The Business of Life with Dr King
Dr Ariel Rosita King brings on a variety of International guests from various countries, cultures, organisations, and businesses to talk about turning
problem into possibilities! Let's turn our challenges in opportunities together!
The Business of Life with Dr King
The Seven Tools of Purpose-Driven Entrepreneurship with Patricia DiVecchio
What if your most authentic work begins not with market trends, but with discovering who you truly are? Patricia DeVecchio, founder of International Purpose, believes everyone has unique work to do—but most never learn how to cultivate their purpose into sustainable livelihoods.
In this fascinating conversation, Patricia DiVecchio shares her journey as a first-generation American who became the first woman in her Italian family to earn a college degree. Her path led her to develop Purposeful Business Circles, transformative group coaching communities where entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds and industries support each other through questioning rather than advice-giving. "We believe everyone has their own answers," Patricia explains, describing how her methodology creates safe spaces where business owners can speak honestly while being challenged by perspectives they wouldn't normally encounter.
At the heart of DiVecchio's approach are seven evolutionary tools that guide entrepreneurs toward purpose-aligned work. Unlike conventional business development that focuses immediately on external strategies, six of her seven tools address internal development—mindset, unique talents, inner foundation, transforming fear into motivation, accessing wisdom beyond intellect, and embracing transformation—before arriving at practical business strategy. This inside-out methodology reflects her core philosophy: "Work starts here, not out there."
Through powerful stories of transformation, including a woman who successfully navigated the emotional challenge of selling her business and another who rebuilt her professional identity after losing her husband-partner, Patricia demonstrates how purpose-driven entrepreneurship creates not just profitable businesses but meaningful lives. Her workbook, "Evolutionary Work: Unleashing Your Potential in Extraordinary Times," provides a structured pathway through this transformative process.
Ready to discover how your unique purpose can become your most fulfilling work? Connect with Patricia through her website internationalpurpose.com or via email at patricia@internationalpurpose.com to learn more about joining her next Purposeful Business Circle.
Music, lyrics, guitar and singing by Dr Ariel Rosita King
Teach me to live one day at a time
with courage love and a sense of pride.
Giving me the ability to love and accept myself
so I can go and give it to someone else.
Teach me to live one day at a time.....
The Business of Life
Dr Ariella (Ariel) Rosita King
Original Song, "Teach Me to Live one Day At A Time"
written, guitar and vocals by Dr. Ariel Rosita King
Dr King Solutions (USA Office)
1629 K St, NW #300,
Washington, DC 20006, USA,
+1-202-827-9762
DrKingSolutons@gmail.com
DrKingSolutions.com
Hi and welcome to another episode of the Business of Life. Today we have a very special guest, ms Patricia DeVecchio DeVecchio. My apology, hello and welcome.
Patricia Divacchiò:Thank you, Dr King. I'm very pleased to be here. I look forward to talking to your audience.
Dr Ariel King:Would you please tell us a little about yourself and also your topic for today.
Patricia Divacchiò:Sure. So my topic for today is really about a new paradigm of work. You know, I have a business, a consulting business, called International Purpose, and I believe everyone has a purpose. You know, everyone has work to do that's unique to who they are. But most people never learn how to cultivate that purpose and create it into work, job, business, into something that will give them, you know right livelihood. And I've been able to do that through a process that I call evolutionary work Seven evolutionary tools, which I can explain later, and a workbook called evolutionary work.
Dr Ariel King:This is wonderful, and can you tell us a little bit about you as a person? I know that you are just quite an accomplished person, so I'd love our audience to know more about you.
Patricia Divacchiò:Sure, dr King, in fact you and I were just talking a little bit before we went online of the fact that I am first generation American. Both of my parents are from Italy and, you know, only about a couple years ago did I realize that I was the first woman in our family to get a college education and I'm definitely, I think, the only woman in our family that has a master's degree. So I'm very proud of that, you know. I'm proud of you know, because I always see that. You know, I'm the next evolution of my parents. You know my parents came over here, were very poor, worked very hard and worked very hard for their children, you know, to give them, their children, a better life than they had.
