125 – From rough beginnings to top coach: Tom interviews Heather Parady

Episode 125 – Heather Parady
[00:00:07] Welcome to Screw the Commute. The entrepreneurial podcast dedicated to getting you out of the car and into the money, with your host, lifelong entrepreneur and multimillionaire, Tom Antion.

[00:00:23] Hey everybody it's Tom here with episode 125 of screw the commute podcast I got a really interesting guest here Heather Parady and I just thought I'll make sure she she corrects me if I pronounced it wrong when we get her on here in a minute but I just met her and I have to say she's a very inspiring young woman who came from humble beginnings and really made something of herself and she's helping a lot of people. So we get to her in a minute. Last episode is 124 was my Monday training how to start a mentor program. I've run one of the longest running most successful mentor programs and I kind of have to say that the longest running and the most successful in the field of internet marketing. Now if you want to know how to run a massive and lucrative mentor program make sure you go back and listen to that episode 124 a little bit later. All right I've got a big freebie to thank you for listening to the podcast. It's my twenty seven dollar e-book how to automate your business. And just one of the tips in this e-book has saved me over seven million keystrokes over the years and I just might have another special gift for you over there that has something to do with podcasts. So make sure you check all that out grab your freebies later at screwthecommute.com/automatefree and everything we talked about today of course will be in the show notes for episode 125. And if you ever wonder how to find a specific episode you go to screwthecommute.com/125 and I'll take it directly to Heather's episode. All right. And also please tell somebody about this and go over to iTunes and leave us a review. It really helps the show out. And also our youth program is in full swing. We're looking for young people that are doing entrepreneurial things. And when I say young I'm talking maybe up the early 20s. I mean if they're older than that they might be a candidate for our regular podcast and you know any one they can get in touch with me at orders@antion.com and to see how to apply to maybe be featured on one of our special youth editions. Now we're on demand TV channel is up on both Roku TV and Amazon Fire the first channel we put up is the public speaking channel. We have several others coming brutal self-defense protection dogs elite and various internet marketing channels. So if you have a Roku device or an Amazon fire stick. It's a really good deal because a lot of people getting rid of cable just paying a one time fee to get these as long as you have Wi-Fi. I mean heck there's thousands of channels out there and just my channel alone has probably one hundred thousand dollars worth of free training on public speaking. So just search for the public speaking channel. All right today's sponsor is the distance learning school the internet marketing training center of Virginia. Don't even think about retraining yourself for sending your kids to college. Until you check out our webinar on higher education I do not want you wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars and putting yourself and your kids under crushing debt. And we'll have that webinar in the show notes at screwthecommute.com.

[00:03:47] All right let's get to the main event. Heather works with multiple brands on their content marketing strategy. She helps them build systems and processes to produce more consistent and effective online content resulting in more leads for their business. She's the host of the unconventional leaders podcast. That's kind of how I crossed paths with her. I thought boy I'm but as unconventional yet so. So it airs three times a week where she speaks with leaders from all over the world who are making an impact through their business or organizations. She also has an online membership site for solo entrepreneurs and freelancers that trains them in basic content marketing strategies and she'll tell tell us about that I'm sure today. And one more thing. She's on the board of directors of a nonprofit organization. So just a prolific young woman Heather are you ready to screw. The commute.

[00:04:46] Thanks for having me. Oh you answered that too fast. I don't want your husband who's the military to beat me up or shoot me.

[00:04:55] He's in the other room I don't think he worries too much.

[00:05:00] Oh so great that we crossed paths. And because of your podcast is how I met you. So you know the power of those podcasts are really great. That's going crazy nowadays with with podcasts but tell everybody what you're doing now and then we'll take you a little back because they did say you had humble beginnings and you're very inspiring to me of where you came from or what you're doing now. So what are you doing now.

[00:05:24] Yeah. Well first of all thank you so much for having me. I just really admire all the work that you're putting out. I think it's so cool that you're giving a platform to young people to speak and share their message. That's just amazing.

