Niiamah Ashong

Embracing What Makes You Special with Rick Young

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Rick Young joins Niiamah Ashong on the Outlier's Edge Podcast for an exploratory conversation about the choice of being and embracing what makes you special. He shares how he lives in sync with the rhythms of nature and brings a childlike wonder, checking in with himself so he can follow where the current is pulling him. What emerged is a co-created conversation in which Rick Young owned his gift out loud, an example of the outlier Niiamah Ashong sees in everyone.

Episode at a glance

  • Guest: Rick Young, Co-creates meaningful experiences with people, in tune with the rhythms of nature
  • Host: Niiamah Ashong, coach to outlier leaders
  • Show: Outlier’s Edge Podcast, released August 30, 2022
  • Format: conversation, 37 minutes
  • Topics: Being over doing, Living by natural rhythms, Setting and checking intentions, Childlike wonder, Owning your gifts out loud, Co-creating a conversation

What Rick brought to the conversation

Rick Young brings a deep connection to nature, which he names as one of his gifts: the ability to really honor the frequencies of the earth. He tends a garden, lives in sync with the seasons, and starts each day with an intention he checks in on regularly, ready to course correct when the current pulls him somewhere else. He also brings childlike wonder, a playful curiosity with no attachment to the outcome, and he has always been drawn to play with children, including at a kindergarten when he was teaching. What lights him up is being in conversation and co-creating meaningful experiences with other people.

What emerged

Niiamah Ashong opened by widening who shapes the next era of humanity: not only the people on top lists, but the people anyone walks by every day who choose to show up more fully in who they are. Rick Young embodied that when he named and owned his gift on the record instead of playing it safe, and when he noticed a change in his own current mid-sentence and chose to say what he was being called to say. He left recognizing that he had allowed himself to fully be, in a co-creation rather than an interview.

Questions this episode answers

How can a leader set an intention that still holds by the end of the day?

Rick Young sets an intention for the day and then checks in with himself regularly, asking whether it is still serving him or whether he needs to course correct because the current is pulling him somewhere else.

What does it mean to live in sync with natural rhythms?

Rick Young treats the seasons as inner rhythms: fall for letting things fall away, winter for going within and processing, spring for planting seeds and summer for blossoming. His garden has taught him that 30 seeds may come up one season and five the next with everything done the same, which teaches detachment from the process.

Why would a leader set their own start and end to the year?

Niiamah Ashong runs his business year from September 1 to August 31, because people slow down in the summer and he would rather be in his groove by the time everyone else is ready to start. Rick Young, who had never chosen his own beginning and end of the year, said he's going to start doing it for himself.

What is the difference between curiosity and childlike wonder?

Rick Young says young children are curious without being attached to the outcome, and childlike wonder adds that innocence, playfulness and excitement. Niiamah Ashong sees it in how Rick Young is down to learn and give things a go, even when something could make people uncomfortable.

How can a leader notice what their body is telling them in a conversation?

When a cough interrupted him mid-sentence, Rick Young checked in on whether the current had changed and chose to say what he was being called to say instead. Niiamah Ashong acknowledges this as a multi-dimensional way of being in conversation, noticing not just what is said but what is happening in the body.

In their words

I don't care what you do, I care who you be.

Niiamah Ashong

We all can speak to nature but that doesn't mean we all listen or can really hear.

Rick Young

The children are so young and curious about things, they're not attached to the outcome.

Rick Young

Key moments

01:03 – Seeing the outlier in everyone

02:34 – Who you be, not what you do

04:05 – Checking in with his intention

09:44 – Choosing your own year

10:45 – Living by the seasons

17:26 – Naming his gift for nature

20:33 – Childlike, not childish, wonder

24:06 – Following a change in the current

31:51 – What struck him most

36:33 – A wish to see your light

About Niiamah Ashong

Niiamah Ashong is a coach to outlier leaders, host of the Outlier’s Edge Podcast, and founder of the Trailblazer Collective. He coaches leaders who are creating something only they can make: a company, a body of work or a movement. Make a difference with your difference.

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Take Action! Take Advantage of the Signs with Dr. Varun Gandhi

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Dr. Varun Gandhi, an environmental engineer turned entrepreneur who helped grow a weekly community meal effort past 200,000 meals, joins Niiamah Ashong on the Outlier's Edge Podcast to talk about noticing signs and acting on them. He shares how meditation slowed him down enough to see the signs, and how he builds anything new by showing up and iterating. In a live coaching segment, Niiamah coaches him on expressing himself with more ease, and what emerged is a fresh way to treat nerves as a sign of a bigger game.

