December 16, 2024 • 68 mins
Have you ever felt like your life was on autopilot, following a path that wasn’t truly yours?
In this episode, I sit down with Dina-Marie, creator of Way of the Founder and a coach for expats, nomads, and transplants, as we explore her courageous leap from a successful career in the U.S. to starting anew in Vietnam. Dina-Marie’s story challenges the boundaries between external success and internal fulfillment, offering profound insights into the transformative power of bold decisions.
A nomad and expat of 10 years, Dina-Marie helps visionary entrepreneurs build location-independent businesses that align with their wildest dreams of freedom and impact. With her unique approach—equal parts strategy and soul—she empowers others to stop trading time for money and redefine success on their own terms.
This episode is filled with both hilarity and heartfelt moments, including tales of mispronounced names, the quirks of virtual meetings, and a delightful nod to a Key and Peele skit that will leave you smiling.
Together, we unravel the world of location-independent entrepreneurship, diving into what it truly means to live and work beyond the confines of a traditional nine-to-five.
Dina-Marie shares her passion for blending personal growth, spiritual exploration, and business leadership to create lives of freedom and purpose.
Through candid discussions on mental health, chronic illness, and leaving corporate life behind, we illuminate the journey from burnout to liberation. We reflect on the importance of community, spirituality, and self-discovery, highlighting moments of introspection and surrender that lead to finding authenticity and fulfillment.
Dina-Marie’s background in music management, her degree in entrepreneurship, and her deep spiritual practice inform her holistic coaching style.
Through Way of the Founder, she provides hands-on support, deep healing practices, and travel inspiration for nomadic entrepreneurs. Her story is proof that true freedom is possible, and her mission is to guide others toward financial freedom, location independence, and a life that truly works for them.
Highlights from this episode include:
- The journey from corporate burnout to a purpose-driven life.
- The motivations behind embracing the digital nomad lifestyle.
- How to balance business strategy with spiritual exploration.
- Why active surrender can unlock clarity and growth.
- Tips for building a location-independent business.
Join us as we embrace authenticity, generosity, and the conscious pursuit of a more fulfilling and intentional life.
Connect with Dina-Marie
Follow Dina-Marie on Instagram at @_wayofthefounder for inspiration and guidance on nomadic entrepreneurship. You can also sign up for her free 90-minute masterclass, Get Started as a Digital Nomad, to learn how to escape the 9-5 and create a business aligned with your dreams: https://wayofthefounder.com/masterclass.
Mota Magick
MOTA Magick is soulful, high-vibe CBD skincare made by women, for women. Use code JWTS to save 10%!
Follow Jacquelynn on Instagram HERE.
Follow Just Women Talking
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now I'm going to put a pin in that, because there is
the external journey, whichlooks amazing, and then there is
the internal journey, which istumultuous, right so, externally
, one day I walk into the office, our board chair sits me down
and goes Dina, we think you'reamazing, you're phenomenal,
you're such a great asset to thecompany.
We're going to give you apromotion.
(00:21):
We'll pay for your attorney,we'll get you a visa sponsored.
And oh, also to give you apromotion, we'll pay for your
attorney, we'll get you a visasponsored.
And oh, also, here's a race.
The next morning I booked myflight to vietnam.
One way, this is a tripdifferent from the from the trip
I'm currently on and I handedin my resignation.
That's five years ago.
I had a little bit of savings.
I had full.
Like you can't see it, but Ihave full body chilled yeah, and
(00:44):
honestly bold, so bold, even me, and you know, that's the funny
thing, like people either saidyou're bold or they said you're
crazy.
There was no in between, and Ididn't feel either one of these
things.
I just felt as though that wasthe only sane thing I could do.
Ladies and gentlemen, ladiesand gentlemen, you're listening
(01:10):
to Just Women Talking Shit withyour host, jacqueline Cotton.
Hello Hi.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Hello gorgeous.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
How are you?
I'm doing well.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
How are you?
Speaker 1 (01:32):
I'm doing great.
Where in the world are you?
Speaker 2 (01:35):
I'm in Mississippi.
What about you?
Speaker 1 (01:37):
I'm in Vietnam right now.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Sorry, in the United States, in Mississippi, I forgot
we have a world traveler here.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Okay, Well, that is very thoughtful of you.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
So we're on the opposite end of the world.
You said did I hear you sayVietnam?
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Yeah, you did.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Oh, how fucking cool.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
What are you doing there?
I'm just living, you know,workinglooking lady, buddha and
the sea.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Oh, oh, my gosh.
Okay, first off, gotta admit Ijust rolled out of bed.
Don't know if you can tell, butthat's happening I was on the
road I was on the road allyesterday, um, but I did not
want to cancel this, so it'slike we're gonna fucking show up
in pajamas, okay.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
I love it.
I'm all for it.
I'm wearing pjs.
Good, oh, you tricked me withthe top oh, I'm like, oh, zoom
up top, and then it's like allcasual down below oh my god,
that's like become my lifestyle.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
I'm like okay, I'm on camera, we look good up top.
We're real comfy down bottomthough exactly that's just that.
That's a new professionaloutfit, right um, and I don't
know how to pronounce your firstname, even though it's really
simple, I'm sure oh, it's justdina, like tina, except dina.
Okay, I just I wanted to makesure um I appreciate and it's
(03:04):
jacqueline right, yes I.
I should have fucked with you inthe wake.
Uh, jacqueline, have you everwatched key and bill?
I have not.
All right, when we hop off.
When we hop off, just look atthis video, just this one.
You got it.
It's the, it's the classroomsubstitute skit, and this shit
(03:25):
used to happen to me in class,like in high school.
People would not know how tosay Jacqueline it was.
They'd be like call me for 10minutes, jacqueline.
I'm like, well, I'm not goingto fucking raise my hand because
it's not my name.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
That's funny.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Oh God, okay, Anyway, all right, back to you, dana.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
All right.
Well, most people have problemswith my last name because it's
very German and you pronounce itvery German.
So people are like oh, is itWienick, Is it?
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Yeah, I was just going to leave.
Yeah, I didn't even want tomess with it.
I was going to really mess thatup.
Don't worry about it, I wasjust going to leave.
Yeah, I didn't even want tomess with it.
I was like I'm going to reallymess that one up, don't worry
about it.
How cool German.
Okay, all right, so I have to.
I have to say I was lookingover all my show notes this
morning, like really early, likeone o'clock in the morning, and
(04:21):
I was reading everything to getto know you a little bit better
, and I'm going to say I'mpretty fascinated.
I didn't really know everythingI was reading, but what I took
away from it was that you travela lot and you work for yourself
, and the way I like to describewhat you're doing is something
that I.
It's a movement that I'mpersonally building within my
(04:43):
brand, and it really appears tome that you get paid to exist,
and so I would love I would loveto hear more about what it is
you do, maybe a little bit abouthow you got to like where you
are right now.
You said you're in Vietnam, andit looks like you go all over
the place and just introduceyourself to my audience.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
And we'll just start there.
Absolutely, yeah, wow, you justkind of stunned me with your
description of me, so I need aminute to digest.
I have lots to say about thatperspective on my lifestyle that
I think is really important tohear, really important for your
audience to hear.
So I'll start with the easiestquestion why am I in Vietnam?
(05:28):
What am I up to here?
For three years now, I've beentraveling perpetually as what
the internet will tell you is adigital nomad.
Right, professionally, I preferthe term location independent
entrepreneur and we can get intowhy that is and how that's
different and how that actuallydictates what you do in your
(05:49):
business and in your life alittle bit later on.
But you know, me and my partner, we just always look for the
sun, water, a beach, hikingopportunities, genuine, honest
spirituality and, of course, acommunity.
And for the last few yearswe've just really you know in a
(06:11):
good sense gotten stuck in Asia,especially in Southeast Asia.
We actually met in Bali, so wehave a very special connection
to Southeast Asia as a whole,connection to Southeast Asia as
a whole.
And, yeah, vietnam, there wasjust lots of things that are
really really beautiful andreally convenient and accessible
for us both as online businessowners as well, as you know, as
(06:38):
long-term tourists and, honestly, I forget the other question.
So let's just keep the ballrolling and forgive me if you
need to ask me again.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
No, so this show is like so off.
It's so interesting when peoplebook their interviews with me.
Some people email me like, okay, is there anything I need to do
to prep?
And I'm like, no, just show up.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Oh no, I love to do your interviews, yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
We're going to shoot the shit.
I gel with that.
So, and I love that you're justlike.
I forgot the other question.
If you want to tell, if youwant to ask me again, go for it,
because that's just realistic,like, especially when you get in
your zone and you're talkingabout something.
It's so.
It happens to me all the time.
You'll see me look off a lotand I'm just like trying to keep
(07:26):
up with my thoughts because youget so passionate, you know,
and you just kind of lose trackof what you're, of what you were
trying to say or what they said, and so I resonate with that
tremendously, but I would saythat you're so passionate that
it's hard to stay Okay.
But yeah, I was asking firstoff.
So what is your?
If you don't mind me askingwhat does your partner do?
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Yeah, absolutely.
He's also a coach he works with, with people who are looking to
get out of the corporate nineto five.
And uh, he's also a tutor.
He's an amazing tutor forEnglish.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
I love it.
I love it so much.
That's beautiful.
Okay, so what was my question?
I don't remember the rest ofthe question, but I'm just
really curious.
Like, yeah, you're, you'redoing the digital.
I love how you said theinternet will tell you and I
love that you have your othernames for it.
What was it?
Location independententrepreneur.
(08:18):
Okay, we're going to give youcredit for that, but I'm
definitely going to say that atsome point, uh, but like how
there's always a story how wegot here right.
Oh boy, where to start?
Yeah, I'm sitting here with ablanket, I'm a chronic illness
baby and I struggle with mymental health and see PTSD, and
(08:39):
I just, at a very young age,realized very quickly that my
problems were a lot differentthan other people's problems at
my age, and so I tried to fitmyself into this corporate box,
you know, and I try to do allthe things, but in 2019,
especially like I was on theverge oh, we're slipping, we.
I was on the verge of um, Imean, I was just, I couldn't.
(09:02):
I went out to work all the time,I was depressed, I was drinking
a lot, like just to try to benormal and like push through the
grind and go to a job that Ifucking hated.
And I don't mean to say I don't, I don't hate people, but at
the time I despised the people Iworked with, despised the
(09:29):
people I worked with.
And we are trying to be realinnovative this morning on the
phone and it's slipping, sowe're gonna unplug it.
Okay, when I say we areauthentic, as fuck, we do not
care around here, we get shitdone, but I was just so, I was
in that place.
It was like my true line in thesame moment for me.
I me, I got fired a week beforeThanksgiving, which just pissed
me off, and I was like okaynever going back, you know.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Fine, I'm going to get out of the way.
You came back on yourentrepreneurial anniversary then
, yeah, oh God, oh,congratulations 2019.
Oh my God, holy shit, yeah,five years Right.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Oh, my God Dina.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Sorry, I just didn't even realize.
Yeah, my whole story is theweek before Thanksgiving.
I got fired.
And how did I not?
Okay, you just okay, I'm goingto sit here with this while you
tell me how you got to whereyou're at, because I, you kind
of just blew my mind.
How cool is that?
This is all coming full circle.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Like here I am telling the story and then
you're like oh yeah, by the way,congrats yeah, I mean, it's
just so it goes to say you know,so often we're in our own
little zone, right, and it'slike the Milky Way.
We're swimming right inside theMilky Way.
We have no idea what thisgalaxy looks like, but we know
what other galaxies look like,what other galaxies wow, I can't
(10:51):
talk anymore look like becausewe have a different perspective
on it, right?
That's the whole point.
I'm sure you know this andyou've thought about this a
hundred times over with yourclients.
That's the whole point ofcoaching and being able to
mentor someone, right.
We look from the outside in andsometimes what's so glaringly
(11:11):
obvious for us as a mentor, as acoach, you know it's just
become normal everyday life andyou no longer think about the
profundity of it.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Yeah, no, you're absolutely right.
So so for me now, my, your storyis probably going to be
different than mine, but also alittle similar.
I find that, as entrepreneurshave, like, our stories are so
vast, so different as to why wereally push through and wanted
to work for ourselves and breakthe, I guess, disrupt what was
(11:38):
expected of us, like the norm,right, but when I was in the
thick of it just rememberthinking I was never gonna get
out of it, you know, but at thesame, like, and you have those
days where you're like the wholereason that I'm pushing through
is because I'm fucking tired ofthis.
But then you still have thisday you're like and is it gonna
work out?
Am I gonna make it?
Should I go back?
(11:59):
And should I go back and get anine to five or a 10 to 10 or a
just I don't see daylight joblike this is what it feels like.
It feels like you just go andclock in and I just it wasn't
for me, you know, and so.
But I want to hear your story,like how the fuck did you get?
Speaker 1 (12:18):
to where you're at absolutely, and I'm gonna blow
your mind just on the timelineof all of it 2019 was my big
breaking point as well.
Shut up.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Yeah, sorry, okay, you can go.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
I'm just going to sit here, so I'm painting the
picture right.
10 years prior, to, so 2009,.
Somewhere around there, I haddecided I would live and work
and love in Los Angeles one day.
Well, fast forward to 2019, Iwas doing exactly that.
I was in a relationship,driving a cute car, having the
perfect job in my dream city,and I felt like shit.
(12:56):
It just felt like an utternightmare and I was like where
is it?
Where is the dream?
Where is the dream Right?
And I want to highlight a fewthings here for those who are
listening who are like oh mygosh, that's me right now.
How the F?
Did you get out of that?
The first thing that I think youand I both did that's really
(13:16):
important to do, and it seems sosimple, is you have to
acknowledge that you're nothappy, and that takes guts,
right, because you're supposedto be happy.
You live in this beautiful city, right, people come and visit
you and you show them around andyou go to concerts at disney
concert hall and you wake up andyou dread the commutes to work
(13:37):
and you dread having to walkinto the office and you don't
like your boss and you don'tagree with the leadership.
And then me being European, youknow, I come from a culture
where we have like a month pluspaid vacation every year.
And then I settled into worklife in America and they were
like, oh, here is your 12 daysof vacation a year and you only
(14:01):
get to accrue one day per month.
