TrueLife - The Arsonist: Dancing With Fire

Episode Date: February 16, 2024

One on One Video Call W/George https://tidycal.com/georgepmonty/60-minute-meetingSupport the show:https://www.paypal.me/Truelifepodcast?locale.x=en_US🚨🚨Curious about the future of psychedelics? Imagine if Alan Watts started a secret society with Ram Dass and Hunter S. Thompson… now open the door. Use Promocode TRUELIFE for Get 25% off monthly or 30% off the annual plan For the first yearhttps://www.district216.com/https://www.unleashinginfluence.com/http://linkedin.com/in/angelamulrooneyLadies and gentlemen, esteemed guests, it is with great pleasure that I introduce to you Dr. Angela Mulrooney a true visionary and pioneer in the realm of empowerment and transformation. Known as "The Arsonist," Dr. Angela has dedicated her life to helping professionals break free from the suffocating constraints of societal "shoulds" and ignite their true passions. With a remarkable entrepreneurial journey spanning 15 years and the creation of four successful ventures, including a referral-based dental clinic, a professional dance company, and a thriving business coaching enterprise, Dr. Angela embodies the spirit of resilience, innovation, and unwavering determination. But her story doesn't end there. In the face of the pandemic's upheaval, she courageously chose to redefine her path, embarking on a journey to the tropics in pursuit of a life aligned with her deepest desires. Through introspection and intentional action, she dismantled the barriers holding her back, forging a new reality characterized by freedom, fulfillment, and boundless possibility. Dr. Angela's journey serves as a testament to the transformative power of choice and the profound impact of embracing one's true calling. Today, she stands before us as a beacon of inspiration, ready to impart her wisdom and guide us on our own journey of self-discovery and empowerment. Please join me in welcoming the extraordinary Dr. Angela. One on One Video call W/George https://tidycal.com/georgepmonty/60-minute-meetingSupport the show:https://www.paypal.me/Truelifepodcast?locale.x=en_USCheck out our YouTube:https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPzfOaFtA1hF8UhnuvOQnTgKcIYPI9Ni9&si=Jgg9ATGwzhzdmjkg

Darkness struck, a gut-punched theft, Sun ripped away, her health bereft. I roar at the void. This ain't just fate, a cosmic scam I spit my hate. The games rigged tight, shadows deal, blood on their hands, I'll never kneel. Yet in the rage, a crack ignites, occulted sparks cut through the nights. The scars my key, hermetic and stark. To see, to rise, I hunt in the dark. fumbling, furious through ruins maze,

lights my war cry, born from the blaze. The poem is Angels with Rifles. The track, I Am Sorrow, I Am Lust by Codex Serafini. Check out the entire song at the end of the cast. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the True Life podcast. I hope everybody's having a beautiful day. I hope that you are ready to set the old version of yourself

on fire and walk through fire to become the best version of yourself because I have an incredible individual and it is with great pleasure that I introduce all of you to Dr. Angela Mulroney, a true visionary and pioneer in the realm of empowerment and transformation. Known as the arsonist, Dr. Angela has dedicated her life to helping professionals break free from the suffocating constraints of societal shoulds and ignite their true passions. with a remarkable entrepreneurial journey spanning 15 years in the creation of four one, two, three, four successful ventures, including a referral-based dental clinic, a professional dance company, and a thriving business coaching enterprise. Dr. Angela embodies the spirit of resilience, innovation, and unwavering determination. But still, it doesn't end there. In the face of the pandemic's upheaval, she courageously chose to redefine her path, embarking on a journey to the tropics in pursuit of a life aligned with her deepest desire.

Through introspection and intention, action, she dismantled the barriers holding her back, forging a new reality characterized by freedom, fulfillment, and boundless possibility. Her journey serves as a testament to the transformative power of choice and the profound impact of embracing one's true calling. Today, she stands before us as a beacon of inspiration, ready to impart her wisdom and guide us on our own journey of self-discovery and empowerment. please join me and welcoming the extraordinary Dr. Angela. Thank you for being here today.

You're welcome. You make me sound so good. Thank you. Well, I'm excited to talk to you. And I think a lot of people listening are excited to hear about ways in which they can get rid of their shoulds. They can become the best version of themselves. There's never been a better time.

Maybe you could just talk a little bit about what it is that motivates you. Or maybe you can start at the beginning. What is this a fire that's always burned in you? what did this start at? Well, let's go with the first question. What motivates me. What I found is that a lot of highly talented professionals are like the way that I used to be, which was super shy.

Like when I was first a dentist, I couldn't even look adults in the eye. I was good with kids, but I couldn't look adults in the eye. So I was just this ridiculously introverted person, really, really good at dentistry, but really terrible at communication and being able to be okay with myself. And so what I found is that a lot of professionals are exactly that same way. And a lot of the ones that I'm meeting are 55 plus. So they've been in their way for a long time. They've been stuck, not able to share their talents with the world, not able to create the impact that they want because of that desire to either hide behind a facade or just hide. So my passion really is to help them to get, break down those barriers, get them to fully own their identity. Because what's the. they've done so far in life is awesome and other people need to learn from them and then be able to get them to put themselves out in the world through LinkedIn and their personal brand so that they can create a ripple effect with the brilliance that they have and the passion that they have for

the work that they do. I love it. It's interesting the way the word choice you use and the way you described it. What is this thing that seems to abide in us that says we're not enough? Is that conditioning or is that like a learned behavior? It seems to be an epidemic of some sorts. Like why don't we believe that we're enough? Honestly, with professionals, it has to do it the way that we're trained. I can remember in dental school being told like, well, when you get in front of patients, you have to be professional. And there's not really the definition for what that is. So you're always like checking yourself and checking what's going on around you to make sure that you're checking that professional locks. And it is really limiting

it eats up a whole bunch of your brain power. It makes you feel like you're not enough. It makes you feel like you're going to get slapped by your governing body. And you're going to have all these awful things happen if you aren't a certain way, which is not even defined. And what is changing in our world is that people don't want the facade. They don't want that professional person. They want you to step off that pedestal and show that you're actually a real human being. And for people who have been hiding behind the facade for a long time, just being yourself is really hard.

