Accomplishing Big Things and Leaning Into New Opportunities

If you’re in a season where you need to be encouraged to step into new opportunities, maybe you’ve been spinning your wheels and you want to get the next project done the book or starting the podcast, starting a new brand, this is the episode for you. It’s so inspiring. It’s full of so many tidbits and so many Juicy, juicy details from my author’s journey throughout her life so far, so I can’t wait to share it with you. Hey there, today’s episode is going to be epic. I have a great interview lined up that I’m going to share today. This person is an author of multiple books, she started a beverage and lifestyle brand company, she wasn’t an Olympic athlete. She’s just done so many things. She keeps moving forward, she keeps stepping into new opportunities. And honestly, she is just so impressive. And like she shares with us in the episode, she just you know that she says success is not a straight line. You just have to keep moving forward and find your joy and purpose and be positive and have find that spark that lights you up. So take a listen, I can’t wait to share this with you. Beautiful friend. Welcome to Business and breakthroughs. I created this podcast so that I can help you step into your God given purpose, monetize your gifts through an online business, and help you create consistent income and have more impact in your home and in the world. I’m Kristin in online traffic growth coach and faith lead entrepreneur that has a heart to encourage and uplift other people in their businesses and at home who built an online brand that reached millions of people. I’ve worked in online marketing for over 20 years. And I know how frustrating it was to work so hard and feel like I wasn’t seeing more engagement opportunities or leads until I learned to optimize my online presence. If you’re ready to grow your business, so you’ll have more impact in the world and you’ll be following the purpose that’s been put upon your life. Then grab your notebook and pen and let’s get going. Hi, today on the show, I would like to welcome welcome Lisa Chava. She is a mindset empowerment strategist. She’s an Olympic athlete. She’s the author of several books. One is maximum her goal the first in that book series. She’s also the author of unforgettable, which is a fiction book about becoming the person everyone remembers. It helps with empowerment and going after what you really want. She’s also a businesswoman, she has started a beverage brand called Hulu girl. And she has done so many other inspiring and amazing things in her life. I would like to welcome her welcome, Lisa. Hi, how are you? I’m so good. I’m excited for this conversation. I love how you help people and I love that you have done so many different things and that you continue to have these big goals for yourself in your life and how you step into your purpose and and want to have impact in the world. So I’m looking forward to this conversation. Can you start off with just telling us about your journey as an Olympian and all the other cool things you’ve done up until you launching a brand, you know, beverage brand, and then starting writing books and publishing them and then helping people in their businesses and their personal lives. I was my mom was a music teacher. And so she I did I did the ballet, the violin, you know that will mute piano the whole music and dance kind of thing a little bit. But I just wanted to be outside outdoors because I remember walking by school every day, and so much a private school. So there was a public school that I’d walked by and and they were over there playing softball. I thought that looks like fun. So I finally begged her and she let me start playing and that was it. I was hooked. It was I mean, I played lots of sports. But that was the main sport that I definitely went on to 1996 in the Olympics. And

it’s just an amazing journey. I started playing and I was on the first Junior Olympic team and and there were some issues there. It’s all politics and adults, unfortunately. But I never actually made it there. They kind of I was the winning pitcher, and they wanted me to continue on. But you never know. Maybe it was all meant to be I’m sure it was because years years later, when I was in college, I met a woman who was my coach at Cal Berkeley, and she played for Puerto Rico. And she kind of she was she knew I was kind of in a funk because I was like there was a year I switched from Texas a&m to UC Berkeley. And you have to read sure you know what I mean? And I wasn’t doing anything and I was in a little funk and that was kind of how she was kind of bringing me out of it because ultimately, she wanted me to play cow softball the next year, but she invited me to go back east and and play on the team with her, you know, and I didn’t know it was a tryout but kind of like a tryout and next thing you know I’m on the Puerto Rican national softball team and, and preparing to go to the Olympics. It was supposed to be the Olympics in 88. But then of course in 87 not of course, but 87 it was it was canceled. And so I figured out there’s my Olympic dreams move on right start start your teaching start I was a teacher, I was an administrator. I went into financial planning, and then somewhere in that timeframe

Colorado silver bullets came out, which was the first one’s professional baseball team. And my husband had never seen me play softball, but he knew that I had and he goes, You should go try out for that. So I did. And when I was on the team, one of times we were in Oakland at the Oakland Coliseum. And they were broadcasting a radio show all the way down, that was getting to Puerto Rico. And they heard my name I was Lisa Martinez, my maiden name. And they heard my name and all I wanted to say, one, they call me up and they say, hey, it’s gonna be an Olympics. It was 95. Right? So hey, it’s gonna be in the Olympics. Do you want to play? And I’m like, Uh, okay. So I was like, I thought my Olympic dreams were like, eight, nine years ago, right? Never to come back. But there they were. And I got ready. I had to have shoulder surgery in February of that year, so I wasn’t quite sure I was gonna make it. But I wasn’t able to do anything. But pitch. Normally, I played pitcher outfield, and I would hit and all that, but no, I only was able to go to the, to the mound and pitch. But hey, that’s all that’s all I needed. I got into the Olympics. Amazing experience. We were in Atlanta that year.

