Anna is a Digital Success Coach. Today, she helps businesses and everyday individuals sell on Amazon. She has clients around the globe including; US, Canada, UK & Europe and Australia. Her portfolio of products range from various categories like; Home & Kitchen, Health & Personal Care & Beauty, Toys.
Apart from marketing for her clients, she also coaches, and runs regular training courses. She’s very well connected within the Amazon network, as she works closely with some kick-ass Amazon Veterans who have been selling on Amazon since it was launched.
Date: August 20 2020
Episode: 15
Title: Norman Farrar Introduces Anna Davidson, a Serial Entrepreneur , Digital Marketing Expert and Author of the Book, She Made It Happen.
Subtitle: Happiness is when what you think, what you say and what you do are in harmony – Mahatma Gandhi
Final Show Link: https://iknowthisguy.com/episodes/15-anna-davidson/
In this episode of I Know this Gal…, Norman Farrar introduces Anna Davidson, a serial entrepreneur , digital marketing expert, and author of the book, She Made It Happen.
She is a 6 Figure Amazon System Founder Amazon Expert and a business coach who helps build successful businesses through on and offline training programs. Her podcast, Your Freedom Podcast is currently on the works.
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Hayden 0:01
Hey guys and girls, this is Hayden for our producer of I Know this Guy. Make sure to visit iknowthisguy.com, where you can find blogs, shownotes, transcripts of all the episodes and even a slick selection of merch. I’m pushing to get I Know this Guy dog bibs up there, so make sure to check back for that soon. If you’re feeling super generous, you can even buy us a coffee through Patreon, check out our Patreon page @patreon.com/iknowthisguy. Thanks so much for your continued support. The show wouldn’t exist without you. And that’s enough for me. Now for the rest of the show.
Anna 0:41
I was living in this house but I couldn’t see a way out and I was trying to get a solution for every day just seemed like hell, so just focus on small things that I was grateful for that got me through.
Norman 1:00
Everyone, welcome to another episode of I Know this Guy, the podcast where we dive deep into the lives of some of the most interesting people I know. Before we get started, please like and subscribe to I Know this Guy wherever you get your podcasts. By the way, my kids want me to say something about ringing a bell. What the hell is a bell?
Hayden 1:32
So, dad, who do we have on the podcast today?
Norman 1:35
We have an amazing lady. Do you remember, Sylv, the laundry expert?
Hayden
Yeah, yeah, of course I do.
Norman
I thought you would. Anyways, this is the person that she recommended. And her name is Anna Davidson, and an incredible lady came from the corporate world, became an entrepreneur and went through hell with her marriage. Anyway, she’s gonna get into all of that.
Hayden
Amazing. Well, I can’t wait to hear about it. Let’s dive right in.
Norman
For sure. Yeah, I’d like to get in what makes Anna, Anna? Can you kind of go back and give us some of your back history?
Anna 2:16
Yeah, I mean, I spent a lot of time working in the corporate world for many years. And we were just we just sort of touched on it a little bit earlier about how as a northern girl. I was born in the north of England in Manchester, and went off to uni and did science. In fact, I laugh now because I was wanting to find the cure for HIV. That was my biggest thing. Then, when I started working, kind of volunteering in labs, I realized it takes me a long time to find the cure. You know, people are running around the labs finding and it just wasn’t for me. It just wasn’t for me that I’ve got you know, I’m a real people person. So being sort of in a lab just wasn’t for me, but even though the work that I was doing was interesting. I did microbiology and then I was given an opportunity to work in the pharmaceutical industry. It was probably actually at the time having left uni being very poor and with the pool of the pharmaceutical industry that was very rich and being given a company car and flash bonuses. Being tempted by that carrot on the string , but thought, well, actually, I could be out there meeting people and talking about different medicines and I’ve obviously got that can use my degree . So I had a I had a lot of experience in the corporate world. Yeah, it was good fun. I learned a lot. I think it’s made me very anti drugs, rather than some people that have worked in that industry, you love medication. I’m very sort of holistic now with medication. My children don’t take any drugs unless it’s needed.
Norman
Okay, can you back up on that? Because I’m interested to hear why there was a 180.
Anna 4:07
And I think it was like a lot of the conversations that I had with healthcare professionals that everything is a risk benefit scenario. And I think sometimes there’s this culture, especially in the UK, and I’m not sure what it’s like anywhere else. No, it’s probably similar. That you go to the doctor, you’re ill and then you get medication, when actually, people should be treated very holistically with the fact that taking a drug is going to also have a negative effect on something in your body. And so , a drug or medication should be taken as a last resort. And a lot of the time it doesn’t actually cure the problems. It’s just managing the symptoms especially like with pain medications, and things like that. And before you know, it could be on lots of different medications. And each of those medications used to weigh out the risk benefit, the side effects and things like that. For me, I think people can easily take medications when actually they should have the mindset that it should be when it’s really needed. Because they have a benefit but there’s also a risk in taking and putting that chemical anybody
Norman 5:13
I lived in Kona Hawaii for about five years. And there’s probably more natural paths than there’re probably three natural paths to every person on that island. But it actually was a great experience because you got to experience something outside of medicine where I’d normally go to a doctor and expect that I get a pill for that or a pill for this. And I went and started going to different holistic healers. It went from Reiki all the way down the line. It was interesting, because if I would have come back to Toronto or where I’m in a small farm town, and I would have gone to my neighbor and said, You know what, I had EMDR and I had Reiki and they didn’t touch me, but I did that feel much better. They would have thought I was just making it up or it was psychosomatic or whatever.
