This week I interviewed Danielle McDurfee, brand ambassador and Diamond leader with OOLA Global and sister of OOLA co-founder Dave Braun who was recently on the podcast as well. Danielle is sharing her story of how she pivoted her life and career path in order to give her more time for the things that are important to her and to bring financial peace to her family.

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Pivoting After the Pandemic with Danielle McDurfee

I'm so excited to welcome Danielle McDurfee to the podcast. We've been talking about getting you on here, girl, for a while. Danielle is a mom. She's got three kiddos that live in a small town in the USA. She helps support OOLA coaches and brings in new coaches into the network.

She's also a brand ambassador and a diamond leader in Oola Global, a digital framework, life and coaching platform. But that's not what Danielle was doing when I first met her. Funny story is I was new to the Atlanta area. It’s the worst when you have to find a new hairstylist.  You move to a new place. My husband still flies back to Chicago to get his haircut, which is why he was going back to his hockey days with long hair. I'm like, babe, you have got to find an excuse to have work fly you to Chicago because you need a haircut,  really bad. But he goes with this person. 

So I found someone new. I went to them and you were the chair behind doing someone else's hair and struck up a conversation because at the time we were involved in young living to some capacity here and just started connecting in that way and just continued the relationship. And then years later here we are, you're doing something totally different. We just had your brother, Dave, on the podcast. Dave Braun, who is one of the founders of OOLA coaching. So we just had him on the podcast. And I really wanted to bring you on Danielle to talk about that transition story. You were a hairstylist and maybe even have more before that, I'm not sure where you're going to start your story, but  leaving that industry. And now you're helping coaches and involved in life coaching. So I just wanted to bring you on and talk about that journey of that transition, what it was like, you know, were there ups and downs and uncertainties. And just to give a lot of people that I think are in that same space, maybe you're not a hairstylist, but maybe you're doing something and maybe you're not fulfilled. And we'll talk about what was it that got you out of it, but just give people a perspective that they're not alone in this.

Like so many other people, I was a nurse before. I didn't go to school to do business. I've told my story a lot, but I just really wanted to hear someone else's story. So I'm excited to have you on! Thank you so much for coming and sharing and being open with us and getting vulnerable. 

I've owned businesses and owned salons. I've been in the industry of hairdressing for 19 years. I truly loved doing hair. There is nothing that I didn't love more than making people feel truly beautiful inside and out. I loved making connections with people. I wasn't even doing your hair, but I loved the business of connecting and making people feel heard and seen. So I guess that's kind of a little bit of that coaching space already. We always say as a hairdresser boy, you put anyone in front of a mirror, they're going to start talking. It kind of is a coaching thing. So I think just naturally, and then obviously Oola is my brother's company. So we'll kind of move into that. But this thing came out of nowhere called COVID. Maybe you guys have heard of it.

 I just never thought anything was going to take out my industry. But that's not why I quit hair. Because eventually Georgia did open back up very quickly and I did go back to doing hair, but that was kind of the, the first step of like, whoa, I never realized that my job could have been in jeopardy at some point. Like I literally was thinking, everyone needs to get their hair cut. It's never going to go anywhere. This is recession proof. So that was kind of the start of it. But at the time I had three little kids, super busy. I was working 12 hours a day. I mean, I'm sure if you, every time you came in there, I was there. I just want to work a lot. Cause I was the breadwinner of the family. And so when COVID happened, I mean, I went back to work two days,even after my baby boy was born. That's how much I had to work to provide for my family. And so I think when COVID happened, it was kind of a little bit of a wake-up call where I was thinking, okay, what do I do?  And I'm sure a lot of people probably on your podcast were at that season, maybe in March or April.

They had time to think about what they wanted to do with their life. Some took action, maybe some kept staying on the same kind of hamster wheel of life and they never actually got off. And so that's part of my journey. I sat down in March and I was thinking, okay, wow, this took out my industry. So it's not recession proof either. I was thinking, what do I really want for my life? Because I was never seeing my kids. I was working all the time, even though I loved my job and my career, it wasn't fulfilling me because it was actually pulling me away from things that, I mean, I didn't just become a mom to go to work all day long.

