Unleashing Your Potential: Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

Amber Renae shares her remarkable journey from civil engineer to fashion designer to digital entrepreneur, revealing how mindset shifts and self-love became the foundation for building multiple six-figure businesses after experiencing bankruptcy and depression. Through candid conversations about imposter syndrome, personal branding, and finding your "genius zone," she provides practical techniques for transforming limiting beliefs and creating freedom through digital products.

• Painted her steel-cap boots pink while working as the only female on a construction site
• Built a global fashion label that dressed celebrities before experiencing bankruptcy and health issues
• Overcame depression and negative self-talk through a powerful two-column reframing exercise
• Believes everyone has a "genius zone" – knowledge you take for granted that others would find valuable
• Created the Minimum Bankable Product (MBP) method for testing digital products with minimal tech
• Uses personal branding techniques from her styling career to help women amplify their impact
• Emphasizes that presenting yourself confidently creates opportunities for your voice to be heard
• Recently launched a course creation agency to help time-poor experts turn knowledge into income

Connect with Amber on Instagram @theamberrenae or visit amberrenae.com for free masterclasses to help you map out your genius zone and create your first digital product.

Get ready to break free from obstacles and live life on your terms!

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Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to "Is Your Way In Your Way"
• 2:20 Meet Amber Renee: Serial Entrepreneur
• 5:55 From Engineering to Fashion Pioneer
• 11:55 Breakdown to Breakthrough: Mental Health Journey
• 18:38 Battling Imposter Syndrome as a Woman
• 25:38 Reframing Negative Thoughts: Self-Love Exercise
• 32:59 Creating Digital Products From Your Genius
• 38:47 Simplifying Online Business Creation
• 44:25 Final Thoughts and Connect with Amber

Transcript

Cassandra: 0:26

Good day out there to all my listeners and I'd like to welcome you to Is your Way In your Way podcast, and for many of you, you know that that's the title of my book. It's a self-discovery journey for women on how to restore yourselves, learn from your experiences and be your true self again, and also for my new listeners, just so you'll get a little bit of knowledge of what this podcast is about. It's for individuals. It's for you all who are, you know, in your heart of hearts. It's like your soul is just calling you to do something different.

Cassandra: 1:00

It could be, it actually could be want to become an entrepreneur, you want to leave a job. You want to get out of a relationship that's toxic. You know it's not good for you. You want to forgive somebody, you want to go back to school. There's so many things that you probably would like to do, but it's something like holding your back and you're stuck. So, therefore, we talk about topics related to what I call personal improvement, personal development and even some business development, and it will enable you to what I would call do some a little bit of introspection, do some self-reflection, and today we have a special guest on. I am so looking forward for you guys to meet her, and our topic is going to be mindset for, for Success and Overcoming Imposter Syndrome, and I'd like to welcome Amber Renae to the stage. Well, hello, amber.

Amber Renae: 1:57

Thank you so much for having me, cassandra. My way has certainly been in my way for a lot of times throughout my life, so I'm excited to share some nuggets with the audience today.

Cassandra: 2:07

Absolutely. I can't wait, because I know a bit about you and it's so exciting. I'm looking forward to learn as well, and sometimes, in our way, it's a work in progress. So I tell people sometimes I'm still in my way, you know, and then I recognize that it's time for me to pivot and get out of my way. Yeah, so what we're going to, what I'd like to do now for my listeners. I just want to read your bio, just so they can get a little bit of knowledge about who you are, and then we're going to delve into these, this deep dive conversation in regards to the mindset for success and overcoming imposter syndrome. Oh and, by the way, listeners, amber's coming all the way from Australia, so I think that's fascinating. I just love this international podcasting and how our world is set up, that we have the technology to be able to do this, so this is great. So listen, amber.

Cassandra: 3:05

Renae is a trailblazing civil engineer turned serial entrepreneur, tv star and personal branding expert who empowers women to rediscover their wow factor and build their dreams, their dream digital businesses. With a track record of creating three six-figure business and highly competitive industries, amber shares her wisdom and entrepreneurial journey with her 70,000 strong global community. That's a lot. As an Australian, she's a leading voice in e-learning. Amber educates tens of thousands of worldwide on entrepreneurship, digital marketing and personal branding. She stars in the hit US reality show Dream Life and is the author of Dream Life, the boss babe's guide to turning your Online Business Dream into Reality. I love that boss babe. She inevitably and obviously she's a woman on a mission to make and reach millions. Her passion and expertise makes her a must. A must listen for anyone ready to transform their life and business. So, my listeners, you are in the right place, because I know many of you all want to transform their life and business. So, my listeners, you are in the right place, because I know many of you all want to transform your life and you want to start your business and just a whole gamut of things.

