938 Kimberly Mitchell:

Melinda Wittstock:

Coming up on Wings of Inspired Business:

Kimberly Mitchell:

I named my product Journey to Joy, the Personal Transformation System, because it is a journey. And the joy is in the journey. The joy is in all of us right now. And that was one of the biggest ‘Aha’ moments for me, is recognizing that joy is not something bestowed upon me. Joy is not something that I get as a reward for running the marathon and doing the things. Joy is always in there. It’s just that my job is now to unveil it, to reveal it by removing all of those things that have built up over the years and then using that joy as the lens for everything else that I do in my life.

Melinda Wittstock:

Let me ask you a question. Are you enjoying your day, your week, your life as you grow your business? It can be easy to forget that success is not about the destination. It’s all about the journey. After all, if you have agency over your life as all entrepreneurs do, why not choose to enjoy the ride? Kimberly Mitchell’s journey from military vehicle mechanic to corporate trainer to entrepreneur was not without struggle—including imposter syndrome, procrastination, and self-doubt—and today she shares the secrets of how she found her path to joy, and what it means to live a life of joy.

Melinda Wittstock:

Hi, I’m Melinda Wittstock and welcome to Wings of Inspired Business, where we share the inspiring entrepreneurial journeys, epiphanies, and practical advice from successful female founders … so you have everything you need at your fingertips to build the business and life of your dreams. I’m all about paying it forward as a five-time serial entrepreneur, so I started this podcast to catalyze an ecosystem where women entrepreneurs mentor, promote, buy from, and invest in each other. Because together we’re stronger, and we all soar higher when we fly together and lift as we climb.

Melinda Wittstock:

Today we meet an inspiring entrepreneur and US Air Force veteran on a mission to help women navigate uncertainty, embrace inner strength, and break through the barriers in business and life. Kimberly Mitchell is a mental health advocate, transformational leader and the founder and CEO of business training company Ujoozi, where she created the personal transformation system, Journey to Joy. Coming up we’re going to be talking into how to overcome the societal conditioning that keeps too many women playing a small game and not standing in their true worth, plus practical tips from her Journey to Joy program for cultivating consciousness, balancing feminine and masculine energies, and stepping boldly into your own definition of success.

Melinda Wittstock:

Kimberly will be here in a moment, and first: 

[PROMO CREDIT]

If you’re enjoying this podcast and what you learn from all the inspiring women I interview every week, please go ahead, hit subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and share it with your friends. We really appreciate ratings and reviews on Apple and Spotify – it helps more entrepreneurs like you find the wisdom, tips, and epiphanies they need to grow their business. It makes a difference. Thank you. 

Melinda Wittstock:

We all wrestle with fears, inner self-saboteurs and that bully voice inside you that separates you from your true worth, purpose and joy. Even successful people, including entrepreneurs, are haunted by these demons. 

Melinda Wittstock:

And most entrepreneurs come to realize that overcoming these mental and emotional blocks are necessary to sustainable success, and over time dawns the realization too that the path of transformation is not a straight line nor does it have a finish line.

Melinda Wittstock:

So today we talk about how to go on a “Journey of Joy”, how to find enjoyment and satisfaction alongside the inevitable challenges, struggles and failures of entrepreneurship, and why creating your business from that place of preexisting joy can be safely considered a precursor of success.

Melinda Wittstock:

Kimberly Mitchell grew up in a household where independence was a necessity. She excelled academically, earning numerous awards, including the Citizenship Medal from the Daughters of the American Revolution. Her resilience was tested when she lost her father at 16, and she channeled her determination into service, enlisting in the Air Force, achieving the rank of E-4 Sergeant. Transitioning into civilian life, Kimberly pursued a career in training and leadership development, working across multiple industries, from technology rollouts to government initiatives including a pivotal role in the 2010 Census Project, leading the development of training materials for the first-ever digital data collection. Her work with the Rochester Schools Modernization Program led to the creation of an innovative small business training initiative, impacting local entrepreneurs and serving as a model for other municipalities. Simultaneously, she explored entrepreneurship, running event planning and photo booth businesses before pivoting to the thriving six-figure training business she runs today. As CEO and founder of Ujoozi, Kimberly helps women transform their lives and step into transformational leadership. She shares all the lessons of her Journey to Joy program today.

