Danielle Cobo today's guest is an award-winning Career, Leadership, and Sales Performance Coach who spent 15 years in medical sales. After earning four consecutive awards for top performance as an individual contributor, and leading a historically poor performing sales team to #1 in the nation within two years, Danielle decided to leave corporate America to follow her passion of coaching others. She has taught thousands of professionals to accelerate their careers, increase sales performance, and create a connected company culture through her keynote speaking, corporate workshops, and one-on-one coaching.
In today’s episode of She’s Wild Podcast, I am eager to introduce you to our guest Danielle Cobo. Danielle is an award-winning Career, Leadership, and Sales Performance Coach who spent 15 years in medical sales. After earning four consecutive awards for top performance as an individual contributor, and leading a historically poor performing sales team to #1 in the nation within two years, Danielle decided to leave corporate America to follow her passion of coaching others. She has taught thousands of professionals to accelerate their careers, increase sales performance, and create a connected company culture through her keynote speaking, corporate workshops, and one-on-one coaching.
Throughout the episode, Danielle and I discuss her transition from leading the number one sales team in the nation to starting a career coaching business from the ground up. Danielle explains what it means to be a career coach, and gives examples of how she has helped her clients throughout their journey of either excelling in their current role or finding their dream job. This episode will leave you feeling inspired to invest in yourself and eliminate some of the limiting beliefs you may be telling yourself.
Memorable Moments:
5:44- People don't get promoted for doing their job. Well, they get promoted for the potential that others see in them.
10:13- There's so much value of being able to have open, honest conversations with people who can be mentors to you, where you don't have to feel like if you're talking to an internal employee, that your job may be in jeopardy.
11:21- It's all about having a thriving career: So that you can have an abundant life. So that you're living a life of purpose and joy and happiness.
18:45- Find every way to say yes, while also setting the boundaries of when you're going to be doing either that task or that phone call or that email.
23:06- I'm a big believer that if there's a certain goal that you have in mind, the quickest way to get there is to invest in yourself and somebody who's been there before.
Connect with Nancy:
Instagram: https://instagram.com/nancysurak
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancysurak/
Website: www.nancysurak.com
Connect with Danielle:
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/daniellecobo/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/thedaniellecobo/
Website: www.DanielleCobo.com
Podcast: Dream Job With Danielle Cobo: https://www.daniellecobo.com/podcast
Danielle’s Book Recommendation:
Harness Your Inner CEO via Amazon - https://amzn.to/3RGIPCF
She's WILD Sound Production by:
Luke Surak, Surak Productions: surakproductions@gmail.com
Nancy Surak 00:00
Welcome to She's Wild the podcast for women and land in development. I'm your host, Nancy Surak. I created this podcast as a way to collect conversations of women in the land and development industry. I've been a land broker on the west coast of Florida for nearly 20 years. And I love to empower other women and to tell them about this amazing industry. But I find often that there just aren't enough women being featured on big stages, whether that's at local conferences, or nationally. So I set out to find these women myself, that are killing it in my business across North America that are changing the communities that they live in every single day, whether they're building condos, multifamily, single family, office, or industrial projects, I hope that you will find this space to be inspirational, motivating, and educational. From time to time, I will feature women who are not only in my business, but also career coaches, and motivational speakers. Today's guest is Danielle Cabo, an elite career coach, keynote speaker, corporate trainer, and podcast host of your dream job with Danielle Cabo. I invited Danielle on the show today to talk to us about going from a place of uncertainty in your career, and the assessments that you can do for yourself, to help bring clarity so that you can accelerate to the next stage, whether that's an internal promotion, or taking a big leap, and starting your own business. I hope that you enjoy our conversation, and that you gain tips along the way. We even talk about life balance, public speaking and leaning into the fear that holds so many of us back. I really, really enjoyed my conversation with Danielle and I hope that you will too. Hi, Danielle, welcome to she's wild, the podcast all about women in land and development. I am so excited to have you here today. I can't wait for you to share some of your insight. But to get going, I just want to give a snippet of how we connected and a little bit about you. But I'm gonna let you do a full introduction. So Danielle reached out to me on social media and basically sent me a voice memo that said, here's who I am. And here's what I'm about. And I was like who is this awesome woman that I must meet? Who is reaching out to me thinking that I'm somebody she needs to meet. And we've been great friends ever since and wanted just to have you on here because you as a career coach, and a podcaster and a public speaker have so much value to add for my audience that I just wanted to welcome you in and let you do a full introduction. Tell us who you are, and what you're doing.