And it's what a lot of people try to teach in marketing. They're like, oh, just be yourself. And it's like, well, that's a tall order when you are putting yourself out on a, especially a platform like LinkedIn where it's full of smarty pants, right? You do not want to misstep. So trying to be yourself is awkward at first. It usually takes people a couple of years to actually be themselves on camera, actually be themselves in sales calls, actually be themselves in the world.

But once they do it, that just breaks everything wide open for them as far as possibility. Yeah, and I think that that's what your story speaks to as an individual who found not only comfort in being herself, but found about the way in which her brilliance can shine. Like, maybe you could talk about that. Like, how did you go from like, okay, you know what? I'm going to just pull this mask off right here and just show the world how awesome I am. Yeah, it wasn't about showing how awesome I was. It was actually about saving my business. So when I was 28, I had, I was four and a half years into practice.

And I had always said, I'm never going to own, I have no intention of owning a dental practice because I was also a professional dancer. So I had my two careers. They were both consuming a lot of time. And then I happened into this practice where one of my old bosses was like, can you just sub in for a little bit? He's like, you know, I don't like doing dentistry. So I need someone to do this and he's like, it's the kind of dentistry you love doing. So I'm okay, fine. So I was supposed to be subbing in for a couple of days.

And then 24 hours before I was supposed to step in to do those couple of days, he's like, just take the whole thing off my plate. So you can work five days a week. It'll be great. Okay, okay, fine. So I walked into this broken down practice in the worst part of Calgary, like the scariest part according to the police as well. And it was the most run down disgusting thing I'd ever seen.

Like the carpet was black because it hadn't been cleaned in 10 years, like gross. but the view from this practice was the best view I'd ever seen in Calgary. And every day that I went in there, I just saw more and more potential around me, like, hmm, I could actually do something with this. And the previous owner was super charismatic. So here's me hiding in the corner as my little wallflower self. And he was this robust charismatic character who like filled the room. And, you know, after I bought the practice, I started to realize,

if I'm going to get these patients on board with me, they actually need to know who I am. They need to know that I care. And so what I did once I made a deal with myself that I would have to stay in the room for five minutes and talk to adults. So I'd get in there and I'd actually like hold onto the underside of my dental chair and just sit there and talk and like not just talking out, I'm communicating with them, but just made myself sit there and sweat and turn red and just figured out how to actually get past it because I knew if I was going to be able to take them from this dentist who was 78. and get them to become a raving fan of me at 28 who looked like a little kid in her mom's pajamas in her scrubs

and get them to realize that I was totally dedicated to their care and I was a great dentist. I was going to have to spend some time letting them see me and getting to know them and actually learning how to ask questions and not be so darn awkward. Yeah, that's a huge point is building not only trust but rapport with people. when you do that, like you have to have rapport with yourself, right? Like that comes from self-confidence. That comes from past accomplishment. But there seems like a strange thing there because you've had,

you had a lot of success to be a dentist at 28 and be a dance. Like you had a lot of success. And like you, that probably comes from hard work and sacrifice. So how did you, like how did you, why was there that dichotomy? Like you have this success in your personal life, but you were unable to talk to people. I don't understand that. It was just perfectionism.

And it's funny because as a professional dancer, I could step into a character and be whatever I needed to be on stage. It was so funny because people would find me backstage and I'd be like, don't talk to me. After doing this performance, that was like a lot of energy, a lot of charisma to it. But offstage, I was just, I was so uncomfortable with myself and I always felt like I wasn't good enough. And, you know, you have these little gremlins in your brain that are telling you, you know, you should be this, you should be that. Oh, you're not, you don't have the right hair. You don't have the right this.

You don't have the right that for these things. And it just, if you let those things take over, it just undercuts your confidence. And that's pretty much where I was when I bought that practice. It's so interesting to me because that part of our character, that it almost becomes like something we turn to. Because on some level, when you're a perfectionist, it does make you better because you're looking for the smallest detail

to make you upset. And like you're looking for that. Like you want to be upset by the smallest detail so you'll be better the next time. But when you pan back, that's such a. So detrimental because it cuts off all your relationships. It makes it. Especially in the realm of relationships, right? Yes.

It's crazy. But in some level, yeah, it's imperative that people understand. Just getting to know that about yourself, I think, is an incredible way in which to come to the idea of burning the boats or setting that on fire. Like that, setting something on fire. And I love the term arsonness. I love the strategy of burning the boats when it's the right conditions. And maybe you could speak to that strategy and how you came upon it and why you used it and what you think about it. Yeah, so the fire part actually did start with kind of burning the boats because I have pivoted a few times.

I ended up losing my dental career at 32, which was quite unfortunate. So I only got eight and a half years out of my very invested education. And so after that happened, I was lost for a long time and trying to figure out, you know, what was I supposed to do? because I had put all my eggs in that one basket. Like dance was like, oh, I can do this. It was like, I was still building a career there, but my investment was really in the dentistry side of it. And so when it felt like the rug got yanked out from underneath me,

I was really quite lost and trying to figure out, you know, what am I going to do? Because I had done everything, like I felt I had done everything right. I had served the clients. I had taken care of my team. I had invested in myself and gotten an education beyond my, original dentist education to be able to serve a different kind of clientele. I catered to people who were afraid of the dentist.

