CFO Growth Through Authority: Profit Strategy via PR ft. Anna Tran

0:00 NPR For a long time, I thought PR was just about helping people get seen. But over time, God showed that visibility isn't just about being seen, it's about being sent. And that's why I always lead with. And how are they serving others? Using your platform to serve, not just to show. God doesn't elevate for attention, He elevates for assignment. That that revelation completely shifted how I LED who I partner with, what I do, and the visibility become less about popularity and more about purpose. It's no longer about, you know, chasing the spotlight. It's about carrying the light for for a lot of people. Before we dive back into today's conversation, I want to share something important.

0:43 This episode includes a pay partnership with Better Help, a platform designed to make starting therapy easier. I know from my own journey as a leader and entrepreneur that life can sometimes feel overwhelming. There are seasons, severe stress, uncertainty, and pressure build up, and you need a safe space to process it all.

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1:46 Once again, this is a paid partnership with Betterhelp, and I encourage you to take that first step. If you've been thinking about it, sometimes the best investment you can make ease in yourself. Welcome to The Kingdom's podcast, where we share the stories of extraordinary people and dissect hot, relevant topics that shape our world. From visionary leaders to trailblazing creatives, we uncover the mindset, strategy, and grit behind greatness. Whether it's business, culture, or personal growth, we ask the real questions.

2:18 This isn't just conversation, it's transformation. The Kingdom's podcast, Your Next Breakthrough, starts here. Music licensing reimagined. Welcome to Diary of a CFO, your essential podcast delivering unfiltered insights from visionary CF, OS and finance leaders who are shaping the business world. Here we combine powerful storytelling, strategic mastery, and cutting edge financial insights to empower your growth. Explore real world successes and explore accounts of challenges, wins, pivots, and strategic turnarounds. You get deep financial insights required to navigate today's complex business ecosystem with confidence and clarity. Gain exclusive access to top finance minds and learn the strategies driving innovation,

3:09 financial agility and growth mindset leadership. Diary of a CFO inside the modern CF OS mind. Real stories, real strategies, future finance. Don't miss out. Listen, subscribe, and join the conversation today. We are live, ladies and gentlemen, once again, welcome to the Kingdom's podcast and Diary of a CFO. And today I've got with me somebody very, very special, whitened out of a soccer Japan by. Way of Vancouver, Canada back welcome. Honor the world's best PR strategies. Tron.

3:50 And. When the action begins, my Co host. In the right corner is Noella, the world's best sales expert. Rook Connor, you're welcome to the show. How are you doing today? Excellent. Thank you so much for the hype. It's it's a great start to 5:00 AM here. So Champions today's conversation is a master class in faith treatment, leadership, local reinvention and purposeful feasibility. Our guest, Anna Tran is not just a PR strategist. She's a story architect and scripture leader for modern visionaries.

4:31 As the founder of Level Up with Honor, she has helped countless entrepreneurs and thought leaders move from who's that to must have earning features and Forbes users Insider and USA TODAY. But beyond the headlines, Anna's story is 1 of courage, calling and conviction. She recently moved from Canada to Japan with her family, a faith LED leap that symbolizes her belief that destiny unfolds when we align our mindset, mission and movement.

5:03 Anna Tran, welcome to the Kingdom's broadcast. We have emerged mindset, skill set and tool set to build the impact that outleaves us. Wow. I'll leave you in the safe hands of my. Co host. Thank you. Thank you so much for being here. It's so great to meet you. I know that you've been talking to Adamola for a while now trying to get this scheduled.

5:30 So it's kind of funny that now by the time we are are able to connect, you're actually in a completely different corner of the world. Your expertise is NPR. Do you want to tell us a little bit about your background? I know that you mentioned that you call yourself a sort of PR nerd. When did you first realize that the type of visibility that the brands you work with, the people you work with or even just yourself and you are positioning your own brand instead of just being seen, How did you know that it was about much more than that?

6:07 Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I know. When I first met with Adam Ola, I was in Vancouver. So he totally vouched for me. Totally different background. And yeah, that's how we connected, just through doing outreach for for my clients, just looking at different shows to be on. And of course, in PR, for a long time I thought PR was just about helping people get seen.

6:33 But over time, God showed that visibility isn't just about being seen, it's about being sent. And that's why I always lead with purposeful or intentional, intentional PR. And it's more about stewardship at the end of the day, like who are these people that I'm serving and how are they serving others?

6:56 Using your platform to serve, not just to show. I always say God doesn't elevate for attention, He elevates for assignments. That, that revelation completely shifted how I LED who I partner with, what I do, and the visibility become less about popularity and more about purpose. It's no longer about, you know, chasing the spotlight. It's about carrying the light for, for a lot of people as well.

7:27 So that's why I, I feel like calling for visibility. And naturally I I evolved from being in years of sales to marketing and now here I am, public relations. That's amazing to hear. Do you want to give some of us and some of our listeners a little background just on your faith in general and kind of where it came from?

7:54 You know, did it come from your upbringing? A lot of different people, they'll grow up in a certain type of religion, domination or a church, and some people find it a little later in life. What's your story? Oh, that's something that I did not prepare for, actually, but it's really. Some. If that's not OK to ask, I'm totally.

8:16 No, no, it's a really great question because I grew up heavily A Buddhist. My, my family, that's all we, that's all we knew. We went to the temple quite a bit. However, over time, I, I just keep meeting with the right people who didn't force any type of religion because I know what being forced a religion feels like growing up as Buddhist, right?

