Joanna Zhang: How Intention, Energy, and Self-Awareness Transformed Her Business Performance

Hi, I'm Debbie Longo, Transformational Coach,

and welcome to the Behavioral Profit Show. This

show is about one thing, why businesses don't

perform the way they should. Most leaders think

they have a strategy problem, but they don't.

It's behavioral. It's how decisions are made.

and how pressure is handled, and how people operate

inside the business day to day. On this show,

we break down what's really driving missing targets,

stalled growth and poor execution, and what shifts

when behavior changes. Because when behavior

changes, performance improves, and that's where

profit comes from. We have a very special guest

today, Joanna Zhang, and we're going to take

a closer look at what's really going on inside

her business, what's working and what's not,

and where behavior may be impacting in performance.

Let's get into it. Good afternoon, Joanne, and

welcome to the show. Hello, Debbie. Good to be

here. Grateful to spend this time together. Thank

you for being here. I appreciate it. So I am

going to ask you today to talk about a experience

or change. that was in your business or something

that you experienced in a business, a situation

or scenario where there was an issue or a problem

or something that it went through a change and

what was the process and the end result to that

should always be positive. Now, believe it or

not, these situations and issues that a lot of

business owners are facing today are very, very

common. So when we talk about whatever it is

that we're going to talk about, there most likely

will be at least one or two listeners that will

have the same exact situation. And we want to

focus on how did this person Get through this

issue or a problem right or whatever is going

on in their business How did they get through

it and how did they come out the other side?

Because anything that's negative and anything

that happens in my business does not have to

continue to happen. It can always be positive.

It can always turn into a positive. And ultimately,

the ultimate goal is to increase sales and profits.

And we're doing that by getting rid of negativity.

And in that process, we're changing behavior.

So if you could do that for me, thank you. I

would appreciate it. I think relating to the

topic of this podcast, I believe there are many,

many behavioral behavioral area affecting our

business outcome. But I think I wanted to maybe

start with one of the most blockages I had in

my business. So I had an assistance about eight

years ago. When I started it, I was a professional

as a financial planner. I needed a lot of help

from my own business on the back office operations

side. But because I'm not DIY style, I need help

to work with the VAs. By the time I had a lot

of challenges, hurdles working with different

people, but there's about a communication and

team delegation and leadership, everything around

that. But my focus is not about that. I just

give a brief description about my business. Then

I gradually create a model that everyone can

specialize in their genius zone, and then I can

customize the team to support my business within

my budget to start with and to start to share

with other business. So the challenge is that

now, because I need to actually really put my

business out there to let people know such thing

exists. So during the past years, I was trying

really, really hard and trying different marketing

messages, like strategies, different sales techniques.

I learned so many things from different coaches

about different strategies, but I always felt

like there was some blockage there. Something

couldn't break through. Like I did a lot, but

the outcome wasn't really quite like what I thought.

So I didn't know what happened there. But four

years ago, I had a soul awakening. So From that

event, I actually went through a three days event,

I get to know my soul mission, soul power, soul

whippers, soul power. And then even after that,

I started to feel like I'm starting to aware

things around me, started to be aware of my behavior,

what's actually affecting my business. But that

blockage was still there. So when I have a consultation

with my spiritual mentor, she actually asked

me one major question. She said, Joanna, why

did you start your business? From a very superficial

level, first answer, very good Mrs. Model. I

know that is a model that can be really running

well, profitable, and actually usually benefits.

And then she asked again, think again, why did

you start it? And I thought deeper, I thought,

hmm. I can certainly help a lot of people because

they certainly helped me, I believe so. So I

started from a logical went to emotional layer,

but she said, think again, why did you start

it exactly? At that time, I totally really ran

out of answer because I don't have any answer

in my brain, my emotion anymore. And this one

word just split out of my mouth and put me into

tears. I still remember now because that was

so amazing because I didn't even know what happened.

And I just said, I did my business because of

unconditional love, and then my tear was just

dropped. I was so surprised, but she said, there

you go, your soul knows the answer. Since then,

I realized one thing, the biggest part is if

we talk about a behavior, a lot of behaviors

will become... or, you know, came from our intention.

Because I used to running my business on a transactional

base. Because when I actually doing it, I'm looking

at a machine, I'm looking at the numbers, I'm

looking at the people, I'm looking at the business

as a pipeline, as a dollar sign. I need to make

a deal. Like I look at even client like this.

