, to sketch a tree.

So with roots as well. So roots trunk and branches leaves, um, print flowers, and then using that as a kind of, um, a representation of who you are in different aspects of your identity. So the roots would be your foundation. So things like your heritage, your culture, your [00:19:00] religion. Um, so just labeling basically what those things are, what you see as the foundation of who you are and of your identity, the trunk would be your core values, um, core beliefs, the things that are non-negotiable in your life, the brunches would be significant people and your relationship with them.

So thinking about how that informs your identity, the leaves will be key events in your life. The fruit would be achievement, ski achievements, and then the flowers would be things that are beauty or pleasure in your life. So that can just be a really, um, it's a really creative way to get a sense of who you are and then just have this kind of visual representation of it.

And the key thing with all of these, actually with all the writing exercises they do is once you've completed, it is to then give yourself some time to look over it again, read over it. Um, have a, have a pause and come back to it if, you know, if you want to. Um, and that's a really important element of the, kind of the therapeutic element or the kind of the cognitive elements you kind of [00:20:00] got gathered a double layer of the initial process of just writing and doing, doing it as naturally as possible.

And then you come back to it with a kind of reflective lens, um, and see, you know, does what you've written feel. Like a reflection of who you are in this moment or does it feel like actually that's an old version of myself that's coming out. That's a story that I don't want to carry anymore. Um, and that can be really revealing in terms of your identity.

Does it reflect something that's more aspirational? You're not quite there yet again, that can give you some kind of indication of changes and tweaks that you might need to make in your life. Um, do you like what you've written, do you like, um, how you perceive your identity, that kind of thing. So, um, I think, yeah, really just starting with getting to grips with who you are, understanding that, and then that has a beautiful ripple effect into all aspects of your life and your business.

Ellie: I think that is really, really cool. I've actually, if you don't everybody on that listening, most of you probably know me, [00:21:00] but I cry really easily and I'm like kind of tearing up listening to you because. I've got this like weird kind of thing going on lately. Normally I'm very, self-aware not like a hundred percent of the time, but I am quite anxious.

And normally I have an idea of where the anxiety is coming from at the very least, right in the last couple of weeks, I've had this weird light pressure all the way from my stomach to my esophagus almost every single day. And I have no idea what. There's obviously various life stressors going on, but nothing that has, that I can pinpoint would be causing this physical thing in my body.

So I might try something like I do journal fairly regularly. Um, but I usually. I usually do it with the intention of getting all of my thoughts out in preparation for writing my newsletter. Like I very rarely journal just to journal or just to really get aligned with myself. So obviously the, the purpose in the end is always to have something concrete to send out to people, even if the process is messy and [00:22:00] I allow it to be messy in the.

Yeah. So I might need to spend some time doing some free writing, thinking about what lights me up, really getting into what is in that background of my brain, because I there's something, there, there is something there and I'm not a hundred percent sure what it is right now.

Adanna Onuekwusi: Yeah, no, that's really powerful.

I think that's something that happens a lot in that's really common. Um, and I think most of us just push that down and be just continuing. So something will happen and then we will not have the time or we'll take the time or whatever it is to process it. And then, you know, a few weeks down the line, we're wondering why is that we've got this anxiety or why is that?

We can't sleep and rising is just such a, it's such an accessible way to get to the root of that, and then be able to address it and give ourselves a support that we need. And that what you said about kind of, you know, when you journos often so that you can print your newsletter, it [00:23:00] is great using journaling and fear rights and all that kind of thing for, um, for writer's block.

But it is that there's a lot of, there's so much value in writing for the sake of writing or doing it for yourself. I think there are very few times in life where we give ourselves permission or we feel like we have permission to do things just for the sake of it. Um, particularly as an adult. So it's that element of giving yourself permission to play.

Um, you know, the way kids would just play because they're kids, so they're allowed to play. We don't do that very much as adults. So I think just, yeah, getting a pen and paper and giving yourself permission to explore and see what comes up and then take you wherever you need to take it as is really empowering.

Ellie: Yeah, you're right. It is so powerful to just let ourselves do something for the sake of it. And I think like, and it can be in journaling is something that I definitely need to get into. And for this phase of my life, more than I am, when I get to phases like this, I do know that I need to let myself have that outlet and that I, if that [00:24:00] outlet, then doesn't prove to work enough that is assigned for me to restart therapy, um, which I I'm a huge proponent of therapy as you need.

