Seeing other people’s passion to help is one of the best things working with the authors, business owners and community leaders we get to work with.
This drive to share their knowledge and help educate others is one of the main reasons people find success with a 90-Minute Book. It creates a connection with readers and compels them to the next step.
Today's show is no exception as I'm talking with Yvonne Myette.
Coming from a background in healthcare, Yvonne is a coach, passionate about helping those she resonates with, thrive and achieve more.
This passion comes across in her book as she shares her journey, and in the podcast as she talks about getting to the point of creating her book and the message it's helping her share.
Links:
Titles Workshop: 90MinuteBooks.com/Workshops
Ready to get started: 90MinuteBooks.com/get/started
Interview Shows: 90-Minute Books Author Interviews
Questions/Feedback: Send us an email
Extra Credit Listening: MoreCheeseLessWhiskers.com
Connect with Yvonne:
YvonneMyette.com
Facebook
LinkedIn
Transcript: Book More Show 041
Stuart: Hey, everyone. Welcome to another edition of the Book More Show. A great episode in store today. I've got the pleasure of being joined by Yvonne Myette, who's one of our authors, whose book is Get Ready to Thrive. So we've had a couple of shows in the past where we've talked aw people who've completed. This is another one in that series. These are always the shows that get the greatest feedback, because I think although it's interesting hearing Betsy and me talk about the theoretical side of things and the internal books that we use, there's nothing quite like talking to people who are grabbing the idea and running with it. So Yvonne, welcome to the show.
Yvonne: Thank you so much, Stuart. I'm excited to be here.
Stuart: Yeah, this is going to be a good one. A little bit behind the scenes, we're probably 10, 15 minutes into this recording, because Yvonne and I sort of jumped onto the call and started talking and then realized that the enthusiasm and the excitement of talking to the subject, we were kind of covering the stuff that we should save for you guys to listen to. It's always good to jump on a call with someone and feel that energy from the start, so I'm looking forward to sharing this with everyone else. I think the best place to start, probably, is to share with the guys listening sort of your story, who you are, and what you do out in the world.
Yvonne: Oh, I appreciate that opportunity, Stuart, and I just want to say hello to those of you that are listening. I really appreciate the opportunity to connect with you, even if it's just a voice now, and into your heart and maybe into your head. I hope that as you hear something today, that it might be speaking to you, that there might be a particular reason that we are joining together around your dreams and what you hope to be. I truly hope that there is something in it for you today, as well, as you listen to Stuart and I have this conversation, because that's really what I've been about. I grew up in a healthcare family. Having a dad as a doctor, I really wanted to serve people. I really wanted to be able to help people, so I entered the healthcare profession early, not sure if I was going to go the route of being a physician like my dad or a nurse like my mom. I kind of had a foot in both directions.
After working clinically, it came to my attention that there were a lot of system changes that needed to be made to really help people be their best. We needed to address some of those, so I moved into administration and then into consulting. I was very, very active in healthcare. It's going on now 35 years in the traditional healthcare industry in a lot of different positions, Stuart, including leadership. You know, life happened. I got married. I had kids. Life started to change. Like many people probably listening, things start to evolve. Sometimes you have life events that can really have an impact on your health and on your psyche and on your spirit, and that was the path I was on. I didn't expect a lot of the things that happened to me in my 40s. I had gotten married later in life, and I didn't know, when I entered into the marriage, that there were some elements of that that would become very difficult and very toxic.
I have certainly always wanted to be a mom, and that's a big dream, and I became a mom. I had four beautiful kids that I had all in my 40s. I'm now a mid-lifer. I'm 54 right now, so you can all tell that that was a challenge to my body. I had all these life events, including a major fire and drama in family, but a lot of you probably have that kind of thing, right? I found myself in this situation. Maybe some of you listening are in a situation. Situations that our egos might have gotten us into. Mine certainly had. I kept things kind of tucked away in terms of a really hard relationship that I felt a lot of pain in. Also, some of the actions that we take and the torment. I was in the thick of it. I felt like I was in a deep pit. I wasn't sure if I would be able to ever climb out. I was certainly praying about it all the time and seeking God's will, seeking support and help from others.
