S1/E5 – Navigating Entrepreneurship Without Losing Yourself with Diana Davis

[00:00:00] Diana: I was desperate . I was at the lowest mental health place I had ever been. I was full of anxiety, not knowing when the next thing was coming. I had a six figure business. I was like crushing it. I was busy and I was doing 11 shoots a week. Every time I would see anyone, I was editing photos on my laptop .

[00:00:24] Like it was not great. And February of 2020, I remember crying on a Wednesday, breaking down totally on a Thursday I decided you need to get over yourself and make this happen. And I booked my week out for photo shoots, just like grinded, and then hired a business coach.

[00:00:42] ’cause I was like, I’m so over being in this vortex alone. And I think so often we think we just gotta do it alone. Even though if you had a quote unquote real job. You’d have a boss, you’d have all these people mentoring you or guiding you or at least telling you when to shut your laptop and that like, you should take some vacation days.

[00:01:03] So that’s why I hired that business coach. That first time was truly out of desperation. I had to be pushed off the cliff.

[00:01:11] Welcome to the Lucky Pup Podcast

[00:01:11] Morgan: Hey everyone. Welcome to the Lucky Pup Podcast, where we’re taking big ideas and weaving them together in a way that makes the big picture relatable, and hopefully also a bit inspirational and educational too. You’re gonna find candid and authentic conversations about the struggles we’ve encountered as we try to live more full and happy lives.

[00:01:28] I’m your host, Morgan Weber, and today I am joined by Diana Davis.

[00:01:33] Introducing Diana Davis: Entrepreneur and Business Coach

[00:01:33] Morgan: The theme of season one of this podcast is big ideas. . Diana is an amazing entrepreneur and business coach who is the definition of big ideas. I started our conversation thinking we would talk about confidence and clarity and making big leaps.

[00:01:48] Well, we ended up talking about how those things are also woven into money mindset, burnout, and fully showing up for yourself and for your clients. Diana has taken a remarkable journey in the last 15 years through some pretty major life shifts and evolutions. From growing up on a cattle ranch, becoming a published cookbook author and professional graphic designer to building a multiple six-figure photography business in New York City, and now traveling the world as a full-time nomad and business coach for creative entrepreneurs.

[00:02:17] Diana has a gift for letting her heart lead the way and knowing the value of her work and of herself while she does it. I cannot wait for you to join this conversation. We are inviting you to be present in the moment, and I hope that you can take a few minutes to push the noise and the clutter of the world away and just be here with us for a bit.

[00:02:37] So with that, here’s Diana.

[00:02:43] Well, Diana, I am so excited to have you here now. We met, I feel like several lifetimes ago,

[00:02:49] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: way there.

[00:02:51] Morgan: Multiple iterations of life have happened since we met. And why don’t you tell people about your current iteration where you are in, actually, you’re in Lisbon right now, right? So you are a creative entrepreneur, coach, and you traveled the world.

[00:03:05] So tell people a little bit about yourself.

[00:03:07] Diana: Yeah. Oh my gosh. We’ll start with this iteration. Um, I am a full-time nomad, and when I tell anyone that, especially on the street, they’re like, do you work? What do you do? How does that, you know, how does that work? And I tell them I own my own business. And I used to be a photographer and graphic designer, and that’s how you and I know each other in multiple, multiple ways of knowing each other back in the day.

[00:03:36] But, then after building my own entrepreneurship career through that and actually having it be successful, I was really passionate about coaching other creative entrepreneurs, how to build their businesses successfully, and just, you know, getting rid of the potholes that I really blew some tires on

[00:03:59] So that’s where I’m at right now. I coach creative entrepreneurs that could be anyone from a dog walker to a yogi, to a real estate agent as long as they’re heart centered. Photographers, graphic designers, watercolor artists, like all sorts of different people, chefs, nutritionists, and just really helping them gain confidence in their brand and themselves, and actually making the money they deserve.

[00:04:26] And, you know, doing it without the burnout.

[00:04:28] Morgan: Yeah. And I think some of the big things that you said there are, you know, it without the burnout. You, I, you and I have connected for over again, multiple things over the years. Like we

[00:04:39] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: started out,

[00:04:39] Morgan: um, we actually lived together on a floor in college

[00:04:43] and

[00:04:43] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: then we worked

[00:04:44] Morgan: together, um, at a fancy food store in college. And then been so fun to watch you, kind of again morph your career. And I feel like you and I are both people who really believe in that. Again, that heart-centered, that purpose-driven work. And it’s been so fun to see your purpose has stayed the same, it’s just evolved and changed, and you’ve made some really big leaps throughout your, you know, let’s say the last 10, 15 years, which I’d love to get into later. and again, just ditching the hustle culture and really believing in yourself. And I know you talk also a lot about money and money mindset and I think in the pet space, I’m sure you know like many other of your creative entrepreneurs that you work with. People get really afraid to ask for more money we’re afraid that our clients can’t afford it. We’re afraid, you know, for a number of reasons.

[00:05:39] The Importance of Money Mindset

[00:05:39] Morgan: And so how did you get into that money mindset? I know thinking back to college, you actually introduced me to Dave Ramsey. That was the first time

[00:05:48] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: I had,

[00:05:49] Morgan: I know, right? Like a bajillion years ago. And I had never thought about managing money that before. And, you know, people have lots of opinions about Dave Ramsey. But,

[00:06:00] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: um,

[00:06:00] Morgan: I think that money mindset part is, is the focus there of how you have you help empower people to, again, get them money. Because we can’t, we’re not doing this as our hobby. We’re not doing this for free, we’re not doing this as a charity. And so how do you help people balance Needing to pay the bills and getting the money that they deserve while also meeting, you know, everyone does have a budget, right? And so we can’t always be for everybody, but at the same time, you know, we do need to find that balance of paying our bills and also, you know, getting paid our worth.

[00:06:32] Diana: Yeah, absolutely. Oh my gosh. Hate mc. I can’t say that I like endorsed that now , but at the time I did what it needed

[00:06:41] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: this was, you know, this was

[00:06:42] Morgan: like 15 years ago, right?

[00:06:44] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: And, you know,

[00:06:45] Morgan: agreed. You know,

[00:06:46] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: actually, and one of the reasons

[00:06:47] Morgan: I was able to quit my full-time job to become a dog walker is because we followed a lot of the Dave Ramsey getting out of debt things. And so it was a lot easier to make that jump when I didn’t have a car loan and I didn’t have, you know, a bunch of consumer debt and things like that.

[00:07:02] So, yeah. Anyway,

[00:07:04] Track 1: Yeah. Yes. I mean, recommend getting comfy with your money. For sure. I’m a big advocate for that. I think, you know, it goes even back to, I was a, so Morgan and I met in Montana, like small town chicas, and we, um, did our own thing from there. But I actually moved to New York City without a job, without a plan.