[00:05:35] I thought you were 12 years old when I saw that picture and then you told me Oh no I'm not. I couldn't believe I think your lying.

[00:05:43] Oh no I'm in my early 30s. I feel like I'm 12 years old. Yeah. So I he said I have a podcast work with content marketers and this wasn't really my plan. I've been doing this for a little over two years now. My intention was to be a therapist got my master's degree in counseling and therapy and really set out to build kind of more of the traditional career path. I love people love the whole subject of psychology and human potential. However I was really drawn to entrepreneurship in this online thing and what we could do to really just change culture and reach so many more people you know leaders who have powerful messages I think the Internet is just so underutilized and it's easy to point the finger and look at all the negative things that technology has brought in. But also to there's so many powerful and good things that I just had to follow my curiosity and so instead is you know got the degree got the job offers. Got the license and end up just turning everything down and just pursue this lane just to see where it would take me. So it's been a up and down journey for sure and I'm definitely still on it. Still learning and growing but really really excited for what's to come.

[00:07:00] Well I'm kind of glad that somebody in your age range is is recognized the power of the Internet. But I'll dispute the fact that it's under utilized. What I'll say is that's utilized plenty but not in a good positive way for people to help their families to create careers and so forth. I mean you can spend hours and hours and hours playing some stupid video game. That's their right. Anywhere but rehab you know there's actually rehab places coming up for young people addicted to these games.

[00:07:33] Yes. So. So tell us a little bit about how you work with people. So I notice that we we a lot of people set out was really good intentions. They have this idea for this thing that they want to create. They want to put out in the world and everyone has an awesome idea and good intentions and things they want to do to make a difference in this world. It's really hard finding people who stick with it long enough to see results and not quit when they realize how much work it actually is. Because you know this putting out your message whether it's through the form of you know online content or building some kind of brand or business it takes a good minute to start seeing any kind of traction. So people understandably get really discouraged. They'll say Hey I want to start a blog that reaches single moms or whatever and they'll get a few months down and nobody's reading it and they're not getting that traction and they just give up. Now granted that you know is data saying hey there's some things you need to shift and things you need to learn and different tools of course. Absolutely. But more often than not it is a patient's issue and just sticking with it and being willing to not see results and humble enough to change methods and realize. Hey we're all gonna be beginners in that beginner stages a lot longer than we would like it to be. So my intention and my hope is to not only help people start things but also help people finish things.

[00:08:58] Yeah and when people ask me all the time when I'm interviewed is what has been the key to your success. It's not that I'm Mr. Brilliant. It's persistence and consistency. Just keep plowing ahead trying things. Don't be afraid to fail and eventually things will come your way because like you said a lot of people will just quit. And then all of a sudden your competition disappeared because you stuck it out. So did you ever have a job.

[00:09:26] Did I ever have a job. I'm like thinking to think back when we were in high school. I worked multiple jobs at one time. I think I had between two and three jobs at a time all throughout high school because I love working. I'm I'm one of these people that if I'm not doing something I get antsy. So I work. Man I think the last regular job I had was probably in my early 20s and from there I started my first business which was a photography business. I did that for several years and it was really successful it got me through school and after school I just decided to again pivot and go into what I'm doing now. But yeah it's been a good 10 years since I've had a regular job.

[00:10:07] Are you still do you still have the photography business.

[00:10:10] I don't. It was it got to a point I was so I'm grateful I got to a point where it was full time and I had to make a decision. Do you want to be a photographer full time or are you going to quit because it was one of at that point where I had so many clients and so much business which is a great problem. Yeah but I had to really you know decide if this is what I wanted to do with my life at that point and it wasn't something I was just passionate enough about to do.

[00:10:35] But did you make a product about it because you know there's loads of photographers would kill to have any kind of success at all and so did you make a product out of that.

[00:10:47] I didn't. I had a couple of Mastermind groups at one point and again it wasn't a subject matter that I really wanted to take to the next level. I was into the business and I was excited about the potential that you know. I said Content Marketing had because I really grew my business through storytelling online and being able I did really really well at social media and advertising my business and that's what I was really excited about outside of the camera settings and composition and all of that stuff. So it was more of what you could do to advertise your business that really got me excited outside of photography.