8:40 That's all you know, but yeah, meeting amazing people like going to church with friends just for fun on Christmas and later on, who's my now husband we've been friends for since high school. And my business partner, they were friends as well. And I, I know I'm going all over the place, but the short story is when I quit my job, my very solid job in sales, I went all in on door to door.

9:11 And every time before we knock in the rain, in the sun, my business partner and my, my now husband, they would pray. And every time they pray, we would get a flood of sales. Yeses, you know, and, and you know, being at the door in the rain, in the cold, it's, it's kind of hard, right? And I'm just like, OK, maybe this God guy is real.

9:36 So Fast forward 10 years later, here I am. I'm moving to the other side of the world because my faith and helping others share their story and in a purposeful way because I feel led to just be in that position to help others. And I'm just honestly living out what I I never knew I could because of that. It's really incredible how we see see like our own experience a lot of times almost pretty common was that as entrepreneurs or people who build a business and move forward, they call it a spiritual journey for sure.

10:16 And that it's a spiritual transformation. You go through a certain type of spiritual transformation when you are going through business door to door sales is no joke. So a lot of people cannot do it at all. So I think it's incredible to hear how you even got through that type of industry and every time that you were able to connect with your faith, you understood or not even your faith. You sounds like through the story, you really became a witness to it around you and it kind of just connects with how you grew up in a certain way, but you're able to discover it in a way that you didn't feel was forced. That's really incredible and that's really amazing. Adam, Ola and I, we both have

11:00 like extensive backgrounds and you know, our own faith journeys. And it's just really awesome that we get to share that with the people who are listening, who are building their own brands, going through their own journeys and where they can kind of pull those types of Nuggets into their own stories. So we really, really appreciate.

11:17 I know we didn't prepare that question, but thank you so much for just giving your story on that when your brand blends faith in business so beautifully together. That's also why I just really wanted to ask that question and you touched a little bit on it. But do you have any other notes or anything else you want to include on how your spirituality shapes the way you lead, the way you serve, and specifically the way you build your clients legacies?

11:46 Absolutely and no worries, even if we didn't prepare for these type of questions, I, you know, I light up because I get to talk about who, who our creator is and and why we do what we do. And that's what I love, right? And where faith meets business is because the compass for everything I do, honestly, I literally pray before I pitch or even getting into calls every morning with my clients. It's not just a feature, it's about alignment for me at the end of the day.

12:18 So when I guide my clients, it's not just helping them build brands. I'm helping them build legacies rooted in integrity and intention. Because when faith is not a foundation, business just becomes it's, it becomes unstable, right? Everyday people are, you know, trying to get attention of others, but what is the purpose behind that?

12:40 And I, I, I want to stay grounded and help my clients stay grounded in that sense as well. So I completely agree with that as well. Adam, Ola, if you want to chime in at all, feel free because you have a faith-based your whole brand on Kingdoms podcast here is really faith-based as well. But. I see him smiling this whole time.

13:01 I don't. Know, I know he looks like he wants to chime in, but before he does, I just want to say. Based or. What do you want to say? What what what? What is the title of the article that your your PR guys wrote about? Me, I think. Face, face, face, face. Yeah, I think that I just saw that the fade dreaming CEO.

13:29 So face is actually. You know, at the background of everything that would do and you know, I know is somebody that I really, really appreciate a lot. I remember the very first day we we met, we we shared Bible verses and. It wasn't just like a business relationship, it was also like. You know, a faith driven conversation and.

13:50 I remember, I remember on that. Day, Yeah. I think I can't remember, but then I felt like maybe I was feeling. Down that evening it was like a very cold day, like in. London, you don't feel OK? And we spoke and. I feel like we elevated each other's. Spirits, just, you know, sharing words of faith, sharing scriptures, and in my head, I just knew you would collaborate with this person.

14:17 You will collaborate with the person so like you talking about. Faith, like it just gives me smiles, you know, on my face, on my face rather, because you aligned with purpose, right? And you also like, let your faith take the driver's seat. And that is something that we very much aligned with. So it's, it's interesting how three people who grew up in three different parts of the world, you know, found faith in different ways.

14:48 And aligned on one call. Tell me, tell me God does not exist. Like only a fool say God does not exist, right? I need to hear your stories. Don't worry, you need to pay us. But there's something, there's something, there's something that Anna posted on Instagram that has been leaving rent. Free in my head, Ana said in that post. Marketing generates awareness or PR generates interest. My OK, OK.

15:21 What would you want, awareness or interest? I think I want interest, right? So it's amazing that with the work that you do, but like, you know, I'm. I'm, I was actually very curious about your view from Canada to Japan. You know, when I met you first met you, you were in the concrete jungles of Vancouver.

15:41 And now I think you are in on the other side of the world, you know, in Osaka. I, I hope that's another concrete jungle anyways, but very big shout out to Japan. I have this Japanese set. Last you said to me yesterday I deliberately had to wear it because, you know, I was speaking to somebody in. Japan, but unfortunately you're not in Kyoto. What inspired that bold?

16:06 Move from Canada, you know, to Japan with your family. I feel like it's a very, very quantum leap. It's a big leap. I remember coming from Nigeria. To the UKA couple of years ago. And in my head was you get in my head. Is you're making a leap, you're making it feels like a gamble, and the gamble has to pay off.

16:27 You have to become a better person by making this move, right? So, but for you, I want to hear your own migration story. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, for a big move like this, it's completely, you know, may sound crazy as well, but moving from Canada to Japan wasn't a strategic move. It's more of an obedience move and making sure that we were postured right with God before he placed these these strong senses in our hearts.