I was like that makes no sense,like I just refused to
logically understand what washappening.
It made no sense.
The environment I was in theleadership, I was in the
contract I had signed.
I was like that's not it, thatcan't be my life.
And lo and behold, I lookedaround and I looked at my boss's
(14:23):
lives, the conversations theywere having with the board, the
salaries they were getting.
And I worked in nonprofit.
I worked for orchestramanagement, specifically in
community engagement andfundraising.
So I had a lot of again, a lotof experience communicating with
people, building communities,you know, like building an
(14:45):
audience, develop well,developing an audience and then,
of course, also building forour founders a pipeline right In
online business.
We call it a client journey,right.
So I gained a lot of reallyamazing and transferable skills.
I just didn't know I was goingto be applying them in a field
entirely different from the arts, right.
(15:07):
But there came a day when I hadjust about filled maybe two or
three journals about how I wantto live, how I want to travel
more, how I don't want to waituntil the end of my days, until
I'm 60, 65 and retired to travel.
I was like that none of thismakes sense.
There has to be another way togo through life.
(15:28):
People say I'm successful, butI do not feel successful.
What if I actually trusted myheart and my gut?
Now I'm going to put a pin inthat, because there is the
external journey, which looksamazing, and then there is the
internal journey, which istumultuous, right.
So, externally, one day I walkinto the office, our board chair
(15:51):
sits me down and goes Dina, wethink you're amazing, you're
phenomenal.
You're such a great asset tothe company, we're going to give
you a promotion.
We'll pay for your attorney,we'll get you a visa sponsored.
Will get you a visa sponsoredand oh, also, here's a raise.
(16:11):
The next morning I booked myflight to Vietnam.
One way, this is a tripdifferent from the trip I'm
currently on, and I handed in myresignation.
That's five years ago.
I had a little bit of savings.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
I have full.
Like you can't see it, but Ihave full body chilled.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Yeah, and honestly, bold, so bold.
And you know, that's the funnything, like people either said
you're bold or they said you'recrazy.
There was no in between and Ididn't feel either one of these
things.
I just felt as though that wasthe only sane thing I could do.
(16:49):
You know what I mean it?
Just like it came out of methat like no, I'm going to hand
on my resignation, I'm going totravel.
Logically, it made no sense.
My mom was really upset becauseyou know, like a lot of money
has gone into my education,right?
And then she wanted me tosucceed and she didn't
(17:11):
understand that I was beginningto have a different idea of what
success could mean and looklike for me than the traditional
success path.
Right, go to college, get a job, retire.
I was like no, when I livebefore retirement, how do I do
that?
Right?
So I traveled and I backpacked.
I had some savings and I hadthis crazy idea like, oh yeah,
(17:34):
wait a minute.
I went to college forentrepreneurship.
I've been supporting musicianswith turning their
entrepreneurial ideas intoviable businesses, either for
profit or non-profit, for years.
Now I'm going to set up my ownbusiness and my business plan is
I help people.
(17:54):
Quite elaborate, right.
So the long story short on theexternal journey is you know I
started freelancing a lot.
I love how you're cracking up.
Journey is, you know I startedfreelancing a lot, I love how
you're cracking up.
It was funny Like I was just sofresh out of shits to give it
(18:14):
that moment.
Right, like for years, forthree decades, I'd been doing
exactly what either I was toldto do, what would make me look
really good on paper, or what Iknew would get me validation and
approval from either my mom ormy dad.
I was just sick of it.
I was tired of it, right.
So a business plan that said Ihelp people, that seemed
perfectly fine for me, right?
Type A person turned completelyrogue.
(18:35):
That just made perfect sensefor me at the time.
And the long story short is Ibegan to freelance a lot.
There were a lot of odd jobs inlike Strasbourg, france and in
the north of Germany that I didrunning workshops and orchestras
and all kinds of conferencesbefore I started training as a
professional coach with a focuson spiritual psychology.
(18:59):
And well, I thought it would bereally easy.
And this is what I really wantto take the audience away.
Is you know like I'm laughingthrough this story, right, like,
oh, all I did was change mydefinition of success.
And now here I am, six-figurebusiness owner and I can work
from anywhere.
Well, but I just said two reallyimportant terms, and those are,
(19:23):
you know, a need for validationand approval, and those years
2019.
Until you know, maybe a year orso ago, I needed to really dive
deep into my relationship withmyself and look at, well, who am
I, what are the situations,what are the relationships, the
situations that have made me whoI am today, the situations that
(19:46):
have made me who I am today?
And are all of the narrativesthat I'm telling myself and
others about myself really andtruly empowering or are they
harboring resentment?
Are they harboring a lack offorgiveness, grudges,
disempowering stories?
Right?
So, you know, while a whole bigchapter of resume success ended
in 2019, a huge chapter of youknow what I now call, in my
(20:11):
business way of the founder, theinner journey, the inner
exploration commenced.
And you know, the business pieceis easy Figuring out how to
market and how to sell yourservices, how to put your
products together.
That's easy compared tofiguring out who you are and
then learning to differentiatebetween.
(20:31):
Are you building a businessfrom fear and from a need for
validation, or are you buildinga business from love and from a
sense of purpose?
I've both, I like.
I like this.
The second option better, butit's harder to get to.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
I'll say that oh shit , a lot, a lot of stuff on me
trying to wrap my brain aroundit.
Um, because there are somereally interesting similarities
and you being spiritual and mebeing spiritual, we both know
that's not a coincidence, likewe're all connected, right.
And so I find when I hop onpodcasts, there's typically a
(21:13):
reason that the guest wasbrought to me, they felt led to
book with me, right.
And I'm at a.
I'm at a cycle or a season ofmy life right now, as you just
made me realize, I just fiveyears.
I literally just went through myanniversary of being a, I guess
, a full-time entrepreneur forabout five years Now I have had
(21:36):
like um, let's say, for instance, in May this year, I so about
almost three of those years Ihad like a job where I was.
It was like a more contract job, but I was still getting paid
hourly.
So I told myself.
I tricked my brain.
I was like we're not workingfor the man, you're still in
control of your time.
But what did I do?
I'd let myself get back in thatum prison of trading time for
(21:59):
money, right, and I took a jobthat was going to require me to
show up more.
I was going to get likeconsistent pay, but I was still
going to be capped.
And so what's so interesting isI decided in May of this year I
was like no, no, like I'm goingto even admit to people that I
think I've fallen into a jobagain.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
What the?
Speaker 2 (22:22):
fuck do I do to a job again?
What the fuck do I do like?
And I just realized that I hadbeen, in a sense, as you said,
building from fear, not fromlove, and I noticed myself
slipping and my mental healthwas getting really bad and I
like just broke down to myhusband one day.
So I think it was, um, I don'tknow, it was like two, maybe
(22:43):
three months before that and andwe like had a discussion prior
to that saying that if, if Iwasn't happy and we could make
it financially make sense, that,uh, I was going to get to quit
by that summer.
It was not happening, it was notfinancially making sense, um,
but I was really struggling,like I was really struggling,
like I was fucking struggling180 pounds, I'm 5'1" and I just
(23:10):
I was able to identify like I'mjust not happy, and it was
really hard to come out and tellmy husband like I'm not happy,
I'm literally thinking, like Icontemplate, not wanting to
exist, I'm scared that I'm haveto like check myself into a
mental hospital soon so that oneI could feel like you know, I'm
not making life at homemiserable, because I could be
passive, aggressive when I'm nothappy.
(23:30):
And it was like just this whole.
I was going through a lot ofshit that I'd already
experienced before 2019 and itwas almost like the universe.
Now it is the universe, it wasgod and source, and my whole
whatever galactic team behind meprepared me for the success
(23:51):
that I just experienced lastweek.
So, dana, when I say that youtelling me like five years, that
kind of just yeah, because Ididn't I've been in my own
bubble working so hard at this,failing miserably.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Tearing myself apart to like breaking myself apart to
rebuild Right.
Um, I've had two retreatsthroughout this like, and I'm on
my third retreat this upcomingyear.
Anyway, it's been such anevolution Like.
I pivoted, I've done so manywild things.
I'm like my husband I can tellthe other day, whenever I
finally was able to show himthat I made eight thousand
(24:26):
dollars cash, he was yeah, hewas finally just.
I could see that he was like,oh, thank god she wasn't fucking
around.
She's been saying this for aminute, but like, oh, it's
finally starting to pay off.
Like me, being patient andsupportive is starting to pay
off.
And you've just said somethings that have made me realize
that literally everything I'veexperienced, every job that I
(24:52):
fucking hated the bosses, that Ihated the conversations I would
listen to, that I was just likeI could fucking do that why, am
I getting paid this?
why am I building and liningtheir pockets when I'm the
fucking genius?
That's how I always felt atevery job.
Yeah, and it's just like anyway.
So I've for the five years I'vehad some moments where I've
(25:17):
done really well, but I wasalways going it's just all right
up and it was like, but moredown here, and then everyone in
the while up here, so like Ifelt like you know, people know
me for my authenticity and foralways keeping it real and for
just being who I like.
(25:38):
I want to get paid, to existright, and so I've.
I really want people to.
I guess take away from what I'mabout to say is that it all
comes full circle.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
I just realized yeah how full circle it comes,
because you were saying, likeyou know, I was doing all these
things in my profession, neverthought it would be something
that I'm using in my coachingbusiness, so like, yeah, and,
and you know, my first clients,every single one, my first
clients I had met years prior towhen I launched my business
(26:12):
officially at conferences, atjobs, at internships, even in
class back in college, right,and so there's, there's sort of
two things that I want toreflect back to you on this.
Right One is faith.
Right One is faith and one issurrender, and surrender
oftentimes gets misconstrued, asyou know passiveness, like you
(26:36):
just sit and you wait for thingsto happen.
No, you have to surrender towhat's present.
Right, you have to surrender tothe feelings that come up and
actually allow yourself to feelthose feelings so that the
information inside thosefeelings can come forth.
Well, that's really fuckingactive Hold on hold on.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
I'm like hands are standing up on my arms because
there's information inside thosefeelings and I've never heard
somebody say that and it just isone of those things that like
I'm going to take with me to thegrave, because I say that your
feelings are feedback, but likewe hide from them.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
Well, we do because we're scared what the feelings
will pun intended make us feellike, right, it's like, oh, what
if this?
And you know I say this from Isay this with a lot of
compassion to my, you know, 18,19 year old self.
Right, I walked through lifeentirely numbed out.
Why?
(27:39):
Because I didn't want to thinkabout, you know, certain aspects
of my past I didn't want tothink about.
You know, certain aspects of mypast I didn't want to think
about.
You know, the time when mygrandma passed, when I was six
years old, the time when I hadto, you know, hire an attorney
and face my dad in court at 12years old and again at 17 years
old.
Right, and to think fastforward that years later now I
(28:03):
have a beautiful relationshipwith my dad, right, that didn't
happen because I stayed numb.
That forgiveness, thatreconciling a relationship that
was frankly in shambles for manyyears, didn't happen because I
pushed away the emotions.
Right, eventually it just mademore sense to let them back in.
(28:24):
Right, and you're right, Iagree with that.
Feelings do have that.
They come with feedback, theyalso come with guidance and I
always say, you know, theanticipation of feeling, the
feeling is much harder thanactually feeling the feeling
right.
And you know, I have my privateclients go through like
(28:48):
journaling exercises, throughdrawing exercises, to get into a
relationship with theiremotions, right, sometimes we're
so numb we can't even name thefeeling that we experience right
.
And oftentimes you hear thatwhen people say things like I
feel like I've been done wrong,I feel like I was right in that
(29:11):
situation, those aren't feelings, those are thoughts, right,
those are narratives that you'retelling.
Those aren't.
Typically when you say I feelwhat comes after, that is not a
feeling right.
But I am angry, that's afeeling.
I feel hurt, that's a feeling.
I'm in pain.
(29:31):
That's a feeling.
I feel disappointed.
That's a feeling right, if wecan let that in.
And you know, again, I callthis the inner journey because
oftentimes, especially thesedays, I won't name the event but
(29:52):
post something that happenedearlier in November in the
United States.
A lot of companies have come outwith things like oh, travel,
travel to escape.
Here's a four-year-long cruiseto escape, the next four years
in the United States.
A lot of colleagues who alsosupport digital nomads and
location-independententrepreneurs have promoted
(30:14):
their courses under the sloganof now is the time to become a
nomad.
Wait a minute.
I do agree with the fact thatnow is the time to become an
entrepreneur, but not to escapewhat's going on in the world,
but to face it.
To face it and to affect change, to turn the little community
(30:36):
that we all have asentrepreneurs even, as you know,
employees the community helpturn the community away from
hate and back towards love.
Employees the community helpturn the community away from
hate and back towards love.
Help introduce forgivenesswhere there was resentment.
But in order to be able to leadthat way, we have to do the
inner work right.
So back to your point earlierabout um, you feel as though I
(30:59):
get paid to exist.
I sign the most aligned, themost beautiful, the most
fantastic, the most lovableclients when I show up exactly
as who I am, without trying toimpress anybody.
But the kicker is, I spent twoand a half decades showing up
(31:24):
hoping to impress people.
You see the conundrum right.
You see the healing that had tohappen in order to get to that
point, right?
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Yes, yes, yes, dana, Holy fuck.
And that's kind of where I washeaded Like.
None of the jobs, none of theexperiences.
And I'm going to walk youthrough my resume real quick,
okay, and you're gonna be likewow, bitch.
I got whiplash Okay, I wasalways so.
I think it started whenever Iwas a little girl and I remember
(31:59):
being in the fourth grade andwe went to like a summer program
and there were these two boys.
I liked one of the boys Hisname was Andrew and his brother
was a dick and there was thislike we were doing this whole
exercise of what we wanted to bewhen we grow up and I wrote
Andrew psychiatrist and I'llnever forget that.
(32:21):
The kid made fun of me and soit instilled shame and so ever
since then I have not known whatI want to be when I grow up,
Right?
So I wanted to be a therapist.
I didn't know what apsychiatrist was, Right.
I didn't know the like, thedifference in credentials and
schooling and all that I justknow.
I wanted to help people.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
Right.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
I wanted to be a pediatrician for a while.