Danielle Cobo 02:58
Well, thank you, Nancy, for having me on your podcast. It's an honor to be here. And as well as for you to be on my podcast as well. It was great. And I am a career coach. So I focus on leadership development, career acceleration, company culture and sales performance. And I started my career in medical sales. So I started working for medical sales. I already spent about 15 years, I was most recently leading a team for a fortune 500 company, and led the historically poorest performing team to number one in the nation. And then about two years ago, I left corporate America and launched my own business, which has been a wild ride. But it's also been a very exciting ride. And I truly found my passion and what I love to do I wake up every morning, grateful for what I get to do.
Nancy Surak 03:53
That's awesome. So you were in corporate America and you're killing it, slaying it with great results. Why do you leave? What What made you say this isn't the right fit?
Danielle Cobo 04:04
Yeah, it's I was I was very fortunate. And it was really hard to leave because I had the security of the salary, the benefits, the company car, the stock options. I had a point where I was getting everything. And it was really kind of the perfect storm where it was a great wake up call. My husband had served a year deployment. So he had been gone for a year. And during that time, my twin boys were a year and a half years old. And I was traveling 60% of the year my region with over five states. So I was on the road a lot. And he comes home. And within a three-month period he gets home from his deployment, my mom was taken by suicide and the pandemic hit. And it was really that moment where I said okay, I think a lot of this is really speaking to this great resignation. And where we're at in time period is a lot of us really opened our eyes as to, who do we want to be? And what do we want our legacy to be? And do we enjoy what we're doing? And so I sat down and I said, Okay, what do I love about my job, I love coaching and mentoring and seeing people on my team hit their goals and get promoted. What I didn't love about my job was getting on top of people for doing the expense reports, that's not always fun, and putting out fires all the time, and then being on the road all the time. And so I just kind of took a step back and said, there's, I have a vision board. And on my vision board, it says people don't get promoted for doing their job. Well, they get promoted for the potential that others see in them. And I remember leaving my company, and I was looking for another job not knowing exactly what I wanted to do. And one of the recruiters I was working with said, Danielle, stop looking for a job. And I was like, what? And she's like, You need to be a career coach. This is what you she's like, I can hear in your voice. You're so passionate about mentoring people and things like that, like, this is what you should be doing full time. And I was like, no, no, no, I don't want to be my own business owner. It's scary. It's risky, which ironically, on my 360 review, the two things that were one of the things that people said was not a risk taker. And I ended up just kind of going all in. And it's been an exciting journey. And I've been able to really grow my business. And I have been able to see some of my clients achieve extraordinary things in their career.
Nancy Surak 06:43
Do you take ownership, when they when they have a major winner, do you feel like you're winning too?
