If you follow my blog or Instagram account, you’ve likely heard me mention two trailblazing women I admire the most: Oprah Winfrey and Myleik Teele. Kerry Washington comes in a very close third place. I don’t know about you, but I love seeing fabulous women who are making big, bold moves out in the world. To me, these women set the example that we can all accomplish our wildest dreams and be graceful and humble while doing it. They exude class, celebrate intelligence and break down barriers – they truly walk in their purpose.
Myleik Teele, has revolutionized the way women address their curly hair needs. She is the founder of curlBOX, an exclusive monthly subscription box full of amazing products. She also started a second business called MyTaughtYou and she offers sage advice on her wildly popular podcast. On the podcast, Myleik shares everything from personal stories, money tips, relationship advice, hobbies that make money, business tips and so much more.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Myleik to discuss her new podcast companion worksheets. Have you seen these gems yet? Each worksheet is approximately 5 – 9 pages long and they cover three main topics: Maintaining Momentum, Landing Your Dream Job and my personal favorite, The Business Approach to Dating and Relationships.
Click here to purchase Myleik’s Podcast Companion Worksheets! Current prices range from $4.99 – $9.99!
Let me break down each of these worksheets for you and let you know how I’ve been incorporating them into my everyday life.
Maintaining Momentum
This 5-page worksheet guides you towards overcoming obstacles that have no place in your life and moving full force to the top of your game. It has definitions of what a vision board is as well as a mantra – a word or phrase that is repeated often.
Myleik then challenges you to ask yourself an honest question about how you want to feel when you achieve your goals and leaves space for you to jot down your answer. There are also instructions on how to make a vision board and additional space to write down the mantra(s) you want to recite to yourself daily. The rest of the worksheet is about taking action and brainstorming so you can begin to reset your mindset, step outside of your comfort zone and build momentum.
I think this worksheet is very well thought out and organized. I’ve used it to help me start putting some personal plans and goals into action. There is something about the power of writing things down that starts to get the universe moving in your favor.
Landing Your Dream Job
This 7-page worksheet is a companion to the “Why You’re Not Getting the Job” podcast. This worksheet’s intent is to creatively guide you in the right direction of landing the job of your dreams. Myleik shares proven tips, insider secrets and tells you how to enhance your resume and cover letter with step-by-step instructions. Researching your online presence is also discussed along with some action steps to take. The worksheet then discusses how to creatively find your dream job and provides an action plan.
I think entrepreneurs or people looking for a new job in the workplace would benefit from using this worksheet. I used it to help me start building my early literacy consulting business. It helped me to start getting crystal clear on my goals and vision.
The Business Approach to Dating and Relationships
This 9-page worksheet is a companion to the “Why I Took a Business Approach to Dating and Relationships” podcast. It provides a loose strategy for approaching dating in a way that makes you feel a bit more confident.
At the top of this worksheet Myleik challenges you to be honest with yourself about your life goals and priorities. There is space provided for you to write down your thoughts. Then there is a section for you to evaluate your past experiences with regards to relationships and useful information about how to find a therapist if you feel like you’re in need of one.
Other topics include: performing a gut check, working on your personal elevator pitch and writing down exactly what you’re looking for in a relationship.
I think this worksheet is a fantastic resource for both single and married people. I used it to re-evaulate some of the goals my husband and I have for our marriage. Myleik says once she started approaching relationships the same way she did her business things started to change for the better. Check it out for yourself and see if things start to shift for you too!
Now for the fun part, the interview!
Q&A With Myleik!
Q: Tell me about your new Podcast Companion Worksheets and why you decided to create them.
A: The podcast companion worksheets are sort of a physical, tangible accountability partner for people in certain areas of their lives. We looked at our most popular podcasts and wondered how can we help people maintain momentum.
Q: Who should use these worksheets and how can people benefit from using them?
A: I think anyone can use the worksheets. I have found the people who enjoy the worksheets most are visual learners. They enjoy making vision boards, setting goals and making plans. They like being held accountable and some are still looking for mentors. The worksheets are sort of a way to help them stay on track.
Q: What’s your most popular podcast episode that you’d recommend others listen to?
A: I have a podcast that I did about therapy. It’s about why I went to therapy and why I still go. Therapy is such a taboo topic to many people, but that is probably the one that’s listened to the most.
Q: What are some lessons you’ve learned in leadership?
A: When it comes to leadership, people have to remember to use their voice and trust their decisions. I think sometimes people don’t think they’re good enough or don’t believe their ideas are valid. We need new opinions, we need new ways of doing things. So I think leaders have to get really good at trusting their voice. They also have to learn how to work with others and not be so married to their own ideas. I always say, “I lead from the back”. Meaning, I know I’m on a team with other people so sometimes I let others step in and fix a problem instead of always doing it myself.