Episode at a glance

  • Guest: Varun Gandhi, Environmental engineer with a PhD, entrepreneur and organizer of a weekly community meal effort
  • Host: Niiamah Ashong, coach to outlier leaders
  • Show: Outlier’s Edge Podcast, released August 23, 2022
  • Format: conversation, 43 minutes
  • Topics: Acting on signs, Serving the community every Sunday, Building a meditation habit, Quick action and iteration, The stories people create, Expressing oneself with ease

What Varun brought to the conversation

Varun Gandhi holds a master's and a PhD in environmental engineering, worked for a couple of years, then switched to entrepreneurship and tried many different things to understand where he belongs. He helped create a community organization from scratch that grew to about 2,000 members in two years, and he has held leadership roles in a public speaking organization. During the pandemic he helped start a Sunday effort that grew from grocery bags into hot meals, crossing 200,000 meals, and the team is creating a template so others can replicate it in their own cities. He also helps heart-based entrepreneurs with the technology side of their businesses, is creating a self-discovery course about the stories people create, and calls himself a water doctor who reminds people to drink more water.

What emerged

Niiamah Ashong noticed a pattern running through Varun Gandhi's stories: he answers the call, starts simple, and iterates quickly with a strong feedback loop, whether building a meditation habit toward five minutes or turning grocery bags into hot meals by week two. In the live coaching that followed, Varun named what would change the game for him: being more at ease expressing himself. Niiamah's invitation was to name the nerves out loud instead of carrying them, and to treat that sensation as a sign he's stepping into something new and playing a bigger game. Varun's own insight was that he is much closer on this than before and has gotten a whole lot better at it.

Questions this episode answers

How do you act on signs instead of just noticing them?

Varun Gandhi sees the sign, then sits with it for a while to feel whether it feels right in the body before he moves forward. When he says yes to everything it becomes too much, so he pulls back and says no to a few things. He credits meditation with slowing him down enough to pay attention to the signs.

How did a weekly food effort grow into hundreds of thousands of meals?

Early in the pandemic, Varun Gandhi and a team met on a Sunday to put together grocery bags and hand them out, then kept coming back, assembling about 8,400 bags over more than 20 Sundays. By week two they asked what else they could do and began cooking hot meals in a commercial kitchen, growing to 1,500 to 2,000 meals every Sunday and crossing 200,000 meals, with 500,000 as the next mark.

How do you build a new habit like meditation from scratch?

Varun Gandhi set a goal of just five minutes, sat facing a corner with his distractions behind him, set a timer and kept his phone far away. It took him about three months to reach five minutes, and he says the key was coming back the next day and showing up consistently, then fine-tuning toward the kind of meditation he enjoys.

What does it mean that people are always creating a story?

Varun Gandhi says that when people connect the dots between events, they draw on their own experiences and memories, so two people can create completely different stories from the same situation. Using the image of a film inside a projector, his course invites people to edit and reframe that film so it takes them where they want to go.

How can a leader express themselves more freely when the camera is on?

Niiamah Ashong invites Varun Gandhi to tell people up front that he's excited and has felt nerves before, so energy isn't spent holding it in. He also reframes the sensation as a sign of stepping into something new, and invites Varun to run toward the opportunities that bring it up.

In their words

Universe is constantly sending us signs and these messages or inklings to move in a particular direction, so I pay attention to that.

Varun Gandhi

The key is I would come back to it the next day.

Varun Gandhi

At every moment of our lives we're creating a story.

Varun Gandhi

Key moments

02:03 – From engineering to entrepreneurship

05:38 – Answering the call to feed people

09:13 – Paying attention to the signs

16:51 – A five-minute meditation goal

19:24 – Showing up and coming back

22:28 – Exploring all the other dots

24:32 – Every moment creates a story

29:37 – Stepping into live coaching

36:16 – Naming the nerves up front

38:49 – Nerves as a sign of growth

About Niiamah Ashong

Niiamah Ashong is a coach to outlier leaders, host of the Outlier’s Edge Podcast, and founder of the Trailblazer Collective. He coaches leaders who are creating something only they can make: a company, a body of work or a movement. Make a difference with your difference.