Dr Ariel King:That's fantastic. And when you say, go over there, they went from Italy to where.
Patricia Divacchiò:Well, when they first came over, my mom's family settled in an area of Pennsylvania called Beaver Falls and my dad's family settled in an area called Aliquippa, which is also Pennsylvania. So they were very close to each other and actually I always laugh about the fact that they met on a blind date. I find that funny.
Dr Ariel King:It's wonderful.
Patricia Divacchiò:It is, it is yeah. So I'm from that area. I'm from a little town called Aliquippa, which is the name of an Indian princess, and had a great upbringing in that town when the steel mill we were a steel town. We're doing well, but right now you know 82, they really went under and all the little towns around Pittsburgh that were related to the making of steel and many, many, many people were employed there. It just was devastated.
Dr Ariel King:In 82, you were probably like me, I would think that you were already raised and out of there and starting your adventure to being a young lady, going to college and being the first and also then going to get your master's. Bravo for you. Now, can you tell us more about, I would say, this idea of what you do with your company? I think it's so interesting, and I know that you said there's seven tenants, so I would love to hear more about that.
Patricia Divacchiò:Right, thank you, dr Kim. So my work really is my calling. I laugh about it because I think about the fact that I grew up in the Catholic church and I always wondered how a priest or a nun was called to the church until I had this calling A very strange feeling that I can't even explain. But I knew, you know, that this was going to be my path and it's been a wonderful path. Not the easiest path. You know plenty of challenges, especially when you're trying to introduce something new to the market. You know you have to often educate the market right to what's available, because they don't know what they don't know, and you create your market. You create your market.
Patricia Divacchiò:So my work right now is mainly with two audiences. One is small businesses, globally, solo entrepreneurs, consultants, and what I offer them is a group process called Purposeful Business Circles, which I love. I love group dynamics. You know I also like one-on-one work, but the group dynamics are just really magical magical, and I have people coming in from overseas because we do it all online. And then the other audience is international development organizations. I live right outside the Washington DC area, so I have access to many, many, many of those organizations who, to be honest, right now are in very challenging times, like many people all over the world.
Dr Ariel King:It's not easy. Let's talk more about what you do.
Patricia Divacchiò:Yeah, all right. What do I do? So? I have a book. Let me grab one real quick oh thank you wonderful. Um looks like this. Put that on here and this cover is actually is actually a painting of a client of mine, so the book is called Evolutionary Work Unleashing your Potential in Extraordinary Times.
Dr Ariel King:Beautiful.
Patricia Divacchiò:Is that with the?
Dr Ariel King:workbook too. It is a workbook.
Patricia Divacchiò:Dr Kim. Oh, wonderful, it is a workbook and, oddly enough, you know I wrote this and it was published in 2010. But it's still very current today and I am updating it. We have an e-book version that I'm updating so it really fits the times more and I love the process of writing. I love to write and I really enjoyed writing this book. So right now I just need to move on in terms of editing the ebook and doing a good job with that and getting that out to the world Very important.
Dr Ariel King:Wonderful. Thank you, I'm really looking forward to that and I was so curious about the process that you're talking about, the process of having the group and how the group is so interesting. So when? I was asking what do you do? What I meant is how do you help the group in that process and bring them along to these steps that you told us about and that you're going to expound on.
Patricia Divacchiò:Right. So in our groups that are called Purposeful Business Circles we just had a couple yesterday, groups that are called Purposeful Business Circles, we just had a couple yesterday we always start out with what we call is a mindfulness minute, and the reason we take this minute is to bring everyone together, you know, to really encourage them to be present and not thinking about the past and what they didn't finish or not thinking about the future and what they still need to do, because the more present you are in any situation, you get more out of the offering, whatever you're doing. And then I usually read something from the book, and this group is on their seven tools. They were on tool number three and we were talking about consciousness and how important that concept of consciousness is today and we see it as a skill and a tool that we need to use in all aspects of life, you know, especially in our business life, because the more conscious we are, the better we're at solving problems, listening, supporting people, being able to help them overcome their fears, their apprehensions, plan, set large goals, which we do. So we talked about consciousness. We did some exercises around consciousness.
