Daughters of revolutionary intuitive leader and best-selling author, Sonia Choquette, Sonia and Sabrina Choquette Tully are here to lead the revolution in grounded spirituality for a new generation.

Authors of the book, You Are Amazing: A Help Yourself Guide to Trusting Your Vibes + Trusting Your Magic published by Hay House, Sonia and Sabrina are here to reclaim what being “spiritual” means. Having mentored clients for over 20 years combined, Sonia and Sabrina bring a grounded real-life approach with practical tools to living a whole life, centered in trusting your authentic voice, connected to your intuition and centered in your heart.

Kimberly: For our October cover for Spiritual Biz Magazine, we have two very special guests with us. We have Sonia and Sabrina Choquette, and they are the daughters of Sonia Choquette, and they are here to share their story and how they’ve stepped out and been able to help an entirely different generation of people get in touch with their spirituality so that they can live their most amazing life as well. You guys are the authors of You Are Amazing, now published out on Hay House, and thank you so much for joining us and gracing our October cover!

Sonia: Thank you so much, Kimberly! We are honored to be here.

Kimberly: Fantastic! Ladies, so you come from a lineage, everyone knows your mom Sonia Choquette and this amazing family of gifted intuitives. I interviewed her back in April, and she was telling me about her mom, and it just sounds so amazing. What made you guys decide to step out as well and create a business around this and be able to coach?

Sonia: First of all, Sabrina and I have grown up in this and have always felt a calling to help other people. Sabrina and I have both have been mentoring and working with clients since we’ve been like, I think I was 11, Sabrina was 10. So we’ve always been working with clients, but for me, what really created the decision to really step out into the world in a whole new way is when I graduated college in about 2010, there was a housing market crash. The world as we had known it got turned on its head.

I found that so many of friends and peers really didn’t possess the tools and skills to really trust themselves in their intuition. They really felt that they were stuck. And as somebody as me and my sister, who were raised, really, with this deep belief and knowing that with our intuition and our intellect and a little bit of hard work, we could create anything. I found I was having this giant toolkit that I was like, “Wait a minute now, how do I give this to everybody else?”

I first started writing the book on my own, and it wasn’t necessarily flowing the way that I wanted it to. I got the intuitive hit to write the book, and then I was actually here in Portland a few years ago, and I got the intuitive hit to write it with Sabrina.

I reached out to Sabrina, and we wrote the book, and it sort of just flowed out of us. It really came out of a necessity. There are so many wonderful spiritual teachers, coaches, teachers, but there aren’t a lot from our own generation, and having grown up as millennials with a different skill, problem, and skillset, we really wanted to write a book and start a business that really catered to them.

As you know, now with the market, there is so much instability that entrepreneurialism is really the way of the future and, really, I think the calling of our generation, and having a grounded sense of yourself and your intuition is, to me, vital to success in any business. Sabrina and I were like, “Let’s give you the toolkit so that you can use these tools practically to make whatever you want to happen.”

Sabrina: Sonya and I definitely were raised in a really unusual household because our mom was self-employed, actually both our parents were self-employed, and so being a self-starter and a go-getter coupled with intuition was really our framework. I think that now, as adults in the world and with our coaching practices, I know how unique that is. For us, it was the norm, but for a lot of people, that’s outside of the box. They want to work for themselves, but to actually have that and see that it can be successful…

Our mom was so truly devoted from her heart space to helping people in the world, how well-received that was, so Sonya and I had confidence in ourselves. I started really coaching full-time at about 20, which was amazing because I was over the phone, nobody really knew how young or old I was, which was another benefit to me of being anywhere around the world.

People would say all the time to me, “You look like a little kid,” and I’m like, “I know,” but they couldn’t see me. It was really amazing to grow my own business. My answer to the question is, stepping into this with Sonya, writing this book together, all of it happened very organically. With that said, we use our intuition to make decisions, so it happened organically, but it’s like, “Use your intuition, that feels like it’s got some energy on it,” or “That feels really good,” or “That… not so much, I don’t think that’s going to go anywhere,” or “That… wow, that sounds amazing.”

When Sonya brought the idea of writing You Are Amazing to me, I was just like, “That sounds amazing. That sounds totally beautiful… ” There was a big yes in my own heart. I think that’s why we jumped in.

Kimberly: That’s fantastic. First, that’s great that you guys are so close and can write that, And serve a generation that I think needs it so much because I don’t even know if you guys have any other, quote-unquote, “competition” out there. You’re the only ones that I’ve seen out there hitting that millennial generation. Does that feel about right?