Yeah, but just the hard work in and grabbing the opportunity when it does come up. I mean, you know, sometimes people don’t recognize opportunities, or they’re afraid to say yes, and, and you’ve got to give yourself permission, or you’ve got to just grab that opportunity. Because I knew that that was something that I always wanted to do. And it doesn’t always come around once, twice, three times. Oh, my God. I mean, things have happened along the way. But is it you know, because at that time, I was 32, in the at the Olympics, I had a birthday. And, you know, I knew that was probably never gonna happen again. So

amazing. So from there, you I mean, that’s already quite a bit like you said, you were Wait, the story of the Olympics are weaving in and out of your life, and then you actually got to go to the games. So what happened when you got back from the Olympics? And then did you start? Were you an administrator then or what did you step into them? Let’s see, that was 96. So so so I think I stepped into being an administrator right after that. So I was like, Well, I’m old enough. Oh, it was a long time ago. But I think it’s step right into being an administrator. And then I went back into the classroom. But I just, I just kind of knew there was something else for me. And that’s when I started a gentleman that wanted to do some retirement planning for myself. We were talking and he goes, because I was a math teacher, and, you know, numbers person, and he goes, Well, why don’t you do this? And I’m like, Ah, I don’t know. So then I started following around because I was a teacher. So I had to do it on the weekends, or in the evenings and eight classes. And, and, and they kept trying to say they go quit your job, quit your job, you’re gonna be great. You’re gonna be great. And I’m like, No, it was like, hesitant. No, I’ve got, I’ve got my health insurance. I’ve got my in retrospect, I should have liked it a year earlier or something, right. And they will pay you even a salary. You know what I mean? And I said, No, no, no, I’ll just do it my way. I’ll just keep doing it part time.

And then along the way, I got into it full time. And I absolutely love being an entrepreneur. I mean, I loved teaching, and I loved education. I love helping students, and I love how they grow. And sometimes the bureaucracy of the school district or just trying to reach the parents for support. Sometimes that went down. I mean, that’s only some of the things that weigh you don’t as a teacher, but so it was nice to be out on my own. And, you know, you can kind of pick and choose who you work with. You can be that positive person. I’m still teaching, I’m still educating, I’m still helping, but now it’s just in a different arena. But as we went into it, we went on we my husband and I love to go to Hawaii. We’ve been there. I don’t even know how many times different islands. And we were on a trip and we went to Mama’s fish house on Maui. And we were because one of my girlfriends said, Oh, you’re gonna go over here. You gotta go to Mama’s fish house. It’s on the way. So we stopped at Mama’s fish house. And there it was the original Meitei is created from Trader Vic. And we’re like, huh, the restaurant and so we have to try it. So we try it. And my head goes here is you won’t probably like this and I took a sip on it. Oh my god. You know how you get the chills because something is so strong. Why can’t they make a drink? That tastes good. And you still has alcohol but tastes good? I mean, it’s, I mean, I love salsa, and I love spicy food, but we don’t need to burn the throat completely and not get the flavor of the food right? So why can’t we have something that tastes good? And doesn’t alcohol and fun. So that’s how hula girl emerged. We went around all the islands and all the bartenders at that point and trying their favorite drinks and then coming home and doing the same thing and, and that’s how it came about. We launched and we went

I didn’t, I was gonna be talking about hula girl, but we launched it and we got into Bevmo. And we’re moving forward, we were supposed to move on and get some partners along the way that kind of fell apart. And we were going to revamp the brand and maybe make a light version, you know, everybody likes lighter alcohol or lighter calories, right? So, and as we were doing that, just and then things just kind of happened and we kind of stopped the economy went bad. And we were just a little company in this big pool of Jose Corvo, you know, Shawn, Dawn are, you know, all the alcohols, the big boys out there, so we just kind of put it on pause for a while, but we have come back and we are doing it again, we have reformulated and done a what we call a hula girl sparkling spirit, and revamped our brand and logo. But COVID has just it’s just life happens sometimes. It’s sometimes you got to be able to. That’s right, pivot. Success is not a straight line. Sometimes. I mean, it’s never a straight line. I mean, it’s like, it could be like,

until you get there, right? All these weaves in corners. So you’ve got to be able to shift and, and cans, all you know, everything was in a cannon, all of a sudden, people are taking things home. So the cost of the cans, you know, more than double. They were like starting at 15 cents and 20 cents and 25 cents. I mean, at 40 cents, it just kept oh my god and then tried to get linetime If you weren’t Coca Cola, or if you weren’t, you know somebody big. I mean, you couldn’t you weren’t gonna do like 3 million cans or something, you know, that’s like, Ah, okay, well, let’s go ahead. We think we have an awesome brand. We always thought that. So we started off with fashion first. So we’re actually right now in production of our hula girl. Brand flip flops and beach towels and awesome shirts. We’re starting that way first. Yeah. But people has we’ve done that are interested in asking you about the alcohol. So, you know, it may come, it’ll come about it’ll happen along the way. So I’ve been doing that. But

as luck would have it, when the economy did go bad, I did go back into teaching again, before I started teaching, and even prior to that, because let’s go back a step. I, the economy bad. I wasn’t kind of doing anything. I was doing financial planning a little bit. I do taxes this time of year for some of my clients a little bit, but it wasn’t like what I was doing. And so I kind of got a little funk. And we we rescue animals all the time. We always have We have tons of cat dogs around here. But we one of our tenants, we had a rental property. And one of our tenants, literally was checking out on July 5 leaving and we’re given the keys and they’re they had their dog in a crate sitting in the driveway. Do you want a dog? I’m like, we’re thinking, well, you’re going to leave this dog here and you’re not going to take him.

It was we said yes, we’ll take him you know. And next thing you know, I mean, I was I had already found somebody that maybe wanted to, you know, adopt him and the mom was gonna come over the weekend, but she never came. And that was it. He was mine.

