Nettie Owens of Momentum is an accountability and productivity expert. We recently sat down with Nettie , a certified internationally recognized and award winning expert and speaker in the field of accountability and productivity. She’s a graduate of Johns Hopkins University with a degree in computer science and a minor in entrepreneurship and management. Owens, this methodologies are brain based, researched, and backed by science through training, speaking, coaching, blogging, and 86, plus video interviews at the time of this interview anyway, as far as I can tell, on what businesses need to know, she brings over 17 years worth of experience to her clients, communities and beyond. Read on to learn #HERstory and what she’s got going on…
Tell us a little bit about your work….
So I started out actually as a professional organizer. In my beginning days, I was working with homeowners, individuals, or even small businesses that were looking to bring some order to whatever was going on in their life.
The people that I worked with tended to be “chronically disorganized”, which is a term that we use in the organizing industry to describe somebody who has challenges beyond your kitchen cabinet, kind of Tupperware clutter. So, they might be struggling with ADHD, OCD, PTSD, anxiety, depression, traumatic brain injury, and that’s the source of their organizing challenges.
I did that work for many, many years, built an agency around it, and then shifted to focus on if we can take a home project and bring it to fruition to get a person to where they can live the life they most enjoy, then why can’t we use those same principles in the business setting? And, and so a few years back, I made that shift to a business that supports that.
Now I support High Achiever business owners, and entrepreneurs, to reach their biggest goals without burning out. We do this by tapping into their innate knowledge, expertise and resources in order to reach those goals.
What do you think entrepreneurs struggle with the most and why?
Most of the entrepreneurs that I’ve run into, they’re not lacking for great ideas, it’s really maintaining that focus and energy long enough to bring them to fruition.
They’ll often be successful out of the gates with something, but it’s that ongoing, repeated energy that needs to be tapped into. So a lot of what I do is helping to keep people accountable, and focused on what they’re moving towards.
Even I struggle with this, and so I have my own resources that I tap into, and then I’m able to provide those to others as well.
What do you enjoy the most about being in business for yourself?
I really enjoy the creation process. I love the ability to pop that idea and then actually make it into reality.
Whether that’s a new program, or the book that just came to fruition.
I love to be able to make and manifest the things that are in my mind. To know that the things that I’m doing help others also do the same thing for them, that to me is just amazing. I light up around helping people bridge those gaps.
Knowing that it’s really possible for any one of us to do it. So that’s what excites me; like the conference I hosted just last week. I just get so energized seeing all that happen.
What do you enjoy least about being in business for yourself?
That’s a great question. That’s a day to day thing.
I’d like to see a show of hands for the folks who are like, “I’ve had enough…I’m getting a job.” It happens, even to me.
It’s always so much.
It’s just that balance, not the work life balance, but that balance between doing the thing that you love, and creating and running a business to do the thing that you love.
So if you’re familiar with Michael Gerber’s book, The E myth, I mean, this is it “the entrepreneurial conundrum”, the E myth is, is that place between a business that’s going to be successful, doing what you love, and then actually doing what you love and the reality you have to run a business in the process. Not everybody is great at being a business owner.
MB says: I think that that’s a really good point, I always tell people, are you ready to work 24 seven, because that’s what having your own business usually means. Until you get a handle on how you’re going to manage your time and put some systems and processes in place.
So what has been your biggest challenge? And why?
Well, I would say, and I think this is a great platform to say this, it’s tough to do business in a man’s world.
We are still, albeit in 2021, in a man’s world.
A lot of the resources available have a masculine feel to them.
When I say masculine, I’m not talking about masculine as as masculinity represents a person who identifies as a man, but masculine energy and feminine energy.
Masculine energy is very structured, it’s very focused.
It’s very “get things done”, to completion, right?
However, feminine energy is creative.
It’s that bringing into reality, and it has more of a flow to it. Does that make sense?
Many of the productivity books, not all, but many, of the productivity books to date have been written by men. Most of the business books to date have been written by men. Most of the top business speakers are men. If you look at numbers wise, they’re still men, most of the top CEOs are men. And so we have this, this masculine feel that’s coming down.
So, I, as a business owner, say to myself “ but I’m not a man”.
I do have masculine and feminine energy as we all do. But, I’m trying to kind of take that and stick it to myself and apply it to myself and what I’m offering.
That’s certainly where I’ve been challenged. And, it’s also been the biggest opportunity that I’ve also experienced. There’s 50% of us out there who identify more in that feminine energy.
There have to be resources for that feminine energy.
How can we do this more?
So I think for me, that’s been the challenge. But I also see it as my greatest opportunity.
How can we level that?
How can we need and work with both?
Because we are equally represented on the planet.
Let’s try and see if we can be equally represented, at the events, at the trainings, in the books, in business, in the boardroom, and at the top positions. How can we even that out?
So, you’ve written this book. “WHAT BUSINESSES NEED TO KNOW RIGHT NOW Lessons Learned From Interviewing Businesses During a Pandemic”
What prompted you to write the book?