Sonia: Interestingly enough, we’ve come up with this question a few different times, but I don’t really think of it as competition. We’ve been raised with the belief that there’s a lot of room for everyone, and so whatever our niche is, there’s room for other people. But I think at the same time, we are one of the first to talk to millennials, but there are definitely people who are starting to emerge, who are our peers, but I don’t think that they’ve had the same background that we have with our mom, having grown up in this, and with this being so innate in a fabric of who were.

Kimberly: It’s beautiful, I get it! I always say that no one’s actually a competitor, but a complementor because we can grow, expand, and complement each other, but you guys really do stand apart. It’s really cool to watch.

I’d like to talk about money and spirituality because this always seems to hang everybody up. There’s this concept that you should be giving your gifts away and not charging for them, and I know a lot of people in the older generations are really stuck on that. So what’s your take on the idea of charging for your gift, doing that energy exchange for the talents that you have for your generation?

Sabrina: In my own coaching practice, I see this over and over again, people really do have, especially in the spiritual communities, this hangup around charging, but you nailed it when you said that it’s an energy exchange.

In order for us to stay balanced and for us to really honor the work that we’re doing, it’s important that we charge a respectful amount to ourselves and our client. In just a really practical sense, I’ve also seen that when I have not honored charging my client, they don’t implement what I tell them to do. Whatever comes in, if there’s not a level of real investment, it’s just like a great conversation and we may have a wonderful time, but there’s something about investing in yourself that make you show up to it.

It’s sort of like when I prepay for my yoga class, I show up to that yoga class. I’m there because I’ve invested in it. When I don’t prepay, maybe I will go, maybe I won’t. It’s very important psychologically that when you’re investing in yourself, and you ask for your client to invest in you, you’re really saying, “Invest in yourself.” I’m just the conduit, and Sonia would agree with this: charging is really about asking people to show up and to invest in their own dreams and spirit, and that’s very spiritually correct.

Sonia: Sabrina hit the nail, absolutely, on that. We also put so much emphasis on money, but money is just another form of energy. Not only when we invest our money in ourselves and in our own dreams, but also as healers and as people who run spiritual businesses, a lot of times, what happens is there’s this real idea of having to put ourselves last and that our needs don’t matter.

They come from this place of giving, giving so generously because people who run spiritual businesses are givers. They are showing up to give their gifts to the world, and when we give our gifts away for free, not only is it not fair to our clients, but it’s not fair and respectful to ourselves and to our own spirits. By creating and coming up with even a sole contract of how both people will show up, it also creates boundaries in which you operate.

Kimberly: That’s a really great point. First, it’s almost word for word what I say all the time. With the energy exchange, the clients don’t value it when you give it away for free. So many stories we all have, right? The family member that we helped, and then they just continue on their path…

Sonia, I love the idea how you brought up the boundaries. I hadn’t ever heard it phrased that way, but you’re absolutely right, when there’s that energy exchange, there are the boundaries that we need to set. As spiritual entrepreneurs, we give so much that we lose sight of what that looks like.

Sonia: And it’s also about taking care and honoring ourselves as well. First and foremost, we’re here to be of service, but also of respect to our energy and to how we show up and what’s important. So many people struggle with charging. Even when I first started my own business, and I had grown up doing readings and mentoring, when I first really had to start actually charging, I remember Sabrina was the one who gave me the pep talk and was like, “Girlfriend, get out there. Don’t give away your services for free.”

It was really about a discomfort within myself more than it was for my clients. I found that a lot of my clients were actually happy to pay whatever fees because how I showed up and coached created changes in their lives that really mattered. We also have to look at how we value and see ourselves, and when we can see our work and see the value, it helps with the feelings of discomfort.

Sabrina: And I have a lot of structure to my business. I have an online booking system, I have regular fees that are really clear for people so that they don’t have to come in necessarily and even ask me if I have new clients. They can see everything really clearly.

These are things that I’ve energetically made firm decisions on because they ground my clients. People know what they’re getting into, and you really want to help ground your client from the beginning, and that’s going to open up a much better feeling overall. I love being really clear about charging, and I love being really clear about the approach because I think overall in the long term, energetically, it feels good for everybody, and we are energetic beings in that way.

Kimberly: Great point! Speaking of grounding, how do you guys keep yourselves grounded? You’re creating this abundance, you’re teaching, you’re traveling the world. How do you guys keep yourself grounded with all of that happening around you?