Patricia Divacchiò:Most people never think about that. They don't think about how consciously conscious they are, which a friend of mine from India always says. We have to be consciously conscious. Not easy, you know, not because we get pulled off in any number of ways for any number of reasons, and one of the best things we do and one that's most fun really is what we call is group coaching, which is a unique way to coach, at least in the way we do it. Which is a unique way to coach at least in the way we do it, because, in the circles, everyone comes with a challenge or an opportunity that they need help on, you know. So someone might say you know, I need to really redo my marketing plan. You know, the one I have is outdated. It's not reaching the audience. I want, I need help, so in the group coaching, that person gets to talk a little bit more about their issue so the rest of the group can understand, and then the rest of the group doesn't give advice, because we believe everyone has their own answers.
Patricia Divacchiò:What they do, though, is they ask questions, hard questions. We are very good at asking hard questions, the questions that you just don't normally ask, you don't think about, and the groups are always a group of people from various industries, different parts of the world, different parts of the world, so you're really getting a perspective that's much larger than the one you may typically have. And so that person has to then write down all of the questions that he or she was asked. Not answer them, just write them down and at the end of the time, which is about five minutes, we ask them to give us two or three that they're going to work on, because everyone leaves with action steps, that if we don't call people to action, nothing changes.
Patricia Divacchiò:So that becomes their you know, homework in a way, and the next month we talk about it. So we move from month to month, keep people accountable, keep helping them grow, helping them evolve as individuals and as businesses. It's not one or the other, it's both. That the better a leader you are in your own business, well, the better the business will be, just by nature of it. And we also do the same thing one-on-one, just in coaching, same kind of format.
Dr Ariel King:I really love this idea of the group and I love the idea of this questioning the Socratic method Instead of giving the answer. Ask the question and the question will lead the person seeking the answer to the answer. That's a fantastic method. Can anyone join your groups? Or do you put groups according to industry, or according to male or female, or according to business owners in terms of how many years, or is it just open and pretty much an eclectic group?
Patricia Divacchiò:Yes, it's just open. So we have, for example, we also have some nonprofits. You know we have a nonprofit, roger's work, in Kenya and he works with individuals that have HIV, AIDS and disabilities and want to create their own businesses. So that's what he offers and he comes every month and we help him work out problems. I know right now he's doing more fundraising, so we're going to see how we can help him with the fundraising. And then we have Mary, you know, who lives in Florida and she has a branding business.
Patricia Divacchiò:So yesterday at the we call them PBCs, you know she was asking oddly enough, dr King is. She does these podcasts and she says her clients love them. So she was asking us to give her some topics. So we asked her questions about the topics she might want and she left with some great, great topics to work on. So it's a very varied group, which makes it very dynamic and a lot of fun, Because one of our guidelines is learning from each other and that everyone is a student and a teacher. So when someone's talking, they're the teacher and you might want to take some notes and vice versa, because we can learn from anyone anyone yeah, that's.
Dr Ariel King:That's really a wonderful method, um. Can you give us any um examples? I know you just gave us two, but of someone that came to the group with um a lot of wanting to do well in their particular business and not very going very well, and after some time within the group I don't know if it's six months or 12 months was able to transform just as an understanding of the transformation process within your groups over time.
Patricia Divacchiò:Thanks, dr King, and thanks for bringing up the word transformation, because that does happen in our group. People do transform. They are different over time. An example I have is a woman that I started working with with coaching. You know, she just was. She had a business, no longer enjoyed working in the business. The business wasn't as profitable as she wanted it to be.
Patricia Divacchiò:But she was very torn because she and her sister created the business and it was a very unique kind of business, very unique model. They put a lot of time, energy, money into it and so we started doing one on one coaching because she really felt a little lost. You know, she really wasn't sure the direction she wanted to go in. And then, I think we were coaching for maybe a year. She joined one of the purposeful business circles, so she was getting help, not just from me, you know, but from everyone in the group, and she finally did sell the business. And that was very hard for her because that was, in a sense, her baby. You know, as it is for many of us, when you grow your own business you become so attached to it. And now she's working back as a consultant, which is what she did before she had the business and she's a lot happier, a lot that business just became a drain on her, and yeah. So it was nice to see, it was very nice to see, and that was over a number of years.