He wasn’t mine. And he’s he just kind of saved my life during that time and, and he’s still here usually underneath my desk, but he’s with my husband just in case he got excited and made a wolf I decided to keep out for now. But having been an Olympic athlete, I wanted to do something fun and exciting. And so I said what’s that sport called the dogs do Oh god, you know where the bulls did that loved it Have fun was the best I mean, you bond with your animals but when you do something like a training or an agility or something like that, you can bond even more and let me so I was in I started teaching now so I was doing agility after school and agility tournaments on the weekends you know and but he’s got little then that’s how Max and Marigold the book came about because I wanted to share him well first, I wanted to share him to the world. I was on a going down to the San Diego pride for some in the summertime for some financial planning thing and and I’m looking in it’s like oh tuna melts my heart or you know, it was like a book about this dog and an Instagram and I’m like, I can do that. I can do that ago what is Instagram I made I’m like so getting my phone I was an app and you have to do all these things. It was it was a journey learning all that stuff. 1000 followers 3000 10,000 You know and then on Facebook and so he I just want to share it because as when we drive along. He’s got one year up and one year down. And it’s always like that and he’s always kind of got a smile and he’s always sitting on my lap at stoplights. He’s looking out the window and people are going by oh my god they’re laughing eyes or whatever up and they’re rolling down the window what’s his name and commenting and asking me and talking to me. It’s It’s hilarious. I go you know what he makes people smile. So let’s

Share it just a little step further. So

I didn’t know what I was doing. But I said, I want to write a book, oh, I want to write a children’s book, oh, I want to write a chapter book I’m not going to do I don’t draw. So I’m not going to be, you know, a

picture book. Yeah. I said, I can hire somebody to do that. You know, and so I, I created this little fun, exciting adventure, which still incorporated a lot of the things that I’ve been doing all of my life, just positivity determination, you know, just all of the things that you need to fail forward, fast, take that next step, being able to pivot as you would say, you know, because SAS is not a straight line, how we journey you know, through life, if it has its curves and bends and you in and when an opportunities, you know, hits, and there’s like a fork in the road, you got to be able to pivot to that next, you know, fork. So I wrote the book, and I wanted to share an adventure with children, but give them something. And I that was a whole nother journey, trying to go to New York and pitching it to agents and publishers. And I mean, I’ve had, it’s been very interesting, the last five or six years, actually, but

but there was some things that happened along the way there too, right? Things didn’t go as what you wanted. So when I was at an entrepreneur, I was at a conference with other entrepreneurs. My husband had met this gentleman that was a publisher and, and they were just talking and next thing, you know, we’re on the phone with his partner, who did the children’s kind of division and they’re going, Oh, my God, we we love it. I was already looking up some things about you, and we love this book. But you know, you’re gonna need to add a young girl because we’re going to pitch this to school districts because let’s think bigger, I’m like, okay, I can think bigger. So let’s do that. So I pivoted and, and but I had to have their help and re editing everything, because I couldn’t see the forest for the trees. What do you mean, you want to add a character? What do you mean, as like, how do you, you know, I’d already done everything, it was complete my head. So but it was amazing how actually simple it was. And, and we did it. And I’m so excited. It just launched yesterday, on Amazon. Yeah, so that it was it was just fun. And so it was weird. I’ve written three books. So that’s the first one to come out. But we have to re edit and re, you know, vision and release the second and third book. And I thought I was going to do a fourth book and maybe more. And as we’re going along, and COVID happening, and I’m thinking, wow, just nothing’s happening, you know, school districts are shut down. You know, my life isn’t moving where I wanted to, I wanted to, you know, school districts and go speak to children and classroom than share max and the whole thing, because he’s not getting any younger. He’s gonna be 12 in May. Yeah. And when I started, this was probably it was like, only eight or something and nine, and I’m like, okay, he’s a little dog. He’s gonna make it we’re gonna get there. But. But as we’re going along, I’m thinking, when I went and talked to some of the

agents, and publishers originally to pitch my book, a couple of them said, Well, hey, if you have a story about a young girl, being you know, wanting to play softball and wanting to go to Olympics, you write that one and you come back to me, I’ll remember you and I’m like, okay, so go, do I really want to do that. I don’t want to do a memoir, I kind of started writing a memoir. And I’m like, I want to do that either. So the next thing you know, it’s just it kind of just evolved through this whole thing is

how do you become unforgettable? How do you move forward in your life? How do you become that that person that is that maybe that shining light or that positivity for other people to help other people even move forward? And then it was like, Well, I don’t really want to make it a nonfiction book. It’s just like another thing out there. So I, it was we weave the story into it to make it fun and a little exciting and, and maybe a little romance in there. Not a lot, but

you know, but it was, it was fun. That was a fun experience. I think I’m done for writing for right now. Because you’ve got to focus coming back to all of this you’ve got to focus on one thing at a time i know i doing a lot of different things. But I’m I’ve lived a long enough life already. I’ve you know, I’ve spent my time but I know that I can get

great ideas in my head and I can distract myself. So the thing that I have to do is you really need to focus on, you know, maybe one or two things at a time. Get that done. So my focus, I’ve just been on it and on the people that are supposed to be helping me you know, let’s get going. Let’s get this. You know, these books out so I focused on that and they’re done. Now my next focus is to

launch my five

brings of success webinar and in all the things that go that way to, you know, get my foot out there to start slowly, sharing with everybody,

that those kind of mindset skills and positivity and all the things that you need to do to move forward.

