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Sep 10, 2019

Welcome to She Leads Podcast Season 5, Episode 2! This episode of She Leads Podcast features DeAndrea Byrd founder of The Entrepreneur Accountability Squad and DeAndrea Byrd Consulting. DeAndrea Byrd is a Business Strategist, Coach, and Speaker who leads her life like the Boss she is. To hear DeAndrea Byrd’s take on leadership, listen to her interview as she discusses the importance of servitude, accepting the transitions life brings, and retraining your brain constantly.

DeAndrea Byrd’s Bio

DeAndrea Byrd is a self-taught entrepreneur who has launched multiple successful businesses in both the brick-and-mortar setting, as well as the online market. Over the years, her brands have grown and blossomed into a higher purpose. As a seasoned business strategist and coach, DeAndrea has a passion for entrepreneurship and now enjoys sharing the process she used to grow by helping other entrepreneurs achieve their dreams. DeAndrea has a main focus in the area of business strategy, profit focused productivity, digital product creation, and automation. She founded the Entrepreneur Accountability Squad, a group coaching membership designed for entrepreneurs looking to scale up their business and increase their personal development skills. DeAndrea is constantly invited to host corporate goal setting workshops, speak at various event planning conference, women’s conference, high schools and more.

Nicole Walker’s Interview Commentary

I really enjoyed this interview with DeAndrea and I hope you did as well.

I agree with DeAndrea’s advice to ensure we are practicing self-care to recharge our “batteries” so we can show up fully for ourselves and those around us. As DeAndrea suggested, we need to keep a safe space to refill what we are putting out for others. When we take a moment to pause and refuel we are allowing ourselves the space needed to stay motivated and avoid burning out! This is super important to be a successful leader. A quote by Lori Deschene reads, “Life is all about balance. You don’t always need to be getting stuff done. Sometimes it’s perfectly okay, and absolutely necessary to shut down, kick back, and do nothing.” 

I admire DeAndrea’s ability to recognize when a venture is not for her and her willingness to pass the torch along to others who may be a better fit at the moment. When something doesn’t feel right or does not turn out as desired, we have the choice to force it or move on. Making the decision to move on is not always easy and many times people avoid doing so due to fear of failure or the unknown. As DeAndrea stated, we must learn to trust and listen to ourselves so we can make the best decisions for our lives. When we let go of things that are not meant for us, we make room for what we are supposed to have. A quote by Nikki Rowe reads, “Don’t force it, if there isn’t flow let it go.”

I can relate DeAndrea’s experiences being the oldest of her siblings and falling into the role of leader by default, as I experienced the same. As with DeAndrea, I did not welcome or want this responsibility. Having responsibilities placed on your as an adolescent can be hard and definitely comes with a bit of pressure.  As with DeAndrea, I did not embrace my role as a leader until I was in my twenties and could figure out how I wanted to lead from my perspective. A quote by Max McKeown reads, “Adaptability is about the powerful difference between adapting to cope and adapting to win.”

Nicole Walker’s Takeaway of the Week

DeAndrea mentioned the importance of finding our tribe of people that will help us get to the next level. According to DeAndrea it is imperative that we ask for help and trust others to get the job done, because we cannot do everything ourselves if we want to reach our maximum potential. This is an area I struggle in due to being let down by the people I asked and trusted in the past. I appreciate DeAndrea’s advice to keep searching until we find the people that are meant for us.

I will make it my business to keep searching for my tribe of people that are capable and willing to help make my dreams come true.

A quote by Simon Sinek reads, “We don’t build trust when we offer help. We build trust when we ask for it.”

Nicole Walker’s Leadership Challenge

My leadership challenge for you would be to think about the one thing you can take away from this episode and adopt into your life.  I know it’s hard to absorb too much information at one time and it’s even harder to try and implement too many changes at once.  When I attend a training or listen to podcasts I aim to walk away with a least one thing that stuck out to me and one way that I can change as a result.  I challenge you to do the same! 

Don’t forget to subscribe to She Leads Podcast for first access to future episodes. And also, like and share this episode of She Leads Podcast entitled “Find Your Place In The World with DeAndrea Byrd”.

Thanks and until next time “Be Empowered and Empower On”!