Emi Hockett: The Power of Flexibility; How I Was Able To Pivot To A New Exciting Opportunity Because Of The Pandemic

The importance of valuing yourself, your time, and your expertise. If you don’t believe in your own work, nobody else will.

The COVID19 pandemic has disrupted all of our lives. But sometimes disruptions can be times of opportunity. Many people’s livelihoods have been hurt by the pandemic. But some saw this as an opportune time to take their lives in a new direction.

As a part of this series called “How I Was Able To Pivot To A New Exciting Opportunity Because Of The Pandemic”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Emi Hockett.

Emi Hockett specializes in small business development and implementation for female founders including coaches, consultants, and mentors who work in the digital space. She manages everything from PR and marketing, to sales and content creation, improving synergy and efficiency throughout the business. Deep diving into these different roles and wholeheartedly believing in her clients visions, allows her to turn dreams into reality and become the backbone of the business.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we start, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory?

I grew up in an Asian American household with my Japanese mother, American Father, and my twin sister. During my middle school and highschool days, I played every sport and participated in every extracurricular activity that I could. However, I quit most of them, but was grateful to have at least explored many different options. A few of my favorites include: violin, badminton, cheer, track, dance, musicals, and gymnastics. Traveling was also another important aspect of my life, as I traveled across the country a lot with my dad for work conferences. Growing up, I dreamt of becoming a model, but felt devastated that I was only 5’4”. I’m very fortunate to have supportive parents who always encouraged me to pursue my own goals and ambitions. I never felt burdened over the fact that I couldn’t find a 9–5 corporate job during the pandemic. My parents are content as long as I’m enjoying what I do and can provide for myself.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

My favorite “Life Lesson Quote” is a Japanese idiom「七転び八起き」nana korobi yaoki which translates to “fall down seven times, stand up eight.” Whenever I tried new things, I would eventually quit and get discouraged from starting something new again. However, I found that when I could muster the courage to take the next leap to something new, it allowed me to gain new confidence to continue striving to find that one thing that I want to pursue in life. I’m still not sure what it is, but now I get so much excitement from trying new things.

Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

I had the opportunity to attend the “PR Secrets” masterclass hosted by Gloria Chou during an unpaid PR internship so that I could learn more about public relations. Attending this masterclass made a significant impact in my life and opened so many doors for me. I was so amazed by her that I connected with her after and made use of every lesson that she taught in the class. Gloria is someone that inspires me for many reasons. She had many career path pivots in her life, including being a US diplomat, TV producer, and now a PR Guru. I see a lot of myself in her, as she possesses many qualities that I want to instill in my own life. When I was in highschool, my dream job was to be an ambassador and I had a big interest in television and documentaries. I was shocked to see that Gloria did all of those things, but wasn’t fully satisfied. She found her passion in teaching PR and helping thousands of founders show up confidently. She had all of these exceptional positions that I coveted, but she left them to pursue a job in the digital world, which I thought was really intriguing.

Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. Can you tell our readers about your career experience before the Pandemic began?

Prior to the pandemic, the only career experience I had were unpaid internships in PR and international relations. I wasn’t sure how to apply the theoretical knowledge from university into the workplace, but I was confident in my writing and communication skills. At my internship, I was mainly responsible for conducting research for relevant podcasts, and pitch writing for outreach. This was to increase credibility and visibility of the company!

What did you do to pivot as a result of the Pandemic?

After spending a few months working as an unpaid intern, eventually receiving stipends and bonuses, I finally felt confident enough to step out of an intern mindset, and adopt a CEO mindset. I found a community of female entrepreneurs and CEOs all working in the digital space, and it gave me a lot of confidence and support to branch out and become more independent. Currently, I work primarily with female coaches and mentors in the digital space managing different aspects of their business to implement strategic growth tactics. (PR, social media, HR, email marketing, course creation, launch strategy, sales, and the list goes on)

Can you tell us about the specific “Aha moment” that gave you the idea to start this new path?

My “Aha moment” was very much the embodiment of the saying, “New Year, new me!” Right after New Year’s Day, I had a call with an Australian mindset and empowerment coach, Emily-Jane Sarroff. We basically discussed different career options I was pondering, because I was ready to start something new, but wasn’t sure how exactly. She has asked me one simple question, “why aren’t you doing what you want to do”, and I didn’t have an answer for her. I had unlimited resources and time to do whatever I wanted, but I wasn’t doing anything, so we addressed my limiting beliefs and discussed next steps. I was so motivated after just a 30 minute call with her.