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Don’t Hate Yourself Later, Live your Life in Your Own Unique Way with Ryan Brady

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Ryan Brady, a university student and startup team member who inspires his peers to be driven and unique, joins Niiamah Ashong on the Outlier's Edge Podcast. After sharing the wake-up call that set him on an unconventional path, Ryan is coached live on whether to finish his degree or go all in on the startup work he loves. What emerged is a shift from finding the right answer to getting great at choosing, and making the choice right through commitment.

Episode at a glance

  • Guest: Ryan Brady, University student and startup team member who inspires his peers to be driven, unique and live lives they can be happy with
  • Host: Niiamah Ashong, coach to outlier leaders
  • Show: Outlier’s Edge Podcast, released August 16, 2022
  • Format: conversation, 58 minutes
  • Topics: A wake-up call as a slingshot, Taking the road less traveled, A degree or the work he loves, Options versus decision-making, Opportunity cost thinking, Committing to a choice

What Ryan brought to the conversation

Ryan Brady attends an international university outside the US, chosen because he wanted to try something different, and he loves that people there bring different cultures and thought processes to the same end goal. He also works remotely for a startup that helps speakers, authors and coaches build mobile apps, which he calls his dream job at a dream company, with a pivotal role he says he wouldn't get in a typical corporate job. Alongside that, he talks with students and young adults who want to do something different but don't know how to start: he motivates them, inspires them and tells them exactly what he did. His drive comes from a wake-up call at 17 that he calls a slingshot, one that pulled him back and launched him onto a path he says he would never have imagined.

What emerged

Ryan Brady brought a live decision: whether to finish his degree or put his full energy into the startup work he loves. Niiamah Ashong made clear he was there as a coach, not a mentor, giving Ryan more data points rather than making the call, and he shared how he once left the actuarial profession a year or two short of finishing his credentials. The shift was from the question of school versus work to the skill underneath it: with so many options ahead of him, the skill that will serve Ryan well is getting great at choosing, through a real opportunity cost assessment and the commitment to make whatever he decides right.

Questions this episode answers

How can a young leader turn a hard moment into momentum?

Ryan Brady uses the image of a slingshot: it pulls far back, then lets go and shoots farther than where it started. His wake-up call at 17 showed him he could do something totally different and be okay, and it took away his fear of taking risks, starting with going to university outside the US in a non-English-speaking country.

How should a leader decide between finishing a degree and going all in on work they love?

Niiamah Ashong suggests weighing what is gained at the margin against what is lost, and doing a true opportunity cost assessment on paper with at least three scenarios. He invites Ryan Brady to think non-linearly about the relationships he'd make, where he might be 10 years down the line, and what would happen if either path didn't work out.

What's the difference between having options and making good decisions?

Ryan Brady names the shiny object syndrome that came with working three jobs during university, and the value of having a few options he likes rather than so many that they distract him. Niiamah Ashong separates the availability of options from focus and prioritization, and says that for someone with as many options as Ryan, the skill that will serve him well is getting great at choosing.

How do young people start doing something different when no one takes them seriously?

Ryan Brady talks with students who have the motivation to do something different but don't know what steps to take, and he tells them exactly what he did. He also found that as a student he could reach out to business professionals online and ask for help, and that they wanted to help because a young person was motivated enough to ask.

How do you make a big decision the right one?

Niiamah Ashong's view is that a choice becomes right not because it's right on paper, but because of the commitment behind it. Ryan Brady concludes that the decision has to come down to him and where he sees his future going, and he has set clear standards for himself to guide it.

In their words

I can do something totally different and I'll be okay.

Ryan Brady

At the end of the day the decision, it has to come down to me and where I see my future going.

Ryan Brady

Whatever I decide is right because I'm gonna make it right.

Niiamah Ashong

Key moments

07:39 – A wake-up call at 17

08:42 – Studying abroad and a startup role

10:12 – Inspiring students to choose differently

13:48 – The slingshot effect

19:27 – Choosing to be coached live

24:40 – The degree or the dream job

31:48 – Options versus decision-making

37:25 – Doing a real opportunity cost assessment

52:42 – Getting great at making choices

56:49 – Commit to make it right

About Niiamah Ashong

Niiamah Ashong is a coach to outlier leaders, host of the Outlier’s Edge Podcast, and founder of the Trailblazer Collective. He coaches leaders who are creating something only they can make: a company, a body of work or a movement. Make a difference with your difference.