[00:11:21] Yeah I'd hammer you to death to make a e-book on it even if you're not passionate about it but you did have success at it like that. There's so many photographers that are just starving. They're giving you 10 20 bucks would be OK with me. Now I understand you were total rich kid silver spoon in your mouth kid when you grew up right.

[00:11:43] Oh man it was just a picket fence and everything was great.

[00:11:47] Yeah. Tell us about your beginnings because how did you get this work ethic and attitude. Tell us where you came from.

[00:11:54] Sure so my I come from well to give us an a basic understanding my my dad grew up in the foster care system and really I kind of say we grew up together he was really learning how to be an adult the same time that we were growing up. So a lot of the issues that went on in my childhood I I can't really blame my mom or my dad or anything because they were both just coming from a really really hard background themselves my mom was abused her whole life. My dad was in foster care so he mixed both of those together and it was just fireworks as you can imagine. But we grew up you know just traditional trailer park uneducated kids we were homeschooled our whole lives which honestly my mom you know no offense to her but she dropped the ball on that and we didn't do any school so I remember I think the last grade I remember looking at was around seventh grade and that was on my own. I would go and pick up books from the library I'd walk to the library and go find books and try to read them on my own because I wanted to learn which just wasn't being educated. So grew up with this mentality of you know poor uneducated like we're trailer trash and I've never ever ever ever thought that it was even an option. It wasn't presented to me you know my parents they struggled with money they fought over money. We we didn't it wasn't it wasn't in my mind that you could ever succeed at something. I could that I could ever succeed at anything. So fast forward to you know after quote quote graduating high school meaning turning 17 18 years old my mom actually printed off the diploma off our. Home computer and gave it to me. It was pretty great but I didn't ever even consider going to college it was just we had the mentality that you get a job you work really hard and you live paycheck to paycheck. So that was. My life until I was challenged by that from a friend of mine probably when I was in my I was 23 ish and he really challenged me to hey you need to get a skill set and go to college. I'm like Hey I can't go to college I didn't even finish school and I didn't even tell him that because I was so embarrassed I didn't I didn't want anybody to know because that was a interesting fact with the homeschool space and it's probably changed but you know there are a lot of good homeschool families out there.

[00:14:16] Of course but there still some other type of percentage of the people home school for the same reason your mother did. They just didn't want to deal with it. Get out of all the stuff but it sounds like you're pretty lucky to run into this person.

[00:14:31] Yeah. Yeah. And you know long story short ended up taking developmental classes at a community college and a story I shared with you is you know walking in and literally shaking I was twenty three years old never stepped into a classroom before and just really knew I was going to. I knew I was not gonna be able to do it. It was like okay let me show up and fail. But that was a really pivotal point in my life because seeing the physical apathy in that room where there they weren't paying attention they weren't even looking at the teacher they were playing on their phones and I know now that's normal and everybody laughs at it. But at the time it was so shocking to me first of all that some that we could be so disrespectful and not appreciate things that were given to us because an education wasn't given to me. And then second of all it was very empowering because I realized that it wasn't so much about where you come from. It wasn't so much about the natural skills and abilities you had. It was a way more an element of grit of how far you got in life and. I took that that I went forward and went through all my education. I mean not easily by any means I remember being on YouTube really late at night trying to catch up to stuff. but but doing well and doing fun and realizing that you could translate that same mindset not only into education but business and fitness and relationships etc etc. etc. that there really was no limit except the one that we put on ourselves.

[00:16:03] Were your parents still around at this time.

[00:16:06] Sure. A long divorced and remarried couple of times. But yeah yeah they're still both in my life.

[00:16:12] But being where they are they witnesses that they resent is that you were making it now. How did they react to all this.

[00:16:21] No they were really proud especially when I chose the counselling route. My dad you know growing up in the foster care system he and I worked primarily with at risk youth and so forth. He was really proud of that because it was kind of a way to give back to that community that he grew up in now. They were incredibly supportive right. Yeah.