16:55 And I'm to be honest, I it was more on my husbands heart as well. I just follow him even though it doesn't make sense on paper. That's when I learned faith isn't just about comfort, it's about calling. And what does Japan have to offer? So it's became a place where it's it's obedience meets spiritual growth as well. So we are just just finding ways to develop ourselves and just removing ourselves from our comfort zone in Canada. And yeah, now here we are.

17:32 Basically the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, Hebrew elevens, Hebrew Chapter 11 verse one. And of course it goes further down and says Ibrahim Hafi, and it has counted unto him unto righteous past. It is impossible to please God without faith. So you had that divine confirmation, but then was there like any specific moment during that relocation when you felt like, aha, we have that divine confirmation or that sense of this is what I am meant to be doing? Like at what point did you feel that way? You know, when we first landed in Japan, there was this quiet moments.

18:19 It was of course Japan is you know it's busy over stimulating at times. However, that quiet moment, there was No Fear, no doubt sense of peace, if I may, and it was my confirmation. And although we didn't even we're not able to read some of the signs, understand the language, it's, it's not like God's going to give us a big loud sign. Sometimes his confirmation comes from stillness and that deep knowing that you're exactly where you're meant to be. That's what is my foundation.

18:55 It's that faith. I know that you guys, you guys studied for about two years, you know, suddenly the language, suddenly the culture. But I was always going to giggle, right? You talked about not been able to read the signs because it reminds me of when I went to Lithuania. I was in Lithuania for a whole.

19:14 Week and then when I'm going out, Google Mouse is my best friend. And then I look at the signposts and I like, all of a sudden I'm an illiterate, I cannot read the signs. Yeah. You know what The funny thing is? Even though we can read characters if we put it together, we don't know the word like, OK, yeah.

19:33 Like. You know The funny thing? There was this time I I took an Uber to Salt Rare in Lithuania and I don't know. It's like it was like I literally got lost. Some words are like similar or like synonyms. So I think I went to the wrong place. I'm like, oh. I want to go to this other place and then I had to speak to the Google translator. Then the Google translator speaks to the driver, Then the driver speaks into the Google translator. Google translator speaks to me.

20:05 The soft, that's how you got to do it. That's how you got to do. It never been frustrated in life. Oh. Man. You should try the Google translator thing. It's crazy and you know, a lot of them don't. Speak when I say broken English, so the English. Is like copy and paste with their local language. And it's, it's just a mix and match. It's it's crazy.

20:27 And you know when you go. To buy something and then they're telling you things in English and the language. But like, how are you guys coping? Thank you for bringing up the science thing. Yeah, well, through it all, like, you know, it is the testing of faith and strengthening, right? So although everything may seem overwhelming at first, it was surprisingly smooth because the more you look and you know, it's, it's funny how God leads you.

20:55 I, I, I didn't feel overwhelmed at all when we first landed. It was just like, OK, here it is. This is where we got to go. This is the bus. Like at least there was some, there's English as well on top of all the, the Japanese characters, right? So it was pretty straightforward. I was surprised actually how easy it was to find our way around. English or top of the Welsh characters. I think now you're reminding me of Wales. When I went to Wales, I I went.

21:25 With my South African friend. And then she was like, oh, I want an authentic Welsh experience. I was like, are you really sure you know what you're saying? She said oh I want an authentic Welsh experience and. Then we went. To the Wales Millennium Center, you know. All of. The signposts in Wales, right? You see English and Welsh, English and Welsh, and then when we got to the Wales Millennium Center, there's this very big, I think it's like a, it's like a stadium, it's like an Event Center and everything was just written in. Welsh And then we couldn't read anything. We couldn't read Jack.

22:09 And then my friend was like, oh I can't read this thing. And then I came from behind. I said now that is the authentic Welsh experience. So you tell me, what has been your authentic Japanese experience? Oh man, Are you ready for this? I am ready to rumble. I am ready. Noella is not ready. I'm ready. Noella needs some Nutella.

22:34 Noella needs some Nutella to get ready. Well, I, I, I don't know if this is authentic, but we had chicken sashimi a couple of times. She was not ready. All right. I was not ready. I said it. I. Said it. Anna tried. Anna tried. You're my witness. Get this woman to give me $1000. Oh my gosh, chicken sashimi.

23:05 It's crazy. Like raw chicken? See anybody that knows? Me never in my life. Anybody that anybody that knows me knows, I don't like sushi. I don't like sushi. You can. I love sushi. I don't like sushi. You can arrest me all you want. I do not like sushi. How was it? It was. It was. It's better than you think.

23:29 Honestly, it's better than you think. Really. Yeah, it's like. Crazy to me that is. So I need to look that up because I do love sushi. I love raw fish, I love ahi tuna, you know, basically everything. But for some reason, chicken sashimi freaks me out. Freaks. I've got freaks. Oh yeah. And I think all of those fishes and stuff like I've tried Japanese food like I've.

23:57 I worked at KPMG in the UK, so it's an international, you know what I say, community, right? So it's like the headquarters of KPMG, right? So we used to have this international canteen and on some days this Japanese food day, I think. Have you tried the ma, the malbons? Is it the malbons? There's something they call malbons, and then there are like some round stuff that are white. Then the tofu as well.

24:28 You tried. You tried a tofu. Like, no disrespect to Japanese people. I love Japanese people. But Japanese food, I'm sorry. I don't like much of the food. So I have tried a wide array of Japanese food. But personally, I don't like it. But I don't like to be disrespectful to people and people's cultures. There are some of them that, yeah, are tasty, but most of them, right.

