#WIB - Q&A With Yumna Aysen Owner Ohyesitsyumi.com -

1. Can you please tell us more about your business?

A. I am a Success Coach who specialises in life, business, leadership, and public speaking coaching. I have a very deep passion for helping others and helping empower and uplift others to become the best version of themselves. I chose to name myself a Success Coach because I truly do believe that there is a great need to redefine success as it stands today in order to remain relevant and make a bigger impact in organizations and in people’s lives in general today. I am known as a Success Coach in my professional career and the reason why I chose to name myself a Success Coach is because I believe that everyone defines success differently. There is no right or wrong answer when it comes to how you define success. I always encourage my clients to rethink their definitions of success and to let go of what society deems “successful” and instead to create their own version of success – a definition that resonates with them on a values-based level.

As a highly engaging, collaborating, and performance-driven Life and Business Coaching Professional, I have applied experience in facilitating highly-acclaimed coaching methodologies by utilizing a customized approach based on each individual and business goals to achieve maximum potential. I have a track record of developing and empowering struggling individuals through promoting positive inner resources and mindsets while teaching clients regarding the importance of values-based leadership.

2. When, how and why did you start your business?

A. I started my business in August of 2017. It’s funny because I never thought I would become a life coach or a motivational speaker. I was extremely shy for a large part of my life growing up. I was so incredibly shy that I couldn’t even order food in the food court for myself because I was too afraid to talk to people. So I would give my food money to my sister to order food for me. There was a point in my life when I was a teenager and I thought “enough is enough. I want to be successful and I desperately need to increase my confidence.” So I decided to take a debating class in high school called MUN (Model United Nations) where we had to represent different countries and their view points on political, social, and economic issues going on at the time. I was really bad in the beginning and my heart would race like crazy standing up there and doing public speaking. However with determination, I got better and my confidence started to improve. I eventually got picked as part of the top 12 in my MUN class to represent our school in Haileybury in England.

Fast forward a few years, I got introduced to network marketing or MLM when I was about 20 years old in university. I sold a variety of health products and in the beginning- I couldn’t sell to save my life. However, I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and even though I was scared to approach people about my products, I bit the bullet and did it anyway. I eventually became the highest ranked woman in South Africa in terms of sales for the company. I started doing motivational trainings for my team. That’s when I realised that I have a deep passion for helping people and I absolutely LOVED motivational speaking. And that’s where the spark was ignited. I went through some depression in my life and I felt stuck in my life a few years ago, and I saw a life coach. My life coach truly opened my eyes to things I wasn’t seeing and to see things in new ways. It was at that point that I realised that I would love to help people who are also shy like me and also felt stuck in life. I wanted to use my experiences to help others. It started off with me doing a few motivational videos of myself here and there and it grew and here I am today- a Success Coach.

3. What is your role in the business?

A. I run my entire business by myself. I find and coach clients to help them unleash their fullest potential. I write my own content for my videos, film myself, edit my videos, upload and manage my social media pages. I create and run my own digital marketing ads and create newsletters for my amazing subscribers.

4. Where did you study and what did you study?

A. I have a passion for education and learning new things. I have studied a variety of things including:

A Bachelor of Commerce in Human Resources through UNISA (University of South Africa). I took a digital marketing course through Red & Yellow in collaboration with the University of Stellenbosch. I completed a professional life coaching course in which I became an accredited professional life coach through an institution called Inner Life Skills that is accredited with the ICF (International Coaching Federation). I have also taken a course on Coursera in collaboration with the University of Michigan on “Leading People & Teams.”

5. How did you finance your business?

A. I have always been saving money growing up so I had some money saved up to start my business. I am also very grateful for my parents as they decided that they would like to invest into my business too because they saw the vision I had and they saw it as an investment into my future.

6. Describe your average workday, if such a thing exists.

A. My day varies from day today. A few days before I coach my clients, I come up with some customized coaching plans and resources that we can work through during our coaching sessions. I write my own inspirational content for my videos and then film myself outside my house in the garden and edit my videos and upload them to social media. I also create my own coaching ads to get leads and then I schedule 30-minute phone calls with the ones that are interested in hiring me as their life or business coach. I also try to work out regularly as I do believe that your health is everything and it has a domino effect on your life and career. I live with epilepsy, so getting in exercise is very beneficial for managing my epilepsy as well. Health is truly something that is underplayed. I do believe that health is wealth.