Trust me, I was like, oh, this is how much, how

much, how much this deal, how much is it? I'm

looking at them as a dollar sign. Seriously,

but my soul knows the answer. I wasn't initially

came from there, but my brain, my ego was taking

me that way. So there was a huge disarrayment

creating this huge blockage in my business. So

since then, after I understand, okay, so my soul

initially, originally intention was from love,

but my behavior is transactional. So I readjust

my intention really started to keep. every single

soul as a soul, right? Looking after their problem

and literally as my own problem, find the solutions

and totally let go of the expectation whether

we can do business or not. Well, things, the

magic just happened because when I literally

wholeheartedly want to care and give with that

intention, my behavior naturally changed because

my intention changed, my expectation changed,

everything. So business just naturally came.

So that's one of the stories I really want to

share with everyone. A lot of times, probably

something in our business, looking at it as a

surface, things like logical or even emotional.

But a lot of times, if we talk about body, mind,

soul, you will always talk about body, mind,

soul. My spiritual mental reminded me a lot of

times, if we want to really look at the deep.

down to the main reason we need to prioritize

the soul first. A lot of times it's a soul layer

talent. Once we sort out that layer, then we

adapt it to our emotion, to feel it, and then

we embody it, change the behavior to manifest

it. So because the priority is totally the other

way around, so we can really find the roots.

face it, solve it, and make decision and make

a true decision because a lot of times the behavior

is coming from our decision. If we don't make

decision and also plus the courage to make the

real change, then we do it. Behavior is the action

part. So if we really think about it root deep,

and then that was my experience, my business

just transformed totally. I didn't even need

to do a lot of effort. It's just that single

decision changed my intention. And that is excellent,

excellent, excellent. And you want to know a

very good one sentence to sum up everything that

you just said where you just described it very

well. goes around, comes around. So as soon the

first thing I want to do is change my thinking,

my mindset, and everything is perception. So

once that happens and that's a process and that

could there's a hundred different examples of

this. And once I do that, everything changes

and money will just start pouring in and my business

will be totally awesome. And then all of the

other business owners in my industry and everything,

they're going to be like, what happened? How,

how come you're doing so good? Your employees

are excellent and all these different things.

And I'm going to be laughing because I know what

the answer is. I know why that happens and they

don't. And because in America and how common

is this? extremely because in America, what do

we care about? Money, greed and power. So the

first thing is money, money, money. No, that's

not how a business is supposed to operate. That's

the last thing, actually. There's a whole number

of things, there's a whole line of things that

I need to do before I get to the point where

I'm making sales and profits. That's the last

thing that should happen. And a lot of business

owners think that's the first thing they should

focus on. And then there's control, ego, all

these different things. I mean, I could go on

and on with this, but... once my behavior changes

and my mindset is different to match the business

that I'm in, to match the industry and to conform

to it. and to be one with it and even understand

what my industry is and how I should deal with

the employees, how I should hire good employees

and train them. Once I can learn this and learn

how to be positive all the time, that's when

the sales and profits will start to skyrocket.

And it sounds like that's exactly your story.

And that's 100%. This is stuff that's not foreign

to me. This is the stuff I teach all the time.

And this is a perfect, perfect example. So I

thank you for that. So my question is that now

you feel you started doing this, you noticed

the behavior change, what your spiritual mentor

told you and all this stuff. So now what happened

between then and now? And what is that change

like? And what happens? How did you feel and

what was your thinking? When you really made

that change and you really realized that it's

because of what I did is how my business is running

now, how everything has changed. How did you

feel then? I just feel amazing every day because

I started to stop fighting against because I

used to use my masculine energy to run the business.

I was very forceful, very action -taker -y. But

a lot of time I was... Lacking the patience and

the true patience. Patience is not about just

waiting doing nothing. Patience is about really

like try our best, but waiting for the divine

timing. So just gain that space to let things

naturally end for. So I'm just in my business.

Once I realized the root cause, I changed my

intention. Every single moment I'm aware about

my intention. So make sure it's coming from love

and care. And during my actions, I constantly

start to be aware of my energy management as

well. So if I feel like I was too forceful and

too driven, I need to really slow down. And if

I'm really tired, I allow myself to rest. And

I find that one thing that we always talk about

time management, but I find that energy management

is even more important than time management.