There were some major decisions that had to be made, and they were tough. They were really tough. I knew I was stuck. I had been stuck going on about 12 years, and things were really cracking. I was really in a place of quite deep despair. This is now going on three and a half years ago. I had a moment. Many of you may have already had your moment that are listening to this. Maybe your moment is on its way or about to happen, but I had my moment. That's the awakening, Stuart. That's what was the genesis of the book, was I started my journey to really awaken. Awaken to the inner woman. Awaken to the women who wanted to thrive. Awaken to who God designed me to be and who God designed each of us to be. In that, excuse me, awakening, the believing comes along and how you care for yourself and how you still have to dare more deliberately.
As I was taking my journey back to health and as I was approaching some of these tough situations, I wanted to help others with me, and I started helping others with me as a health and life coach. I've been helping hundreds, going on maybe almost thousands of women now. I've been in healthcare, like I said, 35 years. It's just about helping others, Stuart. Really, it just is that simple.
Stuart: It's quite a journey, isn't it? I think the recollections you're telling them for your own life about how it's quite easy to just keep going and keep going, and it's not until something happens, you almost get to a tipping point where you realize that there are quite so many challenges going on and that it's not necessarily I don't want to use the word depression, but it's not necessarily that something medical is wrong, or there's not always a big, critical issue that happens. The buildup and buildup and buildup of small elements that might lead you to a position where you're not happy, it's surprising how much that can creep up on you. Then, when you do notice it, have a kind of epiphany almost that you realize, okay, this path has diverged quite a bit. I imagine that some of the work that you're doing is helping people kind of come to terms with that realization. Then, the next step of what they can do about it to bring it back on track.
Yvonne: Exactly. You know, Stuart, one of the things you made me think of is actually the little things that kind of are there and how they build up is ... When I had my moment of really becoming more aware, what came to mind ... Actually, I found a cartoon strip on it. It was how we sweep things under the rug. This cartoon strip that I found exactly represented what I had been doing, as I was in a relationship with a lot of, a lot of pain for a lot of reasons that I won't get into now. I was sweeping things under so I didn't want people to see. That was my ego. I didn't want people to know. We had the trappings of a great life, and little did people know what was going on behind closed doors. The sweeping under the rug we all do, and the rug gets bigger and bigger and bigger. In this cartoon strip, Stuart, it was really funny. It showed the rug almost to the ceiling, and things were creeping out under the rug and starting to show their ugly head. I got this visual image of this rug, like I'd been sweeping things under. Then, there were some things, like I said, that they became apparent.
There was a tipping point. There was the needle that broke the camel's back in my family, and it related to my kids and how much I cared about my kids, and I needed to do things that were in their best interest. People, I think, Stuart, sometimes walk around in a fog, don't you?
Stuart: Yeah, absolutely, because until you get a chance to look at it from the outside or until something happens that breaks the spell almost, your brain is doing whatever it can ... Well, I'm talking like an expert. In my experience, it's that your brain's doing whatever you can to just cope with it and keep the wheels on the bus and keep everything moving forward. It really does take a ... As you said, it could be a small thing that is that catalyst, but it's not until that happens that people can realize, because you don't see what you don't see.
Yvonne: Exactly. When I was going through the changes that I needed and wanted to make, I was seeking resources to kind of help me. It's really taking one baby step at a time. I was fortunate enough to have some really great people that came into my life to help me start physically really making some changes. I was having some health crises, and I ended up, even though I was in healthcare, I knew a lot the actual actions weren't happening, so I partnered with a health coach and lost 80 pounds that I've kept off for three years. Got back to awesome health.
Stuart: Wow. That's impressive.
