Willo Sana is an entrepreneur, speaker, and coach who has helped hundreds of visionary leaders bring their big ideas to life. She combines emotional support and strategic guidance with a deep understanding of somatic psychology, spirituality, and neuroscience. In this episode of Remotely Cultured, Willo and Jeanna discuss how entrepreneurs can overcome fears, limiting beliefs, and emotional blocks. They also dive deep into strategic guidance, tools, and frameworks that help entrepreneurs align their actions with their vision and flourish in their calling — all while living a liberating life from anywhere in the world.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- How Willo Sana went from being a marketing leader to a business coach and author
- The spiritual path of entrepreneurship and how to own your power
- How to balance the masculine and feminine energies in your work and life
- The role of attachment styles and trauma in business success
- How Willo used Focusmate as a co-working accountability tool to write her book
- Why she loves traveling and what it's like working in San Miguel de Allende
- How Willo’s book Double Down on Your Genius can help leaders align their actions with their vision
In this episode…
Do you ever feel like you’re out of alignment with your true purpose and vision? Do you struggle to balance your work and life energies? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you aren’t alone.
Visionary entrepreneur Willo Sana has pioneered spiritual entrepreneurship. If you’re seeking a greater purpose, this approach helps you regain control of your ambitions, realign your values, and discover your unique skills. Personal trauma impacts business relationships significantly, so Willo emphasizes balancing your masculine and feminine energies and integrating the practical with the emotional. She helps creative-minded entrepreneurs tap into abundance by expanding their horizons and taking bold risks to accelerate self-discovery.
In this episode of Remotely Cultured, Willo and Jeanna discuss how entrepreneurs can overcome fears, limiting beliefs, and emotional blocks. They also dive deep into strategic guidance, tools, and frameworks that help entrepreneurs align their actions with their vision and flourish in their calling — all while living a liberating life from anywhere in the world.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- Willo Sana on LinkedIn & Instagram
- Willo&Co
- Yes and Yes Yes
- Willo’s recommended books, products, and gifts
- Double Down on Your Genius
- Trusted Housesitters
- Focusmate
- Endel
Transcript:
Jeanna: Hey everyone, Jeanna Barrett here. I'm the Founder and Chief Remote Officer of First Page Strategy and the host of Remotely Cultured. Today we have Willo Sana joining us to talk about entrepreneurship, big bold leaps, why balance and deep breaths are critical, and writing her book remotely from six years to six weeks using a cool remote work tool. Hey, Willo, how are you doing?
Willo: Hi. Super good. I'm excited to be here.
Jeanna: Cool. We're excited to have you. I want to give everyone listening in today some details of Willo's background because she's just really impressive. She has a really cool path that a lot of listeners can learn from. So I'm going to take a minute to share her bio with everyone. Willo has been called an oracle, an alchemist, a liberator and a doula for hatching big ideas. She's been publishing articles and speaking on stages around the world since 2007, empowering creative entrepreneurs in everything from online marketing, business systems and productivity to self care, facing your fears and following your heart. She started her first business at 18 and has over 25 years of marketing, sales, management, creative business, collaboration and production experience. And a super fun fact that I love about Willo, there's actually two, is one she's been online since 1996 and started her first website and blog before anyone called it blogging and was saving HTML files to her server, which is so fun. And two, she has lived abroad for five years from 2014 to 2019 in Hong Kong, Thailand, Bali and Mexico. She's fully location independent, as we all know I'm a big fan of, she can live and work online from anywhere in the world, has traveled to 23 countries, and is now based in Portland, Oregon, but still spend several months of the year in other locations.
Willo: Actually, I left America again and now fully globally traveling, so I need to update my bio.
Jeanna: Yeah, cool. Even better. I love that. We'll have to talk a little bit more about that. So as a seasoned, creative entrepreneur, Willo has continuously faced her fears, followed her heart and founded over half a dozen businesses. Through speaking, coaching and writing, she serves as a dynamic catalyst for high profile leaders, rapidly evolving spiritual visionaries, including best selling authors, TEDx speakers, psychologists, naturopaths and more. She also has an upcoming book Double Down on Your Genius: Own Your Gifts, Align Your Actions and Flourish in Your Calling, which is releasing in 2023. So so much going on. Great. Excited. Cool. Yeah. So um, you're actually calling in today from one of my favorite locations in the whole world that I've been to twice. Willo, where are you today?
Willo: San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
Jeanna: All right, I love it. Yes. Beautiful place. So what brought you to San Miguel?
Willo: So I have been doing Trusted House Sitters that many of you know and we can give a link if you don't have it. And I've been I had a five month house to in Thailand and this is a three week housesit. I knew, I call it like my North American tour. So when I'm not over in Southeast Asia or Europe I'm coming over to North America but because I don't want to spend you know so much time in America, I love being in Mexico and so yeah, I'd put out an alert, had wanted to come and check out San Miguel anyway and found this like beautiful beautiful home. I'm here for three weeks.