So I was serving a community that really needed to be served, and yet the bottom fell out anyway. So I did find for a long time that I was really quite scared, and so I was pivoting to try and make sure that I had enough things around me in case one thing blew up, I would still have income from other places. And so as I built my companies after leaving dentistry, like I built my professional dance company first and I built my business coaching company for dentists. And then I built my social media agency. Those things were all really built out of fear.

I was just like, okay, I have this talent. Let's build a company around that. I have this talent. I'll build a company around that. Have this talent. And so I was just pulling things around me to try and make sure that I was going to be safe and financially, professionally, reputationalally, all these things. And so it was really interesting because I would go every company that I built, I was all in on. So I was all in on three different companies.

And I have a ridiculous amount of energy. So I was able to put tons of effort into each of them. They were all very successful. But it got to a point after I moved to Nicaragua that I realized, okay, the serial entrepreneur addiction that I have is not actually working for me. And it's so funny because I got so many accolades from people because I like, oh, you're such a badass, right? And I loved being called a badass. And I felt like a badass because I was doing things that other people didn't do.

I was able to collapse time and make things happen in way less time. And with way less resources then was theoretically possible. But once I moved to Nicaragua, I'd already sold my dance company because that was my only brick and mortar. My other two companies were virtual. I started to realize that, you know, I'd burned the dance company down, sold it. but in its place, I just filled it with other things. So I was really good at just adding things to try and feel safe. And when I finally realized this was really, really unhealthy for me,

then I was like, okay, well, it's time to get really intentional. You got lots of skills between all the things that I've done. And I decided I wanted to burn everything down, build one company with one offer, that was going to be able to take it to a million dollars. So I sat down and I looked at all my skills. I actually had, well, I do have sticky notes here. So I had pink and yellow sticky notes. Nice.

And I put one skill on each sticky note and stuck them on this whiteboard that was like two feet by three feet. And when I was done, I was like, well, this is not useful. So I went for a run. I came back, went to sleep. And then the next morning I woke up and my board was in my room. And I'm like, well, there has to be a reason I was inspired to do this. So I started organizing it and put my. most love skills in one corner my most hated in the other. And what came out was really my top

three skills that were contributing to my zone of genius. And so what I did was I took those three things and wrote yes above them. And that became the only things I was allowed to say yes to. All the other business that I was doing, I had to have some pretty hard conversations with people had been with me for a while, say, this is what I'm doing now. I can serve you in this capacity, but everything else that I've been doing that doesn't fit into this, I will refer you to one of my friends. So I guess I burned the bullets on that, but I really felt like I was burning down everything that wasn't working

so that I could just get laser-focused and go really deep into what I was a genius at and get more masterful at it. That is an intense process, and you are a badass. That is a very interesting way to do it. It takes a lot of discipline to, first off, write down all those, different things. And to be honest with yourself, to narrow it down to three, especially someone who has a pension for perfection. What was that process like? Was it difficult to narrow it

down to three? Was it a day process? Was it a month process? Is it still ongoing? Like, what's that process like? It was, well, it was about 24 hours. And I just had to every day, like in front of my desk. I had this. So my desk was in my bedroom. I had this in front of me. And so I was constantly reminded if I was on a call, I'd look up. I was like, is it? one of those three things, nope, can't do it. And just started getting really disciplined and being like, okay, this is the path. My instinct was that this was the right thing to do,

even though everyone thought I was insane for selling off the other companies and for just going in on this niche skill that I had. But in my heart, I knew that was what needed to happen. And once I sold the social media agency, once I sold the dental coaching company, like each of those layers as they came off, because one was in May when it was at the end of September. I just got lighter and lighter.

And when the final company was sold, I was just like, oh, oh, yeah, this is right. So all the stress that had been like piling on me from, you know, all that fear, letting it go and just being like, hey, I'm all in. This is what I'm doing. Let's go. It really, it freed me up energetically. It freed me up creatively, emotionally, all these things to be able to go in. And it took about three months for me to be sure that I had.

done the right thing. Right. With confirmation from clients. And what happened was about three months after the sale of the final company, I got a deposit from a client who paid in full so that one payment came in and the amount of it was more than I would have made as a dentist working full time in a month. And so I was like, oh, okay, we're good. So the ball is rolling.

Once the ball gets rolling, it just keeps rolling. So I was just waiting those three months to really get it rolling. So there was lots of conversations happening, but that deposit that was confirming that I could replace my previous income was the one that made me feel that this was the universe confirming that I was on the right path. Yeah. And I think that there's something to be said about gaining momentum. And once you've gotten the universe's validation, the next step becomes easier. But if we back that truck up for a minute, you had mentioned earlier that you had to make sure that you were safe. And then a few sentences later, you spoke about getting over that fear. Maybe you could speak to the relationship of safety and fear.

So me losing my dental career felt like it came out of nowhere. And so when we look back on it. What happened if you don't mind me asking? I ended up with something called focal dystonia, but it presented what presented like focal dystonia, but it wasn't what was on the radar of the medical people in Canada. So I ended up having to get it diagnosed in the U.S. But it was, so what started to happen is my fine motor skill in my drilling hand. Just started to get worse and worse.

Like at the end of the day, my hand would be a claw and I couldn't even like, I was like trying to type with my knuckles. So my team would actually do my notes for me. But it got bad really, really fast. And the whole time it was happening, I'm like, it's just, this is just keep going. to physio, keep getting needles stuck in your arm, everything will be fine. And then it kicked out, like my arm stopped working, my hands stopped working completely in the middle of a surgery. And that was terrifying. That was unfortunately the last day I got to practice. But that fear that,

you know, you can do everything right and it can still go wrong. That lingered for a long time. Because I had always been like, okay, I want to be a dentist. I'm going to do the things and make these things happen. Okay, I'm going to own this practice. I'm going to take it as high as I possibly can. I'm going to build this referral-based practice, did all the things and got there. And so, you know, when you think there's people who kind of like scam the world and then there's people who do things right, when you've done everything right and you're like, how, how is this all being taken away? That created a lot of fear because I'm like, well, how am I going to really ensure that everything is going to be okay moving forward? And you can't, right? That's just

just a fallacy for me to even think that I could have done that. But there was severe fear that everything like the bottom would follow it again. And so again, I was just trying to like create multiple streams of income, making sure that I was leveraging every school, every skill in my toolbox to make sure that I would be financially safe. Because that feeling of like not knowing what's going on in like we have disability insurance in dentistry and amongst other professions as well. And it's supposed to be a 30 day policy. Well, the policy didn't pay out for six months. So for six months, I'm watching my resources dwindle.