Yvonne: Yeah. I mean, it's amazing, right? One of the things that started to happen as I was doing that, as I was getting healthy, is I was starting to see some of these other symptoms, these other things that were coming up, with a clearer lens, more truth, more reality. That's when it dawned on me that this being ready ... We need to be ready for change. We need to get ready to thrive. As I started thinking about what I was going through, and I was journaling, so a lot of the content that later became a part of the book were things from my journaling times. I was thinking about awakening as a concept and what helps us to awaken and why do we believe in something or what story do we tell ourselves, and that's what forms our belief. I was really excited when I found a method that could help me put my book out into the world. I was so excited when I heard about 90-Minute Books and how I could partner with somebody to actually, then, encapsulate what was a lot of content into a readable format and get that guidance and get that partnership to think about how to put what would become maybe not just one story but a potential series, because there's so much that we do with change.
I really enjoyed this partnership, and I'm very excited that I now have a little book to hopefully help change women's lives by, first off, being aware of the concepts. Thank you, Stuart, again, for all that you've done and everyone I've partnered with.
Stuart: It's a pleasure. I mean, we get so many people that we talk to who have had ab idea for a while. On the one hand, there's the capability problem, because although none of this is rocket science, there's a lot of moving parts to get it done, which slows down ... Coming to it from an outsider, it really slows down the process of you want to end up with something out there engaging and helping people. You've got all of the ideas at the top of the process, but all of those cogs and machinery to get from A to B or A to Z, it really can slow down the process. We speak to so many people that have been thinking about it for years, and it's good to be able to, in a fast and effective way, help people realize that and get something out there, which, of course, is the ultimate aim of it.
That circles around to a good question, then. Your experience was of going through the process yourself and developing and then identifying it in other people and helping those. Bringing it back specifically to the book, was there any particular thought process or was there anything that led you from the idea of here's a lot of conversations I'm having with people anyway and it would fit well in a book to be able to share that with people? Was there anything that kind of ... Was there a spark that said, oh, this should end up in a book?
Yvonne: Yeah, that's a great question. Actually, there was. I'm getting what I call guide bumps. I hope I don't cry. When I was in a lot of pain ... I mean, there's a lot of pain in people's lives at times, and I was certainly in a lot of pain. I've had some really painful emotional things happen in my life, especially in the about last nine years, and they've kind of been repeated. My life, thank God, is in a totally new place because I took that step. When I was first in a lot of pain, Stuart, one of the things that I know is people need resources. They need other people or they need an idea or they need something that helps give them courage. Often, it's that sentence or it's that quote or it's that hope because somebody else has done it. That's really one of the things that I want to be able to do. I think of it as faith. With faith, I think, okay, how can I help so that faith really stands by us and serves us? It's our attitude, then, that can help move us forward. It's the story we tell ourselves.
I'll probably cry about this, too. At the beginning of when I was deciding what I was going to do about I'd been in a toxic marriage for a long time and what I was going to do to change that situation, there were a lot of spiritual beliefs that came into it and a lot of family dynamics and whatnot, like a lot of people. One woman that I worked with said to me, "You are the author of your own story." Little pun there. She helped me realize I get to write my story. I get to write this story I want. Do I want to write this story about the woman that was in torment and living? Do I want my story to be about a woman in despair who looked at herself in the mirror and thought of herself as a fat, old crone and, honestly, at times, thought about driving off a bridge? Just felt like life was unbearable, at times. Just unbearable because of the marriage relationship I was in. It was affecting every dimension of my life and my body and what I wanted. It was in conflict with my values tremendously. Also, it was in conflict with even what I expected of myself and who I was. It was just in such misalignment, and I wanted to get back to that.