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Shhh…Listen! Is someone calling you to dream again? Let’s Dream Again with Jordan Talley

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Jordan Talley, a speaker and lifelong dreamer, joins Niiamah Ashong on the Outlier's Edge Podcast for a live coaching conversation about turning dreams into reality and helping others do the same in their own way. He shares how the dream of speaking came to him and what he wants to create next, from books to bigger stages. What emerged is a clear declaration of what he stands for: he's a dreamer who wants to empower people to dream again.

Episode at a glance

  • Guest: Jordan Talley, Speaker and lifelong dreamer inspiring people to dream again
  • Host: Niiamah Ashong, coach to outlier leaders
  • Show: Outlier’s Edge Podcast, released August 9, 2022
  • Format: conversation, 75 minutes
  • Topics: Staying a dreamer, Courage before confidence, Humility and big dreams, The brag zone, Finding like-hearted people, Creating more dreamers

What Jordan brought to the conversation

Jordan Talley grew up a dreamer and says he always will be, to the day he dies. His message is that you can achieve any dream you have and there's nothing in the world that stops you besides you. He grew up an artist and a writer, and the dream of being a speaker came to him at about 22 or 23, when he met successful people who empowered others through servant leadership on stage, gave back most of what they made and set their own schedules. He leads others from a place of love rather than dictatorship, has been a guest speaker and trainer in his company, and sees himself writing personal growth books, creating audio programs and speaking on stage.

What emerged

The coaching found Jordan Talley's missing link: not confidence, but the courage that creates it, and room for his humility and his dreams to live on the same level. Niiamah Ashong named what Jordan Talley is about, finding, celebrating and creating more dreamers, and asked him to just say it. When he declared that he's a dreamer who stands for dreams, his whole demeanor shifted, and he named his takeaways as alignment and lifting the fog.

Questions this episode answers

What comes first, confidence or courage?

When Jordan Talley named confidence as his missing link, Niiamah Ashong said that people looking for confidence or clarity are often really missing courage, because confidence comes from the experiences that courage creates. He then asked what Jordan Talley would do if he were courageous enough, and the first step he saw was reaching out to every single person he knows about what he's doing.

How can a leader move forward when only the next step is visible?

Niiamah Ashong compares it to driving on a foggy day: you may only see a few feet ahead, but that doesn't mean you can't get to your destination. When he invited Jordan Talley to imagine taking that one step day after day, Jordan Talley saw peers he once compared himself to shaking hands with him, doing business together and creating change.

How can a humble leader talk about big dreams?

Niiamah Ashong invited Jordan Talley into what he calls the brag zone, an even deeper humility in which letting people know your greatness is in service of their growth. From there, Jordan Talley named dreams like training sales organizations and corporate leadership teams, writing forewords for books, speaking to graduating classes and creating millionaires.

Why do dreamers need other dreamers around them?

Jordan Talley said he hadn't found many dreamers where he lives and wants ongoing, in-person relationships with like-minded people. Niiamah Ashong spoke to the importance of being around people who are different minded but like-hearted, values driven and mission driven.

How can a speaker help an audience connect with their own dreams?

Niiamah Ashong suggested Jordan Talley talk about his dreams and how he brought them to life, and then, when he's on stage, give people a chance to share one dream with the person next to them. He also suggested Jordan Talley let people know he can be a sounding board for dreams that aren't fully fleshed out yet.

In their words

We think confidence comes first but it's actually courage that comes first.

Niiamah Ashong

I'm a dreamer, I stand for dreams and I want to empower people to dream.

Jordan Talley

Our money shouldn't consume who we are, it should be a reflection of who we are and the difference that we can make in the world.

Jordan Talley

Key moments

02:33 – A good kind of scary

05:07 – Growing up a dreamer

07:12 – The dream of becoming a speaker

21:36 – Naming the missing link

27:42 – Courage comes before confidence

28:48 – Seeing through the fog

33:26 – Entering the brag zone

41:01 – Finding other dreamers

49:42 – Declaring what he stands for

69:03 – Alignment and lifting the fog

About Niiamah Ashong

Niiamah Ashong is a coach to outlier leaders, host of the Outlier’s Edge Podcast, and founder of the Trailblazer Collective. He coaches leaders who are creating something only they can make: a company, a body of work or a movement. Make a difference with your difference.