I got to high school and toldmy now again, I come from a
family that love drugs, teenpregnancy, people die very young
, and so I wanted, I didn't wantto be another statistic, so,
but I didn't know anything.
Because of that, I, like I, was, I think, maybe the first to
(33:00):
graduate high school.
Like I was, I'm breaking a lotof generational curses, Right.
And so I remember thinking Ireally want to go and help
people.
You know, I didn't knowanything about the college
application process or that Ishould have been taking tests
and applying like junior year,and but I went to my what are
(33:20):
they called?
Guidance counselors supposed toguide us?
Right.
And again I was shame, shame,shame, shame, because I wanted
to go and help people in science, but I didn't know about I
should have been prepping forthis.
So, anyway, I'd won a poetrycontest, put myself out there,
won the poetry contest, andwhenever I told my guidance
counselor that I wanted to go toschool to be, you know, like a
(33:43):
pediatrician, he was just like,yeah, but aren't you that girl
that won the poetry contest?
So I just kept finding myselfin this.
What the fuck am I supposed todo Right?
So even as a teenager, like Iremember, my first business was
I was eight years old and Ibought my mom a pair of earrings
(34:04):
.
I started like a littleKool-Aid stand People call them
lemonade stands but and it'sbeen this journey, and then by
12, yeah, by 12, I wasbabysitting.
I had like a babysittingbusiness and I was cleaning
houses and I was always findingways to make my own money, right
(34:25):
, anywho.
So I've had all these jobsright, I've worked in.
There was a time whenever Iworked, um, in a like I went for
a day or two to work in afactory and it was pretty much
like a fucking sweatshop.
I have been a webcam model.
I have, uh, I guess it's sexwork really.
Um, uh, I have.
I've done everything fromfucking clean toilets to wipe
(34:46):
buttholes, to change diapers, to.
I've built shelves indepartment stores.
I have, oh my God, I don't evenfucking know what all I've done
.
I've done some wild shit.
I've done some wild shit formoney to try to figure out, but
I landed in corporate America.
You know, I've done all thetraditional like all the stuff
that I think a lot of us do,like wait tables and right,
(35:08):
trying to figure out what thefuck we're supposed to do.
And in all of it I realized thatI was marketing myself and it
was yeah, whenever my daughter.
So I became a mom at 23, 24 andI was introduced to and they
got me.
It was like that.
It was when MLMs and networkmarketing companies were
(35:29):
becoming like the thing, yep,and they were disguising it.
You know, they were likedisguising it, like, oh, we'll
help you build your team, and Iwas like, okay, yeah, my mom,
who needs money, and anyway.
So so I got into the MLM world,started learning a little bit
about marketing and I realizedvery quickly that everybody
(35:49):
needs it.
Everybody needs it, everybusiness needs it.
We're all marketing ourselveson a daily basis and anyway.
So between then and the next fewyears, I became homeless with
my daughter and I decided that Iwas just going to figure out a
fucking way.
I didn't know what was going tohappen, but the next several
(36:11):
years were me in and out of MLMs, me in and out of jobs that I
hated, me becoming a sugar babyto try to support my daughter,
me putting myself in situationsthat I was just trying to get
paid to exist, right, and Istill didn't know what I wanted
to be when I grew up.
So I've sold cars, I've I'vedone the wildest things and I
(36:31):
realized the other day, once Istarted operating out of fear
and I was like I finally ownedmy shit, because it literally
Dina just a few weeks ago,wonder what I was.
A spiritual life coach, okay,but, but.
But everybody keeps coming to mefor business because they're
like you're just so amazing andyou market yourself in a way
that is just so authentic and Ifucking love you from the moment
I see you.
(36:52):
So how can you teach me how todo that?
And it all came full circle asI'm sitting there helping people
get approved for financing towork with me.
Oh, I learned this in the carfield.
No way, look at you.
Financing, oh, customer serviceoh, I learned that when I sold,
uh, hats for hat country inPennsylvania in a lady's
(37:14):
basement.
Oh, nurturing well, I did spendabout 10 years in childcare,
know how to nurture people, andso what I'm saying is you're
talking about people.
Think that there's thisovernight success with people
like us On paper.
Yeah, for me too in Mississippi, where we don't get paid a lot,
(37:36):
where the obesity rate and likejust people laugh at our state.
I'll be real, okay, and inMississippi we got to fucking
get it together y'all, but it'sa big deal for a little woman
like me with social anxiety,mental illness.
I'm like the disruptor, youknow, like I don't fit the mold.
(37:57):
I don't go to church.
I'm not a carbon copy.
People either love me or theyhate me, and I know a lot of
people talk about me, especiallyhaving a podcast that literally
calls us out and like the Imean it's called just women
talking shit.
That in itself pisses peopleoff, right, but it's so
beautiful hearing you tell yourstory, because that's the part
that everybody wants to rush.
(38:18):
And I'm like you're literallyin.
You're in the years right nowwhere you really need to be just
letting it happen, being okaywith failing, figuring out what
it is.
I'm supposed to learn from this,because when I sat there and I
fucking cried my eyes out, dina,and I know it's not even a lot
of money I know I'm about tomake a lot more right, a lot
(38:41):
more, but getting to the pointof figuring out how to do it
that, because once the money hitthe account, nothing changed,
nothing, fucking changed.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
The same person.
You still have the same values.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
But it was the journey getting there.
So can we speak a little bitmore on that?
Because I tell people, giveyourself fucking grace, you
gonna miss these years, you'regonna miss the grind, you're
gonna miss the hustle, because Ithat's when you meet people
like you, that's when you that'swhen you're really evolving and
figuring out.
And then, like you said, thebusiness part's easy once you
(39:18):
own who the fuck you are andyou're like oh, I've arrived,
I've been here the whole time,I'm just owning it.
You become a magnet for thebusiness.
It just yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
So you do.
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
I just want to say I'm really inspired by your
resilience thank you, babe,thank you and and I know you
mean that, uh, you're gonna makeme emotional, because I just,
again, we, we both know thisconversation is not a
coincidence, right, and it just,and so you were placed in my
(39:51):
life, even if it's just to saysomething like that, and it just
, those little things keep megoing and so, oh man, thank Just
, thank you and whatever elseyou're about to say, I'm just
going to sit here and be quiet.
Speaker 1 (40:03):
Yeah, no, it really comes from the bottom of my
heart and I believe that, youknow, in life we all put through
our own version of trauma,right?
And no one's trauma is lessimportant than another person's
trauma, right, because it's just, it's significant to the
person's personality and lifeall the same, right?
(40:26):
And I kind of hate when peoplesit and compare their traumas
and like, oh yeah, but you'vehad it so much.
But anyway, that's a segue.
I'm not going to go down, notin this particular conversation,
but, let it be known, it's nota very productive conversation
to be had, in my humble opinion.
Now I'm going to push back onone thing that you said, which
(40:48):
is that you're going to miss theyears of hustle and grind.
I don't think I'm going to missthem.
However, I'm okay with thatpushback, for sure so here's a
distinction I will make is thatthose who somehow have managed
(41:08):
to escape the years of hustleand grind, those are going to be
the people who'll miss it,because there are some really
significant life lessons that welearned.
They're like hustle and grindand sadly, some people never get
out of it right.
Just the other day, my dadcalled me, and when I first
(41:35):
moved to Bali, this was yearsago, this is like three years
ago I moved to Bali.
I call my dad.
I'm like no, I'm not going toMexico, I'm going to Bali.
Had a dream about Bali, justbooked my flight and he goes.
Oh, actually, my deputy travelsto Bali every single year doing
summer vacation.
I can put you guys in touch.
So great, fantastic.
I met my dad's deputy in Baliand he was telling me how, when
(41:56):
he retires once he retires fiveyears from now he would be
selling everything in Germanyand moving to Bali to buy a
house there and just live outretirement in Bali.
Just a few weeks ago, my dadcalled me with really, really
sad news that this very personhas leukemia, can't travel
(42:20):
anymore, needs the medical carethat's available for him in
Germany.
Dream gone, it's gone.
It's always going to be a dreamfor him.
And I'm tearing up just talkingabout it because I'm so sad for
him.
Right, I'm so sad for him and alot of us, you and I we've
(42:44):
gotten out of that.
Oh, like, once I retire, thenI'll be able to.
Right, I have to hustle andgrind until I have enough money.
Right, you and I at some pointwoke up to that being a lie, at
the very least, to that being nolonger the default truth.
Not in the societies that youand I grew up in, respectively.
(43:04):
Right, in my mom's society, whogrew up in the former East
Germany, yeah, entrepreneurshipprobably not a good idea in that
country back then.
Right In today's Germany, well,the state still doesn't support
(43:34):
innovation Again, a differentconversation but it's legally
allowed and thus encouraged.
And thus, moment, becausethat's where all of the signs
are at, that's where all of theguidance is, that's where all of
the feedback is right.
And so often and I offer thisreframe in my coaching practice
when we grind, we do so that wecan have, so that we can be, we
(43:57):
do the work so we can haveenough money, so that we can be
generous.
Well, in order to get out ofthe grind or to stay in the
grind and make good use of it.
Right, we have to flip it andwe have to look at how.
Can I be a generous persontoday?
Can I donate a dollar?
Yes.
(44:18):
Can I spend an extra 30 minuteswithout charging for it?
Yes.
Can I hold the door open?
Yes.
Great, fantastic.
I can be a generous personwithout doing anything else,
without having anything moreFrom that place.
Now, however, I'm going to beginto have more things, more of
(44:41):
the things that are more alignedwith me, because I'm sending a
different energy out into theuniverse.
I'm saying to life hey, I'mready for change, I'm ready to
expand, I'm ready to grow intowho I'm meant to be.
Show me the way.
I'm not sitting around waitingfor it.
I'm not hustling to the pointwhere I can no longer recognize
the signs.
(45:01):
Right, I'm slowing down.
Right, and that's the otherconcept that I'll offer.
Here is one flip it right.
Flip the do have be to the behave do, because when we change
how we relate to life,automatically the actions that
we take will yield a differentresult, because we'll show up
(45:21):
differently to those actions.
Right, that's the one concept.
The other concept is slowingdown to speed up, and here's the
analogy I always give A yearago, I picked up my boyfriend
from the airport in Berlinbecause we were on different
travel itineraries.
I had to go to Germany sooner.
Picked him up from the airport,drove down the highway in
(45:43):
Germany hadn't been there for awhile at 180 kilometers an hour.
I'm having fun, I miss this.
And he takes photos ofeverything that's going on left
and right and shows me thefootage a day later.
I'm like I've never seen thispart of Germany, even though
I've driven through it like amaniac a hundred times over.
Well, maybe if I had sloweddown, I would have been able to
(46:04):
see the bird, I would have seenthe beautiful forest, I would
have seen the great mural that'son the side of the highway.
Now I don't miss exits, butmaybe I had not missed the
proverbial exit, which wouldhave been a shortcut to the
destination I was meant to go to, or I was meaning to go to.
Rather right, take that analogyand translate it and apply it to
(46:28):
your life.
Where are you rushing throughlife not realizing that you just
had the conversation that'sgoing to change your life?
Where are you rushing throughlife looking for job
opportunities without realizingthat you just talked to a
headhunter Right.
Where are you out there onsocial media trying to find the
ideal client, becoming a contentcreator, when really your zone
(46:50):
of genius is that of being acoach, a mentor and a guide, and
you could just have aconversation with the five
people that you texted with lastweek.
I don't allow my clients whoare building businesses to get
on social media until they havefive clients.
I just don't think it's worththeir time to figure out brand
colors and fonts and contentpillars and all of that.
(47:10):
Like that's important.
So I took what you said.
I went a little off tangent andnow we're back here.
Go ahead respond.
Speaker 2 (47:18):
You're okay.
Yeah, no, I love that youchallenged that because it makes
me realize that maybe I need to, because I agree with what you
say.
And there's this whole hustleculture and grind culture, and I
think more so, maybe it's justpeople want it so badly, you
know, and so they think, thinkthat staying and I'm guilty,
(47:40):
like super guilty, thinking thatstaying busy and working
towards it is going to speed itup, but it doesn't.
It's more about those verylaser focused, intentional tasks
, right and and inspired actionand just like I call it, like
flirting with the universe, likeyou know, putting a question
(48:01):
out there and just see it likeyou were talking about.
You know you could be aconversation away from changing
your life.
You really could.
But are we putting ourselvesout there to even have the
fucking conversation?
Like I tell my clients too,like conversations lead to
conversions, right, like, so wehave to have the conversations,
(48:22):
but thank you for pushing backon that, because that's yeah,
that's not, uh, fully what Imeant and you reframing it that
way makes me want to tell myaudience that because you don't,
you do not have to like do thewhole push through, I'm not
going to say that you will neverpush through.
There are moments like you haveto be able Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (48:40):
It takes a lot of momentum and fuel to get a plane
off the ground while yourbusiness is the plane, one
hundred percent.
You have to work really hard.
Even you know, like most of thepeople I work with, they're
like I want to have more whitespace in my calendar, right,
like, help me figure out how tomake really good money without
having to trade in all of mytime for that, right?
(49:03):
Well, great, so if that's theNorth Star, we can get you there
within a year.
But that doesn't mean the nextyear is going to have you
launching by the beach sippingcoconuts while money is flowing
in.
No, you have to build thesystem.
You have to build the plane.
Then you have to learn how tofly it and get it off the ground
.
Absolutely, that's going to belong hours.
That's going to be.
If you're already traveling,you're going to be burning the
(49:24):
candle on both ends.
Right?
I had a call this morning ateight.
It's 10.30 PM.
Right now, I have a call in themorning at 7.30.
Is that my ideal schedule?
Absolutely not.
Why do I do it?
I'm very intentional about thegoals that I'm pursuing right
now.
Right, so, right now, I'mbuilding a plane.
Right, one plane is built andup in the air.
(49:46):
I'm building another plane formy business right now.
I'm choosing to go into a bitof overdrive, right, so I'm glad
you said that too.
I find that you know, likelately and we're beginning to
dial back on that a little bitbut for a while there, the
internet became full of oh.
You just have to sit andmeditate and your ideal life
(50:08):
will be manifested for you.
And yeah, well, if, but only if, you get out of lotus pose and
get your ass moving you know, oh, my god, that's so fucking good
.
