Deborah, with her thirty years of being an entrepreneur and creating over seven companies, knows exactly what it means to accept the mission. When you make that decision, when you accept the mission to become a solopreneur, to take yourself and your talents to market, then you embrace a life of not only unlimited possibilities, but also the unknown. It's an elixir of fear and bravery that only someone who's
taken the leap really understands. On our show, deb digs deep with her guests to highlight what you the listener wants to know, the stories, the whys, and the hows to navigate the journey to success. Get ready to hear from some of the most incredible mission takers from Generation Z to boomers. So sit up, perk up, and get ready to be blown away. Now here is your host, Deborah Drummond.
Hello and welcome back. I love you my past people. Anyone has the podcast on here as knows it they do. You have your favorite people. I have my favorite podcast people, and let's get them to mix. This is such a great way to learn about what people are doing in the world, and we know and we highly encourage you to reach out to the people that you are listening to from today, because it's great that you tell me. You're like, oh my gosh, that was such a great show.
I was doing this, I was doing that. But I'd rather you tell them because it's kind of a solo journey, this entrepreneurial and you are going to meet some crazy entrepreneurs today doing some cool things. And it's always nice to hear that what we're doing makes impact. It helps us get up the next day and get things going with zest. So welcome to Mission accepted. We're so excited. We are a room full of people that are taking
the mission and doing all sorts of incredible things. So what I'm going to do, just because we are listeners and we are viewers as well, I'm going to say your name and if you can kind of just wave your hand so that our viewers have an idea of when you're talking who they're listening to. Does that make sense? So I'm going to introduce we have Paula. Oh my gosh, Paula and Amanda give us a wave or peace sign or do what you want to do. We have Dana there we go and Brandy aw Son yeah, she's in it.
And Yvonne, there we go, and Toby all right, thank you, thank you, thank you. So look, let's get this party started, shall we? And I get to say, ladies in the house today because we've got some it's a house full of ladies. Let's take it. So please when we go around, just introduce yourself, say your name. What is it that you're doing and what made you decide to become an entrepreneur. I mean, this show is called mission Accepted for a reason. We talk about the risk, the danger, of the fun,
the reward, all of it. But what was it that made you take that first leap in? So Paula, let's start with you.
Thanks eb Yeah, I'm super happy to be here. So I am an entrepreneur, I am multi passionate and so what makes you really excited to be here to be sharing all my passions? Is I not only work for deb actually part of the two sixty two movement. I have flee of productions, which is growth and business. It's meant for Deborah. So I get to speak to all the amazing women, be a part of the community. I get to help make dreams come true from Depth's incredible platform.
And also on the side, I have Soul Spark styling and that's a great thing that I do as well. And as well I have Prestige pet and home care, so a few different directions and that's mean to nutshell.
No, this show is entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs, and I think it's really interesting because we have you know, sometimes people think, you know, some people come from corporate and go to entrepreneurship and then they get to entrepreneurship and they're like, but I want to do more than one thing. We're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, you can. Thank you. Amanda.
Yeah, I Amanda Taylor. I'm in Fort Collins, Colorado. I consider myself an entrepreneur as well. I am a real estate investor. I have a business development company, and I have a platform for women to educate them on investing. Very passionate about that, and I honestly fell into entrepreneur worship by accident. I know, nothing is an accident, but it was completely took me by surprise.
I didn't expect it.
But now I am completely unemployable and I love it.
So that's where I'm met. There you go, she fell with it by accident, and here she is. Dana I my name is Dana Teresa.
I'm the Metaphysical Mentor, and really what I do is guide conscious leaders and healers and transcending their lights obstacles so they can elevate their impact in the world. I do this through transformative energy work, which includes reiki, the acotic records, and shamanic healing. And really how I came to be an entrepreneur is because.
I was a nurse.
I've been a nurse for twenty years and the hospital wasn't letting me do things that I wanted to do. And I thought that the only way and I now know the only way that I could be in my passion and my purpose is if I started my own business. And so here I am today.
