In episode 125, we're talking about how to translate your work experience into a business, no matter what industry you're in.

You have been the person everyone calls when something is on fire. When the system does not exist, you build it. When the team is not performing, you fix it. When there is no answer, your name is the first one that comes up. And every single one of those moments has been building something. Just not yet for you.

In this episode, I break down how to take the skills and experience you have built, whether you are in corporate, nonprofit, tech, retail, or anywhere else, and translate them into a business of your own.

In this episode, I cover:→ How to recognize that what people always come to you for is actually your business foundation→ The skills recon: how to take inventory of what you know and what it is actually worth→ Why your experience in any industry is more transferable than you think→ How to start with what you know and let the business evolve from there→ Why building a business is not selfish, even if you come from a mission-driven nonprofit background

Key Takeaways:– Every role you have ever had has been building skills and experience you can now leverage for yourself– The thing that feels like general knowledge to you is someone else's biggest blind spot– You do not have to burn it all down or quit your job to start building something– Start with what you know and let it evolve– If you cannot shake the idea of building something for yourself, that is your signal

Chapters:00:01 Introduction01:00 Today's Topic: Translating Your Work Experience Into a Business02:14 The Signal: You're Always the One Everyone Calls03:30 Your Experience Is Not Wasted — It's Your Foundation04:27 The Skills Recon: Taking Inventory of What You Know06:44 Nonprofit, Corporate, Tech, Retail — It All Translates08:54 How This Works in Private Coaching10:00 Client Stories: Health Tech, Creative Artistry, Nonprofit Web Design11:07 Your Why and Building for Yourself13:23 CTA and Closing

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⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.danitan.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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In episode 124, we're talking about why you don't have to quit your job to start your business.

If you have been thinking about building something of your own but the idea of leaving your paycheck, your benefits, and your security feels too scary to actually move, this episode is for you. You do not have to choose between your 9-5 and your business. Your 9-5 might be the smartest tool you have to launch it.

In this episode, I break down how to use your current income strategically to fund your business, build your exit plan, and start from a place of safety instead of desperation.

In this episode, I cover:→ How to create an exit strategy with two real target dates and a savings plan that actually makes sense→ Why your paycheck gives you an experimentation runway that full-time entrepreneurs don't have→ The number one reason businesses fail and why knowing your numbers changes everything→ Why you should invest in learning how to make money before anything else→ The mindset work nobody talks about and how your income can fund the support you need

Key Takeaways:– You do not have to go all in without a plan– Set two target exit dates and build real savings goals for both personal and business reserves– Save every dollar your business makes early on and let your salary fund your personal security– Your 9-5 gives you breathing room to experiment without every decision feeling like life or death– If time has passed and you have not hit your goal, it is not about time — something else is blocking you

Timestamps:

00:00 - Welcome and episode overview: funding your business with your nine to five
02:15 - Dani’s background and transition from corporate VP to coach
04:00 - Building business resilience while maintaining a steady income
06:45 - Creating effective exit strategies with targeted dates and reserves
09:30 - The importance of understanding and managing your financial numbers
11:55 - Strategies for balancing corporate responsibilities and business growth
15:20 - The role of mindset work and emotional support in entrepreneurial success
17:55 - How to use your current job to test and refine your business ideas
20:30 - Cultivating confidence through data, experimentation, and small wins
23:10 - The benefits of leveraging your skills, credibility, and connections
26:45 - Overcoming fears and mindset blocks around visibility and sales
29:20 - Practical tips for saving, investing, and funding your startup
32:05 - Final encouragement to start small, stay consistent, and pursue your greatness

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My focus today is empowering the total baddie who knows she’s overqualified and is ready to level up, even if her manager isn’t supporting her.

If you’re feeling unseen or unheard in your organization, this episode is your blueprint for building influence beyond one person’s support and creating your own success narrative with confidence and strategy.In this episode:

• Why working hard and doing great work doesn't automatically earn support for promotion
• The power of building skip level relationships to amplify your visibility and influence
• How to showcase your results beyond your direct team to make your impact undeniable
• Strategies for owning your narrative and talking about your work with clarity and pride
• Why you don’t need one supporter — you need a system of advocates inside the organization
• Real-life success stories of clients who climbed out of unsupportive environments
• The importance of creating a promotion plan with specific steps and key conversations
• How to leverage cross-functional relationships to fast-track your career goals
• Practical tips for collecting receipts, sharing updates, and building your case for promotion