Danielle Cobo 06:48
Oh, my gosh, it's so exciting when you get to link arms with somebody. And a lot of times, people either come to me and they're looking for a job. And by the time they come to me, they've been applying to jobs online. And a lot of my first calls with people, they're in tears. So to see them go from that in tears, and they are, they're uncertain what the future is going to bring for their career. They're totally just discouraged and frustrated. And then to see us work together through it, where they get clarity on exactly where they want to do when they land their dream job. And they excel through the interview process, or they're in sales, and they max out your their comp plan. That is something that just lights my fire. It's exciting to see it's exciting to celebrate with them as well, and celebrate the wins along the way. Because sometimes we want to get somewhere so quickly. But you get to celebrate the wins along the way they get you there. Yeah, yeah,
Nancy Surak 07:45
I would imagine I know when I work with property owners, and there's, you know, a great sale, it's, I'm so much on the hamster wheel, like I'm already looking at the next deal. Like I'm already trying to figure out what's next. It's sometimes I don't stop and celebrate a win, you know, or a closing. But I have to remind my myself to do that. And to take a moment to be really grateful. And because there's so much work that happens up to that point. But I joke around a lot that when I sell something and I move on because I'm on the front end of development, I'm in the land business, when I move on, but I drive by years later a project gets built. And I'm like I built that I take this like ownership like I didn't build it. I didn't. I was not the designer, I was not the engineer, I never laid a brick, nothing. But I will say I built that's my project, I built that, because I just sold the land. So I do take ownership as well. So I get that it's very rewarding to see that you're part of something that's much bigger than just yourself. But I didn't realize that you did a lot of this during kind of the most uncertain time, I think in at least my adult history. Right? Yeah, my adult life. It's been just insane. And one of the reasons I started this podcast was because, you know, I see women in my business really still struggling even older, you know, mid career even late career women, I went to a conference in July of ‘21, and sat in a room full of people and thought, oh my gosh, these women are at like the senior levels of their career. And what they're telling me is such that they're not happy. And I was like the alarm bells were going off. And I said, well, who's counseling them? Who's working with them? Who is HR involved or their bosses involved in? That's really when I started to kind of hear more and more about like coaching. And so I'd love to know, just from you, like what's that been like during this time of change of people, like are people like really seeking you out and saying, like, please help me? You know, what are the traits when they I mean, you kind of touched on this earlier, but when they come to you, what is it that they are really looking for?
Danielle Cobo 09:56
And that's a great question because I never knew I didn't even know about career coaching. I didn't know that career coaches exist. If I didn't know about career coaches earlier on in my career, I probably I mean, I had a lot of success throughout my career. But there's so much value of being able to have open, honest conversations with people who can be mentors to you, where you don't have to feel like if you're talking to an internal employee, that your job may be in jeopardy. And I think that if I had a career coach earlier on in my career, it just want a bit a little bit easier of a process, I had to overcome a lot of adversity to get to where I was at such a young age, because I started in leadership when I was 30. And I would say that a lot of people when they come to me, they just feel like their uncertain. And it's either they're in a situation where they just don't know where the next step is going to be. Or I have some people where they're going, I just earned Leadership Council, which is a top performer in their company. And she goes, I thought I'd be more happy than I am. So she's like, what's missing? Or there's women out there that are going I am trying to juggle work and kids and family life, and I feel like I'm in a constant chaos of going from one to the next to the next. So how do I create balance in my life, and it's all about having a thriving career, so that you can have an abundant life. So that you're that you're living a life of purpose and joy and happiness.
Nancy Surak 11:32
Yeah, totally. Um, like, I'm in the choir, right? Like, yes. I mean, I think, like you, I left a job that had it all, to get into brokerage that, you know, was 100%. Commission, and I'm like, if I don't do a deal, I starve. And people sometimes will say, Oh, well, you're doing these big deals. And I'm like, Yeah, but you know, that big deal I did, it took me six years to get it over the finish line, it's you have to be so patient. And just very deliberate. And follow up is key. And, you know, it's been crazy. But it's, it's been great. I mean, I love it. You know, it's finding your passion, right? It's finding what you love. So tell me, how do you help a woman who comes to you and says, I don't know what's next? What are the questions that you ask her to help her find that solution that's within.
