Dana Bowling, a former Hollywood casting director turned entrepreneur, shares how she walked away from a high-profile career to build a business on her own terms. In this episode, Dana reveals the behind-the-scenes realities of Hollywood, the pressures of personal branding, and how she successfully pivoted into coaching creatives and entrepreneurs—helping them find their voice and build authentic businesses. Whether you're an emerging handbag designer or a creative professional, Dana’s journey offers valuable lessons in reinvention, resilience, and owning your narrative.
Takeaway Points
Branding Beyond Hollywood: Learn how personal branding applies across industries, from casting to fashion entrepreneurship.
Embracing Career Pivots: Discover how Dana leveraged her skills to transition into a purpose-driven business.
Authenticity in Business: Explore how showing up as your true self can build trust, engagement, and lasting success.
Our Guest, Dana Bowling is a business coach, speaker, and podcast host of Daily Dose of Dana, where she shares insights on entrepreneurship, branding, and navigating career shifts. From Hollywood to business strategy, she has mastered the art of reinvention and now teaches others how to do the same. Her insights highlight the power of storytelling, visibility, and embracing change to stand out in competitive industries. 🎧 Don’t miss this inspiring conversation with Dana Bowling.
Host Emily Blumenthal is a handbag industry expert, author of Handbag Designer 101, and founder of The Handbag Awards. Known as the “Handbag Fairy Godmother,” Emily also teaches entrepreneurship at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She is dedicated to celebrating creativity, craftsmanship, and the art of building iconic handbag brands.
Find Handbag Designer 101 Merch, HBD101 Masterclass, one-on-one sessions, and opportunities to book Emily Blumenthal as a speaker at emilyblumenthal.com.
Buy Emily’s Books: “Handbag Designer 101” & “Savvy Suzanna’s Amazing Adventures in Handbags”
Youtube: / Handbagdesigner101-ihda | Instagram:/ Handbagdesigner
TikTok: / Handbagdesigner | Twitter: / Handbagdesigner
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I would get very, very frustrated because I would
rather you not hire me at allthan hire me and let me waste my
energy and my time teaching youand getting so invested in your
success.
And then you saying like, yes,I'm going to do it.
And then a week later I'd belike show me.
And they would be like oh, andmeanwhile you're like commenting
(00:23):
on my content, and I knowyou're watching Real Housewives,
and I know you're like goingout and posting pictures of you
and your martinis and like, whycan't you post one 30-second
reel of you doing of yourbusiness?
Yeah, so it's priorities, right?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Hi and welcome to Handbag Designer 101, the
podcast with your host, emilyBlumenthal, handbag industry
expert and the handbag fairygodmother.
Each week, we uncover thestories behind the handbags we
love, from the iconic brands andtop designers to the creativity
, craftsmanship and culture thatdefine the handbag world.
Whether you're a designer,collector or simply passionate
(01:01):
about handbags, this is yourfront row seat to it all.
Hello, welcome to HandbagDesigner 101.
I am here with the illustriousDonna Bolling of Daily Dose of
Donna, I am so over the moon tohave this.
I feel like I have a celebrity,maybe because you're in LA and
(01:24):
I'm not.
But thank you, thank you.
Thank you for joining us today.
This is very exciting.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
I am so excited to be here and I feel like I am with
a celebrity, because I love NewYork and I want to be in New
York.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Oh well, you know, grass is always greener, isn't
it?
Although our grass is totallyfrozen over right now.
There's no grass to be seen.
Well, our grass is burned fromthe fires.
Touché, oh my gosh.
So I have been a loyal listenerand you know, once you have a
platform like this, that it's amicro flex that you can reach
(01:57):
out to people, and nine timesout of 10, they'll be amenable
to chat.
So it was pretty exciting thatyou were open to this, and I'm
just so excited to dive right in.
You were a casting directoronce upon a time.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
I was, I was.
That was kind of my foray intothe world.
I mean, I'm from LA born andraised and I had, you know, an
element of being part of theindustry just through my dad
growing up, because he was anOBGYN working in the.
I know that's kind of a weirdkind of entrance Vagina to.
TV.
He delivered a lot ofcelebrities' babies.
(02:31):
So when I was a kid, I grew upon sets.
Just because he would bring meon sets, because he delivered
Jean Smart's baby and hedelivered Jacqueline Smith's
baby from, like you know,charlie Nichols and Kmart
Smith's baby from, like you know, charlie Nichols and Kmart, yes
, and, like you know, likeGoldie Hawn and like all these
(02:54):
people, and so we would go andlike be on sets.
And I remember being a kid andgoing to Designing Women, which
was a show when we were young.
I don't know if you rememberthat.
Wow, that's amazing.
That was my first time being ona set, on a sitcom set, and I
was like this is so cool and Ithought everyone felt that way.
But my sister, who is two yearsolder than me and ended up
going into likebiopharmaceuticals and events-
but comma pause.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
That tracks because firstborn girls are animals and
they color in the lines, they dowhat they're supposed to and
they freak out if something'sout of line.
So I get that because my oldersister's a lawyer, so I totally
respect that because I'm theblack sheep of two.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
It's so weird right, like she became, she would go
and be like okay, and I was like, oh, this is the coolest thing
ever.
And I just was always reallyenamored by the industry.
And even when we would go toUniversal Studios, like the
Backlot Tour as a kid, I justwanted to jump out of the tram
and like go into the sets.
I loved TV growing up, but whenI left college I immediately
(03:47):
got an internship in the castingdepartment on a Disney show and
then moved my way up andstarted being a casting director
, got my first show when I was26 years old on a sitcom and did
that for about 15 years.
And when I stopped working incasting I worked as a talent
agent as well towards the end ofmy casting world.
And when I stopped working incasting, I worked as a talent
agent as well.
Towards the end of my castingworld.
And when I stopped working incasting I started trying to.
(04:10):
I kind of had to like re, likepivot and figure out what the
hell I wanted to do with my life.
I was, I had newborn babies.
It's terrifying when you areSuper, super terrifying, and I
actually went through.
I mean I was 30, I want to sayI was like 37, 36 at the time
and I truly felt like I was at amidlife crisis.
(04:31):
I was so young, but it feltlike a midlife crisis because I
didn't want to go back into theindustry.
There were so many things wrongwith that world and it's kind
of weird.
I felt like I jumped out rightbefore it changed so much and
that entertainment industry issuch a mess with COVID, and then
, like the strikes andeverything, just it turned.
So I feel like I jumped outright before it really got hard.
(04:54):
But I had to start my ownbusiness and so before I did
Daily Desi Donna, I started likeall kinds of weird businesses.
I did like 15 differentbusinesses before.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
As you do yeah, what did you say I before, as you do.
Yeah, what did you say?
I said as you do.
Yeah, as you do, it's your idea, shopping.
And then you're thinking likewhat will stick, I think.
And you know I speak to mystudents and one of the first
questions I ask them is whatchild you are in the birth order
, because it so determines whoyou're going to be, the kind of
(05:25):
student you are, how you work asa group, who's going to be the
captain, who's going to be theone that coasts, who's the one
who's going to go under theradar.
So I think, to most people,doing what you did would
probably be something they wouldbe terrified to.
But to someone like you and me,as I can assume, it's just kind
of an organic like okay, well,obviously, like, what else am I
(05:46):
going to do?
And you are totally resistantto the idea of not even so much
failing.
But like, well, what I have nochoice, like this is just the
next iteration of what I need todo at the end.
So I totally get that.
What were some of the thingsyou tried?
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Well, I just remember my sister.
Actually, she kind of likepulled me out of my spiral at
that moment because I remember,I'll never forget.
You know, they always say likeyou have to hit rock bottom.
In this moment I felt like Ihad hit my rock bottom because
it was a Monday morning and I'ma real doer.
If you can't tell, if youlisten to my podcast, I go five
days a week, I am nonstop, I amconstantly online, I'm
(06:22):
chronically online.
I am constantly creatingcontent.
I mean, you kind of can't getrid of me, right?
No, I don't like being stagnantand I don't like not doing and
making money and working andwork.
