Cosmos

Welcome back to the show, my fellow extraordinary Americans. Today’s guest is Laureen Cohon. Laureen is a dynamic entrepreneur passionate about redefining how people connect and thrive in business and life. 

As the visionary founder of Yoke, a groundbreaking dating app tailored for entrepreneurs, Laureen empowers business owners to form relationships rooted in shared ambition, whether professional or romantic. Beyond Yoke, Laureen is the driving force behind the Experts Tribe, a vibrant community dedicated to mentoring and equipping entrepreneurs with the tools to elevate their ventures. She also founded All Things Office Space, where she helps professionals design work environments that inspire creativity and productivity as an entrepreneurial life strategist. 

Through the Entrepreneurial Success Lab, Laureen coaches aspiring and seasoned entrepreneurs to achieve harmony between their personal and professional lives. Her coaching blends, mindset shifts, strategic goal setting, and practical tools help clients build lives aligned with their values and aspirations. A Harvard graduate with a master’s in business management, Laureen has been featured on platforms like Entrepreneur, Fox, CBS, and NBC for her innovative approaches and thought leadership.

When she’s not building businesses as ah, she cherishes traveling and quality time with loved ones, embracing the same balance and connection she inspires in others. From selling homemade bookmarks in elementary school to launching transformative ventures, Laureen’s story showcases her unwavering commitment to innovation, connection, and success. She’s an extraordinary American, and I’m glad to have her on the show.  Laureen, are you there?

Laureen

I am here.

Cosmos

Laureen, thank you so much for taking the time to be on this podcast with us. Can you tell me in the audience a little bit more about yourself, your background, and how you got started?

Laureen

That’s a really good question. So, I was born and raised in New York. I am from a Caribbean family, and my parents have a Caribbean background.

 And, you know, I’ve always seen my family members; they worked so hard to put their kids through schools and just give them the best opportunity possible to be here in the United States. That was a driving force for our achievement and the goals that we set for ourselves because our family expected nothing less from us. And so, as a young child, I was always, always drawn to the entrepreneurial bug, I should say. At the time, I didn’t realize what I was doing or why I was doing it, but it was something that interested me. It piqued my interest. 

So, as a young girl, I started by selling bookmarks to friends at school. I’m selling candy. I always had something in the works, right? The lemonade stand. 

So, I’ve always believed in creating your path and forging your way forward. And that’s just been my foundation. My family, who may not have understood me, supported me through every venture I decided to pursue. 

As I grew professionally, I always leaned back to that part of my body. When you have a muscle, you may not actively use it all the time, but once you return to the gym, it’s like never. You never got off. Right. You never stopped. So, essentially, that’s how my life unfolded as an adult regarding entrepreneurship.

Cosmos

So, Laureen, I know you’ve had much success. Can you tell the audience more about your strategic goal and vision for your career from the beginning to the present?

Laureen

Absolutely. So, for me, you choose who you want to target, your avatar, and who you want to spend the most time with. And I always ask people who they enjoy being with. 

And for me, it’s the centre. I love being with entrepreneurs. I love being with like-minded individuals who think outside of the proverbial box. Right. I found my tribe with entrepreneurs, so I created the Experts Tribe. It was founded on the premise that entrepreneurs support one another. And often, many of us have no idea what we want to do. It may be in us, we’re like, we want to create something, we want to build something, but what, like you sit back and ask yourself, what can I create? What can I build? What can I build that can create a massive impact on the world? Right? 

Working with entrepreneurs daily drove me to want to build other communities within the entrepreneurial community. What do I mean by that? The Experts Tribe was founded to help entrepreneurs or people seeking entrepreneurship find business opportunities. 

So, whether you’ve been working or not, whether you’re white-collar or blue-collar, you have an interest and the bug. We wanted to help you find the best possible solution for entrepreneurship growth. We wanted to find you something that would be the most ideal for you, based on finance, based on your goals, dreams, and ambitions. Right? 

That is why I created the Experts Tribe. A lot of it came because of COVID-19. That part of my life came because of COVID-19. So many friends in high-powered positions in different career paths were losing their jobs due to COVID-19. And you know, another group of my friends were thriving during this period. They were doing extremely well. 