[00:07:26] I was in debt. I was recently divorced, young, crazy. And I just was like, I’m gonna go and see what I can make of it. I was willing to work three waitressing jobs if I needed to. And I networked my way into, um, magazines as a graphic designer and I was like, holy shit. I can actually do my career like in New York City and be successful at it.

[00:07:51] Um, however, they were paying me very little. I actually was just talking to a client about this and. You know, $60,000 a year as a lancer in New York City is not sustainable. I’m just gonna like put that out there. It’s just not in New York City. Um, my people in like Colorado, Montana, maybe not now, but it just depends.

[00:08:14] But that number is very different, different

[00:08:16] Diana: locations, right. But I remember to negotiate a raise after being there for almost three years and becoming a creative director and all of these things that was so above my pay grade, no one would talk about what they were making.

[00:08:37] I could not figure out from anyone in the office what they were making and what was even feasible. Me to ask and that’s kind of when it all started for me. I was like, we need to talk about money more. Because if we don’t talk about money and how much we’re making, how much I’m getting paid as a dog walker, how much I’m getting paid as a photographer, how much I can charge for a private yoga class.

[00:09:05] The Value of Your Work and Charging Accordingly

[00:09:05] Diana: If you think it’s $25 but someone over here is making a hundred dollars an hour on it, you need to know that and we really need to like lift each other up and share that information.

[00:09:17] So that’s when I started getting like curious about the whole money thing and charging more. And whether you are in a full-time job or in your own thing, really having that worth there, like knowing your work is worth it. You know, we talk about our worth and I think you’re, I. Totally priceless , so that’s hard.

[00:09:41] But what is our work worth?

[00:09:43] Um, that’s when it all started. And I just think that as creative entrepreneurs specifically, or heart led people and businesses, we have such a hard time putting a price on it. We literally want to pay our clients to let us do the work versus them paying us. It’s like, I’ll, I’ll pay you to let me walk your dog

[00:10:08] Morgan: Mm-Hmm. And

[00:10:09] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: if we

[00:10:09] Morgan: don’t price ourselves correctly, we literally are essentially pay, especially if you have a team, you could be paying your clients for the opportunity to have your team walk your, their dog for them. Because Yeah, if you don’t, again, you said getting comfortable with that money, you might not know those numbers are.

[00:10:26] Diana: Yeah, and that’s when we get really clear on that kind of stuff. It’s like, let’s dig into the actual numbers. Let’s dig into what you actually are looking to make in your like gross revenue at the end of the year. And are you needing to charge $75 an hour to get to that number? But you’re actually at the end of the day with all the work and the client back and forth and the editing, the photos, or you know, whatever else goes into your business and the package, are you actually making like $15 an hour and you may as well go get a job at McDonald’s?

[00:11:02] So getting clear with your money. But I also even just had a biz clarity session with a client, a long-term client who used to just like cringe at the money conversation and now she’s like, . I will not jump on a plane. She’s a photographer. I will not jump on a plane for less than 10 K.

[00:11:21] And I’m just like, Bravo.

[00:11:23] Like we’re finally there. And it’s not just because we’re entitled and we’re like, I can charge whatever I want. It’s really about the value. So I think that’s the answer to my question is, or to your question, what is the value that you’re bringing to these people if you are walking their dog, what else are they able to do with their day?

[00:11:45] Are they able to make a thousand dollars because you took care of something for them?

[00:11:50] Track 1: Are

[00:11:51] Diana: they able to, you know, spend time with their kids? Are they able to go on vacation? Are they, what is adding to their life that you are helping them do? And that’s worth more than 25 bucks,

[00:12:04] Track 1: you

[00:12:04] Diana: know? And this $10,000 flight.

[00:12:10] Conversation client. She has also implemented someone as a middleman between her and the client

[00:12:17] so that she is not so, uh, just easily led to temptation, to negotiate and just say yes, no matter what they say

[00:12:28] Track 1: and really

[00:12:29] Diana: bend over backwards and then ending up screwing herself. So doing what you need to do to protect that.

[00:12:35] Morgan: Absolutely. And I think when you’re talking about this client who has to get on an airplane, you know, I was having a, a conversation about, uh, speaker fees with somebody

[00:12:45] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: and someone who

[00:12:46] Morgan: said like, oh, I can’t believe they’re charging $10,000 or $5,000 for a keynote speech. Like it’s just 30 minutes on stage.

[00:12:52] And it’s like, yeah, it might be 30 minutes on stage, but they probably had to travel eight hours, maybe both ways. They’ve got, you know, hotel rooms, they’ve got food and they had to practice and put together the speech and that could have taken them months or even years. And so we don’t always consider the behind the scenes.

[00:13:11] And I think especially with service providers, like you said, all of that admin work. when I set my prices a couple years ago, I was like, oh yeah, and I’ve got, you know, my overhead and I’ve got my profit and then I’m good and as, and then as we went, like that was fine. But now that we have a bigger team, there is considerably more admin work. And so if you’re not taking all the admin work into account, well there’s nothing left over. And you know, and so many people say, well I’ll just take what’s left over at the end of the month and like, that’ll be my money that I take home and put it, you know, put my own personal bank account. But if we’re not clear on that, all of that extra work, we are gonna be significantly shortchanging ourselves.

[00:13:48] Diana: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I even think of. I have a print of this somewhere in a storage unit ’cause I don’t have stuff anymore ’cause I travel all the time. But the Picasso drawing where apparently, I can’t remember the story exactly, but she comes up to him, asks him to draw a portrait of her. He does this like line drawing and it takes him literally like five minutes and he charges like an astronomical amount for it.

[00:14:17] And she’s like, what do you mean? Like that took you five minutes. And he’s like, it took me my whole life. And it’s just that realization of you’re paying people for their expertise, not just their time and their grunt work.

[00:14:31] Morgan: Yeah, true. And that mindset can be really hard to wrap around. Again, like we said, especially for people who are heart-centered, they don’t, like you said, they might even be really uncomfortable talking about money. And I have a, don’t, you know, don’t tell my perspective clients this, but I have a, uh, office administrator who answers my email, well, it’s me, I answer my email, but it has a different name on it

[00:14:59] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: and

[00:14:59] Morgan: it does sometimes add just that little bit of like social lubrication.

[00:15:03] So it’s not me telling them no, olive is telling them no, which is my dog’s name, right back there. Like Olive is telling them no. And um, it can just help. Disconnect just that little bit. And so, um, you know, again, kinda that, that money mindset is sometimes maybe we have to just disconnect ourselves a little bit from that conversation.

[00:15:23] Diana: totally. I love that. I love that you shared that too. Now people are gonna be like, I know what Olive is.

[00:15:29] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: I

[00:15:29] Diana: I know.