I was $150,000 in debt by the time they diagnosed what was going on. And that was terrifying. Like, I lost everything. I sold everything down to my knives and forks and plates, right? And I ended up living out of my car for a little while, too. Like, it was awful. So to have that, like, go from everything is working to everything, like, really not working, that it definitely left a dent in my confidence.

Yeah. Thanks for sharing that story. It's looking back on it, do you think that was necessary for you to have the fire that you have today to overcome that? Like to see yourself go through that. Like, do you think it's a catalyst for who you are today? It's like, look, I've went through that. Now I can do this.

That's probably why you can help people. It's like you can thoroughly empathize with someone who's on the downtrend. And I don't think unless you know that feeling, unless you have the weight of the world collapsing on your shoulders. It's very hard to empathize with somebody that does. It looks funny because after I lost my dental career, even my clients were like, well, this happened for a reason. Like this was meant to be. And when I started doing my dance company and my business coaching company and my social media agency, everyone was like, this is the silver lining.

Like these are the things you were supposed to be doing, which for a long time I argued with them because I wanted to be a dentist since I was two. So that was a big dream to let go of. But now how I see it is there was always the thing. that I do now were still always a theme and everything that I was doing previously. I've just taken the three best things from everything that I'd previously done. And now I'm just hunkered in and leveraging that to make the biggest difference that I can in the world. And I definitely feel like I'm in the right place doing the right thing now. But it took a long time to be comfortable thinking that and being like, yes, okay, this happened for a reason. I've made,

well, I was transmuted the situation, really, and have been able to get to the the other side of this. And now, really, you could burn my house down and everything with it'll be fine because I know I can always, I can always recover. It's so fascinating to, to hear that angle of it and to see in which it's almost like you were dancing with life. And then all of a sudden, you know, life is a really good dance partner. But you're over here, like, I'm doing this move with my hand. And it's like, you cannot do that. I'm going to change your hands so you can't do that. You know, like, life is this incredible teacher that's like, I'm going to show you had a dance and you were going to learn and you could fight it but once you start learning it's

going to be better is that too crazy to think about yeah yeah it was hard to it that's a good metaphor and it was hard to accept that that was possibly what was happening because i think i was so i was so holding on to the past i love it i i i'm hopeful that people can begin to catch a glimpse of there's a great quote one of my favorite authors is um joseph campbell and in one of his books the power of myth he's says that in order, like, life is waiting, life is waiting for us. You must let go of the life that you're living so that you can live the life that you're supposed to. And I always thought, like, that's such a beautiful, it's scary, it's beautiful, it's all these

things. And when I hear your story, it makes me think of that. Like, yeah, like, what happens if you just stop giving in to this rigid idealism of perfection that might be influenced by your parents or society or this giant billboard you drive by every day for all I know. And you start going, I'm going to listen to my heart four a minute to see what happens. I love that. The rigid idealism very much. It's conditioned into it. That was definitely where I was at. Yeah. It is. I think it's beautiful though. Like maybe you can, can you give us an example of now that you've kind of shared a little bit of your story. We can we're

talk more about it, but how has that, in my mind, it seems to me, because that happened to you, you're more apt to see that struggle in life, whether it's a little flower coming to the sidewalk or it's someone coming to you as a client and saying, look, I'm just not happy doing what I'm doing. Like, can you speak to the way in which your life experience has helped you transform other people's ideas? Like, I got to think it gives you insight into that. But definitely gives me insight. I've done a lot of work on, um, like programming and that kind of stuff with the way that our brain thinks and recognizing how we think. And for a lot of my clients, you know, when they do the accelerator, it's intense.

And they will, they're coming for a reason. Usually it's because they've plateaued or they've had a major dip and they can't figure out what is in the way. And really that mindset piece is the most important thing. I can give them a whole bunch of tools. But if they are bumping up against their programming and bumping up against old thinking and old identities, it's going to it's like dragging a piano with you everywhere, which is not helpful with like moving you forward. So with clients,

I am pretty brash if I call a spade a spate. So if I see someone getting in their own way, I'm going to call them out on it. And I get permission from them before we actually start the accelerates group program that I am going to be able to call them out on stuff. Because when they start getting into in their like, well, I've already, I already know that. I'm like, well, you may have been doing this one way before,

and now I'm asking you to do a different way because we need to change the chemistry, right? You have been stuck where you've been stuck because you have been doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. Insanity, right? And so when we can actually start moving that and get them letting go of their stories, and oftentimes they're so entrenched in their stories, like, I grew up poor or I, you know, I had an accident or I've been ill. or whatever, they can hold on to those stories as reasons for things not moving forward.

And when they can finally cut those ties, like letting go of the person you used to be to actually become the person you're meant to be, once they can actually do that and the ties keep coming back, like we have to cut them a few times. But once they can actually get free of that, they're fully unleashed into their potential. And then the sky is the limit. And they can start to understand how the way that they think is going to create their reality and it creates either a whole bunch of potential or it creates a whole bunch of struggle. And they get to choose where they want to be with that.