Cassandra: 4:37

Now, one of the things interesting before I even ask Amber, amber this is I don't know whether this is a mantra, but I'm going to kind of say it is just based on what mine is and how we have similarities. Like Amber believes in the freedom to work on your own terms and define your business. I think that's interesting because mine is. I know we all have the capacity to live your best life on your terms. So she's looking at the freedom and work on your own terms and I'm looking at knowing that you, how all listeners, have the capacity to live your best life on your terms, right? So, amber, let me ask you let's talk about the backstory, and I want to talk about it before you begin your career in the civil engineering piece. Tell us what was going on with Amber back in those days.

Amber Renae: 5:38

Well, I started engineering straight out of high school. So I guess I went through high school. We were raised in a very lower economic area. I had three brothers. My dad was an engineer. My older brother was an engineer. I was good at maths. That's sort of where the extent of that story got to. So I went and studied engineering, despite knowing that I always wanted to have a fashion label, but that wasn't allowed in my family. I had to go and get the good degree and the good piece of paper and the good, you know reliable job. So that's what I set off to do. So I ended up working on one of the biggest construction sites here in Australia and I painted my steel cap boots pink and my nickname on site was Pinky.

Cassandra: 6:19

Oh, wow, because your boots. You painted them pink On the work site. Isn't that interesting. You know you also. I also noticed that you said you came from humble beginnings and when you say that you talked about that, did you have like a, a sewing machine? Did you start because fashion was your, your thing Is?

Amber Renae: 6:41

that it. So. My mom taught me to sew ever since I was a little kid. I can always remember that I always knew how to sew, and even at high school I used to make shirts for my friends and sell them for like five dollars to all my friends. So we all had matching shirts that I had made. So I guess, I was a bit of a hustler even way back then.

Cassandra: 7:02

Yeah, entrepreneur, but for sure, right. So, like you indicated, your dream, so to speak, was always in fashion, right. So you pivoted from. You knew that it was something about what you were currently doing wasn't working for you, yeah. So tell us about that pivot, what happened?

Amber Renae: 7:26

from the engineering to the fashion. Yeah.

Cassandra: 7:29

Because that's when you left engineering right and then when you left that you went right into fashion. Is that correct, correct, yes, so.

Amber Renae: 7:36

I quit my engineering job. I had no interest to do anything else. I didn't know what else there was for me. All I knew was that I was very passionate about sewing and designing clothes and making my own clothes. Whenever I was out on the street, people would always stop me and say where did you get this outfit from?

Amber Renae: 7:53

It was something that I had created, and back then it wasn't cool to be an entrepreneur and it wasn't even called entrepreneurship. It was called running a small business and people used to look down on you. So when I started that business this was 20 years ago or something people used to be like oh, can't you get a job, you're started that business. This was 20 years ago or something. People used to be like oh, can't you get a job, you're running a business, you poor thing. So that was the sentiment around running a business all those years ago, and back then I didn't know that I was creating a huge global business.

Amber Renae: 8:21

I just sat down with the intention of following my bliss, doing the thing that I was passionate about, the thing that I would do for free, and I sat down one day and made four shirts. I took them to the cool boutique and they bought four shirts. The next week I made eight shirts and they bought eight shirts. And then five years later I had 120 accounts around the world. We exported to Paris, tokyo, la and South Africa. We did runway shows all around the world and I dressed some of the biggest celebrities of the time, which back in the day was Paris Hilton, and this was kind of before social media. So we were doing influencer marketing before influencer marketing was even a thing with the world's biggest influencer. So that was sort of the trajectory of that business.

Cassandra: 9:05

Wow, now how did you? You already had the gift and, as you indicated, it wasn't. You didn't call it entrepreneur, it was like small business, and it sounded like individuals, like you stated, looked down on individuals that had their own businesses. Was it the women that looked down on, or was it the men too? Or was it okay for men to have a business and not women? Or was it okay for men to have a business and not women?