I love that. And yes, so much. But to your point, you weren’t doing you’re not doing all these things at one time. Like you said, some of them can overlap, of course, but you know, you weren’t in a limp. You weren’t doing your sports and Olympic athlete timeframe, when you were writing the books when you were, you know, doing the financial planning and launching Hulu girl, right. So, like you said, each of those is taking you on a journey, and some of them can overlap. But you have to like you just said, you have to pause some of the things or have someone else helping with them, so that you can then finish the next project or launch the next brand or release the next book, or whatever it might be, you know, so I think that is an important point to make that we can do lots of things, but we have to have one kind of running or know that it’s not our main thing right now, and then step into, you know, the time it’s going to take to get to the next project. So one thing I want to ask you is,

I think one thing that you have gotten really good at is kind of having a vision for what you want to accomplish, or at least what you want to accomplish next, or in the next timeframe, right. But a lot of people I think we get stuck, especially for solopreneurs, or small business owners, we get stuck sometimes in such the daily production, you know, trying just to run something or build something that we don’t maybe revisit, is our vision big enough, you know, is it? Is it really our big vision for life or for our brand or company? And then how do we how often should we revisit that? And are we what are we assessing it against? How are you making sure that whatever we’re putting out in the world is what we want it to be? And that we’re not hiding, if you will, or we’re not playing too small. So what would you share with us about that? Well, I’m looking at a vision board that I’ve created. And I did every I mean, and I made my students I taught high school, my most recent, I just retired, because a lot of things have happened, my mom broke her hip, and just a lot of things have happened in the last six to 12 months.

Which caused a few things, but

I make my students do a vision board a dream. For them. I used to call it dream it wishes, do it something like that. And, and I would make them go through the steps that would make them write things about themselves. Like pick the word that most describes you. And if there’s more than one word, you can write out the words but you know, focus on that. And it’s amazing. It’s amazing what comes out. And then you know, it can be stick figures, you don’t have to be an artist and I said, Look, I don’t draw, I said I can put words down are all Google picture. And I’ll print it out and paste it on there. I said, or it could be real life photographs. So if you want to become and some it was amazing what came out, they want to be a teacher, this is their hobby, they wanted to be a photographer, I’m going to do this job first. But I’m going to be a photographer, you know, on the side. But ultimately, that’s going to be my business. It was just, it was amazing what comes out. And you have to see it. I mean, I see it, I walked by it, I can see it from my desk right now, what’s going on. And, you know, I might need to change one or two things on there. Because that’s not my vision anymore. I had hurt my bad been an athlete all my life. And then so I’ve kind of torn up my body with all things that I’ve done and, and I was playing tennis. That’s how I met my husband.

And we play tennis, we played competitively.

And they got to a point where I couldn’t even play tennis anymore. And that’s wasn’t my dream board start playing tennis. And that’s fine. It still might be on there. But it’s not. It’s not the dream anymore. Because what had happened over the time. And I started to mention this earlier to you is I started ballroom dancing.

And what an amazing thing. It’s something I just I watch Dancing with the Stars, I do a fun thing and what was wanting to take dance lessons and I couldn’t quite get my husband to do it because he’s so into tennis. And if it’s a choice between two for exercise, I’m gonna like tennis. Okay, so, and then I just did this several years. This is many years actually, we’ve been married 26 years already. So I mean, this is off and on over the years, I’ve been wanting to do things and and this is one of those things that just kind of got put by the wayside. And I had a coach and mentors and, and one of them said, just get my permission because as I mentioned briefly, my mom had fractured her knee last May. And that was minor. We got her over, you know, and then and then but we still need to take care of her. And then she broke her hip. And that was just, oh my goodness, that was a whole experience. And so the stress levels were going up and I’m supposed to be doing

All these things, watching these books and hind again and in because you’re taking care of a parent, I’m thinking about writing a book about that one, holy moly, you can’t believe some of the stuff that’s happening. But anyway, that’s a whole other adventure. But

one of my mentors said, you know, what, just you need to give some time, you need to find some joy. And I believe that we all need to find that joy and that purpose in our life. And you need to find that joy, because if you’re just, well, you just that monkey is on your back, and everything’s gonna weigh you down. How can you be positive about something, you have to find that one thing that just kind of like that spark inside of you, right? And this gets you going? And for me, that was ballroom dancing. So I called them up. I think I called Arthur Murray up. And I said, Tell me a little bit. Oh, come on down, come get a free lesson. And I did. And then what do you like and enjoy. And next thing, you know, I’m taking, you know, less than once or twice a week. It’s only 45 minutes, but not just loved it. Now, during this time, I was feeling a little guilty because my mom had broken her hip and she’s not moving. And, and I’m like, ooh, do I tell her to tell her I don’t want her to feel bad because she can’t move. That’s just my, my one little small negative mindset going on? No, I can’t, I can’t lie. And I can’t keep things. Mom, guess what I started to do. I said, you know, I can’t come over right? This this one hour, I can’t come over because I’m this is what I’m doing. I started ballroom dancing. Well, just, you know, it opened up the door. I mean, it’s amazing. just opened up the door. My father wasn’t around. They divorced when I was six months old. And I found out that he taught ballroom dance lessons and Arthur Murray, holy moly. I mean, I think it was just in my blood, I was like, I really wanted to do it. And even my husband’s as I, you’re more Latin dance kind of a thing, you know. So it’s because he’s seen me dance now. So it’s funny. And he’s taken a couple dance lessons. Now, mind you, it was country western, I had to get him

going, but But you know, that’s just sparks the joy in me to keep moving forward to get through the

