Starter Girlz Podcast

From Cameroon to CEO: Joan Ekobena’s Journey to Building a Business Empire

• Jennifer Loehding • Season 7 • Episode 64

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In this episode of the Starter Girlz podcast, host Jennifer Loehding welcomes dynamic entrepreneur and transformation expert Joan Ekobena to share her inspiring journey from Cameroon to becoming a leader in the home care industry. Joan discusses the challenges she faced, the pivotal mindset shifts that shaped her success, and the universal quest for happiness and achievement. They explore the power of understanding limiting beliefs, particularly around money, the importance of having a strong "why," and aligning personal values with business goals. Joan also highlights her book, Money Locates You, her new coaching initiatives, and strategies for overcoming obstacles, making this conversation a must-watch for aspiring entrepreneurs and growth-driven individuals.

Takeaways

  • Mindset is key to overcoming entrepreneurial challenges and shaping decisions.
  • Joan Ekobena’s journey from Cameroon to CEO highlights the importance of adapting, pivoting, and continuous learning in business.
  • Success involves understanding your ‘why,’ researching your market and starting with what you have.
  • Beliefs, including limiting ones, can impact confidence, especially around money and financial decision-making.
  • Women often face unique emotional challenges regarding money, but affirmations and personal growth can reshape those beliefs.
  • Happy employees lead to satisfied clients.
  • Personal growth is a journey.
  • Understanding your niche is vital for long-term business success.

To learn more about Joan and her work, go to https://www.premieredestiny.com/.

Jennifer Loehding:

Welcome to the Starter Girlz podcast, your ultimate source of inspiration and empowerment. We're here to help women succeed in every area of their lives career, money, relationships, and health and well-being while celebrating the remarkable journeys of individuals from all walks of life who've achieved amazing things. Whether you're looking to supercharge your career, build financial independence, nurture meaningful relationships or enhance your overall well-being, the Starter Girlz podcast is here to guide you. Join us as we explore the journeys of those who dare to dream big and achieve greatness. I'm your host, jennifer Loehding, and welcome to this episode. Welcome to another episode of the Starter Girlz podcast, wherever you are tuning in today. We are so excited to have you and I am excited that you're here. We've got another fabulous guest coming on the show of which I just met today, so I'm excited to learn about her and her journey and all those good things. But let me tell you about her real quick.

Jennifer Loehding:

Joan Ekobena is a wife, mother of three young adults. She's a successful transformation expert, ceo and international best-selling author as the leader of Home Care Solutions, incorporated DBA, visiting Angels and Premier Destiny, joan has earned multiple awards and accolades for her excellence in business and personal development. Through Premier Destiny, she coaches business owners, leaders and ambitious professionals, guiding them towards success and prosperity. And as if that is not enough, she's also a Forbes Business Council thought leader. Her articles on Forbescom reflect her expertise in business success and personal growth. Her award-winning book Money Locates you, featured in the Forbes Executive Library, showcases her expertise in elevating business success and personal growth. So we're excited to get her on. But before we do that and chat with her, I do need to do a quick shout out to our sponsor.

Jennifer Loehding:

This episode is brought to you by Walt Mills Productions. Need to add excitement to your YouTube videos or some expert hands for editing? Look no further. Walt Mills is the solution you've been searching for. Walt is not only your go-to guy for spicing up content. He's the force behind a thriving film production company with numerous titles in the pipeline. Always on the lookout for raw talent, walt is eager to collaborate on film and internet productions. With a background deeply rooted in entertainment and promotion, walt Mills leverages years of skills to give you the spotlight you deserve. Want to learn more about Walt and his work? Head on over to waltmillsproductionsnet and let your content shine All right.

Jennifer Loehding:

And with that I think we're ready to bring our guest on. One more thing I do want to mention to our audience, all of you listening in be sure you head on over to startergirlz. com and if you don't know that, you haven't been following us for a while. That's a Z, not an S, so startergirlz com. There you can get into all of these missed episodes and the current episodes, but also you can subscribe to our newsletter, keep up with what's going on and all of our featured guests. All right, so we're ready to bring our guest on the show, my most favorite part, Joan. Welcome to the Starter Girls podcast. We're so excited to have you here today.

Joan Ekobena:

Thank, you, Jennifer, and all the Starter Girlz. I am really excited to be on your show. Thank you.

Jennifer Loehding:

This is going to be fun. So, joan, where are you tuning in from today? What fun, so Joan, where are you tuning in from today? What part of the country are you?

Joan Ekobena:

in From the beautiful state of Maryland, where you have the best crafts in the world.

Jennifer Loehding:

Awesome, awesome. I've actually never been to Maryland, I've never been up to like Boston. I mean, I've been in the East, some of the East coast, but never up there, so it's funny how you can. We can live in, you know, the States, and there's so many great places to be in, like some of them, we've just never traveled to, you know.

Joan Ekobena:

Yeah.

Jennifer Loehding:

Awesome, Awesome. So I want to talk about you. I want to start off talking a little bit about what you're doing. How you know, in the business world, you've got so many amazing things going on, and this is what I love about dynamic entrepreneurs, because a lot of us just have so many things going on in our world. Our hands are all over the place and you're inspiring and doing a lot of things. So tell us a little bit about what you got going on right now A lot.