Melinda Wittstock:

So, let’s put on our wings with the inspiring Kimberly Mitchell and be sure to give us a 5-star rating and review on Apple and Spotify so more inspiring women can learn from the best in business.

[INTERVIEW]

Melinda Wittstock:

Kimberly, welcome to Wings.

Kimberly Mitchell:

Thank you very, very much, Melinda. I’m happy to be here.

Melinda Wittstock:

Transformational leadership is really our theme of the day. And I don’t know, from my perspective, I’ve never seen that be more important with all the uncertainty and chaos around us. Do you know whether you’re talking politically or just all the change or global realignment or, I don’t know. I mean, there’s just so much going on. It’s a very testing time for a lot of people. So, what does it take to really stand in that from a transformational, From a leadership perspective and navigate all the uncertainty and chaos that we live in currently? 

Kimberly Mitchell:

I think that the key is going inward. We are almost groomed to seek answers from the outside, and those are helpful, but without that foundational on the inside, we tend to just grasp at straws and try different things that may or may not work. So, starting from your own personal power is really where you begin to navigate these times.

Melinda Wittstock:

So that’s something that requires a lot of consciousness, and people are in different kind of, I don’t know, different parts of the continuum there.

Kimberly Mitchell:

Yes.

Melinda Wittstock:

And so, tell me a little bit about your own journey in terms of how you get to the point where you can really tap into that inner compass, because I think a lot of people are very reactive, as opposed to proactive in that sense, right? So, think about your own transformation first, and then we’ll get into how we help other people get there.

Kimberly Mitchell:

Sure. I will tell you that I came out of the military as a vehicle mechanic with no plans to actually ever turn another wrench for as long as I lived. So, I had to really figure out what my life was going to be, where it’s going to go. So, I got into corporate, and I worked at a few of the top companies for a while, trying to find my way within the corporations, understanding what I wanted to be. And training really became a touch point for me. Every job that I had really started to form itself around training. And then I dedicated probably the last 15 years of my career to the training industry. But during that time, while I was working my way up and building that career, I was struggling.

Kimberly Mitchell:

I was struggling in ways that seemed pretty innocuous, but they were very, very many barriers to my success. Things like procrastination, self-sabotage, some imposter syndrome, some of the things that just creep in and kind of take hold of our brains without us realizing it. And so, for years, I’m trying different things different ways to get here and there. And it really got to the point, Melinda, where I just could not get out of bed the way I needed to. I couldn’t face the world the way I needed to. And it was my dirty little secret. Because outside the doors, I’m running the business, I’m scaling, I’m making relationships, networking, I’m doing all the things, but behind the door, literally behind the door, was chaos. And so, I had to figure out what.

Kimberly Mitchell:

What was a way that I could get out without losing myself. And I had gone, pulled all the programs and none of them, none of them worked, but they actually all worked. I just wasn’t ready for my part of it. I had to take some time and really understand what was it that I believed about myself. When I started to understand and listen to the beliefs that I had about myself and the world around me and how I fit into the world around me, it was astonishing to realize how many negative beliefs I had about myself. How easy it was for me to get up in the morning, I get dressed and I put all my things together, get the face done, the hair done, and just before I walk out the door, I go, oh, look at that gray hair. I look 100 years old. Oh my gosh, look at the neck.

Kimberly Mitchell:

And all of these things that now I have to step outside, covered it in all of those self-inflicted wounds, and face the world, right? So, when I got my arms around that, that’s when the transformation began.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right. So, this is the journey, I think, that everyone goes on. And you mentioned a bunch of things that are particularly endemic for women, like imposter syndrome, procrastination, also things like perfectionism, but also that inner bully voice that we all have, and we’ve all been conditioned to have it.

Kimberly Mitchell:

Yes.

Melinda Wittstock:

And it’s running like a computer macro. Do you know what I mean? 

Kimberly Mitchell:

Yes.