Sabrina: We are normal 20-somethings, so sometimes, we’re not that grounded, but it’s to our benefit that we are learning as we go. We both practice meditation daily. Prayer and meditation are my wake-up in the morning and what I do before bed. It’s really like a home base if you will. We exercise, Sonia and I both love to be physically active.

For me, personally, I know Sonia will probably have this as well, we balance friendship lives as well and prioritize having nurturing friendships. Sonia’s my best friend. I can call her with anything, and she’s there, or I can call my mom. We nurture our relationships that also fill us up because we give so big. When we do give with our clients, it is important at the end of the day to have those people that fill you up in your life.

Sonia: Sabrina’s hit the nail on that. Also, in our culture, we really value being busy and working, and really having to reconnect with ourselves and find that balance and make it a priority. The funny thing about being self-employed is you can work all the time. I can work all the time. I just went on a three-week road trip, and it took a few days for me to actually be okay enough to disconnect, to relax because I was like, “Well, I have this email to answer,” or, “I have this thing that I need to do.” I have to, again, set up strong boundaries with myself to even give myself permission to relax.

And again, friends, working out… I love to kickbox and talk to my family… Those are things that really help ground me. I also just have to check myself. Sometimes, and Sabrina can attest to this, I will throw myself into a fake emergency of, “Oh my gosh, I have so much work to do,” and then I’ll get everybody all worked up now that Sabrina and I work together. So yes, finding that ground within myself and reminding myself that I’m not fighting against a ticking time clock, and that it’s okay, and that I can give myself permission to give myself to relax and give myself permission that I have room to do those things that fill up my cup and that it’s not “all-or-nothing”… Sometimes being self-employed can be the fear that we have to just keep working or that everything’s going to fall apart. So I have really grounding back into that and really thinking about what my priorities are.

I want to have such a beautiful life and my life is of service, but I want a full and a well-rounded life, and I don’t want to exclude myself because, again, I find that a lot of times, when you’re in spiritual business and you’re of service, you enjoy helping people, but you really have to remember to reconnect and help yourself first as well.

Kimberly: I actually disconnect on Saturdays. I’m tech-free on Saturdays, and I let everybody know that, I won’t even look at my phone. It’s so important. As entrepreneurs, we could work 24/7. And I love that you kickbox. I’ve been kickboxing for 20 years, and I actually put that in my calendar so that I go twice a week, it’s that little fire up to the brain so that we can keep performing like we do.

Sonia: Totally! Right now, I’m in Portland, and there aren’t that many kickboxing studios. I was staying with my girlfriends for a wedding, and I had them all in bed helping me find a kickboxing class online.

Sabrina: I’ve had a lot of clients I’ve sent to kickboxing because, for us, it’s about boundaries. For a lot of us empaths and sensitives, people that tend towards this work, we don’t know to really have our own energy. We’re always in everybody else’s business and fixing everybody else’s problems, so learn to have a boundary and hold the boundary energetically. Kickboxing and yoga are actually two complementary sports because they’re right-left brain conversation sports. Sonia and I both practice kickboxing and yoga. I think it’s so brilliant for spiritual entrepreneurs.

Kimberly: I love it. It’s so rare that you run into other kickboxers, so that’s so cool. Let’s talk a little bit about your book You Are Amazing. I’ve been saying for a while, “I’m going to put it on the table, I’ve gotta get my book done,” which is really funny because I committed to myself this week when we leave for Europe that I’m going to outline my book on the plane, I already know what it’s going to look like. It’s starting to come in. So, how did you find the discipline and what kind of advice can you give to someone who’s about to write a book, wants to write a book, gets the book written, and then what?

Sonia: Oh, that’s a great one.

Sabrina: Can I pull off this one because I’m the one that definitely had the most struggle writing. Sonia was really good because she was also just out of college, so she was used to writing and producing a certain page count and all those things, so she was sort of ahead of me, and I came into it like, “Oh my God, I’m behind. What am I going to do?” What I did… which is my MO – I just freeze when I get overwhelmed. I just don’t do anything.

I remember actually being with our mom at dinner, and I was just giving her every excuse in the book about why I wasn’t writing, and she literally looked at me and was like, “Shh, you’re going to write 1,000 words a day for a month.” I was like, “I can’t do that. What does that mean?” She was like, “You’re going to write 1,000 words a day. I don’t care how you show up to that, you are going to write that every day for one month, and at the end of that month, you’re going to have 30,000 words.” I was like, “Okay, I can do that. I can wrap my head around it.”