Right on. I love this. Everyone's just got a beautiful story. Thank you so much. And Brandy, welcome to mission accepted.
I am Brandy Cox. I am also an entrepreneur. I have a million things going on all at once. And what really drew me is, you know, I was raised everybody in my family was always an entrepreneur, and so we were all raised as to be entrepreneurs. And then I went out and I did corporate and I was like, yeah, I'm awesome, right, I was like high powered corporate. I was like, I loved it. And then I actually got disabled.
I'm a disabled combat vet, and so what happened was I ended up feeling like, heyde I have to find something to do with my life and my time because I am going to go crazy watching TV. So I was like, well, I'm going to do something that's fun and exciting. So we focus on gamification and making everything fun. So that is what we do.
That's awesome, making everything fun. I love. That's a great tagline. It's a great tagline. Oh my goodness, and thank you Brandy, Hi everybody.
Amy Bonniel Silver, Calgary, Alberta, Canada based the Rocky Mountains. Women in Wisdom Media is my organization and it's about women entrepreneurs seeking to flourish. I got bitten by the bug because I just didn't have enough pocket money as a kid in England, and so when I was six, I started dog walking accidentally with a little older lady broke her leg and she asked me how much I would charge her to walk her dogs for her, and
I said sixpence and that was it. I was bitten, and then later I did some corporate it was very restrictive. And then I had a special need son who had four surgeries before he was five, So that created an opportunity for me to seek out more flexibility so that I could work when he was recovering, work when he
was healthy, and then not when he was recovering. So everything from MLM to a real estate investing to now my current work, which is primarily coaching and mentoring based on work from my best selling book around Confident Conversations for Women.
Awesome, Wow, just sounds. I just feel like I went full circle with you. I went on your journey. She was bitten. That's interesting. A dog and money and very I'm you know you're good with words. So there you go.
And Toby, Hello, everyone's so so fun to be here. Thank you deb. My name is Toby Spears. I live in a beautiful little town in Utah, a gorgeous state, so if you haven't visited, you should. And I get to spend several weeks a year in Guatemala, which is also a highlight. I am a.
Lover of life.
I have a fabulous husband and multiple children that make my life full.
Great and awesome. Thank you so much. Well look, ladies, we have an audience full of entrepreneurs at this same people that are sitting in the room, or the same people sitting in the room love to support entrepreneurship. But here's something really interesting from a you know, you all do something fairly different. You all bring betterment to people's lives.
But as an entrepreneur, what is the piece of advice that you could give that has helped you make entrepreneurship either easier, flow better, make more impact, like something that you know, it's a journey, and sometimes the money doesn't come as much as the month comes, you know, Oh, or at the end of the month, where's the money? Or sometimes you're taking a risk. Sometimes there's all sorts
of things that happen in the world of entrepreneurship. What would you what would the advice would you give to make this an easier journey for someone based on the experience that you've had as successful entrepreneurs. So let's start with you, Paula.
Thank you. Deb Yeah, I feel that we are our own business. It's not that we're our spreadsheets or our profit margins, or we're the next zoom meeting. It's us. So I think what's really important is if I can say so being a newer person to entrepreneurship, for advice is to remember who you are and what lights you up, because everyone can feel that in the room. If you're going and you're rushing around and you're not taking time for yourself, it really does take a toll on you
and your business. And I'm a firm believer of making space for you and for the stillness and the calmness, because that's when magic happens. That's when inspiration happens, and we're caught up and everything else, and it won't it won't channel in well. So that's my little piece of advice.
That's awesome piece of advice.
And Amanda, yeah, I have to say, you know, they don't teach this stuff in school, how to run a business, how to be an entrepreneur. And I focus a lot on the mindset piece of just being a self employed person versus being a business owner. That's a very different thought process, decision process systems, how you're going to take risks. Like you said, a lot more forward thinking and compounding effects of your decisions. And you can't do it alone.
A lot of entrepreneurs try to wear all the hats and you think that the cost of doing that is going to hurt you, but there's really a cost to not bringing in the help and the tools to do it. So that's my advice.