Jeanna: That's so great. That's so cool. I actually I personally I'm so surprised I haven't used I haven't heard of this tool. I need to use it myself because I'm always like in search of a housesitter and a pet sitter. So is it a swapping situation? Or is it just like...
Willo: I stay for free but I get to take care of their animals and I've had them now all over the world. It's so so fun because honestly I'm the kind of person that's like, if my Airbnb could come with a dog or a cat, I'd be so stoked.
Jeanna: Yeah, me too. Me too.
Willo: So so it's so perfect and it's a win for everybody involved right so and it's a very trusted bested sorry vetted situation and so yeah, I can give you my link and anyone who uses it gets like $25 off or something. So both people pay basically to be on the platform. And I feel like too because I may be a more mature and just a experienced professional like I don't need free rent it's just that I genuinely want to stay, I prefer staying in like beautiful lived in homes than I do you know just like places that don't have any heart and soul and snuggly baby so...
Jeanna: Yeah, I'm in the same exact way we're Airbnb travelers all the way just because I love to feel like I have a kitchen and a couch and like, I'm in somebody's home more than a hotel. So that's cool. Can you paint a picture for our listeners today what the lifestyle is like in San Miguel?
Willo: Well, I've just been here for a few days. But pretty much I mean, even the way that I work and, and how I travel, every where I go is kind of the same, which is landing in and depending on the place that I have, especially if it's more of like an Airbnb situation, I always take the first couple days to like, get the little things that I want and need to be comfortable. But I love living like a local. I think that's another reason why I like staying in homes, because you know, it's just much. Yeah, like I said, the heart and soul is there. So I but I pretty much just drop in and get everything really set up for myself so that I'm just working from anywhere, as per usual. And so in this last week, I've even had some deadlines about this book on this book for my editor. And so I've been I'm so stoked to finally be in like a stable place because I had like, kind of a quick little set of, you know, things with between Playa and my mom visiting. And then I went to Austin, and then I went to the Bay Area, and I saw family and Santa Cruz. And so like landing here I'm like, yeah, when we focus, so I just pretty much have been like working by day and then going out to explore San Miguel de Allende by night, which is wonderful.
Jeanna: Yeah. So tell us a little bit about just a little bit about the nightlife or, or what's it like, I know, you've only been there for about a week. But what is the culture of San Miguel and Mexico that makes it so unique?
Willo: So sweet and so special. So I've spent a lot of time also in Playa Del Carmen. And something that I love about these little towns like this, is that there, I actually really love that there are other tourists in a way in the sense that, you know, you almost can feel like you're on vacation. There's really great people watching all the time. But honestly, I'm just like, I eat my way through wherever I am. It's so inexpensive to eat, you know, out in Mexico, and San Miguel de Allende. Oh my god has like countless delicious restaurants. So I have just been like feasting and having like the best food every night. But San Miguel de Allende in particular, I will say is so special. It's got a very magic energy to it, that I'm really sensitive to energy in every place I go, and you can see as many photos as possible, but you don't get it until you really get here. Yeah, the sunsets here are phenomenal. But the thing I think, is that the count, there's all cobblestone streets here. And like these little walkways with colorful buildings and you I actually was like, gosh, this feels like I'm in Europe. There's like little lanterns on the wall and these like small little cobblestone streets and it feels like Europe in Mexico, but like massive, you know, Mexican culture, it's so cool.
Jeanna: Yeah. When you spoke about the energy of San Miguel, I actually got goosebumps listening to you say that because I felt that energy myself and it is really hard to place your finger on there's just something like purely magical about about that location. So I feel it and speaking about food you say that you like to eat your way through culture this when I was reading when a viewer gets to know me posts on Instagram, you said that you travel the world trying all of the mint chip ice cream, carrot cakes and chai lattes where they have them. So I'd love to hear, do you have a like location where you think has the best mint chip ice cream?
Willo: Well, I actually thankfully it's a chain it's gelato, there's a chain that's called Amorino and I just...
Jeanna: I just went there and they make the flowers.
Willo: Yeah, like the flower cone. So I found it originally in Playa Del Carmen and just like fell madly in love. And thankfully then and I thought it was the only place like they have two and I knew it was kind of a chain but I thought it was the only place and then I went to Europe over the summer and I found it in Paris, I found it in Lisbon, I was like they didn't always have mint chip. Mint chip and coffee are my absolute fave and they're so good there and gelato you know then once you're in Europe, gelato is more everywhere. So in Lisbon, I each a lot of gelato, so good. I was so stoked because they just I mean, we're talking two months ago opened up an Amorino here. So I just took my one of my clients lives here. And so I got to see her for the first time in like eight years. And we went up and bought her ice cream and went out and showed it to here. We got one of the big roses with the macaroons on top.