But I had these young babies athome and I didn't have a job,
and part of the reason I didn'tlike casting a lot of people
don't know this when you'recasting, you're an independent
(06:44):
contractor and you're waitingfor the next call, and that was
the worst part of casting isbecause you don't really have
control over your career.
Right, you're just sitting andyou're waiting.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
You know, once you get the job you have control,
but then between gigs you kindof have no control.
And that's really hard, and soI felt like I really wanted to
have more of a say over what Iwanted to do.
But I didn't have any say.
I was just laying there.
I remember I got really sickand I ended up getting mono.
I was 37 years old with mono.
(07:16):
I was like what?
This happens when you're inhigh school.
I thought Like the pizzadisease.
But I guess that it's likeEpstein-Barr it sits and it's
stress related, and so I had areally high fever.
I had babies at home and mysister and I were on the phone
and I was crying to her.
I was like what is happening tomy leg.
And she said watch this video.
And it was Gary Vee, and Idon't know if you know Gary
(07:36):
Vaynerchuk, but this was like2000,.
What 17, 18?
Speaker 2 (07:41):
I don't even know.
It was like wake up, get overyourself, get going.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Yeah, it was when he was so viral, you know, and he
was like do something with yourlife.
And basically this video saidyou got to use your calling card
and I don't remember exactlywhat the video said.
Essentially, the message of thevideo was take something you
already are good at and kind ofuse that to create a job.
(08:04):
And whether or not you want todo that for the rest of your
life, that can be determinedlater.
But you can't start over bydoing something that you have no
idea what to do, because you'renever going to like make it big
by starting over a new skillthat you've never done before.
You kind of start withsomething you already do and
then start and like pivot fromthere, right?
(08:25):
So I actually started bycreating acting coaching from
home and virtually for kids,which I was a casting director
for kids.
I discovered Zendaya like Ibrought Zendaya to Disney,
debbie Ryan, who ended up Idon't know if you would know who
she is.
Yeah, of course I have kids.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Yes, she was just me the nanny who wore high heels.
I didn't understand.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Yeah, exactly that didn't make any sense.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
And we knew it wasn't New York also because they kept
referring to the freeway, and Iwish the writers would
recognize nothing is free here,so it is a highway, there are
tolls, move on the end, butcontinue Exactly.
So we grabbed Wolfie.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Ryan, like we found her tape when she was
auditioning from her little roomin Texas, like we did a lot of
those things.
And so we had credibility mypartner and I, my casting
partner and I but I was on myown at that point.
So I had the credibility, I hadthe ability, I had the
connections.
So I decided I don't want to dothis, this is not my long-term
gig, but I can do this.
(09:25):
And I started an actingcoaching business.
I connected with some of myagents, I put it out there and,
before I knew it, I was so damnbusy and I made so much money
doing that that I actuallycouldn't handle how busy I was.
Within six months, I was makingso much money and I was so busy
that I ended up like literallygetting so overworked that I had
(09:48):
to turn work down.
Like my business flew off theradar.
Like it was crazy.
My husband was like whoa, I wasworking from 6 am to 11 pm, yep
, yep, yep.
But it wasn't for long becauseI was like, wait, this is not
what I want to do.
I just didn't want to work withactors.
That was not the long-term goal.
(10:09):
I didn't love the show businessworld and especially working
with kids and their parents,because that's ultimately what
you're doing.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
You're working with kids, yep.
I can tell you, having workedwith designers for upwards of 20
plus years I always refer to itas basement to Beyonce that
they come in terrified, scared,dumping their life story to you.
And then a little bit ofattention and all of a sudden
it's like I'm not taking thatdeal, I'm worth this, I won't
come and I'm like do you realizethat the sun will come up and
(10:34):
down and people will do thingswithout you?
Everybody can live without you.
So ego is something that Ithink is the devil's work when
it comes to working with peoplewith talent.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
I thought I didn't hit the ego as much.
For me, what I was experiencingwas I felt it was really hard
for me to see how much moneyparents that didn't have the
money to show out were puttinginto this world.
So that's actually what washardest for me.
Is that my rate?
(11:05):
I could have charged $1,000 anhour and people would have paid
it.
I could have charged $5,000 anhour and people would have paid
it.
Like the money does not knowany bounds when it comes to
getting your child anopportunity in this business.
It's crazy, like I was gettinggifts.
I was getting like $500 giftsfrom some of these parents
(11:26):
Because people are desperate toget their children on TV.
It's wild.
People are giving up theirlives to move to Californy, to
LA, and it was devastating tosee, because I'm thinking to
myself I don't know how to tellyou this, but your kid just
isn't going to do it.
And this is from the bottom ofmy heart, not to break your
heart, but I've just seen it onthe casting side.
(11:48):
I've been on the other side ofthe table and I know what's out
there and it's just not going tohappen for your kid it's not,
and so you know a lot of peoplewould and I hate to say this in
hindsight, like if you're in thehandbag world you know what
sells, you know what's going toactually do it and you've seen
people out there that will youknow.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
They'll rip their hair out, but you're like you
just don't know.
I don't know if you have it.
No, well, it's not even so muchif you have it, but if you have
the capacity to do it, likemaybe that's it.
You know, and it's reallytricky.
And PS to people throwing moneyat you wait till your kids get
older and you see SAT, acttutors and college counselors
and people for camp.
I mean, the amount of thingsrelating to children that people
(12:31):
are willing to throw insaneamount of money at is kind of
ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Yeah, I mean luckily with that college counselor
situation, I think it's.
But one of my best friends is aA-list college tutor and like
guidance here in LA and sheworks with a lot of celebrities
and, yes, she doesn't like takeyour test for you.
There's none of that, it's alllegal.
But it's the same kind of thingbecause like this housewife
mentality right, the BeverlyHills housewives mentality,
(12:59):
where it's like, yeah, I mean.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
If we start talking about that, the whole
conversation will be about Bravo, I have to like zip my mouth.
We have to stay on top.
Oh my God, I mean, if we getinto the Justin Baldoni thing
forget it.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
I have so many thoughts.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
We'll all be about many thoughts, so many thoughts.
Yeah, I think it's a reallyinteresting point, though, in
terms of recognizing that youfound something you're really
really good at, in terms ofrecognizing that you found
something you're really reallygood at, but it's, you know,
choking you and almostasphyxiating you, that it's not
joy, it's pain and it'ssuffering and you're not
enjoying it.
So how can you commit to doingthat longer than you need to?
Speaker 1 (13:37):
I really struggled with it.
I really did because I was alsostruggling with money versus
passion and enjoyment, andactually I remember.
So it was 2019.
It was December of 2019.
My mom had just turned 70, andshe decided to take 17 of us of
her family for her 70th birthday.
17 of us, I mean she didn'tlike take us all.
(14:00):
We all financially… invested,but 17 of us went together to
Thailand for 70th birthday.
All of us went for Christmasand Hanukkah or whatever.
I'm Jewish, hello.
And we all went there and hadthe best time ever.
We went to Bangkok and Phuketand we walked around the beaches
and swam and whatever.
(14:20):
And I remember walking down thebeach one day and just saying
like I think I'm going to ripthe cord.
I don't know what it's going tobe.
I think I have the ability tokind of pivot my business and
work with entrepreneurs, becauseI was starting to kind of like
play around with the idea oftaking a lot of my abilities,
because people were starting tocome to me and saying, how did
you build this business?
And so I knew I could kind oftry to work it out and I was
(14:43):
trying to follow my heart.
So I came back January of 2020.
I had just moved into mycurrent house and I decided,
okay, I'm doing it.
And I announced I'm going tostop doing this business, the
acting business before pilotseason pilot season in the
entertainment industry and Iknew I had to do it before pilot
season because pilot season istechnically approximately
(15:05):
January, february.
This is how it used to be.
January February through aboutApril, may is like this really,
really intense time forauditions where every single
network and it used to be it'snot this way really it was just
like attacking with scripts andauditions and so if you're an
actor, you have 15 auditions aday, right.
(15:27):
So I knew I had to kind of pullthe plug before pilot season
and I remember announcing it anddevastating my clients and
everyone was so upset about it.