Speaker 2 (50:22):
all right, so note to sell jacqueline.
That's gonna be a quote cardand a snippet for the intro.
You gotta get out of lotus posebecause it is the universe
likes for you to make the firstmove and like, like you were
saying, surrendering is notsitting around with your
crystals going.
(50:42):
Okay, I'm going to manifest,like.
I'm going to give you a quickexample I have my retreat, I'm
on your number three and I stillhave this one client that
always every fucking years goes.
Yeah, I'm working onmanifesting that.
No, like, make, make the firstpayment and allow yourself to
get excited about that and we'llfigure out how to make the next
payment, you know what I mean,and it's not a sense of like.
(51:06):
When you know what you bring tothe table, you know that the
investment is worth it.
But sometimes people don't seethat investment in themselves
yet, because they do want thatquick, that quick action.
And something I want to circleback on, because you said it
earlier that you wouldn't bewhere you are if you didn't feel
through your feelings, meaninglike you were trying to numb
them for so long, and that'slike y'all.
(51:31):
That is.
The most important component isallowing yourself to feel it,
because it's almost like youknow, everybody wants to speed
up the process and it's like theprocess can be sped up if you
will allow yourself to yeah todo, like actually do the work.
And the work is not easy.
The work can.
It's not.
It's not that it's not simple,it's just not like it's gonna.
(51:53):
You're gonna have to feel somethings, like you were saying,
yeah, but getting out of thathabit of numbing yourself
allowed you to see all the signsand see all the things and but
you didn't sit around and justsay I'm gonna manifest it,
that's what I love, becausesomebody that is, that's what
the internet is still.
They're still saying that, bythe way flow and I try to maybe
(52:13):
I just tricked the algorithm,you dragged it.
They're still saying it though.
Uh, because it's all about thisflow thing and yeah, and I
teach that you can have flowlike, but so, and you should,
because you can with automation,with systems, but, like you
were saying, who's gonna set thesystems up?
Who's gonna right like?
And it takes trial and error,it takes testing offers, it
(52:37):
takes all these things andcollecting data in order to get
to that point where you get paidto exist.
So I just this has been so goodI don't remember what I was
going to say, but it's been sogood and I just can't help but
feel like, can I just offer onefinal response on that, real
quick.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, go for it.
Speaker 1 (52:58):
Yeah, I'll keep it short.
I know we're coming up on timehere.
But in response to what yousaid, right, like surrendering
to your feelings, recognizingthat, you know, manifestation
requires momentum, which youhave to activate, which the
universe isn't going to do shitfor you.
On my company is called Way ofthe Founder.
(53:18):
Right, not the way, way of theFounder.
I, you know, slap myboyfriend's wrist for that every
time he says the way.
But there is a point that hehas, actually, which I want to
bring up.
Right, like founders,entrepreneurs, business owners,
(53:39):
it's really easy for all of usin this day and age to look at
social media, even just type itinto chat, gpt, and come up with
a list of things that you needto be doing in order to grow
your business, which means thatyou end up following someone
else's blueprint.
You follow someone else'sthree-step process, three-step
formula, whatever people call itright.
And you know, I like to sort of, you know, liken that to how
(54:05):
you just follow, how you justput on the clothes that your mom
puts out for you the nightbefore you have to wake up in
the morning to go to school.
Right, you don't think about it, you just do it.
But does it work for you?
Is it your style Right?
Does the shoe fit work for you?
Is it your style Right?
Does the shoe fit Right?
And I really want to be a voicefor the more you surrender, in
(54:25):
an active sense, the way we'vebeen talking about, the more
you'll figure out exactly whatthe structure of your business
is supposed to look like.
The more you'll figure out whoyou want to be talking to, the
more you'll figure out what theconnection is, what the story is
that has created the businessthat you now run.
(54:46):
Right, and the more you canfigure out the story, the more,
of course, you can connect tothe clients that are meant to be
working with you.
Right, so you're beginning tosee a pattern.
Right, you have to go on thatinner journey, explore yourself
before you can lead way beyondeverything that you've been
doing so far.
Right, so you have to do ityour way, and that means trial
and error, and that means a lotof active experimentation, a lot
(55:09):
of you know.
Let's set up the funnel.
Oh, shit, like let's.
Let's set up the funnel again.
Let's hire oh, that wasn't theright team member.
Let's hire again.
Let's figure out how to dointerviews better.
Right, it's very active, butit's all from a place of.
This is my purpose.
I love myself, I can validatemy own feelings, I can validate
my own actions, and I'm doingthis because I have a big vision
(55:30):
, not because I hope that maybe,perhaps because I do this, my
dad and my mom will love me more.
You have to give yourself thatlove.
You have to give yourself thatvalidation, that approval, that
like hey, hey, dina, I care foryou.
Right, I love you and I carefor you and we're going to do
this our way and it's going tobe phenomenal.
That's all I have to say.
Speaker 2 (55:51):
It's absolutely incredible, like it just I keep
circling back to this, but itjust does not feel like this
conversation is coincidental atall because I don't know Every
everything about thisconversation, for me personally,
has been magical.
Like I'd say that when I getactivated, I get like really bad
chill bumps all over my body,goosebumps, right.
(56:13):
So when I get goosebumps allover my body, I'm like, yeah,
it's In that moment.
I'm like I know I'm exactlywhere I need to be having this
conversation, receiving thisinformation as confirmation,
like all these weird things.
Speaker 1 (56:28):
So now I'm with you.
I try to put my words when Iget activated like that.
You just heard me do that.
Speaker 2 (56:34):
It just it happens Like you're in, it's so
interesting, you're in your flowand it's almost like you just
kind of tap out, like peoplewill tell me, like when I'm
speaking or teaching man, youwere doing this, this, this, and
I'm like.
It's kind of like when I perform, because I'm a musician, I'm a
musician, a singer, songwritertoo, and I did that
professionally for years andagain I've done everything Right
(56:54):
.
So, but like you kind of, whenyou're, when you're so
passionate about something andinflow, it's almost like you, I
just connect and it's like aspiritual experience almost, um,
but I just I just have to closethis up with saying that, um,
this entire conversation, thetheme has felt like to me that
(57:18):
the whole you said it's like anactive surrender, or you said
surrender in an active sense andthat's something that I have
struggled with for a very longtime is surrendering, because we
as humans, for whatever reasonit's so funny we want to control
everything, everything right,how we're going to get the
(57:39):
outcome, everything, and so itwas really a uh, I think a like
a moment where the timeline kindof collapsed, when I was just
like I'm just gonna fail as fastas I can.
I don't fucking know what'sgonna happen.
I'm gonna figure out what I'mgood at, like.
What are people responding to?
Right, because yeah, I.
I like I thought I'd just bedoing something, but all the
(58:01):
breadcrumbs that the universe isleaving behind are leading me
down a different path and it'slike the money I thought I would
make doing this.
Actually, when I pivoted, itcame so easily.
But but had I not been okaywith like this whole fucking it
up and just being me andfiguring out like who my people
(58:22):
are, would we be here?
Speaker 1 (58:24):
probably not so I love what you just said.
That's gonna be my quote.
I'm gonna fail as fast as I canyeah, like, why not?
Speaker 2 (58:32):
and you're.
What's so funny is, after thisconversation, you're gonna hear
that probably 10 more timeswithin the next week, because
yesterday on my road trip home Iwas driving there are.
So you talking about, uh, like,being super passionate and how
you attract clients.
Pretty much inevitably, nowgetting paid to exist is because
you have tapped into your Icall it like a signature
(58:55):
energetic footprint.
Right, like we all have thissignature energetic footprint
that nobody can replicate, butwe go around trying to replicate
everybody else's footprint,trying to be like them.
Whenever you finally own it andyou master it and you're just
like weird as fuck.
Yeah, you do, you become amagnet, but like, what about all
the shit that dina had to gothrough to own that?
(59:17):
Right, and that's what peoplereally pay for at the end of the
day is you, and that's why,yeah, I believe you get paid for
.
Speaker 1 (59:24):
All of you, not the polished, you not the perfect,
not.
Speaker 2 (59:28):
Thank you for real you the real, yeah, yeah, and
the one that, oh, full bodychills again, oh my god.
So if you're not, if you're notmaking six figures in your
business yet, or you're feelinglike really fucking down right
now, um, I want to close it outwith and I'm going to let you
have the final word and sharewhere I can find you and work
with you.
But it just it's.
(59:49):
And tell me if you agree withthis.
It just it seems like, oh myGod, I just lost my thought.
Speaker 1 (59:58):
Hold on You're not making six figures yet.
Speaker 2 (01:00:02):
Thank you.
Oh, it doesn't fucking matter.
It doesn't matter that youdon't have the money to show the
screenshots.
What matters is that and thisis where things changed for me
and tell me if you agree withthis.
What matters is so, forinstance, if you're on the road,
oops, okay, we're back.
(01:00:23):
What matters is, if this iswhat I meant by you're gonna
miss the hustle, you're gonnamiss the grind.
That just equates to it, justequates to the inner journey,
meaning that you're gonna missthe discovery process of how you
got to that six figures.
Cause when you get to the moneyand that's what I realized
that's that.
And I cried.
I was like Holy fucking shit,I've never made this much.
(01:00:46):
And it wasn't sales with cash,Cause there's a difference.
Speaker 1 (01:00:49):
Right.
Speaker 2 (01:00:50):
And I sat with it and I was just like Holy fucking
shit.
And then I was like, okay,let's go do it again, because I
figured it out, but it was.
I couldn't have figured it outand I wouldn't be where I am if
I didn't lean into that journeyof failing and fucking it up.
And so it's just like, even ifyou're not there yet, what is
important is that you documentand you bring people on the
(01:01:13):
journey.
And I noticed that when Ibrought people on my journey, my
inner journey, and I was likeyou know what?
Y'all?
I suffer from mental illness.
I'm a crazy bitch, okay, but Iwant to make some money and on
my good days I'm going to makesome money.
And when I started sharing mylife and my thoughts and my
heart and what I was strugglingwith, people started to find me.
(01:01:36):
Yeah, and it sounds like andthat's what's so cool is like
your story is so different, butin a sense it's the same Like
we've all we've.
You've been through such astruggle to get to this point
and it's fucking gorgeous.
You're such a beautiful person.
This has been so good, so goodand so weird, in a sense,
(01:02:00):
because our conversation hasgiven me.
Does this happen to you youtalk with somebody and you're
like thank you universe.
I asked for confirmation, thankyou.
I didn't know how it was goingto come to me, but there it is.
Speaker 1 (01:02:11):
Oh yeah, and, by the way, to those who are like I
don't know what the fuck theseladies are talking about, slow
the fuck down, because we allhave those experiences and we
just need to learn to recognizethem and and receive that,
receive the guidance.
And this is not some woo-wooshit, right, it's just basic gut
(01:02:33):
instinct and and we've we'vebeen taught to to forget about
what our gut feeling feels like.
We have to retrain ourselvesand relearn what our intuition
sounds and feels like, and it'sjust that right.
And it really starts with youneed to slow the fuck down and
listen to what's going on aroundyou.
So, yes, my dear, I have hadthose experiences many times.
(01:02:57):
I have them regularly toregularly ask for them too.
Speaker 2 (01:03:01):
Yeah, did you say you asked for them?
Of course, yes, thank God,that's so good.
Ask for the guidance.
Yeah, we like oh, my God, I gotto, I got to quit.
We're going to have to haveanother episode at some point or
just get together and chat,because you're you really are.
You're incredible, incredible,incredible, and I want people to
be able to find you.
So, if you will tell them whereto find you, how to work with
(01:03:25):
you, if you have anything comingup, anything like that, because
this will be out in theinternet world forever and I
want them to be able to workwith you whenever it feels good
for them.
Speaker 1 (01:03:35):
Yes, absolutely so.
Way of the Founder is how youcan find me.
It's my blog, it's mynewsletter wayofthefoundercom
you can find me for like dailyupdates about my ups and downs
and all the fun things that I doin business and life at
underscore wayofthefounder onInstagram.
Quite active there.
I always have things coming outAlways, always, always.
(01:03:57):
Because even though I'mfocusing on all location
independent entrepreneurs withinthat journey, there are many
problems that need to be solved.
So the best way to stayconnected, to figure out how you
can work with me, is to followme on Instagram, get on my
newsletter.
I do have a free masterclass forthose who are ready to you know
(01:04:17):
, ready to go for it and readyto build a business that's based
on authenticity and freedom.
I have a free masterclass.
It's on my website,wayofthefoundercom forward slash
masterclass.
So lots of ways to get into myuniverse, lots of ways to work
with me, and if you have anyquestions, you know DMs are
always open.
(01:04:37):
Inbox is always not overfilled,so you should be able to reach
me there as well, and I do lovehearing from everybody who
reaches out.
So that's that's a very warmwelcome to do that.
Speaker 2 (01:04:52):
Well, thank you again .
So much, dana, I value ourconversation.
Speaker 1 (01:04:56):
This has been really, really beautiful.
I really appreciate you and theconversation it's yeah, it's
been special.
Thank you, my dear.
Speaker 2 (01:05:03):
Yeah, thank you so much, and I'm having a moment
where I'm remembering how we gotconnected and I want to say we
probably got connected through anewsletter.
Yeah, I think it was.
I think that's how you found me, was it like through a
newsletter?
I don't know, I just getconnected to people, okay, well
what was funny was I think youmessaged me on Instagram and you
(01:05:26):
said something frequency or noyou said freedom.
That's what it was.
You said freedom and whathappened was is it many child
went crazy.
That went crazy.
I was like you want to sign upfor the freedom frequency?
Okay, what is so funny?
Like, let's sit here with thisfor a second.
(01:05:46):
The freedom frequency was forwomen who wanted to learn to get
paid to exist, and here we aretalking about that.
Like it's just so funny thatyou're that.
It's just weird.
It's I love it.
I love it.
I love it yeah it's really funnyyeah, I I.
Speaker 1 (01:06:06):
I had a good laugh when many chat started
responding to my word freedom.
I was like that is definitely aconversation meant to be right
and I finally wrote you back.
Speaker 2 (01:06:17):
You were like I'm following up on this.