[00:15:30] Morgan: olive is fake folks. Olive is, well, I mean the dog is real, but the

[00:15:35] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: the,

[00:15:35] Morgan: the person is fake. Um, and I guess, do you have any other tips for folks maybe when they’re trying to even consider having that, that, that disconnect money, be conversation about the money versus the value versus, know, the work that they’re doing and having to kind of maybe decouple the emotion out

[00:15:53] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: of the

[00:15:53] Morgan: money conversation?

[00:15:54] Because, you know, again, especially when we’re at the beginning of any business, we tend to say, I just need people. And even if I, you know, need a discount, like it’s worth it. ’cause I just need people in the door. I mean, do you have any, any recommendations for folks about that kind of stuff?

[00:16:08] Diana: Yeah, I almost kind of like reverse psychology vibes. I like to put almost more emotion into it, where even as an example, I always tell my clients and my people deciding what people can afford. ’cause we’re going, oh, but our people can’t afford it and there’s not people out there who will pay that.

[00:16:32] Deciding what people can afford and will prioritize is actually discrimination. So if we put more emotional charge on it, where it’s like, you’re actually discriminating, do you wanna be doing that? Probably not. So maybe we can like kind of reverse that and let our,, our worth shine and they get to decide whether they wanna be a part of it.

[00:16:56] And so that can just, these little reframes. Another one that I love because we’re all people pleasers or recovering people pleasers. I feel like especially as entrepreneurs and heart led people, um, I loved the perspective that people pleasing is actually manipulative because we are trying to. You know, act in a certain way where people will feel a certain way about us, they will accept us, they will like us, they will make us feel comfortable.

[00:17:27] So it’s actually manipulative. So when I think about pleasing like that, instead of like, oh, but I’m just being nice. I kind of go, wait a minute. I need to kind of back off and give people their sovereignty. So there’s a lot of those type of reframes that I think are really helpful. Um, and then looking at money just as an energy exchange.

[00:17:47] So what are you going to be excited to show up for? Because if you charge $30 for something, you should be charging $200 some you’re gonna get into that thing and resent it. And your people, your customers do not deserve that kind of energy. But you also have to think about their side of things. So for example, I have a group course called Camp Clarity that helps people build their businesses.

[00:18:13] It’s . Several thousand dollars. It’s 90 days. We have two calls a week. That kind of stuff doesn’t really matter. Like who caress how many hours it is. It’s about the results, right? And how much that means to them. But if I charged a couple hundred dollars for it, they’d show up to a couple calls and be like, you know what, I’m out.

[00:18:31] Because that’s what us humans do these days. We have a short attention span. We don’t follow through on a lot of stuff. So what is the energy exchange where they are going to show up for the thing they have skin in the game, they’re not going to cancel on you last minute, et cetera. Right? And what’s the energy exchange where you are gonna be excited to show up for them?

[00:18:54] I almost guarantee if someone has people ghosting them or canceling or changing a lot of things, it’s because you’re not charging enough.

[00:19:03] Morgan: And people would think that’d be the opposite. They would think, oh, I’m charging too much. They’re more likely to cancel, on me to find the cheaper person. And that does happen a lot in the pet sitting world, especially as we get closer, like to recessions, just historically, people go out and they find the, you know, the high school or you know, the next door neighbor to check on their pets or their, their family member or something. But again, those are the people who aren’t valuing that energy exchange and that, I am hiring this person and I get peace of mind and I can go and enjoy my vacation or I can go and enjoy my, whatever, you know, family activity. Or I had somebody who called me the other day because their, um, family member, unexpectedly had to go into the hospital.

[00:19:44] There is a value to that peace of mind that that person can be fully present with their family member who needs them, and they don’t have to worry about what’s going on at home.

[00:19:53] I have, I know when I get into burnout, I start to resent everything And that’s, that’s my own gut check. When I start to resent that the phone keeps ringing or I start to resent that I’ve gotta go out and visit somebody else again. It’s that moment of, needs to change

[00:20:09] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: and I need

[00:20:10] Morgan: to take a break, or I need to take a step back or I need to

[00:20:13] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: reevaluate

[00:20:13] Morgan: what’s going on. And I know that you are also really big on, again, ditching the hustle and, and that ditching burnout because you’ve been there as well.

[00:20:22] Diana: Totally. Totally.

[00:20:24] Avoiding Burnout and Prioritizing Self-Care

[00:20:24] Diana: And I think one of the biggest things we don’t do, because we’re quote unquote married to our businesses or married to our jobs or whatever, is we don’t put ourselves first. And that sounds so cliche in this self-care trendy world, but it’s true. It’s like, what are the things that actually fill your cup?

[00:20:45] And are you doing them? I feel like cooking for me is a big one. I love it. It’s meditative. I don’t do it as often as I could, and when I’m starting to feel burnt out, it’s like, oh, I’m not making time or literally blocking out my calendar so my lunch doesn’t get booked over so I can eat.

[00:21:07] You know, these simple little things. Are you putting that stuff in the calendar first then building the rest around it? I always love, like, did you have the pine cone in the rice analogy kind of science experiment as a kid in

[00:21:23] Morgan: I don’t

[00:21:24] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: think so.

[00:21:25] Diana: where you’re like, if you, you know, have a jar of rice and you put a pine cone in it, it will not go in, right?

[00:21:31] Like you cannot get it in that jar. But if you put the pine cone first, the rice, the same amount of rice can like. Around it.

[00:21:40] So that’s the vibe with putting our pine cone or our ourself first, and then the rest will fall into place around it. But it has to have that structure

[00:21:50] Morgan: Mm-Hmm, had a presentation that I gave recently that talked very much about that, which is, um, do you even have a hobby anymore?

[00:21:59] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: And when

[00:22:00] Morgan: we don’t make time for the things that fill us up, like we think, you know, I’ve gotta work more and I’ve gotta work harder and I’ve gotta work as many hours in the day as I possibly can. And I challenged people. I gave them a calendar and it was like an hour breakdown of the whole day. And I said, okay, well I want you to, you know, put in first how do you norm? Like what hours do you normally work? So if you’re out doing visits, you’re out doing admin work, whatever that looks like, fill in your calendar. Okay, well next, now you’ve gotta eat, you’ve gotta sleep. You’re probably showering, you know, doing errands. Fill that stuff in. And is there anything left over? You know, ’cause so many of us think about doing our hobbies last, or people who, there were a lot of people in the room who said, I don’t even have a hobby and. Like you said, when we try to fit the fun stuff in life in last, it probably isn’t gonna fit because we

[00:22:47] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: do fill

[00:22:47] Morgan: it up with work first because we think my clients need me, they need this email answered, they need whatever, we don’t stop and make time for ourselves.

[00:22:56] Diana: Right, which makes us not be able to show up for our clients.

[00:23:00] So if we’re flipping it reverse psychology, it’s actually like you have to take care of yourself or you’re gonna kind of suck as someone to hire

[00:23:10] Morgan: Yeah. Because this kind of tumultuous economy time, if people aren’t seeing that value that they are expecting to see, especially if you can’t show up and do the work that they are expecting you to do, it’s not going to, Help continue that relationship. And they might be more likely to go find that, that neighbor or that high school kid. But when you show up with all of your energy and be excited to do it, and how that then connects to the money and connects to the, the burnout. You know, all of those things are so interconnected and a lot of times we think about money as being the separate piece, really it’s, it’s connected to everything.