Joan Ekobena:

Yes, you do Got a lot going on. So, like you mentioned earlier, I am the CEO of Home Care Solutions, dba Visiting Angels, which is a home care franchise we have four franchises in the DMV area and also running a Premier Destiny, which is a coaching for success and prosperity company. And, of course, I'm an author. I write for Forbescom as well as a thought leader there. As a thought leader there, working on starting coaching services with home care owners to make sure that those who are excited to get into the industry know what they're getting into Right and they get started on the right foundation. So that is coming on as well.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, and I know I have a friend here in my circle that does franchising as well, so I know it can be a really lucrative thing and it's. It's all about finding the right people and getting them into the right places. And and I think the thing that I kind of like about the franchising, you know if if they're good is that you guys kind of help them get going. It's not like just go, you're by yourself, you throw you out there, figure out your business, which is so hard, right as an entrepreneur, to start out and figure everything out on your own. Do you want to talk about that Trust?

Joan Ekobena:

me, it can be very challenging, especially in the home care space. You know we were blessed to find Visiting Angels, which is our franchisor, and eventually, over the years so this is almost close to 23 years now we have four home care visiting angels franchises in the DMV area. But starting out can be very challenging. Sometimes it can feel lonely, but if you have the support of your franchisor or a mentor, someone who's already successful in this space, it can be of great help. So, yeah, it can be challenging, but there are resources out there people who are successful in the industry that can help you get started. And this new course that I'm talking about is just going to do that. It's going to help those who are looking to get into the industry or those who are already in the industry and are not getting where they want to. You know they're not making the progress or seeing the results that they would love to help them build that solid foundation and skill.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, that's awesome. I'm, I'm and I know the work going, you know, going behind building out a course.

Jennifer Loehding:

I'm actually filled it finishing up one right now and it's so funny because I had built a um high ticket course about a year maybe a little over a year ago and then I got it done and I was like what do I do with this thing? Like it's huge, like where do I put it Right? And so then I worked in another with another um mentor in a mastermind group and worked on basically how to engineer that backwards and build out an offer suite, and so I'm actually finishing up something within that right now. And so I know you know the depth it takes to get in there and actually dig in and build those courses. But I think there's something kind of fun about it too, right, like, especially if you like to be a little bit creative and you like there's some kind of fun and magical about it.

Joan Ekobena:

You know what I mean. I love that I can sit for hours doing that. I love you know writing, I love creating things you know, so it's fun. It can be fun yeah.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, yeah, I'm with you on that too. It's crazy too, cause I was telling I think I was telling my husband about this. It's like I love to create things. I don't like the minutiae stuff. Like I told you before, we do like all those things that I hate doing right, like I just want to create the things I love doing these interviews like this.

Jennifer Loehding:

I don't like the others. I just want to get on here and talk to you. Fabulous people, tell your stories, have these conversations, but then we have to get to like the hard parts that I'm like can somebody come in, do that?

Joan Ekobena:

So you have to do what you're best at right.

Jennifer Loehding:

So that's exactly. I'm with you on that. So I want to back this up a little bit. I want to talk about what brought you to all of this, because you mentioned getting in the franchising 25 years ago. You know because I don't know about you, but I think sometimes entrepreneurs are born. Some of us are like I knew as a young child. I mean, I joke about this now. I was a young child, I was making things like I was trying to create businesses when I was like in elementary school, you know, and by the time I was in middle school I was mowing yards. I was knocking on people's doors saying can I mow your yard for money, you know? But I think a lot of entrepreneurs are not. They sort of evolve into that. So I'm curious to know what brought you to that space, if you knew this or if there was just like a happen chance that happened for you.

Joan Ekobena:

Jennifer, when you said that I was like oh so let me tell you my story. Yes, tell us. My entrepreneurial journey started from when I was eight. So you may not know, but I'm from, originally from, cameroon it's in West Africa and I grew up in a very lowly family, very humble, but full of love, right and full of faith. Finances were not overflowing, so to say, and I had to help my grandmother, my grandparents, because my mom had left, like when we were maybe I could have been like six or five, my younger sister was like three to study abroad in France, and so things were kind of rough. So I did whatever I could do. I started making little snacks to sell to my classmates during break time. From the age of eight, I would sell fruits that were in season. We had a huge company, so fruits were plenty, but I you know, I always look for something to do to earn money somehow, and my sister would like she she, she's not so entrepreneurial, although she's now back, then she wasn't she would want to eat the best fruits. I'm like oh, no, no, no, we're going to sell the best fruits, right, to make the money. So that started from way back then, right? So it's always been in me and, as God will have it, I, I.

Joan Ekobena:

I went to England. My mom sent me to England, um to to study Um. At that point I separated with my high school sweetheart, who is my, my husband now and my business partner. So it was almost about 10 years in England, while the same year he came to the US. It was challenging, but after that he said come over. I had finished my MBA in banking and finance and I registered for my PhD. I said, oh no, you have to come over now. Like, ok, what am I going to prioritize here? You know, my family or further education. So I decided to come to the US.