How are things going with this new initiative?

Since pivoting, I’ve met some of the most amazing female entrepreneurs and what’s really incredible is that they’re now coming to me and asking about my services. It’s crazy considering just a few months ago, I was only an unpaid intern. What’s great about working with these small businesses and solopreneurs is that I can clearly see the impact I’m making on each one of their businesses. This is so rewarding and exciting to see the business develop because of your help. I think that the biggest thing that’s happened since pivoting is every month, I have completely new opportunities presenting themselves including travel, work responsibilities, connections I’ve made through clients, education opportunities…..So if at some point I find myself unsatisfied with my situation, I have plenty of options to turn to because I have established so many solid relationship in different communities.

Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

Since I already gave a shout out to Gloria Chou, my original Mentor, and Emily-Jane Sarroff, the one who opened my eyes to mindset coaching, I have to mention my current partner in crime; client, boss, team member, friend, Jaylissa Lea. She is a Modern Luxury Brand strategist, and from the second I connected with her, I was obsessed with her vision. We hit it off right away and have been diligently working together to bring her vision to life since then. She is so much fun to work with and is incredibly knowledgeable in psychology and mindset work. She has given me so many new and exciting opportunities and taught me how to set the highest standards for myself, and inspires so many others to do the same. I think everyone will be hearing about the Modern Luxury Movement in the near future.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started in this new direction?

It’s funny that, for each of my clients, I always started out as a communications strategist and specifically worked on PR. Then over time, I took on more roles and responsibilities for everyone and now, they all have expressed interest in having me on their team full time.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me before I started leading my organization” and why. Please share a story or example for each.

1. First off, I wish I knew how important it was to surround yourself with like minded/driven people in your field of interest, because most of my friends were working in corporate, they didn’t really understand the work I was doing. They were definitely supportive and interested, but couldn’t really contribute to the professional development I was looking for. Having a community of people in similar niches made work so much more fun, especially as a solopreneur.
2. My next tip would be to find a mentor, someone in a position that you respect and admire. Then you can ask questions and receive encouragement. Hearing encouragement from a mentor is a bit different than say, a friend or family member, because it carries more weight as they’re established professionals who are related to my career goals.
3. I wish I knew the importance of mindset work and consistent mindset maintenance and upkeep. Anything relating to time management, productivity, stress, I find that all of these can be addressed with the right mindset hacks. So rather than paying for a productivity coach or a life coach, I would invest in a mindset coach first.
4. This next one is a big one for me. The importance of being open to trying new things. I used to get anxious whenever a client would ask me to do something I hadn’t done before. I felt stupid when I had to ask a lot of questions, but these days, I gladly welcome the chance to try new tasks. Throwing yourself into something headfirst is such an amazing way to learn, and learn quickly. Every time I learn a new skill, it increases the value I can bring to all of my clients. .
5. The importance of valuing yourself, your time, and your expertise. If you don’t believe in your own work, nobody else will. And even if you do believe in it, you need to clearly communicate your value so that other people believe in it as well. You could be so great at what you do, but if your personality isn’t as great, or you can’t communicate well, people will take advantage of you, or pass on the opportunity to work with you altogether. It’s really about setting standards, and I wish I knew how to set higher standards for myself and my clients earlier on. Don’t work with people who aren’t on the same page as you. Don’t work with people who have incompatible communication or work styles. You can do whatever you want to do since you’re the boss.

So many of us have become anxious from the dramatic jolts of the news cycle. Can you share the strategies that you have used to optimize your mental wellness during this stressful period?

What’s kept me in a positive mindset is the consistent communication that I have with my friends and my clients. It’s really comforting to have that stability and reliability in such unstable times. I have also been focusing more on adjusting my sleep schedule. I feel like a big part of my stress or anxiety is caused by things that are quite insignificant, and can usually be slept off.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

I would like to inspire a movement about setting high standards for yourself. By doing this, it causes others to not only treat you better, but to set higher standards for themselves as well. By raising the bar and sticking to it, others will rise to meet you where you’re at. This is such a powerful response.

Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have lunch with, and why? Maybe we can tag them and see what happens!

Kimora Lee Simmons. Hands down. Model, entrepreneur, designer, author, philanthropist. Everything I would ever want to be. She is so inspiring and honestly I don’t even know what I would ask her if we had lunch together. Maybe if she was accepting mentees. A big shout out to her, since I’ve been looking up to her since I was 8.

How can our readers follow you online?

Instagram: @emi.lynell

Club House: Emi Hockett

Linkedin: Emi Hockett

Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!