It's fantastic advice. I mean, look, we always want to learn from people that have some handle on this, right It just let's make this easier data.
Yeah, So I'm going to piggy back off of Amanda a little bit. I think the best thing I ever did for myself being an entrepreneur is invest in myself. And I the first couple of years in my business, it was running myself ragged, carrying my reiki table all around the community that we live in, teaching a yoga class here, teaching a yoga class there, and things just weren't flowing, things weren't coming together. I was putting in lots of effort for not a lot out of revenue
or income. And when I finally actually COVID happened. We all know what happened when COVID that happened, and everything shut down, and I had the time and the space to figure out, Okay, what am I going to do? This isn't working, And so I actually invested in a business coaching program, which at the time was thousands and thousands of dollars, and it was really scary to me, but it was the best thing I ever did to myself because my business was my baby, and I wasn't
nurturing my baby. I was just doing what I thought I had to do instead of investing in myself and the growth of my businesses and the work I was doing.
Wow, so good, can't pay for this, I get me Brandy yourself. Thank you, Dana.
Yeah. So yeah, basically I agree with everybody here, and it's you know, one of those first things that I you know, when I'm working with my clients is I'm like, okay, the first thing you do is you have to realize that you can't be an expert in everything. You have to like, you know, if you needed brain surgery, you're
not going to go out and YouTube that. You're going to go to the person who has been a specialist and an expert for eons, because you want somebody who knows what they're doing and who didn't learn it on YouTube. And as an entrepreneur, we're so you know, not really control, but we're trying to like hold wear so many hats that were like, Okay, I'm just gonna go learn that and not you not go to an expert. And I'm like that, you're actually shooting yourself in the foot there.
I'm like, you know, you wouldn't do your own brain surgery, so don't do your own tech and your own you know, marketing or whatever else. Get somebody it that's an expert.
Awesome, thank you so much, great great advice. And Yvonne for you in your business. What's something that you did that really helped?
Yeah, well to pick it back off what Brandy just said. Definitely when I'm working, you know, in my own reflection and also with my clients, it's about what have I actually done that has created value to someone that they're going to pay for. So I can speak to confident conversations because I've been doing.
It for thirty years.
I wrote a best selling book on confident conversations. I've interviewed and hired about six thousand people and helped them. So in the work I do now as a coach, it's really about helping them to figure out not only what do they know, but how can they monetize that as well? Because there's a lot of women in particular, who are smart, who are caring, and they're so caring that all they want to do is tell people how they do it. People don't want to know that. They
want to know what can you change for me? And what can you help me do that I can't do for myself? And don't tell them all the ways you do it, because you've probably scared the Jesus out of them.
All Right, all right, thank you very much, thanks Avon and Toby. For yourself, something that you've been able to do that or that you do that has made this a little easier.
Well as a humanitarian. So the piece of advice that I would give is for you to look outside of just your business. So I would say to follow entrepreneurs, to get your company involved in a social impact project and to align with a charity. There are so many studies that show that employee engagement and employee retention really skyrockets when teams have like a communal philosophy, something that's really passionate for the whole team and that they're all behind. And I've seen that.
With our work.
We have partners that partner with the humanitarian and they have photos of the kiddos on their walls, and they're working for more than a paycheck. And I think that's really important with this new generation of cute little workers, like they will work for less. They will work for less because they want to work for a company that's
making an impact in the world. So even for brand new startups like you know, start that like from day one, like what can we who can we align with, what can we do to create this beautiful collaboration with a charity and with our team right on?