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The A-Z of Guilt Free Self-alignment with Eve Lahijani

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Eve Lahijani, a registered dietitian and the owner of Vitamineve Inc., joins Niiamah Ashong on the Outlier's Edge Podcast to talk about how people heal their relationship with food and, through it, with themselves. She explains why food is a metaphor for how people do life, and how being present with food carries into careers and relationships, which Niiamah Ashong translates into leadership. What emerged is the promise at the root of her work, and an invitation to every listener to name the promise they've made to themselves.

Episode at a glance

  • Guest: Eve Lahijani, Registered dietitian and owner of Vitamineve Inc., helping people heal their relationship with food
  • Host: Niiamah Ashong, coach to outlier leaders
  • Show: Outlier’s Edge Podcast, released August 2, 2022
  • Format: conversation, 48 minutes
  • Topics: Food as a metaphor for life, Being present with food, Creating one's own rules, Why food is the final frontier, Keeping a promise to oneself, Living from the inside out

What Eve brought to the conversation

Eve Lahijani is the owner of Vitamineve Inc., where she helps people from all over the world heal their relationship with food and, ultimately, with themselves. A registered dietitian with a master's in nutrition, she was previously the UCLA Campus Nutrition Health Educator, and her TEDx talk is titled Trust Your Hunger and Make Peace with food. Alongside the talk, she is very proud of the videos she makes from a vulnerable place, including ones where she eats a meal on camera and takes viewers step by step through being present, in real time, while she does it too. She healed her own eating and body image issues, and she speaks at companies and conferences even though speaking in front of people scares her, because she promised herself she would help if she could.

What emerged

Eve Lahijani sees food as a metaphor: how people do food is how they do life, so as people learn to eat in alignment with their bodies, they learn to live in alignment with themselves in their careers, relationships and homes. Niiamah Ashong translated the conversation into leadership: making different choices from everyone else in the room is leadership, and creating one's own rules around food mirrors creating one's own rules for what success looks like. Underneath it all is a promise, Eve's commitment to help others if she found her way through, which she keeps recommitting to, and which led Niiamah to ask every listener what promise they've made to themselves.

Questions this episode answers

How is a person's relationship with food connected to how they lead?

Eve Lahijani says how people do food is how they do life, so a person who has trouble with boundaries around eating often has that boundary issue in other areas too. As her clients practice alignment with food and appetite, they surprise themselves by saying no to things they don't want, and it shows up in their careers, relationships, the clutter in their house and how they parent. Niiamah Ashong adds that making different choices than everyone else around him is, to him, leadership.

Why do successful people find food so hard to change?

Eve Lahijani's clients often call food the final frontier. She explains that a person's first relationship is with food, which has long been associated with being held and comforted, so much of that relationship is unconscious, and food is often used to go unconscious when life feels hard.

How do you stay present with food when life gets busy?

Eve Lahijani says her clients usually master eating present-mindedly at home first, where it's easy and calm, then bring that skill into business meetings, travel, dates and life with a new baby. She described one client who stopped eating when she was full at a family holiday, even with relatives pressing more food on her, and was so proud of it.

What drives Eve Lahijani's work?

Before she had healed her own relationship with food, she promised herself that if she could figure it out, she would help other people do the same. She says she didn't think she'd ever have to fulfill it, and staying true to it now helps her move through uncomfortable things like speaking in front of people. She also says it began from a selfish place, needing to figure it out for herself, and Niiamah Ashong notes that the service came through the selfish element.

What does a peaceful relationship with food feel like?

Eve Lahijani compares it to another self-regulating biological function, going to the bathroom, which people never second-guess. With food there's a lot more baggage, but she says sanity, peace and ease with food is totally possible, and that learning to orient from the inside out with food raises the question of where else in life a person is living from the outside in.

In their words

Food is a metaphor: how we do food is often how we do life. Not often, always.

Eve Lahijani

What's the promise that you've made to yourself?

Niiamah Ashong

Sanity and peace and ease with food is totally possible.

Eve Lahijani

Key moments

06:40 – Videos made from a vulnerable place

10:44 – Staying present with food amid distraction

15:16 – Learning one's own rules about food

18:50 – Food as a metaphor for life

22:58 – Why food is the final frontier

30:05 – The promise that started her mission

32:06 – What promise have you made?

38:13 – Living from the inside out

39:45 – Plans for in-person gatherings

45:55 – Peace with food is possible

About Niiamah Ashong

Niiamah Ashong is a coach to outlier leaders, host of the Outlier’s Edge Podcast, and founder of the Trailblazer Collective. He coaches leaders who are creating something only they can make: a company, a body of work or a movement. Make a difference with your difference.