[00:16:41] Yeah. So this this person that helped you out. Hopefully you think that person because this could have gone a completely different direction.

[00:16:48] Sure. Definitely.

[00:16:51] All right so what then. What kind of tips would you give. You've been working for yourself for a long time though you're also a military spouse right. I didn't even know that when we first met.

[00:17:00] Yeah my husband. He is now in the Reserves. He's a Navy reservist and he also is working really hard to build his own online business as well so as we speak his another room on his computer working and we we work pretty much side by side every single day of just on our own on our own ventures because the idea is for us to be able to build something that will outlast us and also give us freedom to be with our little girls as they grow up.

[00:17:25] Yeah. Yeah. So that beautiful family picture you had. I had friends of the same husband wife. They worked in the same office little little kind of spare bedroom office and they would text each other.

[00:17:40] We do that. We do that. Yeah.

[00:17:43] That cracks me up. So what kind of tips would you give to people that want to to start their own business or to increase the business that they have. What are some of the things you've learned for being in business by yourself.

[00:17:58] Sure. Well as far as starting I think what's really good is to assess what's already in your hand and assess what is already available to you. It's really easy to think. Well I don't have this and I don't have this resource I don't know that well yes but what do you have right now and it kind of goes back to that old school biblical principle of you know he who is faithful with a little can be trusted with a lot and whether you're a Bible follower or not that's just wisdom. Where if we look at what's in our hands if we look at what's available to us and we utilize that resource to its fullest capacity God The Universe will look whatever you want to think it. Your cup will be full it will continue to open doors will open for you so again if you want to be talked to people all the time they say oh I want to be used the photography example I want to be a photographer but I don't have this camera. Oh what camera do you have like learn the crap out of that camera. Be faithful with that camera and I promise you you're gonna get to a point when you can show up and do that that you will have doors open where you can either get the kind of equipment you want or whatever. But we we have to be willing to start really small and humbly and be willing to use what's already in our hands. I think that's really porting for starting and then also the other piece is asking more questions to the people you want to reach and understanding the audience that you want to serve and understanding how you can provide your service or product more efficiently and better. I didn't do enough market research at the beginning and I honestly don't know if market research ever ends. I think you're constantly studying the people that you serve but I wish I would have understood that a little bit sooner. I think that's so important. And the other piece you asked is growing. The patience piece I think is really important and collecting more data and understanding numbers a little bit more. Again that's something that I wasn't as good at the beginning. I'm the type of person I am. People have described me like an arrow towards a target. I just go go go go. Action action action and stepping back and assessing and making sure my action is either profitable or making some kind of difference. It's not just keeping me busy because again I love work. I love staying busy but there's a lot of actions and things I think that I've done that's wasted time and I'm trying to be more attentional with the things I choose to do and spend time.

[00:20:27] Now how's the dynamic both of you be at home all day working on business is there any crossover between the businesses or or what does that dynamic work.

[00:20:37] Yeah so Brian my husband he started his business a little less than a year ago and this is really new for him and I'm so grateful because I don't know a lot of people can probably attest to this. If one person is starting a business or as an entrepreneur or doing something like that it's really hard to communicate with your spouse sometimes because the sometimes they don't understand why why you're working so hard or why you're at the computer all the time and etc etc.. And so I know the first couple years when I started pursuing pursuing this Brian and I know we had a lot of difficulty trying to communicate and understand where I was coming from and I understand from his perspective too. But him starting this was one of the greatest things.

[00:21:22] I bet he gets it now.