Joan Ekobena:

Long story short, when I came here I started looking for work. I was like, okay, this is the US, right, I'm going to get this corporate dream and, you know, make it big in the corporate world in the US. But when I started looking for jobs, I wanted to be a bank manager. All along from childhood I was only giving jobs to like um, maybe teller positions and stuff like that. Like, oh, no, not with the qualification that I have and the experience that I have. And my friends were like Joan, what works in the U S for black people or black women is nursing.

Joan Ekobena:

At that point my mindset was at a different level. So I went into nursing starting from, you know, from the bottom. I started as a certified nursing assistant, as a cn it has the lowest level went into lpn school and then the it boom came along right and my husband and I went into it. So I went into, I became became an Oracle database administrator, oracle financial. I did that. But the first job that I got was as a systems analyst. I knew nothing about it. So you know I'm not the one to shy away from any challenge, you know. I just I embraced it. I took it on. Guess what, jennifer? The first two weeks 15 people were laid off, didn't know what they were doing, but thank god I I hung in there and I did it. But during the course of that position so I was the senior database analyst for the airport's authority, for National and Dollars Airport. So we managed all of that.

Joan Ekobena:

And Y2K came along Remember when they said all the planes were going to collide and so forth. So I worked on that. It was very successful. And President Bush Jr came to greet us. You know it was all exciting. So I was like, yes, it was all exciting. So I was like, yes, I got a promotion.

Joan Ekobena:

But somehow I just had this overwhelming feeling to leave that job and just venture out. Some people thought we were crazy. You know. Some were like are you sure? My boss called me. I said, joan, do you want a salary raise? Do you want another promotion? I said no, I just have to pivot, I just have to do this now.

Joan Ekobena:

And we started looking and because I doubled a little bit in nursing, we decided to go into home care. And so that's how we got into home care. It was kind of long winded, but after a while I realized, okay, maybe this journey was all planned for me to be here, right, Because the experience that I'd gotten as a CNA, as an LPN, worked with some agencies, my IT experience, working at the airports, you know all that was coming into play and I was like, wow. So that's how we started a home care solutions back in 2002. And things evolved very fast. Things evolved very fast. You know the business was growing, was doing very well and other ideas just started coming. How do we help other home care owners who want to do this right? And you know I'll stop there so you can ask your next question.

Jennifer Loehding:

I can just go on and on Hearing all that. No, I love it, and there's so many takeaways for this for somebody listening to this One. I love that you told the story about your childhood because you gave me chills when I was thinking about it, because when you were talking about the inventory, I'd be like the same way but don't touch the inventory. That's what we're selling to make the money. You know, I think some of us are. You know, and here's the thing I will say about this podcast I love that I have the opportunity to meet people from all over the world because, you know, what I have found is that, universally, we all kind of want similar things. Right, we want happiness, we want success, we want to thrive.

Jennifer Loehding:

We want all these things right, and it's fun when I hear a story like this about somebody from another part of the world. As a young child in another country, another culture, all of these and we have a similar resonance in that we had this drive to want to be to create something and manifest money. Whatever, you know, whatever that was for us at that time, and obviously now, as a developed entrepreneur, you know that wealth is much more than just about having cash in your pocket, right? But when you, you know, I used to say this when I was in Mary Kay, you know, to my team I don't know if you knew this I was in Mary Kay for 22 years. I was in leadership for a really long time, built teams.

Jennifer Loehding:

But I would say to people you know, like when you don't have money, it ranks with breathing right. Like what do you do when you don't have it? It's almost like you're suffocating, and so you know. However you grew up, you definitely I am getting this from you learn some kind of work ethic and some kind of gratitude for putting in the work and building success for yourself, and I love that.

Jennifer Loehding:

So such a great story. The other thing I really love is that you are like a couple of things one willing to do things right, willing to learn and do things, but it also makes you very I say knowledgeable too and expertise, and that's what I love about your journey, because I think you said it kind of in there somewhere about our paths, kind of taking all these different pieces that we take away that bring us to where we are. Anybody that I feel like has had success. There are a few people that get right in and they have immediate success and that's it. They stay there and that's what they've done and that they're. You know what I mean. Most people are constantly learning and evolving, and so they're developing, you know, as they go along the way, yeah.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, I say the same thing because, if you know, when I when I joined Mary Kay in 1999, in my late 20s, I thought I was going to be there forever and I was there 22 years. I was with that organization for that long I thought I was never going to leave and then I had a life circumstance happen that kind of drew me in a different place and I realized that I needed to pull what I learned from there and take my gifts and talents and put them in a place where I could actually feel like I could thrive more. Yes, had I never had that experience, I probably wouldn't be doing the podcast, I would have never led people, I would have never developed probably developed the leadership skills I needed, you know. So we need those journeys.

Joan Ekobena:

Yes, yes, we do so, yes, we do so, yes, we do. In life, you always have to be open to learn, unlearn and relearn. You know, that's how you evolve, that's how you grow.