Amber Renae: 9:29

I'm not sure if there was the segregation back then. All I know is that it was shamed upon because you could be out there getting a real job, a real nine to five job, and that was what was ordered as the be all and end all. So the fact that I wasn't working in a nine to five, people were like oh shame you don't have a nine to five, which seems so ironic, you know, ironic these days, because we're all trying to get away from that.

Amber Renae: 9:52

But back then that was the thing that was really rewarded.

Cassandra: 9:56

Wow, I love that. I love that Because a lot of my listeners are probably are doing those nine to five only because that's what others expected of them, and because of that, they are very uncomfortable and uneasy and unsettled because they're doing something that they really don't want to, but yet they're hesitant because they get a paycheck. And so to just stop working like you did and you just launched out. What is it about you? You think that you decided you know what, I'm going to quit this. Did you have a plan before you quit? Or how did that happen? Like, where did that bravery come from, that courage?

Amber Renae: 10:43

So it wasn't actually bravery or courage, it was the universe lovingly pushing me out of that business. My manufacturer went out of business, which caused me to go out of business. I had to file bankruptcy, and I had a nervous breakdown on the side of a highway. I was taken to the hospital and found out that I had cancer, stomach ulcers, and I had to go on anti-anxiety and antidepressant tablets. So it wasn't that I was brave enough to quit it. If I was brave, I probably would have quit it a couple of years earlier. But I was hanging on to that business for a dear life and the universe came in and gave me a big spiritual smackdown. That was the end of that business and that was the first time that I guess I really was in my own way, because if I wasn't, I would have left gracefully, I would have pivoted, I would have tried to do something else whilst I was still in good health and good spirits. Unfortunately, that's not how it ended up for me and I ended up having quite a long, depressive and very unhealthy period.

Cassandra: 11:40

Wow, what would you do to get out of that? And I know that was a journey.

Amber Renae: 11:46

Hmm, I'd love to say it was. You know, I woke up one day and I spoke to the therapist and I took an antidepressant and everything was good. But that's not how it worked. It was very much a gradual day by day experience of oh, today I was able to get up out of bed. Okay, you've done a good day. You know, you've had a good day today. You're able to get out of bed and go outside. Wow, you did better than yesterday.

Amber Renae: 12:09

So it was a very gradual climbing back and gaining my power back and really reworking what my belief system was, because at that point I had thought the universe had done me dirty because I was working very hard in that business, something that I loved, you know. I was trying really hard and it still didn't work out. So it was a really difficult mindset for me to overcome, because we were told that if you do the right thing and you're working really hard and you're doing something that you love, it should work out exactly didn't work out so it took a lot of spiritual reckoning to get my head around what that meant, and also a lot of the mindset that I had to tell myself around.

Amber Renae: 12:56

that was, you know, to speak to myself with compassion, to give myself sympathy and empathy, and to look at what I'd learned over that period and take the good outside of the bad.

Cassandra: 13:09

Yeah, and I wanted to reemphasize that because my listeners there are several of my listeners that have anxiety and depression, and some of them it's not easy, and when I say that because I've experienced it, so I can say that and I know that it won't happen overnight, because the depression didn't happen overnight. It was a conglomeration of a lot of different things Sound like you were stressed, burnout, you were sick, you had cancer, you know all of these things. So, quite frankly, when you go through those things, your mind takes you places that you really don't want to go and it's not and it's how you think plays a significant role in the things that you do or don't do. Yeah, so let's talk about.

Amber Renae: 14:16

Yeah. So let's talk about imposter syndrome. That was something you experienced, am I correct? Yeah, absolutely. I've experienced imposter syndrome many times over my career. I mean, certainly when I was the only female on a construction site, absolutely, I thought, god, what if they find out that I'm a female? You know like what if they find out that I'm a female with an engineering degree? So certainly there was imposter syndrome then.