I didn't want to book a callwith you, or you know I was.
I went back and I read and Iwas like I don't remember this
woman and it made all the chatbox conversation well anyway,
systems and automations workthey work.
Yeah and it oh.
(01:06:38):
It was a lesson for me.
That day too, I had to go backand change some things so that
it recognizes not just that wordbut like just that word as a
single message yeah, so it was alearning experience.
See guys, fuck it up.
It's okay, it's okay exactlyall right, dina, have a
beautiful.
Is it at night time there?
Well, good night then.
(01:07:00):
I was going to say, have abeautiful day on purpose.
Speaker 1 (01:07:02):
Have a beautiful rest of your day.
Speaker 2 (01:07:05):
Thank you.
Yeah, I'm just getting started,but sleep well and I'll talk to
you soon.
Thank you again.
So much.
Talk to you soon.
Speaker 1 (01:07:10):
Thank you, take care, bye-bye.
Speaker 2 (01:07:11):
You too.
Bye, and that's a wrap.
If please, be sure to just takea moment to screenshot this
episode and tag JacquelineCotton and Just Women Talking
Shit in your stories.
It's been so wonderful shootingthe shit with you today.
Don't forget to leave a reviewon Spotify and Apple Podcasts
Until next time.
It's been real, it's been fun,it's been real fun and I'll see
(01:07:34):
you later.
Now I'm going to put a pin in that, because there is
the external journey, whichlooks amazing, and then there is
the internal journey, which istumultuous, right so, externally
, one day I walk into the office, our board chair sits me down
and goes Dina, we think you'reamazing, you're phenomenal,
you're such a great asset to thecompany.
We're going to give you apromotion.
(00:21):
We'll pay for your attorney,we'll get you a visa sponsored.
And oh, also to give you apromotion, we'll pay for your
attorney, we'll get you a visasponsored.
And oh, also, here's a race.
The next morning I booked myflight to vietnam.
One way, this is a tripdifferent from the from the trip
I'm currently on and I handedin my resignation.
That's five years ago.
I had a little bit of savings.
I had full.
Like you can't see it, but Ihave full body chilled yeah, and
(00:44):
honestly bold, so bold, even me, and you know, that's the funny
thing, like people either saidyou're bold or they said you're
crazy.
There was no in between, and Ididn't feel either one of these
things.
I just felt as though that wasthe only sane thing I could do.
Ladies and gentlemen, ladiesand gentlemen, you're listening
(01:10):
to Just Women Talking Shit withyour host, jacqueline Cotton.
Hello Hi.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Hello gorgeous.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
How are you?
I'm doing well.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
How are you?
Speaker 1 (01:32):
I'm doing great.
Where in the world are you?
Speaker 2 (01:35):
I'm in Mississippi.
What about you?
Speaker 1 (01:37):
I'm in Vietnam right now.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Sorry, in the United States, in Mississippi, I forgot
we have a world traveler here.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Okay, Well, that is very thoughtful of you.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
So we're on the opposite end of the world.
You said did I hear you sayVietnam?
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Yeah, you did.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Oh, how fucking cool.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
What are you doing there?
I'm just living, you know,workinglooking lady, buddha and
the sea.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Oh, oh, my gosh.
Okay, first off, gotta admit Ijust rolled out of bed.
Don't know if you can tell, butthat's happening I was on the
road I was on the road allyesterday, um, but I did not
want to cancel this, so it'slike we're gonna fucking show up
in pajamas, okay.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
I love it.
I'm all for it.
I'm wearing pjs.
Good, oh, you tricked me withthe top oh, I'm like, oh, zoom
up top, and then it's like allcasual down below oh my god,
that's like become my lifestyle.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
I'm like okay, I'm on camera, we look good up top.
We're real comfy down bottomthough exactly that's just that.
That's a new professionaloutfit, right um, and I don't
know how to pronounce your firstname, even though it's really
simple, I'm sure oh, it's justdina, like tina, except dina.
Okay, I just I wanted to makesure um I appreciate and it's
(03:04):
jacqueline right, yes I.
I should have fucked with you inthe wake.
Uh, jacqueline, have you everwatched key and bill?
I have not.
All right, when we hop off.
When we hop off, just look atthis video, just this one.
You got it.
It's the, it's the classroomsubstitute skit, and this shit
(03:25):
used to happen to me in class,like in high school.
People would not know how tosay Jacqueline it was.
They'd be like call me for 10minutes, jacqueline.
I'm like, well, I'm not goingto fucking raise my hand because
it's not my name.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
That's funny.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Oh God, okay, Anyway, all right, back to you, dana.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
All right.
Well, most people have problemswith my last name because it's
very German and you pronounce itvery German.
So people are like oh, is itWienick, Is it?
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Yeah, I was just going to leave.
Yeah, I didn't even want tomess with it.
I was going to really mess thatup.
Don't worry about it, I wasjust going to leave.
Yeah, I didn't even want tomess with it.
I was like I'm going to reallymess that one up, don't worry
about it.
How cool German.
Okay, all right, so I have to.
I have to say I was lookingover all my show notes this
morning, like really early, likeone o'clock in the morning, and
(04:21):
I was reading everything to getto know you a little bit better
, and I'm going to say I'mpretty fascinated.
I didn't really know everythingI was reading, but what I took
away from it was that you travela lot and you work for yourself
, and the way I like to describewhat you're doing is something
that I.
It's a movement that I'mpersonally building within my
(04:43):
brand, and it really appears tome that you get paid to exist,
and so I would love I would loveto hear more about what it is
you do, maybe a little bit abouthow you got to like where you
are right now.
You said you're in Vietnam, andit looks like you go all over
the place and just introduceyourself to my audience.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
And we'll just start there.
Absolutely, yeah, wow, you justkind of stunned me with your
description of me, so I need aminute to digest.
I have lots to say about thatperspective on my lifestyle that
I think is really important tohear, really important for your
audience to hear.
So I'll start with the easiestquestion why am I in Vietnam?
(05:28):
What am I up to here?
For three years now, I've beentraveling perpetually as what
the internet will tell you is adigital nomad.
Right, professionally, I preferthe term location independent
entrepreneur and we can get intowhy that is and how that's
different and how that actuallydictates what you do in your
(05:49):
business and in your life alittle bit later on.
But you know, me and my partner, we just always look for the
sun, water, a beach, hikingopportunities, genuine, honest
spirituality and, of course, acommunity.
And for the last few yearswe've just really you know in a
(06:11):
good sense gotten stuck in Asia,especially in Southeast Asia.
We actually met in Bali, so wehave a very special connection
to Southeast Asia as a whole,connection to Southeast Asia as
a whole.
And, yeah, vietnam, there wasjust lots of things that are
really really beautiful andreally convenient and accessible
for us both as online businessowners as well, as you know, as
(06:38):
long-term tourists and, honestly, I forget the other question.
So let's just keep the ballrolling and forgive me if you
need to ask me again.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
No, so this show is like so off.
It's so interesting when peoplebook their interviews with me.
Some people email me like, okay, is there anything I need to do
to prep?
And I'm like, no, just show up.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Oh no, I love to do your interviews, yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
We're going to shoot the shit.
I gel with that.
So, and I love that you're justlike.
I forgot the other question.
If you want to tell, if youwant to ask me again, go for it,
because that's just realistic,like, especially when you get in
your zone and you're talkingabout something.
It's so.
It happens to me all the time.
You'll see me look off a lotand I'm just like trying to keep
(07:26):
up with my thoughts because youget so passionate, you know,
and you just kind of lose trackof what you're, of what you were
trying to say or what they said, and so I resonate with that
tremendously, but I would saythat you're so passionate that
it's hard to stay Okay.
But yeah, I was asking firstoff.
So what is your?
If you don't mind me askingwhat does your partner do?
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Yeah, absolutely.
He's also a coach he works with, with people who are looking to
get out of the corporate nineto five.
And uh, he's also a tutor.
He's an amazing tutor forEnglish.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
I love it.
I love it so much.
That's beautiful.
Okay, so what was my question?
I don't remember the rest ofthe question, but I'm just
really curious.
Like, yeah, you're, you'redoing the digital.
I love how you said theinternet will tell you and I
love that you have your othernames for it.
What was it?
Location independententrepreneur.
(08:18):
Okay, we're going to give youcredit for that, but I'm
definitely going to say that atsome point, uh, but like how
there's always a story how wegot here right.
Oh boy, where to start?
Yeah, I'm sitting here with ablanket, I'm a chronic illness
baby and I struggle with mymental health and see PTSD, and
(08:39):
I just, at a very young age,realized very quickly that my
problems were a lot differentthan other people's problems at
my age, and so I tried to fitmyself into this corporate box,
you know, and I try to do allthe things, but in 2019,
especially like I was on theverge oh, we're slipping, we.
I was on the verge of um, Imean, I was just, I couldn't.
(09:02):
I went out to work all the time,I was depressed, I was drinking
a lot, like just to try to benormal and like push through the
grind and go to a job that Ifucking hated.
And I don't mean to say I don't, I don't hate people, but at
the time I despised the people Iworked with, despised the
(09:29):
people I worked with.
And we are trying to be realinnovative this morning on the
phone and it's slipping, sowe're gonna unplug it.
Okay, when I say we areauthentic, as fuck, we do not
care around here, we get shitdone, but I was just so, I was
in that place.
It was like my true line in thesame moment for me.
I me, I got fired a week beforeThanksgiving, which just pissed
me off, and I was like okaynever going back, you know.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Fine, I'm going to get out of the way.
You came back on yourentrepreneurial anniversary then
, yeah, oh God, oh,congratulations 2019.
Oh my God, holy shit, yeah,five years Right.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Oh, my God Dina.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Sorry, I just didn't even realize.
Yeah, my whole story is theweek before Thanksgiving.
I got fired.
And how did I not?
Okay, you just okay, I'm goingto sit here with this while you
tell me how you got to whereyou're at, because I, you kind
of just blew my mind.
How cool is that?
This is all coming full circle.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Like here I am telling the story and then
you're like oh yeah, by the way,congrats yeah, I mean, it's
just so it goes to say you know,so often we're in our own
little zone, right, and it'slike the Milky Way.
We're swimming right inside theMilky Way.
We have no idea what thisgalaxy looks like, but we know
what other galaxies look like,what other galaxies wow, I can't
(10:51):
talk anymore look like becausewe have a different perspective
on it, right?
That's the whole point.
I'm sure you know this andyou've thought about this a
hundred times over with yourclients.
That's the whole point ofcoaching and being able to
mentor someone, right.
We look from the outside in andsometimes what's so glaringly
(11:11):
obvious for us as a mentor, as acoach, you know it's just
become normal everyday life andyou no longer think about the
profundity of it.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Yeah, no, you're absolutely right.
So so for me now, my, your storyis probably going to be
different than mine, but also alittle similar.
I find that, as entrepreneurshave, like, our stories are so
vast, so different as to why wereally push through and wanted
to work for ourselves and breakthe, I guess, disrupt what was
(11:38):
expected of us, like the norm,right, but when I was in the
thick of it just rememberthinking I was never gonna get
out of it, you know, but at thesame, like, and you have those
days where you're like the wholereason that I'm pushing through
is because I'm fucking tired ofthis.
But then you still have thisday you're like and is it gonna
work out?
Am I gonna make it?
Should I go back?
(11:59):
And should I go back and get anine to five or a 10 to 10 or a
just I don't see daylight joblike this is what it feels like.
It feels like you just go andclock in and I just it wasn't
for me, you know, and so.
But I want to hear your story,like how the fuck did you get?
Speaker 1 (12:18):
to where you're at absolutely, and I'm gonna blow
your mind just on the timelineof all of it 2019 was my big
breaking point as well.
Shut up.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Yeah, sorry, okay, you can go.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
I'm just going to sit here, so I'm painting the
picture right.
10 years prior, to, so 2009,.
Somewhere around there, I haddecided I would live and work
and love in Los Angeles one day.
Well, fast forward to 2019, Iwas doing exactly that.
I was in a relationship,driving a cute car, having the
perfect job in my dream city,and I felt like shit.
(12:56):
It just felt like an utternightmare and I was like where
is it?
Where is the dream?
Where is the dream Right?
And I want to highlight a fewthings here for those who are
listening who are like oh mygosh, that's me right now.
How the F?
Did you get out of that?
The first thing that I think youand I both did that's really
(13:16):
important to do, and it seems sosimple, is you have to
acknowledge that you're nothappy, and that takes guts,
right, because you're supposedto be happy.
You live in this beautiful city, right, people come and visit
you and you show them around andyou go to concerts at disney
concert hall and you wake up andyou dread the commutes to work
(13:37):
and you dread having to walkinto the office and you don't
like your boss and you don'tagree with the leadership.
And then me being European, youknow, I come from a culture
where we have like a month pluspaid vacation every year.
And then I settled into worklife in America and they were
like, oh, here is your 12 daysof vacation a year and you only
(14:01):
get to accrue one day per month.
I was like that makes no sense,like I just refused to
logically understand what washappening.
It made no sense.
The environment I was in theleadership, I was in the
contract I had signed.
I was like that's not it, thatcan't be my life.
And lo and behold, I lookedaround and I looked at my boss's
(14:23):
lives, the conversations theywere having with the board, the
salaries they were getting.
And I worked in nonprofit.
I worked for orchestramanagement, specifically in
community engagement andfundraising.
So I had a lot of again, a lotof experience communicating with
people, building communities,you know, like building an
(14:45):
audience, develop well,developing an audience and then,
of course, also building forour founders a pipeline right In
online business.
We call it a client journey,right.
So I gained a lot of reallyamazing and transferable skills.
I just didn't know I was goingto be applying them in a field
entirely different from the arts, right.
(15:07):
But there came a day when I hadjust about filled maybe two or
three journals about how I wantto live, how I want to travel
more, how I don't want to waituntil the end of my days, until
I'm 60, 65 and retired to travel.
I was like that none of thismakes sense.
There has to be another way togo through life.
(15:28):
People say I'm successful, butI do not feel successful.
What if I actually trusted myheart and my gut?
Now I'm going to put a pin inthat, because there is the
external journey, which looksamazing, and then there is the
internal journey, which istumultuous, right.