I made the decision.
Well, two months later, noteven COVID.
The reason why I decided to doit before COVID or did it before
COVID, I will never know how Imade that decision but there was
(15:48):
no pilot season, there were noauditions, I would have had no
business, I would have had nomoney, my life would have been
completely like at a screechinghalt and instead every single
person needed to start theirbusiness from their computer,
started a business on Instagramusing video content, which is
what I was teaching anyway.
At that point I had pivoted todoing that anyway and my
(16:09):
business blew up doing that.
So it was crazy.
I kept like jumping the gun andmaking it.
It was nuts.
I just had very weird luck.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
That's amazing.
So you moved into working withpeople and teaching them how to
become, how to video themselves,how did you handle that?
Speaker 1 (16:27):
How to use video content and online content how
to build their businesses onInstagram.
Because that's what I did.
I created an Instagram accountfor my online acting coaching.
I started to teach people tipsonline and it was the first of
its kind in a long time, becausethis was 2018, 17.
And I started a podcast calledthe Young Actor's Guide.
So I used a podcast, instagramReels, whatever all those things
(16:51):
, and I started to teach thatmethod.
And I mean, yeah, it was weird,I don't know.
I just don't have rule books.
I just kind of go with the flow.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
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(17:21):
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At what point did you pivotthat podcast to Daily Dose of
Donna?
Speaker 1 (18:40):
So then I pivoted the Young Actors.
So I put the Young Actors Guideaside in 2019.
2020, I started Show Up onVideo.
That was another podcast that Idid.
I did Show Up on Video until2020.
I think I stopped it right whenDaily Dose of Donna started.
So 2023.
Now this is a whole other boat.
So end of 2022, I also getbored.
(19:02):
A lot.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
I get that.
I respect that Such a Gemini.
I'm first day of cancer.
I get that.
I respect that Same Such aGemini.
Yeah, so I'm first day ofcancer.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
So I feel that, oh, okay, we're similar.
So I'm June 11th and I havelike I get bored, I get bored, I
get antsy.
Which is why Daily Dose ofDonna really works for me,
because the stories are changingevery day and I thing, so Daily
(19:30):
Dose of Donna this is how thisstarted.
It was the end of December 2022.
And show up on video wasgetting stale for me.
The video content coaching itwas the same thing every day.
It reminded me of actingcoaching.
And the reason why I thoughtstale for me is because it's
very frustrating for me to teachcontent to people who either A
don't take my feedback or don'ttake my instruction and don't
implement it.
(19:51):
So people were paying me a lotof money.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Yeah, and then not listening to what you were
telling them to do.
Or just not doing it.
I know, I know it's sointeresting.
It's funny.
I had a professional coach onyesterday who was actually from
LA she called herselfprofessional coach on yesterday,
who was actually from LA shecalled herself, I think, a
creative recovery specialist orsomething like that.
And we had this long chat aboutpeople who hire you for your
expertise.
(20:15):
And it's gotten to the point,after contracts are signed, as
clients, and I say I have to bevery to the point because I
don't have the bandwidthotherwise to say I'm going to
give you feedback.
But I can give you two things Icould tell you what you want to
hear and I could tell you whatyou need to hear.
And if you sign off on what youneed to hear, then you're
committing to me in this kind ofcontract that I will be honest
(20:37):
with you, but you need to followthrough on yours, your end,
because if said work does notwork and you do not get a return
on investment, you cannot cometo me saying it didn't work
because you didn't followthrough.
It's super challenging to dealwith people because I call it,
like I said, basement to Beyoncetiny bit of attention.
I don't need to do this, Idon't need to do that and, as
(20:57):
you know, kid actors, bloggers,influencers, podcasters.
Now they are a dime a dozen.
There are so many of them thateverybody could survive without
another one.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
I would get very, very frustrated because I would
rather you not hire me at allthan hire me and let me waste my
energy and my time teaching youand getting so invested in your
success.
And then you saying like, yes,I'm going to do it.
And then a week later I'd belike show me.
And they would be like, oh, andmeanwhile you're like
(21:31):
commenting on my content, and Iknow you're watching Real
Housewives and I know you'relike going out and posting
pictures of you and yourmartinis and like, why can't you
post one 30-second reel of youdoing of your business?
Yeah, so it's priorities, right, and so that would bother me.
Number one.
Number two I would realize that, like I can't teach you how to
(21:53):
be compelling on video if youactually just don't have the
ability to be compelling onvideo.
It's like acting, yeah, andsome people are just and I hate
to say this, this is also withpodcasting Not everyone can have
a podcast.
Nope, some people are just notgreat audio like speakers.
They're just not.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Yeah, yeah, no it's.
I mean I've been, as I'm sureyou have.
I've been on a lot of podcastsas guests and I've been grateful
, obviously, for everyinvitation, and you know I would
never poo poo on anything, butit's so fascinating how many
people have a script, one by one, by one by one, and all I keep
thinking is I don't understandhow you can have an audience who
(22:32):
would want to continue tolisten to that, because you have
to really emphasize your USP,your unique selling point, and
every conversation, as you know,has to have something that
stands out to make it differentfrom the last one.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
You have to, you know my favorite podcasts and the
reason why some of the bestpodcasts in the list of like top
charts are the Joe Rogan styleor the Mel Robbins style.
They are not scripted, they areliterally just conversations.
I would never, ever, listen toa podcast that felt like I was
(23:05):
listening to a scripted question.
One time I'll never forget likeI can't even remember the name
of the podcast because that's Iblacked out after this.
But one time someone asked meto be on their show and I don't
even know if I ended up doingthe show because I couldn't
believe the gall they sent me.
They said can you be a guest?
(23:26):
And I said, of course, likeI'll very rarely turn down a
show unless it's like reallyinappropriate or like very like
offensive show.
Yes, of course.
And then they sent me okay,here's a list of questions that
we want to ask you, yep.
And then they said can youanswer the list of questions
here, like can you write backthe list of the answers?
And then they ask can you writemore questions for us to ask
(23:50):
you?
And I was like no, is this anarticle that you want to write
or is this a conversation?
I don't do this.
I've never scripted anythingI've ever done.
Even on Daily Dose of Donna, Iwrite bullet points Like that's
not a conversation I ever wantto be part of, so podcasting is
supposed to feel natural.
Anyway, the point is, when Iwas teaching this, it was really
(24:11):
hard.
It was frustrating to me.
So I was feeling very irritatedat the end of December 2022,
because I was like I feel like afailure as a coach and as a
teacher because my clients arenot succeeding and that makes me
feel bad and I don't want tokeep taking people's money and
not seeing results.
Then it makes me feel like agrifter.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
I do.
It doesn't feel good whenyou're not seeing results.
Then you say, like I wantpeople to go and tell their
friends look at what I started,because I worked with Donna
Bolling, exactly Not like, oh, Iworked with Donna Bowling and
I'm still, you know, notlaunching anything, right, right
, right.
So I was getting frustrated.
And then, speaking of MelRobbins, I was walking my dogs
on January I hate the date,january 6th, but that's actually
(24:59):
the date.
It was January 6th, 2023.
And I'm walking my dogs and I'mlistening to a podcast of hers
and she's talking about somesort of, like you know, coming
up with a passion or whatever.
You know just one of her.
She always talks about the samething.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
And I don't really listen to her regularly, but
this just popped up in my feedRight and I'm so glad I listened
to it, because she was justsaying like sometimes, when
you're feeling like unmotivatedor bored, which was so tracking
in that moment, you got to justfind something that you like to
talk about.
No-transcript.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
And I thought to myself I love reality TV.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
I love pop culture.
I love documentaries.
I love talking about, just likebullshit, celebrity culture and
whatever.
I know how to podcast.
I love the Toast.
That's actually what I thoughtabout.
I love the Toast.
You know the girls the MorningToast it used to be the Morning
Toast, the Toast, and at thetime I was listening to the
Toast.
But they're young, yeah,they're very young, yeah,
(25:56):
they're 30.
And they were talking aboutlike Bad Bunny and Kylie Jenner
and I'm like how could there bestories I cannot met with?