Amber Renae: 14:32

And then, in my second iteration of my career, I was a fashion stylist, celebrity stylist and TV presenter. So again, I had a lot of imposter syndrome when I was dressing celebrities. Like who am I to dress as celebrity? And you know I'm from this poor town in australia. And who am I to be a tv presenter interviewing, you know, people on the red carpet, I'm this. You know I'm poor. You know I was raised poor, like all of these sort of stories that we tell ourselves. Yes, that um aren't familiar. What imposter syndrome is? It's an internal belief system that someone's going to find out that you're phony or a fake or that you're making it up. You know, whatever your, whatever situation that you find yourself in and your audience might be surprised to hear that it is pretty common. A lot of really big celebrities have spoken out about having imposter syndrome and a lot of very prominent, especially women in senior roles or forward facing roles they often talk about having imposter syndrome in their roles. So it is a very common belief system.

Cassandra: 15:33

Right, and it's not a bad word, right, and as data indicates that it's high-achieving women, you know, those high achievers are the ones that really experience imposter syndrome. And also, when I read that myself, I started like my mindset changed, like, oh, I must be a high achiever because I suffered with imposter syndrome. So it's all about that mindset, as, as you indicated, now you've done some really great things. Many people will be like wow, I'm a stylist, I'm on TV, I'm you know, I'm with the celebrities and you know, I'm like, oh, on the red carpet and you also design clothes. Is that correct?

Amber Renae: 16:20

That was the first business was designing the clothes. And then when that ended, after I recovered from all of the mental and physical unwellness, I then started a second business, which was a consulting business. So this is where I was trading time for money. So I was getting one job, getting paid for that one job, doing a fashion styling job, and then at the end of the week or the end of the month I had to hustle again to get the next job, which I'm sure a lot of your audience is currently in that trading time for dollars type situation. So that was my second iteration of business and again I started that with no big intention of creating a global business.

Amber Renae: 16:57

I just knew that I was so passionate about fashion styling. I knew I really wanted to have another go at the fashion industry. I wasn't ready to give up that industry. It was my love of my life and I really wanted to try something new, which is what fashion styling became. And three years after I started that I had three of the best contracts in the country. So, as you heard, I was the resident stylist at the biggest radio and TV network here in Australia. I was the fashion editor at a national glossy publication magazine, and I was the TV presenter for fashion TV, so it was really a way. What I learned through that is the power of personal branding and how I position myself to be an authority and to be seen as someone who should be landing these sort of you know big level roles but?

Cassandra: 17:47

but at what point did you discover there was more, it was more for you in life, like because that sounds like an ideal? You know, I believe many people think, wow, they're a movie star, they interacted with this and they're that, but that doesn't mean that that makes them happy, right? I mean, you can be doing all of that, it looks rosy, glamorous and wow, but it's the price to pay. So at what point did you discover that it was more to life than doing what you were doing?

Amber Renae: 18:19

Well, again, I think the universe had grander plans for me. So if it was up to me, my little ego would still be doing all of those jobs. You better believe I thought I was living my best fashionista life. You know, I was dressing up in haute couture and sitting in front rows. This was all I'd ever dreamed, more than I'd ever dreamed of. And if it was up to me I would still be doing it. But it's not the correct business model for me because it allows no freedom. I am at the mercy of absolutely everyone else. Like I never had any authority or control over my time or money. I was limited to how much I could earn. It didn't matter if I was the best in the country. That was the rate they paid stylists.

Cassandra: 18:59

That was the rate.

Amber Renae: 19:01

So there were a lot of things that were fundamentally faulty about that business model and whilst it looked incredibly luxurious and, you know, celebrity and fancy on the outside, on the inside it was really fast paced, there was never any downtime and my income was capped. So I would never have had the courage to have quit that job myself. The universe again gave me my second spiritual smackdown and I lost all of my contracts. In the space of one month, I went from being, I went, I. All of a sudden, I was unemployed and unemployable. I could not get any work. I couldn't get a bar job. I tried to go back to the construction site. They wouldn't even take me back and I had absolutely nothing left except for all the knowledge of the last 10, 15 years of my life.

Amber Renae: 19:50

So I had the knowledge of how to run a global fashion business. I had the knowledge of how to start a business from scratch and grow it exponentially, and so this was back in 2015. And my brother at the time said said you need to teach an online business, an online course, and so back. No one knew what online courses were. I used to have to explain to people you're going to study it on your phone and you'll log in on your laptop, that kind of thing, and I taught the world's first online fashion styling course, and so when I transferred my knowledge into a product that could make money over and over again.

Amber Renae: 20:27

that is when I experienced the real freedom and the real what I now think of as my dream life, and it really took me a long time to finally get there.