24:49 So I guess if I was the one that got told to go to Japan, I think I would be crying at the beginning. Of the instructions. I'll eat anything. I'm here for the food. Yeah, here for the food wing. Wow. So what's? Your best food right now from Japan. The best food. Yeah, that you strike. I would say anything chicken or beef.

25:14 That's my go to. I love sushi as well, but I'm not a big fan of tuna to be honest. I like the chicken sashimi better than this tuna sashimi. Really. Yeah. That that's the thing where people stuff pallet. Maybe I should try it then maybe? Maybe you should. Try it. I don't like sushi, I don't like tuna, I don't like Melbourne's.

25:37 I guess I'll be very, very staffed when I and I like. Spicy food, so a lot of Japanese. Food are not spicy. No, you can get you can get delicious ramen udon, you can get yakitori. That's that's what I like. That's the one at the ramen. Yeah, I like the ramen. At least. You get the Wagyu, you know all the short ribs, the beef short ribs. Yeah, the short ribs are nice, especially when you spice it up. Really.

26:05 Yeah. Now you're talking about food that I like. Why would? Why did you start? With what I don't like. You ask? OK, I'll hand you over to Doela. So Anna, when we're talking about these things like spirituality and faith and trusting God, trusting the ultimate creator of the universe, you know, very casual subjects that we're talking about.

26:33 I know that you just moved to a new country and you talk about the peace of God that came over you and understanding that that was a really good sense of divine confirmation. Have you had any moments yet? I know you're still very new to your new surroundings, but have any moments maybe either before or during or so far in Japan where you've been tested or you feel like you've had to go through a point of strengthening maybe to get to the point where you're comfortable with moving, maybe something you've experienced after?

27:07 Tell me a little bit about that. Yeah. So of course we're looking for a place to settle down in, right. And the biggest uncertainty is where are we going to live while we are looking for a house, you know, a home. So that was that was the uncertainty. And also adjusting to the time, like waking up at 1:00 AM or waking up at 3:00 AM to continue to serve the people in the on the West, right. And, and just be sure that, you know, we stay diligent and not fall into bad habits, you know, oversleeping, you know, going out late, these things you can't do if you want to stay on top of what you're here to do, right?

27:50 And just, you know, whenever life feels uncertain, I just go back to prayer and journaling. And you know, this is one verse. Proverbs 16 three, commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans right. That verse keeps me grounded. And because I know as long as my work is surrounded or surrendered, my steps are are secured in a sense.

28:15 So when you're talking about how I think finding a place to live when you're moving to a new place is obviously a huge, can be a huge hurdle for a lot of people. Maybe just for our audience. Do you want to walk through a little bit how you were able to secure that place? Is it something that maybe your husband found somebody or did you have to reach out and network with anybody or you know, just for anyone who is trying to go abroad in their business or follow those types of steps making larger moves?

28:49 How did you kind of secure that or how did it come through for you I guess is my question. Yeah. You know what, We don't have a secure place yet. That's a thing, right? So we're staying at different places and getting to know people. However, we do have connections. We have been making connections over the past few years just to just to see what's available.

29:13 Of course, we understand that when we get here, those places may not be available any longer. And my husband and I are always saying, hey, Oh no, somebody bought that place that we really wanted. Seemed great. However, we always go back, you know, God probably has a better place for us anyway. So we're just moving along.

29:34 We do have a friend who's a realtor here, thank God to help out with the next steps when the right place to show up. So we're looking, we're projecting in the next few months here to close on a place. And there's a great, there's, there's a lot of great platforms online nowadays that, that help connect Realtors and map out the availability of homes that are on the market in Japan. So one place that my, my husband's been using is Akia Hub and they, they integrate AI as well to help you with searches and, and pricing and narrowing down the locations and even connecting you with Realtors.

30:11 So I recommend checking that out. Awesome, So I just. Want to come to Japan? Yes, when we're ready to go straight to Japan. I do just want to touch on one thing that you mentioned is that when you well, actually two things because they do go hand in hand about your faith that in Scripture and through your faith, you practice, you understand and practice that you are saying what you want, essentially saying this is, you know, the desires of my heart and then allowing the steps to be planned for you outside of you.

30:47 So you are not connecting yourself with the how things are going to happen. You're just kind of assuming knowing that it's going to work out. And then the other thing that you're kind of touching on is that if you plan or think that something could be where you're going to stay or this could be the method that's going to work for you when it releases or no longer becomes available for you, you have a moment where you're understanding, I'm either going to get something similar to what I'm asking for, or I'm actually going to get something better.

31:26 So I think that's like such an important mindset to connect with faith. You know, just giving those connections for our listeners to really understand that if they're building a faith-based business or if they're trying to root their faith through their business practices, that your goals or your visions or your purpose, that when you connect it with God, you're always going to get that desire of your heart or better because we don't understand or understand the how of something's going to come through.

32:00 So when it does come through, when your house does come, I 100% believe that it's going to be what you envision or better kind of building on that. Obviously, there are times of uncertainty that you face. And from so far, and what I've heard is that you use a lot of scripture and different types of inner dialogue and you mentioned proverbs.

32:28 Do you use different types of in our dialogue or is it just always kind of one or two go to scriptures? I know you mentioned one, but is there anything else that you wanted wanted to touch on? Well, there's so many because man, the Bible is living word of God. And if I show you my my Bible study Bible look, check out all these words. Fully loaded.