Danielle Cobo 12:23
So the first thing that I do is I asked them to really take a piece of paper, and write down. I always start with like, transforming that self-doubt, to confidence and courage. Because a lot of times, we're not taking that next step in our career, because we're doubting ourselves. And so I will say, sit in a quiet room, and write down every negative thing that you've told yourself, I can't get a job, I can't get promoted. I'm not present at home, I'm not pretty. Whatever it is, these are all things I've told myself throughout my life. And so write them all down. And then then take some about five of them, and change the script, flip the script, instead of saying, I can't get a job. Say I'm putting effort into getting my dream job, I'm taking that next step to getting my dream job, I am going to get my dream job. And so transforming that self-doubt, to confidence, and courage is going to be the first thing because once you feel like you are confident, then the sky's the limit, it can do anything, then that next step is writing down and making a list and putting a take a piece of paper, write a line down the center. And on the left side, say everything that you love about your job, what are your passionate about What lights your fire? What do you get excited about? And then on the right side, write all the things that you don't like about your job. And look, there's going to be things that we don't like, I don't like doing accounting in my business, I can outsource that. Not it's not my favorite thing. So is there a way that you can kind of take the things that you truly enjoy and in find a position that aligns with those goals or if you're a business owner, really hone in and understand what you get excited about and outsource the things that you don't get excited about? And then from there put together a career plan? What are the specific goals, I always say SMART goals are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time bound. So putting together three specific SMART goals that are going to take you to that next step in achieving your goal. And if it's if it's building a business, then it's going to be what are the specific steps that you're going to take? Is it putting together a business plan? Is it taking courses to develop different skill sets? Is it building a program within your organization, whatever it is, but it's important that you're creating SMART goals and creating SMART goals in a 90-day period. Like your vision board that you put above. I have a vision board up on my desk. This is like my big Got my big dreams that I'm going to accomplish. And then my smart goals are within 90-day periods.
Nancy Surak 15:05
I'd love that 90-days. So I recently did that in last quarter. And I, for the first time, like I always have these sorts of annual goals, I have a vision board as well. And it's definitely a long term, I think mine is an eight-year plan, eight, five to eight years. And it doesn't shockingly, it doesn't have a whole lot about career stuff. It's all about the kind of lifestyle I want. You know, and that trends. I mean, it has a little bit of career stuff on it, but it's mostly the lifestyle, like this is the lifestyle, the career is how I'm going to get that. But really, the 90-day, it's been a challenge, because I'm like, okay, because I do you know, my daily to do lists, right? Or my weekly, like, these are the things I have to really focus on this week to get done. But when you hold yourself accountable for that 90 days, it's like a, it's like my heartbeat is in my ears, I am listening to just that date is like coming approaching and I'm like, okay, what have I done and talking about career coaches, when I've had a coach, or when I do have a coach, I have a coach now that I that's holding me accountable. I know that call is coming up next Wednesday. And I'm like, Ah, I didn't do that. Because I let these other things get in the way, whether that's clients work, other to do things, you know, family, it's just, it's hard. It's a lot to balance. But I've also been very focused recently on putting people that want my time, a little bit on a time restriction and a little bit on a time diet of knowing if a client takes 45 minutes or an hour to say like, I have seven minutes, literally just before you and I jumped on, I called somebody with seven minutes. And I was like, I have seven minutes. That's all I have. Let's go. So I'd love to just sort of hear like, Do you have tips with that of like, when people are very willing to take your time? How do you restrict, you know, and make sure you're in a right like mental state? I mean, I know you have two young boys, you probably couldn't relate more with them. Right? What do you do? What are some tips with that?
Danielle Cobo 17:09
That's an excellent question. Because yes, it can easily you can get caught into the trap of just talking and talking which there's value in, in having conversations beyond the what action steps do I need to take today, it's about building that relationship. And at the same time, I have found, it can be challenging when people sometimes abuse the time that they have with you knowing that maybe they think that they're they're only you're the only client, but you have others too. And so one of the things I'll say is I have some parameters. And I'll tell people, I am a big believer, just like I am teaching you and coaching you and supporting you to do this as well. I live by what I coach too, which is having work life balance. And so I will answer my phone from 9:30am to 4:30pm. And I've found that if I respond after that, I'm teaching them that it's okay to message me after those hours as well. So I have to be very intentional of doing that. The second thing I would suggest is, like you said, putting some parameters, I've got 10 minutes to talk, how can I support you today? Or if somebody says, hey, I need to, can I get on your calendar? I need to talk about something? Yes, absolutely. I always lead with Yes. And I have time tomorrow. Because a lot of times you want to take control of your calendar. That's your time, and you get to decide when you're going to be doing certain tasks. So I definitely am a big believer find every way to say yes, while also setting the boundaries of when you're going to be doing either that task or that phone call or that email.