That first week was hard, but after that, something else bigger than myself really started to click in, and some days I would think, “That was terrible,” or, “Well, that was bad.” Then other days, I’d be like, “That’s great,” or, “That was good.” I just kept doing it, I just kept showing up to it like it was a real job, like it was a real assignment. To be accountable, to hold myself accountable for actually writing it, that’s sort of when it started to flow.

Then Sonia and I put those pieces together, and we outlined 10 chapters. We worked together to build it piece by piece, and then once there was a flow to it, then we were able to complete it, but it definitely took discipline and follow-through, and sometimes showing up to it like it was a job, not a hobby.

Sonia: Totally! and I would also say – don’t edit it as you write. What I find so often is that we just need to get it out on paper, and then we can edit. And having the practice of showing up and writing makes it a lot easier. And I love The Thousand Words a Day! God, love mommy!

But for me, it was about not-editing it because when I first started writing the book by myself, I would write these chapters, and then I would immediately start to edit them, and then I would say, “This is garbage,” and then I would throw away everything that I had written.

It, then, ended up becoming this treadmill in which I could never gain any ground, but once I started to write it, and then I would give it some space and then come back to it, I would actually be like, “This isn’t as bad,” or I would give it to my mom or my sister who would give me some feedback. We’re our own worst critics, always, and especially when it comes to writing because writing is so vulnerable. It’s this channeling of these deeper parts of ourselves.

Also, another tool that our mom taught us was to write like you’re writing to the most interested audience instead of the person who is going to argue with you, and especially when it comes to spiritual writing. For me, coming from an academic background, when I first was writing, I was always taught to be able to convince the person who doesn’t believe you, really give it all of the support, but when you write to the person who doesn’t, then you’re just explaining yourself constantly instead of the person who’s really championing and excited and interested.

Even that changed the dynamics so that I felt more able to write freely and then not editing my own work because that was where I would be like, “This is all garbage,” and it wasn’t, and then later, months later, I’d go back and read it, and I’d be like, “It’s all right. You did a pretty good job.”

Kimberly: Amazing tips! Your mom is a genius with The Thousand Words a Day. I’m so going to adopt that. You guys now inspired me, and you’re right about not-editing because we always look back and go, “Oh, look at that,” and then we have nothing. We write a thousand words a day, and then we chunck it – fantastic advice!

Is there a final message you want to let the audience know? Maybe the core of what you have in your book You Are Amazing? Or just any last little words that you have for them?

Sabrina: Our world right now is so unstable. You look on the news and out in the world, and everything seems so topsy-turvy. But if we look at it from another angle, everything is really breaking open, and we really need conscious leaders and business people, and that if you feel pushed towards being a business entrepreneur or a spirit-driven business, that is literally what the world needs right now – for us to navigate these super complicated times.

I think the core message of our book is that you’ve got an intuition inside of yourself, everybody does, that you can really trust, and maybe that intuition is telling you to really explore your business or explore yourself in a way. I just really want to encourage your listeners and the people that follow your beautiful business that you’ve created that it’s totally possible and also it’s needed.

I think of my spiritual business is much bigger than myself. This isn’t just about me fulfilling my own dreams, but it’s how I can be of service to the planet. I think that that’s where we can get out of our own way and get out of our own ego, fears, and limited beliefs, and we can see that our dreams are actually part of the bigger network, so just to really trust that.

Sonia: Sabrina, that was beautiful! For me, the same – we can really trust ourselves, and when we can get our intuition and our intellect working together, we can create and manifest whatever it is that we want. The world right now needs our bright lights and needs us to be leaders and needs us to be okay with being uncomfortable to really champion and take charge of the changes that are happening. We affect the whole, so how are you willing to show up? Hopefully, your creativity and a full heart and your intuition have the driver’s seat because it won’t lead you wrong.

Kimberly: Beautiful messages. Yes, we need more people like you guys out there. How do they find you? Where can they find you? And where can they find your book?

Sonia: You can find our book in bookstores or on Amazon or any online retailer. I just went to Powell’s here in Portland and saw my book for the first time in person, but you can get it at Barns & Noble or even at your local bookstore.

You can follow us on Instagram @itssoniaandsabrina. Our website is soniaandsabrina.com, and you can look us up also on Facebook where it’s also soniaandsabrina. Reach out to us, go on our website and email us. We love to hear from you and want to be connected. So, anything that you want to be guided on, please ask away, we are here to be of service.

Kimberly: Well, thank you, ladies. It has been so beautiful sharing space and energy with you. Thank you for stepping up with your messages and helping change the world as well. Thank you so much.

Sonia: All our love. Bye, Kimberly, thank you.

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