Timestamps:
00:00 - How to promote yourself when your manager isn't in your corner
02:25 - Why your work alone isn't enough for promotion
03:23 - The myth of advocates and sponsors—what really moves the needle
05:14 - Building a skip level relationship as your secret weapon
06:39 - Making your results visible across teams and leadership
08:06 - Owning your narrative through executive updates and strategic talks
09:55 - Collecting receipts and case studies to prove your impact
10:22 - How to manage your story when your manager is unsupportive
11:44 - The power of speaking about your work with confidence and pride
13:10 - Success stories of clients who navigated non-supportive managers and moved up
14:39 - Developing a strategic promotion plan rooted in action, not just thought
15:59 - Balancing visibility as a first-generation Asian Latina in corporate America
16:28 - Recognizing that your one supporter isn’t the only factor in your success
17:23 - How to work with a coach to create your personalized promotion roadmap

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In episode 122, we're talking about how to land your first client before you even have a business.

You have been noodling on this for a while. You know there is something there, a specific problem you know how to solve better than almost anyone in the room. And every time you think about actually starting, the list of things to build first gets longer. The website. The logo. The LLC. The brand. This episode is for the woman who is ready to stop getting ready.

In this episode, I break down the three moves that take you from idea to paid, and the identity shift that happens the moment your first client says yes.

In this episode, I cover:→ The productive procrastination trap and how to recognize when busy action is not the same as brave action→ Step 1: The one problem you already solve that makes you the go-to person in every room→ Step 2: Curiosity-based outreach that attracts clients instead of chasing them→ Step 3: Expert networks and communities that put you in front of the right people immediately→ Why landing your first client is about building from evidence, not hope

Key Takeaways:– You do not need a website, a logo, or an LLC to land your first client– Brave action is the conversation. Busy action is everything that delays it– Your signature problem is already showing up in the questions people always bring to you– Curiosity-based outreach is not pitching, it is positioning– The first client gives you evidence, and evidence is what builds the belief that sustains everything else

Chapters:00:01 Introduction01:37 Today's Topic: Landing Your First Client Before You Have a Business04:32 Dani's Story: Doing Both for Two Years06:07 How to Land Your First Client06:48 Productive Procrastination09:52 Step 1: Write Down One Problem You Want to Solve12:11 Step 2: Curiosity-Based Outreach14:22 Step 3: Expert Networks and Community18:24 The Identity Shift of Landing Your First Client20:12 CTA and Closing

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This one was too good to only share once. I'm bringing back one of my all-time favorite episodes for everyone who is new here in Season 3, and for everyone who needs to hear it again. Lexy's story is exactly what this podcast is about.

In this fan favorite episode, I'm sitting down with my client Lexy Williams, who went from feeling completely stuck in a manager role to landing her dream director position in just four coaching sessions.

Lexy is a first-generation professional, daughter of Sierra Leonean immigrants, and someone who came into coaching already knowing she was meant for more. She just needed the strategy, the clarity, and someone fully in her corner to help her get there. What happened next is exactly the kind of story I live for.

We get into all of it, the mindset, the resume strategy, the non-negotiables, the two promotions, and the moment she sat down in her director's chair and knew she had arrived.

In this episode, we cover:

→ How Lexy advocated for herself to find a coach who was a woman of color before we even started

→ What four coaching sessions actually looked like and how she maximized every moment in between

→ The resume and cover letter strategy that started getting her callbacks almost immediately

→ Why she pushed past a senior manager promotion to keep going for the director role she really wanted

→ What it felt like to sit in the director's chair on day one and actually believe she belonged there

Key Takeaways:

– You do not have to have it all figured out before you invest in yourself

– The work between sessions matters just as much as the sessions themselves

– Getting specific on your non-negotiables keeps you from settling for close enough

– Coaching is not about fixing what is wrong, it is about building what is already there

– Nobody puts Baby in the corner, and nobody should put you there either

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction and Meet Lexy

04:15 Why Lexy Decided to Invest in Coaching

07:30 How She Found Dani and Advocated for a WOC Coach

11:00 What the Coaching Goals Actually Were

14:20 The Resume Strategy That Changed Everything

18:45 Maximizing Coaching Between Sessions

22:00 Two Promotions and Why She Kept Going

26:30 The Director Role: What It Feels Like to Finally Be at the Table

30:00 Why Lexy Recommends Coaching (The Dirty Dancing Analogy)

32:00 Closing

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In episode 120, we're talking about how to build a $100k business without quitting your 9-to-5.

You already have the expertise. You have been solving high-level problems for organizations, teams, and people for years, and that expertise is worth far more than one company's paycheck. This episode is for the person who has been wondering if it is possible to build something for themselves without letting go of the stability they have worked so hard to create. It is. And I am going to show you how.