[00:23:49] Diana: It’s everything. Totally.

[00:23:51] Morgan: So for you two you have made some, I mentioned kind of earlier you made some big jumps and some big leaps in your life. And from moving from on a ranch moving to New York City with no job

[00:24:06] Diana: Yep.

[00:24:07] Morgan: um, and now again, recently you made another big jump to being a full-time nomad and There’s a lot of confidence that needs to come when you make big jumps like that. Even if it’s not necessarily the confidence in, I know I can make this work, but even the confidence of, I know I can’t stay here any longer and this version of life is not serving me the way I feel I need to be served. Um, how did you find that confidence or find the, the guts to make those huge changes in life? Because they’re, no, those aren’t small changes. Those are not like, I’m gonna like, you know, just maybe work a few hours less, or I’m gonna, you know, pick up this little side job like you made wholesale life changes.

[00:24:49] Diana: Right. Yeah, that’s a really good question.

[00:24:52] The Power of Self-Trust and Personal Development

[00:24:52] Diana: Um, I think it all boils down to self-trust and really working that muscle. And, you know, I’ve dealt with a lot of anxiety. I. Since I was in college, I feel like, and there was always, you know, the drill being, you know, prior architect, me being in graphic design and photography.

[00:25:16] My first example of this was the gate, which was the portfolio review you had to pass

[00:25:20] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: Mm-Hmm.

[00:25:22] Diana: And there were people who didn’t pass it. So it wasn’t just like this fake thing. It really was a lot of pressure. And I stressed about it and stressed about it and stressed about it. And I finally, my dad actually told me, so I’m a very spiritual person.

[00:25:36] I would say I’m not religious, but I do believe in energy and things in the universe happening for us. And I think I would go crazy if I didn’t. Um, but my dad is very spiritual as well, and I remember him saying like, if God has something else in store for you, you should be so excited

[00:25:58] Morgan: Hmm.

[00:25:58] Diana: because if it’s not this, it’s just gonna be better.

[00:26:03] I really operate and have to mentally from a place of it’s all working out for me and I’m on this path that I cannot even screw it up. Even if I take a detour, I’m gonna come back to my path that I’m meant to walk if I’m listening to myself. So kind of being able to take those leaps when they felt like they needed to happen.

[00:26:29] And it’s truly just like a knowing. And I’ve done a lot of work to tune into that. And I think the personal development work is just as important as the business coaching and the things, you know, um, even say like with money, if we make a million dollars but we can’t appreciate it and can’t hold it. What are you gonna do with that?

[00:26:53] You know, you’re gonna be still stressed out, still miserable, wanting more. It’s never enough. So there’s so much personal development work that needs to happen. And I would just say that those leaps were, you know, the New York one, getting divorced, even like trusting myself with that. Um, as well as when I got laid off, like going full-time into entrepreneurship versus trying to find a job and then going nomadic.

[00:27:21] It just all was desires that I had, that I listened to. And I really love analogies in general. Obviously at this point, you guys know that, but the analogy of if you have a desire, it’s like. Your cosmic blueprint, like you are meant to have that desire. If it is truly yours and you’re not borrowing it from somebody else, you are meant to follow it and there’s something there for you.

[00:27:49] So just trusting that those things are there for you and you can, you will make it work.

[00:27:55] Morgan: Mm, I love it. Um, I’m a, I’m an very emotional person and

[00:28:01] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: I just get

[00:28:01] Morgan: like emotional listening to people who have such, I don’t know, I don’t know if, I don’t wanna necessarily use the word purpose because I,

[00:28:12] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: I don’t

[00:28:12] Morgan: feel like that’s quite the, quite the right word here, but just such determination perhaps,

[00:28:19] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: or

[00:28:19] Morgan: persistence for continuing to move forward. And I really resonated when you were talking about kind of this, the universe providing,

[00:28:28] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: because

[00:28:29] Morgan: I know when I, well, even kind of going back to of, I graduated in the middle of a huge recession and there were, I think like Only a handful of job openings for architects, like within the region. And like, there was just not a lot of options. And there were a lot of firms that I really didn’t wanna work for, but I was like, what if this is my only option? You know? And I just, throughout the years, whenever I’ve come to a sticky spot, or when I was deciding to leave my architecture job and going full-time as a pet sitter, and then, um, even for, you know, starting this podcast or starting to do a little bit of speaking, I have had these moments where I just sit and I just have like a quiet moment and I said, you know, God, whatever you wanna call this, this energy in the world, just show me the next step.

[00:29:24] Like, I will go anywhere. I will go do, I’ll do anything but help me figure out what that next step is. And it hasn’t served me wrong yet.

[00:29:34] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: And

[00:29:35] Morgan: it’s just, again, you know, we don’t always know where we’re going, like you said, and we might take a detour or. You know, you get turned down for something and I just try to remind myself, well, that means it’s not yet.

[00:29:46] Diana: Mm-Hmm.

[00:29:47] Morgan: No is not. No. Forever. It might be not yet. So, you know, I might have submitted for a speaker piece and I didn’t get it. Well, that just means the next time it comes around and I do get a yes, like I’m gonna be so much more ready for it the second time around than I was the first time around. But I just, there is something to be said about this belief or this energy of feeling like, yep, this is my next step. And or wrong, I believe it’s correct.

[00:30:14] Diana: Yeah. Yeah. That faith, like unwavering faith and I think for people, know, if you resonate even more to just your higher self.

[00:30:23] Morgan: Hmm

[00:30:24] Diana: You know, it can be just you and the person who is detached from the ego who doesn’t have this like voice going, what the hell do you think you’re doing? Who? Who do you think you are?

[00:30:37] That’s never gonna work. It’s that inner knowing of, no, this is really something I’m meant to go after. And one of the things I really love lately that just makes me choke up every time. I heard this meditation from a friend that she led, where you kind of go and meet your 90 year old self and she doesn’t know, it’s like in the cosmos kind of vibe.

[00:31:01] She doesn’t even know what timeline you’re coming from. And so you tell her and she’s like, Ugh, I love that part. And it’s just like, how would you wanna live from your 90 year old self? What does that look like for you?

[00:31:19] Morgan: mm-Hmm. And I love how that kind of goes. And I don’t know if the word contentment is correct. Maybe fulfillment is better than contentment, but finding that fulfillment in whatever stage you happen to be in. Um, there’s a book that I love and my friends are gonna laugh because I’m like the evangelist of this book, but it’s called The Gap in the Game. And it’s about seeing the world not as your gaps, but seeing them as gains you’ve already made.

[00:31:49] when we’re always living in the gap, always living in the want and the without.