Dr Ariel King:I love the fact that she sold the business rather than the business fizzled or went out. So bravo, bravo for her. There were a lot of good parts to the business fizzled or went out. So bravo, bravo for her. There are a lot of good parts to the business what they call pivoting.
Patricia Divacchiò:Exactly, a lot of people are pivoting right now.
Dr Ariel King:Do you have any other stories like that? I love that story. Do you have one other example?
Patricia Divacchiò:Yeah, let me see, think of a good example. I always like this example of Anita, a woman in our group who I met in Pittsburgh when I was living there. Right now I live in Virginia, I live in Falls Church, virginia, and she started in the group and this was after her husband passed away. Her husband passed away.
Patricia Divacchiò:She and her husband ran the business that they were in in Pittsburgh and she felt very lost, you know, just really lost, because he was a partner to her, he was a husband, you know, et cetera. So she started to come to our group and was very welcomed. Of course, you know, and in our group, you know, one of our guidelines is what's said in the room stays in the room. So we create a lot of trust. People can speak their mind and they do, and that's good, because we need places where people can speak what's on their mind or how they're feeling about something and not be judged by it.
Patricia Divacchiò:So Anita had a very safe space and she still sees it as that, as a safe space, and she has created and sold three businesses in her lifetime and has sold them for in the millions like six, seven million dollars, and she's still going strong, creating another arm of a business that she has and she also runs a non-profit for small business owners. So her group is similar to mine, except they're larger businesses, and she always says, you know, besides it being a safe space, she says that it's a place where she doesn't have to lead. It doesn't have to lead. I, you know, I do the leading. She can just sit there and be a member of the group it's tiring being a business owner.
Patricia Divacchiò:You know having to lead multiple businesses. She's part of a nonprofit and she's leading it and one or two businesses right now. She's amazing. She believes one of her gifts and her purpose is to help people make money. Her purpose is to help people make money and she does. She helps other people make money, so she is a mentor of mine.
Dr Ariel King:At this point, We've shifted roles a number of times. That's absolutely wonderful, you know, the teacher becomes the learner and the learner becomes the teacher. I won't say student. Student is such an interesting word, but what you really have is this co-mingling of I won't say rules but we can always learn from each other.
Dr Ariel King:So I think that's fantastic and I love the fact that there are times that she says you know what? It's really nice not to have to lead, because you're using another part of not just your brain but also your emotional intelligence and everything else when you're not leading and you get that chance to grow and develop the other parts that you can use as a leader without leading. So that's really fantastic.
Patricia Divacchiò:You're right, Dr King. I don't know if many people think about that, but that is true. A leader doesn't always have to be up front. No absolutely not. You can learn more. Be the observer and learn much more. Very true.
Dr Ariel King:You know it's so interesting what you're doing. I love the stories that you give about this. It makes all the difference. I remember in the beginning you were saying that there's 17 aspects or seven aspects I don't know if you have the book there. Can you tell us the seven or the 17 aspects of the work that you do?
Patricia Divacchiò:Sure, and there are seven and we call them tools, evolutionary tools, and they are aspects that are mostly inside of us, because we believe work starts here, doesn't start out here. You know, most people go to college and they work under a certain degree and they get that degree because maybe it's going to make good money in the marketplace for them. And they look out here and they say where are the best jobs right now? And I'm going to study to move in that direction. And we believe you need to start here and say who am I first, what am I passionate about? What's calling me, you know, to do in the world and work. So that's where we start.