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Be Unique, Be Wonderful! Celebrate your inner outlier with Bevin Niemann

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Bevin Niemann, a mentor who helps empaths, light workers and mystics craft a lifestyle and career that nurtures their sensitivity, joins Niiamah Ashong on the Outlier's Edge Podcast. They explore questioning prevailing wisdom, a healthier relationship with money, and living life as an experiment after seven careers. What emerged is a celebration of the outlier, grounded in self-trust and in what Niiamah Ashong calls the reinventer's bonus.

Episode at a glance

  • Guest: Bevin Niemann, Mentor who helps empaths, light workers and mystics craft a lifestyle and career that nurtures their sensitivity
  • Host: Niiamah Ashong, coach to outlier leaders
  • Show: Outlier’s Edge Podcast, released July 26, 2022
  • Format: conversation, 55 minutes
  • Topics: Owning your outlier, Questioning prevailing wisdom, Abundance for everyone, The reinventer's bonus, Life as an intuitive laboratory, Radical self-trust

What Bevin brought to the conversation

Bevin Niemann helps empaths, light workers and mystics craft a lifestyle and a career that nurtures their sensitivity rather than works against it, and she sees advocating for people like herself as a chance to connect them with their power and their joy. She has had seven careers, across retail, food service, account management, landscape design, nonprofit organizations, coaching and writing, and she brings what she learned in each one into the next. After about 12 years at a nonprofit, where she was offered the position of vice president, she moved to a completely different state and started over as a landscape designer. She runs a global community priced at seven dollars so sensitive leaders around the world can join, and in the fall of 2021 she published her first book, which she describes as in some ways a memoir.

What emerged

The conversation became a celebration of the outlier. When Niiamah Ashong pressure tested whether a person can be themselves and still be financially abundant, Bevin Niemann named a third option beyond either-or: getting her needs met, being in service, and wanting abundance for everyone, not just for herself. Niiamah named what was embedded in her story, the reinventer's bonus: someone who has started over many times can experiment freely because they know they can reinvent again. Underneath it all is self-trust, which Bevin now sees as the source of the home and stability she once looked for outside herself.

Questions this episode answers

What does it mean to own being an outlier?

Bevin Niemann recalls a coach training exercise where she chose to stand way out from the entire circle of chairs and felt really comfortable at that edge. Niiamah Ashong calls this owning your outlier. Bevin says outliers may feel a little misunderstood, but she likes living out there and approaches life as an adventure and an experiment.

How can a leader question prevailing wisdom without being a rebel without a cause?

Bevin Niemann asks whether the way something has always been done is actually the way she wants to do it, and gives herself permission to ask even if she ends up choosing the traditional way. When she does rebel, it's for a reason, after thinking it through, researching it and sensing how it feels in her body. She is also willing to speak up publicly and ask whether beliefs carried as a collective are still serving people.

Can you be yourself and still be financially abundant?

Bevin Niemann says people aren't here to martyr themselves: she wants her needs met and a nice home, and she wants that for everyone, not just for herself. She doesn't see it as a zero-sum game and looks for a third option where she gets her needs met and is in service to other people at the same time.

What is the reinventer's bonus?

It's a name Niiamah Ashong coined in the conversation for the confidence that comes from reinventing oneself many times: a person can experiment now because they know they can reinvent or try something else later. Bevin Niemann connects it to the high sensation seeker, a personality trait wired to crave new and novel experiences, and to using her life as an intuitive laboratory.

Why does self-trust matter so much for outliers?

Bevin Niemann says she spent a lot of time seeking home, centeredness and stability outside herself, and found it limiting. She now looks to a radical level of trust in self: knowing that even if things don't turn out as she'd like, she'll bounce back, pivot and adapt. Niiamah Ashong adds that if the internal elements like self-trust aren't there, everything will be out of alignment.

In their words

There's a difference in the energy when you're saying I want this for me and I want this for everyone.

Bevin Niemann

I'm going to bounce back up, I'm going to try something new, I'm going to pivot, I'm going to adapt and I'm going to go on with a sense of optimism about this life.

Bevin Niemann

Fundamentally we should be listening to our inner voice first.