Cassandra: 20:38

Wow. So now you are doing like the e-learning I mean you're doing. You have a lot of programs, you have a lot of courses. You talked about the universe, you talk about the universe and many times and I and I say God, you know. So I'm not here to to to, to encourage or inspire anyone, you know, in regards to beliefs of that nature. It's just that that's what I call God, or God winged the things that happened to you and you said but the universe. And then, all of a sudden, you lost everything. It sounds like everything, yeah, and you bounce back. How long did it take you to bounce back? Or in another thing you said let me go to this you prioritize self-love as fundamental for building confidence. Did you always have self-love? When did the self-love come in?

Amber Renae: 22:00

I had thought that I had generally pretty good self-esteem, self-love, self-worth, and I still remember the moment when I realized I was completely lying to myself. I was looking at myself, my own reflection in the mirror, and I realized that not only did I not like myself, I absolutely hated everything about the reflection. And this was later in life, this was in my 30s. By then I'd done a decade of healing and therapy and trauma work and, you know, working on all of my relationships, and it was really quite a devastating moment to realize like, oh my gosh, I'm out here trying to, you know, inspire other women, yet fundamentally I don't even like my own reflection. So in order to get from that step to the point where I was then able to really love myself, I took again very small incremental rewirings of my brain and rewired all the negative programming and the negative belief system that it took for me to have that sort of really powerful hateful response to myself. So I can share one of the tools that I still use to this day, if you think you're ready.

Amber Renae: 23:08

Yeah, please. So we all have these subconscious thoughts that are going on in our brain constantly. They run the show. Often the times we're not even aware of them. They're so subtle that we don't even really pick them up. So I got to a place where, if I still my mind enough, I can listen to the negative thoughts that are going on in my brain. When that happens, I get out a pen and paper and I make a piece of paper with two columns. The left column I write down all of the negative beliefs, whatever they are, about every aspect of my life.

Amber Renae: 23:41

And then positive column. I reframe those beliefs to be positive. So let's say, the left-hand column says I don't like your body at the moment. The right-hand column would say your body is strong and healthy and is getting you through every day. So I reframe those beliefs.

Amber Renae: 23:57

Then I get out my voice memos app on my phone and I record all of the positive beliefs in a voice memo and then I put the voice memo on in low volume whenever I'm doing any menial task like cleaning, walking, pottering around the house, and that way I'm literally reprogramming the thoughts in my head with positive reframes of my own voice. And that was one of the things that I did every single day, and I just worked through every single belief that I had until I'd reframed all of them.

Cassandra: 24:27

Wow, that's powerful. Did anyone help you with that? Did you have a coach or a mentor?

Amber Renae: 24:33

or somebody. I was in therapy with my psychologist, so I would go to therapy each week and talk through any of the big things that I couldn't talk through, and it really was a spiritual journey that I was on through this. It was about a six month period where that was my main focus in life because I realized if I don't love myself, there's no point trying to grow a business because I'm not going to be successful, I'm not going to resonate with anyone, I'm not going to sell anything. You know it's the vibration is completely wrong. So I sort of like you need to work on your vibration of self love. Once you get that, then you can go out and grow your business.

Cassandra: 25:08

Yeah, that's very, very good, Because many of us have experienced. And then you know, and I remember one time I had a girlfriend and one of the things she told me is that you don't love yourself. And I was like, I do that, like what is that? That was very confusing for me and so I would go to another girlfriend I said, do you love yourself? And they would look at me like, are you crazy? You know, but and I realized I didn't, because if you it's just like somebody you love, you know your, your partner, your children you would not talk to them like you talk to yourself. You know what I mean. You wouldn't say those negative things to them because you care for them, you don't want to hurt them, but for ourselves we're like oh my God, here I go again. I'm not good enough. You know my worth myself. You know I don't look good enough. I don't have this, that, that. So I love that, how you change the narrative and how important it is.

Cassandra: 26:04

And for my listeners, think about do you love yourself? Understand, like a lot of people like I don't understand what that means. Like for me, I'm like what does that mean? But you've actually broke it down and said, these are my negative beliefs, my limiting beliefs. You know, and if you love someone, then you wouldn't talk to yourself. Talk to them like you're talking to yourself. So that exercise was powerful. Thanks so much for sharing that there is. I want to go to your signature program, but before that, you had it sounds like you had some really powerful stories that highlighted the possibility of reinvention, reinvention and achieving success. Would you mind sharing a couple of those stories with us?