Well, I actually started the interview series, similar to what we’re doing here; prior to thinking about writing the book.
As I did it, at one point, this information seemed more relevant and necessary than just doing the interviews. I was hearing knowledge that needed to be shared on a lot larger platform.
So in October, I decided, with the help of my PR consultant, that bringing this knowledge into a book format would help get the valuable information greater awareness and visibility. I knew that business owners are busy and at the beginning of the pandemic, we were caught between being busy and not knowing what to do and kind of in this fog…
I was hearing questions such as:
- What do I do?
- Do I bring my workforce home?
- In my office, how do I keep people safe?
- How do I balance having my kids at home?
All these questions were coming up. So I just started interviewing people who had answers.
I interviewed marketing and strategy people, productivity people, organizing people, human resources people, diversity people, just whatever was coming up, and was asking, give me your side of this. And it was very exciting to hear what they were sharing. So I wanted to put that together and help more people. Hence the book which was released April 23, 2021.
What are the top tips you’d give the business owner struggling with dealing with the impact of the pandemic?
#1 Build relationships
So now more than ever, even though you might feel isolated, you need to tap into the relationships that you have or begin to build deeper relationships because your success actually is founded on the relationships that you have. And and those are relationships, you know, with business colleagues, but also with your customers and with your employees. So that deep connectivity is probably one of the biggest things that I heard just over and over and over again.
#2 Be adaptable
We’ve heard pivot so much, it’s almost a dirty word. At this point, like I don’t even want to hear the word pivot, we’re not pivoting. But we are changing. And, as always, like the pandemic, just just kind of amplified it. phrase, you know, I’m sure you’ve heard it, that money just makes you more of who you already were, to pandemic just made us all more of who we already were. So if we already were having a hard time adapting, then we really struggled through this pandemic. But if we were already somewhat adaptable, then then the pandemic almost came as an opportunity to try something new. So that that is a huge thing, as you’re starting to build and foster those relationships. The other part is to notice where you can adapt to grow. It’s not good to need to like bend to somebody else. But how can you adapt maybe it’s just a slight tweak on your target market or a shift in how you deliver your product, you know, little things that can make a really big difference and opportunities to look for those are everywhere. So just kind of keeping those eyes open to what’s available.
#3. Tap into the funding available
Even if you haven’t already, even if you don’t feel like it’s for you tap into the funding that is available. Because, especially in the United States here, we have been given an opportunity to access funding as business owners.
Personally, I didn’t access it on the first round, I didn’t think I needed it. I said I’m okay, I don’t need that. But there’s this flow that happens. So whether you think you need it right now, or you think it could be helpful in the future, we’re going to be feeling the effects of the decisions that were made in March 2020, for a very long time. So if you say I’m just going to accept this funding, and then I’ll set it aside for a while, and then I’ll pay it back.Give yourself that cushion. And write that leeway get as much funding as you possibly can. Because you can make better decisions when you’re in a place of abundance than when you’re in fear and thinking “ I don’t know how I’m going to pay my employees this month.” Right? So take the money. Even if you just need to set it aside, it’s okay. But I couldn’t say this any louder, take the money. It’s worth having that. Having that right now. And that’s what it’s there for. It’s there to help rise the tide.
Your book launched at the end of April, where can people find out more and order it?
You can go directly to Amazon and get your copy.
When you’re not working How do you like to spend your time?
I live kind of in the woods in the hills and Pennsylvania Pittsburgh, just north of the city. I love love just wandering around in the woods with family and we love going camping. We have an RV; so that’s been so fun to explore with. Also, I love to cook and garden as much as possible. I get outside of this little digital bubble. And I just like to be out in nature and spending time there.
I love to hike too.
How do you define success?
I love this question. So success is going to be defined independently for each person.
I think the more we try and look for a definition of success outside of ourselves, the more we’re going to fall short. I’ll tell you my definition of success and then I would encourage your readers to look inwardly to discern for themselves “what does success look like for you? “
For me, it’s being able to live my mission to my absolute fullest and, and in return be well provided for.
That’s a great answer. And I think that success really is personal.
Last question, what’s your favorite food and why?
I love to eat, I love to cook.
I love at my events that you just mentioned, I feed. I feed everybody. And as much as possible, at this point, folks come for the food, and then we do some business stuff that we just love to eat.
So to narrow it down, I love fresh fruit. Then just your traditional stuff like rice and bread and all that. But oh, my goodness, it’s hard to pick just one thing because honestly, I love to eat.
ABOUT NETTIE OWENS OF MOMENTUM
Nettie Owens of Momentum is the founder of the Momentum Accountability Program, President of Sappari Solutions, and an internationally recognized, and award-winning expert and speaker in the field of accountability and productivity.
She graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a degree in Computer Science and a minor in Entrepreneurship and Management. That combination has helped her create brain-based methodologies that are well-researched and backed by science. To learn more about Nettie click here to visit her website. Click here to find out more about the book on Amazon.