[00:00:00] Kevin Stafford: Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the conversations with coaches podcast. I’m your host Kevin and today I am I have already had the pleasure of making the acquaintance and I am so pleased to be able to share with you Lorna Vaughn. Lorna it’s we’re not going to have a one one hundredth of enough time to cover everything that Lorna has to say about not just her life story but how she helps people so we’re gonna we’re gonna just scratch the surface and definitely leave you wanting more so let me give you let me give you the the most bite sized version of Lorna to start with and then we’ll jump right in.
Lorna is a million dollar business mentor who became a top influencer in the New Age world, then became born again, burned down her seven figure brand, rebuilt it in Christ, and now helps ex New Agers do the same. She has 20 years of expertise in helping entrepreneurs build and grow seven and eight figure brands that truly stand out from the crowd.
Lorna, there is… I’ve barely scratched the surface. There is so much more to your story than that. I am… Excited stoked is the word that came to mind. Although I think that’s just my nineties kids showing. I am very, very, very excited to talk with you and just learn a little bit about your story. So thanks for sharing some time today.
[00:01:07] Lorna Vaughn: Absolutely. I’m, I’m excited to share it too. It’s kind of a great
[00:01:11] Kevin Stafford: story. Yeah. So let’s, let’s, let’s dive back in. We don’t have to go all the way back to like the beginning, beginning. I’ll let you choose where you want to start and run this story through, but how did you, how did you decide to, or who influenced you or what did you realize about your life and about the way you wanted to impact the world that has brought you to this place that you are today, where you’re serving a very specific kind of.
Person on a very specific kind of journey. How did you find yourself in this position of, of service to that community?
[00:01:39] Lorna Vaughn: Yeah, so it’s kind of twofold. Um, I grew up in the corporate world, um, you know, running, helping run businesses and I really cut my teeth in sales and marketing there. And I, um. I, I, I joke that I thought I always thought I was going to be a starving artist or something because I, I’m not your typical salesy type of person.
I, I thought that I was just, I, I, it’s a family business that I, I spent most of my time there, my mom and dad and, um, started it and I was the third employee and I was like a receptionist. And, you know, I saw my mom who is an amazing salesperson over her whole career. And I kept thinking. So not me, I can’t sell, I hate selling.
It’s disgusting. It’s sleazy, you know, all those things. And lo and behold, um, I ended up in sales in that company and I did extremely well. And, um, it changed my life. I mean, I believe that. If you know how to sell, um, you’re good. I mean, nobody can take your income away. Nobody can kind of control your destiny.
You, you can go out and create your own, your own, carve your own path and, and, you know, bring home the bacon and not have to depend on somebody else. So, and it also completely changed me in terms of my confidence and all kinds of things. So, Messaging was another piece of that, figuring out how to grab the attention of, I call it the David and Goliath kind of thing.
You know, we were a tiny little company, 3 million, 6 million, 12 million by the time I left, and we were going up against multi billion dollar. Global brands with massive marketing budgets and trying to get the time and attention of a C level person at a huge fortune, fortune 50 company. And so we had to craft like brilliant messaging that just kind of cut through the noise and get their attention.
And that was amazing training too. So that was my world. Um, I got kicked out of that world, many couples, several times I got fired. My mom actually fired me, um, because I, I’m an entrepreneur at heart. And I, you know, she was like, I don’t know if you’re aware of the fact that there’s only one CEO in this company and it’s not you.
And, and I was like, yeah. So, um, You know, God was really just calling me out of that world. Cause I really never felt like I, I had, that was my place. I felt like, you know, I come from a long line of missionaries and priests and even an actual barter and evangelists and all kinds of stuff. And I just have that evangelistic spiritual, like I want to help people with their whole being.
Uh, and so I knew that my time was limited and I, I just was too stubborn to leave on my own. So, so God kicked me out and I went through. Really hard four years, what I call my dark night of the soul, soul searching, um, you know, really just a very dark time trying to figure out how do I start this business?
And I think so many people who feel like they have a gift to share with the world get stuck at the business piece. They get stuck at the sales, the marketing, the messaging, the, does the world really need another one of me? You know, there’s already a billion coaches like me out there. There’s not. There isn’t, you’re the only coach like you and, um, but I went through that same thing.
And so, so much self doubt and all of this stuff, it just really crippled me and I gave up. And I went back to corporate because that’s what I knew and, um, I couldn’t sell. I couldn’t sell. I couldn’t sell a thing. It was terrifying. Um, and I, I got fired again. Um, and that was really my lowest, lowest, lowest point.