Amber Renae: 26:51

I think, when I look at my life in retrospect, I have reinvented myself three major times with three different businesses. So first the fashion business, product business, then the consulting business and now the digital business. And each of those started, when I think about it, just with me having a passion for doing the thing that I wanted to do. So at no point in any of the businesses even this one did, I think that I was going to grow a global six, seven figure business.

Amber Renae: 27:21

So, for people that are listening, that are feeling a bit stuck in their life, that are not sure what their next thing is. I encourage you to have to think about the thing that you're really passionate about. So what are the YouTube clips that you listen to all the time? What's the thing that people want to come and pick your brain about? What's the thing that people say hey, can I buy you a coffee? I want to come and ask you about that.

Amber Renae: 27:41

Whatever that thing is, I encourage you to go and explore that in more depth. So maybe you're going to spend your weekends, or, once the kids go to sleep, you're going to spend your evenings, whatever time you can find in the very busy weeks that we all have. But just explore that further and see where it might lead. It may lead into a side hustle. It may eventually become your main hustle, or it might just be something that brings your life more joy and beauty and satisfaction, so that you can then get through your nine to five without feeling like you're stuck and you're suffering right mm-hmm, that's good, excellent, that's, that's, that's very good.

Cassandra: 28:20

Now let's turn over to the signature program. Amplify your Impact. Talk about that, because this is the business that you're currently doing. Now, correct?

Amber Renae: 28:34

That's right. So Amplify your Impact is one of the online courses that I sell. So the first one that I created was the fashion styling course. Amplifier Impact was the second one. So this was one that I created that really monetized my skills and abilities from my offline business as a TV presenter, fashion editor and stylist, because in that offline business I really understood the power of personal branding. I understood what it took to dress someone to make them look like a celebrity, because that's literally what I was doing. I understood how to present on camera. I understood how to get publicity, and so all of these things are relevant to every single business owner, whether you're a consultant, a freelancer, a coach, a brick and mortar. If you want to get your name out there, publicity is the cheapest and most viral way of doing it, and so long as you present yourself as a powerful personal brand, you'll be able to tap into publicity opportunities.

Amber Renae: 29:28

So that was the second course that I created, and again, I encourage all the listeners to think about what are all the skills, knowledge, life lessons, abilities that you've picked up along your way. So it may not seem like much to you, because to you it's obvious. To me it was obvious that I knew how to dress celebrities. It was obvious that I knew how to present on camera, because that's what I did for seven, eight years. When I entered this world of online business, I realized there were so many women that didn't know how to present on camera, didn't want to be seen and heard on camera, had fear on camera. So that's what led me to create Amplify your Impact so anyone who's listening have a think about, maybe jot down, all the little lessons and knowledge and life lessons that you've learned over your years that could potentially be helpful to someone else who's one or two steps behind you in the game no-transcript.

Amber Renae: 30:31

Tell us about it the power of wow is sort of the epitome of that online, that online course. So it talks about personal branding, presentation and publicity. Um, this is what I believe all women have, whether they want to use that to grow a business, or whether they want to use that to go into a boardroom and have an important meeting, whether they want to use that to talk to their boss and ask for a raise. There are so many different ways that I really believe in the power of personal branding showing up as your best self and really having the confidence to go out there and be seen and heard. So when I started this business, I realized there were so many women that I said already that really struggled with putting their hand up, having people notice them, having their voice heard in important situations. So what I really truly believe in is, if we are presenting ourselves in a way that makes us feel incredible, makes us feel confident, then we then have the confidence to go out into the world and be seen and heard, which then creates the wow factor in our own lives and really it comes down to whatever. It is that thing for you that makes you feel great.

Amber Renae: 31:38

So, for anyone listening, I have a great red lipstick on today. The red lippy really makes me feel bold and powerful. For you, it might be the special earrings that you've been saving for the special day. It might be cute lingerie that no one even has to know that you're even wearing it. But it's all those things that you know. Typically, we're taught to like save them for the rainy day or save them for the special occasion. But I really believe today is a special occasion. If you feel like you need a little pep, if you need some extra confidence boost, go and put those things on, treat yourself and then watch how you're being received in the outside world. Watch how people are responding to you. Are they listening to you, are they giving you more respect, are they giving you more attention and that's something that we have total control over, and I really encourage all women to start at least having a think about how they might be able to do this today.