Bevin Niemann

Key moments

01:31 – Standing outside the circle

03:33 – Serving empaths after seven careers

09:44 – Speaking up as an outlier

12:48 – Rethinking the paradigm around money

19:57 – Wanting abundance for everyone

23:30 – The edge walker's third option

28:37 – Naming the reinventer's bonus

32:15 – Life as an intuitive laboratory

39:23 – Mastering self-trust

50:33 – Honor the wisdom you've gained

About Niiamah Ashong

Niiamah Ashong is a coach to outlier leaders, host of the Outlier’s Edge Podcast, and founder of the Trailblazer Collective. He coaches leaders who are creating something only they can make: a company, a body of work or a movement. Make a difference with your difference.

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Yes! Be the Answer You Need, and Create Opportunities with Anna Felix

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Anna Felix, a smart money strategist, joins Niiamah Ashong on the Outlier's Edge Podcast to talk about becoming the answer she was looking for and creating possibilities with money. She shares how she went from searching for an advisor who would answer her questions to becoming one who puts the client first and empowers people with information. What emerged is her gift as a possibility creator, someone who starts with people's dreams instead of the bottom line.

Episode at a glance

  • Guest: Anna Felix, Smart money strategist helping predominantly women figure out the money game
  • Host: Niiamah Ashong, coach to outlier leaders
  • Show: Outlier’s Edge Podcast, released July 19, 2022
  • Format: conversation, 54 minutes
  • Topics: Becoming the person you were looking for, Relationships through genuine curiosity, Putting the client first, Starting with dreams, not the bottom line, Possibility creation over problem solving, Amplifying a high-touch experience

What Anna brought to the conversation

Anna Felix is a smart money strategist who helps predominantly women, and men as well, figure out the money game as quickly as possible, including options most people never hear about. When she became the one making her family's financial decisions, she went looking for help and found advisors who said they had no time for her questions, and one told her she just needed to marry a rich guy. Walking back to her car, she wondered if she could become the person she was looking for, and about three years later she was in the industry. She now works with a company aligned with her core value of putting the client first, and one of her favorite questions for clients is what their dreams are.

What emerged

Niiamah Ashong names Anna Felix a possibility creator: where most people identify as problem solvers and go straight to the bottom line, she asks people what they want to create and then builds the plan to get them there. He invites leaders to see that what feels basic to them can be a completely new world to someone more successful, which is why people come to them. Looking ahead, she's doing a chapter in a book, the first time she has done anything like that, and figuring out systems to reach more people without losing the relational, high-touch feel of her work.

Questions this episode answers

How can a leader build relationships by reaching out to people they don't know?

Anna Felix reaches out to people whose profiles make her want to learn more, simply to learn about them and what they do. When people worry she's selling something, she promises it's a sales free zone, and Niiamah Ashong notes that creating a relationship can be as simple as legitimately wanting to get to know the person.

Why do some successful professionals know so little about their own finances?

Anna Felix finds that some of the most successful people know the least, such as a doctor or dentist with a thriving business who can't say how much money goes out every month. People are busy and put it off, so she starts with the basics, like the couple who believed they had a million dollars of life insurance coverage and found they had a hundred thousand.

Why should financial planning start with your dreams?

Anna Felix asks clients what their dreams are because knowing where a person is going changes what she does for them. After she asked one couple about retirement, they spent the following week working out what they really wanted to do and came to a mutual agreement on it.

What is the difference between creating possibilities and solving problems?

Niiamah Ashong says most people identify as problem solvers who go to the bottom line and treat money as a math problem, missing the possibility that could be created. Anna Felix adds that retirement conversations are usually about less, while she asks what more people can do with that time.

How can a leader create empowered clients instead of dependent ones?

Once a plan is in place, Anna Felix asks clients to explain to her why they did it, what the reasons were and what the results will be, so they feel they've got this. Niiamah Ashong connects this to a mentor's view that the role of a leader is to create more leaders, not followers.

In their words

I wonder if I could become the person I'm looking for.

Anna Felix

I want to just acknowledge you as a possibility creator.

Niiamah Ashong

Be open to new things, don't be fearful of them.

Anna Felix

Key moments

02:05 – Meeting through curious outreach

06:39 – Her work as smart money strategist

09:44 – Looking for answers about money

10:45 – Becoming the person she looked for

16:55 – A company aligned with her values

22:02 – What successful people often don't know

24:02 – Asking clients about their dreams

28:38 – A possibility creator, not problem solver

41:21 – A book chapter and new systems

52:09 – Be open to new things

About Niiamah Ashong

Niiamah Ashong is a coach to outlier leaders, host of the Outlier’s Edge Podcast, and founder of the Trailblazer Collective. He coaches leaders who are creating something only they can make: a company, a body of work or a movement. Make a difference with your difference.