muck in the world that we have to deal with. We sometimes wade through some stuff, but you got to keep taking a step forward. This is I always talked about, you’ve got to keep taking that step forward, almost sometimes in any direction, but just keep moving forward. Because if you don’t, then you get stuck in your sink into that quicksand. But if you keep moving forward, you’re gonna keep moving. And then next thing you know, you might be doing two or three steps forward. Next thing 10 steps and, and you’re out of the muck, and you’re running on the beach, or going snow skiing or ballroom dancing or whatever, setting that you business that you want it. Yeah, I think it’s so important. I think a lot of people, we one, we don’t realize that we have a lot more control over our life and our schedules than we do. We think, Oh, I’m so overwhelmed. I’m so busy. But if we actually just would take a minute, or a day or a week, however long to really say, Wait, how much of this? Could I actually impact? Could I change? And how much of it? Am I just putting on myself? Because I’m not asking for help? Or I’m not trying to get? You know, if you have kids, it’s like, well, why aren’t you carpooling with someone else? Because you’re like, I’m busy every second, right? Well, is there a way to maybe pare that down? You know, or if you’re single, or you know, you’re married? Don’t Have Kids? It’s like, Well, are you spending all of us but spending a lot of time in on entertainment when we could be doing something else that might bring joy? So a lot of times we’re not actually assessing, you know, what is it we’re doing? And where are we maybe overwhelmed? And where are we not fitting in things that we keep saying, Gosh, I really love to write, learn to play an instrument or being I think it’s so important that people continue to figure out, like you said, what will bring me joy? What have I maybe put on pause or have never done that? I’ve wanted to do it? You know, and so many people talk about this, but don’t wait till you’re we aren’t able to do these things or don’t wait till the end elected, oh, gosh, I had all these things I want to do that I didn’t do right. That’s one of the Regrets of the Dying is, you know, do the things now, don’t wait. We don’t know how much time we have. We don’t know if we’ll be able to do them, you know, in a week, a month, a year, 10 years, 20 years? Because no, we don’t know our future. Right. And so I think it’s so important. And I know I found this and I’m sure you have if I just work, work, work, work, work and hustle, hustle. I start not feeling that creative energy. I don’t feel that flow. And I find I start being less productive. I have to take breaks and I have to step away from my computer, I have to do something that it could even be cooking something that you’ve never cooked that you’re like, Oh, this looks amazing, right? But it lets my mind, reset and clear. So I actually have more creative thoughts or more. Gosh, I think I know and I have an idea that I could apply here. You know, creative problem solving, if you will. So I think that’s super important. And like you said, What’s? Why is life worth living for?

not going to find things that make us happy and bring us joy. And we’re excited about you know, and so I think too many of us settle for just a routine instead of saying, Oh, I would really just love to really live my life, you know, and that, that joy spills over into other aspects of your life. And then you say, oh, you know, maybe I can start taking that class, to learn how to do this, start that business, or, you know, whatever it is. And it’s just so important, though, to work smarter, not harder. It’s, it’s, it’s proven, you need to chunk things down. So what you need to do is you need to maybe only work for an hour, 90 minutes, max, but you’ve got to take that half an hour break. And that’s where if you’re a pet lover, this is the best thing, if you’re a pet, go play with your pet for half an hour. For me, Max is looking at me, usually underneath my desk on our little Wilson, fine, we just have fresh air, we take a walk. And when you take that walk, oh, it’s amazing how many creative ideas come in, breathing out oxygen. So you’ve got to work smarter, not harder. I’ve learned that you’ve got to work, though. I mean, it’s not going to come if you don’t raise something. But like it said, You didn’t have to work every single step of the day, chunk it down and

done in that hour.

So let me ask you about this, because you’ve obviously started and stepped into many new things in your life. And you talked earlier about, you know, we have to recognize the opportunities and TierPoint we can all rationalize away way why sometimes something like your opportunity to go Olympics, you know, in in the 90s, you could have just said oh, now my life’s kind of established and oh, I’m too old, right? You could have convinced yourself not to do it. But fortunately, you knew that that was such a had been such a big goal or dream of yours that you said, You know what? No, I’m gonna, I’m gonna do everything I can to try to make it happen since I’ve been presented with this opportunity. But I think too many of us say no, no, I can’t right now. And so we kind of, we don’t do it. And then later, we might keep asking, like, what if we find said yes. So what can you tell us about stepping into these new things? Like, how were you able to do that, and then keep stepping into new things? Because I think a lot of us, let fear or worry or something else, like we’re not sure how it’s what are the steps gonna look like? So we just don’t even take a step.

You know, I’ve learned all my life. And when we’ve all failed, even some of the biggest athletes, some of the biggest people and some of the people in your life, they’ve failed, but how fast they get up and take, like I was talking about earlier how fast they get up and start taking a step. Back when I was I did, I rode horses for a short, I took English riding lessons. So it was jumping. And it was a foggy night. And the force spooked as we went into this corner of the fog and the lights and he threw me.

My trainer was there. And so she kind of got him and said no, no, no. And then said, Lisa, get up there. No, no, no, you are, you’re getting out there riding that horse again. I mean, you’ve got to get back up. And, you know, try it again. Because you can’t let that get that fear out of there right away. They don’t want that creeping in. Don’t think about it.