Patricia Divacchiò:You know we start from the internal, the person, the internal aspects of the person, and tool number one, which is always tool number one, it's mindset, because our mindset does dictate. You know much in life Our mindset, our thoughts, our perceptions and how we, our belief systems and how we cultivated them. Because often you know systems and how we cultivated them, because often you know we're living in a belief system that's very outdated, very outdated, based in the past, is not going to get you into the future of choice. So we examine that, you know, we look at, are there any old, lingering thoughts or behaviors that you really want to get rid of, because they probably weren't yours in the first place? You probably came from your mother or your father or some institution that you, you know, you grew up in. Uh, and what's the reverse of that? You know, and the reverse of that is well, what do you want to see in your life? I always put my hand out here because I said, pardon me, is that number?
Dr Ariel King:pardon me for interrupting, but is that number two of the seven? What do?
Patricia Divacchiò:you want to see?
Dr Ariel King:no or mindset is just one, okay, so maybe you can go through the one, through seven and then explain some of that so we don't get lost, because those are very good. So one is mindset what?
Patricia Divacchiò:is what's two through seven, thank you. Two is all about creating one's composite of unique skills and talents. We all have a composite of skills and talents and most people don't do that. Don't look at all of them and our innate skills are the strongest ones. Tool number three is about creating a strong inner foundation here. You know, do you have the self-awareness, the self-confidence, the self-responsibility? We call these the tools of the self, the self-discipline, you know? Or are you doing the reverse and you're into self-sabotage or self-denial? You know that these tools of the self can work for us and they can work against us. So it's all about creating a strong foundation here, so the winds of change don't blow you over. So naysayers don't, you know, create doubt so you can move forward.
Patricia Divacchiò:The fourth step is around engaging fear as a friend. As a friend, people, you know, will come up against fear, anxiety, procrastination, any old thing to stop them from moving forward. And we say that fear can be a friend because fear is one of the greatest motivators. So if you can see your fear as a motivator and realize that it's there to help you, it's a very different way to look at fear. And one thing we always ask people around fear is to draw their fear, and when they do that, always works, always works. So that's tool number four. I'm just looking at my book. I want to make sure I'm getting these in order here.
Dr Ariel King:Thank you and, by the way, we have about three to four minutes left, so I really want to hear them. Thank you so much.
Patricia Divacchiò:Okay, sure, Talk along here. Goal number five is around wisdom. That our intellect alone is passe. We need a new way of making decisions. So we use the head, the heart, the intuition, the wisdom, our body, and collectively we come up with new answers to old problems. Tool number six talks about the critical nature of what we're doing in this transformation, that it is critical now to be in this process of evolving from the past to the future of choice. And then the last step seven, is about what's your strategy. What's your strategy? What's your marketing plan? Who's your audience? How do we pull all of this together and really create a framework for it that we can then put out in the marketplace?
Dr Ariel King:So those are the seven. I love that, you know. What I want to say is they're amazing. And what's really interesting to me is one through six is really about self and understanding self. And then the last step, seven, is okay. Now that you know who you are and you have your foundation and you're doing all the things you need to do, then go out there.
Patricia Divacchiò:Fabulous. Can I ask, would you please tell our audience how to get in contact with you, sure? Um? So my email is my first name, patricia at international purpose, which is all one wordcom, and my website is internationalpurposecom. I'm on LinkedIn. That's a good way to find me by just typing in my name, patricia DeVecchio, and it's on the screen. I've just noticed it so you can pick up the name. Pick up the name there and let me throw in my phone number. And let me throw in my phone number. For some people it's going to be plus one and then it's 703-200-3447. So be in touch.
Dr Ariel King:I'd love to talk to any of you that's interested. Thank you, and do you have spaces now in your circles? Do you have the possibilities, and does it rotate, or do you put people in your circles anytime, or is it at specific times?
Patricia Divacchiò:We put people in the circles anytime, but at the same time, if they're very new, they first go to a workshop and they go through the first tool, two tools, which is the foundation, and then they start in a circle.
Dr Ariel King:Great. I want to thank you for today. I've learned so much and I need to invite you back again because 30 minutes is not enough time.
Patricia Divacchiò:Thank you so much for being.
Dr Ariel King:Thank you so much for being with us and to our audience, Thank you so much for being with us and I want to say if I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, then when? That's by the philosopher Hillel, and I've added if not me, then who? Thank you so much for being with us.