And I said, man, why can’t we create something where some classes and courses can help people take it to the next level, especially those that don’t know what they want to do? Hence, the birth of the expert’s tribe to all things office space I wanted to create. As a New Yorker, we have very small spaces, right? You know, it’s very hard to get creative and think, you know, think bigger than where you are because, you know, your space is so tight. 

So, I started all things office space because I wanted to create an environment where you can find pieces in your home that could work. Not only, you know, because, you know, if you’re running this major, you know, Inc. 500 company, but if you’re a solo entrepreneur and just wanted to create this environment, that’s conducive to your growth. We wanted to sell tools, furniture, and office gadgets that could meet that particular need. We do want to expand and have bigger pieces. But in the beginning stage, we wanted to focus on smaller offices, equipment space, and materials you can use that wouldn’t take up your entire apartment if that made sense.

Cosmos

No, I mean, what you did regarding getting entrepreneurs together is very good because, normally, entrepreneurs have a very lonely journey. So, having a community and a network where people can bounce ideas creates a ripple effect. Right. And a lot of opportunities come about from that.

So, my question to you, Lorraine, is, since you’ve been coaching entrepreneurs, right, and you’ve helped create these opportunities where people group, what are some of the characteristics you’ve noticed regarding successful entrepreneurs who end up becoming successful, and what are the traits needed for success?

Laureen

Absolutely. And can I piggyback off of something you said that’s so important? You said something most people struggle with during that entrepreneurship journey because they’re alone. It can be an extremely lonely place. And it could be a place where no one in your life understands. Your family, friends, and everyone else encourage you to get something more stable. Why are you doing this? It’s not working out because oftentimes, your first venture is not going to be successful. It may not be successful. Right. But the person that was where it’s innately in them, they keep going, fighting, pushing, and creating. 

And sometimes, you have to pivot. I’ve pivoted—I’ve had to pivot so many times that I don’t even know how many times to get to where I am right now and where I’m happy with what I’m creating, building, and putting forth into the world.

To answer your question, I think you have to be resilient. That’s the one thing. You have to have the spirit of a warrior inside of you. No, it can’t be no. Right. The only thing you can say when someone gives you a no is that you have to figure out how to get to that. Yes. Right. And if I’m not getting to that. Yes. Maybe there’s something in my approach that I need to shift, or I need to change this just a little to get to where I need to be. But you have to be able to not give up in the face of adversity when you have nothing left when you just have one more try. You have to be able to crawl. I won’t even say put one foot in front of the other.

Through adversities. And I think the most successful entrepreneurs understand that. They get that things will happen in life; there will be hiccups and issues. How do you manage, how do you cope, how do you deal through, how do you deal with all of that and still make it out on top? Right. 

And I think those who say failure is not an option will always win. And it may not be at that, that one project they thought was going to be the hit, but if they keep at it, there’s going to be something that’s going to work out in their best interest, and they’re going to, it’s going to help them catapult them to where they want to be in their business life.

Cosmos

Lauren, that was well said. I agree. Failure is not an option. You just have to find out how you’re going to win and how you’re going to succeed.

One thing that I wanted to expand upon was the concept of pivoting versus being resilient and persevering. Many Entrepreneurs have this, and then when things don’t work out, they double down on it. Right? They double down on that one approach. But there comes a time when you have to know how to pivot and try a different strategy or approach because you won’t get it in the first iteration. 

So, from your perspective, when is that time? 

And since somebody needs to know when to pivot rather than repeatedly trying the same strategy, I think that’s it.

Laureen

If you know that you created a strong plan, you aren’t just winging it. You put forth effort to mapping out where you needed to go. You’ve gotten support, maybe through a mentor. They’ve helped you walk through the steps. You’re building. Your business plan is solid; you’ve done all you can, and it’s not working. You have to go back to the drawing board. And I believe in doing that sooner than later. Right.

I remember, even with the expert’s tribe, we were about three or four iterations in before I got it right. And people don’t realize that. They only see the success part. They only see, oh my God, you’re thriving. But it took so many different failures and things that came before me that sidetracked me from what I wanted to do and what I wanted, what I envisioned for the business. You get to the point; you take your business once you return to the drawing board and see what works. You thought it would be one thing, and then it ended up being something even more amazing. Right. 