So, externally, one day I walkinto the office, our board chair
(15:51):
sits me down and goes Dina, wethink you're amazing, you're
phenomenal.
You're such a great asset tothe company, we're going to give
you a promotion.
We'll pay for your attorney,we'll get you a visa sponsored.
Will get you a visa sponsoredand oh, also, here's a raise.
(16:11):
The next morning I booked myflight to Vietnam.
One way, this is a tripdifferent from the trip I'm
currently on, and I handed in myresignation.
That's five years ago.
I had a little bit of savings.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
I have full.
Like you can't see it, but Ihave full body chilled.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Yeah, and honestly, bold, so bold.
And you know, that's the funnything, like people either said
you're bold or they said you'recrazy.
There was no in between and Ididn't feel either one of these
things.
I just felt as though that wasthe only sane thing I could do.
(16:49):
You know what I mean it?
Just like it came out of methat like no, I'm going to hand
on my resignation, I'm going totravel.
Logically, it made no sense.
My mom was really upset becauseyou know, like a lot of money
has gone into my education,right?
And then she wanted me tosucceed and she didn't
(17:11):
understand that I was beginningto have a different idea of what
success could mean and looklike for me than the traditional
success path.
Right, go to college, get a job, retire.
I was like no, when I livebefore retirement, how do I do
that?
Right?
So I traveled and I backpacked.
I had some savings and I hadthis crazy idea like, oh yeah,
(17:34):
wait a minute.
I went to college forentrepreneurship.
I've been supporting musicianswith turning their
entrepreneurial ideas intoviable businesses, either for
profit or non-profit, for years.
Now I'm going to set up my ownbusiness and my business plan is
I help people.
(17:54):
Quite elaborate, right.
So the long story short on theexternal journey is you know I
started freelancing a lot.
I love how you're cracking up.
Journey is, you know I startedfreelancing a lot, I love how
you're cracking up.
It was funny Like I was just sofresh out of shits to give it
(18:14):
that moment.
Right, like for years, forthree decades, I'd been doing
exactly what either I was toldto do, what would make me look
really good on paper, or what Iknew would get me validation and
approval from either my mom ormy dad.
I was just sick of it.
I was tired of it, right.
So a business plan that said Ihelp people, that seemed
perfectly fine for me, right?
Type A person turned completelyrogue.
(18:35):
That just made perfect sensefor me at the time.
And the long story short is Ibegan to freelance a lot.
There were a lot of odd jobs inlike Strasbourg, france and in
the north of Germany that I didrunning workshops and orchestras
and all kinds of conferencesbefore I started training as a
professional coach with a focuson spiritual psychology.
(18:59):
And well, I thought it would bereally easy.
And this is what I really wantto take the audience away.
Is you know like I'm laughingthrough this story, right, like,
oh, all I did was change mydefinition of success.
And now here I am, six-figurebusiness owner and I can work
from anywhere.
Well, but I just said two reallyimportant terms, and those are,
(19:23):
you know, a need for validationand approval, and those years
2019.
Until you know, maybe a year orso ago, I needed to really dive
deep into my relationship withmyself and look at, well, who am
I, what are the situations,what are the relationships, the
situations that have made me whoI am today, the situations that
(19:46):
have made me who I am today?
And are all of the narrativesthat I'm telling myself and
others about myself really andtruly empowering or are they
harboring resentment?
Are they harboring a lack offorgiveness, grudges,
disempowering stories?
Right?
So, you know, while a whole bigchapter of resume success ended
in 2019, a huge chapter of youknow what I now call, in my
(20:11):
business way of the founder, theinner journey, the inner
exploration commenced.
And you know, the business pieceis easy Figuring out how to
market and how to sell yourservices, how to put your
products together.
That's easy compared tofiguring out who you are and
then learning to differentiatebetween.
(20:31):
Are you building a businessfrom fear and from a need for
validation, or are you buildinga business from love and from a
sense of purpose?
I've both, I like.
I like this.
The second option better, butit's harder to get to.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
I'll say that oh shit , a lot, a lot of stuff on me
trying to wrap my brain aroundit.
Um, because there are somereally interesting similarities
and you being spiritual and mebeing spiritual, we both know
that's not a coincidence, likewe're all connected, right.
And so I find when I hop onpodcasts, there's typically a
(21:13):
reason that the guest wasbrought to me, they felt led to
book with me, right.
And I'm at a.
I'm at a cycle or a season ofmy life right now, as you just
made me realize, I just fiveyears.
I literally just went through myanniversary of being a, I guess
, a full-time entrepreneur forabout five years Now I have had
(21:36):
like um, let's say, for instance, in May this year, I so about
almost three of those years Ihad like a job where I was.
It was like a more contract job, but I was still getting paid
hourly.
So I told myself.
I tricked my brain.
I was like we're not workingfor the man, you're still in
control of your time.
But what did I do?
I'd let myself get back in thatum prison of trading time for
(21:59):
money, right, and I took a jobthat was going to require me to
show up more.
I was going to get likeconsistent pay, but I was still
going to be capped.
And so what's so interesting isI decided in May of this year I
was like no, no, like I'm goingto even admit to people that I
think I've fallen into a jobagain.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
What the?
Speaker 2 (22:22):
fuck do I do to a job again?
What the fuck do I do like?
And I just realized that I hadbeen, in a sense, as you said,
building from fear, not fromlove, and I noticed myself
slipping and my mental healthwas getting really bad and I
like just broke down to myhusband one day.
So I think it was, um, I don'tknow, it was like two, maybe
(22:43):
three months before that and andwe like had a discussion prior
to that saying that if, if Iwasn't happy and we could make
it financially make sense, that,uh, I was going to get to quit
by that summer.
It was not happening, it was notfinancially making sense, um,
but I was really struggling,like I was really struggling,
like I was fucking struggling180 pounds, I'm 5'1" and I just
(23:10):
I was able to identify like I'mjust not happy, and it was
really hard to come out and tellmy husband like I'm not happy,
I'm literally thinking, like Icontemplate, not wanting to
exist, I'm scared that I'm haveto like check myself into a
mental hospital soon so that oneI could feel like you know, I'm
not making life at homemiserable, because I could be
passive, aggressive when I'm nothappy.
(23:30):
And it was like just this whole.
I was going through a lot ofshit that I'd already
experienced before 2019 and itwas almost like the universe.
Now it is the universe, it wasgod and source, and my whole
whatever galactic team behind meprepared me for the success
(23:51):
that I just experienced lastweek.
So, dana, when I say that youtelling me like five years, that
kind of just yeah, because Ididn't I've been in my own
bubble working so hard at this,failing miserably.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Tearing myself apart to like breaking myself apart to
rebuild Right.
Um, I've had two retreatsthroughout this like, and I'm on
my third retreat this upcomingyear.
Anyway, it's been such anevolution Like.
I pivoted, I've done so manywild things.
I'm like my husband I can tellthe other day, whenever I
finally was able to show himthat I made eight thousand
(24:26):
dollars cash, he was yeah, hewas finally just.
I could see that he was like,oh, thank god she wasn't fucking
around.
She's been saying this for aminute, but like, oh, it's
finally starting to pay off.
Like me, being patient andsupportive is starting to pay
off.
And you've just said somethings that have made me realize
that literally everything I'veexperienced, every job that I
(24:52):
fucking hated the bosses, that Ihated the conversations I would
listen to, that I was just likeI could fucking do that why, am
I getting paid this?
why am I building and liningtheir pockets when I'm the
fucking genius?
That's how I always felt atevery job.
Yeah, and it's just like anyway.
So I've for the five years I'vehad some moments where I've
(25:17):
done really well, but I wasalways going it's just all right
up and it was like, but moredown here, and then everyone in
the while up here, so like Ifelt like you know, people know
me for my authenticity and foralways keeping it real and for
just being who I like.
(25:38):
I want to get paid, to existright, and so I've.
I really want people to.
I guess take away from what I'mabout to say is that it all
comes full circle.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
I just realized yeah how full circle it comes,
because you were saying, likeyou know, I was doing all these
things in my profession, neverthought it would be something
that I'm using in my coachingbusiness, so like, yeah, and,
and you know, my first clients,every single one, my first
clients I had met years prior towhen I launched my business
(26:12):
officially at conferences, atjobs, at internships, even in
class back in college, right,and so there's, there's sort of
two things that I want toreflect back to you on this.
Right One is faith.
Right One is faith and one issurrender, and surrender
oftentimes gets misconstrued, asyou know passiveness, like you
(26:36):
just sit and you wait for thingsto happen.
No, you have to surrender towhat's present.
Right, you have to surrender tothe feelings that come up and
actually allow yourself to feelthose feelings so that the
information inside thosefeelings can come forth.
Well, that's really fuckingactive Hold on hold on.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
I'm like hands are standing up on my arms because
there's information inside thosefeelings and I've never heard
somebody say that and it just isone of those things that like
I'm going to take with me to thegrave, because I say that your
feelings are feedback, but likewe hide from them.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
Well, we do because we're scared what the feelings
will pun intended make us feellike, right, it's like, oh, what
if this?
And you know I say this from Isay this with a lot of
compassion to my, you know, 18,19 year old self.
Right, I walked through lifeentirely numbed out.
Why?
(27:39):
Because I didn't want to thinkabout, you know, certain aspects
of my past I didn't want tothink about.
You know, certain aspects of mypast I didn't want to think
about.
You know, the time when mygrandma passed, when I was six
years old, the time when I hadto, you know, hire an attorney
and face my dad in court at 12years old and again at 17 years
old.
Right, and to think fastforward that years later now I
(28:03):
have a beautiful relationshipwith my dad, right, that didn't
happen because I stayed numb.
That forgiveness, thatreconciling a relationship that
was frankly in shambles for manyyears, didn't happen because I
pushed away the emotions.
Right, eventually it just mademore sense to let them back in.
(28:24):
Right, and you're right, Iagree with that.
Feelings do have that.
They come with feedback, theyalso come with guidance and I
always say, you know, theanticipation of feeling, the
feeling is much harder thanactually feeling the feeling
right.
And you know, I have my privateclients go through like
(28:48):
journaling exercises, throughdrawing exercises, to get into a
relationship with theiremotions, right, sometimes we're
so numb we can't even name thefeeling that we experience right
.
And oftentimes you hear thatwhen people say things like I
feel like I've been done wrong,I feel like I was right in that
(29:11):
situation, those aren't feelings, those are thoughts, right,
those are narratives that you'retelling.
Those aren't.
Typically when you say I feelwhat comes after, that is not a
feeling right.
But I am angry, that's afeeling.
I feel hurt, that's a feeling.
I'm in pain.
(29:31):
That's a feeling.
I feel disappointed.
That's a feeling right, if wecan let that in.
And you know, again, I callthis the inner journey because
oftentimes, especially thesedays, I won't name the event but
(29:52):
post something that happenedearlier in November in the
United States.
A lot of companies have come outwith things like oh, travel,
travel to escape.
Here's a four-year-long cruiseto escape, the next four years
in the United States.
A lot of colleagues who alsosupport digital nomads and
location-independententrepreneurs have promoted
(30:14):
their courses under the sloganof now is the time to become a
nomad.
Wait a minute.
I do agree with the fact thatnow is the time to become an
entrepreneur, but not to escapewhat's going on in the world,
but to face it.
To face it and to affect change, to turn the little community
(30:36):
that we all have asentrepreneurs even, as you know,
employees the community helpturn the community away from
hate and back towards love.
Employees the community helpturn the community away from
hate and back towards love.
Help introduce forgivenesswhere there was resentment.
But in order to be able to leadthat way, we have to do the
inner work right.
So back to your point earlierabout um, you feel as though I
(30:59):
get paid to exist.
I sign the most aligned, themost beautiful, the most
fantastic, the most lovableclients when I show up exactly
as who I am, without trying toimpress anybody.
But the kicker is, I spent twoand a half decades showing up
(31:24):
hoping to impress people.
You see the conundrum right.
You see the healing that had tohappen in order to get to that
point, right?
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Yes, yes, yes, dana, Holy fuck.
And that's kind of where I washeaded Like.
None of the jobs, none of theexperiences.
And I'm going to walk youthrough my resume real quick,
okay, and you're gonna be likewow, bitch.
I got whiplash Okay, I wasalways so.
I think it started whenever Iwas a little girl and I remember
(31:59):
being in the fourth grade andwe went to like a summer program
and there were these two boys.
I liked one of the boys Hisname was Andrew and his brother
was a dick and there was thislike we were doing this whole
exercise of what we wanted to bewhen we grow up and I wrote
Andrew psychiatrist and I'llnever forget that.
(32:21):
The kid made fun of me and soit instilled shame and so ever
since then I have not known whatI want to be when I grow up,
Right?
So I wanted to be a therapist.
I didn't know what apsychiatrist was, Right.
I didn't know the like, thedifference in credentials and
schooling and all that I justknow.
I wanted to help people.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
Right.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
I wanted to be a pediatrician for a while.
I got to high school and toldmy now again, I come from a
family that love drugs, teenpregnancy, people die very young
, and so I wanted, I didn't wantto be another statistic, so,
but I didn't know anything.
Because of that, I, like I, was, I think, maybe the first to
(33:00):
graduate high school.
Like I was, I'm breaking a lotof generational curses, Right.
And so I remember thinking Ireally want to go and help
people.
You know, I didn't knowanything about the college
application process or that Ishould have been taking tests
and applying like junior year,and but I went to my what are
(33:20):
they called?
Guidance counselors supposed toguide us?
Right.
And again I was shame, shame,shame, shame, because I wanted
to go and help people in science, but I didn't know about I
should have been prepping forthis.
So, anyway, I'd won a poetrycontest, put myself out there,
won the poetry contest, andwhenever I told my guidance
counselor that I wanted to go toschool to be, you know, like a
(33:43):
pediatrician, he was just like,yeah, but aren't you that girl
that won the poetry contest?
So I just kept finding myselfin this.
What the fuck am I supposed todo Right?
So even as a teenager, like Iremember, my first business was
I was eight years old and Ibought my mom a pair of earrings
(34:04):
.
I started like a littleKool-Aid stand People call them
lemonade stands but and it'sbeen this journey, and then by
12, yeah, by 12, I wasbabysitting.
