Angela Choi

Angela is an International Life Purpose and Career Coach. She helps driven professionals who feel stuck and unfulfilled to discover their purpose so that they can have both the impact and income that they want. She draws from experiences and lessons learned over a decade of finding her purpose through the corporate, start-up and non-profit worlds across the U.S., Africa, Asia and Europe, all whilst juggling self-judgment, familial pressure and societal expectations. Sign up for her FREE guide, 6 Steps to Living Your Purpose at www.angelachoi.co/6-steps-to-purpose.

Where did the idea for your career come from?

I am an International Life Purpose & Career Coach who helps driven professionals who feel stuck and unfulfilled to discover their purpose so that they can have both the impact and income that they want. My coaching draws from experiences and lessons that I learned over a decade of finding my purpose through the corporate, start-up and non-profit worlds across the U.S., Africa, Asia and Europe, all whilst juggling self-judgment, familial pressure and societal expectations.

What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?

I ground myself for the day ahead with my morning routine, which consists of meditation, yoga, journaling and reading. My morning routine enhances my productivity because it enables me to take care of myself and fill my cup. Because my cup is full, I can then do a better job of serving my clients and handling external circumstances.

After my morning routine, depending on the day, I’m either on client calls, focusing on business development and/or networking with people. In the evening, I host purpose-related workshops, to accommodate the schedules of individuals who have 9-5 jobs.

How do you bring ideas to life?

I bring ideas to life by putting my thoughts on paper so that I have a rough outline of what it is that I’d like to accomplish. With a bigger picture in place, I then go in and fill in the outline with details. Once I have an idea fully flushed out, I’ll run it by mentors and friends to get an outsider perspective on anything that I may feel uncertain about before launching and iterating.

What’s one trend that excites you?

I am grateful for individuals like Brené Brown who have openly and candidly expressed their challenges and vulnerabilities, thereby giving others permission to do the same and enabling people to form deeper and more authentic connections with one another. I feel like the increasing prevalence of these conversations is especially meaningful and important against the backdrop of social media platforms, where everyone feels the need to maintain a façade.

What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?

I have created and maintained a morning routine that allows me to take care of myself in mind, body and spirit before I take care of anything else. In taking care of myself first, I’m then able to have the mental capacity and energy to handle everything that comes my way.

What advice would you give your younger self?

“Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, then it’s not the end.”

I used to worry a lot – in high school, I worried about every quiz, exam and paper because I wanted to get into a “good” school. In college, I continued to worry about excelling academically so that I could land a “good” job and have the opportunity to attend a “good” graduate school. Everything worked out, each and every time. I would tell my younger self to worry less, enjoy (life) more.

Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.

Not everyone is meant for higher education and this is something that can be embraced! For example: There are people who don’t thrive in academic environments and they are meant to do things with their hands. As such, we shouldn’t be pushing everyone to go to college and instead, should create more opportunities for people to flourish in other ways, whether that’s creating more trade schools, coding boot camps, etc.

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?

Failing forward – As entrepreneurs, we are bound to fail. If we’re not failing, it probably means that we’re not doing enough to push our boundaries.

It’s important that each time I fail, I pick myself back up, figure out what could be improved upon and iterate so that it’s better the next time around.

Generally speaking, there’s a negative connotation that comes with the word failure- we discourage it from a young age and as a result, people are afraid to fail and become very risk-averse. It is in failing and rising each time that we are able to realize the depth of our potential.

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?

Being persistent has helped grow my business – more often than not, the answer is “no.” However, if I let a “no” stop me, I would never reach the “yes.” For me, it’s about continuously putting myself out there and staying unattached to the result so that I can get to the “yes.”

What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?

In the beginning, my energy was scattered in too many directions – if I learned of a new strategy, I wanted to employ it. For example: I thought it would be helpful to build up my Instagram presence so I spent a significant amount of time with an individual to work out the logistics of doing an Instagram takeover on her account so that I could increase my exposure through her audience.

Despite all the time and energy invested over the course of a month of back-and-forth communication, ultimately, we decided not to proceed with the partnership, which, at first, seemed like a huge waste of time for both parties. However, it turned out to be the right decision because Instagram isn’t the go-to platform for my target clients anyway.

Reflecting on the experience also helped me reaffirm the importance of the 80-20 rule – 80% of business is driven by 20% of the work that I do. Rather than chasing the next shiny object, of which there are many, it makes more sense to focus my attention on the 20%.

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

If you’ve ever succeeded in something, you can monetize on it and start a business. For example: If you scored well on your SAT and got into a top school, objectively, you’ve succeeded in navigating the college application process and as such, you can coach others to do the same and build a business accordingly.

What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?

1) An essential oil diffuser for aromatherapy (which happens to be mood-enhancing) and moisture in my living + working spaces, especially during the winter months
2) A donation to CaringKind, an NYC-based NGO that provides comprehensive support to Alzheimer’s patients and their caregivers. As a caregiver to my grandmother who has Alzheimer’s, I am immensely grateful for the support that I’ve received and want to support the organization as it continues to do good work.

What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive?

Screen time feature on the iPhone to bring awareness to how much time I’m spending on my phone

Down time feature on the iPhone to disable my apps at night so that I can disconnect from technology and unwind for the day

What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?

The Alchemist – the book chronicles the beautiful adventures of a young shepherd to demonstrate the importance of listening to our hearts and pursuing our dreams, despite the obstacles.

The trials and tribulations, though challenging, are all part of the journey and will guide us to where we strive to be. I think it’s important for people in this community to be reminded to stay the course, especially because there are so many ups and downs in the entrepreneurial journey.

What is your favorite quote?

“If you will it, then it is no dream.”

Key Learnings:

• Morning routines are very grounding- by first taking care of ourselves, we are then better able to take care of our business, clients, etc.
• Remember to stay the course, even with all the ups and downs because so much of the entrepreneurial journey is about persistence and resilience
• Failing is an important part of the journey and it can be embraced – it teaches us what we can improve upon and as long we as learn from our failures, we are ultimately moving forward