Jennifer Loehding:

Right, yeah, I love it, I love it. So I want to talk about a little bit about some of I mean, you've kind of mentioned some things here, but I would love to know, even for somebody listening to this, because they're looking at you and going. You know this, this lady is successful and you've shared your journey and I know it wasn't an easy one, because it never is. But maybe some of the hurdles you know, getting into this entrepreneur space, you know, moving from there, you know obviously you kind of touched upon leaving, you know leaving away from the job and coming into this space, but maybe some things that you felt were hurdles you had to overcome to get this franchise business going and get where you are today.

Joan Ekobena:

The challenges were plenty, I have to say, but it's the mindset that gets you over those challenges right. The challenges are always going to be there. You just have to embrace them head on and keep moving. So, right from my childhood, moving to England when I was, I think, 18 or 19, into a new country you know my accent was laughed at and you know I just had to. The weather was different. I had to cope with all of that and then, after all that, when you feel like, okay, you're finally getting your feet on the ground I had to relocate now to the US and then it's almost. It was almost like starting all over, you know. So the challenges were always there, but I think my, my faith, my, my determination, just knowing that this mindset that I have, that I can succeed in whatever I put my mind to do, because I know my identity, I know who I am, you know, helped me get through those challenges.

Joan Ekobena:

But one in particular, that wow was the COVID-19. So we were well in our home care business. Things were going on well and you know we thought, yeah, you know the revenue was growing and we thought like everything was fine. But just before COVID-19, actually things started plateauing. You know, revenue started plateauing and then COVID came and we almost lost everything. Jennifer, it was bad, we almost lost everything. During that time my husband had traveled and he was in Africa stock. He couldn't fly back for almost six months and I was running those franchises. It was challenging and we just saw business plummeting plummeting.

Joan Ekobena:

At that point I realized everything I learned in business school has its place. It's not the strategy, it's the strategy that keeps you going. The strategy sets the foundation and that is what we learned in business school. You know you have to set your long-term, short-term. You know your goals and all of that. Your strategies. Have those in place that part and you'll be successful. That's true to a certain degree. It's the mindset that keeps you going. It's the mindset. When the strategy sets the foundation, the mindset propels you, it keeps you going.

Joan Ekobena:

So when that challenge came on, I had to go back and do some introspection. Look at myself. I'm like, okay, john, you do not fail. That failure is not part of my vocabulary. How do I get out of this? How do we make this work? And my husband and I thank God he's been into personal development way longer than I actually, so we just looked at what we could do differently with our minds. So it was the mindset that got us through. We changed things based on the mindset. We realized that we had to think differently. We had to have this mindset instilled in our employees as well, because they may not have your vision. They may not have it, they may be doing their job as best as they can, but they may not have your vision. So when we instilled in them that mindset, things started changing. As a matter of fact, that is when I wrote my book Money Locates you. Okay, because at that point I felt like, okay, all the money that we had, you know, been working so hard for was just dissipating.

Joan Ekobena:

But I got the inspiration to write that book and at the same time, created um, I wanted to share this with you and your audience this puzzle is the manifestation puzzle to go with the book and this is when I shared this with some, you know, mentors and coaches who were like this is first of its kind in the industry. So it's a double-sided puzzle to help you manifest whatever it is you want. I like it, whatever it is you want. But I'm just saying this to say that it was the mindset that made us survive that period, that the challenge right, right and at the same time we're able to do even more, love it. The challenge was not like a roadblock we didn't see, like something that was going to stop us. No, it gave us momentum, it gave us the drive to just take it on and keep going. And the interesting thing is the business, even the trajectory of the business, just took off.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, yeah, that's so good and you know I'm with you, I'm hearing you and it's funny because I always talk about these podcasts. You know, like certain things people say and I get chills because I agree with you on the whole mindset. It's always about the mindset. I mean you can you know, when I'm working with my clients because I work with them a lot on subconscious blocks, really breaking down why we're doing habits and behaviors that are destructive, and you know we always know it gets back to something, some belief system we have right, something that we've constructed a picture of and we think everything follows. And even when we project in the future, we always go back to something that happened and say I can't do it because of this or whatever. And so I do that a lot. And so listening to you talk about this, you know I always say it really comes back to what we're thinking and how we're feeling about something.

Jennifer Loehding:

I've said this in several episodes before because I used to be a pretty avid runner. I still work out. I don't run near as much as I used to, but my husband was an endurance athlete. We would sometimes go weekend after weekend where we would run multiple races. We might do a half on one day and the next day we're doing a 5k. And I'm not kidding you. There would be days I would go to a race and I'd be prepared for a half, you know, half marathon or marathon, and I'd get through that thing and it wasn't easy, I get through it. But then the next day I'd get up to go say I'm going to do a 5k and physically I was trained.

Jennifer Loehding:

A 5K is three miles versus 13 or 26. I mean, obviously you're trained, but the mental space wasn't right to do the 5K and so I'd get out there and struggle in a three mile run, you know. So it always comes down to how we're processing what we're doing. You know, if we're looking at this as I can accomplish this, I can't because, as you mentioned several times, the challenges are always there, right. So it just it comes down to, you know, our perception and I get, you know, in listening to you and I love that you mentioned your husband's in the personal development space, because I think that you know, once you move into that space, you really can't turn back and it's like you can't unsee things. You know.

