Category: 2023

  • Finally! I Updated My LiveOps Testimonial

    Finally! I Updated My LiveOps Testimonial

    For those of you who may have been interested in my updated testimonial about my experience of becoming an Independent LiveOps Agent, the original testimonial from last year is at this link. And the newly updated story from after I was an agent for over 1.5 years is at this medium link.

    In both articles, I shared my genuine testimonial of my own experience. And in the newer article, I also shared a testimonial from someone else who I referred that was accepted by a LiveOps client and has been working in her very own Independent LiveOps Agent business for a little while now. I would love to share more details like the names of the people and of the clients, but I am maintaining professional confidentiality.

    If you register to become a LiveOps agent (use my referral link if you like), then I would be able to share more details with you as a fellow agent and can introduce you to other agents. The most important thing I love about LiveOps is that I am part of a real community of real people that I know care about me. They show me each and every weekday. I am so very grateful. Have a look at that new article to see more about why I say this.

    ENCOURAGEMENT FOR REMOTE WORKERS AND SELF-EMPLOYED

    If you’re a person who has been experiencing some type of trauma, crisis, or hardship, and you refuse to give up hope that you can still set big goals for yourself and even have your own business to work from home, you might also enjoy hearing my podcast to learn more about why I chose this kind of work. The podcast is called “Plant Your Seeds of Transformation” and is on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and most other podcast platforms. In one of the episodes, I shared about what you can do to let go of money shame so that it won’t keep making you feel bad about yourself and keep you stuck in bad cycles.

    When you’re starting a new venture or an unconventional type of work, like remote work, sometimes you need as much encouragement as you can get. I hope you’ll check out the podcast show, check out the new article, and share if you find value in what I’m sharing through my writing and podcasting.

    I hope all is well for you and yours. Thanks for reading.

    ~ Coach Donna Marie

  • Mother’s Day Reflection: Daily Practices That Make Me A Better Solo Mom

    Mother’s Day Reflection: Daily Practices That Make Me A Better Solo Mom

    Daily writing prompt
    What’s one small improvement you can make in your life?

    Improving my own life as a solo mom is my own choice. I refuse to remain a victim of the unexpected twists and turns in my life. Taking daily action, even in the smallest ways, like meditating and journaling, is how I stand in my own power for my own life to be my best self and to be a better parent, with Father God’s Help.

    ~ Coach Donna Marie aka @leadlikeaqueen

    If you’re familiar with my podcast, Plant Your Seeds of Transformation (see YouTube or Apple/Spotify/Google Podcasts), you may know my personal story of becoming an unexpected solo mom. I have been married for over 20 years, but my partner has not been partnering with me as a parent due to his illness. When I realized that things were only getting worse and that I was becoming a true Solo Mom, it completely freaked me out and sent me into an emotional and mental tailspin. I was afraid that I could not take care of him and the kids all on my own. And I was right. I can’t do any of this on my own, and I need affordable help and relevant advice. So, I started plugging in more spiritually with God through prayer and Bible study, connecting with the community more via online/virtual/phone methods (because my husband was mostly homebound), and asking for and accepting practical and financial help. I am so grateful for the community that God has led me to, some of which are biological family and some of which are chosen family.

    What Helps Me Think and Be Better

    And I’m even more grateful for how Father God continues to lead and guide me internally so that I am now a better person and parent. I use meditation and journaling to help me become more self-aware, which has helped me think better and make better choices that have improved my life. The 2nd edition of my book (#smallbizbigimpact) includes an integrated journal for this reason. Because I am a trained and certified coach, I keenly understand the value of journaling as an essential practice for ongoing growth and true life changes. Journaling allows the writer to reflect on their experiences and gain insight into their decisions, behaviors, thoughts, and feelings in a safe space. Building better self-awareness helps leaders see how to motivate themselves so they can keep achieving their goals, even when they’re not around other people who sometimes motivate and encourage them.

    What you and I both need to be better is already inside of us, and we deserve to give ourselves the time and space to discover and become more aware of it.

    ~ Coach Donna Marie @leadlikeaqueen
    Small Biz Big Impact But How 2nd Edition with Journal

    What about you?

    Do you journal, meditate, pray or something else? How do you use daily practices that help improve your life?

    Gift For Becoming A Better You

    Happy Mother’s Day to all moms, biological or not, and even if you only have fur-babies. Here is a gift for you to access the HeadSpace app. I believe it’s one of the best tools you can use to become more self-aware and become a better version of yourself. It can really complement your journaling practice, also, by reminding you to make room for and set aside time for meditation and for journaling. Use the button linked below to grab your gift now of one free month use of the Headspace app*. Honestly, I was skeptical that it would help me, but after trying it, I realized this is exactly what I needed to help me become more mindful on a daily basis.

    *Affiliate Disclaimer: I recommend this resource because I use it myself, but you need to do your own research to see if this works for you. If you choose to click my link, I may be compensated by this affiliate partner at no cost to you. Thank you in advance if you choose to support my work as a coach and mentor in this way.

  • Precious Community Helps Recovery From Trauma or Crisis

    Precious Community Helps Recovery From Trauma or Crisis

    Daily writing prompt
    What do you do to be involved in the community?

    I am so grateful that I’ve been able to plug in with like-minded communities via online tools like zoom, Discord, Patreon, Facebook groups, YouTube live chats, and more.

    Community is precious, especially as you recover from trauma or crisis.

    ~ Coach Donna Marie

    One of the main groups that I’m consistently plugging in with uses our membership dues to support a black woman creator with a sabbatical grant. This group was founded by Stephanie Perry of Vaycarious. She already sent over $20,000 to the first grant recipient in 2022, along with smaller grants as scholarships for short retreats for creative black women who needed time to rest and refresh their creative juices.

    The way this group supports me is via daily/weekly co-working events in a private zoom video chat format. I helped to co-found these events which are sponsored by Stephanie Perry’s Vaycarious group and are led by the wonderful Dr. Jessica. I am grateful that I was able to teach them a system that helps us all get our work done more effectively, and we even now have incorporated exercise within this framework, too. I talked about it in a prior podcast episode, << click that link, if you’d like to listen or watch the show to learn more.

    What about you, how do you plug in with community and how does it help you?

    ~ Coach Donna Marie Johnson

    CoachDonnaMarie.com
  • Newsletter Invitation

    Newsletter Invitation

    If you didn’t notice, I don’t write much on this WordPress-based blog anymore. This is because I’ve fallen in love with the blogging community and platform at Medium. I am not trying to maintain multiple blogs anymore. So, if you’d like to join me over there, and if you’d like to receive my newsletter there, please click here to read my latest and subscribe to my newsletter.

    There are many blogging communities, however, I believe the reason why Medium has gained such a following is because they listen to their writers and keep making it a better experience for us. They make it easy to publish a newsletter. They empower us to monetize our content. And they include a robust social networking foundation with tagging of others and linking back to other content. You can also include audio and video. And for me, the clincher for using the paid version of Medium is the ability to listen to every article as I read via the Medium app or in my browser. I don’t know why, but as I’ve matured, I read much more effectively when I listen while I read… that’s a major key for helping me get through graduate school with honors.

    If you’d like to follow my Medium page it is: medium.com/@leadlikeaqueen

    I hope to connect with you over there, too.

    If you’d like to see my other social links, you can find them all on my one page profile at:

    CoachDonnaMarie.com