Um, I actually went through a nervous breakdown and I, I was, it was really, um, my mental health was in a really bad place. And I finally realized, okay, I just need to accept this calling and I need to just get over myself and trust that if God is calling me into this, then he’s going to give me the words.
You know, there’s a story of Moses, right? In the burning, burning bush. When God calls Moses to speak to the Pharaoh of Egypt and command him to set, you know, 600, 000, um, Israelites free. And Moses was a stutterer and he’s like, I’m sorry, why are you picking me? His brother was an amazing speaker, amazing.
And Moses is like, why are you picking me? Pick my brother. And God said, no, I’m picking you. And and he said, have no fear for, I will be with your mouth. And I thought about that and I thought, what am I doing? You know, doubting God. Right. I, I, if this is my calling that I need to just step into it. So I did, but I did it.
I went in kind of the wrong door. I didn’t realize at the time, but that’s when I started my new age business, it blew up and my, my heart was to help people with sales and marketing. Cause I could tell very quickly that these coaches were brilliant at the thing that they did, but they were. Really bad at marketing
and horrible at sales and hated sales and had all the same hangups I did, you know, decades before and I was like, okay, this I can help you because I understand your, your spiritual side. I understand the side that wants to serve and I understand what’s holding you back, but it doesn’t need to. So I built a pretty big business.
I built a million dollar business in 10 months, helping that, helping that community. Um, and that did that for 5 years and, and kind of, you know, I, I was kind of a big deal in that world. Um.
[00:07:42] Kevin Stafford: And then
[00:07:45] Lorna Vaughn: everything died about a year ago. Um, two years ago, I got married and a month after we got married, my husband broke his neck and, um, really should be dead or paralyzed.
Um, but he actually walked away from the accident. Um, but he was. The traumatic brain injury was so severe on top of the many others that he had had because he’s kind of had a he’s a thrill seeker and he takes risks. Um, and it, it just really, it destroyed us. I mean, it took all of my time and energy. This is one of the things I’m really passionate about.
Is if you’re a coach, make sure you have multiple streams of income coming in. Make sure that you’ve got some foundation to your business so that it, because so many coaches, um, build a business that depends completely on them. On their presence, their energy, you know, and I’m telling you, I couldn’t do both.
I couldn’t be up with my husband, you know, night after night, not getting any sleep because of his pain or his whatever was happening, his psychological stuff, and then show up for my clients and my marketing and my, I couldn’t do it. So the business started to decline, um, and then last, last year, right around this time, it stopped.
I mean, it just. And I had to walk away and so. Um, that was not easy, you know, I was, I walked away from, from what I thought was my future and my, and my purpose and, and all of that, but God had something else in store for me because that was a new age business. And I was teaching, I was teaching a lot of stuff that I thought at the time was true.
My heart was in the right place. Absolutely. Um, but it wasn’t, you know, and so, um, last fall I was, I was called back. I say back home, but kind of in a new way because I come from that world. My dad is a priest and you know, I, I was raised a Christian. Um, but I was really, I was called back. I mean, I, I heard the call and I thought, what in the world is this about?
Um, and over many months I, I ran from that call because I was like, I’m not getting baptized. That’s what he said. You will get baptized. I was like, don’t need to get baptized. Don’t not doing that. Um, you know, I, I don’t believe that there’s only one way to God. I believe there’s many paths and why would he want me to do this and all of this stuff.
It was a battle. I was really very prideful. And um, You know, so, but eventually I surrendered cause I was like, I think that between me and God, I’m not going to win this one. I just feel he’s probably going to win. And so I had a change of heart and I came to Christ and then I was like, now what? Now, what do I do with my coaching who like, okay, I can’t help new agers and I, I, I love them as people.
They, some of them are still my friends. Actually, many though are leaving for Christ. It is a huge trend right now. It’s kind of crazy. But, you know, in terms of my beliefs, I, I really, I really can’t. So I went through this season of wilderness and wandering and kind of being stripped away of all of my new age beliefs and concepts and ways that I coached.
And that took a while. Um, and then I started realizing and other people started telling me, well, Lorna, like help Christian coaches, like, hello. And also help. People who are like me, who had a new age business, who had to walk away from it, but coaching is still their gift, their God given gift. And now they’re kind of, they’re in the same place that I was in, you know, having to speak to a totally new audience, having to totally kind of re, um, reframe their thinking in Christ and not a new age.