And for a long time, like, I did wonder like, why, why me, right? And instead of being like, well, I can choose to be happy in this moment or I can choose to mull over this and let this make me miserable and stressed out and really kind of feel like I'm insane because I can't figure out why it happened, right? And just accepted and move forward. That was a big turning point for me. and that tends to be a turning point for my clients as well. What advice do you give someone in that position?

Because it's real easy to come to that. And I think coming to the question of why me is a necessary step in that evolution. Like you have to think about that. That one can take a while. It may take you six months. It may take you six years to figure that one out. But what advice do you give to people in that situation? Well, other people, not as smart and not as talented as you,

have been able to move past this. That's so true. So you can say, why me or you can say, why not me? Why can't I move into that? And really, if anything has been possible for anyone, it's possible for everyone else in the world. So again, so you're choosing to stay here or you can choose to move over here. It's totally your choice. What's it like to see that shift?

Like just saying that, like I can see the click. It's because clicks into place. Yeah, why not me? Just by adding that word and now, yeah, why not? What's it like to work with someone and then see a shift? shift in their mentality and like because the whole environment changed once you see through that lens oh i can see clear now you know what's it like to see that happen when you work with somebody it's the most beautiful thing because everything changes in their demeanor like their face

relaxes they start to get more engaged they start actually doing the things that are going to move them forward that feel they used to have resistance too but now like well yeah i need to do a different thing so i'm going to choose to do a different thing than what i've always been doing and they start to be able to see the possibility and live into possibility instead of living in the past or living in their current circumstances that they've been stuck in for a while. So once they can let that go and realize, you know, everything is possible, then they start making completely different choices. And sometimes, like, it takes a while to get rid of programs. So they'll go back and try to keep doing, go back to the way that they used to be and then we have

to pull them forward and say, well, are you choosing that or are you choosing this? and eventually with that enough prompting of, you know, you get to choose this, then they start to actually believe it and get the results and stop self-sabotaging. Because really when you're choosing your circumstance, you just keep self-sabotaging, even though other people have had it. You're like, well, I'm so special that I just can't have that, even though it's worked for so many other people. Do you think that that kind of, that kind of acknowledgement of well-being is contagious?

You know what I mean by that? Like, what do you help people? Do you think that they go on to create better relationships in their life? And then those people that they create better relationships, they create better relationships. Yeah, as you start, as anyone starts transforming, there's going to be some fall away. There's going to be some burning away of people in your circle that no longer fit with that. But then there's also that ability to transform other people around you because you are transformed yourself. So you have the ability to create ripple effects because of how you're leveling up and how you're showing up differently.

Yeah. It's almost like magnetic in a way. And when you look at magnets and you see that it draws into it, you know, like the idea of a magnet pulling something close to it. Like if you're positive, you know, you, you, what you radiate outward is what you kind of get back. And it's just interesting to think how that works in life. And when you start changing the way you see yourself, you change the way other people see you. That sounds like it shouldn't be, but it's true, right? I think once they see the possibility in themselves, too, they see so much more possibility in their clients. So then they're able to not subscribe to their barriers, like their client's barriers. They're able to be like, okay, no, let's, I'm over here. Come, come play with me over here. Let's let go of those stories. And they start using the same tools to help unravel the boundaries that are holding their clients back to. So there's a massive ripple effect that happens.

It's so true. And I'm fascinated by language. it sounds to me like you have a very incredible command of the English language. When you start referencing patterns and stories and understanding maybe some body language that people are using, what's your relationship to language and, like, how do you use the different types of linguistic abilities in your approach to help people become a better version of themselves? Well, definitely helping them recognize how they're talking to themselves is a big part

of what we do. And it's interesting, whenever a cohort starts, there's usually at least one person who's really struggling with the identity shift because we've already cracked them open. And so the cracky open session, we're looking at their identity, how they exist in the world, the work that they're doing and how we can actually package that into a brand to put out there. And the word, like, every once in a while, someone says, oh, I feel stupid or I'm stupid. And I'm like, we're not allowed to use that word in here. Because none of my clients are stupid, right? And that's just like super negative self-talk.

And you are listening to yourself, right? And if you're saying that out loud, I can only imagine how awful the things are that your little gremlin is saying to you when we can't actually hear it because you're not saying it to the rest of us. So it's really important how they frame things for themselves. And yes, language definitely plays a part in that

because, again, You can speak into possibility, you can speak into circumstance, you can speak into your past. There's so many different ways to play with that. And once they start recognizing the pattern of how they've been speaking about things, then they can actually start changing that pattern. And that will change the way that they think about things that will change how they show up. That changes the reality that they're creating for themselves. And it's really, it's really amazing when you go back and like once in a while,

I'll go back to, you know, when we finished off the cracky open session, how they talked about it. and just seeing, you know, once they move to the badass Entrepreneurs Club, they finished the accelerator and they moved on. They're a different person once they get to the badass Entrepreneurs Club compared to when we just crack them open. And it is sometimes night and day. I feel like sometimes it's like me, the little wallflower in the dental clinic, being terrified to how I can actually exist now and be in the world

and be comfortable and confident. It's like a right of passage. Like in some ways I think you're describing a right of passage. Right? Yes. It makes me think of the idea of relationships, and especially with your background and dancing, like the relationships you have with a partner in dance,

or if you're doing a solo dance, the relationship you have with your body and movement. How do you incorporate that? Like, in my mind, in the accelerator, is there a dance course and you start, you know, like, that would be super awesome. Like, I think that could totally work, but what do you think about relationships, dance, and practice?

So, yes, dance. does actually come in. I don't make them dance. I don't like when people try to make me spontaneously dance, so I know, and I'm trained. So I do not do that to people. But what I teach them is how to use the camera. So, you know, they can use the space. They can be close. They can be far. Actually using their voice as an instrument of communication, using their physicality, their limbs, how their spine articulates, how their face is used to create more of a sensual experience. So we're engaging all the senses when we're actually creating content. So it's not just, you know, you're here and you're just a boring talking head who's all completely monotone.