So the ability to be able to be at home and, you know, working and raising a family, I fell in love with that more. And so that will kind of go into my story, but that was really what created the shift. COVID just was a wake up call for me. COVID and the pandemic and everything shutting down was like a jolt. For everyone, no matter what, you know, if you had any kind of brick and mortar service base in person thing, they shut down movie theaters,  everything shut down. And I think that it, a lot of people realized, oh wow, my job could just be gone in an instant. And that was always the case. You could get fired, you know, from your job and be out of work. Not because the world shut down, but because maybe you couldn't find a new job. So I think it also really started bringing in this idea to people a lot more strongly that having another way to make income is great.

Having multiple streams of revenue is great. This idea of  maybe I shouldn't have all of my eggs in one basket.  And it's the people that have drive and determination and motivation that are the, like you, that are the ones that took action from it and are thinking, okay, I'm going to think about this a little bit more.

And the people that maybe don't naturally have that, that are still doing what they're doing, just kind of hoping that it doesn't happen again. But the people here listening are the people like you and I. They have, they're ambitious. They have dreams, they have desires. They know what they want. They don't maybe don't know how to get there, but they're thinking, you know what? I really want to explore this, you know, having another revenue stream, it sounds like a great idea. Let's talk a little bit more about the feelings behind  what was it like when you did, how did you make the decision and what was the transition like? I want all of the details.

So I actually, so at that time, when the pandemic happened, Ola was just launching their coaching platform. And so Dave called and I was free. I had no time. I was in so much time on my hands and he's thinking, Hey, would you like to kind of help launch this? I had no idea what it's going to look like.

And I replied, sure. So I kind of helped launch that. I got into sales, which  I've never done before, but I knew I loved Uber. I knew how to be a lawyer. You can learn anything. That's the biggest thing. If you don't know how to do anything, you can. I mean, Even though I am 19 years old, I can color anybody's hair and cut anyone's hair. I'm the queen of that. I do not know sales, but you can learn it. You can figure it out. So I learned how to do sales and then I just kind of dove in. And then at that time I was helping bring on coaches.

We were building a network of coaching. So I just kind of swift shifted careers. Shortly after that, that's when Georgia said okay, you can come back and do hair. And I said, okay, now I'm kind of doing both. Not to interrupt, but I had an appointment to get my hair done. Literally the Monday that we shut down, that means you know, I got, I got blonde. If you're watching on YouTube, I've got blonde, got highlights. So it wasn't  jet black growing out, but I needed a coloring and they literally shut down. So my old course builder, blissful business, I recorded all of it with roots, hanging out, didn't even rerecord.

I actually showed up to the hair salon, my new hair salon. And I said, why is nobody here? Didn't get the memo. You guys, okay. So fast forward, no open, back up.

I think that's so funny. Krissy. Cause I think we actually became actually really closer during that time because Krissy was texting me. She said, when do you think you're going to open up? Can you do my hair?  But so now I'm back to doing the sales for the coaching and I'm kinda doing some hair at the salon and I'm doing hair.  I had a little salon in my house. It was just chaos. It was complete chaos. You're going to go through chaos. If you're feeling, you're trying to build a business right now, and you're still doing your nine to five or whatever that is, there might be some chaos. That's all I got to say to get to the other side.

It's just the reality. But at the end of the day, to build another business or to have multiple streams of income, you have to do it part-time. You can't just do it in your spare time. You have to realize, okay, I'm going to do five hours a week. You have to get that into your schedule for five hours a week or whatever that looks like, or else your business isn't going to grow. That's the end game. If you're not working your business, your business isn't going to work for you. So I was working both businesses. It was a grind. I can't even explain to you how many hours I was working at that time. And I'm not trying to tell people to hustle because I do feel like now I'm in a space where it's comfortable, but I do feel like in a transition space, if you want it really, really, really like you want it tomorrow. You need to hustle a little bit at that time frame.  I'm sure Krissy, when you were building your businesses, you weren't just like five hours here and there, it was, There was definitely nine. It was like midnight.

Everyone's a bed in a, I'm creating content for this course or getting ready for the launch. And Dave and I talked about that on the episode as well, having seasons. And how long is it to the point where it's too long? He was kind of like, if it's going on for three years, like now it's a habit.