So that led me to kind of the present moment where I have made that transition and I am now back coaching, um, And that’s where my heart is, is to help kind of two different types of people, Christian coaches who struggle with the same things that anybody does, you know, their messaging, their market, their pricing.
And I’ve actually been talking to a lot of Christian coaches who struggle with how to price things, you know, in a way that feel good and is sustainable as a business, but doesn’t make them feel like they’re leaving. People out in the cold, you know, um, how to speak powerfully and boldly and with humility.
Because I think a lot of times they, they diminish and dilute the power of their message because they want to be humble and obedient to God. And, but that really cripples their business because people don’t know how beautiful and powerful their God given gift is
[00:12:53] Kevin Stafford: for fear of power. What? For fear of pride, you lose your power.
[00:12:58] Lorna Vaughn: Yes. Yeah. So, same, you know, same problems that I help people with, but there’s nuances because of the faith that they struggle with that new agers do, but in kind of like a totally different way. Um, and then also helping new age, ex new agers who need to rebrand their businesses. That’s kind of the story in a nutshell.
[00:13:24] Kevin Stafford: And that, that, that is a nutshell that I, I, I can see so many different paths where that story gets even, even deeper and windier. But you did a great job of capturing all the twists and turns and how. It really is clear, even as you told that, that nutshell version of the story, how it was just you on the path, that in retrospect now, you see your, you see your footprints behind you, and you see your path that you walk behind you, and it makes sense how you got to where you are today.
It’s like your, every little piece of it, everything you learned, every valley that you were at the bottom of, every mountaintop that you, you know, looked off the top of and all the different journeys in between all of it. Make sense because you see where you are now and you feel where you are now and who you’re serving, who you are, who you’ve come to help as just, I just wanted to, I’m complimenting you, but also trying to like, sum it back up too, because you did a really excellent job of, of taking us on that journey with you.
And I think that speaks to how powerful your coaching is. I’m guessing, but I’m, I’m pretty confident in that guess.
[00:14:23] Lorna Vaughn: Yeah. I mean, people, you know, I, I really. I do have a, I have a gift for that, um, and I, and I love, I think the thing that, that pains me is to see, um, a gift that is not stewarded, um, correctly, either, either because of somebody’s own intention.
Um, own kind of faith issues or self doubt or, or things like that, or just like not understanding how to create a powerful message, just not knowing how to do it, thinking they are doing it, thinking they are speaking powerfully or they are speaking compellingly to their audience, but they’re just missing some few things that if they did, it would just allow them to really unleash their gift in the way that God.
Means for it to be to have the impact that he means for it to have, um, sometimes, you know, that means, um, some, some kind of tough love, you know, saying things to my client that they might not want to hear because that’s what they have to do in their messaging. Um, and I think that’s a big piece is, well, I don’t want to ruffle feathers.
Well, I don’t want to polarize. And I’m like, well, Jesus was the most polarizing person in history.
[00:15:50] Kevin Stafford: He flipped some tables.
[00:15:52] Lorna Vaughn: And so as long as you’re doing it with a pure heart, you know, the chances that your message has a polarizing aspect to it. That you are diluting is very high. You know, I think people are called into coaching because they’re called to transform, right?
And truth is what transforms and diluted truth leaves a lot of transformation unattended to. And, um, so I, I kind of have a passion for. Encouraging people to step out there and, and, and be polarizing if that not for the sake of it, but if that’s their message, I mean, if your message is a message of transformation, then there are things that your people need to hear that they don’t want to hear.
They don’t want to confront. But yet they do the, the ones I call them the one percenters, which is the people we always all want to work with. You know, the ones who are here to do big things. They want to hear the uncomfortable truth because no one else is saying it and they know that that. You know, unvarnished truth is the thing that’s going to set them free, but they can’t see it themselves.
They need someone else to have the boldness and the power to speak it to them with, you know, grace and truth both so that they can get beyond themselves. Um. And, you know, there are a lot of other people who, I mean, I, I was demonized online. I was called a cult leader. I was, um, I, there were Facebook groups formed to talk about, you know, me because my, my style is.
Is direct like that, you know, um, there were many, many, many more people that loved the fact that I was willing to say things that nobody else was willing to say, you know, and for people who are struggling with that, what I would say is focus on the people you’re here to serve, not the ones you’re powerfully enough.