Anna 6:07
Yeah, exactly your health is. It’s about what you eat, isn’t it? It’s about how you take care of yourself and whether you work out or just take your health seriously, rather than taking medication, as I say, managing the symptoms, rather than finding what the root cause of the problem is. Don’t get me wrong with some medications that’s needed. If you’re in an emergency situation. I’m not saying that I would refuse medication for my children. But it’s just always weighing up what that risk benefit scenario is. And I also had a real eye opener into the pharmaceutical world as well. I’ve got to be careful because I’ve ever left a pharmaceutical company. I had to sign like a, it wasn’t an NDA as such, but it was an agreement. I can’t remember how many years that was for so be careful when I’m talking about the industry. But I think it changed a lot, because they were always accused of bribery and so we were very regulated and what we could and couldn’t do. Whereas a lot of industries you can take your clients now and suppose take them for a meal, and it’s there is that kind of not bribery as such, but you entertaining clients. Whereas we weren’t allowed to do that kind of thing. I think in the very early days, probably in the 70s, that kind of thing was happening, but it is a very regulated industry. But I do think that there’s a lot of medications that do the same thing and actually it’s whichever pharmaceutical company has the most budget behind it that is going to be the winner and the marketing that they do. But actually, there’s not that much difference between them but it’s whichever one is at the forefront of the medical professionals mind or maybe whichever one is sponsored, possibly a clinical trial or something that’s happening in their environment. So it gave me an eye opener into that as well.
Norman
I think of what you were just talking about. It might be because one person has more money, or it might be political, whatever. I always think of beta and VHS. So the old days beta was a much better quality product, and yet, VHS took over the market because he had so much money. So you probably see a lot of beta and VHS competition in your world, right?
Anna
Yeah, I think I learned a lot about marketing which helped me because it was a predominantly sales environment that I was in, but you can see how because I’d worked for a smaller company and then a larger company. So seeing the difference between that gave me that opening into branding and marketing and that kind of stuff. So it did give me a lot of good. The corporate world obviously gave me, they focus a lot on self development as well. Mainly to motivate their feel force and their teams and teamwork and leadership and all those kinds of qualities as well which kind of gave me that good skill set. I think I always have this entrepreneurial flower just always felt a little bit trapped in the corporate world . That I couldn’t express my true opinions on things I had to sort of fit in a little box and tick those KPIs to to get the sales were they, so yeah, I always there was lots of redundancies happening, my kind of claim to fame it’ll give away the company I work for. I was a viagra rep and a one viagra rep of the year so I obviously made a lot of men happy that year.
Anna 9:50
But heading up such, I suppose, a well known brand. Again, it was a good experience as well. Redundancies were happening and I was hoping I was gonna get made redundant, but I was not being big headed, but I was pretty successful member of the team and the first lot of redundancies, I didn’t say that I kind of strategically, because I knew that people were getting good lump sums of money for the redundancy. I had already planned because my wake up call, sorry, rewind, a little step was that when I had my first son, it kind of opened my eyes up to the fact that I wasn’t happy going away on conference when I had him. I’d spend more time with them and had this kind of, I’ve always had entrepreneurial ideas, but never done anything about it. And my dad has always been a big influence on me and he ran his own business. So I thought it’d be great if I don’t have to work for so long and be able to just walk away great to have something like a lump sum to help me. So the second round of redundancies, I got made redundant and I was probably one of the few people who was pleased about it. I remember a lot of people upset. I was like, hey, oh yeah, so I then decided I was going to sell my own online business. But I didn’t know what I was doing and so made quite a few mistakes along the way and a lot of harsh, hard mistakes because I hadn’t quite got my target market or niche worked out. Initially, I decided I wanted to help other moms in my situation, who may have run a business but didn’t have the sales and marketing that I had. That’s how I could help them. But I was targeting a lot of moms that maybe weren’t that ambitious. So what I mean by that is that I think it’s difficult sometimes being a woman when you’re when you have children because this you have that challenge if you want you want it all you want your career you want to kind of be you know, you want your own independence, your own income, and you also want to be a great mom. And then it also depends on your partner’s support and income for the family. That kind of thing. And a lot of moms actually go part time though they or they sort of sacrifice their career for their children. And that’s this kind of like, weighing scale that you kind of working out. And, and so there’s a lot of women that tend to do like multi level marketing type businesses that actually don’t generate them that much income. I’m not kind of trying to diss those type businesses, because I think there’s some, some successful people in those type businesses as well. And I think some great skill sets you can get from those type businesses, but I think it takes longer than they perceive it does to actually generate a significant income. So a lot of people that I was targeting were baby do like Avon reps and that type of thing. And what I should have done by way back then was target people who were running their own businesses who needed that sell. They couldn’t afford my services, basically. I kind of got lost along the way on that initial business that I was trying to do because all I actually wanted to do is help women who we’re running businesses with sales and marketing. So yeah, so I’ve kind of messed up at that point. But I was always great at Facebook marketing, and that was kind of like my little thing that I was known for. So I then just decided to kind of niche within a niche and being too general with my target audience and I was being too general with my offering. So I decided then to focus on Facebook and Facebook marketing, because I’d invested a lot of myself more around digital marketing skills, and strategies. So I kind of wanted to help others with that. So I then decided to forget the mom thing was my target market and just focus purely on helping people with Facebook marketing, and manage their Facebook advertising campaign. So different small businesses, like restaurant owners. I had a chiropractor that I was helping and then I also set up a program where I was teaching Facebook marketing as well. So it was way back when everyone was focusing on fan pages when the algorithm was a lot different than it is now. And, and then also Facebook advertising and that gave me a massive learning into the fact that I’d niche down and knew who I was targeting. I’d also had a clear offering of what I was doing because when I’d first may be made redundant, I was being very wide you know, how we we’ve all done that where we kind of, we’ve got an offering or we’ve got a service or we’ve got a product to sell and actually we think everybody will want it but it’s helped me now when I’m off to teach you’re coaching people to say you’ve got to get clear on who and who your niche is and who your target market is before you set off on your way because if you don’t get that right, you’ll have problems and then obviously making sure your offerings right as well.