Melinda Wittstock:

And actually, you know, impacting the decisions and actions that we take, and we don’t even know it. Right, right. So, as you started to peel back the layers, one of the things you said that was really interesting to me, all the programs you took, none of them worked, but they all sort of did. Like that to me, sounds like it’s just a journey. Do you know what I mean? And it’s an absolutely evolving thing and you never arrive at a destination, but really what you’re getting at is just an awareness of consciousness, perhaps.

Kimberly Mitchell:

Yes, yes. And that’s actually why I named my product Journey to Joy, the Personal Transformation System, because it is a journey. And the joy is in the journey. The joy is in all of us right now. And that was one of the biggest ‘Aha’ moments for me, is recognizing that joy is not something bestowed upon me. Joy is not something that I get as a reward for running the marathon and doing the things.

Kimberly Mitchell:

Joy is always in there. It’s just that my job is now to unveil it, to reveal it by removing all of those things that have built up over the years and then using that joy as the lens for everything else that I do in my life.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah, if you decide to be an entrepreneur, you’re going to go through all sorts of things, right? Because all those kind of inner saboteurs are going to present themselves in one way or another, and you’ve got to kind of overcome those to actually succeed, I think. When things, when your circumstances are difficult, when all kinds of stuff is going on around you that are incredibly challenging, but you know, where you can easily be defined by outer circumstances. But you’ve got to find this inner strength or inner to walk through those challenging times. That’s the mastery, right?

Kimberly Mitchell:

Yes, yes. And it really comes down to what do you believe? So, these things are happening, but what do those things tell you about yourself? What are they making you believe about yourself? If you let those negative things then turn around and make you feel like you’re not worthy, you’re not capable, you’re not smart enough, those are the things that will deter you. But when you say to yourself, today, I have survived every single worst day of my life. So, this is just one more. I’m gonna figure it out. It may not feel-good today, may not even feel-good tomorrow, but I believe that I will feel good and I will get through this one way or another.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right. We’re all bombarded with so many external things. I just think in the business world, like, say, with tariffs on again, off again, impossible to make decisions, wondering, yes, business is going to survive, like just the fear or just even what’s the, what, what, what’s the law now?

Kimberly Mitchell:

Right, Right.

Melinda Wittstock:

… the playing field I mean, like, for instance, as a venture partner of a fund that invests in female founders, like, oh, like, we’re not allowed to say that. That we do or do. You know what I mean? So, you have all these external things, and then you have to have internal compass of how you navigate through that and who you’re being in the world up against, like, a lot of fear. And I find that fear can really be immobilizing. And we’re bombarded with fear all the time. So, like, specifically, how do you deal with that when there’s a lot of things to be afraid of at the moment, right?

Kimberly Mitchell:

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And that’s the two biggest factors in how you live your life are fear and beliefs. Those are the two things. And fear is a good thing in sometimes, in some instances because it protects us, makes us aware. But it can, like you said, be very debilitating. And that’s why we go through fear management. We kind of understand, what is it I’m afraid of? And wondering, is it rooted in something that I’m telling myself? Am I telling myself that this is the worst possible outcome of what I’m involved in right now? And then I’m believing that that’s going to be the outcome.

Kimberly Mitchell:

Am I afraid of success? Because that’s another one I can deal with entrepreneurs. I’m afraid that this really is going to be the next big thing, and who am I to do this next big thing? So, understanding what that fear is and then really breaking it down and processing it, because our bodies believe what we tell it. If this situation, this circumstance happens and we tell it this is bad, our bodies will feel all the feelings of a bad situation. But if we say to ourselves, you know, I gotta step on stage in front of 3,000 people, I’m scared. But what if I was actually excited? What if this feeling was actually like, I’m gonna go out there and find one person who’s going to be helped by what I say. That changes the whole dynamic.

Kimberly Mitchell:

It’s a constant monitoring of what it is we’re taking into our minds and how it is affecting and manifesting in our bodies and lives.

Melinda Wittstock:

For women, so much of it is just knowing our own value. In entrepreneurship, you. You see the mindset affect us in certain ways where it’s everything from actually doing a sales call without asking for the sale, absolutely. Underpricing our services, or coming to the meeting, like someone is doing you a favor when actually you’re the one providing the value. 

