Yasmin Vorajee, who has run her own business for more than a decade helping clients with their marketing, messaging and strategy, joins Niiamah Ashong on the Outlier's Edge Podcast to talk about comparison, grace and following your joy. She explains why she always looks for the backstory behind someone's quick success, and how letting go of where clients will come from opened her to opportunities she never expected. What emerged is a shared recognition that both of them are much further along than they give themselves credit for.
Episode at a glance
- Guest: Yasmin Vorajee, Business owner, author and teacher who helps clients with their marketing, messaging and strategy
- Host: Niiamah Ashong, coach to outlier leaders
- Show: Outlier’s Edge Podcast, released October 25, 2022
- Format: conversation, 49 minutes
- Topics: Knowing the backstory, Grace instead of comparison, Presence in client work, Following your joy, Detaching from the outcome, Sharing your message anyway
What Yasmin brought to the conversation
Yasmin Vorajee is a mother of three who loves cooking and talking with her children as they grow up. After 12 years in corporate, including work in training and HR, she started her own business in 2012, teaching herself to build landing pages before today's tools existed, and she now helps clients find the words for their marketing, messaging and strategy. She sees herself as a teacher, loves webinars, workshops and challenges, and has written a book. Niiamah Ashong remembers meeting her at a conference a few years earlier and being struck by how centered she is: practical, not about hyperbole, and a living example of what works.
What emerged
The central tool is the backstory: Yasmin Vorajee always looks for what sits behind someone's quick success, such as a whole machine behind them, prior experience or financial support, because without it, comparison takes over. Niiamah Ashong shares a saying from his mentor, that people often compare how they feel on the inside with how others look on the outside, and both of them name the voice that says they should be further along. Her answer is grace: she did the very best she could with what she had and what she knew, and releasing the need to know where clients will come from has been one of her biggest lessons.
Questions this episode answers
How can a leader stop comparing themselves to others online?
Yasmin Vorajee always looks for the backstory, because nobody starts from just doing it and it being amazing. Many people who seem to have succeeded quickly had a whole machine behind them, prior experience or financial support, and knowing that lets her give herself grace instead of expecting so much.
Why detach from where clients will come from?
A mentor helped Yasmin Vorajee see that just the act of putting something out there and sharing can bring clients through completely different avenues than expected. She realized she had been so attached to how they would come that she wasn't open to all the different ways they could come to her.
Do likes and comments show whether marketing is working?
Yasmin Vorajee tells clients they're not posting for the comments or the likes, because there are lurkers who watch without ever engaging. On a recent sales call, a prospective client told her she watched all her videos and felt as if they'd already had the conversation.
How can a coach be fully present with clients?
A few minutes before client calls, Yasmin Vorajee says a short prayer to be fully present, so that whatever needs to come through her to them comes through like a clear channel. She has found that putting herself under pressure to have all the answers doesn't work for her.
How can positive relationships lead to new business?
Yasmin Vorajee wants every interaction she has to be a positive one. At a networking event, she gave the keynote speaker, whom she knew through a professional speaking association, a copy of her book as a gift, and the speaker then asked her to deliver training for their company.
In their words
I was so attached to how they would come that I wasn't open to the possibility of all the different ways that they could come to me.
Yasmin Vorajee
That's not why you're doing it, though. You're not doing it for the comments, you're not doing it for the likes.
Yasmin Vorajee
I am standing on the shoulders of giants.
Yasmin Vorajee
Key moments
01:34 – First meeting at a conference
08:17 – From corporate to her own business
11:24 – Always looking for the backstory
13:58 – A prayer to be fully present
16:06 – A teacher since childhood
17:42 – Detaching from the outcome
22:24 – Not posting for the likes
28:45 – Standing on the shoulders of giants
33:56 – Further along than they think
39:34 – A gifted book opens a door
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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