[00:21:24] Yeah even he's even told me you know he said man I used to think that you were just playing computer. Now I know that you were like really really working hard. I'm like Yeah. So it's been I'm grateful for that but I think what's kept us kind of afloat is we have weekly meetings every Saturday morning. We make a pot of coffee and we actually bring out a whiteboard and it only takes about 30 minutes but that communication piece is so important to say hey what's happening not only in your business but in our family and our life right now. What are our goals. We have business goals we have family goals we even keep each other accountable with fitness goals and we miss the mark almost every week. I mean there's something we're not doing really well but that communication I think is so important because otherwise you know this Our lives are so hectic building something and constantly changing that if we don't provide an opportunity to communicate to each other it's easy to get lost in it. And then there can be some frustration and argument and all that. So that's been a really helpful thing we do.

[00:22:25] That is wonderful. I hope everybody take that into consideration. Did you start that after he started his business. I mean it seemed like that could really help out any family even if they weren't in business.

[00:22:40] We did that irregularly before his business we did it probably maybe once a month. But I think that we need it so much more now that things are a little bit more crazy and then too you know with having adding kids into the mix just the communication piece because I know if the parents are listening you have picking kids up from school or taking them to karate and all that who's responsible for what and the distribution of that when you add in the business piece because like if I'm talking to you on a podcast he needs to know ahead of time hey I have a podcast interview this time you're responsible for the two year old in there. Just small things like that. So we were once a month ish before business but after business came in and all of these extra dynamics brought brought in. Oh it bumped up our urgency our meeting urgency.

[00:23:28] Yeah but the two year old ought to be helping you with tech support.

[00:23:32] I don't understand why she's not pulling her weight more we've been trying to talk to her.

[00:23:35] I saw this cartoon it was who was the young kid talking to his dad. He said hey if you increase my allowance I'll give you unlimited in-house tech support. So what do you like best about working for yourself and what's the worst part.

[00:23:52] The best is freedom. Like we're going to in two days we're packing up we're heading to Connecticut for a wedding and we just decided we say hey do you want to stay an extra day and go explore some of the city and all that. We don't have to go ask a boss. We don't have to. You know if my daughter has something special at school yes it's going to take some effort to rearrange my calendar but I can go I can go do what I need to do I don't have to ask anyone's permission. Now that doesn't mean that I'm free and I go watch Oprah all at time and eat Cheetos and I think that's what people think business owners do. No. I work so hard and there's so much to do. However I have the freedom to be flexible when I need to be flexible and that's something that to me is priceless. Because I love traveling. I love being a part of my kid's life etc. The worst part. Well there's I mean there's a lot that that could be viewed as worse. I think what's hardest for me right now is that you don't have a map the exact map of this is what works all the time. You get a lot of ideas and mentorship and I've had I know I've gone through a lot of trainings and courses and etc. There's a lot of good tips but everyone is so individualized and everything is so unique and that's cool because it's a creative map you're like whoa I can do anything. But it's also kind of hard because you're not guaranteed that one system is going to work across the board. You have to constantly be changing and pivoting and that's like a roller coaster ride. But you don't always know that it's going to be safe and OK. So it's kind of a good thing and a bad thing is exciting but also too kind of scary.

[00:25:37] So has there ever been any friction where the both of you are together 24/7 where I guess when he was in the service you would have come home every day and had time to yourself. Was there any of that.

[00:25:52] No not really. I love being around him. Honestly I kind of work. He works in the other. He works in a different room than me and so I mean there we hours go by we don't see each other so it's not like we're you know side by side all day long. Well I sometimes get a coffee shops. He he goes out and does different things. Yeah it's not like sitting in the same room together if it were sitting in the same room we would would probably not get as much work done and I'd be annoyed. So.

[00:26:17] So I notice when you said picking the kids up from school or taking them to school or whatever you didn't you decided not to homeschool.

[00:26:25] No no no. I guess I have nothing again. There's a lot of really amazing stories and families who do that. It's I didn't have a good experience with it. But most importantly I am doing this business thing not to be home. I'm doing it because I love business and I love the challenge of it. I love reaching people and talking to people all the time but I never would have met you if it wasn't for the podcast. It's the coolest thing. It's amazing. So. the reason I'm not working is not because I want to be at home because I want to build this business and I get I wouldn't be at home otherwise because I'm really an extrovert. I love being around people. I said it drives me crazy being in this office by myself. So being at home homeschooling kids I would I would be the worst teacher for them. I just couldn't do it.