Kimberly Mitchell:

Right.

Melinda Wittstock:

I’ve seen so many women just be afraid to even say that they’re building a potentially billion-dollar business. Even if they have the potential to do that. They’re, like, afraid to even say that.

Kimberly Mitchell:

Yes.

Melinda Wittstock:

Which automatically disqualifies you from that game.

Kimberly Mitchell:

Absolutely.

Melinda Wittstock:

I’ve seen even other women pull other women down, you know, who’s, you know, say, like in masterminds or groups for women. Like, the woman who dares has the temerity to say, yes, I’m building a billion-dollar business. A lot of the other women are kind of negative or like, what makes sure do that. Right. So, like, we all need these support systems, but we need people around us that also can, I don’t know, help us step into that. And women need to support each other a lot more in this.

Kimberly Mitchell:

Oh, yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

Oh, yeah, right.

Kimberly Mitchell:

Yes. And I actually, one of the components of the Journey to Joy system is a sister circle. For that very reason. You want to have people around you who can support you. And I say that because some of our closest friends and family, they may really, truly want to support us, but it’s their fear that causes them to not be able to do it. It’s their fear that makes them say, oh, Melinda, I’m not so sure you can do that. Oh, I don’t think they’re going to allow you to be that big. Oh, I don’t think people are going to buy this thing that you’re trying to sell.

Kimberly Mitchell:

So, we get that in our heads as our own voice. We take that like a piece of jewelry, and we wear it. And we walk into those rooms you talked about and say, I’m not gonna ask for what I’m really worth. I’m just gonna see if they’ll. See if they’ll give me. Think of that language. See if they’ll give me this.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right. And at that point, you become sort of instantly in that power relationship, I guess, is what it is. You become a charity case. Right?

Kimberly Mitchell:

Yes.

Melinda Wittstock:

Your opportunity from an investor standpoint, certainly, or anyone you’re doing business with, you immediately reduce your value.

Kimberly Mitchell:

Oh, yeah, right.

Melinda Wittstock:

Without even knowing that you’re doing it.

Kimberly Mitchell:

That’s right. And the beauty, though, of it is. You can change it. I mean, one of the things that I also talk about is breaking out of your comfort zone. We get into this place where we just do things rote. That’s what we do every day. That’s what we say.

Kimberly Mitchell:

The more we start to break out of that comfort zone, the more we’re telling our minds that we can do different things. Just as simple as taking a different way to work, brushing your teeth with the other hand. Just little things that start to build up that courage to say, okay, now I did these little things that are different. What else can I do that’s different? And it’s again, that constant monitoring, but it is all within our control.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah. I think for women too, we have a fear of, maybe it’s a fear of success. I don’t know. It’s something to do with a relationship with men. Because men, I think, are very sensitive creatures, in fact, and I, I think they can easily emasculate it if a woman is really intelligent or shows intelligence. And so, I think sometimes we compensate for that in a way. And there’s some sort of underlying fear that, oh, it means that, you know, we won’t get a man or, yeah, current man won’t, you know, can’t be sort of overshadowed. So, women are dealing with all of that as well.

Melinda Wittstock:

That I think.

Kimberly Mitchell:

Oh, yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

And I think as we get older, we, we care less, right?

Kimberly Mitchell:

Yes, exactly.

Melinda Wittstock:

But for younger women, I think it still remains a tricky one, right?

Kimberly Mitchell:

Yeah. And I think we don’t have enough representation. We don’t have enough of what that looks like. We know what it looks like to be a wife and a mom. We know what it looks like to be that caregiver. But as women, what does it look like to be that titan? We don’t have enough examples of that for us to be able to say, that can be me or what if I want both? What if I don’t want to choose between being that big time businessperson and a mom and a wife? How do I balance that? We need to see more of that, but starts with us believing we can do and have all of that.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah. One of the things that I think is really interesting in the evolution of this is when women really first came into the workforce and the whole climb the corporate ladder thing and then also into entrepreneurship, this idea that we had to lean much more into our masculine. So, a lot of absolutely sort of became in a way inauthentic in that. Right. And that’s where it’s like, you know, feeling that you have to be. I don’t know. I don’t know, suppress, I think, a lot of female feminine power kind of characteristics where we’re really good at empathy, we’re really good at intuition, you know, all these sorts of things that can be incredibly and are incredibly valuable in business.