32:56 I just can't choose one. I'm not even joking. And it's crazy because whenever I pray I'm like OK God lead me and guide me today I just open it up. Could be any random page but it speaks directly to me. And it's not just that I will open my phone, whatever message it is, word of the day vocabulary app, it will confirm it. I'm like, what is you know, it's just I don't know how to explain it.

33:21 And I prayed to many gods growing up throughout my entire life. No God has answered and answered different ways. He uses different people. He uses music, he uses memes. I don't know what to tell you. It's. Yeah, it's incredible. Incredible for sure. I would say that. I think I have AI have a scripture.

33:43 I have a scripture for Anna. Sorry to interrupt, right? You say you have many scriptures, but then it's actually just aligns Joshua chapter one, verse 8. This book of the Lord shall not depart from thy mouth, or thou shalt meditate during day and night, right? That you know. According to all that is written therein. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and thou shalt have good success.

34:10 So the, the whole, the whole of the Scripture basically is rooting for, you know, correctional proof and various purposes. So I appreciate the fact that you, you appreciate the whole of the word of God that it's, it's, it's a beautiful thing. You are, yeah. Truly, truly a woman of faith. I I love that.

34:35 We are, we are privileged. We are privileged. To, to, you know, to speak with you, to do business with you, to have you as a friend of the house. Yeah, we we very much appreciate you. Absolutely. You know, it reminds me of the first verse I ever remembered. It's Romans 828. You know, all things work together for good to those I love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.

34:58 And, and every time I'm just like, OK, even something, if something bad happens to me, if somebody, you know, you know, there's a shortcoming, you know, somebody backstabs you like, but in the end, it's leading you on on the right path anyway. Nothing bad can really happen if you look at it that way, yeah.

35:20 And I think that's like really interesting when we're talking about the nature of God and when we're talking about things like good versus evil and things like that. And just like the So just to give you a little background, I actually graduated from a Christian high school. Yeah. And so there's a there's a lot of Bible classes real deep, real deep in here, but just understanding the nature of God, understanding that all things are meant for good. So then I guess in my, the way I translate it now, even outside of outside of, you know, religion is just that like everything works out for me all the time. So whether it is perceived as good or bad or a shortcoming or a delay or anything that

36:14 happens, it's because it is always working out for you all the time. And that's just a confirmation with that Bible verse as well. And we're going to talk a little bit about your authority acceleration system that's helped countless of entrepreneurs stand out. What has been, I know you mentioned just your mission and you believe, you know, of allowing people to not necessarily have light shined on them, but illuminating their inner light and allowing them to be a light.

36:52 Is there something you want to touch on about what inspired that creation and really how it's different from traditional PR? Yeah, that's a that's a really good one because it's a system that was formed from deep desire to help people gain clarity in there and build credibility and consistency. Unlike traditional PR, it doesn't start with your image because a lot of people are afraid to put themselves out there because they're they want to be perfectionist. They're afraid of how people will perceive them. However, this is starts with your identity. And when you know who you are and your why and why you're called to do this, who you're serving, your visibility becomes an extension of your purpose,

37:36 not just a performance. So that's where it all stem from. Like people put content nowadays, it's like, what's the purpose behind that and what kind of reputation are you building? Who do you want to be known as when, when you're not in the room, Right? So that's the authority acceleration system, just starting with your what's.

38:01 So it sounds like service is a pillar of not only what you're doing for your clients as you're serving them, but helping them understand how to serve others. Is there a specific strategy or like talk about your system a little bit about how you help your clients tell those stories that go beyond selling and serving? Is there a process that you walk them through? Are there modules?

38:33 Are there? Is it a course? Like how does that relationship form? And how do you kind of train these people and help them tell stories? Yeah. And with what I do, it's not really a course. It's more of like a series of worksheets to really deep dive deep into why they want to do and how they want to, to help others. Right, Because public relations, you're building a relationship with your audience, with your target audience. And when I help clients tell their stories, it's not it's never about selling something.

39:11 It's more about serving someone. Every brand has a soul and my job is to help bring that to light. One of my client had her biggest breakthrough when she shared her testimony instead of her title. And that's when people truly connected. That's the power of service driven storytelling. So breaking everything down before I even write or send it, send off, you know, send off my clients files to, to get it written.

39:39 I, I really sit down with a person and make sure that we're aligned. I, I can see their vision, stand behind their beliefs and their values and properly represent them in the market, in media space, because now I'm an extension of who they are to tell their story. So that's part of the process. And then from there, just a series of worksheets to really identify, well, pinpoint how they want to be presented as well.

40:09 So it depends on where the person's at, what stage they're at, you know, what kind of foundation they have online as a baseline and then working from. There amazing. Amazing. Honestly, I think that sounds like obviously a really good strategy. You kind of have to do a deep dive, peel back any type of performances or masks. And correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like sometimes by the time you get to the brand, maybe they've been posting for a certain amount of time, Maybe they've created something that could be slightly inauthentic.

40:49 And it sounds like you helped peel that back, connect with who they really are and shine a light on it. That's really amazing, honestly. And you've you have a incredible track record. Obviously you've placed clients on top tier outlets, outlets, excuse me, like Forbes, New York Times. Do you have any unseen habits or skill sets behind that? Man unseen habits behind that it's putting the when you do outreach for anybody, it's always comes back to a place of understanding and that's a habit that I always have. You know, there's no secret formula to winning, just just persistence and and making sure that every win starts with genuine relationships, deep research and consistency. Because when we when reach out

41:50 to publicist your journalist, right? You got to understand who they're writing for and how do I make their jobs easier by presenting this client that could be a potentially a good story for them to to share. And you know, you don't want to reach out to a Forbes contributor who you may not have done a lot of research on.