[00:27:19] So you do teach entrepreneurs. Tell us a little bit about the thing that you've got for entrepreneurs.

[00:27:26] Sure yeah. Well again I'm just try to keep people in the game a little bit longer. It's interesting I'm not in the traditional counseling therapy thing anymore but sometimes I still feel like I'm doing a little bit of it because there's so much mindset that goes into this and you know that where we really have to we have to understand the way that our habits work. We have to understand that we're creatures of habit and we have to provide. We have to structure our lives in a way that support our ambitions. We can't just say well I want to go do this and jump on line and just wing it. You have to have plans and a structure and a basic understanding and I'm not a detailed person like I don't. I've lived out I'll be happy. You'll jog on the road with me and I'm like oh look there's a new McDonald's and you're like Heather that's been there for 15 years. Really. I've never seen that before so it's not that I'm into details but I've understood that if you don't have some structures in place if you don't have some routine set in place it's really easy to become inconsistent. That piece that you and I were talking about. So I just still I love going in and helping understand what people's goals are how they're trying to reach their audience whether it's through podcasting side note you should have a podcast if you have any interest it's amazing blogging whatever it may be and helping them become more consisted in it so they can reach the people they want to reach.

[00:28:44] You have a membership site for this or what. How do they work with you.

[00:28:48] Yeah sure it's the content lab. So Heatherparady.com/contentlab. It's like the joke. Think like a parody like a joke parody. Yeah it's all good. But yeah we just walk through the fundamentals of building a content plan and a system that keeps people on track. And side note part of that plan is a section called pivoting because you're always changing and you're always pivoting. And then to just providing that account accountability and community piece because I don't know about you but sometimes when you get started on this unconventional path and you start doing something a little bit outside of the box of your peers you feel kind of crazy you're like Who am I to why am I putting all my time and effort into this or that this isn't what normal people to like Am I nuts. And so understanding that there are other people out there who have the same ambitions as you and they had the same crazy dreams as you gives you a little bit of more stamina to stay in the game longer.

[00:29:51] I'm laughing here because I got over that that feeling of being weird ten years before you were born.

[00:29:58] Oh. I still have some time then.

[00:30:02] Oh my God. All the crazy stuff I've done I had a practical joke company. I don't know if you saw those things that had been a charter pilot that I went to Santa school just because I didn't want to go home for Christmas.

[00:30:16] That's why we're going to have a really good talk on our podcast.

[00:30:20] Yeah. So we're gonna be on your podcast pretty soon. I'm looking forward to that. So we got to take a brief break for our sponsor but when we come. Oh no. First before we do that. What is it.

[00:30:33] Heatherparady.com/contentlab.

[00:30:46] And then the in there is where the content lab link. All right beautiful. So make sure you check that out. We'll also have the show notes for everybody and we can take a brief sponsor break when we come back we're going to ask have Heather what a typical day looks like for her and how she stays motivated.

[00:31:07] Folks you know what colleges and universities are doing well according to gradeinflation.com. They're raising grade point averages to make it look like they're doing a better job of teaching when there's a mountain of evidence that says that they aren't. So I really want you to watch the eye opening higher education webinar at screwthecommute.com/webinars to potentially save yourself and possibly your loved ones friends and neighbors hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt when they go for higher education and be prepared to be mad because a lot of you know I have this TV show in development in Hollywood called scam brigade and I got to say some of the things that these colleges are doing. I would in my not so humble opinion would say are downright fraudulent. I just don't want to get caught up in it but I do want you to check out IMTCVA.org which is my school that can give you a lifestyle business in as little as six months. And it's made me a fortune and it could for you to check anyway check out that webinar at screwthecommute.com/webinars.

[00:32:15] All right. We're back with heaven. Heather heaven. Yeah. It's a heavenly talk here with Heather parady and and she works out of her home. Her husband's in the reserves in the military. She's got two beautiful daughters and she's making the lifestyle business for herself. Tell us what a typical day looks like for you. Like when you get up. What do you eat. Exercise. Take care of the kids all that stuff and then. What is it that keeps you motivated.