[00:31:54] Redefining Success and Contentment

[00:31:54] Morgan: can never be satisfied. And when we kind of flip our definitions of success or we flip our view of contentment. That makes it so much easier to enjoy the here and now and to be proud of ourselves for how far we’ve come not be looking at the gap of how far we have yet to go.

[00:32:14] So to pull your example from earlier is, sure you made a million bucks, but what does that matter if all you’re looking at is, well, I need to make 2 million bucks to be happy, or I need to, you know, again, this idea of borrowing other people’s dream. I love how you said that because you know, if I said, man, I wanna be, I’m gonna be Diana and I’m gonna travel the world, well that might not make me happy.

[00:32:38] You know, each of us has our own definition of what makes a fulfilling life. And if we’re borrowing that from somebody else, or we’re using society’s of what success means and it doesn’t fit us, it’s not gonna fill us because we don’t, we don’t have that connection to it.

[00:32:55] Diana: Absolutely. Totally.

[00:32:57] The Role of Support in Business Growth

[00:32:57] Morgan: For these, you know, these changes and these evolvements that you’ve gone through. you wanna talk a little bit about the, the support that maybe your business has gotten to allow

[00:33:08] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: this to

[00:33:09] Morgan: happen? Like, you are not a one-woman show. You know, you are very, if anybody follows you on, on your social media, you’re very vocal about how you’ve had support to help make this happen. And

[00:33:19] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: for

[00:33:19] Morgan: a lot of people who maybe are a solopreneur who don’t have that support, it feels maybe unattainable because there is a dollar amount that is connected to that. And we need to have room and a budget to be able to make those kind of decisions. which again goes back to that money mindset, but, you know, you’ve had a lot of support.

[00:33:37] And how has that helped you, you know, achieve what your current business is or along the way, maybe?

[00:33:44] Diana: Yeah. Hmm. Um, for the first like three years of my career as a photographer on my own, I. , I didn’t have support.

[00:33:54] Morgan: Mm-Hmm.

[00:33:55] The Game Changer: Hiring a Business Coach

[00:33:55] Diana: And that’s why I can say getting support was the biggest game changer I’ve ever had. So I hired my first business coach three years in February, 2020.

[00:34:09] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: I love how you know,

[00:34:09] Morgan: the date.

[00:34:10] Diana: I know, didn’t know the pandemic was happening and so glad that I had her and had that perspective.

[00:34:20] Um, so that’s a big support it’s just so important to have someone reflect to you that’s not right here, you know, has their nose on your business. They need that outside perspective to really fill the holes, see where you could level up, et cetera. You know, I always say a basketball player in the NBA still has a coach.

[00:34:44] Sometimes it’s just that simple little like, move your elbow over to the left a quarter of an inch and you’ll sink the three free throws.

[00:34:53] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: Mm-Hmm.

[00:34:53] Track 1: Right? That was a throwback just now. I used to call them three throws back in the day. I don’t know anybody else, , but even NBA players have a coach and it’s those little tiny tweaks.

[00:35:05] So from coaching, once I started coaching, I was, first of all, it was the ROI was insane because I was able to make these tweaks that made a major difference. I was able to have accountability. I was able to have someone just guide me and like my shotgun rider with the map, you know, go around. Like I said earlier, the pothole or this detour isn’t a good one, let’s keep going.

[00:35:30] Um, having someone who’s done it before and been through it is huge. And that’s what I attest to. Instead of the gap, the gain of going through it myself for those three years, even though I could have skyrocketed with a coach, I was able to really understand what other people are going through

[00:35:50] Diana: by going through it myself.

[00:35:52] Then I ended up a coach full-time in 2020, um, kind of unknowingly that I was doing this already launched mentorship sessions and it just kind of rolled from there. And now I have a group course. I’ve launched 10 times in a mastermind and we run retreats and we’re hosting our next one in Ecuador and we’re building a community and all of these things.

[00:36:16] The Power of Delegation and Outsourcing

[00:36:16] Diana: I did hire a team. I was very resistant to it because most of the time when we hire a team, we are busy. And why we need to hire a team is ’cause we don’t have time. And we’re like, how can we train a team when I’m drowning? Right? And so little tiny, I actually have a podcast episode on my podcast called Pollen about the things to get ready to hire a team.

[00:36:41] If you wanna dig in there, that will be way more efficient. But even things like recording, I use loom.com. So you can do a voiceover and it can be in a folder and dah, dah, dah, dah, recording every little move you make in your business while you’re already doing it. So if you are gonna send an invoice, record yourself doing it so that you have a vault for someone to come in and assist you with it so you don’t have to train them hands-on da da da, right?

[00:37:09] So those are just little simple tips. Um, but also the idea that we need to be in our zone of genius. And this comes from the book, the Big Leap, which is a good one I highly recommend. And . If we talk about this example of the CEO buys a printer and instead of hiring the Geek Squad from Best Buy to install it, he tries to install it himself and it takes him literally 17 hours and a lot of frustration picture, even if he charges a hundred dollars an hour as ACEO at the end of the day, and he is not trading time for money, but that’s what he equates to.

[00:37:50] You know, that’s a lot of money that he just $1,700 for installing a printer that cost probably 250 bucks when he could have paid the Geek Squad in their zone of Genius, 20 bucks to do it.

[00:38:03] Track 1: So that’s kind of the idea that maybe we don’t have the budget, quote unquote, to hire a team. But actually by hiring before we think we’re ready or just outsourcing even.

[00:38:15] And I’m not saying having someone on your payroll, that’s not what I’m saying, just getting support, even if they’re a contractor, if we do that, we actually have the capacity to be the visionary of our businesses and think more and build these other products and think about, oh my gosh, I wanna host a a retreat in Ecuador in February.

[00:38:37] If I was the one sending out every little email and every little invoice and fixing every little tech thing that was wrong, I would not have the capacity to build my business bigger and better. So you kind of have to think of it like an investment in the stock market. Like it’s gonna go up over time.

[00:38:56] Right.

[00:38:57] Morgan: Yeah, absolutely. I we’ll say, finally hired my bookkeeper this year

[00:39:03] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: and I’ve been doing

[00:39:03] Morgan: my own books because I could, doesn’t mean I was one any good at it. I mean like I was decent. I wasn’t making grave errors But like my accountant wasn’t super thrilled at the end of the year where I’m like, Hey Michael, I just need to sit down with you for another three hours and kind of get these last little things tied up, you know? and I was amazed. So this year I’ve handed off my bookkeeping and I’ve handed off our invoicing to a team member and a couple other, and she started doing scheduling as well. And I have been amazed because sending out invoices didn’t take that much time. Doing the scheduling didn’t take that much time. But cumulatively the brain power that I’ve gotten back, not having to worry about some of the scheduling and all of the invoicing or any of the bookkeeping has been so freeing. And I was like, man,

[00:39:57] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: I.

