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Today I’m talking with Rhonda Daniels, CEO of Natural Radiant Life about building a thriving business after a fall from grace. In this episode, she’ll be sharing her journey towards a business that was always calling her, and all the obstacles she had to push through to get to where she is now, running a business that lights her up alongside friends. You won’t want to miss this one!

What to Listen For:

• Living her best life and having it crash down around her in the 2008 collapse
• Grieving the loss of this career and life
• What she would do differently knowing what she knows now

“I was grief-stricken and trying to figure out what’s the next step, all the while trying to pay bills and do all the things that we have to do.”

• Taking a job to pay the bills and experiencing the worst nine months of her career
• Getting back into skincare
• Thinking she’d found her forever job
• Getting laid off in January 2020
• Applying the lessons from her last job loss

“I just said, listen, you get the month of February to feel all the feelings, all the things, let them bubble up, let them come out. Scream, cry, curse, whatever you need to do. And on March 1st, I said, okay, it’s done. You have to move on. And that doesn’t mean that all of the feelings were gone. It just meant that I had to force myself to take the next step.”

• Stepping into the next chapter by sending some emails
• Where one of those emails ended up
• Brining in her friends
• Taking big, bold action
• Launching a new LLC in the middle of the pandemic
• Lessons learned from her second job loss

“I could have done so much more because I never expected it to end. I was living the life, extravagant trips and cars and all the stuff. And so while I did save some, there was a whole lot more I could have done. And I recognize that.”

• Being prepared for the leap financially, but not emotionally
• Losses of loved ones and lessons in grief

“My father would always say to me, ‘you can’t ask ‘why me?’ when it’s bad, if you aren’t willing to ask ‘why me?’ when it’s good.’”

• How she felt taking the job she didn’t really want
• Wondering how she got there
• Knowing that wasn’t all that there was for her
• Asking herself what she enjoys
• How working with Avon helped her bring back her confidence and belief in herself
• Realizing that his prayer was being answered through the people in his life
• How agreeing to train for a half marathon helped her find a peaceful headspace

“Running became cathartic for me. If it was a bad day, if it was a bad week, if things may not have been going the right way, either business-wise or even personally, I could go out for a run and come back and feel refreshed and renewed and okay. I can tackle this thing”

• A support system of friends
• Practicing mindfulness to help overcome overthinking
• How getting angry helps her navigate difficult situations
• Asking herself the tough questions

“I never felt like I was my best self. I was good. I was good enough, but I wasn’t my best self. And so when that happened in the midst of the uncertainty and upheaval, as you mentioned, there also was a moment where I thought maybe it’s not them, maybe it’s me. And maybe there is a calling that I’m ignoring, and that is why this keeps happening to me.”

• An honest conversation with a friend
• Feeling frustrated when she realized what she wanted but didn’t know how to get it
• Getting up every day and doing something to get closer to it

“I couldn’t sit still and just hope that it was going to happen. I had to do something to, you know, bring the universe into alignment.”

• Reaching out to her network to learn how to move forward
• What she tells herself when she’s feeling unsure about her path
• Reminding herself of her history to write her next chapter
• Keeping her inspiration right on her phone so it’s there whenever she needs it
• Her 24-hour rule and how it helps her feel the feelings without getting stuck there
• Starting a new business in the midst of the pandemic

“It was a scary time just in general in life. But I think we all agreed that we had something literally in the palm of our hands, that if we did not act on it, we probably would never get it again. And we all recognized the gift that it is.”

• The hiccups along the way
• How the pandemic actually helped them get started
• What it’s like running a company with her friends
• Finding her balance with social media with advertising and keeping some level of privacy
• Her awesome background support for her business
• Wearing a lot of hats and learning every day.

“I’ve had to learn a lot of things that I did not know how to do a year ago. And some days my brain hurts. Yeah. Some days I think like brain cells are oozing out of my ear, but you got to do what you got to do.”

• About her amazing clean, organic, vegan, unisex products
• What advice she would give her younger self

About Rhonda Daniels:

Rhonda Daniels is a Chicago native who attended Florida A&M University earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and then earned her MBA with a Finance and Marketing concentration from Pennsylvania State University.

After five years in the corporate arena, Rhonda found herself unfulfilled and left her corporate job to pursue entrepreneurial endeavors. Several months later, she was introduced to the direct sales company Warm Spirit in October 2001. Rhonda spent eight years in this company, earning the company’s highest title – National Vice President and led a team of over 3,000 independent distributors generating annual revenues of over $3M. It was during this time that she fell in love with the skincare industry.

In 2013, she joined Avon Products as a District Sales Manager, where she earned Circle of Excellence in her first year. Three years later, Rhonda joined Rodan + Fields, a $1B skincare brand, as Senior Manager, Field Training and was instrumental in launching the company’s New Consultant Onboarding platform to over 28K independent Consultants. Most recently, Rhonda worked as Vice-President of Sales for a startup where she was instrumental in all facets of the launch including, but not limited to, sales, marketing programs, affiliate recruitment and retention plans and brand development.

Now, as CEO of Natural Radiant Life, Rhonda gets to live out her dream once again by owning her own business and working with two good friends. In her downtime, Rhonda LOVES her Peloton, reading, traveling, yoga, finding great new restaurants and a good glass of red wine. Her mother used to tell her, “you don’t let grass grow under your feet,” commenting on how she stays on the go. Catch her, if you can, on the Peloton leaderboard…

Website and social media links:

www.naturalradiantlife.com
(New customers can use discount code NEW2NRL to save 10% off sitewide!)
https://www.facebook.com/naturalradiantlife
https://www.instagram.com/naturalradiantlife/

Resources:

Access our free workbook for how to make the impossible happen, and our powerful 8-part Journey Mapping™ sampler program and begin uncovering the purpose of your path at www.TalesFromTheJourney.tv/Free/.

Read my memoir, Unravel: Rising Up and Coming Back from a Season of Living that Damn Near Killed Me at www.TheUnravelBook.com.

Tales from the Journey™ is a Stephenie Zamora Media Production in partnership with the phenomenal producers at ExploraSTORY Studios.