[00:32:49] Sure. So get up. Normally between four and 430.

[00:32:53] Wait a minute. I just fell off the chair. 4 o'clock in the morning you get up.

[00:32:59] Yes. Yeah. Let me let me let me give a defense to this for quick. I think you know especially I got in the habit of getting up early when I was in school and didn't have control over my calendar right now. Yes I could. I could sleep a little bit later and so forth I really learned the power of mornings because when is the one time in your in your day that no one is going to e-mail you no one is going to text you. No one's going to call you the kids aren't going to come in. It is literally like free you time and it's just a really incredible way to set your intention for the day. Have some time where you can really focus on what you want to create for that day. So I always get up do personal developments are reading journaling trying to learn meditation. I'm so ADD that it's really hard but I'm practicing. Gym go to my husband's a personal trainer. His business is on fitness though. We're very fitness oriented here. Not by choice but for me I just married into it but now I'm joking been into health for a while but workout and I normally if I hadn't made my schedule for the day during my personal betterment time I do it right after that. And it's different every day sometimes I go into I work one on one with clients and I'll spend a few hours doing that and then I'll work on more big picture stuff. Stuff with our content lab or courses and podcasting obviously is a huge piece of that normally do all of my podcasting on Fridays. I think batching is an incredible thing to do if you are a content creator because just saves a lot of time in the long run. You asked about food. I'm actually doing a really intense diet right now where I'm eating a lot of everything's measured out and I have these little mini meals throughout the day.

[00:34:50] You're no bigger than a bar of soap to start with.

[00:34:53] Yeah yeah well I'm trying to you know you can be thin but not healthy and you can be thin and not have strength and I've always been I've been a long distance runner I've done a lot of endurance races but I'm trying to learn especially as I'm getting older you know.

[00:35:07] Oh yeah yeah. Over the hill shut up just shut up I'm twice as old as you.

[00:35:14] I'll be thirty three this year which isn't old but in the same sentence important now to start thinking about putting putting on muscle and building up that strength. So eating a lot of protein and trying to drink more water I'm a coffee addict so I that's my weakness for sure in life. But we wrap up the day around five five thirty ish eat dinner with the family normally there's some kind of family activity at night in the evening I watch one Walking Dead episode I'm rewatching all of them and I know that's not a good habit but listen I love them like they were my family Rick Grimes is alive and well for those who are on the show and then I go to bed around eight thirty nine. My husband and I we've been trying to get in the habit of reading a book together on marriage or relationships just to kind of have some personal development within our relationship too but that's hit or miss depending on how late walking dead goes.

[00:36:12] So when you say read it together. You mean you actually read it together or you're reading the same book at the same time and talk about.

[00:36:21] Let me be honest this is what happens he'll read to me and I'll fall asleep while he's reading.

[00:36:26] The perfect relationship.

[00:36:28] And he said Heather you didn't listen and I said I'm listening subconsciously.

[00:36:33] Right. That's very cool. So how do you stay motivated to get up at 4 o'clock and get back into doing your business.

[00:36:42] Again that habit piece. I don't think it's a motivation as much as it is establishing habits for when you're unmotivated because I'm unmotivated half the time I second guess myself constantly sometimes I feel insecure weird or I'm I'm still struggling with my own mind set piece of leveling up every day and expecting more of myself. It's not just a one time thing. You beat this and it's over it's no we beat this then you have a new challenge to overcome so we're always leveling up.

[00:37:11] You mean you're not you're not absolutely perfect all the time mentally.

[00:37:15] Isn't it crazy. I don't understand.

[00:37:17] The old joke is I never met a therapist that didn't need one.

[00:37:22] I left that school thinking about how much I needed counseling and I didn't think I needed counseling before before school but definitely now. But yes I think it's it's not a matter of me staying motivated. It's about me executing still even despite the unmotivation.