Jeanna: Yeah, so fun. That's so random. I literally just went there. Last week we were in we were in Portugal and so and I posted a photo of the flower gelato and my sister was like I love that. Yes, it was super yummy. So awesome. All right, we've got two really great remote work travel like tips now the house, the house sitting website and the gelato locations across the world. Cool. Moving on, just a fun fact, actually, that Willo and I crossed paths many years ago, I think back in around the 2014 timeframe. I don't know the exact year, but...
Willo: 2012 it would have been.
Jeanna: Yeah, 2012. Okay, wow, even further back. So we were both working in San Francisco at some partner tech brands, and we went to a conference together in Vegas, that was about a decade ago, which is wild. And Willo, I just love to kind of hear your personal journey from being a marketing leader to how that's evolved and grown into being your own business coach and now an author. I think that personally, a lot of marketers listening would love to take a similar journey. Maybe do some pivoting, you know, once you reach out that kind of I'm burned out in working in marketing phase, which I myself I've been in, but um, I just love to hear kind of how that journey happened for you.
Willo: Yeah, well, I was self employed for 10 years prior to joining on as a co-founder of that company. And so I had already been like doing web design, graphic design, marketing stuff for 10 years at that point. And then joined on as a co-founder, it was my second startup, actually, that I joined on as a co-founder, and was naturally in the marketing role with them, because that is what I just knew through and through. And so I love that that's where like that, but I will say that's like, where you see my story starting, because that's when I met you. Prior to that, and then I will say, that was a really pivotal time because, you know, here, I had had my web and graphic design business, like former life, this is, you know, 20 some years ago. And then I had started a product business with my designs and illustrations on it. And then I joined on with one startup serving other creatives who are selling online, and then this second startup serving creative selling online. So I'm really passionate about helping them with their systems, I still am today, right? But that startup and being with them really was like, the big aha moment for me of like, my, I am not meant to have my face in spreadsheets all day like in office. And you know, I love me a good spreadsheet. But this was like, I am here to do deeper, more heart centered transformational work. And I had already been in business for so long and known the ups and downs. And so I'm just really passionate about helping entrepreneurs that are on that, like personal growth and spiritual growth path of entrepreneurship, all of the lessons you learn in leadership. So that's when when I left there, I was like, I first of all, I like launched a course, within a couple of weeks of even leaving, and it was all about, you know, reconnecting to your spark and that creative creativity. But then I got certified as a coach after that, I knew I wanted to get certified and more of like a somatic-based, body-centered coaching. And now that's the work I've been doing for 10 years.
Jeanna: Love. Okay, that's so fun, then that was like a super big jumping off point. Then, when I had met your, that's fun. And then from there, that's when you kind of moved across the world and did your own thing.
Willo: Shortly after, exactly, yeah, it was like, it was a it was a big, big transformational time actually talked a lot in the book, because a big part of my programs and my frameworks that I talked about is this, like abundant expansion. And so you can have rock bottoms that like shake you to the core. And you can also have times where you're expanding and having all the success. So yeah, around that 2012, 2013, 2014, I had so much transition and change happening. And you can feel like you're like in a million little pieces. And it's, it can even if it's good, right, you're having to learn how to integrate that expansion into your body. So this is a huge part of my work now is like knowing how to do that integration work so that you can continue implementing, continue expanding, and you know, creating the life and business that you want.
Jeanna: Yeah, I love that. Let's talk a little bit more deeper about that because I do have some questions that are around that. I do love all of your, your messaging around the idea of the spiritual path of entrepreneurship and owning your power, tapping into abundance and taking big bold leaps. I love all this partially because I am very spiritual. And I like to say woowoo myself and I'm an entrepreneur, and 100% this it has been a huge path that has changed my personal life in so many ways where I am a better communicator, and I've had to become a stronger person And how I deal with conflict and things because of my, my path as a leader. And and it is it's constantly there's moments where I'm exhausted. And there's moments where I'm elated, and it's just this whole roller coaster that sometimes I feel like, you could never explain to anybody that hasn't been an entrepreneur themselves. So I would love for you to kind of go in deeper. No, it's not. Yeah. Um, so talk a little bit to me about what you work with, with this spiritual path of entrepreneurship and like, what entrepreneurs go through and kind of how you support them and the things that you see through that.