Because when I'm actually in the higher energy

vibrations, I can just do things like that, super

efficient, because I'm in the creation mode.

Like if creation just coming like that, we download

ideas, inspiration just coming like that. But

if I'm drained or tired or no brain space or

anything to do anything, I'd rather just have

a rest. I used to push myself to do, do, do,

do, do. But at the end of the day, the outcome

is really, that's why I used to be very busy,

but I didn't feel effective. But now I'm not

busy. I'm super efficient in a way, but because

I'm looking after myself, I started to really

be aware of my own emotions, my own patterns,

and then to really manage my own. So that's a

balance in the energy part. By doing that, because

what I'm mentioning about it is why we actually

started to look after our own well -being, our

own energy, balancing out. He's actually creating

the ripple effect for the people around us. I

noticed Every relationship around me has a strategy

change, with my family, with my kids, with my

team members, with my peers, with my community

members, everyone, you know, because again, another

sentence I wanted to emphasize here, because

my spiritual mentor keeps reminding us is that

if we don't have something, we can't give it

out. So I use the lacking of all those patience,

support, compassion, understanding. forgiveness

for myself. As I was dragging myself down a lot

of times, imagine this, if we're running a business,

regardless how much money we have, because I

come across so many people earn good money and

have a good social status, but a lot of them

are happy. So at that time I made a decision

for myself is that I wanted to be happy, then

everything else was started to come. Same as

a business, from my intentions, from love and

care, everything else started to evolve like

wealth. Wealth is energy too. Yeah, so when I

started to look after myself, everything else

around me started to change. I think this whole

thing is about starting to be more aware of our

intention and the behavior along with it. And

then really, it's our decision as well, whether

we want to make some change or not. And I think

what we'll talk about here is that if we do actually

realize something we wanted to change, and that's

a certain layer we can actually go through. to

tap into to find a reason, the life lesson behind

it, and to really learn those lessons, then everything

else will be evolved. Business is like a playground

for me. I feel like it's a dramatic ground for

us to practice all the skills we've learned from

spiritual wrong, then manifest in the real world.

That's how I look at it, yes. You should be one

of my sales people because everything that you

said is exactly the way that I teach it and I

explain it and everything. Because what happens

is that, again, it's perception. Once I change

my behavior, now intention is a very interesting

thing. And I could talk about intention for a

very long time, but really it's just getting

rid of negativity. So what's my intention for

my business? What's my intention for my home,

for my life, for my children? And when I ask

myself those questions, is it negative or is

it positive? So anything goes back to getting

rid of that negativity and becoming positive.

This works both ways, because when I am at work,

and I'm changing my behavior, just like we had

this whole conversation about, I now take that

because my mindset is different now. It's about

me and my mind. That's what it's about. I'm focusing

on myself. Who is the problem? Who is the person

that needs to change? Is it the business owner

or the or the employees? Well, I'm pretty sure

it's a business owner because they're the ones

that focus on the that influence the employees.

It's not the other way around. And then when

I do that, when I give a positive feedback or

outcome or whatever to the employees, then they're

going to give me that back. And then what's going

to happen? Then I'm going to go home. and I'm

gonna deal with my kids, and my kids are gonna

be fighting, and they're gonna be pulling each

other's hair, and they're gonna pull all their

shoes off, and start throwing the shoes at each

other, and everything will be perfectly fine.

Whereas... If it was the day before and my mindset

was not different and it was very negative and

I go home, that same situation I would have been

freaking out. But because I maintained the positive

attitude at work that whole entire day, that

little argument that my two kids had was perfectly

fine with me. It was no big deal. I told them

to stop and they stopped. And that's the difference

that we're trying to see here. That's a transformation

that we want to make because it's not my employees

are not good. They're all quitting on me. There's

a recession. My business is not good. I'm losing

sales and profits. That's not what it is. It's

the business owner. and the executives and their

behavior and how are they influencing their employees

and their business? What goes around comes around.

And you just said it exactly that. Like you're

my clone because I mean, this is just it's amazing.

This is like a total meant to be podcast. It's

awesome. How do you feel till now? From then

until now, how do you feel right this second

right now? And based on everything that we've

said in this podcast and just the. to a minute

closing or whatever, and then we're going to

close. Thank you, Debbie. I think you did mention

about negative energies, and I used to fight

against negative energies. I used to be really

positive, but I became a pattern of becoming

positive depression. I did myself over. The thing

is that my symptom is I'm very positive outside,

but at the back end at home, I was seeing my

own. a scar. I'm crying and sad. And I realized

since I started my solo awakening journey and

I started to really facing all my scars, I started

my healing journey too. Because I realized a

lot of times the negativity is coming from, if

I might force myself not to facing those negativity

coming from myself, escape enough from it, I

can never really resolve the true root issues.