And I think the biggest thing when you know to pivot is when you start talking to your audience. Right. Something is not connecting. I mean, there’s not enough money or enough people there. There’s not. Something isn’t working. 

And I feel the best way to pivot is to see what people need and want. Oftentimes, we’re creating something because we think it’s cool. We like the idea; we like the concepts. We write it down, and we think it’s great, and everyone’s going to be drawn to it, everyone’s going to love it, and everyone’s gone. We’re going to be this major success; we’re going to be these multi-million. This project is going to make me a multi-millionaire. What ends up happening is you start talking to your audience if you didn’t do that beforehand, and you realize that’s not actually what they want, something close to it, but that’s not what they need and want. 

So, talking to your audience sooner rather than later and finding out their needs, wants, and aspirations will help you take your coaching business course, business, or brick-and-mortar to the next level.

Cosmos

Lauren, you hit the nail about knowing your ideal avatar. Many business people and entrepreneurs get emotionally attached to their products. Then, they don’t want to know what the audience or their ideal customer needs. You might have to tweak the product or how you’re marketing it. 

So, from your perspective, how do you approach examining the ideal avatar, and how do you avoid becoming emotionally attached to a product if you discover it is not what the audience wants?

Laureen

So, I think we started, and this was a great way to start my avatar, my ideal avatar I’m dealing with. We will go, we won’t go into deep, go a deep dive into my avatar. But for the most part, it’s an entrepreneur. It’s an entrepreneur that’s starting right. That’s who I’m targeting. 

I love that group. 

And so, what I do is I’m having, I have my ears to the streets, I have my ears to the ground, finding out what they need to be successful, who they want to hear from, how they want to hear it, how it needs to be packaged, and how much they want to spend. So, I take that opportunity to tweak that, fix it, and see what’s happening within that core group and run with it. 

And I think what’s important is that oftentimes, it’s the chicken before the egg or the egg before the chicken. We try to figure out what it is, right? And people get so focused on that product. But if you focus on the person you’re trying to serve, you will always win, right? You try to feed your kids a certain type of food, and you know, after a while as parents, like, man, my kid’s going to starve if I keep giving them what they’re giving because they’re not even eating what I’m giving them, right? 

So you figure out your particular child, their needs, their wants, their desires, what’s going to make them healthy, what’s going to make them strong. So, it’s a mix of what they don’t think they want and what they do want. And I think you have to figure out the best combination to make that happen. 

And I think true success lies in loving and falling in love with your avatar, not the product. Because you can always come out with a billion products. I mentioned earlier that my latest project, a dating app for entrepreneurs, is 15 steps ahead of where I was when I started this journey and decided who I wanted to serve. 

By listening to my audience and realizing that there is a need for people to want to connect with a like-minded person, that person gets the fact that, hey, I’m going to be working 20 hours today, and I was hoping you could get that. And they’re cheering you on and making a sandwich for you. M. They get it because they’re in the same boat. That’s pretty much how, you know, Yoke came about for me—having my head on the streets, knowing what I wanted as an entrepreneur. I was always attracted to the entrepreneurial spirit and connected and drawn to that type of person. Hence, I created the idea in my head; it sounded great. I was like, man, this sounds like a great thing. What I did was introduce the idea and the concepts to my audience. I introduced them to entrepreneurs like myself and asked if this would interest you. Would you like to date someone like you? 

And it was a resounding yes. Surprisingly enough. People just wanted to feel like they couldn’t find someone, that you’re not just connecting on a physical level. But man, it’s support. Because what did we talk about earlier? It’s lonely. It’s a lonely journey. And if you can have someone you can share the good, the bad, the indifferent with and develop strategic ideas to help both of your visions come to fruition, you’re winning, right?

I created Yoke because I felt it was great for two people to unite. I believe synergy can create awesome businesses. Awesome. It can bring forth great ideas and concepts that can benefit the world. Right? 

And so, when I talk about the world, some people may think you’re trying to hit millions and millions. I feel like you can touch one person, help one person, and create something helpful to one human being. You’ve done a lot, much less. If you’re scaling and growing in your business, then you’ve, you’ve beyond, you’ve done your part. Right? 