I did therapy for most of, not this past summer, but the one before, because on top of a pandemic and major cultural awakenings that were happening around the world, there was a lot of personal life stuff that seemed to happen. It was all outside of my control within my family. But yeah, I think I've got some stuff to deal with, which will be interesting to do.

Um, I think that's the interesting, weird part about being an entrepreneur. Is you kind of always have to be facing yourself, but you don't get to hide very often. You just because in order to show up and make money and support the people you're supporting this, you have to face yourself.

Adanna Onuekwusi: Yes, absolutely agree.

And that, that can be quite a shock to the system. Um, but yeah, yeah. Absent [00:25:00] that level of self-awareness. And as you say, facing yourself and knowing yourself is just so crucial. Mm.

Ellie: Yeah, I think another interesting exercise that it's writing and not writing at the same time, one of my prompt, favorite exercises that I've done.

And I don't think it's from. So I had originally done with my coach, Mel Wiggins, but she learned, um, Tara Moore, I think it was. And Terra Maura got it from wherever the hell that she did hurt her training and such, but it's that whole concept of taking the time to essentially meditate into meeting your future.

Adanna Onuekwusi: Yeah. One of my favorite things to do, I'm a big time or fun. Yeah.

Ellie: Yes. It's so beautiful. And it, for me, like I am, so I'm such a square sometimes. And so like that, like the exercise originally, I was so freaked out and all the big, like meditator, like any of these kinds of things, like, I'm not like big on like this.

Visualizing, and these were all important practices. I'm not trying to degrade these practices. They're just making me feel very uncomfortable. And I think it's [00:26:00] part of my anxiety and part of like, I am a control freak and other things that I am slowly but surely working on that thing. Like I remember the first time I did it being like shocked, shocked at who I wanted to become someday and who I, and how.

The future me might get to be put to the feels. So like the antithesis of who I am most days now. Yeah. But I guess on the other side it does feel funny because like, if I think about like who I was five years ago, I suppose I am calmer.

Adanna Onuekwusi: Yeah. I love that. Yeah. And the mentor exercise, um, I use it a lot with clients.

And it's always really powerful. And as you say, it can be so revealing of, again, things that are like, things will be won on conscious desires that we have, or, um, strengths or tendencies. And we just don't know that, that, and giving them the space to emerge again, really [00:27:00] powerful. And then we start thinking about how we actually align our lives and, you know, um, our values and everything with moving towards that.

Ellie: And I love now. I'm just, now, now you're giving me so many good things to just try it. I hope that all of you out there are listening and thinking that these are going to be really good exercises to help you feel like you're really aligned with who you are, who you are in your business, which are related, but not entirely the same thing.

And then also how that relates to how you show up and put yourself out into the world and your content for your. Business and your community and the people you serve, anything to add to that before we kind of pivot and go back to talking a bit about your business.

Adanna Onuekwusi: Yeah. Just emphasizing what you said really.

And just the, and, and the power in doing that, both for personal and business life. Like I said, you know, you're the, you're the common denominator in every aspect of your life. And I think we put so much energy into thinking [00:28:00] about what other people need from us. Um, whether, you know, uh, family members or friends or.

Um, employers or employees or wherever it is, and this kind of, um, always kind of outward focusing and it's really necessary to have that time for the, for the reflection, um, and do it, doing it in a way that isn't just, um, kind of being upon ourselves and, um, having a go at ourselves for not doing enough or.

I'm spending too much time ruminating on perceived flaws, but actually really taking the time to connect with ourselves holistically, like the full spectrum of who we are. Yeah. And being able to celebrate, or, you know, even if we're thinking about self-improvement self-development, we can do that from a space of compassion, but it requires taking the time and space to slow down and to listen and tune in and figure out what's going on for you.

Um, yeah, really important.

Ellie: Totally. I think that that [00:29:00] is something that I think in our fast paced society we struggle to do. That's why things like women's retreats or like, um, journaling or like these things are so popular in some, some ways these things that we do, because we, as a society really struggle to slow down.