I know, I know, and they'revery millennial.
I'm 43 now.
At the time I was 41, I waslike I kind of would love a show
that was a daily show but kindof had more stories geared
(26:20):
towards things that maybe I wasmore interested in.
I don't see it out there, maybeI need to create it.
And so I started Daily Dose ofDonna.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
That's amazing.
I understand and I think that'sreally interesting.
When you started this podcast,did you think it was going to be
just you?
Did you think you were going toget advertisers?
Did you think that you wouldneed someone else to produce it?
Or you just said I got this,it's fine, I can handle this.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
I'm old hat at this at this point, no, I had no and
honestly, I'd never done apodcast that was really making
money.
None of my podcasts were evermoney-making.
All my podcasts were just waysto get clients and all of them
were working to get clients, butnone of my podcasts made money.
Daily Dose of Donna was thefirst podcast that I actually
(27:07):
started to make money on andearly on, like about six months
in, it started to do really wellon YouTube a few months in.
And then I started to work withan ad company because they
started to see the traction Iwas starting to.
I was on Dumois.
Dumois reached out to mebecause she saw me on TikTok, so
I was on Dumois and then Istarted to rank on the podcast
(27:28):
charts because of that.
Then I reached out, or an adguy reached out to me and I
started to connect with them,where he started to do paid ads
like spoken ads, right right.
Since then I started workingwith someone else, but now,
because of that and because ofbeing on a guest on other shows
and just ranking and stuff, nowI have like a variety of income
streams from the show.
(27:49):
So it makes me a lot of money.
I don't want to say a lot.
That sounds crazy, like it'snot like that.
I mean, I'm still.
I'm still working hard for themoney, but it's definitely made
it so that I don't need to workanymore with one-on-one clients
and it's a hundred percent mysole incomes, like my sole
(28:09):
income.
This is my income, so it'sreally incredible and there's so
many ways to make money througha podcast now.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
Yeah, I think you said a few things that are
really core takeaways.
One, you knew your audience.
Two, you knew the topic.
Three, you were passionateabout it.
Four, it wasn't something thatyou would suffer doing.
And five, you just went in andsaid pardon my French, fuck it.
I can just do this because I'vebeen through this so many times
that I'm already seasoned attalking, going in front of a
camera, telling the story, notthinking twice, knowing the
(28:40):
lighting, all those things,having the right microphone.
I think, though, from a brandingperspective and again I just
want to make this clear you know, I'm super grateful for you
taking the time, especially, youknow, since people would say
this doesn't align, but this100% aligns, because this is all
about building your ownpersonal brand and how to do it
strategically and thoughtfully,because that's the recipe for
(29:00):
success.
That's really, that's thesecret sauce.
So I think everything you'vesaid, like I did it, it made
money.
I was miserable, I did it, Imade money.
I got sick, I did it, it mademoney, and then I just said this
isn't for me anymore.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
You know what's interesting is like.
So they always say like yourflow state, right, like when are
you in your flow state?
I was never in my flow stateuntil this.
Why?
Because and that sounds likeooh zen flow state.
I'm not like that at all.
I'm so not that girl.
What is in your flow state whenyou are able to not only be
happy but also be successful andgrow Like I love what I do?
(29:42):
When I say I love what I do, Ihave never once in my hand to
God, I have never once woken upon a Monday through Friday and
been like I can't believe I haveto work.
Today.
I am so excited to sit down atmy computer.
Sometimes I'm like I wish myshow was earlier in the morning
rather than at 11, because I'mexcited to like get into it.
Yep, yep, I love what I do.
(30:04):
It is like an excitement thing.
I have a live audience thatI've connected with.
I have a community.
I have a Facebook group.
I truly look at my audience asmy friends.
I connect with them online.
It's taking a thing that I'mobsessed with and finding a way
to monetize it right.
I'm not saying that justbecause it's like a bullshit
(30:25):
thing to say it's truly, I foundmy thing right.
There's a lot of downsides toit, trust me.
A lot of downsides.
People are really, really cruelonline.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
Yeah, I mean, I've been through that on the
receiving end purely as a resultof the designers with whom I've
worked and doing, enough ofthese fashion, beautiful people
events that you know someonedoesn't go through, where they
associate me with somebody elseor something that some other
designer has done, and then, allof a sudden, it wasn't a
reflection of me until it wasn'tsuccessful.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Yeah, no, it's really cruel.
There's a lot of really meanthings out there that can be
said about you, lots of liesthings being said about you know
innocent bystanders in my lifemy mom, my husband, my kids,
like things that are just really, really out there.
I think people get very, veryinvested in the content that I
(31:19):
am talking about, like thepeople that I talk about reality
stars or podcasters or whatever.
It's very interesting.
I have noticed there is anunhealthy group of fans when it
comes to certain content that Italk about.
People take it really far witha lot of reality stars.
So that part has been a learningcurve for me.
(31:40):
I never experienced that withanything I've ever done before
in this world, in this world oflike, because I never was, you
know, so much of a public facingperson.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Right, right, right.
Thank you for sharing all thisstuff, because I know,
especially getting this kind offeedback, it almost makes you
think twice like, is it worth it?
Because the comments are reallysavage and you know your
biggest weakness or the thingsyou're most insecure about
people can find really fast andyou have to kind of swallow it
(32:12):
and then go back and forth andsay, do I want to read this?
Do I want to read the feedback?
What if it's constructive?
No, I'm going to deleteeverything.
Do I stop the comments?
And it's a really delicatebalance that you have to do,
especially as a brand, becausethat's who you are and you have
to take the good with the bad.
It's just the nature and I havethis case study that I do with
my students about Zappos whenthey started, and I believe this
(32:36):
is still true to this day.
I can't confirm, but anybodywho started would spend at least
a month, I think, in customersupport just to understand at
the front lines what they'redealing with on a day-to-day.
So they know at the end of theday, once the packaging is done,
this is who you're dealing withand they have this really
incredible way that the biggestminus they can flip that,
(32:56):
whoever's the biggest assholeand the most difficult person,
they give next day shipping,they check in, they follow up,
because those are the peoplethat really want the most
attention and when someone'sbeing so cruel to you, you can't
do that.
You can't go back and say areyou okay, Is everything all
right?
Why are you taking this out onme?
I didn't do anything to you.
Why are you so bored Like maybeget a hobby, go for a walk,
(33:19):
have a coffee, so I'm sure, withwhat you do in your nurturing
phase and who you are, it's kindof hard not to be like am I mad
at you?
Am I angry at you?
How do I handle this?
Because, as a brand owner,that's a huge challenge.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Yeah, I mean, it's definitely.
It's a balance, and I thinkthat I always have to kind of
like check in with myself, likeam I ready to take it on?
I've stopped taking it aspersonally.
I don't take it as personallyanymore.
I realized that people will sayanything and everything
constantly, all the time.
I can't please anyone all thetime, everyone, all the time
ever.
I'm speaking to way too manypeople every day, like there's
(33:54):
just way too many people in myaudience at this point to please
everyone.
At the beginning, when I wasstill really small, I really
wanted to please everyone, andnow it's way out of my hands,
like it's way out of my hands Atthis point.
If I'm speaking to, you know,over 10, 15, 20,000 people a day
, like how in the world I can'teven please 100 people a day.
Like how can I please that manypeople?
(34:15):
So, and people are too loud,you know, and my viral reels, my
viral TikToks, like thecomments are wild.
Luckily, luckily, the majorityof people are kind, you know,
but the louder people are mean,so, like, or the mean people are
really loud, right, so thatsometimes tends to hit.
But I've, I've really just I'vegrown so much.
(34:35):
It's a muscle when you build apersonal brand and when you go
out there and decide to, youknow, put your face on your
brand and go out there.
It's a strength to build amuscle and, honestly, it should
be a muscle that you arebuilding every single day
because your skin needs to getthick.
You will get taken down.
(34:57):
You will be told that you havebad content, you have bad
products, you have bad branding,you're ugly.
You will be unsuccessful.
You know, et cetera, et cetera.