Melinda Wittstock:

But it’s kind of like a pendulum. So, you do need that kind of masculine energy, for sure. But.

Kimberly Mitchell:

Yes. Or what?

Melinda Wittstock:

You are a woman.

Kimberly Mitchell:

Yes, exactly.

Melinda Wittstock:

So how to navigate that? Like, how to be truly a woman, but also stand in power and like, show your intelligence and all of these things. 

Kimberly Mitchell:

Yes.

Melinda Wittstock:

Some women increasingly being able to do that, but again, not enough, like I said, because I think, really, and I think this is true of men as well, that we’re all at our best when we combine the best of both the archetypal feminine and masculine. Oh, yeah. That characteristics.

Kimberly Mitchell:

Oh, yes. And you realize when you step out into the workforce that business is a very. Has a very male energy, as you said, that that masculine energy is almost wrapped into everything we do. And then we have to be able to say, where do I belong? How do I fit into this? When we, as you said, begin to emulate that masculine energy, and then it creates that disconnect within us, we kind of get lost. But if we’re able to understand, okay, for this piece of the work, I need to come in a little stronger, a little more aggressive. But over here, in this part of the work, I can really be that feminine nurturing me that I like to be and really just balancing it out, understanding, again, we can be whatever we want to be as women. We can do whatever we need to do as women. And the power just of being able to bring life into the world, that’s like the ultimate power.

Kimberly Mitchell:

So, you take that energy into the work, into the business world, and say, I can do things that none of these men around the table can do, period. So, I need to recognize I have power.

Melinda Wittstock:

Well, it’s interesting in the statistics of women whose businesses have been invested in by, you know, angel or venture capitalists, women, hands down, return 60 cents more on every dollar invested than men.

Kimberly Mitchell:

Yes.

Melinda Wittstock:

Okay. And this is a statistic that a lot of women don’t really realize. And I don’t know whether it’s just born of the fact that we have to be better because we…

Melinda Wittstock:

There are so many more obstacles in a way that it makes you, like, you have to be better.

Kimberly Mitchell:

Yes.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right. And so now I think Some of the more enlightened men and allies are like, wow, this is a better investment opportunity to invest in.

Kimberly Mitchell:

Yeah, absolutely.

Melinda Wittstock:

They actually do better.

Kimberly Mitchell:

It’s absolutely true. And again, as women, we can balance that leadership role with that nurturing role. It’s more of, what if I believed that all of my employees wanted to do the absolute best they could do? What if I could believe that this manager across the table from me, that’s being a little difficult, really, just needs to understand how. How he can help and build this. This company and scale this company and being able to bring those other perspectives into the leadership role in ways that women, as women, we naturally do, and we build on that. I think that is phenomenal.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah. It’s really true. I think also showing up for other women. I was recently at, like, a pitch competition, and there’s this younger woman presenting her company. Beautiful woman, like, tall, beautiful, young. Like. And I swear to God, none of the men could concentrate on a word she was saying.

Melinda Wittstock:

She was super intelligent. You know what I mean? Like, she really, really good at her job, and she was just really struggling. I talked to her after her pitch, and right before, one of the investors had said to her, I like a pitch with beauty, right. And it kind of knocked her off her game. 

Melinda Wittstock:

Sure. And. And so her pitch was probably more tentative than it would have been, right? When you’re dealing with those kinds of external circumstances, that’s going to poke at a fear. We go back to what’s inside you, Right?

Kimberly Mitchell:

Yes. Yes.

Melinda Wittstock:

You’re gonna let that bother you or not? Do you know what I mean?

Kimberly Mitchell:

Yeah, absolutely. You have to let people own their own stuff.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah. Because that said something about that guy. But it shouldn’t mean anything about her. Right?