When this colleague said to me, "You are the author of your story," I'm like that was so empowering to me. I thought I am, and this is not the story I want to tell my kids. Another woman said to me, "What would you want your daughter, what would you want her story to be? Because our kids learn from us." I'm like no. Heck no, I don't want this story for my daughters. That led me to start rewriting my story. Then, Stuart, of course, if I'm rewriting my story and what I lived, I want to rewrite that story on paper so that hopefully it will help inspire others, the truths that are available, the way that they can move to more health physically, mentally, emotionally, relationally, spiritually. It's there. People just have to get ready for it and then decide. It's that simple. I felt called. I think of myself as a servant leader. I want to be a vessel for God and the Holy Spirit. I know, as a Christian, that there are certain things that I'm expected to do to serve the kingdom, and I want to do them now without fear.
I had to put it down on paper, and I'm trusting that whoever is supposed to read this to be able to get that faith to help them make those steps and maybe move away from the torment they're in, either physically or relationally or financially. Any area that they can start taking baby steps, Stuart. I feel really passionate about it, obviously.
Stuart: There's such a personal connection that it's hard not to feel that energy coming through. I think this is an interesting show for people to listen to. We get so caught up in the details and the numbers of the books as a marketing tool, which is definitely primarily where we focus our anchor and attention. There's a good number of people who have written with us who are telling personal stories like yourself or family stories, rather. It's not all just financial advisors and the fact-based side of things. It's great to have the opportunity to speak to someone who talks more to that side of things than we do naturally, because it's not my experience or my natural tendency when thinking about this type of thing. We get a lot of people come to us wanting to write books that do have more of a personal connection or more of an emotional connection, and it's not just all about sharing leads generation facts and figures to kind of compel the invisible prospector to raise their hand, which is obviously what we talk about quite a lot.
I think the bridge between the two, though ... Obviously, you're writing this from the perspective of someone that wants to engage more people and offer the guidance in your experience to help others, whether or not they end up being customers of a service that they have. Bridging those people from not having any exposure to you and your background to getting something called value and then potentially raising their hand for the next stage, I think books like this that share someone's journey ... For anyone that's listening who is in that side of things, the more coach side of things than the financial advisor of people who are listening, having that story and writing in a compelling way that shares an experience and begins to make a connection is just as valid as sharing the tips to make sure your IRA is protected or you get the best mortgage there is. It's just as valuable, just a different construct around it.
For you, the experience is obviously very personal, so the content of the book is retelling those stories and sharing with people who they can make a difference for themselves. We were talking, just before we started, about the work that you were doing with Susan when you first came onboard to kind of corral those thoughts into a particular ... Thematically bringing them together or bringing them together with a particular outcome in mind for this first stage. Do you want to talk about that for a second and whether that was a challenge or whether it was helpful to run through that and think, okay, well, the book could be anything, but it should be this?
Yvonne: Yeah, that's a great question. Actually, there were two Susan’s in my life. There was the Susan I was working with your organization and then a really good friend of mine who's also been a business partner for a long time in a lot of endeavors. I had two Susan’s in my life that have really helped to move forward what I call my blue sky. When I was working with both of them, really, and others that have been a part of this journey, it gets back to, again, the model that ties to a lot of what you were just sharing, Stuart, with what information is available. I've been a businesswoman. I have two master's degrees. I've had very high-level executive positions. I've owned my own company. I analyzed data with the best of them. I've been in quality improvement. I know hundreds of tools. I can be very scientific. I'm a professor, as well. I very much follow a scientific model at times. Yet, we all have a heart. There's either the head-heart-head model or there's the heart-head-heart model. Now, I'm more of a place of we all have hopes and dreams.
Susan, with you, helped me start to be able to package and really believe that I could then put something together, because it does feel overwhelming when you think about now only do you need to organize the content, but you need a title and you need a process and you need all of these things. She kept giving me assignments. Between the two Susan’s, I had your Susan giving me assignments and then I held myself accountable with my friend and colleague the other Susan, Susan S. I'll call her. They were both serving on both ends. Then, I would give a due date to myself and to my friend, Susan S., and it would push me to keep taking that step. Then, I would tell your Susan when I would have it done. Just having partners in life ... I mean, we all need partners. Yes, absolutely, she was instrumental. This wouldn't be a reality as it is now without 90-Minute Books, and it wouldn't be a reality without my colleague and my other writing partner, Susan S.