Anna 14:53
So yeah, got lots of experience on that. Then I stumbled across Amazon and I think I secretly wanted my own little drugstore so when it’s supplements or selling supplements because I thought hey this is great. I’d always been put off by physical products because I thought I wanted this laptop lifestyle, It was just me. I didn’t want to have any people who you know sold on eBay but I thought to scale you must need a warehouse. I remember just listening to an Amazon FBA webinar and thought, wow. I was excited and thought great. So that was around 2013. I got involved in Amazon and sold supplements. I had three or four supplements that are selling in the US market. But of course anybody that sold sells on Amazon will know that supplements is very competitive and it soon became that way while spending a lot on Amazon PPC so started then to evolve into their markets like beauty and health and personal care still and home and kitchen and a lot different toys and tech gadgets and that kind of thing. So I’ve done lots of different products and niches over the years, and different joint ventures with different people as well. And then gradually it’s kind of evolved that I’ve then helped people who want to start their own ecommerce business, and sell products through Amazon Marketplace or the marketplaces and create a brand physical products online. But more recently, I’ve kind of gone back to where I started and thought, a lot of people probably will be like me, where they are a mom, and they do want it all and kind of have just especially within this COVID situation, have skill sets or have like an idea or a passion that they want to take online. Some about I’m working on a program at the moment, which is all around that if you’ve got an idea. How do you actually get it online? How do you sell a service or have your skill set? How to become a VA, for instance. So how do you actually do if you’re a teacher, and you want to take that on to online tutoring, or maybe you’ve just got some products or you’ve got an idea of products. Whatever it is, you can sell on Amazon. So whether it’s a service base or an information, or it’s your skill set, or you’ve got physical products that you want to do, how do you create an online business? How do you make so I’ve kind of got in one big full circle and now have all the experience of what I’ve done over the years to help people. But I’ve kind of done all this with a lot of challenges along the way, throughout this whole journey of me since 2011 when I was made redundant and I got divorced and left a very very scary and abusive and violent relationship. But I’m still here, I survived. I still have to this day and I feel that I’m trying to make a meaning of all that pain and suffering. I want to inspire others that no matter what adversity you have, because we all have, whatever life throws our way that you can get through it and you can actually be successful. Yeah, that’s kind of like my mission, is to become more meaningful now as well, rather than in the first place, It was just about working from home around our kids.
Norman 18:20
It sounds like everything that you’ve done. It’s all about helping people right back. If I understand, like, right back at the very beginning, when you were going to help people with HIV, and then going into the, as a pharmaceutical rep, and you said it, you helped a lot of men. And then everything you’ve done, so I’m just kind of, I’m curious. Was it just some driving force that got you to the point where you just wanted to help people or is it something you’ve always been keen on?
Anna 18:54
I think I’ve just always been curious about people. I loved different characters and different cultures and just the differences we all have with people . I could never do anything that didn’t involve people, as well as some people are a bit more exposed, introverted and just want to just focus on things or I just love people.
Norman 19:20
You were talking about going to conferences, and most people don’t think of it or most men don’t think about it. But being the super woman you’re taking care of your family taking care of your business, there’s also a guilt factor, because like you mentioned, you’re going off to these conferences and you’re not seeing the kids and what can you say to other people out there that can kind of get you through that? It’s tough.
Anna 19:48
Because now if I go to things like when we get what I do, we do a china trip with members. With an Amazon protocol I do know. There might be a speaking event that I want to go to. I suppose my children are older now. So I kind of and I spend so much time with them, because I changed my whole life for them. So I could be that mom that was there picking them up at school. And, in fact, I laughed recently because my youngest was like, I don’t want you to pick me up. I want to go to the after school club. That’s where everybody goes. I’ve changed my whole life. So I can, but because everybody else hasn’t changed around like, I’m getting punished for it. And yeah, I think it’s, it’s about balance. That’s the thing. It’s about having that balance that when you do go to a conference or you do go away, that you don’t feel guilty, because in your mind the amount of quality time that you’ve had. I think before I wasn’t having that quality time, because I was in the corporate world and also my children were very young as well. So they needed me more. And so I hadn’t got that balance. And it’s important to have that balance because the boys respect that now but oh yeah moms going on that work thing and if it’s China they’re more giving me a list of all the things that they want me to buy for them to bring back so it’s more about they just they just know that I’m going to be doing that and they’re quite proud of me for doing it type of thing because I’ve got I take them away to cool places or a balance of the time they spend with me.