Kimberly Mitchell:

Absolutely.

Melinda Wittstock:

And I don’t think she was even aware of the impact that it had. So, like, just being proactive. If you see a woman in that situation or any other, you know, we need to actually show up for each other and…

Kimberly Mitchell:

Yes.

Melinda Wittstock:

… and help. And I sort of saw my younger self in her, so I’m like, okay, I’m gonna just say something because nobody was there. Kind of like, no one was there necessarily for me in, you know, that phase. But, like, I. But that doesn’t mean I can’t be there for them now, you know?

Kimberly Mitchell:

Oh, that’s wonderful. I love that, you know, so.

Melinda Wittstock:

So important. So, tell me. I’m curious about your military background and what you learned about leadership, particularly in that situation, right, as a woman, male dominated, right?

Kimberly Mitchell:

Oh, yeah. So, I went into the military for vehicle maintenance. Don’t ask me why. It was a rebellious time for me. I went in for vehicle maintenance and when I got there, the female bathroom was literally a storage room. There were no women there.

Melinda Wittstock:

And it was a movie, Hidden Figures. I mean, you know.

Kimberly Mitchell:

Exactly. So that alone coming into. I’m what, 19, 18. 19 years old. And I’m navigating this space where I have to not only prove myself as a woman, but prove myself as a capable mechanic. And a little side note is at the time when I went into the military, I didn’t even know how to drive.

Melinda Wittstock:

Wow.

Kimberly Mitchell:

Crazy. So, there was all of that navigation. And again, it’s not something in the moment that you’re aware of what it’s building, but the structure of the military is very much one of building, meaning each rank builds upon the other. Everything you learn is designed for you to elevate to that next rank and apply what you’ve learned there. And I took that structure and built it into everything that I do today. It is a very, you know, they, they, they say things like, if we want to, we wanted your thoughts, we, we’d issue it to you. So, it’s feels like it’s not designed for you to be your own person, which is in a sense is true. This is how they make it be a uniformed organization.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right.

Kimberly Mitchell:

However, you’re able to take away from that when you step out into the corporate world and you step out into your business and you’re able to see how those pieces of that practice of let me learn this and apply it here and then build like building blocks. And that is one of the most precious things that I got out of that time frame.

Melinda Wittstock:

That’s a really interesting thought actually, that you, you master a skill. I mean, they say this about artists as well. Like you have to master all the things before you can start to, I don’t know, it’s not quite break the rules, but do you know what I mean? So, you’ve got to go through this period of kind of mastery and all those kind of knots in terms of, you know, the, the 10,000 hours, you know, whatever.

Kimberly Mitchell:

Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

And maybe you’re doing it somebody else’s way until you are able to, to really change and adapt. And I think this is really interesting too because I think women have a real potential here to kind of reinvent the rules of Business, it doesn’t be so masculine. It doesn’t all have to be the art of war. You know, if you think of all the language around business, it’s all very…

Kimberly Mitchell:

Yes.

Melinda Wittstock:

…”Art of War.” It’s all very masculine in that sense. You talk like when people talk about sales battle plans: does sales have to be a battle? Like, I mean, can it be more like, let’s, let’s exchange the value of like, you’ve got this, and I’ve got this. And so how can we create something great together? You know what I mean? Like, it doesn’t have to be that way. So, like, I think women have the ability coming through this to really think more consciously about, okay, what kind of businesses do we want to create? What do we want the culture to be? How do we want people to show up? 

Melinda Wittstock:

And so that’s where I think there’s a potential, so much innovation, you know, to not do it the old way, but do it our way. And what, this?

Kimberly Mitchell:

Oh, absolutely. I think we, as women, we have this innate practice of holding things close. You know, we, we hold it close, we hold it tight. And it doesn’t always benefit us when that thing we’re holding tight is a negative belief or a something that’s a self-sabotaging practice. But we, time makes us clutch and hold. And as the more we loosen that grip and allow that mastery to happen in ways that maybe we didn’t anticipate, that makes us better leaders. It makes us better able to, as you said, take that mastery that we’ve learned and now break some of those rules and say, what I create does not have to look like what is available to me. I’m one of those.