[00:18:14] Kevin Stafford: Yeah, not everyone’s going to be ready, and all you don’t have to you don’t have to look anywhere farther than yourself to realize that, you know, there were times in your past, you know, where the things that you’re saying now, or that you want to say now that you weren’t ready to hear 10 years ago, five years ago, maybe one year ago, even, and understand that there are going to be a lot of people out there who are like that, too.
And think about how you might have reacted if someone like you came in, you know, With this kind of light, with this kind of truth, would you, how would you have reacted? And all you, you don’t even have to look outside of your own old self to realize that not everyone will be ready. And that you can’t, and I love that you’re focused on this too, you can’t, you can’t dilute your message.
To try to catch as many people as possible or please as many people as possible. Down that way lies ruin. And a waste of everyone’s time and energy and effort. You won’t be having any anywhere near the impact that you want to have that you need to have that you’re called to have. And so it’s important to stay committed to that.
And I, you are as, as a coach there, you are ideally positioned, not just because of your experience and because of all the lessons that you’ve learned and have to share because of that too. But also as a coach, you have this, you, you occupy this, you, I would say unique position where you have this deep understanding and connection with your clients.
It’s very profound. And yet you don’t have any of the baggage that say like a long time friend or a partner or a family member might have. So you really do get the best of all possible worlds with a coach like you to come in and be honest and be truthful and have that authority and have that invitation to say the things that need to be said, not from a place of, of dictating.
Or, you know, trying to make somebody in your own image, but to help them find their way to remake their lives and other people’s lives in God’s image. It’s, it’s, it’s simple, but it’s very, very powerful. And there’s a lot of places where people get lost on that journey and they need someone to come in and, you know, give them a little guidance, give them a little guiding light.
[00:20:17] Lorna Vaughn: Yeah, it’s, it’s simple, but it’s not easy.
[00:20:21] Kevin Stafford: Yeah, that’s right. It’s funny how so much of this, as it comes out and you say it or you listen to it, and it sounds. Like what you might call common sense where you’re almost like you’re saying it and I’m just nodding along and I imagine like that’s, that’s just that that that sense that makes perfect sense.
And yet, without you to say it, it’s so hard to realize it on your own. It’s hard. It’s hard to shine that light, you know, you know, it’s just how it’s hard to see yourself.
[00:20:48] Lorna Vaughn: I think also there, there’s a lot of messaging out there that is the opposite of this. You know, there’s especially right now and I’m going to maybe be polarizing, but that’s okay.
In the whole movement that we are in with identity politics and the woke movement and you know, all of that, it is all about, I’m in the U S so I don’t know how where you’re, you know, your viewers or your listeners are, but in the U S in particular, um, it is all
It is all about managing your communication and your truth so that it doesn’t prick anybody else on the planet. And, you know, if you do, you get canceled, right? Or in my case, you get flame board at, you know, on Facebook and, and, um, so there’s a lot of, there’s a lot of quote unquote common sense. Out there in the culture, particularly now, particularly in the last few years that I think is infiltrating people’s minds and people’s consciousness to make them feel like, well, you know, and especially if they’re a Christian, right.
They don’t, they don’t want to be bombastic and, and just kind of out there and in your face. That’s not what I’m talking about. Um, but there’s that combined with, you know, be nice. Be nice. Be loving. That’s what I got all the time. You know, you’re not very loving. And I was like, actually, to me, you are loving thing to do is to say what Is no one else wants to hear to tell somebody the truth instead of co sign their denial and their lies.
I think that’s the most loving thing to do. Now, if you are somebody who wants comfort over growth. That’s not going to feel loving, you know, but there’s a lot in the culture. All I was trying to say is it, it sounds like common sense, but there’s also, I think a struggle with, but that’s not nice. And I’m going to be seen as a jerk.
So one of the things that I struggled with was, you know, I knew this was my style. I, from the time I was, you know, in high school, I would have friends come to me and ask me for advice. Probably a lot of coaches, you know, have this experience. And I would say things that they were like. Mad at me for nice.
And I was like, I thought you wanted to get out of your bathroom. I don’t know, call me crazy, but you know, I thought you wanted to get out of this. Maybe I’m confused. And so when I was looking at going into coaching, I felt like who’s going to hire me, like literally nobody’s going to hire me because I just, you know, they, they’re more concerned with comfort overgrowth.
Most people are the 1 percent are not. And you just have to remember who you’re talking to. You’re here to serve.