And I was kind of like three years, like what will I be doing? Like these grinds and hustle chaos for three years. But like, can you do it for three months? Can you do it for six months? Can you do it for nine months? You know, what does that look like? And what is realistic for you and what you can handle.

Let's be honest if you need it, if you're in a pickle and you needed it yesterday, you're going to have to put in extra work. I'm enjoying what I'm doing. I can just build this over time. Five hours. Don't stress about it, put the effort in the action and it will be a slow growth.

And that's okay too. Whichever way everyone's scenario and story is different for you. You know, it was a bit of a hustle in the grind. You've got a great girl.  And so it was around August. You think a pandemic kind of happened around March. We kind of went back to work around mid April and then the summertime,

I was just grinding it out and trying to build a successful sales, coaching business, mentoring these coaches at the same time, I'm still doing hair to provide financially for the family. So I was going back to the salon. 

I came upstairs to my bedroom, stopped by my daughter's bedroom. And there's tally marks on her door. I was thinking, that is super weird. We had these black doors, there were chalk tally marks. She was five at the time. And I thought, that's weird, kinda  left, went back to work the next day, just kind of this routine. I was in this grind motion of like, not even really knowing what's going on at home and just trying to build these businesses and take care of my family. And four days later, I said Hey honey, what are the tally marks for on your door? Maybe she's trying to write the word high. I had no idea. There's an explanation. And she said to me they’re for all the nights that you're not  putting me into bed at night. And as a mom, I was like done. That was probably worse than a COVID wake up call. 

So I had a conversation with my husband and I said, I really feel like I just need to go all in on this OOLA thing and not maybe do that. I kind of flipped the script. Let's do hair part-time and let's go full time. So I think I was in that season at that time, which maybe you guys are really close to, but you still have this fear behind you. Am I ready to flip it to where my part-time job or my, my dream job or my dream career, my dream, you know, there's going to be a time where you probably haven't hit your goal in life, a goal financially or a goal, whatever that looks like.

But you're so close where you're just going to have to flip it and go all in on that. And that's kinda where I was. That was my wake up call. It was like, okay, I know what I want. I come from a background where I know how to build businesses. I know what to do.

I know the people to reach out to, to help me. So I think if you're in that space where you kinda, you know, you're going to be successful on the other side, because you've done it already versus, I've never done this. I need to first get my feet wet in it. I wouldn't say quit everything and just go build a coaching business or quit everything and just go all in on you because that's not good either that could add stress.

So at that time we decided that the economy was doing good with housing. We decided to sell everything. I went all in with coaching, went all in on sales and we traveled the U S for a year. I was just thinking enough's enough. I've gotten it into the point where I can flip it. If I put more time into this. And I know all of you guys on here that are listening, if you're there, you're probably just  still waiting for the next month and waiting for the next month. I'm waiting for the next one because you haven't decided to go all in on you and all in on what you really want to do.

But you're so close. And I promise you, you see it all the time. As soon as you go, okay, this is what I'm going to do. And I'm already so close. I just need to flip it. You're going to see your business just taking off from there. And so that's what I did. I love that you have the common, it's your life. I mean, I know how to build this business. I know what to do,  going from GROworkspace to launching the Krissy Chin run you guys. There was still a lot of fear in me. I've been really successful, built a successful business. Can I do this again? I feel like I didn't have quite the same as you're like, I know business, I know how to do this. I know what I'm doing. I know the people to ask, whereas, you know, maybe some of you listening, aren't there and you're thinking, Ooh, even if you've done something and you've been successful, can I do it? Can I do it again? And that's okay to have that thought and that feeling, but we can't live in that space because like you said, Danielle, you're just going to sit there, waiting for the next month and waiting for the next month and not really getting to that root of, and this is where that the coaching comes in.  And the life coaching life coaching is amazing because I'm sure it'll help you get to, why are you feeling that way?

What is it really like? You probably experienced something in your life in the past that is causing some fear, even if it's subconscious. And so I love that maybe you didn't have that, like your past experiences gave you some of the confidence or maybe you did. Well, I think that, like, you're always going to have a little bit of that.