Norman 21:23
So back in the corporate world where the hours crazy
Anna 21:29
Yeah, because you had a lot of admin stuff that wasn’t recognized for timing wise and if you’re away from home you, there wasn’t any financial incentive to do that . I mean it when in your own business sometimes you can’t switch off but it’s for yourself, isn’t it when it’s for somebody else. It becomes just all about targets. Hitting the targets you can get a bonus as well.
Norman 21:55
When you switched over from the corporate world to the entrepreneurial world, did you notice that your hours were able to change?
Anna 22:05
Not straight away, obviously, I could cheat, I could still choose what hours I was working. But at the beginning, I was wanting to put more hours in because I was excited. And I was spending a lot of time trying to make it happen and make it successful. And I think I’ve always been a little bit of a workaholic . So it’s important, I think, to put in time for yourself. And what I mean by that is actually in your calendar we always plan out all our work stuff, but I don’t see many people actually put in their diary stuff that’s for them or stuff for their family. Because it’s like all that other stuff will fit around the work. But what then tends to happen is you don’t have any other time to do all those other things. So it’s important to make sure that, I put it if you look at my diary, it looks a bit funny sometimes because it’s got like an hour there’s me time I’ll make sure that I do something for me. Or it might be that I’m planning to take them to a park or whatever and I’ll put it actually in my diary. Because if I don’t put it in, it’s not going to happen. And it’s important to make sure that you get that balance by putting it in your diary because it’s part of your life, isn’t it rather than just having your work life that you plan for, and then the other stuff fits around.
Norman 23:18
I hear a lot of very successful people do that. If they’re going to take a walk, they put it in their diary. If they’re going to, like you said just do something there, It’s in the diary and then that way they can make an appointment and they actually do it.
Anna
Yeah, exactly. That’s the thing. It’s making sure you do.
Anna 23:47
Yeah, definitely and actually I’m quite open about all the trauma that I’ve been through. And the reason I am is that I know sometimes it is not uncomfortable for me, but sometimes uncomfortable for people listening
Unknown Speaker 24:00
Tips for recharge on Lycos.
Unknown Speaker 24:02
Is he run with a family? And he’s kind of like Jerry says yes. I mean, it’s
Unknown Speaker 24:07
gotta be tough to actually find time properly within
Anna 24:12
Lives matter, stuff which shows but I want to bring all that into this but it’s uncomfortable for people so people avoid it. So Jim, I’ve realized domestic abuse domestic violence is uncomfortable for people to hear because it’s a taboo subject. But I used to hide this because I was ashamed and I was scared and it’s like, 2020 I’ve just had this fuel of energy that I’m like I’m going to be proud of it because it’s what’s made me who I am today. And it links into your question because recharging I had to focus on some time for me, because mentally I’m on 31 court hearings at present is still not finished, that you’re subconscious, but when you’re stressed or anxious It works overtime. So I had to put some things in place to make sure that I was winding down on an evening and getting sleep because I wasn’t sleeping a lot. And like you say recharging and I think regardless of what if you’ve had like, I suppose a normal life, and you haven’t had all the things I’ve been through, you still got to do that you still got to make sure that you recharge and it’s personal to you because I’ve done a lot of meditating, which I used to laugh at people we’ve got to be open. I used to think it’s all a bit wayward meditation. Yeah, you say you cross the legs and go humming and all this kind of thing. But actually, I’ve listened to some guided meditation because I wasn’t sleeping. And now I just have meditation time daily, even if it’s just for 10 minutes, because currently, schools are not open. So I’m juggling time to always have everything fit in. But you just got 10 minutes a day just being mindful in that moment. I’ve learned by different techniques of things coming in mind and shoo, shoo shoo them away and just having just 10 minutes thinking of nothing can reset and recharge me. But for a while, I used to do things like because being a single parent with two boys is exhausting just making sure that an hour every evening, winding down bedtime, I’d run a bath, place and chill out tunes. And I have things like essential oils and things like that just to help me wind down. I think music can be really relaxing, because music can really affect us. It can affect us if we’re going through something emotional to make us cry. It can make us happy and motivated. So music is really good to help recharge the batteries as well.
Norman 26:47
Well, I would be interested if you’re okay with it, to kind of go down that path and find out more about the trouble that you went through. As a mom in this Physical abuse. I mean, can you tell us more about that?