People will attack you for youknow your religion, your
politics, your this, your that.
Everyone will come after you.
At the end of the day, you haveto have faith in who you are
inside, and that's what it comesdown to.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Oh, my God, that's a perfect way to tie this in a bow
.
Donna, bolling of Daily Dose ofDonna, thank you so, so, so
very much for joining us onHandbag Designer 101.
How can people find you, followyou and just get more of
everything that is so awesomeabout you?
Speaker 1 (35:35):
Thank you.
Well, you can find me onInstagram and TikTok at
thisisdonnabowling.
Donna is spelled.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
D-A-N-A.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
Super annoying, but that's my claim to fame.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
It is what it is.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
What can you do?
And then Daily Dotes of Donnais on YouTube every day, all the
episodes.
And then, of course, ApplePodcasts, Spotify wherever you
listen to podcasts.
Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
So appreciate it.
Thank you, thanks for listening.
Don't forget to rate and review, and follow us on every single
platform at Handbag Designer.
Thanks so much.
See you next time.
I would get very, very frustrated because I would
rather you not hire me at allthan hire me and let me waste my
energy and my time teaching youand getting so invested in your
success.
And then you saying like, yes,I'm going to do it.
And then a week later I'd belike show me.
And they would be like oh, andmeanwhile you're like commenting
(00:23):
on my content, and I knowyou're watching Real Housewives,
and I know you're like goingout and posting pictures of you
and your martinis and like, whycan't you post one 30-second
reel of you doing of yourbusiness?
Yeah, so it's priorities, right?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Hi and welcome to Handbag Designer 101, the
podcast with your host, emilyBlumenthal, handbag industry
expert and the handbag fairygodmother.
Each week, we uncover thestories behind the handbags we
love, from the iconic brands andtop designers to the creativity
, craftsmanship and culture thatdefine the handbag world.
Whether you're a designer,collector or simply passionate
(01:01):
about handbags, this is yourfront row seat to it all.
Hello, welcome to HandbagDesigner 101.
I am here with the illustriousDonna Bolling of Daily Dose of
Donna, I am so over the moon tohave this.
I feel like I have a celebrity,maybe because you're in LA and
(01:24):
I'm not.
But thank you, thank you.
Thank you for joining us today.
This is very exciting.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
I am so excited to be here and I feel like I am with
a celebrity, because I love NewYork and I want to be in New
York.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Oh well, you know, grass is always greener, isn't
it?
Although our grass is totallyfrozen over right now.
There's no grass to be seen.
Well, our grass is burned fromthe fires.
Touché, oh my gosh.
So I have been a loyal listenerand you know, once you have a
platform like this, that it's amicro flex that you can reach
(01:57):
out to people, and nine timesout of 10, they'll be amenable
to chat.
So it was pretty exciting thatyou were open to this, and I'm
just so excited to dive right in.
You were a casting directoronce upon a time.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
I was, I was.
That was kind of my foray intothe world.
I mean, I'm from LA born andraised and I had, you know, an
element of being part of theindustry just through my dad
growing up, because he was anOBGYN working in the.
I know that's kind of a weirdkind of entrance Vagina to.
TV.
He delivered a lot ofcelebrities' babies.
(02:31):
So when I was a kid, I grew upon sets.
Just because he would bring meon sets, because he delivered
Jean Smart's baby and hedelivered Jacqueline Smith's
baby from, like you know,charlie Nichols and Kmart
Smith's baby from, like you know, charlie Nichols and Kmart, yes
, and, like you know, likeGoldie Hawn and like all these
(02:54):
people, and so we would go andlike be on sets.
And I remember being a kid andgoing to Designing Women, which
was a show when we were young.
I don't know if you rememberthat.
Wow, that's amazing.
That was my first time being ona set, on a sitcom set, and I
was like this is so cool and Ithought everyone felt that way.
But my sister, who is two yearsolder than me and ended up
going into likebiopharmaceuticals and events-
but comma pause.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
That tracks because firstborn girls are animals and
they color in the lines, they dowhat they're supposed to and
they freak out if something'sout of line.
So I get that because my oldersister's a lawyer, so I totally
respect that because I'm theblack sheep of two.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
It's so weird right, like she became, she would go
and be like okay, and I was like, oh, this is the coolest thing
ever.
And I just was always reallyenamored by the industry.
And even when we would go toUniversal Studios, like the
Backlot Tour as a kid, I justwanted to jump out of the tram
and like go into the sets.
I loved TV growing up, but whenI left college I immediately
(03:47):
got an internship in the castingdepartment on a Disney show and
then moved my way up andstarted being a casting director
, got my first show when I was26 years old on a sitcom and did
that for about 15 years.
And when I stopped working incasting I worked as a talent
agent as well towards the end ofmy casting world.
And when I stopped working incasting, I worked as a talent
agent as well.
Towards the end of my castingworld.
And when I stopped working incasting I started trying to.
(04:10):
I kind of had to like re, likepivot and figure out what the
hell I wanted to do with my life.
I was, I had newborn babies.
It's terrifying when you areSuper, super terrifying, and I
actually went through.
I mean I was 30, I want to sayI was like 37, 36 at the time
and I truly felt like I was at amidlife crisis.
(04:31):
I was so young, but it feltlike a midlife crisis because I
didn't want to go back into theindustry.
There were so many things wrongwith that world and it's kind
of weird.
I felt like I jumped out rightbefore it changed so much and
that entertainment industry issuch a mess with COVID, and then
, like the strikes andeverything, just it turned.
So I feel like I jumped outright before it really got hard.
(04:54):
But I had to start my ownbusiness and so before I did
Daily Desi Donna, I started likeall kinds of weird businesses.
I did like 15 differentbusinesses before.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
As you do yeah, what did you say I before, as you do.
Yeah, what did you say?
I said as you do.
Yeah, as you do, it's your idea, shopping.
And then you're thinking likewhat will stick, I think.
And you know I speak to mystudents and one of the first
questions I ask them is whatchild you are in the birth order
, because it so determines whoyou're going to be, the kind of
(05:25):
student you are, how you work asa group, who's going to be the
captain, who's going to be theone that coasts, who's the one
who's going to go under theradar.
So I think, to most people,doing what you did would
probably be something they wouldbe terrified to.
But to someone like you and me,as I can assume, it's just kind
of an organic like okay, well,obviously, like, what else am I
(05:46):
going to do?
And you are totally resistantto the idea of not even so much
failing.
But like, well, what I have nochoice, like this is just the
next iteration of what I need todo at the end.
So I totally get that.
What were some of the thingsyou tried?
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Well, I just remember my sister.
Actually, she kind of likepulled me out of my spiral at
that moment because I remember,I'll never forget.
You know, they always say likeyou have to hit rock bottom.
In this moment I felt like Ihad hit my rock bottom because
it was a Monday morning and I'ma real doer.
If you can't tell, if youlisten to my podcast, I go five
days a week, I am nonstop, I amconstantly online, I'm
(06:22):
chronically online.
I am constantly creatingcontent.
I mean, you kind of can't getrid of me, right?
No, I don't like being stagnantand I don't like not doing and
making money and working andwork.
But I had these young babies athome and I didn't have a job,
and part of the reason I didn'tlike casting a lot of people
don't know this when you'recasting, you're an independent
(06:44):
contractor and you're waitingfor the next call, and that was
the worst part of casting isbecause you don't really have
control over your career.
Right, you're just sitting andyou're waiting.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
You know, once you get the job you have control,
but then between gigs you kindof have no control.
And that's really hard, and soI felt like I really wanted to
have more of a say over what Iwanted to do.
But I didn't have any say.
I was just laying there.
I remember I got really sickand I ended up getting mono.
I was 37 years old with mono.
(07:16):
I was like what?
This happens when you're inhigh school.
I thought Like the pizzadisease.
But I guess that it's likeEpstein-Barr it sits and it's
stress related, and so I had areally high fever.
I had babies at home and mysister and I were on the phone
and I was crying to her.
I was like what is happening tomy leg.
And she said watch this video.
And it was Gary Vee, and Idon't know if you know Gary
(07:36):
Vaynerchuk, but this was like2000,.