We're actually learning how to use our toolbox. Like we have this amazing toolkit that we are born into that we can leverage to make things more interesting and make it more human and leverage our identity in it as well and get more comfortable with it. So yes, they learn to choreograph a little bit at the beginning and then eventually it just becomes part of the way that they express themselves and their body language becomes part of that for sure. I love it. It's such a great visual to think of a communicator as a choreographer of this incredible production that's happening. On some level, that speaks to the idea of interrupting patterns because when you're the choreographer,

you are getting a third person perspective of the actual dance. And I think when you do that, especially if you have negative self-talk or maybe you've had some challenges in your life growing up or whatever, it's very difficult to see those things head on without shame or guilt. But if you're the choreography, hey, over here, we're going to dance it over this way, okay? Don't worry about that over here. And that snaps you out of that shame. It snapped you out of like that judgment, right? For sure. And oftentimes there'll be moments where it's very obvious to everyone in the room that they've reverted, right? They've gotten shy, They've gotten quiet.

They're saying bad things about themselves. And I'll be like, okay, we're 40 minutes into the session. Go back and watch the recording at that point. I want you to witness yourself and see how you showed up. And it's shocking for them because you can't escape what happened on camera, right? You can see the shift. You can see the shift in everyone in the room observing or hearing what's happening. And so that's a massive wake-up call for them to go, oh, I didn't even realize I was doing that.

I didn't realize I was speaking that way about myself. didn't realize, you know, I was like shrinking and making myself teeny tiny because I was worried about something or feeling out of place. And yeah, it really, it makes a huge difference in training them how to present better and become better leaders in their courses and everything else that they're doing. Yeah, how can you change something that you're not even aware that you're doing? Right. And so many of us just think like, well, if I just keep doing this thing, I'll get good at it. Well, maybe, I mean, yes, and, right? Yes, and. Are you doing improv? That's got like that too, the improv too, like being able to think on

your feet or react to situations. Like, that's a huge part of communication. And when I talk about communication, it's not just you with a client or you with, you with an audience. Like, it's, it's you inside here, right? That's like the first. person you've got to figure out how to how to deal with. What are some tricks and tips about, you know, I know that there's ways like neurolinguistic programming or, you know, there's different types of ways in which you can use music or tapping. There's all these different ways you can train your mind to see things different. Maybe you could speak to some of the techniques that you use. So I am trained and continuing my training in NLP. So I actually have a program, a three-day program,

but they have to go through as we start the 30 day, as we start the accelerator, which is 90 days. And it's just helping them to recognize their program. So language and everything else is really important. Yeah, so that's one of the tools I definitely use. And just I've been through different personal development programs, different counselors and whatnot too. So I've had a lot of exposure to different tools

without really recognizing what that tool was necessarily. So I just try to bring my stuff in and I will do whatever I can to help. But sometimes we need to get them with someone else who can help them, who can just give them a different perspective. So whatever we need to do to get them to break through is I'm on board for. I like the term breakthrough and being on board. I think it speaks to your ability to move between cultures. You know, when I listen to your story about moving to Nicaragua and then I listen to

the way you pronounce the word. It seems to me that you're probably fluent in Spanish. And then I started thinking, wow, she probably understands the way in which you conjugate verbs in another language, which means she can see different parts of the culture, which means she can see problems from different angles in people. You can speak to that idea of shifting cultures, different languages, and how that helps a holistic approach to helping people. Well, it's funny, because I used to be bilingual. So my French was really good. And then spending time in Nicaragua, I honestly felt like I, got, felt shame every day because I'm like, why can't I get this? I'd like do my duolingo and

someone would say something to me in Spanish and I would freeze and say something back in French. I'm like, oh, this is not working. And now I'm currently in Paris and my Spanish is like intruding my French on a daily basis. Like I'm like, can I, I'll say, can I have a cappuccino? And then instead of saying, um, si be plebe, I will say, por favor. And then they look at me like I've got two heads. They just like give me this weird look and then they continue on because they don't know what to do with the Spanish that came in. Right. So I've been very good at like being able to sound good when I'm saying things, but I'm not necessarily saying the right stuff. It's been humbling, very humbling.

And I'm moving to Greece this weekend. So that is going to be completely outside of my realm of language. But I am going to start some duolingo tonight. maybe you could speak to the confidence with which you have in order to move through the world this way. A lot of people find themselves being challenged when they go to like a different state or, and rightfully so some people may not feel comfortable with change at a rapid level or seeing things in a different way. But it sounds to me like you are very comfortable in traveling around and making a life for yourself. Like, how do you balance that?

Like, are you worried about going to Greece and not making enough money? Or is what you're doing mostly virtual so you don't have to worry about that? They could be like a digital nomad. But maybe you could speak to that a little bit. Well, I've been through worst case scenario, right? My life really got burned to the ground when I lost my dental career. And what I've realized, even, you know, after building all those companies and trying to create safety, I'm damn good at making money.

So I can always find a way to make money. And as far as making money locally, my company is online. So I can be anywhere in the world. As long as I've got an internet connection, I can work with my clients. So I've beautifully designed that to give me that freedom. And so no, I don't really have, that's not true. There has been some fear in my mind. Like when I moved to Paris, the first week that I was here, I went, I decided I wanted to go to see a circus show.