And so it comes from answering your question. I hope I’ve answered your question. It comes from really having yours. You head to the ground and want to connect and understand them, not just create things for yourself.

Cosmos

Yeah, you’re right about that. To understand the avatar, you have to attune yourself to the people you’re trying to serve. Many people think that’s the difference between success and failure. 

When people start businesses, they often attach to their products from their egos. They see what they want to do and fall in love with their product. But sometimes, to attain success, you must know what the audience wants, which will often radically differ from your original idea for your product.

An entrepreneur, there’s a lot of ego there, right

It’s a very interesting phenomenon that I’ve noticed for a while. During my time as well.

Laureen

No, absolutely. And I think you said something powerful. And I think if people can get this, they’re going. They’re winning. Ego. An entrepreneur has a lot of ego there, right? It’s like someone who buys a property, buys a house, and makes it to their liking, right? And then when they’re ready to sell, they’re like, well, why don’t they love it? Like, I do. Like, I. It was my vision. Everyone should love this house. This house should be flying off the market. It doesn’t work like that. Right? The. What. What do they say about real estate? Your property is worth it; someone will pay for it, right? Essentially. Right. 

What the market yields right at that given time. The same thing with. Right, exactly, exactly. So, the product and service are the same when creating products and services for your business. But we fall so in love with the things in us. Because we all think we’re a genius in our way. Like, it’s got to be a success; it’s got to be a hit. And it’s not like that often. Oftentimes, at least in the beginning, it isn’t easy to get to that space on the first try. And if you sit down to some of the. The gurus in various fields and specialties will tell you that I failed 20 times, 100 times. I lost this amount of money; I lost that. And I think not enough people talk about that part of the journey. 

And so when people go all in. They are on an adventure and don’t make it on the first try. That’s why. Because, again, it’s the ego. The ego tells you this is a no-brainer; everyone will love it. But you have to put that. If you can put your ego aside and talk to your avatar, talk to the people you love serving. You will always find a product because they tell you what they want. You don’t even have to make it up. That’s the brilliant part. You just ask a couple of questions, you refine those questions, you go back, you clarify, you go back and clarify, and then you create.

Cosmos

No, I mean Lauren; well said. Like, I want the audience to get a glimpse into finding the ideal avatar. Because this is the difference between success and failure, you must know your ideal avatar and how to serve that person because it’s not about falling in love with the product. Like that, it’s about whether you will succeed in the business. There’s a statistic that 90% of businesses fail in the first five years. A lot of people wonder why. There are several factors, but many times, it comes down to the fact that we don’t serve our ideal avatar.

So I’m grateful that you’re mentioning this, you know.

Laureen

Thank you. I think I’m bringing it up, and I think you brought it up because we know that that can make or break an organization.

Cosmos

Yeah.

Laureen

And so it’s important to just really nail that in. And can I tell you something? Another thing that I think I’ve said a couple of times. You have to want to serve them. It can’t because they have the biggest tax bracket. Because some people, like, I’m going after the money. No, you’ll always make money if you’re serving your community. Right. 

But some people go after certain people; they think that, okay, this particular group will be able to. You have to want to serve that group for it to work.

Cosmos

That’s another thing I learned in my entrepreneurial journey: It creates a service mentality. When they look into entrepreneurship, a lot of people think of movies like The Social Network, which is one big idea and then it’s going to be one idea that will change the world. 

We’re going to get to the next level. They see that, and then they work on it, and suddenly they get success. But no, ultimately, a lot of times in business, we have to have the service mentality, and it’s more of a spiritual aspect. It’s almost like a higher power tells us that service to humanity is the ultimate goal of life. But over here, if you successfully serve your avatar, you get financially free or make profits.

Laureen

Exactly. That’s where financial freedom comes from. Right there. Because now they have new products and services. Because now they know love and trust. And the biggest thing out of all of that is trusting you. That’s when they love you. Right. So, once you get to that space, you will create the ultimate financial freedom.

Cosmos

Laureen, from your perspective, what’s the biggest lesson you learned regarding entrepreneurship and business in general during your entire career, especially when consulting other entrepreneurs? Or a big insight or revelation you’ve had?

Laureen

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to anyone or any situation. You and I can be in the same industry or field, doing the same thing. But something about each of us will draw a different audience, different people, and they’ll need to hear our message differently.