[PROMO CREDIT]

Are you building a never-ending job for yourself – or an asset that will grow your wealth and assure your legacy? Women entrepreneurs are doing amazing things in record numbers, facing down challenges men don’t. Less funding. More juggling. Constant second-guessing. And a world that tells us fade music after 2-3 seconds to “play nice” and not ask for too much. We succeed against many odds, so it makes sense to take advantage of whatever resources and knowledge we can find to use our businesses to generate generational wealth and impact. So, if you’re stuck in the grind, navigating complex markets, AI disruption, economic headwinds all while balancing family, relationships, and your own wellbeing, it’s time to think differently. That’s why I’m inviting you to join the next cohort of Zero Limits Value Growth Club. It’s led by VC investor and serial entrepreneur Steve Little, who’s built 6 of his own businesses to 9-figure exits, helped 470+ companies more than 20X their value, and now also invests in female-founded businesses. I’ve known Steve for a decade, and what I’ve learned from him along the way has been nothing short of transformational in helping you understand and operationalize what is growing the actual value of your business. Hint: It’s not revenue and earnings. Check out what we do in the Value Growth Club, how it’s all custom-crafted for you and your business to uncover hidden risks and unearth hidden opportunities– all with monthly interactive sessions with other mission-driven founders and CEOs, office hours for real-time decision-making, Steve’s personal guidance and access to bold supportive founders like you, plus allies and investors. So, if you’re waiting for the “perfect time” – spoiler:  it never comes. This is for women who are done with guesswork, isolation, being underestimated and are ready to grow their lasting wealth and legacy. Because you deserve more than a seat at the table. You deserve to OWN the table. Check it out at growthclub.zerolimitsventures.com and hope to see you on the inside.

Melinda Wittstock:

And we’re back with Kimberly Mitchell, Founder and CEO of the business training company Ujoozi and the personal transformation system, Journey to Joy.

[INTERVIEW CONTINUES]

Kimberly Mitchell:

I’m working on creating a bra because I’m saying what we have does not work for me. And it’s crazy when you think of sitting and waiting for a man to decide to redesign something that we wear every day.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah.

Kimberly Mitchell:

Doesn’t make sense.

Melinda Wittstock:

Exactly. And that’s why there’s so many really interesting businesses coming up. I mean, there’s a lot of women who particularly serve women’s markets for that reason.

Kimberly Mitchell:

Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

I think it’s hilarious when in pitches. And this is, this is a classic. And it happens all the time where men say, oh, I don’t know, that’s not a big enough market. It’s like it’s half the world, you know? Really?

Kimberly Mitchell:

Yes. Yes.

Melinda Wittstock:

Okay, so tell me about your program; all the details of it, like who you work with and what your process is.

Kimberly Mitchell:

Sure. I’ll tell you that the brand that I’ve built is Ignites. And underneath Ignites is a book, the Mirror Method. And the Mirror Method was born from watching friends and family do that very thing. Just stand in the mirror and poke daggers into themselves with all of these negative thoughts and all of these really terrible things that they say to themselves in the mirror. And that’s one of the products. And then the other is true. A six-week workshop.

Kimberly Mitchell:

That one is probably the most exciting for me because it is so easy to implement. Meaning the foundation of that is first defining what true means to you, a literal definition, and then breaking out all of the beliefs, all the things you tell yourself and take them and measure them against that litmus test. Is it true based on your definition? And if it is not, then let’s change it to something that is true. When we do that with simple thoughts, simple beliefs, then we start to really see change in our lives almost immediately. Immediately. And the other system is the kit, the Journey to Joy Personal transformation System. That is a physical kit that gets sent to you, that has a workbook that is really focused around helping you build those daily practices after you have stripped away that fear, stripped away those limiting beliefs, identify what, what you want for your life, and then setting a path to get there. It actually comes with a physical roadmap that you put on the wall, and you map out your milestones.

Kimberly Mitchell:

It comes with a personal accountability system that you take this daily action and every day you take the action you drop a bead on. And the one day you forget that you don’t do it, wipe all those beads off and start all over again. Oh, my goodness. Really requires commitment.