Joan Ekobena:

No, turn back, and it's like you can't unsee things, you know. Let me tell you this, jennifer, would you believe this? I hadn't seen him for almost 10 years. Oh, my goodness, right, when we left high school. I hadn't seen for almost 10 years, so the first time I came was to visit yeah, guess what he had signed up for? Um, I think it was Robert Kiyosaki, okay, and um, the first thing he gave me was this book, think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill, and we were going to all these talks and all this. I was like, wait a minute, is this our honeymoon or is this our dating? You know what? But you know what All of that comes into play now, you know, and, talking about beliefs, you know our beliefs are so powerful.

Joan Ekobena:

I talk about that in the book and you know where we sometimes carry these limiting, negative beliefs around us and we don't even realize, right, because they are far back in the recesses of our subconscious mind and they just drive these decisions, and you know choices that we make without even realizing. But, um, I talk about those limiting beliefs and then I talk about the beliefs of successful people. What do they believe about money? And would you want to know what um? One of my favorite ones is what um? I? I think it's Elizabeth Taylor who is of late. She said money is your best deodorant. Yeah, I like that. I like that because it just makes you however you want to interpret that. It's short, but it's, it's, very significant. Money is your best deodorant. You know, when you don't have it, you you don't feel confident, you just feel like you don't have the right energy, you right energy to do what you need to do, and so many others. Anyway, I just wanted to plug that in.

Jennifer Loehding:

No, that's good.

Jennifer Loehding:

We could probably talk about that, because I agree with you on that, especially for women specifically.

Jennifer Loehding:

I don't know if you encounter this, but I work with a lot of women and I feel like money is a big, weird thing for women. There's a lot of women and I feel like money is a big, like weird thing for women. There's a lot of emotion trapped around it, right, and I know like you read up on all this stuff and it goes back. I mean, some of it's just how we were raised, you know, and where women are afraid to ask for things and their worth and and that's one of the things that I uncover a lot with people is when we get down to talking about pricing and things, they get hung up on these things Like I can't do that. I can't, even I, and even as as long as I've been doing this in the personal development space, I think we all continue to still work through these things. I will find myself every once in a while down, you know, downplaying something, or negotiating a price or doubting, and then I have to go, joan, I have to go no, Jennifer, we're not doing that today.

Jennifer Loehding:

We are doing this today.

Joan Ekobena:

Yes, yes, yes, it happens. Trust me, it happens. You know when you've been in a situation where money was kind of hard to come by. Even when you have it, trust me, those times will come away. You can easily afford whatever it is you want to get, but that thought will creep in the back of my. Do you really want to do that? Yeah, I don't have to say hey, stop, you know stop, yeah, and we tend to.

Jennifer Loehding:

We tend to recreate what we think about. So if we're constantly in that space of scarcity mindset, thinking you know and I'm not, we're and you and I know you and I are agreeing here, we're not telling anybody to just go out and be like, waste all your money, don't pay attention to any of that. But there's something that happens when we keep telling ourself we don't have something. We keep sort of perpetuating that right and we change what you're talking about, the mindset.

Jennifer Loehding:

And going back to what you're saying, your mindset getting through challenges is there's something here. I mean, I don't know what it is, you can tell me, but I know mine is. When I get in a situation like that, my mindset is there's a solution. I just haven't figured it out yet.

Jennifer Loehding:

And that's exactly how I think about everything, even money. If I don't have what I need, I just need to figure out the solution. I don't know what that is yet. I just need to figure out what the solution needs to be, and that's where I think. When you do that, that's where the creativity and ingenuity comes from right.

Joan Ekobena:

Yes, and you build that with affirmations. I love affirmations. We have hundreds of them on our website, but I just created one on I am a success and I listen to it. I have many affirmations because they reinforce. They slowly but surely erase the old beliefs right and reinforce a new belief system that starts working in your favor. And when you, when you start listening to them, you know, especially before you go to bed at nighttime they slowly but surely replace what's been built in over the years, from your childhood, maybe from school, from the years from your childhood, maybe from school, from work, your community, from church, whatever it is you know. And then you start becoming this new, you start seeing yourself differently, right, and the creativity just shows up. You know you don't see those challenges as the end of the world, even if you feel that something is not the end of the world. It's a learning process, it's a stepping stone, and you just keep going.

Jennifer Loehding:

Right, right. No, that's good, jim. Thank you for sharing and I agree with you on the affirmations. I don't I always say you know it's, it's. It's a combination of things that we do day in and day out, habits and behaviors, that we work, and reducing the the negative emotion that's tied to these beliefs, and trying to replace them with positive truths which are going to be affirmations and new successful wins to replace it.

Jennifer Loehding:

That's what we, objectively, that's what we want to do right, because in the end, that's what's going to release us from some of that junk and, like we mentioned already, it doesn't necessarily mean that it never. Those negative beliefs never surface again. It's just that we're better able to recognize when they're surfacing and how to abort them, how to like, stop the pattern of repetitive bad behavior.