It was like the auditions for the big. circus companies. And on the way, like I walk really fast, like ridiculously fast. And this guy made on contact with me and then said, goodjour or saloon. And then I heard him saying like, Mademoiselle and I'm like, I know I did not drop anything. And I got to get to the show. So I'm making a B-line for it. And he's like behind me without me like fully realizing it. I knew there was someone behind me, but I didn't know. It was him. And he grabs my shoulder. and spins me around and then wants to come on the subway with me. And I was like, it was kind of uncomfortable, but not really, I think I was a little bit shocked

by the whole situation. So I didn't really stand up for myself. So I'm on the subway. He's sitting beside me. He's wanting to like hold my hand and all this stuff. Like it was bizarre. And finally I was like, this is like this, you're a stranger to me. He's like he's asking me to come back to his hotel and all this kind of stuff.

And I'm like, no, no. And so before my last stop, I actually like said really loudly in French. like you're staying here. I'm leaving. Do not follow me. So that enough people around me are hopefully like clue in and be like, okay, there's a situation.

We need to help her to get away from. Yeah. So that honestly shall shock me a bit because I didn't have contacts here. And I was like, if I guess worst case scenario, if I go missing, nobody's going to know for a few days, right? So as I'm moving on, I'm actually trekking, I'm continuing to trek east until I loop the globe. So this is going

to be a year of world travel. So I'm moving to a co-working hotel in my first stop in Greece. And the next one is actually a co-living space, which sometimes they used to call them hacker houses. So a bunch of entrepreneurs get together in a house. They do their work during the day, go have adventures and enjoy the location. So there's that security that I'm trying to build as I move forward because that situation, it did shake me and it's not, unfortunately, wasn't isolated. It has continued to happen almost on a daily basis here. That someone is like chasing me down and grabbing me or like trying to get my phone number and all this kind of stuff.

So it's, yeah, it's a little unnerving. And it definitely made me kind of hole up in my apartment more than I should have while I've been here. But now I feel like I built those, I built safety into the next part of it. So hopefully I'll be able to be a bit more adventurous with it. Yeah, it sounds like you're, you have a fond relationship with awareness and what the world is trying to tell you. Get the grease.

Get out of there. It's my blue eyes always, yeah, they get me in trouble. And I'm just like, I'm just making contact to make sure I know who is around me. It's not an invitation. Yeah. And I think that people have, people who are. confident and have a good outlook on life, have something that other people want and you can see it. You know, they want to be around you. They want to be next to you. And you know, just,

just go out into a crowd and you can tell who's like, oh, I don't want to be here. You know, you know, he's having a bad day. And there's somebody who's a crack in a joke. And like, that person probably seems happier to be around. It's, that's an interesting part to think about, too, is the, the way in which we carry ourselves through life and like you said, the ripple effect that can have, right? I've got a little funny story for you yesterday by the person I got chased down by. And he was like, so he's probably like six foot three. It was really tall and lean and long-legged.

And he's like, he's trying to catch up to me. He says in French, like, you're really, really fast. And he's like, you walk really fast every day up this street. He's like, where are you going? And I'm like, well, I'm going to the gym. He's like, there's no gym around here. I'm like, yeah, it's 25 minutes. He's like, I can't believe you walk 25 minutes each direction.

I'm like, it's a really good gym. And he said, so there's always people hanging out in cafes. That's part of the Paris experience. He's like, so our nickname for you? He's like, I've seen you over and over again. He's like, our nickname for you is V. Which means fast. He's like, oh, there goes Viet.

I was like, okay, so he wasn't, that one was like the least weird, creepy experience I had. He totally made me laugh. And what I came charging back, he was outside the cafe and was like so that was a nice that was a nice turnaround on the situation a nice twist on the situation that I hadn't experienced so that has definitely in the 24 hours has made me chill out a bit more on that hyper awareness because of what had happened before yeah and I think it's important to underscore the different cultural norms in different places like some in America like we're pretty uptight you know like

this person's in my personal space over here. They better get out of my personal space. You know, but you go to, you know, even in Hawaii in some places, like there's, there's a heavy influence on different Asian cultures.

And there's a different set of social norms. And like, I could be really uncomfortable with someone else is just like this close to me. Like, I'm going to try to get this fishing right over here in front of you. And I'm like, wait,

do you see what's going on here? What? You're right here. And they're like, what's wrong with you? You know? Is it, is it different?

Like, is that that has to be something you take into consideration when you work with clients from different parts of the world how do you go about researching that when we do the cracky open session we get pretty vulnerable vulnerable about things and so there's different permissions that I will ask based on like they they pretty much tell me their whole history traumatic wise business wise personal wise and so it allows me to ask questions and sometimes I mess up and sometimes I will hit a nerve in class and we just have to have to talk about it and like what did I trigger there? Because it was not like you know it's not intentional. And then we just adjust and move forward.

And sometimes they trigger me too, right? Yeah. As the leader, like I have a lot of skin in the game because I guarantee that I'm going to help them make their first 125K. So I have a lot of skin in the game. And so I sometimes get my feelings hurt too with some of the things that they do if they're being resistant or like they reject an idea that I know is going to work for them. So sometimes we have to have conversations that go both ways. Sometimes they stepped on a nerve on me because of a traumatic situation that happened in a previous cohort or sometimes I've accidentally stepped on a nerve for them. So I always feel really bad about

it, but we like I've just gotten really good at addressing it as soon as we're done so that nobody has any ill feelings. We can just keep moving forward. Yeah, and it's it's interesting to think that a person with whom is at times in difficult situations or in difficult personal conversations with people learns to be a really good person. You know, like you have to adapt to that. This is something very important to this person. Even if I think it's dumb, it's very important to this person. I need to take my emotions out of that. Like, that's a tough thing to do as a leader.

Yeah, you learn a lot. about kindness in both directions. Yeah. And also just seeing things through people's lens. Like that's why I like the cracky open session is because I get deep into their world. And so I understand a lot of their viewpoints. So when we get into the accelerator, it's easier to obviously help them with their business, but it's also easier to see where they've been coming from.

