022 - Latara Dragoo - Harnessing "The 7 Habits" for Entrepreneurial Success & Cultivating Win-Win Collaborations

Ever wondered how a single book can reshape your entire approach to life and business? Our latest episode welcomes the incredible Latara Dragoo, who shares her journey of how Stephen Covey's "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" played a pivotal role in her transition from traditional employment to entrepreneurship during the tumultuous times of the COVID-19 shutdown. By embracing Covey's principle of being proactive, Latara made bold moves that led her to launch her own business amidst uncertainty, showcasing the profound impact of internalized habits and the courage to pivot in challenging times.

We also delve into the transformative philosophy of win-win collaborations. Latara discusses how focusing on mutual benefit and collaboration over competition can lead to more harmonious and thriving environments. She shares invaluable insights on challenging the traditional win-lose mentality, highlighting how adopting a mindset of shared success can positively impact both personal and professional interactions. Join us for an enlightening conversation that promises to inspire and empower your entrepreneurial spirit, while fostering a sense of community and shared success.

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Transcript

Speaker 1 0:17

Hello everyone and welcome to the Shiro Cafe. I'm Debbie Pearson, with my partner and co-host, Deborah Edwards, where we celebrate the Shiro in you, and today we're going to be talking with Latara Dragoo. Did I say your name correctly, Latara?

Speaker 2 0:33

Yes, you did, thank you.

Speaker 1 0:34

Great, okay, wonderful. And you have a chapter in the book called the Book I Read. So why don't you tell us a little bit about what you do and your chapter and why you chose it?

Speaker 2 0:49

Well, first of all, thank you so much for having me here today. I'm absolutely tickled and excited to be a part of this, and I just I'm actually actually this is the second time I've been in the book I read, uh, and it was just such a fun project that I had to do it again, so this is volume two, so you were in volume one and now you're in volume two.

Speaker 1 1:11

Yes, yes, oh, my god, you got a series going exactly, exactly.

Speaker 2 1:18

So the book is the uh seven habits of highly effective people by Stephen Covey. And um, what was the other part of that question?

Speaker 1 1:27

you know, like what is it that? Maybe either that you do, and or why did you choose that book? Like what brought you to that?

Speaker 2 1:36

to put it in the book I read oh, okay okay, this a really good question, all right, so I think that one of the reasons why I wanted to use this particular book even though there are several books in my mind that have made a huge impact on my life the reason why I chose this one was because I read it at such a young age that, first of all, I had forgotten I read it and, second of all, I had kind of integrated the principles taught in the book as my own personal guideline for being so.

Speaker 2 2:13

When I recalled that I had read all that, I was like, wow, that really did shape my life. Called that I had read all that, I was like, wow, that really did shape my life and, as far as it pertains to what I'm doing now, I think that it kind of generated this entrepreneurial spirit in me that has always been kind of in my world, but only recently have I actually jumped in feet first and started my own business. But it's always been there, like whenever I was working, you know, in an office in a nine to five job, there was always that you know, the side project going, and it never really materialized until I just became my own boss.

Speaker 1 3:01

Wow, that is awesome. There's a lot of women, I hear and maybe men too, but I don't talk to men about that as much where it's kind of like we live our lives taking care of everything and everybody else, maybe raising kids, maybe increasing our level inside of a particular like a career or whatever but there's, there comes a point where it's like what about me? Like I'm not sure that I want to do that all the time. What I find really interesting is how you read the book and then later on went, wow, I implemented these principles without really being that cognizant about it.

Speaker 1 3:43

And that kind of reminds me of when I've made vision boards and put it away, didn't think about it anymore, and then later on go back and go oh my God, I got that exact car. I completely forgot about that, or whatever it is. You know, just to have that happen because of that and it seems like it just impact, your brain must have been really, really ready to accept these, these habits, if you will, and you just naturally changed your life toward living them, toward living them, and that's pretty awesome because, like, you get practice. And then, when it's time to really implement them, because now you've stepped away from a um what do we traditional?

Speaker 1 4:27

traditional, yes yeah, trade your time for money. And you know, like, okay, I'll give you my eight hours if you give me this many dollars, kind of thing. And then here you are with your own this many dollars, kind of thing. And then here you are with your own entrepreneurial spirit and your own business so good for you. I have a question.

Speaker 3 4:46

So you were, you were talking about having, and I I read this years ago too, and and came to that same realization. But what was the event that made you re, you know, kind of recapitulate and come to a different point with your connection with the book, as you made different choices of moving your future. There's often an event that causes you to pivot from what the path is that you're on to the one that you want to be on, so kind of. Can you share that with us?

Speaker 2 5:23

Okay. So if you're, if you're, if you're referring to when did I make that leap from traditional job to my own boss? That was actually because of the COVID shutdown. I, I, I, they told me to work from home. So I, between the beginning of March and the end of March, that's what I was doing, and then on March 31st, I got a call saying don't come back. So I was like, okay, well, this is the sign I was waiting for.