Willo: Yeah, well, I mean, it's so I often talk about the work that I do is really like this psychological, spiritual integration. And, you know, the the layman's term for that is like just trying to make sense of what's happening, right, as a human on this earth as a human that's learning all these lessons, but most importantly, deconditioning, and unlearning right as you are on this evolutionary path of becoming who you are here to be and doing the work that you're here to do. And so there's so much of that, which is looking at sort of the ways that maybe you're getting in your own way. And that could be even just this old conditioning, whether that be good girl or not being too much or feeling not enough. It could be the fears. You know, you I talk a lot about this of like, when you're on the precipice, so for any of you who are traveling or starting businesses, you know, you'll know this feeling of being on that edge. And even if it's just growing a business, or taking the next leap in something that's already happening, you're at that edge, which can bring up all of your stuff. Right? So a lot of the work I'm doing is this, this emotional support as you navigate that, and then the spiritual piece, I mean, another word I think for just spiritual is really just perspective, making sense of it, so that you are not holding on to old stories, but that you can kind of see what is this like, bigger picture of why all this is happening? Why it's you? Why now, what next, right?
Jeanna: Yeah. And do you feel like this is different, do you work with both males and females, because I know, I when I'm listening to you, I'm thinking there's a lot of me personally baggage that came with me being an entrepreneur from being a female in business, and switching from being a employee that experience certain things to being an entrepreneur, you do have to shed a lot of that, you know, things you were called or way people treated you or your insecurities or whatever. So do you work with both males and females? And how and what does that look like?
Willo: Yeah, I do, I have definitely had male clients. But I would say that I largely work with women primarily. And it's because this is I mean, you know, this is where we can step into the realm of you know, what's happening and shifting with our awareness of the patriarchy, which is a lot of the damaging and abusive stuff that we've all experienced when it comes, women, have experienced when it comes to working in this, like very patriarchal hierarchal type working environments, right. But this is something that like, it's not at all to even blame men, because we're all just under this same and kind of deconditioning the same wounds from this patriarchal way of living. So it is the way that I, what I teach, and how I work I do believe is more of this, like kind of awareness of the feminine way in terms of, you know, one of the big things that I like to do with my clients is really just helping them create this loving union between the masculine and the feminine between, you know, within them. And so some of my hands have are like, really, really identified in their, their masculine, they can show up and do they can make it happen, but they need help resting into and receiving and connecting to a little bit more of that feminine energy. And on the other side, I've got some amazing tuned in, wise women who have already gotten to the point of burnout that you and I have gotten to at some point or another and they've gone way into their healing journey. And they're almost in resistance now of coming back into that relationship with the masculine because of the wounds and the scars that are there. So there's a sweet balance. It's not just man or woman, right? You can go ying-yang, whatever that may be, but that loving union and really coming into what that means for you and where are you out of balance or out of alignment, which we can get a little bit more.
Jeanna: Yeah, so the masculine and the feminine energy for me was huge in transforming who I was as an employee and then who I was as an entrepreneur. I think what was difficult for me is that I overcompensated when I was in my journey of leadership in the business world and working for companies, I overcompensated with masculine energy because you feel like in order to stand in a room full of men, in front of full of men, present for men that you have to kind of walk the walk and talk the talk, but I really tamp down my feminine energy, which does exactly put me in an imbalance. And I think that the magic that I've experienced with my own company has come from that I have brought back more of my feminine energy, and it's okay to be compassionate. And it's okay to have feelings and talk to people about what's going on in their lives and really bring more of that like nurturing to my, to your relationships with people at work. And that's like, really what our culture is built on. And I think why a lot of people like to work here, so. So yeah, so the feminine and the masculine thing I heard about it a long time ago in a podcast, and went down my own journey of kind of exploring how I was imbalanced, not only in business, but in relationships, like, that was a big thing for me, because I was really struggling back when I was in San Francisco, this time, I was overcompensating in my masculine energy that was coming out in my personal relationships as well. So yeah, that was a big thing on my journey too.
Willo: I mean it's all connected, it is all connected. And this is why I love you know, especially working with entrepreneurs and business. Everything is about our relationships. And in particular, it starts with our relationship to ourselves. So we learn in relationship with others that they are our mirror, they're a reflection, they're our, you know, kind of training ground and opportunity for learning, but man, it is all connected. And all of my work, you know, that I is trauma informed, and attachment informed. This is the big one as well. It's just watching where those attachments are. So attachment theory at the minimum is basically this, you could be anxious and insecure, secure, or avoidant, and how those show up. This is also in my book, because I'm so passionate about this. And it's such a great metaphor for how we are showing up or not, are you showing up as anxious and insecure? Are you showing up as avoidant and resisting? Or, you know, being judgmental, and all these pieces that make you just want to like la la la I don't want to look at it, I don't want to deal with it. Big time in, in our businesses. But all of that comes back to something within us that doesn't feel safe, or secure. And so when we can work on that, and creating that trust, and that safety and security within our body within our nervous system, so much can happen and shift in our external lives.