And it's not like not 100% knowing exactly where they're coming from. But at least it gives me that insight. so I can work as gracefully through their stuff as possible. I love that word and I love the way that the image that it gives me. But it brings up a question of, you know, when you are a coach or when you're helping people and you're cracking them open and you're trying to empathize with them, that can be a slippery slope sometimes. On one way it can be addicting.

Like you can think like, I'm the medicine changing this person, you know? Or like there can be feelings that. come up that might not be appropriate or something like that. How do you navigate that landscape? I've been pretty good about being neutral in that situation because my job is just like detective. So sometimes they'll like barely go down a pathway. So I'm having to go and ask more questions.

And I try to stay neutral and things get emotional during the practice of session. There's often, there's usually some tears. Yeah. And we just work through it and find out where that came from. And it might be something that we leverage in their brand or maybe something that is not necessary. But I try to uncover as much. So I'm always like, we're going to dig up all these piles of dirt and then we're going to organize them and figure out what belongs and what doesn't. But we're going to be digging.

So expect we're going to get into some stuff that's going to move emotions, good or bad. And all of it is, it is what it is and it's necessary. actually gets to really that deep personal brand that people are able to be understood in the marketplace because there's not that facade that they're holding up. They're just learning to be themselves. I admire your ability to build the metaphor. We're going to take this pile and move it over here. We're going to organize this. We're going to take down the facade. We're going to understand this thing. That speaks to me of someone who has done some homework in symbols and symbology. And just language again on some level.

Like the power of the metaphor is amazing, right? Because you can really use it to explain to somebody about a way in which they used to be or where they were and where they're going, you know, what you have and what you should have. Maybe you could speak to the idea of the power of metaphor. Well, metaphor is really interesting because a lot of people, they try to bring in a whole bunch of metaphors that get confusing in their brand. Yeah. right? And sometimes you start with one metaphor and end with another in the same sentence. And so we learn that's a big part of the brand too is like what are what are the symbols we're going to be using? What is the metaphor that we're going to be using to make sure that we stay

consistent with the brand, right? Like I'm not going to say go and blow something up. I'm going to go burn it down, right? The arsonist theme is throughout whether you like the idea of burning things down or not. Some people are at first when they see my profile, they're like, well, that seems really negative. I'm like, go and look at what it actually represents in my brand and tell me that it's not super positive. Like we're letting things go. We're simplifying. We're getting to the base of things. Like, yeah. So anyway, yes, figuring out those metaphors, especially like as we start to build out their marketing, we start to build out the events and even their program, when they start writing out their topics and stuff, there's like a whole bunch of different metaphors all over the place.

And it's like, okay, tell me what you mean by trying to include this. And now we're going to narrow it into your brand and how what metaphor has to keep going through to make sure we create a through line for people so that they're not confused as to what you actually stand for, how you think. Because a lot of times people just like grab a metaphor and pull it in. But it's something that they heard before, but they haven't made it their own. So even if someone is going to like, sometimes some of the clients have been like, okay, well, what you do is pretty much what I do, but it's in a different industry. And at first, they don't change things. And I'm like, but you're not an arsonist. Like, you're this. You're an explorer. So we need to change this to

something that completely fits with the way that you think. You can still use, you know, a similar process and like, here's the bullet points of what you're going through, but they have to be yours because they have to be the way that you think about it so that it comes out of your most naturally. Because if you're someone who's very earthy and, you know, the idea of burning things, down is not in your vocabulary and it's not in your story. When you try and use that, people are going to feel that inconsistency. They're going to feel that something is incongruent. And that's when people, without even being able to necessarily tell you why something feels or icky from you, it's going to have someone who could potentially be a client go away

because they can feel that something is off. So it's really important to make sure that things are in the way that you think about it, in the way that you think about it, in the way that you you perceive the world in your personality, and that all fit into how we build their personal brand and the way that they deliver their programs, the way that they speak about things. Yeah, it's definitely, definitely very important. Yeah, it's, it's speaks to the idea of authenticity. And like, we can sense that on some level, right? 100%. It's fascinating to think about the ways in which the world is moving and the people that are

out there helping other people. And I think you're definitely, Definitely one of them, Dr. Angela. I'm super stoked to talk to you today. This has been a fascinating conversation, and I'm always thankful for people that have thought deeply about the things that they're doing. And even more thankful for the people that think deeply about the things they're doing and apply them to helping other people out there. And so I just want to say thank you for that and for spending some time with me today. But before I let you go today, where can people find you? What do you have coming up and what are you excited about?

So where they can find me, the best place is LinkedIn. That's where I live and breathe. As far as what's coming up, every month I have either an challenge or an intensive. So in either format, you're spending five hours with me, moving and getting some transformation in your business and yourself. And then what was the last part of the question? What are you excited about? I'm excited about tracking around the world and truly doing the digital nomad thing and figuring it out in different places on a regular basis. It's very exciting to me because that was the original,

I left Canada for Nicaragua was I was supposed to be going and doing that. And then five days after I arrived, flights got canceled back to Canada and I got a little spooked. So, yeah, I'm going back to my original plan from three years ago and carrying out that vision for my life. I think it's going to set the world on fire for you. And it's just going to expand your business at a rate that probably didn't even imagine what's possible. I'm so stoked to talk about it. But more than that, I'm stoked to see you doing it. So congratulations to that.

Hang on briefly afterwards. I'm going to talk to you for a moment, but ladies and gentlemen, do yourself a huge favor. Go down to the show notes and check out Dr. Angela. Listen to the talks that she's giving on LinkedIn, check her out on LinkedIn and go through what she's doing. I really think that she has a unique way of helping people become an authentic, incredible version of themselves. And you can see from this interview that she clearly knows what she's talking about. And that's all we got for today, ladies and gentlemen. I hope you have a beautiful day.

Aloha.