I had like a babysittingbusiness and I was cleaning
houses and I was always findingways to make my own money, right
(34:25):
, anywho.
So I've had all these jobsright, I've worked in.
There was a time whenever Iworked, um, in a like I went for
a day or two to work in afactory and it was pretty much
like a fucking sweatshop.
I have been a webcam model.
I have, uh, I guess it's sexwork really.
Um, uh, I have.
I've done everything fromfucking clean toilets to wipe
(34:46):
buttholes, to change diapers, to.
I've built shelves indepartment stores.
I have, oh my God, I don't evenfucking know what all I've done
.
I've done some wild shit.
I've done some wild shit formoney to try to figure out, but
I landed in corporate America.
You know, I've done all thetraditional like all the stuff
that I think a lot of us do,like wait tables and right,
(35:08):
trying to figure out what thefuck we're supposed to do.
And in all of it I realized thatI was marketing myself and it
was yeah, whenever my daughter.
So I became a mom at 23, 24 andI was introduced to and they
got me.
It was like that.
It was when MLMs and networkmarketing companies were
(35:29):
becoming like the thing, yep,and they were disguising it.
You know, they were likedisguising it, like, oh, we'll
help you build your team, and Iwas like, okay, yeah, my mom,
who needs money, and anyway.
So so I got into the MLM world,started learning a little bit
about marketing and I realizedvery quickly that everybody
(35:49):
needs it.
Everybody needs it, everybusiness needs it.
We're all marketing ourselveson a daily basis and anyway.
So between then and the next fewyears, I became homeless with
my daughter and I decided that Iwas just going to figure out a
fucking way.
I didn't know what was going tohappen, but the next several
(36:11):
years were me in and out of MLMs, me in and out of jobs that I
hated, me becoming a sugar babyto try to support my daughter,
me putting myself in situationsthat I was just trying to get
paid to exist, right, and Istill didn't know what I wanted
to be when I grew up.
So I've sold cars, I've I'vedone the wildest things and I
(36:31):
realized the other day, once Istarted operating out of fear
and I was like I finally ownedmy shit, because it literally
Dina just a few weeks ago,wonder what I was.
A spiritual life coach, okay,but, but.
But everybody keeps coming to mefor business because they're
like you're just so amazing andyou market yourself in a way
that is just so authentic and Ifucking love you from the moment
I see you.
(36:52):
So how can you teach me how todo that?
And it all came full circle asI'm sitting there helping people
get approved for financing towork with me.
Oh, I learned this in the carfield.
No way, look at you.
Financing, oh, customer serviceoh, I learned that when I sold,
uh, hats for hat country inPennsylvania in a lady's
(37:14):
basement.
Oh, nurturing well, I did spendabout 10 years in childcare,
know how to nurture people, andso what I'm saying is you're
talking about people.
Think that there's thisovernight success with people
like us On paper.
Yeah, for me too in Mississippi, where we don't get paid a lot,
(37:36):
where the obesity rate and likejust people laugh at our state.
I'll be real, okay, and inMississippi we got to fucking
get it together y'all, but it'sa big deal for a little woman
like me with social anxiety,mental illness.
I'm like the disruptor, youknow, like I don't fit the mold.
(37:57):
I don't go to church.
I'm not a carbon copy.
People either love me or theyhate me, and I know a lot of
people talk about me, especiallyhaving a podcast that literally
calls us out and like the Imean it's called just women
talking shit.
That in itself pisses peopleoff, right, but it's so
beautiful hearing you tell yourstory, because that's the part
that everybody wants to rush.
(38:18):
And I'm like you're literallyin.
You're in the years right nowwhere you really need to be just
letting it happen, being okaywith failing, figuring out what
it is.
I'm supposed to learn from this,because when I sat there and I
fucking cried my eyes out, dina,and I know it's not even a lot
of money I know I'm about tomake a lot more right, a lot
(38:41):
more, but getting to the pointof figuring out how to do it
that, because once the money hitthe account, nothing changed,
nothing, fucking changed.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
The same person.
You still have the same values.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
But it was the journey getting there.
So can we speak a little bitmore on that?
Because I tell people, giveyourself fucking grace, you
gonna miss these years, you'regonna miss the grind, you're
gonna miss the hustle, because Ithat's when you meet people
like you, that's when you that'swhen you're really evolving and
figuring out.
And then, like you said, thebusiness part's easy once you
(39:18):
own who the fuck you are andyou're like oh, I've arrived,
I've been here the whole time,I'm just owning it.
You become a magnet for thebusiness.
It just yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
So you do.
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
I just want to say I'm really inspired by your
resilience thank you, babe,thank you and and I know you
mean that, uh, you're gonna makeme emotional, because I just,
again, we, we both know thisconversation is not a
coincidence, right, and it just,and so you were placed in my
(39:51):
life, even if it's just to saysomething like that, and it just
, those little things keep megoing and so, oh man, thank Just
, thank you and whatever elseyou're about to say, I'm just
going to sit here and be quiet.
Speaker 1 (40:03):
Yeah, no, it really comes from the bottom of my
heart and I believe that, youknow, in life we all put through
our own version of trauma,right?
And no one's trauma is lessimportant than another person's
trauma, right, because it's just, it's significant to the
person's personality and lifeall the same, right?
(40:26):
And I kind of hate when peoplesit and compare their traumas
and like, oh yeah, but you'vehad it so much.
But anyway, that's a segue.
I'm not going to go down, notin this particular conversation,
but, let it be known, it's nota very productive conversation
to be had, in my humble opinion.
Now I'm going to push back onone thing that you said, which
(40:48):
is that you're going to miss theyears of hustle and grind.
I don't think I'm going to missthem.
However, I'm okay with thatpushback, for sure so here's a
distinction I will make is thatthose who somehow have managed
(41:08):
to escape the years of hustleand grind, those are going to be
the people who'll miss it,because there are some really
significant life lessons that welearned.
They're like hustle and grindand sadly, some people never get
out of it right.
Just the other day, my dadcalled me, and when I first
(41:35):
moved to Bali, this was yearsago, this is like three years
ago I moved to Bali.
I call my dad.
I'm like no, I'm not going toMexico, I'm going to Bali.
Had a dream about Bali, justbooked my flight and he goes.
Oh, actually, my deputy travelsto Bali every single year doing
summer vacation.
I can put you guys in touch.
So great, fantastic.
I met my dad's deputy in Baliand he was telling me how, when
(41:56):
he retires once he retires fiveyears from now he would be
selling everything in Germanyand moving to Bali to buy a
house there and just live outretirement in Bali.
Just a few weeks ago, my dadcalled me with really, really
sad news that this very personhas leukemia, can't travel
(42:20):
anymore, needs the medical carethat's available for him in
Germany.
Dream gone, it's gone.
It's always going to be a dreamfor him.
And I'm tearing up just talkingabout it because I'm so sad for
him.
Right, I'm so sad for him and alot of us, you and I we've
(42:44):
gotten out of that.
Oh, like, once I retire, thenI'll be able to.
Right, I have to hustle andgrind until I have enough money.
Right, you and I at some pointwoke up to that being a lie, at
the very least, to that being nolonger the default truth.
Not in the societies that youand I grew up in, respectively.
(43:04):
Right, in my mom's society, whogrew up in the former East
Germany, yeah, entrepreneurshipprobably not a good idea in that
country back then.
Right In today's Germany, well,the state still doesn't support
(43:34):
innovation Again, a differentconversation but it's legally
allowed and thus encouraged.
And thus, moment, becausethat's where all of the signs
are at, that's where all of theguidance is, that's where all of
the feedback is right.
And so often and I offer thisreframe in my coaching practice
when we grind, we do so that wecan have, so that we can be, we
(43:57):
do the work so we can haveenough money, so that we can be
generous.
Well, in order to get out ofthe grind or to stay in the
grind and make good use of it.
Right, we have to flip it andwe have to look at how.
Can I be a generous persontoday?
Can I donate a dollar?
Yes.
(44:18):
Can I spend an extra 30 minuteswithout charging for it?
Yes.
Can I hold the door open?
Yes.
Great, fantastic.
I can be a generous personwithout doing anything else,
without having anything moreFrom that place.
Now, however, I'm going to beginto have more things, more of
(44:41):
the things that are more alignedwith me, because I'm sending a
different energy out into theuniverse.
I'm saying to life hey, I'mready for change, I'm ready to
expand, I'm ready to grow intowho I'm meant to be.
Show me the way.
I'm not sitting around waitingfor it.
I'm not hustling to the pointwhere I can no longer recognize
the signs.
(45:01):
Right, I'm slowing down.
Right, and that's the otherconcept that I'll offer.
Here is one flip it right.
Flip the do have be to the behave do, because when we change
how we relate to life,automatically the actions that
we take will yield a differentresult, because we'll show up
(45:21):
differently to those actions.
Right, that's the one concept.
The other concept is slowingdown to speed up, and here's the
analogy I always give A yearago, I picked up my boyfriend
from the airport in Berlinbecause we were on different
travel itineraries.
I had to go to Germany sooner.
Picked him up from the airport,drove down the highway in
(45:43):
Germany hadn't been there for awhile at 180 kilometers an hour.
I'm having fun, I miss this.
And he takes photos ofeverything that's going on left
and right and shows me thefootage a day later.
I'm like I've never seen thispart of Germany, even though
I've driven through it like amaniac a hundred times over.
Well, maybe if I had sloweddown, I would have been able to
(46:04):
see the bird, I would have seenthe beautiful forest, I would
have seen the great mural that'son the side of the highway.
Now I don't miss exits, butmaybe I had not missed the
proverbial exit, which wouldhave been a shortcut to the
destination I was meant to go to, or I was meaning to go to.
Rather right, take that analogyand translate it and apply it to
(46:28):
your life.
Where are you rushing throughlife not realizing that you just
had the conversation that'sgoing to change your life?
Where are you rushing throughlife looking for job
opportunities without realizingthat you just talked to a
headhunter Right.
Where are you out there onsocial media trying to find the
ideal client, becoming a contentcreator, when really your zone
(46:50):
of genius is that of being acoach, a mentor and a guide, and
you could just have aconversation with the five
people that you texted with lastweek.
I don't allow my clients whoare building businesses to get
on social media until they havefive clients.
I just don't think it's worththeir time to figure out brand
colors and fonts and contentpillars and all of that.
(47:10):
Like that's important.
So I took what you said.
I went a little off tangent andnow we're back here.
Go ahead respond.
Speaker 2 (47:18):
You're okay.
Yeah, no, I love that youchallenged that because it makes
me realize that maybe I need to, because I agree with what you
say.
And there's this whole hustleculture and grind culture, and I
think more so, maybe it's justpeople want it so badly, you
know, and so they think, thinkthat staying and I'm guilty,
(47:40):
like super guilty, thinking thatstaying busy and working
towards it is going to speed itup, but it doesn't.
It's more about those verylaser focused, intentional tasks
, right and and inspired actionand just like I call it, like
flirting with the universe, likeyou know, putting a question
(48:01):
out there and just see it likeyou were talking about.
You know you could be aconversation away from changing
your life.
You really could.
But are we putting ourselvesout there to even have the
fucking conversation?
Like I tell my clients too,like conversations lead to
conversions, right, like, so wehave to have the conversations,
(48:22):
but thank you for pushing backon that, because that's yeah,
that's not, uh, fully what Imeant and you reframing it that
way makes me want to tell myaudience that because you don't,
you do not have to like do thewhole push through, I'm not
going to say that you will neverpush through.
There are moments like you haveto be able Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (48:40):
It takes a lot of momentum and fuel to get a plane
off the ground while yourbusiness is the plane, one
hundred percent.
You have to work really hard.
Even you know, like most of thepeople I work with, they're
like I want to have more whitespace in my calendar, right,
like, help me figure out how tomake really good money without
having to trade in all of mytime for that, right?
(49:03):
Well, great, so if that's theNorth Star, we can get you there
within a year.
But that doesn't mean the nextyear is going to have you
launching by the beach sippingcoconuts while money is flowing
in.
No, you have to build thesystem.
You have to build the plane.
Then you have to learn how tofly it and get it off the ground
.
Absolutely, that's going to belong hours.
That's going to be.
If you're already traveling,you're going to be burning the
(49:24):
candle on both ends.
Right?
I had a call this morning ateight.
It's 10.30 PM.
Right now, I have a call in themorning at 7.30.
Is that my ideal schedule?
Absolutely not.
Why do I do it?
I'm very intentional about thegoals that I'm pursuing right
now.
Right, so, right now, I'mbuilding a plane.
Right, one plane is built andup in the air.
(49:46):
I'm building another plane formy business right now.
I'm choosing to go into a bitof overdrive, right, so I'm glad
you said that too.
I find that you know, likelately and we're beginning to
dial back on that a little bitbut for a while there, the
internet became full of oh.
You just have to sit andmeditate and your ideal life
(50:08):
will be manifested for you.
And yeah, well, if, but only if, you get out of lotus pose and
get your ass moving you know, oh, my god, that's so fucking good
.
Speaker 2 (50:22):
all right, so note to sell jacqueline.
That's gonna be a quote cardand a snippet for the intro.
You gotta get out of lotus posebecause it is the universe
likes for you to make the firstmove and like, like you were
saying, surrendering is notsitting around with your
crystals going.
(50:42):
Okay, I'm going to manifest,like.
I'm going to give you a quickexample I have my retreat, I'm
on your number three and I stillhave this one client that
always every fucking years goes.
Yeah, I'm working onmanifesting that.
No, like, make, make the firstpayment and allow yourself to
get excited about that and we'llfigure out how to make the next
payment, you know what I mean,and it's not a sense of like.
(51:06):
When you know what you bring tothe table, you know that the
investment is worth it.
But sometimes people don't seethat investment in themselves
yet, because they do want thatquick, that quick action.
And something I want to circleback on, because you said it
earlier that you wouldn't bewhere you are if you didn't feel
through your feelings, meaninglike you were trying to numb
them for so long, and that'slike y'all.
(51:31):
That is.
The most important component isallowing yourself to feel it,
because it's almost like youknow, everybody wants to speed
up the process and it's like theprocess can be sped up if you
will allow yourself to yeah todo, like actually do the work.
And the work is not easy.
The work can.
It's not.