Nancy Surak 18:54
Yeah, no, that's great advice. I started using a tool called Calendly for meetings. And it's great because I can actually block out time blocks on my calendar. And I've had weeks where I will review my calendar and I'm like, Oh, wow, I get a lot of meetings this week. And I will literally go in and block like a half of the day or an entire day. And I'm like, I'm going to need that day just to get work done. Yep. And it's really been pretty impactful. I will say most people love it. I've had a few people not like it because they want that immediate availability. In what I've told myself is that's just not my person. And that's okay. My clients who know me, not an issue. It's always somebody who doesn't know me that's under whatever pressure and that's okay, but I'm like no, that's I'm not going to drop everything to accommodate your schedule. I need to get my own work done. So I love that you said you know, make sure you use those tools. I also want to talk to you about I have a goal that you're working on. I think your goal for this year is to get on the TEDx stage. Yes. And I know that you're doing a lot of work with that. And part of why I started this podcast was because women in my industry, for whatever reason, I think I know why aren't featured on stages, as much as I wish they were, to the point where I'm pretty vocal about it here on the west coast of Florida, that, you know, we need more women on speaking panels. And then I'm sort of over the male panel or the manel, what we affectionately call to the point where people will send me pictures via text, when they're at events of all male panels. And they'll say, Oh, I found another one. And I'm like, great, why aren't you on that stage? So I want to talk to you about your public speaking your process of working on that. And some tips, maybe you could share along with sort of folks who maybe want to get on the public speaking wrong, but are like, deathly afraid of public speaking? You know, what would you say to them in terms of like, how to get started or getting some confidence or advice?
Danielle Cobo 21:09
Well, the first thing I would say is, you're not alone. When it comes to the fear of public speaking, it's among the top three of fears next to death. So a lot of people fear public speaking, I, myself was one of those as well, the first time I had a present, I was in sales. And the first time I had a present the features and benefits of a copier, I was in tears because I was so scared. And a lot of it is leaning into the uncomfort zone, if you're fearful of public speaking, but you want to maybe get on stage, then you got to lean in and really raise your hand for every opportunity and maybe start small, maybe it's your presenting at your next meeting in your company, maybe you're presenting at a local women's luncheon, whatever it is, but continuously lean in, I've found that being a podcast host has been really helpful and me developing speaking skills because I listened to every single one of my own episodes, which is torturous, because I will nitpick every filler word out there. But that's what helps you get better. That's what strengthens your speaking skills. So really leaning in into every speaking opportunity, you can listen, record yourself, listen back, watch yourself. And the other thing is invest in a coach. I know that early on in my business, I was so scared to spend money. And I remember my husband asked me one day he's like, okay, so how much do you have in your business account, and I was telling him about my goals. And he's like, wait a minute, you're sitting on that and your business account, he's like, if you want to take your business to the next level, you need to invest in your business. And now I have no problem. I'm like, okay, I got a business coach, I got a TEDx speaker coach, I've got a coach that did my messaging and branding. I'm a big believer that if there's a certain goal that you have in mind, the quickest way to get there is to invest in yourself and somebody who's been there before.
Nancy Surak 23:17
I think that is excellent advice. And I know I don't invest in myself the way some people do, because I tend to want to invest into whatever it is that I'm working on. But every time I have done that, just I have this like huge launch, right. So every time I've said, okay, I'm going to do this, I'm going to work on my personal brand, or I'm going to create my website, or I'm going to do this. We used to say the reward is in the work, right? The reward is in the work. And it's it's going through that whole process on the on the back end, you're so much better for having done whatever it is that you're working on. So I'm really glad that you talked about reinvesting in yourself. Because I think that's a message not only for like business owners, or independents, but even in your career, right, you have to invest in getting the right proper training, or raising your hand. I know when I worked for a company being able to say I want this training, I want to go to this conference when we were traveling more I want to do this and I want to learn that you have to ask right because the answer is no. If you never ask you'll never get that opportunity. Are you coaching women on how to better ask at all like when they want to take that next step? What are what are some things that maybe come up with that?