Jeanna: Yeah, that's great. I love that. So let's talk a little bit about your book, you have Double Down on Your Genius coming out soon. But it took six years to write and you started over and then completed it in six weeks. Right?
Willo: That's right.
Jeanna: Um, cool. And so you've mentioned that, you know, it talks about attachment, it talks a little bit about masculine and feminine energy. And just can you give an overview of some of what the book is, are there like, tips for you to figure out who you are? And how to work with those different energies and different attachment styles? Or what is within the pages that can help entrepreneurs on their journey?
Yeah, absolutely. So I go into a little bit of, of the attachment styles, mostly just as a presencing. And an awareness, just as we've done here. But the the main content of the book is really looking at where might you be out of alignment. And, and this is the thing that I just have known for so many years, especially in 10 years of working with other entrepreneurs is that we don't really have a map. We don't, you know, we're kind of coming across our own landmines, if you will, right of our own personal stuff that gets triggered all the time. And there's just no map for it, there's no map to know and left to our own devices, we will always go towards what we know. So if if, for example, nothing's happening, you know, you might be like, ah, I need to like actually just work harder. But that's actually might not be the case, the more, the more this counterintuitive solution actually might be that you really do need to rest or you need some integration time, or you need to come back into this connection with yourself. Otherwise, you're just going to be like rearranging the chairs on the Titanic type of thing.
Jeanna: Yeah. Rearranging the chairs on the Titanic. That's great.
Willo: There's an entire framework in here really, it's about this map is so there's this, you know, it's a way for you to have this self discovery about where might you be out of alignment, but then I literally give you the framework and the map to help you really see and get that perspective of like, wow, and here's the thing. We are all out of alignment in small ways all the time, you might have a lot of it like you'll see I share it in these like three different sections. And you might be like, oh, for the most part, I'm actually doing pretty good here, I'm pretty solid, I can definitely see that this is a challenge, right? But there's always going to be little ways that you can improve. But once you recognize and can understand the way these flow together, it can really, it's going to, that's my whole mission. And whole goal is to give people the tools of knowing how to navigate when you've got when you get hit with these big waves in your life, how to navigate that, how to come back into it so that you can reconnect with your vision, align your actions, and really, truly thrive doing what you love.
Jeanna: Yeah, I love that I can't wait to read it. And it's never ending, right? Because I feel like I have done a lot of deep work. Like I went through some personal trauma. Like years ago, I've done a lot of the reading of some spiritual guides, and the journaling and the meditation and some of the work in different areas. But I still feel out of alignment, things come up, right, like year to year or month to month, like things come up. And I feel like I have to go back and visit some of that stuff and figure out like, why, like, why do you feel this way? Why are you acting like this. And so it's likely a book that you can like pick up over and over again, because I just feel like that that kind of stuff is never solved, truly solved in anybody's life.
Willo: Exactly. I genuinely believe to the day we die, we get the opportunity if you're on this path, if you're awake enough and, and wanting to do the work. There are many layers and new opportunities and I do absolutely believe that you can really heal and get to a really solid place with some wounds, you know, such that you are in a more secure place, or you're just so aware of them that you're like, I see what's going on here, right? You can really like work with it and your recovery time is shorter as a result. Yeah. But you'll I believe that it's almost like a spiral, we get new ways to work on them new opportunities. That's like a lever that we could not have even gotten to until we got through the layers that preceded that.
Jeanna: Right. Yeah, I think that's probably where I'm at right now. Different layers. And part of your journey in writing this book is really, really, really cool. Which if you go to Willo's Instagram there's a story about this pinned at the top, but she actually used Focusmate as co working accountability buddies, while writing her book remotely. I have heard about Focusmate, but it is kind of a little bit of a unknown tool for some people. So I would love for you just to tell our listeners what Focusmate is and how you leveraged it.