Speaker 2 5:55

Here's your sign, so I did not hesitate. I think by April 20th I had started my own corporation. It was just like I'm not going to sit and wait around and figure out what's happening, because the whole world was in flux and I was just, I guess, using this as an opportunity to be my springboard.

Speaker 1 6:14

Wow, that's amazing.

Speaker 2 6:16

Yeah.

Speaker 3 6:16

And so how has that the principles in the, in the book, how has that kind of informed you as you move forward?

Speaker 2 6:25

Oh, my goodness, so many ways. First of all, being proactive. That's like one of the first principles of the seven habits, and that's what I did. I took a proactive stand because I realized that everybody was like duck and huddle mode. Nobody wanted to take any action during the COVID shutdown. They were all just sitting and waiting. And you know, they were just like, you know, just hold out another day, and we don't know when this is going to go back to normal, and I don't think it ever did come back to normal. I think we're now in a different shift. We did, we all went through this paradigm shift and and we're all experiencing now and we're all newbies. So you know, that was just my moment to take action.

Speaker 1 7:07

I see that's pretty amazing. Like you're right, a lot of people did shut down. I heard a lot of like I'm an introvert. I heard a lot of my introvert friends going, oh, thank God, oh yeah, this is wonderful. For about a month or two and then it was like oh my gosh, what's gonna happen now? Because we were all struggling. So, so that book, um, that's incredible that it do you remember? Like some of the chapters, like you said, take action, that's like a chapter yeah, yeah, be proactive, um, um, begin with the end in mind.

Speaker 2 7:45

Think when, when, synergize, these are all so many uh things that, like I said, like I, it's just second nature to me. Like when I'm strategizing, I'm thinking about how can I make this a win-win situation? You know, how can I make this this awesome for everybody involved? So there's, you know, there's, you know, in a game you're taught there's a winner and a loser. So I'm like, how can we create a game where everybody wins? And that's just kind of been my philosophy, um, throughout my life.

Speaker 3 8:16

And then when I talk about, when I'm hearing about what you do for authors and coaches and creating that environment where they can expand their ripple, and how does that show up there? That win-win I definitely see that in what you do.

Speaker 2 8:36

Oh well, thank you, thank you so much for saying that that means a lot. Thank you, thank you so much for saying that that means a lot. But, yeah, there's so many principles there that kind of lend to that because, first of all, synergy Synergy is one of the most powerful things on the planet and you create this third mind. When you come together, you have two people coming together and then there's this third mind and and with that, your, your, your projects, your implementations just amplify exponentially because of that synergy. So I I truly believe that you know, when you come together and and collaborate on things, that you just can create magic.

Speaker 2 9:25

I totally like the book I read.

Speaker 3 9:26

There are so many inspiring authors and just the synergy of that positive energy going out into the world. I just am just so grateful for the opportunity to be a part of that.

Speaker 2 9:39

Such a good point and that's another reason that I jumped in is because the community that each of these books creates, and it's beautiful, yeah, and I get to meet amazing women like yourself. Thank you.

Speaker 1 9:54

So what we often ask people that we interview is to share a thought or a concept about something that they feel anybody listening to this could benefit from. So what's something that you feel that any audience member that hears this they might be like, wow, I didn't even think of that, or that's really thanks for the reminder, or you know anything like that. What? What words might you want to share with the audience?

Speaker 2 10:24

oh it's. It's tough to pin it down to just one thing. I'm thinking of two things that have really helped me in my life, if that's okay. Sure, the first thing is begin with the end in mind, because I feel like you can become a powerful creator in your own life if you have that vision of where you're going.

Creating Win-Win Collaborations

Speaker 2 10:47

Otherwise, you're just stumbling through the woods in the dark and you can't get anywhere because you don't have any direction. But if you have that end goal that you're working towards and you can reverse engineer back to you, it's a very powerful way to reach that dream life. And so the second thing that I wanted to share was is that that win-win part of things is just always look at your situation as, instead of saying, oh, how can I get one over on this person, think about how you can impact their life beautifully, and they can impact your life beautifully Like how can this be a? A mutually beneficial situation? So I think I feel like if everybody took on that philosophy, then we would. We there would be no wars, it would be a totally different world.

Speaker 1 11:39

Yes, I think we have always I don't want to say I've always. It seems like so many people have been taught the win-lose aspect. Somebody has to be a loser for me to win, and we have spent many, many years like that. So now this, this new concept of well, how can we both win? I love that's like collaboration over competition and I absolutely love that.

Speaker 1 12:08

Yes like collaboration over competition and I, yes, absolutely love that. Yes, oh, latara, we want to thank you so much for coming on here and being interviewed. We know how busy you are, especially late and super excited you took time out to be with us oh my gosh, the pleasure is all mine.

Speaker 2 12:24

Thank you so much for having me. I truly appreciate it it.

Speaker 1 12:29

So we want to thank Action Takers Publishing for letting us in and being part of the book I read and this is Debbie Pearson and Deborah Edwards with the Shiro Cafe podcast, and we just want to say bye, thanks.

Speaker 3 12:44

Bye.