Van is the founder of Worksmart, a progressive leadership and team development consultancy that utilizes creativity, play, and shared experience to help organizations attract, engage, and retain top talent. She also serves as a Fractional Learning Officer for mid-sized high-growth companies seeking to enhance employee development.
With over 20 years of corporate and start-up experience, she actively works to rewrite the way we apply creativity in the workplace, inviting clients to think with their hands and use creative tools to disrupt traditional training methods. Her clients include game-changers such as Google, LinkedIn, and Pandora.
Van is also a TEDx Speaker and a volunteer faculty member at The Honor Foundation, where she brings her work to members of the elite U.S. Special Operations Forces as they transition from military to civilian careers.
For more information about Van and Worksmart, visit: www.worksmartadvantage.com.
Today, we sit down with Van to get more insight about her journey as an entrepreneur.
Q: How did you get started as an entrepreneur? What motivated you?
Van: My journey started as a curiosity, a fascination with how I might combine my love for creativity and creative thinking with my professional work in Learning and Development. The idea to blend these two interests emerged while I was working for a large corporation that didn’t foster much individuality or creativity in the way we did our jobs. I felt that was something that was hindering my satisfaction at work. And since we are all innately creative, if I was feeling this way, I knew others must be too.
After years of this idea tapping me on the shoulder, and a thousand excuses to not take action, I finally took my first small step in the direction of my idea and enrolled in a class called Kaizen Muse Creativity Coaching — a program designed to train people to coach others in their creative endeavors. Instead, I used the tools I learned to help start my business.
I initially developed a course called ‘Turn Your Values into Action’ and piloted it as a workshop in my backyard with friends and family. Later, I created another and hosted it at a friend’s art studio, opening it up to the public. One day, while packing workshop supplies into the trunk of my car, my neighbor approached me, curious about my work. After that driveway conversation, she hired me for my first corporate workshop — at Google.
From there, and after some light nudging from a friend and business coach, I decided to focus my attention on corporate workshops. At first it felt that my primary job was educating people on the value of creativity in the workplace, and only then could I actually pitch my work. Over time, my business started to grow from word of mouth and referrals as well as my persistence and relentlessness in sharing the importance of incorporating creativity into the workplace.
Q. What entrepreneurial tricks have you discovered to keep you focused and productive?
Van: Put your phone away. As an entrepreneur, there will always be calls to answer and emails to respond to. Allocate specific times in your day to be available for these necessities. Safeguard the rest of your day by setting your phone aside when you need to do focused work. If you are looking for some practical guidelines and tips on how to schedule your day for focused productivity, I recommend a method taught by Matt Hood called The Da Vinci Method.
Additionally, I once worked with a business coach who imparted the sage advice to “leave room to receive.” Entrepreneurs are naturally inclined to be ‘doers,’ constantly working to make things happen. This advice provided me with the insight that there is great power in leaving space for things to unfold naturally. I don’t have to be in perpetual motion or accomplishing tasks all day long. Rest and allowing space to receive are just as crucial as productivity. It is often in these moments of rest and openness where new ideas can tiptoe in.
Q: What prompted you to become an entrepreneur? We’d love to know more about what drives you.
Van: One of my offerings is called Playsonality© Playstyles—an assessment and workshop designed to help people discover their play style preference and learn how to activate it in the workplace. My play style is the ‘Adventurer,’ and some highlighted characteristics of this style include enjoying taking risks, embracing new experiences, and a dislike for being told what to do.
These traits describe a few of the internal reasons that prompted me to become an entrepreneur. The entrepreneurial mindset has always resonated with me, and I have been involved in a couple of other businesses over the years. The decision to specifically start Worksmart was influenced by a pivotal time in my life—I had just become a new mom, and when my son was only 8 weeks old, my brother, then a police officer, was involved in a motorcycle accident that left him in a coma for two months.
It was during that challenging period of my life that I decided life was short, and the excuses I was making to not start my business became inconsequential. I wanted my son to see his mom pursuing something she loves. I wanted to set that example for him.
Q: If you were to write a book about yourself, what would you name it?
Van: Interestingly enough, I have just finished writing my first book. It’s titled ‘What if Pigs Can Fly? – A Practical Guide to Follow Curiosity to Achieve Impractical Possibilities.’ The release is scheduled for January 2024, and it is based on the framework I teach about the power of curiosity. By following our curiosities, asking powerful questions like ‘What if?’ and then having the courage to take the first small step, we can create possibilities for ourselves and others.
This book serves as a guide for the readers to pursue those curiosities that gently tap them on the shoulder. In the book I share stories and anecdotes from my life about how following curiosity has led me to numerous possibilities that I would have never encountered if I had not taken pause to notice my curiosity and take action on it – despite any doubts or challenges. Additionally, I recount the story of my mom, a Vietnamese refugee in 1975, who, along with 19 other women, trailblazed the now 8.3 billion-dollar Vietnamese manicure industry in the United States. Their journey began with a chance meeting with Hollywood movie star Tippi Hedren and a curiosity sparked by her red-manicured nails!
Q: What motivates you?
Van: What particularly fuels my passion for my work is the opportunity to assist people in reconnecting with their creativity—a fundamental human need—through practical applications in the workplace.
Having dedicated the past nine years to this work, I find immense satisfaction and joy in hearing stories from clients. They share how implementing the tools I teach has not only rekindled their creativity but has also enhanced their collaborative efforts at work and made a positive difference in their personal lives. These narratives serve as powerful motivators, inspiring me to continue my work with enthusiasm.
I am extremely motivated by success. Personally defined as having the ability to do what I love, be creative, collaborate with others – and generate sustaining impact for my family, my clients, and my collaborators.
Q: What is one of the best or most worthwhile investments you’ve ever made?
Van: I am a certified LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® (LSP) methods facilitator and licensed trainer. The investment I made in obtaining this certification is one of the best decisions I’ve made for both personal and business development.
When I founded Worksmart nine years ago, I encountered several challenges while presenting my approach to infusing creativity into corporate Learning and Development. It was a struggle for people to grasp how a creative art project involving markers, canvases, and paintbrushes could significantly impact employee development and productivity. Once I introduced LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® as a tool for hands-on thinking, ideation, problem-solving, and aligning teams, people began to pay attention.
I refer to LSP as the “low-hanging fruit” of creativity, as the majority of people have experience building with LEGO® bricks, making it more familiar than other creative methods like painting or collaging. LSP not only provided an opportunity to showcase the value of this process but also allowed me to offer people an experience of who I am and what I do, establishing the trust necessary to introduce my other creative methodologies.
Q: What key activities would you recommend entrepreneurs invest their time in?
Van: I would recommend that entrepreneurs invest their time in developing relationships. When you think about how business is done, people want to work with people they like. Genuinely invest in sharing who you are first, then what you do. And always start with bringing value to a relationship.
And on the business management side, get organized. Start developing standard operating procedures as soon as you can, even before you think you need them – because soon enough you will, and then you might be too busy to make it happen.
Q: What is your ‘one-sentence’ piece of advice you’d like to give to someone who wants to become an entrepreneur, coach, or business owner?
Van: My one very simple sentence of advice is:
‘Start before you are ready.’
There will never be a perfect time or ideal circumstances. You will never feel fully prepared. So you have to just start. Celebrate every success, no matter how small. Be willing to make mistakes and keep going – despite obstacles and challenges.
I remember a conversation I had with a friend, telling her that I often don’t feel like I know what’s next. Her response was “Good. That gives you the opportunity to get creative!”
To keep up to date with Van and her journey, connect with her on LinkedIn.