What 17, 18?
Speaker 2 (07:41):
I don't even know.
It was like wake up, get overyourself, get going.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Yeah, it was when he was so viral, you know, and he
was like do something with yourlife.
And basically this video saidyou got to use your calling card
and I don't remember exactlywhat the video said.
Essentially, the message of thevideo was take something you
already are good at and kind ofuse that to create a job.
(08:04):
And whether or not you want todo that for the rest of your
life, that can be determinedlater.
But you can't start over bydoing something that you have no
idea what to do, because you'renever going to like make it big
by starting over a new skillthat you've never done before.
You kind of start withsomething you already do and
then start and like pivot fromthere, right?
(08:25):
So I actually started bycreating acting coaching from
home and virtually for kids,which I was a casting director
for kids.
I discovered Zendaya like Ibrought Zendaya to Disney,
debbie Ryan, who ended up Idon't know if you would know who
she is.
Yeah, of course I have kids.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Yes, she was just me the nanny who wore high heels.
I didn't understand.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Yeah, exactly that didn't make any sense.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
And we knew it wasn't New York also because they kept
referring to the freeway, and Iwish the writers would
recognize nothing is free here,so it is a highway, there are
tolls, move on the end, butcontinue Exactly.
So we grabbed Wolfie.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Ryan, like we found her tape when she was
auditioning from her little roomin Texas, like we did a lot of
those things.
And so we had credibility mypartner and I, my casting
partner and I but I was on myown at that point.
So I had the credibility, I hadthe ability, I had the
connections.
So I decided I don't want to dothis, this is not my long-term
gig, but I can do this.
(09:25):
And I started an actingcoaching business.
I connected with some of myagents, I put it out there and,
before I knew it, I was so damnbusy and I made so much money
doing that that I actuallycouldn't handle how busy I was.
Within six months, I was makingso much money and I was so busy
that I ended up like literallygetting so overworked that I had
(09:48):
to turn work down.
Like my business flew off theradar.
Like it was crazy.
My husband was like whoa, I wasworking from 6 am to 11 pm, yep
, yep, yep.
But it wasn't for long becauseI was like, wait, this is not
what I want to do.
I just didn't want to work withactors.
That was not the long-term goal.
(10:09):
I didn't love the show businessworld and especially working
with kids and their parents,because that's ultimately what
you're doing.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
You're working with kids, yep.
I can tell you, having workedwith designers for upwards of 20
plus years I always refer to itas basement to Beyonce that
they come in terrified, scared,dumping their life story to you.
And then a little bit ofattention and all of a sudden
it's like I'm not taking thatdeal, I'm worth this, I won't
come and I'm like do you realizethat the sun will come up and
(10:34):
down and people will do thingswithout you?
Everybody can live without you.
So ego is something that Ithink is the devil's work when
it comes to working with peoplewith talent.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
I thought I didn't hit the ego as much.
For me, what I was experiencingwas I felt it was really hard
for me to see how much moneyparents that didn't have the
money to show out were puttinginto this world.
So that's actually what washardest for me.
Is that my rate?
(11:05):
I could have charged $1,000 anhour and people would have paid
it.
I could have charged $5,000 anhour and people would have paid
it.
Like the money does not knowany bounds when it comes to
getting your child anopportunity in this business.
It's crazy, like I was gettinggifts.
I was getting like $500 giftsfrom some of these parents
(11:26):
Because people are desperate toget their children on TV.
It's wild.
People are giving up theirlives to move to Californy, to
LA, and it was devastating tosee, because I'm thinking to
myself I don't know how to tellyou this, but your kid just
isn't going to do it.
And this is from the bottom ofmy heart, not to break your
heart, but I've just seen it onthe casting side.
(11:48):
I've been on the other side ofthe table and I know what's out
there and it's just not going tohappen for your kid it's not,
and so you know a lot of peoplewould and I hate to say this in
hindsight, like if you're in thehandbag world you know what
sells, you know what's going toactually do it and you've seen
people out there that will youknow.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
They'll rip their hair out, but you're like you
just don't know.
I don't know if you have it.
No, well, it's not even so muchif you have it, but if you have
the capacity to do it, likemaybe that's it.
You know, and it's reallytricky.
And PS to people throwing moneyat you wait till your kids get
older and you see SAT, acttutors and college counselors
and people for camp.
I mean, the amount of thingsrelating to children that people
(12:31):
are willing to throw insaneamount of money at is kind of
ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Yeah, I mean luckily with that college counselor
situation, I think it's.
But one of my best friends is aA-list college tutor and like
guidance here in LA and sheworks with a lot of celebrities
and, yes, she doesn't like takeyour test for you.
There's none of that, it's alllegal.
But it's the same kind of thingbecause like this housewife
mentality right, the BeverlyHills housewives mentality,
(12:59):
where it's like, yeah, I mean.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
If we start talking about that, the whole
conversation will be about Bravo, I have to like zip my mouth.
We have to stay on top.
Oh my God, I mean, if we getinto the Justin Baldoni thing
forget it.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
I have so many thoughts.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
We'll all be about many thoughts, so many thoughts.
Yeah, I think it's a reallyinteresting point, though, in
terms of recognizing that youfound something you're really
really good at, in terms ofrecognizing that you found
something you're really reallygood at, but it's, you know,
choking you and almostasphyxiating you, that it's not
joy, it's pain and it'ssuffering and you're not
enjoying it.
So how can you commit to doingthat longer than you need to?
Speaker 1 (13:37):
I really struggled with it.
I really did because I was alsostruggling with money versus
passion and enjoyment, andactually I remember.
So it was 2019.
It was December of 2019.
My mom had just turned 70, andshe decided to take 17 of us of
her family for her 70th birthday.
17 of us, I mean she didn'tlike take us all.
(14:00):
We all financially… invested,but 17 of us went together to
Thailand for 70th birthday.
All of us went for Christmasand Hanukkah or whatever.
I'm Jewish, hello.
And we all went there and hadthe best time ever.
We went to Bangkok and Phuketand we walked around the beaches
and swam and whatever.
(14:20):
And I remember walking down thebeach one day and just saying
like I think I'm going to ripthe cord.
I don't know what it's going tobe.
I think I have the ability tokind of pivot my business and
work with entrepreneurs, becauseI was starting to kind of like
play around with the idea oftaking a lot of my abilities,
because people were starting tocome to me and saying, how did
you build this business?
And so I knew I could kind oftry to work it out and I was
(14:43):
trying to follow my heart.
So I came back January of 2020.
I had just moved into mycurrent house and I decided,
okay, I'm doing it.
And I announced I'm going tostop doing this business, the
acting business before pilotseason pilot season in the
entertainment industry and Iknew I had to do it before pilot
season because pilot season istechnically approximately
(15:05):
January, february.
This is how it used to be.
January February through aboutApril, may is like this really,
really intense time forauditions where every single
network and it used to be it'snot this way really it was just
like attacking with scripts andauditions and so if you're an
actor, you have 15 auditions aday, right.
(15:27):
So I knew I had to kind of pullthe plug before pilot season
and I remember announcing it anddevastating my clients and
everyone was so upset about it.
I made the decision.
Well, two months later, noteven COVID.
The reason why I decided to doit before COVID or did it before
COVID, I will never know how Imade that decision but there was
(15:48):
no pilot season, there were noauditions, I would have had no
business, I would have had nomoney, my life would have been
completely like at a screechinghalt and instead every single
person needed to start theirbusiness from their computer,
started a business on Instagramusing video content, which is
what I was teaching anyway.
At that point I had pivoted todoing that anyway and my
(16:09):
business blew up doing that.
So it was crazy.
I kept like jumping the gun andmaking it.
It was nuts.
I just had very weird luck.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
That's amazing.
So you moved into working withpeople and teaching them how to
become, how to video themselves,how did you handle that?
Speaker 1 (16:27):
How to use video content and online content how
to build their businesses onInstagram.
Because that's what I did.
I created an Instagram accountfor my online acting coaching.
I started to teach people tipsonline and it was the first of
its kind in a long time, becausethis was 2018, 17.