Anna 27:05
Yeah, I mean it. It’s strange because I felt like I married the love of my life and everything. But you know, people used to look at us and think we were like the perfect couple. So we used to hold different parties at our house and people used to joke about being portion backs for a leader. And I look back on that now, I think actually just a little bit of a farce because even though I think I still had the best day of my life, when I got on my wedding day. I could still say that it was an amazing day. It was after I got made redundant, because I was the breadwinner. And I remember the day that I told him that I was made redundant that you kind of get to know someone a little bit better than he did. You never meet someone exactly the same, you’re always going to have debates and arguments about different things. But now looking back, I can see the red flags. If you know what I mean, by the time I didn’t. But when I got made redundant, I was the breadwinner and I remember his face being really shocked and disappointed. And all I had been going on about for the last 12 months was how I wanted to run my own business. So it felt like you haven’t got my back, you know? I think it was because he was thinking, oh my god, I’m gonna have to pull my finger out now because he’d been pretty lazy to be honest and not been working. He ran his own sort of DIY business and I was all sort of like, I was the breadwinner. So I paid, I had a good income. So the pressure was on him, I suppose. And so I think he was thinking, Oh, my God, the pressure is gonna be on me, but it sounds weird to me bringing that up, but I think that was just like, I realized then that he hadn’t got my back. And now when I look back on that, I think that maybe he was using me. I read into that face when I told him that I got redundant. And things and I started pressurizing them to get organized in his business and provide the family with an income or better income. So he was getting a lot of pressure from that point. Because even though I had this great lump sum, I wanted to do something with that money and I didn’t want to just live off it. And then this thing, it was from that point that thing just started to downward spiral. And it was, as I say, initially, it was financial worries, I suppose, or discussions and arguments and that kind of thing. And then I found out he was having an affair, and then it just literally seemed like overnight, it wasn’t overnight it was over a couple of years. But it did literally just seem like I didn’t know this person anymore, probably because he betrayed me and there’s all these different things and then he started heavily getting into spiritualism, which I’ve got nothing wrong with spiritualism and I feel I’m quite spiritual. But it was for me, it’s like devil worshipping, you know? And it became quite scary because I was the devil and he needed to save me and so there was like, I was worried about his mental health at this point I found out he was taking a lot of cocaine that shocked me and surprised as I was scared and wanted, I was tiptoeing around and just couldn’t find a solution persons all the time trying to find a solution.
Anna 30:19
My soul was practically dying in the house . And yeah, some horrendous things happened. Violence, I realized I was being mentally emotionally abused, sexually,just everything. It’s just barely my clothes, just all these different things. When I said that it was over and that we needed to find a solution for our children to make the future work. And it just got bad to the point where I had to leave in the end. Tried to get him out but I had to leave. While I still tried to kind of run my business, I remember running my business at one point in my car with one of those old dongle things that used to have that you could log on to the 3G, I look back on that now think how I was doing that. But I would, it was my business that was saving me because if I hadn’t had that I might have just given up because it gave me that focus that I didn’t want to let people down. And that was a while I was doing like the Facebook marketing stuff and moving on to do my own Amazon stuff . But since I’ve been free of that. My business has excelled and I always knew it would do. I knew all of this was holding me back. There was a lot of emotional stuff that strips you away. I think I’ve always been a strong person. So a lot of my friends saw me as a strong person and didn’t realize what was actually happening to me. And that’s why I hid it as well, because I thought this can’t be happening to me. I’m a strong woman. And that only happens to not strong women when actually it can happen to anybody. So yeah, it was just a scary, very, scary time, but I managed, I managed to get out actually, I didn’t need to because I always had my financial independence, which I was very grateful for. And I was able to then get myself a place and kind of start again . I didn’t need to kind of go into a refuge or something like that, which was what was keeping me together. And it was actually gratitude that kept me going. Which I know, we see a lot nowadays online with self development. Everyone talks about being grateful and grateful, but I literally just used to wake up in the morning thing. Take a breath and think right, it was things like my boys are healthy who’s living in this house, but I couldn’t see a way out and I was trying to get a solution for and every day just seemed like hell. So just focus on small things that I was grateful for that got me through. But now I look back and I think you’re the normal things that happen to you in life, like your car breaks down or you are selling the house and it all falls through and the Bible’s out. Things that used to get me down, just don’t bother me. So that’s the good thing of all the stuff that I’ve been through there, it kind of makes you evaluate a lot of stuff in your life. Anyway, I realized that there’s always a way through everything . I think even what’s happened with a lockdown. I’m very grateful that I run an online business. It wasn’t a factory massively, but I thought I’ve been self isolated. I think, just looking at things from a different perspective, there’s always a different perception. You can have a down day or be in a bad place. But you know that tomorrow, he could look at it in a totally different way. We’ve all done that right now. We can just look at things in a different way. And for people that have gone through or are going through domestic abuse and maybe hiding it. There is a lot of support out there and I’m now working For a charity called the Buddy Bag Foundation that helps women and children who need a refuge, because I want to give back to people that are kind of going through that kind of hell themselves. Yeah, it was a horrific time but it was definitely, I think you’ve got to have a focus, you’ve got to is my work that was keeping me going through it.
Norman 34:22
A lot of entrepreneurs will go out there, and they’ll face something and they won’t sleep, they’ll get ulcers, and then they’ll find out that month, a year, 5 years, 10 years later, what they were worrying about. It just kind of rolls off their shoulder now, but going through what you’ve gone through, so yeah, if all of a sudden you’re stuck in your house, and you have your computer and you’re, you’re in lockdown, it’s a hell of a lot easier than what you went through.
Norman 34:55
I think it was lots of emotions with ex. I think just having a marriage breakdown is bad enough. Moving houses kind of quite dramatic, not dramatic, but you know, it’s all changes in there. And everything else on top of that was I did definitely feel like my soul was dying, I had to get add to make sure I was forced to make a change. Can’t explain it, but it just fueled me this last sort of 12 months to share my story, which I’m quite surprised myself because I’m quiet, I don’t normally share personal things but I realized I was being fake, I think, and also that it could help a lot of people. And it was because people that I was sharing it with, who were spaced like close acquaintances in work, were like, wow. So that’s kind of given me the fuel to actually let’s find a meaning in all this pain and trauma that I’ve been through that it can just can just actually motivate someone that may be there. You know, like maybe someone that’s, I’m helping a client of mine that I’m helping, she didn’t know how In the Amazon, if again they get not not back on getting ungated in a certain category and all frustrated and want to give up. I think by having my support I probably feel a little bit of a gift. Well, she’s been through all that she’s still going, it just gives him that motivation to keep on going because you can’t control what happens. There’s always a solution and you can always find a way.