And I think that was one thing I learned because sometimes you want to be able to, you know, as a, you want to be able to create your plan. Follow steps A, B, C, D, and E. And it’s going to be an ultimate win. It doesn’t work like that. You know, you see a lot of these coaches, and they’re selling products for X amount of thousands of dollars. And you’re like, follow to the T, you’re going to win, you’re going to be successful. It’s not. Oftentimes, it doesn’t work like that. Right. You, there’s something about each person. We all have a secret sauce. We all have our m. Maybe it’s the spirit inside of us; maybe it’s our drive. And I think those are the things that propel businesses forward. 

Even if two people are doing the same thing again, we must figure out a methodology that will work for this person. And so you can give an overall, you should try this, do this abcd. But I think there’s not a one size fit. And I think in the beginning, I thought so, right? I got the sauce. Let’s share the sauce. Everyone wins together. Now, people will need help in different areas. Sometimes, how I say something will differ from how I bring that information to your audience. And during that time, that time space, you’re like, man, how come she’s more successful or he’s more successful? It’s. We’re all different and must figure out what works for us.

Cosmos

So, Lorraine, like, you know, I agree that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to something, but my question to you will be, how do you achieve it? Tune yourself and, like, go on the fly and adapt to the situation. Because, you know, as entrepreneurs, we have to adapt to different situations as they come by. So, what is your strategy for adapting and pivoting? Because many people find it very difficult to do that, you know.

Laureen

Awesome.

So, some people, you may already have an audience, right? So you’re working off an audience. But let’s just say that you don’t have an audience. Whatever your specific business is. I don’t; I don’t care if you’re a basket weaver. I don’t care if you’re a tech guru. Find your tribe. And I keep it extremely simple for people trying to figure out, how do you, how do you do that? How are you? I keep it simple.

There are meetup groups and Facebook groups. And it sounds crazy, but I’ve done some of my biggest research just talking to the admins of different Facebook groups and asking them, hey, I want to come out with something. I don’t want to; I don’t want you to feel like I’m, you know, I’m trying to go on your platform and solicit your audience. But I would love to talk to your group. I’ve been looking at your group for a while. These are the people that I would want. I would love to serve. 

And so I have these groups of questions. Do you mind looking at it? If there’s anything that you don’t like in this, in this group’s. This group of questions, I’ll, I’ll pull it out, but I want to ask your audience if, you know, I want to figure out if this is a good product and this is good, something that I’m working on. We were working on this, and this is what I’ve been doing for a while. It hasn’t worked thus far. 

So, I want to see what you would like to see. What would they want me to change since I’m doing this? You’d be surprised how many people want to work with you, especially if you come from a place of humility, are open, and are honest about where you are in your business. 

And you tell them, hey, maybe this is a tech group, or this group deals with apps, and they deal with a specific type of apps. What I would recommend is that you niche down as much as possible. Like really zone in. Don’t just find groups of entrepreneurs; if that’s who you want to target, don’t find random groups of whatever you’re looking for. It niches down to your avatar. Find those groups and find out what they want. They’ll fill out a survey for you. Hey, if you do X, Y, and Z, I don’t mind giving. I’ll give you a consultation for whatever. You know, find different ways to make it worthwhile for their time. And some people just give it to you because they want to be helpful. 

So that’s one of the biggest things I believe people don’t. We just don’t do enough of it. We don’t find our tribe; we don’t find our group. We’re afraid to connect with other people. And I think the biggest detriment you can have is not being able to network with other people you know, which can create synergy with your tribe and where your tribe lives. And so it’s been helpful. Meetup groups have been helpful. Facebook groups were helpful before I built my list. That’s been extremely helpful in figuring out who, what, where, and how to create new ideas and products, and it has helped me pivot.

Cosmos

So Laurie, as a continuation, I know you’ve been around entrepreneurs and have a strategy for getting these meetup groups. 

So, what is the biggest challenge entrepreneurs face in getting to the next level or going beyond this? What is the start from your perspective? Like you, we have consulted all these people.