[00:39:58] Morgan: I actually do have time to start this podcast. I have time to start these other things that I’m thinking about and working on. And I didn’t get back that much physical time, but it has made a brain time amount of difference because bookkeeping not a great, you know, not the, not my zone of genius. out invoices not something that I needed to be doing. I didn’t need to be spending, anybody could be sending out our invoices, you know?

[00:40:25] So those little things have made such a big difference just in, again, we think about that energy exchange,

[00:40:30] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: the energy

[00:40:31] Morgan: that I have. ’cause I, I’m not thinking, oh God, I really need to go do the invoicing or you know, and great, my cash flow is a lot better ’cause our invoices are actually getting sent out twice a week.

[00:40:42] and there’s money in the bank. I can pay everybody. You know, that, that also is a big deal. Um, so those little things can make A, when you think about, and again, investment, like you said, the investment of handing those things off has paid off, you know, exponentially more than just that time exchange that I’ve gotten back.

[00:40:59] Diana: Totally. That’s such a good way to think about it. Absolutely. And I, even when I had a house , I would hire a cleaner, which as a little ranch girl, I thought that was the snubbies thing to do. Like you were so entitled to hire a cleaner, but it was, it alleviated so much for me, it’s like, I don’t wanna clean this house.

[00:41:21] I’m thinking about cleaning the house all week. Like, oh my God, I’m gonna have to clean the house. But my partner at the time, we had so many fights about cleaning the house, like it alleviated so much. And then you’re also supporting someone else in their zone of genius and their business, and she gets paid to do what, you know, put her headphones in and do her thing.

[00:41:40] So I think it’s a win-win win on all front. That’s,

[00:41:43] Morgan: Yeah. I’ve recently heard the example of when you do things yourself, whether that’s you’re not hiring an employee, you’re not hiring a contractor or a service provider, you are stealing somebody else’s job.

[00:41:55] Diana: yeah.

[00:41:55] Morgan: I had never thought of it like that until I read that sentence and I said, like that’s powerful. You know, when we can hand off, even if it’s a couple hours a week, like you are taking that as somebody else’s work that somebody else could be doing and they could probably be doing it better than you. And you know, like that, that is how, know, that’s how our whole economy works, right? Like if people weren’t hiring us to walk their dogs, or you know, for you to be helping people walk through their businesses, Makes such a difference in their end goal. And sometimes, you know, we forget that we are not always our best or our, our most perfect clients. You know,

[00:42:38] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: like sometimes

[00:42:39] Morgan: the dog walker isn’t hiring the dog Walker to, to

[00:42:42] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: walk their

[00:42:42] Morgan: own dog. Like

[00:42:43] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: their dog is

[00:42:44] Morgan: just, you know, waiting for their walk. And we come home and tired at the end of the day.

[00:42:48] And I think that kind of goes back to again, deciding what people can afford.

[00:42:51] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: Because if

[00:42:52] Morgan: we, as a, a service provider say, well, I wouldn’t pay that, you know, that doesn’t mean that your client wouldn’t pay that.

[00:43:00] Diana: Right. So true. So, so true. Most of the time we wouldn’t maybe hire ourselves, which we need to like get curious about that

[00:43:09] Morgan: Yeah. So true. and so I guess maybe going back to, you know, you hired your first coach February of 2020,

[00:43:17] not knowing was, what the world was about to, to shift and change, um, What made you decide to, to finally hire that coach? Like was it, was there something in your business or in yourself that you said, yep.

[00:43:29] Like, now is the time

[00:43:31] Diana: I was desperate . I was at the lowest mental health place I had ever been. I was full of anxiety, not knowing when the next thing was coming. I had a six figure business. I was like crushing it. I was busy and I was doing 11 shoots a week. Every time I would go home to see anyone, I was editing photos on my laptop in the, in the car.

[00:43:57] Like it was not great. And February of 2020, I remember I did a content trip basically to Montana. So I was living in New York and I traveled to Montana and I was gonna have shoots ideally during that time, and they were gonna pay me, and I hadn’t had anyone booked for that. And I had made maybe a thousand dollars that month in New York City, which my rent was like twice that.

[00:44:29] And I was just so, so, so low. I remember crying on a Wednesday, breaking down totally on a Thursday. I decided you need to get over yourself and make this happen. And I reached out to like 50 entrepreneurs and businesses in Montana, booked my week out for photo shoots, just like grinded, and then hired a business coach.

[00:44:53] ’cause I was like, I’m so over being in this vortex alone. And I think so often we’re as entrepreneurs, specifically, maybe as moms, there’s a lot of different roles around this where we think we just gotta do it alone. Even though like think about corporate, like if you had a quote unquote real job. You’d have a boss, you’d have colleagues, you’d have a manager, you’d have all these people mentoring you or guiding you or at least telling you when to shut your laptop and that like, you should take some vacation days.

[00:45:32] So I think that’s a huge thing to realize we don’t need to do it alone. So that’s why I hired that business coach. That first time was truly out of desperation. Like, and that’s unfortunately 80% of my time. It’s that I actually don’t decide for myself.

[00:45:54] I end up rock bottom and have to decide.

[00:45:58] You know, it was like when I got laid off, I wasn’t gonna just quit and go do entrepreneurship.

[00:46:05] That wasn’t gonna happen. I had to be pushed off the cliff. So the universe and I, we have an interesting relationship.

[00:46:13] Morgan: Yeah. I’m a big of catalyst moments, and I’m also a big believer that you shouldn’t have to have catastrophic catalyst moment to make a change.

[00:46:25] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: There

[00:46:26] Morgan: It is. Because I, I feel like your story is the most common, you know, um, I have a similar story of my husband got cancer and my dog died within three weeks of each other.

[00:46:37] And it was this moment of, I can’t keep working like this. Because what if, you know, it’s the what ifs. What if, if this was the end, is this what I want our story to be?

[00:46:48] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: And,

[00:46:49] Morgan: and do I want that to be? I’m working all the time and I say no to everything because I put everybody else first and I put my clients first, and I put my business first, and therefore there’s no time left for anything else. Um, and I, I hate that for so many of us, that is what creates change.

[00:47:08] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: And it’s

[00:47:09] Morgan: like, how amazing could it be if we didn’t have to have that rock bottom moment or that desperation moment or that, my God, what if moment in order to live a better life? And

[00:47:21] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: how much farther

[00:47:22] Morgan: could we be if we didn’t have to wait for that moment for the universe to slap us upside the head and say, a move on. What are you

[00:47:30] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: waiting for?

[00:47:32] Morgan: I just, the change that we could have is, is so great.

[00:47:36] Diana: So true. Yeah. And yeah, it’s all a part of it. And I think there’s like this growth measurement even I’ve been saying over the last, um. years. Like the more like the faster I can regulate myself, I’m like, yeah, , like we’re winning this, we’re growing. And it’s kind of the same with that. Like how fast can you change the any negative thing in your life?