Joan Ekobena:

Absolutely, absolutely. If you don't realize them, you will remain. It's like we call it. It's a mental prison. You don't even know you are in there. And if you don't know you are in there, how do you get out? But by doing that you're evolving, know you're in there, how do you get out? Right? But by doing that you're evolving, you're transforming your identity, you're transforming who you believe you are, you're transforming your mindset and things begin to take a different course. Yeah.

Jennifer Loehding:

I love it, I love it. So I want to talk a little bit, I guess, about your franchising, because you've been doing this for a while and you're building out this course and I know you're going to be excited to get this thing done and get everything rolling here. You probably be like me, like what's that? I'm just like I'm banking on this. I'm like, okay, my course was supposed to be done at the end of November, then the end of December. Now I'm like January 15th, january 15, for maybe somebody that's there may be somebody right now that's kind of sitting on the fence and looking into a franchise opportunity, or maybe they're leaning into this idea that I would love to get involved with one. What are some things that maybe you could put out, that maybe research or ideas or things that they could do to maybe start that process for them?

Joan Ekobena:

Absolutely. The very first thing I want to say is they should take some time and figure out their why. Why do they want to do this? Why do they want to get into business? Why home care or any other business? Why, okay, because your why is very powerful. When your why is strong enough, the how will flow, the how will come along, okay.

Joan Ekobena:

So, having said that, do some homework. We did before getting into Visiting Angels. We did. We did some homework Back then. There were very few franchise companies in the nation. We interviewed about six of them and landed on Visiting Angels.

Joan Ekobena:

So do some homework. Make sure that the company's mission, vision, their core values, align with yours. It's not just about if you want to go the franchise route, right. If you don't want to go the franchise route, you want to go it yourself, of course. Talk to folks who have done it, who are successful in the industry. Find yourself an accountability partner. Find a mentor right. We mentor. You know home care owners as well, so you can find a mentor. Do some research on the industry. The industry is growing and is projected to grow even more as the baby boomers, you know, population increases. So do some research. What are the challenges in the industry. There are plenty. Right now, the caregiver shortage following COVID is real. It's real. What are some of the challenges? How are you going to overcome those challenges? You know, just do some research. I would say that would be the first thing to start, and, of course, this course that we're coming out with would be a great help too.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yes, that's exciting. Yeah, no, thank you. I think those are good truths to really, anytime you're starting any kind of business, right, Really asking why you want to do this and doing your research, you need to know who you're, especially I think I talk about this a lot with business owners that you know you need to know who your market is, and that takes research to find out who. That you know who that is, because a lot of us, I think we get into the space. I mean, you have a very specific when you have a franchise, you have a specific market that you're targeting. But a lot of times when entrepreneurs they decide, I want to be an entrepreneur and they go in, they're like I have this really great idea, right, they have no idea who their audience is yet you know. So they're kind of creating what would fit for them, you know, and they don't know who their audience is, and so you've got to get clear on that. And then they want to. Then we want to go selling to everybody and we can't sell to everybody, right.

Joan Ekobena:

We have to find your niche. You have to find your niche and you have to learn who your target audience is. How are you going to cater to them? So you have to, you have to do all of that. That is all part of the research. And then you set clear, measurable goals. Ok, we just got our registered trademark. It's called the smarter way.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, yes, yes, I just applied for mine for starter girl, so I know the process. Oh, yes, I looked at the formula and I'm like it's just like 12 to 18 months. I'm like what For them to do?

Joan Ekobena:

Oh my goodness. But before you know it, you know it'll be here, right, it'll be on that. But before you know it, you know it'll be here. Right, it'll be here. Congratulations to you on that. That's awesome. Yes, yes, so it's called the Smarter Way and it's based on the SMART goal setting framework, but we want to focus on goal achievement, so we added the A, okay, which is alignment. So it's really interesting. It's on our website, premieredestinycom as well, but premier with an E. I know you said starter girls with a Z.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, I haven't found anybody else there with like starter girls, but I see like starter and then you know and it, yeah, so I just always say that. So then that's where you're going. If you see one with an S, that's not us, that's not us. Okay, I've dominated the starter girls with the Z. You can find that one pretty easily.

Joan Ekobena:

Good, good, good. So they should set their goals. Why are you doing this? What are you open to accomplish? Are you looking at money or are you looking at making a difference in people's lives? What is it that you're after? What is your mission? What is your vision? Differencing people's lives. What is it that you're after? What is your mission? What is your vision? You need all those guiding principles or things set out before you even start. Okay.

Joan Ekobena:

And then, of course, you want to look at your financial situation. We didn't have it when we started, you know. So when someone tells me, oh, I want to do this, but I don't have the money, I'm like your why is not strong enough. If the why is strong enough, you'll find a way to. You know, get the money to get started. You need the money to get started, but you don't have to have it. We didn't have it. So I can say that with confidence. And now we have a very successful company. Yeah, so make sure you do that homework, do that legwork, and I have a friend that I'm working with, um, you know, helping out. She decided to go and become an employee of the company that she wants to, the industry that she wants to, um do her business is because she wanted to know what it feels like for the employees In our company.

Joan Ekobena:

our employees are our backbone, they are ambassadors, they are everything to us, yeah, so I really applaud her for doing that, because it's not just looking at the client side. You need the employees to to serve the clients. Our philosophy is happy employees make happy clients, so you also want to look at things from that aspect as well. And, of course, how are you going to show up in your market?