Willo: Yeah, I heard about it years ago, and I had never tried it until this last fall. So I'd written my book. You know, you mentioned this a little bit. But I started writing this book six years ago, it sort of got shelved in 2019 in like when I called my big, messy pile, like it just felt overwhelming. The person who I've been working with ended up, you know, changing careers and was no longer to help me with it. And it just got shelved, COVID happened, et cetera, et cetera. Last September, I landed in Thailand and was like, I think it's time like this book is still knocking on my door, it still wants to come through. And honestly, opening the doors was like a floodgate. Like it just like, whoosh, because six years ago, I was kind of like, alright, here's how I think about this. Well, I sort of did it backwards. And since then, I've already run all these programs based on the content, developed all these frameworks, you know, so I have all the courses and the material and I now I like can live and breathe it. So it came through in six weeks, no problem. And then it's incredible. But then you have to edit it. So I did, you know, then you're going through these edit processes. And I have discovered in the last year or so as many of us have have that I definitely have some ADHD. And so the idea of like sitting down to the computer to do focus work, especially when I love traveling and exploring and doing all these things. Just wasn't so exciting. But there's a thing in ADHD that's called having a body double. And that's why I think I love co working so much or even go into a cafe sometimes because just to have that accountability of other people. This is even better. Focusmate is like there's people around the world that are looking for somebody to work with. So the way I always describe this for people, because I think it's the most powerful example is like say it's 11 it's right here. It's 11:19 right now, and I've been like messing around this morning I had coffee, I had breakfast, but I'm like, oh my god, I still haven't gotten to work. I could go on Focusmate right now, schedule a session to start right at 11:30 and you can choose a 25 minute, 50 minute or 75 minute session. It will automatically pair you with somebody at that time who also wants that length of a session, you hop on and you say, hey, what are you working on? What are you working on? Great. I'll see in 50 minutes. And then the timer goes off and you go, how'd it go? How'd it go? Great. Have a good day. Oh, yeah. Awesome. So yeah, what she's talking about is that, like, there's literally this story where I had screenshots of my like, Focusmate. And I mean, it was just like, several on a day, every single day. And I was like, whoa, whoa, I just did it the other day as well for you know, and so I've even chatted with people, I've done it, I've used it to do the dishes, like I have dishes stacking up, and I've been avoiding them. And I'm like, I'm gonna do the dishes and then I'm gonna get to work, but like, I need help getting to these dishes. Or people that are prepping their meals for the week. You can use it to, like, if you have a video or a course that you're wanting to watch, but you can't make yourself sit down and watch it, for a workout, you know.
Jeanna: I love it. Yeah. And is it ever awkward? Have you ever like chatted with these people more on a personal level? Or is it like both people are kind of just there for accountability, they get in and they get out?
Willo: You know, I think just like anything in life, there's some people that you resonate and click with more than others. Right? And, and so you know, definitely, there's some that you're just like, great, we're here for this very specific reason. And we don't need to be friends like, and then there's other people, you know, like, I can think of a few people, we and you can favorite people. So then your availability or their availability comes up first. And I think it matches you with them first, if they're available. And so I definitely have made a few friends where like, we won't see each other for a month or so. And it's like, hey, it's you again? How's everything going? You know, so that's been fun, but other than that, it stays pretty professional, you know, and I have a lot of people that heard, you know, like that I was doing my book. And they'd be like, oh, you know, I'd love to do a book sometime. And they started asking me questions. And I tried to keep it short. Because I also would tell them, like, I only have a 10 minute break. And before my next one, and therefore I need to use this 10 minute break, but it was really great chatting with you and all the best to you.
Jeanna: Yeah, yeah, that's so cool. I love it. I'll have to give it a go. And okay, so maybe you can give me like a little bit of some medicine or some advice. I personally am like, how would you work with an entrepreneur and getting them unstuck? Because I personally have wanted to write a book for many years, I have ideas, I started taking memoir, a memoir class back when I was in San Francisco, but I can't get like over the hump. I'm a huge reader. I read 50 books a year, but I just the idea of like how to even get started, like I don't know. And so what is your best advice for entrepreneurs to get unstuck?
Willo: Well, to get unstuck, and write a book specifically, or just get unstuck, period?
Jeanna: Let's go with get unstuck period.
Willo: Well, I mean, I will always stand on the soapbox for calling in support, because I just really believe that, you know, especially for entrepreneurs, most of us who are entrepreneurs, we are the you know, we've been hyper independent, we have you know, we've kind of almost been, I know that this is totally, you know, from the essentially the way that I was raised as an only child that there was a part of me that was really like hyper independent, like, I can do it, I can do it on my own right. And that has done me good in life in some ways, and has also hurt me in life in other ways, right? So yeah. But I learned early on in my businesses that like you can't do it alone, and you're better off so my my first suggestion would be to find support. And in writing this book, I definitely don't want to act like I did it all myself by any means. This last September, I did reach out to a friend who specifically I remember him telling me that he spoke out his books. So he'd like go on a walk and mind you this guy's like a ghost writer, and he, you know, has published and written and helped you're saying, like 40 some books. Yeah. So we ended up hopping on the phone after I was like, yeah, I need to just talk this out. I clearly have no problems talking. But like, sitting down and writing felt so challenging, because exactly where to start. So he actually I did hire him. And he knew the questions to ask me, and would just interview me and ask me questions. We transcribe those. And then that's when I edited. Now, mind you, I've hired an editor. And we have done a whole structural edit. And now we're starting our line edits. So it's, it's a behemoth project, no doubt about it, sounds easy. I wrote a book in six weeks. But yeah, because I had some support, yeah. But I would say, you know, for anyone who is just stuck at all, I mean, this is where it's like the work. This is precisely the work I do because left to your own devices. Absolutely. I can give you a list of like, here's what I think you should do. But I'll tell you what, from personal experience, I can tell you that when when we would work together, when I work with somebody, there are stuff, there's things that you cannot see, right? And there's things that I'm able to spot, right, these blind spots that you're holding something. I mean, I have these myself as well, like, I know that the way I am holding something or this perspective that I have as justified as I may feel about it in the moment, it might be limiting me, right, and it's only through I know, stepping in to the support of somebody that I trust who can help me and this is what I talked about a lot. It's like, I help people untangle it, it's in a little knot. That's why you're stuck. So slowly, what we do is we untangle it and light starts to get through. And that's those aha moments where you're like, oh, my gosh, and sometimes it's the smallest thing, but you're like, I knew that. But I've not seen it before, like this, and it just can like, lighten everything up and make everything possible again.