[00:48:06] You know, how fast can you alchemize versus just wallowing in it? And I feel like that gets better and better and better every time.

[00:48:15] Morgan: mm-Hmm. a saying on my computer for a very long time that says, uh, I, it’s like some like quote from Michelangelo or, you know, da Vinci or something, but it says, um, people of consequence don’t wait for things to happen to them. They go out and they happen to things.

[00:48:34] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: And I think

[00:48:35] Morgan: there is some of that of, again, kind of that if you, if you’re not satisfied, if you’re not currently fulfilled, if you’re currently not finding joy in life. you can change it.

[00:48:46] you don’t have to wait for these things to continue to happen to you. Like you can go out and make a change.

[00:48:51] The Power of Small Joys and Being Present

[00:48:51] Morgan: And I know, you lately have been talking about, um, like joy moments,

[00:48:56] Diana: Mm.

[00:48:57] Morgan: And you posted, I think on Instagram stories, maybe you know, you noticed something one day and it just brought you joy.

[00:49:05] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: And,

[00:49:06] Morgan: um, a few days later I had, you know, something similar where it was this, this guy was putting away electronic, like mobility scooter at, um, at a, at a resort hotel place. And he was driving one by sitting on it and like driving the second one by holding onto the handle. And it just made me giggle because it was like he’s just, you know, cruising along, pulling another little buddy with him.

[00:49:29] It’s like two horses going side

[00:49:30] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: by side.

[00:49:31] Morgan: And I was like, oh, that just makes me happy. And then like

[00:49:33] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: the next

[00:49:34] Morgan: day there was a duck in the swimming pool and I was like, Ugh, that just makes me happy. And

[00:49:39] when you can find sometimes those little moments of joy, like you said, even when things, the rest of the world might be on fire.

[00:49:47] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: But

[00:49:47] Morgan: if I can find one little moment today, sometimes that’s, that’s a difference maker.

[00:49:53] Diana: Yeah, absolutely. And I think we, you know, we were talking, this whole theme is kind of just to be present.

[00:50:01] Morgan: Mm-Hmm.

[00:50:02] Diana: how present can you be in your life and in your business and what is actually worth your time and what’s not, and how can you make it more collaborative and all these themes and, you know, just going to, like earlier, I’m sitting in Lisbon.

[00:50:20] I got here yesterday. I am in a new little nook. This place is probably 300 years old, legitimately, if not more. And my desk is in the middle of the room and the sunset sets outside my window and the sun comes in on my laptop. And I have a sticker on there that’s reflecting rainbows all over the room.

[00:50:40] And that usually doesn’t happen because my desk is usually at the wall and that’s not possible. And I’m like, wow. You know, it’s just these tiny little things of what matters. Like all we have is now, and again, cliche, cliche, but it’s so true. So if we can even challenge ourselves to do, write down in our notes 10 small joys a day legitimately to the, you know, one, the first one I wrote down on this little project was I was in the San Francisco airport and I was on one of those like flat escalators.

[00:51:17] I don’t even know what.

[00:51:18] Morgan: walkway, right?

[00:51:19] Diana: the moving walkways, I’m like, is it an escalator? If it’s flat? Um, it was a moving walkway and I was on it and it was like a trampoline. And I was like, this is fun. It was just like bouncier than normal . And I felt like this, my inner child was like, this is really fun. And that was my first little joy that I put on this

[00:51:38] list. And we can just snap like we get to decide if we are enjoying a moment or enjoying our day or any of that. And it’s just so important. ’cause life is messy and entrepreneurship is messy, and just being is messy. So how can we, how can we alchemize it?

[00:51:59] Morgan: hmm. I’m very much a believer that life is just shit and we have to figure out how to get through it. the more you can become comfortable with understanding that its root, life is hard, life is messy. And, but if we can find some comfort in that, we can still find great joy and satisfaction and fulfillment. Um, and I just think that there is so much to be said about, finding the the parts of life that make life worth living be really beneficial. And, I was gonna ask you like some profound question that has probably lost, it’s left my brain. Um, I was gonna ask you something about clarity, I think. I don’t know what it was though. So if you have anything you wanna say about clarity, you are welcome to it.

[00:52:51] Diana: I mean, the only thing I’d say about clarity right now is getting another perspective.

[00:53:00] Morgan: Hmm

[00:53:00] Diana: Can help you find your own clarity, like just getting out of your head. All of it’s getting out of your head. The small joys gets you out of your head. Being present gets you out of your head. Having something delegated to someone else gets you out of your head.

[00:53:19] lets you be a visionary. So with clarity, you kind of have to have your head above water,

[00:53:25] you know? And that’s so important. So what are all the ways that you can like fill, almost like become buoyant, fill your cup in a way and become buoyant and have your head above the water, above the cloud so you can actually see, and everything we talked about today, like million tools are all versions of that to help that clarity.

[00:53:49] Morgan: mm-Hmm. And when folks get more clear on is their, what is this, this adventure or this journey that they’re currently on, you know, what is the people that they want to serve? What kind of are they wanting to exchange? Um, that can really Again, provide that confidence too, like we’ve talked about, you know, providing the confidence to make a change or providing the confidence to say like, yeah, where I’m at right now is awesome and it’s working and I need to keep going.

[00:54:20] The Journey of a Nomad

[00:54:20] Morgan: And I know you had a conversation, um, that you shared on your social media recently about deciding whether or not you’re gonna continue on your nomad journey.

[00:54:28] Diana: Yeah.

[00:54:29] Morgan: Am I gonna continue with this or do I need to make a change for myself as well? And you know, is it sometimes where you just keep going and you figure out, or you find out, is this still comfortable or is this not comfortable? Or do you just, um, decide, oh, I’m just, I’m gonna make a change right here. Do you ever have moments of decision maybe of, should I keep going or do I just know I’ve had enough?

[00:54:52] Diana: Right. Yeah. I think this is such an interesting topic that I’ve been digging into. I’ve been EFT tapping, if you’re familiar. Um, if people aren’t, it’s emotional freedom technique tapping, and it’s a blend of like psychology as well as accu acupressure, which it’s like scientifically backed in this really cool way to reframe kind of your neuro pathways and your beliefs.

[00:55:19] And I was talking about how . So many things with my life. I’m so like not worried about, like for example, it’s November, I am going home for Thanksgiving, or not Thanksgiving, Christmas. I haven’t booked a ticket yet. don’t know if I’m going to Montana or Colorado. Right? Like I’m okay with that.

[00:55:42] I’m totally okay with that. Unknown. I know I will figure it out and when I know it’ll happen or I’ll make a decision game time decision. But the other thing is, is that, I’m okay with those types of decisions being totally unknown and when I know, I know when I need to make a game time decision, I’ll make a game time decision, but sometimes in my business or with money or with, you know, these big looming purpose, what is my purpose in life?