 Laureen

I think everyone needs the ability to listen. And I think we’re going back to ego again, where you think your idea is so good that you don’t see why, where you need to change. You can’t. Like, that’s. I’ve seen that a lot where people just didn’t see, like, no, this is perfect. This is whatever. I’m. They want to whip out their degrees, and they want to whip out all their accolades. They want to tell me everything they’ve done in the past, but it’s still not translating into customers. It’s still not translating to helping your bottom dollar. So, your bottom line. I’m sorry. And I think that’s extremely important. Getting to a place where you can look at your business holistically and say, hey, this should change. That can change. 

And it doesn’t take away from my idea. It doesn’t take away from the fact that I’m smart. But maybe this is the best way because people run it to the ground, and then they’re so tired and frustrated that they just give up altogether. And you never want to get to that place. 

So, I think I try to come in when people get tired and frustrated, but they still don’t want to let go. They still don’t want to abandon an idea or a concept. And, to me, that’s one of the biggest areas I see people need to work on. It’s letting go of ideas and a particular product and even dissecting and breaking that down into something more impactful to your audience because they’re telling you that.

Cosmos

So, Lorraine, one thing I’ve noticed myself is that a lot of people get identified with their initial product. Product. And then they, as you mentioned, fall in love with it, and then this identity. Their identity becomes the product in a way. So, when you try to give them feedback, they won’t listen to it because it feels. It almost feels to them like they’re being criticized on their identity in the way, Like, do you find that a lot? Or, what is your opinion on that?

Laureen

I agree that even with my latest project with the dating app, I have a mentor, and he has sold many successful SaaS apps, right? Like products and services and all different types of things. 

And, there were a couple of things that I came to. We were talking through my strategy, and I would say, for the most part, he agreed with the areas that I was focusing on. He gave his opinion on topics I wanted to deal with as they pertain to the dating app and how we want to go about certain things. But at the end of the day, he said something to me. He’s like, half the things you want to do now could be your third and fourth iteration, right? Like, that is not going to be what we need right now to get the ball rolling, to get butts in the seats, and get people signed up, right? And like, hey, you can listen to my years of experience in this space or not, but this is what I suggest. This is what I suggest you read.

This is what I suggest. You look at. These are the competitors. I mean, I was a well-versed angel that he gave me, and I was like, man, he’s so right. I’m the type of person who is okay with listening if my ego takes over more than anything else; at the time, I just wanted to hear his ideas, his concepts, and whatever he had to say, I wanted. But a lot of people just can’t do that. They’re like, well, this is my space. This is not your space.

 So I know what’s best. And for me, I never feel that I want to be the smartest person in the room. There’s always someone that you should be able to learn from if you’re in a space of growth, right? And so I think that is it: sitting here, putting everything else aside, listening to that person, understanding, seeing their perspective, and trying things out. 

And trying things out. And if it doesn’t work, work out the way you think it should, then keep it moving. And maybe sometimes you have to get to a place where you’re just like, this product, this project just doesn’t work. And that’s the hardest part. But sometimes, you have to cut your losses, too. Sometimes, there are a couple of pivots, and you just have to get out of it and figure it out.

Cosmos

No, totally. Lauren. And Lauren, if, let’s say there’s somebody that has been recently doing a job, but like, he’s like, they are inspired to do entrepreneurship, and they like a product, they have an idea for a business, and then they come to you for advice, like what? 

But they still have to do the dime, where they have to pay their bills and all that stuff, and they want to figure out how to fund and monetize this idea. How would you advise this person?

Laureen

I’m big on this, and I think this kind of piggybacks off my idea. My thoughts about the app. We get so focused on where we want to be. Like we get so focused on the best-case scenario. I’m talking about an app, but the best-case scenario and what we want it to look like are things that we people don’t realize. We just want to get our MVP out there. And that’s what I tell people. Do you want to sink in? $100,000, a million dollars? $50,000? What will it take for you to get your minimal viable products out to the marketplace? 

And then we can work backward. That is it. And I think again, most people want the shiny and hottest things. But for a lot of the apps you see and a lot of the businesses you see, it took years to get to the place where we all know about it. And it’s so popular and tech-savvy. It started simple, right? Facebook started in a very simplistic way, right? All these different apps start-up in a very simplistic way. And I think people have to realize, forget where you want to go. What will it take for you to create a product that people can get your basic idea and concept of, and they can help you tweak as you grow? That is where you want to start, right? 

