Q: Hi Debbie, please tell our readers a little about yourself.
I grew up in Wisconsin, and so I have good Midwestern values. I moved to the Dallas/Ft. Worth area in Texas at the age of 16, where I spent the next 24 years of my life. I can slip in and out of both a Texas and Wisconsin accent at will! I’ve been in Southern California for 2 1/2 years now and love it, especially the weather! Neither Wisconsin nor Texas can brag about having good weather!
My degree is in Business Administration; I always knew I wanted to own my own business but I didn’t know what type of business, until I joined Toastmasters, that is. I had a terrible fear of public speaking. Once I overcame my fear, I found my calling as a speaker and a direction for a business. Toastmasters taught me a lot about myself as well as how to speak in public and be a leader. Visit www.Toastmasters.org to find a club near you. I’ve been a member of the National Speakers Association for five years now, and won a contest for platform excellence at the Los Angeles chapter last year. I guess you can say I overcame my fear of speaking!
For the most part I live a yogic lifestyle, so yoga is a way of life for me, not just an exercise routine. I love going to classes, workshops and retreats, as well as reading about yoga philosophy and practices. I hope to study in India some day.
Q: Can you tell us about “Life Balance with a Yoga Twist”? What is it about?
By applying yogic philosophy and principles, I help make changes in people’s lives and their businesses that promote clarity, focus, peacefulness and strength, in addition to success. The areas in which I focus include sales and marketing, communication skills, including presentation skills, listening and interpersonal communications, and work/life balance. I do this through individual and group coaching, motivational speaking, and training workshops. From this internal work, people are able to give presentations with confidence. They find a way to sell and market that turns them on and doesn’t turn others off. They learn to honor their clients and prospects through listening. And they find that there’s more to life than work, work, work!
I also teach individual and small group Hatha Yoga classes in Orange County, applying yoga poses as well as philosophy and principles. Lessons learned on the yoga mat easily translate into our everyday lives: finding a focal point, stretching to the edge of your abilities, building strength and fortitude, facing your fears, and disciplining yourself on a regular basis in order to achieve desired results.
Q: Who do you work with? How can a potential client contact you?
For the coaching, speaking, and workshops, I work with a wide variety of people: From small business owners and entrepreneurs, to large corporations such as Hyundai Motor America. In my speaking engagements I offer an opportunity for people to subscribe to my free “Life Balance With a Yoga Twist” e-zine. This is my way of staying in touch with the thousands of people I come into contact with each year. It offers interesting articles, upcoming workshops and public appearances, and news on my latest product offerings. People enjoy staying in contact after an event.
People can contact me by phone: (951) 316-9380, or e-mail: Debbie@DebbieBarnett.com. They can sign up for my e-zine by sending me an e-mail, along with their name, phone number, e-mail address and how they found out about it. People can also visit my website: www.TheYogaWoman.com to learn more about me and what services I offer.
Q: What are the major changes and/or challenges you have experienced?
16 years in a corporate environment, going through a lay off, to owning my own business in early 2001 was a huge shift. Gone was the security of a steady paycheck, benefits, and paid time off. What I gained in return was an appreciation for time freedom and creative expression, learning that we chart our own path, and that security lies within each of us. I wouldn’t change that experience for anything.
Another change/challenge I’ve faced as a business owner is learning how to sell and to market my business. I thought I was going into the training and development business but I was wrong. I really went into the sales and marketing business, and unless you do those two things extremely well, it doesn’t matter how good a product or service you have. I needed to learn how to sell, and the best way for me to learn is to teach it. I was offered the opportunity to be a Sr. Sales Trainer promoting Brian Tracy, a well-known sales and leadership speaker. So in early 2003 I traveled around the country. I did over 200 sales training workshops in 7 months. I learned about the challenges and opportunities that sales people in all industries face, and I learned how to sell.
Having grown tired of moving from city to city every few months, I got out of that business and moved to Southern California. The first challenge was finding my way around! The freeways can be confusing around here! The second challenge was re-establishing my speaking and coaching business in a new market. My business is largely word-of-mouth and referral based. It takes time to establish yourself for those types of prospecting to work. The challenge has been to keep going when I’m not sure how I’m going to make it. Somehow it always works out!
The final challenge has been the confusion and distrust some people experience when I tell them I incorporate yoga into my programs. They think I’m going to have them put they leg behind their head or something! When most people think of yoga, they think of the poses of Hatha Yoga. Hatha Yoga is a very small part of the totality of the 5,000 year old art and science that is yoga. Its philosophy and principles go way beyond the poses. The challenge is to get in the door to do a program. Once I do, people “get it,” but getting in the door to begin with is the tricky part.
Q: What do you enjoy most in your career? What is the least enjoyable portion?
I get the biggest jazz is when I’m speaking to a group, and we’re in sync. I’m vibing on them, and they are vibing on me. It’s as if we’re all breathing as one. Another favorite thing that I’d like to mention, in all my programs I teach people the importance of breath and proper breathing. When they open their eyes after just a few deep breaths, their whole demeanor has softened and relaxed. Even the atmosphere in the room has changed. At the end of the program when I ask what people will do differently in their lives/business, several people will often say that they will breathe. That makes my day! Others say they will start practicing yoga. Yippee!! Sometimes people write or call a few weeks after a program/coaching series and tell me the difference I’ve made in their lives because of my program. That’s the best!
What I don’t like is the administrative part – doing data entry of business cards, updating my data base, and submitting proposals.
Q: What else would you like to accomplish? What do you think it would take for you achieve it?
I’d like to do keynotes and breakout sessions at large regional and national conferences. I’m particularly interested in women’s conferences. It would take more marketing on my part, and speaking at local organizations with a national connection in order to get the necessary exposure.
Q: Is there any other information you would like to share with us?
I just came out with a new 68 minute DVD: “Beginning Yoga with Debbie Barnett, Vol. 1.” I made it with my mom and dad in mind, neither of whom has ever done yoga. Its for people who have always wanted to try yoga but were not ready to go to a class. The cost is $25.00 plus tax, shipping and handling. The DVD may be ordered directly from my website, www.TheYogaWoman.com, or by calling (951) 316-9380 or e-mail: Debbie@DebbieBarnett.com. To sign up for my e-zine, send an e-mail along with name, phone number, e-mail address and how they found out about it.
Thank you, Debbie, for your inspiring story!