You know, if something happens when I’m even when I’m at dance lessons, they’ll twirl me around in the opposite direction and said, Okay, do over let’s you know, do it again. It’s just

do something for a second. But don’t think about it. Don’t dwell on it too long. But how do you keep doing things? I just find I find something that i i Love. Or, or maybe I didn’t know, I loved it, but I started doing it. Next thing you know, you just like I said, I also started doing dog agility. All of a sudden, I started doing ballroom dancing. All of a sudden, we’re making flip flops and T shirts and beach towels for hula girl instead of the cocktails. Although that’s was the original intent to do the cocktails. And guess what here we are doing fashion and, and people are loving it. You know, we’re trying to make something iconic, and fabulous. You know, and not really expensive and oh my god prices are going so high these days. It’s just being positive. Always, always surrounding yourself as best you can with people or where you want to be. Alright. Um, so even when I you know what I mean? Surround yourself with like minded people. Try to stay away from the negative people. Sometimes it’s tough in life, especially if it’s like maybe a partner or a spouse but try to stay away from the negative people.

Talk to the people that are doing that are wanting to move in the same direction as you. You can have a set of different friends, you know, then you know your partner, you know, you could still be close and how

Have an awesome relationship and sharing those things together that you’ve done differently is good. You know, so it’s, don’t be afraid of that either, you’ve got to keep, you’ve got to really step out, and you’ve got to find a coach or a mentor. If you can’t, if you can’t find a group of people, sometimes we have, you might find a positive face book group of women entrepreneurs, and that have already done things. Or maybe you go to a seminar, you know, in you, and there’s like, all these speakers there, and maybe one resonates with you, and maybe half an hour podcast that you can listen to and, and, and increase those, get those creative juices going, and something and that’s gonna spark you or inspire you to do something. But if you’re not, if you’re just sitting

in a room not doing anything,

you have to go out. I know, it’s been COVID. And it’s hard to get out. But there are still ways to get out there. You can still listen to podcasts, you can I mean, it’s opening up that’s way opening up, even here in California, you can go out and do things now. So you’ve got to step out and just take that step and create that vision board. Because you can go, you know, what did I really want to do? Oh, I want to go to Hawaii. You’ve never been to why I want to go to Hawaii. Okay, well, you want to go to Hawaii? What is it that you have to do to get there, and you just get some steps, you just figured you will figure it out. But you have to take that first step towards that goal, whether it’s for fun, or for business, I’m trying. Yeah, and I say to people all the time, you know, let’s say as an example, whether it’s the trip they want to take or start a podcast. Again, it seems like a lot of steps, right? All the steps you think are in your way, right? Just write them all down, or that you have to get done. That’s a great list to have, because now it’s out of your mind, and it’s on your paper. Now look at that list and decide what’s the one or two things that I could actually do without doing the rest of the things. Because we get stuck in all the overwhelm of oh my gosh, but I have to have a website and whatever this I have to do this. And I don’t know how to edit. And there’s people that can help you with all those things. And like you said, there’s even free groups for a lot of that were free. There’s YouTube videos, there’s church tutorials, yes, you can save time by hiring people. And you probably will have to hire someone at some point. But the point is, is you can do so many things. You can report it record a podcast, I mean, it’s the same. It’s just an audio file, doesn’t mean you have it published everywhere yet. But in other words, we keep looking at all the things instead of what’s the one thing like you said, what’s the one little action I could take today that will help me get closer to this big goal? I have, you know, could I save $5 Today towards my trip, if that’s what they want to do? So I 100% agree with you. It’s about just saying What’s my goal? And how do I get around other people that have done this already, and that are doing it and that maybe, you know, I think it’s important to get around people that are ahead of you. But also given that round of your people that are walking through what you’re walking through, whether it’s an entrepreneur, starting whatever it is, you know, we’re there, there’s meetups, right? If you’re solo and wanting to go do some neat thing by yourself, and you don’t have somebody with you, that’s okay. There’s so many people looking to do the same thing as you, you know, I think that’s important millions of people out there, and it takes work sometimes to, to do whatever it is that you want to do or to, like you said to meet up or to. I meet people all the time. And it’s like, wow, and thank God, we struck up this conversation because, you know, maybe I share something with them, that is beneficial, you know, to help them with their parents in a nursing home. Or maybe I found somebody that reinvigorated to speaking of podcasts, that was one of my ideas and things of monetizing my dog Max. And I actually even recorded an intro. But sometimes, there’s too many things, right, so I had to prioritize. So sometimes you need to make that list. Maybe you’re one of these creative people, and you have lots of ideas, or write down those 25 things. And let’s only look at these three.

And when you get these three done, or maybe when you get one done, you can replace one of these down here with one up there, you know, and started looking at again. So I mean, I’m one of those people that I can kind of start thinking of too many things. And so it’s tough to put it in the back seat. It’s, you know, it’s still there. I still do a podcast for Marigold, but you know, it’s coming out there. That’s great. You can’t do it all at one time. You can still do all the things you want to do at some point to some level, you know, and I had my podcast microphone and I have I still have a business with my mom, but it’s in a different space. But that started years ago but I wasn’t expecting to take I’ve been working for myself expecting take a full time gig a couple years ago that I’ve stepped out of now. But I bought my microphone that’s sitting on my desk right here five years ago, knowing I was gonna do a podcast, but life happened and it changed you know, kind of that route that we don’t expect. So it sat on my desk

And I didn’t start the podcast till 2021, you know? Well, I started, I guess I started working on the idea of 2020, at the end of 2020. But the point is, is just because it took me longer than expected, because some things changed doesn’t mean I wasn’t still gonna do it. The season just wasn’t, the timing wasn’t right. And Sam, I’ve started several books that I plan to release, probably late this fall this year, and then into next year, they have been on my list, and I’ve started them, but other things came before it, you know, whereas yours was the books and later will be the some of the other stuff. So that’s okay. Because you like you said, you can’t do it all at once. Or do it? Well, because, you know, as you learn from the books, sometimes you have to align with the people that can help you so that you can actually get out there and get the sales or the podcast, you know, get the exposure, get on other shows. So I think that’s important to let people know that.