Cassandra: 32:30

Right and because of your experiences you've had, you've learned how to you understand. Not only do you understand the power of the brand, but you were a stylist and you still are. You probably once a stylist, always a stylist. You kind of understand your clients, what it is that they are looking for, what it is that they want the world to see. You know, as you indicated, you're wearing the red and the red to me was always a power color. You know, and you called it the bold color. Or black is the I mean business, or you know the colors mean something and based on your experience, you figured out what they mean, like the purple and the. You know, like mine is orange, that's my brand. That's the warm. You know that, that's my brand. So, based on that, why you talked about the power of a brand, what tell us about the power of a brand?

Amber Renae: 33:33

Well, I believe that brand is what convinces people to purchase. So in today's digital age, when you think about if you're on Instagram and you're scrolling through Instagram when you see an ad, you decide whether you're going to purchase from that ad within the first three seconds. So in the first three seconds, you already know I'm going to buy from this company or I'm going to keep on scrolling.

Amber Renae: 33:54

And so what do you learn about that company within the first three seconds? Do you know anything about their message? Do you know the benefits of their product? Do you even really know their offer? Probably not. What you've made a decision on is how they presented themselves.

Cassandra: 34:09

Okay.

Amber Renae: 34:10

That is a part your visual identity is a part of your brand. Okay so in order to increase sales. You want to be presenting yourself in a way that stops people from scrolling, so you want to stop the scroll and then, once people have stopped the scroll, then you can engage them with your brand story, your storytelling and your emotion, which is then what gets people to click over and purchase. But you really create that powerful brand first in order to stop the scroll.

Cassandra: 34:39

It's kind of like I used to hear we used to say the moment of truth. It's kind of like when you first see that person, what are you getting, you know, you can kind of figure it out Like in the first. For me it was like three, three seconds. As an author by the name of Malcolm Gladwell and yeah, and he used to talk about, you would know a person, you can go into their home and know what's going on. It's just that second. I can't remember the name of the book. I've read all his books. I don't know why I can't at the moment. But so you're right, what is it about that brand that's drawing you, you know? Yeah, so that's good. Now I want you to do a couple of things. I would love for you to empower or talk to my listeners about boss bait potential.

Amber Renae: 35:40

Well, I truly believe that all of us incredible women have some sort of knowledge that we can turn into either a digital product, an audio book, a coaching program, some sort of online digital product that we own that the government can't close down, some sort of online digital product that we own that the government can't close down during some sort of outbreak that you know is completely independent of our employer, you know our boss or anything like that Something that we own and something that helps other people who are a couple of steps behind us.

Amber Renae: 36:10

So there's this concept of genius zone. So a genius zone is the knowledge that we all have that we think is just normal, but for everyone else it's genius because they don't know all the things that we know. So I truly believe that everyone, as I was saying before, has these little nuggets that they picked up along the way that they can then turn into something that they have autonomy over and again, whether that ends up being a huge business or whether that's just something that earns you, as a woman, a little bit of money that you get to keep for yourself and spend it however you like.

Cassandra: 36:43

Right, okay, all right, how important is execution? You know, it's like like we have these ideas, like you obviously have. You've done a lot and you dealt with imposter syndrome and then you, at one time you questioned whether I don't know whether you were worthy, but will I be successful? Or all of this. But yet you I always tell my listeners and even my clients, you have to take action. You got to do something. You know you don't have to be perfect, nobody's perfect but just do something. When I look at your courses, I'm like, wow, you have a lot of courses you have. I was just the e-learning, the entrepreneur journey. You have the ad and you know the stylist and you have all of that. And I also read that. You know the, the stylist and you have all of that. And I also read that you know a lot of people are.

Cassandra: 37:38

If you didn't grow up in the digital age you know, you didn't grow up like that then it's kind of difficult. But in your course you said I make it simple. You know, and that's something that people I don't think they fear it or they're skittish about it, because that's not something that comes natural for them. So what advice would you give someone Because right now you have to do digital. You got to be online. I mean you have to promote yourself. How do you do that? You know you don't just hey, I'm here, don't just hey y'all, I'm here. So tell them a little bit about your program, the digital part, and why you say you'll keep it simple for them.