Norman 36:21
And it doesn’t matter if you’re a man or a woman, if you’re going through this sort of problem conflict. You’ve got to do something about it. And I am definitely not that counselor. But I just I’ve seen a lot of this. And you’ve got to take those first steps and I know we’re going into a subject that we weren’t planning on going into. Ifsomebody is experiencing this right now, what I know you said go and reach out. Some people might not have the resources to do that they might not have any money, they might have a little bit of money. They might not have the means to just get away from a husband or a wife, that’s abusive. What’s something that they can do?
Anna 37:09
There are a lot of charities out there and obviously depending on where you’re geographically located, it will be slightly different. You know, in the UK we’ve got women’s aid and there’s the National Center for Domestic Violence. I’d actually didn’t go to those straight away because I think there is a pride thing, but maybe, I think the one thing is you I went in a cycle where I keep questioning myself because now looking back there was a lot of mental and I think a lot of men that have gone through it as well like abusive relationships well woman, although there’s a lot of emotional and mental psychology that goes with it so you keep questioning yourself. If you keep getting back if you keep getting back to that point. You know, you’re going to get out because you get good instincts on things . You get to that point where you gotta get out so confide in a friend and don’t be embarrassed about this. These are all the things I was embarrassed about. I felt like it was a weakness that I felt that my marriage failing was a weakness. I was worried about telling my parents things like that. But you’ve got to just confide in someone to get out. And maybe stay at a friend’s or say, your parents or there’ll be somebody that will help you to get out. Even if you haven’t got one, because I think there are a lot of women that are in a financial situation where they’re stuck, I suppose. And luckily for me, I wasn’t that didn’t make it easy, though. It was still difficult. I’m still five years down the line, got court hearings, it’s still going on. I’m over the worse but it’s the opposite with the finances. It’s all about finances for him. Even though people, I think sometimes when they hear my story that all is okay because you were financially independent. It still was really tough. You’ve just got to think there’s always a solution. Go with you gutt, get out, find someone, whether it’s a charity, or it’s a friend, or someone close that you can share it with. And don’t keep putting it off. Because there’s so much more to like, since I got out it’s just, I felt like I’ve got complete and utter freedom now in my life to be whoever I want to be. And grab the world with both hands and make the most of it. And now I just want to inspire the two little men that I’ve got that currently gaming upstairs who have stolen the headphones off. You know, do what they want to do for the world and be who they want to be and make a difference.
Norman 39:44
So you know, you’re not in it alone. Reach out and talk to a friend. Yeah, there’s somebody who will listen.
Anna 39:53
There’s more people that have it. There’s more people that go through it than you think. So I think don’t be embarrassed cuz I was embarrassed. But when you start out you realize there’s more people than you thought.
Norman 40:03
So this has already got a happy ending, you’re out there, you’re making money. You know, you’ve got rid of this guy. So what has been your big success either in your personal life or in your business?
Anna 40:20
So I think the biggest success this year has been featured in Forbes magazine, which happened in April time. And that was all around working online as well. I was sharing , there’s a few of us that were three or four I think other female entrepreneurs that work online and it actually goes down to who you know, as well, because I was asked through somebody I know so it’s always good to network and be a people person because people have connections. So yeah, that was great, because Forbes has a lot of criteria about you know, the actual a lot of questions. You have to be at a certain level to be able to be featured in their magazine. So yeah, definitely, like my highest achievement in my business , so far.
Norman 41:05
That’s fantastic. Forbes. That’s, yeah, that’s a good one.
Anna 41:11
And I also became an author as well, that was the beginning of this year. So this year when you came in as author, it was a little bit of a cheat because it was co authored. There were 15 of us. We all did a chapter each. But you know, I author and have been part of a book called, She Made It Happen. And there’s some inspiring stories in there. Vanessa, who lost her child, I think he was age five, through cancer. And so a lot of people have had different adversities and turn their life around, and they’ve all been female entrepreneurs.
Norman 41:46
It’s interesting because prior to this year, if I went to a conference, I would see mostly male speakers, although there were incredible female entrepreneurs that were just killing it on Amazon who had incredible service businesses. They were always in the audience and you just never saw them. Then Melissa Simonson started, and this is the one that I know of, Empowery Women’s Conference. I went to that and it was fantastic. The whole room was made up of incredible entrepreneurs and now Danny McMillan, he just finished his Branded by Women.
Anna,
Me,myself and Sylv were a part of that.
Norman 42:35
Yeah. So it’s fantastic and now I’m hearing about another event that’s coming up. So finally, and now, it’s not so much just the women and the men just have a bloody mix. You know, when you go to some of these larger events. Come on, guys. Let’s make it five men, five women or just just have more representation because it’s always the minority. And it kind of sucks because there’s so many, you have to say like in 2020, why don’t we see more women on stage? And Melissa has always said that she never felt herself being a real entrepreneur and it took her a long time to say that she was an independent, like, successful entrepreneur. I never thought of that until she told me about this. But it’s great to see, finally, this, at least in the Amazon world, it’s growing. There’s a movement growing to actually see women on stage.