Jennifer Loehding:

Right, no, that's good.

Joan Ekobena:

Yeah, that's good. How are you going to market your services? How are you going to? What difference are you going to make in the community? Right, right, no. I love that and I love that you were taught. What difference are you going to make in the community?

Jennifer Loehding:

Right, right, no, I love that, and I love that you mentioned her being in the field, because I do think which was going to be something I was actually going to touch upon when we were talking about all of this, talking about our market, because I think a lot of really good businesses come from where people sort of find a need or something that they have personally witnessed right or gone through and so and I think, like you, developing your course is so ideal because you've actually gone through the process of starting a franchise with no money and building that up, so you have the testimony to actually share that with somebody else going into that space and I think that's what makes a difference when you're doing things like this is have you been in that position where now you can actually blend into it?

Joan Ekobena:

Yes, and I love doing that. Right out of high school, my first job was teaching, so I guess the teaching part of it. I just love imparting wisdom and knowledge and seeing others succeed, you know. So I think it was just a natural thing for me to do, but the experience has helped a lot as well. So awesome, joan.

Jennifer Loehding:

Well, one other thing I wanted to ask you real quick, because I know you're a mother. So you've got three kiddos and I don't know their ages, but I would love to, I'd love to know that. So you've got three kiddos and I don't know their ages, but I would love to, I'd love to know that. And then I'd also love to know, are any of them, um, in that kind of in that thinking to be in that entrepreneurial space, or no?

Joan Ekobena:

Yes, so they are not kiddies anymore. I figured not. They are young adults 20, 29, 26 and 24. Okay, um, yeah, so they're doing well. The the first one is a boy and he's very entrepreneurial. Um, he started in high school also selling sneakers and stuff like that, but he hasn't started launch his business. He's working with us right now, so I don't know what direction. He's very, um, very creative and um has a lot going on in his mind, but I'm very excited to see what he's going to come up with.

Joan Ekobena:

The second one is doing very well. She's doing her residency program right now. And the last one is back to school doing her master's degree. She's a little bit on the entrepreneur, I think she's in the middle, but I hope we haven't scared them. You know, I know the first one is not. You know he's not. He's into business and it's going to be successful in business. But the other two I don't know, because they were like huh, we see from the early days how you work so hard. We don't know if we want to do that, but now I think they're having some mind change.

Jennifer Loehding:

So well at the it. Let's say this in all of it, I'm sure that they've witnessed some extremely great work ethic, and that's probably the most important thing, I think, out of all of that, because I think, you know, I have three kids too. Mine are all young adults as well. My youngest is 20, oldest is 28. And so I probably would say the same my, my two, my two girls, I don't think, are kind of in that entrepreneur. But my youngest, my son, is very he's. He's only 20 and he's a he's a sous chef right now.

Jennifer Loehding:

So he was more school and doing being a sous chef, but he's always trying to think of ways to like, earn money, like, oh, like he's, you know whatever he's doing.

Jennifer Loehding:

And so I remember one day we were sitting in the car or we're driving home and he's in the back seat and he's like I need a side gig and I'm like you don't even have time for a side gig right now. Like you're working, like he works like 50, 60 hours a week and he's going to school. He's like trying to figure out another. He's like I think I need to like sell cars or something like buy cars and refurbish them or something you know.

Jennifer Loehding:

But that's how his brain and that's why I asked you that question very early on about were you a young child and you, you know, this was kind of always driven in you because I, like I said, I think some of us, yes, we sort of have an innate you know something in there and it either comes from, either, like our, your situation where you money was not there and you knew. The only way I'm going to recreate something and get it, I'm going to have to make it happen. Right, my parents were my.

Jennifer Loehding:

My parents were entrepreneurs, so I, like your kids, kind of watched them and I saw them struggle, but I also saw them have freedom and flexibility and I admired that. And even though I saw them do all the hard things and have to pay employees and let people go and go through all that, I got to see them be able to make decision you know, like different decisions because they weren't at the crutch of a job every day and I'm not saying that's bad, but they didn't have to do that. And so for me, the autonomy was always I mean the growth don't get me wrong, I love the growth, but it was really it's always kind of been for me the flexibility and freedom. I'm grateful that you know we were in a position where my husband was doing okay and I was able to run a business, that I was actually able to be home with my children while they were growing up. So it's not something that my mom was able always able to do with me, but it was something I wanted to be able to do.

Joan Ekobena:

And I'm grateful for that. That's awesome, you know that's awesome, that's awesome.

Jennifer Loehding:

So kudos to your children. That's exciting and it sounds like they're amazing, amazing human beings. You guys have done very well.

Joan Ekobena:

They are, yes, we're blessed, we're really blessed.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, very well, they are. Yes, we're blessed, we're really blessed. Yeah, that's awesome. I would love to know. I've got a couple of questions that I want to ask you, kind of personal, these are fun. I just I'd love to know what you learned about yourself through this journey. What do you feel like has been the big takeaway?