So now if there's something negativity coming

up, I will try to look at what is behind this

negativity feeling. Sometimes can be other people's

emotions because we are filters. But once I actually

scope out other claims, other people's energies,

if I still feel certain thing in my energy or

emotional. field then that means there's something

I need to be aware of because there is an existing

scar I need to heal it. I need to really look

into what exactly make that happen. There might

be a lot of things to relate to it but what I

feel is here is that we don't have to treat inactivity

as enemy and I used to treat it as enemy, but

I started to embrace it. Same as unknown and

challenges because a lot of burnout and frustration,

overwhelm can come from anxiety or depression.

You'll either worry about the future or worry

about, you know, I made the same mistake like

before. So if we go back to the now moment and

really just focus on right now and really work

on I used to have a victim mindset too. If whatever

has happened to me, I feel like I blame others.

You know, like what you say, if I come back to

myself and not feeling as a victim about the

healing, accept myself too, accept and forgive

myself whatever has happened and just learn from

it and try my best to try out again. And then

the things just will change as well because for

the unknown, I used to hate challenges. I don't

like challenges in the business, you know, like

I scope out of them. And there was my spiritual

mentor had a session with me. She just was mentioned

one sentence I want to share with everyone. She

said a true essence of self -love is to experience

self -value. Oh, it's not proof. No, you don't

need to prove. We already are already uniquely

different. Every single soul is uniquely different.

I don't really think it's a cologne because I

think it's aligned. We are uniquely different.

Cologne is all the same, but we are different.

We're unique, different, but we are aligned,

energy. That's why we feel like we're talking

the same languages. So if any one of the audience,

you feel aligned, that means we on this journey

now become more self -aware, more self -love,

more self -acceptance. And when everything around

us change, things around us will change. So I

think as a final is probably go back to self

-love again as a route to really look at ourselves

as a soul look after ourselves and because a

lot of business owners are givers too like look

after this look after that people pleasing i

used to be like that but now when i actually

focus on myself to learn every single aspect

of myself accept all aspect myself forgive myself

and support myself and true compassion then Wow,

those love is unlimited, endless. I don't even

need to recharge anymore because I can feel the

unconditional love from source. I give those

love to myself. I'm still on the journey though.

Those love and energy, we don't even need to

talk about a negative anymore. Whatever it is,

then it's naturally flow out, create a ripple

effect, yes. Yeah, so that's good. You focus

on... the other thing, and then I focus on getting

rid of the negativity first. And then everything

that you're saying is the process, how I do it,

the intention, the self -love, all these different

things are all part of the process. Because when

I get rid of these things, the negativity just

goes away. And then when that happens, then I'm

feeding everybody positivity and love. And then...

because I am in self love. I have to get rid

of all negativity in order for me to be in self

love truly and in order for me to care about

other people before I care about myself, money,

greed and power. And then other people will care

about me and then my business will go good. So

this was very, very, very excellent to say the

least. We're definitely not clones, believe it

or not. I was I was just kidding. But we are

our own individual people. But the alignment

that you were talking about, too, that's another

thing, too, is good because spiritually it's

this is another thing, too, that I incorporate

in. Maybe sometimes it depends. But spiritually,

that's the ultimate thing. If we're spiritually,

spiritually aligned. But that is to me. That

was your path. And that's fine. But to me, that's

more advanced than just the basic process that

I'm talking about here. So you went like all

the way, which was really, really, really amazing.

And I thank you for that. Before we wrap up.

I want to leave you with this. That's what behavioral

profit is all about. Understanding what's really

driving performance inside a business. If something

isn't working, it's easy to assume it's strategy,

the market, or external factors. But more often

than not, it's how the business is operating

day to day. Once that shifts, everything else

follows. If your business isn't performing the

way it should, there's a reason. And it's not

random. If you want to identify what's driving

your results and fix it, connect with me directly.

Thank you for listening. I'll see you on the

next episode and thank you for Joanna for being

on the show. I really appreciate it. Thanks everyone.

Thank you.