Jeanna: Yeah. Cool, I love that. Yeah, I believe hugely in coaching, support, like, so I don't know why I haven't done this for my book, but I have done it for my business. And I will say every time I've gotten like a financial coach or a marketing coach or an agency coach, my business has grown in leaps and bounds faster than it would have just with me by myself. So getting help is great advice. Okay, before we wrap this up, I just want to touch on this idea of balance, healthy boundaries, deep rest, you mentioned it a little bit earlier with the Titanic, like shifting chairs on the Titanic thing. And I think this is, you know, particular with entrepreneurs who are go go goers, and feel like working 60 hour weeks, 80 hour weeks are gonna get them the life and business that they want. But what I love about your message here, and I took the alignment quiz that's also linked on your Instagram profile, and is this whole idea of like listening to your inner voice setting healthy boundaries with attention and unplugged time balancing focused work with pleasure and self care, giving time to deeply rests, nourish, play, and have fun. These are really truly like the pillars of what I have built my agency on because I went through this massive burnout stage, I left my career, moved away from San Francisco, basically was quitting my life I was so burned out. And so when I built my company, I was like, how can I build a company that works for me personally, but also that I think people will live better balanced lives that and we really push this idea of like boundaries, logging off, unplug time, you know, self care kind of thing. But, um, but yeah, but it's rare in the business world. And I just would love to hear kind of like, why you think this piece is so important to entrepreneurs success?
Willo: Yeah, I mean, the one of the biggest thing I can say that is, I feel like so important. And I also acknowledge that it's very much a privilege is to be able to give yourself space, I believe that we need spaciousness. And so for any of you guys who are also remote travelers, this is one of the biggest things I'm sure you can really attest to this is like, just getting out of say, you're from the US, getting out of those same routines, and like sort of the hustle bustle of like maybe a city you're living in or whatever. I moved to Southeast Asia and all of a sudden, I was awake, while everyone else I knew pretty much was asleep. That spaciousness all of a sudden that I felt right in my mind, in my time, in my day, in choosing how I wanted to really, you know, run my energy. So, you know, I would say the biggest thing is, is spaciousness because right now we're living in societies and, and ways that have every little minute of our day filled right with something coming at us, we have to manage our email, we have to manage the alerts that are happening on our phone, we've got to make sure crossing off the tasks. So if anything, giving yourself space to just be, walk down a street in a new city, right, to see what you see. That is paramount. If you ask me in terms of just allowing yourself to even have then the space to listen to what is bubbling up within you.
Jeanna: Yeah. And what about I think that, you know, I get that energy and space when I travel and work. But what about people that work from home? They might be, you know, they don't have the means. Or they might have a family like how can someone find the space and that that energy space, I think is what we're talking about here in their day to day lives, like in their hometown while they're at home?
Willo: Yeah, I love it. Well, I'm a big fan of acknowledging the fact that we have like this medicine within us at any time. I mean, y'all we got it so easy now because we have access to so much on YouTube. And, you know, on these apps that are free, so but I think even before that, like what needs to start within you is this desire and this intention for that, right? And this curiosity and willingness so yeah, that's where it has to start. And then what you can do completely free with, you know, if you don't have the means or what have you, even if you start super, super simple of, I would say my two favorite things like everyone talks about meditation, great if you can do it, do it, you know, Headspace or Calm apps are fantastic for starting that and helping you through it. But I also really love even doing a walking meditation, or, which is just where you don't even listen to anything, you just walk out and you just hear the sounds you can hear feel your feet on the ground, you know, how far away of noises can you hear, what's the close up ones you can hear, just being super present with that. But I love journaling, I have to say like journaling has been probably and writing of any kind has probably been one of the most powerful ways for me to like even self coach myself, because it is a very somatic practice in that it can come through you and you can see what's happening. So the Artist's Way is a beautiful book and kind of practice where it was just all about just for 15 minutes, set a timer and like, get that like gunk off of the top that you're like, I don't know, I'm feeling angry about this or whatever. But I'll tell you that over time, all of a sudden, the muse, your muse, and that inspiration will be like, oh my gosh, you know, they're really listening. And they start sending messages through. And it's a really powerful way to get in touch with your intuition as well. And my favorite, the one other one I'll just add is our breath, you know, such a powerful tool within our breath at all times. And so whether you're an actual breathwork session, which I'm a big fan of, or at minimum to even just regulate your nervous system in throughout the day, practice, even just humming. Humming and feeling that vibration is a beautiful way or even just actually like doing some massive like, you know, yelling and giant breathing. Ups and downs, yeah, to like, move stuff through your body. All of those are powerful somatic practices that you can do on your own for free.