[00:56:10] like we just need to let it go. We like choke, hold it. I always say we kink the hose and as soon as we finally like are tired of holding on to the hose and let it go and let the universe do its work, , everything flows in every time. No matter how much evidence we have, we keep doing this over and over and over again, or at least I do.

[00:56:31] So it’s interesting to me in my own perspective and situation and experience what I’m okay with.

[00:56:38] Morgan: Hmm.

[00:56:39] Diana: With these decisions kind of being flowy and when it hits, it hits. And one of them is the nomad thing, am I going to be done? But then it’s like, well, I’m gonna go to Ecuador in February for my retreat and then, you know, I’m going to maybe wanna go to Argentina and maybe like explore South America a little bit.

[00:57:01] So I guess I’m not done yet, and I really feel like I will know. When I know

[00:57:06] Track 1: and I’m

[00:57:07] Diana: just open and listening, I’m always like aware and listening and really, you know, trying to just be, instead of always be in the future of like, what decision can I make to set myself up? It’s like, well what about now? You know?

[00:57:26] Morgan: I love that. What’s gonna serve me the best right now, I’ll worry about tomorrow, when tomorrow gets here. But

[00:57:31] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: for now,

[00:57:32] Morgan: uh, because I’ve seen the analogy too, of if you worry about the future now you’ve just made yourself miserable twice.

[00:57:38] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: You know, if you’re ,

[00:57:39] Morgan: you’re worrying now and you’re gonna worry about whatever it is when it gets here. Um,

[00:57:43] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: and

[00:57:43] Morgan: so, yeah, it’s just been so fun too, to see, going back to that hose analogy, I know you’ve posted sometimes about, Hey, I’m gonna go to California, but I don’t have a place yet. Does anybody know anybody who has a place? And in that particular instance, that California place just was like this magical moment.

[00:58:04] And you found some clarity there, you know, and so The, the kinda this idea of, well, you had forced that and you had found, you know, I’m just gonna go find something on Airbnb or, you know, whatever, you wouldn’t have had this special moment that you ended up having. And so maybe that’s just something for us to think about too, is what are we missing by forcing? And if

[00:58:25] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: we’re

[00:58:26] Morgan: always pushing on something or we’re making something happen that isn’t quite right, what are we potentially missing out on? Or I think about all the time about, you know, the series of that have led me to where I am. And if I had made one decision differently, my whole life would be different.

[00:58:44] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: And

[00:58:45] Morgan: you know, sometimes when we think about those, it is that in the moment being present and we just decide something and it, it ends up working out. So

[00:58:53] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: I just think that the,

[00:58:54] Morgan: it’s a, the, the universe is a mystery, but it’s so magical sometimes how these things actually happen.

[00:59:00] Collaborating with the Universe

[00:59:00] Diana: Yeah, we get to collaborate with the universe, which is so cool. Like it should be a relief that it’s not all on us. You know? Like sometimes I just, well first of all, the Steve Jobs, I believe it is quote of, you can only connect the dots backwards, which I love. And you know, sometimes I just go on, like I am in a group called Yes Nomads that does a lot of housing stuff and I’ll just go on there and just like

[00:59:26] C Like, is there something calling to me? Is there something, you know, I’m going on there to like check the phone. Like who’s on the other end of the line? How does it feel? I actually, the place that I went, mill Valley, California, I didn’t even know I was gonna California, first of all, I got a California poppy tattoo right before I went to California.

[00:59:45] So that was weird. I didn’t even know that was happening. And I just put it out there and Mill Valley came to be, and it was magical and it was exactly what I needed. And I was like, do I wanna live there for a bit? Do I wanna plant roots even for three months, which is a lot for me. And I got a sublet out of like thin air.

[01:00:06] Like I just asked a few people to keep their eyes out. A furnished, sublet, perfect situation came through and I still, I checked in with myself, I checked in with my gut and it just wasn’t right. It’s like, okay, here’s this thing on the platter. Do you actually want it? I didn’t, and so I said no. So it’s also just like when the things are presented, really checking in with yourself and seeing how it feels.

[01:00:32] Morgan: I feel like that’s just, we should just end this conversation right there because I feel like that is the, the perfect ending and I love this idea of being collaborative with the universe and,

[01:00:41] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: and

[01:00:41] Morgan: again, checking in being true to what your gut is telling you or what your heart is telling you and not

[01:00:47] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: what

[01:00:48] Morgan: you’re getting from the world instead.

[01:00:49] Diana: Totally. What you should be doing. Mm-Hmm.

[01:00:52] Morgan: Oh, I hate, I had a, a thing that says like, the coulda, shoulda, woulda, they all just lead to guilt and disappointment and shame,

[01:00:59] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: generally

[01:01:00] Morgan: speaking.

[01:01:01] Conclusion: Embracing the Messiness of Life

[01:01:01] Morgan: And yeah, just don’t worry about those things,

[01:01:03] Diana: Right. Love it.

[01:01:05] Morgan: So, Diana, why don’t you tell folks where to find you and, you know, we’ll have links for all this in the show notes as well, but you are all over the interwebs and, uh, and you have your own podcast as, as well, which you mentioned earlier.

[01:01:16] But won’t you tell everybody where they can find you?

[01:01:19] Diana: Yeah, I am all over the interwebs, as in I love Instagram, so find me there. I am at Diana Davis Creative. That’s my website as well. Um, there’s a lot of places for everyone to plug in. You know, if you’re wanting to go on a trip and travel with us, Ecuador has a few spots left. Um, if you’re wanting just to be part of a community and be around like-minded people, we’re launching a community in January, whatever that looks like for you, especially if you’re a creative entrepreneur.

[01:01:53] Um, but yeah, I love to just say hi. So come say hi. Come follow along. It’s a good time over there. Give me some travel wrecks, . Right now I’m in Lisbon, but who knows where else we’ll be. Um, but yeah, Diana Davis Creative is where I’m at. And then Pollen like Be Pollen is the podcast.

[01:02:13] Morgan: Fantastic. Well, Diana, I absolutely love this conversation. I’m so glad we got to connect face to face. It’s, we’ve been messaging through the internet for a long time and it’s good to

[01:02:23] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: actually

[01:02:23] Morgan: see you in person again and in person as in still through the internet. But you are here with me live. So thank you

[01:02:29] morgan_1_11-21-2023_113842: so much

[01:02:30] Morgan: and uh, good luck in Lisbon.

[01:02:32] I’m so excited to see where you go next

[01:02:33] Diana: Thanks for having me.

[01:02:35] ​ ​

[01:02:36] Morgan: Thank you so much for listening today, you can find show notes. Transcripts and more on our website. Lucky pub pod.com. Don’t forget. Review comment, like share this conversation with your friends. Then don’t forget to reach out. You can find us on Instagram at lucky pup pod or lucky pup podcast on Facebook. Or send us an email [email protected] until then don’t forget to live a more full and happy life. We’ll talk to you soon.