There's more to come, and we all need partners in life. I mean, I tried to do a lot of things alone. I'm very independent, and I'm less independent now than I used to be, because I realized that we can be partnering with people. I certainly tried to get my own health back. Look in traditional healthcare. People try to do things on their own all the time. Even in our healthcare facilities, in our hospitals, in our universities, in our clinics. Go in. They're the statistic. The statistic of obesity is three out of five Americans are overweight. One out of five Americans is obese. By the year 2030, fi we continue on the path we are, we're going to have diabetes impacting not only our adults but our youth to the tune of one out of three, and these are diseases that are life-threatening. People minimize them, again, what the impact can be on body organs.
Just like your Susan helped me to start as a partner to move a dream to reality, so too do the people listening need to make that decision to get the partnership they need, whether it's an idea they want to get out in the world, whether it's getting to better health. It's not just about losing weight and seeing a scale figure. It's about truly how your body feels, how your brain acts and behaves, what you're able to do, then, because your body's in good health. That ranges from, some of the stories I share, people just weren't even in a good place to play with their kids. They were too tired. Or people not having the energy to be effective at work. Whether you're looking for a mortgage or whether you're looking to sell a home or whether you're looking to start a business or whatever your book might be about, people need to thrive. Let's thrive, people. Let's not be in a pit of disease and despair.
Without your Susan and my Susan S., I don't believe I would be able to not only have my book, but hopefully the next part is really change lives, change more people's lives. Again, I just thank you. I wish I was there to give her a big old hug and also high-five everybody that's helped me that now it's here.
Stuart: I've often said on the podcast episodes I'm in a fortunate position of getting to speak to a number of the authors anyway when we're talking about strategy at the end of the process and how to use it. It's always empowering for me to talk to people who are engaged and enthusiastic about what they're doing, because they see the potential in not only having the book done through the partnership and helping people actually bring it together and shortcutting that process down from however long it would take them to do it themselves to actually getting it out of the door in a relatively short period, but also, their enthusiasm for sharing that message with the people that they're trying to share it with. I think no matter what industry you're in or what the message of your book is, you're not going to do this unless you're engaged and believe that it's the right thing and that you're sharing absolutely valuable information with people, even if you never actually heard from the person reading it again. Having that sense of certainty or the good feeling that comes from having shared useful information in a way that's accessible, in a way that adds value to them, creating the books even if you never saw any business from the end of it ...
I mean, obviously, for the majority of people, we are talking about creating business at the end of it, but just creating something that puts that value out there. There's an energy or an enthusiasm that comes from that. I think the whole book community that's around what we're able to do for people and help all of the authors out there. Helping all of those guys thrive, like you're saying, whether it's spiritually, emotionally, or financially, or in business, there's an energy around it and it's exciting. Looking at the book, then, that we've created with yourself, you were talking about having ... I know we just put in an order through at the moment, because you've got an event coming up. Then, there's a webinar a little bit later in the year. For people listening, do you want to talk and share about some of the ways that you think about using the books in conjunction with some of the other things that you're using. So it's useful to share real-life examples with people so they can conceptualize them a bit more.
Yvonne: Yes, absolutely. Thank you. I have had a Facebook business page for a while, so people can find me by my name, Yvonne Myette, and they can find my personal profile. They can find me on LinkedIn. I've been there and had a presence for years. I really wanted to be able to reach women that wouldn't know of me otherwise, so having a website. When you have a website, you have to have something to offer people. Knowing that I had a book coming was really what jettisoned getting the website started to get that out there and available. Then, also, I have wanted to have, probably for years, women's gatherings, women's retreats. I have done that through business. I had business retreats, because I own my own company, and I was in leadership positions with large organizations. We had leadership events a lot, and I led those. I've done this in business. I wanted to get, again, back to the heart. The book is going to be a part of a retreat that I have coming up November 11th. I'm having my first what I call Radiate Women, so I'm having my first Radiate Women's Gratitude Mini-Retreat on November 11th, and the book will be a part of that. There will be, also, other activities.