42:09 And all he writes about is the automotive space. And you're presenting somebody in the beauty space that there's no connection there. It's not going to serve anyone, right? So it's just just making sure that you understand, you do your research, and that's your reputation. It's not about trying to gain something. It's more about, hey, how can I help all parties? How do we all win?

42:34 Yeah, doing the homework is definitely important, especially because, you know, we receive so many emails every day. We receive so many messages all day between the average attention span and the average schedule of these types of people that we are talking to, reaching out to, and connecting with. It takes a certain efficiency and it takes a certain type of understanding that this person only has. Even the person we're connecting with only has a certain amount of time and attention to digest the information we're giving them.

43:10 You doing your homework behind the scenes and understanding their background, who they're talking to, and you know their needs or their goals. Within the next year or so, maybe they're starting a new series. Finding those little tidbits super, super important for sure. So love, love everything you're saying.

43:28 Love hearing that. Adam, Ola, do you want to talk about the next couple questions? You talked about emails that receive every day and I think she she was touching my trauma points because. I didn't want to bring that up. Exactly why, why are you touching my trauma points in bead bead podcast right, because I I know you're in a PR and.

43:56 I think you should be on the same boat as well. You get setting emails. Well, I thought you're done reading certain emails. You just know this was a waste of four minutes of my life spot What hurt, What hurts me the most is where people waste my time. I think the other day I had a call and the person wasted my time. I think I I cried that day.

44:20 I cried. Why? Because I just want like I just wasted 30 minutes of my life I cannot account for I cannot account for this like money. If you lose money, you can make it back. If you lose effort, you can make it back. But time you can never get it back, right? So they got deliver us from from time wasters anyways.

44:42 So how? How do you filter the voice from the noise when it comes to your own profession? The voice from the noise. I mean, I probably don't get as many emails like you guys. You know, you can easily tell how it is when somebody uses an AI generated e-mail system that automates emails outreaches and they tend to start off the same way. Hello dear, hi ma'am.

45:12 I'm just like, OK, I know where this is going and and most of the time I open it up and just you know, because I like to clear out it's like this this thing, right? I just like to clear out my inbox. So saying, saying the same thing and most of the time Ioffer the same service, it's just crazy to me because they're reaching out to me to offer a service that I already offer.

45:33 So I mean, you just tend to pick up the patterns. Yeah. Teaching on cross feature, Yeah. I don't know if you're right, but. We do receive a lot of emails. And then, yeah, you're running the visas. And, you know, people say, oh, I want to come on your podcast for free. Or what do you do? You breathe while leaving.

45:52 That's cool. God be with you. God is the provider of breath. Why do you want to come teach me breath work? God put breath in me already. But anyways that that's a that's an inside joke. So how do you balance the analytical position with creative intuition when developing? A media strategy. Yeah, balance and data with discernment. I mean, staying informed with trends but also listening to what's within you, right?

46:24 The Holy Spirit and NPR doesn't just is is both strategy and spirit. It's it's about when you honor both doors open and data alone can't explain right and nowadays everything's so fast track. You can use AI as well. What keeps that human connection right and and you can't just do it alone as well. So you really have to just make sure that you're, again, it goes back to purpose and intention, like why are you searching for these things?

46:54 What is the data telling you? And you use the sermon to make the right next move. Well, I, I appreciate what you said. You know that that fine balance. And of course, you talked about AI. I am AI, right? My parents use something they need something. Everybody's don't know. So they just decoded my name. AI, what a time.

47:17 What? A time to be alive. You know, somebody sent me a message. I said, wow, I am jealous of your money car. Like it's it's a really, really cool money car. But you know, beyond that money car, like, what do you think? How do you see AI affecting, you know, various industries, especially your own industry? And what's your advice to professionals out there? You know, there are a lot of AI enthusiasts and there are also AI, what I say doubters, AI people that are anti AI basically, but get used tanned.

47:56 And how do you see AI influencing an impact in the business environment in the future going forward? Yeah, you know, it's pretty interesting because AI has just been a hot topic nowadays. I mean, I'm not opposed of AI technology can't amplify your reach. It can help with, you know, if you're, if you have if you're stuck, it can help jog up some creativity, but it cannot replace your voice. Automation might scale efficiency, but authenticity scales impact.

48:34 And going back to those, you know, being bombarded with emails, what I mentioned about automation and AI doing the outreach, you pick up the on those patterns. So I use AI all the time, it helps me organize, outline and optimize my work. But I never replace it with the human heart behind the message. So AI as a tool, not the touch.

48:58 And if you want to use it the right way, just structure ideas around it, but let your heart write the story. I love that I do have an episode on sports class titles. Humans first, AI next. Yeah, the eye is meant to be on the system, not the controller. So you have actually coached many founders who here. So people have fear of projection, people have fear of exposure.

49:26 So how do you help them transform fear into free field feasibility? Yeah, this is a really like, it's a common theme with amazing brilliant minds that I've met with So many people fear visibility because they either fear rejection or being put in the wrong light. But I ask, I always ask like, what if you are not being seen right? Who who needs to see you?

50:00 What kind of disservice are you doing by not putting yourself out there? And faith's greatest visibility strategy there is. Because when it comes to showing up, even when the outcome isn't guaranteed, you know that somebody out there could be better served when you put yourself out there. Because there's a lot of people out there making promises and under delivering, but there's also a lot of amazing people over delivering, not visible.