Right on? Well, look, you all do incredible good work in the world, and you know it's worth it, and you know what's worth it. You just talked about some of the things that you do to make it easier because it is worth it. But kind of the last thing that I want to ask you is what is
it about what you do that makes you happy? Like maybe it's one of those cool things that happened, like I know, Choby, we were just talking and you know, you have a child come up and you know, hug you and recognize you for the work that you've done. But what is it that makes you happy about your chosen field? Because let's face it, the world of entrepreneurship has opened vast and furious, and there is there is things that you can do now that you couldn't do
five years ago. We're going to talk about one of those and I then if you know you too, can have you know your own TV show five years ago, ten years ago. I voted to be a stewardess when I left school. You know, they were like stewardest nursed. You know, the options have opened up. So there's so many things that you, incredible women could choose to do. And some of you do the entrepreneurship thing, and you do more than one thing. But what is it that
gives you the greatest sense of joy? Maybe it's a story, Maybe it's a cool thing that's happened. Maybe it's a knowingness. I don't know, but let's find out. Paula, what about you? Thank you?
Yeah?
I really think it's the freedom to choose and the freedom to be true to myself.
As well.
It's when I work with women. So in my Soul Spark styling business, it's the most incredible feeling to see someone transform. I work with people who are at Marshall I maybe I'm confident or not really sure how to dress themselves. And when I go and work with them and I use sustainable conscious fashion techniques where we have what they already have and we look at their body type and their skin tone, and we see how they want to express themselves in the world. We you know,
act as is. And it's the coolest thing when I'm working with someone and where I take photos of them outfit after outfit and they literally just transform and they are a different person at the end. And I'm sure all the coaches in the room can feel the same way. When you can see someone literally become a different person.
I mean, that's the coolest thing. And the fact that I'm able to do not only the styling, but also be a part of Dev's team and be connected with all these incredible women and to make impact and to be a part of something bigger, so I don't have to gest on my own thing. I can be a part of someone else's collaboration and expand the world, make sure the people's dreams come true.
Wow, there's some happy moments there. There's some rappy moments there, Amanda, what about for yourself? Thank you, Paul.
Yeah, she said, the word that is mine is impact And for me, I am so passionate because you know, until nineteen seventy four, a woman couldn't open a bank account or get a credit card without a man's permission.
And women are twenty five percent more likely to say I don't know when asked a question about their finances, and we've just traditionally deferred those decisions to someone else, be it a financial advisor or someone And so my passion is just to empower women to educate themselves, to build that confidence to learn and take action with their investments.
And as entrepreneurs, we tend to pour every dime we have leverage out our personal finances to build a business, but we have to protect ourselves on the other side. So let's separate those Let's grow wealth outside of our business. Let's learn how we do that, especially outside of the S and P five hundred. Hello, what's happening right now? And that is just my mission. I want to empower, educate, inform, and really set women up for success.
Okay, I'm gonna need to take a cold who said someone said in the last one a hash shower, cold shower? Someone lets you do it my cold shower. I'm excited, okay, and data for you.
Yeah, I love the freedom as well, and kind of what just came to me, I just had a big little insight.
Thank you guys for inspiring that. But I love how integrated my life has become.
It's not like this is work data and this is off work data.
It's all come.
Together as one because I'm as a healer and a mentor, I'm constantly healing and mentoring myself, and the lessons that I learned through my own healing, those translate into how I'm guiding other people to heal as well, how I'm helping others to become their own energy healers.
And so life just really flows.
When you're in again your passion and your purpose and you're doing what you love, then it just becomes your whole life.
And work to me is so fun. It's not like I gotta go to work. It's like, yes, I get to go to work. Yeah, you go from got to to get to. And what I think happens for entrepreneurs after a while is you start to embody, you become, You become what you want the world to be. And that's what I hear when you talk about you know, is embodying. Thank you so much, Dana and for you, Brandy.
So Dana said the key word for me, which is fun. And you know, I tell everybody life is too hard. Business is too hard to not be having fun. And if you're not having fun, then we're doing something wrong. And that's why my whole business focus on gamification and turning your business into a game that your clients and you love to play. There's always gonna be boring parts, there's always going to be slow parts. Like a game,
sometimes there's a little bit of a grind. But if we make the entire thing with the aim of focusing on fun while you are having that amazing impact and that freedom, then you end up enjoying life every single day when you get.
Up right on whoop all right, Yvonne, Well.