You really there's always a distraction. Um, whereas, you know, 60 years ago, You didn't have a phone in your hand that was constantly pinging at you where there was no emails, like all these things that are constantly like demanding from us. So I think that it is more important than ever that we take the time to tune in with ourselves.

Adanna Onuekwusi: I think last year showed that really clearly to us. Um, and definitely I've had more interest in his last year in the work that I do is people recognize. How important it is to be, to sit with yourself, um, how important it is to be, to know yourself and [00:30:00] be able to come off, come out, step out. I think it kind of internalized scripts that we often live from.

Ellie: So as we kind of pivot back to talking about your business, I want to hear about what has been one of your biggest learning experiences in business?

Adanna Onuekwusi: I think the first one we kind of covered already that you can't do it all by yourself and trying it's not very far. I think the second one for me has been around visibility and the importance of using my.

I think a combination of my professional experience as a teacher, which I never had to sell, being a teacher. I never had to particularly being an English teacher in England. Um, everybody has to do English, so, and, and it was always a popular level, even at a level. So I, I never. Like it was enough to know your stuff and do it well and be passionate about it.

Um, you know, and, and have integrity. And then people would naturally come to you and you do what you need [00:31:00] to do. So it was a, it's been a massive learning curve and it's still one for me. Um, Yeah. As a business owner to know that I can apply all of that same stuff and I can be organized and I can be passionate and I can know my stuff and I can be really well-prepared.

But if no one knows you exist, then that's not really going to get you very far. So again, because I'm naturally quite introverted, that's been quite difficult for me to get more comfortable with putting myself on social media, doing podcasts or that kind of thing. That means that actually, I, I, I get to, um, I get to work with people and they get to do the things that I.

But that was definitely, um, yeah, a big shock, I think in the first year that you can't just kind of create a package and then, you know, or a course or program, and just wait for people to show up because if they don't know that you exist and they don't know what it is that you're offering. It doesn't matter, like how hard you've worked on it or your experiences.

There's just gonna to, you have to, you have to be [00:32:00] visible. You have to, um, be able to articulate what it is that you do and why you do it and yeah. How it can help people.

Ellie: Yeah. Yeah. And I think that, that is definitely like, especially if you're listening and you're just starting out in business that has a learning curve that we all face you won't, it takes a while to figure out how to articulate that and to figure that out for your.

Um, there are tools that can help things like these practices that Donna is talking about or coaching or working with a copywriter or there's loads of different ways that you can help. But in the end, like, I, I, I'm a big believer that it sort of takes time, just a little fight within yourself through a lot of these practices and working with whoever you say.

The more you do that, it really does help. Yeah.

Adanna Onuekwusi: And being comfortable with it taking time. I think, um, particularly if you've come from a, if you've been quite established in a previous career and having to come back to being a beginner in some ways, um, and not wanting to [00:33:00] make those mistakes and wanting to just kind of jump right in into being, uh, you know, experienced level or expert level can be.

Again, just quite uncomfortable. You just have to make the space and allowance and acceptance for the tie for the, for the fact that it's going to take some time for you to find your feet.

Ellie: Yeah, not that I should be surprised because like words are what you do, but that was beautifully said, I always sort of envy people like you, and I've interviewed a couple other, like people like Sasha and Mel that are also just beautiful with words.

And that is a skill that I really wish I had, but it's okay. It takes all kinds in the world. Um, so do you want to tell us about anything that you're working on, right.

Adanna Onuekwusi: Yeah. So I have recently qualified, um, as a coach, which is really exciting. So that has given me lots of just brilliant new tools to be able to bring to my writing clients, things like transactional analysis, positive psychology, and [00:34:00] neuroscience.

So it has meant that I am now offering pure coaching programs as well. Um, so I am working on something that will be ready in a couple of weeks called becoming, and it is a pure coaching program for anybody who is experiencing transition. So for our point of transition in your life, or you actually are seeking a change, if you'd like you're ready for a transition and you're feeling quite stuck or held back and your usual tools and Coco mechanisms mechanisms that you would kind of lean in.