Anna 43:37
Definitely, I think it’s like me in my early days when I was trying to help the mom part, helping moms in business. And it was a bit wishy washy. It didn’t work out and I kept calling myself a Mumpreneur. And I know a lot of women entrepreneurs that would debate about a subject, this title, and they don’t like it and I think yeah, I agree now, even though I was calling myself Mumpreneur. You’re an entrepreneur at the end of the day, Right? Why say Mumpreneur or female entrepreneurs like you’re an entrepreneur. So yeah, I think it is good to see more female speakers and I think this is just going to become more and more and more. So. Yeah, there’ve been some good events like you say, the bounded by women event. And I’ve seen Melissa’s Empowery one and I need to do a little bit more digging and find a bit more about it. But I’ve seen it be great to get involved in something like that.
Norman 44:31
Yeah, absolutely. Last weekend, we had Andrea Lake on and talked about an entrepreneur. She’s running 14 businesses all at one time. I won’t get into it, but it’s gonna be an incredible podcast, but you want to talk about somebody that’s inspiring. Oh my gosh. So what is a quote that you live by?
Anna 44:56
So I think it’s definitely, “Happiness is when what you think, what you say and what you do are in harmony”. Because there’ve been a lot of times in my life where I’ve, I’ve thought about, you think about any say certain things we don’t do. And that is only the difference between not success and success to me or and success I mean by happiness because for me, I don’t just see success as being financial or success in my business. Happiness for me is like, everything is in harmony in my work, life balance. Our children are happy, I’m happy. I’m having enough time to do all the things that I love. But with a lot of our time we think it out where we might say this is what we’re going to do, but it’s the action takers or the doing that completes it all makes happiness or success all in harmony.
Norman 45:49
You’ve got this incredible quote. And for people to live that quote, there’re so many people that think just negatively they wake up and they don’t think positively. Is there anything that you can say to people to try to get online with that quote?
Anna 46:06
I think everybody has dreams that they want to do, but it’s their belief that stops them doing those dreams, or taking action towards those dreams. So it’s a difficult question though, because it’s, you’ve got to just have the beliefs, you gotta if you haven’t got the belief, you’ve got to find a way to get that belief. And actually, who cares if you make a mistake, or who cares if it fails, I failed, I failed in a lot of stuff but it’s keep having that goal of where I want to get to and what I want to do. And I think a lot of people don’t take action. I’m surprised at how many people have bought my programs over the years and not done anything. You know, there’s so many people who buy things because they think that’s gonna do it, but actually got to do the work. And it’s not that hard to do the work because if something doesn’t work, you make a mistake. You find out a way of the sheet, there’s so much things on the internet about finding how to do things these days. Don’t overcomplicate it just have a couple of things, I need to do less today, right. And so, I think it’s the belief. So if you haven’t got the belief for whatever reason, maybe your upbringing or you just, you have never done anything that’s entrepreneurial, you want to go for it. You’ve got to work on your mindset and your belief. And again, there’s so many things online that can help you and people you can follow that can help you do that.
Norman 47:30
It’s funny that you said that because I’ve got a buddy who has one of the larger Amazon training courses. It’s between 3 to $5,000 and you can tell if somebody logged in. And he says, for the most part, the first tab and there’s usually 15 or so modules, but many people, the high majority of people don’t even log in.
Anna 47:56
It’s crazy. My first program, what I used to do, because I knew there weren’t going to be many people that would sign up for my first webinar, I used to phone the people. I thought I’d give a personal touch and welcome them and also discuss what we wanted to get out of the program. So then along the way, if I saw them right in the Facebook group, I knew I understood where they were coming from, I could help them reach their goal and a lot of people didn’t even get back to me on the phone call. Over the years, the different programs is so shocking, but I think it’s, we see it as we want to buy something like we’re in a shop and by buying a Facebook marketer or Amazon program, we’ve created that business. But people don’t want to do the work and you’ve got to do the work. You’ve got to take action.
Norman 48:48
Right. You can have all the intentions in the world but if you don’t take action, nothing’s gonna happen. You’ll be just out of pocket.
Anna 48:53
Yeah, exactly. And that is everything in your life, isn’t it? Whether it’s being healthy. We’ve all done that and I’m not saying this because I’m perfect. I always take action on everything I’ve learned along the way that there’s been gems that I’ve paid for membership that are not turned up. So it’s similar to the program and bought the gym memberships or get healthy. And so it’s, that’s what I’ve just learned along the way and it’s the same with all the trauma I’ve been through. If I didn’t take action to get out of that and save myself, I’d still be in there with the excuses or the belief that I couldn’t get out. So it’s having that belief and knowing where you want to get to, and keep making mistakes, learn from it, move forward, but keep taking action. If you don’t take action, you’re still gonna get what you’ve always had.
Norman 49:44
That’s what I love about successful entrepreneurs. They have taken action. They’re not the people who do have a lot of intentions. They go to events, they study during the day. I like to at least go online and for at least half hour to an hour try to find something kind of new in my industry. But anyways, they’re all action oriented. And if you talk to them, I mean the quality of work that they’re doing the dreams that they have in their thought patterns are very similar. One of the things we never touched on was what you’re doing right now. We briefly went over it but let’s go back and talk about, what are you doing right now?