50:32 Mm hmm well I think I'm going to hand over to my Co host. Before I do that I'm going to beat a portion of this creature that is Matthew chapter 5 verses 14 to 16. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on the hill cannot be hid neither to men. Light a candle under a bushel or on a Candlestick, and giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good words, and vilify your Father, which is in heaven. Amen.

51:08 Amen. I just love what you said about when we're using AI to let your heart tell the story as like a business owner or you know, an artist, anybody. We are made-up of the stories we tell ourselves and AI can be, we're talking about this with Ted Santos, how these AI systems kind of, if we are in charge of our own thoughts or aren't in charge of our own story, to give a parallel over to this conversation, they can tell us who we are.

51:42 So allowing our hearts to tell us what our brand is allowing to tell us the way that we want to shine is, you know, just essential. So again, just love being able to have this connection between business and faith. I think it's super, super important. Another thing that you've worked on, Anna, is leading Eng to to help e-commerce brands scale exponentially.

52:11 What parallels have you seen between scaling your own business with scaling personal influence? What are, you know, like dislikes, similarities, differences, the whole thing? Yeah. So with that it's, it was more on the marketing side scaling a business it's it requires systems. So you fall to the quality of your systems or you yet.

52:44 And if you have proper systems and processes in place, it's incredible how much faster you will grow. And it has to be rooted and strong culture as well. It's not about growing fast, it's about growing strategically. Consistency builds credibility as well. So it ties in with PR and that's how high how I evolved into PR. But with marketing, there's a lot of behind the scenes systems that needs to be in place, such as the messaging has to be aligned, how your brand shows up. If you're getting a lot of traffic, there's not a lot. However, there's no conversions.

53:24 Where is the disconnect? And then if somebody does convert but doesn't close on a call, where's the disconnect there? Is it with the sales team? Is it with the marketing team? Is it with the website? So is it with the credibility? And I mean, all these things work together, but having the systems in place to identify the gaps really helps. And and then from there you start scaling from there. You don't want to, you know, a million traffic and no conversions.

53:59 Lots, lots of Nuggets there as AI would say. He loves to say the word Nuggets that you're breaking. Nuggets just like chicken Nuggets. I don't try with the Nuggets. Every time you say that, my when I when my daughter was a baby, I would call her my little chicken nugget. So every time you say that, I just think of like a little baby.

54:24 But yeah, as someone with a background in marketing and sales, I definitely understand what you're saying is it's really systems based. And I think it's really, I think it serves your pivot over to PR obviously to have that type of background and door to door sales. That sounds so crazy to me and and marketing as well.

54:48 So you understand collectively the systems that it takes. So it sounds like you're just adding, you know, new wisdom and new expertise on as your career moves. So that's amazing to hear to hear your story because we don't really know which way we're going to go. You know, like day one, you probably didn't know you're going to pivot to PR, But that's how that's why journeys are journeys. If we knew what the end of, if we just skipped to the end of the movie, then we would miss everything in between, pivoting kind of over to the flow and focus that you work with. Just being a life obviously takes dedication, faith, Lovejoy, peace, you know, being somebody who cultivates that for an entire home, with or without

55:44 children and credit. And then, you know, an incredible role instilled by God. So what tools or systems do you use? Both, I guess, as a founder that works in business and as a wife in your household. There's actually a lot of conversations that I've watched with couples who also work in business. And a lot of people say even Ted Santos, who we were just talking to, he has an entire book on this. Just because relationships mirror through your business. So what do you specifically use?

56:18 You have any tools or systems that work both in your marriage and and your business? Yes, tools. You know what just touch upon the mother thing. I I dream about being a mother all the time. Like I dream about that I have kids crazy. That's exciting. Yes. So I'm excited. OK. So was that confirmation? I guess.

56:41 So. I guess so. Sometimes I would cry when I wake up. I'm like, Dang, that was a adorable sun. I, I wish it was real. But yeah, with, with that said systems, tools, you know, having a rhythm in place and making sure that you start your day off planning ahead the night before that no matter what the heck your morning routine is, I find that what sets you up for success is what you do the night before and you already ran through the next day.

57:10 And and that's, that's the system that we have in place, tools. I like to use Excel to map out everything, you know, budget everything. But yeah, it is pretty simple. Just keeping it simple, yeah? There's always planning ahead. Yeah, That way when you wake up, it brings a little more peace. As soon as you wake up, at least you even if you're still sleepy and groggy or anything like that, you have some sort of direction.

57:40 Like setting up your clothes, having a water bottle ready beside your protein and you just, you know, plop it in or whatever. OK. Just or even writing it out because now you visually promising yourself, OK, that's why I'm going to do the next day and it helps just reduces. OK, what am I doing today?

57:59 That's awesome. That's awesome. The two water bottle people talking. I've never been able. To keep a water bottle all my life. Oh my gosh. It comes with me everywhere. It's like my hand, you know, like. Yes, I love successful. I love it is. Successful in that regard. Anytime I try to keep a water bottle I'll probably misplace it somewhere. So I just gave up.

58:23 Try again, try, try again. Hydrate. So you don't hydrate as I say. I I I use I use my mugs. So we have obviously on this podcast, we talk about AIA lot and we've talked about it a bit so far with the systems that you use. I feel like we've really answered a lot of this question. But just out of curiosity, was there any other tidbits or anything else that you want to say about specifically AI and PR in general, how you integrate tech while you work? I know you mentioned how you use it to organize and plan and things like that.