It's definitely the you know, seeing the light bulb go on. As a secutive coach working with women entrepreneurs and some professionals as well, it's when they truly step from oh I don't know if I can do this, into believing that they can. They take the step, and then all of a sudden, they're writing the book, they're doing a retreat, they're you know, hosting an event, they're they're doing something
they never thought that they could possibly do. And I'm sitting there there going and I get paid for this like this is fun. And so I you know, I love it when women decide for themselves as I did, to stop tolerating mediocre and really step into something that is more joyful. That's my word for this year. It's joyful exclamation mark. It's not joyful if it's not fun not doing it. And so I heard a quote the other day I'll just wrap up with, which was stop
pushing against the door to success, it opens inwards. That was Charlotte Brown Phillips woman. And I believe that that's where we really thrive as entrepreneurs, is when we step into doing things differently at our own pace and choosing our path based on what brings us the greatest joy.
Wow, all right, Toby, I mean, okay, Toby, just you know, wrap that up. No, but you know, what is it that makes you happy? What is it that makes it worth it? So people out there, what is you know? How do you make that happen for yourself? It's so easy.
So the humanitarian focuses on nutrition, fighting malnutrition, and creating opportunity, educational opportunities and income opportunities for our families in Guatemala. So that's like pure joy, pure happy. But then, like Paula said, my word is transformation. So what makes me happy is getting to watch transformation happen in myself and in others. So I get to see these darling kiddos in Guatema go from hungary to healthy. I get to see them from shy and reserved with very little opportunity
to brave and confident and self secure. I get to see volunteers come alive with purpose after they've been working with our community. And I get to see individuals come together to create real change in their community and in others. So I mean, all of it is soul food for me. It's just amazing good work and we're making tangible impacts, which is nothing but pure happiness.
Wow. So what I hear from all of you is that it's worth it. I hear that as you give, you receive. I hear that there's a sense of like I said earlier, there's a sense of empowerment that happens for you as well when you see what you're doing in the world making change right, it's like you talk about it with enthusiast on how what you do opens people's eyes. Like I said before, there's so many different ways that people can step into this world of entrepreneurship.
There's so many. And then now there's this new level of niching in that like I work with executives, I work with women, I work with people in the nonprofit sector, and there's all of these incredible and it's making for a pretty big, colorful rainbow. I have to say that there has been a tide and rise not only with women in this sector, but entrepreneurship and these young gen zs that are stepping in and going this is their first opt they're like I, you know, and they're doing
it because we're laying track. They're seeing success, and they're seeing success because of women like you that have stepped in to it to create success for others. I mean, that's that's the joy and piece of it. So that's very very cool. All Right, we're going to do something completely different. We're going to just change the vibe here, but we're going to stay on point. So here's something. Let's stick with the fun. Any great word for the year, great word for the year. So let's do this. We
know what you do. We know how you do it. My listeners and they're gonna reach out. You're gonna reach out to them. Yes, thank you for reaching out to me. Reach out to them and tell them how great they were. I think there's gonna be some cool collaborations that go on here. There's lots of places that we can play. But in talking about that self care that you were talking about, Paula and that sense of freedom, I personally think that happens when I listen to music. I really
get back to myself. When I listen to music, it changes my vibe, It gives me energy. I do it between clients. I go on the balcony or something's going on, I go listen to a song and I'm like, Okay, let's figure this out, so don't overthink it. It can be the song that you're listening to, Manda's like, oh
my god, here comes a question. It could be the song you're listening to right now, or the one that you could never imagine listening, you know, ever living without like you know me and Bobby McGee by Janis Joplin. You know you could never imagine you're life without that song. Paul I'm gonna start with you one song, one album, or one singer that she's like, I got it, I got it to stop job totally.
I recently took a sabbatical for six months and I was solo traveling, and one song that kept with me just pumped me up and maybe fearless, like nothing was going to get me. Is that from Gizmos g I Z M O v A R I L l A s called Freedom for a Change.
It's powerful.