[00:23:53] Kevin Stafford: Yeah. For me, it, it, it, it was a real revelation when I realized that there is a. Massive difference between being nice and being kind. And there’s, there’s, there’s an edge to kindness, uh, a desire to, to be of help and to be of service, to really genuinely care, even when quite frankly, especially when it’s not comfortable to care, to give care or to receive care there.
I find kindness to be the powerful way that I like to move forward. Nice. Nice I can take or leave. Nice can be nice, I sometimes like to say, even though using the word to define itself is kind of silly. But still, I find this commitment to niceness sort of silly sometimes. I’m much more interested in kindness.
And You know, if I hadn’t been allowed to step on anybody’s toes, I never would have learned how to dance. Like, I really like, I never would have even come close. And I’m not exactly a graceful human being physically, but I’ve, you know, if I had never been able to stumble and step on some toes and sometimes embarrass myself, maybe other people never were to learn how to dance.
And that’s kind of, that’s kind of how I think about that when it comes to niceness and kindness and being the kind of person that I want to be in the world and genuinely caring about people.
[00:25:09] Lorna Vaughn: And that can look like you don’t care to a lot of other people, you know, and that’s just in it. It occurs to me too.
I mean, especially for, for those who were, who were in the faith, you know, God is. is the one who’s given you this message. So it’s not really your right to dilute it and decide that it’s not, you know, fit for public consumption.
[00:25:33] Kevin Stafford: You know, he
[00:25:35] Lorna Vaughn: gave it to you.
[00:25:38] Kevin Stafford: I did the thing that I told you I was gonna do. I got sucked into the conversation and I lost track of time.
We’re, we’re, we’re not like over time, wildly or anything like that. But I could do this with you for hours, and I’m sure that you have, but I do want to, before I let you go, reluctantly, um, give you a chance to tell the audience where people can just learn more about you, whether they’re just curious about your life story and who you are and how you came to be who you are, and if it’s different, Like where can they best connect with you if they want to just if they want to just talk to you learn more about you and especially if they want to talk about what your coaching might be able to help them with and how you might be able to guide them where they want to go so where can where can people go for their next steps if they want to and I’m sure they do if they want to find out more about you.
[00:26:22] Lorna Vaughn: So I’m kind of unconventional. Um, I don’t, I don’t have a website. Um, I do have, I know I, I do have an email and that’s probably, and I answer all my emails. So that’s probably the easiest place for people to directly contact me. Um, and then I do have a few Facebook groups, depending on where people want to go, but I’ll probably just give one here.
So my email is, and you can probably include this in the show notes or whatever. Oh yeah, all this will be in the show notes for sure. Yeah. So my email is there. Lorna at elevate with Lorna von. com. Um, and that I do, I do actually, I respond to those emails. They don’t go into a black hole. Um, and then my, um, my Facebook group, legendary.
Um, and that is the place where I really teach a lot of what we’ve been talking about, which is, I can’t remember the subtitle. It’s something, something. Um, but yeah, so that’s where I teach people how to really create legendary content, legendary messaging, and create a legendary brand that really impacts the world on the level that they’re meant to.
[00:27:31] Kevin Stafford: Awesome. All right. Yeah. And like you said, you’re around, I think I did a little light Googling and found a couple, I found a couple different Facebook groups. I think you had a YouTube channel. I’m not sure it’s very active. I didn’t have time to check it out, but Lorna Vaughn is someone that you can Google.
And also to find out more, the email will be in the show notes. This legendary Facebook group will be in the show notes. I’m reasonably confident that I’ll want to have you back on in like six months, just because I just, there’s, there’s so much meat on the bone. And I just, I got totally sucked in and I was almost, I was borderline a bad podcast host cause I almost lost track of time entirely.
But yeah, this has been, this has been fantastic. Thank. Thank you for sharing a little sliver of your story and a little sliver of your time today. I, I really got a lot out of it. I feel like my audience will too. And I’m just grateful for the work that you’re doing and that you’re, and the way in which you’re committed to it and the way in which you’re able to share your story.
Very vulnerable, very authentic. And I, I think we need more of that. You know, niceness be damned, so to speak.
[00:28:30] Lorna Vaughn: Absolutely. Yeah, it was great. It was really great. All right. Well,
[00:28:33] Kevin Stafford: thank you again. Thank you to the audience for listening. You know what to do next. You’re going to want to find out more of this. If you were half as fascinated by this conversation as I was, you at the very least are just curious to know more about Lorna.
Do yourself a favor. All the links will be in the show notes. And Lorna will be back again at some point in the future. And I will get to talk to you again very soon. Amazing.