Norman 50:28
So I run my own Amazon program called Six Figure Amazon Sellers and I also have a long term program. It’s a coaching program that people say I should do for 12 months but it’s just an open ended thing. There’s a weekly coaching call that goes longer there. So it’s for people who want long term coaching but I also run a I do kind of like a four week Amazon malo one taster workshop kind of four week program course as well, which was meant to be originally offline. And I’ve done online and because I never used to do those kinds of things, but everybody was asking me in the group, can we do a workshop? So I will do a workshop offline now I’ll come out of my online world. And then COVID happened and it turned out to be a four week online course. I’m also part of a program called Import Experts, which is a joint venture that I’ve got with a guy called Stuart Ross and Jay Kubassek, who are big digital entrepreneurs. And they do lots of different digital education programs from you know, Facebook marketing and online branding. We’ve got a program called Brand Incubator and it was nice because I originally when I first was made redundant, invested in one of their programs, so connected with those guys, and just kept in touch with them over the years. And then I joined with a guy who was doing eBay, training and coaching because we used to do products together, we’d import a product he would sell on eBay, I’d sell it on Amazon. And so we then start doing catering together. So that’s how I kind of got involved with input experts. I do a lot of mentoring around employ experts as well run webinars and that kind of thing. But I’ve got a new program that I’m launching, which is on the back of my book, she made it happen and it’s called Make Shit Happen. When I advertise it, I store out the eye I feel like I shouldn’t be swearing on my marks in sale. But it’s around what I was discussing earlier about if you sat there and you’ve got an idea of an online business, whether it be a physical product business, or it’s actually you’ve got a skill set or information you want to sell online, and it’s kind of everything that I’ve learned along the way because I’ve done different parts of my path and journey. And so yeah I can help you make it happen, or make sure to say because, like we just said is the difference between taking out. It’s having those goals and having the plans and that’s going to help you start an online business in the first place. And then on top of that, I like you with this podcast a lot. I haven’t launched it yet, because I’ve had a few. I’ve been outsourcing getting people to help me with it. And I’ve had a few problems along the way. So I’ve recorded six episodes now, and am keen to get it out because there’s been a couple of them that if I don’t get it out, it’s gonna sound dated. So I’m hoping that over the next week, I now have a podcast manager and the podcast is Your freedom podcast. And I have a Facebook group called Your Freedom Project. And in a way similar to this podcast in respect that you know, when you’re interviewing people who’ve got stories, but I’m mainly focus on people who’ve had some kind of adversity that’s happened and just hearing how they’ve created freedom in their life and how they’ve actually got through that whole difficult time focusing on the three things which are love money in mind. Because I think going back to my happiness quote that, to have that equilibrium and then to have that every happiness in the world, you need to be happy in love, whether that be love for the people self love and self care. You need to have financial freedom, so money. So I love money and then also have the right mindset and the free mindset to be able to be the best person you can be and to be strong minded , and to be able to cope with anything that happens in your life as well. So yeah, that’s what Your Freedom podcast is all about.
Norman
You’ve been busy.
Anna 54:52
But I’m over by target because this podcast should have been launched weeks ago, but it’s the way the world and I won’t give up in a way I will make it happen.
Norman 55:00
So just like the COVID, which was, I guess back in March. So from March, until now, I think we can predict that there’s going to be a baby boom and along with that baby boom, I guarantee you that there’s going to be a podcast boom.
Anna 55:20
Yeah, definitely. If in fact, someone who was telling me there’s a baby boom, I’ll say there’s also going to be a single parent boom.
Anna
Yeah, for sure. I agree there. Yeah.
Anna 55:34
Oh, but yeah, you’re right with the podcasts. I think there’s so many different podcasts. Starting already, I’ve seen so many different ones, which is great and it’s becoming the thing through COVID. I think that people are launching podcasts alongside their business or for whatever means.
Norman 55:54
We’re getting down to the end of the podcast and if somebody would like to get in touch with you, what’s the best way to contact you?
Anna 56:04
So I think the socials, I have a few Facebook groups that can help people get started that you know, like free groups that can get involved with that I linked to my Facebook profile. So if you just find me Anna Davidson, and the same with Instagram as well. Although on Instagram I’m The Anna Davidson, and because we’re saving the other Anna Davidson to come up with a way of being the one. So yeah, just that I think the best way is to connect with our socials on Instagram and Facebook, the main ones I’m on.
Norman 56:39
Okay, fantastic. And the book was called..
Anna
She Made It Happen.
Norman
Your new podcast.
Anna
Your Freedom podcast.
Norman
Perfect. So now at the end of every one of our episodes, we have a question. And that question is, do you know a guy?
Anna 57:00
Yeah, I do. I know a guy called Steve Beedie, he set up a group actually called, or is it a Facebook page called Unspoken Wounds. He’s got an incredible story. He fought in Iraq and saw some incredible stuff and the set up is on a mission to help people with their mental health . Oh, so, yeah, he’s just got an incredible story to say so he’d be great on here.
Norman 57:28
Fantastic. Well, Anna, I look forward to commenting on your Instagram.
Anna 57:36
Thanks for having me on. It’s been great. I love it.
Norman 57:40
This is this super. Just going back to the reason why we set this up is to get to know people. And now I know we kind of know each other on Instagram, but it’s so cool being able to get to know you.
Anna 57:55
Yeah, great. Oh, I’ve enjoyed it. I’ve loved talking to you today and Yeah, I look forward to connecting with you more in the future on Instagram. But in any other way, it’s always great to get to know people better. And I feel like you’ve got to know me a little bit better today.
Norman 58:11
Yes, thank you so much for being on the podcast.
Anna 58:14
Thanks,
Norman 58:15
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Norman 58:26
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