Melinda Wittstock:

No, it does. Well, this is the other thing. Thing is that so many people start these sort of programs, but they don’t necessarily finish or they, they, they’re. They’re. Things are going. I, I’ve had this happen to me where things are going really well. So, you think, okay, that’s great, I’ve mastered it. But then you stop doing the practice that was helping you.

Melinda Wittstock:

And then you wonder why things aren’t going well. And it’s like, oh, wait, yeah, like I was really good at my gratitude practice or my practice or meditating and doing all that. Things are starting well. And then you stop. Why aren’t things going well?

Kimberly Mitchell:

Yes, indeed. And that’s where the sister circle comes in. Because you meet regularly and you have other Women who are going through that process who are saying, hey, wait a minute, wait a minute. We were supposed to be here. What’s going on? How can we help? How can we support? And one of the other things, cornerstones that’s built into it is celebrations. We as women are probably one of the last to celebrate ourselves. We build that into the system. To say every milestone deserves a celebration.

Kimberly Mitchell:

Not just waiting all the way to the end when you reach the goal, but all along the way, celebrate yourself.

Melinda Wittstock:

That’s very powerful. I was in a group where we learned a technique. Technique that’s more than a gratitude practice, but an acknowledgment practice. Because gratitude, you can be grateful for anything. You’d be grateful for the stuff. Do you know what I mean? But that’s not something you can control. But when you’re acknowledging something that you actually did or you can control, yes, that’s very different. And it was funny.

Melinda Wittstock:

I was in a group of really accomplished women, and they were all struggling to figure out anything that had happened in the previous day or previous week that they could acknowledge themselves, which was insane because everybody’s crazy, pushing all sorts of things, but, like, nobody was even aware of what they were doing. So, I found that really helpful. Like, even if just like you did the laundry, I don’t know, whatever it is, you know, start somewhere. But that’s very powerful to do that.

Kimberly Mitchell:

It’s so right. It’s so right. And one of the other things in working with women that I find is we tend to cap ourselves with the word enough, you know, well, you know, I got. I got this, I got that, I accomplished that. I guess that’s enough. I’ve never heard a man say that. I’ve never heard a man say, I could go and pursue this, but I think I have enough.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right.

Kimberly Mitchell:

Gotta break out of that and say, this is what I’m a capable of. I’m going to go get it. Because what we’re doing is bringing value to the world. And why would we say the world has enough? My value? Let me sit back. No way.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah, exactly. Well, it’s so much conditioning, I think, that we have to recover from. Yes. Sounds like an amazing program. And so, who are the type of women? I mean, it’s mostly it’s women that you work with. Right. So, this can be anybody. A woman running a small business or an executive or an entrepreneur.

Kimberly Mitchell:

Yes. I say women 40 to 60 who really want to change. Because by the time you, when you’re younger, you kind of not aware there’s not as much self-awareness. You’re just trying to figure out your place in the world. By the time we’re 40, 45, 50, now’s the time to say, you know what? I did all the things for everybody else. It’s my time now. I call it Prime Time. This is prime time and this is my time.

Kimberly Mitchell:

And now we can work together to strip away all those things that you’ve built out over the years and really get back to because it’s really a returning back to who you were and really taking on the world. You know when you say, if I knew then what I know now, well, now you know, let’s go and do, do the thing.

Melinda Wittstock:

100%. This is so great. So, I’m just going to make sure that everybody can find you and find your program and connect with you on social media. That’ll all be in the show. Notes. I’m so wonderful what you’re, what you’re doing. Kimberly, congratulations on all your progress and all the good things you’re doing for the world.

Kimberly Mitchell:

Thank you.

Melinda Wittstock:

And thank you too for putting on your wings and flying with us today.

Kimberly Mitchell:

I absolutely appreciate being here. It’s so wonderful to have a conversation with you.

[INTERVIEW ENDS]

Melinda Wittstock:

Kimberly Mitchell is the Founder and CEO of the business training company Ujoozi and the personal transformation system, Journey to Joy.

Melinda Wittstock:

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Melinda Wittstock:

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