And I started a podcast calledthe Young Actor's Guide.
So I used a podcast, instagramReels, whatever all those things
(16:51):
, and I started to teach thatmethod.
And I mean, yeah, it was weird,I don't know.
I just don't have rule books.
I just kind of go with the flow.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
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At what point did you pivotthat podcast to Daily Dose of
Donna?
Speaker 1 (18:40):
So then I pivoted the Young Actors.
So I put the Young Actors Guideaside in 2019.
2020, I started Show Up onVideo.
That was another podcast that Idid.
I did Show Up on Video until2020.
I think I stopped it right whenDaily Dose of Donna started.
So 2023.
Now this is a whole other boat.
So end of 2022, I also getbored.
(19:02):
A lot.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
I get that.
I respect that Such a Gemini.
I'm first day of cancer.
I get that.
I respect that Same Such aGemini.
Yeah, so I'm first day ofcancer.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
So I feel that, oh, okay, we're similar.
So I'm June 11th and I havelike I get bored, I get bored, I
get antsy.
Which is why Daily Dose ofDonna really works for me,
because the stories are changingevery day and I thing, so Daily
(19:30):
Dose of Donna this is how thisstarted.
It was the end of December 2022.
And show up on video wasgetting stale for me.
The video content coaching itwas the same thing every day.
It reminded me of actingcoaching.
And the reason why I thoughtstale for me is because it's
very frustrating for me to teachcontent to people who either A
don't take my feedback or don'ttake my instruction and don't
implement it.
(19:51):
So people were paying me a lotof money.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Yeah, and then not listening to what you were
telling them to do.
Or just not doing it.
I know, I know it's sointeresting.
It's funny.
I had a professional coach onyesterday who was actually from
LA she called herselfprofessional coach on yesterday,
who was actually from LA shecalled herself, I think, a
creative recovery specialist orsomething like that.
And we had this long chat aboutpeople who hire you for your
expertise.
(20:15):
And it's gotten to the point,after contracts are signed, as
clients, and I say I have to bevery to the point because I
don't have the bandwidthotherwise to say I'm going to
give you feedback.
But I can give you two things Icould tell you what you want to
hear and I could tell you whatyou need to hear.
And if you sign off on what youneed to hear, then you're
committing to me in this kind ofcontract that I will be honest
(20:37):
with you, but you need to followthrough on yours, your end,
because if said work does notwork and you do not get a return
on investment, you cannot cometo me saying it didn't work
because you didn't followthrough.
It's super challenging to dealwith people because I call it,
like I said, basement to Beyoncetiny bit of attention.
I don't need to do this, Idon't need to do that and, as
(20:57):
you know, kid actors, bloggers,influencers, podcasters.
Now they are a dime a dozen.
There are so many of them thateverybody could survive without
another one.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
I would get very, very frustrated because I would
rather you not hire me at allthan hire me and let me waste my
energy and my time teaching youand getting so invested in your
success.
And then you saying like, yes,I'm going to do it.
And then a week later I'd belike show me.
And they would be like, oh, andmeanwhile you're like
(21:31):
commenting on my content, and Iknow you're watching Real
Housewives and I know you'relike going out and posting
pictures of you and yourmartinis and like, why can't you
post one 30-second reel of youdoing of your business?
Yeah, so it's priorities, right, and so that would bother me.
Number one.
Number two I would realize that, like I can't teach you how to
(21:53):
be compelling on video if youactually just don't have the
ability to be compelling onvideo.
It's like acting, yeah, andsome people are just and I hate
to say this, this is also withpodcasting Not everyone can have
a podcast.
Nope, some people are just notgreat audio like speakers.
They're just not.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Yeah, yeah, no it's.
I mean I've been, as I'm sureyou have.
I've been on a lot of podcastsas guests and I've been grateful
, obviously, for everyinvitation, and you know I would
never poo poo on anything, butit's so fascinating how many
people have a script, one by one, by one by one, and all I keep
thinking is I don't understandhow you can have an audience who
(22:32):
would want to continue tolisten to that, because you have
to really emphasize your USP,your unique selling point, and
every conversation, as you know,has to have something that
stands out to make it differentfrom the last one.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
You have to, you know my favorite podcasts and the
reason why some of the bestpodcasts in the list of like top
charts are the Joe Rogan styleor the Mel Robbins style.
They are not scripted, they areliterally just conversations.
I would never, ever, listen toa podcast that felt like I was
(23:05):
listening to a scripted question.
One time I'll never forget likeI can't even remember the name
of the podcast because that's Iblacked out after this.
But one time someone asked meto be on their show and I don't
even know if I ended up doingthe show because I couldn't
believe the gall they sent me.
They said can you be a guest?
(23:26):
And I said, of course, likeI'll very rarely turn down a
show unless it's like reallyinappropriate or like very like
offensive show.
Yes, of course.
And then they sent me okay,here's a list of questions that
we want to ask you, yep.
And then they said can youanswer the list of questions
here, like can you write backthe list of the answers?
And then they ask can you writemore questions for us to ask
(23:50):
you?
And I was like no, is this anarticle that you want to write
or is this a conversation?
I don't do this.
I've never scripted anythingI've ever done.
Even on Daily Dose of Donna, Iwrite bullet points Like that's
not a conversation I ever wantto be part of, so podcasting is
supposed to feel natural.
Anyway, the point is, when Iwas teaching this, it was really
(24:11):
hard.
It was frustrating to me.
So I was feeling very irritatedat the end of December 2022,
because I was like I feel like afailure as a coach and as a
teacher because my clients arenot succeeding and that makes me
feel bad and I don't want tokeep taking people's money and
not seeing results.
Then it makes me feel like agrifter.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
I do.
It doesn't feel good whenyou're not seeing results.
Then you say, like I wantpeople to go and tell their
friends look at what I started,because I worked with Donna
Bolling, exactly Not like, oh, Iworked with Donna Bowling and
I'm still, you know, notlaunching anything, right, right
, right.
So I was getting frustrated.
And then, speaking of MelRobbins, I was walking my dogs
on January I hate the date,january 6th, but that's actually
(24:59):
the date.
It was January 6th, 2023.
And I'm walking my dogs and I'mlistening to a podcast of hers
and she's talking about somesort of, like you know, coming
up with a passion or whatever.
You know just one of her.
She always talks about the samething.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
And I don't really listen to her regularly, but
this just popped up in my feedRight and I'm so glad I listened
to it, because she was justsaying like sometimes, when
you're feeling like unmotivatedor bored, which was so tracking
in that moment, you got to justfind something that you like to
talk about.
No-transcript.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
And I thought to myself I love reality TV.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
I love pop culture.
I love documentaries.
I love talking about, just likebullshit, celebrity culture and
whatever.
I know how to podcast.
I love the Toast.
That's actually what I thoughtabout.
I love the Toast.
You know the girls the MorningToast it used to be the Morning
Toast, the Toast, and at thetime I was listening to the
Toast.
But they're young, yeah,they're very young, yeah,
(25:56):
they're 30.
And they were talking aboutlike Bad Bunny and Kylie Jenner
and I'm like how could there bestories I cannot met with?
I know, I know, and they'revery millennial.
I'm 43 now.
At the time I was 41, I waslike I kind of would love a show
that was a daily show but kindof had more stories geared
(26:20):
towards things that maybe I wasmore interested in.
I don't see it out there, maybeI need to create it.
And so I started Daily Dose ofDonna.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
That's amazing.
I understand and I think that'sreally interesting.
When you started this podcast,did you think it was going to be
just you?
Did you think you were going toget advertisers?
Did you think that you wouldneed someone else to produce it?
Or you just said I got this,it's fine, I can handle this.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
I'm old hat at this at this point, no, I had no and
honestly, I'd never done apodcast that was really making
money.
None of my podcasts were evermoney-making.
All my podcasts were just waysto get clients and all of them
were working to get clients, butnone of my podcasts made money.
Daily Dose of Donna was thefirst podcast that I actually
(27:07):
started to make money on andearly on, like about six months
in, it started to do really wellon YouTube a few months in.