And so I would tell that person to keep your day job and how much you’re willing to invest. Decide how and how much it will take out of you to create what you need for your audience to get a taste of your overall product, product, and service. Start small. We always want to start huge, right? As I mentioned, I started dealing with smaller furniture, gadgets, and price points because I wanted to get to where I could test this in the marketplace, right? In a year from now, we will expand to more expensive products and services, furniture, etc. But it starts small with a couple of pieces, and then you grow. We’ve grown since the beginning.

Cosmos

So, what are you saying? Is that true? I do want the audience to be inspired. If they have an idea, they should pursue it, and they should not be afraid of taking a risk and getting monetized because entrepreneurship is one of the main ways, other than Investing, to attain financial freedom. I appreciate that.

And Laureen, can you tell the audience more about the Experts Tribe community, including what it is about and how it got started?

Laureen

So, the reason I started is literally, as I mentioned earlier, because of COVID-19, right? COVID-19 came along. Most people, you know, a lot of people lost their jobs, or people were uncertain. Maybe you were working, but you didn’t know that any day now, you could get a call from your boss saying that you’re out. 

So, during that time frame, I started talking to my community and people I knew and said, “Hey, what can we do? What can we create? What can we build?” I created a scholarship fund for student entrepreneurs in my parents’ name because that’s my tribe—even from the youngest to the oldest.

We tried to figure out the best way to help people during that time frame. I don’t know if you remember that during COVID, many people started creating coach courses and classes on various topics and business opportunities. So, I created a hub where people could go and find business opportunities that they could use to change their lives. Right? 

And so maybe you’re someone whose skill sets lean you towards one opportunity and someone else another. But we wanted to create something that allowed people to find that. And so at this point, we have like over 200 business opportunities that people can find and experts from all over the country, some from all over the globe, that have created courses that are, for the most part, affordable, reasonable, almost free, depending on what it is. It’s a helpful tool to help people start that journey. And I think Covid just made people realize, like, hey, I’ve been with this company for X amount of years, but on a drop of a dime, I can lose this. And you know, especially in the U.S., they say, you know, people are one or two paychecks away from losing it all. 

So, even if you work a 9 to 5, I encourage people to have some side business because you never know. I think building and creating something also helps with creativity and the growth of your mind. Entrepreneurship is such a powerful tool—even investing—it’s a powerful means of using your cells and your brain to think outside of the normal everyday man’s thought process. Right?

Go to work, come back Home, go to work, come back home. Weekends are great. Happy. Go to work, come back home. Like, it’s a person that, you know, you m. You may look at the entrepreneur and say man, but you don’t sleep like my friends. You know, like, I sleep less than everyone I know, but I’m so happy. I am so darn happy; it’s scary. I can’t even lie to you. I’m happy. And I love creating. I love building. I don’t love failing, but I learn from every failure. A And I thank myself when I can when I can catch a failure early. Early, right? It sounds weird when you can catch that earlier than later before dumping in even more. You know what I mean? More money, more whatever into it. It’s. It’s great. It’s a great thing. Yeah.

Cosmos

I mean, I don’t know about it. I need my sleep, but I. I don’t know how you can be happy without sleep, but I’m glad you’re happy. I need seven or eight hours. I don’t care what anyone says.

Laureen

Oh, my gosh. So, on a great night, I get five hours.

Cosmos, how is it even sustainable?

Laureen

It’s not. I don’t know what’s going on. I’m doing it.

I know I want to do a sleep study at some point, but I think I programmed myself another thing that I don’t know if I mentioned one of the coaching programs I’m working on. It’s the meat and potatoes of everything I do and why I created the dating app and the Experts tribe. It’s about balance, right? And I’m making a small shift right now. Most entrepreneurs are not balanced at all. And I think when I realized I was forgoing important relationships with people that I love, friends, family, even having a partner, a relationship, you know, it was the point in my life. I was like, man, like, I. I need to work on that. Right. 

And I was going through so many different things. You know, when things don’t work out in your business, you become depressed, you go through all these different changes. And I. I can honestly say, and put it out there, that I’ve gone through any emotion that someone’s going through and feeling out there. I probably felt it at one period. At one point in my life, I was so focused on working, building, growing, and trying to make this sustainable that I didn’t see my friends or family. I didn’t make time for a relationship. 