Joan Ekobena:

A lot. You know, at the end of the day, it's not just the goals that you accomplish, it's who you become in the process. And I have seen my life change in so many different ways that I am forever grateful my faith from way back when, when I was young, I come from a lineage of pastors and evangelists and all of that and, um, you know, talking to you right now, I just realized we used to do my grandma used to do affirmations and meditation with us in the evenings. You know, we we let me just spend the picture we didn't even have electricity in the home, we didn't have running water in our home, and she would sit us outside when the moonlight was really bright, full moonlight, full moon. The moonlight was out there. We'll sit out there and we'll go through songs. We'll just sing and praise and worship, and so that set the foundation for us, solid foundation.

Joan Ekobena:

My belief system was very strong and, in spite of the financial challenges that we faced or we went through, the love was there, the faith was there. So that helped me go through whatever challenges that came up and I just had this confidence because of that that everything was going to work out for my good. Everything. I just had to make up my mind to do it and go for it. Don't overthink it, because sometimes, when we overthink it, the fear, the belief systems, you know, the paradigm, start creeping in and you're like second guessing yourself. You know, just go for it.

Joan Ekobena:

Start where you are with what you got, and when you step out in faith and I can tell you this is exactly what happened for us here when you step out in faith, you know, believing that everything is going to work out for your good, the resources are going to come, the resources are going to come, and I had a reel that I created once saying don't pursue success. Don't pursue success. Success is looking to come to you, just like the book. Money Locates you. We are chasing money, chasing money, but when you become the person that money is attracted to, the money will come, the money will come.

Jennifer Loehding:

I'm so glad you talked about this because I wanted to know what made you come up with. Now I know why the title makes sense. It totally makes sense now.

Joan Ekobena:

Yes, I love it. I love it. This is so good, thank you.

Jennifer Loehding:

Joan, somebody listening to this I'm sure is going to want to follow you. And I do want to say this you are another story that I really love about the American dream. You know somebody coming here and making the best of their situation and just to hear you, I've had. I had another gal that I interviewed here. You can look her name. She owns a company called 12 Cuts. It's a restaurant here, but she worked at Fogo de Chao.

Jennifer Loehding:

She was from I can't draw on a blank where she was from, but she had no running electricity when she where she grew up and then she moved Brazil and then she's from Brazil and as she moved into a place and she was telling this story about how she wanted to get on an airplane and she left, anyways, came to stage, started working for Fogo de Chao and then opened up her own company and she has got like several siblings and went back and bought houses for her parents and her siblings. And so another story where I hear something like this, where if somebody grew up in a situation where they didn't have all the amenities that we take for granted here every day. But I love your story, I commend you guys for what you've done, your work ethic I. It's just incredible.

Joan Ekobena:

So somebody listening.

Jennifer Loehding:

This is probably going to want to get your book. They're going to want to follow you, they're going to want to catch up with you, and so what I want to know is where would you like us to send them?

Joan Ekobena:

Oh, absolutely, For the book Money Locates you, they can get it on Amazon. It's on Amazon. Money locates you, they can get it on Amazon. Okay, it's on Amazon. For the um the puzzle, we're almost running out due to, um, a lot of demand for those. They can email us at support, support at premier premier with an E, premier destinycom and um, they can you know, reach out and follow us on social media, Premier Destiny, or they can go to our website, PremierDestinycom.

Jennifer Loehding:

Perfect, We'd love to help them however we can. We'll make sure, when we get the show notes put together for this, that we get sites in there so they know how to catch up with you and find all this. And so, yeah, you're doing. You're doing great stuff and again I want to commend you and I want to tell you thank you so much and tell your husband thank you for reaching out to me and and pursuing to get you on this show.

Joan Ekobena:

Cause he messaged. I said who is Jennifer? I said you know you need to get on her show. I'm like okay.

Jennifer Loehding:

So yeah, he saw the episode. It was funny because he went in and he sent me a message. I think I missed it at first, and then I got back with him and then we were playing. We were kind of playing, I sent it evil, or thought I sent it, it didn't go, and so he followed up.

Joan Ekobena:

He was very good about following up with me and making sure he's good at that, but he's like a dog with a bone.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yes, Thank you for connecting us and I'm glad that you know you guys are thriving now post, you know, post-COVID and everybody is doing well. And I want to thank you for coming on here and dropping all the wisdom to our audience and inspiring them.

Joan Ekobena:

My pleasure. Thank you so much, Jennifer, and best of luck with your course. So January 15th is it? It is right, January 15th.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yes, I have a workshop that I'm going to be participating in February, so we need to have it out so we can have some, some like a little bit of leverage to talk about that. It's done, and I don't want you to be like, hey, we're still working on it, right?

Joan Ekobena:

That's true. That's true, thank you. Thank you so much for the opportunity. I'm grateful Absolutely.

Jennifer Loehding:

And, of course, to our audience. We hope that you found this episode both inspiring and informative and if you did, you know what to do Share, like, subscribe, comment, do all the things so we can keep sharing all this fabulous content. And, as I always say, in order to live the extraordinary, you must start. Every start begins with a decision. Say, in order to live the extraordinary, you must start, and every start begins with a decision. You guys, take care, be safe, be kind to one another and we will see you next time.

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