Play it, you'll love it?
All right, thank you for spelling that. I appreciate you saving me from doing that. Amanda, What about you? What's the song that you're taking with you today Private Island? It's just you and you.
Can I love music more than anything, and you're making me pick one. The album that I always go back to is Sime's Dream by the Smashing Pumpkins. I am such a gen xer. I don't know. I will listen over and over and over for the rest of my life.
All Right, we got it. I love this mix up. Dana, how about yourself?
I've been a huge Lady Gaga fand for a really long time. And her new song that's out right now, Abracadabra, I bring them. I love creating magic with in my own life, with my clients, with my friends and family, and so it's just like, yeah, I have my magic wand and that African era and also just the beat of that song.
It's so fun to dance too. Right on. Okay and Brandy, what are you listening to these days or what do you love?
I am really struggling with this because I have like my little playlist and it is all rage metal.
So well, you might go, I'm going to eat DC on April. So it's like, you know, if it's one level up, Okay, cool, what is it? Just tell us?
Well, I mean I listen to a lot of like Pantera and Marilyn Manson and God's Back and Alison Chains I think is the most PG of what I listened to. So, I mean, I listen to a lot of rage metal and I like to just scream out everything in my hat. But the thing that gets me out of bed in the morning when I'm having a rough morning, my husband will from wherever he is in the world, he will sit there and he will cast it to my house and on every speaker and it'll be the greatest showman.
And that gets me up and out of the bed. Even though I like Ridge metal like sometimes I just need that little oomph.
Oh, we all need that little unpunny. Don't worry about it. That's that's fantastic. And Yvonne, what are you listening to that that works for you?
Well, based on you know, divesting of a toxic husband a little over a year ago. My my favorite still is you know Ri s b c t. You know the great Aretha gets me every time.
Right on great song, classic, classic, fantastic and Toby wrap us up on best song for you ever.
Okay, this is a really loaded question, but I so let's just go with Girl on Fire. I think that's a fabulous, namp.
Awesome. Thank you ladies, thank you so much. This has been so much fun, and I know the audience has loved it. I'm just going to talk to the audience for a few minutes here, so I am sure you are ready, Fever Suly if you have a piece of paper and pen. This has been amazing and inspiring and this is the kind of podcast you can listen to over and over and over again. This could be somebody's, you know, someone putting it on all of their speakers,
and listening to it over and over again. Thank you so much for sharing, thank you so much for listening, and honestly, thank you so much for continuing to share. The show Mission Accepted is on the airways and people, we are changing lives. That's when I sit down, I'm like, whose two lives are we going to change today? And I know that we have done that, So you can check off that for today, ladies, and look at if you're out there and you want to be sitting where
they're sitting right, this could be your first podcast. You know, if you want to be sitting where you're sitting, then we encourage you. We're super excited. I know that you're not going to be listening this for five or six weeks. We were just talking about this earlier. Toby was on a show earlier where we talked about today is that day that Mission Accepted launches. You've been hearing what launches the Women's Channel and it is for women and those
to support women. Now, in my world, I'm thinking that's everybody. But you decide, you decide, and if you want to be on the show, we want you on the show. If you want to be on the stage, we want you on the stage. If you want to be in the book, be in the book. If you want to come to a show and share your person, you know, your your passion, your magic like you're talking about, and you have a message to share. If you want the
show well to yourself, you can have it right. Or if you want to come in on a group show, you can do that. Dude. We're here to help you. We are your behind the stage. That's what mission accepted is We're going to put you out on a platform and help you go stand up, speak up, and show up so you can be sustained. Because there's nothing more empowering than having these women and having you do your work.
But you got to be sustained, right, You got to, you know, and Amanda talks a lot about that sustainability, and you have to be able to have, sorry, more month than men or more money than month.
That's been my nude saying today.
I don't know where it's from. All right, thank you so much for being here. Thank you audience, We adore you. We can't wait to see you next week, this show over and over again and as always until we see you again, hoping to be well and saycre you bye end now bye