And so one day, I was like, man, this is just the most unhealthy thing that could ever happen to a person. This is not good. And so the sleep thing is still a problem. But I have turned my life around to allow myself to spend more time with my family. Like, they. They all get excited. Like, man, you just actually show up now. I show up because I realize that when I’m doing personal stuff with my friends and family, with my partner, the person I plan on spending my life with, I get the most joy. And it refuels me to return and do a better job, right? 

Because now I have more clarity. Now I’m more relaxed. That is one of the biggest things I try to drive home to entrepreneurs. It’s creating a level of balance that makes sense not only for you but also for the people around you. Right? We weren’t meant to live this life alone. We weren’t just meant to be robots and enslaved people to what we were working on. There’s with it, without the balance, what’s the point, right? If I’m going to become a workaholic and not make time? Like, I got to the point in my life where going out, and if I wasn’t working, I felt like, oh, my God, I was doing something wrong. 

And, you know, I would encourage anyone pursuing entrepreneurship to figure out a way. And it may not. It may not work out that way in the beginning. Beginning, but try to get yourself into a place where you’re doing what you’re doing and sleeping seven hours. I’ve programmed my body so much now because it was such a long period where I didn’t sleep well that now it’s. I just can’t sleep past five hours. I may try to go back to sleep and, you know, whatever. Before, I would have just popped out of bed and started working, or I would start manifesting and doing my morning routine. 

And now I’m like, no, just be easy to love yourself. Just breathe and. And now, I give myself a moment to just take it all in before I start my day, working out and getting into my morning and night routines. If it’s nighttime and I now know how to do a cutoff, I cut off now, before. And my partner did that. He. He taught me that lesson. Or in the house, we were doing things. And I was working, and I just said to him, I said one day, I said, do you think I should have a cutoff? He’s like, yeah. He said, I’m glad you said that. And I didn’t have to say it, you know, like, say it to you. 

I think you should start to create a time when the computer is down, and we can just decompress for the evening and focus on rejuvenating ourselves. And I’m telling you, I’m. I do have bags, but it doesn’t look horrible under my eyes. And that’s because I feel happier. I’m happier. Right? I’m in a. In a better space. Whether I fail, succeed, or something goes wrong or right, I’m still creating a level of balance that’s needed, one that I need to fuel myself back up to get to the point where it’s like the ultimate financial freedom.

Cosmos

Laureen, you’re right. Balance is so important. Many entrepreneurs become workaholics; they spend up to 60 or 80 hours at a minimum on their product and trying to make their business successful. Ultimately, the greatest joy comes from hanging out with our family and loved ones and just the small things. 

And, like, you have to have a balance. And that’s probably one of the important things a lot of business people learn over their lifetime that it’s not just a career because, like, when you become old. You’re on your deathbed; you won’t be thinking about your career and everything. It’s going to be like all the good times you spend with people, people that you care about. So. Absolutely, yeah.

So, Laureen, how can our audience connect with you to learn more about you, your work, and the expert strive? And if any entrepreneurs want to join this community, where can they go?

Laureen

Perfect. Thank you so much for asking. So they literally can go on the Experts tribe dot com. If they’re looking for opportunities, that’s their home. If they’re looking for furniture for their home, all things office space. My latest Baby Yoke is the dating app that we are hoping will help people connect on an entrepreneurial level, create synergy, and build again more awesome products and services not only for the world but they can also create an awesome personal relationship with an amazing partner. We met on Yoke System IO.

Cosmos

Laureen, thank you so much for coming to this podcast and sharing your wisdom and knowledge with us. We need more entrepreneurs because they lead to a more positive economy. I do hope that you will take the time to come to the show at a later time.

Laureen

Oh, I’m coming back. Am I invited?

Cosmos

Yeah, no, you.

Laureen

Thank you. I’m coming back for sure. Once we launch. I’m back.

Cosmos

All right, Lori. And I want to conclude this episode by letting my fellow extraordinary Americans know that, hey, look, there’s an extraordinary within every one of us. We must awaken it and unleash it. Until next time. Bye for now.