It's not that it's not simple,it's just not like it's gonna.
(51:53):
You're gonna have to feel somethings, like you were saying,
yeah, but getting out of thathabit of numbing yourself
allowed you to see all the signsand see all the things and but
you didn't sit around and justsay I'm gonna manifest it,
that's what I love, becausesomebody that is, that's what
the internet is still.
They're still saying that, bythe way flow and I try to maybe
(52:13):
I just tricked the algorithm,you dragged it.
They're still saying it though.
Uh, because it's all about thisflow thing and yeah, and I
teach that you can have flowlike, but so, and you should,
because you can with automation,with systems, but, like you
were saying, who's gonna set thesystems up?
Who's gonna right like?
And it takes trial and error,it takes testing offers, it
(52:37):
takes all these things andcollecting data in order to get
to that point where you get paidto exist.
So I just this has been so goodI don't remember what I was
going to say, but it's been sogood and I just can't help but
feel like, can I just offer onefinal response on that, real
quick.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, go for it.
Speaker 1 (52:58):
Yeah, I'll keep it short.
I know we're coming up on timehere.
But in response to what yousaid, right, like surrendering
to your feelings, recognizingthat, you know, manifestation
requires momentum, which youhave to activate, which the
universe isn't going to do shitfor you.
On my company is called Way ofthe Founder.
(53:18):
Right, not the way, way of theFounder.
I, you know, slap myboyfriend's wrist for that every
time he says the way.
But there is a point that hehas, actually, which I want to
bring up.
Right, like founders,entrepreneurs, business owners,
(53:39):
it's really easy for all of usin this day and age to look at
social media, even just type itinto chat, gpt, and come up with
a list of things that you needto be doing in order to grow
your business, which means thatyou end up following someone
else's blueprint.
You follow someone else'sthree-step process, three-step
formula, whatever people call itright.
And you know, I like to sort of, you know, liken that to how
(54:05):
you just follow, how you justput on the clothes that your mom
puts out for you the nightbefore you have to wake up in
the morning to go to school.
Right, you don't think about it, you just do it.
But does it work for you?
Is it your style Right?
Does the shoe fit work for you?
Is it your style Right?
Does the shoe fit Right?
And I really want to be a voicefor the more you surrender, in
(54:25):
an active sense, the way we'vebeen talking about, the more
you'll figure out exactly whatthe structure of your business
is supposed to look like.
The more you'll figure out whoyou want to be talking to, the
more you'll figure out what theconnection is, what the story is
that has created the businessthat you now run.
(54:46):
Right, and the more you canfigure out the story, the more,
of course, you can connect tothe clients that are meant to be
working with you.
Right, so you're beginning tosee a pattern.
Right, you have to go on thatinner journey, explore yourself
before you can lead way beyondeverything that you've been
doing so far.
Right, so you have to do ityour way, and that means trial
and error, and that means a lotof active experimentation, a lot
(55:09):
of you know.
Let's set up the funnel.
Oh, shit, like let's.
Let's set up the funnel again.
Let's hire oh, that wasn't theright team member.
Let's hire again.
Let's figure out how to dointerviews better.
Right, it's very active, butit's all from a place of.
This is my purpose.
I love myself, I can validatemy own feelings, I can validate
my own actions, and I'm doingthis because I have a big vision
(55:30):
, not because I hope that maybe,perhaps because I do this, my
dad and my mom will love me more.
You have to give yourself thatlove.
You have to give yourself thatvalidation, that approval, that
like hey, hey, dina, I care foryou.
Right, I love you and I carefor you and we're going to do
this our way and it's going tobe phenomenal.
That's all I have to say.
Speaker 2 (55:51):
It's absolutely incredible, like it just I keep
circling back to this, but itjust does not feel like this
conversation is coincidental atall because I don't know Every
everything about thisconversation, for me personally,
has been magical.
Like I'd say that when I getactivated, I get like really bad
chill bumps all over my body,goosebumps, right.
(56:13):
So when I get goosebumps allover my body, I'm like, yeah,
it's In that moment.
I'm like I know I'm exactlywhere I need to be having this
conversation, receiving thisinformation as confirmation,
like all these weird things.
Speaker 1 (56:28):
So now I'm with you.
I try to put my words when Iget activated like that.
You just heard me do that.
Speaker 2 (56:34):
It just it happens Like you're in, it's so
interesting, you're in your flowand it's almost like you just
kind of tap out, like peoplewill tell me, like when I'm
speaking or teaching man, youwere doing this, this, this, and
I'm like.
It's kind of like when I perform, because I'm a musician, I'm a
musician, a singer, songwritertoo, and I did that
professionally for years andagain I've done everything Right
(56:54):
.
So, but like you kind of, whenyou're, when you're so
passionate about something andinflow, it's almost like you, I
just connect and it's like aspiritual experience almost, um,
but I just I just have to closethis up with saying that, um,
this entire conversation, thetheme has felt like to me that
(57:18):
the whole you said it's like anactive surrender, or you said
surrender in an active sense andthat's something that I have
struggled with for a very longtime is surrendering, because we
as humans, for whatever reasonit's so funny we want to control
everything, everything right,how we're going to get the
(57:39):
outcome, everything, and so itwas really a uh, I think a like
a moment where the timeline kindof collapsed, when I was just
like I'm just gonna fail as fastas I can.
I don't fucking know what'sgonna happen.
I'm gonna figure out what I'mgood at, like.
What are people responding to?
Right, because yeah, I.
I like I thought I'd just bedoing something, but all the
(58:01):
breadcrumbs that the universe isleaving behind are leading me
down a different path and it'slike the money I thought I would
make doing this.
Actually, when I pivoted, itcame so easily.
But but had I not been okaywith like this whole fucking it
up and just being me andfiguring out like who my people
(58:22):
are, would we be here?
Speaker 1 (58:24):
probably not so I love what you just said.
That's gonna be my quote.
I'm gonna fail as fast as I canyeah, like, why not?
Speaker 2 (58:32):
and you're.
What's so funny is, after thisconversation, you're gonna hear
that probably 10 more timeswithin the next week, because
yesterday on my road trip home Iwas driving there are.
So you talking about, uh, like,being super passionate and how
you attract clients.
Pretty much inevitably, nowgetting paid to exist is because
you have tapped into your Icall it like a signature
(58:55):
energetic footprint.
Right, like we all have thissignature energetic footprint
that nobody can replicate, butwe go around trying to replicate
everybody else's footprint,trying to be like them.
Whenever you finally own it andyou master it and you're just
like weird as fuck.
Yeah, you do, you become amagnet, but like, what about all
the shit that dina had to gothrough to own that?
(59:17):
Right, and that's what peoplereally pay for at the end of the
day is you, and that's why,yeah, I believe you get paid for
.
Speaker 1 (59:24):
All of you, not the polished, you not the perfect,
not.
Speaker 2 (59:28):
Thank you for real you the real, yeah, yeah, and
the one that, oh, full bodychills again, oh my god.
So if you're not, if you're notmaking six figures in your
business yet, or you're feelinglike really fucking down right
now, um, I want to close it outwith and I'm going to let you
have the final word and sharewhere I can find you and work
with you.
But it just it's.
(59:49):
And tell me if you agree withthis.
It just it seems like, oh myGod, I just lost my thought.
Speaker 1 (59:58):
Hold on You're not making six figures yet.
Speaker 2 (01:00:02):
Thank you.
Oh, it doesn't fucking matter.
It doesn't matter that youdon't have the money to show the
screenshots.
What matters is that and thisis where things changed for me
and tell me if you agree withthis.
What matters is so, forinstance, if you're on the road,
oops, okay, we're back.
(01:00:23):
What matters is, if this iswhat I meant by you're gonna
miss the hustle, you're gonnamiss the grind.
That just equates to it, justequates to the inner journey,
meaning that you're gonna missthe discovery process of how you
got to that six figures.
Cause when you get to the moneyand that's what I realized
that's that.
And I cried.
I was like Holy fucking shit,I've never made this much.
(01:00:46):
And it wasn't sales with cash,Cause there's a difference.
Speaker 1 (01:00:49):
Right.
Speaker 2 (01:00:50):
And I sat with it and I was just like Holy fucking
shit.
And then I was like, okay,let's go do it again, because I
figured it out, but it was.
I couldn't have figured it outand I wouldn't be where I am if
I didn't lean into that journeyof failing and fucking it up.
And so it's just like, even ifyou're not there yet, what is
important is that you documentand you bring people on the
(01:01:13):
journey.
And I noticed that when Ibrought people on my journey, my
inner journey, and I was likeyou know what?
Y'all?
I suffer from mental illness.
I'm a crazy bitch, okay, but Iwant to make some money and on
my good days I'm going to makesome money.
And when I started sharing mylife and my thoughts and my
heart and what I was strugglingwith, people started to find me.
(01:01:36):
Yeah, and it sounds like andthat's what's so cool is like
your story is so different, butin a sense it's the same Like
we've all we've.
You've been through such astruggle to get to this point
and it's fucking gorgeous.
You're such a beautiful person.
This has been so good, so goodand so weird, in a sense,
(01:02:00):
because our conversation hasgiven me.
Does this happen to you youtalk with somebody and you're
like thank you universe.
I asked for confirmation, thankyou.
I didn't know how it was goingto come to me, but there it is.
Speaker 1 (01:02:11):
Oh yeah, and, by the way, to those who are like I
don't know what the fuck theseladies are talking about, slow
the fuck down, because we allhave those experiences and we
just need to learn to recognizethem and and receive that,
receive the guidance.
And this is not some woo-wooshit, right, it's just basic gut
(01:02:33):
instinct and and we've we'vebeen taught to to forget about
what our gut feeling feels like.
We have to retrain ourselvesand relearn what our intuition
sounds and feels like, and it'sjust that right.
And it really starts with youneed to slow the fuck down and
listen to what's going on aroundyou.
So, yes, my dear, I have hadthose experiences many times.
(01:02:57):
I have them regularly toregularly ask for them too.
Speaker 2 (01:03:01):
Yeah, did you say you asked for them?
Of course, yes, thank God,that's so good.
Ask for the guidance.
Yeah, we like oh, my God, I gotto, I got to quit.
We're going to have to haveanother episode at some point or
just get together and chat,because you're you really are.
You're incredible, incredible,incredible, and I want people to
be able to find you.
So, if you will tell them whereto find you, how to work with
(01:03:25):
you, if you have anything comingup, anything like that, because
this will be out in theinternet world forever and I
want them to be able to workwith you whenever it feels good
for them.
Speaker 1 (01:03:35):
Yes, absolutely so.
Way of the Founder is how youcan find me.
It's my blog, it's mynewsletter wayofthefoundercom
you can find me for like dailyupdates about my ups and downs
and all the fun things that I doin business and life at
underscore wayofthefounder onInstagram.
Quite active there.
I always have things coming outAlways, always, always.
(01:03:57):
Because even though I'mfocusing on all location
independent entrepreneurs withinthat journey, there are many
problems that need to be solved.
So the best way to stayconnected, to figure out how you
can work with me, is to followme on Instagram, get on my
newsletter.
I do have a free masterclass forthose who are ready to you know
(01:04:17):
, ready to go for it and readyto build a business that's based
on authenticity and freedom.
I have a free masterclass.
It's on my website,wayofthefoundercom forward slash
masterclass.
So lots of ways to get into myuniverse, lots of ways to work
with me, and if you have anyquestions, you know DMs are
always open.
(01:04:37):
Inbox is always not overfilled,so you should be able to reach
me there as well, and I do lovehearing from everybody who
reaches out.
So that's that's a very warmwelcome to do that.
Speaker 2 (01:04:52):
Well, thank you again .
So much, dana, I value ourconversation.
Speaker 1 (01:04:56):
This has been really, really beautiful.
I really appreciate you and theconversation it's yeah, it's
been special.
Thank you, my dear.
Speaker 2 (01:05:03):
Yeah, thank you so much, and I'm having a moment
where I'm remembering how we gotconnected and I want to say we
probably got connected through anewsletter.
Yeah, I think it was.
I think that's how you found me, was it like through a
newsletter?
I don't know, I just getconnected to people, okay, well
what was funny was I think youmessaged me on Instagram and you
(01:05:26):
said something frequency or noyou said freedom.
That's what it was.
You said freedom and whathappened was is it many child
went crazy.
That went crazy.
I was like you want to sign upfor the freedom frequency?
Okay, what is so funny?
Like, let's sit here with thisfor a second.
(01:05:46):
The freedom frequency was forwomen who wanted to learn to get
paid to exist, and here we aretalking about that.
Like it's just so funny thatyou're that.
It's just weird.
It's I love it.
I love it.
I love it yeah it's really funnyyeah, I I.
Speaker 1 (01:06:06):
I had a good laugh when many chat started
responding to my word freedom.
I was like that is definitely aconversation meant to be right
and I finally wrote you back.
Speaker 2 (01:06:17):
You were like I'm following up on this.
I didn't want to book a callwith you, or you know I was.
I went back and I read and Iwas like I don't remember this
woman and it made all the chatbox conversation well anyway,
systems and automations workthey work.
Yeah and it oh.
(01:06:38):
It was a lesson for me.
That day too, I had to go backand change some things so that
it recognizes not just that wordbut like just that word as a
single message yeah, so it was alearning experience.
See guys, fuck it up.
It's okay, it's okay exactlyall right, dina, have a
beautiful.
Is it at night time there?
Well, good night then.
(01:07:00):
I was going to say, have abeautiful day on purpose.
Speaker 1 (01:07:02):
Have a beautiful rest of your day.
Speaker 2 (01:07:05):
Thank you.
Yeah, I'm just getting started,but sleep well and I'll talk to
you soon.
Thank you again.
So much.
Talk to you soon.
Speaker 1 (01:07:10):
Thank you, take care, bye-bye.
Speaker 2 (01:07:11):
You too.
Bye, and that's a wrap.
If please, be sure to just takea moment to screenshot this
episode and tag JacquelineCotton and Just Women Talking
Shit in your stories.
It's been so wonderful shootingthe shit with you today.
Don't forget to leave a reviewon Spotify and Apple Podcasts
Until next time.
It's been real, it's been fun,it's been real fun and I'll see
(01:07:34):
you later.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!