And then I started to work withan ad company because they
started to see the traction Iwas starting to.
I was on Dumois.
Dumois reached out to mebecause she saw me on TikTok, so
I was on Dumois and then Istarted to rank on the podcast
(27:28):
charts because of that.
Then I reached out, or an adguy reached out to me and I
started to connect with them,where he started to do paid ads
like spoken ads, right right.
Since then I started workingwith someone else, but now,
because of that and because ofbeing on a guest on other shows
and just ranking and stuff, nowI have like a variety of income
streams from the show.
(27:49):
So it makes me a lot of money.
I don't want to say a lot.
That sounds crazy, like it'snot like that.
I mean, I'm still.
I'm still working hard for themoney, but it's definitely made
it so that I don't need to workanymore with one-on-one clients
and it's a hundred percent mysole incomes, like my sole
(28:09):
income.
This is my income, so it'sreally incredible and there's so
many ways to make money througha podcast now.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
Yeah, I think you said a few things that are
really core takeaways.
One, you knew your audience.
Two, you knew the topic.
Three, you were passionateabout it.
Four, it wasn't something thatyou would suffer doing.
And five, you just went in andsaid pardon my French, fuck it.
I can just do this because I'vebeen through this so many times
that I'm already seasoned attalking, going in front of a
camera, telling the story, notthinking twice, knowing the
(28:40):
lighting, all those things,having the right microphone.
I think, though, from a brandingperspective and again I just
want to make this clear you know, I'm super grateful for you
taking the time, especially, youknow, since people would say
this doesn't align, but this100% aligns, because this is all
about building your ownpersonal brand and how to do it
strategically and thoughtfully,because that's the recipe for
(29:00):
success.
That's really, that's thesecret sauce.
So I think everything you'vesaid, like I did it, it made
money.
I was miserable, I did it, Imade money.
I got sick, I did it, it mademoney, and then I just said this
isn't for me anymore.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
You know what's interesting is like.
So they always say like yourflow state, right, like when are
you in your flow state?
I was never in my flow stateuntil this.
Why?
Because and that sounds likeooh zen flow state.
I'm not like that at all.
I'm so not that girl.
What is in your flow state whenyou are able to not only be
happy but also be successful andgrow Like I love what I do?
(29:42):
When I say I love what I do, Ihave never once in my hand to
God, I have never once woken upon a Monday through Friday and
been like I can't believe I haveto work.
Today.
I am so excited to sit down atmy computer.
Sometimes I'm like I wish myshow was earlier in the morning
rather than at 11, because I'mexcited to like get into it.
Yep, yep, I love what I do.
(30:04):
It is like an excitement thing.
I have a live audience thatI've connected with.
I have a community.
I have a Facebook group.
I truly look at my audience asmy friends.
I connect with them online.
It's taking a thing that I'mobsessed with and finding a way
to monetize it right.
I'm not saying that justbecause it's like a bullshit
(30:25):
thing to say it's truly, I foundmy thing right.
There's a lot of downsides toit, trust me.
A lot of downsides.
People are really, really cruelonline.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
Yeah, I mean, I've been through that on the
receiving end purely as a resultof the designers with whom I've
worked and doing, enough ofthese fashion, beautiful people
events that you know someonedoesn't go through, where they
associate me with somebody elseor something that some other
designer has done, and then, allof a sudden, it wasn't a
reflection of me until it wasn'tsuccessful.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Yeah, no, it's really cruel.
There's a lot of really meanthings out there that can be
said about you, lots of liesthings being said about you know
innocent bystanders in my lifemy mom, my husband, my kids,
like things that are just really, really out there.
I think people get very, veryinvested in the content that I
(31:19):
am talking about, like thepeople that I talk about reality
stars or podcasters or whatever.
It's very interesting.
I have noticed there is anunhealthy group of fans when it
comes to certain content that Italk about.
People take it really far witha lot of reality stars.
So that part has been a learningcurve for me.
(31:40):
I never experienced that withanything I've ever done before
in this world, in this world oflike, because I never was, you
know, so much of a public facingperson.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Right, right, right.
Thank you for sharing all thisstuff, because I know,
especially getting this kind offeedback, it almost makes you
think twice like, is it worth it?
Because the comments are reallysavage and you know your
biggest weakness or the thingsyou're most insecure about
people can find really fast andyou have to kind of swallow it
(32:12):
and then go back and forth andsay, do I want to read this?
Do I want to read the feedback?
What if it's constructive?
No, I'm going to deleteeverything.
Do I stop the comments?
And it's a really delicatebalance that you have to do,
especially as a brand, becausethat's who you are and you have
to take the good with the bad.
It's just the nature and I havethis case study that I do with
my students about Zappos whenthey started, and I believe this
(32:36):
is still true to this day.
I can't confirm, but anybodywho started would spend at least
a month, I think, in customersupport just to understand at
the front lines what they'redealing with on a day-to-day.
So they know at the end of theday, once the packaging is done,
this is who you're dealing withand they have this really
incredible way that the biggestminus they can flip that,
(32:56):
whoever's the biggest assholeand the most difficult person,
they give next day shipping,they check in, they follow up,
because those are the peoplethat really want the most
attention and when someone'sbeing so cruel to you, you can't
do that.
You can't go back and say areyou okay, Is everything all
right?
Why are you taking this out onme?
I didn't do anything to you.
Why are you so bored Like maybeget a hobby, go for a walk,
(33:19):
have a coffee, so I'm sure, withwhat you do in your nurturing
phase and who you are, it's kindof hard not to be like am I mad
at you?
Am I angry at you?
How do I handle this?
Because, as a brand owner,that's a huge challenge.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Yeah, I mean, it's definitely.
It's a balance, and I thinkthat I always have to kind of
like check in with myself, likeam I ready to take it on?
I've stopped taking it aspersonally.
I don't take it as personallyanymore.
I realized that people will sayanything and everything
constantly, all the time.
I can't please anyone all thetime, everyone, all the time
ever.
I'm speaking to way too manypeople every day, like there's
(33:54):
just way too many people in myaudience at this point to please
everyone.
At the beginning, when I wasstill really small, I really
wanted to please everyone, andnow it's way out of my hands,
like it's way out of my hands Atthis point.
If I'm speaking to, you know,over 10, 15, 20,000 people a day
, like how in the world I can'teven please 100 people a day.
Like how can I please that manypeople?
(34:15):
So, and people are too loud,you know, and my viral reels, my
viral TikToks, like thecomments are wild.
Luckily, luckily, the majorityof people are kind, you know,
but the louder people are mean,so, like, or the mean people are
really loud, right, so thatsometimes tends to hit.
But I've, I've really just I'vegrown so much.
(34:35):
It's a muscle when you build apersonal brand and when you go
out there and decide to, youknow, put your face on your
brand and go out there.
It's a strength to build amuscle and, honestly, it should
be a muscle that you arebuilding every single day
because your skin needs to getthick.
You will get taken down.
(34:57):
You will be told that you havebad content, you have bad
products, you have bad branding,you're ugly.
You will be unsuccessful.
You know, et cetera, et cetera.
People will attack you for youknow your religion, your
politics, your this, your that.
Everyone will come after you.
At the end of the day, you haveto have faith in who you are
inside, and that's what it comesdown to.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Oh, my God, that's a perfect way to tie this in a bow
.
Donna, bolling of Daily Dose ofDonna, thank you so, so, so
very much for joining us onHandbag Designer 101.
How can people find you, followyou and just get more of
everything that is so awesomeabout you?
Speaker 1 (35:35):
Thank you.
Well, you can find me onInstagram and TikTok at
thisisdonnabowling.
Donna is spelled.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
D-A-N-A.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
Super annoying, but that's my claim to fame.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
It is what it is.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
What can you do?
And then Daily Dotes of Donnais on YouTube every day, all the
episodes.
And then, of course, ApplePodcasts, Spotify wherever you
listen to podcasts.
Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
So appreciate it.
Thank you, thanks for listening.
Don't forget to rate and review, and follow us on every single
platform at Handbag Designer.
Thanks so much.
See you next time.
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