I mean, even today, I'm thinking, how am I going to build this? You know, you're, you're going to write, but then there's this whole, you have to just ready, set, go. You have to put your head down. If you really like yours, why has to be stronger? And I honestly think at that point, when I saw the tire marks on the door, I don't care what it's going to take. And so sometimes, maybe your time mark is different than an actual tally mark on my daughter's door. Like those are physical things I saw, but maybe they have a time mark,  I don't want to deal with them.

I talked to Krissy about this the other day, where we were both in Atlanta at the time. I don't want to deal with Atlanta traffic. You know, mate, I don't know what it is. Maybe it's like you becoming a mom, you know, maybe it's that your marriage is kind of starting to fall apart. Maybe you really need that extra income.

Like there has to be some kind of like, I mean, that's what causes people to hit. That's what causes people to go all in on you because there's some pinpoint and you know, that's where it's like, you have to remove all the self sabotage and laziness, like whatever that looks like. You have to find why you have to focus on that.

And I just recommend that people don't wait for the time mark. Like, that's the other thing, don't wait for that sign. Like before you have to go all in on you and you can do it while you're still, you know, doing a nine to five or whatever that looks like, but there will be a time in your business where you'll be like, okay, I'm ready. And that's the most freeing feeling ever to get there. So I love that. I also love that. It wasn't in, I love that your story is different from a lot of people that I talk to because they're like, oh, I use my, and this is what I teach. Like in my, one of my freebies, you, don't your knowledge and your skills and, you know, follow it and let it evolve into something else. Like you don't have a business now where you're teaching hairstylists something and like having this online business, like you're doing something different, but it was because the doors opened, this opportunity came to you through your life situation and scenario and you leaned into it.

And then you leverage your skills that you had, that you developed and loved about hairstylist, hairstyling, and being in that space of talking, connecting coaching, and have applied it into this new opportunity in this new avenue. So I think it's just like my, I want to remind people out there listening that you might not know exactly what it is you're going to be doing, but if, you know, you just have the desire, like let the opportunities that come into you, like don't just push them away. Be brave to explore them a bit because that's where you are. So maybe you're like, yeah, I really want to do this entrepreneurial thing, but I don't know what the heck I'm doing. OOLA came into your life.

So maybe listening to this podcast like Oola is coming into your life as a listener. Maybe this is something that you want to explore to be a coach to someone else. So let's kind of veer into that. And you can tell us just a little bit about, you know, someone out there, people that are listening, obviously want another revenue stream they're interested in and being an entrepreneur, they want a home-based business. They want more freedom and flexibility and all of that. So how can Oola fit into their life to provide some of those things? Well, that's why I think that's so fun that that was my journey to where I'm getting there. And then this, even this conversation about like, what you're saying is because that's what I love when I do.

So I do sales coaching because that will be a coaching thing. So when you come on a call, I'm going to sell you the coaching package. That's what I do. But at the end of the day, sales is not, that's not what it is. It's really connecting the dots for someone's business. And a lot of times we say no to people because it's just not the right time for them.

But what I love so much about the wheel of life coaching business is once you're certified, they have all the tools for you to grow a business in the coaching space. So if you have this desire that you want to do more in life, or you want to just like, maybe create another revenue stream or help coach your team or whatever that looks like, it's so nice to have a plug and play framework. So nice to have a plugin, flame like workshops, social media content. I mean, Krissy, you know, you've seen all this stuff for UWA. It's just an amazing platform to actually help kind of like if you're just feeling like you need just, just another thing to kind of add, like maybe, I don't know, every single time someone comes on and they have all these ideas, it takes time to build all those ideas. It's not easy to build a course. It's not easy to build a social media. I mean, I know Krissy, you do an amazing job at teaching people how to do that. This is a great way to give the confidence to people that they can do it before they, and then once they're confident in doing it, they're coaching, whatever that looks like, then that's when you kind of can kind of bring in your own special sauce and whatever that looks like. So it's just a great program, our coaching platform, if you're like, I just want to do something different. I feel like I have a desire to help people.