[00:37:39] So again you keep going and progressing even if you don't feel like it that's a killer killer technique because a lot of people know they're going to go to McDonald's today they're going to they're going to go binge watch the Kardashians for three days.

[00:37:58] Well let me give you an example of it. If it helps just with an analogy and it's cool the parallels within our health and fitness and all of that. But on Sundays we always food prep and so I prepare my snacks my lunch everything and I all there's some food in this house I really would be tempted to eat because I don't have a lot of self-control but I keep all of my food in one place in the kitchen so I don't have to go looking around for different things and giving myself the option of backing out. Everything's already there it's already placed it's already planned and I don't have the option as I mean I would have to be deliberate to get off my food plan in the same sense with your business or anything if you have you know was it called guardrails guardrails into your own business where you you're accountable to yourself and I don't. It does look different for everybody but it's a good question to ask. How am I going to make sure I don't have the option. Well is it scheduling meetings early so you have to wake up. You know is it having an accountability partner or mastermind group. Is it making your calendar public to somebody that you trust so they know that you're staying on course or you know. I'll tell people all the time announce things before they're ready. Like if you say you want to write a book get on a freaking Facebook and say Hey guys guess what. November 1st my book comes out and everybody is excited and you're like Oh crap. Now I have to do it like hold yourself accountable.

[00:39:18] Tell you what I'm laughing about that because that was what I was going to chime in just now I announce stuff like I announced I was going to start a practical joke company. People are like You're crazy you know like you said if you're crazy you know you're on the right track. And I was about to be embarrassed and not do it. So I did it. It went worldwide public. You know publicity as though I'm going to buy a retreat center with no money down a million dollar property. Yes. You can't do that and say when people say you can't do it what they're saying is they can't do it. But by announcing that you scratch and crawl to do it because you don't want to be embarrassed to be a big dreamer and big B.S. You know. We're totally in line on that.

[00:40:02] Yeah I did that last year I announced on Facebook that I was going to do an Iron Man in Augusta and I didn't even know how to swim. Oh. So I yes I have announced it and said Hey I'm doing this Iron Man etc. than I was about three and a half months.

[00:40:22] All right. Well this iron human whatever human. But yes I mean I I learned fast.

[00:40:30] How did it go.

[00:40:32] Oh terrible almost died but I did it.

[00:40:34] Ok. Yeah. You think that you as long as it doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

[00:40:40] I hope I'm stronger. Literally almost died. It was. No one ever sign up and do something that great. Understood. It was cool.

[00:40:46] All right. So do you have any parting thoughts for we call him or screwballs that listen to this. Screw the commute show about about business or motivation or whatever you want.

[00:40:58] Just do things like go out and play and try and fail and mess up I guess it ideas are easy. It's not that you don't have the right idea it's that you won't take action on the ideas that you already have and I don't mean that to be you know condescending or rude but we have too many good people out there not doing the good work that is in them to do because they're afraid to mess up like here. Here's here's just a disclaimer you're going to mess up you're going to fail it's not going to work. But that's what successful people do is they're willing to put themselves out there and play and enjoy it and have fun and understand that it might not work but the next thing will.

[00:41:40] Beautiful words and somebody that's doing it like that came from from. I'd have to say crap beginning and climbed out of it because I wasn't any kind of rich kid or anything but you know I didn't have the stuff that you went through and I'm just so thrilled for you that you broke out of it and created a beautiful family create a beautiful business and things are only going to look up for you in the future. So thanks so much for coming on.

[00:42:06] I really appreciate you thank you so much.

[00:42:08] Ok. So check out the show notes folks. Check out her membership site because this is a woman that could really really help you in certain areas of your life. She's been through the training and she's doing it herself and the like we heard her. She admits she has flaws and any any of these gurus that come after you act like they're perfect. Put your wallet in your pocket and run the other direction. I can assure you in all the years I've been doing this, they're not. But I really have a lot of faith in her. She's very inspiring so. Check out the show notes that go over and check out her site. And we will see you all on the next episode. Catch ya later.

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