Amber Renae: 38:22

So in today's day and age so we're recording this in 2024, it's so much easier to create an online business than when I started in 2015. So my first digital product was Frankenstein. I had this website with like 24 different plugins. It cost me thousands of dollars to build. In today's day and age, you can literally get started with the technology that you currently use For instance, a Zoom call and your mobile phone and a PayPal checkout link and you are up and running.

Amber Renae: 38:51

The course that I teach about this is called Freedom Funnels, which is the only course that teaches online course creation and automation. I'm very big about automating your life and getting more of your time. In this course, I actually teach you a proprietary method called the MBP. It stands for Minimum Bankable Product, so the idea of MBP is that it's essentially a low-tech, low-content version of what will eventually become a signature program, and we do it with the tech that we use already. So our Zoom calls, anything like that. We promote it on our existing networks, through our WhatsApp channels, through our Facebook group, through our personal friends, and you'll find your initial buyers from there. Everyone has a small group of buyers that are currently sitting around them that will buy their MVP and then, through the MVP, this is a way for you to test what you think is going to become your main digital product.

Amber Renae: 39:47

So teach the MVP live. You have a live audience and through that teaching, your audience will ask you questions. So they'll say, hey, amber, you didn't really teach that part very good. Can you elaborate on that part? And so this helps you with all of the questions that you currently have about trying to create this big digital program, because the questions that you're currently asking yourself are likely things like I don't know what to include in it, I don't know how much information they need. So when you show up and teach it live, it answers all of those questions. Plus you get paid for it. So then you have the belief that your knowledge is worthy of earning money, which is a huge set block that women have to overcome. And once you've done that, once you've been paid, once you've created your MVP, you've taught it once, a lot of the trickiness of creating a digital business is really broken down, and from there you're off and running.

Cassandra: 40:40

That's good, amber, that's great. So listen, this is my last question. What's next for you? What's your next?

Amber Renae: 40:48

We've just created a course creation agency where we create world-class courses for time poor experts. So my goal with this business is to help millions of women and men all over the world who know that they have expertise in. They know that they've got something that they can teach people, but maybe they're held up because of the tech. Maybe they weren't born in the digital age so the digital stuff is all a bit new to them. Or maybe they're just really busy in their offline work. Maybe they've got a really important nine to five, but they know they want that side project. That's just ticking over by themselves.

Amber Renae: 41:23

So I'm so passionate about helping people to create that for them.

Cassandra: 41:27

Well, that's great, that's great, and automation right, so you can get that freedom. Yeah, that's great.

Amber Renae: 41:38

How can my listeners contact you? So come and find me on instagram at the amber renae and let me know that you found me on cassandra's podcast. Or you can check out amber renae. com and there's a bunch of free master classes in there that you can sign up for for free. That will teach you all about the MVP. It'll help you map out your genius zone. Lots of great things in there to get started.

Cassandra: 41:57

Wow, great Amber, that is so neat. I should have met you a while ago before I'd like. Oh, I had to. You know just the investments you make, because I don't know the digital piece of it, but you are a wealth of knowledge. I applaud you for all that you've done.

Cassandra: 42:18

I appreciate your candor, your expression and sharing what it is that you've been through, gone through, because we've all been through something and so you know it just didn't start out oh'm, I'm a, I'm a celebrity stylist, I'm a tv person, I'm yeah, you were on a journey and we will continue to be on our journeys, and I just want to thank you for your, your nuggets you have shared with, with the listeners and, as you indicated they will, I'm certain many of them will be in touch with you and when doing so, I would love for them to mention the Is your Way In your Way podcast.

Cassandra: 42:57

That's how they heard about you and everything. So, my listeners out there, I want to thank you for listening and I know that Amber has shared some phenomenal things with you, and I encourage you to look at her website. It's powerful. She has so many tools and resources on there and you can tell she's branded well when you go on her website you see her. She looks the same. She's so put together and think about it because of what she's been through, gone through, what she's loved, what her background was, what her sewing was, what she did in the beginning, so you could see it just didn't happen overnight. So I just want to thank you, Amber again. I tell my listeners I say bye for now. God bless and again remember mindset for your success and overcoming imposter syndrome is the name of this podcast today. Thanks again, amber.