Jeanna: Yeah, I love that so much good advice there. I think a one that really stood out to me that you were just speaking about, I just recently kind of tapped in, I can't remember I must have seen this in an article or something about the idea of not listening to anything when you walk because I do a lot of dog walks a day, I'm a big walker, I want to get my 10,000 steps and blah, blah, blah. And but I was always like, okay, now I have this hour, I can listen to this book on, you know, on Audible, I can listen to a podcast, which we do want to promote listening to podcasts, but or I can listen, you know, to music, but I read this article that was like, just let yourself be quiet and listen to the trees and pay attention to what's around you. And I did a hour dog walk this morning. And I did just that I was like, I'm not going to bring headphones. I got a lot going on today and got Zooms all day long. I don't need to also listen to something while I'm walking. And that's just like been so transformative for me. And a really simple thing that I hadn't thought about until I heard someone else say that, yeah, just taking time to be quiet is important.
Willo: Yeah, and this is even the same for when you're working as well. At what made me think of is that like, even instead of another input, right and consuming something for more ideas in your brain, which is great. Like, I mean, I love me a good podcast, I love all these things as well because they can be really inspiring. And I also love listening to there's an app called Endel and I love all it is you literally open it right away, it sort of knows the time of day and it either puts on relaxing music or focus music. And it's so great. And so whether I'm on a plane or walking through an airport or taking a walk, usually when I'm out especially in Mexico, I usually want to hear my surroundings. But I love things like that, especially for focus and work where it actually can help you focus but in like a really beautiful, unintrusive way and it's not putting new ideas that you have to process and like squirrel to somewhere else.
Yeah, right. Oh, that's so cool. You've had so many great little tips. It's awesome. I'm gonna write all these down and share with our listeners. I have two final questions for you when to wrap this up. One you have given us so many tools, but is there any? Is there one work from anywhere item or tool that you could never live without?
Oh I love that question. So first I will share that I'm going to send you a link that you can share with everyone listening that has I mean I am a fountain of resources so I have a whole page of like all the kind of tools that I've used like systems and processes. I'm a huge geek about all this stuff so I'll send you that. Let's see in terms of when I travel I mean they're things that I try I have a whole thing on this that I travel with a lot of jewelry so just yesterday I was sharing how I travel with all my jewelry and the travel packs and but at the same time even right now workwise you know I've got I use a neck stand for my laptop stand I always travel with a ring light so I'm always doing some kind of a video call with clients or friends and so I would say yeah between like my handy ways that I pack and travel my jewelry and like packing cubes and kind of some of those really standard things, the work stuff like absolutely having to have some kind of a laptop stand so that I can set up like a proper setup and and my little mini ring light and I definitely have share with you the Amazon lists that I have like my favorite ring light, my favorite iPod slash stand, all those funky things.
Jeanna: Yeah, I definitely want both those lists. We'll share them with listeners to the Amazon list and the tools list because I myself am also a geek on perfecting everything we possibly can in life. Okay, final question. If someone wanted to learn more about you and this wonderful book you have coming out where should they go online?
Willo: Yes, well, I am Willo Loves You on everything. So Willo does not have an end on the end of it. But I'm very Google-able, you'll find me if you look up Willo Sana or Willo Loves You. So willolovesyou.com. And I just added the book sign up to the homepage just yesterday. So it's finally there. doubledownonyourgenius.com is also up and then I'm Willo Loves You. I'm mostly on Instagram. But I'm also of course on TikTok and Facebook and Twitter and YouTube and all the places.
Jeanna: Anywhere someone would want to find Willo. Willo, thank you so much for your time. It was a wonderful conversation and all the best in your book lunch.
Willo: Thank you. It's so great to finally connect with you, reconnect with you after so many years and I love that you've been like living abroad and traveling and working remotely. So this was super fun. Thanks for having me.
Jeanna: Yes, you're welcome.