So what else would you want to share with us just about your journey and your five rings of success? Like, what do you find at the end of the day, besides people taking action, and just having a vision for what they want to go after? And being willing to step through that fear or whatever it is to feel like I’m gonna try, I’m just gonna keep learning and growing and try, what else might you share with us, um, two huge things that have been for lots of things. But two more things that have been a plus in my life is visualization. And then also just the power of positivity or that positive self talk to yourself. Because

if you tell yourself, you can’t, you cannot, and if you tell yourself, you can, you can’t a will. And

I, it’s so it is so important. So if you I can’t even I don’t know I’m getting, because I’m just thinking of some things that have happened recently. And it’s like, you can, you just need to combat that negative thinking that’s going on. So for me, the visualization techniques that I learned through it, when I was pitching, because I was a pitcher, and I was pitching and you’re in that crucial moment, it’s full count bases loaded, and you’ve got to get that strike in there. I even learned how to visualize even if my eyes open, but I might even just turn my back or half a second and just shut my eyes. And I can visualize and see that strike being thrown. And it just gives you that confidence. I’ve done it so many times that I’d see it, I could just do it right then and there. And then next thing you know, bam, it’s right there strike now, if the person hit it, or whatever, kudos to them, they were better than my pitch that moment. But I had done it so many times, even into my brain that I knew I could do it. And that’s almost with everything. Goodness gracious these days, I’m dreaming about

visualizing dancing, stuff, or I’m but visualization is so important. In any skill, whether you want to be a speaker or a podcaster, you need to see yourself do it, you need to see yourself going out and buying that mic and that,

you know, thing, if you haven’t done it yet, you just need to visualize those things. And when you’re sitting, when it’s sitting there in front of you, you knew you knew that it was going to happen stilling may be happening, right? The second, but that might be sitting on my desk for a reason. And you’re visualizing it, even if it’s it was just internalizing inside of you. And I think today that it took a little bit longer.

The most important is just being positive self talk to yourself is just so important. Because

we tell ourselves deeply in our subconscious mind, if you tell yourself that you are going to start that business or you’re going to, you know, you’re going to set that goal and you’re going to positively talk to yourself that oh, I want to make $10,000 a month,

you’re going to you know, you’re gonna do, maybe you’ll make to eight, but heck, if you hadn’t set that goal and told yourself that you can do it.

You might not even got to the eight, you might have only got to 1000 If we’re talking you know somebody that’s in a business, you know, world or something. So you’ve got to constantly take action, in sometimes just simple steps one step at a time talking positively leading that positive lifestyle hanging around positive people that build you up that empower you.

You can empower yourself, but sometimes, it helps sometimes to get a little fluff and a little positivity from others out there because you can’t do it alone. We all need a little help sometimes. Yeah, I so much agree with that. I mean, I think, you know, you you do have to keep working on that, that negative, you know, negative feelings or thoughts in your head because we all have them and we just some of us have done it long enough where they come a lot less than others, you know, because we’re aware of them and we’ve done some of the work to minimize them if you will, but they still come right. And so I think it

is important. I just actually wrote something the other day that was saying, it’s not. First you have to recognize you’re having the thought, right that the negative self subconscious or conscious feelings, but in your mind that you may be not speaking aloud, write them down and ask yourself, are these really true? Or mean? Is this just part of the story? And then what stories? Do you have her memories or facts that tell a different side of that story about yourself? Right? Like, some people think, Oh, well, I’m juggling, you know, like taking care of your mom. And then you know, being a wife and being a business owner, and you were feeling guilty, because you were going to do something that maybe would make her feel bad. But once again, you’re an amazing daughter right? In yet that one little thing was making you feel this certain way. And so when you finally spoke it, you realize, of course, I’m sure she was very happy that you were doing this, and you found this connection to your father. But this is how we have to kind of get those things to the light. And then we have to understand that this is just one little bit of truth or not truth, but there’s so much more that, you know, makes it I mean, it’s better that we could be telling ourselves, and then also the leaf itself, it’s not just not saying no negative self talk and not being positive, those are very important. And I think it’s an everyday thing we have to work on, you know, filling ourselves up with things that are positive and uplifting around us. But belief in self, I’ve talked to so many entrepreneurs, and they say, it was when I went from trying something to really believing that I could create this to become an income positive thing that it shifted for them. Like they were doing almost the same thing yesterday. And then today, something changed with them. And they knew financially, we had to make it work, but they finally believed like, No, this is gonna work, like I’m gonna make it happen in, in within a week or week. Sometimes they’re like, Oh, I did, right. But there was a shift, right? And how, what they believed about themselves, or what they believed about how they could make money themselves. And then the other thing I just add is commitment to self. So and I’m sure being an athlete, and all the things you’ve done, this is true. But even with the podcast, so many people quit after seven episodes, right? That’s just the magic number. And so knowing that if you’re going to start something, for instance, and businesses are the same way, not seven weeks or months, but you know, I mean, like they a lot of people don’t continue, commit to yourself that you’re going to keep at it for a year, two years, whatever it might be. I mean, you have to be manageable for you, you know, some people, it’s one episode a week or a month, okay? Well, if you can commit to that, commit to it, but commit to yourself, not to how many reviews you get, or how many downloads or how many listeners, because that takes time to build to large numbers, if ever, but even then you can have impact with small numbers. But if you commit to yourself to do it, because you know, it takes time to build and takes time. It’s about consistency. And I know you talked about persistence and consistency. But I think that’s really important too, is you have to commit it to yourself. Because if you let those outside factors, like how many people commented or how many people liked it, you’re gonna feel so defeated at some point that you’re gonna want to quit and you’re not going to continue with your good work. Yeah, you just, it is just everything, everything to do with mindset, everything about positivity, being persistent, confident, dedicated, positive attitude. I mean, just working smarter, not harder, so that you don’t kill yourself, you know what I mean? Trying to get to your goal, because if you burn out, that’s not gonna help you either. So it’s building endurance, building the muscles, having that focus, you know, focus and not get distracted by the phone. Turn it off. I that’s the one technology I mean, I have watches and I’m not wearing one as you can see, but