Danielle Cobo 24:39
Yeah, I when a client will reach out to me and they're saying okay, well, I want some career coaching. I want to know what it's going to take for me to get to that next level. And I will say, here's here's the program, ask your company to invest in you because it can be a very big return on investment if if a lot of not every company has pre programs within the organization when it comes to developing leadership skills, communication skills, time management, productivity, all of these things that really help people excel in their career and bring value to the organization. And so I will say, ask your company first, it doesn't hurt to ask. The second thing is if they're going no, then you say, Well, can we split it? And then if they say no, and you say, okay, then you get to ask yourself, what do you want to do. And if you think that this is truly going to help you take that next step in your career, knowing that possibly the return on investment is you're going to get promoted, and it's going to increase your salary earnings. And you're going to continue to just develop the skills that you want to be able to have balance in your life to be an effective leader, all of those things, then that's something you got to ask yourself when it comes to do you believe you are worthy of investing in yourself? And I believe everybody is.
Nancy Surak 26:01
Oh, absolutely. And I love that I love that's where we're sort of coming down, we're gonna focus in on, you know, the two questions that I asked, but I love the fact that you said, you know, you, you're worthy, right, we are all worthy of taking that next step, whatever it is, we're all worthy of taking a moment, just to say, what do I want next? I know in it, at least in my life, especially when my kids were younger. You're on such a fast train ride, that it's sometimes uncomfortable to take a few hours for yourself, but it is so important to say, is this what I want? And if it's if the answer is, I don't know, or no, then doing some of the things that you suggested in this podcast, I think would be incredibly helpful to find that clarity of what you think it is, and then maybe hiring a coach or getting in a group coaching setting. I know that that's a possibility sometimes, too. So for folks who are listening, who were like, Oh, my God, this is me, I need a career coach. Where would they find you? How do they follow you keep up with you? Where can people say like, I want to work with Danielle?
Danielle Cobo 27:11
Well, they can go to my website, DanielleCobo.com. And then also LinkedIn. I am very active on LinkedIn. And I share a lot of career advice on LinkedIn. So either my website or LinkedIn, Danielle Cobo,
Nancy Surak 27:28
Awesome. And then my final question, which I always like to ask, I might have borrowed this from a good friend of ours, another podcaster. But I love this because I'm a huge audio book consumer. And when I walk my dog, I listen to audiobooks for self development and keeping positive mindset. If there's an audio book, or a book or a podcast other than your own, that you've listened to that you find incredibly inspirational, what might that be?
Danielle Cobo 27:57
Oh, I, I love what I'm saying with you. I love this every morning, I either listen to a TEDx or a podcast, or I'm reading a book. And one that I am just getting into that I'm really enjoying is harness your inner CEO by Becca Powers. And it's a brand-new book, but she really takes inventory of whether you are an entrepreneur, and you're owning your own business or an intrapreneur, how you can be the CEO of your own life. And she talks about this moment of just having complete breakdown in her life, and how she overcame it. And I've thoroughly enjoyed reading her book.
Nancy Surak 28:33
That sounds fantastic. I can't wait to put it on my reading list. So thank you for that. I want to thank you again, so much for sharing your bits of wisdom and your insight. You have such an amazing story. I hope that anyone listening will go and follow you on social media. Follow you elsewhere. Listen to your podcast, the Dream Job with Danielle Cobo, again. Thank you so much. I really appreciate your time and I can't wait to see you again here soon.
Danielle Cobo 29:00
Thank you.
Nancy Surak 29:02
Thank you for joining us for another episode of she's wild the podcast for women and land and development. If you enjoyed today's show, please go out and rate us so that we can be found by other women in our industry. And if you know women who are working in land and development, please share this podcast with them. And if you know a total rock star woman, badass chick who is killing it in land and development anywhere in North America. I want to know who she is. Please reach out to me so that I can feature her on an upcoming episode.