Work with Niiamah: 1:1 with Niiamah | World of Difference

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Defaulting vs. Being Intentional – Tribe Group Coaching

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Niiamah Ashong leads a Tribe group coaching session about defaulting versus being intentional. He coaches two leaders, one on keeping energy and connection alive when so much of life happens on screens, and one on becoming a man who takes instant action. What emerged is a practice of noticing what energizes you and taking the smallest next step toward a big goal right now.

Episode at a glance

  • Guest: , Two coaches in a Tribe group coaching session
  • Host: Niiamah Ashong, coach to outlier leaders
  • Show: Outlier’s Edge Podcast, released July 15, 2022
  • Format: conversation, 57 minutes
  • Topics: Defaulting versus being intentional, Speaking yourself into the room, Energy and connection online, Fatigue and the antidote, Instant action on what you care about, The smallest next step

What the guest brought to the conversation

Two leaders joined the session. One is a coach who works with unconventional humans and helps them remember how brilliant they are, and she runs a program for a cohort of professional women that tackles imposter syndrome and fear so women's voices are heard in the room, drawing on years of being the only one in the room in corporate law and the tech industry. The other is a life coach on a mission to change the way people communicate, who supports leaders as they create the impossible and creates impact with impact makers who are impacting their world.

What emerged

Niiamah Ashong named the distinction running through the session: when you default, you carry old patterns into every new space, and when you're intentional, you craft the space to be different. For the coach, he named fatigue itself as the real issue and invited her to make her spaces an antidote that energizes people instead of more of the same. For the life coach, it meant turning a lofty goal into ten minutes of action on something he cares about, and the coach took the same lesson, heading straight to a workout because it energizes her.

Questions this episode answers

What is the difference between defaulting and being intentional?

Niiamah Ashong describes defaulting as entering a space the usual way, with a bio, a title and past accomplishments, or letting life run on whatever it had before. Being intentional means choosing how you show up, such as speaking yourself into the room with who you are and what you stand for.

How can online communities feel less flat?

One coach in the session, whose practice runs entirely online, felt the distance of meeting on screens. Niiamah Ashong suggested giving her community more dimensions than the video call itself, such as members recording themselves dancing to a favorite song, writing poetry or having a conversation outside, and said he steers clear of the online experiences that drain him.

Is screen fatigue the real problem?

Niiamah Ashong heard that what the coach called screen fatigue sounded like fatigue altogether, with her clients' work and home lives blurring together. He invited her to make her spaces an antidote, crafted differently from the default everywhere else, rather than going down the same path as her clients.

How do you become someone who takes instant action?

A life coach in the session wanted to keep becoming a man who takes instant action. Niiamah Ashong asked what he cares about right now that he isn't bringing care to, then invited him to spend ten minutes on it right after the call, building evidence that he is someone who acts on what he cares about.

Why isn't productivity the real issue for high achievers?

Niiamah Ashong says that for high achievers, productivity and action will always be there; the question is whether they have the energy to go do it. He pairs that with finding the smallest next step toward a big, lofty goal so it can be practiced right now.

In their words

It is in the innocuous moments that our future is actually created and the world is actually shaped.

Niiamah Ashong

Peace and quiet are two different things.

Niiamah Ashong

For high achievers productivity and action will always be there.

Niiamah Ashong

Key moments

01:35 – Defaulting versus being intentional

03:37 – Speaking yourself into the room

12:48 – Helping women's voices be heard

14:53 – Feeling distance on screens

30:49 – Adding dimensions beyond the screen

36:27 – It's fatigue, not the platform

43:32 – Peace and quiet are different

44:35 – Becoming a man of instant action

47:38 – Caring for what you care about

55:23 – Energy over productivity

About Niiamah Ashong

Niiamah Ashong is a coach to outlier leaders, host of the Outlier’s Edge Podcast, and founder of the Trailblazer Collective. He coaches leaders who are creating something only they can make: a company, a body of work or a movement. Make a difference with your difference.

Work with Niiamah: 1:1 with Niiamah | World of Difference

Continue into Outlier’s Edge World:

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