I have not gotten the Apple Watch, because I don’t know if there’s other ones out there. But I see people were in a meeting, and it’s on silent, but they feel that vibrator and they look at it in you lose focus in something, it takes a good 10 minutes to get focused and you’ve lost that time to you know, to chunk down and do that. So focus is so important not to get distracted. I literally took all I got I turned it off. But I did turn it off but unfortunately rang on my dark computer, but I removed all the phones I unplugged the fax machine mushy, I you know, I silenced you know, notifications, it’s like, you know, because I don’t want to be distracted for what am I doing with you right now? Have you on your phone? That’s right. 100% agree. And I mean, I have that same challenge in my household, you know, with, with three teenager, college sons and a husband, you know, every we all most of us are on our phones to my tray, or we check it too much. And it’s an issue in my house too. You know, like I’m learning to kind of like, I think I’m talking to someone and I want their full attention and I don’t get it always right, because we are so used to thinking it’s okay, and it’s normal and acceptable to let our phones with practice. And you know, I try to keep saying that’s not acceptable to me, right. That’s not your full respect. And so, but this is our society, we have to do a better job.

It’s just like you’ve talked about or you don’t. But I mean, we talked about a society, you’re at dinner with someone, significant other co worker, or you know, a colleague or friends, put the phone aside, for the most part, you know what I mean? Like, we just have to do a better job of being present, right? With the people we’re with. So, yes.

Live in the moment for sure. Because for so many reasons, you never know when somebody is going to be there. On that note, make sure you tell whoever it is that you love that you love them today, don’t wait. You don’t know what’s going to happen. And no regrets. No regrets on anything, whether it’s business, fun, people. Absolutely. So I’m so there with you. Alright, Lisa, how can people connect with you online and learn about and buy your books and catch up with you online, I have a website, it’s Lisa chava.com. But I also have another cute little thing. It’s called meet Lisa, three sixty.com. And I need to update that a little bit. But most everything’s there. But meet Lisa, three sixty.com. And so if you want to connect with me on Facebook, there’ll be a Facebook link there. If you want to, if you’re a Twitter person, there’s there if your LinkedIn person, it’s there. So it’s a great way to whichever fashion that you want, if you want to go straight to the website, or if you want to learn about the five rings of success or if you want to learn about books.

Meet Lisa, three sixty.com, or at least a shopper.com. Those be awesome ways to connect. Oh, I love it. Well, thank you for sharing your journey with us today in all of your insight and wisdom. And I wish you all the success with the book series and everything else you’re doing and hula girl. It’s a beautiful brand. So I’m sure it will do very well. Thanks again for being with us. Thank you so much for having me. I just loved it. Thank you. As I wrap up today’s episode, I just want to share a quick idea an excerpt from the book Dream Big by one of my favorite authors, Bob Gough, he says, make a list of your ambitions, I have a foam core board in my office that is divided into 16 squares. Each one of these represents an ambition of mine, I’m crystal clear about what I’m focusing my attention on. I know what I want, why I want it and what I’m going to do about it. If a new opportunity comes my way, I decide whether it’s worth adding another square on the board or whether I’ll pass on it. You could have three scores or 30. The trick is to know why it made the list or didn’t Oh, I love this idea. And I love the exercise the visual of seeing that. And getting really clear on those visions, those dreams you have and why you have those dreams. And if something else deserves to be up there with those big, hairy, audacious goals of yours. So get to it whether you know and I think the thing is seeing it regularly reminds you right instead of getting stuck in the day to day stuck in the weeds, we see past the forest, right or past the trees beyond the forest to our big vision. And I think that’s so important. Keep it top of mind. And I think you’ll go far with that. And just to wrap up today’s episode, I’m just going to share a couple highlights with you. So here we go. Success is not a straight line, you have to be able to shift. You need to seek joy, you need to have purpose and you need to chase after that. We need to keep moving forward. But we also need to take breaks. We need to work smarter, not harder, and chunk things down into manageable steps. We need to be willing to step into new opportunities and not be afraid of failure from holding us back. We also need to you know write down those creative ideas we have. And we need to be able to prioritize them much like Bob Goff shared with us how he does it. And then what is it you’re struggling to accomplish and how or who can help you along the way to reach those goals sooner. Until next time, I hope you have a beautiful day. If today’s show got you pumped about building your online traffic so you can grow your business. Let’s celebrate pop over and leave a review. Tell us what you loved about today’s episode or share this with a friend who’s ready to grow next level comm network with other entrepreneurs, authors, speakers, coaches and podcasters in my Facebook group to take your business to the next level. or head on over to Kristin Fitch Beck calm to find out more about my online growth system.