Q: After all of your success, what do you struggle with now? What keeps you awake at night?
A: To be honest with you, I feel very content in my life right now. That is something that I worked really, really hard on because there were many things that used to keep me up at night. I think that now I decided at the end of the day I want to have some peace. So with the help of psychotherapy and learning how to really let things go, I have become somewhat of a black belt communicator. I know how to communicate better than I ever have before. When you master that I think you don’t take things so seriously. As long as I can say that I have done my absolute best I can’t be worried about what may or may not happen.
Q: Do you have any books that you would suggest I read for pleasure?
A: I don’t do a ton of pleasure reading, but I am currently reading The Perfect Find by Tia Williams and I’m absolutely enjoying it. I also really enjoyed 32 Candles by by
Q: Which 3 business/career related books do you recommend the most?
A: Every person who works for me has to read The Personal Touch by Terrie Williams and Write to the Point by Salvatore Iacone. If I had to pick a third book I’d probably say Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi. It’s a great networking book.
Q: What’s the most important business or other discovery you’ve made this year?
A: I think this year has been my year of contentment to be okay with where I am. This year I’ve worked really hard to just enjoy my moments by not beating myself up.
Q: What’s unique about the MyTaughtYou products and services that you provide?
A: The MyTaughtYou brand and products are purely based on the community. People may not know this, but I’ve been on social media for over 7 years. I used to chronicle my hustle on Twitter and provide tips. I used to have people sending me money to my office as a way to say thank you for helping them. So I decided to create MyTaughtYou as a way to give back and create useful tools in hopes that they help others. It’s completely a labor of love. I use the money I make from MyTaughtYou to put back into making more MyTaughtYou products.
Q: What’s next for MyTaughtYou and Curlbox in 2017 and beyond?
A: With CurlBox, I think people will be excited to see we’re stepping things up quite a bit. We’ll have a lot more offerings and partnerships. For MyTaughtYou I have a few more product ideas and I’m also working on creating another journal. I hope to have it finished before the holidays because I think that will be so great to help people start the new year.
Q: If you were to start a third business what kind of business would it be?
A: It would probably be something cooking related. People who follow me on Snapchat know how much I love to cook. So it might be something like a cookbook or something related to food.
Q: Are you willing to share 1-2 things about yourself that can’t be found in your bio or on social media?
A: I’m pretty much an open book, but a lot of people may not know that I skipped the first grade. Also me and my junior high track and field team hold a Junior Olympic Track and Field record for completing the 4 x 400m Relay in 3:45.90 seconds.
Q: I love the question you asked your friend Ken in a recent podcast so now I’m going to ask you. If you had $20 what would you spend it on? Same question for $100.
A: If I had $20 I would get a foot massage at the massage place down the street from my house. If I had $100 I would get the Alexa that Amazon sells.
Myleik also dropped some real gems and gave me some personal, valuable advice. Here are some of the highlights:
Regarding time management…
“You have to use your time wisely as if your life depends on it because it does. There’s a great amount of sacrifice that goes into working for yourself as an entrepreneur. A lot of people want to reap the rewards of being an entrepreneur, but they don’t want to put in the time or the work.”
When deciding what to charge clients/customers for your time…
“If I know I need to make $5,000 per month in order to live comfortably, I could either have 2 clients paying me $2,500 each or 50 clients paying me $100 each. I generally find the higher your prices are, the less customers you need. In the past, the more cheaper clients I had, the more headaches I had.”
“You need to find the right people who are willing to pay for your time and services and work really, really hard to keep them happy. You also need to figure out what it costs you to live on a monthly basis. Then decide how many customers you think you can get and build it from there. Start high and then you can negotiate. You should also have to have a walking point to say, ‘No, I’m not going to do it for that price’ if it’s less than what you’re willing to accept.”
On consistently making money as an entrepreneur…
“If you want to consistently make money, you have to consistently hustle. There are no guaranteed or steady paychecks like you get from working at your job. With entrepreneurship you eat what you kill, period. That’s the thing I love the most about being an entrepreneur. I felt like I was a millionaire when I was 25 years old. I know how hard I’m willing to work and do what it takes. I will wake up at 4am for a decade if that’s what it takes. Do the work, remove the date, and the check will come down.”
On changing your mindset…
“You really have to come to a place of understanding that your income is limitless. You can make as much or as little as you want. It’s up to you. You have to get into that mindset and be willing to do what most people won’t or be okay with being micromanaged at your job. Your job may not be as bad as you think given all of the things that come with being an entrepreneur.”