Then, I have webinars, we talked about that, coming up that I'll be offering monthly. Information will be on my website ts going to be launching in a week or so here. Then, as well, people can contact me directly, and I can give them the date. I have online webinars, and those are for six life-changing habits to thrive. Also, of course, there are other ways that I serve people, Stuart, and that's by one-on-one coaching. I'm a one-on-one life coach and a health coach, and people can reach out to me and send a message, get a hold of me. They can schedule directly just a for complimentary assessment. There's so many ways that people can get assistance, Stuart. Like you said, they might just read the book and it might serve them that way. They might want to get into a gathering with other women on a similar life path to really be more of their best self, to really strive to be their best and to help bring that to the world and serve others and also to model it for their kids and other loved ones.
Whatever people need, I want to be able to ... Like you said, as they're raising their hand, I just want to encourage them, Stuart. Raise your hand and let me see if I have something that might be able to help. If you raise your hand, maybe there's somebody else around you that can also help. That would be just all I think I would have to share at this point, Stuart, would be just encouragement.
Stuart: And it's the team, isn't it? I think like you were saying with the team of Susan’s that you were talking about to get this created, having people in your life, as people who are listening to this, as the people who are ultimately going to read your book specifically, having that team ... Even if one person on this side is just providing one piece of information, a quote or a line, something that you mentioned before. Another person over on this side you resonate with more, so you get more and more from them. Seeing that team of people that contribute to the whole, the influence circle that you've got. Some people will play a more major role. Some people will play a more minor role, but being able to take something from each of the ... Tripping over my words. Being able to take something from each of the relationships, I think, is important to kind of build that whole and lift the energy of what you're trying to do.
Yvonne: Yeah, and if it's okay, Stuart, I'd like to end with one quote from me, one of my quotes that's in the book, and I'd like to end with one scripture passage. Would that be all right, and then we can wrap it up?
Stuart: Yeah, absolutely.
Yvonne: I appreciate that. I just wanted to encourage those of you that are listening, you are and can be even more amazingly awesome when you awaken to the idea. So awaken to the idea of what it will be that will help you to be more amazingly awesome and bring that to the world. Then, just in closing, from 1 Thessalonians 5:6, "So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober." So blessings to all of you who are listening. Thank you again, Stuart. This has been awesome. Really appreciate all that you and your organization do to assist all that just really want to serve the world and grow businesses because we bring something, whether it's a service or product. So thanks again. Big, big thanks.
Stuart: Fantastic. Thanks, Yvonne. That was inspiring words to finish on there in that let us not sleep quote. Though I haven't heard that one directly, it reminds me of some others that I've got written on the walls here or hold close. Hopefully people will take something from that. I think we'll put ... This is going to be going out ... As we record now, we're in the middle of October, so this show's going to go out in a couple of week's time. Your website, I believe, will be up by then, so we'll make sure that we've got some notes and links on the show notes, so as people are listening, head over to 90minutebooks.com/podcast, and Yvonne's recording will be the latest in the show notes there. Make sure people can get a note to follow up.
I think it's definitely going to be good as we get into next year, as you've got bedded in with the his process and using it in various different ways, I think we should definitely check back in next year to see how the book's helping make those connections with people and with the retreats and the webinars that you're doing and the other channels. Let's have a catch-up show next year some time and see how it's been working out and feedback to people on what the success has been.
Yvonne: Oh, I'd love it. Thank you so much. Everybody, have a great day when you listen to this. Hopefully 2017 just ends for you in a really peaceful, loving way and 2018 is just a year you soar. Thanks again, Stuart.
Stuart: Fantastic. Thanks, guys. We'll catch you again in the next show.