59:07 Or possibly, is there any way that you use AI to help you stay anchored in your faith at all? Yeah, so The thing is, I, I'm not going to lie, it's like I love using AI. It does help and it reduces time exponentially, even in automations, even at an outreach. However, I never rely on it at the at the end of the day to make the connection. So whatever it spits out at me, it can give me ideas, it can give me motivation.

59:38 OK, We're like maybe just different ways of wording. I always go back and read it out loud and say, hey, you know what? Do I say things this way? Or if I'm doing an outreach, I always go back rewrite it in how I would say it as well, although it gives you different, let's just say ways of wording. I always go back and and say, well, put your human touch into it.

1:00:07 It never replaces the messenger I would say. And I have a question for you are. You are you friends with Noella or like? Did you guys, did you guys go to the? Same school. Did you guys go to the same school? Because that's the same exact things that she says. How would you say no? No, I don't want it to be AI. I want to be human.

1:00:28 I wanted to process. Yes. Oh like don't worry, I have AI. People will see through it. Don't. Worry. I. AI at the end of the message I always. Put AI. So that's my usual. So take it or take it. So basically, you know. Anna is a very busy woman. Before she she runs away, let us run her through the big fire round. Now you're closer to the Pacific round. Of fire and we are going to take you to the big fire round we have just one question for you are. You ready to rumble so?

1:01:07 You skipped a whole page. Are you ready to rumble? Yes, Sir. Yeah. So before you run, you can run, but you cannot. Hide so they see right So. The very. First question, what is 1 Bible verse or spiritual quote that keeps you anchored? Oh man, we we went through quite a few today. This one actually reminds me of my friend. She sends me God first every morning. She's from Texas and we do Bible study from different countries. Always this reverse.

1:01:37 She she, she mentioned that it was her favorite as well and it stuck with me all these years. It's Jeremiah 2911 or I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, Plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. I love that. I think I know it in King James version. My head is configured in King James. Though Oh yeah, mine is King James too, but I just wanted to pull it up for yeah.

1:02:04 For my pleasure, my favorite scripture is Philippians chapter 4 verse 13. I can do all things through process transfers me. Yeah. Noella. All right, what is your morning ritual in one word? Surrender. I give myself away so you can use me. I need God every day. I'm not. I'm not perfect at all. Absolutely don't tell me the Bible. I know the Bible.

1:02:38 Is. Your real answer to this question. So tell me the second best, the second best, next book. So what is the book? What is the book that has shifted your mindset forever? How did you know that was what I prepared? For how did I know? Because I am AI. I am AI, OK? I have the human AI actually. I would say the next best book that is flagged out like this.

1:03:07 It's 7 Habits of Highly Successful People. Stephen, Stephen. Covey, Stephen. What's his name? And then Stephen something. Yeah. Yeah. Stephen Covey. OK, yeah. Noella. Yeah, over to you. So faith, family, or freedom, which one drives your decisions the most right now? Always faith, because everything else follows. Always.

1:03:34 And every time I put something else first. It's just like, you know, you're in a position where face is all you have to turn to. No, I agree. Yeah. Totally agree. Totally agree. OK, I guess question. The next question is for me, and it was designed by God because I'll be very curious about this one.

1:03:56 So finish this sentence. God positioned me in Japan because. He needed to show me that obedience is the bridge to overflow. Obedience is better than sacrifice. Yeah, that's only in the Bible. I can't remember the exact verse right now. Wow. Love and respect to you. We love you. We appreciate you. You.

1:04:26 You are really, really up on our bookshelf. Of course, your personal faith and you. I think you went to the same school with Noella, but you never met her in classes. Maybe you guys used to skip? Classes, Noella. I hear what I said, I said. I guess you guys went to the same school. But you used to skip classes because you both wear glasses, so you're funny. Yeah, you, you guys have very, very similar classic philosophies and the mindset skill set, tool sets very fantastic for me.

1:04:59 To you, it's love. And of course, maximum respect to you and we look forward to having you on the show again and collaborating with you again. And over to you, Noella. Yeah. I just want to say thank you so much for just sharing your heart, sharing your journey, sharing really practical integration of faith in business. It sounds like you're somebody who because you're able to establish such a solid, deeply rooted foundation that you're open, it actually creates openness to be that rooted. You allow such flow in your life that's easier for God to take you across the world.

1:05:49 And that's just such an amazing point that we want to drive home here at Kingdoms to show anyone who's watching, a lot of the people that listen to us, they have their own businesses, their CE OS, their leaders. Maybe they work in C-Suite or they're entrepreneurs or they work in tech. And they have those dreams and they are cultivating that type of faith in establishing that foundation that's going to take them down the same flow. So just want to let you know that we greatly appreciate you coming on and sharing all of your expertise, not only just NPR, but in sales and marketing, as a wife, everything that has brought you up into this point.

1:06:35 You're obviously a heavily impactful person for brands to position them in a way that they believe that they are worthy. Just like God calls us, tells us that we are worthy, that we are more worthy than diamonds and rubies and the most riches that we think about as humans and that we are here to shine our own light. So thank you so much.

1:07:03 Just greatly appreciate you. And again, just in closing, your journey reminds us that faith is the highest form of strategy. And when mindset, purpose, and obedience aligned, visibility becomes inevitable. So thank you so much for coming on and talking with us today. Thank you so much for having me.

1:07:23 And it was such a an honor to. Yes, I felt like this is a Bible study more than anything. Yeah, I loved it. Thank you so much guys. OK, goodbye.