Just a, not helping you and might in some ways be hindering you, um, because they're just not allowing you to move forward. Um, so. The becoming program is a space for you to really start to dig into some of those stories. And some of those narratives that, as I said, my brought you so far, but are preventing you from moving forward and a space for you to review and add an update, those internal narratives about who you've been and who you [00:35:00] are and get some clarity around it and some, uh, space for, um, yeah.

Non-judgment non-judgemental space for you to. Tap into your own clarity and courage so that you can move forward into who you are becoming into, who you really want to be similar to what you were saying about, you know, that inner mentor piece, just kind of having that the space to really get clear on how to have everything aligned in your life.

Um, and because I know the power of writing as well, that comes with, um, the month access to my monthly membership as well, so that you have the writing support, the writing elements and my monthly membership is called the right space. So you have the pricing element there as well, as well as the pure coaching as well.

Ellie: Well, all of that sounds absolutely beautiful. Yeah. Just like sitting here talking to. I think I might need to join that membership. Like I need to look into that having that support and that accountability sounds like a beautiful thing for this next phase for me. Yeah. [00:36:00] Cause I I'm entering sort of the reverse of the transition.

I am deciding that I am pausing. I am resting. I am. I am actually my thing that I just wrote about in my newsletter, I am. I am a snail for the next six months. I'm going to go slow. I'm going to protect myself. I'm going to be selfish and eat other people's vegetable. Obviously a little bit exaggerated, but that's my relationship with snails outside my house is they are always eating my lettuce.

Adanna Onuekwusi: You said, did you send that out last night? And I was reading that. Yeah. I saw that. And I saw that thing about being and becoming, and I thought that was really, um, yeah, perfect timing for me as well, but yeah, some really great reflections there. Yeah. Yeah.

Ellie: So I think that having some support in that. Rest phase for somebody who's like me.

Who's not good at rest would be a lovely thing. So, um, I also see here, you have a freebie, you don't tell people a little bit about that.

Adanna Onuekwusi: Yes. [00:37:00] So, um, I am developing that. So hopefully that be ready by the time this goes out to act, but yeah. So it's how to start writing for wellbeing. It was just something that I had people asking.

A lot, like they say, I used to write when I was at school, I used to kind of turn a little bit, but I, you know, I don't know, or I want to, but I don't know how to get started. So yeah. So I'm going to have a simple guy to, to gain started, um, writing for, well-beings also called, um, creative writing for therapeutic purposes as well.

And just showing you how you can use it, both of that kind of that therapeutic element. How could the house gets tossed in a very practical way, but also the positive psychology element as well. So it's not just having to write about kind of difficult experiences. You can use it to write about like things like your inner mentor, you know, you can use it to write about.

What you want to move towards as well. Um, you know, your, your, your hopes and your desires and, and, and that kind of thing as well. So it's really about mindset and, um, yeah, really [00:38:00] excited to be developing lesson fair, to share it with people so that they can get started on their writing journeys to,

Ellie: so if you're listening, there will be a beautiful freebie out there for you.

There will be the becoming program. I don't know how often that starts or runs, but there will be an option there for you as well as a monthly writing workshop. Uh, So, do you want to tell people where they can find you and find all those lovely resources?

Adanna Onuekwusi: Yeah. So on Instagram I am at Invicta Writers. Um, and then when my website is Invicta Writers.com, I have a regular news letter.

They send out as well called nourish notes. So if you kind of want to irregular dose or dose. Honest. Um, so for homophobia reflections on women was in wellness then. Yeah. Sign up for that as well.

Ellie: Ah, that's all lovely. Well, thank you so much. Like you just brought so much, so many amazing resources for people to work through and learn more about [00:39:00] themselves.

And I think that people will find this episode really, really useful. So thank you so much for sharing your wisdom.

Adanna Onuekwusi: Thank you, Ellie. Thank you.

Ellie: Thank you for listening to the capable collective podcast. I really hope you enjoyed this episode and have gotten value from it. If you did, please subscribe on your chosen listening plus. And if you happen to be listening over on apple podcasts, please take a moment to leave a review. It helps other people to find and trust this podcast.

And it would mean the world to me, this episode was edited by Emily Crosby media. She's amazing to work with. And if you are looking to start a podcast or for some practical media solutions, definitely check her out. Thank you so much. Again, have a great day.[00:40:00]