7. How do you balance your home life and your work life?

A. The flexibility of being an entrepreneur gives me more time to spend with family. Some days might be longer than others especially when I’m editing videos in the evening. When my family feels like I’m overworking- they check up on me and try to convince me to stop working. Side note- I have epilepsy, so taking breaks throughout the workday is important in order to give my brain a break. So my family does worry about that aspect a lot.

8. What drives you and inspires you?

A. My passion to inspire and empower people, my ambition, my drive to always become a better person is what drives me. I get so much satisfaction out of knowing that I’m impacting people’s lives on a daily basis. What makes me so happy with doing the work that I do is that not only am I helping my clients transform from the inside out, but my clients are also helping me grow tremendously as a person and are transforming me. It’s truly a win-win.

9. Where and when do you have your best ideas?

A. This might sound kind of strange, but my best ideas come about while I’m in the bathroom. I’m not sure why maybe it’s because I have more time to think with no distractions. I also do get ideas randomly out of nowhere that just pops up in my head and I always make sure that I have my notes app in my phone ready so I can write it down.

10. Where and how do you market/advertise your business for sales leads?

A. I make a lot of different inspirational/motivational videos that give advice and make people think. I post these on all of my social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn). These videos have truly made my brand very successful. I find that because I am my brand- collaborations with other influencers in my industry help a lot with cross-marketing. By producing great valuable content for people consistently that helps people in some sort of way, this will always be the best way to market yourself. I also try to go to networking events to connect with people that might help me take my career to the next level. I also make my own promo videos that are short, simple, and to the point that speaks to the heart of people seeking help out there. These videos have gotten me a lot of engagement and emails from potential clients.

I also create email lead magnet ads online to get some sales leads. I usually lead my email lead magnet ads with a free e-book that I recently published on “11 Bulletproof Ways To Create Invincible Success.” By offering value to people and always being of service to others, you will always have clients/customers. Here is the link for my free e-book: https://mailchi.mp/ohyesitsyumi.com/successcoachingebook

11. What is next for your business?

A. I have some really exciting stuff lined up for my business. I’m planning on taking it to the next level. I will be flying to the United States for the next 6 months to expand my business within the United States and take my business globally. I am also developing a special course on Teachable on how to be successful, starting with yourself, leadership, business, and just living a happy life that you can’t wait to wake up to every single day. If you’re reading this right now and you have any ideas that you would like for me to integrate into my course, please let me know.

12. What advice would you give to female entrepreneurs hoping to start their own business?

A. It’s going to be hard in the beginning, but I want you to remember your bigger purpose, your WHY, why did you decide to start your business? Your why cannot be money-driven, it needs to be something deeper. Because there are going to be a lot of challenges that will come up and when you have those days of giving up- always come back to your WHY- your deeper purpose. That’s what will keep you going. Always remember to enjoy the journey, don’t focus too much on the results. Because as you focus on the journey of building your wonderful business, the results and money will flow as a by-product of your efforts and your journey. Patience and consistency is key when building something that you love. It won’t happen overnight.

As a woman, we sometimes feel the need to play ourselves down especially when it comes to our achievements. It’s time for us as women to step up, to rise, and to own who we are as women! Own our achievements. Be unapologetically yourself.

We also tend to people-please, sometimes you might not even know that you’re doing it. However, I would like for you to keep this in mind – I will never forget what Oprah said when she was being interviewed by Brene Brown. Oprah said “To be brave, you are going to disappoint some people along the way. But that’s ok because the people who truly want to see you succeed and are rooting for your rise, they won’t be disappointed. The ones that will be disappointed – their agenda is just not aligned to yours”. I thought this was extremely powerful when I heard this. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do, someone is always going to have something to say about you. So just do it anyways.

I would also like for you to remember this quote that I heard from my role model named Marie Forleo- “Everything is figureoutable.” Whenever you feel stuck with building your business or you lose motivation, always remember that everything is figureoutable. There are always solutions if you focus on finding solutions.

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