It's a great way to kind of get into that space. You know, it's just verse trying to like be in the, it's just a lot. It's, it's a busy world. Sometimes that's really hard to like, figure out what your niche market is going to be. Well, what course, what your course is going to look like. And so if you don't have the time to do that, or you feel like you just, you're not even like, where do I even start? That's where I just like, love Luz because it works. I mean, people have had huge success. So if you start coaching and now you're having success with people, it gives you the confidence to actually go, okay, I could build a course on this financial peace or I can build a course on, you know, single moms or whatever. So I think that's where I just, I feel like it fits in so well for people to have a transition from their day job to like kind of a dream job.  And we've had people that come in through digital duplication academies that are doing Oola and they're doing other things. So I love that you can really pair this coaching with, with your other passions. You know, you guys know, I love multi-passionate people and, and helping them. So I love that. I love, you know, just to kind of recap before we wrap it up, I love that, you know, you've kind of given some people permission to just like, let it be messy and like share the truth that like, it might be messy in the transition, but to just kind of be open to what's out there, don't wait for the tallies on the door.  Don't wait for that moment where it's like, oh, okay, I have to do this. Don't wait for a pandemic. If you want something more, if you want another revenue stream, cause you, you know, whatever it is, like, just start and know. Like here, let's just, let's just talk about this really quick. Like if everybody on the, everyone that's listening right here, right at the pandemic, if you would have started, which I know a lot of your you're, you're a stew, but if you haven't, if you would've started like maybe three or four or one even additional side of income, I promise you, we wouldn't be stressed about gas prices and grocery PR. I mean, everything's changing, there's this change. So it's like, you have to make that change today because you have no idea what it's gonna look like in a year or two years from now.

I mean, that's just the reality.  And if you felt like, man, I really should have started. I missed the boat and should have started at 20. It's not too late. It's not too late. Today's the perfect day to go all in to do that flip and go part-time with what you've been full time and do more full time of what you've been doing.

Your business that you want to be doing today is the day to like, say, to say yes to invest in yourself. I love that. You talked about like, you know, investing in yourself and like giving yourself. I don't know exactly what you said. I'm gonna have to go back and listen. But like you didn't say trusting.

Do you remember what you said? so just something about like, you know, investing in yourself. Oh gosh. Why can't I remember anyway, it was good. We'll go back and listen. You guys that are listening, probably remember, but just giving yourself permission to take action. Actually take the action, let it be a little messy and use it.

You made a comment. Like I knew how to do business. I knew who to reach out to and to help me, even if you don't know who to reach out to, besides you can reach out to me and Danielle, just the fact like just take that nugget, that entrepreneurship and building a business doesn't happen alone in a vacuum. So like hello, light bulb moment. We can leverage other people and use other people to help us get the knowledge or the skills or the framework, whatever it is that we need to be successful. So don't live in a vacuum. Don't build your business in a vacuum, reach out to me and Danielle so that you can figure out what it is. Maybe it's that next step.

So awesome. This has been amazing. Thank you so much, Danielle, for sharing your story with us. I know so many other people, you know, have similar parts. Maybe they lost their job, or maybe, you know, they're just still trying to figure things out from the aftermath. So I love that you shared that. I love that you have an opportunity for people.

If they're still trying to figure it out. So 100% put, you can share your social handle and where people can find you to continue to connect with you. Maybe they're interested in what this Oola coaching is and becoming a coach. And we'll put your information in the show notes. But if you want to share right now how they can connect with you and learn more, let's say, It's just my name, Danielle McDurfee. My last name is M C D U R F E E. Follow me on social media. Send me a DM. I'm always around just to kind of help you guys exactly the same thing like that. It's all about business growing as literally like who, you know, having a network of people, loving on people, taking care of people and in return, like, look at this, we're on a podcast on Krissy Chin podcast right now. Like that's really what it is all about is just caring about each other, like being kind and caring about each other. That is literally the business. Everything else, you can learn everything else about business. You can learn.

So find mentors. That's what I would do. We're here and we're here for you. You guys, if you need someone, so you're not alone, you're not alone. Awesome. Thank you. Danielle has been so fun and I know that we'll chat soon, but I hope you guys connect with Danielle and get to know her a lot more as well. 

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