In this conversation, I break down the three moves I use with my clients to help them go from senior leader to paid consultant, without burning anything down, quitting their job, or waiting until they feel ready.

In this episode, I cover:→ Why you do not have to choose between stability and building something for yourself→ The Safety Illusion and how it has been keeping your expertise bottled up for everyone else→ Move 1: Getting specific on your one signature problem→ Move 2: Market research outreach (not pitching, never pitching)→ Move 3: How to get paid before you have a website, a logo, or a business license→ A client story: from a company reorg to landing her first consulting clients

Key Takeaways:– You do not need to quit your job to build a $100k business– The expertise you have been giving to organizations is something companies pay a premium for on your own terms– Getting specific on one problem is the fastest path from thinking about it to doing it– Market research conversations are not pitches, they are your strategy– You do not need a brand or a website to get your first client, one conversation builds the belief

Chapters:00:01 Introduction00:48 About Dani and She Belongs Here01:51 The Financial Foundation: Why Security Matters03:41 Success for Survival — Dani's Personal Story05:08 You Can Build Both06:50 Client Story: The 15-Minute Paid Call08:19 The Safety Illusion12:42 Move 1: Get Specific on One Problem15:06 Move 2: Market Research Outreach16:19 Move 3: Get Paid and Build the Belief17:53 Client Story: From Reorg to Consulting Clients19:41 You Do Not Need More Credentials20:52 Closing and CTA

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In episode 119, we're talking about how to negotiate a senior role when your manager is brand new to the team.

You don't need to wait for your new manager to get settled before you start making your case. That window while they are forming their opinions, building their perspective, and figuring out who you are? That is your window. And it opens the moment they walk through the door.

In this conversation, I break down the three-phase framework I use with my clients to help them stop waiting and start positioning, even in the middle of change and transition.

In this episode, I cover:

→ Why a new manager is a window of opportunity, not a reason to pause

→ Phase 1: The Onboarding Trap and how to avoid it

→ Phase 2: Flip the Script — decoding the gap, making your knowledge visible, and picking your lane

→ A client story: from coming back from leave into chaos to making a business case for her promotion

→ Phase 3: Your Window — how to shape the narrative before the story gets written for you

Key Takeaways:

– Your new manager has no story about you yet — that is an advantage, not an obstacle

– Waiting for them to settle in is the trap; position yourself during their onboarding, not after it

– Decode the gap: find out where your manager needs to build credibility and show how you can help

– Make your institutional knowledge visible — stop solving problems quietly and start documenting your impact

– You were already overqualified before your manager walked through the door

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

00:09 When a New Manager Situation Happens

01:40 Client Stories

03:08 It Is Up to You to Drive Your Trajectory

05:06 Phase 1: The Onboarding Trap

06:28 Phase 2: Flip the Script — Decode the Gap

08:15 Client Story: Coming Back from Leave

10:07 Phase 3: Your Window

11:04 You Are Done Being the Best Kept Secret

12:50 The Compounding Cost of Waiting

14:31 Closing

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In episode 118, we're talking about how to build executive presence without losing yourself in the process.

You have probably heard the feedback — your executive presence is a little lacking. And you are left wondering: does that mean be more confident? Command a room? Become someone entirely different? It does not. Your leadership is not the problem. The feedback just did not come with enough information to act on.

In this conversation, I break down what executive presence feedback actually means, how to decode it into something specific and actionable, and how to decide what is worth building versus what you get to keep exactly as you are.

In this episode, I cover:

→ Why "executive presence" is often code for something nobody will explain to you

→ How to go back and get specific, actionable feedback from your manager

→ The framework for deciding what is a skill worth building vs. what is worth owning

→ A client story: how one woman kept her directness and changed the outcome

→ How to lead at the next level without erasing who you are

Key Takeaways:

– You cannot build a strategy around vague feedback, get specific examples first

– Executive presence feedback can be useful or it can be asking you to code switch, know the difference

– Your values (directness, community, humility) are leadership strengths, not liabilities

– Decode, decide, then build, in that order

– You do not have to become someone else to lead at the next level

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction: Building Executive Presence Without Becoming Someone Else

01:30 What "Executive Presence" Feedback Actually Means

03:15 Phase 1: Decode the Feedback

05:30 You Cannot Change What Nobody Has Named

07:00 Phase 2: Decide What Is Worth Changing vs. Owning

09:00 Client Story: Same Person, Better Framing

11:15 Dani's Personal Story

12:30 What If the Feedback Is Valid?

14:00 Closing: You Do Not Have to Become Someone Else

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